24 Hours in Greenwich Village and 10 Things To Do

I'm just back from a touristy overnight stay in New York City -- about 24 hours from morning to morning.  I knew that most of the time was going to be spent in Greenwich Village, the iconic neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan, so before going I made a list of ten things to do while there.  Those were:

1. Walk the High Line
2. Sip on a Caffeinated Beverage at Cafe Reggio
3. Sip on an Alcoholic Beverage at the White Horse Tavern
4. Re-Enact Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' Album Cover
5. Catch a Set of Jazz at The Village Vanguard
6. Check Out the Historic Foodie Shops on Bleecker Street
7. Ogle the Exotic Instruments at Music Inn
8. Visit Washington Square Park
9. Walk Out Onto Pier 45 and Look for the Statue of Liberty
10. Find "Old" New York

Here's how that plan turned out!

Walk the High Line (Success!)
Although most of this this former elevated rail line turned public park is in the Chelsea neighborhood directly north of Greenwich Village, the Southern end of it does put you out on Gansevoort St. in what amounts to the northwest edge of the Village. It's a pretty easy walk from Port Authority (bus station) or Penn Station (train station) to the northern entrance(s) of the High Line.  We found the High Line with no trouble at all and walked a mile plus on it in frigid, windy, 20-degree March weather!  There are even a couple vantage points where you can see the Statue of Liberty off in the distance.  Walking along this above ground urban pathway was a brisk way to start the day.

Laura on the High Line. Statue of Liberty far far in background.

Me on the High Line. Not crowded on 20 degree day!

Sip on a Caffeinated Beverage at Cafe Reggio (Success!)
Caffe Reggio is the oldest coffee shop in Greenwich Village, circa 1927.  It was also the first place in the United States to serve cappuccino. I'm willing to bet this historic caffe stays pretty busy, so we were fortunate to walk in and find a nice, cozy table straight away on a super cold morning.  Classical music was playing softly over the speakers.  The poetic atmosphere was everything one could have hoped for and we lingered for quite some time over latte and espresso.  That was exactly the experience I was hoping to have here.

Latte and Espresso at Caffe Reggio.

Sip on an Alcoholic Beverage at the White Horse Tavern (Success!)
Poet Dylan Thomas once drank 18 shots of whiskey at this establishment...and then died shortly thereafter.  Jack Kerouac was also kicked out of the bar several times.  And, oh yeah it was built in 1880.  Lunch time was a good time to duck in for a drink.  It wasn't crowded yet and, surprisingly, hardened regulars outnumbered the few tourists that walked in.  I sat at the bar, sipped on a well poured Guinness, and took it all in.  This time the house music playing was pleasant jazz.

Too cold to sit outside today at the White Horse Tavern.

Re-Enact Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' Album Cover (Somewhat Success!)
The cover of Bob Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, depicts the songster walking down a wintry New York street in a light jacket with then girlfriend Suze Rotolo clutching his arm.  The photo was taken in Greenwich Village on Jones Street between W. 4th Street and Bleecker (facing W. 4th Street).  The street hasn't changed that much in the 50+ years since.  It was probably about the same temperature (25 degrees) during the Dylan photo shoot, but instead of thin jackets we were bundled up with several layers.  There was also no photographer handy so a selfie it was.

Standing on the street where Bob and Suze stood in 1963.

Catch a Set of Jazz at The Village Vanguard (Definite Success!)
New York is still the hub of jazz in America, if not the entire world, and the Village Vanguard is arguably the most prestigious jazz club in the world; certainly the most famed in New York.  This was pretty much the whole point of going to New York for just one night.  On short notice I had seen that Bill Frisell was doing a two-week residency at the Vanguard so off we went.  Did I mention that it was cold this day?  That probably prevented most people from lining up early, so when we arrived 15 minutes before doors there were only about 4 or 5 people in line in front of us. This meant that upon entering I was able to select THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE for seeing one of my all-time favorite musicians in THE MOST legendary jazz club.  A dream-like dream come true.  Bill played in a trio format with the drummer Rudy Royston and bassist Thomas Morgan.  Let me just say, Royston is a kick-ass drummer.  Bill was in peak form, but some of that credit goes to Royston for help taking him there.  I got what I needed from that set!

My view for Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston at the Vanguard.

Check Out the Foodie Shops on Bleecker Street (Success!)
This list is out of sequence, because after walking the High Line we made a B-line to Bleecker Street to sample the little cluster of venerable food shops between 6th and 7th Avenue, offering cheese, meats, coffee, tea, sweets, baked goods and more.  The $1 arancini (stuffed rice balls) at Faicco's Italian Specialties are the stuff of legend and deservedly so, as we found out.  Yeah, yeah...everybody talks about those and now I do too.  After walking around and adding some tea, bite-sized Bantam bagels and a NY pizza slice to that mix my stomach was feeling pretty sated.

Bill Frisell stood behind these pedals. I sat right in front of them. 

Ogle the Instruments at Music Inn (Fail)
This music shop on West 4th Street opened in 1958; a true holdover from the bohemian folk age.  Within its walls are hundreds upon hundreds of exotic instruments from around the world.  I was looking forward to seeing what they've got but then totally forgot to look it up when in the area.  Oh well, not everything could go exactly as planned.

Stone Arch. Washington Square Park.

Visit Washington Square Park (Very Brief Success!)
Washington Square Park - with its stone arch and fountain area - is a focal point in the Village.  On nice days people gather all over the park, but on this cold, cold day it was quite barren.  We were there just long enough to say we saw it.  I made a point of seeking out the "Hanging Elm".  Located in the northwest corner of the park, this urban-legendary tree remains the oldest tree in New York city.  Fun fact: over 20,000 bodies are buried under Washington Square Park.  The area where the park is now was once used as a burial ground for the unknown, the indigent, and victims of the yellow fever.  Creepy!

Hangman's Elm.

Walk Out Onto Pier 45 and Look for the Statue of Liberty (Fail)
This pier and green space juts out about 850 feet into the Hudson river, offering views of Hoboken, New Jersey as well as the Statue of Liberty.  That's all well and good but it was too damn cold to fool with trying to do that on this day.  Briefly taking off my gloves to take the above pictures was battle enough against the freeze.  Maybe on a nice summer day, yes.  Besides, we had already seen the Statue of Liberty off in the distance from the High Line and we didn't need to walk out on the water in that wind.

Find "Old" New York (Success?)
It may be cliche to go to Greenwich Village in search of wistfulness, but I would call this a successful attempt.  Yes, the folk scene that hatched Bob Dylan is long, long gone, although a few stubborn jazz clubs, cafes and vintage pubs do remain.  And unfortunately (?), after about 3 or 4pm it seemed like every formerly quaint restaurant or quiet pub had suddenly turned into a boisterous scene with club music playing at volumes that anyone over 40 is probably not going to appreciate.

However, in the morning hours (you know, "brunchtime"), in the just the right light, the Village does seem to retain its classic hue of days past.  You can almost imagine encountering a Welsh poet drinking his final whiskey, or a jazz musician playing with fierce passion, or crossing paths with an old folkie on Macdougal street.  Wait a minute...I did cross-paths with an old folkie on Macdougal street!  Village resident Steve Earle was walking by himself, minding his own business, when I managed to stammer out "Hey Steve, big fan of your music" as he passed by.  To which he replied "I appreciate it man" and then just kept on walking to wherever he was headed. Probably the gym.

It's amazing what 24 hours in New York can do for you.  It would be impossible to ever replicate this experience but I'd be willing to give it a try all over again, fully expecting different results.

New Orleans Jazz Banjoist Emanuel "Manny" Sayles

A few weeks back I came across an article titled 10 Great Jazz Tenor Banjo Players To Listen To, written by David Bandrowski for the Deering banjos blog.  On that list was a musician I had never heard of named Emanuel "Manny" Sayles.  I checked out some of the records he played on and was instantly captivated by the music.  Manny is a superb rhythm player and an inspiring soloist.  Finding out about him has opened the door towards listening, appreciating and learning about traditional New Orleans jazz, and it has given me someone to focus on as a possible influence.

Emanuel "Manny" Sayles

Emanuel Sayles was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana on January 31, 1905 (or 1907). His father George Sayles was a musician who played many instruments, including bass and viola.  Manny studied violin with a teacher in New Orleans named Dave Perkins and eventually taught himself to play banjo and guitar. He formed a neighborhood band with some of Perkins' other students and in 1924 they were hired to work in Pensacola, FL. The band became known as the Pensacola Jazzers and played all over the Gulf Coast.

In 1926 Manny returned to New Orleans where he was the banjoist in various groups for the next 12 years, including regular gigs at the New Orleans Country Club and on the Streckfus riverboats.  When electric guitars were invented Manny was required to get one for playing on the riverboat.  The electric guitar eventually took him to Chicago in 1938.  He would stay in Chicago for a decade, playing electric guitar and working as a sideman and band leader.

Manny returned to New Orleans in 1949 and by the mid 50's had taken up the banjo again and gotten back into the traditional New Orleans jazz music, which was starting to have a revival.  He subbed for the great George Guesnon at Preservation Hall and eventually replaced Lawrence Marrero on banjo in George Lewis' band after Marrero passed away.  

In the early 1960's Manny Sayles was featured on several classic GHB LPs, including Louis Nelson Big Four - Volumes One and Two, Kid Thomas/George Lewis - Ragtime Stompers, Sweet Emma Barrett and Her New Orleans Music, and Sayles' Silverleaf Ragtimers, to name a few.  These records are worth seeking out, not just for Manny's banjo playing but also for the intricate way the clarinet, trombone and/or trumpet interact in the New Orleans style of music.

I had always heard that Elmer Snowden's Harlem Banjo album was the holy grail of jazz banjo music, which it certainly is.  However, for some reason it never really captivated me.  Now, with the discovery of Manny Sayles, I have found a prime example of jazz banjo, as played in New Orleans.  Those Louis Nelson Big Four albums are doing it for me.

Sayles continued recording until the 1980's and had multiple opportunities to tour internationally in his later years.  He died on October 5, 1986.  Manny wasn't the flashiest of players or one of the most well known, but his musicianship is certainly among the best of the 20th century New Orleans jazzers.

Jazz Age Phish

Last month I decided to see if I could transcribe the vocal melody line to some Phish songs on my tenor banjo just by listening and assigning a note to each sung syllable in the lyrics. To my surprise and delight, this came rather easy. Years of familiarity with Phish’s music probably helped.

I soon thought of the Ran Blake book Primacy of the Ear.  I’ve mentioned this book before. The main point of Primacy of the Ear is putting your ear, rather than the fingers (technique) or the brain (theory) at the center of your musical learning. In doing so you are encouraged to focus on a couple divergent musical interests and study them both in depth. For one person this might be the music of Eric Dolphy paired with Cretan traditional music, for somebody else maybe Arvo Pärt and Aretha Franklin.

It’s taken me years to develop the mindset to give learning anything by ear a legitimate shot but the fun I had transcribing Phish vocal melodies made me consider following the advice in Primacy of the Ear by using Phish’s songbook as a means for improving my aural skills. Then I remembered a 2012 album called The Jazz Age by The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, where Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry songs are re-imagined in a 1920’s big band style. A musician named Martin Wheatley plays what sounds like 4-string banjo on most of the tracks on that album.

I had never heard of or listened to Roxy Music before discovering The Jazz Age, but I created a playlist in Spotify, alternating the original song with the 1920’s jazz version to hear the comparison. These artsy pop/rock songs work incredibly well as 1920’s jazz numbers (or even standalone pieces) and it sounds like Martin Wheatley didn't really change anything about his banjo technique for that recording. He is using the usual 1920's style rhythm playing.

This helped me realize that I could pair the learning of Phish songs by ear and the learning of traditional New Orleans/Creole banjo playing by ear into one study.  One example might be figuring out the vocal melody and general chord structure to the song Lawn Boy and then strumming over those changes in the standard "straight fours" jazz banjo rhythm.  Freedom through limitation.

A Little Tune Inspired by Is There Anybody Here That Love My Jesus by Medeski, Martin and Wood

I've been listening to some live 1995-1996 Medeski, Martin and Wood recently.  The It's A Jungle In Here > Friday Afternoon in the Universe > Shack-man era.  This is my favorite period of MMW music.  Particularly the tune Is There Anybody Here That Love My Jesus has been floating around in my head all week.

As an amateur hobbyist musician one great thing about reaching the point where trying to figure out something by ear is no longer an incredibly frustrating ordeal but rather a quite pleasant exercise, is that a door opens toward the possibility of personally interpreting the music by some of your favorite artists.  Even creating something of your own based on this music.  If you are in need of more tunes to learn you can just turn to existing recordings for ideas.

In light of yesterday's announcement that the Secret Keeper (Mary Halvorson and Stephan Crump) "house" concert would now be taking place in a church, I decided that now was as good a time as ever to see what listening to Is There Anybody Here That Love My Jesus could spawn.  Here's what came out of my banjo with me playing it.

I obviously wasn't trying to exactly duplicate this piece.  For one thing, I don't have the ability.  Secondly, I was hearing something a little different with maybe a few more measures or something repeated that doesn't happen in the original composition.  This is how it sounded about an hour ago when I recorded it.  This is like a first draft.  Things could definitely change as time goes on. 

I don't know how to play piano properly, but I have an electric keyboard that I use to help me discern certain notes because it has more clarity than my banjo does sometimes.  I kind of view the piano as a marimba with my fingers being the mallets.  Anyway, it's not heard on this recording thankfully but I used the piano before recording to help with deciding on some of these notes.  At other times I just did what I thought I wanted to hear.

Secret Keeper (Mary Halvorson and Stephan Crump) Friday, November 6, 2015 Richmond, VA

LOCATION UPDATED (and revealed) for the Secret Keeper "House" Concert on Friday, November 6, 2015 at 7PM in Richmond, VA!

This was originally supposed to be a house concert with very limited space but it has been moved to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church at Forest Hill and 43rd Street in Richmond, VA - a still intimate venue but one that will allow more people to attend.  There's a $10 to $20 suggested donation.

You might be thinking "experimental, challenging, freely improvised, modernly avant-garde compositions in a house of worship???"  (Actually, isn't there a history of free-improv within the church organ community?).  However, even as a non-religious person I know one thing:  I'll be worshiping some Mary Halvorson!!!  There is a guitar god.  Seriously though, this'll more than likely be a good room for appreciating this complex yet beautiful music.

Secret Keeper - Stephan Crump and Mary Halvorson

Secret Keeper is Mary Halvorson, guitar and Stephan Crump, bass. Mary Halvorson has been described as "the most future-seeking guitarist working right now" (Lars Gotrich, NPR.org), "the most impressive guitarist of her generation" (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com) and "my current favorite musician" (me!). Grammy-nominated bassist/composer Stephan Crump is known for his work with mainstream jazz luminaries, downtown explorers, singer/songwriters and more, and is a long-standing member of the esteemed Vijay Iyer Trio.

Together as Secret Keeper, Mary and Stephan create something akin to improvisatory chamber music. Stephan says, “Mary and I each have extremely varied influences within music and beyond…we’re not trying to bar any of these influences from the music we create together, nor are we concerned with genre in any way”.  Anyone who enjoys art, experimentation, and virtuosic musicianship should try to attend. 

A $10-20 suggested donation will help pay for these top level New York-based musicians.

Secret Keeper
Friday, November 6, 2015 at 7pm
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Forest Hill and 43rd Street
Richmond, VA 23225

JAZZed "What's On Your Playlist" - Clave Patterns by Los Munequitos de Matanzas

JAZZed Magazine has a regular segment called What’s On Your Playlist where a featured musician will list what he or she has been listening to. These artists usually select current releases and/or things they’ve discovered recently, but in the August/September 2015 issue baritone saxophonist Brian Landrus took a different route: he listed five recordings that have had a big influence on his playing.

Brian Landrus on contra alto clarinet

One of the albums he mentions is Rumba Caliente by Los Munequitos de Matanzas. Landrus says “While at the New England Conservatory I was fortunate to study with Danilo Perez. Danilo was working on my rhythmic groove. Danilo had me tapping various clave patterns with my foot and playing bebop heads. It was, and is, very difficult, but it took my internal groove to the next level. He told me about Los Munequitos so I listened to all of their recordings available and transcribed as many of the clave patterns I could find. They’re a great source of compositional inspiration for me.”

I had not heard of this Cuban group so I looked them up. The music is good and I can see how Landrus found it to be a great source of compositional inspiration. The idea of tapping various clave rhythms while playing head melodies sounds very challenging, but worth trying. You can read the full article – and the entire issue – here: http://digitaleditiononline.com/publication/?m=27630&l=1

The JAZZed interview with Ran Blake in the same issue is also worth checking out.

Wynton's 12 Ways to Practice

I saw this list in a book a few years ago and had forgotten about it until I came across it again recently.  These 12 practice tips from Wynton Marsalis are very well thought out ways to get the most out of your practice time.

Wynton Marsalis photo from 1981

First Published in The Education Digest, September 1996

As a boy growing up in New Orleans, I remember my father, Ellis, a pianist, and his friends talking about “sheddinʼ.” When they got together, theyʼd say, “Man, you need to go shed,” or “Iʼve been sheddinʼ hard.” When I was around 11, I realized that sheddinʼ meant getting to the woodshed – practicing. By the age of 16, I understood what the shed was really about – hard, concentrated work. When my brother Branford and I auditioned for our high school band, the instructor, who knew my father, was excited about Ellisʼ sons coming to the band. But my audition was so pitiful he said, “Are you sure youʼre Ellisʼ son?” At the time, his comment didnʼt bother me because I was more interested in basketball than band. Over the next several years, however, I began practicing seriously. Practice is essential to learning music – and anything else, for that matter. I like to say that the time spent practicing is the true sign of virtue in a musician. When you practice, it means you are willing to sacrifice to sound good. Even if practice is so important, kids find it very hard to do because there are so many distractions. Thatʼs why I always encourage them to practice and explain how to do it. Iʼve developed what I call “Wyntonʼs 12 Ways to Practice.” These will work for almost every activity – from music to schoolwork to sports.

1. Seek out instruction: Find an experienced teacher who knows what you should be doing. A good teacher will help you understand the purpose of practicing and can teach you ways to make practicing easier and more productive.

2. Write out a schedule: A schedule helps you organize your time. Be sure to allow time to review the fundamentals because they are the foundation of all the complicated things that come later. If you are practicing basketball, for example, be sure to put time in your schedule to practice free throws.

3. Set goals: Like a schedule, goals help you organize your time and chart your progress. Goals also act as a challenge: something to strive for in a specific period of time. If a certain task turns out to be really difficult, relax your goals: practice doesnʼt have to be painful to achieve results.

4. Concentrate: You can do more in 10 minutes of focused practice than in an hour of sighing and moaning. This means no video games, no television, no radio, just sitting still and working. Start by concentrating for a few minutes at a time and work up to longer periods gradually. Concentrated effort takes practice too, especially for young people.

5. Relax and practice slowly: Take your time; donʼt rush through things. Whenever you set out to learn something new – practicing scales, multiplication tables, verb tenses in Spanish – you need to start slowly and build up speed.

6. Practice hard things longer: Donʼt be afraid of confronting your inadequacies; spend more time practicing what you canʼt do. Adjust your schedule to reflect your strengths and weaknesses. Donʼt spend too much time doing what comes easily. Successful practice means coming face to face with your shortcomings. Donʼt be discouraged; youʼll get it eventually.

7. Practice with expression: Every day you walk around making yourself into “you,” so do everything with the proper attitude. Put all of yourself into participating and try to do your best, no matter how insignificant the task may seem. Express your “style” through how you do what you do.

8. Learn from your mistakes: None of us are perfect, but donʼt be too hard on yourself. If you drop a touchdown pass, or strike out to end the game, itʼs not the end of the world. Pick yourself up, analyze what went wrong and keep going. Most people work in groups or as part of teams. If you focus on your contributions to the overall effort, your personal mistakes wonʼt seem so terrible.

9. Donʼt show off: Itʼs hard to resist showing off when you can do something well. In high school, I learned a breathing technique so I could play a continuous trumpet solo for 10 minutes without stopping for a breath. But my father told me, “Son, those who play for applause, thatʼs all they get.” When you get caught up in doing the tricky stuff, youʼre just cheating yourself and your audience.

10. Think for yourself: Your success or failure at anything ultimately depends on your ability to solve problems, so donʼt become a robot. Think about Dick Fosbury, who invented the Fosbury Flop for the high jump. Everyone used to run up to the bar and jump over it forwards. Then Fosbury came along and jumped over the bar backwards, because he could go higher that way. Thinking for yourself helps develop your powers of judgment. Sometimes you may judge wrong and pay the price; but when you judge right you reap the rewards.

11. Be optimistic: How you feel about the world expresses who you are. When you are optimistic, things are either wonderful or becoming wonderful. Optimism helps you get over your mistakes and go on to do better. It also gives you endurance because having a positive attitude makes you feel that something great is always about to happen.

12. Look for connections: No matter what you practice, youʼll find that practicing itself relates to everything else. It takes practice to learn a language, cook good meals or get along well with people. If you develop the discipline it takes to become good at something, that discipline will help you in whatever else you do. Itʼs important to understand that kind of connection. The more you discover the relationships between things that at first seem different, the larger your world becomes. In other words, the woodshed can open up a whole world of possibilities.

Caribbean Jazz Standards: My Little Suede Shoes and St. Thomas

My Little Suede Shoes is a Charlie Parker tune with a Latin flavor and samba groove, although Parker didn't actually write it.  According to Brian Priestly, author of Chasin' the Bird, My Little Suede shoes is a French Caribbean tune called "Mes Souliers De Daim" that Bird picked up in Paris.  Parker explored Latin, Mexican and Caribbean Afro-Cuban rhythms during the early 1950's.  My Little Suede Shoes has an extremely catchy rumba beat that would have fit right in on Guadeloupe or Martinique.

My Little Suede Shoes

St. Thomas is a tune said to have been "composed" by Sonny Rollins.  His mother was from the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean and Rollins remembered hearing his mother signing a calypso song when he was a child.  The Rollins composition St. Thomas is based on the song his mother would sing, perhaps originally known as "The Carnival" from the West Indies and/or the song "Fire Down There" from Jamaica.  So, Rollins' version is more of an interpretation of these earlier traditional melodies than a full-on composition.  St. Thomas remains the most popular and well known of Rollins' calypso themed tunes.

####

The 2015 Richmond Folk Festival Saturday Schedule

In previous years I’ve often gone to all 3 days of the Richmond Folk Festival – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. However, due to the way the 2015 lineup comes together, attendance could be condensed into one day this time around. The five bands I’m most interested in seeing all perform at non-overlapping times on Saturday, October 10.

First off, there’s Grupo Rebolú (1:15-2:00 Dominion Dance Pavilion) from New York who play Afro-Colombian music. Their highly danceable rhythms are rooted in the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. After their set, there's the “Masters of Rhythm” workshop also on Brown's Island (2:30-3:30 WestRock Foundation Stage), featuring members of many of the different world music groups performing at this year’s festival. I love these types of workshops where they talk to musicians from different regions and traditions and have them provide examples of their respective styles and then jam together.

Grupo Rebolú

I might cut out of this rhythm meetup a little early to walk just north of Brown’s Island for The Alt’s set (3:30-4:15 VCU Health Stage). The Alt is more artistically appealing than most Irish bands at this level.  They rely on songcraft more than showmanship, offering obscure, sometime eery ballads that will stick with you long after the playing is done.  Eamon O’Leary is one of my all around favorite musicians in any style, John Doyle is a living legend and stringed instrument master, and the lovely Nuala Kennedy is both charming and impressive on flute and vocals.

The Alt

After The Alt it’ll be time to head back over to Brown’s Island for more Latin/Caribbean music, this time presented by the New York based Amargue Bachata Quintet with Andre Veloz (4:30-5:15 Dominion Dance Pavilion). Bachata is a Latino music from the Dominican Republic. Andre Veloz is the band’s frontwoman, and from what I understand it is rare for there to be a female bachata singer. The bachata music ends by 5:15 which should leave ample time to get a good spot for The Alt’s 2nd set of the day (5:45-6:30 Westrock Foundation Stage). This stage, which is under a tent and seated, will be a good place to watch The Alt work their magic.

Andre Veloz

This day’s itinerary closes with two jazz ensembles: the Feedel Band (7:00-8:00 Dominion Dance Pavilion) and the Sun Ra Arkestra (8:30-9:30 Community Foundation Stage). Feedel Band plays Ethiopian Jazz out of Washington DC. I'm not sure what this will be but I'm eager to find out.  The Sun Ra Arkestra dates back to the 1950’s and is on the short-list of the most important jazz collectives of all time. Mr. Sun Ra himself returned to Saturn in 1993, but the Arkestra continues to explore the outer realms under the direction of alto-saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Marshall Allen.

Feedel Band

Sun Ra Arkestra

Another cool thing about this plan is that it is logistically easy to pull off. It doesn’t involve as much walking through the crowds as usual because of the multiple back-to-back performances all taking place on Brown’s Island on either the Dominion Dance Pavilion or the WestRock Foundation Stage. There are plenty of food and beer vendors in that vicinity. The only time it leaves the island is for The Alt on the nearby VCU Health Stage at 3:30 and then for Sun Ra Arkestra all the way over at Community Foundation Stage for the final set of the day. That too makes sense logistically.

2015 Richmond Folk Festival map showing the sets mentioned above

I will probably wake up on Sunday morning with the notion to head back down to the festival. Sunday's highlights include DJ Grandmaster Flash, a “Global Voices” workshop and Deacon John’s Jump Blues, along with bonus sets by some of the performers I will have seen on Saturday.  But, even without Friday or Sunday, Saturday is a strong enough day to be a stand alone.

Mary Halvorson on Reading, Interpreting and Improvising

Mary Halvorson

Jazz and Avant-Rock guitarist Mary Halvorson has quickly become one of my favorite musicians. Getting to see her play live for the first time last month as part of the Tomeka Reid Quartet - while sitting just a few feet away - helped solidify this growing appreciation and gave me a little bit better idea of how she does what she does.

Mary was working from written music on a stand. I happened to see one of the pages and what she was doing was way more abstract and varied than what could have possibly been written on the page, and yet she seemed to maintain her concentration on the notation even during long periods of free improvisation. I asked Mary about this process and this was her response.

“With Tomeka's music, there is quite a variety in how the compositions are structured. Some of the tunes are way more open, in which case I am reading less and interpreting more, and others are more highly structured. If you see me staring at the page, I might be reading or following a solo form to improvise over. However, it's just as likely that I might not be reading at all and my eyes just happen to stay focused on the page after I've finished the notated portion. This happens sometimes too.

But regardless of what I'm reading, I do try to let the composition guide the direction of the improvisation. Even if I'm not playing over a form, the written material that comes before and/or after is still integrated into improvisational sections. For me, this is what ties it together into a coherent piece of music and gives each piece its own identity.” (Mary Halvorson)

Playing an Instrument as an Extension of Music Appreciation

I finally jumped on the vinyl trend as of August 2015.  I was in high school and college in the early to mid-90’s when CDs were at their peak, and before that I had cassette tapes.  I only recall having a few actual vinyl records as a kid.  By the time I really got into buying albums it was all on tapes or disk.  The nudge to vinyl happened last month when a friend gave me an old Radio Shack turntable/amp/speaker setup and some old records to go along with it.

After upgrading to a new turntable and speakers, I thought it would be fun to try and get some of my favorite all-time albums on LP, such as Ween “The Mollusk”, The Flaming Lips “Yoshimi” and My Morning Jacket “Z”.  While that stuff is fun to hear in this way, I was surprised to discover how receptive I am to jazz music when played on the turntable:  Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra….the kind of thing that I have long respected but never really focused on until now.  I see a lot  more of that coming my way.

This retrograde to vinyl is an opportunity to reevaluate my musical tastes.  Do I really have more interest in hearing Pablo Casals play the Bach Cello Suites than in hearing the new Built to Spill album?  It depends on how much I've had to drink, but I think so, yes.

One reason it took me so long to get on the vinyl bandwagon was because that for most of the last 10 years I’ve been learning to play an instrument, and for much of that time my focus has been on learning fiddle tunes – music that may be fun to play but isn't exactly what you might throw on the record player and chill out to.  I saw no reason to listen to vinyl records because that had no correlation.  It would just have been a distraction.

However, now I think I’m ready for that distraction.  By using my instrument as a means to figure out what might be going on in the music that I love listening to, it not only deepens the appreciation of this music but puts the work I've been putting into learning about music to good use.

Steve Korn's Talking Pictures Blog - Featuring Bill Frisell

Seattle-based photographer Steve Korn has a blog called TALKING PICTURES, on which he asks jazz musicians Leading Questions, such as "When I'm playing well __________", and "I've never understood _________".  I became aware of Steve Korn's blog when I saw that he had done a Leading Questions with guitarist Bill Frisell.  Below are some highlights from Bill's succinct responses.  The comments by other musicians in this series are worth reading as well!

Bill Frisell with clarinet (photo by Steve Korn)

Someone once told me "Music is good."

When I was 14 I got my first electric guitar!

Practice makes me feel good. 

When I look at where I’m at right now, I think I'd better get started. 

Some of my best ideas come to me as a gift when least expected. 

Fear is part of the deal. 

Motivation is not something to take for granted. 

Discipline is something I could use more of. 

I’ve never understood politics. 

The future of jazz is happening. 

The history of jazz is overwhelmingly rich with beauty, mystery, and reveals infinite possibilities for the future. 

The clarinet was my first instrument.

Ornette Coleman's Harmolodics

Sadly, most of what I know right now about Ornette Coleman I've learned only in the days since he died on June 11, 2015 at age 85.  I've been really impressed thus far with what I've heard and read in interviews with the forward-thinking jazz musician.  Always thoughtful and well spoken, he often says cool, cryptic things like "sound has no parents" and "let's play the melody, not the background".

A term that Ornette used to describe his musical philosophy is "Harmolodics".  From what I've been able to gather, it's an elusive concept that seems almost impossible to define in words or word sounds.  The following quote is perhaps Coleman's most clear and succinct attempt at describing it:

"Harmolodics is a base of expanding the melody, the harmonic structure, the rhythm, and above all the free improvised structure of a composition beyond what they would be if they were just played as a regular 2-5-1 structure, or if they were played with the concept of a melody having a certain arrangement to know when to start and stop."  (ORNETTE COLEMAN)

To get a better sense, I turned to Joe Morris' book - Perpetual Frontier: The Properties of Free Music. Morris devotes a chapter to Coleman's Harmolodic methodology.  Coincidentally, I had purchased this book just a few weeks prior to Ornette Coleman's passing.

Morris states that Coleman created a platform that was highly rhythmic and allowed for spontaneous melodic invention, but did not rely on notes that related to a specific chord, scale or harmonic line/progression.  His compositions were an open dialog in which the melody, rhythm and harmony were all in play and no one player had the lead.  Coleman's work encouraged an open kind of contribution from his collaborators and therefore he valued musicians with a personal style more than a "schooled" or "correct" one.

Of course, the best way to understand Coleman's music is by simply listening to it.

I Like “Jambands” So Why Not “Jazz”?

I like bands which specialize in collective group improvisation.  To my knowledge, the bands that best exemplify this are the Grateful Dead, Phish and Medeski Martin and Wood.  Some might call this "jamband" music.  Improvisation is also a big component of jazz, so after all these years why haven’t my tastes made the leap?

When I think of “jazz”, I tend to think of the innovative musicians who made their most groundbreaking work during a 10 to 15-year span from the mid-to-late 50's to about 1970. People like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery and Sun Ra. In the age of Spotify and YouTube, much of the music that these artists made is only a click away, yet I often have to force myself or remind myself to listen to it rather than come by it naturally. Why is this?

I think it partially has to do with the way this music comes across when compared to the music that someone of my generation was conditioned to listen to; we're not taught to prize the sound of a trumpet or saxophone or a noisy solo, but we are taught to worship the sound of the electric guitar…or in my case the guitar as played by a select few masters including Jerry Garcia and Bill Frisell. (There are plenty of “great” guitarists whose style does not appeal to me at all).

By the time I was in college I had a pretty clear grasp on the type of music that I liked and it didn’t necessarily have to include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix or Pink Floyd. I didn’t omit these bands altogether but I also didn’t focus on them.  With the broad variety of music under the rock n’ roll umbrella I could cherry-pick my favorites – based on what appealed to my particular tastes rather than just what is popular or what other people have said is good – and still feel like I was getting a full view.

I don't have that same nonchalance with jazz so I can't help but wonder if I am missing something by not devoting more time to the jazz equivalents of The Beatles or The Stones (Miles and Coltrane and so on)?  Perhaps by listening to improvisational "jambands" I had found not a gateway to jazz but a modern-day substitute for the innovative spirit of jazz.  So, in effect, that jamband music wasn't an alternative to the standard forms of rock n' roll as one might think, but a tie-in to a freer type of expression more akin to the jazz aesthetic.

However...things may be slowly shifting more toward jazz anyway as I get older.  For example, whenever I know that I'll be visiting a new city one of the first things I research is where to hear jazz music...not where to hear rock music.  This is because I know that generic rock music is probably going to annoy me but generic (AKA authentic) jazz is going to be pretty cool!

YouTube Video Find: Medeski, Martin and Wood with Nels Cline - 2014 Cully Jazz Festival

This is a good find.  Pro shot, full set video of Medeski Martin and Wood with Nels Cline from 2014.  I don't think these guys play "songs" per say, but rather they just get on stage and jam, or free improv.  A great collaboration.  Click the image below to watch.

Gary Burton's Jazz Improvisation MOOC Week 4 - Keith Jarrett's Memories of Tomorrow

So, I'm in week 4 of vibraphone player Gary Burton's free online Jazz Improvisation course.  I'm trying to hang in there through all the discussions of chord scales even though, as a melodic-based player and jazz newbie, I'm not even aware of the chords as I'm playing a tune.

Part of this week's assignment was to record yourself playing the melody to Keith Jarrett's "Memories of Tomorrow" and then improvise over the harmony - one chorus of melody and then a chorus of soloing.  I had never heard this tune until yesterday, but it actually has a melody that I can make out and get into.

I spent yesterday listening to the tune and imagining myself recording it tonight.  Kind of poetic that way, since it's called Memories of Tomorrow.  When I got home this evening I cranked out a recording the first chance I got.  This here is the 2nd take.  It may not be all that improvisational but it actually sounds listenable to my ears, unlike my sub-par submissions for the previous week's assignments.

I am definitely learning some theory-oriented approaches from this class and getting a glimpse into the mindset of a jazz improviser - an area where I was completely ignorant beforehand.  Jazz is first and foremost an aural tradition, but gaining an understanding of the technique behind certain strategies of soloing can't hurt.

This is the video I listened to to get an idea of what Memories of Tomorrow sounds like:

It's a good sounding tune!

John Medeski's Advice for Young Musicians

In a 2011 interview with JAZZed, pianist John Medeski of the trio Medeski, Martin and Wood had this advice for young musicians:

JM: Slow down the process in terms of your study. We’re constantly on random play and things are changing all the time, but I think it’s really important to stop and slow down. Set aside time to really dive into things and absorb them. Work on slowing down and really hearing from deep inside. Take time to dive into one artist for a month or two at a time. Pick somebody you really love and just dive into their music. Find pieces that will give you the quintessential sort of essence of their sound and study it, learn it, absorb it. Take time to listen to it until you can hear it, sing it and feel it inside you – until you don’t need to listen to it or read it to sit down and play it.

I also recommend playing free as part of your practice. First do your technique warm-up and then sit down and play free. You can sit down and play a sunset, you can play an emotion, you can play a scenario – it can be programmatic, it can be romantic, it can be whatever but do it every day as part of your practice. Then you can go work on learning tunes, writing, studying harmony, lines, approach tones – all that other stuff that you need to learn – but first get yourself in a warmed up state and connected to your instrument and then play free. That’s how you find your voice and stay connected to it. That way you know what all these sounds mean to you. You can’t be taking your cues from everybody else – we need to know what every chord and every note means to us and what every combination of those notes means to us. Then when we play them it is coming from us.

Bassist Chris Wood and drummer Billy Martin also offered these comments in the same interview:

CW: Just persist. If you really want to do it and you love it – if you love music you just have to keep playing and playing and playing until you really are doing what you believe in.

BM: Think about developing your language. Think about your instrument as a means to express yourself with the language and the vocabulary that you have. Work on being in the moment of soloing and improvising and composing on the spot. Even if it’s just a one minute solo, work on developing a piece of music on your instrument right there on the spot and your vocabulary will grow very quickly.

Guitar Legend Bill Frisell will be at the Richmond Jazz Festival on Sunday August 10, 2014!

Bill Frisell

I'm getting psyched about seeing one of my all-time favorite musicians, Bill Frisell, at the Richmond Jazz Festival at Maymont this weekend!  Bill will be performing with his Beautiful Dreamers trio (Eyvind Kang - viola and Rudy Royston - drums) on the MWV stage at 4:30pm on Sunday 8/10.  Click here for the full Jazz Festival lineup and set times.

Guitarist Bill Frisell's sound has been described by Jazz Times as "instantly identifiable".  Jazz Times goes on to say that his "tone is overwhelmed with reverb and delay, and he's developed the tic of bending the neck after striking a note or chord, in an effort to move those pitches into an unattainable perfect tuning.  Complementing those serene, liquid tone colors is his physical attack, wherein economy is paramount and looping devices are constantly tweaked for purposes of orchestration and atmosphere rather than theatrics."

This one-off performance in Richmond precedes a 5-day stint next week at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in Kilkenny Ireland, where it looks like Bill will sit-in with a wide variety of artists and projects, including a performance of Terry Riley's In C and a set with Irish traditional musicians Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill!  I would love to hear both of those.

Beautiful Dreamers trio

I've only seen Bill once before back in 2008 during his Disfarmer tour, so needless to say I've been geeking out in anticipation by reading interviews and watching videos.  Speaking of interviews, here's a really good interview with Bill Frisell done by his friend, banjoist Danny Barnes, and here's one where Bill interviews one of his own guitar heroes, Jim Hall.

Frisell seems to thrive in unusual, improvisational settings with all sorts of different musicians.  I'm particularly fond of the music made during this February 29th, 2004 performance at the Barbican Theater in London, where he played with Malian musician Djelimady Tounkara.  Here are some videos from that concert:

Bill Frisell seems to be a little outside the smooth jazz and funk that the Richmond Jazz Festival normally features, but then again Bill's going to be a little "outside" of any lineup he is part of.  Perhaps his presence will bring some increased awareness to an already successful and vibrant jazz festival.

Five Great Guitar Players: A List

Earlier this month I posted a reference to Paul Murin’s excellent essay on Memorizing Music.  Paul is the curator of the guitar instruction site High Country Guitar.  Among the info on that site is Paul's list of Great Guitar Players.  Being a sucker for lists, I checked out his favorites and was happy to see that 3 of my 5 favorite guitar players were represented!

Trey Anastasio

Here’s how Paul describes Trey Anastasio, the guitarist for Phish.

Trey is known for long, extended improvisations as well as avant-garde instrumental compositions.  Trey is a technical and creative master of the instrument. 

The key element of Trey’s sound is overdrive followed by compression.  You crank up that overdrive, and then you get a grip on it by running it through a compressor.  It creates a warm, soaring sound with seemingly (and sometimes literally) endless sustain.  A key element of his picking style has to do with palm muting - when you play with a lot of overdrive, palm-muting becomes essential to keep things under control.  By making constant (and, at this point, presumably unconscious) adjustments to how the palm of his hand sits near the bridge, Trey is able to coax a lot of different sounds out of his guitar.  

If you watch Trey's right hand, you'll notice that it doesn't actually move much when he is soloing.  His palm tends to hover just over the strings, near the bridge.  This allows him to make those constant, minute adjustments so that some notes come out as more staccato, while others ring out fully.  It also helps create a tight, focused sound.  

Many of Phish's big jams are primarily modal.  Mixolydian tends to be the most common for major key jams, and for minor keys, Dorian seems to be the go-to mode.  In most of these situations, the mode is mixed with a healthy dose of pentatonic/blues licks.

Trey commonly uses chromatic licks approaching chord tones.  Perhaps because of his compositional skills, Trey tends to build solos using motives - little melodies and/or rhythmic patterns that get repeated, moved around the neck, displaced, etc.  These motives give his solos a sense of coherence.  Personally I think Trey is better than just about anyone (in rock and roll) at this kind of thing.  His solos almost always feel very deliberate, and rarely sound like he's just "noodling" in search of an idea.

Many of Trey's more complex compositions feature a "theme and variation" approach, where he takes a lick or melody and moves it around through different keys, sometimes extending it, other times truncating it.  Most of Trey's complex compositions, regardless of how complex they are, are oriented around a groove.  They keep the crowd dancing as they wind through all kinds of weird musical places.  

Jerry Garcia

Next on my list would have to be Jerry Garcia.  Here’s what Paul has to say about ol’ Jerry:

Founding member of the Grateful Dead.  Known for long, extended improvisations.  Strong foundation in American roots styles - blues, country, and jazz. An incredibly passionate and creative musician, and a virtual walking encyclopedia of American music. 

Here are some descriptions of Garcia’s playing by others:

The essence of Garcia's sound came in the way he attacked the notes with his pick.

Jerry could weave colorful passing tones into his lines like no other rocker. 

He had a clear, “well-spoken” tone and a strong and precise connection to the string.

Garcia picked almost every note and seldom used hammer-ons or pull-offs. 

Bill Frisell

Thirdly is Bill Frisell.  I’m so glad that Paul included him on his list.  About Frisell, Paul says:

Bill Frisell is a great player who is difficult to categorize.  Usually categorized as a jazz player, he really blends a strong helping of country/folk/bluegrass in his music.  Known for his restraint and use of space.  I once heard someone say that he plays guitar the way Miles Davis played the trumpet.  One of my favorite players, period.

In a recent article for No Depression, Jake Schepps described Frisell like this:

Frisell is so distinctly American, creating music that is at once jazz, country, blues, and noise.  His music is unique, yet incredibly familiar, and at times sweetly dissonant (like no one else can be).  It has me questioning so many musical preconceptions about how music can work, what makes something compelling, what can be a song, what is soloing, and more. 

With Frisell’s approach to music, when playing folk tunes, Bob Dylan songs, original country twang ditties, and old swing standards the beauty is so pronounced, so touching, melodic, at times so directionless yet with such inevitable and perfect forward movement.  It is jazz, and so “not jazz” (which is actually very jazz).

Norman Blake

Surprisingly absent from Paul Murin’s list is Norman Blake, although to his credit Paul didn’t entirely omit all flatpickers, but chose to list David Grier, Tony Rice and Doc Watson among his favorites in that style.  However, I’d put Norman Blake up there as well.

Others have described Norman Blake like this:  His melodic lines are direct and elegant, without the pyrotechnics often associated other flatpickers.  Blake’s music has an air of authenticity and basic honesty few can achieve.  Blake’s music is of an elemental sort that transcends technological change and the tides of pop culture.  Blake’s music takes you back home to the porch and the living room, where, symbolically and literally, it was born.

Norman is not the fastest flatpicker in the world - but he brings the wood of the acoustic guitar to life. He doesn't play very much beyond the first five frets of the instrument, but that is why he makes one acoustic guitar sound like an ensemble!  The drone of the open strings picked here and there provides an anchor for the tune he picks, so that one acoustic guitar, without any backup, is complete in and of itself.  His crosspicking techniques add to the fullness as well.  (The Flatpick Post)

Grant Green

Lastly, but also missing from Paul’s list is Grant Green, a perpetually underrated jazz guitarist who recorded prolifically for the Blue Note Label throughout the 60’s and early 70’s. 

Grant Green had a "dark-blue", instantly recognizable sound that was influenced by horn players.  He rarely comped, choosing to drop out when trading off with other soloists rather than doing any backing.  When asked why he didn’t play chords Green is said to have responded “Charlie Parker didn’t play chords”.

Jazz Times described Green like this: 

Grant Green was among the most disciplined yet imaginative soloists of his generation.  His single-line statements were rhythmically brilliant, and his use of staccato notes equally intriguing.  Green’s earthy melodies were clean and fluid, his voicings impeccable and he was especially captivating on ballads.  Though his initial fame came through his participation in soul-jazz and organ-combo sessions, Green eschewed blazing speed and notey forays for deft harmonic response, funky rhythmic dexterity and nimble melodic interpretation.