DownBeat September 1994 [antikvár]

ON THE BEAT September 1994 Monk, Herbie Tomorrow by John Ephland iano players are back in a big way. Thus far, the '90s have shown us a dramatic convergence in jazz centering around the piano. "It seems that of the great players out there today, the really strong voices are on piano," says Steven Schenfeld, Director of Artists Repertoire for Blue Note. "Our roster has incredible talent pushing the limits. Don Pullen, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Geri Allen, to name a few, all have eclectic and original voices. Even Benny Green, whose approach is a lot more reverent of jazz's past, at 30, has his own voice." To some observers, it's no surprise the piano has become the instrument in demand. According to veteran pianist Hal Galper, "We are definitely seeing more piano players than ever." Making reference to his generation, the 56-year-old Galper observes, "There used to be a dearth of them, but now the established players are keeping company with young up-and-comers." This trend is confirmed by one of the Joe Zawinui: the keyboord as orchestro official monitoring institutions of new talent, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. According to Shelby Fischer, executive producer of the prestigious Monk competitions, "The response to the saxophone competitions has been the greatest, but that's because it includes all kinds of saxes. Piano players really make up a larger group." Fischer's gaze includes much more as she adds: "Being aware of what's going on in the jazz community, reading the personnel in DB CD reviews, as well as reading The New York Times and The New Yorker to see who's working from the competition, it seems pretty clear to me that the field has a lot more piano players." What gives? It appears the climb in keyboardists is a cyclical trend. The '50s, 70s, and '90s have all reflected a kind of ascendence for keyboard players in jazz. In the '50s, much of the energy came from bebop's break from big-band jazz, with the pianist playing the orchestral role. Related developments included the piano as a featured solo instrument, and the pianist-as-composer/student of 19th and early 20th-century classical forms by Stravinsky. Debussy, Prokofiev, and Messiaen, among others. Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano, and Cecil Taylor, for example, took their cues from some of these developments during this period. In the 70s. the keyboard as an orchestral instrument was given new life thanks to electronics. Chick Corea, Joe Zawinui, and Herbie Hancock were among its most notable practitioners. For the '90s, both acoustic and electric keyboardists have thrived; the former group developing further the achievements of the '80s neo-conservative movement, the latter concentrating on analog and digital sampling of electronic sounds not found in nature, a kind of new alchemy. Through it all. the keyboard has had that attraction as an orchestra unto itself, a complete instrument. But let's get back to our original question, "What gives?" In a nutshell, according to producer/musician Bob Belden, "The '90s are unique in the way they follow the '80s, a time when education became more market-driven at the expense of a liberal arts education. As funding dried up, more families saw the piano, even more than the guitar, as the instrument of choice, whether it was taught in school or not." In other words, when push comes to shove, the piano —or "pseudo-piano, which includes digital keyboards designed for home use," according to Belden—usually wins out at home. That's been jazz's gain. Thus far, the '90s have shown that keyboards not only have major staying power but are. indeed, the instrument to watch for this decade. DB