Expressionism - Kevin Whitehead?
Simon Weil
Jazz have been mentioned. Some while I've been around, some before. What I'd
like to know is what *exactly* he said in his 1995 article. I have read the
discussions around that period and Marc and Walt's useful website articles, but
nowhere do Whitehead's exact words appear. The reason I'm asking is that I'm
thinking about writing an article on Albert Ayler in which I characterize him
in those terms. So it would be really useful to know exactly what I'm referring
to. I have had trouble with this taxonomy before, but the fact is my research
on Ayler is leading in that direction. There are an awful lot of parallels
between him and Kandinsky - who is often described as an expressionist.
Basically I'm looking for the paragraph (or whatever) - and only that - that
Whitehead wrote about Expressionism in his (?Village Voice) article....
I would be *real* grateful.
Simon Weil
J Bongo Zed
How jazz lost its groove.
Simon Weil
>How jazz lost its groove.
>
...Kept its soul.
Simon Weil
Marc Sabatella
> Basically I'm looking for the paragraph (or whatever) - and only
that - that
> Whitehead wrote about Expressionism in his (?Village Voice)
article....
Well, as it happens, I was impressed enough with the article that I
saved it.
A little context, first, for those who aren't familiar with what we are
talking about. The article, from March 21, 1995, is entitled " Death to
'the Avant-Garde' ", and begins, "No, not death to that deathless music;
death to the label that marginalizes it". After pointing out the rather
obvious fact that music that has been around for forty years really is
no longer "avant-garde", he goes on to say:
"Better to have several stupid terms for these styles than just one.
The taxonomy that follows doesn't pretend to be definitive, ditto the
labels provisionally applied. And of course, individual musicians may
work in more than one style. The idea is not to pigeonhole players, but
to confirm the music's variety."
The following paragraph is all he wrote about expressionism:
"Expressionism. Think late Coltrane: extroverted, high-energy roiling.
(In practice, it's sometimes modal.) Thematic springboards tend to be
sketchy at best. [ Albert] Ayler, [Charles ] Gayle and the Improvisers
Collective go here."
The other categories he suggests are:
Freebop, which he defines as "boppy/melodic heads followed by linear
free improvising", a la early Ornette Coleman.
Restructuralism, which "posits alternatives to theme-solo-theme and/or
soloist-plus-rhythm section, or other standard practices."
Postmodernism - "parody and pastiche, or juxtaposition without affect".
He laments the facts that even this breakdown isn't enough, and mentions
a few musicians who manage to elude description under these labels (Don
Byron, Misha Mengelberg), but closes by observing that regardless of
labels, the music is alive and well, despite what the mainstrean media
would have us believe.
I called Whitehead shortly after this article appeared to discuss what I
saw as a reasonably well-defined fifth category, one characterized by an
attention to group dynamics, not necessarily as solo-oriented as other
forms, and allowing the music to develop according to its own needs. I
think of the various "avant-garde" recordings on Blue Note during the
sixties - Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch", Tony Williams' "Spring",
recordings by Bobby Hutcherson or Andrew Hill, the occassional track on
an album by Herbie Hancock or Grachan Moncur. I see this music having a
connection to some of the freer ECM releases with folks like Paul Bley.
To me, the term "impressionism" seemed the natural one to describe this
music, but Whitehead said that term to him already conjured the music of
Miles' second quintet for him. Well, I think of that group as a
forerunner to this style (which also acknowledging a debt to freebop),
so that pretty much sealed the deal for me.
--------------
Marc Sabatella
ma...@outsideshore.com
Check out my latest CD, "Falling Grace"
Also "A Jazz Improvisation Primer", Sounds, Scores, & More:
http://www.outsideshore.com/
Simon Weil
>"Expressionism. Think late Coltrane: extroverted, high-energy roiling.
>(In practice, it's sometimes modal.) Thematic springboards tend to be
>sketchy at best. [ Albert] Ayler, [Charles ] Gayle and the Improvisers
>Collective go here."
>
The interesting thing about this is the word "roiling". Roil = agitation,
disturbance. So that seems a pretty good description (as far as it goes) of one
characteristic aspect of this sort of Jazz. Now here's a paragraph out of the
Film Noir reader about lighting in American films of that ilk ca the late 40s:
"As in German Expressionist film (a strong influence on Film Noir), oblique and
vertical lines are preferred to horizontal....Oblique lines tend to splinter a
screen, making it restless and unstable..."
So "agitation, disturbance" in Jazz expressionism and a "restless and unstable"
screen in German (and German influenced Noir) film expressionism.
Interesting.
Simon Weil
Faizal Ali
"Marc Sabatella" <ma...@outsideshore.com> wrote in message
news:Tgcc9.47$bN6....@news.uswest.net...
> "Simon Weil" <simo...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
> I called Whitehead shortly after this article appeared to discuss what I
> saw as a reasonably well-defined fifth category, one characterized by an
> attention to group dynamics, not necessarily as solo-oriented as other
> forms, and allowing the music to develop according to its own needs. I
> think of the various "avant-garde" recordings on Blue Note during the
> sixties - Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch", Tony Williams' "Spring",
> recordings by Bobby Hutcherson or Andrew Hill, the occassional track on
> an album by Herbie Hancock or Grachan Moncur. I see this music having a
> connection to some of the freer ECM releases with folks like Paul Bley.
> To me, the term "impressionism" seemed the natural one to describe this
> music, but Whitehead said that term to him already conjured the music of
> Miles' second quintet for him. Well, I think of that group as a
> forerunner to this style (which also acknowledging a debt to freebop),
> so that pretty much sealed the deal for me.
>
Hmm, for me the term "impressionism" brings to mind Bill Evans, for no
justifiable reason at all. Plus the term already has a specific meaning in
classical music. I think you have a valid point in terms of the existence
of the genre, but perhaps there's a more apt name for it.
J Bongo Zed
> Thanks very much, Marc.
>
> "As in German Expressionist film (a strong influence on Film Noir), oblique and
> vertical lines are preferred to horizontal....Oblique lines tend to splinter a
> screen, making it restless and unstable..."
>
> So "agitation, disturbance" in Jazz expressionism and a "restless and unstable"
> screen in German (and German influenced Noir) film expressionism.
>
> Interesting.
Indeed. And deep too.
Simon Weil
>>
>> "As in German Expressionist film (a strong influence on Film Noir), oblique
>and
>> vertical lines are preferred to horizontal....Oblique lines tend to
>splinter a
>> screen, making it restless and unstable..."
>>
>> So "agitation, disturbance" in Jazz expressionism and a "restless and
>unstable"
>> screen in German (and German influenced Noir) film expressionism.
>>
>> Interesting.
>
>
>Indeed. And deep too.
>
"This group's fire and loosely-reined interplay conjure Coltrane's great
quartet, late phase, 1965, Franklin Kiermyer's quartet is in that great
tradition; modal expressionism, you could call it, or Ecstatic American
music (Franklin's term)"
Solomon's Daughter/ Liner notes by Kevin Whitehead.
To me the "ecstatic"/religious element is absolutely key to this sort of music
- to the extent where I think of it as a sort of musical version of "Jacob
wrestling with the Angel". To me that's where the roiling comes from - and I
also think it fits with this statement by Don Ayler:
"What this music is...is one individual's suffering - through his imagination -
to find peace."
This being *spiritual* peace.
Simon Weil
Marc Sabatella
> Hmm, for me the term "impressionism" brings to mind Bill Evans, for no
> justifiable reason at all.
I could argue that this for precisely the sort of reasons I applied this
tag to the recordings I mentioned. But it is true, i am co-opting an
existing label. To some extent, Whitehead also did that with
"postmodernism". But I'm more than willing to consider alternatives.
J Bongo Zed
This is even deeper. Precisely what jazz is all about.
Robert Schuh
--
Robert Schuh
"Everything that elevates an individual above the herd and
intimidates the neighbour is henceforth called evil; and
the fair, modest, submissive and conforming mentality,
the mediocrity of desires attains moral designations and honors"
- Nietzsche
"The meek shall inherit nothing" - Zappa
Simon Weil
>> I called Whitehead shortly after this article appeared to discuss what I
>> saw as a reasonably well-defined fifth category, one characterized by an
>> attention to group dynamics, not necessarily as solo-oriented as other
>> forms, and allowing the music to develop according to its own needs. I
>> think of the various "avant-garde" recordings on Blue Note during the
>> sixties - Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch", Tony Williams' "Spring",
>> recordings by Bobby Hutcherson or Andrew Hill, the occassional track on
>> an album by Herbie Hancock or Grachan Moncur. I see this music having a
>> connection to some of the freer ECM releases with folks like Paul Bley.
>> To me, the term "impressionism" seemed the natural one to describe this
>> music, but Whitehead said that term to him already conjured the music of
>> Miles' second quintet for him. Well, I think of that group as a
>> forerunner to this style (which also acknowledging a debt to freebop),
>> so that pretty much sealed the deal for me.
>>
>
>Hmm, for me the term "impressionism" brings to mind Bill Evans, for no
>justifiable reason at all. Plus the term already has a specific meaning in
>classical music. I think you have a valid point in terms of the existence
>of the genre, but perhaps there's a more apt name for it.
And Marc again:
<I could argue that this for precisely the sort of reasons I applied this
tag to the recordings I mentioned. But it is true, i am co-opting an
existing label. To some extent, Whitehead also did that with
"postmodernism". But I'm more than willing to consider alternatives.>
I've always thought that there was *something* worth keeping in Marc's idea of
an impressionistic Jazz (I'll put it like that) and I think that Faizal's
introduction of Bill Evans is likely to be apposite. Here's something from
_Impressionism_ by Phoebe Pool:
"Why did so many great painters commit themselves to an immediate and faithful
rendering of some passing scene, actually before their eyes? Why did Monet,
Pissarro and their friends paint mainly landscapes and city scenes, and only
rarely human figures dominating their backgrounds?"
The first sentence brought to mind Evans' notes to _Kind Of Blue_:
"There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be
spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchement with a special brush
and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke
will destroy the line or break through the parchment...."
Evans makes this parallel to Jazz improvisation - but it is also very obviously
parallel to the painting in Impressionism. I have a feeling that "Impressionism
in Jazz" might closely parallel, let's say, the Evans's influence on Jazz - and
perhaps that's a way into the problem (_Kind of Blue_ being the precursor of
Miles's 2nd Quintet).
Also, on the point about "Impressionism in Jazz " involving "an attention to
group dynamics, not necessarily [being] as solo-oriented as other forms" -
perhaps that parallels the move away from painting people in Impressionism. In
both cases a move away from portraits - the solo being perhaps viewable as a
self-portrait in Jazz.
Just some ideas...
Simon Weil
void
> http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/459/robert_schuh.html
Hey Robert,
I finally got around to giving this music a listen. I enjoyed it, and
have added it to my MP3 rotation. Thanks a lot for sharing.
--
Ben
"An art scene of delight
I created this to be ..." -- Sun Ra