By Todd Matthews

As young musicians in Philadelphia more than a decade ago, bassist John Seman and percussionist Mark Ostrowski hosted informal jam sessions with their high school bandmates—creating self-described "live, acoustic, sonic gymnastic hallucinations." Parting ways for college, the pair re-joined in Seattle in 2000, and formed the Monktail Creative Music Concern. The result is a collective with more than two-dozen composers, musicians and artists exploring the atypical and exigent in improvised jazz through nearly a dozen different noms de plume: Non Grata (a band performing patterns, textures and forms developed through ensemble practice in a "spontaneous music combat zone"); Special Ops (the "improvisation commando unit"); and Deal's Number (tenor saxophone trio dedicated to fusing contemporary serious composition with small group improvisation). I recently caught up with Seman to discuss the genre of improvised jazz, musical elements of the Monktail Creative Concern, and challenges associated with the appreciation of avant-garde jazz.

TODD MATTHEWS: When most people think of jazz, they think of 'experimental' and 'traditional.' What are the differences between Monktail's music and traditional jazz standards?

JOHN SEMAN: We all have a background in traditional jazz. We've all gone to school and played traditional gigs. A few guys regularly do that. Izaak [Mills] goes out on the street and plays standards. The idea behind what we are doing is to utilize those skills in a way where your parameters are outside the traditional jazz framework. Four of us are trained composers. I have a degree in ethnomusicology, with a lot of West African and Indian influence. We've got all these different elements. The way to work them is through that jazz context. It's jazz. But that seems to be where people put stuff that they can't put anywhere else. They call it jazz because of the improv element. We're just trying to use those things, and the telepathy that we have as a unit, to create a broader palate than just standards. It's an experiment because we never know precisely what is going to happen when we start. I think Art Tatum didn't know exactly where he was going when he started playing. It's that sort of absurd level. I mean, come on, jazz is American music and everything [in America] is absurd. So it's a reflection of that. Is it experimental? I don't really have a good term for it. It's definitely mixing some of the absurd with some of the really proficient players we have. I get a kick out of that. We'll be doing some bizarre pattern. On top of that, we will have a be-bop line. There's a lot of humor in it, for sure.

Monktail members (Left to Right) John Seman, Mark Ostrowski, and Stephen Parris
+ + photo courtesy Monktail Creative Music Concern + +

TODD MATTHEWS: How much of your classical teachings do you have to throw out in order to play experimental music?

JOHN SEMAN: Personally, I have to kind of let go of thinking about that stuff. It's me just getting sound out of the instrument any way possible, which is how it ends up being an extended technique and seemingly avant-garde. I don't know why that's avant-garde. It's just an extension of traditional playing. I use that [classic jazz] stuff for practice material. I let that stuff go because, when I'm focusing on it, I find it much harder to accomplish something given our setting because you have to have your radar on. I've found that when I let that go, once I dive in and immerse myself, it's all just there. That energy works within the group. Mark and I will stop on a dime, out of nowhere, and when that happens it is so energizing. That's just me personally, and how I relate to my instrument. I studied with some fantastic educators and bass teachers, but I've always been struggling with that little dialectic that when I play—not eschewing the traditional stuff—there's so much more that's there. I've also found that practicing scales and all that stuff, that just gives you chops. It gets you limber. It's just like working out.

TODD MATTHEWS: What do you think people need to know about experimental jazz in order to appreciate it?

JOHN SEMAN: I think it's music that requires effort as a listener. It's happening live. It's not rehearsed per se. We're all along for the same ride. If the stuff is getting pretty good, then we're all into it—the audience and the musicians. If it's going somewhere else, then we keeping juggling and try to get something out of it. Some nights it's just good all night. Other nights, you have to struggle to get something meaningful. When it does happen, it's very powerful. You can feel the room change. Most audiences just want to be entertained. Our music can do that, if you are open to it. It can do more if you work at it. In the avant-garde scene, whatever that is, there are a lot of heavy dudes who close their eyes and take shallow breaths when they listen to the music. Whatever you need to do to get whatever you need to get out of it.

Learn more about the Monktail Creative Music Concern online at http://www.monktail.com/

This interview originally appeared in Tablet newspaper.