Questions for Grachan Moncur III

[bertrand]

Kyle Eagle, a young man I met last month at the Grachan Moncur III gig at the Iridium and who is working with Grachan (bookings, website etc.) proposed that I submit some question for a Q & A for Grachan Moncur to be posted on his site (www.grachanmoncur.com).

I thought that, rather than just have me ask some questions, I would pool my erudite friends at organissimo and put together a list of questions from everyone (giving credit, of course).

So, go ahead and start thinking of questions for Grachan. I'll let this list mount up while I'm on vacation, and put together the final list when I come back (6/10), unless Kyle says he needs it earlier.

Some ideas I had:

1) Let's get the whole (accurate) story about Webster Young's role involvement with the Evolution album

2) What new compositions is he working on? (his keyboard player said he had some great new pieces)

3) Did he write any music for the play Blues For Mr. Charlie (that he appeared in) which we might not have heard?

Looking forward to everyone's feedback!

Bertrand.

Edited May 2, 2006 by bertrand

[sidewinder]

1) Let's get the whole (accurate) story about Webster Young's role involvement with the Evolution album

That would be my immediate first question too.

Also - what were the circumstances of the Nilva recording with Big John Patton ('Soul Connection'). Was this a working group and how did he find the session, working with Big John.

[Soul Stream]

Also - what were the circumstances of the Nilva recording with Big John Patton ('Soul Connection'). Was this a working group and how did he find the session, working with Big John.

I know Patton and Grachun were good friends that taught together out of a teaching facility in Newark or East Orange....it would be a good thing to ask him about, that facility...what he did there, ect.

I would ask him about working with Jackie McLean, both initially and when they reunited at the Iridium.

[.:.impossible]

As an aside, I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know that my wife and her friend thought he was "so cute"when we saw him at Iridium. Tell him we're all glad to see him back.

[JSngry]

1 - What was the documentary about Newark that he was shown in?

2 - Recollections about his tenure w/Ray Charles

3 - Frequency/other details of live gigs w/McLean

4 - His personal philosophy about composing

5 - Does he feel that "jazz in general" today is "about" the same thing(s) that it was in his younger days?

[Soul Stream]

Why the trombone?

Also, I wonder if the trombone is a good match for composing in the sense that it's a thoughtful instrument (you can't really just fly around on it like a sax or trumpet...you got to place the notes in the right place. Flash doesn't really count)

[JSngry]

I wonder if the trombone is a good match for composing in the sense that it's a thoughtful instrument (you can't really just fly around on it like a sax or trumpet...you got to place the notes in the right place. Flash doesn't really count)

That's a good observation. I mean, you can fly around on the instrument, guys like Rosolino, Watrous, & Ray Anderson have proved that, and I dig Anderson big lots, Rosolino quite a bit, & Watrous I respect. But yeah, you gotta work harder on the bone to do what's already hard. There's definitely other ways to approach the instrument, ways that are more "intrinsic" to the nature of the instrument, and overall, it's the cats who hit it that way that I tend to gravitate towards. Just like I tend to prefer bass player who play a bass like a bass rather than a like a guitar. It's all good, ya'know, but I do have my personal preferences. Sue me.

The thing I've always dug about Grachan's playing and writing is the high degree of specificity, the total lack of superfulousness. And that's not equating "high-density" with "lack of specificity" either. It just means that when your playing and writing is as totally devoid of "filler" as Moncur's has been over the years, you damn well better be able to say exactly what you want to say. With a few exceptions (notably some things from a few years ago where it sounded like his chops were pretty much gone), that's what he's done, and the clarity of communication of vision that's resulted has been something that I very much appreciate. No ambiguity of intent, no foo-foo, no licks to kill time waiting for a real idea to pop up. In short, no "diversion" from the core expression. "Shortest distance between two points" and all that.

[Soul Stream]

I wonder if the trombone is a good match for composing in the sense that it's a thoughtful instrument (you can't really just fly around on it like a sax or trumpet...you got to place the notes in the right place. Flash doesn't really count)

That's a good observation. I mean, you can fly around on the instrument, guys like Rosolino, Watrous, & Ray Anderson have proved that, and I dig Anderson big lots, Rosolino quite a bit, & Watrous I respect. But yeah, you gotta work harder on the bone to do what's already hard. There's definitely other ways to approach the instrument, ways that are more "intrinsic" to the nature of the instrument, and overall, it's the cats who hit it that way that I tend to gravitate towards. Just like I tend to prefer bass player who play a bass like a bass rather than a like a guitar. It's all good, ya'know, but I do have my personal preferences. Sue me.

The thing I've always dug about Grachan's playing and writing is the high degree of specificity, the total lack of superfulousness. And that's not equating "high-density" with "lack of specificity" either. It just means that when your playing and writing is as totally devoid of "filler" as Moncur's has been over the years, you damn well better be able to say exactly what you want to say. With a few exceptions (notably some things from a few years ago where it sounded like his chops were pretty much gone), that's what he's done, and the clarity of communication of vision that's resulted has been something that I very much appreciate. No ambiguity of intent, no foo-foo, no licks to kill time waiting for a real idea to pop up. In short, no "diversion" from the core expression. "Shortest distance between two points" and all that.

Yes Jim, I think you're exactly where I'm at on this. To me, the great Trombonists and Bassists are just some of the best MUSICIANS who are all about the music. That sounds like a ridiculous statement I know. No disrespect to Trane, Philly Joe, Bud Powell, Parker, Miles (you get the idea.) But one of my favorite musicians is Curtis Fuller (I even named my son's middle name after him) for these very reasons. Grachan (yes, tried to name my son that but my wife wouldn't have it) is another whose playing is seemingly pure honesty. Maybe it's the nature of the horn, to be clear and precise on the trombone is a clarion sound like no other.

Also, like John Patton, Grachan composes the way he plays and vice versa...it's all the same thing. Improvisation sped up or slowed down.

[ep1str0phy]

I wonder if the trombone is a good match for composing in the sense that it's a thoughtful instrument (you can't really just fly around on it like a sax or trumpet...you got to place the notes in the right place. Flash doesn't really count)

The thing I've always dug about Grachan's playing and writing is the high degree of specificity, the total lack of superfulousness. And that's not equating "high-density" with "lack of specificity" either. It just means that when your playing and writing is as totally devoid of "filler" as Moncur's has been over the years, you damn well better be able to say exactly what you want to say. With a few exceptions (notably some things from a few years ago where it sounded like his chops were pretty much gone), that's what he's done, and the clarity of communication of vision that's resulted has been something that I very much appreciate. No ambiguity of intent, no foo-foo, no licks to kill time waiting for a real idea to pop up. In short, no "diversion" from the core expression. "Shortest distance between two points" and all that.

I've (probably) said it once and I'll say it (again): Grachan is one of the finest minimalist composers/minimalist spontaneous composers in the pantheon. He's the apotheosis of anti-flash--the Monk, I'd say, of the trombone. Not only can he wrangle the last drop of meaning from every note he plays--he accomplishes so much with but a modicum of technical flash. No wild timbral flights, no lavish smears, rolls, bends... it's all, essentially, pure Grachan.

[bertrand]

This is shaping up to be one of the finest threads in the history of organissimo!

Thanks for everyone's input so far. Keep 'em coming!

Bertrand.

Edited May 4, 2006 by bertrand

[Rooster_Ties]

Maybe kind of a boring question (among the other great discussion), but...

I'm always interested in what non-jazz music that musicians have been inspired by over the years, particularly classical composers/music. Not necessarily influences (though that would certainly be interesting), but simply what floats their boat. Specific works and/or specific composers.

[brownie]

You might ask him about his involvment with the new music in the 60s and 70s. He seemed to stay on the edge of it. Any reason for this?

Also could he talk about the hiatus in his musical career? He probably has interesting to say about it!

I know you'll ask him about his relationship with Wayne Shorter. Grachan and Wayne were amazingly compatible.

[ep1str0phy]

I know there are a million more specific questions I could be asking (and I can't think of any right now), but I'd really be interested in knowing when someone is going to reissue 'Echoes of Prayer.'

Edited May 3, 2006 by ep1str0phy