DizzyArtJazz Perspectives

Jazz Art

2013-03-06T23:18:00.001-08:00

Some Fun Jazz Art

For a coffee shop perhaps?

Just bizarre enough to be fun and interesting. Thought I'd share them. If I owned a jazz club, I might put them on the walls somewhere.

These are for sale, by the way. If you're interested, drop me a line. They are unique, one-of-a-kind oil paintings. These are detail views of the works, which are semi-abstracted figurative images, which suggest elements of the real world.

Comment if you dig 'em.

The Fantastic Diana Krall

2012-08-06T20:56:00.003-07:00

Diana Krall is an amazing jazz pianist and vocalist, and her international success is a testament to just how well she has been able to captivate audiences all around the world. She is a true superstar of contemporary jazz, and a wonderful spokesperson for the medium (as is her husband, the fantastically entertaining Elvis Costello).

There are any number of wonderful recordings that demonstrate her many talents, but among my favorite is the live performance in Paris from a few years back. It is a such a pleasure to listen to this brilliant recording. Check out this swinging version of "I Love Being Here with You", with a fabulous jazz guitar solo:

In this same concert she shows just how a ballad should be done, with depth of feeling that is pure romance. Her voice is so arresting—it gives me chills—in this rendition of "A Case of You":

This performance is so wonderful, and a good example of just why Diana Krall has been so successful. She's a fantastic jazz artist, and she's likely to keep making great recordings for a long time.

Dave Holland: Jazz Bass Genius

2012-07-29T16:58:00.001-07:00

One of the Greats

Dave Holland is a genius of jazz bass playing, a master of the cyclical groove that just gets better and better with every iteration. He is one of the most compelling jazz bass players working today. His legacy has long been in the making, and his reputation only continues to grow.

A Natural Leader

He is also a brilliant band leader. The Dave Holland Quintet of recent years have been among the best jazz ensembles anywhere in the world. Both the studio and live recordings are phenomenal. The organic nature of their collective improvisations is truly incredible, and the groove that they establish is pure jazz spontaneity. When a bass player anchors a group like this, it frees up the other members of the band to really stretch out on their solos. For this and other reasons, Dave Holland has got to be one of the most important band leaders in the world of jazz over the last several decades.

Check this performance out, with a fantastic trombone solo by Robin Eubanks:

Dave is not only a link to the history of jazz (as a result of his work with many other jazz greats, like Miles Davis), but also a great spokesman for the form itself.

What a fantastic player! Such a joy to listen to (both his playing and his interview), and a giant of the jazz bass.

LIVE FROM ZELT MUSIK FESTIVAL 1986 BY HOLLAND,DAVE QUINTE (DVD) (Google Affiliate Ad)

Cassandra Wilson

2012-07-26T23:03:00.001-07:00

Is there a more beautiful and dynamic voice in contemporary jazz than that of Cassandra Wilson? It's hard to think of one. She manages to move effortlessly from one form to another, maintaining a bold, almost husky, tone.

Her performances are pure poetry, and she is rightly considered to be one of the most important jazz vocalists of her generation. Every aspiring jazz vocalist should study her many recordings.

She's also a stunning beauty and charismatic performer of the first order. Check out her deeply soulful version of "You Don't Know What Love Is." It will give you chills:

If you ever get the chance to see/hear her in person, don't pass it up.

Dave Brubeck Album Covers

2012-07-25T18:48:00.001-07:00

I have always loved album cover art. It's one of the places where two of my great passions—art and music—come together nicely. Jazz albums in particular have always had great cover art (both the Blue Note and ECM labels are famous examples), but there are some other special examples worthy of note.

One of my favorite instances of this convergence is to be found in two of the signature albums of Dave Brubeck: Time Out and Time Further Out. Both present a starkly modern approach to jazz, which Brubeck was exploring at the time, and both offer wonderfully expressive visual parallels in the cover art.

The first cover image, for Brubeck's most famous album, Time Out, is by a relatively unknown artist, S. Neil Fujita, who served as Art Director/Designer for Columbia Records from 1953-57 and 1958-60. Bathed in a brushy blue atmosphere, Fujita's composition explores an implied tension between geometric order and organic chaos, in a manner that brilliantly mirrors the nature of the music within.

By contrast, the second album cover, for Time Further Out, is by a hero of modern art, the great Spanish surrealist Joan Miró. Miró's playful sense of biomorphic abstraction offers a perfect visual counterpart to Brubeck's lyrical and elegant compositions within. Where Miró's forms seem to adhere to an underlying sense of figuration while transgressing it, so too do Brubeck's tunes offer the listener a calculated asymmetry.

These album covers have become part of the experience of Brubeck's work from this period (indeed, it's great to look at them while listening), and they help solidify the connection between modern jazz and modern art in the middle decades of the 20th century.

Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing their most famous composition, "Take Five," with Paul Desmond demonstrating his fantastic lyrical approach to improvisation. There is a real cool elegance in the way he develops his melodic lines:

John Scofield Trio

2012-07-24T23:20:00.001-07:00

John Scofield has long been one of my favorite modern jazz guitarists. Like Pat Metheny, he has unbelievable chops, taste, and a seemingly endless supply of energy. His approach to improvisation is smokin' and funky, ethereal and abstract. He is truly one of the most influential jazz masters of our time, and one of the most consistently productive. In addition to all this, what makes John Scofield great is his ability to always be working with fantastic musicians (something he may have learned from his time with Miles Davis). His recent trio is a case in point.

Steve Swallow is an electric bass legend (and, interesting enough, also rumored to be one of the primary authors of the old contraband version of the Real Book). His sound is unique among jazz bass players, and his instincts are true. His electric bass work is surprisingly organic, as it seems to grow from the changes rather than follow them. He is one of the most unique jazz bass players working today.

Rounding out the trio is drummer Bill Stewart, who, despite being the youngest member of the group, is a veteran of many fantastic John Scofield groups and recordings. To my mind, Bill Stewart is one of the most intriguing jazz drummers working today. His sticking is crisp and dry (like fine wine) and his feel not only locks in the groove but also adds an element of genuine playfulness that is endlessly compelling. In many ways Bill Stewart is a "jazz drummer's drummer," as he seems somehow to be as modern as they come while holding fast to an underlying thread of jazz tradition.

Check out these three masters working through a perfect groove—their collective artistry is mesmerizing:

The Best Jazz Masters to Study for Aspiring Jazz Musicians

2012-07-23T18:38:00.005-07:00

Listen up

When aspiring jazz musicians are starting out, the advice most often given to them is "listen, listen, listen." And indeed, this is exactly right. That is, they are instructed to listen to the masters of jazz to get a feeling not only for the wide variety of jazz styles, but to develop an understanding of standards and a sense of good phrasing and the like.

Listening is absolutely key to developing one's own jazz instincts, which can only come from having an understanding of the many ways in which this dynamic art form has developed over time. Yet, developing players often respond, "but who should I listen to?" Well, the short answer is "everybody," but that's not especially practical advice. Instead, I like to direct these musicians to the three jazz musicians I think are most essential for developing a good jazz vocabulary. Here they are, in order to importance:

1. Miles Davis

In many ways Miles Davis is the Pablo Picasso of twentieth-century jazz. Like Picasso, he participated in several of the most foundational movements of his art form. Not only that, like Picasso, he knew and interacted with many of the other most significant figures of his time—in many cases Miles was instrumental in helping them develop their own careers. For my money, Miles Davis is the best place for aspiring jazz musicians to start, partly because he was a master of space and simplicity, even though he also created some of the richest and most complex music of his time.

By listening closely to Miles, and studying his development over the course of his career, one can really get a wide-ranging glimpse of the many facets of jazz. The place to start, of course, is with the quintessential twentieth-century jazz recording, which is Kind of Blue. This is a desert island recording, the zen master's choice, and an endless source of jazz knowledge. With John Coltrane, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Bill Evans, and other key players, it is a recording that brings together several of the great geniuses of the form, and it functions as the foundational text for aspiring (and veteran) jazz musicians.

2. Thelonious Monk

After Miles Davis, the next most important genius of jazz to be thoroughly absorbed is Thelonious Monk. Like Miles, Monk was able to do the impossible—that is, to make the most complex music seem simple and elegant. Where Monk differs from Miles, however, is that his approach to jazz (both in terms of composition and improvisation) was playful while still being complex. Where Miles, the prince of darkness, was able to give his musical statements a depth and profundity that is pure poetry, Monk gives us a bitter-sweet feeling of musical paradox, a sense of the way in which jazz can delight the mind with whimsical gestures while working in the context of rigorous abstraction. If Miles Davis is the Picasso of Jazz, Theolonious Monk is the Paul Klee or Joan Miro of the form.

What a developing jazz musician can learn from Monk is endless. The ways in which he expanded the vocabulary of jazz are a reminder of just how open this musical form actually is. As with Miles, there are many Thelonious Monk recordings that every jazz musician should study, but among them there is one recently re-discovered masterpiece that is essential material: Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. This recording provides a concise survey of some of the best-known Monk compositions, and provides a pared-down glimpse of the way in which he was able to develop a musical dialogue, in a live setting, with one of his great collaborators, John Coltrane. Thus, as with the previous recommendation, John Coltrane's hugely-influential musical voice is included in this essential text of modern jazz.

3. Wes Montgomery

While the guitar was not initially a primary jazz instrument, it has over time become one of the central voices in jazz, and this is very much the result of the profound influence of the great master, Wes Montgomery. Montgomery was a pioneer not merely in bringing the guitar to modern jazz, but for his innovative technique as well—playing without a plectrum. As the story goes, Wes was working in a club in Indianapolis when he was "discovered" by Nat and Julian "Canonball" Adderley, who were awestruck and quickly phoned a record producer to tell him what they were witnessing. To paraphrase the conversation, it went something like, "No, seriously, you have got to hear this guy!" After that auspicious day, Montgomery's career took off, and he became successful in playing a wide variety of jazz styles, including some more popular manifestations which had broader commercial appeal. In doing this, Montgomery anticipated the expansive direction many other jazz musicians would later follow.

Like Miles and Monk, Wes Montgomery's approach to jazz is multi-faceted but accessible, and it is therefore a fantastic place for aspiring jazz players to start. His signature style, which included deftly improvising with octaves, has become an essential voice of jazz guitar, and it is part of what every developing jazz guitarist learns. For these and other reasons, Montgomery's work, like Smokin' at the Half Note, are essential texts for students of the form.

These are just three of the greats, but a great place to start for developing jazzers. Please feel free to comment with essential recommendations of your own!

Pat Metheny Group

2012-07-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

Is there another contemporary jazz group anywhere in the world that utilizes sonic textures as well as the Pat Metheny Group? With each recording the range of soundscapes develops further. It boggles the mind, actually.

Photo by Sławomir Jankowski

Perhaps more amazing is the freshness with which Pat improvises. Among contemporary jazz guitarists, his improvised lines demonstrate some of the best use of tension and release heard anywhere. The group provides an extraordinary vehicle for Pat's mesmerizing musicality, and one that is unmatched in the history of the form. A truly fantastic group. Check out this fantastic clip from The Way Up:

If you are new to the Pat Metheny Group, here are some of their classic recordings to check out:

Still Life (Talking)

Letter From Home

We Live Here

The Road To You (Live)

The Way Up

Each one of these recordings is amazing, and this is essential material for anyone interested in contemporary music. Leave me a comment and let me know what some of your favorite Pat Metheny recordings are.

If you want to learn to play like Pat Metheny, check out Morten Faerestrand's lessons (he's incredible, too):