So the NPR Newport Jazz festival is over, which means NPR’s posted most of the performers online via webcast. (But rrg! I can’t find Tony Bennett anywhere.)
This is pretty lame, but I’ve been waiting to listen to the Dave Brubeck Quartet webcast all day. I’m jiggling in my seat from anticipation right now. The first three in this review are those that I’m familiar and possibly in love with; the last three I haven’t listened to very much — I’ve encountered them through research or the name just looked pretty.
1. After you listen to quite a bit of jazz (especially the standard tunes like Autumn Leaves), you (or at least I) develop this strange repertoire of jazz music in your head — so that when you hear even the slightest bit of a different tune in a musician’s solo, you go absolutely crazy. Well, at least I do. I tap the nearest object excitedly and frantically scan my iPod to see if I’m thinking of the right song (“Yes, yes, that’s the one!”) — and if it is, this escapade ends with a feeling of self-accomplishment and pride because yes, yes; I know my stuff. Just kidding.
What I liked about this set was that Brubeck told us (with his raspy, sage-y voice) about the Duke Ellington craze that went around at some point in his career, announced that he was going to begin with C Jam Blues, and then let us figure out for ourselves what they were playing as the quartet transitioned from one tune to the next. So if you know absolutely zip about Ellington, it won’t mean as much if you can’t pick out the songs throughout the transitions. I half expected to hear excited whispers from the audience (“I know this one!”) or some Ellington fanatic to stand up and start cheering — but then again, hearing Brubeck play kind of numbs every muscle in your body.
Here’s what I caught in the set: 1. C Jam Blues, 2. Take the A Train, 3. Stormy Weather, 4. No idea — anyone know what it was?, 5. ..?
But thank goodness, Brubeck went back to the Time Out quartet and played his celebrated Take Five towards the end of the set (in which the saxophonist quoted the album’s Blue Rondo a la Turk in his solo).
Brubeck also quoted Georgia on My Mind, popularized by Ray Charles, in his solo near 37:00 of the podcast. Woo. I had to replay that section over and over because it sounded so familiar and because I had to have one of those yes, I know my stuff moments.
And thanks to Brubeck/NPR Jazz, the Dave Brubeck Quartet blurb for the performance gives us no set list. Thanks, guys. Then again, I guess it just adds to the excitement.
One thing’s for sure: Brubeck definitely does not sound like an 88-year-old man confined to a wheelchair.
2. Here’s how I discovered Hiromi: There’s a video on Youtube that my dad put up about two years ago of me playing my first concerto at the performing arts center at the College of the Canyons (oh, how i wish first concertos were as graceful in reality as they are in movies), and for some strange reason, a video of Hiromi playing this tune was in the “Related Videos” section. Since I’ve listened to this, I’ve been an unhealthily devoted listener, especially to SonicBloom.
What you’ll get when you listen to Hiromi: super duper extreme classical training. In the NPR webcast of SonicBloom, Hiromi played a jazzy version of Debussy’s Clair de Lune, and also played a solo (that I believe was in the tune I’ve Got Rhythm, which you can hear another recording of here) that included Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee. So it’s no surprise that she attended the Yamaha School of Music (shortly after only a year of lessons!) and the Berklee School of Music.
3. Like Hiromi Uehara, Spalding’s a Berklee alum as well — in fact, five Berklee alumni played at the Newport Jazz Festival this weekend.
I don’t know what’s more outstanding about Spalding — her big-statement bass, or her big-statement hair. But I absolutely loved how she started the show, singing everything from “piano and bass” to “we have something special for you…” with a bit of scatting in between. It kind of makes you giggle a bit, but then it makes you wonder — is she making that up?
Spalding’s got this smooth, slick voice; I can’t really compare her to anyone — she’s got a darker tone than Norah Jones but sounds a bit lighter than someone like Sarah Vaughan. And it’s really quite unfair that she can play such a great solo on the bass at the same time.
Compared to Hiromi, Spalding was a lot more laid back; I felt so relaxed just listening to her voice — but at the same time, it still had some funk. (at some point in the webcast, Spalding stopped and said something like “I’m sorry, I got distracted since it was so funky.” Hah.) I just think it’s the best to listen to someone who knows exactly what they’re doing — someone like Spalding who’s got great stage presence (even though I wasn’t there, I could just feel it), great instrumental skills, and great vocals.
4. I listened to Iyer’s trio yesterday while I was doing some work, but after something happened (@ the bottom of this post), I decided I’d give it another listen.
Like I said before, it’s really hard to believe that Iyer taught himself how to play. But what’s even more amazing is that Iyer’s education isn’t just in music — he has a master’s degree in physics and a Ph.D. in technology & the arts from Berkley! The set features seven tunes, two of which were written by Iyer himself (Historicity and Our Lives). Since I don’t know Iyer’s style very well, I’ll just give you three of my biggest observations from the webcast.
1) Historicity‘s got this indie/indigenous/oriental/boogie feel (as well as jazz, of course), especially because of the bass line Iyer played in the lower register — it just felt like a mesh of everything; confusing, but still interesting.
2) Question: Who does Iyer sound like? Answer: Everyone and no one. You can hear traces of swing and bebop in his playing, and then a bit of freeform jazz, but it’s so mixed together that I can’t pick out a specific “hey, I’ve heard that before” in anything he plays. It’s as if he’s put everything I’ve ever listened to into a blender.
3) Iyer adding a bow to the bass in part of the set reminded me of a feedback concert I attended at CalArts (note: after going to that, I couldn’t hear anything for about two days) — it was absolutely abnormal and unheard of (unless all you listen to is new-age freeform music); the bass seemed to be playing all the high-register atonal ideas he could think of — but with the piano keeping the groove behind him, it still was appropriate for the style, and still felt, well, locked-in/groovy/what’stheword? It felt perfect, I guess.
5. Okay, so I’m totally guilty of clicking this webcast because it had a cool name. Organ trio — how cool does that sound? However, it’s not James Carter doing the organ-playing, since he plays all things saxophone (plus flute and bass clarinet. woah.). This set has Gerard Gibbs on organ and Leonard King on Drums.
I love the sound of the organ (by the way, in this webcast he’s using a Hammond B-3 organ) in a Tower-of-Power-”Soul-With-a-Capital-’S'” kind of funk tune, but playing it drives me absolutely insane. Playing on the organ sound on the keyboard during jazz band rehearsals feels like playing on a completely different instrument. But without further ado, three things on the Carter Trio:
1) They began the set with the funkiest bass line ever. But since it’s a trio, I’m guessing that Gibbs is playing it on the organ — how is that humanly possible?
2) This is really an abnormal trio — a soprano sax, an organ, and a drumset. I’ve never been a huge fan of the soprano sax (seeing it immediately gives me an image of long flowing hair/Kenny G). But this is kind of like a really, really high-pitched Dixieland band — is that what it sounds like?
3) One thing that Carter likes to do is screech on the soprano sax. It kind of sounds like a screaming cat. Only a really groovy screaming cat.
6. I admit that I clicked this because (a) he played with Esperanza Spalding on this set, and (b) I wanted to know what an “usfive” was.
Lovano’s an alum of Berklee and is also currently a teacher there as well. Wouldn’t it be so cool to take lessons from this guy? His style kind of reflects that of Charlie Parker — simple lines mixed with complex scales and arpeggios.
I think the strangest thing about this quintet is that there’s two drums. I wonder why.
1) Hey, I think it’s called UsFive because there’s five people!
2) I like how this band has a laid back, back-to-basics sort of feel — only with a bit of a twist (especially with the two drumsets going on at the same time).
3) I’m not sure which tune it’s on, but towards the beginning of the set there’s jingle bells playing. (!) With the two drumsets going on, the quintet’s got a lot of improv and new ideas flowing from the percussion section, not just the bass/horn/piano.
Phew, that was a lot of listening! Fortunately, these 6 sets aren’t the only ones you can listen to — there’s 15 total webcasts you can listen to from this year’s Newport Jazz Festival.
But before you do that, be sure to check out our Twitter. Happy listening!
P.S. Holysmokeslookwho’sfollowingusonTwitter.
