Vallejo Nocturno 2018 - From last night's concert at An die Musik Live, the talented Zaccai Curtis
From a recent interview with Zaccai by T.J. English at Skull fractures:
If you had to categorize your influences, where would you say your approach to the piano comes from?
I still consider myself a student, of course. I haven’t done my own writing, my own recording. I’ve been waiting until I feel comfortable with ideas that are my own, concepts that are my own, that I have, but I’ve been waiting to go in that direction yet because I’d like to make that a permanent thing. So I feel that I’m still in my discovery phase. A lot of the stuff that I’m playing is things that people that hire me want to hear.
Currently, my mentor, without a doubt, is Eddie Palmieri. Not only am I a student of all music, but I’m also clearly a student of his. I try to make sure I’m following that, to open myself up when I’m ready to play my own ideas. But right now, I‘m just trying to hone my skills. I’m still focusing on that.
Has Palmieri always been a primary influence of yours?
Oh yeah. Always has been. Since I was a kid. Now, when I go see Eddie, see what he’s doing in his 80s, it’s unreal. One of a kind. Genius. I’ve never seen anything like it. I wanna be like that.
Are there other influences that you can cite?
In the jazz world and the Latin jazz? Everything? That‘s a long list. Bud Powell, McCoy Tyner are tops on that list. Wynton Kelly. Charlie Palmieri, a very big influence. Peruchín. I don’t have anyone that I’m not influenced by, really. I mean, I’m throwing out these names, but there’s a ton more. Bobby Timmons. Was on my Bobby Timmons phase for a while. Absolutely love that guy. Bill Evans.
Of course, being here in New York there’s your salsa legends – Papo Lucca, Ruben Gonzalez. And I’ve always been listening to Arsenio Rodriguez and a lot of the older stuff. Because Andy Gonzalez [of the Fort Apache Band] was a mentor of mine and my brother’s when we were kids. He dropped off records on a regular basis. So we had a lot of homework every week. A lot of listening. We were lucky to be pointed in the right direction in that regard.