{"id":376,"date":"2011-01-29T13:38:30","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T18:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/2011\/01\/jazz-beyond-rock_addressing_to\/"},"modified":"2019-09-13T12:15:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T16:15:38","slug":"jazz-beyond-rock_addressing_to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/01\/jazz-beyond-rock_addressing_to.html","title":{"rendered":"Jazz-beyond-rock: Tony Williams addressing today&#8217;s emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Spectrum Road &#8212; electric guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Jack Bruce, keyboardist John Medeski and drummer Cindy Blackman &#8212; playing high energy, high volume music at the Blue Note (NYC) this weekend\u00c2\u00a0inspired by the jazz-rock amalgam the late, great <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Spectrum-Anthology-Tony-Williams-Lifetime\/dp\/B000WOR4XA\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Tony Williams\u00c2\u00a0created 40 years ago<\/a>, seems utterly cutting edge. Or is it just my old ears, getting deaf to quieter subtleties?<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nOpening night the quartet was over-the-top exciting, as Reid&#8217;s fast-fingering of long and urgent phrases, Bruce&#8217;s unfalteringly creative and propulsive bottom lines (he&#8217;s the guy who kept Cream&#8217;s long jams like the 16-minute &#8220;Spoonful&#8221; from bogging down), Medeski&#8217;s swirling, splashing organ-and-synth physicality and Blackman&#8217;s ferocious full-on attack cohered into a huge sound with a single intent: improv intense enough for headbangers, bluesy but harmonically exploratory enough to satisfy avant-jazzers.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LJ9i1yAF6M4\" width=\"425\" height=\"349\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>These musicians have plenty of cred in this vein, incidentally:\u00c2\u00a0Reid most famously in<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Vivid-Living-Colour\/dp\/B00136JP7Y\/?tag=howardmacom-20\"><i> Living Colour<\/i><\/a>, Bruce forever known for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Disraeli-Gears-Cream\/dp\/B0000067L2\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Cream<\/a>, Blackman in Lenny Kravitz&#8217;s band as well as leading her own projects like last year&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0037C0TOA\/sr=1-1\/qid=1296343127\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Another Lifetime<\/a>, Medeski the first up in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Uninvisible\/dp\/B000TENKJ0\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Medeski, Martin &amp; Wood<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The full house for the first set was obviously appreciative, getting just what it had come despite a snowstorm to hear: the free-flowing, unmuted sound Williams\u00c2\u00a0(1945 &#8211; 1997)\u00c2\u00a0introduced with his trio Lifetime on <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Emergency\/dp\/B000W02N12\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Emergency!<\/a><\/i>, a two-lp set released in 1969 which broke open heated-debated back then\u00c2\u00a0about what jazz, rock and soul could\/should be. This crowd looked of the age to remember that, old enough to have lived through it the first time around.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Experiments in crossover were already occuring then. Among those leading the charge: flutist Jeremy Steig and his Satyrs; the Free Spirits with guitarist Larry Coryell, saxophonist Jim Pepper and drummer Bob Moses; the Blues Project; Paul Butterfield&#8217;s Blues Band; Blood, Sweat and Tears under the direction of Al Kooper, and Miles Davis, Tony Williams&#8217; boss (Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix, too).\u00c2\u00a0Miles had not yet had his breakthrough with <i>Bitches Brew<\/i> &#8212; in fact, Williams left the trumpeter, who&#8217;d been his mentor, before then, because Davis had cast guitarist John McLaughlin, whom Williams had brought from England to be in Lifetime, for <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/In-A-Silent-Way\/dp\/B00136Q6D0\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">In A Silent Way<\/a>. <\/i>As if Miles could steal Williams&#8217; thunder!<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><i><\/i>Williams provided only a tight, sizzling drum figure to IASW<i>. <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: normal;\">He cut loose entirely on <\/span>Emergency!<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: normal;\">\u00c2\u00a0with McLaughlin and organist Larry Young, as well as on its follow-up\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mt-image-right\" style=\"float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/tonywilliams.jpg\" alt=\"tonywilliams.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"497\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">from left &#8211; Larry Young, Tony Williams, John McLaughlin. promotional photo &#8211; no copyright infringement intended<\/p><\/div>\n<p><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Turn-It-Over\/dp\/B000VZXAKG\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Turn It Over<\/a><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: normal;\"> (Jack Bruce\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/i>joining to make Lifetime a quartet) and <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ego\/dp\/B000VZYY06\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Ego<\/a> <\/i>(different personnel), before getting swamped by who-knows-what for Lifetime&#8217;s least successful outing,\u00c2\u00a0<i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bums-Rush-Tony-Lifetime-Williams\/dp\/B0006TPFLO\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">The Old Bum&#8217;s Rush<\/a><\/i>. None of these records were admired by the old-guard jazz fans of the early &#8217;70s who mostly ruled the critical roost, but that didn&#8217;t stop Williams&#8217; cohort &#8212; kids 25 and younger, who were open to psychedelia as well as jazz, from eating them up. Lifetime <i>rocked<\/i>. Oh yeah &#8212; Williams took a lot of heat for his wimpy vocals, but as sung by Bruce (&#8220;There Comes a Time&#8221;) especially, and Blackman (&#8220;Where&#8221;), the lyrics and songs are just fine.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I liked Lifetime&#8217;s maximallism then, and I like such sophisticated power-ups now. What&#8217;s the point of having a lot of amplifiers onstage if not to let us hear what a musician can do with all that gear? Bands such as McLaughlin&#8217;s Mahavishnu Orchestra, Santana (Cindy Blackman is now Mrs. Carlos Santana), organist Young (aka Khalid Yasim)&#8217;s Fuel that recorded <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Spaceball-Mlps-Larry-Youngs-Fuel\/dp\/B000BV7T8Y\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Spaceball<\/a><\/i>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Spotlight-Clear-Spot-Captain-Beefheart\/dp\/B000005JB4\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Captain Beefheart&#8217;s Magic Band<\/a> and even the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Grateful-Dead-Skull-Roses\/dp\/B00007LTIM\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Grateful Dead<\/a> were explosive but also went for substance and believed in what they were doing. Not just noisy for noise&#8217;s sake, they matched the ebullience, perhaps idealism, and, ok, bombast of their followers and gave us some serious music to hold onto. Like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/01\/prince_plays_the_blues_-_choco.html\">Prince says<\/a>, they featured &#8220;real music by real musicians.&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0Same with Spectrum Road (named for a Williams composition).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Is such jazz-rock fusion dated now? To me, it seems right on time to <s>blow the lid off<\/s>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 balance a strain of jazz-referencing music that favors studied but too often empty virtuosity, pretentiously abstract and precious conceptualization, rather than grit and juice, confrontation and resolution. Biting, funky fusion is also bait with which to reel in adventurous listeners who want more than repetitious beats over sing-song chord progressions. When jazz is typified as &#8220;parents&#8217; music&#8221; or thought to have died after a fabled golden age, Spectrum Road, its constituent members and many colleagues prove that&#8217;s a lie.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Forty years is a long time in this culture for a style, movement, repertoire to survive. That jazz and rock, blues, roots, salsa, soul have all mixed themselves up and remain fervently alive at a time when so much else in the world of entertainment is glitzy yet conventional, \u00c2\u00a0virtual and mediated speaks well for the American soundscape. Now, as in the &#8217;60s and &#8217;70s, we have an emergency! Thanks to Spectrum Road for looking ahead while recalling the not-so-distant past, for clearing cobwebs off works and, moreover, an approach that are as vital today as decades ago. Reid, Bruce, Medeski and Blackman play hard, smart, loud, proud, fun, strong, open-ended music. Listen.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>[ps. &#8212; Prior to <i>Emergency!<\/i>, Tony Williams recorded a beautifully mysterious,\u00c2\u00a0airy, acoustic album titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Life-Time-Tony-Williams\/dp\/B00000IWVR\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Life Time<\/a> for Blue Note Records. After 1975, Williams reformed Lifetime with guitarist Alan Holdsworth, keyboardist Allan Pasqua and bassist Tony Newton, for two albums I&#8217;ve never cottoned to, as they feature a lighter if still &#8220;progressive&#8221; sound:\u00c2\u00a0<i>Believe It<\/i> and<i> Million Dollar Legs<\/i>, which \u00c2\u00a0have been reissued as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Lifetime-Collection-Tony-Williams\/dp\/B0012GMY1O\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Lifetime: The Collection<\/a>. After 1985, though he still found time to drum for Public Image Ltd. and Bill Laswell projects, Williams\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0concentrated on composition studies and recorded several solid albums with a relatively more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Mosaic-Select-Tony-Williams\/dp\/B000OCY68G\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">straightahead jazz quintet<\/a>, which have been reissued by Mosaic. Williams was a brilliant drummer in every context &#8212; all his performances on &#8217;60s Blue Note albums and with Miles&#8217; quintet with Ron Carter, Her<br \/>\nbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter make for fine listening. But for the still generative big bang of jazz-rock, I recommend <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Spectrum-Anthology-Tony-Williams-Lifetime\/dp\/B000WOR4XA\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Spectrum &#8211; Anthology<\/a>. which has most of the best of <i>Emergency<\/i>!, <i>Turn It Over<\/i>, <i>Ego<\/i> and <i>The Old Bum&#8217;s Rush<\/i>].<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.howardmandel.com\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">howardmandel.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedburner.com\/fb\/a\/emailverifySubmit?feedId=1102712&amp;loc=en_US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Subscribe by Email <\/a> |<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/JazzBeyondJazz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Subscribe by RSS<\/a> |<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Follow on Twitter <\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/archives.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> All JBJ posts <\/a> |<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/w.sharethis.com\/widget\/?tabs=web%2Cpost%2Cemail&amp;charset=utf-8&amp;style=default&amp;publisher=6ed88875-2235-4b29-aaa3-60183b0bcbcc\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spectrum Road &#8212; electric guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Jack Bruce, keyboardist John Medeski and drummer Cindy Blackman &#8212; playing high energy, high volume music at the Blue Note (NYC) this weekend\u00c2\u00a0inspired by the jazz-rock amalgam the late, great Tony Williams\u00c2\u00a0created 40 years ago, seems utterly cutting edge. Or is it just my old ears, getting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":[1141,852,1138,1137,1140,252,757,1139,1136,196,1130,1112,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"tag-blue-note-nyc","8":"tag-cindy-blackman","9":"tag-cream","10":"tag-emergency","11":"tag-jack-bruce","12":"tag-john-mclaughlin","13":"tag-john-medeski","14":"tag-larry-young","15":"tag-lifetime","16":"tag-miles-davis","17":"tag-prince","18":"tag-tony-williams","19":"tag-vernon-reid","20":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-64","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":364,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/01\/big_fun_news_santana_weds_blac.html","url_meta":{"origin":376,"position":0},"title":"Big fun news: Santana weds Blackman, Herbie &#038; Wayne play","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The rare notable jazz wedding\u00c2\u00a0to celebrate: Beyond-jazz, rock & Latin guitarist Carlos Santana\u00c2\u00a0to drummer\u00c2\u00a0Cindy Blackman,\u00c2\u00a0who's had a great recording year, issuing Another Lifetime,\u00c2\u00a0her smashing tribute to the late Tony Williams) and driving\u00c2\u00a0Organ Monk, Greg Lewis's trio album that made my top 10. Santana's best albums after the first one always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"nicer couple.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/nicer%20couple.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1004,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/08\/first-impressions-on-new-jazzbluesimprov-releases.html","url_meta":{"origin":376,"position":1},"title":"First impressions on new jazz\/blues\/improv releases","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Away for a week, upon my return I'm looking at 30 new releases, a surprising number for late August. Of course they've been pouring in all summer -- this has been an extraordinary season for the issue of ambitious new projects by young artists and veterans both. Here are some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","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\/2012\/08\/holdmymule_front_norm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":777,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/01\/organ-monk-weds-funk-thelonious-soul-and-smarts.html","url_meta":{"origin":376,"position":2},"title":"&#8220;Organ Monk&#8221; weds funk &#038; Thelonious, soul and smarts","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Organist Greg Lewis, wearing a monk's robe, plus guitarist Ron Jackson and drummer Damion Reid, tore up with full\u00c2\u00a0respect the knotty compositions of the\u00c2\u00a0late great Thelonious Monk\u00c2\u00a0last night at 55 Bar in Greenwich Village. About a dozen people heard them over a 90 minute period (they played a full set,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jeremy Clemons, drums; Greg Lewis, organ. Artist provided photo, credit sought, no copyright infringement intended","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/greg-lewis.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/12\/2012-top-jazz-beyond-jazz-recordings.html","url_meta":{"origin":376,"position":3},"title":"2012 Top Jazz Beyond Jazz recordings","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"December 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Checking out new recordings is the motivation of much jazz journalism, though at top-10 time having so much new stuff can be a bedevilment, if not a curse. Here's a baker's dozen of my favorites from among the 11-some-hundred sent by record labels, publicists and, increasingly, the artists themselves.\u00c2\u00a0They reward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"cds","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/cds.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":321,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/06\/yesteryears_jazz-beyond-jazz_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":376,"position":4},"title":"Miles&#8217; beyond jazz, today and tomorrow","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"June 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Miles Davis is still at it -- in Prospect Park, the Highline Ballroom, (le) Poisson Rouge, Carefusion Jazz Festival's Carnegie Hall concerts, also overflowing the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts,\u00c2\u00a0as per\u00c2\u00a0my City Arts - New York\u00c2\u00a0column and enriching the glorious Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (June 25 - July\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thumbnail image for images.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2010\/03\/images-thumb-106x125-13689.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":307,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/03\/smooth_jazz_vs_hard_jazz_in_ti.html","url_meta":{"origin":376,"position":5},"title":"Smooth jazz vs. hard jazz in Times Square","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Spyro Gyra, Al Jarreau, Tuck and Patti (pleasant entertainment for nice people) at Nokia Theatre -- or New England Conservatory's jazz gala (serious improv from jam band keybrdist John Medeski, singer Dominique Eade, et at.) at B.B. King's? My new City Arts\u00a0column\u00a0explores jazz polarities in NYC this weekend. Something for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","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\/376","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=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}