ANCIENT
FUTURE ANCIENT
FUTURE
"In African
music," Randy Weston observed in a 1998 interview, "there aren't the
categories of the past, the present and the future. Music is a timeless thing."
He proves it every time he touches a piano or puts pencil to composition paper.
Weston descends from a long line of seers who build on what the ancestors left
us to create music of startling originality-music of the future. This is why
Ancient Future (a title lovingly borrowed from Dr. Wayne Chandler's new book
Ancient Future: The Teachings and Prophetic Wisdom of the Seven Hermetic Laws
of Ancient Egypt) so perfectly defines Weston's approach to music and life.
Like Dr. Chandler's book, Weston's music reveals the wisdom of the ancient world,
where art, science, and spirituality were one, where music was not entertainment-for-sale
but a life-force at the core of civilization itself. Weston demolishes distinctions
between traditional and modern, composition and improvisation, enveloping us
with what really counts: the music's spiritual essence. And what better way
to capture the spiritual dimensions of this great music than Weston, in his
solitude, singing, praying, meditating, shouting, through the medium of Bosendorfer
piano which he transforms into a giant talking drum or a 97-stringed kora?
"Ancient Future" is a meditation on music's origins. "I thought
about Osiris," Weston recalled, "when he was assigned to teach man
about civilization and he used music to do it." Spare, contemplative, "Ancient
Future" is evocative of William Grant Still's "Africa (A Poem for
Orchestra in Three Movements)" (1928).
"Roots of the Nile" and "Kom Ombo" were inspired by Weston's
recent travels to Southern Egypt, where the Nubians created a powerful civilization
that shaped much of Africa and the Western world. "Roots" is a spiritual;
each delicate line drifts over a rubato cadence with such sheer melodic beauty
it's as if every note were scored. "Kom Ombo," named after a Nubian
temple, paints a vivid image in 6/4 time: Weston's left-hand is a rumbling,
majestic drum chorus while his right hand is a spirited circle of dancers.
"Bambara," known to many of us as the introduction to Weston's composition
"Blue Moses," is a musical history of the roots of the Gnawa-descendants
of slaves brought to Morocco by way of the Saharan trade. One of the great city-states
of the Mali Empire, Bambara was remembered as an ancestral homeland for the
Gnawa and a source of their rich sacred music.
"Portrait of Oum Keltoum" and "Isis" are beautiful meditations
written for great Egyptian women. When Weston first heard Keltoum sing in Morocco
in 1969, he was reminded of Mahalia Jackson. "Isis" might be described
as a prayer to this great goddess of fertility; in little over two minutes,
Weston distills thousands of years of history into an elegant, soulful praise
song.
Everything Weston plays is a praise song to the ancestors, especially his musical
predecessors. He has absorbed the spirits of all the great "ticklers"-Duke,
Art Tatum, Earl Hines, Nat Cole, Monk, all of them. "Ballad for T"
celebrates Monk-not just his music but his whole personality.
Weston never tries to play like Monk, but Monk's musical spirit resounds in
practically every note. He opens by paraphrasing the first bar of Monk's virtually
forgotten song, "Sixteen," and proceeds to create an intimate portrait
of a great artist who embodies the passion and humor of his music.
Likewise, listen to "Blues for CB" and you'll feel how Count Basie
swung his piano and the whole band. Ellington is everywhere, in Weston's extremely
funky two-fisted, foot-stomping interpretation of "It Don't Mean a Thing,"
Part I reminds us of Duke's roots in the blues, evoking his piano style with
those rolling fifths in the bass, while Part II pays tribute to Jimmy Blanton
on the left hand, and the orchestra's tremendous horn section on the right.
Here Weston makes more music in less than a minute and a half than many cats
make in an hour. In between "Double Duke" Weston plays a warm, poetic
rendition of Benny Golson's "Out of the Past," a fitting homage to
a composer who deserves a lot more attention.
"Sketch of Melba" was written for Weston's long-time collaborator
Melba Liston-master arranger, composer, and trombonist. The beautiful musical
relationship they established compares with that of Ellington and Strayhorn.
The lush voicings Liston brought to Weston's magnificent melodies are captured
so tenderly in "Sketch for Melba"; it deserves a place alongside the
great ballads: Strayhorn's "Lush Life," Thad Jones's "A Child
is Born," Monk's "Crepuscule with Nellie," and Johnny Green's
"Body and Soul."
Speaking of "Body and Soul," Weston's virtuoso performance of that
classic song deserves an entire essay. Delivering a fresh, innovative take on
one of the most recorded songs in history is not an easy task. Louis Armstrong,
Chu Berry, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Blanton and Ellington, Charlie Parker, Coltrane,
Sonny Rollins, Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Nat Cole, Monk, and of course the incomparable
Coleman Hawkins, each recorded "Body and Soul" and changed the music
forever. Weston took the challenge and gave us a rendering that will be studied
for years to come. Like Hawkins's legendary 1939 recording, Weston never fully
states the melody but you hear it throughout. Following an absolutely stunning
rubato introduction, each whispering phrase builds perfectly on the previous
phrase, eventually slipping into a lovely waltz-a meter Weston has mastered.
He plays with such spiritual conviction that he succeeds in turning a torch
song into a church song. And he is humbled by the implications: "dig the
title of that song: 'Body and Soul.' Deep." "PCN" (which stands
for Panama, Cuba, Nigeria) is not the last cut on the CD but for me it completes
the circle, the Ancient and the Future. It represents the global movements of
African rhythms, the birth place of his father Frank Weston (Panama), the land
where Randy first felt African soil (Nigeria), the lands tied together by Yoruba
culture (Cuba-Nigeria), the lands where African Rhythms meet and mingle. Listen
to Chano Pozo and James P. Johnson do the ring shout in the left hand, or Dizzy's
high life notes in the right hand. Listen to both hands and you'll hear the
fertile imagination of Randy Weston, brilliant pianist, composer, teacher, and
medium for the ancestors. . . our ear to the past, our voice for the future.
- Robin D. G. Kelley
Robin D. G. Kelley is Professor of History and Africana Studies at New York University
Ancient Future
Recorded and mixed by Jay Newland at River Music.
Thanks to Jim Schaller at db Technologies.
BLUE
"Penny Packer Blues": When my daughter, Kim, was quite young, she
used to wear some large, round spectacles that covered her beautiful face. She
already showed the energy and vitality of a natural artist. Her little-girl
rhythms inspired this blues.
"Earth Birth": A song about the joy of the beauty of our planet Earth as seen through the eyes of children. This is nature in its fullest sense-magnificent.
"The Last Day": That day will come perhaps sooner than we realize. The sky opens up. The Creator appears and all Earth's inhabitants get down on their knees-the powerful, the weak, the rich, the poor. We humble ourselves and pay our dues for our selfish greed and lack of respect for the planet.
"Lagos": The year is 1961. I am flying to Nigeria-going to my ancestral home at last. The motors of the plane seem to have a different rhythm. Apprehension . . . excitement. My true home Africa. I was blessed to have this experience.
"Blue in Tunisia": A quiet night near the sea . . . strange moon. Spirit-deep thoughts of my father, who became an ancestor. The color blue . . . an unforgettable experience on the coast of Southern Tunisia.
"Mystery of Love": This is a West African version of Romeo and Juliet, written by Guy Warren of Ghana, a master percussionist, composer, and philosopher. I change the melody a little. It's been my theme song for many years.
"Ellington Tusk": The mighty Duke Ellington . . . blues master. With his magnificent orchestra and original piano, he probably created more varieties of blues than anyone.
This album is dedicated to the memory of my father, Frank Edward Weston, who was responsible for those struggling years of piano lessons, and gave me pride, dignity and awareness of true African civilization, a true ancestor.
Blue notes by Randy Weston
Originally released as 1750 Arch Records S-1802
Produced by Thomas Buckner
Recorded by Gerald Oshita, using the Mark Levinson ML-5 master recorder, and
two Bruel & Kjaer model 4133 microphones.
Recorded at Northwest Recording Studio, Seattle, Washington, March 1983.
Special thanks to Teo Sutton for his production assistance.
Randy Weston played a 9 foot Steinway Grand Piano made available by Sherman-Clay,
Seattle, Washington.
CD mastering by Paul Zinman, SoundByte Productions, Inc. NYC
Design by Patrice Beausejour
Blue - Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 83-743323
Ancient Future
1 Ancient Future (2:12)
2 Roots of the Nile (5:34)
3 Kom Ombo (4:31)
4 Bambara (4:49)
5 Portrait of Oum Keltoum (4:34)
6 Ballad for T. (5:17)
7 Isis (2:20)
8 Blues for CB (3:11)
9 PCN (4:36)
10 It Don't Mean a Thing (2:24)
11 Body and Soul (4:40)
12 Double Duke Pt. 1 (3:01)
13 Out of the Past (3:10)
14 Double Duke Pt. 2 (1:21)
15 Come Sunday (2:36)
16 Sketch of Melba (4:16)
Blue
1 Penny Packer Blues (7:24)
2 Earth Birth (4:34)
3 The Last Day (4:46)
4 Lagos (5:15)
5 Blue in Tunisia (7:05)
6 Mystery of Love (Guy Warren) (5:09)
7 Ellington Tusk (7:36)
All compositions by Randy Weston except It Don't Mean a Thing, by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills; Body and Soul, by Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, and Robert B. Sour; Out of the Past, by Benny Golson and Jon Hendricks; Come Sunday, by Duke Ellington; and Mystery of Love, by Guy Warren
All compositions published by Black Sun Music, administered for the world by Mayflower Music Corp. (ASCAP) except, It Don't Mean a Thing (publ. by Duke Ellington Music and EMI Mills Music, Inc); Body and Soul (publ. by Quartet Music Inc., Range Road Music Inc., and WB Music Corp.); Out of the Past (publ. by Time Step Music); and Come Sunday (publ. by G. Schirmer, Inc)
Mutable Music,
109 West 27th Street, Seventh floor, New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212 627 0990
Fax: 212 627 5504
E-mail: info@mutablemusic.com
p 1984, 1750 Arch, Inc.
p 2001, Mutable Music
© 2001 Mutable Music. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada.
Randy Weston - Ancient Future
Ancient future, yes, and
not-so-distant blue past. Randy Weston's mastery and inventiveness as a piano
soloist is beautifully celebrated on this two-cd package, combining a 1983 recording
originally issued on 1750 Arch Records with a new, previously unreleased session
recorded 17 years later. No decisive breaks or radical new directions are charted
during that span. Instead, the set's two parts basically feel cut from te same
cloth, maybe like they're bookends on this period in Weston's creative life.
It's as if the recent recording is addressed to the older one-an answer for
the unanswered questions of the first LP, slightly more solemn in tone, but
just as plump with ideas.
Indeed, along with solemnity, the other aspect that's markedly different is
the rhythmic variety, which is more pronounced on Blue. "Earth Birth,"
for instance, has snatches of stride that rarely appear on Ancient Future, where
such flashes of sunlight often seem obscured by shadows. Weston is, of course,
one of the great pan-Africanists, a synthesizer of many of the continent's diverse
musical traditions and a scholar of diasporic afro-musical dispersion as well.
Even when his solo music grows contemplative, it never loses its sense of inherent
tension, internal drama and communicative strength. And importantly the pedal
never drowns the digits-Weston's always had one of the most palpable touches
in jazz. These aspects of his approach seem to relate, as much as any specific
melodic or rhythmic material, to his immersion in African culture. If Weston's
music is African in character, it's because of a sensibility, a saturation with
African musical values, not simply because it simply sounds African (which,
it must be acknowledged, it sometimes certainly does).
This package illustrates this point well. A piece like Guy Warren's "Mystery
of Love," with its suggestive left-hand ostinato and right-hand fantasia,
carries some of the solo balaphon tradition into the music. Weston plays restive
high lines against a rumbling low drone on "Blue in Tunisia" before
recapping an aching theme that defers its return to the tonic the way an Arabic
melsimatic singer might. "Portrait of Oum Keltoum," the best-known
such singer, on the other hand, is earthy and rather sad, not particularly Arabic
at all. Needn't be; good dedications don't have to be caricatures. Across the
two discs one finds classic Ellington elements-the terseness, the matter-of-fact
voicings that often include unpianistically high notes as part of block chords,
a sprightly take on "It Don't Mean A Thing," a two-part dedication,
and naturally some Monk, dealt with most openly on the tribute "Ballad
for T." The dedication "Sketch of Melba," written for Weston's
frequent musical partner, trombonist ad arranger Melba Liston, is the new session's
compositional revelation, a glorious ballad that would sound great worked over
by a thougtful tenor saxophonist; a new standard in the making. But there are
lots of heavy tunes here, played with the immense intelligence and character
of one of our most important living musicians.-John Corbett, Down Beat, June
2002, Volume 69 number 6
If the reissue of Blue
- originally recorded on Tom Buckner's 1750 Arch label in 1983 when pianist
Randy Weston was already nearly 57 years old - is cause for celebration, the
accompanying Ancient Future, dating from just two years ago, is even more so:
it's not that Randy Weston has been "unjustly neglected", but, like
Ahmad Jamal, he's an elegant stylist rather than an iconoclast, and they don't
grab as many headlines these days. Though already well versed in fats Waller,
Basie and Ellington before his stint in the US Army. It was Monk who crystallized
Weston's playing into shape at the end of the 1940s. After a handful of fine
albums at the end of the 1950s, he traveled to Africa in 16 as part of a delegation
including Langston Hughes, Lionel Hampton and Nina Simone, and eventually settled
there in the mid 1960s (he ran a club called African Rhythms in Tangier, Morocco,
right across the street from the legendary Parade Bar). As a result, Weston
managed to iss out on the seismic revolutions of free jazz, seeming to be more
influenced by the music of his adopted continent - his son Niles even changed
his name to Azzedin and took up with the local musicians.
All these elements are on display in Blue, from the solid grounding in stride
and swing on "Penny Packer Blues", via the angular turns of line culled
from Monk and the tribal rhythmics of "Lagos" to the smoky late night
piano bar lyricism of "Blue in Tunisia" and the powerful anthem "Mystery
of Love" (which is just crying out for the full Ellington Orchestra). Ancient
Future takes advantage of the CD format to include nearly an hour's worth of
music, and for once I'm not complaining. The title track, which segues into
"Roots of the Nile", is a superbly understated study in chiaroscuro,
Jay Newland's June 2001 stunning recording of Weston's Bosendorfer capturing
every nuance of the pianist's touch. At times introspective ("Portrait
of Oum Keltoum", "Isis"), at times incisive ("Ballad for
T"), t all times acutely conscious of of the history of jazz piano (Robin
Kelley's right to point out that "Ellington is everywhere", but Basie
and Thelonious Monk are too), it's a total triumph. And if you thought there
were enough superb readings of "Body and Soul" out there, you'd better
think again. - Dan Warburton, Signal to Noise, Issue 26
Thomas Buckner launched the record label Mutable Music in 2000 to release new music by himself and his friends and to reissue the catalog of 1750 Arch Records, his previous label from the 1980s. This 2-CD set by Randy Weston combines the two, attaching the pianist's 1984 solo LP Blue to the brand new session Ancient Future. More than a twofer, the set brings to light the man's evolution, his change of perspective too. Ancient Future was recorded in June 2001. Sound quality is exemplary. Weston's playing remains mostly introspective, shining in ballads like "Ballad for T.," "Roots of the Nile" and "Body and Soul" (yes, the "Body and Soul" but here given a different reading as Weston uses the melody to tie a knot around his fingers). His study of African music has been so fully integrated one hardly notices it per se, while his love for bop seems to resurface. A contemplative album, it can feel too immersed in itself at times. The contrast with the opening stabs of "Penny Packer Blues," the first track on Blue, is stunning. On this number and a couple more, the playing is vivid, even excessive. Dissonances abound, the speed of the fingers occasionally pass Cecil Taylor. The two CDs complete each other well, making a good album from a lesser-known figure of post-bop jazz and a much "straighter" release than usual from Mutable Music. François Couture, All-Music Guide
Review: My personal feelings re: his Afro-centric angle aside, Mr. Randy Weston is one of the finest jazz pianists walking the Earth today. If Mr. Weston had a coat of arms, it might say something like "E Pluribus Monk" somewhere on it - he's the successor to Monk with his angular, sly, spare, quick-witted, exotic yet curiously just-plain-folks style, while integrating the influences of African music and the unique pianism and harmonic feel of Duke Ellington. This 2-CD set contains some wonderful piano playing - I use the word "wonderful" to literally denote "full of wonder," as this set certainly is. This album consists of two different sessions: one disc was recorded last year, the other a re-release of a long out-of-print recording from 1984, originally issued on the Bay Area label 1750 Arch Records. Both have superior recording quality: at times I felt like I was a few feet away from the piano.
Weston plays beautifully, mixing Monk-isms with a tender, at times romantic but never mawkish, sweeping rhapsodic quality, interspersed with ruminations (some witty, some somber) that are never tentative or meandering. Ancient Future ('01) is mostly ballads, often lent savor by the shadow of the blues. Blue ('84) presents Weston in a somewhat fiery temperament, though the mood is more inspired vehemence rather than anger - it's appreciably more dissonant and percussive (in a Cecil Taylor/Dave Brubeck manner), yet the richness of melody and the sum of all Weston's inspirations (and his love for them) always shine through. Many of these pieces are liable to take you many places: a languorous, mystery-filled night in Casablanca or Marrakech, 52nd Street in NYC in the 50s, a Mediterranean isle anytime. If you revere solo jazz piano (or value any style/genre of piano), this is, I dare say, a crucial purchase.
Jazzreview.com
May 20., 2002