!earshot Top 200 of 2021

Jazz, of course, but hip hop, blues and pop, too.

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Bill Runge is a largely
self taught multi-instrumentalistBill Runge is a musician’s musician. The funny thing is that he’s big on silence, at least, at home. In the jazz world he has been a part of Hugh Fraser’s VEJI; B3 with the great Bob Murphy and Buff Allen; his own Creatures of Habit and numerous other projects. As a studio musician he has received calls to play on the albums of Swollen Members, INXS, K-OS and many others. He has been part of both The Powder Blues Band, and Jim Byrnes’ band. Mostly self-taught, he plays saxophones, flute, clarinets, both electric and sting bass, guitar, penny whistle and lately he’s been dabbling with the accordion. He has been a successful performer, composer, arranger and orchestrator for over 30 years. His new CD, A Tribute to the South American Masters combines a variety of Latin music with his own jazz stylings while paying homage to musicians who brought Latin music to the rest of the world. I caught up to him in Vancouver, shortly after his most recent tour.

JD: First let’s find out about your background and stuff, Brian. When did you first show an interest in music?

BR: Oh, I think I was twelve, maybe around grade six. There was a teacher who taught the mandatory recorder class. I liked playing the recorder and he played guitar. He was sort of a ‘folkie’ guy and he would sing songs and we’d play the melody on the recorder. One of the kids had a C-melody saxophone. I thought it was pretty cool and that was the first exposure.

JD: Were your parents musically inclined?

BR: No. Well actually my grandmother did play the piano and my mother as well, but since we didn’t have a piano, I never did hear them play (laughs), so I don’t know how important that was.

JD: Over the years then, who taught you the most about music?

BR: Um, that’s a tough question. Well, truthfully I’m mostly self-taught, but I’d have to say that learning by example from great musicians and studying records is something that all of us do to hone our craft, but I’d also say that I did have a teacher, when I was a teenager—one of several—but he was really good in teaching me how to teach myself. He sort of showed me the way that you could do your own analysis and figure out what you needed to study on your own--sort of a self motivation, because you can’t always have a teacher there to tell you what to do.

JD: That’s true. Give him a plug. Who was the teacher?

BR: Klaus Pinto, and I think he’s living in White Rock, BC, now.

JD: Bill, you are a composer, arranger, performer—you’re kind of doing it all. What is your favourite part? What do you like doing the best?

BR: I’ve liked everything, but I find that as I’m getting older, that I really like working on orchestration, which I would say is a form of arranging, but a little more involved; but, definitely the composition/arranging, because I like to be able to hear the finished product and it lives on. Music is much more ephemeral in performance. You play it and it’s gone. You have the feeling of what it’s like, but when you finish playing it’s gone. To have something that exists and can be played again and have a continuing life—I think I’m liking that a lot.

JD: That does make sense: the continuing aspect and for posterity and the like. Now, you’ve been a part of many different kinds of bands. You’ve been a part of such bands as Powder Blues, Jim Byrnes’ band, your Creatures of Habit jazz group and B3 with Bob Murphy and Buff Allen and not to mention your most recent band. It’s just amazing that you play all different kinds of music. How do you manage to do that—switch from one format to another—you know—it doesn’t seem to be any problem for you.

BR: I don’t know. I just always try to be faithful to what I’m doing—I mean most of As I started compiling the material there was a thread of being influenced by South American music-these pieces that I'd written. what I’m doing is based on one kind of Afro American forms or another; you know the jazz, blues, R&B and even rock if you want to put that under the same umbrella. It’s only recently that I’ve been interested in orchestral and other things. I just like it all, so I guess it feels natural to do all the different things. Maybe I’m saying that a lot of them aren’t that different in my mind.

JD: Ok. Let’s talk about the kind of music that you like. If I were to go to your house right now and hit the button on your CD player. What would pop out?

BR: Nothing.

JD: Nothing?

BR: I don’t listen to much music and the reason is that I’m around music a lot already and I prefer to have quiet (laughs), but if you go into my car—I’ll tell you what you would find in the CD player. You’d find Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, which is a recent release of her doing a bunch of her tunes, but they are arranged for orchestra. So, I’m getting back to that orchestral thing and you’d find a CD by Anne Schaeffer from Victoria, who is a friend of mine and is a great singer songwriter. I did play on the CD, but I really like what she does. We’ve talked about collaborating on a tour sometime in the fall. Her music is somewhat Latin based as she lived in Argentina for awhile.

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