Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Shawn Salmon, one of the members of the jazz band, Tenor Madness. The band has released their debut album “Convergence” and recently had a performance at the historic Jazz Showcase. Here is our interview.
Introduce yourself (state your name and the instrument(s) that you play).
Shawn Salmon, guitarist and composer. I am the Director of Jazz Studies at SXU. I started at SXU in 2013, I direct the SXU Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combo, and guitar ensemble. I also teach courses in jazz improvisation, jazz history, in addition to guitar class and history of Rock and Roll. I got my Bachelors in jazz studies from Eastern Illinois University, Masters in jazz composition from DePaul, and Doctorate in guitar performance from Ball State University.
When did the band form?
Tenor Madness formed in the summer of 2014. Paul Musser and I meet back when I was at Ball State finishing my doctorate. I needed a bassist for a weeding gig and Paul was recommended to me. We had a great time and did a few other gigs together before Paul moved to Chicago. When Paul heard I was returning to Chicago as well he emailed me saying we should get together and play again. During the summer of 2014 Paul emailed me asking if I would like to join him and a few of his friends, tenor saxophonists Casey and Rytas, from University of Illinois (where Paul got his doctorate) to join him. I said sure and said we could even meet at SXU to rehearse. Rytas called his friend Peter Mack to play drums and that is how the first gathering took place. Paul and I are active composers, so we brought many original tunes for us to play and just have fun at first. We had so much fun that we continued our impromptu jam sessions throughout the summer. The tunes we rehearsed sounded great and we were really developing a great chemistry as a group. By the fall we decided to start booking gigs. We even got to play at the Green Mill for one of their Composers Collectives at Christmas. Since then we have played regularly at least once a month in and around Chicago and have been having a great time.
How did you come up with the band name?
Since none of us are really the “leader” we didn’t want to call it the Shawn Salmon Quintet or something like that. “Tenor Madness” is actually the album name to a classic jazz album recorded by tenor saxophone greats Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. It’s the only time these two greats recorded together. Since we are a two tenor saxophone group (somewhat rare in jazz), we would have “Tenor Madness” as the subject heading to the group emails we sent to each other to see about when we could get together to play. One rehearsal we needed to finally decide on a name, since the first gig was coming up, and we all just said why not just Tenor Madness. It fits us, a nod to our influences and our own musical personality and identity.
You guys released a debut album titled “Convergence”, tell me a little about that.
After we had played a number of gigs we began saying we need to get these tunes recorded. We started to look at studios and map out what it would take to get an album recorded.
We went to I.V. Labs Studios in Chicago in November 8 and 9, 2015 and in 20 hours recorded all the music on the album. The album contains 4 originals by myself, 4 by Paul, and one by Casey. It also contains two arrangements of covers, one of John Coltrane’s “Naima” and one of Paul’s he did of The Cure’s “Lovesong.” It’s a great mix of music and styles. It’s really tough to say we are playing one “type” of jazz. We have an up-tempo blues called “Three-Sixty” in which Casey and Rytas battle it out trading chorus after chorus, a number of funky jams, and even a drum n’ bass tune. That’s the great thing with this album, it seems to not fit one style of jazz, but embraces all. We released the album on CD Baby on Aug. 31, which also coincided with our playing for the Jazz Institute’s Chicago Jazz Festival Jazz Tour. Then on Sep. 28 we played our CD Release Concert at the historic Jazz Showcase. We are excited to see what comes next for us.
What is your favorite song to perform off of the album or in general?
Personally I love playing them all and getting to hear my bandmates play them as well. Two that I really enjoy improvising over are Paul’s “At Twilight” in which I get to use my guitar effect pedals throughout to create some fun sounds and “Naima,” it really is one of the most beautiful compositions ever written. What makes it fun is that we each bring ourselves to the music, even though I might of wrote the piece, Casey, Rytas, Paul, and Peter all helped to make it a work of originality and art beyond what I originally conceived it. “Convergence” is just that, 5 musicians, of different backgrounds, styles, personals, all joining together to create something beautiful. That’s what jazz is all about.
Lastly, why should people listen to your new album?
This album is a work for all music fans. The melodies are beautiful, the grooves are catchy, and soloing is pure excitement. You don’t have to be a long time jazz listener to enjoy “Convergence,” it is music that combines our unique musical personalities with a little touch of madness.
For more from Tenor Madness, be sure to check them out here:
Our album is available to download on iTunes: http://apple.co/2c67Uam
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2cLj3xl
CDBaby: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tenormadness
GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/2dCCWrJ
and Streaming on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0utTYscM94dxqEq1DX4C18
Tenor Madness will be performing at SXU in February as part of my Jazz Recital, so students will get to have a chance to hear them on campus soon.
Link to Tenor Madness’s Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/tenormadnesschicago/
Or Shawn Salmon’s website www.shawnsalmon.com
*Photos courtesy of Tim Bales*
Elizabeth Granato
Senior Features Editor