I'm by no means a Marsalis basher, but I haven't completely warmed to anything he's done since 'Blues Alley,' at least, nothing he's released as a leader. I prefer the early material, and the last thing of his that I truly loved was 'Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 1.' Like many, I'm guessing, the only Wynton disc I actually go back to on a regular basis is the superb 'Black Codes (from the Underground).' I think the difference between the early band and the later bands is more than simply the loss of Branford, Kenny Kirkland and Jeff "Tain" Watts, although those losses do have a major impact. It's funny, but to my ear it just doesn't seem like Marsalis has enjoyed himself much since those three left -- but I may be reading too much into it. The early sessions were beholden to Miles, but they burned, whereas the later bands, more influenced by New Orleans traditional jazz and Ellington, just don't swing convincingly for me. More often than not, the septet sounds fussy and self-important, and as a result, its swing is fatally constipated. (Others may very well disagree with me, but I heard the band more than a few times and my opinion never varied.) Since the Vanguard box set is all from that era, you won't find me recommending it. And yes, I've listened to the whole thing. Oddly enough, the greatest Marsalis performance I ever heard was at a Borders in-store celebrating the launch of his (contract-fulfilling) dozen releases in 1999. The store was crowded, but the band -- Eric Reed on digital piano, Christian McBride on bass and Lewis Nash on drums -- just tore shit up. Away from the spotlight and the grandiose role he's expected to play in his position as spokesman for the music, Wynton can still play a whole lot of trumpet. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com NP - Tony Malaby, "Gate's Pass," 'Sabino' (Arabesque) -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .
The whole Wynton argument is very much a way to figure out who's on which team. In total, I'm glad he's been on the scene, just for his ability to get people arguing about the history on the music again. If you remember the early 1980's and the way jazz was more marginalized than it is now, you likely remember the way in which somebody like Louis Armstrong was kind of shunted away into a sort of graveyard. Then Wynton showed up, beating his gums at top speed about Mssr Satch, and suddenly people were forced to pay attention, just because Wynton was making sure they were paying attention. His passion for Lester Bowie and Don Cherry was something he remarked upon often back then. An interesting thing happened. Wynton sort of decided for himself upon a curatorial role, whereas the press decided he would be more in a subjective zoo position -- "here is the balck trumpet player exhibit", and the Wynton War of Ambitions was on. After BLACK CODES, he got a bit more antagonistic with the press, and I think his energy went from his music to defense and maintenance of his viewpoint. He started getting into this Louis Armstrong philosophy rap as a way to separate his generic hard bop from everybody else's, which is as fraudulent as when "avant garde" musicians play in a 45 yr old style and claim to be "innovating". In Wynton's defense, he's a very good musician. And his Lincoln Center programs -- and his ability to sell his ideas to the bluehairs who cut the checks -- has probably resulted in more previously lost worthwhile music getting new respect, and the deepest price for that enormous service is that we have to hear Wynton talk about it at length. The thing I find unforgivable about Wynton is, once he had Ken Burns' ear, he did his best to stalizine any mention of rhythm'n'blues from the sacred history of jazz. But that's another screed. -- skip h http://www.skipheller.com np: the beau hunks play the modern amercian music of ferde grofe
From skip Heller
The whole Wynton argument is very much a way to figure out who's on which team. In total, I'm glad he's been on the scene, just for his ability to get people arguing about the history on the music again.
The Atlantic Monthly had an extensive profile of Marsalis in March (I haven't read it though): http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/03/hajdu.htm ("Wynton's Blues") <quote> For two decades Wynton Marsalis ruled the jazz universe, enjoying virtually unqualified admiration as a musician and unsurpassed influence as the music's leading promoter and definer. But after a series of sour notesÂhe parted from his record label, has been caught up in controversy at Jazz at Lincoln Center; and has been drawing increasing fire from critics and fellow musicians alike for his narrow neotraditionalismÂperhaps the biggest name in jazz faces an uncertain future. Just like jazz itself. </quote> Regards Franz Fuchs
on 4/2/03 6:44 PM, Franz Fuchs at f.fuchs@gmx.net wrote:
The Atlantic Monthly had an extensive profile of Marsalis in March (I haven't read it though):
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/03/hajdu.htm ("Wynton's Blues")
<quote> For two decades Wynton Marsalis ruled the jazz universe, enjoying virtually unqualified admiration as a musician and unsurpassed influence as the music's leading promoter and definer. But after a series of sour noteshe parted from his record label, has been caught up in controversy at Jazz at Lincoln Center; and has been drawing increasing fire from critics and fellow musicians alike for his narrow neotraditionalismperhaps the biggest name in jazz faces an uncertain future. Just like jazz itself. </quote>
Regards Franz Fuchs
That's a very sensationalistic opening. But, when I read the article last week, it said very little. Just kind of reported the usual debate stuff, with a mentio nof how charming Wynton is face to face. sh
Much more offensive in that Atlantic piece was Stanley Crouch's statement to the effect that jazz critics resent Wynton because "he has access and has had access to a better class of female than they're able to imagine." That, in combination with Crouch's racially inflammatory screed against Dave Douglas in the April Jazz Times, leads me to believe that whatever slim currency that man once had has long been completely spent. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com
i thought the funniest part of it was his racial screed against don byron. a weird turnabout on diamond david lee roth's great quote about the reason rock critics preferred elvis costello to VH is because more rock critics looked like EC than VH. he was likely correct. as for the class of females available to wynton, one look at ted nugent's wife will make you wonder if improvising is really the ticket. skip h np: willis jackson -- star bag (Prestige LP) on 4/4/03 3:55 PM, Steve Smith at ssmith36@sprynet.com wrote:
Much more offensive in that Atlantic piece was Stanley Crouch's statement to the effect that jazz critics resent Wynton because "he has access and has had access to a better class of female than they're able to imagine."
That, in combination with Crouch's racially inflammatory screed against Dave Douglas in the April Jazz Times, leads me to believe that whatever slim currency that man once had has long been completely spent.
Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com
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participants (4)
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Franz Fuchs -
skip Heller -
ssmith36＠sprynet.com -
Steve Smith