Jazz is killing itself

I only learned today (the first draft was written sometime in September) that Rashied Ali died in August. Look through his credits and you'll notice he was not part of John Coltrane's classic quartet, nor part of what jazz critics consider his landmark albums (Ascension being his last, the monolithic 40 minute freeform piece that envelopes itself from a simple 3 note riff). His first record was Meditations, the only record featuring both Ali and Elvin Jones on drums, where the band was dense, too dense for Jones and longstanding pianist McCoy Tyner, but his most famous work, ironically, was his duet record 'Interstellar Space' which featured solely him and Coltrane. Ali, along with several prodigious free jazz talents formed Coltrane's remaining records until his death in 1967, ostensibly emancipating a trio of amazing musicians from under the band leader's shadow.

Ali made the smallest impression in the jazz world, joining avant-garde groups that specialised in the works of Coltrane and Albert Ayler; Pharoah Sanders, who was once described by Ornette Coleman as "probably the best tenor (saxophonist) in the world", created 'The Creator has a Master Plan', instantly identifiable by the overblown saxophone notes, the arpeggiating flute work in the background, the openness of modal chords, and its immediate lyricism. The 32 minute track begins meditional, helped by the cyclical two chord pattern, but gathers momentum throughout and explodes around the 18th minute. Melodies fly off each other, the flute and sax continually reaching for the higher registers and that voice that caterwauls in the background slowly taking centre stage as the percussion and bass somehow manage to contain a steady groove. This is jazz hitting the peak of experimentalism, danger and spiritual liberation. Finally we have the late Alice Coltrane, and her record Journey to Satchidananda is a must-listen for anyone interested in jazz, traditional Indian music, anything in between, and music in general. Also, check out the track' Translinear Light' from her last album.

Now with an opening two paragraphs like that, you'd be forgiven into thinking that I've kinda forgotten what I was going to discuss. But other than Translinear Light the records mentioned above were made before 1970. Where has jazz gone to now? Either backwards, completely underground, or at a restaurant. If you happen to stumble across a jazz night in town, chances are you'll hear a trumpeter sounding like early Miles Davis, a saxophonist more like Charlie Parker than Coleman, and a drummer still going 'tss-t-t-tss-t-t-tss'. Jazz used to be a vehicle for social change, musical experimentation, total liberation. I'd much rather hear a quartet just hitting their highest and lowest notes for 12 minutes straight than another tame rendition of 'So What'. Groups like this are the equivalent of Led Zeppelin tribute acts to me.

Maybe I'm being unfair, that free jazz is irrelevant now, much like serialism doesn't count for much in contemporary classical music now.

The problem I've found is that the majority define jazz as 'that' sound. the late night smokey bars with the continuous swung beat, the continuous walking bass hitting the 4th up or 5th down every bar, and the 7th chord, whilst a slightly overindulgent but nevertheless talented horn player switches from the head to whizzing up and down the dorian scale. For me, jazz always felt good as a spiritual thing. I'm not religious in any way, but jazz can have the power to transcend because of it's natural groove, it's just a shame that this groove seems more like a train-track and less like an ascending force.

What to do then? Jazz musicians shouldn't be so incestuous for one. I see the same musicians playing in each other's quartets, probably due to their thoughts that there aren't enough good musicians who 'get it'. Conversely, they don't 'get' other genres, yes, perhaps rock music is less virtuosic and requires less talent, but have they considered that other styles of music now have much more heart than modal worship? Jazz as we know it now has very little heart.

Bands like Polar Bear, Led Bib, OutHouse and Acoustic Ladyland are all very good bands, do they give off much emotion? not really, instead it sounds like nothing more than Sixth Form cleverness. You could argue that it's just harder to understand emotion without tangibility, as in lyrics, but go see post-rock bands like Mono and Sigur Ros (most songs have lyrics, yes, but how devastating was ( )?)

Jazz groups that do have feel, hmmm... I enjoyed Robert Mitchell 3io, really nice stuff, but again meandered a little too often. Perhaps we just need to look at jazz-inspired artists

First that comes to mind is Mos Def, having just gotten hold of The Ecstatic it does feel a little long, but songs like 'History' 'Life in Marvelous Times' are truly inspired. The music of Mos Def, along with Q-Tip, the Roots and Taleb Kweli are forever indebted to the true soul found in jazz. Dirty Projectors, a band continually accused of being too brainy for their own good have also a jazz vibe, yes they work in slightly strange time signatures, extend harmonic vocabulary and their melody lines are often outlandish, but there is always a danceable groove in their music. Does that sound familiar to hard-bop and experimental jazz? Their bass player Nat Baldwin studied under Anthony Braxton (Father of Battles' Tyondai, more importantly one of the biggest names in avant garde jazz) and it's more than notable in his music. Baldwin's songs evoke, rather than ape a swing groove thanks to it's backbeat chord changes and skittering drum lines. On the note of drummers, it's vital to pay attention to Grizzly Bear's Christopher Bear, one of the most inventive drummers in contemporary mainstream music.

Finally, let's go full circle back to Alice Coltrane, in a way. Recently I've come across Glass Ghost, a New York duo that somehow to me manage to evoke both Krautrock and jazz at the same time. Their drum beats are mechanical for durations of their songs, to explode into improvisations that float and crash all around. Keyboardist Eliot Krimsky's chords similarly float beautifully, much like Coltrane's Wurlitzer organ, constantly but inconspicuously drifting between Debussyian wholetone flutters and blue-note leanings. Seriously check it out.

Here's a concise list of name checks:

John Coltrane: Ascension

John Coltrane + Rashied Ali: Meditations

Ahmad Jamal 'The Creator has a Master Plan'

Alice Coltrane: Journey to Satchidananda and Translinear Light

Sigur Ros: ( )

Robert Mitchell 3io: The Greater Good

Mos Def: The Ecstatic

Dirty Projectors: The Getty Address, Bitte Orca

Nat Baldwin: Most Valuable Player

Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest

Glass Ghost: Idol Omen

Beethoven's Fidelio: trying to tackle opera last night

I think I'm studying opera next year. I really don't like opera, generally music full of orchestration that is supportive of a fairly weak libretto with opera singers more concerned with sounding loud and pure than portraying the characters through vocal characterisations. But I'm determined to like it, so I decided to sit down for a couple of hours before Match of the Day and pay attention to Beethoven's only operatic work Fidelio. It's meant to be a great piece about Love and the struggle for Peace. Here's the briefest synopsis I could find quickly:

"Set in a Spanish prison, near Seville, Fidelio , otherwise Leonore, oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe (Leonora, or The Triumph of Married Love), centres on the loyalty and love of Leonora, who disguises herself as a boy, Fidelio, and takes service under the gaoler Rocco, discovering in the deepest dungeon her husband, Florestan. Don Pizarro, who holds Florestan prisoner for personal reasons, orders his secret murder, which Leonora is able to prevent as the arrival of the minister Don Fernando is announced, an event that will put all to rights again. Additional complications for Leonora include the unwanted affection for her of Marzelline, who is unaware of her true identity, and the consequent rivalry of Jaquino. Rocco, a good man who obeys orders, however unjust, may be seen as a representative figure, while the prisoners in his charge have their moment in the famous prisoners' chorus that allows them to emerge for a moment into the fresher air. " (http://www.naxos.com/education/opera_libretti.asp?pn=&char=ALL&composer=Beethoven&opera=Fidelio&libretto_file=English/00_Synopsis.htm)

Did I get any of that last night? In a word, no. Instead I got a full orchestra onstage, not in a pit, strange recitative moments in the house PA that attempted to keep me abreast with what's just happened, and a group of singers who don't act, or even put on costume to get into character. Just a group of talented singers who are somewhat less talented in portraying emotion through facial expression. I feel quite sorry for the paying audience who weren't treated to the television closeups of the emotions on the faces of the singers.

Okay, so the storyline got the best of me, so how about the music. The introduction was grand, as you'd expect in any Beethoven piece for large ensembles, but there was little in the way of memorable melodies. There was little sense of Stürm und Drang or emotional stirring, just grandeur. I don't really remember any of it, to be honest. The singers were impressive, of course, the ability to project a voice, regardless of microphone aid, is definitely something to admire. But again, it lacked emotion, and it doesn't help when the libretto is repeated over and over again just for the singers to do a bit of vocal gymnastics. My dad who was watching it with me, less clued up than my measly knowledge of opera but with an infinitely stronger grasp of German, was worried about the pronunciation of words. Later during the interval it was all cleared up, they voiced the libretto in a more Wagnerian style. So the audience neither received the proper contemporary way the libretto would have been sung, nor a modern portrayal of german pronunciation.

To briefly summarise, it was all very disappointing, leaving me to continually eye up the remote control to find something else that was at least more gratifying in the short term, like 'How clean is your house?'. I do think the BBC are moving in the right direction in the programming for arts outside of BBC4. Definitely not a fan of 'Classic Goldie' though.

It got me thinking 'where does leave me, how am I meant to like any opera if I can't be enthused by Beethoven?'. I think upon reflection I blame a poor performance rather than the actual music itself, perhaps I'd be more into it if I were in the audience with the opera providing more onstage action, but the BBC simply did not take that into consideration, and that's where the performance fell flat.

Maybe if I tried modern opera I'd fare better. Hopefully addressing subjects in the libretto that mattered more to society today, or something. Also, if Opera singers stopped singing in such a Wagnerian style, that'd be good. In fact, all singers in art music should just sing with their own accents, but that's another topic that I won't go into now.

To watch on BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mcvxs/BBC_Proms_2009_Prom_50_Beethovens_Fidelio