Marlowsphere Blog (#142)

When you get to the end of stride pianist Judy Carmichael’s memoir Swinger—A Jazz Girl’s Adventures from Hollywood to Harlem (C&D Productions, Sag Harbor, NY 2017) you’re sorry the set (of chapters) has concluded. You want to know more about this sui generis performer whose multi-decade career has taken her around the world (to China, for example).

Judy Carmichael is a stride pianist. For the uninitiated, stride piano is a style of jazz piano playing in which the right hand plays the melody while the left hand plays a single bass note or octave on the strong beat and a chord on the weak beat. The style was developed in Harlem during the 1920s, partly from ragtime piano playing. Among the several dozen great well-known stride pianists are James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Willie “The Lion” Smith. Dick Hyman, Dick Wellstood, Thelonius Monk, Jaki Byard, Marcus Roberts, and Herbie Hancock. Most of the dozens of well-known stride pianists are no longer living, a reason, perhaps, why the style has mostly fallen out of favor among jazz pianists.

Among this group of stride piano virtuosos, however, there are three women, perhaps I should say only three women—Dorothy Donegan (no longer living), Stephanie Trick (very much living), and Judy Carmichael!

Carmichael’s pianistic chops are formidable. I’ve heard her perform (at Tanglewood). Her former saxophonist, Michael Hashim (who also performs in my own quintet), once remarked “Her left hand is so strong she doesn’t need a bass player!” How true. Her group consists of her, a guitarist, and a saxophonist. (As an aside, jazz piano virtuoso Oscar Peterson’s playing was so strong that one of his trios consisted of him, a bass player and a guitarist. No drums!).

Swinger provides dozens of insights into the world of being a musician—not just a jazz musician, but a jazz musician who is a woman in primarily a man’s world. Carmichael also provides a perspective on how non-musicians perceive artists who are musicians. On one of her on-the-road gigs a well-to-do audience member asked Judy why she came all this way for this gig, as if to say “This is a long way to come for your art?” Her reply was “I do it for the money because musicians also need money to live!” She makes clear that even though her well-deserved fame brings her well-paying gigs, she still hustles to get gigs. It’s a never-ending process.

Carmichael’s memoir covers a lot of professional ground, from her early development as a jazz pianist, to her multi-year sojourn at Disneyland, then a United States Department of State sponsored tour to China in the early 1990s, to her initiation of “Jazz Inspired” on NPR. And like all memorable autobiographies, her book is full of personal travails, from her difficult relationship with her parents and her brother, to other musicians, to friends and lovers. She also delves unequivocally and unabashedly into her bouts with cancer.

Swinger reads like Judy herself. Full of wit, self-effacement, irony, and verbal virtuosity. Sometimes her narrative is blunt, sometimes subtle, but always direct, compelling, and personal. Her memoir is aptly named. Carmichael—who happens to have been born female—is an artist who has survived several professional and personal challenges, but who has prevailed over time. Her memoir is a testament to focus and tenacity, the kind of characteristics you need to become one of the world’s best stride pianists.

© Eugene Marlow August 7, 2018

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The Marlowsphere Blog (#133)

There we were in the second half of the 20^th century, having experienced the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan that ended WWII, and watched in the late 1970s a pivot towards the west by Communist China following the 1976 demise of dictator Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), and in 1989 even as we watched the horror of Tiananmen Square, we also watched the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. We saw the creation of the European Union, the death of South African Apartheid, the shrinkage of nuclear weapons on a worldwide scale, the expansion of democracies, the diminution of illiteracy to about 15% of the world’s population, and the increase of global trade, so-called globalism.

We also saw a further exploration of space and the rise of a few non-governmental organizations investing in the exploration of space. The Higgs Boson, the so-called “god particle” was confirmed and the “repaired” Hubble Telescope peered closer and closer into the origins of this universe. The future of generations to come appeared to be bright.

But here we are in 2016 and the reverse appears to be true. In 2001, on 9/11, Al Qaeda terrorists took over two commercial airplanes and destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City (this wasn’t their first attempt). There are now terrorist groups in Africa, e.g., Boko Haram, and in Russia, and in the Philippines, and in France, and in Belgium, among others. It has taken over eight years for the United States and other contingent countries to recover from the “mortgage crisis of 2008.” Britain has just voted to leave the European Union, the so-called “Brexit,” and in the United States the upcoming national election pits a politician, Hillary Clinton, with decades of regional, national and international experience, against an entertainer, real estate magnate Donald Trump, who has decades of experience on reality television. His vision of the future is to retreat from it by building walls between the United States and Mexico, to undo our trade agreements with other countries, and to (possibly) use nuclear weapons against our enemies (whomever they might be).

Elsewhere in the world, terrorists’ attacks have governments and peoples nervous about open borders and immigration issues resulting in the loss of jobs in one place only to turn up for less pay in other places. Local and regional wars have made millions of people homeless. The disparity between the so-called 1% (the haves) and the rest of the world (the have nots) grows deeper with every year. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is getting screwed.

Further, the Internet is not creating a level playing field. It is allowing those with the technical know-how and marketing imagination to create platforms wherein users create content for free and the owners of the servers housing the platform very rich.

It is a gross irony that while some countries, like the United States, parts of the European Union, Japan, and China are exploring space both within and without our solar system, several tribal cultures, such ISIS and the Taliban, are more concerned with what women should wear in public, women’s subservient role in their society, and a strict adherence to the word of Allah. Also, in the Middle East extremist Jews and extremist Palestinians are at war over who should own what territory. In Saudi Arabia, despite their ostensible acceptance of western trade, there is an adherence to an anachronistic extreme form of Islam, so-called Wahhabism. The so-called Kingdom funds this form of Islam with millions of dollars and proselytize their point of view wherever possible.

And in the United States, the chasm between predominantly white police forces and young mostly unarmed African-Americans appears to have exploded into the headlines and into television and radio news broadcasts in the last several years. The Civil Rights Acts were passed decades ago, but the blatant racism expressed by the shooting of unarmed black males by white police officers appears to have become a common occurrence, even in the historical context of an African-American president in the White House.

Q: Is America, is the world retreating from what seemed to be a        brighter future a generation ago?
A: Yes, it is. Or that’s the way it seems.

My view is that the world is experiencing a period of retreat from the future into a period of tribalism. And it is not recent. It has been building for some time, perhaps ever since the commercial introduction of the telegraph in 1844. This was the world’s first electronic communications medium that could transmit information from one point to another at the speed of light. In the mid-20^thcentury photonic technologies were introduced (these are technologies based on photons as opposed to electrons). These combined technologies have bumped up the speed of communication and transport of goods and services and with them cultural values on a global basis. Cultures around the world where the literacy rate is lower and much lower than it is in more developed nations are repulsed by this invasion of outside cultural values. It is anathema to their entrenched cultural values. And, in turn, we are repulsed by their reactions, such as when we hear about honor killings in remote parts of India, and the mutilation of female genitalia in parts of Africa.

Even in places that are so-called developed nations there is a retreat into tribalism. The Brexit vote is one example, the rise of neo-fascism in Germany, and the increasing rejection of Islamic leaning peoples in France are other examples. It is a retreat borne out of deep fear—a fear that one’s family and community values are being tested, challenged, upended, and revealed as untrue or unfounded.

People don’t want change even when it is beneficial in the long-run to the greater whole. The speed of light technologies that now are increasingly circling the planet have thrown opposing cultural values into the same economic pot and have created such fear among the members of opposing tribes that it is engendering violence.

And this phase of planetary cultural evolution will not go away quickly. It will be with us for a while, perhaps a generation of two. Until peoples of different cultural stripes begin to accept that the future is about the integration of cultural values, even the loss and rejection of some values—such as religious and political beliefs—there will be a retreat from the future. Accepting that change is the constant, that change is the way of the universe, a universe we are just beginning to learn about, is a deeply painful process.

This view parallels the structure of scientific revolutions. First, there is rejection of facts that contravene the prevailing view, then there is anger and battles over what is true and what is not true, then ultimate acceptance of the new factual context. We are looking at a generation or two of battles over what is true and what is not true. If world history is any arbiter, progress will prevail, but only after many more have died for their antiquated beliefs and many more have died defending the values of the future.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
September 5, 2016

© Eugene Marlow 2016

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Marlowsphere Blog (#129)

Western perceptions to the contrary, jazz in mainland China has survived through four generations.  Starting in the 1920s when jazz first came to China, specifically Shanghai, till now there have been several generations of indigenous jazz musicians.

The first generation responded to the demand for jazz at the time—dance hall music. While there were a plentitude of non-Chinese jazz musicians performing in Shanghai—such as drummer Whitey Smith, pianist Teddy Weatherford, trumpeter Valaida Snow, and trumpeter Buck Clayton, and a host of bands from the Philippines and Russia—Chinese jazz musicians eager to perform for their own also formed their own ensembles to perform in Shanghai’s many dance halls.

A ccording to an account by bassist Da Ren Zheng (who also contributed charts to the Peace Hotel Jazz Band profiled later), these early Chinese jazz bands included: Yu Yuezhang (who organized the first all-Chinese jazz band), several so-called Cantonese jazz bands, Chen’s “New Band,” Jin Huaizu’s (a.k.a. Jimmy King) famous Paramount Dance Hall band, the Huang Feiran Band, and the Kaixuan Band. Fan Shengqi (dubbed “The King of the Saxophone”) was a member of this generation; he survived Mao’s tenure, and began performing jazz again in Beijing after his demise.

Following Mao’s takeover of China in 1949 through his death in 1976 all performances of jazz in dance halls were forbidden. But by 1980 China was opening up economically to the west.
At that time the Chinese government requested that a group of former dance hall jazz musicians—who survived in the intervening years by playing Chinese classical music—create a sextet and perform at the Peace Hotel on the Bund in Downtown Shanghai. The motivation was economic: entertainment for western visitors. This group—holdovers from the 1930s-1940s—has performed there (with some changes in personnel) every night for the last 35 years. They are the subject of a German produced film entitled “As Time Goes By in Shanghai.”

Since the mid-1980s a second generation of jazz musicians—partly influenced in Beijing by  German diplomat (and bass player) Martin Fleischer, now an ambassador in Brussels—began to emerge. Among this small group is tenor saxophonist Liu Yuan considered the “father” of jazz in China (Martin Fleischer can be called the “godfather of jazz in China”). Liu Yuan gained initial fame by performing with trumpeter/songwriter/protester Cui Jian, China’s so-called “father of rock” in the 1980s. Liu Yuan now owns a club in Beijing called the East Shore Café. Liu Yuan and others of his generation have performed and are performing jazz as a means of individual freedom of expression, much like Cui Jian on the rock side of the musical ledger.

A third generation of jazz musicians—definitely in the mode of individual freedom of expression—include (in Shanghai): guitarist Lawrence Ku, singer/songwriter Coco Zhao, saxophonist and professor Zhang Xiaolu, and singer/pianist Joey Lu. In Beijing this third generation includes: virtuoso bassist and jazz festival promoter “Adam,” “cool” pianist Xia Jia, pianist Kong Hong Wei (a.k.a. Golden Buddah), Mongolian-born alto saxophonist Liu “Kenny” Xiaoguang, drummer Xiao Dou, singer Yao Yi Xin, bassist Zou Tong, bassist Zhang Ling, saxophonist Yinjiao Du, and saxophonist Wu Yun Nan (formerly with the Chinese Navy Band). Several of these musicians received training in jazz in the United States.

The youngest and fourth generation of Chinese jazz musicians is now coming to the fore. With the Chinese government’s apparent blessing, 20-year-old saxophonist virtuoso Li Gaoyang attended International Jazz Day, April 30, 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. Heading up the delegation was saxophonist Liu Yuan, profiled briefly above.

Li Gaoyang(李高阳) started learning music at the age of 4. By the tender age of 8 he had already been playing and studying the saxophone. Basically he’s self-taught on the instrument and has become the most famous jazz saxophone player, educator and composer of his generation in China.

Li has embraced East coast jazz and has considerable experience in this style of performance. With his unique style, Li considered tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and EWI (i.e., Electric Wind Instrument), in descending order, his main instruments. Through the years, Li has composed a considerable amount of originals covering different style/spectrum of music and has been lauded as the top jazz saxophone player by audience and critics alike.

Since the age of 14, Li Gaoyang has founded the Li Gaoyang Trio and Li Gaoyang Quartet with drummer Shao Ha Ha, bassists Hu Hao, Bi Zi Gang, keyboardists Jin Ye and Han Yun, all recognized jazz players in China. Li has brought his groups to many large scale events and jazz festivals. Li Gao Yang Quartet has been recognized as one of the top jazz bands in China.

Next to leading his own group, Li Gaoyang has also performed in the following established jazz formations: Beijing Jazz Orchestra, Du Yinjiao Jazz Big Band, CD Swing Band, Big John (Zhang Ling) Blues band, Blue Head Sextet, among others.

In 2012, Li Gaoyang was invited to join the famous Golden Buddha Jazz band, headed by virtuoso jazz pianist Kong Hong Wei, also profiled above. Li has also been featured on some performances of American jazz instrumentalist Antonio Hart during Hart’s tour in China. Through his acquaintance with the legendary Sonny Rollins, who is his biggest influence on saxophone so far, Li has received valuable teaching from the maestro. Li has also received had lessons with masters such as Bob Cranshaw, Sammy Figueroa, and Peter Erskine among others.

The Chinese jazz musicians notwithstanding, performing spaces for these musicians appear to be expanding. Jazz @ Lincoln Center has announced plans to open a jazz club in Shanghai in 2016, and Blue Note Entertainment (owner of the famous Blue Note jazz club in New York City) has announced plans to open a jazz club in Beijing in 2017.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
September 21, 2015

© Eugene Marlow 2015

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