Preview
HUTCHINSON ANDREW TRIO
January 14 and 15
Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club
There was a time when jazz was the popular music. Kids would flood dance-hall floors and underground clubs to listen to the latest tunes from Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.
Today jazz is struggling. Sales are down, venues are few and far between and the genre itself is stagnating in a quagmire of conformity. Enter Calgary bassist Kodi Hutchinson and Edmonton pianist Chris Andrews. By no means are they the new messiahs for jazz, but they offer hope with their new CD Lost But Not Forgotten. Not only is the CD all original material, but also both Andrews and Hutchinson contextualize their music within the history of jazz. As such, the two of them combine the creativity of jazz’s heyday and the sensibility of contemporary pop culture.
"You know when you’re listening to swing out of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s each era has its own sound," says Hutchinson. "The ’30s was big-band swing, ’40s was bebop, ’50s was cool jazz, ’60s brought in the avant-garde and ’70s was electric. This album is our best attempt at an amalgamation of all of those sounds – trying to make our own statement through the history of the music that we play. At the same time, Chris and I are both more influenced by contemporary musicians."
Jazz musicians are renowned for reflecting back to glory days of the ’40s and ’50s. The problem with that is that those musicians forget that what we see as classics were contemporary at the time. Jazz standards, by definition didn’t exist so songs such as "Shiny Stockings" and "I Loves you Porgy" were taken from pop culture.
"I heard through the grapevine that jazz music is now selling behind Christian music," says Hutchinson. "Many musicians will argue with me on this point, but I think this has a lot to do with the institutionalization of jazz. It’s almost like classical now – it’s a schooled music. You know when it was first being played in the ’40s and ’50s the musicians playing didn’t go to school. They learned on the bandstand. But now, because the playing opportunities don’t exist, everyone goes to school. I think because the way popular music has gone, there isn’t that live element anymore."
Joining Hutchinson and Andrews on the CD is Juno-nominated drummer Sandro Dominelli. Together they create a sound that mixes contemporary swing and acoustic groove to form a unique trio sound.
"Everyone has their taste in music that they gravitate towards," he says. "When I was a kid I wasn’t sitting there listening to Dexter Gordon. I was listening to Jefferson Airplane. I was raised on popular music and as a player I understand the sensibilities of people that listen to popular music. I listen to Top 40, which I think in some circles may be a dangerous thing to say as a musician. When Chris and I play live, we cover current pop tunes, because for us, that’s the music we listen to outside of jazz. Why the heck can’t we do to this music what was done to it 50 years ago?"
This approach is actually closer to the spirit of jazz than playing tired old standards. According to Hutchinson, musicians who just play standards contribute to the institutionalization of the music. The songs may be fun to play, but having an original voice is more important than doing what’s been done before.
"I enjoy music that reaches more than just an elite group," says Hutchinson. "To write an album that just reaches out to musicians, I think, is a failed endeavour. Not for all players mind you, but for my personal journey I want to put music out that reaches beyond eight musicians sitting in a club. Chris and I are just trying to express our own sensibilities musically. When we first sat down and started talking about this project the idea was that we wanted to play music that didn’t exist." |
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