Rock You Like A Hurricane: Why The 80s Matter To Jazz

One of the most lasting innovations coming out of Louis Armstrong’s revolutionary period of development and growth in the late 20s and early 30s was the use of pop songs in jazz repertoire. By jazz repertoire, I mean songs that are basically blueprints, structures or contexts for improvisation and specifically jazz soloing. This is distinctly different aesthetically speaking, to how sweet ‘jazz’ orchestras of the 20s (Paul Whiteman and Art Hickman for example) performed pop repertoire. However, it would not be surprising to imagine that Armstrong got the idea to play pop tunes from the much more successful, and chronologically several years earlier, recordings of these sweet jazz orchestras.

Whatever the reason, the result was a new innovation in improvised jazz, which provided a new artistic challenge, and gave jazz as a music style entré into the pop culture world as more than just dance music. This ultimately set it on its path of becoming the stylistic omnivore it has been since the 1950s.

The main elements to Armstrong’s innovation were individuality and deconstruction. Cover a tune people know well, especially the melody, but put your own spin and personality quirks in the way you play it. Change the phrasing, rhythm, and articulation (a little later players tinker with the harmony, meter and even form of pop tunes) so the melody now becomes YOUR melody. Pick apart the original version and recast the song in a different instrumental setting, alter the mood of the piece to reflect your personal relationship to the narrative. Listen to “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, the 1929 version by Armstrong and focus on how he deconstructs the word ‘baby’ (it is a pop tune after all and that word is central to pop songs of any era) to see what I mean. Compared to a 1920s pop version, by Annette Hanshaw for example, Louis completely rewrites the song in his own language.

The best jazz covers have followed those rules for decades, Miles’ version of “Someday My Prince Will Come” for example

(have you heard the original from Disney’s Snow White by Adriana Caselotti lately? It’s a testament to his brilliance that Miles could transform that song into the jazz standard that it is today). Or Coltrane’s version of “My Favorite Things” (perhaps the most notorious pop cover in all of jazz), which deconstructs the original so deftly thus transforming it into the modal jazz anthem we all know it as today. What connects all these examples together is the artist’s ability to find and re-imagine a strong pop melody. Hitching one’s creative or improvisational exploits to a melody that speaks to audiences in both concrete and abstract ways is what makes jazz covers part of the vox populi (or cantus populi, song of the people).

Here is where the 1980s come in. A modern day jazz deconstructionist can survey decades of pop culture repertoire but if they go much past the 60s or 70s they get into territory that most contemporary audiences can’t connect with. Alternately, if they use repertoire from the late 90s or from the 2000s to now they run into conceptual and aesthetic issues because so much of the music has been almost systematically stripped of harmonic movement or melodic arc. (There are always exceptions to my blunt assessment – Radiohead from the early 2000s for example or Adele from today. In general, however, if you graphed the melodic arc of the typical top ten billboard song it would almost be a flat line.)

Where does the jazz artist turn for both melodic inspiration and audience relevance? The 1980s! That decade had an eclectic sound to say the least. What other recent decade can boast a chart topping list of names with such variation in style and content as Prince, Cindy Lauper, Michael Jackson, Tears for Fears, and Peter Gabriel to name a few. One thing these artists, as well as many others, did have in common was a penchant for strong melodies and catchy riffs or vamps. Not only are the 1980s a goldmine of interesting and lasting melodies waiting to be re-interpreted, but also additionally those songs are just now peaking as America’s most relevant ‘nostalgia soundtrack’. As the boomer generation ages towards retirement, the following generation (the so-called generation X) is poised to be the next American generation to indulge in gluttony of the nostalgia buffet. It is already happening, so much of today’s fashion is 80s updates and in other music styles the 80s has already taken hold, from 80s nights at clubs to reunion tours, to innovative 80s cover bands in other genres of music (my favorite being Love Cannon, a bluegrass outfit from Charlottesville VA,

not to mention Boston’s own Ronald Reagan, an outstanding saxophone duo).

The great thing about the 80s is that the music culture was well documented in movie soundtracks, and perhaps most importantly, iconic music videos. Not only do the former high school or junior high kids of the 80s (now in their 40s and 30s) love to revisit the culture of the era, but even kids born in the 80s and 90s know the songs and movies. In so many ways, music of the 1980s is speaking to a broader cross section of the American audience than today’s current chart toppers. It may currently be the most emotionally relevant pop culture out there in America.

I think because of the aesthetic potential and the pop culture relevance, 1980s repertoire for jazz musicians is a fertile and creative addition to the current ‘bag of tricks’ any post-modern improviser already possesses.

There already have been several artists who have explored this repertoire. Like in the past, the best covers are the ones that hold true to Armstrong’s advice; find a catchy melody, and make it your own with personal interpretation and deconstruction. Herbie Hancock was one of the first to test the waters with his 1996 recording ‘The New Standard’ (although I should mention Miles’ cover of Lauper’s “Time After Time” recorded in 1985 probably is the first official 80s jazz cover). Hancock gives all types of tunes from the 60s-90s a jazz treatment. One of the more interesting is a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street” originally from 1986′s So. Herbie takes a cue from Coltrane here with a modal vamp primed for Hancock’s polytonal harmonic shadings mixed with world music influences (Gabriel was also a fan of cross-pollinating his pop with international flare) including the use of tabla. Like with the pop covers of old the main goal is to be a vehicle for improvisation, which Herbie certainly highlights in his version by leaving ample room for solos.

The Bad Plus is another group that has delved into the pop tune world of the 70s, 80s and 90s and they have had international success with their sometimes severely deconstructed versions of favorite melodies. The Bad Plus are children of the 80s, so it should be no surprise they find joy in reinterpreting songs like Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”.

They take the cold and objective new wave classic and infuse it with their very impassioned postmodern mix of free jazz, bebop and rock elements (Bad Plus Verison – Heart of Glass). Flexible tempo, chromatic or polytonal areas and collective improvisation are all hallmarks of their high-energy version, yet all the while one is never at a loss to hear and comprehend the original melody even though the mood and context are so dramatically new.

Personally, I have three entries from my recorded oeuvre that qualify as 80s pop deconstructions. I was between the ages of 6 and 16 in that decade, very impressionable years in terms of cultural comprehension therefore the music of the decade is deeply ingrained in my psI am also a firm adherer to Armstrong’s lessons, and like my contemporaries the Bad Plus, my goal is to always make the music my own and never compromise my style or sound just because it is a pop tune. I recorded A-ha’s “Take On Me” on my first solo recording American Vanity in 2003.

“Take On Me” is one of my favorite songs (and videos) of the decade and, no surprise, it has a captivating melody. The chorus has a two-and-a-half octave melody, a great challenge to arrange for a solo instrument (let alone sing!). I chose to cover Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” on my 2010 American Fear album for several reasons as I explained in the liner notes.

“…It captures some of my youth, and I’m poking fun at myself because I am also a Jazz educator, and it shreds! Eddie Van Halen is a busy busy guitar player…in jazz terms shredding is akin to bebop. So I fused them. I thought the combination of a fast rock tune based on the blues plus the harmonic ambiguity of an added bebop layer was interesting” (from the liner notes of American Fear). Lastly I recorded “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, also from American Fear. It’s message of power struggle and greed is still so relevant in today’s society. Perhaps more compelling, at least from a solo guitar standpoint, was the repetitive syncopated riff and melody in the verses that are modal in nature (think the “So What” riff from Miles but on synthesizer). Not to mention the dramatic chorus melody which is just begging to be deconstructed with more syncopation and polyrhythm. I wonder how Louis would have played it.

Bonus – just for fun compare and contrast versions of Tears for Fears “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by the Bad Plus and myself.

January 8, 2012 | Comments »

One From The Vault: Part 2

Or… this could be called One From the Dusty Old Duffle Bag, because that is where I found this week’s selection. Apparently I have a black duffle, stuffed away on a shelf in my studio after my move, which is filled with old CD and DAT masters and live recordings. Basically, the contents of this bag amounts to the history of my performance and recording career or as I called it upon discovery “my life on plastic”. From now I will remember what is in there and keep it safe, perhaps soon I will start cataloging it too.
I rediscovered this bag of treasures because I was looking for an old session tape of the now defunct CK 5. It was a quintet led by one of the East Coast’s most unique sax players and my good friend Charlie Kohlhase. Charlie and I are now in a project of his called The Explorer’s Club, but back in 2003 he had a completely different unit (with the exception of he and I) with a different repertoire.

The band included the mostly unsung but no less immense talents of Jason Hunter, tenor sax (now living in Canada), Scott Barnum, bass (now living in Iowa), and Robert Roses, drums (now a doctor in Philly I think). We performed all around New England between 2000 and 2005 and my first release on CNM was a collection of live recordings of the band called “CK 5 Live”. We did do a couple studio sessions at Peter Kontrimas’ studio in Feb. 2003 but we ran out of funding to finish and release the project. However, there is some interesting material including reworkings of Kohlhase “standards” from his 90′s Kohlhase Quintet days with Matt Wilson, a early version of my composition “Flex Flux” which would show up on the Infrared Band’s debut “Myth Understanding” in 2008 and a cover of the Albert Ayler classic melody, “Ghosts”.
It is the “Ghosts” cover that I share with you today. Some consider this sacred sonic territory and we even discussed in the studio if we should record it (this was years before Branford covered “A Love Supreme” which proclaimed once and for all, that for better or worse, nothing in the jazz repertory is sacred). Like any good cover, we pay homage by taking a different direction. Yes, there is still plenty of energetic tenor explorations (both Charlie and Jason are on tenor here so tenor fans will get their fix) but the song takes a turn to the roots of where “Ghosts” came from originally, American folk music. I have always heard “Ghosts” as an African American folk hymn just as much as a free jazz piece. I wanted to bring that Blind Willie Johnson or Son House sound and feel (along with some blatant micro and/or polytonality) to our performance. I think you can hear that throughout and definitely when the band drops out and lets me play a very deconstructed variation of the melody in my solo before we all play the refrain at the end.
I remember in the studio getting chills when the two tenors came roaring back in at the end of the guitar solo with the melody over Scott bowing a big low F and me strumming (tremolo really) a full six string F bar chord. The overtones lifted us off the floor. I got those same chills today hearing that moment again (sound is such a powerful and emotional memory trigger) 8 years later.
I hope you enjoy this version and the simple beauty of Albert’s melody.

December 2, 2011 | Comments »

Hofbauer, Karayorgis, William, Gray at Johnny D’s 11/2/11 + Upcoming shows

It has been a long while since I have posted. There has been a lot going on in the last month. The last half of October I was in France on my first ever solo tour out of the U.S. It was an amazing experience and I plan on blogging about it all in detail soon. I am waiting on some media to arrive so I have some audio clips and photos to share, plus it has taken some time to process the events of the tour in my mind and heart. I am still overwhelmed and awestruck by the joyful reception the French audiences gave me, and by the generosity of everyone involved with the Penn Ar Jazz Fest in Brest and Brittany. More on all things France soon.

Today I have a short clip to share from a concert given shortly after my return to Boston. On November 2, two working groups I am in, The Infrared Band and Hofbauer, Karayorgis, William and Gray, shared a double bill at Somerville’s Johnny D’s. This clip is a bit of my guitar solo from Jacob William’s composition ‘Reflex’. It was not shot for professional purposes, and the quality of the shot reflects that. It was filmed by my student and friend, Mark Medieros for his own private use but I convinced him to give me the footage since the concert was not recorded (stupid of us) and this is the only documentation I have. I will be sharing other little clips of both the HKWG and the IRB sextet once I comb through all of the footage.

Lastly, I know I have been a bad bad blogger and I apologize. I am going to try to post once a week, even if they are just short little updates, thoughts or clips of shows etc. There are some showing coming up soon to take note of. Both are new projects. One is called First Worst Thirst, a quartet led by the oboist and vocalist Esther Viola. We play a concert of her music plus improvisations at the Outpost 186 on Dec 15th (8pm) on her Junk Kitchen Series. The other is a trio call BOLT which includes Jorrit Dijkstra on alto and electronics and Eric Rosenthal on drums. We play the Outpost 186 on Wed. Dec 7th (8pm), with special guest Junko Simmons on cello. This will be a high energy set of improvised music.
A quick word about BOLT. Granted I was out of the country and Jorrit was preparing to leave for a short European tour so we both dropped the publicity ball, but we played back on Nov. 6 at the Outpost for an audience of 1. It was an interesting splash of water in my dreamy face to come home after an amazing solo tour with full houses and lines of people waiting for me to autograph CDs to play a gig for one f*cking guy.  He was very appreciative and enjoyed the concert plus ,in my opinion, the trio ‘killed it’ (as the jazz kids are fond of saying), so it was still a joyful noise type of experience. I guess I mention it because being a student of duality as I am (those who know my catalog will attest to that fact) I was struck by the simple sting of the jazz reality. In a way it was also inspiring, because regardless of outside distractions or concerns the most impressive musicians to me always play like there is no tomorrow and put every ounce of energy into the music and into the moment; regardless of venue, house size, cover charge, music style etc. I am blessed to play with those types of musicians here in town with the IRB, HKWG, BOLT and others. Play on brothers and sisters, play on.

November 16, 2011 | Comments »

The Art of Collaboration – Pablo Alanedo Octeto, IRB Sextet etc…

One of my favorite ways to express myself in music is through my solo guitar work. The technical and creative challenges of being a ‘one man band’ have always inspired me. But like some of my solo artist heroes who also can thrive in group settings (Fats Waller, Jaki Byard, Roscoe Mitchell, Steve Lacy) I have been finding of late some deeply rewarding experiences through the art of collaboration. I am very excited to be a part of the Pablo Ablanedo Octeto.

This group features the original work of Pablo, an Argentinian born composer and pianist which is rooted in the traditions of Argentina, American Jazz and 20th Century classical music. His music is a challenge to me in the best sense, always there is something new to learn especially in terms of the rhythmic vocabulary of Argentinian music. The melodies are elegant and often sweet but the harmony can be surprising dissonant and is indebted to Stravinsky. Perhaps this is why I have such a strong connection to the structure and mood of Pablo’s music for we share similar harmonic palettes, both born from the music of the Russian Maestro we both love. The band is also inspiring because of the unique perspectives and personalities that fill out the roster. The rhythm section is from Argentina (Fernando Huergo, bass and Franco Pinna, drums) and Fernando Brandao, flute, is from Brazil. The rest of the band is rounded out with players from around the U.S. We all bring our own conceptions of improvisation and groove and find a way to blend it together to make the music come alive with personality. Isn’t that obvious, but in the post-music-school professional world in which we live you would be surprised to know just how homogenized jazz is these days. Everyone knows the same scales, the same tunes, the same way to take things ‘out’ or ‘in’, they play with similar grooves etc. But this group is different. There is a fair sized age range along with the added international perspective that heightens the contrast of stylistic approaches to Pablo’s music. The result is a tight knit unit that thrives on individuality even within the confines of some very specific writing. Kudos to Pablo for finding players like Kelly Roberge, Daniel Ian Smith and Phil Grenadier who all have unique narratives to share in their solos. To see this band in action I recommend checking it out on Oct. 11th at the Regattabar in Harvard Sq.

The other collaboration that has captured my imagination of late is closer to home, The Infrared Band, however, not the quartet version but the sextet version. I have been working on a few grants recently, pitching big ideas for a song cycle derived from themes of American Mythology and the myth cycle of Joseph Campbell. In the meantime, while I wait to hear if my dream ensemble of a nonet can be funded, I am reworking the IRB repertoire for sextet with the addition of Jerry Sabatini, trumpet and Joel Yennior, trombone. You may recall my blog from June about the IRB playing the night the Bruins won the Cup. That night, the IRB’s second set was all sextet pieces. It was just too much fun, a sextet in this day and age may as well be a big band because it is so rare to see working ensembles larger than quartets. It is usually too expensive to run a large group, but luckily the IRB is blessed with being able to play at Johnny D’s, one of the few NON-pay-to-play venues for independent artists on the east coast. Come see us stretch out on some new arrangements on Nov. 2 at Johnny D’s. We are sharing the bill with another cool collaboration, a quartet with myself, Pandelis Karayogis on fender rhodes, Luther Gray on drums and Jacob Williams on bass. The group plays all new original pieces with lots of room for group and solo improvisation.

All this collaboration this fall is keeping me busy and truly inspiring me to arrange, rearrange and compose new works. But… I am also keeping my solo chops up too and taking my ‘American Fear’ repertoire on the road to France in October to play the Atlantique Festival de Jazz. If you happen to be in France, come to Brest and check out a show or two, I am playing Oct. 16th and Oct. 19th.

November 11, 2011 | Comments »

One From The Vault: Part 1

Every once and a while it is fun to dig into my library of recorded material, brush off the dust of a track or two and take a listen. I have tons of ‘never-been-released’ material that is ‘in the can’ (record label jargon for a finished product sitting on the shelf waiting to be released) and live recordings. For my weekly post this time around I wanted to start up the first installment of my own ‘One From The Vault’ series. The inaugural track is from a 2006 recording I made with my good friend Scott Barnum on bass. It is a duo session that features several improvisations along side some off the beaten path covers, including Dolphy’s ‘Out To Lunch’, Williamson’s ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’ and Monk’s ‘Little Rootie Tootie’. The album is entitled ‘The Cause’ and the track I am featuring is the Spencer Williams composition ‘Mahogany Hall Stomp’. Our version is inspired by the 1929 Louis Armstrong version. I spent quite a bit of time translating Armstrong’s articulation and phrasing (use of dynamics, scoops, vibrato, slides etc) to the guitar and then folding those concepts into my own playing style. It was a wonderful lesson in the use of space, use of timbre and most of all, swing. I am very happy with the result, the piece is both an homage to the father of the swing vocabulary, and a vehicle for exploring and fusing swing era traditions with a modern take on harmony, pulse and rhythm.

August 1, 2011 | Comments »

New Projects, New Music, and New Look Site

In the last month I have connected with some of my favorite musicians in town (Boston) and not only did we play some great gigs but decided to pursue working together as ensembles. The first group is a quintet formed by the amazing saxophonist Tom Hall (check out his site, he is a prolific performer and author of a unique and insightful book on improvisation). In addition to Tom on tenor the band includes Curt Newton on drums (you may know him from the Tripleplay recording with Ken Vandermark among countless other recordings and projects), Marty Ballou (Duke Robillard, Peter Wolf and several other prominent blues and jazz players from the Northeast) and Allan Chase on alto (current Berklee ear training head honcho, also was a mentor to me at NEC when he was the jazz chair and I was a grad student there).

This band is an improvising project, meaning, we only improvise, no standards, no originals. But… it is not a free jazz skronk fest either, Tom and Allan are two very melodic and swinging players and the focus of the band is to actually create compositions on the spot, establish a mood and melodic and/harmonic environment and develop it. The Dutch call it ‘instant composition’ and that is an apt term for what this new band (called the Enso Orchestra, enso is Japanese for circle or ‘the expression of the moment’) a fitting way to describe what the band does. Below is a clip from a performance last year with just Tom, Curt and I, we did not get footage of our last gig with the full quintet but this at least shows what we do.

The next group is a quartet including the amazing pianist Pandelis Karayorgis ( hatOLOGY recording artist, works with Ken Vandermark, Steve Swell, Curt Newton among others), and the in demand and brilliant bass and drum combo of Jacob William and Luther Gray (Joe Morris and others). This group focuses on original compositions that range from the open swinging type to the very intricate and arranged (Pandelis’ Swarm or my brand new No Suite). All members contribute new works to the group. Pandelis plays Wurlitzer in this group, sometimes with all types of timbre modulating effects. It is a unique group in that the guitar and wurlitzer both have prominent melodic and harmonic amplified voices. It gives the group just a hint of the psychedelic. Below is a clip from a recent Outpost 186 show (our first performance). I will post more as it become available.

What I love about these groups is that they both embrace every jazz vocabulary, they are not limited by style of definition. In each there is room for form or formlessness, harmony or open areas, swing feel and pulse or no pulse, pitch and tonal precision or pure sonic texture. Basically, they are fluent in the swing, bop and free vocabularies, something I believe is the basic foundation for any 21 century jazz or improvisation player on the path of creativity and individuality.

It is also an honor to be playing with these musicians many of whom I watched in awe back when I was a student here in Boston in the mid 90′s. Curt, Pandelis, Tom and Allen all have been local heroes of mine for a long time and it is such a joy to get a chance to make music with them. I remember seeing Curt and Pandelis play a version of Eric Dolphy’s Miss Ann (one of my favorite compositions by one of my favorite jazz musicians) back in 1996 and it just killed me. What a thrill it is to now play with all of these amazing and creative people.

One last bit of news… the site has gone through some changes. I changed a bit of the color scheme and layout for clarity and updated the home page photo which is now interactive (roll over the frets of my guitar and you will see what I mean). I also have finally streamlined the content, especially the groups pages and the CD pages so it is easier to find and read content about my various projects and releases.

July 25, 2011 | Comments Off

LEVEL drops (6/21/11) & The IRB vs. The Stanley Cup

Happy LEVEL day! I am excited to announce that the Infrared Band’s second CD is officially out today. It is available at all online retailers (Amazon.com etc) and digital stores (i-tunes etc) worldwide. Here is the first paragraph from my line notes, explaining the thematic concept behind the new work, “The music on LEVEL, explores the human condition using sound to tell stories. Historian and writer Joseph Campbell believed the new myths of the 21^st century would be written in music. LEVEL embraces that idea, and offers nine mythology-themed pieces about duality in the universe and in life—two sides trying to find balance.”

Musically the songs range widely in style and approach. There is a mix of vocabularies (duality at work) between more traditional sounds (swing/bebop vocab) and ‘post-traditional’ (post-bop, free, texture, noise, improv vocabs). Some songs have a steady pulse, form and changes, some go in and out of pulse, change tempo, have no harmonic or formal structure (or mix elements, like in Murder For A Jar of Red Rum, see and hear below),

and some are collective improvisations. Yet there is a line of connectivity between all the pieces and fans of all kinds of jazz and improvisation can follow the stories through the changing sonic and timbral areas. I am happy to share this very personal music with the world. I hope you enjoy it.

The Infrared Band (myself on guitar, Kelly Roberge on sax, Sean Farias on bass, and Miki Matsuki on drums) played our Boston CD release show at Johnny D’s on Wed. June 15th. It happened to also be game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals which the Boston Bruins won (in part, I insist, due to our music as the soundtrack to their game). I am a big sports fan, a huge Celtics fan specifically, so I was not surprised when there were more people there to see the game than to listen to music, nor was I surprised when the sound guy told us we had 10 minutes left and as we played the head out of the last tune they were lowering the big screen behind us so people could catch the 3rd period in the music room. Yet all of those distractions did not bother the band one bit and we played one of our better shows in recent months, especially considering we played the complete LEVEL album in order (something we had never done before).

For our second set we added the IRB Brass (the brilliant and creative team of Jerry Sabatini on trumpet and Joel Yennior on trombone) to play 4 brand new sextet arrangements of Myth Understanding (our first IRB release) compositions. That was great fun and the band played its ass off. Below is a clip of The Faction, another of the new tunes off of LEVEL. Enjoy.

June 21, 2011 | Comments »