Herbie Hancock Quartet in Portland

It's always great to hear live music, and it's always a privilege to get to hear one of the greatest musicians to ever walk the planet give a concert in one's hometown. One of my true heroes, Herbie Hancock, brought an all-star quartet to Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall last night. It was not sold out, but close to full, and as Mr. Hancock alluded, the "vibe" was great. I think oftentimes, jazz concerts in big halls fill up because of name recognition, regardless of whether anyone knows an artist's work. I think it would be hard to find someone at last night's venue who hadn't at least heard "Chameleon," or "Rockit," or at the very least "Watermelon Man."( Actually, some people walked out rather early; they may have been expecting something more in the "traditional jazz" vein.)

Hancock's ensemble featured the great Lionel Loueke on guitar and vocals, who almost stole the

Lionel Loueke

show with a solo feature where he used effects pedals to make it sound as though he could use his single voice to make the sound of a West African choir. James Genus, one of the great bass players in jazz and fusion( if you have seen Saturday Night Live, he's sitting in the band on stage left during the opening monologue) was holding it down on electric, but also took some beautiful solos. The drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta, is arguably one of the greatest drummers ever in history. (Hancock alluded to Colaiuta's regular gig with Sting by saying, " he has a day job!")That being said, when the quartet opened with "Actual Proof," one of Hancock's classic tune from the 70's album "Thrust," I found myself missing drummer Mike Clark's raw Oakland funk and jazz vibe rather than the slick fusion vibe of Colaiuta. Again, don't get me wrong, few can play with the combination of precision and heart the way Colaiuta does.( I actually recorded with Colaiuta on a Richard Bona album called "Tiki.") Later in the concert, Colaiuta did some ferocious displacements on a funky version of "Cantaloupe Island."

Vinnie Colaiuta

Hancock, who I believe is 72 years old, had more energy and enthusiasm on stage than most of my students! He still plays the piano with so much reckless abandon, and also switches easily between acoustic piano and electric keyboards. He jumped around the stage with his keytar like the lead guitarist with a hair band! It was definitely a fusion kind of event, although a solo piano intro to "Speak Like A Child" (which seemed to be in three keys at once) was definitely worth the price of admission( which surprisingly was only $35 dollars each for us!). In a time when we are losing a lot of the older masters, it's nice to know that Herbie Hancock is still out there playing with the spirit of a teenager.

RIP Kenny Wheeler

We've lost a number of greats in jazz recently( Charlie Haden, Joe Sample, Horace Silver, Gerald Wilson), but I wanted to mention the death of trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler. A huge influence on many modern musicians,  Wheeler had an unmistakable trumpet sound as well as a distinctive compositional style. I was fortunate to study with him at the  1990 Banff Summer Jazz Workshop. Wheeler, humble to a fault, and quite a contrast from artistic director Steve Coleman, was incredible to be around. I was fortunate to get play in the trumpet section in the rehearsals for his Large Ensemble suite.

I remember signing out "Deer Wan," one of Wheeler's classic records from the library in the early 80's. I believe for most musicians, "Gnu High" is a standout recording( I  found it ironic that pianist Allyn Johnson had just received his copy of "Gnu High" on vinyl in the mail on the same day of Wheeler's passing.) Some of Wheeler's tunes than are often played include "Everyone's Song But My Own," " For Jan," "Smatter," and "Consolation." Indeed, listening to a bit of "Smatter" gives me chills...

I remember two things about Mr. Wheeler at Banff. He coached my ensemble( I was playing trumpet back then), and during the rehearsal, I left to use the bathroom. When I returned, Wheeler was in my spot, reading the chart( it was an arrangement of his tune, "Mark Time." When he saw me, he demurred the spot to me. But I looked at him and said, " No, you can play!" He shrugged as if he was completely unworthy. He then proceeded to take a trumpet solo that just obliterated! There was another moment when a student came in who didn't recognize Wheeler. He was just sitting in a chair, looking extremely unassuming. " Oh, are you auditing this class?" she inquired. " Oh, actually I own all of these facilities, " he said in a quiet deadpan. " I'm Mr. Banff!"

European Vacation

Reykjavik, Iceland

I've been traveling to the continent of Europe to perform jazz since 1993. Back then, the excitement of new countries and new experiences vastly outweighed the discomfort of air travel and the harsh realities of jet lag. Over twenty years later, the thrill of sitting in a tiny seat for hours and having very irregular sleep patterns has obviously diminished. Still, it's great to be able to travel to places where jazz is really appreciated and to see old and new friends. As much as I enjoy teaching and having a steady job, I am determined to keep a foothold in Europe or wherever else I can perform my music on a semi-regular basis.

I just returned from the first European tour that I totally set up by myself. I've toured Europe countless times as a sideman, and I've done a few tours as a leader with the help of promoters. However, it's very difficult to book your own tour; there are so many logistics, and even on a very short tour like this one, I found it challenging to keep track of everything. Although I wished more gigs had come through, more gigs can also mean more opportunities for something to go wrong! Be that as it may, it was a little over a week long and I would view it as a success, and hopefully the start of some momentum to help to do more next time.

My tour went to four countries. My first stop was in Iceland. This was the only place on the tour

Harpa in Reykjavik

where I had never been before. Reykjavik is a beautiful, serene city; the weather was a bit rainy and gray, but I was able to do some running along the coast and through the town. I did a workshop in FÍH (Tónlistarskóli Félag Íslenskra hljómlistarmanna/Music School of the Federation of Icelandic Musicians) which was well attended; I got to play with some young students and it was a very positive experience. I also gave a trio concert at Harpa, a gorgeous arts center in downtown Reykjavik. The event was sponsored by Múlinn Jazzklúbbur (Mulinn Jazz Society). Scott Mclemore, a great drummer and friend from the Brooklyn days, has been living in Iceland with his wife Sunna Gunnlaugs( Sunna is a great pianist) for almost 10 years. I'm thankful that he hooked up the clinic and the concert. We had a great trio vibe, rounded out by Toggi Jónsson, a wonderful bassist from Reykjavik, which made for a great concert. I wish I could say that I got a chance to sample some typical Icelandic food; actually, we ended up eating the amazing cooking of Sunna Gunnlaugs almost the entire time I was there. Gunnlaugs is a great cook; she is really focused on healthy meals.


 

Malmo, Sweden

Next, I flew to Copenhagen, then took a  30 minute train ride to Malmo, Sweden for a clinic at the Malmo Academy of Music. This was my third visit to the Academy, and it's a great atmosphere; the students are curious and have a positive attitude. This event was coordinated by Hakan Rydin, who is the jazz piano professor at the Academy. It's great to work with students who are serious about the music. I played a few of my originals in trio with the students, then we worked with a vocalist for a while. I was amazed at how 4 hours just seemed to fly by!

The next day I headed back to Copenhagen for a gig at the Jazzhus Montmartre. This is the famous Montmartre where expats like Dexter Gordon performed often. My trio was two of the top Danish jazz musicians; Morten Ramsbol on bass and Morten Lund on drums. After a quick soundcheck/rehearsal, we did two magical sets of  original music and

Jazzhus Montmartre

standards for a decent and appreciative crowd. ( It's worth noting that for both the Copenhagen gig and the Vienna gig that I had at least one person waiting for an autograph. I tell my students that I'm famous but they don't believe me!) The night was marked by two more things; one, the piano at the Montmartre was an incredible Steinway-perfectly in tune and action like "butter." Two, the great pianist Eric Reed, who was in Copenhagen working with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, came by to hear the music. It's always nice to have some of the "cats" in the audience.

Porgy and Bess, Vienna

My final stop was in Vienna; I feel lucky that I had a chance to play at Porgy and Bess, which is one of the best jazz clubs in Europe. We had a great crowd, and the energy of the trio with Ramsbol and Lund was even more intense than in Copenhagen. It was surprising that the sympatico was so good considering we had never really played trio before ( although we worked as a trio accompanying vocalist Sinne Eeg a few years back). I'm hoping to do some more with this trio next year. Now, back to Portland and my work at Portland State University. Since I'm teaching more now, touring Europe feels different than it did back when I was touring 6 months out of the year; it feels almost like a "jazz vacation." Hopefully next time it will be a little longer.......

Ouch: Portland Loses Another Jazz Venue

I realize it's still a bit raw, but I wanted to express my disappointment at the news tonight that Camellia Lounge in Portland, as of September 6th, will no longer have jazz music. I'm especially bummed because it was one of the few venues in Portland that would essential book me at will(thanks to curator Laura Stilwell) and also it was a venue where I could bring in student groups and give them valuable performing experience. Furthermore, Portland has lost a number of venues just this year; Ivories, The Blue Monk, Shaker and Vine, The Mission Theater( they decided they would make more money as a movie theater) and Quartet. It would not be exactly correct to say that they all ended because of jazz music's lack of popularity; many of these venues had a host of other problems besides trying to present something besides crappy "indie" music(which is a legitimate genre, so I'm told). In the end, business is business and the restaurant and club business is not easy.(That's why every time I think, "yeah, I'll open my own place," I then think," yeah, financial ruin would probably suck.")

I suppose what I can't figure out is that in the case of Camellia Lounge, why would they stop the music when they didn't seem to really be paying for it anyway? I always thought it was a door gig. The band took whatever came in from the door, plus tips. I never found it to be lucrative; even when the place was packed, it wasn't a huge money maker for musicians. Still, it was a place to play where the booking didn't seem to be locked up for a handful of regulars.  My question is, now, without music, do the new owners think that anybody will go there for dinner? I don't know, maybe the music drove more people away than it brought in? I would be curious to see where they are at in a few months. Maybe they will come crawling back to us, "please come back, it's dead without the music!"

One thing that drummer Sam Foulger pointed out on the positive side is that:

 It's good to remember that half the venues we're talking about didn't have live music five years ago (some of them weren't even open yet). Ordinary, but determined, people made them into performance spaces. There will be more if we make them.

This is why I'm expressing my frustration, but only so that I can get it out of my system and move on. There are still places to play and still places that could have more playing. We still need to get people to come out to shows more, and support the scene so that the venues we still have continue to thrive. I'm for hitting the streets to find some new places. Even if we have to rent a space, or have a concert at PSU, or have it in my backyard, or even in my tiny living room, I'll keep trying to find places to play. 

First Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival

Ryan Meagher, one of the organizers of the Montavilla Jazz Festival

I wanted to just say a quick word about a new jazz festival in Portland: The Montavilla Jazz Festival, which enjoyed it's inaugural run this past weekend. Montavilla is a neighborhood in Southeast Portland which is very near the North side of Mt. Tabor( close to where I live, actually). It's not at hip as the Mt. Tabor/ Hawthorne area, but it is an up and coming neighborhood( maybe the fact that it's less hip than Hawthorne makes it more hip? Maybe especially because I, a non-hipster, thinks it's not as hip, that would make it ironically way more hip? Oy....)The festival was a two day celebration of Portland's finest jazz musicians. I performed with two groups, my own Theoretical Planets featuring Joe Manis and Nicole Glover on Tenor saxophones, and Jon Lakey on bass( I play drums in the group). I stayed on drums with the next group, pianist Kerry Politzer's quintet featuring again Lakey, Glover, and trumpeter Thomas Barber. I got to hear a bit of the PJCE Core Sextet, which featured guest artist and  my Portland State University colleague pianist Darrell Grant on some fiery odd meter solos( after hearing him tear up the piano, I was glad I was a drummer for the day!)

Organizers Fritz Hirsch, Ryan Meagher , Aaron Heyman, and  Neil Mattson did an incredible job. The venue was packed with enthusiastic and attentive listeners, and everything was very smooth and well thought out. I was pleasantly surprised that for a grass roots effort and especially a first go around, there was a check in desk, badges, a green room, and a stage manager! I hope that this is the start of something great and I hope the Montavilla Jazz Festival will be around for a long time in Portland.

Satire

Sonny Rollins, Jazz Master

I enjoy a good joke as much as anyone. I also consider myself open minded in terms of humor. I enjoy a wide spectrum of comedy, from Monty Python to Martin Lawrence, from Jerry Seinfeld to Andrew Dice Clay, from Dave Chappelle to Ellen DeGeneres and everything in between. However, sometimes, the joke just doesn't work. Worse than a joke not working is when it's unclear whether it's a joke or not, or unclear for which audience the joke is intended. Case in point, the recent New Yorker piece, "Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words"   is supposed to be satirical( which is why the editor makes a note of it at the top of the article). The article was actually written by Django Gold, a senior writer for The Onion, which is a fake news magazine that I usually think is hilarious. Unfortunately, Gold was somehow way off on this one; writing as if it's Rollins giving an interview, Gold is more sophomoric and absurd than clever.

Jazz might be the stupidest thing anyone ever came up with. The band starts a song, but then everything falls apart and the musicians just play whatever they want for as long they can stand it. People take turns noodling around, and once they run out of ideas and have to stop, the audience claps. I’m getting angry just thinking about it.

I released fifty-odd albums, wrote hundreds of songs, and played on God knows how many session dates. Some of my recordings are in the Library of Congress. That’s idiotic. They ought to burn that building to the ground. I hate music. I wasted my life.

I can see what Gold was trying to do: make Rollins say something so extremely the opposite of what he would say that it would potentially be hilarious. As if I wrote something like, "Ronald Reagan: In His Own Words," and wrote something like:

That whole thing about "Government isn't the solution, it's the problem," was just kind of a joke. Tip O'Neil came up with it one night while we were having dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill. We had consumed about 2 bottles of vodka between us when he blurted it out, as well as something about "trickle down economics," which was probably more to do with vodka trickling down his shirt. After I gave that silly inaugural address, Republicans took that sound byte and really ran with it. I was just trying to be funny, kind of break the ice a little bit. But everyone was taking it so seriously. I guess I was just too embarrassed to admit that it wasn't true.

Iran-Contra? Of course I knew about it. Truth be told, I went to college with the Ayatolla Khomeini. Back then , he was know as Freddie, Freddie Khomeini. We used to hang out all the time in the late 50's. Now that I think of it, he still owes me 26 dollars. So sure, 1979 rolls around, I called in a favor. Obviously, the Tehran Hostage Crisis makes incumbent president Jimmy Carter look bad, and then, bam, I got to be President for 8 years. Oliver North took the heat, saying I didn't know anything, of course, but  in truth I knew every detail. I masterminded the entire thing from day one. This is all off the record, right? 

Anyway, whether you think that's funny, or even know who Ronald Reagan was, hopefully you see my point. In my example, it's quite clear that it's a joke, and it  references in an attempt to be clever as  well as relevant. Perhaps there are a few key differences. One is the person being lampooned. Ronald Reagan is, sadly, way more famous than Sonny Rollins because he was a major political and historical figure, and people who were politically aware during the 80's would possibly get a chuckle from the specific references( trickle down, Khomeini, Oliver North, etc...). The Rollins piece has some nice references, but the tone is perhaps not consistent enough to make sense. It's so on the absurdist side of things.

The saxophone sounds horrible. Like a scared pig. I never learned the names of most of the other instruments, but they all sound awful, too. Drums are O.K., because sometimes they’ll drown out the other stuff, but it’s all pretty bad.

Now, maybe if this had appeared in The Onion, it would have been fine. I think it's appearance in the New Yorker is just confusing. Maybe also, it's a little bit too close to home because let's face it, the vast majority of people probably think the saxophone sounds horrible. In that sense it would be like a comedian trying to tell Israeli-Palestinian jokes 3 weeks from now: "TOO SOON!"  ( Although my piece may perhaps ring a bit to true for some folks as well....)

As to be expected, after this piece was published, Facebook lit up like midtown Manhattan on Christmas Eve. Jazz musicians were angry. Even Sonny Rollins himself chimed in! Spike Wilner, jazz pianist and proprietor of Small's wrote a letter to The New Yorker:

Not only was it not funny but also vague enough to be construed that it was actually “his own words”.  Mr. Rollins is one of the most beloved figures in jazz, renown for his uncompromising artistic integrity.  Why at age 83 after a lifetime dedicated to the music he loves and champions he needs to be the subject of ridicule in your magazine is beyond me.  Instead, the New Yorker should publish a profile celebrating the life and accomplishments of this great American artist.  Jazz is already a much maligned and misunderstood art form.  An article like this does a great disservice to the music and the musicians who spend their lives playing it and is beneath the stature of your magazine.

I believe Wilner hits it right on the nose. Hey, New Yorker, what other beloved elderly figures are  next on the list to lampoon? Mother Teresa? Benny Golson? Jasper Johns? Mikhail Gorbachev? Hopefully, no one is missing why this article, while not a crime against humanity, was certainly in poor taste.

As to be expected, Nicholas Payton had an understandably harsh and extremely well written view of the article:

Here’s one of the most respected American periodicals posting a picture of a somber-faced Sonny with a piece “in his own words,” rhapsodizing about how he hates music and he’s wasted his life. Where’s the humor in that?

I get that White people and Black people have cultural differences and thus a different sense of humor. Given that to be the case, White people: stick to satirizing those who get your sense of humor. Leave Black people be. You’ve done enough over the past 500 years. Black life in a world of White oppression and supremacy is satirical enough. We don’t need your help adding to it.

And maybe Payton goes off on a tangent a little in this next bit, but it's actually pretty on point:

Meanwhile in Rolling Stone magazine, a real article came out that reads like satire. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga are doing a “Jazz” album. Tony goes on in this piece to say about Gaga, “She’s as good as Ella Fitzgerald…”
Nigga, please?! Lady Gaga ain’t fit to wear Ella’s dirty draws.

 Indeed, if somebody came out and said, " Kenny G's just as good as Charlie Parker," it would be hard not to want to kick their ass. Even if they were elderly. (I think Tony Bennett might be a little foggy on what Ella Fitzgerald actually sounded like...)

Payton's viewpoint brings it all home. Sonny Rollins as an elder statesman of jazz enjoys success which few musicians attain; however, as an African American living through decades of inequality in the United States, Rollins has endured things to which white people just cannot relate. It seems as though the younger generations, becoming farther removed from the Civil Rights Movement, are less aware of the scars of history. Furthermore, the American Idolization of our culture makes people less aware of the origins of American music as well (which is why the top R&B artists these days seem to be all white). To have to hear Tony Bennett say that about Lady Gaga is so outrageous, and yet, it seems as though nonsense is happening all around us and we've all just come to accept it. Big Corporations don't pay any taxes, innocent people die every day, incredibly mediocre actors and musicians become millionaires while ACTUAL TALENT becomes more of a liability than an asset. There's the real joke. 

You would think with all of this mishagos, the writing world would get the message: " Hey, jazz musicians find this offensive, and you are just going to piss people off. Find literally anything else to do a satirical piece on. Leave music and musicians whom are fighting for survival out of it." Well, apparently Justin Moyer didn't get the memo; his piece for The Washington Post, "All That Jazz Isn't All That Great" seems at first like trying to jump on some sort of anti- jazz bandwagon:

Jazz is boring.
Jazz is overrated.
Jazz is washed up.
Unlike a poorly received New Yorker piece purportedly written by jazz great Sonny Rollins, this is not satire.

Though Gold’s piece elicited an angry response from Rollins and outrage under the Twitter hashtag #rollinstruth, it was, as they say, funny because it was true. Jazz has run out of ideas, and yet it’s still getting applause.

I studied jazz while an undergraduate at Wesleyan University and had the privilege of learning from, at varying distances, some of the genre’s great performers and teachers, including Anthony Braxton, Pheeroan akLaff and Jay Hoggard. I appreciated that these generous African American men deigned to share their art at a quite white New England liberal-arts school. But I just didn’t get their aesthetic. Like cirrus clouds or cotton candy, I found jazz generically pleasing, but insubstantial and hard to grasp.

Moyer goes on to write a laundry list of reasons for why jazz, a kind of music which motivated him to pursue a degree,  is so boring. For example:

2. Improvisation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
The knowledge that great music is improvised makes it more remarkable. But the fact that music is improvised doesn’t make it great. If it did, Phish and the Grateful Dead would be better than they are.

“Even when they are not soloing, members of a jazz band have to be intimately attuned to the music at all times because they never know what direction it might take,” according to Loren Schoenberg, a conductor and saxophonist writing in conjunction with the Ken Burns documentary “Jazz.” “If you don’t, you may, as John Coltrane once put it, feel as though you stepped into an empty elevator shaft.”

Unfortunately, rather than providing the thrill of standing at a precipice, improvisation by the likes of serviceable, forgettable, uncontroversial players such as guitarist Wes Montgomery is perfect for browsing at Barnes and Noble — or piping into elevators.

Unlike the New Yorker piece, there is a clear statement that " this is not satire" within the first few sentences. You could imagine that this would create even more animosity in the jazz community.

Look, we already know, and have known for a long time, that jazz after 1940 is not universally loved. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be true to our own musical aspirations. My feeling is that these days, jazz musicians are doing it because they love it, because they believe it's important, and they love to play for the small but passionate audiences(mostly in Europe and Asia) who know and love this music and don't find it boring. We aren't doing it to get rich. We do it for what one might say are more noble reasons than many other so called "popular" styles. Indeed, so many "hip hop" artists , in a genre which at one time had an incredible political awareness, now mostly rap about how rich they are or  how rich they wanna be, or just how great they are. Many of today's music stars seem to be pretty faces that are part of a huge "music industry", and yet calling them "musicians" would seem rather ironic.

I realize we are a capitalist nation, but there is still a difference between being a professional artist on one side and being a sell-out on the other side. Why won't we read articles lampooning Katy Perry, or Kayne West? Why won't we read overly intellectual opinion pieces in The Washington Post about how today's country sucks, or about how today's pop music mostly sounds like a bunch of morons shouting over a car alarm? I really can't say. All I can say is, if you don't like jazz, DON'T LISTEN TO IT! But we are already down. STOP KICKING US!