The Roy McGrath Jazz Trio is the product of an award-winning choirboy, an avid listener of Miles Davis and a young Mexican boy who loves to bang coconuts together.
Roy McGrath, A’09, remembers joining the choir in the fourth grade during recess. It wasn’t until years later that he picked up his instrument, the saxophone.
Acoustic bass player and LSU senior Trey Boudreaux recalls listening to his father blare Miles Davis, instilling in him the fundamentals of music.
Drummer Gustavo Cortiñaz, jazz studies senior, remembers sitting in his kindergarten music class in Mexico City, Mexico praying to Aztec gods that he would get to bang coconuts because they were the best percussion instruments in the class.
Today the three consider themselves a jazz trio that focuses on improvisation more than anything.
The Roy McGrath Jazz Trio performs across the city and surrounding areas playing at Loyola, at local restaurants, and private parties.
“We stress a democratic splitting of the duties. Musically, it is not always about someone being in the spotlight. It is each of us having an equal share in the music. It is very listening intensive, and we are constantly bouncing ideas back in forward. There are lots of opportunities for the music to evolve in places we might not expect,” McGrath said.
It was McGrath’s idea to start the band. He and Cortiñaz have been playing together since they met at Loyola. After meeting Boudreaux at a show in December, they knew he was a good bass player and the three decided to jam together. The next day they began recording their first album, the recently released “Long Shot.” For McGrath, it was the first album he ever self-produced.
“It was a sensory overload for all of us the first few days playing together, everything went so well and in between playing we found out we each have so many similar interests, tastes in music, and concepts of improvisation,” Boudreaux said.
According to the band, they have been working together long enough that they can now finish each other’s sentences
This record does not contain many of their original compositions. However, there is a big library of original pieces they have not even touched yet. They plan to work on those this summer.
Each time the band plays, they get a different sound. They try to have a dialogue, but they’re never sure how a tune is going to go because everything is improvised and they try to not go with preconceived ideas. “That’s why the democratic thing is important, having everyone have a role, everybody responding to what everybody is doing. It’s very free and very fun. We like to push boundaries within each other and within the music, and there’s always the possibility of us sucking. But like with everything, you have put yourself out there because there is always the possibility of something great really happening,” Cortiñaz said.
“Our sound can be a bit unorthodox for people who are looking for an old-time jazz sound,” McGrath said. “Despite the events we play, we try to make the music honest. Most of the times they (people) see that we’re having a good time and we are investing a lot of energy in what we are doing, and people appreciate that even if it takes them a little while to come around.”
The band said they are currently going through this electrifying period of finishing school and being exposed to the New Orleans music scene. “We are constantly evolving as players and each day we play, we discover new things about ourselves and our music.”
The trio felt that playing music for the rest of their lives and dealing with the economic hardships of being musicians, despite their weaknesses and frustrations, is something they could deal with. “These last six months have been the best six months of his my life because the trio is doing so well,” McGrath said. “We definitely have the opportunities to do some great stuff.”
Carl Harrison can be reached [email protected]
