Preview
RABNETT 5
Friday, April 15
Beat Niq Jazz and Social Club
Imagine that you’ve made your career choice, you’ve put in your time at university and you suddenly change your mind and decide that it’s not for you. Imagine that what you choose isn’t in any way related to what you’ve been studying.
Well, now you have a picture of the career path of jazz guitarist Rich Rabnett. Enrolled in the commerce program at Queen’s University, everything changed one fateful evening when Rabnettt went to a jazz concert in New York State. The result – Rabnett quit the program and decided to be a jazz musician.
"I went to go see this band, Medeski Martin and Wood," says Rabnett, "And it was a big one…. They’re a good band and it really caught me. Sometimes you just need the exposure to something. I grew up in a really small town in central Ontario and I was kind of a heads-down, tunnel-vision academic as a kid and just had never been a part of something like that before."
What followed for this one-time, self-professed campfire guitarist was enrolment at Toronto’s Humber College and some serious training to become a jazz musician. Rabnett laughs wryly as he refers to the new path he’s chosen. "I mean we’re only dealing with about a 100 years (of jazz history) and it’s pretty easily digestible just from, I guess, a layman’s standpoint. And then, actually getting into the craft takes a little longer and a little more commitment."
That commitment led Rabnett to Nelson, B.C. where he began gigging regularly. In 2001 he formed Rabnett 5, which now has two CDs to their credit, and the band is just as unusual as Rabnett’s beginnings in jazz. For one thing, over the course of four years together, the members have remained good friends (not the case for most outfits). For another, as Rabnett enthusiastically explains, they are unique in the Vancouver music scene.
"It’s a band," he says. "I can’t tell you, (despite) how much jazz (there is) in this city it’s really uncommon to have a jazz band. You know, people sub all the time, which is totally understandable. Certainly we’ve had subs in this band, but I love these guys – they’re amazing. They’re great players and everyone’s committed to the project."
Though he loves playing in the band, Rabnett has used his time outside practice to expand his talents by continuing in education as both student and teacher, specifically in the realm of composition. In fact, all the material in the first CD was written by Rabnett, as was all but one track on the newest release.
It’s a far cry from where he started, but this combination of talent and drive, combined with playing and study, has given him as solid a music career as he could hope for.
"I was really bent on working hard and making this thing work and (thinking) ‘I’m gonna be a musician and that’s all I’m gonna do’ for the past three or four years. More recently, I’m growing comfortable – I think it’s OK if you make some money doing other things to support your music.
"The point is that I still have to do other things to get by, and right now I’m teaching. I like it now because, you know, at least your instrument is in your hands and you’re around music all the time. To be truthful, I really don’t know anyone in this city who makes a living only playing music. I mean pretty much everyone teaches a little."
When you consider that Rabnett’s original path led him from keeping track of finances to keeping time with his band, it should come as no surprise that he has found his own way to make his dreams come true. The same goes for the material he plays. If he’s not being true to himself, it’s not worth doing.
"There’s a bunch of different ways to do the jazz thing," says Rabnett, "and I still play lots of standards in gigs. I love that music – it’s great music – but I think if you’re going to be relevant to where you are right now, you need to write to the space that we’re living in and the audience that’s here right now. It’s different music than the music from 50 years ago." |
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