I work hard to make honest music no matter the situation - interview with Jaimie Branch

I remember your energetic concert in Wroclaw in 2018. It was long time ago, but do you have any impressions from it?Jaimie Branch: That was a great concert - it was my very first time in Poland and the people there could not have been nicer. I met a couple young girls who were just starting out on the trumpet and they had me sign their CDs - it was very sweet and felt good to know that the kids were into it!I had a mishap before that concert where my mouthpiece had fallen out of my horn in the hotel room and had a minor panic attack - but the promoter got me back to the hotel quickly and luckily my mouthpiece was there sitting on the floor of my room! Scary moment! ha.What do you like in Poland and in polish audience?JB: Polish folks get into the music! Sometime in europe we deal with very reserved audiences who are enjoying the music but don't let the musicians know till the end of the concert - in Poland I have felt like the people are with us from start to finish - it is a great feeling of connectedness - like we are all surfing the same wave together.Are you familiar with polish scene? Is there any musician with whom you would like to work?JB: I am only somewhat aware of what is going on in Poland I must confess, but I have always loved the work of  trumpet Artur Majewski and drummer Kuba Suchar. I also have a young friend, pianist Kamil Piotrowicz and we have been trying to get to work together for a little while now - the pandemic really put a halt to those efforts but maybe it's time to try again! I've read that your favourite trumpeters are Booker Little, Miles Davis and Axel Dorner. Is it true? If it is, then why them?JB: I mean, you cannot forget Don Cherry! All of these players have an undeniable sound. Miles Davis is often imitated but never copied, it's impossible there can only be one. Booker LIttle was probably the most talented and explosive trumpet player coming out of the 1950's and I wish he had lived longer. Unfortunately he died at the young age of 23 in 1961 due to a blood disorder - but his full sound and harmonic flexibility live on in the recordings, I just wish we all could have heard more! Axel Doerner has a way of playing extended techniques where his multiphonics can fill up  a room in a way that I have never heard before.And then there is Don Cherry. The Don, the man, the legend. Don had the capabilities to do all the harmonic playing that people were doing in the 1960's but he wanted to go his own way, forge his own path, play his music and no one else's. His sound conception from his horn to his voice to his invented instruments is clear as day, brain to horn - it just comes out all Don Cherry. I have been obsessed with his album "Om Shanti Om" lately. Pure soul.Your music is modern, creative, but what I hear the most is that your music is full of emotions. Sometimes it's raw, sombre and angry, but it is also lyrical or playful. Is the emotional side of your music important for you?JB: I'm an emotional person and I work hard to make honest music no matter the situation. So yes, my music is emotional, but it is not that I set out to make emotional music. I set out to make honest music and I'm an emotional person, dig?In your music I can hear some punk rock energy. Have you listened to this kind of music in the past?JB: Oh yeah. My first bands as a teenager were all punk rock or punk hardcore or hardcore punk ska - it's in my blood.In may you have released an album "Fly or Die Live". Where it was recorded and why did you decide to publish this music?JB: It was recorded 1/23/2020 in Zurich, Switzerland and we decided to put it out because A) it was a great concert which covered all of our previously recorded materials and B) during the pandemic there was such a lack of live music it felt like the right time to invite people to hear a live show, albeit on wax. How it is to work with drummer Jason Nazary? As Anteloper you do more futuritis music...JB: Jason Nazary is one of the best drummers and one of the most creative people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Yes Anteloper makes future music for the people - but it comes from the same well, just music filtered through a different lens.What are your plans for the near future?JB: We are going on the road! We will be in Warsaw in July. When I get home I am working on getting a new rehearsal studio going in brooklyn after I lost mine during the pandemic and I am writing new music! I also have some new bands working and it's all very exciting. I can't wait to see all my Polish friends again!