I have a bad habit of putting things off. It has to do with my maintenance deficiency. See New Thoughts on Time Management. I conducted nine interviews with jazz musicians for my doctoral dissertation. I promised almost all of them an emailed copy. Sadly, over a year has passed, and I'm still getting around to those emails.
Two musicians, bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Peter Erskine wanted additional responses from me after the interview was finished. They both asked me to watch a YouTube video and reply back with my observations.
Peter Erskine was delightful to talk to. He has a real down-to-earth demeanor that made him really fun to interview. We talked about a million different topics. At some point he mentioned Benny Goodman.
"I made an observation the other day. I was watching an old video clip of Benny Goodman Big Band playing Sing Sing Sing. It was a staged Hollywood production. It wasn't a concert. They were playing for the cameras, and he was playing right into the camera, and he might have had direction. With the exception of the mouthpiece being played in the corner of his mouth, I said where have I seen this before? I said, "Holy s@#t! That's just like Kenny G." Kenny G, I think, got it from Benny Goodman. I'm curious, I want you when this is done to go online to YouTube and check out Benny Goodman, Sing Sing Sing, the Hollywood set, and if that doesn't remind you of Kenny G..."
I can definitely see the connection. What surprised me most about this performance was the showmanship by Gene Krupa. I kept waiting for the confetti cannons to explode or for him to make doves fly out of his sleeves. I think it's easy for us to forget how much showbiz was involved during the swing era.
The second person I promised a response to was bassist Chuck Israels. Although initially put-off by all of the academic red tape, Israels was ultimately one of the most engaging artists that I interviewed. We discussed form and phrasing within a group.
"I'm referring to all those elements that allow the listener to know where you are in the piece, and if the listener doesn't know where you are in the piece then, on some level, it's like watching a baseball game without knowing how it's played, which is next to gibberish. You can watch football and basketball and soccer and water polo and hockey and polo on horses and rugby because they are all versions of capture the flag. And completely, the basics of those things are understandable to anyone. I don't care, you could be in Tibet and show up at a soccer match and never have seen one and you can imagine baseball, and imagine, I imagine you and certainly for me, imagine cricket. My point is, if you don't understand the form on some level then essential elements of communication are gone...
Yeah, my suggestion is that musicians ought to articulate [goals] in one manner or another. That does not mean always you have to say, like this. You don't always have to do that. But you have to use it in some way and that's, these are things that are to me, critical in making jazz music. Whether you are in a trio or a quintet or a big band or whatever and when you are in a trio, more of that is done without an over, without one person sort of overriding the situation and making all those big decisions. Go look up Chuck Israels' orchestra on YouTube and you'll see all of these things, all of these elements, very well controlled and decisions made about this very carefully in the context of a larger ensemble and you'll see how one, how it requires an overall arranging mentality to make it work in a bigger ensemble. Somebody's got to make that decision because otherwise you have too many minds at work who might decide a different way, divergent ways. Well in a trio, that not so critical. The minds can diverge and we can adjust quickly."
This is a terrific performance of a very fine arrangement. It's very satisfying to hear Israels' work after talking in depth about, not only how to articulate and utilize form, but also Israels' aesthetic ideals.
In another part of my interview with Chuck, he startled me by saying that his experiences with Bill Evans were so profound that they have prohibited him from enjoying playing in most other piano trios. He has turned to writing and arranging for his orchestra instead.
As embittered as I've sometimes been about the dissertation process(see What it's Like Defending Your Dissertation), I truly enjoyed interviewing these artists. Reviewing these videos and the interviews is motivating me to try to get the legal clearance I need to publish more of these transcripts. They certainly won't get read in the university library.
I'm off to Kinkos to make good on one last promise. I told bassist Richard Davis that I would mail him a hard copy. I guess it's better late than never.
