| The Free Lance Pallbearers
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Ok !I raise the white flag!
I just cannot count all the many influences
I can perceive in their music!
And you know what? It's a great party!
Please meet Renard Boissiere of "The Freelance Pallbearers".
How's the groove going?
[Renard Boissiere] The groove is good, as always.
How long have you all been playing together?
[Renard Boissiere] This particular incarnation has been in existence in different forms since 1997, but it feels like a lifetime thanks to the fun and funk fortified by these fellas. The members are Kurt Berglund on drums-n-stuff, Pat Lavery on bass, vocals and slide guitar -- he also handled the engineering and production, Chris Ingram on organ, Paul Mercurio on guitars, and myself, on guitars, keyboards, percussion and vocals.
Where did you get the name "The Freelance Pallbearers" from?
The "Ishmael Reed" book?
[Renard Boissiere] That's the one! Actually, only the title of this book articulates what this group, this project, is all about. Its the themes and ideas in Ish's Mumbo Jumbo that really informed this ongoing happening, what really made excited me about working with a group of like-minded musicians, because I moved home to New Orleans and had really gone over more to doing only solo and studio-based stuff. The "real" freelance pallbearers in my life were both the people who worked for my family's funeral home and the brass bands that played jazz funerals and the extended bands and jams that were grew out of that scene. From Mumbo Jumbo, I was totally turned on by the concept, and tickled pink by the practices, of the Mu'ta'fikah. So for all the cool songs and shows we've done, if it wasn't for this, there wouldn't be that.
Who is Renard Boissiere when he is not the singer?
[Renard Boissiere] A poet, a thinker, a producer, a writer... always into doing new things and thinking of new ways to (re)solve old problems.
What are the pallbearers working on these days?
[Renard Boissiere] We are a busy, busy, busy band! Along with what we do as jazz-funk&frolic irmprovisational unit, we also work with Mystic Bowie, coming together to put on a kind of pan-Carribean world music thing that's deeply influenced by his Negril and my New Orleans roots. And when Bowie's out on the road with TomTomClub, we're busy jamming it up in the Northeast or Chicago or New Orleans.
Is there one gig that stand out in your mind?
[Renard Boissiere] Actually, the one we did recently on August 17th at Hat City Ale House in Connecticut strikes me as the best Freelance Pallbearers show we've done since the Mardi Gras 2001 show in Chicago. Mostly because we had some new blood at work in the mix, and I'm totally into having other people come into this thing. This isn't a "jazz" band, obviously, but I want to maintain the jazz ethic -- as opposed to the "jam" vibe -- which we're totally into, and we jam it out with the best of 'em , but what we do does more along the lines of a jazz show. So, yeah, the Hat City trip strikes me as the best thing we've done because it was the convergence of the old hands -- me, Kurt and Pat -- with the new thoughts -- Paul and Jamie Finnegan on keyboards. Actually, the best show nobody heard but us was the full lineup, six pieces, when each voice can get a say.
If you had to pick one fan in particular, which would it be? and why?
Renard Boissiere] The fans I'd pick are a couple out of Chicago -- Dan and Michelle -- who may be in California now. They've come to the Chicago Mardi Gras at Joes shows two years running and totally get the crowd dancing and jamming with us.
what is the most difficult part of creating?
[Renard Boissiere] Not creating.
Is there an artistic event that gives you trepidation?
[Renard Boissiere] Only if you ever asked me to display anything in the visual arts... I'm horrible, though my appreciation is high! So, unless it's performance art and I'm painting, I'm cool.
Which singer , Past or present, is your voice that's top of all
voices?
[Renard Boissiere] A combination of Aaron Neville, who I worked with in '96 when I did dates with the Neville Brothers, and Ella Fitzgerald. But there are too many to leave out -- Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers -- singers I've listened to all my life. Then there's Prince and Philip Bailey... but again, I've learned most of my lessons from listening to jazz singers first and foremost, especially female jazz singers
Thanks for taking part in this interview,
Renard Boissiere] Thank you!
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