For years Mose Allison has answered questions about the noises he makes during his piano solos. They aren’t the kinds of sounds you’ll hear during a professional tennis match—instead of a singular, macho grunt is an entire sequence of utterances; many are of the “uh-uh-uh” variety. In a 2010 interview with NPR, Allison identified Erroll Garner and Glenn Gould as fellow culprits. Those familiar with Keith Jarrett know that he also makes noises with his mouth while he is improvising. In keeping with the gentle spirit of online dialogue, assorted blog posts and comments identify a great number of people who are not, to put it mildly, big fans of Jarrett’s vocalizations.
It would be unfair to characterize any of the pianists listed above as “noise makers”, especially Mose Allison, whose early recordings feature a voice as cool and rhythmic as a paper airplane carried by the breeze.
Is it a coincidence that Allison, Jarrett and Garner are/were jazz pianists? Unlike horn players, pianists don’t have the immediate connection between the mouth and the instrument, and I wonder if vocalizing is the most direct and natural way of expressing a musical idea. With the vocal chords, there is no intermediary. You’re not dependent on the hands—those unpredictable ambassadors of the brain. What I find interesting is the artist’s choice to include the sounds as part of the recording, when today’s software-based alchemy could easily dispense with them. I don’t know if it’s a rejoinder to technology, or a way of reminding audiences and listeners that the sounds, however off-putting, are just as essential as the notes which accompany them.
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