Harish Raghavan
Interview
During our wonderful stay in Cologne, we managed to steal a few minutes from the great bassist and composer — and one of the most widely admired musicians in today’s jazz scene — Harish Raghavan. In our conversation, we touched on topics of vital importance and deep interest: his music, his compositional process, how he learns all the repertoires he performs with different artists, his artistic intent when playing… and much more.
You can check all of this in both the podcast and the written interview below. Enjoy!
In&OutJazz Magazine: Okay, Harish, with us. We’re now in Cologne for the Cologne Jazz Week Festival. You played yesterday with Tyshawn Sorey Trio, it was amazing. Everyone couldn’t stop clapping. The applause was eternal. And that was a good sign for sure. We met each other in Madrid when you guys came with Ambrose’s Quartet. You’ve played with a long list of enormous artists from all kinds of genres, all kinds of music, all kinds of forms, all kinds of conceptions. I’d like to ask you, right away, what’s been the most difficult repertoire you’ve ever dealed with? If there’s an answer to that.
Harish Raghavan: I think that I don’t have a specific answer to that. You know, I think the difficult part of it is when you’re working with somebody, let’s say like Ambrose or Tyshawn [Sorey] or Walter [Smith] or Vijay [Iyer] or Ben Wendel or whoever it is. The hurdle to jump over is learning their compositional process. And as I grow older, learning how I can be heard but also provide what is needed from my instrument. But I think that, I mean, everybody’s writing some crazy music these days. So, it’s not one, because once you learn kind of how they’re thinking or you get an idea of what you think they’re thinking like, then you can kind of get into the music a lot quicker. I mean, the one thing about a lot of the bands I’ve played with is we don’t rehearse. Like with Ambrose, we don’t rehearse. Tyshawn, we don’t rehearse. Like nobody, you know, we just rehearse at soundcheck.
It’s difficult to call up musician for rehearsals, right? You either gather for a session to have fun or meet right on the bandstand.
Sometimes it would be nice because it’s like, it’s intricate music. But everybody has trust, I think, in all the bands that I play in. They trust the musicians they hire. So they don’t have to worry. They don’t have to worry about telling you this or that. They trust your musical decisions, that’s a better way to put it, so they don’t have to say too much. Because in a rehearsal, I always say, less talking, more music. Because sometimes people don’t know how to articulate their musical ideas in words. But it’s a lot easier to articulate it by just playing it. So, with a lot of these bands, that’s how we do it, that’s how we learn new music. We just play it, you play it and you fuck up. And then you, you know, and then you hope the next time you look at it, you play it again, that you make less mistakes.
There you go, yeah! I’m curious to know, do you find in yourself a different approach when you are playing your own music, the music you write, in comparison to the music that other people write and for who you’re playing as a sideman? Are are there different approaches?
Yeah, for sure. When I’m leading a group, I kind of take on the role of various leaders that I’ve had the opportunity to play with. So, I really try to lead from my instrument. So, I’ll be doing solo intros to songs. But yeah, think I do play different. I think with my groups…
You take more risks?
No, less.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I kind of, until I feel that everybody’s comfortable with the repertoire, I try to be the bottom, I try to be the foundation. Because I don’t play my music that often, and it’s hard to play it with the same band. Right now, I’m lucky to be able to kind of have the same group of individuals for a little bit right now, so we’re getting to learn a lot of my compositions, and I’m feeling a little bit more freedom to kind of do my thing. But at first, for sure, I’m just like… But I think that’s with reading any kind of music. I’m definitely like, trying to make sure that everybody’s comfortable before making everybody uncomfortable.
Hahaha, if that takes place. That’s nice, man. The following is also a very broad question. Where do you draw inspiration from? It can also be different sources, not only music. It can be food, books, whatever.
I mean, the number one source of inspiration for me, well, there’s two sources. But they all kind of congeal in the same way. Because, you know, first and foremost, it’s just life, living, everything. Everything that has to do with it. The everyday obstacles that you have to surpass, the beauty, you know, all of that. The love, the hate. How can you not draw inspiration from just living? But also, you know, the largest source of inspiration for me is just my colleagues. I mean, I’m grateful for the opportunity to get to play so much different music. And sometimes it’s a little bit daunting to like… You know, it seems like every other week or month I’m on tour with a different band. Just like, now it’s that book, now it’s this book, now it’s like this other book. And I’m always kind of in the process of relearning books. But that’s like a huge source of inspiration. It’s the way that Ambrose writes, the way that Tyshawn writes, the way that Walter writes, the way that Ben Wendle writes, Taylor [Eigisti], Gerald Clayton. You know, all these guys.
Yeah, all the guys.
All my friends. You know, they write such beautiful music. And who better to steal from than your friends?
Yeah, that’s a great approach, man. I feel like it’s also a compliment to all your colleagues, for sure. Every time a friend stands as a nice source of inspiration is a good sign of love in a relationship.
Absolutely. I mean, but I don’t necessarily try to… when I’m still writing music, I don’t go “okay, I’m going to write a tune like this”. I mean, my process for writing music is the same. I mean, I might have to change it, but… I just improvise, and then I transcribe.
Beautiful.
That’s it. So, in that sense, a lot of my pieces that I’ve written are just one improvisation, for the most part. And that kind of simplifies the procedure for me.
You are saying that you improvise and then transcribe. When it comes to writing, where do you improvise? Is it on the bass? Is it on the piano?
On the bass. Well, it’s a little bit of both. But for a long time, If I’m like, all right I should start writing again, start getting some music together, then I just would improvise every morning when I wake up. Whatever happens. And then I’d let some time pass. A couple of weeks, a month. And then I’d listen back. Because I feel like, just for myself, if I listen to it right away, I’m just going to be very judgmental. And be like “oh, that sounds like shit, I don’t want that”. But if I forget what my mental state was in that moment, and come back to it, then I can kind of view it with new ears. Just like “oh, that sounds cool”. And I can kind of pick it up from there and “oh, that sounds okay, let me see if I can develop that”. But it used to be just bass, and now it’s a little bit of both.
In Spain, by the way, we use this expression. We say, “en frío”. “Frío” means cold. When you’re in the heat of the emotion and stuff, that’s where all the judgmental issues come. So, it’s better to stay in the cold, right? So, let the food cool down, first and then judge it, right?
Yeah, that’s cool.
Do your ears and your heart come up firstly with melodies or rhythms? Or bass progressions, like bass notes, or even form? Or is it everything in the same pot at once when you improvise?
Well, it’s just melody, because usually I’m improvising on the bass. But I know what the harmony is underneath. I’m not thinking. I just hear it when I play a note, I know what the harmony is supposed to be underneath. And then the rhythm stuff, it’s just sometimes how it is. I don’t try to write rhythmic music, or stuff that’s kind of moving too much, but when I transcribe it verbatim, I can’t get it out of my head, if that’s the way that I played it. So, in that sense, it’s like, yes, that was a shorter bar.
That’s beautiful. It’s like phrases that have to breathe, right? And so once you have to transcribe it, and put it in the notation program, that’s where you have to define and decide where to set the bar lines, right?
That’s true. And sometimes you can’t hear it another way, depending on how I played it on my voice memo. So I have to keep it that way.
I remember Immanuel Wilkins once told me the exact same process when writing. He was like, you play it and it is as it is. And then transcribing, that’s where you have to… That’s when you make the decision of calling in a 7/8 or whatever. It’s not that you’re looking for that, it’s just that’s how it popped out.
Yeah, I mean, I’ve written music that I’ve tried to write with a predetermined rhythm, like “oh, this is going to be this meter, and this is kind of that”. And I just don’t feel that. I don’t like it. I don’t like those tunes. Okay. So, you know…, that’s how it goes.
That’s cool, yeah, I like the vibes, definitely. All right, I’m going to ask the last question to you. Is there any spiritual or conceptual aim, research, behind your art, in your art? Is there any purpose? Is there…
Yeah, I mean, catharsis.
Okay.
You know, it’s healing, I guess. I’m kind of jacking some of Juan Carlos’ stuff, but, yeah, I’m always, you know, searching for the notes that can kind of open things up. Or, yeah, I don’t know if there’s a better way to put it, but when we’re playing, especially because I play with him the most, with Ambrose’s band, but it doesn’t happen all the time, but if I can find the right notes and if we’re all… You know, Ambrose likes to say it’s like a fine-tuned watch. You know, it’s just like… what did he say? He said something so beautiful. I don’t know. I can’t even remember the exact way it was, but it was just like if everything is moving in unison to create the perpetual motion, that’s when we have an opportunity for all of us to kind of have a cathartic experience. And that’s very palpable to the audience, I feel. So, yeah, I’m always searching for those notes that kind of change everything. I mean, they’re not changing everything. I’m not going to… But in the moment, they change everything. They can open everything up. I don’t always find them. Sometimes I find weird ones, but I also don’t like to repeat myself. So, you know, it makes it fun to try to find different ways to get through music that we’ve played many, many, many times. You know, just find those notes that open everything up and stay in that zone for a minute.
Yeah, man. That’s also a beautiful idea. You can express also beyond music, you know, and the society and, you know, the unity that you guys express when you are playing together. The stuff that happens on the bandstand really communicates values that are very important also from outside of the music.
Yeah.
And that’s something that I would just encourage everyone to do. I wanted to say it because it’s beautiful the fact that you guys really build a nicer world, for real, by playing, man. By just playing, because you guys are playing from those, you know, perspectives.
I think so. I think when everybody’s on the same page, the goal is not to impress.
Right.
The goal is just to create and to create movements in either direction. Even a movement where somebody’s like “oh, I hated that”. That’s still an emotion, and that’s a very strong emotion.
Yeah.
So, you know, you have to kind of try to hit both sides of the pendulum.
All right. Man, I’m really thankful for this brief talk, and really thanks for everything that you shared with us. I’m sure people will be loving all the stuff you said and will be also desiring the moment when you guys come back to Spain. It’s always a pleasure. So, yeah. Harish, thank you so much.
Thank you, José.
Have a great day.
Yes, sir.
It was great meeting you, man.
Thank you brother.
Thanks.
