The Independent Ear

Ain’t But a Few of Us #13 (from the Bay Area)

Posted on February 27, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Our series Ain’t But a Few of Us, black music writers telling their story continues with a voice from the San Francisco Bay Area.  I first met Eric Arnold in 2003 on a magical journalist junket to Morocco to cover the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, then down to the coast for the Gnaoua & World Music Festival in Essaouira.  Eric represents the new breed of black music writers who are conversant on black music from hip hop to jazz and beyond. 

According to Arnold, "I’m not really a "jazz writer," though of course I have written about it; I tend to cover music of the diaspora, which is black music, Latin music, Caribbean music, African music, hip-hop, soul/funk, and various hybridized and fusionistic forms thereof.  It’s hard for me to separate music into "serious" and "non-serious" categories; I tend to look at it as a whole.  I think the seriousness comes from how folks approach the subject — to me, the recent album of jazz-funk covers of Wu-Tang songs was as serious as, say, the last Joshua Redman album."

What motivated you to write about music in the first place?

When I was in college I read LeRoi Jones’ "Blues People" in my African American Music course, taught by Nate Mackey, a professor who was also a jazz DJ.  At that time I was also DJing, on the college radio station.  I started writing for the school paper and just went from there.

When you first started writing about music were you aware of the dearth of African Americans writing about this music?

Not really. That became obvious later on.

Why do you suppose that’s still such a glaring disparity — where you have a significant number of black musicians but so few black media commentators on the music?

That’s a big question.  I think there’s always been a certain amount of cultural appropriation going on with respect to black music; you can look at Baraka’s essay "Jazz and the white critic" for a historical reference.  There are so few black-owned media outlets — that’s one reason.  And for most white editors who want to cover black music, I don’t think they really see a problem with having non-black writers do it, because they’re not really aware of the cultural nuances.  Cultural appropriation is not really somethiing white people take seriously; there’s no impetus or motivation to be culturally authentic.

Do you think that disparity or dearth of African American jazz writers contributes to how the music is covered?

Absolutely.  A lot of times, the whole notion of race as it relates to music is de-emphasized or tokenized.  I think this extends past jazz, into all genres of black music.

Since you’ve been writing about this music, have you ever found yourself questioning why some musicians may be elevated over others, and is it your sense that has anything to do with the lack of cultural diversity among writers covering the music?

That’s kind of a leading question.  You’d have to be more specific about who gets "elevated."  In general, the lack of cultural diversity among music writers affects a lot of aspects of how music is perceived, what can be said — and what isn’t said.

What’s your sense of the indifference of so many African American-oriented publications towards this music, despite the fact that so many African American artists continue to create this music?

The easy answer is, they’re all sellouts who chase the economic bottom line and don’t really have an investment in their own cultural traditions.

How would you react to the contention that the way and tone of how this music is covered has something to do with who is writing about it?

Well, I don’t think that’s contention but fact. Let’s just say something gets lost in translation culturally.

In your experience writing about this music what have been some of your most rewarding encounters?

Hmmm, good one.  Hearing Oumou Sangare jam with a bunch of folks in a small club in Morocco was pretty special [Editor: Indeed!].

What obstacles have you encountered — besides difficult editors and indifferent publications — in your efforts at covering this music?

The worst is when you pitch a story to a newspaper and they pass on it, and then some time later one of their white staff writers writes a story [on the same or a similar topic] that’s not as good as what you could have done.  This happens a lot.

What have been the most intriguing records you’ve heard over the last several months?

 Ironically, I’d say Quantic and His Combo Barbaro.  Quantic is a white guy from England who went to Columbia and recorded a bunch of native musicians; that album is really good.  I like some of the Afrofunk stuff that’s come out lately — Sila & the Afrofunk Experience’s Black Presient is really good.  The Mulatu Astake — Ethiopian jazz guy — anthology is amazing.  Iike the Amadou + Maryam album, and Sister Fa — she’s a female MC from Senegal. 

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Crate Digging: The Jazz Record Store as Endangered Species

Posted on February 19, 2010 by The Independent Ear

The demise of four-wall record stores has been painful to many of certain generations, myself included.  Leafing through the stacks — or crate digging as it’s popularly referred to these days — is the way many of us educated ourselves about various forms of music.  There are indeed survivors of this demise, stalwart record dealers who I suspect will continue to serve those of us still fond of the tactile sensation of holding a physical recording and searching for verbal clues that will provide a sense of the listening experience that awaits; and that last sensation is particularly true for those of us who still harbor healthy appetites for vinyl records.  (I still refer to all physical formats as "records"; as a friend of mine once said ‘they’re all still recordings, right?")

Of the few remaining independent outlets in this country, I still have my favorites; regionally those favorites include the following:

DC area: Joe’s Record Paradise (recently relocated to downtown Silver Spring area)

Midwest: The Jazz Record Mart (Chicago)

South: The Louisiana Music Factory (New Orleans)

West: Amoeba (Hollywood store)

As far as the East goes, the fave is the Jazz Record Center in NYC.  Located in a fairly non-descript building in the middle of the block at 236 W. 26th Street on the 8th floor, between 7th and 8th Avenues, around the corner from the Fashion Institute of Technology, the JRC is a veritable treasure trove of jazz vinyl, plus a modest CD selection, DVDs, books and assorted other jazz paraphernalia.  The place has proven invaluable not only for personal collection crate digging, but also as a research resource in developing the ongoing Lost Jazz Shrines series for Tribeca Performing Arts Center.  So what’s the outlook these downloadable days for an independent operator like the Jazz Record Center’s knowledgeable and convivial owner Fred Cohen?  After a recent fruitful visit there I decided to ask.

 

 

What’s the history of the Jazz Record Center?

There are two Jazz Record Centers.  The first, in business from the ’40s until I don’t know when, was a famous record collecting haunt.  A photo of its stairwell, with "Records 25 Cents and Up, from Bunk to Monk" painted on them, became a tourist attraction.  I came into the city in 1969.  I can’t be certain but I think the [original] JRC was already defunct.  Until 1982 I worked in not-for-profit health care, but never lost my interest in jazz.  When I decided that I had had enough of social services, the owner of a record store that I frequented called me to ask if I was interested in taking over her store.  She had recently been divorced and found that working alone — which was all the store could afford — was too much for her.  My job in health care required a lot of traveling, so I didn’t think I would be suited to a desk job, waiting on customers.  But it was my wife who convinced me to give it a shot for a year.  If it didn’t work out, I wouldn’t lose much, since the investment and overhead was very little.  Everyone I spoke to said it was a crazy move.  So much for taking advice.

Namng the store was easy, the original Jazz Record Center was long out of business.  That was 1983.  After four years on West 72nd Street I moved the store to West 29th Street.  In 1992 I moved to 26th St.

 

 

Is it fair to say that the core thrust of the store is rare jazz vinyl recordings?

Yes and no.  Soon afterr I opened in 1983, the CD was introduced.  All I had was vinyl for a few years as I waited to see if the new format had any legs and whether anyone asked for them.  It wasn’t until 1985 or so that I began to stock CDs, but my heart was then and continues to be in vinyl — rare and pedestrian, new and used.

I don’t see the store as a haven for rare records, though I guess it is.  Sure, it is always exciting to see original pressings of the 50s and 60s in great shape, but you can’t make a living from them, they appear too infrequently.  My core business is LPs and CDs in the $8-15.00 range.  I’m also a big fan of books and videos.  Other than the latest well-reviewed books, they all tend to be slow sellers.  DVDs are one of the most active areas of the store. 

How do you determine the value of the vinyl recordings that you acquire, and how do you go about making acquisitions to offer at retail?

As with any other collectible, the value of records is primarily determined by its condition — record and cover — and secondarily by its rarity.  Condition is easy to assess.  Rarity and its attendant value is more difficult and is based exclusively on experience.  Most "rare" records have a sales history in the store and on the internet.  eBay auctions have helped but the results are often difficult to reproduce.  In the early days of the store I placed small want ads in the Village Voice and New York Times.  Most of the replies were for 78s (which I don’t sell) and big bands (which I can’t sell).  Gradually, records came to me without advertising.  Some people bring in a few, a bag full, or a shopping cart.  Frequently I go out to look at collections (CD and LP).  I enjoy these outings, not only because it gets me out of the store but also because I’m curious about how people collect.  It’s endlessly fascinating.

Although yours is a specialty shop, what effect has the erosion and demise of the retail record store industry meant to the Jazz Record Center?

For the most part I’m unhappy with the loss of so many other stores.  I’ve never seen any business in a competitive way, although I understand that on some levels it is.  But one of the benefits of having other [jazz record] stores is that I could always make a referral when I couldn’t help a customerr.  The first to go was Russ Musto’s Village Jazz Shop, then Tower, followed by HMV and Virgin.  Even though I rarely referred customers to HMV or Virgin, it was somehow reassuring to know that they were there.  The only referral remaining is J&R.  When these stores close, many, if not most of their customers resort to shopping on the internet.  Those that still enjoy the tactile experience of a real store no longer have many options.  When they come here, they can only find a fraction of what is or has been available.  Space limitations prevent me from having the extensive inventory that Tower had. In some cases I do a special order from my suppliers.  But in a lot of instances, the customer has to go somewhere else, and that is usually the internet.

We’re now approximately 30 years into the CD format.  Since you offer a modest selection of CDs, do you ever foresee their value being equal to top quality vinyl recordings? 

Other than perhaps a few unusual instances, I don’t think the CD will ever approach the collectibility of LPs.  The history of the LP runs parallel with the development of bebop, hard bop, and the avant garde as musical forms.  Collectors seek out original pressings that monitor these developments. Labels like Atlantic, Riverside, Prestige, Blue Note, and New Jazz became commerecial successes while avant garde/progressive (whatever you want to call it) jazz flourished on small, independent, mostly artist-owned labels.  Mosaic Records has largely succeeded by including previously unissued tracks from these labels on their boxed sets.  Otherwise, since 1983, there has not been a significant musical innovation that would warrant a collectible market like the one for LPs.

When I was there last you mentioned that you were in the process of fully integrating your vinyl offerings with your CD stock, which had previously been offered in separate rooms.  What made you determine to make that move?

The consolidation was motivated by 1) the amount of space wasted in LP bins that were in some instances only 1/4-1/3 full; 2) the need to accommodate an ever-growing CD inventory; and 3) the realization that having CDs located in two separate areas was confusing to both customers and me.

Contact: Jazz Record Center    236 W. 26th St. (Room 804) New York, NY 10001 212/675-4480; fax 212/675-4504; email: jazzrecordcenter@verizon.net; website: www.jazzrecordcenter.com  

Posted in Crate Digging | 3 Comments

The Ancient Future radio program 2/18/10

Posted on February 18, 2010 by The Independent Ear

The Ancient Future radio program, produced/hosted by Willard Jenkins, airs on WPFW 89.3 FM (listen live at www.wpfw.org), Pacifica Radio for the Washington, DC metro region.

Artist    Tune    Album title    Label

Adonis Rose    Lil’ Liza Jane    Untouchable    House Swing

Louis Armstrong    Basin Street Blues    (CDR compilation)

Leroy Jones    Bourbon Street Parade    Mo’ Cream    Columbia

George French    New Orleans    Mood Indigo    Rounder

Evan Christopher    Mamanita    Introduction    Classic Jazz

New Birth Brass Band    Hush Your Mouth    New Birth Family    Fat Black

Treme Brass Band    Canal Street Blues    New Orleans Music    Mardi Gras

John Boutte    I’ll Fly Away    New Orleans Brass Bands    Putumayo   

Tuts Washington    Flood Water Blues    Live at Tipitina’s    Night Train

Professor Longhair    Tipitina’s    Rock ‘n Roll Gumbo    Sunnyside

James Booker    All By Myself    Resurrection    Rounder

Henry Butler    Basin Street Blues    PiaNOLA Live    Basin Street

Donald Harrison    Shallow Water    Sounds of New Orleans    WWOZ

Donald Harrison    Hu-Ta-Nay    Indian Blues    Candid

Donald Harrison    Ja-Ki-Mo-Fi-Na-Hay    Indian Blues    Candid

Soundviews (new & recent release spotlight)

Kenny Davis    Too High    Kenny Davis    Daken

Kenny Davis    What Lies Beyond    Kenny Davis    Daken

Kenny Davis    Gone Too Soon    Kenny Davis    Daken

Jacques Swarz-Bart    Abyss    Abyss    Obliq Sound

Jacques Swarz-Bart    An En Mango La    Abyss    Obliq Sound

Jacques Swarz-Bart    Simone    Abyss    Obliq Sound

What’s New

Joe Locke    For The Love of You    (same)    E1

Don Braden/Mark Rapp    Star Crossed Lovers    Strayhorn Project    Premium

Bonnie Harris    Be a Sweet Pumpkin    Listen Here    Lush Life

Janine Gilbert-Carter    How High the Moon    Inside a Silent Tear

 

Contact:

Willard Jenkins

Open Sky

5268-G Nicholson Lane #281

Kensington, MD 20895

  

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The Be Mo Jazz Project

Posted on February 17, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Baltimore has a significant jazz history.  Deep in Mid-Atlantic region jazz presenting lore is B’more’s historic Left Bank Jazz Society.  People in the Baltimore-Washington area still speak fondly of their now-legendary presentations, with their BYOB good-time atmosphere, coupled with the true joy-of-jazz.  Some of those singular LBJS presentations were preserved on CD by the late Joel Dorn on his Hyena label.  (Which raises the question as to what happened to that announced treasure trove of Left Bank concert recordings when Joel passed on to ancestry?) 

Vernard Gray, who I first met as a downtown DC cultural clothing and artifacts dealer, is in the process of developing an encouraging jazz presenting presence in Charm City, which like Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo has taken more than its share of brickbats in the urban demise misery index.  The Wire was a superb television series but that wasn’t the sum total of Baltimore depicted in its gritty drama.  Vernard calls his operation the Be Mo Jazz Project.  It is an example of the kind of cultural homesteading that could and should be duplicated in other locales, both as a means of revitalizing former great cities and as a means of keeping the jazz sound flowing in places where the music may have fallen into neglect or ignorance.

VERNARD GRAY

Talk about the origins, purpose and activities of the Be Mo Jazz series.

I moved to Baltimore five years ago after a significant body of culturally related work in my home town of Washington, DC.  It was natural for me to look around and see what cultural related work I would take on in my new hometown.  I was aware of Baltimore’s jazz legacy and I didn’t see it celebrated in a manner I felt appropriate and decided to see what I could do.  With the help of [vocalist] Dick Smith, producer of the Southwest Jazz Performance Series at Westminster Church in DC, I was able to connect with musicians in Baltimore.

In March, 2008 I launched Be Mo Jazz as a weekly performance series, patterned after Smith’s DC project, at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum in the Fells Point/HarborEast neighborhoods on Baltimore’s waterfront.

The Be Mo Jazz project, organized by CA-FAM lll, Inc., is an effort to honor the history, celebrate the presence and ensure the future of jazz music and culture.  Baltimore is a perfect city to create such a project because of its rich history of celebrating indigenous music traditions.  And the Mid-Atlantic region (PA, DE, MD, VA, NC) is overflowing with musical talent to be both showcased and developed.  The project’s objectives are to present the music; document local jazz histories; organize workshops & related seminars; publish; organize a youth mentoring project. 

How would you characterize the jazz scene in Baltimore?

Baltimore has a rich jazz history that isn’t celebrated to the level it could/should be!  There are generations of accomplished musicians residing/working here seeking places to perform and earn a decent living.  Many are music educators while others work regular jobs to supplement their jazz performance income.  [Editor’s note: Baltimore’s renowned Peabody Conservatory has developed a robust jazz studies wing, staffed by top flight professional jazz musicians-educators.]  They are not paid well with per gig incomes ranging from $50 to $125 on average.  That’s not enough to support one’s family, etc.

Getting consistent patronage in the numbers required to sustain the series has been a challenge for these two years.  I’ve presented [jazz] in various Baltimore communities in different venue types – churches, cafe/lounges, restaurants, and jazz clubs, presenting the region’s most accomplished straight ahead jazz performers and the audiences aren’t consistent in their support.  I’ve reached out to Baltimore’s traditional jazz audience who’ve attended a few events [I’ve presented more than thirty] and seemed to enjoy the music, [who] however won’t attend on a regular basis.  Admission prices have rarely gone above $10.  Now is the time to develop new audiences, especially amongst the youth population.

One of the problems could be jealousy/pettiness.  A friend was in a retail store recently and overheard a gentleman state, "who does this Vernard Gray think he is coming from DC presenting jazz in Baltimore?"  I didn’t appear that he knows me, based on the exchance overheard, however he’s developed a negative attitude regarding my work.  Several people warned me that "Baltimore can be strange," and my response was that I was born in and lived most of my live in a "strange" place called DC.  I am determined to overcome petty stuff and be successful in my undertakings.

In an earlier posting in The Independent Ear, Ron "Slim" Washington editorialized about the potential for establishing a "circuit" of community-oriented venues which would perhaps be more friendly towards and willing to work cooperatively with jazz musicians than some of the more traditional venues.  He cited such spaces as Cecil’s in West Orange, NJ, Sista’s Place in Brooklyn, the Lenox Lounge in Harlem, etc.  Such a circuit might also include Vicino’s, Twins Jazz, Bohemian Caverns and Transparent Productions in the DC area.  Do you see advantages in building such a circuit and would you be interested in participating from a Baltimore perspective?

Yes, I see significant advantages in building such a circuit and I would expand it to include workshop/residencies in local educational institutions to provide additional income for musicians as well.  There is a need for regional networks to create wider audiences and encourage institutional cooperation as well.  As you know, we just purchased a building, and that could serve as a "joint" on such a circuit.

Are there other similar spaces in the region with a community orientation that you are aware of that might be part of  building such a circuit?

Of course, there are other [Baltimore] venues – An Die Musik, Caton Castle, and the New Haven Lounge as well, and I’d be happy to help coordinate.  I’d look at Philadelphia (Chris’ Jazz Cafe), Wilmington’s developing a new downtown/waterfront community where there might be some opportunities, and the Richmond/Tidewater areas might offer some new opportunities as well.

In your experiences with the Be Mo Jazz Series, what is your sense of current performing opportunities and conditions for jazz artists?

I believe the opportunities are great (I’m an optimist), however jazz artists need to learn to become entrepreneurs in their craft.  Too many are resting on their musicianship laurels and, for most, that only goes so far.  Many of the young musicians who perform with Be Mo Jazz have not formed a band with a regular core group of musicians for which they collectively develop music, "practice" their material together, perform together (i.e. MJQ, etc.) and publish material with that group identity.  Milt Jackson personifies an individual who, while remaining a significant member of MJQ, performed with others creating new projects all of his life.  Examples, like Jackson, etc., are right in front of [musicians] if they would just open their eyes.  One young musician here in Baltimore, [bass clarinetist] Todd Marcus, seems to be heading in that direction.  

Bass clarinetist Todd Marcus in action

What’s your sense of presenting opportunities like your series, and their relationships to the traditional jazz clubs and concert venues?

Well I have [developed cooperative relationships with other jazz presenters], at least here in Baltimore and they seem receptive, although the New Haven Lounge is having tough times these days with jazz.  I’d like to access some of the regional venues.  

We’re organizing six events at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History as a part of their First Fridays series.  Two of the events have been scheduled thus far:

Friday, March 5: Sheila Ford Quintet, celebrating Maryland Women Jazz Artists (Sheila Ford, vocals; Ron Pender, tenor sax; Tim Murphy, piano; Geoff Harper, acoustic bass; Tom Williams, drums).   

Vocalist Sheila Ford

Friday, April 2: (guitarist) Morris Dow Trio

Others scheduled in suceeding months: saxophonists Arnold Sterling, and Buck Hill; organist Greg Hatza; and drummer Keith Killgo.

Greg Hatza

 

Drummer Keith Killgo

Most of the headliners formerly appeared on the Left Bank Jazz Society series during the 60s through the 80s.  We also plan to honor individuals (performers, supporters, educators, venue operators and media folk) and venues (active and defunct) that have contributed to the jazz legacy in Baltimore through proclamations from the office of the Mayor of Baltimore and maybe some from the Governor’s office and State Legislature as well.  Lastly, Be Mo Jazz intends to make an impact on jazz in this market!!!!!

 

                                        Be Mo Jazz Project CONTACT:

                                                        moderator@gwaba.net

Posted in The Presenter's P.O.V. | 3 Comments

Heard Evan Christopher Yet? (pt. 2)

Posted on February 5, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Part one of Twin Cities-based writer Pamela Espeland’s conversation with the kinetic New Orleans-based clarinetist Evan Christopher (scroll down for pt. 1 or find it filed under That’s What They Heard for January ’10) left off with the artist commenting on his jazz education in his native California and his earlier leanings towards perhaps — tongue-in-cheek — qualifying for a spot in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

So now you are known as a New Orleans-style, Creole-style clarinetist.  That’s how everyone talks about you and how you present yourself.  Does that ever feel like a trap?

No, because in 2006 I intentionally branded myself that way.  I started to do that even before the storm, but I was more aggressive about it starting in 2006.

I want to make sure people are aware that what I’m doing is related and relevant to New Orleans.  I’m trying to be an advocate for that language.  I had to find a way to explain it better so that my identity was more explicable.

Most people’s understanding of New Orleans traditional jazz is so narrow that I wanted to find a new way to make sure that I got different gigs, or that other musicians didn’t make presumptions about what I did.  So part of it was a strategy to make me not look like I was in some kind of box.

I also had to find a way to get around the fact that for traditional music, you find a demographic that’s not as much fun to hang out with.  So part of the Jazz Traditions Project was simply trying to find an aesthetic that would lead us out of only playing for old people.

It wasn’t some kind of artistic decision.  It was more of a survival technique, like switching from saxophone back to clarinet was a survival technique.  One day in university I realized that there’s way too many freaking saxophone players out there.  I started getting calls to do clarinet things, and it was my first instrument, so once I started taking it more seriously I thought, well, I’ve just eliminated so much competition that I may just stick with this.

Talk about your own composing.  What are you trying to do with your compositions?

Finding new ways to frame the music has to go beyond jazz clubs and concerts.  I started writing a little bit for chamber orchestra for a project in California, and that got me excited. 

There’s a group called the Seahawk Modern Jazz Orchestra out of Idyllwild [California], put together by one of my teachers, Marshall Hawkins, the bass player.  [Hawkins leads the jazz department at Idyllwild Arts Academy, which Christopher attended.]  Every summer they have a music festival with a chamber orchestra concert that blends jazz and classical in different ways, or uses the orchestra to frame certain aspects of improvised music.  So every time I’m able, I try to write something for them.

I’m gradually getting more into the idea that there’s vocabulary in New Orleans music that can be used in those forums, and I feel I’m onto something new.  It’s been done in the past by composers like William Grant Still, people like that.  But nobody today is doing too much with it.

I’m trying to find ways to have elements of that vocabulary present.  Even if it seems kind of hidden.  For example, I’ve been cataloging the way that the modern brass bands use harmony, meaning the way three trombone players improvise something in the modern [New Orleans] brass band.  I’m trying to catalog the way they harmonize with each other.

What do you mean by "catalog"?

I’m literally transcribing the way they harmonize with each other, trying to figure out new systems, trying to figure out how to build that into an orchestration so it becomes a gesture of New Orleans music.  In the same way that Mozart used certain rhythms to make gestures that represent aristocracy, or gestures that represent folk.

These gestures become symbols that tell the listener, "Oh, now we’re dealing with the South," or "Now we’re dealing with the European tradition, or the blues tradition."  We’re dealing with certain traditions just by sticking those little gestures in the music somewhere.  They can be ornaments, chords, the way something is voiced, they can be harmonic.

Cover for Christopher’s Django a la Creole

You spent almost three years with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band in your late 20s; talk about that experience.

That was when I switched to the Albert System [of clarinet fingering], so it was great…  It was an interesting time.  I had been in New Orleans for a couple of years and was actually dissatisfied.  I felt like I had run out of things to do, I hadn’t taken responsibility for having my own projects.  The phone would ring, I would do things, I got to do a variety of things, but I got bored pretty quickly…  I couldn’t do the Cullum band more than two and a half years.  I got very accustomed to what was going to happen next.  When there’s not new information, I have to move on.

I found an old web page from when you were in the Cullum band, and even then you had ideas about the music.  Here’s what you said: "My goal is to maintain the integrity of early jazz styles, its structure, but move forward so that it’s speaking to an audience of today instead of being something bottled and preserved."

I think I’ve been saying that from the very beginning.  It’s not like one day I wanted to do repertory and one day I didn’t.  As soon as I became interested in this music, I knew I didn’t want to play in bands that were trying to re-create something.

Talk about drummer Shannon Powell.  You’ve mentioned his name so often that I get the sense that he’s important to you and to the music.

He’s one of the best drummers in New Orleans and a perfect example of someone who has a deep passion for the tradition but doesn’t feel an obligation to be in a box in the way that he uses it.  He’ll use it when it’s appropriate, but if he’s just making music creatively, you’ll hear the history of New Orleans drumming in his playing.  You’ll hear everybody from Baby Dodds to Ed Blackwell.  It’s all in there.  He strongly represents his own neighborhood, his own community of the Treme, in his drumming style.

New Orleans is a fascinating place for that reason.  Neighborhoods have their own musical accents, like a linguistic accent…  The difference between Herlin Riley and Shannon Powell is a distinction that’s very much rooted in the neighborhoods.  The distinction of the 6th ward versus the 9th ward.

How did you figure that out?

You notice the difference and then you ask them about it.  And when you’re trying to play with it, you have to ask those questions as well.  What am I supposed to be doing with this?  This is the way we do things in the Treme [Powell] versus the way we do things in the [lower] 9th ward [Riley].

[Editor’s note: One of the surpassing moments of the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — the same festival on which Evan Christopher’s solos highlighted NOJO’s robust performance — came when Shannon Powell, Herlin Riley, and Jason Marsalis gave a brilliant tribute to Max Roach.  The town has a peerless drum tradition.  For a medium-sized city, few towns boast more than one or two truly world-class drummers; New Orleans has four: Herlin Riley, Shannon Powell, Jason Marsalis, and Johnny Vidacovich and would have at least five if Adonis Rose hadn’t split after the storm.]

Scholarship and research are important to you.

I didn’t have what Shannon had when he grew up.  He sat behind Cie Fraser.  He knew these musicians.  When I got to New Orleans there were no living clarinet players playing in the New Orleans style.  The last one would have been Willie Humphrey, who died months before I got there.  After that, there wasn’t anybody performing in New Orleans that I was terribly interested in.

So you went in to the archives at Tulane University.  You’ve said that was like "taking lessons from ghosts."

Sometimes in those oral histories they’re actually performing on their instruments, they’re describing the way they did things, the jobs they had, how they got to them or why they did them.  Those are the things I would have loved to have asked musicians I knew personally, but there weren’t any.

Are you feeling that you’re occupying some of that role?

I had to look at it that way because I was too old to feel sorry for myself.  Like, I’m the abandoned kid…  It’s not that way.  The circle’s turning.

So now you’re it.

There’s a trumpet player friend of mine, we’re in kind of a similar situation.  We’re both 40 and we’re trying to figure out why there aren’t a bunch of young cats in their twenties wanting to do what we’re doing, or trying to get a handle on it.  Why aren’t they asking us for the recordings that we got from musicians and friends who are now maybe 10 or 20 years older than us?

One of the obvious answers is because there’s not a demand for it.  But there must be something else, too.  I’m not thinking there was ever a huge demand for it, just that it suited my personal aesthetic.  The development of a personal aesthetic is not something that our culture is promoting or encouraging or nurturing.

Cover of Evan’s Clarinet Road release

You’re a seeker.  Do you think the path you’re on will hold your interest?

Figuring out how to play the clarinet in a New Orleans way and have it get gradually farther and farther away from instantly having the associations of being traditional… and yet, at the same time, have it be understood as being from that — that’s a really fun challenge.  There’s irony, and there’s a degree of subversion.  I find myself trying to thumb my nose at what’s a more dominating aesthetic in the jazz community.

Which is…?

I wouldn’t know how to describe it exactly, but it’s a little bit more of the stare at your shoes mentality, the I-don’t-care-if-you-have-a-good-time-listening-to-your-music mentality.  New Orleans insists that on some level you have a good time.

Hear a complete concert by the Evan Christopher/Tom McDermott Danza Quartet broadcast live from Donna’s Bar and Grill in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve 2009 at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyID=98917743

Pamela Espeland writes about jazz each week for MinnPost.com www.minnpost.com/artsarena; blogs about jazz at Bebopified www.bebopified.blogspot.com/ and keeps a Twin Cities live jazz calendar at www.jazzcalendarmsp.blogspot.com.  She has written for mnartists.org at www.mnartists.org, www.jazzpolice.com, www.jazz.com. 

 

 

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