A drop of goodness in a sea of insanity

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Summer, 1997 by Hal Hill

H.H. [to Michael] I gather that you feel composing is as natural to you as the actual playing itself.

M.O. Yes, I think it has always come pretty naturally, since I started playing music I always wanted to write songs. Originally it was pop songs but eventually it was jazz.

H.H. Is one more important than the other?

M.O. No, I like to develop both of them to the fullest, but I don't think one is more important than the other.

P.N. I often feel that the writing seems to be more important, because I find myself doing more, just like what Michael's talking about, there are days when you just don't feel like practicing and you end up writing instead, it happens to me a lot more...[laughing] than I care to admit, so I'll end up writing for a whole day and end up throwing it away just because I don't like it, but you know, I would sooner do that than practice. But then as soon as I go out doing gigs, especially if I'm doing something creative I realize how much I enjoy playing for people and...(Paul hesitates) then I'll do my best practicing after I do a bad performance. [we all laugh] I guess I lean more towards the writing than I do toward the playing.

H.H. [to Michael] Is this what drew you both together in NOJO?

M.O. Paul was one of the first guys I met at York [York University]. On the first day, we were in the same workshop, and I think we liked talking tO each other, after all we are both reasonably articulate human beings, [laughing] and share a lot of common concerns and so it was easy to get along with each other. We took a couple of composition classes together and at that time we both realized we liked the same aesthetic things, but there is enough differences too, and I found that out when we were in our final year at York and we took composition with David Mott. Our final exam pieces were totally at the opposite ends of the spectrum, mine was a piece dedicated to Kenny Wheeler and very much in that style of writing which I was really into at the time, and Paul's composition eventually turned up on the first NOJO recording, a much more textural sort of thing, not so much of a melody that you could grab on to, maybe more Mingus or Ellington [looking at Paul].if I can speak for you, so we were totally different, yet we both liked what each other was doing, and we talked about putting a Big Band together because there was no one into the things that we are into.

H.H. The blending of those ideas fits very well into that concept, so it's almost a natural thing that you should meet and work together.

P.N. In our first year of performances we got reviews that kind of painted us into a corner a little bit because Michael was into a kind of lush, melodic writing and I was into a darker textural and rhythmic kind of thing and at first it seemed as if Occhipinti does this and Neufeld does that and we both really knew it wasn't the case but it just happened to be the sets that a couple of reviewers saw, but now nobody says that. I don't think we influence each other so much as inspire each other to do other things, you know. Michael will come in with a new chart and I'll react to it in some way or another, like yeah I've been thinking about doing something like that, or it leads me to want to do something completely different.

H.H. Do you ever suggest to each other that the chart be changed?

M.O. Not a lot, we never really have to. I think one thing is that neither one of us works that fast, we both put a lot of care into each chart, which isn't to imply that everything we write is perfect, but I would say that when you work that slowly, when you do concentrate on a chart that much it tends to have most of the bugs worked out. Now that we have a bit of a book there are charts we are never inclined to pull anymore, because we don't feel like it or that was from a certain time period, but I don't think there's ever been any duds.

H.H. Isn't it important that you show your listeners how far you have progressed? Isn't it nice to play those charts once in a while?

M.O. Sometimes it is, I think though it's hard, because whatever you wrote most recently you want to hear that, and with these two CD's out now, there are certain tunes that I feel has run it's course, you know, I don't feel like playing that one, but there are guys in the band who say, 'let's play that'

H.H. How do you give the musicians in the band a voice other than their playing, when they request something or want to write or make changes?

M.O. [laughing out loud] They are not allowed to write anything!

H.H. Oops! Wrong question [laughing].

P.N. There are very few complaints from the band. We are a pretty happy lot, we all generally get along very well.

H.H. Well, the music is so satisfying, if I was a musician in your band I would just want to play the charts because I find it so intriguing.

M.O. Well, we do ask for input in terms of, 'How are the dynamics in this section...can we try it another way,' just players' concerns really. Some members would suggest it might be better up an octave, and we are, as leaders, both eager to have it...