TT 347: Greetings from Steve Swallow

and recalling that old Kenny Davern LP "Unexpected"

I was refreshed by a fount of the true tradition yesterday. After three years of setting aside music to care full time for Carla Bley, Steve Swallow is back to practicing the bass and writing beautiful themes. He makes great coffee, and puts just a tiny bit of sugar in the cup “to smooth it out.”

Interesting bass detail from Swallow: When Gary Peacock moved from the West Coast to NYC in early 60s, he roomed with Swallow. They played a lot of duets, reading out of classical trombone books in addition to improving on tunes and free.

In short order this convinced Swallow to focus on "laying it down," because he'd never get all over the bass like Peacock. This mirrored the time Charlie Haden and Scott LaFaro roomed together, which taught Haden not to worry about fast eighth-note bass solos.

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There hasn’t been a style that Swallow didn’t play perfect bass for. I asked him if he ever played “free” music after transitioning to electric bass. He said, not much, mostly only with Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre. I complained a little bit about how Paul Bley, — specifically in the later years — left the form too much for my taste. Swallow sternly corrected me. “Paul listened to the bass. There was always form. It might have been a portrait of Gershwin with two noses.” Fair enough.

We then recalled an obscure LP from 1978, Kenny Davern’s Unexpected with Steve Lacy and Paul Motian. I hadn’t heard this since high school! One tune is on YouTube. Davern was best known as a Dixieland or traditional clarinetist, but he wrote the tunes for the all-stars on this “free” date. Lacy blows first, amazing of course, but I also think Davern plays just great. Total motivic improvising with a blues ethos.

Offhand this is the only record I can think of with churning drums in this ‘60s-style that features electric bass instead of acoustic bass. Swallow takes a great solo, too.