Rick Holland, JR247: Jim, Welcome to JR247.com and sharing your time with us. I’d like to start by asking you where are you from and how did you get involved with music? Maybe an add-on to this question, when did you become specifically interested in Jazz?

Jim Rotondi: Thank you, Rick. I was born in Butte, Montana, the youngest of 5 children. My mother was and still is a piano teacher, so there was always music in the house. My first instrument was actually the piano, which I started at age 8. I took up the trumpet at 12 years old when I got in the junior-high band. Actually, it would have been trombone, but I was too short to reach past 2nd position.

JR247:  Tell us about some of your educational background, and specifically, musicians and teachers who helped shape your musical sensibilities.

Jim R: My first trumpet teacher was a great trombonist in Butte whose name is Larry Cragwick. He really started me out on the right foot in terms of breathing properly and the fundamental principles of playing a brass instrument. Also, at this time I remember that when I was supposed to be practicing my piano exercises, I was messing around with chords and basically teaching myself jazz harmony and theory. After I graduated from high school, I went to the University of Oregon for two years, not in the music school but as an undeclared major. When I realized that I was practicing more than a lot of the music majors there, I kind of decided that I should move to a school where a little more was happening (though I will say that Steve Owen and U of O’s jazz department are really great now). After Oregon I went to North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas). There were a lot of really great players there at that time, such as Craig Handy, pianist Bill Carrothers (who scared the shit out of me when I first heard him), trumpeter Steve Herrman and saxophonist James Farnsworth. My best experience there as far as a teacher was concerned was with a guy by the name of Don Jacoby, who didn’t actually teach at the school, but all the cats were going to his house for lessons, so I figured there must be a reason. He was the best person I ever knew, except maybe Bobby Shew, at making the physical part of the trumpet thing simple and logical. I still use a lot of what I learned from him in my teaching today. After North Texas, I moved to New York in 1987. As soon as I got here, I started hanging out and sitting in, eventually meeting the great trumpeter Bill Hardman, who became my next teacher, though we never had any actual lessons. I would just go over to his house every week with Joe Farnsworth and Eric Alexander and we would have jam sessions. Needless to say, that was like my graduate school. Around this time I also met and got to play with two great saxophonists, Junior Cook and Cecil Payne. That was truly an inspiring time. After that, other musicians who have been influential are George Coleman, who has truly been like a father to all of my close colleagues and me, Curtis Fuller, Lou Donaldson, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Earland and all the guys in One For All: Joe Farnsworth, Eric Alexander, Steve Davis, and David Hazeltine.

JR247: Let’s move to the current, what kinds of performance things are you doing lately?

Jim R: Well, as I mentioned, I am a member of One For All, which is a collective sextet, and I have two of my own groups: a quintet which features Joe Locke in the front line, and my electric band, which is more-or-less the continuation of a band I co-led with David Hazeltine called Full House. In that band I try to experiment with updated song forms and composers, like Stevie Wonder and Carole King, and I also use electronic effects on my trumpet, and even play a little synthesizer too. I also work with Toshiko Akiyoshi’s big band and I’m doing a tour with Bob Mintzer’s band this spring.

JR247:  Are there any groups you are in that you feel particularly strongly about?

Jim R: Well, playing with One For All has always felt completely natural. All of us seem to be so like minded musically that it always clicks.

JR247: Jim we’ve been running a series of articles on the State of Jazz. What direction do you see jazz or improvised music headed in?

Jim R: I feel like the music has to continue to evolve and embrace newer sounds and feels. I hear groups now incorporating hip-hop and other R&B influences and I really like it. If it’s honest, it will sound like it.

JR247: Along with this last question, we’ve been asking all our interviewees if there involved in teaching Jazz?

Jim R: Yes, I am actually very involved in teaching. I am an affiliate member of the faculty at SUNY/Purchase, which includes Kenny Washington, Jon Faddis, Ray Vega, Scott Wendholt, and Steve Wilson, among many others. I also teach every summer at the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshop, and have served on the faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In addition, I am a Conn-Selmer artist, so I do various other clinics and workshops for them.

JR247: In our first article on the state of Jazz, there were varied responses on just how people learn and assimilate the music. Some people feel jazz education is a waste and you have to learn how to play on your own. Do you agree?

Jim R: To a degree, I do. That is to say, I don’t think someone should expect any given institution to make them into a player. For me, a good reason to choose a school would include: 1. Proximity to a metro area that has a good active scene (for me, New York). 2. Quality of faculty. I think that knowing that your teacher can play and does play in a competitive market a lot is important and motivating. 3. A good student community that will encourage you to play a lot and step up your game all the time.

JR247:  What direction do you see jazz ed. headed in?

Jim R: It seems like the trend for performers these days is to get a teaching position that will accommodate and complement an active performing schedule, which is great for students because it means that now more than ever, the are more likely to have a teacher who has real working experience and brings bandstand experience to the table.

JR247:  Jim, are there any special techniques or concepts you employ and like to teach?

Jim R: Well, as a trumpet player who started out on the piano, I constantly encourage my students to play the piano, even if it’s just hacking a tune out, so they can see all the note possibilities in a chord. Also, I really feel like understanding harmony in depth, which means understanding all the mathematical possibilities in any given progression, is critically important. That I learned from George Coleman. On the horn, I work with students to gain strength so that they have enough juice to play as much as they are inspired to play.

JR247:  Who are some musicians you really admire in today’s musical world?

Jim R: The trumpet players would include John Eckert, Nicholas Payton, Ryan Kisor, John Swana, Jeremy Pelt, Till Brønner, Joe Magnarelli, many others. A composer and trumpeter who doesn’t get even close to his due is Bill Mobley. Check out his big band records. You’ll see.

JR247: Who do you currently listen to?

Jim R: My tastes are kind of spread out. I really like Jill Scott, because I’ve always been into R&B/soul stuff like EWF and Tower of Power, and she kind of gets that vibe, but updated. There’s a French guy named Almo that I’ve been listening to lately as well. I think the new Donald Fagen album, “Morph The Cat” is great. Check out Marvin Stamm on that one.

JR247: Do you feel it' s important to listen to other types of music? Why or why not? Did you get trained classically?

Jim R: I think my answer to the last one covers the first part. I have always been into seeking out different thing rather than stay in a groove, though I’ve been known to do that, too. As far as the classical thing, I think as an improviser, if you don’t know about the harmony in classical music, especially Ravel, Debussy, and other impressionists, you’re missing out on the inspiration to jazz harmony. Check out Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin”. It’s all in there.

JR247:  When did you move to NYC? What has changed in the jazz world since you moved to NYC?

Jim R: I came to New York in June of 1987. At that time or around that time, a host of great artists all moved there at the same time……too many to mention. Since then, young players continue to flood in and I’m not sure the scene can support them. A lot of clubs have gone out of business, and a lot of the essential jazz leaders have passed, so I’m not sure the opportunities still exist. That said, I think young artists can still make it playing jazz, whatever musical definition they might have for that term. You have to really want it and really earn it, but I think it’s always been like that.

JR247: What could the American education system do to help the preservation of jazz?

Jim R: This one’s easy: Expose kids to it and FUND it. I think the biggest failing in our education system as concerns jazz is that we grossly underestimate the importance of music and art in our schools.When I was in high school, our jazz program was a function of the athletic department; if we didn’t play at the games, we didn’t get a jazz band. Go to any European country and TRY to find that mentality. Go ahead, I’ll be waiting.

JR247: What can parents do in keeping this art vital and alive?

Jim R: Same idea. Encourage your kids. Expose them to as much as you can, including the classic recordings: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis. Have music in the house. Our music. Can’t hurt, right?

JR247: Thank-you so much for your insight and time!!