Meet Brent-Anthony Johnson

Edo Castro's passion for music in general and the electric bass guitar in specific are undeniable!  His latest offering, "Phoenix" was released in 2006, and the rich, textural compositions weave a timeless musical expression!  Edo spent many years as a disciplined self-taught bassist before attending Chicago's American Conservatory of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree, in 1987.  Since returning to his beloved Berkley, CA he has graced dozens of recordings – often with his 7 and 9-string instruments – and he has graced stages with artists such as Ed Thigpen, Fareed Haque, Pete Cosey, and Roy Haynes!  Check out Edo at  www.edocastro.com

BAJ:  Edo!  Thanks for taking a moment to chat with us at Bass Musician Magazine, man!  "Phoenix" is a very cool release and I am so glad you sent a copy to us!  It is so nice to hear maturity in your fine playing and compositions!  Please describe your composing practice and tell us how the music "went to tape"?

EC: Thank you for having me. I'm flattered that you're enjoying "Phoenix". This project came together easily compared to my first CD "Edo" which took 7 years. To make a long story short, my first CD took 7 years because I was just making excuses not to finish it. But I did it.  Anyway all the ideas that had been percolating from the first CD eventually revealed themselves in the latest recording. I worked on most of the material at home recording to disk on my computer. I'm not much of midi person these days. I like the organic process of real instruments playing one track at a time. Midi has been a great tool for me in the past but it was a sterile process. Even when I use my Conklin Midi bass for recording I'm recording the audio from the GR 33 and not the midi information. Recording Midi data took away the art of playing my instrument and I began to just futz with zeros and ones. Tweaking events and processes that had to do more with the computer than the bass. It just didn't feel right...

For me composing is a varied path and I don't approach writing the same way twice. At times it starts off as a bass line, a chord progress or a melodic idea. Sometimes I write it down on manuscript paper and other times I just record the germ seed idea on my loop pedal or in my computer. From there I work out the ideas until I feel I have an organized idea. Sometimes I just have bits and pieces pre-recorded that sit around until I get the inspiration to finish it.

Take for instance "Song of the Electric Whales". I created this spacious slow loop and recorded it to my computer. Two months later, I watched the movie, The Whale Rider, which gave me the idea to complete the song. I thought to myself "hey I know how to make those whale sounds!" Once I created those whale sounds the melody came easily. I used a volume pedal to give it that underwater feeling.

In the last 10 years I've gotten into letting an idea take shape on it's own with very little pressure from me. I've been enjoying "stumbling onto something by accident." My version of "Amazing Grace" was completely unplanned. I just created another wonderful layered loop. But I had no melody. For months I tried writing a melody. Then one day I started playing this loop and the melody for "Amazing Grace" just came out from my hands. So I just went with that! The alternate lyrics you hear on "Amazing Grace" came 1 year later while I was driving to a gig in Central California. The original concept can be seen on You Tube that I uploaded a year or so ago. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=EchlvnpCUVg) or search Edo bass Loop. It's the first performance of that tune.

For "Phoenix" I wanted to get into what I refer to as "changing the moment." I first experienced this when I heard the opening harmonics passage to Pat Metheny's tune "San Lorenzo". Those notes (and the arrangement of those notes) made my hair stand on end. Time seemed to stand still as I listened to the music unfold.

This was the first time I really experienced space, melodic intention and a story telling in music outside of vocal music. Prior to hearing this I had only been listening to pop music and the fusion stuff like Return To Forever with Chick, Stanley, Al and Lenny. Don't get me wrong I think the music of RTF is beautiful, complex and very intense. But I tend to gravitate towards a particular sound or feeling that is much more relaxed and less athletic musically.

 "Phoenix" wasn't meant to be party music but you might play this while eating dinner, sitting late at night or just having it in the background. It's a veiled complexity. When you first listen to the album you think, "hmmm new age." But when you dig deeper, there's a lot of great stuff going on just below the surface.

Take for example the opening Track "Beneath an Evening Sky" by Ralph Towner. This tune has some beautiful rhythmic/harmonic structures. It starts off in 6/4 then in the middle of it goes briefly into 5/4 then back into 6/4. The F# Major 7 +5 chord at the end of the B section is a beautiful turn around to come back to the B Minor to G Major 7 #11 arpeggio. A friend of mine transcribed it around 1986-87 and I figured out how to play the chord voicings on 6 string bass. I had forgotten about that tune until I found the manuscript in my drawer a few years ago. I pulled it out and the song was still under my hand after some 20 years!