[NewMusic] Zorn/Taylor Lincoln Center review in NYTimes

Wed Mar 14 12:02:19 PDT 2007

The drummer for Cecil's new trio, Pheeoran ak-Laff is
very much a peer of Ronald Shannon Jackson (both of
'em played with Sonny Sharrock back in the 80s).

-Chris

--- Kristian Aspelin <kaspelin72 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> While I agree that it's difficult to call Cecil's
> music avant garde at this point since he's been
> doing it for well over 40 years (not sure what the
> temporal statute of avant garde is), compared to the
> "traditional" music that is typically performed at
> Lincoln Center or other Wynton-associated venues,
> one could argue that in this context, the music is
> more "modern" and therefore avant garde (or at least
> to the virgin ears of some season ticket holders). 
> Again, only in comparison.  However, since Cecil has
> been playing this type of music for so many years,
> one could also argue that he has established his own
> tradition and is therefore no more "modern" than
> anyone else playing a style of music that is over 40
> years old, but that's a big can of worms, so I
> digress.  I would argue, however, that regardless of
> when Cecil was/is considered avant garde, his
> music/innovation is still potent and relevant.  As
> for the funk, while I have not heard Cecil's new
> group/drummer, Ronald
>  Shannon Jackson definitely dropped some funk in the
> late '70s on such albums as 3 Phasis, so I don't
> think having this type of rhythmic element is
> altogether new to Cecil's music, but again, I don't
> know the degree of funk that is being played in his
> new group.
> 
> Phillip Greenlief <pgsaxo at pacbell.net> wrote: 
> -----Original Message-----
> On Behalf Of Robair, Gino
> Subject: [NewMusic] Zorn/Taylor Lincoln Center
> review in NYTimes
> 
> Anyone seen this yet? Some interesting comments from
> Ben.
> ****
> March 13, 2007
> 
> Music Review | Cecil Taylor and John Zorn
> Barricades to Storm, Whether or Not Any Guards Were
> on Them
> By BEN RATLIFF
> 
> PG:
> Goodness. "Interesting" comments indeed...
> 
> For example, how is it that Cecil's music can be
> deemed as avant garde
> today? I didn't hear the concert, but I doubt that
> it sounds radically
> different from any of the Cecil trio recordings from
> over the past four
> decades. And of all the groups Zorn could have
> brought to Lincoln Center
> (or would have been welcome to bring), Masada is
> perhaps his least
> "avant" group.
> 
> So, here is the NY establishment, patting themselves
> on the back for
> bringing "new music" to Lincoln Center that isn't
> all that new. I'm not
> saying Taylor and Zorn are not innovators. But
> Cecil's innovation was
> potent in the 1960's. Regardless of the passion and
> intensity with which
> he performs, I would resist calling it
> "ground-breaking" at this point.
> And now he's introducing funk as a rhythmic element
> in his music - say
> it isn't so!
> 
> Of all the works that Zorn has written, or groups
> that he has written
> for, Masada seems one of the more traditional. While
> many folks assume
> he invented "Jewish Jazz", locals know a different
> score: Zorn inherited
> the Masada idea from Ben Goldberg, local bay area
> clarinetist and
> composer. It's a real shame that Zorn didn't keep
> Ben in the band - the
> quartet he put together out here (and toured with
> once before he ever
> got Masada off the ground) was a really inspired
> ensemble. I'd much
> rather listen to Trevor and Kenny than Greg and
> Joey. And the clarinet
> kept the ensemble rooted in the tradition of Jewish
> music, while
> allowing Zorn to step beyond the Ornette
> instrumentation. And, for my
> money, for this kind of music, Ben is a more
> interesting improviser than
> Dave Douglass (but not as much of a star).
> 
> Both ensembles on the Lincoln Center bill featured a
> tried and true
> instrumentation: piano trio (piano, bass, drums -
> gee that is radical)
> and Zorn's Masada lineup (some might say Ornette
> brought the saxophone -
> trumpet - bass - drums lineup to the forefront, but
> it was a popular
> ensemble going back to the Dixieland days of New
> Orleans...). Chet Baker
> and Gerry Mulligan also had a chord-less quartet
> with nearly the same
> instruments (baritone saxophone, not alto). But
> those guys are rarely
> lauded as being "innovators". Those nice recordings
> they made were
> recorded before Ornette's "classic quartet" releases
> (The Shape of Jazz
> to Come, etc.) although stylistically, Ornette's
> recordings were clearly
> more of a departure from the melodic and harmonic
> language of the
> Baker/Mulligan band.
> 
> And Ratliff has the gumption to tell us that
> Wynton's music isn't
> traditional or mainstream. He does nothing in the
> article to support
> this claim, apart from a single independent clause
> where he assures us
> Marsalis doesn't sound like anyone else. I don't
> feel I need to argue
> against this statement. It's wholly ridiculous. OK,
> no one ever wrote an
> opera on the theme of slavery, and it seems a much
> needed statement in
> the operatic canon (from American composers). But
> Wynton has never
> surpassed any of his predecessors (Miles Davis or
> Gil Evans in
> particular and Gershwin with regard to the opera)
> with regard to style
> or idea. His "Standard Time" recording is one of the
> only records he has
> made that I enjoyed listening to (apart from his
> Christmas album...sappy
> as that may sound - but it used to beat out
> listening to my mom's
> Christmas organ LPs, my dad was in agreement on that
> one). 
> Standard Time was a nice return to the kind of
> conception Miles Davis
> used with his excellent quintet with Wayne Shorter,
> Herbie Hancock, Ron
> Carter and Tony Williams, where the ensemble would
> change tempos and
> time signatures at the drop of a pin. Mind you, it's
> been a few years
> since I listened to a recording by Wynton, he could
> have turned into a
> radical innovator for all I know (but I doubt it).
> 
> I don't see much going on in this article outside of
> a bit of a
> commercial for Lincoln Center. The NY Times is a
> fine newspaper, but
> their critics (especially in film, now that Elvis
> Mitchell is gone)
> remains a pretty conservative publication, which is
> ironic when you
> consider that most of the country views it as a
> liberal rag.
> 
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> NewMusic at music.mills.edu
> http://music.mills.edu/mailman/listinfo/newmusic
> 
> 
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