An unexpected but welcome interview subject at Bluesfest 2017 was The Rolling Stones’ bass player Darryl Jones, who was at the festival as part of the Miles Electric Band. AM’s Greg Phillips spoke with Darryl backstage prior to the Miles Electric Band’s final Bluesfest appearance, where we discussed his love of Miles’ music, playing on the Stones’ Blue & Lonesome album, creating his own brand of musical instruments and completing his upcoming solo album. PHOTOS BY JASON ROSEWARNE.
The 56 year old Chicago-bred bass player has been with The Rolling Stones since 1994 and has played on every one of the band’s albums since Voodoo Lounge. Prior to playing bass in the world’s greatest rock band, he was laying down bass notes with jazz music legend Miles Davis. Jones played bass with Miles Davis in the early 80s and derives much joy now from paying tribute to ‘The Chief’ in the extraordinarily talented collective, The Miles Electric Band. He was also mighty impressed with his first Bluesfest experience.
“I’m doing very nicely man,” he tells me. “It’s a great festival with an incredible amount and array of really interesting musicians and great artists. It’s really something.”
Jones views the Miles Electric Band as a living, breathing documentation of the life and music of Miles Davis. He and his fellow band members, such as drummer Vince Wilburn Jr (and the nephew of Miles Davis), Funkadelic’s Blackbyrd McKnight and percussionist Munyungo Jackson, who also played with Davis, are equally intent on preserving the Miles Davis legacy through his music and more importantly, the manner in which they play it.
“I was speaking with Vince Wilburn Jr whose initial idea this band was and telling him that I thought it was incumbent that we, as musicians who have played with Miles, that we keep that way … the way that we were playing with Miles … alive,” explains Jones. “It’s a particular thing and also to bring on some young musicians … you know, DJ Logic is playing it and Greg Spero is a young keyboard player out of Chicago … just to pass that baton a little bit. Keep this way of playing goin’. For me it is the next best thing.”
There are many stories of Miles Davis being a difficult task master but usually at the heart of it was a desire to create something exciting and groundbreaking. When Australian Musician spoke with another Miles Davis band alumni Mike Stern a couple of months ago, he told us that Davis was generally seeking a personal contribution rather than a following of strict orders. I wondered if Darryl viewed Miles Davis’ approach in the same way.
“Well, it was both in some ways,” says Darryl. “We all know Miles’ history of choosing special musicians and then challenging them to come up with things that … in my case … were outside of me or that I thought were outside of me until he brought them out. For me, one of the things that really became part of my playing as a musician in general, is listening to the musicians around me and allowing what I am hearing from them to inform what I play. Rather than the licks I practiced a week ago … you know, let me try to get them in. With Miles, it was very much that, it was pay attention to what’s going on around you and let that inform what you bring to the music. So that was one of the major things, in addition to what Mike was saying. He wasn’t always telling you exactly what to play but he was always challenging you to step outside of yourself a little bit.”
At Bluesfest, the Miles Electric Band were playing selections from Davis’ albums such as Bitches Brew, Nefertiti and Decoy, the first Miles Davis recording Jones’ performed on. Darryl’s stage gear has changed over the years from when he was first playing with Davis too. From Japanese Fenders to Lakland basses and now his own brand of gear, Jones Musical Instruments, featuring basses and guitars which he has designed and built himself.
“I took a course in building a few years ago and I really fell in love with the idea of that, so very slowly, one foot in front of the other, I’ve been trying to develop a company,” he says enthusiastically. “I’ve actually built more guitars than basses. Keith Richards has one, Ronnie Wood has one, Mick Jagger has one. I’m very excited about that. I showed a few instruments at NAMM this year with a company I am friendly with, Vemuram out of Japan. So next year I am actually hoping to have a booth.”
Fellow Rolling Stones side guys Tim Ries and Bernard Fowler were also in Australia a few weeks ago and told Australian Musician how invigorated Keith and Mick were to be working on the Blue & Lonesome album, playing covers of old American blues songs. Although Ries and Fowler did not play on the album, they could still feel the sense of enjoyment within the band at recording the music of their youth. Darryl Jones did play on Blue & Lonesome and confirms the excitement surrounding the project.
“Those guys have studied that music and when I say studied, it goes beyond that really,” says Darryl. “They have lived that music since they were very, very young and they have never let it go. Even though they have gone on and recorded what Keith refers to as ‘pop songs’… which they are very far from… but that was his way of saying that. The song list that we played on Blue and Lonesome, Keith said would very much have been their set list before they started writing together. It was really exciting. Personally I was trying very hard not to come off like a new electric bass sounding guy. I didn’t want to come off like that. I really wanted to have the sensibility and a little bit of the sound of the acoustic bass. In some cases I would listen to a track and I’d say to Mick and Keith, you know there is no bass on that track. They’d go, no there it is! I’d say no, there is actually no bass on that track and in most cases, I was almost trying to get the sound of stomping with a little bit of a note on it for the bass sound. When I heard it back, I actually had to ask Keith… is this me playing? He said yeah … so I guess I did a pretty good job.”
Without directly asking if The Stones will be touring again this year, I enquired as to Darryl’s schedule for the rest of 2017. No hints were given on that topic but he did divulge parts of his own project calendar, which include the completion of a solo album.
“I’m going to be playing with Mike Stern in Japan in August and I’m always working on a little something on my own,” he says. “I don’t know exactly when I’ll be done with that but hopefully by the end of the year I’ll have something out.”
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