Guitarist Mike Stern

Guitarist Mike Stern has been most influenced by sax players, writes Leon Gettler. MIKE Stern, the man Miles Davis used to call "Fat Time", has a CV to die for. At 22, he got his big break when he was taken in as the guitarist for the legendary jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat and Tears. Apart from Davis, the 55-year-old guitarist has been associated with greats such as bass legend Jaco Pastorius and drummer Billy Cobham.
Over the years, he has just kept moving, working in so many different settings and combinations. His latest, touring and recording with the American fusion band the Yellowjackets, has brought him to Australia.
Described by one critic as the "musically miscegenated stepson to Jimi Hendrix and John Scofield", Stern's attack stuns with its blistering machine-gun-like pyrotechnics and hard-driving fusion.
Stern says his guitar playing and sound come from sax players such as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. While his earliest influences included Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy, it was the horn players who shaped his attack. He has taken the sax attack and grafted it on to the guitar.

"I have always been into a singing quality, which I find is more apparent on a horn because you have the air which you blow with your lungs, so I try to get that happening on the guitar," Stern says.
"Sometimes I use two amplifiers and a bit of a chorus sound and a little bit of a delay so it sounds more vocal and airy than you get when you are using just one amp.
"And with the saxophone, there is a certain kind of intensity in the vocal quality of a horn, so I try to get that in some way on the guitar. There is also a very beautiful lyric quality that you get with anyone who plays with their breathing."

At the same time, the guitar lends itself to different styles of music. Stern says it is easy to hear that in the playing of guitarists such as Scofield, Kevin Eubanks and Bill Frisell.
"It's an instrument you can relate to because it's been in so many different kinds of music. It's in world music, it's in classical music, it's in jazz music, it's in rock, it's in folk and in country.
"That doesn't mean all music is your favourite, but you can relate to a lot of it. Most jazz guitar players have a more open sense. That's the cool thing about the guitar. It lends you towards more openness, to combining styles or letting other influences into your music, not just jazz. It keeps your mind open."

Stern has a huge following in Europe, Canada and Australia, more so than at home in the US. Many other US jazz musicians have the same problem. "There are a lot of people in the States that dig music in general, not just jazz but rock, pop, hip hop, classical or anything. Unfortunately in the States, a lot of the money that would go to education and arts has been made less of a priority because they spend so much money on defence."
Would Obama change that? "He has a lot of other shit to deal with — so far he has a full plate. To tell you the truth, no matter who had won, there would be some kind of change because I think we are at a point where we can't afford it (not to)."
Mike Stern and the Yellowjackets play The Palms on Crown on November 23
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/taking-the-guitar-by-the-horns/2008/11/19/1226770540342.html