New tune from Brandon Mezzelo's album in progress

"Bootyquakin" is the only tune on the CD that's not straight-ahead, Brandon Mezzelo says. 

Can Vijay bop?

 

Until cutting-edge pianist Vijay Iyer shows mastery of the tradition, guest blogger Brandon Mezzelo remains a skeptic about him and contemporary “egghead” jazz.

Brandon Mezzelo

About Brandon Mezzelo: After graduating from Parkview High School in Springfield, Mo., Mezzelo served in a U.S. Army band in Germany and Hungary for eight years in the 1990’s. He returned to Springfield, then set off for Hungary about three years ago, where he immersed himself in the Budapest scene, and came back last year. His group, the Triptet, plays an energetic version of mainstream jazz that he calls “soulbop.” The band consists of some of the more accomplished musicians in the region.

Guest post: I have asked Brandon to contribute a piece to this blog in hope of broadening its perspective. Because I am a listener, not a player, I enjoy partaking broadly from the jazz buffet, and I enjoy most of what I consume. Players, having invested a lifetime pursuing a personal vision of the music, often have a much more passionate and defined point of view. [I have addressed Vijay Iyer and this video in a previous post.]

Brandon’s post follows —

Vijay Iyer is arguably the most successful and well-respected jazz musician currently on the scene. Downbeat loves him — he won five awards in the magazine’s 2012 critic’s poll, and he’s on nearly every cover that Esperanza Spalding isn’t.

But as I listened to this recent clip (above) of the next great innovator, I was left feeling quite mystified and unfulfilled. I am not an expert, I wouldn’t claim to have the same level of chops, and I may not have paid my full share of musical dues (which in the modern era refers to numbers of degrees in music and performance you accumulate, not actually paying your dues in a life of playing).

However, the trend of this generation is confusing to me to say the least. In my humble mind, this is not even remotely a solid representation of jazz/swing/bop or any of the things that for me made New York City the great mothership of jazz and soul. I respect this new music for what it is, but I don't see any real genius in it at all. I hear more genius in guys playing much less esoteric music but with far more passion and devotion.

I remember a story from when I was at the Army School of Music. I had to take my final audition to graduate from the program. I was really nervous and not sure what piece to perform. My instructor suggested I go to the library and find a piece that is not often played. This made sense to me. If the judges didn’t know the piece that well, how could they judge it too harshly? They would listen for tone and basic technique, but really it would be over so fast they wouldn't be able to nit-pick me to death over the mistakes.

So I played the piece and took all the liberties that I could come up with, lots of tempo changes (to help me through the hard parts) and lots of physical emotion and gyrating to help sell the performance.

In the end what did I get? A mediocre score for a job half well done.

It’s not that the piece was bad or that my playing was terrible, but with all that messing around, I didn’t show that I had mastered the essentials of the program.

In the same way, I think these “advanced” players would be wise and more interesting if they played some music that we all know and pass their tests in that realm before jumping off the cliff to immortal self-indulged stardom. Can Vijay bop? Can he play a ballad? Isn't that also pretty important in our business of making the jazz?

This cerebral egghead music is cool, for the sake that it is cool. Nobody is up there rehashing “All Blues” or “Blue Bossa” (both excellent tunes by the way). But I will have a lot more respect for these guys when they come out and pay tribute to this great art form in genuine dues-paying style.

Burn it up, play some damn changes that make some sense. Get out “Giant Steps” and “Body and Soul” and show me and the world that you really deserve to be on every damn cover of Downbeat. Until then I remain skeptical that your legacy is really relevant.

Jeff Coffin rescues jazz from egghead doom ...

… at least for me

Jeff Coffin

As always on a Saturday, a lot of music was going on in Springfield, but it was an especially good evening for jazz.

Jeff Coffin joined Missouri State University jazz bands for a free concert after a daylong festival of high school and middle school bands. Coffin adapted his tune, "Dewey," dedicated to Dewey Redman, for big band. It was one of the most uplifting pieces of music I have ever heard, while steering clear of treacle — and also one of the more challenging to listen to.

In a recent post, I lamented the advance of egghead jazz that leaves me cold, and, in another post, I looked forward to Coffin's appearance. His arrival was perfectly timed to relieve my funk.
After the concert with Coffin, we moved on the Creekside Bistro, where Brandon Mezzelo and his Triptet played "All Blues" in a manner that managed to encompass nearly all of Miles Davis's career. We left near the end and heard a hard-swinging tune bursting through the walls into the cold night as we walked to the car.  Over the years, I have enjoyed leaving a club a bit before the very end to experience the music still ringing out — it hadn't ended, it was still going on. And so, it happened again.

At right, Mezzelo from

a performance last fall.