by Mark Saleski
Have you ever engaged in this kind of self-debate? There are all sorts of ways to play. There’s the Top-40 angle: “Come On Eileen…Bawitdaba!? Hmmm…I better not tell anybody,” the Angle of Pure Nostalgia: “People might look down on Boston’s so-called corporate rock, but that girlfriend I had? I’ll never forget Don’t Look Back.”
I don’t want to give you the wrong idea here because the most interesting angle does not involve guilty pleasures at all but instead: pure sound. In the jazz world there are many artists who make music that non-fans sometimes refer to as “cats-on-piano” jazz. I get that. I mean, I can see why somebody might not dig on some Cecil Taylor or Peter Brotzmann. That doesn’t change the fact that Taylor’s clatter lights up my brain pathways as does Brotzmann’s plasma-cutter saxophone. We here at SomethingElse! like to refer to this music as Whack Jazz. Don’t worry. We won’t hold it against you if you’re not into it.
It’s also important to note that the pure sound angle is independent of the music’s “whackness.” A great example is guitarist Bill Frisell. Though Frisell can (and has) been involved in some seriously out-there noisification, what drew me to him was his use of space and dynamics amidst his roots-drenched compositions. He manages to take in much of the histories of both country music and jazz, reducing them to their common elements. Yes, I liked the music right away, but it took me years to get to the “why” of it all.
Since I’ve got years of these sorts of musings under my belt, it does seem that I’ve gotten better at it. Take jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson: I knew right away. Sure, she plays with a lot of angularity (something I’m attracted to with nearly any form of music), but that’s not all. While there are elements of her sound that are quite traditional (including her clean tone), she mixes in an array of other devices — dissonance, surprising changes in direction, distortion, chord “bends” (best use of the whammy pedal ever) that taken together make perfect sense to my ears.
Given Halvorson’s resume, my attraction to her music shouldn’t be surprising: Anthony Braxton, Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tom Rainey, Curtis Hasselbring (Either Orchestra), and many others.
So do you have any musical attractions that don’t necessarily make sense? Don’t worry, the reasons will come into focus eventually.
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I listened to this clip to see if I still don't like this kind of music. And I still don't, though I don't hate it either. All lot of it does have to do with sound.
My problem is that as a guitar player I can't fathom why folks with such chops insist on that dry, dull sound when the Beatles an Hendrix opened up such a universe of sound.
Pat Methany,when he was king of jazz guitar in Boston, refused to bend strings. When I heard that I remember thinking – Hey, he's great, but that is just WRONG.
I was privileged to work once producing a project with the great Mike Stern, the only jazz player I've heard who can truly rock out. My sole contribution to the session was to tell him to turn up. He appreciated it.
hmmm…interesting. i have heard that very same complaint before, about the sound of jazz guitar. i guess it's the tradition? as for the string-bending, i don't miss it in jazz (and i'm a big Mike Stern fan…though a lot of his playing is closer to rock/funk in nature).
…and i say this as a guitar player who can play both rock and jazz.
thanks for commenting!