The question is no doubt as old as artistic expression. Imagine a viewer of the first paleolithic paintings in the Great Hall of the Bulls in the Cave of Lascaux:

Well, of course Zog is brilliant, but have you seen how he drags his mate around by her hair? It’s hard to see how such a rotten guy can make those beautiful pictures.

Can you hate Wagner’s Teutonic superman beliefs and love “Siegfried Idyll,” abhor Ezra Pound’s fascist propaganda and admire The Cantos, be appalled by Stan Getz’s gratuitous cruelty and be enchanted by his ballads?
The Rifftides item about a video performance by the Israeli saxophonist and political polemicist Gilad Atzmon prompted Marc Edelman, the proprietor of Sharp Nine Records, to send a communique raising the ancient conundrum of disjunction between art and its maker and accusing me of (yikes!) equanimity:

If you’re interested in getting a better idea of what’s been coming out of Gilad Atzmon’s mouth when he doesn’t have a saxophone stuck in it, you might want to check out fellow blogger David Adler. David is a knowledgeable writer on music (and a guitarist, as well) and politically is one of the most reasonable people I’ve come across on the web. A secular, left-of-center Jew – and not shy in the least about criticizing Israel – he does not share your equanimity about Atzmon’s pronouncements. Here’s a link to start – and you can follow the embedded links as well.

Atzmon’s web site includes a section entitled “Politics,” in which he discusses his controversial beliefs about Israel and Palestine. If you Google his name, you will find plenty of disagreement with his accusations against his native Israel.
David Adler edits Jazz Notes, the journal of the Jazz Journalists Association, and writes about music for a number of other publications. Sharp Nine is the label of Joe Locke, David Hazeltine, Dena DeRose, Brian Lynch, and the cooperative group One For All, among others.

Back home after a warm, sunny nine-day Christmas visit with our son at his house on a Southern California beach, I cleared a path through the snow to reach the house. We rested a day, then piled into the car. Today, we drove south, crossed the mighty Columbia River, rendezvoused for lunch in Oregon with a cousin I hadn’t seen in twenty years, then drove the hundred miles back. It was all terrific, but that’s enough travel for a while, thank you. I am making my way through the accumlated letters, packages, e-mail and telephone messages. If your correspondence is among them, you’ll have a reply next year.
A happy 2007 to all.

Gilad Atzmon, the fiery Israeli multi-instrumentalist, is sometimes identified as a purveyor of world music when he is not being attacked or praised for political activity that involves aggressive criticism of Israeli policies. Neither of those facets of his existence is involved in a video clip called to our attention by Rifftides reader Don Emanuel, who posted it on YouTube.
Here, Atzmon is a stunning post-bop alto saxophonist with a profound appreciation of John Coltrane. Listen to his occasional variations on the main theme from Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” in this live peformance.

There are two types of people — those who come into a room and say, “Well, here I am!” and those who come in and say, “Ah, there you are.”

— Frederick L. Collins, author (1882-1950)

Mark Stryker, the music critic for the Detroit Free Press, writes:

I really appreciated your post about David Berger – a gifted and underrated musician. Now, guess where he lives – on a street on the Upper West Side named “Duke Ellington Boulevard.” It’s really 106th Street, but it’s also named for Ellington. Berger didn’t know this when a real estate agent showed him the apartment. He called his girlfriend at the time and she said, “Take it. It’s an omen.” The relationship didn’t last but, as I once put it in a story, perhaps too obviously, Ellington’s music remains Berger’s mistress.
Something else I remember Berger telling me. When he was a teenager, he used to go hear the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band every week at the Vanguard. Thad was his idol and mentor. One night in the late ’60s he was in the kitchen when some Ellington veterans came in to say hello. (I think one was Jimmy Hamilton). After they left, Thad says to Berger, “Duke Ellington – greatest band in the world. ” Berger protested: “But your band’s the greatest!” And Thad says, “No, no, no. My band’s not one-tenth of what Duke Ellington and Count Basie are.”
I think Thad was selling himself a bit short, but I know what he meant.

In the right-hand column, you will find a new set of Doug’s Picks, none having to do with Christmas or Hanukah but satisfying for holiday listening, viewing or reading. Enjoy.

David Berger, leader of the Sultans of Swing, is an esteemed arranger who might be called a Duke Ellington specialist except that he is expert in all areas of big band jazz. He created The Harlem Nutcracker, incorporating new arrangements of Tchaikovsky pieces that Ellington and Billy Strayhorn didn’t get around to in their Nutcracker suite. For the Essentially Ellington project of Jazz At Lincoln Center, Berger wrote a set of guidelines for the playing of Ellington’s music. They cover the esoteric–“Blues inflection should permeate all parts at all times, not just when these opportunities occur in the lead.”–to the practical: “the notation of plungers for the brass means a rubber toilet plunger bought in a hardware store.”
The paper has eighteen sections and a glossary. Here are sample passages.
From # 4:

In Ellington’s music, each player should express the individuality of his own line. He must find a musical balance of supporting and following the section leader and bringing out the character of the underpart. Each player should be encouraged to express his or her personality through the music.

From # 13:

This is acoustic music. Keep amplification to an absolute minimum; in the best halls, almost no amplification should be necessary. Everyone needs to develop a big sound. It is the conductor’s job to balance the band.
The bass should not be as loud as a trumpet. That is unnatural and leads to over-amplification, bad tone and limited dynamics. Stay away from monitors. They provide a false sense of balance.

God bless you, David Berger. May every engineer indoctrinated in rock and roll amplification be forced to memorize and swear to uphold # 13. However, I must point out that jazz is not always played in the best halls and that it is possible for an engineer with ears undeafened by years of exposure to rock, and with sensitivity to music, to discreetly enhance the balance and mix of a band, even to provide monitoring that helps soloists hear the rhythm section. Rarely, though, can he correct for drummers who play too loud or bassists with amplifiers as powerful as radio stations.
Although Berger’s paper is intended for musicians who play Ellington scores, it uses little technical jargon and has value for listeners who may posess no formal knowledge of music. To read all of Berger’s guidelines, go here. Keep them in mind next time you listen to a big band play Ellington, or anything else, and see if they help sharpen your hearing.
If you would like to know more about David Berger, read his biography by going here.
Thanks to Agustín Pérez Gasco, a musicologist in Madrid, Spain, for calling Berger’s paper to my attention by way of a message to a group of jazz researchers.

Rifftides reader Jim Sofra writes:

Excellent topic, enjoyed it immensely!
We were recently listening to ‘Nicas Dream’ and Monk and the stories started coming out about how Nica was devoted to the musicians in her life.
Heres a pic of her with Theolonius Monk, one of my favorite pix of him as well.

During the next week or so of travel, family activities and general holiday merriment, the Rifftides staff will post as often as possible, but you may note a diminution of blogtivity. Rifftiders and Rifftidings will be on our minds, and we hope to hear from you by way of the Comments function at the end of each item or the e-mail address in the right-hand column. All the best to each of you for the holidays.

Count Basie was college, but Duke Ellington was graduate school.
–Clark Terry
At least one day out of the year all musicans should just put their instruments down, and give thanks to Duke Ellington.–Miles Davis
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.–Duke Ellington