Vision Festival XIII: The Aftermath

by Anthony Medici in Concert Reviews, Opinion Posts, Uncategorized

A few stray thoughts, dear Readers, fueled by potent antibiotics to treat a nasty case of bronchitis, following the epic Vision Festival XIII in New York City, which I blogged about last week.  To wit:  Is the Free Jazz aesthetic in need of a makeover?  Is jazz radio WBGO (Newark) in need of a makeover?  Click the link and read on. 

While I thoroughly enjoyed VF XIII, and found many moments of powerful music-making, an unsettling thought began to take shape for me.  Was the Free Jazz aesthetic becoming as formulaic as a Britney Spears ditty?  Robert Frost once famously and mischievously said that Free Verse was like playing tennis without the net.  Exactly.  While Frost no doubt meant this as a put-down of such free verse practioners as the Beats, free verse poets celebrated that freedom to “play” their poetry in an  unrestricted manner.  But Frost’s comment resonated for me during VF XIII.  For while the net was decidedly down during the festival, everyone played with the memory of the net in mind.  That is, even though the net was down, people played the same court and framed their music with reference to the absent net.  Musicians drew on such traditional forms as the blues, popular music, and “straight-ahead” jazz forms, when playing free.  In effect, various nets were implied during their performances, posed then dismantled.  I began to wonder how “free” is free?  There is clearly an indebtedness involved.  I do think some of the European jazz scene is about abstracting free jazz from traditional blues and jazz forms; with what degree of ability and interest remains to be seen.  

I was also led to ponder how diverse Free Jazz– at least as was on display at VF XIII– really is?  Would it be heresy to say that the music tended to run in recognizable channels?  i.e., the net might be down, but the court was familiar.   Even though the music was not going to be confused with a Chris Botti concert, it clearly operated within its own accepted norms.  One of these norms is to make it loud– really loud.  Another was to end in a big blowout; of course this is a trick known to every rock band, and even most symphonic composers.  Free jazz shares a lot with Heavy Metal:  male-dominated, loud, aggressive, heavy on the sheer noise content.  At times it offered as much subtlety as the Russian Army ripping through Chechnya.  While often exhilarating, it seems to me to offer no further avenues for musical exploration.   When Rob Brown and his Ensemble of Possibilities tried to offer a more nuanced musical palette, generally minus the whiz-bang aspects, the audience gave it only a polite reception.  Clearly, expectations are not free (or Free).  

Free Jazz is now about 40 years ago, if one is dating from post “JC” (John Coltrane, later period).  It has reached middle age.  It may be time for its practitioners to reassess the aesthetic realities and possibilities.     

I’ve always enjoyed having WBGO available when I was driving up to, and around, New York.  Although I check out WKCR and occasionally WFMU, WBGO offers wall-to-wall jazz programming.  This trip was a little different.  Either VF XIII altered my hearing (a distinct possibility), or WBGO has opted to make its play list as pallid and palatable as possible to occasional listeners.  I did not recall WBGO being so insipid, but there it was, as harmless and interesting as boiled oatmeal.  It seemed as if BGO has taken the route of so many of the remaining classical music stations, presenting what is in effect a “pops” or “greatest hits” program, and leaving more challenging or controversial music either off the play list entirely, or relegating it to the post-midnight hours.  Like I said, perhaps it simply suffered by contrast with the intensity everywhere to be found at VF XIII, but I was expecting more.  I did not get it. 

I will try to share some VF XIII pics I took with you once I get the technical bugs worked out.   Enjoy your Fourth of July holiday.  Listen to the music.  Think about freedom.