Hi Bret. Worth noting that after this review appeared in DB, my friend Don DeMicheal (that is the correct spelling)—imo the best editor the magazine ever had—invited Coltrane and Dolphy to respond to Tynan and his ilk, which they did quite eloquently. Here’s the link:
Thank you so much for this post. i will be reading a few more times and saving it in collected notes. So many valuable thoughts. Peace, Love and Aloha.
Philip Larkin, a renowned English poet, was known for his love of traditional jazz, particularly the styles popular before the 1940s. However, his views on avant-garde jazz were generally critical, reflecting a broader dislike for modernism in the arts.
In his collection of jazz writings, All What Jazz: A Record Diary, Larkin expressed his disdain for musicians like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, considering their work a departure from what he deemed "proper jazz".
I came across Larkin in a shop specializing in cut-out and resale books (including lots of review copies of good stuff). His attitude really turned me off.
Tynan,”heard the future and he recoiled”. And that says it all for me. Now what am i going to do with the future? Thank you as always Bret for a beautifully poignant article.
Not everyone "got" what these musical giants were doing, at least not right away. Growing up in WV, I started listening in the mid-''50s on late night AM radio a year or two before high school. Basie, Kenton, but also Clifford. I loved My Favorite Things and the LPs soon after that, but it took me decades for my musical ears to get past the bands after McCoy split. Going on 84, those ears are still growing.
One night I had a late dinner after Diva's set at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase with their manager and angel, Stanley Kay, who had been Buddy Rich's second drummer (he'd play when Buddy was doing other stuff, like dancing). Stanley told me he never got Trane, even the wonderful '50s stuff. This would probably have been late '90s, early '00s.
This...and the reviews of Meditations by Feather and Hentoff. Was it Nat who championed the recording? It's too early for this. I just had my coffee. It was something else being aware and alive in the 1960s.
I listened to Meditations incessantly! I was especially touched by the moment in McCoy's solo when he and Elvin hit this groove and sustain it until Trane returns to play a passage that brings to mind an Egyptian queen processing down a vast platform bordered by huge columns! How's that for an image? Archetypes!
There is another version of Meditations, another take of Ascension, etc etc What protean creative power! Of course you know this. You seem to know everything.
Hi Bret. Worth noting that after this review appeared in DB, my friend Don DeMicheal (that is the correct spelling)—imo the best editor the magazine ever had—invited Coltrane and Dolphy to respond to Tynan and his ilk, which they did quite eloquently. Here’s the link:
https://downbeat.com/microsites/prestige/dolphy-interview.html
Thanks for that link!
Thank you so much for this post. i will be reading a few more times and saving it in collected notes. So many valuable thoughts. Peace, Love and Aloha.
Philip Larkin, a renowned English poet, was known for his love of traditional jazz, particularly the styles popular before the 1940s. However, his views on avant-garde jazz were generally critical, reflecting a broader dislike for modernism in the arts.
In his collection of jazz writings, All What Jazz: A Record Diary, Larkin expressed his disdain for musicians like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, considering their work a departure from what he deemed "proper jazz".
The words proper and jazz should not be in the same sentence.
I came across Larkin in a shop specializing in cut-out and resale books (including lots of review copies of good stuff). His attitude really turned me off.
The word for that is Moldy Fig
Shout out to everyone in this conversation, what a joy!!
Tynan,”heard the future and he recoiled”. And that says it all for me. Now what am i going to do with the future? Thank you as always Bret for a beautifully poignant article.
Not everyone "got" what these musical giants were doing, at least not right away. Growing up in WV, I started listening in the mid-''50s on late night AM radio a year or two before high school. Basie, Kenton, but also Clifford. I loved My Favorite Things and the LPs soon after that, but it took me decades for my musical ears to get past the bands after McCoy split. Going on 84, those ears are still growing.
One night I had a late dinner after Diva's set at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase with their manager and angel, Stanley Kay, who had been Buddy Rich's second drummer (he'd play when Buddy was doing other stuff, like dancing). Stanley told me he never got Trane, even the wonderful '50s stuff. This would probably have been late '90s, early '00s.
When someone applies a label, the label is often a projection of the labeler. In this case, I like to think of Tynan's criticism as Anti-Jazz.
This...and the reviews of Meditations by Feather and Hentoff. Was it Nat who championed the recording? It's too early for this. I just had my coffee. It was something else being aware and alive in the 1960s.
Meditations is one of my favorite Coltrane recordings.
I listened to Meditations incessantly! I was especially touched by the moment in McCoy's solo when he and Elvin hit this groove and sustain it until Trane returns to play a passage that brings to mind an Egyptian queen processing down a vast platform bordered by huge columns! How's that for an image? Archetypes!
There is another version of Meditations, another take of Ascension, etc etc What protean creative power! Of course you know this. You seem to know everything.