1:19pm Friday 12th March 2010
By Don Lodge
YOUR usual man-about-town Ron Burnett is on a jazz expedition to Ghana at the moment. He will report back in a couple of weeks.
In Ron’s place, I’ve been trying to track down what is going on locally on the jazz scene, and so far for the next week I have come up with: Tonight, The Phoenix, George Street – Chris Moore band; Sunday, 8.30pm, The Phoenix, George Street – Ian Chalk; Wednesday, 8.30pm, The Black Swan, Peaseholme Green – Jazz evening; Thursday 9pm, The Old White Swan, Goodramgate – The Mardi Gras Band.
Looking to recorded music, a CD which should be in every collection is simply entitled “Skol”, on the Pablo label and features Oscar Peterson, piano, Stephane Grappelli, violin, Joe Pass, Mickey Roker, drums, and Niels Henning Orsted-Pederson, bass. For some this is the best exponent of each instrument all on one record. It was recorded at a live session at the Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen in 1979.
The recording quality is superb and performances out of this world. You will be lucky to find the vinyl version these days and the CD will have to be hunted down from the usual sources on the internet. Tracks are: Nuages, How About You, Someone to Watch Over Me, Makin’ Whoopee, That’s All and Skol Blues. For once Peterson holds back on his usual elegant abundance of notes and gives a master-class on how to accompany the world’s leading violinist playing at his best. So sad that only Roker is still with us.
Here is a rant. Over the years, this column has made repeated invitations to listen to jazz live in town and also introduced recorded music to listen to at home. Is this the same musical experience? Obviously the beer and company can be better at a live venue, to say nothing of the indefinable atmosphere. But what about the sound? Modern music systems can produce beautiful sounds devoid of the man coughing in the row behind or the couple talking next to you. And you cannot iron your shirts as you listen at the concert hall.
Most hi-fi dealers and magazines will point to their favourite playback system and remark on the holographic soundstage where every instrument can be located. The crisp clarity enables the listener to hear every string-squeak and plectrum click. But next time you go to a jazz concert just close your eyes for a moment. How is this sound different to the hi-fi? Yes, it may be louder, but where is the holographic image? Where are the string-squeaks?
Real concerts are generally held in rooms where the sound bounces around before it reaches you. And instrument noises don’t usually reach the audience: usually a result of over-close microphone placement. And a good live jazz band does not have a booming bass and fizzing drums. So why does the hi-fi stack in the shop sound like this?
Well, it is my contention that modern music systems (and I include personal ones) are engineered with built-in flavour enhancement. It’s all a bit like turning up the contrast on a television. The features of the music are exaggerated at each end of the audio spectrum. “I can hear all these details: it must be real”. If you regularly go to concerts. you will know better.
Thanks folks, rant over. I feel better now.
Send any comments or live jazz info to me for next week on Contact: donuk@tesco.net
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