Wallace Roney Orchestra broadcast - unrecorded Wayne Shorter compositi

[bertrand]

As I mentioned elsewhere, there will be a broadcast/stream of the Wallace Roney Orchestra's Detroit Jazz Festival performance. They performed three large ensemble pieces written by Wayne Shorter for Miles Davis: 'Universe', 'Twin Dragon' and 'The Legend'. None were recorded by Miles, and only the last one performed once. There is a full discussion elsewhere on organissimo.

I found the first two pieces at the Library of Congress in the early nineties. Amazing it took so long for them to finally be made available for the world to hear.

Here are the links as far as I understand it:

http://www.wbgo.org/

This is for the actual broadcast, which is this Sunday 10/19 at 6PM EST and again on Wednesday 10/22 at 6:30PM.

It will later be available to listen on demand (starting 10/22 or 10/23):

NPR.ORG/JAZZNIGHT

http://www.npr.org/series/347174538/jazz-night-radio

Apparently there will also be a one-time video broadcast on 10/22 at 9PM:

http://www.npr.org/event/music/347721112/highlights-from-the-detroit-jazz-festival

If anyone can find any other details that would be appreciated. In particular, I wonder if there will be an actual radio station in the DC area broadcasting this.

I'm very happy there will be a stream I can listen to but I still hope one day I can actually buy this music.

Bertrand.

Edited October 17, 2014 by bertrand

[david weiss]

I believe this will be broadcast on the new Jazz Night in America show hosted by Christian McBride.

I believe this show is replacing Jazz Set hosted by Dee Dee Bridgewater which has run it's course apparently......

It's an NPR show so I assume it will be syndicated and will be available from your local radio station which carries such things.

[bertrand]

Yes, it's a Jazz Night presentation. I guess Wynton will be the first, and this will be second.

Bertrand.

[Mark Stryker]

Two footnotes:

1) I was interviewed for this broadcast re: Detroit jazz and the festival (audio and video).

2) Wayne's music is incredible. I wrote this about this set:

Trumpeter Wallace Roney's "To Miles, From Wayne," offered rare Wayne Shorter compositions written (but never played) in the late '60s for the Miles Davis Quintet and chamber orchestra. Shorter recently entrusted the long-lost scores to Roney, who teamed Sunday night with a 20-plus member ensemble drawn largely from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and anchored by the A-list bass-and-drum team of Buster Williams and Lenny White. New Yorker Bob Belden conducted the well-prepared ensemble.

The pieces — "The Legend," "Twin Dragons," "Universe" — were astounding in their formal detail, imaginative vision and emotional depth. Shorter's distinctive melodic fragments and harmonic shifts spread like ink in water through the woodwinds and brass. Roney weaved in and out of the textures like a boxer. The Hart Plaza amphitheater is not ideal for music of this delicacy, and nuances of the scoring were lost. But the huge audience was extraordinarily attentive — I've heard louder audiences at Orchestra Hall.

It was a shame that rain washed out the last 15 minutes of the program (two compositions). But bless Roney for championing this historic music and festival artistic director Chris Collins for having the vision to bring it to Detroit.

((Coda: The title of one of the works has been reported variously as "Twin Dragon" or "Twin Dragons." Bertrand/David: Do either of you know which is actually correct?))

Edited October 18, 2014 by Mark Stryker

[bertrand]

The exact title is 'Twin Dragon'.

The other two pieces not played due to rain are not by Wayne. One is an untitled unrecorded Gil Evans piece (I wish I had more details on that one) and a piece by Robert Irving III called 'Havilah'. They played them at the Jazz Standard in July 2013. It's a shame that residency was not recorded. Drummer Kush Abadey was on fire the night I saw them.

'Legend' is particularly fascinating because it incorporates snippets from other compositions that Wayne was working on at the time. So far I have heard 'Orbits', 'Dolores', 'Vonetta' and 'Sweet Pea'. I plan to study the broadcast for more. There was one recognizable bit in 'Universe' as well. Several people at the Jazz Standard thought it was 'Sanctuary', but I think it actually was from 'Condition Red' from the Phantom Navigator album (1987). Not necessarily an anachronism in light of Wayne's constant reshaping of his work. Interesting that the arrangement of 'Orbits' that appears on Alegria (also played at Lincoln Center in 1998) and that is radically different from the Miles Quintet version actually first appeared in 'Legend'. 'Twin Dragon' also hints at themes from Atlantis; more work is needed to pin that down.

I answered some questions for the broadcast as well - let's see how it turns out.

Here is a downbeat article on this project:

http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=2540

I have pdfs of two DB articles from 1967 discussing 'Legend'. Mark, PM me your e-mail and I will forward them to you.

Hopefully this broadcast will generate offers for performances of this music and ideally a recording. There is a lot of scholarly work that needs to be done to see how this music fits in to the canon of Wayne's work. It is amazing it took so long to be heard. I am happy that I was able to play a small role in making this happen. For anyone with contacts in the business, your input will be deeply appreciated.

Bertrand.

[bertrand]

Reminder - you can listen live on WBGO at 6PM EST.

Bertrand.

[bertrand]

Anyone else listening?

'Universe' is up first. The quote right at the beginning is definitely from 'Condition Red', not 'Sanctuary'.

Bertrand.

[bertrand]

'Universe' was just about 12 minutes. 'Condition Red' is the only quote as far as I can tell.

'Twin Dragon' is on next. Trying to figure out the connection to Atlantis - Wayne told me there was a connection.

Bertrand.

[bertrand]

'Twin Dragon' is around 9:30.

Bertrand.

[bertrand]

'Legend' is 14 minutes.

I hear 'Dolores' in the first minute, 'Orbits' in the second minute, 'Sweet Pea' in the third minute and 'Vonetta' around the 4-minute mark. 'Dolores' and 'Vonetta' come in again, right at the end.

Copyright dates are 3/1/67 for 'Orbits' and 'Dolores', 'Vonetta' 3/13/68 and 'Sweet Pea' 2/1/71. So in all cases, later than the recordings, and we know 'Legend' was written before May 1967. This does not really tell us which came first. I think these were all composed pretty much simultaneously.

Last quote at the end - Wayne saying his music is open to everyone for everyone to play, students etc. Interesting.

Looks like my input was not used at all. Just as well, I am a nobody.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's impressions.

Bertrand.

[Rooster_Ties]

Hoping to catch the video, or at least stream the audio after the fact. (Alas, Sunday's broadcast time didn't quite fit into what all was going on that day.)

[marcello]

I heard some of it, but I was driving in my car so maybe my lukewarm impression is skewed.

Then again, Roney isn't a favorite either so I'm maybe not the best candidate for a positive review in any case.

[bertrand]

Rooster, I think there is another broadcast on 10/22 at 6:30, then it goes to streaming.

Bertrand.

[Rooster_Ties]

Apparently there will also be a one-time video broadcast on 10/22 at 9PM:

http://www.npr.org/event/music/347721112/highlights-from-the-detroit-jazz-festival

Video is tonight, in about 4.5 hours or so. Hoping to catch some of this, if I get home in time from another evening event.

[Rooster_Ties]

T minus 10 minutes on the video...

[Rooster_Ties]

Looks like you can skip ahead in the video. The Wallace Roney part starts about 45:50 into the 75-minute stream.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Rooster_Ties

[bertrand]

Already on my second viewing! 'Universe' was not filmed due to rain.

[bertrand]

Dumb question from someone who is not a lawyer - could Wallace/Wayne get this particular recording released now if they worked with NPR and the musicians union? Of course, the musicians involved would have to be paid extra, but I imagine it would still be cheaper than reconvening everyone in the studio.

Is there anyone who could forbid this from happening even if they were to be compensated?

Bertrand.

[Rooster_Ties]

Wow, very impressive! Managed to somehow watch/stream the entire thing twice -- I guess I had the whole thing buffered, and managed to skip back to the beginning of the Roney part a second time (and watch the whole thing again), before I lost the connection.

I sure hope this material gets recorded properly and released officially, although I must say the sound quality of this live recording from Detroit was pretty fantastic (even better than I could have expeceted). I would have to think it was recorded multitrack, and then they adjusted the levels after the fact. If not, major kudos to whomever was doing sound/engineering the recording in realtime.

Recognized several themes and a couple vamps -- though nothing I could immediately ID by name.

[bertrand]

See post #10 for the recognizable themes.

I am on my third viewing. I assume I will be timed out at some point.

Bertrand.

[Michael Weiss]

This is what I caught:

3:30-3:36 Sanctuary morphing into

3:36-3:44 Condition Red

9:58 has a bass obstinate used at the beginning of Meridienne A Wood Sylph

20:09-20:40 Mahogany Bird

22:13-(22:20) - almost a touch of Orbits but not really - slowed down like on Alegria

40:05 Delores obviously

41:55-42:19 Swee' Pea

52:47-53:00 Sorcerer

[bertrand]

Apparently Wallace is in the studio with this project now. This is great news. Anyone have any more details?

Bertrand.

 

[bertrand]

So the CD may be coming out this year. There is a kickstarter out there, which may be for a documentary or both the CD and the documentary. Further research is needed.

Edited April 2, 2019 by bertrand

[bertrand]

I watched the documentary, not impressive. it is more about Wallace and Miles than the Wayne music. And of course, it is now a tribute to Wallace...