Enlarge CCJF

The logo for the Center City Jazz Festival — provided it launches.

CCJF

The logo for the Center City Jazz Festival — provided it launches.

Swing, Swang, Swingin': verb conjugation a la Jackie McLean.

• The Center City Jazz Festival is being started up by a Philadelphia musician, trombonist Ernest Stuart. It's being crowdfunded in large part through Kickstarter. David Adler reports more details here.
• RIP Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson, drummer with Jimmy Smith and D.C. hero.
• Ahmad Jamal interview at All About Jazz. Terell Stafford too.
• Jose James interview at The Revivalist.
• Chris Albertson has been posting some hip recordings lately — Bud Freeman, Howard McGhee, etc.
• A Michel Petrucciani documentary, which premiered at Cannes, is out.
• L.A. jazz clubs need more loud drunks, apparently.
• Pro Sonny Rollins, anti Kennedy Center Honors.
• "Jazz, Max Weber, and the Breakdown of the Protestant Ethic."
• Trombone Shorty is on this year's New Orleans Jazz Fest poster.
• The Jazz Bakery is getting a permanent home in Culver City, designed by Frank Gehry. Apparently, he is working pro bono.
• The Village Vanguard on Yelp. What people who don't revere the place think.
• Destination: Out has a guest post on low brass man Bill Lowe, from Taylor Ho Bynum.
• JazzWax spoke with vocalist/pianist Meredith d'Ambrosio, whose new recording has a rather powerful story behind it.
• The Jazz Session spoke with saxophonist Noah Kaplan and pianist Tom Wetmore.
• The Checkout spoke with Benny Golson.

Elsewhere at NPR Music:

iStockPhoto

Pickup basketball, for one.

For non-playing participants, jam sessions can be difficult musical experiences. As "hangs," or social gatherings, they aren't so bad — sometimes you learn a lot by talking to the musicians there. But the quality of the music itself often varies. It only takes a mediocre performance to sour the mood, and a poor showing can turn you off altogether, especially if you've paid money to see it.

You know the feeling? What happens when you hear something with all the archetypal trappings of jazz — a basic swing pulse, people improvising rapidly over standards and blues changes, taking place in a jazz club — which leaves you generally unmoved? Do you ever think, "This sounds like jazz, but it poorly embodies the values I associate with jazz"?

That sent me thinking: Could there be other things that feel more true to the essence of jazz — really, of black American music — than indifferent jazz music itself? Fully aware that "jazz" is an artificial construct which everyone defines differently, and that I'm projecting my own romantic ideal onto it, I don't think it can hurt to explore the positive associations we have with the term. So I humbly submit a short and arbitrary list:

Enlarge Sandrine Lee/Montuno

Esperanza Spalding.

Sandrine Lee/Montuno

Esperanza Spalding.

This song, "Black Gold," is the first single from the forthcoming Esperanza Spalding record, Radio Music Society.

The Afro-centric implication of the title is no coincidence. The song was released yesterday, Feb. 1 — the first day of Black History Month. The video was premiered yesterday on a network called Black Entertainment Television. And to these ears, the music itself connects jazz aesthetics to sounds of black popular music today.

In case that message wasn't clear, Spalding wrote some commentary on the track for members of the press:

This song is singing to our African American heritage before slavery. Over the decades, so much of the strength in the African American community has seeded from resistance and endurance. I wanted to address the part of our heritage spanning back to pre-colonial Africa and the elements of Black pride that draw from our connection to our ancestors in their own land. I particularly wanted to create something that spoke to young boys.

A sample lyric:

Think of all the strength you have in you
From the blood you carry within you
Ancient man
Powerful man
Builders of civilization

So there's that. UPDATE: The video, after the jump.

Enlarge Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A lot of words have been exchanged about Los Angeles jazz club proprietors lately.

Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A lot of words have been exchanged about Los Angeles jazz club proprietors lately.

We would buy a sheet of Miles Davis stamps.

• This essay on Los Angeles club owners, and their failure to understand musicians' points of view, has been circulated a lot lately. Really, it probably applies to a lot of club owners anywhere. From saxophonist Dave Goldberg. (Via.)
• On young musicians in Harlem today, a feature-length piece by Giovanni Russonello in JazzTimes.
• This week in #BAM: Nicholas Payton responds to Christian McBride. Here's pianist Orrin Evans' take, via Shaun Brady/Philadelphia City Paper. Related: more thoughts on the black audience, via The Independent Ear.
• The pianist and historian Sean Gough has a smart blog which you should have a look at. (Via.)
• Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Tillery interviews at The Revivalist.
• Enrico Rava interview at All About Jazz.
• Tommy Williams, extraordinary yet obscure bassist. From Ronan Guilfoyle.
• Keith Jarrett played Carnegie Hall this week, Nate Chinen reports. No drama! (Of the unpleasant kind.)
• On Jan Lundgren, Swedish junior tennis star turned Oscar Peterson devotee, and his new digitally-rescued recording. From Doug Ramsey/WSJ.
• On Kris Bowers, recent Monk Competition-winning pianist, from Greg Thomas/NY Daily News.
• This band, the Wee Trio, did a record of David Bowie songs and all have brightly colored hair for some reason.
• The JEN Conference from the camera of the Jazz Video Guy. (He liked it a lot.)
• The Cotton Club's piano apparently has turned up in a Washington, D.C. suburb.
• "Jazz Standards Updated For The Modern Young Lady" at McSweeney's. Reminds me of "Jazz Substandards."
• JazzWax spoke with saxophonist Arno Marsh.
• The Jazz Session spoke with drummer Matt Wilson (video at JazzDIY) and saxophonist Bob Reynolds.
• The Checkout spoke with Charlie Haden and Ben Allison, and recorded the keyboard player Courtney Bryan.

Elsewhere at NPR Music:

Enlarge Courtesy of the artist

Clare Fischer.

Courtesy of the artist

Clare Fischer.

Composer, arranger and pianist Clare Fischer died Thursday, Jan. 26, his website has announced. He was 83. The L.A. Times reports that he died of complications from a heart attack suffered two weeks ago.

Fischer was a respected improvising pianist, but left his biggest mark behind the scenes as a composer, arranger and studio musician across idiom. "I'm not a pianist who writes — I'm a composer who plays," he said on a February 2001 episode of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, heard above. A few of his tunes, "Pensativa" and "Morning," have entered standard jazz repertoire.

His first big break came while touring as pianist/arranger for the Hi-Los, a popular vocal quartet of its time. He was soon commissioned to arrange for various jazz artists, including Dizzy Gillespie on A Portrait of Duke Ellington. Fischer was known for his love of Latin American music and European classical music alike; he led and played in Latin jazz bands (especially with vibraphonist Cal Tjader), and wrote for strings and symphony orchestras. He was also tapped to write backing arrangements for myriad pop stars, including Chaka Khan and Rufus, Paul McCartney, Joao Gilberto, Brandy, Carlos Santana and Prince, often in collaboration with Brent Fischer, his son and a fellow producer/arranger.

"Each decade, I find myself being interested in something else," Clare Fischer told McPartland. "So I pursue it."

In that time, Fischer released 51 albums as a bandleader or solo pianist, spanning ensembles of all sizes and styles. One of his last — Continuum, a collection of works for big band — was nominated for a Grammy in November.

Enlarge Tom Pich/NEA

John Levy.

Tom Pich/NEA

John Levy.

This post was originally published shortly after John Levy's death late last week. Click the audio link above to hear a remembrance of Levy by NPR's Sami Yenigun.

This weekend, we learned that the jazz businessman John Levy died on Friday. His wife, Devra Hall Levy, announced the news on Saturday in a press release available on John Levy's website, Lushlife. He was nearly 100 years old.

Levy was once a musician of some renown — he played bass with Billie Holiday, Stuff Smith, George Shearing and many others — but he's primarily remembered for his advocacy. He was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2006 for representing dozens of musicians as a manager, and also produced concerts and recordings.

According to Devra Hall Levy's statement, John Levy's clients included "Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Randy Crawford, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal, Abbey Lincoln, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Mann, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery, George Shearing, Dakota Staton, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Williams, and Nancy Wilson, who remains a John Levy Enterprises client to this day."

When Levy was given the NEA award, Sara Fishko created this story about him for NPR's All Things Considered:

If we stop right there, that's already an incredible career. But it becomes extraordinary with a few other details.

Enlarge John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

Tom Harrell, backstage at the Village Vanguard.

John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

Tom Harrell, backstage at the Village Vanguard.

• Are You Listening? is the new video-based "conversation" initiative from SFJAZZ.
• Tom Harrell is profiled in this Salon piece, which appears to be an association with a PBS program called Sound Tracks. The real draw is that it has three song-length videos from a recent performance at the Village Vanguard with what he's calling his Chamber Ensemble.
• On music stands in jazz concert settings, after a public Twitter conversation this week. The author here is a former NPR intern (and percussionist).
• Jazz Heaven is a new video instructional site, with clips from Eric Harland, Jerry Bergonzi, Lee Konitz, Jean-Michel Pilc, Ari Hoenig, Ralph Peterson, etc. According to George Colligan, it's being run by the drummer Falk Willis. If nothing else, the outtakes are amazing.
• St. Louis Jazz Notes is still the definitive dude who compiles year-end lists from the Jazz Internet — including plenty of folks who didn't vote in the critics polls.
• Junior Mance short profile in JazzTimes. He still plays once a week in New York, you know.
• On the restaurant jazz gig, by the guitarist Paul Brady. Not new, but a valuable perspective from someone who actually plays them to put together a living.
• Bill Laswell interview from Hank Shteamer.
• Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964, Berlin Jazz Festival. Worth re-posting.
• Bobby Hutcherson Day? Not a bad idea. For a longer profile, check out the San Francisco Chronicle's story.
• JazzWax spoke with pianist Geri Allen.
• The Jazz Session spoke with drummer Barry Altschul and pianist Armen Donelian.
• The Checkout spoke with featured performers E.J. Strickland and the members of the Olatuja Project, plus Kenny Barron.

Elsewhere at NPR Music:

Enlarge Courtesy of Indiana University

David Baker helped make formal jazz education a growing part of the music's history and evolution.

Courtesy of Indiana University

David Baker helped make formal jazz education a growing part of the music's history and evolution.

If formal jazz education is a growing part of the music's history and evolution, then there should be a considerable chapter set aside for David Baker. Born in Indianapolis on Dec. 21, 1931, Baker emerged from the same city scene that produced J.J. Johnson, Wes Montgomery and Freddie Hubbard, making a name for himself as an adventurous, high-speed trombonist. After visiting the Lenox School of Jazz in 1959, Baker and his Indianapolis hard-bop group came under the tutelage of pianist and theorist George Russell, who made a series of records with Baker for Decca and Riverside that still stand among the most compelling small-group jazz recordings of the 1950s and '60s.

But lingering complications from an early-1950s car accident that had injured his jaw would eventually force Baker to abandon the trombone, right around the time that DownBeat magazine gave him the 1962 New Star award in that instrument's category. That year, fellow trombonist Curtis Fuller told DownBeat, "If there is to be a new era in jazz, Dave Baker should be in the center of it." Fuller was talking about Baker's trombone playing, but his words would prove to be prophetic in another sense; as an educator, Baker has imprinted his jazz DNA on several generations of musicians, who have carried his codes forward through their own playing and teaching.

The head of Indiana University's jazz studies program since 1966, a jazz cellist (Baker took up the instrument in his early 30s), conductor of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and author of numerous analytical and instructional texts, Baker has also kept busy as a versatile and wide-ranging composer, writing hundreds of pieces in small-group, big-band, Third Stream and other stylistic formats. On Saturday, Jan. 21, the IU Jacobs School of Music will host an 80th-birthday-year concert for Baker that will provide an overview of his musical works, featuring former Baker students such as bassist Bob Hurst, pianists Michael Weiss and Jim Beard, saxophonist Ralph Bowen and drummer Shawn Pelton. Here are five Baker compositions that demonstrate the breadth of what George Russell once called Baker's "21st-century soul music."

Enlarge Courtesy of the artist

Alicia and Michael Olatuja would certainly appreciate it if you watched their concert online on Wednesday.

Courtesy of the artist

Alicia and Michael Olatuja would certainly appreciate it if you watched their concert online on Wednesday.

With any luck, regular readers know of The Checkout: Live, our live concert broadcast/recording series in association with WBGO's The Checkout. This is to let you know that:

1. The latest installment hits this Wednesday (tomorrow) at 8 p.m. ET. It features the Olatuja Project, the husband-and-wife team making music that reflects everything from Nigerian traditions to Afro-American pop; and the E.J. Strickland Project — in this case, the drummer's take on the Stevie Wonder songbook. From talking drums to Talking Book, as it were. More info, and the live webcast, is available here. Join us for video, chat and a recording afterward.
2. In a few years of webcasting live concerts at NPR Music, we've developed some cool new ways to present the whole experience — video, chat, photostreams, iPhone and iPad streaming, all that. This in mind, we are slowly migrating The Checkout: Live shows to a new look, away from this blog. You'll want to bookmark npr.org/checkoutlive if you haven't already to catch up with the upcoming schedule — Kendrick Scott, Gilad Hekselman, Donny McCaslin, Ingrid Jensen, etc. — and as the home of this series. We'll still keep you up-to-date on upcoming concerts here, though.

Pardon our dust.

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"So, who here liked the Sonny Rollins album?": A comprehensive critics' poll is up.

Rene Mansi/iStockPhoto

"So, who here liked the Sonny Rollins album?": A comprehensive critics' poll is up.

Three-day weekend! See you on Tuesday after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

• The Rhaposdy Jazz Critics Poll, the most comprehensive 2011 year-end consensus roundup, is finally out. (Yes, I submitted.) Complete with essays, listings and links to all the ballots.
• More Winter Jazzfest roundup: Ben Ratliff, Jim Fusilli, Geoffrey Himes, Benjamin Lozovsky, Lucid Culture, Feast Of Music, Vanity Fair. Also, photos from Jati Lindsay.
• More stories on this year's NEA Jazz Masters. Here's Larry Blumenfeld on Jack DeJohnette. Hear the WNYC studio session he mentions here. Also, Mark Stryker on Sheila Jordan. And check out the NEA Art Works podcast for a few more interviews with NEA Jazz Masters (and jazz musicians, period). More links on last week's roundup. Do note! Howard Mandel reports that the NEA Jazz Masters program will continue for 2013. Finally, we archived the audio from the ceremony and concert, on-demand for your convenience.
• The jazz/"j-word"/BAM discussion continues. Here's video from the conference that happened last week in New York. Here's Nicholas Payton's history lesson on the topic. Of the folks who disagree with the premise, Greg Thomas' AllAboutJazz essay is one of the better responses. UPDATE: Payton responds strongly. And a piece in the Kansas City Star asks local musicians (including Bobby Watson) what they think.
• The black audience question, at The Independent Ear.
• Ron Miles interview. at jazzblog.ca. Also, Steve Amirault's 12 jazz propositions.
• Sorta-viral video the first: Roy Haynes and Jack DeJohnette tap dancing.
• Sorta-viral video the first: "EPIC Drum Solo FAIL!" (not for the faint of stomach)(but still bad, like, bad meaning good).
• The Jamey Aebersold canon on Spotify.
• Ted Panken's archives this week: A Max Roach piece, and another on the Pizzarellis (John and Bucky).
• Destination: Out has posted a Sam Rivers memorial.
• JazzWax spoke with saxophonist Anthony Ortega.
• The Jazz Session spoke with drummers Jack DeJohnette and Deric Dickins.
• The Checkout also spoke with Jack DeJohnette.

Elsewhere at NPR Music:

Enlarge John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

David Murray leads his Cuban Ensemble at Winter Jazzfest 2012.

John Rogers for NPR/johnrogersnyc.com

David Murray leads his Cuban Ensemble at Winter Jazzfest 2012.

Surprise! We recorded two shows at the NYC Winter Jazzfest on Saturday night, both featuring a one-song video excerpt. We're happy to present them to you now.

The David Murray Cuban Ensemble, at least the New York City version, represents the latest chapter from the prolific saxophonist. It's a large ensemble which knows Afro-Cuban music down pat. (Some members are from Cuba.) It's been tasked with elevating music of Nat King Cole's Spanish-language albums. And the role of Cole is played by one of the best soloists in the game. More info on this project here, or just hear the concert. [NPR Music: David Murray Cuban Ensemble: Live In Concert]

The Vijay Iyer Trio preceded David Murray on stage. If you were there — well, first you would have waited in line around the block, but if you got in, you know Le Poisson Rouge was packed to the gills, almost uncomfortably so. Naturally, it was a fever pitch environment when the band previewed a few cuts from its upcoming album Accelerando, plus a few more tunes besides. ("Hood" is so good, y'all.) Crushing beats for everyone! [NPR Music: Vijay Iyer Trio: Live In Concert]

For more coverage of this year's WJF, check out our recap and preview.

Enlarge William Gottlieb/Library of Congress via Flickr

Max Roach in 1947.

William Gottlieb/Library of Congress via Flickr

Max Roach in 1947.

Pioneering jazz drummer Max Roach was born on Jan. 10, 1924 in Newland, N.C., and grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. Roach began playing in New York jazz clubs in the early 1940s. From those early days until his death in 2007, he never stopped creating and exploring new possibilities for jazz drumming.

In this installment of Take Five, we remember Roach with five recordings from his amazing body of work. As always, we ask you to leave your favorite Max Roach moments in the comments section below.

Enlarge Michael G. Stewart/NEA

L-R: Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Owens.

Michael G. Stewart/NEA

L-R: Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Owens.

In a concert and ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized its latest class of NEA Jazz Masters on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012.

The honor, here in its 30th year, is the highest federally-supported award for jazz artistry; those recognized received a $25,000 grant and an opportunity to perform. The event was broadcast live tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET through XM Satellite Radio, WBGO-FM and online — with a live video stream — at this page on NPR Music. Video of the entire event is archived at the NEA's website.

The NEA recognized five individuals, all musicians. Jack DeJohnette is one of the great drummers in modern jazz; tenor saxophonist Von Freeman has long been a hard-swinging anchor of the Chicago jazz community; Charlie Haden's bass playing seems endlessly versatile; vocalist Sheila Jordan is known for her distinctive approach and singing workshops; and Jimmy Owens, trumpeter and composer/arranger, receives the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy for helping to establish housing and emergency assistance for musicians.

Each of the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters was introduced by a short video segment and a guest speaker, then offered the chance to speak. (Haden and Freeman were unable to attend; their children, themselves prominent musicians, accepted their awards for them.) Between awards, songs written by Jazz Masters were performed by Jazz Masters, often with up-and-coming musicians and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. The list below separates all the individual performance for on-demand listening.

Scenes from the 2012 New York Winter Jazzfest, held Jan. 6-7, 2012 at five nearby venues in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. For a recap of some of the performances during the music marathon, click here.

For the last eight years, New York has played host to a glorious, highly-concentrated overload of improvised music called Winter Jazzfest. In recent years, the early-January festival has expanded to five nearby Greenwich Village venues, two long nights and over 4,000 attendees.

The audiences are remarkably younger and bigger than your average jazz crowds. The performers — with notable exceptions — aren't yet of the profile who can fill weeklong runs or performing arts centers, but many of them ought to be. The corporate sponsorship doesn't really exist (how does that work, exactly?), unless you count a certain limited-edition beer made for this event. As for the music: With about 60 bands scattered about the stylistic map, there's bound to be something any festival-goer would like, if not many things.

With me to recap the music and madness of this year's Winter Jazzfest are producers Simon Rentner and Tim Wilkins of WBGO, and my big-eared colleague Anastasia Tsioulcas, notably of NPR Music's Deceptive Cadence. We had this edited conversation via instant messenger early Sunday afternoon, after partial recovery from two nights of concertgoing.

Patrick: We all here and caffeinated and ready?

Anastasia: Is this going to be McLaughlin Group-esque?

Patrick: A little more free-form, but you can be Eleanor Clift if you want.

Tim: Yes, PJ is the ex-Jesuit in the room.

Patrick: If only. So, everyone: Give me one word or phrase that you've been thinking about Winter Jazzfest 2012.