Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
JazzProfiles
Focused Profiles on Jazz and its Creators while also Featuring the Work of Guest Writers and Critics on the Subject of Jazz.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Bill Perkins - The Gordon Jack Interview [With Revisions and Additions]
Friday, May 17, 2024
Theme For Sister Salvation (Remastered) - In Honor of Jackie McLean's birthday anniversary.
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Michel Petrucciani Bésame Mucho Looking Up
A Common Language - Steve Nelson, Joris Teepe and Eric Ineke
© Introduction. Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
“There’s no telling what we’ll play in the second set,” bystanders overheard bassist Joris Teepe say at the CD-release concert of A Common Language by the Steve Nelson Trio at De Pletterij in Haarlem on April 1. Among others, it turned out, they played a lush version of ‘Round Midnight and a gritty jump blues take on Frankie And Johnny, both made up on the spot and not presented on the American vibraphonist’s first album on the Daybreak imprint of Timeless Records.
Steve Nelson, preeminent 69-year-old vibraphonist and past associate of Dave Holland and Mulgrew Miller, is an invitee of ‘Dutch New Yorker’ Teepe, who as artistic advisor of the Prins Claus Conservatorium of Groningen regularly brings his American connections to his home country. The trio is completed by veteran drummer Eric Ineke, pinnacle of Dutch jazz that played with a who’s who in jazz from Dexter Gordon to Jimmy Raney and Eric Alexander to Tineke Postma.
On stage, the quiet and reserved Nelson says: “I like to play with everybody, young and old, but with these guys… (sighs). They are so experienced and know exactly what they are doing.” And then some. It is quite a team, full of interaction and balanced energy. Especially from playing a bit more together the last few years than in the past, the Teepe/Ineke tandem has become particularly tight-knit and flexible, Teepe’s way of making the music breathe quite phenomenal and Ineke’s succinct questioning-and-answering typically steady, dynamic and vivid.”
- François van de Linde, Flophouse Magazine
“Gently swinging, full of interesting elaboration as Nelson goes into the interstices of the tunes to find new nooks and crannies, it's all an easy going but never dull stroll down memory lane spread over 2 CDs. Issued on the Daybreak imprint of venerable Dutch jazz indie, Timeless.”
- marlbank.net
Every Jazz fan knows the feeling.
The unexpected album.
A recording which comes along seemingly out of nowhere.
You’re not looking for it but it finds you and absolutely haunts you into repeated listenings.
And with each listening, the music seems to grow on you as you find more and more things about it to entertain you and enchant you.
Holland based drummer Eric Ineke and I have been friends for a while and we have an unspoken bond that allows for me to receive a preview copy of the latest recording that he’s featured on with the hopeful yet, unstated expectation, that I’ll develop a review of it and post it to my JazzProfiles blog.
And so it was that Eric engaged Ria Wigt of DayBreak, a division of Timeless Records also based in The Netherlands, to send me a preview copy of the 2CDSet - A Common Language [DBTR 802/3] which features Steve Nelson on vibraphone, Joris Teepe on bass and Eric on drums.
I don’t do this often because I don’t like to use Jazz as a background music while I write - the music deserves to be listened to with my undivided attention - but I put the discs in my CD player while I finished working on a project.
The next thing I knew, the writing project lost my focus as I eagerly awaited the playing of the next track from Nelson-Teepe-Ineke [not a law firm] from A Common Language.
While listening to Steve, Joris and Eric on A Common Language, I was immediately struck by the fact that the use of only three musicians creating music that spanned almost 94 minutes and contained on two audio CDs created an aura of spaciousness.
Such a commodious environment centering on the vibraphone as the lead instrument in a trio can be dangerous and a potential detriment to the quality of the music for as Ted Gioia explains:
“The vibraphone invites overplaying almost by its very nature. … Unlike a horn player, the vibraphonist is unable to sustain notes for very long, even with the help of vibrato and pedal. The vibes invite overplaying to compensate for such limitations. Added to these difficulties is the fact that … [they are played with] a hitting motion powered by the wrists. With the mastery of a steady drum roll, the aspiring vibraphonist is already capable of flinging out a flurry of notes and, given the repetitive motions used to build up drum technique, the vibes player is tempted to lock into a ‘steady stream’… [of notes]. West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960, p.103.
Can you imagine what over an hour-and-a-half of a “million-notes-a-minute” vibraphone could have sounded like in this situation?!
Thankfully, Steve approaches the instrument like a horn and allows the music to breathe using a melodic, introspective style that builds off the intensity of the rhythm section to shape his improvised lines.
In allowing the space to prevail, he invites the prodigious talents of bassist Joris Teepe and drummer Eric Ineke to join him in a musical, equal partnership; rightfully so because both have a lot to say on their respective instruments.
Joris has a big, full bass sound that centers the beat while Eric is the perfect accompanist who sets the rhythmic groove and stays out of the way until it's his turn to make a statement.
This latter quality is one reason why Eric is in such demand as a mainstay of the Dutch Jazz scene with his own Jazzexpress and with visiting dignitaries such as tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton, as well as, performing all over the European continent with young Jazz horn players who are just coming into their own in the music.
Because he sets the time in motion and stays in the background, Eric allows the horn players time to think and form their solos without a lot of clatter from the drums pushing and shoving them in directions they may not want to go.
Of course, the other thing Eric does is swing his backside off. He's an irrepressible force who comes to play and you’d better swing as well otherwise he’ll run over you.
While listening to A Common Language I was also struck by a comparison with another vibes-bass-drums recording, this one from 1958 featuring Victor Feldman on vibes, Scott LaFaro on bass and Stan Levey on drums. I am referring, of course, to The Arrival of Victor Feldman [Contemporary C3549; OJC CD 268].
The virtuosity on display on Victor’s maiden voyage recording with LaFaro and Levey is one for the ages and matchless in it own right, but the quality of not overplaying in such a sparse environment and complementing the work of your bandmates in such a way as to allow everyone space to shine is a model available to any musician sensitive enough to absorb these cooperative essences.
And Steve, Joris and Eric “get it” and use a similar format to provide the listener with an alluring musical feast of fifteen Jazz Standard tunes and Great American songs that are presented at a relaxed pace [the average track time is about six minutes and thirty seconds] which provides for a variety of arrangements to be presented over familiar melodies.
There is some vibraphone royalty associated with some of the selections on A Common Language - Lionel Hampton/Oh Lady Be Good, Milt Jackson/Bags Groove, Cal Tjader/Star Eyes, Red Norvo [with Tal Farlow and Charles Mingus]/ I’ll Remember April - but make no mistake, Steve puts his mark on each of the tracks that make up this wonderful recording.
My personal favorite is Lee Morgan’s Ceora: one because I’ve always liked the sound of its intriguing melody and two because Steve makes it even more enjoyable with the caring interpretation he gives it on vibes, an instrument on which I’ve never heard the tune played before.
Other highlights include a spritely version of Monk’s Well, You Needn’t which finds Steve at the height of his inventiveness [you can tell it’s a tune he loves playing on]; a lazy and leisurely romp through Freddie Hubbard’s waltz - Up Jumped Spring, beautiful ballad interpretations of Lover Man, I Thought About You and Body and Soul while another typical vehicle for a ballad - Embraceable You - is played at an unusual medium bounce tempo; a blistering uptempo version of Softly As In A Morning Sunrise.
The frequent tempo changes are helpful to both the players and the listener as it enables them to adjust to an altered pace of improvisation, much the same way as it would be if the music were being played in a Jazz club.
In each of these arrangements, Steve leaves room for Joris Teepe as the “other voice” and Joris is more than equal to the task as he offers a master clinic in how to construct interesting bass solos. When it’s Joris’ turn, there’s no drop off in the quality of improvisation; it’s just stated in bass clef.
Unusual in this day-in-age, Steve approaches the vibes as a two mallet player instead of the more customary four mallets made popular by Gary Burton.
As a result, his emphasis is on creating melody with the harmony implied rather than stated as is often the case with the four mallet style.
And what a stimulating melody player Steve is and to have such a great showcase for it in the double CD A Common Language is DayBreak’s gift to the Jazz World.
Needless to say, A Common Language has since moved from the background to the foreground of my listening regime simply because I can't stop playing the darn thing.
If your taste in Jazz runs to the straight ahead style in the music, you won’t want to miss this one.
The following video was made at the CD-release concert of A Common Language by the Steve Nelson Trio at De Pletterij in Haarlem on April 1, 2024.
Just a word of caution - the music doesn’t start until the 13th minute.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Maria Schneider: A Music That Is Movingly Majestic
© Copyright ® Steven Cerra. All rights reserved.
“ … when you look at Maria's resume: she studied composition with Bob Brookmeyer, and spent three years as Gil Evans' musical assistant. From Brookmeyer, she learned how to create large-scale musical structures that add up to more than just a string of solos; from Evans, she learned how to blend instrumental colors with a Ravel-like precision and clarity.
Working with these two masters of big-band writing inspired Maria to develop a completely original sound of her own. “l think my music has a strong element of fantasy in it,’ she says, explaining that the inspirations for her compositions are as likely as not to be visual: dreams, paintings, memories. ‘lf I don't have a dramatic plane to put myself on,’ she adds, ‘I’m at a complete loss for coming up with notes.
Actually, I think of my pieces as little personalities. They're like my kids. After I finish a piece, it takes a while for me to forget the struggle of composing it. Then, all of a sudden, it becomes something separate from me, and the band takes control of it, and shapes and develops it, and it has its own life.’”
- Terry Teachout
“Schneider’s characteristic voice is … a rich fabric of sound that is alert to nuance but still capable of great power.”
- Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed.
“When I first started helping Gil Evans out in a deeper way than copying, it was a little terrifying at first. I felt, who am I to be doing this? …
Then one day I realized that this thing about studying music the right way - the only right way in music - is your own way that you do with belief and conviction, and when you stick to it, it becomes your voice.
Gil had all sorts of ways to do things that are not in the books, and they all had a very consistent logic. It was a little bit of a parallel universe that went by its own mathematical rules.
- Paraphrased from Maria Schneider interview with author Stephanie Stein Crease, Gil Evans: Out of the Cool, His Life and Music [pp. 314-315]
“The music itself defies standard definitions of jazz. The inner musical lines reflect her own inner voices. The music is full of characteristic “Schneiderisms”: undulating waves of piano to forte to piano, especially in the brass, and highly textured orchestrations evoking visual imagery and musical colors. It is very personal music.”
- Eugene Marlow
“I think my music has started to more deeply reflect the world of music that I've enjoyed listening to in recent years. The rhythmic, harmonic and melodic flavors in my work are undoubtedly influenced by my love of Spanish, flamenco, and Brazilian music. Jazz is still at my core, but the intricacy and development one would find in classical music is more present. Even I become hard pressed to define my music."
- Maria Schneider
When writing about the music of Maria Schneider, the “texture” of her music is often stressed as that quality which makes it so unique and so appealing.
But what is a musical definition of “texture” which joins with melody, harmony and rhythm [meter] as a fourth building block used to create a musical composition?
Ironically, of the four basic musical atoms, the most indefinable yet the one we first notice is – “texture.”
“Texture” is the word that is used to refer to the actual sound of the music. This encompasses the instruments with which it is played; its tonal colors; its dynamics; its sparseness or its complexity.
Texture involves anything to do with the sound experience and it is the word that is used to describe the overall impression that a piece of music creates in our emotional imagination.
Often our first and most lasting impression of a composition is usually based on that work’s texture, even though we are not aware of it. Generally, we receive strong musical impressions from the physical sound of any music and these then determine our emotional reaction to the work.
Beyond the texture or sound of her music and the lasting physical and emotional impact it can create, Ms. Schneider’s music is also heavily rhythmic – the most visceral and fundamental of all the musical elements.
Music takes place in time and like many great composers, Ms. Schneider uses rhythms and the relationships between rhythms to express many moods and musical thoughts.
She uses rhythm to provide a primal, instinctive kind of foundation for the other musical thoughts [themes and motifs] to build upon.
This combination of powerful, repetitive rhythmic phrases and the manner in which she textures the sound of her music over them provides many of Ms. Schneider’s compositions with a magisterial quality.
Another of Ms. Schneider’s great skills as a composer is that she never seems to be at a loss for the new rhythms that she needs to create musical interest in her work.
She is a master at using the creative tension between unchanging meter and constantly changing rhythms and these rhythmic variations help to produce a vitality in her music.
In her use of melody, Ms. Schneider’s approach to composing, arranging and orchestrating appears to have much in common with the Classical composers of the late 18th and early 19th century [Mozart and Beethoven as examples] in that she relies on a series of measured and balanced musical phrases as the mainstay of much of her work.
And like these Classical composers, Ms. Schneider is also careful not to let one musical element overwhelm the others: balance between elements is as important as balance within any one of them.
Ms. Schneider obviously places a high value on melody in her writing as her themes have a way of finding themselves into one’s subconscious and staying there a la – “I can’t get this tune out of my head.”
This is in large part because Ms. Schneider’s melodies are actually easily remembered short phrases, generally four or eight bars in length and these are often heard in combination with other similar phrases to fashion something akin to a musical mosaic with individual pieces joining together to create a musical whole.
Ms. Schneider crafts little melodic devices that are wonderful examples of the composer’s art. And she has learned over the years to base her compositions out of the fewest possible melodic building blocks because if there are too many melodies, or for that matter, too many rhythms and too many different chords in a piece, the listener can get confused and eventually bored.
And on the subject of chords, the building blocks of harmony, here Ms. Schneider’s approach is one involving multi-part harmony and is more akin to modern composers such as Debussy, Bartok and Stravinsky than to those of the Classical period.
With all this going on in her compositions, is it any wonder, then, that even Maria is “.. hard pressed to define my music [?]"
Perhaps you can discern some of these qualities in her music by viewing the following video.