Stewart McKinsey – Private Thoughts of a Bass Wookie
By Brent-Anthony Johnson

How many times have you heard, “but, this guy is different…” in the sea of “solo bassists”? The very thought of solo bass is retrogressive and off-kilter… in most cases! However, Stewart McKinsey’s solo flights are simply an additional expression to his groove-laden and band-oriented catalog including group efforts with the New Orleans-based Slick Willy and the touring event known as Brotherhood of Groove!

Tonally, Stewart reminds me a great deal of a young Kim Stone – which is a great thing to have in one’s bag! Adding to that, he truly shines in a band context and his drive has that necessary “face like flint” quality. Finally, he has to be one of the nicest cats on the block, having the uncanny ability to turn strangers into friends. That engaging quality is also in his free-spirited style! You’re gonna dig Stew McKinsey…

BAJ: Hello, and welcome to Bass Frontiers, Stew! You’ve had an incredible decade filled with ups and downs, haven’t you? Let’s go back to your musical beginning, and please bring our readers from there to here!

Stewart McKinsey

Stew: Hello and thanks! I am honored to be interviewed by Bass Frontiers! I really got into music (like a lot of players I think) before my formal instruction. My mom had an acoustic guitar that she never played and I had been told not to play it. Of course, that was exactly the wrong thing to say, to me, and I would wait until she was out of the house and open the case. I respected her wishes enough not to pull the 6-string from its case but I would marvel at the sound of the plucked strings in the otherwise silent room. When I fretted a note and played the string it was no less amazing. For some reason I started to think that only a chosen few could be musicians and that was why my mom never played.

Eventually I ended up in a school with a chorus, and I learned a bit about how to use my voice and I was soon studying violin and whatever else our teachers would let us play around with. I was still really into music but none of the instruments I was fooling around with, including my voice, really excited me like the records my parents would play or the songs I heard on the radio. I tried recorder, flute, trombone, piano, guitar and hand percussion and some of those were fun… but I just didn’t connect with anything until I’d stopped studying. My family had just relocated to a new town (which meant a new school) and I was really pretty lost on a lot of levels. Then one day all 4 classes were pulled into an assembly and there was a talent show. I was randomly chosen as the judge to represent the freshman class and nervously made my way to the table. After I sat through a handful of acts, a punk band took the stage. One of the members was another freshman. They opened with Devo’s “Uncontrollable Urge” and that was it. I knew I was gonna be a musician!

I started reading about bass and asking the kid in my class questions. That summer my dad rented me a short scale Squier Bullet Bass® and a Crate amp and I was hooked. Now, I wanted to make music! I had no idea what I was doing but I played whenever I had free time. I was writing songs immediately. I had my first gig less than a month after picking up the 4-string and I think that had a huge impact on my style. There were things I would do when I was fooling around at home, but having to play in a band setting pushed me to doing what worked for the music. I was listening to cats like Jaco, Stanley, Andy West and Rick Laird but I was playing lines performed by Carol Kaye, Joe Osborne and Cliff Williams.

Something funny happened after I’d been playing for a number of years when, someone asked me to play a tune I had heard but never tackled. As I started to fumble my way through the piece he mentioned that it wasn’t the melody but the bass line I was humming. And I realized that I had always learned tunes that way! Not soon after that it dawned on me that my parent’s musical collection was filled with some wonderful bass.

BAJ: You’ve developed quite an interesting “fan base” over the years, and many folks sent greeting when I mentioned covering you for the magazine! That speaks volumes to your “nice dude” disposition. What is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a busy sideman and solo career?

Stewart McKinsey

Stew: I am really lucky to have the friends that I do in the industry. That’s players, builders, and fans… I’m really lucky! I think if you’re going to be a working player there are a lot of things that need to be a part of the day-to-day. First and foremost, we need to decide why we’re in it. If someone wants to be rich and famous, they’re probably playing for the wrong reason. If it’s to create art, then we need to realize that there will be hunger, frustration and criticism ahead of us. If it’s to play and enjoy playing, then we start getting into the nuts and bolts of it.

It may not be possible for me to break it down to a single thing that I keep in the front of my mind, but there are a few things that are usually hovering there. First is the simple truth for me that it is a gift to be able to play music and to do it for people. There are so many people who would do almost anything for that opportunity! So, I try never to lose sight of the fact that I am really lucky. As a complement to that is my desire to stay as positive as possible when I perform. An artist is by nature an emotional, and often an intensely emotional, person. There is no way to keep one’s moods up all the time but to perform music is to accept that no one really wants to watch and listen to a tantrum. So even if I am not at the peak of my cheer, I try to find something in every song or every situation that makes it fun. When someone calls out “Mustang Sally” or “Brown Eyed Girl” for the gazillionth time, the audience should feel like it’s not your job to play but what you choose to do. It’s the same in a solo show. I may have played these pieces dozens of times, but I want to bring something new to them every time I perform. That’s the goal anyway…

BAJ: You have successfully built a supporting (sideman) career while exploring the art of solo bass. What are the key differences between the “bread & butter” gig and the seemingly divergent solo bass gig?

Stew: I don’t feel that – for me – there’s much difference. There was an interview I read with Rocco Prestia years ago where he mentioned that he was the only bass player on stage so he always felt like he was playing a solo. My role – whether I’m backing someone or completely alone on stage – is to make the music happen! It’s got to groove and have a heart, life and emotion. A bassist has the unique position of linking rhythm and melody, but I think that it’s all got to tie together. For me that means that even when an ensemble is performing, elements of other players’ function cross-pollinates. Why can’t a trumpet enforce the rhythm section? Why can’t a drummer be melodic? I think in the best groups you find this to be the case.

BAJ: What was your process in composing “Kore Wa Anata ni Desu”? Also, do you find yourself cross-pollinating the skills of “Stewart the solo bassist” while improvising within a band context? Finally, have you written your “best” tune, yet?

Stew: That was a piece I wrote for a very dear friend. It was my way of showing gratitude for some very profound lessons as a musician. It was unique in the way it came together. The song grew out of a motif in the bass part – which had been in my brain for years. When I accidentally modulated a whole step down, the verse changes really just happened. The chorus followed suit as I played through the verse a couple of times. I was really happy with the piece in that form until I was plugged in at the studio and it suddenly seemed to need a bridge. Strangely enough, the first thing I fooled around with was what I kept.

Stewart McKinsey

Ah! Cross-pollination again… Yes! Absolutely. When I am on stage or in rehearsal with a band, I kind of have to poke at the envelope. Playing a song the same way twice makes me crazy. Even with extremely structured and orchestrated tunes. This ‘on the spot experimentation’ is not usually re-harmonizing the bass part of “Stormy Monday” to make it feel like a Charles Mingus composition (although I have been guilty of that), but is often leaving space where there may not be any or changing the inflection of a note in a passage that interests me. I really hope that I haven’t written my best yet. Just as I hope that I haven’t had my best day or lived all my dreams. To me the best thing an artist can do is to continue to grow and to challenge him-or her-self. I am probably going to paraphrase as badly as I did when I referred to Rocco earlier… But, I think it was Marcus who once asked Miles why he didn’t play ballads any more. Miles said, “Because I love them.” That is tremendously profound! To have the strength to turn from what you love because you don’t want to be comfortable in that environment… That is commitment and integrity.

BAJ: Who do you list amongst your influences, and how have they shaped you musically?

Stew: Wow… that’s a long, long list! There are a few players who really shaped me at the beginning, when I first picked up the bass, and a few who really stood out when I started to think about my style and sound on a conscious level. Initially the cats that blew me away and inspired me all at once were Jaco, John Paul Jones, Larry Graham, Mark King and Percy Jones. I’ll add Pete Farndon and Mick Karn to that list, although I’d probably been playing for a little bit before I found them. Each of these cats just made the music happen in a way that was completely “theirs”. They all had such strong personalities that they jumped out of the mix for me. And they all approached groove, tone, note choice and style in such different ways. And they remain a joy for me to hear even now. I think what stood out about all these players is that they have so much heart in what they do. They are indivisible from what they play. As I started to play more, and more seriously as well, I found Jimmy Haslip, Roberto Vally, Steuart Liebig, Victor Bailey, Greg Campbell and Yves Carbonne.

Stewart McKinsey

Now before I go on… I want to mention that I count some of the heaviest, baddest bassists on earth among my friends and acquaintances, and I love listening to them all. But some artists really – pardon the phrase – resonate with me. Jimmy Haslip and Roberto Vally just make everything melodic. Jimmy’s playing on those first Yellowjackets albums is so completely original and vibrant. Roberto embodies the three things that I always want in my playing: time, taste and tone. Monsters! Steuart Liebig is, simply put, one of the true originals out there. His tone, phrasing and uniqueness are amazing. He’s a composer even when improvising. He has been a huge source of inspiration. Victor Bailey, more than anything else in his terrifying arsenal, just has this weight to every note he plays. There is nothing tentative. When you combine that with his part on Weather Report’s “Procession”… Wow. Greg and Yves are fearless! Their personalities infuse everything they do and that is so inspiring. So powerful! More than the fact that we play these wonderful, ludicrous instruments, they express themselves with such eloquence and style, and they’re among my best friends in the world. Did I mention that I’m a lucky guy?

BAJ: How do you manage your CD sales, and what tips can you give our readers about self-promotion and booking?

Stew: Well, truth be told, I would probably point you to cats like Darren Michael, Trip Wamsley and Steve Lawson for that. They are promoters par excellence! At this point I am not relying on music to support myself. This is a long story that goes back to the ups and downs of the past several years, and I am likely to return to music full time in the future, but whatever sales I make at the moment are like icing on an incredibly tasty cake.

That said, I think it is absolutely crucial for every serious musician to understand the importance of this stuff. One must learn to move past humility when relying on music for a career. No potential employer is going to read a bio that states a musician feels he is not as great as his influences. It’s important to be able to blow your own horn a bit if you want to be taken seriously out there. Trip Wamsley was doing a clinic a while back and was addressing the issue of ego. I paraphrase once again but he essentially said that you do not have to thing you are the coolest kid on the playground, and this is the part I love, “But guess what? All the chairs are pointing at me!” If someone wants to get out there and make a name for themselves, they would need to believe in that name. If you don’t, no one else will either.

BAJ: Describe your favorite sideman environment! Along with that, describe your favorite solo scenario.

Stew: My favorite sideman environment? Tough one! Hmm… Well, not to get too abstract but any time I am playing and everyone is having fun and we all feel free to play anything, that’s when it gets interesting. We push each other and collaborate all at the same time. If there’s a monster groove happening at the same time, I can’t imagine it gets much better than that.

Stewart McKinsey

Solo, when is it best? I think the best nights for me are when I can just get up there and simply “be”. I am in the moment and not trying to consciously do anything. I am playing and responding to the energy of my audience. I love those times!

BAJ: What is the most important thing (besides your instrument) you cannot be without in your musical world?

Stew: Honesty. Emotional honesty. A performance should have heart in it. It should feel like you’re sharing something precious with the people who have come to hear you… because you are! This does not mean that every note is dripping saccharine… But listening to the first time Jaco hits that stunning melodic line in “A Remark You Made”… The moment I heard that I was in tears. Really! That was the moment I knew I wanted to be not only a musician, but specifically a bassist! While there is no way to achieve that every time we play, that is what I am trying to do. That’s the big goal: To touch people and give them something precious. Lately I have been getting into tone. Not just cool sounds but the sonic qualities that will stop me in traffic or in the middle of a conversation. Liebig, Carbonne and Karn get this in a major way.

BAJ: Let’s talk about your gear, and why you use what you use! Also, what would you say to a young player who is asking about your endorsement roster?

Stew: Oh my… That bucket of worms! (Laughter)

Well, I never really sought out endorsements. I sure wanted them when I was younger… But there was no way I could see myself on the same level as the people who got them, you know? I had some pretty heavyweight teachers and when they talked about their endorsements, well, these were THE CATS!! Who was I? A student! I still am!

For me, and endorsement is a wonderful sidelight to being a musician. I only endorse what I use and I would happily pay for what I use. In fact there are quite a lot of endorsement offers I’ve turned down because I couldn’t see myself using whatever it was I was being asked to use.

Stewart McKinsey

It’s kind of like technique. There are certain techniques that I don’t use, either because they are so clearly associated with one player or because there is no way to incorporate them into the vocabulary I have. Could I learn them? Of course! But would they make sense for me to use? Not at all…

I would tell young players not to solicit companies for free gear. If you’re out there and playing, the odds are pretty good that people will come to you. Think of it as a living thing: The more you play, the better you get and the more exposure you get. More exposure brings more attention, from your peers, from fans and ultimately from the industry. In essence, if we keep feeding the thing, it will grow. I just try not to let my eyes get bigger than my stomach, if that’s not mixing too many metaphors.

BAJ: What type of music do you find yourself listening to, recreationally? Any favorite discs you could suggest to our readers? Also, what are some of your non-musical interests at this time?

Stew: I don’t know that I listen to a type of music in the sense of any genre. What I find myself listening to is the stuff that has heart, the stuff that moves me. Lately that’s Seth Horan, Steuart Liebig, Stravinsky, Miles, old AC/DC, Yves Carbonne, Joe Cocker and Brand X. Defunkt’s “In America“ album is frighteningly intense on this level.

When I’m not playing or writing music, I write fiction. I love the art of Marc Rothko. I live on a mountain and I am surrounded by some of the most incredible nature and life imaginable. Laughter inspires me! Great acting is another source of wonderment. Its such a different craft, but fascinating. Nearly every moment in the 1950 film Cyrano de Bergerac (with Jose Ferrer, in black and white; NOT colorized) is incredible. That character was my hero growing up and I still feel a connection with him. The Zen Koans are another great thing.

BAJ: As we wind-up 2008, what are you hoping to achieve in the next 18-months?

Stew: My goals are always simple: To be able to do what I love is truly all I want out of life. I hope that means I’ll be playing and recording more. I’ve been talking to friends and it’s possible that I could be on as many as 3 releases over the next 18 months. At the very least, I want to get through the sessions and mixing of my next solo album.

BAJ: How do you recover from life’s mistakes, and how does that translate in your recovery from musical “accidents”?

Stew: (Laughter) That’s an awesome pair of questions! The answer is really that I don’t see things as mistakes – generally – so much as opportunities to learn and possibly to grow. When I was 18 or 19, I was playing in front of something like 6000 people. The band started my feature tune, Weather Report’s “Birdland”, and I got a big solo in it. I was really on and maybe a little cocky. But it felt great from the first note and I was really pushing myself. As I went into the solo, I was just lost in my fretless and the song. I was pulling off stuff that I’d never played before and in bliss. The solo was crescending I was just going for it. As I hit the high note, I held it, rather than ease back into the arrangement the way I generally did. But was the mix in my monitor started to come down to the level of everything and I opened my eyes, I realized I was about a half tone away from resolution and I had been holding that note against the band’s chord for quite a few seconds! While I would not like to greet that see of aggravated faces again, that moment freed me to take chances in a way that no intellectual argument would have.

Stewart McKinsey

In terms of recovering from moments like that, I simply go with it. The adage of playing a mistake 3 times to make it sound intentional is an interesting one. But I think the way we get through these moments, how we transition into whatever follows, that is the stuff that defines us stylistically. And it’s different for everyone. All that really matters, in my experience, is that you don’t stop. Whatever is happening in that exact moment, is yourself!

BAJ: What’s coming-up for you in the next 6-months? Also, would you list your websites here so we can keep track of you?

Stew: As I mentioned, I’m trying to coordinate a few recording projects. Two of those are solo projects and very different ones. The other is a trio disc with two of my favorite bassists on earth. Beyond that, I’m trying to put together an old school funk band and I’d love to get into a band situation that is exciting, one I don’t have to lead.

My websites are kind of all over the place, but here are the main ones:

My actual website and home to my online forum: www.subcontrabassist.com

My MySpace page is where you will find me fairly regularly. I am always amazed by what people post in my comments and by those who contact me there: www.myspace.com/stewmckinsey

This is where you can find my last solo album: www.cafepress.com/subcontratoo

This is where you will find my merchandise and a CD of demo tunes: www.cafepress.com/subcontrabass

BAJ: Describe “grateful”. Also, have you had any favorite lessons along your life’s journey that you could share with us?

Stew: Grateful is the state of being which allows one to keep perspective and to stay honest. For me it is the reflection upon and the acknowledgment of what an amazing life it is and this allows me to keep hope for the future a very real thing. The day I cannot be grateful for what I have and what I am is a day I dread. There are a lot of lessons I would love to share. For the sake of brevity, let me get a little pithy. Never stop trying to grow: It is not achieving the goal but the desire to do so that makes the difference. This is essentially saying that the point of the journey is not to arrive.

It is important to be humble but this does not mean beating oneself up. You are valuable and worthwhile but there will always be people and events to learn from. To be the best at something is a terrible burden. Conversely, there is nothing wrong with looking up to others but you must never lose sight of the fact that you have something to offer that no one else does.

Always keep the joy of music. In Japanese the word for music, Ongaku, also implies the joy of music. This is important. We are lucky that we can do this. Try never to lose that. You are never truly alone. We are more connected to life and the world than we can know. There will be times that you can’t feel it, but it is true nonetheless. Music, like love, is a language with no words. I have come to understand this more deeply with each passing year.

It is more difficult to remain positive than to get caught up in whatever negativity may swirl around you, but the positive is much more fulfilling. I would rather go to bed relaxed and smiling than stressed and upset. Family and friends are more important than any money or material good. All of this applies to life and to music. Whew! I better stop before I start throwing up fortune cookies!

BAJ: In closing what would you like to say to those burgeoning and those seasoned musicians who will read this interview?

Stew: Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Never stop challenging yourself. Look at your limitations as opportunities, as guideposts on a journey. Learn how to say ‘thank you’, even if something said to you may be hard to hear; It was offered with respect and meant as praise. That can be a tough one!

I’d also just like to thank everyone who’s been a friend or a fan or both. Having your encouragement and support means the world to me and is something that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express accurately. I am lucky enough to receive kind words all the time and that is simple amazing.

Do I have time to share one more tale? I was out on tour with a band and we had just played a show at a small club in the middle of nowhere. As I was stepping down off the stage a woman walked up to me with tears in her eyes and haltingly said, “Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing good music to this town and these people. This is the first time that a lot of us got to see that there is more to the world than living here.” That was one of the most powerful and changing moments of my life. And that is why I’m grateful. Thank you so much for this opportunity!