Steve Masakowski has worked with Allen Toussaint, Mose Allison, Dianne Reeves, and many others. He’s a Blue Note recording artist, member of the fusion group Astral Project, inventor of the keytar, and professor of Jazz Studies at the University of New Orleans. Steve is also father to professional musicians Sasha and Martin Masakowski. We spoke to all three about their home life, solo careers, and performing together as the Masakowski Family.
Steve Masakowski: Both of these guys were heavily steeped in jazz because of my influence and also I guess classical from my wife’s influence. I think it’s important to say that neither one of us really pushed our kids into music, we were more like the stage parents, they just sort of picked up music by hearing it around the house and hearing me practice and hearing her practice. They definitely are going in their own directions, you know. Sasha’s a great composer and doing electronics, and Martin is doing all kinds of special things on the bass.
Nick Spitzer: Do you guys want to add anything to what Dad has said so far? Does this seem like a fairly straightforward historical account as you know it?
Sasha Masakowski: That all sounds about right. I mean, I used to think jazz music was like that boring music that my dad played when I was a teenager, and I was into Britney Spears and NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. That was my world, and it wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I had a crush on a jazz bass player, and he was so cool, and he used to wear leather jackets and smoke cigarettes and wear Converse shoes and carry around this big bass. Anyway, we started dating, and he introduced me to jazz music from a peer perspective and all of a sudden I was like, “Oh!”
Nick: Rather than Dad.
Sasha: Rather than Dad, yeah. And it was funny because he would play songs, we’d be listening to Monk songs and Coltrane songs, and I would be singing along, and he would say like, “How do you know ‘Junk Monk,’” or whatever, and I would say, “Oh my dad wrote that song,” because I assumed anything my dad played he just obviously wrote that song.
Martin Masakowski: It’s also ironic because around that same time when she was dating him, he would leave his bass at the house, and I would sneak upstairs when he wasn’t around and unzip it and try to very carefully, noting exactly where it was like no one would ever notice, unzip it and play on this giant, gorgeous acoustic bass. And then I suddenly had the love for this big large instrument, and everyone was like, “Well you know, bass players get all the gigs,” and I was like, “Mom, Dad, can I get a bass?” And they were like, “Yeah sure, that’s a great idea!”
Nick: This record which we should talk a little more about, it’s titled “N.O. Escape,” but that’s N period O period Escape, so that’s New Orleans Escape, or is it no escape from New Orleans?
Steve: Well it could be either one.
Nick: You could be escapists or-
Steve: You could be escaping to New Orleans or escaping from New Orleans.
Nick: Yeah or being an escapist here, no I love this record.
Steve: Because no matter how far we go out and do our own thing, we’re always kind of grounded in New Orleans.
Sasha: There’s no escape from the family.
Nick: Well thank you, Sasha, for pointing that out.
Nick: Will New Orleans remain home, Sasha? Martin?
Sasha: You know, right now as I’m still growing, I mean I just love to travel so much, so New York is really feeling like home, and also I’ve been spending a lot of time in Europe, but New Orleans is always going to be the place that I come back to.
Martin: Same here, I’ve traveled a lot, and every place has its own special thing that’s a specific element of culture or music or food or something like this, but nothing really compares to New Orleans in its wide variety.
Steve: So there’s no escape.
Nick: Thanks to the Masakowski family for joining me on American Routes.
Steve: Oh yeah, I have one more question: when is Father’s Day?
Nick: Now where have I heard that one before?
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