DJ Logic's New Projects
by AJ Abrams
DJ Logic has become the Wayne Gretzky of the jazz and jam band scenes. He is
one of those gifted musicians that has the incredible ability to make
all the musicians around him a better player. And Gretzky is famous for
the exact same thing - turning the average hockey players around him into
great players.
Not only could Gretzky score a gazillion goals by himself but he also was
the consummate playmaker. He set up his teammates so they scored a
gazillion goals too. Logic both takes the lead and sets up his bandmates.
He'll scratch a sick solo on his turntable or set a psychedelic mood with his
trippy sound effects. But when he wants his band mates to shine, he lays down
a thick groove for them to work off of and do their own thing.
Recently, he has become the sun at the center of the jam band solar
system at the dawn of the new millennium. Jam bands have become planets
orbiting around and being drawn towards Logic. He certainly has taken the jam
band scene by storm as the list of bands he has already played with or has
upcoming gigs with is a who's who of the scene. Deep Banana Blackout, moe.,
String Cheese Incident, MMW, Karl Denson, Illuminati, Disco Biscuits, Marc
Ribot, Joshua Redman, John Scofield, and Oteil Burbridge. His show with the
17 piece jazz big band Illuminati had him dreaming, "One day I will have
my own orchestra - Orchestra Logic."
Most people became aware of DJ Logic through his work with MMW. But Logic has
actually been a part of rock and roll since 1989. In that year he joined Eye
and I, a band that was part of Vernon Reid's brotherhood of black bands,
the
Black Rock Coalition. The alternative rock band was signed to Sony 550
records and Melvin Gibbs, future bassist of Project Logic was also a member.
The band went on tour opening for such bands as Living Color, Ice T’s
Bodycount and the Psychedelic Furs.
"This was all going down just as I turned 18," Logic said about this early
experience. "Instead of going to music school, I had all these great
musicians like Vernon Reid and Melvin Gibbs teaching me by ear, really
helping me to see my turntables as an instrument in itself. It took me to a
whole new level."
Within the next two years both Eye and I and Living Color broke up. Vernon
Reid invited Logic to join him in My Science Project and several other bands.
Bassist Melvin Gibbs went on to join the Rollins Band. One night while Logic
was with Vernon Reid, Billy Martin was in the audience and invited Logic to
open for MMW at their Shack Parties at the Knitting Factory in New York City.
Logic eventually became the unofficial fourth member of MMW.
DJ Logic is now the leader of Project Logic, his own band featuring Melvin
Gibbs (bass), Skoota Warner (drums) and Casey Benjamin (saxophones). Their
self titled debut album has just been released on Ropeadope Records
(www.ropeadope.com ). Luckily, I had the opportunity to do a phone interview
with Logic just as his schedule was about to become extremely busy. Project
Logic just finished up a month long residency at Wetlands. (See reviews of
those shows in the Mid Atlantic Regional Report section.) And the band is
about to begin a national tour. Project Logic's futuristic sound of
psychedelic funky grooves is about to leave the Big Apple and spread across
the rest of the USA.
AJ: So, how does it feel to be the most in demand musician in the scene
right now?
Logic: It's been great. I've been real busy and I'm just enjoyin' the
ride.
AJ: I feel that you really bring out the best in the other musicians. Why do
you have such a great effect on other musicians?
Logic: It's mutual. They bring out the best in me as well. I also think that
I give a lot of freedom in the groove. I let everybody do their thing and
egos are usually not involved. I guess my laid back approach to life carries
over to my music and folks just catch on.
AJ: What is the effect of so many different musicians coming in and out of
the band? What are you learning from all the bands you sit in with or all the
musicians sitting in with Project Logic?
Logic: The effect is that I feel blessed to learn from all these cats. And I
get the best of all worlds by sitting in with other bands. It's like
learning from all the great masters. Everybody has a lasting effect on
me...for better or worse.
AJ: Are you making a specific effort to play with as many jambands as
possible?
Logic: Nah, I don't even know what a jam band is. People call my manager
and ask if I want to play. And if I'm around I just say yes because I love to
play. It's like when I used to play basketball. I don't care who I'm playing
with, I just love to be on the court.
AJ: Your own gigs are mostly improv, but when you sit in with other bands
you are playing composed songs. How do you approach each situation?
Logic: The main difference is that i have to stay more focused working with
composed music. I can't just float out into my own space and find my own
groove. It's like someone else is driving and I'm just helping with the
directions. But at the same time, I look at all situations as being equal. I
don't prepare much differently for other bands than I do my own. I just keep
it logical.
AJ: Project Logic has been called a workshop. How is Project Logic a
workshop?
Logic: It's almost like a chemistry experiment. It changes everyday. It's
never the same and we're always adding different players, sounds and styles.
AJ: Tell me about the new album.
Logic: It's groovy from the A side to the B side. I like to make people
mesmerized with sounds and different grooves. The record is a collage of
different things. There's some acid jazz, some funky stuff, some abstract
stuff, a Latin track, a hip hop track, and one with a female vocalist
(Jennifer Charles).
There were many different musicians on it, some of which I have known
from the past and others who I just met. It was just a matter of getting
the right people together on the right tracks. You get different vibes
with different people. I wanted to do something different with a DJ,
something these normal musicians would never do. Everyone's schedule
worked out. We did the record in three or four weeks and most of it was
improv. Melvin Gibbs and Scott Harding helped me produce it. We listened
to all the grooves, arranged them and chose some nice textures and music.
AJ: What influence did New York City have on the making of the album?
Logic: Everything! This album IS New York City at its best. Every single
artist appearing on the record is based in NYC and the whole vibe is a
reaction to life in our fine city. Ultimately, I think the mix of peoples in
NYC is reflected in the mix of music on the record - lots of variety.
AJ: What are your favorite sounds on the album?
Logic: That depends on my mood. When I'm chillin' it's the sound of Jennifer
Charles' voice, or Graham Haynes coronet. But when I'm on the subway I like
to bug to the sounds of Melvin's bass. When I'm groovin' it's John Medeski's
keyboards. It depends on the weather and my vibe.
AJ: I know that Bleu had a lot of friends in the music scene. For those who
do not know him, who was he? Is the song "Kind of Bleu" in honor of him?
If
so, why did you choose that song?
Logic: That song is for him and the whole album is for him. Who was he? On
the business tip he was the mad scientist creating the hippest clothes with
his company Project Dragon. On the personal tip, he was everybody's best
friend, always there for everybody, always giving. And he LOVED music. You
could find him nodding his head at every concert EVERYWHERE. He was always in
the house....still is. He's a big part of me. We chose that song because it
felt like it invoked his spirit and we wanted to end it on the Bleu note.
AJ: I understand Teo Macero (Miles Davis' legendary producer) helped out
with one track. That's very impressive, how did that come about?
Logic: Teo's an old friend. I met him back in the early 90s when I
recorded
with Vernon. He's just like a legend, a true genius. He took our shit and
pointed it in a whole new direction. On the tune he worked on, "The Abyss"
he
just came in the studio like a mad scientist and started experimenting. He
even busted out his horn and played! We all felt honored to be in his
presence. And that was the first tune we mixed, so it kind of set a precedent
for the rest of the record. There was already a "Bitches Brew" type of vibe
on that track so I just had to have his blessing.
AJ: What kind of guidelines did you give the musicians during the making of
the record?
Logic: Absolutely none. We all just fell right into a groove.
AJ: What was the production/editing process like? How did you choose the
tunes from so many hours of tape?
Logic: Well, we just recorded live everyday for a week. It was me and Melvin
and Skoota and Leon Lamount. Everyday we invited different guests to jam
with us out at Bill Laswell's studio in East Orange, NJ. We had like 40
hours
of tape. After the recording sessions we all went back, listened and edited
all that down to about 20 tunes. Then we did overdubs on those 20 tunes and
picked the best ones for the record.
AJ: How would you describe your approach to the turntables?
Logic: My turntable is my instrument and I'm just doin' my part just
like any other musician would do their part. I try to show a different
type of texture around the musicians by adding colors and sounds. I'm
just trying to blend into them.
AJ: How do you communicate musically with the other musicians on stage? How
do you and your turntables fit in with the rest of the musicians?
Logic: I don't like the groove to stop. If it slows down, then I go into
something different or something abstract. I play different colors and
different textures to go off of what the other musicians are doing. When
they like the sounds I bring out, the musicians will follow right behind
me and we come up with some nice, funky stuff. I don't want to be
scratchin' all over everyone. I don't want to clutter everything up. I
just want to blend in with everyone and watch everyone groove. I like
making my guest musicians feel like kids again. I want to see everyone
have a good time and be creative.
AJ: It seems like you have played with practically every musician on the
planet. How did you meet all of these people? The diversity and amount of
musicians you've played with recently is staggering. John Scofield and
Joshua Redman are two heavy hitting jazz cats.
Logic: I've been doing tons of festivals lately, so I've been meeting
lots of people at those. At the festivals different bands ask me to sit
in with them and vice versa. I met Karl Denson at the Berkshire festival
and he is one of my favorite sax players so I said to myself "I just
gotta hook up with him."
I met John Scofield at the Vibes and also through MMW. Someone else
hooked me up with Joshua Redman. He was in the middle of trying out some
new stuff with effects like the wah wah pedal. I said that's it. That's
Logic right there, experimental and steppin' out. It was a great
privilege to play with them. They never played with a DJ before and it
was great to get them to open up, and have a good time doing something
different than what they normally do. It was over the top and funky.
I used to be in an alternative rock band called Eye and I. That band was
part of the Black Rock Coalition so I met Vernon through that and then
Vernon introduced me to MMW. MMW invited me to sit with them and
everything turned out fat. They asked me to join them on a few recording
projects and gave me tons of credits and helped me build my resume. I
know Mark Ribot through the downtown scene and from sitting in with MMW.
AJ: The type of rock and jazz bands you usually sit in with are not used
to playing with a DJ. How are these jam bands and jazz bands handling
playing with a DJ?
Logic: They are doing great. Everything is wonderful and everyone
listens to everyone. We are all hearing it for the first time. A lot of
these bands I just sit in with them without even hearing their music.
Then, once I learn and develop with their music it becomes even more
exciting. I like musicians to be mesmerized and damn I like when they
look at me with a smile when that happens. I like taking everyone on a
trip and I like to keep it going with that space/abstract vibe.
AJ: What was it like playing the Grateful Dead tunes with Joe Gallant's
Illuminati big band? Did you ever imagine yourself playing Grateful Dead
songs before?
Logic: Nah, I never even listened to the Dead before. I got to the Wetlands
early one night and just started listening to their Dead records. It was
great. I loved the spacey stuff and Joe Gallant is great composer.
AJ: Are there any musicians you would like to play with but haven't had
the chance yet?
Logic: Yes, but they are too numerous to mention. I just take them as
they come. One of the guys from ZZ Top was at my show so I'm gonna try to
sit in with them sometime. I love that song "Cheap Sunglasses". It has a
killer groove. I'd love to sit in with Phish. I went to my first show
last year at MSG and it was awesome.
AJ: You hit many of the jam band festivals this summer. Which festival
was the best?
Logic: There was no festival that was the best. All the festivals were
great. Everyone has such a good time at all of them. I played with moe.
at the Vibes. I didn't camp out, but I wish I did. The Berkshire Fest was
cool because I met Karl Denson and the all star jam with John Scofield,
Fuzz,
Bob Moses and Oteil was fuckin' great. I went out to the One World
Festival
in Colorado and played with String Cheese Incident. Camp Bisco was fun but I
didn't get to play with the Biscuits. I'm sure we'll hook up eventually.
AJ: What kind of records do you use on stage?
Logic: My record collection contains everything. The entire history of
different types of music. I use everything you can ever imagine and then
some. It's constantly changing. I have my core records but I like to keep
mixing things up.
AJ: I've always told people that records sound better than CDs, but they
are skeptical. What do you think and do you listen to records at home?
Logic: I have more vinyl at home than CDs, I'll tell you that. Of course
vinyl sounds better than CDs. Once Teo Macero was doing a question and
answer session. He said the way he mixed it was better. Vinyl makes you
feel like you are right next to the musicians. It is not bright or
digital mastered. The warmness of vinyl is heartwarming.
I love just hearing that first crack of the record and then it goes right
into the groove. I always take vinyl over CDs. Every city I go to I find
out where the record store is. During the whole MMW tour I spent money on
vinyl. Whenever I was not around they all went "There he goes again.
Logic must be at the record store."
AJ: Do you play any instruments?
Logic: I play a bit of keyboards, but I ain't no John Medeski.
AJ: I've heard you say you are creating a new sound for the new
millennium. How so?
Logic: You have to go to one of my shows and figure that one out for
yourself. Words won't do.
AJ: What can we expect on Halloween at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC?
Logic: You can expect that I'll be wearing a costume. I'm thinking about
being an alien. You can also expect candy and general weirdness. I'll be
doing my thing with moe. and the Disco Biscuits. I played with moe. before
and I've seen the Biscuits a bunch of times. I love both bands.
