Episode 7 - Roberto Occhipinti

Hello everyone,

This is Mirko Guerrini, and I welcome you to the Jazz Transcription Clinic, a monthly interviews podcast where we talk with accomplished jazz doctors about their lives, careers and their personal transcription secrets.

On this episode of the Jazz Transcription Clinic Podcast Mirko Guerrini interviews the guest jazz doctor: Roberto Occhipinti

Listen to Roberto Occhipinti's answers to the questions below:

Why do you transcribe? 04:34
What do you expect to bring home from a transcription?  11:36
How do you choose the solos you transcribe? 18:34
What is your transcribing methodology? 20:18
How do you practise the solos you transcribe? 26:06
How do you incorporate ideas from the transcriptions into your playing? 43:44
Which transcription of yours is your favourite? 49:10

Bassist Roberto Occhipinti was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on March 25, 1955. He comes from a prominent musical family that includes two guitarists: younger brother Michael and cousin David. Michael Occhipinti is a well-known sideman and co-founder of NOJO -- the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra. At the University of Toronto, beginning in 1972, Roberto Occhipinti studied under Thomas Monohan and was mentored by Joel Quarrington and especially the acclaimed jazz bassist Dave Young. He was a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in the mid-'70s, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in the early to mid-'80s, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in the mid- to late '80s; was principal bassist with the Esprit Orchestra from 1986 to 1994; and was a longstanding member of Arraymusic from 1979-2000. By 1997, Occhipinti began working with Cuban expatriate jazz pianist Hilario Durán, then saxophonist Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana, NOJO with guest Sam Rivers or Don Byron, the Toronto sextet Soul Stew, Marty Morell, Gorillaz, Englishman Damon Albarn's Mali Music, the Russian Globalis Symphony Orchestra, the True North Brass, Jovino Santos Neto, the Gryphon Trio, the St. Lawrence Quartet, and Via Salzburg. Also a well-respected producer, Occhipinti has worked for Hilario Durán, Dafnis Prieto, Quartetto Gelato, and the Shurum Burum Jazz Circus, and has been a music director and orchestra contractor for films and commercials. He received an Artist Diploma from the University of Toronto in 1999, and in 2001, as part of Bunnett's Spirits of Havana, he shared the Juno award for Best Global Album. In 2005 he received his own Juno as producer of Durán's New Danzon CD. Other awards include the National Jazz Award for Producer of the Year in 2005 and 2006, and Acoustic Group of the Year for his own band in 2005. In 2006 he received a SOCAN award for the cartoon series George Shrinks. 

In this episode, Roberto explains his personal transcribing approach and shows how to profit from every transcription you make. Among all the great things that Roberto says, my favourites are: 

'What I put on paper when I transcribe is not what was originally written on paper, I write what I hear'; 

'I am always looking for good stuff to steal'.

'As Clark Terry use to say: Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate'

'You don't do justice to Dexter Gordon when you write his solos on paper'

'Most of the times, when I transcribe, I do it for the specific purpose of getting paid'

'The whole point of transcribing is to figure out why the player did that thing, why it works and why it appeals to you'

Artists mentioned in this episode:
Clark Terry, Dexter Gordon, Dave Liebman, George Russell, Richard Davis, Gorillaz, Jamiroquai, Joe Henderson, Mike Smith, Miles Davis,  a.o.

You can check Roberto Occhipinti here: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Occhipinti

You can check Mirko Guerrini's music here: https://mirkoguerrini.bandcamp.com

Mirko Guerrini is a D'Addario artist, playing D'Addario mouthpieces and reeds.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this podcast is being recorded. I pay my respect to their Elders, past and present, and the Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be here today.