Turkies, Stuffing, and Thanksgiving

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

Sated with good food, good company, and plenty of music listening, it was not easy to put on my blogger’s mantle, but then I saw the cover of the just-issued Jazz Times and, well, I was roused to blog a bit. Our pals at JT seem pretty much determined to prove my point that much of what passes for feature writing in their magazine is simple puffery, fed by the blast furnaces of PR hot air. What else can explain yet another cover story on Tony Bennet? The ostensible reason this time is Mr. Bennett’s new Christmas album with the “Basie Band.” How’s that for advancing the art of jazz?

Tony Bennett is a fine gentleman, a great pop singer, with an occasional twist of jazz (the album with Bill Evans is fine), an accomplished painter, and seemingly a genuine nice guy. Not only that, he was born and raised only a few blocks from where I was born and raised; a “homey” so to speak. But this article is insubstantial to the point of vanishing from the memory before one is even done reading it. Just another cover story the value of which eludes me, except that the marketing and publicity folks must have liked it. What next? Breathless “advance” pieces on “Yanni Goes Jazz” or “John Tesh Sings the Great American Songbook”?

I will give JT props, however, for managing a decent article on AACM member Wadada Leo Smith. It doesn’t quite balance things out, but as I mentioned in a previous post, with the current crop of jazz mgazines, one has to ingest a pound of junk to get an ounce of something nutritious. Like eating in a fast food joint, one has to pick carefully from the menu to avoid getting indigestion.

My own appetite lately has been for “out” music, for lack of a better term at this moment. Recent listening has included Gebhard Ullman’s “New Basement Research” (Soul Note). Also, William Parker Double Quartet, “Alphaville Suite: Music Inspired by the Jean Luc Godard Film” (check out the movie too. Like Parker, I first saw it on late night TV and became fascinated by it. Not sure how to explain its attractions (which are many), but Parker is on to something by connecting the film to creative improvised music; it does have that same modality). Been taking in some music with Marion Brown: his quartet album on ESP, and Archie Shepp’s “Fire Music” on Impulse, in which Brown is on alto. Also delving into some earlier Braxton music: “Five Pieces 1975,” “Duets 1976 (with Muhal Richard Abrams), and “Creative Orchestra Music, 1976.” Reading Graham Lock’s “Forces in Motion” book on Braxton as well. With the flooks of recent Braxton releases and the appearance of the Braxton box on Mosaic, has Braxton Agonistes finally become Braxton Triumphans?

Anyway, let us give thanks for — and to– all those jazz musicians, past and present, who have so enriched our lives.