The Crouchites: Thinly Veiled (2004)

Javier AQ Ortiz

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2001

JAQO's bohemian life eventually led to jazz...

Recent articles (191 total)

Published: April 2, 2004

Masters of irony or useful idiots? Perhaps neither, most likely both. The Crouchites, featured in the latest edition of Blackzz Times, could pass as the poster boys...other than The Bad Plus...for the type of jazz so adamantly condemned by Stanley Crouch. Yet, Crouch himself is the sole special guest of this production! Crouch's perfunctory performance in "Bobbing for Crackers Ain't Racist Just Differently Prejudiced, illustrates all that's wrong with this production. Straggled time, unsympathetic musical ideas, stiff chordal harmonies, repetitious aimless drones and dismal rhythmic drives characterize Thinly Veiled.

As the European born and bred Caucasoids attempt to swing their way into critical-symbolic-music commentary, one is reminded of the liner notes commentary from drummer Langston "Huge Poontang Katowski that "every musician knows White people can't swing. Crouch is right and we prove it! Why endeavor to prove such a point throughout the entire record is beyond explanation but that certainly didn't stop these Londonistan based musicians from trashing all that has to do with blues or swing.

In "Da Rule of Jazzbo Tom, for example, Miguelingi Jacobson and Nils Ricciotta have an engaging...if one thinks in free jazz terms...trumpet and piano duo that is totally self-referential with no extraneous musical aromas of any kind whatsoever. Are they poking fun at the conservative notions of Crouch or just following the fallacy of Caucasoid musical limitations? In "Jazz the Victim, the Hans Ãœbermensh composition...inspired by the inspired firing of Crouch from Jazz Times magazine...a beautiful sad note of melancholy is uttered by Jacobson's trumpet as it seems to issue taps for jazz.

Contact: Christian tolerance and Negros .

Track Listing: 1. I�ve Got Yo� Rap Right Here! 2. Da Rule of Jazzbo Tom 3. Bobbing for Crackers Ain�t Racist Just Differently Prejudiced 4. The Question Ain�t To Sambo or Not! 5. Jazz the Victim 6. Cracked Cracker Guilt

Personnel: Alto sax & Flute: Igor �J�rgen� Stromboshk?. Bass: Hans �bermensh. Drums: Langston �Huge Poontang� Katowski. Percussion & Banjo: Nils Ricciotta. Piano: Ian McCool. Trumpet: Miguelingi Jacobson. Special Guest: Stanley Crouch: Drums (3).

Style: Dixieland/New Orleans/Swing