Part Two of Night is Alive’s exclusive interview with Lonnie Plaxico

We’re back with part 2 of our chat with Lonnie Plaxico, whose album Radiance is receiving critical acclaim!

Night is Alive: When did you first become involved with Night is Alive?

Lonnie Plaxico: I got called to play in the session with Christie Dashiell, on the Christmas album. It’s fun, the sessions with Kathy Salem’s label always go well.

NiA: You’ve been a part of many Night is Alive albums. Which one has been your favorite?

LP: All of them. I mean because to me it’s all connected, it’s just another opportunity to make music. I don’t have a favorite, they’re all special.

NiA: Could you tell us more about your album Radiance, which came out last summer?

LP: When I started playing jazz, we had to learn the music of the elders, which was the pop music of their time. So, the music that I’m playing on this CD is for the young musicians. We’re the elders now. For a 16-year-old kid, playing music from the 70s, that’s grandparents’ music. For me, playing jazz was like playing my grandparents music, so for this album I wanted to do some music that my parents know. That made it special for me. Because sometimes we play original music and don’t nobody have a connection to it. So, I wanted to play some songs that the average person can listen to, and think “hey, I know that song,” and have a connection to it. And also, my brother–I got into music through him and he really don’t play jazz, so I was willing to do something that he’s comfortable with, that we grew up having the same musical experience with. The piano player, he grew up with this music too. The singer, Camille, she’s much younger, so it’s like we’re bringing her in to our culture, and what we grew up on, and that’s what all the musicians have always done with the younger musicians. We’re pulling them in, and that’s how we learn from the elders.

NiA: Was there a specific moment that inspired you to create the album?

LP: Well, I’ve always loved 70s music and early 80s music and sometimes I feel like I’m starving to play it, because a lot of young musicians play more original music and I don’t feel they connect to the audience. And I know that when you play something people know, it’s a whole different connection. I wanted to play some music that would connect with the people because when I grew up, musicians loved playing for people. But now, most musicians go to college and just want to play their own original music. And we don’t listen to the radio like we used to, so nobody has hit records, so the music, I feel like it doesn’t connect with the audience. And I grew up in a time when you didn’t write original music, you performed in clubs what you heard on the radio. People didn’t write original music until they got a record deal and it was very hard to get a record deal in the 70s. You had to get “discovered” and until then you played what was on the radio, played strictly for the audience, and I used to love doing that because people knew the music and we made them happy.

Check out Night is Alive’s albums page for the very best in jazz, including Lonnie Plaxico’s Radiance.

Learn more about Lonnie Plaxico at http://www.lonnieplaxico.com/

written by Jacqueline Knirnschild

photo from https://www.facebook.com/lonnie.plaxico1

Part One of Night is Alive’s exclusive interview with Lonnie Plaxico

This week we were lucky enough to speak with the extremely talented double bassist, Lonnie Plaxico. You may recognize Lonnie from the five Night is Alive albums he’s featured on: Night is Alive’s First Christmas; Christmas Ain’t Like It Used to Be; Cryin’ in My Whiskey; Old, New, Borrowed and Blue; and most recently, Radiance, the last of which just came out this July! Lonnie also won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, and played with countless legendary musicians, including Chet Baker and Hank Jones. Now, let’s hear from Lonnie . . .

Night is Alive: You’ve been playing the double bass since you were twelve years old. What originally drew you to the instrument?

Lonnie Plaxico: I actually started with electric bass, then I got into acoustic bass. The music at that time, the 60s and the 70s was R&B. A friend of mine who played saxophone and knew about jazz started telling me about jazz and John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, acoustic bass. And I got interested around that time. By the time I was 14/16, they had acoustic bass at the high school and that was the first time I touched the acoustic bass.

NiA: Did you fall in love with the acoustic bass and stop with the electric bass?

LP: It was like learning history. Electric bass has a history that no one had told me about when I got one. I didn’t know I was supposed to learn the history of music, you know I was a kid and just heard the music on the radio, but then I realized there was a history. I was naturally curious, like hey where does this stuff come from? I was surprised that people were playing a different kind of music in the 50s. I was a kid and didn’t know, didn’t have a music education that holds you responsible for learning where the rules come from. As the R&B music started changing and going more towards disco and non-instruments, I could tell I really need to learn where this stuff comes from. Studio musicians had to be able to play anything. I was with my family band, and I realized I didn’t see no career in that. I wanted to be able to play with everyone, not just my brothers and sisters, and jazz was a whole ‘nother mystery for me. And I love playing electric bass too, but you just realize there is so much more out there.

NiA: You’ve played with many talented musicians throughout your career, like Chet Baker and Dexter Gordon. What is one of your favorite performance memories?

LP: All of them. I mean because these are people I listened to when I started listening to jazz, so to play with any one of them was like a dream. We recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, and I saw these people on TV when I was just getting into music and I never thought that I’d be performing with them.

NiA: Yeah, it sounds like a dream-come-true! Do you remember which performance was the first one where you really felt like you had to pinch yourself, and couldn’t believe it?

LP: Sonny Stitt when I was 16, in a small club in Robbins, Illinois, a small suburb outside of Chicago. It was not like a regular jazz club. He needed a band and someone asked if we could play behind Sonny Stitt, and I thought it was a joke because you know they were asking us teenagers to back up Sonny Stitt. We said yeah, but we didn’t think Sonny Stitt would show up, but he did, and we played behind him. We were playing the first set and this old guy–probably in his 40s but to us he was this old guy–he came in with his horn, and it was Sonny Stitt. And my brother-in-law–he plays saxophone and was in the band–he took a picture. I didn’t even say hey let me take a picture with Sonny Stitt, so he’s the only one in the picture. It was just one gig but that was the first gig with a legend. Then in Chicago, where I’m from, I played with the elders, all of them basically. And then I got to New York to play with Wynton Marsalis, that was my way to New York, and that lasted me, and then Art Blakey.

Look for the second part of this compelling interview, coming soon! In the meantime, check out Night is Alive’s albums page for the very best in jazz.

Learn more about Lonnie Plaxico at http://www.lonnieplaxico.com/

written by Jacqueline Knirnschild

photo from https://www.facebook.com/lonnie.plaxico1