Month of June , 2007
Essential Tones Of Music Rooted In Human Speech
"The use of 12 tone intervals in the music of many human cultures is rooted in the physics of how our vocal anatomy produces speech, according to researchers at the Duke University Center for Cognitive Neuroscience."
Jazz Compared to Web 2.0 (for any geeks/programmers out there)
Another report from the Vision Festival: Part one, Part two
A review of Fred Anderson's CD release at the Velvet Lounge, which was the night after the show I saw at Stop Smiling Headquarters
DiggIn the context of discussions about the so-called avant-garde of improvisational music, the issue of change is often at the heart of the matter without being explicitly defined or discussed. To decide who is truly avant-garde, or cutting edge, we have to quantify change, define the boundary that is being pushed, and decide how far it has been pushed. The same questions arise when we get into discussions about so-called free music, and when we refer to playing as in or out, when we applaud someone for balancing the inside/outside line, or when we denigrate a musician for being so out that our sense of it being music is lost.
If the avant-garde represents the pushing of boundaries, then all of the pivotal figures in the history of art and music can be seen as avant-garde. They forged some kind of new ground, and then many of them continued to explore that boundary area and new ground, creating an identity and unity in their work in the process that makes their art identifiable as their own. In my view there is a process of honing and essentializing that goes on, and a point is reached when the focus is less on accomplishing something new once again, but instead to do that new thing even better. Even when seemingly new areas are approached, there are often processual similarities in the work's emergence that are hidden from the consumer of art that reveal the new as consanguineous with the old.
If we accept as a basic premise that music is a communicative medium, then one way to view the renegotiation of boundaries is not as saying something new, but instead as saying the same thing in a new way. If we take this premise further and believe that music can communicate truth, and that there is a quintessence that is distilled throughout all music of all genres when played at a high level, then the the question of how that is communicated and whether this purported boundary is being pushed seems less important than if the communication occurs.
This is of course assuming that there is an ends other than enjoyment of the means. Indulge me if you will.
If the goal is communication (no matter what the message), then should we place the means above the ends? This seems to be a fundamental flaw in the insistence placed upon innovation by some people in the audience for free, experimental, or avant-garde music. Only if we believe art is a purely aesthetic experience with no function can we possibly accept the idea that art is inherently better because it does something "new" aesthetically while ignoring whether or not its purported superiority relates to whether or not its communicative potential is realized.
In this sense, there is no progressive and no conservative. There are no boundaries to be pushed. If the process of improvisation and composition in the context of a musician's life relates to reaching towards an individualized voice, an often cited goal of musical practice, each individuals inherent uniqueness will lead to an individual expression that stands on its own, even if it shares qualities of past masters.
There's a whole group of musicians who represented the avant-garde in jazz during the late 1960s through the present, who accurately fit the description of masters who have and continue to hone their music. Some people would have you believe that since they are no longer pushing the so-called boundaries of music, they are no longer relevant to the so-called avant-garde. If anything, I would say that they are more relevant than ever: have fun pushing boundaries for the rest of your life, but you'll never reach the edge of the net, because it stretches forever in every direction.
In other words: welcome home, you've already arrived.
More later.
I went back for a second dose of Vision action on Sunday, the 24th. Unfortunately, apparently Vision Festival starts too early for me because again I missed the first act, the T.E.C.K. string quartet, which is a shame because it would have been nice for some timbral variety to hear a string group at the festival.
I arrived as Hamid Drake was setting up with his group NOW, featuring Sabir Mateen on reeds, Paolo Angeli in from Italy on prepared guitar, and Patricia Nicholson on dance. I was quite excited about this one as I have really enjoyed the Drake/Angeli duo album Uotha, and although I haven't seen Sabir Mateen live on many occasions, I enjoy his playing when I have heard him on the past.
The set started out with Drake on frame drum and Mateen on clarinet, with Angeli playing his incredible guitar. If you aren't familiar with Mr. Angeli, his sardinian prepared guitar is quite a creation. Culled from a CD description of his:
"Sardinian guitar, which is sized between a conventional guitar and a double bass, and is tuned lower than a standard guitar. Paolo Angeli has taken this folk instrument and has completely re-tooled it: There is a large mechanical claw stuck onto the side of the body of the instrument, which he uses to pluck counter melodies, piano-like hammers, operated by foot pedals strike the strings and lastly, many extra strings as well as 13 pickups and microphones have been added to further extend the variety of what his instrument can do."
Go to his website and check out some pictures, it's quite an impressive creation.
Anyway, back to the set: my brief synopsis is that it simmered but never boiled over. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the ecstatic jazz set can sometimes tend towards predictable peaks, but it was a bit surprising given some of the band members tendencies towards that style of incendiary playing. Both Drake and Mateen were incredibly restrained, and there were some really fascinating textures that came out of the combination of reeds and Angeli's guitar. He really makes some un-guitaristic sounds, and utilizes some pedals in addition to his unique instrument. To be perfectly honest, I prefer the more aggressive playing from the Drake/ANgeli duo on Uotha to what I heard in concert, but it was still an enjoyable set.
Next up was the Thomas Buckner Trio with Thomas Buckner on vocals, Jerome Bourdellon on flute, and Roscoe Mitchell on his usual arsenal of reeds. I was not familiar with Buckner so I didn't know what to expect, but what we got was a mostly quiet (sometimes at a whisper level) deep listening set that I had a hard time sinking my teeth into. Personally, I would rather listen to music like this on headphones where some of the sonic subtleties can pop out a bit more, and the concert setting combined with my own mental fatigue at this point of the weekend didn't let me really focus the way I would have liked on the music. Similar to the previous set, it was interesting seeing someone like Roscoe Mitchell play with such restraint, since I'm so used to seeing him unleash torrents of musical ideas. It was akin to beholding the grandeur of the Hoover Dam while wondering how it manages to hold back all that water without springing a leak. Only a few leaks sprung out from Roscoe during the set, but otherwise he showed his deep discipline and commitment to the group aesthetic.
The third act of my musical evening was the Daniel Levin Quartet, with Mr. Levin on cello, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Joe Morris on bass and Matt Moran on vibes. I had never seen any of these players live, but I've heard Wooley, Morris, and Moran on record before, so I was interested to see what they had in store. They started out with some composed music that all went through Mr. Levin in terms of dialog. Throughout the set, they switched between composition, solos, and full band improvisations. I tended to enjoy the composed sections more, and I really enjoyed the sound of the group. As I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for vibraphones, and the combination with bass, cello, and trumpet produced a great tonal pallet. My biggest complaint about this set was the sound - Mr. Levin was way too low in the mix, considering his status as band leader and since so much of the music obviously hinged on his musical cues.
The final act was akin to a heavy weight title bout, featuring Kidd Jordan on tenor saxophone, Dave Burrell on piano, William Parker on bas, and Louis Moholo on drums, under the banner Louis Moholo and Friends. Their set consisted of two long improvisations, and Kidd Jordan really came across as the band leader here, making some gestures to the other musicians to direct the sound on several occasions. Like the good folks at D:O, I found Burrell and Moholo a little low in the mix, especially Moholo from my seat.
Their set was short, about 45 minutes, and all of it was on the intense end of the free spectrum. Burrell was dazzling and attentive at the piano, engaging the band visually and musically, really adding a lot to the dialog. Kidd Jordan was fantastic as he almost always his when I see him, as I've always loved his use of the upper registers of his horn. A couple of times I would have liked to hear him take a step back so I could hear what Burrell might do in the driver's seat, but overall it was an incredibly balanced group in terms of participation.
That's all I've got to say about that. Overall, my Vision Fest highlights were Matthew Shipp's solo set, Fred Anderson Trio, and the Moholo and Friends set. Here's to hoping next year's even better. I apologize for the lack of visual documentation, but I left the old camera in Chicago. It's probably for the best, since my patented out of focus shots don't add that much to the experience.
While I was at the fest, I picked up a collection of William Parker essays entitled "Who Owns Music?" as well as Volume II of Arcana, a compilation of essays by creative musicians compiled by John Zorn. More on those as I dig in.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, there's been some good discussion going on over at DJA's Secret Society blog. It's been productive for me to be challenged and engaged in regards to some of my own thoughts, so go ahead and jump into the fray if you've got something to say. Pat Donaher weighs in on the Zorn issue in regards to a recent David Hajdu article as well.
Well, you only live this life once.
So, when the stars aligned to produce a low airfare, an impulsive state of mind, and a temporary lapse of judgment in regards to my own physical and mental sanity, I jumped on a plane for NYC Friday morning to catch the end of Vision Festival and run around the city for a few days.
I made it to Friday and Sunday, using Saturday to fulfill the inevitable deluge of familial and friendly obligations I take upon myself whenever I step foot in Manhattan (and Brooklyn these days, for that matter).
I can offer a different perspective on Friday from Mr. Olewnick for your comparison pleasure. There's also some interesting discussion on the Vision Festival going on over at DJA's blog (more on that later). Obviously I went in with a decided lack of skepticism, considering the fact that I chose to fly across the country to catch some shows.
I missed the violin tribute to Leroy Jenkins due to some slow food service and an underestimation on my part on how long it would take to get down to the Lower East Side.
Soon after I walked in, Roy Campbell's Ahkenaten Suite began, featuring Mr. Campbell, Billy Bang, Bryan Carrott, Hilliard Greene, and Zen Matsuura. The suite consisted of maybe 4-5 songs, all of them carefully composed. I thought the playing by the individuals was solid if not superlative, but the writing was excellent and I hope he develops the music further and hopefully records it as well. I love the vibraphone so its inclusion in any band increases my sonic enjoyment factor, and it was a great set to kick off my Vision Festival experience.
I was happily surprised to see that Matthew Shipp's solo set was next, since it had originally been scheduled for after the Leroy Jenkins tribute, so I had thought I'd missed it. It was definitely a highlight of the weekend, and it made me regret not seeing him solo when he was in Chicago sometime last year. It was a really engrossing set, and it was interesting to watch the crowd slowly get pulled in, as the background chatter ceased and he wrapped the audience around his twirling fingers. For me, he struck a fantastic balance between density and space, retaining a sense of playfulness and relaxation that shone through the music. A real gem of a set.
Next up was Patricia Nicholson's set of a dance/art installation, with accompaniment by the members of the William Parker Quartet, all individually and then as a group. It started out with each member of the band accompanying a dancer independently, in different locations within the venue - Rob Brown, Flip Barnes, William Parker, and Hamid Drake sequentially, each with an individual dancer.
While the addition of dance to improvised music has never been something that has added much to my experience, it's certainly never taken much away from it, and I don't understand the backlash against its incorporation into events like this from some people. I find it amazing that fans of such a marginalized music could put down an almost certainly marginalized form of dance. My biggest obstacle is probably that I listen with my eyes closed 90% of the time. I also have a harder time not ascribing meaning and intent to dance, constructing plot mentally, whereas I'm content to leave the music in the realm of abstraction.
In any case, I found the set to be enjoyable musically, and I remain open to the possibility that dance will enhance my concert going experience at some point in the future. I find it fascinating that dance and music are considered such separate entities in our society, especially in the art music realm, whereas in many other cultures around the world the two are inseparable. It's something I think about.
Next up was the Fred Anderson Trio, featuring Harrison Bankhead on bass and Hamid Drake on drums. It was truly a pleasure to see Fred in front of an out of town audience since I see him in Chicago so often, and to see how much other people enjoyed his music. It was really an incredible set: it started off with Fred playing a capella, with Harrison Bankhead and Hamid Drake joining in when Fred gave them the signal to do so. After playing as a group, and then featuring solos by Bankhead and Drake and then a full group improvisation again, the first song was basically the entire set, around an hour. It was a tour de force of improvisational music, with each musician putting on a veritable clinic on their respective instruments. The audience was really into it, and the set flew by considering how long it was, and they got a standing ovation.
They closed with Hamid Drake on frame drum, doing his chanting with Harrison Bankhead strumming chords on his bass. They play this song regularly as a trio now and I always find it soothing and enjoyable.
In contrast to Mr. Olewnick who found it lackluster compared to a previous Fred Anderson/Harrison Bankhead duo he'd seen (which is now available from Ayler Records, a great disc), I thought the set was fantastic. For what it's worth, Fred is 78, and for my money plays with an incredible intensity and force that requires no apologies regardless of his age. In terms of Mr. Olewnick's assertion that "...Drake was playing insensitively a lot of the time, often trampling over the other two," I have to disagree. Maybe it's my familiarity with the group, but Drake's propulsive and sometimes over the top style is how they function. He's the driving force, and while Fred is certainly featured, it's not a typical horn front man situation, and Fred has said many times that Hamid Drake's rhythmic style is what feeds his playing.
While I stayed for Myra Melford's set, I unfortunately don't have much to say about it. I was suffering from physical fatigue from traveling that morning and from listening fatigue after some great music. That's the only unfortunate part of the Vision Fest format for me: music overload, which I had definitely reached by this point in the night. Myra was playing wonderfully though, and a lot of the audience enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing her in Millennium Park this summer with Nicole Mitchell here in Chicago.
To briefly address some of the discussion going on over at DJA's Secret Society, part of the issue for me gets back to the role of so-called critics, pundits, and writers. I'm less interested in opinions than I am in descriptions of the music: how it made you feel, how it sounded, etc. Mr. Olewnick's review tells me more about his own personal taste and prejudices than it does about the music made. Is it the role of a critic to dictate what a musician should or should not do? Is a critic more qualified to determine how a musician should interact or play in a band than the musicians themselves? Of course it's okay not to enjoy something, and to enjoy one thing more than another. But to make essential value judgments about musicians, their intent, and how they go about their art, to me is distasteful.
Perhaps I'm not into what most people would traditionally call 'artistic criticism.' I'm more concerned with finding some beauty and trying to share it with others, to shine a light in a corner where some others might not look. I'm more interested in watering seeds than trampling grass, attempting to reflect the beauty that I find in the music and write something inspired that might elevate rather than denigrate.
More on this topic, and a review of Sunday's shows later....
An interesting discussion has emerged out of the Destination: Out 1990s polls, based on the observations and comments of Mr. Ethan Iverson at Do The Math.
Mr. Iverson posted a blindfold test, which I unfortunately didn't take the time to participate in (based on the results of what the tracks turned out to be, I think I would have done poorly in any case), and then some musings on the 1990s and the D:O poll. One particular thread that emerged was in relation to Wayne Shorter, his artistic legitimacy as viewed by the so-called avant-garde, and in turn, David S. Ware's positioning in the whole mess.
Destination: Out responded with a post of their own.
I love Wayne Shorter, his music, his playing, and his aesthetic in the way he put his groups together. The Blues Note releases as well as the current quartet, which I was excited to see will be playing in 2008 at the Symphony Center here in Chicago.
Honestly, I've never particularly cared for David S. Ware or his quartet , with his recent Balladware piquing my attention the most. I've enjoyed all of the musicians in his band in other contexts, especially William Parker. For any apparent avant leanings I may have, and I certainly have some, I know what I enjoy listening to, and it has nothing to do with any jazz party affiliations. I regularly spin all flavors of jazz and improvised music.
Matthew Shipp is obviously prone to hyperbole, and it's too bad that he said any band is infinitely superior to Wayne Shorter's current band. Personally, I choose not to read too much into his statement for feelings about Wayne and his contribution to the music, since it's one quote in the context of an interview that we only heard a snippet of in the Village Voice article. I don't think conversations like that are worth having, questions of value and superiority. I hate hearing about musicians putting other musicians down in almost any context. I'm kind of a softy like that.
I don't like referring to Matthew Shipp as an avant pianist. I've heard him do so much more than that word can possibly imply. I don't think of Wayne Shorter as mainstream. He was probably avant-garde at some point, if there is such a thing.
I actually think they both have a lot in common, in that neither seems to care what people think of their music and their stylistic choices. Wayne decided to do Weather Report, accusations of "selling out" be damned, and when he was good and ready, he went back to the acoustic setting without apologies. Shipp's Blue Series at Thirsty Ear has taken some serious stylistic chances, and some have failed while others have succeeded.
I find the whole question of the existence of the avant-garde in jazz baffling. All I see is a spectrum of improvised music, and a continued broadening of musical practices over time. A continued incorporation of more influences. I can't quite figure out where, or more importantly why, I'm supposed to draw the line.
I'm rambling, so I apologize for a lack of coherent structure in this post. I haven't had much time to flesh out ideas recently, so taking this post in an entirely different direction....
I had the pleasure of speaking with Douglas Ewart the other day, and we were talking about arts funding. He was pointing out that the US government spends less than a dollar per citizen on the arts, in terms of NEA funds.
Did you know a B-2 stealth bomber costs 2.2 billion dollars to produce?
Mr. Ewart said he challenged the US government to invest the cost of one B-2 stealth bomber into the arts for one year as an experiment and see what happens.
I think that's a great idea.
More soon....
The fine folks at 50 Miles of Elbow Room have a great William Parker interview up (it reads more like an essay, with only one question prompt given).
Some of the content is particularly interesting given recent discussions about the do-it-yourself ethic, surrounding the recent publishing of Marc Ribot's essay. From the WP interview:
When I was in high school, there was always a community center that was there for us - "us" meaning the kids who lived in the projects - to play basketball and have some activities[....]There was that and then later on, on Boston Road, up the hill from where I lived, there was the Black Panther office. They were organizing things. There were the Black Muslims in the Bronx who used to sell Muhammad Speaks, a newspaper that my father used to buy every week. In this paper Elijah Muhammad would talk frequently about black economic power and self-determination, having your own land, your own houses, your own base of operations. Those ideas were around in that time, to be self-motivated and to do for yourself, because if you didn't do for yourself, who would provide for you? You really couldn't depend on the government or what they call the system to provide the things for one's survival.
[....]
That crossed over to the ideas laid out by John Carter and Bobby Bradford. They recorded a record called Self-Determination Music. Charles Mingus had this track called "Fables of Faubus". Archie Shepp put out a record called Fire Music. All of these things were on the perimeter of doing for one's self, self-promotion, and self-development, and to mirror self worth, which was very important at the time.
[....]
Bold gestures are always inspirational. I read about Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in California, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music, the Liberation Music Orchestra. So politics were in the air but also politics of human beings were in there too, spirituality and all that. But the motivation was to do, to get up and move and make things move when you got up.
There's more at the interview, which is definitely worth reading.
Peter Gannushkin of downtownmusic.net fame, the foremost visual documenter of the New York downtown scene, is interviewed.
John Jack, owner of Cadillac Records in the UK, is interviewed at Wall of Sound. There are some interesting insight and thoughts on the European scene.
Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake are interviewed on Chicago Public Radio (nice juxtaposition with my rant below - lots of talking about music, not much music itself).
Kidd Jordan is profiled before a gig in Austin, TX.
David Murray is going to appear at indie-jam-rock fest Bonnaroo, and the show is previewed.
The Toronto Jazz Fest is previewed with an article on the Chinese act
In the good news department: "The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it will change the visa processing rules to allow employers and agents more time to file visa requests for foreign guest artists." More here.
In the bad local Chicago news department: contrary to what was previously reported here, Pete Cosey will NOT be appearing with Ari Brown on June 23rd. No word on why. Anyone who was planning on going should still do so, to see the great Ari Brown and his band.
As media consolidates, the diseased theories and practices it harbors spread. It's a process of degeneration and homogenization that has real effects on the citizens of our country, in terms of narrowing what they are exposed to in the media, and eliminating any sense of locality and place in programming. Furthermore, the emphasis on the almighty dollar that has Paris Hilton as the lead story in the news has spread in a sinister manner to the way public radio positions itself in serving the population.
Chicago has had an interesting turn events with our local public radio station, WBEZ. First they announced that they were eliminating music programming entirely. After some backlash from the local community, organized town hall meetings (one of which I was directly involved in putting together), and petitions, they backpedaled a bit, but not much. They announced they were launching a new station, a secondary public radio channel that would be dedicated to the local community, including its diverse arts scene. It came across as half baked and showed little promise. They were also extremely secretive about what the format and nature of the station was going to be, apparently in some odd attempt to build 'hype.'
The secondary station was recently launched. It's called Vocalo.
So far the station is only available online and if you live in Northwest Indiana - the station they put it on is so weak signal wise, it doesn't even reach Chicago.
I've listened in a few times and have been unimpressed with the format and the likelihood that it's going to achieve their goals. It feels like the arts community that protested the change in format of WBEZ so fervently are being thrown a bone and told to go gnaw on it in the corner.
And it's not even a particularly tasty bone.
In the Tribune article about the launch, it says "CPR expects to be able to boost the WBEW signal to 50,000 watts, which would extend its reach into Chicago" (emphasis mine). In other words, if everything works out, it should reach Chicago. Otherwise, the only way to listen would be streaming online. Which directly contradicts their stated goal, which was:
"One of the station's primary aims is to garner the non-white audience that Chicago Public Radio's flagship WBEZ-FM 91.5 does not.
WBEZ listenership is 91 percent white, according to public-broadcasting trade paper Current, and it wants Vocalo's to be 65 percent non-white."
Ninety-one percent white.
According to the 2000 census data, Asians make up 4.30% of our population, Blacks make up 36.40%, Hispanics or Latinos make up 26.00%, Whites make up 31.30%, and the miscellaneous Others make up 2.00%. The fact that WBEZ calls itself a public radio station and yet serves such a narrow band of the population is absurd.
The whole idea of a spin off, second station, wreaks of a racist creation of a ghettoized radio station for the 'other' folks who don't listen to WBEZ, hardly a civilized answer to the problem. . Apparently white folks like to listen to people talk and will give money for the privilege.
Another interesting thing to note is that some of the theories behind the changes seen at WBEZ, as well as in public radio formats across the country, have a scapegoat. That's right, there is a man behind this madness, and his name is David Giovannoni.
The NYTimes wrote an article about him back in 2001. He's responsible for the buzz words you hear on public radio, such as "listener-supported." He's essentially a numbers cruncher, or as the article refers to him a "numbers nazi," who figured out how to get the biggest audience of the people most likely to donate money.
This is part of a larger problem that I see as endemic in our society today, a reliance on the quantitative over the qualitative, the concrete over the abstract, and in a more definitive biological sense, a privileging of the left brain over the right brain.
To generalize and stereotype: we're being ruled by MBAs, CPAs and lawyers, individuals who believe that creativity can best be defined (and managed) if it can be endlessly replicated without resorting to creative types. These individuals believe that paint by numbers and karaoke are examples of creativity, that playing air guitar is one step away from having actual talent.
What's the problem with numbers in this case? To quote Paul Simon: "When times are mysterious/Serious numbers are easy to please." To quote a friend of mine who has written on this same subject:
As Tom McCourt, author of Conflicting Communication Interests in America: The Case of National Public Radio (Praeger 1999), observed in a letter to the NYT editor following Freedman’s article, "Audience research is hardly neutral; it is designed to mold audiences as well as reflect them. In its embrace of audience research, public radio, rather than providing a ground for a public culture, isolates its audience into demographically honed segments. The ‘public’ it purports to serve is a public in name only."
So, if public radio is really public, it defines public in an incredibly restricted, narrow manner: the people who are most likely to donate money.
When the backlash from the arts community happened, many large donors to WBEZ and Chicago Public Radio stepped up and said they would no longer be donating to the station. So their market research couldn't have been entirely correct, and it was nice to see some people with some monetary clout sticking it to them for their decision.
The worst part of the whole situation was that when feedback was given to WBEZ, the answer that came back to us was a paternalistic "father knows best," that we should wait and see what good ol' Chicago Public Radio had in store for us. There was no sense of exchange, of engendering community, that our voice had any value. This was particularly entertaining considering the fact that they were pitching the new format station as 'giving voice to the community.'
HA!
From the river to the ocean, and back again.
Last night a crowd convened on the north side of Chicago to see Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake lead their From The River to the Ocean band in the first of two album release parties. This one took place at the Stop Smiling headquarters, a magazine operation that produces some interesting literature if you ever get a chance to check it out. There was one memorable issue that dealt with Miles Davis' boxing prowess that stands out in my memory.
I arrived a little early at 6:45 before the posted 7 PM start time to find a crowd on the sidewalk waiting to get in. Apparently the doors wouldn't open until 7 we were told, which turned into 7:30. In the mean time, the crowd on the sidewalk swelled, to the point where people passing by became curious about what was going on inside. Add to this curiosity the fact that Stop Smiling had Nas and Madlib on the cover of their most recent issue and huge poster size pictures of the covers in the storefront window of the venue, and some people stopped thinking that Nas or Madlib would be making an appearance. This led to a few interesting conversations about Fred Anderson and who the hell he was.
The space was a small room with benches along the sides and back, and an open floor. I walked to the front and sat myself down on the ground directly in front of the stage. To call it a stage is a bit of an overstatement; it was maybe 6" high, and only 3 of the 5 band members actually fit on it, with Harrison Bankhead and Jeff Parker setting up on the floor.
John Corbett introduced the band to thunderous applause and we were off, with the first number featuring Hamid Drake on his frame drum, Josh Abrams on the guimbri, Harrison Bankhead on Cello (which he played for 3 of the 4 tunes), and Jeff Parker and Fred Anderson on their usual instruments, guitar and tenor sax respectively.
The setlist was something like this: From the River to the Ocean, Planet E, Strut Time, and a final tune that sounded like an open improv to me, perhaps based on the Sakti/Shiva track that closes the album.
The band immediately established a live rapport equal to or greater than the album. Of course I love the live setting with its immediacy and physical presence, and both the opening From the River to the Ocean and Strut Time stood out as more vibrant live than they do to my ears on the album.
Fred's booming tenor was made even louder via amplification, which was particularly unnecessary in my sitting position where Fred pointed directly at me, and his speaker did the same. At one point I had to cover my ears from the sound, lending the proceedings a Last Exitesque aural assault from my seat.
The two bass attack was particularly noteworthy, when Harrison Bankhead joined Josh Abrams on upright for one tune. Some serious low end action ensued, and they took advantage of the configuration by letting the two bassists play a solo together. They each took their turn as the lead, with Harrison Bankhead doing his double bowing to create an eerie accompaniment before Josh Abrams switched from pizzicato to arco acrobatics. Josh was on fire the whole night, especially when he played bass, at one point during a solo eliciting laughs of delight from his bandmates and a "go on Josh" from Harrison Bankhead.
Fred Anderson seemed to take a lot of happiness from the proceedings, visually enjoying the playing of the band. There was an incredibly high level of playing by every individual, with Hamid Drake providing the driving force and rhythmic variety throughout.
This same band will be playing at the Velvet Lounge tonight. I have a prior commitment that will keep me away, but if it finishes early I'm hoping to catch the second set. In my personal musical orbit, this is one of the best bands and most important music being made and I hate to miss a note of it.
The stage created this juxtaposition of a Stop Smiling banner hanging over Hamid Drake, probably one of the people most likely to smile that I know. I could not follow the banner's missive either, as I laughed and enjoyed the joyous music that poured from the stage.
It was hailed as the return of the prairie prophet.
Fred Anderson made his return to the concert stage on Sunday, choosing to make his comeback with the Great Black Music Ensemble, the AACM big band that has been doing a residency under the direction of Mwata Bowden the first two Sundays of each month at the Velvet Lounge.
That Fred chose to play his first show back with the GBME was emblematic of his dedication to the AACM and the music community at large, a commitment that has manifested itself in myriad ways in Fred's life. He made the decision to stay in Chicago rather than head to NYC as many of his peers did. He's mentored many musicians, nurturing their growth. Most of all perhaps, he's run the Velvet Lounge, a venue that has never made Fred rich but has provided a breeding ground for creative music. His return show with the Great Black Music Ensemble helped to shine a light not only on his return, but also on the band and the organization. Fred Anderson, selfless as always.
The Great Black Music Ensemble swelled to 16 pieces on Sunday (18 if you include conductor Mwata Bowden and special guest soloist Fred Anderson). They try and get as many AACM members as possible involved, but the lineup fluctuates from as few as 7 or 8 to as many as 30 for any given concert. Apart from well known names like Nicole Mitchell and Ed Wilkerson, there are a lot of younger and older musicians who come out to play who don't gig out as much otherwise, so it provides a nice showcase for their playing.
Fred's presence certainly made it a special occasion. The concert began as a 360 degree musical experience, with Fred entering from the back of the room alongside the gentle accompaniment of Isaiah Spencer on drums and the pianist whose name escapes me. Fred's huge, bold sound has to be heard in person to be believed (take note New Yorkers, and don't miss him at the Vision Festival), probably the most powerful tenor sound I've ever heard. He sounded as good as ever as he spun his usual sinewy lines through the Velvet audience.
They played one long set, about an hour and a half, playing material from a Fletcher Henderson chart, to Douglas Ewart's Mars Blues. Fred was featured as a soloist throughout, and he brought the house down each time. It was nice to see Fred honored by the community: the pianist got up and said a few words about how much he meant to the musicians and people around him, and he received several standing ovations during and after the show. The band played great, and you can tell that some of the young players really get a lot from playing with their elders and getting encouragement and feedback from them. After an effusive tenor sax solo, the young Kevin Nabors got a fist-pound of encouragement from Ed Wilkerson, and trumpeter Leon Q turned the ensembles' heads when he started spinning around, playing at them as much as the audience.
Summer has hit full force here in Chicago, which means a few things: busy season at work for me, and beautiful weather outside. Both of which conspire to reduce my posting output here. There are some great shows coming up though that I will be writing about and reviewing though, so the lull around here should only be short lived.
In the mean time:
Rob Wagner, Hamid Drake and Nobu Ozaki are reviewed by Jeff Albert, New Orleans Nation (scroll down about half way) and at the New Orleans Times Picayune (the latter review also includes a review of the Ophelia Orchestra). I'm not familiar with Rob Wagner, but I've never made a secret of my admiration of Hamid Drake's drumming, and if Mr. Wagner keeps company with him and Kidd Jordan, I'll have to check out his new disc.
Hamid Drake is also profiled in conjunction with his appearances in Montreal. Panpot has some initial writing on the festival available, and David Ryshpan will be writing more on the shows in the near future (he has already reviewed Marc Ribot).
Rudresh Mahanthappa is interviewed by Mike Heffley as part of Mr. Heffley's continued research for a forthcoming book. I find the South Asian jazz axis to be a particularly fascinating syncretic hybridization, and Mr. Mahanthappa explains his positioning eloquently.
Rastaman vibration...you can buy Bob Marley's seminal Exodus album on USB memory stick:
"The limited edition run will be issued in the Rastafarian colors of red, green and gold in the UK only, and contain the 10 original “Exodus” tracks, plus three videos taped at London’s Rainbow Theatre in June 1977."
Chant down Babylon indeed.
The discussion of the '90s over at Destionation: Out continued through the week, so if you haven't checked back in recently, there are more comments worth reading.
Close up videos of the sun. Mesmerizing.
More soon...
I've always been fascinated by contrast. Issues of juxtaposition, proportion, and contour . Opacity. How things have meaning not only because of what they are, but also because of what they are not, and what they are surrounded by. This goes for phenomena in the visual, aural, and tactile realms. Mind objects as well.
Dark/light, heavy/light.
Cold/hot, wet/dry.
Don't get me started on sacred/profane. You can have your deities and eat them too.
They don't all have to be binaries and dualisms. It might seem like doing and not-doing are opposites, but really there is not-doing and then there's every other shade of action. Not-doing is just a point of reference.
What happens when you don't-do deliberately? Is it then absorbed into the realm of doing?
Apart from any implications or meanings, I just like the phrase.
It's a quality that I try to cultivate as a listener of music. Otherwise I create mental friction with the music that detracts from my ability to receive without distraction. I can't eliminate mental bias, but I can reduce. I'm still not sure if that's desirable though.
These thoughts gestated during a prolonged morning of sitting and just listening to a new record player I recently acquired. I rediscovered all these great vinyls in my collection that had been sitting dormant after my old record player broke. Errol Garner! Lester Bowie! Bessie Smith! Elvis Costello! Arthur Blythe! I traversed untold worlds and spacious galaxies from the comfort of my chair, which I carefully positioned to maximize my experience of the stereo image.
There was such a strong impulse to do, even as I listened. Read the paper, pay the bills, you name it. Instead, I sat, absorbed, and was absorbed.
I'm a little late on this one, but Tzadik has decided to leave eMusic.
Mwanji has a nice roundup of more blogs for your feed reader.
The American Composers Forum podcast has a cool interview up with Odean Pope, Phillip Schroeder, and Laurie Des Marais. The topic? I'll let them describe:
"What do a jazz sax star, a post-Minimal composer, and a Deep Listener have in common? They once all served on a panel to decide commissioning grants for the American Composers Forum. Here they talk about life on the inside and dispel those tired myths about faceless bureaucrats deciding your future."
An interesting case study of UK Jazz distribution.
The Montreal Gazette has a nice write up about the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival.
I went and saw the Rob Brown Trio with William Parker and Gerald Cleaver on Friday night at the Velvet Lounge. Sometimes I don't have the stamina to write up a full review, and this is one of those times. Briefly, the music was excellent, and they played some very interesting pieces of music written by Mr. Brown for his quartet that includes Craig Taborn, but were altered for the trio format. I had never seen Gerald Cleaver live before and he was absolutely excellent, and had an ease and economy of motion in his drumming that was particularly enjoyable. His rhythmic repoire with William Parker was excellent, and Rob Brown was on fire all night, spitting out intriguing improvisations and leading his compositions with poise.
Finishing up....
1 8 Bold Souls, Sideshow (Arabesque, 1992)
2 William Parker/In Order To Survive, The Peach Orchard (Aum Fidelity, 1998)
3 Greg Osby, Banned in New York (Blue Note, 1998)
4 Myra Melford Extended Ensemble, Even the Sounds Shine (hatHUT, 1995)
5 Douglas Ewart and Inventions Clarinet Choir, Angles of Entrance (Aarawak, 1990/1998)
6 Anderson/Crispell/Drake, Destiny (OkkaDisk, 1994)
7 Jon Jang, Two Flowers on a Stem (Soul Note, 1995)
8 Horace Tapscott, Thoughts of Dar Es Salaam (Arabesque, 1997)
9 Charles Gayle, Touchin’ on Trane (FMP, 1993)
10 Anderson/Kowald/Drake, Live at the Velvet Lounge (OkkaDisk, 1999)
Charles Gayle, Touchin’ on Trane (FMP, 1993)
This is one of the records on my list that I expected might be popular amongst the D:O poll. It's most likely Gayle's most 'accessible' recording, but that's not why I necessarily put it on my list. I just haven't heard a record from Gayle that captured his sound the way this record does, even if its in a more conventional setting than he often plays. The only other record I have with him on sax is Kingdom Come, which I really don't care for.
Touchin' on Trane is the kind of 'tribute' record that I can get into, one that doesn't include interpretations of the tributee's tunes, instead giving tribute to the spirit of the music. It's definitely the best Coltrane tribute album I've heard, but thankfully I haven't heard many.
Gayle is in good company here, with William Parker on bass and Rashied Ali on drums. I find their interactions to be meaningful, and Ali frames the proceedings rhythmically in a way that I find pleasing to listen to.
I've only had the pleasure of seeing Charles Gayle twice live, and both were absolutely phenomenal. My only frustration with this recording is that it doesn't come close to capturing what I experienced in a live setting with Mr. Gayle, which was an unbridled intensity and passion that I'm not certain can be translated to the recorded medium. Based on recommendations I'd like to pick up Repent next.
William Parker/In Order To Survive, The Peach Orchard (Aum Fidelity, 1998)
In Order To Survive is the first William Parker Quartet, and this the lineup's finest recording in my opinion. The group features William Parker on bass, Cooper-Moore on piano, Rob Brown on alto sax and Susie Ibarra on drums and I find their musical repoire nothing short of enthralling.
Have I mentioned that I love Cooper-Moore's piano playing? Because I do. Sometimes I secretly wish he'd leave the diddley bo and other funky instruments behind and go back to just playing the piano, but I know his story and history well enough that I don't expect it to come true. The Triptych Myth record on Aum Fidelity that he made is still in regular rotation in my collection.
The drum and bass team of Parker and Ibarra is one of my favorites, both in this group and in the David S. Ware Quartet. Along with Cooper-Moore, it's a first class rhythm section that has an incredibly fluid, elastic sense of time that can go from a very loose feel to a very tight swing in seconds.
I'm an unabashed fan of William Parker's musical sense, both as an instrumentalist and composer. I like his balance of improvisation and composition, and I feel that at this mature stage of his career he was making excellent recordings as a leader after spending many years paying his dues as a sideman.
This record would have made my list even if it only contained one track, the haunting Posium Pendasem #3 that opens the second disc. It's one of the most beautiful pieces of recorded music I've ever heard.
Greg Osby, Banned in New York (Blue Note, 1998)
Greg Osby! I must admit being a bit uninformed in regards to his greater catalog. He might have made even better recordings in the 1990s than this one, but I own this record, mysteriously might I add because I'm still not quite sure where it came from.
I do know that I always enjoy this record when I put it on, and that I love the sound of it. I'm told that it was recorded with a mini-disc at Sweet Basil, and you can definitely hear the room and the sometimes odd mix that you get when you sit in one spot in a club. featuring a great band made up of Mr. Osby, Jason Moran, Atsushi Osada, and Rodney Green.
I guess I'm a bit surprised that Osby didn't get a few more nods over at the D:O poll. There has been some discussion as to why this might be the case. The reason I was surprised was that I always thought of him as someone lots of other folks really dug, but for some reason I just didn't get into.
The band sounds so relaxed and comfortable on this record. The music sounds easy without lacking drive or immediacy. Mostly, I enjoy the music and the mood it evokes. If I had to pick a time of day for this album it would be twilight, and if I had to pick a season, Banned in New York would certainly be autumnal, the vernal equinox, if you will.
Horace Tapscott, Thoughts of Dar Es Salaam (Arabesque, 1997)
Horace, Horace, how did you slip through the cracks? You snuck through the back alley, you stayed at home when everyone else left, you fostered a local scene instead of fostering your career, and your music shines with an intense glow that you carefully cultivated. His story reminds me of Chicagoans like Fred Anderson and Von Freeman, musicians who decided to stay instead of go.
As D:O mentioned in their wrap up post, Horace Tapscott is a gem who will continue to shine for years to come. In sticking to the rules, I omitted perhaps his finest recording, the Dark Tree, Vol 1 and 2, which are really incredible. However, I didn't want to leave him off my list entirely, and this record certainly stands up as one of the best of the '90s in my opinion.
Accompanied by the killer rhythm section of Ray Drummond and Billy Hart, the album opens with his composition As A Child, which also opens his album Dissent or Descent. I really dig this song and I think it sets an interesting mood for the rest of the album, and it makes me think about why Tapscott would choose to open not one but two albums with it.
Tapscott comes across as such a complete musician, with such a strong rhythmic and dynamic sense. I have no problem putting him in my pantheon of piano players that ring true with a sense of individualism and singularity that mimics none. Comparisons to Randy Weston, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Nichols and others are all apt in their own way, but all fall short of capturing the reasons why Mr. Tapscott is such an incredible pianist.
Maybe it's because there are no early recordings of Horace Tapscott that he seems so amazing (not really the case - see comments. Thx, Jason). He arrived in my collection fully formed and developed, utterly mature and sure of himself in his musical conviction. I can pay his music and musicianship my highest compliment when I say that it speaks to me in a very clear and inspired voice.
That's all folks, nothing left to see here....
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