Jazz in Vancouver
by Scott Lewis
The jazz musician who eschews
fusion-style rock-influenced jazz
faces a tough road in Canada. To
start off with, save the occasional
prodigy, it takes many years to
develop the instrumental proficiency and improvisational maturity
necessary to perform jazz music.
Add the scattered directionless
nature of the jazz field as a whole
these days, and, in Canada, the lack
of a thriving scene to nurture the
young players (sorry, but college
teaching just doesn't make it in jazz.)
Then there's lack of media exposure
and supportive record labels, and
lack of promoters and venues to
allow the music to be seen live always the lifeblood of jazz - and
you've got a tough situation. It takes
a lot of dedication to stick with it.
Still, there is a group of Canadian

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performers, now reaching maturity,
who have developed their craft and
their art under these forbidding conditions. I'm going to look at four recent cassette releases from the subset
of these musicians currently or
recently based in Vancouver. These
men and their compatriots have
worked together and apart in many
different situations over the years,
giving each other the support not
forthcoming elsewhere. Support
them yourselves; buy their tapes, and
see them in concert if you get the
chance.
Bruce Freedman, tenor sax, Clyde
· Reed, bass, and Gregg Simpson on
drums make up the Vancouver Art
Trio; their new tape is called The
Mad Nomad (5854 Inverness, Vancouver, B.C. V5W 3P5). The music
is aptly self-described as "improvisational jazz in the tradition of Albert
Ayler, John Coltrane, and Ornette
Coleman." This is a difficult style to
carry off. The lack of reliance, to unfamiliarized ears, on song structure
and resulting sameness of sound
render any deficiences in instrumental proficiency or improvisational
creativity all too apparent. Then, the
three influences mentioned are such
powerfully individual musicians, that
it's difficult not to sound derivative.
These three musicians can carry it
off; in fact, they blossom in this context. Freedman can play impassioned Coltranesque arpeggios a mile a
minute, but avoids overkill wit

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harmolodic runs. Reed provides an
anchor for the band, both tonally,
and, when the drums start to play
around with the beat, rhythmically.
Simpson is awesome playing this
style of music, varying his attack
with sticks an brushes, pushing the
beat here, reining it in there, driving
Freedman on to fiery pyrotechnics.
The tunes are all originals save for
a powerful cover of Ornette's
famous dirge "Lonely Woman". If
you like this style of music_, you can't
go wrong with this tape.
Reed and Simpson are also the
rhythm section of Lunar Adventures, with a front line of Coat Cook
on sax and Ron Samworthy on
guitar . Their tape Full Moon (895
W . 7th Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 2E5)

has a very different sound from The
Mad Nomad, however. Cook has
a much lighter style than Freedman,
and the music tends towards Latin
and rock styles, mercifully almost
completely avoiding vapid fusion
cliches. Their sound is accessible to
a much wider audience. If they could
gain wider exposure I believe Lunar
Adventures could become rather
popular. Cook and Simpson share
compositional chores; for me the
highlight is the suite where Simpson
explores his ancestral roots; believe
it or not, regaling us with Celtic harmolodics. It works amazingly well,
although every time I listen to it I
have this strange desire to leap up and
dance the Highland fling with wild
abandon. Samworthy continues the
tradition of fine Canadian jazz
guitarists (check it out sometime, it's
amazing how many there are). Keep
your ear on him; he shows signs of
mastering a wide variety of styles.
Paul Cram abandoned Vancouver
for the hopefully more supportive city of Toronto a few years ago. I
doubt he'll get rich - Canada Council grants don't go that far - but he
is producing some rewarding music.
In line with his rather bizarre sense
of humor (I like it), the tape I'm
reviewing is entitled Jazz in the
Zebra Zone (Cargo Culture, 2-496
Euclid Ave., Toronto M6G 2S9).
Cram and Robert Leriche play saxophone and the sadly-neglected
clarinet. James_young is on bass, and
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percussionist. Lerich is the instrumental standout; at times you get
worried his saxophone will explode
or at least burst into flames when he
gets wound up. Although Cram is an
interesting soloist, his greatest contribution to the group sound is his
compositions. Both they and the tape
itself have grown on me with
repeated listening. I think Cram's
skewed viewpoint takes a little getting used to , as it really is an individual development; no strong influences come to mind. This tape will
reward the careful listener; both it
and the next also offer better production values than the first two.
Paul Plimley has gathered a collection of the finest younger - midtwenties to midthirties, that is - jazz

musicians in Vancouver. The result
is a band that has it all: individual
virtuosity; empathy, musical and
otherwise, among the musicians; a
real sense of fun in their playing; and
an ability to transmit all this to an
audience. Plimley exploits these
plusses to the fullest. Functioning as
an easygoing taskmaster, his bubbly
geniality serves as the focus for all
this musical energy and creativity.
He is a mature, well-trained composer, able to exploit the wide range
of timbres and personalities available
to him in the Octet.
The Paul Plimley Octet recently
spent some time in the studio; the
result is a tape called Hidden Shades
(670 Union St., Vancouver, B.C.
V6A 2B9). Side One is taken up by
a long tune, "Diary of the Dreams
of. a Garishly Dressed Globetrotter".
Plimley's song titles, while expressing his puckish wit, are programmatic; he always has a story to tell.
The piece moves through a tremen' dous variety of textures, the
tonalities at times evoking India, the
Far East, and elsewhere. I've played
it for a number of my friends, jazzlovers and otherwise, and all were
appreciative. Even the "free" sections are well enough integrated into the musical flow that they never
come across as cacaphonous.
The band funks out on the opening piece on Side Two, Coat Cook's
clever 'Lunar Exoloits of Bike

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funk it up in 5/4 time. Then it's on
to the title cut, redolent of Charles
Mingus and Duke Ellington. After
a quiet slowly-building intro, the
band moves into Ellingtonesque
horn colorations,then cleverly and
almost imperceptibly find themselves
pouring out driving Mingus riffs.
Back to another quiet section,
another sneaky transition to more
riffing, a slow decrescendo, and
you're left with a peaceful feeling in
your soul. I can't recommend the
Octet or this tape too highly. Since
it was recorded, trombonist Hugh
Fraser and trumpet player Bill Clark
of VEJI have joined the Octet for
summer performances all across
Canada. Who's going to give them
the record contract they deserve?

fWEET THUNDER
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