Some long time ago, I downloaded somewhere a free song titled “Circle Dance,” by a group called Conference Call. The album is Live at the Outpost Performance Space. This is great stuff, a little on the edgy, free jazz side that I tend to like.
But not too edgy, as I say in my profile.
I wanted to hear and maybe buy more, but I could never locate it. If I searched “Conference Call” at places like Amazon, I got a lot of telephone accessories. I couldn’t get any hits by artist, album or song on Napster or any of the other download sites I hang around at.
I finally connected by going to http://www.allaboutjazz.com/, where I found that the album title should be Live at the Outpost, and now I’ve ordered it from Amazon. The tenor player I like so well is one Gebhard Ullmann, a German musician who’s been around a long time. You can read his bio at www.gebhard-ullmann.com/frame.htm.
All of this interest in jazz is rekindled in part by the current Portland Jazz Festival, which I’m missing because I decided I couldn’t afford it, not even just a weekend of the ten-day affair. Also, I’m working two days a week, and I can’t just take off. Also, my repaired hernias still hurt, and I’m not thinking a lot about getting out of town yet. Also, I don’t know anybody to go with.
So I was wondering, do I really want to cram in say three days of intensive jazz concerts and then sit around trying to digest all that and not have anybody to talk it through with?
Well, yes.
What a lineup! It’s an ambitious and risk-taking series of concerts set in a mix of venues ranging from smallish clubs to the 2700-seat Schnitzer auditorium. Most performers have to be considered big names in jazz circles, but we’re talking small circles here. Gary Burton has been around forever and is always accessible if not easy-listening. I’d book him in the Schnitz. And jazz aficionados know that Branford is the right Marsalis to invite.
But one of my favorite pianists, Geri Allen, isn’t that big a name, and Don Byron and Dave Douglas may have a very high critical regard, but how big a draw could they count on? These guys fill clubs, not auditoriums. Their music can be difficult, though both Allen and Byron are about as exciting and creative as anybody who’s come along in the last few decades. Douglas for me, not so much.
For truly new voices, I’ll track down tenor saxophonist Sophie Faught, 19, who reportedly held her own with the likes of some of the above.
My friend Broschat will be interested to know that singer Gretta Matassa led a late-night jam. As I recall, he was trying to get people to pay attention to her some years ago when she was playing the Seattle club scene but hadn’t made a name yet. He gifted me a CD by her which I’ll have to sift out from my ramble of a collection.
Next year I’m going. Cross my heart.
But not too edgy, as I say in my profile.
I wanted to hear and maybe buy more, but I could never locate it. If I searched “Conference Call” at places like Amazon, I got a lot of telephone accessories. I couldn’t get any hits by artist, album or song on Napster or any of the other download sites I hang around at.
I finally connected by going to http://www.allaboutjazz.com/, where I found that the album title should be Live at the Outpost, and now I’ve ordered it from Amazon. The tenor player I like so well is one Gebhard Ullmann, a German musician who’s been around a long time. You can read his bio at www.gebhard-ullmann.com/frame.htm.
All of this interest in jazz is rekindled in part by the current Portland Jazz Festival, which I’m missing because I decided I couldn’t afford it, not even just a weekend of the ten-day affair. Also, I’m working two days a week, and I can’t just take off. Also, my repaired hernias still hurt, and I’m not thinking a lot about getting out of town yet. Also, I don’t know anybody to go with.
So I was wondering, do I really want to cram in say three days of intensive jazz concerts and then sit around trying to digest all that and not have anybody to talk it through with?
Well, yes.
What a lineup! It’s an ambitious and risk-taking series of concerts set in a mix of venues ranging from smallish clubs to the 2700-seat Schnitzer auditorium. Most performers have to be considered big names in jazz circles, but we’re talking small circles here. Gary Burton has been around forever and is always accessible if not easy-listening. I’d book him in the Schnitz. And jazz aficionados know that Branford is the right Marsalis to invite.
But one of my favorite pianists, Geri Allen, isn’t that big a name, and Don Byron and Dave Douglas may have a very high critical regard, but how big a draw could they count on? These guys fill clubs, not auditoriums. Their music can be difficult, though both Allen and Byron are about as exciting and creative as anybody who’s come along in the last few decades. Douglas for me, not so much.
For truly new voices, I’ll track down tenor saxophonist Sophie Faught, 19, who reportedly held her own with the likes of some of the above.
My friend Broschat will be interested to know that singer Gretta Matassa led a late-night jam. As I recall, he was trying to get people to pay attention to her some years ago when she was playing the Seattle club scene but hadn’t made a name yet. He gifted me a CD by her which I’ll have to sift out from my ramble of a collection.
Next year I’m going. Cross my heart.
2 comments:
Broschat says: I doubt that I'd enjoy it anywhere near as much as you would.
Yes, I was a great supporter of Greta, and bought a couple CDs since I moved to DC. But that seems to be enough for me. She's not all that 'jazzy'--by your definition, anyway.
What is called 'jazz' is about the widest ranging examples of music a person could ever imagine. The official radio station here for public transportation is a "slow jazz" station that you have to fight hard to keep from falling asleep. What's 'jazz' about it?
I've remarked before that I've grown impatient with what I've experienced as combo jazz. Each one sounds the same: all instruments join with a theme, then each solos without regard to any of the others, and then it's over. Not much for this guy to get into.
Now that I'm 60, I can see that my interest in jazz never really went beyond Big Band Jazz (yes, my god--Stan Kenton). I don't need anything else. I like groups playing together in exciting arrangements, and the smaller scale stuff just doesn't push my buttons.
But if Portland can put on an entire festival, good for them. And I hope you make it next year...
Right: "Small circles," as I said above.
One of my great pleasures over the years was developing and teaching a course in jazz history and appreciation. Most students came to an "appreciation" over the course of ten weeks. A few became huge fans, and I still bump into one of those occasionally. Others, of course, never warmed to it.
"Slow jazz" or "smooth jazz," though, is no jazz at all. This genre blurring usually presents no particular problems except when festival organizers think they need to book acts like Chris Botti to break even. Portland is demonstrating that it's possible to offer a successful, authentic jazz festival.
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