{"id":1799,"date":"2015-03-17T13:29:44","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T17:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2015-03-17T13:30:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T17:30:27","slug":"steve-lehman-and-cory-smythe-as-jazz-beyond-jazz-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2015\/03\/steve-lehman-and-cory-smythe-as-jazz-beyond-jazz-artists.html","title":{"rendered":"Steve Lehman and Cory Smythe as jazz-beyond-jazz artists"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Steve<\/a>

Cory Smythe, piano; Steve Lehman, sopranino saxophone; photo by Michael Jackson<\/p><\/div>\n

When saxophonist Steve Lehman performs, I try to hear him whatever the setting. His octet, concertizing in Philadelphia<\/a> for Ars Nova Workshop<\/a> Saturday, March 21, plays richly microtonal yet melodically entrancing and rhythmically propulsive, synchronized music — partaking\u00c2\u00a0of a concept called “spectralism<\/a>” — that brings to mind both\u00c2\u00a0Dolphy<\/a> and Messiaen<\/a>. In a sax-bass-drums trio, Lehman<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0, honored in 2014 with a Doris Duke Performing Artist fellowship, is the complete, compelling post-modernist. He has genuine\u00c2\u00a0affection for and comprehension\u00c2\u00a0of what’s been blown\u00c2\u00a0by Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz as well as Jackie McLean and Anthony Braxton.<\/p>\n

Lehman’s\u00c2\u00a0duet with pianist Cory Smythe<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0at Constellation<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0in Chicago on March 7 was unlike any Lehman concert or recording I’d heard before, including a playful yet serious exploration of his instruments’ sonic possibilities as\u00c2\u00a0just one aspect\u00c2\u00a0of several interactive spontaneous compositions. Each of the pair’s eight or ten separate pieces (who was counting?) incorporated immediate choices and reactions within specific, well-defined frameworks. Variety was something the duettists had thought hard about, resulting in penetrating entries into\u00c2\u00a0some refined concepts. I didn’t take notes, so now my details are a bit fuzzy. But —<\/p>\n

Some pieces\u00c2\u00a0included pre-created digital sounds triggered by one or the other of the musicians as separate projections or fields which either\/both responded to or at least took in to account, so the effect was like the ensemble being\u00c2\u00a0a trio or quartet. In others pieces, Lehman and Smythe started from\u00c2\u00a0acoustic precepts or properties, like SL blowing an alto sax\u00c2\u00a0with its\u00c2\u00a0mouthpiece off, both of them trading in extremely staccato phrases, CS continuously sweeping the keyboard as a starter or foundation for extrapolation. That Lehman is an exciting and\u00c2\u00a0technically virtuosic soloist in relatively straight-ahead jazz contexts — here he plays “Jeannine<\/a>” — was never far from my mind while listening to him, although no bebop or swing components were obvious in what he did. That Smythe, a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)<\/a> could\u00c2\u00a0create complex streams of simultaneously fresh and\u00c2\u00a0idiomatic\u00c2\u00a0piano music, maneuvering with considerable “freedom”\u00c2\u00a0but using a vocabulary completely devoid of blues references or inflections, surprised and impressed me.<\/p>\n

Both musicians spoke candidly about their work to the audience after the show, which was produced by the\u00c2\u00a0Illinois Humanities Council.<\/a> I pressed Smythe on his forays being derived so exclusively from Western European “classical” piano traditions, and he responded with modesty, “Dozens of pianists do that now.”<\/p>\n

“Dozens,” I asked. “Like who?”<\/p>\n

He\u00c2\u00a0offered some names — Craig Taborn<\/a>, for one — but in my recent listening, Smythe is unique. That is not to say that he, akin to\u00c2\u00a0Steve Lehman, does not have like-minded peers. But if they’re truly like-minded and actually peers, they must be every bit as well-educated and broadly informed, original and individualistic as Smythe and Lehman, those attributes\u00c2\u00a0being\u00c2\u00a0basic\u00c2\u00a0to their musical identities.
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When saxophonist Steve Lehman performs, I try to hear him whatever the setting. His octet, concertizing in Philadelphia for Ars Nova Workshop Saturday, March 21, plays richly microtonal yet melodically entrancing and rhythmically propulsive, synchronized music — partaking\u00c2\u00a0of a concept called “spectralism” — that brings to mind both\u00c2\u00a0Dolphy and Messiaen. In a sax-bass-drums trio, Lehman\u00c2\u00a0, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1800,"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-1799","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\/2015\/03\/Steve-Lehman-Cory-Smythe.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-t1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":869,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/04\/new-york-jazz-now-on-records-listen-and-be-wowed.html","url_meta":{"origin":1799,"position":0},"title":"New York jazz now, on records (listen and be wowed)","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"City Arts did post my column of record reviews so please read what I wrote about Henry Cole and the Afrobeat Collective, Steve Lehman Trio, Less Magnetic (on Facebook, or view their show below), Esperanza Spalding, Michael Bates (plays Shostakovich), and Wayne Escoffrey. Then, I urge you, check out samples\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/04\/new-york-jazz-now-on-records-listen-and-be-wowed.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/acrobat-bates4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1813,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2015\/04\/guggenheim-fellows-include-jazz-beyond-jazz-creators.html","url_meta":{"origin":1799,"position":1},"title":"Guggenheim fellows include jazz-beyond-jazz creators","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Four stellar jazz-beyond-jazz musicians -- orchestra composer-leader Darcy James Argue, trumpeter Etienne Charles, saxophonist Steve Lehman and scholar-composer\/improviser-electronics innovator-trombonist George E. Lewis, all practiced stretching the definition of \"jazz\"without breaking it\u00c2\u00a0-- have been\u00c2\u00a0named 2015 fellows of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, among 175 \"scholars, artists, and scientists [a]ppointed on the\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\/2015\/04\/etienne.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":312,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/04\/whats_in_a_jazz_award_1.html","url_meta":{"origin":1799,"position":2},"title":"What’s in a Jazz Award?","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Finalists for the 14th annual Jazz Awards presented by the Jazz Journalists Association are up at JJAJazzAwards.org. See and hear who critics like. These are our Pulitzer Prizes. There's a lot of excellence represented by 187 nominees in 41 categories of achievement in music-making and music documentation -- the JJA\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":1602,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2014\/04\/doris-duke-performing-artists-of-jazz-beyond-jazz.html","url_meta":{"origin":1799,"position":3},"title":"Doris Duke Performing Artists of jazz beyond jazz","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"All these honorees are jazz convention-challengers, if not outright game-changers","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2014\/04\/doris-duke-performing-artists-of-jazz-beyond-jazz.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/05\/comin_right_up_matt_miller_for.html","url_meta":{"origin":1799,"position":4},"title":"Comin’ right up — Matt Miller foresees jazz beyond jazz","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"May 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Recommendations by an emerging music journalist\/tenor sax player for convention-shattering musical events in New York City over the next week (May 16 - 22) . . .\u00c2\u00a0 Links give you a video taste of what you might here -- support live music!Friday, May 16 Sunny Murray transcended timekeeping as drummer\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":274,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/11\/best_beyond_jazz_recordings_of.html","url_meta":{"origin":1799,"position":5},"title":"Best beyond “jazz” CDs of 2009","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My 10 top CDs of 2009 blow past conventions to enrich jazz, blues, new and unusual music. They're chosen from almost 1000 I received for review -- an abundance of fine releases since November 2008, the full year following Barack Obama's election to president.Maybe it's coincidence that fresh thinking, spirited\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\/1799","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=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}