Rabble Without A Cause, January 29: previewing this weekend’s Winter Jazz Festival
The music of GEORGE, Don Byron and others
The Ottawa Jazz Festival is having a mini festival this weekend. On YOW Jazz, I featured some of the other artists performing. On this show I will feature the “avant garde” performers.
GEORGE is a group that came together during the panic, led by drummer John Hollenbeck. Anna Webber, Sarah Rossy, and Chiquita Magic (Isis Paola Giraldo), are in the group. They will be playing on Thursday at the Arts Court Theatre. We will hear some of their 2023 album, “Letters to George” plus a remix of improvisations from that recording session. Here’s a video of one of their live performances.
John Hollenbeck also has a new release out with the NDR Big Band, “Colouring Hockets”, and we will hear some of that release as well.
On the Bandcamp page for the GEORGE remixes, Hollenbeck has an interesting discussion on improvisation, setting out his “improvisational aesthetic goals or principles”:
1) Play strong! ...Taken alone (and especially if the group is large) this principle can create narcissistic, monotonous cacophony in my experience as a listener. But as one of several guiding principles, it is helpful. And it also gets you thinking about “strong.” What sounds “strong?” Can something be really soft, spacious and “strong?” (Yes!)
2) Leave space! This one can be difficult because you might think you are letting the others down by not supporting them. It is counter-intuitive that not playing is actually proactive support. Miles Davis for one demonstrates the power of leaving space and its joyous repercussions!
3) Don't be reactionary! ...This is usually what a beginning improviser does because it demonstrates that you are listening, you can play what you hear, and you are supporting others. I remember musically following Mark Dresser around many years ago on an improv. gig. Every time I got close to him he would jump to something else, which leads me to the next goal…
4) Dig counterpoint! Mark was showing me how much hipper it could sound if we were complementing each other by NOT playing in the same zone. Trust or courage is needed when playing with musicians you don’t know well, but in my experience, great musicians all recognize this musical decision and enjoy the space that it brings.
5) At the same time, look for ensemble hook-ups and don't be afraid of unisons of all kinds! I know that certain improvisers actually don’t want to play anything that sounds like a composed piece, so they might avoid this. But for me, regardless if it is improvised or composed, there is nothing like the power of a unison. They can be elusive in a group improvisation, but it pays off to always be on the lookout for them.
6) Don't be afraid to repeat ideas, either at the original moment or later (AKA "call back" or “recap.”) Similar to unisons, I think this is not prevalent in improvisational music because it is difficult and requires forethought. You must mentally “record” your own playing so that you can remember and recall it. One reason why I love this in improvisation is that it can make the music sound more like a composed piece, which I personally love (and again, I respect those who don’t!)
7) Look for form. Another example of bringing elements of composed music into improvisation! This can be helpful as an antidote to the much-used improvisational form where the piece starts soft, builds up and then fades out.
8) Be aware of foreground and background. I have heard too many improvisations where everyone is in the foreground. ...
9) Don’t be afraid to hang out in a “room” for a while. This is a lesson I learned from playing duo with Theo Bleckmann and listening back to our improvisations together. In the moment, we usually thought, “this is boring, we should move on to something else,” but when listening back, we almost always thought, “we could have stayed there for 10 minutes and bathed in that environment.”
10) Don't be afraid to stop! After hearing thousands of improvisations, one of my pet peeves is the ending where everyone wants to be Elvin Jones and get the last word. I know sometimes you want to support others, so you keep playing and then they do the same and what follows is minutes of lame music. Isn’t shorter always better than longer? ...
Also playing at the jazz festival will be Don Byron, the American clarinetist. He will be doing a solo show on Friday and will also be playing with Michael Occhipinti on Saturday. Here’s some of his solo playing.
We will end the show with some new music from Sarah Neufeld (violin), Richard Reed Parry(double bass and guitar), and Rebecca Foon (cello). We will hear a couple of tracks from their new release “First Sounds”. The Montreal-based group will be playing on Saturday at the Ottawa Art Gallery.
You can listen live on Wednesday at 9 p.m. to Rabble Without A Cause at 93.1 on the FM dial in Ottawa or stream at CKCUFM.com. The show is also available for on demand streaming.