An Introduction to Charlie Parker

چارلي پاركر

يك روز با تأخير. يك روز بعد از نود سالگي چارلز كريستوفر پاركر، نوازنده افسانه‌اي ساكسفون آلتو. چيزي بيشتر از افسانه و نوعي موهبت الهي براي ما. اين نوشته بخشي از فرهنگ ناكام – و خوشبختانه ناكام –موسيقي جاز بود كه سال‌ها پيش كار به‌روي آن را شروع كردم و به خاطر دشواري‌هاي كار (منابع و پول كم، مدعي زياد) تعطيل شد و حالا كه نگاه مي‌كنم نه لحنش به درد مي‌خورد و نه به اندازه كافي اطلاعات فني دارد. كمبود اطلاعات فني‌اش را با خود قطعات پاركر پر مي‌كنم، اما تغيير لحنش در اين مدت كوتاه ممكن نيس تو مهم اين است اگر كسي چيز زيادي درباره پاركر نمي‌داند با اين يادداشت كنجكاوي بيشتري پيدا كند و اگر هم كسي چيزي مي‌داند، اين يادداشت به درد او نخواهد خورد.

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نامش چارلز كريستوفر پاركر (55-1920) و لقبش Yardbird بود اين لقب را به مناسبت علاقه فراواني كه به خوردن مرغ سرخ كرده داشت به او داده بودند. كه البته بعدها به صورت شاعرانه‌تري مختصر شد و به صورت bird درآمد. ساير موزيسين‌هايي كه براي اولين بار صداي ساكسفون او را مي‌شنيدند از آن به عنوان يك نوع راز و نياز مذهبي ياد كردند. او چهره موسيقي جاز را به طور كلي دگرگون كرد و احياناً مسير موسيقي قرن بيستم را ترسيم كرد.

او اهل كانزاس بود و ساكسفون نوازان كانزاس‌سيتي كلاً به رقابت‌طلبي شهره هستند. همشهري‌هايش، بن وبستر و هرشل اونز، پيش از آن‌كه به چهره‌هاي سرشناسي تبديل شوند نوازندگان مشهوري را كه براي اجراي برنامه به اين شهر مي آمدند به مبارزه و مسابقه («چه كسي مي تواند مدت زمان طولاني تري در ساز بدمد») فرا مي‌خواندند و همين تلقي درست از رقابت مفيد و پر بار بود كه احساس هنرشناسانه را در وجود چارلي پاركر نيز بيدار و تقويت كرد.

موزيك زنده در تمام طول شب شنيده مي‌شد علت آن‌هم قانون تق و لق منع مشروبات الكلي بود. چارلي پاركر در دبيرستان كه بود ساكسفون باريتون را براي نوازندگي انتخاب كرده بود ولي وقتي در سال 1931 مادرش ساكسفون آلتو برايش خريد او هم نواختن اين ساز را ادامه داد. چهارده ساله بود كه دبيرستان را ترك كرد و تمام وقتش را صرف زدن ساز كرد.

حضور شتاب زده و پيش از موقع او در كلوپHigh Hat كه در هنگام نواختن آهنگ body & soul روي صحنه خشكش زد موجب شد كه ساز زدن را براي سه ماه كنار بگذارد. اين تحقير يك بار ديگر و به صورتي ديگر در سال 1937 تكرار شد داستان از اين قرار بود كه يك نوازنده كار كشته دارمز هنگامي ‌كه چارلي روي صحنه رفت و ساز زد، سنج را به‌علامت اين‌كه ساز زدن چارلي پاركر قابل شنيدن نيست پيش پاي او پرت كرد.

با مايلز ديويس

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ولي اين‌بار چارلي نه تنها سازش را كنار نگذاشت بلكه بر تمرينات سخت خود افزود. نواختن در گروه‌هاي تامي داگلاس بين سال‌هاي 1936 و 1937 و باستر اسميت بين سال‌هاي 1937 و 1938 تجارب لازم را به او داد. اولين فرصت حرفه‌اي واقعي براي او در سال 1938 با گروه جِي مك‌شان پيش آمد. يك گروه پر هيجان سويينگ كه چارلي توانست اولين صفحه خود را با اين گروه در 1941 ضبط كند تك نوازي چارلي پاركر در اين گروه مردم را روي صندلي‌هايشان نيم‌خيز مي‌كرد. در دوران كوتاهي كه در گروه بيلي اكستاين مي‌نواخت با ديزي گيلسپي، جوان سياه پوست ديگري كه او هم ايده‌هاي نو و سرشار از خلاقيت داشت آشنا شد. دشواري‌هاي زمان جنگ باعث شده بود كه موقعيتbig band متزلزل و بعضاً رو به انحلال گذاشت.

چارلي تجارب خود را در اين اركسترهاي بزرگ به محله هارلم نيويورك برد و در آنجا به‌ اتفاق ديزي گليپسي، مكس روچ و كني كلارك و مشاركت چارلي كريستين و تلانيوس مانك در كلوب‌هاي خيابان پنجاه و دوم و مخصوصاً كلوب مينتون، در ساعات بعد از نيمه‌شب، پيشگام و پيشاهنگ موسيقي جديدي شد كه بي‌باپ نام گرفت.

صداي شگفت انگيزساكسفون چارلي پاركر با ضرب آهنگي تند و نوائي حزن‌انگيز و گاهي شادي آفرين، در واقع مصداق چيزي بود كه موسيقي مدرن تلقي مي‌شد و به وضوح در آثاري مانند Now’s the time, Shaw ‘n’ nuff, Koko طليعه عصر جديدي را در موسيقي جاز بشارت مي‌دهد . در ژانويه 1946 نورمن گرنز كنسرتي در سالن اركستر فيلارمونيك لس آنجلس براي چارلي پاركر ترتيب داد و در همان سال كمپاني صفحه پركنيDial صفحات بسيار مشهوري را با چارلي پاركر و مشاركت هوارد مك‌گي (ترومپت)، لاكي تامسون (تنور) و واردِل گِري (تنور) ضبط و پخش كرد.

در اين ميان البته دردسرهائي هم بروز كرد. اعتياد چارلي پاركر به هروئين رفتار نامناسبي را از جانب او باعث مي‌شد كه موجبات عدم رضايت مديران كلوب‌ها را فراهم مي‌كرد و اين عدم رضايت با آتش سوزي كه در اتاق او بر اثر اعتياد پيش آمد موجب شد كه او را به مدت شش ماه در بخش رواني زندان لس‌آنجلس بستري و متعاقب آن شش ماه ديگر نيز در بخش توان‌بخشي تحت مداوا قرار دهند.

چارلي به محض خروج از اين مركز دو صفحه درجه يك براي كمپاني دايال ضبط كرد در مراجعت به نيويورك به‌اتفاق مايلز ديويس (ترومپت) و مكس روچ (درامز) گروهي را تشكيل داد كه اثري مانند scrapple from the apple يادگار اين دوران است. در سال 1949 براي اولين بار به مسافرت اروپا رفت و در فستيوال جاز پاريس برنامه اجرا كرد در سال بعد به اسكانديناوي رفت و در اين وقت بود كه ديد چنانچه با تنظيم اركستري بنوازد موسيقي او را جدي‌تر تلقي خواهند كرد. آلبوم «چارلي پاركر، با سازهاي زهي» مرتبط به اين دوره مي‌باشد كه در زمان خود و از نظر تجاري بسيار بسيار موفق بود.

در اين زمان سلامتِ چارلي پاركر به‌خاطر سيروز كبدي و زخم معده به مخاطره افتاده بود، تازه اگر بعد از همه سال اعتياد سلامتي براي او باقي مانده بود.

لئونارد فدر معتقد بود كه نوازندگي چارلي پاركر در مارچ سال 1955 يعني چند ماه قبل از مرگش در اوج كمال بوده است. آخرين حضور او در مجامع عمومي در چهارم مارس 1955 در كلوپ بِردلند كه به‌مناسبت بزرگداشت چارلي پاركر به‌نام او نام گذاري شده بود يك آبروريزي تمام عيار از كار در آمد. باد پاول پيانيست جنجال و بگو مگوئي در روي صحنه بر پا كرد كه بلاخره با پا در مياني چارلز مينگوس خاتمه پذيرفت. چارلي سرخورده با بدن فربه و زجر حاصل از بيماري هشت روز بعد در سوئيت هتلي كه متعلق به بارونسي ثروتمند و شيفته پروپا قرص موسيقي بي‌باپ بود درگذشت.

لني تريستانو، پيانيست نيويوركي، مي‌گفت چارلي پاركر مي‌توانست با استفاده از قوانيني كه عليه سرقت هنري وجود دارد تمام كساني را كه در طول ده سال گذشته صفحه پركرده‌اند تعقيب قانوني نمايد. منظور او اين بود كه بعد از پاركر، هركسي چيزي از او گرفته بود. اين نهضت هم‌چنان ادامه دارد.

A Gilmour/Waters Reunion

من هم مثل خيلي‌هاي ديگر، كه البته شايد «خيلي» چندان كلمه درستي نباشد، در دوران نوجواني شيفتۀ پينك فلويد بودم. بزرگ‌ترين افتخارم اين بود كه ويدئوي رنگ‌پريده‌اي از كنسرت پمپي و يك «دابل ال پي» (دو صفحه سي و سه دور كه يك جا بسته بندي شده يا يك آلبوم را تشكيل داده) از پينك فلويد دارم، به اسم A Nice Pair كه هيچ‌كس ديگري ندارد و حتي نمي‌داند چنين آلبومي وجود خارجي دارد. البته من كلك زده بودم و در واقع اين اسمي بود كه روي دو آلبوم Piper at the Gates of Dawn و A Saucerful of Secrets گذاشته بودند، و با هم به عنوان «يك جفت خوب» منتشر كرده بودند.

البته به مرور مسيرهاي موسيقيايي تازه‌اي در زندگي من به وجود آمد كه اين وبلاگ نتيجه همان تغيير مسيرهاست، اما هنوز هرجا اسم پينك فلويد را مي‌شنوم، منهاي ابتذال عامه‌پسند شدن آن در ايران، نوعي ستايش توأم با نوستالژي از موسيقي آن‌ها از آن زيرها بيرون مي‌زند.

براي پينك فلويدي‌ها، از نيمه دهه 1980 به اين سو، هميشه اين آرزو وجود داشت كه راجر واترز دوباره به ديويد گيلمور بپيوندد. اين شانس در كنسرت هم‌زمان با اجلاس «هشت» براي كمك به آفريقا، در سال 2005، بلاخره اتفاق افتاد و خدا را شكركه ريچارد رايت هنوز زنده بود. اخيراً دوباره گيلمور و واترز براي اجرايي به نفع كودكان فلسطين در كيدينگتون هال آكسفوردشاير به هم ملحق شدند و توانستند در كنار نيك كِيو و تام جونز و ديگران حدود نيم ميليون پوند براي بچه‌هاي غزّه جمع كنند.

آن‌ها چهار قطعه در اين شب اجراء كردند كه اين‌هاست و تقريباً به جز اولي، بقيه همه استانداردهاي پينك محسوب مي‌شود:

To Know Him Is To Love Him

Wish You Were Here

Comfortably Numb

Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 2

اولين اجرا را مي‌توانيد اين‌جا بشنويد. يكي از حاضرين در كنسرت ضبط كرده و اولش مقداري سرو صدا دارد. كيفيتش چندان خوب نيست، اما در حد پاسخ به يك كنجكاوي قديمي قابل قبول به نظر مي‌رسد.

Jazz-al-Arabia: The Music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik

Coltrane, Monk and Ahmed Abdul-Malik, "Five Spot club."

It's been a couple of days that I'm listening to Ahmed Abdul-Malik's strange RCA LP, East Meets West (1959) which is a fusion of jazz and Arabian music. Abdul-Malik was the first musician to use the oud, a pear-shaped, traditional Middle Eastern stringed instrument similar to a lute as a jazz instrument. [for more information regarding oud, check this blog]

Then, after hearing East Meets West I went back and listened to Jazz Sounds of Africa (1962) which is another Malik's experimentation with eastern music, but chronologically recorded after the EMW. These albums are not masterpieces, but a good example of jazz's openness to other cultures. An exhibition of hidden power of jazz in merging with a big verity of sounds, most of them unfamiliar to a western ear. In many of this type of records and experiments, one sometimes feels that eastern and western elements are only juxtaposed rather than properly synthesized, but Abdul-Malik do his best to get involved in this music and try to get close to the mood and feeling of the Eastern music by using different instruments and hence, different textures . His instrumentation is a rich blend of percussion, bass, oud, tenor, trumpet, trombone, violin, and other exotic instruments (one is the 72-string kanoon, which is sort of a brittle sounding and much smaller harp, heard on Rooh track)

This record is also an important document of Benny Golson and Johnny Griffin's endless ability to adopt new sounds for their tenor. While Lee Morgan seems a little bit uneasy in the bizarre set, Griffin/Golson blow with a complete confidence.

East meets West is a more daring album than Jazz sounds of Africa, in both instrumentation and choosing the material. While Jazz sounds tend to be a more western , EMW has more east than west.

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Ahmed, Originally Sam Gill (according to Richard Cook), or Jonathan Timms (Feather/Gitler encyclopedia) was born on January 30th 1927 to Sudanese parents in Brooklyn and grew up in the borough’s Arab neighborhood. According the most recent edition of the Rough Guide to Jazz he did not change his name to Ahmed Abdul-Malik in the mid-50s but was given that name at birth. He started studying music at age 7; first violin then bass, piano and even tuba. His first jobs as a musician were when he was still a teenager and included symphony orchestras and different ethnic weddings. In the mid 1940s he was introduced to the jazz community through his friend Randy Weston and played bass in jazz and r&b bands. He played with Art Blakey, 1945; Don Byas, 1946; Sam Taylor, 1954; Herbie Mann, 1961; Earl Hines, 64, but his most famous gig was as Thelonious Monk’s bassist in Five Spot jazz club.

He studied Middle Eastern music with Jamal Islan and Niam Karakind and Indian music with Dr. Wanamasa Singh. Performed non-Western music at New York City gallery in 1957. Started experimenting with the oud in the mid 50s and recorded on it with Johnny Griffin and with John Coltrane. He also cut a few records as a leader where he played the instrument. He also appeared on TV shows (Sound of jazz, '57) both as a bop bassist and with his own group playing Middle East influenced jazz on the oud. He headlined the first major African jazz festival in Morocco in 1972 and also toured Latin America. From the 1970s he was on faculty at NYU and at Brooklyn College. In 1984 BMI recognized his work by giving him Pioneer in Jazz. He died on October 2nd 1993 in Long Branch New Jersey.

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1959
Ahmed Abdul-Malik Orchestra

Lee Morgan (tp) Curtis Fuller (tb) Jerome Richardson (fl) Johnny Griffin (ts) Naim Karacand (vln) Ahmed Abdul-Malik (b, oud) Al Harewood (d) Bilal Abdurrahman, Mike Hamway (darabeka) Ahmed Yetman (kannon)
NYC, March 16, 1959

La Ikbey (Don't Cry) RCA Victor LPM 2015

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1961 or 62
Ahmed Abdul-Malik Orchestra

Ahmed Abdul-Malik (bass, oud); Andrew Cyrille or Rudy Collins (drums).
Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
This only Ahmed's record available from Amazon.

Oud Blues

A New Discovery of William Savory Recordings!

Thanks to my fellow blogger and always jazzly-alert, Ian of the Villes Ville, I became aware of a great discovery in the jazz world. According to Ian and a video from New York Times [below] a treasury of jazz recordings made by William Savory has been discovered. Savory was an audio engineer known for his extensive private recordings of important jazz musicians in the 1930s, and for his contributions to recording technology. He was part of the team that invented the 33 rpm long-playing record and developed the technique for cutting the masters of 78 rpm recordings that were being transferred to the new format. These discs have been donated to the Harlem's National Jazz Museum and it's in process of cleaning and digitizing. "It seems no exaggeration to say that these recordings may well make a shift in the geography of the landscape of classic jazz of seismic proportions," says Ian, "allowing us to look afresh at the work of relatively unacknowledged masters."

Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010)

This Chicago born beauty worked as a singer in California under the name Anna Marie and appeared in the film, The Girl Can't Help It and some other minor roles. Lincoln's "own emancipation proclamation turned her from conventional club singer into one the most dramatic and distinctive voices if the day," as Morton and Cook in their Penguin Guide to jazz on CD explain. So began recording for Prestige. A mighty start for a new singer to mixed with Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham, Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers. Fell in love with drummer Max Roach and married him (1962-70). Her Career faded in the '70s but a revival arrived in the '80s, this time European took interest in her music and that led to a new contract with Verve. Since then she was active and an influential jazz vocalist on a new generation of female singers, according to Richard Cook.

I love her emphasizing notes and words, her often departures from blues and the way she copes with brass instrument, the way that Billie Holiday used to be.

Her first five recordings are all classics: That's Him (1957, Riverside), It's Magic (1958, Riverside), Abbey Is Blue (1959, Riverside), We Insist! – Freedom Now Suite (1960, with Max Roach, Candid), and Straight Ahead (1961, Candid Records).

Though she wasn't much of a ballad singer from the beginning, later, in her two 60s recordings she broke free from those conventions of a female jazz vocalist and start incorporating political themes into her lyrics. Even her voice became rougher to mirror the anger that she was feeling at the time. Racism and injustice was the key theme of her masterpiece with Max Roach, Freedom now suite, produced by Nat Hentoff, in his new Candid label , and banned in South Africa.

If you live in where I live and jazz be your only language, it's impossible to not cry with Max/Abby's Freedom Day, as I did during all bloody summer of 2009.

And finally, maybe there is a small problem with these early recordings and that's the top-notch line-ups. Somehow Abbey get lost in a crowd consists of Coleman Hawkins, Booker Little, Julian Priester, Eric Dolphy, Mal Waldron, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Dorham, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Sahib Shihab and many heavyweights that she or her record producer have picked as sidemen. This is unlike Billie who could sing in front of any band, or Sarah Vaughan who just start to warm up in front of a twenty piece orchestra. Maybe Abbey lacks that power in her sound which make one go and outdo any instrument. But no one, never, can complain about the music, because it's always near perfect and when Hawk comes in, it is perfect (in this case just listen to Coleman Hawkins in Freedom Now Suite's Driva' Man, after Abbey's mesmerizing introduction).


Listen to Abbey, accompanied by mister Hank Jones on piano in The Nearness Of You, 1992:




Rest in peace, Abbey.

The Last of the Jazz Giants

NEA Jazz Masters, 2004
left to right from back row:
George Russell, Dave Brubeck
David Baker, Percy Heath, Billy Taylor
Nat Hentoff, Jim Hall, James Moody
Jackie McLean, Chico Hamilton, Gerald Wilson, Jimmy Heath
Ron Carter, Anita O'Day
Randy Weston, Horace Silver
from left two standing gentlemen down the stairs: Benny Golson, Hank Jones
seated from left: Frank Foster, Clark Terry
and behind them, left to right: Cecil Taylor, Roy Haynes, Louie Bellson and Dana Gioia (chairman of NEA)
photo by Tom Pich

©National Endowment for the Arts.

Billy Taylor's Early Bird

"Early Bird" composed by Billy Taylor, featuring Billy Taylor on piano, Tony Scott on clarinet, Doc Seversen on trumpet, Mundel Lowe on guitar, Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, Earl May, bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. Recorded Summer, 1958.

The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions

Ahmad Jamal's crystal sound is made of many fragile textures. His musical silences create a suspenseful experience for the listener. His melodic statements, especially in latter days and records like After Fajr, have a deep reflection of Eastern/Islamic mysticism. Most of the time, he is a cool pianist , but no one can avoid the sudden eruptions of this Pittsburgh volcano, not even himself, as though somebody else is playing the keyboard and Ahmad is only a mere observer of the outburst of his inner feelings.

His 80 now. His 70th birthday turned into an exhilarating musical experience in Paris's Olympia, with tenorman, George Coleman. And in his 80s he still has many to offer, as documented recently in a concert from Grenoble Jazz Festival 2008, with bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad, aired by Mezzo channel over Europe and middle east.

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246nd Mosaic box set is dedicated to the art of illustrious Ahmad Jamal, from his Argo label recording dates between 1956 to 1962. Many of them masterpieces of their time, masterpieces for anytime.
Set includes many important LPs of my life and of course there are 23 unheard tracks, released for the first time:

• Count 'Em (my first Ahmad LP ever. The record was so damaged that whenever I play that on, my mother thought it was raining outside. My favorite was Maryam which is my kid sister's name, too)
• But Not For Me
• At The Pershing (His most famous records and a true masterpiece of Jazz trio)
• Ahmad Jamal Trio, Volume IV
• Portfolio of Ahmad Jamal
• Jamal At The Penthouse
• Happy Moods
• Listen To The Ahmad Jamal Quintet (As long as I know, never issued on CD. Before the Mosaic's immense effort, I put the album here, on my blog to share it with some Jamal enthusiast.)
• Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra (In my view, Ahmad's grandest live recording. Alhambra was his own club in Chicago)
• All Of You
• Ahmad Jamal At The Blackhawk

By the way, the only digital appearance of Ahmad's Argo recordings, beside At The Pershing, Alhambra and Blackhawk gigs, was Cross Country Tour, a double CD compiled from four Argo LP.

More extensive details and purchase link can be found here, in Mosaic's own website.

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Ira Gitler Remembers Art Tatum

Buddy DeFranco: Art Tatum you could not emulate because he did so damn much, you know—harmonically, at least. And I think Art Tatum and Jimmy Jones were really the first pianists I heard with a turnaround and chord progressions and harmonic development—modern harmonic development. Art Tatum is another world and one of the biggest musical worlds of all time. And, there again, I had occasion to play Art Tatum records to a young rock group in my area where I live, and they were absolutely overwhelmed!
They just could not believe one man could play so much piano and with such harmonic development—including my son, who is now nineteen. I recently had him listen to Art Tatum records, and he fell off the chair. And this is the effect that such a great musician has. And there again, I remember reading reviews about Art Tatum in the '30s and somebody criticized him for having too much technique a showoff—cocktail piano, you know? All sorts of things. But if you really stop and listen to what Art Tatum was doing harmonically -not only technically-he was the greatest of all time. I consider the record I made with Tatum as one of the greatest experiences of my time. But there again, I was not really feeling well. Now, I'm not going to cop out. This is really no excuse . . . But I really should not have done that session. Only because I wanted to be better prepared. To measure up to the challenge because playing with Art Tatum is like chasing a train and never catching it, see? I knew one thing: you're never going to outdazzle Art Tatum because he has it all. There's no question about it. But, to me, it was among the greatest experiences of my whole life—if for no other reason than to sit in that studio and watch him play and watch what he did. And also try to get in with him. It was absolutely a thrill.

Jimmy Rowles: If it hadn't been for Tatum it never would have happened. He was the heaviest.
When I got out of the Army, the first thing I did was to check into the Taft Hotel—took a shower and went down to sand Street, and I walked—the first place I walked into Art Tatum was playing. The place was almost empty, and there were some people at the bar. So I went to the bar and got a drink and sat down in the dark. It was just too much. When he finally got through he went over the service counter, and they gave him his double shot and his beer, and I walked up to him. I said, "Art, when you gonna play my tune?" Without a second warning, he turned around and said, "When did you get out?" Just like that. He knew my voice immediately. And we started talking. I hadn't seen him for three and a half years. And he went up and played my tune for me. We sat down and talked together.

Billy Taylor: The first time Tatum came to New York he was exposed to the great stride pianists like James P. Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith and all the "kings of the hill," if you will, in that style. And they really wiped him out that first time. James P. Johnson just did him in.
So he went back home—he was nineteen—and worked on a lot of stuff. When he came back, he had all his stuff together. One of the reasons he played a classical piece (Massenet's "Elegie") is because there was a pianist named Donald Lambert whose gimmick was to play classical pieces in stride style. So this was his way of saying, "Okay. Try this one." And he played it about four times as fast as Lambert, and he played a lot more interesting harmonies, and he did all kinds of juxtapositions of melodic streams—playing a half-tone higher in his right hand than he was in his left hand, things like that.


I remember one night up at Tom Tilghman's place—the Hollywood Bar on 7th Avenue in Harlem. Art Tatum sat down and showed about seven or eight piano players how to play a break that he had recorded in "Battery Bounce," one of his early records. And somebody asked him, "How did you do that?" And he said, "It's just this." And he played it again.

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Ekkehard Wölk Interviewed

An Interview with Silent Film Composer
Ekkehard Wölk
from
Silent Era
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Jazz, Younger Generation and a Fragmented World

If I be judged by my age, I belong to what Marc Myers of JazzWax calls "F" generation. "The "F" here stands for "flighty," and anyone who has watched people in their 20s listen to music today knows what I'm talking about. Songs in iTunes libraries and on iPods serve mostly as white noise for this demographic group. Music is what you put on while working, organizing photos on your computer, i-Chatting or texting," Says Myers.

This statement or misunderstanding of it caused a blogging debate in Running the Voodoo Down and A Blog Supreme. Later Myers moderate his views by a new post and an explanation that "Young people are smart and jazz will survive. But jazz will certainly have a harder time winning over those who don't have the patience to listen—or read—carefully."

Myself, as an observer of what happening to serious music (any kind, from Classical to Jazz, from Blues to Rock, whatever moves people and transcend them), and also one who live outside United States, where is still less digitalized than States, must say that Marc is somehow right and most of my generation, but definitely not all of them, are seriously affected with the phenomenon of fragmentation and they are unable to make the whole picture from those fragments. But:
1) If we consider jazz culture a whole, made of thousands of recorded works and written texts, still there are portions of truth in every little bit of it and in every fragment of a broken mirror, still the whole picture exists.

2) We are living in a fragmented world, don’t we? So how can we expect to reach that “wholeness,” not only in jazz but in any other field of art. Just take a look at contemporary architecture or cinema. Compare an anti-Fascist film like Ernst Lubitsch’s To be or not to be with a recent anti-Fascist/Fascist flick like Inglourious Basterds. Compare works by unknown masters and those who build Gothic Cathedrals with a Zaha Hadid or Daniel Libeskind. It is simply the features of the age we are living in. We may like it, or we may not, but that’s it.

But now I think the main question is “what can we do?” We, jazz lovers, blogger, writers, whatever you call us, have this task of helping younger generations to get close to that essential image, as we try to find the answers and get close ourselves, of course if we believe in such a decisive image.

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