Archives for November 28, 2008

I remember the first time I heard a recording of Charlie Parker back in a jazz appreciation course. That anyone could play the saxophone like that simply blew me away. Looking back, I wish I”d been exposed to Bird, and to the whole concept of bebop, much sooner than my college years. But better late than never, and out of that moment of revelation came years of exploring, enjoying, and learning from the likes of Parker, Cannonball, Sonny Stitt, Phil Woods, Wayne Shorter, Trane, Mike Brecker, Paul Desmond, Jackie McLean, and other bop and post-bop saxophonists.\r\n\r\nGiants such as these have created a solid legacy for contemporary players. There”s no escaping their influence–and who would want to?\r\n\r\nBut while I was feeding my ears on the tenor battles of Sonny Stitt and Lockjaw Davis, my dad was listening to his beloved Dixieland and old blues recordings of Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and Sidney Bechet.\r\n\r\nSidney Bechet. How well I remember not caring for him. That raspy tone and wide, buzz-saw vibrato of his made me nervous. So what if he was the first jazz musician to use the soprano saxophone as a serious voice? I didn”t find it a particularly attractive voice, and I was unimpressed.\r\n\r\nBesides, next to the sophistication and lightning technique of bop and Bird, Dixieland was just a poor sort of passe thing. It was okay for folks like my dad, but a hip young firebrand like me just naturally required more challenging fare.\r\n\r\nStrangely, though, I never could seem to play that simplistic Dixieland music anywhere nearly as well as its doddering, fossilized practitioners. Stranger still, the more I managed to get my arms around the complexities of modern jazz, the better those old Dixieland dinosaurs got.\r\n\r\nAt some point, now years gone by, I slipped on one of my dad”s ancient Sidney Bechet records and was astounded at how much the old soprano sax veteran had improved. Good? Heck, the man was brilliant! It was an amazing achievement for a player many years deceased. I suspect, though, that Bechet”s accomplishment had something to do with my own growth as a musician. Thrashing with my horn had opened my eyes–and ears–to what a master of the saxophone Sidney Bechet really was.\r\n\r\nAs for Dixieland music being simpler than bebop, I still can”t play the stuff. I”m sure I could if I worked at it enough to develop a Dixieland vocabulary, but having not done so, I at least know enough now to recognize that classic jazz is not easy music. It”s hard to play well! Guys like Sidney and Louis were no slouches. They were geniuses who possessed dazzling technique, boundless creativity, and immense musical integrity.\r\n\r\nHere”s a solo transcription by Bret Pimentel of Sidney Bechet playing “Summertime,” the tune that propelled a fledgling record company called Blue Note into greatness. Make sure you also check out Bret”s analysis of the solo. Both the transcription and the writeup are well-done and insightful. If you”ve steeped yourself in contemporary jazz, you”ll gain an appreciation for one of the patriarchs who made it possible, forging a path where no one had gone before.