Professor Ife made a short speech, and duly handed Wynton Marsalis an honorary fellowship of the school.
But Marsalis, in his keynote speech of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s Barbican residency, was keen to acknowledge a higher power. “Drummers,” he said, have the “final authority” on time in a jazz ensemble. The drummer is the “referee” Americans use the word referee to signal respect (Now wouldn’t that be a nice idea to import?)
Marsalis talks about responsibilities rather than rights, about selfless behaviour, about leaving space, about not playing too loud, about making sacrifices. In a word, about civility. The ultimate hero in jazz, then, is that powerful understated presence, guitarist Freddy Green.
Marsalis made his point by describing what happens when the assertion of rights crowds out all sense of responsibility. He entertained a friendly Barbican audience with a vision: the jam session straight out of all of our nightmares: where all of the rhythm section players arrive early to set up monitors and amps which they can crank up to drown the others; where every horn player insists on playing more mind-numbing choruses than the previous player; where each tune lasts a minimum of 53 minutes….
Marsalis then brought the talk to a close by drawing the parallel. The right etiquette of the bandstand is the right way to live life.
From where I was sitting, with a group of Guildhall School jazz students in the row behind me, it was heartening to hear that model of collective leadership and collective responsibility being instilled. The models of cultural leadership which thought-leaders in the UK such as John Holden and Robert Hewison are currently proposing based on their work with the Royal Shakespeare Company do not have anything of the simplicity, directness or communicability of these down-home and basic truths emerging from jazz.
I found it fitting that softly spoken drummer Ali Jackson should have the last word.
“Once you get to the age of 20 you know whether you can play or whether you can’t: our music is about listening, it’s about how well you listen.”
Hear, hear.
Categories: miscellaneous
I enjoyed this too: ‘the bandstand as a metaphor for modern times'- it is clear his belief in the democratic model of a jazz band crosses into the political!
The jam session desciption was good too, painfully familiar in fact. He didn't however offer any solutions for if you're the 8th horn player in the line!
I found Ali Jackson's comments particularly interesting given that on Saturday night at the Vortex he behaved in completely the opposite manner, completely drowning out the house pianist. Of course as soon as Wynton walked in the door his behaviour was checked and everything returned to an almost overly-studied tasteful listening atmosphere.
I also liked: 'We musicians worry about being replaced by machines. A computer beat Kasparov. Well, you can't teach a machine how to swing.'