Lazaro Vega

Turning to musicians for their insight about the music, whether in interview or reading what they've written, is often illuminating, often cliche busting, even when the writing is as turgid, muddy and loopy as Anthony Braxton's. Jazz criticism helps me with musical specifics. An author will often have access to a musician who will talk about a project in more musical detail than a press release, and those insights are often the keys one needs to unlock the mysteries in post-modern music.

The musicians as writers issue went a little too quickly under the rug in the Scott Yanow thread, a thread I guess is going away. At the end of the day "we" go to musicians for insight about jazz. Writers transmit that information, but straight from the source is often profound. Rex Stewart, Art Hodes, Bud Freeman, Kenny Dorham and, as Nate said, Chadbourne, gave timeless insights. Regarding the Jazz Corner debate that all posts are invalid is one of the biggest reasons jazz is in the toilet with a general audience -- there's this idea that the music is no longer a gift. Today, many people contend that the once it's born the only people it is intended for are advanced music scholars, or, at least, they're the only people with the resources to comment on it intelligently. That is a pin in the balloon of fandom. In a recent article for Signal to Noise by Howard Mandal, Muhal Richard Abrams holds there’s no privilege in his intentions as a creator. Muhal is inconclusive about whether sounds contain irreducible meanings, or whether meaning comes from context. But he agrees, surprisingly, to accept and welcome the responses and interpretations of any and all listeners. How fucking refreshing is that? He says free improvisation is a practice applicable to given situations, not a style in itself. “Most of the musicians I’ve known…don’t speak in terms of titles or headings. If they’re improvising, they’re improvising. If they’re writing it down, they’re writing it down. I put the pencil down and I just keep going – I improvise some. Then I pick the pencil up again and write some. It’s the same process, and the same flow….I think…a lot of people are seeking to address their individualism, and improvisation is on the continuum of our impressions of how we should proceed with our individualism, each in his own manner.” Muhal will finally have a new recording issued soon on PI records, with George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell. “It’s been my impression for many years that music itself transcends styles. Styles are created within music, but music itself is too vast to take in in one sip, or one drink of the information. And I think that when one realizes that, and realizes that there’s a duty to respect music itself, smashing these genres and putting different things together becomes a thing you do. Your respect is for music – there’s still a place for “Body and Soul,” a serious composition in the area that it’s in. But a single piece, or genre, may not be in terms of style what you want to pursue singularly. So out of it all, you extract what you personally feel fits your particular point of view.” Elsewhere in the interview he says it again: “Sound itself precedes what we think of as music. Music is a more or less formal organization of sound, organized by point of view or some individual rhythmic desire, however original the idea may be. Sound itself is the raw material. The sound of everything, the sound of the universe, even the sound of things vibrating that we can’t hear, but a dog or a cat might. “Well, when we come to making music we organize ourselves in order to produce a certain sound idea. And after many years of approaching sound through music, one gets to the point where one approaches sound itself. To listen to what is over there, that is not over here. Then you decide to use something that impresses you in the raw world of sound – and it becomes, again, what we might call music. Some people might call it noise,” and he laughed at that, “but it’s organized sound, coming from a particular point of view that we want to express.” Later still, “And when one assesses another’s act, or music, what a sincere and honest observer sees, and the conclusions they come to, are just as accurate as those of a person who sees it the exact opposite way. I’ll tell you why: Music, visual art and related phenomena that speak to many people is open to many interpretations. It’s educational. What you might say as a critic and observer, what the person in the audience might say, are things that might prove enlightening. Each person may have their own take on it, but never the final call. For me, that’s the beauty of it. “For me, it’s always been important that individuals do what they do. Because I think we are all educated by our differences, in the sense that what may occur to you may not occur to me. But it might enlighten me when you do it. And possibly your idea could be something that I can use, in the way that I could use it. It has always been and will always be important to me to observe individuals expressing their individualism, and it has been a great inspiration to be among people who each and every one of them express their individualism.”

"Only in this way can the study of jazz break free from its self-imposed isolation..." This is so much melting ice that a Kyoto Agreement is in order. Was jazz's isolation from the mainstream of America self imposed? Why, then, did it take Benny Goodman and Elvis Presley to bring black music to the American middle class? If the music is happening in some form of isolation, re: The Invisible Man, how could writers be working in the free and clear? Again, if jazz were to break through from it's popular/economic isolation brought on by a perceived aesthetic malaise, this critical/intellectual isolation would become irrelevant. But since jazz is in the doldrums, since the band business is at it's nadir, what's going down right now in the still isolated world of jazz criticism and the small world of academic jazz study takes on far too much importance for future generations, whether it breaks free or not.

"But the time has come for an approach that is less invested in the ideology of jazz as aesthetic object and more responsive to issues of historical particularity. Only in this way can the study of jazz break free from its self-imposed isolation, and participate with other disciplines in the exploration of meaning in American culture." LV: So, does the book include the Chicago writers witnessing the musicians of the AACM? L.K. No, not a word, except for mentioning that the late adolescent Howard Mandel went down to Hyde Park on weekends to hear some "head-changing" things. Then Mandel is said to have wondered "if the effect was all that different from when, during the same period, he took in concerts by the Jefferson Airplane, Vanilla Fudge, Jini Hendrix, Cream, the Doors, and other rock/pop acts." I guess when you attempt to replace the aesthetics of jazz history from the front of the conversation with the history you know best, or the one most prominent in the culture, it allows the dominant culture to be applied to anything. You can’t know Shastakovich’s music intimately without a firm grasp of Russian and Soviet history, but that was an aesthetic choice first -- the artist chose to respond to his particular historical circumstance. In jazz, perhaps, the artist found music as one way out of their particular historical circumstance and the aesthetics of the music were one of the proudest points in that flight from oppression, degradation, prejudice...or, especially, the pseudoscientific rationalizations for inferiority. It’s not hard to imagine Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker being to the creative imagination what Joe Louis, Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson were to athletics, and all to the collective life of Black Americans. Their accomplishments were a big in your face to the historical particularity of their time. There are many ways to measure music’s impact on society, but it seems a wee misguided to give a back seat to jazz’s aesthetic evolution because that was one of the clearly understood strengths of it among musicians of every stripe and jazz music's fans. Economic response to music isn’t reliable, especially with jazz in America. But if you ever listened to old folks talk about jazz musicians -- there was an understanding that not everyone could do what Coleman Hawkins could do on a saxophone. And that understanding wasn’t casual, it was, “Brother, believe it.” Black men and women as radio listeners -- retired steel workers, janitors, engineers, dancers, musicians and teachers of the older generation -- are people who shared their enthusiasm for jazz with me, and all of them dealt with it from an appreciation of the aesthetic accomplishment jazz musicians achieved and were calling this nice kid to make sure I realized it. And if I fucked up and said something glib that lessened what they perceived as the image of their heroes, the phone became a weapon of mass humiliation. There is a place for jazz criticism to be “more responsive to issues of historical particularity,” but to me that seems as if it needs to be cued by the artist: Charles Mingus and Archie Shepp, the New York Art Quartet, Duke Ellington all made music that responds directly to their own historical/social and especially racial particularity. The type of work he’s advocating would seem appropriate there. But otherwise it appears to me without having taken the plunge into this work that he missed an important critical stream running through jazz while Crouch/Murray and company were getting most of the attention. But if you’re not going to deal with criticism from primarily an aesthetic point of view, then missing Mandel, Whitehead, Lange, Corbett (not to mention Figi, Martin, Litweiler and Kart) who witnessed, reported on and drew conclusions about the last major conceptual/stylistic upheaval in jazz is apparently not important.

Thanks for that clarification, Larry. Iron John meets Cecil Taylor. While we're on the subject, the estrogenated world of Kid Beauty Pageants has a higher degree of weirdness associated with their homosocial activity than jazz record collectors. Let's see 900 pages on that, using notations with direct access to Mattel's promotional archive and police blotters, propping the door open. Then we can nudge about playtime. And Church Craft fairs ? They have woodworkers, anyway. My response was colored by the anti-music bias of upper management at NPR when they pushed through their talk agenda by saying music was a solitary activity and talk generates water cooler responses and is therefore more social. I read it in one of the many articles circulating at the time. Yes, what small, tiny places Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Orchestra Hall, Davies Symphony Hall and Royal Festival Hall are. Sure glad they didn’t waste too much money on making them large because music is such a solitary preoccupation. It irks me no end that no one put the lid down on that toilet.

Good band! Love the way they've arranged the horns to comp, the various instrumental combinations to keep the textures varied, the cross genre rhythms, and the energy. Original compositions, original approach. Here's to collective improvisation! Best of luck with the tour, opening for the Claudia Quintet, the Raymond Scott project for Earshot and, especially, those CD SALES!!! Great to hear the band and meet everyone. Especially that Republican drummer. (emoticons don't work with this browser, insert goofy one here LV

First of all “like all homosocial activities” is wrong on its face. When the NPR news model came in, this is the sort of argument it was premised on, too, and it was used to push aside music programming. It is false. Music is not a mono-social activity. Record collecting is anything but a homosocial activity. In the day of retail the record store was a hive of social interactions, and as I think back across the record shelves there are social stories connected with many of the acquisitions up there. Moreover, as jazz fans especially know, the record is a snapshot of ongoing artistic activity which happens in performance. To reduce the experience of record collecting to a “homosocial” activity is to reduce the record to a commodity, to a thing as an end in itself when in the real outward and inward life of the collector the record is a door to something these author’s are not pursuing with sincerity. For instance, last night going to hear the Reptet at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids...the band needed a baritone saxophone, I was able to provide one, and the bookstore gave me Ornette’s “Sound Grammar” and Dexter’s “Our Man in Paris” as an appreciative token of helping out at the last minute. That web of social story is now attached to those recordings. When I put them on the radio and thousands of people hear, particularly, Ornette’s recording for the first time there is the potential for an explosion of social associations. Though today the social activity of collecting is becoming more virtual it is no less social. How man "hits" at Organissimo.org? Music is best experienced with groups of people. Records are memories of those times, and a window into the musical evolution of the artists they capture. Secondly, about the Downbeat quote, again, the supposition that Downbeat’s insights and motives were pure and therefore bedrock for new research is blind to the distortions of commercialism in the magazine industry, especially then. And, moreover, the new authors looking at that material are compounding the problem by pulling the story further away from the music and it’s creative, aesthetic evolution. Which Larry already mentioned yet it bears repeating. The single most important societal, nonmusical, force profoundly influencing music is economic. From the b.s. that Larry hilariously just quoted I can think of several more effective ways to invest in the economy of music than encouraging these high toned shuck n jive men. (Edit to change "Out Man In Paris" to "Our Man In Paris").

The Reptet....and I'll be bringing them a baritone saxophone as their's was lost in transit.....

Damn, what the hell was that? They need a prophylactic for the mind to keep their seed off of me! What of the major corporations and record labels who assemble complete sets, what about their constant state of want? The CD player is a sex bot! Headphone me the surrogate! That's my new pickup line, "Quarter inch or RCA?"

Portraits of the Promised STEFON HARRIS, marimbist, vibraphonist & composer with Blackout and Friends Thursday, October 5, 2006 | 8:00 pm | Chenery Auditorium, Kalamazoo Musicians Anne Drummond, flute Mark Gross, clarinet Tim Warfield, tenor saxophone Jeremy Pelt, trumpet Roland Barber, trombone Derrick Hodge, bass Xavier Davis, piano Terreon Gully, drums Fontana Chamber Arts commissioned five-time Grammy Award-nominated composer, marimbist and vibraphonist Stefon Harris to compose, publish and perform a jazz suite. The resulting work, Portraits of the Promised, is a full-length work written for marimba and vibraphone, and an ensemble of eight accompanying artists. The world premier of this work, as well as music from Harris's new Blue Note CD "African Tarantella, Dances with Duke, a Tribute to Duke Ellington" including excerpts of "The Queen's Suite" and "The New Orleans Suite" are featured on the program. Tickets: Adult $30 Zone I, $22 Zone II, Students $5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jazz Underwriter: Kalamazoo Gazette Funded in part through Meet the Composer's Creative Connections. Presented in cooperation with the People's Church of Kalamazoo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To request a season brochure, or for tickets, call (269) 382-7774. www.fontanachamberarts.org Touring schedule: 10/2/2006 Residency, Fontana Chamber Arts Kalamazoo, MI 10/3/2006 Residency, Fontana Chamber Arts Kalamazoo, MI 10/4/2006 Residency, Fontana Chamber Arts Kalamazoo, MI 10/5/2006 Residency, Fontana Chamber Arts Kalamazoo, MI 10/5/2006 Chenery Auditorium, Kalamazoo, MI 10/6/2006 Residency, Fontana Chamber Arts Kalamazoo, MI 10/10/2006 Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL 10/11/2006 Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL 10/12/2006 Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL 10/13/2006 Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL 10/14/2006 Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL 10/15/2006 Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL 10/16/2006 Michigan Council Foundation Kalamazoo, MI 10/18/2006 Carnegie Hall New York, NY 10/20/2006 The Egg Albany, NY 10/26/2006 San Francisco Jazz Festival San Francisco, CA 10/27/2006 The Jazz Bakery Los Angeles, CA 10/28/2006 The Jazz Bakery Los Angeles, CA 10/29/2006 The Jazz Bakery Los Angeles, CA 10/30/2006 The Atheneaum La Jolla, CA

Recently finished this. Thanks for the recommendation. He's really in love with Chet's Tokoyo 1987. Been checking that out. Also, Hal Galper just released a new trio album this month including the piece, "Waiting for Chet." Recently spoke to Hod O'Brien about recording with Chet. The way he laughed and said, "Yeah, an album called "Blues for a Reason"" will stay with me forever. Glad this author commented on Chet's focus on the low register, and generally steered the story back to the music. Nessa sold the Steeplechase albums in the States during Chet's prolific time in Europe. This writer does well by those records. But I think he misses the boat on Chet Baker, Boston, 1954 (Uptown).

Thank you, Larry. So, does the book include the Chicago writers witnessing the musicians of the AACM?

Thanks Allen. You know until this discussion I thought putting music in context meant to place music in the historic AESTHETIC continuum. This other stuff is interesting, but the center of the discussion is the music, a discussion which is also swinging the other way now, too, in that unless you have a phd in music pedagogy with an emphasis on theory then what you write as a reviewer is discarded as mere opinion... Re: Minton’s, Milt Hinton often talked about how he and Dizzy went up on the roof of the Cotton Club to work out different changes to “I Got Rhythm” to keep the lesser musicians out of the jam sessions. That's a story you can count on, and it is based, in his account, more on aesthetics than race or class. And about the Creole Jazz Band book -- there are recordings by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, but perhaps we’re talking about the group Oliver led before Armstrong joined which didn't record?

Ballin the Jack is about going fast? Working hard?

Just a surprising note that after having read The Nation review, and not the book, that the Crouch/Murray “camp” is not countered by other critics of the time...Art Lang, Howard Mandall, Kevin Whitehead, John Corbett....are those guys in there? That seems a glaring omission as there was some counter voices, in terms of ideas and insight, to the louder critical tract.

I'd listen to that if I weren't going to see the Reptet in Grand Rapids. Incredible.

Begin forwarded message: Hi all - Thought you might be able to help pass the word along about uncollected royalties held by soundexchange. A brief glance over the massive list shows that Al Hibbler, Benny Carter, Eliane Elias, Jimmy Giuffre, Joanne Brackeen, Joe Lovano, Lee Morgan, Lennie Tristano, and Ornette Coleman all have money being held in their names. It's free to apply to be a member and details are here: http://www.soundexchange.com/members/become_member.html Musicians on the list have until Dec 15 to collect their money. All the best, Jean Cook Future of Music Coalition www.futureofmusic.org ------------------------ SoundExchange, the organization charged with administering royalties from digital transmissions, has released a list of artists and labels for whom they have unpaid royalties. The link below takes you to a list containing the names of all reported sound recording copyright owners who stand to lose those royalties collected from between February 1, 1996 and March 31, 2000, if they do not register with SoundExchange by December 15, 2006. If you are or know any musicians and/or copyright holders, please pass the news along. Unpaid Artist List: http://63.236.111.137/jsp/artist_unpaid_intro.jsp Unpaid Label List: http://63.236.111.137/jsp/label_unpaid_intro.jsp

Looking forward to this Friday at Schuler Books.

I've heard that "Chronology" is an "I Got Rhythm" variant at heart, and though harmony wasn't the anchor, it was still present and available in O.C.'s music. Charlie Haden spoke to the method the quartet used when performing in that Ken Burns "Jazz." Basically he said they had an agreed upon starting point, but then had to listen to where Ornette was going to go during the blowing sections. It could have been through some changes, or not -- and it's that lack of primacy, not absence, which made it different.

A couple of more reviews from Michigan Improv. First one from Marc Andren and then from Harvie McKnight. Hi all....I went last night as well with 15 in-the-know jazz fans who are venue owners,jazz press, musicians and superfans and ALL of us had a less than stellar experience at Hill Aud. Alice started off with the title track of her latest cd "Translinear Light" which was well played and probably the strongest song on the cd. However, everyone expected a much stronger effort after being gone for over 22 years...the rust showed a bit. While I loved her use of the 70's Wurlitzer organ, many in the group hated it...to them it sounded dated, but I think that was kind of the point! Most thought the evening was way too long...over 2.5 hours without an opening group. 1/2 hour for intermission, under a 1/2 hour for nice JC film clips, then students of the JC foundation had to play. Alice played piano very nicely throughout...she is capable, but age has taken the fire out from the early days with JC. Charlie Haden played very well for those who could hear...most had trouble with the sound level and interferred with our intense listening. He did a wonderful duet with Alice on a very strong tune. Roy Haynes, at 81, played like a man half his age and was the most energetic player of the evening as he really let loose on a few solo spots...we all voted 2 thumbs up. Ravi...well Ravi is a wonderful technical player who seemed to play soprano better. That is also the problem in that he totally lacked ANY emotion whatsoever. He tecjnically played everything very well, but nothing of the invisible "WOW". Ravi's cds as a leader also reflect this. Nobody expects him to by like his dad, but we do expect him to be his own man with his own sense....he sounded like any other regular or local sax players who are a dime a dozen. Overall, most rated the show average to good...everyone played technically well, but the entire show lacked emotion in playing. Yes the show had a Eastern Meditation flavor, but that is not the same as emotion or fire-in-the-belly playing...a few in the group even left after intermission as they were downright bored. The buzz and the hype was there in full force, both pre and post show, but it just didn't live up to it all. Alice has not played,toured,written for cds/performances in decades...she has concentrated on her personal spirituality path. Their was no "greatness" that came from her and she did not "lead" the proceedings to higher levels expected of the hype. I think if she had been a continous musician over the years, the 80th Birthday celebration would have gone off better. Also, we think that Ravi should have not been in the group, but a top performer more atuned to JC's way of playing like Sonny Fortune or Pharoah Sanders would have more of the emotional fire that JC always played with. C+/B- Thanks Harvey for starting and sharing. I will add that because of the "hype", many more friends came out and had dinner/enjoyed the show...so it was a fun night overall! Marc >From: "Harvey McKnight" <McKnighH@gvsu.edu> >Reply-To: mich-improv@yahoogroups.com >To: <mich-improv@yahoogroups.com> >Subject: [mich-improv] ALICE COLTRANE IN ANN ARBOR >Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:11:03 -0400 > >What an auspicious occasion, the autumnal equinox, and doubly >auspicious because it marks the date when John Coltrane reincarnated to >earth. Hill Auditorium was heavy with spirit last evening as Alice and >Ravi Coltrane, along with Charlie Haden and Roy Haynes celebrated the >life of jazz great John Coltrane. Wearing a flowing orange sari, the >chosen color of devotees of Swami Satchananda, Alice poured out her >joy, grief and transcendence throughout the evening. Her first >composition, ____________, revealed her multitudinous journey as >student, musician, wife, mother, widow, and spiritual seeker with all of these accompanying emotions. > >Roy Haynes, 81 years young, marveled the audience with his drums. With >such energy and feeling, Haynes dazzled and delighted. As I listened >to this master of percussion, I kept thinking that yes, he played with >Coltrane and assisted in the birth of all this freedom in jazz. >Charlie Haden on bass ________________. (your words here) > >Ravi Coltrane, 41, courageously transmitted his message throughout the >evening with soprano and tenor saxes. The love that flowed between >mother and son was beautiful to witness. Looking at Ravi, I couldn't >help but think that his father was about this age when he died of >cancer. What a legacy to maintain. However, both Ravi and Alice have >independently taken their gifts of music in their own directions. > >Alice glowed in Hill Auditorium while sharing her music--vibrant >celestial, ethereal music from her Wurlitzer and Steinway. Apparently >in her 70s, she defied time and space and took us with her in flight. >We soared via her compositions, so personal and transcending. What a gift Trane was to this >planet. And what a gift it is for us that Alice and Ravi continue to >share his music and spirit with us. There was definitely a healing for >all who experienced last evening. The autumnal equinox is thought by >the ancients to be a time when the Earth is made anew and fertile by >the force of the Sun, directly overhead. Coltrane's spirit, felt >directly overhead throughout the evening, still beckons, strongly.

....more careful listening required..... Or a better description of the long tones and their development in "Quartet No. 1" and how well that worked. Can see why you kept parts of it. I guess from this listening Saturday the clearest thing to emerge was how well the set documents the band's process as it evolves to an incredible level.

Thanks. WEUM is so literate. The announcer I heard maintained the level of character the station has always been known for. He imparted much knowledge, information, some opinion but did it with character. Main floor Row N. Missed Linda.

Bump for more elaborate review....

One the way down I’d heard all of a Louis Armstrong Jubilee broadcast with his orchestra, Rochester, special guest Jack Benny, M.C. Ernie Bubbles Whitman, some good tunes for Armstrong, and a feature for Joe Garland, is it?, tenor; as well as the companion concert on the cd by Red Allen with J.C. Higginbotham, alto Don Stovall, Bigard....had just switched to the first Coltrane live at the Village Vanguard when the storm hit. Unrelenting heavy rain gusting winds all the way from this side of Grand Rapids to Lansing. Washers high speed and just white to silver to gray searching for red. There were tornado warnings in Kent County my wife says on the celli as outside somewhere are farms. Zero visibility for stretches first in single lane construction then amid football traffic. I voted to myself to not turn around three times as that danger was past, why turn around and drive into it again because it had to be better on down the road.The luck of the Irish screwed Michigan State but it kept my ass behind some Ted Nugent white Rancher and followed his taillights, a freak angel amid the weather fury of John Coltrane’s 80th birthday. After Lansing cruise control again and, after Brighton, a switch from the Vanguard set to WEMU, and they took me right to the ramp on Thayer across from Hill Auditorium with an incredible 80t Birthday tribute. Spontaneously literate radio. Came in on what might have been “Equinox.” Listened to “Mr. Sims” before leaving. Alice Coltrane’s Translinear Light Quartet began the concert with a number -- I wrote nothing down -- which recalled the meditative tempo and three bass drum beats that Coltrane blew so much over. Haynes just pulsed the concert to life with his foot pedal and ever elaborating poly rhythms. Haden was not heard well in the first set -- there was no punch to his sound, and the large vibrational low end was in Haynes bass drum and Mrs. Coltrane’s left hand on her Wurlitzer organ, which also brought out the Eastern aspect in sound and, under her hands, an improvisational concept exploring incrementally different intervals, widening and contracting them in insistent flutters but driven by an energy which reminded me of John Coltrane’s. Her ability to leap registers with both hands playing harmonic counterpoint against each other sounded like an elaboration on Coltrane’s band. There was a lovely piano/bass duet with Haden in the first set, though, and then Haden was well featured. His deliberate, simple variation on three notes gave the concert Ornette’s improvisational approach, a nice layer to the evening as a reminder of Ornette’s influence on Trane. Haden and Haynes hooked up, though, as Haden creates his own drones without a bow and Roy dances with it. She leaves little by the way of breathing points, especially on Wurlitzer. Roy elbowed his way in and took it up during “Impressions,” bringing pithy, fast tom-tom and cymbal riffs which grew in intensity and length as the number built. Brought the house down. It wasn’t while with Ravi -- could anything top John Coltrane and Roy Haynes at Newport 1963? -- but as Alice continued to lengthen her modal verging on free method solo Haynes led the band to an early high point in the concert. The show had its moments. Alice Coltrane’s one trip to the synthesizer was a star gaze, and a relief from the sameness in dynamic range of the Wurlitzer. The first number featured piano, and she played piano during the encore, taking the bass vamp from “A Love Supreme” to heart with her left hand. Her piano solos were beautiful, ornate terms of exploration, gentle in spirit. Ravi’s brightest moment was during “Leo.” After Ravi’s familiarity with Coltrane’s later approach, and Alice's long exploration, Haden zeroed in on that opening interval, the mere hint of a “head,” throughout his solo on “Leo” and it was mind blowing. The film after intermission was a well written, tastefully done tribute, and it filled in Alice Coltrane’s years off the recording/touring scene (teaching and developing institution) and her activity since returning to playing in 1998. The film was comic, too, in it strung together clips of Hollywood film actors talking about John Coltrane via dialogue in popular movies. Big love in the house last night for Alice Coltrane, who is from nearby Detroit. Having Coltrane's family in one spot for his 80th birthday -- history is ongoing. Ideas alive and evolving. Of course nothing will top Coltrane's own band with Alice. Hearing Roy Haynes with her was interesting as he's very different than Rashied Ali, or even DeJohnette. Haden and Haynes held the show together, kept rhythmic textures changing enough in intensity and dynamic variety that Alice’s deep explorations of time extending into time like a Raga took more shape than a monochromatic line. Together everyone gave the now version of the sounds Coltrane’s band with Alice inspired, and included the surviving drummer from John’s own great quartet, and a fulcrum member of a quartet which deeply inspired Coltrane. No wonder people were standing and cheering for five minutes before the band played a note -- there's still something going on out there. The writer and WEMU producer George Klein was sitting in the same aisle. He’s another great one. George, and all of WEMU, is concerned with drawing more young people to jazz. It was good to talk to him. His daughter is an editor at Metro Times in Detroit. Klein helped me with instructions out of there. Before hitting US 23 off Washtenaw my wife was on the phone giving me the play by play on the Michigan State disaster. The rest of the way home, with one stop for gas in Okemos -- the football fans were spinning angry tires on the wet pavement there -- it was The Art Ensemble 1967/68 (Nessa) discs one and most of disc 2. Love “Theme Statements.” Was enlightened by the first take of “Tatas Matas” as it is so tentative compared to the “master.” Could listen to “Old” forever. Though Bowie’s long solo on “Quartet No. 1” is an incredible thing to hear, as is Philip Wilson’s drumming as he follows some melodic events with the suggestion of an energy music ride cymbal only to trail off in diminuendo and slow down to silence, the over all performance eventually lost me with the long, long rests and elaborate events that came out of them. Thought the use of silence on “Quartet No. 2” was more “composed,” or more under control, and that the richer textures of the second piece more engaging. “Trio (Oh, Suzannah)” was back to Trane, in the sense of elaborate variation of a simple theme using, for 1967, a new improvisational approach to duration and intensity. Though Roscoe’s intro is anything but rubato tension building in the same way as Trane’s quartet, and his overlay of irony in a post modern genre crossing is in another emotional dimension than “My Favorite Things.” Two o’clock and good to be home having sandwich and a beer, looking at ESNP hype the comeback on Michigan State as Notre Dame’s season saving emotional shot in the arm after being pasted by U of M the week before. John Coltrane’s 80th Birthday, September 23, 2006. What a jolt.

Up for the weekend!