Finally, a notable jazz video less than 40 years old. No doubt it took a lot of arm twisting to get superlative geek jazzers The Bad Plus to play along in this video accompaniment to their recording of modernist composer Milton Babbitt's "Semi-Simple Variations." The track is from TBP's album "For All I Care" out last month on Concord.
Tip: Do the Math, The Bad Plus Blog, which has stills from the shoot and, as if to justify the peripatetic eye-candy, an essay by pianist Ethan Iverson on the blending of jazz and classic forms. (They also express the hope that Babbitt gets a chance to see the video before his 92nd birthday in May. I'm sure Rush would also appreciate a similar treatment for TBP's cover of Tom Sawyer.)
More on Babbitt (TNLD's own justification for the aforementioned leggy goodness, you ask? Uh huh.): AN NPR interview with the "difficult" composer
No comments:
Post a Comment