INTERVIEWS:

The Tenor Sax Woodshed: Christian Winther

-Carolyn Heneghan

“And I think it’s been my luck too, being able to work with so many different people being a sideman in New Orleans,” says Danish-born, tenor sax-touting NOLA transplant, Christian Winther. “And it also helps me appreciate playing my own music when I get to do it.”

Maybe luck does have a little something to do with it. But Winther’s dedicated musical journey began with his father’s old jazz and blues record collection, further developed during regular visits to New Orleans as a teenager and his time studying at a music in Copenhagen, and ultimately prepared him for his own successful career as a jazzman in the genre’s founding city.

Innumerable gigs—local and touring—and four albums recorded with SteepleChase Records have now led him to another significant moment in his New Orleans-based career—his first Jazz Fest performance to feature all his own original music, as part of the Fest’s Tenor Sax Woodshed special.

The Woodshed series—“woodshed” is slang for practicing a musical instrument, especially done in private until a new tune or technique is mastered—began in 2007, and featured bassists Roland Guerin and James Singleton. In this series, some of the most proficient local players for a particular instrument—which changes every year—come together onstage at Jazz Fest to spotlight the instrument, its unique sound and its technical capabilities, and even pay tribute to the historical masters of the instrument who paved the way before them.

The past few Jazz Fests have included the Tuba Woodshed (2008) featuring Matt Perrine and Kirk Joseph, the Clarinet Woodshed (2009) featuring Evan Christopher and Gregory Agid, and last year, the Guitar Woodshed (2010) featuring Steve Masakowski, Todd Duke, and Jake Eckert. This year’s focus on the tenor sax will feature Winther to start the set, followed by a set from fellow tenor man Charlie Gabriel, and then the two will perform together to round out the event.

Winther’s portion of the set will be comprised of tracks from his most recently recorded album, From the Sound Up (2011), his fourth with label SteepleChase Records following Blue Function (2004), The Only Plan (2006) and Soul House (2008). Living and working in New Orleans but recording in New York City has expanded the catalog of fine jazz musicians with whom Winther has been able to work over the years.

“Most [of the recordings] with Steeplechase have been recorded in New York,” he says. “So to go up there, with some of my favorite musicians being in New York—it’s inspirational.”

Thusly, he felt that the line-up on this latest record—a mix of N.O. and NYC-based musicians—was a special band picked for what he calls “his favorite album so far”: Peter Martin on piano (former N.O. resident), Roman Skakun on vibraphone (current N.O. resident), Rodney Green on drums (NY), and Reuben Rogers on bass (NY).

“You try to grow from each album and you refine your sound and some of the ideas you work on as far as what you want the band to sound like,” Winther says. “I’ve got all these great players on my albums putting all their stuff into my music and seeing how that blossoms and turns out, so that’s a great privilege.”

Winther’s Jazz Fest performance of this album’s music will actually be a special premiere with a New Orleans twist, as the album itself won’t be released until August, and its original artist line-up will be filled in by other popular New Orleans jazzmen: Larry Sieberth on piano, Roland Guerin on bass, Shannon Powell on drums, and again, Roman Skakun on the vibraphone.

“Just being here [in New Orleans] for all these years and being able to play with so many different bands and musicians and getting an understanding of the tradition, and just being able to experience the music on some many levels—it’s been great,” he says. “And it really helps you to figure out your own music and your own sound and the way you wanna go with it.”

This New Orleans influence is apparent in the way Winther approaches the originals he composes and records, but that influence began long before he was a full-time sideman in the Big Easy.

Winther’s musical aspirations actually began at a very young age, as a preteen Winther was mesmerized by his father’s massive record collection, which first introduced Winther’s ears to the likes of John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, and many other significant artists in the traditions of jazz, blues and New Orleans music. He first picked up the clarinet at age 11, and soon after developed a love and preference for the tenor saxophone.

By ages 13 and 14, Winther was not only leaving Copenhagen, where he grew up, to accompany his father on visits to New Orleans, he was also sitting in with bands and musicians all over the city—including the beloved trumpeter, Kermit Ruffins.

After years studying at a music conservatory in Copenhagen, Winther made the next leap in his musical education; he moved to New Orleans in 1997, to study music at the University of New Orleans under such local legends as Ellis Marsalis, Harold Battiste and Steve Masakowski, to name a few.

It was from then on that Winther remained in New Orleans—save for bouts of touring and visits back home—to explore his career as a jazz musician, especially as a tenor saxophonist. After first picking up a clarinet, and then ultimately choosing the tenor over any other sax as his main instrument, it seems Winther must have felt something strongly about the tenor itself.

“All my favorite saxophone players are tenor players: Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Lester Young,” he says. “And I’ve always liked the sound of the tenor; it’s always been my sound. It’s the closest to the human voice.”

Share and explore Winther’s and Charlie Gabriel’s affinity for the tenor saxophone on Saturday, April 30th, at 1:40pm in the Jazz Tent for this year’s installment of the Fest’s Woodshed series.