Ayler 52
Each year, the Vision Festival attracts its share of disciples and detractors. Some lament the relative sameness and insularity of its line-ups. Others laud the massive amounts of hard work that go into its continued longevity. Wherever a person's position on that continuum of support, it's hard to argue against the occasional strokes of genius that arise from so many performances packed into so finite a span of time. A rare case where titular hyperbole hits a bull’s-eye, this conclave between the named Chicagoan principals still has audience members talking four years after the fact. I was present at the gig and while my memories of the actual musical particulars are a bit opaque, the celebratory reactions in the concert's wake are still vivid in my mind. The question going into first exposure of this aural document: How much of that audience adulation was a confluence of other factors at the event and how much was musically derived?
Conventional wisdom on Anderson contends that he works best with drummers, his cyclical phrasing style benefiting from responsive rhythmic frameworks that foster continued forward momentum. Bankhead fulfills that role and adds a melodic dimension that is sometimes startling in its ability to enhance Anderson’s often lean and linear improvisations. Amplified, but not overly so, his strumming pizzicato clouds at once anchor and embellish the familiar melodic cursive of the saxophonist’s blues-rooted patterns. Anderson isn’t always the most conscientious when it comes to responding to his colleagues in the moment, preferring instead to pursue his own personal agenda, sometimes stubbornly so. Bankhead recognizes and appreciates this streak of rugged individualism in his partner and doesn’t sound the least bit ruffled when Anderson’s tenor insists on tugging him one way or another. That balance of mutable support and synchronicity keeps even the lengthy “Wandering” from wending into prolix introspection. Bankhead’s elegant arco harmonics telegraph and transmute the tenorist’s internal rhythms and the ensuing interplay achieves a level of emotional resonance bordering on the seraphic. His agile inventions are so enthralling that even Anderson is moved to defer, readily acquiescing to the role reversal and switching to fluttering rhythmic accents. Concentrated and fleeting, “The Strut” neatly summarizes the synergy in evidence prior, inciting audience participation through audible handclaps in its coda.
Several weeks ago, Anderson and Bankhead played another Vision Fest set, this time with drummer Hamid Drake turning duo into an even more rhythmically combustive trio. Reports on the performance have come with the expected encomiums and the music will no doubt eventually find its way into commercial circulation. This concert taped four years earlier set the stage and still stands up to the stringent scrutiny of memory.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on July 2, 2007 7:10 PMLoved the music. Hated the awful audience participation. Even if the musicians themselves spout "down home" rhetoric, the hard fact is they did not get where they are by "Jus' Playin' the Blues".
That clapping and whooping and hollering is disrepectful to such refined and serious musicians.
I’ve got no beef with the audience participation. It’s largely confined to the coda number “The Strut”, which isn’t exactly rocket science improv, and besides, Vision is pretty much all about “audience participation/appreciation”- it’s the closest thing to a free jazz “Be-In/Love-In” that there is. I’ve been four times and on each occasion had a helluva lot more fun witnessing folks dancing/clapping in the aisles than watching them sit stoically in those uncomfortable folding metal chairs. Judging from the musicians’ positive reactions to such celebratory behavior, I’m inclined to think they would agree. Descriptors like “refined” and “serious” should be reserved for season subscribers to Lincoln Center. At least we agree on the music, Bankhead really knocks it out of the park.
Posted by: derek at July 3, 2007 6:40 AMI've mentioned it before, but this concert was probably the finest thing I've heard at the Vision shows I've attended over the years. Haven't heard the disc itself, though. I am likely in the minority from last month as far as wishing that it'd been the same duo, but whatcha gonna do?
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 3, 2007 8:30 AMBrian, I'll wager a sack of shiny ducats that this one will sit favorably with your memory. The sounds are captured quite well even if the associative sights and smells elude capture, though there seems to be more amplification on the bass than I remember. Interested to hear your thoughts on how the Drake-added chemistry of the recent gig altered the Fred/Harrison dynamic.
Posted by: derek at July 3, 2007 9:01 AMI just thought he was intrusive when I didn't want to hear it, one of those situations where, at least, I'd've liked to hear him lay out when it wasn't, technically, a "solo" moment for one of the others. There were a couple of occasions when I thought he was almost trampling over the other two, William Hooker fashion. Again, all the Viz Fest fans I've seen write about the event loved Drake as much as the other two so what do I know?
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at July 3, 2007 10:08 AMI really like the Delmark cd with them as a trio. Bankhead is just amazing.
Speaking of Hooker, I have a gig with him and Oluyemi Thomas on thursday...
Timeless is a pretty great disc, & another case where Harrison just kills, but I can still get behind Brian's desire to hear the duo over the trio.
Posted by: derek at July 3, 2007 11:40 AMOh, same here. I might even go as far as to just want Harrison solo.
But, I also really like when Fred works with a more harmonic player,
Jim Baker does some incredible things on "Birdhouse" with Fred's lines.
Short Youtube of the duo concert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwd7Xf53DmQ
i can't imagine a single set i'd ever not want drake in on.
but i like 'jazz' more than you guys, so that's to be expected.
but i like 'jazz' more than you guys, so that's to be expected.
Prove it.
Posted by: derek at July 3, 2007 3:51 PM"That clapping and whooping and hollering is disrepectful to such refined and serious musicians."
I'm curious to what the musicians think of that situation. As an audience member it is pretty annoying to hear Margaret ooh and aah at times but I remember a Vision set with Fred and Kidd and the audience practically exploded. Strange, yes, but disrespectful? The seats got scattered about and the whole room was in disarray after that set. It just seemed impossible not to feel it and I would think the musicians fed off it, too.
Fred is just one of those guys that some people love because they feel it is the right thing to do, some people hate because they like that side of the fence and others appreciate him just because he is Fred and he is special and deserves his due. The guy plays soul music and I know it isn't for everybody but it sure isn't some form of serious music that must be listened to at attention.
Posted by: Ted at July 5, 2007 2:47 AMStrange , while listening about Fred Anderson , Lucky Thompson brings to mind especially this nice album recorded without drums and with Oscar Pettifford on bass and Skeeter Best on guitar. Dancing Sunbeam, Little Tenderfoot recorded jan and febr 1956. Or of course Johny Griffin, Von Freeman (love his Roland Kirk produced Atlantic album with Jimmy Cobb). In 77 or 79 , we glanced at Fred Anderson , Hamid Drake and George Lewis in the New Jazz Moers Festival. Good old days when unknown US afro - american players and young gifted euro improvisors sprang on the scenes each month........
Audience participation? I just downloaded a solo Braxton concert from years ago. At a certain point, a dog in the audience, close to the microphone, began barking. Aggressively. Threateningly. He clearly didn't like the music. Braxton didn't lose much time in finding something different to play.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at August 13, 2007 1:09 PM
P.S. Unlike the Globe Unity Orchestra's "Into The Valley" LP, the Unidentified Dog did not receive credit for his contribution to the performance.
Graham, I remember seeing a solo Braxton concert at Environ in late '76 where a dog wandered up to the playing area and struck a "his master's voice" pose. Braxton looked down, nodded hello to the dog, and continued playing.
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at August 14, 2007 5:23 AMGiven his fecundity and open-mindedness toward collaborators (stand-up comic Alex Horowitz, anyone?), I'm mildly surprised Braxton hasn't done an album with a canine contingent.
Posted by: derek at August 14, 2007 6:27 AMDamon,
I'll be in the Bay Area for a few days next week (Aug. 24th-28th basically). Any gigs I should know about? Is there a good online source for listings?
Also would be good to meet up if possible. I'm emailable at the address attached to my name here.
That vid of Fred and Harrison is great. Tremendous bass man - really gets the TONE happening (the Wilbur Ware tradition i guess). I've only seen him live once in Chi' in 1997 = Witches & Devils + Mats Gustafsson was the gig. Mars, KV, Mats, Baker, Lonberg-Holm, Harrison, and Steve Hunt. Big blasting fun.
Posted by: Rob Cambre at August 14, 2007 12:01 PMYour name on here is not clickable, we should meet up and play for sure.
damon@balancepointacoustics.com
for gigs you can look here
http://www.transbaycalendar.org
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