Paul Motian is not an easy man to catch up with - or talk to
SECONDS into the interview-that-almost-never-was, the dim suspicion was forming that drummer and jazz immortal Paul Motian and I were never going to be mutual house-guests.
'I really don't want to talk about me,' he barked. 'I hate doing interviews. I turn these things down all the time.' 'How was your interview the other day with [rival Hong Kong publication]?' I asked.
'Good.' 'Oh. Why?' 'It was good because it was short.' 'How short?' 'Five minutes.' A pattern was emerging. But, damn it, Motian owed me this, and his gruff, subway-honed demeanour fizzing down the line from New York was not going to scare me. Of course, he did not know he owed me. Not until I told him about how I had flown to Beijing to meet him and attend his gig, but had been diverted because of snow to Tianjin, where I sat like a hostage on a plane for six hours. And how I had been stranded in Tianjin overnight. And missed the interview. And the gig. And about how I had been obliged to make it home by dashing to Beijing the next day - partly by train, the rest of the way in a taxi which collided with another near the airport - and been delayed another 4.5 hours.
Then came the first, abortive telephone interview, when Motian was taken unawares and rightly insisted on fixing a later date. Which brings us to this unflinching stance in the face of more promptings.
'People call to interview me the whole time - sometimes about musicians I've never even heard,' Motian complained.
'Isn't it flattering to be called so often?' 'No, I don't feel flattered - I feel like it's a pain in the ass. I can find better things to do with my time . . . write some music, write some of my autobiography . . .' Despite his protests, Motian did prove sympathetic to my various plights suffered in his pursuit - and an enthusiastic commentator, after the initial pleasantries, on all things jazz.
Not that he is short of observations. The cliche 'living slice of music history' could have been patented for this sticksman extraordinaire.