[A shorter, modified version of this statement will appear in the Fall 2008 edition of Jazz Notes, the quarterly journal of the Jazz Journalists Association.]
New York remains an unparalleled cultural mecca, but there’s really something to be said for getting out of town. In April 2007, for reasons pertaining to marriage, I moved to Philadelphia, immersing myself in another jazz and improvised music scene, making new friends and contacts, and seeing life and art through a strikingly different prism. I revisit the subject now, because in late September 2008, my wife and I are moving back to New York.
You won’t find me kicking and screaming. The Apple and I have been a pair since 1987, and every time I’ve traveled home in the last 18 months, it’s like I never left. I look forward to jumping back in, catching up on the new players, haunting the old rooms and visiting the ones that have sprung up since. But I will miss my beautiful Center City neighborhood, and most of all my quaint little street (pictured above). The leafy, amazingly car-free residential lanes, lined with modest row houses — all preserved by the city’s exemplary zoning laws — help keep Philly a world apart from New York. Walking my dogs down Kater, Rodman, Panama, Tryon, Waverly or Naudain Streets on a clear day is a piece of heaven, a sanctuary, and it’s certainly helped me stay sane during these 18 busy and highly productive months. In all honesty, if my New York apartment weren’t two hops from Riverside Park, I’m not sure I could stand the place.
In the mornings I liked to let my radio alarm play so I could listen to John Butterworth’s shadow traffic reports, taking in all the strange names and references: the Blue Route, the Conshohocken Curve (still don’t know exactly what that is), Gladwyne, Gulph Mills, Boulevard to Belmont, Montgomery to Girard. It was a fun way to make sense of a new environment, and on more levels than one, I feel like I was just getting to know it.
I will remain a big believer in the Philadelphia scene, and I’ll be better able to look at New York with an outside-in perspective, a sense that yes, many things, important things, are happening elsewhere. So I’ll keep evangelizing for some of the awesome Philadelphia talents I’ve encountered: the fierce straightahead tenorist Ben Schachter; young outcat bassists Evan Lipson, Jason Fraticelli and Jon Barrios; rising guitarist-composer Matt Davis; veteran altoist and big band leader Bobby Zankel; experimental violinists Katt Hernandez and Carlos Santiago; improvising bass clarinetist and new music maven Gene Coleman; avant/klezmer trombonist Dan Blacksberg; electronics tweaker Dave Smolen; young drummers Justin Faulkner and Wayne Smith, and a good many more. Bands like Shot x Shot and Sonic Liberation Front are staking new ground while Philly’s straightahead engine continues to rev, thanks to Mickey Roker, Sid Simmons, Bootsie Barnes, Larry McKenna and others on the scene at Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus.
In addition to the grunt work of weekly previews and overnight reviews (encompassing mostly jazz but also world music, hip-hop, experimental noise and so forth), I was able to publish front-page arts features on Odean Pope, Orrin Evans, Danilo Pérez, Elliott Levin and Return to Forever for
The Philadelphia Inquirer. (A bunch of the links are down, I’m sorry to say, but I’ll try to get the print editions scanned soon.) I wrote two cover stories for
Philadelphia Weekly, including a synoptic take on Philly jazz past and present. This was some of the most in-depth jazz coverage to appear in these publications in a while, and I intend to maintain my relationships there. So I’ll be visiting Philly as much as I can to research stories, catch shows and just say hello.
The most pleasant surprise of my tenure in Philadelphia: Arts editors are interested in jazz and improvised music. It’s a cop-out to assume otherwise, and it’s on us to speak up.
I have about five more weeks down here before the move. Blogging might slow down some as the planning and packing proceeds. As I look ahead, I can’t deny my mixed feelings, but I’m confident and hopeful about what lies in store.
[A shorter, modified version of this statement will appear in the Fall 2008 edition of Jazz Notes, the quarterly journal of the Jazz Journalists Association.]
One Comment
Well most of John's report mentions specific markers along interstate I-76 (east/west). Have you ever been on the "Schuylkill Expressway" (I-76) and driven to say King of Prussia (KoP)and felt yourself on this long winding curve, I'd say midway between Philly and KoP, well that's it. In fact, it's the only long curve and hence it's nicknamed the "Conshohocken Curve" because of its proximity to the "Conshy" exits. Most of the nicknames are google-able. For example, try looking up "Blue Route PA I-476" especially the Wikipedia page.