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Cory Weeds: The Proznick family is like the Marsalis family
- you just keep popping up: your brother's a great drummer, your
sister is a trombonist and educator, you're a great bass player
and your dad, who recently retired, is a great trumpet player and
an award winning music educator. Talk about growing up with a music
educator in your family.
Jodi Proznick: I wouldn't go that far ... ie. the Marsalis
family ... but music was and is a very important part of our life
as a family. We always had musicians around, always had music on
in the car, house, always had instruments nearby. I think that so
much had to do with our parents singing and dancing with us as young
children. Not just my dad but my mom, too!
CW: Did your dad push you towards jazz or did you
come to it more on your own?
JP: There was never a push. My parents are all about giving
us the choice.
CW: So what, or who, did it? What made you like this crazy
music we call jazz?
JP: There were the jam session parties that my parents took
us to as kids. Then when I was 13 I went to the Lionel Hampton High
School jazz festival and heard the Ray Brown trio with Gene Harris
and Jeff Hamilton. I wanted to make people feel as good as that
trio made me feel. I started jamming with friends and listening
to more jazz like Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughn etc.,
and going out to hear local guys on occasion. Guys like Olly (Gannon),
Torben (Oxbol), Ron Johnston, Skywalk, Linton Garner.
CW: What made you want to play bass and did you start with
electric or upright?
JP: I started on electric. I had years of piano so I could
read music. I had a year of oboe but it was way to hard. Fiber cane
reed, bad instrument, I could hardly make a sound. Bass was much
easier and my dad couldn't play it.
CW: Well its not like it's easy to make a good sound on
the bass, electric or upright.
JP: You can make an immediate sound on the bass. Oboe was
soooo hard.
CW: When did you switch to upright.
JP: I was around 16, end of grade 10
CW: Your dad must have been so excited!! School bands are
always lacking bass players, period, let alone upright bass players.
JP: Well...I wanted to go on band trips and play in an older
band so he needed bass players and I thought that bass was a really
cool, non-girly instrument. Upright was good! My dad loved anything
that played good time!
CW: Well, thankfully for all of us you didn't stick to the
oboe and played the bass because you're such a wonderful player.
JP: Thanks Cory...
CW: Lets talk briefly about your time in Montreal where
you attended McGill and where your career as a professional musician
started. How was it breaking into the scene there? Did it happen
while you were going to school or after you finished?
JP: I never have ever really worried about breaking into
the scene. I studied music because I love to play it and I couldn't
imagine giving it up. The gigs started to come during my last year
or two of school. I think that they started happening as I started
having more fun with the bass.
CW: At what point did you realize that all of sudden you
were a professional and were actually becoming a really good musician?
JP: I think I felt professional when I invested a lot of
money on a good instrument. That was a huge commitment and it meant
that I was serious.
CW: You referred earlier to "having fun with the bass."
You really do have fun with the bass and it's a big instrument and
you seem to make it seem so small. You're not exactly the biggest
person in the world - how do you negotiate the size of that thing?
JP: I don't look in the mirror and think small and I don't
watch myself often so it really doesn't feel big to me. Upright
bass is a whole body experience.
CW: I think people have a preconceived idea of what an upright
bass player would look like. You don't exact fit that look. However,
when you play you don't look at all out of place. When I see you
pick the bass up its like "of course she's a bass player".
JP: It's a misconception that you need to be big to play
it. You just need the instrument that is the right size for your
body type. My bass is a little big for me but I have ways to make
it work.
CW: Now I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask this
question.....women in jazz.....it's now becoming a much more common
thing, thankfully, but have you ever in your time felt like you
weren't taken seriously because of your sex?
JP: No, if anything I'm taken more seriously. People think
that I have had to "battle" to get respect which isn't
the case. Musicians want to play with good musicians. If you can
play it doesn't matter. I don't care about anything other than musicianship
and having a great attitude about music and life. Most musicians
I know, male or female, feel the same way.
CW: You are originally from here then went to Montreal and
then moved back. I already kind of asked you about 'breaking in,'
in Montreal so I'm sorry to harp on this but, even though you had
some roots here, was it hard to work your way into this scene when
you moved back?
JP: Maybe things in the past were not as welcoming but I
wouldn't know about that. Everyone in Vancouver was so welcoming.
It was absolutely incredible. It was a great move. Vancouver musicians
are a special group of people. We really are all in this together!!
CW: You bring such a wonderful vibe to the stage, you're
very encouraging and positive and the joy you have for playing music
is so refreshing. It really comes across on stage. Perhaps you learned
some of that from good ol' Ray Brown. Would you say he is one of
your biggest influences?
JP: Initially. Sure...but later I really got into Paul Chambers,
Oscar Pettiford, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Scott Lafaro etc. Ray's
playing is full of joy. Life can be very joyful. I try to make people
happy through the quarter note. I try to make them feel something
because that's what music is all about - communication.
CW: You do Jodi. You make me happy as hell when you start
swinging, girl. I want to mention a few names of people that you
have played with and get you to comment on the experience.
JP: Oh boy ... like?
CW: Ed Thigpen
JP: That was a dream come true and I got to share that experience
with my wonderful musical and life partner Tilden [Webb] and one
of the great Canadian Jazz musicians, Olly Gannon. Ed was an absolute
gentleman, an incredible listener...that was the thing that hit
me the most...he was REALLY listening to us and at the end he made
a comment to Tilden and I about how we started to sound like a band.
It is interesting how Tilden, Olly, Ed and myself have made careers
first and foremost as sidemen. We all want the other people in the
band to sound as good as they possibly can. It really is a team
game, eh?
CW: Absolutely. What about Charles McPherson?
JP: Charles is so much fun....the intensity and enthusiasm
that he brings to the stage is amazing. He really can play the sax
and has been so encouraging and supportive. I'll never forget you
and Charles Mac trading on a blues!! Fantastic!
CW: He loves you. Comments every time about how great you
are.
JP: I love all the stories he loves to tell about all the
great jazz legends he has played with too! Killer band...I'm so
lucky! (Ross Taggart - piano, Brad Turner - trumpet, Dave Robins
- drums)
CW: His stories are hilarious. You're not lucky Jodi, you
deserve it.
JP: Well Cory, every gig is a privilege.
CW: Must have been kind of weird seeing as it was Mingus
where Charles got his name. Has that ever crept into your head when
you've played with him?
JP: Before the gig for sure, but on the bandstand we are
just four people making music together. The music is the moment.
You can't let yourself get distracted. You have to focus on the
music.
I'm not Mingus, there is only one Mingus. You have to just play
the way you play in the moment and not worry about sounding a certain
way. If you play with commitment, integrity and a reverence for
the tradition your own voice will come through and it will be honest.
CW: Fathead Newman.
JP: (very quickly) Love him! SWING! That gig felt sooo good.
I shared the stage with Tilden and Jesse [Cahill] ... we have been
playing together for years so David was playing with a ready made
piano trio which I think made him happy. Tilden, Jesse and I have
a lot of fun playing together. He pulled out some great tunes. Not
too difficult, so we could just relax and play. He really was an
inspiration. Such a quiet man and then he put the sax to his mouth!
Man oh man...what a sound. He owns the blues!
CW: Congrats on your Galaxie Rising Star Award Nomination,
although I was a little perplexed at your inclusion. If we're speaking
of the Vancouver jazz scene I don't think you're 'rising" at
all - I think you are a star.
JP: (Laughter) I was shocked and surprised....
CW: Seriously though, it seemed kind of funny, I mean I
suppose its always nice to be recognized but with all due respect
to some of the other nominees your name didn't really belong there
given all your accomplishments.
JP: I don't really know anything about the award and what
it's about. Maybe it's because I've just started doing my own thing?
Leading my own band....thanks to you.
CW: I just have the space Jodi, the musicians start it all
up I just provide the room. Your own quartet is fabulous. You won't
listen to me and record an album but we'll talk about that later.
Mike Rud on guitar, Tilden Webb on piano and Jesse Cahill or Dave
Robbins on drums. You guys really smoke! The trio of you, Tilden
and Jesse really play well together. Dave, as well, but you can
tell that with Jesse there is a lot of history.
JP: Oh Cory...you are way too kind. You can't fake a long
musical and personal relationship. That's what made the great bands
in history sound so good. Lots of playing and lots of hanging.
CW: I hear a lot of music but I have to honestly say that
the last gig with your quartet that I recorded was one of my favorites.
You guys were really burning, and the Thigpen gig....forget about
it. There isn't anything that has swung more than that night.
JP: Thanks Cory!
CW: Well Jodi, I hope you have a great festival and we will
look forward to hearing you at the Cellar June 27th and 28th with
Charles McPherson, June 30th with your own quartet, and July 3rd
and 4th with Fathead Newman.
JP: Thanks again Cory !
Photo of Jodi Proznick
by Brian Nation
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