Interview: Ant Law

There’s an accepted logic in the music business: first you write the music, then you make the record, then you head out on a tour to promote the album. It works fine for rock bands and singer/songwriters but comes adrift for jazz musicians because their music changes as they play it. By the end of the tour some well-recorded tune can have changed beyond recognition. Guitarist Ant Law, coming to Bristol with freshly-released CD Zero Sum World to promote, thinks he’s solved the problem, however:

“Jazz is essentially live music, most of it is improvised, so if you bottle that in a recording studio it’s not the full story. The CD is almost like a CV or a business card – it helps you get gigs and most promoters and audiences know you will play new music when you get there. For Zero Sum World we did a big tour, 27 dates, and then we took the music into the studio to record it. We recorded it all live, no overdubs. There was one crap solo I did and we tried to overdub that but it sounded wrong so we just used the first take, crap solo and all!”

When Ant Law describes one of his solo as ‘crap’, however, you can be sure it’s better than most guitarists achieve on a good day: the man’s dazzling technique has been dropping jaws for some time, exciting comparisons with contemporary greats like Pat Metheny and others. He’s one of a handful of guitarists who use the ‘perfect fourth’ tuning system, the logic of which he feels liberates his playing:

“I wanted to give myself a new starting point. It makes the guitar a symmetrical instrument to play, and symmetry is important in music. Some things are really cool to play like this, it works for guitarists. I showed it to (Bristol guitarist) Alex Hutchins after a gig and he took to it straight away, too!”

While looking for fresh ideas he also came across the ancient Indian percussion systems and for a while worked with a teacher to learn some of the intricacies of the tradition:

“As far as I’m concerned Indian rhythm is so far ahead of all other music in the world. I’m absolutely fascinated by it: the Konacol system is over 4,000 years old and here in the West we’ve barely scratched the surface of it. They practice complex rhythms like quintuplets and so on. On my first album I had a tune based on Kanda, which is five, and on the new one there’s Mishar which is seven …”

He laughs when he realises he could be setting himself a long-term challenge here, but he’s a skilled enough player to take that bait. The fact that his music revolves around these numbers, however, might reflect his earlier interest in physics, which he studied at University? He plays that thought down:

“That gets mentioned, but to be honest I knew I didn’t want to do physics. I spent more time practising the guitar and playing two or three gigs a week in a funky jazz band. I’d always listened to different types of music but once I discovered jazz it drew me in. There’s so much breadth in it, so much to listen to and learn.”

But whatever his inspirations he’s got a new album to promote, an excellent collection of intelligent compositions that plays off the strengths of his regular quintet. Given what he’s said will he actually be playing it on the tour? 

“Oh yes – definitely! Though of course, there could be some new tunes in there as well … We’ll see.”

The Ant Law Quintet plays The Hen & Chicken on Sunday 16.