REPERTORY JAZZ

Lately I’ve been thinking about the role of repertory jazz ensembles with a more open mind. At one time the idea of recreating the improvised music of the past seemed to me an exercise in futility, especially when the original item was the province of such giants as Jelly Roll Morton, Django Rheinhart, or Duke Ellington and as such, could hardly be improved upon. Furthermore, it seemed that the idea of repertory did little for one of the main ingredients of jazz music, namely creative improvisation. And while some might argue that repertory serves to expose new listeners to the great music of the past, others would say that it’s not healthy for the music to treat it as if it belonged in a museum. Both of these arguments have some merit, and yet, as a lover of the music and the history, I have been drawn to repertory recently.

I’ve become increasingly smitten with pre-bop jazz over the last several years, due in large part to the increased availability of the older music on CD. Thanks to the magic of digital re-mastering, it’s now possible to hear with remarkable fidelity, much of the music that was recorded as far back as the 1920’s. Still, there’s no substitute for live music, which is why I have made an effort to attend concert performances of traditional music this past summer. What follows are some observations about a few of the bands playing repertory jazz.

Since 1989 Elite Syncopation, a chamber quintet based in Connecticut, have dedicated themselves to the playing of ragtime orchestrations by Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington and others. Since much of their repertoire pre-dates the dawn of recorded music, to hear them is to experience ragtime fully realized. For many of us, exposure to ragtime has been limited to the solo piano roll transcriptions of Scott Joplin’s music as played by Marvin Hamlisch in The Sting, but according to Elite Syncopation’s leader and bassist Roy Wiseman, many ragtime pieces were orchestrated for larger groups. Upon hearing the music executed with such virtuosity and precision by this ensemble of violin, cello, piano, string bass and clarinet, I couldn’t help but recall that in its time this wonderful music was considered vulgar and low-brow by polite society. Elite Syncopation performs a valuable service by entertaining and educating their audiences on early ragtime music.

Dan Levinson’s Roof Garden Jass Band  likewise delivers education with entertainment in playing spirited transcriptions of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band  and others. Levinson, the reed player and leader of Roof Garden  is an authority on the ODJB, the first recorded jazz band ever. The ODJB, he explained at the concert I attended, has been somewhat disparaged and dismissed by jazz purists over the years for their use of corny slide and mute effects that they had a tendency toward overdoing. Nevertheless, they were a high energy ensemble with great arrangements and great players. The Roof Garden Jass Band restores them to a place of dignity in jazz history.

Kenny Butler’s Hot Club of Boston are purveyors of the music of Stephan Grapelli and Django Rheinhart. Though they are obviously fine musicians and committed to the idea of Hot Club music, in the performance I heard at Shelburne Falls Memorial Hall they failed to capture the free wheeling essence of “Gypsy Jazz".  Butler, on fiddle, played some fine improvisations in the Grapelli style, but collectively, this Hot Club failed to captivate the Shelburne Falls audience. I associate Django’s music with buoyant danceability, but despite being encouraged to dance if they chose to, the Memorial Hall audience appeared as if they were the permanent collection at the House of Wax. Hot Club of Boston, while getting near this music, did not get inside it.

Elite Syncopationand Roof Garden demonstrated a real love of the repertoire that they play, providing a rich musical experience for those in attendance. Since both groups played the material as it was written, improvisation is not an ingredient. For the Hot Club of Boston improvisation is their strength, but by my definition, makes them less a repertory ensemble.  

- Richard Mayer

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