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ARTIST PROFILES
C. D. and Book Reviews
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ARTIST PROFILES
C. D. and Book Reviews
JAZZ
MODERNISM
FROM ELLINGTON AND ARMSTRONG TO MATISSE AND JOYCE
BY ALFRED APPEL JR.
Alfred A. Knopf - New York 2002
Review by
Robin H. S. Munro
for PLANET JAZZ Magazine
.....Emboldened
by the success of his earlier literary works, "The Annotated Lolita",
"Signs Of Life", "Nabokov's Dark Cinema (1970)" and "The
Art Of Celebration - Twentieth Century Painting, Literature, Sculpture, Photography
and Jazz (1993)", Alfred Appel Jr. has turned his considerable talents
of observation, thoughtfulness and communication to a new understanding of the
interaction of the populist Art-forms of his self-defined Modernism period -
the years 1920 through 1950. In a work originally conceived as "Vernacular
Modernism", Appel - a professor emeritus of linguistics at Northwestern
University in The United States - has plunged headlong into an appraisal of
what is obviously one of the obsessions in his life - Classic Jazz - and its
relationship to the Modernism Movement in the Literary and Visual Arts.
A beautifully produced volume replete with full-colour plates of Modernist Art,
black and white photographs, rare record labels, cartoons, period advertisements
and posters, is intended to support the many conclusions that Appel arrives
at in presenting his desire for the wilful interaction and influence of visual
artists - Matisse, Mondrian, Brancussi, Picasso and more - on musicians Louis
Armstrong, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Jo Jones and Charlie
Parker, among a few others.
.....Curiously, the Literary Arts are under-served
in this book, which is ludicrous when one considers the weight of evidence which
Appel ascribes to James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway, and scantily, T. S. Elliot
and F. Scott Fitzgerald, to support his ideas. And with a book filled with one
hundred and twenty-seven illustrations carefully annotated and identified, it
is surprising to find no bibliography and no notes to support the infrequent,
marginalized excerpts seemingly pulled at random from the aforementioned authors'
books.
.....Appel's rules of engagement to us in what
suffices for a Preface-Introduction-Chapter One include the admission-condition
that "My musical emphasis is on singing and the lyrics of songs, because
words lend themselves to discourse more readily than musical notes: ...".
He continues by quoting Armstrong; "Singing was more into my blood than
trumpet," as justification for relegating the majority of Jazz music produced
through the three decades in question to the rag-picker's cart - a recurring
symbolic image of his based on Eugene Atget's photograph of a Parisian rag-picker
taken in 1900 which Appel iconizes using Picasso's exuberant outburst upon completion
of his sculpture, "Woman In A Garden", to whit: "I'm king of
the ragpickers!".
.....With that in mind, we are off on an investigation
into the what, where and when of Waller and Armstrong for a good half of the
book and how they - through their choice of songs, comic antics and singing!!!
- applied the very same principles, ethics and influences of vernacular creation
to their discipline as did Picasso and Matisse, et al. Duke Ellington, while
dealt with substantially, does not garner the same degree of appraisal, and
references to geniuses such as Charlie Parker and Philly Joe Jones are anecdotal,
imaginary and peripheral.
.....Henri Matisse gets the lion's share of graphic
design and theoretical attention due to a misunderstanding Appel has regarding
the collection of works Matisse created depicting life in the circus world and
titled "Jazz"(1947) by his enterprising publisher. Presumably, if
the collection had been titled "Circus" it would have been less likely
to be considered by Appel as evidence of Modernist inter-Arts collaboration.
.....Appel's arguments could be persuasive - especially
when presented with his disarming humour, his personal anecdotes and his unlimited
supply of poorly-conceived puns - if they were not so weak. "Jazz Modernism"
is a superficial analysis of a complex artistic movement and illuminates little
but the author's myopic view and ignorance of his beloved Jazz.
.....If one is looking for illumination on the
impact of a global depression, horror-filled First and Second World Wars, the
emerging technologies of radio, film and transportation, ethnic migration and
new-found freedoms on Jazz Modernism - which are influences on all the Arts,
and thus are far greater evidence of the commonality of artistic expression
and endeavour - you are out of luck. The crucible of Modernism for the Fine
Arts and Literature was not their emergence in the Twentieth Century, but the
heritage they both shared that began as early as 1850 - and was influenced by
previous centuries of growth and development. The birth of a new music discipline
in the early part of the 1900s may actually eliminate it from any serious consideration
as a participant in the Modernism Movement. Indeed, Classic Jazz has all the
qualities of the later Constructive Post-Modernism Movement.
.....So who is served by this book? Not Musicians,
Visual Artists and Authors. Not the audiences for Jazz music. Not Appel's hapless
college students. Maybe, only Alfred Appel Jr.
.....One can only come to the conclusion that "Jazz
Modernism" is a docu-drama masking as scholarship and, as such, is a rollicking
good story brimming with colourful characters, adventure, drama, humour, pathos
and joy. In his enthusiasm for Classic Jazz and its role in the Modernism Movement,
it is very possible that Appel has conjured up a literary hybrid that is humanistic,
creative, and emancipated. If so, his creation might rightly belong to the Constructive
Post-Modernism Movement ........ or the "rag-picker's cart".
CARLOS DEL JUNCO
A LIFE AMONG THE REEDS
By Robin H. S. Munro
.....It's the coldest pre-holiday
morn in December, and who should be warming up all the southern and central
Ontarions as they prepare for the day ahead than the inimitable harmonicist,
Carlos del Junco. Wafting out over the frigid airwaves of CBC Radio One's flagship
Ontario Morning show is the latin flavoured "Let's Mambo" from del
Junco's latest album, "Blues Mongrel".
.....This is nothing new for the hot-blooded musician,
who has been warming the hearts and minds of audiences throughout North America
and Europe for many years now. Del Junco's infectious music has been used extensively
on the nation's public broadcaster for years due largely to the accessible sophistication
of his material - both original creations and works by other composers. And
what global audiences are discovering about Carlos, music lovers in Barrie-Huronia
have been exhilarating in for over nine years. It was June of 1997 when the
Carlos del Junco Quartet first performed in The Barrie Jazz And Blues Festival,
and awakened audiences to his incredible talent and musicality, the excitement
of his concerts and his fun-loving, gentle and thoughtful nature.
.....Havana, Cuba - early Spring of 1958 - and
an Armenian-Cuban woman gives birth to the last of five children that she and
her Cuban architect husband will bring into the world before leaving the increasingly
inhospitable political climate of their pre-Castro country. In less than a year
later, the infant Carlos and the del Juncos make their way to what is, for much
of the year, an equally inhospitable climate and make Canada their home. A close-knit
immigrant family, the del Junco children flourish in their new environment in
Toronto, Ontario and are encouraged by their parents to develop as individuals,
to build on their talents and follow their ambitions.
.....Always a creative personality, Carlos - whose
surname, del Junco, means "of the bullrushes" or "reeds"
- acknowledges that his initial fascination with music appeared at 14 years
of age when a high-school classmate of his inspired him to learn to play the
harmonica. Four years at the Ontario College of Art earning a degree in Fine
Arts - majoring in sculpture - left del Junco with a dilemma. Much like The
Beatles' John Lennon in his Art School heydays, Carlos had joined with a progressive
guitarist to form a music group, "Eye Level", to explore the pair's
many interests in popular music. "I've always had eclectic tastes",
says del Junco and the two performed Latin, Blues, Reggae music and anything
else that caught their attention. It was this early association with a unique
guitar player that was the harbinger of his musical future as Carlos was maturing
into a creative force.
.....Confronted now with a choice between following
a career as a sculptor, or acting on an ever-increasing compulsion to pursue
a life as a musician, Carlos "chose to take up the challenge" in becoming
a professional musician. When asked why he would forego four years of study
in one artistic discipline to engage in, what had been up to that time, more
of a hobby, del Junco talked about his "connection to the sound" of
the harmonica and how the instrument's musical register, in being "the
closest to the human voice", was so resonant with his own musical yearnings
and intuitions. Pursuing music lessons with the legendary Blues guitar-vocal-harmonica
icon, Michael Pickett, and the equally renowned harmonicist, Rollie Platt, helped
to gird del Junco for the competitive, rough and tumble life in Canada's world
of music.
.....In the late 1980's, Carlos was playing as
a sideman with various Artists and worked with a notorious Blues guitar-vocalist,
"Buzz" Upshaw; working with innovative guitarists continuing a pattern
that would subsequently emerge as a trademark feature on all of his recorded
works and concert performances. None of this precluded his own leadership ambitions,
or his developing interest in his own singing abilities, and one of his own
groups "The Delcomos" gave him an opportunity to exercise both inclinations.
Through this period, Carlos kept the wolf from the door as a part-time - and
later, full-time - employee matting and framing posters in a local poster shop.
In this period, the idea of the regularity of a career as an Art teacher competed
with his desire to continue carving out his identity as a musician. And opportunities
to compose and perform in projects as diverse as Governor-General Award-winning,
Aboriginal playwright Thomson Highway's "Dry Lips Oughta Move To Kapuskasing"
didn't make these decisions any easier. Extended productions of Highway's play
took Carlos to Winnipeg, Manitoba and to Ottawa (The National Arts Centre),
and then on to Toronto (The Royal Alex Theatre), gaining for both him and Highway
greater recognition and praise.
.....As a musician, Carlos had developed many of
the skills required to be an accomplished Artist on the harmonica, and joined
the myriad of wonderful performers in Canada and the United States. But it took
some Master Classes with American harmonica virtuoso, Howard Levy - of Bela
Fleck and the Flecktones notoriety -, to finally find the musical level and
liberation which he had been seeking and, from that point on, he has "never
looked back". Never looked back, indeed, for in 1996, del Junco plucked
up his courage and his little musical instrument and, like the biblical David,
took on the World at The Hohner Harmonica World Championships in Germany and
won the gold medals for the Blues category and the Jazz category. Numerous acknowledgements
of his accomplishments in Canadian music - including Juno Award nominations,
Maple Blues Awards, Jazz Report awards, consideration for a Grammy Award nomination
for his latest recording, "Blues Mongrel" - have garnered for him
the unqualified admiration of his peers, his audiences, his critics and have
catapulted him into the ranks of musical virtuosi.
.....Carlos del Junco's gifts as an instrumentalist
are only part of his inventory of skills. His accomplishments as a composer
and arranger, and his talent as a vocal interpreter are imaginative and unique.
And much of the credit for his recording and concert successes must be given
to del Junco's abilities as a band-leader in seeking out and working with stellar
Canadian musicians, many of whom he is often most demanding. He is the first
to acknowledge the contributions of his musical compatriots to his projects
and the respect with which he holds them personally. As already discovered,
del Junco has always been associated with intriguing guitarists in his musical
endeavours, and latterly in his career has worked with the cream of Canadian
guitar-slingers - notably Mike Branton, Rick Fines, Shawn Kellerman, Jake Langley,
Mark Sepic and Kevin Vienneau - all of them successful band-leaders and recording
Artists in their own right. Standing above them all - all six-foot five inches
of him - is the incomparable multi-stringed instrument Artist, Kevin Breit.
.....The Carlos and Kevin team goes back to del
Junco's mid-90s years leading a band under his own name - which culminated in
his first recording, "Just Your Fool", captured live at Grossman's
Tavern in Toronto. Subsequent to that period, Breit has enriched the recording
and concert efforts of many international music stars with his formidable talent,
in addition to producing his own imaginative recordings with various eclectic
ensembles of his own creation. His work on del Junco's recordings can be summed
up in this appraisal of his contributions by Carlos, "My C.D.'s are as
much Kevin Breit's as they are mine." Breit has a wonderful "quirky"
and playful, dynamic inventiveness as an instrumentalist and this resonates
completely with del Junco's musical exhibitionism. It could be argued that there
are few musical partnerships in Canada that can match the innovative, creative
collaborations of del Junco and Breit.
In assessing his own efforts as an Artist, del Junco considers himself "the
Anne Murray of the harmonica". Successful more because of his ability to
interpret and improvise over the original creations of others, rather than concerning
himself with composition and song-writing. That's the way Charlie Parker and
Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie and hundreds of other of inspired instrumentalists
have approached musical creation.
.....In his private life, del Junco is a volunteer
with Big Brothers-Big Sisters. He spends time in meditation - Zen-Buddhist leanings
-, in annual contemplative retreats, and in trying to focus on life through
"quieting the mind". Primarily vegetarian in his diet, del Junco enjoys
movies and philosophy and has embraced the ideas found in the written works
of American philosopher, Ken Wilbur, whom he considers a "map-maker of
human consciousness". Extrapolating from himself, he feels that "if
more people worked on themselves", greater human harmony could be achieved.
Continuing, he believes that his music, at some level, reaches the spiritual
and philosophical state that he is pursuing, and he is hopeful that this leaves
an enlightening impression on his audiences.
.....In Biblical times, the infant Moses was kept
hidden among the reeds of a river….. and the rest is history. The adult
Carlos "of the reeds" has spent his life among the reeds of his little
instrument, and has become a musical Goliath….. and the rest is making
history.
DISCOGRAPHY
BLUES - Bill Kinnear & Carlos del Junco; Big Reed Records, 1993
BIG ROAD BLUES - Carlos del Junco; Big Reed Records, 1995
JUST YOUR FOOL - The Carlos del Junco Band; Big Reed Records, 1995
BIG BOY - The Carlos del Junco Band; Big Reed Records, 1998
UP AND AT 'EM - The Carlos del Junco Band; Big Reed Records, 2001
BLUES MONGREL - The Carlos del Junco Band; Northern Blues, 2005
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