Still a Passing Fad
Jazz keeps on keeping on despite continued predictions of its demise
Tom
Nolan
Photo by William Claxton
Jazz musicians improvise for a living. In L.A.—as in the rest of the country, where fewer and fewer arts patrons seek jazz as a music of first choice—players improvise ways to find work.
Los Angeles has been important to jazz, and vice versa, since the music’s beginnings. New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton, who once claimed to have invented jazz, performed on Watts’ Central Avenue in 1917, and when he died in 1941, he was buried in East L.A.
The first jazz record in California was made for an L.A. label in 1922 by New Orleans trombonist Kid Ory—who 40 years later played the Hollywood Bowl. (I was there.) Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory’s old combo-boss, who headlined the Cotton Club in Culver City in the early ’30s, also starred at the Hollywood Bowl, in ’62. (And I went backstage to get his autograph.) And it was here at the Palomar Ballroom in 1935 that Benny Goodman and his orchestra ushered in the Swing Era, making jazz America’s popular music for a generation.
When I was a kid, jazz was all over town. The biggest names—from Bill Evans to Miles Davis to Archie Shepp—worked at Shelly’s Manne-Hole on Cahuenga in Hollywood, at Donte’s on Lankershim in the Valley and at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach.
In retrospect, that was a golden age—though at the time, purists claimed jazz was in decline, despite (or because of) the fact you could hear it on AM and FM and see it on TV.
Now there are folks who say jazz is all but dead—and statistics seem to bear them out. According to a recent survey, jazz is listened to “often” by only 14 percent of Americans. (Classical didn’t fare much better.)
But if jazz’s audience is in decline, jazz itself seems hardier than ever. You can still find it all over the Southland—you just may have to look a little harder. Clearly visible are the mainstay clubs: Catalina Jazz Club, Charlie O’s, Vitello’s, Spazio.
Farther afield are such venues as Steamers in Fullerton and Cafe 322 in Sierra Madre, the latter a welcoming restaurant and bar where trumpeter Jack Sheldon, foregoing the comedy that has been part of his act for years, has recently been playing some of the best straight-ahead jazz of his career, backed by a superb rambunctious trio.
Once heard, jazz—with its improvisation within a structure, its tension within relaxation, its “sound of surprise”—is hard to give up.
And legends still come to town: May saw the Heath Brothers—“Tootie” and Jimmy—at Spazio. And the bill at this year’s Playboy Jazz Festival mixes international stars such as Chick Corea and Bobby Hutcherson with local luminaries, including the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
And then there are the joints that are disguised as high-culture palaces—Walt Disney Concert Hall, for instance, where in recent weeks and months, jazz artists of the highest caliber have taken part in a number of inventive gigs. Keith Jarrett unfurled an evening of uniquely rhythmic, rhapsodic, romantic pianistic flights, grunting in a manner that might have made the late Glenn Gould envious; singers Dee Dee Bridgewater and Al Jarreau did a night of dual solo concerts; and the West Coast, Left Coast festival hosted a session of that 1950s noble experiment of jazz and poetry, with pianist Jason Moran and writer Michael McClure trading fours and swapping stanzas.
L.A. has long offered more opportunities than most towns for jazz talents to survive. Film studios, especially, have used jazzmen to flavor their soundtracks since the late 1950s, when local talents, including Johnny Mandel and Henry Mancini, scored entire movies and TV shows with jazz.
Pop and rock artists have called on jazz players for half a century to spice up their records and shows. (Legendary Benny Carter was onstage at the Troubadour in 1974 as part of Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight at the Oasis” backup band.)
Such cross-pollination still occurs. Guitarist Nels Cline and his twin brother, Alex, a drummer, hung out at the Manne-Hole and the Lighthouse long before becoming half of Quartet Music in the 1990s. Since then, Nels has joined Wilco, and Alex has worked in academia. But they still play jazz, and each just put out an album on the Culver City label Cryptogramophone.
Once heard or played, jazz—with its expressive improvisation within a structure, its tension within relaxation, its (in the words of the late Whitney Balliett) “sound of surprise”—is hard to give up. “I just think people who do something different and more unbookable need to be able to do what they do,” Alex Cline told the Times’ Chris Barton, “because it’s part of the artistic vitality of not only the community here but the community worldwide.”
Jazz today, as always, is an amalgam of old and new. The longer it lasts, the more history there is to draw on. And young players are adept at blending what’s been said before with their own fresh statements.
A newer generation of musical adventurers doesn’t even need live venues. The San Fernando Valley–raised producer known as Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison)—nephew of the late Alice Coltrane, the harpist-composer widow of sax man John Coltrane—began by handmaking what one commentator dubbed “surrealistic hip-hop” tracks and airing them via YouTube and other new media. He now has an international following, and his latest disc, Cosmogramma, includes an homage to Alice and guest work by F.L.’s cousin, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane.
Jazz today, as always, is an amalgam of old and new. The longer it lasts, the more history there is to draw on.
Even as celestial jazz blends with visionary funk, the new assimilates the old. “With young players today,” says L.A. composer-bandleader-trumpeter Gerald Wilson, “you’ll find the inspiration has come from before them. They’re still playing some of the things the guys played back in the older days.”
Wilson, still creative at 91, is the dean of L.A. jazz. Born in Mississippi and raised in Michigan, he first came to Southern California in 1940 as a trumpet player in the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra. (“The number two band in the world at that time,” he says.) An L.A. resident since ’41, he still gives an audience what they want while staying true to the jazz tradition.
“In our jazz bands, we play a little rock, too,” says Wilson. “We play some rhythm and blues. We’re goin’ up there playin’ music, you know what I mean? It’s all there, together. I listen to the symphony all day long almost—KUSC. The point is, I can learn so much from that. They offer so much for us: Debussy, Ravel—such a wonderful writer—Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, all of those guys.”
Wilson remembers seeing Stravinsky play at the Hollywood Bowl back in the 1950s. “Fabulous music,” he says. “Los Angeles is such a wonderful place to be.”
He himself has performed the Bowl many times and had his own music done by the L.A. Philharmonic. He taught at UCLA for 22 years, in a hall named for L.A. resident Arnold Schoenberg. And he took what he learned from classical music and put it to use in jazz.
“Lookin’ at Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune,’ ” he says, “you’ll find the use of the minor nine and the major nines. Those are chords that are very prevalent in today’s modern music. Of course, today we have gone past that, a lot of us—we’ve gone into the thirteenths, with the augmented eleventh, which gives us a lot of harmony. The old days, they just used what they had: four-part mostly. Today, you get eight-part harmony, nine-part—just move on up the line!”
Like jazz in L.A., Wilson just won’t quit. Last year, with his ensemble of L.A. musicians (some of whom have been with him for 17 years), he recorded Detroit, a six-part original suite in homage to his earlier hometown—several critics named it one of 2009’s best jazz discs.
“I think jazz in L.A. is very healthy,” says Wilson, whose latest project is a work written to feature Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, a variation on a theme by Igor Stravinsky—that other longtime L.A. resident (1940–1969) who, once upon a time, is supposed to have referred to jazz as “a passing fad.”
TOM NOLAN is author of the just published Three Chords for Beauty’s Sake: The Life of Artie Shaw.
Categories: My L.A.
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Mr. Nolan
Thank you for today's article on jazz in L.A. - I enjoyed every word! And thank you for letting people know that America's very own music is alive and doing well here in the Southland
Fran Morris Rosman
Executive Director
The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation
Pacific Palisades,CA
Posted by: Fran Morris Rosman | 06/06/2010 at 12:12 PM
Great article! I don't think that Jazz is a passing fad; it's just seen as outre and out of the mainstream, so not as many people listen to it as they otherwise would. A bit like DubLi, in fact!
Posted by: Nancy Toronovski | 06/07/2010 at 03:36 AM
No mention of the Baked Potato?
The venerable Spud is known the world over as the hang for jazz players and jazz lovers in Los Angeles.
Posted by: david | 06/08/2010 at 08:29 AM
There are great jazz shows every week in LA. I recommend checking out Resonance Records - a local jazz label that is actually a non-profit and supports up-and-coming artists.
Posted by: Tonio | 06/09/2010 at 01:38 PM
Pat Metheny (full disclosure: my cousin) was one of those "jazz artists of the highest caliber" at the Disney Concert Hall in recent months. The venue, he said, is his favorite place to play in the world.
Posted by: David Berkedal | 06/10/2010 at 10:45 AM
As a musician playing this great American music, I appreciate any spotlight on the LA jazz scene. However one cannot write about jazz history in Los Angeles without mentioning the Central Ave jazz scene that rivaled 52nd Street in New York. Or all of the great local legends, like Charlie Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Art Pepper, the great Billy Higgins,Charles Lloyd, Buddy Colette, Chico Hamilton to name a few or the greats like Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Monk, Bud Powell and on and on.
Ornette Coleman's legendary '60's band with Billy Higgins, Charlie Hayden and Don Cherry started out in LA and went to NY and shook up the scene there with their famous stint at The Five Spot.
Legends Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter still continuing to
perform and compose the state of the art today.
No mention of The Wordstage in Leimart Park started by Billy Higgins in his own neighborhood that has drum, vocal/word, jazz ensemble workshops for all ages, performances by some of the best jazz musicians playing around, jam sessions, all going on seven days a week.
Your reveiw of of The left coast performance at Disney Hall omitted that the great pianist, Jason Moran is part of the legendary tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd Quartet that performed that evening, including Reuben Rodgers on bass and Eric Harland on drums. Charles went to USC and started playing with all the other great local legends in the late 50's, early 60's before breaking out on his own. His new rhythm section of young stars are the most sought after musicians on the contemporary jazz scene.
Listening and playing is vital in keeping this music alive, so too preserving the history. Many great players pay homage to the greats by acknowledging that they stand on the shoulders of Giants. Art Blakey referred to Jazz as America's classical music. It is so rich, not only musically but culturally and "the longer it lasts, the more history there is to draw on."
Posted by: john colao | 06/10/2010 at 03:10 PM
How 'bout "The Cat and Fiddle" in No.
Hollywood??
Posted by: Mike | 06/13/2010 at 11:25 AM
I have found so many interesting articles & information on various topics in your blog especially its discussion. I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work. I like your presentation.
Posted by: John Ray | 06/30/2010 at 01:18 AM
Amen to John Colao's comments, except the biggest thing you left out was "Ernie Andrews", the heart and soul of LA. Ernie warrants a story all by himself. He came out of the South LA music fields.
Posted by: john | 06/30/2010 at 09:32 AM
Jazz seems to have declined, but has never faded as a wonderful musical form. It continues to be re-discovered by folks at the most basic level of small clubs and venues. Perhaps the best way for music to be heard!
Posted by: L Anderson | 07/18/2010 at 02:36 AM
This article is so well warranted. Thank you. I've been following Jazz in New York and Europe since the late 50s and the mid 60s in Los Angeles and have watched its slow decline here. Recently I've seen some reconnecting and hopeful that it will regain the respect and success it deserves without first going through a watering-down process which frequently happens.
I would especially love to give kudos to the passion of L.A's own William Grant Still Music & Art Cultural Center and the famed World Stage in Leimert Park, where promotion runs short by those in positions to help these groups advance .....for our electrified up and coming Jazz musicians as well as the over-the-top seasoned ones.
Keeping Jazz LIVE
Dolores Petersen Presents:
Music Promoter
Artists Advocate
Posted by: Dolores Petersen | 07/19/2010 at 03:59 PM
Very nice article, thank you so much for thinking and writing! I am a jazz vocalist, teacher, composer, and producer of shows....I have had a 9 year jam session here in L.A., and I've lived here about 35 years....seen a lot! My friend opened a new venue called The Blue Whale...it's on the edge of Japan Town...you need to check it out. The best in modern jazz is there, and the players really and truly love it. www.bluewhalemusic.com
Thanks again!
Posted by: Cathy Segal-Garcia | 07/20/2010 at 10:28 PM
Great article! But i would have to disagree with jazz being a fad. Not anymore at least
Posted by: las vegas lawyer | 04/23/2012 at 05:03 PM