Marian McPartland Swings! (Page 2)

Piano Jazz

Piano Jazz came into being when Marian's friend Alec Wilder, host of a National Public Radio Program based on his book American Popular Song suggested that Marian would be an excellent person to host a program to replace his, which was ending. Marian suggested the idea of interviewing and performing with other jazz pianists because, as she says, "I thought that would be something that would be easy. And it has been pretty easy because I know most of the people I've had on, and if I don't know them then I get to know them." Her very first guest was Mary Lou Williams, followed by Eubie Blake, Bill Evans, Teddy Williams, Chick Corea, Billy Taylor, Oscar Peterson, and, of course, George Shearing. McPartland and her guests sit at pianos and talk, playing solos and duets in a totally unrehearsed verbal and musical dialogue that is educational, entertaining, and delightful. McPartland has a wonderful way of putting her guests at ease and allowing them the appropriate space to talk about what they want to talk about. A prime example was her program with Teddy Wilson, who was known to be fairly quiet and had not given a lot of interviews. She truly values the individuality of each musician: "I think that the variety overall is what's intriguing, even if it's something that's not really in my style I just can manage to combine with the other person so as not to seem out of step."

Of course, I'm curious as to who the musicians are that Marian McPartland most enjoys listening to. As you might expect, she doesn't get as much time as she'd like to sit and listen to others' music, but her short list is not too surprising: Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, and Mary Lou Williams are but a few names near the top. "What I do is I keep the jazz radio station on at home at all times so there's usually somebody that comes on during the day that I know, or somebody that I don't know that I would like to invite to the show."

She still relishes the opportunity to see and hear musicians performing live: "Actually, I did go last week before I came out here (to San Francisco), and we went to the Village Vanguard and heard somebody maybe you know, Mary Stallings. I love her, she's wonderful. So that was something that I did, and then we went to a restaurant to hear Roland Hanna and Ron Carter, so whenever I get a chance I get out to hear anybody, really, who's around. And of course I love to go to the Village Vanguard and hear their Monday night band, and when I'm in Chicago I spend all my time going to see Judy Roberts, she's really, really my favorite around Chicago. So that's about it, I think I've told you more piano players than you really want to hear!"

 

Working with Willie Pickins

This talk of other pianists leads to a discussion of her 2001 CD, Marian McPartland and Willie Pickens/Ain't Misbehavin': Live at the Jazz Showcase. The disc was recorded during a series of performances done at Joe Segal's famed Chicago club during December 22-24, 2000. Of the nine tunes, McPartland and Pickens each perform two solos, leaving five duet tracks that are full of fresh and inventive improvisation and meld the very different styles of the two performers quite well. Pickens, who teaches jazz piano at Northern Illinois University, is well known in the Chicago area, having made many appearances at the Chicago Jazz Festival as well as teaching music in Chicago's public schools. He's worked with an incredible number of illustrious jazz musicians, including Elvin Jones, Clark Terry, Joe Henderson, Quincy Jones, Bunky Green, and Red Holloway. His style is exuberant, utilizing barrelhouse left-hand work as well as elements of stride piano that contrasts with McPartland's more classically influenced technique and melodic improvisations. I ask how she came to work with Pickens.

"…A couple of years ago I invited him to be a guest on Piano Jazz and we did a live Piano Jazz in Pittsburgh at a club there, and then later on we did a date at the Chicago Jazz Festival, playing duets…I just thought it might be fun to do my date at the Jazz Showcase with Willy instead of the trio, just for something different. So, then we thought, well, we might as well record it, and it came out pretty well, so that's actually how it happened. Oh, and then actually I played a concert with Willy out here, in San Francisco, so I began to think he would be a good piano partner for the record, and it turns out the record seems to be doing very well. It's funny, we don't really play the same way, but what we do seems to fit, it seems to have been a very successful get-together."

There is no doubt about the success of this venture, as one listen to the rollicking duet versions of "Ain't Misbehavin", "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)", and "Just One of Those Things" make clear. This is a great disc for anyone who really loves jazz piano. The energy of the players, the song selection, the trading of musical ideas, and each musicians' support for the others' ideas ensures that this disc can be listened to again and again with increasing enjoyment.

Since we've talked so much about jazz piano duets, I can't help but ask McPartland if she has ever considered overdubbing in order to play duets with herself, as Bill Evans did on the illuminating Conversations With Myself. "No, I've never done that" she replies. "I don't know why, it's just…I suppose I could, but it's never really appealed to me that much. But I haven't thought about it for a long time, maybe I should think about that. But of course, Bill Evans was such a master at, you know, anything he did. If anybody could do that very well, he certainly could, and did. I don't know if I'd enjoy playing with myself. But maybe I'll try, you never know!"