He wrote his biggest hit on a piece of toilet paper: In 1964, “The
Sidewinder” catapulted trumpeter Lee Morgan, age 25, into the company
of Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, and Ahmad Jamalโother jazz musicians
who’d garnered unlikely hit singles. At 33, Morgan had recorded over
two-dozen albums and survived several heroin-related
mishapsโincluding passing out against a hot
radiatorโonly to be shot dead at a gig by his common-law
wife.
Author Jeffery S. McMillan’s DelightfuLee (University of
Michigan Press) vividly tells the story of the famed Blue Note Records
star. Citing “half-valve effects, grace notes, triplet figures, smeared
notes, false fingering oscillations, and displaced rhythmic accents,”
McMillan not only scouts the technical details that marked Morgan as a
prodigy but captures the ease, daredevil swagger, and “bursting,
splatty attack” that made the trumpeter great.
Along with acute observations about Morgan’s classic LPs, including
The Cooker and Candy, McMillan unearths little tidbits,
too. Through his friendship with Jimmy Morgan, the trumpeter’s
protective brother, McMillan discovered the tale behind “The Midget,” a
tune whose title came from Miles Davis. Davis mocked Morgan’s sports
coupe: “Why don’t you get rid of that midget and get a real car!”
Another new book, the third edition of Electronic and
Experimental Music (Routledge) by Thom Holmes, reminds me why so
few write books on experimental
electronic music: There’s just too
much to cover.
Holmes surveys crucial innovators
(Varรจse, Stockhausen,
Xenakis, et al.) and presents every major concept from the pliable
nature of recorded sound to voltage-controlled synthesizers, granular
synthesis, and sampling. Despite a few typos (Holmes misdates Xenakis’s
Metastasis by a decade) and sporadic goofs (MetaSynth is sound
software, not a programming language), the book is a superlative
intersection of history and practice. With its charts, pictures,
historical antecedents, and well-explained concepts, Electronic and
Experimental Music is an essential resource for anyone interested
in extraordinary sound.
Alas, turntablism, rock, and “space-age pop music” consume too much
space and the major movements of the last 20 years that upended the
nature of music and musical performanceโnoise, lowercase sound,
phonography, and plunderphonicsโare missing, but maybe that’s
another book altogether. How many other books can boast a diagram of
the Hammond Novachord, a photo of Takehisa Kosugi, and a concise
description of Brian Eno’s Discreet Music within just a couple
of chapters? 
Thurs 8/7
JAZZ UNDER THE STARS
Singer Gail Pettis graces this series of summertime jazz concerts.
Weather permitting, you can peer into the telescope of PLU’s Keck
Observatory and survey th pe night sky after the gig. Outdoor
Amphitheater, PLU Campus, near Eighth Ave S and Wheeler St, Tacoma,
253-535-7602, 7 pm, free.
AHMAD JAMAL
Nearing 80, Jamal retains his unique dynamism and power: fierce
keyboard runs that startlingly freeze in midphrase, placid interludes,
and cadenzas stuffed with orchestra-sized chords comparable to Errol
Garner, though with less humor and more bite. With longtime bassist
James Cammack as well as James Johnson III on drums and the
exโWeather Report percussion master Manolo Badrena. Not to be
missed. Through Sun Aug 10 at 7:30 pm. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave,
441-9729, sets at 7:30 and 9:30 pm, $30.50.
Fri 8/8
SCMS SUMMER FESTIVAL
The Redmond arm of the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s annual
festival continues. For the free 7 pm recital, Ida Levin and Anton Nel
play Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major, op. 96.
The main concert offers a quintet for strings by Schubert, the
obligatory Shostakovich (the Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in
C minor, op. 8), and another sonata for piano and violin, one by
Leoลก Janรกek. Overlake School, 20301 NE 108th St,
Redmond, 283-8808, 8 pm, $16โ$42.
DENNIS REA
The composer-guitarist-writer serves up a triple bill of his own
projects: the dubbed-out thumb pianos of Tempered Steel, a trio with
Tom Baker and Brian Heaney, and the Tanabata Ensemble. Named for the
sequential date, 08-08-08, Tanabata performs Rea’s lovely Eight
Trigrams, an arrangement of an ancient Naxi song. When I heard it
at a Composer Spotlight several months ago, it reminded me of a mellow
Sun Ra ballad crossed with gamelan music. Fourth floor Chapel
Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N,
789-1939, 8 pm, $5โ$15 sliding scale donation.
BOB MARSH
During a multiday Seattle residency, this Bay Areaโbased
vocalist, cellist, and electronics whiz leads two large ensembles, one
for strings, the other for electronics. With an abiding interest in
microtones and unusual instrumentsโthe Saturday show includes tap
dancingโMarsh has also mastered perhaps the most difficult
element of freely improvised music: wry humor. A free, open rehearsal
starts at 3 pm. Marsh also leads daytime workshops and evening
performances Sat Aug 9 at Good Shepherd Center and Sun Aug 10 at
Gallery 1412. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 322-1533, 8 pm, free, but
donations accepted.
Mon 8/11
WASHINGTON COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA
An echo of the late-’80s New York Composers Orchestra, which
championed Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb, WACO premieres a new
big-band composition by French hornist Tom Varner. Seattle Drum
School, 12510 15th Ave NE, 364-8815, 8 pm, $5/$10.
Tues 8/12
ANDY BEY
Bey’s lustrous baritone conjures easy and superficial comparisons to
the late great “Mr. B.,” Billy Eckstine. While Bey shares Mr. B’s
mastery of Ellington songsโboth have recorded classic renditions
of “Caravan”โBey’s languid yet controlled vibrato never veers
into the jarring operatic tremolo that occasionally marred Eckstine’s
later recordings. A fine pianist, Bey also has an enviably subterranean
growl and cooing falsetto that gives chills. Don’t miss him. Also Wed
Aug 13. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, 7:30 pm,
$24.50.
Wed 8/13
COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT
Composer Bruce Hamilton, director of Western Washington University’s
electronic music studio, discusses his work. Hamilton’s electroacoustic
music tempers classic, big-boned textures reminiscent of the GRM and
Francis Dhomont with animated rhythms derived from granular synthesis.
Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919, 7:30 pm,
free.
