Australian Jazz
Monday, September 29, 2008
Jazz Clubs Serie - 2
Yacek Jazz Club
Yacek Jazz Agency (YJA) represents some of the finest jazz musicians in South Australia, Australia and abroad. Yacek Jazz Agency provide artist management, bookings and production services, ranging from concert and project production to tour preparation and road management.
Yacek Jazz Agency (YJA) was founded by Yacek Szocinski in March 2006. Yacek, a jazz enthusiast, publisher and photographer has been actively involved in the local Jazz Scene since 2001. YJA brings modern, original and totally improvised jazz to the Adelaide jazz lovers at Black Note Adelaide Jazz Club, launched May 5, 2006.
Jacek (pronounced Yacek) has had a passion for music and a special love for Jazz since he was a teenager. During his formative years as a student at the Music Conservatory in Poland, Jacek frequented all Jazz Events and Festivals in order to feed his insatiable appetite for ‘music with soul’. Among the big names he was fortunate to see perform live were Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, Stan Getz and many more .
In the late 70’s he regularly attended the biggest Polish jazz festival, ‘Jazz Jamboree’ as well as Europe’s most popular music event, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag (The Netherlands). Jacek was also privileged to be among the guests on the opening night of Blue Note Jazz Club in Poznan (Poland, 1998) and in 2000 he traveled to Belgium to see Scott Hamilton, Chico Freeman, Archie Shepp and Benny Golson performing at 21st Gouvy – Sterpigny Jazz and Blues Festival.
Experiencing these ‘giants of jazz’ first-hand cemented Jacek’s desire to become personally involved in bringing this music to the people and hence, sharing the message of the players. In the mid-nineties, he began his involvement in the music industry when he established and managed a Culture and Entertainment Centre ‘Komoda’ in his home town in Poland. Jacek’s dream had begun to become reality.
In 2001, he arrived in Adelaide and almost immediately became a committee member of the Jazz Action Society.
A year later, he took over the position of editor of Jazz Notes, the JAS Newsletter. Over a two year period from 2003 - 2004, he significantly improved the content and quality of the publication. Also during that time, Jacek took the opportunity to develop and coordinate a new venue in Adelaide, No Liezz Jazz Club, taking on the role of event organizer and person in charge of the sound and lighting.
Jacek’s long-lived passion for jazz and love of live music events have prompted him to start up his own club which brings modern, original and totally improvised jazz to the Adelaide jazz lovers. His ‘baby’, Black Note Adelaide Jazz Club, was born and launched May 5, 2006.
Jacek’s passions also extend to photography and he regularly shoots live jazz bands at events and festivals. He displayed an exhibition of Jazz Images during the East End International Jazz Festival.
Special Books Serie - 5
The South Australian Jazz
The South Australian REAL BOOK has been compiled with a number of objectives
in mind.
Nominally, it serves to archive the work and names of prominent South
Australian jazz musicians over the distant and recent past, ensuring a
preservation and documentation of important compositions together with relevant
details and circumstances (eg places, recordings, players, etc).
It also serves as a source of repertoire for players who wish to study the
work of their peers or to play tribute materials dedicated to them.
Bruce Hancock Editor
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Jazz Clubs Serie - 1
Hot Club de Boedo, Argentina
Fundado en Buenos Aires por el guitarrista Waldo Fonseca, Hot Club de Boedo, tiene como premisa difundir el estilo de jazz que popularizaron en el Río de la Plata Oscar Alemán, Hernán Oliva y Eduardo Ravera. Desde el año 2000 viene organizando junto con organismos oficiales y privados conciertos, charlas y una intensa actividad docente con el objeto de preservar esta particular estética.
Si bien este tipo de Jazz ha tenido su más importante desarrollo en Europa con la aparición de Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grapelli y el Quinteto del Hot Club de Francia es notable la aceptación y el predicamento que ha tenido en otras partes del mundo, especialmente en el Río de La Plata donde convivió con el tango y tomó características propias de nuestra idiosincrasia. En nuestro país hubo figuras de gran trascendencia que cultivaron este género, basta mencionar a Elvino Vardaro y Oscar Alemán (quienes realizaron experiencias anteriores a la aparición del Hot Club de Francia), Louis Volá, Hernán Oliva y Eduardo Ravera.
Distinguido por el Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires como Vecino Participativo junto a Juan “Tata” Cedrón y a Acho Manzi entre otras personalidades de la cultura del Barrio de Boedo, Hot Club de Boedo, desde el año de su fundación, organiza y coordina junto con organismos oficiales y privados conciertos, charlas y una intensa actividad docente con el objeto de preservar esta estética.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The Birdland History
Ever since most of Chicago's top musicians moved to New York in the mid-to-late 1920s, New York City has been the Jazz Mecca.
It was Charlie Parker, familiarly known to his fans and fellow musicians as "Bird," a contraction of Yardbird, his formal nickname, who was the dynamic creative personality and genius of the alto saxophone who served as the inspiration for Birdland.
When the original Birdland opened fifty-eight years ago in December, 1949, Charlie Parker was the headliner and the club was located on Broadway, a few blocks west of 52nd Street, which was a hotbed of jazz in the 1930s and 40s.
Miraculously, just as the scene on 52nd Street caved in, Birdland was born and quickly came to prominence. For the next fifteen years, the club's survival formula was built upon memorable double and triple bills, commencing at 9 p.m. and sometimes lasting 'til dawn.
In addition to Bird, many jazz legends were regulars at the club. Count Basie and his smokin' big band made Birdland their New York headquarters, eventually recording George Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland" live at the club. John Coltrane's classic Quartet regularly appeared at the club in the early 1960s, recording "Live at Birdland." And the infamous Symphony Sid Torin made a name for himself broadcasting live from the club to radio listeners up and down the eastern seaboard.
Following up his 2000 tribute to guitarist Django Reinhardt, Chasin' the Gypsy, saxophonist James Carter pays homage to iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday on Gardenias for Lady Day. Perhaps never before has the jazz iconoclast balanced so perfectly his "big top" avant-garde leanings with his more pinstriped traditionalist aesthetic. This is a beautiful album that revels as much in classic melody as it does in Carter's most torrid saxophone "skronk." Although the album largely succeeds on Carter's virtuosic performance, it gains most of its character from the deft and unpredictable orchestral arrangements of Greg Cohen and fellow Detroiter Cassius Richmond. In particular, Richmond brings a cinematic quality to the album with his treatments of "Sunset," "I Wonder Where Our Love Is Gone," and "Gloria" that breathe and swell, rubbing dramatically against Carter's muscular sound. Similarly, Cohen — who has worked with such N.Y.C. downtown scenesters as John Zorn, David Byrne, and Tom Waits — brings a quirky and epic quality to his tracks. Featuring a very Nina Simone-esque performance by vocalist Miche Braden, Holiday's most famous number, "Strange Fruit," is magnified by Cohen into a brooding film noir that ultimately descends into an apocalyptic barrage of screams and wails, with Carter and Braden manifesting all the anguish and anger the song implies. It is unclear if the orchestra and band recorded at the same time, but even if they did not, Carter's stellar rhythm section featuring pianist John Hicks, drummer Victor Lewis, and bassist Peter Washington lends an organic quality to the proceedings that feels natural and lithe. Continuing to display a unique and singular vision, Carter has crafted a fittingly urbane, elegant, and unnerving album that celebrates both Holiday's haunting spirituality and earthy sexuality.
Credit > Matt Collar
Musical Instrument Serie - 6
Saxhorn Barítono
EUPHONIUM (Sax-Horn Barítono)- “Euphonium”: palavra vinda do grego “Euphonia” que significa “Belo Som”. É o mais novo instrumento da família dos metais.
Instrumento típico de Bandas em geral (Sinfônicas, Militares, Marciais, Musicais, etc). Sua extensão é a da região “barítono” (por isso a nomenclatura científica: Sax-Horn Barítono, que é atribuída à classificação de voz e não de timbre) devido à sua construção cônica, calibre e campana de medidas largas (Large Bore), acarretando num som doce, aveludado e poderoso (cheio). Teve como predecessores a *serpente e o *ophicleide (séc. XIX).
Como instrumento solista a literatura é vasta e ampla. Na Orquestra Sinfônica tem o seu lugar reservado por compositores como R. Wagner, R. Strauss, G. Holst, M. Ravel, Mahler, L. Janacek, A. Ginastera, S. Barber, etc. Muitos Maestros e compositores chegam a fazer saudáveis analogias do Euphonium com o Violoncello, dizendo que este é o “Cello da Banda Sinfônica” por imensas possibilidades técnicas virtuosísticas, sonoridade, extensão amplificada e a forma peculiar com que o timbre se funde com outros instrumentos.
Por causa da gramática local o termo Euphonium também pode ser encontrado da seguinte forma: Eufônio – Eufonium – Euphonio.
Por ser o instrumento mais novo da família dos metais veio passando por algumas alterações em sua construção física nos últimos 30 anos. Sendo assim, podemos encontrar muitos modelos diferentes no mercado atual. Ainda há tendências de novas modificações e atualizações no moderno Euphonium. Porém, não implicando que os antigos Euphoniuns deixem de sê-los.
Texto de: Ezequiel de Sousa Oliveira
Professor no Conservatório Villa-Lobos de São Paulo.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Front Cover Album Serie - 7
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Oscar Peterson (piano); George Mraz (bass instrument); Ray Price (drums)
MPS Studio, Villingen, Germany November10-13,1970
Tracks
1. I Love You
2. Rock Of Ages
3. Once Upon A Summertime
4. Just Friends
5. Teach Me Tonight
6. Windmills Of Your Mind,
7. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
8. All Of You
This fine Oscar Peterson date from 1970 features a trio rounded out by bassist George Mraz and drummer Ray Price. Peterson has always excelled in the trio format, and WALKING THE LINE is no exception. As fans know, Peterson is a dazzling technician, turning out a blinding flurry of notes one minute ("Just Friends"), then coming back the next with a ballad exquisite enough to break your heart ("Once Upon a Summertime").
Fluent in blues, hard bop, swing, and post-bop, Peterson's approach can range from dramatic to extremely delicate. All these facets are on display on WALKING THE LINE (bolstered by the sensitive interplay of Price and Mraz), making this one of the best dates of Peterson's late-'60s/early-'70s period. Remastered sound makes it that much more enjoyable
posted by fenderjazz.(april 08)
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