I've been reading some interviews with Henry Kaiser as well as some of his own writings on
his own web site.
His advice to players:
• BE YOURSELF. Don't try to be somebody else. Your grandmother should be able to recognize your playing if she heard it on the radio.
• TAKE CHANCES. Don't be afraid of risks.
• BE ECLECTIC AND BROADEN ALL YOUR HORIZONS. Try new things!
• PLAY WITH FEELING AND COMMITMENT. Music is not about notes, it's about feeling.
• IMPROVISE!
Go to
http://www.henrykaiser.net/video.html and scroll down to "SUGGESTED LISTENING/VIEWING/READING". Check out the lists of players "that I love and have been influenced by". He's not stuck in any stylistic box, the range of what he listens to and can appreciate is, to say the least, wide.
Another interesting quote
I strongly recommend that you read ALL articles in the various guitar magazines; especially articles about people/styles that you think you're not interested in! I always follow this practice and I'm always eventually glad that I do.
An interesting list of the attributes he seeks in collaborators (from
http://gtroblq.blogspot.com/2010/10/interview-with-henry-kaiser.html)
intelligent, kind, open, playful, healthy, fit, trustworthy, completely honest, open to change, open to adventure, energetic, self-confident, likes to discover new things, sense of humor, brave, creative, etc. Must have nice personality. No smokers. Good improviser. Sound like themselves.
The bits about "healthy" and "fit" puzzled me at first. Why should that be important? But I think that in Kaiser's world he engages in lots of projects and doesn't have massive budgets, so you've got to be able to work quickly and with energy and focus. Consider the Grizzly Man film track, Kaiser was the producer - 2 days to score the whole movie and record. You can't do that if somebody is running out of puff or has to go and have a fix every now and then.
Interestingly in that interview he refers to at least three projects that haven't borne much fruit yet, including one that was recorded but never released.
