HEARD IN THE BREAK: JOHN MUSKETT
Reproduced by kind permission of Andrew Liddle and Just Jazz Magazine
from an article in Just Jazz, August 2014

Bass-player, John Muskett, has enjoyed long spells with many top bands of differing persuasions, including The Original Dam Jazz Band, The French Quarter, The Phoenix Jazzmen, Gypsy Jazz and The Milenburg Boys. He currently appears regularly with Spirit of New Orleans, Bunter's Imperials and Willy's Weepers, and, occasionally, with Ged Hone's Flexijazz, as well as finding time to run his own trio, Cafe Ole, and to guest with other bands.

Apparently, at an early stage, you went from an extremely small instrument, a mouth-organ, to an extremely large one, the string-bass. How did this happen?

I taught myself the mouth-organ when I was 9 or 10, at a time when Ronald Chesney, Larry Adler and, later, Max Geldray were heroes. During the Skiffle craze I took up the guitar, got dragooned into the school jazz band, and was encouraged to learn banjo as well. I was astonished when I heard Django Rheinhardt's recordings, but quickly realised there was no way I could emulate him, so didn't waste time trying. At Liverpool University I was one of two guitarists in a jazz group. Ernie, the other guitarist, was better than me and had an electric guitar: we had no bass player, but there was a double bass advertised in the Students' Union. I bought it and quickly learned enough to get by.

Did you come from a musical family?

My mother played the piano, but only from music. I could pick out tunes on it. My Dad was very musical, but from a family that could afford piano lessons only for his sisters, so he never played an instrument. His mother was apparently a very talented pianist; his sisters never got anywhere on the instrument. We lived next door to a piano teacher and Mum wanted me to have lessons, but I wanted to be out playing football - not a smart decision for a lad destined to become gangly, poorly coordinated and short-sighted!

So, like many bass-players, you had a Skiffle period?

I was knocked out when I first heard Donegan's "Rock Island Line". Skiffle led to Blues and Jazz, and to negro and other types of folk music. Leadbelly and Big Bill Broonzy were early idols - it seems that at the time that I was trying to master Broonzy's "Hey Hey Baby" so was a boy from Surrey who got there first - and Eric Clapton is now rather better known than I am!

And a Trad period?

At school some others boys had Oliver, Armstrong, Morton, Dutch Swing College and Chris Barber records. We learned from these. I was interested in British Trad for only a few years, Acker's band being a particular favourite, but moved on to the music of Alex Welsh and Sandy Brown/Al Fairweather.

So when did your well-known interest in the Duke come about?

After my Trad phase my Dad revealed his love of Ellington's music; I discovered that he had seen both Ellington and Armstrong at the Liverpool Empire in the mid-1930s. As a student in the early '60s, I listened to all sorts of jazz: although tending to go for small group music I also fell under the Duke's spell from his earliest works - East St Louis Toodle-oo, Rockin' in Rhythm, through his standards - Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me (first heard as Concerto for Cootie) up to The Nutcracker Suite.

You spent a good deal of time with the French Quarter. Would that be one of the highlights of your career?

I've been lucky to play in bands with a variety of styles, enjoyed all of them and learned a lot from all of them. The French Quarter had a huge repertoire, so my knowledge of tunes increased considerably. Having seen Ron McKay with Acker at the Cavern in 1959 (I think), it was a great experience to play alongside him. From The French Quarter I moved to John Gordon's Gypsy Jazz, which was quite a change, but we had some great times.

Give me 2 or 3 other highlights, if you will.

In a twelve-month period in the early 60s I saw the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the MJQ, the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Alex Welsh's band
(several times) and spent a day at the Redcar Jazz Festival which included the bands of Acker, Alex Welsh, Bruce Turner, Mike Cotton and the amazing Tubby Hayes. All this while a student (no silly prices then). In the 1990's I did an annual gig with Marty Grosz for several years on his visits here.

When you retired from the day-job did you find any distinct changes to your playing - and to your 'Jazz life'?

Originally, I had intended to do plenty of walking, photography and listening to classical music, but the jazz took over and I also got back into Folk music. I got my bass properly overhauled and had some lessons from Steve Berry, of Loose Tubes fame. I try to practise regularly and am constantly researching tunes - particularly the harmonies, though there is no foolproof method. I find sheet music copies where possible, listen to early recordings, ideally by the composer, and try to figure out the chords either on piano or guitar. I now have 2,300 tunes in my chord books - neither the world's largest, nor most academic, but in terms of scope and reliability, I would like to think, pretty useful. It's interesting how many tunes are now often played somewhat differently, particularly in harmony, arrangement and key. Those old guys had no problems with keys some now think of as difficult.

So, which bass players do you most admire and which have influenced you? Have you consciously tried to sound like any of them?

Even before I played the bass, I think I had absorbed some of the approach of the excellent Bob van Oven, recorded very clearly with the Dutch Swing College. Starting on the instrument I knew a bit about chords, had to find where the notes were on the neck, and then put together lines that stated both the chord and the direction that the harmonies were taking. I've never consciously copied anyone's lines. I'm very aware of the acoustic sound of the bass (when I amplify I do so with reluctance) and have listened a lot to Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford and, particularly, Ray Brown. Scott LaFaro was an amazing player, and Jay Leonhart does some fine stuff
("It's Impossible to Sing and Play The Double Bass").

Blanton was thought of as the great liberator of the double bass: he had terrific technique, a wonderful improvising ear, and was featured by Ellington in full band and smaller groups. Ellington made sure he was recorded well. There are now so many excellent bassists in Europe (including Steve Berry, of course) and the States. The old-time players, Wellman Braud, Pops Foster, Bill Johnson, Chink Martin, Steve Brown, John Lindsay for example, should not be under-rated - they didn't get many opportunities to show off, but when they did occur grabbed them with both hands - and they could switch instantly between plucking, slapping and bowing. Modern strings give a better plucked sound , with more sustain, but most make you choose between bowing and slapping,

You've played for a good many bands over the years. How many do you currently play for?

Spirit of New Orleans (7 piece), Willy's Weepers (6 piece), Bunter's Imperials (3, 4 or 5 piece), Shades of Stéphane (4 piece with a Hot Club influence), only occasionally with my own trio Café Olé plus guest appearances, dep jobs and telephone bands. All the bands play tunes from Dixieland - the broad American definition - through Swing to tunes by Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson and occasional "modern" standards such as "Watermelon Man", "St Thomas" and "Yardbird Suite".

Tell me about the differences between playing in a small group as opposed to a 6 or 7-piece Jazz band.

There's more responsibility in a small group, especially if it's drummer-less, but more satisfaction if you feel you've made good decisions in the rhythm, harmony and note selection. Perhaps in a larger band you are helping to drive it along more.

When you take a vocal, you often include the forgotten verse. Is this a conscious effort on behalf of forgotten verses?

The majority of Tin Pan Alley tunes had verses, good, bad and indifferent. If I feel a verse adds something I like to do it. I have a low boredom threshold, so enjoy finding new challenges. And Frank Sinatra enraged Hoagy Carmichael by recording the verse alone of Stardust!

Many punters, like myself, are surprised to find Jazz players listening to different genres of Jazz or even to other kinds of music. What do you listen to relax these days?

Jazz of most eras (up to Post-Bop, I suppose), Folk, Blues, Classical. Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is a must for me. It's a great shame that many jazzers think that folkies are primitives, with the latter believing that jazzers are stuck-up. Diz Disley, Davy Graham and Danny Thompson never had much difficulty crossing borders. Don May, the violinist with whom I perform occasionally, plays all genres. I get the impression that although I keep listening to King Oliver and Clarence Williams I am regarded as impure by some when I mention the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet.

Would it be true to say, then, you are also a student of jazz as well as a player - and where do you stand on the old debate about medium and message, style and substance, call it what you will, which has been around since the advent of what is now called modern jazz?

I don't disparage any style, but like to keep a fairly open mind. Jazz has been at its strongest at times of rapid development, obvious examples being the work of Louis Armstrong from 1925 up to, perhaps, 1935, and the early '40s evolution of bebop. All art depends on some kind of message or understanding between exponent and recipient. Early work, for example, Italian religious paintings and traditional jazz, had a simple and unambiguous message. Later work, Jackson Pollock, John Cage, Free Form Jazz, if you like, pushed the boundaries so far that few could convincingly give explanations.

Personally, I begin to struggle round the time of Miles Davis's later (electric) work. I'm not sure whether some of Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rock, Jazz Funk didn't lead down blind alleys, but I'm sure there are those who will say that I'm just too steeped in tradition to make the effort to understand!

Interesting recent jazz has involved unfamiliar combinations of instruments and emphasis on unusual timbres and tone colours, with quite a lot of writing and arrangement, not unlike developments in classical music. It seems to me that musicians like Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, Fred Hersch, Bill Frisell and, in the UK, Loose Tubes have been trying to take jazz forward without denying its traditions. Such music doesn't register at all in general popular consciousness.

Do you think that members of the rhythm section, bassists in particular, sometimes don't get the recognition they deserve? I'm speaking in general terms here.

Perhaps, but maybe it's inevitable. The 3 - 4 minute length limit (from 78s) keeps the solos down, and horn players and pianists are not noticeably reluctant to take solos. A bass line is often difficult to hear, never mind analyse. While praise is rare, the upside is that clinkers either go unnoticed, or people are too polite to comment.

Does a Jazz player ever stop learning new things about his instrument?

He (or she) shouldn't.

Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions, musically speaking.

To improve.

Let's assume you could guest on bass in any band, past or present. Which would it be?

The bands I might like to play in have - or had - musical ambitions, technique and taste way beyond mine. I would not want to be a fish out of water.

Finally, how many posting days are there to Christmas?

When I sing "I'm Going To Sit Right Down. ", I try to evaluate the number of posting days until Christmas during the performance (the low boredom threshold again), and announce it at the end. In jazz there should be an element of fun - life's not a rehearsal - but entertainment should not be a substitute for the best musicianship possible.

Andrew Liddle