We were lucky to catch up with Mario Layne Fabrizio recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mario, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
There have been a few moments that really defined this for me. I remember being 15 or so at the Jazz House Kids program. There was a moment during practicing a couple songs of standard repertoire with the ensemble teacher Mike Lee who is such an encouraging and community based teacher which I’ve always appreciated. He’s always led jam sessions to have students play with professionals and have everyone just learn from each other. Anyway, there was a moment I had that felt a bit out of the ordinary but that was with such certainty and confidence which I didn’t feel much at that time. Something told me that I should commit my life to this. Then it was playing drums but I learned through college and after that it wasn’t only drums but it was creating “art.” It is painting, writing, composing music, performing, creating films, creating what the universe wants me to create. I’ve learned everything I know through this art life and trusting that that creative force is as alive as we are as humans and that when you respect it, it respects you, when you feed it, it feeds you. Another moment, especially with my visual art was also around the same time but during the art classes I had at Seton Hall Prep. I was pretty much a loner at that school except for perhaps two friends, that was a weird school but thankful for several teachers there that were very very interesting and cool despite it being a bizarre catholic school. I was in the art class and I would be very into whatever I was painting or drawing and having the music I was also learning for Jazz House Kids or NJPAC Jazz or just very obsessed with and as high school students are, there were many conflicting ideas and emotions all at the same time, but again I felt such a peace when listening to this music whether it was John Coltrane, or my favorite at the time Tony Williams or MFDOOM, and again I was so happy and it was what I needed to do.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Well, this question is about a lot of things. Ever since I was very young, I have been creating things. My parents like to talk about how I would take over the first floor of the house with various kinds of blocks, like wooden blocks, colored blocks, legos, and such and create super connected creative city-like structures. I always would be most interested in art classes and things of that nature. I’ve always liked creating things. People in different parts of the world now know of me for different things, a lot now, especially in Seattle, know me as a painter but not so much as a musician whereas most everywhere else people know me as a drummer/percussionist and composer. I really do enjoy creating in different ways, so fun. A community in Boston specifically knows me as a poet as well as these other things, because when I was there I worked a lot on poetry and learned a lot from Ruth Lepson about the intricacies of poetry and writing. I remember when I was in 5th grade, I really wanted to play drums, but there were two kids already playing drums in the school band so I used my dad’s instrument, the trumpet, to play in the band. I did not like trumpet very much – I tried to like it but I did not. Finally a few years later, I asked my band teacher Mr. Tighe if I could switch to play drums and he was so encouraging and also just gave me the tools to immediately jump in. I was super passionate and my parents gave me lessons at the Mark Murphy Music School which is an installation in South Orange, so many kids and adults go through this music school. I didn’t even have a drumset at the beginning, I was using the drum pad from our Guitar Hero on Wii but not plugged in to practice- great people over there at the music school. I had teachers there, Bryan Bisordi and Matt Slocum. Then this whole crazy array of events happened when I went to Stokes Music Camp and there was this jazz teacher Janet Lemansky and she somehow saw potential in me and she introduced me to Bruce Williams who was doing a jazz camp in Red Bank the home of Count Basie and then he introduced me to the whole community of Jazz House Kids run by Melissa Walker which was a whole new level for me. At the camps in the summer there was the drum masterclass that Steve Johns would run who was my teacher at the time and Alvester Garnett and the super master drummer Billy Hart would visit a few times and he made sure I was playing right. It’s hilarious because he became my main teacher and mentor throughout college at NEC in Boston and I’ve known this man ever since. A few people were like this in Boston, Joe Morris, Ted Reichman, Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer mostly. I remember that my first real gig was with the trumpet player Claudio Roditi who I met at Litchfield Jazz when I was in high school. We played a few gigs around NJ. A lot of beautiful people have shared life with me and I am so grateful to all the lessons people have shown to me.
Right now I’m very much into learning about many painters like Modigliani and DaVinci and Guston – music I love listening to at the moment is perhaps 95% “the artist formerly known as Prince” haha. He really is amazing. I love a lot of Brazilian music, chamber music and lieder and, oh yeah, this new album by Daryl Johns which is very beautiful and fun.
Anyway, all art in some way is like active journaling to me. They are all fragments of various fairy tales written in real time. Whether it’s music or painting or performing it has that feeling that I want to complete it or by making it I’ll figure something out about myself or the time of life I’m in. It in the creation of it teaches me something that is a necessary puzzle piece in navigating life. Recently, I like a lot of clear objects obscured by being interlocked with other things. The interlocking gives gravity to some objects and thus asks for different ideas of balance. I think of everything as a little or big universe that I make. Where is the sun? Where is the blackhole? Where are the planets? Where are the centres of gravity? What are on these planets? Seeing inside and outside of the system at the same time. I think it’s fun. . .it’s like visually and aurally playing I-SPY where there are sometimes endless things to discover. It feels a lot like creating a small life, you cannot see the whole being of the art but you can shape it but in the way I do my best to live is to keep a lot open so things can reveal themselves effortlessly. Improvising is life.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
This is a difficult question. Of course I think that the people taking any interest in an artist’s work is a beauty that does fill the heart. When the word “support” is used in this question it also has the air of that certain idea of “financial support” that supposedly artists need. A lot of this is true, however I don’t know that people really understand what supporting anyone showcasing their creative brain, actually means. Helping artists in general is a beautiful thing because it is one of the things that create culture and completely defines history. Without a strong culture a country does seem to have confusion. For everyone, and on any side of thinking, culture directly correlates to a country’s success and thus your success, hopefully. I do think there are a lot of cities (like Seattle haha!) that are on the brink of being able to be next level. In this, I wonder what it would look like if there was a consistent program, public or privately run, that funds, lets say 50 (I am not going to like how this is phrased but,), a mix of 50 local and not artists/extremely creative people in various fields, fully for 3 years in each state in the USA; 2500 people total. This could encourage a higher level of creation and encouragement from the musicians already established in an area and also the younger generation. Of course this would mean there should be a great fantastic mix of people. Anyway – it is a tricky question, and thank you to all of the people doing what you can to elevate people desiring to showcase their unique being.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Hmm, I always felt this idea of a journey that encompassed everything in my life. Everything has been of expansion – of the heart, mind etc. I hope that things I do and create can electrify peoples brains and their hearts you know? The things that mean the most to me however is understanding the language of one’s intuition. A lot of this has to do with documenting and paying attention to the dreams one has especially when asleep. Daydreaming is also beautiful. Understanding one’s dreams and adapting their wisdom to every day life is a thing I hope could activate a consistent alignment with who you truly are. There are a lot of things in society that make you go outside of yourself to find out who you are and auxiliary things that temper, moods, thoughts, ideas, time, understanding, but inside I think that we have most of the answers to things. If anything I hope by my growth and by the way I live and my creating new artworks, can inspire something in people, perhaps something that has been a hidden essential part of the self, perhaps something that gives strength right when someone needs a little more, and hopefully most the belief in oneself to take the leap, enjoy life and have fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mario.international
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariolaynefabrizio/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariolaynefabrizio/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mario.international
Image Credits
@uh.guys.im.lost (Gaia)
@globalchill (Daneca)
@josie.xvii