DAVE DAVIES, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton is one of the most polarizing figures in jazz. To fans, he's a remarkable artist who's refused to set limits on his vision or his musical range. To his detractors, he's the man who made sterile and impenetrable music with numbers and geometric diagrams for titles instead of words. Braxton, who's won a MacArthur Fellowship and an NEA Jazz Master Award, turns 80 this year. One of his proteges, Steve Lehman, has created a tribute that highlights the composer's early work and shows the roads to and from his music. Guest jazz critic Martin Johnson has this review.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE LEHMAN'S "34A")
MARTIN JOHNSON, BYLINE: It would be impossible to do a tribute to all of Anthony Braxton's music. There are operas. There are large-scale ensembles like his "Composition 94," "For Four Orchestras." And there are iconic, intimate ensembles from the late '80s and early '90s. But his early '70s work is great and often overlooked. Steve Lehman, who studied with Braxton at Wesleyan then played with him for nearly a decade, has created a smart, riveting tribute to his mentor, "The Music Of Anthony Braxton," by focusing on his early compositions, tunes that are a cornerstone of his formidable reputation. We just heard their take on a piece called "34a" that showcases the composer's penchant for horn lines that coil like an Escher drawing. This is no ordinary tribute by Lehman. In addition to music by Braxton, Lehman includes two of his own peons to his mentor.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE LEHMAN'S "UNBROKEN AND UNSPOKEN")
JOHNSON: Lehman has followed Braxton's example in accepting no conventional limits. His catalog includes covers of Autechre and Wu-Tang Clan. His superb octet integrates spectral music, and he co-leads Selebeyone, a hip-hop fusion project with HPriszm of Antipop Consortium and Senegalese rapper Gaston Bandimic.
The unifying theme in Lehman's varied music is force. There's a relentless urgency to his saxophone. Perhaps the impact of his other key influence, saxophone's Jackie McLean. So it's no surprise that he recorded this music live at the ETA club in Los Angeles, where Lehman presently lives. It's an implicit rebuke to those who think Anthony's music is dry and academic. There's a roaring crowd after each number, sometimes after each solo, and a you-are-there immediacy to the sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE LEHMAN'S "23B + 23G")
JOHNSON: Lehman is working with this regular trio, which features the propulsive bass of Matt Brewer and powerhouse drummer Damion Reid. Plus, guest saxophonist Mark Turner. The arrangements have a loose-limbed effect. Reid is swinging. Brewer is walking, and the horns play freely. Turner shares with Braxton an admiration of saxophonist Warne Marsh. Braxton has often honored his roots. He's recorded albums of standards and paid tribute to his heroes like Lennie Tristano, Charlie Parker, Andrew Hill and Thelonious Monk.
Here, Lehman's ensemble does Monk's "Tinkle, Tinkle" with a subtle nod to Anthony, as a horn duet starts in abstraction, with the tune slowly coming into view.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE LEHMAN'S "TINKLE, TINKLE")
JOHNSON: Lehman was born in New York City in 1978 and spent some of his youth in Paris. Like many of his peers - Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer to name two - he grew up with hip-hop as an established genre and with electronic music as an emerging one. He brings a unique rhythmic acuity into his appreciation of Braxton. He was pointed toward Anthony by his mother. Braxton was a good adviser for a young musician with wide-ranging interests and clearly inspired Lehman and many others to follow - as many of them as possible.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE LEHMAN'S "40B")
DAVIES: Martin Johnson writes about jazz for The Wall Street Journal and DownBeat. He reviewed the music of Anthony Braxton by Steve Lehman.
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(SOUNDBITE OF BOBBY HUTCHERSON, DAVID SANDBORN & JOED DEFRANCESCO'S "TEDDY (FEAT. BILLY HART)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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