Today's Jazz: May 19-20, 1961 @ New York “Filthy McNasty” by Horace Silver

May 19-20, 1961 “Filthy McNasty”
by Horace Silver, Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor & Roy Brooks at the Village Gate, NYC for Blue Note (Doin’ the Thing)

The first track from “Doin’ the Thing,” a live recording at the legendary New York jazz club, the Village Gate, by Mr. Funky himself, pianist Horace Silver’s quintet. It is an original composition by Horace.

When Horace introduces the song as “Filthy McNasty,” with the preamble that it is about a “pretty suspicious fictional young man,” the audience laughs. Looking into why, it seems that “Filthy” means dirty, and “McNasty” is a combination of “Mc” as a prefix meaning “son of” and “Nasty” meaning a bad person. Together, it means “the son of a dirty, nasty person.” The audience likely burst out laughing because the name rhymes and is quite catchy.

This performance, unusually for a live recording, includes the initial recording announcement and song introduction by Horace. The sense of being there is enhanced by the inclusion of the piano and bass tuning in the background.

While this is a common scene in jazz clubs, it is rare for such preambles to be included in recordings due to time constraints. This seems to be a production choice to let the listener experience the atmosphere as if they were one of the audience members at the Village Gate.

Starting with a youthful and energetic solo by trumpeter Blue Mitchell, followed by Junior Cook’s tenor performance, the gradual build-up through repeated gospel-style call-and-response is only possible in a live recording where you can see the faces of the audience. You can also fully enjoy Horace’s unique style, where his left and right hands converse like a pinball machine. In his solo, past the 7:50 mark, he begins to trace a suspicious melody that seems to have no clear landing point, but the equilibrium is maintained by the groove-keeping drums centered on Roy Brooks’ hi-hat—especially the sharp fill-in at 8:02—and Gene Taylor’s bass, which serves as a crucial, albeit subtle, anchor. This is a highlight worth listening to.

Jazz is a genre where live performances not only maintain the quality of studio recordings but, as in this case, sometimes even surpass them. That is why I think: let’s go to a jazz club. And when you go, don’t be stiff; enjoy yourself. As Horace says at the beginning (excerpted below), sway to the music, tap your feet, clap your hands, and help energize the performers.

“We'd like to have you all join in with us on this one, and help us find the groove, by patting your feet, or popping your fingers, or clapping your hands, or shaking your heads, or shaking whatever else you want to shake...”

There is no doubt that if the performers see the audience’s reaction, they will deliver an even more heated performance. Don’t be shy or reserved. If it’s okay to shout out in Kabuki, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be okay in jazz. The man’s perfectly timed “Yeah!” at 9:32 is exactly that. And when the performance ends, give them generous applause. This level of excitement from the very first track is typical of Mr. Funky. In the talk after the performance, he doesn’t hide his surprise at the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Jazz is not the kind of music you listen to quietly with your back straight, like classical music. In jazz, the audience can become part of the performance. The high quality of this recording proves that. This is something that relies on the audience and is a product that cannot be born in a studio.

I have encountered several situations at a certain famous jazz club in Tokyo where everyone was listening so quietly that the foreign performers looked puzzled, not knowing how to respond to an unresponsive audience. Even though they would normally get a great reaction back home, the response here was thin no matter what they tried.

In such cases, if you take the lead in livening up the quiet venue with loud applause or shouts, the artist’s expression will soften and the performance will become more passionate. Try it with courage. You don’t have to wait until the end of the song; just clapping after each soloist finishes is enough. Three seconds is half-hearted, so the key is to clap for at least five seconds without hesitation. If the performer bows or smiles, it’s a huge success. It is also important to start from the first half. Once the fire is lit, other audience members who were shy or reserved will usually follow suit, and the excitement will build from there. I hope you try it once.

By the way, the Village Gate, which closed after 38 years of operation, was located in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, and left behind many legendary jazz recordings.

Upon looking into it, I found that the building is treated as a historical site in Japan because of the anecdote that Bob Dylan’s masterpiece “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” which was included on the B-side of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” was written in the apartment of the club’s stage lighting technician who lived in the basement of this building. The sign is still preserved today, as shown in the photo above.

This lighting technician is Chip Monck, who later made a name for himself working on the Apollo Theater, the Monterey Pop Festival, the Woodstock Festival, and even the opening and closing ceremonies of the Los Angeles Olympics. I suppose top-tier talent attracts top-tier talent.

The uniqueness of this song becoming a standard lies in the wide variety of cover interpretations. First, let’s look at the jazz covers. The lyrics added later are full of the names of jazz musicians. Perhaps the lyrics were written to feature many names because the song title itself is a name.

Next is a bluesy live recording cover featuring blues harp by John Mayall, who also formed a band with the legendary Eric Clapton. This version also includes the applause and shouts from the audience when the melody plays.

Finally, there is an AOR-style cover by Steve Miller, who led the Steve Miller Band and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The ability of this music to spread from jazz to other genres is surely due to the sheer power of the original live performance.

Lastly, please enjoy a live recording where the audience’s voices are a bit noisy.

(Added on April 30, 2024)
When I went into the “My Basket” supermarket just after noon, this song was playing as background music, all the way to the final applause. It’s quite a chic selection, and I felt once again that it really suits this season.