Larry Kart Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 The Blindfold Test with Hersch in the current Downbeat is interesting. Hersch has some detailed, pointed (as in not very positive) things to say about tracks by Horace Silver, Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer. He's more positive about Tatum and Andrew Hill. In the first case, I think he's reacting honestly to a track ("Mexican Hip Dance" from "The Jody Grind") that he regards (again with supporting detail) as not that successful (though he makes an odd mistake in passing, referring to Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard [no...] as sidemen from Silver's glory days). His cavils about Moran and Iyer are again honest, pointed, and detailed. I'd summarize a bit, but I can't check out that issue from the library as yet. Perhaps someone else has a copy of that issue and can paraphrase within the limits of what's fair by forum rules. Quote
JSngry Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 I can't check out that issue from the library as yet. After all you've contributed to the magazine over the years, you can't leverage a free subscription? That ain't right! Quote
king ubu Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 Is that the march issue or are you guys already in april? French Jazz Magazine/Jazzman (got the march issue today) has an interview with Hersch - very interesting read, with lots of outspoken opinions on his own music, on music in general etc (but I'm not confident enough to translate/quote him here - with outspoken opinions it's important to get the words right, would be too much work for me, sorry... if you want some french quotes, I'll gladly type off a few). He is among other things working on a duo with Moran, btw... Didn't know about the hardness he went through after 2008 (he fell in a coma, almost died, had to learn how to walk, talk and of course play the piano again). Quote
jazztrain Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 Hersch and Moran are appearing tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 8) at New England Conservatory in Boston. The NEC website indicates that they'll be performing both in solo and in duo settings. Is that the march issue or are you guys already in april? French Jazz Magazine/Jazzman (got the march issue today) has an interview with Hersch - very interesting read, with lots of outspoken opinions on his own music, on music in general etc (but I'm not confident enough to translate/quote him here - with outspoken opinions it's important to get the words right, would be too much work for me, sorry... if you want some french quotes, I'll gladly type off a few). He is among other things working on a duo with Moran, btw... Didn't know about the hardness he went through after 2008 (he fell in a coma, almost died, had to learn how to walk, talk and of course play the piano again). Quote
clifford_thornton Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 I really, really don't like Moran's music but Hersch is a fine player. I'd be curious to hear someone more educated than me speak honestly on Moran's thing. Quote
Larry Kart Posted March 7, 2011 Author Report Posted March 7, 2011 Hersch and Moran are appearing tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 8) at New England Conservatory in Boston. The NEC website indicates that they'll be performing both in solo and in duo settings. Is that the march issue or are you guys already in april? French Jazz Magazine/Jazzman (got the march issue today) has an interview with Hersch - very interesting read, with lots of outspoken opinions on his own music, on music in general etc (but I'm not confident enough to translate/quote him here - with outspoken opinions it's important to get the words right, would be too much work for me, sorry... if you want some french quotes, I'll gladly type off a few). He is among other things working on a duo with Moran, btw... Didn't know about the hardness he went through after 2008 (he fell in a coma, almost died, had to learn how to walk, talk and of course play the piano again). About Hersch and Moran, after Hersch was told that it was a Moran track he'd been taking apart some, he said that he admires Moran in general and that they're good friends, but that he stands by how he felt about that performance, and that not everyone can get it right musically every time, etc. I can't check out that issue from the library as yet. After all you've contributed to the magazine over the years, you can't leverage a free subscription? That ain't right! DB eats its young, and its old, too. Quote
jlhoots Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 It's the April issue. Interesting even though I disagree with some of it. Quote
king ubu Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 It's the April issue. Interesting even though I disagree with some of it. Thanks. Over there, we can only buy the February issue so far (for a whopping 14$ or so... though on the printed price on it says 3.50£ or something like that...). Will try to think of this in two months time... I know this is off-topic, but why do Americans need to have the April issue in the first days of March? Because they own the world? Quote
Dan Gould Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 "Newstand" dates are always a good four weeks before the "published" date. I bet Larry has some inside info. Quote
JSngry Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 The current online BFT is Roberta what's her name, the singer, which was the March issue.. So America might own the world, but not the internet, or even its own websites. Truth be told, between Hirsch, Moran, & Iyler, the only one I have any interest these days in is Iyler (Hirsch was of some collateral interest when he played with Billy Harper, and Moran...never really got Moran) . The other two, I don't at all dislike them, but their music is not really relevant to my lifestyle. Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted March 7, 2011 Report Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) I loved Moran's first three albums (and everything he did backing Greg Osby -- Osby lost a lot when Moran left his working band). But I've fallen away from his more recent work (most all of it, I'm afraid). I haven't heard "Ten" yet (his most recent) -- but I more 'admire' his last several albums, than I really do 'enjoy' them. But those first three are absolute stone classics. I met and talked with him several times back 8-10 years ago, and thought he was a sharp guy. Edited March 7, 2011 by Rooster_Ties Quote
Larry Kart Posted March 7, 2011 Author Report Posted March 7, 2011 It's the issue after the Roberta G. Blindfold Test one, Marsalis family on the cover. I have no inside info; it was just on display with the other current magazines at our local library. Quote
Tom Storer Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 I haven't investigated Moran as much as I should have because when I did check him out, he was doing clever post-modern stuff like incorporating recordings of other sounds, conversations or I don't know what, into his music. I got impatient with it quickly. Maybe I'm just a middle-brow. But he sounds great elsewhere, such as on that Paul Motian record with Chris Potter. I'll get to him sometime soon. I'm a longtime Hersch fan. Saw him last year with John Hebert and Eric McPherson, sounding beautiful. Vijay Iyer is impressive but there's a mad-scientist aspect that puts me off. "My fiendishly clever algorithms follow a stochastic process! I will take over the world with my brilliance! Bwahahahahaaaa!" Quote
king ubu Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 Have you read the Hersch story in Jazz Magazine/Jazzman? It's in the great "at the table with" series of conversations. Quote
Tom Storer Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 Yeah, I read it. Very good. I think they got that "at the table with" idea from the weekend Financial Times, which has celebrity interviews over lunch as a regular feature. Mind you, the FT probably got it from somewhere else. Quote
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