This Cacophony Makes a Joyful Noise

It wasn’t a planned ensemble or a scored composition, but there was something wonderfully spontaneous and, in its own way, creative about what happened at 6 on Thursday night at the Long Beach Convention Center. It took place at the opening of the exhibit room of the International Assn. for Jazz Education’s 29th annual conference, in a large area devoted solely to manufacturers of music instruments and their accessories.

As the doors swung open, an eager crowd of musicians--students, teachers, professionals--rushed in to ogle, touch and try out the array of shiny trumpets and trombones, saxophones of every size and magnificent-looking drum sets.

The result, as more and more instruments were put through their paces, was a kind of instant cacophony--at least from one point of view. But it was the sort of cacophony that John Cage would have loved. And beyond its randomness, it was a kind of found aural art, filled with turbulent timbres and layers of rhythms surrounding sudden bursts of melody and accent, as one player or another surfaced through the mix.

For those with the patience to step back and simply allow the sounds to wash through one’s consciousness, the experience was fascinating, an opportunity to hear music in a very different manner from the mind-set required by the more traditional ensembles. And it may be that one of the reasons the exhibit room opening was such fun was the fact that most of the scheduled performances were well-crafted but relatively straight-ahead musical efforts.

That said, there was a lot to choose from. Among the scheduled artists: alto saxophonist Richie Cole, singer Tierney Sutton, pianist JoAnne Brackeen, trumpeter Tiger Okoshi, the Billy Childs Sextet and the Bob Florence Big Band. In addition, the opening general session of the conference showcased compositions commissioned by ASCAP/IAJE/Billy Taylor (“Catch Me If You Can” by Jason Goldman and “Billyssimo” by Jovino Santos Neto) as well as John Hollenbeck’s “A Blessing, the 2002 Gil Evans Commission.”

On the cutting-edge professional level, there was an appearance by saxophonist Don Braden’s hard-driving Contemporary Standards Ensemble, a three-horn band whose arrangements produced the sound of a considerably larger group. And the Jason Moran Trio, featuring Greg Osby, was especially illuminating as a showcase for pianist Moran.

A few of the day’s high points, however, came from less familiar sources. Gold Company, for example, is a vocal ensemble from Western Michigan University that performed not just at a solidly professional level, but with considerable creativity as well. One of its most fascinating pieces was an imaginative a cappella arrangement of “Tea for Two” in which various sorts of vocal sounds were used to generate percussive effects.

Katia Moraes and Sambaguru are fairly well known to Los Angeles fans of music that hovers creatively between jazz and Brazilian rhythms. But the group’s performance, as always, was filled with body-moving rhythms, driving percussion and sensual vocalizing beyond Southern California.

Wrapping up a busy day, there was “Pro Jam I,” the first of several scheduled impromptus displaying specific musical areas--in this case, the seminal jazz of Central Avenue. And the crisp, hard-swinging playing of Europe’s WDR Big Band affirmed the global reach of jazz and of the IAJE conference.