DOUG TALLEY
“It's all about that spark you see ignite when a young player gets it.”
by Carolyn Brewer
Listen to Doug Talley play the head on “Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye” from his album, Night and Day , and you can hear his love of the tenor saxophone. Watch him during a high school jazz band clinic and you'll see his passion for passing on that love of music, what he refers to as a magical quality he got from his own teachers. Listen to “The Sleeping Child” from his Kansas City Suite , a highly sophisticated yet lyrical tribute to a statue on the Plaza, and you'll hear a sense of place no composer from either coast could ever capture. A Midwesterner by preference, Doug has successfully combined playing, writing and teaching right from the beginning of his career.
Doug is a classically trained clarinetist and has never had a saxophone lesson, yet his warm rich-as-caramel tenor sound and his un-pretentious solo lines have set the standard for a new generation of Kansas City tenor players. That comes partly from listening with well-rounded ears. He grew up on his father's Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald records, and he never listens as a sax player alone, but as an arranger and educator. He has never tried to copy someone else's sound. Although in person he's soft-spoken and seemingly unflappable, he brings an honest intensity to tunes as varied as his high-powered arrangement of Ellington's “Caravan” and his own playful “Potatoes and Gravy”.
Born in Louisiana , Missouri (hometown of that other Kansas City jazz great, Paul Smith) Doug's family moved to Overland Park , Kansas when he was six. He began taking piano lessons the next year. He recalls his teacher's frequent frustration over his choice of fingerings, but that they found common ground with chords. “I remember her giving me a piece of sheet music that had the chord symbols on it and she'd show me how to work them out to fit my hand, which of course was small. So I understood inversions right from the start.”
Doug remembers school instrumental music classes, where he first played cello and then clarinet, as being fun because of teachers like Ron McClellan and Jim Cochran who made it exciting and cool. Jim Cochran put his jazz band students at Shawnee Mission South through a kind of sight-reading boot camp, making them responsible for everything in the school's jazz library at once. “We never knew what he was going to pull out but his goal was to have us play convincingly in any given style.” That eclectic style of playing carried over into after school jam sessions with fellow band members Andy DeWitt and Steve Cardenas. “Besides standards we'd play tunes by Sam Rivers, Oregon, the Paul Winter Consort and Dave Holland. Or we'd just get together and start blowing and see where it took us. We were on the fringe.”
At this point Doug had played tenor just two years. Until high school he had never had any desire to play sax because, ‘they always sounded bad,” and he continued to play clarinet all through school.
His opinion of saxophones changed when, as a high school freshman during a short move to New Jersey, Doug heard the school jazz band play “In The Mood” and thought, “Wow, wouldn't it be cool if I could play that tune with them. Then I found out I had to play saxophone to be in the jazz band. No clarinets allowed. I talked to my dad and he got me a tenor because there was an opening for tenor. I tried out but didn't make it because I'd only been playing a few weeks. The following year I got in.”
By the time Doug got to KU he knew he wanted to be a musician and teacher. He had taken classical clarinet lessons from Tommy Williams for years and while working on his music education degree he continued to study clarinet, but played tenor in Ron McCurdy's KU jazz band. With the help of Dick Wright's jazz history class and KANU jazz shows he started listening to Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson.
It wasn't until North Texas , where he got his Masters in Music Ed, that he really got into writing and arranging. “I was lucky to have classes with those two North Texas legends; Rich Matteson and Paris Rutherford. I played in the Two O'clock band, but it was what I learned in my arranging classes that stayed with me.”
Doug's first teaching job, Hillcrest Junior High, his alma mater, coincided with a five night a week gig at the Vista Hotel with Paul Gray and the Vista Orchestra. “This was a four horn band and we ran out of arrangements pretty quickly so I became one of the arrangers. You really learn by doing it.”
As much as Doug enjoyed playing with groups around town like Kerry Strayer's New Kansas City Seven and Trilogy Big Band, (check out his soprano solo on “Three Card Molly” from the Trilogy Big Band CD) the idea of a small group, where there would be fewer restrictions, more possibilities for innovative rhythms, where chords wouldn't always do what was expected of them, was enticing. In 1995 he formed the Doug Talley Quartet. “I got my first pick for each player.” Wayne Hawkins, Tim Brewer and Keith Kavanaugh all jumped at the chance to work in a quartet with Doug.
Clearly more comfortable talking about his band than himself, Doug says he made a conscious effort to pick players with backgrounds that were a little different from each other, that all the members bring something different to the mix. “The idea of putting these guys together was exciting to me. I thought it would work and it did. We're still going strong.”
Although Doug also plays with Jim Mair's Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and still enjoys the big band experience, the freedom within the quartet fuels his composing and arranging. Each member writes for the band and their openness to trying new things, like contrafacts, added strings, non-traditional time signatures, keeps their playing fresh.
Through out-of-town tours and clinics the Doug Talley Quartet has shared their love of playing with countless young musicians. “It's all about that spark you see ignite when a young player gets it.” In Doug Talley's hands those magical moments abound.
Desert Island Picks:
Dennis Winslett
“My Only Goal as far as Music Goes is to just Keep Playing”
by Andrew Zender
" We walked to school in the cold & the rain…”
Encircled by a group of students on the stage in the Blue Room at 18 th & Vine, Dennis Winslett begins chanting the first line of a call-and-response tune to the engrossed youngsters. The steady “boom-clap” of their feet and hands provide the backbeat to the straightforward, bluesy melody, recalling one of the oldest forms of song, the field holler.
“ We worked real hard & we stayed all day…”
With eyes affixed on their tour guide, the children echo each line of the refrain back to the leader, completing the cycle of the tune. As they finish the song's final chorus, Dennis congratulates the students on completing the simple musical exercise. They may not know it, but the children have just learned one of the most basic fundamentals of music, rhythm – and it was enjoyable and engaging. Their jazz education has begun.
As they continue their tour of the American Jazz Museum , they'll soak up knowledge about melody, harmony, rhythm, Charlie Parker, Kansas City swing bands and countless other nuggets of jazz information – all in an enthralling mixture of education and entertainment...
* * *
Education and entertainment – these are two words that encapsulate Dennis Winslett's approach to jazz. And in a world where one must sift through the radio airwaves that are cluttered with a seemingly endless string of songs void of any substance or connection to any ideals, values or visions – in order to find music of real depth and imagination – the saxophonist is fixed in his unwavering mission to broaden the awareness of music that, in his own words, “is relevant to a wide array of people and experiences.”
Despite being best known for his distinctive voice on the alto and soprano sax, Winslett originally aspired to become a trumpeter as a child. However, a gap between his teeth made it difficult to play, so he was compelled him to try another horn – and so the saxophone became the instrument of choice at age nine.
It's always fascinating to discover what influences first sparked a musician's interest and creativity, especially at an early age. Often times, the wells of inspiration are obvious; other times, they're a bit unusual. For Winslett – it was the blues, R&B – and jazz. An old LP of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet backing Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson was a gem in his father's record collection that provided some of his earliest musical stimulation. And then there was Charlie “Bird” Parker.
In any genre, a musician's education doesn't just come from the classroom. It comes from the live experiences – jam sessions – and the oral history – the traditions. And in jazz, no musician's education is complete without these keys that are vital to understanding the music. Winslett's own background is a well-balanced blend of both formal and informal training.
While in high school, he was awarded a scholarship by Yamaha which landed him lessons with Kansas City 's own Ahmad Alaadeen, a former player in one of Jay McShann's big bands and veteran of the city's rich and vibrant jazz scene.
“That's when I learned about the history of the music – and how serious it was. My memories of growing up playing at the Mutual Musician's Foundation are very important to me. This was the most influential instruction I ever had,” Winslett says about his time studying with Alaadeen and many of the other immensely talented players in Kansas City .
His education paid off in college as he was picked as one of the Top 60 players in the nation to perform in the rotating-member ensemble, the Disney Collegiate All-Star Band. As a result, Winslett lived in Florida and had the opportunity to tour Europe as well.
From there, he went on to complete his education at Vandercook College of Music in Chicago , where he learned to play just about every instrument, excluding the guitar and the harmonica. In fact, the exams that Winslett completed at Vandercook required him to perform a set number of songs on everything from sax, oboe and flute to piano, drums and bass – and everything in between.
But his education at Vandercook reached far beyond just learning the skills and techniques needed to perform capably on an instrument. For lack of a better phrase, he learned to teach the teachers.
“[Hale A.] Vandercook was the innovator of music education. He created a whole new methodology of music education. From there came the first wave of instructors that created a new music education field,” Winslett explains.
“Before that, you could only get music training from a conservatory or private instructors. Vandercook taught other people how to teach. Graduates coming out of his school could then proficiently instruct others to play on multiple instruments – they were basically trained to be able to direct a band. He is the father of K-12 music education,” he continues.
A consummate communicator and organizer, Winslett continued his jazz education as he became the principal leader of regular jam sessions at Chicago 's legendary Velvet Lounge, under the tutelage of Fred Anderson.
“When Dennis was heading up the jam sessions at the Velvet Lounge, he was still finding his own voice. But he was a great leader and got along well with the other musicians. It's a hard business to be in, but he was truly a great communicator with both the audience and the musicians,” says Anderson of his time with Winslett.
“What's equally important is that Dennis has a lot of respect for the tradition and the innovators – those who came before,” he continues.
Rob Clearfield is an accomplished pianist/keyboardist based in Chicago, and a frequent collaborator of Winslett's. The two first met at a jam session while Clearfield was only 19 years old, and despite the age difference, the pianist immediately found that there was an indelible mutual respect between the musicians.
“I sat in on his jam session once…and two weeks later I was in his band. One thing I've always enjoyed about working with Dennis is that he always looked at me as one of his peers, there was no pretense about experience or age,” says Clearfield.
“I've always found that while onstage, people play their best and learn the most when there are no teachers and students, no mentors and protégés – just musicians. Dennis was always trying to just make music with the people he's on stage with,” he adds.
Outside of his engagement at the Velvet Lounge, Winslett has also sat in with a number of notable musicians, including Ramsey Lewis' Urban Knights, Ken ny Garrett, and Nat Adderley – although he has never placed much weight on name dropping.
“That's a big part of what's wrong with so many musicians. There seems to be all these pre-requisites, such as ‘I've played with so and so…' Does that make you a good player?” he quips.
Answering his own question, Winslett states “What makes you a great player is experience and originality. You have to take advantage of every opportunity you have to play a lot of different kinds of music and learn how to integrate it into your own sound.”
“ Chicago was such a great medium between KC and NYC – there's a lot of music and culture, but not as many people. It's a diverse music scene. I was playing salsa music, blues and jazz, among many other things,” says Winslett.
* * *
The diversity that Winslett speaks of shines through in his own music – particularly on his 2005 recording Soul Journey – a cohesive effort which shifts beyond his bebop roots and branches out to other genres, seamlessly tying together R&B, soul, funk, hip-hop and world music – all with touches of his highly expressive and lyrical lines on alto and soprano sax.
His latest project, a work in progress entitled Organic Organism, is an even greater leap past the musical ground that Winslett has covered, introducing electronic music and even some rock-oriented textures into the group's sound. Some of Winslett's current and former collaborators are working on the project, including Rob Clearfield, bassist Patrick Mulcahy and drummer Kobe Watkins.
“[Organic Organism] is a play on words. It's a group that's a living, breathing entity – but at the same time – we're incorporating a lot of different effects and sounds into the music. It's definitely different,” Winslett says of the new project.
Outside of his recording project, one can catch Winslett playing live at the Blue Room at 18 th & Vine, various festivals, or jammin' at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. He's also been a “hired gun” for the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association, organizing and leading jazz groups to perform for their functions and events.
It's important – and imperative – that musicians absorb many influences and listen to a wide assortment of styles to not only develop their own voice, but to continue to push their skills and ideas in new directions. It keeps things fresh. So what might a saxophonist who deeply respects the elder statesmen and traditions – and speaks of the Holy Trinity of Jazz (Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane = Father, Son, Holy Ghost) – be listening to?
“I'm really into electronic music and world music. Middle Eastern music and Asian music intrigue me. I like Portishead, Gnarls Barkley, the Roots, and some other hip-hop. In terms of jazz, I'm a big fan of Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Young musicians like Maurice Brown and Marcus Strickland are also great. They're really pushing the music forward. I have great respect for Luqman Hamza as well,” Winslett says.
And there's the ultimate question – if you had to pick five recordings to take with you on a desert island, what would they be? Here's his five:
“I'm searching for a different experience for the listener as well as myself – assimilating other genres of music and attaching their relevance to jazz and capturing it all in a live experience,” he adds.
“I want to create a different experience that really taps into people's emotions – to be more engaging and move them in a different way. Too many musicians have become introverted and forget that jazz can be entertaining,” he declares.
Winslett's words certainly seem to ring true – being in touch with notions of ‘tradition' and ‘history' to some musicians is, ironically, a thing of the past. And that's where education plays a vital role in altering that dynamic.
“We need to do a better job of cultivating new audiences and telling the stories. There are a lot of guys out there that aren't in touch with the true jazz aesthetic – you can hear it in their playing. It's not exceptional across the board anymore. Everyone has a record, but it's hard for the audiences to determine what's excellent, what's just good, and what's mediocre,” says Winslett.
“Musicians need to become better educators to build awareness and appreciation in the next generation. There's the '18-40' audience that is crucial to filling that hole in jazz education. We need to teach them to understand the importance of acoustic, organic music – and why it's relevant. It's always been relevant in some capacity, but today, there's music that's either too historic or too self-indulging,” he continues.
To many players, gigs are just a notch in the belt or a way to beef up a résumé – and not about building a genuine link between the musician and the audience. By performing with this mindset, musicians become detached from the listeners. Often times, musicians aren't even concerned about how many people are in the audience – and the act becomes solely focused on the performer. Winslett is working to combat this notion.
“There are some musicians out there who are more focused on just getting the gig and aren't concerned about what kind of draw they have, or creating a powerful musical connection with the audience. They become frustrated when they aren't getting to play the places they want – but they don't realize why,” says Winslett.
“We need to re-energize establishments like the Mutual Musicians Foundation to be a place that cultivates young talent. This is extremely important because people often overlook the fact that Kansas City 's jazz legacy was built on people like Meade Lux Lewis, Charlie Parker, Count Baise and Lester Young – musicians who were great innovators,” he continues.
As an additional facet of his education initiatives, he's helping musicians – especially the younger generation – learn how to build an audience as they earn more opportunities to play gigs. And he's looking to form new artist collectives with musicians from different genres such as jazz, rock and hip-hop where they can explore each other's styles to create a highly unique music scene in Kansas City .
“I think that it will be the next generation of innovators that will make Kansas City 's music scene relevant in the future. My hope is to cultivate an environment where young musicians from any genre can collaborate and feel free to innovate, not just imitate,” Winslett adds.
For aspiring jazz musicians – in addition to not only understanding the importance of, but being active in education – they must also be aware of another item:
“Musicians need to understand that there's not a lot of money in the business. Do it because you love and respect the music. Take people out of their element and give them a different perspective on live, organic music. This is done partly through education and partly through live performance,” says Winslett.
“My only goal as far as music goes is to just keep playing. A lot of people set their goals too high, and the music becomes contrived. I just want to keep practicing and creating, and wherever that takes me – what's where I'm supposed to be,” he says.
Dennis Winslett's musical journey has thus far taken him to spots all over the world and afforded him opportunities to create music with a selection of outstanding players across the musical spectrum – and to develop his own voice. And there's been a multitude of unique experiences throughout his career, including this incredible story of a visit to Charlie Parker's gravesite with renowned saxophonist Antonio Hart.
“In 1994 or 1995, Antonio and I went out to Bird's gravesite in the middle of the winter. It was just before dark, and completely silent. The whole earth was still. We took our horns out there and played ‘Confirmation' together, right there at the gravestone. And just as we finished playing the tune, the wind started to blow, the leaves were rustling, and you could hear and see birds chirping all over the cemetery as they started flying out of the trees. You could just feel the presence of something else that was there…”
* * *
Mark Southerland
“Adding Depth to the Improvisation”
by Roger Atkinson
There has not been a lot of bad news, really, since we moved to Kansas City . The Royals and Chiefs have been a little frustrating, sure. Bob Brookmeyer has only been to town once, but that's okay, at least it was once. The ice storm and flood(s) were not my idea of fun, either.
But when the Cup and Saucer closed, man, that was the killer. That was my Bradley's. That was Friday night! What was I going to do on Fridays, clean the turtle tank?
Because Friday was the day of surprise, the day that Mark Southerland was going to do something at the Cup and Saucer. And you didn't have a clue what his creative world was going to be up to that night.
Mark's musical education was fairly traditional, first in high school and then at the UMKC Conservatory. “But”, Mark told us, “somewhere in my high school career, and continuing into my college career, I started having an interest in music that was well off the beaten path. The music I was interested in took a certain amount of personal deprogramming, from musical education and social norms, really. I got out of the pop band I was in, and moved into something called the Motor Inn, which was totally free improv, it wasn't even in the jazz vernacular. After this, just by chance I was living next door to Mike Dillon on Holly, while he was in one of the final versions of Billy Goat, a very strange regional groove act. He was starting up a band with Bryan Hicks called Malachy Papers, and I sat in with them. It was free improv and wacky songwriting, it was poppy but way out, too, groovacious but with elements of punk rock. A live brush stroke. Which it still is today! We'll play a standard, then a highly rhythmic, heavy electronic free piece. It can be anything on any given night.” This was what the Southerland followers looked forward to every Friday.
There are other Southerland projects, like the highly electronic T.J. Dovebelly (currently on “permanent hiatus”) and Snuff Jazz, “which is really just to the left of Malachy”, says Mark. “We focus on a wider group of people, more improvisation and conversation as art. In some ways it's narrower in concept than Malachy, but that's not always true. It's almost entirely free. I might suggest to whoever I am having that night what they might bring, musically, but that's about it. We almost never play a song, ever. But then, you never know, there are nights where everything is a song, or we'll break into a Monk tune, it'll be appropriate, we just want to work in a framework with some melody. Bring it back some. That's what it's been lately, Snuff Jazz in all of its forms.”
The regular Snuff Jazz gigs have continued in Lawrence at the 8 th Street Tap Room on Thursday nights (they'll run through November), fortunately, but this writer doesn't start his weekends on Thursday in Lawrence.
“I want to release another electronic album, but now am working on getting out three or four CD's or DVD's of Snuff Jazz recording sessions, with the regulars like Arnold Young, Jeff Harsharger, Bill McKemy, Josh Adams, and some others. I have some great recorded conversations on tape, material that falls squarely into art improv. Most of it is rather challenging, there were some more mellow things recorded but they seemed less compelling on playback.” All of the Southerland CD's, whether Dovebelly, Malachy, or Snuff Jazz, are available on iTunes. He might have some with him at his performances, too.
So what's next? “Where do you take improv after you've played with electronic toys, made all the crazy sounds that you can on your instrument, and made new instruments to twist the sound further? I've been trying to deal more conceptually with the fact that there are other ways to expand improvisation, into other kinds of art, whether it is sculptural or theatrical or performance. I've been doing Wee Snuff gigs, where we all play little instruments. It's absolutely ridiculous at first. Between the small instruments and a different approach to theatrics and costuming, I've given the others a kind of a headdress with feathers or a hat with a headlamp, and they bring their smallest instruments. The conversations are interesting and free, and it's really interesting to see what twists like that adds to everyone's perception, both within the band and outside the band. Some nights it leads to really amazing and artful improv. Part of m akin g someone play a tiny instrument and wearing a unicorn headdress, it makes them perceive what they are doing differently. You can't phone it in, you can't just fall back on what you've played before. But we really play some smoking jazz on these instruments.
“We will also have people wearing horn sculptures, and me playing the horn sculptures on people, and playing my other bastard horns, moves the improv into a sculptural realm. Then, being able to take those sculptures and display them afterwards is sort of a continuation, like improv frozen for a moment, or some weird ritual tool from the improv that's now on display. What they ultimately do is add great depth to the improvisation, which is what I'm going for.”
Mark recently took part in an interesting event in New York City . “Dave Ford, this local artist, did this immersive performance at Jack the Pelican Gallery in New York, it was a live sculptural installation, the Dirty Force Brass Band was there, and Snuff Jazz was there in its normal and Wee Snuff forms, there were African drummers, and performers in costumes, plus the fine art, sculptures and paintings. It was a crazy party! We were commissioned to be one of the crazy layers in all of that. It all added depth to the paintings and sculptures, all this energy and performance that was around.”
Next up for Mark is with the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, which will team with the Owen/Cox Dance Group, on October 5 and 6 (see News and Notes). “I'll be premiering a piece in that, stuff I've been writing for the big band with a version of the Wee Snuff band interacting together. It'll be a revisionary jazz history kind of thing, treating this open 1968-ish New York big band as if it were the root of jazz. How would you deconstruct and reconstruct from that point? The Wee band will be in full performing mode, with some headdresses and all. I'm excited, I haven't written for a full big band since I was in college.”
Losing the Cup and Saucer really was bad news. The good news is that the catalyst for these Friday nights is as active and creative as ever, still searching for ways to “add depth to the improvisation”.
KERRY STRAYER
DOING IT ALL
By Charlton Price
Music professionals with extra talent, who work hard, make the right contacts, and luck out can make it in New York (for jazz), Los Angeles (for TV and film work) or Nashville (for songwriting and recording). Kerry Strayer has all those musts for what some would call the big time. But having grown up professionally in Kansas City, he decided to put down roots here, and is happy he did.
“Most local markets [for musicians] aren't nearly as good as KC. But to make a living, you have to be versatile.” Jazz? Sure. But also he's ready with R & B, pop, swing or whatever's required for private parties and other kinds of gigs.. And with different sizes and kinds of groups, from trio to big band. Even the symphony. He also teaches privately, arranges, composes, and records.
His close friend and (per Kerry) his mentor, first-call LA reedsman Gary Foster, uses words by George Bernard Shaw to describe Kerry's energy and smarts. Said Shaw: “The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.”
Originally from Nebraska, Kerry got his professional training at UMKC – on baritone sax and other reeds, and composition, earning a master's degree. But mostly he says, he developed his skills from playing. And then more playing. He thinks his style as a player is a combination of Kansas City and West Coast influences. (Hmmm. Sounds like Gary Foster.)
Here's how Kerry, still only 50, describes the career strategy he's developed over the past 30 years:
“We'd all like to be able to make a living playing jazz. But I've gotten into these other areas that are commercially viable. Some criticize jazz musicians who do these other things, like you're selling out. But as I see it, I have a set of musical skills. These are assets. If I can use these assets to create other kinds of music to generate income, I don't consider that selling out. Though it can be nerve-wracking. The number of things I have to get done between now and October is ridiculous!”
He's been busy with recordings, too, since 1993, and particularly of late. These have included “Jeru Blue,” honoring Gerry Mulligan, as well as collaborations with Foster on the CDs “Mentor” and “Play It As It Lays,”
Upcoming is a CD launch party at Jardine's on November 5 for Kerry's newest release, “In a Mellotone.” These tracks were just demos, with his trio and quartet, that he put on his website <kerrystrayer.com> for private party customers to audition. “Then some asked if they could buy these recordings. And I too thought they sounded pretty good.” This latest CD includes his versions, “as a closet clarinet player,” of “Poor Butterfly” (in tribute to Bob Ousley) and “If I Had You.” Other tracks on recent releases preserve samples of Kerry's close collaboration with the late pianist-composer-arranger Frank Mantooth. Also he's put out last year and this a Christmas album, showcasing the big band and vocalists he's directed for the past 12 years for the Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony – arrangements, as usual, by the bandleader.
That's how and why Kerry “does it all.” And likes life that way.
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