chris wong in sync

When I recently interviewed Gary Bartz, the veteran American saxophonist said many provocative things. Ranking up there was the statement that jazz is a negative term, equivalent to a racial slur. He said even Duke Ellington and Miles Davis "hated" the four-letter word.

Bartz, who plays what most people would call jazz, also said the j-word is meaningless. As he explained, "You can stop someone on the street and say, 'Name me your favourite jazz musician.' You might hear Kenny G, you might hear Carlos Santana, you might hear John Coltrane, you might hear anybody. The word doesn't mean anything."

I don't know whether there's any truth to the claim about negativity. But Bartz, who will perform at the Cellar May 15-16, has a point about the lack of meaning behind the word jazz. While debates about what qualifies as real jazz have been raging for years, it seems increasingly hard to define the art form. In this age of cross-cultural fusion, jazz can refer to not only swing and blues-based styles, but also sounds that incorporate contemporary improvised music (the avant-garde), world music, pop/rock, electronica, elevator music (smooth jazz) and more. That said, I think jazz still exists as a distinctive form with certain melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements that vary depending on whether it's straight-ahead or free.

These thoughts about the meaning of jazz came to mind when considering the program for the 16th Vancouver International Jazz Festival (June 22-July 1). Last month Coastal Jazz & Blues Society announced the Vogue Theatre portion of the program. Given that the Vogue line-up features a healthy dose of straight-ahead jazz, I naively thought the festival's full line-up would include significantly more major artists who creatively play in that style. Aside from artists like Uri Caine and Mark Turner, it doesn't. The balance of the program for the main venues primarily consists of avant-garde musicians and others who play in all of the aforementioned genres, except (thankfully) for smooth jazz.

This should come as no surprise. The Vancouver festival has a long history of diverse programming. Jazz festivals in general are also strange beasts that typically offer a varied menu. But Coastal goes further than other festival producers in pushing the parameters. So this year I can look forward to Legends of the Bandstand (straight ahead jazz played by an all-star quintet including Bartz), Paradox Trio (a downtown New York take on Eastern European music) and Márcio Faraco (Brazilian music), among others.

Given that Coastal artistic director Ken Pickering comprehensively programmed those artists alongside the likes of the New Deal (jazzy electronica), Emmylou Harris (pop/country), Wide Mouth Mason (blues-rock) and all the others who perform in various styles, it's time to declare that the 10-day event is a very good "music" festival. That would be the most accurate description. Just don't call it a jazz festival.

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Baden Powell de Aquino was a great guitarist and composer who profoundly influenced Brazilian music. Powell, who died last year, was a technically masterful and emotionally powerful instrumentalist. With Vinícius de Moraes, he composed enduring bossa nova tunes and Afro-Brazilian sambas. “Samba da Benção” was one of their most striking songs.

Homenagem a Baden Powell, May 15-19 at the Blinding Light Cinema (36 Powell), will be a musical and visual tribute to Powell. The tribute will feature Pierre Barouh, who collaborated with Powell on a number of projects, including the French version of “Samba da Benção”. Barouh, an actor, singer-songwriter and film director, will present rare footage of Powell. Vocalist Bia, whose Brazilian style has been a hit in France and Quebec, will also perform at the tribute with a bass player. To reserve a ticket for the tribute, co-presented by Barouh’s Saravah and Robert Benaroya’s Caravan World Rhythms, call 734-7907.

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I've been getting up at 7 a.m. every Saturday to listen to Sounds of Brazil on 96.1 FM. Host Conrado Beckermann plays a good selection of Brazilian music, ranging from sublime sounds by artists like Caetano Veloso to contemporary electronica. It's too bad, though, that the one-hour program is on at an ungodly hour. Sounds of Brazil deserves a more prominent slot.

Speaking of 96.1 FM, the station's license expires this year. The public has until May 25 to submit interventions to the CRTC on Fairchild Radio's application to renew the license. For information on how to send comments, go to www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/Notices/2001/PB2001-45-eng.htm. Also, according to the CRTC website, a decision on the applications for a new FM license in Vancouver will come out this month.