SAXOPHONIST CARLA BROWNLEE ON THE MUSICIAN'S LIFE

INSIDE THE MOMENT

By Judy Jennings

Copyright © 2015

 

 

Even at ten o’clock in the morning, Carla Brownlee has a boisterous, infectious laugh that ignites frequently without warning.  Both candid and funny, Hurricane Carla doesn’t hold back when asked what she thinks about traditional roles for female musicians, and she speaks eloquently about the process of making music with other people, offering an intimate glimpse into the mind of an artist.

Join Brownlee at the Chicago Bar on August 14^th, where she’ll be celebrating the release of her second CD, “Hurricane Carla Drawn To Louis Jordan”.   Other artists joining Brownlee on the CD are Daniel “Sly” Slipetsky on piano, Scott Black on bass, and Chip Ritter on drums, while Danny Krieger, Johnny “Guitar” Blommer, and Eddy De Lucia play guitar.  Also appearing on the album is Heather Hardy, who sings with Brownlee in addition to playing violin.  Other artists standing in include Gary Mackender, Blake Matthies, Glendon Gross, Arthur Migliazza, Glenn Velardi, and Steve Grams, who produced the album in addition to playing bass.

Here’s what Hurricane Carla has to say about the life of a musician in Tucson:

 

Do you think there are more opportunities now for women in music than when you started out?

I think so.  Women as artists are given more viability now.  It didn’t use to be that way.  Women as artists were seen as a trained monkey, or something.  Isn’t that neat?  Now, on to the men artists. 

 

Is it fair to say you’ve broken tradition by being an instrumentalist, as well as a vocalist?

I think so, because my voice doesn’t have a sex when I’m playing, but if I’m singing it has a sex.  So (on sax) I can add to the group without being a “female component” to the sound.  So I think that’s true.

A woman playing the saxophone is unusual, and there’s no reason why it should be.  More frequently, you see women playing keyboards, guitars, and that’s all understood and accepted.  But a woman playing sax, why is that so weird? 

A woman should be playing the flute, or something, they think it’s a more feminine instrument.  But the truth is, it takes a lot more air than the saxophone does.  So (flute) isn’t really a more feminine instrument, that’s something the viewer brings to it.

 

Do you think male and female musicians are treated differently as they age?

I get comments from people like “Wow, how old are you?” and “You’re still out there doing it!”  but they wouldn’t ask that of a guy.  They wouldn’t say, oh, a guy’s still out there doing it.  For instance, Madonna gets called out because she’s still doing it, but so are the Rolling Stones.  They’re older than she is, so what the hell?  Shut up!  Shut up. 

But I can’t let that stuff bother me, because I have to realize that when I’m creating art, any artist creates art in the cultural milieu that he’s born in, so that’s life.  Maybe a thousand years from now women won’t have this kind of issue.

 

What do you feel the most hopeful about these days?

Well, I hope to sell all the CD’s I made and recoup my money, and make another one. 

 

What would you be doing today if you weren’t making music?

Jeesh . . . oh, man.  Jeeze, I don’t know.  I’ve always enjoyed education, I almost became a teacher and I really would’ve enjoyed that, because it’s a highly creative endeavor.   I loved the thought of nurturing young talent in some arts field, whether it was theater or music, or whatever.  So I guess an education-involved area, (maybe) theater education.  I don’t want to be starring in a show, or something like that.  I enjoyed it when I did it, but I realized it’s the process of playing music that I enjoy more.

 

What’s the best part of that process for you?

I think it’s actually the communication with other people on a level that’s not verbal communication.  It’s non-verbal personal communication, it’s intimate, it’s interesting.  When it’s great, it’s great.  Better than anything. 

 

What kind of lasting effect would you like to see your music have on people?

You know, the lasting effect is “We went out last night and danced, that was so much fun let’s go out and do it again tonight!  Okay!”   That’s the lasting effect.  I guess that’s pretty shallow, I should be deeper, but that’s about it.  I’m an entertainer, god damn it. 

But you can come at it from a deeper angle too, because music is very deep.  Like I said, it’s nonverbal communication, which means that it happens at a level that defies social boundary, it defies everything.  It defies waking/dreaming states. 

It’s in that in-between area that can last forever, but it takes only a second.  When you’re playing music it happens in real time, and when you’re playing music it’s there, and then the moment is gone, and it’s the next moment.  And then it’s the next moment.  And what are you doing in that moment to make it bigger?

When you’re playing music you drop your ego, because you have to lay that all aside.  You lay aside judgment, you lay aside rational, you’re inside the moment, and you’re either there, or you’re not there.  Are you there?  Yes.  Cool! 

When you’re creating a song, you’re creating a musical moment, even if you’re playing a capella, are you in that moment or are you not?  If you’re in that moment, other people will go with you, and then you take them along on the trip.

 

For more on Hurricane Carla Brownlee and the Bad News Blues Band, visit their web site at http://www.badnewsbluesband.com/ 

 

 

 

 



 



INTERVIEW WITH R&B GUITARIST MITZI COWELL

LIFTING THE VIBRATION:

Mitzi Cowell On The Musician's Life

 

 

 

Mitzi Cowell, 2014 inductee to the Arizona Blues Hall Of Fame, likes to push boundaries.  As Tucson’s preeminent female slide guitar player, Cowell is an integral part of the local blues scene, often appearing with the Black Skillet Review, where she lights up the stage with good old-fashioned, hard-rocking American roots music.  Nothing pleases Cowell more than getting a kid to put down a cell phone to look up at a stage that’s exploding with live music. 

In addition to excelling in a genre where women are often relegated to vocals, and on an instrument that’s still considered to be largely a male domain, Cowell pushes at gender boundaries as well.  When she takes the stage, it is typically in jeans and boots and a button-down shirt with the tails hanging out.  She doesn’t wear make-up, and she doesn’t show skin.  She is simply authentic.  And if you’re a music lover, when Mitzi Cowell starts to play, nothing else matters.

 Cowell liked the idea of talking with me about the musician’s life from a woman’s perspective, and she spoke candidly.  Here are a few of her comments: 

 

Do you think the music industry is more accepting of female musicians now than when you started out?

Actually, yeah.  I think we’re less likely to get asked stupid questions in music stores, although we still do.  I used to not even want to go into music stores because I would always have to be fighting to establish myself as a musician.  I think it’s gotten a little better.

I’m blessed with being in a scene, both the blues and R&B scene, where musical merit really outweighs what you look like.  I think if I hadn’t gotten into the blues I might have had a harder time doing music as a woman.  Some of the top 40 bands I’ve played in asked me to dress a certain way, and it was just like, nah. 

I’ve always surrounded myself with people who made music primary, and the guys I work with take me on my musical merits.  When we’re on stage, I am my guitar playing.

My appearing as a woman on stage (playing the electric guitar) opens things up for every little girl and every boy who looks at me and sees “Oh!  A woman can do this”, and even for older women who are thinking “I’ve always wanted to take up the guitar”.  So I feel like I’m doing good work here with music.

 

How would you describe the Tucson musical community?

          I think Tucson really is the poster child for a Beloved Community.

 

How would you say the music scene in Tucson has changed over the last decade?

          There are less places for the kind of music that I play. With recorded music and DJ’s, there’s a dying off of appreciation of live music.  A lot of young people don’t have any experience of live music, and are hearing it all through their ear buds or their computer.  They’re watching live concerts on You Tube, and they aren’t getting that full experience of hearing musicians improvising in the moment.  Frequently these days I see young people coming out and saying “Wow, I can’t believe how much fun live music is!”  It’s because they’ve never experienced it, you know?

 

Do you feel like you’re at the top of your game these days?

I’d say I’m about there.  I have all kinds of great role models around me, because most of the people I play with are older than me, so I get to watch what they’re going through.  Everybody just gets better.  You keep on playing, you get better.  That’s how it is, unless you get a physical ailment that limits you. 

Another fortunate thing about the blues scene (is) you can be a total geezer and still be doing it.  In pop music when somebody starts to get older, people can be judgmental, but BB King’s going to be playing until the day he dies.  So I get to do that.

Music is something I could take to the smallest town in Texas, and make a connection with them.  Music is a universal language. It crosses all barriers.  What I want to put across is joy, and (to) say some positive things.  I really concentrate my writing on lifting the vibration of the room I’m in.