A musician of my acquaintance recently posted a screed in which he objected to “a clear lack of gender identity” and decried a supposed “global ideology” in jazz. I can only guess at what he meant, but it’s possible the mainstream jazz artist was triggered by the abundance of positive publicity surrounding the release of Happy Today.
The curmudgeon would be justified in suggesting Happy Today doesn’t swing. It grooves. Neither does Happy Today contain direct echoes of Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson or Wynton Marsalis. Instead, it’s in the innovative spirit of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.
The disputant may be appalled by the assertion, but the grouping of guitarist Jeff Parker, saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss and drummer Jay Bellerose epitomizes the prevailing sound in improvised music. For fans like me, Happy Today is comfort music. In fact, the funky serenity of Happy Today risks seeming overly familiar.
Vintage jazz provides a different form of solace. I recently took great pleasure in bingeing on the solo recordings of Art Tatum. Yet I was left cold when I attended a performance by a locally based devotee of Tatum earlier this month. Jazz- with or without consideration of “gender identity” and “global ideology”- will never cease evolving.
