Take 85 (Why Brubeck matters, even at 85.)

The American Prowler ^ | 12/14/2005 | Christopher Orlet

[kanawa]

Thanks! very informative.

I remember hearing about Bix Beiderbecke. Drank himself to an early grave.
If I recall correctly he and Bing Crosby chummed around and drank together.
Bing was able straighten himself out but Bix carried on to a tragic end..

[kanawa]

;~)

[Clemenza]

An album that should be in EVERYONES collection"

[MarkL]

Who the hell referred to Jazz as being an African-American invention back when it was being invented?

Actually, jazz was believed by many to be decadent, "black" music, which is one of the reasons that it was banned by Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Mark

[flixxx]

Thanks for posting this...loved 'take 5'...I'm actually going to go put the CD in now...

[TASMANIANRED]

Thanks Dave.

I discovered Jazz via you.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

Instruction like that helped me less than just opening up a Fake Book and reading "Misty", and making my own arrangement.

I cut my (improvisational) teeth on Misty and a handful of other standards. I played trumpet at first, but always liked the piano better, so I self-taught.

They didn't teach improvisation when I was young, not even basics like chord cycles and how to read charts, things any working musician needs to know, even if he can't 'read' written notes. I was lucky and got some music theory by winning a small scholarship to a Summer seminar. Then, via my interest in folk guitar (hey, it was the Dylan era!) I learned to read those mysterious chord symbols that appeared in old sheet music (Ab+7, Cdim). That was the beginning of musical liberation for me. I left my guitar with the era it belonged with, but kept up the piano. Want to hear Misty played in E (not Eb!)? It sounds ethereal somehow.

Still, I am NOT a good transposer, unless I already know the tune inside and out.

[wideawake]

Thanks! very informative.

There is still a strong school of "jazz is purely African-American music hijacked by the ofay" thought, but I think most experts are on my side of the aisle.

Bix carried on to a tragic end

Yup. Beiderbecke had absolutely no self-control, sadly.

His early death robbed jazz of not only one of its greatest horn players, but also an excellent composer - his In A Mist is a perfect example of avant-garde European classical music meeting the American jazz idiom. Three minutes of brilliance.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I'd take Brubeck over Davis anyday.

I've always thought that if Clifford Brown hadn't met his end in that car accident, nobody would remember Miles Davis today. Chekc out Brownie's version of Cherokee and prepare to be amazed!

[wideawake]

Actually, jazz was believed by many to be decadent, "black" music, which is one of the reasons that it was banned by Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

(1) The German government was hardly an authority on American roots music.

(2) There's more to the story. The Nazis tried to ban jazz altogether when they first came to power, and even imprisoned jazz enthusiasts (for a highly fictionalized version of this historical event see the movie Swing Kids).

However, they were unable to stamp the music out and by the late 30s began producing jazz records made by all-German groups for use on official radio programs. It was an attempt to create mildly swinging jazz that would be "sweeter" (as opposed to "hot jazz") and more Germanic than American jazz.

It was these kinds of recordings which became the eventual basis for the current school of jazz known as "Nordic jazz" - that is, the slower, more laconic, more classically-influenced variety of jazz available on European labels like ECM and recorded by German and Scandinavian artists like Jan Garbarek and Niels Orsted Petersen.

The UK jazz label Proper has put out a CD box set called Swing Tanzen Verboten (Swing Dancing is Forbidden) consisting of period "Nazi jazz" as well as period German jazz records that the Nazis banned. Fascinating musical document.

[wideawake]

The fact is, more jazz trumpeters based their style on Clifford Brown than on Miles Davis anyway, despite Brown's death.

Kenny Dorham, Blue Mitchell, Lee Morgan, the great Freddie Hubbard, and many others too numerous to mention emulated Brown and sound nothing like Davis.

Even Wynton Marsalis, who was long tagged with being a Miles imitator in his improvisational style, clearly based his tone and sound on Clifford Brown.

[MarkL]

No, but I accurately answered the question, "Who the hell referred to Jazz as being an African-American invention back when it was being invented?"

Mark

[wideawake]

Absolutely.

[Senator Bedfellow]

I had a heck of a time counting measures at rests in 5/4 - kept counting 4/4 by habit.

Count 1-2,1-2-3 - much easier than counting to five :)

[lawgirl]

Yes!! Thanks for popping Bix in there- another genius! I love jazz, although I am just getting into it- and I am so glad to hear that Brubeck is such a nice guy and that he's still kicking around!

[Senator Bedfellow]

This typically trips up classically trained musicians when they're learning jazz because they've learned to play the specific note on the sheet, not the relative number of that note on it's given scale.

Naahhhh. I cut my teeth on French Horn, which meant knowing how to automatically transpose between F, Bb, Eb, or A for any given piece, depending on how the arranger felt that morning. And I did it all without switching instruments, dangit ;)

[freedomlover]

I'm not a jazz musicion, but I respect good musicians in any genre.

However, my bluegrass band jokes that "one flub is a mistake, but done twice in row becomes jazz". ;)

[wtc911]

I saw Brubeck a dozen times in the 70s - 80s (with and without Mulligan). I worked the stick at an after-hours joint on West 52nd Street (across from Jimmy Ryan's Dixie Land) for @ 18 months in the early 70s. It was one of two or three places in NYC where the greats would come after their gig and either jam or hang out until the sun came up (or longer). Everybody from Miles to Mingus to Benny Goodman and even Sammy Davis came through the door. It was the best job for a 21 year old. Brubeck showed up once that I recall. I always liked his music but I've got to say that it was always cold, far too mathematical compared to almost everyone else.

Now, in the era of "lite-jazz' and with nearly all the real jazzmen long gone, Dave sounds more genuine than the new guys but still nowhere near some of the true jazz I was lucky enough to be around thirty years ago.

Part of his WW2 story - he was a line dog in the UK getting ready for France when someone heard him playing the piano and yanked him out of his unit. He did get to France but as an entertainer. His little group played as close as they could to the lines and had to take cover more than once because of incoming.

[r9etb]

Last week jazz legend David Warren Brubeck turned 85. One wonders how many music lovers realized Brubeck was still alive, let alone still playing jazz, still out on the road for 80 gigs a year in a dozen countries.

We have a recent Brubeck album, featuring him and his sons. It's seriously outstanding. What a giant.

[Chunga]

Miles recorded "The Duke" by Brubeck on Miles Ahead.