Calvin Wilson

© 1997 Mike Metheny


JAM talks with the KC Star's Arts & Entertainment writer about jazz, writing about jazz... and heading to New York.

Jazz Critic Calvin Wilson

JAM: You're leaving Kansas City for New York soon. What brought that about?

CW: I am a winner of the National Arts Journalism Program Fellowship at Columbia University.

JAM: How does one win such a fellowship?

CW: Well, it's a competition; and you have to be a working journalist in the arts. You put together a bunch of your clips, you write a biographical essay and another essay about what you would do if you were accepted. You send it all in, they look at it... and the rest is history.

JAM: How long will you be there?

CW: Until next May.

JAM: What will you be doing?

CW: I'll be working on research projects related to the arts.

JAM: And do you plan to return to Kansas City?

CW: Yes.

JAM: Let's back up a little. How did you become the Star's jazz writer?

CW: Because nobody else was doing it (laughs).

JAM: There's got to be more to it than that.

CW: No, that's it! Actually, there were other people... Joe Klopus, of course, has done reviews, as have other writers off and on. But there really wasn't anybody who was doing it, so that's how I wound up with the job.

JAM: When you started (writing about jazz), did you feel it would be a challenge to make (jazz coverage) more prominent in the Star?

CW: It's not so much that as it is a matter of realizing that jazz is an art form just like any other -- and certainly as deserving of respect and attention as any other music we deal with.

JAM: Let's put it another way: have you had to fight for space for more jazz coverage?

CW: Everybody at the Star has to fight for space. That's what newspaper writing is all about: various individuals fighting for space. How much advertising there is that particular day? How much column space is available that day? When you take those things into consideration, everybody's always fighting for space.

JAM: Are you happy with the amount of jazz coverage you've been able to bring to the Star?

CW: Well, I'll put it this way: I think there's certainly been a lot more jazz in the Star since I've been doing it than there was previously.

JAM: Of all the jazz shows you've attended and/or reviewed in Kansas City, which ones rank as favorites?

CW: There have been so many...(pause)

JAM: Just a few that really stand out...

CW: Sonny Rollins at the Folly Theater, of course. Joe Henderson at Station Casino. The Leaders at Plaza III some years ago...

JAM: Who are some of the local Kansas City jazz musicians who've made an impression?

CW: Angela Hagenbach. Karrin Allyson. Bob Bowman. Tim Perryman, when he was here. I like Luqman Hamza.

JAM: Any young players we need to keep an eye on?

CW: Gerald Dunn. But the problem there is that the young players you need to keep an eye on tend to not be here anymore to keep an eye on...

JAM: As in: they tend to leave Kansas City?

CW: Yeah (laughs).

JAM: What's your general take on the KC jazz scene in 1997? There are those who believe it died when 'Bird left in the '40s...

CW: I really think that there's a tendency for people to mythologize the past. But I don't think it should be a matter of measuring yourself against what you have done in the past, or how good the past was. It should be more about what you want to do now and whether or not it can be done. The two things are really not the same at all.

JAM: How does that apply to Kansas City jazz today?

CW: I think the Kansas City jazz scene... aside from what anyone is or isn't doing from a musical standpoint... (pause) Let me put it this way: the simple fact is that more needs to be done to publicize the scene here. I think there needs to be more international thinking in Kansas City. There are people all over the world who are interested in jazz, and Kansas City needs to attract their attention, get them to come here, and attract more tourism based on jazz. Once you build up the jazz scene (that way), then I think it will take care of itself.

JAM: A good segue to the next question. Are you optimistic about the restoration of 18th & Vine?

CW: I think everybody is always optimistic about something like that. But again, we're talking about two different things. Whether you're optimistic about it has little to do with whether or not it's actually going to happen. Which is not to say that there is or isn't going to be anything happening there. I mean, I think that for some years now people have hoped things would happen at 18th & Vine. At this point, things look encouraging. We'll just have to wait and see.

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"I think in the current climate people should be less concerned about... petty differences and more concerned about promoting (jazz) in all of its aspects. ...For jazz factions to be fighting among each other rather than working together to bring more public attention to the music in all its incarnations, it all seems counterproductive to me." -- Calvin Wilson

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JAM: Let's talk about the actual craft of being a jazz critic, or a jazz writer. What are the qualifications?

CW: For one thing you have to know something about the music. That's self-evident. And sometimes I get a little depressed by how some people who like to run around crowing about jazz really don't know much about the music. I think that's a little bit of an insult. In other areas of the arts, people wouldn't dare do that!

JAM: Are you talking about other critics?

CW: No. I'm talking about how if you say you're a classical music aficionado, that implies you've done your homework and you know something about that field of music. What I mean (as it applies to jazz) is that often times I've met people who talk about how they're jazz fans and then I'll mention something that ought to be bedrock knowledge... and they don't know what I'm talking about! One time, when Joshua Redman was coming to town, I was at a local club talking to someone who wanted me to think they were some kind of big jazz fan. I mentioned that Joshua Redman was getting ready to come to Kansas City and they didn't know who I was talking about! Joshua Redman is hardly obscure if you're really serious about the music.

JAM: What do you think the role of any critic should be?

CW: To let you know, based on their knowledge, what they think is going on, and what they think you need to know about it.

JAM: Flaubert once said, "A man becomes a critic when he cannot be an artist in the same way a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier." Two questions: what would you say to Flaubert about that observation? And what instrument do you play? (laughs)

CW: That's a very specious and frivolous argument. Someone can write about the airline industry without being a pilot. And that's all I have to say about that.

JAM: OK... But, do you play anything?

CW: No, I don't.

JAM: If you ever took up an instrument, what would it be?

CW: Something portable (laughs).

JAM: What are your overall feelings about the state of jazz today? Are the "young lions" saving the day?

CW: I think one of the most optimistic developments in jazz now is the breaking down of old barriers. Recently in New York there was the Texaco New York Jazz Festival, run by the Knitting Factory which formerly had been associated with only the most avant-guarde, experimental kind of jazz. But at this festival, they still had their avant-guarde guys, and they were also presenting musicians normally associated with Wynton Marsalis and those people. There were all these different kinds of people from the traditional to the "way out" participating side by side on the same festival. And learning things from each other. I think that's very encouraging.

JAM: Along those same lines, what about all the labels that seem to exist in the jazz world today? "Acid jazz," "smooth jazz"... Is this a good or bad thing for the music?

CW: I think in the current climate people should be less concerned about these petty differences and more concerned about promoting the music in all of its aspects. I mean, the public's attention is constantly being turned to ephemeral kinds of things (like these) -- you know, things the record companies think will help sell product with the least effort. And for jazz factions to be fighting among each other rather than working together to bring more public attention to the music in all its incarnations, it all seems counterproductive to me.

JAM: Looking into your crystal ball, where do you think jazz will be in ten years?

CW: I don't know where it will be in ten years, but can tell you that it will still be here in some form. I suspect that it will still be a marginal music, but I also suspect that it will have incrementally increased its audience.

JAM: We have to ask you the "desert island question." What essential albums would you want to have if stranded on that island?

CW: "Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington," with Monk, Kenny Clarke and Oscar Pettiford. Don Byron has an album called "Tuskegee Experiments." I'd have to have that. "Tomorrow is the Question" by Ornette Coleman. "Marsalis Standard Time" by Wynton Marsalis. And I'd have to have at least one Joe Henderson album, probably "Inner Urge." And Miles Davis' "E.S.P."

JAM: Last question, again in two parts. What will you miss most about Kansas City? And what are you most looking forward to about New York?

CW: I'm gonna miss driving my car -- which I won't have in New York. And I'm looking forward to not driving a car (laughs).


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