Holographic Necrophilia

Very glad to see that the holographic techs and entrepreneurs have expanded the resurrection of dead musicians into more than just an audio experience. Now it's time to take it a step further and bring back those who've been paired in recordings to an audience hungry for the 3 (and soon to be 4)-D concert experience. 

These pairings, already put together for stage and records, are a no-brainer for on-stage holograms: Natalie with Nat., Celine Dion and Sinatra, Ol Blue Eyes and Hayley Reinhart, Lauren Hill and Bob Marley, Lisa-Marie and Elvis and, of course, Rod Stewart and Ella Fitzgerald, 

The real test for these holographic pioneers will be whether, instead of the usual bathetic, analog, two-dimensional pictures, they are ready to trot out Bob Marley, Lisa Marie and the rest not only as adults, but as cutie pie multi-dimensional three-year-olds and mischievous, precocious teens.

Yes, pairing Rod and Ella is like sinking a leaf blower engine into a Ferrari; like putting Twinkie creme filling into a Godiva chocolate; like putting Donald Trump's hair on Sophia Loren's head. It shouldn't even be conceived of.  It shouldn't be done. But it has been, and it will. 

                     

And remember, you holographic entrepreneurs: it was our idea to do this. Pay up, or the Institute will sic its phalanx of attorneys on you.

The Rahsaan Program

An hour and a half of music celebrating the great spirit Rahsaan Roland Kirk on the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour, WZBC, 8/6/15.

Listen HERE. If clocking that doesn't work, try this: https://goo.gl/wqDAiu

PLAYLIST

Triple Threat, Triple Threat-King, 1956  

Our Love Is Here To Stay, Introducing Roland Kirk, Argo, 1960

Kirk's Work Roland Kirk & Jack McDuff, Prestige, 1961 

We Free Kings, Mercury, 1961

I Talk With The Spirits, Limelight, 1964

Peggy's Blue Skylight, Tonight at Noon, Atlantic 1965 

Inflated Tear The Black and Crazy Blues, A Laugh for Rory, Many Blessings, Atlantic ,1967

Volunteered Slavery, Atlantic, 1969

Runnin' From the Trash, Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata-Atlantic, 1971

Bright Moments- Atlantic, recorded at Keystone Korner, San Francisco, June 1973 

Ain't No Sunshine From Blacknuss, Atlantic,1972

Pedal Up, Down Beat 1975 poll-winners' show

Anysha, Other Folks' Music, Atlantic, 1976

Watergate blues, Boogie-Woogie String Along For Real,Warner Bros, 1977

Theme for the Eulipions, The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man, Warner Bros., 1976

I Eye eye Montreux Jazz Festival video, 1972

New Orleans Trumpets and the Lowly Hankie

I know what you're saying: finally, a post that combines jazz and handkerchiefs...

Truth is, the lowly handkerchief has a venerable presence in New Orleans jazz trumpet. Maybe it's the humidity. One of the first great New Orleans trumpeters, Freddie Keppard, played with a handkerchief covering his valves-at least when he thought other trumpet players were close enough to cop his fingerings, although Sidney Bechet disputes that. Freddie seems to have been paranoid enough about other players copping his licks that he apparently ceded the chance to make the first "jazz" recording to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

Tommy Ladnier, another user of the handkerchief. 

Benny Golson Show

The Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour of 7.23.15 on WZBC.ORG, 90.3 featured Benny Golson, one of the most singular talents in jazz: tenor sax master, arranger and composer of some of the great jazz tunes: Stablemates, Whisper Not, I Remember Clifford...

Listen HERE.

PLAYLIST

Benny Golson Nonet "Whisper Not" from "Benny Golson's New York Scene" (Jazz, 1957) on Contemporary Records 

Benny Golson Quintet  "Something In B Flat" from "Benny Golson's New York Scene" (Jazz, 1957) on Contemporary Records 

Benny Golson Sextet "Step Lightly" from "The Modern Touch" (Jazz, 1957) on Riverside 

Benny Golson Sextet "Hymn To the Orient" from "The Modern Touch" (Jazz, 1957) on Riverside 

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers "Blues For Marcel" from "Des_Femmes_Disparaissent_(Soundtrack)" (Jazz, 1958) 

Benny Golson And The Philadelphians "Stablemates" from "Benny Golson And The Philadelphians" (Jazz, 1958) on United Artists 

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers "Along Came Betty" from "Moanin'" (Jazz, 1958) on Blue Note 

Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet "Along came Betty" from "Another Git Together" (Jazz, 1962) on Mercury 

Benny Golson Quintet "A Bit of Heaven" from "Gone With Golson" (Jazz, 1959) on Prestige 

Benny Golson (solo) "You're My Thrill" from "Take A Number From 1 To 10" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

Benny Golson (duo) "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" from "Take A Number From 1 To 10" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

Benny Golson Quintet "Little Karin" from "Take A Number From 1 To 10" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

The Jazztet "Farmer's Market" from "Jazztet at Birdhouse" (Jazz, 1961) on ARGO 

Annie Ross "Farmer's Market" from "Farmer" (1952) on Prestige 

The Jazztet and John Lewis "Milano" from "The Jazztet and John Lewis" (Jazz, 1961) on ARGO 

Benny Golson's Orchestra "You're Driving Me Crazy / Moten Swing" from "Pop+Jazz=Swing" (Jazz, 1962) on Audio Fidelity 

Benny Golson's Orchestra "Ornithology / How High The Moon" from "Pop+Jazz=Swing" (Jazz, 1962) on Audio Fidelity 

Art Farmer - Benny Golson Sextet "Killer Joe" from "Meet the Jazztet" (Jazz, 1960) on ARGO 

Manhattan Transfer "Killer Joe" from "Vocalese" (Jazz, 1985) on Atlantic 

Benny Golson Quartet "Mad About the Boy" from "Free" (Jazz, 1963) on ARGO 

Benny Golson And The International Jazz Orchestra "Stockholm Sojourn" from "Stockholm Sojourn" (Jazz, 1964) on Prestige 

Benny Golson Sextet "If I should Lose You" from "Just Jazz" (Jazz, 1962) on Audio Fidelity 

Jazz Bass Technique Evolution-Pt. 2

The question inspiring these bass posts is: Has the playing on this instrument progressed farther technically than on any other jazz instrument?

In Part One, we listened to foundational tuba and bass players from the 20's and 30's. We'll pick up now starting with Jimmy Blanton who, if not the first "modern" player, has as good a claim to that title as anyone.

Jimmy Blanton

Blanton's strong regional reputation led him to Duke Ellington's band in 1939, where he played until he died in 1942, at age 23, from TB.

Slam Stewart had the technique of the walking bass line down, but was also unique in his ability to bow solos and sing/hum along with them (see my previous post on arco-bowed-bass playing.

Jazz Bass Technique Evolution

Watching Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten led me to ask whether the technique used to play any instrument in jazz has evolved farther from its beginnings than the bass:
                                     

 

The role of the bass in early jazz was to keep time and harmony, a more limiting role than that taken by horn players, who were free to create and embellish melodies and counter-lines. So, you had Bechet, Armstrong, Morton, Hawkins, Dodds, etc., able to take all the technique they'd acquired and put it in service to the music. It's also relevant that until the early 1930's, in order to make a living, players had to learn to play both string bass and tuba, instruments requiring very different techniques.

Early bass and tuba players in jazz occasionally stepped out beyond their usual role, but going too far, too often, in a polyphonic and/or horn-dominated environment would have meant straying too far from the anchoring role the bass was expected to play. One does get a whiff of an untapped reservoir of technique from the occasional startling solo and the overall assurance of the playing.

Here's Bill Johnson, slapping and bowing. Interesting that it's in the "primitive" musical context of jug and comb-kazoo:


Here's Steve Brown, making sure he's audible by bowing his way through the tune and playing a tricky bowed-plucked solo:

Bob Dylan and the Jazz Avant-Garde

Bob Dylan performed at the 80th Sinatra birthday tribute in 1995. In 2004, he joined forces with Wynton Marsalis at a benefit concert for Jazz at Lincoln Center and his 2015 release, Shadows in the Night was, let's say, jazz-informed, but early on in his career, Dylan had truck with edgier jazz folk.

While not on the level of finding the lost Buddy Bolden cylinder, it would be interesting to hear a recording of Bob Dylan and Cecil Taylor when they jammed on The Water is Wide in the early 1960's. Dylan mentions this session in his Chronicles, Vol 1 and adds: "Cecil could play regular piano if he wanted to." Note that Tom Wilson, Dylan's producer at this time, produced Cecil Taylor's first LP, Jazz Advance. 

Cecil Taylor

Bob and Tom Wilson

Here's the tune in a 1975 incarnation, with Dylan and Joan Baez.

Dylan says he also jammed with Ornette Coleman associates drummer Billy Higgins and trumpeter Don Cherry. No specific tunes are mentioned.

                                          
Listen to the group and imagine what you will.

These musical intersections happened, says Dylan: "...at a creepy...little coffeehouse on Bleeker Street near Thompson run by a character called the Dutchman." I'm surmising it was the Cafe Rafio, at 165 Bleecker. 

Dylan also says that he crashed a Thelonius Monk rehearsal where he told Monk that he played folk music. Monk's reply: "We all play folk music."

Thanks to Elijah Wald for passing on much of the info in this post. Be on the lookout for Elijah's book on the 50th anniversary of Dylan going electric at Newport. It's due out in a couple of weeks. Go here for info.

 

Miles is to Picasso as Who is to Whom

In a well-known interview with Sonny Rollins and Gary Bartz, Miles Davis is likened to Picasso. Like Miles, Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane went through cycles of intense artistic change; less so, other of the musicians in this post: Bix, Red Allen, Hampton and Shepp. And, like Picasso, the artists here sometimes had a dominant style and sometimes went through significant changes (not to mention working in different media). But, since this is pure subjectivity, not scholarly research, I'm using a single well-known work by the musicians and artists to present a simple case for their aesthetic linkage. Look and listen.

Bix and Joan Miro.                            

***************

Coleman Hawkins and John Marin
                     

More Live Music on the Duplex

Acting under a strict injunction by the FCC to get live jazz on the airwaves, the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour on WZBC.ORG this week featured in-studio playing by tenor saxophonist Rich Halley and trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, members of the Rich Halley 4, which played at the outpost186 on 5.22.15. I also played a few recordings by the band. Other members of the group are Clyde Reed on bass and Carson Halley on drums.

Listen to this one hour show HERE.

Charlie Kohlhase on the Duplex

Charlie K., one of the main folks on the Boston jazz scene, guested on the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour on WZBC, 5.14.15. I played some tracks featuring Charlie and he was also kind enough to allow me to put him on the spot with some blindfold tests, which are scattered throughout the program.

You can hear it HERE.

Playlist

Charlie Kohlhase Quintet "Tout De Moi" from "Plays Roswell Rudd" (Jazz, 2000) on NADA 

Charlie Kohlhase Quintet "Emanation" from "Plays Roswell Rudd" (Jazz, 2000) on NADA 

Red Rodney "Dig This" from "Quintets 1955-59" (Jazz, 1955) on Fresh Sound 

Kenny Dorham "Sunrise in Mexico" from "Whistle Stop" (Jazz, 1961) on Blue Note 

Charlie Kolhase "Decide for Yourself" from "Adventures" (Jazz, 2009) on Boxholder 

Bob Dorough "Right On My Way Home" from "Right on My Way Home" (Jazz, 1997) on Blue Note 

Serge Chaloff "Keen and Peachy" from "Keen and Peachy" (Jazz, 1950) on Uptown 

Charlie Kolhase Quintet "Eventuality`" from "Eventuality" (Jazz, 2000) on NADA 

Fud Livingston "Humpty - Dumpty" from "The Story of F.L." (Jazz, 2009) on Jazz Oracle 

Charlie Kolhase "Mergens Merganser" from "You Start" (Jazz, 2000) on Boxholder 

Ron Miles "Erase Yourself" from "My Cruel Heart" (Jazz, 1996) on Gramavision 

Mario Pavane Sextet "Day of the Dark Bright Light" from "Deez to Blues" (Jazz, 2006) on Playscape 

Cab Calloway & Chu Berry "Special Delivery" from "Penguin Swing" (Jazz, 1938) on Archives of Jazz 

Jazz, Junk, Cool and Nostalgia

So, who gives a crap about nostalgia, that fatuous relict of Ye Olde Bullshit Shoppe? I do.

nos.tal.gia. From two Greek words: nostos (homesickness) and algos (pain).

Notwithstanding the abuse it takes, nostalgia is a singular brain state of happy/sad/hyper-self conscious/free-floating-ness that feels like nothing else. When any emotional state grabs me that hard, I pay attention.

Jazz-the music itself-doesn't traffic much in nostalgia, although jazz-the listeners-with their wax and catalogues, do. Jazz musicians are known for not wanting to listen to their own old recordings, but name me a jazz fan who can't tell you the first album they bought.

                                

Out-and-out schmaltz, like Jackie Gleason jazz records, or schticky trad bands are more bathetic than nostalgic. Unrooted in any particular time, they lack the weight to induce nostalgia, although they may induce a treacly simulacrum. In fact, I think there's an anomalous combination of elements that can make it happen in jazz.
                     
                             Shmaltz + Cool = nostalgia.

Miles, then, would seem to be a candidate-plays a lot of ballads and medium tempi, often uses the harmon mute, cultivates an elusive persona-but his playing lacks schmaltz, which keeps it cool and non-nostalgic. (Miles Davis, the Bertolt Brecht of jazz?)

Chet Baker's pose is emotionally distant, like Miles, but Baker's music has the schmaltz and is nostalgic. His drug habit makes sense in this context. Heavy dope is not about being here now. The Now is Just Too Much. It's about retreating to a place of your own imagining; hassle-free, light (not heavy), but not without bittersweetness. This is also a credible definition of nostalgia. We relate to the music with a sigh, a sense of yearning, an emotional attachment to the notes. 

I don't know of a lot of tracks in jazz that use the word "nostalgia." The two below are the most well-known and are often covered. The first, by Fats Navarro, is in a medium tempo and actually has many of the qualities I defined as nostalgic. Despite the fact that Fats was one of the most declamatory trumpet players, he tempers his style and his solo here fits well in the emotional framework established by the song.

We think of Charles Mingus as one of the least nostalgic players-and people; seemingly, always searching for new musical routes, staunchly in the moment, to the extent that his groups were "workshops" and he taught his musicians their parts by singing them. He also had a streak of violence we don't associate with nostalgia.

While the tempo of this tune is slightly slower than the Navarro, the rhythmic approach is choppy and the second restatement of the tune is even choppier, which actually makes it seem faster. There is a fair amount of dissonance in the melody and little of the lilt and legato of the Navarro. Being nostalgic in Times Square is no simple matter.


OK, now to contrast Miles and Chet, here are their versions of My Funny Valentine. Of course, Miles never sang, and that makes a hell of a difference, but just listen to their horn solos.





Kudos, contrary opinions, suggestions for inclusion, elision and relevant EKG's are welcome.

Was turned on to Svetlana Boym by Artemis Nasby. Found a great essay about nostalgia written by her here.

Pepper, Desmond and Shank

Not a law firm. Art Pepper, Paul Desmond and Bud Shank are white alto sax players who eschewed the hard-edged sound and harmonic approach of Charlie Parker. There were other well-known white sax players in the 1950's: Phil Woods, Joe Maini, Herb Geller and Charlie Mariano who, because of their approach and tone, fell more into the lineage of Charlie Parker. I'd call Gene Quill a borderline case, with one foot in each camp. 

To a large extent, Pepper, Desmond and Shank became the (alto sax) personification of the West Coast versus East Coast schism and represented a lightning rod for racial tension in jazz during the 50's and 60's (the New York-based Lee Konitz did also, but to a lesser degree).

This tension is a major subplot in Straight Life, the Story of Art Pepper. A fascinating read, Pepper's jumble of self-delusion, introspection and braggadocio is not the place to go for an objective examination of social issues. But, although clearly sometimes a prick, Pepper is convincing in his descriptions of the resentment that some black musicians felt toward him and the insults he suffered as a result of being white and playing jazz.

I'm not going to try and parse out the threads of the racism/reverse-racism issue–abandon hope all who enter there. But, there are some interesting questions that can be asked. Were there black musicians playing in this softer, non-Bird style? Were they not being recorded because of the same recording industry biases that prevented black bands from being recorded in the 1920's playing anything but "hot" music? Did group/political pressure keep black musicians from pursuing this avenue of creative approach? These white musicians seemed to be consciously trying to carve out a different musical space-was it inevitable they end up sharing so much of the same space, one that prioritized sweetness of sound, ballad playing, slightly less blues emphasis and the creation of melodic lines instead of vertical chord delineation? 

It would take hundreds of tracks to properly characterize how these guys sound, but I'll present a ballad and an up tempo performance from each to give a sense of their playing. First, ballads.

Art Pepper


Paul Desmond


Bud Shank (starts at :53)


And, uptempo.
Bud Shank (Cooper solos first)


Pepper


Desmond-(hard to find uptempo, rhythm-changes-type tracks like Scrapple)


My take: Pepper's tone is slightly more tart than the others. Desmond uses the most vibrato, then Shank and Pepper. In the uptempo tracks, a non-Bird approach seems to fall naturally under Pepper's fingers. Shank falls back more on Bird, but does find other pathways through the changes, albeit in a seemingly less natural way. Desmond's uptempo approach is all about the lines. It's more spare and he plays behind the beat more often. In sum, though, there is a very strong resemblance in their playing.

In any case, and broader cultural questions aside, I'm happy to hear any of these guys blow in a playlist that also includes hard boppers like Gigi Gryce, Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Criss...

As happens more and more often, the discussion about this post is happening not here, but on social media. If you want to read that discussion, go here. You're also welcome to leave a comment here.

Unaccompanied solos, Live and Recorded

Happy to have baritone sax player Zach Mayer on the 4/9/15 ‪Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour on WZBC.
Also, happy to jam with him (at about the half-hour mark). The live playing is interspersed with the recordings.

Check out the playlist. There will be some things you know and probably some you don't.


LISTEN HERE.

Charlie Parker's Earliest Recording 1940 ~ Honeysuckle Rose/Body and Soul‬-4:00

Coleman Hawkins "Picasso" from "Picasso" (1948) on Verve 3:15

‪Artie Shaw- These Foolish Things‬--Decca 1953 3:12"

Chet Baker- "Spring is Here" from "Chet With Strings" 1954) on Columbia 1:15

Mike Brecker- "‪Funky Sea, Funky Dew ‬part 2" from "‪Funky Sea, Funky Dew ‬part 2" 1980 on youtube-7:50 0

Eric Dolphy- "God Bless the Child (1961) [Live]" from "The Illinois Concert" (1963) on Blue Note 8'50"

Tom Harrell- "Joy Spring" from Helen Merrill's "Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown" (1995) Verve-4'

‪McCoy Tyner- "In A Sentimental Mood‬" from "In A Sentimental Mood" (1974) 6:30

Bob Mintzer- ‪Bass Clarinet Solo.mp4‬-"Improvization" youtube-3:20

Thomas Kneeland- "Confirmation" (Jazz) on youtube--2'50"

John Coltrane- "I Want to Talk ABout You" from "Live at Birdland" (Jazz, 1964) on Impulse! 8:15

‪Anthony Braxton "#5" from "Alto Saxophone Improvisations‬" (1979) on Arista #5-4'30"

Carol Sloan- "Never Never Land" from "live" (Jazz, 1985) on youtube- 2'

‪Jimmy Giuffre‬- "The Sheepherder" from "‪The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet 1956‬" (1956) on Capital 5'30"

‪Wynton Marsalis- "Stardust‬" from "Stardust" on youtube- 2'

‪Robin Eubanks- "Intro to Blues for Jimi‬" from "Intro to Blues for Jimi" on youtube- 3'30"

Joe Pass -"‪Joe's Blues‬" from "‪Joe's Blues‬" (Jazz) on youtube-5'30"

Bobby McFerrin- "Drive" from "Live" 1987 on youtube-faded out

Charlie Shavers Re-Mix

[I first wrote about Charlie Shavers a couple of years ago and since then, have noticed signs that increased attention is being paid to this great trumpet player (pure coincidence, I'm sure). I have expanded that piece, added new links and new commentary]

I first heard Shavers many years ago playing on Billie Holliday''s Verve LP "Solitude"- my favorite Lady Day record. Charlie's playing, both open and muted, was beautiful. I don't know why I didn't pursue his discography at that point; it just kind of spun out over time and I have grown to increasingly dig Shaver's facility, creativity and tone.

The only other swing trumpet players who could give Charlie Shavers a run for his money as both soloist and lead player were Roy Eldridge, Harry Edison and Buck Clayton. If you happened to like the particularities of their sounds, you might say Harry James, Cootie Williams, Bunny Berigan or Red Allen were in his league. Shavers' tone was basically 'poppin', but rounder, slightly less edged and with a touch more vibrato than the others. His range was unsurpassed, except by Eldridge. He used mutes to great effect throughout his career.

Shavers was an alumnus of the Tiny Bradshaw, Lucky Millinder and John Kirby, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman bands and Jazz at the Philharmonic. He recorded and sounded perfectly at home in many styles-blues, traditional, swing, semi-bop.

There's a dearth of info out there about the man. There is one very cool interview with him here, and what he says about the trumpet will surprise you. In this interview with Bobby Shew, there is a reference to Charlie's having what seems to be narcolepsy.

Whether or not he had that kind of medical condition or not he seems to have been an extremely laid back possibly even passive, guy. It's interesting to speculate on how his personality interacted with his career-especially his recording career-as many of the recordings he made in mid-to-late career (he died at age 50) were not very good. Producers put him in settings they thought would make him appeal to a bigger audience. On some of these, he is simply a high note guy and on some, a "beautiful music" guy. He probably had neither the clout nor the personality that would have made him push back against any of these musical follies.


Here's Charlie with Johnny Dodds in 1938 playing the mistitled tune "Melancholy."

This is the Charlie Shavers Quintet in 1947 doing "Dizzy's Dilemna."

Here's Charlie and Lady Day, 1952, on "Moonglow."

Here he is in 1952 with Eldridge in one of the classic JATP "battles."

One of the few clips of Charlie has him here in another fantastic "battle" with Buck Clayton:

Here he is holding down the solo and first chair at the same time for the Dorseys:



Here he is with his first major gig-John Kirby. Sid Catlett is fantastic:




And finally, here he is not long before his death. Dig the violinist Svend Asmussen. You might also recognize the bass player and the tenor player:

Blindfolding Russ Gershon

Listen as Russ Gershon, the brave and intrepid Boston bandleader, musician, composer, arranger faces off against the musical unknown. On the Duplex Mystery Jazz Hour, WZBC, 90.3 FM with Steve Provizer, 03/12/2015 5:00 to 07:00 PM.

Listen here for download and here to stream.

Playlist. Don't look, if you want to play along.

Before his arrival:

Either Orchestra "Nutty Ode to Billie Joe" from "Radium" (1989), Accurate Records

Either Orchestra "The Petrograd Revision" from "Mood Music for Time Travelers" 2010, Accurate Records

Either Orchestra "Born In a Suitcase" from "Radium" (1989) on Accurate Records

Either Orchestra "Suriname" from "Mood Music for Time Travellers" 2010 on Accurate Records

Either/Orchestra "Hard To Know" from "Radium" (Jazz, 1989) on Accurate Records 

Down to work:

Henry Red Allen "Love is Just Around the Corner" from "World On a String" 1957 Bluebird 

Phil Woods "Lemon Drop" from "Early Quintets" 1959) on Prestige 

John Tchicai "Sumolle" from "Hope Is Bright" 2002 on CIMP 

Donald Byrd & Pepper Adams "Day Dreams" from "Out of this World" (Jazz, 1961) on Compulsion 

Dexter Gordon "Our Love is Here to Stay" from "Our Man in Paris" 1963 on Blue Note 

Serge Chaloff "Keen and Peachy" from "Boston" 1950 on Uptown 

MIles Davis Sextet "Out of the Blue" from "Live at Birdland" 1952 on Fresh Sound 

Bix Beiderbecke "Trumbology" from "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" (Jazz, 1927) on Okeh 

James Carter Organ Trio "Tis the Old Ship of Zion" from "At the Crossroads" (Jazz, 2011) on Decca 

Piano as Percussion Instrument (Inspired by McCoy)

Herr Liszt

Pianos are percussion instruments (Nice history here). Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin and company did not write namby-pamby music and the evolution of the piano was spurred, in many ways, by trying to make the instrument play louder and faster.

Jazz pianists took full advantage of the piano's dynamic range, although there have always been widely different approaches to "touch." Early stride players like James P. Johnson, Willie the Lion Smith and Lucky Roberts were called "two-fisted" players. They were likelier to work the keyboard harder than those players coming through the more "modern" jazz vector of Earl Hines and Teddy Wilson, who put more emphasis on the right hand and, rather than striding (breaking up the chord in oom-pah fashion), using the left hand to just play the chord.

The bop pianists, Bud Powell, Tadd Dameron, Al Haig and company, were mainly occupied with right hand lines and block chords and tended to play in the mezzo forte to forte range most of the time. Art Tatum, Jaki Byard, Oscar Peterson, Jimmy Rowles and others continued to utilize both bop and stride approaches. Thelonius Monk and Count Basie used both stride and line approaches also, but were, in some ways, sui generis.

This post is not meant to be an omnibus catalogue of jazz pianistic touch, however, but to emphasize the more percussive end of the spectrum. We'll start with two of the premiere stride, or "Harlem" style pianists, contrasted with two seminal bop players.

Jazz on Film: Caveat Emptor

There are good documentaries about jazz. A person can see the films listed on this site and walk away without reaching for the gas pipe. But, as the furor around the film Whiplash (well, to jazz people it was furor) reminds us, it's wise to keep the bar low.

When Hollywood does jazz, it should stick to hagiography and cheesy romance: The Benny Goodman story, the Fabulous Dorseys, the Glenn Miller story; these are really just the Lindbergh, Curie and Young Abe Lincoln stories with clarinets and bobby socks. Henry Fonda coulda played Miller and Jimmy Stewart coulda been Lincoln. Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith as trumpet players in Second Chorus, competing for Paulette Goddard? No problem. These movies are a nice, comfortable roll in the lowest common denominator hay. And, of course, any time Louis Armstrong is on, he lights up the screen. Ditto, Hoagy Carmichael.

But, when the egomaniacs in L.A. go all arty and pseudo-egghead on us and decide they have to "explain" jazz and jazz musicians, it's a formula for disaster.

Remember your initial excitement when you heard about "Round Midnight," and about "Bird"? Remember your disappointment after you saw them? Why didn't they let Dexter play anything up tempo! Why did they make Bird a man-child! Why did they strip the original rhythm section off the sound track! Bird didn't look like that when he played! Is every black man a tragic figure and every white man a dolt?

Possibly the most exasperating example of the genre is "Jung Man With a..." Sorry: "Young Man With a Horn." The insane ilk of psycho-babble that oozes through this movie like celluloid arteriosclerosis makes me think Professor Irwin Corey had a hand in the screenplay. Kirk Douglas/Bix Beiderbecke has "one wing" then falls for the broken pseudo-shrink Bacall who has a pet macaw? She smashes your 78's? I hate to see that; even if they're just Caruso on Victor. You're right, Kirk/Bix, she is "dirty and twisted inside," while you-were-born-to-play-the-trumpet-and-can-only-communicate-through-that-damn-horn. Why, oh why do they try and foist off that juvenile premise: "I want to play the note that no one else has ever played?" Bejasus.

Don't ask me if the same 4th-class Freudianisms befoul the Dorothy Baker novel it was based on. I can only deal with psychic effluvia in one genre at a time. "Based on the life of Bix Beiderbecke"-my moldy toenail. Harry James is the film's music adviser and dubs the trumpet parts. James is a great player, but his style bears as much resemblance to Bix's as, well-you finish the analogy. Kirk Douglas pushes the trumpet valves convincingly and has the appropriate unyielding embouchure and convincing lunatic gleam in his eye.  

Happily, the movie is quite informative for all you trumpet players out there, as there are at least 4 mentions of the loathsome "roll" in this movie. You know, where the mouthpiece gets too low on your lower lip? You better correct it pronto, or I will strap you in this comfy chair and force you to listen to cinematic dialogue about trumpet rolls until your chops fall off.

I suppose it's not really the aspiring filmmaker's fault. They're not gonna raise a lot of money to make a movie-insightful or not-about jazz, unless it's about Miles Davis, who is now the only jazz musician that Americans can name. We'll see how Mr. Cheadle makes out with Miles, but when you walk into the multiplex, my advice is: caveat jazz emptor.