Post Show Interview with Victor Bailey

This past weekend the Opera House was very proud to have the Victor Bailey Band grace our stage.

The evening was a special treat for me, as it was my first jazz concert. I had been told by many that if I was going to experience jazz and funk fusion for the first time a Victor Bailey concert was the way to go.

I was in awe of what I was seeing and hearing. I have never in my life seen or heard musicians play their instruments at that level of talent before. It was pure genius. At the same time, I was left a little confused, but not in a bad way. Jazz, particularly Victor’s style, does not fit into the musical box of music that most of us, me included, know of. It is not a mainstream style and it breaks all the rules of pop culture music that we hear on the radio. It left me speechless. And, I was told that that is usually the way most feel when they first experience this genre of music.

Every single musician up there was amazing. There was Poogie Bell on drums, Peter Horvath on keyboards and Casey Benjamin (the youngest member of the band ) on saxophone. Each one is a respected and seasoned musician that has played around the world and with many famous world-class acts like David Bowie and Roberta Flack. As an added bonus, this was the first time that the Victor Bailey band was performing together in the United States.

After the concert I had an opportunity to sit and speak with Victor about his musical background and his new musical group VBop.

Q: It seems that you have an infused knowledge of music. To me, it’s a testament to the fact that what you were surrounded by as a child has a deep impact on who you are and what you will become. Having been surrounded by such legends in jazz growing up, did that make it easier for you or more challenging for you to find your own voice, your own sound and to break out on your own?

A: Oh, that made it easy because music is just always what I did. Our basement was like a rehearsal and music recording studio so there was no point at which I decided I was going to do music. That’s what we did. My brother and sister, they didn’t end up doing music professionally but as kids that’s how we played. We had a band and we sang and we, you know. It definitely helped in that I knew what it was. I was around real high level professionals from the day I was born. So I always did it and always knew how to do it like it was second nature. There was always a piano there and my dad would show me everything from the time I was a kid. I don’t ever remember not knowing what the notes were on the piano or not knowing the difference between minor and major. I’m sure at one point I didn’t know but I don’t remember ever not knowing. I have a lot of knowledge and this stuff is natural because of that (exposure as a child).

Q: You probably learned music at the same time you learned how to speak, like a language.

A: Yeah, I did, as well as having studied. I always studied. I took music lessons since I was a kid and I went to Berklee College of Music. So, that has a lot to do with doing what I do, but a lot of the naturalness of it is because it was always there.

Q: You’ve toured with people like Madonna and Mary J. Blige, two very different artists. What was that experience like with each of them?

A: I actually played on a record with Mary J Blige . I’m on a record of hers. I toured with Madonna back in the 90’s but that was absolutely phenomenal. People like her and people around her are absolutely the best; best musicians, choreographers, best dancers. She surrounds herself with the best. She was absolutely phenomenal. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s an absolute genius at being famous and it has nothing to do with music. And everybody is like “can she sing?” and I say she’s not a singer, she’s Madonna. Aretha Franklin is a singer. Barbara Streisand is a singer. You go to the Garden and Barbara will stand in front of the mic and that’s it. She doesn’t have to do anything else. Madonna is not a singer, she is Madonna .

Q: She is a performer.

A: Absolutely phenomenal. It was a great experience with her. She is a super high level professional. Very ,very, very, very, very intelligent, very worldly. She spoke a bunch of languages, very politically knowledgeable. She is no bimbo. She’s got that image, but no sex, no drugs, no alcohol, none of that. It was serious business and I’ve worked with her for years. No joke, she’s bad. She’s no joke.

Q: What’s the difference between playing on tour in the U.S and playing in Europe?

A: Well, in the US people tend to know what’s on the radio and who’s on TV and whose on the magazines. Outside of the US people know who’s good. In America you can sell 10 million records and if the next time your record’s a flop you’ll never tour again. Outside of America if they saw Victor Bailey 12 years ago or 15 years ago they like you they see your name again they’ll come back. We’re a commercial country. We’re more a country of commerce than culture and so we’re not as culturally aware and we have so much exposure to TV and magazines.

I watch TV at night, I watch talk shows at night and some of the music is horrible. Some of the rock bands that have sold tons of records just sound like little kids in the garage who like when I was coming up we would have said oh, those guys might be good one day and their big now. It’s so different. But they are on TV every day. They are on the radio on the magazines and they sell a bunch of records. It’s a different thing. Outside of America they have a greater appreciation. In France and Italy their history of culture and musical appreciation is thousands of years old. This country a couple hundred of years just trying to free itself from the Europeans before we even appreciated culture.

Q: I’ve been going through an epiphany lately about how shallow my taste has been and I have to say the Opera House has exposed me to things I haven’t experienced before musically. When I grew up, if it wasn’t on certain popular radio stations or on MTV I didn’t know about it. So I’m like in awe and I’m kicking myself for not knowing about these things sooner. I just didn’t have the exposure to it.

A: There’s so much stuff not just jazz. Pop, rock and R&B and that stuff is all great but, there are all kinds of other stuff. You can go somewhere and there’s a guy playing just a guitar and another guy playing a mandolin and it could be absolutely great, but you’ll never hear it. In America there are all these stations that just play the same 20 songs over and over.

Q: Of all the musicians you have worked with and you have known, who has had the most profound affect on you as a musician and as a person?

A: My father. I mean I learned a lot about doing it (music) from a lot of people, but it was my dad when I as a little kid going to the piano and saying okay if you make to make a Sus chord play a C with the left hand and play a B flat chord with this hand. And if you want to play a flat 9 or flat 13 chord play C over here and B Flat minor chord, and all that. He’s still alive. He’s 77 and so, even to this day I can call him up and ask him questions.

Q: What does your father think of your career?

A: He’s pretty happy about it. He won’t tell me that, but he lets everybody else know it.

Q: What do you think of the younger generation of musicians? Do you think you have had an influence and have you heard your influence in their music?

A: There have been plenty of younger bass players that I have had an influence on. None of them would say my name in the magazines when they do an interview, but I would say I’ve had an influence on some bass players. I don’t know about music. With the younger generation it’s like everything else. There are always these amazing young guys coming up. I think they are going to have a harder time than we did. I mean when I was coming up, if I got in a band like Weather Report, you had instant worldwide recognition - you were so big. I don’t know if younger guys have the opportunity to get that exposure. And back then when I was a kid everything was live. There were no DJs . DJs were on the radio. If someone had a wedding or a dance they had to hire a band. So, I don’t know that younger guys have the chance to get the exposure as easily as we did. I don’t know how they do what they have done. But, there are always great young guys. As you get older you look forward to hearing them. You get past the competition. If I hear a young 20 something year old sounding great, I really like that.

Q: Could you tell us a little bit more about the VBop group you are putting together and working with?

A: VBop is my new group and is more of a straight ahead jazz group. It’s more traditional jazz like Miles Davis and John Coltrane; more of that style of music. This band, the Victor Bailey Group, is more influenced by Funk and R&B, even techno.

At this point I did mention that indeed in the song they played in their encore performance I did recognize a techno sound and feel to it, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

But VBop is more of a traditional and straight ahead. Like if you think of Miles Davis, John Coltrane , Dizzy Gillespie. I play a little acoustic base in the group. It’s not an electric band it’s an acoustic band and it’s swinging jazz, even jazzier than that.

Q: Having been on the road for all these years you must have some great stories. Would you mind sharing one with us.

A: I don’t know how crazy it is but the best story I have is when I was playing Texas a couple of years ago at a University and this girl that plays at the University comes over. She asks me about my bass and I say it’s a Victor Bailey bass and I spent two years designing it for Fender. It’s this, and it does this, and the wood is this, and the electronics are this. And she’s like Wow, that’s a Victor Bailey bass. Wow okay. And, at the end she goes so what is your name?

Q: (Laughing) That was a good one. What did you say to her?

A: I said my name is Victor Bailey. I love that story. It’s funny.