BRATTLEBORO — Wycliffe Gordon and his International All-Stars will perform at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m.
Gordon is one of the leading jazz trombonists in the world and, although he is the recipient of numerous awards, he is best known for his long tenure with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
For his Vermont performance, Gordon will be joined by his touring ensemble, The International All-Stars. They are a group modeled after trumpeter Louis Armstrong's All-Stars.
Their music draws from and builds on Armstrong's rich and varied repertoire as demonstrated in their 2017 recording, Hello Pops, which features a varied repertoire influenced by or dedicated to Louis Armstrong. The recording even includes a New Orleans second-line brass-band tune called “Pops for President.”
Ever since his youth, Gordon has been enamored of traditional jazz. In an interview with Jazz Times magazine, he reminisced about learning jazz as a teen.
“I gravitated to New Orleans music because I was playing trombone and tuba at that time. Even though we as teenagers were listening to a lot of pop music ... I had a five-record jazz collection that I got from my recently departed great aunt. I loved that jazz. My friends used to say, 'We all love jazz, but Wycliffe, he loves that deep jazz' ... Yeah man … I would go in my garage and listen to Sonny Rollins, James P. Johnson, and a whole lot of Louis Armstrong.”
Comfortable assurance
All the musicians in Wycliffe Gordon's International All-Stars play traditional jazz with comfortable assurance. Their improvisations are playful, yet they stylistically honor earlier versions of classics like Armstrong's “Keyhole Blues” and jazz standards such as “When You're Smiling” and “Basin Street Blues.” Even their originals swing hard and feel like traditional classics.
Members of the International All-Stars include Adrian Cunningham, (Australia) on clarinet, flute, saxophone, and vocals; Ehud Asherie (Israel) on piano; Ben Williams (Washington, D.C.) on double bass; and Alvin Atkinson (North Carolina) on drums.
“It's easy to go anywhere musically with this group,” Gordon says. “Most of what we're doing is improvising and everyone understands the language. When you have the ability and the freedom to do that, the music can be great.”
Gordon has been recognized as “a superior technician” and “one of the premier trombonists of our time” by Nate Chinen of The New York Times, and has won the Downbeat Critic's Poll as “Best Trombone” four out of the last five years, and “Trombonist of the Year” for nine years in a row from the Jazz Journalists Association.
He was also the winner of the 2017 International Trombone Association Award. On their website, ITA say of Gordon: “His unmatched modern mastery of the plunger mute and his exceptional technique and signature sound [have] solidified Gordon a place in musical history.”
Gordon's fascination and internalization of the development of the trombone throughout the evolution of jazz has resulted in his mastery of a vocabulary informed by the sounds of the instrument's earliest progenitors all the way to today's most current techniques.
In an interview with ITA in 2006, Gordon discussed his primary influences. Not surprisingly, many of the trombonists were members of Duke Ellington's Orchestra.
“I first got into plunger-mute playing by listening to a recording of Bubber Miley on Duke Ellington's Black and Tan Fantasy. I worked and worked at re-creating this sound. I was later turned on to “Tricky Sam” Nanton, Al Grey, Tyree Glenn, and more and then began transcribing those solos as well, developing a vocabulary of various plunger styles and approaches to playing mutes.”
'Talking, laughing, crying, screaming'
Gordon went on to discuss how listening to and transcribing other trombonists helped him develop his own voice and dynamic variety.
“I rely on my imagination as well as ideas I got from listening to musicians that have come before me, such as Dickie Wells and Vic Dickenson,” he said. “They utilized the trombone to emulate their personalities and characters. Vocalization was at the core of their approach. When they played, you would hear the sound of people talking, laughing, crying, screaming, as well as many other effects that can only be created with the human voice. I may hear something as simple as the way someone laughs; and if it is distinct, I'll try to imitate it and make something musical of it.”
It is clear that Gordon has worked diligently at his craft and relies more on listening and persistent study than on raw talent to achieve his goals. In a recent Jazz Times interview he recalls being asked by a student “what's the shortcut?” His reply was simple: “Shortcut? The shortcut is the straightest line between where you're standing and the practice room. There's no app for your ability. You have to actually do that work. You can't Google that. You have to practice.”
Gordon is also an acclaimed composer and arranger. He has published dozens of works for a variety of instrumentations including small jazz ensembles, big bands and orchestras. He has composed two film scores for silent films that were created in the 1920s by Oscar Micheaux, regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker.
Micheaux sought to create films that would counter white portrayals of African Americans, which tended to emphasize demeaning stereotypes. Gordon composed film scores for Micheaux's silent films Within These Gates of Mine (1920) and Body and Soul (1925).