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American Spoken Here: A Classical TV Festival of FREE Jazz Videos
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Interpretation of Harlem Jazz, by Winold Reiss (1886-1953)
THERE ARE MANY ways to define what “classic” and “classical” mean in music, but the quality of endurance - the validity (that is, popularity!) over time of musical forms and compositions - is among the strongest definitions. Thus we happily claim jazz as among the most classical types of music, as it has endured for at least a century and is still going strong.
Scholars note that jazz originated in the ragtime ditties that started appearing in 1890s, along that culturally fertile Mississippi River axis between St. Louis and New Orleans. (Thank you, transportation!) It was along that axis that a hardy strain of national identity emerged and flowered, fueled by a confluence of African, Latin and home-grown influences, to help define an evolving idea of “American” over the following century.
That strain of national identity - a genuine kind of all-American! - is as essential as anything produced in East Coast financial and political capitals. And as venerable. By 1900, a black cornetist named Buddy Bolden was called "the first man of jazz,” and by 1915 the word "jazz" was being used widely to refer to a certain kind of music that was freer than - well, at least different from - the standard academic and church-y stuff of the day. That was a century ago. By comparison, sonata allegro form, which arguably may be called the bedrock of what we know today as classical music, was only a decade or two old - having congealed in the work of Scarlatti, Bach, Handel and the like - when Haydn started working, around 1750. Even when German scholar and theorist Heinrich Koch got around to codifying sonata form in the early 1790s, in his great work Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition (Fundamentals of Musical Composition), the classical music of Beethoven’s prime was far less aged than jazz is now.
Not that jazz needs any special pleading. This powerful Afro-Latino-American form - which conveniently came to be known simply as American - has traveled around the globe and taken root everywhere, on the strength of its formal subtleties and emotional truths. And we were amazed, when we looked through Classical TV’s extensive library of jazz videos, how many jazz performances we can offer that took place far from American shores - by performers who, though in many cases not American citizens, embody the sophistication and sheer cool that jazz catalyzed in American culture.
We're excited to present several sophisticated-and-cool selections below. Enjoy!
- Florestan
• Michel Camilo: Solo Piano FREE
Born in the Dominican Republic and now living in New York City, Michel Camilo is a pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer whose unique style draws on South American influences. This live recording was made during the 1999 Munich Klaviersommer when Camilo made one of his rare solo appearances.
• Joachim Kuhn in Concert FREE
A musician with an extraordinary stylistic range, the great German jazz pianist Joachim Kuhn has created a musical vocabulary that marries the traditions of the concert hall with those of the rich and varied history of jazz. This solo concert he gave during the Munich Klaviersommer demonstrated his unique virtuosity and generated extraordinary excitement.
• Leonid Chizhik Meets Tchaikovsky FREE
Recorded live during the Munich Klaviersommer, Russian jazz master Leonid Chizhik (keyboard), Peter Klinke (bass) and Matt Wilson (percussion) improvise on themes by Tchaikovsky. Chizhik pioneered jazz in the Soviet Union in the early 1970s and he continues to be one of today's most innovative and eclectic improvisers.
• Newport Jazz Festival All-Stars FREE
This program with New York's famous swing jazz band features George Wien (piano), Warren Vaché (cornet), Plas Johnson (saxophone and flute), Lew Tabackin (saxophone), Ed Johnes (bass), Oliver Jackson (drums), and Howard Alden (guitar). Recorded live in the Philharmonie concert hall Munich’s of the Gasteig-Kulturzentrum.
• Aziza Mustafa Zadeh in Concert FREE
Recorded live at the Philharmonie in Munich, this program introduces the Azerbaijani musician playing a selection of jazz standards as well as her own compositions.
According to Duke Ellington, “Martial Solal has, in abundance, those indispensibles of the musician’s craft: sensitivity, creativity and a prodigious technique.” The French pianist plays an exciting, upbeat session of jazz standards and more, with Francois Moutin (double bass) and Louis Moutin (drums), in a live performance recorded live at Munich's Bayerische Hof nightclub.
• Friedrich Gulda and Chick Corea: The Meeting FREE
Two virtuoso keyboard musicians - one from Austria, one from Massachusetts - meet for the first time in this 1992 concert, performing various improvisations and jazz standards and a unique version of Brahms's Wiegenlied. Alongside various improvisations, they performed standard jazz pieces such as Some Day My Prince Will Come (Churchill/Morey), Put Your Little Foot Out (Miles Davis) and Poems No. 3 (Pauer).
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba Quartet FREE
Cuban keyboard ace Gonzalo Rubalcaba was given a tremendous reception when he performed at the Munich Klaviersommer. Accompanying him were Reinaldo Melian (trumpet), Philipe Cabrera (bass) and Julio Barretto (drums). This live recording of their performance, which includes several pieces by Rubalcaba, as well as by Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, captures the excitement they generated with their playing.
• Gary Burton And Makoto Ozone: Duet FREE
These two great jazz players - vibraphonist Gary Burton from Indiana and pianist Makoto Ozone from Kobe, Japan - are both noted for their virtuoso technique and innovative style. When they came together during the Munich Klaviersommer to give a concert of improvised music, they delighted the audience with their fluid, poetic artistry, which was expressed in a performance of the highest order.
This concert by the world-famous Spanish guitarist was recorded in Germany during a recent European tour when he appeared with a septet of musicians.
• Wolfgang Dauner And Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet FREE
Two of Germany's renowned jazz musicians join forces with Christoph Lauer, Dieter Ilg and Wolfgang Haffner in a live concert at the Bayerischer Hof nightclub. The group plays compositions by Mangelsdorff as well as a jazz-meets-classical homage to Ravel.
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