JAM: August/September 2002 Issue: Q&A with Mark Pender

with MARK PENDER

JAM talks with Conan O'Brien's lead trumpet man about starting out in KC, gigging in The Big Apple... and hitting those two high notes every night.

JAM: Let's start at the present and then discuss your earlier career. How did you land the gig with the Max Weinberg 7 on Conan O'Brien's "Late Night" show?

MP: I had been playing in a jump blues band with Max a few years earlier called Killer Joe. We were playing Louis Jordan, Perez Prado, Amos Milburn, artists like that, and we'd also done a disc called "Scene of the Crime." Max and I had first met in '81 doing Little Steven's record, "Men Without Women." I was in California touring with Robert Cray and Max called asking if I would audition with him in New York for "Late Night." Luckily I had three days off, so after a day of rehearsal with some guys that were in Killer Joe and some other friends, we did the audition. My experience with auditions had not been great and I wasn't counting on it. Also, we were one of 25 bands that auditioned. I returned to the tour with Robert in Seattle, and while I was there I learned we had the gig. For a few months I tried to do both -- Robert was just working on weekends. But, sadly, I had to quit what had been a great band.

JAM: Has "Late Night" been a rewarding experience?

MP: It has been wonderful. I can live at home with my family, plus I can still devote time to many other creative projects.

JAM: How well have you gotten to know Conan?

MP: I've gotten to know him pretty well. He likes to hang out with us and is a closet guitar player, so I jam out on guitar with him. He loves to joke with us and usually comes to hide from people in our dressing room where he affectionately calls me" idiot." He also invited all of us to Seattle this year for his wedding. He's a great guy.

JAM: The most common complaint about talk show house bands over the years is that they don't get enough air time. How often is the Max Weinberg 7 given an actual feature?

MP: We've had several musical features in our nine years on the air and have been in countless sketches. We also seem to get a few more seconds coming in from commercials than the other shows. Recently, I charmed a cobra away from killing me with my horn. And a few months ago I got stuck playing one note circular breathing through a four minute sketch. Trumpet Jesus saved me in the end.

JAM: Do you ever get any solo space?

MP: I get solos every show and several a week coming back in from commercials. Most days for the preshow I sing Amos Milburn's "Chicken Shack" and then blow a solo afterward until our stage manager counts us down to 30 seconds.

JAM: It seems that the band covers a lot of different styles. How important is versatility for a gig like that?

MP: I'm sure Max chose the guys with that in mind. Reading and section playing is important as well as improvisation, jazz, jump blues, r&b, and rock and roll. It's been great for that and challenging to try to authentically cop those styles.

JAM: We also have to ask about the two high notes you hit every night with such consistency at the end of the opening theme. Are there ever nights when you just don't feel like going for them?

MP: I always feel like playing those notes. I can't play much higher, but I can get those without too much difficulty. It's become my signature during the theme, though we did take them out for a couple of weeks after September 11. Nobody was feeling very high spirited then. It was a strange time for everyone.

"The Inner City Orchestra was probably the most important experience in my career. I learned to sight read there, and play lead and improvise over changes, all with the encouragement -- and sometimes criticism -- of great older veterans..."

JAM: At the risk of asking a terribly trite followup to that, how were you, a New Yorker, affected by 9/11?

MP: That's a hard question. I didn't leave New York for weeks because people couldn't leave or enter the city at first. And after that, I couldn't leave because I felt so connected to the city. My son's school is near the UN, and on that day we didn't know when all the stuff was going to end, so we had a moment of panic, followed by relief. Then it all finally settled into sorrow, just like it did for everybody in the US.

JAM: From your point of view, how has the New York music scene itself been affected?

MP: The New York music scene has been hit pretty hard. Broadway rallied back with a lot of spokespeople encouraging America to save Broadway, which worked. We musicians, however, were less represented. There was no union press release, no save-the-music-campaigns. Today I still feel like fewer people are going out, and it's been very hard here for a lot of my musical brothers. I've been very lucky, though, and have managed to work as much as ever. But, I also have a steady TV show and other commitments that have stood strong. I also feel like the second wave of fear has set in keeping people out of town -- the "not if but when" headlines didn't destroy the turnouts for my shows, but they certainly didn't help. I also have seen a lot of wonderful expressions and benefits coordinated by musicians. We all need that type of camaraderie when times get tough.

JAM: Back to high notes. Our trumpet-playing readers will want to know about equipment. What kind of horn? What type of mouthpiece? That kind of thing.

MP: I'm now playing a horn made in former East Germany called a B&S Challenger. It has a good resistance and a hand-hammered bell, and it works great with my shallow Jet Tone (mouthpiece) that I've been playing since high school.

JAM: OK, let's skip back to your Kansas City days. A lot of longtime KC jazz fans will remember you from the Inner City Orchestra in the late '70s. How important was playing with that group?

MP: The Inner City Orchestra was probably the most important experience in my career. I learned to sight read there, and play lead and improvise over changes, all with the encouragement -- and sometimes criticism -- of great older veterans like Willie Rice, Fats Denis, Booker T. Samuels, Arthur Mitchell, and all of their colleagues who were still alive. The best thing that sometimes happened was when I'd hear a voice say: "God dammit! Don't play that note over those changes until you know what you're doing!" Also, there was plenty of fine training in the alcohol arts. The formal rehearsals and informal jam sessions were like college. We were always playing and hanging. It was great.

JAM: What else stands out in your memory about paying those early dues in Kansas City?

MP: My favorite memories of KC are of me and my dear friend Steve Harvey playing a gig with the Inner City Orchestra, heading out afterward and playing another gig with our funk band Mass Transit, then finishing it up down at the (Mutual Musicians) Foundation 'til five or six in the morning. There was endless energy and easy friendship that, at the time, I didn't realize would end with Steve's death at the hands of some jackass racist. (See "Hampton's Hot Licks" in the June/July and August/September 2001 issues of JAM. -- Ed.)

JAM: Why did you move to New York?

MP: Steve and I were asked to join Charles Earland's band and tour, then end up in New York to make his record. I wasn't sure about it at the time -- Charles was touring in an old school bus -- but Steve convinced me it would be great. I'm not sure if I should have stayed in Kansas City and try to be an artist based out of KC, but at the age of 22 I didn't yet have a clear vision of how to do that. And I wanted to follow the freelance path, which I thought had to lead to either New York or L.A.

JAM: When you arrived in New York, did you, like so many new people in town, have to endure a lean period of struggle? Or did you fall right into some work?

MP: When Steve and I got to New York in January of 1980, we played for two weeks straight (with Earland) in Newark. Then Charlie told us we could go home if we wanted; he wouldn't be doing his record for a few more months. Steve went home; I stayed and it sucked. I only knew a few guys, had no gigs and no money, and ended up working a factory gig in New Jersey. Charlie finally had a few (more) gigs and I met a few other cats, but work was pretty tight and people were reluctant to bring a newcomer in. And you know what? It's been a real roller coaster ever since, with periods of success followed by lean times, then back again. I have been on a nice roll for the last eleven years or so, and like anything, when you appear to be happening, more calls come in. Thank God.

JAM: With the benefit of 20 years of hindsight and experience, what advice would you give someone thinking of moving to New York?

MP: Go for it. But save as much money as you can before you come; it's expensive as hell here. Also, try to generate your own gigs instead of relying on others. It's a mistake that I made over and over again. New York at first seemed cold; but, in fact, people -- especially other musicians -- can be really great. So, I would cautiously recommend it. But a lot of patience is required. It's a tough nut to crack.

JAM: You toured with Diana Ross in the early '80s. What was that like?

MP: Diana Ross was the first good gig I had in New York. I was disappointed to not play as much jazz (then), but my weight had dropped to about 125 and I had figured I was destined for a fine life of poverty. Diana was pretty darn cool and a hell of a performer who could cry real tears in the same spot every show. Also, I had only been on one flight (before) and there I was flying all over the US and Europe. I saw a lot of great things.

JAM: How about working with Bruce Springsteen?

MP: Bruce is probably one of the most amazing writer-performers I've ever worked with. He has an unbelievable sense of clarity, and is someone who has inspired me, work ethic-wise. Bruce is not afraid to work four or five days straight of 10 hour rehearsals without many breaks.

JAM: In addition to Ross and Springsteen, you've appeared with quite a few other musicians and bands not necessarily followed by the jazz crowd -- David Bowie, Joe Cocker, Bon Jovi. Of all the name artists you've worked with from "other" fields, who would we be surprised to learn is a closet jazzer?

MP: Definitely Bruce. His first records had vamps and walking bass lines that were vehicles to blow on. I did a show with him last December and he gets a kick out of giving all the horn players chances to blow on some of the old stuff. When I toured with him, at the end of a four-hour show he always wanted me to blow over an Isley Brothers-style twist and shout. Also, at his house a few years ago, during the height of the new swing movement, which sadly seems to be dying, he started riffing off a bebop-like line and I thought, "maybe there's somethin' there!"

JAM: You will be returning to Kansas City on Saturday, August 24 for one night only at the Blue Room. Are you excited about that?

MP: I'm really happy to be coming back to KC to play an actual gig as a bandleader. I've been leading my own band here in New York and have a pretty good following. And we have a new disc that will be released by the end of the year. My whole love of music was generated from my experiences in Kansas City and it feels good to be coming home to play in the neighborhood that gave me so much.

JAM: Tell us about the Mark Pender Band that will be performing that night. Who are the players, and what kind of musical turf will you cover?

MP: It will be all guys from KC, including my brother Tom on guitar and Ricky Anderson on bass, both Mass Transit alumni, Sam Johnson on drums, Gerald Dunn on saxes and Tim Perryman on 'bone. I'd like to play a big variety of stuff that night. I've written a lot of things that I sing and solo on, stuff with funk grooves, jump grooves. We'll also jam on some standards we all used to play.

JAM: One more question. On your web site (www.markpenderband.com), you are listed as Mark "The Loveman" Pender. Care to elaborate on that?

MP: Well, baby, it's all about love! I think I got the nickname from Steven Van Zandt who overheard me in my hotel room one time singing to Marvin Gaye. That night he introduced me as "The Love Man." My ex-wife didn't think it was that cool... Now my act has incorporated the fact that it may be the time of the evening when we all start thinking about love.

JAM: That works for us. Welcome back to Kansas City, Mark!

MP: Thanks. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone.

Catch the Mark Pender Band at the Blue Room, 18th & Vine, on Saturday, August 24 beginning at 8:30 p.m. Call 816-474-8463 or 816-474-2929 for additional information. -- Ed.