Volume 25 Issue 4 - December 2019 / January 2020

Beat by Beat | Jazz Notes
Circular Exchange
Jazz and the Spirit of Christmas
STEVE WALLACE
On two recent performances I experienced epiphanies which
reminded me of something that often gets overlooked amid
the hubbub and organized chaos of gigs: that, at the core of live
jazz there is a process of generosity and giving, an exchange of gifts,
which is the essence of what we celebrate during Christmas and other
religious holidays. The exchange is circular, as there is an unspoken
pact between jazz players and their audience which goes something
like this: give us your attention, your ears, and we musicians will give
you our very best – or at least try to – and make some music, out of
thin air, you’ve never heard before and will never hear again. This
commitment to playing one’s very best holds for all good musicians,
but because jazz involves so much improvising, and thus risk, the
giving in a jazz performance is much more personal, coming from
deep inside the musicians themselves in a sort of spontaneous, highwire
communion. It has very little to do with money. Yes, musicians
are paid for performances and must be – after all, it is their work
and they have to survive like everyone else. But the level of effort and
commitment put forth by jazz players has nothing to do with how
much a gig pays; indeed I’ve been involved in many sessions and afterhours
jams where there is no money involved and everyone plays out
of their skin. Why? Simply because they love music and wouldn’t
think of letting it, or each other, down. Jazz players give to each
other, too.
The first of these epiphanies came courtesy of singer Karin Plato in
back-to-back concerts at Jazz in the Kitchen, October 20 and 21. Karin
is one of my favourite singers today, to hear or play with. She has a
beautiful, slightly smoky voice in the alto range and sings with flawless
intonation and unerring musicality. And she has a special brand of
sincerity and open soulfulness as a person and performer; there’s real
feeling there. Beyond her vocal talents, she’s also a first-rate musician
– plays some piano, is a good songwriter and arranger with big ears
and a thorough knowledge of harmony which allow her to improvise
freely. She also has a touch of the poet about her, a love of words
which comes to the fore in her interpretation of other’s lyrics and the
thoughtful ones she writes herself. While utterly contemporary, she
also has a special gift of recasting old songs, finding something new
and fresh in them in quite imaginative ways. Best of all is her open and
generous attitude toward performance. She’s modest to a fault and
there’s never a sense while playing with Karin that she’s “out front”
and the band is simply there to back her. She sees herself as part of the
band and takes great delight in the spontaneous contributions of the
other players; she never wants to get in the way of the creative process.
Indeed she’s a central part of that process; a poised risk-taker, which
makes playing with her so rewarding.
These concerts were to be a reunion of sorts between Karin, pianist
Mark Eisenman and me. Quite a few years ago when the CBC was
adequately funded and still a cultural institution we could all be proud
of, Mark led a quintet accompanying a selection of jazz singers from
across Canada in a series of concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio, which
were recorded and broadcast. Karin, who hails from Saskatchewan
but has lived in Vancouver since 1985, was among the singers and
made a strong impression on Mark and me. On the strength of this
initial bond, Karin asked me to be part of her Ontario tour with
pianist Nancy Walker and drummer Joel Haynes, which culminated in
her 2008 CD, Downward Dancing. We’ve been friends ever since and
have stayed in touch, so I very much looked forward to this chance
to play with her again, knowing she would love the special intimacy
of JITK. I also looked forward to the instant musical rapport I knew
Karin Plato
would form between Karin and drummer Mark Micklethwaite, who
had never even met before. This is a big part of the giving spirit in jazz
I’m referring to, the willingness and capacity of musicians who don’t
know each other to set aside preconceptions or personal agendas and
put out the antennae to make music together. It’s called listening, and
like the listening of an attentive audience, it is perhaps the greatest
musical gift of all.
Karin brought along a selection of charts for songs she loves and
which she thought would be suitable for the JITK audience, a nicely
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