Writing in The Guardian* recently, Richard
Williams
reiterated the long held (but minority opinion) that "jazz" in
fact ceased
to exist as long ago as the mid-1920s, when the role of the
'star soloist'
killed off the original form of collective polyphony.
Billy Jenkins has always been loathe to call
his music
"jazz", partly on account of the conflict between real time
creativity
and the marketing thereof - which can only crossover towards
the mundane
world of profit making if reduced to a nostalgic and
sycophantic 'nice'
sound.
When you stop to consider, Jenkins' music has
always retained
that initial 'collective polyphony' - but with it, a barbed
sound that
is perhaps too coarse for this sound saturated day and age.
This he has
always tempered (especially in live performance) with
humour.
Due to be released on CD on the Babel Label
(by what is,
in effect, a 'Babel Label Allstar Band') towards the end of
'97, the True
Love Collection addresses this misconception of 'not taking
things seriously'.
Previous recorded documentation by these
musicians of
'pop' covers, including 'My Girl' - Human Chain/Human Chain
(EG Records
1986); 'Downtown' - Earthworks/'Dig?' (EG 1989); the 'Vision
On' TV theme
- Steve Argüelles/ 'Blue Moon In A Function Room (Babel
1994); 'Wanderin'
Star' & 'What A Wonderful World' - Billy Jenkins &
Fun Horns/ 'East-West'
(Babel, 1996) have sometimes been dismissed as satirical
works that are
'taking the piss' and 'mucking about'.
But there is no truer way to show love than
by working
hard to heighten the well being of the object(s) of one's
desire.
As in this case the object is dormant - a
copyright melody
line and chord sequence - it is only right and proper that
the musicians
bring all their influences and learnt instincts to this
aural orgy of devotion.
The object of one's 'love' should be
caressed, manipulated
and fully addressed.
Expect love and affection directed towards a
selection
of tunes from the formative years of those performing -
which, believe
it or not, leaves us with the likes of The Carpenters, Simon
& Garfunkel,
The Bee Gees, The Doors and others.
Thought:
'New York, New York' - Delightful
Precipice/Winter Truce
(and Homes Blaze) (JMT 1995).
Do you really think Django was 'mucking
about' or being
'silly'? Consider the time taken and creative input needed
to create such
a complex arrangement.
Consider too, that by releasing a 'cover' ,
Django happily
gives up quite a few minutes of recording copyright
royalties.
That, is 'true love'.
Deviation is not irreverence - it is 'true
love'.
©1996 Billy Jenkins