Buongiorno, tutti!
I've now been in Italy long enough to get over the jet lag, just in time to deal with a timely cold and sore throat. That's not enough to dampen my mood, but it is enough to keep me in for a Saturday night. But, then again, what isn't?
It is absolutely gorgeous here, the only place in the world that gets better weather than the San Francisco Bay Area. It's been cloudless and clear most days, and you can see the downtown area from the villa, including the dominating Duomo. I also discovered that NYU has one of Italy's largest renaissance gardens on campus, 7 acre's worth! It in a 10-year renovation plan (this is the 9th year), so technically we're not allowed to see it, but that hasn't stopped me so far! That was the "aha" moment for me, when I realized for the first time I was actually in Florence! It was so beautiful, neither the pictures nor the words really do it any justice. But, yeah, I have a renaissance garden essentially to myself. What a great place to beat loneliness, or to realize that being lonely isn't so bad after all.
I went to Terni with the music program over the last weekend to see the Ed Simon trio with Scott Colley and Brian Blade. It was a wonderful show, even though we almost didn't get in because we weren't even allowed to reserve seats despite the fact that we were special guests (not special enough...), we we got to stand the whole time, which was the only way for me to fight the jet lag anyway, even though the music was actually phenomenal. As per my request at dinner, Ed Simon played "The Impossible Question," which sounded quite different as a trio but also opened up a ton of new possibilities. I got to talk briefly with Ed Simon afterward, and then I helped Brian Blade break down his drum set and we talked for fifteen or twenty minutes, and he gave me advice for breaking jet lag's grip on me, though he didn't know how to make my life with the vibes easier.
The next day we saw a completely artificial waterfall which is still one of the tallest in Italy. The power company owns it and uses it for hydrolic power, and they turn it on at 12:00 every day, which was kind of weird. But the thing was still quite pretty, despite the fact that we couldn't see the tall part of the falls because of all the mist and the sun being right over the top of it. But I didn't care. Waterfalls are the most beautiful things to look at in the world. It made me care a lot less that we took the wrong train connection on the way back and we had to wait another 2 hours for the next one.
Classes seem to be good, too except Music Theory II which is taught by a man who speaks little English and still tries to teach well beyond the scope of the class and drills us constantly with useless repetition for 2 1/2 hours. But the other classes are going to be quite exhilarating. My private composition teacher wants me to write movie scores, something I've never done before, so naturally I'm quite excited. I'm nervous, too, because I don't watch many movies, so I don't quite know where to begin, but maybe that will give me a unique, untainted perspective. My teacher liked my CD, so he knows I know how to write, but he also knows I have only done jazz so far, so he knows I have to work on my knowledge of "classical" instruments (eg. anything I haven't used before).
My renaissance history class should be good, and we all know I like history quite a lot. We'll be able to see the history we're studying up close, and the professor seems to be a very knowledgeable person on the subject he teaches. He's a native Florentine, but he speaks English with the same ease as me, and it's easy to tell he's a well-seasoned intellectual. As all history classes aim to do, this class will probably challenge my perspective on how I thought things work.
My Italian professoressa is a wonderfully energetic person. I already know more than I should from studying on the train to Terni with the other music students, and as always I have been very interested in the language. At this point, all I need is a clear, energetic teacher and I'll be on my way to speaking fluent Italian. I hope. I did buy a melodica without speaking a word of English in the music store. It makes me want to take all sorts of language classes back home and become trilingual, but there's probably no time. All this professor needs to do is facilitate my own energy, and she's been doing a wonderful job this week.
Music History, well, we'll have to see how that goes, but the class got me a free ticket to Madame Butterfly, so no matter what happens I've already got a lot out of that class. Jazz Ensemble is still a big question mark. The leader is a killer trumpet player who would give Billy Buss a run for his money (did I actually just say that?), and it's got that sextet instrumentation I like. I just hope we can get away from head-solos-head-out. Last time we played 5 or 6 tunes and only one sounded like a song rather than a bunch of solos. Maybe we'll get better at this as time goes on, giving songs shape and form on their own. If not, I don't know how I'll survive.
Music Announcements
I am currently writing, outside of class, of course, an epic piece. I intend on making the thing a suite that, provided I get the Jazz School gig again this summer, will last an entire set of music. It didn't start out that way, but it sort of just unfolded as a single piece with a unified story line despite many threads. I call it "Guest Artist" and I'm arranging it for the Inspiration Sextet. I am very excited about this piece. It should be the hardest I've ever worked on a single musical project. I hope I have enough time between visits to the Uffizi to work on it! (Oh, by the way, I get infinite free visits to the Uffizi and other museums as long as I'm in Florence, and I get to skip the lines. !!!!)
CD of the Week
Jason Lindner: Live at the Jazz Gallery
This is probably the most innovative big band sounds I have heard since Peter Apfelbaum released his new Hieroglyphics CD, possibly even more so, sorry, Peter. I have always said the Jazz Gallery is the best jazz club in New York, and this is because they regularly employ musicians like Lindner and his compatriots, Miguel Zenon, Dwayne Eubanks, Anat Cohen, Omer Avital, and others. The only complaint about the club is that it is not very good for recording a live show, and the trumpet section suffers The two disc set is pleasantly melodic and off-beat at the same time. Lindner has a wonderful feel for rhythm, though the melodies take charge of the show, as well as the virtuosity of his soloists. He has a pristine ability to balance modal vamp sections with melodic diversions, ideas that aren't what we expect but still make sense and propel us in a new direction.
The reason I bring this album up in particular is that Jason Lindner is not just a wonderful composer but an outstanding arranger as well. One thing that bothers me a lot in jazz is when people use solos as an arrangement escape, inserting a solo where it sounds right according to the tradition of jazz without actually considering other options. Many composer/arrangers also fall prey to letting good thematic ideas simply sit undeveloped in the listener's ear, opting for more improvisation instead that either does or doesn't do anything to give the piece shape and flesh out the main themes. Jason Lindner falls prey to neither of these faults. He uses the themes he presents and continually develops them through his arrangements, getting the most out of every idea. This sounds so trivial, but trust me, it takes some searching to find someone who is willing to put this kind of work into this kind of arranging, especially for the big band he uses. Sometimes his endless manipulation of the themes backfires on him, and most times he seems to not know where to begin or end his thoughts (the beginnings and endings often leave something to be desired). On the whole, however, each piece represents a well-thought-out meditation on a theme, and very few do this as well as Lindner does.
As far as I am concerned, the only complaints I have other than the recording quality are these: 1) The ballads are nice pieces, but they don't command the same kind of attention as the other pieces, perhaps because he doesn't manipulate rhythm the same way. 2) Lindner plays an electric keyboard using sounds I don't like very much more than he should. Luckily, he sticks to the the baby grand during ensemble sections, opting for electricity only for his own features. Still, that's more than he should use the keyboards, though I am not blown away by his individual performance nearly as much as his guests.
All in all, I thought this was a great CD, and it has certainly given me inspiration when it comes to my own composing and arranging goals. At a time when most jazz is either trite or overly ambitious, this hits the spot. Besides David Binney and Ed Simon's "Oceanos," this is my favorite jazz CD of 2007.
Innovation: A-
Musicianship: A-
Entire CD: B
Individual Pieces: A-
Overall: A-
-Sam goldsmith
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