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Sal D'Agostino wrote on February 09, 2011 report
After recently discovering Lennie Tristano and company after decades of ignorance, I was happy to find the blog page about him on Do The Math. Of course, the author upset the hell out of me at times, but overall it was one of the most balanced, informative and extraordinary pieces I've ever read on a jazz musician's approach. When I finally came to realize the author is the pianist in The Bad Plus, however, I nearly fell off my chair. I've got Bad Plus albums. Where's the African diaspora in those? They play Blondie, for God's sake. And why does music need to be loud all the time, anyway? Loud music is inherently better and more important than quieter, more introspective music? I've never heard that before. And what's wrong with disliking drummers? What drummers did Art Tatum play with? I may not be a musician, but many of my friends (and friends of friends, of course) are, and to a man they hate drummers. Every one of them thinks drummers are egomaniacs who feel they are the 'foundation' of the music and play accordingly. And the two drummers I do know personally fit this bill exactly (no offense, Steve and Bob, just making a point). I can tell you as a big fan of the Brubeck group, they were a LOT more interesting, swinging and emotionally moving when they had the comparatively faceless rhythm section in the early fifties than they were when they hired the 'challenging' Joe Morello. All that noise and clutter got in the way of the beauty, in my opinion. I just don't understand how a professional musician can say that jazz has to conform to certain rhythmic rules or else it isn't really jazz, but something else. I found my Bad Plus discs in the jazz section at my record store, and they sound less like jazz than almost anything I've ever heard. I hope Iverson isn't just another Tom Piazza... a guy who apologizes for being white in every piece he writes. If you're white and you try to play black, you're a copycat. If you do something original, then it's nice music maybe, but not jazz. There's nothing wrong with having a natural affinity for music of your own race.
