Just Getting Started

Wgg: Do you find it difficult to coordinate your various projects?

Scott: Well, I don't have that many projects. I'm just doing the trio basically. That's it.

Tribal Tech, I doubt we'll do anything anytime soon. Willis (Gary Willis is Tribal Tech's bass player) lives in Spain so he's not around and Kinsey (Scott Kinsey / Tribal Tech's keyboard player) is doing other stuff. And I'm really into this thing that I'm doing with the guitar...

I sort of feel like I'm making up for a whole career where I didn't get to be much of a guitar player as far as really expressing what I could on guitar. I was more of a horn player in all these keyboard bands. That's sort of how keyboard players treat guitar players sometimes - as a horn player or in Joe Zawinul's case as a percussionist. I just did Joe's gig and what Joe needs is more of a percussive thing from the guitar.

The guitar is a great instrument. It allows you to be all these different things but if you are really trying to make the guitar all it can be that's a very limiting role. Just about any time you are going to play with a keyboard player your role is gonna be pretty limited - so that's why I do what I'm doing.

Wgg: You plan on focusing more on solo records then?

Scott: I'm gonna play more guitar until I'm sick of it. (laughs)
I'll probably do 10 guitar albums before I ever do one with a keyboard player. (laughs some more)

Wgg: Are you able to play keyboard?

Scott: A little bit but not really enough. Enough to maybe write a bit but I never really try writing that much on keyboard because it takes me too long. It's easier to write on guitar.

Virtual Dream Band

Wgg: Scott, you already mentioned Weather Report as your dream band... if you had the chance to just pick your virtual dream band together - are there any guys that you really would like to play with that you haven't yet?

Scott: Not really, because what I've really discovered in being a sideman many times is that just because you really like someone's playing it doesn't mean playing with him is gonna be all that much fun. Because what they expect from you might be different than what you wanna do.

It's sometimes better just to check out those guys on record and to enjoy them on the records.

If I was to pick a dream band it would be guys that do their separate thing and it doesn't necessarily mean that what we do would click.

There are certain musicians whose playing I love but I'd rather be listening to them on records and just do my own thing. It seems like I've just started with "Well to the Bone." It's the very first trio record I've ever done in my whole life.

Every other record I've done before... my guitar track has been 1 track or 2 tracks - that's it. I've never done a multi track guitar record before and shit - Jimmy Page has been doing them for ages, you know what I mean?

I feel like I never really got to be a guitarist in my whole career and I wanna make up for that. I feel like I just started scratching the surface as far as making guitar records.

So that's what I want to do and it doesn't really have anything to do with playing with somebody else. It's just like expressing myself as a musician and sure I love Wayne Shorter, but I'm sure if I ever got the opportunity to play with him he'd have a keyboard player in his band and then I'd be playing some dumb shit that I'd hate.

I mean every time I get asked to do a band it's like that.

A couple years ago I got asked to do a band by this record company ESC. They said, "Would you like to do a tour with Bill Evans?" And I went, "Bill Evans the sax player, what a great player. I love his playing."

"... and Dennis Chambers" and I went, "Awesome."

"... and Victor Wooten" I went, "What a great bass player, I'm in." and then they said, "and Mr. X (a keyboard player)"

And I went, "No!" because I know it's a keyboard band. Keyboard's gonna be doing all the work. I'm gonna be picking a little 1 note fucking thing back there in the background and coming out and playing a sax solo every once in a while.

Fuck that. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.

Ode to Scott Kinsey

The only guy that's really fun for me to play with as a keyboard player is Scott (Kinsey) because he really gets playing with guitar players.

He's one of the only guys that really like knows how to stay out of a guitar player's way and let a guitar player actually be not just a 1 note instrumentalist.

Scott loves to play solos with just 1 line and play with tones and be more like a synthesizer player so that the guitar player can play chords under him. Because as soon as a keyboard player starts comping there's nothing for a guitar player to do. You're just supposed to stand there.

He likes it. He'll leave the stage and just say, "Ok, play - go for it. Play some chords, have some fun." And we'll both like just walk off and let each other have it. It seems like when we play we aren't stepping all over each other.

He's about the only keyboard player that I've played with that I don't feel like I have to just interject myself into the holes. You know what I mean? Like here's a little hole I can jump in...

Wgg: When the keyboard player's left hand gets tired...

Scott: Exactly.

I still do gigs with Scott at La Ve Lee every once in a while and we just get a drummer and bass player and play together and I really enjoy that.

When I need a keyboard fix and I want to interact with someone else's sounds - he's the only guy. Scott is like the best. I love playing with Scott and I miss playing with him in Tribal Tech but I guess "onward and upward."

To be continued...