Spotlight: ‘Words’ by Alex Louloudis
In this post, I – Blake Denham – had the pleasant occasion to interview Alex Louloudis. Alex has been playing the drums for nineteen years, fifteen of which he has done so professionally. Born in Drama, Greece, Alex began his formal training at the music conservatory in his home town when he was nine years old, and shortly after began performing with local bands and in music festivals around Greece. He received both the Eubie Blake Scholarship, and the ‘Kostas Kouvidis’ Scholarship for drummers to attend The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, New York. Alex has studied, and performed with many artists in varied places around the world. Alex was happy to answer some questions about music, the city, the album, and art. Thank you Alex for your efforts in making this post possible, and congratulations on the release of ‘Words’!
Music has been a close companion during these past 6 solitary months, and as I was planning out this post a few weeks back, I knew I wanted music to be it’s focus. I was reaching out to musicians who’s music I knew well – producers and DJs mostly, asking for an interview. Because of my familiarity with their music, there was a comfort and ease that I felt in the potential, imagined interview: none of them got back to me… R.I.P. dreamy interview.
However, the dreamy interview did not stay dead for long. My experience has hinted that there exists some correlation between an ideas presence in my thoughts and the likelihood that the subject of that thought will eventually manifest itself to me, even if it’s not necessarily on my own terms: so it was in this case. Alex Louloudis has recently released a second album entitled ‘Words’ , and just as I bottomed out in the depths of cold calling, Alex reached out to inquire if we might be interested in collaborating with him on a blog post. I was saved!
An awesome photo from a duet of Alex and Rafael Statin, who is featured on ‘Words’.
BD: I am no musician, but I love music. During the pandemic, I have noticed that my taste in music has changed: instead of listening to music that energizes me, I listen to music that calms and reassures me. Have you had a similar experience during the pandemic? If not, what about the music you’re listening to has managed to stay consistent these past 12 months?
AL: I have had a similar experience. The music I most listened to during the pandemic I discovered right before the pandemic. Six months prior to the first lockdown my drums took me on a long trip through the Middle East. There I experienced a unique culture I wasn’t that familiar with and started composing music inspired by my experiences with some great musical legacies in the region.
There are a lot of similarities between the music I grew up listening to in Greece and the Middle Eastern music I was exposed to during my trip. These similarities helped me cultivate an interest in the traditional musics of the Mediterranean, and began exploring the works of living composers from these regions. In terms of listening to music, my stay in the Middle East and the pandemic that followed it have brought me back to a comfort zone.
BD: You have trained under, collaborated with, and learned alongside many different artists: do you think that there is something about jazz which encourages collaboration more than other genres of music? What are some of the selfish reasons that you like collaboration?
AL: Jazz education is not as formal as European classical music education and by nature it encourages collaboration. As young musicians we learn about the history of jazz, its musical language, and develop our voices by collaborating, in one way or another, with the elders.
Young musicians, we ‘’selfishly’’ collaborate with each other because for most of us our first albums or tours happen in a DIY manner. In order for things to work in this DIY environment, we surround ourselves with collaborators that are understanding, and passionate about the art we are producing together.
BD: In our conversation you mentioned that PLU is one of the first places you think to share your visual art and poetry. Why is that? How did you first encounter PLU, and do you usually seek out spoken word events in the places you live?
AL: I so very much appreciate the work you guys do at PLU. I feel you are really dedicated to promoting all arts globally and locally. I am familiar with your blog and magazine, and hope to attend a spoken word event in Paris soon. I feel, as a group, you have great taste and that is evident in everything that carries the PLU signature; this is why I wanted to and still want to be associated with you.
I heard about PLU from the late, great Steve Dalachinsky, the poet and patron of the NY free jazz scene, in 2018. That year I submitted a painting of mine to be featured in the PLU magazine and it was accepted. In 2020 I participated in PLU Presents.
I haven’t been attending many spoken word events lately. When some of my favorite poets were active I’d go by Nuyorican Poets Cafe on 3rd street in Manhattan to hear them.
BD: What has New York meant to you? What parts of the city do you find yourself going back to when you need inspiration, entertainment, or release? What parts of New York do you think are under-appreciated?
AL: I grew up in Drama, Greece but became my own person in NYC. NYC is the place I know best, the place that feels like home to me.
There are neighborhoods in NY that are not that famed, neighborhoods that host the lives of everyday working people, people who produce the cultural and economic wealth of the city, people who keep NYC going. Those parts of NYC, the parts that keep the true culture of NYC alive are the ones that seem to be underappreciated.
The Lower East Side, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx, are in my opinion beautiful and inspiring. One of my favorite compliments on my new album ‘’Words’’ is that the listener felt ‘’transported to the city’’; all the music you hear on the album is directly related to my experiences in NYC and the beauty I found in those places.
My exposure to jazz is mostly through people around me who listen to jazz, and for the most part I enjoy what I hear. Perhaps due to this distance, jazz to me feels at times to require I listen thoughtfully to it in order to hear the song – and if I don’t commit enough concentration, it can sound a bit chaotic.
I have listened to ‘Words’ several times, each in different circumstances. The first time I was at home, and had set apart time to do nothing but listen. The second time was immediately following the first, and as I listened I wrote whatever images the songs inspired in my thoughts. The last time was while I was cleaning my apartment, getting ready to move out. Although the unique circumstances changed the feeling of the album – new, colorful, flowing – I enjoyed them all. The scattered free jazz is woven pleasantly in with the structured measures, giving imagination space to fill in the details of the song’s underlying story. No one instrument feels dominant, or forgotten: the omnipresent drums provide a canvas for the other instruments to materialize, the melodies of the saxophone gently adds color, and the bass firmly outlines the scene. Every song on the album is different, but underlying all of them is the city: a sleepy cafe at 3 a.m., the busy streets of New York City, the colorful clouds of a vaulted, city sunset. I really enjoyed the album, and it has since inspired me explore more jazz on my own.
BD: I mostly listen to techno music: do you listen to techno music much? Do you find that there is much of a connection between techno and jazz? Why or why not?
AL: I do not know much about techno music, but I know there are strong connections between jazz and techno. Both musics are modes of expression of the African diaspora originated at similar places in different time periods. Rafael Statin, the saxophone player on the record and a Detroit native tells me all about techno, jazz, and how they relate. He has been fusing jazz and techno for years. So yes there is a connection between techno and jazz. Check out Rafael’s page leafar.live for proof.
BD: You are originally from Greece. What are some things about Greece you miss most while living in the states? What are some things about the states you miss most while living in Greece?
AL: I come from a small town in the Northern part of Greece, and NY is kind of the opposite of that. I believe I need to spend time in both places in order for me to feel fulfilled and balanced. I love the art scene in NY, and how I am surrounded by like-minded people while there, how we create, learn, and communicate. When I am in Greece, I create less but I get to spend time with my friends and family, eat well, and not stress.
I thought I might share the image that my favorite song on the album, ‘Ochun’s Dance’, inspired: “Sporadic drums kick off the song, rolling about like a tin can down some hot, busy urban street. The can careens into someone's foot, the saxophone comes in, and I am thrust into the hustle and bustle of the city: the owner of the disturbed foot is arguing with their neighbor about their noisy dog on the sidewalk outside their apartment. In the background a papergirl comes into sight on skates and throws the paper onto the threshold. She continues down the street and stops by her favorite bagel shop/cafe, where an old man is sitting folding up the paper, getting ready to leave. He takes his affairs from the hat-rack and moves outside, stopping to smell the hot, summer day. As he inhales, an ambulance drives noisily by towards a complaint described as “a loud shouting and banging.” The camera zooms out and we see all the action all at once, the now tiny events assuming the appearance of cogs in the machine, or motions in the dance of the city, all moving in time to the clinking of the can rolling about in the background, moving from one foot to the next.”
BD: Listening to ‘Words’ was inspiring! When I sat down to listen to it, the songs told pleasant stories. What was your inspiration for the songs? Are there specific moments you think of for each song, or is it more of a general inspiration?
AL: In the case of this album, every song has its own story and it was written as a response to an event, an experience, or a situation. The opening track ‘’Surviving’’ serves as a musical response to the hardships one encounters while living in NY. My stay in New Orleans inspired me to write ‘’Expedition in NOLA’’. ‘’The Magic of 3’’ I wrote a couple of days before the recording session for the album and it’s dedicated to my friends, Rafael Statin, Dean Torrey, Kaelen Ghandhi, Rosdeli Marte, and Aaron Rubinstein, who play on the album. Ochun is the Yoruba deity of beauty and ‘’Ochun’s Dance’’ is a homage to the wonders and beauty of nature.’’I Hear You Eric’’ I also wrote in New Orleans and is my homage to the great Mr. Eric Dolphy. The poem on the final track that gives the record its name came to me in a dream: I woke up, wrote it down and went back to bed. The poem and the music on ‘’Words’’ convey a universal message that supports and promotes peace and equality for human kind.
BD: I don’t have much experience listening to jazz: at times the free and improvised nature of it can be a bit chaotic if I am not in the right state of mind. Your album didn’t feel that way to me – it felt like a really nice combination of the two, and the free aspects added a lot of pleasant, unexpected twists in the journey. How do you interpret this play of structure and freestyle in ‘Words’, or maybe even in jazz in general? What does it add to the listening and creative experience?
AL: Great musicians in all styles make music that constantly balances between the conscious and unconscious parts of our brains: they are always prepared but always improvising, too. I believe that the same thing is happening in ‘’Words’’. There are things that were planned, there were directions given, but there was also a lot of space for personal expression and artistic exploration.
Art expresses the esoteric qualities of things, and situations. Many times in a purely improvisational musical setting there isn’t anything specific to be expressed and music only exists for the sake of music, which is a great thing, too. All the songs in ‘’Words’’ correspond to specific events, and the ways of approaching our musical ideas were predetermined. So ‘’Words’’ even though it has a lot of freedom in it, is not a result of free playing, there is a narrative to the album that adds to the listening experience.
BD: And one ‘impossible’ question, as garnish: what is art for in your experience?
AL:
‘’When I say the painting of the flower is pretty, the word pretty can’t compare to the
flower nor even to the picture of the flower. When I say the painting of the flower is
pretty, pretty is how good I feel when I see it and I say it.’’
Ashley Bryan
Sing to the Sun: Poems and Pictures
Congratulations, Alex, on the new release – thank you for the part you’ve offered PLU in its launch and thank you for your efforts towards making it possible!
- Blake Denham