I have been listening to the master a lot these days.
Specifically, "Meditations". It has taken a long time for me to really be able to appreciate some of Trane's music from his later period. I've come to hear that the music on this recording, while being very abstract, contains some of the most intensely beautiful melodies anywhere on record.
Consider the following from the "Love" movement:
What really touches me is the relatively simple way that Trane treats the melody (starting around 2:20). The simple, almost child-like melody with increasingly dark and shifting colors never fails to grab at my heart as does the absolute conviction that Trane plays with.
Here is a link to a great link to an interview with saxophonist Walt Weiskopf. Walt is a great modern player whose ideas about hexatonics/triad pairs are very well known in the Jazz Education world.
There was a time that saying: "He's a West Coast player" or "He's a real Chicago Tenor" meant something very specific in terms of style, vocabulary, sound etc. Something that I hear today in my contemporaries and even in my own playing is no sense of regional identity. It is probably quite naive to think in this age of global information that there could be such drastic stylistic differences. An apprentice saxophonist today living in Nebraska has equal access to music from all geographic areas of the US as well as internationally at the click of a mouse. This is a wonderful thing for both the student and the professional, but, I do miss being able to hear a player' geographic linage in his or her playing. Today it sounds like we have all listened to the same 25 records, which of course, we have. As we move through the three stages of artistic development (Imitation, Style, Innovation) I think it would do us well as artists to undertake a study of a historic regional style of playing that appeals to us. We'll be more historically grounded in as well as discover new sources for our own vocabulary.
In that light, our Sunday Video today, features a true Chicago Tenor that I grew up listening to and that I have had the honor of performing with a couple of times...Von Freeman.
Some killin' Joe for your Sunday. The sound is a little fuzzy, but Joe's genius comes through. I may have to transcribe the initial statement of the melody! Enjoy...
I must admit, I spend a good part of yesterday listening to OMD and The Cure. But in honor of the Festival starting tomorrow, here is one of my favorite performance clips from Newport.
As life in transition settles down and boxes slowly get unpacked it occurs to me...THE JAZZ FESTIVAL IS NEXT WEEK!!!
I am very excited about the lineup and will be posting my impressions here, but in preparation I will offer a daily look back at the Newport Jazz Festival of days gone by...
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some reflections on the recordings that have been in heavy rotation in my house this past year. The first thing that came to mind was the second recording by The Saxophone Summit - Seraphic Light.
Liebman has been a touchstone in my life. I remember my first experience with him very vividly. It was at one of Jamey's camps when I was in high school, probably 1988 or so. He was in residency for a couple of days, did some lectures, performed one evening. I was just enamored of everything about him: his total command of the language, his teaching style and ability everything. I will always remember his performance of "After the Rain" at that venue One afternoon I was walking across the campus after lunch and Lieb was sitting on a bench alone (this in and of itself kind of knocked me out - here is this heavy cat, just digging the pleasant afternoon...). I introduced myself as only an awkward 15 year old could and he was very gracious and we had a very cool talk. I eventually wound up studying with him at his annual Saxophone Masterclass and I still send recordings to him for comment.
This project has been very important because it brought three of the major voices and to my ears the three "archetypical" approaches to playing saxophone, tenor specifically, in the post-Coltrane world. Lovano, Brecker and Lieb all in one place was a dream come true for me. Lovano is just as important to me. I have never met him but he has one of my biggest modern day influences. Brecker was, of course, just superlative in all ways. When Brecker passed and Ravi stepped in, the energy of the group of course changed, but it also evolved as an ensemble. This latest recording has probably been my most-listened-to recording of the year.
Here is a nice You Tube clip of the group from the summer. Really nice statements from Lovano and Ravi. Lieb, unfortunately gets cut off.
Chris Collins at Wayne State University has put together a great program that goes through tomorrow called Tenor Madness. Performances, Lectures etc featuring:
Chris Collins
Jerry Bergonzi
Emanuele Cisi
Francois Louis
And others.
I am no where near Detroit so for me,the best part of this whole thing is the LIVE WEBCAST!!!!
More educational institutions need to be doing things like this...
One of the benefits of laying on the couch all day is it allows for catching up on listening/videos. Here are a couple that have made my day much brighter...
I picked up the Chick Corea DVD of the Three Quartets reunion and finally got around to watching it today. Three Quartets was a touchstone in my development, this was to me what modern small group jazz was about; an aesthetic grounded in communication and improvisation but the perfect balance of compositional elements, transitions, sectional writing etc. The music of Ben Allison, Michael Blake and Ted Nash appeals to me for the same reason, but Three Quartets will always hold a special place in my heart. To see Brecker, Gadd, Corea and Gomez tearing this music up was a wonderful experience. If any of you were lucky enough to hear this performance live, I'd love to hear about it.
Secondly is this. I have heard about Brecker's solo concerts and I had the great experience of hearing him do a solo version of Namia in Chicago several years ago but this video is nothing short of amazing. Never mind the technical display, but dig the motivic development Brecker displays in the first several minutes. I miss Michael...
