Gordon Lee: Catching up with the pianist/composer #378

·48 min·4 clips

Keith Jarrett stopped a Paris concert to scold the audience for coughing, leading to hecklers and an early end.

Host Tom welcomes back jazz pianist and composer Gordon Lee to the Oregon Music News podcast. Lee opens by discussing his current projects, including a memorial tribute to David Ornette Cherry scheduled for April 13 at Alberta House, featuring musicians like Renato Caranto, Norman Sylvester, and LaRonda Steele. He also details his upcoming album 'How Can It Be?' with his quartet, set for release on PJCE Records in June. The conversation shifts to a humorous studio story about bassist Dennis Chiazza's vocal noises during recording, leading to a joke about similar noises during sex. Lee then recounts a contentious Keith Jarrett concert in Paris where Jarrett repeatedly stopped the performance to criticize audience coughing, eventually leading to hecklers and an early end. They discuss Jarrett's self-centered reputation and his impact on students when Lee taught jazz history. The talk moves to musical origins, with Lee tracing rap to 1950s Chuck Berry and Jamaican yellow man, and linking blues and gospel as complementary traditions. He reflects on playing with Jim Pepper for 14 years, noting how Pepper's music often moved audiences to tears. Lee describes the multimedia nature of the David Ornette Cherry tribute, which will include dance, spoken word, and video. He shares how the COVID-19 pandemic led him to practice and compose more, including porch concerts with musicians like Carlton Jackson. Lee mentions his electronic music project and a planned songbook of 99 compositions. The episode concludes with Lee discussing his evolving piano style, aiming for a more two-handed approach, and thanking the host.

As heard by us

Gordon Lee follows a jazz lineage through Jim Pepper, David Ornette Cherry, Don Cherry, and the tears Pepper could bring forward.

Gordon Lee's return turns a simple catch-up into a warmly connected portrait of jazz relationships, moving from a memorial tribute to David Ornette Cherry to an upcoming album and his years with the Mel Brown Septet.

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Why you'd press play

Want jazz history with a real cry button? Gordon Lee's Jim Pepper memories earn your attention.

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