Word: jazzing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Ensemble are quick to deny any racial or elitist intent--the motto is meant to acknowledge and affirm the singular course of American black musical development. The group's radical conception of musical performance has as its obvious source the improvisation and spontaneous creation which are characteristic of jazz, blues, and Afro-American folk music. These are musical values that have no counterpart in the mainstream of Western culture. But classifications like "jazz" or even "music" seem to narrow to contain the Art Ensemble's vision of "Great Black Music." It's terribly difficult to describe what the Art Ensemble...
...Forthcoming, honest and very, very serrious." That is how Staff Writer Frank Rich describes Woody Allen, the film maker, comic and virtuoso jazz clarinetist he interviewed in Allen's Manhattan apartment for this week's cover story. Says Rich: "Because Woody is involved in none of the side-show glitter of the industry, from TV appearances to Oscar ceremonies, he is different from anyone else I've met in show business." Rich first met Allen while writing a profile of him for Esquire in 1977. Rich's own show business career began at age 13, when...
...anything else Zappa's growing tendency to churn out songs that rely solely on shock value and unnerving repetition. In his best moments, Zappa is a musician of wit and surprise. A diverse composer and a melodically gifted guitarist, he is capable of highly original fusions of rock and jazz. Why drain all his energies on social satire when others will continue to produce it unwittingly? American Society provides more than enough material for satire--Zappa the critic will always persist. Let us hope that he can revive his musical ingenuity...
Just like when TV networks pit recent movies against Monday Night Football, this effluence of jazz activity will force some hard and painful decisions. Close to home, Jonathan Swift's is hosting two events of particular interest this week. Sunday and Monday they will present Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra, a happening by any standard. Sun Ra is simply outrageous; his age and background are unclear, but he wanders around our planet saying things like: The intergalactic music in its present phase of presentation will be correlative to the key synopsis of the past and to the uncharted multipotential...
Wednesday night, the Charles Mingus Reunion Band is playing at Swift's. The Master had definite ideas about how his music was to be played, and no one left his Jazz Workshop Group without a solid background in Mingus-Music. Trumpeter Ted Curson, saxophonist Booker Ervin, drummer Dannie Richmond, and the other members of the band all worked extensively with Mingus--their performance should be very special. The awesome bass chair will be filled by Charlie Haden, reason enough to hear a set of swinging inspiration...