First of all, I'd like to apologize for the absence, both of Set Lists and of my column. There were a lot of events that conspired in me losing a lot of the material for the upcoming shows, as well as my patience to write here, so I took a couple of weeks off. But no worries, everything should be fine by this weekend.
So, on to the latest theme: the young guys.
Now, I have purposely
not called any of these guys "Young Lions". I hate that term, and all ideas that it evokes. The Jazz resurgence of the 80's was admittedly very healthy for the music, but it was skewed in purpose. You can read about it in Eric Nisenson's book
Blue: The Murder of Jazz, but basically what my thoughts boil down to is that there should be no barring in the evolution of the music. I don't think that the musicians we all listen to and love unanimously agree on this, but it is an uncontested fact that Jazz music has evolved, and because of that evolution it's still around today. Mr. Marsalis and all his buddies, therefore, know where they can put their ultra-conservative ideas.
We have no need for them here.
The musicians whose music I played on the last show push the barriers of Jazz music, keeping it healthy, exciting and new. It's a pretty important observation to note, that these guys mostly came to prominence in a Post 9/11 world. These are artists that are crafting their careers in a world where the internet has opened up millions of possibilities, where suddenly everyone can be a musician.
Most importantly, they are crafting a career in Jazz when Jazz no longer holds the outlaw-ish position it did in the 40's, 50's and even 60's. Where even Rock N Roll suffers from a severe identity issue, and where pop bands last days, not decades.
Got the picture?
The first group on our list is led by the brilliant pianist
Brad Mehldau. Now, this guy ain't that young. He's more than paid his dues, playing alongside pretty big acts like
Charles Lloyd (and hey, those are big shoes to fill... Keith Jarrett ring a bell?) and leading his own trio since circa 1994. But Brad has evolved massively in the time he's been under the public eye. He battled both a nasty Heroin addiction and the dreaded "young Lion" label, evolving his playing from not only chops, but mastery of the piano. At around 30 years old, he was gathering comparisons to the best (Keith Jarrett's name recalled very often..again) but still generating new material for a new audience. Mehldau was one of the first to massively (and masterfully)
incorporate modern rock music into his acts, for example. The newest release by his trio is the album
Live which features some of these wonderful representations, as well as his own compositions and nods to the past. Sadly it doesn't contain Brad's
often brilliant liner notes, but those would be a bonus on a 5 star set. Like I say all the time: Get It.
The next guy on our list is, I'm proud to say, a friend of mine and a wonderful guy.
Brooke Sofferman, the drummer from the shady suburbs of Boston, MA (and by shady I mean full of trees...) has been leading a group of awesome musicians which he likes to call "The Sofferman Perspective", who are playing some pretty cool music these days. Brooke studied at the
New England Conservatory (where he now teaches), and what he learned in school he has managed to turn into great technique and even greater composition. His latest release,
Fine Whines, is a case in point. Given a four star rating by Downbeat magazine, the album is stockpiled with some very groovy playing, sometimes intense, sometimes humorous but never short of excellent. Check out his arrangement of Led Zeppelin's
Kashmir mixed with Miles Davis'
All Blues, or his
free-funky version of the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars. A lesson in Groovology.
The Sam Yahel Trio and the Joshua Redman Elastic band are essentially the same group. Consistent of Joshua Redman (s), Sam Yahel (kb) and Brian Blade (d), these guys can really
give elasticity meaning. Redman and Blade faced the same challenge as Mehldau in having to tackle the "young lion" label early in their careers, but as they matured they have quickly become the voices of their generation on their respective instruments. Yahel surged even more recently, bringing a very unique voice into his keyboard realm. As an organist, he can evoke both Larry Young and Jimmy Smith, but always has some space for the music he grew up listening to. When they join together,
every occasion is a surprise, and much more often than not, a good one. Their latest outings together are on the electric vein, where there is a lot of ground for the breeding of modern rock and Jazz. Keep an eye on these guys.
Stefano Bollani and
Esbjorn Svensson have, in general, two things in common: They are european, and they are very unique piano players. Bollani is rising to prominence on the fertile Italian Jazz scene, pairing up with legendary players
such as Enrico Rava, and being largely supported by legendary German producer
Manfred Eicher, super Boss of ECM records. In passing through so many playing situations, Bollani has managed to craft a singular style of piano, which can remind the listener of the classical music of the old continent, but very quickly change into a Bill Evans or even a McCoy Tyner invocation. I have particularly enjoyed his latest recordings
with his trio, as well as his
solo piano outing for ECM. Svensson, on the other hand, had been the leader of a groundbreaking trio out of Poland, before his tragic and untimely demise earlier in the year.
E.S.T has been redefining the Jazz theorem not only in Europe, but across the globe (they were the first european group to be on the cover of Downbeat). The mixture of electronic music, Rock, Classical music and Jazz has turned audiences on their heads and back, while providing the group with great exposure and even appearances in the pop charts. They have a recent release named
Leucocyte out, their last album befre Svensson's death. Highly recommended.
Finally, we are left with the American music of
Billy Martin & John Medeski, and the Bad Plus. Martin and Medeski are usually heard together with bass player Chris Wood in a trio that has been incorporating methods of modern music into jazz like few others. Billy Martin is not only a sensational percussionist, but also a DJ bringing elements of electronic music to improvisation, a concept that may even seem oxymoronic. Yet with the help of John Medeski, his musical partner for over 10 years, and Chris Wood, they do it in much style. What M&M (not the candy, come on, focus! I'm almost done, promise) are doing in the electronic field,
the Bad Plus are doing in the Rock field. Pianist Ethan Iverson has pretty much led the New York trio into an adventure inside the Rock N Roll terrain, with a mission to Jazzify it. That mission is accomplished in almost every Bad Plus album. These guys have taken Rock keystones such as Nirvana's
Smells Like Teen Spirit and Rush's
Tom Sawyer and turned them into Jazz explorations! The idea may seem unconceivable, yet all it takes is to listen to their newest release
Prog to see that they pull it off with a rare mastery. And for anyone out there thinking that these guys are nothing more than a glorified rock band who haven't come to terms with their pop cravings, you can check out
the band's blog. Iverson's awesome writing makes me look like an amateur.
Oh wait, I am an amateur.
Oh well,
Keep Jazzin...
Mario
