[Trombone-l] clams and perspective

[Chris Tune]

And, in this vein, I can recommend an album I just picked up.  It's Count 
Basie's "The Chairman of the Board" on CD.  [the CD has some previously 
unreleased stuff--noteworthy is the version of "Moten Swing"].  I picked it 
up because I've been reading Bruce Swedien's book on his audio engineering 
career and philosophy and he mentioned having been around in the Chicago 
operations of Universal Audio recording studios.  Bruce also mentions 
proudly his efforts with Count Basie around the beginning of the 1960's. 
Although Bruce isn't on this one, it seems the Universal effect is fully in 
evidence on this album.

Well, the album "The Chairman of the Board" probably represents a fair 
example of the kind of excellence Universal was known for.  The album also 
shows where Bruce developed some of his philosophies regarding audio (one 
MAIN one is the insistence upon retaining stereo imaging for every possible 
instance--in otherwords the sax section is not some "MONO" sound source 
panned to a particular point in an imaginary sound stage---everything needed 
is kept stereo--particularly sections like bones, trumpets and saxes--this 
is a GOOD way to proceed for a big band]

Anyway, the audio engineering is excellent on this album, so it necessarily 
picks up even the very rare instances of clams in the Basie band.  You have 
to listen hard, but you can occasionally hear a string buzz in Green's 
guitar, or perhaps an instance of a ghosted false sounding note hear or 
there. . .very rarely.  Nonetheless, the effect of the album is simply 
marvelous classic big band jazz.

Perhaps the commercial styles lend themselves to just a tiny bit more 
leniency (maybe people like Steely Dan -- who were noted for very AR 
production standards--redoing and redoing takes on and on would disagree) 
than the world of classical music, where we have some examples of such 
perfection that we have to live up to. . .and WANT to live up to.  Don't get 
me wrong--this Basie group sounds perfect to almost anyone who isn't 
concentrating like crazy on every single sound being made. . .and maybe that 
is part of the real point here. . .it is hard to listen really well!

Anyway, the important thing is create absolutely EXCELLENT music.  No doubt 
about that.  Why do it otherwise?  Then we are just doing another rehearsal 
band.  N'est ce pas? [sorry . . one of my favorite French phrases --means 
"isn't that so?"]

Chris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ALEX ILES" <alexiles at earthlink.net>
To: "Jeff Albert" <jeff at jeffalbert.com>
Cc: "List Trombone" <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] clams and perspective


> Good point, Jeff.
>
> A great little book that addresses the issue of "mistakes" in
> improvisational music....
>
> "Jazz: The Imperfect Art" by Ted Gioia [sp?]
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Alex
> ============================
> On Mar 31, 2006, at 9:43 AM, Jeff Albert wrote:
>
>> I think we are getting some disagreement on clams because we are
>> coming to the concept from different perspectives.
>>
>> As a listener I don't mind a few clams if the music is moving.  I can
>> understand that some listeners might have a higher clam standard, but
>> it just isn't that important to me as a listener.
>>
>> Part of the reason clams aren't a big deal to me as a listener is
>> that my primary performance mode is as an improviser.  Improvisers
>> tend to dismiss clams even as performers, because too much worry
>> about that sort of thing can interfere with the improvisational
>> process.
>>
>> If I am performing composed music with weeks or months of preparation
>> time, I am much less tolerant of clams, because we have the time to
>> get it right.
>>
>> Jeff
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