In 1986 Julian Joseph sat behind the piano for his first professional gig. He was 19 years old, far from home and a sudden member of the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Being on that particular bandstand was an extraordinary launch to an international career and he knew it. He had graduated from being a whizzkid student to an American debut as replacement for his idol Kenny Kirkland. He was well aware also that the only other pianist Marsalis had worked with was his other idol Herbie Hancock. It was all very high-powered stuff.
Joseph had first come to prominence in London; part of an adventurous English jazz scene, largely based around extraordinarily gifted students. Many of them, like Courtney Pine, went on to impressive
careers of their own, but what set Joseph apart was that he was to continue his studies in Boston. To his immense credit, he made an immediate name for himself on the American scene and was feted early on as one of Berklee's boys most likely to succeed.
Berklee College of Music was a very long way from Hammersmith where his mother first introduced him to jazz, Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. He was also, at the same time, groovin' to his father's soulful preference for James Brown, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. For the young Joseph it was a musical education for which he is now extremely thankful - in particular for his mother's praise of both classical and jazz and her open-minded policy on all things musical.
"I've discovered that I was very lucky and I've found that it was extremely unique to have had that background. I grew up thinking of music as all one thing. Even though it sounded different, it didn't feel like it was one music against the other - although I must say that I did allude to black music much more than anything else. And when I was growing up there was great pop music like Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder and Minnie Ripperton. But then actually studying music broadened my horizons into Russian music and French music - Debussy, Prokofiev and Bartok."
In later years, as leader of his own trio, quartet, octet and big band, Joseph built a huge reputation as an innovative performer and composer. That interest in classical music remained with him and was the spur for his many non-jazz projects - everything from small ensemble work right through to collaborations with the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras. In Dublin later this month he will perform both as a soloist and with violinist Kenneth Rice of The Irish Chamber Orchestra - proof that these days his classical career is almost parallel to his travels in jazz. That classical side he can trace directly to his mother and to his schooling, his facility for jazz however is something he finds a little harder to work out.
"I started to make my first attempts at improvisation when I was about nine or 10 years old. I don't know where I got it from, but I remember that my mum used to let me stay up late to watch Oscar Peterson. He explained a lot about jazz musicians and I came away from that, and other experiences, believing that jazz musicians were these amazing beings that could hear something, play it back and also play it in their own image - alter it to any form they liked. This really fascinated me, even though, at that age, you're not really supposed to be thinking about things like that. So I just started attempting to create my own music. I was attracted to the elements in music that had jazz - rhythm and harmony - thick textured beautiful harmony with appropriate melody."
In 1983, Joseph embarked on two years of jazz classes at the Weekend Arts College in London. It was here, in the London Fusion Orchestra, that he began playing with Courtney Pine, Mark Mondesir, Paul Hunt, Philip Bent and others. It was soon evident, even to record companies, that there were some serious young musicians in and around London who might actually fill venues and sell records. It was the beginnings of what Joseph refers to as a "mini jazz-age" with himself and his illustrious mates augmented by people like Jason Rebello, Orphy Robinson, Cleveland Watkiss, Steve Williamson and others. In many ways it was an extraordinary blossoming of jazz. It was as if they had all suddenly appeared from nowhere - jazz after all was, for most people, in a rather isolated state.
"Yes, but when I was growing up, it was a very different time because jazz musicians were still superstars and it wasn't unusual to see people like Louis Armstrong or Ella Fitzgerald on the television. And I was a huge fan of Herbie Hancock. He was my idol and he also had pop tunes in the charts - pop singles with these fantastic piano solos. Then my drum teacher at school, Trevor Tompkins, said I needed to know about Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea and he made tapes for me all the time. So I grew up in a culture where jazz never felt like an isolated music."
And so these young musicians sought each other out and played together at the weekends. Meanwhile at Sixth Form College, Joseph continued his classical studies with one ear still very firmly on jazz and still tending to his compositional and improvisational sides. When he was later awarded a scholarship to Berklee, he didn't have to think twice. And while he admits that he was still a little green, he was musically reasonably confident among the high-flying fellow jazz students Stateside.
"A lot of the guys in America were technically much more advanced than some of the British players, but not always in terms of the things that really mattered - like playing as an ensemble or carrying though a message that has an identity.
"Someone like Branford Marsalis was different because he is among the top 3 per cent in any field. He is the cream of the crop and all of us were aspiring to that level. But I had come from an exceptional background myself. What was happening in London at that time, I don't think could have been topped by any other experience and people like Courtney Pine and Marc Mondesir are the cream of the crop there. What happened in Berklee is that I got involved with different players and very quickly moved up the ladder of the school hierarchy - playing with all the best bands and jamming with all the best people."
Among them was Delfeayo Marsalis - perhaps the best connected student on campus. When his brother Branford arrived in town, there was a secret jam session and Joseph happened to be the pianist. He made quite an impression which eventually led to that nerve-wracking first gig as part of the Marsalis Quartet. Kenny Kirkland was unable to make some gigs, Marsalis remembered Joseph and the summons arrived. Next thing Julian Joseph was on stage in front of 40,000 people.
"And I wasn't ready. I was 19 years old and Kenny Kirkland and Herbie Hancock were the only piano players who were playing with Branford. It was like stepping into the shoes of the people you admired most. We played original compositions, tunes I didn't know - a tune written by Herbie Hancock that I'd never heard before and it was just a most awesome experience. They had asked me if I knew any tunes and I suddenly forgot everything I knew. All I could think of were a few typical things like Autumn Leaves and they wouldn't play them - too corny! Through that whole experience I was actually speechless. They all thought there was something wrong with me."
By the time Joseph returned to London in 1990 his reputation was unassailable. He formed a quartet and signed to East West Records and released a jazz album called The Language of Truth. Around the same time however, he also signed with Warner Classics as a composer and so began a very serious undertaking - to pursue a dual career as a jazz and classical pianist. Some might think it impossible, but that's one word Julian Joseph doesn't seem to use.
"Both jazz musicians and classical musicians sometimes get caught up in their own conceptions of what they believe music is all about. But at the end of the day it's really about understanding them as they are. The best classical musicians know the tradition of great classical playing and then try to get something individual whilst respecting the things you need to play the music - technique, having the notes together and a conception of dealing with expression. The same thing with jazz - the first thing you want to do is swing, then you want to be able to create beautiful melodies that have logic, sense and energy. Then you want to deal with harmony in an inventive way and incorporate the tradition that the best players have dealt with. But I think you'll find a jazz musician crossing to classical music with greater ease than the other way around. In Dublin it will be solo piano, and then I'll hook up with Ken Rice who is a phenomenal and open player - and find something in common. It's not hard to collaborate because music is music. One should just be able to play."
Julian Joseph plays Temple Bar Meeting House Square on Friday. Admission is free but ticketed. Tickets may be collected from Temple Bar Properties, 18 Eustace Street, Dublin 2, from Monday