It has been that way since the New York City-born son of John Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison released his self-produced, self-titled solo debut in 2000. The disc launched a wave of wanna-be’s on 5-strings restrung with high C’s, intent on mastering Matt’s Lydian licks and close-voiced chords. Recalling Jaco and his legion of fretless followers, Garrison has remained the original, too busy forging ahead to look back at the pack. Indeed, bassdom’s leading bar-raiser may have been out of the limelight of late, but he has continued to experiment with and expand his composing and bass chops, as well as his quest to combine those elements with cutting-edge, computer-driven technology. Best of all, the pursuit has given him perspective. He smiles, “Basically, I’m trying to understand more ways of interacting with my bass through electricity. I want to express myself through my compositions and the technology on hand, because we can. But above all, I’ve become obsessed with sounds. What does it all mean to the listener when they hear the full spectrum of your finished piece? That’s much deeper than the bass or the notes or the plug-in.” We ventured back to Brooklyn to find out how Matt stays ahead of the curve.

It has been six years since your last solo CD. Why the delay?

It was really a matter of trying to do everything at once: starting a family that required living overseas at times, maintaining sideman and teaching roles to remain financially sound, and working my solo career. Instead, every time I’d take a step forward toward a CD, I’d have to take two steps back for other reasons—so the do-it-all plan just wasn’t making it. Now I’m back in Brooklyn and focused entirely on composing and my new website. The positive out of my downtime was getting the website together while I was teaching at Berklee for several years, and I wrote a lot of music, as well.

How did your website come together, and what is its current function?

It started as a book on plucking-hand technique, which I soon realized contained too much information for one book, and then too much information for a DVD. But by starting a website not only could I post the educational content in one place, I could also release all my latest compositions. Right now, it’s the epicenter of everything I’m involved in—from advice to education to music, in video, audio, and print form; you can download exercises, charts, MIDI parts, songs. The newest content is a 50-minute video solo performance called Shapeshifter Live 2010: Part One. I’m also going to release my new CD one track at a time over 12 months; there are two tracks up already. When all the tracks are posted, I’ll also put the entire disc on iTunes.

The new Shapeshifter performance is interesting; what was your concept there?

To create a solo performance in which I interact with music from my last CD—plus a little new material— by applying new sounds and technology, specifically surround sound and video. For me, the most difficult thing is to stand in front of people and just play bass! I like to take what I use in my studio out with me, so my studio becomes an extension of my bass. In this case, my buddy and longtime assistant engineer, Warren Brown, and I pre-programmed the set, which runs straight through, like a film. While I orchestrated the music, Warren designed the corresponding surround sound, and together we constructed the video environment. The complete tracks then play on my laptop, while I play along. I would say I played parts 20 percent of the time, while I was free to improvise for the remaining 80 percent.Warren mans his own laptop during the performance and is critical for manipulating the quad sound and the video. This time, only the vocoder and the loop station were triggered by the bass, but I’ll be triggering more in the future by devoting sections of my fingerboard via MIDI messages. Next, we want to try this same performance concept with a trio, quartet, and larger ensembles.

What’s your hardware and software signal chain live?

I have a MIDI and an audio side, and both signals go to my Mac and then out to the house. The MIDI path is a Roland GK-2B Divided Pickup mounted onto my bass, through the unit’s 13-pin connector to a Roland GI-20 guitar-to-MIDI converter, to my computer via USB. I manage that MIDI data on the computer through Ableton Live software, which is also where I get the bulk of my delays and effects because they sound better than my pedals. On the audio side, I go from the quarter-inch out of my bass into a Morley Volume Pedal, to a Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Wah Pedal, to an old RAT Distortion Pedal, to a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler. From the Line 6, my signal is split into two mono signals; one goes to a Hammerfall RME Fireface 400 Audio Interface, and that goes to my Mac and the Ableton software; the other side goes to my Epifani rig. A line out of the back of the Epifani head goes to the house and monitor system. I send all of my signals to Warren’s Mac through the Fireface 400, as well. In addition, we run Modul8 as our video software, which allows real time video mixing and light effects. Other than that, I use Apple’s Logic Audio to prepare all the music in my home studio. To me, the computer is the new frontier for musicians; it’s really an instrument itself, like my bass.

How does the quadrophonic surroundsound setting factor into your music?

It’s like adding another dimension to your art. We’re used to recordings in a stereo field, which is great, but add front and back capability, and now you can move the music from side to side, behind your head. Movies, of course, have had this for years. I first got into it when I joined Herbie Hancock’s Future 2 Future band, which was in surround sound. In my solo shows I have the basic recorded tracks in all four corners, although I’ve found the bass tends to sit best mixed to the rear speakers—so having subs in the rear is ideal. Then with my live bass I’m able to move all over the spectrum, in real time. The overall experience brings emotion and dramatic development to the music. For me, I’m not just writing a nice melody or hip harmonies, I’m creating a story. Having surround sound allows me to convey that in a deeper way—especially with instrumental music, where you don’t have lyrics to rely on.

What can you reveal about your new CD?

Well, one cool aspect of releasing the CD tracks monthly is that I haven’t finished arranging and mixing them all yet; so, for example, I can put out preview samples and surveys asking folks who they’d like to hear a particular track, and then go and hire that person. Regarding the content, I’ve developed a new tapping technique that allows me to achieve some different harmonic solutions, and that in turn opened some doors compositionally on the CD. The technique is nothing flashy or fancy; I’m using my four left-hand fingers and three right-hand fingers to tap chords or arpeggios across the fingerboard that wouldn’t be possible using standard technique. It’s another link back to my earliest inspiration, [pianist] Art Tatum. I’ve taken some of these patterns and applied them to synth strings for some really interesting results. Technology has also enabled me to venture into new areas of writing this time out; I found a few pieces of software where I can scratch like a DJ in real time on my bass.

Some were surprised to see you touring with Whitney Houston.

Even [drummer/MD] Michael Baker said, “Are you sure?” when I accepted his offer to do the gig! But I was curious about it, having grown up on ’80s pop music, and the money was good. Plus, I had just done Pino Daniele’s tour with Michael, which is a pop gig; Pino is like the Stevie Wonder/Ruben Blades of Italy. The Whitney gig was fine; I mostly used my Fodera NYC 4- and 5-strings, and I played some keyboard bass. I learned all the parts from the records, and at the request of the backup singers I got a solo on “Revelation” each night on the first leg of the tour. Whitney had her share of vocal problems, but she did her best, and the band was first-rate.

Since your last BP interview, you toured extensively with Herbie Hancock. How would you describe that experience?

It was incredible right from the first rehearsal, when he reimagined some of his older tunes, like “Dolphin Dance,” to fit the band he had. Over time what remained a constant was the looseness of the situation; there were virtually no limitations, and we were free to play what we wanted. I’d take tunes he originally had me playing upright on and play them on electric, and vice versa. And of course there were many nights when he took inspired solos that you couldn’t believe you were witnessing, much less playing behind.

Who is catching your ear bass-wise these days, and what advice can you offer those who seek to travel a similar path as yours?

I still love listening to all the veteran players, like Jaco, Marcus, Anthony, Victor [Wooten], Dominique Di Piazza, Gary Willis— the emotion and intent they put into every note. Of the younger players, Hadrien Feraud is the cat for me. On top of having monster chops and harmonic depth on the playing side, he can really write. As for advice, in addition to getting your playing and musicianship together, you need to know how to work a studio these days. Otherwise you’re relying on other people to make your record, and man, that will come back to haunt you. Same with mixing; now I can’t imagine having someone else mix while I just sit there, like I did on my first CD. Make the full investment in yourself when it comes to playing, writing, and recording, and you’ll have complete artistic and financial control of your musical vision.

Where to from here?

My website is the focus for the next few years—to take what’s on the site in virtual space and create a real space with it, so the two crossfeed each other. I have a production space in Brooklyn where we filmed Shapeshifter 2010; we’ll be doing monthly live performances there that will be videotaped. There will also be performances with and by other artists. Essentially, I’m looking to start a small record label with a few artists in the same musical direction as me. Then we can bring that music around the world. I’m ready to front a movement of musicians.

Lesson: A "Cut" Above

In keeping with his virtual vision, Matt Garrison is offering BP readers an inside look at “Cut,” a track from his upcoming cyberCD rich in Garrison’s trademark Lydian leanings and fingerboard fireworks. Example 1a has “Cut’s” main eight-bar melody. Example 1b shows the two-bar chordal phrase that repeats four times under the main melody. Example 1c contains the chordal theme of the song’s eight-bar B section. Although having 5-string with a high C or a 6-string bass is optimal for this lesson, Ex. 1a is in the range of a standard 4-string, while Examples 1b and 1c can be played an octave down to get the flavor of the chordal figures.

Ex. 1a

Ex. 1b

 Ex. 1c