| All About Jazz Feature Articles Aufgehoben: Counter-Intuition Aufgehoben is a band that defies categorization, a band unlike any other; its music is freely improvised, with only the sketchiest of plans being agreed upon in advance. And yet its music ends up sounding a million miles away from improv, and even further from jazz. The reasons are twofold: the sound, which is pumped-up, full-on metal rock music, with everything turned up to the max, and the post-production and mixing, which the raw material undergoes, enhancing the sound further and focusing the music. The end result is unique and utterly distinctive... Kenny Drew Trio: At The Brewhouse Kenny Drew Trio At The Brewhouse Storyville 2007 Kenny Drew had a marvellous sense of harmony, phrasing and timing on the piano. Whether he lingered on a note, or let it pass by in a wisp, the impression was delectable. His touch was magic. Drewa€(TM)s early influences were Fats Waller, Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, all of whom he encapsulated in his playing even as he went on to develop a vocabulary of his own. He recorded several albums as a sideman in the 1950s, including the legendary Blue Train (Blue Note, 1957) with John Coltrane... Ellen Johnson Live At Enzo's Jazz, NYC Ellen Johnson Enzo's Jazz, Jolly Hotel Madison Towers New York, New York October 19, 2007 Jazz singer/songwriter Ellen Johnson made a rare night club appearance in Manhattan coinciding with the release of her album These Days. Johnson is a transplanted Chicagoan who had lived in the San Diego area until 1999 when she relocated to the Los Angeles area. While in San Diego, the talented and versatile vocalist worked as a musician and educator, serving as an instructor at the University of San Diego and the OId Globe Theatre. Since the mid 1980's, she has been conducting voice clinics and performed special concerts of Duke Ellington's Sacred Music. At the 2004 IAJE Conference in New York, she served as moderator of a panel discussion entitled: "The Evolution of Vocal Jazz Singing: Where Are We Headed... Eberhard Weber: Please Don't Play Jazz Ita€(TM)s impossible to tell the story of European jazz without mentioning bassist/composer Eberhard Weber. One of the true virtuosos of the bass, the German-born Weber has an immediately recognizable, singing tone--even when hea€(TM)s not performing on his trademark, self-designed electrobass. Like his American counterpart Jaco Pastorius, Weber wasna€(TM)t shy about making his instrument heard--his round, supple lines didna€(TM)t tend to disappear into the background, nor was their role exclusively rhythmic or supportive... Criss Cross Jazz Roundup: Part One Part 1 | Part 2 At a time when the record industry seems poised on the edge of a major collapse, especially in terms of its return on jazz product, ita€(TM)s the small labels that continue to keep the music fresh and alive. Talk about Sharp Nine, Reservoir, HighNote/Savant, MaxJazz and several others and youa€(TM)re talking producers who are willing to take a chance on music that they personally find rewarding even while knowing that sales figures in the long run will be modest at best... Criss Cross Jazz Roundup: Part Two Part 1 | Part 2 At a time when the record industry seems poised on the edge of a major collapse, especially in terms of its return on jazz product, ita€(TM)s the small labels that continue to keep the music fresh and alive. Talk about Sharp Nine, Reservoir, HighNote/Savant, MaxJazz and several others and youa€(TM)re talking producers who are willing to take a chance on music that they personally find rewarding even while knowing that sales figures in the long run will be modest at best... William Parker: Corn Meal Dance William Parker Corn Meal Dance AUM Fidelity Records 2007 William Parkera€(TM)s Corn Meal Dance showcases the enigmatic figure's best attributes--not as bass player but, instead, as band leader and poet. The release finds Parker again working with his Raining On The Moon Quintet, first featured on Raining On The Moon (Thirsty Ear, 2002). An overall more pop and blues-oriented record than some of Parkera€(TM)s more eclectic excursions, Corn Meal Dance is refreshing and Parkera€(TM)s words thought provoking... Fred Anderson: Customizing Conviction Carrying on tradition brings history through time without imitation. Not all musicians make it their job to ensure that the music of the past, while changeable as a result of the passage of cultural time, stays intact. It's all about new tunes and improvisation: the creation of music that upholds the tradition, with those to whom that tradition is handed down allowing it to continue. Saxophonist Fred Anderson has not relented in his intention to keep modern jazz alive. Anderson describes how the music, as he first began to listen to the Jay McShann band on record, captured him: a€oeit was the concept of the music that was fascinating.a€... Mamiko Watanabe at Fat Cat's, NYC Mamiko Watanabe Fat Cat Club New York City, New York November 7, 2007 Mamiko Watanabe is a wonderful jazz pianist, who is simply fun to watch in performance. She is a little woman--probably no more than 98 pounds but certainly 98 pounds of dynamite! It was Lynn Christie, a string bass player who once performed with Chick Corea, to whom I owe a phrase a€oenot afraid to be original.a€ Mamiko is such a person. She may not let it show, but as an experienced musician who's been there, I know how much work goes into organizing a group and getting them to perform original music. It requires effort, perseverance and even courage... Rudresh Mahanthappa -- The Dakshina Ensemble at the Asia Society The Dakshina Ensemble at the Asia Society The Asia Society New York City, New York November 8, 2007 The Dakshina Ensemble was created as a meeting of the minds, worlds and talents of alto saxophonists Rudresh Mahanthappa and Kadri Gopalnath. The outcome of this cross- fertilization is a set of pieces composed by the pair which they named Kinsmen/Svajanam, "svajanam" being the Sanskrit for "kinsmen." This night was the first of two concerts, after which the band was going on tour. What we heard was two hours of ecstatic playing that created a musical world all its own... The Thing with Ken Vandermark and Two Bands and A Legend: Collaborative Furies Swedish/Norwegian power trio The Thing--featuring Mats Gusatfsson on saxophones and the colossal rhythm section of Ingebrigt HA ker Flaten on bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums--like to enlist additional players who will bring further energy to their already dense dynamics. American saxophone hero Joe McPhee, or "the Legend" as the group refer to him, has been an honorary member since he played on their second release, She Knows (Crazy Wisdom, 2002). Over the years, the band also joined forces with Italian twin trio Zu, Finnish/American guitarist Raoul BjA rkenheim, and Japanese sound sculptor and guitarist Otomo Yoshihide... Motel 5: As For You The phone in my office rang twice. I let the machine get it. The voice on the other end sounded desperate. a€oeHey, West, I need a band to play Bill Gatesa€(TM) house.a€ Rough life, I mused, planning private parties for billionaires. Imagine all the stress involved in picking out the hippest flower arrangements, trendiest color schemes, fanciest hors da€(TM)oeurves, and ice sculptures shaped like a school of humpbacked whales in full breach. All on an unlimited budget. Something tugged me out of my reverie. It was the desperate voice of my party planner friend faced with a genuine concern... Freddy Cole: Cole and Laid Back For Music Maestro Please (High Note, 2007), his seventeenth releases since Ia€(TM)m Not My Brother, Ia€(TM)m Me (High Note, 1990), singer/pianist Freddy Cole teamed with pianist Bill Charlap and his trio, featuring bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. The album features songs that, for the most part, the Georgia Music Hall of Famer (he was inducted in 2007 as a music pioneer--"the first time for a jazz performer," he comments--in a ceremony that also nominated rapper/actor Usher and rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd) has never done before, even in a live format... Tyshawn Sorey: That/Not Tyshawn Sorey That/Not Firehouse 12 Records 2007 This is drummer/pianist/composer Tyshawn Sorey's first outing on record. It's a two-disc manifesto of some downright iconoclastic music, and the work of a quartet of musicians with their eyes seemingly on expansive, open, new vistas. That much is clear in every note they play. Thus, "Leveled" on the first disc is an exercise in stealth and nuance where Sorey proves himself to be a percussionist of infinite subtlety, one seemingly hyper-aware of shading and of charting the perhaps studiedly halting progress of trombone and bass. The overall effect is that of a group working within the widest parameters of the avant-garde, and the music has no obvious precedents... Vijay Iyer -- Tirtha at The Jazz Standard Tirtha at The Jazz Standard The Jazz Standard New York City, NY November 6, 2007 Tirtha (pronounced "TEER-tha") is a new project brought together by pianist Vijay Iyer that is a trio including the phenomenal electric guitarist Prasanna and the young virtuoso tabla player Nitin Mitta. This amazing and very exciting one-night-only show was co-sponsored by National Geographic Traveler, and the house was almost packed for the early show with a line extending up the stairs for the late show... Larry Ridley: Them's That Teach Can Do Bassist Larry Ridley has one of the most impressive pedigrees in all of jazz. After coming up in his hometown of Indianapolis, playing with Freddie Hubbard and James Spaulding, Ridley relocated to New York, appearing on some of the 1960s most important records with Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Jackie McLean and Dexter Gordon. During the 1970s he recorded his first album as leader, played as a sideman with James Moody and Duke Ellington, and was Thelonious Monka€(TM)s regular bassist. A prominent member of the jazz education community, Ridley was the founding faculty member of the Rutgers University jazz program and is Executive Director of IAJEa€(TM)s African-American Jazz Caucus. He is also jazz artist-in-residence at the Schomburg Institute for Research in Black Culture... Miles Davis -- Thanks for Covering Every Corner Dear Miles, It's hard to believe that you've already been gone for sixteen years now. And I know you don't miss much from your perch up there, but I wanted to make sure that you knew what we've been doing with your music down here, in case you and Hendrix have been busy working out changes with Monk or something and missed it... Monterey Jazz Festival Turns 50 Monterey Jazz Festival Monterey Fairgrounds Monterey, California September 21-23, 2007 It might be tough to get a minyan for a jazz performance in L.A., but it's easy up north where a record 45,000 jazz fans endured rain and mud that threatened to turn this annual jazz bacchanal into Woodstock Redux. But the spirits of Bird and Dizzy, Duke, Miles and Monk blew away the storm clouds and let the sounds of jazz spread love and happiness over the County Fairgrounds. The theme of this year's golden celebration might have been the bridging of the years between veterans like the great Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Jim Hall and Ernestine Anderson, all of whom played at the inaugural festival in 1958, and the younger generation of musicians like Terence Blanchard, Chris Potter, Benny Green and the teenagers in the MJF Next Generation Jazz Orchestra... Calabria Foti: A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening When someone like Sammy Nestico, famous for his arrangements for the Count Basie Orchestra and Sarah Vaughan, says a lady can sing, you had better listen to her because he knows his business well: producing great songs for great singers. The truth is that Nestico could hardly be more positive about Calabria Foti--who has just released, A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening (MoCo, 2007)--saying, "Calabria is the complete artist... Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions Miles Davis The Complete On The Corner Sessions Sony-Legacy Music 2007 Much has been written about what is perhaps trumpeter Miles Davisa€(TM) most controversial album, On The Corner (Columbia, 1972). Already shaken from the electric onslaught of Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), A Tribute To Jack Johnson (Columbia, 1970), and a series of live or, in the case of Live-Evil (Columbia, 1970), largely live releases, it was the album that finally sent most jazz critics running for the hills, but not before weighing in with strong condemnation of what was universally considered a sell-out... Amazon RSS Feeds |
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