Don't Just Sing

not on sale at ArkivJazz

For not the first time, I received an email promoting ArkivJazz' celebration of Women's History Month which only promotes recordings by singers. Yes, these are some of the finest ever singers, and representatives of the art form (Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday, Nina Simone)¹, but this singular focus overlooks the other roles women have played in jazz over the years. It's like having a women's career day and only featuring nurses and secretaries. And in 2020, this is totally inexcusable.

[Having now clicked through to the larger offer after writing what follows, I see that there are some non-singers included in the promotion, but only slightly less than one out of three, including a few of those listed below, but my main argument still stands.] 

The first two obvious choices are Mary Lou Williams and Carla Bley (who even has an excellent new release out.) Pianist Kris Davis, guitarist Mary Halvorsen, and clarinetist Anat Cohen are all widely considered current top players on their respective instruments, and fine composers as well. Other women non-singers I've featured on the webcast are Alice Coltrane, Allison Miller, Geri Allen, Co Streiff, Irène Schweizer, Dorothy Ashby, Eve Risser, Ingrid Laubrock, Jane Ira Bloom, Marilyn Crispell, Myra Melford, Linda May Han Oh, Tomeka Reed. and Sharon Freeman. Others who don't just sing are Annette Peacock, Karin Krog, and, of course, Nina Simone. While my tastes skew away from the conventional, other more mainstream artists include the pianist Helen Sung, saxophonists Grace Kelley and Mindy Abair, and the composer-bandleader Maria Schneider. I'm leaving out many deserving others. (For more on this, on Mixcloud, Magda Brand has an excellent nine part series featuring female jazz composers. (Start here, for example)

Unpopular Music - For McCoy Tyner

Also, you must watch this. This version has better audio however -

https://tv.nrk.no/se?v=FBUA07003275&t=2038s

The jazz world has lost one of its giants. McCoy Tyner, perhaps best known as the pianist from John Coltrane's “Classic Quartet,” also had a formidable solo career as well, becoming one of the most influential pianists is jazz history. Much has been said elsewhere (for example) about his powerful technique, his distinctive chord voicings and the way he could power a band while also providing its gravity that I won't go on. As a composer, he could bring those qualities to a variety of settings, from traditional African musics to big band, choral, and rhythm-and-blues.

What follows is an arbitrary, but varied selection. No apologies for putting in the hits, as they are some of the greatest hits, but there are some lesser known tracks here as well (from, unfortunately, some of my scratchier records, I do apologize for that.) As powerful as he could be, he was also a wonderful ballad player.

See the playlist after the break...