HENRY LOWTHER - Making It True
Interview by Chris Baber
Photograph of Henry Lowther by Brian Homer
With the release of the CD ‘can’t believe, won’t believe’, I took the opportunity to interview Henry Lowther about his new recording and his time in music. I began by asking how he decided on a name for the group. “I first thought of the name Still Waters many years ago because I like being near or on water and wanted a name that reflects its qualities in music - sometimes placid, sometimes in quiet motion and sometimes activated but always seeking rest and stillness.” The group’s name amply captures that gentleness of the music, but also hints at something that might be lurking in the deep. Perhaps, this ‘something’ could disturb the ambience and the CD’s title might hint at this. “I'm neither a sceptical or angry person. I have had, and am still having, a good life with music and close friends. Modern life certainly creates many distractions and we all should be on our guard against them. Some of what is thrown at us by the media often feels like the sleight of hand tactics used by illusionists. As a species are we always to be condemned by the actions of a relatively small number of people who wish to rule over us by either religious or economic dogma? In other words by people who believe too much! Despite this, I do think there is a slow progress in the world against such negative forces.” In countering these negative forces, Lowther says “if you're a real sceptic, you should be sceptical about scepticism. It is said that just to believe in something doesn't make it true but it seems to me that strong belief in something can make it true. A writer I like, John Michell, says that "not to believe in everything is arrogance". In other words always have an open mind. The only aspect of music that I'm sceptical about is music that is created for cynical and wrong reasons and is therefore phoney.”
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mention some of the non-jazz records in my collection that Lowther has played on, by artists such as Van Morrison or Talk Talk, and asked whether he approached playing on these recordings differently to recording jazz. “Playing on non-jazz albums with people like Van Morrison, Talk Talk and The Pretenders will vary according to the artist's or artists' requirements. Sometimes it's a simple matter of just playing written parts of an arrangement, sometimes you might be asked to suggest something such as a head arrangement and occasionally, but relatively rarely, you might be asked to play a trumpet solo, although saxophone solos were always more common than trumpet solos. The horn parts of the Van Morrison recordings were arranged by a guy called Fi Trench and for Talk Talk, Tim Friese-Green and Mark Hollis would give you written, quite precise and sometimes difficult, things to play and then occasionally forget that and then ask you to play an improvised solo and then go with that. Mostly playing the trumpet is just playing the trumpet in whatever kind of music you're playing, the only difference being that when playing in an ensemble with others you have to subjugate your personality in order to blend. This is, of course, just as true when playing in big bands and or in classical music.”
Photograph of Henry Lowther by Brian Homer
With the release of the CD ‘can’t believe, won’t believe’, I took the opportunity to interview Henry Lowther about his new recording and his time in music. I began by asking how he decided on a name for the group. “I first thought of the name Still Waters many years ago because I like being near or on water and wanted a name that reflects its qualities in music - sometimes placid, sometimes in quiet motion and sometimes activated but always seeking rest and stillness.” The group’s name amply captures that gentleness of the music, but also hints at something that might be lurking in the deep. Perhaps, this ‘something’ could disturb the ambience and the CD’s title might hint at this. “I'm neither a sceptical or angry person. I have had, and am still having, a good life with music and close friends. Modern life certainly creates many distractions and we all should be on our guard against them. Some of what is thrown at us by the media often feels like the sleight of hand tactics used by illusionists. As a species are we always to be condemned by the actions of a relatively small number of people who wish to rule over us by either religious or economic dogma? In other words by people who believe too much! Despite this, I do think there is a slow progress in the world against such negative forces.” In countering these negative forces, Lowther says “if you're a real sceptic, you should be sceptical about scepticism. It is said that just to believe in something doesn't make it true but it seems to me that strong belief in something can make it true. A writer I like, John Michell, says that "not to believe in everything is arrogance". In other words always have an open mind. The only aspect of music that I'm sceptical about is music that is created for cynical and wrong reasons and is therefore phoney.”
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mention some of the non-jazz records in my collection that Lowther has played on, by artists such as Van Morrison or Talk Talk, and asked whether he approached playing on these recordings differently to recording jazz. “Playing on non-jazz albums with people like Van Morrison, Talk Talk and The Pretenders will vary according to the artist's or artists' requirements. Sometimes it's a simple matter of just playing written parts of an arrangement, sometimes you might be asked to suggest something such as a head arrangement and occasionally, but relatively rarely, you might be asked to play a trumpet solo, although saxophone solos were always more common than trumpet solos. The horn parts of the Van Morrison recordings were arranged by a guy called Fi Trench and for Talk Talk, Tim Friese-Green and Mark Hollis would give you written, quite precise and sometimes difficult, things to play and then occasionally forget that and then ask you to play an improvised solo and then go with that. Mostly playing the trumpet is just playing the trumpet in whatever kind of music you're playing, the only difference being that when playing in an ensemble with others you have to subjugate your personality in order to blend. This is, of course, just as true when playing in big bands and or in classical music.”
For a lot of his career, Lowther has played in large ensembles, I can think of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, The Dedication Orchestra, The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra to name a few. There's a very nice clip on YouTube of the London Jazz Orchestra playing 'can't believe, won't believe' at The Vortex in 2013 - and playing this at a canter where the CD has a more sedate amble through the piece. I wondered how the piece evolved when it moved between an orchestra and a quintet and whether he deliberately change the arrangement. “I have played in large ensembles or big bands all my musical life so I think I know something about them by now. It is true that many of my big band arrangements of my own pieces are scaled up versions of small band pieces and by necessity they have to be changed in order to become big band pieces. In a small band an arrangement often consists of nothing much more than a head along with improvised solos. Most of the classic small band performances in history are nothing more than that but for a big band it's usual to have more written music, ensembles, etc. and backings behind soloists and so on. Also, as you have more instruments, you can write secondary lines and so on. The YouTube clip you mention, of the London Jazz Orchestra (LJO), has myself and two other members of Still Waters - Pete Hurt and Paul Clarvis. Pete Hurt writes much of the material for the LJO and is without doubt one of the greatest composers and arrangers of big band music in this country, or anywhere for that matter. His recent big band album, New Start, is an absolute joy! In the summer the LJO will be recording an album of my big band pieces and I'm looking forward to that!”
A couple of years back, Lowther curated a successful Birmingham Jazz Legends Festival which focused on Miles Davis, and it was interesting to know what has stayed with him from this experience. “Phil Rose from Birmingham Jazz invited me to curate the Legends Festival and wanted it to revolve, as it were, around the Legend of Miles Davis. As I'd always been a Miles Davis fan, even once having had a conversation with him, and also having played with Gil Evans a number of times in the 80s, I relished the opportunity. Apart from a couple of suggestions from Phil I was given a carte blanche to do whatever I wanted in picking the bands for to me to play in. What has stayed with me from the Festival that weekend was the warmth of the audiences, Phil's friendship and my talk on Miles Davis, which actually drew the largest audience of the weekend.”
A couple of years back, Lowther curated a successful Birmingham Jazz Legends Festival which focused on Miles Davis, and it was interesting to know what has stayed with him from this experience. “Phil Rose from Birmingham Jazz invited me to curate the Legends Festival and wanted it to revolve, as it were, around the Legend of Miles Davis. As I'd always been a Miles Davis fan, even once having had a conversation with him, and also having played with Gil Evans a number of times in the 80s, I relished the opportunity. Apart from a couple of suggestions from Phil I was given a carte blanche to do whatever I wanted in picking the bands for to me to play in. What has stayed with me from the Festival that weekend was the warmth of the audiences, Phil's friendship and my talk on Miles Davis, which actually drew the largest audience of the weekend.”
Turning to the music on the CD, there is a composition called 'Saippuakauppias', a Finnish palindrome meaning 'soap vendor', and the composition has the closing bars exactly invert the opening bars. I asked what he enjoys most about composing. “I'd love to write more music than I actually do but when I do I mostly just write a tune with some accompaniment and harmony. Saippuakauppias was really an exception and was designed as a joke to surprise some Finnish musicians I was working with. In my teenage years I did study briefly counterpoint and could compose a canon or two and even a little fugato but I do nothing as ambitious as that now. I once read that Haydn, whose music I love, used to write a canon a day just to warm up but I'm afraid I'm not in that class! I'm also familiar with some of the great solutions to musical puzzles, if you can call them that, in musical history, such as Bach's astonishing Art of Fugue, the triple fugue in Mozart's Requiem and the amazing six part counterpoint in the finale of his Jupiter symphony. Now that is virtuoso writing by geniuses!”
Nevertheless, the CD contains a set of original Lowther compositions, put together from several years of writing and I wondered how he had chose these for the collection. “As a band, the pieces on the album are from a selection we've been playing for a number of years. We did record more pieces than there are on the album and then we just picked those that we thought fitted into an album context - what we thought would make a nice collection. Also we didn't want the album to be too long either.” Brevity being the art of wit, perhaps, but this also suggests scope for a follow up with some of the other pieces. Given that the selection of tracks here comes from the bands repertoire, I asked whether he wrote for specific players. “I don't write the pieces specifically for the players in the band, at least not consciously, but the musicians to my mind are so good that they can make anything sound like they were written for them. On gigs we do occasionally play standards and I think the band can make them sound like they were written for the players too. When we play my pieces I never tell the musicians what to do because they already know what to do. To my mind you don't invite great musicians whose playing you enjoy to play in a band and then try to tell them what to do. Leave them alone and they'll sound great!”
Nevertheless, the CD contains a set of original Lowther compositions, put together from several years of writing and I wondered how he had chose these for the collection. “As a band, the pieces on the album are from a selection we've been playing for a number of years. We did record more pieces than there are on the album and then we just picked those that we thought fitted into an album context - what we thought would make a nice collection. Also we didn't want the album to be too long either.” Brevity being the art of wit, perhaps, but this also suggests scope for a follow up with some of the other pieces. Given that the selection of tracks here comes from the bands repertoire, I asked whether he wrote for specific players. “I don't write the pieces specifically for the players in the band, at least not consciously, but the musicians to my mind are so good that they can make anything sound like they were written for them. On gigs we do occasionally play standards and I think the band can make them sound like they were written for the players too. When we play my pieces I never tell the musicians what to do because they already know what to do. To my mind you don't invite great musicians whose playing you enjoy to play in a band and then try to tell them what to do. Leave them alone and they'll sound great!”
Click on the album cover to read our review.
For more information visit Henry's website at henrylowther.com
For more information visit Henry's website at henrylowther.com
