Last night, I went to the Wednesday night jazz concert series at the Sacramento waterfront. I must say that there's nothing so pleasing as a ride down the American River bicycle trail and into Old Sac to see a modern jazz great at a small, open-air venue. Last night, it was the Charlie Hunter trio on hand.
Granted, Charlie Hunter is a phenomenal guitarist of supremely developed skill. However, as I was listening to the music, I noticed something that has nagged at me for some time. That is, I found the music to be rather uninspiring, as if set on cruise control. I kept wondering, as I do often, if someone has imposed a speed limit on jazz? Or for that matter, on a lot of artistic expression of late?
As I listened Charlie Hunter and his gifted drummer and sax player trade off the spotlight, and each wade through a somewhat syrupy display of unemotional playing, I just kept thinking of what it might sound like with Al DiMeola, Sonny Rollins, and Jack DeJohnette up their in place of these three. Not that those jazz legends are even my favorites at their respective instruments. It's just that they always pushed the music.
Am I simply confused because jazz is a misnomer for today's music? Because I see something similar in art, and in language as well. It's as though artistic expression has become an exercise in puzzle assembly, where a palatable end is defined even before the process begins. I mean, 30 years after Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, do we honestly believe that White Stripes--as a reconstitution of both--stands at the front of the current revolution in rock? Or that Joshua Redman and Dave Koz have sparked a new view of the sax in the way that Lance Armstrong has forced other riders to explore new training methods for professional cycling?
I'm not posting this in order to bash anyone. Rather, I just wanted to share my thoughts, and to get some feedback from other members. Perhaps I'm missing something here. Or maybe we're truly seeing the limits of the expansion of the artistic balloon, and are waiting for it to explode once again. For me, it can't come soon enough.
I suspect that these things go in cycles. Early Romanticism was an age of pyrotechnic-think Liszt and Paganinni. In jazz,the boppers-think Gillespie and Parker, pushed technique.
The speed limit is set by the technical ability of the players and how well rehearsed they are. A jazz ensamble will play standards they know faster than new things they are working on.
Much music is,or derives from,dance music and is related to heart beat speeds.
Check out Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - no "speed limit", lots of soul, but they sometimes push the limit to the point where its hard to call it "music".
I've seen C.Hunter really push himself and the music, but I've also experienced the "cruise control" syndrome, as you put it. He plays a ton of shows, I guess you just have to catch the right one when he's "feelin it".
I would imagine they would be OK with taping the show. I have been to the Jazz House a bunch of times and have asked permission of the band each time to tape the show and they have always said OK.
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