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Howard Mandel's Urban Improvisation

Colbert’s tin ear

October 10, 2008 by Howard Mandel

Steven Colbert plays a pointed dance on the funny-bone, but misled his “nation” unintentionally at least once  last night in the segment “Who’s Not Honoring Me Now.” At 12 minutes into the show, he sniffed at the MacArthur Foundation’s award of a $500,000 fellowship to saxophonist Miguel Zenon, tongue-in-cheeking “Never give money to a jazz musician — they’ll just blow it on heroin and berets.” 

Then he listened to a moment of Zenon’s mellifluous style, boppin’ along to it. But: “It’s not genius level jazz if it sounds like music,” Colbert went on; “Ask Pulitzer Prize-winning saxophonist Ornette Coleman.” Ten seconds of Ornette, from his Pulitzer-Prize winning album Sound Grammar. “God, that’s unbearable. Ergo, it must be ‘good.'”
Slight correction: the “unbearable” excerpt featured Ornette playing violin, which even for fans of jazz beyond jazz can be an acquired taste. That’s okay, we know the truth, as opposed to the truthiness, of this bit. Colbert loves jazz — enough to make fun of it. 

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Filed Under: main Tagged With: MacArthur Foundation, Miguel Zenon, Ornette Coleman, Steven Colbert

Comments

  1. Herb Levy says

    October 11, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Hi Howard,
    I don’t recall if you noted the Colbert piece when John Zorn got a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006 (or if this blog was even up and running then), but that’s worth a look too:
    http://tinyurl.com/4vtm3c
    HM: Hi Herb — I remember Zorn ridiculed on Colbert (no my blog wasn’t running then). Zorn is extremely sensitive to criticism and indeed ANY public comment, and he did come off looking, uh, unique as he is. But how many Colbert viewers would ever have heard a moment of Zorn without that exposure? Too bad there is no American media exposure that treats avant-garde musics as suitable for genuine exploration.

  2. ries says

    October 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    As someone who loves BOTH Zorn and Colbert,
    (and, of course, Coleman too, that goes without saying- in fact, Science Fiction is one of my favorites- and it has lotsa that violin)
    I have to say the whole POINT of Colbert’s show is to mislead the nation.
    Thats why its funny.
    HM: Right you are.

  3. Jorge says

    October 15, 2008 at 1:14 am

    Hello Howard,
    Could you please post the name of the Coleman’s song sampled for that sketch?
    HM: Jorge, I’ll try to identify it precisely , but that’s going to take me a bit of time — an unscheduled listen! Maybe later this afternoon I can work it in. I wanted to post your comment right away.

Howard Mandel

I'm a Chicago-born (and after 32 years in NYC, recently repatriated) writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and nascent videographer -- a veteran freelance journalist working on newspapers, magazines and websites, appearing on tv and radio, teaching at New York University and elsewhere, consulting on media, publishing and jazz-related issues. I'm president of the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit membership organization devoted to using all media to disseminate news and views about all kinds of jazz.
My books are Future Jazz (Oxford U Press, 1999) and Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz (Routledge, 2008). I was general editor of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Flame Tree 2005/Billboard Books 2006). Of course I'm working on something new. . . Read More…

About Jazz Beyond Jazz

What if there's more to jazz than you suppose? What if jazz demolishes suppositions and breaks all bounds? What if jazz - and the jazz beyond, behind, under and around jazz - could enrich your life? What if jazz is the subtle, insightful, stylish, … [Read More...]

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