Musician shows no sign of slowing Down At 83
Becoming a solo recording artist was a long time coming for Al Muirhead but it was definitely worth the wait.
Muirhead, who will be in Regina on June 16 for Jazz-Fest Regina, has been a side player on 26 albums over the years but it was only recently that the 83-year-old Regina native stepped into the studio with trumpet in hand for a solo project.
In 2014, he released It’s About Time on Chronograph Records and he’s followed up with Oop! in 2016 and Northern Adventures The Canadian Sessions Vol. 1 in 2017.
Did he feel any pressure in the studio when making the move from side player to solo artist?
“My pressure was just playing with these wonderful players. Here’s this old guy still trying to do it and these young guys are at the top of their game and helping me along as much as they can — I certainly felt that in the studio,” said Muirhead. “In the meantime, I think the albums came out well. I was not unhappy with what the result turned out to be when we started mixing the albums.
“It was a little better than I anticipated, let’s put it that way.”
A little better than I anticipated might be an understatement, given that It’s About Time was nominated for a Juno Award in 2016 in the category of jazz album of the year: solo. Muirhead admitted he was surprised at receiving the nomination.
“I was absolutely blown away," Muirhead said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Calgary. “My God, I was 79 when we recorded the album, so just to be nominated was a tremendous honour. I really enjoyed that. And of course, I was playing with Tommy Banks, who passed away in December, and P.J. Perry, two really good friends. We did some playing and some recording and my goodness, it got nominated for a Juno. “We were all thrilled about that.” Muirhead has an interesting music history, dating back to his childhood in Regina, which saw him playing with the Regina Symphony Orchestra and local dance bands by the age of 12.
At that time, Muirhead wasn’t thinking of making music a career, but a winding road eventually led him to the profession.
“For me, playing music was just something I liked to do,” said Muirhead. “I can remember when I finished a summer at Waterton Lake (in southern Alberta), I was playing dances every night, and I was planning on going to Regina College. My dad asked me what I was going to take, and I told him I wanted to go to the Conservatory and study music because I had no formal training up to that point. He said, ‘Well, you know, son, it’s a lovely pastime, but it might be better if you became an accountant or something like that to make sure you’re going to be able to work.’ So I did that. I didn’t take music, but I didn’t do very well in accounting either because I was so busy playing that I didn’t have time for school.”
Muirhead is hitting the road this month with a tour that has seven dates across Canada. The tour will begin June 16 in Regina, followed by dates in Victoria (June 26 and 27), Saskatoon (June 29), Edmonton (June 30), Montreal (July 2) and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. (July 29).
For the tour, he will be joined by Kelly Jefferson (saxophone), Reg Schwager (guitar), Neil Swainson ( bass) and Ted Warren (drums).
While Muirhead acknowledges that he no longer plays at the level he used to, he feels his music needs to be heard.
“Of course I can’t play like I once did, I don’t have the stamina or the range or the things you need on a trumpet to play these days. However, I still solo a lot with the bands,” said Muirhead. “For this tour I’m going to be playing mostly bass trumpet, if not all on the bass trumpet, which is rather rare instrument. That in itself is very different as bass trumpet isn’t used in jazz very often. It’s easier for me to handle these days than the trumpet.”
As he continues to tour and record at an age when most people have retired, Muirhead contemplates about the day when the curtain will fall on his career.
“When I feel that I just can’t do this anymore, or I don’t want to this anymore, I’ve thought about that. I want to go out on my terms," said Muirhead.
“I was worried that this touring would be a little much for me, so we’ll see how I make out this year. I would imagine that this will be the last of that kind of thing, but if I can still play, and they want me to do another recording, why not?”