Becoming a musician is an organic process, a matter of natural growth over one's lifetime. If you love the process, you keep doing it. If you keep doing it, you keep getting better at it. The fact is, I love the challenge of trying to play some little tune better, the challenge of hearing music and understanding what I hear better, the challenge of making little black dots on a piece of paper blossom into sound.

I love to compose music that is both sophisticated and accessible, music that I put in front of a good player and that person can do great things with it almost without effort. The key for me, when it comes to what makes something musical and attractive, is interactivity and communication. I hope my music is able to demonstrate my moods and feelings, and I hope it inspires people to experience their own moods and feelings.

Hi Fly

In September Whaling City Sound released John's new recording Hi Fly. It contains 5 of John's swinging and sophisticated compositions, plus imaginative re-conceptions of 5 standard tunes. Hi Fly is a follow-up to 2010's successful quartet CDRaising The Roof. Along with John's graceful guitar, the album features virtuosic contributions from Jake Sherman on piano and Hammond organ; John Lockwood on bass; and Zé Eduardo Nazario on drums.


We will be doing several CD Release Concerts: Ryles Jazz Club,Saturday, November 12 at 9 pm, 212 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA, 617-876-9330; Wamsutta Club, Friday, November 18 at 8 pm, 427 County Street, New Bedford, MA, 508-992-6613. And on Wednesday, November 16, from noon to 1 pm we will perform at theBrown Bag Concert Series,Mechanics Hall, 321 Main Street, Worcester, MA. It will be broadcast live on WICN radio, 90.5fm. Click on the Hi Fly link to check the new recording out!

With his breakthrough 2007 debut, Eyes Wide Open, vocalist/composer/arranger Sachal Vasandani established himself as one of the most promising voices in modern jazz. A 2010 DownBeat “Rising Star” poll winner, Vasandani presented his distinctive blend of jazz and pop with the critically acclaimed release, We Move in 2009.

Vasandani’s third Mack Avenue release, Hi-Fly, confirms the high praise showered on its two predecessors and proves the singer is one of the freshest, most versatile artists to emerge onto the scene in recent memory. Produced by renowned Grammy® award winning bassist John Clayton and Grammy nominated Mack Avenue EVP of A&R Al Pryor, both long-time supporters, Hi-Fly is an exciting mix of standards, originals and pop covers showcasing Vasandani’s ability to filter a wide range of material through his highly individual vision.

Where We Move was characterized by a sense of introspection and longing, Hi-Fly finds Vasandani in upbeat form. “On this record I wanted to share some of the joy of singing this music,” Vasandani says. “I worked through the turbulence that inspired the last record and just tried to have fun. I was thinking less about drawing the listener into my heart and more about celebrating.”

Nowhere is that celebratory spirit more pronounced than on “One Mint Julep,” on which Vasandani is joined by the legendary Jon Hendricks, one of the originators of vocalese and a godfather of jazz vocals, whose presence is a ringing endorsement of the younger singer. Hendricks also returns on the title track, a Randy Weston composition for which he penned the lyrics.

It seems impossible to imagine anyone listening to the rollicking “One Mint Julep” without a smile on their face, from the obvious joy of the duo’s romp through the gleefully antiquated lyric to their playful vocalese back-and-forth.
From: http://www.exit0jazzfest.com/lineup/#14/1/

Randy Weston: Hi-Fly, Little Niles and Africa

More observant listeners are impressed with Randy’s strong, virile attack, his steady beat and his melodic imagination; both in improvising and composing he seemed to show the influence of Thelonious Monk.

- Leonard Feather, Jazz author and critic

“I expect that in the decade and more ahead, Randy will become as recognized for his compositions as for his playing.”

- Nat Hentoff, Jazz author and critic, writing in 1957

Weston's '50s recordings for Riverside (expertly supported by Cecil Payne), Dawn, Jubilee, Metro, and United Artists are among the most charmingly anomalous in the postbop era. His penchant for triple time, pentatonic melodies, and a shrewdly rhythmic piano attack, heavy on bass, was established before he went to Africa and developed further during the course of two tours of Lagos, Nigeria, in 1961 and 1963, and a 1966 state department visit to fourteen African countries. By 1969, he had settled in Morocco, living in Rabat and Tangier, where he operated the African Rhythms Club.

- Gary Giddins, Jazz author and critic

“You can have it. It’s not music that’s going to get any air time on my show.”

The speaker was a family friend who hosted a very successful AM radio program that primarily featured the music of popular singers like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Vic Damone, Rosemary Clooney or Patti Page; singers who sang the commercial hits of the day as arranged by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Henry Mancini and a whole host of other, orchestrators.

Given the sterling reputation of his radio show, many distributors sent him sample copies of long-playing records, today known as “vinyl,” many of which contained music that was superfluous to his program.

His offer of a gift had to do with an LP that I was holding in my hands with music by the Randy Weston Trio and the Lem Winchester Quartet that was recorded one afternoon [July 5^th] during the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.

Entitled New Faces at Newport,  the album was on the obscure Metro Jazz label [E1005].

I had no idea who [pianist] Weston or [vibraphonist] Winchester were, but hey, free is free, especially at a time in my life when popping $5 bucks for a Jazz record was still a lot of money.

I was familiar with the rhythm section of Ray Santisi on piano, John Neves on bass and Jimmy Zitano who accompanied Winchester from a Herb Pomeroy’s Boston-based big band LP that I had in my “collection” so I first played Lem’s side of the LP leaving the tracks by Weston for a later listen.

The time allotted to the four tracks by Randy on this album is largely taken up by a long drum solo by G.T. Hogan on an “excerpt” from Weston’s Bantu Suite. I didn’t find the remainder of that suite until many years later, but the title was a portent of things to come as Randy was to become a major exponent and interpreter of African music for much of his later career.

When I did get around to a close listening of the other tracks by Randy Weston on that Metro Jazz LP, what struck me – to the point of fascination – was Randy’s original composition Hi-Fly. Melodically, it is little more than a ditty based on a repetition of fifths, but I found myself whistling or humming it for days.

I was also taken by Weston’s minimalist approach to piano playing. He seemed to frame the tune with thoughtful improvisations much like Jimmy Rowles or Duke Jordan or John Lewis, but his style was somehow very distinctive.

As Dick Katz describes it in his essay on Jazz pianists from the 1940’s and 1950’s in Bill Kirchner, ed., The Oxford Companion to Jazz:

“Like Thelonious Monk’s, Randy Weston’s piano style defies outright imitation. He takes elements of Monk, Ellington, and a little Bud Powell, and ingeniously melds them with aspects of his own intense interest in African cultures, particularly those of Morocco, Tangier and Nigeria. His compositions, like Monk’s, are intrinsically bound to his playing style. In addition to many waltzes, his Little Niles, Hi-Fly and African Cookbook are justly well-known.”

Read more: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com.br

Stein and band take flight on Hi Fly

You begin to get some sense of what you're in for on John Stein's vibrant new CD without even putting it into the player. Take a peek first at the back cover. There is the guitarist, in a partially illustrated photograph, an intent look on his face, only this time a graphic treatment shades his guitar and fret hand with bright stripes of color. I'd say this was a symbol and a pretty obvious one at that.

In musical terms, Stein has taken what has already been considered a wide spectrum of sound, and brightened it. His palette now includes the prismatic hues of jazz itself.

So, why all the new colors? Well, for one, Stein is truly coming into his own as a player. He and his band, including bassist John Lockwood and drummer Zé Eduardo Nazario are, after a handful of recordings together, fully in step. And now, the band has welcomed young keyboard player Jake Sherman, an inventive and creative spirit, fresh from Berklee, who adds his own keystrokes to these arrangements. Sherman's presence infuses the band's arrangements with energy and dimension.

Another reason the recording feels more colorful is that Stein, as a player, has pushed himself out of his comfort zone. As his colleagues nudge him forward, fleshing out these arrangements into something unexpectedly lovely, Stein propels himself to lead the way, to stay in front. His innovative soloing and tasteful, rhythmic chords hold up well against the band's immense efforts.

It is the sign of a leader who is up to the task of fronting an accomplished band. "The main thing," says Stein in the liner notes to the album, "is the collaborative spirit in this record Š The guys contributed a lot of musical ideas Š Their instrumental virtuosity was challenging and I really stretched to keep up."

"Hi Fly," Stein's third recording with Lockwood and Nazario, is a true achievement, with many bright moments. "Sea Smoke" showcases Nazario's swing, "Plum Stone" is tailor-made for Sherman's Hammond organ, and Lockwood steps up and out on "Love Letters" and on "Threesome." Throughout the recording, beautifully captured by engineer Peter Kontrimas, the musicians seize on great opportunities to soar, and in doing so, display an intense, kaleidoscopic view of a talented and exciting band. 

If there was ever a jazz guitarist who took the saying "Less is more" to

heart, and used that philosophy to create intellectually engaging and

enjoyable music, it's John Stein...

~ Dr. Matt Warnock / Just Jazz Guitar

John Stein and Ron Gill's "Turn Up the Quiet" is an exceptional exercise in hushed,

reverential craftsmanship. Gill's vocal style strongly suggests the

latter-career Me! Torme, with near-equally intense echoes of Jackie 

~ Jazz Times

Paris and Tony Bennett...

Introducing Linda Lawson

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Television split a lot of jazz personalities in the 1950s. Dozens of jazz musicians arranged and played in the orchestras of live TV shows in New York and Los Angeles. Some singers who could have been jazz or pop recording artists wound up being actors. One of those was Linda Lawson.

Lawson made only two known album recordings. The first was for Verve in September 1957, on an LP that featured other vocalists called Songs for Your Boyfriend, arranged by Henry Mancini. The second in 1959 was Introducing Linda Lawson for Chancellor Records, a Philadelphia label with a Hollywood presence thanks to Am-Par, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Co. And there's your TV tie-in.

What makes the 12 tracks on this recording stand out—in addition to Lawson's fine, saloon voice—are the arrangements by Marty Paich. In fact, let me introduce the amazing West Coast band on the date...

Al Porcino, Stu Williamson and Jack Sheldon (tp); Frank Rosolino (tb); Bud Shank (as); Bill Perkins (ts); Med Flory (bar); Jimmy Rowles (p); Bill Pittman (g); Joe Mondragon (b); Mel Lewis (d); and the Hollywood String Ensemble.

The chosen songs are a perfect fit for Lawson and show off her heart and chops: Are You With Me, Where Flamingos Fly, But Beautiful, Me and My Shadow, You Don't Know What Love Is, Easy to Love, Meaning of the Blues, Mood Indigo, Like Young, Hi Lilli Hi Lo, Make the Man Love Me and Up Pops Love.

Paich [pictured above] alternates between an 11-piece band and strings, depending on the mood. And the results are gorgeous. The band tracks have a smart snap and the strings will remind you of his arrangements for Chet Baker and Strings in 1953.

I don't know if Lawson is still on the scene. According to the Internet Movie Database, she was born on January 14, 1936 and her most recent television appearance was in 2005 as Aunt Eileen on ER. If so, I hope she'll reach out and contact me by email.

JazzWax note: A big thanks to Todd Selbert, author of The Art Pepper Companion: Writings on a Jazz Original here. Todd tells me that Art Pepper is the uncredited alto saxophonist on Where Flamingos Fly (solo), You Don't Know What Love Is(obbligato and coda) andMeaning of the Blues(obbligato, interlude & coda). Paich favored Pepper on all sessions, but the saxophonist coulnd't make it on one of the dates and Bud Shank was brought in for the other tracks.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Introducing Linda Lawson as a download at iTunes and Amazonhere.

JazzWax clip: Here's Linda Lawson singing Easy to Love, with a muted trumpet solo by Jack Sheldon, baritone sax run by Med Flory and tenor sax quip by Bill Perkins...

Easy To Love

JazzWax video: Yesterday I did a little digging. Here'sLinda Lawson on TV singing Meaning of the Blues in "Lynn's Blues," a 1958 episode of Peter Gunn...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley Revisited

By John Birchard
It could have been 1962. On Saturday evening at Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, a quintet of musicians from the Smithsonian Jazz Master Works Orchestra presented Portrait of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. The band was headed by the orchestra's lead alto player, Charlie Young, who served as master of ceremonies. Trumpeter Tom Williams played Nat Adderley's parts. The rhythm section was pianist Bob Butta, bassist James King and drummer Ken Kimery.

The program concentrated on Adderley's years at Riverside Records, with which he signed following his stint with Miles Davis, and specifically on 1959 through 1961. The transcribed arrangements came from five LPs ... In San Francisco, Them Dirty Blues, ...At the Lighthouse, ...Quintet Plus and Know What I Mean? The quintet played them as faithful recreations of the charts, but with the present-day musicians' own solos.

This correspondent was a jazz disc jockey during the years in question. I recall the anticipation with which I greeted each new Cannonball Adderley LP. The performances at Baird generated a good measure of the same excitement. Hearing those arrangements again brought back happy memories of the Adderley band. One can argue whether nostalgia is the role jazz should play, but it satisfied the near-capacity crowd of gray-hairs who were no doubt around for the original performances.

The tour of memory lane began with Bobby Timmons's "This Here", the familiar piano intro in ¾ time leading into the equally familiar alto-trumpet blend on the melody. Charlie Young recaptured Julian's overall sound and earthy quality on this and every tune (with one exception) during the evening. The Randy Weston composition "Hi-Fly" came next, followed by Cannonball's own "You Got It", the quintet taking the intricate chart at a blistering tempo. Nat Adderley's popular "Work Song" prompted cheers and applause for the crisp rhythm section work, especially Kimery's drumming. The first half of the concert closed with Adderley bassist Sam Jones's "Del Sasser."

Following intermission, there was a second Bobby Timmons tune - "Dat Dere." Then the quintet explored a couple of pieces from Victor Feldman's time with Adderley, first "Lisa" (from the 1961 recording The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Plus). "Azul Serape" followed. Both incorporated Latin passages enhancing the tunes' attractiveness. From Cannonball's LP Know What I Mean? featuring pianist Bill Evans, Charlie Young played the melancholy Gordon Jenkins' melody "Goodbye." That's when he departed from homage to Cannonball. Young has spent time with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and it's clear that he has listened closely to the great Johnny Hodges. His approach to the old Benny Goodman closing theme was more Hodges than Adderley. Never mind; it was effective, moving ballad playing.

The evening of rhythmic recollection came to a brisk close with the quintet playing Vic Feldman's "Exodus", not to be confused with the movie theme. All the qualities the SJMO quintet brought to the Adderley charts were in evidence - tight, well-rehearsed ensembles, spirited solos and an enthusiasm for the well-crafted compositions and arrangements made famous by the Tampa Cannonball. If this be nostalgia, our vote's in favor. Later in the year, Freddie Hubbard will be remembered in similar fashion by the Smithsonian gang.
http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2009/10/a_tribute_to_cannonball.html

Tom Brantley - Boneyard

By Bill Milkowski
Trombonist Brantley shifts nimbly from an organ-fueled shuffle-blues version of Duke’s “In A Mellow Tone” to Saint-Saens’ classical “Adagio” delivered as a jazz ballad to a wacky rendition of Bird’s “Confirmation” done as a second line groover. A Carl Fontana influence is apparent on his stunning duet with guitarist LaRue Nickelson on “Stardust.” He also engages Keith Oshiro in a spirited two-trombone romp through Randy Weston’s “Hi Fly.” Jerald Shynett offers some fine contrapuntal writing for five trombones on his lyrical “Exemption.”
http://jazztimes.com/articles/25422-boneyard-tom-brantley

Ted Gioia on 'Jazz Standards'

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Jazz writer and scholar Ted Gioia makes book-writing look easy, which, of course, makes life a little harder for the rest of us scribes. An insightful, clean writer, Ted tackles tough jazz subjects and develops a narrative that's easy to follow, telling the book's story in a highly informative and engaging style. You probaly know Ted best as the author of West Coast Jazz (1998) and Delta Blues(2009), but he also has written The History of Jazz (1998), The Birth (and Death) of the Cool (2009) and quite a few others.

Ted's latest is The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire(Oxford), a handy reference guide to 252 songs and the stories behind them. As with all of Ted's books, this one will surely be on home shelves long after others are gone.

In an interview with Ted, 54, we talked about the criteria for a jazz standard and why so few songs written today fit into this category...

JazzWax: So what’s the difference between a jazz standard and a Great American Songbook standard?
Ted Gioia: Songbook standards refer to the best popular songs from the Golden Age of American songwriting, which started in the 1920s and ran out of steam the late 1950s and early 1960s. While many of these songs are jazz standards and are in my book, jazz musicians also draw on other compositions, some of them little-known by the general public. These might include obscure soundtrack themes such asInvitation, traditional pieces like Tiger Rag, or original compositions by jazz artists such as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. No book has covered this core repertoire in its entirety—essentially the songs working jazz musicians need to know and fans ought to learn. I wanted to fill the gap. [Photo above: New York's Tin Pan Alley]


JW: What criteria did you use for the songs in your book?
TG: I ended up choosing and writing on 252 compositions. But to decide which ones to include, I started by looking at those that had been recorded most often by jazz players. But I soon realized that many of those pieces have fallen out of favor in recent years. Tunes like The Sheik of Araby and Some of These Days. So I couldn’t rely on a simple numeric ranking based on objective criteria

JW: What did you do?
TG: I needed to make some subjective judgments about which songs are cornerstones of the jazz repertoire today. I’m sure there will be debate and controversy about what I included or excluded—those conversations are part of the fun of a project like this. But I expect general agreement about the vast majority of the music discussed in my work.


JW: Some biggies seem to be absent—like Killer Joe, Blues March, Along Came Betty, Hi-Fly, Four and What a Difference a Day Made. Was this a conscious decision?
TG: I focused on songs that you're likely to hear today at a jazz club—or might be asked to perform on the bandstand if you are a musician. These aren’t always bestselling jazz songs, or the most popular among fans, or even the most respected by critics. Sometimes a jazz song can earn a gold record, but not be performed frequently enough by later name artists to become a standard.

JW: For example?
TG: Songs like The In Crowd, Mercy Mercy Mercy and Cast Your Fate to the Wind. On the other hand, songs such as Lush Life or Blue Bossa might never show up on the Billboardcharts but are performed again and again by jazz artists. 


JW: What is the newest jazz standard in your book?
TG: I haven’t done a chronological sorting, but you raise an important question. I am dismayed at how little the standard repertoire has changed since the 1970s. Some jazz artists today are trying to broaden the standard repertoire—by performing works by Kurt Cobain or Radiohead or Michael Jackson or other more contemporary figures. But none of these newer songs are performed frequently enough to justify inclusion alongside Summertime and I Got Rhythm.

JW: Does this trend worry you?
TG: I hope this state of affairs changes. I would welcome a more expansive attitude toward the standard repertoire, and I'd be quite happy to revise my book at some future date because newer songs were getting covered as often as the older tunes. I worry about the stagnation of the repertoire. I even considered including an appendix on songs that should be jazz standards, but aren’t—but that would have opened a different can of worms.


JW: If you were to rank your choices, which would be your list of 10 most potent and influential jazz standards—in order?
TG: You could debate this endlessly, but here are 10 milestone works that have continued to provide a benchmark for jazz improvisers over several generations:

• I Got Rhythm
• Body and Soul
• St. Louis Blues
• All the Things You Are
• Round Midnight
• How High the Moon
• Caravan
• Take the A Train
• Star Dust
• My Funny Valentine

Yet even here, you can see some changes in attitude over the years.


JW: How so?
TG: When I was first learning to play jazz piano, Caravanwould not have made the list. It was considered more a bit of musical exoticism than a core standard. But this song is very well suited to the modal phrasing and stylistic preferences of the current day, so it now takes center stage at many gigs. Star Dust, in contrast, might eventually fall off my top-10 list—even though it is one of the most popular jazz songs ever recorded. It doesn’t adapt quite so well to modern conceptions of improvising.


JW: Which jazz standard has the most intriguing back-story?
TG: Probably Body and Soul. Today we treat this song as the ultimate sax ballad, the measuring rod by which an improviser is judged. But it almost failed to become a standard. The singer who commissioned it originally never even bothered to record it. The middle section of the song was a reject—turned down by bandleader Guy Lombardo when composer Johnny Green tried to give it to him. The lyricists were unhappy with the words and continued to tinker with them even after the song was copyrighted. Even the name of the tune caused problems.

JW: How so?
TG: At the time, NBC refused to announce the title over the airwaves since they deemed the word “body” too explicit. The fact that Body and Soul overcame all these obstacles is largely due to one man—Coleman Hawkins. But even he was surprised when his record became a big hit in 1939. “I don’t understand why or how,” was his later comment.


JW: What is the secret recipe for a timeless jazz standard?
TG: Jazz musicians favor songs that are good vehicles for improvisation. Often this is due to an interesting twist in the chord changes or some other factor that the general public probably wouldn’t even notice. Take All the Things You Are, for example. To the average set of ears, the first eight bars of the song sound the same as the next eight bars. But there is actually a modulation that brings the melody down a fourth. This is quite unconventional, and improvisers dig it. But the average listener wouldn’t even hear it.


JW: Why do jazz musicians keep playing it?
TG: Shortly before saxophonist Bud Shank [pictured] died in 2009, he told me he still felt he hadn’t yet exhausted all of the possibilities in All the Things You Are. He was 82-years-old at the time and had been playing the song for more than a half-century. For him—and for many jazz musicians—a piece of this sort isn’t just a song. It’s a set of possibilities. It’s an invitation to explore. Those qualities are what establish a song as a jazz standard. Not what the song is, but what it can become in the hands of a creative improviser.

JW: Is this recipe still valid today?
TG: Clearly it’s getting harder to apply this recipe. There’s a growing chasm between popular music and the jazz sensibility. The harmonic underpinnings of popular music today are getting simpler and simpler. The melodies are getting squeezed into a narrower range, with fewer chromatic notes and more predictable phrasing. But most jazz musicians want songs that have interesting chord changes or some clever hook in their construction. This divergence makes it difficult for a current-day song to move from the Billboard charts to the jazz bandstand. 


JW: But jazz musicians can’t merely play the same standards over and over again.
TG: That’s true. Jazz needs to maintain a vibrant dialogue with the popular music of the current day if it hopes to remain vital and not turn into a museum piece. Artists such as Robert Glasper [pictured] and Esperanza Spalding are trying to forge this kind of dialogue, but sometimes it feels as if the jazz side of the equation has been sold out in the process.  Even so, efforts of this sort are, I believe, essential for the long-term health of the art form. 


JW: Why do these older jazz standards continue to intrigue jazz buyers?
TG: The standard jazz repertoire continues to have a large audience in the jazz world and even among aging rock and pop stars. Paul McCartney [pictured] is the latest. And even young pop icons line up to record the old songs alongside Tony Bennett. His last album [Duets II] found him revisiting standards in tandem with Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood, John Mayer and other performers who aren’t even half his age.

JW: Cabaret is another big market for jazz standards, yes?
TG: Absolutely. You also hear them turn up in movie soundtracks, as background to commercials, in video games and other likely and unlikely places. I give many examples in my book. 


JW: So, is it still possible to write a jazz standard today?
TG: I listen to new music every day and hear many promising songs. But it’s harder than ever for a serious songwriter to navigate through the industry bottlenecks. The music industry seems determined to turn the record business into a fashion and lifestyle category, where songwriting as a professional craft has little or no role. 


JW: Are jazz musicians themselves an obstacle?
TG: To some extent. Many jazz musicians prefer recording their own original songs and rarely want to feature a song by anyone outside of their band—unless the composer is dead and gone. A few major jazz musicians are bucking this trend, and I applaud them. I just wish more improvisers would follow their lead. 

JazzWax pages: You'll find Ted Gioia's The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire (Oxford)here. For more on Ted Gioia, gohere.

JazzWax tracks: Jim Higgins, book editor of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, assembled a Spotify playlist featuring 2,000 songs that Ted has recommend in his new book. Go here.
Used with permission by Marc Myers

Hot Classical & Jazz Downloads

By Jason Victor Serinus
The long-awaited US launch of Passionato.com, intended as the World Wide Web's "premier destination for classical music connoisseurs," has finally happened. Passionato, which has no membership fee, offers the largest collection of classical-music downloads in CD-quality, DRM-free FLAC and 320kbps MP3 formats yet assembled online.

Passionato's catalog is rich in offerings from Alia Vox (with Jordi Savall), Analekta, BIS, Chandos, Decca, Delos, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, LPO, LSO Live, Naxos, Ondine, Pentatone, Philips, SDG (with John Eliot Gardner), Signum Classics, Telarc, Virgin, and a huge number of other labels. With Harmonia Mundi, Nimbus, and Sony BMG slated to come online in the next few months, the site promises to be a goldmine.

Downloading is a snap. Given that any snafus have been worked out in the 18 months since the site went live in the UK, downloading files to my iMac was virtually foolproof. Once I'd rapidly downloaded Passionato's download manager, made my purchase, and clicked on the receipt that came my way, FLAC files began to fly into my download folder.

The process worked best when I set my preferences to download one track at a time. Solti's recording of Wagner's entire Ring cycle took a while, but we're talking 14 CDs. Once I'd received the files, the free Max application flawlessly converted them to a format compatible with iTunes. (I chose AIFF, but a host of other formats, including Apple lossless and MP3, are available. Passionato has an entire blog devoted to the subject.)

Passionato also offers a free player, created for the site by MediaMonkey, that plays files, organizes a library, and syncs up devices such as iPods and mobile phones. Squeezebox is endorsed by Passionata as an easy-to-use media server.

At the time of writing, more than 40,000 titles were available, with a good 20,000 more expected over the next few months, for a total of over 300,000 tracks. Downloadable cover art is low resolution—that will change—and liner notes are in process. While the site lists recommendations from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, the UK's Radio 3, The Penguin Guide to Classical Music, and International Review, neither Stereophile's classical "Records To Die For" listings nor recommendations from other US-based publications and websites are available. But none of those should prove impediments to music lovers, who will find thousands of hard-to-find and immensely desirable titles just a click away.

"I'm planning to offer some high-definition titles in the fall," Passionato CEO James Glicker explained by phone. "We've been talking to major labels, such as Telarc and Universal, about getting some unique stuff. Initially, we'll try 50 to 100 titles. We're concerned about the time it takes to download, because high-resolution files are 2GB or more in size. We certainly want to provide the best listening experience for our customers."

Especially exciting for collectors and lovers of older recordings is an arrangement with Orchard that promises titles from Myto, Pearl, Preiser, and other labels famed for their historic imports. Next to Naxos's historical reissues, which are not sold in the US, these labels are indispensable to lovers of vocal music. Pearl, in particular, doesn't filter older recordings, thus delivering all of the high range (and all of the scratches) that major labels truncate in the process of minimizing pops, clicks, and groove noise.

Equally mouthwatering is the projected availability of the back catalogs of many major labels. When these go online, classical music lovers will have an alternative to time-consuming searches for used copies, or custom-burned reissue CDs from http://www.arkivmusic.com/.

One of Passionato's main goals is to develop an online community of customers that can support lively discussions of classical music. Forums will be established within the month, and reviews will receive more prominence than they do on other sites. Passionato.com will have a host of moderators and community leaders to keep discussions on a productive footing. Given Glicker's previous experience—he has worked with Geocities, was head of worldwide marketing at BMG Classics, and served as President and CEO of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where he was responsible for engaging Marin Alsop as Music Director—you can expect the posts to remain on track.

Posters can first bone up on the short bios of composers and performers available on the site. Looking now, for example, at Maria Callas's entry, I'm excited to discover four highly prized live recordings on Myto, including an absolutely astounding performance of Rossini's Armida, from the 1952 Florence May Festival, that shows what Renée Fleming could never do. These sets have yet to become available as CD-quality FLAC files.

Blogs are also beginning to appear on Passionato. While engaging bloggers who are experts in classical music are being recruited, Glicker's response to a Pepsi Challenge from poster Proper Discord, who claims that classical listeners can't hear a difference between FLAC and MP3, in all the latter's perverse manifestations, should get audiophiles' juices flowing. Equally stimulating are the sales. The current offering is 25% off Naxos specialty label Marco Polo, and six complete Naxos CDs (in FLAC, of course) for $30. You save $5 if you go the MP3 route and dispense with all those vital bits that MP3 omits.

On the jazz front, HD Tracks now offers select titles from GRP, Impulse!, Verve, and Verve Forecast in 24-bit/96kHz FLAC format, including albums by Billy Holiday and John Coltrane. Diana Krall's Quiet Nights is currently available in lossless FLAC. Also new are 24/96 hi-rez CDs from the Concord Music Group, which owns Heads Up, Prestige, Stax, and Volt. Pretty fab. A recent multigenre sale at HDtracks included 20% off hi-rez offerings from Chesky, Koch, 2L, and other labels.

If you've found yourself unable to keep up with the seemingly exponential increase in the number of websites offering FLAC and hi-rez downloads, check out DreamStreaming. The free site claims to be "the first website to bring together all the music sources on the web that offer CD-quality or near–CD-quality sound, whether via downloads, on-demand, or streaming." Founded by a Michael Osborn, DreamStreaming can be navigated by content type and quality, as well as by type of music.

There's even more delicious news on the classical front. Cedille, the Chicago-based label whose recordings have won a Grammy, now offers CD-quality FLAC downloads for $10 or less. Their MP3 bastard cousins, however, are encoded at 256kbps, one noticeable step down from Passionato's 320kbps. Coming this month is the world-premiere recording of Beethoven's recently discovered Piano Trio in E-flat, Hess 47, performed by the Beethoven Project Trio, which gave the world-premiere performance last year in Chicago.
http://stereophile.com/news/hot_classical_jazz_downloads/

Complete Bee Hive Sessions

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

The late 1970s was a weird time for acoustic jazz. The profitability of rock and soul in the late 1960s and early '70s had drained the talent in jazz departments at all record labels. If you worked on the jazz side and hadn't made the leap to producing rock and soul artists, you were most likely fired or you left in disgust. With the diminished standing of the jazz producer during this period, musicians were left to self-produce in many cases, and the results were dismal. Even in cases where there were producers, they were often asleep at the switch, making few demands on track lists or better takes.

Other than fusion—with its emphasis on rock, electronic instruments, psychedelic mysticism and lengthy solos—jazz had little new to say acoustically that hadn't been said before and often much better.

In 1977, Jim and Susan Neumann started Bee Hive Records in their Evanston, Ill., home outside of Chicago. They were fully aware that the jazz landscape had become littered with legends staggering around in shock, unsure what had happened to their careers and whether audiences would ever care about their music again .

They also knew the risks they were facing. Like Coast Guard operations late to a disaster, theirs was a recovery mission, not a bid to rescue or resurrect the music, which had been already doomed by market forces and demographic shifts. Over the course of seven years, the Neumanns recorded 16 bop and post-bop albums. While just shy of perfect, much of the Bee Hive catalog captured great artists delivering magnificent works. For this, all jazz fans owe the Neumanns a debt of gratitude. [Photo above, Jim Neumann]

Now, Mosaic Records is celebrating this overlooked late '70s period and label with The Complete Bee Hive Sessions, a 12-CD box that features 16 albums via 110 tracks, plus six tracks released only on a rare sampler and three tracks previously unissued. [Above, New York's Soho in the 1970s, which was home to many jazz clubs and reflected the decay of the acoustic art form]

For me, the fundamental question with sets like this one isn't the act of jazz being preserved but whether the music holds up. Plenty of jazz was recorded in the 1970s and '80s that may have seemed like a good idea at the time but simply isn't worthwhile any longer. Fortunately, most of the Bee Hive box is pure gold.

Let's dig in:

Nick Brignola—Baritone Madness (1977), featuring trumpeter Ted Curson, baritone saxophonists Nick Brignola and Pepper Adams, with drummer Roy Haynes in the rhythm section. Heart-racing third-rail excitement by two brawling bop saxophonists who tear up song after song with basement-level aggression and endurance.

Nick Brignola—Burn Brigade (1979), featuring Brignola paired with baritone saxophonists Ronnie Cuber and Cecil Payne. Tracks like Busy B's are hair-raising and remarkable, reminding listeners how vital and energetic these guys were even as jazz became less viable as a way to earn a living.

Sal Nistico—Neo Nistico (1978), with Curson, tenor saxophonist Sal Nistico and Brignola. The band's reading of Anthropology will send your head spinning and Nistico's mid-tempo take of Be My Love is precious and loaded with Sonny Rollins influence.

Curtis Fuller—Fire and Filigree (1978) unites trombonist Curtis Fuller and Nistico, resulting in powerful contrasts—Fuller's mellow ripeness against Nistico's motorcycle attack.

Dizzy Reece—Manhattan Project (1978). Trumpeter Reece squares off with tenor saxophonists Clifford Jordan and Charles Davis. This album was among my least favorite. It just feels overly wrought and aimless in places.

Clifford Jordan—Hyde Park After Dark (1983). Jordan is featured with Curson and tenor saxophonist Von Freeman. Ballads such as You're Blase, I'm Glad There Is You and I Waited for You are glorious. The rest, feels a bit scorched and uneven.

Clifford Jordan—Dr. Chicago (1984). Trumpeter Red Rodney joins Jordan with a rhythm section that includes Jaki Byard on piano and Vernel Fournier on drums. This peppery album derives much of its jucie from Byard's inventive keyboard playing.

Johnny Hartman—Once in Every Life (1980). This was singer Hartman's second to last album and it's a gem. Hartman was accompanied by Joe Wilder (tp,flhrn), Frank Wess (ts,fl), Billy Taylor (p), Al Gafa (g), Victor Gaskin (b) and Keith Copeland (d). Hartman, who would die in 1983, is in perfect form on a wide range of songs, from Easy Livingto Wave, and he aces them all with his soft, hip baritone.

Sal Salvador—Starfingers (1978). The Stan Kenton guitarist joins Brignola and trombonist Eddie Bert, with drummer Mel Lewis in the rhythm section. Standing out with guys like Eddie and Brignola really takes some doing, but Salvador was more than up to the task. Dig Nica's Dream and Blues in the Closet.

Sal Salvador—Juicy Lucy (1978). Salvador fronts a superb trio—Billy Taylor (p), Art Davis (b) and Joe Morello (d). They cover songs like Horace Silver's Juicy Lucy and Taylor's Daddy-O. One wishes this group made four more albums while they were in the studio.

Ronnie Mathews—Roots, Branches & Dances (1978). Pianist Mathews backs tenor saxophonist Frank Foster. Mathews had a strong commanding attack and was much more than a rhythm section keyboard player. Superb phrasing and ideas on tracks such as Hi-Fly and Susanita. Mathews and Foster together produced a great sound.

Ronnie Mathews—Legacy (1979). Here, Mathews backs trumpeter Bill Hardman and tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford. The arrangements are top notch, particularly on Once I Loved, Suicide Is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H) and A Child Is Born.

read more: http://www.jazzwax.com/2015/10/complete-bee-hive-sessions.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Complete+Bee+Hive+Sessions

Used with permission by Marc Myers

National Jazz Museum in Harlem September Schedule

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, 104 East 126th Street, #2C - New York, NY 10035

http://www.jmih.org/

Coming off the heels of the greatest archaeological find in jazz in decades, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem invites you to share in the treasures of the Savory Collection, featuring jazz legends of the Swing Era. During the month of September 2010 our Jazz for Curious Listeners series and our special Saturday Panel on Bill Savory will open the vaults to selections from the 100 hours of live music that until now has been hidden in jazz lore.
 
Instead of resting on those laurels, we are happy to also present free public programs such as: Harlem Speaks (interviews with alto saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Steve Wilson), Jazz for Curious Readers (Langston Hughes on record with jazz music and artists), and Jazz at the Studio Museum in Harlem (the visual art of Pee Wee Russell and George Wettling, plus the NJMH All Stars).
 
For just a small fee you can witness the impeccable artistry of elder statesman pianist and composer Randy Weston, and the open-ended duet of bassist Henry Grimes and pianist Marilyn Crispell at the Rubin Museum of Art for the Harlem in the Himalayas program. We invite you to share in the bounty of jazz at the National Museum in Harlem this month: you'll come away with priceless memories.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Jazz for Curious Listeners
The Savory Collection: Exploring a buried treasure-NEW sounds from 1935- 1940
7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

You Won't Believe It: An Overview
If you appreciate jazz and American history, then you've heard about the acquisition of the Savory Collection by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. News outlets from the New York Times and NPR to WNYC and Newsweek have covered this truly historical find, which museum Executive Director Loren Schoenberg had been tracking down intrepidly for 30 years. His efforts paid off; some of these recordings may cause scholars to adjust their take of this period of the jazz idiom's historical accounting.

Come early to claim your seat at the Visitor's Center . . . we expect a full house who will hear samples from the Savory Collection as well as the tale of this investigative find as told by Mr. Schoenberg.

Monday, September 13, 2010 (note date change)
Jazz for Curious Readers
Langston Hughes: The Recordings
7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

Back in the day Langston Hughes was called the voice of Harlem and even the poet laureate of Negro Americans. Hughes imbued his lines with the echoes of jazz and gospel, and may have been akin to a 20th-century Chaucer, capturing common experiences in bold new rhythms. He once said, "I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street... (these songs) had the pulse beat of the people who keep on going."

In 1926 he wrote the now classic "Weary Blues." In 1958 he took part in a recording of this work (which includes the famous "A Dream Deferred") paired it with compositions written in collaboration with Charles Mingus, Leonard Feather, and Horace Parlan. Mingus’s compositional style combined with Hughes “cool” prose and poetry, written with rhythms straight out of Harlem, made for a revealing outing.

Come hear this synthesis of music and poetry and more at the Visitor's Center of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Jazz for Curious Listeners
Tenor Madness: Lester Young/Coleman Hawkins/Chu Berry/Herschel Evans
7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

The Savory Collection featured songs and solos played by the two men who defined the sound and style on tenor saxophone in the first decades of the dispersal of jazz on record and in clubs and stages around the world: Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Yet Chu Berry and Herschel Evans were also two very important musicians on tenor from those years in the late '30s, now too often sidestepped by critics and fans that focus solely on Prez and Hawk.

Come experience each of these tenor greats at the height of their considerable powers and discover the context and place of each in the estimable history of jazz.

Thursday, September 16, 2010
Harlem Speaks
Lou Donaldson, Saxophonist
6:30 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

Lou Donaldson, one of the true keepers of the classic jazz, is a witty raconteur with stories galore. His distinctive, blues-based tone has been heard in a variety of small-group settings, and he has recorded dozens of worthy and spirited sets throughout the years.

He began playing clarinet at 15, and soon switched to the alto sax. He attended college and performed in a Navy band while in the military. Donaldson first gained attention in 1952, when he started recording for Blue Note as a leader. At the age of 25, his style was fully formed, and although it would continue growing in depth through the years, Donaldson had already found his sound. In 1954, he participated in a notable gig with Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver and Tommy Potter that Blue Note records documented extensively, and which directly preceded the Jazz Messengers. He recorded as a sideman in the 1950s and occasionally with Thelonious Monk, Milt Jackson and Jimmy Smith, among others, yet he has been a bandleader from the mid-1950s up to now.

Donaldson's early Blue Note recordings were straight-ahead bop dates. In 1958 he began to incorporate a conga player, and from 1961 his bands often used an organist rather than a pianist. His blues-drenched style became a staple of soul-jazz, the musical context he's best known for by the jazz public. His association with Blue Note (1952-63) was succeeded by some excellent (if now-scarce) sets for Cadet and Argo (1963-66). Donaldson returned to Blue Note in 1967 and ventured into the more commercial leanings of the label; in this vein, he played an electronic Varitone sax, which some critics say watered down his sound. Yet, the success of "Alligator Boogaloo" in 1967 belied such criticism.

In the early '80s began recording soul-jazz and hard bop dates for Muse, Timeless and Milestone, which found him once again in prime form, not diminished to this very day. For proof of this claim, hear him proclaim that "Kenny G shouldn't try this," at one of his concerts, as he launches into a furious up-tempo number that he handles with aplomb, with blues and bebop lines and even occasional references to "Flight of the Bumblebee."

Friday, September 17, 2010
Harlem in the Himalayas
Randy Weston: Solo Piano
7:00pm
Location: Rubin Museum of Art, (150 West 17th Street)

After 60 years of musical inspiration and African diasporic verve, Randy Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers today, a true innovator and visionary.

Encompassing the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa, his global creations continue to musically inform and inspire. "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat," declared jazz critic Stanley Crouch, "but his art is more than projection and time; it's the result of a studious and inspired intelligence...an intelligence that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique".

Songs such as his "Little Niles" and "Hi Fly" are perennial contributions to the repertoire of the jazz songbook. In his solo performance tonight expect to hear such classics as well as others that embody the sound of surprise.

Sunday, September 19, 2010
Jazz at The Studio
The Paintings of Pee Wee Russell and George Wettling 2:00 – 4:00pm
Location: The Studio Museum in Harlem, (144 West 125th Street)

AN AFTERNOON IN HARLEM WITH GEORGE AND PEE WEE
Pee Wee Russell, one of jazz' most idiosyncratic clarinetists and George Wettling, one of its most swinging drummers, were also painters. The NJMH All Stars explore the swirling world of the 1920's that produced their mature works of the 1940's and 50's. Rare canvases by Russell and Wettling will be shown.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Jazz for Curious Listeners
Trumpet Titans: Louis Armstrong/Roy Eldridge/Harry James/Bunny Berigan 7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

As with the tenor giants discussed in last week's Jazz for Curious Listeners, two of the four men in this week's class have a firm place in the collective memories of jazz lovers. Louis Armstrong, the father of the idiom as it came through early small group and big band styling via his overwhelming approach to rhythm and sound on trumpet, his swing being irresistible. Whereas Armstrong made his mark starting in the 20s, Roy Eldridge came to prominence in the 30s with a style more akin to the facility of saxophonists that yet stayed true to the high-note range established by Armstrong.

We’ll also hear superlative jazz from trumpeters Harry James and Bunny Berigan—were also brass virtuosos worthy of historical reconsideration, as will occur tonight via excerpts of their work from the Savory Collection.

Friday, September 24, 2010
Harlem in the Himalayas
Henry Grimes with Marilyn Crispell
7:00pm
Location: Rubin Museum of Art, (150 West 17th Street)

Master bassist Henry Grimes, missing from the music world since the late 1960s, has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift of a bass from William Parker in December 2002, replacing the instrument Grimes had been forced to give up some 30 years earlier. Between the mid-'50s and the mid-'60s, the Philadelphia-born, Juilliard-educated Grimes played brilliantly on more than 50 albums with an enormous range of musicians, including Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Sunny Murray, Sonny Rollins, Roswell Rudd, Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, McCoy Tyner, and many others. Then, one day, for reasons largely related to troubles in the music world at the time, he disappeared. Many years passed with nothing heard from him, yet recently, with his new bass, he reemerged to begin playing music again.

These days, he lives, works, and teaches in New York City and has been working almost exclusively as a leader with Marshall Allen, Fred Anderson, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell Jr., Daniel Carter, Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Dixon, Hamid Drake, Charles Gayle, Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Joe Lovano, Sabir Mateen, Bennie Maupin, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, William Parker, and Marc Ribot, among others. Since 2003, Grimes has played and toured extensively in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. The recipient of a prestigious "Meet the Composer" award in 2003 and two more in 2005, Grimes was designated "Musician of the Year" by All About Jazz in 2004. One of his trios was chosen Best Jazz Trio of 2004 by New York Press, and one of his concerts, at HotHouse in Chicago, was named one of the 10 best of 2005 by Time Out/Chicago. Grimes's gentle, humble bearing and courageous life story have inspired all those privileged to know, hear, and play music with him.

"Hearing Marilyn Crispell play solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano. She is one of a very few pianists who rise to the challenge of free jazz," wrote Jon Pareles of the New York Times. Crispell, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied classical piano and composition, came to Woodstock, New York, in 1977 to study and teach at the Creative Music Studio, and has lived there ever since. She discovered jazz through the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, and other contemporary jazz players and composers. She has been a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet, the Reggie Workman Ensemble, the Barry Guy New Orchestra (and guest with his London Jazz Composers Orchestra), the Henry Grimes Trio, Quartet Noir (with Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser, and Joelle Leandre), and Anders Jormin's Bortom Quintet. In 2005 she performed and recorded with the NOW Orchestra in Vancouver.

Besides working as a soloist and leader of her own groups, Crispell has performed and recorded extensively with well-known players on the American and international jazz scene as well as music by contemporary composers Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Manfred Niehaus, and Anthony Davis (including four performances of his opera X with the New York City Opera). In addition to performing, she has taught improvisation workshops and given lecture/demonstrations at universities and art centers in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, and has collaborated with videographers, filmmakers, dancers, and poets. In 1996 she was given an Outstanding Alumni Award by the New England Conservatory, and in 2004 was cited as being one of their 100 most outstanding alumni of the past 100 years.

Come expecting to hear and feel the fireworks and wisdom of an open conception to music.

Saturday, September 25, 2010
Saturday Panels
Who Was Bill Savory?
Guest panelists: Gene Savory, George Avakian, Larry Appelbaum, Larry Rohter and others
12:00 – 4:00pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

"For decades jazz cognoscenti have talked reverently of “the Savory Collection.” Recorded from radio broadcasts in the late 1930s by an audio engineer named William Savory, it was known to include extended live performances by some of the most honored names in jazz — but only a handful of people had ever heard even the smallest fraction of that music, adding to its mystique.

After 70 years that wait has now ended," begins the story reported in the New York Times (by Larry Rohter) on August 16, 2010.

Today's panel discussion will uncover the identity of this audio engineer whose 100 hours of fine-tuned recording will breathe new life into the archival imperative of jazz music. The National Jazz Museum in Harlem is proud to have this treasure trove as part of its collection, and invite you to learn more about the man who museum executive director Loren Schoenberg describes as "a musician and a technical genius" as well as the music he captured for posterity.

Guests include Savory’ son Gene, who rescued the collection from oblivion, legendary record producer and life-long Bill Savory friend George Avakian, NY Times writer Larry Rohter, who broke the story, Larry Appelbaum, archivist at The Library of Congress, and professor Susan Schmidt Horning, who interviewed Bill Savory as part of her research into his innovations.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Jazz for Curious Listeners
Jam Sessions: Benny Goodman/Bobby Hackett/Lionel Hampton/Slim and Slam
7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)

Benny Goodman, clarinet virtuoso, "King of Swing," and social pioneer as regards racial integration is captured in rare form in the Savory Collection, as are cornetist and trumpeter Bobby Hackett, vibraphone king Lionel Hampton, and Slim Gaillard (vocals, guitar, piano) and bassist Slam Stewart.

Gaps in jazz lore are filled to overflowing in the Savory Collection. Come listen and be one of the first to hear these fascinating records.

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Harlem Speaks
Steve Wilson, Saxophonist
6:30 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center, (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
Steve Wilson's creativity on alto saxophonist and dependability as a musical professional has allowed him to carve a prominent position on the bandstand and in the studio with the greatest names in jazz, as well as critical acclaim as a bandleader in his own right. A musician's musician, Wilson has brought his distinctive sound to more than 100 recordings led by such celebrated and wide-ranging artists as Chick Corea, George Duke, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, Dianne Reeves, Bill Bruford, Gerald Wilson, Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson, Charlie Byrd, Billy Childs, Karrin Allyson, Don Byron, Bill Stewart, James Williams, and Mulgrew Miller among many others. Wilson has seven recordings under his own name, leading and collaborating with such stellar musicians as Lewis Nash, Carl Allen, Steve Nelson, Cyrus Chestnut, Greg Hutchinson, Dennis Irwin, James Genus, Larry Grenadier, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley, and Nicholas Payton.

A native of Hampton, Virginia, Wilson began his formal training at age 12. Playing saxophone, oboe, and drums in school bands, he also played in various R&B and funk bands throughout his teens, and went on to a year-long stint with singer Stephanie Mills. He then decided to major in music at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, affording him opportunities to perform and/or study with Jimmy and Percy Heath, Jon Hendricks, Jaki Byard, John Hicks, Frank Foster and Ellis Marsalis. In 1986, he landed a chair with O.T.B (Out of the Blue), a sextet of promising young players recording on Blue Note Records. In 1987 he moved to New York and the following year toured the US and Europe with Lionel Hampton. Becoming a first-call choice for veteran and emerging artists alike, Wilson was the subject of a New York Times profile "A Sideman's Life", highlighting his work with Ralph Peterson, Jr., Michele Rosewoman, Renee Rosnes, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Joanne Brackeen, The American Jazz Orchestra, The Mingus Big Band, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Leon Parker, and Buster Williams' Quintet "Something More". In 1996 he joined the acclaimed Dave Holland Quintet, and from 1998-2001 he was a member of Chick Corea's Grammy winning sextet "Origin".

Wilson was a featured guest with Dr. Billy Taylor in his series "Jazz at the Kennedy Center" which is broadcast on NPR. He was artistic consultant to Harvey Keitel for the film "Lulu On The Bridge" as well as being featured on the soundtrack. He has been Artist-In-Residence at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hamilton College, Old Dominion University, and for the 2002/2003 season with the award winning arts organization CITYFOLK in Dayton, Ohio which included the performance of a commissioned work. He has been a featured performer, panelist, and clinician at conferences of the International Association of Jazz Educators, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and Chamber Music of America. Wilson was honored with the Marc Crawford Jazz Educator Award from New York University in 2001, and the Virginia Jazz Award 2003 Musician of the Year presented by the Richmond Jazz Society, recognizing his outstanding service in the advancement of jazz and education in their respective communities. Since 1997 he has been regularly cited in the Downbeat Magazine Critics and Readers Polls in the soprano and alto saxophone categories.

Wilson continues to tour with the Steve Wilson Quartet and Generations as well as National Jazz Museum in Harlem co-director Christian McBride's group Inside Straight. He also performs in duo with his long-time friend and colleague Lewis Nash, in the Lewis Nash/Steve Wilson Duo. He is also a touring member of the Grammy winning Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, T he Buster Williams Quartet, and Mulgrew Miller's Wingspan. In July 2009, Wilson made his orchestral debut performing the Villa Lobos Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, conducted by Gil Shohat, at the Vermont Mozart Festival in Burlington, VT.

Wilson is on the faculty at The Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Purchase, and Columbia University, and is the Artist-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg (Canada) for the 2008/2009 school year.

From: Jazz Promo Services

Press Contact: Jim Eigo, jazzpromo@earthlink.net