“The thing about music is that you can listen and listen and always here something new. You’re always going to find something new.”

When he’s not playing bass for Walter Beasley, Webster Roach he does “what most musicians do,” says Roach.  “I also have my own band called Serious Business.  We play around town here in Boston.  We’re in the studio just working on material that eventually we’re going to put together into a CD.  I do a lot of sessions.  I call myself the “clean up man” because I find myself coming into situations after another guy has left.”  Webster also works with R&B artist, Louie Bellow, and the group called Steady Pressure, both from the Boston Area.

Webster is a self-taught musician, learning from “the guys in the neighborhood that played.”  Roach explains, “The neighborhood that I come from - there were two or three musicians that lived on the street, and at least ten that lived in our community.  So that’s where I learned how to play, just from different guys in the street.”  He also frequented the Berklee College of Music practice rooms.  “If there was someone who was pretty good, I’d stand outside and listen.  If they see you there and see that you’re taking an interest in what they were doing, sometimes they would invite you to come in.”

Webster’s first big gig was with a drummer named Bob Moses who played with Pat Methany.  Bob had a band called Mozamba which consisted of Dave Fuezenski on guitar, Billy Martin on drums and percussion (Modeski, Martin and Wood, and Duke Levine who is active on the country and folk scene.  “That was like my first real gig that I wanted and actually got. Where someone actually called me for what I did.  They wanted me to play bass in the band as opposed to me coming in and just subbing for someone.  That was like my big break in Boston.”  Before that, Roach did like a lot of gospel work and also worked with some local R&B acts in Boston like Nine Point Nine.  He worked at this club called Wally’s, a legendary club on the east coast.  “That’s kind of the place that musicians go to pull their playing together.  That’s what I did also.  (Hanging out at Wally’s)  That’s where I started making the connections with some of the musicians that are involved in smooth jazz.”  From his connections at Wally’s Webster went on the road with Najee six months, and after that he got a call work with Walter Beasley.  He’s been with Walter for 8 years now.

Webster’s musical influences include “one of those is a guy from around this neighborhood named George Moore.  There was another guy named Malcolm Stuckey. These guys left a deep impression on me as a bass player.”  He also gives credit to Marcus Miller, Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson, and Rodney “Skeet” Curtis from Baltimore.

“The thing about music is that you can listen and listen and always here something new. You’re always going to find something new.  I’m always record shopping, and constantly looking for new records,” says Roach.  “I’m constantly looking for things I haven’t heard or players I’ve never heard of.”

So what is it like for Webster when he’s on stage and gets the signal you to take the lead with a solo? “I’m saying ‘Oh Jesus get me through this.’  (laughing) Playing those solos and doing those things you never expect it all the time. That band song is something that actually existed before I got in the band. I was saying to myself “Why do we have a band song in a smooth jazz setting?”  You know this is something you usually see in R&B.  But the thing is that Walter’s approach to playing his horn is the same approach as a singer has to R&B.  This is more like smooth jazz with an R&B approach,” explains Roach.  “We do look forward to the band song.  We know that is our opportunity to express ourselves within our own context or language sort of speak.”

Harvey Cline
February 1, 2007