I know Ishould be posting way more but I'm filling my time up with so much stuff I keep forgetting to hop onto a computer so apologies!
However an update on Philadelphia. For a small city it has an amazing scene for the arts, I would say it's very close to being on a par with sports which says a lot. Whilst I was in the city a festival called PIFA was running, which is a festival that revolves around influences derived from the arts scene in Paris between 1910-1910. Musically, the main genre on show at the festival was jazz and classical.
One event that stood out was a high school big band, who I would say were on a par with NYJO 1 (National Youth Jazz Orchestra) when it came to their technicall and reading skills and getting close to their improvisational skills, playing mainly standards. Their average age was 13.
The other band that stood out was a percussion group who were mostly playing pitched percussion. Although they were all drummers I later learnt that they had started to play their pitched instruments three weeks prior to the performance and the performance was most deffinately at a proffesional level. They did not play in 4 for one bar and would often take drum solos with the time signature changing every bar. Their average age was 14.
After seeing these two shows and interviewing some of the collaborators, it became evidant that the majority of students in an American high school get the chance to learn how to improvise, read, arrange and follow a conducter from the age of 12 which is something that can not be said of the UK for the large majority.
I also want to mention the first gig that I attended that was not jazz, but a mix of classical and Hip Hop and was presented by ?uestlove a world renowned Hip Hop drummer who is a founding member of the Roots.
The gig consisted of a 14 piece orchestra, with 3 pianists and was one of the most artistic performances I have seen in America. The gig consisted of one classical piece which lasted around an hour, with vocal and Hip Hop breaks that seemed to fit into the set very naturally, I learnt so much about arranging from this one set. After the show Questlove did a free DJ set in a smaller theatre within the venue which I attended and I must say the set was a testimant to how an artist can entertain a huge variety of people within one night and gave me several ideas for musical projects and themes for possible future projects within a jazz context.
I will now sign off as I am off out to explore Chicago however I want to apologize for my poor spelling and grammer throughout these posts, I have been fitting so much into the trip I am certain that I can't be making to much sense however hopefully you get the jist of what I'm up to. I'll put a new post up in a few days once I find out a little more about Chicago and let you guys know what's happening here!
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Roy Hargrove
I had to come on here and put a post up about the jam hosted by Roy Hargrove.
The jam was in the jazz gallery, a non profit organization with no bar or food and is made purely for music. Roy was a very class act, he called most of the standards and taught them to the musicians within around two minutes and the standards that he did not call and that he didn't know, he picked up after one chorus.
The two great things about the jam was that it was a great opportunity to play and get to know some great young musicians in NYC, all of whom would be more than willing to play gigs with you and that there was no room for poor musicianship. Twice Roy threw musicians off the stand during a song, both drummers and once he threw one off straight after the song, saying that modern musicians seemed to be 'allergic to swing' and that they need to learn how to play their instrument. This was great as it meant the standard of musicians that did play was very high and they were very conscious that if they did not play well, they would be in trouble.
I will also quickly mention that I saw a saxophonist called James Carter playing with Junko Onishi at the Iridium jazz club. He stole the show and is probably the most accomplished musician I have seen in NYC, I urge you to check him out.
However I must now sign off as I've got two days left until I leave for Philadelphia and want to make the most of my time left, I'll post up a new blog on my thought on Phillie soon.
The jam was in the jazz gallery, a non profit organization with no bar or food and is made purely for music. Roy was a very class act, he called most of the standards and taught them to the musicians within around two minutes and the standards that he did not call and that he didn't know, he picked up after one chorus.
The two great things about the jam was that it was a great opportunity to play and get to know some great young musicians in NYC, all of whom would be more than willing to play gigs with you and that there was no room for poor musicianship. Twice Roy threw musicians off the stand during a song, both drummers and once he threw one off straight after the song, saying that modern musicians seemed to be 'allergic to swing' and that they need to learn how to play their instrument. This was great as it meant the standard of musicians that did play was very high and they were very conscious that if they did not play well, they would be in trouble.
I will also quickly mention that I saw a saxophonist called James Carter playing with Junko Onishi at the Iridium jazz club. He stole the show and is probably the most accomplished musician I have seen in NYC, I urge you to check him out.
However I must now sign off as I've got two days left until I leave for Philadelphia and want to make the most of my time left, I'll post up a new blog on my thought on Phillie soon.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Harlem
Now moved up to Harlem, an amazing communtiy with an awsome jazz scene, they are putting on many gigs and keeping the tradition of jazz in Haarlem alive.
I don't want to spend all my time reviewing gigs on this blog, however I must mention Brian Blade.
Last night at the Village Vanguard he produced a truly artistic performance. His first words to the crowd were introducing the band at the end of the set.
The set itself was very nearly through composed with brief breaks for applause, Brian didn't take one solo, nor did he need one as he excelled throughout the whole performance and completely controlled the varying dynamics throughout the set.
In the queue for the gig I met a lady who is one of three people who organises all the events for the jazz gallery, a venue I'm visiting tonight. We had a very interesting discussion on jazz in NYC and Europe and I will go into further detail in my report on return, however I will say that she was very surprised that Europe was not being very receptive towards the new sound in America. This was a fact she found out when organising events for jazz at the Lincoln centre which is her main job.
Tonight I am in the jazz gallery before moving to times square and the Iridium jazz club tommorow, whilst filling the days with events and discussions as always.
I will post again within the next few days so stay tuned.
I don't want to spend all my time reviewing gigs on this blog, however I must mention Brian Blade.
Last night at the Village Vanguard he produced a truly artistic performance. His first words to the crowd were introducing the band at the end of the set.
The set itself was very nearly through composed with brief breaks for applause, Brian didn't take one solo, nor did he need one as he excelled throughout the whole performance and completely controlled the varying dynamics throughout the set.
In the queue for the gig I met a lady who is one of three people who organises all the events for the jazz gallery, a venue I'm visiting tonight. We had a very interesting discussion on jazz in NYC and Europe and I will go into further detail in my report on return, however I will say that she was very surprised that Europe was not being very receptive towards the new sound in America. This was a fact she found out when organising events for jazz at the Lincoln centre which is her main job.
Tonight I am in the jazz gallery before moving to times square and the Iridium jazz club tommorow, whilst filling the days with events and discussions as always.
I will post again within the next few days so stay tuned.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Been a while
Apologies for the delayed first post, it's taken a while to find my feet in NYC and get a decent internet signal.
It's been a busy few days, walking the one block from the subway to my hostel for the first time I did the trip, I walked right into the jazz at the lincoln centre foyer. Instantly I filled around 4 days with free jazz events and gigs that I now have coming up, the first of which is Gotham Jazz today at midday.
I have also been to a few late night gigs now. The two main ones were Adam Rogers with Aaron Parks and Anthonio Sanchez at the Village Vanguard and Ari Hoening with Jonathon Kriesberg at Smalls. At both gigs the hired musicians were reading, the MD was giving out instructions prior to each song and even though some of the best musicians in the world were playing, I did notice some mistakes now and again. I soon realized this was because the bands hadn't played together for a few years if at all which put the standard of the gig into context as it was very tight.
Smalls jazz club especially is an amazing place. I turned up at half 7 and paid my $20 which lasted until 3am and watched a duo warm up the crowed before Ari. Rather than the duo (Tenor Sax and Piano) playing background music, they were playing the latest standards they were working on and songs they had written that they wanted to try infront of a crowed for the first time. This setting proved to be the perfect environment for a musician to develope his skill whilst having room to make mistakes here and there.
I had best sign off as I'm heading to Harlem in soon, I will make sure try and post more often and try and make the posts a bit more structured, theres so much to talk about which makes it hard to be concise.
Brian Blade tommorow at the Vanguard so I'll post on how that went in a couple of days, plus the midday events and jams.
Steve
It's been a busy few days, walking the one block from the subway to my hostel for the first time I did the trip, I walked right into the jazz at the lincoln centre foyer. Instantly I filled around 4 days with free jazz events and gigs that I now have coming up, the first of which is Gotham Jazz today at midday.
I have also been to a few late night gigs now. The two main ones were Adam Rogers with Aaron Parks and Anthonio Sanchez at the Village Vanguard and Ari Hoening with Jonathon Kriesberg at Smalls. At both gigs the hired musicians were reading, the MD was giving out instructions prior to each song and even though some of the best musicians in the world were playing, I did notice some mistakes now and again. I soon realized this was because the bands hadn't played together for a few years if at all which put the standard of the gig into context as it was very tight.
Smalls jazz club especially is an amazing place. I turned up at half 7 and paid my $20 which lasted until 3am and watched a duo warm up the crowed before Ari. Rather than the duo (Tenor Sax and Piano) playing background music, they were playing the latest standards they were working on and songs they had written that they wanted to try infront of a crowed for the first time. This setting proved to be the perfect environment for a musician to develope his skill whilst having room to make mistakes here and there.
I had best sign off as I'm heading to Harlem in soon, I will make sure try and post more often and try and make the posts a bit more structured, theres so much to talk about which makes it hard to be concise.
Brian Blade tommorow at the Vanguard so I'll post on how that went in a couple of days, plus the midday events and jams.
Steve
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