< Back to Intervals Index INTERVALS #6 May 2006 RECENT EVENTS IN THE SECTION: THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND George Gruntz, a young 74 year old gentleman, is one of the most notable representatives of modern European jazz. He started in the '50s performing as a sideman, often with the great drummer Daniel Humair for countless American horn players touring the fetile European club circuit. Eventually, along with his fellow Swiss countryman, trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti, the idea of a big band of all stars became a reality. George has kept it going for several decades, with some members of the band intact for a sizable portion of that time. I had known George over the years, performing in one of his smaller units some years ago. We renewed our acquaintance and George arranged two of my originals for the DL Big Band, tackling some of the harder material I must say. This evolved into a recording date and a short tour this May. I am not a big band section kind of guy, in fact it would be hard for me to remember the times I have done it. This band is full of great players (Marvin Stamm, Larry Schneider, Danny Gottlieb, Dave Bargeron, Howard Johnson, etc.) and others whom I enjoyed listening to nightly. Being in a section is the ultimate act of selflessness. First of all, though George does make sure everyone solos, because of the sheer numbers, your opportunities during one performance are by nature limited. And then there is the phrasing question, meaning acceding to the majority taste. Of course, second, or even first tenor doesn't have the charm of being in the lead alto chair in the sax section, something I did one time at a rehearsal and truly enjoyed. In any case, have a lot of respect for guys who do this as matter of course. It was lesson in humility for someone like me, who is used to being in front ALL of the time. Most important, George is a first rate musician who has a great knack for arranging standard ballads ("You Don't Know What Love Is," "My Foolish Heart")lifting these tunes to new heights. I am encouraging him to do an all ballad record in the future. Above all, George is a gentleman of the first order, who is as hip as they come, and treats everyone with respect, including the audience. The record is on the Montreux Label, called "Tiger By the Tail." THE DIGITAL FUTURE In today's New York Times magazine section(May 14) which you can access afterwards through the archives I believe, there is a very interesting article about how book are being scanned in order to be available through the internet. The job is awesome with numbers in the millions of words, books, and eventually films, music, etc. The article is interesting because it depicts the wave of the future and its impact upon everything. Just to think, that it really wasn't until the 20th century that there was access to so much we take for granted due to mass production techniques coming of age. And now, it is beyond the imagination what is happening. From New York Times, May 14,2006 Magazine Section:SCAN THIS BOOK by Kevin Kelly "Authors and publishers (including publishers of music and film) have relied for years on cheap mass-produced copies protected from counterfeits and pirates by a strong law based on the dominance of copies and on a public educated to respect the sanctity of a copy. This model has, in the last century or so, produced the greatest flowering of human achievement the world has ever seen, a magnificent golden age of creative works. Protected physical copies have enabled millions of people to earn a living directly from the sale of their art to the audience, without the weird dynamics of patronage. Not only did authors and artists benefit from this model, but the audience did, too. For the first time, billions of ordinary people were able to come in regular contact with a great work. In Mozart's day, few people ever heard one of his symphonies more than once. With the advent of cheap audio recordings, a barber in Java could listen to them all day long. But a new regime of digital technology has now disrupted all business models based on mass-produced copies, including individual livelihoods of artists. The contours of the electronic economy are still emerging, but while they do, the wealth derived from the old business model is being spent to try to protect that old model, through legislation and enforcement. Laws based on the mass-produced copy artifact are being taken to the extreme, while desperate measures to outlaw new technologies in the marketplace "for our protection" are introduced in misguided righteousness. (This is to be expected. The fact is, entire industries and the fortunes of those working in them are threatened with demise. Newspapers and magazines, Hollywood, record labels, broadcasters and many hard-working and wonderful creative people in those fields have to change the model of how they earn money. Not all will make it.)" LIEB POD Thanks to Bret Primack, I've joined the Web Video Revolution. Bret is creating videos especially for the web with his Jazz Video Podcasts site. He posts the Podcasts for download on the site for one month, and also offers them on Google Video and YouTube for immediate viewing. This month, I am being spotlighted in a video entitled "Saxophone Warrior," which features a performance of my Quartet done in Brazil in 2002. You can download the video in MP4 format here (play using Quicktime or iTunes): http://www.jazzvideopodcasts.com You can watch the video live on Google here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=68321843274481692 Or on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvPQWPfQp08 In the coming months, Bret will posting more of my videos on both Google and YouTube.These upcoming videos will be taken from performances and instructional videos I've done over the last several decades. For more information about video on the web, please contact Bret directly: bretprimack@gmail.com PASSINGS: JOHN HICKS John was the prototype, celebrated New York jazz pianist. He could play anything, swing his ass off and groove in any way needed. He was a pleasant man, quiet in demeanor who served a revered sideman to countless musicians over the years.. His presence will be sorely missed. UPCOMING SCHEDULE French dates with violinist Michael Nick and two nights at the Sunset in Paris with the small big band of Christophe Del Sasso with whom I recorded a wonderful CD. He is a fine writer and even took a few of my more chromatic pieces that I recorded with Richie Beirach years ago, transforming them into very interesting arrangements. Mexico City with McCoy Tyner followed by the Blue Note (NYC) on June 5th celebrating the Impulse Records catalogue's greatest compositions in conjunction with the release of a new book by Ashley Khan (who wrote about the recordings of Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme) called the "House That Trane Built-the Story of Impulse." The band will include McCoy's trio with Charnett Moffett, Eric Gravatt and Steve Turre(trombone), Donald Harrison(alto), Wallace Roney(trumpet) performing Bob Belden arrangements of Impulse classics like "Tunji," "Crescent," "Stolen Moments," "Alfie," and others. Peace Lieb