March Madness: Jeers, Cheers and Slam Dunks

by Anthony Medici in Album Reviews, Editorials, Industry News, Musician Reviews, Opinion Posts, Reviews

It’s that time of the year, when professional basketball teams, under the aegis of the NCAA, play out the ritual basketball frenzy known as March Madness.  Oh sure, they represent various colleges (64 to be exact), but this is Big Business; perhaps, one of the few big businesses still making a go of it in our recession-racked economy.  There will be the usual cheers, jeers and slam dunks to enliven one’s viewing.  We have a few of our own.

On the jeers front, our friends at Downbeat do not fail us.  In another recession-evident issue, DB puts out one of its leanest and lamest issues in recent times. At least I think it’s a product of a recession-driven market; it could just as easily be a poor editorial effort.  In any event, Freddie Hubbard is dragged out once again to serve the interest of this nostalgia-mongering magazine, just like its “competitor,” Jazz Times.  The feature by Dan Ouellette tells us nothing that we are not likely to know already.  It does make a half-hearted attempt to attribute some artistic merit to Hubbard’s later production (in my view, anything after 1972).  Now, one doesn’t want to speak ill of the dead; however, one also does not want to speak ill of the truth either.  Freddie had a great decade–the 60s–for which we shall long be grateful; virtually everything else was a dreadful waste of virtuoso talent.  The fact is that while Hubbard was a trumpet virtuoso, he had little inherent aesthetic principles.  A wonderful musical chameleon, ably to play bop, free and just about everything else, he was in fact the musical equivalent of the character from “Being There,” Chauncey Gardiner, a figure on to which other musical giants, from Dolphy to Miles, were able to shed their musical genius.  I wonder how long DB and JT can keep wallowing in this nostalgia.

Oh yes, another risible comment from a DB reviewer:  Paul De Barros comparing Jeff “Tain” Watts to Max Roach.  Seriously.  No, I mean seriously? 

Cheers:  There’s also a short feature on saxophonist Lotte Anker, which is welcome.  But if you have been reading this blog, you already got the story on this fine musician, plus a concert review (”Alien Huddle in Baltimore”).  I just listened to Anker’s CD with Craig Taborn and Gerald Cleaver, “Triptych.”  It’s very fine; like a Henry James short story where each detail counts.

Jeers:  I note that the advertisement for the Sonoma Jazz Festival features—Joe Cocker!  Yes, nothing says jazz to me like mighty Joe Cocker.  I have to give Joe credit for bellowing his way into the 21st century; have to love him.  But one doesn’t have to give him top-billing  at a supposed jazz festival.  People love the idea of being able to tell their friends, “We went to a jazz festival.”  It sounds so cool.  Alas, many of these same folks do not actually like jazz.  Result:  like sitting in an outdoor Starbucks, listening to hours of MOR. 

Cheers:  Another musician we have spoken of recently,  Jason Kao Hwang, has a very fine CD, “Edge,” with Taylor Ho Bynum, a terrific trumpeter (and this may be hard to believe:  not in the Freddie Hubbard mode),  Ken Filiano (string bass), and Andrew Drury (percussion).  This is intelligent composition (all by Hwang), but since “intelligent” in a review is often the kiss of death, be assured the CD has plenty of drama and even some deep grooves.  Jason does incorporate some Asian tonal elements, but I think to the albums benefit, it does not become an end in itself.  To use a phrase dear to DB, Hwang is an artist deserving wider exposure. 

Slam Dunk:  I recently suggested to Mosaic Records that, now that they have the Braxton box set under their belt (apparently very successful from all the feedback I have picked up on), that their next projects be Henry Threadgill and Julius Hemphill, two great composers and musicians, whose work has been seriously neglected and is often out of print, hard to find, or dearly expensive, and usually all three.  The word came back that Threadgill is “on the list,” and they are “thinking about” Hemphill as well.  Wow, that is great news.  Write to Mosaic and add your encouragement. 

And, as for pro college b-ball, for reasons of my own, I’m going with Pitt.  Go Pitt!