In Conversation With Daruma
WLUW’s Jessica Martens spoke with Gabriel Mininberg and Shane Dahler of the newly established touring jazz group, Daruma, over zoom before their show at Andy’s Jazz Club. The interview aired on WLUW the week of June 16th and was conducted the week prior. It includes discussion of the band’s first single, tour, and where the band name came from.
Interview and audio production by Jessica Martens
Jessica: I'm Jessica, you're listening to WLUW 88.7, and joining me today, if you want to introduce yourself, is a new friend of the station.
Gabriel: It's Gabriel Mininberg, I'm with the band Daruma, we're a touring contemporary jazz group, and we'll be visiting Chicago to perform at Andy's Jazz Club on Sunday the 16th of June, which we're very much looking forward to at the end of our tour of the Southwest and Midwest this year.
Jessica: Awesome, thank you so much for being here and joining us today, definitely excited to get you guys connected here in Chicago to some of our listeners.
Gabriel: Thanks for taking the time.
Jessica: Yeah, it looks like you guys are pretty new as well, I did some stalking of your social media and everything, of course, and it looks like it's kind of just getting started here, so I'm also super excited that, you know, we get to be kind of on the beginning end…
Gabriel: Yeah, absolutely. It's a brand new project, it actually is, you're right that it's new. It's just about six, seven months old. We got together in the month of November of last year. It's all very
experienced players who've been pros for, you know, varying amounts of time, you know, six,
seven, eight, ten years, have a variety of age ranges in the group. But yeah, we got together in
November, and that was due to a grant application, actually, it was sort of by circumstance. So
my friend Shane, who's a really phenomenal drummer, he was living in Trinidad last year, and
he moved to Colorado to join his family, who had moved here a couple years ago, and he just
called me up and he was like, hey, there's this jazz road touring grant from South Arts, do you
want to put together a band and apply to it? So that's how the band got started, and we found
players that we really liked, we got into a studio, made some demos, we booked this tour, and
we did end up winning the grant, which is really phenomenal. But yes, it's a new project, we're
very lucky in the month of January, we had our debut public performance here in Denver, we did
sell that out, there's about 170 people there, which was a really pleasant surprise, because it's a
brand new project. So yeah, we've just been hustling bookings and stuff, and it's been kind of an
upward trajectory so far, so we're kind of hoping for more of the same.
Jessica: Yeah, that's super cool. I did do digging into all you guys as individuals, and you all have rich backgrounds, and so I was wondering how the five of you came to actually be the five of you and be Daruma. And with that, I was wondering where the name came from?
Gabriel: Yeah, well, sort of two questions. Let's talk about the name quickly. Well actually, a
Daruma, I don't know if you know much about the Daruma dolls from Japan? but they're these
guys shows doll. And usually, it's like a thing you get during the Buddhist New Year in Japan.
And you'll set a goal, you'll get one of these from your temple, I'm not a Buddhist. But we thought it was a neat name, because you get one of these during the new year, you color one
eye, right, because they come blank like this. You color in one eye when you set a goal. And if
you achieve the goal, you get to color the other eye. So when we hit the road, we're gonna color
one eye of this guy, and he's gonna sit on the dashboard of the van.
Jessica: Yeah, that's like perfect for you guys with your whole new creation that you have here!
Gabriel: Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of the direction we're headed. And as far as how did we all
get together? These are all guys that we had been playing with at jam sessions and stuff around
town. We knew really fantastic players. Zach Rich, our trombone player is just a phenomenal
musician. It's a privilege for me to– I play the saxophone, it's really a privilege for me to be next
to him every night. And just kind of soaking in everything he's doing. He's such a great musician. He actually has a doctorate in music. And he's a professor at the University of Denver.
Jessica: Awesome.
Gabriel: So he's a– he's a heavy cat. And then Hunter, our usual basis, we're actually touring
with a different basis for this particular tour, Yafeu Tyhimba. He's really phenomenal. He's from
Los Angeles and we worked on some projects in the past. He's played with Theo Croker, other
sort of jazz heavyweights. So we're really happy to be working with him. He actually just finished
his doctorate as well. And then obviously, we got Shane, really phenomenal drummer, just
super, super talented. Max Moore on the keys, really creative and a thoughtful piano player.
And, you know, obviously myself, which I won't hype up too much.
Jessica: No, that's awesome. You guys got, sounds like, a lot of talent and a lot of great minds combined here into this group. So I'm super excited to see kind of what is to come. Speaking of to come, your first single is dropping very straight around the corner, isn't it?
Gabriel: June 14. Yeah, what is that next Friday?
Jessica: Yeah, I believe so.
Gabriel: Yeah, so we're just about a week away here. It's our first single. It's a song called
Warriors March, which we recorded at the session back in November. And that is one of
Shane's compositions. We're all composers, by the way, I should say that we're all composers.
That's kind of the nature of the group. It's almost like a lab band. You know, we all bring in
different things to try and experiment with. And, you know, we play through stuff and sort of
decide pick and choose what's working, what's not working. And that's sort of how we come up
with our repertoire. So it's all original music. There's one or two arrangements in there of
existing music. But it's 99% original music. So yeah, Warriors March, the single is one of Shane's compositions. I actually really like his approach to writing. It’s- he has this very organic
kind of intuitive sense of how music works. And I think part of it is his instrument, part of it is just
kind of his tendencies.But he literally came into rehearsal and would just sing melodies to us
and be like “Oh, yeah, okay. All right. So this section is going to go like this” And would sing it to
us and be like “Can you can you make up some chords? You know, I'm kind of envisioning a
bass line that goes like this” And, you know, and we sort of it was like a collaborative process.
But yeah, and that song is dedicated to his mother, who is very much a warrior. She's a really
admirable, intense lady.
Jessica: Whoa that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. With you guys all being composers, I was wondering if that is ever hard to kind of remain cohesive? If you guys are kind of all bringing in your own background and your own ideas, how does that collaboration kind of play out?
Gabriel: You mean cohesive in our performance or cohesive in our repertoire?
Jessica: Either. In your performance?
Gabriel: In the performance, well, I mean, I think it's really great because we have some really
phenomenal musicians in the group but there's not a lot of egos in the group, which is really
great. So, you know, we're, we all just kind of play in service of the music, you know, whatever it
is, you know. If Max brings in a song, you know, we're all just kind of deferring to ‘what does
Max want on this song?’ We might make suggestions and things like that. But it's we're kind of
allowing that vision, trying to realize his vision. And in the same way, when someone else brings
in a song, if I bring one or Zack brings one, it's the same thing. We're all kind of, you know,
working in service of the music. It's not really like, Oh, you know, I, yeah, that's good. But I totally hear a different bridge on that song, you should really change. chuckles No, it's
not like that at all.
Jessica: Yeah, always playing off each other. Kind of also what I was getting at with that, is something that I've always thought was really awesome about jazz and live jazz performance — and I did see a couple of clips of you guys– how often improv is part of it. Kind of just, you know, going off and doing your own thing. That's something that is really admirable to me, because I'm not necessarily a musician myself. So the fact that you guys can kind of, you know, take that individual aspect of it, even in live performance, and kind of go off and do your own thing, but still have that support of everybody around you is something that I think is, is really cool. So I've always been curious about how those parts of sets kind of come out. . . . Like, how does that kind of come to fruition?
Gabriel: Yeah, sure. I mean, in jazz, it's kind of an expected thing, that there's going to be
improvisation. And I think when we are improvising, we're all trying to support each other . . .
You know, it's like there is a soloist who's making their statement. But the band, you know, just
like I said before when somebody brings their piece of music [to rehearsal], we're all kind of
working in service of that vision and service of that music. It's the same thing when somebody is soloing, you know. I think as a horn player, it's a little bit of a different thing, because we kind of
just get out of the way when somebody else is soloing. But we might play like backgrounds and
stuff to sort of add that little boost of energy to somebody else's improvisation. But yeah, that's
the mindset.It's all kind of this collective support thing. And just, you know, let's let's try to make
each other sound good.
Jessica: Yeah, like I said, that is one of my favorite parts of live jazz performances. Especially looking at that support and the smiles on the faces of the other [band members] that are letting them have their moment, I always think is so special.
Gabriel: Yeah, yeah, when people are having a good time on the bandstand, I think that's when
the best music happens, you know, when we're relaxed and willing to take risks and follow each
other. Things that we might not usually do on a certain song. I think that's when one of the best
improvisations happen.
Jessica: Right! And did you guys just have your first show as well at this tour home base in Denver?
Gabriel: Yeah, we just had our tour kickoff show right here in Denver at Dazzle, which is a really
wonderful club. That's the one that we sold out in January. And so we're about to hit the road
two days from now, Sunday morning, bright and early. And we're kicking off in Santa Fe.
So we're looking forward to that.
Jessica: Yeah, awesome. How was the Denver scene for you guys over there? I'm curious.
Gabriel: There's some really great players in Denver. And I think one of the really cool things
that struck me when I first moved here a couple of years ago was how much regular people are
just into live music. And that was really refreshing, especially coming from Boston, where I grew
up. Not to, you know, put down Boston or anything, because Boston is a phenomenal city,
there's a lot of talent and some really amazing stuff there. But I don't think there's quite as much
of a thirst for live music as there is here. And I think that's kind of like what makes the Denver
scene that people just love to go out and hear music. I remember being struck the first time I
came out to a jam session here. And most of the people in the crowd were not musicians, they
were just there to hang out and listen. And they were, you know, they were listening and
clapping after every solo was like, wow, this is really cool. Just regular people want to just get
really excited about live music. So I think that's one of the really phenomenal things about
Denver.
Jessica: Yeah, that's awesome. And then, I'm curious, I know that you guys haven't played Chicago as this collective Daruma yet, but kind of how you're feeling about your Chicago set and the scene here in Chicago as well.
Gabriel: Yeah, I think we're excited for it. Our trombone players, Zach Rich, won actually, I don't
know if you know, the Ravinia competition in Chicago? It's a fairly prestigious classical music festival. And he wrote some music for that. And he won in the composition jazz. And there's this
competition called Bridges that's sort of in between jazz and classical. He won in that category.
And so he has some connections and inroads in Chicago there. We haven't performed in
Chicago as a band. But you know, we're very much looking forward to it. I don't know if Shane,
you want to weigh in on this?
Shane: Yeah, I'm really excited to come to Chicago. The last time I performed there was with an
ensemble I play with in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, Steel Pan Orchestra. And we
played at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois. And at the same time, the
Chicago Jazz Festival was happening at the Millennium Park. That was such a vivid memory for
me because Lonnie Smith was there, Etienne Charles, Brian Blade, and I got to see all these
guys. And it was in September in Chicago. And so we're really excited to have a showcase in a
city with such a rich tradition.
Jessica: Yeah, Chicago does love jazz. I can, you know, everybody can say that for certain. And then for those listening, who might not have caught it earlier, joining us here is Daruma. And we [were just] discussing this upcoming show they have here at Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago on the 16th. And now I want to hear a little more about your guys' sound! I know you have some discussion on your website about bringing a progressive, or new, I guess, sound to jazz. So can you tell me a little about the experimentation you're doing and how you're bringing new elements into this?
Shane: I think, I mean, it's really just stemming from everyone's individual creativity and tastes
and influences, and bringing it into their own compositions. And just using that as a way to
influence our sound as a band. I mean, I guess as far as like, my influences sonically with this
instrumentation is like, sort of indicative of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Some of Max
Roach's quintets, where he had tenor saxophone and trombone playing, was a big influence on
me. I love the sound of two horns or even three horns playing together, as opposed to just one
front man or one horn playing. Because to me, the melodies that are being played sound a lot
richer with more than one horn. So that definitely is like influencing our sound. Yeah, so I don't
know. I'm sure Gabriel has some ideas to add to that.
Gabriel: Yeah, I mean, I really like the kind of burly front line sound, you know. It's a slightly
reminiscent, slightly different style, but a little reminiscent of Eddie Palmieri's La Perfecta, with
the two trombones in the front line. It's just this like fat, kind of kick in the pants sort of sound.
And I really like that. And it's, you know, the tenor saxophone is obviously not a trombone, but
it's kind of in the same range and it's got that muscle behind it. So I think it's really cool to have
that power in the sound. And you know, Shane is a very energetic drummer. So I think that sort
of gives us a lot of sonic momentum in what we're doing. And we are all composers, as we
discussed earlier. So yeah, it is like a lot of just people's influences and what they're listening to.
I know I like stuff that's kind of influenced by film music and progressive rock and all that sort of
thing. So I bring that to the table, which I think is different from what other people bring to the
table. You know, Shane is, he's obviously got that Caribbean influence going. He's got a really
strong, straight ahead jazz influence, which is really fantastic. It sort of grounds everything in tradition. Max has obviously, you know, some fantastic straight ahead stuff. He's got some neo-stolen R&B kind of stuff and his influences. So, you know, just all sort of comes together into this sort of sonic soup that's fairly unique, I think.
Jessica: Yeah, awesome! I did listen to the track, Ether, just before this and I can kind of hear and feel those elements that you're talking about in that track. Kind of the film music kind of vibe there and the classic staples of jazz, of course. And I always like when [listening to] a song I can pretend like, oh, i'm in a movie and this is my background music. And I feel like that track kind of, I did really connect and like to put myself in it. And about your tracks. . . We can talk about this new single. I don't know if Shane, you have anything that you want to say about it [as well]?
Shane: Yeah, yeah, for sure. We're super excited about that. We are exactly one week away
from releasing our Daruma's debut single on Monk Music, which is actually a record label based
in the Caribbean. But their most recent jazz release was a record with the great, the late, great
Hugh Mazzucchella, who's a pretty prolific South African jazz musician. So we're super excited
to be on a label with some of those giants on it. But yeah, that's going to be my original
composition called Warriors March, which is a song I wrote dedicated to my mother. And it's
definitely like probably our most, well, maybe not the most, but it's a simple tune, but with a lot of
presence and power and groove as well. And I think it's very accessible with some really, really
strong improvisation, specifically from Zach on trombone. And it also features Max on pianist.
We're super excited about that to release next Friday. It's going to be on all platforms where you
find music. So Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, all those places.
Jessica: Awesome. Yeah. So everybody listening, you heard that here! And then shortly after that, only a couple of days later, your show at Andy's Jazz Club. Did I see you're playing two sets that day?
Gabriel: Yes, we are.
Shane: That's correct. So it's a 6pm and a 9pm show.
Jessica: Awesome, Okay. 6pm, 9pm, Daruma, Andy's Jazz Club. Well, is there anything else that you guys want to talk about or give shout outs to? Anything other things you're looking forward to coming up later this year?
Gabriel: Yeah. Well, we're going to go into the studio in Chicago, actually, after our show. After
the whole run, we're going to be obviously exhausted. We're going to take a day off and then
we're going to go into the studio on Tuesday. And the band is just going to be hopefully sounding really tight and really, really thoughtful and creative. So we're going to document some of that. And some of that material will be released in the not so distant future. So keep your eyes out for that. And we're also planning on going on tour again in the fall. So we're looking forward to that as well. It's going to be the Southwest and the West Coast.
Jessica: Okay, cool. So lots of big things coming for Daruma! It's super exciting. Thank you for
joining us today and telling all of our WLUW listeners, our Chicago listeners, about your awesome project you have here! I'm super excited to yeah, even hear what comes out myself and maybe even stop by Andy's.
Gabriel: Come by. We'd love to have you. Thank you so much, Jessica.
Jessica: Appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time. I really appreciate y'all reaching out to us and giving us this opportunity.
Shane: Absolutely. See you soon.
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