Easing into advent at the mission...

After our time away last week playing concerts as well as jazz workshops - and after last night's gig at Mission - two thoughts keep coming back to me for deeper exploration.  The first comes from Frank Zappa's wisdom:  Jazz isn't dead - it just smells funny.  It does smell funny - sometimes because it has been intellectualized, sometimes because it has been degraded, sometimes because its roots in African-American culture have been trivialized and sometimes because busy people don't know how to listen for the artist's story in the improvisation - so playing live jazz in a popular venue is tricky business.

Ralph Ellison, in his jazz essays, speaks of the importance of keeping jazz connected to its dance roots:  without a popular groove - and an appreciation for making real connections with real people - the music becomes abstract and disembodied.  Now, that can be interesting - for a while - but it can't be sustained or embraced for the long haul.  So we keep experimenting with mixing up a variety of jazz stylings at every gig:  sometimes Fats Waller winds up next to Thelonius Monk, other times Brazilian bossa tunes kick things off followed with something from Miles and then Billie Holliday.  And every now and again we'll get way out of the box end up with something resembling Herbie Hancock meets Eric Dolphy on the way to jam with Luis Prima.  It is always a work in progress and that is both fun and sometimes a little frightening, too.

The second thought comes from Chris Haden who said: Jazz is like a great void, it waits patiently until a brave musician takes control of space and time. There is a mistaken notion about jazz - deepened by the innocence and arrogance of the Beat Poets - that wants us to believe that improvisation is a spontaneous mystical gift that anyone can share if they just feel the groove and let themselves be free.  WRONG!  Thanks for playing but what that usually sounds like is... garbage.  Real improvisation is built upon hours of practice - it can be playful - but it is always work.  And hopefully it is work you love.  Only then, with lots of time given to honing your craft in private, will the artist dare tread onto the holy ground of improvisation.  And when every one's been practicing - and alss listening for the groove and the genius of the rest of the band - then the great void can become beautiful in space and time.

There were a couple of mystical moments last night - and lots of popular entertainment, too - as we searched for the right balance.  As I ease into the rhythm of the second Sunday of Advent, I was grateful to see so many people from church out at the Mission.  A few were visual artists showing their works at the Arts Walk who popped in to catch a tune and many were those who have come to love creative and spirit-filled jazz. I was blessed by the whole thing and give thanks to God for the chance to practice - and then play - some of the sweetest soul music around with some incredible artists.

We're going to open worship tomorrow with this masterpiece from Brubeck...
(Pictures by Leo Mazzeo)