10 - 12 March 2012 aw shucks wha can a jazbo do ...

**Alyn_Shipton** · 10-03-12, 16:07

Calum
I posted on these boards immediately the rumour appeared that Jazz Library was on R2 to say that Motian was on Radio 3 this weekend at the usual time. I suspect most Radio 3 listeners would have been aware that almost all regular programming was juggled around last weekend for Music Nation. So for those of us who produce the jazz output can we have a bit less of the "they lie about putting on jazz progs" stuff, please? Whoever "they" are. I'd commend the Motian programme to boardees. Martin Speake knew Paul and toured with him, and has some useful insights (which disagree with mine in some interesting areas) about his playing. I dislike the way that you have appeared to dismiss this programme (which was actually commissioned after boardees here asked for a JL on Motian) because of some glitch in the BBC's online schedule.

**charles t** · 10-03-12, 16:57

Post 1 was just an Eric Blair moment, Alyn...

love & bebop

A Bordee

**Serial_Apologist** · 10-03-12, 17:07

Reading the eulogistic things six Radio 6 presenters have to say in this week's RT about Radio 6 Music, the value of having fought to keep it, and the editorially off-leash rapport that maintains its loyal listenership, has me wondering if R3 presenters (not just thinking of jazz progs) would be equally willing to go to print in such glowing terms.

**aka Calum Da Jazbo** · 10-03-12, 17:58

yes Alyn you did and i apologise for not referencing that but i did not wish to ...where were the R3 notifications .... another slack handling of a jazz Prog and 15 hours devoted to Tom Service's injured pinkies thius week it is utterly clear where the priorities lie .... i just will not compromise nor collude with R3 about Jazz any more

they ar3e having a larf mate and i am utterly pissed off

as Bill Withers said in that excellent documentary on BBC4 last night .... i want to find out what my LOUD desperation is like ...

**Tenor Freak** · 11-03-12, 13:17

Damn blast triple damn and an extra side-order of damn, I missed that one...OK, reach for the iPlayer....

BTW Cerys Matthews played some Fletcher Henderson on her 6music prog this morning

**BLUESNIK'S REVOX** · 12-03-12, 12:20

The MOTIAN programme was interesting, as much for Martin Speake as for its subject. Didn't know MS had such wide ranging tastes. Agree with him that Motian on Bill Evan's first album ("Jazz Conceptions") was fine but not that different to the then rote (Philly Joe on the next, "Digs...", was superb, constantly listening and worked with Bill for far longer over his career?). And did Motian REALLY make that big a break thro in drumming? Max, Elvin, Tony Williams (esp with "stop et start"? Joe Chambers also would be a good choice for a Library as a player and writer.

But provoking stuff even if a lot of those Motian ECM dates send me to sleep. Nice "Lisa" tho.

BN.

Never been a big fan of the "Turning Point" album (Gilmore, Bley etc). Should have been great but Gilmore seems lost and its oddly unmoving. Clunky.

**aka Calum Da Jazbo** · 12-03-12, 13:14

... as the klassical kats are migrating to the web [see the whats wrong with .... thread]

try here

or here

**aka Calum Da Jazbo** · 12-03-12, 13:38

...the strongest piece by far on the Motian Library was the Jarrett Quartet .... that was a helluva outfit ......

**aka Calum Da Jazbo** · 12-03-12, 14:42

Tonight, a rare performance – and an even rarer interview – by an original Jazz Warrior whose re-emergence in recent months has been emphatic.
Saxophonist Steve Williamson doesn't do interviews – so I was thrilled to be able to catch up with him after 25 years of waiting to do so. Our conversation goes right back to his early days in reggae, and his subsequent role alongside Courtney Pine at the vanguard of the British jazz boom of the late 80s. And then there was the 'huge comedown' after all the magazine covers and international awards. Steve tells a fascinating story from this time that he's never spoken about publicly before, that perhaps helps to explain why he has disappeared from view for much of the subsequent two decades.
We end up talking about a recent turning point that has seen a new flourishing in Steve's creativity, and the music we hear in tonight's main performance is one of the results. He teams up with 'musical soulmate', pianist Pat Thomas, whose grounding in the free improv scene points towards a fascinating collaboration. There's groove as well as fire in Thomas's playing, and Williamson matches this with stop-start, muscular bursts. Both players have a broad musical language and a real ear for melodic detail, concocting a constantly shifting and thoroughly original soundscape.

jez in newsletter for Jon3 tonite

**Ian Thumwood** · 12-03-12, 21:10

Been listening to this on the I-player and haven't finished the programme yet but really wanted to respond to Bluesnik's comments as I really believe that Paul Motian did make a breakthrough in jazz drumming and is a musician who I would definately put at the same level at Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams although I think his best work can be found from the 1980's onwards.

Someone once described Motian as the "most swinging unswinging drummer in jazz" and , for me at least, the epitomises what he was about. It was curious to hear the earlier music as I felt that the Paul Bley album marked the point on the selection of discs where Paul Motian had forged his own identity on the kit. Indeed, whenever the two Pauls met up in the studio, the results always seemed to produce magic. There is a very rewarding trio disc on Soul Note where Charlie Haden fulfils the bass duties which probably demonstrates the Ornette influences more fully than the track chosen. This is an amazingly radical trio but one of my favourite ECM discs is the Paul Bley Quartet's "Fragment" which includes a stellar line up of Bill Frisell and John Surman. The comment about sleeping through ECM records can be an issue on some discs but I feel this is one of the very best records the label produced in the 1980's. The opening track "Memories" always knocked me out as the music moves an almost glacial pace, the excitement generated by the dynamics of Surman's horn underscored by the guitar of Frisell and Paul Motian's drums, the aural equivalent of little atoms gradually moving and clattering into each other as the temperature slowly gets more intense. Not too disimilar from the first PM trio track played.

The "Portait in jazz " album was easily the best thing that Bill Evans ever produced in a studio but, as good as the trio with PM and SLeF , I think that the drummer's own trio put down a body of work which is even more impressive. Motian's trio with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano was one of the greatest bands in the history of jazz - up there with the likes of MJQ, Ornette's band with Cherry, etc, etc. The more introspective stuff was equally balanced by music that could be a raucous as a squadron of Stuka dive-bombers. On top of that, I agree with Martin Speake in that Paul Motian was a brilliant composer too. The 1980's were one of the most important decades in the evolution in jazz as the music sought to shake off the slough of fusion and re-engaged with the need to push the traditions forward. For me, Motian was one of those rare musicians who always sounded contemporary and very radical yet could cite the likes of Jim Crawford of the Jimmie Lunceford band as an influence. His approach may have been different to Elvin and Max Roach but he was definately one of thr very greats on his instrument. Difficult to pick the ultimate PM3 record as there is alot of recommend on all of them but the Monk tribute is very good and even the ECM disc I have in my collection is far superior to wha alot of the yonger players have put out on that label since the 2000's.

**charles t** · 12-03-12, 23:29

Well spoken, Ian (re: The jazz viability of the long career of Paul Motian).

If you can possibly audit the pages within, of a book by Ben Ratliff - The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music - devoted to his sharing an afternoon with Motian in his apartment...late in life...Wherein Motian jumps up-and-down to refresh the turntable while reminiscing...you will never forget it.

Indubitably. [Brit-speak].

**aka Calum Da Jazbo** · 13-03-12, 02:00

jiminy cricket lookit what i found ...

**handsomefortune** · 13-03-12, 21:32

Originally posted by aka Calum Da Jazbo View Post

jiminy cricket lookit what i found ...

oh that last utube pick is a bit special calum da jazbo!

the 'jazz library' discussion was good. beginning with motian doing solid backbeats allowing others to go kerazy & wild.

some great ideas discussed and illustrated, the 'stop and start' style in particular; never playing the root; a trio bigger than an orchestra; no chords; singing drums; competing for time; motian wanting to play as though a child experiencing playing drums for the first time etc

motian seemed to keep bringing something new out of the bag, although the jarret thing wasn't my favourite incarnation, i was fascinated as to what motian played, up until he departed, especially in comparison with his start point as presented on 'jazz library'.

i must look up jerry allen...or is it a g for gerry?

**Alyn_Shipton** · 13-03-12, 23:30

It's Geri Allen. Click on the "clip" link on this show and you can hear her Jazz Library podcast. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5lv0

10 - 12 March 2012 aw shucks wha can a jazbo do ...

10 - 12 March 2012 aw shucks wha can a jazbo do ...

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