This year's Guelph Jazz Festival was held in Guelph, Ontario, Canada on September 7 - 11. There was more music presented than was possible to take in. Typically the music presented is improvised, avant garde, and experimental - a mix of young and seasoned musicians. I've attended Guelph with a friend three times, in 2007, 2010 and 2011. Last year's festival was rather disappointing musically - it seemed to have been sponsored Apple Computer and ECM Records. George Lewis and his MacBook were ubiquitous and the latter 'performer' detracted from the music that managed to break through. But 2010 was never the less enjoyable. It's often worthwhile to hear what's not happening. And Guelph is a charming city. This year the merchants of Guelph were wary of the American dollar - isn't everybody! 2007 was Anthony Braxton's and William Parker's Curtis Mayfield Project's Guelph - it was a stupendous Guelph! We didn't attend in 2009 - the Guelph of David Murray, Fred Anderson, and the World Saxophone Quartet - since I had been involved in presenting Murray and the WSQ in Columbus, Ohio in 1999 and thereafter in a number of different guises over a six year span. But I'm sorry that I missed Guelph 2009 - David Murray and Milford Graves, Hamid Drake and Fred Anderson! How stupid could I have been?
Hamiet Bluiett of the World Saxophone Quartet and the grandmaster of the baritone saxophone, contra-bass clarinet, and much else remarked to me a while back that when he was coming of age musically he and his fellows looked to the young musicians to find out what was happening musically. Today, he went on to say, its the older musicians who are the beacons of what's happening. In terms of Bluiett's point, this was certainly the case - the 'old heads' were happening and showing the way forward (sometimes the way forward is back).
I find the piano-saxophone duo format wanting musically in many cases. A few satisfying recorded examples include David Murray & Dave Burrell/John Hicks, Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond and Marshall Allen & Terry Adams - we should remember also the recorded piano-trumpet masterpieces of Lewis Armstrong & Earl Hines and Chet Baker & Paul Bley. I think that the piano-saxophone performances that I find unsatisfying are those in which the pianist has a weak left hand, where the music lacks a bottom, where one hears a doubling of the melodic lines by the piano and saxophone. Right.
A trio of piano, bass/drums, and saxophone/trumpet is a way of satisfying this author's performance preferences. We recall, don't we, the wonderful piano-drum-trumpet/winds duos and trios of Shelly Mann, Russ Freeman, and Shorty Rogers/Jimmy Giuffre?
Free-Jazz - a-melodic and a-harmonic - the sound-events are the thing. [*]
One of the great, good things about about the annual Guelph Jazz Festival is that it emphasizes improvised avant-garde free jazz. It gives free-jazz players a chance to play their music and to get paid too. Getting paid is very important for free-jazz musicians; since, unless they have university or other teaching gigs, most music presenters refuse to present new music or free-jazz.
We all know that free-jazz began with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Sun Ra and others. We also know that free-jazz is defined by negative attributes - it's a-melodic, a-harmonic, a-rhythmic. It eliminates the traditional rhythm section as accompanist form. There are almost as many free-jazz styles as there are free-jazz players - there is no singular free-jazz style. But there are varying degrees of freedom in free-jazz. Sometimes the musicians have written scores or head-arrangements. Most often, however, music scores are absent. We also know that European free-jazz musicians have their own variety of free-jazz, one that is more out of the European art-music tradition. But Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, and Stockhausen are favorites of both North American and European free-jazz musicians. N.B. North American includes Canadian!
The stone free-jazz music that I heard in Guelph was performed by Trevor Watts (saxophones) and Veryan Weston (piano); Lotte Anker (saxophones), Craig Taborn (piano), and Gerald Cleaver (drums); and Creative Collective - Kidd Jordan (tenor saxophone), Joel Futterman (piano), William Parker (bass), and Alvin Fielder (drums); and Paul Plimley (piano), William Parker (bass), and (a drummer whose name I don't know who was pressed into service for the absent Gerry Hemingway).
The free-jazz performances of Lotte Acker et al. and Paul Plimley et al. were composed of sound-events that didn't have beginnings, middles, or endings. They just began and then stopped. Lotte Acker's saxophone playing reminded me of what has been said of the earliest role of the tenor saxophone, with its slap-tonguing techniques: it was a rhythm instrument supporting a bass line. So I thought Acker was tip-toeing with the saxophones while Taborn and Cleaver were playing their percussive piano and drums, respectively.
[*]Ekkehard Jost's Free Jazz, Da Capo Press, 1994 is the thing for inquiring music minds.
http://www.guelphjazzfestival.com/2011_season/performers
http://jazztimes.com/sections/concerts/articles/28468-guelph-jazz-festival-colloquium
http://www.spookyactions.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/arts/music/roulette-opens-in-brooklyn-with-camilla-hoitenga-review.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Henry%20Threadgill&st=cse
Free-Jazz - a-melodic and a-harmonic - the sound-events are the thing. [*]
One of the great, good things about about the annual Guelph Jazz Festival is that it emphasizes improvised avant-garde free jazz. It gives free-jazz players a chance to play their music and to get paid too. Getting paid is very important for free-jazz musicians; since, unless they have university or other teaching gigs, most music presenters refuse to present new music or free-jazz.
We all know that free-jazz began with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Sun Ra and others. We also know that free-jazz is defined by negative attributes - it's a-melodic, a-harmonic, a-rhythmic. It eliminates the traditional rhythm section as accompanist form. There are almost as many free-jazz styles as there are free-jazz players - there is no singular free-jazz style. But there are varying degrees of freedom in free-jazz. Sometimes the musicians have written scores or head-arrangements. Most often, however, music scores are absent. We also know that European free-jazz musicians have their own variety of free-jazz, one that is more out of the European art-music tradition. But Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, and Stockhausen are favorites of both North American and European free-jazz musicians. N.B. North American includes Canadian!
The stone free-jazz music that I heard in Guelph was performed by Trevor Watts (saxophones) and Veryan Weston (piano); Lotte Anker (saxophones), Craig Taborn (piano), and Gerald Cleaver (drums); and Creative Collective - Kidd Jordan (tenor saxophone), Joel Futterman (piano), William Parker (bass), and Alvin Fielder (drums); and Paul Plimley (piano), William Parker (bass), and (a drummer whose name I don't know who was pressed into service for the absent Gerry Hemingway).
The free-jazz performances of Lotte Acker et al. and Paul Plimley et al. were composed of sound-events that didn't have beginnings, middles, or endings. They just began and then stopped. Lotte Acker's saxophone playing reminded me of what has been said of the earliest role of the tenor saxophone, with its slap-tonguing techniques: it was a rhythm instrument supporting a bass line. So I thought Acker was tip-toeing with the saxophones while Taborn and Cleaver were playing their percussive piano and drums, respectively.
The Vancouver, BC pianist Paul Plimley engaged the music with a trio that included William Parker, bass and a drummer, whose name I don't know, who was sitting in for the estimable Gerry Hemingway. Plimley's set was too long, given what he was playing - two hands close together at the top of the piano keyboard then bounced to the bottom of the keyboard, over and over again. Cecil Taylor's former bass-man tried to steer the piano to the middle of things, but without success. The drummer tip-toed throughout. All in all too much of the same patterns with no flow.
Creative Collective - Kidd Jordan (ts), Joel Futterman (p), William Parker (b), Alvin Fielder (d). For me the music created by the Creative Collective was the highlight of the Guelph Jazz Festival. This was free-jazz playing at its best. The group played in one long music-event. The music moved, it flowed, it had a beginning, middle, and end. Four fabulous musicians. Futterman and Fielder were unknown to me. Fielder played the drums, no tip-toeing with him. William Parker didn't have to direct traffic in this context (as he had done with Paul Plimley); he showed why he is so highly regarded as a bassist and musician. Kidd Jordan and Joel Futterman knocked me out with their forceful, subtle playing and musicianship. "Creative Collective" is certainly true of these musicians.
On the stone-free-jazz side of the Guelph Jazz Festival, Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston and Creative Collective were superb and thrilled me with their musicianship.
On the Other Side. I heard Tygve Seim (saxophones) & Andreas Utnem (keyboards), Nicolas Caloia (bass) Quartet with Jean Derome (winds), Guillaume Dostaler (piano), Isaiah Ceccarelli (drums) and Henry Threadgill's (winds) Zooid with Liberty Ellman (guitar), Stomu Takeishi (bass guitar), José Davila (trombone & tuba), Elliot Kause (drums), and Christopher Hoffman ('cello).
Tygve Seim & Andreas (ECM recording artists) performed in St. Georges Church. This space was apt for their ECM, Garbarek-like vibe. The audience, it appeared, was enthralled by the stillness of their etherial music. It sounded too good for me. But that's the ECM way.
Nicolas Caloia's Quintet music was enjoyable for me. It was the most straight ahead music that I heard - it wasn't experimental or free-form. It was well played. I was impressed by J. Derome (winds) and G. Dostaler (piano).
Henry Threadgill - Zooid. His music has been characterized as sui generis and his instrumentations and voicings as bizarre (The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 5th ed.). I first heard Threadgill in person with the group Air in Ann Arbor (1980?). I was also most impressed by his flute solo on David Murray's recording Ming. Henry Threadgill gave an interview in Guelph as part of the festival program. He mentioned the music of Arnold Schoenberg as having influenced his music. He also alleged that American string players are very weak when it comes to rhythm - far weaker than string players of other countries. Now pay attention here!
There is a group out of New York University that calls itself Spooky Actions (after Albert Einstein's phrase). Spooky Actions has recorded improvisations based on the music of Schoenberg, Webern, and Messiaen. The Webern arrangements and improvisations are in Threadgill's neighborhood conceptually. I think it's quite interesting to listen to Spooky Actions' Schoenberg and Webern recordings followed by Schoenberg and Webern followed by Threadgill. Then listen in reverse order. Then ..... Of course Monk is in there too. Go figure/listen.
Threadgill-Zooid's was captivating to my ears - it was about time for musicians to bring their music-scores to the front. The musicians were all superb. The music moved up and down, but it flowed too. It wasn't free but it wasn't constrained either. It was very satisfying to my ears.
Last Thing. I would urge one to go to the Guelph Jazz Festival website and look at the archive of previous festivals. One will be astounded by the assortment of great musicians who have contributed to making the Guelph Jazz Festival one of a kind and something not to be missed.
There is a group out of New York University that calls itself Spooky Actions (after Albert Einstein's phrase). Spooky Actions has recorded improvisations based on the music of Schoenberg, Webern, and Messiaen. The Webern arrangements and improvisations are in Threadgill's neighborhood conceptually. I think it's quite interesting to listen to Spooky Actions' Schoenberg and Webern recordings followed by Schoenberg and Webern followed by Threadgill. Then listen in reverse order. Then ..... Of course Monk is in there too. Go figure/listen.
Threadgill-Zooid's was captivating to my ears - it was about time for musicians to bring their music-scores to the front. The musicians were all superb. The music moved up and down, but it flowed too. It wasn't free but it wasn't constrained either. It was very satisfying to my ears.
Last Thing. I would urge one to go to the Guelph Jazz Festival website and look at the archive of previous festivals. One will be astounded by the assortment of great musicians who have contributed to making the Guelph Jazz Festival one of a kind and something not to be missed.
[*]Ekkehard Jost's Free Jazz, Da Capo Press, 1994 is the thing for inquiring music minds.
http://www.guelphjazzfestival.com/2011_season/performers
http://jazztimes.com/sections/concerts/articles/28468-guelph-jazz-festival-colloquium
http://www.spookyactions.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/arts/music/roulette-opens-in-brooklyn-with-camilla-hoitenga-review.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Henry%20Threadgill&st=cse
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