Kim Stone - More Than You Know
-by Gwenn Harris 

            

"…he quietly and simply establishes the groove that people
       of all ages recognize and feel at home with."

Bassist Kim Stone of the Rippingtons is one of the hardest-working, definitive bass players ever to "pluck the axe", PERIOD.  Ask any fan of the instrument or the various bands he has performed with...the response is a no-brainer.  Still, so much more lies beneath the surface-- much more than you know.

I invite you to kick back with your favorite refreshment, add some Rippingtons music in the background and share some truly inspired moments in a conversation I recently had with Kim Stone.



SNAN:  When did you first realize that music was the road you would travel in life and what made you choose the bass as your companion on that journey? 

KS:  Well… The music bug bit me when I was 12 years old.  Growing up in Lakewood, Colorado, a neighborhood kid, Mike Moore had an older brother, Bill, who had an electric guitar.  We'd mess with his equipment when he wasn't around.  After that, I lobbied my parents to get an acoustic guitar and later an electric, solid body Kingston Guitar.  Afterwards, I got into Rock & Roll.

My maternal grandfather, Henry, passed away and left each of us $65.00.  I used mine to buy a Silvertone amp through Sears, which set me on my way.  I switched to the bass guitar at age 13, because no one else in the neighborhood played it.

SNAN:   Where was home when you were growing up?  Please tell us about your family (parents, spouse, siblings, children).

KS:  I was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  We moved from Cleveland to Pueblo, Colorado, then to Denver, which is where the music started for me.  My parents are Barney and Vera Stone.  My dad is from Altoona, PA and my mom a native Clevelander.  Both parents are Social Workers.  They met in college, while studying to become Psychologists, and now reside in Broomfield, CO.

I have one sibling - an older sister, Kathy (who likes to be called Kate), that went "into the family business, so to speak, and is also a Social Worker.

My wife of 16 years is Susan René.  We first met in L.A. in 1979 and reconnected with each other in 1986, once again in L.A., while I was on tour with Spyro Gyra.  Susan was in the music business - working at an eclectic bar, 'Club Lingerie' in Hollywood, CA, where rock artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone, to name a few, were discovered.

We have a daughter, Kalia Jane, now 13, who has apparently inherited very strong music genes.  She is singing, studies drama and has acted in the stage production 'The King and I' in Colorado Springs.  Kalia spends time in my studio, singing along with her favorite CDs, performing a Capella pieces and will be heard on my next upcoming bass CD.  She is quite a vocalist, with good timing, intonation and is beautiful!  All the things needed to make it in this business (Kim smiles).   

SNAN:   Your dad plays harmonica.  For how long and have you worked on any projects together? 

KS:  My dad has been playing harmonica 70 years and is the reason I got into music.  I heard the harmonica long before the guitar, so I guess "I got the music in me" from him.   

Dad gave it up for a decade, then in 2001, at age 80, contracted pneumonia, from which he has since recovered.  He was advised to begin playing harmonica again for respiratory therapy and is now very serious about it, buying lots of harmonicas and performing with the Harmonica Society of Colorado.

I have been recording him…about 50 songs thus far:  the standards, like "Buttons and Bows", "Stardust" and "Mona Lisa", harmonica songs like "Old Susannah" and others from WWI.  My interest in music came from my dad, playing around the campfire on summer vacations.  Of course he has given me a harmonica or two, but I've never taken to the instrument.  It takes a certain kind of person to play the harmonica, like Howard Levy, (former keyboard/harmonica player of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones) - a musician without limits, universally acknowledged as the world's most advanced diatonic harmonica player. Howard has developed a fully chromatic style on the standard 10-hole diatonic harmonica, revolutionizing harmonica playing and taking the instrument into totally new territory.

SNAN: Who was your mentor during your early years and what impact did mentoring have on you then and now? 

KS:  The people I listened to when I was growing up were:  Jimmy Garrison, Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Noel Redding - bassist for the Jimi Hendricks Experience and Stanley Clarke.  Although they did not act not in the capacity of formal teachers - I observed and I listened to them.  I saw Jimi Hendricks & the Experience live when I was 14, as well as John McLaughlin's Man Vishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever featuring Stanley Clarke, Keith Jarrett, the Brecker Brothers on their very first tour, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie… the list goes on and on.  I would always observe the bass players' techniques; then make them mine.  

My last year of high school, although never having had formal lessons, I played bass violin and electric bass guitar.  I learned to read music, studied music theory.

I started with Rock & Roll, but my true foundation was laid and anchored in jazz.  I received Miles Davis' CD "Bitches Brew" for my 17th birthday - Miles was playing modern electric jazz during that period; he was one of the first creators of fusion music.  I saw him later that year in Denver.  It was Miles who changed me over from Rock & Roll to jazz.

Jazz musicians have always improvised over Pop songs:  When you think about modern music, it seems that new sounds are the only thing we have now to create something fresh with.  Digital music with its' new and unusual sounds have given us music that has never been heard before on this planet. In my recent utilized today.  In my compositions and recordings, I have been  experimenting with new sounds with the hope of capturing something fresh.

SNAN:  Your career has afforded you amazing opportunities for extensive performing that includes multiple appearances at the prestigious Montreux, North Sea, Newport, Kool, JVC, and Playboy Jazz festivals, Europe and Japan, as well as on numerous nationwide tours with such greats as Spyro Gyra, Taj Mahal, David Benoit and are now in your 12th year with the Rippingtons. 

Recognized as one of the top bassists in Smooth Jazz, unique and charismatic are just two of the adjectives used to describe your style of performing.   Was it something you developed or did it come naturally?

KS:  I like to feel my style came naturally.  I like performing on stage- it's a real "turn-on" for me, which I think makes me pleasing to watch.  When I enjoy myself on stage, the fans feel it and reciprocate.  I like that feedback and I have been lucky to play for a lot of people.

What is fun is the touring!  Every little city in this country, in Europe or Asia… wherever you go, the people are different, so the responses are different.  We're told what to expect overseas.  For instance:  While on tour with Spyro Gyra in Italy, the audience threw things like cans and paper cups at us.  We were told throwing things at us, while we were performing, meant they liked us but maybe they told us that to be nice.  Is it customary… is it emotions… or feelings in the moment?  What it translates to is that in different countries you get different reactions to the same thing.

SNAN:   You are a six-time Grammy nominee (5 times with Spyro Gyra, once with Rare Silk) and 2 time Smooth Jazz Award Nominee (best Bass and best Group- The Rippingtons, with whom you now enter your 12th year) bringing home the award in the Best Group category.  How does that make you feel and what are your thoughts on the recognition (or lack thereof) of Smooth Jazz artists in the music industry?

KS:  I'm very thankful for the Smooth Jazz Awards.  I think it was necessary to create awards to honor artists who play a lot and are received by audiences the world over.

In other mainstream awards, it seems the powers that be view Smooth Jazz artists and the category different than I view Contemporary/Smooth Jazz.  Nationally-known artists like Peter White, Rick Braun and Boney James and others don't fit into their perception of the type of music categorized under the umbrella of Contemporary Jazz, although Dave Koz has been nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Pop Instrumental Album" for the collaborative works on "Dave Koz & Friends" Smooth Jazz Christmas, Kirk Whalum for "Unconditional" and Acoustic Alchemy for "AArt". 

It appears to be a matter of terminology, like naming new streets for a new city… such a free for all.  It is time to be recognized by the Grammys.  Smooth Jazz artists make a lot of money for a lot of people.  They are ignoring the energy we generate and the audiences we command.





SNAN:  What was the hardest adjustment that you had to make personally and professionally?  What keeps you grounded?

KS:  Never had to make one- I've always lived like this.  I don't know any other lifestyle (like a 9-5, Monday-Friday lifestyle).  When I was 14, I was a busboy at IHOP on Sundays- that was my only straight 9-5.  At 16, I was working in bars playing bass guitar, gigging with local neighborhood bands.  My family has had to make the adjustments.  Growing up, dad had a camper on the back of a pickup truck.  We moved across country and within Colorado, we took trips and things.  Being on the road is like having two lives:  a life on the road and a life at home, but I keep grounded.

The invention of the cellphone was a great idea!  Touring can be difficult for loved ones and it takes a special person to cope with the life of a musician.  In the days before cellular phones, touring was especially difficult for families because communication was unreliable.  Last minute changes to tour schedules… the wrong hotel listing, missed messages, not knowing how to locate you - one's family could be calling all over, trying to locate you, to keep in touch or in case of an emergency.  That in itself can cause stress on any relationship.  With cell phones,   loved ones can reach you anytime, instead of relying on itineraries with bad information.  It's comforting to know that!  When the gig is done and the night is finished, I can rest easy with my cellphone beside me, knowing I'm within reach.

Separations are healthy for relationships because it gives people in them the opportunity to do the things they need while maintaining one's self.  It's good to breathe freshness into relationships - it helps maintain individuality; with clarity, you're able to be objective about things…you won't lose yourself… and y'know… when you're together again, it's alright.

SNAN:  How long was it before you finally caught a break? 

KS:  My first jazz break came pretty early at age 19.  Drummer Steve Getz (son of saxophonist Stan Getz) had a quartet in Denver.  It was Steve who took me to my first jazz festival; which was the Wichita Jazz Festival.  Things moved along from there.  I played local and worked on honing my craft.  Financially, it was slim… you could say near the poverty level, but as a single person, it was pretty easy living cheaply and working hard.  Then years later, when I was 28 (he laughs!), I auditioned with Spyro Gyra.  The audition was in 1982 and I started playing with the group in 1983.  That was another turning point because Spyro Gyra was an international group.

SNAN:  There is a saying:  "Those that can do; those that can't teach."  You have become both - intuitively well.  What advice do you offer your students who aspire to a career performing? 

KS:  I just started really teaching in earnest in 2001.  It's nice to be able to teach because it compels you to reflect upon what you know.

I tell my students:  "Make music.  Understand harmony.  Be familiar with your craft.  Know more about music rather than being a "finger-wiggler" - a visual presentation to create cult appeal.  Make music through your heart and ears rather than your brain and your crotch.  I admire the ability to put on a good stage presence but, you've got to have substance."

SNAN:  What impact does teaching have on you as a performer?

Realistically, there is no impact on my performing.  They are mutually exclusive of one another.  Teaching is stopping forward musical movement and reflection on knowledge of substantive facts and review.  Performing is moving forward.  If you're playing from your head, it's not pleasing to the audience.  The audience can recognize it and envision you mentally reviewing and searching for the chords, melody and changes.  You are on stage to give of yourself and your music.

SNAN: There must be an award for worst tour date. Everyone has one. What's your worst on the road story that you can share with us? 

KS:  This story happened while on tour with the Rippingtons.  We'd gigged in Miami one night and were scheduled to play in Grand Rapids, Michigan the next night.  We traveled all night into the next day to get to the gig in Grand Rapids.  We arrived at the venue, in time to setup and were ready to do the show.  The electricity went out at the venue and was never restored.  Russ and Jeff went out into the audience and played a few acoustic pieces, in hopes the electricity would return, but it never did.  That was it… the end of the show!  We haven't played that venue since.

SNAN:  Are you a morning or a night person?  What do you enjoy doing in your leisure time? 

KS:  I really am a night person.  I work myself to get up in the morning, when I have to, though.

I like to garden.  I have a stone wall in my backyard (a cold dry stack).  I live on a hill in the mountains.  The Works Progress Administration (WPA), an agency created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 6, 1935, as a reaction to the Great Depression, that provided jobs to unemployed workers on public projects sponsored by federal, state, or local agencies; and on defense and war-related projects. Between 1935 and 1943, WPA workers constructed buildings, roads, dams and schools that are still used today, as well as indexes, oral histories, and art.  The Work(s) Progress Administration was abolished by an executive order on December 4, 1942.  The WPA put up magnificent stone walls in the area where I live so I thought I'd create something like that in my own backyard in harmony with my surroundings. 

At home, I have my own studio, where I spend many hours working on music for my Electric Funk Band, run loops and things digital.  Kim Stone's Electric Funk band is a 7-piece group:      2 guitars,  one sax, one trumpet, percussions, drums and bass.  It's great… I'm serious about this band!  My daughter, Kalia Jayne, joins me in the studio and works on her singing. 

SNAN: What was the most memorable place you toured or visited and why?

KS:  I've traveled a lot of places but for me, Japan and Western Europe have been the most memorable.  It always astounds me how civilized the people are.  Those memories are most important to me because it shows that human beings can live in another way.

It's really nice in Japan.  When I arrive there, I feel so different… the peacefulness and sense of community are very strong.  They know how to deal with large crowds of people…I find that fascinating!  

SNAN:  It is said, "To whom much is given, much is required".  What do you feel is required of you (as an artist, as a man)? 

KS:  To be present and positive.

SNAN:  Your first solo effort "More Often Than Not" is a definite departure from what we're used to hearing on your Rippingtons and Spyro Gyra recordings.  It appears to come from a place inside you that truly speaks to the senses and the heart.  What was the inspiration for this kind of groove?

KS:  In these recordings, my intention was to make full sounding music with just basses: I wanted to orchestrate the bass to make it sound as complete as a whole band.  Being bass-oriented music, they represent things I have been working on for years - to showcase the bass.

"More Often Than Not" is a jazz recording.  I think the bass guitar voice has a lot of texture and roles in it that need to be explored and that is what I feel I have started to do with this CD. 

SNAN: And finally, where will your next project take you musically?

KS:  I have a trio CD coming out.  It is currently in production and features electric guitar, drums and electric bass.  It will contain some standards, little Thelonious Monk, the Beatles - "Dig A Pony" and other pieces.  It will be featuring Jimmy Mahlis on guitar and Toss Panos (of Steve Vai fame) on drums.  You might remember Jimmy from playing with Kevin Lateau and Kilauea.  I'm planning for a springtime release.

SNAN: Thank you, Kim, for sharing so intimate a part of the rhythm of your life - for giving us 'More Than We Knew'. 


Look for Kim's solo release: 
                                                                                                                 




"More Often Than Not" (SKU - 80666 69912) on Eversonic Music at Amazon.com,

-with the Rippingtons:       


Live in L.A. (GRP), Weekend in Monaco (GRP)
Curves Ahead (GRP)
Sahara (GRP)
Brave New World (GRP)
The Best of the Rippingtons (GRP)
Black Diamond (Windham Hill Jazz)
Topaz (Windham Hill Jazz)
Life in the Tropics (Peak Records)
Live Across America (Peak Records)

-with Spyro Gyra:

Collection (GRP)
Breakout (GRP)
Alternating Currents (GRP)
Access all Areas (MCA)
City Kids (MCA)

available through Amazon.com

Be sure to visit the website:  http://www.rippingtons.com


© November 2002 Smooth Notes and News

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