Blues-Time, Baby

I spent a very worthwhile day and evening yesterday with the recordings of Charles Brown (you know, I'm sure, his famous "Merry Christmas Baby") and Andrew Hill (ditto for the latter's famous Point of Departure). I hadn't listened to either master musician in a long while. I've provided tastes below for your listening thrills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhV1SvrDTJg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLecmYwI45I

William Robert Sarver, Esq. - R.I.P.

Bill Sarver passed away a few days ago at the age of 70. His later years had been made quite difficult by health issues. Bill and I had been close friends in the fabulous 1960s and in the early 1970s. We spent many hours in the presence of Miles Davis and John Coltrane in Detroit at The Minor Key. We spent some evenings arguing the merits of John Coltrane verses Sonny Rollins. I remember wearing out my copy of Coltrane's Traneing In - we listened to this and other recordings intently. I also recall shooting pool in my basement while listening to one of Richard Wagner's operas on a small FM radio - Wagner has never sounded better. We were enchanted by the Juilliard Quartet's recordings of Schoenberg's 1st and 2nd string quartets.
   The last time that I saw Bill was in Ann Arbor at the Kerrytown Concert House. A mutual friend had invited Bill along to a concert (I don't recall who the performers were). We had drinks after the concert. Since our interests had diverged over the years, Bill and I hadn't kept in touch.
   Bill Sarver was a very good basketball player at Highland Park High School and at the University of Detroit. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Pharoah Sanders' Peace Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOpmtFoZWjA

Andrew Cyrille w/ Jeanne Lee, Jimmy Lyons & Anthony Braxton

This Sunday afternoon I'm listening to three CDs by the master, musical, percussionist Andrew Cyrille. Nuba is from 1979 and features the late Jeanne Lee, vocals and the late Jimmy Lyons, alto saxophone. The other two CDs, Duo Palindrome 2002, feature Anthony Braxton, reeds. I don't recall whether Mr. Cyrille told me, or whether I read, that he had a lot of experience as an accompanist for dancers. His playing on the Braxton recordings is perfect for Mr. Braxton's phrasing, with its loops and turns. This music would serve very well as the main character in a contemporary drama or pantomime, an opera without words; Beckett, Sartre, or Pinter; no exit; no return, end game - very moving and beautiful.
   Jeanne Lee's voice is perfectly in tune with Lyon's sound on alto saxophone. Her vocal dynamics on "Jjli" are percussive. Ms. Lee was an extraordinary musician whose horn was her voice. Listen to her exchanges with Messrs. Lyons and Cyrille on "Sorry" - extraordinary. A Sunday spent with these fine musicians is a great pleasure indeed.
  Sunday's covered then.

Anthony Braxton - Figurations, Blutopia & Musico-Meta-Reality Implications

Yes, I'd say we were in a stylistic period: I'm thinking of, say, Wynton Marsalis, Chico Freeman ... The universities are programming young people for stylistic value systems. The problem is they're trying to separate the music from its meta-reality implications. [Lock, Forces in Motion p. 165]

It's Sunday morning. I'm listening to a recording entitled A Memory of Vienna by Ran Blake, piano and Anthony Braxton, alto saxophone. A couple of days ago I began reading - again - Ronald M. Radano's 1993 book, New Musical Figurations: Anthony Braxton's Cultural Critique. This time I managed to fight my way through Radano's 27 page "Introduction" with its 55 footnotes. I think I'll outflank the author and take up my position at his 8 page, 13 footnote "Epilogue".[*]
   As opposed to Professor Radano's book, I found Graham Lock's book, Forces in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the meta-reality of creative music • interviews and tour notes • England 1985 captivating - after all it held my attention, since it was full of Braxton's words and thoughts. Good gossip about musicians and music throughout. Academic footnote scribbling terrifies me - unless it's the philosopher David Wiggins. And indeed any serious work of music aesthetics that relies on Downbeat magazine interviews and articles is in my view suspect. But, of course, if one is doing Adorno type stuff, as Radano seems to be doing; then it doesn't matter. Sociology makes nasty work of the cultural leavings - digs all of the bits.
   Soul Junction, Red Garland, John Coltrane and Donald Byrd. That's better. Think I'll reread Graham Lock's 2004 BLUTOPIA:Visions of the Future and Revisions of the Past in the work of SUN RA, DUKE ELLINGTON, and ANTHONY BRAXTON. Lots of footnotes here also; but they're endnotes. There is a stylistic difference. Back to Ran Blake.
 
[*] I came across this piece of editorial wisdom from Mark Sainsbury, a former editor of Mind:

Gilbert Ryle is reported to have advised contributors to Mind to avoid footnotes:
‘If it’s worth saying, put it in the text; if it’s not worth saying, don’t say it.’ Azzouni’s text bristles with footnotes: 560 of them in 254 pages. One does not get the impression that making the book a pleasure to read was a high priority for the author. 

Nina, Sasha, and coach Brady Hoke - Go Blue!