BassPlayer 2017-04

CS
STING
LISTEN
to Brand New Day; Songs from the Labyrinth, his 2006 collaboration
with lutenist Edin Karamazov, playing the music of 16th-century
English composer John Dowland; his 2008 Christmas album, If on
a Winter’s Night, mixing traditional folk songs with several similarly
intoned originals; 2010’s Symphonicities, an orchestral take
on a dozen Sting standards; and The Last Ship, first a 2013 album
and then an all-too-brief-running Broadway musical.
While most of these recorded journeys featured
upright bassists like Christian McBride or Ira Coleman,
Sting—equipped with a new fingerstyle approach
to bass from his classical-guitar and lute forays—
“returned” to the instrument for live shows, revisiting
his 25-year span of hits and even dubbing his
three years of road stints “Back to Bass” tours. Now
the R-word is being used in conjunction with Sting’s
excellent new album, 57th & 9th, named for the Manhattan
intersection near the recording studio.
While many are labeling 57th & 9th Sting’s “return
Sting, 57th & 9th to rock & roll,” the ten-track disc visits all phases of
[2016, A&M/Interscope]
Sumner (born on October 2, 1951, and raised
the musical career of one Gordon Matthew Thomas
in
i INFO
Newcastle, England). The added wrinkle here is that most of the
material was spontaneously group-composed with such trusted
longtime band members as guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer
Vinnie Colaiuta, as well as veteran session guitarist Lyle
Workman and drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’
Roses, Weezer). That’s where we began our conversation with Mr.
Sumner, who was in Los Angeles preparing to tour in support of
his latest effort.
Is it true you brought in no songs for this album?
Yes, I brought in virtually nothing. On the first day, I said, “I
have a confession to make: I have no idea why we’re here and what
we’re going to do. Let’s just play and ping-pong some ideas,” and
something came that very first day. Normally I’ll come into the
studio with songs and arrangements and ideas about what should
be played. But in this case I thought, Well, my band knows what
I like, and I can hear when ideas work, so we can spontaneously
compose together, which was very exciting. The music is a product
of our long-term relationship.
How did having a three-month deadline factor in?
I think it helped; the record has an energy that perhaps wouldn’t
28 bassplayer.com / april2017