Group Analytic Contexts, Issue 77, September 2017

66 Group-Analytic Society International - Contexts
embodied the pioneering spirit of his ancestors.
One of the things he eulogises about in his novels is
experiencing the Jazz he tried to emulate in its improvisational
originality. I wish I were Jack so I could tell you how truly amazing
both nights at A-Trane were (some of us went on the Saturday as well).
The core of the band was the drummer who was appearing all week
with different musicians on each evening. On the Thursday, there was
a keyboard player on grand piano, a guitarist and an upright bassist.
This was great modern Jazz with moments that transported the whole
room, certainly the equal of much I have seen in Amsterdam and
Ronnie Scott’s in London. The women in the party commented on
how good looking all the guys in the band were but that they could
probably have been their grandchildren. And what is it with bassists,
they seem very prone to extreme facial expressions (anyone seen the
woman in Haim?) - this man was gurning for Germany!
There is a joke about rock ‘n roll: “What is a group? – three
musicians and a drummer”. In Jazz, nothing could be further from the
truth, I have been universally impressed by jazz’s standard of
drumming, they are frequently the best musicians in a weak band and
they can make or break a good one. This guy was extraordinarily
versatile and creative.
On the Saturday, he had the same keyboardist on Rhodes
piano, an electric bass, saxophone, a different guitarist and a man on
record decks. I have truly never heard anything like this. Their first
piece lasted the whole hour of their first set, the deck guy introducing
samples of Tom Waits etc, it was a unique mix and pretty far out. The
second set took us all, I think, to places we had never been before with
a whirling, ever changing mix. The easiest piece to describe, though it
still isn’t easy, was a “blues” number. I put it in inverted commas
because it was like no other blues I have ever heard before, the
deckman dropping in phrases, speeding them, slowing them down, the
guitarist, already spectacular, responding to his time in the spotlight
like he was the Jimi Hendrix of Jazz, all the other musicians joining
in to give us the essence of jazz/ blues, the Platonic Form of the blues,
as if all that has ever existed had been melted down to the finest, purest
distillation, whilst creating something completely unique. Honestly,
I’m weeping with joy at the memory as I type, how lucky were we to
be there, if there is a god I thank her. We all agreed that we were at
the coolest place in Berlin.
Thanks
God didn’t create the Sy. Hard working people dedicated themselves