I had to take some extra time to plan before I talked about the third part of my week at Dizzy’s: spending three nights with Stanley Crouch.

Mr. Crouch is a man I deeply respect.  I have read him and been influenced by him for years, and although his end judgments and mine don’t always line up one hundred percent, as far as a logical Jazz thinker goes, he’s on the top rung.

Now some may read the above statement as a firm picking of a camp, or a shouting-from-the-hills of my acceptance and appreciation of Stanley Crouch.  In the current musical environment, there is not a single name that strikes up as much controversy as Crouch.  I’m going to leave all of that out of this post.  Whatever your opinions on his views, the above statement can still be true.  His thought logically follows, and his writing very clearly conveys his sentiment on any topic.  That is the basis of my admiration regardless of my thoughts on his opinion.  The job of a critic is to give informed opinions, and there are few more informed or opinionated than Crouch.

I have hung out with a fair number of musicians in the last five years, and let me say that Mr. Crouch is the only one who is content to talk about nothing but Jazz for hours and hours on end.  For the three nights I hung out with him, Jazz, musicians, tunes, feels, gigs, history, legends, and anecdotes were the only topics.  Most musicians want to talk about other things, to get their minds off of the gig, or for other various reasons, but when Crouch comes to hang, he’s going to talk about the music.

To me as a Jazz nerd, that’s an awesome hang, and one of the things I look forward to as a musician.  I had so much fun just listening to all of the interactions in the room.  The most obvious element was everyone’s respect for Stanley.  No one had any problem talking about Jazz for hours on end, because they all cared about what he had to say.  When the room is as stacked with talent and prestige as it was during these evenings, it was crazy to hear the room hush when Stanley went into a story or made a point.

Most of these points came about in regards to Charlie Parker.  Stanley’s book on Parker has been on the drawing board for what I am inferring is about 10 years.  I know that someone got an advance manuscript about four or five years ago, so it’s been almost done since then.

Now, if there is one thing the world needs, it’s a definitive biography on Charlie Parker.  Name any great musician, there is a fair bit of information on them(notable exception: Art Tatum, who to my knowledge only has one full-length book in his name, despite Gunther Schuller’s insistent writing), but there are only a few works on Charlie Parker, modern Jazz’s most celebrated hero.  Most of the biographical information I have digested about him comes from anthologies like  Ira Gitler’s The Masters of Bebop or The Greatest Concert Ever, and Gary Giddens’ short but great Celebrating Bird.  Ross Russell is certainly a qualified source, with his Bird Lives, but for someone like Bird, one good work really isn’t enough.  Stanley aims to fix this problem, by writing a definitive two volume biography, the first dealing with Bird’s life up until his early twenties.  I’m grateful that he’s backing up this important work with ten years of research, which he has gleaned from his mighty rolodex of historical figures and experts, no doubt.  I greatly anticipate it.

There was too much information exchanged backstage during those nights to articulate in one (forty?) post, but I’ll share a few extremely interesting parts.

First of all, on Marcus’ Crescent night, naturally the topic of Trane’s rhythm section came up.  No one can gush about that rhythm section like Stanley, and seeing him do it in person was quite something.  However, the statement of the week for me was his assertion that the only rhythm section that explored that kind of earthy intensity was Jaki Byard’s trio from the 60s, Jaki, Richard Davis and Alan Dawson.

It’s interesting right off the bat because of the Marsalis camps usual dislike of Richard Davis’ playing (too much surrealism?  Not serious enough?  Out of tune?  There’s so many explanations, all of them negative!).  I approached Stanley about that, and he agreed that although the stuff with Mel Lewis is not so great, that his work with Andrew Hill and Jaki are quite something.  I mention this not to parse Richard Davis but to point once again to the dichotomy that could be strengthened from ignorance of facts like these.

It’s even better for me, because as anyone who knows me will tell you, this has been my favorite 60s music for years.  I am absolutely thrilled every time I hear these guys play, and felt pretty damn good hearing an unsolicited appreciation of their work, especially from someone as knowledgeable as Mr. Crouch, and especially appreciation on that level.

The last interesting idea that arose from these conversations is one that I’ve also tussled with for some time: the tenor saxophone.  There was not too much unearthed in the short time that was spent on it, but the dilemma was framed in such a good way that I feel like I should share it.  Quite simply, the tenor saxophone in our age has been dominated by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.  Stanley’s appraisal was eloquently put: “Most saxophonists think that since Trane and Sonny are at the top, if you’re not going to the penthouse, why even go in the building?”  The time I meet with Stanley, I will ask him to parse this to the fullest, as it is an important issue to discuss.  I personally am extremely interested with that fundamental decision, both within the community and myself.

I was very happy to have met Mr. Crouch and I hope I can start spending some time with him.  I now feel a little bit responsible to do so, in fact; as I began talking to him about history, he merely said, “I’m glad you’re here.  The music needs serious people like you.”

“If I were to arrange for [a well known Jazz musician], I would hide Michael Brecker licks in the backgrounds.  I really feel his language is starting to disappear these days, and I don’t want it to be lost forever”  —Fantastically sarcastic comment from Jacob Garchik, a fantastic Trombonist, Arranger, Composer, Pianist, and Accordionist in Brooklyn.  If you don’t understand the sarcasm, just go to NYC and listen to a tenor saxophonist.

—Martin

The youngest member of the Marsalis clan is not how you’d expect him to be.  He admires his brothers, but doesn’t speak from the mountaintop.  He claims no prestige or fame from his last name, and usually hates it when he’s lumped in with his family for no reason other than his last name.  He lacks all traces of ego or the prima donna tendencies of the young Wynton Marsalis.

However there are some similarities.  His knowledge of the music is exhaustive.  He is one of the people who use months rather than years to date recordings.  There is a distinctive cut off point for his study, however.  He knows very little about any of the free movements of the late 60s and early 70s, and will freely admit this, along with a statement of disappointment in himself and an eagerness to get more steeped in that music.   His lack of knowledge in this subject is outweighed by his knowledge of early jazz and the New Orleans tradition.  Despite this, he’s very open to learning more about music that he doesn’t know about, even if all signs point to it going against his tastes or beliefs.

Many have heard about the JNI rant, or worse, have seen the video.  Few have read the essay that he wrote, or his responses to radio stations that openly criticized his opinions.  Firstly, the one thing I admire about Jason’s attitude is that he wants to be proven wrong.  He has broad but specific wants in his music, but he is no curmudgeon.  At the end of the day, he would much prefer the music he hears to be interesting over hearing that all of the uninteresting musicians have quit music(which I feel is sometimes the general feeling these days.  I myself am guilty of it all too often).

I was worried about this when I first started hanging with him(as return readers know, I desperately want everybody I like to respect and enjoy everybody else I like…).  Around that time was the first time getting into the music of David Binney, Jacob Sacks, Dan Weiss, Jason Moran and other modern New York musicians, along with AACM music, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra.  I found myself trying to explain and prove that these people all loved the music, why I loved them even though I was a total conservative at the time.

To my absolute delight, I didn’t need to.  What I heard shocked me.  He liked “Graylen Epicenter”.  When wading through the boring NYC music that he thought was uninteresting, he found Miles Okazaki and thought that it was great because his “compositions were tight and together, and the music was really coming from somewhere sincere”.  When we talked about Cecil Taylor, we discussed how on Jazz Advance he has Bud Powell’s beat, and he plays Duke and Monk tunes, along with standards.  We discussed how neither of us had really checked out the AACM stuff, but his eyes lit up when I said that Muhal showed an exhaustive knowledge of Duke when he played solo.

As an aside, this is the first time that I realized that there are fabricated schisms in the music.

On the surface, the JNI rants seem to dismiss all of these people, but Jason likes all of them.  That’s not to say there aren’t people he dislikes, but here are people who are playing straight eights music without the “spanish tinge” in mixed meters, and he enjoys it and recognizes it as ear-worthy music.

Even the people he dislikes are subject to strict scrutiny.  His phrase is that “Everything I say is based on playing with people or hearing them live.  I inform myself to the best of my abilities.”  This isn’t bullshit.  He can name all of the tunes, and he’s played with all of the cats.  Not long ago, he played on a gig with John Ellis(who is a long-term collaborator of his), Mike Moreno(!), Matt Penman(!) and Robert Glasper(!!!).  I would bet that none of those names(save John Ellis) would strike any type of connection to Jason Marsalis in anyone’s mind.  He has been on the bandstand, and he can speak with that authority.  He isn’t thrilled with Mark Turner’s playing these days, mostly because he played with him when he was younger and loved it.

Enough about that, let’s get on to the music.  The band has been playing together for about five years, I believe.  All of the musicians in the band are former students of Marcus Roberts and have been practicing together for quite some time.  Apparently Marcus has a whole bunch of exercises for practicing as an ensemble, which I have yet to really probe these guys about.

Since most don’t know these guys yet, here’s a run down.Will Goble is an up and coming bassist, who has played with Marcus Printup, Wessel Anderson, and everybody else who decides to come through Atlanta where he lives.  He has a great tone, and knows a lot of tunes that my generation has either forgotten or not even heard of, which is right up my alley.  The drummer is also from Atlanta, Dave Potter.  A really strong beat and an excellent sense of phrasing.  He also knows the Herlin Riley school of groove, and pulls off some great beats with aplomb.  He also really knows his music, specifically drummers, historically.   Austin Johnson lived in NOLA until recently, although other than his feel, his piano playing wouldn’t necessarily suggest that.  He is a second generation Tristano student(although his playing wouldn’t suggest that either), which gives him an excellent grasp on harmony.  He’s always learning and experimenting; his approach when I saw him a few years ago was coming out of Wynton Kelly and Nat King Cole, but this time, his playing was peppered with slightly jarring harmonic phrases, something more expected from Keith Jarrett, Herbie or McCoy(with Nat King Cole’s feel.  Go figure).

I am no expert on modern “mainstream” music, but from what I’ve heard in the last four or so years, this band’s sound is unique.  The music is again, very complex while coming out of interesting harmonic and rhythmic worlds.  The rhythm section creates a fantastic floating feeling under the soloist, and the changes in form really create an interesting environment for improvisation.

Also, as with Marcus, this band doesn’t use charts.  Most of the tunes are originally learned by ear, and then memorized.  Marcus had about 20 tunes that he played over the week.  However, this band played 6 nights and didn’t repeat a single tune.  It was quite impressive all around.  Once again, these charts are HARD.

Their old CD, Music Update, showed the great compositions from Jason, but the playing, to be brutal, was not quite there.  Now however, their sound has emerged, and the concept is very much in focus.  Also, the new compositions from the guys in the band are fantastic.  All of the tunes are really great, but the ballads are really special.  You don’t hear many bands whose forte is ballads.  It’s really refreshing, and Will’s tone and Austin’s harmonic sense really make it happen.  A sound for sore ears, as they say.

So if you still imagine Jason as an egotistical NOLA conservative, consider that last week he played 22 sets of complex “modern” music in 6 days, 5 of which were in a slot that usually is reserved for locals who haven’t made a name for themselves.  I encourage you to reconsider your view.

“The thing is, that cat can play some bad shit!  I know that because I was up there playing with him!”  —Jason Marsalis, probably his most used phrase when discussing contemporary music

and a bonus quote!

“I think people are starting to realize that I’m not crazy.  Well, I mean, I’m a little crazy but…”—Jason Marsalis

—Martin

I had never seen a band for an entire week before.  If you ever get the chance, do it.  I now feel like I really know the state of Marcus’ playing.  Everybody has been in that situation where your friend saw a band and didn’t dig it, even though you absolutely loved it.  When you get to talking about it, sometimes it happens that your friend is saying the absolute opposite of what you thought of the band.  If you think they swung, the friend says they didn’t, etc.  Then you both have to see the band again to see if they either had an off night or a special one.

When you see someone for a whole week, however, there’s nothing left to chance.  The trio had great nights and they had run-of-the-mill nights.  Of course with that band, run-of-the-mill is great, but you get a sense of the possibilities the band presents, along with which tunes are hard, challenges they had, what their sweet spot is, etc.

It was an interesting thing for me, because although I have been a fan of Marcus since I started playing piano, I hadn’t seen him live in almost five years, and haven’t bought a recent record of his.  Watching him, I recognized some things and was surprised by others.  Since the most recent playing of his that I really know, which is about 1999 or so, his harmony has sweetened a bit.  A lot more fifths in his voicings(the note, not the interval), a lot more wearing the blues on his sleeve, this new calling card ninth embellishment thing, more triadic stuff coming out of Jelly Roll Morton and church.  However, the old standbys are still there: an incredible control of dynamics, tone, and the piano in general, a tricky sense of harmony, with a million different ways of shifting the harmony around, a killer left hand, and of course, the best ears in the business.

Now a lot of people instantly dismiss this music because of it not being modern.  For my money, let me first say that most “modern” music is based harmonically on 1920s classical music, or 1960s jazz.  Rhythmically, the most “modern” music is based on Indian Rhythmic cycles that have been around forever.  The most popular grooves this day come from either Hip Hop and R&B grooves that have been around for thirty years or more, or 1950-60s swing.  Modernity (which is a foolish concept for music like this anyway) is relative.

Not to sound like a Marsalis camp fanboy, now.  I disagree with my share of that factions beliefs, such as the blanket ousting of AACM, Cecil Taylor, and other such things(Although it turns out that a lot of these beliefs are not as strongly held as you might think.  More on that in part 3).  However, no matter how you look at it, there is music less modern(in the commonly used sense) than Marcus’ out there all over the place.  Any 1990-esque allegations that their standards have been played before and that they , that they need to forget the old rhythms and start searching for new things is either deaf or stubborn.

Marcus’ music was extremely complex, with tunes that had forms with 20 or more sections, complex polyrhythms, multiple tempos going on at once, odd meters, odd barred sections, and complex metric modulation.  I could name a hundred modern bands in the current public lens that aren’t doing things as complex as that.  It’s been twenty years since people took torches and pitchforks to Wynton and his crew for focusing too much on the history.  I think it’s time to let that particular argument die.

Another thing that got me was that no one in the band used sheet music.  I’m not against sheet music in the slightest, it was just a profound contrast to see no sheet music on the stage.  Marcus doesn’t use it of course, but that wouldn’t stop me if I was in his band.  They probably had a running repertoire of 40 tunes, I’d guess.  Extremely complex.  The Bad Plus doesn’t use music, and Branford’s band doesn’t use music, but most other bands I can think of do.  Certainly most live music that you see in  NYC does.

Part of that repertoire, they only played once.  On the last night, they played all of Crescent, in order.  Talking to Marcus afterwards, he mentioned that his main reason for doing so was twofold: he has a deep-seated love of the record, and he wants to try to deal with the tunes as if he were a saxophone player, something that he is using the tunes to figure out.

They played the music wonderfully.  There are times when people play a tune or two in the style of someone else, and it comes off as a nice gesture, or contrarily, an annoyance.  There’s also situations where people will do a tribute and just play bad head arrangements of complex compositions(usually either Monk or Ellington), or arrangements off the page without the correct feeling behind it(Mingus or Blakey).  This however, was a band coming from a school that has consistently preached this era of Coltrane for fifteen-plus years.

They killed it.  Jason, who I’ve never heard do an intentional impression, did an unbelievable Elvin.  Not vocabulary, per se, just borrowing his beat.  Marcus stayed true to his vocabulary as well, although there were about 16 bars in the middle of Lonnie’s Lament where he did some of the most focused, deep and powerful Mcoy-isms I’ve ever heard.  By all means he is the direct descendant of that school; Kenny Kirkland was the person who took McCoy and Chick to the next level, and I don’t know who one could argue for as the descendant of Kenny if not Marcus.  If you don’t agree, I urge you to go listen to Standard Time Vol 1. and Blues alley again.  McCoy is one of the people who everyone steals from, but no one delves into.   The things you hear are by and large easy to copy.  Marcus however, has been into McCoy’s language and back.

I’m not saying that someone playing a Trane album is the way Jazz needs to be headed, but I appreciated seeing someone who really understands the music pay an unfettered homage to it.

So after the week was done, there was one thing I was sure of: Marcus Roberts is in the upper upper S-Class of forty-somethings playing Jazz piano today.  The control of his instrument mixed with his musicality is something that can’t be beat.  I don’t even love his musical decisions and influencesof late, necessarily, but there is nothing I can do but respect him.  He’s a monster with his own conception and his own voice.  I don’t know what else we can ask.

Speaking of respect, an interesting aspect of that crowd of musicians.  When glowing with respect for someone, that crowd’s choice phrase is “he knows a lot of music”.  Not he can play a lot of music, but he knows a lot of music.  There may be a deep meaning there, or it could be nothing.  I’ve heard both Wynton and Branford say that they don’t care about anything in their bands except “can you play?”

“I’ve had nice cats and assholes in my bands.  The thing is, I’ll take the heavy asshole over the competent nice guy every time” —Branford Marsalis

—Martin

Next week, I’m going to tell you all about it.  I’m writing a series of four posts describing the week.  Tomorrow I’m going to Marcus’ last night, and I’ll begin writing on Monday after I see Tim Ries playing with Ali Jackson, in keeping with the JALC theme that has become my late January.  Stay tuned.

Also, he’s one of the three people on my sidebar, but check out Ted Panken’s blog this week.  He’s got amazing stuff on Max Roach, one of my all time heroes (I was once asked which musician I would like to become, whose style, popularity, approach, influence, musicianship etc.  I would like most to mirror.  I thought for only a minute, and said Max Roach.  That was about three years ago, and the more I think about it, I become more and more firm about my position on that.)  He also just posted a textbook on Benny Golson.  Consistently excellent writing.  One of the best today, if you ask me.

Also, a heartfelt moment for Clare Fischer, who passed away this past week.  He’s been on my list of people to do an in depth study on for a while.  So far I’ve only been listening to his records.  Eventually I’ll probably write some about him and do some transcribing, but for now, I’ll just say that he is grossly underappreciated as a pianist.  He was sophisticated and sensitive.  No him, no Bill Evans, no Herbie(so about 95% of modern pianists would sound different.  Herbie has straight up stated that he used to steal Clare’s stuff all the time.  I can’t blame him.

“So I asked Erroll, ‘How about playing a tune?’  He said, ‘Yeah, if you sing one!’  So I get up to the piano and I gave a tune—I can’t remember what it was—he’s giving me this lost look and says, ‘Where do I start?’  I said, ‘A flat’, and he says, ‘show me A flat!’  So I reached over and just laid my hands on the keys without actually playing and he nodded at me.  He started right in and played the whole thing in A flat.  It was marvelous” —Clare Stewart, wife of Slam Stewart, vocalist, and personal friend of Erroll Garner

—Martin

My father and stepmother saw the show with me, so when I would usually be breathing in the Vanguard’s aura, I was explaining TBP to them.  “They’re not really a jazz band like you think of a jazz band.”  I said.  “All of the guys write tunes, and they’re all totally different, but there is a crystal clear band sound that they achieve no matter the composer.”

I harbor very little love of rock music, and I have almost no knowledge of classical repertoire.  The first time I heard the band, I hated it.  The tune was “Anthem for the Earnest”, and all the triads irked me in the midst of my first year university study of seventh chords.  One night, my friend had an extra ticket to the sold-out show in Toronto and sold it to me for 20 dollars(situations like this are exactly why I relentlessly check something out when I figure I hate it.  Sometimes it turns around.).   At that show, I was re-awakened.  They played Ornette’s “Song X”, Stravinsky’s “Apollo”, and “Giant”, which is by far my favorite TBP song.

At the time, I was heavy into a Don Cherry phase and was reading David Hadju’s biography of Strayhorn in preparation for an all-Strayhorn concert I was working on, reading about how he was the first Jazz guy to carry the Rite of Spring around with him.  Needless to say, my eyes were opened a little bit wider than normal, and I enjoyed the concert, beginning to pick up on the togetherness of the band. Thank goodness.  On a hunch, I snuck backstage to talk to Ethan, and the rest is history.

My favorite part about the band is not their language or their idiom, or even their synergy.  It’s actually the writing.  All three are amazing composers.  Each tune sticks in your head, and is at the same time interesting in a Jazz listener sense.  The most amazing thing, as I said before, is that as technical and cerebral the written music is, they’ve gotten normal everyday people to enjoy it.  It’s the perfect balance, everyone’s happy but the conservatives and the staunch traditionalists.  Also, within that, there is a wide compositional range, the types of tunes, I want to say.  If you blindfolded a music lover, jazz musician, etc. and played “Cheney Pinata” and “Nostalgia for the Impossible”—both fantastic and idiosyncratic tunes—back to back, no one in their right mind would say that Ethan wrote them both.  Perhaps a shrewd composition student perhaps, no one else.

As an avid listener myself, I couldn’t get over the tunes that night.  I’ve been trying to write more and more, everyone and their mother has been pushing me, and I have half of a really good tune that I’ve been working on for half a year, and I can’t find the end to it.  These guys have been writing fantastic tunes, all in different styles consistently for ten years, and they’re writing within strict confines: the tunes written must please the audience, not offend any sensibilities within the band, and still have that Bad Plus sound.  I’m both glad that I’m not in charge of that particular compositional task, and thankful that these guys have the skill to pull it off.

They played all new-ish tunes, with one glaring exception, “Thriftstore Jewlery” by Dave King, which happens to be my second favorite tune of the band’s.  I’m glad, because I would like to see “Giant” again live just to hear the band play it acoustically and revel in the moment, but “Thriftstore” is a tune that you want to hear to see what the members will do to it live.   The former is a nostalgic experience and the latter a learning experience.

The other tunes were a mish-mash from their new record that’s in the can, and their most recent record, Never Stop, which I’ve heard but don’t own(I should probably fix that.  Wouldn’t exactly be too hard to find…).  They were all great, from Ethan’s “2 P.M.” to a new tune of Dave’s, the name of which escapes me.  Dave, by the way, was blazing like a tire fire the whole night, just unstoppable.  I’ve seen that band four times, and he played at a level I’ve never seen him at before.  Maybe it was just the Vanguard’s ancient vibes, maybe it was just a good night, maybe he’s been practicing.  I don’t know or care.  He was on the spot.

Where Dave killed the drums, Reid handled the composing.  They played three or four of them, and the two that I remember were far and away the highlights of the show.  Next time you see them(or if you wait for the record) keep an eye out for “Seven Minute Mind”.  A killer bass line with metric tomfoolery, topped by Ethan’s ridiculous independence and a deep groove from Dave.  I’ve asked Ethan twice about his independence, once sneakily and once outright, and the only answer I got was that he plays a lot of bass lines along with melodies or while blowing. You don’t say.  I’m pretty sure that he just came out of the womb bouncing a tennis ball while he cut the cord with his right hand, myself.  That groove would be hard to line up with two people…

The final tune of the night was “People Like You”.  This may be my new favorite tune for the band.  A beautiful melody, with a great section over some stark major seventh chords which killed me every time.  Stirring writing.

I am now in a position to say that Ethan plays differently with this band.  Whenever The Bad Plus hits, he exudes this sort of grandeur, like that of a concert pianist, where as with someone like Billy Hart he’s more introspective.  Not less confident, but his lines resolve with a reduced sense of finality.  Everything he plays with TBP seems like it was meant to happen, and all loose ends are tied up, whereas the feeling at his other gigs is always open ended, like he could decide to take a sharp left at any point.  This isn’t a comment on his playing being more expected with Reid and Dave, it’s to say that the aura he exudes is different.

Although I’ve done a pretty good job at educating my dad in the ways of the Jazz listener, he left the show disliking it.  “The drummer might as well have been a rock drummer!!” I tried to convince him that the guys were attacking with a Jazz sensibility, but it was hard to convey and even harder to prove.  I have no doubt he’ll come around in a few years.  I played him the record and he dug it, so maybe he was just expecting Barry Harris during his first trip to the Vanguard.

Next couple of weeks are full of fun, Jason Moran/Geri Allen at 92Y, a masterclass with Ethan on the 24^th, and an entire week of the one and only J-Master at Dizzy’s.  I’m really glad, because I haven’t seen some really swinging stuff in a while, the way the cards have been falling.  Can’t afford Keith at Carnegie; who the hell can???

Ellington Orchestra Member: “Strays, why are you always working on the road?”

Billy Strayhorn, holding the Rite of Spring: “Oh no, this isn’t business, it’s pleasure”

—Martin

I went to Winter Jazz Fest this weekend.  It was extremely well priced, and the talent level was extremely high.  I saw 7 shows, and I average 1000 words a show, so I’m going to give a rundown of the stuff I saw, ESPN highlight style. Let there  be a reminder that we’re entering the realm of opinion.  No hate mail, please.

Julian Lage Quintet:

He is magnificent.  I think that I’d like him a lot with a band that would make him behave himself, like Gary Burton’s.  His tunes weren’t great, but they had been written two days prior.  I like the idea of a band that is constantly writing new stuff.

A little bit Hollywood; it was the “Julian Lage Show” for sure.  No one else in the band really made an impact.  There was no reason for using cello and percussion(in lieu of drums) that I could see.  I’m not shocked that he has a Grammy.  He fits solidly in the “best guitarist out of Berklee these days” tradition.

Nels Cline Singers:

These guys were great.  Scott Amendola and Trevor Dunn were spectacular.  Nels is certainly a singular talent, and that’s coming from someone who by and large can’t stand electric music.  Really good textural stuff, along with surprisingly nice grooves and interplay. I had never seen them play before.

Chris Morrissey:

Seeing Aaron Parks was nice, he’s not my cup of tea, but he always tries some interesting things and is very sensitive.  Nice voicings too.  Ben Wendel was stellar.  He’s certainly coming up.  I loved him.  He was the only saxophonist that I saw who has a tone rooted in anything pre-Coltrane.  Good to hear.  Nice feel, great ideas.  Nir Felder was also good, not quite as impressive as Ben, but still quite great.

Tunes didn’t kill me.  Some weird Celtic influence stuff going on.

Gilad Hekselman:

Couldn’t get in.  Damn.  Mark Turner with Marcus Gilmore would have been nice.

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Rich Brown, making Canada proud!  He was definitely the highlight of the show.  Such presence on stage.  Rudresh’s tunes are cool, but the highlight is definitely the groove and the interaction between the drummer and the bassist, not the improvising.  Res had one great solo, and Rudresh was Rudresh.  Mad props the Rudy Royston, who was practically reading the book.  He has breadth like it’s nobody’s business.  Fantastic.

Day two:

Matt Wilson w/ Strings:  Couldn’t get in.  I may be destined to never see this quartet again, this is the third time that I have been denied…

Vijay Iyer:

I have no idea why so many people think this music is so interesting.  Everyone on stage can do whatever they want on their instruments, but the writing is so boring…  Vamps without too much complication, minimal improvisation, and a pedestrian stylistic language.  I haven’t listened to everything on record, and I know Vijay is a monster pianist, but this show was boring for me.  The venue was weird too, a dance club type thing, you couldn’t really hear the piano.  I’m going to have to investigate, but I’m pretty sure that I don’t like this group at all.  It bugs me, because a lot of musicians that I admire love this band so much.  Also, everything Vijay writes about music is super compelling to me.  Hopefully some research turns me around, but it’s feeling pretty bleak from where I’m sitting.

Allison Miller:

I initially just came to this venue early to get a good seat for Eigisti, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Ally has some serious metric modulation chops, and uses them in a very convincing and musical way.   She also feels good on any groove she plays, and she plays, and in four songs she covered slow shuffle, burning swing, hip hop, country snare and medium up.  Jenny Scheinman is definitely someone to look out for.  Jazz violin needs all the help it can get.  Myra Melford is consistently excellent on piano.  I’ve never not liked seeing her live.

Taylor Eigisti:

Quite honestly, this show changed my view on current drummers.  Although bolstered by appearances by Becca Stevens and Dayna Stephens, Eigisti is impressive but not compelling.  Harish Ragavan played the gig like a champ, and Eric Harland is the finest drummer I’ve seen in recent memory.  The last time I was that excited by a younger drummer was the first time I saw Dan Weiss.

He felt so good, so organic.  He had ?ueslove’s feel with the metric ability of someone like Nate Smith.  He has Tain-like chops.  He listened to the whole band, and acted as a consummate accompanist.  He used space, he played modulations with Ari Hoenig-like ease.  The two things that got me though were his dynamic control and his phrasing.  I love a lot of drummers, but most are very intellectual sounding when confronted with mixed meter madness.  Every phrase was felt, not thought.  Musically, everything made so much sense, lining up when it felt like it needed to, but having that looseness once in a while too.  Nothing felt contrived or practiced.  He was just feeling around.

I saw a lot of good drummers at this festival.  Rudy Royston, Marcus Gilmore,  Scott Amendola: this is the A List, but when put up beside Harland, they are all way below his level of musicianship, in my eyes.  He’s a monster, at once fiery and sensitive, soulful and articulate.

Fun facts:

-Every band on the first day had a guitarist.  None of the bands on the second day did.

-There wasn’t a single band that didn’t have a song in an odd time signature.

-Rudresh and Steve Lehman(who I saw briefly, but not long enough to review it) had seats available for the whole show.  I thought they were more popular than that.  They certainly were two of the most technical shows around.

-Miguel Zenon and Mark Turner are really popular.

-There was not NEARLY enough grease on this festival for my tastes, although most of the musicians were pretty incredible.

So I hope that gives you an idea of what it was like to be there.  There were about 50 shows that I didn’t see, of course, so maybe jazz was being changed next door and I wouldn’t know it.  But for 45 dollars, I’ll take it any time.

TBP review is coming this weekend; I didn’t want to forget all of these WJF shows, so I postponed it.  Couple of good shows coming up, and I’ll put a transcription up in the next week or so.

“I’m glad to hear you say [that you like David Murray].  Most people your age don’t know his name, or for some reason think he can’t play.  Trust me, he’s a monster, and his voice is just beautiful.”

­—Jeff Lederer on David Murray

—Martin

I just saw a great show by him, and that’s all there is to this post.  The band was A-level: Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nasheet Waits.  This was at The Cornelia Street Cafe, probably the most intimate venue around(and cheapest!  Ten dollars for two sets of these cats, are you joking?).

Other than everything being really good, the most interesting thing about the concert was the group dynamic.  This group has recorded, but Jason didn’t really know the tunes like the back of his hand, so I’m assuming these guys don’t play together so much.  They’re all incredibly busy on their own.  However, Nasheet and Drew have insane hook up from playing with Fred Hersch, and Nasheet and Jason are just soulmates, so there was this cool dynamic going on.

The rhythm section excelled at two things, comping on really fast swing, and setting up these awe-inspiring groove tapestries, spearheaded by Jason.  This was the first time I’ve ever seen Jason play live in a performance setting(after the rainout in Detroit), so the whole show I was pretty much focused on him.  On paper, he’s the ideal pianist on the scene for me.  Monk, Mal Waldron, Geri Allen, Muhal, Herbie Nichols, Hasaan, Andrew Hill and of course Jaki Byard.  Our A-Lists are a complete overlap(although he’s got a whole lot more in the ways of popular and informed classical influences than I do).  I’m not ready to make a total judgement call on him yet; he’s got some things coming up that I’m going to see, and then I’ll make a call after I know his sideman work more.  I thouroughly enjoyed everything he played, though.  My biggest admiration is that in setting up these grooves, he was unafraid to play the same thing over and over, acting like a drummer more than a pianist, shading it with nuance rather than  variation.  He also reached into some feels that I’ve never heard done well before.  It’s hard to describe, it feels like a circular constant eighth note feel.  For the record, I like his hip-hop influenced feel better than Glasper or anyone else I’ve heard.

It was interesting to see how much Herbie and Geri Allen were in his playing last night.  It’s possible that the Herbie is via Geri, but I’ve never heard him play any Herbie really.  We all get in moods sometimes, maybe it was a one-off.  The Geri was there in full force, in the form of out of time runs that are amorphous and ever shifting.  Jason does this all the time on all records, but usually he does it more angularly, not with softer edges like Geri does now.  Geri used to be more angular with this kind of thing as well, but not as angular as Jason on record.  Sometimes Jason throws out all subtlety with that kind of thing and just goes for it, something that may well have come from Jaki(which I adore about him).

Anyway, buy the record, all the tunes from it were great, there is a 350 swing tune where bassists can get a lesson from Drew, and the band is about as high level as you can get in this idiom.

Jason Moran opening for Geri Allen at the 92st Y Tribeca on the 21st.  Bring a friend and something to keep your mouth from hanging open.

TBP Vanguard post coming next.

“He’s out there right now, probably having a barbecue or something” —Reid Anderson, announcing after “Cheney Pinata” by EI

—Martin

My last two forays of the year were into familiar territory.  The first was a set by the great, beloved/behated Wynton Marsalis.  This was certainly a show for the detractors to harp on.

The set consisted of the music of King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton.  The scores were all lifted from the source, and then merely expanded into six horns.  There was one original and the encore, which was original.  The original in the set was “All the Girls Go Crazy ‘Bout the Way I Ride”, which Wynton apparently tells audiences that Buddy Bolden wrote.  Not to much straying from the tradition of the 1920s there.

Now, I have no problem with this.  The thing that sparked my interest in this concert(other than being able to see Wynton from 4 feet away for 30 dollars and a drink.  Think Herbie-Level fame.) was that Wynton’s old sparring buddy, Wes “Warmdaddy” Anderson was in the band, the first time I’ve heard of them playing together since I’ve been aware of their relationship.

An aside about community, once again.  There is a great connection between these men and their pianists.  In the 80s, Marcus Roberts was playing(and how!) in Wynton’s second-most celebrated band.  In the 90s, when the septet reared it’s head, Marcus said (and I quote) “Man, get Warmdaddy in this band, he’s bad”.  Wynton’s respect for Marcus being what it is, and Wes’ relationship with Marcus being what it was, Wynton agreed, and the rest is history.

In the early 00′s(we really need to come up with something more concrete there), Wes heard Dan Nimmer at Pumpkins in Brooklyn.  He called Wynton, as Eric Reed was planning on leaving the band, and said “Man, get Nimmer in your band, he’s bad”.  And the rest is history.  A nice anecdote, and I’m waiting to see who Nimmer suggests as a horn player around the bend.  Maybe it’s already happened, I don’t know.

Nimmer and Anderson are both indeed bad.  As was the entire band, consisting of the SWAT team within JALC.  Every person in that band has their instrument, time, feel, ears, and history completely together. Every solo is interesting, and the rhythm section always plays with the soloist, not behind them.

The section was actually the highlight of my night, they more than once achieved this lovely floating swing that you don’t hear anywhere else.  Totally great.  Dan is quite something, his touch is out of control good, and his take on right hand block chords is original and grimy.  Unfortunately, I asked him about it, and there’s no thought behind it, he’s just feeling everything out, so I’m out of luck on copping it.  The section also on occasion went into a Blues Alley style odd grouping frenzy, everyone completely on it at all times.  Wynton showed that he hasn’t exactly forgotten about that way of playing, diligently tapping his foot along with every figure they played.  This only happened in two situations, when the trio was playing alone, and behind Wes.

The horns were all great in their own ways too.  A massive shout out to Marcus Printup for being SO close to upstaging Wynton in his own club.  He is consistently interesting and impressive, not to mention soulful.  Seems like he can pull out any note at any time, a trademark of every trumpet player who has come through that band.  Walter Blanding and Victor Goines got into some great stuff too, weaving in and out of the language of Jelly Roll and Coltrane.  Anderson is always enjoyable, playing some triadic stuff you don’t hear too often.

However…

That band was not meant for that music.  The current charge that is gaining speed for create bands that stick together is in play here; Wynton has had these guys for a long time, and it is everyone’s main gig at this moment.  They play together A LOT.  They’ve rehearsed in near-perfect scenarios 100 out of the last 365 days, and with some of the greatest musicians out there.  However, there are people who I’d rather see play King Oliver’s music.  Nothing against anyone in that band, but Ali, Carlos, Walter, and Warmdaddy are not the top of the top in that genre.

They weren’t kidding themselves, either.  Every solo that Walter took instantly went into post-bop mode.  Now, I’m not complaining, because every solo he took was killing, and those guys can really play.  It was more interesting than every Coltrane-robbing solo you hear these days, a million times over.  However, I question Wynton’s small group statement these days.  Musically, he’s always had something that grabs me creatively, always trying something new.  Lately, it’s been in his writing.  But this band harkened back to the 50s prestige days, where the statement was, let’s get some stock-level arrangements, the most killing band we can find, and make a record tomorrow.

This was better than that, because these guys know what each member of the band wants for dinner after the gig, but I wanted more vision from the visionary.

And then there’s the matter of the encore.  Every time I’ve ever seen Wynton play an encore, from April of 2004 until today, he has played Knozz-Moe-King as an encore.  I’ve seen him something like eleven times.  This time, he played two recent originals before he surprised me with Knozz-Moe-King, and it hurt even more.  If he played like that all the time, he would be the most killing trumpet player on the scene.  Bar no one, in my mind.  He’d have some contenders, but man, the fire that that man lays down when he wants to, coupled with that burning trio(who in my mind has basically just played through the gig in order to play Knozz-Moe at the end) is euphoria.  He says he’s never going to do it again, but I’m still keeping it in my prayers for good measure.  Tain, Hurst, and Marcus are all alive and well, after all, and sounding just as good as they used to.  Branford’s doing pretty well too, I hear.

At the end of the concert, Wynton admirably fulfilled his duty as ambassador of Jazz, telling the audience to go see live music, naming ten or so clubs that are open every night.  “It’s not going to get done by itself, so we have to do it.”  True say.

Too broke to go to the(kind of lame looking, in my opinion) Winter Jazz Fest this year, but I’ll be hitting a KILLING mystery show on Thursday.  If I can steal the money, I’ll also go see Matt Wilson on Saturday.  I can’t quit him.

One more review, and then hopefully something more musical.  I’ve been trying to do some work.  Trying.

“Swing: willful participation with style and coordination” -Wynton’s definition of swing

-Martin

As one may remember from this summer, I am a dyed-in-the-wool fanboy of Matt Wilson’s, and on Thursday I got my ultimate festive dreams fulfilled by seeing the tree-o in person, front row seats.

Again, I must comment on the vibe and the humor.  I didn’t take a picture of the stage, unfortunately, but just imagine a pink tinsel tree, Matt in a Christmas vest, multiple singing animatronic Christmas characters, a toy piano, and multiple monologues on the meaning of Christmas.  Hilarious at first, with Matt and the band smiling at every moment, laughing at the ridiculous situation they had placed themselves in(in front of a sold out crowd, interestingly enough.  NPR crowd?).  On the surface, it would feel like a shtick gig, but then the music started.

Instantly, the hookup between Matt and Paul becomes the forefront.  Paul’s great melodic basslines, amplified by the pianoless format came to the front quickly as well. The tunes, although funny and abstract at times, show an incredibly deep level of musicianship.  Serious musicmaking, but with totally relaxed undertones, aimed at pleasing an audience, both on the level of musicianship, and on humor.  Also perhaps in this case on the level of the Christmas spirit as well, who knows?  Funny, the Wynton and the old guard talk about playing to audiences, and other more Avant Garde musicians have talked to me about adding more humor to a music that has become more and more serious*.  And I assure you that no musicality was sacrificed in this project.  I as a musician with few sentimental feelings towards Christmas felt that this concert was a top-shelf example of improvisational art, exploration, and cohesive group playing.

Jeff, with his mix of mid 60s Sonny Rollins meets Albert Ayler meets Ben Webster meets his own special sauce always gets me going right from the start.  Listening to him lately(new record, “Sunwatcher”, with Buster Williams and Matt.  Hot damn.), it’s surprising that more people haven’t assimilated the Sonny in between “The Bridge” and “East Broadway Run Down” more.  I find it to be at least tied for the best Sonny, and it’s edgy, but in direct contrast with Coltrane and Wayne at the time, which is what I like to hear.  McGinnis and Cords showed shades of it as well, so maybe it’s slowly becoming a thing.  I saw a young cat who couldn’t play changes totally ape the beginning of Sonny’s solo on “All the Things” from “Sonny Meets Hawk”(an early and very important record for me), so who knows?  Tim Ries knows Jeff from way back, I’ll ask him if he has always sounded like that.

Between the John Zorn jokes (he put out a Christmas album that starts with the same song as Matt, and also includes the super-obscure Claude Thornhill piece, “Snowfall”. Matt didn’t pull any punches, but all in good fun) and the elf vocoder, the sense of community was high at this gig as well.  The afterhang(get used to it, I’ll be using it to death) was fantastic, even for me who has never really met the band.  Matt gave several shout outs to musicians in the audience with recent releases from onstage, and received Paul and Jeff’s gift of the new Albert Ayler boxset onstage as well.  You could feel the love.  The community is so important.

Side note: I may have lied in the last post.  I think I need to buy this boxset and go through a serious Ayler phase before hitting Braxton.  It wouldn’t be right not to, and I think this boxset is a beacon.  Also, I’m from Cleveland and feel like a chump for not knowing enough(hardly anything, actually) about Ayler.  THEN I’ll get into Braxton city.

So buy this record, or any other Matt Wilson quartet record.  They’re great, and they don’t get much appreciation.  I’ll be going to Arts and Crafts in February, and Trio M in May.

*This is a huge nut to crack, but one that I plan to crack in the future.  My goal is to lessen the stress of the perceived n-chotomies in Jazz to strengthen, if only in my own mind, the community.  It’s a lofty goal.  You’ll see glimpses of it, but it will be a while before I can make a well informed attempt at surveying the situation and posting meaningful thoughts.

—

Merry Christmas everyone.  Feel lucky that you love music and get to play or listen to it whenever you would like.  I certainly did, this year especially.  My move to NYC has been the most important and meaningful thing I’ve ever done.  I feel that by taking the plunge and putting something on the line, I’m truly living for a purpose.  To all thinking about it: I have never been happier than when I followed Billy Hart’s advice: “If you want to play the music, move here tomorrow.  There is no point in waiting.”  It will be hard, there will be challenges, but I wouldn’t trade a second of it.  Plus, us jazz musicians take care of our own, something I’ve learned in a huge way since I’ve come here.

In the New Year, I plan on covering a wide range of topics.  I’m not sure if I’m going to post a schedule, for fear of running out of time and not delivering, but I’m going to continue reviewing gigs, probably start to speak on some records, post some transcriptions, and keep all who are reading informed of my experiences as a musician in New York(with a day job, but you have to start somewhere).  Please keep reading, there’s nothing quite like being read and told that you’re interesting.

There are a couple gigs I’m seeing next week, I’ll keep you posted.  Bad Plus and John Zorn are the best bet.  Maybe some Johnny O’Neal?

Thanks for reading.

—Martin

It worked.  The concept for the gig was to write one tune for each member who had been in Wynton’s septet in its heyday.  That means 15 tunes including himself.  It’s good, I don’t hear many original 60s style originals in NYC(probably just the company I keep).  The two that stood out were the one for Marcus and Wynton, unsurprisingly.  Marcus’ didn’t sound like something he would write, but Wynton’s sounded like it was designed for Wynton to tear it to shreds.  Funny thing, because Wynton walked in as they were starting the tune.  Phrygian modal, at up-Coltrane quartet tempo.  Think any Knozz Moe you’ve ever heard.

It was cool, Wynton was actually tearing up at the sound of it.  Warmdaddy told me in the afterhang that his plan was to get each namesake on each tune, with Marcus, Herlin, and Reginald being the rhythm section on each.  I would by the shit out of that record.  Wynton was really touched by his tune.  It was called “The Skain-ish One”.  Good title.  Anyway, Wynton stayed for the rest of the set and for the afterhang, and really dug Alfonso’s playing.  I did too, but he wasn’t in his element, I don’t think.  Serious trumpet playing though, really in control.  Nervous by the presence of Wynton, I’m sure(although Wynton was openly vocal about digging him.  Gave him a talking to afterwards, I think)!  Wes IV didn’t seem to mind.  He just played the shit out of the horn, with a post-Westray flair.

Young musicians in that school are really making a tradition out of it, I find, revering people such as Herlin and Kenny in conversation, knowing a lot about all of those records.   It’s truly become a school rather than just a hanging on to a  movement.  It’s slightly separatist, but I appreciate it more than the people coming out of the “Younger” Lions school, the Christian McBride/Roy Hargrove crowd.  They seem to be more open, if only to specific traditions.

Regardless, the rhythm section played great, you could tell that they had played together.  They played a different kind of thing than Wes though; Wes has a lot of different styles under his belt, and not all of them worked with the vibe that the rhythm section was creating.  They also seemed to tighten up a bit behind the other two horn players.  Some of the solos were great, Aaron killed the song for Marcus, and Yasushi was a more prominent soloist than usual.  Killing it with some double stops and other really melodic things.  The man knows how to voice-lead.  He also shies away from cliches, a disease which afflicts more NYC bassists than other instruments by far.  Wes of course was great.  He’s got so much together as far as tradition goes.  A great melodic voice, but one that can throw down when needed.  He once said to me, “It’s all just triads.”  one day I’ll see if he’s lying or not.

Also interestingly, Anthony Braxton is one of his best friends.  When I commented on how weird that was, he took me down to candle level and said in a low voice “there are not many people who understand Charlie Parker at the level that Braxton does, don’t forget it!”  Shocked me.  I haven’t had a massive Braxton phase yet, but it is definitely next on my list for Sax players.  I just need to figure out my current thing first, with Lacy, Dolphy, Griffin, Byas, and Golson, then I’m right on it.  After learning whatever language the Tri-Axium writings is in, of course.  And saving up three years to get through half of his recordings.  Maybe I’ll segue on over from Lacy’s solo records.  That’s not a bad idea actually, lines up pretty well.

Wynton and everybody in that scene is so cool in the afterhang as well.  Different than Ohad’s, for example, which is totally casual.  When I’m afterhanging(that’s a word now, by the way.  Jazz musicians have unbridled creativity, no?) with the JALC crowd, I always feel like I’m in class.  They are always aware of the learning opportunities for younger musicians, because that’s how they learned.  It’s good, because we have to work harder these days to get in that situation(or you can be an annoying shadow, like me).  Some people think that it’s annoying(“The Preachers” they call them), but I don’t mind it, at least not yet.  Getting to know peoples’ opinion is the first step.  You can learn a lot by putting what you know of a musician’s opinion together with your knowledge of their music.  For me, it’s the best way to analyze a person’s connection to their music.

So, good gig, not too Christmas-y, but for the love of all that is good, watch out for that record.  Could be a fire hazard.

Tomorrow, one more Yuletide post before it’s back to losing holiday weight and shedding.

Me: “Damn, Wes, what are you feeding that kid?”

Wes: “Vegetables, Coltrane records, Grits, and Cheerios!”

—Martin