How would you classify your music?
Bruce Jones and I record what is fundamentally Brazilian-oriented music. Our new release, Forever (https://billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com/album/forever), is our third Extreme Flute project. The earlier two we did were (1) Desvio (https://billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com/track/desvio) and (2) Grain of Sand (https://billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com/album/grain-of-sand).
Bruce was raised in Brazil, and because he does most of the writing and arranging, the Brazilian aspect of the album is a very natural consequence. However, his style incorporates a lot of other elements, such as hip hop, ambient and rock. So our recording projects are something of a mixed bag. In any event, Bruce’s music always has a dreamy and chant-like quality that I really like—both to listen to, and to improvise with.
I might mention that I have recorded several other acoustic recordings. However, they are more more jazz and Latin oriented (https://billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com/music).
Who are some of your major musical influences?
That is a VERY BIG question!
I grew up in a small town (Port Colborne, Ontario) listening to classical music (which my mother liked), and listening to jazz (which my father liked). In addition, being a child of the 60s, I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Stones!
However, in my 20s, I turned away from classical music and, at that point, my biggest influences were unquestionably John Coltrane and Miles Davis.
There are far too many other jazz influences for me to catalogue here. But if I were to cite just a few, right this very second, then I would say Cannonball Adderley, Clifford Brown, Lester Young, Errol Garner and Louis Armstrong.
I have also been VERY strongly influenced by vocalists, notably R&B/soul singers, such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Nina Simone.
How is the music scene in your city?
Here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, we have a LOT of world-class musicians—on every instrument, and in every genre. However, with Covid, the scene has been absolutely decimated—for ALL of us—and about this, there is absolutely no pretending or denying, especially in my case as a freelance flutist!
When did you know that you were destined for music?
As a child, I was captivated by all the music that I was hearing. When I started to play the flute as a youngster, there was no stopping me. By high school, I was traveling from my small home town of Port Colborne to Toronto, every few weeks, to study with the distinguished Canadian flutist/composer, Robert Aitken, who after a few lessons, sat me down and told me that I really should consider a career in classical performance…However, I ended up going in an entirely different direction—and I became an accountant instead!…
But I kept practicing and, in my early 20s, I decided that I didn’t want to read music anymore, and that I would rather improvise. So I started to learn how to improvise by playing bebop with my friends. Over the years, I got better and better at it, and by the age of about 40, I found myself working at accounting during the day, but playing and recording music with whatever time was left over. As I developed a reputation and started to get more work, I turned to music as a full-time professional.
What is the best concert you have ever been to?
For me, the best concert ever was one at which I actually played. It was a big opening season gala concert at the prestigious Koerner Hall here in Toronto with the legendary flutist, Sir James Galway! He was doing a rare event in town and, about a month before his engagement (…after I had already bought tickets for me and my wife to attend…) he called me and said that he wanted me to perform and be part of the concert program!
That was staggering to me…not to mention a huge honor!…
I might say that Sir James has always been a big supporter of my work ever since he first heard some of my recordings in and around 2005. And he actually solicited me, personally, to serve as his Resident Jazz Flute Specialist on his official website at that time.
Is there a song on your latest CD release here that stands out as your personal favorite, and why?
That’s an interesting question because I have found that different people pick different tunes as favorites from the album. In fact, various people have picked each one of the tunes on the album as a favorite!
In my own case, I like ALL of them. But I love Robin Latimer’s electric bass work on “Dreams and Light”, because she gets a Joe Osborn “Bridge-Over-Troubled-Water” vibe on it that is so rarely done anymore…I have no idea how she managed to do that!…But for me, her bass work on that track is a highlight of the entire album!…
How have you evolved as an artist over the past year?
I suppose I always HAVE to be evolving as an improvisor, especially because as a freelance improvisor, I am called upon to be able to play in so many different contexts. But what has been really thrilling in the past few years is being asked to play completely free music. The improvisatory “risk factor” in this idiom is at the max…so this is genuinely “thrilling” for someone like me…)
Fortunately, a couple of the free players I have been working with are really remarkable; notably, Bill Gilliam (on piano) and Eugene Martynec (on electro-acoustics). In fact, we just recorded an album, Light Through Dark, that Bill Gilliam hopes release later this year (2021) or next year (2022). There is no denying that this album is “a horse of a very different color”. But it turned out to be amazing! So watch for it: Gilliam, Martynec, McBirnie, Light Through Dark!
What’s next for you?
The live music scene for an improvising freelance flutist has always been difficult, in the best of times. But with the pandemic, it has been far worse. And I have to be honest about that, because there is no point in being a Pollyanna about a reality that we ALL now face.
So I have tried to branch out into a couple of new areas; notably (1) remote recording/overdubbing (https://sites.google.com/view/extreme-flute-remote-overdubs/home), and (2) online teaching (http://www.extremeflute.com/services.html). I suppose this has helped me to a limited extent.
However, what was really surprising to me is that, at the beginning of the pandemic, I wrote and published a book entitled, The Technique and Theory of Improvisation; A practical guide for flutists, doublers and other instrumentalists (https://www.amazon.com/Technique-Theory-Improvisation-practical-instrumentalists/dp/1999227301/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr).
Writing and publishing that book has turned out to be the smartest move I ever made in my musical career, because the revenues from that book alone have out-stripped, by far, ALL of my other sources of income from music, whether it’s from performing, recording, teaching, CD sales, music downloads…Everything!…
Who would have ever thunk it!… (…Certainly not me!…)
Thanks for listening!
BANDCAMP: https://billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com/album/forever
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/57FfqwsmkTnfrbrI3m5ig2?autoplay=true
End of Interview