Hello how are you?
today I m with
my friend Steve Thornton
we are just here in a jazz concert in No Black Tie
Kuala Lumpur
and that's why i take the opportunity to interview him a little
so here's my pleasure to introduce to you
Mr Steve Thornton
I m doing fine
good to see you again Niko
how long have you been here in Malaysia
since 1997
so 20 years
actually when i moved here was the May of 1997
tell me a little more about
who you are
who is Steve?
I m from Berkeley New York
and when I was about 8 years old
I heard Mongo Santamaria
Mongo Santamaria is a conga player from Cuba
and I heard this song called Watermelon man
which was very popular in America
at this time
in jazz radios
even RnB radios
they played that song
anyway my brother bought an album
live at the village gate
and if you ever see that album
Mongo Live at the Village Gate
you see Mongo sitting
play with 2 congas
with his hands like that and a beautiful smile
and this african band
inspired me want to be like him
and actually
first time i get to meet him maybe i was about
16, 17, 18 ?
i was coming from highschool
from junior highschool actually
and i read that he was performing
in a place in Harlem
i read in the newspaper
so i asked my brother to take me to the club
because i know if i go by myself they won't let me in
number one they won't believe my age because i was
maybe same height
so anyway i had a problem getting in the clubs
to see Mongo
but that particular night
i got to see Mongo and he even let me come up and play
with him on his stage
and i mean that was such a big inspiration for me
that i saw many years ago, and such a nice man
and he actually inspired me and let me
play even right next to him
to show him what i ve learned from listening to his records
so i mean there is a lot of experiences with Mongo Santamaria
including the fact that i m living here in Malaysia
because i remember before i want to
move to malaysia
i asked Mongo because 3 years after
i performed with Mongo Santamaria
I performed with Miles Davis
with Herbie Hancock
who wrote the song Watermelon man
and David Sandborn and Tracy Chapman
Tania Maria and
so many artists
including Mickael Jackson and
Mariah Carey, recording with these people
but that all happened in New York you know
so when, 1997
you know i went to Mongo and said: Mongo
my wife want to come back to Malaysia
and i said Mongo i think i want to leave
go with her
Mongo was like
That's the good right decision
you should do that
because there is nothing, no matter what you do in your career
there is nothing like having a family
and if you choose your career over your family you might not be happy for the rest of your life
so he said choose family and music
and do it in Malaysia because
you can do it anywhere in the world
you don't have to stay in New York to play music
and to enjoy your career
he was very right
because now in Malaysia i have many students
who follow me
and i perform a lot including international artists like Mickael Bolton
just this past week end
i m fortunate actually to be in Malaysia
and also meet people like you
you know the coincidence we had meeting each other
that was quite a crazy story
and then be able to play music together
when i met you it was with one of my students in Kuching
i was performing with Sheila Majid
one of the most popular singer here in Malaysia
you know was just a coincidence
how we met
and right away i could feel that we wanted to play music together
and we managed to make it happen
and hopefully we'll do it again soon
hey look who's here!
Jupiter!
you got the camera in your hand
you know what i was just at Maverick (studio)
and i heard your stuff you've been working on
i like it very much
me and paul was talking about that
this is the most important thing about Kuala
you will meet some people from everywhere
and everyone bump in each other
Jupiter who i made a video for, one of the first one
Steve Thornton
and we will have a look behind
there is a concert with an amazing flutist
and amazing drummer
there is a lot of things happening here
she's also thinking about her studies (talking about his daughter)
she's studying everynight
focus, plain focus
on her studies
making a decision to do music you know, 24hours a day
she's only 16
i want her to do it because i don't think she will fail in music
if you do something in life that you love
you won't fail in life
you have to do what you like to do in life
that's a good shot too
we ve got to speak a little louder
because the music is getting crazy
it's playing louder
why did you choose percussion
and not flute, piano
i did try flute
and also bass
i studied bass you know
i used to play in high school
so i played bass
with the all violin, cello and everything
so i can learn how to read music
to learn to read music
and i have to take history and maths
i didn't wanted to do that
i wanted to do more music study in my life
but you know of course
the most natural thing for me was playing percussions
playing congas
so i used to be more in
bongos, that was my main instrument
especially when i was playing with salsa
because that's all what you play, congas for the whole band
how did it come to start play with Miles
through the recording session that's how i get to meet with Miles
through that recording session
and then he asked me to join the band it was a great experience
until this day
people still ask me how was it working with Miles?
he died like more than 20 years ago
25 maybe
24 years ago
You know, 1991
you didn't even realise
you re sitting just under Miles
he's looking at you
and telling you, that's right Steve!
after 4 years with him, so much I learned
i can imagine
he's a great teacher
of life as well I can see
his confidence is like
another thing about Miles that was amazing
we used to record
almost every show
i think in 4 years maybe missed 4 shows
everytime he performed he recorded
and everytime it was recording he was like
asking the musicians to listen to it
so that we can be inspired by what we played that night
so that the next time we can play it better
this is what he was always looking for
i remember one time
during a recording session
we were rehearsing for the album
and John Scofield
guitarist on a song that he wrote
and we played the song
and Miles was recording
while we were rehearsing
and John wrote the song
i see was reading the chart
reading his music
he made a mistake
so we play the song again
and he corrected the mistake
and Miles said : that's not what you played before
and he said : no it goes like this
this is the part here
show Miles the chart
Miles: I don't care man
that's not what you played
they argue a bit with Scofield
for few minutes
and he told : play the take back
when he played the take back
oh i made a mistake there, that's what John said
Miles heard that mistake man
and he wanted it to be part of the song
he wanted that to be a part of the song
make the wrong note sounds right
he heard what we didn't hear
that's for sure
you could see it too
from the videos i used to watch
of Miles, you can see
is there in somehow because he's just too...
he's so in the moment
you know when he used to walk on the stage when i was playing with him
and turning back
it was not turning his back
we were having a conversation
that's the way he was
that's the way he played music
with the musicians
he could look at you and he would come over to you
and play something and expect you to react to it
at the moment
all the time on stage
and people who interview him ask him: how come do you turn your back to the audience
they told him it was disrespect
they always got that wrong
he was having a conversation with his musicians
and you know he had to have an interview and explain it
makes sense
he wasn't disrespecting anybody
he wanted to make the most on the that stage
of all the musicians were on stage with him
no matter how you had it
so he was pushing people
yes exactly, sometimes he would play
with a guitarist or saxophone player and move them in the front
including me
he would take my congas
and put them in front of the stage
and told me to come in front and play my solo
after that when i came to Malaysia
i started to play Djembe actually
and putting the Djembe on my bell
so I can walk now and play
on stage
and you know that was a big deal for me, being able to move on stage
and the Djembe connected to me like tha Africans do you know
Music means Life
if I say it in one word
is life
number one as a musician
you find an instrument
or a voice
that you want to communicate with
and you can communicate anywhere in the world
even if you went to another galaxy
or another planet
that's right
Jupiter is a good planet as well
you can be able to express yourself
to whoever you meet
with your heart, with your music
doesn't matter what your langage is, portugese
malaysian, japanese, or chinese
doesn't matter
because through music you can communicate
you can share
something in commun with each other
doesn't matter where you come from
what advice could you give to someone who want to try
make sure that you are passionate about it
that's the most important thing
you do it for passion, you don't do it as a gig
you don't do it for being famous
you don't do it for
for anything else but satisfaction
enjoyment
of what you're doing
you have to enjoy it number one
because if you don't enjoy it
it won't last
it just gave me so much inspiration just now
now we've got to go to listen
i m ready to play now!
Hey Jupiter, when you came from
did you know when you were grewing up there,
did you know you would be here in Malaysia
and doing what you re doing right now
i had no clue
and that's the beautiful thing
music will send you in some place
that you would never know
and it will introduce you to people that you would never think
like Niko
Niko is the most amazing guy
he loves that
and it's real
you know, amazing things happen for him in life
just traveling with his flute
just playing music
amazing things happens to him
nobody else can understand
you can't understand
it's like electricity
it will plug you into anywhere
in anytime
the music will plug you in anywhere
in anytime with anybody
it's actually a very serious tool in the world
great collaborations, playing with musicians
you have play here with
you would have never had the chance to
if you didn't leave
i would have never got to play with you
and this is one of the greatest pleasure
we got to do some more
let's see what's inside
and it's always happening
when Niko is here
something's happening everytime
i had an interview before so check mine out
Jupiter Seven, heaven
and it was raining like crazy
and you had your flute and i think i had
i don't know what i had
was in borneo
we met in a car in Sarawak
it was raining, my bike was
totally flat
so i was pushing my bike in the dark to go
to the stage to see him
and then my housemate came and fetched me
and Steve was here
that's how we met
i don't know if i had an instrument
i think all i had was my hands
i didn't have any drum with me that time
but you had your flute
and we still was able to make a lot of rhythm happening there
we made some good music in the car that day
there is something special about Steve
he's always playing with young musicians
you know why?because i want to be young too!
I want to stay young!
actually there is a lot of great musicians here
like John (the drummer playing that night), look at the energy that guy has, and Jupiter
another thing too about being around young musicians
i guess i can inspire them as well
like all my students, i have a lot of students
and i really love being able to inspire them
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