The Maria Schneider Orchestra is one of the most celebrated jazz ensembles in the world. Schneider and her orchestra play March 1 at the Sunset Center. The concert is produced by the Monterey Jazz Festival.
The group’s most recent album, “Data Lords”, is almost universally heralded by critics as a brilliant musical statement on the power of the Big Tech era.
Ahead of the concert, Schneider sat down with KAZU to talk about success, death and her work with David Bowie on his last album, Blackstar.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
On the ‘Woman Musician Thing’
It wasn’t a thing until a journalist made it a thing. This would have been like 1994, and this guy says to me, ‘What's it like to be a woman jazz composer?’
I said, ‘Wow. I don't know. What's it like to be a man journalist?
When I'm working on music, I've got my hands full trying to write a good piece. I'm not sitting thinking about the perspective of being female.
On Knowing When a Song is Good
I know a song is good when my stomach stops hurting. Then I get excited, you know, because I am until something is working, it is just gnawing at me at night. And then when it comes, it's also like, ‘Wow, that's great.’ I really love that.
On Stress and Her Artistic Process
Schneider was in the middle of a challenging commission several years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer. The combined stress of the new diagnosis and lingering writer’s block led her to cancel the commission.
I found myself sitting at the piano, and I always had sketches for what I had been trying to write. I felt myself fooling around with them, you know, playing with them… but not with the pressure to produce something for a concert.
Before I knew it, I'm seeing the worst-case scenarios of death above my head, but I'm beneath it. I'm under the ocean. I'm in this cone, this cone-like place.
It was just this tremendous moment where I realized that art brings us to this profound place. It's almost like an enduring place. An artist must show that life brings the next beautiful thing.
On Fear
Everytime I get a commission!
On ‘Minnesota Nice’
No, that ‘Minnesota nice’ thing is not true. The whole thing of like ‘well they're nice but then behind your back they’re thinking horrible things’... I don't know if that exists.
My friends back home are the nicest people I know on the planet. I'm a lover of Minnesota. I'm very proud to be a Minnesotan.
On Being Pulled into David Bowie’s Universe
David showed up at a gig. I didn't meet him that night, he left before. I only heard about it from people. ‘Oh my God, David Bowie was here!’ I was like, ‘Wow, really?’
After that, I heard from one of the people that work with him. They said, ‘I want to give him all your CDs for Christmas. Would you sign them to him?’ I can't believe I'm signing CD’s for David Bowie!
A few years later, out of the blue, he called me. I was on a train to Boston when he called me and said what he wanted to do. And when I got off the phone, there was some stranger next to me. I'm like, ‘Oh my God! Can you believe that? That was David Bowie!’
He was wonderful. He was really, really, really fun. Really smart. I was expecting sort of a brooding character coming through the door, you know? He was full of fun, and light, and warmth, and kindness.
On One’s Ego in the Face of David Bowie
In the face of David Bowie, you don't really have an ego.
He was talking about ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I said, ‘I've never seen that.’ David said, ‘Maria, you don't watch ‘Alice in Wonderland’. You read it.’
It has fulfilled my ego enough just to know that I was somebody that could introduce David to his collaborators.
On Blackstar’s Brilliance
David's first love was jazz. He went out, you know, riding on the big wave of…well, it’s not jazz. And it’s not rock. It’s something different. The musicians, Donny [McCaslin] and everybody, were so phenomenal because they really collaborated. They made the improvisation integrated in real time.
I remember it was time to put Donny’s solo down. And I said, ‘David can you go put a scratch track down? I want Donny to play in and out of you. I don't want Donny soloing, you know, I want him to be responsive to you.
And so, David, you know, didn’t warm up or anything. He went in, and it was perfect. That scratch track was the vocal they used.
On People Who Don’t Get Miles Davis
Oh? Miles Davis, who you don't like, one of the most important iconic people in jazz, who you don't like? (laughs) Okay.
On the Six or More Grammys Arranged Casually on her Bookcase
It’s seven, actually, but that’s kind of repulsive to say. So say it’s two.
The Maria Schneider Orchestra plays this Wednesday, March 1st @ 7:30 pm in Carmel at the Sunset Center.