Garrett Gleason has been described by his DC-music contemporaries as, "the best in the business" and "one of the few musicians who distinctly has their own voice on their instrument," as well as a "super reliable pro musician."
When I have seen him play, he checks all those boxes and more. As I described in a previous interview, the first time I saw him play guitar, and then easily switch over to keys, it was clear he had something special to share. His playing is steeped in intuition, lyrical and effortless, but far from simple. When he plays, he can't help but emote the music, "letting it contort his expression, radiate from him, writhe out of his body into the air."
Garrett is completely in the moment, and to boot, he's one of the nicest guys you can meet in the scene. I had the chance to catch up with him again as he is about to release one of four very special EPs that explore chemistry, vibe, and the beauty of musical conversations.
Artwork by Richard Jones
Garrett! So great to connect with you again. Last time we spoke you were about to realease your album entitled Well, now we are at a similar place. Tell me about this project!
Great to talk with you again, Nina!
Over the course of time I’ve spent improvising and writing music in DC, there are drummers who have left a profound impact on me and with whom I’ve developed a deep musical connection. This project is a series of mini albums I’ve made with some of those drummers — Olaolu Ajibade, Aaron Fisher, Ethan Snyder, and Tetsuya Ueda — and each work celebrates their strengths, our chemistry, and aims to provide a musical experience that can resonate with others the way our chemistry resonates with us.
Artwork by Richard Jones
The first of these releases is a 4-song collection titled Fear Me Not featuring Olaolu Ajibade, who also played on my 2018 album Well and in my trio, and it comes out on all major streaming services Friday, August 21st.
I love this idea so much. It will be really interesting to hear the uniqueness of each. It sounds like each drummer has moved you in their own way, I can't wait to hear how that translates into the feel for each album. Will you compile them all together once released?
Once all four EP's are out, they will be united as a collection of some sort — not necessarily an LP, because to me each work feels too much like its own thing, but maybe a way to celebrate the project as a whole and provide the music and artwork — which is by Richard Jones, an unbelievable watercolor artist — together as a package.
Your releases have varied from albums of songs to long-form improvised works. Where does this project fall in that spectrum?
These are collections of songs. However, this is a funny juxtaposition for me: it’s through long-form improvisation with these drummers that we’ve developed our general vibe for each other. So, we recorded long-form improvisations at Bass Clef Studios so I could really capture the drummers’ stream of consciousness while capturing my own textures — via effects, looping, and such — and from those recordings and my own additions I arranged them into the songs you’ll hear. It’s a compositional process I have been working on for a few years that, although not revolutionary, is very exciting and inspiring to me and is something with which I feel I’ve developed my own grasp and flow.
So how did it work in terms of getting together with each collaborator?
For each of these works, the drummer and I got together to vibe in the studio. I had a few musical ideas I wanted to try and articulate rhythms for, but mostly the sessions were hour-long improvisations that provided musical fodder for me to use for the songs you'll hear.
This year has been challenging on so many levels. Tell me about how the pandemic and also the Black Lives Matter movement have affected your music and your life.
As disruptive as it has been for certain industries as well as any sense of normalcy, I’m grateful for the sort of mental ‘reset’ the pandemic has helped me have. My life and mind are a little less noisy at the moment, and it has presented a great opportunity to more deeply connect with my family. I also realize that my circumstances are lucky: not everyone gets to embrace this period in this way, and lots of those people who cannot are fighting.
As a musician who is forever indebted to the profound influence Black Americans have had over my artistic expression and livelihood, and more importantly as a human with basic decency, it’s obvious that the fair treatment and benefit of the doubt that I’ve always had should be granted toward everyone.
With a global pandemic still running rampant in the states, I just hope that this result and further discourse about it can be achieved safely.
When we last spoke, you had a lot going on, not only with your album but you were about to start touring with the SpongeBob SquarePants musical! Tell me more about that.
The SpongeBob tour was an outrageous experience. I was surrounded by a crazily talented and funny group of people, and it was an exciting and engaging show for a guitarist to play. The show was a unique experience for musicians: we would improvise with Hawaiian melodies onstage while the audience took their seats, and then we’d climb down from the stage to the pit to play the rest of the show. It was a trip. We performed 160 shows in 32 cities before the pandemic sent us home amidst our stay in Denver.
And were you also working on these four EPs during that time?
Yes, during week-long breaks of the tour, I would fly back to the DMV and have recording sessions with the drummers for this project. While on the road, I would work on that music along with other music of mine and collaborations with my own gear.
Is there a general attitude that guides your music making, whether it be a mission statement, reason, or mantra?
Photo by Keaton Viavattine
I’m sure this will evolve, as I’m always changing and inspired by new things. But, simply put: throughout my life, many types of music have left deep impressions and made profound impacts on me. The musicians involved accomplished those things through not holding back, through stressing over the small details, and through working their hardest to make their visions come to life. My goal is to put all of myself into the music I make so that, at minimum, the world can have more music to enjoy, and at most it can create a positive impact on others the way that certain music has made on me.
Photo by Keaton Viavattine
I'd love to hear more specifics about things that have had an impact on you. Can you tell me a book or song or movie that changed the way you think about things.
One of each for you:
Book: Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno. It’s a series of short stories of people in different areas of the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. In typical American fashion, I haven’t done much research of my own on life for people on that side of the war, so reading these incredibly brutal and at times funny stories was a profound experience.
Song: "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Joaquín Rodrigo. Opening track of Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain. I first heard and fell in love with Miles' version with Gil Evans, and in further research enjoyed many versions of the piece. It contains a couple of melodies that are simple and patient that in a few versions have inspired deep, mesmerizing arrangements. Miles’ version in particular was a big lesson for me in patience, but there are lots of great renditions of this piece.
Movie: A recent watch, but I think everyone could benefit from watching A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. A strong story about reprioritization and stress management.
Photo by Good Foot Media
Agree on that. And to that end, in terms of stress management for local artists — what do you think the DMV music scene will look like in 2022?
I think the venues will look one of two ways — either like it used to, due to a vaccine being discovered and widely implemented, but with an even greater sense of gratitude for live art from both artists and the public than ever before; or a new ‘normal’ established from establishments continuing to inch toward live art in a safe manner, and everyone making the most of it.
Photo by Good Foot Media
As far as the scene goes — it’s full of creatives. Creatives are always creating, and they think outside the box. Regardless of the state of the venues, the creatives will find ways to share their art effectively, and as performances and events become more public, the creatives will have new art to share from these times, and the public will be ready to jump on the opportunity to experience it.
Perfectly stated and I always like a dose of optimism these days. Thank you again Garrett for reconnecting, it's always a pleasure to talk with you.
Thank you, Nina, and to DC Music Review for all you do for the community!
To learn more about Garrett Gleason, check out the resources below and look for his first of four upcoming EPs, Fear Me Not featuring Olaolu Ajibade, to drop on all major streaming services Friday, August 21st.
