Courtney Pine on the Ethiopian Jazz Age

[Guest]

Swinging Addis

Tue 25 Mar 11:30
Sun 30 Mar 13:30

This Radio 4 feature sounds fascinating, and not at all known to me. Does anyone have any comments or pointers before hearing the programme?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the man in Ethiopia

[Serial_Apologist]

Ethiopia? - highly salacious.

[eighthobstruction]

love it....

[johncorrigan]

love it....

Caught it by pure accident and took the scenic route to the meeting to make sure I heard it all. Great programme - I was left thinking that one half-hour was certainly not enough. A truly unique musical sound....and great to hear Francis Falceto's take on the whole thing - a hero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuW_S4KAJU

[eighthobstruction]

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuW_S4KAJU

.....love that too

[Paul Sherratt]

Newish easy-to-listen-to cd arrived this week John, ' Beyond Addis ' from Trikont.
'Great With Bookkeeping'


Compiled by one of those Whitefield Bros

[Globaltruth]

Ye Gods, it definitely merited more than 30 minutes...Any of these topics are worthy of a follow up show:

* Alemu Aga - a global treasure,
* The tribes such as Tigrayan, Amhara, Oromo, Gurage
* The liturgical language - Ge’ez, used to pass in music a system of secret/double meanings (commonly known as The Wax & The Gold)
* The Azmaris (Ethiopian equivalent of the griots) - singing in Ge'ez they could carry messages around the country
* History of the core instruments - the Krar: King David's harp.

Still it was a start and another demonstration of r4 picking up what r3 should be doing imho...

[johncorrigan]

Ye Gods, it definitely merited more than 30 minutes...Any of these topics are worthy of a follow up show:

* Alemu Aga - a global treasure,
* The tribes such as Tigrayan, Amhara, Oromo, Gurage
* The liturgical language - Ge’ez, used to pass in music a system of secret/double meanings (commonly known as The Wax & The Gold)
* The Azmaris (Ethiopian equivalent of the griots) - singing in Ge'ez they could carry messages around the country
* History of the core instruments - the Krar: King David's harp.

Still it was a start and another demonstration of r4 picking up what r3 should be doing imho...

In my imagination the new and future controller is dusting off her/his (my imagination isn't running to that yet) 'to do' list and getting those suggestions in for early doors in the new king/queendom. I could do with hearing a bit more from that there Monsieur Falceto too.

[Ian Thumwood]

I've been listening to the new trio album by Jeff Ballard called "Times tales" which features the alto of Miguel Zenon and guitarist Lionel Loueke. The latter hails from Cameroon and he is a musician I've seen perform live with the likes of Herbie Hancock as well as the odd, guest appearance of albums by the likes of Gretchen Parlato.

The trio line up of drums / guitar / sax seems odd until you realise that this was precisely the line up favoured by Paul Motian whose own trio would be as good a candidate for the greatest small group in jazz after Miles' classic second quintet. Along with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano I feel that Motian produced a body of work which is both at the very forefront of creative jazz whilst offering a degree of conservatism that mirrored bands like Jimmy Guiffre's trio with Brookmeyer and Hall. They could play completely "outside" and also with a lop-sided square-ness that no other band could get away with. Listening to Ballard's trio I was immediately put in mind as to how successful Motian had been with this format and I was initially quite disappointed with this release.

That said, the record does seem to continually display as really high level of musicianship and even if the treatment of the standard "The man I love" owes a lot of Motian's group, this trio seems to be marking it's own territory. The best thing about it is Loueke's wonderful slippery guitar and the oddness of his phrasing. I think it covers as wide an area of jazz as the Motian group but doesn't manage to maintain a consistent identity. However, the ideas within the disc fascinate. There is a transcription of a bird which sounds like something that has escaped from the Metheny / Ornette album "Song X" whilst another track reminded me a bit of Weather Report. Elsewhere, the disc includes some free improvisation as well as a re-working of a violin duet by Bartok. The more I listen to this trio, the more I like it. Initially Zenon was the main draw for me but I think that Loueke is a hugely original voice. There is plenty of African styling in his work yet he is fully conversant with the jazz tradition as well as offering some full-throttled grunge on "The Queen of the Stone Age's" "Hangin' Tree." The best elements of the record are contained within the more medium tempo offerings.

I am a massive fan of Motian's trio and his distinctive style of drumming was always a huge attraction for me of this band. Ballard is pretty diverse in his approach but doesn't really have the immediate identity of Motian. In this respect, his trio does lose a third voice but as an attempt at "musical problem solving" this bass-less trio is impressive. Much of the appeal comes from the off-the-wall guitar playing of Lionel Loueke and the unpredictable nature of his soloing is a large plus for me.

I suppose that African is sometimes seen as a "spiritual home" for jazz but, as writers like Gunther Schuller have noted, whilst African music has influenced the likes of Randy Weston or even Louis Sclavis, the continent has produced few really towering jazz musicians itself. Of course Abdullah Ibrahim is a major figure in jazz and had produced a fabulous recorded legacy. However, he is very much influenced by Ellington and save for the Blue Notes who fled to the UK and kick-started the jazz scene in the late sixties, it is noticeable just how few great jazz musicians Africa had produced in comparison with Europe. Granted the circumstances are different between Europe and Africa but I feel that Loueke is a musician who is offering something new and fresh with his instrument that I find compelling.

Strangely enough, the other musician I've been listening a lot to of late is Mary Halvorson whose association with the likes of Braxton seem to have elevated her to a platform where her Jim Hall meets Derek Bailey approach to jazz seems to have won the favour of critics. I think "Illusionary Sea" is a fabulous record with some terrific playing by trombonist Jacob Garchik. It has the qualities of a break-through record that will propel her to the attention of the mainstream. That said, I feel that Loueke's approach is, if anything, even more radical and perhaps, technically superior. The Ballard trio album is worth investigating if you like to explore how good a player he is.