!earshot Top 200 of 2021

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

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JD: Twelve Easy Pieces, that’s an interesting CD.

BR: I like it a lot and you’d find that and probably a couple of Michael Brecker records. It’s hard to say what else, but generally some form of jazz or orchestral music.

JD: Bill, for this new CD that you have out it’s called A Tribute to The South American Masters, could you tell us about it.

BR: It didn’t start out the way that it ended up. I hadn’t really thought about the theme of the South American music, but as I started compiling the material there was a thread of being influenced by South American music—these pieces that I’d written. Then I thought, why don’t I dedicate each one to one of my favourite composers, so each on is emulating and if not Most of 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. 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. emulating dedicated to the spirit of the compositions of these people. For instance, there’s, of course, there’s a tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim and, he did a collaboration with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto in the sixties and that’s of course what brought bossa nova to North America, basically. It is a bossa nova, of course and I have vocalist Rebecca Shoichet singing on it, so it’s very reminiscent of what they did back then, but hopefully very original sounding. That’s and example of how each piece is dedicated to a different person. One is dedicated to Astor Piazzolla, the great tango master, who is from Argentina and I struggled to play the accordion on that and with the help of technology we made it sound like I can actually play (laughs). It’s reasonable and it goes on like that. I think there’s nine pieces and each one is dedicated to a different composer and they are all different types of music. There’s a couple of bossa novas and a couple of sambas, a couple of tangos and one salsa-like affair. It’s all Latin themes and it sort of emulates the music. It’s my take of what I’ve heard from these South American composers.

JD: What I like about it, is that one forgets how many different types of South American music exist and you are reminding us, with this CD, that there is the bossa nova and samba. I forgot about the tango and you’ve kind of woke us up a little bit about these forms. I was going to ask you about the accordion and you alluded to that already. When did the accordion become so cool? It’s appearing on many CDs now.

BR: It is. It’s an interesting sound. It’s not a piano and it’s not anything else and it’s a great texture to add to something. Of course, I used it because of the Argentinian tradition of the bandeneon, which is like a button accordion. It doesn’t have any keys. It looks like a big Scrabble game. I don’t know how exactly they play it, but there is a tradition in that country of the bandaneon, like Daniel Benelli as well. But you are right. I hear it on a lot more things. It’s resurging a bit.

JD: There’s a wealth of fantastic players of this CD. A couple that I noticed are the boys out of Whitehorse, I think, Steve Dawson and Jesse Zubot. How did you run into them?

BR: Let me think. I’m not sure where I ran into them, but I have played with Jim Byrnes in his acoustic band, which includes those two, on occasion when their regular bassist wasn’t there, so I’ve known them from there. I think I’ve just met them here and there. I’ve seen them perform and they are remarkable musicians and they have a real magical quality about them, you know, it’s mystical almost, both together and alone. They don’t actually play together on the CD. They are featured on different tunes. They are amazing.

JD: You’ve played with a wide variety of acts. According to your bio, you’ve played with Swollen Members, K-OS, Buddy Miles, Willie Dixon, to name a few. Is that all true?

BR: Yes it is. They weren’t all gigs. I mean, I was on stage with Willie Dixon at the Montreux Jazz Festival. It was a blues night at the jazz festival and Powder Blues was there. They had us all come out and do some tunes together. I think our horn section came out and then a horn section from another band so some of these guys got some of these guys got up and did songs. It was amazing. So that’s the example, there. Swollen Members—I did some tracks for there last CD. I don’t think it’s out yet. K-OS, I played on a session for him—not his last CD, but the one before. I think it was before he got big and he was really nice. INXS was also a recording session. That was a number of years ago. Often big acts would come to town because of the great recording studios and the great talent, here. They would bring their bands to town and camp out for months and often we would get horn section work with them, because the producer would be someone like Bruce Fairburn, for instance and he knows all us horn players and he would just hire us to come in and play parts on some of the tunes, so that’s how it worked out. I wasn’t in those bands really.

JD: Well, it’s still pretty cool, the number of different bands that you have played with, even for a short time—well it had to be a lot of fun. It still boggles my mind that you can switch from rock to blues, to jazz to just about rap—that’s a true musician and all your own stuff, too.

BR: Well, thanks. I’ve been a musician for almost 35 years and part of it is (laughs) I’ve had time to explore all these different things. It takes time.

JD: And it also shows that you’re making a living, what the hell.

BR: Let’s not forget that and if you’ve got a job for me, I’m going to do it if I possibly think I can do it and so far I think I’ve been able to do that.

JD: Indeed you have. Speaking of another of the projects you’ve been involved with. I’ve managed to see VEJI, the Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation, a number of times. I believe you are one of the charter members. Could you tell us a bit about that band?

BR: Oh, ya, that was one of the first ensembles I was involved in. It started around 1980 and I have been in and out of the band over the years. It has had quite a number of personnel. I was in near the beginning and I am still currently playing with the band. Of course, it’s the brainchild of Hugh Fraser, the great Victoria, pianist, trombonist, composer and arranger. I’ve been on half of their recordings and have been a current member lately. Hugh’s a true inspiration. He always gets the best musicians in Canada, so I always look forward to it because I get a chance to do some listening to some heavy players.

JD: Ya, that’s always the case with that band. I had the pleasure of seeing them at Expo 86 (in Vancouver) at a large hall. Everybody had fun and Bill Clark was dancing in the aisles. Did you play in that show?

BR: The Discovery Theatre. Yes, I think I did.

JD: That was wild. That was one of the most fun times I had at Expo and I had a lot of fun at Expo

JD: So Bill, what do you have planned for the summer? Playing at any festivals?

Runge's new album is A
Tribute to the South American MastersBR: I have a few dates at the Vancouver festival (Vancouver International Jazz Festival). I’m playing one concert with Jim Byrnes (July 1 Centre); one concert with Anne Schaeffer (June 25 Gastown—Victory Square stage); and, one concert with Goma Dura, a salsa band which is an offshoot of the Hard Rubber Orchestra, which is sort of a new music big band run by John Korsrud (Orquesta Goma Dura July 2 David Lam Park). He decided that he wanted to explore salsa, so he took the core of the band and he added some actual Latino percussionists and singers and we got all this music from all over the place—South America and Cuba. It’s pretty hip, you know. Again, it doesn’t seem that different to me but it seems like a whole other world. I guess that’s about it for my jazz festival work for this year. I’m not really concentrating that much, but I’m looking for 2007 to be a big touring year for my band. I’m going to try and do the entire country for the jazz festival season that year.

JD: Thanks a lot for talking to us. Good luck at the jazz festival. You say you’re not doing much, but that’s more than I’d want to do. It sounds like a job to me.

BR: (laughs) There is still lots of white in the calendar pages.

JD: Ya, but in your case they get filled up pretty quick.

BR: (laughs) Let’s hope.

Bill Runge’s CD A Tribute to The South American Masters is distributed by Maximum Jazz and may be available at most record stores or check out the Maximum website at http://www.maxmusic.ca/catalogue.php.

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