Music INSIGHT
video?
back in August. How’d that come together?
He played with us, yeah. We had John
McLaughlin and Branford, it was quite
something else. We’ve known Branford for
years and were in his hometown. He just
came in and we thought he was going to play
two tunes, but he stayed the whole night.
He’s a monster. I had no idea, I’ve heard him
play forever, but I’ve never heard a whole set.
Playing with him and people like him,
that’s a hallmark of your career. You’re a
collaborative guy, a lot of what you like
to do is pull people in and work with new
people. Is that what keeps it fresh after,
what, 50 years now?
53, yeah. I’m lucky to play with the greatest
in the world, from Vassar Clements to Johnny
Knapp, he’s a 90-year-old piano player. Played
with Louis Armstrong and Miles and Billie
Holiday. We’ve got a 12-year-old guitar player,
Taz [Niederauer], he’s from the School of
14
Rock. We’re in a movie together called Here
Comes Rusty which will be out in the spring.
What do you do in the movie?
I’m a dog track owner, just a complete
drunken degenerate. [laughs] Not far from
life! Just a complete louse.
How’d you end up in the film? You’ve
got a history of acting, but what got you
interested in this movie?
The director called and asked me if I’d like to
do it, and I said, “Of course.” One mistake led
to another.
So you just go around doing cool stuff all
the time, from the sound of things.
That’d be nice. It collapses into place.
Is that how you look at it, chaos that turns
out okay?
Yeah. Life is 16 percent chaos, and I don’t ever
December 2015
INSIGHT