DownBeat October 2011 [antikvár]

Frank First Take I BY BOBBY REEO Sinatra Count Basie The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings One of the Most Historic Musical Pairings of All Time! 20 Classic Collaborations Including: "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)," "The Best Is Yet to Come," (Love Is) The Tender Trap." Digitally Remastered From The Original Tapes New And Original Liner Notes Available Now amazon.com coNcoiio sinatra.com Creativity and Coincidences Jazz is all about time and timing. Skilled musicians intuitively know when lo jump in. when to harmonize, when to hold back, and when to allow for precious silence in music. But when a player is improvising in an ensemble. unforeseen things can happen. Sometimes those things are terrible, but sometimes they're fantastic. That's the risk and the reward of living in the moment. Life away from the bandstand can also be unpredictable. We've all experienced (or read about) coincidences that are so unlikely that it seems they must have some cosmic meaning. These events provoke the head-scratching moments when we ask ourselves. "Was that just a coincidence? Synchronicity? A happy accident? A random event? Is there a logical explanation?" In this issue of DownBeat, we've got a feature on Steve Coleman (page 34) that has made me ponder the metaphysical dimensions of life on this big blue marble that's drifting through the galaxy. I was editing the feature on Coleman the same day I learned that the saxophonist would be returning to his hometown of Chicago to play a tribute to Von Freeman. Also on the bill that evening was Julian Priester. who is the subject of a feature in this issue (page 146). There's quite a bit of interconnectedness in the jazz world. On the afternoon of July 30.1 was editing this issue's feature on The New Gary Burton Quartet (page 26). While doing research on Burton, 1 discovered that during his stint as a sideman for legendary saxophonist Stan Getz, they appeared in the 1964 film Get Yourself A College Girl. I had never heard of this film before. A couple of hours later, 1 was at a concert by one of my favorite pop groups. The Flat Five (Kelly Hogan. Nora O'Connor. Scott Ligon. Casey McDonough and Alex Hall). The opening act for this show at the Old Town School of Folk Music was Chris & Heather's !6mm Fihn Jamboree—a sclcclion of vintage clips assembled by Chris Ligon and Heather McAdams. Among the footage they screened was a trailer for Get Yourself A College Girl. In one snippet of the trailer, Astrud Gilberto is lip-synching to "The Girl From Ipanema" while Getz plays the saxophone behind her. and standing behind him is Burton, playing Ihc vibes, using his four-mullet technique. When 1 saw thai scenc. I fell like screaming, "Wow. 1 was jusl reading about this for the lirsi time two hours ago!" The next morning, while moving a stack of Eliane Elias CDs in my office, an older disc slipped off the stack and tumbled onto my desk. (I'd been listening intently to Elias' music while editing our feature on her, which begins on page 38.) The CD jewel case landed face down. My eyes immediately fell on the first title in the track listing: "The Girl From Ipanema." Whoa. Was the universe trying to tell me something? The CD fell beside the manuscript for our feature on jazz vocalists (page 42), in which Gretchen Parlato talks about recording worics by Antonio Carlos Jobim (one of the composers of "The Girl From Ipanema"). Hmmm. When I experienced these kinds of events as a college student, I became obsessed with the concept of the cosmic coincidence. Thanks to some brilliant college professors, and a course on probability, I came to realize that jusl because something feels like a bizarre coincidence doesn't mean that it cannot be logically explained. It's a lesson I carry with me. Many things that I learned during my '80s collegiate days (both in the classroom and outside it) continue to influence my work and my life today. Somewhere, a teenager is sitting at home, studiously reading the school listings that begin on page 74 in the Student Music Guide. She will see a school that interests her. She will apply to the program and be accepted. Then she will receive training from some of the world's finest musicians. She will excel in school, graduate with honors and become a famous jazz musician. Years later, she'll remember the day she read the Student Music Guide in the October 2011 issue of DownBeat. Her professional success will be the result of inherent ability, careful research, a great education and many hours of laborious practicc. Eventually, she will be the subject of a feature in DownBeat. And lhal won't be a coincidence at all 6 DOWNDEAT DECEMBER 2011