< Back to Intervals Index INTERVALS #7 June 2006 RECENT EVENTS PLAYING WITH THE MASTER:McCOY TYNER The following NY Times review will put one of my most memorable evenings in years into perspective: It started as a concert tie-in with a new book, "The House That Trane Built," by Ashley Kahn, a historical survey of the Impulse! jazz-record label. But Monday night's show at the Blue Note became a slightly more expansive, decentralized and spontaneous McCoy Tyner concert. The idea was to use the Impulse! albums of the 1960's as repertory, with Mr. Tyner leading a band that expanded and contracted between a trio and a septet. It helped that the most famous of those Impulse! albums are by John Coltrane, including compositions that are part of every jazz musician's memory. It also helped that those albums are partly defined by the sound of Mr. Tyner's playing on them, a sonic bedrock, with his ringing left-hand fourth chords setting a kind of drone. Many of those tunes are part of Mr. Tyner's current repertory, in his regular trio with the bassist Charnette Moffett and the drummer Eric Kamau Gravatt. So considering that the band was a bit of a construct, made in a record company's image, and that this was the septet's second show (its first in New York), the set still had a charge, and the players worked hard. The horn players, onstage for half of the set in front of Mr. Tyner's trio, were the saxophonists Dave Liebman and Donald Harrison, the trumpeter Wallace Roney and the trombonist Steve Turre. For their tunes Coltrane's "Tunji" and "Impressions" and a version of "Caravan" adapted from an old Freddie Hubbard album they followed simple arrangements organized for the evening by Bob Belden. Impulse! recorded many different musicians in many different styles, including Gil Evans, Art Blakey and Ahmad Jamal. But it was the sound of Coltrane that you heard for most of the set, and the musicians didn't take the easy route in suggesting it. "Tunji" was done in the Coltrane quartet's slow-groove style and "Impressions" at a fast tempo; in both, Mr. Liebman and Mr. Harrison showed that they had internalized Coltrane's language, but they brought it within their own sense of rhythm and didn't recycle his licks. They each delivered extraordinary solos over the rhythm-section vamps, full of textural oddities, overtones, honks, squeals delivered rapidly. Mr. Turre also plays conch shells, and he produced five for his solo, changing between them to play in different keys. Then Mr. Tyner announced the presence of Clark Terry, the trumpeter, in the audience. A microphone was brought into the crowd, and a spotlight shone on Mr. Terry, who played from his seat in the audience on Duke Ellington's "In a Mellotone," harmonizing with the alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, who stood beside him. Each soloed for a few choruses, gaining beauty and authority as he went along. LIEB'S REVIEW: I can die and go to heaven having played my all time favorite Trane piece, Crescent with McCoy and the rhythm section. What an audience-Archie Shepp, Chico Hamilton, Roy Haynes, Clark Terry, Gary Bartz, Jimmy Cobb and Creed Taylor (who started Impulse). This was a real jazz crowd that you can only find in New York. Just seeing Roy, Chico and Jimmy together was a trip-all in their late 70s into the mid 80s-talk about inspiration. In my life and I would imagine others of my generation, McCoy looms large, He is, along with Herbie Hancock, the main source of chromatic voicings in the jazz vernacular, something that in essence has been the centerpiece of my musical journey. After we played the first gig in Mexico City, he remarked about my lines. I said something to the extent that it was he who is responsible for these lines in the first place, and that finally I was playing with the source, rather than second generation. We had a good laugh. Having done these two gigs, it seems to me that he is at a stage that can be observed in particular artists who have had a long career-painters as well as musicians. Much like Monet and Van Gogh, Trane of course, even in his way when I heard Lee Konitz recently, I hear McCoy playing short bursts of incredibly abstract material and seemingly not relying on his customary and well worn vocabulary. His intensity of listening is amazing and on top of it he is the sweetest guy you can imagine. The whole Coltrane rhythm section (all of whom I got to know) were definitely special guys who retained a feeling of humility and love way after their time together. As McCoy said to me, Trane always told him to keep moving which he certainly is doing that to my ears. Though I am not doing the full tour with the band this summer, I will be doing select gigs in the next few months. THE FRENCH CONNECTION I had a wonderful week in France playing in two very different combinations with a total of fifteen musicians whom I met for the first time. I enjoy traveling to countries and working on someone's music while being around a different culture, both musically and socially for a few days. There is real truth to the universality of the jazz ethic which in general combines a certain kind of looseness, informality and good humor, to be found most anywhere that jazz is played. It is a testament to the music itself meaning that the commonalities are more important than the differences. The French are if anything among the most polite and well mannered people. Pardon and excuse-moi are everywhere, even in a crowded metro car, (which I ride in Paris-the only place in the world I do that-not even in New York). They greet each other EVERY DAY with a two sided kiss on the cheeks and a handshake, extending to when they meet someone new. Red wine accompanies every meal (though breakfast hardly exists as more than a piece of bread and maybe coffee) and table wine will suffice most of the time. (Personally I am a vodka drinker which is almost impossible to find.) The food is renowned, even when served backstage which is often the case in France. Musically, the French are by and large conservatory trained which translates to a high level of virtuosity on their instruments. Though the bebop/chord change type of tradition is not a high priority, the new generation is more adept at it than before. The classical style lives on in France as in other European countries like Austria and Germany. This means a whole area of music is dedicated to texture and avant-garde classical techniques, which when done well is wonderful to play with. Finally, there is a tradition of clarinet/ bass clarinet that is remarkable. In both bands I worked with the clarinetists were incredible. And over the yearsI have worked with Michel Portal who is a master clarinetist, equally home in free jazz as well as Mozart and Boulez. This remarkable tradition lives on in France. One group was with lead by a violinist who I worked with ten years ago on some of my string quartet music as well as a recording under his leadership. German born, but living in France for decades, his name is Michael Nick. The music we did was a continuous suite with clarinet, drums, bass and computer sounds generated from Michael's son in the audience. There was a light show component also. Though there were some tricky charts to play, most of the music was improvised and textural. The gigs we played were part of a circuit very different than what I usually encounter. These are festivals where all the groups are in this so called electro-acoustic setting, meaning live musicians but also a computer/synthesizer component. One festival in Nancy had six groups in one night, going on for ten days. The whole atmosphere is different than jazz-everyone dressed in black, the audience very subdued (standing in some cases), money coming from the government or sponsors and in some cases massive equipment. This photo shows instruments all generated by electricity, all moving, all sounding. It takes the two performers two fourteen hour days to set up what you see here!! The other group led by composer/arranger/flautist Christophe Del Sasso was a tentet that featured original compositions and arrangements including some of my more chromatic pieces from the past, in particular "Invocation" from a duo recording with Richie Beirach done in 1990 (CMP). The band was fantastic, could swing and burn but also capable of wonderful harmonies generated by Christophe for the horns (tuba, trombone, clarinet(s), tenor, trumpet and myself). I look forward to more work with these great musicians. PASSINGS HILTON RUIZ They are all tragedies but this one is more so, since Hilton was in an upswing in his career and at least for the past years (till this fateful night) seemingly straight as an arrow. The details are murky but in any case, Hilton was a pioneer who could swing between authentic Latin and jazz-a true crossover original artist who burnt it up. RECOMMENDED LIVE PERFORMANCE FOOTAGE:(paste address into your browser Some footage for you to see featuring my quartet with Vic Juris, Tony Marino and Marko Marcinko: My Favorite Things:(with Marko Marcinko-Brazil) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-664354888523122636&q=David+Liebman Interview and Nar Dreams(Brazil) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=68321843274481692&q=saxophone+warrior With Jamey Haddad-Germany Little Peanut: http://orion.addaction.net/~liebman/video/littlepeanut.wmv Child at Play: http://orion.addaction.net/~liebman/video/childatplay.wmv QUEST IN PARIS-1988 Snow Leopard: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4120321196944218218 As Always: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8321709371431050205 LOOKOUT FARM IN GERMANY-1974 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8124920431497166631 A CHROMATIC APPROACH TO JAZZ MELODY AND HARMONY(revised edition): With additional songs and transcriptions as well as corrections, there is a new printing of my book available from Caris Music. ELVIN AND MILES PHOTOS: Nice color pictures of my two bosses at: spaceman@jazz-gallery.com WHAT MIGHT'VE BEEN:Incredible footage of soldiers taking LSD showing what happens to them on a mission. What would the world be like if our wonderful leaders took a hit!! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=517198059628627413&q=lsd BIRD LIVES by Bill Moody: Great mystery novel about a piano player who gets involved in a murder mystery with real and accurate descriptions of the jazz world.Very entertaining for a plane ride. STATE OF THE WORLD-TREOS MAKING IT: On a recent plane trip I saw a guy transferring files to one of the stewardesses' Treos-one antenna caresses the other; what a world!! UPCOMING SCHEDULE June-International Association of Schools of Jazz at the University of Louisville, Kentucky USA July-Sketches of Spain at Maison De Conservatories, Paris, France;duo gigs in Austria with Wolfgang Reisinger;workshop and concert at the Litchfield Jazz Festival, Litchfield, CT;Chromatic Master Class, East Stroudsburg University,PA Peace Lieb