When saxophonists Kidd Jordan and Fred Anderson, drummer Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker exploded on stages at the University of Massachusetts and Cambridge’s Institute of Technology in 1999, it not only resulted in the stunning release of the two-disc package, 2 Days in April, but also cemented the relationship between these noted artists. The CD took off among creative music listeners and the quartet has been blowing away audiences from New York to Paris, California to Boston ever since.
Though each of these esteemed improvisers have previously performed in New Orleans, usually teaming with our own jazz master Jordan, December 15 marks the group’s debut appearance in the city, produced by the Imaginary No So Mystic Krewe of Eulipions and Spyboy Productions. In a bow to the album, the event became dubbed “One Day in December: A Concert for Universal Peace.” Interestingly, Jordan points out that the show at the Blue Nile is also the collective’s first appearance in the southern latitudes.
“The furthest south we’ve been was Chicago,” says Jordan with a perhaps slightly cynical chuckle. “That’s just the way it is. Maybe we can help build an audience for this music (here). This might be the start of something,” he continues while remarking on the packed houses that welcome improvisational artists around the world and the growth of New York’s Vision Festival that was founded by Parker.
“This is kind of like a Christmas present to the people [of New Orleans],” says Jordan of the date. “They can expect for these musicians to come in and play their life experience.”
The four artists bring their talent, ideas, knowledge and intuitions to the bandstand and begin a musical conversation minus such standard fare as tunes. In fact, on 2 Days in April, the selections aren’t given names but simply designated by their length, i.e. 17:26 minutes.
“We get on the stand and listen to one another and play off of one another,” explains Jordan. “You don’t have to have a song to improvise. We have songs that come through the music. And if you listen close enough, it isn’t as free as you think it is because we’ll be following one another. Life is a song. I’m playing the song of life.”
Jordan’s link with Chicago, where both Anderson and Drake reside, began when he attended Millikin University and studied privately at Chicago’s Northwest University during the 1960s.
“Kidd came looking for me in the ’60s but he couldn’t find me,” says Anderson with a laugh. The two finally hooked up at an AACM concert in Chicago in the mid-1980s. “The first time we met, we played together. We just hit it off,” says Anderson, who owns Chicago’s premier free jazz hot spot, the Velvet Lounge and, coincidentally, is a native of Monroe, Louisiana. “One thing I always admired about Kidd is that he keeps puttin’ it out there,” says Anderson. “His endurance, his knowledge—he knows the music and all of the structure and how to go in and out.”
“They used to call them ‘tenor duels,’ but this is no tenor duel, it’s tenor friendship,” says Jordan of his musical and personal relationship with Anderson. “He plays one way and I play another way, but it just feels so good being up there playing together.”
Each of these musicians is heavy-hitter in the world of creative improvisation. When they collectively unleash their power, as heard on 2 Days in April, the energy of their music encompasses the listener’s physical and emotional perspective.
“They believe in this music,” says Jordan of his musical accomplices, who share his fervor for explorations. “Their whole lives are built around this music—William Parker was playing with [pianist] Cecil Taylor 20 years ago. He’s played with everyone. He goes to Europe like I come to SUNO [Southern University of New Orleans]. And Hamid Drake is a drummer that absorbed a lot of the African things—he played with David [saxophonist David Murray] with all those African bands. When he was younger, he sounded somewhat like Blackwell [drummer Ed Blackwell]. He absorbed a lot of Blackwell’s thing—and Max Roach—and then he put all his stuff into it. Hamid came up under Fred as a young kid—he was at Fred’s house playing with him when he was 12, 13-years-old. They’re committed, this ain’t nothin’ off the top of our heads.”
The success of 2 Days in April and the demand for the quartet reveals wider recognition for this impressive collective and of improvisational music overall.
It appears that even in New Orleans, where traditional and straight-ahead make up the main jazz entrée, creative music is finding eager, open-eared audiences. Spots like the Zeitgeist and now the Blue Nile are filling this too-long void in this city’s offerings. When Jordan teamed with drummer Andrew Cyrille at the Blue Nile last summer, the audience was both impressive and attentive. The club’s comfort and seductive atmosphere paired well with the inner passion of the music.
“We’re there to do an esthetic experience,” Jordan promises.
GIGGIN’
Another gift of the Christmas season in New Orleans is that many musicians get time off from the road and head on home. There’s never a doubt when drummer Herlin Riley, the rhythm-king with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, hits the city limits; he shows up to sit in on gigs all over town—Donna’s, Vaughan’s. On December 26, he’ll take on the position as leader at Snug Harbor, offering up some of his original material and generally cut loose from the rigors.
Joanne Brackeen, one of the most innovative pianists in jazz today, returns to Snug Harbor for a two-night stand on December 28 and 29. Performing primarily as a leader since the 1970s, Brackeen honed her craft in the trenches with hard-core players like Art Blakey (she was the first women Jazz Messenger), Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard and more. Brackeen’s verve and unique approach, physical power and sometimes uncanny sense of composition bring exuberance to every performance. Her album Pink Elephant Magic (Akadia) is just one recording highlight of some 20 releases.