Four New Records by Chicago Musicians

[paul secor]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/arts/music/chicago-jazz-marquis-hill-jeff-parker.html

Any reactions from our Chicago contingent - or others?

[Larry Kart]

Read it and don't know quite what to make of Ratliff's rather vague ruminations on the Chicago-ness of these musicians. About the only point at which, so it seems to me, he returns to earth is: "Above all, the rent and the stakes are lower [in Chicago] than in New York. It's cheaper to learn, develop, branch out and stay put," and when he quotes something that altoist Greg Ward (a player I very much admire)  said to Chicago Reader critic Peter Margasak about his return to Chicago after a year-long sojurn in New York: "I would only play a gig under my own name maybe four times a year in  New York. I really missed the community thing here [i.e. the sense of community on the Chicago scene]." To this I would add that a vital aspect, practical and spiritual, of the Chicago scene, which Ward alludes to, is number of places to play and that at many of those Chicago places to play most or even all aspects of the venue are controlled (directly or more or less)  by the musicians.

I recall seeing Ward in New York a few years at  the Cornelia St. Cafe, and aside from the music itself, it was a truly unpleasant experience. Patrons had to wait all jammed together upstairs in the bar area for a good length of time (maybe 40 minutes)  before being admitted to the downstairs music area, where one faced not the bandstand but one side wall or other (there was no room in this space about the width of a bowling alley lane to turn your chair sideways). Further, the bandstand was minuscule -- the members of Ward's quartet almost had to stand on top of each other -- food and drink were expensive, and the wait staff was rude. That's not what happens at any Chicago jazz venue I'm aware of. (Well, it happens at one place, but I don't go there.) And I don't recall too many other New York City jazz venues in recent years that were comfortable, not terribly expensive, and hospitable. A lot of this comes down to space and real estate and the resulting pressures, I suppose, but still. My favorite instance of NYC club attitude came at the otherwise pleasant Jazz Gallery, when I mentioned to the guy taking my money that I'd very much enjoyed a performance there several years before by a Mark Helias-led band that included trumpeter Herb Robertson and tenor saxophonist Mark Shim. He said, "Mark Shim has never played here," and when I assured him that he had, he said, quite harshly, "You're wrong." Absolutely insane.

Back to Ratliff's piece. I've already said that I admire Ward's music. As for the others, no doubt I'm in the minority, but much of the time when Jeff Parker is the leader, he pretty much puts me to sleep, though I did hear him play at least once with demonic intensity and inventiveness, backing Japanese altoist Akira Sakata several years ago. My sense is that Parker is  a somewhat diffident person, and that when the spotlight is on him so to speak, he tends to withdraw. Marcus Hill I haven't heard that much, but when I have heard him he seemed rather flashy and (perhaps) artificially hot, a la another would-be Chicago hotshot, Corey Wilkes. McCraven has a lot of energy, but I've never heard a performance from him as a leader that was an overall cohesive success.

On the other hand, the edgier side of the Chicago scene, which is what Ratliff is talking about (by "edgier" I mean, among other things, musicians who are not into recreating the jazz past) is full of excellent, quite individual players -- drummers Mike Reed and Tim Daisy, cornetist Josh Berman, bassist-composer Jason Roebke, bassist Junius Paul, vibraharpist Jason Adasiewicz, ciarinetist James Falzone, alto and baritone saxophonist Dave Rempis, altoist Nick Mazzarella, tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson, cellists Fred Lonborg Holm and Tomeka Reid, flautist-composer Nicole Mitchell, and the list could go on and on. Further, returning to Ward's reference to community, while I sure don't know in detail how everyone on the Chicago scene behaves toward everyone else, time after time I've seen examples of musicians not only treating each other with genuine warmth but also going out of their way to set up/open up playing situations where other players can grow musically.

Is that kind of communal feeling that common in NYC, where gigs under one's own name, as Greg Ward says, can be very hard to come by? You tell me. In that regard, note Ratliff's rather smug "the stakes are lower [in Chicago]." One knows what he means, but  for a jazz musician in NYC these days who is not already famous, where, when and how are those supposedly high stakes to be grasped? Or could it be that they no longer even exist?

[GA Russell]

Well, I sure like Marquis Hill's album The Poet from 2013.

 

[Larry Kart]

9 hours ago, GA Russell said:

Well, I sure like Marquis Hill's album The Poet from 2013.

 

I'll try to give it a listen.

[Larry Kart]

Listened to Hill on Spotify. I was wrong about him being flashy; to me he's just bland. Coloring-inside-the-lines music, and that restrained mellow vibe makes me want to scream. Has Chris Botti met his match?

[clifford_thornton]

good to hear that the Chicago scene(s) have quite a bit of geniality. I've met a number of nice players here but that seems to be in spite of the fact that the city is pretty crushing and expensive, and most people are inordinately competitive or blasé (or both).

[Steve Reynolds]

23 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

good to hear that the Chicago scene(s) have quite a bit of geniality. I've met a number of nice players here but that seems to be in spite of the fact that the city is pretty crushing and expensive, and most people are inordinately competitive or blasé (or both).

Excellent observation, Clifford

competitive *and* blasé!!!!!!

or falsely NYC cool?!?!?

[Chuck Nessa]

Sigh.

[Eric]

The Parker record has received attention from the rock press.  I have tried to listen to it a few times, but my mind quickly wanders.  Maybe it is just me - my collection is full of stuff that did not grab me at first.  But I just find it boring.  Very cool cover though.