(Bourbon Street Jazz) So, Where are you guys originally from?

(Chris Anderson) The New York area, Hastings on Hudson.

(John Isley) I'm originally from a little tiny town called Whitsett, in North Carolina.

(BSJ) How did you each get introduced to music?

(CA) There was a strong music program in my school, taught by a jazz saxophone player who exposed me to Basie, Bird and the Blues. I started playing at 12 and improvisation at 17, and I would say, most definitely, I am still learning how to improvise.

(JI) For me, it was the 6th grade band program and like Chris, I was fortunate to have a good teacher who exposed me to a lot of different styles of music. I seriously started to study the art of improvisation during high school in the school jazz band and with my first private teacher in Greensboro, Scott Adair. I've since had the opportunity to study with some true masters of the art: George Coleman, David Liebman, Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Ralph Bowen, etc. It's such a deep and inevitably individual field of study. I, like Chris, think I'll always be working at it.

(BSJ) If not originally from NYC, how did you end up there?

(CA) I moved into Manhattan to attend Manhattan School of Music.

(JI) My first saxophone teacher at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro - Neill Clegg - had lived in New York forr ten years or so. We spent a lot of time talking about life, music, and especially New York. He really planted the bug in me to move to New York and see if I really had what it takes to attain some success. I moved here to study at the New School jazz program, eventually graduating and moved on to a Masters in jazz studies at Queens college where I had the honor of studying saxophone and arranging with the great Jimmy Heath.

(BSJ) How did the two of you meet?

(JI) We met doing weddings & parties for a couple of band leaders here in the city. The rapport we discovered after a few months of doing those jobs started the process that developed into New York Horns.

(BSJ) Which one of you is the leader of the duo, or do you work co-operatively? How well is the cohesion between the two of you?

(CA) I am God, the omnipotent one! Actually, we are remarkably cooperative. All our work is by both of us, even when one of us writes at home the other always changes something and I must say always for the better. We both have been surprised by how well our strenths have helped the others weaknesses and ultimately how our music is greater than the sum of its parts.

(JI) God, the omnipotent one!? Really!? Chris likes to think he's in charge ... however, I beg to differ! No, seriously, we pretty much share in the decisions regarding every aspect of our music, the business and our business plan. I genuinely think, and agree with Chris, that the product of our combined talent(s) is much stronger than the individual parts. We make excellent mirrors for one another and generally (eventually!) agree how best to accomplish what we need to do - be it writing, arranging, recording or performance. Our strengths and weaknesses, much to our mutual surprise, have offset one another very nicely.

(BSJ) How competitive are your individual styles, or are they similar?

(JI) I tend to be a very aggressive performer and am pretty competitive, but I always try to keep it in a friendly perspective. There is plenty of room in the music for all of us and negative competition isn't good for us or the music - and the music, whatever it is, is the first priority.

(CA) Our styles like our strengths are different but our taste is not., they certainly compete but I would say so far with no loser.

(BSJ) Between the 4 songs of yours that I have heard, you seem very versatile. There is a great difference between your title song, "Tunnel Vision" and the Latin "Fuego". Are you actively pursuing this versatility or does it just happen that way?

(CA) First of all, we are vesatile musicians and since we were not attempting a radio format CD we didn't worry about diversity. I spent many years playing and listening to Latin music and John is a Brecker Brothers nut so New York Horns is both Tunnel Vision and Fuego. I think our music is diverse but cohesive, if that makes any sense. I would also add that we wrote to the genre of each song, but definitely without compromise to anything but our taste.

(JI) I think our diversity has helped us avoid the homogenous sound so prevalent in much of the music being released today. We write what we really want to write, and perform it the way we want to perform it, following our instinct instead of a preconceived idea of how it "should" sound. As a performer, writer and arranger, it's always refreshing to work beside someone with a slightly different point of view, to show you the possibilites that weren't obvious to you. Chris and I both play that role for each other at different times.

(BSJ) You list such influences as P-Funk, Earth, Wind & Fire, Aretha, and Miles Davis. For each of you, which artist do you most closely match in your natural music styles?

(CA) Miles was and is a constant source of inspiration and joy. When I heard Parliament's "World Earth Tour live" double album I knew what kind of playing I wanted to pursue. That took me into Latin music which became an obsession for many years, but I wouldn't say there is one artist I most closely match, I'm my own mess.

(JI) I absolutely love R & B, funk, gospel, and jazz - traditionally "African-American" musics - and approach just about everything I do from that place. The funkier, the more soulful, the better. There is just something so basically emotional about those styles, that I find them magnetic. I'm definitely my own mess as well...

(BSJ) Which albums most commonly occupy your home stereo systems today?

(CA) Right now my CD player has Louis Armstrong (a compilation from the 30's) Atomic Basie (the great 50's band) and the new Tom Waits CD (Mule Variations).

(JI) Currently, I still listen to Coltrane, Brecker Bros., Miles, Tower of Power, et. al, but have been spending more time trying to find new, lesser known players to check out. Seems to me a lot of the lesser known guys have more unique voices and I personally would much rather hear that than the latest Miles or Brecker clone. I have recently had the opportunity to work with an incredible tenor player here in New York named Bryan Steele - he's just killer, and has some amazing ideas and a unique voice on the instrument. Also been checking out a trumpet player named Rob Henke - he has to be one of the most talented musicians I've had the luck to work beside, listen to, and learn from. There's also a guitarist named Rolf Sturm who has one of the most unique approaches to music and the guitar I know - another "ear opening" talent. I have a big record collection and base my tastes at the moment on what mood I'm in and how something grooves - I have very eclectic tastes. I've also been checking out as many other horn sections and horn oriented bands as possible - just sizing up the competition!

(BSJ) What was your first jazz album?

(JI) I think the first jazz I heard was some Charlie Parker from the '40's. The most profound record for me was definitely "Kind of Blue" from Miles Davis. That record knocked me out! It still amazes me at how soulful and emotionally deep that record is, yet it has some of the most finely crafted improvisation ever recorded. I have worn out several copies!

(CA) My first serious music album was B, S & T "Child is the Father to Man". My first jazz album was Newport Jazz Festival in New York and I still love Joe Newman playing "Ode to Billie Joe" as a jazz tune on it.

(BSJ) Each of you have quite an impressive list of people you have worked with. Were you ever overwhelmed when meeting any of these performers? What is your most memorable memory while performing with any of these past artists?

(CA) I really have been blessed to have played with so many great musicians but working with legends is humbling and a bit intimidating. What is cool though is that especially with the really good ones once the rehearsing starts its all about the music. My favorite music story is when I was 21 I had the honor to fill in at the last minute playing lead trumpet for Count Basie. First of all, he was incredibly gracious to me, but I was sitting there on stage shaking when the trumpet player next to me asked "Are you nervous?" Upon my affirmative reply he said "Don't worry kid, we've got you in a big hug", and you know, they did. To me that's the essence of making great music, the band swung so hard and the spirit was so positive that it was impossible not to play well.

(JI) I've found that almost all of the people I've been fortunate enough to work for have been very gracious and kind. I have been blessed to be valued for what I can bring to the bandstand and have had the great luck to learn from some true artists by working with them. My most memorable gig was doing an outdoor festival in '98 with Bernard Purdie's All Stars. As these things go, it was a last minute call and I wind up on stage with Bernard, Jimmy McGriff, Jerry Jemott, Cornell Dupree, Poncho Morales, and David "Fathead" Newman! Talk about a band! No set list, no rehearsal, just call it on the fly - Man, what a groove! I remember having aan absolute blast, and playing better than I ever had. Nothing brings out your best effort more than playing beside great musicians. Each of them was very supportive, and encouraging to me, yet their primary concern was definitely the music. As always, it was the first consideration.

(BSJ) What is your most memorable moment while working with each other?

(JI) I think I can speak for both of us as there have been several memorable moments. Probably the best have been on any gig when we've just glanced at each other and instantly both knew where we were going and what we were going to play. There is no greater feeling, musically, than to have that kind of understanding, synergy and "telepathy" with another musician.

(BSJ) What is your favorite place to play?

(CA) I have no favorite places - every crowd and sound system is different.

(JI) Any place that has a sound guy that understands the purpose of a horn section and that yes, we'd actually like to be heard, not just look good!

(BSJ) Of all songs, yours or otherwise, what is you favorite to listen to or play?

(JI) Probably my all time favorites would be John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman's recording of "My One and Only Love", Ben Webster's recording of "Someone to Watch Over Me" or Miles' recording of "Stella By Starlight". As for a favorite to play, well, there's too many to list!

(CA) Right now I'm practicing "Body and Soul" on piano, so that's my favorite; It changes every day.

(BSJ) On your album, Tunnel Vision, how did you come about to decide to record it? Where was it recorded? How long did the project take?

(JI) The idea for the CD came about as a marketing tool for the horn section, and took almost exactly a year from planning to mastering. Chris and I sat down in the spring of '98 and decided that we'd like to give a shot at developing a "for hire" horn section that was based primarily in contemporary music styles. We really didn't view it as a band at first, but as a horn section that could be versatile enough to cover anything thrown at us - writing, arranging, recording, performing, producing, etc. - We decided that we should concentrate within a few styles: A Brecker Brothers type tune, a latin house track, an acid jazz track, and a Tower of Power vocal track. We figured these four styles best summed up our combined perspectives and would give us a wide enough palette of material to showcase our writing. We then had the good sense to hire a friend of ours, Chris Fischer, to program and co-produce the tracks for us. We can't say enough good things about "Fish" - He's one of the funkiest human beings alive, and is just super talented - For proof, check out the drum programming on "Bring That Friend of Yours". After a couple of weeks, he came back to us with the tracks you hear on the record and off we went to the writing table. After three months or so of writing and re-writing, arranging and re-arranging (over and over again!), we finally went into the studio the week of Thanksgiving, 1998. We recorded off and on through February of '99 and finally mixed and mastered the tracks by April. We also had the good fortune to work with a fantastic engineer, Frank Fagnano, at a great little studio in Fairview, New Jersey, called Marion Recording. Frank brought an intuitive understanding of the concepts of clarity and space to the mixes and the mastering that were invaluable. He's definitely one of the best I've ever worked with.

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