The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and alto saxophonist Jim Snidero, who just released a new trio album, For All We Know, featuring bassist Peter Washington, drummer Joe Farnsworth, and no chordal instrument. It was released 16 February via Savant Records.

For his last album, Jim Snidero went Far Far Away. Now, he’s plumbing the depths of what’s always been close.

For 2023’s Far Far Away, the alto saxophonist paired with his old compatriots Peter Washington (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums), as well as newer associates Orrin Evans (piano) and Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar).

To create 2024’s For All We Know – his first chordless trio album, and an album of standards – Snidero retained Washington and Farnsworth. The results speak to Snidero’s ongoing quest to be not only a greater self-editor, but a superlative sound designer.

Read on for an interview with Snidero about how For All We Know came to be, and how it relates to his decades of labour on his craft in the New York scene.

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LondonJazz News: Since the lockdown, you seem to have been chasing something ineffable. What’s been your headspace over the past few years, as to what you want to pursue sonically?

Jim Snidero: Around Waves of Calm, which came out in 2019 – that was the one before Project-K – I was in a space where I was editing. I was trying to kind of condense my music down to its essence, as far as my improvisation was concerned. So, I was thinking about Miles a lot; he’s a huge influence on me. I was looking for that impact in just a specific note, trying to make those choices.

[2020’s] Project-K was a detour a little bit, because I decided I wanted to do that with the gayageum. That involved more esoteric concepts on my part; “Mother” is a free piece, and I think I’ve only recorded two free pieces in my career.

And then, the pandemic happened, and that kind of switched me up again, because I was so frustrated as a human being, about the state of affairs in the world. And just full of sadness, really, living in New York and dealing with all the deaths. Getting on an elevator on the 25th floor, and being scared – really scared – without any vaccine or anything.

To really express myself, I felt like I needed more intensity, basically. So, my playing changed again, and you can really hear that on Far Far Away. I’ve definitely got more going on.

LJN: What’s the fundamental at the heart of it all?

JS: I always value every note that I’m playing. I want to find the perfect sequence of notes, the perfect direction change, all of that kind of stuff. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing two notes or 200 notes; I still want every note to count.

And then, with this new record, I felt like, Well, now I don’t have the piano there. There’s definitely more space. Am I going to fill this up with one note, or 1,000 notes? How am I going to deal with this?

I think I have a pretty solidified concept now, about balance between more and less. It’s really just a matter of developing my taste. I’m not trying to make it interesting to other people; I’m trying to make it interesting to me. And hopefully, that’s interesting to others.

On some of the songs on this new record, I found my ideal space. Probably, not having the piano there made things clearer for me, because I had one less element to deal with.

LJN: You’ve worked with Peter and Joe forever. Those are your guys. Can you talk about your maturing and deepening relationship with that rhythm section over the years?

JS: I have absolute musical trust in those guys. I think they have developed an incredible sense of taste, too.

I think a lot of people are going to be surprised about the way Farnsworth plays on the title track, “For All We Know.” Peter actually mentioned to me, “You know, there’s a good lesson to be learned: you don’t want to come into things with too much of a preconception about someone’s concept, especially if they’re at a high level, because they might surprise you.” And I just knew that Joe was going to be perfect for this.

Peter had never done an entire record of piano-sax trio, and he’s on probably 500 or 600 records. Like I said, I have absolutely 100 percent trust in their musical abilities and tastes, so I can’t think of a more comfortable combination for me to do a trio record with.

LJN: Having interviewed a million jazz musicians, this is what I surmise: recording an album of standards is almost like going back to school. Like, yeah, you could record original music, and push forward in that sense. But there’s still more goodness in the canon; there’s treasure to be further mined there as per one’s continued development.

JS: Well, most standards are very simple harmonically. The same thing happens over and over again. But the way that it’s put together – the melody, the rhythm, the harmony – is obviously profound, because they’ve been around for decades and decades, and everybody’s still recording them.

The challenge for me is to create that balance between newness and tradition, and try to put a new stamp on it. If you do put your own stamp on it, then no one else can do that – and it’s going to sound good 100 years from now.

LJN: You’re talking about your personal concept a lot. Can you drill into it more?

JS: I feel like my sound is in a place right now where it guides everything I do. It’s in the front of my brain: when I’m playing, the sound of my horn is the thing that I want to be the most convincing and personal and interesting. It’s the thing I value the most.

With acoustic instruments, there’s the sense of an intensity and core of sound: the way that it projects, the warmth, the depth. When you hear Ella Fitzgerald or Sonny Rollins, they have profoundly great tone qualities.

For me, one aspect of music that makes it interesting is the element of surprise. It’s just like any art: if it’s all predictable, then that can become very boring. It all kind of feeds, in one way or the other, to lasting music.

LJN: Can you drill into the material a little more? What prompted you to choose these tunes?

JS: Well, I wanted it to be a mellow record, so there are three ballads. And there’s “Naima,” which is a ballad, but with a kind of mellow Latin groove. I wanted to record “Blackberry Winter” because I think it’s a super pretty song. I liked the way that one came out; it’s a feature for Peter, and he sounds terrific on it.

We’ve got the title track, which is a slow swing version, walking with the drums on sticks. A walking ballad, as they call it.

That’s half the record. Then we’ve got “Love for Sale,” which is the only up tune. And it’s Peter and I for most of it. It was incredible to record. And, of course, that was off the cuff.

“Willow Weep for Me,” as I mentioned in the liner notes, was attributed to Phil Woods. Phil recorded and performed it often in the ’70s, but he did a much quicker and more aggressive version. Phil Woods was very, very important to me. He was the guy that I looked up to when I was a teenager; I studied with Phil.

“Parker’s Mood”: obviously, I’m not going to play as well as Charlie Parker. But, again, I wanted to put my own stamp on it. The intro is a real challenge for an alto player. It’s as iconic as it gets for the alto saxophone, so you want to do your best on that.

The last one, “You Go to My Head,” is a medium swing. That takes a lot of maturity, and again I had complete and utter trust in those guys to pull this off. I think it’s really convincing, and there’s a joy to it.

I don’t think my music is very dark. I’m naturally an optimist, and I feel that in my music. When I’m playing, there’s a certain buoyancy and optimism – and it’s just because that’s who I am.

LINKS:

Purchase For All We Know

Jim Snidero’s website