IN A couple of days, we will to lose one of our most talented and eccentric jazz musicians to the raucous street life and haven of possibility that is New York. Alexi David’s return New York is probably inevitable. For starters, he was brought up in Brooklyn by Cypriot parents. He has been playing his the double bass, electric bass and piano here since ’99, and much to his annoyance, all his performances seem to have achieved is overwhelming praise and adoration. The man has had enough. He wants to grow, to develop his skills and here, he says, just ain’t the place to do it.
In the quiet back streets of Nicosia’s Old Town, just behind the cluttered artisan shops and Ledra’s milling tourists, and overshadowed by a Byzantine church, are the haphazard collection of little tables of Kala Kathoumena. A handful of people lazily toss around dice playing backgammon while the owner glides around the tables, exchanging a few words with his ever-faithful clientele. For the most part, they are the twinkle-eyed troupe of artists, writers, students and musicians that make up Nicosia’s fringe.
It’s this cornerside café where Alexi played his final gig in an impromptu street-lit jazz jam session. And it’s this café to which he donated his piano. His double-bass however, will sit loyally beside him with its own seat on the flight bound for the Big A. And it’s here where we met and talked music, Cyprus and the latest people and places to look out for.
The last time I saw you, you were sat in a beer-garden looking melancholy.
I’d just split up with my girlfriend and I couldn’t hide it, it’s against my nature. It’s better to live that way, the trick is to be completely honest and to show your emotions. The problem is when society around you can’t handle it and doesn’t properly communicate with you it can be very frustrating. I spent a lot of time getting over that at Ayia Skepi.
Ayia Skepi?
It’s a community for drug addicts who have already detoxed. I was there from May 2000 to September 2002. Most of the people at Ayia Skepi were young, and had drug problems of one sort or another, and they could relate to each other. There was a programme of intense psychotherapy – Ayia Skepi isn’t for the faint of heart, but really it’s the best place in the world!
Is that why you came here?
I had friends here, and I wanted to quit methadone. I got off it here in Cyprus, and got on everything else thanks to the liberal prescriptions of doctors and pharmacists. Before I’d even sat down, the doctor would already be writing prescriptions. Why don’t people talk about the roots of the problem? Your childhood, your upbringing? The fact that it was drug abuse for me is incidental. It could’ve been anything. And there’s a big difference between use and abuse. I quit because I didn’t want to die any more.
Why are you leaving Cyprus?
People are mostly very standoffish here, protective of themselves, braced for attack, it’s their instinct. Except the old people, they’re the coolest people in Cyprus. They’re a whole different culture, truly friendly and hospitable. The middle aged people here, they’re probably bitterly affected by the war. What I say is just what I say – it’s just opinion.
And New York is still New York, anything can happen. A plane can crash into a building or a man can get arrested for having a tiger in his apartment in Harlem. Did you hear about that? When he got caught he said: “I wanted to show the world we could live together”. Funny.
You have to be positive to live there. People bind together and help each other. They really love their city.
Isn’t that materialism everywhere? And there’s always a fringe?
Yeah, and the fringe in Cyprus is growing, but the fringe in New York is big. It’s a microcosm. You are guaranteed support there for whatever you’re into.
I made the mistake of expecting too much from local players here. For most it’s a sideline, they don’t want to be rehearsing. They haven’t the time to dedicate themselves to it. It was extremely frustrating.
Aren’t you worried you’ll lapse back into drug addiction returning to New York.
It was worse doing pharmaceuticals here than heroin. It’s just so easy to pick things up here.
I don’t regret being a junkie by the way, It was a learning curve, and if I’d hadn’t been a junkie, I’d be sombre and miserable.
So now you’re leaving, which musicians should we be looking out for?
Harris Ioannou, he’s a brilliant sax man, he played at Berkeley with Lefteris my cousin.
And also, Irineos Koulouras, the double bassist. He’s brilliant at getting people together too, much better than I ever was.
So how did your musical career start?
I started the electric bass at 10. And I largely self taught myself the double in high-school. What I lack in technicalities, I make up in passion. I still don’t know how to bow properly. That’s why I’m going to New York, I’ll be playing like Bottessini. I played a lot of piano in Ayia Skepi, there was a synth there. I played so much I got repetitive strain injury, it literally stopped me from playing.
What do you prefer?
The double bass. I compose a lot on the piano though.
Where are you going to study?
The New School Of Jazz and Contemporary Music. Its in West Village in Manhattan. I’ll be staying in dorms. I sent them an audition tape and got in.
How did they know it was you?
Why does everyone ask me that. Put it this way, they’ll know when you get there! It’s exciting and scary, the competition is fierce, and the teachers are the best in the world bar none. My life is beginning now.
Where do you want to take your music?
Performer, bandleader and composer. I want to play Eastern fusions of traditional Greek Rembetika with jazz. A bit like Mode Plaga but taking it from a different angle. For me it’s about the jazz and throwing in the Eastern as opposed to the other way round. I want to take Rembetika and make improvisations. There’s really a scene in Greece. And I think it’s nice to bring back a bit of dance into jazz. Nowadays a lot of it is dark and moody.
Why mention band leader? Is that control important to you?
I don’t want to be a sideman. I have to be in control to do what I want because it is the fringe, there aren’t many people who want to play it – it’s unusual, but these are the sounds in my head! Jazz and Eastern sounds are what I hear. It’s unusual, but I don’t believe in being weird for the sake of it. The whole point for me is to communicate.
One of the best things is to write a tune that’s dear and meaningful to you, something that’s helped you in your life. Or to write a brilliant melody, that’s what people remember. Gershwin – that’s genius, and Beethoven’s 5th – instantly recognisable. Mind you, there’s a lot that instantly recognisable that’s terrible.
Who are your influences?
Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, the poet Langston Hughes
Aurthur C Clark, The Who. So many influences from everywhere Monty Python even, and Richard Pryor and George Carlim. If I wasn’t a musician, I’d probably be an actor, or a comic. You had to laugh growing up like I did. I couldn’t stand myself.
Now? I’m alright.
How will you spend your last few days in Cyprus?
Ha! Hookers and cocaine. I’ll be socialising, packing, playing more. And getting excited and scared about what lies ahead. To learn from master musicians you have to go to the source. I’ll be learning from masters like the John Coltrane Quartet. If they tell you to do something, you will listen!
It’s that communication that is the spirit of life, it’s a powerful thing, becau
se it doesn’t happen in everyday life.
What was the last CD you bought?
Rachmaninov’s 5th. It’s Russian Choir music.
What about other types of music?
Yeah like the so-called electronic music, but it’s like any genre – it’s great at the beginning and fizzles really fast. It was great in the late 80s when it all kicked off. But I’ll listen to anything, from the Beatles, to John Coltrane to Ravi Shankar to Wu Tang Clan and Dimitris Mitropanos – he’s my favourite Greek singer.
Where’s the first place you’ll revisit
Smalls on West 10th Street. The jam sessions last till 10 in the morning, it’s the real deal.
