Musically everything clicks easily for Mike Block Trio

Mike Block Trio from left are Joe K. Walsh is on mandolin/vocals, Mike Block is on cello/vocals, and Zachariah Hickman is on bass/vocals. Luke Zvara photo

Recently, I got an email concerning Mike Block, a cellist who will be bringing his trio to One Longfellow Square on the 22nd of this month. I went to his website (www.mikeblockmusic.com) and discovered that he is not your typical cello player: not only does he perform standing up (courtesy of The Block Strap, the design of which he patented), but he also covers many genres (like world music, bluegrass and folk music, not just classical) and has released nearly 20 albums under his name many of which have charted near the top of a multitude of categories. And after watching quite a few of his videos, I just knew that I had to have a conversation with this dynamic individual. So I reached out May 24, and he called me from his home in Somerville, Massachusetts. I began by declaring that I have a thing for cellos.
Block: Nice … you’re a smart guy, I can tell (chuckle).

Q: Well, it started with Harry Chapin’s band having Tim Scott as a cellist. The richness of its tone, which has such an emotive impact. It also has almost human vocal qualities, I believe.
Block: Yeah, it has a lot of vocal capabilities.

Q: Now, you’re coming up with the trio to One Longfellow Square, right?
Block: Correct. So Joe K. Walsh is a Portland resident who plays mandolin, and then there’s Zachariah Hickman who plays upright bass here in the Boston area.

Q: How did you team up with those guys?
Block: Joe and I have played together for over a dozen years in different projects. I used to play with Darol Anger a lot when he was living in Portland, and I met Joe through the bluegrass scene. He’s been teaching at my String Camp in Vero Beach, Florida, for a decade, so he and I have been doing all sorts of different collaborations over the years. And separately from that, I was getting to know Zachariah Hickman in the Boston area as kind of the go-to bass player. I was really appreciative of his versatility, not just playing for singer-songwriters, but for his improvisational virtuosity and just a really high-energy stage presence. I started thinking about what could be an acoustic project for a lot of my original music, and the balancing act of both Joe and Zack started to crystallize in my head; both because they’re actually very different musicians.

Q: How so?
Block: Joe’s kind of a really thoughtful, introspective artist who plays like every note matters, and Zack is pleasantly, playfully the opposite: he’s actually somewhat wild and unpredictable, one who throws a lot of energy at whatever he’s doing. And I kind of appreciated the role that I can have in that group of being somewhere in the middle and them helping me access both of those spectrums of my music. So it was really built on the personalities that I found captivating in different ways, and what kind of sealed the deal for us to start this is: I play cello and as a lead instrument you have to be very careful about instrumentation. The moment that there’s a fiddle player around, cello becomes secondary, right? And so in this trio what’s great is between bass and mandolin there’s this whole range, that middle frequency. Like you’re saying kind of the vocal range, that is actually cleared out just perfectly for the cello. And by also being the only bowed, sustaining instrument in this group, it just felt like musically everything clicks really easily in this group.

Q: And when actual vocals come into play, you cover lead and the other two supply harmony vocals?
Block: Exactly, yeah.

Q: That’s a whole other aspect, and I think that’s what has intrigued me about what you do: you are all over the place stylistically and genre-wise. It must make it very nice for you, because you don’t get bored doing one thing.
Block: Definitely! I think that’s exactly what I appreciate, both Joe and Zack are world-class improvisers, but also they can both sing. And they lead a song in the set in addition to singing harmony vocals. So that’s definitely a wide range going from progressive, thorny, complicated compositions to a simple folk song with beautiful vocal harmonies. I think we really appreciate having that range to express just in one project. I think a lot of my music, as you’re hearing, is influenced from different cultures and styles. And so it’s fun to kind of throw that into the mix, because it’s often new and fresh for them, as well.

Q: It’s also very new and fresh for me as a listener to what you guys are laying down. Now you’re an educator, as well, so with the different hats you wear, how much time do you have as far as touring goes?
Block: Well, we keep ourselves busy, and I don’t have a project on the road for six or nine months of the year, so I enjoy having different projects that kind of end up filling the calendar. Like even just last month I played with four different projects four different weekends in a row. And so, it’s just this exciting thing where every time I’m returning to the trio that you’re going to hear, even though they’re good friends and we’ve played together a long time. And since we’re not doing it all year round just in that one project, it really feels fresh. Every time we play, it feels like each of us is bringing new influences and perspectives back to the music. So I actually really like keeping it diverse and keeping everything fresh in that sense, but, yeah, we definitely have to coordinate our schedules carefully. And actually this week-long run that includes Longfellow in June is our only dates as a trio this summer, because we’re all off busy doing different festivals. So it’s just a unique moment for us in the summer to bring this project together.

Q: Well, Mike, here’s my closing question: Is there anything that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Block: Um, not necessarily anything specific, I guess. Just that I think people are going to be in for a really special show.

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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