{"id":2512,"date":"2011-04-12T01:32:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T08:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2011-04-12T07:29:52","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T14:29:52","slug":"toots-and-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2011\/04\/toots-and-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Toots And Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first section following the introduction of my 1989 book Jazz Matters<\/a><\/i> is titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Common Language.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It ends with this:<\/p>\n

Like every art form, jazz has a fund of devices unique to it and universally employed by those who practice it. Among the resources of the jazz tradition available to the player creating an improvised performance are rhythmic patterns, harmonic structures, material quoted from a variety of sources and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153head arrangements\u00e2\u20ac\u009d evolved over time without being written. Mutual access to this community body of knowledge makes possible successful and enjoyable collaboration among jazzmen of different generations and stylistic persuasions who have never before played together. It is not unusual at jazz festivals and jam sessions for musicians in their sixties and seventies to be teamed with others in their teens or twenties. In the best of such circumstances, the age barrier immediately falls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I were to write that today, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d change \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sixties and seventies\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153eighties and nineties.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The aging population contains a number of active jazz octogenarians and nonagenarians. Jimmy Heath at 85, Joe Wilder at 89 and Dave Brubeck at 90 are three cases in point. Toots Thielemans, 89, is another. Thielemans recently played a duo gig at Sculler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in Boston with Kenny Werner, who is 59. One evening, they asked Grace Kelly to sit in. She is 18. This is what happened.<\/p>\n