Some people write what they don’t know

We live in a time not much different from the second decade of the twentieth century as we witness art exploding beautifully around us.  Specifically in the case of music as an art form, we have been basking in the glow of great innovators of so-called classical music and jazz.  But unlike such jazz groundbreakers as Johnny Dunn and Boston’s Tom Whaley or Stravinsky and Varèse of the “classical” world, our giants have almost no scribes praising or--significantly--pillorying our giants.  Our Martinos and Lomons in one instance and our Hobbses and Maneris (elder and younger) in another are ignored.  And the word “ignored” is significant.  It has the same root as “ignorance.”


Click on Not Quite an Infinite Number of Monkeys for more commentary.

Writing About Jazz as Antidote

Most jazz journalism does more harm to the art form than it might seem. Here's the problem and my attempt to deal with it.

Click on here for the essay.

A Review of Ken Burns' Jazz Series

In March of 2001 I sent a review of the PBS Jazz series to Chris Allen for his web site. Chris at the time was a wonderful trombonist and band leader who started a Boston jazz web site. I contributed a few things to that site before it folded. Eventually (to the disappointment of myself and others) Chris walked away from jazz to pursue his passion for software development. Although he has picked up his trombone on occasion since that time, I’m guessing he’s happy with that decision. It’s the rest of us who suffer.

In any event, I thought there were serious problems with the PBS series--assuming it was not meant to be fiction or a pseudo-documentary along the lines of Spinal Tap. (I suspect that, although fictional, Spinal Tap was closer to the TRUTH of what it is to be a Rock musician than Jazz was to its subject.) Since Chris’ web site disappeared I have noticed several references to my essay (e.g., check out the PBS Jazz series on Wikipedia). However, there was no place available on the internet that people could check out to see the essay for themselves. For all those folks--and anyone else who’s interested--here it is.

Valid insights into the evolution and meaning of jazz tend to endure

Some jazz critics’ views have changed over the decades. But some of them were correct in the first place. The late Joachim-Ernst Berendt is one of the insightful ones. Do I agree with him completely? Of course not. For example, although I think Branford Marsalis is a fine improvisor, I never have heard anything that even hints at profundity from his brother Wynton. So Berendt and I have different views on some matters (unless, of course, the praise for Wynton is coming from co-author Günther Huesmann, rather than Berendt, who died in 2000). But such differences help insure that the world keeps turning. And what fun would it be spending one’s life talking to a mirror?

So we can celebrate the late German jazz critic and his famous evolving jazz history/encyclopedia. And we can contemplate at least some of his astute observations here.

Click on The Durability of The Jazz Book for more commentary.

When Jazz Musicians Broke Ground in the “Good Old Days”

Any real artist--i.e., someone attempting a pursuit of significant and new communications--faces considerable obstacles. The general public never has embraced immediately any profound development that is really new, really different. Therefore one can understand jazz musicians who get discouraged. Such challenges raise questions about the status of the jazz continuum and where new music (and musicians) fit in that continuum.

Click on The Love/Hate Relationship with History for more commentary.

New Year’s Eve Radio Jazz 2009

My wife and I listened to NPR-sponsored jazz on the radio on New Year’s Eve. We listened hopefully for more than three hours. It is a sad commentary that the only music on the show during that time that challenged the ear was the re-broadcast of music that was recorded earlier in the year. I find it difficult to imagine that nowhere in the U.S. could the producers find outstanding jazz musicians willing to perform for a national broadcast. The evening began with inoffensive but unengaging music. And it went downhill from there.

Click on Is Toast of the Nation Toast? for more commentary.

The Problems Posed by Sound Recordings

Bruno Johnson, the guy who created and operates Okkadisk Records in Milwaukee, talked to me in the summer of 2002 about a proposition. He said that he was trying to add a bit of energy to the Okkadisk web site by posting essays written by jazz critics. He said that he didn’t want any typical, bland articles about jazz. He was hoping for essays that would be provocative and might shake things up a bit.

The offer was quite a challenge. What made it even more of a challenge is that my essay would be the second one posted. Already posted at that time was an essay by Kevin Whitehead. In other words, even before I typed my first word I was in a hole.

I told Bruno that the only subject I could think of is “why recording jazz is a bad idea.” He said, “Great!” Here’s a guy who’s so passionate about recording jazz that he runs a company that records jazz and sells those recordings. And he says, “Great!” I don’t think the word “classy” does him justice.

So Kevin’s essay and mine were posted above the fold at the Okkadisk web site. Then nothing. No more essays. Apparently Bruno could not find provocative enough material to post. I’m not sure. But when he refurbished the site a few months later, the essays were gone.

I was (and am) happy with the essay. So I am posting it here. Except for layout, the essay is reproduced as it first appeared in the fall of 2002. A postscript makes reference to relevant events that have taken place since the posting.

Click on Recording Jazz: A Questionable Practice? to read the essay.