People Get Ready - Guelph Jazz Festival + Colloquium 2007: Marianne Trundel Quintet

Marianne Trudel Quintet @ Guelph Youth Music Centre, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Friday, September 7, 2007

Marianne Trudel: piano, compositions
Chet Doxas: reeds
Jonathan Stewart: reeds
Morgan Moore: bass
Kelby MacNayr: drums

Marianne Trudel opened this set as a soloist. Or the five fingers on each of her hands that she refers to as her "double quintet." As her fluid, lyrical melodic lines formed liquid harmonies like watercolors I closed my eyes to focus on the sound. Her sound is striking. The tasteful dissonances balanced out by the round, resonant consonances of her harmonic vocabulary held me in a tight meditative focus. I did not see the drummer and bassist come onto the stage. The sudden emergence of a trio sound came as a surprise that sent shivers down the spine. I opened my eyes.

As the full quintet eventually came onto the stage the watercolor approach toward harmony and melody continued throughout the set. Colors seem to bleed into one another along soft edges even as the melodies retained their vocal-like lyricism. This music was a revelation to me as a fresh composition and improvisation presence on piano. I'll soon be adding some Trudel into the HurdAudio rotation.

Scale of the Day: G Ionian 2% wide

The G Ionian 2% wide Scale. Here's a further detuning of the standard, equal tempered "major" scale as the octave approaches an 1/8th-tone beyond 1200-cents.

People Get Ready - Guelph Jazz Festival + Colloquium 2007: Liberation Music - An Interview with Charlie Haden

Interview with Charlie Haden @ Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Friday, September 7, 2007

"Liberation Music"

Patrick Case (interviewer)
Charlie Haden

"So... are you talking about race?" Leave it to Liberation Music Orchestra band leader - and the world's greatest bass player - to cut right to the chase after puzzling out a painstakingly rehearsed question that did everything but mention race by name. Leave it to Charlie Haden to come right out and say what Canadians are too polite to speak about directly. It's not the first time the race question has come up over the course of Haden's incredible career. He was raised as a traveling country singer in hillbilly country and came to prominence as a jazz bass player with Ornette Coleman's quartet. As the only "white" guy in so many groups he's been asked the race question a lot over the years. He used to hate that. He's always been about making great music and the recorded evidence certainly bears that out. It never mattered to him what color a great musician's skin was. Now, at age 70, he's seen many things and can tell great stories populated by the likes of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon and other jazz greats.

And he has plenty to say about race. As an outspoken critic of every Republican administration since the 1960s - each of the four Liberation Music Orchestra studio releases coincides with the dark days of Nixon, Reagan and the two shrubs - Haden's stand against oppression is a simple and deeply resonant assertion of the human truth and value of civil rights. His hope is that he won't have to record another Liberation Music Orchestra CD under yet another fascistic inclined administration.

It's the wealth of stories he can tell that made this interview so amazing to witness. He spoke about being imprisoned and interrogated in Portugal after making a dedication before playing "Song for Che" that held a peculiar resonance for this current age of torture and interrogation being carried out Not in Our Name - as the Liberation Music Orchestra's most recent release is called. On other occasions I've heard him tell other stories that blew my mind with his connection to so much jazz history, such as the one about playing with his eyes closed at his New York City debut with the Ornette Coleman Quartet because he noticed that Charles Mingus was watching him play. Not only is he a great musician, he is also a great resource for the oral history of jazz and I dearly hope his stories are being documented. At least this particular interview was being recorded for posterity.

As for "Liberation Music." The music of the Liberation Music Orchestra is powerful, beautiful, uplifting and tinged with sadness. It's some of the most amazing music of this age. It's a rare treat to hear Charlie Haden speak about something so stirring and meaningful. The inclusion of this interview as part of the Guelph Jazz Festival experience shows tremendous insight into what makes this music so valuable.

People Get Ready - Guelph Jazz Festival + Colloquium 2007: Presentation of Papers - Exploring the "Improvisative" - Two Views

Panel and Academic Presentation @ Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Friday, September 7, 2007

Benjamin Piekut (Musicology, Columbia University), "From the Performative to the Improvisative: Reconsidering Butler"

Tracy McMullen (Critical Studies/Experimental Practices, University of California, San Diego), "Playing the Performative: Replay and Improvisativity"

It was almost a cruel irony to schedule this presentation of academic papers in the wake of Anthony Braxton's soaring keynote address and William Parker's call to action over theory from the halls of academia. Taken in isolation, these are two insightful, thoughtful essays that are well done and represent a a valuable contribution to musicology research. I liked them in spite of multiple reservations.

I'm not familiar with the Butler writings that Piekut's paper was a response to. So it's hard to gauge the dialogue being advanced in his paper. Tracy McMullen offered some fascinating insights into the fetish of recreating and duplicating past performances punctuated with supporting anecdotal examples of Civil War re-enactments and the Montreal Genesis tribute band Music Box.

But the context of this presentation so soon after hearing Braxton, Parker and Baraka speak revealed some sharp contrasts that highlight several of the issues I have with the current state of academic discourse. Semantic gamesmanship may be the most prominent problem. While Anthony Braxton may have an unfair advantage in owning the language he's created when it comes to consistent definition, it became clear that the term "improvisative" had two completely different meanings for these two authors. Piekut even seemed to be going to great lengths to re-define it. Personally, I'd advocate using "improvisation" and "performance" as a matter of clarity unless there's a tangible advantage to the -itive form of those words. At least they weren't abusing the word "paradigm" - a word that was all the rage back in my grad school days.

Another sad contrast was the extreme reduction of scope. While Anthony Braxton advances his theories as a means to understand and create without limitation, Benjamin Piekut chose to avoid difficult questions by limiting the scope of his study to description and observation. A disappointingly timid approach consistent with the current post-manifesto era. And after William Parker's call to arms for actions over theory it was hard not to feel let down that so much intelligent, insightful work failed to produce a more activist-centered component.

People Get Ready - Guelph Jazz Festival + Colloquium 2007: Cross Border Conversations Workshop

Workshop/Performance @ Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Friday, September 7, 2007

Jah Youssouf (Mali): kamelan n'goni, voice
Jayme Stone (USA): banjo
Jesse Stewart (Canada): drums/percussion
Marianne Trudel (Canada): piano
Alain Derbez (Mexico): soprano saxophone
Karl Webb (Canada): guitar
Mark Kyriacou (UK): keyboards/electronics
Lewis Melville (Canada): drums/percussion
(and others, not a complete personnel list)

It's a natural impulse to throw large ensembles of creative musicians together wherever there is a high concentration of talent such as the Guelph Jazz Festival. These kinds of raw, unrehearsed performances are a clear part of the soundscape for such a progressive and diverse gathering. While the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre is a beautiful venue to hold lectures, panel discussions and present papers, the architecture of glass, hardwood floor and multiple reflective surfaces at every angle is an acoustics nightmare for live music. It's a credit to the technical sound staff that such a nightmare never truly emerged over the course of this hour long free improvisation with so many performers.

To my ears, Jah Youssouf was the focal point and driving force of this sound. The kamelan n'goni (also known as the hunter's harp) has such a striking timbre that complimented his singing voice. This meshed well with Jayme Stone's banjo. And I was particularly struck by Marianne Trudel's playing within in this context as this was my first chance to hear her play. These were some unusual sonic textures and she had exquisite taste for finding great harmonic colors to add to the overall sound. Much of what she did was spare and it left the ears hungry for more. It piqued my curiosity to hear her later that afternoon with her own quintet.

By the end of this long set things devolved to some extent with some disappointing spoken poetry and instigated audience participation (two simple clapping rhythms) as the sound careened into less-interesting territory of short and safe repeated patterns. But even so, one would have to regard the overall workshop as a success given the sheer number and variation of performers involved in such prolonged spontaneity.

People Get Ready - Guelph Jazz Festival + Colloquium 2007: Plenary Panel - The Future of Jazz

Panel Discussion @ Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Friday, September 7, 2007

Ron Gaskin, moderator
Amiri Baraka
William Parker

Ron Gaskin of Toronto's CKLN radio station wisely allowed the conversation with poet/activist Amiri Baraka and bassist/composer William Parker to veer away from the scheduled "Future of Jazz" topic toward the more vigorous and passionate discussion of the social implications of revolutionary art. These two want a revolution and have far too much to say to be confined by polite ruminations on the future of a genre when the future of humanity itself is the prize that motivates their deeper thoughts and deeds.

The question of how to change the world emerged in several guises over the course of this discussion. And while there were no simple answers offered, Baraka and Parker never flinched at keeping the focus on reaching out toward the community with an eye toward making tangible improvements in people's lives and standing up against injustice. There was a palpable disdain for the inaction of academic theories that bordered on confrontational given the venue of this exchange and a deep sense of conviction to live by the ideals and examples of the great civil rights leaders of the 1960s. The expressive power emanating from Baraka and Parker as they spoke was consistent with the expressive impact and intention that emanates from their poetry and music.

People Get Ready - Guelph Jazz Festival + Colloquium 2007: Anthony Braxton Keynote Address on Tri-Centric Modeling

Prof. Anthony Braxton @ Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Friday, September 7, 2007

Adding considerable substance to the "colloquium" side of the Guelph Jazz Festival and Colloquium (he would later add substantial music contributions as well), Anthony Braxton offered a one-hour overview of the Tri-Centric theory that forms the basis for understanding and generating his life's work. Having read his thick, three-volume Tri-Centric writings along with Graham Locke's Forces in Motion and generally being immersed in the sonic reality of Braxton's universe I found his elaborate syntax to be remarkably consistent. This was exactly the kind of polemic I've been starving for and I would have hungrily devoured more even as this single hour proved to be a dense, rich offering that will take some time to fully digest.

Underneath the opaque sheen of Braxton's language lies a profound body of ideas so ambitious that it takes an invented vocabulary just to express them. While the words may seem "made up," the ideas behind them are deeply rooted in a lifetime of application and constant striving toward creative growth as an improviser, composer and thinker.

Braxton represents his Tri-Centric methodology with three geometric shapes forming the house of the circle, the house of the rectangle and the house of the triangle. This visual metaphor provides a valuable conceptual hook for peering into a broad reaching sonic framework built upon a synthesis of the theories, practices and ideas of Arnold Schoenberg, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Karlheinz Stockhausen and many others. Much of this elaborate theoretical structure has its origins in Braxton's life-long development as a solo improviser as he aggressively searches for new territories to explore.

The house of the circle encompasses improvisational space. It contains all that is possible and presents to the creative practitioner the challenge of expansion toward adding yet more potential through seeking out and claiming what was once regarded as "impossible." As a metaphor, this ideal promotes an awareness of potential that invites creative people to develop a constantly expanding range of ideas.

The house of the rectangle represents the idiomatic and stylistic confines of a given musical practice or tradition. It resides within the house of the circle and represents the creative space within an established tradition or practice. This has a strong parallel to John Cage's recognition that so much music exists within "rooms" of tradition and conceptual baggage and how his own music and philosophy centered around "opening doors" to reveal other rooms or even the wide world outside of the house itself. In this manner, Cage's music represents a journey into the house of the circle that does not include the house of the rectangle. Braxton's musical thinking takes a slightly different direction by celebrating and strengthening the idiomatic reality (of jazz practice, classical practice, etc.) that is informed by an understanding of possibilities found within the house of the circle. Thus allowing for trans-idiomatic and "non-idiomatic" approaches toward established and evolving traditions.

The house of the triangle represents transposition or transitional logistics. This is an extremely powerful leg of the Tri-Centric theory that gives it such broad implications as an analytical and generative tool. The house of the triangle stipulates that any idea can be applied or carried over to any parameter. For example, harmonic functions have potential application to spatial organization, rhythmic organization or social function. In this manner, Braxton has expanded his theories to encompass a holistic understanding of every imagineable real-world (and other worldly) phenomenon. In this manner, Tri-Centrics becomes a theory for analyzing history or politics and a container for projecting the idealism of music composition onto socio-political realities. When Braxton speaks of "foreign policy blunders" and the distressing state of American policy he does so with the same creative impulse and artistic integrity that animates his life's work as a striving toward realizing high ideals in all endeavors.

Over the course of this keynote address Braxton also went into some detail on the sonic units that form his sonic vocabulary/thinking (including a handout identical to the one he provided for me 14 years ago when I interviewed him for a graduate project) with short examples excerpted from his recordings over the years. Watching him dissect his own music makes it abundantly clear just how much vigor he applies to his music.

In the question and answer session that followed the keynote address, someone in the audience seized upon Braxton's "friendly experiencer" terminology and offered him a chance to address the ramifications of the "unfriendly experiencer" that this implies. "Friendly experiencer" is a nice way to acknowledge the sympathetic (or enthusiastic, in my case) ear. Braxton discussed this simply as his effort to invite people to "be nice," and he left the "unfriendly" variety unaddressed. This impressed me. For someone who has borne a completely unfair brunt of negativity, racially motivated attack and disgusting vitriol from music critics and the jazz press over the course of his long career Braxton has deliberately chosen to frame his discussion in positive terms. And he comes across as an even larger luminary because of it.

Another moment that appealed to me was Braxton's admonition that "anyone seriously studying composition and making music in this current time-space needs to pay attention to what the video game people are doing. They're navigating a dynamic system that can go just about anywhere at any time and we can learn a lot from their solutions." I rarely speak about my professional existence in this space. It's my work on video games that pays for the HurdAudio internet connection and has been my livelihood for some time now. It was nice to hear some vindication from a major hero in the HurdAudio constellation.