mss / FUNK-ROCK- Pt Fi EXCLUSIVE REVIEW as UPRIGHT BASS TURAN . : tos CURBOW > EDEN TTYdone in music are new combina. tions, “I's the end of the century, and everything is Fusion.” Alain’s most recent release, Riythmt'n Jazz, is his second as a leader. The record sh ws off Caron as a seasoned soloist and a progressive composers it’s his most focused work to date and makes a good case for musical alchemy. The strong melodies, fretless 6-string solos, and percolating funk grooves with immac: ulately even slapping technique have already turned more than a few heads—and may even give the purists pause. BVItEVER jand it’s here to stay,” states a confident Alain aron. While the cur- rent trend in jazz seems to favor acoustic “purity,” Caron points cout that the only things yet to be By Peter Murray Caron looks young for his 41 years. He's meticulous, focused, and -bral—an energ rtuoso who, despite his consider able achievements, seems to show no signs of running out of ideas. Although he’s thoroughly involved in every aspect of playing bass, he's also the quintessential well-rounded musician: performer, composer, teacher, and student, As if that weren't enough, Alain is well aware of the importance of technology in the process of conveying hs art to his audience, and he has become closely involved in the design of his instruments, amplifier and strings. The result of this potent combination is one of the strongest—and most underrated—voices of the bass world, The youngest of 11 children, Caron was born in the small town of St. Eloi, Québec, and raised om a farm. Atage 11, after he won a local talent show playing guitar and singing, the backup band invited him to join. The organist ‘was also a capable bass player and introduced Alain to the Photographs by Alain Trembley June 1996 9 mass pLaver 43ALAIN CARON connie {nstrument, Caron was quick convert, and when the bass char in hissister’s Top 40 band opened up, he was invited to tour with them forthe sum mer. “When Seprember came along,” he recalls, “Ltold my parents ‘Listen band and go off by myself I was very serious for like to stayin the Iywant to bea musician. 1knovwryou can’t afford to send me to a university, so the only chance have i for you to let me go” They sid, ‘Okay— we trust you, and Ile For the next several years, Caron honed his ‘musical abilities playing in various R&B and Top 40 bands, Atage 21 he met guitarist Michel Cus son the duo soon moved to Montréal to form a hand, which they called Fuzebe. “The name was ‘we played was on St. Euzebe’s Day so they called it the St. Eurebe Jazz Party. It’ ridiculous!” As the band gained local recogs company contract they had to reconsider the joke. “After searching and searching fora name, wwe decided to keep just the four midale ltrs: LUZEB.I thought it was a cool, weird name—and everybody wie already knew us was able to relate.” At the same time, Caron studied privately and jon and a record my age, ad I sid, T know what I want to do— Se a ee ALAIN’S ARSENAL ‘Alcin Caren’ high standards, discrimineting ear, and methodical mind hove made him c volued pariner ofthe manafacturers with whom he works. For a complete joke," confesses Caron, “The fst time built up his chops with jingles, record dates, and ‘many years he's collaborated with builder George Furlaneto of Hemiten, Onterio, in developing the sound of his 6sing F Bosses. “George's fofess basses have a character that no oer Frlless hos, that's for sue," Caron stale. “And is becoming my sound!” The F Basses feature rich, woody tone in part shaped by low- ond high-E@ pots that each blenl between to cures rather than merely shelving; his assures consistent output level and provides ‘ greater varialy of ones, Alain is ls using Seymour Duncan/Bassines pickups in one ofhisinerumants ‘Whereas his bass roster once included 4- and Strings, uprights, piccolo bosses, end synth basses, Alain now focuses on his electric strings, pre- Ferrng fo use the Fretted axe only fer slapping. He doesn’t have ime to play much upeight these days, cthough he's very excited about a é-sking double boss curently being bul for him. He also hes «Peavey Midibase bos-o-MD| conrller which he uses for writing with his Cubase Score computer sequene ing software. LoBlla Super Sleps (029, .045, 085, 085, .105, 128] ere Caron’s stings of choice; he uses LaBella Hord Rockin’ Stools on his Feo, which hes a woeden bridge. (On the omp fron, Alain is working dsely with David Nordschaw of Eden Elecronis to develop his ulimate bas rig, which currenty consists of on Eden WT-800 head run stereo into four Eden D-210XIT specker cabines, hwo per side.“ hinkthe/re the best speakers on the market right now,” Caron proclaims. In the omp’s effects loop, Alan paichos @ Bess SE-70 signal procester, canal by © Boss FC-15 MIX pedalboard, A recent addition to his ‘sup is Visual Volume pedel, which provides an LED volume indicator, "You lose highs on any valume pedel, as wal os «litle bit of precision inthe low end shrinks * notes Coron. “But the Visul uses 0 vey high quality console pat, and you don'lose those requoncias. ifs he best thece ik” In adiion tothe gear shown here, Caron sometimes uses on Akai MIDI line mixer to switch among hisinshumens end petch in several effec, including on Ako! €Q cond a Boss Octave pedal ‘G-String Fretted or Fretless F Bass Ee ae eros Eden D-210XLT Viewal Volume Pedal eRe.) nea Le Boss SE-70 Multi-Effects Out To Howse PA. CUE 44 oases paver > JUNE 1996ALAIN CARON consinses almost-nightly jazz gigs. “At that time we were sigging regularly at 13 of 1 jazz clubs” he remembers “L was playing lots of upright bas with ll the bebop musicians in town.” 1 1980, Caronattendeda summer session at Berklee Collegeof Music in Boston inthe shor time he was ther, he discovered he was on the tight track musically “I wanted toknow where ‘wasn terms of what level Iwasat Plus, wanted to challenge myselina schoo situation.” How ‘ever, instead of staying in the States to pursue a career as bebop sideman, Caron returned to Quebec, "Think it was a good choice,” he says reflectively, with the satisfaction of knowing he ‘went on to make a major mark on the interna- ‘tional fusion scene of the 80s ‘UZEB ended up playing together for 15 years and releasing ten albums, Not only were they one ‘ofthe most important and influential fusion acts ‘of their time, they were also commercial suc- cess, selling over 500,000 records worldwide. ‘Recent years have een Caron touring with gui- tarist Mike Stern, recording with Mike's guitarist ‘wife, Leni Stera, and giving master classes in Europe and North America. I chatted with Alain ‘over strong coffee in his sparse, modern town- house st outside Montréal and T was impressed by the expert vibe that continuously emanated from this sage veteran. ow important was being « member of ‘abana in developing your sound and style, as opposed to being a session player? It’s very tough to be in a band, ‘because the bettera musician gets the more the phone rings So, frst ofall, it’shard to geta schedule together, when you're trying to book a band, the members have to be availble. UZEB's main virtue was that everybody ‘was focused onthe band, soitallowed us to book: sigs and try things t diferent level: music, per- formance, developing a unique sound, produc- ing records, managing tours—all the parameters ‘that areimportant ina career I's goad to beable to go into a studio where they say, “Here's the ‘chart, the style i this, [want you to go in that direction" —but it’s not in those situations that you develop your sound. The main thing I got ‘out of UZEB was the ability to develop my sound and spread the word. usin somes to have become a dirty word these days, ‘Yes, it has—and that’s too bad, because the Shion; now, the word. ” anymore because when you say the word, people think ofa certain sound: loud and fast playing, with no emotion, ‘That’s why [called my new record Rhythnr' Jaze—because i's rhythm & blues and jazz! ‘The fusion movement was originally about breaking with he jazz tradition Bue after a while, mest fusion musicians seemed to stop imovating. Your music, though, continues fo explore rather thar copy. venever tried t copys 1 try toavoid it actu- ally. The problem is the media. I think people have the ability to hear and like different ypes of rmusie—ifthey geta chance to hear it, With most of the radio stations in the US, if you don't fit that "jaz2” sound, you don’t get on the aie—s0 there's no room for anything different. Some susie isn't played on the radio because people don’tike it, but people don’tlike it because they don’t know itexsts—so we're stuck in a cece ‘The whole media system for music is terrible ‘Today's society isn’t designed to develop new artists and deep, good music; you've gott fit the market. I's trap, ‘So you belive people are actually open to good Definitely! We proved it with UZEB, and I lays go back to that, After we made our first record the whole industry in Montréal said, “I's never going to work; it’s music for musicians.” But we sold 35,000 records, which is more than mst singers sellin Québec! We went tothe crowds ‘we weren't musicians focused on ourselves onstage. We played music we liked and believed, and we were ready to give it tothe people. We'd say, “Hi, people—we're here to play music for yous" justto make that connection [think mus clansshould understand that. Ifyou're too much of puristand too introverted onstage, you won't‘connect with theaudience, Ifyou convince your self people are not going tolike your music, they never will, Do you think that’s a common problem with jazz? Itis, because ifyou look at the golden age of jazz... man! People were onstage doing a show! Pam not a showman, but always try to be con- scious of the people in front. UZEB went on the road with that in minds we had the same concept ‘when we went outside of Québec, and it worked. ‘That convinced me the people are alot more open than the media and record companies. Some of your contemporaries, such as Mark gan and Marcus Miller, have had to stort their ‘owt label, Does that concern you? (Oh, ye! You've got to be very agaressive and believein yourselfto survive inthis business right ‘now, I's hard to find people to work for you at 1 decent price, becouse everybody wants to make ‘money. Plus, I think thereare too many records, Everybody has a CD out! For record companies, it’s become a nightmare to choose who's good and who isn't. 'm sorry to say this, but ARR peo ple don’t necessarily have the ability to under- stand music, because they re focused on making. ‘money-—so you have to turn to independent labels, who like what they do, We were originally, ‘on avery small Moniréal label called Paroles & ‘Musique, andin France we were on a label called GMS; without those two companies, UZEB prob ably would never have made records 1 spend a lot of time sending faxes and stuff like that, because if didn’, asta at home and end up teaching, Pa rather perform, and I think [Pm talented enough to be up there onstage. Keith Jarret has said that many younger play- cers are blradly trying 0 fallow in the jz tradition ‘sa fashion emulating the greatsinstead of doing ‘what he considers the esence of azz, whic isto create your own thing But that can bring you back to square oner if you're original and you play like yourself, you don’t it. I's a prison that purist jazz created for itself. Ifyou can't sound lke Scott LaFaro or Ray Brown, or if you're a piano player who doesn't play like Bill Evans, you're not good enough, ‘You've got to pass the test, and once you pass the test; they say, “Ah... you sound lke Bill Evans!” I respect jazz; I want to play it, and I consider myself jazz player, but [always try to be out of ita lite. Why, then, was UZEB successfull ‘We were lucky to meet people who were wll- ing to help us make a record and put it on the ‘market. Tused to play fr this guy who had ajin- le agency; at every soundcheck in the studio, Pd be playingall my shit, and the engineer the band- leader—everybody but the man who ran the agency—would say, "No jzzin here!" and things like that, I gt pissed, bu this guy said, “Man, that’s cool what you're playing! told him, "I've got a band—why don't you come listen to us? He did, nde liked it. Hehad aeally open mind and connections in record companies, and he gave us a chance. We made an album, and the crowd bought it, But basically fyou don't get thatbreak, you're fucked! And fittakestoolong, youbecome a has-been, where people ay, "Oh, not him again—he's frustrated, because he's ‘wanted to make for along time.” Thats dan g2r04s, 100 ‘Do these challenges make you more cautious? How conscious are you ofairplay, for example? 1 sill havent been caught in that trap. Ive never sid, “Okay—I'm going todo tis to get aiepay.” Teieve in myself and I believe that if Uke the music write others wl ket too.™m not from Mars: talk with peopl, I come from 4 lang family and can deal with people, so my _music’s gotto be like me, ve always believed that if you'te dishonest ‘when you shake someone's hand, you can fool hhim a couple of times—but ater a while, he ‘know you're an asshole. My father is my idol Decause of his honesty; he once said to me, “If ‘you invest shit, you'll gt shit!” Pd rather play ‘with someone else than put my name ona record that 'm not convinced is totally me. [respect my Why did you decide to put “Donna Lee” on thm 'n Jazz, instead of covering a different (Charlie Parker tune ora Jaco composition? [realize you've got to be pretentious to do that! [Laughs] I thought about it along time. I was already practicing all the Parker heads when4 of Alain Coron's Rhythm enced « funky, uptempo tour-deforce | thot showeases his unusual slop | syle. Before powering into a | euphoric and intense groove with | drummer Denis Chambers, Alin shops othe e's complex hed. "The bose tonality is Daved," he “5075, fond a sus chords characteris thot i can go to @ | dominontorarinor chor" Th | ambiguity llows the use of the ‘Mixolydian or Dorian modes, oF the blues sal. To odd depth tothe | melody, Caron creates tension by | taking it “out” ond ringing i back | inside. ‘The fis! door to the “oud” is | bosed on the Gatlered diminished | scale, which altemotes holFiones Song and Transripton by Ala dev0 line with thirds” The miner thirds to vihichhe's refering are G, By, ond Ell contained wih he G chered diminished scle. Play: ing them creates a tension thot resolves beauiflly upon return the conter-key tonaliy, Dsus. The second “outside” option isthe A abred seal (A, B,C, Dy, BF, G), which is derived from the Ep dominant tydian chord, £,#7 113. [See bars 4 ‘end 5, Playing ouside is bout setting up tension that will later cond wholetones:tonc, 42nd, #2nd, be relieved,” says Caron. “I's 3rd, #ath, 5th, 6h, b7Ih (G, Ab, about chords oking you fora ride, ‘Aé,B, C#, D,E,F)."Ifyou're in 0 but you know you're coming back minor and go to the IV chord, G, tothe center key.” you cen opply ha! scales away Technically, the whole “Slam fo take D minor outside,” Alain the Clown’ bassline is slopped— reveal. “I just reharmonized the but because Alain’s technique is in Caron “Slam The Clown” SLAPPING QUTSIDE WITH ALAIN CARON s0 even ifs ficult tell his slops {rom his pops. By using his tum in both down ond up motions ond popping with his index ond middle fingers, he never needs to use lef hand thumping and hammer-on techniques, which tend to have limited melodic copplications. In this excerpt, however, there are no vpsirokes of the thumb: Coron slaps with his ight hand positioned over the tend of he fretboard, using min imal hand movement. Meanile, he mutes al the lower srings with his ight palm. “W's always there,” Alain confirms. He gets further control by anchoring his right hand pinkie agains the body of the boss, just past the C string. Slammin‘! 4B once maven > suns © 1995 Lesion d ule tex Eons Jean-Marie Sani, Alright ees, Used by persionJaco came on the scene—but the way he did it was so strong, so musical, and so good that Pl always have respect for him, Ipracticed “Donna Lee” on fretless, to prove to myself was able to doit: then I started to do iton the upright, in the same register; and then [started to practice it an ‘octave higher. Finally, I played it with my slap technique: thought, I practice itjust for me— bbut at some point I decided it was good. In the liner notes, though, I wrote thatthe tune was for Jaco, beceuse it doesn't belong to me.I can play “Donna Lee” on fretless and make it sing alot ‘more, but that’s een done; figured my version hhad to be unique. I think 've done that, whether you like tor ot, Lust confess ikeit, and I'm still working on it (On Rhythyn nas, there seems ro bea greater focus the writing and a greater integration ofthe ‘bas parts into the overall compositions than on ‘your earlier work agree. When UZEB was starting out, [had all kinds of ideas: crazy rock fusion, Cuban shythms, and romantic songs. This time thought, Pm not going todo tha again Pm going to put intwo basic elements: a rhythm & Blues type of harmony mixed wit jazz a deeper harmony. I think there's only one square L6th-note fel on the record, and one 6/8; all the rest of it has a swing fel The playing seems 10 be more in the service of the compositions, wherens previously the composi- tions seemed to be vehicles for playing ‘That's right. When you star playing, wnat do you want to do? You want to improvise. You start by making arrangements of existing tunes, and then, when you start to vite, your main fous is tll on creating ways to make solos, And the ‘more you write, the more you arrange Your solos, Pm starting to scratch the surface of not hearing the solo but the tune itself the way it sears, the power of the melody, and the way to make the ‘melody come out. I learned a lo from playing ‘with Mike Stern, in terms of how to develop a tune and how to make a solo work There are no solos transcribed in your book Bhythmn‘n laze [published by Les Editions du 5 uit, 7891 rue St-Andeé, Montréal, Quebec H2R 2R2 Canada; ($14) 948-6112]. Is that fo encour- fae otker players to transcribe, or to ge them fo come up with their owns solos? It’s to encourage them to make their own, ‘The books not a method—it’s vehicle to play the tunes, The purpose is to make the musician understand hove the tunes are written. There's framework, and you improvise on it Do you writeon the keyboard? Y¥es, most of the time. Before I sit down at the piano, Iimagine the tune as much as I can: ‘the tonality, the groove, the harmony, the form, In each song, you can emphasize the melody, the harmony, or the rhythm. You can make a strong melody or a complicated melody, and ‘you can make a complicated or very simple har- ‘mony, or a dark harmony. Meanwhile, the grooves the rhythm. Sometimes start with the groove, sometimes the melody, and sometimes abasicharmony. On this recordyall the tunes— except fr “Intuition” —started with the groove, Issrote “Intuition” the way Michel Legrand used to write: with a melody that’s developed on a ‘otf. 'm trying to develop more and more tech- niques for composing, but all the time Ttry to have the framework and the whole idea of the tune in my head, Then I just set them up on the keyboard; I workon the parts and put them into the computer. And sometimes I write with just the bass You have fantastic intonation on fretless. Are there specific exercises you worked on to develop that? Ym still working on it. The main thing is to ‘want it, to make it your top priority—even more than the actual notes you're playing. When you play, you need lot of experience with the instru- ‘ment to be able to disconnect yourself and beALAIN CARON conciniea ‘your own listener. practice lowly, and the thing that has helped! me the most is practicing lots of solo pieces, like Bach's, You should fist get tune with yourself—from one note to another— snd then get in tune with the ather players I've found that if [start to listen to the notes T play instead of the pitches I get out of tunes it’ alla matter of focus. 'vealso found it'sharder to play in tune through headphones. ‘When Ifist gota computera long time ago, | started to practice scales and arpeggios just for intonation, with no vibrato at al: playingall the rote right on the buck. I taped myself and lise tened back to it, Lefichand technique is very important for intonation; as you improve your technique, your intonation wil get beter Your thumbsyle playing has become more and ‘more ever ere the slaps and pops. Wher did you star developing that concep and how ilyou make it happen? ‘ve alwayshad that concept. When I stated listening to Staley Clarke, the thing I noticed ‘vas that most slappers dda play meadies—just ocavesand hythmicthingson bsichord tones. I started to work on octaves butright away Lalo started 0 slap in upstrokesas wells downsrokes and wo pull with both my index and mide n- ses. (a. Note Se instractonal sidebar, page 48] ‘There's an example ofthat on tune called “Brass Licks" on UZEB's first studio record (Fast Eo- ‘ions not many players were using that technique athe ime, which was in 1981, For the past five ‘years F'vespent alot oftime on my slapping, and ml ping my time half-and-half between fietless and slp. You've always been committed t0 good equipment—from the instrument and amp to the sound ofthe PA. Definitely from the very beginning, When 1 was paying in Top 40 bands, Iwas singing: Pa sing okay, but people would tell me, We can't hear you!" When we started to playin larger rooms I was getting a good sound out of my, amp, but peoplein front would say, “Your bas sound sucks" ' answer, “No, is not true— you'elistening tothe PA and the sound man is bad." But you can't explain tha to every per- son, and besides, t's not thei problem, They're the ones who ae listening. Ate al whatare we doing as musicians? We're seling sound—and even if play great notes if don't havea nie sound, there's no point. So always ite « good sound man whom I know, which costs a lat of money. Tm sll working on Sound, because there's always something you can do to improve. [want the listeners to ear the same ting hear, so every time [have a new sound man I sy, “Listen to the record and stand in frontofmy amp—tha’s the sound I want to hear out fot” Whar would you sy t0 a young player who's trying timprove? You should always have fun, fs fal For many years I was never happy, because I was always trying to reach next month's evel, which ‘was impossible. Ifyou fiends tel you you're ‘004, isnot good enough. Go challenge yout- sell When you thnk you're good, go practice — listen to Taco’s“Donna Le” or cot LaF But ‘yu have toe careful not to go too far on the other side and think you're shit that’s danger- ous, too. Pay at your own level. I'you practice something during the day, don'tryto plait that ight, ecaus youl be disappointed. In general, TPdsay you've got tobe proud of yourself, 0 yo can do what you do with conviction. You ave tobeconvinced of what you can do, *