“I think you can uphold jazz ideals, be true to the music and yet still bring the greater public onboard with it,” says jazz trumpet player Mark Rapp who perhaps more than anyone else among today’s trumpeters is breaking down the age old paradigms as to how the trumpet ought to be played in a jazz environment.
Rapp is not stretching the boundaries out of disrespect for jazz history and tradition, but he is a composer and a player who is looking for an opportunity to enhance the music that he loves. He is not afraid to take risks and experiment with his music, to accomplish that end.
Rapp likes to incorporate popular pieces of music such as “Green Eyed Lady,” into his live performances. “It has a killing bass line, it’s funky and it grooves. It gives you a platform to play on and a fun platform at that. It has good energy, good time and at moments it can be aggressive. It is a cool tune. We have tried other songs such as “Time Of The Season,” but it just didn’t work. It came off sounding like a karaoke tune. Some tunes just don’t lend themselves to being translated into a jazz vehicle,” he says.
Rapp explains the approach that he takes when approaching the popular music that he includes in his repertoire, “As to how I play a (popular) song, as a trumpet player, I play it how I hear it, instead of trying to emulate the vocals. The trumpet has a certain brassiness to it, and it isn’t always as conducive as a saxophone (might be), playing the same (tune). When I am playing one of these popular melodies, I (feel) I have to state it clear enough that people can hear the melody. I put my own vibe on it, my own phrasing and my own dynamic.” He adds that he takes some of his phrasing cues from masters such as Miles Davis and Terrance Blanchard.
One would hope that most musicians would be passionate about their craft, but it is surprising just how passionate Mark Rapp is about the music and his listening public. He strives to make his music accessible to as vast an audience as possible, without comprising the integrity of jazz ideals. For the sake of comparison, and not being critical of, Rapp cites examples of several modern day trumpet players who he feels are genuinely concerned with honing their straight ahead jazz skills, but make little attempt to provide the listener with accessibility to their music.
“All they are concerned about is playing great trumpet, learning and studying the most they can about music, while taking it and developing it further. Sometimes the layperson gets lost and they don’t quite understand. It is like jumping into the middle of a chess game, you don’t know what is going on. It is really fascinating, but you don’t really understand it. What I am trying to do, is allow a way in for the general public. The way that I do that is by presenting melodies that are known, grooves that you can nod your head to. I try to give them grooves that they are used to hearing. If they are used to hearing Dave Matthews, and they say give us some of that, I say okay I can get onboard with this. That is what we do. We go for it, and explore the modern jazz ideals. What I try to do is bridge the gap between the jazz artists. You will get the audience for a Dave Matthews, Chris Botti, or Radiohead type crowd, but you are also playing some good music that others are going to love. You can play some interesting changes overtop of the usual changes,” says Rapp.
September 2007
