Author: brycon
Date: 2012-06-08 19:50
Hi Tony,
I also found Julian's performance more enjoyable than the Shifrin. However, it should be noted that Julian was playing with what sounds like a competent rhythm section comprised of professional jazz musicians whereas Shifrin was playing with a pianist that sounds as if she has never played a lick of jazz in her life. In that respect, I was listening to Julian's group as I would any professional jazz ensemble and not as I would to a classical clarinetist's dabbling.
Upon hearing the first tune in the broadcast, I was struck by Julian's wonderful clarinet playing on the one hand and by an incredible sense of "squareness" on the other. What was he doing that makes this performance sound square?
The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic components of what Julian played were all fine (I imagine he was playing Goodman's formerly improvised solos, so they should be fine). In my opinion, his problem was with what jazz players call one's "feel." Feel is a word that- like the words phrasing and sound- is comprised of many components that often get lumped together into a single term. When I talk about feel I do not mean the various rhythms employed- 8th notes, 16th notes, et cetera- but rather the manner in which the various rhythms are executed by the player. To this end, a players articulation, dynamics, stylistic nuances (accents, bends, scoops, et cetera), and management of the rhythms (especially the placement of the second 8th note within the beat) all contribute to his or her feel.
To further clarify, I will borrow Dave Liebman's definition of feel:
"A plausible definition of a good jazz rhythmic feel should involve words like "accurate" (meaning as close as possible to the original and ongoing pulse), "even" (meaning a smooth rather than choppy or awkward flow), "variable" (meaning not entirely predictable using a variety of rhythms) and of course our original word: swinging... ...Swing has a drive or momentum in balance with a feeling of relaxation and effortlessness. There is a "lilt" or bounce to the music that is beyond words. It is probably easier to point out what doesn't swing that what does."
On the uptempo tunes, Julian's placement of the second 8th note is very late within the beat (similar to a 16th note following a dotted 8th). Furthermore, he plays every beat with the same level of importance, almost as if giving a slight "accent" to each beat (see Gunther Schuller's work, Early Jazz, for a detailed account of the primacy of beats 2 and 4 within a measure of 4/4). Both of these nuances give the music a very stilted and unswinging quality.
Using Liebman's criteria, Julian's playing is not accurate (he is not matching the placement of the second 8th note nor the accentuation of beats that the rhythm section is laying down), he is not even (8th note lines are incredibly choppy), and he is not variable (his placement of accents lie on every beat).
Listen to the sound of the ensemble on the Paganini tune after Julian's "solo." The pianist plays with a much more even 8th note feel (closer to triplets or even "straight" 8th notes) and with much better placement of accents. And as a result, what happens? The ensemble swings much harder.
To my ears there is a sense of tension between Julian and the ensemble as a result of his feel. This is heightened due to the fact that the rhythm section is playing- perhaps anachronistically- much more of a bebop vocabulary than Julian, who is playing Benny Goodman swing-era solos.
In my opinion, Julian's performance has a quality very similar to a student learning a foreign language that- having not been immersed in the language and culture he or she is studying- creates sentences by translating in his/her mind from the native language into the foreign language. To other students in the class, it may sound very accurate, and on the surface, perhaps it is; however, native speakers would find the the student's speaking incredibly square.
Post Edited (2012-06-08 19:54)
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