A World of Jazz
Arthur Gilroy made a point in one of his recent diaries that I’d like to riff off of tonight:
Only 100 years after Louis Armstrong played his first notes into a recording system, “jazz” (I prefer to call it “American music”, but I will use the word jazz as a sort of shorthand here.) has spread all over the world. And is THRIVING in almost all of the countries of that world. There are good jazz scenes in Japan, in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Russia, all OVER Europe. China is opening up to the music. In South America, Central America and the Caribbean, the true popular musics of most of the societies are identifiably “jazz” in many ways and have indeed seriously influenced the “jazz” of America since the very beginning. (“The Spanish tinge” spoken of by Jelly Roll Morton as early as 1914.)
So consider what follows a random sampling of some of the current international jazz talent out there for your ear to discover. And this is only a sampling; one could easily do a weekly diary just profiling international jazz talent, so I may offer these “World of Jazz” features on once in a wile if y’all like the idea. I’d be interested in any non-American names you want to bring to the discussion in the comments, and especially interested in hearing what you think is different about their music given that they’re not from the US. (I raised this question a looong time ago in connection with Canadian jazz musicians, but I don’t think the comments in the threads explored everything there was to say on the topic, so I’m throwing it out there again for your consideration…
James Benjamin last week mentioned Avishai Cohen in last week’s Jazz Jam, and I indicated that I also had one of his CDs as well, and would give it another listen and report back this week:
Bassist who hails from Israel and who played in one of Chick Corea’s bands during the 1990s. He’s been leading his own sessions since the late 1990s. I have his first album, Adama, which is well-done outing of straight-ahead postbop jazz. He apparently considers Jaco Pastorius to be one of his influences and inspirations – although Avishai, unlike Jaco is more of an acoustic bass cat. Like Jaco’s first album, Avisha’s first album was intended it seems as a showcase for his prowess as a composer, arranger, and soloist in a variety of settings from percussionless trio to septets. He handles himself quite well, and I always enjoy sharing what I know of his music with others.
Also, like Jaco, that first album has a Miles Davis connection – both albums featured former Miles keyboardists in some of the tunes (Avishai has Chick Corea sitting in on some of the sessions and handling production; Jaco had Herbie Hancock appear on some of the numbers on his first album).
-JBI have Cohen’s 2003 CD Lyla; I recall it being good but I haven’t played it in a while. I’ll pull it out this week and give it a spin, and report back next week. Thanks!
-KP
There’s not a lot of biographical information on Cohen that I could find out there other than his website, so I’ll leave JB’s comments stand in that regard
Apparently Cohen’s been exploring a lot of musical territory both between CDs and even within the CD I listened to, Lyla. As a result, some of the songs grabbed me more than others, although the album overall was good. Not great (for me anyway) but good – worth a listen so you can decide for yourself, if you can get a copy at the library or from a friend, for sure. You can also download some MP3’s from his website, and listen to the snippets available at Amazon to get a feel for Cohen’s work.
One tune on Lyla that didn’t get a lot of commentary from the jazz reviewers might be of special interest to BMT folks: Called “How Long,” it’s a song with anti-war lyrics, dedicated to a friend of trombonist Avi Lebovich, who was killed by a sniper in Israel.
Here are the lyrics, from the CD liner notes:
How long before / before we can admit to ourselves / that we were wrong / how long?
How long before / before we can say no more / no more to this war / how long?
How long / will it go on / how long / oooh, oooh
How long / everybody wants to know / how long / oooh, oooh
How strong are we all / can we overcome the confusion / made by our own / how stong?
How honest are we all / can we look inside of ourselves / and proudly stand tall / how long?
How long / will it go on / how long / oooh, oooh
How long / everybody wants to know / how long / oooh, oooh
From this month’s issue of Jazziz:
According to British jazz critic Stuart Nicholson, European musicians, audiences, and concert promoters have come to feel that American jazz is “dead ending,” thanks to an unhealthy obsession with tradition. In June 2001, The New York Times published a piece by Nicholson arguing that the creative center of jazz had moved from America to Europe. European jazz musicians, he wrote, “believe American jazz is retreating into the past while Europe is moving the music into the 21st century.” With many American jazz musicians content to work endless variations on the well-worn styles of the 1950s and ’60s, Nicholson — whose forebodingly titled book Is Jazz Dead? (Or Has it Moved to a New Address) was recently published — has begun to sound like an unwelcome prophet. “I think it is a mistake to expect the next cycle of jazz history to emanate within the United States,” Nicholson wrote in a recent e-mail. “Musicians like Esbjörn Svensson … will be the major voices in jazz of the future — at least in Europe, which is the main market for jazz now.”
E.S.T. is the acronymic name of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, with Esbjörn Svensson on piano, drummer Magnus Öström, and bassist Dan Berglund. They’ve been recording together for 12 years, but until recently were relatively unknown in the US – this despite having in Europe the kind of star status more typical of rock stars (from the trio’s website):
e.s.t. is a phenomenon: A jazz trio, which sees itself as a pop band that plays jazz, which broke with the tradition of leader and sidemen in favour of equality within its members, which not only plays jazz-venues but also venues usually reserved for rock bands, which uses light effects and fog-machines in their live shows, which gets a whole audience to sing-a-long with jazz-standards as eg. Thelonius Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”, is a trio that goes beyond the scope of the usual classic jazz trio. Their music can be found in the pop-charts and their videos are playing on MTV Scandinavia. With their unique soundscape, combining jazz with drum ‘n’ bass, electronic elements, funk rhythm, and pop and rock as well as European Classical music, e.s.t. won an audience spanning from the classic jazz-fans to the youngest Hip Hop fans. Critics and audiences world-wide agree: e.s.t. is definitely one of the most innovative jazz bands of today.
I could give you a detailed history of E.S.T., but I’ll simply refer you to this month’s Jazziz, where E.S.T. is profiled (free registration required to read full article), and to the group’s own website.
For what it’s worth (that and $5 will get you a gigundo latte at Starbucks), I like E.S.T., enough that I think I have 2 or 3 of their CDs, and one on the way from eBay. Also on the way from eBay is CD from the Tord Gustavsen Trio, another “Scandianvian sound” group… I’ll have to give you my impressions later…
If there is a uniquely Scandinavian sound, perhaps it is because these are musicians “for whom jazz is neither mother tongue nor sacred text:”
“If there’s a difference between America and Europe, that might be it,” Svensson says. “Since jazz is your folk music, you have to treat it a certain way — you have take care of it and honor it. In Europe, we might be a bit more free in the way we treat it. It’s just one language. We still love jazz, we still play some jazz, but for us, the most important thing is the improvisation — not necessarily the jazz language.”
The Cuban Sound
If our discussion of bossa nova the other week whetted your appetite for something from south of the border, something hot, something cooking, for these cold November nights, you might want to check out the Buena Vista Social Club links at NPR.com. There’s a documentary, a soundtrack CD, additional interviews with the musicians, etc. for you to explore.
It’s All Good, Really
Of course, all boundaries are arbitrary; consider the contemporary jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer. Born and raised in Rochester to immigrant parents from India, with a master’s in physics from UC-Berkeley and a training in classical violin, Iyer was recently profiled in the Boston Globe (free registration required):
The Indian-American pianist has gone in the past year from underground favorite to emerging mainstream sensation with a gripping, thought-provoking sound and a body of work that includes straight-ahead post-bop efforts, avant-garde collective improvisation, and collaborations with poets, rappers, and DJs. [snip]
…jazz and Indian music have a history of creative encounters, from the raga-inspired later work of Coltrane and some of his disciples to the guitar-meets-tabla stylings of John McLaughlin’s Shakti projects.
The emergence of Desi (as Indian-Americans call themselves) performers within the mainstream jazz tradition, however, is new. [snip]
But, Iyer says, “The relationship to Indian culture isn’t always one of valorization or ethnic pride. It’s complicated. That’s a healthier way to imagine heritage, tradition, or to reimagine your identity.”
Iyer is using jazz — the American music par excellence — to reimagine his American identity.
”I grew up playing with ‘Star Wars’ figures, eating masala dosas, and playing Rachmaninoff on the violin,” he says. ”And I was also this big Prince fan. So what does that make me? I’m always trying to complicate the picture. And to say that it’s OK to be at home in that world, in that complex hybrid space that we all inhabit.”
Here’s a review of a recent trio album by the group Fieldwork (Vijay Iyer: piano; Steve Lehman: alto and sopranino saxophone; Elliot Humberto Kavee: drums) to give you a feel for how fluid the boundaries can become.
Drawing from – yet transcending – your boundaries, your roots, the limitations others have put on you to find your own identity and voice: That is what jazz has always been about, no matter where it is played. It’s about freedom; it’s about life. That is the universal truth it embodies as an artform, and that each successful performer makes his or her own.
Your Turn
What genre-bending / genre-transcending music have you run across that we ought to listen to?