Spheres of Influence: Gary Bartz and Kenny Barron

Final draft, 6/27/00 by Peter Keepnews

© and (p) 2000 Jazz From Lincoln Center, all rights reserved

1) Music: Uncle Bubba (Bartz)

[Begin at about 0:33, when Barron enters]

 

Stanley Crouch (0:09)

The thing that makes Gary Bartz who he is is the fact that //

he had, even in the sixties, an original tone on the saxophone. //

(1:12) And he plays with real fire.

PLAYING DUETS WITH SAXOPHONIST GARY BARTZ CAN BE AN EXHILARATING CHALLENGE, JUST ASK PIANIST KENNY BARRON.

4) Vox: Kenny Barron (16:48)

He’s got so much spirit when he plays. // It’s kind of infectious.

// You can’t coast with Gary. // You gotta play. You have to come

to play.

 

BARRON AND BARTZ HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT JAZZ FIGURES FOR DECADES AND THEIR PATHS CROSSED MANY TIMES. BUT THEY DIDN’T REGULARLY WORK TOGETHER UNTIL 1997 WHEN BARTZ TOURED EUROPE WITH BARRON’S TRIO.

THOUGH THEIR GOOD CHEMISTRY HAS BEEN CLEAR FROM THE BEGINNING, THEIR DUO PERFORMANCES ARE RARE. BUT WE’VE GOT ONE. GARY BARTZ AND KENNY BARRON IN A DUET ON THE HUDSON, FOR THIS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I’M ED BRADLEY.

6) Music fades

FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS, KENNY BARRON AND GARY BARTZ HAVE WORKED TOGETHER IN A QUARTET CALLED "SPHERE." THE GROUP EPITOMIZES A CLEAN, CONCISE, AND IMAGINATIVE MODERN QUARTET. BUT ACCOMPLISHED AS IT IS, "SPHERE’S" A WEIGHTY CRAFT NEXT TO THIS GRACEFUL PAIR. HERE IS BILLY STRAYHORN’S ELEGANT 1964 TUNE "ISFAHAN."

8) Music: "Isfahan" (Strayhorn) {9:19}

[from the first concert]

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER. "ISFAHAN." WRITTEN BY BILLY STRAYHORN. PERFORMED BY GARY BARTZ ON ALTO SAXOPHONE AND KENNY BARRON ON PIANO, AT THE STANLEY KAPLAN PENTHOUSE.

THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I’M ED BRADLEY.

 10) Music: Something by Barron, preferably solo

KENNY BARRON AND GARY BARTZ WERE ON SIMILAR CAREER PATHS ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING.

BARTZ WAS BORN IN BALTIMORE IN 1940; BARRON ARRIVED THREE YEARS LATER IN PHILADELPHIA. BOTH PICKED UP THEIR INSTRUMENTS IN THEIR ADOLESCENCE AND STARTED TO MAKE NAMES FOR THEMSELVES. THEY EACH MOVED TO NEW YORK IN THE EARLY 60’S AND QUICKLY BECAME INVOLVED IN THE JAZZ WORLD AROUND 52^ND STREET WHERE BEBOP HAD MADE AN INDELIBLE MARK. BARTZ AND BARRON CREATED HIGHLY PERSONAL STYLES ON THAT FOUNDATION.

12) Music: Segues to a Max Roach track with Bartz

(suggested cut: "Libra," from "Members Don’t Get Weary," Atlantic)

AT A TIME WHEN MOST YOUNG JAZZ PLAYERS WERE PICKING UP TENOR SAXOPHONES, GARY BARTZ ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS AN ORIGINAL VOICE ON ALTO.

14) Music: something from a Bartz recording from the 60’s "Ntu Troop" or a Bartz solo

BARTZ’S CAREER GOT OFF TO AN AUSPICIOUS START IN 1964, WHEN HE WAS HIRED BY PIONEER BEBOP DRUMMER MAX ROACH, AND VOCALIST ABBEY LINCOLN. A YEAR LATER HE JOINED ART BLAKEY’S JAZZ MESSENGERS. HE WENT ON TO PLAY AND RECORD WITH MCCOY TYNER, MILES DAVIS, AND HIS OWN GROUPS.

16) Music: end of Bartz solo segue into Dizzy Gillespie bebop tune

KENNY BARRON HAD PLAYED PIANO WITH MAJOR JAZZ FIGURES IN PHILADELPHIA AND DETROIT, BUT GOT HIS FIRST REAL BREAK IN NEW YORK. IN 1962, HE WORKED BRIEFLY WITH TENOR SAXOPHONIST JAMES MOODY AT THE LEGENDARY FIVE SPOT. A YEAR LATER, WHEN MOODY WAS PLAYING WITH DIZZY GILLESPIE’S QUINTET AT BIRDLAND, GILLESPIE INVITED BARRON TO JOIN THE BAND.

"I’m 19 years old, just married. Of course! // And he hired me. Without having ever heard me. He hired me just on, uh, Moody’s recommendation.

19) Music: Kenny Barron w/ Dizzy Gillespie

20) Bradley:

KENNY BARRON HAS GONE ON TO PROVIDE LUSH HARMONIC UNDERPINNINGS AND FEROCIOUS RHYTHM WITH THE LIKES OF STAN GETZ, RON CARTER, AND FREDDIE HUBBARD.

AT STANLEY KAPLAN PENTHOUSE, BARRON AND SAXOPHONIST GARY BARTZ BRING THE WEIGHT OF THEIR EXPERIENCE TO EXPLORE THE LYRICISM OF THIS JAZZ WALTZ BY FREDDIE HUBBARD - "UP JUMPED SPRING."

21) Music: "Up Jumped Spring" (Hubbard) {11:45}

"UP JUMPED SPRING." KENNY BARRON ON PIANO AND GARY BARTZ ON SOPRANO SAXOPHONE, AT THE STANLEY KAPLAN PENTHOUSE.

23) Midbreak music: Someday My Prince Will Come

SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER COMES FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO MEMBER STATIONS AND NPR, WHOSE CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND THE LILA (LYE-la) WALLACE READER'S DIGEST FUND -- HELPING PEOPLE TO MAKE THE ARTS AND CULTURE AN ACTIVE PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES.

(Continued)

25) Bradley: (Cont.)

TO SEE THIS SCRIPT FOR THIS PROGRAM OR TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KENNY BARRON AND GARY BARTZ, CHECK OUR WEBSITE "WWW.JAZZRADIO.ORG." AND WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU – RADIO@JAZZATLINCOLNCENTER.ORG, OR SEND LETTERS TO JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY 10023.

YOU'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

26) Vox: Stanley Crouch (8:40)

What makes Kenny Barron such a formidable pianist

at this point in the game is that he has now absorbed,

it seems to me, the entire tradition of jazz piano playing.

// (12:45) See, Kenny, // he can sit down right now and

he can play stride piano and sound totally like him.

// He can play it with so much authority that it sounds

like "Oh! He invented that style of playing!" And that’s

the thing that I think makes him truly great.

WRITER AND JAZZ CRITIC STANLEY CROUCH ALSO ADMIRES THE INSPIRED SOUND OF GARY BARTZ.

28) Vox: Stanley Crouch (1:20)

Very lyrical player. And he plays with real fire.Not just, uh, muscular command. A lot of guys // play the saxophone // as though it’s just another exercise in weight lifting. // You practice a lot, and it gives you a certain physical authority that you substitute for emotional power. In Gary's case, // the physical exists to, to liberate the emotional.

IN THIS NEXT TUNE BARRON AND BARTZ TEMPER THEIR FIRE TO BRING OUT THE SINGING QUALITY IN A KURT WEILL COMPOSITION. LISTEN TO THE WAY BARRON’S PIANO FILLS IN THE SPACES BEHIND THE SAX - AND FROM TIME TO TIME, LETS SILENCE SPEAK FOR ITSELF.

"MY SHIP"

30) Music: "My Ship" (Weill-Gershwin) {8:57}

AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION BETWEEN GARY BARTZ ON SOPRANO SAXOPHONE, KENNY BARRON AT THE PIANO – "MY SHIP."

THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I’M ED BRADLEY.

31) Vox: Gary Bartz (15:19)

That’s why I play this instrument. Because when I was 6 years old and heard Charlies Parker.  And, not knowing what the saxophone was, what the music was, or not having a clue about anything, it caught my ear, and I thought it, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. // That's what I wanted to do. // Whatever this person was doing, I wanted to do that.

THE MOST IMPORTANT FIGURE IN SHAPING THE MUSICAL DESTINY OF GARY BARTZ WAS THE GREAT BEBOP SAXOPHONIST CHARLIE PARKER.

BARTZ GOT HIS INITIAL INSPIRATION FROM PARKER’S MELODIC ATTACK. HIS PALETTE WAS EXPANDED BY JOHN COLTRANE’S HARMONIC EXCURSIONS. YOU CAN STILL HEAR THAT IN HIS PLAYING BUT BARTZ HAS A SOUND LIKE NOBODY ELSE’S. IT’S A SHARP TONE WITH QUIET INTENSITY BUT BIG ENOUGH TO FILL A ROOM.

GARY BARTZ AND KENNY BARRON RE-INTERPRET A STAPLE OF CHARLIE PARKER’S REPERTOIRE - "STAR EYES."

34) Music: "Star Eyes" {10:58}

[from the second concert]

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER: "STAR EYES" WITH KENNY BARRON AND GARY BARTZ.

36) Music: solo Monk

WHILE GARY BARTZ DRAWS FROM BIRD’S LEGACY, KENNY BARRON HAS NEVER HESITATED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE DEBT HE OWES TO THE THELONIOUS MONK.

38) Vox: Kenny Barron (13:29)

I was in junior high school // the first time I heard   Thelonious Monk. And, uh, for me it was just incredible. /  His technique was very unorthodox. // I’d look at himand as a pianist I’m saying, "How the hell did he do that?" Some of those runs // watching how he did them, physically,how he // pulled them off, it was really amazing to me. You know, he was fascinating to watch. // Incredible pianist, an incredible composer.

IN THE QUARTET KNOWN AS "SPHERE," WHICH HAPPENS TO BE THELONIOUS MONK’S MIDDLE NAME, GARY BARTZ AND KENNY BARRON HAVE PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES TO RE-EXAMINE MONK’S DURABLE COMPOSITIONS.

HERE’S HOW THEY TEAR THROUGH "WELL YOU NEEDN’T."

40) Music: "Well, You Needn’t" (Monk) {8:37}

[from the first concert]

"WELL, YOU NEEDN’T." A DUET ON THE HUDSON RIVER FROM THE STANLEY KAPLAN PENTHOUSE, FEATURING PIANIST KENNY BARRON AND ALTO SAXOPHONIST GARY BARTZ. WHILE THEY’VE PLAYED TOGETHER IN GROUPS FOR YEARS, THIS IS ACTUALLY THE FIRST TIME THEY’VE DONE AN ENTIRE CONCERT AS A DUO. IT’S BEEN A FLUID IMPROVISATION, A WALK THROUGH JAZZ HISTORY, AND A RICH CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO MASTERS.

42) Music: I’ve Never Been in Love Before (Loesser)

THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, PRODUCED BY JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER AND MURRAY STREET ENTERPRISE NEW YORK. THE PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY PETER KEEPNEWS [KEEP-nooz] AND EDITED BY LAUREN KRENZEL. OUR SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE RATHE.

THE RECORDINGS WERE MIXED BY EDWARD HABER AND MICHAEL DeMARK, WITH DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY DAVID GOREN AT STEVEN ERICKSON'S STUDIO.

OUR ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS ARE AVE CARRILLO AND JOSHUA JACKSON.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM INCLUDES GWENDOLYN DEAN, PETER ZANGER, JEN HALBERT, AND TRACEY SCHUTTY.

THANKS TO CHRISTA TETER, SUSAN RADIN, THE RADIO FOUNDATION, AND THE STANLEY H. KAPLAN PENTHOUSE.

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER IS ROB GIBSON. THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS WYNTON MARSALIS.

I'M ED BRADLEY. THIS IS N-P-R, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.