MIKE MCGINNIS
  • Main
  • About
  • Discography
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Compositions
  • Bird

Art Lande

3/1/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
Art Lande is one of the most amazing pianists I've ever heard touch the instrument but unfortunately he's not so well known outside the jazz scene despite his numerous records for ECM in the 70's, amazing solo piano records and current work and long list of almost 400 compositions. 

So, I've decided to put up some of my favorite tracks of his from albums that are out of print and some links to tracks I found online.
FROM:    LANDE PLAYS MONK

​These two track exemplify what I love about Art's playing.  He's straight out of the great jazz piano tradition but then he stirs the pot with his own mix of surprise, wit, humor and amazingly endless harmonic and rhythmic ideas.

Here's a link to buy a physical COPY

THINK OF ONE
BRILLIANT CORNERS
LIGHT BLUE
From THE ECCENTRICITIES OF EARL DANT (Arch LP S-1769), 1977.  This was recorded at the Great American Music Hall in SF and it's another example of Art blending the history of jazz piano with his own marvelous take on the concept of "Dancing On The Ceiling"
Art has had a long association with Paul McCandless and here's a sweet track from a recent recording that you can buy HERE
An awesome live duo with Paul McCandless where you get to see and hear some of the humorous side of Art
From his 1970's band Rubisa Patrol who recorded for ECM Records
From Art's ECM duo with Jan Garbarek - "Red Lanta"
2 Comments

Bill Smith/William O. Smith

11/12/2013

7 Comments

 
Picture
Here's an awesome Bill Smith composition based on the blues from his record with Enrico Pieranunzi.
And another based on "Giant Steps" from the same record.
I have long wanted to make a blog post about one of my musical heroes, Bill Smith.  I first heard him playing with Dave Brubeck.  To many clarinetists who play contemporary classical music or "new" music, William O. Smith is pioneer at studying and using extended techniques in his compositions and improvisations.    

The words pioneer, artist and innovator are often tossed about lightly these days but I feel that Bill Smith is as true of an example of a pioneer, multi-faceted artist, virtuoso clarinetist, formidable composer, masterful teacher and generous human being as we have amongst us today.

Rather than attempt to explain all of the things that inspire me about Bill's music, I decided it would be best to let Bill speak for himself through his music.  I've compiled a playlist of what I'd consider to be a pretty fair sampling of Bill's compositions and clarinet playing since his early days in the late 1940's with the Dave Brubeck Octet to a jazz opera from 2008.  I've put some information about the recordings but it's mostly about the music.  


                           Here is a link to a recent discography

CLICK TO BUY

The outgrowth of a group of students at Mills College studying with Darius Milhaud, the Dave Brubeck Octet recorded Bill's "Schizophrenic Scherzo" in 1946
Picture
***************************************
              CLICK TO BUY

From a 1957 Red Norvo recording.  Bill's four movement "Divertimento" was a requst by producer Lester Koenig for longer music to take advantage of the new recording length that was available.

 


Picture

***************************************

           CLICK TO BUY


Concerto for Clarinet & Combo

This is another Lester Koenig request that resulted in Bill composing a 3 movement concerto for clarinet and 9 instruments.  Recorded in 1957 with Shelly Manne,  Bill's writing and playing are masterful on this. 


Picture

***************************************

             CLICK TO BUY


Concerto for Jazz Soloist and Orchestra
with Orchestra USA, Gunther Schuller, cond.

This five movement 12-tone piece features an entirely improvised solo part played by Bill.  It was recorded by the Orchestra USA led by John Lewis





***************************************

            CLICK TO BUY

Another Lester Koenig request for an album of Folk Songs that Bill nicely re-arranges.

Picture

***************************************

               CLICK TO BUY

Three albums completely composed by Bill with Dave Brubeck, Eugene Wright & Joe Morello.  
Picture
Picture
Picture

***************************************

Bill & John Eaton started the American Jazz Ensemble in 1960.  They performed a wide variety of chamber music and jazz while exploring the musical technology of the time. 
This version of Charlie Parker's "Little Willie Leaps" features Bill, John Eaton, Richard Davis & Paul Motian playing along with tape loops going forwards, backwards and sped up.
Picture
Picture
***************************************
Picture
From an album titled "Fragments, etc." featuring  8 pieces for solo clarinet paired with voices, a clarinet ensemble, tape and echo.  Bill also played the double clarinet on this.  









***************************************

"Round Midnight" from a duo record with Enrico Pieranunzi called "The Rome Sessions"

 
A recent piece by Bill is an opera titled "Space in the Heart" with libretto written by Peter Monaghan based on the true life story of an astronaut love triangle.  Here's a clip: 



Bill has also composed pieces for two clarinets.  Here he is in Italy with Paolo Ravaglia.



Bill is also a great improvisor in any settle and "style".  Here he uses electronics in a free improvisation.

7 Comments

The Supremacy of "making the changes" (a digression)

8/26/2012

3 Comments

 
After reading Ethan Iverson's latest blog (and the comments that followed it) regarding jazz competitions, I started to examine my own thoughts and experiences relating to the idea of those who can play and those who can't.  Or relating directly to the competitions, the validity of those who judge and those who are judged as the winners.  The phrase "X can play" or "X can't play" is something that most musicians will hear and even say at some point.  Questioning the idea of what it means to be able to "play" was first brought to my awareness in a class with pianist/composer Michael Cain when I was at the Eastman School of Music from 1995-1997.  It was in the context of jazz education and in particular to the use and meaning of the word "technique".   Often times when someone is labeled as being able to "play", it's also said that they have good technique.  In our classroom discussion, we came to the conclusion that what "technique" means in the jazz education context is basically someone who can play fast and clean and "make the changes".  So what about other types of techniques beyond this?  Techniques of sound, phrasing, free improvising, playing slow, rhythm, time feel, swinging, sight-reading notes and chords.  Why is good technique most often only associated with moving one's fingers quickly and precisely?  Could Paul Desmond or Cecil Taylor have good technique?  Don Cherry or Johnny Dodds?  Does Michael Brecker have better technique than Ben Webster?  

I feel this relates to the "X can play" phenomenon in that both playing fast and playing melodies that very clearly outline the chord changes are skills that are easy to judge.  This is important in any sort of academic setting and also in any type of competition.  It makes sense to me.  How could you judge someone on sound or imagination?  If you have to grade or judge a person then you need some fairly cut and dry criteria on which to do this.    This also goes along with the idea that to be a legitimate player, you must be able to play in the style of all of the music that has come before.  I've heard people trying to justify Ornette Coleman by saying that he could play just like Charlie Parker if he chose to.  Like that would somehow give his music validity. 

So, some questions related to this that I have are:

What does it mean to make the changes?
Is someone like Sidney Bechet's approach to changes more or less valid than someone like David Murray's?
Does someone need to be able to play changes to be considered a real player?
Could someone be a virtuoso free player?
Can all people that play changes well also play free well?
If a person can only play changes up to a medium tempo, can they still play?

One last thought related to this is about a phenomenon that I've experienced with musicians who validate the ability to play with the "make the changes" criteria.  If you're listening to some music that is very abstract with orchestral instruments that is composed by someone famous like Webern or Schoenberg, the music is taken seriously and often enjoyed.  If something equally abstract is played by a group like the Art Ensemble, it is not taken seriously.  I must admit that when I was in my late teens, I often was guilty of this type of thinking.  In some twisted way, I almost assumed musicians like the Art Ensemble really wanted to make music like Duke Ellington, but they either couldn't or were not serious enough to put in the work to be able to do it.  I've often wished I could take a time machine back to my high school days and give myself a few whacks on the head to shake this crazy idea from me.   Fortunately for me, a decade and a half in the lovely NYC music scene has freed me from this way of thinking.  

I will end this by saying that my intent is not to downplay the inspiring and magical sound of someone like Charlie Parker weaving through the chord changes at a breakneck tempo, but to question why this is often the primary aspect of music making that is used to judge whether someone can "play" or not.    That being said, I'm still driven in each practice session to want to play Countdown like John Coltrane, Skippy like Steve Lacy, Cherokee like Charlie Parker and Body and Soul like Coleman Hawkins.  For me, all of those players take my imagination well beyond the limits of playing the correct notes over a chord change and to something magical and mysterious that I've been pursuing since I first heard Charlie Parker's "Live at Storyville" version of Moose The Moose in my early teens.  
3 Comments

THE BREAK (musings of a clarinet obsessed mind)

8/17/2012

5 Comments

 
At the prodding of a few close associates I've decided to start a blog centered around my obsession with all things clarinet.  I'm particularly interested in the legacy of the clarinet as a genre crossing/busting vehicle.  
Topic 1 - The tradition of multi-genre clarinetists


After exploring the music of many clarinetists often associated with creative improvised music I've noticed a pattern.  Many clarinet players  also explored musical forms beyond the traditional song form and they were interested in using tools more often associated with "classical" music.


While many instruments have the ability to fit in many different genres, there's something about the clarinet that attracts musicians who want to play a lot of different music and also many people who not only play different "styles" but also compose in a lot different "styles".

I've often wondered (in relation to the chicken vs. egg argument) what came first.  The clarinet's amazing ability to be at home in a variety of world musics or is it something about the instrument that attracts the type of musical personality that has an affinity for exploring a lot of different musical territory?  

I'll provide a few examples I've encountered and I would be happy to hear from anyone else who can provide other examples.


These are in no particular order:


1) Benny Goodman
While most people know his swing based music with small ensembles and big bands, Benny was quite a purveyor of "classical" music.  Along with commissioning Aaron Copland, Bela Bartok, Malcolm Arnold and Morton Gould, Benny also recorded and performed the Mozart & Brahms quintets and many other well known clarinet pieces.

Here's a little wiki account - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Goodman#Forays_into_classical_repertoire


Here's one of my favorite examples which features Benny playing with Bela Bartok and Josef Szigeti:
I'll follow up with further posts related to this topic that will include Buddy DeFranco, Bill Smith (William O. Smith), Jimmy Giuffre, Don Byron, Eddie Daniels and more.  Please feel free to add to the list.
5 Comments

    Archives

    March 2016
    November 2013
    August 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Main
  • About
  • Discography
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Compositions
  • Bird