If you happened to catch any of the installments of Ken Burns'sprawling nineteen hour documentary on jazz a few years back, you mayhave wondered what exactly happened to jazz in the second half of thetwentieth century. The filmmaker's heavy reliance on Wynton Marsalisand the various other talented members of his family tended to skew thefocus of the series in the direction of Wynton's classicist ideals. The1960's and beyond are crammed into the last hour of this mammothseries, an injustice to say the least. Adding insult to injury,Wynton's commentary is particularly dismissive of the strides taken byicons like Miles Davis toward a more inclusive and adaptive mode ofjazz music known as fusion. When it is referenced at all, the music ofMiles-disciple Chick Corea or electric-guitar virtuoso Pat Metheny istalked about as if it were a negative influence threatening to ruinjazz. This is a shame, because the experiments of fusion andavant-garde jazz should be viewed as every bit as vital as the classicstyle; god forbid anyone try and avoid becoming stale. For the past fewyears, indie label Thirsty Ear has issued music under their 'BlueSeries' banner, releasing music that blends and transforms jazz, hiphop, rap, and electronic music with some interesting pairings. On thisrelease, modern jazz pianist and Blue Series curator Matthew Shipp andhis group back up DJ Spooky as he indulges his thirst for progressiveintellectualism in music. Spooky clearly wants to incorporate as muchas he can into his music, as evidenced by a few of the names dropped inthe liner notes (Duchamps, Dostoyevsky, Cage, Ellington, Berners-Lee,Bambatta). In text this might make you wary, but on record Optometryis a fascinating excursion, with Spooky and Shipp navigating throughthe blurry water of fusion brilliantly. Kicking off with the familiarride and high hat clicking, the slinky upright bass line (manned bySpooky himself) rising through, Optometry throws a curveball bycutting, mixing, and looping the beats, a subtle addition that workswell. Programmed beats, electronic throbs, and wailing violin all findspots on the record, and are used to great effect, counterpointing thetraditional (but only in instrumentation) jazz quartet. Shipp is aversatile pianist, and his hands float across the keys weaving amazingpatterns of tone, able to rise above the mix whenever necessary. Guestsappear, giving us Carl Hancock Rux's smooth spoken word delivery over"Asphalt (Tome II)," where he waxes on about Coltrane and Lil' Kim,minidisks and turntables. Essentially, it is the mission concept of therecord. Jon McPhee's tenor sax croaks around Rux's witnessing, makingthis a true standout. High Priest of Anti-Pop Consortium and Napoleonof IsWhat also appear, lending their hip-hop skills other tracks, theformer sounding stronger than the latter. 'Optometry' is the essence ofexperimentation. Grounded in the jazz medium, it looks outside ofitself for inspiration and seeks to infuse new blood, not just intojazz, but into the styles it couples with. Jazz is not a museum. Musicnever should be. It has strength and power, enough to offer somethingto contemporary music and retain its rich history. The Blue Seriesseems to have a hold on that, thankfully. 'Optometry' is not at all thekind of record you would find in Wynton Marsailis' collection, but inmy opinion, that stands as more of a recommendation of this than justabout anything else does.Read More
