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Let’s get the jokes out of the way right now.
Free jazz is a music art form, not an announcement of a music giveaway, and
the price of free jazz is not something everyone is willing to pay. Now, let’s get down to business. We recognize
that the abstract strains of free jazz may either strike a chord or strike
a nerve, but a definite reaction is always certain, as
drummer/percussionist Richard Gilman-Opalsky, a longtime purveyor of the
impassioned art form, will attest.
“What I love about this music is, it cannot be
passively received,” says Gilman-Opalsky, a University of Illinois at
Springfield professor of political science. “It requires the listener
to actively be involved, and it can be exhausting.”
After playing drums since childhood and enjoying all
kinds of music, Gilman-Opalsky took to the edgy, antagonistic, DIY attitude
of punk-rock music in junior high school and believed in it until
discovering improvisational jazz in college. His conversion came after he
recognized the inherent risks and honest excitement in performing
challenging music that never seems to become complacent and seeing through
the veneer of major- label creations. “I came to believe a common lie that radical,
political, risky, dangerous music was created only by raw and loud rock
& roll guitar players,” he says. “Then I heard Cecil Taylor
— later John Coltrane and others — and realized these guys were
really putting their lives on the line. I haven’t found anything that
compares. It still sounds challenging 40-plus years after it was
recorded.”
Gilman-Opalsky put his newfound understanding to work
for the next several years, giving free jazz concerts with alto saxophonist
Benjamin Kates in New York City as Fire & Flux. Kates relocated to
Portland, Ore., about the time Gilman-Opalsky came to Springfield, but
before separating the two musicians made a deal.
“We promised each other we would continue our
creative collaborations in whatever form we could,” says
Gilman-Opalsky. “Whether through performance or record label releases
we’d keep the Fire & Flux connection going.”
The two have released recordings of past live
performances, but when Kates hits town this weekend they’ll be
performing together for the first time since the summer of 2006. The
results should be quite interesting, given the explosive nature of this
improvisational and emotional music. According to Gilman-Opalsky, some
songs do have direction, with planned, notated movements, but others are
strictly “get it and go,” from the first note to the last. “Fire & Flux had a stable of about 20 or 30
pieces with compositional elements to them and always one or two completely
open improvs,” he says. “We never know how they’ll turn
out or what direction they’ll take or even how successful
they’ll be using this idea of collective improvisation.”
How does working in the Big Apple compare to playing
free jazz in Mr. Lincoln’s hometown? “When you do something in a town that has a
flavor of its own, like Springfield, you can be heard,”
Gilman-Opalsky says. “In New York, on any given night there are a
half-a-dozen bands trying to play that style of music. It’s a lot of
competition.”
Fire & Flux performs at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, at
the Pizza Machine (107 W. Cook St., 217-788-5976) along with the End Times
Trio, featuring Frank Trompeter and Mark Schwartz plus special guest Rose
Schweikhart.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2007.
