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Just one week before his performance at the Vision Festival, the renowned drummer Francisco Mela granted us the privilege of sitting down with him for a little while. He shared fascinating thoughts and reflections about his career, his experience, and his worldview. It was a true pleasure to listen to the maestro.

We hope you enjoy it just as much—or even more!

Wow, man thank you so much for showing us all the history behind your life, man. And your relationship with music itself. It’s really moving, man and it really touched me a lot, thank you so much.

It’s my pleasure.

I was in fact about to ask you what was the purpose behind your music or if there was any conceptual or spiritual research behind and beyond. But I guess you’ve already almost answered that question too with everything you just said and everything that you pictured: all the moments, all the experiences with McCoy and, you know, all your life experience. So, yeah thank you so much, man. Would you give any tip any must-do or must-receive tip to young drummers nowadays. Me being one hahaha. Or even…, let me let me bet a little higher. Would you recommend us all to, you know, dive in into the free world or would you invite us to do the whole process till we get there? Or would…, yeah I don’t know…, maybe that’s a very bold question to ask but I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I can do it. You just asked me two questions. One is to give an advice for the new generation and the other is what would be the map to get to that art form of free.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, let’s start with this. I, with the experience that I’m having right now with my students and with the spirit that I had myself, I remember that when I decided to be a free musician it was because I used to play at Smalls Jazz Club in New York with these people: Eric Wyatt and Benito González and then a drummer, avant-garde drummer from the new generation, Gerald Cleaver was there and he called me and said “Mela, come here bro. You shouldn’t be…, you are not there, you are not one of them, you are one us!!”. And I said “What do you mean?”, and he goes “Bro, the way that you play is so free that you have to be a free musician!! How do you play swing like that, so crazy?” So I said “I don’t know…this is just how I do it…”, and he said “bro, I’m gonna call William Parker tomorrow and I’m gonna tell him that you need to be here, bro. We need more people like you in our side!!!”. That thing encouraged me so much that I was like wow!!! It made me feel so good that now I will tell you, it is never late to start exploring being a free musician. Why? Because jazz or to be a swinger is one style but to be free is all the styles.

Wow.

What do you want to be called? “Hey this is the swinger”. Okay, but they don’t want to call you to play only swing, you know. But when you are an avant-garde you don’t care… No, “you don’t care” is not correct. Because you have the avant-garde of the free mind, because it’s all mental, the free approach. Now if you were afraid to play swing properly, “chin-chinquilin-chinquilin…etc.”, now when you become a free musician you just play “di.dididi-dididi…etc.” If you wanna play avant-garde and you were thinking that by playing afrocuban [sings pattern], it was hard to sound like that…, now because you are an avant-garde, you play [sings other patterns, more fluid and less stiff] and you’re free. So, I recommend anyone of any age to explore it. Because for everyone it’s different and it hits deeply in a different way to anyone. The bad thing will be not to try, not to experience. But if you try and it hits you like really deeply, it’s because you… Well, something that I remember and I always share with my students is what Gary Peacock said. Gary Peacock said that when he came to New York, he was playing with a lot of people from the avant-garde music, but everybody was playing like this [stiff]. But when he met Paul Motian, he understood that avant-garde music is not something that you learn, it’s something that you are.

Oh, wow, yeah, it makes sense.

And so, maybe you don’t know, people don’t know that they are avant-garde inside.

Right.

You just have to try. Maybe you are not, and so it’s okay. That’s why I say to my students, I’m not teaching this lab or this masterclass to make you or to convert you into an avant-garde musician. I’m just sharing this with you, just to have another tool to experience music in different way. And so, I recommend free jazz music to everyone. McCoy told me “We play music to free our souls”. And let me show you this. I forgot to show you. You have one second?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right, right. I’ll hold on.

Okay, Jose, check this out [shows a vinyl record of his]. This was the first one, Music frees our souls, dedicated to McCoy Tyner, with Matthew Sheep and William Parker and myself. This is volume one. Now, volume two, with different people with Cooper Moore, the same bass player, William Parker. And then the third one.

Oh, man, amazing.

Always with a new great pianist guest and with William.

Your trio projects, right?

You remember? Oh right, you guys put this out, remember?

Right.

Yeah, this was a dedication to McCoy. Different piano players. The same bass player of Cecil Taylor, William Parker.

Yeah.

But a different piano player, just to show the versatility of McCoy. But that, Jose, is my answer to the first question. Now, I have to share you the second answer for the question about the advice for the new generation… Well, I went to the neighboring Regattabar Club here in Boston to watch and listen to Elvin Jones, here in Boston, at the Club Regattabar.

Okay.

Amazing. And I went there and I got to tell you, I didn’t understand anything because, believe it or not, even if Elvin wasn’t a free jazz musician, his approach was free.

Wow.

It’s amazing how you start to, by investigating, now the result of the calculation is that, yeah, McCoy, the way that he played, he was free, but he didn’t jump into the swimming pool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Elvin Jones, the way that he played, all his triplets, all these things, he wasn’t playing like, like, like. Well.

Yeah, the pattern or whatever, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Exactly, he wasn’t playing like all closed.

Yeah, it’s all open.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

And I love how you’re doing all these movements because when you do like that, it’s like all rigid, and then you do all the circle movements and it’s clear you mean free and all the dancing…

Well, and so after that, I asked him “Master, Elvin, I didn’t understand what you played, but I love it, it resonates in my heart so much. What is an advice that you can give me?” and he said, “Well, you are a new drummer, let me tell you this, it’s easier to impress than to play good”. So, me dijo, es más fácil impresionar que tocar bien. “So, make sure that you play good, don’t try to impress nobody”.

Oh, beautiful. Man, look at that, no more words. No need of more words. Look at that, man. Francisco, ¡Qué placer! What a pleasure, man. I would, I would stay here longer, hours and hours hearing you talk. I think people are going to fall in love with you if they didn’t already. People are going to feel your vibe, feel your spirit, feel your kindness. And I’m so thankful for having had this brief conversation. But, you know, as we say in Spain, “lo bueno y breve, dos veces bueno”. So, good and bried is twice as good.

Right.

So, man, thank you so much. We will hand this beautiful conversation to our people here in Madrid and beyond our country, and we hope people can get to know you and your music better and that they can check you out because, if they haven’t done it already, they’re missing a very beautiful thing, and a very beautiful human being too. So, thank you so much, man. We’ll be in contact and, and we’ll try to catch up with all your Vision Festival show and all your music, all the music you put out and all the energy that you carry with yourself, man. I hope everything goes well. Uh, I wish you the best. We wish you the best from the journal, and thanks so much for tuning in, man.

My pleasure, man. It’s a, it’s an honor for me that you took a moment off your busy schedule to share with me and asking me this questions.

My pleasure, man, my pleasure.

I would love to see you in Madrid. Begoña and I…, we’ve been talking about how to get in contact. I was supposed to go but… there is a phrase in English that goes like this: It’s not about the money, it’s about the money.

Hahaha.

And so, I’m just looking for the right one who’s going to pay the right money in order for me to go there and spend time, man.

We’re looking forward to that, totally. So cool. Man, huge hugs from Madrid and see you soon, for sure. I hope that takes place soon.

Much love.

Gracias, bye.