Bobby Kapp
SPB: You (and Matthew Shipp) come from two different eras of the NY free jazz scene. What did you discover in your recording sessions, about either the past and the present of the scene?
Kapp: Although there is twenty years between us and each era is different, there are very similar aspects.
One is the level of commitment which was life or death back then and is the same now in Matthew, I feel two is that the need to adjust the system of the ‘60s was urgent. Personal freedom was on the line and young people were " dropping out," no matter what the risk, to express themselves and protest oppression of any kind. This is beginning to happen again now because of "45" etc, and as a result, conventional art (which can be beautiful and valid) is still too limited for these new urgent times.
Third, I could find the sound of the people I played with in the sixties in my drums!
With the people I've recorded with lately, some are Ivo Perleman, Ras Moshe, Tyler Mitchell, and especially Matthew Shipp. I get their core sound deep in my drums...This is powerful, spiritual, vibrational therapy heading out into the planet. It seems to fill me with new restorative life energy: practical immortality, if you will.
