[JonnTEN]

In an earlier post on the usefulness of the Forum, and the fact that there have been no hot controversial topics of late, I mentioned that Jazz journals like Down Beat and Jazz Times, although still very useful, have become bland and slick of late with interviews and their subjects being less opinionated and perhaps nonjudgmental and always taking the highroad instead of revealing their inner feelings perhaps reacting to the politically correct stance that pervades so much journalism today. In the past we've had people like Mingus, Miles, Lou Donaldson, Cecil Taylor and many others lay things on the line and 'tell it like it is' and sure, many of the comments were designed to 'push buttons'. Miles was an expert at this. The comments often stirred readers to write letters and respond and make some noise. We could use more of this today. Sometimes I'll pull out an old Down Beat, Metronome or Jazz Times (when it was a tabloid) and reread some article, review, etc. This was the case when I recently reread the Feb 6,1970 issue of Down Beat. There was a great article by Leonard Feather on pianist Ronnell Bright. Ronnell is a rare breed, the consumate accompanist. He is still alive and well and if you Google his name, you can catch up with this extraordinary man and musician. In the next paragraph I'll quote some statements by Ronnell that were in the article. I guarantee, very very few artists today would be as candid as Mr. Bright.

Ronnell Lovelace Bright is a rare breed....a virtuoso pianist, classically trained, learned to play Jazz in the armed forces with the Adderleys and Eric Dolphy, with whom he was stationed. He ranks with Don Abney, Jimmy Jones, Hank Jones, Lou Levy, Jimmy Rowles as being a singer's ultimate accompanist. Bright worked with the best.....Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Gloria Lynne, Al Hibbler, Carmen McRae, Peggy Lee, Jackie Paris, Chris Connor and so on. He also composed many songs that these performers recorded. Here are a few quotes from Ronnell in this article on a few of the singers. On Sarah: "Of all the innumerable singers I've played for, Sarah is unquestionably the greatest......the only one who can claim the very high standards of musicianship. She could tell you to move from an F# to an E in a ten-note chord and she'd always be right". On Lena Horne: "I was with her for nine months in 1961. She is a superb performer, which makes up for her lack of musicality.She hangs too far behind the meter; she wants to swing, but her tempos are unsteady". On Nancy Wilson: "She's a charming lady with a very appealing voice, as warm as Nat but she's not a Jazz singer or a creative singer. I've watched her grow from a sweet, humble talent to an over-assured person. She thinks she is a musician and tells conductors her opinions but she hasn't the experience or musical training to do that. Her talent lies in finding her own way. It's foolish for singers to talk to men who have studied 12 or 15 years about matters that they, the singers, don't understand". On Peggy Lee: "A fine talent, great at styling and pacing and she knows how to play her audience but you have to do the same night after night and she falls into the same category of singers who think they are musicians". On Carmen McRae: "Even Carmen McRae doesn't have the scholarly mind of a musican, doesn't come up to the standards of any of the pianists who have accompanied her". (It should be noted here that in her early days Miss McRae made her living playing piano and didn't start singing until later in her career). The only singer to respond to Ronnell's comments was Peggy Lee who said simply " I'm happy to be in the company of Carmen McRae and Lena Horne".

The point of this is Ronnell continued to work and be involved in projects involving these and other singers. My other and more important point is that musicians and artists like Mr. Bright seemed to express their opinions more freely and with more candor than today and were unafraid of any potential backlash. Perhaps we could use a little more spice on the Forum........we'll see.