Jazz and Writing: A Unified Theory?

In my Sunday afternoon jazz internet perusal, I found a couple of interesting links that are worth sharing.  They’re both related to my own personal search for self-expression both through music and writing.

First was this insightful manifesto from Chris Kelsey (from whom I borrowed the awesome image to your right.)  Chris offers a definition of true artistry:

The great­est play­ers don’t play out as a socio-political state­ment; they don’t play in as a way of mak­ing debat­ing points. The most rad­i­cal thing an artist can do is to for­get about who or what he’s up against, and just con­cen­trate on being him­self. That’s the only real source of power.

After digesting Chris’s piece, I found myself reading through this thorough examination of the music journalism world at popmatters.com (via Jazz Chronicles.)  There, Jason Gross offers a balanced but optimistic recap of the ups and downs of 2009.  It offers some measured suggestions for how music journalists should move forward, most notably:

… lots of writers are finding themselves in the same situation where they’re doing all of the right things in terms of social media and adding interactive components to their articles, but sometimes finding that it’s still not good enough. The answer to that is not to give up on these new Internet wrinkles, but to keep embracing them and trying them out in different places and in different ways—not just because editors expect it, but also because it really is the best way to engage with online readers today and tomorrow. Readers are roaming around these sites looking for interesting things, and unless you’re there as well, showing off your writing goods, many of them won’t care about or know about what you’re doing.

Reading “New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History”

New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History by Bruce Boyd Raeburn

As I mentioned earlier, the year 2010 will see me delving deeply into the still-emerging field of jazz academia.  As a part of that process, I’m going to be reading a lot of books and articles.  Furthermore, I am going to be summarizing and commenting on their contents for my own research.

Given that, I thought that Lubricity would be a good place for me to share these thoughts, and provide a place for others to share their own opinions on the subjects that these books discuss, all of which are relevant to the current issues of jazz writing to which I have always paid particular attention here at the blog.

The first book that I’ve been reading, New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History by Bruce Boyd Raeburn, has been a real eye-opener.  The book takes a look at how “New Orleans style” has been codified.  He cleverly posits that the rigid understanding of the style that began to develop in the late 1930s — instrumentation, repertoire, etc. — was influenced primarily not by New Orleans musicians, but by record collectors: a white, educated, leftist parallel culture that developed alongside recorded jazz.

Paul Brady on Django Reinhardt: Less Gypsy, More Jazz

Django Reinhardt, Jack Teagarden, Stephane Grappelli and Earl Hines

To celebrate Django Reinhardt’s 100th birthday this past Saturday, I am pleased to bring my friend Paul Brady on board to write the first guest column for Lubricity!

Paul is an expert on all things Django: he is currently completing his M.A. in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University, where he has written a thesis entitled “Django Reinhardt The Jazz Musician: His Abilities; His Influence; His Legacy.”  Paul is also a member of the Hot Club of Detroit, a group of young musicians dedicated to furthering Django’s legacy by combining his music with contemporary jazz.  Their new record, It’s About That Time (Mack Avenue), will be coming out in April.  In this essay, Paul offers some criticism to those who have created the mythology of Gypsy Jazz at the expense of historical fact and the spirit of jazz improvisation:

It’s Awfully Quiet Around Here …

Come on, jazz bloggers!  It’s been way too quiet on my RSS reader for the past few days … a thoughtful reminder about CD packaging, a nice interview with Gunther Schuller, some back-and-forth between critics and composers … meh.

So I thought I’d take advantage of this lull and ask you, (what’s left of) my readers, to point me in some new directions on the Jazz Internet.  Take a look at my blogroll to the left, and let me know if there’s anyone that’s not listed there who I should be checking out.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

(UPDATE: Thanks to Elsa, I was reminded to stop by Nextbop, which has an interesting piece up by Anthony Dean-Harris.)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Has a Dream for Jazz

Today we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  King displayed a deep appreciation for jazz and understood its symbolic role in the struggle for civil rights.  In honor of his memory, allow me to share one of my favorite jazz-related quotes, courtesy of Dr. King:

Now, jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.

King’s insights always remind me of what we in the jazz community are always aspiring to do: illuminate the “stepping stones” that the music offers us in understanding human suffering, faith, dignity and joy.  As the music continues to resonate all over the world, may it continue to convey these deep truths that Dr. King felt when he heard it.

The Jazz Community is Bigger Than You Think

A scene from the 2009 NEA Jazz Masters Ceremony

Over at A Blog Supreme, Patrick Jarenwattananon has a beautifully-articulated essay that really sums up my thoughts about this weekend, and my hope for the future of jazz.

Between carving my way through the Winter JazzFest, discussing the future of jazz at the Jazz Journalists’ Association mini-conference, digging Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side All-Stars at the Blue Note on Monday night alongside enthusiastic Japanese and European tourists, and meeting Hilma Carter (Benny Carter’s widow) at the Institute of Jazz Studies yesterday, I’ve had the fortune of seeing the joy and vitality that our common interest — jazz — brings to so many people.  We still have a long way to go in connecting those dots — Patrick touches on that challenge as well — but we are certainly moving in the right direction.

Obviously, there are lots of people who are helping to bring the jazz community together, but one person who I met this weekend, Michael Ricci of allaboutjazz.com (who has graciously offered to syndicate Lubricity through his AAJ News Center) deserves a special mention here.  Spend a few minutes poking around over there and you’ll see the myriad of possibilities that his site has to offer for jazz musicians and fans.  And keep coming back — he’s got big plans for 2010!

Again, if you haven’t already, go read Patrick’s essay!

Two Nights, 11 Bands at NYC Winter JazzFest (Part 2: Saturday)

I’m finally starting to recover from my weekend of extreme jazz consumption at the 2010 NYC Winter JazzFest.  For some initial thoughts and a recap of my Day One experience on Friday, click here.  For some other excellent Winter JazzFest recaps, check out Ben Ratliff, Nate Chinen, Ben Allison, Jacob Teichroew and Hank Shteamer.

Having attended Winter JazzFest last year, Friday had pretty much been in line with my expectations.  Great music, solid crowds, high energy, good times.  But I also knew that this was the first year that the festival had expanded to a second day, and was going to feature five venues rather than Friday’s three.  It was clear that they were upping the ante — especially with such top-notch groups as Ben Allison, The Claudia Quintet, Gretchen Parlato and Vijay Iyer in the lineup.

Still, I had no idea what I was in for.  The NYC Jazz Scene flat-out kicked ass on Saturday, and everyone — promoters, musicians, arts presenters, and especially jazz fans — played a part in making it happen.  Congratulations to everyone for making it go over as well as it did!

Click through for the play-by-play of my Saturday night at NYC Winter JazzFest:

Two Nights, 11 Bands at the NYC Winter Jazzfest (Part 1: Friday)

New York City’s only jazz festival has come and gone, and I was there.  So were a LOT of other people.  My one-word impression: wow.

For a comprehensive and well-written account of the two-night jazz extravaganza, check out Ben Ratliff’s review for the New York Times.  Nate Chinen, Ben Allison, Jacob Teichroew and Hank Shteamer also have some spot-on reflections.

The general theme of those reviews is that the festival was a huge success, attracting not only brilliant music but amazingly enthusiastic audiences.  I couldn’t agree more — Saturday’s crowd was especially mind-blowing.  The combination left me with more moments of jaw-dropping jazz-fan euphoria than any event that I have attended in a long time.  To borrow a phrase from Vijay Iyer, tossed out at the end of his set at Le Poisson Rouge that featured one of the liveliest audiences of the evening: “And they told me jazz is dead…”

Yeah, not so much.

Click through for the play-by-play of my Friday night:

Tromboneliness at Jazz.com

While you’re here, I thought it would be worthwhile to point you to my latest (and perhaps last) contribution to jazz.com:

The Dozens: Top Twelve Trombone Tracks

I penned the reviews for them in the fall, and it’s finally up for all to see!

In case you’re too lazy to click the link, my twelve (actually 13 since I got two in one track) terrific trombonists are (in chronological order by recording):

2009: My Year in Jazz

Conrad Herwig: Amazing musician and teacher

This year has blessed me with a series of steps forward for which I am very grateful, many of them related to my work in jazz documented here from May through September.  I thought that a look back at this past year, the first in which I have really found a home in the jazz community, would be a good way to start my 2010 blogging odyssey anew.

2009 began with a big move:  just after Christmas, I drove from California to New Jersey, arriving on January 2nd.  Along the way, I stopped for lunch in Vernon, TX, Jack Teagarden’s hometown, which I learned was completely in the absolute middle of nowhere and smells like cow pies.  My girlfriend Marina joined me for the trip, and we celebrated the new year inauspiciously at a Days Inn in Roanoke, Virginia.