Cutting Edge Stone
By Patricia Braine
As we all know, a musician is an artist when he or she is capable of reflecting life in a way that’s unique but familiar to our personal experiences. Gordon Stone’s music is like that for a lot of people. HIs rich compositions, filled with deep, yet joyful expressions of life experience, mesmerize friends and fans of who become enthralled as he speaks, without words, tough his music, Those following Stone’s career find many words to describe his ability to create unique compositions with traditional bluegrass banjo while adding his own brand of jazzy instrumentation, as well as the effect his style of playing has on them.
Although Stone’s appearance on a couple of PHISH albums may have helped bring about recent national attention, he alone is responsible for the recording artist contract with Alcazar Productions of Waterbury, Vermont, as well as securing main-stage status at Discover Jazz Festival for the GORDON STONE SEXTET, opening for JOSHUA REDMAN June 9 at the Flynn Theater.
Now, as the lights shine brighter and Stone moves closer to center-stage, it shouldn’t be long before he’ll be doing for the rest of the country hat he’s been doing for Vermonters for the last 23 years–creating amazing and adventuresome works in nearly every genre possible, from bluegrass and country to Irish Folk, rock, punk/new-wave and jazz.
“I’ve always preferred to do alternative or cutting-edge material,” explained Stone.
VOX editor Palema Polston, described playing with Stone in the DECENTZ in the early 1980’s “...which was a new wave, punk-rock band. He played pedal steel guitar, which as you know is a country music instrument. He’d never played rock with it before, But as the night went on, he got wilder and wilder. The instrument had never been explored like that until Gordon. He was great!”
According to Peter Torrrey, drummer with Stone in sex different bands and the archivist for their music from the 1980’s: “Gordon’s playing the pedal steel was in large part responsible for our success with the DECENTZ.”
Even before this, in the early 1970’s with PINE ISLAND, Stone was known to push the envelope. “My dad used to tell me about the crazy things Gordon Stone did on pedal steel,” said Jedd Kettler.
Sure enough, woodworker Ev Kettler, formerly of TREE FROG/KETTLER MANDOLINS, recalled, “I converted the neck on a banjo of Gordon’s…All I can say is he’s about the most amazing stringed instrument musician I know.”
Alas, maybe that’s why Mike Gordon of PHISH took banjo lessons from Stone and was sitting-in with the GORDON STONE TRIO at Parima's one Sunday evening in May. I interviewed Mike Gordon between sets.
“I used to go watch (Stone) at Sneaker’s with BREAKAWAY and sometimes during practices,” Mike said. “This year we’ve gotten together to ham and he’s taught me a couple of his tunes so I could fill in while Stacey Starkweather was out-of-town recording with DISCIPLES.”
“What stands out about Gordon,” Mike said, “is that he seems really focused.”
“He practices all the time. He obviously enjoys playing and that comes out when performs.”
Another perspective Mike related about Stone was when he recorded with PHISH on their album in Nashville, a well known and respected “...record producer, Barry Beckett, heard Gordon on pedal steel and banjo and was impressed with his playing. He said Gordon should move to Nashville and he’s get him into the music scene,”
“But Gordon feels the same way we (PHISH) do, He’d rather live here (in Vermont) because the music scene is great and so is the lifestyle.”
“Gordon Stone is like a person who has an understanding of deep dark places at the same time he has a bright outlook,” he continued.
“You find both in his compositions?” I queried.
“Definitely,” said Mike. “If someone else took a similar approach and didn’t have the concept of the darkside, their music would be fluffy. And if they didn’t have a knowledge of the bright side their music would sound depressing. Actually, that’s the balance you ding in bluegrass–happy music, sad lyrics.”
Notably, Stone has no lyrics. The other difference is he’s extended the bluegrass motif into a jazz realm.
Mike paused to think about what he wanted to say next…
“This is the second time I’ve played (with the GORDON STONE TRIO) and I noticed I was so absorbed, the music picked me up and carried me and I forgot to swallow.” Mike gazed off recalling the sensation, then continued, :I don’t think it would happen, bit these are great players who know what it means to make music. It happens with PHISH after a few songs. But, we play together five hours a day, and I’ve been playing with them for 12 years. You feel connected.”
The GORDON STONE SEXTET, involving Stone, guitarist Paul Asbell, violinist Gene White, bassist Stacey Starkweather, saxophonist Dave Grippo, and mandolinist Jamie Masefield, evolved a couple of years ago.
“Gordon called me,” explained JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT leader Masefield. “We know each other’s music. We didn’t know each other personally. He wanted to get together to do more improvising. We had a similar musical outlook, and it clicked. All six of us like to cross genres–jazz, reggae, funk, bluegrass. But, the real element is improvising–giving each other space.”
Long time Gordon Stone fan, AZURE MOON video producer, Karen McGregor, joined me at Parima’s for another Sunday evening of Gordon Stone music, It wasn’t long before she leaned over and whispered “It’s such a delicate sound. It cleanses the palette.” We continued watching as Stone carefully scanned the audience with his sharp eyes; something he does often. Then he turned, smiled and nodded to bassist Stacey Starkweather to take a solo. At the end of their last set, they received a heavy round of applause from yuppies with babies, three large round tables full of college aged hippy-intellectuals and a white haired Vermont patriarch and his three additional generations of family members taking up another two large tables. Stone’s music has a widespread appeal.
While packing up their instruments Starkweather commented, “Gordon’s a composer on a par with anyone writing bluegrass or jazz. It’s fun and listenable…sometimes composers forget that,”
Stone is also a prominent member of the innovative bluegrass band BREAKAWAY with Gene White, Jr., on fiddles, Andy Sacher on mandolin and vocals, and Andy Greene on guitar and vocals, and Peter Riley on bass and vocals.
BREAKAWAY–winner of the 1994 Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, the largest bluegrass festival in the Northeast, has been performing monthly for six years at Sneakers in Winooski. They also play monthly at City Market Coffeehouse on College Street in Burlington, where I caught up with Andy Sacher to get his perspective on Stone. “I've been playing in different bluegrass bands with Gordon Stone since the late 1970’s ,” Sacher began. “I always enjoy playing with him very much. He has a unique and innovative way of playing bluegrass banjo. He truly has his own style. I often have to learn new and unusual chord variations (with Gordon’s compositions.) His tines have a modern flavor, while still remaining bluegrass…(He has) twists and turns largely unexpected by the listener.”
BREAKAWAY strengthened their local and national following recently with a self-produced CD “Unpaved Roads,” assembled at Chuck Eller’s studio, and currently on 0 radio playlists across the country.
Back during a workday in the Good Citizen office, Gus Zeising of Low Tech Studios was passing through. I knew he had played with Stone, so I asked Gus for a description. His eyes opened wide.
“Oh. he’s way good. Way talented. Consistent. Top notch. Triple A. I played with him in the DECENTZ and X-RAYS in the mid 1980’s…you know how I would describe Gordon? He’s a musician’s musician. He can play with anybody. He’s world class.”
Zeising’s words proved to be true over and over. A few nights later at Sneakers Bar and Grill the walls are rockin’ on Main Street, Winooski. At this gig, Stone is wearing cowboy boots and western tie, not unlike what he wears in photos with the CHROME COWBOYS, a traditional bluegrass sound worth fighting Wednesday night crowds to hear.
During a short break, Stone introduces me to Jennifer Harwood of ALCAZAR PRODUCTIONS.
“Everywhere I look, Gordon is on the liner notes,” says Harwood, who had been researching Stone Herself for Alcazar. “His presence is everywhere throughout the Northeast music scene. It’s phenomenal. I don’t know of an equal. When you listen to his music you can hear compositions within compositions.”
I commented on his mellow transitions at the end of his solos. Jennifer smiled. “You always feel safe when you listen to a song with Gordon playing on it because he eases you over to the other instrumentalists.”
Later in the week, at a warm, lamp-lit corner table in Muddy Waters, Stone began describing his concerts for studio recordings of duets he’s been composing for his CD project, “Touch and Go,” available this fall. His hands moved together with his words in an almost meditative manner.
I kept writing, but had looked up to be sure I was interpreting him correctly. His focus shifted and he paused to find out how I could look at him and write at the same time. Surprised, I brushed it off as part of the job, then commented on what he’s been saying about his music, “It sounds like a zen thing.”
“I suppose you want to know my intentions or philosophy,” Stone responded while looking to see my reaction. “I used to get upset when people would ask me that. I’d say–’Just shut up and listen to the music.’ He smiled reassuringly.
Since there wasn’t enough time left to discuss it then, he agreed to accommodate mu “thoroughness,” as he called it, after a weekend full of gigs.
In the meantime, I spoke again with Masefield who echoed bassist Mike Gordon’s opinion about a “darkside” to Stone.
“Not in an evil sense,” Masefield reassured me. “It's just that he wears the color black a lot. He likes black, which gives him a mysterious quality.”
What about hummingbird as an analogy for Stone? Now, Masefield was curious.
The hummingbird in Native American cultures is considered able to transcend dualism. They’re all over Vermont in summer, coming to the North country the way bluegrass music seems, too. They’re colorful, extremely fast, able to take off and fly in any direction, plus quiet and intense with wings blurring like Gordon’s fingers when they fly. Jamie thought for a moment, then smiled in agreement.
Right from the beginning Stone had manifested a kind of modesty about his playing. Was it just a normal resistance to being profiled; a common reaction to the press? Burlington’s own band photographer extraordinaire from the 1980’s David Roby pointed out, “Stone’s head is down in the DECENTZ album cover I shot.”
When I put the question to Stone about these observations and what they meant, his open, straightforward explanations were full of clarity and examples.
“I have a problem with (my) name out in front of the band,” Stone explained, referring to the trio and sextet, “because when the ego kicks in on stage–mine or anyone else’s–it brings up control issues.”
Other musicians I have grown to respect for their ability to communicate with other players during a performance suddenly came to mind as Stone continued.
“Playing is no different than breathing. The ‘magic of the money’ is the same when you’re playing as when you are picking up the amp and carrying it out after the gig. If you can truly experience the moment, then you can carry it through your whole life.”
Stone went on to say that he didn’t like to put these ideas into wo9rds, which is why he doesn’t write lyrics.
“I’m using the music as the expression–without lyrics,” he said. “For me, I can express more without words. The fingers take over where the lyrics leave off.
“Also, since a beginner’s mind leads to creativity, I’ll sometimes write on mandolin. It's an instrument I don’t actually know how to play, so it helps in maintaining a ‘beginner’s mind’ thing happening when I’m composing”.
Stone looked around the room, clasped his hands and rested his elbows on the chair. “It’s like a gift. I have nothing to do with it. It’s the same as breathing– don’t control it. I'm simply a vehicle for musical expression, transporting influences I’ve accumulated; breathing in influence, breathing out expression. Or as Jim Ryan (mandolin player in the Decentz) once said, ‘I just turn my head and cough.’”
At the beginning of Patricia's research, she borrowed Stone’s personal, but last, cassette of “Scratchin’ the Surface,” a solo project he recorded in 1981. When it came time to return it, she suggested it be re-released. Great timing. Alcazar Productions is re-releasing as we go to press “Scratchin’ the Surface,” the CD, will be at your favorite record store waiting for you today.