tag:markshilansky.com,2005:/blogs/blogBlog2023-10-16T10:56:48-04:00Mark Shilanskyfalsetag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570612015-07-18T07:00:00-04:002022-01-24T16:45:16-05:00Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga at Umbria Jazz<p> </p>
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<blockquote> <div>I just want to say before I begin that Tony Bennett is important. He's important to me, and to so many other people in the world. He's a "pop" singer who stylizes a melody and varies it whenever he sings it, so as far as I'm concerned: jazz. He had a late-career renaissance (several actually) that should be the envy of any artist, from MTV Unplugged until now. I didn't get to meet him, but I have heard anecdotes that he is basically a great guy, often makes time to talk to fans, to other musicians. My friend Travis Sullivan bumped into him on the street in NY a few years ago and wound up going with Tony (thanks to a comp ticket Tony provided) to see a JALC concert featuring Joe Temperley. In interviews and documentaries and books he is a giver of sage advice and a beacon of positivity.<br><br>So, even though Tony can be a bit over-the-top, I think of him as a true jazz artist, a great lyric deliverer. His records with Bill Evans are among my favorite of all time. Others, like the Movie Song Album, are high on my list as well. He's made duet records before, and even did a whole duet record and tour with kd lang, which was pretty special. She is one of the finest vocalists of all time, to me, for her endless chops and interpretive ability and taste, as well. When it was announced that Tony and Lady Gaga would do a duet record, I thought, "well, that kinda makes sense." She sounds nice on the Tony Duets II record, and in the video faux documentary that accompanied that album, Tony seemed to cut through her bullshit in a nice interview segment. Gaga said something like "Tony puts up with my craziness!" and Tony said to the interviewer "She wants people to think she's crazy, but she isn't. She's a hard worker and a serious artist. The craziness is just her image. Isn't that right, Gaga?" Or something like that, and then the interview proceeded normally. It was like he neutralized her. <br><br>And Lady Gaga has always managed, despite what I feel is the unevenness of her work, to both exist in a genre (usually dance pop) and also lampoon it as well. Her sexuality is part of her act, but she also makes fun of the Diva-ness and overt sexuality of most women in her genre. Madonna did that to some degree, but Gaga takes it further. When Rihanna or Britney are portrayed as sexy, it is literal. When Gaga does it she is winking at the same time. It's like that tune "Hot Hot Hot" by Buster Poindexter. It is a parody of calypso while still instigating millions of cruise-goers to start a conga line the second they hear it. Spinal Tap, Flight of the Conchords, Tenacious D, Weird Al all traffic in solid music, but they are definitely parody acts. Weezer's "Island in the Sun," Blondie's "The Tide is High," Beck's "Midnight Vultures" all are similar to Gaga, to me, in that they are parodying or offering an homage to an idiom, but then actually succeeding as a stellar example of that genre. Lady Gaga can dance, but a lot of her dance moves are exaggerated and awkward, in solidarity with her fans, her "monsters" as she calls them. She is definitely a LGBT ally. She has rallied behind progressive political causes. She has hung out with the Muppets. <br><br>She is not a random pop artist only looking to jazz for respectability and marketability in her old age. I was never a Rod Stewart fan. I do like him when Jeff Beck is in the room with him. His "Great American Songbook" records were at best silly and at worst offensive... canned-sounding (the strings might have been real but they didn't sound it most of the time).... his vocal quality sounded like Grover (the muppet) auditioning to play the role of Cher in a drag show of some kind. Even Michael Bolton took care of business more on his standards record. Hell, even FRANK STALLONE did. And there are some pop singers who bring a fresh perspective to jazz standards when they attempt them, like (to me) Billy Joel, Art Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, and especially James Taylor. I have a bit that I do sometimes for friends, when I'm feeling in the mood, where I pretend that Tony Bennett is mad at Rod Stewart for trying to steal his career, and so Tony does a record of Rod Stewart tunes, which I begin to sing in Tony's voice. Try it. It's fun. Especially the first line of "Maggie May" or "Tonight's the Night"... "DA YA Think I'm sexy" works as a bluesy shuffle... </div>
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<blockquote><div>This essay is going on FOREVER, because I just want to be clear about my impressions of this Bennett/Gaga pairing. It is not hilariously bad or cynical as one might initially think. Check out the videos of Gaga playing her original tunes on the piano before she was Gaga. Check out that clip of her singing the Sound of Music medley on the Oscars. I know many women singers are very protective of Julie Andrews' definitive version, but Gaga did some nice head-voice singing and to my ears pretty much nailed it. Also, check out some her live or studio work in the normal Gaga genre and hear her belting the crap out of her own dance material. As an artist I think of her more like Bette Midler or even Liza Minnelli or Carol Burnett (I wonder if she will start an acting career at some point, come to think of it), than as simply a dance pop singer.<br><br>And, by the way, does she NEED to even DO THIS? Why would she do it if she wasn't somewhat serious about it? It's not helping her gain young fans by singing with an 89 year old man when she is 29. She has a lot to lose and relatively little to gain, fame-wise, from this, unless she's looking at a VERY LONG GAME (she's trying to lock in millenials who will be her fans when they are all in their 60's together?). She has a lot to gain, artistically, from this association, which I will explore later. But one reason I want so desperately for this project to be good, for people to take it seriously, is that I feel, more than with that Rod Stewart business, that it can really introduce jazz to Gaga's audience. She didn't just use some cheese bucket producer to make a "jazz crossover record." Joe Lovano is on the Gaga/Bennett CD. Paul Horn, Dave Mann, Lou Marini, and a whole host of jazz session pros and a huge string section.<br><br>So I guess the best way to continue might be to go down the list of the participants.<br><br>Harold Jones: Drums. "Basie's Favorite Drummer", Tony said. So swinging; the time felt so relaxed yet kept moving forward, such a great accompanist. He got a nice solo in one feature, but I wish there had been more. So tasteful. I have a bit of a peeve about the way they've been miking the drums at Arena Santa Giuliana, where you can't really hear the cymbals loud enough compared to the rest of the kit, and this was still the case, but what a spectacular player.<br><br>Marshall Wood: Bass. I am a bit biased here because Marshall is from New England. I met him when he used to come up to UNH with various artists to play on the Trad Jazz series and do clinics and things. He's always been one of the best bassists I've ever heard or played with, great sound, time, feel, knows the RIGHT changes to about a billion tunes. He's also been a kind dispenser of advice to me about my playing and the music world and just an overall generous, positive person. He nailed this gig, and I'm glad to see him in a gig where he gets to make a buck or two and have people outside of New England hear him (he's done other international gigs, but I think it would be fair to say this is his biggest).<br><br>Gray Sargent: Also biased because I've heard him all my life and played with him a little bit. Still to my ears he is one of the most unique guitarists ever to play the instrument. Stylistically he often sounds like a "throwback" to players like Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, even a bit of Django sometimes, but his time feel and often his note-choices can be timeless and modern. His sense of humor is always on display, as he is constantly quoting other tunes, shout choruses to classic arrangements, classic solos by jazz greats. Matt Glaser has a theory that EVERYTHING Gray plays is a quote of something else. It's on the level of someone like Dexter Gordon or Sonny Rollins... Bird used to do it too apparently, and that is how fluid Gray is with this... A French woman would walk in the room and Bird would play "the Last Time I Saw Paris..." Gray is able to access these references seemingly without thinking, so they are integrated into the flow of the improvisation. Even if he didn't engage in this device though, he is a sensitive accompanist, rubato or in tempo, always there with a perfect little fill in between Tony's melodies. Tony has said that if he didn't have Gray Sargent in the band he wouldn't use a guitarist, and it's tough to think of someone who could do the gig the way Gray does. I've recently played a bit with John Wheatley and he has some similar qualities, though he is his own man stylistically as well.<br><br>Mike Renzi: Here we are talking about one of the finest "singer's pianists" and vocal accompanists of all time. There is a spaciousness and relaxedness to the way he accompanies both Tony and Gaga that is really special. You feel like they could do anything with their phrasing and he'd be there for them. There is little of the gratuitous arpeggiations in which too many rubato players indulge. Occasionally I would feel like Mike would come charging out of the gate too much on his solos and they'd get a little chops-laden (only a couple times I thought this) but then I thought "Hey, Mark, how would you feel if you got maybe 2-3 times during a two hour set to take maybe a 16 bar solo? You'd play a few notes too, right?" Anyway, overall just masterful.<br><br>The Other Cats who played behind Gaga: Yes that's right, Gaga had her own cats backing her up sometimes, and I know what you're thinking: WHY?! What the hell for? They could have saved a little bread, spent some more on the people who WERE on the band. Why would you want your own cats when you are getting to drive that Cadillac of a Rhythm section (or a Saab... the Saab is the Cadillac of Cars... extra points for those of you who get that reference)? I had heard something that Gaga and one of the band members were bartenders together years ago and vowed they'd eventually help each other if the other got famous, so maybe it's a nice gesture on her part, but aside from the pianist who could actually play pretty well and accompanied her well I felt like the rest of the "2nd band" was completely unnecessary. You could make something of a case for them on a couple of the straight 8th tunes, but not much of one. The trumpeter was basically spraying fast, high 8th notes everywhere, sometimes without regard for the chord changes; the Tenor player had some Tenor player cliché chops but not much more, and of course the other rhythm section sounded like little children after the solid groove that Tony's band was laying down. Anyway... it's nice that musicians are getting paid well to play jazz music in public because of this tour, but I could have helped her pick some better ones if she had to have a 2nd band, like, in Boston alone there are 10-20 players on each instrument that would have done a better job.</div></blockquote>
<div class="AppleOriginalContents"> </div>Tony Bennett: He was his classic self. The tunes that he did with the basic quartet were my favorites. He went right on from tune to tune. Yes there was a little more gravel in his voice and there were more than occasional drifts in pitch, but his phrasing and lyric delivery and swing were right on. And when he did nail something (which was actually pretty often) like he used to it was breathtaking. When he did frack a note (the end of "San Francisco" was strong until the very last "MEEEE" which was something other than the tonic) he just moved on and kept in the emotion of the moment. After most tunes he flashed his genuine smile and put one or sometimes two thumbs up. Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" was simply transcendent; I definitely teared up after that one.</div>
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<div class="AppleOriginalContents">Lady Gaga: I think she has a great voice. Some of the jazz singing wasn't actual jazz singing but more of a theatre/jazz/R&B combination. I think she has trouble dealing with genuine emotion, which was a land that Tony was inhabiting all night, so sometimes Gaga would sing a phrase or two and be really affecting or swinging, and then kind of mock what she had just achieved with a comic line reading or a weird change of vocal timbre. "Lush Life" was mostly accurate but marred by this sudden decision-making. "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" was super all the way through; the sentiment fit her persona and she made great vocal choices. Late in the show (though her mood seemed sillier and sillier as the show progressed... she was given to giggling and suddenly speaking tiny bits of Italian to the audience) she performed a gorgeous "Every time We Say Goodbye" with her pianist that was perfectly in tune, lots of thought about phrasing and placement, lots of dynamics.</div>
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<div class="AppleOriginalContents">However, I'd have to say most of the "jazz" part of Gaga's set was all over the map in quality from phrase to phrase. Some of the keys are too high for her and she winds up belting the crap out of melodies like "I can't give you anything but love," and there was really no such thing as an actual unison between Tony and Gaga when they would sing together. They would just vocally stumble through the last notes of a song, each of them with a different ending and pitch concept. They were usually embracing or holding hands or Gaga was posing in some ridiculous outfit at these moments, so I don't think it mattered much. Gaga had trouble being anything but the center of attention on stage. One time, during a particularly good Gray Sargent solo, the entire audience began screaming about half way through. I thought, "Gee, those Italians really like the 9th bar of a Gray Sargent solo," because it came out of nowhere. What had happened, upon closer inspection, was that Gaga had finished her phrase a few bars before and lifted her arms above her head while wearing some kind of cape, then had begun slowly rotating during the guitar solo, so that 9 bars in she completely had her back to the audience. Well, her outfit, from behind, in the spotlight, was diaphanous, so basically the audience suddenly saw her naked back, part of a g-string, and most of her naked ass, and this was what the crowd had responded to. I think I am going to try such a pivot the next time Eric Byers takes a guitar solo on my band and see if it has a similar effect.</div>
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<div class="AppleOriginalContents">So... I'm a little confused at the inconsistencies, given the money and time that went into this project. They probably just need a few rehearsals with a vocal coach. Tony's vocal gaffes didn't seem to come from old age as much as just not preparing well enough for a long phrase. He still had some of those magical endings to ballads, like "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" ("the music neeeeeeeever......eeeeeevverr.......eevvvvverrr.......never ever ever EEEEVVVERR (big high note).... ENDS") that were largely intact. And if Gaga can handle all that crazy choreography she does she can definitely remember to go into mix voice on some of her unison high notes. So, do you see why this review had to be so LOOONGG? It's not enough to simply offer blanket criticism of Gaga. I think she could eventually be truly amazing in a genre similar to this. I find a lot of the outrage I hear coming from, guess who, other women jazz singers who feel some ownership of the genre after working in it for most of their careers, and while I understand that (I found it pretty hilarious when Dave Grusin made that straight-ahead Ellington tribute record for GRP a few years ago, on a break from his Film scoring/Smooth Jazz career), I think that Gaga has something to offer statistically the least popular genre of music (that would be jazz). At worst her presence could help boost the bottom line a little bit, and at best I think she could eventually have something to say.</div>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570602015-06-03T11:33:18-04:002019-12-18T17:21:17-05:00Becca Stevens - "Perfect Animal" - Drivin' and Listenin'
<p>I'm late to the party on this artist. I'm not going to claim to be a maven or an early adopter, though I heard her with my pal Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra. Becca Stevens. I loved the last record with "Weightless" on it, and the great covers of Joni and Seal and Morrissey. She plays the crap out of whatever stringed instrument she is holding, sings perfectly in tune and emotively and rhythmically precisely while doing it. Her band is remarkable; the accordion and cajon are nice consistent touches that define the band's sound. I am a little biased because Jordan Perlson is the drummer and he is one of my favorites to play with and he admits to knowing me and playing on my projects (rather than the typical cat I hire who says "I went to Boston for a weekend and it was hazy but apparently I recorded with Mark Shilansky on about 3 different records he was producing in a variety of idioms and he wouldn't stop with the Simpsons quotes"). Anyway, in another recent late-night drive, we heard Becca Stevens new "Perfect Animal", and it is, for me, the Album of the Year. It is breathtaking. The lyrics are heavy, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. There is always an inventive melody. With the originals as well as the covers (there are a few here, notably one by Steve Winwood and one by Frank Ocean which you've probably heard and one I won't spoil by telling you the artist but he is such an unlikely choice and Becca and the band make this tune about a million times better than the original, and you laugh at first, "wow, why did she choose this tune" but then they actually play it straight instead of for laughs and it is sweet and sexy), the arrangements are CONSTANTLY changing to serve the text and to keep the listener (and I'm sure the band) engaged. So much detail. I was a little concerned when I first heard it because it "sounds a lot more produced" than Weightless, meaning the sounds are processed and the drums are bigger, but it actually makes the music even more effective, to have some "extreme" sounds from time to time. It was hard to listen to this record while driving because I kept speeding and my heart was racing because with some of these tunes you have NO IDEA what is coming next, arrangement-wise… will it be acapella? 13/8? will the groove change? The vocal harmonies are super tight and quirky at the same time. All the vocal timbres are a little different but the blend is so unique and personal. Becca Stevens deserves to BLOW UP, do you hear me? It is accessible music with incredible conviction. It makes me want to write music and arrange it because she seems to make every tune EXACTLY the way she wants it. There are things that remind one of string bands like the Punch Brothers but also Bjork or the Story or Bill Frisell or the Police or Yes, but it is not derivative or appropriative in the slightest. Becca's voice is subtle and sweet but she can belt when necessary and her time-feel is impeccable… she can float or groove at will... I hope she becomes super huge because imagine if this music began to influence other artists, new and established! So, do check this out, and the last couple records as well (I need to do a thorough listening to her first record… maybe my next long drive).</p>
<p>http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Animal-Becca-Stevens-Band/dp/B00T3YBQ0C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433370706&sr=8-1&keywords=becca+stevens</p>
Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570592015-06-01T03:00:00-04:002023-10-16T10:56:48-04:00Jo Lawry - "Taking Pictures"<p><span style="color:#141823; line-height:19px">I'm thinking of starting a "blog series" or "bunch of Shilansky opinions" series or whatever these are, with the name "Drivin' and Listenin'" or something like that, because I seem to do most of my focused listening to music in the car in recent years. The other night (driving back from my gig in NYC… so….) I listened to </span><a class="profileLink" data-imported="1" href="https://www.facebook.com/jolawry" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Jo Lawry</a><span style="color:#141823; line-height:19px">'s excellent "Taking Pictures" record, and the standout tracks for me are "Impossible" (which features an especially fine guest vocal performance fr</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display:inline; color:#141823; line-height:19px">om one Gordon Sumner. It's amazing but he might be singing better now than he ever has in his life. I heard him with Paul Simon a year ago and he was rare form that night, and on this Jo Lawry tune he really delivers, every part of his range, lots of subtlety mixed with some rockin' out.) and "Ready Aim Fire" (not that I want this review to be all about Mr. Stingman, but on this tune Jo seems to be saying to her boss "Remember when you used to do music like this?", because it sounds like a long-lost Police track). I hope that the Sting thing gives this great record a boost (in Sales? song placements? Spotify? However people consume music…). A few years ago Sting's presence on "Impossible" would have easily helped it find its way onto "VH1's Top 20" or some such list. It's definitely a better tune than most of what we're hearing on the radio these days. Anyway… check this record out. It's a nice mix of pastoral pop with world-music touches like the ones I mention above and some more straight-up folk, and in case you thought I'd never mention it, Jo Lawry herself is one of the best singers in any genre in which you hear her, from jazz standards to back-up singing to these lovely personal tunes.</span></p>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570582015-05-24T05:00:00-04:002021-07-09T07:49:52-04:00Setlist! Volume 1. May 23, 2015<p>Amazing Vocalist Jeremy Ragsdale and I used to joke about setlsts. We would talk about the setlist for our current gig (as a Ragsdale solo set, say, with Esperanza Spalding on bass) or a Syncopation gig, as though it were a Grateful Dead or Phish setlist. Try it sometime… it's fun. (Instead of "they went from China Cat Sunflower into Not Fade Away, man… it was so heavy" it becomes, "They went from 'Stella by Starlight' right into 'Desafinado', man, and Shilansky didn't even open his Irealbook!")</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm going to start posting set lists from gigs A) SO I CAN REMEMBER THE OCCASION AND WHAT WE PLAYED, and B) So you can see what you're missing.</p>
<p>Here's the Fugue Mill Set from Saturday, May 23, at Amazing Things Arts Center, Framingham, Ma. We are at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH this evening (will post setlist later) but tonight we will be without special guests David Thorne Scott and April Hall, who sang with us last night. I fashioned a story about how Dave and April and my wife Kathleen were some kind of Roma singing group who I heard singing in the fields out behind the Fugue Mill (it's fun for me to imagine the Fugue Mill as a physical plant at which I work).</p>
<div>Set 1</div>
<div>Pass it on</div>
<div> Beaumont rag</div>
<div>The darkest hour is just before the dawn</div>
<div>The parting glass</div>
<div>Sorrow in the wind</div>
<div>The false bride</div>
<div>RFD 7</div>
<div>Set 2<br>Reely<br>The Nearness of you<br>Sure on this Shining Night<br>Troubles<br>Everytime we say goodbye</div>
<p>See you soon! </p>
<p>Love,</p>
<p>Mark</p>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570572015-04-19T12:10:00-04:002022-08-16T17:13:24-04:00Favorite Concerts!<p>Here's a Sunday Evening bit of food for thought:</p>
<p>I was reminiscing about my favorite concerts I've ever attended. I'm sure I'm forgetting many of them, but I though I'd provide this little list. Maybe by doing so I'll remember more. If I forgot to add that time I went to your burning show (if you are a fellow musician), please correct me, although Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, I'm sorry, I just don't care for your band. </p>
<p>What are some of YOUR favorite concerts you've attended?</p>
<p>(THESE ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, BY THE WAY)</p>
<p> -Guess Who/Steppenwolf, 1982 (not the best concert I ever went to, but, I think, my first)</p>
<p> -Mutual Admiration Society (Nickel Creek plus Glenn Phillips, John Paul Jones, and Pete Thomas) at the Paradise, mid 2000's</p>
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<div>-Prince in Boston, Musicology tour</div>
<div>-Wayne Shorter/Sean Jones/Herbie/Marcus Miller/ Sean Rickman Umbria Jazz Fest, 2011?</div>
<div>-James Taylor at Great Woods or West Hartford, CT (early 2000's)</div>
<div>-Alison Krauss and Union Station at Meadowbrook, Laconia, NH, late 2000's</div>
<div>-Herbie and Chick duo at Umbria, 2013</div>
<div>-Billy Joel, "The Bridge" tour, 1987, Worcester Centrum.</div>
<div>-KD Lang at Wang Center or Bank of America Pavilion (Abe Jr. on drums)</div>
<div>-Elvis Costello/Ron Sexsmith Beacon Theatre, All This Useless Beauty tour</div>
<div>-Sting/Paul Simon at TD Bank North Pavilion, 2014</div>
<div>-Kathleen Flynn Doctoral Recital - "Winterreisse" - Frankie Schubert/Billy Mueller</div>
<div>-Kenny Garrett trio w/Jeff Watts at Scullers, late 90's</div>
<div>-Squeeze in about '95 at Hampton Beach Casino, NH</div>
<div>-Brad Mehldau trio at Vanguard, around '97</div>
<div>-Shawn Colvin/Stu Smith/Larry Klein at Hampton Beach Casino, mid-90's</div>
<div>-Mike Brecker 5tet at Berklee Performance Center 1988</div>
<div>-Pat Metheny, Orpheum 1999 or so</div>
<div>-Bergonzi/Calderazzo/Abercrombie/Gertz/Nussbaum at Willow Jazz Club, mid 90's</div>
<div>-Kenny Werner trio at Café No, Portland, Me 1994 ish</div>
<div>-NY Voices at Scullers (hearing "Cecilia" for the first time) around 1998 or at Visiones, NYC 1989.</div>
<div>-Mulgrew Miller 5tet with Ron Savage, Steve Nelson, Richie Goods, Gary Bartz: Sweet Basil 1996</div>
<p> </p>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570562014-06-30T05:00:00-04:002021-07-09T07:50:13-04:00Eat your heart out, "The Onion." I can use satire, too!<p><span style="color:#37404e; line-height:20px; text-align:left">Brockton, MA (AP) - According to witnesses, the keyboardist of a local wedding band went berserk last night, severely beating several groomsmen and setting the remnants of the wedding cake on fire. The reception had been a jubilant one, with hours of dancing (to several requests that the band had learned for the occasion). Caterer Ellen Yummysnacks witnessed the attack, and had this to say: "Th</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display:inline; color:#37404e; line-height:20px; text-align:left">e evening basically went off without a hitch, until the band finished its final song, several minutes AFTER its contracted end time. Then the crowd inexplicably began chanting 'ONE MORE SONG'. I saw the keyboardist's eyes glaze over, and then he begin to laugh uncontrollably, and then had one of those episodes not unlike when a mother has a burst of adrenal strength and lifts a burning car off of her baby. He began to pummel the much larger and stronger men of the wedding party, all the while singing strange melodies that the bandleader later told me was Ornette Coleman's solo from the song "The Shape of Jazz to Come." The keyboardist is still on the loose. Police have advised residents to shelter in their homes, and leave a plate of sushi or buffalo wings upon their doorsteps, along with a copy of the latest Downbeat magazine. Residents should not engage the keyboardist in conversation, as he will discuss the minutiae of the latest Marc Maron podcast in far more detail than anyone really should.</span></p>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570552013-06-09T05:00:00-04:002022-08-31T13:27:13-04:00Whither Criticism, Part I<p> </p>
<div>http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/15/arts/jazz-view-a-jazz-generation-and-the-miles-davis-curse.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm</div>
<div>http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1049</div>
<div>http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/netflix-chief-rips-new-york-times-over-negative-arrested-development-review-1200489764/</div>
<div>http://www.bostonjazzblog.com</div>
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<p>I want to sound off in a somewhat definitive way, for me, about Arts Criticism.<br>Much of it has been said before, but maybe not in quite this way.<br>I'm a passionate fan of Music and Movies and TV and Books, and I become enraged when an artist whom I admire is denigrated in a dismissive, usually under-informed or mis-informed way.</p>
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<div>There is definitely a place for Arts Criticism in the World. Now, more than ever, we have access to more Art than ever before, via the internet, via more TV channels than ever, via self-publishing. Certainly criticism can be helpful to help direct us to what Art would most interest us. We also now have more critics than ever before, albeit not usually writing for magazines and newspapers as much anymore, more often for their own blogs and newsletters. In a way, though, because many of these writers have their own blogs, and their own audience of regular readers, sometimes their advocacy can be even more effective. Now even more niches of Art interest can be explored in specific ways. I don't have any statistics in front of me, but I can imagine that the rate of advocacy to purchase (or exploration) is pretty high among blog or podcast devotees. I know if my favorite comedian/interviewer Marc Maron has an artist on his show, or talks about an author or musician or comedian I should check out, I will do it, nine times out of ten, because I identify with him and trust his opinion, or at least I respect the way he thinks about things, so even if I don't ultimately like the Art that he is recommending, I can at least see how he came to his conclusions about it.</div>
<p>And, I know that Art is not only consumed by Artists. There is a level that a trained musician ("academy"-trained or self-trained, I'm not making any distinctions between those two valid disciplines. I'm fond of saying that the Beatles are as "trained" as Mozart was, in their own way) can appreciate a piece of music that a non-trained musician cannot. Musicians can appreciate the detail of a harmonic progression or the interval content and motivic development of a piece more easily than most non-musicians. A great teacher of mine once told me "My music comes into my ears with solfege attached," meaning that he had studied solfege so much and the rules of analysis, that they had become second nature to him, so when he heard a melody he could analyze it as it went by, and I don't doubt this, knowing the level of scholarship that my mentor displayed. </p>
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<p>That is not to say that a "non-trained" musician cannot appreciate music, but that appreciation comes without the added layer of formal understanding. I often think about my own lack-of-understanding of Visual Art. "I don't know much about Art, but I know what I like," said John Cleese's Pope to Eric Idle's Michelangelo in the famous Monty Python sketch, and that is how I feel in a museum. I love being there, and I take the audio tours with headphones to give myself a historical perspective, but I know that if I painted or sculpted or had paid attention in Art History class, I would have an extra set of tools by which to explore Art. I just saw a recent interview with George W. Bush where he talked about mixing colors in his head to accurately match the color of his interviewer's tie, and I thought three things: 1) Maybe this guy missed his calling. The interviewer is grilling him about regretting Iraq and he's mixing colors in his head. 2) This guy who seems to have a tentative grasp on the English Language and the subtleties of World Affairs can appreciate visual art on a level I cannot. 3) I can remember another world leader who would probably rather have been a painter, in Germany in the early 30's.<br>OK that was a cheap joke, but non-artists can appreciate art, it's just in a purely emotional or visceral (dancing) way, or an associative way, the way someone remembers the song they were dancing to at their prom, and they remember the most significant time they were rejected by a girl, I mean, remember one of the most significant times in their lives, so they attach an importance or resonance to that music that it perhaps doesn't contain intrinsically, but hey, if that's why you dig it, knock yourself out... I still love, against my better judgement, lots of the music I got into at ages 8-12 (the band Styx comes to mind), when I was really developing my Music Jones, as well as lots of the music I loved in my teen years that didn't make its way into my work of today (Van Halen was a guilty pleasure). I used to think that this was a major problem. I play in several venues for a more "Traditional Jazz" audience, and some of them are on a nostalgia trip when they're listening to the music, letting it take them back in time, and that used to bug me ("I'M HERE PLAYING FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!!! LISTEN TO ME!") but, again, I'll take the audience where I can get it. If you're there paying your money for this music and you're listening to it so that you don't interfere with me playing it or disturbing your fellow patrons (this is the more egregious part of "requesting" and heckling that audiences don't often realize), it shouldn't really matter to me WHY you're digging it. I do think that you'd get MORE out of it if you checked out some more records (or went on Pandora or Youtube to investigate some artists you don't know) or checked out a book (or, again, went online to wikipedia or something) to learn about the history of some of these artists, or checked out a book on music theory, or learned the basics of how to play an instrument (again, you can get started for FREE online these days).</p>
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<p>The subject of these last few paragraphs is discussed more lucidly and completely in the "bostonjazzblog" link above, in a blog/questionnaire posed by Roanna Forman, where she wrote an open letter to Jazz Critics and Artists about whether they thought a Critic should BE a musician in order to accurately critique music. The responses run the gamut from Yes to No, with all kinds of qualifying information, but the thing that is surprising and amazing is that artists of the caliber of Joe Lovano and Dave Leibman took a stab at the question. I tend to agree with their assessments, as you'll see in part 2.</p>
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<p>Also, this topic has come up for me several times in my life, at a Joe Lovano or Bill Frisell show where some of my pals just "didn't get it;" after reading a review of a CD that I loved and looked up to as one of the greatest works of its kind (Wayne Shorter's "High Life" or Joni Mitchell's "Travelogue," links above); when I read the criticism that people like David Chase or Matt Weiner received about the directions their shows "The Sopranos" or "Mad Men" take; and now, most recently, with the hailstorm of criticism that the internet has thrown at "Arrested Development," Mitch Hurwitz's groundbreaking cult-hit comedy that just had its return via 15 simultaneously released episodes on Netflix.</p>
<p>I'm going to revisit this topic and actually draw some conclusions from this ranting (and rant some more!) in PART II of "Whither Criticism," but I have to get back to 1) Writing some more arrangements for Les Harris's and my Beatles project, called "The Meta-Beat," which will be playing at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH (for Les's and my BIRTHDAY) on Sunday, June 16 (our birthday is the 18th but we don't have a gig then), and also at Chianti in Beverly, MA on Wednesday June 19th. Of course, these gigs will draw criticism that they aren't jazzy enough for jazz fans and not rockin' enough for pure Beatles fans, but you'll have to come out and hear us to make up your own mind. 2) Revising some vocal arrangements, as I just found out I was hired to teach at the Vocal Summit, Berklee's 4-day program of intense instruction (they have them for other instruments too, in the summer), June 24-27. </p>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570542013-05-22T05:00:00-04:002022-08-16T17:13:47-04:00Leaders vs. Sidepeople: Can't we all just get along? Discuss.<p> </p>
<div>Last week I had a gig at Ryles Jazz Club with my new band. I was feeling a little absurd, as the audience turnout was comically low one, and I was calculating the amount of money I was losing on this evening, even as the gig progressed.<br><br>Anyway, to indulge the absurd inner monologue playing in my head, I did about 10 minutes of comedy as I introduced the band, and proceeded to good-naturedly rib the people who shared the stage with me, and continued this activity throughout the night. I do this on most of my gigs where I'm handed the microphone, but that's another story. As I introduced our drummer, I pointed out that he'd never hired me for one of his own gigs as a leader, which got a pretty huge laugh. A couple days later, said drummer updated his Facebook status to indicate that this had bothered him, that he wasn't sure whether to feel guilty or pissed that I had pointed this out on the mike, in front of an audience. In the hour or two that the message was on the drummer's wall (he took it down after I noticed it and posted a public apology), there were at least twenty comments from colleagues of ours (I was not mentioned by name on the post) sticking up for the drummer. Many of the commenters were pretty annoyed at me for calling the drummer out on stage like that, not realizing the humorous context. Interestingly, though, many of the comments were from people who I know find themselves in this position. Many of these people were principally band leaders, who mainly record projects and seek out gigs for them, sometimes writing their own music or arrangements, and others were principally sidemen (I'm going to get sick of constantly writing "side people" so I'm going to stick with using the male gender to signify all genders, if that's OK), in that others hired them to play on recordings and gigs.<br><br>Now, the drummer and I patched things up about 15 minutes after the controversy, but while we were patching it up (and we had other gigs together throughout the weekend, so the conversations about this continued) we realized that the post had perhaps touched a nerve in the music community, and definitely had made each of us think about our roles in the world of music. It inspired me to expand my initial Facebook response into a proper blog post, to try and explore my feelings on this issue, and to maybe get some input from some in the community. I've already gotten some feedback on my Facebook wall and in my dealings with fellow musicians, but hopefully this will inspire more.<br><br>Oftentimes, intentionally or not, a musician will find themselves in a position where they are always the bandleader. Perhaps they write a lot of music or arrangements and have an artistic vision that they want to explore without a lot of other input. Maybe they even have many bands with subtly or vastly different music. This can even be a survival mechanism for some of our more prolific and well-known artists (I'm thinking of Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, John Scofield) who have numerous bands. They can return to play in the same cities or festivals year after year and offer something different each time. Also, maybe they're just better at hustling gigs, because of their personality or because of a motivation of financial survival.<br><br>There is another practice that has become more and more common, and I noticed it happening sometime in the mid-to-late 80's, but it had probably been going on throughout the history of jazz. Leaders will hire "ringers" or "heavies" who are more established players, for their recordings or gigs (usually the more high-profile gigs... it would have been tough to get Michael Brecker to play on your $75-a-man gig at Michael Timothy's in Nashua, NH, in 1996, although he might have done it for that amazing Pizza they'd always give the band... it was like a "pizza-sampler" of about 3 different pies... there was always this ranch-bacon combo that I loved). The hiring of more experienced players became more common for a couple main reasons, in my observation: 1) Record companies began to sign "Young Lions," who in many cases had enormous talent and potential, but perhaps lacked the experience to put together a complete recorded project or carry an evening with their own instrumental prowess. To make the music deeper, and to provide the "finishing school" that young players used to get on the road, in an apprentice-like setting, more mature, established players were hired, definitely for many recording projects, and often even for the road bands.<br>2) In order to get a big gig, or get a record distributed by a label, or to define and jumpstart one's career, artists started hiring these more established players. No one is going to buy a record by The Mark Shilansky Quintet, but what about The Mark Shilansky Quintet with Jaco Pastorius, Steve Gadd, Pat Metheny, and Sonny Rollins? Holy crap, could that have even happened? Jaco died when I was 17, so probably not... now I'm going to have that concept to think about as I go to sleep tonight. I have hired some established players to form the band or be guests on all of my CDs, and I'll probably do it again, but the main problem with this approach is: when are YOU established enough so that people will come see you or buy your music WITHOUT the superstars? Also, I believe there is some hope that by playing with these people that you've hired, it will help make YOU a better player, but so much better that YOU are now a commodity who is hired to lend legitimacy to some kid's first record or even that it will make you enough of a "cat" that people will play a door gig with you for an equal slice of the door?<br><br>To go off on a tangent for a second and explain what I mean by the "apprentice" program... It used to be that someone like Miles Davis would seek out the best young evolving players and scoop them up to play in his band, and then these young players would learn invaluable lessons about playing, putting a set together, handling the road, business, every aspect of being an artist. Then these players would gradually leave the nest (sometimes forcefully, sometimes with the leader's blessing) and having developed more of a voice of their own (and hopefully some notoriety, so they would sell tickets and recordings) would start bands of their own and get their own gigs and record deals. The development of the "Young Lion" system of promoting young talent above all else disturbed this apprentice system, and there are several players who (although they went on to have careers of their own) were hit hard by this shift... one could make the case that it was Mulgrew Miller's or Hal Galper's or Gary Bartz's "turn" to be the next star of jazz, but the moment that was supposed to happen, the youth movement began.<br><br>Also, and this is definitely the topic for another blog post, I'd say that this apprentice system has been replaced by the great Jazz Education system we have at some of our fine schools around the world. Despite some claims I've read that say that "the Academy" has killed music, I would counter that it is where we have to go to encounter and work with master musicians, since there are fewer places to play, and fewer gigs all around.<br><br>The other side of the coin, the sideman who just can't get any traction as a leader, is somewhat common, too. Sometimes to be a good sideman you have to be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Maybe you have a personality that is agreeable and humble, so that you get along with others well, but don't have that narcissistic burst of confidence every once in awhile (or about 10 times a day, for the big stars) that says "I have something to say!" And the other question raised by my drummer-facebook-imbroglio is about balance. Can one be a leader and a sideman in equal measure, or will one role eventually outweigh the other?<br><br>I feel like I have been on either side of this equation throughout my career. I've played with some pretty established people and actually been hired by them. I've played with some established people wherein they've been "stuck" with me, where a guest artist comes to a school where I teach and I am their band, or a friend of mine has had me as one of the "local cats" in their star-studded band. Also, I've led some artistic gigs, and I've led a lot more "function" gigs, weddings, parties, etc. There are gigs that I covet. I've had in my conversational lexicon for years the phrase: "Well, sure I can play with you next Saturday, unless Joe Lovano or Sting calls!" because it would hard to think of a gig I wouldn't bail on to play with either of those heroes of mine (the list goes on, but those are the names that come up most often). But my particular ego-and-insecurity combination goads me into wanting to play with many, many other artists, both here in town and around the world. "I could do that gig better than [insert name of perfectly fine player who becomes my unwitting nemesis]."<br>Here are some observations I've made, partially to calm myself down and keep me from spinning down the vortex of this scarcity mentality: 1) Sometimes it means absolutely nothing that someone hasn't called you for a gig, like, there are a number of great people on that instrument in the area, and the leader just happens to prefer one person, or they have a special bond, or just wants to work with a variety of people. 2) It's almost always a bad question to ask "Why don't you call me?" because there's really only TWO answers: a) There is someone else who plays the gig better, gives the leader more of what they want, which is a really hard conversation to have, or b) The person who is asking the question IS the best person for the gig, but they're too much of an asshole or a liability in some other way (substance abuse, showing up late, saying stupid things to your drummer mid-comedy-routine on the microphone) to hire.<br><br>There is a hand-written list, that you can find on the web if you search for it, made by Steve Lacy, I believe, when he was playing with Thelonious Monk, where Steve would write down advice that Monk would give the band. One important tenet was: "Don't sound anyone for a gig. Just be on the scene." Bill Evans has said that when he got to New York he just hung in his room and practiced, and went to very few sessions or to schmooze, and word spread about him pretty fast. If you want to be called for more gigs, you probably have to increase and strengthen one or more skill sets, be it reading, chops, familiarity with certain genres, grooving, or maybe just being less of a douche (or MORE of a douche, if you want to play with a band of douches. That's a great name for a group. Mark Shilansky and the Band of Douches). And this is all advice I am pointing at myself, believe me, though not always following as much as I should. <br><br>To refer back to my brief endorsement of "Schools..." Many of the people I play with today are people I met in undergrad or grad school. Those are great places to develop a peer group. Perhaps, if you want to work with peers, you need to find a group of people who are at your level, which often means going back to school or finding a new jam session to frequent, or even a new town to live in, in some cases. <br><br>If you want to be a bandleader, well... maybe try writing more, try partnering with other artists you play with so perhaps you could open for them. Try soliciting your local restaurants, bars, libraries, civic centers to see if they'd like to have some music there. If you teach at a school or are affiliated with a Church use whatever power you have at that organization to set up clinics wherein you can hire people, or to play on a concert series there. And we now have the web... start a blog, make some web videos to build a fan base. <br><br>Finding a bridge across the Leader vs. Sideman schism is something we may never fully accomplish, and maybe this is the way things are supposed to be. I hope this little note gets some of the musical community talking about it in a more constructive way, and I hope to keep sharing these thoughts with you from time to time. </div>Mark Shilanskytag:markshilansky.com,2005:Post/61570532011-01-17T07:00:00-05:002022-05-19T20:17:35-04:00Welcome and whassup!<p>Hi everyone. Welcome to the online world of Mark Shilansky.</p>
<p>I've blogged a bit in the past on myspace, somewhat memorably actually if you wanna check out posts from a couple years ago (http://www.myspace.com/markshilansky), but we all know what has happened to myspace. Lots of ads, slow to load, not really where the music industry or social networking hang out these days, although I still have the profile up as a place to store some excerpts from my CDs.</p>
<p>So, I have my own website again, self-designed with the templates at hostbaby, which as you probably know is a sister company of CDbaby. Check these guys out, if you have a second. They really are an invaluable resource for getting indie music out there, and their helpful hints via blog and podcast have motivated me to get MY promotional butt in gear as well.</p>
<p>This year you'll see a lot more content from me, from the newly launched and almost-immediately successful "Mark Shilansky Talking Music Podcast", wherein I discuss music with my friends and colleagues (and which you can download from a page on THIS site, as well as subscribe or download in itunes), to new music from Adrian Sicam and me ("Particles of Change" available to download from CDbaby or itunes), and soon, some video songs available at my youtube channel (shilantheman).Gotta get back to prepping for my Berklee and UNH teaching and doing a couple more podcast interviews today, but be back soon.</p>
<div style="font-size: small;">-mark</div>Mark Shilansky