Grammy-nominated guitarist not ready to retire
OK, so Ottmar Liebert can peer around the corner and see 61. Retirement from the rigors of international touring can’t be too far on the horizon for the five-time Grammy-nominated guitarist, right?
Wrong. One would have a better chance of finding the ordained Zen monk hassling the homeless than calling it quits.
“When you’re in your 60s you can sit back and relax … and I think that’s the kiss of death,” Liebert said. “Or you try some new things. Wrapping your mind around new things is a challenge. We’ll see. It might be an interesting year. I’m hoping to do some interesting trips.”
Snagged by phone during a recent four-day Florida excursion, the Santa Fe, N.M., resident discussed his life and music that that takes Liebert and Negra Luna to a handful of Bay Area shows.
Liebert, stand-up bass player Jon Gagan and drummer Robby Rothschild visit the Carriage House Theatre in Saratoga on Feb. 5, and Blue Note in Napa from Feb. 6-9, returning to the area April 4 at the Bankhead Performing Arts Center in Livermore and April 5 at Yoshi’s in Oakland.
There aren’t many venues Liebert hasn’t played in person, complementing his 33 recordings.
At this point, the Cologne, Germany native is more at liberty to pick and choose his destinations.
“I’m in a space now where I’m free to do some of those things,” he said. “I used to do those longish tours of six weeks on a bus and it drains the life out of you. In the last couple of years, I’ve done it very differently.”
Now it’s one, maybe two weeks away from home in vans the group drives themselves.
“It gives me the opportunity to do some stuff” between gigs, Liebert said.
Creatively performing the
flamenco guitar, Liebert brings the mixed cultures of Santa Fe into his music, especially on “Barcelona Nights” from his first album, “Marita: Shadows and Storms.” It’s Liebert’s No. 1 viewed YouTube video with 1.1 million views.
“The harmony and chorus is very mariachi and it’s got the rumba that’s very Spanish,” said Liebert, grateful he’s performed and recorded with others, including Carlos Santana.
“I’ve had the fortune to play with a lot of interesting and different musicians,” Liebert said. Yes, it helped augment his creative side. Bring him peace? That’s a bit more elusive.
“I think peace is a little bit like happiness,” Liebert said. “Either you have it or you don’t. I think one of the mistakes people have is thinking … ‘If only I had … power …or money… and I’d be happy.’ That becomes and endless cycle. You feel like you always need more. It seems that the more people have, the more they’re less likely to part with it.”
With Liebert’s most recently-released 2019 recording, “fete,” “I wanted to do something that was upbeat a little more … exciting, exuberant,” he said. “So that’s what the album is about.”
Though Liebert’s done thousands of gigs, “the sense that you have to perform in order to make a living wasn’t a given when I started,” he said.
Earning a living without touring “is impossible now,” Liebert said. “Luckily, I’ve always enjoyed performing and going out and playing live. And the way we perform, there’s lots of room for improvisation; a lot of nights I go, ‘Wow, I wish I could remember that. It would make a great new song.’ I’m lucky my audience lets me get away with doing something different.”
It’s been 30 years since Liebert first recorded — “Shocking when you think about it,” he said.
It’s not as if technology escaped the performer. Since 1996, he’s had a blog, “My so-called diary,” Liebert said, proud that “I’ve been mentioning climate change for at least a decade. Hopefully, people will realize it’s not something to close your eyes to. There are so many ‘boomers’ who think, ‘I don’t care what happens after me,’ which is a real sad state of affairs.”
Liebert has a daily routine: arise at 6 or 6:30 a.m., have a cup of coffee, take a long walk, return home and meditate.
“I don’t have a perfect day. I have a normal day,” he said.
Turning 61 on Feb. 1, “I’ve probably become a little more patient with age,” Liebert said. “You see a natural arc of things. Some of the windmills you might run up against as younger man, you don’t run up against anymore. I can be an advantage and it can be a disadvantage.”