Interviewing Antar Martin.
I first met Antar Martin when he was playing bass at the 98 Bottles Sunday Jam Session in San Diego, California. When I needed a sub for The International Hustlers, he agreed to come in a lay down some heavy grooves on electric bass. However, his main instrument is the acoustic upright bass. One night in Febuary, I went to check out his Eric Dolphy tribute concert and found myself in the middle of a good ol’ fashioned bar brawl. It had been a long time since I had seen one of those.
On May 28th, Antar and I met down at Jungle Java in Ocean Beach, San Diego to talk about music, life, his thoughts on art, and a whole lot more.
When I first met you, you seemed like a really serious guy. As I’ve gotten to know you more, I know there is a real sense of humor under there. So is this gonna be a light interview or do you want to keep it more serious?
Let it go where it goes. It’s all good.
What’s new dude?
Piano tuner.
I saw that. How’s that working out?
So far so good. I just tuned my own piano this morning.
What qualities do the most successful bassists share?
They are able to read, first and foremost, and they can use their ears while they’re reading. They know how to figure a way around charts with abstract chord changes, like weird… tri-tone subsistutions, or poly chords, or whatever…
They don’t have to have any rhythm?
Oh for sure! Rhythm for sure! That’s a given, you gotta have that. That’s written in.
Lets talk specifically for upright bassists. What do they need?
Good feel, and know how to lay back, when you’re being told to lay back… dynamics.
What does good feel mean to you?
Having good feel means, having good note choices, good rhythmic choices. Just knowing how to mesh yourself into what is going on around you. The bass player has two jobs; Holding down the rhythm and the low end of harmony. So, being able to work those two together is a very important thing.
Who are some of the bassists who best exhibit these features?
The first person that comes to mind for me would be Edgar Meyer. He is amazing. I was 18 and I saw him with the Toledo Symphony. It was amazing. Outside of the classical thing he is doing, just his pizzicato is CRAZY! Just his right hand technique without the bow is crazy! The things he thinks to do is crazy! He just has a way of making the bass doing exactly what he wants it to do. Stanley Clarke is also amazing. He is a beast. He has really long fingers. Ray Brown.
You are from Ohio?
Grew up in Toledo, Ohio. I came out west for the Navy in 2009. I played in the Navy Band Southwest from 2009-2012.
Have you studied a lot of classical music?
I first started studying classical music when I was ten. I played violin first. Then when was about thirteen, I started playing upright in the orchestra in Junior High. Then I went on to play in the Toledo Youth orchestra after that.
So you skipped cello?
Yeah, violin to bass. I took private lessons, honor orchestra and going to competitions and all that.
Any particular reason why you chose bass?
I think I was born a bass player. My parents have pretty low voices, so I think my ear was trained to hear low sounds.
Lets get away from bass. Let’s talk about pop culture. What is the best channel on Youtube right now?
I don’t really watch it that much. I use it more for references.
Who is funnier Eric Andre or Key & Peele?
Key & Peele are pretty funny. I don’t know who the other guy is.
[We watch an episode of Eric Andre ‘Bird Up’ on Youtube].
That was wild man! I would never do this, but where I grew up, he would get chased off pretty quick. Key & Peele wins.
Antar Martin plays upright bass.
Do you mind talking about the extra cirricular activities that went down at The Loft in February?
Ok, sure. What do you want to hear about it?
Describe what happened?
I’ll give you a rundown from the time I first saw this guy to the last time I saw him. So, my girl friend and I, we got up to the Loft around 6 o’clock, 6:10, something like that. Kamou Kenyatta was there. He was setting up his piano and everything like that. And I just happened to see Dennis, who I didn’t know was going to be this guy later on yet. I mean, he was just a friendly looking guy. He said, “Hey man, how you doin’? Here for the music.“, and all that good stuff. I didn’t talk to him after that.
The next time I saw you go over to talk him was during Jesse Audelo’s sax solo on ‘God Bless The Child’.
I was talking to him before that. This is when Mr. Amadou Fall was on stage playing his part of the show on the cora. He was being loud and disrespectful then. I was like, “Oh my god. Why would you want to interrupt this man?” I went to him and said, “You guys got to be quiet. You got to take it outside and resolve it or something. You can’t be here doing this right now.”
Was there some type of altercation going on?
His friend was drunk too. They had, I don’t know, how many bottles of wine. The bottles were on the floor broken and there were puddles of wine on the floor, and broken wine glasses too. I was like, “Wow! What is this man? Why now? You guys are at a performance and this is what Mr. Amadou Fall has to look down and see as he’s playing?” So fast forward, it was time for me to bring my band up on stage. We got through about half of the show…
Then you took the set break, and then you came back with the drum solo when shit went down.
Well, I mean we were transitioning from ‘God Bless the Child’ over to the ‘Out to Lunch’ part of the show, because had to cut out one song from the first half because we were running short on time as it was. So, we’re getting ready to do ‘Hat and Beard’ and Matt’s in the middle of his opening drum solo. He wants to do this solo, and I’m like, “Yeah man, do it. Lets do this!“, and then the next thing I hear is, “Yeah you! You need to check yourself!” And thats where it all began… Matt was fed up because he was trying to have a solo, you know. The guy just kept getting louder and louder, clapping his hands and shouting, “Yeah, yeah yeah! Play for the white people, there’s not enough black people in the audience!” As soon as I heard that, I shuddered. I couldn’t believe what I heard. I shuddered. I was floored. I was like, “Who are you and why are you doin’ this?” It was just like….
So at that point you decided to call the cops?
Yeah, I told Brian (Club manager) to call the cops. I had to stop the show. I stopped the show because I can’t play through this, I wanted him out of there now. No one called the cops, so I called the cops on stage.
So it was you who actually called the cops. I think Brian did too.
Yeah, I think he did too, but I know for sure I called them. I was giving them the description of who this guy was, while I was on the microphone!
(Laughs)
So the whole audience can hear me describing this guy, man. It was ridiculous!
How do you feel about the event now?
It was not cool. Time has passed, and I’ve settled down, but… I wasn’t trying to be rude to anyone. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to Dennis, but he was being disrespectful to the entire audience, to the staff, to the musicians who were there to do their jobs to put on a show. It just wasn’t right. I believe he owes us an apology. It is very much warranted. That’s all I got to say about that.
Do you draw any inspiration from sources outside of music?
I draw a lot of inspiration from things I see and other things I hear. I love Mondrian dude. Piet Mondrian the artist. He was known for neoplasticism.
Anything else?
My son, definitely for sure. He’s a funny little kid. He swears he’s a professional musician already. I’ll believe it. He’s got the mind frame for it. So, I’m driven by his love of music too. Other things like, I don’t know, I just look at stuff and try to find something in it to hear what I’m saying. I know that sounds weird, but…. that’s what I do.
Do you do any special exercises for your hands to play the bass?
I just play. I don’t really have any specific exercises.
Let’s do a quick tech-spec. Who made your upright? Year? Gauge and brand of strings? Bow? Rosin?
My upright bass was made by Upton in Connecticut, 2009. I use Evah Pirazzi strings. The B string is a heavy gauge, and the other four strings are medium gauge. My bow is a no name German bow. I use a mixture of black and white horse hair and I use Kolstein’s rosin.
What about electrics?
I have two electric basses. A 2012 Fender Precsion 4 string, and I use D’Addario Nickel wound 105 strings. The other is a Fender Jazz Bass, American Deluxe Edition. I got that one on May 18th, 2011; the day before my son was born. That bass is very special to me, so put this is your interview, “No, I’m never selling this bass. EVER!” My amp is a Mark Bass 121 P combo. The Cab is Mark Bass New York 121. That is essentially it. That’s my collection.
Did you watch Mayweather v Pacquiao fight?
I did. I wanted Mayweather to lose.
Why?
You know he’s got some domestic violence charges on him, right?
Yeah, but so do a lot of NFL guys.
But that’s not cool either. My girl made a good point; How is it that other people that get domestic charges, their lives are pretty much over, but athletes can go on?
Michael Jackson molested kids.
YEAH, THAT’S NOT COOL EITHER! That’s even worse! That’s awful.
It’s terrible.
That’s why I quit listening to his music when I heard that.
But Thiller is awesome man!
I know, but still! But you can’t be messing around with little kids man.
It doesn’t matter how good Quincy is!
(laughs)
How do you feel about people using music as a platform for to express their political views?
As long as it’s done in the right way, like Mingus’ ‘Fables for Faubus‘.. he was saying about the South down there, “You guys are messed up.”
So you’re not against it.
No, it’s just gotta be done the right way.
Do you play for for yourself, for the musicians or for the audience?
I play for all of us at the same time, man. I have to. It’s not fair to diverge. They’ve all got to be included. They have to be.
On your FB page you wrote, ‘I’ve learned that being an artist is a very hard thing to be. Everyday, you’re up against something or someone for some reason. Being an artist means joining a fellowship fighting the battle against adversity and ultimately triumphing.” Care to explain that a little more?
That means, you’re here in the world as an artist. Some people, for whatever reason, don’t like that you’re an artist, you know. It’s just like, through art, you can blossom. You can show these people that you can become something that they never wanted you to be or they never expected you to be.
Where can people check you out?
I’m usually at Eddie V‘s in Seaport Village on Sundays. I’m also got some Mondays and some Tuesdays at Eddie V‘s in La Jolla.
What projects are you working on?
I’m putting together some music for bass and two pianos. I’m not sure what it is right now. It’s a little bit of ‘whatever the hell I want it to be’ right now. It’s some tonal stuff, some standards, some pretty abstract editions of standards. …. That’s pretty much it. And I’m doing piano tuning and studying under Bob Weller now too.
Any last words Antar?
The truth is an important thing.
Copyright © 2015. C. Lougeay
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