DB- I was really struck by the musical and personal rapport you seemed to share with Steve Kimock.

BH- We re the bookends of the stage but we probably look at each other more than anybody else. We re always playing off each other and there’s a real close connection that we have. We connect very naturally both on-stage and off- stage. He’s on the new record- he plays a beautiful solo on the End of the Innocence

DB- When did that performance originally take place?

BH- Last year I played two weeks at this jazz club outside of Oakland, California, Yoshi’s. Kimock just kept coming out and playing with us. I think we were there ten nights and he played five of them. One week I played solo piano and he came out and we played piano and guitar. Then he came out a bunch of nights with the band.

DB- Do you have any plans to work with him in the future?

BH- We re playing with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and it looks like Steve is going to come out and play the gig with us. We re playing a gig for the President actually.

DB- Back to the Other Ones, you also seemed to be hooking up with Alphonso Johnson. I really enjoyed that segment out of Drums with yourself, Steve and Alphonso {which culminated in a version of Sonny Rollins “St. Thomas”].

BH- I love Alphonso’s playing. He and I hook up quite a bit during the gig to create new sections. He has good ears and I think I do too. He’ll play something and I’ll play it back. I’ll play a chord sequence and he’ll hear it and play it with me. That’s instant composition. To me there’s a whole lot more meat in that content-wise then noodling on one chord.

DB- Let’s jump back to what you said about the Grateful Dead and formality of presentation. That segment with Steve and Alphonso reminded me of the fall of 1990. One of the things that really excited people when you began playing with the Dead back then was that you really seemed to help mix things up a bit by spearheading some mini-jams in various formations. But then that abated.

BH- Well they were very set in their ways. I would come to a gig and say to Garcia, “Hey, why don’t we start with drums tonight?” And he said “Well…you know…good idea…” and it would never happen. For the first fifteen or twenty years they were the archetype. They wrote the book about spontaneity, true spontaneity and then the last ten or fifteen years it became a little more rote, formulaic. Of course, with the Other Ones and with the Dead as well even at the end, you’d still find true musical spontaneity, not just soloing over chord changes. Of course the latter is a good thing too and both bands do that quite well because there is that element of virtuosity which enables it to happen.

DB- That ethos of spontaneity and improvisation also occurs with your own group.

BH- Absolutely, that’s what I like about our band, it’s completely anything goes. When I had my horn section I’d send them out and say, “Why don’t you just go out and start playing free. Whatever you want to do.” That for me is what it’s about. Or now I’ll say to a few members of the band, “Hey go out and start playing whatever you want and then just take us into something.” That’s what I’m interested in doing, always find something new to do with the music.

DB- How many of those moments are captured on the new album?

BH- I think there are quite a few of them. It also captures the joyous quality, the exuberant nature of the music. The spark and the intensity of what we do. There are some studio records that we made that I think have a lot of balls and energy to them, but generally I think that this is the one that captures that the best. I think this is the truest representation of what we do musically in that it really showcases the spontaneity of our gig.

DB- Do you feel the live setting is your definitive realm?

BH- Absolutely. There’s something that happens when you play before an audience. Plus in the live context it’s more about “Here’s 3 hours and we have all these songs- let’s find a way to make them new again and keep ourselves interested and surprise ourselves and make ourselves laugh and make ourselves get chills.” It’s a difference in context and what you do musically.

DB- In addition you keep yourselves on your toes by actively taking requests.

BH- Yeah, that takes us to places that we might not ordinarily go.. Some people will be so specific, they say why don’t you take “Rainbow’s Cadillac” into “Play that Funky Music White Boy” into “Spider Fingers.” That’s an interesting map, let me see if I can draw it.

DB- So you honor segue requests as well.

BH- I have when they re especially challenging.

DB- Well I’m sure people are already thinking up suggestions. Will you be actively touring in the fall?

BH- Not a full blown tour, just a few weeks.

DB- In addition, you have tracks on new tributes to both Bill Monroe and Keith Jarrett. That’s an interesting duo. What do you feel are their contributions to American music and how did they influence you?

BH- A lot of people think it’s odd that the two types of music I’m most interested in are jazz and bluegrass music but those have something very much in common. Both are about virtuosity on the instrument, and that’s never really been part of the pop music consciousness. There have been some exceptions- there’s Mark Knopfler, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Hendrix for instance. But Bill Monroe and Keith Jarrett are two people who were very influential to me. Keith Jarrett especially, from the first time I heard his music at age seventeen. Bill Monroe is a later influence. Ricky Skaggs and I had so much fun doing that one that we re going to do a whole record together- a bluegrass duo record. That’s going to be a ball.

DB- Of course prior to then you still have a few weeks with Furthur.

BH- That is a ball. Plus, as we continue and make those connections, I really think that it’s only going to get more interesting for myself, for everyone involved and for the audiences as well.

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