Steve Coleman & 5 Elements at Fulton Street Collective

On Monday night I got down to Fulton Street Collective for Steve Coleman and 5 Elements [Coleman (as) Jonathan Findlayson (trpt) Kokayi (v) Anthony Tidd (b) Sean Rickman (d)]. It's somewhere I've been meaning to check out for a while now and it's a nice space. It was good to be close to the action and acoustically the room was ok - the horns sounded great but the electric bass lacked a bit of clarity... but my ears adjusted to it. This was the second time I had heard this lineup (last time was at Constellation) and like then, it was an enjoyable evening. Actually, I may have enjoyed last night a bit more. They played one long set - almost 2 hours in length mostly consisting of pieces strung together without rest. At times the music drifted a little (or maybe it was my mind drifting) but I didn't really mind, possibly due to the trance/ritualistic/cyclic vibe they generated. Kokayi is a great fit for the group and it seems Coleman's tone gets richer each time I've heard him (four times now). He's been in town for most of April, and had I been more organized I could have got along to a lot more than this one night. Hopefully Coleman fans made the most of it.

Lambic Jazz Vol.5

I'm running a little behind schedule, last night I did get to some lambic and jazz but I'm only just getting to write about it now.

Steve Coleman & the Council of Balance: Synovial Joints (PI). A few years back I used to listen Coleman's albums on a fairly regular basis at the library, but I haven't really heard anything after his solo saxophone album Invisible Paths. The factor that swayed my choice this time around was the ensemble size. I don't associate Coleman's music with a large ensemble (approximately 19 or 20 piece) and there were some surprises for me. It was not nearly as dense I imagined and led to quite a light feel at times with a floaty buoyancy.  A contributing factor may have been that the drums were less busy than on some of his other projects. I like the way that he managed the weight and balance of the ensemble sound and texture well balanced ensemble, although the album is a little static and same-y dynamic-wise. (a criticism that can be lobbed at a lot of music... mine included).

In general the writing grabbed me more than the soloists - of whom Coleman is the dominant voice throughout (other contributors include Jonathan Finlayson, David Bryant, Miles Okazaki and Maria Grand). Maybe it's not the place to start if you are new to Steve Coleman (check out some of his small group work), but definitely recommended for those interested in large ensembles and jazz composition.

Last night's listening was accompanied by Oud Beersel's Oude Geuze Ale. I may need to grab a couple more Lambics to carry this series through to the end of the semester.

Also pictured is Robert E. Sweet's Music Universe, Music Mind: Revisiting the Creative Music Studio, that I started reading this morning. Earlier in the year I noticed that there were a couple of 3 disc sets that had been released from the Creative Music Studio workshops. I wouldn't mind checking them out some time.

I picked up Synovial Joints on Monday night at Constellation at the Steve Coleman and Five Elements gig. This had been on the calendar for a while and I enjoyed getting out to some live music (I've been pretty slack this year) and of the venues I've been to in Chicago, Constellation is my favorite. This edition of Five Elements is comprised of  Steve Coleman (as, perc, vocal), Jonathan Finlayson (trpt, per), Kokayi (vocals), Anthony Tidd (bass), Sean Rickman (drums), and I have to say I enjoyed this gig more than the last time I heard the Five Elements (albeit with a slightly different line-up) a couple of years ago. I'm still not convinced by Finlayson. I'm not sure what it is exactly... intent maybe. The others in the group are very much, "here it is!" but sometimes I feel Finlayson is more, "is it here?" He seems like the odd one out at times. In saying that, I though he played much better than when I heard him with Coleman at the Chicago Cultural Center mentioned above. I enjoyed the effortlessness of Tidd on bass and Kokayi's vocals were the surprise package for me -great energy and he fit into the group sound well. It should be noted that they played one 2 hour set plus an encore - not bad!

Previous Lambic Jazz entries can be found here: Vol.1 -- Vol.2 -- Vol.3 -- Vol. 4

Steve Coleman Interview - Cadence Magazine 1986

This interview from August 1986 issue of Cadence features a fairly young Steve Coleman. This is the earliest interview I have found so far, but I may just need to dig a little deeper. Click on the image to view full interview as a PDF (This was the best quality I could get on my phone). More vintage magazine articles can be found here.

Workshops and Masterclasses

I came across a list of workshops and masterclass I have attended over the years. Most of these took place at NZSM. It is not a complete list but I decided to add a few brief notes from what I can remember from them.

Evan Parker & Steve Lacy
These two were separately involved in the 1999 Wellington Jazz Festival (the masterclasses were at The Space). At the time I knew very little of both artists (I had heard a couple of recordings of Lacy (Reflections and Evidence from memory) and something by Parker) and at first was a little disappointed neither played but soon found what they had to say was very interesting - I have no idea if these sessions were recorded but I would love to hear what they had to say now that I'm more familiar with their work. I enjoyed their concerts too - Parker's second set (a duo with Richard Nunns) was later released on Leo Records.

Mike Nock - I wrote a little on this one here.

Bernie McGann Trio (2000) He spoke very highly of Art Pepper (particularly the album Meets The Rhythm Section) but I don't remember much else from this session. The trio played a tune or two and there was some Q&A.

Frank Gratkowski (August 2009)When I attended music village an added bonus was the presence of Frank Gratkowski. One afternoon Hayden Chisholm handed the baton to Frank for a session. Frank spoke of his experiences in music, aesthetics, music he listens too, work he has done, played recordings etc - fascinating stuff. Here’s a short feature on Frank that Hayden produced & filmed in the village square of Agios Lavrentios.

The Thing (Mats Gustaffson, Paal Nilson-Love, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten) This one was hands-on practical and very inclusive. The trio had everyone up playing as part of an improvising ensemble. We moved around the circle playing solo improvisations, duos, trios and eventually everyone all in. The emphasis was on making music. A fun session.

Root 70 (Nils Wogram, Hayden Chisholm, Matt Penman, Jochen Rueckert)(2007) Another very hands-on session. There was an emphasis developing a balanced ensemble sound (something Root 70 definitely achieve). At one stage there were about eight horns playing background riffs behind a bass solo (on a blues). The message - if you cannot hear the bass you're playing too loud. We also had a crack at playing trades on one of Root 70's odd-meter tunes. Hayden invited 5 or 6 sax players to get together before the sound check the following day for an extra session. Here he introduced ideas that I would explore further during his annual workshop in Greece.

Steve Coleman (circa Sept 2009) This was part of Coleman's ongoing series in NYC at the Jazz Gallery. Not surprisingly rhythm was at the fore - lots of clapping. A few people played - trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, a pianist and a guitarist. Coleman played a rhythmically altered “All The Things You Are” unaccompanied and sounded very nice. It was an interesting session but I felt well out of my depth! These sessions are well worth attending but only going to one (as I did) is probably not recommended. 

Dave Douglas (2002) Talked about busking on the streets of NYC and a little about his time with Horace Silver. Silver stressed to him the importance of voice leading, which Douglas demonstrated playing over a II-V-I progression, gradually adding to the complexity of the line while retaining the same 7-3 voice leading between chords. Another topic covered was using a metronome. He demonstrated by playing “All The Things You Are” with the metronome clicking in different places, such as every 5th beat and on up-beats.

Adam Simmons(circa 2003) One of the only things I remember from this was him singing the praises of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Vinny Golia - On the subject of his large ensemble, I remember him saying that many of the members were involved in contemporary classical/new music fields and he felt they were better suited to the demands of the written music as well as improvising in his large ensemble. And that many jazz players were boxed-in stylistically and it didn't fit with the group.

He told a great story from when he was into the music but not yet playing (he was a visual artist before becoming a musician and some of his work was featured on album covers - Dave Holland/Barre Phillips Music from Two Basses for example). One day he was walking (somewhere in NYC) when he heard a saxophonist practicing. Liking what he heard, he stood outside the apartment and listened to them going about there work. After awhile, the music stopped and out walked Archie Shepp. He came straight over to Golia and asked “Are you a saxophone player?” (Thinking Vinny was outside trying to steal his chops!), Golia replied “No, I’m a painter,” and Shepp was cool with that.

I must admit, there have been a couple of times when I've been walking around the city and stopped outside an apartment to listen to someone practicing.

Jon Gordon - I don’t remember much from the masterclass itself (scales in all intervals, II-V’s). However, following the masterclass I spoke with a few of the sax students at NZSM. The previous day they had private lessons with him and he had covered the same stuff in both - they were not impressed. Lesson learned - try and get your lesson with a visiting artist after the masterclass!

Gordon Brisker came through school twice a few years apart (early 2000s). Each time he handed out and ran through the same handout. I keep it but it is back in NZ - from memory it included some sound work, a scale routine and II-V-I licks.

Mike Brignola - Usually I try and take something positive away from masterclasses etc. In this case it was very hard to do. If there was one, it was that he mentioned/demonstrated overtones. The session ended with people sight-reading saxophone quartet charts. It didn’t seem as though there was much preparation.

Bob Mintzer - I've been to a couple from Mintzer (both in the late 2000s)

Composition/Arranging - he put across a simple message. When he was young, there was very little in the way on books etc. Play something and if you like it, write in down. If you don't like it, change it. That, and ask people questions - he said they (jazz greats and more experienced players) never really answered the question he asked but he learned something regardless.

Saxophone - making up your own little melodic ideas and playing them through all keys. It could be based on something you have transcribed or adapted from a classical étude - he recommended Eugene Bozza “Caprices” and Sigfrid Karg-Elert studies. He demonstrated something he took and adapted from Michael Brecker There's an article on his blog that deals with the subject. A more detailed article is online somewhere but after a quick search I couldn't find it - it could have be in JazzEd Magazine.

Pat Crumly (2001) He was leading the Ronnie Scott legacy band tour of New Zealand. Aside from him recommending you fry your spices when making a curry(!) I don't really remember the workshop. The first notes he played as a warm up for the concert was the "CMAR lick." This was a lick we had to learn for our improvisation class (along with a bunch of other stuff from Jerry Coker's Elements of Jazz). I was sitting with a few saxophone playing friends and we all cracked up - our teacher turned around smiling and gave us the thumbs up (Hi Colin!).

I have managed to get along to a few of the masterclasses held at PM Woodwind, the first being Ernie Watts. This was on before I re-launched the blog. It struck me when he said something along the lines of (I'm paraphrasing) - If you know all the scales that go with all the chords you can't play a wrong note - I don't know what to say about that…. I guess it's one way to look at things. Someone has posted video of the masterclass here.
I wrote about some of the other masterclass held at PM Woodwind -  Bob Shepard (Here) and David Liebman (Here) and Chris Potter (Here). I also got along to Jeff Coffin's masterclass but I either didn't take notes or I have misplaced them.