One of the fondest notions in jazz is that time is irrelevant. Everyones trying to get over the fixities of the clock to find the magic chutes of improvisational freedom, where you can slip into the breaks, as Ralph Ellison wrote in Invisible Man, and look around. Time produces age, and it can seem, sometimes, as if older musicians want to play as if theyre physically younger, and vice versa. But theyre all looking toward a space that isnt on times grid at all.
This week Birdland has booked an ad-hoc quartet with three eminences and a great younger player. They are the alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, 82; the drummer Paul Motian, 78; the bassist Charlie Haden, 72; and the pianist Brad Mehldau, who at 39 is half Mr. Motians age. The music worked, in its own ingrown way.
Its going to be a week of soft anarchy, a gig without preparation or rehearsal, despite the presence of recording microphones for a couple of evenings. The jazz musicians trust in the present moment is elevated nearly to worship among this groups elders, all of whom, one way or another, were in on the early stages of loosening up rhythm and structure in jazz.
This week Birdland has booked an ad-hoc quartet with three eminences and a great younger player. They are the alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, 82; the drummer Paul Motian, 78; the bassist Charlie Haden, 72; and the pianist Brad Mehldau, who at 39 is half Mr. Motians age. The music worked, in its own ingrown way.
Its going to be a week of soft anarchy, a gig without preparation or rehearsal, despite the presence of recording microphones for a couple of evenings. The jazz musicians trust in the present moment is elevated nearly to worship among this groups elders, all of whom, one way or another, were in on the early stages of loosening up rhythm and structure in jazz.
