The Resonance of Steven Bernstein

Whether it’s via the Lounge Lizards, Sexmob, the Millennial Territory Orchestra or as a member of Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Band, trumpet player Steven Bernstein has been a fixture of the New York jazz world for five decades.

Though he is more commonly known for his work in larger ensembles, his latest double album ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance on the Royal Potato Family imprint finds him working in the trio format for the first time since the Spanish Fly days, recording alongside an acoustic rhythm section comprised of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Nasheet Waits. And while he is most famous for being one of the few slide trumpet masters out there in the world, this new album finds Bernstein working on valve trumpet and flugelhorn across 10 original compositions on ResoNation Trio.

Its flipside, meanwhile, is Ultra Resonance, which reimagines the album through the sound system of Bernstein’s longtime friend and acclaimed underground hip-hop and jazz producer Scotty Hard in where he transforms the trio’s music into a heady callback to the New York City music scene in the ‘90s, when the Beasties and Medeski Martin and Wood would often travel in similar circles and spots like Tonic and the Knitting Factory opened the doors for inter-genre exploration.

What’s more is that in addition to ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance, this year marks the 30th anniversary of Sexmob, which will be commemorated in the form of a collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson on an album for Nonesuch Records called Let X=X, which was released in May and captured the combo’s live set during their 2023 tour together.

Rock & Roll Globe was honored to communicate with Mr. Bernstein (who turns 65 this year) about all this cool stuff going down in his world.

ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance and Let X=X are available online and at better record shops across the globe.

 

What do you like about the trio format?

This is a very direct way to create music…1 brass voice/mid register…I bass voice low to mid register/ 1 drum set orchestral voice

So it’s up to the artist to put this puzzle together in their own unique way. Trumpet trio is not that common, so I feel its clear path to….something …..

(there’s not a lot of traffic on the extra mile).

 

How did you come up with the concept for this project?

I’ve wanted to make a trumpet trio recording for a long time…. I was just waiting for the time when I thought I could properly do this project.. trumpet is a physical instrument. I’ve wanted to make a reimagined/remixed record for a long time… Scotty Hard and I have been making new music for so long that it seemed like the perfect combination….. and the idea being to go in with no preconception…just make music.

You mention the deficit of trumpet trio albums in the jazz format. Why do you think that is?

Trumpet is a very physical instrument. So physically playing in this trio format is challenging. Also…on a pythagorean note…tenor sax trios are common…the tenor saxophone is an octave lower than the trumpet, so the vibrations of the tenor and the acoustic bass naturally blend in a very complementary way.

 

How did you originally discover Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey/Garvey’s Ghost back in 1981? Where did you pick it up? How did it help you on your journey into dub and reggae?

Ron… one of my college roommates had it, I didn’t even know who Burning Spear was.. at the time we were doing a lot of research… so the album was a perfect accompaniment. I heard The Upsetters’ Super Ape not long after that and I was hooked ..I saw Peter Tosh live in NYC in 1983 with Horsemouth on drums and Bobby Ellis on trumpet! (BTW I arranged the horns on the Lee Scratch Perry/Bill Laswell record Rise Again).

 

You and Scotty Hard go back nearly 40 years. How did you first meet him and what was your first recording together like?

Scotty went to college in Vancouver with tenor saxophonist Michael Blake. Michael and I played in the Lounge Lizards starting in 1989, and Scotty was always hanging at the gigs. The music and the scene was wild…John Medeski and Billy Martin were also in the band so lots of Scotty history here. I believe our first recording was a record by Justin Warfield on Quincy Jones’s label Qwest, produced by Prince Paul. Scotty wrote the horn arrangement and engineered it.

How did you connect with Scott Colley and Nasheet Waits? I’m a big fan of their work with Andrew Hill and Ralph Alessi.

So am I! Scott I’ve known from the California connection..he went to high school at Eagle Rock..their teacher John Rinaldo was legendary..I went to Berkeley High School, our teacher Phil Hardyman was legendary. I’m older than Scott..but there was always a connection between these places.When Scott moved to the upper westside I was already there, so we saw each other socially. I dont remember when I met Nasheet…maybe when I went to hear Jason Moran record release show with Sam Rivers. We were all hanging backstage (I had recently made a record with Sam as well)…Jason invited me to play on the second set.. the first time that happened in NY. But I was entranced by Nasheet’s playing from the first time I heard him play

 

Really excited about your collaboration with Laurie Anderson. How far do you go back with Laurie and how did the album come about?

I first worked with Laurie at Next Wave/BAM concert that Arto Lindsay put together in 1991…but the first time we really worked closely was doing Hal Willner’s Leonard Cohen show in Brighton in 2004. I arranged two songs for her, “The Guest” and “If It Be Your Will”. At Hal’s memorial she wanted to do Lou Reed’s “Gassed and Stoked.” I brought an arrangement that sounded just like the record and we played it through..She turned to me and said “that sounds great, but I had another idea, I have this new loop”… and she starts activating the loop with her violin bowing…Tony and Kenny just drop in and start playing.. it was grooving and effortless from the first sound. Laurie ended up testing positive for Covid and was unable to play the memorial, but a week later she calls and says how much fun she had playing with us, that Warners is re-releasing her records and she was thinking of revisiting her older material (which she had never done), and would Sexmob play with her…. You know my answer…

This is your first release on Nonesuch, the Laurie album, right? Do you have a favorite album they released through the years? Which one is it and why?

Sexmob is on the Hal Willner produced, Grammy winning Bill Frisell album”Unspeakable”..but this is the first record with our name on the cover. (And on Frisell’s we are credited individually, not as Sexmob). Re:favorite…This is a wild question …because the number of amazing , life changing records that Nonesuch has released is mind bending, so I’ll name a few that mean a lot to me… Cachaito by Cachao Israel Lopez.. I spent a lot of time checking that record out. Tuskagee Experiment by Don Byron..that record opened the door for my generation/and I used to love listening to Vaartina…. But come on..so many incredible records…the electronic records from the 60s…the Explorer series (Mbira etc)…Oumou Sangare, Johnny Greenwood, Ambrose Akinmusire, Frisell, Zorn, World Saxophone Quartet….

 

Are there any plans to tour the trio album beyond the release parties?

I’m planning on bringing the trio to Europe.

 

What new music have you been digging on so far this year?

I spend so much time writing music, practicing music… that I dont listen to that much new music. But a trusted friend told me to check out Mary Halverson’s new record and Jacob Garchik’s new record…I loved them both. I love Ambrose’s new record (besides being one of my favorite musicians, we went to the same high school..20 years apart). I heard Tyshawn’s Max Roach project with Adam O’Farrill and Mark Shim and it stood with some of the greatest concerts I have experienced. I heard The Westerlies shape singing project and was blown away. Lots of good music out in the world.