Discussion With Ric Fierabracci

FEBRUARY 1, 2008 BY JAKE KOT LEAVE A COMMENT

Discussion With Ric Fierabracci For those of you who are not familiar with Ric
Fierabracci, it would be well worth your time to check this man out. I first heard him
on the Hemispheres CD with band mate Joel Rosenblatt (former drummer with
Spyro Gyra), which we reviewed in an earlier issue, and was very impressed with his
work. Then I was able to catch him live at Bass Bash at the 2008 Namm show and
got to see (hear) what he could do. Amazing player. A quick insight into his
personality showed up when I was following him after his performance to set up an
interview with him, and he noticed me trailing him and turned around and said, Do I
owe you money? I liked him right away.
His credentials are strong, having worked with the Chick Corea Electric Band, Billy
Cobham group, Dave Weckl band, Frank Gamble group, Scott Hendersen, Eric
Marienthal, and Randy Brecker to name a few.
Groove, taste, and stunning solo chops make this bassist a regular call for some of
the best in the business. Im also glad to announce that Ric will be joining us as a
staff member starting with our April issue. A great player, as well as a great guy and
a welcomed addition to the mag.

Jake: I read a quote you had posted on youre Myspace page, that beingPractice
and thought might gradually forge many an art. With your schedule as busy as it is,
and that premise in mind, what do you focus on when time for practice, and thought,
opens up?
Ric: When I sit down, I try to always have some kind of goal. In other words, if I have
10 minutes, or an hour, I always try to have something in mind to accomplish instead
of just warming up. Things like, if Im looking at a half diminished chord, what do I
usually do, and Ill take a look at that, or if technically theres something Im not
happy with, Ill try to fix that in the time I have.
Many times Ill just open up a book and read. There are a couple of cello books I
work out of. Theyre etude books, one being the Dotzauer cello studies. There are
three volumes of this and Ive been using them for years. Its good for me to work
with these books because it gets me away from what Im usually playing. Ill also
work on bebop headslearn a new one if I have time. I always want to walk away
from my practice time knowing that I learned something.
Jake: Are the cello books more of a technique and sight-reading exercise, or are
there melodic factors involved when youre going through these etudes?
Ric: I think so. You know, the Dotzauer book in particular is all etudes, basically
having the same rhythm all the way through it. It is a technique exercise, but theyre
all very melodic and well written, and that has an impact as well. Theres also
another good book written by Blume, 36 Studies for Trombone, and thats a great
book to go through as wella little easier to play, but very melodic.

Jake: I worked out of a book called Chord Studies for Trombone for quite some time
myself. I believe Jeff Berlin had recommended that book at some point.

Ric: Thats a great book because it takes you through every chord with the exercises
given. It kind of gets you to attack the chord from different angles. A very well thought
out book.
Jake: One of the things that I enjoy most about your playing is your rhythmical
decision within a composition. Many times youll go where I wouldnt have expected
you to go, and it works. Is this purely instinct for you at this point, or is there some
thought process behind what you come up with?
Ric: Im a firm believer that you practice stuff so that when youre actually playing,
you dont have to think. An analogy is, if Im a fighter, you dont go into the match
thinking, Im going to throw a left, then a right, then a right cross, etc, etc-you get
what I mean here. If youre doing that much thinking youll get knocked out. Even
though Im practicing stuff, what Ive practiced on a particular day is not going to be
digested or usable right away. Its going to take maybe 6 or 8 months before a new
concept becomes part of my vocabulary. That also keeps me from doing the parrot
thing, just repeating some lick, or something somebody else has played.

A lot of what Ill do is listen to someone like Brecker and go, what is he doing on that
chord change. For instance, I was checking something out the other day from a
Steps tune that Brecker played on, and he hit this seriously low note, he does that a
lot, and I go, what is that exactly? I thought it was the root, but it sounded so harsh,
and I discovered it was a b9, and hell do that against a Maj.7 chord. It creates
massive tension, and thats what he was going for. But to play an idea like that, you
have to experiment to make it your own thing, or look at the concept and go, you
know what, using a note out of nowhere thats not in the harmony does create a cool
tension, and Id have to conceptualize how I would use that to make it my own. It can
take months before its intuitive, and not sounding like Im taking a Michael Brecker
note and playing it in the exact same place rhythmically. Thats what a lot of people
dothey transcribe and go, ok, Ive got my Jaco lick, or my Marcus Miller lick. But to
make it your own thing you have to digest that information. You want to get beyond
the lick and see the concept, and not just do the parrot thing and put the same lick in
the same place.

Jake: Looking at your bio, as well as recordings Ive heard you on, tells me that your
section playing is definitely one of your strong suits. But I also find your
improvisational voice to be equally as strong. Could you give me a glimpse of how
that voice developed for you?
Ric: I dont know if I have the answer for that, but I can certainly speculate. If there
is an answer to that, I think it probably changes all the time. Improv to me is really
the core of what you are. Its the essence of what makes us not a machine. We can
program whatever we want into our computers and spit it out, but communicating
with another musician and playing off of someone else, thats something thats at a
very high level. Its one thing to learn a part, but its another thing to be able to play
off of everyone elsenot just soloing, but our section work as well, to be able to do
that every night, even if its the same tune or the same vehicle. This is one thing that

will keep musicians from becoming extinctto improvise, meaning being able to
converse, just like were having this conversation right now. I dont have a written out
line that Im saying to Jake, like a politician would after being asked a question.
Talking to you live is just like me taking a solo over changesIll handle it, or Ill
clam.
As far as improv is concerned, it doesnt have to be just the bass solo, Im
improving from the start of the tune, with the groove, or whatever. Should I play a
little behind the drummer to give it a rub, or against him for a rub, this is the stuff that
drives methis is what separates me from a computer. I enjoy making these
judgments on the fly, and make music out of it. Im not trying to be different just to be
different. Im not going to wear a friggin fruit basket hat during my bass solo just to
be different, I cant stand that stuff. I dont mind the fruit basket, but dont be different
just to be differentbe different to be better. Its a lifelong quest, and you have to be
true to yourself and not worry what everyone else is thinking. You just need to do the
work.
First of all, you should be able to play through any chord changes, and after that you
can focus on a higher level of improvisationthe Michael Breckers and the Pat
Methenys, where theyre playing in the cracks rhythmically, or theyre doing an
unusual harmonic thing. They can kind of go anywhereinside, outside, tension and
release, anything. Thats where they can make the statement that theres actually no
wrong note. Actually, its the next note thats critical. Are you going to resolve it or
not, and thats the control they havethats the difference between someone that
can improvise, and someone that cant. You can hit any note to begin with, and with
that note comes an emotional response. When Michael Brecker hits that b9 on
a Maj.7th chord, theres an emotional response. Thats the highest point of tension,
but then he releases it afterwards and whoa!
Jake: In my interview this issue with Victor Wooten, we spoke about his recent gigs
with Chicks Electric Band and he had some great and interesting things to say. I
know youve also worked with the Electric Band, and Id like to hear your take on
being part of this infamous unit.
Ric: It was a great experience for me. I got a call from Chickhe heard some
recordings I was on and asked me to do the gig. I was subbing for John while they

toured in Europe. Of course I said yes to the gig in a second. There was no time to
rehearse. Actually, we were going to try to rehearse at the sound check, but when we
got there, there was no electricity on stage. Thankfully, I did my homework and just
went onstage and played, and I felt great because Chick was very happy. John
couldnt do the gig for a while, so I ended up playing with them for a year and a half.

Musically, it was just fantastic. What I liked about the gig was that Chick basically
never tells you what to play or how to play it. I remember one time he sent me the
charts and I listened to some of the tunes, and I asked him one time, what do you
think about this one section here, it was like a D Aeolian b5 or something like that,
and the first thing he said was, if Ive got to tell you what to play, thats
uncomfortable, because this gig is kind of beyond the notes. So I made that the last
question I ever asked him about something (laughs). But thats what I loved about
the gig. You could pretty much try anything. The only requirement was to create
something every night. You kind of have the freedom to do anything, but at the same
time, you didnt want to let down your band mates at all. So it was kind of eyes open,
ears open, and that was a great experience.

Jake: I marvel at Chick. After Ive listened to his 7 millionth solo over years and years
and went, again, well, that seriously worked, and was damn cool, I wonder how
someone gets to that level of consistency that he totally owns in his playing.
Ric: Thats the confidence I was referring to earlier, to take any note and know how
to make it work. He never throws out any of his ideas while hes playing, as many
players end up doing. He just develops them on the spot. Pure confidence.
Jake: Are you planning any kind of solo project in the near future, and beyond that,
are you doing any writing as well?
Ric: Im working on a project right now with Phil Turcio on keys, Brett Garsed on
guitar, and Daniel Adair on drums. Im writing for that right now. I also have a record
out called Hemispheres, which you kindly reviewed in an earlier issue of the mag. I
wrote a lot of the tunes for that CD, actually, 6 out of the 11 tunes are mine. But that
CD is definitely a band thing. It kind of started out as my solo record, but everyone
played so well, we turned it into a band project, and were beginning to work on a
second CD for that project as well. As far as a solo CD is concerned, I may do one in
the future. But if it were just going to be called Ric Fierabracci, I would probably do
just literally all-solo bass. Im not sure about doing that because Ive always been
kind of a team player.
To me, the music part I enjoy is the communication involved, playing off other
people. So me just playing by myself would be, well, masturbation, wouldnt it? Dont
get me wrong on that statement, but I have no need to record something and go hey,
check out my licks. Id rather play and go, whats the drummer going to do with what
Im playingwhats the keyboard player going to do with what Im playing? Its kind
of like, I like talking to people, and I dont like talking to myself. Im not sure if Ill ever
do that, unless I head my own band. Thinking about this, I see the analogy of playing
baseball when I was a kid. I liked being a team playerits about the whole team,
the whole thing together. Thats what makes it interesting for me. You can always put
an all-star band together and record, but that never seems to sound good. I always
like the bands that sound like bandsexampleWhen I listen to the Alan
Holdsworth IOU record, there were no stars on that, I didnt know who any of those
guys were, but you could tell, Thats a group. He could have called whomever he
wantedhe could have called Peter Erskine, or Jaco, but it wouldnt have been the

same record. There is a certain energy that you get when you play a lot with people,
and thats what Im interested in. Im not saying everyone else has to be interested in
that, but thats what drives me as a musicianto be able to play off of other people.
Thats what most certainly drives me.