Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday September 18th, 2013 with Bernard Stepien
Ottawa Jazz Festival sequel: Dutch Tin Men and the Telephone

At CKCU-FM, we always have this dilemma between spoken words and music programs. These are viewed traditionally as two different worlds that are totally estranged to each other. The Dutch Tin Man and the Telephone accomplished this tour de force to combine them or more precisely to use one to generate the other. Be aware that we are not talking lyrics of a song that has some melody and harmonies as background here. For Tin Man, spoken words have a rhythmic and melodic contour on their own even before music gets close to them as for songs. This is an alchemy process that transforms spoken words into music or even vice versa. This is spectacularly achieved using the phone answering announcements of some online service or transforming soccer games commentators buzz on radio. Even more important maybe is the fact that all of that is achieved with deceptively straight ahead Jazz. Here, there is no use of dissonances of cluster made, but the rhythmic side certainly has taken the brunt of their boiling creativity. Tin Man and the Telephone web site: http://tinmenandthetelephone.com/bandography/ And for those who dared to miss the Ken Aldcroft/William Parker duo last week at Pressed, here is a review that should make them green of envy: http://ottawajazzscene.ca/reviews/35-show-reviews/8096-william-parker-and-ken-aldcroft-subtle-textures-which-filled-the-room-review?cxn=js130917&cxk=parker