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Kevin Molony 10/09/2010 2:21:00 AM
Thoughtful and well-crafted piece, Stacey Anderson. Thank you.
Have you been to Frenchmen Street in recent years? It's the young people who are playing, dancing to and devouring flavorful fusions of roots jazz ... while a continuous stream of gifted NOCCA kids flows into our world, blithely breathing jazz into every musical current.
Dr. White and others have fanned the fading embers of the trad jazz into a pilot flame that's igniting new excitement---quite organically, it seems. And it's brimming with diversity. The kids coming out to the clubs don't care whether it streams from the strings of Django or the cribs of Storyville, lilts like Billie, buck-jumps like a brass band or wails like Mahalia. It's happening and they can dance to it and most of all, they can FEEL it.
It's alive, here, Stacey Anderson. And that's just on the festive surface.
It's alive beneath, too, where the jazz rats scurry and gather with focused intent. Where you hear a collective intake of breath as the piano player wrenches from the keys an impossibly poignant burst. Where you feel a roomful of hearts leaping as the singer sculpts a note so tearful that she could only have done it with her soul.
It's alive, here. Where it was born. Where we produce the greatest trumpet players in the world, very simply, because we die. And we need them to blow us into the gloryland. Before and after we cross over.
If HBO's Treme runs for 5 years with the presumed pop-cultural resonances, we may see a ripple of living jazz spread throughout the country. God willing, a gentle surge of what lives within us will brim in all your hearts. You came to rescue us when we couldn't rescue ourselves.
You deserve to know what it feels like to be saved.
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Kevin Molony 10/09/2010 2:21:00 AM
Thoughtful and well-crafted piece, Stacey Anderson. Thank you.
Have you been to Frenchmen Street in recent years? It's the young people who are playing, dancing to and devouring flavorful fusions of roots jazz ... while a continuous stream of gifted NOCCA kids flows into our world, blithely breathing jazz into every musical current.
Dr. White and others have fanned the fading embers of the trad jazz into a pilot flame that's igniting new excitement---quite organically, it seems. And it's brimming with diversity. The kids coming out to the clubs don't care whether it streams from the strings of Django or the cribs of Storyville, lilts like Billie, buck-jumps like a brass band or wails like Mahalia. It's happening and they can dance to it and most of all, they can FEEL it.
It's alive, here, Stacey Anderson. And that's just on the festive surface.
It's alive beneath, too, where the jazz rats scurry and gather with focused intent. Where you hear a collective intake of breath as the piano player wrenches from the keys an impossibly poignant burst. Where you feel a roomful of hearts leaping as the singer sculpts a note so tearful that she could only have done it with her soul.
It's alive, here. Where it was born. Where we produce the greatest trumpet players in the world, very simply, because we die. And we need them to blow us into the gloryland. Before and after we cross over.
If HBO's Treme runs for 5 years with the presumed pop-cultural resonances, we may see a ripple of living jazz spread throughout the country. God willing, a gentle surge of what lives within us will brim in all your hearts. You came to rescue us when we couldn't rescue ourselves.
You deserve to know what it feels like to be saved.
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Norm Brust 08/05/2010 6:47:00 PM
The article overlooks the work being done by the Sidney Bechet Society.
We stage four sold-out performances of traditional jazz every year. Stating in October of 2010, these concerts will be held at the Kaye Auditorium on the Hunter College campus in Manhattan.
For more information, Google our website.
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Peter Campbell 08/05/2010 12:12:00 PM
I thought that this article was one of the most cogent and perceptive articles that I have read in a very long time. I'm a journalist with a 54 years love affair with jazz and I wish that I could have written something of equal quality. Stacey Anderson is a star and is to be congratulated on the quality of her writing.
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graeme hewish 08/05/2010 5:47:00 AM
I don't think that Australia is in the dismal situation that is conveyed in the article, But I feel that we have seen the last of the best of our generation. (I'm 69). Woody always came across as a "half-empty glass" kind of miserable, Pessimistic character, anyway, so there might be more hope than he imagines. Good on himfor his efforts in keeping the flame alive.
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PETER GERLER 08/05/2010 2:09:00 AM
To call traditional jazz “esoteric” and “obscure” is like going into a mansion whose many rooms depend for heat on a central furnace—and calling the furnace “obscure.” Traditional New Orleans jazz is not a “style”; it is the fundamental musical fire of this country. To lose sight of it is to lose sight of the spark that drives us. More, because of its polyphony and inchoate swing, traditional jazz defines the word “progressive.” As a nation, we forget it at our peril. Without it, no current American popular music ever would have existed. If the roots die, so does the tree.
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Christina 08/04/2010 10:48:00 PM
Interesting article indeed. Surprised and disappointed to hear of the supposed lack of support of Jazz in NY, but this just makes me prouder of our thriving jazz community here in Richmond, VA. Thanks to the strong jazz program at Virginia Commonwealth University, our music scene only grows stronger each year thanks to this nationally recognized school and the artists and students it attracts. The range of jazz is diverse and the number of talented musicians here is outstanding. Jazz ensembles in fact are some our most popular bands and range from traditional, experimental, to world/Ethio Jazz. Shows are normally all ages and packed with a demographic usually under 40 (if not 30.) So, if you're looking for great jazz, head to RVA's local clubs and restaurants such as The Camel, Emilio's, Balliceaux, Bogart's or Cafe Diem any night of the week for your fix!
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Bob 06/09/2010 3:43:00 AM
I just returned from the Heineken Jazz Fest in San Juan, and one of the artists who received the most explosive reaction was clarinetist Anat Cohen, performing with the George Wein Newport Allstars. Not sure if I was most surprised because she's a gringa from Israel or that she was playing trad jazz, but the mostly Puertoricano audience just loved her. While she's not strictly a traditionalist, Cohen belongs in this discussion, and, in fact, just released a well-received tribute to Benny Goodman. Also, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, under the direction of 39-year-old bassist-tuba player Ben Jaffe has been making inroads with younger audiences, lining up gigs with artists such as My Morning Jacket and Zac Brown Band, recording with the likes of Ani DiFranco and Tom Waits, and recently cutting a single and video with Mos Def and Lenny Kravitz. New generations are indeed being exposed to the trad repertoire and instrumentation, but it has to be delivered in packaging that they will find palatable.
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sh 06/09/2010 3:20:00 AM
beautifully written..
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Nathan Garrett 06/07/2010 10:48:00 PM
New Orleans jazz is very much alive. Check out the Dirty Dozen Brass Band Tuesday at B.B. King's. Twenty years ago they were co-headlining traditional jazz festivals with the Preservation Hall jazz band. Today they play the same music to a mostly college-age crowd. It's just a bit louder now!
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Royevatom 06/06/2010 1:45:00 AM
I was reading this article and listening to Coleman Hawkins. Life is good...............
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Gail monaco 06/05/2010 10:54:00 PM
I KNOW HOW TOUGH IT IS OUT THERE FOR JAZZ IN GENERAL, MUCH LESS TRADITIONAL JAZZ, BUT I AM CONFIDENT THAT IT WILL ENDURE. PLAYERS LIKE CYNTHIA SAYER GIVE IT WIDE, CURRENT APPEAL. ALSO, THERE IS A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE PLAYING, AND A YOUNG AUDIENCE DISCOVERING AND LOVING IT. YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHERE TO GO TO HEAR YOUNG PLAYERS: BANJO JIM'S, MONA'S, AND JALOPY...AND BY THE WAY, WOMEN INSTRUMENTALISTS IN JAZZ ARE STILL RARE. CYNTHIA SAYER IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE BEST BANJO PLAYERS, BAR NONE. WHILE SHE PLAYED PIANO IN WOODY'S BAND, HER MAIN INSTRUMENT IS BANJO. SHE AND MANY OTHERS HELP TO KEEP EARLIER JAZZ STYLES ALIVE AND KICKING! JERRY ZIGMONT'S STRANGE AND, QUITE FRANKLY, BAFFLING OMISSION OF HER AND ROB GARCIA AS WELL AS HIS HALF HEARTED APOLOGY IS HARD TO FATHOM.
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Peter Salmon 06/05/2010 7:01:00 AM
I am glad Jerry Zigmont apologized. It’s disturbing that he felt this article inexcusably omitted his name amongst others, while he unintentionally omits two of his colleagues who were part of the band for 90% of the time, Cynthia Sayer and Rob Garcia, and who also are full-time jazz musicians -- which I believe Jerry is not. We all need to be respectful of players who devote their lives to this art, and not unintentionally contribute to the demise of jazz.
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Peter Salmon 06/05/2010 6:38:00 AM
I’m glad Jerry Zigmont apologized. It’s disturbing that he felt this article “inexcusably” omitted his name amongst others, while he “unintentionally” omits two of his colleagues who were part of the band for 90% of the time, Cynthia Sayer and Rob Garcia, and who also are full-time jazz musicians -- which I believe Jerry is not. We all need to be respectful of players who devote their lives to this art, and not “unintentionally” contribute to the demise of jazz.
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Jerry Zigmont 06/05/2010 2:13:00 AM
I also neglected to mention Rob Garcia who play with the band for a very long stint (at least 8 - 9 years). Both Cynthia and Rob are very talented musicians who made a huge contribution to the band, participating in many of our international sold-out concerts. Apologies to both Rob and Cynthia for the omission, it was not intentional (nothing sinister Nathan Garrett).
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Nathan Garrett 06/04/2010 9:10:00 AM
Jerry Zigmont states that the lineup of the Eddy Davis Jazz Band "has had the same group of musician (sic) for over 12 years", identifying Conal Fowkes as the sole pianist with the band for that entire time. Jerry must be suffering from some selective memory loss, because the piano player for the first 10 of that 12 years was Cynthia Sayer, who was in the documentary "Wild Man Blues".
I find it rather curious that Mr Zigmont, while lamenting the exclusion of credits for musicians in the article, has failed to credit Ms. Sayer, a fine, full time traditional jazz musician, who put in 10 years with this band.
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Lance Goler 06/04/2010 12:30:00 AM
Woody, thank you for making your thoughts heard. This article will be easy to pan because it's focused on a person who is not a force in music but in film. But what is most apparent is that Woody loves his music probably more than his films, so any critique of him in this realm won't hold up to his sincere devotion to make music, however mediocre he sees his own musicianship. Being a hack myself, I can relate to the desire to just make music, even if it will never live up to what it wants to be. I hope Woody keeps making music. As for film, we, his fans, can be sure that he will go on making movies until there is no more wheat grass left to consume.
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Radiola! 06/03/2010 11:19:00 PM
I'd like to add that last night my wife and I had the opportunity to hear the marvelous Baby Soda Jazz Band playing in a barn (!) near Syracuse, NY. This amazing young Brooklyn-based group keeps the spirit of New Orleans music alive, playing it as if it were brand new. We already knew them, but they won many new friends in a venue that has traditionally hosted bluegrass and "acoustic Americana" as the main fare. And you can hear them many Sundays playing in Washington Square Park for free--which beats the Carlyle cover charge any day.
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Clifford Allen 06/03/2010 10:26:00 PM
I don't agree at all that many avant-garde musicians are "hostile" to traditional forms of the music. That's patently ridiculous. It is often the reverse that is true. I'd also like to see the Voice do an article on a non-celebrity jazz clarinetist in New York. Wouldn't that be something?
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Simon Wettenhall 06/03/2010 8:17:00 PM
Like so many other ambitious writers who have tried to tackle this subject, this author seeks to plumb only the shallow and obvious. How many times do we have to have to wade through the repetitive intellectual pretensions, foisted again on a public that just might be interested in hearing what the writer actually felt on hearing the music?
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Steve Provizer 06/03/2010 4:16:00 AM
Nice piece. The question of whether the sanction of the famous brings new fans to a non-popular musical genre recurs periodically. It's parallel to the question of whether the adoption of jazz into hip-hop or other genres brings new fans into the 'purer' strains of the music. The jury is perpetually out, but I think it's safe to say that expectations should be held to a minimum.
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Radiola! 06/02/2010 7:51:00 PM
I enjoyed reading this, though I don't feel the same fatalism that early jazz forms are dying. Within the past year or so, I've met and heard many brilliant young players approaching pre-1940s jazz styles with passion, determination, and scholarship. Among those under age 30 there are Andy Schumm, a multi-instrumentalist (and Beiderbecke enthusiast) of stellar ability, trombonist Dave Bock, percussionist Josh Duffee, and vocalist Molly Ryan. Vince Giordano's Nighthawks (an eleven-piece band playing classic 1920s and 1930s jazz arrangements more than New Orleans polyphony) have added another night to their weekly Sofia's gig. Also, as for jazz not being on the radio, radio itself is moribund. I host a radio program that plays pre-1940 music, but most of my listeners are online. The music is all over the internet and can be easily found. Early jazz and swing may never be mainstream, but it will go on.
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larry flynt 06/02/2010 7:08:00 PM
chester the molester is a disappearing art form too...so hold on to your 1970s copies of hustler magazine.
1960s rock is a disappearing art form----teenagers today don't know shit about pre-rap music.
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Caty 06/02/2010 10:58:00 AM
Great article. It surprised me to learn that early jazz is out of the picture now. Like saying nobody knows who Mozart was. But the Davis quote "In the past 40 years, celebrity has been the only thing that people go to. Now they're driven by what's on the TV and what they're told to like" really says it all. It's called throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Down the drain and up the vanities. Very sad indeed.
