jazztruth

Another Great Night at Ivories, and this Friday at the Brasserie Monmartre

2012-01-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm still kind of amazed. I brought a really great quartet into Ivories Jazz Lounge and Restaurant on Saturday, and we had if not a full house, then almost full. I left the house that evening thinking that after the sold out show with Christian McBride on Thursday, there's no way we could have a repeat a mere two days later. Well, Portland did not disappoint me! The owners were happy, the people were happy, and boy, was I ever happy! It's always great to play to an audience. I was also a bit nervous because we hadn't rehearsed at all, and some of my music is, shall we say, not for the faint of heart. Nevertheless, David Valdez on alto, Eric Gruber on bass, and Todd Strait on drums is Portland All Star line-up for sure. And they brought their A Game to Ivories.

Farnell Newton

As I have mentioned, I feel like Ivories is going to really be the new spot for jazz in Portland. Proprietors Jim Templeton and Art Trafton are really serious about making this a respectable venue. I'll be playing there this Wednesday with trumpeter Farnell Newton, starting at 8:30. I will playing late night jam sessions during the PDX Jazz Festival( February 17,18,24,and 25, starting at 11:45, I think.) We also have some other exciting shows in the works. Please support this venue!

Matt Jorgensen

There is another gig coming up which is possibly as exciting as the Ivories gig. Brasserie Monmartre, a French bistro right downtown, is starting a jazz series in the basement of the restaurant. They have music upstairs every night, right next to the entrance. But they are trying to make the basement a real "listening room". Bassist Tom Wakeling is really making an effort to build a scene in this spot. The last time they had a gig downstairs was when they had the Alan Jones Quartet in November. This Friday, February 3rd, I will playing trio with Eric Gruber on bass and Seattle native Matt Jorgensen. I've worked with Jorgensen many times over the years. He's in demand in Seattle and also has his own label called Origin Records which has recorded many of the great jazz musicians of ther Pacific Northwest, as well as some greats from New York. This show starts at 9pm and goes til 12. It's an all ages show. (This means 21 and under allowed.)So don't miss it!

Great Night! Christian McBride at Ivories Jazz Lounge

2012-01-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Christian McBride

Wow! What a night I had last night! As I had mentioned in my previous blog entry, Ivories Jazz Lounge and Restaurant (1435 NW Flanders St Portland Oregon 503 241 6514) is a new spot in Portland that is going to be a great addition to the jazz scene. Not only is the booking open, which means that many musicians in Portland will get a chance to perform there, but it looks as though there are planning to bring in name players, which should delight the jazz fans of Portland. Last night's featured guest was the great bassist Christian McBride. The former young lion and now well established jazz master has been on the scene since the early 90's. Originally from Philadelphia, McBride has been all over the world with most of the jazz greats who are or were alive in his lifetime. I've known McBride personally for about 10 years; I subbed in his quartet every once in a while throughout the last decade, and we even did some trio stuff with drummer Billy Hart at the Blue Note and the Newport Jazz Festival. I was as surprised as everyone else that McBride was going to come through Portland for a one nighter, so I figured I should go down to Ivories and check out the gig.

Kelly Shannon

McBride was performing with some outstanding local talent. Dan Gaynor, a Portland native, is a wonderful pianist, with a strong touch and driving rhythm. Drummer Todd Strait, whom I've worked with many times, is extremely easy to play with;an intense player who is also focused and musical. Kelly Shannon, who organized the entire event, is a jazz vocalist in the classic sense, although she can improvise and create with subtle sophistication. Sitting in on the guitar was John Stowell, who has such an original melodic style that I'm shaking my head as to why he isn't more well known.

McBride has a touring band, but this gig was, as he described it, "an old fashioned jazz party." McBride's arrival in Portland had been delayed severely due to a screw up with the flight from Los Angeles, so there was no time for any rehearsal. So they found tunes that everyone knew. "That's the great thing about jazz", McBride observed on the bandstand,"you don't even have to know the cats. We just met a few minutes ago, but we can still play together." And so they did.

The great Dick Berk

And then it opened up into a pretty long jam session. I got to play trio with McBride and Portland's own Dick Berk, who is a true master of the jazz drumming language. While I enjoyed getting an opportunity to play piano( I even got to play trumpet later in the evening), I enjoyed watching McBride play; his technique on the bass is simply breathtaking. He has perfect intonation in all registers, and seemingly limitless speed and ideas. And he makes it look easy.

Lots of others got up and played, including drummer Alan Jones and bassist/vocalist Belinda Underwood. The gig went pretty late. McBride understandably had had a long day, but, like many musicians I know, loves to play regardless of physical or mental fatigue. It was mentioned that he'll return in April. I hope to be around if it happens. The turnout was great in that it was completely sold out!

And if you want to see me at Ivories, come down tomorrow, Saturday, January 28th, starting at 8:30. David Valdez in on saxophone, Eric Gruber is on bass, and Todd Strait is again on drums. It's going to be a lot of original music, but we will throw in some standards as well. Come out and support live jazz in Portland!

Ralph Alessi and This Against That Are WIRY Strong...

2012-01-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

Ralph Alessi

I've said it before on this blog: Ralph Alessi is one of my favorite trumpet players, and one of the most original trumpeters of the modern era. Alessi plays the trumpet with such technical ease and flexibility that it almost sounds like a synthesizer; some of the things he does just don't seem possible on the trumpet. (Alessi is one of the best sight-readers I've worked with. We've played in bands together with impossible music and Ralph always played like he wrote the music.)And yet, he uses his powers for good instead of evil;yes, he can play high notes and tricky fingerings, but he does it with the intellectual restraint more in line with Miles Davis or Chet Baker or Don Cherry, rather than a Maynard Ferguson machismo. His melodic and harmonic approach is very easily identifiable. You're more likely to hear Steve Coleman M-Base inspired intervallic discoveries as opposed to predictable trumpet-like phrases. (Alessi worked with Steve Coleman for many years.)And finally, Alessi's writing is unique. Alessi can create very concise structures for improvisation, which are challenging, but oftentimes the melodies (as well as the titles) are quite humorous. Furthermore, Alessi is a great free improviser.

Alessi's latest album is called Wiry Strong, and it features his longtime band This Against That. The music on the CD is mostly pre-composed strucutres, with a sprinkling of interludes of free improvisation. The opener, "Clown Painting" uses some slick audio effects to create a scary mood. "Racy Banter" is like Phillip Glass on steroids, a chaotic spontaneous ostinato, which in some ways, due to the masterful drumming of Mark Ferber, has a twisted interpretation of African polyrhythms feel to it. "Station Wagon" is the first official "tune" of the CD, and it sounds like 5 bars of 4/4 divided into subdivisions of 5/8. This track features a quirky, yet majestic piano solo by Andy Milne(who also had a long association with Steve Coleman). Alessi's solo is confident and smooth.

Alessi's whole approach to the trumpet is very streamlined, which allows him to play phrases which require much dexterity. He isn't hampered by attempting to have a huge sound;his sound is big enough to accomplish his musical goals. It's a focused, intense trumpet sound.

Ravi Coltrane has collaborated with Alessi for many years; he has many shining moments here, including an introspective solo on "A Dollar In Your Shoe," which is somewhat of a dialogue with pianist Milne. Another great solo is on "Bizarro-World Moment", where Coltrane lets loose with some whole tone scale explorations. I would have liked to have heard more from Drew Gress, who is one of my favorite bass players, and a superb soloist as well as a great accompanist. Gress takes a gnarly, twisty excursion on "Sock Puppeteer".

I was fortunate to hear this group live during a recent trip to New York. The band was playing a late set at the 55 Bar in the Village, with Tony Malaby subbing for Ravi Coltrane. (Coltrane was there though, sitting at the bar, listening.) Alessi is great, his band is great. His music is great. I couldn't understand why they can't have a week at the Vanguard, or even a night at Carnegie Hall! Clearly, Ralph Alessi is talent deserving wider recognition. If you don't believe me, check out Wiry Strong. It's easily downloadable on itunes.

Check out Ralph Alessi's website here:http://www.ralphalessi.com/

George Colligan at Ivories this Saturday 8:30 to 12

2012-01-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hey there Portland Jazz Fans. If you enjoyed my show at the Mission Theater in December, then you'll enjoy my show coming up this Saturday at Ivories Jazz Lounge and Restaurant. Ivories is a cool new hang in Portland. It has a great atmosphere, a great piano, friendly staff, and great music. It's conveniently located at 1435 NW Flanders Street, right in the Pearl District. I think Ivories is going to be the new spot in town for real live jazz.

David Valdez

The band will feature David Valdez on alto. Valdez is also a successful jazz blogger, but he is a monster on the alto saxophone. We've been playing a lot since I moved to Portland, and I'm enjoying his playing the more I hear him. He lived in New York for some years, and he still possesses that New York edge in his playing. Eric Gruber is a fine bassist who I've played several times with since I moved here. Todd Strait is a groovemeister on the drums. He's very clean and consistent, but can also light a fire when necessary. We've played a bunch with Dan Balmer's trio.

We'll be doing a mix of standards and originals, but with emphasis on the originals. Much of the music will be off of an unreleased recording that I did this past November for the Steeplechase label. I think it's going to be a great show, and I hope to see you there. There are other upcoming shows in Portland and elsewhere coming up, so stay tuned! In the meantime, enjoy this video from a recent festival gig featuring Jaleel Shaw, Boris Kozlov and Donald Edwards.

LA Club Owners.....But really, ALL CLUB OWNERS

2012-01-21T00:40:00.000-08:00

But where are people? You see people? Show me people. There are no people!

One of my Facebook friends had posted a link to an article regarding music venues in Los Angeles, written by a working musician. I thought it was right on the money, and it could really apply to all music venues, at least in North America. I believe there are many reason why live music is suffering; the bad economy, the lack of interest in culture, the sprawl of Americans into the suburbs(they don't want to drive back into an urban area at night to see music, let alone take public transportation), the prevalence of internet(people stay home and surf the net or watch TV for free; why drive and pay 10-50 bucks to hear some difficult sounding music?). However, this article by Dave Goldberg makes great points.

There was a time when you could do a gig, even a jazz gig, at a club, and it was more common than not to get a guarantee of payment. Now, most jazz gigs, really most club gigs in the U.S., are door gigs. Perhaps college student musicians or unmarried twenty somethings will have the energy to play door gigs. I must say, it's pretty demoralizing to play a door gig at age 42. And I'll admit I have had mixed luck with getting people to come out to my gigs. I've sold out shows, but I've also played to plenty of empty rooms. I played a gig recently which was maybe one of the best musical experiences I've had, but I'm pretty sure I won't be playing this venue again due to the lack of people.

I understand the dynamic of "If you have a name, people will come to your gigs" or "you have to develop a following," or "get everyone in your extended family and everyone who you went to high school with to come to your gig!" In order to really have a name, you have to have a publicist and a label behind you. In order to develop a following, you need to have gigs, and then it gets into a which comes first, the chicken or the egg type deal.(In order to get a gig, you need a following. How can I develop a following if I don't have a gig?) And getting your friends and family to come? Well, ask my mother about that. She does her darndest, but not everyone might be available on June 26th for your one show.

Anyway, read the article. Musicians will understand. Club owners and bookers will probably have a litany of reasons to disagree. Mr. Goldberg says that:

I think we as musicians need to fight back. Sure you can get mad about it, but that won’t do anything.We could all agree not to play those for the door gigs, but you know that isn’t going to happen. But what we can do, is explain to the club owner that it’s not in their best interest to operate their business like this.There is too much at stake for them not to be truly invested in the music presented in their venue.

I've wondered this myself for years. It takes a lot of time, sacrifice, and commitment to play music well. All of a sudden, we have to be Public Relations Experts! And some people just suck it up and put in the EXTRA work it takes to get people to come to their gigs. Those people can end up being successful. They usually aren't married with children.

I used to play at Blues Alley in Washington D.C. in the early 90's. I played there with a lot of great musicians who did decent business. But I also played there with musicians or singers who weren't full time, who had day jobs in an office. They would play Blues Alley once or twice a year, and get everyone they ever met in life to come out to the gig. Most of the time, they were not that great as musicians. But they did good business. OK I'm being nice, oftentimes they were, um, not very good, in my humble opinion. But they would continue to get bookings. Clubs no longer care about the quality of the music, they just want bodies in the seats. And they don't want to take any responsibility for it. It's supposed to be OUR job to bring people. Period.

Spent 18 hours a day on his mailing list.....

Sometimes I think about what it takes in the New Music Business to be successful. I almost think that I need to never practice again, and only focus on marketing myself. Problem is, when I first fell in love with jazz, listening to Clifford Brown, Herbie Hancock, and John Coltrane, I thought to myself:" I want to PLAY this music!" I didn't think, " I want to have a huge mailing list and spend hours promoting myself on the internet!" And naysayers( I know you are out there-some of you are my Facebook friends!), you might think I'm being defeatist or negative. You're probably right. Maybe someday I'll get my act together and sink what's left of my vast fortune into a massive 9 month publicity campaign, so I can FINALLY get that 60 dollar gig at that little jazz club near Christopher Street that never returns my calls .....

Tour Diary December 2011 into 2012....

2012-01-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

This is my first term teaching a big Jazz History lecture class at PSU, so I've been a bit occupied with that, amongst other things. But I am determined to keep jazztruth going, regardless of my schedule. I was just thinking back on some cool gigs I had in mid and late December, as well as a few cool hits this month. As a full time university professor, I'm not playing as many gigs as in past years; however, when I do play, it's more meaningful and I appreciate it more. I hope I never lose my love of playing jazz! I'm lucky to be fortunate to play with a variety of different players.

Pianist Kerry Politzer

A few blogs back, I mentioned that I toured Japan in December. The day after I arrived home, I had an amazing concert at the Mission Theater in Portland. This was my debut as a bandleader, and it was, I daresay, a big success. The turnout was great, the audience was enthusiastic, and the musicians were well prepared and interactive. The ensemble included Portland residents Eric Gruber on acoustic bass, Todd Strait on drums, and the veteran Dan Balmer on guitar. Our special guest of the evening was pianist Kerry Politzer. I had Politzer on hand so that I could mix it up(translation:show off)and play some melodica, trumpet and drums. Our presentation was somewhat unique; the first half of the show was my compositions, and the second set was mostly the music of pianist, composer, and former PSU professor Andrew Hill. I had never played any of Andrew Hill's music in the past, although I had been curious about his stuff for a while. It was a great return to Portland and hopefully, it will enable folks in town to get to know my music and even more importantly, get them to come out to some of my other performances!

Marianne Matheny-Katz

A short handful of days later, I boarded a plane once again, this time bound for the East Coast. I had three performances booked; a house concert in Baltimore, a restaurant gig and a trio gig at Cornelia Street Cafe in New York City. The Baltimore gig was at Jazzway 6004, which is actually the home of jazz singer Marianne Matheny-Katz and her husband, Howard Katz. It's one of my favorite venues in the world for a variety of reasons. First, the Katz' are VERY cool people; they are really down to earth jazz fans, and extremely easy to deal with. Secondly, the space is wonderful and really supportive audiences always come out. Third, the Katz' always serve delicious desserts after every show! This was a real celebration of Baltimore in that I had three Baltimore natives in the band; my longtime associate Josh Ginsburg on bass, alto saxophonist Tim Green, and wunderkind multi-instrumentalist Warren Wolf on drums. We had never played as a group, or rehearsed, before the gig(Josh asked me before the gig, " Have we EVER had a real rehearsal?" I make no secret of the fact that I HATE to rehearse, probably because I've made so many rehearsals in the past 20 years. I figure if I get great musicians together on the bandstand, then the music will come together. I don't worry about little glitches or a few wrong notes here or there.). Nevertheless, the gig was really lively, and it felt like we had just been on a three week tour. I had never really played with Tim Green, except for one gig with Orrin Evan's big band. I felt like he interpreted my music perfectly, and on a tune where I played trumpet, we had a great musical chemistry. I'm hoping to have some kind of repeat of this band soon.

That weekend was also quite eventful in that my mother, during the Jazzway concert, said she had a terrible earache. (I thought she was joking, as in , wow your music gave me an earache.) To make a long story short, she ended up in the hospital the next day with a very serious infection. Luckily I was staying at her house, or God knows what might have happened. I had to drive her to the hospital. Fortunately, intravenous antibiotics saved her. It seemed like she was doing OK, so I took the train to New York.

Bassist Greg Ryan

A trio gig with bassist Greg Ryan had come in last minute. The restaurant Hillstone, which used to be Houston's, can be challenging to play in , since it seems to be a sort of after work let's drink some margaritas crowd, not a listening audience. However, Ryan is a superb bass player, and he had hired Joe Strasser, a really superb underrated New York drummer. So I was excited to play with this trio. Ryan is a real team player, as is Strasser. They both know a lot of tunes and a lot about how to play really authentic jazz. The "audience" continued to bug me, since I felt that the great music we were making was sort of wasted on them. Still, I tried not to let it prevent me from having fun. Ryan spent some time playing with the late great James Williams, so he knows a lot of tunes by Williams, Mulgrew Miller, and Donald Brown, tunes that a lot of musicians don't know. Plus, he knows tons of R&B tunes and tons of standards. It was another instance where I wished me had more gigs with this configuration!

Linda Oh

Ted Poor

My third stop was Cornelia Street Cafe. I had booked a trio with two more musicians who I have barely or never ever played with. I had played once with bassist Linda Oh, and had never even met drummer Ted Poor! But I had a hunch that this might be an interesting combination. And my hunch proved to be more than accurate! In fact, it was a really magical experience; Oh and Poor took me places that I don't normally go. This can be an advantage of playing with a new group of musicians; even if you are playing sort of old music, it's nice to get a new perspective. One audience member and jazz fan said that it was the best jazz concert she had ever been to! I decided that this would be another group which needed to play more than just one gig.

Jack DeJohnette

I headed back to Portland the next day. The holidays were kind of quiet. I had a New Year's trio gig at a bar/restaurant called Olive Or Twist with guitarist AG Donnaloia, which was fun and low key. I had a one set engagement a few days after with Philly native-turned Portland resident David Watson;I got a chance to play some trumpet with Watson on some bebop tunes and originals. Finally, I headed back to New York for a really momentous performance with the great Jack DeJohnette. It was a 70th birthday celebration at the famous Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village. On hand were some regulars in DeJohnette's current band: Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto, David Fiuczynski on guitar, and Jerome Harris on bass. We also had some special guests: Luisito Quintero on percussion, Tim Ries on tenor saxophone, and a young up and coming trumpeter named Ambrose Akinmusire. Both sets were packed and the energy level was super high; it always seems to be when DeJohnette is musically involved. I was made aware that, because of the APAP Conference being held that week, a number of promoters and presenters were attending our concert. Hopefully, this will translate into more gigs! But hey, I'll take one night at the Blue Note with that band over nothing.


Liam, NO! It's a #9, not a #11!

There's more gigs past and future to report on, so stay tuned for more. In the meantime, enjoy this photo of me trying to sit in and my son trying to get in on the action....

Jazz Heaven

2012-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Drumer Falk Willis, creator of jazzheaven.com

"Jazz Heaven" at first reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite Woody Allen films called Stardust Memories; in the film, Allen plays a filmmaker who can longer make funny films because of all the suffering he perceives in the world. He is working on a film which is very moody and Fellini-esqe. The producers of the film edit in a scene where the passengers on a train, who look very depressed and sad, end up in, you guessed it, "Jazz Heaven".

But this blog is regarding a brand new site which drummer Falk Willis has set up. It took him a few years to get it going, and it's now up and running. It's here:

http://jazzheaven.com/

It's full of instructional videos with many of the greats of jazz who are active today. Kenny Werner, Ralph Peterson, Ari Honieg, Jean Michel Pilc, and many others, have made videos which are informative and entertaining. The site is clearly in it's infancy, but it looks like it can be infinitely useful. I've just peeked into a few of the lessons; it's great to hear viewpoints from today's masters, young and old. There are also interviews, and there is a chat room to discuss the various materials contained herein. There are separate forums by instrument as well.

I believe that this type of online teaching studio is another way that musicians are taking back the control of their art and careers. Willis is a great drummer in his own right, and he is someone whose taste and musical viewpoint I respect. I think you will also. Check it out for yourself!

Carmen Lundy: One Of The Greats

2012-01-13T23:19:00.000-08:00

I've worked with a fair number of jazz vocalists in my career, including Cassandra Wilson, Vanessa Rubin, and Claudia Acuna, among others. A vocalist whom I have admired for years and always wanted to work with is Carmen Lundy.(She actually called me once a few years ago, in an emergency situation where she needed a last minute sub, but I was booked! Drat!)I remember Vanessa Rubin taking me to hear Lundy at Sweet Basil's, and I was floored! Lundy seems to have it all: a great voice, unbelievable musicality, stage presence, plus she writes and arranges her own music, and knows tons of classic tunes as well. The mystery for me is why she isn't a household name! Well, maybe this is a start; at least my readers will know about her.

She was born in Miami, and started piano at age 6. She joined the church choir when she was 12, and decided then that she wanted to sing. Lundy got her degree in opera from the University of Miami. In 1978, she moved to New York City, and worked with the great Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. She then started putting her own groups together, employing the likes of John Hicks and Kenny Kirkland.
She also spent some time touring with the musical "Sophisticated Ladies", a revue of Duke Ellington's music(and many known jazz musicians toured with this show, including Kenny Garrett. Also, I saw this show in the 80's.)

I went to see Lundy perform at Ronnie Scott's when I was in London a few years ago. She did a song called "Walking Code Blue"; the performance was so deep, the audience at Ronnie Scott's, which can actually get kind of noisy, was completely silent. They hung on her every phrase. And she also did one of my personal favorites, "Vu Ja De", which has some very cool and creative lyrics.

One of her recent albums features Lundy as a one-woman show: she wrote much of the music, mixed the CD, and played every instrument on the CD! It's called "Solamente", and it's impressive. Here's a sample:

Lundy's website has many of her recent albums available for sale: Here's the link:
http://carmenlundy.com/

There is some news about her upcoming release, "Changes" which features pianist Anthony Wonsey and bassist Kenny Davis. There's a lot of things available on the site:sheet music, downloads, and even some of her wonderful artwork. Lundy is a true Renaissance Woman. Here's another one of my favorites: "In Love Again".

Does Good Music Stand A Chance?

2012-01-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

"Listen Honey!" The Reflex" by Duran Duran! Their Playing Our Song!"

I suppose every generation looks at the younger generation and says, "Ahh, kids today.....they don't know what good music sounds like. They listen to crap! In my day, we listened and danced to that wonderful old-timey singing group called Duran Duran...Now, THAT's music!" Well, now that I'm middle-aged, I guess I'm no different in wondering what these young good for nothing whipper-snappers are listening to. I've said before that much of today's music sounds, to my ears, like a bunch of people shouting over a car alarm. And I realize that's unfair and there is a lot of good music out there. But I think oftentimes these days, you have to really seek out good music. Good music might not find you on it's own. I think that's because the split between MUSIC and COMMERCIAL MUSIC has really widened. There has always been the commercial element in American Music. But now, because of the breakdown of the conventional model of "release an album and people pay money to buy it at the old-timey record store", the remaining Record Companies(do we even call them that anymore) are hyper-concerned with sales. Unfortunately, the focus is lopsided towards LOOKS, SEX APPEAL, IMAGE, SCANDAL, and SHOCK VALUE. And then market it towards children, who easily succumb to peer pressure and don't want to be out of the loop.

Don't get me wrong; many artists in previous generations were good looking and had a certain image working for them. But they could, when all was said and done, really PLAY or SING! Now, that aspect of being in "music" seems like an afterthought:

I love Katy Perry. I heard that she also is a singer.......

Listen, we got this hot young talent, she's beautiful, she's got tattoos, she can dance, she can do naked backflips- we want to send her out on a world concert tour!

Uhh, what does her music sound like?Can she SING?

Listen, Music, SHMUSIC! We'll worry about that later. We have AUTOTUNE! Singers today don't actually sing! Why would they? We have the technology! You don't use a typewriter anymore?What, Mr. types on his Ipad? Whadya worried about, with the music and the singing?

Some of you might remember the "controversy" of Esperanza Spalding receiving the Best New Artist Grammy last year, beating out that handsome young Canadian Justin Bieber. Many Bieber fans were outraged, and thought that Spalding should "Go Die In A Hole...", amongst other choice insults. The issue the Bieber fans seemed to have with Spalding was that she didn't sell as many CDs, therefore, she must not be as good! It's amazing how the people have been brainwashed into believing the hype: Sales equals Good, No Sales Equals Bad. I wonder how many of the Bieber fans actually went and listened to any Esperanza Spaldling. I wonder if any of them said, "Well, she is a really good singer, plays upright bass, writes her own music, and seems to be poised for a career beyond Bieber, who, once he hits puberty, people will get tired of, and he'll have to move back to Canada..."

Enjoy your hair while you can, Bieber, cause in 20 years you got NOTHING!

Now, I would never tell Bieber to go die in a hole. After all, he's Canadian, and whenever he's at death's door, his hospital stay is totally covered by the Canadian single payer system. But, if he were to win any more awards, I take serious issue, thanks to a band called Dirty Loops. This trio from Sweden has become an internet sensation with their cover of Justin Bieber's "Baby". I'm hooked on this performance! There's a lot of slick re-harmonization, gospel chops drumming, advanced funky bass playing, and phenomenal singing by Jonah (can't seem to find his last name...). If you haven't heard it, I guarantee you'll be walking around you house singing a falsetto "Baby, Baby, Baby..." (Everytime my son hears me do that, he goes, "David, David, David"! Ha Ha!)

What's not to like about that! But I think what's funny is that I really didn't know the original Bieber song; that's because I'm 42 years old and have very little time to listen to Bowl Cut Headed Freaks from Canada. However, I decided to check out the original and see where Dirty Loops got their "inspiration":

OK, so the guitarist can't tune his guitar, and Bieber can't sing in tune, but other than that, it's CLEARLY AWESOME. At least, judging by the screaming teenagers, it must be awesome, right? What am I missing?

I'm being sarcastic, of course. The song sucks, the performance sucks, the music sucks. The singer from Dirty Loops could out sing Bieber with one vocal chord tied behind his back!

If Bieber has any Grammies, or even any money, he should just send it all to Dirty Loops. Come on, Bieber, do the right thing. I won't say go die in a hole, but maybe you should go sit in a hole and think about making some better music....

Viewer Mail: Motivation

2012-01-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

I recently got a letter from a former student. Here's an edited version of what he asked:

If you don't mind, could I ask you a few questions (and I'm sure many more will continue to arise) that have come up while working on some concepts?

When we would talk about transcribing solos, and you said that just those little parts of solos were enough, did you mean, for example: taking a line from that solo and playing through the keys, both hands and then maybe modifying it to personalize it? Would it be advisable to spend a lot of time really learning one song inside out while working on repertoire, or to spread the learning of concepts over many different tunes?

Also, when you said you were practicing 8 hours a day in your younger days, how did you make that work? Were you alone, where nobody could find you?! or just waking up really early?

This is a version of how I responded:

You are exactly right, take any part, big or small (smaller to start) of a transcribed solo and move through the keys, through tunes, any place you think it might work. And modifying it will also be good. In a sense, it's more the rhythms and the shapes that are important, more than the notes. If you know which notes to use from scale and chord awareness, then you add rhythms and linear shapes to that, and you are there!

The info can work on any tune, and certainly, you need to always be adding to your repertoire of tunes, but I think it would be good for you to spend one session on one tune. Monk said to take a tune and play it for 2 hours, or 8 hours, or a whole day, and then you really worked through ALL the possibilities. Try it! And then , obviously, you condense that into a 4 chorus solo. At this stage, it's hard to see overnight progress, but it's a sort of everything-at-once approach. If you start out with abstract concepts, like chords, scales, voicings, licks, rhythms, shapes, whatever, and then make it all work inside of a tune, or 2 tunes, or 3 tunes, then you are on the right track.

And it's true: between 1991 and 1994, I practiced around 4 to 8 hours a day, every day. I wasn't in school, and my only other responsibilities were eating Chinese food every day and playing gigs on piano. I wasn't traveling much either. My best friend is a bass player, and we were roommates for part of that time; all we did was listen to CDs, go to Tower Records (which was right across

Our apartment was actually behind this Tower Records in Rockville, MD

the street), buy CDs, transcribe, play tunes, and watch the cockroaches take over the apartment.

I think it's hard in a smaller city or town to get pushed in the right way. I was a mediocre trumpet player due to my lack of good embouchure, and my teachers probably were too lenient with me because they had sympathy for my frustration. But when you are on a bebop gig, especially with older, crusty players, there is very little patience for young cats. So that's where I got my ass kicked:playing with older cats on the local scene. I wanted to learn all the tunes and all the styles so I could be THE BEST, at least in Baltimore and D.C. And then when I went to New York, I wanted to be THE BEST in New York, and maybe the World. Well, that's all subjective at a certain point, but I can say that at least I've rubbed elbows with THE BEST on occasion.

Speaking of getting up early, I remember complaining to my trumpet teacher, Wayne Cameron, in college about how I had a hard time practicing in the morning because my lips were puffy and it took a while to warm up properly. " Well, get up at 5 AM, then..." he snapped. "How bad do you want this?" I said, " I want it bad!" He said, "Well, remember, there's always somebody out there who wants it badder than YOU...somebody who WILL get up at 5am so that he can practice."

So this is motivation. What's motivating you? How bad do YOU want it? And there is no right answer. I'm 42 and part of me STILL wants to be THE BEST . Part of me just wants to take a nap and sit in the hot tub. I think you have a lot of potential and I would love to see you do this at the higher levels. But it will be hard to get pushed in a smaller town, unless you can push yourself. I always had a lot of motivation within;sometimes I think, even if I lived in Regina, I probably would have still practiced a lot.

The Jack DeJohnette Interview

2011-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

The name Jack DeJohnette is synonymous with Modern Jazz Drumming. Many know him for his years spent with the Keith Jarrett Trio, but he first came to prominence with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis in the 60's. He's always in demand as a sideman, although you wouldn't call Jack DeJohnette to merely be a sideman; his musical contribution to any project is such that he is always a collaborator. He has many albums as a leader; His most recent release is "Live at Yoshi's" a project which yours truly is privileged to appear on along with Rudresh Mahanthappa, David Fiuczynski, and Jerome Harris. (We will be appearing at the Blue Note in New York on January 8th, if you are interested in hearing the band live.) This interview was done while we were touring Europe in May of 2011. I think e were in the airport, waiting for one of the many flights we took during our three week excursion.

GC: So you were talking about how you develop your foot technique…

JD: Ok, For developing the bass drum technique, at least for my type of practicing, I play with ride cymbal beats, letting the right foot follow the right hand, practicing slowly, always practicing slowly and gradually build it up. You determine what speed and intensity you can do it, so you don’t overdo it. You have to develop this technique utilizing the spastic muscle . You’re doing this off of your toe, so your heel is up. You can also try and do it flat footed, heel toe heel toe heel toe, doing it that way, or doing both ways. But you get more power out of it when the foot is up, using the heel toe. And then the other thing to do is play triplets, utilize the triplets, and then playing with accents, you can either use your ride cymbal to follow, and just play independently. Then the next thing to try is to play things, ideas that you know, between the hand and foot, or play ideas with the foot that you normally play with 2 hands, or one hand. It takes some time to build it up. I’m still working on developing it. It depends on the solo I’m doing whether I’ll utilize… sometimes I’ll take a whole solo with the foot. And you know that’s a whole other kind of concept, but doing it in the way so that it communicates something musically…. Yeah, its a challenge, but fun.

GC: How would you describe, if there was a way to describe it, your general concept of drumming?

JD: I would describe it like I did in a video recently: it’s called musical expression on the drum set. That’s what I do. I see myself as a colorist, not as a drummer, per se…I always thought…”I wanna do on drums what somebody like Keith Jarrett does on the piano”.The drum set is a musical instrument like guitar and everything else; you tune them, you tune the set, like you tune a guitar or bass, and I tune my drums in such a way so that no matter what I play, whatever I hit on it is a melody and that makes me think differently, it makes me think more melodically. And you know, you play drums, so you’ve played my set …so when you play it, no matter what you play…

GC:Sure…

JD: You’ll always find melodies… I find melodies. It leads me to compose melodies…. like if I’m soloing or whatever, I tune the drums differently every time. The 8 and 10 inch drums really sound more like a high bongo and then I have 12, 13, 14, and 16 inch between mid and low you know so it makes for an interesting array of tones. Any drummer who sits down at my kit is automatically playing melody.

GC:It’s true… I heard EJ Strickland one night play on your kit, that time after the set at Birdland. You remember that?

JD: Yeah! And there was Jeff Watts, Billy Drummond, and all of those cats sat down and each one of them because of the way my drums were tuned, they sounded different, and they played different because of the way they are tuned. Oh, it makes you think, it really makes you think, because you could be more aware of melody, melodic structure, you cannot get away from it because you will be playing melody anyway.

GC: What made you decide on your current cymbal set up? You have the hi-hat, two crashes on the left, and then on the right the one ride and then the china cymbal.

JD:Yeah, I might be retiring that china, and maybe I’ll put another 3 point ride in it’s place. I mean right now I’m using the 3 point ride series, which is a Sabian-Jack DeJohnette cooperative undertaking, and it’s under the Vault series of cymbals. It’s geared more toward more of a mainstream drummer.It can be wet and dry cymbal- so its hammered and lathed, but not lathed in one place like by an inch; you play with the stick on that unlathed part, you get a flat ride cymbal sound, a drier sound. You play beneath it towards the edge of the cymbal you get more overtones. You play above- you get sort of in between a little. I also now have 3 point crashes and hi-hats in research and development at Sabian. They’re not available publically, but the ride Vault 3 point ride is available to the public now. The hi-hats and crashes …hopefully we are introducing them next year. We’re having a marketing meeting about that. There is a quite a bit of excitement about that… so these rides… the crashes… you can ride them too, there’s 3 point Vault crashes, so they’re great because most crash cymbals when you try and ride them, they open up too much. These crash cymbals, don’t do that. When you lay into the crash, it gives you that crash you want, and they come down fairly quick so you don’t obscure the rest of the band.

GC: I personally was a fan of the original Jack DeJohnette Signature Cymbal series. I have one of those, a 20-inch ride that I actually put tape on it…..

JD: Really?

GC:Yeah!

JD: That’s already a really raw, dry cymbal!

GC: Yeah, it’s already dry, and I made it drier!(laughter) And then I have a DeJohnette Encore 20- inch that is wetter. I also have a Zildian 16-inch crash that I like, but those are basically the cymbals that I play and I feel like some people you know, they think, “oh this is too dry for me”, but I’ve also had drummers who use those cymbals on recordings and EJ Strickland was one of them.

JD:Oh, really?

GC:And he loved the way they sounded!

JD: Really?!

GC: Yes… he was thinking about trying to buy the cymbals from me. I didn’t want to sell them… While we are on the subject, why do you prefer dry cymbals?

JD: I have a very defined stick beat, and so when I first came out playing drums, I wanted to have a cymbal that emphasized that rather than get obscured by overtone buildup. It’s funny, because it was who I was I introduced a whole range of sets high hats crashes china type for the signature series, and they were a hit they took off and then Bob Zildian said to me, “I‘d have to see it to believe it”, he said, the only way these took off is because I played them.

GC: Ha ha!

JD:And a lot of drummers bought them, I made a good taste in royalties and they made a good sale. It was easy to produce them because they didn’t have to hammer and lathe them. They were basically a raw cymbal, but the way they were cut, they were bowed and shaped that made a big difference. I used those quite a bit, and then we had variations on those. We did another prototype of hammered but not lathed raw cymbal, which I have at the house, and they’re pretty nice too, but eventually I moved to Encore to move to a wetter sound. Those had a satin finish and they opened up a little bit more. Now I’m moving to more of a mainstream cymbal with the Vault 3 point series cymbal because I wanna appeal to a drummer who is working more diverse musical settings.

GC: When I first started teaching at the University of Manitoba, I had to teach 8 drummers, , and I was trying to give them something concrete to practice… like some rudiment exercises. We did the Alan Dawson Rudiment Ritual first semester; I was just trying to feel out what works for them. and then we played that gig at Birdland in January of 2010. It was like really our first time playing together for an extended period of time. But the whole week I was thinking about my students, because what you were playing was so musical, and it was so free… and it just made me think, “wow, how can I get my students to do THAT!” Because rudiments are one thing, but rudiments is not music , in the same way the scales are not music or arpeggios are not music.

JD:Right.

GC: So what would you say if you had a bunch of students in a room - you know, drum students - that want to know, “How can I go to that next level where I’m thinking like a musician?”

GC: I would encourage them to take up a melodic instrument. Although the drums themselves are melodic, if you learn how to tune them in such a way that they are melodic. But I would advise them to learn harmony… play guitar or piano or vibraphone, and develop their reading skills. Learn the basic rudiments but then learn how to play music. The whole idea is that rudiments and scales are merely tools to help you develop your own language, and the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. It’s unlimited… the biggest thing is to challenge yourself to come up with something different that you never placed before that you won’t play again. I realize that everybody has their vocabulary and voice and kind of lines that they play or rhythms that they play that you can tell their signature, but in that you come up with something different if you try.

GC: Right.

JD: Like Miles Davis, or Wayne Shorter for example; they have their style, but within that style, they manage to come up with new ideas out of it… and that’s the challenge, not to be cliché but to play something and say, “Oh man, that’s something different.”

GC: There are so many jazz students that are learning jazz only in a school environment, but earlier generations didn’t learn everything in a jazz program. They learned by playing local gigs or hanging out with older cats, listening to records . Do you think that the esthetic of doing your own thing was part of the environment back then?

JD: Well, that’s what was inspiring, hearing those guys like Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis and John Coltrane and the freshness with which they played. Ahmad Jamal, Herbie Hancock, etc… They’re continuously coming up with new ways of expressing their creativity through the music and I think that’s still present today… I think the challenge for musicians is to have the courage to maintain their own voice. Now people can get more work if they play like somebody else.

GC: Right.

JD: And they might work less if they play like themselves and that’s when I think musicians have to be more courageous. It’s your voice, you know? That’s how you sound. That’s you. That’s your identity, and try to develop THAT and make THAT work in different situations… and that’s how you get hired.

GC: Is that something you always had, that confidence? You were always comfortable with your own sound? I think that’s how a lot of younger players understandably have problems with that. It’s not being like an egomaniac; it’s just sort of being comfortable on stage, comfortable with your own voice.

JD: Well, it has to do with your environment, like the environment I came up in; we hung out at each other’s houses. There were a lot of jam sessions, so you got a lot of on the job training playing before an audience, getting feedback from musicians and the audience as to whether you were doing good. I spent a lot of time with a tape recorder; that, and a mirror helped me a lot…. a tape recorder playing the records and listening back to myself and then doing research and development on myself .

GC: Interesting.

JD: Like “Oh, that’s too harsh, oh let me change that, oh my touch is too harsh, its too forceful.. So that helps, you know, you’re listening back to yourself for critical analysis. I think that’s important, as far as playing the drums , any instrument, just watching how your body is when you play, see where the tension is. Because the whole thing is to have the right balance of relaxedness, relaxation and tension in your body when you play and be totally there in the moment, and not somewhere else, but focused on the moment. And, if you’re focused, you don’t have to make yourself be focused. In this band, everybody’s focused because this is a player’s band, and it’s a listening band, so everybody really listens intently to each other, and I think that’s what helps. Everybody in this band has their voice, which becomes a unified collective voice in the music. Although it’s my compositions, but it’s our music because everybody’s bringing their ideas.

GC: That’s why you assembled this band of myself, Rudresh Mahanthappa, David Fiuczynski, and Jerome Harris:you wanted everybody to contribute in their own way?

JD: I got that from Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, to get musicians you can trust to govern themselves. I think the one thing that made musicians play well for Miles, and for Herbie; the musicians always knew Miles was listening to them, so they were playing for him..

GC: Many of the musicians who played with Miles that I have been around say that Miles rarely said anything about the music.

JD: No, unless there was something specific he wanted to hear. Otherwise, everything was cool if he didn’t say anything. And he expected you to come up with something different every night, not play the same licks. You were expected to play what you don’t know, not what you already know…It’s easy to sit home and play all kinds of great ideas, great, but then when you’re playing with an ensemble, you can’t play that shit. You gotta react with the musicians, and sometime that may require you just keeping time and not playing all the hip stuff… it doesn’t work, because now you are part of a team.

I'll leave you with two links to a performance we did for German radio in Hamburg during our tour.I also included a video of the cymbals DeJohnette was talking about, as well as a promo for the Yoshi's gig we did in 2010, from which the recording was taken.

Tour Diary December 2011: Japan with Vocalist Debbie Deane

2011-12-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, I did a 12 day stint in Japan, featuring a band of two; myself on piano, and vocalist Debbie Deane. The tour was a great success; the Japanese audiences, as well as our promoter Kohei Kawakama, were thrilled with their new discovery of vocalist Deane, who had never been to Japan before. (This was at least my 16th time, so I'm just old news, probably.) Also, we were showcasing some brand new music; Deane had graciously learned some of my songs with lyrics(many of which were composed when I was Songwriter-In-Residence at Aqua Books in Winnipeg earlier this year). Plus, we performed some favorite standards(always popular in Japan) as well as some of Deane's songs from her first two recordings.

Japan is my number one favorite country in the world to visit (Denmark is second, Italy is third just because of the food. Not surprisingly, Macedonia is a distant 47th place…). And even though many things in Japan are familiar, I had a few firsts. This was my first time seeing Mt. Fuji, which was beautiful. It was my first time seeing the Golden Temple in Kyoto, which is always a great place to do tourist type stuff. Also, I experienced not one, but two earthquakes! One was after a night of much Sake; I awoke around 1:30 AM Tokyo time, feeling like I was on a boat traveling in choppy waters. Part of me knew it was an earthquake; the other part was tired, and knew that earthquakes don't last very long, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. The other earthquake was in the airport as I was leaving; I noticed the structure around the check-in attendant was shaking. The lady said, "Just a moment, please," as if this was a normal occurrence. Luckily, these two were very small.

So plans are tentative for another tour next year, with the George Colligan/Debbie Deane project expanding with the addition of bassist and drummer who are TBA at this writing. In the meantime, here are about 100 pictures of the trip, which you may peruse at your leisure.

This is where I've stayed for 6 years in a row

Kohei , our fearless promoter

Tokyo 1

Tokyo 2

Tokyo 3

Shibuya 1

Shibuya 2

Where's the Japanese Lorraine Gordon?

Cute baby

Park near the hotel in Hanzomon

Runners

Park 2

Is there one of these at LaGuardia?

Flying into Osaka 1

Osaka 2

Osaka 3

All of the wonderful food

Kyoto 1

Kyoto 2

Kyoto 3

Kyoto 4

Kyoto 5

Kyoto 6

Kyoto 7

Kyoto 8

Kyoto 9

Kyoto 10

Kyoto 11

Kyoto 12

Kyoto 13

Kyoto 14

Kyoto 15

Kyoto 16

Kyoto 17

Kyoto 18

Kyoto 19

Kyoto 20

Kyoto 21

Kyoto 22

Chinese Style Temple Kyoto

Temple Kyoto

Nice View Kyoto

George in Kyoto 1

Debbie in Kyoto 1

Kyoto fountain

Kyoto pond

Toyoko and Debbie

Great Obanzai restaurant

Obanzai

Some guy gave us free Shochu

Mmmmm, sushi

Ganko garden 1

Ganko Garden 2

Ganko Garden 3

George, Debbie, and Drumming great Tommy Cambell

Kyoto Public Bus

More Kyoto 1

More Kyoto 2

More Kyoto 3

Golden Temple 1

Golden Temple 2

Golden Temple 3

GC and Golden Tempo

"Post No Bills"

Pretty colors

Still more Kyoto

Cakes in the Kyoto Train Station

"Whaddya say there, Fruitcake?"

MMMMM, Fruitcake.....

Kohei and Debbie

Mount Fuji 1

Mt. Fuji 2

Great Soba in Mito

Mito Soba 2

Debbie and Soba

Right before showtime

At Pit Inn

Backstage at Body and Soul

performing at Body and Soul

The Dave Fiuczynski Interview Part 2

2011-12-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

This is a continuation of an interview which I did with Dave Fiuczynski while we were on tour with Jack DeJohnette's band in May.

GC: So we were talking about Berklee …

DF: Yeah, and under President Roger Brown, Provost Larry Simpson, and just basically everybody else, Berklee has been very supportive of new ideas. I started teaching a microtonal ensemble, a groove ensemble.I just based it on simple Arabic, Chinese melodies or arrangements of Western classical quarter tone string quartets by Julian Carillo, or quarter tone piano pieces by Alois Haba. Arrangements of simple nonwestern melodies, microtone melodies, western classical microtone pieces, groove-oriented, getting used to playing the microtones either playing in a tonal system… but playing microtonally, and pushing against the chords, or actually having microtonal chords and playing microntone melodies on top, or just kind of using your ears and playing free. There’s a lot of different methods.

Joe Maneri

GC: You mentioned that Joe Maneri didn’t like microtonal music on keyboards?

DF: He didn’t like it. It was almost too precise on the instrument. He didn’t like the way it meshed. I happen to love it, though!

GC: Did he have reasoning for why? Was there sort of a philosophical idea behind it?

DF: It was the sounds. I don't know if he had the best sounds, you know. The DX-7 type sounds…unless you’re Prince, you can’t really make that stuff sound good.

GC: How do you balance teaching and performing?

DF: It can sometimes be a challenge. Berklee encourages the teachers to go out and get so-called field experience. At the same time you know, you can’t leave a semester.

To make up sometimes I have to get a sub or if there’s enough work I can take a semester off.

GC: How has fatherhood changed your outlook on music, working, creativity?

DF: You really realize where your priorities are. It’s changed my outlook on life, really there’s nothing better. Music is cool, but there’s more to life than music. But also when I’m playing music it’s really focusing on….where’s the meat, you know?

All the dumb stuff you think about like, “Oh, do I need this new toy?” “Oh, I need to work on my chops”, etc… It’s really like, where’s the beef? Where’s the pocket? Where’s the salt, sweat, love? Tears? Where’s the melodies, where’s the space? Everything else is just not as important… if you break it all down , can you just play it on one instrument, is there a song there?

GC: Right.

DF: What's like for you?

GC: Well, that could be another blog….but I have similar notions to what you just so eloquently said.

DF:You get hungry because you know often you’re so busy. Often I get really hungry for music.

GC: Yeah, its true, Obviously playing with Jack DeJohnette’s band is really something special, But even so called lesser gigs are more exciting too, because I don’t take it for granted.

DF: And I don't’ take on bullshit gigs, you know?

GC: Right.

DF: I have no time for that. And I mean not necessarily gigs where the music isn’t happening, the bread isn’t that good , but also some serious opportunities. I think to myself, is that what I really need to do? I don't really need to do that. It might put a nice little chunk in my pocket, give me some more exposure, maybe. There’s good players on the gig and stuff, but maybe it’s ultimately taking me out of the zone I need to be in, you know?

GC: I wanted to try to reconstruct what we were talking about the other day in the car, we were talking about 12 tone music and…

DF: Oh, and we were talking about serialism and…

GC: Yeah!

DF: Overplaying and fusion.

GC: Yeah!!! Can you just tell me your thoughts about that?

DF: Well, in terms of fusion, I’m between a rock and a hard place, because essentially whatever I do is gonna go down as fusion. But I kind of feel like, my team sucks! You know what I mean?

GC: Yeah, right!

DF: You have a lot of really big names that overplay, you know? And that's where you can actually give fodder to the Wynton Marsalises and have them put it down, I have no problem- I love when people destroy it. I love it! But if you do 3 tunes in a row where you overplay, and then you don't do any ballads, in other words, do 7 tunes in a row where you overplay, it’s too much of the same thing. You get beat up. You’re numb! I hate it. In terms of teaching, I see the same problem with students. And some will say,”Well, you know, they’re young! They’ll out grow it!” No! I’ve seen people now that 25 years later they’ve still got “overplaying-itis” … it's a disease! We all have people we know who talk too much. We have some pretty nasty names for these people: Motormouth! Space invaders! And so on. Now if we don't like these people, why would we want to sound like these people?

GC: But how do relate fusion to serialism?

DF: Well, the context was this: a serious musician was talking about how 30 years later, here’s the next cycle of fusion players. And this musician actually said that the role of the guitar was-to play a lot of notes! And I’m saying, Puke! No! Yuck! Wrong!

This ain’t G.W. Bush! By that, I mean that if you say something untrue over and over again people start to believe its true. No! It’s not musical, not spiritual, not creative, never was, never will be… it's a form of repetition that's not happening. Repetition is a tool, like Beethoven: “ah-ah-ahhhh” (sings the melody for Beethoven’s 5^th symphony). Some people don't like Beethoven. But have you ever heard someone say, “You know, I listened to the 5^thsymphony, and Beethoven is a genius and everything, but if I hear another ah-ah-ahh (5^th melody) I’m gonna scream!” No, when people play too many notes, it’s not happening.

It's a very cerebral thing. What I wanted to say about serialism is this; I think the language is very rich. I find it interesting that you have rules written in where you have to change things always to balance loud with soft, and with orchestration as well, if you have trumpets, then you need strings. You have to change timbre, you have to change dynamics. BUT it becomes static. I think that's where Western culture painted itself into a corner, with making everything so cerebral . When you think about Miles Davis, in terms of musicality, Miles is getting better and better over time almost like by default because there are so few players who put space in their solos, you know?

GC: But I mean, maybe it’s hard to teach how to leave space…

DF:I don't think so. I think you should just…encourage it. And you know another thing about my kid is like…. my 2 and a half year old understand everything… just bring it up in class, “you know its very important…“ everyone one talks about phrasing…

GC: Sure.

DF: And just say, you know, “you need space.”

Gig Reminder and Unfinished Business

2011-12-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

Mission Theater in Portland

First: If you live in Portland or nearby, or have your own private jet, then come to my show on Tuesday, December 13th at the Mission Theater . This will be my debut as a bandleader in Portland. Joining me will be a rhythm section of Eric Gruber on bass and Todd Strait on drums. Sitting in will be the great Dan Balmer on guitar and pianist Kerry Politzer. (Politzer will play piano while I run around the stage with my melodica and trumpet.) The show starts at 8pm. We will be mixing it up with my tunes and some tunes by piano legend and former PSU professor Andrew Hill. It should be a great experience. I will be jet lagged, but I'm looking forward to being home with my family and playing for a Portland audience.

If you have been following the drama surrounding my previous two posts, you might be aware that the firestorm surrounding Nicholas Payton's latest CD "Bitches" seems to still be burning. So many people have dropped by to leave comments(there were 137 comments on the first post entitled "Much Ado About Nicholas Payton"). And the conversation continues. Also, some people decided to comment on my Facebook page. There was a lengthy comment and lengthy thread regarding my defense of Payton's CD. A reader (someone whom I thought was a friend ! And not just a facebook friend! Some one I actually met in real life! I have actually gone out of my way to give advice and support to this person. Hopefully, when this thing blows over, we can get beyond this bone of contention) remarked:

I want to go on record as saying that folks particularly George Colligan, defending Nicolas Payton's right to put a beautiful black woman on the cover of his CD and call her a bitch is absolutely disgusting and shows how white people continue enable the oppression of black women in the jazz industry and in general.

Many comments followed, one which stated :

....guys like George are simply playing 'follow the leader'; they don't want to offend their 'leader', so they become mere 'yes' men.

Now, since this is still my blog, I would like to go on the record as saying that my initial post had little to do with the cover and the title of the CD. I choose to discuss the music, as well as some controversial yet astute comments made by Nicholas regarding the word "jazz", and then defend the CD from words by a writer whom I thought was unfair.(Said writer has not to mention him by name and I will honor that request.) As far as the name and the cover goes, the first thing is "Don't judge a CD by the cover!" Secondly, After listening to the CD, I do not believe this CD has an ounce of obscenity. I don't believe that Payton is a misogynist. The lyrical content of the album is about a relationship. read what Payton himself said in an interview with Asha Brodie regarding the CD:

I’m just being true to me. I’m not trying to be original per se, just writing what I feel. I mean, all of these tunes are derived from real-life experiences. The songs here tell a story and they all represent a different aspect and manner of love. I put words and music to things that I really felt at one particular time so in that regard it was pretty easy to be original or different. Writing it was therapeutic, I put my energy and emotion into it.

Now, I also stated that I personally wouldn't call my CD "Bitches", but I'm not offended by the word on it's own, and I believe that this falls under the category of free speech. And because I believe that Payton is not motivated by purely capitalistic motives, I would defend it based on the idea that he should have the right to call the CD what he wants, as long as isn't being directly slanderous or libelous towards a specific person or group of people. OK, if the CD was called, "I Hate Women", and all the lyrics on the CD were elaborating that idea, then Payton would surely be on his own with that one!

Women are objectified and suffer various forms of disrespect, abuse, and oppression every day in America, and more so around the world. Whether is comes in the subtle form of stealth over-sexualization of advertising, or discrimination in the workplace, or being tortured, raped, mutilated and murdered because they disobeyed their husband, or being kidnapped and sold into slavery, women are being wronged. I don't believe this CD has anything to do with that! Furthermore, the idea that I'm enabling the oppression of black woman, or any women, in jazz and or in general, is absurd.

Regarding the idea that I am a "yes man" following a leader is also misguided. I only wrote these recent posts because I liked the CD and I liked what Payton said on his blog, and I felt that the critic who skewered the CD and Payton did so in a way which should be taken as a insult to all musicians. I have my own opinions, and while I happen to agree with much of what Payton says, I'm sure we won't agree on everything. I also respect him tremendously for his musical ability and his thoughtfulness in this ongoing discussion. But I have no agenda otherwise. Although I've worked with Payton in the past, I don't think Payton hires any musicians based on their blogging ability!

As I said the battle of words rages on; I intend to try to steer my blogship into different waters. Just a few last words. Payton has some new posts which continue the "discussion", shall we say. You can read them and decide for yourself. But one thing he posted was an "At Last!" moment, in terms of what my philosophy is:

What Pianist George Colligan http://jazztruth.blogspot.com/ (I wish he would call it BAMtruth lol) and myself are doing on our blogs is the wave of the future. We musicians are taking back control of the music. Fuck the New York Times. With all due respect, until I hear Nate Chinen and Ben Ratliff sit in at Smalls and rip everybody in the club to pieces, nothing they say matters.

Indeed.

I'll leave you with some further thoughts from Seth Ambramson, curator of the Jazz Standard in New York.

It's great to see a lot of passionate dialogue back and forth. What I find discouraging however is the vitriol that accompanies some of it. Likely we all can agree that "jazz" is an art form. It is a living and breathing art form that in order to maintain relevance and attract audiences generation after generation needs to respect its history while reflecting what is currently going on in our society. Therefore today we have the lineage of all that came before from James P. Johnson and Fats Waller to Louis Armstrong to Bird, Monk, Trane, Miles, Ornette, on up to today’s artists inclusive of Terence Blanchard, Wallace Roney, Robert Glasper, Ambrose Akinmusire, Kurt Rosenwinkel, The Bad Plus, Nicholas Payton, Marcus Strickland, George Colligan, and the list goes on and on.

Rather than focusing a discussion on the merits of any one artist can we agree that, as an art form, jazz as Blakey used to say “washes away the dust of everyday life”.

Well I’d say we have an awful lot of dust to wash away these days. A lot of dust results in a lot of dirt. Here we have it in the form of mud slinging etc.

However, let’s step away form this undignified mudslinging and see that the anger and hostility present out there is very real and troubling in our society at large as we head into 2012. How sad then, as we enter this age, many of us old enough to consider “the future” when growing up in the 70’s,80’s and even 90’s, that we have such divide across so many segments of our society. This current back and forth discussion, be it what has emanated from Nicholas Payton’s blog or elsewhere here, is merely reflective of this and mirrors it.

I’d like to throw out now a lofty ideal to all of us in that as Burt Bacharach eloquently wrote about is that What The World Needs Now is Love. How corny that sounds Did I really just write that? But has it ever been more true than today?

Why are we not discussing in these “jazz” blogs that as of the past week the
homicide rate in the cradle of jazz, New Orleans, has reached an alarming 175
and counting in 2011? Even more tragic within this is that it’s brother killing brother.
What is there to celebrate as a society in this? How do we, as members of this society,not only address these issues but change them?

Most promising of late has been the Occupy movement. Finally, people are getting fed up enough to voice their collective wrath in a peaceful, non-violent way. And although politicians, on either side may hope this blows over, it is a very real movement that truly expresses the discontentment of the 99% of the population.

This makes our politicians uncomfortable. Suddenly, with the internet, it’s not so simple
to just clear out the parks and “let ‘em eat cake” This is truly a winter of discontent.

What’s beautiful about this music and this art form we can call “jazz”, “BAM” or whatever is most apt, is that is has the power to heal, it has the power to bridge divides be it racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic or other. Weren’t these the very ideals sought long ago by Dizzy Gillespie forming his United Nations Band?

If Dizzy were alive today what would he have to say about the back and forth rancor in these blogs for example?

Why is jazz not as relevant today as hip-hop and rap? Hip-hop and rap
address these issues in society do they not? Thus, the younger generations relate to it. It speaks to them and addresses some real issues. I'm speaking in general terms and I don't claim any expertise in the multitudes of the genre. Like it or not it has real cultural relevance. Jazz at one point was the Hip Hop of its day when it emerged as Be Bop for example. It had to Be before it could Bop!

Where’s Dizzy when we need him? We need the leaders of this art form commonly called jazz to help our culture heal and overcome it’s paralysis. We need them to put their energies towards positive change.

This takes a hell of a lot more discipline and commitment than sounding off about who can play the most happening solo over a given set of changes quickly flying through various time signatures. The general listening audience couldn't care less about that.

Addressing sincere and current cultural and societal issues in the music gives this music the power and the relevance it has earned and deserves today, tomorrow and beyond! BAM :-)

Further Ado about Nicholas Payton

2011-12-10T00:33:00.000-08:00

Nicholas Payton, whom I think can sing!

Holy Sashimi! I'm still reeling over the activity generated by my previous post. Just to recap: I've been on tour in Japan with vocalist Debbie Deane, and I was looking for some blog material. I had just purchased Nicholas Payton's CD entitled "Bitches", and I was impressed from the first note. So I wanted to talk about it. And then I was made aware of Payton's blogposts on his own site regarding why jazz isn't "cool" anymore, and I kind of sifted through some of the brewing controversy. And then I found a really mean-spirited post regarding Payton's CD, and I felt the need to defend Payton. It took me a little while, and I wanted to make sure I made intelligent comments about the CD, so I listened and re-listened. Then I posted the article, thinking that my fans will find it interesting,
but not expecting anything earth-shattering.

Am I drunk or are there 130 comments on jazztruth?

I woke up from a jet-lagged Sake- soaked nap to find the most comments I had ever received! At this writing, there are 130 comments. This post, more than any of my previous work, created a real firestorm! Obviously, I don't condone a lot of the commenting, but I have to say I'm excited about the attention. Hopefully, this will make more people interested in reading my shall we say less controversial posts. After all, the vast majority of my work here is rather mundane: CD reviews, lessons, interviews, and spotlighting great jazz artists.

The key issues were the discussion of the music on Payton's CD, his recent blog posts, and a response to a really unfair critic. I feel like I accomplished my mission in an intellectual way. The comments went into a rather unpleasant zone, but I decided to let it play out, mostly because I'm traveling and I don't have the time to delete any posts. Let's face it, this is not the first time that some forum on the internet has led to Word Wars. Fortunately, no one gets hurt physically( I hope not!). And even regarding the writer with whom I had a disagreement, I tried to be respectful, and I even tried to defend him in some instances. It got really heated, but in the end, we decided to agree to disagree. And after all, it's only music. (Maybe this passion would be better used about something political, which has an effect on so much more in our world.....)Still, it's fascinating to see how this becomes a raucous virtual town hall meeting so quickly.

One issue that Payton is very passionate about is what we call the music. Many musicians feel as though the label jazz is limiting, outdated, and downright disrespectful(based on one of the legendary origin stories of the word, which is that jazz is a word for sex, or worse, although some say the term is documented as being used in baseball). Payton suggested BAM, or Black American Music. I think it's a great idea. It's too early to tell whether it will catch on or not! I think that after over 100 years of this music being called jazz, maybe it's time for some kind of a change. However, I received this message from another great trumpeter, Wallace Roney, in response to this notion:

Wallace Roney

You know, George, Miles didn't hate the word Jazz! He hated what he felt America perceived Jazz to be! Do your homework! A couple of people, including me, put video or links to Miles explaining it in interview where you can see him! Plus, you have to remember Miles is from the generation where his mother thought Jazz was the Devil's music and didn't want him to play it or the trumpet! She wanted him to play the violin! So he was trying to dignify playing with Charlie Parker and this music in general in her eyes! But do your homework and look at Miles in Munich, and Miles in His Own Words and see what he really felt!

Overall, most people have been supportive. There's still some conflicts to be resolved, and I hope that they will be, because jazztruth most of the time is a lover and not a fighter! I think it's time to move on to a different topic for a while. I have many interviews, tour diaries, and so forth to share. But I will leave you with something sent to me by Anders Chan-Tideman, who is a booking agent for Kurt Rosenwinkel and many others:

I first met Nicholas Payton in 1991, when he came through the Montmartre club in Copenhagen which I was booking. He was part of Elvin Jones band. Nicholas was very young, barely in his twenties, but he not only looked like a classic trumpeter, he played like one. Big, huge, warm tone, great lines, rootsy when he wanted it to be, advanced bebop when he felt that. Cue to about 10 years later, I saw Nicholas on stage at the Blue Note here in NYC. He was then performing in Roy Haynes band that also featured Kenny Garrett, David Kikoski and Chris McBride. Nicholas impressed me just as much again, he played with all the same qualities as when he was with Elvin, but now with even more maturity. I find it deeply offensive that anyone who can carry himself like that on bandstands like these should find himself put on some silly-ass scale like "not even among the 5 best trumpeters" or "have you heard Enrico Rava" (not to take anything away from him). To have been on the bandstand with folks like Elvin and Roy and played like THAT is to embody the very core of the spirit of this music, at it's most exalted, and there is no question that someone like that has some lessons to teach anybody who has NOT been there or might not even have an idea of what that means.

I also find it off-putting, to say the least, that somehow tearing Larry Carlton apart should justify doing it to any other musician. Sure, I do not listen much to Larry Carlton's music myself these days, but here's a guy who has contributed enormously to many culturally and historically highly significant albums, who can definitely play the shit out of the music he chooses to perform, and who, as a musician that has lasted 40+ years in this incredibly difficult business, has shown himself to be a dedicated and highly professional musician. Does he not deserve respect, or is it the job of some hack to come in and tear him apart because, for some reason, his music does not appeal to that persons aesthetic?

In my years in the business I don't think any profession has heaped more shit on this music than the so-called critics. It's not just writers. When we also hosted one Mr. Dizzy Gillespie at the Montmartre club in 1991, 2 radio people from an independent station called Radio Jazz showed up at Dizzy's hotel to try and interview him. Dizzy had had very little rest, was 73 years old and needed to play 2 sets that evening. I told them to not show up unannounced at our artists hotels without first consulting with the club. Dizzy chose to go eat at a restaurant right next to the venue about an hour later, I was running around a bit, then came into the restaurant only to find the same 2 radio people sitting in front of Dizzy, while he was trying to eat, with a microphone up his nose. As I was walking toward the table I heard one of them ask Dizzy: "How did you feel when Miles Davis died"? This was about 1 month after Miles had passed away. I think I nearly got violent with them. The level of disrespect that they showed to a Dizzy Gillespie was just unfathomable to me, one of the greatest creators that this music has ever seen. And the weird part is these guys thought that somehow Dizzy OWED it to them, because, hey, they were working for very little compensation and trying to promote so-called jazz, and so all the rest of us in the biz, and most of all the musicians, had some kind of debt to them that they could cash in whenever they pleased.

I have detested that attitude ever since. I have practiced saxophone for just long enough to know that getting good at this music is requiring almost super-human effort. I am not talking about getting great. Good! But let me take that back. Being able to play this music with any kind of proficiency is a serious, serious accomplishment, one which ought to make anybody who professes to love (this) music show some serious respect.

That's not to say that a critic can't or shouldn't be critical of an artists creation. That's part of their job. However, as a professional they should always leave room for the potential audience to discover their own opinion about a piece of music, unless it is so badly executed and below any kind of professional standard that it simply doesn't deserve that. I have not yet listened to "Bitches", which I will be sure to do now, but it is unfathomable to me that Nicholas would be capable of anything but a super-high level in whatever he chooses to put out. He's too great of an artist.

As for the title "Bitches". Now, speaking as someone who loves Notorious B.I.G, who loves "Bitches Brew", I find that anybody that takes serious offense at a title like that to be in the lineage of Tipper Gore's reaction to rap/hip-hop. I remember in Tupac's movie "Resurrection" that he spoke about bringing "images" into peoples minds that was as powerful as Vietnam war photographers images that created the opposition to the war. Only this time it was the war on poor people in the ghetto's all over the United States. That resonates with me. Black artists transformation of language through the art form of hip-hop, but dating back to coded language when slavery was still a "sacred institution", has been well publicized and has become a world-wide movement just like jazz was in the 20ties and 30ties still resonating to this day. I don't think there's any question that all of that comes from the same source, namely a black source unique to America. So "Bitches" as well as "Nigga" are words that are used differently inside that community than when spoken by a white person inside THEIR community, and thus the same standard cannot be applied to it. A black person calling another person "nigga" doesn't have the same connotation as a white person calling a black person that.

That said, it's a loaded term, and it is true that using it causes controversy. Even inside the black community. Just the other day I was at an eMusic event where parts of Robert Glasper's new album "Black Radio", out in 2012, was played for a select group of people. The "N-word" was part of the lyrics of one track, and when the audience was given a chance to ask Robert some questions, there was one black man, in his 50ties, who was quite upset the word was even in there. Robert defended it by saying that in the context of the song and the lyric, the word wasn't used but rather "looked at" as if under a magnifying glass. I don't think that really satisfied the gentleman though.

But part of what artist do and SHOULD do is to provoke. Controversy is part of any leap forward, whether it's Darwin or the arts. Witness the reaction of the 1st audience that heard Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring". A riot almost broke out. I don't even know how a term like "Bitches" can provoke ANYTHING in this day and age, when the age of any kind of innocence is so clearly long gone, and with the abject ugliness that constitutes American politics - especially on the right-wing/Republican side of things. The shit THEY say day in and day out on TV is so profane that a word like "Bitches" PALES (pardon the pun) in comparison. Perhaps Nicholas title refers to them, and if it does then it's a mild term and I guess a function of his retiring nature and the fact that "fascist shitheads" would have sounded even worse.

One last thing Mr. Brent Black (hilarious that this is your last name given this debate). How did Miles Davis "fail" in making his music in the 80/90ties? You go pick up the Miles Davis DVD from 1985 from Montreal. Miles plays his ASS off with John Scofield, Darryl Jones etc. "Star People" is a hidden gem. "Tutu" was a seminal album for many of us, and definitely helped pull me into the jazz-sphere back then. And Miles playing is beautiful on it - as always. Perhaps I didn't love Amandla quite as much, it was a little too slick for my taste...and I think for Miles taste too. So he wanted to go raw with Doo-bop, didn't get to finish the album, but was definitely onto a new direction that it would have been great to see him pursue. Look at him playing "Human Nature" with his band live in Paris in 1991 (on Youtube), 2 months before he passed away. Here is this wonderful, fantastic icon of this music, a true heavy-weight champion of the world, playing so hauntingly beautiful and people are loving it. Yeah, he's not playing "Cherokee" like Clifford Brown at this point, but so what (been there, done that): He's communicating real beauty to real people, and the history of HIS music - black music - is all the way up in there in every note he plays. The critics have never stopped giving Miles Davis shit, even to this day with you only being one example. Us music lovers can't get enough of him.

In the final analysis I do agree with the person that suggests that it's sad that we always have to discuss race. It makes all of us squirm a little, I think (and hope), and I do believe we are all the same. But given the fact that black people have been cheated out of so much in this country, and even inside their own music (Paul Whiteman the "King of Jazz", Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker over Bud Powell and Miles Davis etc etc), it's natural that there's weariness in that community and a desire to at least reclaim what they feel is legitimately "theirs". I do believe it's futile to try and rename "jazz" now, because among most fans it's a term of endearment and doesn't have any negative connotations. It's just the critics and the industry, with it's penchant for segmentation, that makes it that way, using "jazz" to sideline their efforts on it's behalf.

But having said that I do miss more attempts - like Nicholas and Robert's - to make jazz music for more people. Back in the 70ties there were all kinds of people that did that with integrity: People like Grover Washington Jr., The Crusaders, Herbie's Headhunters and bands like that. I read an interview with Dizzy Gillespie from 1948 in which he said: "When jazz loses it's dancebeat, it loses it's audience". Primarily white critics have snubbed any attempt by jazz musicians to heed that call. Nooo, every jazz musician has a duty to up the ante on Live At The Plugged Knickel and A Love Supreme, or else he/she is a failure and is selling out. That's just ridiculous and by the way - it's not going to happen. I applaud Nicholas and Robert's attempts at bringing their and this music to a wider group of people than just intellectual snob's...another group that may well have been who Nicholas meant when he called his album "Bitches".

All the best,
Anders Chan-Tidemann
www.wommusic.com

Much Ado About Nicholas Payton

2011-12-07T01:01:00.000-08:00

Nicholas Payton

I first heard Nicholas Payton many years ago;he was one of two trumpeters (the other being Scotty Barnhart, if memory serves) with pianist Marcus Roberts' band at Blues Alley in Washington D.C. (I believe he was 16 years old at the time.) He didn't make that much of an impression on me, except that he sounded very good for a 16 year old trumpeter. Years later, I heard Payton with his own band, and by then, he was a true virtuoso, unquestionably one of the greats on the scene. I also discovered that he played upright bass; not "sorta", but really played as if bass was his main axe. Then I heard him play drums; he effortlessly smoked a roomful of "real" drummers during a jam session on a jazz cruise. And then, I was asked to sub in his band for a week at Jazz Alley in Seattle, and during a sound check, got to hear him play more piano than most "real" piano players(including ME, arguably...)! As if all of that weren't enough, I worked with the Nicholas Payton Big Band, and got to hear Payton sing! Indeed, Payton brings new meaning to the word "multi-talented." (And I haven't even mentioned his compositional or arranging skills.)

Payton's latest album, "Bitches" is probably a surprise to those who are only aware of Payton as a mainstream jazz trumpeter. I was aware of Payton's move into a singer-songwriter territory when I was fortunate to be asked to sit in with his group for a concert in Grenada, Spain, in 2008. "Bitches" is, on a technical level, extremely impressive; Payton sings, plays all the instruments(I'm imagining some real and some digitally; it can be hard to tell these days) and wrote all of the lyrics and music. I'm especially amazed by Payton's vocal prowess; he clearly has an "instrument" in his voice, and not only shows that he has vocal "chops", but he has a lot of vocal expressivity and flexibility as well. In a nutshell, if you listen to "Bitches" and remove the preconception that "this is a CD by a jazz trumpeter from New Orleans", then you close your eyes and hear a great R&B singer.

From a production and compositional standpoint, the music on "Bitches" draws on many influences which are common to many of today's musicians: Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind and Fire, Prince, Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo. There are reminiscences of these artists, however, Payton has made his own statement on "Bitches". You could say, for example, that the first track, "By My Side" is an R&B tune, however, the rhythms and bass figures are a little rougher around the edges than most smoothly polished radio friendly R&B. And lyrics like this:

Don't ever want to look back
Keeps me from advancing ahead
Won't let the salt erode my spirit
Like a Zombie in Romero's Night of the Living Dead

Chinah Blac

-you don't typically hear lyrics like that in so-called commercial music. Most of the lyrics here are devoid of the banal; there's no "Baby Baby, I want to do it all night, make it feel right, out of sight" predictability.(Well, maybe with the exception of "Don't I Love You Good", but there's so much hip stuff going on musically on this track that the hook/title is just a small part of the story.) There's an honesty and a search for truth in Payton's lyrics, as well as a sly sense of humor. And for more obvious lyrical humor, check out the New Orleans Second Line-ish title track, which features Chinah Blac:

The night before Christmas Eve
I know it must be true
'Cause I heard it from Rudolph himself
He said he got so fed up with Mrs. Claus' bull
that he cheated on her with an elf

It's cool to hear the final production from a musician with so much skill and experience (all too lacking in much of today's so called "contemporary music"). Many "jazz" musicians shy away from things like electric keyboards, or drum beats that are from later than 1959, or writing lyrics, or using sequencers and computers. I think we end up stifling our own creativity; "Bitches" above all, is a creative work, that comes from an extremely thoughtful and fearless musician.

In an interview with Asha Brodie, Payton mentions that there was "controversy" regarding the title of the CD. The Concord label wouldn't release it, so they gave it back to Payton, who then secured a better deal with the In and Out label. I find it hilarious that the title, "Bitches" would create any controversy, since Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" has been out for over 40 years, not to mention all the other so called "obscenities" that are marketed in the U.S. without anyone batting an eye. It makes me shake my head that Concord would essentially judge a book by it's cover; while the word "Bitches" obviously might not be included in polite dinner conversation, this CD "Bitches" has so much depth musically that should far outweigh the title. (Concord is a pretty conservative label; you will see a lot of Dave Brubeck and Vince Guaraldi and various jazz singers in their catalogue. Nothing against those artists, of course, but my point is that Concord markets music to the typical American mainstream jazz audience, which is, let's face it, a lot of older white people; They probably thought that their consumers might take offense to the word "Bitches", but also would possibly listen to "Bitches" and completely miss the boat. Oh well, their loss.)

When I first met Payton personally, I thought he was rather quiet, which I mistook for shyness. I think Payton is actually quite confident, however, he is careful with his words. And he is clearly not afraid of controversy. His blog is a forum where he is regularly and eloquently writing on various issues related to music and culture. Recently, there has been much controversy around a blogpost in which Payton explains why jazz isn't cool anymore:

Jazz has nothing to do with music or being cool.
It’s a marketing idea.
A glaring example of what’s wrong with Jazz is how people fight over it.
People are too afraid to let go of a name that is killing the spirit of the music.
Life is bigger than music, unless you love and/or play Jazz.
The art, or lack thereof, is just a reflection.
Miles Davis personified cool and he hated Jazz.

My PSU colleague Darrell Grant sent me a link to this blog and wanted to know my opinion. I think Payton is mostly right. Labeling music will ultimately limit it. I posted something a while back regarding the issue with "the name" of the music(http://jazztruth.blogspot.com/2010/10/time-to-call-jazz-something-elselike.html). There's a lot to think about on Payton's post, and I urge you, dear reader, to go read the entire post and form your own opinion. But I think it's clear that Payton is not saying that the music is dead, he's saying that the preconceived name and concept of "what jazz is" has clearly been dead for a long time. Unfortunately, this seemed to spark some controversy, which Payton answered in his next post(http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/1319/):

Let me make one thing clear.  I am not dissing an art form. I am dissing the name, Jazz.  Just like being called Nigger affected how Black people felt about themselves at one time, I believe the term “JAZZ” affects the style of playing.  I am not a Nigger and I am not a Jazz musician.

What do Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gary Bartz and myself share in common?  A disdain for Jazz.  I am reintroducing a talk to the table of a conversation that my ancestors wanted to have a long time ago.  It is on their shoulders that I stand.
‎

”Jazz” is an oppressive colonialist slave term and I want no parts of it.  If Jazz wasn’t a slave, why did Ornette try to free it?  Jazz is not music, it is an idea that hasn’t served any of us well.  It saddens me most that some of my friends can’t see that.  Some of y’all who know me and I’ve even employed, stood on the bandstand with, know how important tradition is to me.  My work speaks to that.

Again, I think Payton is on the money here; it's just the labeling that's at issue, not the music. I suppose some white folks, maybe some black folks, have trouble calling their music Black American Music. I don't have a problem with that. I do think that it might actually make things more confusing, since the vast majority of people in the world don't have a clear idea of what jazz is anyway, and if we were to all of a sudden replace "jazz" with "Black American Music", then someone watching an all white jazz band in the middle of Ohio, or even the middle of Denmark, might be scratching their heads. Obviously, there's always someone who gets sensitive when RACE enters the conversation. I also wonder whether Payton is suggesting the acronym BAM(as in , "I play BAM music"?) as an alternative. I think that's as good as calling music "jazz" or "bebop" or whatever. Words can't really describe music accurately anyway. Again, I have no problem as a musician, and especially as a teacher of history(I am not a jazz historian, by the way), recognizing that the African-American experience was crucial to the development of jazz. As long as I, a white person(see my website for photos), am still allowed to play, I don't care what it's called. (I think though, just to have perspective, if Toby Keith started calling his music "White American Music", then we might have a little problem......)

It's interesting how controversies spread like wildfire across the internet and social media: I was able to find this statement posted by saxophonist Marcus Strickland:

There's no need to equate personal struggle with death of an art form, it is a part of life - suck it up!! There's no need to equate popularity with life, either - isn't that what teenagers do?... The notion that 'jazz is dead' is an opinion. Well, here is a fact: if jazz were dead I and many of my friends (some of who say 'jazz is dead') would be dead or doing something else with our time, but we are not. There is very little need for analysis to prove death, yet the notion that 'jazz is dead' has been taking place for years. Why? Because there is no proof. If something died in 1959, it would not be up for debate in 2011. The jazz community has the potential to accept loss of what we love (we aren't fanatics) - we lose and accept the loss of loved ones day in and day out. . So if jazz were lost there would be no debate about it. Lets stop the moanin' n' groanin' and just play this music.

I can now see why the next post on Payton's site was defensive(http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/an-open-letter-to-marcus-strickland-and-his-facebook-friends/):

You can be mad, but they are trying to steal this music away from Black people. Many of you just can’t see it. Y’all are going to wait until it’s too late to do anything about it before you realize what’s going on. Those who know me know I am generally a man of few words, but when I speak, it’s of importance.

I’m putting my ass on the line for you. Not for me. It’s you who don’t realize what’s going on who are my sharpest critics. I ain’t angry. I am trying to fight for what Duke Ellington wanted to do for this music years ago, call it Black music. Why? Because he knew back then that if we didn’t label it in a way that spoke of its origins, that years later, White folks would try to lay claim to it like it was a collective invention.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some brilliant, genius White cats that have played this music, but it’s ultimately a Black art form. What’s wrong with renaming the music in a way that puts that argument to bed once and for all? Do you think I’m the only person that ever wanted to do this? Hell no. Miles, Max, Mingus, J-Mac, Dr. Donaldson Byrd and so many others have wanted to do this for a while. They gave up because they got tired of the backlash from Blacks and Whites alike that it caused. Well you know what? As Roy Haynes says, “The time for hesitation is over.”

Later in the post, Payton acknowledges that many people besides Blacks have added to jazz. But:

Black American Music was created by Blacks, but it belongs to everyone.

I think it mostly boils down to semantics. But Payton is astute in many ways; I, being an American, even a white American, think that certain European's notions of somehow co-opting the ownership of jazz to Europe is upsetting.(See Stuart Nicholson's" Is Jazz dead? Or Has It Moved To A New Address?", A book with which I has serious conflicts with.)I think that, like most things in America, jazz is inextricably linked with our racial history. In a way, Payton is too correct; I think Jazz was in a sense stolen a long time ago. Well, stolen......I'm not sure. But whether the music has been co-opted, or "shared", is a subject for more lengthy debates. Again, let's be real; jazz is listened to and played by a lot of white people. Blacks have deserted jazz as listeners and players in favor of more contemporary forms like R&B, Hip Hop, and Modern Gospel.

But I believe Payton's Point is that the name Jazz limits the influence of more contemporary influences such as R&B, Hip Hop and Gospel. Indeed, I can say as a jazz educator that I can't help but notice that we are teaching kids a frozen-in-time way of looking at jazz. For example, calling a "modern" tune at a jam session means playing "Speak No Evil", which is a Wayne Shorter tune from the 1960's! So according to jazz education, Jazz stopped in 1969.

Here's where it gets interesting;when I started playing with artists like Vanessa Rubin, Cassandra Wilson, Lonnie Plaxico, Robin Eubanks, Lenny White, Christian McBride, Stefon Harris, and Don Byron, I noticed that they were all very influenced by Black music other than Jazz of 1920-1969, particularly post 1970 to now. And they incorporated that influence into their music. And I believe that this is the NEW JAZZ; today's jazz musician should welcome R&B, Hip Hop, Gospel, and anything else that tickles their fancy.

It might be an over generalization to say that oftentimes jazz critics(who are primarily white) miss this connection. And yet, a band like The Bad Plus(white guys, and friends of mine, I went to Banff with Ethan Iverson in 1990) or Brad Mehldau(white, I'm fairly certain) get lauded with praise if they play "rock" tunes. Believe me, I have no problem with that as well. But I do think that some white people have their limit as to how much overt blackness they can handle. The good news is that it's changing. I think it's important to acknowledge the issue. And that is EXACTLY what Payton has done with "Bitches" and his blog.

Proving my point right on schedule, a writer who I was previously unfamiliar with named Brent Black(I have no idea of his race but it's surprisingly not relevant) decided to critique Payton's philosophies and his CD in an overly defensive and shoddy way:

^{Concord Records made the right call in passing on the latest project. Not because Payton says things that make people uncomfortable, not because Payton attempts to stir the pot, but because the record is a horrendous train wreck. If Miles Davis could not make it work then game over. i.e. this record lacks originality.}

This is just ridiculous and unfair; Payton's "Bitches" while logically could not possibly be everyone's cup of tea, shows WAY too much ability to be dismissed as a "train wreck". Payton is arguably one of the baddest musicians on the planet, and a mere jazz writer has no business talking about Payton in such a manner. It shows little understanding of the skill involved in making music, and other comments he made shows that he has no understanding or empathy of musicians:

I guess no major record deal since 2008 would make me a tad tight as well.

There are almost no major jazz artists with major record deals for about a decade. And as Payton rebutted, a major record deal is "slavery". The music industry has been referred to as "modern sharecropping." (That's the topic for another blog, but maybe check out Walter Yetnikoff's book "Howling At the Moon" about his tenure at Columbia Records, and how record companies keep three sets of record books to MAKE SURE that they screw musicians.)

[Payton] uses the indignities suffered by the true pioneers of this AMERICAN art form in order to gain attention for his less than notable career.

OK, this is just pathetic. This is a great example of a jazz writer who has gotten too big for his britches. As should be clear by now, Payton is an undeniably great musician, and deserves respect.Even if he wasn't, he still deserves more respect than that. This and the other statements are purely disrespectful and meaningless.

Here is Payton's full rebuttal ;if you have the time, read as much of Payton's posts as you can(he is an articulate and engaging writer, regardless of whether you agree with him) and make up your own mind. My mind is made up; Payton's latest CD is a tour de force of artistic importance, as well as symbolic of how we should evolve past the mid- 20th century idea of Jazz... and into the 21st century. I personally don't care what the music is called, I just want to PLAY it and LISTEN to it.....

Tour Diary December 2011: Japan with Vocalist Debbie Deane

2011-12-03T15:46:00.000-08:00

Tokyo, Japan

I've been fortunate to be able to travel to Japan about 16 times since 1998. I've been going about once a year since 2004, thanks to a promoter named Kohei Kawakami, whom I met through drummer Johnathan Blake. Japan is my favorite country to visit: there's amazing food everywhere, the people are incredibly polite, the culture is infinitely intriguing. I've toured Japan as a sideman a bunch of times, but Kohei has been bringing me as a bandleader with various configurations. I've brought trios and quartets and duos with vocalists. This was slated to be a duo tour again this year. I had an up-and-coming singer (who will remain nameless) booked for the tour; unfortunately, she decided to cancel. Luckily, I was able to find a formidable replacement.

Debbie Deane

Brooklyn native Debbie Deane has been performing primarily as a soul/pop singer-songwriter-pianist for many years. She has two CDs of originals, the most recent being Grove House, which was produced for Ravi Coltrane's RKM label. (Her first CD, one of my favorites, is called Hit The Rewind. Both are available on itunes, duh!) But I had heard Deane sing some jazz standards many years ago, and I knew that she always wanted to have more opportunities to sing jazz. Additionally, I needed somebody who could learn some of my music, as well as sing some standards. Preparing for the tour, Deane put a lot of work into learning some of my songs. We also added a few of her tunes as well as some familiar standards and a few off the beaten path tunes.

This tour met another obstacle a week before we were set to fly to Japan: I hadn't received my work visa certificate from Tokyo. Fed Ex, a company which is now filed under "MUD" in my book, lost the paperwork, due to one missing number in the address. Although my phone number was on the envelope, the Fed EX driver dumped it at a dormitory on the Portland State University campus. Miraculously, after entire day's worth of sleuthing, I found the package myself, no thanks to Fed Ex, who had logged the package as "delivered" to a different address; this seemed to resolve the matter for them, regardless of whether I had the envelope or not. (It seemed even a few years ago that Fed Ex was the company you used if it "absolutely, positively has to be there overnight...". I guess they changed their slogan to, "Hey, Jerky, you can't expect us to keep track of EVERY package that comes through here, right?")

I went the next morning to the Portland Japanese Consulate with my paperwork, passport, and flight itinerary; I was told that "it usually takes a week to process this, and we are off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Plus, we are short staffed. I cannot guarantee your Visa by Tuesday afternoon."(My flight was Wednesday morning.) I said, "Well, does that mean I have to change my flight?" The man said, "That is your matter. Call on Monday." So I spent about a week worrying that I would have to change my flight at the last minute, which isn't cheap. Plus, there's always a risk of not being able to get a seat on the next day's flight;which is why people book way in advance. Every time I called, the man at the consulate was callously indifferent to my dilemma. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, my Visa was indeed ready, although the man at the Consulate was, even to the end, surprisingly condescending. (These are some of the things that musicians deal with above and beyond the music; international travel, while seemingly glamorous, has many logistical and diplomatic pitfalls which can ruin the best laid plans in a heartbeat.)

Shinjuku section of Tokyo

The first two performances were great. Our first show was at a famous club called Pitt Inn, located in the Shinjuku section of Tokyo. I've always liked this venue;the layout gives it more of a "concert" feel to it. And all the clubs in Japan have well maintained pianos. The show went well, with surprisingly few glitches, considering this is a "new" duo. Japanese audiences are very respectful and quiet. Sometimes, they are so quiet that it's disconcerting. But I get the distinct impression that Japanese audiences actually come to concerts to LISTEN to music! (What a concept!)

Dr. Eddie Henderson

The second show was last night at the famous Body and Soul, which is near the Roppongi neighborhood in Tokyo. This is also one of my favorite places to play; the piano is excellent, and the staff is very accommodating, and of course, the food is delicious. The audience was quite receptive and enthusiastic. A surprise guest in the audience was trumpeter Dr. Eddie Henderson. Henderson showed up with his wife Natsuko; they were in Japan for almost 3 weeks for Henderson's tour with Jimmy Cobb, performing the music from Miles Davis' Live At the Blackhawk album. I admit, I was a little intimidated by Henderson's presence; after all, he played in bands with Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner!

Kumamoto City

The Body and Soul show was actually streamed live on the internet. If you missed it, you can watch part of the show here. Stay tuned for more from the Land of the Rising Sun; our next stops are Kumamoto City and Kyoto, both known for their historical sites. Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities, and there are a lot of ancient Buddhist temples to see there. Plus, Okonomiyaki, a popular dish in Kyoto, is definitely on the list of things to eat, since you almost never find it in Japanese restaurants in the U.S.

Cha Cha's Drop The Needle Test

2011-12-02T17:08:00.000-08:00

Francesca Miano-"Cha Cha"

Queens native Francesca Miano, or "Cha Cha" as we call her, is one of the most enthusiastic jazz fans that I know. She isn't a musician, but she listens the way musicians do. She recently started her own jazz blog(http://jazzsaints.blogspot.com/), which makes her a jazz journalist, at least in my book! So I decided that she would be a good candidate for a drop the needle test. I picked some thing that I wasn't sure if she was familiar with, just to see what her reaction would be. I think these "tests" are not always about getting the right answers; after all, no one knows every single song ever! But the question is, if you don't know who is playing, what are you listening for to help you figure it out? Or if you have no idea who it is, what is your constructive opinion? Anyway, here's her test. The normal type is before and the bold italics are the after.

1. Ahmad Jamal, "Put Another Nickel In(Music, Music, Music)" from Live at the Pershing Ahmad Jamal – Piano
Israel Crosby - Double bass
Vernel Fournier - Drums

Cha Cha: Is this Ahmad Jamal with Vernel Fournier on drums, perhaps from "Live from the Pershing"? The songs sounds like "It's a Pity to Say Goodnight". Ahmad's playing always seemed to have a "sparkling" quality to my ears. When he first came on the scene, some critics felt he was too commercial, but Miles Davis was crazy about him.

After: Live at the Pershing has generally been considered the one iconic recording by Ahmad Jamal that put him on the jazz map. It's interesting that he's gone from being considered kind of easy listening by some earlier critics to his current status as a jazz piano master.

2. Al Jarreau,"Not Like This", from Jarreau,

The singer sounds a bit like a more subdued Al Jarreau. Seems like something that may have been recorded in the 1980s, from the way the electric keyboard is used. Nicely sung but a little too syrupy for my taste.

After:It always made me a little sad that Al Jarreau stopped sing real jazz (at least to my ears) like his vocal version of Take Five, in order to cross over and get more mainstream airplay. I remember he even did a guest shot on SCTV when it was on NBC. Very few jazz performers got national exposure like that, but I doubt it would have happened if he hadn't switched to more of a pop sound.

3. Earth, Wind And Fire, "Sun Goddess", from Gratitude

I remember the original version of this song, which was played often on WRVR in the 1970s, but I can't remember the title. Is this version with the Brecker Brothers? The chart in this version sounds like it was recorded around that same time and is, once again, a little dated, but the solos are great.

After:It's embarrassing that I missed this, since I'm a fan of Earth, Wind and Fire! Everybody seemed to like this band during the time they got constant airplay, because they had such great songs and a great sound.

4. Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, "Fingers" from Consummation

Started out like an inside-out "A- Leu-Cha". Is this the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band? Loved the trombone and muted trumpet solos. Really tight but swinging section work.

After:No big band was better than this one during the time they had the Monday night slot at the Vanguard. Thad Jones wrote such wonderful charts and you could always expect to hear the best musicians on the scene as sidemen. One of my greatest regrets is that I never got to hear the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band live.

5. Steve Coleman, "Destination", from Sine Die, Cassandra Wilson vocals, Steve Coleman alto saxophone

You've really stumped me with this track. Sounds like a bit of 80s funk. Do I hear synths in the background? Is that Herbie around the time he crossed over again into pop during the Rockit era?

After:I have to admit I've never listened to Steve Coleman very much. I am familiar with M-Base though, mostly due to the fact it's where many people first heard Cassandra Wilson.

6. Freddie Hubbard, "Theme For Kareem", from SuperBlue

Freddie Hubbard - trumpet and flugelhorn
Hubert Laws - flutes
Joe Henderson - tenor sax
Ron Carter - bass
Jack DeJohnette - drums
Kenny Barron - keyboards

Is this a Horace Silver track from the 90s? I think Michael Brecker played with him then, so is that him on sax? When Horace's bands play an uptempo number like this, it raises your spirits with its positive vibe. Really miss that he's not active on the scene anymore. Nobody has ever duplicated what he brought to the music.

After:Wow, I really messed up with this one! Such an amazing lineup of musicians! My favorite Freddie Hubbard has always been "Crisis" from Ready for Freddie, one of his earlier Blue Note LPs. And of course, I also love "Red Clay" from his CTI years. But I've never heard this track, unfortunately. It's rather sad that he chops gave out near the end, but I still can't believe that he's not with us anymore. He was such a giant.

7. McCoy Tyner, "The Greeting", from Super Trios, McCoy Tyner Piano, Ron Carter Bass, Tony Williams drums

Is that McCoy Tyner? Very powerful playing. He seems to be really attacking the piano and making it sing. The bassist and drummer are no weaklings either, but they had to be equally powerful to not be overshadowed. This track is one of those that leaves me breathless with its intensity.

After:I've always considered McCoy Tyner a real powerhouse, definitely not subtle, whose playing goes right through you. My favorite recording of his has been "Fly With The Wind". The combination of his strong touch on the keys, along with the string quartet behind him, has the power to lift me up when I really need it.

8. Lou Donaldson, "Alligator Bogaloo", from Alligator Bogaloo,

     •    Lou Donaldson - alto saxophone
    •    Melvin Lastie - cornet (tracks 1-5)
    •    Lonnie Smith - organ
    •    George Benson - guitar
    •    Leo Morris - drums

I know I've heard this track quite often over the years, but I have no idea of the title. Is that Stanley Turrentine on tenor and Charles Earland on organ? And is the trumpeter Freddie Hubbard? Fun track--me feel like doing the boogaloo!

After:At least I got the boogaloo part right! Lou Donaldson and Stanley Turrentine pretty much created an alternative to the swing and bebop approach to sax: a churchier, more soulful sound. It's been imitated by so many after them, but nobody has gotten it the way they have. I finally got to hear Lou Donaldson live at an outdoor gig outside St. Peter's Church in NYC a few years back. It was the perfect music for a summer afternoon.

9. Louis Armstrong, "Stardust"

This is an easy one, Satchmo playing his iconic version of Stardust. Love his performance of the song and the chugging sort of rhythm going on in the background. Many people have mainly heard his later performances and don't realize what a revelation his approach to trumpet playing and vocals was when he was in his prime. Just listen to how he morphs the melody with his embellishments. It became standard for jazz but at this point in time was something nobody else was doing. Furthermore, Armstrong plays the way he sings and sings the way he plays. You can really hear in this track what made him such so great.

After:There's really not much I can add to my earlier comments. Just that I first heard this track about five years ago, and it really increased my respect for Satchmo's artistry made him such so great.

Portland Jazz Scene Part 2:Electric Boogaloo

2011-11-27T14:53:00.000-08:00

Darrell Grant

First off, I want to make sure that my Portland readers are aware of the PSU Jazz Night, which is Monday, November 28th, at 8 pm in Lincoln Hall 75. It is open and free to the public. It will feature the PSU Big Band, as well as a healthy serving of jazz combos. Plus, as an added bonus, there will be a special trio performance featuring pianist and PSU faculty member Darrell Grant. I'm really excited about this performance because it's my first time in an extended concert setting with the Portland State University jazz students. Charley Grey and I have been whipping the Big Band into shape, but I have not heard many of the combos which are playing on Monday, so I'm curious to see what they have been up to for this term. Ezra Weiss, Farnell Newton, and Alan Jones have been in charge of these combos, and I can only imaging what they have in store for us. Please try to come out and support this wonderful evening of music.

Mike Prigodich

"this amp goes to 11...."

Secondly, I wanted to tell you about my Friday night, which was a jazz double header; I took the streetcar down to Jimmy Mak's to hear Mike Prigodich's fuson band. Prigodich is a good friend and a great guy, and also a great composer and pianist/keyboardist. Prigodich had some great help; Damian Erskine on Bass, Reinhardt Melz on drums, John Nastos on saxophone, and Rafael Trujillo on congas. This is band is top shelf; they were super tight and super exciting. The music was high energy(Prigodich joked:" I don't know how to play slow!") but varied enough to keep my interest. Highlights of the set included a tune in 11/8, written for Nigel Tufnel, the fictional character from the cult classic film Spinal Tap, who claims to have amplifiers that "go up to 11". Another highlight was a tune written for Chick Corea, which had shades of Corea's "Armando's Rhumba". Much of the music had a latin flavor, rather than funk or rock, and Trujillo on congas helped to solidify this notion.

Alan Jones

Later on, I walked over to a restaurant called Brasserie Montmartre. I had stopped in to this place a few months ago, and there was a violin and guitar duo playing right next to the window. It didn't seem like the optimal place for a band, and it sure didn't seem like anyone was listening to the music. However, on this night, the band was in a newly renovated downstairs part of the restaurant, and it had a completely different vibe: there was a quartet up against the corner , and a bunch of tables were close to the action, and people were really listening. Indeed, the band was made up of Portland's jazz heavyweights: Darrell Grant on Piano, Tom Wakeling on bass, Devin Phillips on tenor saxophone, and bandleader and drummer Alan Jones. This unit has been playing together for some time, and it showed in their easy musical rapport. Grant and Jones really livened things up throughout the set.

Grant remarked on the break that the new set up at Brasserie Montmartre "almost feels like Bradley's back in the 90's." I agreed. On the next set, Jones remarked that "this is a band, so when you have a band, and then people sit in, it's a drag! However, there are some folks in the house that we want to feature." (I like Jones no nonsense approach!)Sitting in first was Nicole Glover, a Portland native, who spent some time at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Glover has a softer tone than Phillips, but she stepped up to the plate with some thoughtful, intricate lines, and played expertly over the standard, "The Old Country". Next, I was called to sit in, although they asked me to play trumpet. I obliged, although I was glad when Grant let me redeem myself by getting an extra piano solo on "Rhythm-n-ing". I left hoping that this could be a hip new Portland jazz spot, a place where it would have that "small club in New York" kind of feeling.

Speaking of new venues, last night (Saturday) I got to perform at a brand spanking new spot in Portland called Ivories Jazz Lounge and Restaurant (1435 NW Flanders St). This is also a great venue; it has a classy decor, the stage is nice, there's a great sounding Mason and Hamlin piano and a PA system. Also, the staff seemed friendly, and while I didn't have anything to eat, I've heard that it's great food(although that's the norm in Portland-I haven't had any bad food yet...). I played with a group called Zuppa, which featured AG Donnaloia on guitar, Allen Hunter on bass, and Charles Neal on drums.. It was fun because Neal asked be to bring some of my fusion-y charts, which I haven't gotten a chance to play for some time. We also mixed it up with some jazz standard and and some funky favorites towards the end of the night. There SHOULD have been more people in attendance, but I'm chalking that up to the fact that Ivories just opened and they need to get the word out. But a new jazz venue is something I always like to see, and I'm hoping that this will be another great spot for jazz in Portland.

Linear Spectrum

2011-11-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, you think you've discovered something, only to find that someone else already discovered it WAY before you did. For example, I had a student once who played me a series of inversions of chords. Being fairly self taught as a jazz pianist, I had never thought to approach chords in this way. I started thinking, and then I started writing. I thought,"what if you could take any 5 or 6 note chord and move it in exact inversions, as opposed to thinking scales? You would get some really cool sounds. If you took a chord like this(which is what my student did):

And then moved it typically in the modal diatonic way, you would get this:

But instead, if you used inversions based on only those 5 notes, you would get a very different sound:

This was a revelation to me. I thought, what if you did could do this with any voicing? You might get this :

And then maybe a thicker voicing, you would get this:

And then, if you wanted to use a slightly weird voicing, you would get this:

If you can play through these examples, you'll find some voicings, derived simply from the notes of the initial voicing, that you don't hear as commonly in jazz. So when I started doing this, I thought to myself, "Wow, this could be a whole new thing! Nobody has come up with this! This could be MY concept!"

So I showed my wife Kerry Politzer (then girlfriend; this was back in 2003) my ideas. She declared, "Oh, yeah, my teacher Charlie Banacos gave me a whole bunch of exercises like that about 10 years ago."

OK, so my enthusiasm was dampened a bit, only because I thought that I had "discovered" something.

Wisdom will tell you that there is very little that is new under the sun. Young cats think that playing "modern" is playing free jazz, which is more than 60 years old! Even "fusion" isn't new. Atonality isn't new. Odd Time Signatures: Been There. However, I think we can still search for our own small contribution, whether it is incredibly complex, or whether it is simply an interesting melody.

Recently, I've had dissonance on my mind. Two things occurred; First, I sat in on Darrell Grant's improv class. I was pretty out of it at the time, since my 22 month old son had woken up at 3AM, probably thinking that he's in the ARMY or something. While I was standing near the blackboard, I was asked by Grant to contribute something to the conversation regarding "how to add more dissonance" to your playing. I felt like my explanation fell flat; I talked a little bit about an intervallic approach, and how as long as you can resolve to chord tones, any notes work. I wished I had been more awake so as to make a clearer demonstration.

In the second instance, I had a student who wanted to know how to develop his solo chops on the bass. Since I had been mulling over the whole "dissonance" question for a few days, I gave him possibly a clearer answer. (Also, I was sitting in front of the piano, so I could play some examples.) The idea is still that any note works on any chord, it's a question of resolution. (And let's be clear, most students I've heard DON'T need more dissonance in their playing, they need to SPELL the changes in the more basic ways.)But how can we be MORE comfortable with the wrong notes? By having more understanding and purpose with the placement of each note. If you were to think of consonance and dissonance as a spectrum, then you would not be afraid of certain notes. You could actually do MORE with those dissonant notes, and create more interesting solos. I came up with this:

This is just based on my personal preferences on types of chords. The small numbers on the top of the staff are just scale degrees against the C Major 7 chord. The bottom numbers would indicate the level of dissonance against the chord, 1 being the lowest and 12 being the highest. Now, I'm sure that there are other theories and studies regarding this. But my little chart works for me and I can use this concept in my jazz playing. I don't know, it might work for you as well. Here's what I put for a minor chord:

And here's what I put for a dominant chord:

So, If you were to analyze a typical jazz line using my formula, it might look something like this:

But if you wanted to get a little bit more risky, you might look at something like this:

Again, this is just something I came up with, mostly for ME, and somewhat for my students who are ready to look at stuff like this. I have links to a PDF with the INVERSIONS and the LINEAR SPECTRUM if you want to print it out and take a look. I've seen a few things regarding the spectrum online, but I wanted to do this myself. I may not have discovered anything new, but at least I have something somewhat concrete. And remember, these are just theories, and theories are not music. Sometimes, the theory will help the music. Other times, you play music and ask about the theory later.....

Jam Session Etiquitte 2: Electric Boogaloo

2011-11-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

I started a jam session at Portland State University. It's supposed to be Fridays between 3 and 5 in Lincoln Hall 47. (It's not required at the moment, but it might fall under the Area Recital category that the classical Areas use to get more playing opportunities for their students.) I wanted to have a challenging, fun, yet safe environment for the PSU students to get their "sitting in" chops together, so that they can hopefully gain the skill and confidence to sit it at some of the other "intimidating" jam sessions around Portland. Now, I've been going to a lot of these sessions since I've moved here, and I actually don't find any of the jams intimidating at all. Then again, I have been doing this for many years. Be that as it may, compared to some of the things I saw on jam sessions and gigs in New York, Baltimore, and Washington D.C., I would say that the "vibe" on most of these sessions is pretty mellow.

Maybe too mellow. Jam sessions are supposed to push people; historically, there has existed in the olden days a certain air of the competitive spirit. That's why they called them "cutting contests"! So if everyone is too polite, then no one gets their butt whupped enough to buckle down and get better. But how much is too much, or too little? A young Portland based musician named Nicole Glover, who is a very talented tenor saxophonist, asked me this question via Facebook:

NG: I'm sure you have noticed how the Blue Monk sessions don't really function too effectively.There is lots of dead space, lots of awkwardness. As someone who frequents the sessions, and has far more experience with leading/running sessions than I do, how do you like to see jam sessions run? Alan Jones, who has set up the Blue Monk session, was saying that there are many different models that jam sessions could take, and i was wondering if you had a couple in mind that you think seem to work well.

GC: I think a jam session can be organized, selective, and also inclusive. By that, I mean whomever is leading it has to lead from a musical perspective and also from a humanitarian perspective. For example, do a short set of prepared music to set the vibe, treat it like a gig, and showcase the highest level of musicianship that you can. Then try to find people you know first, and try to keep that level of musicianship, but maybe with some more well known tunes. Then, gradually open it up for everyone, even the lower level cats. But stay as engaged as you can without going insane! If it seems like it's becoming pandemonium, and no one will pick a tune, or people are vibing, be the referee and say, " OK, here is a blues or a tune that everyone knows, go!" Something like that. Oftentimes, there is a non-performing audience(not like comedy open mikes, those things are almost always ONLY comedians and they mostly DO NOT laugh at each others jokes and they are very depressing.) and they want to hear music, not watch a bunch of juvenile-delinquent looking people milling about on stage acting like their version of "Solar" is better than Miles Davis.

"Freebird? Is it in the Real Book?"

I ran a jam session in Washington D.C. in the early 90's for a brief period. Although some of it was good, sometimes it was rough. I was young and a lot of the cats didn't respect me. That can be tough. I think people are much friendlier here. It's not as competitive. However, sometimes this docile, over polite attitude descends into perceived apathy, and it just slows everything up for me. Plus, these jam sessions are short, why waste time going " Uhhhhhhhh, I dunno, what do you want to play? Uhhhhhhh, is it in the Real Book?" It's a two way street, and I think one can be inviting but also firmly say (through your actions, not necessarily your words), "We are trying to maintain a certain respect for the bandstand. We want you to play, but bring something to the equation, as in a tune you want to play. Or, if you come regularly, show us improvement. Show us that the tunes we called last time, that you should know in the first place, you wrote it down and learned it. Or, if you happen to call a tune you called before, that you are playing something new on it, not just repeating what you played last time.

Things are obviously not, and never will be like they were on 52nd St, when bebop was created. That was a pretty intense period of concentrated musical development. Those cats, all they did was eat sleep and drink music. They didn't leave at 10 cause they had homework or they had to walk their dog or look at funny videos on youtube. They played all night into the morning, and then practiced all day. (I'm leaving out the drugs, cause regardless of what anyone thinks, we don't want to emulate that part of it.)However, when we are at a jam session, we can give it our all for that two or three hours, and try to play our best, play MATURELY and MUSICALLY, and respect other cats by listening to them and so forth.

The jam sessions I've seen in Portland are by and large pretty cool. There's always room for improvement. I like to go now and then, but I also like to play my own music. But jam sessions are a way to keep my chops and reflexes up when I'm not working so much.

NG: It does definitely gives me a lot to think about. I think when we announce at the beginning "come talk to me if you want to play", I think we should also start saying "have a tune in mind when you come up to play". I think the major weakness of people out here in Portland is knowing tunes, from what I've experienced. On the east coast people knew way more tunes, and if they didn't know a tune like "Just Friends" or "Black Nile" they'd be incredibly apologetic, then go home and learn it! at least, that's what i did/do.So i think that leads to all the "derp........ what do you want to play?" moments.It's really pretty frustrating. I was contemplating making a list of 20+ obviously essential jam session tunes that people could possibly take home and learn and have ready for the next session. Alan Jones has mentioned before though that lists don't seem to necessarily work out so well all the time.

Drummer and educator Alan Jones

GC: Believe me, trying to get people to do things like this can be frustrating. I think there are always going to be varying degrees of seriousness when it comes to musicians, especially at a jam session. It's harder than ever to motivate people nowadays. At least twenty years ago, you might get a nice gig or even a tour or a record date if you had your stuff together. Now, what is the motivation? There's so little guarantee of financial reward. You have to do it because you love it, because you can't rest until you learn those tunes, or master those changes, or whatever. That's why I did it. I was lucky that I got opportunities because of it.

The great Ron Carter

I think the Blue Monk session overall has a good energy and the students are humble and well intentioned. Even the ones who are pretty lost technically and stylistically. Just be patient. If you keep pushing people, some of them will figure it out. I believe people can grow. Who knows? Maybe some people need to be VIBED into learning some tunes. I've definitely gotten motivation out of being embarrassed on the bandstand, or wanting to avoid embarrassment. Maybe you need to embarrass some people! I heard that Ron Carter left some of his first jam sessions in tears, and he went on to be one of the most recorded acoustic bassists in history. Allegedly, someone threw a cymbal at Bird at one of his early jam sessions. Anyway, if you end up VIBING somebody, don't tell them that I told you to do it. Tell them that my friend and colleague Alan Jones told you to do it! HA HA!

Miguel Zenon at The Mission Theater

2011-11-17T00:25:00.000-08:00

Miguel Zenon

Miguel Zenon is one of the greatest jazz musicians playing today. He's a monster alto saxophonist, and appears to have no weakness in technique, tone, or creativity. He's also a monster composer and arranger, and truly has his own voice. Although not quite a household name, he's gaining recognition slowly and steadily as a bandleader, and has been able to work steadily enough to have the same band for many years. He recently received a MacArthur Genius Grant; hopefully he can use that press to increase his fame. In short, Zenon is the future of the music, and the future is now.

I have been fortunate to share the stage with Zenon on a handful of occasions. The first was actually a recording, a project led by Greg Tardy(Abundance, on the Palmetto label). I believe the first solo on the CD is Zenon's and it's smoking. I remember thinking that it was awfully big of Tardy to let someone potentially upstage him on the first song of the CD!I believe we played with the Mingus Band a few times after that. I subbed for Zenon's pianist Luis Perdomo on one concert back in 2007. It was one of the more challenging musical experiences of my life, and I've played a lot of hard music in my day! I was asked to sub another time, but the gig got cancelled at the last minute. Still, even one chance to play Zenon's music was a treat and an honor.

Last night, I went to hear Zenon and crew at The Mission Theater in Portland. The concert was sponsored by PDX Jazz, directed by Don Lucoff. I think it's great that Lucoff is programming some adventurous bands(last month was Cuong Vu's Burn Unit, and next month....wait, it's my band! More on that later). The turnout was more than respectable; I couldn't help but think that there should have been more PSU students at the concert. Maybe the word isn't getting out to the students. Hopefully we can change that, because Zenon is exactly who the students should be hearing.

Luis Perdomo

Drummer Henry Cole

Zenon's music is jazz, for sure, but there are key elements that give it a distinctive character. One is his pieces have a lot of rhythm and a lot of melody and a lot of harmony. However, there is always a perfect flow of energy from beginning to end of each piece, and from beginning to end of an entire set of music. His sets feel like one long symphonic suite, and within each piece, there is a grand development of ideas. Tonight's concert featured music from Zenon's latest CD, Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook. (Zenon, a New York City resident, is originally from Puerto Rico.) While the melodies were very diatonic, with a simple folk song quality, the presentation was quite complicated, but with purpose. The first tune of the night, which I believe is the title track of the CD, the band began with a moody rubato in G minor, perhaps nodding to Coltrane's A Love Supreme. But the melody was very simple yet passionate. Eventually, free time gave way to a 10 beat groove with a descending bass line which gave pianist Luis Perdomo a chance to shine as a soloist. Perdomo has great facility, but also resists showboating, and shows a fair amount of restraint, considering the energy which is around him. Drummer Henry Cole, also from Puerto Rico, is a true virtuoso drummer; he has perfect time, dynamics, and is able to follow the emotional shapes of both a song and an entire set.

The next piece had some 5/8 leanings which metrically modulated into a 4/4 which revealed the simplicity of the melody, and then shifted back to the 5/8. It occurred to me how much excitement Zenon is able to build without playing outside the chord that much. Again, when you have facility like Zenon, it takes a certain amount of restraint to not play a ton of chromatic lines or ultra harmonic extrapolations. Zenon is able to build using range, dynamics, and rhythm.

Hans Glawischnig

Acoustic Bassist Hans Glawischnig, who I have had the pleasure of working with on a number of occasions, play a unaccompanied solo into "Tiemblas" which was intensely impressive. Glawischnig effortlessly plays things on the bass that other bassists could only dream about, and he does it with a facial expression of reading the newspaper! Glawischnig is the heart of this band; he holds down the most complex of rhythmic groupings with total confidence, and can also solo marvelously. His left hand is the textbook for what a bassists left hand should be able to do. This concert, he used only a microphone, no pickup, but his sound was never lost in the shuffle.

The final soloist was Henry Cole, who took a masterful and energetic drum solo over a groove.(I never figured out the meter; it was one of those things where it was in 7 and then 8 and then 5. I bought the CD so I can study the music more.) Cole always knows where the form is and can easily slip his ideas

in and around the "one" of the form. This concert left me as satisfied as the perfect meal; I was left having heard all the necessary elements. The music had passion, intellect, and skillful execution; indeed, music like this can't be played with a pick-up band. These guys have put in the hours together. I'm truly inspired. I may not get a chance to play with Zenon in the near future, but I'm incredibly inspired by his new project, and plan on trying to dissect some of his new CD as I drive around the streets of Portland. Check out the video of Zenon talking about the new CD.......

My First Jazz Robots Video

2011-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

I realize that I'm jumping on the bandwagon here, but I was bored last night, and ended up messing around with the xtranormal site where you can make your own animated videos. Here is a little scene which is definitely based on reality. I think it's slightly funny. And it will lead you to all sorts of other similar jazz robot type videos, which are much better than this one.

Herbie Hancock and the Oregon Symphony Part 2

2011-11-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

I was really looking forward to the Oregon Symphony Concert. After checking out part of the rehearsal, I was excited to see one of my musical idols, Herbie Hancock, play Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", among other things, on a nine foot Fazioli grand piano. And after the disappointment of driving around South East Portland looking for a restaurant that seemed to give my GPS device a seizure, my wife and I headed back home. We parked the car and ended up eating right next to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at a place called the Art Bar. We were hungry, but I figured making sure we made it to the concert was our top priority, especially after paying 75 bucks a piece for the tickets!

Gregory Vajda

The first half of the concert opened with pleasant and humorous words from conductor Gregory Vajda, who is originally from Hungary, and has been at the helm of the Oregon Symphony since 2005. The first three pieces were essentially "Pops Concert" fare; an arrangement of Duke Ellington's "The Nutcracker Suite", which is Ellington's take on Tchaikovsky's ballet music. The orchestra is technically skilled and things like intonation, precision, and dynamics are at a very high level. As to be expected, it's hard to get a true jazz feeling from an orchestra which is not playing swing music on a regular basis. However, there were some nice solos from a tenor saxophonist(perhaps a "ringer") and also the principal clarinetist.

The next piece was a Gershwin composition called "Lullaby for String Orchestra", which was pretty and relaxing, and not too demanding. I suppose a lullaby is meant to lull one to sleep, and it could have done just that, if I wasn't anticipating Hancock in the second half. The third selection was a watered down medley of Ellington and Strayhorn hits. I was impressed by the Symphony, however, this kind of "Pops" material is not to my taste. But believe me, I've heard much much worse.(We visited my mother-in-law in West Palm Beach, Florida a few years ago, and had the misfortune of hearing Bob Lappin and the Palm Beach Pops. Not only was the music a snoozefest, and some of the musicians had arrived late and had to sneak on stage, but Lapin made a terribly inappropriate comment about how it was the orchestra's 15th anniversary, and how "we hope to see all of you at the next 15th anniversary", somehow not taking into account that the average age of the audience was 86!)

Herbie Hancock

After the intermission, the next half was introduced quite eloquently by my PSU colleague Professor Darrell Grant. Grant spoke about how important Herbie Hancock was to his own piano playing, and how after the morning's rehearsal, Hancock spent an hour talking with some PSU students, giving advice quite generously. "Herbie said, 'Always be open, and being a musician is not the most important thing. Being a human being is the most important thing'", Grant explained. And then Mr. Hancock came out and talked a bit before sitting at the piano.

I couldn't help but think how engaging and down to earth Hancock is. Hancock always seems to be having fun, in his music and his life. The sense of openness and creativity in Hancock's playing is something that has appealed to me a lot over the years of listening to him. And when Hancock launched into a startlingly fresh solo piano version of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints", I thought ,"This is worth the price of admission!" Hancock treated the well known Shorter composition as a series of themes by which to launch improvisations and re-harmonizations, and did not stick to the expected form at all. It was the kind of performance that makes you re-evaluate everything you thought you knew about music.

It's interesting that Hancock is not known as a solo pianist; to my knowledge, there is only one solo album under his name (called "The Piano", recorded in Japan in the 70's.). I get the feeling that Hancock prefers to have a band to play with, but I'm hoping that he will do more solo recordings in the future. Between songs, Hancock explained,"It took me a while to realize that, without a bass player and a drummer, I can do anything! I can change tempos.......I can change the form......", and then, with a hint of mischief, "I can change the harmony!" Again, the mastery with which he played contrasts the little kid wonder by which he seems to view the world. I thought of another hero of mine, Keith Jarrett, who is quite famous for his solo playing. Yet his personality is also well known; Jarrett is known for his tremendous ego and his arrogance towards audiences which he deems to be too noisy(Jarrett notoriously cursed out an audience in Italy a few years ago.). While I have great respect for Jarrett, I think that, in recent years, his stubborn nature has stifled his creativity, putting him in a somewhat predictable musical box at times. Hancock, on the other hand, has constantly reinvented himself, and is always trying to go further, to go somewhere else, to find the newest chords. And he's not afraid to lose himself along the way. What an exciting way to play music!

George Whitty

I was enthralled by Hancock's reharm of Gershwin's "Embracable You", his on-the-fly reworking of his own "Dolphin Dance" and a rousing, funky version of "Cantaloupe Island". Next on the program was "Sonrisa" which Hancock explained was first recorded on the aforementioned solo piano disc, and then recycled as a tune called "Trust Me", on which Hancock sang using the vocoder. This version was orchestrated by a Portland native, keyboardist George Whitty (who received cheers from the crowd when Hancock mentioned his name!). "Sonrisa" is one of those slightly exotic sounding minor melodies, which is probably why, as Hancock related beforehand, "I thought maybe Chick Corea had written it, so I called him, held the phone up to the speaker, and said, 'Is this your tune?' Chick said no, so I said, 'Whew!'" I enjoyed hearing the tune, and the orchestration was lovely, however, some of the rhythms were problematic due to a lack of precision between the percussion section and the basses and low brass.

Hancock's performance on Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was even better than the rehearsal;indeed, Hancock's chops were clearly warm, and he has great facility and dynamic range. He mostly stuck to the written music, however, even a few little embellishments were invigorating. It was great to see Hancock perform and overall, I was satisfied. Nevertheless, when it comes to music, my mental wheels are always spinning; call it the curse of the artist's permanent state of dissatisfaction. In short, I can always find something to kvetch about. Whining is one of the great American pastimes!

What I wondered about is the state of music, the state of The Orchestra as we have come to know it, and the state of our culture. Musicians like Herbie Hancock are constantly looking for new ways to approach the music, while typically The Symphony Orchestra in America is by and large about preservation of old traditions, traditions from the Old World. Not everything new is good, without a doubt. And traditions can be important. However, there is always the question of relevance. "Rhapsody in Blue" was written in 1924 by a composer who was considered "cutting edge" at the time, and celebrated for it. Gershwin, although influenced by the European masters, thought that it was important to be contemporary. This is a quote:

George Gershwin

True music must reflect the thought and aspirations of the people and time. My people are Americans. My time is today.

As impressive as it is that Hancock knocked "Rhapsody in Blue" out of the park, my question is, where is today's equivalent of "Rhapsody in Blue"? Who is today's George Gershwin? Why isn't Hancock being commissioned to write a modern day concerto for piano and orchestra?Would it even be for piano? What about Fender Rhodes? Or synthesizer? Maybe the piece would include rappers and soul singers. Or maybe even turntables and loops.....

The New York Phil, which is apparently millions in debt.....

I believe this might be a factor in why the idea of the Orchestra in our time is in danger; the Philadelphia Orchestra has filed for bankruptcy, the Cleveland Orchestra is in trouble, and the New York Philharmonic is deeply in debt. Audiences are dying out. How can new audiences be developed? Is there a way to bridge the gap between the old classics and the musical developments, for better or for worse, of the past 50 to even 100 years? I think these tough questions need to be asked. Otherwise, the Orchestra as we know it might go the way of the dodo bird. The only way you'll be able to hear an orchestra is if you have the Garage Band Symphony Orchestra Jam Pack....

Herbie Hancock and the Oregon Symphony Part 1

2011-11-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Philly is essentially the sixth borough at this rate.....

I lived in New York City for almost 15 years. I still think it is an amazing place, maybe still one of the greatest cities on earth. However, one of the things I don't miss about it is the hassle of traveling around the city. High real estate values have made it unaffordable to live in Manhattan, unless you are a hedge fund manager; most musicians have been pushed further out into the outer boroughs. Some musicians even consider Philly to be the New York area! If you live in Brooklyn or Queens, as I did, getting in and out of Manhattan can be a lengthy commute by subway; and if you hate to wait 40 minutes for the subway at 1 in the morning, plan on a 20 to 40 dollar taxi ride.

Getting around in Portland is easy.....

Portland, on the other hand, is a breeze to get around. Everything seems close, and whether you take the streetcar, or walk, or drive on the well connected freeways, you can get anywhere in a flash. But more importantly, it's within the realm of possibility to live downtown! My location is convenient to everything imaginable. I can walk to Portland State University, where I teach; it takes me 3 minutes to get from my apartment to my office. And many music venues are within walking distance, like Jimmy Mak's, and the Camillia Lounge. The home of the Oregon Symphony, The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, is a 5 minute walk from my apartment. (If you can afford to live next to Carnegie Hall in New York, then you must either be in a rent controlled building, or be related to J.P. Morgan.....)

The great Herbie Hancock

So it was a thrill this morning to walk for five minutes and be able to check out the rehearsal for this evening's Oregon Symphony performance. Tonight's concert(for which I have tickets) is going to feature Herbie Hancock playing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", as well as a piece called "Sonrisa", and probably some solo piano tunes to be announced. Additionally, Conductor Gregory Vajda will lead the orchestra in renditions of Gershwin's Lullaby for String Orchestra and some reworkings of Ellington's "The Nutcracker Suite" and something called "The Essential Ellington", which is probably a medley of favorite tunes. Darrell Grant, my PSU colleague, organized a group of students to check out this morning's rehearsal, so I tagged along.

Paul Whiteman: "King Of Jazz, or Oliver Hardy's double?"

I've never played Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", but as a kid, I listened quite a bit to the Leonard Bernstein version, the 1959 recording with the Columbia Symphony. So I basically know the piece. It was originally written for the Paul Whiteman band in 1924. Whiteman was the so-called "King Of Jazz", although he didn't improvise and his band played watered down written arrangements of popular tunes. Gershwin is known for a wealth of tin pan alley tunes, but this work is one that people use an example of Gershwin's "serious" concert work. It is considered one of the most popular concert works in today's repertoire, for sure. I think it's a great piece, although some of it is a little gimmicky, in terms of showy piano athleticism and corny "jazz" licks. Be that as it may, I was curious to see Hancock, one of my all time musical inspirations, play this piece.

Could Brendal sit in with Miles?

During the rehearsal, what really struck me was that Hancock, who was classical trained as a boy and played Mozart with the Chicago Symphony at age 11, was able to step back into the world of "playing the ink" after a lifetime of being one of the greatest improvisers in jazz. Hancock is over 70 years old, and many folks his age are riding around on golf carts in Florida instead of appearing with orchestras playing finger-busters like "Rhapsody in Blue". I couldn't help wondering if a classical musician could jump into the opposite world with such ease; could Alfred Brendel jump up and sit in with the Miles Davis Quintet? I hesitate to jump into a classical musician versus jazz musician debate here (that could be another post), however, let's just agree that Hancock is more than rising to the occasion.

I know Hancock's playing very well, but I was also struck by the fact that if I wasn't aware that Hancock was playing, there's no way I could have guessed that it was Hancock. Hancock isn't "jazzing" it up at all, he's basically playing it like Gershwin wrote it, although there was one point in the rehearsal where a percussive phrase was followed by a space, where Herbie almost seemed to muse, "wow, this feels like a jazz gig!" To be sure, "Rhapsody in Blue" falls into the category of "jazz influenced concert music." It's not jazz, at least in my humble view. Hancock has done so many different things in his career, that in some ways, this is no surprise. As identifiable as Hancock's piano improvisation is, his influences and tastes run the gamut. Hancock is the kind of musician who makes me believe that one day we will have no genres and no boundaries. There won't be a "classical" department or a "jazz"department. Music will just be music, good or bad.

Hancock and the Oregon Symphony did a satisfying run through, and then went back through the score and touched on some spots. Then they looked at "Sonrisa", a melody which was reworked into a tune called "Trust Me." on the album "Feets Don't Fail Me Now". Here's what I believe is the original, from a great solo piano record that Hancock did in Japan:

And here's the way he re-used it:

The Oregon Symphony was essentially sight-reading an orchestration of this piece, which probably sounded great on the computer during it's conception, but the orchestra had some trouble with the "modern" syncopation. After a second run through, the "groove" smoothed out a bit. I couldn't help but think that it was weird that the percussion section was on the opposite end of the stage from the basses and low brass.( This would never happen in a jazz band; can you imagine Ron Carter being on the opposite side of the stage from Tony Williams?)Still, I'm looking forward to hearing the Symphony in concert; they seem like a fine orchestra and I'll have more to report after tonight's concert.