NEWS & LIFE
Studio Session
Providence Hot Jazz Collective Paper Moon In partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org • By Luis Hernandez
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uis Hernandez talked with guitarists Providence-based “hot jazz” band Paper Moon’s John Birt and Dylan Harley, who describe the band’s music as a kind of time travel back to the sounds of early jazz and artists like Django Reinhardt. This interview was edited for length and clarity. JOHN BIRT: We really dug into the music, kind of pre World War II, and particularly jazz that involves the g uitar, and it really includes the acoustic g uitar. So really getting into that world of acoustic strings, you’re kind of playing music from the songbooks of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. And really just exploring amazing sounds, and things from our favorite artists really, like Django.
LUIS HERNANDEZ: What is it about that era for you, Dylan? DYLAN HARLEY: I really like the simplicity of being able to just show up with two guitars and cause a scene and make a ruckus. And also that there is something timeless about it. That is, when you’re playing it, you do feel like you’re traveling through time or can be transported and you can see that happen for people who are listening to it as well. So between the simplicity and the kind of deep impact that that simplicity has, especially in this highly advanced technological age we’re moving in towards. Drums were my first true love. But it’s a bit cumbersome to move drums around all the time. So as a lazy musician, I really enjoy just showing up with the guitar.
HERNANDEZ: Tell me a bit more about that interplay between the two guitars, and, you know, what you can and can’t do with that. HARLEY: Sure. my job, so I play rhythm guitar in it and, as I said, drums were my first instrument. And so I’m really approaching it sort of playing the guitar as a drum set or playing it as a drummer. So my job is really to lay down the foundation of the rhythm for John to wild out over and get crazy on. BIRT: He’s really the thing that’s driving everything. And then what Django Reinhardt was doing, and also what I’m trying to do, is to kind of fill in the gaps. To add different textures, to add different kinds of things to kind of accent what he’s doing and really kind of fill in the space.
Photo courtesy of The Public’s Radio
Paper Moon Jazz Band
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