Nelson Symonds (1933-2008)

Canadian Guitar Legend Nelson Symonds (1933-2008):



"once you get past the sax player, THIS is chord chord soloing that Wes must have heard!"

Ted Moses & the Mother Necessity Big Band (CBC LM 459 1978)

Only a teaser of a sampler found on an ebay auction, but nonetheless proof that I didn't dream the Mother Necessity Jazz Workshop -- a comment arrived today on Howard Cable's blog, from Harvey Kogen, the tenor player from this LP, corroborating my experience and hinting at the existence of this LP.


Now all I need is a digital source for the rest of the sound!

Oct 5th: JALC features Sun Ra Arkestra with Marshall Allen

Sun Ra Turns 100: Sun Ra Arkestra with Marshall Allen on Livestream

Stan Getz - Eddie Sauter - Focus

Arnie writes to alert us to a post at Stan Getz Community:

Almost two years ago, Doug Ramsey disclosed with some excitement that videotape existed of portions of a television performance of Focus, the classic collaboration between Stan Getz and the brilliant composer and arranger Eddie Sauter. Doug's Rifftides staff tracked down the clip and posted it - but YouTube removed it almost immediately because whoever posted it seems to have been in violation. The copyright holder took offense.

  

A portion of this classic TV performance has shown up once again. I suggest you watch it (and perhaps record it, if you have the software to do so), before it once again disappears from the internet.

Find more videos like this on Stan Getz Community

Sun Ra Charts | Tone Science

Sun Ra Charts | Tone Science: a very nice collection of over 90 charts from Sun Ra covering 1936-1978. Most were composed by Sun Ra, but there are also charts by Ronald Boykins, Julian Priester, Marshall Allen and others.

For me, part of the fascination with this music is seeing the evolution of Sun Ra’s name. The earliest chart, from December 1936

Allan Chase clarifies the Mystery: "Paper copies of most of these, and some not here, appeared somewhat mysteriously, unsolicited, in two large packages in the mailboxes of some known Sun Ra researchers and aficionados, including me, I believe in the late 1990s. I’m pretty sure it was after the Szwed bio and Robert Campbell discographies were published, and I know it was well after my 1992 MA thesis on Sun Ra’s music. Not sure of the legalities involved! These are mostly sketch scores prepared for copyright documentation; for example, to save fees, he would present groups of discrete compositions as “suites” so several could be copyrighted for one fee. The notes that are there are accurate, as far as I can see — most of the Sun Ra pieces are in his own hand, and he was meticulous — but not all the parts or harmonizations are there, and we know from one video and one CD that he dictated and changed harmony parts in rehearsal, as well as writing them. Some of these are confusing: “Shadow World” doesn’t resemble the recorded versions, to my knowledge — correct me if I’m wrong. “Advice to Medics” seems to include Sun Ra’s own transcription of his improvisation, far more detail than needed for copyright, and it’s a solo Wurlitzer piece (speeded up on record — goes above range of Wurly, as my student Eric Lane noticed.) “Space Loneliness” suite seems to be missing here, and contains many of the great tunes of the time. But there are some tunes here I didn’t have, by others (Richard Evans, for ex.). I could go on…Thanks!

I received my own copy from a wishes-to-be-anonymous source about ten or fifteen years ago, a precious brown-paper wrapped package of deep esoteric wisdom I've been pondering ever since, and likewise studying the evolution in Sun Ra's charts, but also constantly amazed at how complete his conception had been even from the very start of the Arkestra.

And now here they are, at long last, out in the open air.  Let the wild rumpus begin!

Be Bop Wino: Blow "Mr. Low-Blow" / Lyin' Girl Blues - Red Saunders and his Orchestra (Columbia 30218)

Recorded in Chicago, June 15th, 1950. Personnel: Hot Lips Page, Sonny Cohn (trumpets); Harlan Floyd, John Avant (trombones); Porter Kilbert (alto sax); Leon Washington (tenor sax); McKinley Easton (baritone sax); Earl Washington (piano); Jimmy Richardson (bass); Jumpin' Joe Williams (vocal); Sonny Blount (arranger).

via Be Bop Wino: Blow "Mr. Low-Blow" / Lyin' Girl Blues - Red Saunders and his Orchestra (Columbia 30218).

How Do You Rehearse The Unknown?

Wayne Shorter On Jazz: "The six years I was with Miles, we never talked about music. We never had a rehearsal. Jazz shouldn't have any mandates. Jazz is not supposed to be something that's required to sound like jazz. For me, the word 'jazz' means, 'I dare you.' The effort to break out of something is worth more than getting an A in syncopation."

"This music, it's dealing with the unexpected. No one really knows how to deal with the unexpected. How do you rehearse the unknown?"

Louis Armstrong - Potato Head Blues

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfGZB78R7uw?wmode=transparent]

via youtube.com

"one of the most astonishing accomplishments in all of twentieth century music."

potatoheadblues.pdf

Skid-Dat-De-Dat / Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qo2uhNRJok]

"Skit-Dat-De-Dat is a very good and interesting study of 6-8-10 bar phrases of contrasts with 2 bar fill-ins by pianist, in between, for player to take breath before each new and good attack. This solo starts by long whole notes, with a gradual change to the rhythmical pattersn which delight player and listener."

Skit-Dat-De-Dat_Transcription.pdf

According to Joe Oliver and Kid Ory, the very earliest improvisations were slow evolutions, small changes on each chorus moving progressively farther from the tune both rhythmically and melodically.

Adventures on the Sun

"It???s no surprise considering that reinterpretation has been a cornerstone of hip hop production since the beginning, when loops and breaks were getting chopped up. Today though the new generation of producers are taking things further thanks in no small part to the internet and modern technology allowing people to link together regardless of distance and make use of a wealth of recorded music.

"With this in mind, it was a surprise to see something pop up on twitter yesterday about a bunch of producers, including L.A???s Ras G, having released a mix of reinterpretations of Sun Ra. The surprise quickly turned to pleasure when I started listening to it. There isn???t a wealth of information about it, beyond a tracklist, some art (one of which is used in this post) and a link to a myspace page for Re:source who seem to be the mastermind behind this effort. Looking at the tracklist it features quite a few known names to us, such as the aforementioned Ras G, Powell from Paris, Elaquent from Canada and Ichiro from Tokyo."

via The beat generation interprets Sun Ra

Jazz For Beginners

selected for enjoyablility as well as importance, from the broad "modern" period extending from 60 - 2000. excluded are both earlier classic styles such as Dixieland or Big Band, also leaving out later day completely improvised/free recordings.

via Different Waters

A wonderful list, widely scoped and very accessible, completely endorsed by Mr.G, although I might have included more newcomers like Butch Morris's conductioned NuBlu Orchestra, the harmolodious The Bad Plus, and Darcy james Argue's big band Secret Society with their brand new CD Infernal Machines

The Stepping Stone

Casa Valdez Studios: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Opening Address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival - "Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR5b0Eryr1U&hl=en&fs=1]
And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these."

Ethan on Lacy on Monk

via Ethan Iverson, a hand-out said to have been penned by Steve Lacy after his tenure with Thelonious Monk. read it. daily.

Sun Ra Explained

ShoMerde - Sun Ra’s Chart Explained: "Following the momentous appearance of the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen at the Palais Royale in October 2008, local astrologer Julie Simmons ran down the founding father’s chart on morning jazz program, AM/FM with Ron Gaskin, that until recently, broadcast on CKLN FM. With little or no prior knowledge of the man or his music , she nonetheless, hits some solid notes in providing an insight to the enigma that is Sun Ra."

"He was like he was from another star ..."

For the impatient: listen/download the mp3 here

Status: Citizenship

Gary does not WANT to be a citizen of this planet.
It takes too long.
He would much rather stay a citizen of The Greater Uni-Verse.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSNvdLpLx-0&hl=en&fs=1]

Status: Work-out

Gary needs some exercise. A real work-out. Get some sweat.
He's going to start with diminished scales. In C#

Marshall Allen

allen interview on Vimeo
On a cold and rain-soaked October night, Marshall Allen made it all make sense…Here’s the first interview with Allen, where he breaks it down for ShoMerde’s FamousLee; his history in the Sun Ra Arkestra and his role as a Leader after Sun Ra’s passing.

alleninterview from ShoMerde on Vimeo.

Recorded in Toronto, the day before the Hymn to the Universe performance.

Fifty years in the band still isn’t enough

The Senior Times Monthly: "the Arkestra follows the big band tradition but with an avant-garde twist, as likely to play When You Wish Upon a Star or There Will Never Be Another You as they are to revisit Sun Ra’s quirky themes like We Travel the Spaceways or one of the many tunes Allen has penned. Formed in the 1950s, the Arkestra is still thriving. I spoke to Marshall Allen, who still lives in the Sun Ra house in Philadelphia, a couple of days before his 84th birthday"
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYtVe0djBmk&hl=en&fs=1]

The SENIOR Times! I love it. Yeah, 84 years old, still world touring, still writing ripper new charts, still curating boxes of arrangements Sonny left behind, still leading the world's oldest and most venerable jazz band, and still atomizes any unwary terrestrial alto that may stray into the swath of his ion beam.

Moanin'

In the jazzier genre, here's the Belmont Sr. Secondary Jazz Band "A"; what I really like about this clip is the infectious joy of the performance. The kids take a chance on taking a rollicking favourite, and making it their own, right down to the "Play that Funky Music" intro, it is their music, their sound played their way.

Which is the only way we can play it. I think it was Joe Walsh (of the Eagles) who said there was no sin in stealing licks from other players because you cannot recreate their sound. Even if we have the same gear strung in the same way, we won't have the same feel, we will have our own, it will be our music whether or not we consciously try to copy the past. John Cage proved as well how you cannot even copy your own performance; the wire-recordings of the most expert players do not line up.

This particular moment of play, it's yours, you own it, the moment already has your stamp on it; you might as well roll it out your own way. It may be a Mingus romp an Amparito Roca or a Star Spangled Banner or Steve Reich's 6 players: you are going to be yourself out there, so you can be all timid and standing self-conscious in someone's shadow, or you can go out there and boldly be who you are.

"If we're gonna die out there, Benny, let's die doin' our own stuff." (Gene Krupa)

Amazon: Charles Mingus

Struttin' with some barbecue

There's some great talk over on Darcy's blog about the notions of jazz vocabulary and strategies for jazz education, and some very good discussion too, I've chimed in with my own (cosmic) ideas, but the groove of the conversation is tenaciously clinging to the what of the playing more than the why. I find the same when I hunt through videos of school and community bands, more often than not I find execution and articulation but with very little fiyah. They sit, they play, there, done it; next?


They have the 'what' down pat sufficient to dazzle the judges, but there's a gap in their education on the 'why', even though the 'why' of this music is so simple: it is the sound of joy.


Amazon: Louis Armstrong