Hitting That Long Mental Note

For Hugh Ragin, the mind is a terrible thing to waste on narrow conceptions of jazz.

A A A Comments By Thomas Peake Thursday, Dec 9 1999

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With his good-natured modesty shining through, Ragin's reputation on the national jazz scene is another thing that he doesn't appear to be overly concerned with. He's quite happy with his current position, which he describes "a pure joy." And Ragin is finding even more territory to explore. He's been commissioned to write an electronic piece, for Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening Band, to premiere at Lincoln Center in New York in August. He'll also lead a trumpet workshop in Paris next spring and his own group will tour Europe in the summertime.

Ragin is based in jazz's past as surely as Wynton Marsalis's Thick in the South. But he's no more bound by it than the freethinking Miles Davis. "I'm very rooted in the tradition, even though I like to branch. That's that fundamental I'm talking about. That tradition is the beginning, that one note that Cat Anderson was talking about," says Ragin, again pointing to his temple.

Sean Hartgrove

Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy: Denver trumpeter Hugh Ragin uses his head.

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"The trumpet is just an amplifier," he continues, "because, really, the music's here, and it's this connection that it's really all about."

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