EDUCATION | EXHIBITIONS: ONE LP@LOUD & CLEAR, EDINBURGH: Alan and Mark Ferber: Musicians

I met up with Alan and Mark at the Blue Whale in little Tokyo, LA on a hot late Sunday afternoon where I discovered they had gone for the same album for very different reasons.Alan: Yeah. Well, this album from a horn player - I’m a trombone player - so, from a horn player’s perspective, it was very influential on me in a number of ways. Number one being that it was the first time I was introduced to Woody Shaw and his pentatonic style of playing. Very compelling, the way he was playing and I was attracted to a more modern style of playing a brass instrument and when I heard him initially I just knew I liked it . I didn’t know what the heck was going on and as I explored it a little bit further I got more familiar with pentatonics and his complete mastery of that and this record really, I think, is some of the strongest … ah … some of Woody Shaw’s strongest playing. In addition to Joe Henderson, I think the two of them are great foils for each other. Joe Henderson being one my absolute favourite tenor saxophonists and, you know, the trumpet/tenor combination has a long history in jazz and I think this is one of the premier examples of that, especially with Elvin Jones being on and then Larry Young, of course.An amazingly open feeling because of the organ. Larry Young and Elvin have this very loose kind of feel yet very...it just grooves so hard but it’s not in the organ-grinder kind of way. It’s an amazing example of kind of liberating the traditional organ/drum relationship from that to a more modern jazz context. And then you put those two horn players up on top of it and it just blew my mind.Mark: Yes, as a drummer, this could be one of the benchmark records for Elvin Jones, one of the classics - obviously there’s the whole John Coltrane library that’s, you know, sort of untouchable in a lot of ways, but this is one of the few dates, to my knowledge, that Elvin did with Larry Young. I know a few other records but this one is special in a sense that there’s one track on there where they play duo. I had never heard that before, this record , with those guys playing together. What, for me, what I heard was what I’m so used to, as a drummer , to hook up with the bass player, the organ player. This is a great example of… they’re not hooking up and yet they are. Elvin Jones is playing way behind Larry Young’s beat but somehow it works amazingly. It’s still a mystery. The reason why I think this record is still a complete mystery to me: how that sounds so good, because they’re playing almost in their own ostinatos, their own worlds, yet it gels so great and then obviously the playing on top of that, all the soloists are some of the most classic solos in jazz. So, I could talk for hours about this record but that, for me, was something that really stuck out.WE: That’s lovely. Thanks, gentlemen.Alan Ferber and Mark Ferber: 'The Austin Powers Room' - Blue Whale, little Tokyo, Los Angeles, May 2013Unity: Larry Young, leader - organ. Woody Shaw, trumpet. Joe Henderson, tenor sax. Elvin Jones, drumsAlan FerberMark Ferber
Alan and Mark Ferber: Musicians, Unity: Larry Young

 

I met up with Alan and Mark at the Blue Whale in little Tokyo, LA on a hot late Sunday afternoon where I discovered they had gone for the same album for very different reasons. 

 

Alan: Yeah. Well, this album from a horn player - I’m a trombone player - so, from a horn player’s perspective, it was very influential on me in a number of ways. Number one being that it was the first time I was introduced to Woody Shaw and his pentatonic style of playing. Very compelling, the way he was playing and I was attracted to a more modern style of playing a brass instrument and when I heard him initially I just knew I liked it . I didn’t know what the heck was going on and as I explored it a little bit further I got more familiar with pentatonics and his complete mastery of that and this record really, I think, is some of the strongest … ah … some of Woody Shaw’s strongest playing.  

In addition to Joe Henderson, I think the two of them are great foils for each other. Joe Henderson being one my absolute favourite tenor saxophonists and, you know, the trumpet/tenor combination has a long history in jazz and I think this is one of the premier examples of that, especially with Elvin Jones being on and then Larry Young, of course. 

An amazingly open feeling because of the organ. Larry Young and Elvin have this very loose kind of feel yet very...it just grooves so hard but it’s not in the organ-grinder kind of way.  

It’s an amazing example of kind of liberating the traditional organ/drum relationship from that to a more modern jazz context. And then you put those two horn players up on top of it and it just blew my mind. 

Mark: Yes, as a drummer, this could be one of the benchmark records for Elvin Jones, one of the classics - obviously there’s the whole John Coltrane library that’s, you know, sort of untouchable in a lot of ways, but this is one of the few dates, to my knowledge, that Elvin did with Larry Young.  

I know a few other records but this one is special in a sense that there’s one track on there where they play duo. I had never heard that before, this record , with those guys playing together. What, for me, what I heard was what I’m so used to, as a drummer , to hook up with the bass player, the organ player. This is a great example of… they’re not hooking up and yet they are. Elvin Jones is playing way behind Larry Young’s beat but somehow it works amazingly. It’s still a mystery. The reason why I think this record is still a complete mystery to me: how that sounds so good, because they’re playing almost in their own ostinatos, their own worlds, yet it gels so great and then obviously the playing on top of that, all the soloists are some of the most classic solos in jazz.  

So, I could talk for hours about this record but that, for me, was something that really stuck out. 

WE: That’s lovely. Thanks, gentlemen. 

Alan Ferber and Mark Ferber: 'The Austin Powers Room' - Blue Whale, little Tokyo, Los Angeles, May 2013 

Unity: Larry Young, leader - organ. Woody Shaw, trumpet. Joe Henderson, tenor sax. Elvin Jones, drums 

Alan Ferber 

Mark Ferber