By Filipe Freitas
Name: Andrew D’Angelo
Instrument: alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Style: modern creative, avant-garde jazz
Album Highlights: Skadra Degis (Skirl Records, 2008); DNA Orchestra (Self released, 2020)
We always learn with our experiences, whether they are good or bad. In what ways did this long battle with a brain tumor change you? What did you learn from it?
I think it’s best I say this first: I never thought I was “battling” a brain tumor or cancer. I saw cancer as my teacher and wanted to learn from it, which is why I embarked on a path of natural or alternative healing. Cancer is held anger that turns to resentment. If bottled up for too long it creates illness. For me it was about learning to love myself. Hence the song "I Love You", which I wrote to teach us human souls to love ourselves. Family, friends, and so forth are also included. It’s surprising how many people openly say they do not love themselves.
This was not an easy task for me. I was a fairly angry young man. The cancer taught me to be gentler with myself and my friends. This eventually changed my music in a profound way. At times, some of my fans are surprised to hear me play soft and gentle. It was a new and ever changing process happening in my heart, affecting my music. I would say that the big band recording – tracked in 2011 – was the beginning of me understanding this.
As we recorded the DNA Orchestra record in 2011. There was still a chance I could die from brain cancer. In 2008 the doctors gave me six to eight months to live. None of them thought I’d make the three year mark cancer free. Yet there I was making what I think is one of my best records to date. I love you.
In these difficult times, how are you coping with the covid-19 crisis?
Recording A LOT of music! Honestly, even before covid, I would stay home listening, composing, recording, and playing music constantly. The pandemic has simply allowed this to blossom with a massive harvest of creativity. I can’t wait to release and share all of the music I have been working on during this crisis.
Your new album - with the DNA Orchestra - doesn’t include new songs, but they are completely remodeled and adapted to the format and infused with a new energy. When and how did the idea of arranging to and playing with this orchestra come up?
It does include new songs actually. "I Love You" is one of them. Even though folks have heard other versions online, this is the first official studio recording of that song. The melody is actually something I wrote for my piano recital when I was eight years of age. My teacher was so angry that I wanted to play my own song. Lol.
After the two brain surgeries the doctors told me not to play saxophone for about six weeks, thinking that the back pressure on my brain could possibly be harmful. So I began playing a lot of piano and this melody somehow came back to me. I sat and composed straight for the Orchestra. This recording is the first time I ever sang on a record and the first time "I Love You" was heard by many people.
I grew up playing in big bands. In my teens I was in a kind of child-star big band. We played weddings, parties, and other gatherings. Man, we worked pretty much every weekend during my teens, so the inspiration for the Orchestra came from my desire to revive my joy of the big band sound.
When I was in Boston hanging out at Berklee and New England Conservatory, I started my own big band called Standard Deviation. We’d play jazz standards and would improvise arrangements on the gig. Those were fun days and the band was full of incredible musicians! Cuong Vu, Chris Cheek, and many other eventual jazz super stars.
One can tell that each piece is very personal, and, in a way, they represent your own journey. Can you tell our readers more about “Egna Ot Waog”, “Meg Nem Sa” and “Norman” (three favorites of mine) and the meaning of their titles?
I wrote three songs for my trio with drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Ben Street. This was in the late nineties – early two thousands. The three songs all sounded the same to me. So I named them same song one, same song two, and same song three. As a child I invented my own language and would swap letters around to say the words I invented. My parents thought I was nuts. Perhaps they are correct (laughs). The third song is named "Ree Oss" but never made the cut.
The "Meg Nem Sa" arrangement is special to my heart. It was the first composing I did after brain surgery one. If you ever wanted to know what was going on in a brain that was just snipped, listen to this composition. It’s a very clear sonic image of how I felt at that time, back in February of 2008. It was intense!!!
The introduction to "Egna Ot Waog" is a proud moment for me. I simply distilled the entire piece into an intro.
My middle name comes from my grandfather Norman. Bill McHenry wrote “Norman” for me when I was in the hospital having brain surgery. It’s a healing song that Bill sent my way. It worked! Love playing that piece and also love how Bill arranged it for the big band. I would say he nailed my musical personality!!!
Name two persons who influenced you the most as a saxophone player.
It’s an indirect influence but I’d have to say my high school jazz band director Waldo King. This man loved jazz and big band with a great passion. Eventually he gave me the keys to the band room. Then he asked the school to give me a key to the front door. I’d arrive at about 6:30 AM to practice until school started. Waldo passed away a few years ago. Wrote him a letter and he wrote back saying: “Andrew, I remember coming to school every day and hearing you practicing and working on your excellence”! Amazing that at ninety one he still remembered that. Before a school band festival competition, he would write the word “L O V E” on the chalkboard. Saying, it’s all love of the music and not about competition.
I’ve known tenor saxophonist Chris Speed since we were teenagers. Chris is easily one of the most influential people in my saxophone lifetime. He’d come to my house or I’d go to his, and we would practice together. This continued well into our twenties. Always inspiring me to compose often and to compose on a high level. As we like to say in Human Feel “there’s no room for sleeping with Speed”.
Name two persons whom you’ve never collaborated with but you’d like to in the future.
Bill Burr! In what capacity I’m uncertain. Perhaps we share an evening of music and comedy. I find his comedy to be extremely compositional. My manager thinks it would be a great combination with my music. I agree. Absolutely adore Bill’s MM podcast as well.
Tenor saxophonist JD Allen and I have been discussing a collaboration. I feel his and my playing would fit well together. As soon as this pandemic is over, we’re going to start playing some shows together.
Three jazz records that really blew your mind and made you want to play better.
I always shy away from those social media “post ten of your favorite records” types of situations. It’s difficult to narrow it down since we’ve all listened to so much music. I also managed a huge jazz department at Tower Records in my early twenties. Listened to music for at least eight hours a day, five days a week for several years. Picking only three of the plethora of records I listened to, that is difficult. If I were forced into a corner I’d say the cassette tapes my private teacher in my teenage years gave me. They were technically bootleg tapes of live performances. He had me listening to a lot of saxophonist Lee Konitz. Specifically transcribing Subconscious-Lee from live shows. Those are amazing performances from a brilliant saxophonist and composer.
Another jazz record that changed my life was And His Mother Called Him Bill. Hearing how Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn composed and arranged music was mind blowing. It was the first time I understood that jazz composition could be so profound and elaborate – I was probably seventeen or so when I heard it for the first time. Amazing writing and arranging!! It has continued to inspire my own composing and arranging for large ensembles.
The last one is challenging as I would like to pick just one Bird record. There are so many great recordings of him that it’s tough to choose. A lot of Bird’s records were a huge influence on my playing. So I’ll pick something that is a bit more obscure. I’ll never forget the moment I was driving home from school. The jazz station in Seattle played a cut from that Eric Dolphy recording where he improvises on “Mack the Knife”. I literally said out loud WHO IS THAT ALTO PLAYER!?!?! And how the hell is he playing the way he is playing?!?! That solo is still one of my all time favorites. Mostly because it was the first time I heard Dolphy. I fell immediately in love with his music. He’s also the inspiration for me playing bass clarinet.
Can you briefly describe the hardest and the happiest moments of your career?
Hardest? That’s easy – BRAIN CANCER!!! Looking back on it though, it really wasn’t so bad. Plus it gave me more reason to live. Sometimes our hardest or most difficult times can transform our lives into something positive, which is what I hope is happening with this covid situation but on a global scale.
Happiest? Man, that’s a tough choice because I’ve had so many. The first tour I did of Europe was in 1985, just after I graduated high school. It was also the first time in my life I had ever been in Europe. That two-week tour was outstanding. When I got back home, I remember telling my friends that I wanted to keep going to Europe to play music and make the hang. Absolutely life changing and FUN AF!!!!!
What would you be if you weren’t a musician?
I’d own a restaurant that is also a music venue. Always wanted to curate my own place. It actually may still come to fruition since I ain’t dead yet. Also, my nephew Storm is a budding chef. My Italian grandparents owned a club called the Red Rooster. It runs in the family.
Projects for the near future?
During covid my nephew Maximilian started collaborating on a project. He makes these really engaging beats. We layered me improvising on top of his beats. Shit sounds super nice!!! We call the project Almost 23.
There’s definitely another DNA Orchestra recording in the future. I have a ton of new material, new arrangements and compositions. Look forward to the day we get to perform live and tour again.
I’ve also been working on an electronic duo project with Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson. We’ve got a couple of songs completed and are sussing out more to record and perform.
For the past year and half, a film company called Seven House Media has been working on a documentary. It’s the story of my Brain experience. I look forward to it being released at some point soon.
The DNA Orchestra record is also up for a Grammy nomination. It’s going to be interesting to see how that turns out, with a nomination that could mean a lot of exposure for the band.