Steve Schwartz's review of Marsalis and McCartney stimulated a number
of thoughts and questions.  As often happens, considering other aspects
of music can illuminate our understanding of the classical form.

Steve comments:

>George Gershwin may not have been the first or even the best composer to
>attempt a synthesis of pop and classical, but he certainly had the most
>impact. He became an iconic figure to certain composers who either tried
>to follow him or to show him where he had gone hopelessly wrong. A very
>well-respected jazzman once remarked to me of such syntheses, "If I can't
>imagine Louis Armstrong playing it, it's not jazz."

With all due respect to Steve's friend, Armstrong himself wouldn't
recognize a lot of the jazz that followed him, but almost to a man modern
artists cite him as their influence.  It's similar to the inescapable
shadow of Bach in the counterpoint of modern composers.  I suspect that if
Armstrong were here today he (as would Bach) would relish the opportunities
presented by new instruments and musical ideas.

Though I admire much of Marsalis' work and respect him as an educator,
in my opinion, his adherence to the literal sense of the axiom above has
limited him as a creative artist.  Other artists have extended Armstrong's
sound, and that of Marsalis' idol Duke Ellington, without replicating it.
Rigid re-creation stymies the kind of original expression that has always
been the life blood of jazz.

>In the same vein and with the same sense of restriction, I would say, "If
>I don't feel in the presence of an extended argument from a small set of
>basic materials, it's probably not classical."

I've been studying Deryk Cook's The Language of Music, and this is a
perfect summation of his argument.  Indeed, in a lecture on a Beethoven
Sonata I heard this described as developing the "genetic material." I'd
love to hear more from the experts on this list about this concept.

in the context of this discussion though, I'd like to ask Steve:  isn't
this also what is going on in jazz when the performer/composer extends the
argument and the conversation through his/her solos? Sure, much jazz is
incoherent, but some is as logical as the best composed classical music.
Jazz composers start with a kernal of a melodic or harmonic statement and
then play with it and toss it back and forth.  Perhaps this is different
from the "extended argument" that defines classical music, but I see as
many similarities as distinctions.  Especially if one allows the kind of
development that we see in a set of variations, it seems to qualify.

Further in this vein, I'd be interested in Steve's thoughts (or
those of others) about how "miniatures" fit into Steve's definition of
classical.  As I understand it, Beethoven's mastery of the "extended
argument" intimidated a generation of composers (including Chopin, Schubert
and Schumann) into seeking to cram expressive content into the smallest
possible form.  Surely this is some fine music, by any standard
"classical," despite no extended argument.

>2. Without significantly thinking about it. After all, composers are
>people too. American composers in particular have heard as much junk as
>American non-composers. The "hard" music of Aaron Copland uses rhythms
>that probably wouldn't have occurred to someone who hadn't heard jazz. In
>short, one finishes a phrase in a certain way or dances a certain way
>because the "inner music" has been shaped by a certain experience.

Cooke is also effective in showing how a composer's inspiration is culled
from the subconscious recollection of all of the aural influences he/she
has encountered.  Of course jazz itself is an amalgam of influences from
around the world.  Similarly contemporary classical music is increasingly
shaped by internationalism.  Much of it sounds contrived and artificial; I
think that as a generation of composers comes along for whom all these
influences were subconscious parts of the acoustic atmosphere it will
improve.

>In short, the piece disappointed me, but I look to Marsalis to find his
>feet again. His Citi Movement I believe one of the most successful
>extended jazz works of recent years, and if anyone has the composing chops
>and interests to add to the classic-jazz repertory, it's Wynton Marsalis.

I agree with Steve about the deficiencies of Blood on the Fields and I,
too, enjoy Citi Movement (although by now the honking horns of traffic seem
a bit cliched).  However, I'd like to recommend another extended Marsalis
work called *In This House On This Morning.* It is a musical representation
of Sunday services at an African American church.  Sections are titled:
Devotional, Call to Prayer, Processional, Hymn, Scripture, sermon, etc.
It's perhaps a bit derivitave of Ellington's Black Brown and Beige, but it
contains a lot of interesting, original music.  It's at least third stream,
if not classical in its own right, and far more interesting than the
Pulitzer prize winning Blood on the Fields.

Best of all, no libretto!  The only singing is a solo by Marion Williams
the late gospel great.

I was fortunate to see this performed in a black church in Philadelphia.
Introducing part III, an hour and fifteen minutes or so into the piece,
Wynton Marsalis even reminded the audience that sometimes in a real church
servic your backside also gets tired from sitting too long!  Sadly, Ms
Williams, a native Philadelphian was ill and couldn't sing.  She died soon
after.

Overall both the tone painting and emotional argument were convincing.  It
is far less didactic than B on the F.  As in other program music, thematic
ideas and motives can be found in altered states throughout the piece.  On
the surface the style ranges from modal through Dixieland, but most all of
it swings.  (Which calls to mind another definition of quality articulated
by Marsalis' idol, the Duke:  "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that
swing.)

By the time you've heard the Recessional, the Benediction and the "Uptempo
Postlude," you are ready for the short coda titled, "Pot Blessed Dinner!"
But you also have the feeling that you have experienced the emotional
essence of Sunday in a black church.

Highly recomended.

Ed