{"id":1011,"date":"2012-08-26T19:09:13","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T23:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1011"},"modified":"2012-08-26T19:48:33","modified_gmt":"2012-08-26T23:48:33","slug":"charlie-parker-would-be-proud-of-20th-anniversary-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/08\/charlie-parker-would-be-proud-of-20th-anniversary-fest.html","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Parker would be proud of 20th anniversary fest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Roy Haynes, light on his feet at age 87
photo by JSchumacher<\/p><\/div>\n

The immortal Charlie Parker<\/a> — the dazzling alto saxophonist who helped raise jazz to an abstract art form and embodied “hip” as a person experienced, perceptive, hedonistic, aware of the contradictions — would have dug the 20th anniversary Charlie Parker Jazz Festival held in Marcus Garvey Park,\u00c2\u00a0Harlem, Manhattan, New York City yesterday. His old buddy Roy Haynes, now 87 (Bird died age 35 in 1955), wearing a sharp cut, creamy white satin (?) \u00c2\u00a0suit, tap-danced, jested and flirted with the audience, but best of all played trap drums deftly and dramatically in solo and accompaniment of his fervent young quartet.<\/p>\n

Couples danced — for real, close and meaning it, with some of surviving original Lindy Hoppers undeterred by Haynes’ off-kilter yet always in-tempo drumalog. Listeners soaked up Haynes and his Fountain of Youth band<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0— impassioned altoist Jaleel Shaw, imaginative pianist Martin\u00c2\u00a0Bejarano, flexible bassist David Wong — playing Monk (I think it was “Jackie-ing”), Metheny (“James”), “Autumn in New York,” a Bird melody, another ballad. . . Nothing rote. I’m lucky — get to hear them again Friday night at the Chicago Jazz Festival.<\/a><\/p>\n

Though Haynes is originally from Roxbury in Boston, the pleasant bandshell at Marcus Garvey Park was full of his real hometown crowd: Lifelong jazz devotees, sophisticated urbanites, the majority African-Americans, and about 3\/4s, I’d guess, ages 45 and up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Charlie Parker Festival audience, Marcus Garvey Park, 8\/25\/2012 –\u00c2\u00a0photo by JSchumacher<\/p><\/div>\n

Not that we’re the last of the breed. Relative youngsters onstage included electric bassist Derrick Hodge with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and a tight, hard-syncopating drummer (sorry, missed his name — maybe Chris Daves?); underwhelming though loud drummer Jamire Williams, whose band Erimaj was vastly improved when pianist Jason Moran sat in on Fender Rhodes, offering a lesson to band pianist Kris Bowers, for a tune; and singer Rene Marie’s response give with the excellent, underplaying drummer Quentin Baxter.<\/p>\n

As there are rising players in their 20s, there are jazz journalists of that age (I saw reporter\/blogger Matt Kassel<\/a>, writer\/blogger\/ethnomusicologist Alex Rodriguez<\/a>, Gio Russonello of the D.C. website Capital Bop<\/a> and Emilie Pons<\/a>, as well as Jazz Times’ publisher Lee Mergener, Laurence Donohue-Greene of the New York City Jazz Record<\/a> and Jo Ann Cheatham (publisher Pure Jazz Magazine<\/a>, Brooklyn), and at least some of the presenters are young (Mehgan Stabile of Revive Music Group<\/a> collaborated on this CP fest with the City Parks Foundation<\/a>, which also produces Summerstage). So where are the Gen Next fans?<\/p>\n

I’ll give Rene Marie high marks for insisting in “This For Joe” that she not be compared to “Ella or Sarah, magnolia’s don’t stay in this hair\/That was then, this is now\/I’m right here, they’re somewhere up there . . . ” but I take a couple away for her dis (in the same song? Not as recorded) of critics, asking what kind of preparation they’ve done, how many of us have been onstage — as if actually performing is the necessary background to understanding some expanse of the jazz world, then writing or broadcasting or photographing or videographing or all of that informed and well-disseminated news of new and older artists, trends in music and its changing landscape. Sadly, the CP fest audience jeered at the crits\u00c2\u00a0right along with Marie (whose received a lot of good reviews, deservedly), which made it slightly uncomfortable for me to go up to the mike thereafter and present Roy Haynes with his seventh Drummer of the Year Award<\/a> from the Jazz Journalists Association, of which I’m president.<\/p>\n

I didn’t take the the slingsshots too seriously and neither did anyone else. No tomatoes were thrown. Someone even asked for me business card, admitting to be a jazz blogger. “Yes, that counts!” I told him. Seemed like most everyone knew I was there to enjoy jazz \u00c2\u00a0in the moment, as Charlie Parker intended, and would put out the good word, my preferred sort of coverage.<\/p>\n

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The immortal Charlie Parker — the dazzling alto saxophonist who helped raise jazz to an abstract art form and embodied “hip” as a person experienced, perceptive, hedonistic, aware of the contradictions — would have dug the 20th anniversary Charlie Parker Jazz Festival held in Marcus Garvey Park,\u00c2\u00a0Harlem, Manhattan, New York City yesterday. His old buddy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7866484528_6912230568_z1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-gj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":998,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/08\/celebrate-charlie-parker-with-me-and-roy-haynes.html","url_meta":{"origin":1011,"position":0},"title":"Celebrate Charlie Parker with Roy Haynes and me","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The NYC\u00c2\u00a0Charlie Parker Jazz Festival\u00c2\u00a0began 20 years ago and returns starting Aug. 17 with a week of activities leading up to free concerts Aug. 24 - 36 in Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, and Tompkins Square Park, East Village. I will present headliner Roy Haynes with his \"Drummer of the Year\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":513,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/08\/virtual-charlie-parker-jazz-fest-online-video.html","url_meta":{"origin":1011,"position":1},"title":"Virtual Charlie Parker jazz fest (online video)","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Fearing Hurricane Irene, New York City has suspended public transportation and cancelled everything -- but not my\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0online video Charlie Parker Jazz fest, a humble audio\/video standin for the live sets scheduled but not-to-be in Harlem and the East Village, Saturday and Sunday, Aug 27-28. Monday, Aug. 29 is the 91st\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":516,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/08\/online-video-charlie-parker-jazz-fest-day-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":1011,"position":2},"title":"Online video Charlie Parker Jazz Fest, day 2","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Hurricane Irene wiped out both days of NYC's annual Charlie Parker Jazz Fest -- but not the show of Archie Shepp, Anat Cohen, Gerald Clayton and Madeleine Peyroux available via YouTube. Here's a dry, speculative approximation of what we missed (see yesterday's post for the virtual fest with Toots Thielemans,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/chepp.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":343,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/jazz_elders_cast_giant_shadows.html","url_meta":{"origin":1011,"position":3},"title":"Jazz elders cast giant shadows","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Why isn't the amazing current generation of creative (jazz) musicians better known? Maybe because major artists of the not-so-distant past are practicing the art form at splendid peaks, overturning clich\u00c3\u00a9s about dwindling powers of octogenarians. Read my column in City Arts New York for a report that touches on Sonny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"muhal.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2010\/09\/muhal-thumb-275x183-17303.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":449,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/08\/how-madeleine-peyroux-is-not-charlie-parker.html","url_meta":{"origin":1011,"position":4},"title":"How Madeleine Peyroux is not Charlie Parker","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"What does folkie chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux have to do with Charlie Parker, the alto saxophonist who has defined the past 60 years of vernacular instrumental improvisation, namesake of a two-day fest that's NYC's final free summer fling? Everything (not quite) is revealed in my new CityArts column . . .\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/charlie-parker.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":406,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/07\/symphonic_jazz_compositions_bi.html","url_meta":{"origin":1011,"position":5},"title":"Symphonic “jazz” compositions, big bands and holiday blasts","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"July 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The American Composers Orchestra readings of short symphonic works by jazz-oriented composers which I wrote of in my CityArts column and posted about here are now available to hear, thanks to Lara Pelligrinelli at NPR's A Blog Supreme. The 23rd annual BMI\/New York Jazz Orchestra concert, featuring \"New Works for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}