Isn’t it curious that in spite of there being little (if any) "fusion" posted recently, it is the listener who doesn’t like it who keeps bringing up the topic. Why it also has to be done with derision is also curious, but a different topic altogether. Equally curious is that what is posted instead are the same clips that have been posted several times previously. Clips of Wynton and Clapton are as tired as those of that other guitar player.....what was his name? ☺️ I think "hard-headed" is accurate; as far as the "good taste" part goes......let’s just say that there are different flavors of Kool-aid.
The first time I saw the Wynton/Clapton clips my reaction was, and to quote that same listener, WTF! Clapton is an iconic aging rocker and Brit blues player who, for some reason, has lost the fire in his playing. Talk about pandering to the "great unwashed" with his presence there! In the company of good (mostly, and more on that later) jazz players playing the blues, he sounds mediocre at best. Ironically, the two headliners are the weakest soloists in that band. This makes a good segue to the subject of Nat Adderly:
I have always been a fan of Nat Adderly. As suggested by Alex, I WILL (😉) explain why I like his playing. Adderly was a player with a great rhythmic feeling and sense of swing; that was his calling card. He was great within his comfort zone of the relaxed, bluesy tunes, ballads and funky tunes with uncomplicated harmonic changes and medium tempos. In that respect it can be said that his playing was limited compared to players with much more advanced and expansive harmonic vocabularies like Miles, Morgan and Hubbard; but, great feeling! What Adderly had in spades is precisely what Wynton doesn’t have; and, vise versa.
Adderly was great at telling a story in his soloing or even just playing the melody of a ballad, but had problems as an instrumentalist; he was very inconsistent as a trumpet player, especially later in his career. Wynton is a monster trumpet player who doesn’t play with a convincing feeling. Of course it needs to be remembered that this is all in comparison to the best players in the music. Adderly’s problems with his "chops" are well known among jazz brass players. These were the result of bad playing habits and/or bad teachers and which can result in things like callouses on the lips; problems that resulted in "blowing his chops out". Look at this clip and notice the tense embouchure (lips) and posture with the raised shoulders, and the pointing down of the horn while seeming to be squeezing out the high notes; all a recipe for chop problems:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwsQ_dHrFMContrast this with Clark Terry in the previously posted clip; a model of relaxed embouchure and posture even when playing in the upper register. This relaxed quality also allowed him to use "circular breathing" for incredibly long phrases without having to breathe:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3AvImcsbt1UThis has been posted previously. Some favorite Nat Adderly from one of my very favorite records (notice the Miles influence in the muted trumpet playing); great feel!:
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYUN_lOOl3TXtUiOmKhMHgHy0YR4o3F6MLastly, I think that the only "antidote" that is really needed in this endless debate about the merits of the traditional vs the untraditional in jazz is to continue to point this out:
There is no argument, and never has been, with the idea that we all have our preferred styles of music and that there is no reason that anyone HAS to like anything other than what they do like; simple as that. However, most curious of all to me is how someone who can’t even take a stab at explaining why something is liked or not can have the huevos to completely dismiss in a judgmental way the musical direction that musical giants like Herbie Hancock and Miles chose for themselves as artists and, in the process, stripping them of the sense of integrity toward the music that they so rightly deserve. Curious indeed.
