The O'Zone | Jazz Washes Away the Dust of Everyday Life
Art Blakey’s quote speaks to the cleansing elements of jazz on the everyman (and woman) in the face of how life wears you out; but I must add that when Jazz is outside it amplifies and multiplies its soul cleansing properties.
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars” – Jack Kerouac
…With those words in mind, this missive is concentrating on jazz outdoors.
Having just come back from the Telluride Jazz Festival in Telluride, Colorado, at an elevation of 8,750 feet, surrounded by the San Juan Mountains and nestled in a canyon in San Miguel County, I feel much better than before I left Denver. A festival doesn’t have to be amidst the pines and peaks to bring its particular charm to the music. While I’ll share experiences of my Telluride trip, there are hundreds of great Jazz festivals the world over, and stories and recordings of those great festivals to be explored. The Newport Jazz Festival is one of the most historically prominent festivals and certainly one of the most recorded of all time. One of those recordings was The Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Gerry Mulligan’s The Last Set at Newport (1971).
Brubeck and Mulligan were booked to close the night out with an acoustic set, but (Newport Festival founder) George Wein was concerned as the Jazz-Rock band Chase (led by trumpet player Bill Chase) was playing loud and with high energy. A quartet might seem anticlimactic. To which Dave responded “George, just turn it all the way up…we will take care of it from there.” What came next was pure magic: live and outside under the stars.
First, an introduction from Father Norman O’Connor, and then the quartet roared into “Blues For Newport”, the highlight, as it turns out, of the evening.
Newport has been the scene of incredible and historic performances, and in 1956, The Duke Ellington Orchestra would have blown the roof of the joint if there had been a roof to begin with. The early part of the concert didn’t meet with the enthusiasm that Ellington expected, so he called for something from the catalog: “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.” Meanwhile, Elaine Anderson, a striking platinum blonde in a little black dress, found her way to the stage in time for the rollicking tenor saxophone of Paul Gonsalvez about to burn into a 27 chorus solo! The more Paul blazed, the more Elaine and an increasingly enthusiastic audience danced into a frenzy accompanying Gonsalvez. After the concert and the subsequent record release, Ellington got a twenty-year boost in his career.
A good time was had by all! Check out this performance!
There are many great jazz festivals that take place in grand concert halls and dynamic clubs, and in no way is this a diminishment of those celebrations. The recent Denver Jazz Fest was a sparkling example of such festivities. But back to Telluride…
I reached out to fellow festival goers and, in some cases, KUVO listeners to get their thoughts on jazz in the great outdoors.
I met a couple from Orem, Utah. Daniel and Karen, who make several pilgrimages each year to Telluride to hear Jazz, Blues, and Bluegrass.
“The beauty of music outdoors is that it finds a home in your heart and memory,” said Karen, who plays “fiddle” in all the genres mentioned.
Daniel spoke of the friendliness of the town and the people there to see the music. I agreed, citing their willingness for folks to chat with me about their experiences.
I discovered we both went to the first Telluride Jazz Festival back in 1977. It was the only time I got to see Dizzy Gillespie.
“Dizzy was amazing, and even though he announced he was affected by the altitude, he showed no sign of it,” said Daniel.
I also had vivid memories of The Pat Metheny Group during a sprinkling of Saturday afternoon. That eponymous debut fit the weather very well. I wish they had recorded those sessions.
The thing about Jazz Festivals is the diversity of sounds to be heard. It’s 1980 in Detroit City, and Sun Ra and the Arkestra have parked their own mothership at Hart Plaza along Woodward Avenue.
It’s not the mountainous surroundings of Telluride, but Sun Ra under the Detroit skies is always amazing. This is “Strange Celestial Road.”
Or imagine Newport, Rhode Island, July 4, 1966. Newport Harbor with a great view of Narragansett Bay and an outstanding Independence Day lineup featuring Count Basie and his Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, Herbie Mann Septet,
Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, John Coltrane, and The Jazz Crusaders recording their Festival Album.
Jazz performance is at the very heart of what makes the music so personal and memorable. When it happens without walls, it takes on a spiritual feel. That spirituality really comes from the mastery of the player and can, of course, be found in any John Coltrane at the Village Vanguard album.
However, in the open sky, jazz transcends boundaries, uniting souls through rhythm and melody and place. It is unimpeded by decorations and artifice, whether it transpires at a plaza in the city, an oceanside stage, or a town park in the Rockies.
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