In Black America; Jazz Musician Hollis Gentry, III

at the end of this interview. From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is In Black America. Education is a very important aspect of my life and at some point in the future I do intend to focus on that. Right now I'm going to be in a performance mode.

Hollis Gentry III is a gifted saxophonist who has maintained his identity in three groups. Hollis Gentry, Neon, the Hollis Gentry, and the Rand Porter quartet. Mr. Gentry is also one of a new breed of jazz musicians who have combined music education and jam sessions to get to where they are today. Mr. Gentry has a BA degree in music performance from the University of California at San Diego and an MA degree in music composition and theory also from the University of California at San Diego. He has performed with Freddie Hubbard, Barry White, Power, and Nathan East just to name a few. I'm John L. Hanson, Jr. This week, jazz musician Hollis Gentry III in Black America. I'm John L. Hanson.

I'm John L. Hanson. One of the things that I've noticed over the last ten years is more than emphasis on strong melody. On strong melody and a solid harmonic and interesting harmonic backdrop to that melody. We've gotten a little more out of just riffs and rhythmic figures into more and more complex, melodic, harmonic compositional bass, which is something that human spirit responds strongly to. You know, rhythm is very important too. I think maybe what I'm saying is I'm seeing a more comprehensive blend of the strong elements of music as opposed to the emphasis on just a few.

Hollis Gentry III has mastered the various styles, trends, and materials that have surfaced and jazzed over the last 20 years. The results is an approach to saxophone playing that can move between blues, romantic balance, the city beat of rhythm and blues, and down-home funk. On a recent trip to San Diego, I had the opportunity to witness Mr. Gentry in action. The showmanship and stage presence was amazing. When I returned to the office, I had to give him a call. We have here in California a program that starts in the fourth grade that gives children an opportunity to choose a band instrument and take part in the band learning music, learning to play. That was when I started. I didn't know what instrument, I didn't know the instruments, weren't from the others, but my father kind of guided me to the saxophone.

What are you in the fourth grade? How old are you? About eight or nine or something. It was just something that I took to immediately and I really enjoyed and I've managed to stay with it. This program in California was a unique program. You selected the instrument that you thought you would be interested in, but that you all learned the basic rudiments of the instrument, some history about the instrument, and learning how to read music. Yeah, it was pretty much all of that. You're learning to read music. Well, first of all, you're learning about your instrument and how to get sound out of it. Yes, you do learn some of the history of the instrument and then you're also learning to read music and you're learning to play in an ensemble format. They take you very, it's a very comprehensive movement. They don't get very, very in depth until later years, of course, but at that age and that grade, it was just, it was very nice to have the program.

Now, were your father a musician or just a lover of music at the time? Actually, he's a lover of music. He did play a little, a very little saxophone, but at a very little piano, but it was more, it was more comical and fun for him than anything else. But he always had a great desire to be a musician and his life just never afforded him the opportunity to study and become serious. Is it easier to compose on piano versus other instruments? Well, it's not necessarily easier for someone like someone like myself that plays like a single line instrument. To then go to the piano where you're dealing with all the layers of music. For me to compose a comprehensive piece, it's actually a little quicker to do it at the piano, but that means you have to have the facility to have your fingers move with your mind.

However, some of my best pieces have been composed on the horn. The process there is that I've I've simply composed the melody without thinking of any of the harmonic ramifications, but simply pure melody and then go back and harmonize. It takes a little longer, but sometimes they do come out better. Were there any musicians in which you particularly enjoyed listening to in your formative years? Oh, yeah, absolutely. One of my father's favorite albums was Can Bar Adely, Mercy Mercy Mercy. Before I had any idea how that man made that sound, it was intriguing. I would come home from playing sports and playing my band class and have you and put that on and just go, wow, that's really something.

You know, I had no idea how to approach doing it at all, but you know, it was just something that caught my ear and caught my spirit around about the same time. I guess I was really getting into music of Quincy Jones. And those two probably formative in terms of my serious listening and serious effect. But prior to that probably, probably my most influential, the most influential music that I was listening to is The Out of James Brown and Matthew Parker and all of that because I was in a couple of little bands that we learn these terms and play dances and make money. And just what James Brown was doing in a way, Matthew Parker was playing over it. It was, you know, that was probably my first interest.

Most music programs or most music teachers are more or less rooted in the classic. Do you still believe that the classic, classic gives and musician the basic rudiments of a particular instrument and actually learning to phrase his particular notes? If you're playing a win instrument, unfortunately, the classics are the only body of music that people that have put together educational programs, instrumental programs have been, it's been the only music that they've drawn from. I do believe that other forms of music would be just as valid. Are they including jazz? Did they include jazz in your formal music training?

Actually, I got very lucky, John, and when I was in the ninth grade, and this would be five years after I really started playing, I had a music instructor who did include jazz in our format. He was a pretty fair arranger and a pretty fair jazz musician himself, and he actually took us and taught us about jazz. He wrote arrangements for us, you know, that we could execute, and it was the first year in that school that anything like that happened subsequently. But it was happening in other schools, you know, it's just not always in the black community. Will you get that sort of interest from teachers and instructors, and we were very fortunate. We turned out to be an award-winning stage band that year, and he took us to one of the local festivals. He had Southwestern College out here, and it was, you know, a statewide sort of contest.

Well, they call them jazz festivals, whereby bands from junior high schools, all over the state, bands from high schools, all over the state, and bands on the currency level, and they compete in their classes and their divisions, and they perform for a panel of judges, sometimes celebrity judges. But, you know, jazz educators and like that. And then, you know, there's a playoff, and then there's a concert at the end and an award ceremony. Well, we went in and we played, and we had no idea what we were doing. I mean, you know, in terms of competing, we were just happy to be able to play. We ended up winning the junior high school division, and they asked us to play on the concert that evening.

Don Ellis, I think, was the celebrity star that year, and his big man, and we played that evening. We played our program, and in one of the pieces I had a long solo. And at the time, I guess, I must admit, I guess Eddie Harris was in my head at that point too, you know, because I think, listen here, just come out. And I had purchased, with the money I made from my paper, and from my little bands, I purchased an octave divider, you know, to get that sound and double sound. So I was having a ball. I didn't know what I was just having a ball. Come to find out after all the winning groups performed, didn't they had? Didn't they announce there were two outstanding solo awards, and they gave one of them to me.

And I think at that point, I was really hooked, you know, it was shocking and thrilling, and still very curious. And I was really hooked, and I was really hooked, and I was really hooked.

And I really enjoy it. Having visited San Diego for six times in the last six months I would say I was impressed with the number of live music that is

available throughout the area. Is that attributed to the innovative program, the music program that is going on in the public school system? San Diego just has a music conscious community and it's there. I think at one time here in San Diego, Johnny could have been said that the music programs within the school district and on the college level could have had that effect on the community and even now I think the caliber of music education throughout the county is still at a very high level and it's getting better on the college level than when even when I was in college. So we're seeing places like San Diego State expanding their music programs to the point where now they do have

a jazz degree available and they also have opened up a world music center that deals with all sorts of music from all over the world and it's an international class of instructors and everything from Gamalon music to you name it. So we are seeing a nice expansion there and educational programs unfortunately I think on the high school level it's starting to slip a bit in quality in the inner city but I think what you've seen in the last six months is basically what you described is just we seem to have a very music conscious community right now and I mean and it's supported by the community I mean it's one thing to have bands who play live music and no one is there to hear them but it's another thing to have a good number of bands out there and

an equally good number of patrons to listen to those bands. It's very true one of the things that has helped us here is the advent of of KIFM radio. Jazz night. Yeah 98.1 FM okay and and art good who for years prior to this you know this trend lately was it was a pop pop music DJ I think 190 plates and Grover Washington in the response he got was just like overwhelming you know and it was curious to him as well but he kind of expanded on that over the years and and actually began a show that was probably only a couple hours long where he would he actually would target the music of Grover Washington

and and in that you know in that show and I was very successful when you got a lot of response to the point where the radio station has completely turned their program into jazz for that. Well I had certainly enjoyed it when I was in San Diego and every time I visit. Turning to a more personal direction of the interview of your current band and his members. All right how's centuries Neon is the name of the band actually I have two groups and last night I played with my acoustic quartet down at Ingrid and Jim Crouchy's restaurant or we just play with refrain traditional bebop mainstream progressive jazz in acoustic format. Now our grand piano stand-up bass you know saxophone no

microphones and that death for me is those are my roots and I think that's that's where my drive is at and it and I used to play a lot of that when I wasn't trying to be economically dependent upon music and so I've I've paid some dues in that and I've become fluent and you know I can I can communicate in that idiom and I enjoyed I think I stopped really trying to play that idiom when I did have to start trying to make a living but at the same time I also grew up with with a strong rhythm and blues influence and to put the two together is what they call fusion nowadays basically so it was something that was very natural for me so so I have both groups now the Neon group is an

electric group where we we are they're five of us it's piano bass drums guitar and saxophone I have my old daily on bass in this boom boom studio that is the D-I-L-L-L-O on drums and Ryan Price on guitar on keyboards and myself when I'm playing soprano, alto, tenor, saxophones and flute in that format any record deals or current songs on wax yeah absolutely I got to get I got to get one of those tapes to you thank you yeah we I have also I have a company called West Coast Music Productions which is California

Corporation and I's made up of some prominent business people here in San Diego that have been interested in my career and and facilitating exactly that you know a recording situation so we've produced the first our first album and we we made it available here in San Diego since it became available last October just on a local basis and we did so far we've we've actually put out 1500 units a thousand in album form and 500 in cassettes and by the time we got to get sets which is only a couple of months ago they just flew out of our hands we've gotten some some very very good coverage from from KIFM they put it on the air people people responded very strongly to it and I think it's a real good product

the whole idea was to do a finished product and and sort of like do a test mark here in San Diego and and shop it to a major label or shop it to a national company with national distribution capabilities and we've managed to do that currently negotiating with Nova Records out of Westwood for the national release of the whole centuries Neon album and if everything is gold goes right we'll have a late August early September national release okay are you all nurturing any young talent or musicians in the Southern California or San Diego area young talent well hey I'm still young and young good time or younger it can well you other contemporaries I know there are there's

a lot of talent here in San Diego I personally have not been involved in organizing and educating that talent but what I'm doing hopefully I feel in any way is is trying to be a good strong example to them something that they can see and point to and listen to and say yeah okay we like the way he's doing that you know and if I'm if I'm at least being a good example right now then I hope so doing that much in your opinion I know it's this is a broad question but have rookie companies become more sensitive to creative nature of jazz musicians more so when years pass I believe so I think you hit the nail on the head there this whole movement toward what we're calling fusion fusion music fusion jazz is evident evident in the record companies evident in the

fails the national sales and in the national charts of the airplane charts would have you they've had no choice but as opposed to how record companies dealt with the previous generation of jazz musicians and their music with the exception of a very few I say there's a greater sensitivity and accommodation for the creative element I think they're getting they're hopefully getting better deals and having more more leeway and more creative control and more respect in general you know from those large companies from talking to you in this conversation and reading some things about you I've seen that you are on

the head edge of a new generation of musicians who are becoming more astute not only ask musicians but also as business persons is this the new wave of the 90s and late 80s as far as musicians becoming better aware of their product commercially and also taking more control of their careers I think so you know some of the older musicians that are that are here in Diego and around the country and I have been referred to in the same way they call us the the young lion and very flattered because on the one hand we're taking the idiom seriously and and seriously understanding parameters and hopefully the history and updating and generating the language and on the other hand as

the young Turks as you explain we're very very much concerned about the business aspect of it and and you know the social political ramifications you know so it's not we're not just mindlessly out there playing a horn because to deal in this society that's foolish without paying some attention to to what you what you're doing and it's affect economically and and how that might affect your future etc so yeah I think I think that I think you've nailed it there and hopefully that's what we're about and that's what we're doing and certainly when we look at what I look at some of my contemporaries out there and it managed to be successful already you know I'll call with Marcel at the top I'm very proud to be a part of that that movement that

is a great thing. Jazz musician Hollis Gentry the third if you have a comment or question write us remember views and opinions expressed on this program do not reflect those of the University of Texas at Austin or their station until we meet again for in black America's technical producer Cliff Hargrove I'm John L. Hanson Jr. please join us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in black America cassettes long horn radio network communication building B UT Austin Austin Texas 78712 that's in black America cassettes long horn radio network communication building B UT Austin Austin Texas 78712

from the Center for Telecommunication Services the University of Texas at Austin this is the long horn radio network Hollis Gentry the third has mastered the various styles that have surfed in jazz over the last 20 years I'm John Hanson join me this week on in black America we we have here in California a program that starts in the fourth grade that gives children an opportunity to use a band instrument and take part in the in the in the band jazz musician Hollis Gentry the third this week on in black America