Experimental Jazz in the Berkshires (Bob Nieske, En Tandem)
By Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., November 15, 2000) -- As luck would have it this weekend the Berkshires is a good place to hear jazz of the experimental kind. Tonight, the “En Tandem Tour” featuring the ensembles Motion Poetry and Playscape -- fresh from performances at New York’s Knitting Factory, the temple of the downtown avant-garde -- stops at the Castle Street Café in Great Barrington at 8:30. And tomorrow night the Berkshire Museum presents Boston’s Bob Nieske 3 at 8.

But just what does one mean by “experimental jazz,” and does the term necessarily mean harsh, atonal music that’s impossible to understand or appreciate unless you are already into it?

“Music is an art that exists in the moment,” said Nieske in a recent Email interview. “The best advice I can give is to let yourself exist in the moment for just a little while, like a meditation. It is so hard for us to let go of the everyday internal dialogue of worries and hopes. This is an opportunity to free yourself, just for five minutes at a time. When we’re in between tunes you can think about your bills if you want, but during the five or so minutes it takes for us to play a tune, just give yourself to us and we’ll do the same for you.”

That listening strategy, to surrender oneself over to the music, is probably the best advice one could give to a listener uninitiated into the complexities of cutting-edge or avant-garde jazz, or to those who have a hard time listening to music that seemingly has no clear melody. Nieske even offered more specific advice for how to tune into the performers. “The individual members of the group have very distinct personalities,” said Nieske. “It might be interesting to focus on the body language and facial expressions of each player. Ask yourself, ‘Who is in charge at this particular moment?’ Watch the performers eyes. If all have their eyes closed for a period, chances are they are all in a section of the music where they are playing freely, improvising.

“Then if one person opens his eyes chances are he’s thinking something like ‘What’s going to happen next? Is it time to move on to something different? Am I getting bored?’ “Sometimes as the leader, I will give a vocal cue to the trumpet or drums, which would indicate I want to move to a different section. ‘Let’s go home,’ I might say.”

For Nieske, playing in the Berkshires has particular personal resonance, as he is a protégé of jazz great Jimmy Giuffre, who has called the Berkshires home for the last 40 years or so.

“Jimmy is my biggest influence, although I may not sound like him,” he said. “When I was a student at New England Conservatory, as a ‘legit’ composition major, I played in Jimmy’s CILO (Composers Improvisatory Laboratory Orchestra) group, and he encouraged me to write for the group. “Later he asked me to join his professional group as bassist. When I graduated NEC … I began studying with Jimmy. I would drive from Boston to West Stockbridge every Saturday and have a composition lesson, sometimes just me and Jimmy, and frequently a joint lesson with Jimmy’s wife, Juanita, and Jimmy. I think we did this for over a year.

“I think I learned the most important lesson from Jimmy. Be yourself. Find your essence and get it into the music, then and only then will you be original, because there is only one you. Easier said than done. Jimmy’s music always has a purity which borders on truth. This is what I am going for.” It was a similar determination to get at purity and truth that motivated guitarist Michael Musillami to form his own artist-oriented record label, Playscape (www.playscape-recordings.com), as well as the quintet by the same name.

“This is a sleazy business,” said Musillami in a recent Email interview. “Most record company owners are not musicians. They tend to take advantage of artists, young and old. Unfortunately, most musicians are not schooled in the business of producing and distributing records, but will sign anything to get their work in record stores worldwide.” As a result, said Musillami, the typical recording artist sees no money beyond a token advance for his recording, even as the record label earns many times the advance back in only modest sales.

“All of the recordings on Playscape could have gone to one of these labels,” said Musillami. “In fact some were on other labels and the license agreements were expired and ownership came back to the artists. The business of Playscape Recordings is to produce and distribute jazz music at the highest level. All of the artists, present and future, are actually part of the company. If the company does well, the artist does well. I have to perform with these people for the rest of my life. The jazz community is very small. Jazz musicians continue to cross paths all over the world.” Musillami, who plays guitar in both Motion Poetry and Playscape, the quintet, described the former group thusly. “Motion Poetry is a quartet co-led by myself and long time associate Mario Pavone. The musicians in the group are at the top of their craft. We have all played in the standard jazz setting and enjoy it, but Motion is a different animal. Mario’s compositions call for a different response than a standard jazz composition. You have to reach very deep in your bag of tricks to perform his music. I love it, it’s an incredible challenge.”

Bassist/composer Mario Pavone established a name for himself on New York’s loft-jazz scene of the 1970s, and he has played in groups led by Bill Dixon, Paul Bley, Thomas Chapin and Anthony Braxton. His own ensembles have included such front-line players as Chapin, Marty Ehrlich and Joshua Redman. Pavone and Musillami have played together before, most notably in Motation with Thomas Chapin, and their telepathic empathy for each other can be heard on the group’s eponymous debut CD. “3m Blues” features long, swinging lines that play havoc with the blues form, and a version of Thomas Chapin’s “Poet o’ Central Park” is witty and full of surprises by pianist Peter Madsen and drummer Michael Sarin, both longstanding musical partners of Pavone’s. The versatile ensemble Playscape features saxophonist Goerge Sovak, pianist Paul Arslanian, bassist Dave Shapiro, drummer Claire Arenius and Musillami on guitar.

“When I started the Playscape label, one thing I wanted was a working group that could represent the label,” said Musillami. “This group would consist of musicians who would eventually be leaders on their own records. All the players in Playscape, the quintet, are proven masters on the instruments. They have performed and recorded with legends of jazz: Chet Baker, George Coleman, Woody Herman. They are all composers and arrangers of the highest order.

“The music in Playscape is a bit more orchestrated than in Motion, but the intention is the same. The main difference is that what each player brings to the stand. Playscape is a trading democracy. Just when you think you have a handle on what’s happening, someone nudges you into another direction.” For Nieske, whose trio includes Phil Grenadier on trumpet and Nat Mugavero on drums, the motivation is simple: to communicate and to play. “We love to play,” he said. “We frequently play at art galleries, art classes and hair salons. We don’t care, as long as the people are welcoming.

“Don’t think of us as a jazz band. We are three musicians and we play music. You’re at a party. You only know a couple people there. Maybe you’re a little uncomfortable -- I know I always am -- and you find yourself in a corner of a room with two strangers. You start talking and listening. Next thing you know, it’s time to go home and you’ve had a really good evening.”

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Dec, 8, 2000. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]

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