THE PERRY WHITE QUARTET AT THE PILOT TAVERN

It is a real treat to go out on a Saturday afternoon and catch the cool sounds of jazz from some of the top talented jazz musicians in our country.   This time around it is the tight yet criminally underrated Perry White with a support team consisting of guitarist Rob Piltch, bassist Neil Swainson, and drummer Davide Di Renzo kicking in the reins.

From the start of their take on Rogers and Hart’s classic standard “I Could Write A Book”, the vibe created by the quartet resembled the early 60’s period of Sonny Rollins being pared with Jim Hall.   Perry’s tone was cool, relaxed, inventive and non abrasive; Rob’s guitar had a cool edge that didn’t need any reverb highlights to accentuate the points, and the rhythm section of Neil and Davide put a light touch to the entire performance.

Things shifted through a Neil Swainson blues number called “Cobourg”, which swings like mad and is full of pop and pizzazz.   “Yesterdays” was a very pensive piece that swings hard and strong and brings emotions into full reign.    The closing piece of the set, Chick Corea’s “Bud Powell” was a playful excursion into bebop but with modern edges and melodic/harmonic twists and turns.

It was a pleasant and beautiful day to spend a great day of jazz with a drink and some friends in the heart of Yorkville.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM WATCHING JURASSIC WORLD

1)  When God said to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, it’s best that you don’t.    When you do, it causes a whole lot of problems.

2) When a MAN gives orders, you better shut up and pay attention, since he is right.

3) Feminism is a pain in the neck.   Disregard for family and God over wanting to excel up the career ladder is NOT a good thing.

4) Brotherly love is a beautiful thing

5) It’s an awful thing to try to play God.    If you think you can do a better job than God, then you are in for a complete fall like Humpty Dumpty.

6) Evolution is a lie from the pit of hell.   Only God can create something beautiful, something glorious, and something magnificent in six days and then taking a Sabbath rest.

7) Chris Pratt came a long way from being an overweight slacker to a handsome A-list actor.

8) Hang on for one of the most exciting thrill rides of the summer season.  

THE STATE OF JAZZ IN THE 21ST CENTURY - A REFLECTION

When jazz was founded over 100 years ago in Black America, it marked a period where for the first time a marginalized race has found a voice to express their feelings of pain, angst and joy.    From ragtime, boogie-woogie, stride, big band, bebop, cool, modal, fusion and the avant-garde, jazz went on a trailblazing path to explore itself while staying true to the roots of the music.

However, as I am living in the 21^st century, music and the quality of it is undergoing a huge decline.    And I must say the same for jazz today.    I am going to call out names here, but when you have Robert Glasper littering his jazz creations with hip hop and R&B acts, that’s not advancing the music.   That’s just creating a very glossy production.    When you have jazz artists saying “fuck off” to the Great American songbook and then borrow from the likes of Coldplay, Radiohead and the Beatles, it is another means of “whitening” the music for the masses.   

As of this writing, the great Ornette Coleman has gone from this world to be in the next.    This is what I feel jazz is missing today.   An innovator.   A Visionary.   One who wants to take it to the next level but not sacrificing the roots to get there.    We have to stop allowing jazz produce these white bread nutjobs who think they are jazz just by having a nice hairdo, a knockout dress, and a honeycomb voice.

The only way jazz will have hope in the 21^st century is to bring it back to its roots and innovate from there.   For people to not shit on the struggles and advancements of the black man, but show respect and rightfully pay their due.    It’s time.    Time for a change.  

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT SEE "TED 2"

Seth McFarlane, the creative man behind the show “Family Guy”, developed an adult film comedy franchise about a teddy bear with a completely nasty attitude and demeanor simply named Ted.    I did watch bits of the first one, but was spared of the offense.

Thank God for trailers.   I was in the theatre to see Entourage where the sequel to Ted was being previewed.    In 10 seconds, for the first time in my life, I walked out of the movie theatre in complete and utter disgust and holy indignation.   Why?   The allusions of bestiality through the fact that Ted marries a woman and wants to conceive children but can’t, so Ted enlists the Mark Wahlberg character to provide sperm.

I am urging you with any sense of decency and normality to not support or see this movie.   The humour is not intelligent but has the equivalency of junior kindergarten mentalities.   It belongs in one place and one place only and that is in the trash.   Period.

Thanks for listening.

A PORTRAIT OF ARCHIE

Archie Alleyne was simply put, the Canadian equivalent to Art Blakey.   His drumming style wasn’t one of flash, but of taste, preciseness and support for the band and its soloists.     To know Archie Alleyne is to know a piece of black Canadian jazz history that began with the likes of Oscar Peterson and artists such as Alfred and Donovan Coward from Nova Scotia, Daisy Sweeney, Oliver Jones, Sonny Greenwich, Frank Wright and Wray Downes to name a few.

His crowning moments, done at the turn of the 21^st century, was two things:  co-found a jazz group named Kollage which at the time was one the few, if not the only, all-black hard bop jazz bands in Canada.   The other was founding a scholarship fund under his name to encourage and support artists of colour who would be struggling to get a chance to be educated in the top schools of the country in music.

What I thank God for Archie is the legacy that he left behind through educating people young and old about the rich history and past of jazz and one who selflessly gives back to those who are in need.   Through his band, there were no complicated charts, odd-time signatures, experimental exercises or jazz with elements of contemporary populism.    Archie was all about the true essence of jazz, which is found in swing, groove, rhythm, feel, and whole greasy bucket of soul, something that the up and coming generation of musicians should take a cue and learn from in order to preserve the integrity of jazz.

Archie, wherever you are, thanks for everything.