SK Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Passed today at 89. Composer, musician, and innovator who started Third Stream music - melding jazz and classical. I had this album - where else could you hear a string quartet doing Gunther Schuller arrangements with Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and Jim Hall among others, playing together? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOu7RdnMxpw#t=115 CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16251 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 RIP AvantGrand N2 | ES520 | Gallien-Krueger MK & MP | https://soundcloud.com/pete36251 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimkost2002 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 RIP Mr Schuller "I have constantly tried to deliver only products which withstand the closest scrutiny � products which prove themselves superior in every respect.� Robert Bosch, 1919 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Directing the big band, young Wynton on the trumpet, don't recognize the cat on keys (most shots are of his back) but he opted for the Rhodes on this gig so how bad a guy could he be? [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbHpPdapRd0 Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reezekeys Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I played a gig w/him recreating the Birth Of the Cool music - I played the part of John Lewis! RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SK Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 I played a gig w/him recreating the Birth Of the Cool music - I played the part of John Lewis! RIP That sounds like a surreal (and cool) opportunity! CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reezekeys Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 The gig was connected with a college where I was doing some teaching. The players were all faculty. Half the show was us jazzers doing the BOTC book, the other half was him conducting ones of his classical pieces with a horn ensemble. He couldn't have been nicer to us jazz players and had hardly any criticisms to offer. This was not the case with the second half of the show! They had rehearsed on their own the week leading up to the gig but their performance didn't meet his standards. After the first piece he announced that the concert was now an "open rehearsal." I felt bad for those guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SK Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Just guessing Schuller thought, since the horn ensemble had his music beforehand, they should have had their parts down. CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 One of the best-loved musicians, educators, and administrators ever. A very kind and unselfish person who had a huge impact on countless people and without whom it is hard to imagine a lot of the music of the past 50-70 years having gotten off the ground. I don't remember my age when I met him, but my life was changed forever when I realized it was "acceptable" to blend genres and just be true to yourself regardless of whatever criticism you get for it. I also went to school with two top Horn players (first chairs in major American symphonies) who studied under him, and can hear what an effect he had on their approach to music. Although it's long out-of-print, I highly recommend tracking down a copy of his excellent book, "Early Jazz". The fact that he was into early jazz was also inspiring to me because it told me it was OK to like music of all eras equally, and that one shouldn't necessarily think of stylistic evolution as strict advancement but simply as reflections of the times. Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reezekeys Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Just guessing Schuller thought, since the horn ensemble had his music beforehand, they should have had their parts down. That's probably the case. I offer no opinion on this and didn't mean to cast aspersions on Schuller. This was a long time ago and my memory is hazy but I remember his piece as being pretty dense, modern, and technically demanding. The players were sweating hard from the first bar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I've felt I've had a relationship with Gunther Schuller since I was a young teen and discovered the only music I've ever known from him: The Red Back Book: [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvVd976tF9M I still have the album (and the CD) and it's still the definitive Scott Joplin album for ensemble. RIP Gunther, and thanks for the hours upon hours of listening to this great album. The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 If anyone has any personal stories they'd like to share regarding Gunther, feel free to pass them along to me via email and I'll get them to my brother, who is the main one planning the commemorative and related announcements and events due to his role as Director of Communications at New England Conservatory. They were in the midst of planning his 90th birthday bash as it was. But his death was not a surprise, based on his condition last week. It's a huge loss, but how great that he touched so many people and lived to such an old age. Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Just read the obit. a half hour ago on lunch break! RIP! CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SK Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Gunther was a giant, because he understood both jazz and classical at deep levels, saw their commonalities, and created his own interpretations. I see this as a Gunther Schuller celebration thread. Any of his music anyone wants to post, please do. Good article here: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2015/06/21/197700746/gunther-schuller-who-bridged-and-classical-music-and-jazz-dies-at-89 CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 That is a very in-depth obit from NPR. I didn't know about his brief stint in Nazi Germany, or at least had forgotten about it. I think that may have had a big influence on how he viewed things. And of course he had a constant reminder of that period, due to the lost eye. He probably got out of Germany in the nick of time, just like Darius Milhaud barely escaped Vichy France alive. Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 What a loss. His book about early jazz was one of the the first music history books that I ever read. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 My brother's been super-busy. His team is just starting to put up playlists on Soundcloud in tribute. Here is a jazz reimagining of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf: The official NEC obit was a non-stop project and I think has now been posted, but I haven't had a chance to check the site in detail yet. It will probably evolve over time. The 90th birthday concerts have now become memorial concerts. George Schuller was performing in Europe at the time of Gunther's death. Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SK Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 That's cool, Mark. Nice revision of Peter and the Wolf - on par with Ellington's Nutcracker Suite. Lots of good moments (between the narration) - love the section at 3:10. CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SK Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Another cut from the Jazz Abstractions album: John Lewis's Django, same amazing line-up of players, GS arrangement with string quartet. I remember liking the way this arrangement unfolds, back when I first heard it. [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faSD3g1ndHE CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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