My (Hero) Musical Academia

So I've been doing a lot of reading, studying, and practicing of different kinds of music and even instruments. I recently started playing the electronic keyboard. I've mainly been reading about music, particularly jazz history. I finished Paul Steinbeck's book on the Art Ensemble of Chicago and I also finished Stanley Crouch's biography on Charlie "Bird" Parker. Both were excellent entries to learn about the history of jazz, which I love with a passion. I also started reading George Lewis' book on the AACM, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a 1960's experimental music collective formed on the south side of Chicago. A black organization that has stood the test of time and produced a lot of talent, many of whom would go on to have great careers and prestigious positions in musical academia. The book is over 700 pages and is incredibly dense but I'm up for the challenge.

In addition to that I'm also studying music from scores, playing the same jazz standards I play on guitar on electronic keyboard (sometimes with just the right hand), and I've even begun experimenting with classical guitar. I went to University of Wisconsin Parkside for a year and they didn't have a jazz guitar teacher there so I had to learn classical stuff. Unfortunately I didn't stay long enough to gain anything from that-until now. I still have all my classical guitar sheet music in my folder from all those years ago, so I took it out, looked at things, and started working on some of the easier pieces. The classical guitar stuff gives me more of a disciplined outlook on the music and my practice routine. I like the sound of the classical guitar but I don't know if I will ever truly have "correct" technique. But that's not what I'm going for anyways. I'm playing it for the challenge, discipline, and beautiful sound of the classical guitar repertoire. A good a reason(s) as any. Also, I found that if I comp jazz chords with the pick and fingers the way a classical guitarist would play without a pick, the comping style becomes more pianistic-a revelation that occurred to me through practicing simple classical tunes (and also dropping my pick into the acoustic!)

With the keyboard my sound will take months to develop. I'm starting to get the hang of some dense Monk comping and chords but my single note improvisations with the right hand don't really go anywhere yet. I have to experiment more with my improvising abilities and come up with more musical stuff rather than just comping chromatic chord clusters. It will take time and I know I can't expect to become a piano virtuoso overnight.

Also, I've been reading about Zen Buddhism. Zen teaches you to let go. I particularly enjoy the history of Zen in China and Japan, especially how the samurai created Rinzai zen and used it to overcome their fear of death in battle. I was initially reading about it because some of my favorite jazz musicians (Herbie, Shorter, Trane, Pat Martino, countless others) are into it and I thought that if I understood Zen it would help me understand the music and also myself, because as young person I'm still searching spiritually. I think that a lot of the important parts of Zen are ideas that we are initially born with and don't think about, but I would have to research the subject more to confirm this.

I've been occasionally reading some heavy science fiction on the side too. Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a dense hard to read book with heavy detail and big words in nearly every sentence. Yet its also entertaining and fun in a cosmic cyberpunk way. I've owned the book for years but I've got this far in the book before. 

Lastly, there's my band. The band is going really well. We know about 6 songs together, most of which are classic rock covers. We're doing a trio of guitar, bass, and drums with myself and the bass player on vocals. The drummer is becoming a good friend of mine and he's asking me for advice on how to get better (after I showed him some jazz stuff) and he's actually listening. I turned him onto Elvin Jones from the Coltrane Quartet and sent him a how to read drum music page, and the drum music score for Smoke on the Water, a cover song we're working on. My singing is getting better, the songs are getting tighter, and the sound is evolving into great real rock and roll, as well as a harmonious trio.

If I didn't stop playing so much video games none of this stuff would be possible. Now that I'm learning a lot more about my favorite subjects gaming just doesn't seem as engaging.

Thanks for reading
Peace and Love,
Orlando Figueroa 

Thoughts on jazz books

So I'm reading two books on jazz right now and I thought I'd jot down some of my thoughts about the books and some things I've learned from them. I'm almost done with both books, maybe even just a mere 60-80 pages away from finishing both. I've been doing a lot of reading...

Anyways, I'd like to talk about Stanley Crouch's biography on Charlie "Bird" Parker called Kansas City Lightning-The Life and Times of Charlie Parker. This book is so heavily detailed with history about jazz, the black musical tradition (including Jim Crow and minstrelsy) and American history you sometimes forget that its about Bird. What Crouch does best is cultural critique. You might not always agree with what he's saying but what he says comes with a sense of seriousness and care for jazz, and ultimately black people and their history. For that his work is incredible, even if I think his thoughts on free jazz are way wrong.

Kansas City Lightning goes into much detail about Parker. He was a pampered only child to a single mother, lived with his girl friend (and later wife) with his mother, and was laughed off the bandstand to such a degree that he went home and cried. He said never again and practiced and practiced until he nailed all the changes, all the melodies, and then some. He was already playing professionally in bands at the age of 16 even though he wasn't a good sight reader (good at reading music charts, notation) and only knew a few keys (most popular songs of the day were played in only a few keys). All that would change.

Once he got used to the nightlife and hanging out all night into the morning he found the world he wanted to belong to. That's when he starting using (code for heroin). I'm still reading the book but one can only assume that he would become super famous and then descend into ruin. That's the story of all so-called greats. They become great, fly too close to the sun, and then crash land to ruin or in some cases death. I'm interested to see how Crouch will end the book.

The other book is author (bassist, composer, music theory teacher) Paul Steinbeck's biography and music analysis on the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It's called Message to Our Folks, which was one of their early albums. This book is much more appealing to me because the Art Ensemble is one of my favorite music groups ever. I was awed by them when I saw their videos on Youtube some four or five years ago. When I heard them I found out that jazz can mean much more and be much different from the other free jazz stuff I had heard in the past (Ornette, late period Trane, Ayler, Sanders, Shepp). The AEOC's music has a lot more collective improvisation (much like Louis Armstrong's Hot Five) but they can also go into bebop, swing, blues, and even European harmonies-sometimes all within the same tune. There's nothing quite like them. You should listen to their music if you aren't familiar with their work.

Going forward, the book starts off as a biography about all the guys in the band. Its interesting to note that most of the guys were in the army, went to college (but most didn't stay) because of the GI bill, and most of them all came from musical and religious families. Pretty typical stuff. I was a little surprised to read that most of them were in the army. In today's world going to the army is seen as a much different thing as back then. It's good to know where all the guys came from.

After that history part there's musical analysis of the album A Jackson in Your House (Jackson was the name of saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell's cat). I listened to the entire album before I read it and although I don't think Steinbeck can completely explain the music in words I do think its cool that he added transcriptions (music notation) of certain parts to the music. That's something I've never seen before, its new, and totally exciting. Again, I think he does a good attempt at explaining the music in words but I don't think words do it justice. Its just too hard to explain the variety of sounds that this band can produce. However, its still great reading.

After that there's more talk about their next period, the 1970s. They were in a good spot by then. They had reached international acclaim in Europe (particularly Paris, where they stayed from 1969-1971 and when they came back home they were already the most famous band to come from Chicago's AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). However, work was still hard to come by so they played on and off about twelve times a year and in between they played side gigs where they could earn a living (mostly playing with other AACM groups). Eventually they began to become more popular in America (once they got signed to a major label-Atlantic) and they started to get regular gigs where they increased their price. They've had a big influence on me musically and culturally. I look forward to reading more.

When I'm done reading these books I'll probably write a final little excerpt about it. This is a great step forward in my jazz history.

It don't a thing if it ain't got that swing.

Art Ensemble of Chicago Naked

     

    
     So lately I've been listening to a lot jazz and even reading a lot of reviews and essays by the jazz critic Stanley Crouch. While I don't agree completely with everything Crouch says I would say he's my favorite black intellectual and academic. What I admire the most about him is that he would lay down his life for jazz, he loves the art form that much. I've also been reading the Ywngie Malmsteen biography Relentless, which is a fun read but not as stimulating as Crouch's essays. Anyways, I wanted to write a bit about this new Art Ensemble of Chicago record I got today.
     I would say I know quite a bit about the Art Ensemble and that this album captures them at their peak; right before Lester Bowie and Joseph Jarman died, and before the original line-up disbanded. This album is called Naked and was recorded at Rawleston Recording Studio in Brooklyn, New York. The album features Lester Bowie on trumpet, Joseph Jarman on flute, bass flute, sapranino, saprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, clarinet, and bass saxophones, Roscoe Mitchell on flute, clarinet, saprano, alto, tenor and bass saxophones, Malachi Favors on bass and electric bass, and Famoudou Don Moye on percussion and drums. These guys play every instrument it's absolutely amazing!
     The first track is an introduction percussion instrumental that leads to the next track, which is a very ear friendly, almost poppy kind of number. Usually the Art Ensemble is more theatrical, comical, and witty but in this album they go for more standard and typical arrangements. There's a bebop tune called We Bop that is so standard straight-ahead jazz that it could've came straight out of the Blue Note recording sessions of the 50's and 60's. The true artistic nature of the Art Ensemble's music doesn't come out till nearly the end of the album, where things take an avant-garde turn. No melodies or grooves per say, just sheets of sound but not in the Coltrane sense. More like drones, call and response, and sparse melodic attacks. They end off the album with a latin-jazz number that any jazz fan can approve of.
     I must say that this is the most commercial friendly Art Ensemble that I've ever heard. Part of me is astounded that they made an album like this that is so unlike their live shows and more catered to the plebeian understanding of jazz. By that I mean its just not them at their finest and that I think they somewhat were catering to specific kind of audience. I've seen tons of Art Ensemble footage on YouTube where they play miles ahead of the stuff they play on this album. In addition, I have Art Ensemble records both live and in the studio that are musically more stimulating than anything on this album.
     But, putting those thoughts aside, when I take this album at face value I can see that it sounds very pleasing both musically and aesthetically. The songs seem to just swing and the playing is at a high enough level to keep the tunes from becoming a dull cacophony. The album cost me 20 bucks and it came with Japanese liner notes as well as English ones. It has some sort of Buddhist poem written by Joseph Jarman. I can say that this was a great buy and I'm glad I found it at the record shop I frequent often. Its only the second time that I've seen an Art Ensemble recording at a record shop and you can bet that I was happy to find it. This would be a great introduction to the Art Ensemble for anyone who wants to get into their body of work without going full-on avant-garde. Definitely worth listening to for free jazz fans and straight ahead listeners who want to learn more about the avant-garde.

Art Ensemble of Chicago Baptizum

The Art Ensemble of Chicago's album Bap-tizum is a great live recording. Much of the Art Ensemble's best work is done in live concert settings rather than behind the recording console in a studio. This album has everything an Art Ensemble fan could dream of. The beginning of the concert features chaotic shouting and screaming from Malachi Favors (bass). This line-up features all the original members of the Art Ensemble including Joseph Jarman (sax, reeds, percussion), Lester Bowie (trumpet, percussion), Roscoe Mitchell (sax, reeds, percussion), Don Moye (drums, percussion), and Malachi Favors (bass). The album was recorded live at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1972.

       What is so great about this album is that it has everything that the Art Ensemble would be known for to this very day in 2014. The music has the Black jazz sensibility, humor, blues, post-bop,, and a hip style of free-jazz that was just beginning to be noticed back in 1972. This isn't your suit and tie jazz band and you can tell just by hearing it. The album got great reviews and I would say it is a must have for free-jazz fans and Art Ensemble of Chicago fans.
     For me the highlight of the album was a tune called Ohnedaruth, which is the longest piece on the album, consisting of 15 minutes and written by the whole band. It features shouting, lots of percussion, wild thunderous drumming, and tons of free playing by the horns, especially the trumpet.  And who could forget their closing song that the group still uses to this day to end concerts, Odwalla. Its a great ending piece that is very catchy and boppish with the melodic lines. If you want to get into free-jazz this might be a little extreme to start with but if you like this, then you will learn to love free-jazz that is very, as my friends have said the group, "out there", kind of like the name of the Eric Dolphy album.

Jack Dejohnette album Made in Chicago Review

    

     This is the latest Jack Dejohnette album in which he comes home to his Chicago roots and plays with some of the guys from the AACM whom he played with in his youth. This includes Henry Threadgill on alto saxophones and bass flute, Roscoe Mitchell on sopranino saxophones, soprano saxophones, alto saxophones, baroque flute, and bass recorder. In addition, there is Muhal Richard Abrams on piano, Larry Grey on bass and violoncello, and of course Jack Dejohnette on drums. What makes this 2013 performance at the Chicago Jazz Festival so great is not the compositions, but the individual and collaborative improvisation of these musicians as a whole.
      In fact, I can't tell that these compositions are even written down at all. It all sounds like improvisation and great improv at that! I've always thought that live jazz is always better than studio albums and this is one case where live performance really shines. The level of nuance and skill is just off the roof. A piece that really stands out is the second song, Jack 5, by Muhal Richard Abrams, where Jack Dejohnette opens up with drum flourishes on the cymbals and toms. What gives Jack such a unique touch on the drums is that he was a pianist when he first began playing music. I really like Jack 5 because when the melody comes in, its an odd sort of droning melody not unlike something Ornette Coleman would do. It's slow and methodical. The bass line is especially interesting. Check out this song online if possible, it is a great piece.  
     Some of the other songs have the same qualities as Jack 5 in that the beginning is a bit slow and the melody goes up and down in chromatic dramatic fashion. But when they start improvising things really go the dogs, or in this case, the cats. With the piano its hard to say what this group sounds like. I would immediatley say they sound like the Art Ensemble of Chicago but I would say this is more melodic and structured than AEOC. That's whats so great about it. This is great music for people that are just getting into free-jazz but it still contains enough free elements that free-jazz fans would love it. It's the best of both worlds. The piano really gives the group a harmonic framework in which to do the improvising. There are moments where the piano is doing its thing and it sounds like a post-bop sort of band.
     The other highlight of the performance for me was the last untitled tune. It sounds like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, all free and what not. I particularly love Roscoe Mitchell's squeaky saxophone playing on this. It's what makes free-jazz great, this piece. 
     I would say this is an important record because most of these guys are in their 70s, almost 80s now and they won't be with us forever. So it's cool to see them come back to their roots from when they used to play with each other in Chicago and now here they are at old age still playing and performing together, maybe for the last time. In addition, this is an important jazz recording because many Chicago jazz greats played at this festival as well. This is one of the best new jazz recording I've ever heard.
 As Jack says at the end, "May the Great Spirit bless you!" It certainly has blessed Jack.