Jazztalk, Improvisation, and Funny Hats in the Quad

Donal Fox and David Murray in Session

North House

November 13

Last Saturday's workshop in North House, "Donal Fox and David Murray in Session," provided a chance to find out about those mysterious posters for Learning from Performers Program..

Pianist/composer Fox is well-regarded as a leader in the contemporary fusion of jazz and classical music. Murray is one of the the foremost tenor saxophonist of his generation, notable for his mastery of the avant-garde "free jazz." An eager crowd gathered in Holmes Hall Living Room on this cloudy afternoon, many present for the chance to enjoy these musicians for free, others, including several Harvard student musicians, anxiously awaiting the opportunity to make and learn music in the company of these masters.

The subject of the workshop, it quickly became apparent, was improvisation. All those assembled were given copies of musical scores, which contained odd melodic patterns and all manner of symbols to notate Fox's ideas. Fox appeared dressed in a casual yet snazzy blazer and turtleneck, with a case full of music and a cool half-smile. He began with an introduction, explaining that improvisation occurs in all genres of music, not simply jazz, and that he would be working with it "in all forms " today. Fox also discussed the path that his own musical development took, as well as his philosophy of musical improvisation.

He learned early on that the great composers like Mozart and Beethoven were also terrific improvisers, Fox said. He described how jazz music has moved in one century through all of the phases that Western classical music did in three, progressing from folk expression to avant-garde experimentation. Fox feels that jazz, like current classical music, sacrifices originality for technical perfection. He emphasized that "Jazz is about exploring," and that this element must be preserved. Theory and form should take a backseat to creativity, explained Fox, and he offered his paraphrase of Stravinsky as evidence: "Stravinsky said, `I like this chord...I dig this.'" Fox added, "You don't have to have a label on it to make it legitimate."

Eventually Fox related all this philosophizing to the workshop's goal, to make music. He discussed his pieces and performed them expertly on the piano, explaining that "form is not preset." This essentially meant that one could have free reign to play the notes in any tempo, rhythm, style or anything, as long as the correct pitches are used in the right sequence. All very heady stuff, but what was the musical result?

The horn section and pianos blasted out asymmetric musical motives, while the bass and drums anchored the musicians with the continuous melodic patterns. Cacophonic at times, simply loud at others, the performance included fascinating moments of melodic and harmonic beauty.

As this happened, an unassuming David Murray made a quiet late entrance. Ambling up to the stage, he looked a little tired. He explained he'd been performing until late the previous night at Madison Square Garden with none other than the Jerry Garcia Band. But within a few minutes Murray had assembled his saxophone and begun to lead the musicians away. The two men led the group through various exercises, including Fox's compositions, the Thelonious Monk ballad " `Round Midnight, " and the Charlie Parker blues "Billie's Bounce." There was plenty of advice for the student musicians, sometimes technical, but more often philosophical. Fox advised, "Break all the rules, and then gradually...refine that expression...," while Murray was more simple and to the point, "Let's get lost together."

Just a few minutes into the workshop it became clear that all jazz--even all of the music industry--would be topic for discussion. Murray and Fox spent much time discussing what both saw as the problems facing jazz today. For Fox, the greatest danger was the "tendency now in jazz to be re-creative, to read [jazz solos] as if they are Beethoven scores." Murray echoed by warning against becoming like those musicians who "learned all these notes and... forgot to develop their own sound."

Murray said that jazz musicians should not simply limit themselves to one style of jazz, or even to the genre itself. "Jazz musicians should play other forms of music. I mean I play with [Indian sitar player] Ravi Shankar... I play with everybody." Asked whether he could play such sophisticated, rich music with Jerry Garcia, Murray responded, "Well, we got into some deep stuff last night. I thought it was pretty good, it was just [for] more people."

There was a little more music, but the bulk of the latter half of the workshop was devoted to answering more questions. How long should jazz musicians' solos be? Murray responded, "When everybody in the band has went to the bar and came back...you should be finished by then."

When he was asked about the role of rap in the music industry he expressed fears that rappers are replacing jazz musicians, and that "rap music has held a few people back, especially in the Black community. Rap musicians should first of all study music.... learn some music if you're gonna play music." He illuminated his comments with a personal anecdote. "I have no problem with kids having fun... my kid, he could rap, but he's going to school. He's majoring in the flute. [But] he's gonna be a rapper so he wears funny hats and stuff."

When it was all over, everyone, participants and spectators, left the workshop with heads full of ideas, and perhaps more importantly, questions. Fox and Murray provided a generous glimpse of their personalities, their lives, their own creative processes and most importantly, their music. There was a wonderful sense of a passing-on of wisdom and creativity, both musical and otherwise. David Murray summed it up best by saying, "[musicians'] lives and their music that they left leave are like big dictionaries. You got to look at them, read them, study them...and you become them. And then eventually as you grow older you become yourself, and then you pass it on to some others, and that's what I'm doing."