 Gwen Laster |
A self-proclaimed "product of Detroit public schools," Laster began playing violin in a typical way—group lessons in European classical, a few days a week. But in junior high, her horizons began to broaden. One teacher, who'd never taught strings before, was a jazz trumpet player. Laster spent a lot of time jamming on the piano, not just learning how to read a piano score but learning how to play by ear and establishing a relationship with more contemporary pop music. Then, in high school, she tutored under a very progressive instructor, Anderson White.
"He understood the value of making sure students were able to pursue a career in music if they chose to when they got out of high school," explains Laster. "So, he came in one day with electric violins, all different colors, just popped up with all these blue, green, red, black instruments, and these jazz string arrangements. Of course, I'm classically trained all the way from the beginning, so I'd never seen anything like electric violins. Then what he did was point to us and make us stand up and take improvised solos."
White was a professional musician who had relationships with other professionals, so he got Laster involved in the art of recording. While still in high school, Laster began playing in funk bands with musician friends, using her new electric violin and voice to pump up the volume. She majored in music at the University of Michigan, which didn't have any jazz or improv training, so Laster dipped back into the classical realm. "It was cool, because I really needed to learn how to get my technique together," she says. But she continued playing in funk bands, as well. While attending grad school, Laster also performed with the Dearborn and Warren Symphonies, the Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra.
When Laster moved to New York in 1993, her career catapulted. She played in the Broadway shows "Miss Saigon," "Carousel," and "Beauty and the Beast," and she also backed up Brian McKnight, Aretha Franklin, Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo on a few television performances. Her discography includes appearances with Angie Stone, Toni Braxton, Patti LaBelle, and Kyle Eastwood. But her favorite artists to work with have been Shaggy (Hot Shot, Lucky Day) and Alicia Keys ([The Diary of Alicia Keys).
"When I work with Shaggy, there's never any written music. His producer is a guy named Sting—not that Sting, another Sting—and what's good is that they know how to interpret exactly what they're looking for in whatever track we're recording. That's imperative when you don't have written music. They're real serious, straight-ahead, no entourage when we're recording. Really serious business. Alicia Keys is the same way, she knows what she wants. "
Executive producer Laster is pretty serious on her sophomore CD, I Hear You Smiling, nine well-produced tracks of soulful splendor released last year on her own Muffymarie Productions label. Putting her strings where a brass instrument might normally be played, Laster uses a modern Italian acoustic violin and Zeta Strattos electric violin, using both French and German bows; she also provides feather-soft vocals on one track. The album is mostly acoustic and could be categorized as contemporary smooth jazz, but there are some strong, fresh, funkified grooves and R&B elements, and even a contemporary version of Bach's Sarabande in D.
With all her experience in different genres, does Laster have a preference? "I don't know if I have a preference, but my focus is improv," she says. "I'm interested in developing my sound, so when people hear me on recordings, I want them to say 'Oh yeah, that's Gwen Laster, that's definitely not A, B, or C. That's her because I know that sound.' I want to develop myself as a songwriter, composer, and arranger, so I'm finding the best way to do that is to put myself in a situation where I'm a leader, I'm writing my own music, I'm arranging it, and I'm pulling together the musicians that I think interpret the way I'm writing."
Laster comments on her latest recording in relation to her first, Sneak Preview. "The concept this time was to write songs and do a little improvising. It's not so much a jazz album in that you hear a lot of intricate development of improvisation. It was recorded with the intention of someone being able to listen to it over and over again. With Sneak Preview, I'm stretching out a little bit more, improvising more, but for this one I wanted it to be audible to common people."
One thing that Laster is getting into is her new life upstate, since moving out of Brooklyn last summer. She now lives in Cold Spring, and is getting a little more involved in bluegrass and Irish fiddle music. "I needed a place that would give me space and trees. It's beautiful and I knew it would fuel my creativity. It was getting to be a little too much in the city for me. I love to go now and get an injection of energy like that, and that's what I want—zip down there in an hour and I'm still involved in all my city projects."
What are some of those projects? She occasionally plays electric violin and sings with the contemporary Haitian band Emiline Michele, a high energy mix that has taken Laster to Cuba for the Havana Jazz Fest and to Mexico for a world music festival. Laster also teaches European classical violin and popular improv to private students of all ages at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights and does arrangements for the school's string orchestra. Some of Laster's students appeared in the Meryl Streep film Music of the Heart, which was based on the life of a violin teacher in Harlem.
"I was director of jazz strings at the Harlem School of the Arts and I got a bunch of my students to go down and audition. I created a way to work as a teaching assistant on the movie. We filmed at Carnegie Hall for a couple of days, then a private school for the third day. I've done music videos, but film is different. You know, she [Streep] actually learned how to play the violin for this? And pretty good, too. She got all the way up to a really intricate piece by Bach."
What's down the road for Gwen Laster? She has another recording in the works, hoping for a release by year's end. This time, she'll be combining musical elements from different cultures, using stringed and percussive instruments from Africa and India with her beloved violin. "It's going to be different, which will be refreshing, and it should be," she says. She still plays with the Sphinx Symphony, a professional orchestra of African American and Latino players who compete for cash in Detroit at an annual concert; the goal of this orchestra is to inspire other young players of color. She's also working with the Staten Island Symphony and a string quartet in Brooklyn, with which she plays spirituals written by African-American composers.
The Annual Women's Issue of Ebony Magazine (March, 2005) featured Laster as the "Hottest and Latest in Black Music." When asked how it made her feel, she laughed. "It feels great! Ebony has an incredible circulation, so it's really boosted my CD sales. Now I'm looking forward to the next...whatever. Interviews. Chronogram. We always get Chronogram."