Stanley Crouch

rothman · Veteran Member Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Posts: 329

Literary and jazz music critic, Stanley Crouch, known for a long association with Wynton Marsalis, mentoring him in the 80's, eventually inspiring JLCO, died Sept 2020. You may recall the Ken Burn's jazz series, that didn't please everyone, with less than flattering remarks of Swing icons like Benny Goodman, and little mention of fusion groups, such as Weather Report, that may be categorized as more of a rock band. That said, he was relentless in the things he considered central to the music.

For all the long winded episodes in the Ken Burn's series...a fairly good summary is provided here :

https://youtube-cutter.org/video/nUMIhc7B9

Croquethed · Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:02 am Post subject:

Kansas City Lightning was a superb history beyond the bio of Bird.

Didymus · Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 10:49 am Post subject: Re: Stanley Crouch

rothman · Veteran Member Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Posts: 329

Seeing that Kehaulani's post was deleted.. but as far as recently passing, Stanley Crouch would be the last person taking umbrage with any enthusiast having a position, or disagreement about the music.

Before being fired at the Village Voice, Crouch was known for several encounters with a guy employed there as a rap writer, who found Stanley routinely characterize rap in a disparaging way, but done with intent of improving the guy's understanding of rap.

A funny anecdote by someone who took a course of his at a University in the late 60's, recalled him arriving in the class struggling with discomfort..hesitated, then spoke 2 words, cracking everyone up.

" Tom Jones..."

rothman · Veteran Member Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Posts: 329

Collaborating once again with Ken Burns, the 'Jack Johnson' documentary featured a soundtrack from Wynton, and some commentary from Crouch. The introduction blends in a nice blues number, that apparently started with a guitar riff.

Brilliant...

https://youtube-cutter.org/video/iPQ5jWNn-

kehaulani · Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 10:01 am Post subject: Re: Stanley Crouch

khedger · Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:56 pm Post subject:

Crouch was a blowhard and a hypocrite who road the Wynton wave to prosperity and recognition. Truly despicable individual. RIP.

keith

rothman · Veteran Member Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Posts: 329

hup_d_dup · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:34 am Post subject:

I always made a point of reading his articles in the Voice (years ago). Many original and contrarian viewpoints.

I met him once in a record store in Manhattan. I introduced myself and my wife to him. He was very cordial.

Hup

khedger · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:19 pm Post subject:

rothman · Veteran Member Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Posts: 329

Didymus

I was disappointed that the Ken Burns documentary included several excerpts of their interview with Lester Bowie, and then turned around and dismissed the Art Ensemble of Chicago as only being a hit with "college students in France". That was totally uncalled for, and completely inaccurate. The AEC won the respect of many in the avant-garde movement, and was a big part of the modern jazz scene in their hometown.

As someone who was no fan of Stanley Crouch, I found it, uhm, interesting that he dismissed a lot of avant-garde efforts as charlatan after beginning his career as a drummer in that corner of the jazz world. Some say that after a while he was disinvited to gigs because he couldn't "hang", others say that he was bitter and jealous about it, or whatever. I wasn't there to see it. It could be that he was as confrontational with his fellow musicians of that time as he was with his literary colleagues later on. Maybe he failed to realize that a music career can depend as much on forming relationships with the right people at the right time as any other career. He certainly didn't repeat that mistake when he shifted from performance to music criticism!

It's true Crouch had respect for Ornette Coleman and Don Ellis, and he also dug Charlie Haden. Truth is, there were fakers who were just making noise while trying to pass it off as "jazz", but like everything else, the practitioners policed their own form and the genuine musicians eventually rose to the top.

What bothered me was that Crouch often dismissed players who were avant-garde without really being so out there that one wondered if they were for real or not. Hence why players like Keith Jarrett were alienated by the attitude of the neo-boppers. I can't understand why a guy who dug Charlie Haden enough to write liner notes for one his recordings would just waive off Jarrett's Standards Trio as a footnote before the arrival of Wynton Marsalis, but everybody is entitled to their tastes and opinions, I guess.
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Enjoy the journey.

khedger · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:25 pm Post subject: