I will be continuing my periodic visits on my Substack blog to Mr. Rogers neighborhood - no, not Fred, Shorty - and I thought I’d focus on one particular album to discuss the nature and structure of his big band arrangements which Ted Gioia describes this way in his seminal work on the subject of "West Coast Jazz, Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960":
“ … [Shorty’s] arrangements could swing without ostentation; his solos were executed with untroubled fluency; his compositions seemed to navigate the most difficult waters with a relaxed, comfortable flow that belied the often complex structures involved.”
Put another way, Ted associates this “swing without ostentation” with the concept of -“Sprezzatura” - “The ability to do difficult things with apparent ease.” [the concept is attributed to Baldassare Castiglione, count of Casatico, Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and prominent Renaissance author].
Since the Renaissance was a 15th and 16th century Italian reawakening that was partially based on the rediscovery of the cultural and artistic achievements of the ancients Greece and Rome, perhaps it’s appropriate to apply the following ancient Roman maxim to Shorty as it parallels sprezzatura”:
“Ars Est Celare Artem” - “The perfection of art is to conceal it.”
- Ovid, Roman poet; Proverbs 12:23
The feature will post to my Substack blog on March 17th and access is free to everyone. cerra.substack.com.
