The Jazz Border Patrol And The Tuesday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where our latest Take Five has me dying to play a contrabass saxophone.

--50,000 Turn Out For Kenny G: I promise this will be the only time we lead with Kenny G. (OK, I don't promise that at all.) But news that he drew as many as 50,000 fans for a show at a commmunity college in Syracuse, N.Y. made me perk up a bit. Here's a review, if anyone is curious as to what exactly he played. According to further coverage at Syracuse.com, the parking lots overflowed, and Mr. G also gave away a soprano saxophone. Now, I don't know what percentage of that audience came to really engage with Kenny G's music, but you can't argue with the sheer enormity of 50,000. You don't see those kinds of numbers for anyone playing saxophone who's not in Bruce Springsteen's band.

Reading this interview with Syracuse Jazz Festival director Frank Malfitano, it would seem as if he believes a key to jazz's survival is to form a protective trade organization for all forms of jazz. He also blames jazz purists for the current state of the industry. I don't know if he actually believes that having smooth jazz headliners floats all boats, or if he actually believes that smooth jazz represents a positive growth of the jazz tradition. I wouldn't presume to put words into his mouth, but judging from the interview and the fact that the festival also booked Spyro Gyra to headline the first night, both postulates seem logical. Anyone out there with thoughts on the viability of these ideas?

--The Ever-Expanding Definition Of The Jazz Festival: Closely related to the previous discussion is this examination of why "jazz" festivals book headliners who are not jazz artists. I'll admit that today, it makes sense to book pop artists both to expand the jazz audience and, more importantly, to have them considered in the same breath as reputedly impenetrable "jazz" musicians. But taken to its logical end, at some point this trend reaches a breaking point where jazz and improvised music is no longer the core idea of the event. Seems to me that a better model -- where one can afford to do it -- was this year's Meltdown, wherein a jazz legend in Ornette Coleman was effectively given the keys to the castle. It got lots of attention, and with the interdisciplinary bent to the whole thing, nobody really seemed to care what genre was being presented.

--Jazz Is Still The Word: While we're discussing the jazz border patrol today, the English blog thejazzbreakfast recently held an online poll to see if the term "jazz" was still worth keeping around, given the incredible diversity of what falls under the term now. The results: 66% say yes, 11% say no and 23% take a neutral stance. Now, the data is no FiveThirtyEight science, but the ensuing discussion is what I personally find interesting. It seems as if jazz has become less useful as a genre defined by common sonic elements, but it still has plenty of value as a frame of mind, an aesthetic approach of innovation, a heritage, a catchall for things that wouldn't otherwise have a home in today's fractured music landscape. I understand that the term "jazz" is loaded with potentially uncool stigmas outside of jazz circles, but to me it seems easier to wage that cultural war (especially with the Obamas on our side) than to be without a home base for the many things that wouldn't get any attention outside the jazz industry. (And to tear down that industry apparatus in the first place.) Or am I just fooling myself of the importance of the jazz press?

--The Founder Of Delmark Records, Profiled: Somehow, last week we missed this New York Times story on Bob Koester, sole proprietor of Delmark Records and owner of the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago. Koester comes off really well here, as someone who documents music because he feels it important rather than profitable. Why else would he have chosen to record traditional jazz, Delta blues and the early AACM recordings on the same label? And his record store fostered a real community of musicians and music listeners. (Howard Mandel counts himself as one of them.) Anyway, we should also mention that Delmark is still putting out important music from the Chicago blues, trad-jazz and avant-garde scenes.

12:32 PM ET | 06-30-2009 | permalink

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Clarinetwork: Anat Cohen Plays Benny Goodman

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

Anat Cohen takes Benny Goodman to infinity and beyond at the Village Vanguard this week. Photo Credit: Osnat Rom

I'm heading to the Montreal Jazz Festival. This is good news, except I'm removing myself from a full week of the continuous New York Jazz Club Festival.

One of this week's shows that grabbed my attention is the Village Vanguard revue billed as "Benny Goodman and Beyond." Anat Cohen leads a quartet with one of the finer in-the-pocket rhythm sections -- pianist Benny Green, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash -- through a panoply of Goodman's Swing Era classics. On Thursday, Cohen adds five horn players to the mix to create a nonet reduction of Goodman's big band charts, arranged by Oded Lev-Ari.

Since I couldn't make it to any of the shows this week, I decided that I needed to hear what I'm missing. So I talked to Anat, and she shared some rehearsal tape. Hear it all after the jump.

Continue reading "Clarinetwork: Anat Cohen Plays Benny Goodman" »

5:40 PM ET | 06-29-2009 | permalink

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More Weird Instruments In Jazz

by Lars Gotrich and Mike Katzif

Today's totally fun Take Five list by Josh features some of the stranger instruments to pop up in jazz -- everything from bagpipes to conch shells. But a quick poll around the office revealed that many of us also have our own favorite odd jazz instruments.

So this time, five (er, six) songs just weren't enough. Here are some of the artists who popped up:

Rudy Smith: steel pan. A transplanted Trinidadian now living all over Europe, Smith approaches his Jamaican instrument like vibraphonist Milt Jackson. His steel pan playing is melodious and light, making me want to simultaneously bob my head and order a margarita. --LG

More instrumental oddities and a Rufus Harley documentary, after the jump.

Continue reading "More Weird Instruments In Jazz" »

3:16 PM ET | 06-29-2009 | permalink

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$300 Grand, 14,000 Records, Diana Krall: The Friday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where I've been listening to Lester Bowie's take on "Thriller," courtesy of Josh Jackson.

--Defending Diana Krall: Or less defending than acknowledging her less-than-stellar reputation among certain jazz crowds, and then giving her an honest appraisal of a Carnegie Hall performance -- which happened to be good. So says Nate Chinen at The Gig, as does Stephen Holden for the Times. There's something that could be read as backhanded about both reviews; it's the technique of saying "well, she isn't one of the greats, but she does these certain things competently, if not pleasantly." ("On one level, Ms. Krall is a middle-of-the-road pop-jazz diva," Holden writes; "She isn't at all a bad piano player, in a retrograde fashion," quoth Chinen.) In other words, the insult of diminished expectations. I don't think Holden and Chinen meant it that way, though; I think they genuinely enjoyed the performance and found interesting things happening in the music. But are Krall's enjoyable qualities relevant and important things to what jazz is and should be? That's not necessarily a fair question for a reviewer, though I'm still left frustrated that it's left incompletely explored.

Anyway, I've recently learned that host Steve Inskeep of Morning Edition just taped an interview with Krall while she came through the D.C. area. Makes me curious what sort of insights we'll get from her; we jazz people tend to view everything about her from our own biased perspectives. I'll be working on producing an extended cut for the Web -- I'm told it was "good tape," as we say here. So look for that -- or look to ignore that, if you aren't convinced of her artistic worth.

--Bob Brookmeyer On JazzWax: Speaking of long interviews, today Marc Myers concludes his epic five-parter with (valve) trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer. I'll remind you of the JazzWax link, where you can find all five segments. Highlights: pretending not to be able to read music while playing for a boring studio band, candor about his incredible drinking habit; the legendary exploits of Zoot Sims. Reading it all, it's amazing he's made it to nearly 80; thank goodness he has.

--How To Spend $300k In 48 Hours: Here's a fascinating story. In Canada, where apparently the government spends money on producing jazz festivals (wait, what?), Catherine O'Grady received a CDN $338,000 (that's nearly US $293,000) grant to produce a concert for the Ottawa jazz festival. And O'Grady, the festival's executive producer, got it exactly 48 hours before the free show she had hoped to produce. Now, top flight talent tends to be 1) very expensive 2) booked far in advance 3) finicky. So after a day spent fruitlessly tracking down crossover and jazz acts, she finally landed on Terence Blanchard, who was spending a bit of down time between tours in New Orleans. Barely 24 hours later, he and his mostly New York-based quintet were playing to a 3,000 person audience in another country. And apparently, it was a pretty good show. Related: Terence Blanchard's (downloadable) Village Vanguard show.

--Will Friedwald Is Giving Away 14,000 Records: But not to me, unfortunately. The writer, who specializes in jazz and cabaret singing, is giving the jazz records to an unknown public archive in Washington, D.C. Here's a video report with scenes from dude's New York apartment, which is jam-packed with records.

--CHOPS: The Documentary: Via Jazz Lives, word of a newish feature on a bunch of middle school jazz musicians in Florida -- who happen to win Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington school band competition. It actually screened here in D.C. in late April, but somehow I missed it. Anyway, here's the CHOPS Web site, and the cutest YouTube clip you'll see today which doesn't involve a pre-pubescent Michael Jackson:

4:31 PM ET | 06-26-2009 | permalink

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A Brief Interlude In Which We Discuss The News

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

A fan wears a Michael Jackson t-shirt outside the Los Angeles hospital where Jackson died yesterday. Photo Credit: Michal Czerwonka/Getty Images

It doesn't seem right to go on with the business of a music blog without acknowledging the music news of the day. For all the dialogue about jazz occupying a privileged High Art position among the various forms of music -- to which there is some sense, I should say -- jazz musicians have always existed within, and in their own twisted ways refracted, the popular culture of their eras. Scanning the blogophere proves this to be true in the case of Michael Jackson too. (UPDATE: Christian McBride weighs in too.)

Personally, I come from a generation for whom a full MJ appreciation would be something of an exercise in historical imagination. (Not that it isn't for Sidney Bechet too, but there are a lot more smart journalists who personally recall the King of Pop in his prime.) So rather than subject you to my thoughts on Thriller or whatever, I direct you to NPR's full coverage of Michael Jackson.

This Artist Index Page links to just about everything Jackson-related on NPR and NPR.org. There are remembrances, multimedia features, news updates, and archived stories from the last eight or so years. We'll continue to update as stories develop -- and they will throughout the day and even weekend.

I've been really quite impressed with the NPR network and my immediate colleagues at NPR Music in their tireless efforts to generate interesting views on the Michael Jackson story. It's a effort I necessarily have a small hand in too, which is why today's link dump is a little late in coming, if anyone's wondering. (No, ABS is not nearly my only job here.) So hang tight, and watch a little Internet tee-vee to tide you over.

11:59 AM ET | 06-26-2009 | permalink

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Jazz As A Reflection Of Place

by Felix Contreras

Thelonious Monk and the Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter -- who he named the tune "Pannonica" after. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Abrams Image/Harry N. Abrams

Recently, I was thumbing through Three Wishes, the book published last October featuring photographs by Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswater, aka the Baroness of Jazz. The photos are of various jazz musicians at work (or at play) in the Baroness' home during the 1960s.

The title is taken from the question she asked these musicians: if you were granted three wishes, what would they be? A handful expressed a desire for jazz to be considered by the music world to be a serious, legitimate art form on par with other "serious" musical genres.

I thought about those wishes as I read an announcement from the National Endowment for the Arts about a planned cultural exchange between the City of Los Angeles and the Mexican City of Guadalajara. The event is Guadalajara's annual International Book Fair, and the concept is to offer a portrait of Los Angeles through the works of writers, film makers, architects and jazz musicians.

I wondered what the musicians quoted in the Baroness' book would think about one of their near-peers, Wayne Shorter, being offered up as an example of a city's collective musical expression. Two other groups have also been invited to perform: Poncho Sanchez's band and The Phil Ranelin Jazz Ensemble.

Poncho Sanchez at this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Photo Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Shorter, Sanchez and Ranelin all make Los Angeles their home, though only Sanchez was raised in L.A. and exposed to the jazz that came from the famed Central Avenue jazz clubs. Yet I would have to agree with the organizers' position that collectively, each of the three represent various strains of an art form that is appreciated as an elevated, sometimes even spiritual form of expression by fans around the world. That would have been unheard of back in the days when the Baroness was snapping Polaroids of Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk.

Jazz as a reflection of the character of a major U.S. city would probably seem unlikely for certain New York musicians in the 1950s and '60s, whose hometown government made them register as Cabaret Performers to help keep track of and sometimes punish jazz musicians. For those who wished for a little respect and dignity for their music, this cultural exchange is another example of how that wish came true.

12:30 PM ET | 06-25-2009 | permalink

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Listening, Party For Two: Sidney Bechet's 'Summertime'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Sidney Bechet, circa 1950. Photo Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

My boss readily admits that she doesn't know a whole lot about jazz. But she lets me write all this nonsense on the Internet, so I'm not complaining. And at least she's willing to learn. So every week, she and I get together to listen to and Instant Message about a different great jazz song.

It's officially summer now, and here in Washington, D.C., it's hot. So for this week, I pulled a favorite version of "Summertime": Sidney Bechet's 1939 interpretation, to be precise.

"Summertime," originally issued on a Sidney Bechet 78 rpm record, catalog number BN 6 [Blue Note Records]. Sidney Bechet, soprano saxophone; Meade Lux Lewis, piano; Teddy Bunn, guitar; Johnny Williams, bass; Sid Catlett, drums. New York, N.Y.: June 8, 1939.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

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Boss Lady: I've never had sweet tea before, but this makes me want to sit on the porch, watch the heat ripple off the road and drink a tall, cold glass of sweet tea.

me: Once again, with the imagery.
What about this song, exactly, urges these admittedly appealing impulses?

Boss Lady: Don't you think the best music takes you to a place that's somehow normally inaccessible or hard to come by?

me: Emotionally and imaginatively, sure. I suppose that's another discussion, though. What do you hear that makes you want to imbibe cold beverages?

Continue reading "Listening, Party For Two: Sidney Bechet's 'Summertime'" »

6:32 PM ET | 06-24-2009 | permalink

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More On The Jazz Internet And Its Discontents

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

A bird -- but not the one who played with Diz. Credit: iStockPhoto.com

I'm not sure what in particular inspired Peter Hum to go for broke here, but he did, and the ongoing conversation is better for it. Basically, in a somewhat scattershot but thorough post at the newly-rebranded Jazzblog.ca, he muses on the many different Internet promotional strategies of jazz musicians these days.

Myself, I find this graf to address the real crux of this new Internet business model that's unfolding in front of us (and make sure to read the article hyperlinked within too):

Rather than speak of "digital publicity," it may be more succinct and accurate to use the social-media buzzword: "relationships." This article contends that musicians must above all develop relationships with their fans, and it does seem that Marsalis, who has nearly 60,000 Facebook fans and who hosts regular online Q&As with his most fervent admirers, is in agreement.

There's a lot of sense to this.

Continue reading "More On The Jazz Internet And Its Discontents" »

5:19 PM ET | 06-24-2009 | permalink

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Free Jazz That Is Free, All 635 Minutes Of It

by Lars Gotrich

But definitely not jazz for clinics. Courtesy of Clinical Archives

For some, the Internet Archive is nothing more than a place for Grateful Dead bootlegs and trips in the Wayback Machine (wasn't NPR.org a sad little Web presence back in 1998?). But the site also happens to be a great resource for netlabels to upload their material for worldwide discovery.

So file this under one that we missed: a free, downloadable nine-disc compilation of "'clinically' traditional jazz directions up to unclassable [sic] and clinically indefinable 'jazz' forms." Clinical Jazz comes via net label Clinical Archives, a self-described purveyor of illogical music.

I have not made it through all 635 minutes and 33 seconds (!), and to be sure, not everything on here will be the shape of jazz to come. You can stream and download the whole thing, but here are ten gems to get you started.

-- Seesaw Ensemble, "Themes and Variations": Large-scale group out of San Diego that conjures up the earthy, percussion-based improvisation of Marion Brown's Afternoon of a Georgia Faun, or maybe a Sunday afternoon Sun Ra jam session. (MP3)
-- No School, "Shorter Piece 2": Swedish splatter improv quartet with the nervous energy of a coffee-riddled commuter. (MP3)
-- John Hughes / Lars Scherzberg / Nicolas Wiese, "Eleven's Sake": Electro-acoustic trio with relentless double bass bowing, high-frequency saxophone squeaks and twittering electronics. (MP3)
-- Damo Suzuki & NOW, "Metro Girl": Yes, THAT Damo Suzuki of German krautrock pioneers Can, doing some kind of funky spaced-out Casio kraut-jazz for 20 minutes. An exercise in endurance, but with most things Damo, it's worth the trip. (MP3)
-- Arkana Music, "Through Sacco's Eyes": Out of everything I cherry-picked through, this Toronto quartet is definitely the most identifiably "jazz," though only on its surface. The pianist is reminiscent of Viyay Iyer, but sounds classically trained. Within a noticeable song structure, the group improvises with both freedom and tact. (MP3)

Hear five more hand-picked gems, after the jump.

Continue reading "Free Jazz That Is Free, All 635 Minutes Of It" »

3:57 PM ET | 06-23-2009 | permalink

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Maybe Tuesday Will Be My Good News Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Doubt it.

--Can Michelle Obama Save Jazz?: While he was here at NPR yesterday, Dave Douglas hipped me to this encouraging article from The Daily Beast. Basically, it connected the dots between two thoughts that came up last Tuesday: the depressing NEA arts participation survey findings, and Michelle Obama's uplifting White House jazz event. So can the Obamas -- whose aesthetics resonate with young people far more than all other presidents -- spur interest in jazz again among the 18-to-24s? It's certainly possible. I'm convinced that if you simply put "going to see live jazz" on the radar of young people -- and if you sweeten the deal by making jazz appreciation into youthful cultural capital -- they will attend. In this age of ADD and supposedly scattershot interests (to paraphrase the venue owners cited) and many points of entry into the field, we may not all become discographers and vinyl collectors and Internet jazz nerds -- or even jazz fans apart from possessing two Medeski, Martin and Wood MP3 "albums" downloaded from dormitory filesharing networks. But even if only a few more of us matriculate beyond Miles and 'Trane, and awareness rises in general -- especially with so much more substitute entertainment now than ever before -- that's a real victory. Yes?

--Ethan Iverson Interviews Tim Berne: This Do The Math entry is so long it needs an introduction and two different oversized posts to get it all in. And it references a whole bunch of musicians who you may not recognize if you aren't familiar with the New York scene in the '70s to mid-'90s. But saxophonist and record label owner Tim Berne's career intersects with a lot of things I see as being relevant today: coming to the jazz world as an outsider, operating an indie record label, Julius Hemphill at large. Berne comes off as a Real Human Being, and Iverson is always a great interviewer. Anyway: bookmark this one.

--Taylor Ho Bynum On Big Bands: Trumpeter Cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, who has his hand in all sorts of cool projects in modern jazz, has posted a list of five great modern-era big band records. (He plays in a few large-ish ensembles himself, most notably Anthony Braxton's groups and the avant-Latin party band Positive Catastrophe.) Is it just me, or has there been something of a resurgence of interest in really creative big band jazz in the last few years, now that it's more impractical and baroque than ever? Darcy James Argue took up the meme a while back, and he was recently soliciting more recommendations on Twitter. We may just have to post our own faves soon ...

--Barry Harris At WBGO: He is good at the piano. He performs at WBGO. There is video.

--Five Views Of 'Strange Fruit': I know this is our own story here, but Lara Pellegrinelli's Take Five feature on some choice versions of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" is pretty splendid. The Nina Simone and Rene Marie versions slay me especially. Choice listening to be had.

--The Ayatollah Likes Jazz: No, really. (Scroll to the middle of the article.) Which is a little strange, right? Because there's also this quotation:

"Whether true or not, [Ayatollah] Khamenei has long believed that the U.S. is bent on regime change in Tehran, not via force but via a soft or velvet revolution," said Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

See, part of why Khamenei even knows about jazz is probably due in part to the soft diplomacy of the U.S., who sent Voice of America radio and touring groups into the region in order to win over foreign hearts during the Cold War. We know there was American jazz in pre-revolution Iran; there's a reason Duke Ellington wielded a tune called "Isfahan" [EDIT: an "Ellington/Strayhorn" number, to be precise]. What this has to do with the Ayatollah's seeming mistrust of both the U.S. and the election protesters is unclear. Which is where I sign off for others to answer the question.

12:53 PM ET | 06-23-2009 | permalink

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'Icons Among Us': An Interview With Executive Producer John Comerford

by Michael Katzif

Recently I spent some time watching a new documentary film series on modern jazz titled Icons Among Us: Jazz In The Present Tense. The series -- which aired on The Documentary Channel and is now making the rounds at film festivals -- is an in-depth look at the current state of contemporary jazz and improvised music, and features nearly every jazz artist you can think of.

To get a small taste, watch this introductory clip featuring bassist Avishai Cohen and guitarist Bill Frisell:

Last week, I spoke with co-director Michael Rivoira about the film's origins and themes, which you can read here. In this second part, I talked with the film's executive producer John Comerford about his role in the project and what he hopes people will get out of the series.

How did you become involved in the film project, and what was your role in the series and theatrical release?

John Comerford: I was originally approached by Michael Rivoira and Lars Larson, the two co-directors on the film, to jump on board as the producer back about seven years ago or so. And when they approached me, the first question on my mind as a producer -- I think as any good producer looks at a potential opportunity when you evaluate it -- is: what's the sense of urgency for telling the story?

The reason that jazz really appealed to me was its improvisational quality and the excitement of never doing the same thing the same way. Every night when you see a jazz performance, you may be exposed to something completely new and be at a moment of discovery with the musician. That is really powerful and can be experienced along with the musician as an audience member, because they're not sure what's unfolding either.

The urgency came from the directors' communication and relationships with musicians who were reacting to the historical portrait of jazz that had just been completed by the great documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. And I think that the contacts the directors had were feeling like jazz is primarily about spontaneity and improvisation, so we should pay attention to the moment. And the moment at the turn of the millennium was dictating that we listen to the voices of the living generation of musicians and we elevate them and explore their work and deepen their audiences. And their response to it was, "Hey, what about us?"

Continue reading "'Icons Among Us': An Interview With Executive Producer John Comerford" »

11:00 AM ET | 06-22-2009 | permalink

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Dave Douglas: Tiny Desk Concert At NPR Music

Sometimes, when our favorite bands and musicians come to town, we at NPR Music like to invite them up to our office to play a little for us. Like, literally, our office. It's called a Tiny Desk Concert, and today, we welcomed trumpeter, composer and ABS guest-writer Dave Douglas and Brass Ecstasy to the 5th Floor of NPR Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

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UPDATE: Show's over folks. Thanks for tuning in, and sorry if you had any problems! Rest assured, it's all been captured on video. You'll see a higher-quality, neatly-produced video within a few weeks at the Tiny Desk Concerts archive, or it'll appear in your iTunes (or whichever program you use) if you subscribe to the Live Concerts From All Songs Considered podcast.
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Usually, we reserve this sort of thing for spare, quiet singer-songwriters, or other types of acts that wouldn't necessarily intrude into an office filled with busy journalists. But Brass Ecstasy is a -- well, it's an ecstatic brass band. Along with Dave, there's Luis Bonilla on trombone, Vincent Chancey on French horn, Marcus Rojas on tuba and Nasheet Waits on drums. Take that, productivity!

Anyway, we're expecting some slightly-stripped down arrangements of tunes from the band's new album, Spirit Moves. We're hoping to hear a mix of pop covers -- this group takes on Hank Williams, Rufus Wainwright and Otis Redding on the record -- and a few of Dave's creatively-arranged originals. Brass band tradition; 21st Century ambition. Fun times all around.

We hope you can join us for NPR Music's first-ever jazz concert at the Tiny Desk. And if you miss it -- it is in the middle of the workday, after all -- we record these with an expensive microphone and cute little HD cameras (plural) and wrap it all into a video performance within a few weeks. So check back for the archive later, or subscribe to the Live Concerts From All Songs Considered podcast to get it delivered right to your hard drive.

--Patrick Jarenwattananon

8:18 AM ET | 06-22-2009 | permalink

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Listening Session With Ben Ratliff: Sam Yahel's 'Hometown'

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

"My dad makes me listen to jazz." Photo Credit: Josh Jackson/WBGO

After reading Felix Contreras' post, I'm looking ahead to my three-year old daughter hating jazz. I'm surprisingly okay with this possibility. I just want her to love music. That's a good primer for eventually getting the jazz message.

I must say, in her defense, that my girl does love the trombone. She's into wearing headphones and checking out tunes. She also loves to talk. I'm already advising against a career as a jazz journalist, radio personality or some chimera of the two. (But I'm all for women in jazz.)

This is supposed to be about Sam Yahel's new record. I'm getting there.

Continue reading "Listening Session With Ben Ratliff: Sam Yahel's 'Hometown'" »

2:24 PM ET | 06-19-2009 | permalink

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The Friday Link Dump, Pre-Father's Day Edition

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where I'd like to say, in advance: happy Sunday, Dr. Jaren -- even if you do listen to Smooth Jazz 106.9.

--The Jazz Journalists Association Awards: I know this happened on Tuesday, which is like eons ago in Internet years, but it would be lax of me not to mention that the JJA recently presented its annual awards in an afternoon event in New York. (Which is in itself amusing, presumably because musicians and reviewers have "real" gigs to make in the evenings, right?) More coverage is here. I didn't mention it sooner because, for one, I didn't make it up there, and moreover, music award ceremonies always make me blanch. It's not only that the music industry makes up awards to celebrate itself; it's that such awards usually go to lowest common denominators or the rather useless consensus of "who we are all spotlighting now." (Does anyone else remember that inane "Who's Now" pseudo-competition that ran on ESPN's Sportscenter a few years back about which professional athlete was most of the moment? Made me want to strangle someone.) I'm happy for Lee Konitz, Sonny Rollins, Maria Schneider, Esperanza Spalding, Hank Jones and all the other winners, but do we really need these (prohibitively expensive, semi-insider) events to tell us which way the wind is blowing?

I suppose this is all marginally better than the Down Beat year-end readers' polls as a zeitgeist dipstick. As Christopher Weingarten reminds us -- the rather sloppy barbs directed at NPR aside -- crowdsourcing music reviews brings out mediocrity in public opinion. (You'll remember that Charlie Parker won the Down Beat poll for best alto saxophonist for the first time in 1950 -- five years after "Koko" and "Now's The Time.") Because relatively erudite and voracious jazz listeners decide on the JJA awards, the results turn out somewhat more interesting. Still, I read Peter Margasak because he's got the Chicago scene on lock, and I read Stanley Crouch when I want someone who listens to hard bop really well, and I read Ben Ratliff when I want to know what's hot in New York, and I read, I don't know, Stuart Nicholson to learn about European musicians outside my primary radar. I don't particularly care to see who they all can agree upon as acceptable; I want to know who they outright champion. (The JJA year-end Top 10 lists, however, are totally fascinating to watch roll in every December.)

All this aside, I also suppose all this somewhat raises the profile of jazz and of the musicians recognized, which is good. And because there are so many awards given out -- voted on by people of relatively discerning taste -- some surprising picks emerge: Carla Bley's Appearing Nightly for Record of the Year, out-jazz (literal) veteran Billy Bang for violinist of the year, Ruth Price of L.A. nonprofit venue The Jazz Bakery for a special recognition. There are others I'm personally happy about: a former professor of mine who challenged me to think about improvised music differently (and quite an improviser himself), George E. Lewis, won for his magnificent tome on the AACM; one of my primary mentors in learning jazz and new music, the WKCR DJ/discographer/archivist/record producer/recording engineer/Columbia University administrator/historian Ben Young, scored the Willis Conover--Marian McPartland Award for Broadcasting. And for what I believe is the first time, there was an award for Blog of the Year, taken home by Howard Mandel's Jazz Beyond Jazz. A small token of validation for this career path I somehow appeared on.

Of course, I could rather cynically point out that Mandel (who contributes to NPR) is the president of the Jazz Journalists Association. But that also means he has his ear to a lot of different things, and scoops us all on many on them (the imminent collapse of JJA Periodical of the Year JazzTimes being only the latest example). Which brings us to our next links ...

Continue reading "The Friday Link Dump, Pre-Father's Day Edition" »

12:50 PM ET | 06-19-2009 | permalink

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'I Hate Coltrane!': Reflections Of A Jazz-Loving Dad

by Felix Contreras

This week, the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival here in Washington, D.C. presented a lifetime achievement award to New Orleans pianist Ellis Marsalis. The festival organizers put on a special concert featuring Ellis playing with -- count 'em -- five of his sons, all paying homage to their old man with music and humorous family stories. The timing was especially appropriate given this weekend's celebration of Father's Day.

The Marsalis family band, taking a curtain call at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. From left to right: Ellis, Wynton, Branford, Jason and Delfeayo Marsalis, with Herlin Riley and Eric Revis. Ellis Marsalis III is not pictured. (And sorry, Harry Connick Jr. -- had to crop you out of this one.) Photo Credit: Margot Schulman/The Kennedy Center

It got me thinking about dads and jazz. As jazz-loving fathers well know, passing on a deep passion for jazz to your offspring is at the top of your To Do list during the nine months of your wife's first pregnancy.

"I'll play Trane's Ballads every night instead of lullabies!" "Kind Of Blue will be his or her nursery music!" "He'll hear nothing but Basie until he's 3 years old!" "I'll take her to jazz concerts as soon as she's able to walk!"

Et cetera.

Continue reading "'I Hate Coltrane!': Reflections Of A Jazz-Loving Dad" »

4:23 PM ET | 06-18-2009 | permalink

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Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio: Eastern 'Standard' Time

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

The Kurt Rosenwinkel trio prepares for its recording by playing Le Poisson Rouge in New York. Photo Credit: Josh Jackson/WBGO

Today through Saturday, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel will be recording his next project in Brooklyn. Last night, Kurt's trio -- bassist Eric Revis and drummer Eric Harland -- played a warmup performance and sneak preview at Le Poisson Rouge in New York.

The house at LPR was full, even though the show was a 7 p.m. hit, early by jazz standards. So what's in store for all those guitar fanboys who follow Rosenwinkel around wherever he goes? Standards. Yep. Not a single original composition was heard. (Did you see that? The ears of jazz radio tastemakers just perked up!)

Here's the set list from last night:
1. Back Up - a blues from organist Larry Young's Into Somethin' trio recording for Blue Note with Grant Green and Elvin Jones
2. Boplicity - from Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool, with an arrangement that sounds like Neal Hefti during the Atomic Basie period
3. Prelude to a Kiss - Duke Ellington's masterful ballad lets Kurt shine
4. Stablemates - Harland starts solo on one of Benny Golson's many contributions to the jazz canon, with a very uptempo take from the trio
5. You Go to My Head - yes, it "linger[ed] like a haunting refrain" ...
6. Well, You Needn't - The trio's take on the Monk original was definitely the highlight of the night
7. Just One of Those Things (encore) - seriously, who uses gossamer wings anymore?

It will be interesting to hear the results. I'm planning to drop by the studio on Saturday.

11:48 AM ET | 06-18-2009 | permalink

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Listening, Party For Two: 'The Great Pretender'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

The cover to Lester Bowie's 1981 album The Great Pretender. Photo Credit: courtesy of ECM Records.

My boss readily admits that she doesn't know a whole lot about jazz. But she lets me write all this nonsense on the Internet, so I'm not complaining. And at least she's willing to learn. So every week, she and I get together to listen to and Instant Message about a different great jazz song.

With trumpeter Dave Douglas guest-blogging for us now, I've been checking out the new record from his new band, Brass Ecstasy. If that sounds familiar, it is: it's an overt homage to the late trumpeter Lester Bowie, who (among other things) led a brass band called Brass Fantasy. This cut precedes the formation of Brass Fantasy, but it still neatly encapsulates Bowie's postmodern approach to the entire history of African American music.

"The Great Pretender," from Lester Bowie, The Great Pretender (ECM). Lester Bowie, trumpet; Hamiet Bluiett, baritone saxophone; Donald Smith, piano; Fred Williams, bass; Phillip Wilson, drums; Fontella Bass, vocals; David Peaston, vocals. Ludwigsburg, Germany: June 1981.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

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Boss Lady: I feel like I'm in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

me: Whatever do you mean?

Boss Lady: The music is living in an extremely reverberant space, and the accompaniment makes me think of a spiritual.

me: A curious observation ...
It was recorded for ECM Records in Germany, a label known for that sort of open, "reverberant" sound quality

Boss Lady: Sort of new age meets jazz?

me: Or in some cases, just the former, really.
As for the spiritual quality -- I hear that too ...

Continue reading "Listening, Party For Two: 'The Great Pretender'" »

6:47 PM ET | 06-17-2009 | permalink

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Village Vanguard Video: Bill McHenry Quintet, Set Two

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

Welcome to another installment of Village Vanguard television. This is what would happen every night if WBGO had its own public access channel. Well, we sorta do; you just have to watch stuff on the Internet. (If you're reading this, I'm assuming that's not a problem.)

Saxophonist Bill McHenry led a quintet at the Village Vanguard last week. Visit the story page and download audio recordings both sets from our night at the club. Or just listen. Or see some photos. Or watch the video of the 11 p.m. set, which we didn't broadcast, below.

Wish I had the camera up for the final set of the week. Trumpeter Duane Eubanks and bassist Ben Street were unavailable, so Brad Mehldau (piano) and Larry Grenadier (bass) rounded out the BIll McHenry Quintet. Well, you can't capture it all ...

3:00 PM ET | 06-17-2009 | permalink

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Dave Douglas: 'High Speed And Broadband Ready'

by Dave Douglas

Trumpeter, composer -- and avid blogger -- Dave Douglas. Photo Credit: Paul Natkin.

Dave Douglas is one of today's most celebrated jazz trumpeters. His new album Spirit Moves, the first with his Brass Ecstasy band, is out today.

He's also one of the jazz world's great bloggers. And as we continue to develop our little slice of the Jazz Internet, we asked Dave, a noted early adopter of many musical technologies, to contribute a few guest posts about "Jazz In The Digital Age." Here's his first entry, a manifesto of sorts about why improvised music is perfect for our new media landscape. --Ed.

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Jazz: 'High Speed And Broadband Ready'

Last week I played one of your more curious gigs.

Across high speed internet, thanks to software developed by Chris Chafe at Stanford University, I improvised in real time with musicians in Banff, Canada; San Diego, Calif.; Troy, N.Y.; and Belfast, Northern Ireland. The other musicians, among them Mark Dresser, Michael Dessen, and Pauline Oliveros, were visible only by video iChat (miserably slow compared to the audio).

The remarkable thing was how effortless the improvisation felt. I have played many gigs standing right next to Mark Dresser, so there was instantly a familiar feeling. But I had never played with any of the other musicians. As soon as we were improvising, there were no barriers to the communication. The fluidity of improvisation and jazz makes it 100% ready for these 21st century technologies.

I hesitated calling these guest posts "Jazz in the Digital Age" for several reasons, not least being the ongoing discussion of how to define jazz. But more importantly, in the age of widespread broadband the idea of isolating genre is outdated: everything has to go together. It's not a question particularly of how jazz works; it's how the nuts and bolts of human culture coexist. More than ever, the technology demands that we be open to that.

In the early radio age, there were bands that did not want to be broadcast. They thought listeners would steal their sound. It just so happens that -- for the most part -- those are the very bands that we have never heard of. They are lost to history.

So the question is: how does this broad swath of music coming out of jazz take advantage of the opportunities presented by new technology without losing its human essence?

Continue reading "Dave Douglas: 'High Speed And Broadband Ready'" »

5:00 PM ET | 06-16-2009 | permalink

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Putting A Fresh Ear To Keith And Julie Tippett

by Lars Gotrich

Under the moniker of Nostalgia 77, Benedic Lamdin looks back at Keith and Julie Tippett's classic sound, but still finds a way forward. Courtesy of TruThoughts

For the past week, my obsession has been a curious album by Nostalgia 77, aka producer Benedic Lamdin. Never heard of him? Neither had I, but the names associated with the latest Nostalgia 77 Sessions certainly grabbed my attention: Keith and Julie Tippett (or Keith Tippett and Julie Tippetts, if you want to get technical). After just a few tracks, I was ready to call it my favorite jazz album of 2009 so far. But let's back up first, eh?

Having started out as a '60s pop singer, Julie Driscoll met and soon married pianist Keith Tippett in the early '70s. Since then, the husband-and-wife duo have explored the outer realms of jazz and free improvisation, most notably on the stunning Sunset Glow (1976), a folky jazz record fleshed out by some of the finest improvisers of the Canterbury scene.

Lamdin came to their music like most do: when a friend played him a record. Keith Tippett's Septober Energy was a 50-person project for progressive rock band called Centipede. That 1971 record is a bit of a mess, though often a beautiful one, especially when Julie sings.

In recent years, the Tippetts' live performances haven't slowed, but recorded documents have been slim, or at least difficult to come by. Producer Lamdin notes that he didn't set out to re-create the duo's '70s records, though it is curious that he works under the Nostalgia 77 name. Instead, these sessions are a fruitful continuation of the classic Tippett sound that moves forward as much as it looks back. For an example, you needn't look further than the Julie-penned "Rainclouds," a modal chant that builds around a short lyric line, slowly inviting Keith's circular piano and the rest of the relatively young band in a slinky blues cuff.

"Rainclouds," from Nostalgia 77 Sessions Featuring Keith and Julie Tippett. Julie Tippett, vocals; Keith Tippett; piano; Riann Vosloo, bass; Adem Sorensen, drums; Gary Boyle, guitar; Mark Hanslip, tenor saxophone; Fulvio Sigurta, trumpet. Red Kite Studios, Wales.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

The role of the modern modern jazz producer, after the jump.

Continue reading "Putting A Fresh Ear To Keith And Julie Tippett" »

4:45 PM ET | 06-16-2009 | permalink

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More On The Beer-Jazz Connection

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Thelonious Monk, Belgian monks -- get it? Courtesy of North Coast Brewing Company

Lars' fantastic Take Five feature pairing summery craft beers with some remarkably hip jazz records (with thanks to Washington City Paper's Beerspotter) got me thinking about something I tried not terribly long ago: Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale.

After having seen it advertised in various jazz publications, I picked up a four-pack one day last winter to share with friends. I found it to be a very solid Belgian-style dubbel, though I remember noting that it was oddly carbonated, and a bit stronger than I was expecting (9.3% alcohol by volume) -- that part snuck up on me a bit. Didn't strike me as particularly Monkish, either -- this was moody and dark, like, I don't know, a Miles Davis & Gil Evans record or something. Monk was a pretty heavy dude, but a quirky one: I see his natural analogue as more of a particularly saucy, robust IPA. But, I mean, what do I know -- I'm no beer expert.

Anyway, Brother Thelonious is brewed by California's North Coast Brewing Company, and was even served at the Monterey Jazz Festival in at least 2007. Also, pianist (and newly-minted blogger) Geoff Keezer endorses it, if that accounts for anything. And part of the proceeds actually go to a good cause: the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. A toast to that.

1:22 PM ET | 06-16-2009 | permalink

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Concertgoing, Chinen, Podcasts: The Tuesday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where the Wynton Marsalis approval index has undoubtedly risen somewhat after yesterday's symbolic victory for jazz. (More coverage: NYTimes.)

--Jazz Concertgoing Is Down: And other life-affirming news from the NEA, which released its Survey of Public Participation in the Arts on Monday. A PDF document has the quick breakdown. Among the jazz highlights: only 7.8% of Americans saw a jazz show in 2008, down from 10.8% in 2002 and 9.6% in 1982; the median age of the jazz audience is now 46, a steady increase from from 29 (!) in 1982; the college-educated jazz audience has dropped 29% since 2002; 14.2% of Americans listened to jazz records or watched/listened to a jazz broadcast last year. Of course, any downward trends can be in large part accounted for by the recession and the decline of fine and performing arts attendance at large (less than 37% of Americans attended an arts museum or arts performance in 2008, a statistic that seems incredibly low to me). And the net, inflation-adjusted amount of money being spent on arts admissions is still rising -- the U.S. population is growing. But it's also a poor sign that jazz attendance is dropping, most markedly among 18-24 year olds, 17.5% of whom saw a jazz show in 1982 (really?) and 7.3% of whom went in 2008. Dear peers: peace to the 7.3% nation of gods and earths, but we can't do it alone, you know.

--Nate Chinen Has A Blog Now: It is here. For those of you who don't obsessively scan bylines in jazz media -- umm, what did I just admit to? -- dude writes about jazz for the New York Times, among other places. There are already nice little tidbits about members of Grizzly Bear meeting in jazz band camp and the unholy Mehldau/Motian/McHenry/mustachioed alliance that happened at the Vanguard last weekend. (Josh Jackson tipped me off about this, but unfortunately, our respective organizations had already reserved last Wednesday night's gig.) Anyway, this is another reason why you should read him: "I don't believe there's any fixed difference between writing about jazz and writing about the myriad variations on hip-hop, rock, R&B, or folkloric music," he states. Also, more Good Jazz Internet: hurrah.

--On Being Openly Gay In Jazz: Vibraphonist and Berklee College of Music president Gary Burton, pianist Fred Hersch and saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase say it's not a big deal. Well, at least today, it's not; Burton and Kohlhase recall times where it wasn't such a non-issue (see also: David Hajdu's Billy Strayhorn biography Lush Life). Burton's comments are especially curious, though: he says he's "lucky" that nothing about the way he presents himself smacks of stereotypical homosexual iconography -- insinuating that the intensely macho, male-dominated jazz world might not be so receptive to a flamboyantly gay man. Hersch says he positions himself similarly: as a musician who happens to be gay, rather than a gay musician. One wonders if there will ever be a Liberace-esque figure who is taken seriously by the jazz community for both musicianship and performative identity politics -- or, judging by the "no biggie" reaction seemingly common today, if there anyone will ever feel the desire to do that.

--Three Jazz Radio Programs/Podcasts: Monitoring the @blogsupreme Twitter feed hipped me to three different jazz interview/music podcasts -- all of which are thankfully unafraid to get into the woolier forms of our fair art. Jason Crane's The Jazz Session has interviews with New Orleans creative improviser (and blogger) Jeff Albert and the unique singer Lisa Sokolov, but also mixes it up with the likes of Hugh Masekela and David Sanborn. More fully dedicated to the "out" is the Uncertainty Music Series, run by an Anthony Braxton associate who curates a concert series in New Haven, Conn. (H/T to Glows In The Dark, who just played New Haven and are totally slept-on.) And out of France there's Taran's Free Jazz Hour, who's got his ear on a lot of names unfamiliar to me -- which I take as a good thing. By the way, if anyone is looking for a whole mess of public radio live jazz streams, check out the Live Jazz Streams link in the header above -- or just click here.

10:44 AM ET | 06-16-2009 | permalink

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First Impressions From Today's White House Jazz Concert

by Felix Contreras

The history of jazz in the White House got its start right in the room I stood in just hours ago. In 1962, the Paul Winter Sextet performed in the East Room at the invitation of then First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Forty-seven years later, a 14-year-old pianist named Tony Madruga and his trio began this afternoon by performing for First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters sitting in the front row. This is the first of three musical events the First Lady has planned to celebrate the country's collective cultural heritage.

First daughters Sasha (left) and Malia Obama sit next to their mother in the East Room of the White House. Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images.

In her remarks from the makeshift stage situated between massive portraits of George and Martha Washington, Mrs. Obama told the attentive students about growing up in Chicago with jazz as the soundtrack of her youth.

The White House then turned into a jazz conservatory, as over 100 students sat in the East Room, the State Dining Room and other rooms on lower floors to hear musicians like Wynton Marsalis lead workshops on various aspects of jazz history and technique.

Paquito D'Rivera (left) and Wynton Marsalis lead the White House jam session for young musicians. Photo Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images.

In the workshop I attended, Wynton, his brothers Delfeayo, Jason and Branford accompanied their father, Ellis Marsalis, in a hands-on run-through on improvisation and blues traditions. At one point, over 25 students had their turn in the spotlight as Wynton encouraged each one to walk across the stage to "run one chorus." Students, educators, Mrs. Obama and the first daughters then got a first-hand lesson in swing, improvisation and fun from saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, who joined the Madruga trio on stage.

Check this space later for possible video from the event, and listen for an upcoming report on NPR's Morning Edition.

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UPDATE: Here's the Morning Edition story.

Ellis Marsalis addresses the crowd. Photo Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images.

6:49 PM ET | 06-15-2009 | permalink

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'Icons Among Us': An Interview With Director Michael Rivoira

Jazz Alive And Well In Stunning New Documentary

by Michael Katzif

Last week I spent some quality time hunkered down on my couch watching a new documentary film series on modern jazz titled Icons Among Us: Jazz In The Present Tense. The films, which aired on The Documentary Channel and are currently being prepared for DVD release, are a somewhat free-form look at the current state of contemporary jazz and improvised music.

Unlike many documentaries on the subject, Icons Among Us doesn't spend much time catching up the viewer on the history of jazz. Nor does it seek any definitive answers on some of the heady questions it addresses. Instead, it simply sets out to depict jazz as a living, breathing and ever-evolving musical art form, and above all, expose more people to some of the best jazz artists around today.

And there sure are a lot of musicians included. It seemed like it had nearly every jazz artist you could think of who should be included: Dave Douglas, Ravi Coltrane, Greg Osby, Terence Blanchard, Robert Glasper, John Medeski, The Bad Plus, Jason Moran, Nicholas Payton, Wayne Shorter, Brian Blade, Chris Potter and so many more.

To get a small taste, watch this introductory clip featuring bassist Avishai Cohen and guitarist Bill Frisell:

I recently spoke with Michael Rivoira, one of the co-directors, about some of the themes the film addresses. Stay "tuned" for part two, in which I talk to the executive producer on the project, John Comerford.

How did you begin work on the film and what was your original goal?

Michael Rivoira: I actually started the project myself back in 2001, before I had met Lars (Larson) and John (Comerford) and Peter (J. Vogt). I just really saw a need for a fresh look at jazz; I saw a disconnect happening between the larger music community and society in general into what the perception of jazz was now, and I wanted to do a documentary to get deeper into this generation of jazz musicians.

So I just started doing it on my own, for about half a year, in Seattle -- just locally because there are a lot of great things happening in Seattle. And then [once] I met Lars Larson -- the director of photography and co-director, I feel the project went to a whole new level. He's got a great eye. I'm a first time director and they were able to bring a whole new possibility to the project.

Everybody is really into the music. [We] already knew the music pretty well and that was easy for me. I'm a huge music fan and I love jazz.

One of the primary themes of the film was that there are all these amazing types of jazz out there, and many entry points for people who say they don't like jazz or find it hard to get into.

MR: These days when you [say] "jazz" to people, they say, "Oh, jazz, I don't really get it," or they're saying, "I just don't like it." That was really what we wanted to redefine -- to stop that from happening. That really is the mission, to show there's a whole new movement going on in the music.

Continue reading "'Icons Among Us': An Interview With Director Michael Rivoira" »

5:48 PM ET | 06-12-2009 | permalink

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Dave Brubeck On 'The Real Ambassadors'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

The cover art to the studio recording of The Real Ambassadors. Courtesy of Columbia/Legacy

On Tuesday, we got to meet Dave Brubeck.

He came by NPR's performance Studio 4A to tape a PBS special about his religious compositions, which have comprised much of his output in recent decades. (Yes, decades: the man is 88, you know.) While he was here, he also spoke with Michele Norris of All Things Considered about his smash hit "Take Five," which turns 50 this year.

While Brubeck was enjoying the success of "Take Five" -- and the album Time Out, on which it appears -- he and his wife were also working on another ambitious project: a jazz musical. They took their experiences from foreign tours as cultural emissaries of the U.S. State Department, and transformed them into The Real Ambassadors, starring such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Carmen McRae and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.

In a bit left out of the radio interview for time, he told Norris about touring the world and working with Satchmo. I've added a little music from the studio recording of The Real Ambassadors for illustration -- have a listen:

In other news, Louis Armstrong: yup, still awesome.

4:02 PM ET | 06-12-2009 | permalink

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Baseball, Cocaine, Meltdown: The Friday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where I still owe Graham Collier a proper clarification -- it's coming, I swear! (In the meanwhile, read an excerpt of his new book in the new Point of Departure.)

--Give The Young Drummers Some: For a new piece in the Times, Ben Ratliff briefly profiles five of today's top young drummers: Marcus Gilmore, Kendrick Scott, Tyshawn Sorey, Dan Weiss and Justin Faulkner, to go ahead and spare you the suspense. Most of those dudes were on my personal "players to look out for" list; the inclusion of 18-year-old phenom Faulkner was a little surprising to me, but not everyone gets to replace Jeff "Tain" Watts in Branford Marsalis' group. Ratliff did the same thing ten years ago, when New York had also just received a whole mess of percussion talent. Question: who else would have made your list of top drummers to emerge in the last 10 years?

--Appreciations Of Ornette Coleman: From Patti Smith, Moby, Yo La Tengo -- and a few jazz musicians too. It's part of The Guardian's coverage of the Meltdown Festival in London, an annual cross-genre music event curated every year by a different music-world superstar. For his turn at the helm, Ornette, as indecipherable as he remains, has picked a killer lineup full of unlikely collaborations, including former sparring partners James "Blood" Ulmer, Charlie Haden (with the Liberation Music Orchestra plus Four Tet and Steve Reid), the Master Musicians of Jajouka and Yoko Ono. But plenty of other folks will appear too: Moby, The Roots with David Murray (?!), Robert Wyatt and so forth. Back to the actual article for a moment: easily my favorite part is where Pat Metheny admits he still has no idea what Ornette's theory of "harmolodics" actually entails. Fortunately, this doesn't matter.

--Baseball And The Origins Of The Word "Jazz": A little lexicographic research turns up the first print use of the word jazz -- in reporting about West Coast minor league baseball in 1912. According to the post, the term gained some traction as a synonym for "pep, vim, vigor" on the field. The slang may have spread to a band hired to entertain the team during spring training, whose members eventually moved to Chicago. That's where the first documented use of the word jazz (or "jass" or "jas") to refer to a style of music crops up in 1915, in the Chicago Tribune -- its first print appearance in New Orleans, the birthplace of the music, emerges in 1916. No idea if that actually means anything about the origins of the term, since oral transmission probably was in place well before it hit newsprint. But intriguing nonetheless.

--Jazz Is To Cocaine As ...: More old news clippings: according to a 1925 medical column in the New York Amsterdam News, a black-owned newspaper, jazz music can be "as intoxicating as morphine or cocaine" -- and potentially as dangerous. This, one might add, ran on April Fool's Day, so no idea if it's actually in earnest, but there are few clues to the contrary. Aside from marveling at the reactionary attitude of an earlier age -- with modern views on gangsta rap, black metal, etc in mind -- one wonders if the author had just come back all wound up from seeing Louis Armstrong during his brief 1924-1925 New York sojourn. That would have been a drug I would have gladly OD-ed on.

--Ethan Iverson, ESL Instructor: I'm just going to give you this link right here and let you do what you will with that.

11:10 AM ET | 06-12-2009 | permalink

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The Old And New Gospel Of Vision Festival

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

For the 14th straight year, the Vision Festival is up and running on the Lower East Side of New York City. The artist-run "avantjazz" (their term) and related arts (dance, visual art, poetry, film) celebration just presented a lifetime achievement tribute to Marshall Allen (of the Sun Ra Arkestra) last night, and four more days of music are in store. For anyone with any interest in the continued existence of progressive improvised music in its original laboratory, this is clearly a Good Thing.

In the light of the recent collapse of traditional jazz industry stanchions -- JVC Jazz Festival New York, JazzTimes, etc. -- it seems as if there are lessons to be learned in the model of Vision Fest and its non-profit governing body, Arts For Art. But along with being an exemplar for the rest of the jazz arena, I think Vision could stand to learn a few lessons too.

Now, full disclosure: I have previously volunteered for the Vision Festival, setting up and taking down nearly every night for two years. So some of this is probably filtered through the joys and frustrations with that experience. But there's mounting evidence for some of the things I mention.

Continue reading "The Old And New Gospel Of Vision Festival" »

8:27 PM ET | 06-11-2009 | permalink

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Listening, Party For Two: 'Gloria's Step'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

The cover to the first of two albums recorded on Jun. 25, 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York. Photo Credit: courtesy of Concord Music Group.

My boss readily admits that she doesn't know a whole lot about jazz. But she lets me write all this nonsense on the Internet, so I'm not complaining. And at least she's willing to learn. So every week, she and I get together to listen to and Instant Message about a different great jazz song.

Tonight, we present Bill McHenry's quintet live at the Village Vanguard, and on stage will be drummer Paul Motian. Motian's presence reminded me of a recording he made in 1961 with the Bill Evans trio, also at the Vanguard -- one that's become a classic of modern jazz. Here's a cut from that session:

"Gloria's Step" [Take 3] from Bill Evans, Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Bill Evans, piano; Scott LaFaro, bass; Paul Motian, drums. New York: Jun. 25, 1961.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

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me: So this one may be more familiar to you ... it's Bill Evans.

Boss Lady: Yes, a beautiful touch on the piano
But what I really want to bring up is something different

me: Shoot:

Boss Lady: So, I'm going to start with a question. What kind of listener are you? Are you a melody person? A harmony person? a rhythm person? A words person?

me: THE TABLES ARE TURNED

Boss Lady: Gotta keep you on your toes

me: Um, hard to say. Seems to me the essence of listening to jazz is how all those things interact at once. But ... gun to head, I like a good melody, sure.

Boss Lady: OK, so I was thinking, if you're a melody person, this music might be a bit challenging...
There are fragments of melody, but they're not *satisfying* the way a ballad is satisfying?
And I tend to be a melody person ... and a mood person ...
So I didn't get immediate gratification from listening to this, so I'm having to dig deeper

me: Well, I think I thought that when I first heard this music however many years ago.

Boss Lady: So there are two things I've grasped onto instead ...

me: Do tell, fair employer.

Continue reading "Listening, Party For Two: 'Gloria's Step'" »

6:08 PM ET | 06-10-2009 | permalink

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The Jazz Chronicles Of Sarah Louise Palin

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

In an All Things Considered review that ran Monday, David Was describes the electro-jazz-jam (not as bad as it sounds) quartet Rudder as "pranksters at work." A cheeky turn of phrase: Was knows something you may not. From an early draft of the review, axed for time:

Rudder's range is not surprising given [keyboardist] Henry Hey's resume as a sideman. He has graced the stage with the likes of Harry Belafonte and Rod Stewart, as well as numerous jazz luminaries. Iowa-born and classically trained, he can go from leading a straight-ahead jazz trio to creating hilarious after-the-fact scores for political stump speeches by John McCain and Sarah Palin. Those bits have made the pianist a minor YouTube all-star.

Which gives me an excuse to re-distribute these little historical footnotes:

More videos, after the jump.

Continue reading "The Jazz Chronicles Of Sarah Louise Palin" »

1:00 PM ET | 06-10-2009 | permalink

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Live Tonight: Bill McHenry At The Village Vanguard

Tonight, at the "fern bar" that is the Village Vanguard (please notice the scarequotes), NPR Music and WBGO team up to present saxophonist Bill McHenry's quintet in concert. Once again, we're proud to be able to present a live video stream and a live chat for the show, which you can access above. It all starts right at 9 p.m. ET.

We've already checked in with Bill McHenry on his amateur ornithology, and for more information about tonight's show, go here: Bill McHenry Quintet: Live At The Village Vanguard. And if you can't make it, remember that the entire first set will be archived afterward here: www.npr.org/villagevanguard

If you don't know, a bunch of people really like this Bill McHenry fellow. This newish band he's bringing is totally stacked (Paul Motian! Andrew D'Angelo!), so it promises to be a good show. Maybe, like last Sunday when WBGO producer Josh Jackson and I met up at the Vanguard (to see Guillermo Klein, who has employed McHenry for over a decade), McHenry's mother will be there too.

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UPDATE: Show's over, and there won't be any video archive, unfortunately. However, there will be free, 192 kbps downloads of both the broadcast set and the unaired second set. Check back later on Thursday, Jun. 11 here: Bill McHenry Quintet: Live At The Village Vanguard

10:55 AM ET | 06-10-2009 | permalink

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A Sideman In The Limelight: Marshall Allen

by Lars Gotrich

Marshall Allen will lead a quintet and the Sun Ra Arkestra at the Vision Festival this Wednesday. Peter Gannushkin / downtownmusic.net

On Wednesday night, the 14th annual Vision Festival (one of the many New York jazz festivals still going on this summer) will honor saxophonist Marshall Allen with a Lifetime Achievement award.

Allen's an interesting case as he's not so much recognized for his own achievements, but the legacy he's carried on -- namely (and solely) that of Sun Ra. Allen traveled the outer spaceways for four decades leading the reed section of Sun Ra's Arkestra. In 1995, he took over its direction when tenor saxophonist John Gilmore passed away, who had picked up the reins when Sun Ra left planet Earth in 1993.

There's much to say for Allen's dedication. Sun Ra's vision was and is too big for this world. Just like the Mingus Big Band carries the torch for Charles Mingus, Allen ensures that the music of Sun Ra still breathes in concert venues, where that vision clearly thrives.

But Allen's individual contributions to free jazz both in and out of the Arkestra are worth note. His collaborations with percussionist Babatunde Olatunji mark some of the first free jazz/traditional African music fusions. And in various groups, he keeps a fire blowing with musicians like Kidd Jordan and fellow Philadelphian Elliott Levin.

Most of all, his pyrotechnic playing style is one that's been emulated times over. Allen told Tam Fiofori in a 1971 interview (later re-purposed for the essential book, As Serious As Your Life) that he "wanted to play on a broader sound basis rather than on chords." Watching and hearing this technique is like lightning and thunder: You see his fingers fly up and down his instrument, but only seem to catch the sound seconds later. For evidence, watch the clip from A Joyful Noise below, which the YouTube uploader correctly identifies as "Marshall Allen from Sun Ra goin' nuts."

1:39 PM ET | 06- 9-2009 | permalink

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Tuesday's Just As Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where we continue to espouse "the Middle Mind mediocrity of NPR fern bar jazz."

--JazzTimes Suspends Publication, Furloughs Staff: So there you have it. Personally, I see a note of optimism in this, though; while we were all steeling ourselves mentally for the rag to go under immediately, it looks like it'll be back up and running if the management can find a new owner. As for reactions, Marc Myers of JazzWax ties it to the death of Old Media everywhere, and I'm inclined to agree. The problem wasn't necessarily that people are caring less about jazz -- though my more misanthropic side might also suggest that argument -- it's that the medium defined the message. Let's hope it was the case of a talented staff (their managing editor writes for NPR Music, you know) hamstrung to a business model that compromised its relevance, or sustainability, or probably both. I hope they at least come back on the Web; the more people who care enough to think publicly about jazz, the better. Sugar daddies, your attention please. (Related: the Bay Area's only remaining all-jazz station is also in trouble.)

--Six Gateway Jazz Albums: Speaking of dying print magazines, Paste ran this little feature on introducing jazz to "rock elitists." Some of the rock to jazz analogies are a bit of a stretch -- "if you love Deerhoof's wacko math-rock, you'll love the collegiate, controlled trot of Dave Brubeck's music!" -- but the more eyes who see that Speak No Evil exists, the better. (Plus, it's not like we've never resorted to occasional corniness in introducing people to jazz, either.) Of course, nowadays I'd like to think that the jazz establishment and the pop/rock crowd ("normal" people) are at least on speaking terms; high/low cultural distinctions are increasingly irrelevant, and digital music culture can fully divorce a sound file from its apparently odious context. But it's a good list of albums in any event (after 1958, anyway).

--'Tradition' And Ornette Coleman: Pi Recordings, which seems to put out at least one of my favorite new releases every year, has an occasionally-updated blog penned by someone ostensibly younger, smarter and more talented than I am. Rafiq Bhatia has a illustrative anecdote to share which more or less sticks it to Stanley Crouch for his attempt to circumlocute Ornette Coleman into the jazz "tradition" -- and shows how that line of pedagogy could lead to poor jazz. I bet I'd have the same reaction if I were in that auditorium. In fact, after thinking about it, the only thing I really have to contribute to this discussion without resorting to a feature-length essay about the "jazz wars" would be a question I've wondered for a while: if it's more-or-less become a standard, why are there hardly any good versions of "Lonely Woman" other than the original? Anyway, related: Act Like You Know: Ornette Coleman

--The Memphis Mafia: WFIU's Night Lights program, one of public radio's real multi-platform pioneers, has the archive of a brilliant program about a group of Memphis musicians. Trumpeter Booker Little, saxophonists George Coleman and Frank Strozier and pianist Harold Mabern all went to high school together, all migrated to Chicago and all became important players for a short time in the heart of hard bop. (Funky pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. also came from Memphis, albeit slightly earlier.) Coleman is probably the best known of the bunch, for his association with Miles Davis in 1963-1964, but Little has always been a personal hero of mine. That scene begs for a professional history. In whatever case, the underlying story is one seen elsewhere in jazz as well: Philadelphia's Mastbaum High, Detroit's Cass Tech and Chicago's DuSable High (just to name a few) produced peer groups of great musicians who all eventually struck out more-or-less together for greener pastures. The power of peer pressure meets music programs worth a damn, it would seem.

--The Jazz Speakers Bureau: Finally, All About Jazz has is launching a new service: a clearinghouse for lecturers who can teach you or your organization how to use the Jazz Internet to your advantage. AAJ Publisher Michael Ricci, JazzVideoGuy Bret Primack, Promoter Jim Eigo and aforementioned blogger Marc Myers can now be hired for panels and workshops wherever you are. Ironic that one might hire an analog presentation for the digital workspace, but judging by the general slow creep of jazz toward the Internet, not particularly surprising that it could be monetized. But anything that would bring about more Jazz Internet is welcomed around these parts.

P.S. The Vision Festival starts today in New York City. We do not live in New York City. Nonetheless, more thoughts are coming.

11:30 AM ET | 06- 9-2009 | permalink

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Bird Alone: Bill McHenry and the Wood Thrush

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

This the only bird whose note affects me like music, affects the flow and tenor of my thought, my fancy and imagination. --Henry David Thoreau

Bonus points to anyone who can Photoshop a wood thrush somewhere on Bill McHenry's Brooklyn rooftop. Photo Credit: Josh Jackson, WBGO.

The jazz musician has something in common with the naturalist -- both have nearly exhausted the use of aviary awe and songbird metaphor. Charles Mingus wrote "Reincarnation of a Lovebird." There's "Skylark," "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," and an entire subset of birdseed from Charlie Parker. Even Antonio Carlos Jobim got into the game with "Passarim."

Pity the poor wood thrush, however, a specimen that has historically been on the short shrift in jazz. This is, after all, the winged songster that John James Audubon called his "greatest favourite of the feathered tribes of our woods." (That didn't stop him from killing them with blow darts, making dioramas with them, and painting them. He just didn't have a camera handy back then.)

Anyway, imagine for a moment that you had two independent vocal membranes like the wood thrush, and you could control them simultaneously. Ventriloquism would be so easy!

What does any of this have to do with tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry? For starters, he's obsessed with the wood thrush.

Bill McHenry is our featured artist for the next installment of Live at the Village Vanguard. This is my birdbrained attempt at a multimedia promo for the show.

Tune in this Wednesday, Jun. 10 at 9 p.m. for Bill McHenry's kind of jazz.

3:10 PM ET | 06- 8-2009 | permalink

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Yotam Silberstein And The Responsibility Of Listening

Much to the dismay of his psychiatrist, Tom Cole is an Arts Editor at NPR, and hosts a jazz program on Washington, D.C. station WPFW. From time to time, he'll share some thoughts about music he's been listening to. --Eds.

Guitarist Yotam Silberstein has NPR's Tom Cole musing about why he would make a terrible critic. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

I can't tell you how many times I've listened to a few tunes from a new record and dismissed it -- only to hear something later on the radio that I liked and then discover that it was on that dismissed CD. (Yes, I still listen to CDs and the radio.)

Unfortunately, I often feel like I'm the first to be dismissive. "Jeez, not another singer-songwriter." "When will the record labels stop pimping physically attractive jazz singers?" Sometimes it's easier not to listen at all -- I get a lot of CDs in the mail, so I've been known to do that, too.

Which brings me to a story. One of my pet peeves is the recent fascination with organ combo recordings.

Continue reading "Yotam Silberstein And The Responsibility Of Listening" »

10:50 AM ET | 06- 8-2009 | permalink

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A Very Serious Piece Of Jazz Journalism Reportage

Sometimes, NPR newsmagazines' reports fall through, and they get desperate. You think I'm kidding: New Voice In Jazz Is 'Blog Supreme'

Nothing there you haven't seen before if you've been with us for a while. Also, they cut out all my stupid jokes to make time. But it was loads of fun to be on the other side of Liane Hansen's mic, for once. (I produced for Weekend Edition for a stretch of last year.)

Yes, I did say "Head Nerd In Charge."

8:33 AM ET | 06- 8-2009 | permalink

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Judging By The Cover: Fiona Apple Plays Cy Coleman

by Michael Katzif

Even in her own highly-produced pop music, Apple has had a voice of music from another era -- somewhere between smoky jazz ballads and brooding cabaret tunes. Courtesy of the artist.

Jazz artists reworking modern pop songs is certainly nothing new. It's more or less a tradition -- even an expected practice -- to be inspired by popular songs of the day and craft them into new standards for the repertoire. Could be Coltrane playing "My Favorite Things" (from The Sound Of Music) or Mehldau doing Radiohead covers.

But it's much rarer to find a contemporary rock artist who's able to do justice to an old standard. (I'm sure we can all suggest our own questionable examples of rock artist going "jazz" [ahem] Rod Stewart.)

A couple weeks back, I came across a few music blogs going absolutely bananas over an mp3 making the rounds. The song was of Fiona Apple performing an exquisite rendition of the old standard "Why Try To Change Me Now." It was released as part of an EP sold at a January tribute concert to acclaimed songwriter Cy Coleman called Then Was Then & Now Is Now. YouTube has the audio:

After the jump, comparing Fiona's version with Frank Sinatra's original.

Continue reading "Judging By The Cover: Fiona Apple Plays Cy Coleman" »

4:50 PM ET | 06- 5-2009 | permalink

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Better Git It In Your Friday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where we're celebrating like it's 1959.

--It's The Economy, Stupid: In gearing up for the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival here in Washington, D.C., I came across this headline from a preview in the Washington Times (the city's second daily, after the Post). It really is a blessing that this metropolitan area can support both a smooth jazz and a "mainstream" jazz festival at the same time in this age; interestingly, the article chalks it up in large part to the high concentration of relatively wealthy people in the area, including African Americans. (And at least for the Duke Ellington Fest, it must also help a little to be in D.C., where the planners probably rub shoulders with those in charge of dispensing government money -- the NEA is a Silver Level sponsor.)

It may also be that both festivals don't rely on gigantic private sponsors [Well, I suppose Nationwide Insurance, which is backing the Capital Jazz Fest, is somewhat large, but it's no Chrysler. --Ed.] The ambition of Festival Network may have killed many summer jazz events, but the company also lost the backing of main sponsor JVC, and George Wein hasn't picked it up for his own Newport event either. (Related: Howard Mandel points out that this probably had a trickle-down effect on the rumored demise of JazzTimes too.) And while a scan of newspapers still reveals a smattering of jazz festivals just this weekend throughout the country (Red Bank, N.J.; Telluride, Colo.; Madison, Wis.; Belleville, Ill.), Toledo, Ohio's Art Tatum Heritage Jazz Festival has been cancelled after losing corporate money. Its main sponsor was Chrysler, and we all know how well the U.S. automotive industry is doing these days.

But make sure you read that whole article: the Toledo Jazz Society is still putting on "jazz parties," billing 24 acts in one upcoming June weekend. Perhaps that's a testament to the power of jazz enthusiasts finding a way to produce meaningful events in smaller scenes (cough, Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsman's Guild) even when the bread dries up -- is this rare cause for optimism about our friend, jazz music?

--Ronnie Scott's At 50: The London jazz club, modeled after the great New York jazz rooms of its day, celebrates 50 years of business this year. To put that in perspective, Ronnie Scott's was founded around the time of Kind of Blue and Giant Steps. The venue has played host to talents as diverse as Art Blakey and Sun Ra, says British groove music impresario Gilles Peterson, and it remains, in the words of managing director Simon Cooke, "a bloody good jazz club." Anyone out there ever made the journey and want to report back?

--Miles Davis On MySpace: One wonders if a musician of his stature and occasional public reticence would have bothered to create a MySpace page were he still alive. But it hasn't stopped someone (Sony?) from creating a profile for the great trumpeter. It serves largely as a promotional tool for reissues (wait, advertising another edition of Kind of Blue ... no way!) and isn't the easiest thing in the world to navigate (which was always MySpace's fault in the first place). But it's actually pretty cool: you can stream a great many of his albums as a leader and compilations online -- the count was 171 when I played around with it, including duplicates. (The New York Times has the full scoop, to put it in music industry perspective. Billie Holiday is now online too.) Lingering distaste for overt capitalism aside, is it not awesome that this small handful of seminal documents of jazz is easier to access than ever?

--Jazz Ambassadors In Algeria: The day before Barack Obama addressed a Cairo crowd with his "new beginning" speech, this interesting little article about soft diplomacy came through the newswires. The idea of sending jazz musicians as cultural ambassadors is over 50 years old now, but still quite popular around the world, ostensibly. I wouldn't imagine a small town in today's Algeria would embrace a semi-obscure Minneapolis bluesman quite like they would have for Dizzy Gillespie in 1956 -- seeing the many varieties of pop that are currently our primary musical exports -- but it would appear there's still a hankering for this stuff. Thankfully, the U.S. keeps sending out musicians too. And if any of this piques your interest, keep your eyes peeled: we're soon to be working with NPR's wonderful The Picture Show on a fun multimedia feature on this subject.

--Musicians: How Much Do You Make Per Gig?: Peter Hum is asking, trying to determine what a respectable gig pays these days. I wish him luck; from my impressions, that's not really ever been a public discussion -- not that it shouldn't be. I would help you, Peter, but I've made a grand total of $75 in my life as a professional pianist, all accounted for by two different gigs during high school. (Dave Hartsman, if you're out there, trust me that my ill-fated attempt to solo over the bridge of "Oleo" remains far more traumatic for me than it was for you.)

12:07 PM ET | 06- 5-2009 | permalink

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Kenny Wollesen's Balloon Bassoon Promenade (The ISSUE Project Room Soundwalk-A-Thon)

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

I love a good parade [cue march music]. And growing up in New Orleans made me this way.

Beyond the pageantry of Mardi Gras, people come together in the streets for any reason -- birth, death, the space in between and whatever comes after. Music for every occasion.

New York's a little different. This is a city where everyone is the Grand Marshal of his or her own personal parade. Yesterday, I met with saxophonist David Binney at the foot of Verdi Square -- 72nd and Broadway on Manhattan's Upper West Side. When he arrived, drummer Kenny Wollesen was with him. I told Kenny how much I regretted missing the Sex Mob show the night before.

So he invited me to a parade. How could I resist?

Continue reading "Kenny Wollesen's Balloon Bassoon Promenade (The ISSUE Project Room Soundwalk-A-Thon)" »

7:59 AM ET | 06- 5-2009 | permalink

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Jazz Icons Video Series: Treasures From The Vaults

by Felix Conteras

While jazz is mostly a listening experience, it can also be fun to watch. Just ask the folks who put together the Jazz Icons video series.

The idea behind it is brilliant: scour television vaults across Europe looking for vintage and rare video of American jazz masters in their prime. The series' producers are now in the process of preparing their fourth installment for a fall release, tentatively including the Art Farmer Quintet with Jim Hall (1965), Coleman Hawkins with Harry "Sweets" Edison and Jo Jones (1962-1966), Max Roach band with Abbey Lincoln (1964) and five other vintage must-see performances.

So who has the thankless task of viewing all the videos for quality and relevance?

Associate producer Hal Miller knows a few things about vintage jazz videos. He has over 15,000 items in his own library, and travels around the country delivering presentations and lectures.

We exchanged "How've you been?" e-mails last week, and I interviewed him, via e-mail, about his gig for Jazz Icons.

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What has it been like diving into those TV vaults?

While I'm hardly a newcomer to the world of archival jazz video, I have to admit that I have found myself surprised -- even astounded -- at the treasures that have lain around in studio vaults around the world. Sometimes we have uncovered rare gems in the process of collecting footage on another artist. Suffice it to say that there's plenty of material out there and that Jazz Icons can afford to be very selective as it "cherry picks" from existing material.

Much, much more of the interview, after the jump.

Continue reading "Jazz Icons Video Series: Treasures From The Vaults" »

1:15 PM ET | 06- 4-2009 | permalink

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'JazzTimes' Magazine To Fold?

Howard Mandel has the scoop that JazzTimes may be going under.

Like Mandel (who contributes to NPR News), we've attempted to contact the editors at the magazine, and so far haven't gotten any responses back. We'll keep you posted on what we hear back.

We hope the rumblings are not true, even if the evidence is. The magazine recently launched a snazzy new Web redesign too, which we would hate to see disappear.

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UPDATE: Music print mags folding is certainly nothing new in this economic climate. I forgot to mention that NPR's Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson posted about yesterday's death knells at the All Songs Considered blog.

12:42 PM ET | 06- 4-2009 | permalink

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The Birth Of The Blog

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Give us this day our daily diversion.

As A Blog Supreme hits its two-week anniversary, it seems appropriate to answer the question that we've fielded most frequently since this whole project was merely a seed-germ of an idea: Whence The Name?

We've mentioned the philosophy behind the choice before: reverence to the art form and its great works, amusement with its fundamental eccentricities. But it was a struggle to find something with the right tone: in second-guessing ourselves, we even threw it out to you folks to help us out.

We scanned far and wide for great jazz catchphrases, album titles (we totally would have used Point of Departure if it hadn't already been taken) and suggestive names of songs. In the end, though, we settled on one of the initial ideas that anyone nominated. First thought, best thought, as Kerouac practiced -- if he had deliberated over it for AN ENTIRE EFFING MONTH afterwards.

But we threw out an awful lot of wheat with the chaff. By which I mean totally sweet puns. Ahem:

Kind of Blog
Moody's Mood For Blog
Porgy And Blog
The Blues And The Abstract Blog
Percussion Bitter Blog
Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog
Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Blogs
Everybody Digs Blog Evans
The Amazing Blog Powell, Vol. 1 and 2 (my personal favorite)

And the ideas weren't just limited to LP nomenclature.

Continue reading "The Birth Of The Blog" »

7:25 PM ET | 06- 3-2009 | permalink

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Listening, Party For Two: 'Air Raid'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

L-R: Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur III and Lee Morgan at the November 1963 recording sessions for Evolution. Photo Credit: Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images, LLC

My boss readily admits that she doesn't know a whole lot about jazz. But she lets me write all this nonsense on the Internet, so I'm not complaining. And at least she's willing to learn. So every week, she and I get together to listen to and Instant Message about a different great jazz song.

Inspired by Steve Lehman's new album, which he says is partially inspired by Jackie McLean's work with Bobby Hutcherson (see his interview on WBGO's The Checkout), I pulled one of the recordings which Lehman cites as influential. Here's a track from Evolution, an album at least nominally led by Grachan Moncur III. In listening, we also wish the trombonist a happy 72nd birthday today.

"Air Raid" from Grachan Moncur III, Evolution. Grachan Moncur III, trombone; Lee Morgan, trumpet; Jackie McLean, alto sax; Bobby Hutcherson, vibraphone; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Tony Williams, drums. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Nov. 21, 1963.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

Continue reading "Listening, Party For Two: 'Air Raid'" »

7:15 PM ET | 06- 3-2009 | permalink

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Download: Edgard Varese, A Free Jazz Pioneer?

by Lars Gotrich

Dig that bowtie: Edgard Varese was definitely a jazzman. via Wikipedia Commons

Freeform radio station WFMU -- the home of all things delightfully "out there" -- has unearthed a curious recording that may change how folks look at the history of free jazz. In 1957, French-born American composer Edgard Varese held a workshop with some of that era's most prominent jazz musicians. I mean, just look at this list: Art Farmer (trumpet), Hal McKusick (clarinet, alto sax), Teo Macero (tenor sax), Eddie Bert (trombone), Frank Rehak (trombone), Don Butterfield (tuba), Hall Overton (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), Ed Shaughnessy (drums), plus unidentified musicians on the alto sax and the vibes.

WFMU's source says that it "might be the first free jazz recording (totally unissued) of History of Music," but as one of the commenters on the original post correctly points out, Cecil Taylor and Lennie Tristano had already plunged into what would become known as free jazz by 1957. Whether Varese knew of those players is unknown, but it's still fascinating to hear Varese working out his ideas of "organized sound" in a jazz context. It's even better yet to hear a frustrated musician exclaim, "This is not natural for me" (track 6), or the awe of the room after Varese coaches Don Butterfield on an extended technique for his tuba (track 3). It's fascinating document, and one that warrants further investigation.

Download: Edgar Varese and the Jazzmen at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

10:38 AM ET | 06- 3-2009 | permalink

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YouTube Miner: Don Cherry

by Lars Gotrich

So I was telling the Boss Lady that sometimes, all I want to do is watch Don Cherry videos on YouTube. "Make it a post!" she exclaimed. Done and done.

It would have been nice to do a chronology of the avant-jazz-pocket-trumpeter-turned-world-fusion-pioneer's career via Youtube, but there are large gaps in what's available (notably, his time with Ornette Coleman). We jump from a 1963 date with Sonny Rollins to the late '70s pretty quickly, but what I did round up is Cherry at his best. Consider this a call out to tapers everywhere: we want more Don Cherry on YouTube. Make it happen, Internet.

To start off, here's a surprisingly funky version of Thelonious Monk's "52nd Street Theme" from the Sonny Rollins quartet featuring Don Cherry on pocket trumpet, taped in Roma, Italy, 1963. Dig the bass solo from Henry Grimes and a very young Billy Higgins.

Many more videos, after the jump.

Continue reading "YouTube Miner: Don Cherry" »

1:30 PM ET | 06- 2-2009 | permalink

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The Incredible Tuesday Link Dump: Back At The Chicken Shack

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where we're quickly exhausting decent (or even recognizable) Blue Note-styled epithets to pun off of.

--Lester Young's Tenor Sax: Doug Ramsey of Rifftides just reprinted this little nugget of a story, which ran last fall in the British magazine Jazz Review. He tells the story of Lester Young's saxophone, which oxidized over the course of 50-plus years in his brother Lee Young's basement. Enter Dave Pell, a longtime studio saxophonist who, like many on the West Coast of the '50s, idolized Pres. He had the saxophone restored last year, and at age 83, has just recorded a new album with it. As an aside, you can see Lester Young's other tenor sax on display at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark (a place staffed by wonderful human beings), along with plenty of other historic instruments (Ben Webster's horn, Miles Davis' green trumpet, etc).

--Riverwalk Jazz At 20: We here at A Blog Supreme cast ourselves adrift on the Intertubes, but we're gratefully (and necessarily) tethered to public terrestrial radio. So it warms our hearts to see fellow jazz broadcasters Riverwalk Jazz turning 20, as profiled in this article. Riverwalk, of course, encompasses a syndicated PRI radio broadcast, a Web archive, and a live band, all dedicated to pre-World War II jazz styles. Jazz before bebop suffers from an unfortunate perception as a sort of medicine taken in music-school jazz history courses and listened to only by AARP members. It strikes this editor that much of the pre-modern is as freshly inventive and fascinating as the post-modern, and Riverwalk has quietly been proving it for some time now.

--Morgan Freeman As Duke Ellington: The Jazz24 blog brings news (or at least Hollywood-style rumblings) of two possible jazz films. The post starts with the news that Josh Hartnett has pulled out of a possible Chet Baker biopic, and segues to a project that's news to me: a Duke Ellington historical conspiracy thriller (really!). Apparently, on Duke's 1963 State Department tour of the Middle East (which inspired the sublime Far East Suite, if I have my facts straight), the CIA may have planted spies in the Ellington entourage -- which may have unwittingly planted the foundation for Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime. Unfortunately, the project is slated for 2011, which I take to mean Never. But Morgan Freeman as Duke, potentially with "Isfahan" in the soundtrack? I'd line up for a midnight showing.

--Italian Jazz: Gianluigi Trovesi: The newest edition of Web-zine Perfect Sound Forever is out, and it features this extended discussion of Gianluigi Trovesi's 2007 album Vaghissimo Ritratto (out on ECM, should that mean anything to you). The writer takes pains to establish that Trovesi, whose training is not in the blues-and-bebop tradition, draws primarily from the history of Italian music, from the Renaissance to contemporary free improvisation. Basically, it's conceivable one could call this music "Italian jazz." Now, the reviewer isn't exactly a professional (citing Wikipedia, referring to Josquin des Prez as "Prez"), but she's hit upon a good question: how exactly is cultural identity expressed through improvised music? And if it's not American culture, is it still worth calling "jazz"?

--Hugh Hefner On Jazz: In previewing the Playboy Jazz Festival, here's a brief chat with the, uh, publishing mogul. Nice to know that he believes jazz to be the "music of my youth and America's true art form," even if all the acts slated this year aren't exactly jazz. But these aren't just old-person platitudes, mind you. In the June 1957 edition of Playboy, Hefner had himself written up as follows: "Brubeck, Kenton or Sinatra is usually on the turntable when Hefner is working ... He likes jazz, foreign films, Ivy League clothes, gin and tonic and pretty girls -- the same sort of things that Playboy readers like ..." Um, don't ask me why I know that.

10:41 AM ET | 06- 2-2009 | permalink

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Listening Session: Steve Lehman

by Josh Jackson, WBGO

Steve Lehman's new record was partially inspired by the compositional strategy called spectralism -- whatever that is. Photo Credit: Dominik Huber

I host a little program called The Checkout. The point of this show (if there is just one) is to inject a concentrated dose of new music adrenaline straight to the heart of jazz radio.

To that end, I've enlisted Ben Ratliff, music critic for the New York Times, to help me revive the comatose. Every other week, I go to Ben's apartment. We pull some CDs from the pile of music in his home office, music that both of us have already absorbed, and listen to them again -- with microphones.

We recently listened to new music from saxophonist Steve Lehman. His recording, Travail, Transformation, and Flow comes out next week.

Lehman creates a compositional vehicle for improvisation through spectralism, an aesthetic form of writing music based upon the spectral analysis of sound -- attack, decay, timbre, etc. If that last sentence just blew your mind, welcome to the club. Spectral music would take a dissertation to explain, so just chew on that oversimplified definition for a while.

OK. Ready for more?

Continue reading "Listening Session: Steve Lehman" »

4:00 PM ET | 06- 1-2009 | permalink

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Women In Jazz, Redux: The Audience

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Re: that last post from Friday, I actually drew up a first draft which started completely differently. I've modified and fleshed it out as a supplement to the women and jazz thoughtpiece. And yes, I am aware that the following discussion is pretty ancient in Internet years, but I do feel like there's more to be said here. So ready go:

Dee Dee Bridgewater and Carmen Lundy backstage at the Kennedy Center, undoubtedly discussing the semiotics of Women In Jazz festivals. Photo Credit: Margot Schulman/Kennedy Center

A few weeks ago, jazz journalist and occasional NPR correspondent Howard Mandel set off a minor maelstrom on his blog, Jazz Beyond Jazz. In responding to this commentary, he wrote about gender and the jazz audience: "I contend that since the '60s, and probably earlier, no one in the jazz world with the exception of jazz educators has actually invited women to partake of jazz, to purchase it, assume it can be their own," he wrote.

The heart of his message bears revisiting.

Continue reading "Women In Jazz, Redux: The Audience" »

3:29 PM ET | 06- 1-2009 | permalink

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Iggy Pop Sings 'Autumn Leaves'

In French.

Iggy Pop appears to have lost his shirt again. Photo Credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images

No further comment.

Lust For The Lush Life: Iggy Pop Sings Standards [From NPR's Fresh Air]

3:05 PM ET | 06- 1-2009 | permalink

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