An Interview with Luke Belcher
Luke Belcher is a Somerset based Jazz bass player I have had the pleasure of meeting. He is a local and very talented musician to me, and the first jazz bass player I have interviewed.
When did music become important to you
I feel like music became important to me in secondary school. My brother would show me music he liked on the radio and we'd listen together. I'd just started bass lessons then too and discovered I needed music in my life.
2.Why did you choose to play the bass?
To be honest I took up the bass by accident. I had no idea what it was and just blindly followed a friend into signing up for bass guitar. It turned out to be love at first play. When I went to jazz school I discovered jazz bassists play double bass so I failed at it for three years until I started to vaguely wrangle the thing and took it up seriously.
3.Which Musicians Influenced you?
Every musician I've encountered has in one form or another and a million of the great jazz bass players and musicians which everyone looks to so I'll keep it to notable mentions.
Ray Brown - great all round player and really made me think about what people actually want from a bassist.
Kurt cobain - compositional ideas for all genres
Dave grohl - really inspired me to play kick ass music.
Avishai Cohen - started my love for playing and writing odd time music.
Scott Lafaro - taught me loads about interplay and musical appropriateness.
Bill Evans - the piano trio I always come back to for ideas on playing in the setting.
Mark Guiliana - so many great rhythmical ideas.
4.As a musician, every day is different, describe a good day?
A good day for me is playing a gig that makes me feel inspired at the end, teaching a student who's really engaged and keen! And eating a delicious curry with good beer.
5. What advice would you give to young bass players?
Figure out what you love about the instrument and remind yourself of what you're doing it for. Why do you WANT to pick the instrument up and practise? Listen loads and learn from everyone and anyone. Even a random punter with a not so popular opinion may be able to teach you something you hadn't considered.
6.What got you into jazz?
Jazz seemed like exciting music to play and was regarded as music that would make you a way better musician so I got into it for that reason at first. Then I studied it at university and became enamoured with the style.
7.What part of playing bass do you enjoy most?
I love playing a good driving walking bassline, the feeling of it is amazing. Alternatively I love it when every note has a lot of importance and clarity like playing ballads and dropping a big delicious note that sounds great and just hangs there.
I also love how expressive it is and how your tone is in your fingers. I've never liked fiddly things like messing with knobs continuously to get a perfect tone. Plug in and play is more my style!
