If it doesn't have soul and feeling, Howard Wiley doesn't
want to hear it. And he sure doesn't want to play it. The native
Berkeleyite, best known around these parts as the nattily attired
saxophonist in Lavay Smith's Red Hot Skillet Lickers, has
standards when it comes to jazz that go beyond just attaining
technical proficiency with jazz standards.
Chops are nice, Wiley says, but "we need to keep the focus on that
folk quality." After all, he explains, "the music came from field
shouts and hollers and the blues." So while Wiley loves John
Coltrane and Miles Davis as much as the next cat, he draws equal
inspiration from Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Still, he adds,
"As much of an interest and focus as I've given to tradition, I
still have an interest in modern music," shouting out Greg Osby
and the M-Base collective as examples of contemporary excellence.
Wiley's bold, confident tone gives his horn plenty of personality
-- it's almost closer to a baritone than a tenor -- and though
he's very much in the "now" on his latest album, 21st Century
Negro, his sound is informed by bluesy underpinnings that keep
him, as he says, "rooted" in jazz's history. "To forge ahead, you
have to know the past," he insists. "A lot of young musicians
don't really have a historical perspective."
The
same cannot be said of Wiley, who emphasizes that jazz is a
continuum -- "Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie all
came from somewhere." And though there's more talent -- both
veteran and emerging -- than there are local venues for jazz, he
feels there's no chance that the genre will ever become obsolete,
"as long as that soul and that feeling is there." When that
happens, he rhapsodizes, "you hear transcendent spirituality. ...
I always try to incorporate that into my playing." Wiley's
spirited sax will be on display Sunday, when he headlines Kick
Back Sundays, the new jazz and spoken-word showcase happening
weekly at Kimball's Carnival. $5 at the door. For more info, visit
KimballsCarnival.com or call 415-846-9432.
