In Context

“Such things…as the grasp of a child’s hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of a friend or a lover, the silk of a girl’s thigh, the sunlight on rock and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind — what else is there? What else do we need?”
–Edward Abbey

I saw this quotation in a magazine. Curious about the source, I turned to Google and found it. It’s from Desert Solitaire (1968). What I also found is the preceeding sentence.

“For my own part, I am pleased enough with surfaces — in fact, they seem to me to be of much importance. Such things, for example, as the grasp of a child’s hand …”

When I read the lines in the magazine, surfaces were the farthest thing from my mind. My brain connected the word surface to superficial and unimportant, completely contradictory to the thoughts evoked by images of sunlight and music and the grasp of a child’s hand. Now, even more context was required for proper understanding. Desert Solitaire is a narrative nonfiction book about Abbey’s experiences as a park ranger in Utah, and in nature, as in all art, surfaces are indeed beautiful. How pleasant to have my synapses redirected on a more positive pathway.

Road Weary

It’s 5:40 am and we’re heading for the airport–more than ready to go home. The days at MCG were well-spent and Clairdee’s new recording project is off to a great start, start being the operative word. Her project will be a part of the new ArtistShare site that I’ve been talking about and working on intensely for the last few weeks. More about that soon.

While in Pittsburgh I got to see one of my writing mentors and that was like a shot of B12 (the Starbucks didn’t hurt either). Leslie Rubinkowski is the author of Impersonating Elvis, a wild book that brings to life the world of Elvis impersonators. She got to know quite a few of them and their world is one that I could never have imagined without reading it for real. She’s agreed to do an interview for my ArtistShare project about how to bring people to life with words.

Well, that’s it for the moment. Just wanted to check in and let you know that I’ll be back tomorrow.

On the Road: Pittsburgh

I’m in Pittsburgh, at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild for a recording session. Marty and Jay Ashby, producers of Nancy Wilson‘s last three CDs, are going to lend their talents to my husbands latest project, a new recording for Clairdee and the promotion of an affordable entertainment package called Vocal Legacy featuring jazz vocalist Clairdee with guitarist/singer Henry Johnson. We are convinced that there are lots of people out there who want to enjoy an evening’s entertainment without breaking the piggy bank. John gets so many calls from organizations planning their annual dinner or convention and they can’t afford to hire performers such as Nancy Wilson or Dianne Reeves. Of course, part of the battle is name recognition and the lack of radio airplay for anyone except the commercially successful. But that’s another lament for another time.

If you happen to be in Pittsburgh on Thursday evening, it’s MCG Jazz Night at the Omni William Penn hotel. Clairdee and Henry will be doing two shows, 7 and 9 pm, in The Terrace Room, where I’m told they serve a delicious and affordable 3-course gourmet meal. (Call 412-553-5235 for reservations)

Drink Jazz?

Jazz, the word, has defined a music that I love. But over the years, the word — not the music — has lost its meaning. In some ways, you might consider it to be evolution — a good spin. After all, if the word was to adhere its meaning to a specific sound, jazz could be synonymous with Dixieland. So as the music grew in scope, jazz became an umbrella term – music that swings, uses syncopation, and, of course, music that is improvised on the spot. We had Dixieland, swing and be-bop, avant garde, modern and contemporary, even fusion.

The generic quality of the term also speaks to an increasing penchant for homogenization. Today, the only “jazz” you hear on radio or television is “smooth jazz” – Dave Koz, Kenny G, even The Rippingtons. The only “jazz singers” recognized are Jane Monheit, Michael Bublé, Nora Jones…even Mindi Abair makes the wiki list.

To add insult to injury, jazz is now a soft drink. For the last week or so television has been bombarding me with an ad for Jazz – Pepsi’s new diet cola drink — likely named to counter the high visibility garnered by the coke folks in sponsoring Jazz at Lincoln Center Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola — and Pepsi’s Jazz also comes in multiple flavors such as Strawberries & Cream, Black Cherry French Vanilla…

Look, to each their own flavor. I’m not going to knock The Rippingtons (whose new anniversary CD I am enjoying), I won’t even knock those performers whose work I do not care for at all, but I do not consider it to be jazz. Similarly, I’m not sure that the music of Maria Schneider or Bob Brookmeyer — music that I DO love — is best served by being dubbed “jazz.” As a writer what disturbs me is the loss of specificity in the use of the word. The umbrella is now so large as to be unwieldy, and any real meaning has taken flight on the winds of change leaving nothing on solid ground.

We need a new word to stand for that je ne sais quoi that I hear when listening to that music that I will now call “real jazz” — just until I find a better word. At first I thought that it was a matter of old vs. new, but I put that notion to rest when I listened to Serenade as played less than six months ago by Sonny Rollins at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center in California on April 11, 2006 (in celebration of his 70th birthday a video clip was made briefly available on Sonny’s web site). Then I thought maybe it was a difference in the sensibilities of older artists vs. younger ones — but dismissed that idea by listening to Ingrid Jensen‘s rendition of “There Is No Greater Love” on her At Sea CD. What is it that best describes this visceral reaction I have, and how can I describe the music?

I’m going to give this some more thought, meanwhile, write in and tell me what words you would use. If you could rename jazz, what would you call it?

I Call It Fun

A press release via email arrived to alert me to an anniversary CD+DVD release by The Rippingtons; included was a brief audio clip. A minute or two of an upbeat dance track titled “Bingo-Jingo” was enough to re-awaken memories of years gone by.

All of you straight-ahead jazzers may be aghast to hear that I rather like this group…I just wish that the word “jazz” was not used in the same sentence. Such is the way of the music biz, ascribing (or in many cases, usurping) niche identifications for the purpose of targeting sales. My dad says the term “music business” is itself an oxymoron. (Maybe just plain moronic would be more apt.) Of course the word “jazz” can also be used to mean “empty or insincere or exaggerated talk” as in “don’t give me any of that jazz,” but that’s another story.

Sometimes these appelations do more harm than good. I remember a few years back I was assigned to review a Rachael Z recording. The package arrived with the F word — Fusion — emblazoned on the front and had I not been on assignment it would have ended up in the round file without a hearing. That would have been my loss, and I said so in the review, noting that labels such as fusion, avant-garde, straight-ahead, and bop may be useful to the sales force, but they do little to illuminate our understanding as listeners.

But back to The Rippingtons. Despite the fact that they are billed as “smooth jazz pioneers,” their sound has a nostalgic appeal for me and I enjoy it for what it is…parts of it, anyway. Their “20th Anniversary Celebration,” a special CD/DVD retrospective, was released on July 25th on Peak Records, reuniting founding Rippingtons member Russ Freeman with past members, Dave Koz, Brian Mcknight, Jeffrey Osbourne and others.

The opening audio track has that electronic new-agey feel that leaves me cold, so I skip to track two, “Celebration,” which is the first of the four tunes that includes a horn section, the others being “Bingo Jingo,” “Rainbow,” and “A 20th Anniversary Bonus.” Those are the tracks I like best — they are jazzier and made me also want to revisit the sounds of those three-name groups: Blood, Sweat & Tears and Earth, Wind & Fire.

I wouldn’t describe The Rippingtons as playing deep music, but it is fun. And if you ARE a smooth jazz fan, The Rippingtons are among the best.

The DVD includes some cool computer-enchanced video of performances super-imposed over scenes of cavorting on the ski slopes (curves ahead) and sailing the seas (tourist in paradise). When I finally got around to watching the historical overview with interview snippets I was amused to see a tongue-in-cheek report from Canadian television grappling with how to describe the Rippingtons’ music, and gratified to hear Russ Freeman, back in his younger years, saying “I don’t even like the word jazz anymore.”

I’ll let Russ have the last word…today.

Like He Said

“Today we’ve learned to celebrate mediocrity. Back in the day we had creative artists; today we have created artists.” — Lionel Ritchie as quoted today in The New York Times. (Lionel Richie Gets His Groove Back, September 12, 2006)

Lionel who? … Oh, him. Where’s he been all these years?  These are not embittered words from a has-been. Having sold 100 million albums worldwide, and with five Grammys an Oscar and a Golden Globe to his name, he’s been living the life in his 30-room mansion in Beverly Hills.

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

I am sorry that a whole week has blown by without a blog posting. I have been wearing so many hats these past many days that my head hurts. ArtistShare requires a tremendous amount of preparatory work (yes, I really am very close to launch) and the road is steep the first go-round because of the learning curve. I may be comfortable with words, but this being a technology-driven multimedia affair, I have been now been thrown into the deep-end of audio production, video production, and graphics design.

With still pictures I am not a complete novice, but it’s a very good thing that the final images are relatively small and of low-resolution. The human eye fills on so much that is actually missing., and 72 dpi (dots per inch) may look horrible when printed, but it looks great on a computer screen. A little trial and error and we’re good to go.

Motion Pictures, on the other hand, are more than a concept and I am suddenly the writer, director, cinematographer, on-camera talent, and film editor. I bought a little Canon vidcam that has a remote control. My friend came by with a light on a pole, scoped out my little office and place it strategically for best effect with my camera on a tripod across from my desk. (Thanks, Phil.) Now all I have to do is plug in the light, turn on the camera, sit in my assigned spot, click on the remote and begin speaking. Lights. Camera. Action. Of course that’s after I attempt hair, make-up and wardrobe. And did I mention that the camera makes you look 5-10 pounds heavier than the scale indicates?

After a few takes I stopped to figure out how to transfer the digital video onto my computer. (It helps to install the software first.) Then it’s time to edit. Unfortunately, it’s a one-shot, just me talking, so any cuts are jump-cuts…not good. I could use a disolve or some other transition, but truth is that when you’re done and have to compress the video for internet, the reduced quality made the transitions look especially crappy, so I gave up on that idea. I won’t bore you with all the video and techno-jargon I had to learn. Actually, the hardest part was being able to stand looking at and listening to myself over and over…you can’t help but notice all the tics and imperfections.

For the ~10-minute streaming audio talks I’ve been preparing, again I had to be writer, director, engineer, on-air talent, and sound editor. My first few attempts went nowhere, or so I thought. I’d turn on the mic, see that the sound appeared to be registering, deliver my pages, click on stop…and then I’d see nothing in the window. Click on play…hear nothing. Adjust a cable, reconnect, try again. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I changed mics and tried yet again. This time I heard something, but ever so faintly. So I ‘selected’ the whole 10 minutes and “boosted the gain.” Magic! But don’t ask me how long it took me to figure out what to do — why can’t they use simple words like volume? What is “gain” anyway? I thought it was a verb. Well, once I figured that out, the rest went much easier. It also helped when I realized that whenever I stumbled on a word, rather than rush in to correct myself it was better to pause for a few beats, back up to the beginning of the sentence, and repeat. That way I could simply edit out the bad seconds.

So, I have some more content to prepare before I’m ready to launch the ArtistShare site and I hope to get it all done this coming week. Meanwhile, I will don again my DevraDoWrite hat and post at least twice more this coming week. I hope you’ll hang in here with me.

Angel Wing

It was just yesterday (technically early this morning) that I wrote about musical people who have left a void, and now I have just learned of the death of Lee Wing. You may not know her by name, but she wrote “An Older Man Is Like an Elegant Wine,” a song that was recorded to great acclaim by both Carol Sloane and Nancy Wilson.

Here’s a snippet from Nancy’s recording of An Older Man Is Like An Elegant Wine (that’s Toots Thielemans with her).

I never met Mrs. Wing, and all I knew about her was her talent as a songwriter. Now, reading her obituary (which I am posting below) I am fascinated to learn of her work in the fields of government and education. A common thread seems to be giving people a voice. Smart Start Kids is an Emmy-award-winning half-hour television program where preschool children are the “stars” of the show, and my eyes zoom in on phrases like “citizen call-ins,” and “connect people and their government.” It seems that her life touched on many of the same topics that I hold dear. Here, then, is her obituary from the Durham Herald-Sun, August 29, 2006.

Durham’s Honored Mrs. Wing dies

Lucie Lee Abramson Wing of Durham, who founded and served as president of Friends of University Network Television (WUNC) and was arts and communications policy adviser to Gov. Jim Hunt in the 1970s, died Sunday. She was 80 and had lived in Durham since 1965.

“I just loved her,” longtime friend Mary D.B.T. Semans said Monday. “She was so talented. I admired her so. She inspired me.”

Mrs. Wing also was executive director of the N.C. Agency for Public Telecommunications from 1979 to 1993, and created OPEN/net, a statewide satellite and cable television network with unscreened citizen call-ins designed to connect people and their government.

The network won the Ford Foundation and Harvard-Kennedy School of Government Award for Innovations in State and Local Government.

Mrs. Wing also received the Governor’s Award of Excellence and was inducted into the Order of the Longleaf Pine for her service to the state.

In 1993, she founded Responsive Media Inc. as a vehicle for new projects involving audience participation. She produced the Call-In Kids radio program from 1996 to 1999, and later created Smart Start Kids, produced by WRAL-TV, which won a regional Emmy Award in 2004.

Mrs. Wing also wrote music and lyrics. Her song “Pushing Forty” was recorded by Pearl Bailey and “An Older Man Is Like an Elegant Wine” was recorded by both Carol Sloane and Nancy Wilson.

From 1968 to 1972, Mrs. Wing was president of the Durham County Democratic Women. She co-chaired Terry Sanford’s 1972 presidential campaign and was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

“She was such a believer in democracy and worked for it all the time,” Mrs. Semans said. “She cherished the Constitution and everything about it.”

Former state Rep. George Miller of Durham agreed.

“She was really the one person who originally advocated open government in North Carolina,” Miller said. “That included the Legislature, the Office of the Governor, state agencies, and the like…. She had many talents.”

Mrs. Wing is survived by her husband, Cliff; her son and daughter-in-law, Steve and Betsy; their daughters, Ann and Marion; her son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Natasha; and their sons, Erik and Nicholas.

The family said it will announce plans later to remember and celebrate her life.

My condolences to Mrs. Wing’s family and friends.

Validation

It was with a little trepidation that I shared with you the list of my latest jazz CD purchases. While I admit to being opinionated — I know what I like and what I don’t like, and usually can give some reason why — I do not by any stretch consider myself to be an expert, and though at times I am quite critical, I never claim to be A Critic. So I was very pleased to receive this succinct endorsement from Mr. Rifftides:

Good choices.

I am fortunate to be rubbing elbows all these years with many great artists who I am lucky to call my friends. Many of them no longer walk among us but they have left the wonderful gifts of their music preserved on recordings. From time to time I talk about Joe Williams and Shirley Horn, but there are so many more that I miss often and mention all too seldom. I spent many a night with Helen Humes, most often at The Cookery in NYC but also in Boston and in Nice. Even without the CD I can hear her singing “Every Now and Then” (for me, no one else can do justice to that song), “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me,” and “If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight.” She did an album in 1960 titled Songs I Like to Sing! that has all three of those songs and nine others that she really did like to sing because I heard her sing each and every one of them, often, right up until her death in 1981. Helen liked to have a good time (we had wonderful BBQs at the home of her niece in Los Angeles) and she loved to be naughty (lyrics to “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” were more often than not altered to “a hard man is good to find”).

Despite my taking lessons with some truly legendary jazz pianists, and my preference for Bill Evans over Beethoven, my limited pianistic talents were stronger in the classical arena. My “serious” music studies during my high school years were at the Westchester Conservatory, but it was Roland Hanna who introduced me to the music of Scriabin. “I can’t play jazz,” I said frequently. “It’s all the same,” Roland would say. Then he’d ask, “What are you working on?” Sitting at the piano in his 72nd street studio, I’d play whatever it was, maybe a Chopin Nocturne or a Brahms Rhapsody. Roland would stroke his chin, nudge me to the edge of the bench and re-interpret the piece, proving that jazz or classical, it’s all music with which you could do as you felt. He could play anything, classical or jazz, bop, swing or out-to-lunch. I cherish, too, the memory of those nights at Bradley’s where he often played solo. It’s his solo recordings that are my favorites, especially his first solo album, Sir Elf, with “Bye Bye Blackbird.” I think some Japanese company released a CD, but, alas, I can’t find it. My Hanna collection currently includes his solo concert at Maybeck Hall, the Duke Ellington Piano Solos, Tributaries: Reflections on Tommy Flanagan, Solo: Round Midnight which I think is no longer available, and one ensemble recording Sir Roland Hanna Quartet Plays Gershwin.

I also miss Paul Desmond, Zoot Sims, Etta Jones, Art Farmer, Thad Jones, and Sweets Edison, to name just a few. If you want to know about my Desmond reminiscences you’ll have to read Take Five, the fantastic biography by Doug Ramsey a/k/a Mr. Rifftides. (I’m on pages 264, 296-7). And I’ll save these other memories for another evening when nostalgia strikes again.

Christmas In August

Several weeks ago I shopped online at Concord’s Blowout Sale, filling some gaps in my CD library and stumbling across some old treasures. The package finally arrived.

Many years ago I feel in love with Brubeck’s Time Out and wore out several LPs. It was released when I was four years old; I probably didn’t hear it, or pay attention to it until I was 10 or 11. By the time I was 12 I had the printed music as well, and acquitted myself adequately playing “Blue Rondo A La Turk,” ‘Three To Get Ready,” and “Kathy’s Waltz.” I found the CD some years ago and bought it. It wasn’t until later that I heard Jazz At Oberlin, released before I was born, but I never owned that one…now I do.

I also learned and loved to play Bill Evan’s “Waltz For Debby.” Never mind that it wasn’t written for me, it was my calling card and I wowed a bunch of London musicians by playing it with Bill’s voicings at a party when I was 10 years old and the printed music wasn’t yet available overseas. (Mom and I were on the road with Dad who was playing six weeks at Ronnie Scott’s Club.) Now that you know that you’ll not be surprised that I had to buy the complete set of Bill Evans’ Riverside Recordings. If you’re surprised that I hadn’t yet owned them, don’t be — I bought the Fantasy set instead some years back. Now I’ve got both.

Long ago and far away (1970s, Boston and New York City) I took some lessons with some other noted pianists including Jaki Byard and Walter Bishop, Jr. Strangely enough I owned not a single Bish CD and only one by Byard (the solo recording at Maybeck Hall). Now that omission has been rectified with the purchase of The Walter Bishop Jr, Trio recorded in 1962-63 with Butch Warren and Jimmy Cobb, and Jaki’s Freedom Together recorded in 1966 with Richard Davis on bass, Alan Dawson on drums, and Jaki on piano, celeste, vibes, tenor saxophone and drums. I spent many a night at Bradley’s in NYC listening to Jaki on piano, but I don’t think I ever knew he played all those other instruments. Another gap in my education. The Bishop CD has a nice mix of standards and originals, but I wish it included “Giant Steps;” at the time I studied with him he was using that tune as a teaching tool and had worked out this exercise that, if my hazy memory serves, we used to work through key changes and full-fisted voicings.

And then there’s Wiggin’ Out — Gerry Wiggins playing Hammond organ with Jackie Mills on drums and Harold Land on tenor sax. As long as I have known Wig, about 35 years, I have never heard him play organ. I called him up to ask about it and he just laughed, saying “that’s probably the only time I ever did.”

What else did I buy? Four more that I haven’t played as yet. 1) A Leonard Feather production titled The Jones Boys with Thad, Reginald, Quincy, Jimmy, Jo and Eddie.
2) The MJQ’s Django — by that time I became familiar with the group Connie Kaye was playing drums. The tracks on this CD were recorded in the early 1950s with Kenny Clarke on drums.
3) Sonny Rollins with The Modern Jazz Quartet (I own several recordings by each but nothing with them together).
4) The Ellington Suites, recorded in 1959, 1971 and 1972 with Duke, Cat Anderson, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Johnny Hodges, Butter Jackson, Clark Terry…..

And lest you think me selfish, I did buy a few others for my husband. He got first dibs on Milt Jackson/Wes Montgomery – Bags Meets Wes!, Cannonball Adderley – Know What I Mean?, and Cannonball Adderley/Milt Jackson – Things Are Getting Better.

This should keep us busy for awhile.

PS: Easy Listening — Talk about discovering oldies, I just browsed by The Overgrown Path where I read Sweden’s best kept secret – Jan Johansson and listened to the short audio clips — very pleasant and mildly reminiscent of John Lewis’s Bach’s Preludes & Fugues and Claude Bolling/Jean-Pierre Rampal’s Suite for Flute & Jazz Piano.