With the fringe on top: Only with jazz, can feeling blue feel so good
German consul house gets a taste of modern jazz.
KARACHI:
A sweet old lady once sidled up to Fats Waller after a concert and said, ‘Tell me Mr Waller, just what is jazz?’ The great New York pianist and master of contrapuntal melody rolled his eyes heavenward, sighed and said, ‘Ma’am, if you don’t know by now, don’t mess with it.’
That’s because jazz is much easier to recognise than to define. Perhaps one could temporarily describe it as the 300-year-old blending in the United States of two great musical traditions, the European and the West African which found its apogee in late nineteenth century New Orleans and ended up as America’s only indigenous art form.
In the days of Buddy Bolden, and Jerry Roll Morton, you could still recognise in jazz special distinct features that are not found in other types of music — such as the blue note, improvisation, polyrhythm, call-and-response, syncopation and what is referred to as ‘the swung note.’
As the genre evolved over the years from the Great Awakening, to the Work Song, the blues, minstrelsy, the Spiritual, Bop and Boogie, many of the basic features survived, but with the advent of swing, mainstream and modern jazz, some of the essential elements disappeared.
A version of it can still be heard in places as distant as Kansas, Kampala and Katmandu, and by courtesy of the Goethe Institut, at least once every two years in Karachi.
This year, guests were given a taste of the kind of modern jazz that is being played in contemporary Germany at the residence of the German consul general on Thursday evening, when the Jonas Schoen Jazz Quartet held centre stage for a good 60 minutes.
It was an exceptionally enlivening performance as the four musicians fused into a cohesive rendition of modern jazz. Bunay Braune on the piano ably deviated from the tempered scale and pseudo-rondo scale of Ragtime, displaying a fluency which was quite astonishing. Sven Kerschek on the string-bass did an excellent job of riffing the phrases. Heinz Lichius, who handled the percussion, kept a steady foundation rhythm and Jonas Schoen excelled on the saxophone and clarinet.
Meeting members of the ensemble after the concert was a pleasant experience. Their humility and eagerness to share their experiences were marvelously engaging.
We discussed the special appeal of jazz, its sense of freedom and openness and how America’s only indigenous cultural art form took root in Germany. We spoke of how jazz musicians went through a classical music regimen before choosing their true forte; how many found traditional jazz somewhat restricting and moved to modern free style; how the Nazis had banned jazz in 1935.
Jonas Schoen founded his own label in 1999 - Schoener Hoeren Musik (Music for beautiful listening) — and ended up by selling 30 CDs. Before the concert German CG Dr Christian Brecht paid tribute to Nadia Riaz of the Anna Marie Schimmel House in Lahore for being the inspiration behind the recital.
The applause she received was well deserved.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2011.
A sweet old lady once sidled up to Fats Waller after a concert and said, ‘Tell me Mr Waller, just what is jazz?’ The great New York pianist and master of contrapuntal melody rolled his eyes heavenward, sighed and said, ‘Ma’am, if you don’t know by now, don’t mess with it.’
That’s because jazz is much easier to recognise than to define. Perhaps one could temporarily describe it as the 300-year-old blending in the United States of two great musical traditions, the European and the West African which found its apogee in late nineteenth century New Orleans and ended up as America’s only indigenous art form.
In the days of Buddy Bolden, and Jerry Roll Morton, you could still recognise in jazz special distinct features that are not found in other types of music — such as the blue note, improvisation, polyrhythm, call-and-response, syncopation and what is referred to as ‘the swung note.’
As the genre evolved over the years from the Great Awakening, to the Work Song, the blues, minstrelsy, the Spiritual, Bop and Boogie, many of the basic features survived, but with the advent of swing, mainstream and modern jazz, some of the essential elements disappeared.
A version of it can still be heard in places as distant as Kansas, Kampala and Katmandu, and by courtesy of the Goethe Institut, at least once every two years in Karachi.
This year, guests were given a taste of the kind of modern jazz that is being played in contemporary Germany at the residence of the German consul general on Thursday evening, when the Jonas Schoen Jazz Quartet held centre stage for a good 60 minutes.
It was an exceptionally enlivening performance as the four musicians fused into a cohesive rendition of modern jazz. Bunay Braune on the piano ably deviated from the tempered scale and pseudo-rondo scale of Ragtime, displaying a fluency which was quite astonishing. Sven Kerschek on the string-bass did an excellent job of riffing the phrases. Heinz Lichius, who handled the percussion, kept a steady foundation rhythm and Jonas Schoen excelled on the saxophone and clarinet.
Meeting members of the ensemble after the concert was a pleasant experience. Their humility and eagerness to share their experiences were marvelously engaging.
We discussed the special appeal of jazz, its sense of freedom and openness and how America’s only indigenous cultural art form took root in Germany. We spoke of how jazz musicians went through a classical music regimen before choosing their true forte; how many found traditional jazz somewhat restricting and moved to modern free style; how the Nazis had banned jazz in 1935.
Jonas Schoen founded his own label in 1999 - Schoener Hoeren Musik (Music for beautiful listening) — and ended up by selling 30 CDs. Before the concert German CG Dr Christian Brecht paid tribute to Nadia Riaz of the Anna Marie Schimmel House in Lahore for being the inspiration behind the recital.
The applause she received was well deserved.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2011.