Free jazz has long aligned with the liberal Left. The allegiance only makes sense given the idiom’s marginalized status and origins as a revisionist response to the larger art form’s status quo. Few musicians on the scene are also card-carrying conservatives.
Consequently, Whit Dickey’s political leanings and his inclination to voice them through music aren’t much of a surprise. The final three tracks on his new album leave little doubt to his ideological stance, particularly the sardonic “Dubya’s Flying Lesson,” a ferociously dense militaristic march that draws a damning portrait of its subject with a poison-tipped musical pen. With arts & humanities funding repeatedly on the economic excising block it seems more than fair to fire a few pointed missives back over the regime’s cash-clogged bow.
A like-minded ensemble joins Dickey on soapbox, one that constitutes an All-Star squad of New York and Boston-based stalwarts. The presence of Chris Lightcap on bass allows Joe Morris the latitude to hoist his more venerable axe and its great to hear him again with plectrum poised against strings. Well-accustomed to each other’s eccentricities, the frontline of Roy Campbell, Jr. and Rob Brown delivers as they have so many times in the past. Carla Bley’s “Calls,” the only cover of the set, kick-starts the band. After an ensemble theme, Campbell takes the lead joined by Dickey and Lightcap with Morris periodically stitching in coruscating bent notes. The baton passes to Brown and then Morris, both of whom ride out frothy support and come up with cogent statements in their customary dialects. Lightcap brings up the rear, his digits tugging out pulsing improvisation that relies heavily on the resounding elastic snaps of his strings.
The cardiac pulse continues into the title track, a bustling free-form foray lined with sharp harmonic barbs and rhythmic trap-doors. Brown is at his most Lyons-like here, an acrid nasalized, intonation energizing his pouncing intervallic cries. Campbell answers in kind with his own flood of flush-faced brassy streams that eventually taper into a pinched duet with Morris’ tatting plucks. It’s this sort of boisterous, briskly paced freebop at which he so frequently excels. Dickey offers near constant rhythmic commentary on the action, switching from flurried stickplay to textured, barely perceptible patter and back again, continually keeping the ensemble on the move toward a crescendoing cloud burst of a close.
“Peace Overture” scales the band’s ardor back to more a more ruminative perch. Brown and Campbell shape lush harmonies from the frontline gilded once again by Morris’ shimmering single notes. The leader colors the cracks with cottony brushes while Lightcap traffics in his usual wide-girthed throb. Dickey’s style of drumming has undergone a string of changes since he first hit the scene in late 80s. Self-mandated sabbaticals and various false starts behind him, he’s arguably at the peak of his powers these days. With longtime colleagues in tow the results of this effort make good on the promise and yield one of the stronger statements of his career.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on July 10, 2005 2:06 PMI've got a review of this disc running in the August Wire. It was nicely recorded, but ultimately pretty placid and benign. All the passion went into coming up with the song-titles, I think.
Posted by: pdf at July 10, 2005 3:59 PMHmm... Rob Brown's blowtorch solo on "Dubya's Flying Lesson" placid & benign? You sure about that, Phil? :)
Posted by: derek at July 10, 2005 5:33 PMI dunno...it just didn't do all that much for me. In my write-up, I mentioned the much-quoted Dolphy line about music vanishing after you hear it, blah blah blah, and said I thought the players had taken that line as an inspiration or a philosophy rather than a challenge to be overcome - that is, they hadn't created anything memorable. Some stronger melodies would have been good, too, but hooks have never been Dickey's strong suit. The only person who really brought his A game was Morris.
Hey, did you get my e-mail re the anthology? I sent it to your hotmail account.
Posted by: pdf at July 10, 2005 6:01 PMThat Dolphy angle is a canny one & I guess maybe it fits. I thought the session was good for what it essentially is- five guys who’ve been playing together in the same circles for years convening to cut another album. Nothing much in the way of new or transformative, but a strong & enjoyable showing nonetheless. Interesting that you mention Morris as the MVP; I felt he was comparatively the most calculating and subdued of the five through much of the set. Not necessarily bad traits in context, but departures from the full bore, go-for-broke side of his playing present on discs like Prophet Moon.
My hotmail account’s been inaccessible over most of the weekend (server updates or some supposed shit); hoping it’ll back in business by tomorrow morning & your e-mail should be waiting. Looking forward to hearing about the anthology.
Posted by: derek at July 10, 2005 8:20 PMI love me some Joe Morris, so...
Posted by: al at July 11, 2005 4:16 PM... buy the rekkid. :)
Posted by: derek at July 11, 2005 7:09 PMa few comments on both Mr Dickey's music and Derek Taylor's review. For starters, I've always been leary of musicians proclaiming their politics; I for one don't put on a cd to acquire political insight. In fact, it has been my experience that the overwhelming majority of musicians have less political sense than my dog Leika. For reference, check out the stupid nonsense of Live 8.
Mr Taylor claims that free jazz is "long aligned with the liberal left" (this only makes sense - is this arrogance or what?) and "is (thus)marginalized".
He also goes on to claim that "funding" is evidently been reduced. What is this thing with funding? Oh, I see, nobody will buy this music (you have to ask why?) so it should be supported by the taxpayer. Mr Taylor & Mr Dickey (like all leftists) evidently know what's best for everybody.
I guess that the sad thing is that those of us who don't fall into that category (but are free jazz listeners) will stop buying free jazz cds and stop attending concerts. Good luck with your career, Mr Dickey.
fixed, Mike. The problem is the slowness of the site of late, not with you.
Posted by: al at July 17, 2005 6:53 PM"Mr Taylor & Mr Dickey (like all leftists) evidently know what's best for everybody.
I guess that the sad thing is that those of us who don't fall into that category (but are free jazz listeners) will stop buying free jazz cds and stop attending concerts."
That's some tasty bait, Mike, but I'm not biting. Chalk it up one or three two many Maker's Marks at local Bastille Day celebrations this afternoon. Viva la France!
Posted by: derek at July 17, 2005 7:42 PM[F.Nietzs.] Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called Ego.
[De.Tayl.] ...but I'm not biting.
Methinks you're barking up the wrong tree, Fritz.
Or is it Fritz the Cat? :)
Any thoughts on the album in question?
Posted by: derek at July 18, 2005 6:24 PM"...but I'm not biting."
Viva la France! Vive le underdog!
“There's no need to fear, Underdog is here.
When criminals in this world appear,
And break the laws that they should fear,
And frighten all who see or hear,
The cry goes up both far and near for
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog.
Speed of lightning, roar of thunder,
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog.
When in this world the headlines read
Of those whose hearts are filled with greed
And rob and steal from those in need.
To right this wrong with blinding speed goes
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog,
Underdog.
Speed of lightning, roar of thunder,
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog.”
What th hell are they doing celebrating Bastille Day in your neck o' the woods, Derek? (Three days late too, from the sound of it..) Thought you chaps were still chowing down on Freedom Fries and swapping your Aloxe Corton for Californ-ee-ay Zinfandel? Oh yes, it's VIVE la France, btw. Save the VIVA for Vegas :)
With reference to Mike's point, the supposedly logical link between all things artistic and all things politically left of centre, well, I rather share his scepticism. (Haven't had a chance to discuss the matter with his dog, Leika, but looking forward to doing so one day.) It's been my experience that if an artist or musician has something to say, s/he'll say it come what may, and funding be damned. There's no Ministry of Culchur in the UK (the Arts Council of Great Britain is a joke) but that never stopped punk and free improvisation.
In any case when I took the Dickey out on the road on my mp3 player I had no idea of the track titles, and just enjoyed listening to it as was. I'm looking forward to reading your review, Phil. Hey, Derek, when you've chugged down that bourbon, how 'bout giving Leika his own column, eh? Woof woof.
Sadly, proper vowel choice is one of the first faculties to cloud when the Maker’s kicks in. And what can I say, three days? We’re usually three months behind the curve out here in the bass-ackwards Midwest. But I draw the line at that goopy, foul-smelling mayo-relish mix that seems all the French rage for slathering on a basket of pomme frites. Make mine red-blooded American ketchup when it comes to slaking my fry-dipping needs :)
A question: where did “all things artistic” get aligned with “all things left of centre”? I was speaking only about free jazz, where I think the connection can fairly easily be drawn. Archie Shepp and Cecil Taylor weren’t republicans at any point in their storied careers, far as I know. Charles Gayle? Well that’s probably another story ;) And there are plenty of other artists who align with the conservative right: Ricky Skaggs, Michael W. Smith and Travis Tritt, to name a few.
As far as the efficacy of using an album as a political soapbox, as I wrote above I’ve really got no beef with it, whether it’s Dickey vaguely bashing Dubya, Max Roach insisting on Freedom Now! or Ted Nugent exalting the status quo. To suggest that an artist shouldn’t bring his or her civics to the studio or stage seems to smack of the arrogance Mike & Fritz are so liberal in ascribing. The world continues to turn funding or no, but it’s still nice to wish for a bit of State-sanctioned pocket change for those one admires. Damn, I bit!
Posted by: derek at July 19, 2005 4:42 AMIt's the BELGIANS who specialise in mayo (though the French have picked up the habit too..). Since I saw "Undercover Brother" I haven't touched the stuff. Only Mayo I deal with is Mayo Thompson! Malt vinegar for me, lad. Ah'm from t' North.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at July 19, 2005 5:44 AMAh the beauty of the syllogism:
"Free jazz has long aligned with the liberal Left." [Derek]
"Black jazz has long aligned with the Christian soul (or what's left of it)." [Truism-with the couple of Muslims duly noted]
"As an artist, a man has no home in Europe save in Paris." [F. Nietzs.] :)
"...seems to smack of the arrogance Mike & Fritz are so liberal in ascribing."
smack? More mayo s'il vous plait:
"Egoism is the very essence of a noble soul." [F. Nietzs.]
Wow!
bow wow
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