MUSIC SCENE: Julien Kasper has put down personal, musical rootsBy JAY MILLERThe Patriot Ledger March 07, 2003 Julien Kasper has lived a nomadic life, even by musicians' standards, but says he's never been more happy personally, or satisfied professionally than he is today living in Quincy and working in the Boston scene.
But Kasper has found a home and a music scene in Boston fertile enough to satisfy even his varied tastes. Kasper has been teaching at Berklee School of Music since 1996. Even if the name isn't familiar you may well have heard him on one of his many sideman gigs, with Mighty Sam McClain, Michelle "Evil Gal" Willson, and most recently Marshfield's B-3 organ virtuoso Bruce Katz. This month Kasper is releasing his first solo CD, Flipping Time, on his own Toulcat Records. The latest in a series of CD release parties hits Mount Blue in Norwell March 14. "I've enjoyed Boston very much; I've been charmed ever since I got here," Kasper said. "I got the Berklee job almost immediately after arriving here, and my first gig was with the Bruce Katz Band, so it was easy to fall in love with the city. Actually I like living on the coast in Quincy, where I can get a taste of the ocean and still have Red Line access to the city. I love being able to go to the beach in Hull in 25 minutes or less. There's also a very high level of musicians in this area, so after all my travels, I think I've finally dug my heels in." The new CD, 11 original instrumentals, touches upon all the many stylistic colors of Kasper's musical career, but plants its roots most firmly in rock and roll. "Blues for Charles" is the kind of heartbreaking ballad suffused in the delicate nuances of a master like Jeff Beck, but "Bigger Than You" is the kind of roadhouse stomp that Kasper excelled in with blues-rock outfits like Crosscut Saw, the Tallahassee band he worked with as a teenager. The album is full of surprises like that: shifting styles delivered with Kasper's gorgeous tone and vibrant imagination. "I was never conscious of writing for any particular style," Kasper said. "I felt the common theme in all these songs would be me, and hoped my playing would be personal enough to hold it all together." One of the best aspects of his new album, from Kasper's view, is the chance to have a band of his own. It includes bassist Ed Spargo and drummer Zac Casher. The three also form the rhythm section for Willson's current Evil Gal Orchestra. "I wanted most of all to find great players who'd want to be connected to a real working band," Kasper noted. "There is this jazz mentality of just showing up and reading charts on the gig, where the band might rehearse once if you're lucky. That way, the music never really gets to a point where you can really communicate, or have any dynamics onstage. "Zac and I had an instant rapport when we were out touring with Michelle, and he and Ed were eager to be involved in a project like this. We rehearse regularly, with bright smiles on our faces; I don't even feel like I'm pushing myself, because I'm having so much fun." Kasper first had the impetus for an album of his own about a decade ago, but without the added sales mechanism offered by the Internet, he only got as far as making demos and shopping around for a record deal. After that, he was simply too busy with work and touring. But last year, when Katz went on tour with Duke Robillard, he decided to realize his dream. (Katz, drummer Marty Richards and bassist Marty Ballou also appear on Kasper's CD.) "Teaching at Berklee has been tremendously helpful," he said. "The teaching job allows me to now take only the gigs I want to take, where the quality of the music, and the amount of money is right. Aside from that it"s wonderful to be there with such great students, and be able to create my own curriculum." Two of his most popular courses are performance workshops, one dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, the other to Jeff Beck. Both are among his all-time favorites, but the aim is not to train potential tribute bands. "The first thing I say every term is that our aim is not to create little Hendrix wannabes," Kasper said with a laugh. "In order to become good musicians the best way to appreciate someone like Hendrix is to step into his shoes, and try and absorb every element of his music - the groove, the phrasing, his sense of time." "When you get so you can play it all perfectly like that yourself, you allow it to get into you, and can then filter it all through your own experience," he said. "I think the essence of Jimi Hendrix was his soul and groove, and the sheer power of his playing - as guitarists we all need that, but it is hard to capture." Beck, whose early work included stints with The Yardbirds and, later, an unknown young singer named Rod Stewart, is different. "Jeff Beck embodies the ability to express the full range of human emotion on an instrument," Kasper said. "Even in the course of a single phrase, he can touch upon every emotion. What is music about? It's about a soulful guitar solo that brings tears to your eyes, with those fine shades of intonation, the element of surprise, and that certain dynamic flow. I've seen Beck utterly destroy an audience with a single melody, and that's the ultimate position to be in as a musician." Kasper's own album is proof that he's got the touch and the sense of melody, along with the power and energy of his role models. Most of all, Flipping Time is full of musical surprises. Kasper also will have a CD release party April 3 at the Kirkland Cafe in Cambridge. The CD is in some stores and is available online through www.julienkasper.com. Copyright© 2003 -The Patriot Ledger |
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Growing up as an Army brat on a succession of bases around the South, Kasper kept moving, from Florida to Texas to Louisiana. Along the way he was constantly playing in a variety of rock, blues, country and jazz groups, exploring seemingly every conceivable style of music. 