LOGO
General Discussion Undecided where to post - do it here.

Reply to Thread New Thread
Old 03-19-2012, 03:43 AM   #1
c2siOlIk

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
461
Senior Member
Default Musical Openness: Jazz & Classical Musics
One example of recent jazz/classical cross-pollination that I neglected to mention in the related article (http://vancouverjazz.com/2012/03/mus...al-musics.html) is Tony Wilson's recording of variations on Benjamin Britten's Lachrymae - itself based on one of John Dowland's lute pieces of the same name.

In the recent A-Trane interview that I did with Tony (see http://vancouverjazz.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4197) I asked him off-air how he came to Britten's piece. He told me that he'd never really been much into classical music and had never really listened to much. But during one of his visits to the Banff jazz program, he attended a concert performance of the piece and was so taken with it that it stayed with him for many years and he eventually decided to do his own arrangement and performance. Especially given that one of the other pieces on the CD is a Variation on a Them by Bill Monroe, it's an example of musical openness entirely apropos to the discussion at hand.

For more information about Tony Wilson's recording (and some audio samples) see the Drip Audio website: http://www.dripaudio.com/releases.php?release=23



N.
c2siOlIk is offline


Old 03-19-2012, 10:27 PM   #2
greeferweq

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
375
Senior Member
Default
I'm always reluctant to comment on these types of conversations for a myriad of different reasons. I didn't listen to the interview with Katie Malloch to get the exact quote and don't plan to because personally I don't think it matters what she said. If classical music doesn't do anything for her then that is her perogative. I don't think she is implying for one second that classical music has “nothing to offer” as Karin insinuates.

I am extremely and openly opinionated at what music I like and don't like and am perfectly willing to defend my reasons for my opinions. It's no secret to anyone that I don't like much that isn't straight ahead, beboppish, hard boppishand organish!!!! That doesn't however mean that I think that the other stuff has nothing to offer, isn't valid or doesn't count. That's ludicrous.

When I listen to Hank Mobley for example, I get excited, it hits me, I feel inspired and I want to listen to every record he's ever made. I want to grab my horn and play. Most recently I got excited when I heard a Bobby Timmons record. I like straight ahead jazz. Thats what excites me. When I listen to a string quartet or Glenn Gould playing something I don't get any of those same feelings and would say that 'it doesn't do anything for me.' Doesn't mean I don't have great admiration for the genre of classical music or great respect for the talent that was Glenn Gould.

I don't know, I don't think Katie said anything wrong or offensive. In a perfect world everyone would like all kinds of music an support them all equally but it ain't gonna happen.
greeferweq is offline


Old 03-24-2012, 04:07 AM   #3
oraltyrap

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
360
Senior Member
Default
Like Cory, I'm hesitant to wade into any value judgements of classical and jazz - but as I'm co-producing an exciting program celebrating both Ellington and Stravinsky with Turning Point - and premiering new arrangements of Ellington by Fred Stride, and new long form compositions from Dave Douglas and Brad Turner (www.turningpointensemble.ca) - I wanted to contribute a couple pennies. I enjoyed reading these comments, and Karin's web-site - and actually do think about this alot as I'm wondering why I find that my time playing (and frankly primarily listening to my colleagues) with the Nightcrawlers, or Jill's or Fred's or John Korsrud's big bands are predictable highlights of my year. I recall a conversation with Peggy Lee (whose compositional abilities I adore as much as her performing) when she said that she wanted to study composition more because she had these ideas and didn't really know how to develop them - so her default was to let the improvisers develop the material. Fittingly, it was Peggy and Dylan's participation in Dave Douglas' compositions with the Mountain Passages ensemble that inspired me to wonder what Dave would do with a chamber orchestra. And sitting in front of Brad, listening to him develop his solos with wit and precision, made me wonder about the same thing.

What to me is interesting in both the "new" jazz and "new" classical music is that composers are struggling to find their individuality through form as well as the more traditional harmony, rhythm, and sound. I think that makes the music harder to access because as an audience we have less of a shared reference point for that access if the forms are basically rhapsodic. It's interesting that both Dave and Brad sort of chose song form for their pieces with Turning Point - and that recently I was reading Lionel Ritchie say that the reason he loves Nashville is that it is not really a city that celebrates country celebrities, but the song form. Wonderful that in Vancouver, Rena Sharon, produces a festival of song - Vancouver International Song Institute at UBC each June. There is great music of all genres - but I think all the genres best stuff does overlap in song form - and maybe that's a way for listeners for both classical and jazz to enjoy each other's company.
oraltyrap is offline


Old 05-13-2012, 10:43 PM   #4
Clunlippibe

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
324
Senior Member
Default
Without 'classical music' we wouldn't have any jazz. Listen to Bach and there's everything that would follow somewhere in his music. It swings and there's even bluesy sounding passages in some of his works.

Without Ravel and Debussy, no Bill Evans playing advanced harmonies. Even Cecil Taylor's technique had precedents in Samuel Barber and Liszt for instance.

Also 'classical music' is Beethoven and Mozart, but how about Stravinsky and Prokofiev? I can't imagine Kati would be unmoved by hearing the Rites of Spring or the Capulet March from Romeo and Juliet. You'd have to be dead from the brain down.

Kati also thought Tony Williams played "too loud". But we still love her anyway!
Clunlippibe is offline



Reply to Thread New Thread

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:43 AM.
Copyright ©2000 - 2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
Design & Developed by Amodity.com
Copyright© Amodity