… if you’re dismissive about
hip-hop, then you’re being just
as dismissive to forefathers like
James Brown, Johnny Cash,
and Bob Dylan.
BE A PLAYER
The Roots’ jazzy, improv vibe gives guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas the space to solo and scat in the vein of one of his influences, George Benson. Photo by Jennifer Murtha
reverendguitars.com
Unknown Hinson
PLAY HARD
LIVE BIG
PLAY REVEREND
I’ve watched some You Tube videos of
you playing 10-minute solos where
you accompany yourself vocally. Is that
something you do more on your own
or with the Roots?
It’s a cool effect—like an organic way
of playing through a talk box. I’ve done
that with the Roots mostly, but last
week I did my first gig in five years at
Brooklyn Bowl, and it was just me and
my band. I wound up having to do two
sets, because Questlove was supposed to
DJ later that night but he got sick. So we
had original music planned for the first
set, but when I realized we had to do
two sets I could either say, “Sorry, we’re
not prepared to do that,” or I could rise
to the occasion. That required us to do
some covers and a lot more jamming and
fleshing-out of things.
I never thought I would be doing
all of that scatting stuff that I learned
from watching George Benson, but as
far as stretching out and seeing where
you can take the music, I found myself
doing that and it felt really comfortable.
But that’s something that I learned by
playing with the Roots. “Here’s your
guitar spot—do what you want with it.”
