Jay Anderson – Bass
Anderson received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach in 1978, then worked with Woody Herman (1978-1979), Carmen McRae (1979-1981), and a quartet led by Ira Sullivan and Red Rodney (1981-1986). Anderson remained with Rodney through 1992, also working with Michael Brecker, during this time, and played with Toots Thielmans and Joe sample for much of the 1990s. As a sideman, he played with Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Aliane Elias, Toshiko Akioshi, Bennie Wallace, Brian Lynch, Bob Belden, Warren Bernhardt, Joey Calderazzo, Dave Stryker, Mike Stern, Chala Khan, Terumasa Hino, Michel Legrand, Tiger Okoshi, Lynne Arriale, Bob Mintzer, George Cables, Paul Bley, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Dr. john, Rich Perry, Vic Juris and Lee Konitz. He was a professor at Manhattan School Of Music.
Listening to this track, it is easy to see why Anderson has been Maria Schneider’s go to bass player for much of her career. His sound is so layered and fits beautifully in Schneider’s tone palette. This is the version of ‘Walking By Flashlight’ that opens the 2015 Schneider album, ‘The Thompson Fields’. I love the stillness this performance. I also love the version they did on Schneider’s 2013 album with Dawn Upshaw called ‘Winter Morning Walks’. The lyrics are profoundly memorable to me. The poet who wrote them
Walking by flashlight
at six in the morning,
my circle of light on the gravel
swinging side to side,
coyote, raccoon, field mouse, sparrow,
each watching from darkness
this man with the moon on a leash.
The poem takes on a deeper meaning when you hear the author, Ted Kooser, explain it;’
‘In the autumn of 1998, during my recovery from surgery and radiation for cancer, I began taking a two-mile walk each morning. I’d been told by my radiation oncologist to stay out of the sun for a year because of skin sensitivity, so I exercised before dawn, hiking the isolated country roads near where I live, sometimes with my wife but most often alone. During the previous summer, depressed by my illness, preoccupied by the routines of my treatment, and feeling miserably sorry for myself, I’d all but given up on reading and writing. Then, as autumn began to fade and winter came on, my health began to improve. One morning in November, following my walk, I surprised myself by trying my hand at a poem. Soon I was writing everyday’.
The Thompson Fields version has no lyrics and is simply the Maria Schneider Orchestra performance without the vocal (Winter Morning Walks is a full orchestra with Upshaw’s operatic voice). There is no YouTube video of this as Schneider is hostile towards many social media platforms but there is a Spotify version attached. It’s an easy read really although there are a couple of tense moments. The slow tempo helps.