Artist Profile: San Diego’s first family of jazz comes to San Miguel
By Doug Robinson

Hola, amigos. By now you’ve probably noticed an increase in buzz about the upcoming Festival Internacional de Jazz y Blues, starting on Wednesday, November 21 and running through Sunday, November 25. Antonio, Tere, Glenda and I have been working on nothing else besides getting the festival to the highest possible level of professionalism and quality. The help we continue to get from corporate and individual sponsors is making a huge difference, and we thank everyone who has donated cash or artist housing, offered to pick artists up at the airport, or volunteered for some other task—it is all adding up to a knockout event.

Alright, down to business. Peter and Tripp Sprague are two of the outstanding musicians who will be performing during the festival. Between them, they have played with Chick Corea, Kenny Loggins, Mose Allison, Pat Metheny, Dave Grusin and many other luminaries.

In a turn of events that still baffles me, I never once ran into the Spragues when I was growing up in San Diego, even though we lived only 20 miles apart and were roughly the same age. That might not seem so unusual, but when you add in the fact that we were all high school jazz musicians and all of our respective band members also played with each other, I still can’t figure out how our paths didn’t cross until 1999, when I was moving back to the area and legendary drummer Peter Erskine urged me to contact Peter and Tripp.

Since then, I’ve made up for lost time—these guys have lent their talents to several of my recording and concert projects. I am a fan as well as a friend—when I am in San Diego, I often go to see them perform because I find their take on music so charismatic. It doesn’t matter whether they are playing straight-ahead jazz or Brazilian grooves, they always leave me feeling better than when I sat down, and I’m looking forward to their jazz festival appearance for the same reason.

I recently spoke with Peter and Tripp about their upcoming concert here on Friday, November 23.

Doug Robinson: I know you grew up in a surfing family—when did you first start playing music?

Peter: I started playing guitar when I was 12. Music was the great soundtrack to my saltwater reality. The Beatles’ Revolver album accented our summer, Hendrix shook the resin-fumed Basement Surfboard factory (located in our Del Mar house’s basement, what fire hazard?), and Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” filled the air on our porch as the first puffs of a September Santa Ana wind began their journey from the desert to the ocean. From underneath the Pacific, the magic and music of the sixties was coming in loud and clear.

Tripp: I started playing rock ‘n roll drums when I was 10. Cream, The Beatles, Hendrix, stuff like that. When I was 14, Peter discovered our dad’s jazz record collection. It was the same music we had heard coming from the turntable our whole lives, but now we took a more direct interest in it. At that point I took up the sax and flute and we started playing mainly jazz.

DR: Why do you think it was jazz that finally grabbed you?

Peter: Just the great blend of more intense harmony and the infinite wisdom of swing. My folks were constantly listening to Miles, Bennie Carter and Stan Getz. My father would pull out the bongos and Zen out for hours with Miles Ahead. I thought he was nuts. Then I heard Coltrane’s solo on “Dear Old Stockholm” and it took me down. What is this music about? What are these musicians doing to get that sound? Nothing beats questions like this to get the learning mode kicked into high gear.

Tripp: I think it was the sophistication of the rhythms, the richness of the chord harmonies, and the freedom. I also think the “improvising in the moment” thing was easy and fun for me.

DR: How did your appreciation of jazz evolve into your career?

Peter: My folks allowed me to attend a year of study at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. I lived in the basement practice rooms, immersed in a world of scales, arpeggios and the constant forwarding and rewinding of an old reel-to-reel tape recorder decoding Chick Corea piano moves.

Tripp: I started doing gigs at a pretty young age, like 15 or 16. I’ve really only ever worked in the music field, playing mostly in the San Diego area and touring occasionally. I also do a lot of recording in the studio, and I also do a fair amount of studio engineering.

Peter: After a year at Interlochen, I was going to gigs and earning a miniature living teaching guitar while I was studying with a classical guitarist named Albin Czak. The big moments were the few lessons I had with Pat Metheny. His house was filled from the floor to the roof with road cases and music gear and you could feel the importance of music in his life. Years later, I received a postcard in the mail that had a picture of a very strange, multi-stringed guitar. On the flipside of the card was written, “Peter, heard you on the radio. Sounded great man! (signed) Pat M.” I couldn’t figure out who Pat M. was and didn’t figure it out until I looked at the small print under the guitar picture. It said, “The Pikasso Guitar, from the collection of Pat Metheny.” Pat and I still stay in touch and he is one of my all-time favorite musicians, composers and human beings.

DR: What would you call the biggest highlight of your career?

Peter: A big moment was standing on a stage with Chick Corea and Al Jarreau, playing in Washington, DC at an outdoor festival for 10,000 people—as far as I could see, people digging on the music.

Tripp: Some that really stick out for me are performing with the jazz drum legend Joe Chambers and singer Mose Allison, and then in the pop field I’ve gigged with Kenny Loggins and Smokey Robinson. But for me it’s not so much the biggest name acts I’ve played with or the largest audience. The highlight for me is usually that heightened feeling on the bandstand when the music is really burning!

DR: Tripp, what’s it like getting onstage with your brother, night after night?

Tripp: I appreciate it more the older we get. We spark each other on in a good way. Of course, we have a long history of common musical vocabulary so when we take chances it’s usually successful.

DR: Peter, tell us about the band you’re bringing to San Miguel for the jazz festival.

Peter: We’ve got my brother Tripp on sax and flute and I know the folks at San Miguel know him from his previous visits. On drums is a fellow named Dylan Savage who is a very creative spirit and I love what he brings to the music. On bass is an amazing player from LA named Hamilton Price. A lot of the great players in LA have discovered Hamilton and are using him in their bands, including Billy Childs and Geoffrey Keezer. It’s an exciting group that freely plays jazz and samba.

DR: Tripp, you’ve been here a few times already, but have never played at the festival before. What are you most looking forward to?

Tripp: It’s exciting to me that in addition to my wife Sophia and our two kids, this time my brother and his family plus the other members of the band will be along. I find that the intensity of audience appreciation and enthusiasm in San Miguel is really high. That makes it exciting!

DR: What about you, Peter?

Peter: I’ve heard great things about the town and its people and it’s always magic to bring our music to new ears. Can’t wait!

DR: What else interests you guys besides music?

Peter: Surfing—got any waves in San Miguel? Also doing yoga is a favorite. I have a great family so spending time with them looping around is always fun. I’m interested in computers so I get into web design and making movies. 

Tripp: I’m interested in anything to do with computers. And of course, it’s fascinating to me to watch my kids grow up and develop.

The Peter Sprague Quartet performs at the Teatro Ángela Peralta on Friday, November 23 after an opening set by guitarist Randy Bernsen and vocalist/harmonica player Randy Singer. Tickets are available now at the Peralta box office. Buy Luneta seats for all four Peralta concerts and receive free admission to the Saturday afternoon concert at Bellas Artes featuring the Jazz Academy Maestros from La Escuela Superior de Mexico. For more information about the festival, visit www.sanmigueljazz.com. 

Doug Robinson is a musician and composer. He will be performing on Sunday November 25 along with an all-star ensemble in Un Tributo En Jazz a Ray Charles, after a set by Hot Club of San Francisco. You can reach Doug at Jazzooo@aol.com. 

Opera in Mexico City

Thinking of heading to Mexico City soon? Lucia di Lammermoor, one of the most popular operas, will be performed in the Palacio de Bellas Artes on November 29, December 2, 4, 6 and 9. The opera, written by Gaetano Donizetti, was first performed in Naples in 1835 and has been in the repertoire of the world’s opera houses continually since then.

It’s famous “mad scene” has been sung by numerous sopranos, notably Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills. With its melodious score and pyrotechnic display of singing technique, it’s a good opera for beginners and experienced opera-goers alike. Tickets (which usually go on sale one month or less in advance) are available in person at the Bellas Artes box office (closed Mondays) or online at www.ticketmaster.com.mx. The Bellas Artes website is www.bellasartes.gob.mx.