It dawned on me recently that the subject of the role of trombone in modern alternative hip-hop is a very interesting subject, not just because I am a trombonist playing in that world, but because it is worthy of a plot fleshed out by the likes of Tom Robbins, or perhaps Kurt Vonnegut. Don't worry, I'm not going to make this Part I of some long drawn out conceptual work. It's just that I have been thinking a lot about my horn, and how it has landed me in a fairly unique musical predicament, something worthy of reflecting upon, and in this world virtual interconnectedness, worthy of sharing writ large. I am a jazz musician at heart, that is for sure. However, coming to this reality in life also means I have to ask myself, for real, what being a jazz musician means; what it means broadly, and what it means to me personally. Obviously, I could write a book on that subject alone, but for the sake of focus, here's what being a jazz musician means to me:
If you have to ask, than you will never truly know. But, once asked: a musician who lives in harmony with both the fringes of artistic reach and expression AND the natural history that those who call themselves "jazz musicians" have created.
A few nights ago, I played as part of an ensemble backing J. Otis Powell in his recitation of Amiri Baraka's "Wise, Why's Y's" poem, which is tremendous. The ensemble was made up of me on trombone, w/o the use of the electronics I often use in hip-hop settings, acoustic bassist Josh Granowski, and phenomenal drummer Kevin Washington. The play was part of the Twin Cities 10-Minute Play Festival. It was in the "Hip-Hop Theater" segment of the festival. What we doing? We were playing a large range of the historical jazz traditions. We played traditional African-American melodies like Wade in the Water and Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, bebop tunes like Billie's Bounce and Dizzy Gillespie's "Bebop", as well as songs by Alber Ayler, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. It was a virtual history of jazz in 10 minutes. But here's the thing that made it so cool - it was part of the Hip-Hop theater scene, a developing creative area of urban theater that is particularly taking off here in the Twin Cities. And in that case, I was surely a "jazz musician" in most circles. However, I have a hard time saying I was actually PLAYING jazz, and an easier time saying I was PRESENTING jazz. What I'm getting at with the jazz thing is that in the year 2010 I can't see fit to call re-interpretations of melodies from the natural history of jazz, JAZZ. More precisely, if one is playing with the jazz mindset and aesthetic, it will not sound the way it sounded in 1959, it will sound the way it sounds in 2010. Jazz is a social musical form, just like its mother the blues, in that it is an honest, sometimes idealistic response to the world around us. In my mind, hip-hop, when performed with a live band that can improvise mindful of the history of live music in America, is the jazz of today. There, I said it: HIP-HOP IS THE JAZZ OF TODAY. That is an incredibly over-simplified definition of hip-hop, until you start looking at the social relevance of the music labeled "jazz" throughout history. I feel very confident in saying the 1980's was the first decade since perhaps the early 1900's where some form of jazz or offshoot of jazz was not the prevailing underground music, pulling societies coat-tails, urging them to check out the road less traveled. In the 1980's the role of jazz in society completely changed, and hip-hop took the place of the music developed by the country's most forgotten and abused souls, turning something ugly into something of beauty. With the rise of the early musical poets like Gil Scott Heron and the Last Poets, jazz was offered a solid role in the development of new, more politically and socially relevant song style and social movement, called hip-hop. To me, the rest of the history of hip-hop to now, makes up the beginning of the next stage of the development of jazz, and for the moment, jazz is hip-hop and hip-hop is jazz. Now, as for my personal role as a trombone player, this is where things are more gray in my mind, but exceedingly interesting. The rhythmic possibilities, the freedom of compositional approach, and the lack of solidly defined roles for individual musicians makes live hip-hop one of the most promising improvisational platforms, and improvisation is without a doubt the most important piece of what makes up the jazz mindset and aesthetic. In Junkyard Empire, the band I play the most with, there are some characteristic elements of my role in that band that are quite new and different, but uniquely jazz-influenced. First off, I am the only horn in the band, and contrary to most jazz settings, I am not there to play the lead melodies or play a bunch of solos. To the contrary, over the years we have developed a more critical backing role for the horn, not always charged with playing the melodic hooks of the songs. In fact, more often than not, I am playing the role of what might have been - in a more traditional rock setting - rhythm guitar. And this often is accomplished by playing more "atmospheric" or "ambient" melodies and sounds on the horn, utilizing many of the same electronic effects a guitar player would use in an indie rock setting, sometimes improvising those parts. But, and here is the challenging part, the amount of improvisation I do in Junkyard Empire is a pittance compared with what I would do in a more traditional jazz setting, yet, I feel more like a real jazz musician in Junkyard Empire than I do when I PRESENT jazz to a crowd. I can fully say though, that the vibe and spirit of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and so many others are very frequently in my mind or guiding some decisions I make as a player. So, am I really a jazz musician? Or am I a jazz musician playing hip-hop? Or, am I a jazz musician BECAUSE I'm playing hip-hop? I'm not entirely sure I can answer those questions, but what I can say is that I personally am a jazz musician, and that I feel like I have the freedom of expression playing in a hip-hop setting that I never do in a "jazz" setting, unless it's a "free jazz" or "creative improvised music" setting, but neither of those styles are accepted terms in the collective American jazz lexicon; they are all off-shoots. It's bullshit, I know, but I'm a jazz musician. I think if Miles Davis was around today as he was in the 70's, he'd be playing some kind of wild mix of hip-hop, funk, acid jazz, emo, and totally out weird improvised electronica. Should I just start calling myself a hip-hop trombonist? No, I'll just call myself a musician and a radical, but I will continue to propagate the idea that hip-hop is the jazz of today, with the hope that other musicians who identify with the jazz mentality will pursue a similar path. It will be good for jazz and good for hip-hop.
A few nights ago, I played as part of an ensemble backing J. Otis Powell in his recitation of Amiri Baraka's "Wise, Why's Y's" poem, which is tremendous. The ensemble was made up of me on trombone, w/o the use of the electronics I often use in hip-hop settings, acoustic bassist Josh Granowski, and phenomenal drummer Kevin Washington. The play was part of the Twin Cities 10-Minute Play Festival. It was in the "Hip-Hop Theater" segment of the festival. What we doing? We were playing a large range of the historical jazz traditions. We played traditional African-American melodies like Wade in the Water and Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, bebop tunes like Billie's Bounce and Dizzy Gillespie's "Bebop", as well as songs by Alber Ayler, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. It was a virtual history of jazz in 10 minutes. But here's the thing that made it so cool - it was part of the Hip-Hop theater scene, a developing creative area of urban theater that is particularly taking off here in the Twin Cities. And in that case, I was surely a "jazz musician" in most circles. However, I have a hard time saying I was actually PLAYING jazz, and an easier time saying I was PRESENTING jazz. What I'm getting at with the jazz thing is that in the year 2010 I can't see fit to call re-interpretations of melodies from the natural history of jazz, JAZZ. More precisely, if one is playing with the jazz mindset and aesthetic, it will not sound the way it sounded in 1959, it will sound the way it sounds in 2010. Jazz is a social musical form, just like its mother the blues, in that it is an honest, sometimes idealistic response to the world around us. In my mind, hip-hop, when performed with a live band that can improvise mindful of the history of live music in America, is the jazz of today. There, I said it: HIP-HOP IS THE JAZZ OF TODAY. That is an incredibly over-simplified definition of hip-hop, until you start looking at the social relevance of the music labeled "jazz" throughout history. I feel very confident in saying the 1980's was the first decade since perhaps the early 1900's where some form of jazz or offshoot of jazz was not the prevailing underground music, pulling societies coat-tails, urging them to check out the road less traveled. In the 1980's the role of jazz in society completely changed, and hip-hop took the place of the music developed by the country's most forgotten and abused souls, turning something ugly into something of beauty. With the rise of the early musical poets like Gil Scott Heron and the Last Poets, jazz was offered a solid role in the development of new, more politically and socially relevant song style and social movement, called hip-hop. To me, the rest of the history of hip-hop to now, makes up the beginning of the next stage of the development of jazz, and for the moment, jazz is hip-hop and hip-hop is jazz. Now, as for my personal role as a trombone player, this is where things are more gray in my mind, but exceedingly interesting. The rhythmic possibilities, the freedom of compositional approach, and the lack of solidly defined roles for individual musicians makes live hip-hop one of the most promising improvisational platforms, and improvisation is without a doubt the most important piece of what makes up the jazz mindset and aesthetic. In Junkyard Empire, the band I play the most with, there are some characteristic elements of my role in that band that are quite new and different, but uniquely jazz-influenced. First off, I am the only horn in the band, and contrary to most jazz settings, I am not there to play the lead melodies or play a bunch of solos. To the contrary, over the years we have developed a more critical backing role for the horn, not always charged with playing the melodic hooks of the songs. In fact, more often than not, I am playing the role of what might have been - in a more traditional rock setting - rhythm guitar. And this often is accomplished by playing more "atmospheric" or "ambient" melodies and sounds on the horn, utilizing many of the same electronic effects a guitar player would use in an indie rock setting, sometimes improvising those parts. But, and here is the challenging part, the amount of improvisation I do in Junkyard Empire is a pittance compared with what I would do in a more traditional jazz setting, yet, I feel more like a real jazz musician in Junkyard Empire than I do when I PRESENT jazz to a crowd. I can fully say though, that the vibe and spirit of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and so many others are very frequently in my mind or guiding some decisions I make as a player. So, am I really a jazz musician? Or am I a jazz musician playing hip-hop? Or, am I a jazz musician BECAUSE I'm playing hip-hop? I'm not entirely sure I can answer those questions, but what I can say is that I personally am a jazz musician, and that I feel like I have the freedom of expression playing in a hip-hop setting that I never do in a "jazz" setting, unless it's a "free jazz" or "creative improvised music" setting, but neither of those styles are accepted terms in the collective American jazz lexicon; they are all off-shoots. It's bullshit, I know, but I'm a jazz musician. I think if Miles Davis was around today as he was in the 70's, he'd be playing some kind of wild mix of hip-hop, funk, acid jazz, emo, and totally out weird improvised electronica. Should I just start calling myself a hip-hop trombonist? No, I'll just call myself a musician and a radical, but I will continue to propagate the idea that hip-hop is the jazz of today, with the hope that other musicians who identify with the jazz mentality will pursue a similar path. It will be good for jazz and good for hip-hop.
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