|
Improvisation
takes place not only in performance but in the way a band develops.
There is a group decision perpetually taking place, a collective
intelligence that wants everyone to express themselves. That's the
ideal. Jazz's unique shot at greatness lies in its active creation,
which is, as it were, off the cuff. So much of Western art has self-consciously
strived to appear artless; jazz has the unique distinction of artlessly
becoming artful. To close I offer a scenario: if all the written
music in the world suddenly burned up in a flash, who would still
do a gig the same night, with complete strangers, and no rehearsals?
From
sleeve notes to 'Art of the Trio 4 - Back at the Vanguard', Brad
Mehldau (1999)
When
an earnest interviewer asked (trombonist) Joe Nanton if he considered
(Duke) Ellington a genius, Nanton replied, 'I don't know about that,
but, Jesus, he can eat!'
From 'Jazz Anecdotes', Bill Crow (1991)
I
like to remember that one of the great composers of the time, a
man who can hardly be accused of any indulgence for jazz, once listened
to the "Bag's Groove" solo with an ear that was more than merely
attentive...When the record was over, just one remark was enough
to compensate for all the rebuffs that the mediocrities of jazz
had made me suffer from his lips; it was made in connection with
the F sharp that follows a series of Cs and Fs in Monk's first chorus,
and which, for all its brevity, constitutes one of the purest moments
of beauty in the history of jazz. "Shattering", was my friend's
only comment.
From
'Toward Jazz', André Hodeir (1962)
|