Art of the heckle

You don’t get a lot of heckling at jazz gigs. Jazz gigs, you ask: What are they? I’m indebted to Bob Holman’s rules of the practice aimed at poetry hecklers, a rare breed. Holman’s second rule is “you are part of the show”, interesting, not that …

Published: 18 Apr 2020. Updated: 3 years.

You don’t get a lot of heckling at jazz gigs. Jazz gigs, you ask: What are they? I’m indebted to Bob Holman’s rules of the practice aimed at poetry hecklers, a rare breed.

Holman’s second rule is “you are part of the show”, interesting, not that anyone wants a conversation with the audience mid-blowing session, although bands who insist on audiences singing it back to them as they grin wildly don’t seem to mind if the conversation is musical – just so long as it isn’t a bunch of the verbals courtesy of a roomful of complete strangers. I once witnessed a drummer handing out kazoos to the audience on their way-in for them to later tootle on during his show. That kind of worked.

Heckling of the ‘advice’ variety is rarer and tends to get everyone’s backs up. Bill Frisell at a gig once in the Barbican was told to TURN IT UP, BILL in no uncertain terms by a guy who seemed to have worked out that he should have been at an Iron Maiden concert too late but was finding it hard to adjust. Not batting an eyelid if anything Frisell played even more softly.

Holman's ninth rule is great: “Speed is essential; timing is all. You gotta drop in the heckle with rhythmic integrity.” That’s very jazz and worth adopting should you be a potential heckler. But remember rule 11: “Have the audience at your back, or get the hell outta Dodge.”

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Xenakis state of mind: what a trip

Blow your minds, dear marlbank readers, Steve 'spectral' Lehman at it again, quite brilliantly as it happens, that is obvious. ''More from the saxophonist-composer, describing his new project: ''Xenakis and the Valedictorian was recorded in the …

Published: 18 Apr 2020. Updated: 3 years.

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Blow your minds, dear marlbank readers, Steve 'spectral' Lehman at it again, quite brilliantly as it happens, that is obvious.

''More from the saxophonist-composer, describing his new project: ''Xenakis and the Valedictorian was recorded in the passenger seat of my 2011 Honda CR-V, from March 25 to April 15, 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States. In the midst of homeschooling my two young children and remote teaching at the California Institute of the Arts, I set aside one hour everyday to work on solo saxophone repertoire. I recorded each practice session. And as it dawned on me that I would be unable to be with my mom, Sheila Lehman, on her 80th birthday (April 25, 2020) I decided to compile a concise EP of my practice sessions and present it to her for the occasion.

''Throughout my childhood, my mother introduced me to an incredibly wide array of musicians and musical styles, including Cecil Taylor, B.B. King, Meredith Monk, McCoy Tyner, Koko Taylor, Milt Hinton, Morton Feldman, Betty Carter, The Sugarhill Gang, The Emerson String Quartet, and saxophonists Jackie McLean and Anthony Braxton. For my 10th birthday, we threw a haunted house themed party in our attic, and my mom chose Iannis Xenakis's 1962 composition "Bohor" as the accompanying music.

''The ten tracks presented here were recorded with a 1973 Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone and a 2016 iPhone SE. There is no effects processing or editing of any kind. 100% percent of the revenue for this album will be used to support freelance musicians adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.''

Steve Lehman photo: Pi