Jazz of the 90s

The free-jazz cats over at Destination: Out continue to kick up a fuss in the jazz portion of the blogosphere. The dust has just about settled on their latest provocation: Best Jazz of the 90s, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B.

As an adult and a music appreciater for the length of that decade, I was amazed, humbled and enlightened by the torrent of response. As a peaceable adult I was appalled by the amount of useless point-scoring and petty shot-taking by many of the warrior squirrels in the comments. And this among the tattered remnants of those who claim to love jazz. It reminds me of the old saw about academic politics: They're so vicious because the stakes are so low.

One particularly insightful comment on the all this de gustibus came in the midst of a great post by Ethan of The Bad Plus (on the TBP blog, since he passed up participating directly in the D:0 B.O. 90s jamboree). He'd put up a blindfold test of a '96 Branford Marsalis track because:

...if I told a [fiery-eyed free jazz] acolyte that this was a rip of a rare dead free jazz saxophonist and a South African drummer on a defunct label that only released four records they would love it, but if I told them that it was Branford Marsalis (musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1992-95) and Jeff Watts on Columbia they would not be interested.

Context is everything, particularly in matters of taste, in any decade.

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UPDATE: Trumpeter Dave Douglas, mentioned frequently in D:O's Best of the 90s lists, weighs in with his thoughts on the subject on his Greenleaf Music blog. He takes an illuminating look at the issue of context for musicians (as opposed to warrior squirrels).

We would all learn from checking out Paul Bley and from playing with Tain. Couldn't agree more. But it's what you do with that that makes you who you are. Choices. Language. How am I going to play? Context. Compulsion.

Lee Bob says check it out.

Down on Joe's Farm

A veteran broadcaster I happen to work with told me once that the great thing abut being a reporter is that if you want to know about something you can just call somebody and ask them. In theory anybody can do this. But how would you react if, say, a plumber called you up and said she wanted to follow you around with a microphone for a few hours? That would have to be some plumber.

Which is by way of saying that I spent part of a day last week on an urban farm in Kansas City, Kansas. J-14 Agricultural Enterprises is run by Joe Jennings, a man to be envied for the satisfaction he takes in his work. I first talked to Mr. Jennings last summer when I was trying to book guest for a talk show on Urban Agriculture. The panel filled up pretty quickly and he got squeezed out, but I promised myself I'd try to do some kind of feature on Joe later on. Last week everything fell into place.

I prepared a profile of Joe for KC Currents, KCUR's urban affairs show. A slightly condensed version ran during Morning Edition on Tuesday.

> Listen to the full feature in all its glory here.
(Music geeks among you may enjoy the arcane reference at the end of the piece.)

I hope to get back later on this summer to cover one of the camps held there for inner city kids.

Sauntering

Dammit! I missed Sauntering Day. Again.

Ironically, I spent much of the day listening to recordings made while I was trying to keep up with a very energetic 79 year old as he showed me his farm. (More on that later.)

It's a sign of what's wrong with my current [long German word for the way one goes about conducting the routine details of ones everyday life] that the average week involves so little sauntering. Ten years ago I was considering turning pro.

Anyway thanks to Heidi at mm+i for posting about this (and giving me something to bitch about).

PS: Scooter is my hero.

Summertime

Summer starts, officially, tomorrow at 18:06 UT (1:06 PM where I live). Hope the living is easy where ever you are.

Above, Ella serenades the season in Berlin 1968

What's Opera, Doc

No big thoughts for today, no snark, no spite. It's Friday afternoon and time for my favorite Saturday morning cartoon, "What's Opera, Doc" (that's the kind of kid I was).

Released in 1957, Directed by the justly celebrated Chuck Jones and written by the under-admired Michael Maltese.

The W word

My old Hype 7 pal Cory the Evildoer directed this li'l film. In its own way it's a masterpiece of social commentary. And it has a punchline. And it introduced Old Man Lee to an important neologism.

BTW - a YouTube search on "wigger" can eat your afternoon. And spoil your supper.

OP - Master of Swing

Oscar Peterson is the reason I came to love jazz. As young person with young ears, I was stunned by his amazing speed and technique. Over the years, I've also come to see him probably one of the finest accompanists to ever pull up a piano bench, always managing to make the soloist and the entire ensemble shine.

There's some of both of those traits in this low-down, lava-hot performance of Sweet Georgia Brown from somewhere in the 1970s (I'm guessing). He's there with the flash, but he backs off while managing to compliment and prod bassists Niels Pedersen and Ray Brown during their solos. Of course, it's OP's show and at one point Brown and Pedersen just stand back and shake their heads.

There's a "Master of Swing" tribute to Oscar Peterson tomorrow night at Carnegie Hall. A sampling of the names on the bill: Hank Jones, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Billy Taylor, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride, Mulgrew Miller, Russell Malone, Renee Rosnes and even KC's own Eldar.

Peterson suffered a stroke in the early 90s but managed to make a virtually full recovery and return to touring within a few years. Now 82, his performance dates have dwindled, and, sadly, word came earlier this week that Peterson himself was too weak to travel to the show. His wife and daughter will attend in his place.

If you're looking for an introduction to the Oscar Peterson phenomenon, you couldn't do better than this collection from Verve:

The Essential Oscar Peterson: The Swinger

Bless you, Mr. Peterson, and thanks for starting my trip off right.

Re-reading The Last Gentleman

I recently finished re-reading Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman.

I first read it in 1992, during the first six months I lived in Berkeley, California. In that six months I worked my way through all six of Percy's novels in order. I decided to pick it up again when I came across this quote:

"...he came to see that he was not destined to do everything but only one or two things. Lucky is the man who does not secretly believe that every possibility is open to him."

In retrospect I think I was feeling a lot like Will Barrett, the novel's hero, back in '92. That may be why the novel meant so much to me at the time. Barrett was subject to fugue states, deja-vus and general mental instability and in search of some kind of salvation. He spends the novel on the move from New York, to Mississippi and out to Santa Fe. I was recently divorced and dislocated, and had just spent much of the previous six months gradually drifting west from the Midwest (and fully expecting to move away in the next few weeks).

Re-reading a book after so much time tells you almost as much about yourself.

Fifteen years later, I'm surprised to discover that I'd pretty much forgotten the last third of the book (the Santa Fe section).

I'm also surprised how tedious I now find the philosophical arguments between Sutter and Val. (See this post by Fred for more on that theme.) I still agree with Percy on this: "Whereas and in fact my problem is how to live from one ordinary minute to the next on a Wednesday afternoon." (Percy was so fond of the idea that he repeated it at least once in every book he ever wrote.)

Percy's descriptive writing strikes me as gloriously rich, but his North-South dialectic now strikes me as simplistic and even quaint. America, in my experience of it, seems to be so much more complex.

Radio: Up to Date June 5 Recap

TNLD returned to KCUR's Up to Date with Steve Kraske for another sampling of the new jazz on Tuesday June 5. Here's the List:

Artist - Bill Charlap Trio
CD - Live at the Village Vanguard - (Blue Note)
Track - Rocker
Notes - Talk about a pedigree: Bill Charlap's father was a Broadway composer and songwriter, his mother sang with Benny Goodman and later (Mr.) Perry Como. He grew up in New York City, surrounded by music. He's released tributes to George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Hoagy Carmichael and now his first live album, recorded at the Mecca of jazz performance, The Village Vanguard. And yet, and yet... Charlap is a wildly gifted performer, but in all of this tribute to the tradition I'm not sure I've come to know much about Bill Charlap.


Artist - Esbjörn Svensson Trio
CD - Tuesday Wonderland - (Emarcy)
Track - Dolores In A Shoestand
Notes - Swedes don't seem all that worried about the labels. Likewise extended solos. In this case, good for them. Scandinavian pop meets jazz and finds a groove or ten. Additional musings on EST here.


Artist - Kendrick Scott Oracle
CD - The Source (World Culture Music)
Track - Mantra
Notes - Kendrick Scott is the leader. Oracle is the band. Scott is 26 years old, four of them spent as Terrance Blanchard's drummer. If his album is any indication, the experience was very influential. And that's not smack talk. On his first outing as a leader, Scott has gathered some of his fellow Blanchardians (bassist Derek Hodge, guitarist Lionel Loueke, vocalist Gretchen Parlato) as well as some of New York 's finest (pianist Robert Glasper, guitarist Mike Moreno, multi-reed specialist Myron Waldrin). Scott and Hodge were the rhythm section for Blanchard's 2005 album Flow, and The Source feels in many ways like a later iteration of Flow, minus the trumpet (insert cheap Oedipal reference here). There's much to enjoy here, a collection of songs (all but one composed by Scott) that are by turns meditative and soaring.


Artist - Joel Frahm
CD - We Used to Dance (Anzic Records)
Track - Song for Abdullah
Notes - Analogy Man vacillates between "buttery goodness" and "a ripe juicy peach" when faced Frahm's delicious tone on the tenor sax. Your cardiologist probably has a clear preference but you can't go wrong as far as I'm concerned. Frahm gets equally delectable support here from Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis on his fourth outing as a leader. Needless to say they're not serving ribs at this joint and you'd be forgiven for wanting to make off with the flatware. But don't. The staff is keeping an eye on you.

Listen to the segment

• June 5, 2007 - streaming audio - segment starts ~35 minutes in
  (Mac friends may need to check out KCUR's Mac cheat sheet).
  

As always, if you like these jazz segments, please let us know. Email the show at uptodate@kcur.org

Radio: KCUR's Up to Date

TNLD returns to KCUR's Up to Date with Steve Kraske for another sampling of the new jazz tomorrow.

Tentative list

Artist - Bill Charlap Trio
CD - Live at the Village vanguard - (Blue Note)
Track - Rocker

Artist Esbjörn Svensson Trio
CD: Tuesday Wonderland - (Emarcy)
Track: Dolores In A Shoestand

Artist: Kendrick Scott Oracle
CD: The Source (World Culture Music)
Track: Mantra

Artist: Joel Frahm
CD: We Used to Dance (Anzic Records)
Track: Song for Abdullah

When to tune in

• Tuesday, June 5 at 11:45-ish Central
  

Where to tune in

• KCUR FM 89.3 on your terrestrial radio
• kcur.org on your web whatsit

Updates to follow tomorrow afternoon. As always, if you like these jazz segments, please let us know. Email the show at uptodate@kcur.org

Bargain: Somethin' Else

Amazon is unloading a remastered edition of one of the finest albums Blue Note ever released.

Somethin' Else
Adderley, Cannonball
List Price: $11.98
Their Price: $6.97

They've also got similar bargains on classic Coltrane, Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock (not to mention The Police, Steely Dan and Pink Floyd, if you're into that sort of thing).

Just thought you should know.