(Reflections by Lance/ Photo of Greg Abate courtesy of Malcolm Sinclair)
Is this the end of jazz as I know it? The
CDs that arrive daily from various points on the globe make me wonder
if I'm not on the edge of a personal jazz Armageddon.
Some albums I find difficult to
identify as jazz at all although I suppose it is. Improvisation, originality
and - most certainly - the sound of surprise is there and yet I find it
difficult to equate it with the music that drew me to jazz in the first place.
The thrill of discovering the Eddie
Condon, Muggsy Spanier bands. The Armstrong All-stars, Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Herman and, at home,
the big bands of Ted Heath, Dankworth, Vic Lewis. Discovering Bird and Diz, the
Jazz Messengers, Stan Getz, Tubby Hayes and so many more. Somehow, for me, the
present has yet to catch up with the past.
Many of the albums I receive
are fantastic and I rave over them but, in the cold light of morning, I think,
will I ever play these albums over and over again like I did with: Mingus
Ah Um, Concert by the Sea, Ella Sings Gershwin (duo w. Ellis
Larkins), Art Pepper Plus Eleven, Songs For Swinging Lovers, Jazz at
Oberlin, Atomic Mr Basie, Historically Speaking the Duke?
Will I ever hear anything to top the Newcastle
City Hall concerts by Basie, Ellington, Hampton, Herman, Kenton, JATP,
Gillespie, Brubeck, Ella, Oscar, Armstrong, Ory, MJQ, Miles, Maynard and
so many more? Who knows?
I'd like to think so but
probably not. Admirable as the jazz courses at colleges across the land are -
the end products, at a technical level, are greater by far than anything
produced by, say Lester, Louis even Dizzy and most of the other jazz greats - but who can identify this
new breed from hearing just one or two notes?
Nobody, and that's what's
missing from so much of today's jazz.
Correction! Next Thursday (Nov. 7), at the Black Swan Arts Centre in Newcastle JNE present Greg Abate with the Paul Edis Trio and thus lay waste to all of the above! Greg is the real deal do not miss it and, if you want more - and you will - Greg and Paul play a duo set at the Gala Theatre in Durham the following lunchtime. These are a couple of gigs you will miss at your peril - be warned!
Lance.
3 comments :
I know he's by now one of the old guard but I believe Kenny Garrett is a unique voice, which is probably why Miles worked with him so much in latter years
Come on Lance, this must be a wind up? Trying to get some more traffic going on BSH?
A proper "youth of today" would just smile and post LOL and few emojis in response ;)
Still, since I'm not youth any more, I'll have a go, as I'm familiar with this line from my kids when I tell them that bands today aren't a patch on when I was a lad : Mahavishnu, Nucleus, Hendrix, Soft Machine etc - Steve T knows the score.
After some years of active listening to "new" music (post 2000?) I can make a few of my own (personal and flawed) observations. I guess these won't change what Lance hears - this stuff is all personal and a unique product of our own individual musical journey and history.
1. "Jazz" is wider, deeper and more "developed" now than in any previous era - far more diverse than the era of the one true authentic way of swing/bop (with its own British strand) so loved (justifiably of course) by Lance;
2. we have unrivalled and privileged access to live and recorded music now, and even if 1. (above) isn't true, then it seems like it to me ;
3. the changed nature of the music industry and streaming doesn't lend itself to a small roster of jazz "superstars" and heroes (and also makes it darn' difficult to make a living for musicians);
4. Lance may not recognise them, but even to my sceptical ears there are highly distinctive and unmistakable voices today, even playing in and visiting the North East! From the new wave of (under-5Os?) on the world stage I give you Tigran, Adam Baldych, Mehldau, Kamasi, Christian Scott, Yazz Ahmed, Snarky Puppy, Marcus Gilmore, Simcock, Avishai Cohen (x2!). I'm confident there are jazz listeners out there in abundance who could pass the two note test with these artists!
If he needs an introduction to some distinctive voices, then perhaps tomorrow's Jazz Record Requests special on ECM's 50th birthday (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009zpp) would be a good reminder of some other"two-note" masters - Garbarek, Metheny and Jarrett?
Anyway, Lance, thanks as ever for the provocation, and my realisation that there is more than enough great music out there for all of us to enjoy. I hope you find what you're looking for in your pile of CDs, but remember that your first love is the most intense, and you're asking a lot to re-live that thrill again!
Chris K
I know what you mean Lance. Thanks to the excellent college run jazz courses we now have a superb pool of jazz musicians, who as you say, are technically superior to the past players who you and I grew up with. But to me there is a lack of uniqueness and individualism that earmarked players such as Pee Wee Russell, Wild Bill Davison, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker and many more. Obviously there are a few exceptions but I'm sure that you and I could identify literally dozens of musicians from the period of which you speak, simply because nobody else played like them!
Gordon Solomon.
Post a Comment