Mai Leisz Interview – Recording MaiGroup’s Metamorphosis and More

Article by Eric Larson, © Copyright 2019 FretlessBass.com

As I was reviewing MaiGroup’s 2019 Metamorphosis album I was so blown away I had to ask a few questions about how it all came together. Mai Leisz was kind enough to answer a few interview questions about the album, the studio, the band, and more. To see the complete album review click here. Continue reading the interview below.

FretlessBass.com: What basses did you use on this ablum?
Mai Leisz: I mostly used my Ibanez Musician fretless from 1981. On the Crosby song  I used my 1965 Fender Precision bass, on “Planted, Not Buried” I used Rickenbacker 4001 from 1975 and “Jackson’s Front Yard” and “Three Nights” I’m using my Estonian custom built jazz bass.

FretlessBass.com: You have such great tone and clarity from your bass, both in high registers and, more impressively, in the low end which can be difficult to capture and cut through the mix. What is your typical signal path and equipment used (amps, pedal, etc) in the recording studio?
Mai Leisz: Thank you! On the recording I used EBS Session 30 combo. On fretless I use TC electronic Hall of Fame reverb and Flashback delay. For the fretted basses I use a tiny bit of EBS Multicomp. That’s pretty much it. I like the sound to be bright, but also have a nice low end. I play around with the mid and low mid frequencies, until it feels good. Also, a little more bridge pickup.

FretlessBass.com: You have an amazing band. Tell me how this group was formed and how you chose the guest musicians that appear on this project.
Mai Leisz: They’re absolutely amazing. We have been playing together now for almost 9 years!
In 2010 I was studying at this really great jazz school in South of Sweden and we played a lot of different jazz on a daily basis until I started to feel lost in playing other people’s music. I was also far away from my home in Estonia and my family and friends. It was a struggle for me to keep working for my dreams. So I gathered together a band there to play my own music. It gave me a new lease of life! All of a sudden I felt like I have a purpose and a reason to keep honing my craft. When I moved to Stockholm one year later to continue my studies at the Royal College of Music I had to change some of the band members, but since then MaiGroup has remained the same: Björn Arkö on sax, Simon Berggren on piano, Calle Stålenbring on guitar and Jonathan Lundberg on drums. “Metamorphosis” is our third album after “You” (2015) and “Luv” (2013).

Music has brought many incredible musicians into my life, that includes all the guest artists on my latest album. I met Bill Frisell for the first time at Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2015 and in 2018 we played “Gregory” at my wedding. That song was actually released on MaiGroup’s second album “You” as well, as a band version… but I wanted this moment from the wedding to last forever and so I asked Bill if he would like to record it with me and he said yes!

“Here It’s Almost Sunset” is a song that I wrote with David Crosby and it was previously released on his Sky Trails album in 2017. I wanted to do my own version with MaiGroup and I told my guys to fusion it up! Croz sang new vocals on it, my husband Greg and I did some back ground vocals and we added some 12-string guitar (hint, hint The Byrds) and some lap steel guitar.

I got to know Charles Lloyd through Greg since he plays at Lloyd’s Marvels band. So I’ve had the chance to spend time with him in the studios and on the road. I had this love song “Three Nights” and I just heard his warm saxophone tone on it, so one time when we had lunch, I gathered myself together and asked if he would like to play a song on my next album… and then we made it happen!

Greg Leisz who plays different instruments on the album, shared his gift with us in several songs: “Monarch”, “Here It’s Almost Sunset” and  the title track “Metamorphosis” which we wrote together. He was also my co-producer. I’ve never trusted my music with anyone before, but it’s an amazing feeling to work on music with the person you love the most. Such a beautiful thing.

FretlessBass.com: Fretless bass is typically what I focus on, and I am so happy that it is featured a lot on the album. What inspires you to choose fretless for a given song?
Mai Leisz:Fretless bass is good for songs when I can play melodies to show the beauty, the melancholy and the sweet growl of the fretless tone. Therefore I almost always prefer to play it on ballads… it’s almost that the fretless can make the sad songs even sadder, haha!

FretlessBass.com: One of my favorite tracks is “Palos Verdes Blue”. The fast low end fretless walk down in section one absolutely floors me. The clarity and tone, and the accuracy and intonation for a low move on fretless like that can be quite difficult to master. And just moments later you integrate in beautiful flowing higher melodies and lines that remind me of Pino Palladino. I find this technique in another favorite, the title track “Metamorphosis”. Where does that variety come from and how does it evolve in writing bass for a track like this?
Mai Leisz: “Palos Verdes Blue” is a track that we wrote together with the whole band RIGHT THERE in the studio and we recorded it the next day. I kind of had the main idea for the song and the bass groove, and the guys put this cool melody on it! This song was composed with the idea of “not another ballad” and I wanted it to be fretless from the very beginning. “Metamorphosis” pretty much happened in one day. I already had all the songs for the record (except the one we planned to write in the studio)…. and all of a sudden the melody of “Metamorphosis” started going through my head. So I looped it and developed it until I had it. Greg came up with the middle section guitar riff…it all happened pretty much in one day. It sounded just like the different stages of a metamorphosis, the fight between darkness and light – and so we called it the title track “Metamorphosis”.

FretlessBass.com: Will MaiGroup be touring to support this album?
Mai Leisz: We did some gigs in Estonia in April and we will be touring Sweden in November. I would really like to bring this band to USA, it’s a really amazing band. The musical connection we share is so deep and rare.

FretlessBass.com: I would love to hear your fretless as a guest on other projects like you’ve done with David Crosby. What other albums feature your fretless? Do you have any other collaborations in the works?
Mai Leisz: Yes, there will be another song on the next David Crosby album. A song that Crosby, Greg and I wrote together and it features my fretless bass. There’s some fretless bass work on Tõnis Mägi “Vaikus Valguses”. It’s a beautiful song and it was such an honor for me to record with someone that I listened to all my childhood.  I am still getting my name out here in US and I feel so blessed to make music with legends like Croz and Jackson Browne. I would love to play with a lot of artists, but I believe that if I dream big and work hard, then the right people will come my way.

If you haven’t explored this album yet make it a priority. As I mentioned in the review, this release is one that needs to be listened to in its entirety several times through to expose its true brilliance – the sign of any great album. You will not regret it.

Click here for the full album review.

Full album info and credits: www.discogs.com/Maigroup-Metamorphosis-/release/13585028

www.maileisz.com
www.maileisz.com/store-1/maigroup-metamorphosis-cd
maileisz.bandcamp.com/album/metamorphosis
www.facebook.com/maileisz
www.twitter.com/maileisz
www.instagram.com/maileisz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai_Leisz
davidcrosby.com
billfrisell.com
allmusic.com/artist/greg-leisz-mn0000154702