Doom & Gloom Dispatch #11: A Nice New Boogie
Mali Obomsawin, Sonny Rollins + Don Cherry, Codona, Elizabeth Cotten, Silver Jews
I’m usually at least somewhat familiar with the expertly chosen openers during Yo La Tengo’s annual Hanukkah shows. But bassist/vocalist/bandleader Mali Obomsawin was new to me in 2022, so I had to check her out, of course. I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve seen Sweet Tooth, her terrific debut solo LP, described as “First Nation Free Jazz,” and yeah, that works. A citizen of the Odanak First Nation in Quebec, Obomsawin has crafted a powerful collection here, blending Indigenous song forms, sharp instrumental interplay and imaginative arrangements. It’s beautiful, edgy and wrenching in equal measure.
Sonny Rollins and his Jazz Ensemble - East River Park Amphitheatre, New York City, August 7, 1962
I’m about halfway through Aidan Levy’s Saxophone Colossus: The Life And Music Of Sonny Rollins and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Levy has done an astonishing amount of research, piecing together what is now a truly epic saga.
Sonny is a tough one to sum up, even in a 700-page bio — and not just because he’s lived well into his 90s. Unlike Miles Davis or John Coltrane, he doesn’t have a singular classic LP, era or band to focus in on. What becomes apparent as you read is that Newk is an enigmatic guy — an oddball, really — who doesn’t fall prey to the usual cliches. Unknowable, maybe, but in a good way (“If you can’t be free, be a mystery,” right?). But Levy wisely doesn’t do a lot of psychoanalyzing of his subject or drift into florid prose; instead, he lets the amazing events of Rollins’ life speak for themselves, as Sonny moves through the decades in search of elusive perfection.
Naturally, the book has sent me on a Rollins bender. There’s just endless music to get into. Levy mentions this show in passing and I had to hear it just for the opener: Sonny Rollins and Don Cherry duetting on “The Star-Spangled Banner” in East River Park?! Yes, please. It’s funny, I had been a little iffy on Our Man In Jazz, the sole official representation of this band, but the semi-official release of the complete run of those shows in the past decade turned me around completely. Amazing stuff that sounds new every time you play it, Sonny borrowing some ideas from Ornette but resulting in a new conception altogether. This outdoor gig (at least the 17 minutes we’ve got of it) isn’t quite as adventurous as those recordings, but it’s great nonetheless, with the highlight being a stretched out “Oleo,” Rollins and Cherry trading beautiful, playful lines back and forth.
Levy’s book has some interesting notes about how this band worked out their “Logical Music.” I don’t understand them, but that’s how it should be.
An excerpt:
All begin together
Throughout composition 2 instruments play together. e.g. Sonny + Bob play together after start. Then Sonny + Bob are joined for a dissonance by Donald which then leads to the Donald Sonny duet which incidentally should suggest a different timbre than the dissonant ‘carry over’ 3 part section!
(Billy bears a strong resemblance to Bud Powell.)
After duet of S+D., B. joins in for a TRIO which should have a HARMONIC sound rather than a dissonance sound.
Codona - Blues Alley, Washington, DC, May 9, 1983
There’s no such thing as too much Don Cherry, so after Sonny and Don in ‘62, let’s listen to Collin, Don and Nana in '83! CoDoNa! I can never get enough of this trio. Here, we’ve got them towards the end of their all-too-brief run, right around the time of the third and final Codona LP. There should be at least five more records from these dudes, but Collin Walcott tragically died in a car accident in 1984. Weak!
This Blues Alley tape captures two sets from Codona, each moment brimming with imagination and curiosity. A joyful noise, with multiple peaks, including a gorgeous “New Light” and Don’s West African train dream blues “Clicky Clacky.” All aboard …
Don Says: This wave and that wave, I feel now it’s an all-wave music that’s happening. The naturalness of music is what I want to be involved in. It’s like the instruments are playing us and they’re working with overtones and the idea is the swing of it. We’re really creating a nice new boogie.
Elizabeth Cotten - Euphoria Tavern, Portland, Oregon, February 19, 1975
American genius Elizabeth Cotten was born at the tail-end of the 19th century, but she thankfully lived a long life. And in 1975, at the age of 82, she was in Portland, playing her guitar and banjo and singing her classic songs for a small-but-very-appreciative crowd. Originally broadcast on KBOO-FM, this show features plenty of Cotten’s hugely influential fingerpicking, charmingly rambling monologues and singalongs that will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.
Elizabeth Says: I just loved to play. That used to be all I’d do. I’d sit up late at night and play. My mama would say to me, “Sis, put that thing down and go to bed.” “Alright, Mama, just as soon as I finish—let me finish this.” Well, by me keep playing, you see, she’d go back to sleep and I’d sit up thirty minutes or longer than that after she’d tell me to stop playing. Sometimes I’d near play all night if she didn’t wake up and tell me to go to bed. That’s when I learned to play, ’cause then when I learned one little tune, I’d be so proud of that, that I’d want to learn another. Then I’d just keep sitting up trying. I tried hard to play, I’m telling you. I worked for what I’ve got. I really did work for it.
PS - A snippet of this performance was released a while back on a 7-inch with the great Marisa Anderson on the flipside. Go grab the digital version to support KBOO!
Silver Jews - Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, North Carolina, September 11, 2008
The last time we ventured into the Silver Jews galaxy, we checked out the very first full show by David Berman and co. in 2006. This one, courtesy the fine folks at the Acid Casualties live archive, comes towards the end of the Jews' run as a gigging act — their last appearance was in February 2009, if all my facts are right.
The band was roughly the same as it was in '06, but where they once were winningly ragged, in '08 they had coalesced into something very special, highlighted by the excellent twin guitar attack of William Tyler and Peyton Pinkerton (check out how good they sound intertwining on “Wild Kindness”). Tighter, more dramatic, fully engaged. That goes for Berman as well, who sounds much more at home as a frontman here, delivering his classic verses with confidence and energy. A great show!
It was Berman’s birthday last week, and the various memories and tributes that popped up online sent me back to the Jews, of course. Ana Gavrilovska called out something from The Natural Bridge's “Pretty Eyes” and it knocked me out.
All houses dream in blueprints
Our house dreams so hard
Outside you can see my shoe prints
I've been dreaming in your yard
I had a fairly vivid dream (for me, anyway) a few weeks back in which I was hanging out with someone I knew in high school. Or barely knew, really! I can't even recall her name, to be honest, and she hasn't crossed my mind in about 25 years ... but there she was, lurking somewhere in my subconscious after all these years. What else is in there? And if she's still out there, living her own life, can she see my shoe prints in her yard?
From The Doom & Gloom Archives
Every year during Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah shows, the band pays tribute to some Great Jewish Songwriters – and inevitably, a certain Robert Zimmerman’s tunes show up from time to time. YLT has long had an affinity for Dylan, stretching at least back to the version of “I Threw It All Away” which capped off President Yo La Tengo back in the 80s. Bob and Ira Kaplan are also linked by their Gerdes Folk City connections – Dylan played some of his earliest shows at the positively-4th-Street club and Ira booked the infamous “Music For Dozens” shows there in the early 80s.
Ira, Georgia and James are generally far from reverent when taking on these hallowed tunes – and that’s what I like the most about this compilation (the second volume of our trawl through the fan-curated Sunsquashed Archives). I get the feeling YLT thinks of Dylan less as a mythic, generation defining icon, and more of a great pop songwriter. Highlights include the droning, dreamy “It Takes A Lot To Laugh,” the garage-tastic “Rolling Stone” jam (nicked from the Soup Greens) and the lovely country waltz of “Wallflower.” Zimmy himself doesn’t show up, but Yo La Tengo get a helping hand from his old Budokan buddy David Mansfield on an utterly gorgeous “I’ll Keep It With Mine.” How does it feel!?
1. It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, 8/31/99, BBC Radio 1
2. Like A Rolling Stone, 10/13/89, Maxwell’s (Robert Vickers on bass)
3. I Threw It All Away, 2/17/11, Triple Door, Seattle, WA
4. One More Night, 12/6/02, Maxwell’s
5. I Wanna Be Your Lover, 12/6/07, Maxwell’s (with various dB’s)
6. Sooner or Later (One Of Us Must Know), 12/3/10 Maxwell’s (with Jeff Tweedy)
7. Wanted Man, 3/8/97, WFMU
8. Wallflower, 9/15/98, Maxwell’s (with Dave Schramm)
9. Absolutely Sweet Marie, 12/26/08, Maxwell’s (with Cyril Jordan)
10. 4th Time Around, 11/7/07, Beacon Theatre, NYC (with Terry Adams and Buckwheat Zydeco)
11. I’ll Keep It With Mine, 12/30/05, Maxwell’s (with David Mansfield)
***Bonus***
12. You’re A Big Girl Now, 12/26/08, Maxwell’s (Lambchop, with James McNew on bass)
Currently Reading: Chuck Berry: An American Life by RJ Smith