Jeff Denson

Falls Church, VA

I could never choose just one. There are too many recordings that have shaped me at different points in my life, and what I return to depends on what I need to hear at a particular moment. Some recordings inspire me as a bassist, others as a vocalist or composer, and others simply remind me why I fell in love with music in the first place. I think that’s part of the beauty of recorded music: the right recording can meet you differently at different moments in your life.

Movies, food, learning, the outdoors. 

Pepe Gonzalez, Hal Crook, and Mark Dresser

"The slow way is the fast way."

“How do I honor the history and culture of this music while finding my own voice?”

I wish students would ask themselves this question sooner. Our individuality, meaning who we are, where we’re from, what we love, and why we love it, combined with the work of studying the masters who came before us and understanding this music through both a technical and cultural lens, is what allows an authentic and individual voice to emerge.

Learning the jazz language, its history and culture, theory, and instrumental technique is essential. We need to understand where this music comes from and honor the musicians and traditions that came before us, while keeping our eyes on who we truly are. Jazz is a music about humanity that happens to be highly sophisticated. We need both sides of that equation. You have to become a virtuoso with soul.

And beyond becoming a musician, I want students to think about what makes them happy as human beings. We have one life to live. My hope is that students will honor the history and culture of this music while building lives and artistic identities that truly reflect who they are.

Music had already taken hold of me in high school in a way I didn’t fully understand at the time. I was singing and playing electric bass, and I was completely addicted to music, but it took me a couple of years to realize that I had no other choice but to become a professional musician.

One day, I heard “So What” from Miles Davis’ "Kind of Blue" in the car and completely flipped out when I heard Paul Chambers play the melody. I thought it was so beautiful that I went out and rented an upright bass. It was difficult to play in tune and it hurt my hands, so I wasn’t sure how long I would stick with it.

Then I heard Charles Mingus’ “Haitian Fight Song” from "The Clown," and it hit me like a lightning bolt. I suddenly knew that I could never make those sounds on an electric bass, and at that exact moment I knew I was going to dedicate my life to the upright bass, no matter how difficult it was. I use “lightning bolt” intentionally because that is exactly what it felt like. It was one of those rare moments when you suddenly know that the course of your life has changed.

A major turning point in my career came when Lee Konitz asked Minsarah, the collective trio I co-led with Florian Weber and Ziv Ravitz, to become his “New Quartet.” I first met Lee in Cologne, Germany, when Minsarah was invited to play on a session led by another saxophonist, with Lee as the featured guest. Over the next couple of years, Lee would come hear us whenever we performed in Cologne. Eventually, he asked us to play with him, which led to our first album together, Deep Lee, on Enja Records.

That lineup went on to record three albums with Lee: Deep Lee, Lee Konitz New Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard, and Standards Live - At the Village Vanguard. We also toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. Later, toward the end of his life, I recorded a fourth album with Lee under both our names, Jeff Denson Trio + Lee Konitz. Lee saw the project as an opportunity to help further my career, but it was also artistically unique in that it centered around both of us using our voices. I sang several standards, and Lee and I both explored scat singing together.

I will never take those years with Lee for granted. It was an incredible learning experience to stand beside one of the greatest lyrical improvising soloists in the history of jazz, night after night, for so many years. I learned enormously from him, both musically and personally, and our relationship remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.

Ideally, every practice session starts with technique, both to stay in shape and to continue developing. From there, I move on to repertoire I’m preparing for a performance. I’m a double and electric bassist, vocalist, composer, and educator, so I wear a lot of different hats. Because of that, I often need to focus my attention on a specific role, whether I’m preparing music on bass, working on voice, or developing a new composition. When I go into composer mode, though, that tends to take all my focus until I finish. Then it’s back to the bass!

J. S. Bach, Wayne Shorter, and Thelonious Monk. Although I have to admit, limiting myself to only three composers for the rest of my life feels pretty cruel!

New York would probably be the obvious choice from the standpoint of music history. So much of the music I’ve loved and learned from came out of New York, and having lived there myself and developed many close friendships in the city, it has a deep personal significance for me as well. But if I have to choose one city and year from the perspective of my own musical history, I would say Washington, DC, in 1998. I had moved back to the DC area the year before and immersed myself in developing as a musician. By 1998, I was living on my own as a professional musician and playing throughout the DC area. The musicians, sounds, and community I encountered there became part of the foundation of who I am as an artist. I still hear those roots in my playing, particularly in my connection to the deep swing and rhythmic language I encountered through the musicians around me. There is something about that musical sensibility that still feels like home to me.

Lee Konitz
Minsarah (Florian Weber & Ziv Ravitz)
Romain Pilon & Brian Blade

"Finding Light" - Jeff Denson, Romain Pilon, & Brian Blade (Ridgeway Records)
"Outside My Window" - Jeff Denson (Ridgeway Records)
"Secret World" - Jeff Denson (Between the Lines Records)
"Lee Konitz New Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard" - Lee Konitz New Quartet (Enja Records)
"Blurring the Lines" - Minsarah (Enja Records)