After my early young adulthood as an Art lover, and before I focused on Art, again, I spent about 15 years in Music. Early on, I was on the road with a band, based out of Miami, Florida, for five years. Towards the end of 1980, things were getting really bad in South Florida, inspiring the TV show “Miami Vice,” which after having lived through the reality, I found hysterical. It got so bad, the word was that there so many murders the only cases that were being investigated were when a cop was killed.
My Axe. My blonde 1976 Fender Jazz Bass. The color darkened from 4 years of playing in smoke-filled clubs, rests on my way worn Gig Bag.
Around this time, we took a gig playing a party in Coconut Grove. Not something we ever did- before or after, but it was for a friend of a friend who loved the band, and we liked the idea. “Hey, I’m having a big party and it would be so great if you guys came and played” kind of thing. He made it worth our while to take our gear off the stage of the club we were house band at on Miracle Mile, so what the heck. It was an afternoon outdoor job, and we were up on a hill looking down over the large lawn on a road between us and a row of houses lining the water. Suddenly, a group of police cars descended on the scene across that road. It was a raid. A drug bust. Then the host/our boss for this gig, came over and said “Keep playing.” When trouble starts in a club or a bar, the boss ALWAYS comes over and says “Keep playing,” (like I imagine the boss did on the Titanic) while everyone else is falling all over themselves rushing to get to the exit. “Keep playing.” Like when a riot broke out in a biker bar we were playing in. But that’s a different story.
My blonde 1978 Fender Fretless Precision Bass. I went Fretless after I met the late, great Jaco Pastorius, the genius of the Bass, and a Fretless player, in 1977.
It’s funny how the guys from the union, the AF of M, are never around at those times- only when someone playing was not a member. We looked at each other, the girls dancing in bikinis in front of us, glanced at our cars parked behind us, and then at the unfolding drama going on across the street in front of us. Don Johnson’s got nothing on me. I’m living vice in Miami.
If gunplay broke out, we might well be in the innocent line of fire, like too many others, before or since.
Luckily, it proceeded without bullets, a line of cops escorting suspects emerged, and that was the final scene on a long and eventful road trip, full ofunexpected turns, on my journey into full adulthood.Time to go.It so happens that Paul, a friend in another band I had worked with, called to say he was leaving and moving to NYC. He offered to take my stuff with him if I wanted to get out.
Hmmmm…After some thought, and discussion with my then girlfriend, a local, I decided to take him up on it and move back. Paul and his girlfriend, who went from being a waitress a few years earlier, to being a member of an internationally known band (not her boyfriend’s) a few years later, pulled up with a large trailer hooked to their car and the three of us loaded all of my belongings into it, and off they went.
A few days later, I got into my Porsche 914 and drove it from Miami to Orlando and we both got on the AutoTrain. I had made the complete 27 hour nonstop Miami to NYC drive too many times to do it once more. The ride was pleasant enough, though I didn’t get much, if any, sleep, and woke early on Monday, December 8th, 1980.After detraining near Washington, DC, I drove the rest of the 5+ hours to NYC, where the rest of my life would begin.
Shortly after I arrived at my parent’s house I heard the news that John Lennon had just been shot and killed in Manhattan, outside his home at The Dakota.
WHAT??????!
Bob Gruen, John Lennon- Statue of Liberty, 1974, Magnum Photos.
It was just unfathomable. It still is. Even for someone who lived through JFK’s assassination, and saw Oswald get killed, live, on television. Someone who had heard RFK’s assassination live on the radio. Someone who had lived through the assassination of Martin Luther King. Someone who remembers Malcolm X getting murdered. Murder is not something you ever “get used to.” Murder of such great men, each cut down in their prime, is a crime against humanity.
And murder was exactly why I left Miami!
So began the rest of my life…
December 8th, 2020
I took the C train uptown and got off at West 72nd Street to go The Dakota to pay my respects. Arriving, I was greeted on the platform by Yoko Ono’s transformative Sky mosaic mural. The north side of the station, ironically, is directly underneath The Dakota, where Yoko still lives, I believe1.
Yoko Ono, Detail from Sky, Tile mosaic, West 72nd Street B,C Station, underneath The Dakota, December 8, 2020.
After admiring it and its “Imagine Peace” section, and thinking, “Gee, countless millennia of war hasn’t worked out so well, maybe it IS time to give peace a chance…?,” I headed up the stairs and was greeted by a sky that looked remarkably like the mural.
“…above us only sky…” Exiting the 72nd Street Station at Central Park West, with The Dakota looming on the left, December 8, 2020.
I turned the corner onto West 72nd Street and was greeted by no one. The sidewalk was empty. Down the block, in front of The Dakota, where it happened, stood two uniformed building employees, as usual. I stood for a few minutes on the sidewalk, taking in the scene, and thinking about what had happened 40 years ago today.
The Dakota, West 72nd Street, December 8, 2020.
It almost seemed like I was there on the wrong day. Then, I spotted one small bouquet left by a family.
Across Central Park West, looking into Central Park, I could see a long line of visitors waiting to enter the Strawberry Fields section of the Park, but no one else was here, allowing me a private moment in a place where many people live, but which has always reminded me of this day 40 years ago whenever I’ve passed it.
I walked down the street until I came to the spot. I stood there, briefly, alone with the 2 Dakota staff members.
The Dakota, West 72nd Street, December 8, 2020.
In NYC, particularly in Manhattan, everywhere you look and everywhere you walk, you’re walking on history. And the place is not nearly as old as any city in Europe or many other cities elsewhere. Here is one such spot. Passing it now, you’d have absolutely no idea something horrible and world changing happened right here, because it happened 40 years ago. 40 Years. John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, during the Nazi Blitz of Liverpool. He had just turned 40 when he died. He’s now been dead for almost as long as he was alive.
My thoughts turned to another fact, as what had happened in all that time raced through my mind. Each and every time something’s happened, like 9/11, and all the rest, sooner or later, I wondered- “What would John Lennon say right now?” In addition to everything else he was, Liverpool’s John Lennon was one of our most prominent, and proud, New Yorkers, and a citizen of the world.
Bob Gruen, John Lennon, NYC, 1974. Magnum Photos. NYC in 1974 is light years from the NYC of 2020. It speaks volumes to me that he was so proud to live here then. This t shirt has been on sale here to this day, probably because of this Photo.
On December 8th, 1980, we were all denied knowing
for the rest of time.
Now, as I sit here after getting back from West 72nd Street, I’m left to wonder- How would the world have been different?
If you think that’s a questionable question, consider this- There are some who believe that The Beatles played a roll, perhaps the KEY role, in the collapse of the USSR2, in spite of all the countless billions spent to do it by other means, as seen in the PBS Documentary, “How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin,” from 2009. A grainy video of Part 1, is below (Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5)-
If that’s not helping “give peace a chance,” I’m not sure we’ve seen much else that is. It’s something that needs to be more closely studied, I think. If it’s true, then we’ve VASTLY underestimated the achievement of the Beatles, already the most revolutionary cultural force of my lifetime. And, we’ve completely ignored the lesson.
Even still, there are hundreds of millions who would have been very interested in what John Lennon had to say on any topic had he lived.Like there would have been to hear what JFK, RFK, MLK or Malcolm X would have said had they lived.
If all of them had lived, I think this world would be quite a different place today.Along with John’s loss, today I mourn that. Again.
Yoko Ono, Another detail from Sky, Mosaic, West 72nd Street B,C Station, underneath The Dakota, December 8, 2020.
December 8th, 1980 was a day my life, and the world, changed. Neither have been the same since. It’s up to those who remember those we’ve lost to keep their memory & their messages alive.
*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Imagine” by John Lennon.
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I greatly admire Yoko Ono, for many reasons, not the least of which is the supreme grace with which she handled John’s passing publicly. As an Artist, I believe she is still under-appreciated. My pieces on her work to date are here and here. ↩
Third- I don’t believe in qualitatively comparing Artist or works of Art. There is no such thing as “Best” in the Arts. Qualitatively comparing Artists or Artworks is pointless. Whatever criteria you use are subjective. In my view, awards and “halls of fame” are pointless. Turn those halls of fames into museums.
Stanley Kubrick, seen here in his 1946 Photograph with “showgirl” Rosemary Williams, at the entrance to the Museum of New York show of his Look Magazine Photographsnever won a “best director” oscar. Neither did Charlie Chaplin. Neither did Alfred Hitchcock. Neither did Orson Welles. Neither has every black, female, Hispanic, or Asian director, ever.
For every award “winner” there are countless others who can also be said to “deserve” to have “won.” I wish all awards would cease. For every “hall of fame” member there are countless others who could have been included. I think they should all be closed and museums opened in their place. All of this being said, I have no problem with those who win awards enjoying them. As contradictory as that may sound, acknowledgement of Artists in any form in this country, particularly, is very hard to come by. It’s not their “fault” they “won.” History shows that all of these awards have missed many others as deserving, and also shows that some of the most important Artists in their fields never won any award- until someone decided late in their career that they better try and “fix” their oversight. The hype and marketing surrounding awards and award winners is meant to make you feel theirs is the final word on the subject. There is NO such thing!
Experience the work for yourself and make up your own mind. See if it speaks to you, or not. At the end of the day, or of the year? That’s ALL that matters.
So, I’ve preferred to use the term “NoteWorthy,” to refer to Art, shows, and books that have lingered with me, have had the most impact, and which I think others should know about so they can make up their own minds about. I also use the term “favorite,” which does not mean “best,” to connote something I personally like, whether or not I think it’s “important” or “NoteWorthy.” We all have what I call “guilty pleasures”- like a song we know is going to be forgotten as soon as we can get it out of our heads!
Screencap from The Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of Alban Berg’s Lulu, with production design by the great William Kentridge, in 2015.
If something doesn’t speak to you…? Well, if something doesn’t speak to me I try and keep an open mind about it and revisit it one day, sometimes years later. I try and not say “I don’t like it.” I just let it lie with me, continue to think about it, and revisit it later, even years later. At that time, it still may not speak to me, but sometimes it does. In some of those cases the work and the Artist became very important to me. Like Alban Berg and his opera Lulu, which on first hearing may sound completely chaotic. As I listened to more and more Music in more and more styles, my ears opened up. Now, I only hear Mozartean beauty in Lulu, which has become my favorite opera. At other times, I’ve wrestled with Art or Music I just didn’t get. This involved digging deeper into the background of the work and looking or listening harder. Yes, harder. So, I try and always keep an open mind. That being said, there are some things I admit I will NEVER like or appreciate. Hitler was a painter (small ”p” intended), remember? It’s too bad he wasn’t able to get into school, become an Artist, and make a good contribution to the world, instead.
Instead of awards, perhaps give an Artist a grant, a commission, or buy their work, if you want to help them.
*-Soundtrack for this Post is “Award Tour” by A Tribe Called Quest from their immortal Midnight Marauders, 1993.
For The Record is a series of pieces that are about key/core subjects & beliefs that underly everything else I’ve written here. The first two parts are here.
NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded and ad-free for over 6 years, during which over 250 full length pieces have been published. If you’ve found it worthwhile, you can donate to keep it going & ad-free below. Thank you!
Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
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Back at The Met, May 6, 2018. The Museum, as it’s referred to, is one of the world’s great repositories of Art with a capital “A” with collections covering 5,000 years of it from all cultures in all its forms. It’s also one of the very best things about living in NYC. No. It’s THE best thing in my opinion. 1,700+ visits in since August 1, 2002, every time I turn the corner and see the building looming in front of me, I still get a chill down my spine. I touch the corner as I go in each time as a way of saying “Hello” to an old friend and to give thanks for each and every opportunity I get to do so.
To mark the 4 and a half year Anniversary of NighthawkNYC, during which I’ve published 225 pieces in 240 weeks (Phew…), I thought I’d take the opportunity to set the record straight on a few things that I feel are at the core of what I believe, and what I’ve written here. Perhaps I should have “explained” them at the beginning instead of letting those who’ve read these pieces (for which I Thank You) wonder, “What the heck?” Well, better late than never. Herewith the first installment in a brief series called For The Record. Consider them “footnotes” or “addendums” to every piece I’ve written.
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling reproduced as part of The Met’s staggering Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer, 2017-8, one of the sublime experiences of my life.
First- Art is of one of man and womankind’s supreme accomplishments in my view. I believe there should be some distinction between the Art of someone like Michelangelo and, say, the art of someone learning (said with all due respect).
Various young artists, unknown titles. A display of children’s art beautifying an NYC public school under renovation.
That’s why I capitalize Art and its associated terms (Artist, Painter, Sculptor, Musician, Painter, Photographer, et al.). It’s my way of showing these people the respect I think they’ve earned and deserve. I’ve done this here since Day 1- July 15, 2015, and I’m sure there are some who frown at me for doing it, and some who disagree with me for doing it. Along the way, I’ve seen a few others doing it this way and frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t become more widely adopted. I hope it does soon.
The terrific, and terrifically overlooked, Honore Sharrer’s, Workers and Paintings, 1943, Oil on board, seen at MoMA. Some of the Art she includes are Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Picasso’s Girl before a Mirror, and others by Jean-Francois Millet and Diego Rivera. Though this work and the originals of most of what she includes in it are 100 years old, +/-, for me, this and all of them are Art. Will the future agree? Time will tell…
“What makes a work of art? I don’t know. There are lots of people who tell you they are making art. Maybe some of them are, but I’m not sure that’s true for all of them. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but that’s not a phrase I would use. I’d prefer to say I’m making pictures – depictions.” David Hockney, A History of Pictures, with his capitalization, eBook P.2.
I’ve held David Hockney’s writings, and ideas, in the highest regard since his revolutionary, and eternally controversial, book Secret Knowledge came out in 2001, but I find it cumbersome to use the word “pictures” here in place of “Art.” Regarding what “makes a work of art?,” as he asks, it seems to me that it takes hundreds of years for the dust to settle on what’s being created in our time and for something, a “picture,” as Mr. Hockney says, to be considered “Art” (IF it continues to speak to people). None of us will be around when that bell rings. So, in the meantime, I’ve opted to use the term Art, capital “A,” respectfully, applying it to all working Artists, present or past.
Thanks, Twyla. I couldn’t have said it better. And so, this scene has appeared in my Banner, sans moving truck, for the past year. If that truck is waiting for me, it may have a long wait. I haven’t been out of Manhattan overnight since February 4, 2012. The Joyce Theater, December, 2019.
The other reason I do it is because Art is my religion. Frank Lloyd Wright, who I consider to be an “ultimate Artist,” capitalized Nature since it was his religion. Art is mine.
Reach out and touch faith. For me, going to The Met is going to church, as I said early on. At this point in my life, it feels like Home. Back Home, again, late on December 22, 2018. Weather be damned. It’s always beautiful inside.
*-Soundtrack for this Post is ”Personal Jesus” by Martin L. Gore of Depeche Mode, from their 1990 album Violator. They perform it here on Letterman–
For The Record is a series of pieces that are about key/core subjects & beliefs that underly everything else I’ve written here.
NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded and ad-free for over 6 years, during which over 250 full length pieces have been published. If you’ve found it worthwhile, you can donate to keep it going & ad-free below. Thank you!
Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here.
Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them.
For “short takes” and additional pictures, follow @nighthawk_nyc on Instagram.
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This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.
Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)
“Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan, written by Donald Fagen & the late Walter Becker, as recorded on their classic album, Aja, in 1977.
Hideki Fujii’s (1934-2010) classic Photo of the extraordinarily enigmatic model & actress Sayoko Yamaguchi (1947-2007). She did far more, including being a ground-breaking Artist, but even if she had only done this one Photograph, she’ll live forever.
Comment- As close to the unofficial/official Theme Song of NighthawkNYC.com as there is likely to be, and I said as much in my very first Post in July, 2015, and here in in 2024. For me, Steely Dan represents a kind of zenith in Pop & Rock- the moment where pure instrumental musicianship peaked before the machines, computers and automation began taking over. (There’s nothing inherently “wrong” in that. It’s just different.) “Libations. Sensations. That stagger the mind…”
Compared to the otherworldly beauty on the cover for Aja, it looks like the band didn’t have a lot of input into the single’s cover. Photographer unknown.
Lyrics-
This is the day of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers, wild gamblers
That’s all in the past
You call me a fool
You say it’s a crazy scheme
This one’s for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I’ll make it this time
I’m ready to cross that fine line
Learn to work the saxophone
I’ll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind
I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I’ll make it my home sweet home
Learn to work the saxophone
I’ll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
This is the night of the expanding man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I’ll be what I want to be
I learned to work the saxophone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
Making a masterpiece. The making of “Deacon Blues”-
;
“We would work then past the perfection point (italics mine) until it became natural.”
I get chills watching this. When Aja came out, I, and every musician I knew, were just in awe of the incredible taste shown on every single note, and what wasn’t played. Then, there’s the lyrics…
Great Music will never die. Pay Steely Dan forward.
*-R.I.P. Walter Becker (1950-2017)
NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 1/2 years, during which 320 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.
You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.
Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.
This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.
Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava
Part One of a New & Occasional Series…the other parts are here.
In no particular order.
“Last Chance Texaco” Written & Performed by Ricki Lee Jones on her immortal debut album, Rickie Lee Jones, 1979.
40 years on, it sends a chill down my spine every damn time I hear it.
Performed in 1979-
Lyrics-
A long stretch of headlights
Bends into I-9
Tiptoe into truck stops
And sleepy diesel eyes
Volcanoes rumble in the taxi
And glow in the dark
Camels in the driver’s seat
A slow, easy mark
But you ran out of gas
Down the road a piece
Then the battery went dead
And now the cable won’t reach…
It’s your last chance
To check under the hood
Last chance
She ain’t soundin’ too good,
Your last chance
To trust the man with the star
You’ve found the last chance Texaco
Well, he tried to be Standard
He tried to be Mobil
He tried living in a world
And in a shell
There was this block-busted blonde
He loved her – free parts and labor
But she broke down and died
And threw all the rods he gave her
But this one ain’t fuel-injected
Her plug’s disconnected
She gets scared and she stalls
She just needs a man, that’s all
It’s her last chance
Her timing’s all wrong
Her last chance
She can’t idle this long
Her last chance
Turn her over and go
Pullin’ out of the last chance Texaco
The last chance
Performed in 1985-
For Zette.
NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.
You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.
Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.
In 85 years of life, as of today, August 25th, 2018, and 59 years of recordings and public performances, he’s earned that level of respect.
Introducing Wayne Shorter, 1959, Vee-Jay Records, features all original compositions by Wayne (and 1 cover tune), and includes the great Lee Morgan on trumpet. In 1959, Wayne Shorter was better known as “The Newark Flash,” than as “Wayne.” *- Photographer unknown.
Like Picasso, or his one time employer, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter’s music has never stayed in one place for too long. Whereas Picasso and Miles went off to create whole new styles of Art and Music, over and over again, with Wayne, I think his “periods” show us different sides of his creative self, and the incredibly large range of his vision. Wayne has left his mark in “hard-bop,” with Art Blakey, in helping to revolutionize small group Jazz with Miles, in exploring the boundaries of electric Jazz with Weather Report, and more recently, in revisiting the possibilities of the small group for the 21st century with his Wayne Shorter Quartet. Along the way, he’s also given us a remarkable body of solo albums for Vee-Jay, Blue Note, Columbia, Verve, and for the past 5 years, Blue Note again, as well as appearing as a guest on innumerable great albums, including the legendary Aja by Steely Dan, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, and Mingus among others by Joni Mitchell , and Jaco Pastorius’ two classic solo albums. In beginning to assess Wayne’s accomplishment to this point, it’s helpful to break it down to some of the realms it’s been most prominent in.
(Spoiler Alert!) However, I say this, knowing what I will say towards the end of this piece: That given the paucity of records released in this century of his Music a full assessment and appreciation of Wayne Shorter’s Music and accomplishment to this point is, most likely, decades away. The new 3 album/CD Blue Note set Emanon to be released next month NOTwithstanding. It’s only a start in rectifying a terrible situation in my view. Ok. I got ahead of myself…
Wayne Shorter at the Village Vanguard, NYC, 1965. *- Photo by Francis Wolff, co-founder of Blue Note Records AND one of the finest Photographers in the history of Jazz.
As a saxophonist, his playing is characterized by three things. First, like Lester “Prez” Young, a major influence on him, Wayne is a Master of using space in his playing. During a solo, silence becomes an integral part of the music. Coincidentally, or not, Miles Davis is, perhaps, the most famous soloist in Music history for his use of silence, and this is a trait that seems to become more and more prominent in Wayne’s playing during his days with Miles (beginning in September, 1964), and ever since. The second defining thing about Wayne’s playing is that he added the distinctive sound of the soprano saxophone, popularized earlier in Jazz by Sidney Bechet, Steve Lacy and Wayne’s friend, John Coltrane (among others), to his standard tenor sax in performances and recording beginning in late 1968, and it quickly became a sound he was identified with. The soprano’s higher range is ideal for cutting through the layers of electronic instruments Wayne was heard with beginning with Miles’ legendary Bitches Brew album and then with Weather Report.
Adam’s Apple, Blue Note, 1966, features his Miles Davis band-mate at the time, Herbie Hancock, who has remained one of his closest friends to this day. *- Blue Note Records Photo.
Third- Jazz soloing is frequently referred to as “spontaneous composing,” When Wayne Shorter plays, his economy creates melodies in his solos that comes closer to that definition than just about anyone else I can think of. Here’s an example of what I mean, Wayne performing his now classic composition Footprints, in 1966 on his Blue Note album, Adam’s Apple, with his long time friend, and former collaborator with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, on piano. Wayne plays the melody (also known as the “head” of the composition) twice, then his solo begins at the 1:15 mark. (Sorry. youtube won’t let me embed the video.)
As a composer, who’s Music graces some of the greatest recordings ever made, Wayne Shorter is, likely, to have the longest influence. Many of his compositions have been considered “standards” for decades. Yet, his orchestral and larger ensemble pieces remain either unheard or overlooked. Some of these will finally be heard on disc when Blue Note releases Emanon next month, which will include a whole CD Of Wayne’s orchestral arrangements performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Underrated is his accomplishment as a bandleader. His Wayne Shorter Quartet, 2000-ongoing, is high on the list of great Jazz groups of the century.
Then there is his recorded legacy.
Wayne Shorter with Lee Morgan during Shorter’s Night Dreamer session, Englewood Cliffs NJ, April 29, 1964. *- Photo by Francis Wolff.
The first recorded appearance I can find of Wayne is from July 3, 1959, when at 25, he was a member of the Maynard Ferguson Big Band at that year’s Newport Jazz Festival. Yes, a recording exists! 1959…That’s 2 years before Bob Dylan started performing in NYC. Almost immediately after that concert Art Blakey approached Ferguson trying to pry Wayne from his band. “The Big Band is a bomber,” he told Ferguson. “Wayne is a fighter pilot,” referring to his better suitability for his own small group, Blakey’s Jazz Messengers (usually 5 pieces in those days). Ferguson released Wayne, who immediately flew to join The Messengers in Fort Lick, Indiana. The subsequent five years produced a zenith in the long and storied career of Blakey’s renowned Jazz Messengers and, as much as any other group, served to define the sound of the still popular genre known as “Hard-Bop,” who’s classic grooves (including many by the Messengers), became a favorite source of sampling for “Acid-Jazz” and Hip-Hop in the 1990s.
Wayne Shorter, left, quickly became Music Director of the Jazz Messengers, supplying the band with much of its repertoire. He’s shown with bassist Jymie Merrit, and drummer Art Blakey, rear, the leader of the Jazz Messengers, in August, 1960. *-Photo by Francis Wolff
During his Messengers period, he recorded his first solo album, Introducing Wayne Shorter (shown earlier) in November, 1959, and the rest is a history that is STILL being written. The latest chapter, Emanon, to be released next month, a year short of the 60th Anniversary of Introducing, will include a graphic novel, co-written by Mr. Shorter.
An extremely rare shot of Miles & Wayne both smiling during a live performance by the Miles Davis Quintet. Source- probably a TV Broadcast, most likely in Europe. *- Photographer unknown.
After leaving Blakey, Wayne was hired by Miles Davis in the fall of 1964, completing what was one of the greatest groups in Jazz history- Miles Davis’ mid 1960’s Quintet, aka “Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet” (from late 1964 through 1968), with Herbie Hancock, piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. Wayne proceeded to write yet more songs that are now “standards,” (including “Footprints,” “Orbits,” “Dolores,” “Masqualero,” “Limbo,” “Vonetta,” and “Nefertiti”) for a group that re-wrote what small group interplay could be on the albums Nefertiti, Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, and the aptly named E.S.P., named after another of Wayne’s compositions, to such an extent that it’s never been surpassed, in my opinion, and given the incomparable level of talent among its 5 members, may never be equalled. To my ears, it was a revolution in small group musical performance akin to the creation of Cubism in painting and sculpture by Picasso, Braque & Juan Gris, Miles being something of a “musical Picasso,” who’s career has about as many different periods and styles as the Spanish Master Artist.
As timeless as this music is, Wayne Shorter, like Picasso or Miles, wouldn’t stay in the same place musically for long. His years with Miles, spanning an appearance on the Steve Allen TV Show on September 1, 1964 through March 7, 19702, would be one of the few groups who would change the face of music, particularly small group Jazz.
The MDQ live at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1966. *- Photo from the Sony Miles Davis Newport Festival Box Set. Herbie Hancock, Miles, Ron Carter, Wayne, and Tony Williams on drums, left to right. Photographer unknown.
Miles’ First Great Quintet was the group he led featuring the incendiary John Coltrane on Tenor Sax. Wayne and Coltrane were friends who frequently practiced together3. When Coltrane left Miles in 1960 to form his own group, he suggested Wayne to Miles, but at that point, Wayne was playing with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. John Coltrane, was famous for his “sheets of sound” style, of which Miles once said, “I had seven tenor players, once.” Paired with Miles’ sublime taste and genius for using silence, the two made perfect foils. It’s interesting that as his time with Miles went on, Wayne Shorter almost seemed to take an opposite, “less is more,” approach, almost the opposite of Coltrane’s, adopting a style a bit like Miles himself.
Art in a box. If I were to take five albums with me to that desert island? You’re looking at one: The Complete Recordings of Miles Davis Second Great Quintet.
Whereas Jazz, to that point, had been characterized by improvisation in solos, in the Second Great Quintet, group improvisation, perhaps influenced by the “free Jazz” of the avant garde, revolutionized more mainstream Jazz. Now, every single note this group played together is considered among the essential Jazz recordings ever made. The box set, above, is complemented by another extraordinary box set, “Live at the Plugged Nickel,” which documents a week of performances during which you can actually hear the group in the process of evolving, Miles, himself, had noted that early on in their live career, the rhythm section played differently behind him than it did behind the other soloists in the group, being more daring behind them. He called them out about it, and the results are there to be heard.
The title of this CD compilation of “greatest hits” from Wayne’s Blue Note period is both true, and an understatement. It’s a great place to start exploring Wayne’s accomplishment. *-Photo by Francis Wolf.
As if all this wasn’t enough, during his time with Miles, Wayne ALSO recorded a string of solo albums for the legendary Blue Note Records label that are now classics, themselves, beginning with 1964’s Night Dreamer. If you haven’t heard it, Juju, Speak No Evil, or the others, I think they’re a great place to start exploring Wayne. He continued to record for Blue Note as a solo artist right up until he left Miles.
On September 20th, 1969, John Lennon announced to the others that he was leaving The Beatles, effectively ending their era. One month before, on August 19th, 1969, Miles began the recording sessions that would mark the beginning of a completely new era in Jazz, creating the bombshell that was and is Bitches Brew, who’s effects and aftereffects revolutionized Jazz and any number of other Musical styles as well. As part of his exploration of electric music, Miles expanded the Quintet. Wayne left in 1970.
My Photo of Wayne performing with Weather Report at the Palladium, NYC, in the 1980’s next to Joe Zawinul’s keyboard gear.
How to follow being a member of one of the greatest groups in the history of recorded Music? He banded together with another ex-Miles sideman, keyboardist & composer, Joe Zawinul, who he had first played with way back in 1959 with Ferguson!, to co-lead the now legendary group Weather Report. Like its name, the sound of the band changed as often as the weather, or the release of their next album. Unlike the rest of what came to be called “Jazz Fusion,” Weather Report obeyed no formula. Their first 2 albums border on the avant garde. From their third album, Mysterious Traveller, on, they found their stride, and though the rhythm section continually changed (coalescing for a time around the incandescent bass genius, the late, Jaco Pastorius, an acquaintance of mine over the last decade of his life), into a “classic” period.
The Wayne Shorter Quartet live at Town Hall, NYC, February, 2011. Wayne is on Soprano Sax, with Danilo Perez (piano), John Patitucci (bass) and Brian Blade (drums).
After Weather Report, possibly inspired by something Miles had said to him about this being his time, Wayne Shorter, finally, became a band leader. And what a band he led! The Wayne Shorter Quartet, consisting of younger masters, Danilo Perez, piano, John Pattitucci, bass, and Brian Blade on drums, dared the seemingly impossible- to follow in the musical footsteps of one of the most daring and innovative acoustic groups in Music history- Miles’ Second Quintet, though with only one horn- Wayne’s. Beginning on September 17, 2000, until the current moment, they have been, to my ears, the first great and important Jazz group of the millennium. Astoundingly, over 18 years of extraordinary performances, only TWO official records have been released by them- 2005’s “Beyond the Sound Barrier,” on Verve, and 2013’s “Without a Net,” on Blue Note, released 49 years after the release of Wayne’s first solo Blue Note album, 1964’s Night Dreamer. Next month, Blue Note will mark Wayne’s 85th by releasing the 3-CD/Lp set by the Wayne Shorter Quartet, Emanon. It’s about time!
Imagine the sound. Moments before I took this, the Wayne Shorter Quartet had just finished lifting the roof off of Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in 2012. John Patitucci’s bass rests on its side behind Wayne’s soprano sax. Given the group has been heard on only TWO albums to this point as I write this, “imagining” the sound, range, daring and inventiveness this incomparable group creates each and every time it’s graced the stage over the past 17 years is what we have been left with, and what I was thinking about when I shot this.
As GREAT as his recorded legacy is, the albums represent only one part of it- particularly in documenting the Music of Wayne Shorter in this millennium. Since 2000, there have only been FOUR Wayne Shorter albums released. Meanwhile, he’s been leading one of the most important groups in Jazz, or in any kind of Music, since 2000, the Wayne Shorter Quartet. To date, this group has been heard on only TWO records-2005’s Beyond the Sound Barrier, and 2013’s Without A Net, a titled that perfectly sums up their live performances. In an interview with Joe Lovano (below), Wayne refers to “the mission” of this group, to continue to explore the territory marked out earlier in the Miles Davis Live at the Plugged Nickel recordings. Since their first performance (known to me) at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September, 2000, the Wayne Shorter Quartet has performed hundreds, possibly thousands, of times. With only two albums to their credit, their evolution and accomplishment remains undocumented. The records companies have seriously let the world, posterity and Music history down here. Some of their performances have been recorded and broadcast by various broadcasting companies around the world, and some are traded among collectors4. They help document the development and evolution as well as prove the importance of this group, and serve to make me feel that the failure to completely and fully document them approaches a cultural tragedy. Will some of these recordings continue to leak out, like John Coltrane’s have, 50 years after his passing? How long will it be before the world is able to hear hear it in the depth it deserves to be heard and finally be able to fully assess the accomplishments of the Wayne Shorter Quartet?
Then there are the orchestral pieces Wayne Shorter has written. Some may appear on Emanon, but there have been rumors of others. These have been sparsely, if ever, performed to date, and so it may be a while before we get to hear them. As a result, I write this piece with the caveat that I know that much of the man’s astounding accomplishment remains unheard. I hope I get to hear it before I’m 85.
Finally, Wayne, the survivor, the Buddhist, and student of life, physics, science fiction and the possibilities, has achieved the status of “sage” when he speaks, which is both rare and sparingly, not unlike his sax playing. He’s become something of a “Yogi Berra of Jazz” with his memorable quotes. If you want an extended taste, here’s one of the longest recorded interviews with Wayne, chocked full of incredible recollections, conducted by saxophonist Joe Lovano-
Perhaps my favorite Wayne-ism is his definition of Jazz- “Jazz means I dare you.” Keep that in mind when you listen to him.
As he turns 85 today. I wish Wayne the VERY Happiest of Birthdays!, a heartfelt THANK YOU for your genius and artistry, and many more years of health, life and Art. Congratulations on the long overdue Kennedy Center Honors coming up this fall!
For everyone else, I hope you avail yourself of a chance to go hear him, or listen to his records again soon, and often. There are galaxies to discover and even life lessons to learned from his music. So much so that I believe people will be listening to Wayne for as long as they are born with ears. And then, by “E.S.P” after.
Recommended Wayne-
It’s all good.
Seriously. In fact, I can’t think of many other Musicians who I could say I haven’t heard a “bad” or “uninteresting” recording by. That includes live dates traded by collectors. You may not like the setting, you may prefer acoustic music to electric, etc., but as for Wayne and his playing? It’s always good. That speaks to the integrity of the man as an Artist, and part of the reason so many revere him. If you choose to buy some Wayne from the links below (only), I will receive a small commission. Thanks.
*- Soundtrack for this post- “Footprints” by Wayne Shorter and recorded by the Miles Davis Quintet on Miles Smiles.
(UPDATE- My thoughts on Wayne’s passing on March 2nd, 2023 are here.)
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In reply to an email- Duke is Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, Louis is Louis Armstrong, Bird is Charlie “Yardbird” or “Bird” Parker, Trane is John Coltrane, Monk is Thelonious Monk, Count is William James “Count” Basie, Prez is Lester Young, ie “The President,” Fats is Thomas “Fats” Waller, Billie the one and only Billie Holliday, Hawk is Coleman Hawkins, Miles is Miles Davis, Sonny is Sonny Rollins, Ornette is Ornette Coleman, Cannonball is Julian “ Cannonball ” Adderley, Jaco is my late acquaintance John Francis Pastorius, and Wayne is the inimitable Wayne Shorter. ↩
As far as my research shows, these are the first and final appearances Wayne Shorter made as a member of Miles Davis’ groups. ↩
Wayne speaks about his relationship with John Coltrane among others in the interview/conversation he did with Joe Lovano, posted below. It’s completely enthralling stuff which makes me pray that he’s, also, working on a book or autobiography, though I have never heard rumor to this effect. He does mention in it that John Coltrane kept a diary. That has not yet been made public. ↩
A list of unreleased, live, Wayne Shorter dates going back to 1959 currently runs to over 200 pages! ↩
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It was a year of discovery. A year where I discovered some great Artists I previously hadn’t known, finally caught up with some I knew about but hadn’t gotten to see much of their work, and got lost exploring some remarkable Retrospectives- for Raymond Pettibon and Robert Rauschenberg, both accompanied by memorable satellite shows. Most of these are represented in my monthly NoteWorthy Show selections throughout the year. But? There was more! So, I’m going to take this moment to pause and look back at the revelations of 2017, look at some memorable shows I didn’t write about at the time, and finally, highlight a pair of men who, I feel, had an exceptional 2017 in Manhattan Art.
No doubt about it- the biggest discovery this year was a long overdue deep dive into the world of Contemporary Photography. From seeing well over 100 Photography shows, to spending five long days at “AIPAD: The Photography Show” (with well over 120 galleries from all over the world showing work), to going through hundreds of PhotoBooks, and meeting many Photographers, legendary, famous, or not quite yet, along with the staffs of two of the world’s leading Photography organizations- Aperture and Magnum, both celebrating major anniversaries this year. Rarely did a week pass when Photography wasn’t in the the picture. Of course, in a world were there are now more cameras than people it’s impossible to get to see everyone who’s doing great work. As happens each year, NO matter WHAT I do to prevent it, this year too, there were shows I didn’t find out about until they closed. UGGGH!!!! Along the way, there were quite a few revelations, and a good many other things solidified…at least for the moment.
First, the revelations. In Photography, particularly among those younger than 50 (I say 50 only because I seem to know/have heard of many of those over) and unknown to me, Gregory Halpern was the biggest revelation I had this year. His book “Zzyzx” won the prestigious Aperture Best Book Award for 2016, but I didn’t know that when I discovered his work at Aperture’s booth at AIPAD. I had never heard of him.
Gregory Halpern, “Untitled,” 2016, from his “Buffalo” series. Click any Photo for full size.
The work, “Untitled,” was a Photograph Aperture had run in the Spring, 2017 issues of it’s excellent quarterly magazine, in a pictorial by Mr. Halpern, titled “Buffalo.” I didn’t know that then, either. I simply saw the work, and then couldn’t get it out of my mind. It now hangs a few feet away. Out of everything I saw at AIPAD, particularly by those younger than 50 and unknown to me, this work grabbed me and didn’t let go. I went home that night with one thought on my mind- “WHO is Gregory Halpern?” After researching him most of the night, (including finding his incredibly honest and insightful answer to one very important question), serendipitously, I got to meet him the next day, and spoke to him about his book. It turned out to be a classic case where some things are better left unexamined. Gregory was so forthcoming in his answers about specific images I came too close for comfort to losing some of their mystery.
Gregory Halpern standing next “Untitled,” at Aperture’s Booth at AIPAD, March 31st.
In addition to being, in my eyes, one of the most talented Photographers of his generation, he is, also, one of it’s best writers. He’s the co-author of one of the most popular and respected Photography Manuals of 2017, “The Photographer’s Playbook,” and his occasionally published articles always enlighten and leave me wanting more. A Harvard grad, he’s now a professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology for some very lucky students. As if all of that isn’t enough, his wife, Ahndraya Parlato is, also, one of the revelations of the year as a Photographer. Her Photographs “glow”- in one way or another. Her most recent book, “A Spectacle and Nothing Strange,” is ethereal…mesmerizing…magical.
Leaving aside age or era, the work of Fred Herzog was, also, unknown to me. Early pioneers of color Photography have taken decades coming to the attention they deserve, such was the disdain color held among the Photographic cognoscenti for color Photography. With the publication of “Fred Herzog: Modern Color,” in February, 2017, an Artist who was fairly well-known, and appreciated, in his native Canada finally began becoming wider known in the USA. His work was memorably shown by Equinox Gallery of Vancouver at AIPAD this spring, where, I felt, it stood out.
Fred Herzog, “Main Barber,” 1968, seen at Equinox Gallery’s AIPAD booth.
Fred Herzog considers Saul Leiter THE master of early color Photography, and even with a giant like William Eggleston to consider (who’s 1976 MoMA show, “Photographs by William Eggleston,” which can be “visited” here, is widely credited with making color Photography “acceptable” in the world of “Fine Art”), it’s hard to argue with him. No Photographer new to me, regardless of age or period, had a bigger impact on me this year than Saul Leiter.
Saul Leiter, “Through Boards,” Circa 1957. This image appears (cropped) on the cover of the now classic book, “Saul Leiter: Early Color,” 2006, which launched the “Saul Leiter Renaissance.” It’s, perhaps, my very favorite Photobook. Sadly, now out of print, it would take real diligence to find a very good copy for less than $100. But, there are many worse uses of time. Photo by the Saul Leiter Foundation.
It took until 2006 for Saul Leiter to be recognized- FIFTY EIGHT years after he started taking color photographs. As with William Eggleston, Mr. Leiter was, also, a devoted Painter. I can see it in both of their work, and I believe it’s part of the reason their work speaks to me, perhaps, more than the work of any other Photographer of any period. It was his friend, no less than the great Artist Richard Pousette-Dart (who’s also an under appreciated Photographer), to encouraged him to pursue Photography.
“Walk with Soames,” 1958, This was 20 YEARS before William Eggleston’s ground breaking MoMA show “legitimized” color Photography in the Art world! Photo by Howard Greenberg Gallery.
Mr. Leiter saw and used color in his Photography in ways no one else has, achieving effects that today’s finest digital manipulators can only dream of. Saul Leiter didn’t need Photoshop to get his results. As very good as his Black & White work is, like Turner or Van Gogh, Saul Leiter was a true Poet of color, perhaps the greatest Master of Color in Photography, though it’s, of course, impossible and pointless to qualitatively compare.
“T,” Circa 1950(!).Photo by the Saul Leiter Foundation. Daring. Gorgeous.
A number of established Photographers had terrific shows in NYC in 2017 that I didn’t get to write about here. Among them are Mark Steinmetz, Mike Mandel, Raghubir Singh (though marked by controversy), Richard Avedon, Herman Leonard, Michael Kenna, and Edward Burtynsky. But, I’m going to address one I simply can’t let pass, because I continue to think about it.
Richard Misrach’s Photo, “Effigy #3, near Jacumba, California,” 2009, Pigment print mounted to Dibond, right rear, with Guillermo Galindo’s Musical Instrumet/Sculpure “Effigy,” 2014, center2014. Barely visible are two strings between the forearms. The grey rectangle on the lower left side of the pedestal is where a speaker is mounted.
“Richard Misrach: Border Cantos,” (at Pace, 510 West 25th Street), was an utterly remarkable and serendipitous collaboration between renowned Photographer Richard Misrach & Composer/Sculptor Guillermo Galindo on the subject of our southern border, those protecting it, and those trying to cross it. To accompany Mr. Misrach’s large, atmospheric Photographs, Mr. Galindo created a whole orchestra of Musical Instruments out of objects found along the border, and proceeded to compose and record a 4 hour score that was looped in the show’s back room to meditative effect, ingeniously installed so that the music being played was coming from speakers mounted inside the display of the specific instruments that were playing at any given moment. (The Artists have an excellent website for this show where you can, also, hear these remarkable instruments.)
Instruments, like this. Guillermo Galindo, “Tortillafono/Wall Vibraphone,” 2014, Metal. The discarded metal cap of an electrical box from the failed SBInet (Secure Border Initiative) surveillance program was turned into a mallet and string instrument sits in front of Richard Misrach’s “Artifacts fround from California to Texas between 2013 and 2015,” 2013-5, 86 x 57 inches, Pigment prints mounted to Dibond. Photos of items found along the border.
And this- Guillermo Galindo, “Teclata,” His description- “On this keyboard, empty cans, bottles, and a plastic cup act as piano strings. The surface of the instrument is decorated with Border Patrol ammunition boxes.”
The surround sound effect was like sitting in the middle of a small chamber music group. The instruments, themselves, were beautiful as sculpture, and the music, which sounded to me like a cross between Harry Partch (who, also, made his own instruments) and John Cage, on instruments that looked like Rauschenbergs, had me asking if it had been released on CD. Why not?
Richard Misrach, “Playas de Tijuana #1, San Diego,” 2013, Pigment print mounted to Dibond, 42 x 160 inches.
Mr. Misrach, who has spent forty years working in the American Desert on his renown “Desert Cantos” project, showed a remarkable selection of images taken since 2004, but more intensely since 2009 (the collaboration with Mr. Galindo dates back to 2012), that told the story in slices. The effect of the music, the images and the sculptures (musical and non) was hypnotic, and ultimately meditative on the situation, the people protecting the border, and the refugees, while at the same time, even for those directly untouched by this story, the show spoke to a larger sense of walls, borders and refugees, and resilience. The Artists found, or created, beauty in this situation, reflecting the very perseverance that is at the essence of survival.
Richard Misrach, “Wall, east of Nogales, Arizona,” 2014, 68 x 84 inches, Pigment print mounted to Dibond
On the Painting & Drawing front, the most important Painting/Drawing gallery show I haven’t addressed was Kara Walker (at Sikkema Jenkins and Co.). Before it opened the buildup was downright intense. First, these posters began appearing, which certainly raised eyebrows until you notice (along the lower left side) that the text was written by the Artist. The show was also featured in a cover article in one of the last print issues of the Village Voice. I can’t remember the last time an Art show made the Voice’s cover, but this was the last time one did.
Kara Walker sounds a bit weary in the poster, and particularly in the “Artist’s Statement” that appears on the show’s page on the Sikkema website.
“Dredging the Quagmire (Bottomless Pit),” 2017 Oil stick and Sumi ink on paper collaged on linen, 18 feet long, seen in the show’s first room. A “bottomless quagmire” is what the history of and current state of race and gender relations does feel like at this moment in time.
In the lower right side, this almost submerged head seemed to echo Ms. Walker’s weariness in her Artist’s Statement. “But frankly I am tired, tired of standing up, being counted, tired of ‘having a voice’ or worse ‘being a role model.'”
After all the anticipation and buildup, at the packed opening, Ms. Walker, herself, was only to be seen for a little while, at least while I was there.
Kara Walker at the opening, September 7, 2017, with part of “U.S.A. Idioms,” 2017, Sumi ink and collage on paper, almost 15 by 12 feet, in the background.
While she continues to create her signature Silhouettes, showing a gorgeous 2017 work titled “Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something),” that’s almost 18 1/2 feet long, the bulk of the show consists on her ink and collage works, that have increasingly come to the forefront of her shows as time has gone on, most recently in her Cleveland Museum show, “The Ecstasy of St. Kara,” 2016, and at MoMA’s “Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection,” which closed on July 30, 2017, where her “40 Acres of Mules,” a Charcoal Drawing on 3 sheets totaling almost 18 feet long that was acquired by the Museum the year before, was on view in what was something of a one-work preview for her Sikkema show.
“Slaughter of the Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something),” 2017, Cut paper on canvas. For me, one thing Ms. Walker’s Silhouettes all seem to ask is “Why do you see, what you see?”
Whereas it’s hard for me to imagine the care, patience and deliberation it must take for Ms. Walker to create one of her silhouettes, her Drawing & Collages look like they are done in bursts of raw energy and passion. At times the images approach the quality of a caricature of an event. No matter the differences in creation, when you see her Silhouettes and Drawings side by side they’re unmistakably by the same Artist.
While the Silhouettes, mostly, seem to leave quite a bit to the imagination, including the race of each character, her Drawings & Collages do not, especially when it comes to violence. Nothing is held back, hinted at or hidden. In the Drawings and collages, she has taken away the curtain inherent in Silhouettes in depicting racism and gender crimes. We see the faces, skin color, eyes, and what each one is involved in doing. You can choose to look away, but otherwise, it’s pretty hard to “miss” what’s going on. The results are shocking, though they have precedent going back to Goya’s “Los Caprichos,” and “The Disasters of War,” and Daumier through Warhol, as well as in the work of Photojournalists and “Conflict Photographers” from all over the world. In Kara Walker’s work, though, the time is centered between 1788, when slavery was legalized in the US, through post Civil War “Reconstruction.” Where the Silhouettes present a shadow of the figure, and the actions, the Drawings shine direct light. In fact, there are almost no shadows in her drawings- there’s no where for the perpetrators to hide.
“The Pool Party of Sardanapalus (after Delacroix, Kienholz,” 2017, Sumi ink and collage on paper, Almost 12 feet long.
Eugene Delacroix, “The Death of Sardanapalus,” 1844, Oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris. Kara Walker is, also, an astute student of Art History. In her work, Sardanapalus lies horizontally near the upper left corner, apparently, taking no interest in the orgy of death going on, as he does, lying arm on elbow on a huge red bed in Delacroix’. Her Ed Kienholz reference is a bit harder to track down, but it might be this one.
In “Christ’s Entry into Journalism,” 2017, the ground is, also, gone. The figures hang in the space of the paper, though some sense of perspective remains- as you get closer to the top of the sheet, they get smaller.
“Christ’s Entry into Journalism,” 2017, Sumi ink and collage on paper, 140 x 196 inches.
In this work, Ms. Walker’s figures cut across time, with some appearing to be contemporary. To the right of center, a figure “rocks the mic.” In the lower center is a figure that appears to be a modern riot trooper, in a helmet with face shield and body armor. He appears to have clubs in each hand. Right next to his left hand is what appears to be a black head, in a hoodie, on a platter, being carried by a woman, who looks away, while others nearby watch, some with shock on their face, some pointing to the scene. Just behind them, an extended arm holds and American flag, while above them a figure gives a Nazi salute with one hand while holding a Rebel flag with the other. Up top, a lynched figure hangs from a tree branch while women on either side of him perform acrobatics, with Klansmen standing next to them. In front of that naked black women are attacked by a group of men, while, again, others see what is going on. In the center of the work, the decapitated hoodied head looks straight across at a Civil War soldier pointing a gun at him, across time. Is this 1863? Or 2016?
“Storm Ryder (You Must Hate Black People as Much as You Hate Yourself),” 2017, Oil stick and Sumi ink on paper collaged on linen.
The primacy of Drawing in her work was reinforced with the recent release of one of Ms Walker’s Sketchbooks from 1999, when the Artist was 29, as a book appropriately titled, “MCMXCIX.” It contains Drawings that, in style and subject, visitors to the Sikkema show will immediatley recognize. Interestingly, as Raymond Pettibon does in his shows (the latest concluding on June 24th, shortly before Ms. Walker’s opened), she prefers her larger works be tacked to the walls.
“Future Looks Bright,” 2017, Oil stick and Sumi ink on paper collaged on linen.
Kara Walker may be growing tired of being a “role model,” of being “a featured member of my racial group and/or my gender niche,” (as she says in her Artist’s Statement referenced above). Of course, I can’t imagine being Kara Walker, but I can understand that it gets to be “too much.” I’m not sure, however, what her other choice is. I mean, I’m sure she COULD do something else if she REALLY wanted to. After seeing all the work and passion she put into this show? I guess I’m just not convinced that she really DOES want to do something else. Yet.
Finally…Looking back on 2017… Last year I wrote that I felt Sheena Wagstaff had the best year in NYC Art. She’s had a very good 2017, too. But, this year, I think that The New Museum’s Massimiliano Gioni & Gary Carrion-Murayari. had special years, highlighted by the truly exemplary, and revolutionary, “Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work” retrospective, which they then remounted simultaneously in Maastricht and Moscow. I feel it was “revolutionary” because totaling an unheard of 800 works, including brand new works created by the Artist for this show (some on the very walls of the New Museum), they gave an exhaustive look at Pettibon’s career, yet the show never slowed, never failed to keep and even raise interest. It even included work Pettibon did as a small child that he has now ammended in his own, unique style. Word has recently come that Gary Carrion-Murayari, who kindly answered my questions on the Pettibon Moscow show he co-curated, has also been named as a co-curator for the New Museum’s 2018 Triennial, so he could be ready to have another “big” year. Stay tuned!
The end result is that Massimiliano Gioni, Gary Carrion-Murayari, and the New Museum have served to put the “Big Four”1 Manhattan Museums on notice that, on their 40th anniversary, we are going to have to get used to saying the “Big Five.”
———————————– A Special “Thank You!” to all the Artists who gave me their time and shared their thoughts with me in 2017, and to David White & Gina Guy of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Gary Carrion-Murayari and Paul Jackson of the New Museum.
“Thank you!” to the Hattan Group and Kitty for research assistance, and to The Strand Bookstore for being open until 10:30pm seven nights a week. R.I.P. Owner, Fred Bass this week.
*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Heroic Elegy, Op. 36,” (1918), by Ernest Farrar, in honor of the 100th Anniversary of WW1, which was featured in another memorable show, “World War 1 & The Visual Arts” at The Met this year, as a way of honoring it, and all the Artists, and Musicians, lost during it. Shortly after “Heroic Elegy’s” premiere, Second Lieutenant Farrar was ordered to the Western Front. Two days after he arrived there, he was killed at the Battle of Epehy. He was 33. I first heard it while I was driving in Florida on September 11, 2002. The classical station there played it in honor of the first anniversary of 9/11. So taken with it was I that I pulled over and listened to it with my eyes closed, then immediately set about researching it’s composer. Though he wrote other fine works, “Heroic Elegy,” is special. It’s lightning in an 8 minute bottle. As beautiful as it is, there’s a quality, a confidence, in it that seems to promise so much more to come that he, tragically, never got the chance to give us, like the other Artists & Musicians lost far too early in this most senseless of wars.
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With all due respect to The Frick Collection, who the powers that be that came up with “the Big Four” left out. ↩
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Today, June 18th, is Sir Paul McCartney’s 75th Birthday. Happy Birthday, Sir Paul, and many more!
When it came out 50 years ago, on June 1, 1967, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was nothing less than the biggest tsunami in popular Music since, well…”Meet The Beatles.” A defining moment in modern music, splitting musical time into before, and after, it’s aftershocks have been so all-encompassing, it’s hard to listen to most of what’s come after and not hear some of it’s influence.
Though Traffic, the Beach Boys, The Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience (who’s seismic “Are You Experienced?,” the first album I ever bought, was released on May 12, some 19 days before “Sgt. Pepper’s”) were doing wonderously creative things with expanding the boundaries of rock, nothing else sounded anything like it, really. It cut across genres and audiences. No matter what they had listened to before, everyone listened to it when it came out1. When you think about that, it’s downright amazing given how experimental, even avant garde, quite a bit of it was. “Avant garde” and “experimental” is almost always a ticket to popular failure. Producer Sir George Martin was behind some of it- both technically (managing the recording, and facilitating the Beatles’ ideas ), and musically (doing the string and brass arrangements). Drugs, the expansive cultural, spiritual and musical explorations of The Beatles, themselves, were the rest of it. Still, in spite of all the changes going on, personally, and in the music, the whole thing hung together perfectly- from the opening background noises to the final backward voices, ending the unprecedented, all too real/all too surreal “A Day In The Life.”
It was a product of the moment, becoming the soundtrack for the “Summer of Love,” one that, also, took music a big step forward, and showed us the future.
Sir Paul McCartney performing at Yankee Stadium, July 2011, on his original Hofner “Beatle Bass,” one of the most historic musical instruments in the world. He actually remains under-appreciated as a musician, as are some of his projects, like “The Fireman.” Click any image to see it full sized.
The “concept album” had truly arrived (with all due respect to “In the Wee Small Hours,” by Frank Sinatra, 1955, a staple over here at the NHNYC.com offices, “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys, released May, 1966, and a few others). As a result, to this day, when you put it on, I think it should be listened to it all the way through.
Now, with the release of the new 50th Anniversary “Deluxe Edition” Box Set, things are getting complicated. So, I need to specify what I mean by “it”- Listen to the 13 songs on the original album all the way through. Which brings me to what I feel is a little bit of a problem. The new “Deluxe Edition” is NOT (I feel) the best way to experience Sgt. Pepper’s for the first time. With all due respect to Giles Martin, who has (partially) remixed Sgt. Pepper’s for the Deluxe Edition, mixing his version from the original 4 track tapes. See footnote 2 for more details on this2 After a listen to the new mix, I prefer to stick with the original mix.
Giles’ Dad, Sir George Martin, was one of the greatest Producers in the history of recorded Music. You could make a very strong case and say he’s The Greatest, but I don’t believe comparing creativity, or creative people. In any event, his mix ain’t broke. Don’t “fix” it. I don’t think the “sonic upgrade” of the new stereo mix is that big to sacrifice something that was an integral part of the finished album, like this part of George Martin’s contribution was3. It was something he created WITH The Beatles. You’re dealing with master tapes that were recorded in 1967. There’s only so much that can be done to “improve them” sonically, and those come with tradeoffs-
Questionably “better” sound quality vs. losing some of the original experience, and, most importantly, the Artist’s intentions.
Sir Paul performs “Something,” on a Ukulele given to him by George Harrison.
Frankly, for those reasons, I prefer to stick with original mixes of just about every album ever made, and as reissues pile up, they get harder to find- you have to know what you’re looking for4. As a producer? I wouldn’t want anyone else messing around with my mix, and I was no Sir George Martin. “Technological advances” are a mixed blessing, bringing good and bad. Just ask anyone who prefers Lp’s to CD’s. (I’m not saying I do.)
Finally, the Deluxe Edition comes with a lot of extras. There are a seemingly infinite number of Beatles’ outtakes that have circulated among fans and traders over the years, and while many of them are fascinating, if you haven’t heard the original album, wait until you have it memorized before listening to them. The “Making of” Doc, included with the Deluxe Edition, sounds fascinating. I’m sure the book is good, too. All in all? It sounds like a supplement to having the original recording. NOT a replacement for it.
“Hey, Sir Paul! What do you think of the new Sgt. Pepper’s Mix?”
In all of this, I have not seen any mention of the involvement of Sir Paul and Ringo (who were directly involved with the original, of course, with due respect to Yoko and the Harrisons) in it. And, I haven’t been able to find out what Sir Paul thinks about the new mix. His website has him only commenting on the passage of time re: “Sgt. Pepper’s” 50th, but I found this comment critical-
“It’s crazy to think that 50 years later we are looking back on this project with such fondness and a little bit of amazement at how four guys, a great producer and his engineers could make such a lasting piece of art.”
I think that tells you all you need to know. He includes Sir George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, as part of the creative team5.
“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in,
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go.”*
I believe the integrity of all of their work should be respected, and preserved.
But? With the passing of time, there’s no way I’m going to win that fight. There’s too much money aligned on the other side in reissuing records- just beware of anyone who tells you it’s “new & improved.” This, unfortunately, goes on in Art, too. After Artists pass away, increasingly their estates are continuing to issue/reissue their work. I have very mixed feelings about this. I’ll go to Photo shows and see “recent prints” that just aren’t up to the level of the quality of prints made by the Artist during their lifetime. This hurts the Artist’s reputation, in my opinion. In music, we now stand at the precipice of whatever will be done regarding Prince’s unreleased Mt. Everest of material. If you don’t think that’s going to materially impact his legacy, think again. Quick- How many albums did Jimi Hendrix release during his lifetime6? I feel for any new listener to his music faced with the dauntless task of looking through the list of COUNTLESS albums with his name on them, which are STILL being released 47 years after his death, and trying to find them.
The message in all of this? Buyer beware. Luckily? After 50 years? Most people already have “Sgt. Pepper’s.” So? On the 50th Anniversary (month) of it’s release put it on and give it a listen. All the way through. It’s an Album. Remember them?
Many since have tried. There’s still nothing like it.
Finally? When all else has been said…Think about this for one minute…
How HARD is it to connect with even one person who becomes special in your life? I still marvel that The Beatles FOUND each other!
Never in the whole history of Western Music (1200 a.d. to 1900) have two musical Geniuses collaborated before (as far as I know).
J.S. Bach was too busy raising 10 sons (each of whom became a noted, or great, composer), writing, rehearsing AND performing a new cantata each week, performing his regular church duties, and writing the rest of his incomparable music to collaborate with Handel. Mozart and Beethoven? Never happened. Brahms and Schumann? Nope. Brahms and MRS. Clara Schumann…? Romance doesn’t count. This is a 20th Century phenomenon. George & Ira Gershwin…Bernstein & Sondheim…Miles Davis & John Coltrane…Miles & Wayne Shorter…My list may be different than your’s. Here you have John Lennon & Paul McCartney, two of the very greatest songwriters in the history of Music. Alongside them? George Harrison, no slouch (and continually under-rated) himself. Heck…Who WOULDN’T be “under-rated” next to those two? I often wonder what George must have felt (from time to time? often?). On the one hand he had people wanting a “better lead guitarist,” his friend, Eric Clapton, perhaps, to replace him in The Beatles. On the other hand, he was lucky to get 1 or 2 songs on each Beatles album, NO MATTER how good his songs were! (Witness the then unheard of THREE Lp set he released soon after The Beatles split, “All Things Must Pass.” Talk about being “pent up!” “Within You, Without You,” was his song on “Sgt. Pepper’s.”) But? He was the “perfect” guitarist for The Beatles, as Ringo was the “perfect” drummer for them. That the four of them found each other?
It’s miraculous, in my book.
If you don’t think so? Point out to me the LAST time this happened in any of the Arts.
The Beatles were a gift from the Universe.
*- Soundtrack for this is “Fixing A Hole,” by Lennon & McCartney, from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.
“On The Fence,#8, The Birds & The Bees-tles” Edition.
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Myself included, and I wasn’t into The Beatles until “Strawberry Fields Forever” was released, on February 13, 1967, as a single, presaging “Sgt. Pepper’s” ↩
Sgt. Pepper’s was recorded on 4 tracks, which is astounding when you think about that today. In 1995, my version of “Strawberry Fields Forever” was recorded on 48 tracks. The Beatles would fill up 3 of the 4 tracks, then mix those down to the open 4th track. Then they’d repeat the process until they had filled all four tracks (I’m simplifying. There was more “bouncing” of tracks to open up other tracks involved.), the resulting tape was then mixed down to a final, stereo two track Master, which is what the records were made from- both in Stereo, and yes, in Mono. Both of those have been reissued, in the “Complete” Stereo and Mono Boxsets, and I prefer them, at the moment, among the recent incarnations of The Beatles albums. ↩
Giles Martin also did a 5.1 mix. You’re on you’re own there, since his dad didn’t do one, as far as I know. I have not heard it as yet. ↩
For example- Try finding the original mixes of Miles Davis’ Columbia albums, some of the greatest and most important music of the century, on CD. It’s hard. Early, now rare, Japanese import CD’s had them. Most likely you have to go back to the Lp’s for them, but make sure they’re vintage. ↩
They did a Q&A with him about Sgt. Pepper’s BEFORE the Deluxe Edition was announced, here. Also, Pepper’s recording engineer Geoff Emerick said he “hadn’t heard it”, the new mix, in an interview ↩
The answer is 3 studio Lp’s- “Are You Experienced?,””Axis:Bold as Love”, and “Electric Ladyland,” and 3 live albums- the other 2 of which, besides “Band of Gypsys,” I’m not sure how much he had to do with. ↩
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I was very saddened to hear of the death of Arthur Blythe this past week. Mr. Blythe was a Master of the Alto Saxophone, who, after having worked as a bouncer, started making his name (as “Black” Arthur Blythe) on the NYC avant garde loft scene, centered around Sam River’s “Studio RivBea” in the late-1970’s. This led Mr. Blythe to tantalizing first solo records for small and adventurous labels, before finally breaking out in 1980 on Columbia Records.
Arthur Blythe on the cover of his 1991 ENJA album “Hipmotism.”
“Adventurous” is a word I’d use to sum up what attracted me to him, actually. His early masterpieces like “The Grip” and “Metamorphosis,” (both on India Navigation) were never far from my turntable back in the day, bringing a breath of fresh air both in his writing and compositions as well as in his choice of instrumentation (bringing back the tuba, a staple of Jazz’ earliest bands, instead of the bass), as in his singular, searing and singing tone, his instantly recognizable “trademark.”
Adventure Lives! “The Grip” and “Metamorphosis,” both recorded live on the same date have been reissued on this “In Concert” CD.
The back of “Metamorphosis” with some of it’s early reviews. Exhilarating & ground-breaking, I say.
Mr. Blythe retained that adventurousness on his first Columbia records, “Lenox Avenue Breakdown,” and “In the Tradition,” both very good, leading to his masterpiece, “Illusions,” which alternated a classic acoustic Jazz Quartet, featuring John Hicks, with his more adventurous electric group,l which included guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer, cellist Abdul Wadud and Bob Stewart’s tuba, on a record that I don’t think anyone quite saw coming. Coming smack dab in the middle of the fusion/jazz purist war started by Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew,” in 1969-70, here was a record that had a foot in both camps at the same time, which was unheard of. Then, he was increasingly forced by label pressures to “go commercial,” and his subsequent Columbia releases proved more and more disappointing, especially after “Light Blue,” his Thelonious Monk album. Later, Arthur Blythe recorded for ENJA, Contemporary Records, and others, with mixed results. But, live, in concert, or in a club, remained a great place to hear him, and his unique sound, one of the most powerful on the Alto of his generation, a power matched by his inside/outside style, which made him comfortable in any musical setting (like Jack DeJohnette’s “Special Edition” Band), and a presence that struck me as being defined by grace, even though he was a large man.
“Illusions” One of the great Jazz Albums of the 1980’s.
More recently, I’d heard rumors of illnesses, including Parkinson’s, but hoped he’d finally get a chance to be himself and fully realize his unique musical vision. Those chances seemed both rare and elusive. Now? To my mind, he leaves us under-appreciated, which is complicated to change because of the external factors I mention that effect his discography. I hope that future diligent Jazz lovers will explore his records, and keep his legacy alive.
*- Soundtrack for this Post is “My Son Ra” by Arthur Blythe, a staple in his live performances, it appears on both “In Concert,” and “Illusions.”
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, 1979.
, a sort of “Greatest Hits” of his Blue Note period, or the Blue Note albums 
, or 
. For classic, electric Wayne, get 
by Weather Report. 
, on Verve, is a masterpiece in my view, and the most overlooked of Wayne’s classic solo albums. If you want to hear Wayne in the groove, check out 
, 
, or 
by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. To hear Wayne making history with Miles, 
, 
, 
, and 
are impossible for me to choose between, so I’d opt for the box set, 
, while the live set 
presents the other side of that coin. For the best of the current Wayne Shorter Quartet, as I look forward to 
, 
, his return to Blue Note is stellar. The title sums up the group’s approach, which you can experience in full effect, here-
