Jazz and the Ambiguity of Influence, Part 10: Armstrong and the Sculptural Tradition
Brancusi sculptures Chuck Berry said he liked jazz except for when they try to play it too darn fast. I tend to agree. I'm not opposed to fast and agitated jazz, but I find that that sort of thing is better live when you can give yourself to it, immerse yourself in the energy. Think Coltrane's "sheets of sound." If you get on that wavelength it becomes a meditation that stretches the mind. If you don't get on the wavelength, though, the sheets of sound become a wall of sound that keeps you out. The art of playing fast while still keeping it melodic and engaging is not common but neither is it uncommon. The subject of my previous post, Clifford Brown, was someone who clearly could. The inventor of fast and fleet horn playing, Charlie Parker, was always engaging and melodic. But it's easier said than done. I would say that of all the great jazz figures, none were more concerned with inviting the listener in than Louis Armstrong, who no doubt was unequivocal in
