Monday, March 25, 2013

No Church in the Wild












I recently walked out on band during the first chorus of "Kansas City."  The Kansas City jazz musicians weren't catering to out-of-town basketball fans in a downtown bar.  They were playing for locals.  That's just not right.  Musicians can perform whatever they want, of course, but that doesn't mean I have to willingly endure it. 

I often find myself dodging gigs by locally-based musicians just because I know that I can't tolerate hearing their overly familiar renditions of classic compositions by Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter and Count Basie again. 

Acknowledging that it's 2013 is one way to avoid stagnancy.  In addition to a repertoire of worthy originals, Diverse plays a solid arrangement of a hit from Watch the Throne.  Phonologotron focuses on contemporary pop material.  Mark Lowrey plays an intriguing version of "Buildings and Mountains" by the Kansas City rock band the Republic Tigers.

It's an unhealthy sign that much of the positive attention the Next Collective is receiving is due to its contemporary song selection instead of the brilliant playing of its members.  Young musicians should perform material like "No Church in the Wild" as a matter of course. 

I have no intention of reviving the controversy associated with Benjamin Schwarz's controversial review of Ted Gioia's The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire.  Nor do I endorse a disavowal of the past.  Instead, I'm merely encouraging a handful of hidebound musicians to consider updating their songbooks.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

2 comments:

Cb said...

*I often find myself dodging gigs by locally-based musicians just because I know that I can't tolerate hearing their overly familiar renditions of classic compositions by Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter and Count Basie again.*

After a while, this becomes the case, no matter how much you love those tunes, it is still someone covering those artists' original work. I have simply come to the conclusion as an artist, to play more of my own music. I think that is a natural progression in modern jazz. At least it is what those above did.

Covering popular songs of the day is another matter. That has been don in every era. Remember Herbie Hancock doing it? Next Collective is doing a great job with the popular songs of their day. I think it is cool if that moves you.

But, in jazz, it does indeed come down to improvisation and the musical idiosyncrasies of the respective artists. There is no avoiding this paradigm, regardless the cyclical vehicle or song form we are discussing at the moment.

Just my $0.02.

Peace, Cb

Maestro said...

Precisely, thats why we refrain from programming Mozart and Beethoven. Chicago, NY Phil,Boston,KC Nymphony Its just not interesting! And don't get me started about Bach and Handel.
The
Maestro