A Rifftides reader wrote to say that he did not understand drummer Nick Martinis’s quote in Charlie Shoemake’s anecdote about swinging or not swinging. Martinis said to his bandmates…..”Well cats, do we swing tonight or do we hide ‘one’?” Perhaps there are other readers who don’t get it. Here’s an oversimplified explanation.
“One” is the first beat of the measure. A leader is likely to begin counting off in half time–“One, two,” then double the time to the tempo he wants–“One, two, three, four…”
If “one'” is not expressed–if it is hidden–the band, and quite likely the audience, will be in a rhythmic no-man’s land. Some musicians who adventure on the edges of jazz, beyond the traditional concept of swing, want to be free of what they consider the tyranny of steady time. Others feel that the rhythmic quality we have come to call swing is at the heart of jazz, that “one” is essential.
Among those who believed strongly in the importance of “one” was Gerry Mulligan. Trumpeter John McNeil’s new CD East Coast Cool is influenced by Mulligan, yet McNeil takes liberties with time. He also swings, demonstrating that both things are possible and underlining the warning that my explanation of “one” is oversimplified. After my Rifftides review of the album, McNeil sent a message that included a quote indicating that Mulligan thought jazz that abandons the imperative to swing is an indulgence of interest mainly to the insiders who play it.
I hope Mulligan is smiling somewhere, but he’s probably saying “That cross-the bar hide-the-one shit is just for other cats–nobody else digs it.” (an actual quote) He’d like the sonorities and the counter lines, though.
Apropos of little but proof that McNeil’s turn of mind is as wry as his turns of time are tricky, here’s his latest e-mail gig alert:
Sunday, October 1st
Night and Day Restaurant and Jazz Room
presents the
John McNeil/Bill McHenry Quartet
Applying a cool, damp washcloth of jazz to the fevered brow of Brooklyn’s cultural elite since 2006.
Featuring the music of Russ Freeman, Denzil Best,
Wilbur Harden and a host of other neglected composers.
John McNeil — trumpet
Bill McHenry — tenor
Chris Lightcap — bass
Jochen Rueckert — drums
This week’s intermission pianist — Dred Scott
“I’d really love to go hunting with these guys…” — Dick Cheney
8:30 — 11:00
230 Fifth Avenue (at President) Park Slope, Brooklyn
(718) 399 – 2161 www.nightanddayrestaurant.com/
If I lived in Brooklyn or nearby and didn’t have all this painting to do, I’d be there.