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They call it "playing" jazz for a reason

10/5/2015

4 Comments

 
Picture
The death of Phil Woods last week put me in mind of a special kind of jazz musician.
     When I first became fanatical about what was then called “modern jazz,” Phil Woods seemed to be on every record I bought. He played in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, he was on a Monk big band record, and in bands led by George Russell and Quincy Jones. He had his own quintet with fellow alto-man Gene Quill, recorded with Kenny Dorham, Donald Byrd, Red Garland, Oliver Nelson and Art Farmer, among others. Much later he did a nice album with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass. The obit writers made a big deal out of the fact that Woods recorded solos on tracks by pop artists such as Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Steely Dan, but what mattered more was the great group he fronted from the ’80s on which included, at one time, Tom Harrell on trumpet, and later Brian Lynch.
     And what stuck out about him was the sheer abandon with which he played the instrument. Something about the enthusiasm and the energy he brought to any recording said: “I really love playing this horn
     In a music that sometimes tends toward the introspective, this glad-to-be-here quality is refreshing and rare. As a trumpet player, I think of Louis Armstrong, of course, and later, Dizzy Gillespie. The guy enjoyed what he was doing. Clifford Brown had it, as did Lee Morgan.
     It’s a subjective thing, probably having a lot to do with the listener. For fun, make a list of the people you listen to who have this quality. I heard it in Pepper Adams and Johnny Griffin and the great trombonist Frank Rosolino. Art Blakey had it, and so did Ray Brown, but it’s not a quality only associated with artists of years gone by. This year at the Ottawa jazz festival, I found it in spades in the quirkily intense group Kneebody. And if you go to jazz camp, catch Rémi Bolduc jamming in the boat house. That’s what it is.
    The other night I heard Ted Warren playing drums with Peter Hum’s quintet. It was there too. When artists clearly love what they are doing, it is difficult for audiences not to appreciate them. This sense of engagement is not the same as showboating. I head for the exits when I feel that the soloist is trying to milk applause, when the saxophone player honks on one note, the trumpet player screeches incessantly or the drummer plays a five-minute solo.
     That kind of showboating can be found in all the arts and, as in jazz, it attracts an audience. You can make your own list. But the people on it won’t endure as long as the writers, painters, actors who show a real engagement with their art.
     The movie A Walk in the Woods, sent me back to the writing of Bill Bryson. Nobody has more fun writing. Elmore Leonard had it. You can guess that Shakespeare had it. Margaret Atwood has it. Don’t be deceived by her laconic public speaking. When she writes, she is going for it and having a hell of a great time, even when she’s writing about the end of the world — actually, especially, when she’s writing about the end of the world.
     The great baseball philosopher, Willie Stargell (outfield, Pittsburgh Pirates), once said: “When they start the game, they don't yell, ‘Work ball.’ They say, ‘Play ball.’” And we play jazz, don’t we? Phil Woods certainly did.

​

4 Comments
Alrick Huebener
10/7/2015 11:17:44 am

Amen. Great article. The best concerts I have attended seem to be by artists who are having a lot of fun doing it. It is delightfully weird when they thank the audience for helping them have so much fun. Some of the worst concerts seem to have been when there is a certain grimness to the proceedings. like musicians working under a bandleader they do not like, or feel themselves to be on the precipice of harmonic turmoil, at the centrifugal edge of rhythmic disintegration or attempting to convey musical structures as complex any engineering project -- all of which can as much an occasion for fun and abandon as for stolid workmanship or terror. As an amateur, I am always at the line between competence and incompetence, safety and risk, triumph and failure. I'll have to wipe away that locked jaw and wrinkled forehead with a smile.

Reply
Charlie Spratt link
10/7/2015 03:56:18 pm

And I think of you, Charlie and trumpet, lost in your music.
Beautiful piece. Thank you.

Reply
Gavin
10/7/2015 06:33:49 pm

Well said! The fun is what it is all about. Many of the Jazzworks faculty, both past and current, show it. It is always a treat to listen to Phil Woods.

Reply
Christian
10/22/2015 04:05:52 am

Fore sure. I saw Phil Woods in Paris with his "European Rhythm machine" * a few times when he was living in France (late 60s early 70s); his swinging enthusiasm was contagious, Re pop music, I believe I heard him with Freddie Hubbard on a Billy Joel recording & could not hear anything wrong with that, it sure did not hurt the music. Some of Steve Gadd's most famous licks are on pop records!

*with George Gruntz, Henri Texier & Daniel Humair, check the discography: Alive & well in Paris for eample really cooks.

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    About this blog

    Tune Up won't be a calendar of events — Ottawa Jazz Happenings takes care of that. But it will discuss events and issues of interest to the JazzWorks community. Journalist, author, trumpet player and a jazz camper since 1999, Charley Gordon is a former vice-president of JazzWorks.

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