Volume 26 Issue 8 - July and August 2021

JAZZ NOTES
From move one
to checkmate
MEGHAN GILHESPY
“
There is an indescribable beauty that comes from a
quintet working as one on stage to dazzle an audience.
The most amazing, calming physical sensation
accompanies those moments where your preparation
and instinct have successfully married one another. At
the chessboard, it is also this beautiful. The drums, bass
and piano are like your rook, bishop and queen. The jazz
happens from move one to checkmate. The applause
from the audience is the hand reached out to you from
across the board. — Michael Shand
I was recently digitally ” flipping through an old DownBeat magazine
from 1937, and came across an article on musicians who played chess
by mail, by forwarding moves on penny postal cards. It made me think
of our current state in the global pandemic, and how people are finding
creative ways to connect without the ability to be in the same room.
As a pastime, chess has enjoyed a resurgence during COVID-19, in
part due to the acclaimed Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit. I have
not been immune to this trend; learning the intricacies of bishops,
rooks and knights has helped to fill the long hours at home. But as a
musician, my interest also stems from stories about our jazz heroes
playing chess.
From Anthony Braxton playing in Chicago’s Washington Square
Park for money, to Charlie Parker setting out the board during breaks
at the Rainbow Ballroom in Denver, Colorado, to Dizzy Gillespie
playing on a plane against Chief Justice of the United States Earl
Warren, there is a rich history of jazz musicians dedicated to the
game. Several even incorporated it into their musical work – trumpeter
Jonathan Finlayson’s group Sicilian Defense, organist Freddie
Roach’s album Good Move! and Charles Mingus’ album Chazz!. Art
Blakey was also a chess player – the first track on The Big Beat (1960)
is The Chess Players by Wayne Shorter. (I’m tempted to add that
America’s greatest blues record label is named Chess Records, but it
was named after Phil and Leonard Chess, the brothers who owned
and operated it. So let’s just leave it there.)
Is this devotion still around? In fact, fans may be surprised to learn
chess is as popular as ever in the jazz community in Toronto and
environs, in part fuelled by a recent swell of interest among young
musicians who, like me, have started to play online on sites like chess.
com. Here are short interviews with four musicians (from earlier this
spring) explaining their love of the game!
ANNA KEENAN
THE ARTIST: ADREAN FARRUGIA, PIANO
Find me on chess.com: adreanfarrugia
Comparing chess and jazz: Chess to me
is about finding the “right”’ move(s).
Improvising in jazz is about the performer
listening to a voice from deep within and
expressing one’s innermost being through
the instrument, projecting out to the listener creating a bond between
the two. If I were a better chess player, then perhaps there might be
a space for more lofty and artistic expression to happen in chess.
After all, there are rules and there is improvisation. But jazz is about
expressing one’s soul and to me chess is about expressing one’s
intellect.
One aspect of both chess and improvised music that has always
been appealing to me is the idea that both seem to centre around the
idea of infinite and undiscovered possibilities.
On practising: For me, chess is about strategy and logic and activating
the thinking and analytical mind. Practising music is also very
logical and analytical but there is definitely a visceral and experiential
aspect to music that I don’t find in chess.
On projects in the works: I have some livestreamed shows with a
wonderful Ottawa-based initiative called Syncspace (syncspace.live)
to look forward to.
THE ARTIST: MICHAEL SHAND,
GUITAR AND PIANO
Find me on chess.com: thehandshand
Contact: @michaelshandkeys on Instagram
Comparing chess and jazz: I am no grandmaster
and definitely not a computer with
thousands of memorized chess openings.
Instead, I improvise in the opening. However, I am not improvising
haphazardly, but within a set of guiding principles. If I were to sit
down at the piano right now and perform a jazz piece, it would be no
different.
On gameplay: Staying cool is important. I like keep my game face
on at all times, on stage and when sitting across from my opponent.
Mistakes happen. The unexpected happens. We use our improvisational
skill to instantly mask or adjust to the issue. You never want the
audience, or your opponent, to know that something has occurred
you didn’t plan for. (But keep that quiet. It’s a performer’s secret.)
22 | July and August 2021 thewholenote.com