“In jazz, the word innovation is a joke, although it is accepted the myth that jazz musicians can invent sounds or ways of playing that are actually contrary to tradition or that try to erase it,” said saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Clarione in a telephone conversation.
This famous artist will be presented at the Mendoza Sax Fest this Friday as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Cuyo and on Sunday, in quartet with Ernesto Jodos on the piano, Jerónimo Carmona on the double bass and Oscar Giunta on the drums, both concerts at the Mendoza Theater.
“Kamasi doesn’t do jazz”
“The word innovation has been distorted; it’s just a by-product of previous methods or philosophies, ”added the musician who performed for the last time in Buenos Aires, in November 2015, to close the Buenos Aires International Festival at the Teatro Colón.
-Precisely one of the musicians following this alleged path of innovation is the saxophonist from Los Angeles, Kamasi Washington. Did you hear that? How do you define your music?
-I think his music is good, but I don’t consider it jazz. There may be some jazz in there and I can understand why many who enjoy his music call what he does jazz. Generally – I repeat, generally – they are people who grew up listening to popular music and popular sounds and feel that their instrumental music reflects that sensitivity. Calling it jazz separates them from the music they listen to most and gives them a heightened sense of their own artistic inclinations.
What jazz is and what it isn’t
In an interview with Jazztimes magazine, Marsalis admits he doesn’t want to go to war over these comments, but he questioned some of the new names in international jazz such as Kamasi Washington or Robert Glasper, “but I can hear a Lester Young record, or from Dexter Gordon or Wayne Shorter and ask: Do you feel that lineage in his playing? If he doesn’t, what makes it jazz, improvisation? “
He adds: “We will come back to that illusion again. The success that Kamasi has is surprising, but the people who defend him as a jazz player are not jazzmen. They have their own idea of what jazz is and they are entitled to it, but I do too. me ”, explained this musician with a career of just over 40 years on the jazz scene.
music for musicians
– A dilemma survives which could be translated as “conservatives have taken away the melodic freshness of jazz”. Today, many jazz musicians play more for their peers than for the public. Does academic teaching have anything to do with this?
-No. Music has always had musicians and technocrats. The most talented musicians, those with an ear for melody, play the most popular musical styles and are well paid for it. That void has given way to the emergence of technocratic actors. I have never met or heard of a musician who had a great ear for melody and singing who lost it by going to college or the conservatory.
-Although the changes are perceived within North American society, you pointed out that the greatest frustration of black musicians was the systematic denial of their humanity that manifested itself in the music. How do you feel about this situation today?
-It is not comparable. I no longer have to travel on the back of a bus under the “Color Only” sign. Black musicians like Kamasi can get a large following of whites, which was impossible in the 1930s except in a few places.
For example, I can think of Duke Ellington playing at the Cotton Club, a “white only” club in the center of New York’s black culture. Although racism is not extinct, your daily life is not filtered through a racial lens as it was decades ago.
-At the Mendoza Sax Fest you will make two presentations, one with a symphony orchestra and the other in a quartet with Argentine musicians. Have you already had contact with musicians?
-No not yet. I find these things work best and I mean the quartet’s performance, when we play songs that we all know. I don’t care to listen to kids wrestling with my songs, so we don’t have to worry about that.
We’ll have fun. The other concert, with the orchestra, is all written.
A family dedicated to jazz
Brandon Marsalis comes from a jazz family. The eldest son of pianist Ellis Marsalis, he was born on August 26, 1960 and grew up in the rich environment of New Orleans. His three brothers, Wynton, the best known on the international scene, Delfeayo and Jason are part of the scene and move like true champions of the genre.
At the age of 20 he played with the orchestras of Lionel Hampton and Clark Terry and at 21 he joined the legendary Jazz Messengers, by drummer Art Blakey, whom he recognizes as his most formative experience of the time.
His recording debut as a leader was Scenes In The City (1984) where he exhibits different stylistic models, something by Coltrane, something by Wayne Shorter and the theme that gives the name to the album that “steals the camera”.
Around 1985 he distanced himself from the Wynton quintet, playing simultaneously in several projects with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie and accompanies Sting on his first solo tour The dream of the blue turtle.
But Marsalis has leading material and in 1986 formed his quartet with the extraordinary Kenny Kirckland on piano, Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums and Robert Hurst on double bass. They have released five albums with this group, including the excellent I heard you twice the first time.
As for his leadership, Marsalis compares it to that of Davis. “I’m kind of more like how Miles operated. He never told you what to do, on the contrary, he asked you what not to do. In my different quartets we talk and discuss songs. I am the leader, but I am not the one who has all the good ideas which are the ones that win through dialogue. Each song has a unique color, ”added the saxophonist.
Since 1997 the quartet has maintained the same line-up with Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Reeves on double bass and only changed drummer in 2011; Watts left and Justin Faulkner entered.
“Being together allows us to play adventurous and sophisticated music that sounds good. Lack of familiarity leads to defensive play. I like to play sophisticated music and I couldn’t make this music with people I don’t know. “
An educational experience
At this point he recalled a visit he made with his first group at Bradley’s, a small club in Greenwich Village, New York, in the mid-1980s.
“One day Tain Watts called me to tell me that I had to see Walter Davis Jr’s trio on piano, Ben Riley on drums and Abdul Malik on double bass; They played a lot of bebop. It was amazing to see how they looked at each other as they played, had fun and interacted. Right there I realized that we could have the same energy on stage. That way of relating by playing was what could work for us and that’s how it was, “said the artist, who released the splendid work in 2019. The secret between the shadow and the soul.
Branford has released over 30 albums. He wrote the music for Mo ‘Better Blues, Spike Lee and the recent Black Bottom of The Ma Rainey, based on August Wilson’s play, among others.
In addition to crossing the Rubicon of jazz purity with Sting, he played with the Grateful Dead between 1990 and 1994 and participated in the albums Offline (1990) and Spring 1990 (The other) Y Wake up to find outboth recorded in 1990 but published in 2014.
In addition to his presentations at the Mendoza Sax Fest, from the 7th to the 10th of this month, Marsalis will hold two masterclasses, on Saturday and Sunday. The exhibition will see the presence of saxophonists Ricardo Cavalli, Jorge Retamoza, Mauro Ciavattini, Walter Casciani and Mariana Cuadra; from the United States, Jonathan Helton and Griffin Campbell; from France, Carl-Emmanuel Fisbach; from Chile, Agustín Moya and Denisse Serrano and from Panama, the Isthmus Sax quartet.
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Source: Clarin
