Spotlight on...Chris Lizotte

Author: Grace Duggan

Chris Lizotte is a junior from Nashua, NH, with a passion for jazz. He has played in numerous bands, including Larson.



The Middlebury Campus: When did you start playing saxophone?

Chris Lizotte: When I was in fifth grade, and there's no cool story behind it. It was just sort of starting a school band. They put all the instruments out and you picked the one you liked.



The Campus: What made you fall in love with it?

CL: That's a good question. I don't really know. I didn't really decide I really liked music until I'd say maybe even as late as my freshmen year here in college. I guess I've always had sort of a certain sympathetic resonance for music, as they say. I wouldn't say necessarily talent, but you know, an ear.



The Campus: Who or what influences you?

CL: In terms of saxophone playing I really like Chris Potter, who is one of the current stars on the jazz scene out of New York. In terms of overall musicality and combining melodic and rhythmic elements in very effective improvisation, I would say Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. In terms of composition and orchestration for small groups I think Charles Mingus is probably one of the best. The way his ideas and his music come together through his small groups and also his orchestration - his ability to put together a band that has such character and such personality. Recently, I've started listening to John Scofield who I like because he gets such a unique sound out of a guitar and yet he's firmly rooted in the tradition and he's really good at effectively communicating ideas in a very simple way. Not simple in the sense of simplicity, but simple in the sense of minimalism. When I was younger, I was sort of big into the grunge thing. Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains. I mean I'm sure that's still in there somewhere. That's sort of still informs my musical taste in some way.



The Campus: Did you always play with jazz groups?

CL: I'm in a band called Larson. Our beginnings go back to our freshman year and it's basically evolved into what we have today. Josh Bookin '06 is on guitar and sings, Alex Banys '06.5 is the drummer, Robby Potish '08 is our bass player, Conor Sheldon '05.5 on guitar, saxophone, vocals, and Chris Nielson '06 plays keyboards. I would hesitate to put a label on the band, but I guess it's rock. It's sort of rock with a jam band feel, whatever that means. Josh does a lot of songwriting and is influenced a lot by Pink Floyd and the Dave Matthews Band. Whereas Conor is sort of more pop-influenced but he writes very intelligently. It's eclectic, but I think we have a sound. I'm in this band Zach Maxwell '08 is starting so I can't really speak much about it because it's still pretty new. But we're going to be playing in Ross for, I believe, the Hurricane Katrina benefit on Friday night. I play with Ian Fleishman '06 a lot. He plays piano and he sings.



The Campus: How is Middlebury's music scene?

CL: The music scene is diverse. I'm only involved in a very small part of it, so it would be hard for me to generalize but I might dare to say that the focus of Middlebury is more academic and less musical. Maybe that's not fair. Maybe music is something people tend to pursue on a more individual basis because everyone is so hyper-busy. It also feels like music has been less of a priority compared to other departments in the college. This comes from comparing Middlebury to other schools of the same size. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm sure it will depend on interest and the fact that Middlebury is kind of in a bad location for it to attract music faculty.



The Campus: What's your major? Any plans on pursuing music after graduation?

CL: I'm a geography major. Ideally, I would take two years after graduation and I would do what Charlie Parker and John Coltrane did, which is practice for twelve hours a day, and then maybe think about a career in music.



The Campus: What role does music play in your life?

CL: Unfortunately, not as much as I'd like it to be. Just in a purely practical sense, music is not a very lucrative industry unless you happen to be a superstar. Jazz is probably one of the most volatile in terms of employment opportunities. In terms of the whole music market it's just not very popular. You have to be a Joshua Redman or a Chris Potter or a Dave Holland and even below that there are tons of other amazing and yet anonymous players. For me, I'm still pretty much a beginner and I would say my passion goes way farther than my ability. It's sort of hard to see how I would fit in that world and so right now I probably need to concentrate on getting a college degree and then maybe later trying to chase a dream.



The Campus: What's the dream?

CL: The dream is to make a living playing music and the people that get to do that are very lucky and very few.



- by Grace Duggan