Jason Moran called out

[mke]

Musician-on-musician attack alert!

Monday, March 27, 2006
Guest post from Giovanni Petranich
(http://www.sequenza21.com/2006/03/gu...petranich.html)

CD REVIEW BY GIOVANNI PETRANICH
Originnally published in Italian in La Musica Jazz, June 29, 1999
(...)
My first class in philosophy at Oxford College, England with Dr. Krey L. Jilca was one devoted to defining your Terms. Permit me. Criticism, a discourse that evaluates or analyzes something - I could continue to define all of the above terms and never write this review, however, the word “discourse” was, and is, used with intent and purpose, for it reveals the sincerity of my “human emotion”, that of being a critic. Permit me. Discourse, a systematic serious, and often learned, exposition of a subject or topic (in this case JASON MORAN and his music). I am inclined to slant my reviews in the direction of a dissertation, thesis and/or treatise. It is in this humble, meek, modest and unassuming state of existence that I hope my review may shock, jolt and even frighten you into a new way of hearing music that, in the long run, will help you to judge, decide infer, estimate as well as make conclusions on your own upon hearing new music for the first time. Permit me.

Track 1 “Gangsterism on Canvas” is built on a main theme which is repeated and modified a fifth below in the sub-dominant region followed by a concluding phrase in the mediant region. Jason has composed a simple group of three phrases not unlike the 12 bar traditional blues structure. The caesuras between each phrase give the piece a looseness very unlike a mainstream, traditional 12 bar blues. The pauses or interruptions (caesuras) between each phrase do not enhance the drama or overall impact of the composition. In fact, the opposite effect happens, especially in the improvised sections. The structure falls apart and wanders aimlessly because the soloists Osby and Mason don’t have a clue as to what to do during the caesuras. This opening track is the first sign of Mason’s compositional weaknesses and limitations. Permit me.

Track 2 “Snake Stance” is an attempt to sound complex without the muscle of serious contrapuntal studies. The piece is nothing but short motifical statements divided and played antiphonally between the quartet members that makes up one long phrase. Then there is a pedal point interlude and a repeat of the one long phrase segueing to the piano solo. The bassist’s function during the piano improvisation is not clear. It sounds as if he is playing a written part when he should be carrying on a dialogue. The sax then enters abruptly, interrupting the pianist. Is Mr. Osby reading from the score? This entire track sounds completely notated and, if so, it is a failure. Why?

1. There is no real variety of harmonic color.

2. Each voice or part is linear, instruments in search of a melody.

3. There is no syntax, no punctuation.

The use of the “caesura” has become a crutch, a compositional device used without meaning. Again, the caesura destroys the structure! Let’s continue. Permit me.



Track 3 composed by Maurice Ravel is from “LeTombeau de Couperin. This is a major work for piano by Ravel and takes the form of the Baroque suite with six movements:
I. Prelude
II. Fugue
III. Forlane
IV. Rigoudon
V. Menuet
VI. Toccata

Jason plays only one page of the “Forlane” (III) movement and then segues to a trio improvisation based on the harmonic patterns in the Ravel score with a few modifications and wrong turns! I am now beginning to predict what’s in store for me as I continue to listen to Moran’s creative endeavor on this CD. What’s most noticeable is his lack of real roots in the blues. Also, there is no element of swing that one finds in early Bill Evans’ playing, for example. Evans exhibited the spirit of Wilson, Garner, Shearing and Powell on his debut 1956 album for Riverside “New Jazz Conceptions” and Mason sounds as if he practiced in a vacuum; never hearing a note of these masters. The same observation can be made of his compositions. Track 3 from the Ravel suite reveals no criteria, no standard to justify playing just one page of one movement from the “Le Tombeau”. He then tries to deceive, delude and double-cross the listener into believing that this is a synthesis of jazz and classical; dare I say “Third Stream”? This track is pure banter or unschooled naïveté. Permit me.

Tracks 4 and 5 – “Still Moving” and “JAMO meets SAMO” tested my patience. I strained to hear something of merit, a soaring melodic theme married to a harmonic progression propelled by rhythmic logic. The latter, Track 5, a trio performance, uncovers or rather confesses indirectly to the philosophy narcissism, self-admiration and self-conceit that leads Moran to bombastic, grandiloquent, rhetorical musical emptiness. This guy must be living in a cave and thinks that because he can play the piano, he has permission to compose! The release and marketing of this CD as apocalyptic by Blue Note makes a mockery of the “calling” composer. Jason Moran is a child dressed up in chic clothes who surrounds himself with insincere, contemptible imitations of something worthwhile. The rest of the Tracks 6 through 10 are more of the same – so why waste space that can be used by the editors to expose the “ignorance is bliss’ syndrome! It will never be said that this critic is found guilty of obsequious flattery, sycophancy and toadying. Permit me.

If one is familiar with the works of Jack Reilly, a true master of “Third Stream Music” and for whom composition is a “calling”, then you'll realize how embarrassing Mason’s efforts are at a synthesis of classical and jazz. Reilly was born a synthesizer. He mastered the disciplines of harmony and counterpoint, with Joe Maneri, composition with Hall Overton and Ludmila Ulehla. His writing includes such masterworks as “A Jazz Requiem Mass” (1968), The Oratorio, “The Light of the Soul” (1974), and “Chuang-Tzu” variations for orchestra (1993).

"Orbitals", Jack's piano concerto, was composed in 1999 and received its premiere in 2001. Even his youthful 4-movement piano sonata in D minor (1957) reveals an extraordinary natural gift for splicing jazz and classical forms. Then listen to his 1968 trio recording, “Blue Sean Green” and his 1998 release “MASKS”, for a complete course in modern music that is truly “Third Stream”. Dave Brubeck says in a recent letter to Jack, “I’ve just listened to “MASKS”. It is really a strong statement and very advanced; even the early tracks. Your playing is a huge contribution to the future possibilities and directions jazz and all music can take.” Finally, consider Jack’s DVD titled “Connections”, a solo piano concert from 1988 at the Mohawk Valley Community College Theatre, Utica, New York and witness a wizard in a program of classical (Franck and Chopin), Reilly's "Homage to Chopin", jazz standards (Ellington, Strayhorn, et al) and a 45 minute free- form improvisational tour-de-force based on the 22 major arcana of the Thoth Tarot Cards which were flashed on a movie screen in full view of Jack and the audience. Permit me................................

This is apocalyptic!

GIOVANNI PETRANICH
Author, Critic, Musician
Torino, Italy
June 29,1999
posted by Jack Reilly

****

Later, Reilly says:

I'm also aware of and have listened to, 3 of [Moran's] latest cds and find them just as banal, vapid and presumptuous.

[John L]

Interesting. I had never thought of Soundtrack to Human Emotion as being an attempt at Third Stream integration of jazz and classical music.

I guess that the Italians have already had centuries to develop the "muscle of serious contrapuntal studies." Jason will just have to catch up.

As suggested, he could start by discovering Bill Evans in order to learn how to swing. Or maybe he could just read Jack Reilly's book on Bill Evans.

By the way, this author, critic, and musician Petranich fellow is rather mysterious. What has he written other than continual praise for the genius of Jack Reilly? Could it be some sort of pseudonym?

[Nate Dorward]

It's the Bill Dixon Syndrome: your students constantly sing your praises. Petranich's a former student of Reilly's, of course.

[yardbird]

I've listened to (all styles of) jazz for decades, I have a huge vinyl and CD collection, I've done a bit instrumental playing - but apparently Im as ignorant as I was when I started studyingthis music; I've heard both Moran and Reilly, live and on records, and I find Moran's music more inventive, warm. swinging and rhytmic inventive than Reilly's.

Guess I'll have to dig myself a deep hole and crawl into it.

[mke]

Originally Posted by yardbird

Guess I'll have to dig myself a deep hole and crawl into it.

Or you could spend 20 years digesting Reilly's 3 volume jazz piano method, as suggested by Stephen M. Stroff in another post on Reilly's blog. That should put you back on the right track

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by Giovannie Petranich

I am inclined to slant my reviews in the direction of a dissertation, thesis and/or treatise.

Just what jazz fans want out of a record review.

It is in this humble, meek, modest and unassuming state of existence that I hope my review may shock, jolt and even frighten you into a new way of hearing music that, in the long run, will help you to judge, decide infer, estimate as well as make conclusions on your own upon hearing new music for the first time.

"Bore, annoy and exasperate" describe the effect on me, rather than "shock, jolt and frighten." Fortunately or unfortunately, reading Mr. Petranich has not led me to find a new way of hearing music.

Permit me.

Well, if it had been up to me...

[Vince Kargatis]

This is my favorite part:

It will never be said that this critic is found guilty of obsequious flattery, sycophancy and toadying.

then:

If one is familiar with the works of Jack Reilly, a true master of “Third Stream Music” and for whom composition is a “calling”, then you'll realize how embarrassing Mason’s efforts are at a synthesis of classical and jazz. Reilly was born a synthesizer. He mastered the disciplines of harmony and counterpoint... His writing includes such masterworks ...

...an extraordinary natural gift for splicing jazz and classical forms
...a complete course in modern music that is truly “Third Stream”.
...This is apocalyptic!

[Enforcer]

Most music reviews are worthless. This is one of the worthless ones.

[Tanager]

Originally Posted by Larry Nagel

Most music reviews are worthless. This is one of the worthless ones.

Well, it's worthless except for printing out and using as toilet paper, or for use as a target for endless mocking here in JC-land.

[Chris D]

Presumptious ass.

C'mon over, we'll crank some "Sister Ray" at 105 db, and we'll "a shock, jolt and even frighten you into a new way of hearing music." Permit me.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by mke

posted by Jack Reilly

Funny

[bluenoter]

I love the "permit me" thing! I think I'll start using it.

[Enforcer]

Originally Posted by bluenoter

I love the "permit me" thing! I think I'll start using it.

Me, too.

Hey, Sergio, you suck! Permit me.

Trying it out for a spin and liking it,
Larry

[Sergio Zamora]

Larry, you are a very low-priced and untalented prostitute who services many unhygienic sailors. Permit me.

[Enforcer]

That was much better than mine. I've been...

[Chris D]

You've been tripoded?

[Tanager]

Originally Posted by Chris D

You've been tripoded?

I was going to do a Google image search for something sexual involving a tripod, then I got scared of what I'd find.

[Paul B]

What’s most noticeable is his lack of real roots in the blues.

How would this pretentious Italian idiot know anything about the blues? He seems more obsessed with critiquing jazz as if it were classical music. And where the hell does he get the idea that Jason Moran is trying to write "third stream" music? That's news to me.

God bless the Europeans, but they are so off base sometimes when it comes to grasping jazz.

Bye-ya

[JamesH]

So some pompous ass didn't like the record and doesn't like Moran. The hook is, the reader should care because he studied at Oxford.

It's funny how this guy likes Bill Evans and a similiar critic in another post likes Keith Jarrett. I'm sure all he listens to is European musicians and he'll tolerate a jazz musician or two if they reference a classical esthetic at times. What was telling is when he mentioned that Moran didn't swing like Evans. Why didn't he mention someone who swings hard like Wynton Kelly. Probably never heard of Kelly....


What a myopic loser.

[rollhead]

Permit You?

Permit ME!

GIOVANNI DiCaprio ROLLHEAD
Author, Critic, Musician, GENIUS
Bumfuck, NY
March 31, 2006

[burning dog]

Originally Posted by John L

Interesting. I had never thought of Soundtrack to Human Emotion as being an attempt at Third Stream integration of jazz and classical music.

Yeah. Jason Moran is the first name that comes to mind when I hear the expression 'Third Stream'

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Larry Nagel

That was much better than mine. I've been...

That's the poster for being between a rock and a HARD PLACE!

[Stuckinagroove]

maybe the worst music review I've ever seen.

[groover]

Originally Posted by mke

I am inclined to slant my reviews in the direction of a dissertation, thesis and/or treatise.

It does sound like a paper written for a college course designed to impress and brown-nose the professor, who would be one Jack Reilly.

[Gary Sisco]

No matter the subject, the moment I see the word "discourse" today, perhaps the most tired term in the world, I know I'm in for a windy bore.

[Xavier]

Well, I've always liked Italian food and the lyrical cadence of Italian accents.

[Gary Sisco]

That's nice. We'll get Jason to write a new Pastaism series.

[Gary Sisco]

For myself, I continue to find Jamo to be one of the few original voices working the outer limits of bop kind of groove, which is one of my favorite grooves. His music (and trio) isn't always pretty, doesn't follow many established rules, sometimes takes a few listens to grow on me when a new record comes out even though I like him very much and admire him as much -- I was one of his very first champions online, first at JCS before here -- but it's always interesting and he's always changing and pushing himself.

Which makes him plenty alright with me.

I find his "Gangsterism" series to be one of the very few original things being done by any jazz pianists/composers of his generation.

[Xavier]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

We'll get Jason to write a new Pastaism series.

With plenty of vowels, please.

[Xavier]

I can't get too worked up over a musician going after another musician. It's been my experience that it seems to come with the turf - whether it's academics or whether it's musicians. They're not generally a supportive lot. In regard to Moran, I have several of his CDs and the only one I listen to much is his solo piano CD - Modernistic - which I enjoy a lot. I find it hard to warm up to the other CDs I've heard/bought, however good the players are. There's no lack of talent. But it seems to me a well-to-do, well educated musician playing at "gangersterism" will probably wear as well as some of that embarrassing "groovy" jazz of the 1960s. He seems a first rate talent with a very limited vision of himself. Maybe in the long run he'd be better off as the brilliant pianist of one of Osby's bands. I imagine you'll come back with a well articulated response on how I've missed the boat etc. That's fine, and maybe I am missing the boat, but I find it difficult to engage with much of his music. And yes, the essay about Moran is ugly and inane.