By 1976, the whole late 1940s conflict between traditional
jazz enthusiasts (“moldy figs”) and modern jazz proponents (boppers) had pretty
much run its unproductive course, replaced by equally sterile arguments about the
avant-garde, jazz rock, and fusion. Maybe it was time to take a look at a middle ground, or at
least that was the feeling. At a traditional jazz festival in Paris, the
Anachronic Jazz Band began playing bop tunes in traditional style (quelle horreur!). A couple of
albums, along with some extensive European touring, provide the only aural documentation
of this interesting experiment but relatively short-lived experiment.
Anthropology, a two-CD compilation of those albums
and a cross-section of live recordings, says a couple of things about figs and
boppers. First, if traditional bands had stopped followed the Anachronic way
and stopped playing some of the old croakers in favor of some challenging new
material, a lot of great music could have resulted. Second, playing modern jazz
compositions in an earlier style shows that the gap between the two schools wasn’t
as wide as was assumed. As far as I know, though, the Anachronics haven’t
had any successors, but their legacy is pretty darn great.
I was really impressed at how easily tunes like Denzil Best’s
Move and Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring. Even the title tune makes a
lot of sense within the older idiom. Of course, it’s not surprising that Ask
me Now and Blue Monk work well; Thelonious Monk’s music has deep roots in the
tradition, and even Salt Peanuts and Giant Steps aren’t that alien
to the New Orleans tradition. Also, the soloists, like trumpeter Patrick
Artero, are consistently excellent throughout.
Happily, the Anachronic Jazz Band has reunited in recent
years, with some of the original players like Marc Richard (sax and clarinet) and
Philippe Baudoin (piano) still on hand.
Here are two live
performances: a Seventies version of Yardbird Suite (a couple of different
versions are on the CD) with a spectacular solo by Goran Ericksson on recorder;
and a more recent take on Charlie Parker's’s Confirmation (not on the CD―could
we hope for a new anachronic jazz recording?).
Yardbird Suite:
Confirmation:
