While enjoying the above Franz Kline painting and attempting, with difficulty, to digest the news that numerous Northern California places where I, my family and friends have lived and enjoyed visiting over many decades have been absolutely clobbered (and continue to be clobbered) by violent winter storms as the new year begins, shall direct focus to the world of 20th century music. Jazz fans in our readership: come on down!
From January 2023, we time travel back to 1973 and a rather amazing TV appearance by jazz trumpet genius Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008).
Although at that point, Mr. Hubbard had left Blue Note Records and began waxing more overtly commercial and pop-influenced albums for Creed Taylor's CTI label, this set reflects that in concert, the ace of trumpet exemplified the fire-breathing sensibility of hard bop. Junior Cook (tenor saxophone), George Cables (piano), Kent Brinkley (upright bass) and Michael Carvin (drums) assist skillfully.
Way back in those halcyon days, attended a concert featuring Klaus Doldinger's Passport and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, two groups that blended rock, funk and jazz creatively and seamlessly. Fortunately, both Herbie and Klaus have enjoyed lengthy careers. Here they are, Klaus Doldinger's Passport, live at the 1974 Frankfurt jazz festival.
In the Klaus Doldinger ensemble as special guest: the great tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin.
Saw Mr. Griffin tear it up with his quartet on several occasions at San Francisco's mecca of music, Keystone Korner in North Beach, way back when.
Key to several Miles Davis ensembles was drummer Tony Williams, the cornerstone of 1960's Miles quintets who subsequently led incendiary rock-jazz fusion bands. One of the best Tony Williams Lifetime groups is seen here at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival.
Nobody exemplified the merging of musical genres and questioning of sonic conventions more than pianist/composer/bandleader Herbie Hancock.
On the topic of Herbie Hancock and his mighty funk-jazz-rock band, here they are on a 1976 Danish TV special. It is one of the few and far between video appearances by mighty studio ace guitarist Wah Wah Watson a.k.a. Melvin M. Radin who, as expected, is brilliant and original. As The Wrecking Crew and The Nashville A-Team (led by guitarists Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Grady Martin and Chet Atkins) did in the 1950's and 1960's, the ever-inventive Wah Wah Watson played on everyone's records in the 1970's and 1980's.
For another spin on fusion + modern jazz, here's Ornette Coleman and his epic Prime Time Band, rocking the house hard at Palalido in 1980. Ornette created his own unique musical universe starting in the 1950's, then added multiple electric guitars and Fender basses to his ensembles in the 1970's, resulting in an enjoyably surreal supersonic mix.
And, while on the topic of genre-bending, genre-redefining, genre-exploding and genre-extending recording artists, there's the prolific visual artist and unconventional bandleader Don Van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart.
The Cap'n, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet, in between frequent drawing and painting, led an ensemble way out on the far frontiers of what was considered rock music from 1965 to 1982.
Now, in all honesty, Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, was closer to Ornette and Albert Ayler than to Connie Francis or ABBA.
What could outdo or at least equal Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band live from Paris? Captain Beefheart on Late Night With David Letterman!
Author and music expert Frank John Hadley described Don Van Vliet best: Unconventional to the nth power, Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) constructed a gnostic blues world where Howlin' Wolf curls Salvador Dali's moustache and Little Walter espouses dadaism.
Of the two early-1970s albums juxtaposed here, The Spotlight Kid most interestingly turns twelve-bar music on its head with Beefheart's multi-octave son-of-Wolf voice, his pixilated lyrics, his marvelous Chicago-style harp, and his specially instructed Magic Band's asymmetrical rhythms.
Not to say the second heartfelt blues travesty, Clear Spot, scrimps on the quirky 'low yo yo' either.-- © Frank John Hadley 1993.
ⓒ Don Van Vliet
No comments:
Post a Comment