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Tom Storer
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Posts posted by Tom Storer
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In some cases, a tradition has become a tradition, i.e. an established way of thinking and acting, because the decisions it embodies are powerful--they work. They get good results with few ill side effects. It has "invented the wheel" and hence justifiably attracts those who wish to roll.
I'm taking this bit out because I basically agree with the rest of your post. It's interesting that you pick the word "roll", given that this is a jazz group. I mean "rock and roll", "let's rock", "ready to rock", "let's roll" etc are the connotations. See, "swing" would be the more obvious choice. Except, of course, it doesn't work - the dictionary definition is: "To sway or wave to and fro, as a body hanging freely...to oscillate...to move forward with a swaying gait..."
To sway or oscillate would fit much better with the idea of a tradition, in that's basically about staying on one spot - and there's some element of relevance to Jazz in that a swing tune can go on as long as you want - as long as you have soloists. To move forward with a swaying gait perhaps more accurately conveys the idea of Jazz swing - but it doesn't have the directness of "roll".
You're conveying the sense of "tradition" as a kind of turbo-charged car, Tom.
I was actually speaking in general terms about traditions, not meaning to refer to jazz or even music in particular. And "roll" was just the verb that came spontaneously to mind right after the wheel metaphor.
In terms of traditionalist Jazz, let's say Wynton et al, it's true that being inside the music can convey a sense of this sort of power. But I don't think that Wynton's Jazz really does "roll" in the outside world - attracting people to it. I think that's because it's an attempt to get back to some nebulous (Jazz) past when the rest of the world has moved on.I think it would be Wynton himself and his acolytes who cling to the (pre-70's) jazz tradition, regardless of whether they represent it creditably or not. It's powerful music, already developed and schematized to a very high degree of sophistication, a racing car (to use your image) just waiting for a skilled driver to hop in and take it around the well-worn track. Round and round... There's also the relationship to the parental generation, particularly strong in Wynton's case... trying to find a mode of self-expression that doesn't depend on "tradition" risks angering the father figures. Championing the tradition, the fathers' tradition, lets neoclassicists avoid that anxiety.
Disclaimer: I don't think this casual armchair psychoanalysis, much as I enjoy churning it out, can be applied indiscriminately to anybody who happens to love to play New Orleans, swing or bebop. It's just pure speculation about some of them.
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Come on, how many ways can there be to pronounce "J"?
Like J or J . Why do you ask?
I'll bet you didn't know "Tom Storer" is pronounced "Harold Pontefract."
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Thanks for the tip! So they're together on one tune, and otherwise share the rhythm section?
I had a look at Amazon and found this astonishing customer review:
"I found it disappointing. Lester Young did too much improvising for my taste."
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Come on, how many ways can there be to pronounce "J"?
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Booby Hutcherson
Hey, that's not nice!
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give me a break, but Holland, Rubalcaba, Potter and Harland... that is music of yesterday played by musicians from today, no?
old wine in new bottles...
On the one hand, this is Concord Records, for goodness' sake. Who do you expect them to record, Keith Rowe? Zeena Parkins? Their basis of comparison is George Shearing, Rosemary Clooney, Gene Harris.
On the other hand, seriously, isn't it a bit much to call Holland et al. "music of yesterday" as if they're just hopelessly old hat? How long is "a day" in music anyway? And does it matter? When I listen to Holland it doesn't sound like the equivalent of Dixieland or something.
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One of the great seductions of "tradition" is that it provides a ready-made framework to support decisions. In many cases it simply provides the decisions for you.
In some cases, a tradition has become a tradition, i.e. an established way of thinking and acting, because the decisions it embodies are powerful--they work. They get good results with few ill side effects. It has "invented the wheel" and hence justifiably attracts those who wish to roll.
But it also appeals to the group-identity thing and the (related) individual-insecurity thing in us. We jump on the bandwagon in part because it's a warm, cozy feeling to be on the bandwagon with our co-traditionalists; in part because if we jumped off, we'd have to figure out what to do and where to go next, all by ourselves. We'd have the anxiety of judging our own decisions without the tradition's support.
No surprise that "tradition" is so popular. And even those who bravely jump off the bandwagon often get together and form another one as soon as possible, which both exactly replicates the reassuring characteristics of any tradition, and also brags that it is brave enough to defy tradition!
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I often play Joe Pass's "Intercontinental" when we have guests. Very subtle and pleasing to those who can hear it, no strain on those who can't.
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I got my current desktop theme from Tom Marcello's thread here:
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I first heard him on Billie Holiday's "Solitude," where he's in the band alongside Flip Philips. Still love that record and his playing on it.
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If Roscoe Mitchell were an author, he would surely be a modernist.
But do you like Roscoe Mitchell? I mean, if you're a big Roscoe Mitchell fan, it's kind of cool that your book shows up for a search on Roscoe Mitchell. But if you hate him, well, that's different.
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I'm not that big on piano trios in general (with exceptions, of course), so I never got any of the Mehldau trio CDs. That said, I saw him in concert in a small club in Paris. Bass and drums is usually what makes or breaks a piano trio, and Grenadier and Rossy definitely made it. Grenadier was superb, not just the backbone but the stickshift, if you see what I mean. Mehldau could do all the fancy stuff, and it was nice, all right, but that bass was where the authority was coming from.
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I sent you an email.
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...the puerile pap of Captain Kangaroo.
I beg to differ, kind sir!
Stone Soup, baby!
Stone Soup?
I was relying on my vague recollections from age 5, perhaps influenced by my brother mocking me as a big baby because I watched Captain Kangaroo. What was Stone Soup?
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I remember TV-watching conflicts with my brother in the early 60's. When I was around five I wanted to watch "Captain Kangaroo," but he, being an older man of seven, wanted to watch "The Three Stooges." He won, and it didn't take long before I too preferred slapstick violence to the puerile pap of Captain Kangaroo. Emulating the Stooges, we would go around trying to poke each other's eyes out, thus alarming our parents.
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Today I ordered one I used to have on vinyl, "The Great Jazz Trio, Live at the Vanguard" - the first of three by Hank Jones/Ron Carter/Tony Williams. Also the new Eddie Gomez trio CD, "Palermo," which I've read some rave reviews of in the jazz press over here. It features a pianist I don't know, Stefan Karlsson, and Nasheet Waits on drums.
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On my "save for later" list on emusic!
I got my emusic copy and am listening to it now. Beautiful!
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I love Motown, but the complete singles? I'd much prefer a 2-CD best-of, preferably one I compiled myself.
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Number Four fits me: I have no investment goals.
Wealth has never been an ambition for my wife and me, although we both earn middle-class incomes and are therefore better off than many. Now, however, we're starting to worry about retirement and are starting to become goal-oriented. Better late than never.
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Houston Person and Ron Carter!
Lee Konitz and Martial Solal.
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I have no idea whether the "contemporary" stuff will sell, but presumably they're not doing this on a wild guess. In any case I don't see how it can hurt their box and Select sales. Who will stop buying those just because they don't like Mosaic Contemporary? Can I see a show of hands?
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You make it sound like the nailing of the coffin is all but finished. Is there any evidence that Mosaic's business is not healthy?
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Tomorrow night, it's Roy Haynes. Haven't seen him in six or eight years, I think. I'm hoping that at eighty-whatever he's still up to it--but I'm confident.
Just back from this--a wonderful evening. Roy was playing brilliantly, as was his wonderful quartet (Martin Bejerano, piano; David Wong, bass; Jaleel Shaw, alto & soprano). Quiet as its kept, the Roy Haynes Quartet in its various guises over the past twenty years or so has been one of the great small groups in contemporary jazz. Aggressive, playful, virtuosic, with fantastic arrangements of a fine book of tunes drawn mostly from the musicians Haynes has played with--and that means a lot--and above all, a unique style of creative rhythmic interplay. I've seen them with Ralph Moore, Don Braden, Craig Handy, now Jaleel Shaw in the saxophone chair, and mostly with David Kikoski on piano. Bejerano is someone to watch, too. Tonight was the first time I had seen Shaw and I was greatly impressed. He reminded me of John Handy sometimes. On "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" and a Monk tune, can't place it, the band was just crazy good. Haynes reached peaks.
Anyway, it turns out that at midnight, when it became March 13, it was Roy's 82nd birthday! He demanded champagne on stage for the whole band and kept the place in stitches with one of his long, ad lib monologues as he paced around the stage. Roy Hargrove was in the audience and he came up and played the second half of the second set, tearing the place up with fire-breathing solos. He got the band excited and the energy went up a notch. It was Hargrove who played waiter and served the band their glasses of champagne.
At one point Haynes mentioned that he saw some young people in the audience, pointing to one kid in particular and asking him how old he was and if he played an instrument. He was 13, named Robin, and played the drums. Roy invited him up to show the crowd his stuff. After a split second of paralysis, up he went and started playing a very decent James Brown kind of beat. Roy stomped it out, singing "Shake it to the left! Shake it to the right!" and the band started playing along with the groove. The kid was even improvising some, keeping the beat and doing some fancy stuff. Naturally the crowd ate it up and gave him roaring applause when Haynes gracefully put an end to it. That's a moment the kid will never forget.
As we left, Archie Shepp was hanging out with Hargrove near the entrance.
All in all, a great jazz evening! And I had brought my son along and some friends, so it was all good. I should really get out more often.
Paul Motian Octet at the Village Vanguard
in Live Shows & Festivals
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Isn't that how "Allen Lowe" is pronounced??