Alumni Spotlight:
Gerald Cannon
Jazz bassist, Composer, Visual Artist and Juilliard Faculty Member
BY BRITTANY SMITH
SEPTEMBER 23, 2019
We spent some time chatting with jazz bassist and Conservatory alum Gerald Cannon about his formative years at WCM in the late 1970s, how his father reacted the first time he heard him play guitar, how his fingers felt the first time he played an upright bass correctly, and some of the Milwaukee musicians who influenced and inspired him.
How did you become interested in playing bass?
I started playing the electric bass when I was nine. My father was a gospel musician. He played guitar and sang, along with two of my uncles. My father always had a guitar in the basement of our house in Racine, and rehearsals were every Tuesday. I was never allowed to play with my father’s guitar, so when he went to work, that’s the first thing I did. I would go in the basement and play the guitar.
One day, my dad came home from work early. He went in the basement and caught me playing his guitar. I remember thinking, “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble, big time.”
“Well, can you play this thing?” he asked. I said, “a little bit.” And so I played a few chords and bass lines. He said, “Wow.” He told me to put his guitar away, go get my coat, and he took me to Mel Lamar’s music store in downtown Racine. He bought me my first Fender jazz bass that day.
Can you talk a bit about the years you spent at WCM, and the overall jazz culture in Milwaukee at that time?
I’m so grateful to Room 5 at the Wisconsin Conservatory. I came in there with that same Blue Fender my father bought me when I was nine. Oh man, I was just blessed to be there at that time. Tony King was there, Berkeley Fudge, Martha Artis, and of course Manty Ellis. George Welland was my first upright teacher. The list just goes on… Harold Miller was my first electric bass teacher at the school. Joyce Altman was my oral skills teacher. They really set a strong foundation for me. I remember Tony King used to say all the time in his theory classes, “You can’t build a house without a strong foundation.”
I think I started working with Penny Goodman my second year at the Conservatory. She is also one of my greatest mentors. I just talked with her yesterday. She taught me at least 80% of all the standards I know now.
It was just a beautiful time, then. Those teachers were really serious about learning the fundamentals and the basic things I still use today at 61. I use a lot of the same techniques in my own teaching. It was just amazing — an amazing time.
Who were some of your major influences as you were getting started?
There were many. My parents pretty much listened to either jazz or gospel. As I got older, I started playing with my peers in funk bands. Some of those guys played in my father’s gospel group; some drummers and guitar players. So the whole time, I was just stealing things off records. Anything I could find. I would learn the bass lines off the records, from Brick House to John Coltrane’s Africa/Brass. Actually, my mom bought me my first Coltrane record, which was Africa/Brass, when I was 13 years old. Just the sound of the bass on that record — Jimmy Garrison’s bass on that record — I really wanted to play. So something was going on back then that I didn’t know about.
What is your favorite memory from your time at the Conservatory that still influences you today?
There are so many… Manty Ellis. I had just gotten an upright bass, and I didn’t know what I was doing with it. But I was in six combos at the time. I don’t know why they threw me into all of these combos. I was just figuring it out, and I was playing the bass very gingerly because my fingers had these blisters all over them. I hadn’t developed calluses yet. So, I’m in a combo with Manty Ellis, and I’m playing just as soft as I can because every time I pull the strings, my fingers hurt like you would not believe. Manty grabs the bass from me and says, “Stop playing it like that. You’ve got to pull those strings to get some sound. Here, let me show you.” And he started yanking the daylight out the strings on my bass. I thought, “Oh, that’s how it’s supposed to sound. I started pulling on it, and of course my fingers were on fire. And it was something I never forgot with him. I really learned that day how physical of an instrument bass can be. And it kind of gave me the start of learning how to throw the sound out of the instrument. I’ll be forever grateful for that.
What advice would you offer current WCM bass students?
We need more bass players! The door is opening for more equality. Now’s the time. Just go for it. Think big! And take your time. Really try to build a strong foundation, in the words of Tony King, because it’s very important. Learn your tunes. Learn your technique. Listen to records. Study, study, study. And enjoy the art — the blessing of being able to play the greatest instrument ever made, which is the double bass. I’m a little biased, but it is the greatest instrument ever made.
“Combinations”
Watch behind the scenes as Gerald and the various artists that he has worked with over the years come together to record his latest album, Combinations, for Woodneck Records.
Visual Art
Gerald’s creativity and passion is expressed not only in his music, but also in his painting. He recently had his first art showing in New York City and hosts exclusive viewings for interested art enthusiasts.