Gil Evans at 100

Gil Evans (May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988)





See also "An Introduction to Kind of Blue"

Gil Evans (May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988)





See also "An Introduction to Kind of Blue"

Art, Music & Poetry

[The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso]


The Man with the Blue Guitar


I

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.

They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."

The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."

And they said then, "But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,

A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are."

[The Blue Guitar by Edward Reep]

II

I cannot bring a world quite round,
Although I patch it as I can.

I sing a hero's head, large eye
And bearded bronze, but not a man,

Although I patch him as I can
And reach through him almost to man.

If to serenade almost to man
Is to miss, by that, things as they are,

Say it is the serenade
Of a man that plays a blue guitar.

[Guitar, Woman, Snake by Bill Lewis]

III

Ah, but to play man number one,
To drive the dagger in his heart,

To lay his brain upon the board
And pick the acrid colors out,

To nail his thought across the door,
Its wings spread wide to rain and snow,

To strike his living hi and ho,
To tick it, tock it, turn it true,

To bang from it a savage blue,
Jangling the metal of the strings�


[More excerpts from this long poem by Wallace Stevens here. You can also listen to a special BBC3 Radio program dedicated to this poem and its music here]

[The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso]


The Man with the Blue Guitar


I

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.

They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."

The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."

And they said then, "But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,

A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are."

[The Blue Guitar by Edward Reep]

II

I cannot bring a world quite round,
Although I patch it as I can.

I sing a hero's head, large eye
And bearded bronze, but not a man,

Although I patch him as I can
And reach through him almost to man.

If to serenade almost to man
Is to miss, by that, things as they are,

Say it is the serenade
Of a man that plays a blue guitar.

[Guitar, Woman, Snake by Bill Lewis]

III

Ah, but to play man number one,
To drive the dagger in his heart,

To lay his brain upon the board
And pick the acrid colors out,

To nail his thought across the door,
Its wings spread wide to rain and snow,

To strike his living hi and ho,
To tick it, tock it, turn it true,

To bang from it a savage blue,
Jangling the metal of the strings�


[More excerpts from this long poem by Wallace Stevens here. You can also listen to a special BBC3 Radio program dedicated to this poem and its music here]

Just Poetry XL

BLUE

Best
is for sorting out
in all this mess
of values and principles
which serves best the art
of divination

Linear
is for finding out
in all these formulas
the line of reasoning
that suits the purpose
of ordering life

Unbiased
is for sobering out
all these theories
to put a roof over the head
food in the mouth
and education
on the mind
of a child

Estimator
is for something
in econometrics
that turns out
to be kind
of BLUE


© K.

BLUE

Best
is for sorting out
in all this mess
of values and principles
which serves best the art
of divination

Linear
is for finding out
in all these formulas
the line of reasoning
that suits the purpose
of ordering life

Unbiased
is for sobering out
all these theories
to put a roof over the head
food in the mouth
and education
on the mind
of a child

Estimator
is for something
in econometrics
that turns out
to be kind
of BLUE


© K.

CELEBRATING MILES & COLTRANE

KIND OF BLUE



&
GIANT STEPS



50TH ANNIVERSARY

{Read more here}

KIND OF BLUE



&
GIANT STEPS



50TH ANNIVERSARY

{Read more here}

BACK IN MADIBALAND

I've just arrived and will be based down here for a while, working on something that will make my blogging a bit less regular.
But I'll try to keep you posted as and whenever I can.

[I'm playing Masekela's Abangoma here because that's to me what best encapsulates the spirit of the land at the moment, but my next door neighbour is actually playing Miles and Coltrane on Kind of Blue, which is only appropriate because I can hear Coltrane in Abangoma...]

I've just arrived and will be based down here for a while, working on something that will make my blogging a bit less regular.
But I'll try to keep you posted as and whenever I can.

[I'm playing Masekela's Abangoma here because that's to me what best encapsulates the spirit of the land at the moment, but my next door neighbour is actually playing Miles and Coltrane on Kind of Blue, which is only appropriate because I can hear Coltrane in Abangoma...]

AN INTRODUCTION TO “KIND OF BLUE”*

{by Bill Evans}


(So What)


There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere. The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and texture of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who see it will find something captured that escapes explanation. This conviction that direct deed is the most meaningful reflection, I believe, has prompted the evolution of the extremely severe and unique disciplines of the jazz or improvising musician.
Group improvisation is a further challenge. Aside from the weighty technical problem of collective coherent thinking, there is the very human, even social need for sympathy from all members to bend for the common result. This most difficult problem, I think, is beautifully met and solved in this recording. As the painter needs his framework of parchment, the improvising musical group needs its framework in time. Miles Davis presents here frameworks which are exquisite in their simplicity and yet contain all that is necessary to stimulate performance with a sure reference to the primary conception.

Miles conceived these settings only hours before the recording dates and arrived with sketches which indicated to the group what was to be played. Therefore, you will hear something close to pure spontaneity in these performances. The group had never played these pieces prior to the recordings and I think without exception the first complete performance of each was a “take”. Although it is not uncommon for a jazz musician to be expected to improvise on new material at a recording session, the character of these pieces represents a particular challenge.

Briefly, the formal character of the five settings are:
“So What” is a simple figure based on 16 measures of one scale, 8 of another and 8 more of the first, following a piano and bass introduction in free rhythmic style. “Freddie Freeloader” is a 12-measure blues form given new personality by effective melodic and rhythmic simplicity. “Blue in Green”** is a 10-measure circular form following a 4-measure introduction, and played by soloists in various augmentation and diminution of time values. “All Blues”** is a 6/812-measure blues form that produces its mood through only a few modal changes and Miles Davis’ free melodic conception. “Flamenco Sketches” (two takes)** is a series of five scales, each to be played as long as the soloist wishes until he has completed the series.

(Freddie Freeloader)

* More than a milestone in jazz, Kind of Blue is a defining moment of twentieth century music, one of those incredibly rare works of art that achieve equal popularity among musicians, critics, and the public at large. The rest of us might tend to agree with Jimmy Cobb, the drummer on the album, who commented of Kind of Blue that it “must have been made in heaven.” Don’t we all enjoy a taste of heaven now and then? (…) Here, for the first time, is Kind of Blue complete, sounding big and rich and true to life and right on key. If you’re going to heaven, might as well go first-class all the way. (From the presentation of the 1997 re-issue of Kind of Blue).

** Played before in this blog.

All compositions by Miles Davis (Trumpet). Featuring: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (Alto Saxophone, except 'Blue in Green'), Paul Chambers (Bass), James Cobb (Drums), John Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone), Bill Evans (Piano), Wynton Kelly (Piano, 'Freddie Freeloader'). Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City on March 2, 1959 (#1-3) and April 22, 1959 (#4,5,6).

© 1997 Sony Music Entertainment Inc./Columbia.

{by Bill Evans}


(So What)


There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere. The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and texture of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who see it will find something captured that escapes explanation. This conviction that direct deed is the most meaningful reflection, I believe, has prompted the evolution of the extremely severe and unique disciplines of the jazz or improvising musician.
Group improvisation is a further challenge. Aside from the weighty technical problem of collective coherent thinking, there is the very human, even social need for sympathy from all members to bend for the common result. This most difficult problem, I think, is beautifully met and solved in this recording. As the painter needs his framework of parchment, the improvising musical group needs its framework in time. Miles Davis presents here frameworks which are exquisite in their simplicity and yet contain all that is necessary to stimulate performance with a sure reference to the primary conception.

Miles conceived these settings only hours before the recording dates and arrived with sketches which indicated to the group what was to be played. Therefore, you will hear something close to pure spontaneity in these performances. The group had never played these pieces prior to the recordings and I think without exception the first complete performance of each was a “take”. Although it is not uncommon for a jazz musician to be expected to improvise on new material at a recording session, the character of these pieces represents a particular challenge.

Briefly, the formal character of the five settings are:
“So What” is a simple figure based on 16 measures of one scale, 8 of another and 8 more of the first, following a piano and bass introduction in free rhythmic style. “Freddie Freeloader” is a 12-measure blues form given new personality by effective melodic and rhythmic simplicity. “Blue in Green”** is a 10-measure circular form following a 4-measure introduction, and played by soloists in various augmentation and diminution of time values. “All Blues”** is a 6/812-measure blues form that produces its mood through only a few modal changes and Miles Davis’ free melodic conception. “Flamenco Sketches” (two takes)** is a series of five scales, each to be played as long as the soloist wishes until he has completed the series.

(Freddie Freeloader)

* More than a milestone in jazz, Kind of Blue is a defining moment of twentieth century music, one of those incredibly rare works of art that achieve equal popularity among musicians, critics, and the public at large. The rest of us might tend to agree with Jimmy Cobb, the drummer on the album, who commented of Kind of Blue that it “must have been made in heaven.” Don’t we all enjoy a taste of heaven now and then? (…) Here, for the first time, is Kind of Blue complete, sounding big and rich and true to life and right on key. If you’re going to heaven, might as well go first-class all the way. (From the presentation of the 1997 re-issue of Kind of Blue).

** Played before in this blog.

All compositions by Miles Davis (Trumpet). Featuring: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (Alto Saxophone, except 'Blue in Green'), Paul Chambers (Bass), James Cobb (Drums), John Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone), Bill Evans (Piano), Wynton Kelly (Piano, 'Freddie Freeloader'). Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City on March 2, 1959 (#1-3) and April 22, 1959 (#4,5,6).

© 1997 Sony Music Entertainment Inc./Columbia.

REVISITING SOUTH AFRICA (III): “SHACK CHIC”

I already had the ‘coffee table’ book for a few years, but this time decided to buy (with this post in mind) the postcard set made out of it, in Cape Town.

Here’s how it is presented by its editors*: “This book is a documentary on the lives of ‘previously disadvantaged’ but presently overcoming individuals. It is about the dignity to be found in the dusty streets of South Africa’s shack-lands. While these people obviously don’t take pleasure in the poverty they live in, they stand proud in the face of it. These are people who are doing the best they can with the little they have and, in the process, coming up with something aesthetically unique and fresh to offer the world. This is creativity and ingenuity. This is Shack Chic.”

Yet, for some reason, I can't get 'round this question: is “Shack Chic” really about

CELEBRATING CREATIVITY OR GLAMOURISING POVERTY?

***

“victory: to build a shack and call it home”

“houses are built on foundations and walls and roof. homes are built with things much deeper and less concrete”

“temples are never built in one day. but mine, this shack, was built in half a day”



“there is something sensual about the rattle of rain on a corrugated roof”

“after the rain, earth, as whiff, comes knocking on my fragile door. earth as fragrance embracing the musk and unmasking the undressed breath of another night of tender love making under the naughty stars peeping through the transparency of a revealing plastic roof”



“on that chair there, we conceived Sipho the gift. that was before the bed and a job from Airflex Recliners (Pty) Ltd”


“jesus was not born here but sometimes he comes in through the little holes in the walls and sits on that chair”


“there are many ways to make music. sometimes it is a deep blue against the wall, a bright yellow against fear, another red to tribute imagination, hopefully an orange to earth bad vibes and my black voice saying my life is beautiful”



“these walls, thin as membranes, keep nothing outside. they are here to keep our beauty inside, away from that solitude out there”


“the tentacles of despair are challenged by the soft touches of eternal determination. many times between void and void it is only us testifying to creative essence as hope.”


Photography by Craig Fraser
Poetry by Sandile Dikeni

*Quivertree Publications, Cape Town, South Africa (2002)

ADENDA: Pela sua relevancia nao so' para o tema deste post, mas tambem para algumas discussoes aqui tidas, decidi colocar aqui em anexo este artigo publicado esta semana no jornal Capetoniano 'Cape Times'.

I already had the ‘coffee table’ book for a few years, but this time decided to buy (with this post in mind) the postcard set made out of it, in Cape Town.

Here’s how it is presented by its editors*: “This book is a documentary on the lives of ‘previously disadvantaged’ but presently overcoming individuals. It is about the dignity to be found in the dusty streets of South Africa’s shack-lands. While these people obviously don’t take pleasure in the poverty they live in, they stand proud in the face of it. These are people who are doing the best they can with the little they have and, in the process, coming up with something aesthetically unique and fresh to offer the world. This is creativity and ingenuity. This is Shack Chic.”

Yet, for some reason, I can't get 'round this question: is “Shack Chic” really about

CELEBRATING CREATIVITY OR GLAMOURISING POVERTY?

***

“victory: to build a shack and call it home”

“houses are built on foundations and walls and roof. homes are built with things much deeper and less concrete”

“temples are never built in one day. but mine, this shack, was built in half a day”



“there is something sensual about the rattle of rain on a corrugated roof”

“after the rain, earth, as whiff, comes knocking on my fragile door. earth as fragrance embracing the musk and unmasking the undressed breath of another night of tender love making under the naughty stars peeping through the transparency of a revealing plastic roof”



“on that chair there, we conceived Sipho the gift. that was before the bed and a job from Airflex Recliners (Pty) Ltd”


“jesus was not born here but sometimes he comes in through the little holes in the walls and sits on that chair”


“there are many ways to make music. sometimes it is a deep blue against the wall, a bright yellow against fear, another red to tribute imagination, hopefully an orange to earth bad vibes and my black voice saying my life is beautiful”



“these walls, thin as membranes, keep nothing outside. they are here to keep our beauty inside, away from that solitude out there”


“the tentacles of despair are challenged by the soft touches of eternal determination. many times between void and void it is only us testifying to creative essence as hope.”


Photography by Craig Fraser
Poetry by Sandile Dikeni

*Quivertree Publications, Cape Town, South Africa (2002)

ADENDA: Pela sua relevancia nao so' para o tema deste post, mas tambem para algumas discussoes aqui tidas, decidi colocar aqui em anexo este artigo publicado esta semana no jornal Capetoniano 'Cape Times'.