Gary Willis’s brave new world, away
from corporate record labels, management,
and the U.S. itself, is quite
nice, thank you. Based in Barcelona, Spain,
Willis is managing his career without artistic
compromise; great news for music fans everywhere.
His latest project, Triphasic, is a multimedia
affair, boasting like-minded Spanish
neighbors Llibert [Yee-beart] Fortuny on sax,
EWI, and tricked-out vocals, David Gomez
on drums, and Willis’s trademark fluid fretless
and panoramic audio and video programming.
It’s an intoxicating blend of jazz, hip-hop,
electronica, and ambient sounds—heightened
live by vibrant video imagery. The trio’s debut
CD, Shaman, arrives in the U.S. in July.
A native of Longview, Texas (born March
28, 1957), Willis has certainly earned his creative
stripes. Rising through the Los Angeles
ranks with saxophonist Wayne Shorter
and guitarist Allan Holdsworth, he ultimately
played a key role in ensuring fusion’s vitality
into the new millennium, via his ninealbum,
16-year run with Tribal Tech, the band
he co-founded in 1984 with guitar god Scott
Henderson. Along the way, his firebrand
improvised grooves and solos, right-and-lefthand
methodology, and light-touch approach
have impacted the bass world immeasurably.
Now settled in his wife’s home city, Gary
works his art while also teaching privately
and part-time at the Escola Superior de
Música de Catalunya.
How would you describe Triphasic’s musical
approach?
It’s the same challenge I’ve been pursuing
since the later years of Tribal Tech, which
is to jam and create compositionally. We wrote
the album through a collective studio jam,
and then we played the material live for a
while before recording it. Basically, our songs
consist of composed sections and open sections
for jamming and soloing. For us, it’s not
about taking turns blowing. It’s about discovering
and leading the songs wherever they
want to go. With the addition of triggered
sequenced keyboard and drum loops to augment
grooves and provide harmony and additional
melodies, we’re not confined to the
sounds of our three instruments. It enables
us to have the songs sound the way we want,
while still retaining the open quality and communication
of a trio. It’s important to us to
embrace technology yet retain our organic
core. For example, we’re sensitive to sonically
shading the drum loops to make them complimentary
to, and not a substitute for, the
drums; we didn’t want to walk off stage with
the music continuing along just fine.
You’re responsible for the video aspect
of the band. Can you elaborate?
Incorporating video into live music has
long been a goal of mine. In Triphasic, it’s
all about synchronizing the footage on the
screen behind us to the music; creating sections
of video that are open and not just a
loop, so the video can develop with the
soloist and return like a theme does.
From your perspective, how has technology
and the Internet changed the
music business?
Culturally, there’s not as much value
placed on music as there used to be. When
I was growing up, I’d save my allowance to
buy an album. Now, music is more disposable.
With digital products, there’s a huge
temptation to fill up an iPod in a couple of
clicks. And when there’s less value placed
on music, there’s less importance placed
on whether or not it’s ethical to steal and
download it. That’s a problem all artists are
facing, especially the vast majority without
big-money record deals. I have a blog on
my web site [garywillis.com/blog] that challenges
all the excuses people use to justify
unpaid downloading.
The other problem is the glut of music you
have to wade through, because technology
allows anyone to make a record now. As evil
as the major labels were in their heyday, they
did filter out a lot of crap from the public.
Track Check by Gary Willis
“Diarrea” Llibert sent me this melody, with
a stock bass line. I reworked it, adding rhythmic
figures. It’s straight bass, but there’s a
low keyboard line right above it that makes
the bass sound harmonized.
“A Dog’s Life” This was a goofy little
melody in 3/4 left over from my solo CD
[Actual Fiction]; we found a new environment
for it here. The groove change halfway
through happened because we kept leaning
on a four-over-three feel until it finally
transitioned into a serious four throwdown.
“Mac” Another Llibert tune that’s almost
a blues in five. I’m not great at odd times,
but I’ve gotten better. My solo is straight
bass with no effects.
“Shaman” This was inspired by our initial
jamming for the CD. I listened back and
dug a groove we got into. The line behind
the drum solo is also a quote from the jam.
It’s pretty atmospheric and constantly building;
the melodic hits I added in the middle
serve as the melody.
“Invisible” We needed a ballad, and while
I’m not prolific enough to set out to write
a ballad and get results, I was fortunate this
is what came out of the time I put in.
“MiniVan” This was group jammed and
written. David and I sequenced it; we agreed
we would jam at this particular tempo and
have these different levels of intensity
through the sounds we bring in. So, altering
those variables, each time we play this
song it can be completely different.
“Eye Candy” I recorded this piece on
Actual Fiction; here, we did our own version,
with a longer intro and ending. The
effect on my bass solo is a wah/envelope
sound from my V-Bass. I also added the big
band samples to Llibert’s solo after the fact.
“Sugus” The title refers to a gum-like candy
in Spain. I’m using an octaver, as well as
doubling the bass with synths and MIDI.
Listen also for the maniacal hidden track
afterwards, from one of our jams.
TRY PHASIC
Gary Willis is at his peak powers steering his fretless 5 through the sonic madness swirling
around him on Shaman, delivering industrial-strength grooves, surging solos, and tunetransforming
melodies. Ex. 1 contains Willis’s second A-section melody of the moving
ballad “Invisible” (from 1:04). Think legato and lay back. Example 2 shows three variations
of Gary’s terse, two-bar groove in “Mini-Van,” first heard at 0:45. Dig his bar-2 magic and try to come up
with some ideas of your own. Last, Ex. 3 captures a ripping phrase from Gary’s wah-effected solo on “Eye
Candy” (at 6:54). Note his rich blend of blues and bebop as you navigate his fretsteps.
GEAR
Basses Ibanez GWB 1005 (signature
fretless 5-string)
Strings D’Addario XLS165s
Amp Aguilar DB 750 head, three Aguilar
GS 112 1x12 cabinets stacked
Effects Roland VB-99 V-Bass System,
Roland FC-300 MIDI Foot Controller, Edirol
V-8 8-Channel Video Mixer
Live Sequencing Apple MacBook Pro, two
Apple Mac Minis (one for video images)
Recording Triphasic Bass to Roland
V-Bass, direct to hard disk
CAN BE HEARD ON
(all on Abstract Logix) Triphasic, Shaman,
2009; Gary Willis, Actual Fiction, 2008; Slaughterhouse
3, Slaughterhouse, Vol. 3, 2008
CURRENTLY SPINNING
“Lately, I’ve been checking out assorted
Squarepusher and Jungle Brothers, as well
as Vince Mendoza’s arrangement of ‘In a
Silent Way,’ for the Metropole Orchestra.”