July 2010

Deciphering Americana occasionally gets bogged down by the fact that people seek out whatever gets deemed authentic. Of course, the difference in one’s ability to play banjo has nothing to do with whether or not one was properly trained, or if the instrument was picked up over time and learned by watching and listening intently. There is a visceral manner of performance that some simply can’t capture, but that again might be as prevalent in music classes as it is in informal jams.

George Pegram, though, is generally viewed as an authentic banjo player – whatever that means. More importantly, he most likely perceived himself to be an American and attempted to relate that through his performances and the works he choose from this country’s song book.

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The Ex were a politico-punk band which began issuing albums during the late seventies and early eighties. Since that time, the band's grown to appreciate free improv and Ethio-Jazz. The confluence works out.

Regardless of what one thinks about David Byrne’s work subsequent to the first two (three?) Talking Heads’ releases, he’s been instrumental in bringing to light a number of players and albums that deserve a second or third or even fourth look.

Years fell away between the last time Shuggie Otis issued and album and the date of Inspiration Information’s initial release and Luka Bop putting the disc out. And while that effort might still be the most popular from the imprint’s catalog, Byrne endeavored to resuscitate Tom Zé’s career after a trip to Brazil exposed the label honcho to a mid seventies album of work from the one time tropicalista.

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Surrounding Buddy Holly isn’t the same sort of cult that follows the likes of Elvis Presley or Jerry Lee Lewis. It might have to do with Holly’s early demise. But just as likely, it’s that coupled with equal parts impish persona revealed through those four eyed photographs of the guitarist, songwriter and Crickets leader.

Dismissal based upon appearance isn’t new or even unique to this situation. But in mentioning those other performers from about the same time, it’d be easy to figure Holly as the most enduring and influential the role of underground music in the States.

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Recording a huge amount of albums during the last few years of the fifties and the entirety of the sixties didn’t result in Yusef Lateef having a whole bunch of records that are satisfying from beginning to end. That doesn’t mean that his adventurous streak was all but disregarded. Nor does it mean that his odd ability to wrangle good performances from players that haven’t endured through the decades should be dismissed. But Lateef’s ability to perform in any mode at any given time seems to have been a blessing and a curse, making any guess at what an album sounds like most likely incorrect.

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Counted as one of the bop pioneers on piano alongside teacher and friend Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell remains a relatively low key figure in the movement. His personality wasn’t as bubbly as that of Dizzy, as studios as Charlie Parker (although his theories did impact Powell’s playing) or extreme as Miles. But Powell quickly convinced anyone he performed with as to his musical acuity.

Growing up in a musical family, Powell was imbued with the spirit of performance and the enjoyment of creating or interpreting new works. The pianist isn’t credited with recasting the piano in a new musical idiom – that would be reserved for the aforementioned Monk. But Powell, like Oscar Peterson, would impact every ensemble he performed with while not necessarily becoming the focal point of its music.

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Orange

In the Midst of Chaos

(De Stijl, 2008)

More likely than not, if  Paul Flaherty didn’t play on this disc, it wouldn’t have been re-released. That, though, is a moot point – he did. Originally recorded at the tail end of the ‘70s, the disc finds Flaherty engaged in a musical discourse with, most notably, guitarist Barry Greika. Greika would not continue on to become a ubiquitous name in free-jazz/improv like Flaherty, but on this session the guitarist’s performance makes up for any structural short comings in the music.

The sound Greika’s guitar emits recalls ECM tonalities, but at times becomes more inimical than any player tied to that label. Much of Greika’s time is spent interacting with Flaherty’s sax, birthing an eastern influenced free jazz, not unlike passages offered by Pharaoh Sanders.

The comparison to Sanders may not be the most appropriate – there’s little chanting here and no Afro-centric tracks coming from this group who lived in the northeast. Orange does though indulge in polyrhythmic percussion, even having two of Flaherty’s brothers sit in on a few tracks to engorge the ensemble with drumming.

Even as these players are added, much of the music here seems unfinished. Perhaps that’s due to the level of advancement some of the players were at – although Flaherty was around thirty by the time of this session. There generally seems to be very little structured chording and while the intangible groove is reached in a number of places, only brief stretches of brilliance call out.

“Peace,” really in many ways, encapsulates this entire slab of music. The track seems underdeveloped, clocking in at less than two minutes. But in those two minutes the ambient music runs through a great deal of modern jazz history. Unfortunately, the later half of the album – subsequent to “Peace” – was the only point where Orange fully integrates effects and the studio process to change to direction of its music. For an anachronistic Connecticut recording to achieve what In the Midst of Chaos reached is unquestionably a comment on not just the developing talent Flaherty, but of Greika’s unrealized potential.

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Chuck Brooks wasn't a huge name, but his back-up singers come off like the Temptations or some other high profile ensemble. Either way, this track doesn't count as Brooks begging to stay in the company of his women, but it gets close.

Steve Reich has, for the last five decades or so, been at the forefront of repetitive music.

The composer has never aped an overt rock attitude, nor really moved past the most simply comprised ensembles, frequently using a number of players plying the same instrument. But most of his work tends to voicing these instruments in interesting manners while working to expose the importance of time in his compositions.

To the most passive listeners, each of Reich’s works might wind up sounding like not enough of something and by the end of a sequence, too much of everything. But it’s the composer’s ability to hear, in his mind and then get it down onto paper, the way notes and tones interact with each other.

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A musician must find his space in the world. Some are satisfied in one spot. Some feel an inclination to move around, to ramble. But these experiences affect their playing. During this tumult, the innate human endeavor to find companionship presents itself as a doubly difficult task for musicians. In addition to finding a mate to live with and not want to fight, a musical mate must also be sought. In some ways this might be a more difficult task than finding love. No, you don’t have to live in close proximity or even in the same city, but communication, interaction and understanding is still tantamount to success. With the various outlets for free music, a strain proffered by Coltrane and his disciples, Seattle services not just Bumbershoot.

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