Since moving to New York City in 2000, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery has become one of the Jazz world's most talented rising stars and in-demand sidemen. At only 35 he has recorded seven CDs as a leader and been on numerous recordings as a sideman. Wayne began his professional New York career touring and recording with The Eric Reed Septet.
In 2001 he became a steady member of the Mingus Big Band/Orchestra/Dynasty, The Lonnie Plaxico Group, and Abdulah Ibrahim's Akaya. Then in 2004 Grammy award winning producer, arranger and trumpeter Don Sickler asked Wayne to be a part of Ben Riley's Monk legacy Septet (an innovative piano-less group dedicated to carrying on the legacy of jazz great Thelonious Monk).
At this time Wayne was also touring with Jazz At Lincoln Center's Music of the Masters consisting of two groups of musicians hand picked by Wynton Marsalis.
The Music of Dexter Gordon featured Wayne with Saxophonists Jimmy Greene and Gerry Welden; backed by Dexter Gordon alumni George Cables, Rufus Reid and Leroy Williams. The Music of Miles Davis featured Wayne with trumpet great Eddie Henderson and alto saxophonist Steve Wilson in the front line; backed by David Kikoski, Ed Howard and Miles Davis veteran Jimmy Cobb on drums.
In 2006 Wayne secured one of the most coveted gigs in jazz: a frontline position in Tom Harrell's working quintet. In addition to being a part of some of the last true "apprenticeship" opportunities of our era, he has delivered three studio dates as a leader on the Nagel-Heyer label Times Change in 2001, Intuition in 2004 and the most recent a collaborative project with his wife vocalist Carolyn Leonhart If Dreams Come True released September 18th 2007. In a review of the latter AllAboutJazz.com's Senior Editor John Kelman wrote....
Critics have also called him "[A] young, self-assured, hard-swinging tenor saxophonist." (Ben Ratliff - The New York Times) "a skillful, musical player" (Chris Kelsey, JazzTimes) and "a thoughtful and ambitious composer" (Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide)
....."Escoffery's command of the instrument is impressive, able to navigate broad intervallic leaps with a sound that is robust in all registers," In October of 2006 Wayne signed with Savant Records, founded and run by noted record industry legend Joe Fields and his highly respected son Barney. His first CD for Savant called Veneration (released in March of 2007) was recorded live at Smoke Jazz Club in NYC and features Joe Locke on vibes, Hans Glawichnig on bass, and Lewis Nash on drums.
Despite his musical talent Wayne (born on February 23rd 1975 in London, England) grew up in a relatively non-musical household. In 1983, he and his mother moved to the United States eventually settling in New Haven, Connecticut in 1986. Wayne always enjoyed singing whatever music he heard but it wasn't until his relocation to New Haven that his formal music education began. At age eleven Wayne joined The New Haven Trinity Boys Choir, an internationally known Boys Choir that toured and recorded annually. At this time he also began taking private saxophone lessons and playing the tenor saxophone in school bands.
By the time he was sixteen he left the Choir and began a more intensive study of the saxophone, attending The Jazz Mobile in New York City, The Neighborhood Music School and The Educational Center for the Arts, both in New Haven. During his senior year in high School, he attended the Artist's Collective in Hartford, Ct. It was there that he met Jackie McLean, the world-renowned alto saxophonist and founder of both The Artist's Collective and the jazz program at The Hartt School.
McLean gave Wayne a full scholarship to attend The Hartt School, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance, and became known as one of McLean's prize pupils. While at Hartt, Wayne played with such jazz greats as Curtis Fuller, Eddie Henderson, Philip Harper, Albert Heath, and many others. He went on to attend The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at The New England Conservatory in Boston. It was a full scholarship two-year college program, accepting a small select group of the world's most talented young jazz artists every two years. At the Institute, he toured with Herbie Hancock and studied with George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Don Braden, Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Barry Harris, Charlie Persip and other Jazz masters.
In May 1999, Wayne graduated with a Masters degree from The New England Conservatory moving to NYC in 2000. Since then, he has performed with countless internationally respected musicians and has become known for his beautiful sound, impressive technique and versatility. J. Robert Bragonier of All About Jazz Magazine writes, "This is a talented youngster capable of long, flowing lines, noteworthy creativity, and a broad range of expressiveness." When commenting on Jackie McLean's influence on Escoffery, he writes ..."the latter's influence is apparent in his knowledge of jazz history, lean, angular harmonies, and muscular tone."
As well as performing with his quartet, his group Veneration and a collaborative group with vocalist Carolyn Leonhart, Wayne Escoffery currently performs locally and tours internationally with Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet, The Tom Harrell Quintet, and The Mingus Big Band/Orchestra/Dynasty.
Itinerary
May 1, 2010- The Cynthia Scott Group @ Harlem Stage Gatehouse
May 2, 2010 - The Wayne Escoffery Quintet @ Vlada Lounge Nyc
May 7, 2010 - The Wayne Escoffery Trio @ Bar Next Door
May 14, 2010 - The Tom Harrell Quintet @ Spazio Bar & Restaurant on the Ventu
May 15, 2010 - The Tom Harrell Quintet @ Spazio Bar & Restaurant on the Ventu
June 8, 2010 - The Wayne Escoffery Quartet @ Village Vanguard
http://www.escofferymusic.com/
Friday, April 30, 2010
Since moving to New York City in 2000, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery...
Roy De Carava, memorial celebration in honor of the life and work....
NEW YORK, NY, April 27, 2010 - The public is invited to join family and friends at a Roy DeCarava (Photo Courtesy of Sherry Turner DeCarava) memorial celebration in honor of the life and work of Roy DeCarava, the renowned master photographer and pioneer in the art of photography, on Monday, May 10, at 6:30 pm at The Great Hall of The Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street in New York City. Mr. DeCarava died October 27, 2009, at the age of 89.
Mr. DeCarava expressed an early desire to address the lack of artistic attention given to the lives of Black Americans, illuminating the aesthetic and human qualities of each individual life through the lens of his perceptions. Over the years, he photographed numerous jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. He was the subject of more than 25 solo exhibitions and participated in dozens of group exhibitions around the world.
Born in Harlem December 9, 1919, Mr. DeCarava was educated in the city's public schools. Following a brief period of work on the W.P.A. art project, he was admitted to Cooper Union Institute where he studied painting, architecture and sculpture. Later, he enrolled at the Harlem Art Center and The George Washington Carver Art School, studying with Meyers, Elton Fax, Charles White and Norman Lewis.
While accomplishing his own artistic work, Mr. DeCarava continued for 20 years as a freelance editorial photographer. He worked for Columbia, Prestige, ABC Paramount, and Atlantic records and for major pictorial magazines, including Sports Illustrated and Scientific American, until the 1970s, when he began his academic career as Professor of Art at The Cooper Union. The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Mr. DeCarava was awarded the National Medal of Art from the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by President George W. Bush in 2006.
Mr. DeCarava resided in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, art historian Sherry Turner DeCarava, whom he met when she arranged to interview him for a public program at the Brooklyn Museum. They married in 1970 and collaborated for the past 40 years on all of Mr. DeCarava's exhibitions and publication projects.
by Carolyn McClair / CMPR / Carolyn@CarolynMcClairPR.com
Little Ann: 40 Years Later, An Unlikely Resurrection
by Oliver Wang
Little Ann's 40-year-old single "Deep Shadows," produced by Detroit's Dave Hamilton, is a marvel of subtle understatement, built around little more than a bass line, a slight tinkle of piano, a cutting guitar line and, most notably, those bells, which ring loud and portend nothing auspicious. As the song title warns, a dark, heavy gravity is at work when Little Ann's vocals snake out — "He doesn't know / just how I feel" and drag listeners further into the depths.
Originally from Chicago, "Little Ann" Bridgeforth showed promise early on, recording a single for the Ric-Tic label in 1969. But even though Hamilton ushered her into the studio to lay down an album's worth of songs, her dreams of national exposure ultimately withered with time and neglect. For two decades, the tapes of that album quietly collected dust. It wasn't until 1990 that two British soul collectors came upon the album while digging through Hamilton's vaults. Thus began the slow discovery of Little Ann, as several of her songs turned up on compilations by the U.K.'s respected Ace/Kent imprint. Bridgeforth died in 2003, but she lived long enough to see her career enjoy an unlikely resurrection; she was even flown out to the U.K. to perform to adoring fans.
This may sound like an odd thing to praise, but it's especially impressive how Little Ann can pull off a phrase as awkward to sing as "deep shadows." Try it — it hardly rolls off the tongue. Maybe the hook works because the bass line shifts from a minor to a major chord, sounding uncharacteristically hopeful even as Little Ann moans, "Lonely, lonely is the night." Whatever the magic is here, the moment feels surprisingly seductive. When she sings, "Deep shadows surround me," it's hard not to be pulled toward that darkness, just to be nearer to her.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126415299&sc=nl&cc=sod-20100430
Azar Lawrence - My first instrument technically was drums
My first instrument technically was drums, which I began playing at the age of 3. My first formal music lessons was playing violin. I played violin with the USC Jr. Orchestra beginning at age 5. I sang, performed, and studied music throughout elementary and middle school. I play soprano & alto sax, violin, as well as piano. I attended Dorsey High and worked with greats after leaving high school. My discography is vast and diverse due to my work on countless productions with musical greats.
I played on 6 continents by the age of 21. I released three albums before the age of twenty-five, Bridge into the New Age, People Moving, and Summer Solstice. I played for McCoy for five + years and Elvin Jones for 2 years. During the eighties I wrote and performed for Earth Wind & Fire, on many of their albums including the highly acclaimed release Powerlight.
Remember the horns blaring on Can't Hide Love....that would be me......I have been truly blessed to have been touched by the greats American music has to offer.....Hell Mile's used to come and check me out. When I was 17 I snuck into see Miles @ a Los Angeles club, and Mile's saved my butt from getting kicked out.....I've been blessed byhaving been in the company of great musical wisdom from a very young age that influences me to listen to the voice that summons me, the voice of music......
May 2010 19:30
Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts - "It’s Time" Max Roach Tribute New York, New York , US
7 May 2010 19:00
Tribeca Performing Arts Center - Lost Jazz Shrines Part 1: Celebrating Ali’s A New York, New York , US
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Corina Bartra new CD Release Afro Peruvian Jazz Celebration
A JOYOUS CELEBRATION
This CD includes recordings Corina did in Peru with some of the musicians she has worked for the last 9 years and tracks she recorded here in New York with top-notch players she has performed and recorded with these past years.
Afro-Peruvian rhythms and jazz. Spanish and English lyrics. Music from North America and South America. Originals and classics. Corina Bartra’s restless exploration of diverse musical idioms and locales over many years has now evolved beyond study and mastery of these forms into something new, in her fifth CD. To a celebration that synthesizes all she has learned from a lifelong engagement with the music she loves. Afro Peruvian Jazz Celebration embraces the driving rhythms of South American music—the lando, the festejo, the baiao—and links them with the ballads and standards of American jazz to make a joyous combination of the indigenous music of her native Peru and her adopted New York City.
http://www.bluespiralmusic.com/Afrojazz.html
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval,"Night in Tunisia"
This was a live recording of Dizzy and friends in Havana in 1985. "Night in Tunisia" was composed by Dizzy in 1942.
In 1n 1985, Dizzy Gillespie returned to Cuba after an absence of 40 years. He was one of the first American jazz musicians to add Afro-Cuban elements to his music, and Cubans to his big band. Most notably, in the 40s, was percussionist, Chano Pozo.
A then-young Arturo Sandoval (trumpet) and Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano) sit in with Dizzy's band. Bari sax player, Sayyd Abdul al-Khabbyr, is remarkable. Walter Davis is on in this number.Great fun!
World Saxophone Quartet – Hattie Wall
I really like the groove on this one.
The World Saxophone Quartet is a bad ass saxophone quartet that plays some crazy awesome music. Some of it is much crazier than this song too). They formed in 1977.
It started off with Julius Hemphill (alto and soprano saxophone, flute)
Oliver Lake (alto and soprano saxophone)
Hamiet Bluiett (baritone saxophone, alto clarinet)
David Murray (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet).
The lineup (in this video) is:
Hamiett Bluiett, Oliver Lake, James Carter and Greg Osby
http://www.saxstation.com/
Bebop Baroness....
Written by Moreen Murray
You have to love a film festival that feeds its patrons in line and has free samples of items like beauty products – at least in my experience. I should also mention that the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, which begins on April 19th, is known for screening great jazz documentaries. One I am looking forward to is “Jazz Baroness” about the legendary patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter – a member of the storied Rothschild clan, British branch.
Created in 2008 by her great niece Hannah Rothschild it explores the incredible relationships and mutual admiration between the glamourous baroness and her musician friends – a who's who of the jazz elite of the era including Charlie Parker and most significantly Thelonius Monk.
Born Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild , Pannonica or “Nica” as she was known inspired several jazz tunes including Monk’s “Pannonica”, Gigi Gryce’s “Nica’s Tempo” and one of my all time faves Horace Silver’s “Nica’s Dream”. Her exotic history includes a marriage to the Baron Jules de Koenigswater, a French hero of the resistance, and working for Charles de Gaulle during World War II.
The film is narrated by the fabulous Helen Mirren and interviews include Quincy Jones, Sir John Dankworth and Sonny Rollins, family members, writers and critics. By all accounts she also had an interesting childhood with a renowned scientist mother whose interests ranged from dragonflies to tennis competition. Part of her incredible legacy is the fact she documented her life and prestigious friends as a photographer. Recently a book was published – not seen as saleable in her lifetime - “Three Wishes – an Intimate Look at Jazz Greats”, where her circle of friends is asked for their proverbial three wishes and the answers are an interesting and insightful read.
She passed away at age 74 on November 30, 1988 but lives on every time you hear a tune in her honour. Reportedly named for an Eastern European plain, Monk claimed she was actually named for a species of butterfly – I like Monk’s version of the elegant soul whose passion brought beauty into many lives.
The film screens at the Al Green theatre on Monday, April 19th at 2:45 p.m. Contact http://www.tjff.com/ for more details on the other fine films being screened.
http://www.jazz.fm/content/view/3176/178/
Latin Jazz This Week
NEWS
All About Jazz published a nice feature on flautist Andrea Brachfeld this past week, taking a look back at this fine musician’s recorded career. The article goes back and does mini reviews of each album that Brachfeld has released as a leader, combined with small tidbits of historical facts. It’s a good article on an artist that deserves a lot more attention, so nice to see. You can check it out HERE.
Pianist Arturo O’Farrill will receive the 2010 Anthony D. Duke Founder’s Medal for his hard work and contributions to the continued livelihood of Latin Jazz. The medal is presented to individuals “who follow in the tradition of Boys & Girls Harbor’s remarkable founder Anthony “Tony” Drexel Duke by advocating and working to advance the American dream of equal access to quality education cultural enrichment and opportunity for all” - sounds like O’Farrill. The pianist and bandleader that works tirelessly to promote this art form will receive this honor at a ceremony in June - get the full scoop HERE.
Trumpet player Gabriel Alegria and his Afro-Peruvian Jazz Sextet will be releasing Pucusana independently and they are currently fronting a fund raising drive to support the promotion and distribution of the album. The group will be utilizing a unique fundraising site, Kickstarter, as the home base for their efforts. You can head over and donate as little as $10 to their cause - or as much as you’d like. Each level of contribution comes with an attached reward, ranging from unreleased recordings to a personal concert from the sextet. It’s a great way to support the growth of Afro-Peruvian Jazz, so head over to Alegria’s Kickstarter site and donate now!
Those of you in the New York area have an opportunity to catch Latin Jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda in concert at Lincoln Center April 29th - May 1st. The innovative musician and his trio will be opening for the Yellowjackets and Mike Stern in what promises to be an unforgettable evening. Latin Jazz Corner readers get a special deal that will get you into the concert at a discounted price. Just head over to the Lincoln Center website to purchase tickets and enter the special discount code “GUITAR” - this will get you $20 tickets! That’s a great price, you can’t miss this one. Buy tickets HERE.
Thanks to Bobby Sanabria for clarifying some information about Candido Camero for me in relation to this past week’s article. The important conguero arrived in the States in 1946, much earlier than the 1952 date that I attributed in the article. He also gave me some great info about Camero’s contributions to the art form that I’ll be sharing later in the week. I’m once again reminded, we are so lucky to have Sanabria as a major supporter of Latin Jazz!
http://www.chipboaz.com/blog/2010/04/26/latin-jazz-this-week-111/
Lissy Walker is a jazz singer, but her wide-ranging musical interests
Lissy Walker is a jazz singer, but her wide-ranging musical interests set her apart from your average chanteuse. She’s been an actress and singer for most of her life and brings a dramatic sensibility to her jazz vocals with nuances of folk, pop, and country in her performances. “When I started working on the arrangements for Life Is Sweet I chose songs by writers like Harry Nilsson, and Randy Newman because they’re the songwriters I love, along with writers we readily associate with The Great American Songbook, as well as a few from across the pond, like Ray Davies and Nick Drake.”
"I tend toward happy melodies with sad lyrics or vice versa, tunes that look at both sides of the coin. Several songs deal with mortality, or the ache of a broken heart, but the underlying theme of the album is redemption. How love affects our ability to embrace life and acknowledge the limitations of existence, and that beauty can be found in melancholy. The idea that a broken heart is better than no heart at all.”
Walker produced Life Is Sweet with bassist Jon Evans (Tori Amos, Spencer Day). The arrangements are by Walker and pianist John R. Burr. Drummer Scott Amendola (Madeleine Peyroux) and Grammy nominated guitarist Scott Nygaard complete the basic quartet. Cellist Philip Worman, organ player Julie Wolf (Ani Di Franco), trumpeter Steven Bernstein (Rufus Wainwright), and Dave Ellis on sax added discreet overdubs. “We left room in the arrangements for improvisation,” Walker says. “We worked out the feel of the songs, coming up with specific interpretations, the intros and endings, and then let the ideas flow.”
Walker’s burnished vocals have a hint of restrained passion that suggests country music, but her phrasing, which dances around before and after the beat, is pure jazz. Her low-key approach is folky at times, but raw emotion lurks just beneath the surface, adding an alluring tension to her performances.
“In the 7th Grade, I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream and decided I wanted to be an actress. I went to the Young Conservatory at ACT in San Francisco. At Berkeley High School, I studied classical music and appeared in musical productions. At choir rehearsals, I could hear the jazz band down the hall. I asked the jazz teacher, Phil Hardymon, if I could sing with the jazz band and he put together a combo with some of his students.” They performed to great success at the school and got a few gigs around town.
Walker went on to study theatre and voice at UCLA, then attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School Of The Theatre in New York, studying singing, dance, and acting with Sanford Meisner, the school’s founder. After graduation, Walker became a regular player with the Home for Contemporary Theater and Art. She appeared in The School For Jolly Dogs, a revue based on English Music Hall songs and Charles Mee’s The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem, which was picked up by Joseph Papp’s Public Theater. Walker was reviewed favorably in the New York Times.
After eight years in New York, Walker and her husband, cellist Philip Worman, moved back to San Francisco. She appeared in the award-winning productions of Tom Jones and The Sea Plays and ACT’s critically acclaimed Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Walker never stopped singing, however. She took classes at Berkeley’s Jazzschool, learning to write her own charts and create arrangements. With the help of her teacher Maye Cavallaro, she made connections in the Bay Area’s jazz community. She began to develop her folk/jazz approach to arranging and singing. Gigs at local clubs and events got positive feedback. Fellow musicians encouraged her to go into the recording studio. Local singer/songwriter, Alexis Harte suggested Jon Evans as producer. “I met Jon and we clicked. We talked about doing a jazz album with folk and pop elements, to bring together all the music I love. He suggested (pianist) John R [Burr], (drummer) Scott Amendola and a few of the other players. I wanted people who had range, for an eclectic mix of styles.”
The result is a quiet classic, with the musicians placing their restrained virtuosity in the service of Walker’s subtle vocals to deliver an album that keeps revealing its emotional and musical intensity with repeated listenings.
Influences
Ella Fitzgerald, Aimee Mann, Karrin Allyson, Karen Carpenter, Blossom Dearie, The Weepies, Rufus Wainwright, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Keren Ann, David Bowie, Jon Brion, Ray Davies, Nick Drake, A Fine Frenzy, Lavender Diamond, Leonard Bernstein, Erik Satie, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Harry Nilsson.
Andrea Brachfeld Video of Four Corners at LP studios
This is a new composition by Andrea Brachfeld featuring tabla player extraordinaire , Naren Budhakar.
The 27th edition of Jazz em Agosto once more brings to Lisbon the other side of jazz
It is in this space of independence and resistance that Jazz em Agosto 2010 presents, in the open-air amphitheatre, two historic figures of contemporary jazz who establish a peculiar and rare dialogue, the saxophone and clarinet player John Surman and the drummer and pianist Jack DeJohnette, a veteran duo that takes us to the sonic ambience of electronics.
The British saxophone player Evan Parker gets on stage with his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, through which along the last decade he has ventured to explore the limits of electronic music and of improvisation. This time, the band is bigger than ever – 18 musicians – with solo musicians like Peter Evans, Agustí Fernández, Paul Lytton, Richard Barrett and Ikue Mori taking part in a multimedia concert where images and music establish a dialogue.
The quintet of the French clarinet player Louis Sclavis presents us their most recent project, Lost on the Way, inspired by Homer’s Odissey, a musical journey that highlights Sclavis’ uniqueness and approaches us of the universes of Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy, revealing us a new generation of French jazz.
Circulasione Totale Orchestra, founded by the saxophone and clarinet player Frode Gjerstad and featuring musicians like Louis Moholo, Paal Nilssen-Love, Sabir Mateen, Bobby Bradford and Kevin Norton, forms a multinational and multidimensional orchestra that has gone through two decades in continuous evolution, congregating generations and celebrating a libertarian and festive improvisation.
Still in the open-air amphitheatre, the trio Steamboat Switzerland and Luc Ex’s sextet Sol 6 will showcase peculiar developments in the ways of contemporary jazz: the first evolves around a formula called power trio as it evokes free rock alongside with jazz on a Hammond B-3 organ complemented by a rhythm section; the latter combines jazz and radical improvisation with punk and groove, syncopated with non-conventional songs.
Jazz em Agosto 2010 is completed by the presentation of the following concerts and complementary activities:
Open Speech Trio, a formation dominated by the distinguished flutist Carlos Bechegas, pioneer of Portuguese musical improvisation with a vast projection abroad, who in his most recent project pushes the limits of his instrument.
The pianist Guus Janssen and the drummer Han Bennink, legendary figures from the Amsterdam jazz scene, in an intimate yet extraverted dialogue.
From Lisbon, Red Trio, piano/contrabass/drums, a classic jazz formation of recent notoriousness that explores a less conventional way, based on the prepared piano.
Establishing possible contrasts, a second piano/contrabass/drums trio, Pat Thomas / Raymond Strid / Clayton Thomas, improvisers of repute, emphasizes creative interactions.
The documentary film Hazentijd by Jellie Dekker, on the universe of the drummer Han Bennink, who has dedicated his life to music and painting, emphasizing the duality of the world he inhabits between Nature and Metropolis.
Die Posaune des Jazz [The Trombone of Jazz] by Thorsten Jess, a movie that remembers one of the major trombone players in European jazz, Albert Mangelsdorff (1928-2005), in a document that reveals the new ways inaugurated by this musician, consecrated by the new instrumental techniques he explored.
European jazz and American jazz; a never interrupted dialogue is the motto of a lecture given by the Italian journalist, critic and theoretic Francesco Martinelli on the nature of this year’s programming.
06/08, friday 6 August 2010, 21:30 — Anfiteatro ao Ar Livre
John Surman (uk)
Jack DeJohnette (eua)
Two historic figures of contemporary jazz who along the two last decades have been cultivating the introspective form of duet. The impression left behind by both in various celebrated contexts, past and present, makes this dialogue peculiar and rare, confirmed on only two records and sporadic public appearances. Two organic musicians whose imagination runs through the legacy of jazz while subtly transforming and boosting it in an electronic spider web.
07/08, saturday 7 August 2010, 18:30 — Auditório 3
“Hazentijd” on Han Bennink
In a movie its authors want to be a bird’s eye view on the artistic growth of this unique drummer, banner of an aesthetics, besides his relevant musical beginnings, we also get acquainted with his visual oeuvre, which emphasizes the duality of the world he inhabits, in counterpoint between Nature and Metropolis.
07/08, saturday 7 August 2010, 21:30 — Anfiteatro ao Ar Livre
Steamboat Switzerland (switzerland / greece)
Adept of Brute Art, this provocative and torrid trio is nonetheless meticulous in its progression, catalyzed by the characteristic Hammond B-3 organ and complemented by a herculean rhythm section. Perambulating along the boundaries of rock, the austere music of the trio evokes memories of four decades of jazz deviations.
08/08, sunday 8 August 2010, 15:30 — Auditório 2
Open Speech Trio (portugal / austria)
A prime musician on the Portuguese national scene of improvised music and one of its pioneers, a prolific flutist, detonator of landmark international events, Carlos Bechegas finds in this intimate association a vehicle to convey his vision, where electronics and experimentation are preponderant.
08/08, sunday 8 August 2010, 18:30 — Auditório 2
Guus Janssen (netherlands)
Han Bennink (netherlands)
Two landmarks of the lively improvisational scene from Amsterdam, called New Dutch Swing, who boast consumed empathy of a strong jubilatory sense and wisely balance standstill with explosion. An encyclopedic knowledge of jazz percussions allied to a prodigiously played piano, producing swing as well as spontaneous composition, tending towards abstraction and even satire, are some of their main assets.
08/08, sunday 8 August 2010, 21:30 — Anfiteatro ao Ar Livre
Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, (uk /usa /japan /spain /netherlands /italy)
Evan Parker’s innovations in the field of electro-acoustics keep on expanding ever since his premonitory sextet of 1997. In this concert, the recent version of the EAE reaches its paroxysm of 18 per se superlative musicians and a video dimension. The plethora of sounds of the collective marries technology and conventional instrumentation with clarity, the saxophonist conceptual exhibition.
13/08, friday 13 August 2010, 21:30 — Anfiteatro ao Ar Livre
Louis Sclavis Lost On The Way france
Complex, cerebral, angular melodic lines define Sclavis’ language on the clarinet, endowing him with a recognized musical identity, not far at all from the American patterns. Following others, the recent project, inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, which has Ulysses as its central figure and reveals a new generation of French jazz, proves that its relentless aspirations keep on proving their validity.
14/08, saturday 14 August 2010, 17:00 — Auditório 3
“Die Posaune des Jazz” The Trombone of Jazz
Albert Mangelsdorff
An icon to European and world jazz by his definitive contribution to the expanded trombone techniques, Albert Mangelsdorff (1928-2005) was an active party of the most prominent avant-garde jazz performances starting back in the 1960s. This movie documents rigorously the splendorous artistic career of a paramount musician.
14/08, saturday 14 August 2010, 18:30 — Auditório 2
Red Trio (portugal)
A Portuguese trio, recently arrived on the scene, exploits with a mix of invention and audacity the consecrated formula piano/contrabass/drums, while doing which it maintains evident ties with jazz and cultivates non-orthodox instrumental techniques; the exploits, boasting a solid balance, reveal new sonic horizons.
14/08, saturday 14 August 2010, 21:30 — Auditório ao Ar Livre
Sol 6 (netherlands / germany / uk / australia)
The new project signed Luc Ex synthesizes a vast experience of musical situations lived all along his career and materializes in a hybrid chamber music group where various genres cohabit: cabaret, punk, groove, jazz and improvisation. With an unusual instrumental organization, the sextet is singular with its astringent lyricism which is constantly fractured by incursions on the outside of norms.
15/08, sunday 15 August 2010, 17:00 — Auditório 3
European jazz and American jazz; an uninterrupted dialogue lecture by francesco martinelli. (italy)
A journalist, a historian, a producer and a promoter, Francesco Martinelli, born in Pisa (1954), where he graduated in Chemistry, has a vast record of published texts on ways of thinking contemporary jazz in a more profound manner. This lecture, based on a permanent exchange between two continents, lays out and justifies the conception of the programming of Jazz em Agosto 2010.
15/08, sunday 15 August 2010, 18:30 — Auditório 2
Pat Thomas (sweden)
Raymond Strid (uk)
Clayton Thomas (australia)
Three notorious and recognized improvisers for whom jazz is not far away and who, by way of the classic trio, in profound interaction and driven by a continuous creative stimulus, assume their marked personalities as a whole.
15/08, sunday 15 August 2010, 21:30 — Anfiteatro ao Ar Livre
Circulasione Totale Orchestra (norway / sweden / south africa / usa / uk)
Founded in 1984 by Frode Gjerstad, CTO is a multinational and multidimensional collective that reunites generations and thrives under the sign of permanent free evolution. The excellence of its musicians, among whom we find historic figures side by side with an already recognized young generation, gives form to a body which is thoroughly organized, yet capable of all transgressions, whilst its powerful and expansive character gives form to an adequate closing event for Jazz em Agosto 2010.
fundação calouste gulbenkian (bookstore), Av. de Berna, 45A, 1067-001 Lisboa, Tel.: +351 21 782 3627 - Monday to Saturday, 10h00 to 17:45; open until 18h30 on concert days at Auditório 2
At 89, jazz legend Dave Brubeck keeps his chops fit
Dave Brubeck is a master at multi-tasking. Just take a look at his exercise room, where you'll find an electric keyboard mounted on his treadmill. "I'm so busy, I'm just trying to keep up with the mail," Brubeck joked during an interview from his Wilton home last week. "The only way I (have the time to) practice and exercise is to have an electric piano at shoulder level. Otherwise, I wouldn't get any exercise."
Indeed, the act of multi-tasking is a necessity for the jazz legend who, at the age of 89, is still touring and composing. Despite his busy schedule, Brubeck was gracious enough to make time for an interview regarding his upcoming performance with The Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Palace Theater. He also will be honored with the Stamford Center for the Arts' first-ever Arts Legacy Award for his contributions to music education.
Take 5: Five questions for Dave Brubeck
You have received many awards, but the Stamford Center for the Arts Legacy Award is one of the few given by a local arts institution. What does this award mean to you?
It's important to me to receive this award. I'm always going to Washington, D.C. A lot of times I'll be in Europe. To have it at home is really nice.
Speaking of Europe, what was it like travelling there as part of President Dwight Eisenhower's cultural exchange program during the 1950s? What kind of impact do you think it had?
http://www.ctpost.com/entertainment/article/At-89-jazz-legend-Dave-Brubeck-keeps-his-chops-464988.php
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Jazz lofts as they used to be....
Composer Steve Reich said, "Without John Coltrane, there would be no minimalism." The topic was Hall Overton, the man who arranged Monk's music, treating jazz as contemporary "classical" composition. The occasion was a panel discussion sprung from an exhibit at the NY Public Library of the Performing Arts about the Jazz Loft hosted by photographer W. Eugene Smith from 1955-1964 (this is Smith's shot of Overton with Monk in the Loft).
Reich, one of the four American composers (with Terry Riley, La Monte Young and Philip Glass) commonly credited with minimalism's radical break from 12-tone serialism, avowed that saxophonist Coltrane was the pioneer in elaborating on the potential of single chord for half an hour, employing rhythmic complexity, timbral variety and melodic invention rather than complex, far-reaching harmonic systems to sustain listener interest. His explanation was by way of saying that under the tutelage of Hall Overton, a minor composer but major mid-20th century New York City composition teacher, the gulf between jazz and contemporary composition was not ideological but a practical matter to be bridged.
Reich knows, because like his fellow panelist Carman Moore and several other '60s genre-defiers, he studied with Overton at the Loft. The lessons which eventually led Reich from his boyhood interest in the foundational bebop drumming of Kenny Clarke to "Drumming," a breakthrough composition on the subtle evolution of rhythmic complexity from an initially simply pattern.
The relationship of jazz such as Coltrane was exploring in his turn to modes (after having pushed chord progression-based songs to an evident limit with his 1959 piece "Giant Steps") to the formalized paring down of melodic/harmonic cells that exemplifies minimalism may seem counterintuitive. Coltrane's sound on works such as "Africa Brass," "Impressions" (below, with alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy) and his interpretations of "My Favorite Things" is sprawling, jagged, intense, expressionistic.
Minimalism, on the other hand, was received by in its early stages as simplistic, static, repetitious and mathematical -- or, due largely to Terry Riley's composition "In C" and record album A Rainbow in Curved Air, communitarian and psychedelic. In the course of the past 50 years, the steady pulsations, consonant harmonies, cellular structures and extended time durations that Reich, Riley, Glass and Young along with diverse European composers established have proved capacious enough to frame a broad range of emotive content.
And the hybridization of jazz and "classical" musics, simultaneous with a breakdown of barriers in audiences simply looking for varieties of enjoyable, enriching music, has continued unabated. The NYPL for the Performing Arts panel was moderated by pianist Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus, who added personal appreciation and insights about Overton's composition "Polarities No. 1." No one was shocked that the brainy guy at the core of jazz's most popular power trio would be interested in abstract written music. Who says we can only like one kind of sonic construction? By what authority are hierarchies of artistic initiatives decreed?
At the Jazz Loft, everybody mixed up everything. That spirit of adventure continued at Manhattan lofts such as Studio Rivbea, Ladies Fort, Ali's Alley and Cobi Narita's Jazz Center of New York into the 1980s. A few such places popped up throughout Manhattan's real estate's go-go decades, and today a couple of them (most notably the Jazz Gallery) continue.
The lofts, often artist-run, offer ambiance much different than in nightclubs and concert hall, sustaining the ethos of experimentation and exhibition of what's new. It's a pleasure to visit them for a night of music that's a step or two removed from obvious commercial imperatives. Places where cultures clash and ideas co-mingle remain the breeding ground for things to come. If only there were most spaces encouraging such freedom.
http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2010/04/jazz_lofts_aint_what_they_used.html
Rozanne Levine & Chakra Tuning at Yippie Cafe, NYC, May 7
ROZANNE LEVINE - alto clarinet, clarinet, bamboo flute, compositions
PERRY ROBINSON - clarinets
MARK WHITECAGE - clarinet, soprano sax
ROSI HERTLEIN - violin, voice
DATE: Friday, May 7
VENUE: Yippie Museum Cafe, in Greenwich Village at 9 Bleecker Street between Bowery and Elizabeth Street, New York City, Telephone: (212)677-5918
SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM - two sets
Speaking of clarinetist and composer Rozanne Levine's latest recording, Cadence music critic Phillip McNally acknowledges her as a “mature artist" making a “powerful statement" - an artist who has “labored long and hard at [her] craft, found [her] individual voice." She focuses on guided improvisations and compositions that allow for creative input from her musicians, and cherishes intuitive organic communication in her music. Sonic conversations emerge and develop as Chakra Tuning explores textures, sonorities and space. The music weaves in and out of melodies, exploring rhythms, moods and inner space in a transforming, unfolding journey.
Ms. Levine performs on alto clarinet, clarinet and bamboo flute, and her long-time band mate Mark Whitecage joins her on clarinet and soprano sax. Adding their totally original voices to Chakra Tuning are clarinetist Perry Robinson and violinist/vocalist Rosi Hertlein.
Ms. Levine draws inspiration for her compositions from various myths, cosmologies, spiritual traditions and current events, out of which she and her band mates weave a musical tapestry. Bird whistles, ocarinas, half horns, indian rattles, percussion and storytelling play a part in the group sound. Chakra Tuning released their highly-praised debut CD, Only Moment, in June 2009, on Ms. Levine and Mr. Whitecage's label, Acoustics.
All the members of Chakra Tuning are acclaimed composers and bandleaders. Rozanne Levine has worked with dancers, poets, actors, sound sculptors, in bands large and small, and with some of the most creative musicians on both coasts, including Anthony Braxton, William Parker, Jason Kao Hwang, The New Reed Quartet, Mark Whitecage and the Bi-Coastal Orchestra, and the Improvisors Collective Orchestra, among others.
Mark Whitecage is internationally known as an innovative instrumentalist and composer in the fields of jazz and new music. He has performed internationally and recorded with some of the leading artists of our time, including Jeanne Lee, Anthony Braxton, Jacques Coursil, The Nu Band, Drunk Butterfly, Gunter Hampel, Mario Pavone, Joe McPhee, William Parker, Marshall Allen and Steve Swell.
Perry Robinson is a master of the clarinet in jazz, folk and avant-garde music who has worked with everyone from Dave Brubeck and Bill Dixon to Pete Seeger, George Clinton, Badal Roy and Anthony Braxton; and Rosi Hertlein is a breathtaking improviser on both violin and voice who has performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor, Pauline Oliveros, Joe McPhee, Joe Giardullo, Ivo Perelman, Wendy Osserman Dance Company, and Howard Johnson, to name a few. Ms. Hertlein is also an experienced educator currently teaching in the New York City area.
Mr. Waltzer, the pianist, manages a thoughtful modernism that coexists....
Mr. Waltzer, the pianist, manages a thoughtful modernism that coexists more than peaceably with a buoyant, unselfconscious sense of swing; his trio...is first-rate. - New York Times Ben Waltzer is from Lansing, Michigan and attended the Interlochen Arts Academy where he won awards from Downbeat magazine and the National Association of Jazz Educators.
He then enrolled in a double-degree program at the New England Conservatory -- where he studied with pianists Geri Allen and Bevan Manson, and saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre -- and Tufts University. In 1991 Ben transferred to Harvard University to study American History and Literature. While at Harvard, he wrote a thesis on the jazz historian, essayist and novelist Albert Murray.
Later that year, Ben moved to Barcelona for eight months to perform and teach jazz. While there he recorded Jazz is Where You Find It: Live at the Pipa Club with the tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry, bassist Alexis Cuadrado and drummer Jo Krause which 'Cuadernos De Jazz' named the third-best worldwide jazz release of 1997. Cadence magazine called his next record, In Metropolitan Motion, (2000) a winner because it 'revels in the jazz tradition rather than exploits it'.
Allaboutjazz.com referred to it as an inspired statement. JazzTimes magazine hailed it the strongest of Fresh Sound's then latest releases. In addition to his jazz career, Ben has recently delved into the world of television, serving as musical director for, and appearing as a regular on, celebrity designer Isaac Mizrahi's weekly television program on the Oxygen network. On the show he has performed with The Gogos, Jennifer Holiday, Huey Lewis, Valerie Harper, Elmo, Lauren Ambrose (from HBOs 'Six Feet Under'), Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior from 'The Sopranos'), Christine Ebersole ('42nd Street'), Bebe Nuewirth, Kristin Chenoweth, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson and many others.
Ben composed the show's theme as well as music for Isaac's most recent Target commercial. A new Mizrahi series is currently shooting at E! Entertainment and features Ben as musical director. Ben recently toured the US and Europe with the vocalist and rising star, Madeleine Peyroux. He is an Adjunct Lecturer in Jazz Performance at Columbia University, a faculty member at the Maine Jazz Camp, and has written about jazz for The New York Times, JAZZIZ, the Newark Star Ledger, and other publications. Ben is a 2004 recipient of both Chamber Music America's New Works grant and the CMA/ASCAP Award for Jazz Ensemble. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Yasmin Spiro, and their daughter, Bella.
Influences
Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Hank Jones, Herbie Hancock, Bud Powell, Wynton Kelly, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner, Jaki Byard, Mulgrew Miller, Michael Kanan
Monday, April 26, 2010
Frank "Sugarchile" Robinson - Caldonia
SUGAR CHILE ROBINSON (By Dave Penny)
Born Frank Robinson, 1940, Detroit, Michigan
The history of 20th century entertainment is littered with child prodigies; from Shirley Temple in the 1930s, Toni Harper in the 1940s and Frankie Lymon in the 1950s. On the whole, although precociously talented, child entertainers were usually saddled with inferior, childish material that, while perhaps cute at the time, were usually novelty acts that grew tiresome pretty quickly. Some couldn't handle the swift drop in popularity and turned to drink or drugs, while others retired gracefully and concentrated their energies in other directions.
One such was that tiny bundle of Detroit dynamite, "Sugar Chile" Robinson. Born Frankie Robinson, the youngest of six children, in Detroit in 1940, "Sugar Chile" began pounding on the family piano as a toddler - he reputedly banged out a recognisable version of Erskine Hawkins' Tuxedo Junction at the age of two - and by 1945 he had been "discovered" by pianist and bandleader Frankie Carle. Within a year he was asked to play at a Whitehouse party for President Harry Truman, had guested with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra and even appeared performing the title song in the 1946 MGM romantic comedy film "No Leave, No Love".
It was not until July 1949, however, that he made his first records for the Capitol label, when, in the consummate company of jazz veterans Leonard Bibbs on bass and drummer Zutty Singleton, Robinson took his first two releases into the Billboard R&B chart in late 1949; Numbers Boogie made it to number four, while Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head So Hard) only reached number 14. His subsequent national tour broke box-office records eve rywhere and it is claimed that his appearance at Chicago's Regal Theatre remains the biggest one-week attraction of the theatre's entire history, easily beating the jazz royalty of the day like Count Basie and Duke Ellington.
Robinson toured with Basie in 1950 and made a celebrated musical short with the Basie Sextet and Billie Holiday in Hollywood in August to showcase his hits. The Christmas season of 1950 witnessed Sugar Chile's first European release and Christmas Boogie c/w Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer sold well enough to spark a European tour in 1951, including rave reviews for his spot at the London Palladium. He was a big hit on US radio and TV all through 1951 and then, while still in his pre-teens, Robinson's career was suddenly over; his last single release was issued in August 1952, shortly followed by a 10" compilation LP of boogie woogie that featured many of his 1952 recordings.
Apart from a few radio transcriptions and film soundtracks, "Sugar Chile" Robinson's complete recording career - a period of just under three years - has been reissued in its entirety on one 2003 CD compilation, "Chronological Classics 1949-52". If he really was only nine years old at the time, the performances from his first session such as Vooey, Vooey Vay, Caldonia and Numbers Boogie were quite astonishing.
As with other child stars, like Toni Harper, Robinson was frequently burdened with immature material, but even nursery rhyme knock-offs such as Sticks And Stones, Christmas Boogie and (Rock-A-Bye) Baby Blues were transformed into entertaining performances with hip and clever touches. The youngster acquitted himself as a pianist exceptionally well on the few instrumentals, particularly Lazy Boy's Boogie, and for variety he occasionally switched to organ or celeste on later sessions.
Once the hits had dried up and he was released from his Capitol Records contract, there were one or two more reports in the trade papers of the day - he was reported in August 1954 as playing The Blue Note in Chicago with modern jazzer Gerry Mulligan (!) - and then nothing! What happened? Did his voice break? Did the novelty of an infant boogie virtuoso suddenly lose its appeal when he hit 12? Was he really found out to be an adolescent midget in disguise? Last year it was announced that a 62 year-old "Sugar Chile" Robinson had been rediscovered living in Detroit, where he has worked mainly outside music for almost 50 years (although he is rumoured to be the same Frank Robinson who co-owned the obscure Detroit-based soul label, Lando Records, in the 1960s) , and was brought out of retirement to pound the ivories once again at a music festival which celebrated pre-Motown music from the Motor City. The internet has been strangely silent since, so I am unsure whether the festiva l even took place. Does anybody know?
CD: The Chronological Sugar Chile Robinson, 1949-1952 (Classics 5052, released in 2003). 24 tracks.
Tomasz Stanko was 20 and a graduate of the Cracow Music Academy when he formed his first band
Tomasz Stanko was 20 and a graduate of the Cracow Music Academy when he formed his first band, the Jazz Darings, with pianist Adam Makowicz in 1962. Inspired by early Ornette Coleman and the innovations of Coltrane, Miles Davis and George Russell, the group is often cited by music historians as the first European group to play free jazz, but for the trumpeter its importance was eclipsed by the invitation to join Krzystof Komedaís quintet the following year.
Stanko has acknowledged that much of his subsequent musical direction and his own compositional style was influenced by Komeda. ìThe lyricism, the feeling of playing only the essential, the approach to structure, to asymmetry, many harmonic details ñ I was so lucky that I started out with him.î Stanko toured for five years with Komeda, appeared on eleven albums with him, and also made contributions to all of the films scores that Komeda realized in Poland.
In 1970, Stanko joined Alex Schlippenbachís Globe Unity Orchestra, which brought him into contact with all the key figures of the European jazz avant-garde, and also formed a quintet, with violinist Zbiegniew Seifert. The following year he collaborated with Krysztof Penderecki and Don Cherry. His most important work of the 1970s, however, may have been with Finnish drummer Edward Vesala. Their series of quartet albums, of which ìBalladynaî was the first, set some new directions with explorations of the free ballad, graced by soulful, grainy trumpet, and Stanko also made important contributions to Vesalaís ìTogetherî album, a massed gathering of Nordic/Baltic improvisers.
During the 1980s Tomasz Stanko explored many approaches to improvisation. He travelled with Vesala to India and recorded trumpet solos in the Taj Mahal; again with Vesala, he hooked up with Chico Freeman and Howard Johnson in New York. He worked extensively with Cecil Taylor in large ensemble contexts, and led a number of groups of his own, such as COCX, which deployed post-ìBitches Brewî rock-rhythms, and Freelectronic, an ahead-of-its-time exploration of electro-acoustic options. ìBluishî, a trio recording with Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen preceded a return to ECM.
Since resuming his association with ECM with "Matka Joanna" in 1994 (his first album as a leader for the label in 20 years), Tomasz Stanko has reached a new audience with his work. Two recordings with his international quartet with Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin, and Tony Oxley, were followed by a highly successful tribute to film music composer and mentor Krzysztof Komeda in 1997.
Stanko's "Litania" project became a popular fixture on the international festival circuit. In 1998, producer Manfred Eicher assembled a trans-idiomatic band around the trumpeter for "From The Green Hill", a recording which pooled the talents of Dino Saluzzi, John Surman, Michelle Makarski, Anders Jormin and Jon Christensen. The "Green Hill" album won the coveted German Critics Prize (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis) as Album of the Year in 2000.
All of the above had been, as it were, events on the main stage. Concurrently, however, Tomasz Stanko maintained a Polish quartet, which now became a priority for him. Pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz were already working together as a (very) young trio when Stanko first heard them at the beginning of the 1990s, and in 1994 they began to work together, initially on theatre music, some of which was recorded for the Polish Govi label. They quickly developed into his band of choice for all Polish engagements, working with him on theatre and film music initially. Pianist, bassist and drummer have also built up a reputation as a unit in their own right, working under the name Simple Acoustic Trio.” "Soul of Things" is the quartet's first record release.
"Soul of Things" is essential Stanko, the trumpeter playing with that dark, intense tone that is so immediately identifiable. The programme on this occasion is a balladesque suite, brimming over with Slavic lyricism, and simply titled "Soul of Things", Variation 1-13. The music makes allusion, in passing, to themes Stanko has contributed to Polish film, and other pieces of his, including the classic "Maldoror's War Song" are also quoted, but as Stanko says, tongue only partly in cheek, "I've been playing the same song my whole life." Titles, in other words, are after the fact; what matters is the emotional depth, and this has been a constant through the different phases and forms that Stanko's music has taken over the years.
There is a "timeless" feel to "Soul of Things" that relates to Stanko's roots as a player; this forward-looking trumpet player is also looking back here. His all-inclusive music on this occasion seems to connect with early influences. While sounding unmistakably like himself he also triggers memories of his first heroes.
Herb Alpert rescues Harlem School of the Arts
Trumpeter Herb Alpert's foundation kicks in $500,000 to sustain a failing Harlem arts school -- more philanthropy from the Tijuana Brassman hailed by Jazz Journalists Association last year for his great good works. Why aren't there more like Herb?
Alpert, named in 2009 to the JJA's "A Team" of activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz, created one of the most successful instrumental pop sounds in recording history in the early '60s with his mariachi-inspired and rhythmically driven versions of songs including "A Taste of Honey," "What Now My Love" and Nat Adderley's "Work Song."
Last year Alpert, age 75, released an album titled Anything Goes which features his wife singer Lani Hall and Monk's "Misterioso" cleverly undergirding the opening track ("Fascinating Rhythm"). That's jazz-beyond-jazz.
But as a straightahead funder of the arts, Alpert established the Dizzy Gillespie Chair in Music and Recording Studio at California Institute of the Arts, founded and endowed the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA, has provided financial assistance to public education from pre-K to 12th grade, now including the privately-run Harlem School of the Arts. According to a report in the New York Post, insurance magnate Hank Greenberg's Starr Foundation contributed $250,000 and hip-hopper Mary J. Blige is organizing a musical benefit. NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg held a press conference to announce all this, (pictured), and said regarding the identity of two anonymous donors that they were "not me."
All's well that ends well? How 'bout we survey privately run art schools across the U.S. for under-served populations, and come up with a strategy for firming up their financial bases? Sounds like a job for the NEA, at least to start, or in part.
http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2010/04/herb_alpert_rescues_harlem_sch.html
Sonny Rollins Elected Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
By Aubrey Everett
Saxophonist Sonny Rollins has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The prestigious society, now in its 230th year, is inducting 229 leaders in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, business and public affairs fields. Rollins and the others will be recognized at a ceremony on Oct. 9 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.
Photp: John Abbott
Rollins was nominated by Academy member Dr. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, a neuroscientist and amateur saxophonist based in Minneapolis, Minn. Fellow 2010 inductees include Francis Ford Coppola, Denzel Washington and Metropolitan Opera founder and artistic director Thomas Hampson. Other inductees include various Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellows and Grammy, Tony and Oscar Award winners.
Members of the Academy, which conducts independent policy research, are “thinkers and doers” who are selected for their contributions to society at large.
http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/25998-sonny-rollins-elected-member-of-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences
Alaska Jazz Workshop
The Alaska Jazz Workshop is a non-profit organization designed to teach young people jazz. Based at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, professional jazz musicians take time to pass on their skills and knowledge to the next generation so that the heartbeat of jazz will will keep on beating and more young people will live fuller lives.
Summer 2010 Jazz Camp dates
July 12-17th > featuring AJW Instructors: John Damberg, Kerry Maule & Mark Manners
August 9-14th > featuring Rebeca Mauleon : internationally acclaimed musician, bandleader, composer, GRAMMY-nominated producer and educator. As a pianist Mauleon follows a long-standing tradition of Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz performers. Her expertise in Afro-Caribbean and Latin American music places her at the forefront of the musicological community.
Basic information & applications for Summer 2010 Jazz Camps coming to the website late April 2010!
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=54690
BOSSABRASIL Festival at Birdland June 8-12
EMILIO SANTIAGO, vocalist, soulful and sophisticated, from Rio De Janeiro, returns to Birdland by popular Demand joined by major composer/keyboardist, MARCOS VALLE, also from Rio. Santiago is an excellent interpreter of the samba/bossa nova sound and is considered one of Brazil’s most important romantic interpreters. He has worked alongside other jazz greats such as Caetano Velosa, Joao Donato, and Azymuth and has garnered six platinum records, seven gold, and the important Sharp Prize in Brazil.
MARCOS VALLE is without doubt one of the major songwriters of Brazilian popular music with over 300 compositions and rankedin Brazil alongside legendary composers such as Irving Berlin, Burt Bacharach, and Leonard Bernstein. His songs have been recorded by Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ramsey Lewis, Dave Brubeck, Toots Thielemans, Joe Pass, Bebel Gilberto, Joe Willians, Sergio Mendes, Flora Purim, Joao Donato, Eliane Elias …and more. Valle has received a prestigious BMI Award in Brazil for “Samba de Verao”, a recognition only so far awarded to Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius De Morais for “Girl From Ipanema”.His songbook consisting of his biggest successes included renowned singers Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania, Chico Buarque and others.
EMILIO SANTIAGO and MARCOS VALLE will arrive from Rio to share their enormous talent at Birdland June 8-12 in a rare musical experience. They will be accompanied by a top Band consisting of SERGIO BRANDAO on Bass – also serving as Music Director, ERNESTO SIMPSON on Piano, KLAUS MEULLER on Drums and CAFÉ on Percussion. Join us at Birdland for a blend of samba, soul, romance, hip-grooving melodies, sophisticated and swinging!
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
Frederick Eugene John "Gene" Lees (February 8, 1928 – April 22, 2010) was a Canadian music critic
Frederick Eugene John "Gene" Lees (February 8, 1928 – April 22, 2010) was a Canadian music critic, biographer, lyricist, and former journalist. Lees worked as a newspaper journalist in his native Canada before moving to the United States where he was a music critic and lyricist. His lyrics for Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Corcovado" (released as "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars"), have been recorded by such notable singers as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Queen Latifah, and Diana Krall. Lees married Janet, his wife, in 1971.
Lees was the eldest of four children born to Harold Lees, a violinist, and Dorothy Flatman. His sister, Victoria Lees, is the former Secretary General of Montreal's McGill University, and his brother, David Lees, is an investigative journalist and science writer.
Beginning his writing career as a newspaper reporter in his native Canada, between 1948 and 1955 Lees contributed to The Hamilton Spectator, the Toronto Telegram, and the Montreal Star, and first worked as a music critic in the United States for the Louisville (Kentucky) Times between 1955 and 1959 and was editor of the jazz magazine Down Beat between 1959and 1962.
As a freelance writer, Lees wrote for the American high fidelity magazines Stereo Review and High Fidelity (often using his column to defend jazz and older popular music while blasting "that rock junk"), the Canadian magazine Maclean's, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and The New York Times. Lees wrote nearly one hundred liner notes for artists as diverse as Stan Getz, John Coltrane, and Quincy Jones. His first novel And Sleep Until Noon was published in 1967. The second, "Song Lake Summer" was published in 2008.
Lees won the first of five ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards in 1978 for a series of articles published in High Fidelity about US music. Lees' famous monthly Jazzletter was established in 1981, and contains musical criticism by Lees and others.
Lees studied composition by correspondence with the Berklee College of Music, in the early 1960s and piano with Tony Aless and guitar with Oscar Castro-Neves in New York City. Lees became a lyricist in the 1960s, writing many of the English language lyrics for Bossa Nova songs, translating them from their original Portuguese. Lees wrote the lyrics for the Antonio Carlos Jobim songs; "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars", "Someone to Light Up My Life", "Song of the Jet", "This Happy Madness" and "Dreamer". "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" (originally "Corcovado") has been recorded by many artists, artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra and Queen Latifah.
"Quiet Nights" was Lees' first professional lyric,[2] written on a bus going to Belo Horizonte, while Lees was on a United States State Department tour of South America with the Paul Winter Sextet, in 1961. Sinatra recorded four songs by Jobim with lyrics by Lees, Sinatra's recording of "Quiet Nights" (from Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, 1967), is considered by Lees to be definitive.[2] Lees also wrote the lyics for Charles Aznavour's, "Paris Is at Her Best in May" and "Venice Blue", and Aznavour's 1965 Broadway concert, The World of Charles Aznavour.
Lees contributed lyrics to "Bridges" by Milton Nascimento; "Yesterday I Heard the Rain" by Armando Manzanero; and Bill Evans' "Waltz for Debby". Poems by Pope John Paul II were translated by Lees and recorded by Sarah Vaughan as the song cycle One World, One Peace in 1985.
Lees briefly returned to Canada in the early 1970s and recorded the LP Bridges: Gene Lees Sings the Gene Lees Songbook on Kanata Records, a Toronto company of which he became president from 1971 to 1974. Lees briefly had his own late-night CBC TV show in 1971, appeared as a commentator or singer on other CBC Toronto and Ottawa TV and radio series, and was host 1973–4 for Toronto radio station CKFM-FM's Gene Lees and Friends.
Lees released a second album in 1998, Gene Lees Sings Gene Lees and recorded Leaves on the Water with pianist Roger Kellaway, and a third "Yesterday I Heard The Rain" with a group of jazz all-stars led by Don Thompson. Lees had struggled with heart disease in his later years, and died on April 22, 2010 at his home in Ojai, California. Lees wife, Janet, was present at his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Lees
Trombonist and composer Mike Fahie has been active performing....
Trombonist and composer Mike Fahie has been active performing and writing music in New York for 10 years. Mike has performed around the globe as a member of different professional ensembles, including tours of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as gigs in Holland, Germany, France, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia.
Mike plays regularly with both established and emerging artists, including Darcy James Argue’s “Secret Society”, the Pedro Giraudo Jazz Orchestra, John McNeil, the Paul Carlon Octet, Rob Mosher’s Storytime and the Gramercy Brass Orchestra of New York. Mike can be heard every Monday night at the Brooklyn jazz club Puppets. Mike also plays on the Broadway shows “In the Heights” and “Ragtime”.
Mike’s debut album as a leader, Anima, will soon be released on Brooklyn Jazz Underground records. The album features jazz greats Bill McHenry, Ben Monder, Ben Street and Billy Hart. A native of Ottawa, Canada, Mike began his professional career in Montreal, and toured across Canada, playing with a cross-section of Canadian jazz greats. In particular, Mike spent several years playing and touring throughout North America with the great Canadian vocalist Ranee Lee. Mike also spent six months in Vancouver playing the show “Forever Swing” with Michael Buble and Gary Guthman.
In September 2000, Mike followed in the footsteps of the great jazz musicians and moved to New York City. He pursued his Master’s Degree at the Manhattan School of Music (MSM), where he was the first ever Candian Fulbright Scholar in the field of Jazz. At MSM, he began long-term collaborations with other up-and-coming jazz musicians in New York, including Will Vinson, Jason Rigby, Jeff Davis, Ryan Keberle, Scott Dubois and many others.
Shortly after finishing his Master’s Degree, Mike was selected as a finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trombone Competition. This honor was highlighted by a performance at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., attended by many jazz greats including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Curtis Fuller.
Mike’s developing passion for composition led him to create the Mike Fahie Jazz Orchestra in 2003, serving as a vehicle to experiment with large ensemble composition, as well as a forum to work with some of the greatest jazz musicians in the city. The MFJO is currently active with both education and performance in New York. Mike is an active member of the creative music scene in New York, and performs with many great jazz musicians. The many musicians that Mike has worked with in New York include Maria Schneider, Ingrid Jensen, Donny McCaslin, Jon Cowherd,Ken Peplowski, Loren Stillman, and Alan Ferber.
In 2007, Mike took part in a residency at the Ottawa Jazz Festival with the Ottawa Jazz Composers Collective. The residency included a week of rehearsals and masterclasses, and culminated in a concert at the 4th stage of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, which was subequently broadcast on the CBC.
Mike has continued to develop as a composer and arranger, and has been writing commissioned works for several years, for both small groups and larger ensembles. He has developed a library of works for high-school level jazz band, as well as small ensemble jazz groups. The United States Military Academy’s Jazz Knights performed and recorded the world debut of his work “The Monster Brooks No Pretense”.
Mike has also been extremely active in the educational field. He has been on the faculty of the United Nations International School since 2002, leading the jazz band and teaching private lessons. He is also on the faculty of the New York Jazz Academy. He has given workshops on improvisation, arranging and composition at several colleges, and he is in demand as a private jazz instructor.
Education
Mike Fahie has been on the faculty of the United Nations International School since September 2002. He currently directs the High School Jazz Band and High School Jazz Combo, as well as the Middle School Concert Band at the Queens Campus. Mike is also a private instructor at UNIS, teaching trombone, trumpet, french horn, tuba and euphonium.
Mike has experience teaching outside of the school environment as well, and is available for single or multiple private lessons in brass, improvisation, music theory and arranging. Mike has given clinics at the high school and college levels, and is available for clinics dealing with brass, concert band, jazz band, jazz improv and jazz arranging.
Will Vinson, alto sax, soprano sax & flute
Todd Bashore, alto sax & flute
Luke Batson, tenor sax, flute & clarinet
Carl Maraghi, baritone sax & bass clarinet
Jonathan Powell, trumpet
Tatum Greenblatt, trumpet & flugelhorn
Ryan Keberle, trombone
Mike Fahie, trombone
Jess Jurkovic, piano
Jeff Davis, drums
Tony De Vivo, cajon
Pedro Giraudo, bass and composition
Jason Rigby has been hailed as “a truly lyrical musician" and "New York's rising star of tenor sax
Jason Rigby has been hailed as “a truly lyrical musician" and "New York's rising star of tenor sax." His pioneering voice deftly combines many influences – critics recognize the creative mindset of Wayne Shorter, the energy of John Coltrane, and the elasticity and compositional style of Ornette Coleman and Paul Motian – emerging as something wholly new and yet recognizable. He is rapidly ascending the jazz world ranks as a saxophonist, composer and bandleader.
Childhood
Jason was born in Japan on December 2, 1974. A military family, the Rigbys lived in Texas, Hawaii, Washington and Oregon before settling near Cleveland in 1979. Jason’s earliest musical memories are of his parents’ Beatles albums and his grandfather’s ragtime piano playing. He took up the alto saxophone at age 9 and switched to his main instrument, tenor saxophone, a year later after hearing a recording of Coleman Hawkins.
By middle school, Jason’s love of making music was already intense and he participated in numerous school bands and choirs. He pursued music out of school as well, performing in the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, West Shore Chorale and Ohio Jazz Orchestra for Youth, and attending jam sessions at the Cleveland Bop Stop, a real listener's venue. Jason studied with Cleveland jazz saxophone legend Ernie Krivda during those formative years and later performed weekly in Krivda’s big band, the Fat Tuesday Jazz Orchestra, during college.
University
Jason earned a Bachelor of Music in saxophone performance (both classical and jazz) at Youngstown State University in Ohio, graduating summa cum laude. He studied with Tony Leonardi, head of the jazz program and a lauded bass player who toured with Woody Herman in the 1960's. Another important mentor was the great classical saxophonist Dr. James Umble, a protégé of the legendary French saxophonist Jean-Marie Londiex. While at YSU, Jason performed with guest artists James Moody, Phil Woods, Bobby Shew, Bill Pierce, Mike Abene and Jimmy Owens as well as professionally with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra.
A one-year stint at the DePaul University Music School followed, allowing Rigby to make his mark at many of Chicago's jazz venues.
Rigby moved to New York in 1998 and soon after won DownBeat’s award for Best College Instrumentalist while attending Manhattan School of Music. He received a full scholarship to MSM, where he earned a Master of Music in jazz saxophone, studying with Dick Oatts, Rich Perry and Mike Abene.
As a Leader
After appearing as a sideman on many Fresh Sound Records releases, Jason was approached by Fresh Sound to record his own music. Rigby’s debut effort, Translucent Space (2006), containing eight Rigby-penned tunes, received numerous accolades. It was listed by Wire Magazine as one of the “Top Jazz and Improv Recordings of 2006” and praised in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Saxophone Journal and other periodicals of note. The CD features Rigby on saxophones, bass clarinet and wood flute, joined by veteran bassist Cameron Brown, Mark Ferber on drums, Mike Holober on piano and Rhodes, and a handful of guests.
With his sophomore release, The Sage (Fresh Sound Records 2008), Rigby put forth new compositions designed to spark group improvisation and creative interplay. The top-notch quintet includes Rigby, Brown and Holober, drummer Gerald Cleaver and trumpeter Russ Johnson. The recording instantly received stellar reviews, as exemplified by Jim Macnie’s piece in The Village Voice: “… the saxophonist’s quintet sustains a daunting finesse while swinging full tilt on the new The Sage. Imagine Miles’ Filles De Kilimanjaro outfit pumping out some Jazz Messengers’ energy.”
Jason’s European record release tour for The Sage in late 2008 was extremely well-received and his dates stateside have been very successful. “With two CDs to his name, Rigby has revealed his artistry and created the hope that there will be more from him in the future”. (Jerry D’Souza, AllAboutJazz New York)
As a Sideman and Educator
Rigby has performed with the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Chico O’Farrill’s Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, David Binney Big Band, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Mike Holober’s Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Alan Ferber Nonet, Eivind Opsvik’s Overseas, Kris Davis Group, Scott Dubois Quintet and Jeff Davis Group, among others.
In addition, he is a regular member of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Cameron Brown Quartet, Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, Anita Brown Jazz Orchestra and a number of creative small groups including the electronic-rock-jazz-garage trio Heernt with drummer Mark Guiliana. Rigby has performed with many jazz notables including John Patitucci, Jim McNeely, Donny McCaslin, John Riley, Tim Horner, Dick Oatts, Danny Gottlieb, Tony Malaby, Frank Wess, Slide Hampton and David Liebman.
An active educator, Jason teaches at the City College of NY and the New School and has given master classes at other universities. In 2007 Rigby appeared as a guest soloist and clinician at the Festival Internacional CEDROS in Mexico City. He has also taught at the New York Pops “Salute to Music” program, New York Summer Music Festival, Stony Brook University, Hartwick College Summer Music Festival, Larchmont Music Academy and outreach programs with the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. Many of Rigby's young private students have gone on to attend prestigious music colleges.
http://www.jasonrigby.net/
Multi-lingual and multi-talented, LUA HADAR has performed as a singer....
Multi-lingual and multi-talented, LUA HADAR has performed as a singer and actor since her New York childhood. Graduating summa cum laude with a B.A. in Theatre Performance, Lua attended the celebrated Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and The Dalcroze School of Music, also studying with Metropolitan Opera coach, Joan Dornemann.
Lua sings jazz influenced by pop, funk, latin and international cabaret. Instantly accessible and truly exotic, this Broadway-influenced performer has been molded by exchange experiences in places as diverse as Bali, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, France and Italy, where she performed on tour for five years. Her fascination with world cultures is reflected in the sophisticated song choices for her band, TWIST, in their signature “jazz without borders.”
Her CD has garnered raves from around the world, (…vivacious brand of jazz…inspired…swinging…cool - Luna Kafé, Sweden; …seductive… polished vocal phrasing… irresistible - Blast Radio 1386, UK) as well as Radio Top 10 Ratings in the USA.
She has appeared at The Fairmont Hotel, The Palace of the Legion of Honor, Anna’s Jazz Island, Jazz at Pearl’s, and her sold-out September 2009 appearance with her band, TWIST, at San Francisco’s Rrazz Room, debuted her new show, French Connection, to raves (…seamlessly bridges the culture gap … superb… creates the sound and atmosphere of a Paris music hall… - Cabaret Scenes, San Francisco; the SF Examiner called French Connection “part of her worldly charm.”).
She performs with her band TWIST at New York’s landmark Cornelia Street Café in April 2010.
Program
May 13, 2010 Thursday 9:00 PM SF Arts Commission - Morton's The Steakhouse San Francisco, CA
May 22, 2010 Saturday 10:00 AM Espace "Les Tisserands" Lille, France
May 22, 2010 Saturday 7:30 PM Theatre les Tisserands Lille (Lomme), France
Jun 3, 2010 Thursday 7:00 PM Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill Los Angeles, CA
Jun 20, 2010 Sunday 7:00 PM Eureka Theater San Francisco, CA
Jul 18, 2010 Sunday 4:30 PM Bliss Bar San Francisco, CA
Oct 9, 2010 Saturday 9:00 PM Cornelia Street Cafe New York, NY
http://www.luahadar.com/
www.myspace.com/luahadarwithtwist
www.facebook.com/lua.hadar
twitter.com/luahadar
www.youtube.com/luahadar
http://www.luahadar.wordpress.com/
www.cdbaby.com/luahadar2
