Post by don jordan on Jul 27, 2005 22:01:48 GMT 10
There's been a raft of jazz composers from Jelly Roll Morton onwards. For larger ensembles Duke Ellington is probably the best known, but the names of Charlie Mingus, George Russell, Gerry Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, J. J. Johnson and Gil Evans would, I hope, be familiar to most people. Composers of tunes abound, of course - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, etc., etc., and so forth. The bands of Count Basie and the other swing era giants, plus Stan Kenton, had lots of arrangers and composers to draw upon - some who might be familiar, like Neal Hefti, but others whose names may not be so well known, such as Eddie Sauter, Bill Finegan, Bill Russo, Bill Holman and Ernie Wilkins. Who is familiar with the compositions that Eddie Sauter wrote for Stan Getz's album "Focus"; with Bill Russo's album "School of Rebellion" (that John Hawker did some transcriptions of for his band in about 1960); and with the many albums that Bob Brookmeyer wrote and, more importantly, continues to write? Who has read Bill Russo's books on jazz composition (not to mention his long series of articles in Down Beat years ago)?
I ask these questions because I'm not aware of much composition, as opposed to tune writing, going on in Melbourne (and even less aware of what's happening elsewhere in Oz). If anyone can direct me to gigs with bands (particularly larger ensembles) playing compositions that carry on from the work of the sort of people mentioned above, I'd be very grateful to know.
I also wonder what your reactions to these names are - Mike Westbrook, Graham Collier, Neil Ardley, Ian Carr, Michael Gibbs, Tony Coe, John Warren, Michael Garrick, John Surman, Chris McGregor, Stan Tracey and Kenny Wheeler. Maybe the last two are familiar? Whatever, these people are major jazz composers who have been around since the 1960s, but they are either English or have made their names principally in England and Europe. Their musics are based on the American model, but incorporate the European tradition and have been developed from there, resulting in work that is distinctive, personal and different from that produced in America or in Oz. I wonder how local players and composers feel about their work - and even whether they have listened to it. It seems to me that any artist's study must include all the preceding music in the field they work in. I can't remember hearing any music by Oz musicians that shows evidence of their having heard work by these composers and players. (Maybe I haven't been in the right place at the right time.)
Let's look at a few. Mike Westbrook (whose initial influences were Mingus and Ellington) has produced the most amazing extended compositions over these years, including his anti-war "Marching Song" (4 LP sides), "Metropolis", "Citadel/Room 351", "On Duke's Birthday" (4 LP sides), "The Cortege" (6 LP sides) and "London Bridge Is Broken Down" (7 LP sides), amongst many other recordings - and he's still playing and writing. Who has heard any of these? Who has heard a radio jazz program in which an hour or more of uninterrupted music from this sort of suite has been played (you'd need at least 2 hours for "London Bridge"!)? Why not? Who has been to a local performance of an extended suite of this sort? Why not?
Neil Ardley has written suites of beautiful music - "Kaleidoscope of Rainbows" inspired by Indonesian music; "Greek Variations"; "A Symphony of Amaranths"; plus vocal settings of Lear's "The Dong With a Luminous Nose" intoned by Ivor Cutler, and Lewis Carroll's "Will You Walk a Little Faster" sung by Norma Winstone. Are there any local jazz compositions inspired by Indonesian or Greek music? You'd think we'd have been right into this, instead of leaving it to an Englishman to do 30 and more years ago. There's a rather sad story attached to "Kaleidoscope". Bob Birtles played on the recording and came back to Sydney (with his part) feeling very satisfied with, and proud of, the work. He played it for John Sangster who knocked it badly, leaving Bob pretty hurt. OK, John has produced some interesting compositions, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was just sour grapes.
Stan Tracy is another composer who has integrated words and music. His setting of selections from "Under Milk Wood" is a classic in anybody's language. And the energy and swing generated by his Octet, playing his compositions is worth a trip to England for on its own. His duet albums with alto player Mike Osborne and pianist Keith Tippett are gems. Mike Osborne played with the early Westbrook bands, soloing with great fire and feeling. Then he became mentally unfit, and never played again - one of the great losses to jazz.
I heard Kenny Wheeler's "Music for Large Ensemble" live in London - you have to hear this stuff live if you can. There was Norma Winstone singing wordlessly on top of the horns in the ensembles - the most beautiful sound you could hear. Anyone done that locally?
Who else? What about Tony Coe's LP "Zeitgeist" in which the whole suite for big band and singer is based on a 12-tone row? What about John Warren and John Surman's "The Brass Project", and John Surman's many compositions and recordings inspired by English folk song? How about SOS - the three sax group with Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne and Surman plus electronics? There's a sound and compositions that could springboard any group.
Chris McGregor's "Brotherhood of Breath" came out of South Africa with both white and black players. You can't not dance to their music. Chris is dead now, sadly. Ian Carr's jazz-rock group Nucleus produced some great albums - Bob Birtles played on some of those, too. Who has heard the album "Nicra" by trombonists Nick Evans and Radu Malfatti? This is "free" music and you can't pick out a track to play separately. You have to listen to the whole selection in order to join in the emotional journey and reach the upliftingly beautiful resolutions. And what about albums by Albert Mangelsdorff who, very sadly, died a couple of days ago at age 76? "Mumps: A Matter of Taste" with Surman, Stu Martin and Barre Phillips is a classic, and his solo albums in which he use lots of multi-phonics can never be heard enough, I think.
What's the point of all this? Whitney Balliett described jazz as "the sound of surprise". Well, I want to be surprised! I want to hear music that I've never heard the likes of before. I want to be moved to exhilaration and to tears. I want to be uplifted. I want to walk away from the gig, as I did years ago in London after hearing a Westbrook concert, floating above the ground with the music singing right through my body. I want to hear sax players play as differently as John Surman did when he re-defined baritone playing. I want to hear brass players put themselves, not notes, through their horns. I want to hear the lyricism of a Henry Lowther on trumpet, and the wonderful madness of a Paul Rutherford on trombone. I want to hear pianists, guitarists, bassists and drummers play in ways that I couldn't imagine. I want to hear extended jazz compositions on the radio without any breaks, just as you would hear the music at a gig.
I've heard all the music I've mentioned and much, much more. Have you heard all that music, too, and decided what you can learn from it and incorporate in your music or use as a launching pad? I'm greedy, and I want something different!
I ask these questions because I'm not aware of much composition, as opposed to tune writing, going on in Melbourne (and even less aware of what's happening elsewhere in Oz). If anyone can direct me to gigs with bands (particularly larger ensembles) playing compositions that carry on from the work of the sort of people mentioned above, I'd be very grateful to know.
I also wonder what your reactions to these names are - Mike Westbrook, Graham Collier, Neil Ardley, Ian Carr, Michael Gibbs, Tony Coe, John Warren, Michael Garrick, John Surman, Chris McGregor, Stan Tracey and Kenny Wheeler. Maybe the last two are familiar? Whatever, these people are major jazz composers who have been around since the 1960s, but they are either English or have made their names principally in England and Europe. Their musics are based on the American model, but incorporate the European tradition and have been developed from there, resulting in work that is distinctive, personal and different from that produced in America or in Oz. I wonder how local players and composers feel about their work - and even whether they have listened to it. It seems to me that any artist's study must include all the preceding music in the field they work in. I can't remember hearing any music by Oz musicians that shows evidence of their having heard work by these composers and players. (Maybe I haven't been in the right place at the right time.)
Let's look at a few. Mike Westbrook (whose initial influences were Mingus and Ellington) has produced the most amazing extended compositions over these years, including his anti-war "Marching Song" (4 LP sides), "Metropolis", "Citadel/Room 351", "On Duke's Birthday" (4 LP sides), "The Cortege" (6 LP sides) and "London Bridge Is Broken Down" (7 LP sides), amongst many other recordings - and he's still playing and writing. Who has heard any of these? Who has heard a radio jazz program in which an hour or more of uninterrupted music from this sort of suite has been played (you'd need at least 2 hours for "London Bridge"!)? Why not? Who has been to a local performance of an extended suite of this sort? Why not?
Neil Ardley has written suites of beautiful music - "Kaleidoscope of Rainbows" inspired by Indonesian music; "Greek Variations"; "A Symphony of Amaranths"; plus vocal settings of Lear's "The Dong With a Luminous Nose" intoned by Ivor Cutler, and Lewis Carroll's "Will You Walk a Little Faster" sung by Norma Winstone. Are there any local jazz compositions inspired by Indonesian or Greek music? You'd think we'd have been right into this, instead of leaving it to an Englishman to do 30 and more years ago. There's a rather sad story attached to "Kaleidoscope". Bob Birtles played on the recording and came back to Sydney (with his part) feeling very satisfied with, and proud of, the work. He played it for John Sangster who knocked it badly, leaving Bob pretty hurt. OK, John has produced some interesting compositions, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was just sour grapes.
Stan Tracy is another composer who has integrated words and music. His setting of selections from "Under Milk Wood" is a classic in anybody's language. And the energy and swing generated by his Octet, playing his compositions is worth a trip to England for on its own. His duet albums with alto player Mike Osborne and pianist Keith Tippett are gems. Mike Osborne played with the early Westbrook bands, soloing with great fire and feeling. Then he became mentally unfit, and never played again - one of the great losses to jazz.
I heard Kenny Wheeler's "Music for Large Ensemble" live in London - you have to hear this stuff live if you can. There was Norma Winstone singing wordlessly on top of the horns in the ensembles - the most beautiful sound you could hear. Anyone done that locally?
Who else? What about Tony Coe's LP "Zeitgeist" in which the whole suite for big band and singer is based on a 12-tone row? What about John Warren and John Surman's "The Brass Project", and John Surman's many compositions and recordings inspired by English folk song? How about SOS - the three sax group with Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne and Surman plus electronics? There's a sound and compositions that could springboard any group.
Chris McGregor's "Brotherhood of Breath" came out of South Africa with both white and black players. You can't not dance to their music. Chris is dead now, sadly. Ian Carr's jazz-rock group Nucleus produced some great albums - Bob Birtles played on some of those, too. Who has heard the album "Nicra" by trombonists Nick Evans and Radu Malfatti? This is "free" music and you can't pick out a track to play separately. You have to listen to the whole selection in order to join in the emotional journey and reach the upliftingly beautiful resolutions. And what about albums by Albert Mangelsdorff who, very sadly, died a couple of days ago at age 76? "Mumps: A Matter of Taste" with Surman, Stu Martin and Barre Phillips is a classic, and his solo albums in which he use lots of multi-phonics can never be heard enough, I think.
What's the point of all this? Whitney Balliett described jazz as "the sound of surprise". Well, I want to be surprised! I want to hear music that I've never heard the likes of before. I want to be moved to exhilaration and to tears. I want to be uplifted. I want to walk away from the gig, as I did years ago in London after hearing a Westbrook concert, floating above the ground with the music singing right through my body. I want to hear sax players play as differently as John Surman did when he re-defined baritone playing. I want to hear brass players put themselves, not notes, through their horns. I want to hear the lyricism of a Henry Lowther on trumpet, and the wonderful madness of a Paul Rutherford on trombone. I want to hear pianists, guitarists, bassists and drummers play in ways that I couldn't imagine. I want to hear extended jazz compositions on the radio without any breaks, just as you would hear the music at a gig.
I've heard all the music I've mentioned and much, much more. Have you heard all that music, too, and decided what you can learn from it and incorporate in your music or use as a launching pad? I'm greedy, and I want something different!
