Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
The Essence of Emily
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
“Color Of Noize is what someone makes of it,” says bassist Derrick Hodge while discussing his new Blue Note release.
(Photo: Ryan Landell)“Nothing was written down and that was by design,” he said. “I wanted to avoid the distraction of theory and written notes. I’m gonna play through once, I’m not gonna over-explain; and then, as soon as we get into the song, it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to do what I want them to play. I hear them understanding that I really want to know their perspective on this idea. Owning it.”
He didn’t want his band overthinking it, though; much of the album consists of first takes.
“A lot of stuff you’re hearing, the guys didn’t even know that was going to be the actual take that we did,” Hodge said, chuckling. “We’d finish it and I’d be like, ‘I’m cool, next.’”
In a sense, the notions underpinning Color Of Noize are nothing new. Art being subjective is an idea as old as creativity itself, and Walt Whitman’s boast that he contained multitudes is more than 120 years old (and wasn’t original to him during the 19th century). Yet, Hodge’s synthesis of ideas is refreshing and intriguing.
He also sees incredible potential in it.
“I want, years from now, for there to be a book club on the ‘color of noize,’” he gushed. “Art and spoken-word stuff that has nothing to do with music. I gotta tell you, brother: If, a few years from now, all people talk about with Color Of Noize is, ‘Yo, did you hear that album? They were going for blood and killin’ it! That was cool.’ If that’s all I’m hearing about, then something was missed.”
It seems idealistic, to say the least. But if Hodge’s music can make a blind man see colors, maybe no one can define its limitations. DB
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
If only because openings for JLCO’s 15 permanent positions appear about as frequently as sub-freezing days on the…
Larry Appelbaum with Wayne Shorter in 2012.
Feb 25, 2025 10:49 AM
Larry Appelbaum, a distinguished audio engineer, jazz journalist, historian and broadcaster, died Feb. 21, 2025, in…
“If you don’t keep learning, your mind slows down,” Coleman says. “Use it or lose it.”
Jan 28, 2025 11:38 AM
PolyTropos/Of Many Turns — the title for Steve Coleman’s latest recording on Pi and his 33rd album overall —…
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
