Leonard Feather Blindfold Tests

[Plays "Conversation" by the Modern Jazz Quartet and Beaux Arts String Quartet, from Third Stream Music, Atlantic Records (1960). Personnel: Gunther Schuller: composer.]

George Russell: I have to say first and well Leonard obviously that's, a Gunther Schuller composition for the MJQ conversations and it is a piece of music with substance and... Are we on?

Leonard Feather: Yeah.

George Russell: Essentially I'm against commenting on any piece of music and especially one with substance after the first hearing. You know?

Leonard Feather: I do.

George Russell: And that is in principle. So, I'm actually in principle against commenting on any music after just hearing it one time. But I can give you my general impressions.

Leonard Feather: Yeah, your emotional reactions.

George Russell: My emotional reactions. I thought it was very interesting in terms of color, instrumental color. I frankly reacted more to it at the times when the quartet was allowed to play without interruption. However, that may be because the other parts were not as accessible as the free swinging or it's now-

Leonard Feather: You mean on first hearing.

George Russell: On first hearing. And... Also I get... Well, it was the part that I could pat my foot too that reached me. And yet the other parts, although they were very interesting in terms of color... Both harmonic color and instrumental color, it didn't strike me as particularly profound in terms of Berg, Alban Berg.

Leonard Feather: How about the writing for strings or the integration of the strings with the group?

George Russell: There were parts when I thought it was really ingenious and that was during the non jazz parts. But, in the jazz parts, I thought it was a little bit... I don't know, but the composer probably intended, since the piece is Conversations, for there to be this conversation between the classical strings and the modern jazz quartet in jazz. A little bit like an atonal Dave Rose or something.

Leonard Feather: That's a funny thought. That's a very funny way to-

George Russell: And I'd have to use your quote about the third stream which I think is excellent. You just mentioned that if you put two precious stones on a bracelet, a ruby and a pearl, they don't necessarily form a third jewel. That's my impression.

Leonard Feather: I guess you'll pass on rating it because on one hearing you can't rate it, can you? Or can you?

George Russell: I have too much respect for the composer and the quartet to rate it, really.

[Plays "Dance of the Floreadores" by Duke Ellington, from Nutcracker Suite, Columbia Records (1960). Personnel: Ray Nance: trumpet; Lawrence Brown: trombone; Billy Strayhorn: arranger.]

George Russell: Ellington's sense of music of buffoonery is incomparable. You can quote me on that.

Leonard Feather: I'm quoting you.

George Russell: The way he... Manages to... Inject wit and humor into music and still make it valid musically is one of his great, great talents.

Leonard Feather: You have any feelings...

George Russell: And I think he was turning on the Viennese composers and it was marvelous. I loved the Ray Nance thing and I liked the little vamp that started the piece off and I like the Lawrence Brown. It sounded like Lawrence Brown.

Leonard Feather: Yeah, true, huh?

George Russell: Coming hello, how are you? I liked the piece very much. I never got such a rise out of a piece of music for a long time and only Ellington could probably do it and still swing. And I'd never give Ellington under, what is it, five stars?

Leonard Feather: Five stars. Yeah. I'm sure.

George Russell: Never under on anything.

[Plays "Flowers for the Cats" by Shorty Rogers, from The Swingin' Nutcracker, Victor Records (1960). Personnel: Shorty Rogers: arranger.]

George Russell: I liked the trumpet players' sound. I wouldn't know who it was. The arrangement was very professional... Clever.

Leonard Feather: What was the treatment of that theme compared with Ellington's?

George Russell: Oh, there would be no comparison. First of all, the soloist with Ellington seemed to understand the nature of Ellington's humor and has that rapport between soloists and leader with Ellington that you don't have. So, the soloist fell into the humorous thing on the Ellington thing and this is just a professional treatment of, it sounded like a studio band, professional treatment of an old standard of some kind. Sounds rather flat to me. Just flat. Could be wrong.

Leonard Feather: What would you give it? Two?

George Russell: Yeah. No more.

[Plays "Everybody's Blues" by Quincy Jones, from The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones, Mercury Records (1959). Personnel: Ernie Wilkins: composer; Julius Watkins: french horn.]

George Russell: The arrangement was a hybrid of Ellington and Basie. It was... Not a terribly distinctive arrangement. I was impressed with the trombone player's range and sound and facility... That's about all I have to say.

Leonard Feather: What would you rate it?

George Russell: It's Quincy Jones I imagine. Is it?

Leonard Feather: I'll tell you.

George Russell: Well, don't quote me. Business arrangements. I'd say... What is it, one, two, three and four?

Leonard Feather: Two is fair. Three is good. Four is very good and five is exceptional.

George Russell: It was fair.

Leonard Feather: Two?

George Russell: Yeah.

[Plays "Poem For Brass" by the Brass Ensemble of the Jazz and Classical Music Society, from Music for Brass, Columbia Records (1957). Personnel: J.J. Johnson: trombone, composer; Miles Davis: flugelhorn.]

George Russell: It's a wonderful piece of writing. It's J.J.'s piece for brass on that Columbia album, which I understand is now out of the big catalog.

Leonard Feather: No kidding. I didn't know that.

George Russell: Which is a ridiculous brass album. I like especially the fugue at the end and I think J.J. betrays in the pieces his love for Hindemith, especially Matthias... And it's one of my favorites.

Leonard Feather: Do you want to comment on any of the other individuals in it?

George Russell: Miles played in it, didn't he? Oh wow. That was beautiful.

Leonard Feather: Did you like the overall form and content?

George Russell: I liked especially the brass, the fugue at the end. If I remember the piece now correctly. There were some parts of it that if I... I do remember there were parts of it that didn't strike me as keenly as that fugue thing at the end and I thought in general it was a very wonderful piece of music actually. I'd rate it four stars.

[Plays "Lovely Woman" by Stan Kenton, from Standards in Silhouette, Capitol Records (1960). Personnel: Benny Carter: composer; Bill Mathieu: arranger; Bill Trujillo: tenor saxophone.]

George Russell: I'll have to take a drink before I talk.

Leonard Feather: You know the composition?

George Russell: No, but I get images of, when I listened to the music, of someone standing in front of a huge stage with his shadow reflected on the curtain and saying this is an orchestra.

George Russell: But, if it has any connection to do with that particular orchestra, I think that it's best days were when Mulligan came into the band and wrote Youngblood and Bill Holman and wrote Theme and Variations and some other things that were done. I can't think of them offhand. Theme and Variations and, yeah. It was... Was it Rusa or Holman? You may have pulled one on me.

Leonard Feather: It may not have been either.

George Russell: But I mean, that's off the record. You got the tape going.

Leonard Feather: Whoever it was.

George Russell: Well I would rate it two stars for orchestral technique. Being able to... I've always respected, even though it's not a lot of music, but I respect just being able to handle an orchestra of that size and produce that kind of sound and moving textures so. Well, musically it may be an embellishment of a modern kind of theme. You could make, you can have 10 and 15 brass and anything will sound impressive. But still, it takes technique to handle that many instruments. It's technique.

Leonard Feather: You feel it was overwritten?

George Russell: Well, it was overwritten because the theme didn't demand... Actually, the theme wasn't profound enough to demand that kind of orchestra, actually.

Leonard Feather: No particular comment on the tenor player?

George Russell: I didn't care for the tenor player.

Leonard Feather: Oh.