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7/22 – The Joe Hunt Group at 8:30 p.m. (MP) – The percussion icon shows up with his hand-in-glove band mates--Yuka Hamano Hunt and Keala Kaumeheiwa--to bring us some wonderful piano trio sounds at the Lily Pad...
7/24 – The Lantner-Gray Duo at 8 p.m. (PA) – Steve Lantner and Luther Gray show up every month usually in a trio, quartet, or quintet setting to stun and amaze people with ears. With just the two of them, one might expect more transparent or distilled music. I don’t know what to expect, but it will stun and amaze at the Outpost…
Thru 8/5 – “A Tribute to John Cage” (1973, 1976) (audio-visual art) – This half-hour video production of Nam June Paik and Fred Barzyk features historic footage of John Cage performing 4’33” next to Out of Town News in Harvard Square in 1973 (with some unfortunately cornball cutlines) and other fine moments including commentary about stuttering and music by Alvin Lucier and a wonderful (“TV Bra”) collaboration between Charlotte Moorman and Paik. The half-hour production can be initiated by tapping on a TV screen and enhanced by taking advantage of nearby folding seats. The video is part of a terrific (if you are a Nam June Paik fan) exhibit, “Nam June Paik: Screen Play,” at the Harvard Art Museums…
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Key codes: The abbreviation in parentheses following the name of the event or
band/musician performing indicates roughly the type of music that you can
expect if you go to the gig.
MC=
Magazine Covers. These musicians/bands
are popular with jazz fans and therefore often find their photos on the covers
of jazz magazines. This type of band may
or may not be any good qualitatively.
However, many fans like to know “what’s hot.”
MP=Mainstream/Post-Bop. This is the music that most people think of
today when they think of jazz. It runs
the gamut from Parkeresque bebop and Websterish ballads to the post-bop work of
people such as Bergonzi and Lovano.
PA=Post-Ayler. This is Anthony Braxton’s term for all the
adventure that came out of Ayler, Ornette, Cecil and others (including Mr. Braxton,
of course). In some ways it is the most
diverse jazz and jazz-rooted music being performed today, including everything
from near zero dB whispers (e.g., undr, John Tilbury) to eardrum demolishing
walls of sound (Keith Rowe, a ton of stuff from Japan) to performances built on
combinations of composed and improvised material (Liberation Orchestra, Charlie
Kohlhase’s ensembles) to completely improvised offerings
(Evan Parker, Laurence Cook).
S=Swing. It don’t mean a thing… Maybe “nothing” means “anything” if you are a
fan of swing. Sadly, fine swing music
seems to be approaching extinction, at least in the Boston area clubs. The reasons are obvious and elusive. The great names of Swing (such as Lunceford
and Barnet) have passed on and taken almost all of their band mates with
them. In addition, in spite of the fact
that some of the finest music of the swing era was produced by the combos
of Goodman and Basie (among others), people continue to think of swing in terms
of large (and therefore economically untenable) ensembles. You can find it happening in some dance
halls, but mostly at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.
For years such names as Whitney, Winniker, and Hershman have held the
fort in the Boston
area. But you’ve got to keep your eyes
peeled.
T=Two-beat/Trad. Some of the finest contemporary two-beat jazz
anywhere has been nurtured and grown in Eastern
Massachusetts since the 1970s.
Everyone knows about the New Black Eagles, and a host of other musicians
are held in equally high esteem around here.
Some of the better-known are Jimmy Mazzy, Stan McDonald, Jeff Hughes,
and Guy Van Duser. Unfortunately for
city dwellers, two-beat jazz (and, to a lesser extent, the blues) has moved to
the suburbs. But the best of it is worth
the drive.