Unspoken Language

Shot on November 22, 2009 at Boutique De Son in Montreal, "Unspoken Language" is the first in a suite of short films about jazz. Featuring Al McLean on saxophone, Kevin Dean on cornet, Morgan Moore on bass and Hans Verhoeven on drums. The film captures a group of musicians communicating effortlessly in the unspoken language of jazz. The tune is Dizzy Gillespie's "Birk's Works", and is prefaced by a sizzling saxophone feature.

In the film, Dean and McLean reflect on the balance between pure invention and convention. Both musicians are playing vintage instruments that are not their usual horns; Dean a 1937 Conn 40A Vocabell cornet, and McLean a 1931 "Lady Conn" 6M alto saxophone restored by Steve Deutsch Music (http://www.stevedeutschmusic.com) in Berkeley CA.

"I felt it was a great way for the listener to gain insight into the music, to see and hear it performed on period instruments," says Randy Cole, the film's director. "I asked them to play a variety of vintage horns during this session. It took them slightly outside of their comfort zone, and brought some unpredictability and freshness to the performance."

Cole has a longstanding fascination with Jazz, both as a language, and as a living contemporary art form, albeit changed from it's heady inception. "Jazz musicians are storytellers principally," Cole says, "the richness of communication between themselves, and with an astute audience is remarkable. A true unspoken language."

Musicians were recorded by prolific Montreal recording engineer and impresario George Doxas, horn mics used were an RCA 77D ribbon, and Neumann U67 tube microphone.

Al McLean can be heard regularly in Montreal's Jazz venues, and is a sought after saxophone repair man. Read more about Al McLean here:
http://www.almclean.com/about.html

Kevin Dean is professor, and a founding faculty member of the Jazz program at McGill University's Schulich School of Music (http://www.mcgill.ca/music/).

More on Kevin Dean:
http://kevindeanmusic.com/
http://people.mcgill.ca/kevin.dean/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kevin Dean
• Al McLean
• Morgan Moore
• Jazz
• Bebop
• Montreal
• Canada
• Doxas
• Lee Morgan
• Clifford Brown
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Art Farmer
• Charlie Parker
• John Coltrane
• Dexter Gordon
• Vintage Trumpet
• Vintage Saxophone
• Allan McLean
• Al MacLean
• Blues

[bstepanic]

BY FAR THE BEST RECORDING OF THIS SONG I HAVE EVER HEARD. I love listening to all the beautiful trumpets and saxophones you guys rock out on. The voice overs are inspiring and very creative. I would love to see you live

[wideangleman]

@bstepanic Thanks very much for your comment, I let Al and Kevin know.

Randy Cole

[Abundrefo]

Your chemistry with Kevin Dean sounds amazing! You should record something together. Please post more movies where you feature him together with you! Congratulations on the high quality videos you've been posting. Best wishes!

[wideangleman]

I'll let Al know about your comment.

Regards,

Randy

[AlexFrank5]

Great performance all around!

Mr. McLean, you said in another video that you use a large alto mouthpiece on your C Melody, what brand do you use and what do you recommend?

Once again, great playing and thank you for posting all these great videos.

[wideangleman]

Hi, this is Randy Cole, the film's director. I'm not sure what brand Al uses for his alto mouthpiece, but I know it's a large chamber mouthpiece. I'll ask him if he could post a comment for you.

Regards,

Randy

[griploc1981]

I understood the language perfectly! Great artists and great sound.

[sandrovaro]

realy cool!!!

[choperudo]

...Un verdadero placer.

[altrane40]

Hey Alex- Thanks for your kind comments! I'm using the same mouthpiece for alto and c-melody- A Selmer Super Session F w/ Rico orange box #3 reed. The bigger you can play the better, 'cause the bottom end of the C melody needs all the help you can give it, and it's still difficult not to crack the bell notes. GL!