Eddie Gomez – HuffPost 1.18.12

Mike Ragogna: Eddie, from all your years of experience, do you have any tips or advice for new artists?

Eddie Gomez: If you don’t love something enough and have the passion, desire, and focus not to be deterred by society and the people that are not going to inspire you, then you may not make it. You kind of have to be undeterred and single-minded about what you’re doing , especially in the arts, because there isn’t a lot of support for it. You have to just move straight ahead, love it a lot, and do it as much as you can. And you have to actually do it. This isn’t the kind of thing that you can learn from a book. There are lots of books about this industry, and they can be very helpful, but you have to do it and keep loving it. That’s what separates the special ones from the rest of the folks out there.

MR: How do you feel about the state of jazz right now?

EG: You know, there are a lot of very talented musicians out there right now. The problem is with your environment. You have to foster an environment where things can be nurtured and grow. That environment is not so great right now. I hope that someday, it’ll return to that sort of environment like it was 20 or 30 years ago. I hate to sound like the old guy saying, “Back in my day, …” But there were way more clubs so there were a lot more places to explore and play. I think you have to kind of create these places as well. I am starting to see it more and more though. I see it in the musicians in the park and the streets of New York when it’s warm out. There are some extremely talented players as well, and it’s great, but that’s not enough. What we need is subsidy like they have in European countries. It’s not just jazz that’s suffering either, it’s all of the arts. Overall, I would say that the state of jazz could be healthier. There are a lot of great musicians out there, but my fear is that jazz is going to become some sort of musicological novelty music rather than a sustainable art form.