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ARTICLES
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| Article
on Bill Evans |
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The professional life of pianist-composer Bill Evans spanned a period of twenty-five years, from 1955 to 1980, coinciding with the careers of many musicians who made major contributions to the art of American jazz: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Julian Adderly, Philly Joe Jones (the last three worked with Evans in Miles Davis' group), as well as Jim Hall, Scott La Faro, Phil Woods, and many others. Each left his personal mark on music, but there are aspects of Evans' work that may prove uniquely significant.
| Department
of Lesser Amplification |
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Music communicates from one human body to another through vibrations in the air. Anything which intercedes in this connection can only serve to pollute and demean the potential of this communication. In the light of this observation, the current practice of placing electronic amplification between performer and audience must be understood as interference.
| Notes
From an Interview with John Garvey |
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Great band directors have been few and far between in the history of jazz though there have been many great leaders who moulded bands in one way or another. Ellington and Basie did it mostly by hiring musicians with the right experience and leaving them alone. Gerry Mulligan, and Quincy Jones have made particular artistic choices and communicated them well to their respective bands and there have certainly been others in the professional world who have accomplished outstanding things with their ensembles. But the particular skills involved in taking a disparate group of musicians and demonstrating the meaning of music to them in a way that allows them to interpret it in a unified and effective way, is something more often found in the world of classical music.
| Music
in Context |
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Artistic communication seems to work best when the performer/creators are operating in a context which is well understood by the audience. There have been many historical examples when, for one reason or another, a fortuitous alignment of purpose existed between the creative musician and the listener. Although there is no guarantee that the best work will always be the most deeply appreciated, it is safe to assume that there is a more reliable chance for understanding when the audience is "in on the rules" of the artist's "game".
| An
Unpopular Perspective on Jazz Education |
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Over the years, as I have assumed the role of "Jazz Educator", both within and outside of "institutions of higher learning", I have often been approached by students seeking help along the path of learning to be a jazz musician. In order to understand the student's direction and to gain some perspective about the background that stimulates their desire, I have learned to ask a revealing question. "Who is your favorite musician?"
| The
Piano and the art of Jazz Accompaniment |
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Recently I spent two weeks working with an extraordinary jazz pianist, Danish musician Thomas Clausen, a deeply intellectual man with great technical skills and enormous ability and inventiveness as a jazz soloist. During the course of our work, this musician had to call upon his broad background in order to function as a collaborative arranger, as a "lead voice player" in a piano trio (both of which roles he filled superbly), and as an ensemble pianist in the role of accompanist to a singer and various jazz instrumentalists. This last role was the one for which his background had least prepared him, and it took the most concentration and adjustment for us to arrive at a musical relationship that worked for everyone.
| Jazz
Drummers, from a Bass Player/Composer's Point of View |
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What do jazz drummers play? How is it that the sound of the cymbal "ride" patterns of great jazz drummers is so personal that it can be identified by an experienced listener in a matter of a few measures of listening? What is it that identifies so clearly the playing of Kenny Clarke, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Pete La Roca, Larry Bunker, Donald Bailey, Bill Goodwin, Mel Lewis, Billy Higgins and other great jazz drummers with identifiable personal styles?
| Miscelaneous
Notes for Jazz Musicians |
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Music which assaults the mind and restricts it with a numbing drone, commands the brain not to think and holds thought hostage while it rapes the ear. (This includes all music in which there is insufficient change of activity in one or another element of the musical texture. Much jazz radio programming falls into this category.)