Ahead of his much-anticipated Ronnie Scott’s show this coming Wednesday, the prolific US keyboard whizz and jazz polymath GREG SPERO talks with SJF’s Charles Waring. Topics include his band Spirit Fingers, touring with electro-pop goddess Halsey, and the inspiration he draws from his mentor and musical hero Herbie Hancock.
A few months shy of his 40th birthday, the American pianist-turned-internet entrepreneur and record label boss Greg Spero is a distinctly 21st-century breed of jazz musician. A chameleonic, difficult-to-classify shapeshifter whose musical interests and influences are wide-ranging and eclectic, Spero doesn’t subscribe to the idea that some kinds of music are better or superior to others. He sees equal value in every genre, be it jazz, classical, pop, funk, electronica, or hip-hop. “I consider myself a musical generalist,” he says, explaining his “everything is permissible” philosophy. “I don’t subscribe to labels, and I think definitions separate us from each other when music and human experience are all composed of gradients.” He adds: “There are no definitions other than those that we superimpose for our own comfort and convenience.”
For Spero, music is ultimately about open borders; a way to foster communication, understanding, and build a relationship with fellow musicians as well as his listeners, which means he’s open to all manner of collaborations. “I love to play with everyone, integrate everything I hear, and use music as a way of connecting between human beings more deeply than we can with language,” he reveals.
Originally from Highland Park, Illinois, but now based in Los Angeles, Spero was raised in a deeply musical family. His mother played the piano while his dad, also a pianist, led a band in which young Greg served his musical apprenticeship as a teenager. From there, he quickly progressed as a musician, playing in the early 2000s in a quintet called Bucket Shop before forming the GMG Trio with noted drummer Makaya McCraven and bassist Graham Czach.
Then in 2017, after touring with electro-pop siren Halsey, he formed Spirit Fingers (pictured right), a free-flowing neo-fusion supergroup comprised of bassist Max Gerl, drummer Mike Mitchell, and guitarist Dario Chiazzolino. Channeling the jazz-rock spirit of ‘70s fusion gods Return To Forever and mashing it with hip-hop and pop, Spirit Fingers were noted for their ornate musical architecture and use of compound time signatures. Their emergence came as a response to Spero feeling constricted by playing Halsey’s tightly structured, anti-improv pop songs. To date, Spirit Fingers have released two albums – their self-titled debut for Shanachie in 2018 and Peace, featuring singer Judi Jackson, on Ropeadope two years later.
More recently, the prolific Spero has been releasing new music in the shape of digital singles every Friday. This week’s release is ‘Joy Against Odds,’ a collaboration with saxophonist Nicole McCabe that blends cutting-edge jazz with a sinewy drum and bass groove.
At Ronnie Scott’s on Wednesday, November 13th, Spero will lead a new ad hoc incarnation of Spirit Fingers comprised of three rising local London musicians. Below, he talks about Spirit Fingers: London Crew and discusses other salient aspects of his music and career…
Q&A with Greg Spero
What will you be serving up for your London audience when you play Ronnie Scott’s next week?
Well, there are a couple of surprises I can’t tell you about just yet, but I can tell you it’s going to be a very special night. I’ve formed an iteration of Spirit Fingers with some of the best young talent in London, and their energy along with their deep understanding of the music and incredible talent will just blow your socks off. Some surprise guests might just show up which will leave you wondering how that just happened. I can’t say more than that for now.
How does playing in an intimate jazz temple like Ronnie’s compare with the big arenas you played touring with Halsey?
My favorite place to perform in the world is a tiny jazz club in Paris called Duc De Lombard. It holds about 80 people, and they’re all stuffed right up against you as you’re playing. That’s the best feeling in the world; the people are there for the music, and there’s no separation.
In an arena, it’s the opposite. You’re on in-ear monitors, playing the exact same thing every night. Because the stakes are so high, you can’t afford to make a mistake. It’s great for making music very, very popular. But it’s horrible for creating truly fulfilling mutual experiences for the artist and the performer. Jazz is where it’s at.
Did you ever incorporate jazz elements into Halsey’s show?
Yes, but she actually got pretty upset with me from time to time. We had a moment every show, during our final tours, where I would be accompanying her on solo piano, with no one else playing. Just piano and voice. So I took some liberties, pushed the boundaries, and found that even pop audiences can understand and react to deep harmony, as long as it’s intentional and musical.
How would you describe the music of Spirit Fingers to someone who’s never heard the band’s music?
I would say it’s not what you think it is. My use of complex time signatures has given my music a reputation of being this mountain to climb, something to accomplish by listening to it. But the essence of it is not in the time signatures, it’s in the same rudimentary tenets that make up Bach, Beethoven, Charlie Parker, and Michael Jackson. The essence of musicality is simple, and it’s definable, and musicality has little to do with complexity. So to really answer your question, I’d say that my music is something to sit and experience, not something to think about, but something to accompany you into the present.
What inspired you to form Spirit Fingers?
It was about halfway through my tenure with Halsey that I began to go insane playing three-chord songs night after night. My mind needed more stimulation, more exercise, more excitement, something deeper than what I was playing night after night.
It was during our tour of the UK, when the band would go out partying after our shows, that I would go back to the double-decker tour bus, and turn the top lobby into my studio. With my laptop, Ableton, and my Yamaha Reface CP mini-keyboard, I would compose music that would twist my brain inside out. I started with 17/16 time signatures, went to 13/16, experimented with various complex harmonic structures and counterpoint, and made music that would take my mind on a journey, and break me free of the mundanity of pop music.
It was only when I decided to move on from the Halsey project that I started practicing the material, and considered performing it. It was not written to be performed; it was almost too difficult. But after months of practice, we played our first show, and it was clear that this was a group that had to take the world’s stage.
What’s the significance of the band’s name?
The band was originally called Polyrhythmic because that’s what the music was. But I was engaged to a woman who thought a lot about branding at the time, and she thought we should call it Spirit Fingers. I thought the name was funny, so I decided to go with it. I don’t really care much about names. Even the names of the tracks on our debut album are just 12 words from a poem that my little sister wrote.
At Ronnie’s, you’re going to be joined on stage by three UK musicians, who are part of a Spirit Fingers’ London offshoot – drummer LOX, guitarist Ben Glasser, and bassist Matt May. What persuaded you to collaborate with them and what qualities do they bring to your music and the Spirit Fingers concept?
When LOX was 18 years old, he saw the original Spirit Fingers perform at Ronnie Scott’s. He was so inspired by Mike Mitchell’s performance of the material, that he ended up learning the material himself, and adopting some of the core aspects of the material in his own creative output. Eight years later, LOX was the first and obvious choice when putting together Spirit Fingers’ London Crew, along with other great young players who had similar experiences with the material, including Ben Glasser and Matt May. This is London’s next generation of instrumental superstars, and I’m so excited to have them as part of the project.
What have been the highlights of your career to date?
I started with Halsey (pictured left) when she had 10k Instagram followers, and we built it to the point where we were performing in sold-out arenas around the world, and playing all the biggest late-night TV shows including Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. At a point, I had to decide that it was enough, so I left the group and started from ground zero again. That’s when I began working on Spirit Fingers as a band and building the Tiny Room Studio, which eventually grew into The Recording Club in Santa Monica.
Have there been any character-forming low points you’ve bounced back from?
When I left Halsey, I spent the following year sleeping on a tatami mat on the floor of a 12 x 16’ room in Burbank where I kept my piano and all my musical gear. I built it into an incredible very small studio, which got a reputation as the “Tiny Room Studio” from all the parties, recordings, and jam sessions I would have there. It was one of the hardest years of my life, and one of the most formative, in that it began the journey of the mountain that I’m now climbing of my own global jazz career, and the music studio/members club which has grown into a 6000 sq ft musical lifestyle facility in Los Angeles.
Which musicians have had the biggest influence on you and what do you admire about them?
Herbie (Hancock). He taught me that music is about life, not the other way around.
You played with pop star Halsey for three tours – what was that experience like and did you learn anything from playing pop that contributed to your evolution as a musician?
I think the thing I learned most about music from those pop tours was how impactful simplicity can be. When I began working with Halsey, I would push to make things more complex, but by the end of it, I had a greater appreciation for improvement by subtraction, rather than by addition.
I also learned that in the success of a musical artist, the music itself is often only a very small fraction of the reason the person is successful. I think this is more exaggerated in the pop music industry, but also applies to jazz in a major way.
What was the first record you bought and how much impact did it have in shaping your musical sensibilities?
Kind Of Blue was the first jazz record that I was given, when I was seven years old, which was the year Miles Davis died. I didn’t listen to it that year, but years later, when my parents sent me to a jazz summer camp, I stopped by a local record shop and bought Herbie Hancock’s Dis Is Da Drum record. I became obsessed with that record – loved it and listened to it all the time. After that, I learned some of the history of Herbie, and upon finding out he came up in Miles’ band, decided to go back to the Miles record that my mom’s friend had given me. That became another repeat listen of mine until I could sing along to every solo from every player on the record.
Which musicians are pushing the envelope right now?
LOX is creating incredible music right now. In addition to coming to my Ronnie’s show, you should check out LOX if you’re local to London, with his band. I sat in a couple of months ago at one of his shows, and his band is firing on all cylinders musically.
Are there any other musicians who’ve caught your ear?
Gerald Clayton is a keyboardist to watch out for, here in LA. Terreon Gulley is one of the best drummers in the world, and Hadrien Feraud is one of the greatest bassists. Mike Mitchell (Blaque Dynamite) is also a force of nature. Keyon Harrold is also one of the greatest trumpet players out there right now. And of course, listen to Glasper and Mehldau. They’re always looking forward, on different tracks, pushing their own respective envelopes.
Which artist would you most like to work with and why?
I would love to perform with Herbie (Hancock, pictured right). I don’t know if he’ll ever have me on a tour, because there are other such incredibly relevant keyboardists like Terrace Martin, but I’m still holding out hope. He’s taught me so much about music and about life, been such an incredible mentor, and has transformed the way I think about the human experience. I have an infinite well of gratitude for him, and for the Buddhist practice that we share.
Also Christian Scott. We performed together with the Miles Electric Band, and I look forward to the day we get to share the stage again.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Touring frequently, playing all the cities around the world where I have a strong listener base that I haven’t been touring recently. Recording in LA at my studio/club, and building more of “The Recording Club” around the world. Maybe living in London if it works out with my girlfriend (she lives there now), but always traveling to play with the best.
Greg Spero and Spiritual Fingers London Crew can be seen live at Ronnie Scott’s this Wednesday, November 13th.
https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/greg-spero
Ticket prices
£35 – £50
Greg Spero’s latest single ‘Joy Against Odds’ is out now via Tiny Records
