In mid-June, I got a brief email from Devin Gray introducing himself as a musician from Yarmouth who was scheduled to play in Portland on July 8 at the Portland Conservatory of Music (28 Neal St. in the West End of Portland). I responded immediately, and we set up a telephone interview. He also sent a link to his debut solo album so I could prepare for our chat, and as I listened to his music, I found myself in a bit of a conundrum, but more on that later. At the appointed time, I answered my phone, and, once the greetings were exchanged, I began by asking:

Q: Where are you calling from — a booth in the Midwest?
Gray: (Chuckle) No, I’m calling from Berlin, Germany, on a Skype computer thing.

Q: Well, I’m kind of a little unsure of myself at this point.
Gray: (Laughter)

Q: I’ve been listening to the link you sent me, and I’m not sure how to proceed. I’ve been doing this for a long time and with every interview I’ve had a point of reference that I could connect with — I hate to confess this to you, sir, but I don’t really have a point of reference to this.
Gray: (Chuckle) That’s a good thing, I think, actually.

Q: Oh, please, explain that (laugh)!
Gray: Yeah, well, to me, simply put, listening to music is kind of the greatest thing ever, at least for me, and I’ve been listening to a lot of music, maybe too much, and also making a lot of music and then continuing that path. I went to music school and studied a lot of music, and (what I do) is a combination of improvisation, it’s a combination of free jazz, it’s a combination of traditional jazz; a combination of new music, it’s a combination of contemporary classical music, electronic, avant-garde, historical references —  probably from the ’60s in France all the way to anything that’s happening modern in the last 20 years or whatever (laughter). So it’s kind of like: pick your reference point, right? That’s how I think about things. We don’t know each other yet so that’s why we’re talking.

Q: And that’s the thing, this is going to be very enlightening for me and for my readers, so I appreciate the challenge.
Gray: Cool!

Q: It’s a little unnerving and I feel unqualified but let’s give it a go and see what happens. So what is a performance of yours like? Because in this, as I’m listening, I can hear electronics being used, for sure, percussion, obviously. I have heard artists like Keller Williams who layer sounds on top of each other with tape loops to augment their live sound — is this something like what you do? Is the performance like the recording?
Gray: The super-short answer is, I’m presenting about a 40-minute set of a performance which is a combination of acoustic drums and live electronics, and samples of activists, modern topics that I think are important things that should be said so I’m putting them in my set.

Q: Could you give me an example?
Gray: I’ve got some Sun Ra samples where he’s talking about making art and whatever. Basically, I’m kind of delivering this performance via the openness of sound that I hear that isn’t necessarily a band that’s playing my melodies or my charts, which I’ve recorded a lot of in the past. So that’s the project, and I’ve never done solo, so this is solo where I’m basically live, mixing live improvisations, and I’m trying to do both simultaneously at a high level for myself. And that’s the big challenge (laughter) especially because there’s a lot of gigs on this tour, which was a little bit over-ambitious, and (laughter) I’m a little bit nervous, to be honest with you, but I’m also really excited for it.

Q: Looking at the itinerary for this tour, I noticed that the final performance you are doing is in Portland, Maine.
Gray: Well, I’m from Maine. My parents are both Mainers and, yeah, that’s the last gig of the tour — Paul Lichter set it up there at the Portland Conservatory, he’s familiar with my work. Then I fly back to Europe actually the next morning to do other stuff over here: I’m kind of living between Berlin and New York. I’ve been doing that for years, a little bit more over here in Berlin since the pandemic.

Q: What is your goal with these shows, if I may ask?
Gray: The goal is improvisations and sincerity, and being in the moment and trying to make something interesting — it’s pretty simple, you know? And then I just have my tools that are the sounds I think I want to work with; each night is going to be a little different.

Q: Can we go back to your Maine connection because that was the reason I wanted to have this conversation to begin with.
Gray: I was born in Portland. My dad is from Blue Hill/Ellsworth … my mom is from Bath and they met and married in Portland. Then we moved to Yarmouth where I was raised, and then I went to music school in Baltimore because I was pretty serious about music. I just loved sound. I loved listening, and literally, what I do full-time now is working with music.

Q: Is there anything, Devin that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Gray: Well, sure, the musical pitch for the higher level is just that people need to remember to keep your ears open to new things; and the willingness to want to experience new things, even though usually its uncomfortable but that’s actually where people come together in a new way. So, to listeners of whatever I’m doing, I would say just keep an open mind about the music: I’m trying to share something, you might not like it, I’m already fine with that, but you should allow yourself to be open to it.

Q: And the final word?
Gray: I’m just a Maine boy that loves music — and has gone everywhere!

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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