An interesting commentary from an expert

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Toon Town Dave
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An interesting commentary from an expert

#1 Post by Toon Town Dave » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:11 pm

I just ran across a really good interview from last year with someone who could be considered an expert on swing and other music.

http://www.jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/H ... 45932.html
Jazzy Jeff Healey
Rocker sees the light and picks up a trumpet
By MIKE ROSS

Jeff Healey can slam just about every traditional jazz album made by a modern pop star in the last 10 years - and get away with it.

Why? Two reasons:

A. He knows what he's talking about. "Traditional" jazz has been his lifelong passion, more than rock 'n' roll, even, proven by his much-ballyhooed collection of vintage 78s. It numbers 25,000 and holding.

B. He's blind. Hey, don't pick on the blind guy - even though he'd eat you alive in negotiations, either in his musician's hat or his bar owner's hat at Jeff Healey's club in Toronto.

"I'm a very dangerous person to work with now," he laughs. "I have learned a hell of a lot over the last 21/2 years, from the other side of the fence. Some things I wish I hadn't - like the operational habits of musicians. Musicians are really a lazy bunch. I guess I never realized to what degree ... And if you're a club owner trying to book me, I know how much the club takes in, what the expenses are, and I know my rights."

Since turning his back on rock stardom last year - dumping his stake in Forte Management (which represented Amanda Marshall) along with his former bandmates Tom Stephen and Joe Rockman, current whereabouts unknown - Healey has turned his full musical attention to a project called the Jazz Wizards. The six-piece group plays St. Albert's Arden Theatre tomorrow night. Don't you dare call it Dixieland.

"Dixieland is a state of mind, not a form of music," Healey says, agreeing that punk is pretty much the same thing. "You get a vision of hats and canes, which is kind of distressing to those of us who appreciate good music."

The Jazz Wizards focus on good music from the '20s and '30s - jazz being the popular music of the time. It was not for studying or "appreciating." People reat-pleated their zoot suits and came to dance without irony. Jazz was the disco of its day. This ended, Healey explains, when "bebop" succeeded in totally alienating the mainstream audience, leaving jazz on the fringe to this day. (Too bad punk rock couldn't have done the same thing.)

Traditional jazz came back for a week or so there during the "swing" fad a few of years back - but most of it was bogus, Healey says. He takes aim at the Squirrel Nut Zippers, an annoying band for a variety of reasons. "I met them a couple of times and what I found was a bunch of guys who thought they were taking their music seriously but hadn't a clue what they were doing. As a result, it sounded like a bunch of rock musicians experimenting with something they should leave alone."

A tad elitist, are we? Healey counters that not everyone in a traditional jazz band has to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre in order to do it properly. In fact, Jazz Wizards saxophonist Chris Plock knows "very little" about it, but makes up for it with showmanship and the ability to serve the song before serving himself. You only need one expert in any band, says Healey. And Healey happens to be in charge of this one.

"All those swing bands, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and so on were just making a lot of money. Brian Setzer did the swing thing, but he will always be a Stray Cat in my book. He may hate me for that, but that's how I feel. He has no knowledge of that type of music."

Even Colin James, who sometimes plays at Jeff Healey's club, does not escape the club owner's critical tongue. Of the Little Big Band record, Healey says, "There's no arrangements there. Those boys are all blowing in unison. That doesn't take much more than an amoebic mentality."

Healey, who now plays trumpet as much as guitar, dismisses the idea he should do a big band album and show them how it's done - "too many people; too much hassle" - and takes umbrage at the suggestion that hits from his previous life like See the Light or Angel Eyes should be reworked into traditional jazz numbers.

Why not?

"Ridiculous is the word that comes to mind," he says. "Why even bother? It would sound like s---. Give that to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy."

I think he's made his feelings clear on this matter.

Tickets to Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards are $33.50 and on sale at the Arden box office (459-1542).
Don't want to start the whole debate about what is an is not swing but I though some of y'all might be interested in it.

Oh, for anyone who hasn't heard Jeff's Jazz stuff, check out:
http://www.livetourartists.com/jeff_healey/music.htm
there's even a few tracks off his new CD which I'm trying to acquire.



Edited to update the link and include the text of the article.
Last edited by Toon Town Dave on Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

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#2 Post by 12bars » Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:15 pm

careful...dont want to disturb the thread police...

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Re: An interesting commentary from an expert

#3 Post by CafeSavoy » Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:55 am

Toon Town Dave wrote:I just ran across a really good interview from last year with someone who could be considered an expert on swing and other music.

http://www.slam.ca/JamMusicArtistsH/healey_jeff.html

Don't want to start the whole debate about what is an is not swing but I though some of y'all might be interested in it.

Oh, for anyone who hasn't heard Jeff's Jazz stuff, check out:
http://www.livetourartists.com/jeff_healey/music.htm
there's even a few tracks off his new CD which I'm trying to acquire.
Good article. The last time i was in Toronto i drove by his club but wasn't able to visit. Maybe the next time. I liked how he said jazz/swing was the disco of it's time. I was talking to Artie Phillips, one of the choreagraphers in Swing and one of the original hustle dancers, and he mentioned how he was excited when he met Frankie Manning and discovered all the parallels between how swing and hustle developed.

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#4 Post by mousethief » Sun Aug 01, 2004 6:58 am

Good article. I'd like to get him or Wynton to a DJed dance sometime.

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#5 Post by Lawrence » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:04 pm

Boring article. This guy sounded like just another bitter musician venting because some stupid punk kids were smarter and better businessmen than he was.
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#6 Post by mousethief » Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:30 am

Really? Because I noticed he's still around and pretty successful, while SNZ and BBVD are bottom feeding.

Now I want to hear his group. That's a hell of a road trip, even for Texans.

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#7 Post by CafeSavoy » Mon Aug 02, 2004 8:58 am

mousethief wrote:Really? Because I noticed he's still around and pretty successful, while SNZ and BBVD are bottom feeding.

Now I want to hear his group. That's a hell of a road trip, even for Texans.

Kalman
Maybe the next toronto event, we can plan on hitting his club. His jazz band performs a free matinee every saturday from 4-7pm.

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#8 Post by mousethief » Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:28 am

I need to make it up there. Maybe next year.

Kalman
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#9 Post by Toon Town Dave » Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:41 pm

mousethief wrote:Really? Because I noticed he's still around and pretty successful, while SNZ and BBVD are bottom feeding.

Now I want to hear his group. That's a hell of a road trip, even for Texans.
Jeff was here a few months ago and drew over 200 people (we're a city of just over 200,000) on a Sunday night. With Chris Plock he puts on a really entertaining show. I'd consider that pretty successful for a jazz musician.

Kalman's right. I saw BBVD in Boston last summer when they were touring to promote their latest CD. They played a small jazz club and drew well under 100.

Jeff's starting to get more into the business side of things with his own label (Healey Ophonic). Hopefully he'll provide some opportunity for musicians that are overlooked by the pop-centric major labels. One example is vocalist Tera Hazleton from Calgary who sat in on a few songs when the band was here. I haven't heard her recently released CD yet.

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#10 Post by Lawrence » Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:18 pm

mousethief wrote:Really? Because I noticed he's still around and pretty successful, while SNZ and BBVD are bottom feeding.
First, he'll never sell as many of all his albums together as BBVD or SNZ sold of their one or two big hits. They can retire on what they made on those albums (if they weren't financial idiots about it, which is often the case with pop wonders). Second, I'd be surprised if they still were not outselling him simply because of name recognition. Hell, for that matter, Dennis DeYoung (formerly of Styx) probably still outsells him. Or Sting.

No implication regarding quality, just noting the unnecessary bitterness. All he did was righteously observe the obvious... as if he thought he had some particularly brilliant, heretofore-unthought-of insight because he figured out that BBVD is a party band, not a jazz band.

M'gosh! :shock: Whodathought!?!?! :lol:
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#11 Post by caab » Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:58 pm

Is it about numbers? Or is it about courtesy to other musicians? I thought this guy was completely rude.

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#12 Post by Lawrence » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:07 pm

caab wrote:Is it about numbers? Or is it about courtesy to other musicians? I thought this guy was completely rude.
Yes!! The only point was that his rudenes seemed to stem from his bitterness over popularity. Otherwise, why pick on Neo bands, at all?

He makes the ideal of music sound all noble and shit, but he's all about his bitterness for not making money and being as popular as the Neo Swing bands. If, indeed, he is a better musician, the intrinsic reward is in being a better musician, not in being able to whine about it and cut others down!!
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#13 Post by Soma-Guy » Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:51 pm

I don't know if Jeff Healey's music was ever popular in the states but, here in Canada, he has always been very popular. I absolutely love the change of directions Jeff has made with his music. Having to put up with barf song like, "Angel Eyes" on the top 40 radio for years had me totally written off Jeff Healey. Then he goes and makes this change that's so totally radical. I think alot of his statements are a bit over the edge but, hey, the man is pasionate. Sometimes that happens. His statements may seem rude but I do have to agree with what he says. I think alot of his responses may be due to a reporter who doesn't know much about Jazz asking the questions that most people only aware of Jazz in terms of the modern rebirth of swing. In Mike Ross' article from the Edmonton Sun I have a feeling he was asking questions like, "Oh! You like to play swing? What do you think of Big Bad Voodoo Dady?" or "Oh! You don't play BBVD music so does that mean you play Dixie?" That's probably enough to make most serious musicians pissy. . . Especially if they're having a bad day.

P.S- Jeff Healey's new music kicks ass! I can't wait until they make it over to Vancouver for a tour!

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#14 Post by Zot » Mon Aug 16, 2004 7:16 pm

Lawrence, I thought Jeff Healey was pretty popular? I mean, he's well known to me living in Australia -- certainly better known to the average person in the street here, I'd say, than BBVD or SNZ. That could just be a weird Australian perspective though.

I have nothing but respect for Jeff personally. He seems to me to be a thoroughly authentic musician with true genius. He has strong opinions and I respect those too. I do think that some of the Neo-swing movement was more about style than substance, and I think that's what gets Jeff's goat.

For me -- if we grant that it is a style vs substance argument -- there's nothing terribly morally wrong about valuing the signifier over the signified if you do it knowingly.

Another way to look at it might be that some Neo stuff owed more to a musical heritage that was not quite as old as it appeared -- or at least was somewhat influenced by rock'n'roll while still being a tribute to some aspects of swing. I think I'd prefer to think of it in this way.

This allows me to be a little more relativistic about Neo. I can enjoy the odd occasion like a live RCR performance or a really kickass BBVD cover band like Zootster in Canberra without the fear that I am betraying my adoration of sophisticated Ellingtonian masterpieces! I might not choose to dance to Neo most of the time, and I might not include it in my sets, but I respect it for what it is.
"Take the worst of neo-swing and put it together with Glen Miller. The man thinks the Count is someone from a horror flick. Take pity on him and let him play two or three tunes. But be sure you have some errands to run." -- Bill Borgida

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#15 Post by Lawrence » Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:47 pm

I can enjoy the odd occasion like a live RCR performance or a really kickass BBVD cover band like Zootster in Canberra without the fear that I am betraying my adoration of sophisticated Ellingtonian masterpieces! I might not choose to dance to Neo most of the time, and I might not include it in my sets, but I respect it for what it is.
Yes! That's not relativistic; it's realistic and simply not bitter. I agree with your assessment and even enjoy dancing to some Neo songs, mostly because I appreciate it for what it is, not what it is not and never pretended to be.
Zot wrote:Lawrence, I thought Jeff Healey was pretty popular?
Never heard of him. But that might be an American thing; I hadn't heard of Ricky Martin, either, despite his world-wide popularity before he breached the American market. :-) I can't wait for his musical turnaround, either: how about, "Ricky does Duke," in stores and movie theaters this fall? :shock: :D
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