TUE., MAY 13, 2008
In This Feature
Magazine Archives:
The New Age of Jazz
by Robert Phoenix
When looking at the various branches of music, there are two that stand out as open channels to the new age genre: classical and jazz. Classical, of course, finds its new age crossover potential in the minor chords and minimalism of Satie and, to a lesser extent, Debussy. What was the musical and marketing genius behind Windham Hill? It was the fact that they had somehow managed to capture the essence of chamber music for the new age.
But it’s jazz, with its sense of wide-open possibilities, tunings and the unabashed spirit of discovery, that provided the widest and deepest berth for musicians to explore new age themes and modalities. It could even be argued that the cosmic minstrel show and eccentric odysseys undertaken by Sun Ra could be construed as pioneering attempts at creating music for a new age. John Coltrane and his nakedly blistering improvisations bring him ever closer to the source of pure energy could also be considered new age — though the dissonant chords it often strikes are anything but soothing on the ears of most new age listeners. But beyond mere haphazard similarities, there are a number of jazz artists who've successfully crossed over from jazz into new age and have, in the process, made a second career for themselves.
Of course, the two Paul’s — Horn and Winter — come to mind first. Both were accomplished players in their own orbits of the jazz world. Both were saxophonists, though Horn also dabbled in flute. It was Horn’s landmark recording, Live Inside the Taj Mahal that really branded the new age genre as a market unto itself. Winter had his own breakthrough release with Icarus, which featured players who would later become the bulk of the trailblazing world-jazz outfit, Oregon. Icarus also featured the prodigious talents of Sir George Martin at the mixing board. Between these two Pauls and these two records, the portal for other jazz players to reach a different audience was wide open.
In 1987, Yusef Lateef’s Little Symphonies won the Grammy for best new age recording, but his subsequent musical relationship with percussionist Adam Rudolph and recordings on his own Meta label have taken him to the periphery of free jazz, where the primal eruptions of improvisation and energy, coupled with the influence of Rudolph’s exotic percussion, have re-established Lateef as a musical force. Not bound by any label, he's the personification of a free agent that can dabble and excel in a myriad of genres — including new age.
Another jazz heavyweight has staked his claim more firmly than the aforementioned Lateef in the fertile new age, and that’s drummer extraordinaire Jack DeJohnette. DeJohnette has shifted his musical focus to create relaxing, meditative and healing music on his own Golden Beams label. On meditative etudes such as Peace Time and Music in the Key of Om, DeJohnette stretches out into the vast space of drones and minimalist key changes. Of the two, Peace Time is the more sophisticated and evocative, providing a unique blend of new age music with heart and bones.
A contemporary of Lateef’s and DeJohnette’s, Pharaoh Sanders circumnavigated between the worlds of free jazz and psychedelia, and was heralded as Coltrane’s spiritual and musical heir. Starting with his own archetypal recording, “The Creator Has A Master Plan” and transitioning into major records like Alice Coltrane’s brilliant Journey Into Satchidinanda, Sanders’ music has always had a spiritual pulse. Along that same meridian, he collaborated with uber-producer Bill Laswell on With a Heartbeat. A 2003 release from Douglas Recordings, it features Laswell’s long, loping, ambient dub suites, with an undercurrent of tabla and Sanders’ warm and rich tenor sax. But the driving beat throughout the record is that of a human heart — the organic metronome of body time and, in this case, sound meter. It’s an organic expression of styles that could easily qualify as new age, both in intent and execution. Call it new age 3.0 — a music that points towards possibility and wholeness without the baggage attendant with the standard definition of the genre.
The one jazz player however who seems to be the most active in new age circles is Stanley Jordan. Jordan arrived on the jazz scene like a cross between Jimi Hendrix and George Benson. A computer science grad from Stanford, Jordan popularized the hammer pull technique on electric guitar. He’s gone onto make 13 recordings, mostly on Blue Note, and his music has ranged from faithful standards to ear-popping pyrotechnical solos to smooth jazz, where the fuzzy hinterlands of new age and the quiet storm co-mingle. But Jordan has recently become more and more interested in sound healing, and is a featured presenter and speaker at sound healing conferences around the country. Dreams Of Peace displays Jordan’s talents in the smooth jazz/new age vein, and while the record is a fine example of the marketing mutation exemplified by the hybridization of both genres, it doesn’t pack the wallop of Jordan’s more straight-ahead jazz recordings.
There are plenty of other jazz players that have also crossed over without guilty conscience, such as Glen Velez, Ralph Towner, Graham Haynes, Eugene Friesen, Paul McCandless, Steve Gorn, Shankar and John McLaughlin to name just a few. It appears that the musical miscegenation between jazz and new age is an ongoing affair and might be the key to keeping both genres alive and vital in the years to come.
But it’s jazz, with its sense of wide-open possibilities, tunings and the unabashed spirit of discovery, that provided the widest and deepest berth for musicians to explore new age themes and modalities. It could even be argued that the cosmic minstrel show and eccentric odysseys undertaken by Sun Ra could be construed as pioneering attempts at creating music for a new age. John Coltrane and his nakedly blistering improvisations bring him ever closer to the source of pure energy could also be considered new age — though the dissonant chords it often strikes are anything but soothing on the ears of most new age listeners. But beyond mere haphazard similarities, there are a number of jazz artists who've successfully crossed over from jazz into new age and have, in the process, made a second career for themselves.
Of course, the two Paul’s — Horn and Winter — come to mind first. Both were accomplished players in their own orbits of the jazz world. Both were saxophonists, though Horn also dabbled in flute. It was Horn’s landmark recording, Live Inside the Taj Mahal that really branded the new age genre as a market unto itself. Winter had his own breakthrough release with Icarus, which featured players who would later become the bulk of the trailblazing world-jazz outfit, Oregon. Icarus also featured the prodigious talents of Sir George Martin at the mixing board. Between these two Pauls and these two records, the portal for other jazz players to reach a different audience was wide open.
In 1987, Yusef Lateef’s Little Symphonies won the Grammy for best new age recording, but his subsequent musical relationship with percussionist Adam Rudolph and recordings on his own Meta label have taken him to the periphery of free jazz, where the primal eruptions of improvisation and energy, coupled with the influence of Rudolph’s exotic percussion, have re-established Lateef as a musical force. Not bound by any label, he's the personification of a free agent that can dabble and excel in a myriad of genres — including new age.
Another jazz heavyweight has staked his claim more firmly than the aforementioned Lateef in the fertile new age, and that’s drummer extraordinaire Jack DeJohnette. DeJohnette has shifted his musical focus to create relaxing, meditative and healing music on his own Golden Beams label. On meditative etudes such as Peace Time and Music in the Key of Om, DeJohnette stretches out into the vast space of drones and minimalist key changes. Of the two, Peace Time is the more sophisticated and evocative, providing a unique blend of new age music with heart and bones.
A contemporary of Lateef’s and DeJohnette’s, Pharaoh Sanders circumnavigated between the worlds of free jazz and psychedelia, and was heralded as Coltrane’s spiritual and musical heir. Starting with his own archetypal recording, “The Creator Has A Master Plan” and transitioning into major records like Alice Coltrane’s brilliant Journey Into Satchidinanda, Sanders’ music has always had a spiritual pulse. Along that same meridian, he collaborated with uber-producer Bill Laswell on With a Heartbeat. A 2003 release from Douglas Recordings, it features Laswell’s long, loping, ambient dub suites, with an undercurrent of tabla and Sanders’ warm and rich tenor sax. But the driving beat throughout the record is that of a human heart — the organic metronome of body time and, in this case, sound meter. It’s an organic expression of styles that could easily qualify as new age, both in intent and execution. Call it new age 3.0 — a music that points towards possibility and wholeness without the baggage attendant with the standard definition of the genre.
The one jazz player however who seems to be the most active in new age circles is Stanley Jordan. Jordan arrived on the jazz scene like a cross between Jimi Hendrix and George Benson. A computer science grad from Stanford, Jordan popularized the hammer pull technique on electric guitar. He’s gone onto make 13 recordings, mostly on Blue Note, and his music has ranged from faithful standards to ear-popping pyrotechnical solos to smooth jazz, where the fuzzy hinterlands of new age and the quiet storm co-mingle. But Jordan has recently become more and more interested in sound healing, and is a featured presenter and speaker at sound healing conferences around the country. Dreams Of Peace displays Jordan’s talents in the smooth jazz/new age vein, and while the record is a fine example of the marketing mutation exemplified by the hybridization of both genres, it doesn’t pack the wallop of Jordan’s more straight-ahead jazz recordings.
There are plenty of other jazz players that have also crossed over without guilty conscience, such as Glen Velez, Ralph Towner, Graham Haynes, Eugene Friesen, Paul McCandless, Steve Gorn, Shankar and John McLaughlin to name just a few. It appears that the musical miscegenation between jazz and new age is an ongoing affair and might be the key to keeping both genres alive and vital in the years to come.
© 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC