Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Dr. Professor and the Washington Family—June 25, 2008


by Jefferson Hansen


The first set was a full 90-minutes long. Tenor and Baritone saxophonist Donald Washington explored the lower ends of his instruments in order to create solos with a distinct groove and swing to them, while at the same time exploring outward. His wife, Faye Washington, played alto saxophone and flute solos often floating high over her husband's explorations, in what felt like moments of transcendental ecstasy. The Washington's son, Kevin, played drums and percussion. The second percussionist was the legendary Dr. Professor himself, Leonard King.

This was a concert organized by Leonard King that featured the Washington family and took place on June 12, 2008 at a South Minneapolis cultural center.

The interplay of the two drummers was so telepathic and full of so much bottom, I did not realize that there was no bass until a good 20 minutes into the show. 

Kevin Washington had a more Africa- based kit than did Leonard. He played bongos and so forth, in addition to a cymbal and bass drum. Leonard King is the snappiest drummer I have ever heard. The snars pop like hail, and he makes liberal use of the cymbals, creating (may I use this exclusively melodic term) glissando after glissando. And when the music gets most intense, Leonard's face brightened with an enormous smile, that stretched his mouth to its very limits.

That first 90-minute set, after a short, unaccompanied vocal by Faye, moved into an advanced bop feel, then into some bluesy feeling music. In the middle of the set, the four players broke into a vocal quartet. They rarely sang 'words', but instead conveyed feeling through moans, sounds, and boppish runs. Kevin Washington came up with some very interesting moments during this highly spiritual section.

The rich set seamlessly wound from blues, to Africanist percussion, to bop, to gospel, to dissonance and back again. Since I knew that Leonard had been writing some suites, I asked him if he had written the piece. He said, "We all did, just now."

What I had just heard was completely "free" jazz.

I am no novice to jazz or to free jazz. But I have never encountered free jazz in which the players paid such close attention to each other. I assumed that they were working from arrangements, but they were not. Where did this come from? These musicians, before moving to Minneapolis, had been playing together for decades in the Detroit area. They have come to know each others' habits and proclivities to such an extent that an arranger or composer is superfluous. They can arrange themselves, on the spot, freely.

Aside from the tightness of the group, its other standout characteristic was its ability to call on gospel, soul, and blues feel. Although there was some dissonance,  never have I encountered less dissonance in a free jazz context. This was the 'deepest' (if you will allow me the word) free jazz I have ever heard.


Donald and Faye Washington have chosen the humble life of educators and local musicians, in spite of their obvious ability to pursue music full time. The road, apparently, was not for them. For years, Donald has taught in the Minneapolis Public Schools. He has three albums out: Donald Washington and the New Day Blues Band: This Cat is Out; Donald Washington and the New Day Blues Band; — both of which feature his family —and a solo saxophone effort entitled Pictures From the Studio. Contact Electric Fetus record store in Minneapolis if you would like to purchase these recordings.

Leonard King has been a more active national and international jazz artist. Some of his latest efforts are with the Southpaw Isle Steelband. A more traditional jazz album is entitled Extending the Language, which features a trio that includes James Carter on saxophones and Gerard Gibbs on organ. Perhaps some of you are wondering if "James Carter" is the James Carter—one of the hottest jazz artists on the scene today and perhaps destined to be rated as one of the greatest reed players of all time. The answer is yes, indeed. Donald Washington during his years in Detroit was James Carter's mentor, and Leonard King also served as his teacher for a time. Now, Leonard is James' full-time drummer.

And the trio on Extending the Language  is the exact same trio that appears on two James Carter albums: Out of Nowhere and Live At Baker's Keyboard Lounge. King takes the same trio in different, more eclectic directions than does Carter.

You can find some of Leonard's cd's at CD Baby.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Publisher's Description of New Douglas Barbour & Sheila Murphy Book

"Douglas Barbour and Sheila E. Murphy extend their singular poetic vision of that elusive third I/eye in Continuations 2. The new lyric voice sustained (within) these labyrinthine verses does so by virtue of its authors' pitch perfect collaborative process. For ten years they have kept their song alive via email, pulsing jazz- like variations and haunting repetitions back and forth from Arizona to Alberta, all the while adhering to that taut stanza of six lines. Readers who admire Barbour and Murphy's past innovations, or any poetry that gracefully exceeds its reach, will enjoy Continuations 2."

University of Alberta Press
Michigan State University Press 
Continuations 2

Please contact me if interested in reviewing.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Growing up with the Music of Pat MacDonald


It was called the 'Inhuman Party', you know, one of those crazy things that happened in the late 70's. People camped out, tripped and listened to music for a weekend—this time at Maribel Caves, a supposedly haunted old hotel made out of limestone in rural Wisconsin. My high school buddy and I went down to hear the bluesman Luther Allison because, get this, we liked the way his bassist moved and grooved while he played. 

Kids. 

The party went wild, in just the right way. A guy named 'bigfoot' got up on the outdoor stage behind between bands and sang dirty jokes that clearly offended a woman in a bluegrass band. Luther Allison stood out back enjoying the music—bluegrass, folk, rock, blues, whatever—and tapping the toes  of his cowboy boots to the beat.

            what is the space of inhuman
            what is the space around inhuman
            what is the space inside inhuman
           
While we waited, the unexpected happened. They moved the party indoors because of rain, and the close quarters heated things up. We were introduced to Pat MacDonald and the Essentials, an impressive local group that played a sort of laid back but funky r & b. It was a singular sound. Half the place danced in sweaty, low-down abandon beneath a 10-foot rough; and my buddy and I could barely see the band through all the shaking bodies, many of whom were probably tripping and, as the party said, in quite an inhuman state.

Once the Pat MacDonald finished we needed to get home, so we missed Luther, the headliner of the festival, but that was okay. We had seen Pat, and our lives would be changed. My buddy got his record, and it quickly became a favorite of ours. We speculated on how big he could be if he lived in a larger media market. We kept seeing him over the years, always just with his wife Barbara and not with the Essentials. I missed the propulsion the full band gave him, but that was apparently not what he was looking for.

Around 1984 we were sitting in a bar waiting to hear Pat and his wife. They came out and had a mic-ed boom box on a bar stool. It was truly weird. Pat said that this was their first concert and they called themselves Timbuk 3. Barbara was one, he was two, and the boombox was three. He explained that since the drummer was always drunk and the bassist always stoned, they figured they would record those tracks themselves and play them through a boombox at concerts.

The story doesn't end there. A few months later, when I was in Chicago going to college, I pick up a newspaper only to see Pat and Barbara's faces on the entertainment section. They had scored a major hit with an anti-nuclear weapons song called "The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades." I remember hearing it that night at the bar. And the album did well, too. They were off and running.

And then they disappeared. It wasn't until 20 years later, when I subscribed to a music downloading service, that I on a whim looked up Pat MacDonald. And there he was, without Barbara. Still writing songs. But these were dark songs. Deep and unrelenting. About suicide. About killing an unfaithful spouse. About a sleazy guy trying to pick up a woman at a bar because "This Band Sucks." Sometimes he accompanied himself only with a woodblock, guitar and harmonica. And the guitar playing was something to behold: he rarely left the low chords.

Then he went deeper yet: to the Lowebow.

Story continued in a later post. In the first issue of Altered Scale, embedded you tube links to videos of MacDonald's current project, Purgatory Hill, will probably appear. 


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Altered Scale 1 will appear in April with Charles Bernstein, Nathaniel Mackey, Wang Ping, Habib Tengour, Maria Damon, Susan Schultz, Pierre Joris, Bruce Holsapple, Geoffrey Gatza, Otis Sparrow, Jim Feuss, Sheila Murphy, Ann Bogle, Mark Wallace, Marie Micheals, Grant Grays, Vernon Frazer, Greg Hewett, Chris Funkhouser, M.E. Parker, Sun Yung Shin, Sarah Fox, Gail Lukasik, Larissa Shmailo, Nick Piombino, Colin James, Michael Boughn, Nicole Peyrafitte,  Kalia Yang, Sara Brickner, Roberto Harrison, Elizabeth Burns, Heather Fuller, Steve Sharp, various rock, jazz, & progressive blues bands.

Unless we have already been in contact, submissions are now closed for this issue of Altered Scale. Submissions will open again in June 2012. As with any editor, I will choose how to order and arrange the pieces. I will do this work in a way to highlight the musicality of pieces by placing them in relation to others. This will be left implicit, and my editorial hand will be light.

I have an eclectic—I don't consider that a bad word—taste. I want to see work on any topic, not on music. 

Terrence Folz Reading From "Bunt Burke"

  Terrence Folz's chapbook  Bunt Burke will appear from The Circulatory Press in August 2021. The above film features him reading some o...