In the Mood for Jazz: DOC CHEATHAM GOES MODAL just because I asked him.....

In 1990 I was suddenly inspired by the music of Astor Piazzolla; his New Tango was something of an epiphany for me, a call to, perhaps, abandon the dominant language of bebop in my compositional approach (and that’s a long story in itself, because in the following years and I went in and out in my desire to compose according to certain boppish principles; I did not abandon them completely but I did reform myself enough to reorient my writing and playing).

In those years I had changed radically, musically speaking, from my allegiance to the great Barry Harris (with whom I had at one point been close friends) to an expansion of my own jazz and improvisational parameters. In the wake of the new/New Music/Downtown NYC scene and the emergence of the Knitting Factory in the ‘80s I had recorded with Julius Hemphill and Don Byron and had gotten a big boost by Francis Davis’ “Village Voice pick” of my first CD, At the Moment of Impact. Piazzolla inspired me anew and I started assembling a band from Anthony Braxton’s program at Wesleyan (I was living in New Haven). I composed a new program, called it New Tango ’92, and we recorded it“live” at the Knitting Factory (our recording engineer was the amazing David Baker) with Julius Hemphill in tow (and I always remember that the brilliant pianist Ursula Oppens attended; she was Julius’ partner and sat in the front row).

That CD is one of my best, I think, and before it was completed I had a strange idea. Doc Cheatham, who I loved musically and knew casually, was very active in NYC even in his 80s. So I composed a Prelude and Postlude for New Tango ’92 and called Doc and asked him if he would record it for me for the project. To my surprise he said yes immediately. A few weeks later Doc, who was 86, took the train up to New Haven and, in my living room, we recorded the two pieces, one of which (Prelude) I have included here; I was on tenor, Jeff Fuller was on bass and Ray Kaczynski on percussion. I used a DAT machine.

Doc played beautifully, handling this unfamiliar form with ease. He had a beautiful tone, and here was the kicker: I told him his sound remind me of Booker Little and he said, “hey, you know, I used to substitute for him in Latin bands in New York.”

I was fascinated by this. Of course, Doc was known for being a great lead and band trumpeter, and was a musical master all around.

So, who else was doing this kind of generational/cross-stylistic thing back then? As a matter of fact who else has done anything like this in the last 35 years? Maybe someone has, but I don’t know of anyone who has ever done this sort of odd-couple collaboration in the history of jazz. If nothing else, dammit, I want credit where it is due (and note that around this time I recorded a Louis Armstrong program at the Knitting Factory with Doc and, yes, David Murray).

So, here it is: Doc Goes Modal:

Prelude: with Doc Cheatham on Trumper: