David Matthews and Friends, a group of musicians affiliated to the MJO play this movie classic arranged by Dave. Featuring Scott Wendholt Trumpet, Jim Pugh Trombone, George Young Tenor Sax, Michael Moore Bass, Terry Silverlight Drums, Jon Werking Keys.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Manhattan Jazz Orchestra: The Shadow Of Your Smile
Aardvark Jazz Orchestra to present Boston JazzScape
By Staff reports, Wicked Local Wellesley
Posted Feb 26, 2013 @ 05:22 PM
The internationally acclaimed Aardvark Jazz Orchestra marks the high point of its historic 40th season with the world premiere of music director Mark Harvey’s epic new work, Boston JazzScape. This extended suite, composed over 10 years, shows off Harvey’s command of styles ranging from swing, bop, and blues to Third Stream to free improvisation. The piece tells a fascinating story of Boston, from the Revolutionary War to the Great Fire of 1872 to Sacco & Vanzetti to the infamous urban renewal of the West End (a precursor to the Big Dig), from Boston-born jazz maven Nat Hentoff to social crusader Kip Tiernan, from the back story of the Charlie Card to Mayor Kevin White’s Summerthing.
The event will take place Friday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Remis Auditorium, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston.
'You Don't Play Like a Girl': Queer in a Jazz World
by Allison Miller - Drummer, composer, music producer and drum teacher
All female musicians go through a hazing period, an eye-opening moment when they first observe the extracurricular activities and conversations that go down offstage in the music business. Thanks to my first drum teacher, Walter Salb, I got my hazing period over with at age 14. Walt always said, "If you can deal with me, then you can deal with anyone in this business." He was right! I didn't just learn how to play paradiddles from him.
I learned how to curse like a sailor, volley and one-up sarcastic insults with speed and precision (with beer in one hand and a whiskey in the other) and demean women with vulgar prowess. I also learned how to "man up" and show no emotion. This was all fine and dandy with me. I loved it. I was a little tomboy drummer, obsessed with jazz, who hadn't quite discovered her sexuality. I would just hang out at Walt's house, practicing the drums, cursing, drinking, talking shit and listening to old jazz records. My sexist vulgarity quickly surpassed most of the boys'.
Time went on, and I went away to college, kept practicing those drums, honed my crassness, sharpened my drinking skills and enthusiastically discovered that I was a big fat homo. I now had two love affairs in my life: jazz and women. Historically, jazz and women make a classic combination. But being a woman and loving jazz and women? Not so classic. The dichotomy of the two felt absolutely ridiculous. I spent my days transcribing Miles Davis solos and my nights chasing girls. Let me make one thing clear: My sexuality, at this point, was absolutely one-dimensional. I had no awareness of feminism, equality or politics. I was interested in sex only, and I could still one-up the boys with a dirty joke.
After college I moved to the jazz capital of the world, New York City. I had no idea that it was also the gay capital of the world. How fabulous! I met gays unlike any gays I had ever encountered. Gays fighting for equal rights. Gays who were interested in more than just accumulating notches on their belts. I quickly got schooled in feminism, gay rights and gay subculture.
Righteous queer female artists and activists flooded into my life: BETTY, Toshi Reagon, Ani DiFranco, Gloria Steinem, Animal, Melissa Ferrick, Indigo Girls, Staceyann Chin. I was taken to the mecca of all feminist festivals, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. I slowly but surely became a full-fledged lesbian feminist.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-miller/you-dont-play-like-a-girl-queer-in-a-jazz-world_b_2769544.html
Documentary Oscar an accolade hard to deny
By Gwen Ansell | BD Live – Wed, Feb 27, 2013
THE Oscar for best documentary awarded to Searching for Sugar Man was, on a very mixed night for movie fans, one accolade it would be hard to deny. The film’s theme is South African — it tells the story of two Cape Town fans doggedly tracking down US singer Sixto Rodriguez: a legend in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, but with modest fame elsewhere, even in his homeland.
But beyond its local appeal, the film is close to a perfect example of a music documentary. Unlike much of the pedestrian hagiography that finds its way on to South African TV screens, it is not a simple trek from birth to death accompanied by a tedious succession of full-face-to-camera quotes.
On the surface, it has a compelling and classic storyline: the quest. That has enthralled audiences since Beowulf went in search of the monster’s mother, and probably in the flickering firelight of Neanderthal caves long before that.
Its characters (both the besotted, slightly bumbling fans, record-store manager Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and journalist Craig Bartholomew-Strydom, and the laid-back Rodriguez himself) are endearing, even if the script has been accused of blurring the facts slightly for the sake of drama.
The Mexican-American singer never disappeared quite as completely as the narrative implies; he merely had a local, successful but often semiprofessional musical existence, and an ordinary working-class life. And his music was not unique in having its tracks scratched by SABC censors, merely one of a very small number of "white" radio titles to suffer that fate. The film’s cinematography borrows from thrillers as much as from documentaries, keeping interest and excitement high as we explore bars, building sites and other locations, discovering with the searchers’ fresh, wondering eyes, a wholly unknown world.
That is the film’s first big strength: it acknowledges and illustrates the importance of context to any artist’s work. This was apartheid South Africa, isolated as far as the authorities could manage from the sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll and integration of the 1970s international music scene.
Rodriguez’s socially conscious hippie lyrics and racial ambiguity were perfect as a fabric for embroidering liberal dreams. The film evokes that too.
Its second strength actually lies in the blurry narrative that some critics have disliked.
As much as it is an affair of words and notes, music is an affair of the heart. The whole industry runs on passion as well as money — a tension the confrontation with Rodriguez’s former manager illuminates beautifully. But the film isn’t really about the musician.
What Searching for Sugar Man captures perfectly is what it means to be a fan: the emotional commitment; the embrace of legends and mysteries, the dedication, the nostalgia.
If only more South African film makers dealing with our music could abandon dull chronology too, and capture its dreams.
Read more: http://za.news.yahoo.com/jazz-documentary-oscar-accolade-hard-deny-041819895--finance.html
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Mary Halvorson Quintet: Tiny Desk Concert
by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON
Today, when you see a saxophonist and a trumpeter in front of a jazz group, it's par for the course. It's a particular combination that's defined many landmark recordings: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Done right, it's a classic meat-and-potatoes sound: open to reinvention, comfortable with tradition.
Guitarist Mary Halvorson didn't come to this standard practice just by playing standards. As a sidewoman, she's often tapped to play in open improvising situations; her mentors include the unclassifiable composer Anthony Braxton and the free-jazz guitarist/bassist Joe Morris. Among her sonic signatures are craggy distortions, bent strings and delay-pedaled blurts through a hollow-body guitar.
Yet Halvorson has now recorded two albums with her quintet, one with alto saxophone (Jon Irabagon) and trumpet (Jonathan Finlayson) up top. (The rhythm section is also among New York's finest, with John Hebert on bass and Ches Smith on drums.) From the way her songs balance order and entropy, you can hear that she's studied how golden-era hard bop blended those voices, and how later generations morphed, rephrased and imploded those ideas.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/event/music/172713493/mary-halvorson-quintet-tiny-desk-concert?ft=1&f=1039
Five Questions for Jazz Vocalist Shumani Massa
OPB | Feb. 25, 2013 7:15 a.m.
Shumani Massa, Lincoln High Schoolsenior and vocalist for the Portland school's award-winning jazz group Ensemble One, says music is in her genes — her grandfather was the head trumpeter for Louis Prima. Recently, Shumani spoke withKMHD's Deborah DeMoss Smith about jazz in her life.
1. How did you decide to get involved in jazz? It wasn't actually my decision since I didn't sing jazz until this year. Last year I was in Lincoln's production of Company by Stephen Sondheim, and Mr. Barnes [my jazz teacher] was conducting the pit and he heard me there, so he asked me if I wanted to sing. That's how I got started in this, because I didn't really have any practice in it before, but it fit really well with my voice. I've been singing my entire life in choirs. I've also been in a capella groups for three years and those are really different types of music.
2. You speak the language of jazz; how does that language speak to you?
I think it's kind of unique because there are only about 30 kids in our Lincoln jazz class and most kids I know really don't listen to jazz that often. They might hear it on the radio once in awhile, but usually they're listening to more popular music — so it's nice when we have school assemblies or something and the jazz band will perform. I'll sing and it really gets people excited. They see me out there. They know me. They hear the music and they're like, "Wow, this is really cool; we really like this." It's really a fun way of bringing people together.
I think it's kind of unique because there are only about 30 kids in our Lincoln jazz class and most kids I know really don't listen to jazz that often. They might hear it on the radio once in awhile, but usually they're listening to more popular music — so it's nice when we have school assemblies or something and the jazz band will perform. I'll sing and it really gets people excited. They see me out there. They know me. They hear the music and they're like, "Wow, this is really cool; we really like this." It's really a fun way of bringing people together.
3. What song would you sing for someone who wasn't familiar with jazz?
One of the ones we do a lot is "Autumn Leaves" because it's a standard a lot of people know and even if you don't, it's a really beautiful song — so everybody responds well to it. We added a really interesting intro and outro to it that makes it a lot more dynamic, so people really like that part.
One of the ones we do a lot is "Autumn Leaves" because it's a standard a lot of people know and even if you don't, it's a really beautiful song — so everybody responds well to it. We added a really interesting intro and outro to it that makes it a lot more dynamic, so people really like that part.
Read more: http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/five-questions-for-jazz-vocalist-shumani-massa/
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Shred the Accordion: Koby Israelite Balkanizes the Blues (and Vice Versa) on Blues from Elsewhere
This is no novelty record, though, no gimmicky mash up. To Koby, it’s a natural, if unexpected sonic crossroads. “When I decided I was going to do the album, I tried not to introduce the two genres in a contrived way, because sometimes it just didn’twork,” he explains. “I had to work on the track or simply abandon it. It’s not easy tomake this mix sound organic, unforced. But I think I blended well.”
The proof is in the groove, in the balance of virtuosity and humor that guides the album. From “East of Nashville,” where Bulgarian rhythms get a boost from twanging country guitar, to “Johnny Has Cash No More,” inspired by Cash’s signature feel but with Arabic melodic flair, Koby works the connection, making music that’s crafty but not contrived. Using an Italian mandolin to stand in for a cimbalom (“Crayfish Hora”) and a melancholy Armenian duduk (thanks to top player Tigran Aleksanyan) to reveal a whole new side to Led Zeppelin’s epic “Kashmir,” Koby goes to great lengths to show that the blues can be from everywhere and anywhere.
Read more: https://www.storyamp.com/dispatch/2320/e4c0afcef20e0b5048aac8f65f3e4639
Oriental jazz queen
THIS is vintage Karen Mok. Somewhere I Belong may be her first jazz foray but what a voice! Vocally, this is what Karen’s born to do. Singing she may excel in but this is fine dining with all the trappings. Karen has had quite a stellar career crooning Mandarin and Cantonese songs (and winning numerous accolades in the process) but, for me, she has finally arrived with this jazz effort.
The songs in this album combine Western jazz music with Chinese elements, guzheng (a Chinese traditional music instrument) especially. It’s Oriental jazz at its best, if you may. No matter the genre. I am transported to a gentler, more sultry era, one populated by sensuous cheongsam curves, scratchy gramophones and smoke-filled bars. An image of Tony Leung wooing Maggie Cheung in the movie, In The Mood for Love, comes briefly to mind.
Picture a lazy afternoon by the beach with the wind in your hair, a cup of tea nearby and a good book at hand. Now imagine Karen’s sultry voice serenading in the background. Paradise!
The album’s eclectic selection includes 1930s jazz standards such as The Man I Love, Love for Sale, My Funny Valentine and even Sting’s Moon Over Bourbon Street.
For most of the songs, especially Love For Sale and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Karen beguiles us with her playing of the guzheng, a skill she picked up many years ago.
The classic Mandarin number Shanghai Nights is a familiar tune but Karen slows its tempo down considerable. With her clear vocals, the song takes on a life of its own.
Wicked Game, meanwhile, is hypnotic, its lyrics and tune playing like a loop over and over in your mind long after the song ends.
Read more: Oriental jazz queen - Tech - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/tech/oriental-jazz-queen-1.224012#ixzz2LzpcaU3d
Clayton Hardiman: There's something about jazz music that brings the world together
By on February 22, 2013 at 9:34 AM
Lately my jazz radius has undergone radical shrinkage. There was a time when I considered it just a weekend lark to drive four, five, six hundred miles or more across the Midwest just to catch a performance by one of my favorite artists. This wasn’t just idle concert hopping. Watching Herbie Hancock or McCoy Tyner pound the keys seemed more like witnessing history.
Of late, I haven’t been doing that very often. That’s probably due in equal parts to advancing years, soaring gasoline prices and easier access to performances on Internet and TV.
But not even in the heyday of my jones for jazz would I have imagined myself driving all the way to Istanbul.
AP FILE PHOTO
I’m transfixed by news of an upcoming concert there. Scheduled for the end of April, it features a who’s who of jazz performers -- Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Wayne Shorter, George Duke, Al Jarreau, John McLaughlin, Jimmy Heath and more. They will perform at a historic church, whose roots go back to the 4th century A.D.
Some of this is the doing of the United Nations. As it happens, pianist Hancock is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and Turkey is the host country of the UN-sanctioned second annual International Jazz Day.
But it also reflects the development of a long-standing relationship between Turkey and jazz.
In a way, it was a new take on the classic boy-meets-girl formula of movies of yore. Country meets jazz. Country falls in love with jazz. Country brings jazz home to meet the family. Country and jazz live happily ever after.
Trace this back to the 1930s and ‘40s, when two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun would go jazz hunting, scouring the black neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., for so-called “race” records not available anywhere else.
Read more: http://www.mlive.com/opinion/muskegon/index.ssf/2013/02/clayton_hardiman_81.html
Monday, February 25, 2013
An Oratorio of History With History of Its Own
By BEN RATLIFF, Published: February 24, 2013
By the time of Wynton Marsalis’s 1994 oratorio, “Blood on the Fields,”written for three singers and a 15-piece band, his scale for musical structure and organizational planning was big and getting bigger.
He was 32 then. Jazz at Lincoln Center hadn’t yet become a constituent part of the larger Lincoln Center organization, and the idea of a dedicated theater for jazz hadn’t even been proposed. But he had already written extended works and had developed a framework for identifying and explaining jazz’s standards of excellence, and for linking the music to the history of black Americans and the notion of cultural survival. Never before had such power resided within one jazz musician, and those who doubted him wanted to be impressed on every possible level — especially after “Blood” won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for music.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/arts/music/blood-on-the-fields-from-jazz-at-lincoln-center.html?_r=0
In 'The Devil's Music' Miche Braden delightfully devilish in capturing Bessie Smith soul
By
on February 22, 2013 at 12:00 PM, updated February 22, 2013 at 1:28 PM
There is a spectral synergy crackling between Miche Braden and the "hot and hungry mama" she embodies in "The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith," now at the Cleveland Play House. You can feel it in one of the show's most roof-raising numbers.
"The devil said, 'Bessie, can I have this dance?' / And I said, 'sho nuff daddy,' " Braden sings in "Devil Dance Blues (Sho Nuff Daddy)," a joyful flip of the bird to those who would judge Bessie and her outsized appetite for life -- including her unapologetic taste for booze, bad boys and broads, particularly showgirls.
Photo: John Quilty
But consult the program: The irreverent tune isn't from Bessie's songbook, but from the pen of Miche (pronounced "Mickey") Braden. In tone and sentiment, Braden's composition sounds like something the "Empress of the Blues" would have happily belted out -- amid belts from a flask filled with bathtub gin, that is.
"They say I'm a hard drinker, but baby, that's the easiest thing I do," she says, speaking directly to the sold-out, opening-night crowd at the Allen Theatre on Wednesday. It's one of many bons mots that pepper the script by Angelo Parra -- really souped-up patter between songs -- that could have easily fallen from the wry lips of Mae West, Smith's deliciously debauched sister from another mother.
Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2013/02/in_the_devils_music_miche_brad.html
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Mark Lopeman: "Nice Work"
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Two years ago, saxophonist and clarinetist Mark Lopeman released a beautiful album that completely escaped my radar. I'm just glad I'm catching up to it now. Recorded in June 2011, the album is Nice Work If You Can Get It and features Brandon Lee (tp), Noah Bless (tb), Mark Lopeman (ts,sop,cl), Ted Rosenthal (p), Nicki Parrott (b) and Tim Horner (d).
If you're unfamiliar with Lopeman, I can tell you that every song, every arrangement and every note that comes through your speakers is gorgeous. Talk about a tasteful, swinging group made for each other.
Lopeman grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where his early saxophone teacher gave him books on arranging and improvising. In high school, Lopeman took up the baritone saxophone to win a chair in the Akron Jazz Workshop. He also came in contact with the region's reed players. The list included Joe Lovano, Ernie Krivda, Rich Perry, Ralph Lalama, John Orsini, Rusty Higgins, Sam Riney, Ralph Carney, "Blue" Lou Marini and Mark Vinci. Lopeman met two more locals later—Ken Peplowski and Bill Kirchner.
Then it was on to Kent State, the Eastman School of Music and Akron University, where Lopeman earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music. After college, he toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, worked the Broadway pits, and played tenor with Woody Herman and alto with Buddy Rich, backing Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme.
Columbia Law School was next—something about a wrongful traffic ticket. After he graduated, he went to work for a small law firm. But arranging jobs kept rolling in, including a call from Gerry Mulligan, who asked him to score his Re-birth of the Cool album in 1991. Lopeman toured with the band for a time. Since the mid-'80s, Lopeman has been a member of Vince Giordano's Nighthawks.
In an age when the best albums feature just a handful of great tracks, Nice Work If You Can Get It is wall-to-wall special and worth every penny.
JazzWax note: A special thanks to David Langner. You'll find more on Mark Lopeman at his site here.
JazzWax clip: Here's the group playing My Reverie...
Used with permission by Marc Myers
Jim Pugh, Jeremy Haynes, Amina Figarova, Jazz St. Louis Gala, Jeff Coffin, Chris Botti, Dan Thomas, and More
SOURCE: ST. LOUIS JAZZ NOTES BY DEAN MINDERMAN, Published: 2013-02-20
There's jazz and creative music happening early and often throughout this week in St. Louis, and so to help make sure that you don't miss anything, here's a special early edition of the weekly highlights post:
Tonight, trombonist Jim Pugh is in town for a free concert at at Maryville University presented by the St. Louis Low Brass Collective. Pugh is best known for his work with Woody Herman and Chick Corea, but also has been a top studio trombonist recording for film soundtracks, pop music sessions, and much more. The concert will feature Pugh backed by ten local jazz trombonists, a rhythm section, and the entire trombone section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Meanwhile, back downtown, drummer Jeremy Haynes and the Rhythm Is Life band will play atLola. Haynes, a St. Louis native who's been part of five Grammy winning gospel recordings, is performing in support of the release of his first instrumental album Prodigal Son 2K.
Also tonight, Three Central gives a free concert at the St. Louis Public Library main branch downtown; and the Tommy Halloran Quintet plays for Lindy Hop St. Louis' weekly swing dance atGrandel Theatre.
Tomorrow night, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra brings their big band sound to West County at theSky Music Lounge in Ballwin; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at the Feasting Fox; and the Ann Dueren Trio is at Frontenac Grill.
On Thursday, pianist Amina Figarova (pictured) and her group will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Figarova's skills at writing for small ensembles prompted Jazz Times to call her “among the most important composers to come into jazz in the new millennium." For more about her, and some vidfeo samples of her group in action, see this post from Saturday.
Also on Thursday, singer Erin Bode is at Crave coffee house.
Read more: http://news.allaboutjazz.com/news.php?id=102774#.USiE8qXhEhQ
Three Ellas - Dee Alexander, Spider Saloff and Frieda Lee
Prairie Center for the Arts
Saturday, March 2, 2013 – 8 pm
Three of Chicago’s premiere vocalists pay tribute to the genius of Ella Fitzgerald. Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune says “jazz singing is a profoundly sensual art, at least when Dee Alexander, Frieda Lee and Spider Saloff are standing before the microphones.” And Chicagoist writes, “Separately, each of these ladies has her own distinct voice, but together, they embody the heart-turning passion of the First Lady of Song, from her sensual, breathy tones to her pure, rich highs.”
Friday, February 22, 2013
Siegler Quartet Brings All That Jazz to the Parrish Art Museum
By Emily J. Weitz - Posted on 19 February 2013
This Friday night, people strolling through the Parrish Art Museum will get more than a feast for their eyes. As the Richie Siegler Quartet plays jazz in the lobby of the museum, the music will float down the spine of the space and into all the galleries. While hearing the gentle croon of a saxophone, patrons will also take in the winding ribbons of a deKooning painting, and the bold sheen of a John Chamberlain sculpture.
“I believe music in general and jazz in particular is an art form and it belongs there [at the Parrish],” says Richie Siegler, who plays the drums in the quartet and is the founder of Escola de Samba Boom. “DeKooning and Pollock? Who do you think they were listening to? They were listening to Coltrane. It’s like a big circle.”
“The new building offers endless possibilities for programming, including heightened potential for live performance,” says Andrea Grover, curator of special projects at the Parrish. “Richie is a talented and popular East End musician who knows how to inspire and mobilize a crowd.”
While there is a special performance space, the Lichtenstein Theater, the staff decided to set up the Richie Siegler Quartet right in the lobby.
“We wanted the music to travel through the spine and into the galleries,” says Grover, “reaching the ears of those experiencing the works on view. The building’s central corridor is a great delivery system for sound and more – it connects all activities in the building.”
Siegler has been playing the drums since he was four, and he grew up in Greenwich Village listening to jazz masters. Both at home and on vacations with his family in the Catskills, Siegler was introduced to Latin jazz, including legends like Tito Puente.
While Siegler can play the drums for any genre, it’s jazz, and in particular Latin Jazz, where he has found a following.
He founded the Escola de Samba Boom, a free, year round music school with Monday night workshops. During the summer, when the workshop is held at Sagg Main Beach, it turns into an all out party with hundreds of people crowding around a tight circle of 60 or so drummers. Siegler is often found in the middle, directing with a whistle and riding the sound.
“It’s like cooking a stew,” says Siegler. “We have all the ingredients – 12 people in one section, six in another. My job is to make it all gel. Maybe we need a fresh herb, or some pepper and salt. I make a little adjustment, and when it kicks in, it’s a high. Often we’ll go out afterwards, and we’re all buzzed from the performance.”
Read more: http://sagharboronline.com/sagharborexpress/page-1/siegler-quartet-brings-all-that-jazz-to-the-parrish-art-museum-22116
Gerald Clayton: Open to the Music
By John Moultrie
iRockJazz caught pianist Gerald Clayton in Chicago where he discussed trends in jazz, his early influences, the proper mindset for approaching jazz today and being honest with the music by keeping an open mind.
Read more: http://jazztimes.com/articles/74314-gerald-clayton-open-to-the-music
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Jeepers Creepers by Johnny Mercer & Harry Warren
Sue Keller on piano playing Jeepers Creepers (1938) by Johnny Mercer & Harry Warren as part of Sue's Tribute to Johnny Mercer songs for the Lisle, IL public library February 13, 2011 using a Bose L1 sound system.
Artist's Choice: Matthew Shipp on Third Stream Piano
By Matthew Shipp
Third Stream was an inevitable movement in jazz. All music is synthesis, including jazz, but it seems like an even more conscious attempt to combine European practices with Afro-American music had to occur sooner or later, hence the Third Stream movement. Whatever one’s take on Third Stream, it generated a lot of interesting plots and subplots and put the information out there that allows a more natural combination of the idioms to occur with improvisers today.
Matthew Shipp: Photo Peter Gannushkin
“Beresith”
Dennis Sandole Project
Michael Grossman, piano
A Sandole Trilogy (Cadence Jazz, 1995)
Dennis Sandole—a jazz guitarist, composer, theorist and teacher who taught John Coltrane, among others—never belonged to any school or movement. But he composed rigorous music, and this polytonal panharmonic solo piano piece has the ring of a 20th-century masterpiece.
Dennis Sandole Project
Michael Grossman, piano
A Sandole Trilogy (Cadence Jazz, 1995)
Dennis Sandole—a jazz guitarist, composer, theorist and teacher who taught John Coltrane, among others—never belonged to any school or movement. But he composed rigorous music, and this polytonal panharmonic solo piano piece has the ring of a 20th-century masterpiece.
“Chromatic Universe, Part 2”
George Russell and His Orchestra
Paul Bley, Bill Evans; piano
Jazz in the Space Age (Decca, 1960)
Composer George Russell was a cohort of Gunther Schuller, the composer and theorist credited with organizing the Third Stream movement, and the duo of Paul Bley and Bill Evans is a Third Stream piano dream.
George Russell and His Orchestra
Paul Bley, Bill Evans; piano
Jazz in the Space Age (Decca, 1960)
Composer George Russell was a cohort of Gunther Schuller, the composer and theorist credited with organizing the Third Stream movement, and the duo of Paul Bley and Bill Evans is a Third Stream piano dream.
“Variants on a Theme of John Lewis:
Variant 1”
Composed by Gunther Schuller
Bill Evans, piano
John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Jazz
Abstractions (Atlantic, 1960)
John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Jazz Abstractions, regarded as a quintessential Third Stream album, primarily features music composed by Gunther Schuller, performed by players including Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Jim Hall, Scott LaFaro and Bill Evans. “Variant 1” is here because of the overall effect, in which the piano just adds color.
Variant 1”
Composed by Gunther Schuller
Bill Evans, piano
John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Jazz
Abstractions (Atlantic, 1960)
John Lewis Presents Contemporary Music: Jazz Abstractions, regarded as a quintessential Third Stream album, primarily features music composed by Gunther Schuller, performed by players including Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Jim Hall, Scott LaFaro and Bill Evans. “Variant 1” is here because of the overall effect, in which the piano just adds color.
“Off Minor”
Ran Blake
Epistrophy (Soul Note, 1992)
Ran Blake is another pianist indelibly connected to Third Stream. He studied with Gunther Schuller and went on to become founding chair of the Third Stream department at New England Conservatory. Here is Blake interpreting his major influence—Monk—in a pointillistic way.
Ran Blake
Epistrophy (Soul Note, 1992)
Ran Blake is another pianist indelibly connected to Third Stream. He studied with Gunther Schuller and went on to become founding chair of the Third Stream department at New England Conservatory. Here is Blake interpreting his major influence—Monk—in a pointillistic way.
Read more: http://jazztimes.com/articles/71865-artist-s-choice-matthew-shipp-on-third-stream-piano
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Int'l Jazz Day to celebrate Turkish jazz link
Posted: Feb 18, 2013 8:54 PM BRT / Updated: Feb 18, 2013 9:10 PM BRT
By CHARLES J. GANS, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Pianist Herbie Hancock will celebrate the special connection between Turkey and jazz music forged decades ago when the Turkish ambassador opened his residence to white and black musicians at a time when segregation held sway in the U.S. capital.
Hancock, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, is organizing a gala concert with jazz stars from around the world on April 30 at the famed Hagia Irene in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, which has been designated the host city for the second annual U.N.-sanctioned International Jazz Day.
"There's an amazing history of the relationship between Turkey and jazz," Hancock told The Associated Press in a telephone interview ahead of Tuesday's official announcement of the 2013 International Jazz Day program.
It began in the '30s and '40s when the two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun pursued their passion for jazz by frequenting the capital's black neighborhoods to buy "race" records not available elsewhere, and attend concerts at the Howard Theater, a mecca for leading African-American entertainers.
Their father readily agreed when the brothers began inviting musicians to the ambassador's mansion for Sunday lunches followed by integrated jam sessions in an upstairs music parlor. The guests included jazz royalty from the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands such as Lester Young, Benny Carter, Harry Carney, Johnny Hodges and Rex Stewart.
Hancock says he was particularly impressed by a story told to him by Turkey's current ambassador, Namik Tan, about how his predecessor responded whenever outraged Southern senators would complain that "a person of color was seen entering your house by the front door (which) is not a practice to be encouraged."
The ambassador would offer a terse one-sentence reply such as: "In my home, friends enter by the front door - however we can arrange for you to enter from the back."
Read more: http://www.whig.com/story/21236363/intl-jazz-day-to-laud-turkish-jazz-connection
Jim Fusilli on Mali and Music
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Two weeks ago, Jim Fusilli—the Wall Street Journal's rock and pop critic—spent time in Paris interviewing Mali musicians for a brilliant column in the paper last week.
As most people know, Mali's northern region recently was overrun by Islamists associated with al Qaeda. Their first move before the French moved in and chased them into the desert? To ban music. A typical first move by all authoritarian forces claiming to know what's best for the rest.
As Jim noted, the move was an offense to the soul of a nation that thrives on beats, dance, melodies, harmonies and joy. I thought we all should hear what the North African terrorists were trying to eradicate. So I asked Jim to recommend five albums by leading Mali artists that can be downloaded. [Pictured above: Guitarist Ali Farka Touré, who before he died in 2006 exposed international audiences to Mali's music]
Read Jim's column here. Then dig his Mali music picks below, which he said are "for the most part absent of Western influence—even though Sissoko's partner [Vincent Segal] is a French cellist."
Jim's picks...
La Difference by Salif Keita
Moussoulou by Oumou Sangare
Chamber Music by Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal
Aman Iman by Tinariwen
Used with permission by Marc Myers
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
New Music from Concord Music Group
Jazz Albums To Look Out For In 2013 / NPR's A Blog Supreme
"Celebrating 50 years of making Latin jazz, Pete Escovedo continues to excel and satisfy audiences worldwide with his percussive savvy and talented family. The new album sizzles with gems such as the Tito Puente classic "Picadillo Jam," showcasing Pete's mastering of the timbal."
Latin Beat Magazine
"I try to reflect and do justice to all these people (re: Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Coldplay), no matter what genre I'm in. Just tell the story. Getting to work with Buble's touring band, who are incredible and made this record with me, some of his stuff ended up in there for as beautifully as Michael interprets a song, he's a great songwriter too. So, it all kind of came together."
Huffington Post
Young Jazz Talents Play Off In Competition To Continue Great Musician's Legacy
High schoolers from around the country competed Sunday at an annual festival honoring jazz legend Charles Mingus at the Manhattan School of Music, and scholarships and a chance to play with the Mingus Big Band were on the line. NY1's Erin Clarke filed the following report.
After countless hours of practice, young jazz musicians from across the country played their hearts out Sunday at the Manhattan School of Music in Morningside Heights, performing the music of a legend, Charles Mingus.
More than 30 years after Mingus died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1979, a new generation is embracing his music in the fifth annual Charles Mingus High School Competition and Festival.
"Charles was a bassist, a band leader and above all, first and foremost, a composer and he put his stamp on American music. He left one of the largest legacies," said Sue Mingus, the musician's widow and a co-producer of the festival and competition.
Sue Mingus said her late husband's complex repertoire resonates particularly with young people.
"He demands that you bring your own voice to the music and he's a rebel and kids are rebels and they want to find their own voice," she said.
"We can all say it's kind of something that you can express yourself in," said Henry Lunetta, a guitarist in the Rio Americano High School Miguyz Jazz Combo. "I mean, jazz is in general, but especially Mingus just because it's so out there and it's so loose."
Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z Release Suit & Tie Video
On Friday Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z Release Suit & Tie Video was a top story. Here is the recap: (Radio.com) Justin Timberlake's lyric video for "Suit & Tie" only hinted at what was to come. Now fans get a peak inside JT's creativity.
The soulful track shows Justin where he's most comfortable: onstage and in the studio behind the microphone.
The video for "Suit & Tie" is an excellent throwback to 1920s jazz and swing music. Not a major shift from his performance at this year's GRAMMYs, Justin embodies the character of a Big Band leader from the way he conducts his band in the studio and onstage to his slicked back hairstyle. Shot in black and white, it's easy to picture Justin putting on a Brat Pack era, old Vegas show complete with a choreographed tie routine and backup dancers.
Directed by David Fincher, this isn't the duo's first collaboration. Fincher first directed JT in The Social Network. Known for his films including Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Seven, Fincher is no stranger to producing music videos. While he's had his focus on films over the past few years, this is his first music video in eight years. - more
Monday, February 18, 2013
John Daversa: Bursting Out of LA
Seen in the hallways at California State University in Northridge, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, where he teaches big band arranging, jazz history and other music courses, John Daversa might be seen with his goatee, and dense, dark and curly hair, parted in the middle, and correctly sense he might be involved in one of the arts programs.
What students at the university might not know is that Daversa is a man of immense compositional and arranging talents, who can also blow trumpet like the bell is about to fly off it. Like other LA-based musicians, he's done the film score gigs and television jobs. He even traveled Europe for a time as musical director for a Holiday On Ice troupe. But this cat is a jazz guy through and through and leads extraordinarily exciting bands, large and small, in Southern California.
It's coming time when that reputation is going to get more widespread, if good taste hasn't disappeared completely.
Daversa comes from a musical family. His father played trumpet with bandleader Stan Kenton. His mother plays piano and flute, and has years of experience with the band backing singer Andy Williams. So music was a direction that made itself known at an early age.
"In high school it was solidified that I wouldn't be happy doing anything else," Daversa says. "In that way, certain people might view the arts as a difficult way to achieve financial success. It's really just a mindset. It took me a long time to realize that too . In high school, I realized if I did anything else, I would just want to be playing music all the time. That's not fair to anybody. Especially not myself."
So he went headlong into it; good news for the arts. Daversa's latest recording, Artful JoyBob Mintzer and singer Gretchen Parlato are guests. The band sounds large. The tunes are exciting, from ethereal ("Hara Angelina") and funky ("C'Mon Robby Marshall"), to swinging ("Rhythm Changes"), dreamy ("Players Only"), and reminiscent of trumpeter Miles Davis' blues circa 1980s ("Flirty Girl").
It's consistently interesting and expertly executed. The players with whom Daversa has shared a long association are, by turns, outstanding, grooving, wailing and subtle when need be. The soloists are also outstanding, particularly saxophonist Robby Marshall and keyboardist Tommy King. And Daversa's trumpet—and sometimes the electric EVI (Electric Valve Instrument)—is superb. The recording came on the heels of 2011's Junk Wagon (BFM Jazz), an equally exciting album done with his Progressive Big Band. That band also gets some steady work in the LA area. Armed with Daversa's writing and arranging, it plays music from a wide range of genres and it always works. It is one strong aggregation and the disk was probably the best big band recording of 2011.
"With the big band, I love it because we can have these lengthy improvisational moments, but you always know, because of the arrangement and the composition, where you're going to land. It gives some structure to the chaos. But with the small band, we have no idea sometimes where we're going to land. A lot of the directions on that particular recording are the first time we ever did that. It's different every time. That's the fun of what that [small] group is," he says. That fun carries over to the audience.
Read more: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43963#.USI72qXhEhR
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