In Praise of Complex Music

Previously I've been critical on this blog of music that is unnecessarily complex, music that is complex for its own sake, more concerned with demonstrating its own rhythmic technique than with delivering a message through music. And I'm still critical of that kind of technical posturing, but recently an incident set me off thinking about this idea of complexity and what value there is in it.

I recently underwent some acupuncture treatment, and having been needled up like a porcupine, I was lying there waiting for the needles to work their magic. I wanted to listen to some music while I was lying there and was going to listen to it on my iPod through headphones, but the Acupuncturist asked me if I'd like the music played through the stereo in the room. So she turned off the 'relaxation' music she usually plays, (which does anything but relax me!), turned on the iPod and left the room, leaving me to my music for about 20 minutes. When she returned to check the needles, a Dave Binney track was playing, in which Dave was taking on two drummers, and winning. She stopped, listened for a moment, and asked me incredulously, 'you find that relaxing!?' I said that yes, I did indeed find that relaxing - she shook her head, adjusted the needles and left the room. On my own again I started to think about this exchange and began to try to observe myself listening to the music in a bid to identify what it was I was listening to, and what kind of effect it had on me. What was I hearing that I found relaxing, but that to the therapist sounded like chaos?

As I lay there listening, I began to identify how I was listening to the music, what effect it was having on me, and what, if anything, was going on in my head. A lot of non-musicians at this point, (if any non-musicians read this blog!), are probably thinking that I was working out the technical details of the music, the time signatures, the harmony, the structure etc. But this was not actually the case - it's true I used to do that, but I gave it up a long time ago and only now do it if I need to analyse something for some particular purpose. It's true that as a musician one can find it hard to switch off the analytical machine completely, but as far as possible, when listening to recordings or concerts, I try to let the music wash over me.

So, there I was, listening to the music and trying to get a sense of what it was I was hearing and how it was affecting me. And I began to realise that what I was hearing was quite multi-layered - a sound here, a rhythm there, combinations of things, twists and turns in the lines, the rhythm section firing things up, a particular colour from the harmony. I tried to find a non-technical way to explain how I was hearing the music, and the best I could do was imagining being on a Gondola in Venice, (without the obligatory 'O Sole Mio' being sung in the background by a licensed bandit, otherwise known as the Gondolier), and floating down the canal and looking at the architecture of the buildings as I, (or they), floated past. In such a situation, you can see more than just the outline of the buildings; you can see the materials they're built from, the various indentations of windows and doors, lights behind curtains, shapes, proportion, half-glimpsed interiors, sunlight on the different surfaces - and all changing slowly as you float by. It's a complex collage of images which un-spools in front of you, but at the end of it you have a sense of what you've seen in a very rich and multi-layered way.

But this rich visual experience needs two factors in order for it to happen - the observed object needs to be multi-faceted, and the observer needs to have faculties to appreciate the different aspects of what's being seen.

And the same holds true for music.

Before I get into that, let me first qualify what I'm about to say - in all cases I'm talking about good complex music.  I'm not saying that complex is by definition good, or simple music is bad. I'm talking about good music which happens to be complex.

Complex music is different to simple music - it is multi-layered, it has a lot going on, the message it conveys is often ambiguous. A complex piece of music is analogous to a complex novel, play or film - its story may in itself tell a different story, what's on the surface may represent a deeper meaning, it may be structurally complex with many twists and turns, the ending may be very different to the expected one etc. In order for the music to have this multi-faceted quality, it must be complex.

In order to tell a more complex story the music must use more complex materials. More use of harmonic colour, more compositional structure, rhythms that are possibly polyrhythmic, more virtuosic playing from the performers. All of this, (and more), is necessary for the music to operate on more than one simple level. It will have a story to tell, but one which requires more narrative tools than the broad brush of the typical pop song. It may be a love song for example, but it will not be in the 'Yeah, I Love You Baby' mode of thousands of quick hits. Human life is complex and multi-faceted and this complex and multi-faceted music is required at times in order to tell these stories.

And in order to tell these stories you need listeners who are equipped to appreciate the intricacies of what unfolds in front of them. If the only buildings you'd ever seen in your life were one-room Portakabins, then Gaudi's Cathedral or a Calatrava structure may be beyond your comprehension. If the only kind of books you've ever read are holiday romances, you're unlikely to get very far with Joyce's 'Ulysses'. If the only movies you've watched were the Police Academy series, you're probably going to have trouble getting the inner meaning of Kurosawa's movies. Art on this level is unlikely to be immediately understood - it's not meant to be consumed immediately and discarded. It's meant to be thought about and experienced on many different levels and in order to be able to do that you will likely need some kind of development over a period of time in order to be able to appreciate all the subtleties.

In the same way that you can't leap from 'Janet and John Go To The Beach' to 'Finnegan's Wake', if you've been raised on a diet of Justin Bieber and Rihanna you're unlikely to be able to jump straight into 'The Rite of Spring'. You need time to develop the tools that will allow you to decode complex music. The usual way is through listening over a period of time to music of growing complexity, attuning your ear to the sheer variety of sound that is evident in this kind of music. You need to develop an ear where dissonance is not in itself automatically painful, where a wide range of dynamics within a single piece is intriguing rather than unsettling, where you can pay close attention to a piece of music that is over 5 minutes long and not get distracted. These are the kinds of tools you need to get the fullest experience from complex music.

And to get the fullest rewards - because rewards there are - good complex music is tremendously enriching for the mind, the body and the spirit. It is multifaceted and can be enjoyed on several different levels. You will get an experience from complex music that you won't get from one-dimensional music - that's what makes the journey and the effort worthwhile.

Now it could be that you couldn't be bothered engaging in the kind of long term investment that appreciating complex music requires, and that's fair enough. If you don't require more from music than what simple music can give you, then great. No problem. But don't try and tell people who do get enjoyment from complex music that they are snobs and elitist. There is a difference between those who enjoy complex music for itself, and those who might use it as a cultural stick to beat others with. If you choose not to go down the route of enjoying multi-layered music, don't make the mistake of condemning others who do. I feel no need to apologise for liking complex music, and I've written about it before here. I enjoy simple music too, but like complex music, it has to be what I would consider to be good before I can enjoy it. In the same way that I don't think complex music is automatically good, I don't think simple music is either.

And in many cases complex music can be enjoyed on a simple level too. I think of this as being like a tree; a tree can be seen as one large beautiful entity, but if you look closer you will see that this one large entity is in fact made of of a very complex series of smaller entities, and the tree can be visually enjoyed on both levels. The same could be said for a complex building like the aforementioned Gaudi Cathedral or the Taj Mahal.

And good complex music can encompass many forms and atmospheres, as in these three examples:

Here is Miles' great 'lost' quintet playing with complex abandon







And Yuja Wang playing two of Ligeti's extraordinary piano études







And finally the joy of Hermeto Pascoal's music - simple to appreciate yet very complex in construction





Miles, Ligeti, Hermeto - Coltrane, Bach, Weather Report, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Stravinsky, Ravel, Monk, Ellington, Steve Coleman, Dave Liebman, Mozart, Keith Jarrett - hundreds of other great artists could be added to that list -  all artists who have produced sublime music in many different styles and atmospheres. With their music you can have the kind of wonderful multidimensional experience that you can only get from complex music. For the unfamiliar listener it can be puzzling and maybe daunting, but for the listener who is curious and prepared to meet it half way, its rewards are unending.

Working with James Joyce

This Saturday, (March 2nd - details below), I'll be premiering a new piece based on the writing of James Joyce. In doing it I'm very fortunate to have three of France's finest jazz musicians - Dominique Pifarely (violin), Stéphane Payen (alto), and Christophe Lavergne (drums), and the great Irish saxophonist Michael Buckley, playing with me. The mix of irish and French musicians isn't accidental, since the piece is called 'Counterparts - Joyce in Paris and Dublin', and is based around work he did when living in those two cities.

Music was very important to Joyce and his works are filled with descriptions of music, songs and singers. He himself was reputedly a fine singer, and he even competed in the Feis Ceol, (a venerable Irish amateur music competition, which is over a hundred years old and still going), entering the competition as a tenor. Joyce’s language is also very musical both in terms of rhythm and alliteration. The cities of Dublin and Paris are similarly very important to Joyce’s work – born and raised in Dublin but spending over twenty years of his adult life in Paris, both cities played crucial roles in his life and work.

The first impetus for writing the piece was my rereading of ‘Dubliners’, and being made aware again of Joyce’s musicality. The idea of Dublin and Paris came from my passing ‘Shakespeare and Company’  - the famous Parisian bookshop which had such an association with Joyce – on a recent trip to Paris. Since I’ve also had a close association with several French musicians in recent years, it was a short jump from the reading of Dubliners and thinking about Joyce’s life in the artistic hotbed that was Paris of the 1920s, to coming up with the idea of writing a piece for French and Irish musicians, based on writing undertaken by Joyce in both cities.

We also rehearsed the music in Paris and in Ireland  - before Christmas Michael and I went to Paris and rehearsed with Dominique, Stéphane and Christophe, and now we're at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, a beautiful artist's retreat here in Ireland, working on the piece and putting the finishing touches to the shape of it.

‘Counterparts’ is partly written and partly improvised, and uses audio taken from street sounds recorded in markets in Dublin and Paris - it's always fun and a different kind of challenge to work with audio. The piece also uses text from various works both as a generator for the music, and in spoken word format as an integral part of the piece. Sometimes I’ve used direct material from the music in Joyce’s work, including ‘Say Goodbye To Girlish Days’, Joyce’s only known musical composition. In other parts of the piece I’ve used ideas from the works he wrote in Paris or in Dublin as generators of musical ideas. 

In Counterparts I’ve tried to create a unique environment for improvising musicians to explore the work of Joyce through musical means, and through that to reveal to the listener the sheer musicality of Joyce’s prose.

For  anyone in Dublin this Saturday March 2nd is interested in seeing the finished result of this work, you can come to the National Concert Hall at 1.05pm where the piece will be premiered as part of the New Music Dublin festival. Full details here

And here is a video clip of some of the rehearsals from Paris last year.

Music for Soprano Sax and String Quartet

It's a a pleasant surprise to accidentally stumble across a performance of your work that you didn't know had been done. In this case it was on Youtube and was a performance by a Polish group of the first movement of my 'Music for Soprano Sax and String Quartet', which I wrote for Dave Liebman in 1998. I think this piece is a good companion to the blog post I wrote about string writing in jazz, involving as it does a lot of the issues I discussed in that article.

The performers here are Andrzej Olejniczak & Apertus String Quartet. I knew Andrzej via email and I knew he'd performed the piece in Spain, but I didn't know about this performance or recording. They play the piece very well too and so it was a nice piece of Serendipity for a Sunday morning................

The String Problem

I’ve just been listening to Alan Ferber’s new recording ’Chamber Songs’, which features his nonet with the addition of a string group. I always keep an eye out for new jazz recordings that feature strings, because I have a particular interest in string writing, and am very curious as to how strings can be better integrated into a jazz context. I enjoyed Ferber’s recording, it has some very nice writing and playing on it and it’s really well recorded. He definitely knows what he’s doing, particularly with the nonet. Some of the writing had a tone poem quality to it that is quite attractively elegaic. But, for my own taste, I could have used a bit more counterpoint and polyphony from the strings and in the string writing in general.

This tends to be quite a bugbear for me – I love writing for strings and have done a lot of it both in my capacity as a jazz composer and also while writing for classical musicians. So far I’ve written two violin and piano sonatas, a violin concerto, a string quartet, a sonata for solo violin, a sonata for solo viola, a sonata for viola and piano, (for Tanya Kalmanovitch), a piece for string orchestra, music for string trio and clarinet, music for jazz guitar trio and string quartet (for John Abercrombie), and music for soprano saxophone and string quartet (for Dave Liebman) , as well as using strings in various orchestral pieces. As a bassist I am of course a string player myself, so I’m perhaps biased towards them and therefore fussier than the normal jazz musician when it comes to writing for strings..

Strings have proven to be problematic in jazz, in the sense that even in the 21st century a violin soloist, (or even rarer, a cello soloist, or viola soloist) in a jazz group is the exception rather than the rule. However in this post, I’m interested in discussing the integration of a string group as part of a composed piece, rather than discussing the paucity of string soloists in jazz, (perhaps that’s for another time).

String writing in jazz tends to be rather hit and miss – and perhaps more miss than hit. In general jazz writers tend to go for one of two options when writing for strings–they either use the strings as surrogate horns, or go for the dreaded “string pad” effect. “String Pad” is the term I’ve heard string players use to describe, in a less than complimentary way, the type of writing they often encounter from composers outside the classical world when dealing with strings. In this String Pad genre the composer goes for slow-moving chordal, lush backgrounds over which the jazz soloist does his or her thing. You can hear a lot of this string pad affect on “Bird With Strings”, where the lush backgrounds support Parker’s fantastic soloing. In this kind of writing the composer uses a string ensemble as a kind of block effect - slow moving chords that display the richness of the string sound. I can understand the temptation to use this kind of effect – after all the natural sound of a string group playing a chord is one of the richest sounds you can ever experience in music. And since we don’t normally deal with strings in jazz, when we get the opportunity to do so it’s very hard to resist the novelty of having this rich sound at your disposal. But it really is a kind of one-size-fits-all unimaginative way to use strings, and whenever I hear that kind of sound I always think to myself that the writer is being, at the very least, a bit lazy.

in reality string ensemble writing is all about counterpoint. From the baroque period onwards, (and even before this), counterpoint is the major feature of all string writing. They lend themselves so well to polyphony, and of course extend across the full range from deepest bass to highest treble. And strings not only cover the full range of the human voice, they also are able use as many expressive devices as the human voice. So with their ability to cover a very wide pitch range, and the huge range of techniques and devices that are available when writing for strings, it really is a cop-out to mainly use the strings as a kind of harmonic blotting paper filling up all the available space with their woody richness.



As I said, in string writing counterpoint is, to use the technical term, the shit. But in jazz we don’t tend to use counterpoint a whole lot – at least not in mainstream jazz writing. Have a listen to any post-bop recordings, then try and identify any use of counterpoint in the tunes. There’s usually not a lot there - any small bits of counterpoint tend to be used as small fillers to the main melody rather than any truly independent line. Like anything of course, there are exceptions to this – Mulligan’s piano-less quartet being a famous example, then George Russell’s masterpiece ’Jazz Workshop’ is another. But these are exceptions, counterpoint is rare in post-bop mainstream jazz.

And when we do use counterpoint, we tend to use a very “top–down” kind of writing, where the melody is played mostly in the higher pitched instruments and any counterpoint that’s going on is really just engaged with filling out the chords of the harmony underneath the melody - they’re often really just glorified guide-tone melodies. When I hear this kind of thing, I always get a sense that the composer conceived the music at the piano – you get that sense of the melody being played in the right hand while being supported by left hand chordal action. But examining compositions for string quartet by great composers reveals a whole other world of counterpoint. In this genre all four instruments are equal - the violins, the viola, or the cello can have the lead at any time, and themes, sub-themes, melody, and accompaniment are constantly flipped around through the ensemble. Rather than have the violin play the melody all the time supported by the lower instruments as in so much jazz string writing, in this world all the instruments are equal and are fully engaged in the cut and thrust of the musical dialogue.

There’s probably a reason why we jazz composers tend not to do this when writing for strings – this shit is hard! Counterpoint is hard. When you have four voices moving independently, their horizontal forward motion creates a vertical harmony. The writer needs to be aware at all times of the function of every note in all four instruments, how they relate to each other, and how they relate to the underlying harmony of the piece. Classical composers train for years to be able to do this, we get little or no instruction in this area–naturally enough, since we have other fish to fry, fish that take years in themselves to fry properly. But that’s no reason to succumb to the lazy string pad syndrome. I think if you have the luxury of working with a good string group you should try and write something worthy of the possibilities that this kind of ensemble can bring to your music.

My most recent piece that involved a string group is a recording that will be coming out in the not too distant future of a piece that I composed called “Renaissance Man”. This is a a large-scale piece for a jazz guitar trio and string quartet, with John Abercrombie as the guitar soloist. In this six movement work, I tried at all times to use the strings in the way that I believe they should be used, as contrapuntal protagonists in the musical dialogue, as well as occasionally using them for their beautiful colouristic tendencies. Here’s a sneak preview of one of the movements – the only one that is completely written, and features the string quartet alone - its called “And This Was Odd Because”, and features the group in very rhythmic groove oriented playing, as well as the aforementioned counterpoint.



If one has ever attempted to write string music, the best advice I can possibly give to anyone who wants to write for strings, but maybe hasn’t had much training in the genre, is to check out Bela Bartok’s six string quartets. Everything you need to know about string writing is contained somewhere in these quartets. The whole history of string writing to that point, is contained here - Everything you need is here with the possible exception of extended techniques, but really if you’re not an experienced string writer you is shouldn’t be worrying too much about extended techniques anyway. And Bartok puts plenty of different techniques into the string writing anyway – more than enough for all but the most experienced of string writers. Check out the amazing movement no. 2 from Quartet No. 4, where he uses the mutes to create a creepy rustling effect as the music hurtles around the four instruments.



Now THAT’S string writing! And of course great music. I still keep my ears and eyes open for great jazz string writing, but I’ve not had a huge amount of luck so far. Any suggestions as to good stuff to check out will be gratefully accepted and acted upon.

In the meantime here’s a little video clip from the making of the aforementioned ‘Renaissance Man’ recording – the CD should be out in early 2011.

Jazz Prodigies

Jazz has never been big on child prodigies. Unlike classical music, there have been very few bona-fide child prodigies in the music, or at least ones who made a genuine impact. Classical music has had its fair share of them, and several have successfully made the transition into adult performers of note. Probably the most famous of these (in the modern era – there was also Mozart of course), was Yehudi Menuhin, but there have been others such as Midori and Evgeny Kissen. The phenomenon of the child prodigy seems to be particularly prevalent in classical music – go onto Youtube today and you will see any amount of startlingly young children playing at a suitably startling technical level.



Child prodigies have had much less success in jazz and improvised music, both in terms of numbers of prodigies who appeared in the music and in relation to the ultimate long term careers of these prodigies. The most successful one of course was Tony Williams, whose extraordinary playing at the age of 14 with Jackie Mclean startled the jazz world and prompted no less than Miles Davis to lure him away from McLean’s band in 1963. Williams, along with Elvin Jones, became the most influential modern jazz drummer since Max Roach and strong echoes of his playing can be heard in the playing of most jazz drummers today. He went on to be a dominant force on the jazz scene till his death at the tragically early age of 50. Williams aside, I can think of no other child prodigy in jazz who continued his career into adulthood with the same kind of effect that Williams had, or that Menuhin etc. had in the classical world. I do remember teaching at the Banff Centre in Canada in 2002 and coming across an extraordinarily gifted 14 year old pianist called Aaron Parks who has of course gone on to great things in adulthood. But again he’s an exception.

It’s interesting to consider why jazz doesn’t seem to attract, or nurture prodigies in the way that classical music does, and has for over a hundred years. After all, why shouldn’t kids be able to negotiate the changes of a blues or Rhythm Changes when they can negotiate the much stiffer technical challenges of Brahms and Beethoven? My own feeling is that the demands of good jazz improvisation require not only a good technique and knowledge of harmony, but also a broad range of other skills, many of which depend on the maturity and empathy of the player. And maturity and empathy are not usually associated with 10 year olds.

Playing classical music, one can be guided and directed by a good and sympathetic teacher. The goals are a lot clearer – play the score correctly and interpret the notes in order to play the music the way the composer wanted it played. Playing improvised music in a group setting, on the other hand, is not just about one’s own playing, but also demands an ability to hear where one is in relation to everyone else, to respond to everyone else, and to allow one’s own path to be influenced by everyone else in the band, in real time. It’s an extraordinarily difficult task to be able to juggle the subjective and objective like this. And no matter how gifted one may be musically, to have the maturity and empathy to be able to bring off this particular balancing act is usually beyond even the most gifted youngster.

This post was prompted by my seeing two very gifted young musicians recently – the Israeli pianist Gadi Lehavi (14) and the Slovakian guitarist, now living in Ireland, Andreas Verady (13). Both are extraordinarily talented and have a genuine feel for the music – their ability to be able to process information is beyond what one could expect at their age. Lehavi in particular is almost scary in this respect. I watched him play ‘All the Things’ at a jam session in Den Haag recently, and I couldn’t get over the note choices he made, the harmonic ingenuity of his lines and his ability to turn on a dime when an alternative idea was suggested to him by something played in the rhythm section. How can someone so young amass such information, both technically and aesthetically at such an age!? Andreas is also very gifted, if more conventional in terms of his lines and note choices. I played with him at a workshop last year and was struck by his ability to get into the music once he picks the instrument up.


Of course the problem that always surrounds child prodigies is how to nurture their gifts and prevent them from becoming part of a kind of freak show. Audiences love watching children perform beyond the norm for kids of their age, and getting people to come and pay money to gawp at their abilities is like shooting fish in a barrel for promoters. The danger for these kids is that they’re paraded around the circuit and used as a promotional tool by festivals and promoters, and sometimes by the musicians who are performing with them. What these kids need is a nurturing musical environment where they can be given the support required to develop their extraordinary gifts. What they DON’T need is to be sold as a kind of freak, paraded around the circuit endlessly until they become too old to be of any interest to the rubes, and instead of spending all the time they should have spent developing their musicality they’ve worn themselves out playing endless gigs. So they end up at 20 years of age, pretty much playing the way they were when they were 14, but now being just one of hundreds of competent 20 year old players. The danger is that instead of having a long-lasting career in which their gifts enrich the whole scene, they become washed up in their early 20s.

So they need to be looked after very carefully, and it seems to me that Gadi is in good hands – he seems very unaffected by everything, has a real passion for the music and is not being paraded around endlessly by promoters and older musicians. On the other hand I’ve noticed that Andreas is being extensively touted around Ireland in the past 6 months as ‘Jazz Guitar Prodigy’ by festivals, promoters and older musicians. It has a bad feeling about it.

Lets hope that Gadi and Andreas make it beyond the realms of novelty, beyond the vested interests of those who love an opportunity to exploit novelty, and take their extraordinary gifts into their adulthood intact. In the meantime, let’s enjoy their brilliance

Here’s Andreas negotiating Giant Steps at speed




And here’s Gadi, showing extraordinary harmonic richness and improvisational ability on Corea’s ‘Spain’

Questionnaire 2 - Europe

So here's part two of my questionnaire. In this edition I ask the questions of some of my European friends and colleagues and, as always, the answers are fascinating. You can see Part 1 in which I asked the same questions of my colleagues in Ireland Here )

Chander Sardjoe (Holland - drums)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

"Santo Canto" by G.Rubalcaba New Cuban quartet on PASEO (2004) a great record with a unique musical language, i strongly recommend it!
"4 am" by Herbie Hancock on "Mr. Hands" (1980), "Neutral Zone" by Steve Coleman (1990)

2. Harmonic language:

Olivier Messiaen's Préludes pour Piano (1929), also the legendary chord changes on Dienda by Kenny Kirkland .

3. Rhythmic feel:

Linley Marthe, Anthony Jackson, Cannonball Adderley, Ignacio Berroa: in my book these are some of the people all worth transcribing in cut time to notate the details of their incredible phrasing as exactly as possible.

4. Classical piece:

Bach Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo 1720, Charles Ives Central Park In The Dark 1906

5. Jazz album:

My Favorite Things by John Coltrane 1961

6. Book on music:

Art Pepper Straight Life, for more technical stuff: "Musiques Formelles" by Iannis Xenakis - and K Ramachandrans "Mathematical Basic of the Thala System in Carnatic Music"

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Rhythm People by Steve Coleman and 5 elements 1990

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Sting

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Too many to name, but a few that come to mind are Larry Bunker, Mickey Roker, Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith

Lars Jansson (Sweden - Piano)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

Bartok; Konzert für Orchester (Sz 116); IV. (Intermezzo Interrotto) Allegretto, Igor Stravinsky from Firebird - 'Ronde des Princesses', Lars Jansson-Ensemble MidtVest Worship of Self (Spice of Life)

2. Harmonic language:

II-V-I is still a lot to explore, the harmony of Olivier Messiaen

3. Rhythmic feel:

The Miles Davis rythm section, Hancock-Carter-Williams

4. Classical piece:

Alban Berg Violin Concerto, The String Ouartets by György Ligieti

5. Jazz album:

Herbie Hancock Trio with Ron Carter + Tony Williams (Sony), Ray Bryant 'Alone with The Blues', Jimmy Smith 'Organ Grinder Swing' (Verve)

6. Book on music:

All books by Bill Dobbins, Hal Crook 'How to Improvise', Fred Sturm 'Changes over Time', Stephen Nachmanovitch 'Free Play'

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Chick Corea 'Now He Sings Now He Sobs', Paul Bley with Gary Peacock (ECM)

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

The music of Anton Webern, Alban Berg, György Ligeti and John Cage

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Swedish piano player Tommy Kotter

Nils Wogram (Germany - Trombone)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

Bach cello suites, "So Tender" by Keith Jarret, Michelle (and many other songs) by the Beatles

2. Harmonic language:

Birth of the Cool, Quartet for the End of Time, Wozzek,

3. Rhythmic feel:

Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison, Tony Williams/Ron Carter, Philly Joe Jones/Paul Chambers, Hermeto Pascoal's rhythm section

4. Classical piece:

Wozzek by Alban Berg, Piano Etudes by Ligeti

5. Jazz album:

'Expectations' by Keith Jarrett, 'Steaming' by Miles Davis

6. Book on music:

"Dharma Art" (it is not just on music but on arts in general)

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

'Expectations' by Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis 'Steaming', Hermeto Pascoal 'Sa Nao Toca Quem Quer, Jimmy Knepper ' Idol of the flies'

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, Zappa, Beatles, Radiohead, The Ruins

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Jimmy Knepper

Julian Arguelles (UK - Saxophones)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

I particularly like the slow movements to many symphonies and concertos, (for example Mahler 5 and Ravel Piano Concerto - the two handed one). On the jazz side i love Kenny wheeler's tunes, Django Bates' too ..... i could go on.

2. Harmonic language:

The same as above.

3. Rhythmic feel:

Tony Williams groove on the Miles albums, the same goes for Jack DeJohnette's on the Miles albums. I still love the grooves on Stevie Wonder albums, and of course Herbie's Headhunters. Paco De Lucia with Camaron (especially when they were playing a Bulerias) was up there too.

4. Classical piece:

Beethoven late string quartets are great.

5. Jazz album:

The Jarrett albums with Dewey (all of them), the classic Coltrane quartet (any of them

6. Book on music:

I've not read many books on music but Thesaurus Of Scales And Melodic Patterns by Slonimsky, and the Charlie Parker Omnibook were huge influences on me

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

'Survivors Suite' by Keith jarrett, 'A love Supreme' by John Coltrane, Kenny Wheeler's 'Gnu High', Miles' 'Kind Of Blue', Ornette's 'Shape of Jazz to Come'

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Paco De Lucia/Camaron

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Heinz Sauer

Simon Nabatov (Russia - Piano)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

“In Tune” by Kenny Werner. It is, of course, not “just” the melody (the material in the upper voice) that fascinates me – everything there is working together – but the melody itself, the way it so organically, naturally slinky navigates it’s way through the rapidly changing meters, moods, even the whole genre-hints, while remaining perfectly homogeneous and true to the chosen story-telling mode. Delightful...

2. Harmonic language:

“Third World” by Herbie Nichols. Not so many, unfortunately, aware of the fact, that it was Nichols who, back in 1947, formulated the chord connections later known as “Giant Steps” progression – and that almost 15 years prior to Coltrane’s immortal contribution.
Well, in this case the chord pairs move the whole-tone scale down instead of the circle of fifths, but in some later tunes Nichols uses different strategies of stringing together those pairs, thus proving that it was in no way a fluke. Groundbreaking (no matter on how “small” of a scale) and wonderfully fresh, even today.

3. Rhythmic feel:

Maracatu – the powerful mesmerizing rhythm from Pernambuco, the northeastern state of Brazil. Of course, Maracatu is much more than the rhythm – it’s legends and stories, theater, sagas, costumes, dances, own carnival , poetry – it is a huge cultural tradition, harking back to the African ancestry and meshed together with the Brazilian sensibilities. The main rhythm itself, with the weak (or omitted) first and the strong accentuated second sixteenth of each group of four 16th, played against a bell pattern, has a wonderful duality about it, being strongly “off-centered” and clearly cyclical at once.

4. Classical piece:

Gérard Grisey “Vortex Temporum” - a breathtaking piece by the greatest spectralist composer. The way the most complex technical and formal procedures turn into the sensual (in the best French tradition) experience – also directly, as our sense of hearing is tested and challenged by the universe of the microtonal relationships – fantastic! And the piano cadenza, tuned 1/4 tone down, is as thrilling as anything I know...

5. Jazz album:

Nils Wogram’s “Root 70 on the 52 and 1/4 Street” – an ingenious blend of swinging jazz and quarter-tone music.


6. Book on music:

Helmut Lachenmann - “Music as existential experience”

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

“Press Enter” - Kenny Werner

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Caetano Veloso

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Paul Plimley, Craig Taborn

Stéphane Payen (France - Alto Saxophone)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

Perspicuity by Doug Hammond, (or any of Doug's melodies). But especially the melody of the drums chants ! And knowing the melody of the drums, you know how to hear the melody. Those two lines don't make "sense" if played separately, but when played together, it sounds amazing !!


2. Harmonic language:

the work from Malik Mezzadri (aka Magic Malik), using what he calls "signature tonale". Also the work made by Octurn - a band/collective based in Bruxelles - around modes from Olivier Messian on the music of Bo Van Der Werf. And the harmonic world of pianist Benoît Delbecq

3. Rhythmic feel:

The different rhythmic feels of Sabar music from Senegal. And this so-called "traditional music" is really alive.

4. Classical piece:

"Musica Concertante Per 12 Archi" by Hungarian composer Sandor Veress. "An Index Of Metals" by Fausto Romitelli.

5. Jazz album:

Marc Ducret "Détail" - Benoît Delbecq "Pursuit"

6. Book on music:

"Polyphonies et Polyrythmies d'Afrique Centrale" (2 volumes) by Simha Arom

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

I haven't heard it for years but I remember I was listening to it all the time : John Lindberg Trio: Give and Take with George Lewis, Barry Altschul (1982)

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Michel Magne, great French composer well known for his soundtracks, but who did much more ...

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Guillaume Orti !!!!

Chris Wiesendanger (Switzerland - Piano)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting::


1. Melody:

Many of Ornette Coleman`s deep and beautiful melodies (Lonely Woman, Kathelin Gray, Tears Inside), "I Have Dreamed" (Rodgers & Hammerstein), "I See Your Face Before Me" (Schwartz /Dietz), Harry Richman`s "There Is Danger In Your Eyes Cherie"

2. Harmonic language:

Morton Feldman "Coptic Light" , Japanese No Theater and Gagaku Music, Son House.

3. Rhythmic feel:

Stevie Wonder playing drums on "Music of My Mind", "Dearly Beloved" from Sonny Rollins` "The Sound Of Sonny" (Percy Heath
bass and Roy Haynes drums), all the Wilbur Ware recordings, Aretha Franklin`s piano on " A Brand New Me" from the album " Young, Gifted and Black".

4. Classical piece:

Mozart`s 2 last symphonies (G minor and "Jupiter"), Beethoven`s Symphonie Nr. 7, Schubert`s String Quintet in C, Sibelius Symphony Nr.4,

5. Jazz album:

Miles Davis/ Gil Evans "Porgy and Bess", Art Tatum "God Is In The House".

6. Book on music:

Gerald Moore "Am I Too Loud?"

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Steve Lacy with Don Cherry "Evidence"

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Marc André Hamelin, the great swedish metal group Meshuggah, Johnny Cash, Rosemary Clooney

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Billy Kyle, Mel Powell, Cy Walter, Jimmy Yancey

The Psychology of Perfection

{If you’re interested in more context on this post, have a look at
A Question of Status}


In a recent discussion about the relative status in society of jazz and classical musicians, Lindsey Horner made the following very astute observation:

“The other part of the issue is why classical artists (mere interpreters) get far more respect, (not to mention money and fame) than their comparable jazz counterparts. I think some of that is the fault of jazz artists and how we have presented ourselves and our music. I won't name names, but I have heard even some of the great jazz musicians give lackluster and even just plain lousy performances on any given gig. I have never heard, nor can I imagine ever hearing, Alfred Brendel, Izthak Perlman or the Tokyo String Quartet sounding any less than very, very good, ever”

I completely agree with Lindsey’s observation – I too have seen some great jazz players give less than their best at times. I remember seeing Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette give an extraordinarily disappointing performance at the IAJE several years ago. Nobody, with the exception of DeJohnette, seemed interested in even trying to lift the music above the ordinary and it seemed to me like an exercise in coasting on reputation alone without any apparent feeling of need on behalf of the trio to actually live up to those reputations. It was depressing. And I’ve been stung several times by equally hallowed jazz names turning up and ‘phoning it in’, so to speak.

Yet anytime I’ve seen top rank classical performers (Menuhin, Gary Karr, Jorge Bolet, Ivo Pogorelich) they’ve always given first rate performances. Of course it could be that as far as their own standards were concerned, the performances were uneven – I have no way of knowing that - but even if that were so in their own minds, the performances were never shoddy, unconcerned or flippant at all. All the music was approached and played with the utmost seriousness and application, and a clear desire to serve the music and audience as well as possible.

So if it’s true that sometimes top class performers in jazz seem lackluster and uninterested, while their colleagues in classical music never take that approach, can there be an explanation as to why that should be? Are jazz musicians just more congenitally lazy artistically? Are classical musicians congenitally more serious?

Ever since reading Lindsey’s post about this I’ve been thinking about it and while there can never be any definitive answer to a question like that, I think there are elements at play here which are interesting and pertinent to the whole jazz/classical divide in terms of approach. I believe the different environment in which both musics are learned and are played has a very strong influence on differences in approach, one by-product of which is the aforementioned lapses into apathy sometimes seen in jazz performances. I’ll come back to that in a moment, but I also believe the nature of the two musics has a part to play – as follows:

Classical music (with the exception of recently written works) is a known quantity. The huge canon of great music written in this tradition is known inside and out, by performers, critics, and the public. If one plays Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ sonata or a Mozart concerto, or Ravel’s ‘Gaspard de la Nuit’, one is dealing with something that has a performance history and, within certain parameters, an agreed approach to performance. Every note of these pieces is known intimately, sometimes over a period of hundreds of years, by everyone concerned with or interested in classical performance. The scores of these great works are like the scripts of Shakespeare’s plays – they are cultural and artistic totems, the performance of which is seen as being the pinnacle of the art form. Given such an atmosphere of past history and artistic reverence, the reputation and status of the artist can stand or fall, be enhanced or be crushed, by his or her ability to do justice to these works.

If you walk onto the stage (or ‘concert platform’ as they call it in classical music!) and play Brahms’ Piano Concert No. 1 with a good symphony orchestra, the artistic stakes are very high. Nearly everybody in that room – musicians, critics, public – knows every note of this piece. In such a milieu, there is no room for any kind of off-hand approach, any shoddiness or lack of preparation. Technical perfection is usually required at the very least, then on top of that are all the elements of interpretation which play such a big part in the perceived success or failure of a performance of one of these classic pieces. This is why classical musicians will, in learning a piece, or studying it with a teacher, endlessly discuss tiny details at length and in a way that no jazz musician would contemplate. There is a demand in this music for perfection – perfection of technique, of intepretation, or performance.

The fact that perfection – even if it can be agreed what that means – can never be achieved doesn’t alter the demands for it made by audiences and critics alike. The technical perfection of recordings, and the perfection demanded by competitions, has ratcheted up these demands even further in the past forty years or so. This adds a definite nervous edge to classical performances. If there is any failure on the part of the performer to reach the expected technical standard, everything – the silence in the hall, the spotlight on the figure of the soloist, the pre-knowledge of the piece by all in the auditorium - conspires to expose that failure. It’s merciless, and the classical soloist knows it. At the highest levels – the Brendels, Ashkenazys etc. – the pressures and expectations are even higher. A sloppy or ill-prepared performance is not an option for them, unless they want their reputations in the mud.

I’m not suggesting that the reason that such wonderful musicians give such great performances is because of fear, but I do believe that the tradition of playing incredibly well known pieces in public does concentrate the mind a lot. The rules in a classical performance are very clear – the soloist knows them, the critic knows them, and the audience knows them. In such an atmosphere the task of the soloist is clear, the preparation is geared towards that and poor technical and/or attitudinal performances are kept to an absolute minimum.

Jazz musicians operate under a very different tradition – one of improvisation. In this milieu the music performed is not known, the tasks are much less clearly defined or generally agreed, and the performer has much greater freedom both in deciding the shape of each piece and the shape of the programme in general. The player has to create the music on the spot with his or her colleagues, decide the type of music played, the length of the solos the order of the pieces etc. etc. With the responsibility of coming up with the complete musical goods laying much more heavily on the jazz performer, any tiredness or lack of inspiration will automatically have consequences for the music.

In the case of the classical performer, even if they are tired, there is a clear musical road map laid out for them in the form of the score and the performance history and traditions of the piece – the jazz musician does not have the same assistance in the event of tiredness or lack of inspiration. This is not to say that any lacklustre performance by a great jazz musician is automatically because they feel tired or uninspired – of course laziness on the night, and maybe a lack of care on the night could contribute, but I do think the fact that the jazz musician is responsible for much more of the creation of the music than his or her classical counterpart does play a part.

It’s an interesting conundrum – on the one hand it could be seen that with known repertoire and such a demanding audience, the performance stakes are higher for the classical musician. But on the other hand, with so much more responsibility for the totality of the music laying on the jazz musician, the artistic stakes could arguably be said to be higher for them.

The second thing I think can be taken into consideration when examining the sometimes differing performance outlook of classical and jazz musicians is the environment in which performances of the two musics take place. In general classical musicians play in an atmosphere of quiet and respect. The cynosure of all eyes, they perform in environment where the full focus of everyone in the room is on the performer(s). They usually play in good listening conditions too, with no competition from audience chatter, no sound of cash registers, no doors banging or people getting up and down during the performance. And never a sense of the music being in any way treated as subservient to anything else going on in the room.

Jazz musicians on the other hand – all of them, from the totally unknown to the now incredibly famous, have all at one time or another experienced this feeling of having to battle other elements in order to perform their music. The psychological effect on the performers of this can easily be underestimated in my opinion. If the audience don’t care what you’re doing, if they’re not interested in how you’re performing the music, then why should you care?

A very illuminating example of the effect of this lack of audience interest on a great classical musician, when encountering it for the first time, can be found in a fascinating article about an experiment the great Amercian violinist Joshua Bell took part in recently.

This experiment was fascinating in itself, and I would encourage anyone interested in music to read it. In fact it also relates to another post I’ve done on background music –

The Music Plague

It describes an experiment where Bell anonymously went into a Washington Metro station and did some busking, to see if anyone would pay attention to, or notice the difference between one of the world’s greatest violinists and any other busker or street entertainer. You can read the article

Here

But leaving aside the main thrust of that article and returning to the main thrust of this one, there’s a very revealing quote from Bell about one aspect of his experience of playing outside the hallowed walls of the concert hall, where he is a revered performer, playing revered repertoire. Here’s the passage:

"It was a strange feeling, that people were actually, ah . . ."

The word doesn't come easily.

". . . ignoring me."

Bell is laughing. It's at himself.

"At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change." This is from a man whose talents can command $1,000 a minute.

Bell has played, literally, before crowned heads of Europe. Why the anxiety at the Washington Metro?

"When you play for ticket-holders," Bell explains, "you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I'm already accepted. Here, there was this thought: What if they don't like me? What if they resent my presence . . ."

It’s clear that this sudden realization of his own, what we might call musical mortality, came as a real shock to Bell. But this environment he describes where people are ignoring the performer or may even resent their presence is one that will be familiar to jazz musicians of any stripe. Herbie Hancock or Sonny Rollins may never play in environments like that these days, but they did at one time.

And I believe this experience of sometimes awful playing environments does have an effect on the jazz musician, even when their careers may have risen to the point where they don’t have to endure it any more. If you’ve spent a lot of time playing in less than ideal performance environments, it’s hard to see the performance space as being a temple to music, and the act of performance as a being a ceremonial act in that temple – in the way that classical musicians do. If you add to this the more informal milieu of jazz performance, the greater freedom to take many different approaches from night to night, the lack of audience pre-awareness of the material that will be played and the greater responsibility on the performer to provide the bulk of the musical material I think you have conditions in which an occasional sub-par performance will occur. This is less likely occur in the narrower, goal-driven, more tightly focused, tradition-obsessed world of classical music.

Of course there can be variables in all of the scenarios I’ve put forward – John Coltrane was famous for the unremitting intensity with which he played his music night after night without exception, and there are also known examples of great classical musicians occasionally deviating from the performance straight and narrow. But if we look at the differences in performance practice, history, and playing environments of the two musics, I think we can see how even the great jazz musicians would have occasional lapses in their performance standards in a way that would be rare for a great classical musician.

Music Questionnaire 1 - Ireland

I admit I lifted this idea from Ethan Iverson, but I really enjoyed reading the answers to the questionnaire he sent to musicians he knows. Naturally he did this with exclusively American players, I thought this would be an interesting thing to do with Irish or Irish based musicians too.

Sean Óg (Reed player)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

I have been studying the melodies of Hildegard von Bingen recently. A piece like Ave Generosa is facinating in the way it sustains a (strictly speaking) non-repeating melody for over 4 minutes without any lag in beauty and without the help of harmony or accompaniment of any kind.

2. Harmonic language:

Again looking back a few hundred years and enjoying the harmonic rollercoaster of Carlo Gesualdo. You can get a real sense of the excitement of what happens when you move beyond Gregorian style polyphony and an overload of rich, lush colours are weaved into the music.

3. Rhythmic feel:

Not an obvious candidate, but, Captain Beefheart and his magic band circa 1970 really had some interesting approaches to rhythm. Verging between sounding like people who have little to no musical training to tightly scored odd meter grooves, Beefheart manages some of the other-worldly time feel of Thelonious Monk.

4. Classical piece:

Kodaly's 'Nights in the Mountains' a suite for wordless female choir. Hindemith 'Das Marienleben' a song cycle of Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry for soprano and piano - the 1923 version is something I listen to a lot.

5. Jazz album:

Tony Malaby 'Adobe'. Arve Henriksen 'Sakuteiki'.

6. Book on music: (No response)

7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Miles Davis 'Nefertiti'.

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Rudi Mahall - bass clarinet.

Ariel Hernandez (Guitarist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

‘Interplay’ – ‘Donna Lee’

2. Harmonic language:

Stella by Starlight - Falling Grace

3. Rhythmic feel:

One note Samba

4. Classical piece:

Bartok Quartets

5. Jazz album:

Coltrane Plays the blues - Bill Evans: You must believe in Spring

6. Book on music:

No Response


7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Jim Hall - Bill Evans: Undercurrent


8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Bach


9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

No Response

David Lyttle (Drummer)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:
 
Bernhard Hermann's score for Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', Stephen Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd' musical and Danny Elfman's score for Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' all come to mind for having moving and interesting melodies. 'Moon River' and 'Pure Imagination' are among my favourite jazz standards.


2. Harmony

See Question 1

3. Rhythmic feel:
 
It's difficult to answer this one as there are so many...
 
4. Classical piece:
 
Again there are so many but Bartok's 'Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta' comes to mind, as well as anything by Debussy, especially his piano works.
 
5. Jazz album:
 
Of the more recent albums I've listened to, Brian Blade's 'Perceptual', Terence Blanchard's 'A Tale of God's Will' and Eric Revis' 'Tales of the Stuttering Mime' are the most memorable to me.

6. Book on music:
 
'Bird Lives', the Ross Russell biography of Charlie Parker and 'Straight, No Chaser', the Leslie Gourse biography of Monk.

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:
 
Pianist Vince Guaraldi's 'A Boy Named Charlie Brown'. Guaraldi's music from the sixties animation 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' was what got me into jazz. He may not have pushed any boundaries but he still produced some beautiful music (mostly piano trio), and got many people into jazz.

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:
 
The composers I mentioned above (Hermann, Sondheim, Elfman) would probably be the most surprising of my influences. I'd also have to add Elmer Bernstein into this category.

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

No Response

Simon Jermyn (Guitarist/Bassist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

All the melodies on Eftir Pogn (After Silence) by Oskar Gudjonsson and Skuli Sverrisson. Tommy Potts-The Liffey Banks.

2. Harmonic language:

John Dowland's lute songs. Bulgarian Womens choirs. Andrew Hill. Christian Walumrod. Tim Berne.

3. Rhythmic feel:

Q Tip (from the "The Renaissance") the songs ‘You’ and ‘Life is Better’. Charlie Haden/ Ed Blackwell on the Ornette Coleman record "Friends and Neighbours"on the tunes Lets Play and Long Time No See.Ethiopiques Vol 5 (the amazing clapping on 2 and 4 and then adding the triplet eight note before 2 and 4). Richard Davis with any drummer on an Andrew Hill record.

4. Classical piece:

Paul Hindemith-Marienleben 1. Morton Feldman Coptic Light.

5. Jazz album:

Geri Allen Trio-Etudes. Chris Cheek-Guilty. Paul Bley-Footloose

6. Book on music:

Modus Novus by Lars Edlund.

7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Reid Anderson-The Vastness of Space. Jim Black-Alas No Axis+Habyor. Chris Speed-Emit+Swell Henry.

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Michael Jackson-Bad (the album). Both of Slash's guitar solos on Sweet Child O'Mine by Guns'n'Roses (especially the second one).

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

On electric bass-Skuli Sverrisson, Stomu Takeishi, Tarus Mateen and James Jamerson.
On guitar- Marc Ducret, Hilmar Jensson, Nels Cline, Ben Monder and Derek Bailey

Ronan Guilfoyle (Bassist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:


1. Melody:

JS Bach - “Largo“ from Concerto for Flute and Strings in G Minor (extraordinary non-repeating melody), ‘Falling Grace’, by Steve Swallow (brilliant circular melody that feels like it has no beginning or end)

2. Harmonic language:

George Russell - ‘Jazz Workshop’, Kenny Wheeler - ‘Deer Wan’, Gyorgy Ligeti - ‘Piano Études’

3. Rhythmic feel:

Elvin Jones on Wayne Shorter’s ‘Black Nile’ - the epitome of polyrhythmic swing, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters ‘Thrust’ - savage grooves, Steve Coleman and Five Elements ‘Rhythm People’ - funk meets odd metres, meets chromaticism.

4. Classical piece:

Bartok String Quartet No.4 (though I could have chosen any of the six), Henri Dutilleux ‘Symphony No. 1, J.S. Bach ‘Brandenburg Concertos’

5. Jazz album: John Coltrane ‘Transition’, Keith Jarrett ‘My Song’, Charlie Parker ‘Complete Savoy Sessions’

6. Book on music:

‘Louis Armstrong, an Extravagant Life’ by Laurence Bergreen, ‘The Rest is Noise’ by Alex Ross, ‘History of Jazz’ by Ted Gioia, ‘From Swing to Bop’ by Ira Gitler

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Dave Holland ‘Emerald Tears’, Miles Davis ‘At the Plugged Nickel’, Steve Coleman ‘Black Science’, New and Used ‘Souvenir’

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Jack Bruce’s bass playing with Cream, and the melodies of Burt Bacharach.

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

George Duvivier, Tommy Williams (bassis with the Jazztet), Steve Swallow

Mark McNight (Guitarist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

Dave Binney's Welcome to Life album, track #4 Frez. Great album, this tune contains two very different but equally amazing grooves both of which have really interesting and appealing melodies.

2. Harmonic language:

Brad Mehldau's reharms during his solos on pretty much any standard tune but especially ballads from the Art of the Trio era (Blame It On My Youth, Bewitched, etc).

3. Rhythmic feel:

Jesse Van Ruller, anything he's ever done but if I had to pick one album would probably go for Circles, some great compositions on that record. One of the bounciest swing feels I've ever heard.

4. Classical piece:

No response

5. Jazz album:

Brad Mehldau Art of the Trio Vol 1

6. Book on music:

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick, great and thought provoking resource full of ideas which could be generalised to any instrument.

7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Brad Mehldau Art of the Trio Vol1, never get tired of this, or any of the others for that matter.

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Many singer/songwriters, to keep it Irish I guess the music of people like Fionn Regan or Foy Vance would be good examples. For me when music in this genre is done well the constant primary concern of the performer/composer is the emotional impact upon the listener which is always a great reminder to me of what I want to do with music.

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

I probably haven't heard of him/her yet! So many great guitarists all over the place.....maybe Tim Miller, seems like not so many people know about him yet.

Michael Buckley (Saxophonist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

One I love that is not a well known melody is UMMG (Upper Manhattan Medical Group) by Billy Strayhorn .

2. Harmonic language:

Everything by Duke Ellington and Steely Dan

3. Rhythmic feel:

I love funk – back beat grooves, so Herbie’s Headhunters is great. For swing feel, ‘Miles Smiles’ , and ‘Four’ by Joe Henderson

4. Classical piece:

Mahler's 5th Symphony

5. Jazz album:

Joe Henderson ‘Four’ and ‘Tetragon’ - 'Coltrane Crescent', 'Ballads' - Rollins ‘The Bridge’, ‘Saxophone Colossus '

6. Book on music:

In my opinion Mark Levine’s Theory Book

7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

‘The Bridge’ Sonny Rollins

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Woody Shaw

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Craig Handy



Joe O Callaghan (Guitarist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

`My one and only love` (Coltrane and Johnny Hartman) ; `Bye
Bye Blackbird` (Miles) ; ‘4;15 Bradford Executive` (Allan
Holdsworth - Magnificent melodic guitar solo) : `1 4 U `(John
McLaughlin, Floating Point - Great simple melody and fantastic flute solos).

2. Harmonic language:

Marilyn Crispell – plays freely with an amazing logic.

3. Rhythmic feel:

Mind Ecology (Shakti - wonderful groove and sound). Anything with Coltrane/Elvin ; ‘Thrust’-Headhunters.

4. Classical piece:

Bartok’s Violin concerto No.2 (Henryk Szeryng,violin - incredibly beautiful and intense), Villa-Lobos 5 preludes for guitar .

5. Jazz album:

Miles Davis Heard `Round The World.(It`s got everything!!), Transition-John Coltrane (Power, intensity, beauty)

6. Book on music:

Effortless Mastery-Kenny Werner (a life-changing book), Bob Dylan –‘Chronicles’, (very well written), ‘An Extravagant Life’ (Louis Armstrong story...entertaining and what a great man)

7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Out on his own - Louis Stewart, A love Supreme - Coltrane .

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Jimmy Raney – great understated player, very inventive and fluid.

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very
underrated:

Allan Holdsworth..doesn’t seem to be recognised by the jazz
community…..a very unique voice on guitar and technically
magnificent, wonderfully melodic. His playing on the Synthaxe at times is breath-taking.

Francesco Turrisi (Pianist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

Round Midnight, Retrato em branco e preto (Jobim), Beatriz (Chico Buarque)

2. Harmonic Language:

All the music by Guinga, late 16th century music (DeMacque, Gesualdo, Luzzaschi) late Brahms piano music, Scriabin...Messiaen

3. Rhythmic Feel:

Most Monk tunes, the Atomic Basie band, Tira Poeira

4. Classical Piece:

Too much choice...Chopin Ballade n.1, Stravinsky Rite of Spring, Ligeti Atmospheres

5. Jazz Album:

Coltrane and Monk at Carnegie Hall, the early Jimmy Giuffre trios

6. Book on Music:

Rough Guide to World Music

7. Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Bremen and Lausanne by Keith Jarrett

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

John Coltrane

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Dunno if he is underrated but he def. should be more recognized...Paul Bley
...and not on my instrument...John Ruocco of course...

Aoife Doyle (Vocalist)

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

1. Melody:

Zingaro - A.C. Jobim, Deluge - Wayne Shorter

2. Harmonic language:

No response

3. Rhythmic feel:

Balkan Gypsy music

4. Classical piece:

Flute and Harp concerto in C Major. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

5. Jazz album:

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane 'In a Sentimental Mood'

6. Book on music:

Sri Chinmoy, Man Perfection in god satisfaction. Chapter 9: Music and meditation, Sound and silence

7 Name a great recording by someone that has influenced you:

Sarah Vaughan 'At Mister Kelly's'

8. Name someone whose music has influenced you, but that people who know your music would probably be surprised by:

Elvis (Not a joke!)

9. Name a player on your instrument whom you think is very underrated:

Esperanza Spalding

A Question of Status II - Miles quote

(See the 'A Question of Status' post for the context of this one)

Accidentally stumbled across this quote (in a blog by somebody else), from Miles Davis, from his autobiography. He's talking about the difficulty he and Gil Evans had with the 'Sketches of Spain' sessions. His dismissal of classical musicians goes much further than I would, but it was interesting to read his thoughts on something that I'd been thinking and writing about only recently -and of course it's put in the kind of colourful way that he was always such a master of.

...Legit drummers can't solo because they have no musical imagination to improvise. Like most other classical players, they play only what you put in front of them. That's what classical music is; the musicians only play what's there and nothing else. They can remember, and have the ability of robots. In classical music, if one musician isn't like the other, isn't all the way a robot, like all the rest, then the other robots make fun of him or her, especially if they're black. That's all that is, that's all the classical music is in terms of the musicians who play it - robot shit. And people celebrate them like they're great. Now there's some great classical music by great classical composers - and there's some great players up in there, but they have to become soloists - but it's still robot playing and most of them know it deep down, though they wouldn't admit it in public.

A Question of Status

OK, this is going to get controversial. I was watching a wonderful classical pianist named Valentina Litsisa on Youtube the other day. She was playing Chopin’s Étude No. 10 – a ferociously difficult piece that she played with amazing aplomb, making light of the technical difficulties and giving the piece a serious lash.

here it is

An amazing performance by a great musician. I was so knocked out by it I watched it twice over, but about half-way through the second time through I suddenly thought ‘It’s amazing but……………. not one note of it is hers” And this set me thinking again about something which I’ve been thinking about for a while. At the highest level – can you compare great classical performers with great jazz peformers? And if you can, who, if anyone, takes the spoils?

I am a huge fan of classical music and musicians - I’ve read biographies of Yehudi Menuhin (one of my heroes), Glenn Gould, Artur Rubenstein, have read and re-read a book of interviews with concert pianists etc. When you read about musicians such as Rostropovich and Menuhin and their close relationship with great composers such as Shostakovitch and Bartok who wrote music especially for them, and you get into the lives they lead and their status in society, you realise you’re dealing with giants of music, by any standard. When you listen to them playing – their technical skill, their extraordinary feats of memory, the subtlety of interpretation, the understanding of the music of the composer etc. this confirms their greatness. All of that is unquestionable as far as I’m concerned - these are great great musicians. But…………

Again that ‘but’ – because, you can’t get away from the fact that these musicians didn’t produce anything of their own. Alfred Brendel is considered a God of German repertoire, and is treated like a god yet we’ve never heard a note of Alfred Brendel’s own work – his whole career has been based on music provided for him by others. Ditto Rostropovich, Oistrakh, Ashkenazy, Stern, etc. etc. It could be that some of these have done some composing, but I don’t think so, and if they did it was a very minor and neglected part of their activity, and not one they chose to feature in their performances.

Now I don’t mean to infer that any player of original music is by definition greater than any musician who is only an interpreter. A hack jazz musician playing a tired and cliché-ridden blues does not inhabit the same universe as a Richter or a Barenboim. But at the very top of the jazz profession, if you take the real giants of jazz, and you compare them to their counterparts in classical music, no matter how great they may be, I think the jazz guys have the edge on them.

Take such musicians as John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Charlie Parker, and Louis Armstrong - here you have a list of musicians who were (or are) not just great virtuosos on their instruments but extraordinarily creative as well. They combine the virtues that in classical music are usually embodied by two people – the composer and the performer/interpreter. In the case of Armstrong, Parker, Davis and Coltrane, they were not only great players on their instruments, but they changed music itself and their influence was felt far beyond the confines of their respective instruments. Richter was one of the greatest pianists of all time, but how many violinists did he influence? How much difference did Menuhin make to the world of pianism? But Charlie Parker, who was an alto saxophonist, influenced the playing of every jazz performer who came after him, regardless of instrument.

So, the bottom line – I believe that Wayne Shorter is a a greater and more important figure in music than Alfred Brendel, that Ashkenazy does not match up to to John Coltrane – the creator of ‘A Love Supreme, and great as someone like Rostropovich might have been, Miles Davis was even greater. These giant figures in jazz combine instrumental performance at the highest level, with a level of creativity and originality of thought and conception that their counterparts in classical music cannot match.

This opinion is one I’ve only come to recognize recently – I was almost afraid to come to this conclusion – so great is the status of these famous classical performers, and indeed so great was my own admiration for them. It’s almost like heresy to consider someone like Itzhak Perlman to be a lesser musician than someone else – but I have to admit, I DO believe that musicians such as Charlie Parker are greater musicians and more important figures in music than someone like Itzhak Perlman, great violinist and musician though he undoubtedly is.

In the end, does it matter? Probably not – we need the Oistrakhs and Kissins of this world to play all this great music that’s been written for them and their antecedents, just as we need the Parkers and Coltranes for the other stuff. But it does bother me that in general the jazz musicians do not get the status they and their achievements deserve. The great classical virtuosi are treated almost as if they were the creators of the music they play – Brendel being a particular case in point – he is so deified in his world that you’d almost think he WAS Beethoven! These musicians live in a world of privilege and status that even the greatest jazz musicians can only dream about. And it’s this disparity in recognition that bothers me more and more – these classical musicians may be great, but they don’t produce a note of their own music, yet they’re lauded as being the greatest musicians in the world. But the people I believe to be truly the greatest musicians in the world still struggle to achieve anything like the status and rewards they deserve for their achievements.

OK, I’ve stuck my head above the parapet and said it – now discuss!

PS Don’t get me started on how overrated conductors are!