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Paul Combs: Dameronia: The Life and Times of Tadd Dameron
Dameronia: The Life and Times of Tadd Dameron Paul Combs
264 Pages
ISBN: # 978-0-472-03563-2
The University of Michigan Press
2013
"There is enough ugliness in this world; I'm interested in beauty."—Tadd Dameron
"Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay. " —Robert Frost
Composer, arranger, and pianist
Tadd Dameron
piano1917 - 1965
Harlan Leonard
clarinet1905 - 1983
Jimmie Lunceford
composer / conductor1902 - 1947
Billy Eckstine
vocals1914 - 1993
Tommy Dorsey
trombone1905 - 1956
Artie Shaw
clarinet1910 - 2004
Ted Heath
b.1900
Sarah Vaughan
vocals1924 - 1990
Carmen McRae
vocals1920 - 1994
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
Fats Navarro
trumpet1923 - 1950
Charlie Rouse
saxophone, tenor1924 - 1988
Benny Golson
saxophone, tenor1929 - 2024
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Chet Baker
trumpet and vocals1929 - 1988
Benny Golson
saxophone, tenor1929 - 2024
Philly Joe Jones
drums1923 - 1985
Milt Jackson
vibraphone1923 - 1999
Don Sickler
trumpetb.1944
Barry Harris
piano1929 - 2021
Recently, after 25 years of devoted work gathering information and pondering his subject's nature, and encouraged in his efforts by Dameron's friends, especially Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Golson, musician and educator Paul Combs has published Dameron's definitive biography. (An earlier biography by Ian McDonald:Tadd, the Life and Legacy of Tadley Ewing Dameron (Jahbero Press, 1998) was a good start, but less comprehensive, especially with regard to musical analysis.). Paul Reyes' review of Comb's excellent book in Jazz Times provides a rich summation, which need not be repeated here.
Suffice it to say that, because Dameron was a very private figure, Combs had to "comb" multitudes of documents, recordings, and conversations to develop a full picture of the man and his music. Over time, many of Dameron's compositions, arrangements, and details of his life were lost. Therefore, the author's meticulous efforts give the impression of putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but in the end a portrait of the man and his music emerges clearly.
Combs takes pains to fill the gaps with careful inferences, never overstepping his bounds as biographer. He provides numerous and detailed analyses of Dameron's music, in itself a major contribution to jazz. Musicians and scholars will learn much from these studies, which provide insights into what Dameron accomplished musically, much of which was far-reaching and ahead of his time. (Any serious composer/arranger should investigate these analyses, which, thanks to Combs' acumen, illuminate the subtleties of their craft.)
Jazz aficionados and the general public may have to struggle with some of the advanced musical material contained in the book, but it is well worth doing so, for the author has not only fleshed out the details of Dameron's musical aesthetic. He has also reconstructed the true dimensions of the life and work of an African American musician over the course of epochal changes in our society: the Great Depression, World War II, the "American Dream" fifties, and the revolutionary sixties. The story is about a man who expressed beauty and spirit during times when blacks were shamed by segregation and prejudice. Dameron should be included in the company of Marian Anderson,
Billie Holiday
vocals1915 - 1959
Louis Armstrong
trumpet and vocals1901 - 1971
Dexter Gordon
saxophone, tenor1923 - 1990
Clifford Brown
trumpetb.1930
Rather than repeating the biographical story line that Combs provides so well, it would be more useful to focus on three important issues that are emphasized in the book: Dameron's "mysterious" personality, his skill as a composer/arranger, and his role in the transition from swing to bebop and hard bop.
The "Mystery Man" Unmasked
Combs depicts Dameron's persona as "mysterious," on the basis that he rarely disclosed personal matters to his friends and fellow musicians. Combs digs deeper into the personal life of Dameron than any previous writer. He finds many gaps and unknown factors in the story. As a result, he claims that Dameron was a "mysterious" figure and "secretive almost to the point of paranoia." Moreover, according to Combs, "He [Dameron] didn't seem to write many letters and he didn't keep a journal or a diary." However, in this reviewer's opinion, calling Dameron "mysterious" doesn't bear up under scrutiny. "Mysterious" implies a cultivated attempt to convey a mythic self- image, aloof, inscrutable. Dameron did lie on a few occasions, such as telling an interviewer that he went to medical school (which he did not), and fictitiously describing a bird that he saw in Africa as the basis for a song he composed. But who doesn't lie occasionally, and jazz musicians in general are known to confabulate information, often with mischievous intent. According to Combs' own reckoning, people usually remembered Dameron as an affable person, ready to mentor and teach, devoted to his work, accessible to comrades and even strangers. There is little evidence that he concealed aspects of his life to create a persona, as was the case with, say, Duke Ellington, who privately was far from the upright gentleman he presented to the world, or that he went out of his way to perpetuate grand images of himself, as did Miles Davis with his attire and sports cars. Combs provides few if any instances where Dameron tried to create an inscrutable image or conceal facts about himself. He surely was not a mystery man.
What Combs describes as "mysterious" can perhaps better be described as "introverted" or "self-effacing." It appears that from an early age, as Dameron became aware of his musical gifts, he felt a need to avoid special attention. This seemed especially true in relation to his brother, Caesar, also a musician. For much of his career, Dameron, even while being the innovator, worked mainly for others. He did the composing, arranging, rehearsing, accompanying, mentoring, and sometimes conducting for more famous band leaders who employed him. He never put together his own touring band. Only later did he form his own groups, which quickly disbanded after projects were completed. If our destinies are determined by ourselves, not our stars, fame eluded Dameron because he arranged it that way. He avoided the limelight because it did not match his deeper striving, which was to create beauty in music and because he was a giver rather than a self-seeker. It could be added that his heroin addiction caused him to withdraw socially as well. There's no mystery about this.
A Ground-Breaking Composer and Arranger
Combs fully documents and elaborates Dameron's gifts as a composer and arranger. (Many know of Dameron's brilliance in these respects, but his art form wasn't systematically described until Combs.) Dameron invented nuances of writing jazz, transforming basic ideas. He adjusted chord progressions to increase their interest and expressive capabilities. He conceived melodic lines that avoided clichés. He structured the relationship between sections and soloists in original ways that enhanced the trajectory of the piece and flattered the instrumentalists. In addition to Combs' book, one way to really get the scope of what Dameron accomplished is simply to listen to his recordings with a fresh perspective and attention, as if hearing them for the first time. His sonorities are simultaneously parsimonious and lush. The clarity of the presentation is almost startling. The voicing and harmonies are compact and uncluttered. In a brief correspondence with Combs, this reviewer reflected that the book ought to have a "sound track." To that end, Combs' preface does supply a list of key recordings, some of which could accompany the reading.
A Pioneer in Bebop and Modern Jazz
The question of who "invented" bebop is frequently asked, and it is unanswerable. Jazz is a communal effort, and it's never been clear who invented the musical vocabulary of the bebop idiom, which eventually congealed in the work of Parker and Gilespie. Dameron played a significant role. He was using bebop types of harmonies in the early 1940s, and he worked and had conversations with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and others in the mid- to late-'40s, when bebop was formally conceived. Around that time, he and Miles Davis formed a group that went to Paris, and many of the proponents of modern jazz were using him as a pianist and arranger.
It is incontrovertible that Dameron laid much of the groundwork for bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. Combs carefully documents Dameron's innovations and the frequency with which others like Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, and many others used his tunes, arrangements, and piano accompaniment on their recordings and live gigs. Dameron had an instinct for taking a group of four to eight or nine players and giving them just what they needed to shine. This was a crucial skill when the big bands dissolved and the smaller groups needed the sophistication and subtlety he could offer. Any mainstream group today owes much of its operating function to Dameron.
Another key role which Dameron played in the evolution of the modern idioms was to provide a balancing center for the new developments, which were rife with experiments and musical cul-de- sacs. He was often the one who would bring the music back to the basics of melody, harmony, sonority, and self-expression. Dexter Gordon referred to him as the "romantic" of the beboppers. That didn't mean so much that he was sentimental as that he embodied an idea of beauty that acted as a rudder in the stormy seas of the creative process. For example, he went against the prevailing tendency to get a group of musicians into a studio and do a recording without any rehearsal. He meticulously rehearsed bands, and musicians marveled about the ways in which his guidance enhanced the outcome. He went "modern" without sacrificing the virtues of the swing era, such as rhythmic accuracy, melodic emphasis, and a balance between ensemble work and solos. He carefully worked out his harmonies, voicings, and structures to create a coherent composition from beginning to end. He set the stage for the Birth of the Cool sessions and subsequent work of Gil Evans, who became his good friend. The big band work of
Gerry Mulligan
saxophone, baritone1927 - 1996
Bob Brookmeyer
trombone1929 - 2011
Maria Schneider
composer / conductorCombs' biography leaves no doubt that Dameron was not just a prodigious talent who appeared on the scene for a while, was revered, and vanished into thin air. Rather, he was a true jazz master who belongs in the pantheon of those who shaped the music. In one sense, the musical gold he created was the "hardest hue to hold," but in another respect, his legacy lives on in many aspects of jazz today and, very likely, in the future. In Combs, Dameron has found a biographer who has portrayed him in his human dimensions and shortcomings but has also lifted him out of time and given him his proper due as a musician for the ages.
Tags
Tadd Dameron
Book Reviews
Victor L. Schermer
United States
Harlan Leonard
Jimmie Lunceford
Billy Eckstine
Tommy Dorsey
Artie Shaw
Ted Heath
Sarah Vaughan
Carmen McRae
Dizzy Gillespie
Miles Davis
Charlie Parker
Fats Navarro
Charlie Rouse
benny golson
John Coltrane
Chet Baker
Philly Joe Jones
Milt Jackson
Don Sickler
Barry Harris
Billie Holiday
Louis Armstrong
Dexter Gordon
Clifford Brown
Gerry Mulligan
Bob Brookmeyer
Maria Schneider
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