JOTTINGS FOR JOHN

guitarist Jim Hall, upon presenting the NEA Jazz Masters Advocate Award to manager John Levy quipped that he never expected to see his son-in-law as “older than me.” Levy, who passed January 20 at his Altadina, CA home, was married to Hall’s daughter Devra. Levy planned to celebrate his century mark in 2012. i was at his 90th which was celebrated at Carnegie Hall.

Levy’s was a tall, slender but strong presence. he was never demonstrative as well he might have been. think of his stable of clients –he never called them that– among them Joe Williams, Ramsey Lewis, Arsenio Hall and most prominently my friend Nancy Wilson. [find a more complete list on the AP website.] “i never had but one manager from the get go,” Wilson told me. “and we never had a contract.” John Levy found her working as a secretary and hand-guided her to multifarious stardom. Nancy’s first recording was with Levy clients, Cannonball and Nat Adderley. thence with another, George Shearing. John was the bassist in the original Shearing Quintet. Shearing became the first in the John Levy Enterprises house. Nancy remained his longest and most loyal friend.

all of John’s clients were his friends. he would sooner set them free rather than harm them. if he thought he could no longer serve their purposes, they were gone. no regrets. friendship retained. if there was balance due, forgiven.

the tall black man with the very Jewish name quietly broke through as manager when black people did not –could not– do such things, i.e., show biz manage. his hip coolness was infectious. there wasn’t a trip i made to the west coast where i did not at least make the phone call. it was such an honor to talk jazz with him. he was, after all, living history.

Nancy had drifted away from pure jazz, i always believed John facilitated that for broader exposure although Nancy said it was her idea. she made disco and r&b recordings as did such colleagues as Lou Rawls and Al Jarreau. they all had their share of juke hits. but Nancy, ever restless, was ready for a maturity turn; she chose to return to her roots.

it was on one of those California sojourns in the late ’70s that Nancy invited me to lunch, and would i drive her to the airport later, please? while at her home we did a conference call with John. seems John wanted Nancy to hear from another –shall we say street-wise?– friend about her acceptance getting back into the jazz mileau. was it too late? was her rep damaged from the pop stuff? but instead of asking me straight out John asked me as encouragement to suggest tunes for Nancy to put on a potential new jazz album. sensing that this was to be another John Levy resurrection i obliged perhaps a bit too over zealously running off a string of jazz-composed or related songs and blues which would fit Nancy’s innumerable depths.

John took the ball and ran with it. the two of them developed a rhythm section –drummer Roy McCurdy whom she had met with Cannon, remained– tours were scheduled and thankfully she never looked back reaching new heights of popularity. think the Bill Cosby television show. such was the guidance of John Levy.

others were beneficiaries of his friendship and largess. Joe Williams, a powerful blues shouter, wished to become a “household face.” John made it so with ballad recordings and an offbeat opera(!) based on the life of legendary John Henry called Big Man.

at a NARAS pre-Grammy cocktail reception for their Studio MVP Awards there sat John with his old rhythm section buddy from the Shearing groups. harmonicat Toots Thielemans, who was a guitarist with Shearing, later a whistler too, saw me with my camera, clasped John about the shoulders shouting, “Arnold. look! a reunion.” i clicked. it ran in Billboard and remains among my fav photos.

- © arnold jay smith
January 2012

THE NAYSAYERS DON’T SEEM TO BE PAYING ATTENTION.

as i was saying, Latin Jazz is not an opinion, nor a subtext. the self-absorbed commercial –that used to be a dirty word among jazz people– elements of NARAS which oversees the Grammys have seen fit to unilaterally toss the category onto the junk heap. in reality the real junk heap are many of the remaining ones. the Jazz Journalists Association has also unceremoniously eliminated the category but for different reasons.

when i was a stringer for Billboard we jocularly posted the nonsensical expression, “it ain’t art if it don’t sell.” that was bullshit then and it remain as such.

two knowledgeable and respected colleagues, educator, author, founder and President of the JJA, and my former editor at down beat, Howard Mandel, and drummer, educator, arranger, bandleader and Latin Jazz historian and authority Bobby Sanabria, have weighed in on the subject. i have excerpted their opinions, both personal and public, for this forum. i admit that as a moderator i do not stand a firm line of demarcation as i favor Latin Jazz as a movement and a viable and distinct musical expression.

JAZZ JOURNALISTS ASSOCIAION

first this from Mandel, who in response to an email query as to why the category was removed, felt that i was “fishing.” admittedly Mandel said that he has written several personal letters on the subject. he suggested that i was looking for him to come up with a defense of the JJA’s decision. damn straight!

herewith with inserted comments is Mandel’s official statement, or as he calls it “verbiage for your blog.”

“the Jazz Journalists Association ballot committee” (who dey?) “suspended the category of Latin Jazz in 2009. the decision was made on the basis of the difficulty defining what is ‘Latin Jazz,’ the numerous nominations of musicians who might be thought of as playing Latin Jazz in categories that does not segregate them from musicians playing in other styles of jazz, and the fact that there were no other categories for specific styles.” (see my last post.)

that is insulting to all of us who call ourselves jazz journalists. doesn’t Pres Howard have enough faith in us to decide which recordings are and which are not Latin Jazz? how about Eliane Elias who won sometime ago in the Latin Jazz category allegedly eliciting a response laughingly from her that there was no latin music on the recording. then shame on us not the category. we should have known that and voted accordingly. don’t tell Sanabria, Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, Irakere alumni Paquito D’Rivera, Chucho Valdes and Arturo Sandoval, the Sanchezes, Pancho and Davíd (not related), Andy and Gerry Gonzales (brothers), and so many others, that what they play isn’t Latin Jazz. how about national and local radio shows called variously “Latin Jazz…[Fill in the Blank]” such as WBGO’s popular syndicated “Latin Jazz Cruise”? then there is the “Latin Side of…Coltrane, Monk, Ellington” played and/or arranged by scores of musicians. Ellington loved to write latin-ed tunes. check out Jimmy Owens’ new “Monk Project” where on “Well You Needn’t” Owens and Kenny Barron are in 4/4 while Winard Harper is all over son montuno rhythm.

almost as apologia Mandel goes on, “the JJA has frequently featured musicians playing something akin to Latin Jazz in (our) Jazz Awards programs” (what the hell means “akin to”? it is or it isn’t; we voters decide that. it’s up to us to fuck it up!) Mandel goes on to say that some of those musicians have even received Jazz Awards. (N.B.: i was honored to have presented one such to Sanabria in 2011 as best percussionist.)

i think the elimination of the category was ill-informed and needs to be redressed. JJA is about education, after all, even if that means, to misquote Shakespeare, the problem, dear JJA, lies not on the stars (pun intended) but just maybe in ourselves.

BOBBY SANABRIA, ET AL VS. NARAS

Sanabria has either been too busy or otherwise incommunicado on the subject. you may logon to his timeline on the matter of NARAS dropping the Latin Jazz category.
Bobby Sanabria Bobby Sanabria – Grammy Debacle Timeline…

the final judgmental body is us. do we agree with Howard Mandel & the JJA, and NARAS, who is the 800# gorilla, or do we side with Sanabria’s not-very-enthusiastic litigious team and just continue to passionately rail Don Quixote-like? i’m into being the thorn in the gorilla’s foot. your thoughts?

- © arnold jay smith
January 2012



NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION…

the 2012 Grammy Awards is the first one to eliminate many categories, the most prominent being Latin Jazz. there are those who argue that Latin Jazz is not a separate genre but a substratum of other music. why not then, they suggest, a category for bebop, or swing, or Dixieland. the answer is simple: trad-jazz, i.e. Dixieland, or New Orleans jazz, Swing, Chicago-style, Kansas City and bebop are cogs in the evolution of contemporary, or modern jazz.

IN THE BEGINNING

Latin Jazz evolved uniquely and independently from Spanish influences in that great multi-cultural gumbo that is New Orleans combining with the African Negro diaspora. Scott Joplin used the habañera in his “Solace” in the 19th century; Jelly Roll Morton called his fusion “the Spanish Tinge” in the early 20th; the original rhythm of W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” was, you guessed it, the habañera. it all seems to have emanated from Georges Bizet who called a selection from his opera Carmen “The Habañera.” the rhythm eventually became the basis for the tango.

let’s get back to that diaspora thing. all African slave ships did not land en masse in one place. some were sent to Argentina, where the music fused and became the tango. others went to Colombia where it became cumbia. in Brasil, the samba, then bossa nova. the Dominican Republic gave us the merenge. yes, i know i’m over simplifying.

the most important landings were in the Caribbean where it eventually became reggae and, most importantly in Cuba where African-Latin percussion fusion was born. but why and when did this jazz combine with Afro-Latin music? to my mind the West-supported Batiste dictatorship in Cuba and the entertainment Mecca that it became encouraged jazz bands to play there. remember, jazz was the popular music of this country right through the Swing era. Al Capone was a big trad jazz fan and his successors –there is no such thing as the Mafia, right?– loved to use Cuba as their playground, if you believe what you read and see in the movies and on television.

flash ahead to 52nd St. in the late ’40s & ’50s. the original Birdland was on Broadway near the corner of W. 52nd with its sign reading “Through these portals pass the most.” one block north was the legendary Palladium Ballroom featuring Latin dance bands with names like Tito Puente, Machito, Jose Curbello, both Tito & Arsenio Rodriguez (not related), Eddie & Charlie Palmieri (brothers), Chico O’Farrill, Perez Prado. during set breaks the jazzers from Birdland would walk the block to hear what this rhythm was all about. (according to Dizzy Gillespie most jazz players couldn’t figure out where “one” was.) the dancers were inventing “breaks” and wanted something more so the bandleaders went down the stairs to Birdland to hear what the improvisers were saying. love at first phrase!

LATIN-JAZZ MISCEGENATION

marriages are hastiy arranged (pun intended). Machito records with jazz musicians such as Charlie Parker. O’Farrill writes for Gillepie who also records with Machito as his brother-in-law Mario Bauzá arranges things. Woody Herman partners with Puente. on the westcoast Stan Kenton hires latin percussionists and Johnny Richards (related to his then wife Ann?) to write Cuban-tinged music for his band after he has a hit with a Cuban street song called “Peanut Vendor.” (“El Manisero”)

meanwhile back in the Apple Dizzy discovers congero Chano Pozo in Havana, brings him to New York and, voila! Latin Jazz spreads like a brush fire in a drought. soon every jazz group “needs” Latin percussion. (not-yet-Dr.) Billy Taylor steals Candido Camero from under Dizzy’s nose and expands his Birdland house band; cool and tight George Shearing adds Armando Perazza; percussive pianist Erroll Garner hires Jose Manguel; the Nat’King’ Cole Trio becomes a quartet with the addition of Jack Costanza; and congero Ray Barretto becomes a ubiquitous presence on many contemporary jazz recordings, having already become a star in the Latin community. (Ray’s love for jazz was so deep that he was also a walking jazz encyclopedia.) in fact, if you took away the latter from those recordings they would sound hollow, something missing. and i have only just scratched the conga skin: Herbie Mann’s groups, Willie Bobo, Cal Tjader (on red vinyl no less), the surprise praising and acceptance of the Brazilian flick “Black Orpheus,” which catapulted bossa nova never to look back.

CON-FUSED JAZZ

i’ve omitted more than i’ve included so in my next posting, say in a fortnight, i’ll include commentary by drummer, educator, bandleader Bobby Sanabria who is spearheading a grass roots movement –and a law suit– to bring the NARAS Latin Jazz category back to the Grammys. also, why has the Jazz Journalists Association removed the category from their awards? i’ll also show how young artists proudly continue to use the phrase “Latin Jazz” in their bands’ names and their songs’ titles. it must carry some caché. your assignment for next time remonstrate on this: isn’t the Recoding Academy supposed to expand the understanding and exposition of all music? why do they spend money on full page ads denigrating someone’s art simply because of the lack of crass financial gains? (i refer to the New York Times ad on last year’s Best New Artist Esperanza Spalding –boo hoo Justin– which also included insulting remarks about Herbie Hancock.) btw, that ad just spurred more interest in Spalding proving once again that there is no such thing as bad pr; just spell the name correctly.

later!

- © arnold jay smith
January 2012