Music Revue

Ahmad Jamal, whose birth name was actually Fredrick Russell Jones, is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. He was born on July 2, 1930 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Jamal began playing the piano at age three but didn’t receive formal training until the age of seven. It also happens that at this time he was working as a paperboy, and had begun delivering newspapers to the family home of Billy Strayhorn, esteemed composer and famous collaborator on a number of Duke Ellington’s works. During his high school years, he began receiving lessons from opera singer and founder of the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC), Mary Cardwell Dawson and jazz pianist James Edward “Sing” Miller. At 14 he joined the musician’s union and immediately after his graduation from Westinghouse High School (the same school as his idol, Eroll Garner), he began touring with George Hudson’s Orchestra in 1949, at 17.

It didn’t take long before he was widely adored for his unique improvisational style with shades reminiscent of Garner’s casual lilt and aspects from the playing of his other heroes, Nat “King” Cole and Art Tatum. In his playing you can hear Cole’s open and bright, almost playful sound and Tatum’s harmonic density and ornamental flourishes. After leaving Hudson’s group, he briefly joined swing violinist Joe Kennedy’s band, The Four Strings, and toured with them until Kennedy’s departure in 1950.

In 1951, Jamal moved to Chicago and formed his first trio by the name of The Three Strings because… well, why not? lol The trio consisted of bassist Israel Crosby, and guitarist Ray Crawford, who in 1956 was replaced by drummer Vernell Fournier, and of course Jamal himself. They eventually began playing, with the second lineup, at the Pershing Hotel as the house trio. It was around this time, and with the sound of the trio changing drastically with the inclusion of Fournier’s sound, that other cats like bandleader Ramsey Lewis started to really pay attention to Ahmad Jamal’s music. “Many times we would hightail it out to the South Side [after a gig] to see Ahmad Jamal, Israel Crosby and Vernell Fournier, because the trio was really playing great music as a very cohesive unit,” he says, “Having the occasion to go and hear him was simply a delight, because he had the room rocking. It was always packed, and it was always a happy feeling at the Pershing when Ahmad was playing there.”  

In 1958, the trio recorded their first tune, But Not For Me, at the Pershing for Argo Records, which is a division of Chess Records. This tune became a hit single and also the centerpiece of an album, which also features hit, Poinciana and stayed on the Top 10 list for a little over two years! 

In addition to pioneering a unique and creative voice in his improvisation, Ahmad Jamal fully embraced a variety of block chord shapes in the 50s that were much more dense and colorful as compared to earlier jazz pianists such as Bud Powell, who often employed lower, more open and rhythmic left-hand voicings which gave him more freedom in the right hand. Many people were taken aback by the richness and uniqueness of Jamal’s playing. One such individual was the great trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis admired Jamal’s use of space and impeccable technique and developed much of his style in the footsteps of Jamal’s. In fact, Miles Davis’s famous tune So What, the first track on the Kind of Blue album which peaked at #3 on the charts and stayed in there for the better part of a year, was HEAVILY inspired by Ahmad Jamal’s New Rhumba and I do mean heavily.

The call and response format and the orchestration and the shape of the tune including the melody in the bass make the sound fairly distinctive. Miles’ sizzling intense but calm trumpet sound however gives his version a little extra of that cool jazz lean though. Nevertheless, Ahmad’s capacity for delicate and highly color-based touch on the piano as well as his influence on Miles both contribute to his legacy in shaping the Cool Jazz subgenre sound.

In 1970, Ahmad Jamal recorded the theme song for the series MASH! which was composed by Johnny Mandel. Later, in 1995, two tracks from his albums But Not For Me: “Music, Music, Music”, and Poinciana, were featured in the Clint Eastwood movie The Bridges of Madison County. Not to mention the many covers and samples musicians have done of his songs of this earlier era throughout the years. The song “I Love Music” alone, which briefly appeared on last week’s post, was sampled on Nas’ “The World is Yours” on the illmatic album, and then resampled with the backup vocals from that track on Busta Rhymes’ Extinction Level Event II that just dropped a couple weeks ago. Current pianist of The Jazz Standard’s own Mingus Big Band, Theo Hill also has a straight up cover track and a few live recordings of the tune, painting it in different styles and with different instrumentations each time.

Needless to say, Jamal has been a pivotal figure in inspiring and shaping the sounds of jazz and hip hop for decades starting from a very early age. He’s still a serious force to be reckoned with since he has his technical ability and ergonomic suave intact despite performing at age 90, but in addition to retaining the agility of his youth, he’s gained all the wisdom and musicality of his years and experience.

The interviewee requested that this song be linked for your enjoyment while reading. Hope you enjoy!

This week, I’ll be interviewing one of my own music students, a talented young musician and visual artist who grew up both in Iran and in the U.S. She plays the piano brilliantly, with roots firmly planted in both western classical training and the jazz idiom, and with another flavor loosely reminiscent of Persian Traditional music that makes her approach to music making unique. Although she’s not yet 20, her playing is sensitive and emotional in a way that betrays her own breadth of experience and meticulous emotional awareness, much like captivating pull of her gentle yet mysterious shaded drawings. Although she’s requested to remain anonymous, she’s agreed to do this interview with me, for which I’m very grateful and excited, as I feel that her perspective is unique and refreshing, and a wonderfully relatable example of the human experience from living a life colored by an enormous variety of experiences and skillsets (including speaking three languages by the time she was 15) while slowly becoming more and more drawn to an art form until fully committing and rapidly evolving into a force to be reckoned with.

Q: How did you first come upon the piano? I recall you once mentioned that your family moved into your current house and the old owners had left their baby grand piano behind. Did you have access to a piano before that sparked your interest, or was it mostly curiosity until circumstances brought an instrument to you?

A: Actually in Iran, we moved to my grandparents’ house for a year, and we had a piano there because my grandma played piano. I used to dance as she played, and that got me into it. We moved to our apartment and got a piano there, which is where I started taking lessons, but that only lasted a few months. The teacher was sort of mean and she discriminated because she saw me as American. My next brush with it was in school where I got a rudimentary understanding of technique and started getting more into playing.

Q: How about visual art? When did you realize you felt an affinity for drawing?

A: I always liked to draw. My mom really encouraged us to do art and was very supportive of our artistic outlets. Even as early as kindergarten, it was also emphasized in school as well. I took drawing classes in Iran briefly, but it was mostly copying existing drawings and I quickly became bored, but continued drawing and making other visual arts on my own.

Q: When we first met, you already had a solid background in music despite relatively little formal training. Could you describe some of your earliest influences? What caught your attention about musical expression as a whole?

A: Well, my whole family was into music even though they didn’t really play instruments or study. They always had a respect for music and my mom introduced us to music from all over the world, from traditional to pop. My grandmother also used to love to sing and would teach me rounds to sing with her. When I was little, I wanted to grow up and become a musician, although at the time I was focused on vocal. The beginning of my education in public school introduced me to the basic mechanics of instrumental music in the form of melodies and chords on piano.

Q: As you improve as a musician and composer, what aspects of the craft have you realized were drastically more or less reccurrent themes than you thought they would be upon first exposure?

A: Before my public school experiences, I sort of though that music just happened. Like it came naturally and people expressed themselves how they might express thoughts but without the grammar…As soon as I tried writing my own however, I realized that structure was very much a part of it and that I needed to learn about this structure in order to express myself in a controlled way, much like the grammar I thought I was escaping.

Q: Were there things that seemed hard in the beginning but after practice were not, or things that seemed easy, but further nuance or higher standards for technique made difficult? And conversely, did you ever feel an improvement in technique hindering expressive capabilities that came naturally to you before you began training?

A: At first, I found the coordination of the two hands to be extremely challenging. I still think it is, but it definitely improved with practice, although it could be intimidating. I find that on the flip side there is a certain exercise-i-ness that comes into my playing as a result of stricter exercise type things I play during practice. I sometimes wish I could just play and not worry about my technique, but I’m always self-conscious about my technique when it comes to fluidity on the instrument.

Q: As you reach new levels, how has your perspective about the meaning of what you do changed?

A: Um… I’ve definitely taken music more to heart if that makes sense. It’s helped me to appreciate music a lot more as I learned about the challenges and teamwork involved… it made me respect musicians on a whole other level. Through training and becoming more aware of musical concepts, I’ve also really started viewing it more as a spiritual thing than “just music,” whatever that may mean to people. I guess music means many different things for many different people. Once I got really into it, it started to shape my life though and has taught me a lot of self-discipline. It’s also taught me a lot about self-worth and self-esteem. It motivates me to continue in my daily life when I face adversity outside of a musical context.

Q: Do you think your individual sound or identity as a musician relates more to your own cultural lens, such as real life experiences with your family and others in Iran and in the states, or more to the music or other art you’ve consumed and been influenced by? Further, if you think your art is mostly informed by other artists, what role do you believe your own life experiences play in the musical decisions you make? After all, your music is ultimately your expression of yourself in some form or another.

A: I think it’s a bit of both to be honest… I feel like my life experiences help me put more emotion into my work. I’m not really thinking of anything in particular about my life when playing necessarily, but music is absolutely about telling a story, and I think the emotional stories I tell with my music definitely have some basis in things I’ve lived. Listening to other musicians, I’ve definitely borrowed aspects from the work of other musicians that have resonated with me and found my own expression in their voices. I think on some level the collage of my heroes represents me.

Q: I feel like as our level shifts, although we’re always struggling with and working to improve at something, the things we can empathize with, excuse, or even not notice change. As a student who’s rapidly improving and grappling with challenging and complex topics, what advice do you have for students who are a little bit earlier in their journey than you are now?

A: Definitely keep pushing, even if you wanna throw your instrument out of the window. The more I pushed, the more I became competent at expressing myself musically, and I think a lot of my frustrations had come from the inability to do that. Practice things that challenge you, because even if it hurts and makes you feel bad to struggle with something like that, it’s the only way to move forward. That idea of pushing through adversity taught me about the world in addition to just music. Between that and the stories I’ve heard behind particular pieces of music and artists, I realized that music has a profound impact on people and can drive sociocultural change. It really is a universal language, and as a language lover, it’s definitely one I’d like to continue to cultivate.

Q: Certainly there’s overlap between the music you’re playing and studying and the music you’re listening to, but how would you categorize the role of the music we study and analyze compared to the music you seek out for listening pleasure or even encounter in your daily life such as in stores, movies, or the radio?

A: I think the music that we study for analysis benefits me because it teaches me about the history and framework of how music works. I’ve also grown a general appreciation for that, so when I listen for pleasure, I also listen for the structures that we analyze because I find that enriching to my soul. I think it’s really fascinating to see through to WHY we find pleasure in the music that we do and what makes it sound right. I guess I analyze some music just for the purpose of analysis, but I also analyze the music I listen to for pleasure, and I listen for pleasure to the music I analyze sometimes as well, so it all sort of bleeds into each other. To continue to develop our ability to analyze, we have to analyze different types of music to get a better picture of the whole.

Q: Although in an academic setting we describe what is happening in music largely in terms of music theory, and almost separately how the colors found in that theory make us feel in the particular musical context of a song, the most important takeaway is certainly how it makes us feel and what imagery it invokes or what experiences it enhances… What would you say the one primary commonality between all the music that touches you is, if there is one?

A: They all have intent to express. Some musics have resonated with me in the past and later on they didn’t touch me in the same way, but I understand that that’s due to a shift in my own headspace, and those musics are for those people in their headspace, so I think in general the music is for people to empathize with or get inside of or even release from a particular state of being.

Q: How has your musical taste changed since the beginning of your study? Would you describe this as a linear evolutionary process relating to the breadth or your awareness, or sort of a non-linear steeping effect where you learn through osmosis from all the music at once and after the fact apply it to the rest?

A: It definitely shifted the more I listened to a greater variety music. I have a greater appreciation for complexity now because I’m able to derive emotional experience from increasingly complex and nuanced music rather than becoming lost or overwhelmed by it and seeking more accessible forms of solace. Realizing that made me want to improve myself and my mind to be able to connect with it on a deeper level. I admire that it makes me think, and I feel that it’s capable of delivering a more multifaceted emotional picture to such a point where I still appreciate simple music on a mood-making level, but it no longer provides the same emotional stimulation if it ever did, so I’d say it’s been fairly linear yes.

Q: Given that you’re also an excellent visual artist, do you see your music fitting together with your visual art in the future?

Kool & the Gang is commonly described as a funk/soul/jazz/R&B/disco band. And even though they certainly draw influence from all of these genres, over the years, they’ve developed their own musical idiom as a sort of fusion of the sounds they heard and loved, shaped by the lens of their own lived experience in Jersey City. The band was first formed by an ambitious group of high school jazz lovers in 1964 when they booked a gig under the the name “The Jazziacs.” Mind you, this feels like the intersection of “modern” and “older” forms of music in that John Coltrane’s Giant Steps had come out just 5 years ago when this influential pioneering sorta disco-funk texture started taking off. This early lineup included Robert “Kool” Bell (bass), Ronald Bell (keys), Robert “Spike” Mickens (trumpet), Dennis D.T. Thomas (sax), Ricky West (keys), George Brown (drums), and Charles Smith (guitar). Kool adopted his nickname when his family moved from Ohio to Jersey City, New Jersey in 1961 in order to level up his father Bobby’s and uncle Tommy’s boxing careers. As it turns out, this set of events was conspiring to place these musicians straight in the middle of the music scene!

When the Bells’ moved a second time, to New York, they landed in the same apartment building as Thelonious Monk, who eventually became Kool’s godfather. Also as it happens, Miles Davis would stop by the Bells’ since he loved boxing and was already in the general area. The band shuffled lineups a little bit and settled on their new name in 1968 after getting their gigging career revved up in NYC, including in Greenwich Village. As 1970 approached, they morphed from a jazz group and developed their signature funk sound  with horns, and as the hits dictated, they were categorized as morphing again into 80’s R&B.

Meanwhile to flash back just a bit, outside of the music during their early days, the political climate looked eerily familiar to today’s as racial tensions and protests were rising up in Jersey City and across the country during their high school years. In July of ‘64, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, but the race riots in JC took place in August of the same year, highlighting what we know all too vividly today, which is that judicial adjustment does not equate to social progress. Even in NY in 68, the unrest continued following the assassination of MLK, so it’s clear that the racial status quo at the time affected the band’s lives even if not their music. To which point, however, their music draws on the rich tradition of African American music, and by extension, African Music, mixed with distinctly American song forms, demonstrating a connection to their roots and a willingness to participate in a meaningful way in a culture that the powers that be were trying to erase and suppress. Meanwhile, Co-op city in the Bronx was being built up on the outskirts of the city to create more housing that would be affordable for the middle class.

On the whole, this 2016 album feels to me like a self-aware leap straight into a new musical space that certainly already existed, but is infrequently delved into in such a deliberate and thorough way. I feel that Kuroda’s impressive contribution to the canon inches the door open to the inevitable reinvention of the modern sound, coming out of the fusion of the old. To my ear, I’m catching influence from Miles Davis, Roy Hargrove, and Nicholas Payton to mention a few on the jazz side, but on the production side, it almost hybridizes many aspects of rock, Funk, gospel, hip hop, afrobeat and R&B, including other things that can only be achieved through laborious dedication to the crafting of the final product in post, with Kuroda’s own twist. It varies greatly as well in the timeline of its references, indicating Kuroda’s vast knowledge of musical genres of many eras. Likewise, the contrast and transition between sonic spaces on each individual song is incredible. Only a few of the tracks include vocals, but the texture of the sonic atmosphere and the asymmetrical groove of the melodies are inescapable. For lovers of instrumental and vocal music alike such as myself, it’s perfect. For those who still need a little convincing, perhaps the vocal tracks will resonate on a song by song level, and the instrumental stuff could be good music to study to given that it has the same energy without the ‘distraction’ of lyrics.

Like the album cover, the songs on Zigzagger are highly visual. If you close your eyes, it brings you to so many different places, like in a dream.

R.S.B.D., the first track on the album starts with an upbeat gospel sounding set of chords with a simple melody overtop which are shortly revealed to have been 11/4, or 22/8 [pick your poison] the whole time… lol In other words, it’s asymmetrical as anything and kinda prog rock sounding. Then they come in with a post-bop jazz sounding melody, followed by a metal-like drop which is much slower, but still on the same metric grid with a repeating shred with all instruments together. THEN they come back to the original groove and chords with the new melody overtop and gospel hits behind, and they bring it down by bringing back the original simple melody an octave up, and there’s a whole-band setup like they’re going to the next section. BAM it hits, and the energy drops for a sec as they reveal the next keyboard melody which is this dreamy loop that sounds like its in outer space. And then they drop the ill beat on em and the vocals come in, horns are back, vibe is crazy!! Mean solos too!

The tracks Do They Know, Think Twice, and, again, R.S.B.D. include vocals while the rest are instrumental, but even so the instrumentation is not constant. In some places, the bass is synthesized, and sometimes its electric or upright bass. Sometimes there is auxiliary percussion like congas, other times not.

All this combined with modern production approaches and technology make for a concoction that defy the idea that music has fallen into a loop of stagnation. It’s a genre-blurring future of integration facing music in our globalized society. Resistance is futile!

The following post is a sort of track by track in homage to the late Great Roy Hargrove, formerly a major player in the Jazz Congress, and one of the musicians majorly responsible an increased reconnection of Jazz, Hip Hop, Soul, Funk, and R&B. 

Let’s start with the classics!

“What’s New” is an old Jazz Standard written by Bob Haggart in the year 1938 and recorded by Bob Crosby and His Orchestra as an instrumental piece with the title of “I’m Free.” The tune was renamed in 1939 when the same group rerecorded it with singer Teddy Grace performing Johnny Burke’s lyrics, “What's new; How is the world treating you;  You haven't changed a bit; Lovely as ever I must admit; What's new...” It’s been performed by many Greats over the years, including Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Billy Holiday, and many others, including, of course Roy. Even though the tune is a little old, Hargrove keeps it fresh with his modern, harmonically round arrangement with saxophonist Antonio Hart. 

Over the first decade or so of Roy’s career, he mostly jumps around the repertoire of jazz standards imprinting his own stamp of greatness on tunes of all types from burning bebop to sultry ballads. Over time, he wound up gigging and recording with some of the best musicians in the world and as things go, they all got to know each other’s styles over time, which is when the real magic happens! 

In 1997, Hargrove and his ensemble released “Habana,” a Grammy-winning project with a unique assembly of originals by Roy and other members of his band including Great trombonist Frank Lacy and Great saxophonist Gary Bartz. The album features top-notch musicianship and an eclectic combination of textures and rhythms that make up the band’s unique sound.

Right before the first major shift in Hargrove’s sound, in 1999 he recorded the album “Moment to Moment” which was essentially a jazz quartet with piano, upright bass, drums, and trumpet, plus a lush string section. They play music that, in contrast to Habana, is subdued yet beautiful. 

In 2000, Roy begins to collaborate with the Greats of other genres such as D’Angelo on his Grammy-winning album “Voodoo,” Erykah Badu on her album “Mama’s Gun,” and Common, J Dilla, Questlove and more on the album “Like Water for Chocolate”

Hargrove’s musical depth really shows in how he adjusts his sound to fit naturally into these different scenarios. Especially interesting is Badu’s track “Green Eyes.” Notice how there are three distinct sections with their own feel and texture, and Roy adjusts in a big way both what and how he plays to accommodate each context.

After this group of projects in 2000, Roy plunged continually into this new between-genre with his friends, forming the group RH Factor. This music was particularly stacked because his goal was to break down the barriers between separate but related genres to form a new sound, so he collaborated with people from all stages of his earlier musical career.

In 2003, Hargrove and squad released the first RH Factor album, Hard Groove. The following song off that album features Q-Tip and Erykah Badu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMTvT2a_BwU

Unfortunately Roy was taken from us too soon! Although his discography represents decades of prolific recording and vast evolution and reinvention of African American music, he passed away at 49 years of age on November 2, 2018. Fortunately his legacy is strong and many young musicians are making music in his footsteps. We can only hope that one day the legacy inspires another round of evolution toward unity in the years to come.

“The gift of information can’t be sold or bought” -RH

Rest In Peace, Maestro!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v201PxvQ4qM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezmpM0Puj40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR-9Uc4VNlE

Have you ever seen Stevie Wonder perform live? I mean, maybe you've just heard his greatest hits, maybe you've even heard all of his songs hundreds of times... but how does it really feel live? After all, the more familiar you are with Stevie's music, the more you know that he plays many different instruments on the same song by way of multi-track recording. Also as far as 'packaged product' is concerned, although Motown gave him artistic freedom in 1970, the sequence and feeling of the songs certainly can't be the same live when he has to switch instruments and plan around logistical needs like bringing whole string orchestras on and off the stage, right?.... Not so!! Stevie has composed and played music at a very high level for too long to allow that to happen, and he has friends!

The regulars and OGs of his band consist of about 15 of the most soulful and virtuosic men and women from various heavy hitting circles of music around the world. Their performances are also frequently in collaboration with local orchestras as instrumentation is needed. On top of that, many of his band mates are also multi-instrumentalists, so he can switch off piano and play the harmonica, drums or what not, and all the parts can still be covered while other musicians are switching around from bass to piano or vocals to bongos for example. He can also rock the entire show from the middle of 3 pianos [two electric, and one acoustic] which have all the vocal mics, harmonicas, and talkboxes he needs to make 20,000 lose their everloving minds!

Ok for the actual experience of the show... it's breathtaking beyond words. The way the energy rises and falls during the buildup is like none other, and he capitalizes on the buzz of it all at key moments to connect with the audience and talk to them about global issues which are important to him. I think this is especially important because it breathes further life to the music itself because the songs are reflective of the beliefs he really expresses regularly as he addresses tens of thousands of his fans in the same breath as his family.

If you're a fan and you expect to hear his music live exactly the way you heard it on the album, you certainly will not! Stevie and the band are extremely creative and flexible with how they embellish on the existing material and meld from one song into another to create a stream of fresh and exciting musical experience, even for the listener who thinks they know the whole discography. This even proves to be the case over the course of a month between concerts on the same tour which shows the ensemble's dedication to constantly pushing the music forward.

There's also a tongue in cheek cinematic aspect of the performances which sort of rounds off the experience and bridges the vibes of the live musical performance aspect and the more formal and serious political address aspect.

When it first came out in 2017, the single, which reached #5 on the charts was practically a monolith to the popularity of trap music. Oh sure, there were others, but I mean you couldn't enter and exit a radio-situation without hearing this song, and seemingly as quickly as it came, it went.

Now, fast forward a couple years... I'm in Asbury Park, New Jersey and haven't heard Mask Off in years!! I almost forgot it existed except for that catchy flute loop! Meanwhile, somewhat ironically in the midst of COVID19 and all other manner of national and global turmoil, Future's new single, "Life is Good" trended HARDD this year (peaking at #2 on the Hot 100 list.) Anyway, so we're in Asbury and there's a DJ spinning vinyl from every genre in an apparel shop on Bangs Avenue a few blocks down from the beach. Suddenly as the shop is closing and people are migrating to the great outdoors... MASK OFF IS PLAYING!! And when I say no one saw it coming I mean the collective laughter when the hook hit was unforseen and resonant! We're talkin' everyone went from "ah what a nice day at the beach; they're still playin that soundtrack" to "OH SH*TT REALLY MASK OFF THO WOW!!!"