Live In Concert: Terence Blanchard's 'Choices'

What do you get when you mix one of today's top jazz quintets with Lionel Loueke, Bilal and Dr. Cornel West?

That'd be Terence Blanchard's new album, Choices. It's coming out in a week and change, but tonight he premieres all of that music live in concert. The band is performing at the location where they recorded the music: the majestic library at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. And once again, NPR Music and WBGO are on hand for a live broadcast, Web stream, and videocast. More info here: Terence Blanchard Group: Live In New Orleans

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UPDATE: Show's over folks. But check the story page for archived audio soon. Archived video is above, courtesy of WBGO.
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Join us for live chat below. Also, check out some photos from the setup (like, dudes are straight-up playing in a 19th Century rotunda). Show starts at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT. And if you have better things to do with your Friday night (like what, exactly?) you can catch the archived audio later.

--Patrick Jarenwattananon

12:52 PM ET | 07-31-2009 | permalink

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Magazines, Mehldau, Music Minus One: The Friday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where we are doing this Terence Blanchard live concert tonight. Listen at 8:30 p.m ET.

--Why Music Magazines Are Dying: Earlier this week, a Slate essay on why music print mags are inordinately struggling in this recession made the Internet rounds. Author Jonah Weiner identified three reasons: fewer superstars in general, less exclusive content in an online age, and the rise of online social media are making the magazines obsolete, in addition to questionable business practices within individual publications. Which puts the recent struggles of JazzTimes into some perspective. One could point out the odd editorial and business decisions being made in the jazz press (why, for instance does Downbeat have no useful Web presence?). But as aging jazz legends are replaced with sorta-stars, more jazz bloggers are born every day and the jazz community is migrating to less hegemonic, more flexible online discussions. Very slowly, it seems often, but you can sort of notice it happening if you pay close enough attention.

Here's what I don't quite get, though. I notice the Jazz Internet expanding, but very, very gradually. Any fan of pop music who knows how to use "The Google" can illegally download their favorite artists' album leaks easily. Or at very least, they can find tracks on The Hype Machine, or at a publication like Stereogum. For whatever reason -- I surmise lack of people interested in leaking stuff, really -- you still can't do that with many new jazz releases. And while some artists get it, with that whole "nowadays people are demanding free content before they purchase, and I'm not going to make any money off this CD anyway, so go ahead: preview my record online" thing, others don't even put up full tracks on their MySpace pages, if they even bother to have those. Meanwhile, many older artists have been burned so often by bootleggers -- when that was a serious problem to a jazz artist's revenue stream -- that they don't care to adapt to music in the age of Web 2.0. So because there are fewer free opinions floating around out there, that would theoretically make jazz mags more essential as gatekeepers, right?

Sort of. It seems to me that the very lack of "free" in jazz -- of anybody wanting to put music out there on the Web -- is hurting the audience. Given the choice between the constant on-demand stream of free music that is the modern pop music world, and having to pay to hear what your jazz nerd friend told you to check out, why would the average consumer pick the more expensive substitute? And that's the real problem with jazz magazines: the audience itself -- by which I mean the potential audience willing to pay for magazines -- is diminishing. The slow pace of the migration of jazz to the Internet is both helping and hurting JazzTimes. It's helping because it keeps magazines important as lifelines to the jazz community. It's hurting because that jazz community has shrunken, in no small part because young consumers now expect to be able to hear content they are to care about. The entire jazz business, including JazzTimes, would do well to understand this.

--Brad Mehldau On 'Ideology, Burgers and Beer': Speaking of the Old Media, this Brad Mehldau essay ran in JazzTimes in 2003. For my money, it's some of the most meaningful and approachable of Mehldau's writing. It muses crisply about something we can all relate to: namely, why we defend the music we love. If you're into that sort of philosophical rabbit hole, you can read more of Mehldau's gappings at his Web site. And as a side note, why do people complain about the man's often-lengthy liner notes? If you don't like them, why don't you just ... not read them? (Via @accujazzradio, where I get, like, half of my links.)

--Interview With Nate Wooley: Sigh. Print mags may be dying, and bringing long-form features with them. But at least sometimes there are some people willing to do big features for Web publications, presumably for little money. This Bagatellen e-mail chat with trumpeter Nate Wooley, who is very much a free improviser, gets it right because Wooley is willing to go on record at length about his creative process and the history and community behind it. I especially appreciate the discussion about why he's into such a generally difficult style of music: "Usually, when it is a work that is 'difficult' for lack of a better term, I find there is an unarticulated quality in it that draws me in. I WANT to understand it. I WANT to unlock the secret."

--The Difficult Listening Hour, And Vijay Iyer's MIA Cover: [LATE ADDITION] I know, but I just saw this, and it was so on point to all of the foregoing that I had to link it somewhere. Seth Colter Walls writes about some "difficult" improv that went down recently in New York in exactly the right way, methinks. "But the cultural activist in me would like to see this scene blow up a little bit more, bring in some more lay people. ... you'll have to take my word for it that this music is totally able to be enjoyed without having an advanced music degree. (I sure don't.) I mean, it's complicated--perhaps 'difficult'--but it's not emotionally or physically remote." Uh, YES. He then rewards us with Vijay Iyer's cover of "Galang." Yes, that "Galang."

--Setting The Record Straight On George Russell: Chip Boaz goes in on an important mistake in the AP obituary about George Russell: that his "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop" was the first melding of Afro-Cuban music with jazz. That assertion even made it into other coverage, such as this Washington Post obituary. This may seem tetchy, but I can assure you it is not. Misremembered history is bad for jazz; it neglects the dynamism of cultural forces that makes learning about jazz so interesting. (Related: the Boss Lady on this very piece.)

--Jamey Aebersold Profiled: Finally, Jamey Aebersold, he of the play-along record empire, is an actual human being, and a real jazz musician based in Louisville, Ky., of all places. (Article here.) Somehow, I never made that connection. Apparently, he also lectures his students about the ills of smoking. Huh.

12:00 PM ET | 07-31-2009 | permalink

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A Series Of Vignettes, A Banjo Freakout, A Meeting Of Masters

by Lars Gotrich

You might be wondering, "Lars, baby, where have you been for the last few weeks? I need my weekly fix of disjointed rhythms, searing squawks and borderline-sanity improvisation!" Folks, sometimes a man needs a vacation and sometimes he stays in New York City a few extra days so he can watch an awesome concert put on by his employer. Tough life, I know.

Well, I missed you, too, ABS readers. Let's kiss and make up with three avant-jazz and improvised music albums that are hitting my sweet spot right now.

Cover art to Tom Abbs & Frequency Response's new album. (Courtesy of Engine Studios. © 2009)

Tom Abbs & Frequency Response - Lost & Found (Engine Studios): There's something refreshing about a free jazz disc with 18 tracks, none exceeding the six-minute mark. Most musicians of the out-jazz mindset love to roam (and I enjoy taking those trips with them), but Tom Abbs & Frequency Response execute full ideas in smaller time frames (occasionally, even shorter than two minutes). I'm never left wanting more and I'm given exactly what I want to hear. Tom Abbs switches instruments (bass, cello, tuba) as the piece calls for it, and his Triptych Myth partner Chad Taylor (drums) is downright telepathic in his rumbling responses. And, surprisingly, it all runs together quite nicely like a string of sonic vignettes.

"Torn," from Tom Abbs & Frequency Response, Lost & Found. Tom Abbs, bass, cello, tuba; Brian Settles, tenor and soprano saxophones, flute; Jean Cook, violin; Chad Taylor, drums.

Purchase: Amazon / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

A banjo-led freakout, and a pairing of old and new improv masters, after the jump.

Continue reading "A Series Of Vignettes, A Banjo Freakout, A Meeting Of Masters" »

3:36 PM ET | 07-30-2009 | permalink

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A Public Face Made For Radio

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Our long discussion about jazz grants and their supposed encouragement of conceptual/interdisciplinary/backstory-heavy "interview music" (make sure to read the amazing comment thread at Nate Chinen's blog) has me thinking about how artists package their music today. It seems to me that as grants become a larger part of the jazz economy, and media outlets shrink, and general audiences decline, jazz musicians are increasingly being asked to justify and rationalize their work.

On the heels of all that, I received a certain new CD recently. I hardly never read accompanying press releases, but for whatever reason this one came in front of my eye:

There are artists, who, as Walt Whitman so eloquently wrote, are "multitudes." The twenty-something, New Guinea-born, pianist Aaron Choulai is such an artist: Polish/Jewish/Aussie and Chinese/Motuan; legally blind, an albino, and a fabulous young musician ...

I haven't made time for any of Choulai's forthcoming trio disc Ranu yet, and cannot recommend it on musical grounds one way or the other. But I can pretty much guarantee that now that he has a respected label (Sunnyside) putting out his records stateside, he'll make it to the public radio circuit somehow, with little involvement on my part. (See: Melody Gardot.) Not that being albino, blind and from New Guinea ever helped any jazzman in any other way. But who doesn't love an amazing story?

As if that weren't enough, he has made "interview music" before too. Again, according to the PR materials, Choulai was musical director/arranger for We Don't Dance For No Reason, a "multimedia production consisting of Australian's [sic] finest jazz musicians and the sixteen-voice Tatana Village Choir from his ancestral New Guinea village." Don't get me wrong; it sounds like a legitimately interesting, heartfelt project, and I'd love to experience it. It also sounds like a documentary in the making. Speaking of which:

1:30 PM ET | 07-30-2009 | permalink

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Listening, Party For Two: 'Cubano Be' + 'Cubano Bop'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

L-R: James Moody, Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie. (Frank Driggs Collection / Getty Images © 2009)

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 -- or at least as often as possible -- she and I get together to listen to and Instant Message about a different great jazz song.

"Cubano Be" and "Cubano Bop" are undoubtedly landmarks of Latin jazz history. The symphonic collaboration between Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie helped to validate Afro-Cuban rhythms in the arena of serious music. And it's especially appropriate to have a listen to it today, because lurking behind the scenes was the late George Russell.

"Cubano Be / Cubano Bop," recorded by the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. Dizzy Gillespie, trumpet; with Dave Burns, Elmon Wright, Lamar Wright Jr., Benny Bailey, trumpets; William Shepherd, Ted Kelly, trombones; John Brown, Howard Johnson, alto saxophones; Joe Gayles, Big Nick Nicholas, tenor saxophones, Cecil Payne, baritone saxophone; John Lewis, piano; Al McKibbon, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums; Luciano "Chano" Pozo, congas/bongos. Arr. George Russell. New York, N.Y.: Dec. 22, 1947.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes ('Be'/'Bop')

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Boss Lady: I'm picturing rapscallions in a getaway scene, pushing through the busy, dirty, exotic streets of Cuba. It's a movie from the 1950s.

me: You got the Cuba right
Although I suppose you could have figured that out from the title

Boss Lady: Yes, you are correct!

me: Anything that specifically makes you think Cuba? (In the music, I mean.)

Continue reading "Listening, Party For Two: 'Cubano Be' + 'Cubano Bop'" »

6:30 PM ET | 07-29-2009 | permalink

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Remembering George Russell: Composer, Theorist, 'Ezz-Thetician'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

"Round Midnight," from George Russell, Ezz-Thetics. George Russell, piano/arrangement; Don Ellis, trumpet; David Baker, trombone; Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone; Steve Swallow, bass; Joe Hunt, drums. New York, N.Y.: May 8, 1961.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

Cover art to George Russell's Ezz-Thetics. Photo Credit: courtesy of Concord Music Group.

The first day I started at my college radio station, the DJ I was shadowing took me into the record library and pulled out three records. One of them I no longer recall, but I do remember that he chose Ted Curson's Tears For Dolphy. As a segue, he then went over to the adjacent aisle and picked out George Russell's Ezz-Thetics, featuring (among others) Eric Dolphy.

"You ever heard this album?" the DJ asked me. I was 18; I hadn't any idea who any of these musicians were in the first place. "Amazing record."

I don't remember much about my first impression of that music. But over the next four years, I came to learn why it was a crime that I -- and more people -- didn't know who George Russell was. He was the composer of Afro-Cuban landmark "Cubano Be/Cubano Bop"; the invisible hand behind the modal jazz of Kind of Blue; the academic, big-band leader, tape loop experimentalist, embracer of funk and generally awe-inspiring figure. His "Bird In Igor's Yard" was Third Stream before that existed (he would later be tapped by Gunther Schuller to teach at the New England Conservatory). And lest we forget, he managed to make a number of quite-decent-to-minor-classic records under his own name: Jazz In The Space Age, George Russell Sextet At The Five Spot, The Outer View, The Jazz Workshop and so forth.

I have great memories of listening to George Russell records with friends: trying our best to imitate the Jon Hendricks word-art that preceded "New York, New York"; bumping far-out later material like Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (the 1980 recording) or The African Game on overnight radio broadcasts; attempting to understand Russell's Lydian chromatic concept (and getting nowhere). To know George Russell's records, it turned out, was something of a hipster handshake. OK, replace "hipster" with "hopeless jazz nerd," but you get the idea. Everyone could have Miles and Trane and Bill Evans. The behind-the-scenes theorist caught in the middle of one of jazz's most fertile periods, and largely overlooked for that reason, could be one of my heroes.

The best-known LP of Russell's solo discography, Ezz-Thetics, was reissued sometime within the last few years. To my ears, the sonics of the album still date it as a work of 1961, but the compositions and arrangements just seem so thoroughly contemporary. Many of the so-called progressive modern jazz recordings of today still seem to be going after that same mix of tense harmonic adventure, left-field textures and driving swing feeling. And having Eric Dolphy sign on as a soloist didn't hurt either.

This video promoting that re-issue, cut together by the JazzVideoGuy, tracked down producer Orrin Keepnews to talk about that album:

Composer, pianist, theorist, arranger, bandleader, teacher and jazz great George Russell died yesterday, Jul. 27, 2009, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Tonight, my college radio station will undoubtedly be playing George Russell's music. I know this because my first mentor at WKCR, the one who opened my ears to Russell, is scheduled to be on air tonight. I don't think Paul Burkey remembers my first encounter with this music, but I think it'd be a safe prediction that he'll proudly be spinning Ezz-Thetics nonetheless.

3:30 PM ET | 07-28-2009 | permalink

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Bull Fights The Big Sexmob

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

First things first: this here is video (including our audio recording) of Fight The Big Bull's 7:00 p.m. set on Tuesday, July 21 at Joe's Pub in New York. We didn't Webcast this -- it wasn't actually part of the NPR Music Triple Bill Party -- but it is the only video we have from that entire night. So, courtesy of WBGO:

"Mobile Tigers," "Gold Lions," "All Is Gladness In The Kingdom," and "Shouting Song" from Fight The Big Bull, Live In Concert. Matthew E. White, guitar/leader; Bob Miller, trumpet; Bryan Hooten, trombone; Reggie Pace, trombone; Jason Scott, tenor saxophone/clarinet; J.C. Kuhl, tenor saxophone; John Lilley, tenor saxophone; Cameron Ralston, bass; Pinson Chanselle, drum kit; Brian Jones, percussion. With special guest Steven Bernstein, trumpets. First Set of Two. Joe's Pub, New York, N.Y.: July 21, 2009.

Second things, uh, second: I started writing a full recap of the night's action on the bus back to Washington, D.C. It grew rather monstrous. So this is the first of two parts.

Continue reading "Bull Fights The Big Sexmob" »

3:27 PM ET | 07-27-2009 | permalink

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The Weekend Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Friday was awfully busy. But I find myself in the office today. So why not throw out some recommended weekend browsing while I'm here?

--A Long Diana Krall Interview: I'll confess that I'm a recovering Diana Krall doubter. But it's hard for me to argue with enthusiasm such as that which is displayed in the comment section of Steve Inskeep's Morning Edition interview with Krall. (She plays and sings a fair amount too, and the Web page, which I built myself, has an exclusive concert recording and several extended interview clips.) I mean, any jazz musician who can make listeners who have never heard of her stand up and buy her music in only seven minutes is doing something right. Even my old man, who doesn't regularly listen to any sort of music, once raved to me about a Diana Krall special on PBS. And after this, you can't say that she doesn't think about and refine what she attempts on stage. She is, dare I say it, good at interpreting others' music gracefully.

Ok, so because this is a jazz blog, I'm sure there are readers out there will who maintain their objections. There are plenty, and in the course of my jazz fandom, I think I've come to many of them myself. But think about this: from the days of Paul Whiteman on, the stars of "jazz" have always been those who managed to cross over to a wide audience. They're the ones who carried the burden of making jazz a thing that the general public thought was worth supporting, or even thinking about. So wouldn't it be more productive if we who liked this jazz stuff at large instead say, "If you like Diana Krall, check out ___ too?" What do you think? And who are those fill-in-the-blanks?

--Tyshawn Sorey Featured: If Diana Krall isn't challenging enough for you, Sorey's music surely will be. You may know him as a legitimately astounding drummer in many contexts, from the straight-ahead to the far-out. (My first jazz show in D.C. featured him swinging like mad behind the kit. It also featured a fight between the saxophonist, whose gig it was, and an unruly member of the audience. News at 11.) As a composer, though, he's a heavy thinker whose music confounds notions of what it means to be a young, black jazz drummer, or really an improviser period. With a new album dropping soon, Destination: Out has a preview of two tracks. (Note: it's different.) And Time Out New York profiles Sorey as he's set to curate August at John Zorn's venue The Stone, and then break ground on an advanced degree under Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan.

--Albert Ayler's Mystery Trombonist: While cruising Destination: Out, I came across a link to some historical detective work. George Stell was a physics professor and trombonist who heard Albert Ayler's music on the radio one day in the mid-'60s. He asked Ayler if he could sit in for a few gigs, and ended up being recorded (as heard on Impulse's Live In Greenwich Village set). Stell is now an emeritus physics professor at Stony Brook University, and answered a few e-mail questions for The Jessamine Vine. As with many things Ayler-related, Ben Young at my alma mater WKCR is to thank for setting the record straight in the first place. Audio clips of Stell's WKCR interview are there too.

--Jazz Aspen Snowmass: I'd just like to point out that an organization with jazz in its title is sponsoring a Labor Day music festival with literally no jazz in it. That's all.

--Billy Taylor At 88: Finally, the pianist, jazz ambassador and former NPR host turned 88 on Friday. At billytaylorjazz.com, you'll thus find 88 YouTube clips of Taylor performing with Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Tommy Flanagan, a whole bunch of other legends and his trio. (Lovingly curated by the JazzVideoGuy, I might add.) Having briefly met a gracious Dr. Taylor (he has too many honorary degrees to count) at A Jazz Piano Christmas in 2007, I can say that if anyone deserves to be recognized for his efforts to put jazz on the map, it's him. (Related: Billy Taylor on the very first episode of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, c. 1978.)

2:04 PM ET | 07-25-2009 | permalink

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A (Legitimate?) Complaint About Free Money

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Yesterday, Chamber Music America announced the 12 recipients of grants through their New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program. Because CMA didn't think to put this up on its Web site yet, I'll link you to Nate Chinen's musings about the subject at The Gig, where there's a full listing of the award winners. Basically, Chinen expresses concerns that as jazz transitions to a more grant and commission-based economy, it will favor intellectualized, conceptual works more likely to sound good on a grant application, to the detriment of folks who have no overwrought cross-disciplinary ideas in their desires to make good music. He wonders more at length in this JazzTimes column from last year:

Where does this leave a musician like guitarist Russell Malone, or tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, or even pianist Mulgrew Miller, who put into circulation the wry term "interview music" a few years ago? (Where, for that matter, would it have left someone like Dexter Gordon?) ... jazz musicians are now expected to be heady conceptualists, ambitious composers and shrewd grant writers, in addition to mastering the quantum physics of improvisation, which isn't any easier now than it was a generation ago.

Several reactions:

1. I have sympathy for those jazz musicians who don't get grants because their works aren't conceptual enough -- if this is in fact the case. Making jazz is hard enough; to be expected to be inspired by something that sounds good on paper, though not necessarily on stage, can be an unnecessary hurdle. In essence, I agree with Chinen on this point.

2. However, I do think that in a larger sense, the medium (and the market) has always defined the message.

Continue reading "A (Legitimate?) Complaint About Free Money" »

6:00 PM ET | 07-24-2009 | permalink

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A Swing Through Massachusetts

by Felix Contreras

So you're ready to take that jazz vacation you've been wanting to do. You've picked a city and now you're ready to dive into finding venues, schedules, concerts, hotels, restaurants.

The state of Massachusetts has just made that jazz trip much easier to put together with MassJazz, a new Web site and travel guide that creates a one-stop shopping service for jazz trips to the Bay State.

Michael P. Quinlin is the director of MassJazz, run out of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. I shot him some questions via e-mail about the project, and what's in it for jazz fans and musicians.

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Just to be clear about the way it works is: I can find a festival, concert or club performance I want to attend, I can use the Web site to contact the club to buy tickets, then search for a hotel in the area and maybe even cruise some of the near by restaurants for a pre-concert meal?

Quinlin: Yes, that's exactly how the Web site is set up. The concerts are organized by month with links to the venue tix office. The hotels we've listed are all 'jazz friendly' -- offering some combination of live concerts, lounge jazz or jazz brunches on a regular basis. Same with the restaurants and clubs. You can check out local colleges to learn about jazz lectures, workshops and sessions, or touch base with local jazz organizations.

This makes a lot of sense, putting jazz fans on the radar of your state's travel industry. It seems like such a no-brainer. Why didn't it happen before?

Quinlin: States like Massachusetts have so many visitor amenities to offer tourists -- colonial history, JFK Library, Cape Cod, the Berkshires, the Boston Pops and the BSO, the Red Sox -- so very often cultural treasures like jazz remain hidden. But once we pitched the idea to tourism officials, they were immediately enthusiastic.

Continue reading "A Swing Through Massachusetts" »

6:20 PM ET | 07-23-2009 | permalink

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Live Video: Fred Hersch Trio At The Village Vanguard

UPDATE: Show's over, but recordings are up at the story page. And so is the archived video, above.

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Yes, yes y'all; and you don't stop. Live Webcasting jazz, that is.

Less than 24 hours after our NPR Music Triple Bill at Joe's Pub, I'm back in D.C., while the WBGO team has moved across lower Manhattan to the Village Vanguard to set up shop for the Fred Hersch Trio live in concert. More info about tonight's show, beginning at 9 p.m. ET, here: Live Tonight: Fred Hersch Trio In Concert

Fred's story is an incredible one. He's been HIV-positive since 1986, and last year the jazz world was so very close to losing him. But he's reacquainted himself with the piano, and, you know, relearned how to use his vocal cords to talk. And now he's back to playing, writing and imagining as vibrantly as ever.

He goes in tonight with the trio of John Hebert on bass and Eric McPherson on drums, two dudes who could make almost any gig a better one. Video and chat above and below, respectively; audio only at the story page. And of course, NPR.org/villagevanguard has all the other concerts we've done.

--Patrick Jarenwattananon

5:00 PM ET | 07-22-2009 | permalink

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The Tuesday Link Dump: Pre-Party Edition

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Little late today, and a bit abbreviated, because a good deal of Team Blog Supreme is now up in New York, prepping for tonight's big gig. Remember: Live Tonight: Lee Fields And The Expressions, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Fight The Big Bull In Concert

--Mike Reed At Pitchfork: Mike Reed is a jazz drummer and bandleader, and was recently appointed as Vice Chairperson of the Chicago AACM. He also books shows all around town -- including one of the best non-jazz festivals going, the three-day Pitchfork Music Festival. NPR correspondent Jacob Ganz went out to the festival this year, and tracked Reed down for an interview, in which his dedication to putting on a great festival and making great art at once is clearly evident. (In constantly dealing with festival business: "My cell-phone bill for a week when I was playing in Croatia was $1,200.") Here's more, and more, and more about Mr. Reed. Also, hear some of his music, from NPR's Song Of The Day: Mike Reed: Jazz Timekeeper, Rock Tastemaker

--Jazz In Richmond: Our friend Dean Christesen at RVAJazz.com has penned this little profile of the vibrant jazz scene in Richmond, Va. -- pop. 200,000 -- in the present day. It's a topic we clearly have some interest in here -- Fight The Big Bull, one of the bands on our party bill tonight, is from the River City -- and one we plan to explore in much greater detail soon. In the meanwhile, this is an overview of why we're interested. Also, if you want to read the article with glossy photos, it's printed in the current issue of RVAMag's Irregular Broadcast music supplement -- though that can only be browsed clumsily online.

--Subsidies For Jazz Clubs: Ottawan Peter Hum has an interesting proposal: why not give some of that government funding for the arts to jazz clubs? They do it in Europe, he says, and rather than going to events that happen once a year (festivals) and feature lots of American artists, it could help create vibrant scenes year-round and put on Canadian artists. I would love for more venues to get government money -- hell, I would love for the U.S. federal government to give more money to jazz period -- but it does raise an interesting long-term question: how large of a role should unchecked capitalism play in the jazz marketplace? I personally think it's important that jazz thrives in the U.S., and if the government agrees, splendid. But what happens when an administration led by a president without Miles and Trane on his iPod arrives and slashes arts funding even further? Is it economically prudent to rely on state funding, as jazz around the world does so heavily now?

--Cities Honor Jazz Greats: Apparently, Jimmie Lunceford coached football for a year? It's a very, very minor part of why Memphis is honoring the bandleader on the Beale Street Walk of Fame. Also, Baltimore brings back its Billie Holiday statue. All the headlines, of course, are punning off of the song "Lady's Back In Town" -- as well they should.

4:30 PM ET | 07-21-2009 | permalink

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Live Tonight: Of Matadors, Body Percussionists And Soul Men

Something tells me that Fight The Big Bull and Steven Bernstein will fare a lot better tonight than this gentleman. Photo Credit: A. Arrizurieta/AFP/Getty Images

The moment is at hand.

Listen live here at 9:30 p.m. ET: Live Tonight: NPR Music Presents Lee Fields & The Expressions, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Fight The Big Bull In Concert

Check back tomorrow for a full streaming archive, plus photos later. A podcast recording will be available too, courtesy of the Live Concerts From All Songs Considered Podcast.

If you like, you can follow our live Tweet (especially of the early Fight The Big Bull/Sexmob hit) experiment @blogsupreme. And of course, the live chat:

--Patrick Jarenwattananon

3:40 PM ET | 07-21-2009 | permalink

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A Song For Sonia

by Felix Contreras

The (500) Days of Sotomayor (haha) will commence with an Afro-Latin jazz soundtrack. Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The big news coming over the jazz mojo wire today is of pianist/composer/bandleader Arturo O'Farrill being commissioned to write a new piece of music in honor of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

The commission is funded by RD Rice Construction, Inc., and is being presented along with Symphony Space and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. O'Farrill will premiere the piece Nov. 5 and 6, 2009 in New York with the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra -- the 18-member orchestra started by his father, legendary Cuban composer and arranger Chico O'Farrill.

I caught up with Arturo at his home on one of his rare spare moments between teaching gigs and running the orchestra.

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How did you get this commission?

Arturo O'Farrill: I was going to write a piece to commemorate the confirmation of Sotomayor anyway. The Bronx Museum and Symphony Space heard about my plans, and thought it would be a very fitting piece to support financially.

It's probably too early to have concrete ideas but do you have any thought about themes and motifs for the music?

O'Farrill: I hear modern harmonies, loud celebratory brass over Latin-based rhythms. Probably at some point, a soloist who will be the voice of the spirit of Latinas and Latinos.

Continue reading "A Song For Sonia" »

3:25 PM ET | 07-21-2009 | permalink

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The Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy Tiny Desk Concert

You know that live Webcast we did a few weeks ago? It's real, and it's spectacular.

More words, setlist and personnel here: Dave Douglas And Brass Ecstasy: Tiny Desk Concert

Special thanks to Dave, Luis, Marcus, Vincent and Nasheet for making this happen. 'Twas perhaps the most basic venue they played on their tour. But pound for pound, I like to think our modest audience of music and audio-visual journalists -- and now you, dear browsers -- was among the most appreciative.

--Patrick Jarenwattananon

12:00 PM ET | 07-20-2009 | permalink

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An Ecuadorian Lullaby

by Felix Contreras

Last week we, the Blog Supreme team, sat down with four young jazz musicians from Ecuador here at A Blog Supreme world headquarters.

The quartet was part of a U.S. State Department cultural exchange between the U.S. and Ecuador. Their visit to D.C. included performances at the Kennedy Center, the legendary Bohemian Caverns jazz club and NPR's Studio 4A (more about that later).

Our Ecuadorian friends. L-R: Carlos Bravo, Maria Fernanda Naranjo, Miguel Gallardo, Francisco Alvaro. Photo Credit: courtesy of the Meridian International Center

Vocalist Maria Fernanda Naranjo was accompanied by Miguel Gallardo on piano, Fernando Alvaro on bass and drummer Carlos Bravo. They are all either studying at or are recent grads of the Contemporary Institute of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (a Berklee College of Music affiliate) .

They brought their straight-ahead, acoustic jazz game with them, but over lunch at a local Indian joint they told me that Ecuador's capitol, Quito, offers them a diverse range of musical outlets: salsa, Latin jazz, rock, electronica and some folkloric gigs. The group doesn't have a Web site of their own because they aren't an established band -- they were selected to perform together after auditioning with many others in front of a panel of adjudicators from various music schools across the country.

But in a follow up e-mail, Maria Fernanda (Mafe to her friends) sent along some links to some muy interesante musicians from Ecuador and Colombia that are doing some very interesting things with jazz. Have a listen:

Ecuador
Daniel Mancero: MySpace
Mariela Condo: MySpace

Colombia
Curupira: MySpace
Puerto Candelaria: MySpace

Later that day, we hosted a post-work jam session in NPR's Performance Studio 4A that included D.C. violinist (and NPR contributor) David Schulman, his bass-playing bandmate Eddie Eatmon and A Blog Supreme's resident Wannabe Bebop Drummer. We were knocked out by our new friends' version of "Lullaby of Birdland," propelled by the pulse of a traditional African-derived Ecuadorian rhythm.

The meetings and the jamming proved once again that the musical byproducts of the African diaspora unite like-minded people around the world with a pulse that transcends cultures and languages.

5:35 PM ET | 07-17-2009 | permalink

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Liner Notes, Herman Leonard, NOLA Piano: The Friday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where I wish I were going to the best rock festival booked by a great jazz drummer.

--The Importance Of Liner Notes: Peter Hum discusses. For my money, I like a good prefatory note paired with engaging imagery as much as the next guy. But the only thing I really, really can't live without is knowing who plays on an album, and to a lesser degree, the details of the recording process. The loss of that with the advent of digital distribution needs to be corrected immediately -- how hard is it to give us a liner note scan or something with our downloads? Of course, some artists have found innovative solutions to this problem. (Related: Ahem.)

--An Interview With Jon Irabagon: You don't find many people who win the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, which rewards excellence in a more mainstream bebop-ish vein, and are also quite proficient in wacko postmodern free jazz. (Not a characterization of free jazz at large -- one of the many ensembles he plays in is self-described as a "Terrorist Be-Bop Uber-Jass Ensemble.") But saxophonist Jon Irabagon won the prize, taking home the $20,000 and a straight-ahead record contract on Concord. And he also continues to pursue freely improvised music, with Mostly Other People Do The Killing, drummer Mike Pride, guitarist Mary Halvorson and a bunch of other projects (plus an '80s cover band). Peter Margasak of the Chicago Reader talks to him about indulging his in and out sides at once.

--An Appreciation Of New Orleans Piano: All this summer, Tom Moon, open-eared All Things Considered music critic and author of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, has been surveying some of the overlooked building blocks of rock 'n' roll for the All Songs Considered blog. This week, it's the unique tradition of New Orleans piano geniuses. Also so far: Chess Records, Jump Blues and Doo-Wop. I might point out that so far, the hidden building blocks of rock are aspects of African American popular music -- and they've all been variously associated with jazz at some point. Sort of puts the lie to the common assumption that jazz is one narrow tradition, no?

--An Appreciation Of Upper Peninsula Piano: Pianist Bill Carrothers lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. (Where?) He also played the Vanguard last week in New York. Does anyone else see a hidden commentary here about how the speed and ease of communications these days allows folks to make a living in jazz -- a social practice if there ever was one -- based from nearly anywhere? Including snowmobile country?

--Herman Leonard's Photographs, Restored: Because I didn't really follow the Grammys very carefully (who, exactly, does?) I must have missed the award of a $33,000 Grammy grant to the great jazz photographer Herman Leonard. An AP story briefly profiles the man; now 86, he's using the money to digitize over 70,000 negatives saved from his Hurricane Katrina-destroyed home. Good news for great art.

-----

General Housekeeping Notes:
--I've updated the blogroll/link list to incorporate a bunch of other sites I've stumbled across in recent weeks. Right-hand column, please.
--Lars and the Boss Lady are both out this week. But I and much of our team will be in New York on Tuesday for our big show. The tickets: they are going quickly.
--The next day, we're presenting Fred Hersch's trio in concert from the Village Vanguard. More on that to come; in the meanwhile, Kevin Whitehead just reviewed Hersch's latest disc (a solo recording is also coming out later this year), which I like a lot too.
--Apparently NPR Music NPR's Arts Desk, our close friends, and a whole bunch of other arts organizations -- many of which also support jazz -- got some money from the Obama administration. Cool.

1:00 PM ET | 07-17-2009 | permalink

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A Free-Form Jazz Exploration Of Phish

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Hygiene, maybe, but you can't knock a Phish fan for lack of sincerity. Photo Credit: Cory Schwartz/Getty Images

All this week, fellow NPR Music blogger Carrie Brownstein is conducting a little experiment: she's trying to become a Phish fan. The band, she writes, is one "that some people intuitively don't like; it is the liverwurst, the Twilight book series, and the waterbeds of the music industry!" Which is why she's trying to give them a fair shake. Follow along at Monitor Mix.

This is all somewhat relevant to jazz, I swear. Just give me a minute.

Continue reading "A Free-Form Jazz Exploration Of Phish" »

4:45 PM ET | 07-16-2009 | permalink

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Is Bill Frisell A 'Post-Americana' Artist?

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Cover art to Bill Frisell's Disfarmer. Photo Credit: courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

First of all, this is about guitarist Bill Frisell's new album, which you can stream in its entirety at NPR Music -- Exclusive First Listen: Bill Frisell, 'Disfarmer'. Imagine that: a full album preview for a jazz record.

Behind the scenes a 'lil bit. I enjoyed the record, but this wasn't my idea; Bob Boilen (of All Songs Considered) really loved it, and suggested it as part of our Exclusive First Listen full album preview series last Thursday. The fine folks at Nonesuch (where I once interned) were happy with the idea, and we quickly came through with the OK. I wrote some words about the project, and Mike Katzif came through with the production work. (Plus, Claire O'Neill over at NPR's The Picture Show blog, which you should all bookmark now if you haven't already, put together this photo gallery of the gripping images which inspired the record.)

The story behind the album, by the way, is also noteworthy. Eccentric, reclusive photographer who disowned his family of farmers runs a portrait studio in his rural Arkansas town in the early 20th century. Photos are rediscovered, exhibited, eventually shown to Bill Frisell. He creates a multimedia slideshow + soundtrack, the latter of which is, again, available for listening here.

Kids will be kids. Photo Credit: Mike Disfarmer/courtesy of Peter A. Miller

But let's talk terminology.

Continue reading "Is Bill Frisell A 'Post-Americana' Artist?" »

7:00 AM ET | 07-15-2009 | permalink

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The Tuesday Link Dump: The Provocative Statements Edition

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Hey, have you heard about and bought tickets for this concert we're doing?

--Wynton Marsalis On Pop Music: Those of you who know your way around this topic are going "not again" -- but this time it's a very public discussion. Basically: Marsalis references Michael Jackson to outline his structural critique of much modern pop. But! A one Lisa Conlon, who also obviously knows what she's talking about, takes him to task in the the comments. So he responds in a follow-up post. And so does she, in the comments of that post. Judging from Wynton's Twitter feed, all this took place on a 20-hour drive through Europe (Marsalis, as you may know, intensely dislikes flying). I'll maintain my public opinion agnosticism (don't get me started), but I will point out: for once in practice, this is how Web 2.0 should theoretically work! Marsalis' comment: "I take no offence at critiques of my music and am happy to be able to respond to you without being sabotaged by some arm of a corrupted jazz media."

--Maria Schneider On Gil Evans: The protege discusses the mentor. (Related: the manatee has become the mento.) Jazz.com has the goods. And speaking of Maria Schneider ...

--Weighing In On Schneidergate: This capsule review of a Maria Schneider concert made Internet rounds last week precisely because of its flippancy -- and negativity in doing so. (Read the comments.) I had this big ol' rant started about it -- but decided ultimately that it wasn't worth it. Peter Hum goes in, though, and I think that it's one of the more fair-minded statements so far about the matter. Quote: "simply because of their commitment to their craft and their art, musicians deserve better than to be the butt of inanities." At least with respect to their music, I'd assent to that.

I will say, though, that the reviewer, Mr. Heinrich, makes no bones about the fact that he isn't a jazz guy. And it's important to see how people outside the jazz community -- a community whose members are so thoroughly rooting for Maria Schneider, myself included -- perceive our music. Often times the most interesting things about a concert aren't the songs themselves. Of course, this is less so in most (non-Sun Ra-esque) jazz now, which is often structured as an intent listening experience. And I didn't think Mr. Heinrich's commentary was particularly deft or useful in any category anyway. Which is why I killed the rant in the first place ... and started it again here. Good work, me.

--And The Self-Confidence Award Goes To Matthew Shipp: Here's a curious entry. It's painfully unclear what relationship pianist Matt Shipp bears to this bit of writing, published on Brilliant Corners; it's not specified in any detail. In any event, it seems perfectly in line with the agent provocateur approach practiced by Chris Rich, the proprietor of that site. Quoth: "I hear no one in the world with as developed and distinct voice as I have on my instrument for this period in the music." And: "I transcend their stupid f-----g jazz." I will say that I do generally enjoy Shipp's music, and in the brief times I've met him, I've found him a pleasant fellow, and that all artists are entitled to their pride about their work (how would you take yourself seriously if you didn't at least have that?). But with respect to attracting new audiences, I don't know if I'd say that about anything I did, even if I thought it was true.

--Bringing Latin Jazz To Young People: Finally, Chip Boaz has a few suggestions as to the actually important element of jazz's supposed crises: how to attract a younger audience. I'm doubtful that, say, making Latin jazz ringtones will really do anything without an image makeover for the word jazz in general (and especially Latin jazz, marginalized as it always has been). But it can't hurt to try, and he has the right idea at least: "It would be easy to blame Hip Hop, television, video games, Facebook, or other cultural diversions, but ... Rather than looking at all the things that young people are doing to take their attention away from Latin Jazz, how about looking at what we -- artists, fans, journalists, promoters -- are not doing to include them." Agreement.

12:40 PM ET | 07-14-2009 | permalink

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Free Download: Newport Jazz Festival 2009 iTunes Sampler

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

As we've alluded to previously in this space, we's goin' to Newport in August. NPR Music, with partners WBGO and WGBH, is traveling to The First Jazz Festival, Vol. 55, for a slew of live broadcasts and Webcasts on Aug. 8-9 (recorded for on-demand online archiving too). And today, we're proud to launch the newly-redesigned hub for our coverage of (ahem) George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55. Bookmark it here: www.npr.org/newportjazzfestival

Much more information will be available once we can actually confirm what we'll be able to feature. In the meanwhile, free music! We've created a little sampler of recordings from some -- certainly not all -- of the acts we're hoping to be able to present, including Roy Haynes, Esperanza Spalding, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miguel Zenon, Branford Marsalis, and on and on ...

Check out the track list, and download here: Newport Jazz Festival 2009 iTunes Sampler (and pick up the Newport Folk Fest sampler while you're at it). The Cliffs Notes summary: as major jazz festivals go, this year's is extraordinarily diverse. Legends, modern mainstream giants, rising stars, free-jazz figureheads, progressive Latin innovators, postmodern orchestras and other fan favorites. I didn't think I'd ever say this, but really: kudos to George Wein for billing what promises to be a highlight of my summer.

For the time being, it can't hurt to get yourself some free music. And then come back for live concert coverage from Newport on Aug. 8-9 -- and online archives afterward. The full lineups, of course, are at the official Jazz Festival 55 Web site.

4:30 PM ET | 07-13-2009 | permalink

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JazzTimes To Resume Publishing In August

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

And, crucially, the magazine will pay its contributors what they are owed too. More here: JazzTimes Will Play On (H/T @darcyjamesargue)

I will say that while everyone seemed utterly pessimistic about JazzTimes' future, we pointed out that the language they used in their announcement left room for recovery. Now hopefully everybody can go back to nitpicking the magazine's relative lack of substance rather than lamenting its objective lack of existence. (Ethan Iverson had what I thought was a fair look at the rag earlier.) Truly, though, I am excited to see what comes out in August, and what lessons in publishing are to be learned from this mishap.

It is strange that the resurgence of both JazzTimes and the, um, CareFusion (formerly JVC) festivals is treated as such good news. It is good, of course, that bands will play on and intelligent scribes can continue to do their thing. But what we're celebrating here is the sudden emergence of new wealthy corporate patrons for jazz -- a new sponsor, a new owner -- not a new jazz audience. As far as the health of jazz goes, it seems as if we've dressed a surface wound rather than the chronic ailment which could seriously threaten jazz's existence. You can put on festivals and put out magazines, but if nobody's reading ...

9:15 AM ET | 07-13-2009 | permalink

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Listening, Party For Two: 'I'm An Old Cowhand'

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Sonny Rollins. Photo Credit: Pannonica de Koenigswarter/Courtesy of Abrams Image

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.

Last week, I was asked to come up with a distinctly American tune for a little NPR Music Independence Day feature. I pulled The Freedom Suite, by Sonny Rollins, for reasons you can read (and listen to) here.

That was a little much for the Boss Lady. So this week, I told her I'd find some Sonny Rollins that she would like. Same piano-less trio format: different tune. Here's the first cut from the album Way Out West:

"I'm An Old Cowhand," from Sonny Rollins, Way Out West. Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Ray Brown, bass; Shelly Manne, drums. Los Angeles, Calif.: March 7, 1957.

Purchase: Amazon.com / Amazon MP3 / iTunes

Boss Lady: Is that the sound of horses hooves I hear on that drum kit?

me: Well, not exactly
But Shelly Manne does a clever imitation, no?

Boss Lady: In a jazzy sort of way

Continue reading "Listening, Party For Two: 'I'm An Old Cowhand'" »

1:15 PM ET | 07-10-2009 | permalink

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John Zorn, Jazz School, Stray Sprinklers: The Friday Link Dump

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Where we're sporting the latest fashions in jazz. (Not really.)

--A John Zorn Interview: It's been sitting in my bookmarks for some time, but after Mike wrote up Tzadik Records the other day, I finally had a look at this brilliantly candid JazzTimes feature. Highlights:

--On his record label: "As the music industry crumbles before our eyes and major companies are now going belly-up and people aren't buying CDs, Tzadik is standing like a f-----g oak!"
--How he introduced Lou Reed to (now wife) Laurie Anderson in a Munich airport
--Why doesn't own a TV or read periodicals
--On being called "jazz": "And now I'll do a gig at the Marciac Jazz Festival and I'll get offstage and Wynton Marsalis will say, 'That's not jazz.' And I'll say, 'You're right! But this is the only gig I've got, man. Give me another festival and I'll play there.'"

And there's a suggested listening list at the end too worth checking out.

--In Defense Of Jazz Education: But because he's Irish, Ronan Guilfoyle spells it "defence." He does some debunking of myths about jazz education and the supposed homogeneity it produces in musicians. Now, I've seen some forgettable young musicians in my day, but I think he's on point here: the value of jazz college isn't to teach creativity, because you can't do that. The idea is to instruct students on the basics and provide a social environment in which they can collaborate and then create original works. As long as there are musicians, there will be mediocre musicians. But the cream will always rise to the top, and being made to take a few theory classes can't hurt that process. Of course, we could always wish that they taught different things in the schools, but that's nitpicking the macro argument, right?

--Jazz Is Democracy ...: But also anarchy. And fascism. And communism. So says Twenty Dollars. Frankly, I've never appreciated that "jazz is democracy" analogy in the first place. Jazz is good music. Shouldn't that be enough?

--Cecil Taylor Panel Discussion, 1964: To my previous question: apparently, not.

--Frank Teschemacher And The Tastemakers: Say it: "tesh-maker." I think we can rightfully call him a now-obscure Chicago clarinetist, though to a certain early jazz scene, he was anything but. I've listened through the Time/Life set that Frank Oteri talks about here, but I clearly didn't read the liner notes carefully enough. Apparently, Hughes Hugues Panassie -- the first jazz discographer -- called Tesch the "greatest jazz clarinetist ever" in 1934, then issued a conflicting sentiment in 1942 -- "too many choppy, rough places." Thus, we are stuck again with another case of that strange modern phenomenon: the cult favorite. Anyway, see also: "the Austin High Gang."

--Apres Moi, Le Deluge: Two years ago, I lived eight blocks away from Smoke. Monday night, the club flooded. Coincidence? I think not.

12:30 PM ET | 07-10-2009 | permalink

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Looking At Jazz From Across the Pond

by Felix Contreras

Too often these days we find ourselves receiving e-mail newsletters, listservs or forwards we don't actually want. The other day I almost deleted an e-mail from the Darmstadt Jazz News without looking at it.

I'm glad I didn't.

The JazzInstitut Darmstadt at night. Photo Credit: courtesy of the JazzInstitut Darmstadt

The e-mail introduced me to the JazzInstitut Darmstadt and opened a door to the European jazz scene that I hadn't expected I would ever find, let alone crack apart. Dr. Wolfram Knauer is the man behind the Darmstadt Institute, and he's a serious jazz fan. He's one of those cultural warriors who can't help themselves from spreading the word about jazz in creative and instructive ways.

Here's an e-mail Q&A I did with Herr Knauer: first about what the Institute does, and then about his own experiences as a European jazz fan. I want to thank him publicly for the thought and time he put into his answers. I learned a lot, and I hope you will too.

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What does the title "Dr." represent (medicine, Ph.D., etc)?

Wolfram Knauer: It is the German equivalent to a Ph.D. I have a doctorate in classical musicology, but did my doctoral thesis on a jazz subject -- on the music of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

The rest of the interview, after the jump.

Continue reading "Looking At Jazz From Across the Pond" »

7:00 AM ET | 07- 9-2009 | permalink

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The Tuesday Link Dump: The Wednesday Edition

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

We had a lot of stuff to do yesterday. So sue me.

--A Summer Jazz Festival Will Return To New York: Because jazz festival impresario George Wein and co. lobbied some health care executives.

... the company is looking to brand itself among hospital clinicians, and found through market research that they care deeply about jazz.

"The research indicated that second to travel, music and the arts were the number two areas of interest for practitioners in health care," said David Schlotterbeck, the chief executive of CareFusion. "At the same time, there has been a demonstrated link between music and healing, and jazz has been used as a metaphor for generating a harmony that is necessary in a group of practitioners."

A full story is up at the New York Times ArtsBeat blog. Incidentally, NPR Music, WBGO and WGBH will now be going to the George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55 this August -- aka the Newport Jazz Festival -- for a series of live Webcasts (and online archives).

--RIAA Numbers On Jazz Sales: I surmise that I'm late to this news, but this chart from the RIAA (opens PDF file) is not good news. The entire record industry is suffering, sure, but if the market share for jazz has really dropped to 1.1% of all record sales in a year when Herbie Hancock won a Grammy for a jazz album ... well, I'd rather not think about what that means. H/T to the big hater Brilliant Corners -- I honestly mean that as a compliment -- for pointing this out. He proposes that declining numbers for jazz are a byproduct of the Ken Burns Jazz hoopla dying off. I'd imagine that the aging audience and the sheer ease of illegal downloading also have something to do with it, though. Plus, it's unclear whether the steady migration of jazz away from the RIAA roster of labels could also have something to do with the numbers. And the margin of error is over 3%. Right.

--A Gunther Schuller Interview: If perhaps you saw this NPR profile and were curious to know more, this NewMusicBox interview sits down with the composer, historian and man behind Third Stream at length. At 83, the high school dropout has had quite a career in music. (He says his best friend was once Frank Zappa.) Very much worth a read.

--Sheila Jordan's Farmhouse: The New York Times profiles the great jazz singer Sheila Jordan, also an octogenarian -- but not for her voice. The piece is for a series exploring second homes and getaway property, and looks at Jordan's upstate New York farmhouse, which looks lovely and bucolic and related adjectives. With all this talk about economic realities of artists in the blogosphere lately, my eye went to the question of how a non-superstar jazz musician (and a single mother) managed to buy a second home. The answer: by working a day job until age 58, and then investing wisely. Sounds simple enough. Related: for a tidy little profile of Sheila the artist, try this NPR report.

--Nextbop.com: In their Montreal Jazz Fest coverage, the Montreal Gazette blog Words And Music spotlighted a new Web site attempting to bring jazz to young people. Nextbop.com, run by two 23-year-olds who believe firmly that groups like The Bad Plus can be an entry into jazz, has a blog, an artist archive, and a bunch of streaming tracks. I can't quite get a handle on how I'm supposed to experience the site, but they've certainly built the framework for something potentially really cool. As an aside, what is with these twenty-somethings and their attempts to start useful jazz Web sites? It's almost as if more of us young people could actually be interested in jazz, but nobody has ever tried to speak to us about it in a meaningful way on the Web before now. How strange!

--The Outpost, Albuquerque, N.M.: I've never been, but it seems like a really cool venue. It's a 150-seat room, but run as a nonprofit rather than a club, with an emphasis on community jazz education classes. And the founder, Tom Guralnick, is always somehow luring actually innovative national acts to a town not known for jazz in the desert Southwest. On the eve of the New Mexico Jazz Festival, Willard Jenkins interviews Guralnick for Jazz.com. Related: this NPR story about the very same place.

--More NPR Music Jazz Links: Lots of internal links today. Have some more.

This week's Take Five has some great listening (Mulatu Astatke!): Jazz Out Of Africa
A studio session with a saxophone hero in JD Allen (from WBGO): JD Allen Lets It 'Shine'
Listening to the new Kurt Elling disc (NPR's Song Of The Day): Kurt Elling: Doing Justice To John Coltrane

7:00 AM ET | 07- 8-2009 | permalink

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Do Jazz Record Labels Matter?

by Lars Gotrich & The ABS Team

Yesterday, NPR's All Songs Considered posed the question: do record labels matter? For the fearsome foursome of Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Carrie Brownstein and Stephen Thompson, indie rock labels like Kill Rock Stars and Sub Pop dominated the discussion. Manfred Eicher's ECM label was also mentioned. The proclivity toward the indie is telling, and more and more, the same case can be made for jazz.

When you think of great jazz, certain labels undoubtedly come to mind: Blue Note, Impulse, Atlantic, Columbia, Verve. From the 1950s through the '70s, their catalogs shaped jazz in truly historic ways and bravely navigated through every iteration as the definition of jazz rapidly expanded. But back in their halcyon days, A&R guys were also careful to develop label aesthetics. They made sure that when you saw Impulse's orange spine or Blue Note's signature logo in the record store, you bought it based on label association alone. And nine times out of ten, you couldn't go wrong.

When label identity changed, plus seven jazz labels we love (with audio picks), after the jump.

Continue reading "Do Jazz Record Labels Matter?" »

4:30 PM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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Dave Douglas: 'Niches Brew: Musicians Creating A Way Forward'

by Dave Douglas

Trumpeter, composer and Internet business owner Dave Douglas. Photo Credit: Paul Natkin.

Dave Douglas is one of today's most celebrated jazz trumpeters, composers and, well, bloggers. And from time to time, he's also sharing some of his thoughts about music and technology with us. We're calling it Jazz In The Digital Age.

We last heard from him on the day that his new album Spirit Moves came out. His inaugural guest entry for us surveyed the ways musicians are using technology in the digital age. This post, as he writes, "looks at the cultural environment around the music and the changes that are coming fast and furious." --Ed.

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Niches Brew: Musicians Creating a Way Forward

More and more folks in the music industry are singing the blues these days.

A critic lamented the lack of paid outlets for his writing and sheepishly admitted taking a gig with a jazz festival. A club owner sobbed over attendance and how the music is just not what it used to be (though he was still ornery enough to get snobby with those who did show). A booking agent grumbled that jazz audiences aren't the same anymore and that he's dealing with sub-par venues because they're the only game in town.

If you were only to read the papers it would be easy to think the entire musical culture was about to collapse. True, times are tough, and not just in the arts. The economy's struggling. Magazines, newspapers, and books: a combination of circumstances is cutting into their primacy. The good things they brought to the culture will be missed.

But looking a little deeper, this is a time of great opportunity. Not to be Pollyanna-ish about it, but new outlets are sprouting everywhere. It's just that they're different than the old outlets. They are in development, and many people comfortable with the old system can be impatient and dismissive of this alien intrusion.

Just a few brief examples. Without doing any real research these jumped to mind (again, it would be great to see someone actually do the research):

Continue reading "Dave Douglas: 'Niches Brew: Musicians Creating A Way Forward'" »

11:20 AM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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NPR Music Presents: Awesome Music In Concert

For all our friends and future friends in New York:

Tuesday, July 21
Joe's Pub, New York, N.Y.
7:00 p.m.: Sexmob and Fight The Big Bull
9:30 p.m.: NPR Music Presents Fight The Big Bull with Steven Bernstein, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Lee Fields & The Expressions

Tickets and more information are available directly from Joe's Pub. And if you can't make it, we'll be live Webcasting, archiving and podcasting the 9:30 (ET) set with WBGO. Details coming soon.

All this makes me so incredibly happy. You have no idea.

--Patrick Jarenwattananon

10:30 AM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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Struttin' With Some Barbecue

Cute kid. Photo Credit: STF/AFP/Getty Images

I really wanted to feature this video, but embedding was disabled. (?) The Hot Five recording will do, though:

Happy grilling everyone. And if you need a little food for thought, chew on this piece about Rene Marie's take on the National Anthem.

8:38 PM ET | 07- 3-2009 | permalink

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The Friday Link Dump, Pre-Picnic Edition

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

"I think there are only three things that America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music and baseball."
--Gerald Early

By the way, NPR Music partner WBGO has been at the Montreal Jazz Festival all this week. Follow their coverage at the WBGO Blog, or on air.

--Fats Waller Interview, c. 1943: In his seemingly near-constant perusal of old newspapers, Mule Walk And Jazz Talk turned up an old New York Times interview with the great keyboardist Fats Waller, from long before "hyperlink" made sense to anybody. Highlights:

--"Rachmaninoff was my friend."
--"Boogie-woogie is all right if you want to beat your brains out for five minutes."
--"That [Art] Tatum, he was just too good ... He had too much technique. When that man turns on the powerhouse don't no one play him down. He sounds like a brass band."
--and an early example of ornithological inspiration

--Michael Jackson's Jazz Song: Apparently, according to a Billboard exclusive feature, the King of Pop was working on some instrumental music before he died -- including a jazz piece. Unrelated comment -- my favorite thing said about Michael Jackson so far is still @questlove's Tweet, even if I don't fully agree with it: "elvis got revisionist media treatment. i expect the friggin same for my hero. lemme find out yall gonna paint this mofo as a freak cnn."

--The Women Of Latin Jazz: Chip Boaz spotlights five -- no, seventeen top female artists making Latin jazz. Part One, and Part Two. I think Boaz is getting at something when he muses in his introduction: "My daughters have experienced their share of live jazz ... It's great fun to share this wonderful music with my kids, but upon reflection I realized that my daughters have seen dangerously few female jazz musician role models. I can't help but wonder how this affects their psyche around the music and their future support for the jazz world." I wonder too.

--The BMI Jazz Composition Prize: Rather, the BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize. It was awarded recently to a one Sara Jacovino. Some real talk judges were involved: Rufus Reid, Darcy James Argue, Dennis Mackrel. The $3,000 grant is nice and all -- to my mind, perhaps the best part of winning the award, other than the press release/resume fodder -- but I've never heard of Ms. Jacovino before, and I think like I'd like to. Seems to me that BMI would do its finalists and award winners a real service by offering streaming or even downloadable examples of the music's recordings -- as well as raise its own profile. Just a thought.

--No Dancing In Des Moines: Nice to know that obsolete laws used to regulate and repress expressions of jazz in the 1930s are still on the books and are being enforced at the whims of police officers. Not that the kids these days don't need to be stopped.

--Alan Greenspan, Tenor Saxophonist: Of all places to find a bit of jazz humor, The Weekly Standard is one of the last rocks I'd turn over. But alas, here it is. Seems to be based on a grain of truth at least, which through some convoluted mental channels, calls to mind Paul Desmond's quip about jazz musicians dating female models, who "sometimes go around with guys who are scuffling -- for awhile. But usually they end up marrying some cat with a factory. This is the way the world ends, not with a whim but a banker."

9:30 AM ET | 07- 3-2009 | permalink

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Free Jazz: A Great Day In Detroit

by Felix Contreras

Not necessarily the kind of free jazz which Lars likes. I'm talking about jazz concerts that are free of charge.

Around the country non-profit arts organizations, jazz societies and sometimes just plain old fans raise enough money to offer jazz to anyone who happens to walk by. Festivals, concerts, loft shows. Local musicians, big time jazz names and student groups. Free jazz performances of all stripes are out there if you're diligent and take time to read the small print of your local paper's events section (or a local listserv, in this age of disappearing newspapers).

Someone recently sent me this video from last year's Detroit International Jazz Festival, chronicling the taking of the Great Day In Detroit photograph (a riff on Art Kane's famous 1958 Great Day In Harlem photograph).

The photo was taken during last year's Detroit International Jazz Festival (September '08).

The DIJF is celebrating its 30th anniversary in September, and is now billed as the largest free jazz festival in the world. And that jumped out at me: it's a free cultural event in a city that has suffered more than its share of economic catastrophes. (Related: this story on Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit.)

Last week I wrote about jazz as a reflection of place. I think that this festival reflects how jazz can lift the collective pride of a city and its citizens. It can boost spirits and offer a glimmer of hope for better days. Maybe that's part of why pianist Geri Allen calls it the greatest jazz festival she's experienced.

6:00 PM ET | 07- 2-2009 | permalink

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I Killed Ray Brown: A Remembrance

by Michael Katzif

Ray Brown performing live at Jazz Mecca in Maastricht, Holland on October 27, 1991. Photo Credit: Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images

I killed Ray Brown. This confession may come as a shock to most people, especially since it's not remotely true. But seven years ago, in the summer of 2002, it certainly crossed my mind.

Some back story: seven years ago, my father and I were in Chicago to catch a Cubs game, eat deep dish pizza and all that. One night we looked in the paper to see what kind of music was happening while we were there, and saw that the legendary bassist Ray Brown was opening a five-night run at the old Jazz Showcase.

Being a jazz student at the time, I was well-versed in the music of Ray Brown, from his work with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, to his then-recent Live At Starbucks album, one that is still heavy in my rotation. Brown, quite literally, wrote the book on jazz bass playing, and played with nearly everyone worth playing with in his long, robust career.

We had to see him.

Watch Ray Brown perform with the Oscar Peterson trio at the Newport Jazz Festival:

Continue reading "I Killed Ray Brown: A Remembrance" »

11:00 AM ET | 07- 2-2009 | permalink

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Your First Five Jazz Records, Annotated

by Patrick Jarenwattananon

The gramophone spoke, and we listened. Photo Credit: iStockPhoto.com

What I'm about to do is here incredibly unscientific. There are many flaws in the methodology, it's about 13 sample sizes too small and the data itself isn't particularly reliable.

Nonetheless, I proceed.

Some time ago, NPR Arts editor Tom Cole -- who does a lot with jazz both in and out of this building -- penned an interesting segment for our Take Five listening series. Basically, he wrote about the first five jazz records he ever bought. And he also talked to Tell Me More's Michel Martin about the story behind those purchases. Here's that feature: The First Five: One Man's Introduction To Jazz

That launched a discussion in the comments: We asked readers to post their own first five jazz albums or singles. Many of you did, in fact, write in -- as of now, the tally shows 85 comments. Not everyone actually listed five records -- gogosian2001 basically told the entire history of his jazz listening in 10 comments -- and there were plenty of misremembered facts or titles. (**See footnote on methodology if you're curious to see how I got around this.) But that was a substantial enough tally to do a little experimental data collecting.

Here are our commenters' 20 21 most mentioned artists:

1. Miles Davis (53)
2. John Coltrane (23)
3. Dave Brubeck (21)
4. Charlie Parker (18)
5. Charles Mingus (14)
T-6. Thelonious Monk (9)
T-6. Max Roach (9)
T-8. Duke Ellington (8)
T-8. Dizzy Gillespie (8)
T-8. Jimmy Smith (8)
T-8. Weather Report (8)
T-12. Herbie Hancock (7)
T-12. Wes Montgomery (7)
T-14. George Benson (6)
T-14. Bill Evans (6)
T-14. Stan Getz (6)
T-17. Louis Armstrong (5)
T-17. Chick Corea/Return To Forever (5)
T-17. John Lewis/Modern Jazz Quartet (5)
T-17. Herbie Mann (5)
T-17. Horace Silver (5)
data reflects leaders/co-leaders of albums or subjects of compilations, and does not count sideman appearances

And even with this inexact polling, some of the contrasts were salient enough to remark on.

--The Primacy Of Miles: In sheer numbers, Miles Davis blew everybody else out of the water, registering 53 places in the final count. John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck and Charlie Parker were a distant second (23), third (21) and fourth (18). The ceaseless efforts of Columbia/Sony to reissue Miles' great albums, the fact that he made so many records under his own name, and his general stardom would explain it, sure. But still: does this feel a bit off to anyone else?

--The Long Tail: Even if Miles mades your first five, the other four varied widely. There were 119 groups or ensembles that made the final tally; out of that number, 85 were mentioned only once or twice (sometimes by the same person). Those 85 spanned everywhere from Count Basie and Sonny Rollins to relatively obscure acts like the BYU Jazz Faculty, Boyd Raeburn or "forgettable mid-'70s fusion, with some Pablos mixed in" as one listener wrote. (Pablo being a record label known for recording jazz stars in their later careers, often live.) That means that beyond Miles and a handful of other artists, first jazz experiences were remarkably diverse.

Two more observations, plus conclusions, after the jump.

Continue reading "Your First Five Jazz Records, Annotated" »

12:45 PM ET | 07- 1-2009 | permalink

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