[Dixielandjazz] What is a 'musician's musician'?

[John Farrell]

Jerry Brown raises and interesting question :

"I have often heard Tatum described as a 'musician's musician' which raises
a more general point. Does a musician when he or she listens to another
player approach the performance from a different viewpoint to a non
musician?"

Obviously I can speak only for myself on this subject. For me the most
important factor in a jazz musician's performance is that he should
demonstrate a  complete mastery of his instrument which goes beyond mere
competence. The tune and the "feeling" are of secondary importance to me - I
want to hear if the guy can really handle his axe.

Next on my list of essentials is an outstanding interpretation of a familiar
piece of music and attractive, maybe unusual harmonic progressions. Here I
fundamentally disagree with Jerry's condemnation, he is of the opinion that
Tatum's overpowering keyboard technique simply ruined the tunes he played.
Before I deal with that, let me mention just a few musicians who fit my
criteria - Bix, who was not a dazzling technician nor did he indulge in
pyrotechnics, nevertheless he had a way of reassembling a tune in such a
fashion that made me wonder "Now why didn't I think of that?"

I also admire the great pianists Don Ewell and Marvin Ash for much the same
reason. The hugely talented Ralph Sutton played powerful, straight-ahead
stride and beautiful ballads with interesting, non-standard chord changes.
He threw in the odd run here and there but generally did not use pianistic
fireworks in order to impress his audiences, he did not need to.

However Tatum was in a class of his own, towering head and shoulders above
all the rest. When it came to the physical act of playing piano nobody else
stood the ghost of a chance against him. In short, Tatum was - and for my
money,  still is - the most consummate jazz pianist ever to walk the planet.
You want total keyboard mastery? Tatum's your man. Complete harmonic
understanding? He had that in spades. I know of no other jazz musician
(except perhaps Charlie Parker) who could play with equal facility in any
key.

Jerry said that despite a technique not based on brilliance George Lewis had
listener appeal. That is undoubtedly true,  however his limited style does
absolutely nothing for me, I would not cross the street to listen to him.

John Farrell
stridepiano@tesco.net
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm


----- Original Message -----
From: <Jazzjerry@aol.com>
To: <JimDBB@aol.com>; <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 5:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] What is a 'musician's musician'?


>
> In a message dated 10/7/02 23:25:21, JimDBB@aol.com writes:
>
> << But no one else was able to
> play them with the same flexibility and velocity >>
>
> My 'Tatum was crap' remark was intended as an illustration of how an
argument
> can be abreviated. But expanding it again I have often heard Tatum
described
> as a 'musician's musician' which raises a more general point. Does a
musician
> when he or she listens to another player approach the performance from a
> different viewpoint to a non musician? As a non player who could not make
a
> tuneful note out of a comb and paper the technique of a musician is fairly
> incidental. Yes, they have to be able to play the instrument but the
overall
> performance including feeling, expression and all those thing which are
very
> difficult to describe come into play. A musician on the other hand simply
> because they know the technical theory behind the performance cannot help
but
> judge the playing primarily against technical parameters.
>
> As an illustration, maybe more OKOM than Tatum (but don't lets dwell on
> that!), would be the playing of George Lewis. He could be regarded as
someone
> who's appeal to his listeners was not based on brilliant technique.
>
> Anyone any comments on the general point?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jerry
> Norwich,
> U.K.
>
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