The biggest thing in my life, besides my wife and son, is music. However, I've always had a passion for comedy. (I actually took a stand-up comedy class a few years ago; it was an 8 week class which culminated in a performance at Caroline's in New York.) And yet, I've always had hesitations as to how to mix comedy and music, or whether the two things should mix at all. There are many types of comics, and I like everything from Bill Cosby to Robin Harris to Steven Wright, from Dave Chappelle to Ellen DeGeneres, from Bob Newhart to Chris Rock, and so on. And some people have intentionally mixed comedy and music, like Peter Schickele with his P.D.Q. Bach concept, and certainly Weird Al Yankovic has figured out a formula for laughs (the most I ever laughed in the 80's was after hearing his "Hooked on Polkas",which was poka versions of all the hit tunes of the 80's. I literally fell on the floor...).
The Serious Matt Wilson
My point is that I think that there are many ways to see comedy as part of music. I think there is a lot of humor in Thelonious Monk's music, even Louis Armstrong's music. Fats Waller, a true musical genius, is more known for things like "Your Feet's Too Big" and "I Want Some Seafood, Mama" than his gorgeous solo piano work. Indeed, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was more of a novelty than something to be taken seriously; "Livery Stable Blues" is basically an over-emphasis on the "barnyard animal sound" aspect of what was then new music. And certainly, music doesn't have to have obvious jokes in it to be funny, or even fun. You might have a subtle joke in Charlie Parker quoting "Petrouchka", or maybe a bass player might play a glissando which evokes a chuckle. But then there are musicians like Ethan Iverson, or Matt Wilson, or Han Bennink, or Mischa Mengelberg, who are really known for a sense of comedy that isn't a schtick, but more of a playful sense of "let's not take the music too seriously" kind of vibe.
"He thinks he's Ethel Merman...."
I believe that Joan Stiles' latest CD, "Three Musicians" falls somewhere in the latter category. Certainly, the presence of drummer Matt Wilson helps to create that impression. But certainly, Stiles' own approach to the piano has a certain reckless abandon which has a somewhat comic effect. Don't get me wrong; this is not to imply that Stiles lacks skill or doesn't take her music seriously. She is a fantastic player and has a lot of depth in her playing. Still, when I hear the first track, "Everything's Coming Up Roses", the famous Ethel Merman hit, I can't help but get a fun, if not funny, impression of the business at hand. These are three serious musicians who don't take music too seriously, in a good way.
Joel Frahm
Joel Frahm is one of the baddest tenor players that not enough people have heard of. I used to play occasional gigs with him in the 90's at Augie's in Upper Manhattan(which is now called Smoke). He's got all the technique and all of the inventiveness you would want from a tenor player. He could stand next to tenor players like Joshua Redman and Chris Potter, and they might be intimidated. Check out his bluesy architecture on "West End Boogie", where he uses the complete range of the tenor, and demonstrates total control of his rhythm, and all within a short space of time. This is a cool tune; I actually heard it on the radio soon after I received the CD. It's not pure boogie-woogie; it's actually in 7/4 and uses the low register of the piano and some bluesy passages to sort of allude to boogie-woogie, which is more impressive than actually trying to cop verbatim Meade Lux Lewis. (Did you know that even recently, it was a requirement of pianists auditioning for the Juilliard Jazz program to include a boogie woogie selection? It was also a requirement for auditioning guitarists to double on banjo!)
Certainly the second tune of the CD would illustrate my point easily; it's a hybrid of an obscured "Sunshine Of Your Love" combined with a more overt "My Funny Valentine". Stiles' calls it "In The Sunshine Of My Funny Valentine's Love". The two themes are stirred around in a quirky rubato. Then Stiles' solos alone, stating the time. Wilson joins after 12 bars. Yes, it sounds like they are soloing on a C minor blues form, but then they sort of allude to the bridge of "My Funny Valentine", but then it shifts to something else which I'm not 100 percent sure of whether it is something planned or not. There is so much C minor happening that Frahm can't resist quoting Bach's fugue in Cminor from the Well Tempered Clavier.
Joan Stiles at the Piano
"Nutty" is one of those Monk tunes that seems to always inspire silliness. Matt Wilson takes a wonderful drum solo, which has enough comedic twists to keep the unserious spirit, but enough mastery to force you to respect him as one of the great young drummers. The last two CDs I've heard with Wilson, I've really been impressed with the sound and tuning of his drums, especially the snare. It seems to sound good at any volume, whether smacked or brushed. He does an intro on "Bebopicity"which is as good an intro as you would want.
I'm guessing that many writers are going to talk about the lack of bass player as a point of interest. Honestly, I'm not as interested in that aspect of this CD, only because there is so much interplay, creativity, skillful rhythm, and joy here that I don't even notice it. Stiles' holds down the "bass" as much as necessary. As I have said, I'm more interested in talking about what the music "is" rather than what it "isn't". "Three Musicians" is an enjoyable CD that you won't regret downloading from itunes.
Enoch Smith Jr. is a young pianist(younger than me, anyway...) who originally hails from Rochester, NY. Although he went to Berklee College of Music, he considers himself self-taught and a church musician at heart. His debut CD, entitled "Misfits", is a strong debut, for a number of reasons. First, it's well recorded; the piano sounds warm and clear, and the mix makes it easy to hear the music. Second, the musical vision of the recording of the CD is cohesive and well-thought out. And it's an art CD; by that I mean the musical goals of the CD are noble, in that there's no gimmicks trying to "hook" people. It's a purely music driven endeavor. Third, the compositions are well-crafted, slick, and meaty without being overly intellectual. Smith is a fine pianist and takes great solos, and comps well, but he's not concerned with showing off; he has a razor sharp agenda, which makes "Misfits" a pleasure to listen to.
Sangmin Lee
Smith's band is a formidable one. Drummer Sangmin Lee and bassist Noah Jackson are solid throughout. I like Lee's energy and flexibility. Both he and Jackson are what we come to expect in our rhythm sections these days; technically accuracy, interplay ability, and the skill to play all styles from any era of jazz. This is a jazz CD, however, it's from a modern perspective. Lee and Jackson know how to play grooves which fall in between funk and latin with consistency and freedom.
Sarah Elizabeth Charles, who is hogging all the first names!
I must admit that my favorite tracks are the ones which feature vocalist Sarah Charles. I met Charles two summers ago in Bern, Switzerland; She was performing with a group from the New School. I can hear why she would be someone that instrumentalists would bring into their group; whereas many singers have big, adorned voices which arguably fill up the space and hog the attention, Charles' voice is very streamlined. This kind of voice makes a better blend, whether singing wordless melodies, scat soloing, or singing lyrics, at least on this CD. Don't get me wrong, she's got power, and reveals her soulfulness on "Misfits" when necessary. But I like her subtle intensity.
The opener, "A Misfit's Theme", sets a great tone. I was reading that Smith felt like a "misfit" at Berklee because he didn't feel like he was up on the technical requirements of the college. The lyrics of this piece combined with the haunting F#sus to Fmaj7#11 repeating sadly reminded me of my own feelings of being a misfit. ( If you listen to jazz, you're a misfit. Welcome!)The mysterious nature of this section gives way to a bombastic new progression of Amaj, Abmin 11, Db maj9 and Dmaj9. (Yes, I got out my keyboard and figured out the chords. Don't all jazz writers do that when they review a CD? They don't? Because they can't hear harmony? Oh, my bad.....) Charles really shines on this one.
There' a nice arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Caravan", which is nicely swinging, but has a few surprises; in addition to impressive solos from Smith and Jackson, there is a very sudden loop of 3/4 in the ending melody which becomes a vamp for a drum solo. It's such a surprise that , at first, I was listening to this in my car, and I thought my CD player was busted! "She Move Me" is another strong instrumental track; here, Lee's drumming really reminds me of Eric Harland- a certain crispiness to his snare fills, and a certain precision yet loose interpretation. Smith floats nicely on this one. The latin tinge, and some of the chords, like the brooding F minor, Gb/F on the intro, remind me of Chick Corea(which, like Herbie Hancock, is a tough one to avoid as an influence.) Smith's touch is much darker and lighter than you would expect on a latin tune, but it makes it more pleasant to listen to.
Saunders Sermons
There are two other guest vocalists on "Misfits": Saunders Sermons sounds enchanting on the Beatles' classic "Blackbird", and Mavis Poole sings strikingly on " I Won't Complain". It's very hip of Smith to use his vocalists as he has on "Misfits". I've listened to this CD several times already and I highly recommend it. It's very mature and impressive as a debut and it makes me curious about Mr. Smith and see what this young pianist does next. For more about Smith, see his site: http://www.enochsmithjr.com/
Noah Baerman recently sent me his latest recording, entitled "Turtle Steps". As a pianist, I know the challenges of making a solo piano recording. I personally feel stronger with a rhythm section, and I have a tendency to overplay when I'm solo; it's a bad habit to try to fill every nook and cranny of space. I suppose that some pianists are considered stronger at solo playing than others. Art Tatum is someone I'd much rather hear solo than with a band. Obviously Keith Jarrett is great at playing alone. But when I think about the differences in how the great pianists play solo piano, I realize how many different ways there are to approach it. From Tatum to Monk, Fats Waller to Bill Evans, Cecil Taylor to Fred Hersch, the possibilities are endless. (I'm reminded of when Herbie Hancock was in Portland to play "Rhapsody In Blue" with the Oregon Symphony. Hancock is a player not known for solo piano, but he played a few well known jazz tunes as a warm up for the Gershwin piece. Herbie's approach was so creative, it made me rethink my placement of Hancock in the pantheon of great solo pianists.)
Joanne Brackeen
Baerman's approach is a pleasure to listen to. He's got a great touch, a great sense of balance, and a great sense of rhythm and space. What else do you need? Well, possible some great compositions, which Baerman has in spades. It's a nice combination of standards and originals, and the programming is satisfying. "Gorpy's Tune", which Baerman wrote for pianist Joanne Brackeen, has a nice lilt, but has some gentle surprises. There are some interesting triads moving against bass lines, which give it almost a Wayne Shorter polychord feeling(although the triads could also lead you to think of the little triad sequence from Stevie Wonder's "Too High"....). This is a great warm up tune; Baerman takes his time, doesn't overplay, he let's his playing go where it wants to. He has a few phrases reminiscent of pianists Billy Childs mixed into some nice bebop lines.
I like the quick change of gears with the gospel tune "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray". Gospel piano styles use a lot of low register and usually there's a lot of rich chords and rhythm. It's short but effective. "Since The Blues Walked In" goes another way, into introspection. It reminds me a little of Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat", maybe because it's kind of an Eb minor bluesy tune with some interesting changes. Baerman jumps back to virtuosic displays with "Tiger Rag", although I find this arrangement to be clever in that Baerman avoids the all out left hand stride by using more of a Bud Powell left hand approach. It actually makes it hipper than trying to emulate James P. Johnson, which would be more expected.
Can you believe that this bottle of vodka composed
over 200 works for piano?
"Steven's Bar" is another surprise; the piano becomes a slide guitar....well, maybe a slide santur( a Persian dulcimer which I've been fascinated with recently). I wish Baerman would have played this one a little longer. But we now jump back to Frederic Chopin, with a swing version of the "Minute Waltz. I thought that this one might annoy me, but to the contrary, it makes total sense. (One time, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, who has incredible ears, told me that he thought that Chopin's harmony was to his ears "the same as Art Tatum".) Jazzing the classics is nothing new, but the trick is how much exactly to "jazz" it? Baerman gets the combination just right. Did I mention that Baerman's "waltz" is in 5/4?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"What If You Slept" (which has been my life story for 2 years, what with my over-active toddler and all...) is actually a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge(1772-1834)
What if you slept And what if
In your sleep
You dreamed
And what if
In your dream
You went to heaven
And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower
And what if
When you awoke
You had that flower in you hand
Ah, what then?
Baerman's approach is interesting in that he has a more lively approach than I would have expected for a poem like this. The piece has a kind of James Williams vibe to me. Next is a full on stride version of "After You've Gone", which is solid and has a few humorous moments. "The Dance" , a tune written apparently by a songwriter named Rachel Green is simply a pretty tune in 3, which shows off Baerman's beautiful touch and phrasing. "Home" continues the introspective mood. "Maqqwoe's Boogie" shows not only that Baerman knows the entire history of jazz piano, but that he's not afraid to be more creative with it than expected. The cleverly titled "Mynor Myracyl" almost alludes to pianist Chick Corea, or maybe some of the latin inspired music of Woody Shaw. Again, Baerman's time feel is solid enough to make it work.
Giant Steps, but slow.....
"This Little Light" begins with impressionistic arpeggios and some reharmonizations; it's another short interlude. The title track, "Turtle Steps" is a slow reworking of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps"; it kind of reminds me of when I used to practice that challenging harmonic sequence VERY SLOWLY. Wow, this is pretty cool; the "Giant Steps" changes don't HAVE to be fast to sound good. This is not a cop out, it's an artistic decision. Baerman concludes his wonderful solo album with a piece called "Out Of The Sasa, Into The Zamani," which I believe is in 9/8. It's a nice relaxed way to end a nicely varied and well crafted recording. This is my third or fourth listen and I highly recommend "Turtle Steps".
I have a few theories about rhythm. When we talk about swing rhythm, there's the general idea, but we can get really specific, and then even precise to the individual. The way Jelly Roll Morton swings is different from the way Kenny Kirkland swings, which is different from the way Wynton Kelly swings, etc....But in the overall sense, swing made a big change from the Swing Era into the Bebop Era. My theory is that it mostly had to do with tempo.
Dotted Eighth Sixteenth
The Swing Bands played medium bounces for dancers. Swing eighth notes were actually oftentimes written as Dotted eighth Sixteenths, which is closer to the jerky jaggedness of the earlier swing. Moving into the late 30's and early 40's, The Beboppers like Charlie Parker took the meaning of fast to new heights; they played Cherokee at tempos of Quarter note= 400! So they wanted to swing in a more streamlined manner, unencumbered by swing that could be too rickety. Hence, they smoothed out their eighth notes. Consequently, when they went back to playing slower tempos, they kept the smoothness.
Sometimes you will see swing notated as above, as a quarter and eighth triplet. And then some have talked about more modern swing as being eighth notes fairly straight with an accent or stress on the second eighth note. This can be used as a teaching tool, especially for folks who haven't heard much music with a swing feel. However, this is where it gets frustrating as an jazz educator, because I don't believe that you can teach a student how to swing if they don't listen to jazz! Swing rhythm is more than just "put a stress on the second eighth note." There's a whole rhythmic vocabulary that you hear from players who have digested a great number of jazz albums.
Listening to this album and many others might shed some light on the subject....
I don't believe that you "have it or you don't" as some might assume; I believe you can be taught to swing with a combination of listening and guidance. But I believe that the biggest problem facing today's jazz student is that they don't hear jazz in any form on a regular basis. Many students come right from high school stage band into being a jazz major in college, without having any concept of jazz beyond a fun, cool diversion from Concert Band. The great jazz musicians, even the moderately good ones, have listened and absorbed a lot of recorded music, and probably seen a lot of live jazz as well. I know some musicians who listen to recordings a lot more than they practice their instrument. (That might be a clue.)
This brings me to my next theory, which regards Quarter Notes. I've noticed that some of the drum students at PSU will play only quarter notes on the ride cymbal. I've heard older cats do that, but in this case, it never really felt good, so I told some of the students that I didn't think they should only play quarter notes on the ride cymbal, that they should "keep the ride cymbal dancing."
"Yes, but our teacher, Alan Jones, told us to do that."
OK, I guess I didn't want to contradict Alan Jones, who is a great drummer and also a very dedicated and experienced educator. However, I kept this in the back of my mind.
Mel Brown
And then recently, during one of the late night jam sessions I hosted at Ivories, the great Mel Brown came in to the club, and I begged him to sit in on drums. As he played, I watched and listened. At one point, I noticed that he was only playing quarter notes on the ride cymbal. But it sounded amazing! Why did it sound so good when he did it and not when the students did it?
I called this guy to make the gig, but he was always late!
My theory is this, and it's somewhat derived from an idea that drummer Lenny White talked about (which he referred to as the Moveable One.):In order to play quarter notes on the ride cymbal and make it sound "good", you have to understand how it lays with everything else that's going on around it. It's not metronomic, per se, it's quarter notes with other rhythms implied around it. It only works if you work the quarter note into the bass players quarter notes, which in turn work into the piano syncopation and the eighth note and triplet lines of the horn players. Essentially, you have to have the jazz vocabulary in your head as you play quarter notes. It's organic. Otherwise, people wouldcall a metronome to make a gig! (Which is a problem because most metronomes don't have cars.....)
Anyway, these are just theories. I'm interested in bridging the gap between the teaching of jazz and the "university of the streets" way to learn. I mostly learned by listening and going to jazz clubs and trying to piece it together while older cats yelled at me on the bandstand. I don't want to yell at my students, but I do want to see them improve. Maybe there are no shortcuts, but at least I can lead them down the quickest route.....
I was walking down the hall to teach a class at PSU when my colleague Darrell Grant ran up to me. "Come check THIS out!" I guessed that my ensemble could wait, and I followed Grant down the hall to another practice room. Inside the room were a bunch of folks were standing around a prepared piano. For those of you who didn't know, prepared piano refers to a piano which has stuff jammed in the strings to make it sound much different from what we expect to hear from a piano. It might sound like a marimba on one note, or it might sound like a drum, or it might sound like a ghost, depending on the treatment. There were a bunch of screws, bolts, and pieces of rubber wedged in the wires( No Rottweilers, though, jerky...). Grant dared me to play it; I plunked down a few notes. It kind of sounded like a Space Kalimba(Wasn't that an Earth Wind and Fire song?) "There's a free performance tonight at 8 of the John Cage "Sonatas and Interludes" in this room." I decided I would be there, since I live only 3 minutes walking distance from Lincoln Hall, and also because it was free. Seriously, I was in the mood for something unconventional. (I say unconventional with the full awareness that Cage wrote this piece in 1948.)
Adam Tendler
Just before 8pm, the small practice room was full of people who were also in the mood for something unconventional. Wynn Kiyama, the Professor of Musicology at PSU, introduced the soloist, a young man named Adam Tendler. Tendler has made a name for himself specializing in "new music", and toured the 50 states giving free concerts in places where new music might not customarily be heard. Tendler advised that the piece was "around 70 minutes" and added that there would be a Q&A afterwards. Tendler sat down and launched into the piece, which he had memorized.
Maybe Scarlatti would have tried prepared harpsichord?
For music that one might quickly leap to label as intellectual, I got a lot of emotional impressions as I listened. Obviously, the piece is all notated, but much of it had a playful, improvisatory feel to it. The program notes mentioned that Cage's piece had the structures harkening back to the music of Domenico Scarlatti, but it's hard to hear that, since the piece doesn't really seem to value harmonic progressions like what you might hear in piano music from say 1700 to 1930 and beyond. There is a lot of spookiness in the sonorities achieved by the preparation, which is interestingly offset by the unprepared notes. There is a lot of repetition, and some of the movements were very dancelike, and had a funkiness which was accentuated by Tendler's rhythmic performance. Tendler seemed to throw himself physically into the piece, and squeezed a lot of expressivity from Cage's printed notes.
John Cage preparing the piano
There's a lot of cool sounds and phrases in the music, but there's also a lot of space, which is really important for the sort of haunted house-scary sounding parts. The piano was pretty soft overall, but Tendler performed with a very wide dynamic range. There were jarring thuds followed by tones which might be from a Satanic music box. Cage was trying to achieve the effect of a percussion ensemble, so there is a lot which I perceived as driven by rhythm, although there were lyrical moments as well. I never was bored, although towards the end, I was on the edge of thinking that a piece this long borders on the self indulgent. And then it was over; there was no climactic moment, it just sort of disintegrates, which Tendler later remarked "makes him hold back laughter".....
Cage was apparently inspired by the Hindu concept of rasa, which believes in eight states of human emotion: heroic, erotic, wondrous, mirthful, sorrowful, fearful, angry, and odious. (I think this is where they got the idea for the Seven Dwarves, but Disney took out odious because the Odious Dwarf didn't test well with audiences...). But what's interesting about this concept is that all of these states lead to tranquility. If you listen to the Sonatas and Interludes with this vague program in mind, it make the piece perhaps more meaningful, yet also adds to the unconventional nature of the flow of the piece, in that it kind of drifts off into a zen state of nothingness, rather than the clash bang of say a Stravinsky or Beethoven.
I downloaded a version of Aleck Karis playing this piece. (I'm a fan of Karis' recording of Stravinsky's piano music.) Also, you can download a FREE version of Tendler playing it in Hawaii. If you are in the mood for something unconventional, you might be surprised at how much fun it is to listen to this great piece by John Cage.
Also, here's a clip of Boris Berman playing some of it....
Portland is certainly not the jazz capital of the world. However, it has a thriving scene, and for a city of it's size and location, it has a more than respectable jazz audience. This is most evident during the PDX Jazz Festival, which is annually held in mid-February. Festival director Don Lucoff has brought in a lot of great headliners, like Bill Frisell, Dee Dee Bridgwater, and Branford Marsalis. Furthermore, the partner events which feature a multitude of local talents is almost overwhelming; on any given night, there are Portland jazz musicians playing all over the city. Indeed, I was busy since last weekend playing events which were listed as part of the festival; late night jam sessions at Ivories(the last one is tonight at 11:45), a duo with Belinda Underwood at the Heathmann Hotel, a quartet with saxophonist Devin Phillips at Jimmy Mak's, a trio gig at Ivories featuring upstart tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, and another trio gig at the Blue Monk featuring bassist Tom Wakeling and drummer Alan Jones. It's been a busy week, and I've been trying to shake some seemingly never ending nasal congestion as well, so I haven't been going to as many of the events as I would have liked. Still, the festival ends Sunday, and there's still a lot happening.
Charles McPherson
I was fortunate to get to play with one of the headliners and also attend a concert featuring another headliner. First, I brought a student ensemble into Jimmy Mak's to play with the legendary alto saxophonist Charles McPherson. (I hadn't played with McPherson since I worked with a 4 alto project featuring Phil Woods, Gary Bartz, Jesse Davis, and McPherson back in 1996.) The ensemble I chose is called The Colligan Men, and features Brandon Braun on drums, Hu Hao on bass, Ben Graves on guitar, Grant Sayler on guitar, Scott Ferguson on trombone, David Kim on piano, Marc Hutchinson on tenor saxophone, and I play trumpet in the group. I talked to McPherson before the show and he was very friendly. I couldn't help but be impressed with how sharp, healthy and vibrant he seems for a 73 year old. (McPherson has lived in San Diego for many years;maybe it's the nice weather...)The Colligan Men plowed through a few standards, and then McPherson joined us on a striking rendition of "Body and Soul". I'm very proud of our student group, but it's always a lesson when younger players share the bandstand with the older masters. The vibe changed as soon as McPherson played the first few lyrical notes. He really schooled our rhythm section on how to play a ballad. And on our rendition of Charlie Parker's "Billie's Bounce", McPherson basically destroyed the blues with endless bebop lines and fiery execution.
Pianist Randy Porter
The next set featured McPherson as a leader, with a rhythm section of Randy Porter on piano, Tom Wakeling on bass, and Alan Jones on drums. Porter has been playing with McPherson for years, so they had a great connection. They began with a rousing rendition of "Lester Leaps In" where McPherson and crew schooled all of us on playing blazing up tempos. A beautiful version of "Embraceable You" featured McPherson soloing masterfully with an almost Coltrane-like "sheets of sound" approach, which left the audience flabbergasted. McPherson show no sign of slowing down.
The Great Roy Haynes
Last night, I went to the Newmark Theater to see Roy Haynes and the Fountain of Youth Band. Roy Haynes is another senior citizen who has more energy than most of my students! Haynes is celebrated because of his long career and unique, sensitive drumming style, which fits with seemingly any situation; Haynes has played with literally everyone in jazz, and that's EVERYONE from Charlie Parker and Billie Holliday to Pat Metheny and Chick Corea. Sometimes, Haynes will tour with an all star band, but his regular band features some young players who have been with him for years; alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw has been with Haynes for 6 years, while pianist Martin Bejerano and bassist John Sullivan have been with Haynes for a few years longer. These are all great players, but even so, the star of this band is clearly Roy Haynes.
The amount of energy Haynes has is almost insane; Haynes strolled out onto the stage with a swagger that you might expect from James Brown in his prime. And it seems as though everything Haynes does has a rhythm to it;even the microphone, which he used to joke with the audience, he beat on his chest and it was almost as compelling as his drum solos."That's my HEART", Haynes quipped. Clearly, Haynes is enjoying his golden years. The concert began with an extremely short version of Monk's "Green Chimneys", but then they launched into a full length version of "Trinkle Tinkle"; they added some special rhythmic jabs which made the solos challenging. Then they played a sweet version of "My Romance". I marveled at how Haynes' drumming might seem unimpressive to those who are impressed by flashy technique and pyrotechnics. Haynes was impressing me with how little he played; everything was driving the music and the feel was the most important thing. Everything he played, particularly during his two lengthy drum solos of the evening, were technically within the abilities of most drummers, even my students. However, it's not what he played on the drums, but HOW and WHEN were what makes Roy Haynes special.
Jaleel Shaw
Altoist Shaw and pianist Bejerano wowed the audience with their skill and energy. Bassist Sullivan had a nice little feature with a solo rendition of Billy Strayhorn's "Isfahan". This was curiously sandwiched in between two occurrences of what I'm guessing might be the band's theme song, Pat Metheny's "James", a piece written for James Taylor. They ended up playing the tune for a third time later in the almost 2 hour set; Haynes seemed happier every time they played the joyful, uplifting melody. I think this is Haynes' secret; his elixir of eternal life is music. Hopefully he'll be around for many years to come.
I was thinking, as I left the concert, that I've found a good response to the question: "What is jazz?"
The answer? "Roy Haynes. Roy Haynes IS JAZZ."
(above is "James" from "Te Vou!")
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