Interview: Jason Seed

"Genre straddling" sounds dirty, but guitarist-composer Jason Seed does it with plenty of polish on 2008’s 3. The album is an amalgam of jazz-rock and classical—John Scofield meets Frank Zappa, with some Django Reinhardt added for good measure. If that sounds like over-reaching, it’s all wrapped in a slick Steely Dan-like package, with Seed’s buttery vocal delivery making it all go down smooth. Now splitting time between Chicago and Austin, the former Milwaukeean comes home tonight for a show at Shank Hall, combining his own Elixir Ensemble with members of both the Milwaukee and Chicago symphonies. Decider phoned Seed at his home in Austin to discuss his favorite cities and the mix of music he calls “rockedixieofunkinjazzypsyclassicadelicango.”

Decider: Milwaukee, Chicago, or Austin—which town has the best music scene?

Jason Seed: Austin, definitely. People are really passionate, clubs are packed, people don’t have any problem paying $10 to go see a local band. The scene’s a little more style-specific in a lot of ways; like, there’s no jazz scene per se down here. But the country-swing stuff has got people packed in clubs every week. Chicago’s got more of a rock and jazz thing. Milwaukee’s got a lot of great musicians, but it’s just hard to get people to go out for some reason. That’s my only complaint.

D: 3 might seem a little out there for those that remember you from your weekly gigs at The Jazz Estate. Is that the general response you’ve been getting?

JS: Yeah. That was pretty much the reception—The Elixir Ensemble stuff didn’t really go over at the Estate. It wasn’t enough jazz or something, which I don’t even know what that means. The whole point of The Elixir Ensemble is that I want to do everything I like in a single thing, and not have any kind of restraint like being worried about genre.

D: What makes you able to draw in so many musicians from such disparate musical backgrounds? 

JS: I guess it’s kind of word or mouth. One thing that’s really beneficial and very different about networking within the classical world is that these people play in these huge groups. It’s not like a jazz group where somebody likes your playing and they tell two friends; this is 80 people that see each other every week. The interesting part is having the classical people and the jazz people get together on one project because they do speak different languages.

D: It sounds like a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be easier just being a guitar player?

JS: [Laughs.] Yeah. It would. It’s just that I write stuff everyday. It’s kind of like a compulsive thing, so I always end up with tons of music. I was living in Seattle and I was just doing the guitar player thing, gigs, and teaching, but I had all this music piling up. After a while the stuff stacks up and just kind of stares at you. You begin to feel guilty. It’s like, “I have to do something with it.”