Good day, eh?
by Cripsy Duck 3-29-01
(printed in C-VILLE Vol.13, No. 14)
A GREAT DAY IN C'VILLE-- JAZZ FROM THE PIEDMONT
-VARIOUS ARTISTS
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"Ow!"
"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" "....ow!" I don't get it. I'm barely touching the lesbian pornographers piled up in my bed--the same lesbian pornographers who followed me home from the spy convention last night and then proceeded to work me into a bruised pile of worthless moldy jello. How could I possibly hurt these two superheroes? But they seem to be trying to tell me something.... "Mee.... OW!!!" It's my cat. He's standing on my chest crying at me. "Jesus Christ, Satchmo!" I exclaim, rolling over and out of my happily delusional slumber. I'm back in Charlottesville after a week visiting my mom's deluxe new Florida pad. Talk about curing what ails you. Florida-- despite voter controversy and a rampant and ubiquitously ugly brand of permanent tourism-- is nice. Ridiculously, oppressively nice. So nice, it almost kind of pisses you off. Right now, Charlottesville is not so nice. It's cold and raining, and... holy crap! Is it Thursday? Good Lord, my column was due two days ago. "Thanks for getting me up, Satch." The cat goes back to sleep. I fire up the laptop and peruse my pile of material. Since I didn't see any shows last week, this column's gonna have to be about CDs. So let's see what we've got here. Shannon Mier's disc? --nah, too amature-- I'm pretty sure I wrote all these tunes in junior high myself. Some of these Plantary releases they sent me? Nah-- too adult americana and I am so over the everbody-strum-along brand of countrification that seems to permeate every last nook of the modern musical landscape around here. The South lost. Shut up already. Lessee here... wait a minute. A Great Day in C'Ville-- Jazz from the Piedmont. Perfect. WTJU's jazz compilation is a refreshing look at our relatively convoluted backwoods/barroom floor jazz community, containing stuff ranging from heavy-duty traditional blowing to fusion to latin to limp retro crap. But all-in-all, it's a great sampler of some inspiring local jazz and related forms in action-- a bunch of music whose regional survival is somewhat amazing to begin with. When it comes to building a musical career-- finding an appropriately engaged fanbase, marketing one's work, etc.-- this town is really not very good for most music. There's a relatively blas∞ attitude toward original stuff locally except in unusual pockets like the goth/punk scene or the grungy old-time scene. Jazz is certainly chief among the outcasts. Charlottesville is just too far away from the major jazz markets-- large cities and especially New York-- where the artform retains more of its natural relevance. In New York, a horn combo bopping in the window is the idiom. You need that there. Charlottesville is a little more suited to solo guitarists playing Cat Stevens covers. It's the nature of the beast. But many great artists find Virginia irresistable and determine to eek it out here regardless. That's why, after decades in residence, we still have people like Robert Jospé and John D'earth living here-- guys who have no problem putting together world-class ensembles in the blink of an eye. These artists are part of what makes the "high-end" of the local music market swing so hard. They also give us something to aspire to. So it is appropriate that WTJU, Charlottesville radio's lasting testament to the value of a varied and interesting musical tapestry, chose to put together a CD honoring a number of these talented-- if regionally impaired-- artists. If you like jazz, you will definitely enjoy this disc, as it spends a good amount of time delving into the neo-traditional works of people who regularly gig around here like Jeff Decker, George Turner, John D'earth and the Red Hot Smoothies. All provide killer tracks. Robert Josp∞ plays drums on about half the record (sheer joy in a world-beat-infused, educated and mature jazz drummer) as well as contributing a track with his own latin-tinged project Inner Rhythm. Former Henry Mancini sideman Royce Campbell is found spinning guitar on a couple numbers. Famed bop pianist Hod O'Brien is heard on a few, too. Even the award-winning tenor saxman Michael Brecker (not a resident) blows on a track. Greg Howard contributes two fusion cuts-- one with Code Magenta, (featuring Dawn Thompson and Dave Matthews' saxman Leroi Moore) and another with his own band. Carrying the mantle for the "future-jazz" vibes he helped cultivate back when Tim Reynolds still held court locally with his (Robert Jospé fueled) TR3, Howard and company's is a sound I think of as particularly "Charlottesville"-- a funky world-beat laden high-brow new art form passing for ambient jazz. New bluesman Corey Harris also contributes a tune with the assistance of henchman and veteran New Orleans pianist Henry Butler-- his sublime and quizzical "Mulberry Row," written after a visit to the Monticello slave quarters of the same name. Perhaps Harris' most potent political statement to date, "Mulberry Row" dances around Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings, pondering the tribulation of their offspring, and summing up what makes Harris one of the most important bluesmen of his generation. Altogether, the disc is a happy romp, although I feel something has been ommitted (Rene Marie and Michael Sokolowski, for starters) and I have to wonder about the inclusion of Big Ray and the Kool Kats, who are obviously into it more for the suits than the music with their "Swing Lite" low-calorie alternative to the great bands of the '30's and '40's. But the disc itself is a definite score and will hopefully find its way into your rotation. A Great Day In C'Ville indeed.
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