Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
See Hear - See Hear Podcast Episode 92 - Interview with Tom Surgal, director of "Fire Music: The Story of Free Jazz"

See Hear Podcast Episode 92 - Interview with Tom Surgal, director of "Fire Music: The Story of Free Jazz"

See Hear

12/18/21 • 67 min

plus icon
Not bookmarked icon
Share icon

Change is difficult. Some embrace it, some resist it. It might seem obvious, but change is inevitable.

Welcome to episode 92 of See Hear Podcast.

Jazz is an art form that never remained stagnant. Through creativity or financial necessity, post-war jazz moved from the big swing orchestras to smaller ensembles and bebop became the dominant form. In the late 50s, some jazz musicians decided that, as exciting as bebop was, they wanted to take jazz music in a different direction with band members not having to rely on a structure – neither rhythmically, melodically, or tonally. Avant garde jazz had its champions over the years including people like Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Cecil Taylor, Carla Bley, Albert Ayler and Sun Ra amongst many others.

Bernie and I speak with drummer and film director Tom Surgal about his great new documentary “Fire Music: The Story of Free Jazz”. His documentary tells the story of how this music was developed and supported over the years. The music had many detractors – music venue owners, jazz publications, and saddest of all, other jazz musicians – those who were afraid of the music's evolution. Given that there appears to be no attempt to put free jazz into its perspective on film (and we speak about who is possibly responsible for that).

Tom was a fantastic conversationalist and we spoke about his own performance background, how musicians took on a DIY attitude when the mainstream rejected them (and probably influenced punk years later), how free jazz musicians formed collectives, angry sounding music being full of love, civil rights, and the music's ongoing legacy. Also, Tom tells a story about Charlie Parker and Miles Davis that would probably find a happy home on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast.

Our huge thanks to Tom for being such a wonderful guest and to Lin Culbertson (who scored the film) for organising the chat.

You can go to the website https://www.firemusic.org/ for all information about screenings and to keep an eye out for the streaming and physical media release.

If you’ve been enjoying the show, please consider giving us a favourable review on iTunes and let your friends know that our show exists. If you don't enjoy the show, tell your adversaries to tune in. We don't care who listens.....

See Hear is proudly part of the Pantheon Network of music podcasts. Check out all the other wonderful shows at http://pantheonpodcasts.com.

Send us feedback via email at [email protected]

Join the Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/seehearpodcast

Check out the Instagram page at www.instagram.com/seehearpodcast/?hl=en

You can download the show by searching for See Hear on whatever podcast app you favour.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12/18/21 • 67 min

plus icon
Not bookmarked icon
Share icon

Episode Comments

0.0

out of 5

Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey Icon

No ratings yet

Star iconStar iconStar iconStar iconStar icon

eg., What part of this podcast did you like? Ask a question to the host or other listeners...

Post

Generate a badge

Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode

Select type & size
Open dropdown icon
share badge image

<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/see-hear-200349/see-hear-podcast-episode-92-interview-with-tom-surgal-director-of-fire-20054167"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to see hear podcast episode 92 - interview with tom surgal, director of "fire music: the story of free jazz" on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>

Copy