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Interview By Curtis Davenport

Jazz Inside: So glad that you could take a little

time to speak with us today.

Earl Klugh: Oh, yeah, this is fun.

JI: I’ve enjoyed your work for quite a while

now. If I could just share a story I hope you’ll

find humorous with you about one of the first

times I heard about you back in high school.

There was a young lady who was, I guess, trying

to get to know me a little better, and invite me to

come over to her house. She asked me if I had

ever heard of you, and I had not. But she invited

me over and I have to say my interest in your

music lasted a lot longer than my interest in her.

[Laughter]

EK: Oh, boy. Well, it’s like that sometimes,

you know?

JI: Yeah, so I did definitely get something out

of that deal. I know that many people have heard

about your, you being influenced by Chet Atkins

- and I know a lot of folks are a bit surprised to

hear that Chet was such an influence on you.

Can you talk just a little bit about how you got to

be influenced by him?

EK: Well, he, just like me, was a nylon string

player. I was all set for that to be my instrument.

The classical guitar was kind of a big thing back

in the early ‘60s. There were a lot of steel string

players, but then there were some players who

played nylon strings as well. I gravitated to that

because the first time I tried to play a regular

steel-string guitar, non-amplified guitar - boy,

the pressure you have to use with your fingers

and I mean it was just brutal, you know? So I

stuck with my nylon-string guitar, partially for

that, but also, too, you know, it just made sense

to me because I guess had I gotten a steel-string

guitar, I would have taken it along similar lines -

only with the different strings. But I really,

really, really enjoyed the sound of classical gui-

tar, nylon-string guitar - just a very unique in-

strument.

JI: It’s been very successful for you and the

beauty of your style comes through every time

we do hear you, it’s very unique and very enjoy-

able.

EK: Well, thank you.

JI: Still staying on the line of Chet Atkins …. I

know that you had worked with him for a while

and done some collaboration with him. Was

there any particular advice that he gave you that

really stuck with you, anything about your per-

sonal relationship with him that stuck with you?

EK: Well, we were good friends. Chet is very

interesting. He was a very interesting person

because he wouldn’t say too much - and the

longer I got to know him, the less he would say.

He never would utter a disparaging word on

Earl Klugh appears at The Blue Note, New York, July 30 - August 4

touring in support of his new Concord CD HandPicked

Visit: www.EarlKlugh.com

(continued on page 6)

Fea

ture

4-6 page 2

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anybody - but he’d have a way of giving you the message anyway.

[Laughs] There was this one time when we were doing a benefit for

cancer or something. Chet got into a conversation and he said something

about not really being happy with the guy who was trying to interview

him. But Chet never gets frustrated. After everything he said, “Well,

thank you so much!” Afterwards, he comes back and he says, “Earl, you

know, he’s a nice guy, he’s got to learn how to not talk so much

though.” [Laughs] Chet was full of stuff like that - always helpful and

just a brilliant guy. He’s just amazing. He was a tinkerer. He would build

different things for the guitar, look at the guitar in different ways and

change the apparatus on the electric guitars. I was never much into elec-

tric guitar, but Chet was - and he did a lot of things along those lines and

it was just really great being around him and a whole lot of fun.

JI: Now, just something I want to pick up on that you said …. You said

you didn’t have much of an interest in the electric guitar. I know many

of your contemporaries have demonstrated they’ve had such an interest.

What drew you away from the electric guitar? You’ve been quite suc-

cessful, of course, on the acoustics, but what drew you away from the

electric?

EK: Well, the short of it is I got a nylon-string guitar for Christmas

many years ago. I’m 59 now. I must have been 10 years old when I got

my first nylon-string guitar. So it just stayed that way. There were so

many times where going to school or whatever, kids would laugh at me

with my guitar - laugh at the nylon-string guitar boy. [Laughs]

JI: But who’s got the last laugh now, right? [Laughs]

EK: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s for sure. That’s for sure. I look back on that

and I’m like, well, something turned around to make it all right, so that’s

good.

JI: It’s been very good. [Laughs] You played a little while with George

Benson and then after that with George Shearing. Can you talk a little bit

about each of those men and their influence on you, in some kind of

way?

EK: Oh, yeah, Shearing was a wonderful man. He had an incredible

group. From the time when I was working with George Benson, we were

kind of relaxed and everything. But with George Shearing, it was a

whole different thing. Everybody wore tuxedos. Everything was kind of

by the book - and he had just tons of songs. It was a really great learning

process for me because all of my experience. I took my music very seri-

ously and I worked very hard on it. But to take that to the stage, and be

very precise and not a step out of line musically, I’m speaking of - it was

a complete turnaround as far as the two groups went. At the same time, it

(Continued on page 8)

Earl Klugh

In a lot of ways, those two bands

[Shearing & Corea] were very

similar because every note was

on the paper until you got to the

improvisation section - and that

was another discipline that I had

to hone because I was not a very

strong sight reader at that time.”

4-6 page 4

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really helped me to be working in George Shear-

ing’s band and working that way. After maybe

another six months, I ended up working with

Chick Corea and his second incarnation of Re-

turn to Forever. In a lot of ways, those two bands

were very similar because every note was on the

paper until you got to the improvisation section -

and that was another discipline that I had to hone

because I was not a very strong sight reader at

that time. So that really helped me. I’m still

pretty much self-taught, but I was able to im-

prove my sight reading and that was a big deal

for me.

JI: Very interesting. A lot of people wouldn’t

make a direct correlation between George Shear-

ing and Chick Corea and Return to Forever - but

you see, there is a lot they have in common.

EK: Yes, absolutely.

JI: Talking a little bit about HandPicked [your

new album on Concord] now - excellent CD.

I’ve gotten the opportunity to listen to it in the

last few days and outstanding as usual. Your

recent projects have been solo ones. HandPicked

is mostly solo and you’ve got a couple of duets.

What is drawing you more at this point? Can we

say that you’re being drawn more at this point in

your career to doing solo work than you have

been in the past?

EK: I would say yes. I’m sure that after this

particular project, I’m going to return to do a full

band type of recording. Looking back over my

career, I always thought of myself as a solo

player pretty much anyway. But, I wanted to try

something a little bit different. A lot of times

when you’re trying to write songs and I did a lot

of that …. I just wanted to get something where

there was less of a structure, and have something

where I can pick the songs, flush out what I want

in them and what I don’t, and do some solo

shows. I really enjoy it. So this was very good

for me right through this period of time, because

I was looking for something that was going to be

a little bit different - and there was so much of

the acoustic guitar in the electric band. I just

wanted to go another way. I felt that I had ex-

hausted some things playing like that. So I

started doing some solo shows and more acous-

tic type of shows. I’m still going to continue on

with the other in my work. But this gets you

thinking and it gets you doing things that you

otherwise wouldn’t do, and I get a chance now to

do solo concerts all over the place - and that’s

really a lot of fun. But I’m not getting out of the

contemporary arena at all.

JI: Okay, I’m sure a lot of your fans will be

relieved to hear that. I want to ask you about

song selection on HandPicked – where there are

a lot of beautiful standards and your own compo-

sitions. What makes a song work for Earl Klugh

- that makes you say, “I’m going to put this one

on an album, I want to record this one?” What

about a song attracts you to it, if anything?

EK: Just whether if I like it or not. A lot of

these songs have been songs that I’ve heard and

played in some configuration probably most of

my adult life. When I first started recording,

almost everybody was writing and recording

(Continued from page 6)



Earl Klugh

“Chet is very interesting. He was a very

interesting person because he wouldn’t say

too much - and the longer I got to know him,

the less he would say. He never would

utter a disparaging word …”

8-10-12 page 6

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their own songs. I did a fair amount of that. I

think I can count probably 150 songs I’ve writ-

ten - probably 20 that I haven’t recorded. I just

wanted to take it to a little different place.

JI: Okay. Now, my personal favorite is “In Six”

- a number that I already had heard and I’ve

played a number of times since I got a hold of

the music. Can you talk a little bit about that

song? What inspired you to write it? What’s it

about? Why’d you put this one together?

EK: Oh, I really enjoy different time signatures

- the 6/8 time …. its not 3/4 … 6/8 and for me,

that’s a more jazzy type of a feel - the 6/8. They

have jazz waltzes, but this is more of something

that I thought I could really play solo over - the

melodies and stuff. It’s just a nice, bubbling

song. It’s just fun for me. I love the melody and I

enjoy it.

JI: Well, I enjoy it as well, I hope to hear more

in 6/8 from you, I love the way that time signa-

ture feels in the overall sound of that song - very

striking, very captivating.

EK: Oh, thank you.

JI: Okay, talk to me again about your duet part-

ners here on the album - Bill Frisell and Vince

Gill and there’s …

EK: Jake Shimabukuro.

JI: What made you decide to play with them?

What is interesting about each of those men that

makes so musically compatible for you?

EK: Oh, well, who can I talk about first? Bill

Frisell is a really great player and we’re very

different players. But we ended up being friends.

I remember we did some shows at the Manches-

ter Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh - and I had a

really good time with him. He’s pretty much like

me. He’s kind of game for anything. We’ll play

a country tune or we’ll do something out of that

area. Bill plays a lot of electric stuff. I thought it

would be a good mix. I don’t think very many

people would think of Bill Frisell and Earl Klugh

playing together. It was a lot of fun. It was the

same thing with Jake on ukulele. I heard him and

it’s just incredible. I talked to a couple people

just trying to get this going. What ended up hap-

pening is we ended up with three great duets. I

hope that I get a chance to expand on that more

over time. I enjoy playing with other people. I’ve

had a band my whole life. I do a lot of solo

shows now. I’ve got this really nice solo album

and now I’m looking at the duets and things. I

try to keep it fresh and I always try to be mindful

that my audience will like it a lot, too. That’s

kind of how I look at it. If people come up to me

after the show and say, “Oh, that’s great,” then I

figure I’m on the right track.

JI: I would agree. As you said about Bill Frisell,

he’s someone that a lot of people wouldn’t ini-

tially think of Earl Klugh playing with. What

inspired you to play with Vince Gill, and what is

interesting about him?

EK: Oh, man. Well, he’s a great guitar player.

He’s blessed with a gorgeous voice. He’s a

really nice guy and he’s really funny. [Laughs]

At this point in my life, I want to have a good

time. So working with people like this makes

you happy and it also gives you a chance to

share with people, whatever you’re playing,

whatever you’re thinking about. It’s all of that.

JI: I once read somewhere that you do not gen-

erally consider yourself to be a jazz player. Is

that a true statement, and if it is, then why would

you not consider yourself to be a jazz player? I

know that’s something that definitely surprises a

lot of your fan base to hear that.

EK: Oh, yeah. Well, earlier in my career, I

would get kind of bashed by people. I have my

nylon-string guitar - then you’re not a jazz

player. So in the eyes of many purists … I’ve

had my share of … I had interviews when I was

younger with … major people … “Well, here

comes a better version of Strike Up the Bland

with Earl…”

JI: Jazz police strike again. [Laughs]

EK: [Laughs] That’s it! That’s it! You hit it!

The jazz police, that’s it, man.

JI: The men are waiting around every corner

there waiting to write you tickets for all types of

infractions, I’m sure.

[Laughter]

EK: Oh, that’s the best, that’s the best ever - the

jazz police.

JI: I know you’ve probably gotten quite a bit of

grief from them. But once again, you’ve out-

lasted quite a number of them.

EK: Yeah, that’s true, that’s true.

JI: I noticed that on this album, HandPicked,

you played “’Round Midnight.” On your last

album you played “Bye Ya.” Of course both of

those compositions were written by Thelonious (Continued on page 12)

Earl Klugh

“earlier in my career, I would get kind of bashed

by people. I have my nylon-string guitar - then

you’re not a jazz player.”

8-10-12 page 8

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Monk. What attracts you to Monk the composer?

EK: Oh, man, his music is just very interesting

and I listen to it. There’s just a lot to it. What I’m

really looking for is just what I got when I was

looking for “Bye Ya.” You wouldn’t think of

that song on a nylon-classical guitar with a bossa

nova feel. I was always interested in Monk’s

music because when I was younger, I just could-

n’t digest it. Now that I’m older, I get more out

of it. One thing that I’ve been doing of late is

trying to find more of his songs that I can put my

stamp on. Its fun. I enjoy writing music - but I

also enjoy interpreting it, too.

JI: That’s great to hear. I’m also a Monk fan.

So it was a pleasant surprise to hear a couple of

his tunes show up on your album. Since you

have that interest in Monk, and I know that a

number of guitarists, and Blakey and other musi-

cians have done Monk tribute albums. Is there

any possibility of that in your future?

EK: Yeah, I would say so. I’ve been working

on a few other things. If I can pull together an-

other two or three songs, I’ll probably have

about five or six that I’m looking at to put it into

a different box - not like I did with the other two

songs - just to find a way to take the music to a

little bit of a different place and have some fun

with it.

JI: You seem to have eclectic tastes. Is there

anybody to whom you listen or are a fan of,

whom people might be surprised to find out that

you enjoy?

EK: You mean my fans?

JI: Yeah, that your fans would be surprised to

find out that you enjoy listening to.

EK: Oh, gosh. Monk was a pretty good stretch,

I’m trying to think of … well, you know, Coun-

try music in general … my mom is from

Natchez, Mississippi.

JI: My dad’s from Vicksburg, I know it well.

EK: [Laughs] Yeah, gosh, I don’t know. I’m

kind of at that point where got my record com-

pleted, so I’m just looking forward to seeing

what everybody is going to think. It took some

time and I had a great time with it. I flew from

city to city to do the duets and everybody was

busy at the time. That’s just natural. You’re ei-

ther touring or you’re working on a record. I was

just glad I was able to get this put together at this

particular time. It’s something I’ve always

wanted to do - work with my favorite players.

JI: A couple more quick questions … You

played with a number of guys on this album that

we’ve already talked about. Is there anyone with

whom you’d really like to work but haven’t yet

gotten a chance?

EK: Let’s see. Well, someone, obvious here,

with this record, is Burt Bacharach. I had a

chance to spend some time with him. We went

out to dinner one night. But we never worked on

anything together and that would be something

that would be a lot of fun for me - just to spend

some musical time with him and see what he’s

about.

JI: Okay, the final question … We’ve spoken

about how people have described you - be it the

infamous jazz police or your fans. As a musi-

cian, Earl Klugh, the musician, how would you

describe yourself?

EK: Gosh, a very happy and blessed man. So

far so good - knock on wood.

JI: That’s a great place to be.

EK: Yep, it is.

JI: Well, with that I’ll say it has truly been a

pleasure, sir.

EK: No, it’s my pleasure, this was really great.

Truly! Trust me - don’t get ‘em good like this

very often.

� � �


Earl Klugh

8-10-12 page 10

Cyan

Magenta

Yellow

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013 18:32

http://www.DarrenLyons.com

http://www.ftc.edu

Trio Da Paz Trio Da Paz

Romero Lubambo Romero Lubambo (guitar)(guitar)

Nilson Matta Nilson Matta (bass)(bass)

at Dizzy’s Club at Dizzy’s Club

September 3September 3--88

Photos by Eric NemeyerPhotos by Eric Nemeyer

15 To Advertise CALL: 215-887-8880 August 2013 Jazz Inside Magazine www.JazzInsideMagazine.com

Thursday, August 1

Alan Ferber Large Ensemble at Urban Plaza, 12:30 PM. Free. 51 W. 53rd St.

Bob DeVos Organ 4 at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Newark, 5:30 PM. 224 Market Street, Newark NJ.

Abigail Riccards CD Release Party with special guest Jane Monheit at Birdland, 6:00 PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Alex Wyatt 3 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Brian Krock 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 Mac-

Dougal St. Kayo Hiraki 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Bdwy. Buddy Guy with Robert Randolph and the Family Band

at Artpark, 7:30 PM. 450 South 4th Street, Lewiston NY. Steve Turre and The Bones of Art at Dizzy’s Club Coca

Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Ron Carter Big Band at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30

PM. 116 East 27th St. Earl Klugh at Blue Note, 8PM, 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Camila Meza 4 with Gerald Clayton: CD Release Party at

Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Vijay Iyer and Thums Up at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM.

Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Mel Davis and Friends at Trumpets, 8PM. 6 Depot

Square, Montclair NJ. Owl 3 with Lage Lund and Will Vinson at The Bar Next

Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Al Foster 4 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178

7th Ave S. Miss Ida Blue at Edison Rum House, 9PM. 228 W 47 St. Wilson “Chembo” Corneil at Nuyorican Poets Cafe,

9PM. 236 East 3rd St. Verve Jazz Ensemble at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E.

52nd St. Grupo Irék at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 9:30 and 11:30 PM.

192 Mercer St. Yotam Silberstein 4 at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Florencia Gonzalez Candombe Project at Terraza 7, 9:30

PM. 40-19 Gleane Street, Elmhurst NY. Saul Rubin’s ZEBTET, Fat Cat, 10PM. 75 Christopher St. Chris Carroll 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.


How to Get Your Gigs and Events Listed in Jazz Inside Magazine Submit your listings via e-mail to [email protected]. Include date, times, location, phone, tickets/reservations. Deadline: 15th of the month preceding publication (Aug. 15 for Sep.)

(We cannot guarantee the publication of all calendar submissions.

ADVERTISING: Reserve your ads to promote your events and get the marketing advantage of controlling your own message — size, content, image, identity, pho-tos and more. Contact the advertising department:

215-887-8880 | [email protected]

CALENDAR OF EVENTSCALENDAR OF EVENTS


http://www.JazzStandard.com


Bryan Carter Group at Dizzy’s After Hours, 11:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Friday, August 2

Hide Tanaka 3 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Javon Jackson 4 at Shanghai Jazz, 6:30 and 8:30 PM. 24

Main Street, Madison NJ. Jam Session with Coby Narita at Zeb’s, 6:30. Second

floor, 223 West 28th St. Mind Open at The Astor Room, 7PM. 34-12 36th Street,

Astoria, Queens. Masami Ishikawa 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485

Broadway. Michael Carvin at Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, Mar-

cus Garvey Park, 7PM. West 122nd Street and Fifth Av. Victor Bailey’s V-Bop! With Lenny White and Alex

Foster at Shapeshifter Lab, 7:00 and 8:15 PM. 18 Whit-well Place, Brooklyn.

Steve Bloom 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Steve Turre and The Bones of Art at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Ron Carter Big Band at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Dana Lauren at Palace Theater, 7:30 PM. 100 East Main Street, Waterbury CT.

Ralph Lalama and Bop Juice at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St.

Earl Klugh at Blue Note, 8PM, 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Marcus Miller at Highline Ballroom, 8PM. 431 W 16th St. Tony Hewitt 4 with George Cables and Victor Lewis at

Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. 3ing featuring Vijay Iyer and Justin Brown at The Stone,

8PM, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Nat Adderley Jr. at Trumpets, 8PM. 6 Depot Square,

Montclair NJ. Buster Williams/ Bruce Williams 4 and Jazz Arts Acad-

emy Student Showcase at Two River Theater, 8PM. 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank NJ.

Pablo Ziegler’s Tango Conexion with special guest Stefon Harris at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Al Foster 4, Village Vanguard, 178 7th Ave S. Chris Speed 3 at Cornelia St Cafe, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. 29

Cornelia St. Matt Panayides, Rich Perry, Steve LaSpina at

Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Akoko Nante Ensemble at Shrine, 10PM. 2271 Adam

Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Jared Gold/ Dave Gibson Band at Fat Cat, 10:30 PM. 75

Christopher St. Quincy Davis 5 at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Joey Morant 3 at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. NB4tet featuring Nicholas Biello at Somethin’ Jazz,

11PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Bryan Carter Group at Dizzy’s After Hours, 11:30 PM. 10

Columbus Circle #5. Marvin Parks at Metropolitan Room, 11:30 PM. 34 W

22nd St. Spiritchild and Mental Notes at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131

W. 3rd St.

Saturday, August 3

Larry Newcomb 4 at Garage, 12:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. B.D. Lenz at Palmer Square, 2:00 PM. 40 Nassau Street,

Princeton NJ. B. D. Lenz at Halo Pub, 6:00 PM. 9 Hullfish St, Princeton Evgeny Sivtov at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Javon Jackson 4 at Shanghai Jazz, 6:30 and 8:45 PM. 24

Main Street, Madison NJ. Ed Palermo Big Band: Eddy Loves Frank at The Falcon,

7PM. 1348 Route 9W, Marlboro NY. Kyoko Oyobe Band at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Jerry Topinka at Salt Creek Grille, 7PM. One Rockingham

Row, Princeton NJ. Cettina Donato 4 featuring Cristina Vaira at Somethin’

Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Paul Bollenback 3 with Gerry Gibbs at The Bar Next

Door, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Steve Turre and The Bones of Art at Dizzy’s Club Coca


PM. 116 East 27th St. Richie Vitale 5 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Earl Klugh at Blue Note, 8PM, 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Ken Simon 4 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485 Bdwy. Wolff and Clark Expedition with Michael Wolff, Mike

Clark, and Ben Allison at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Tirtha featuring Vijay Iyer and Nitin Matta at The Stone,

8PM, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Buster Williams/ Bruce Williams 4 and Jazz Arts Acad-

emy Student Showcase at Two River Theater, 8PM. 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank NJ.

Pablo Ziegler’s Tango Conexion with special guest Stefon Harris at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Al Foster 4 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Chris Speed 3 at Cornelia St Cafe, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St.

Clarence Penn: Monk the Lost Files at Jazz Gallery, 9PM, 10:30 PM. 5th Fl , 1160 Bdwy

Emanuele Tozzi 4 at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ at Nuyorican Poets Cafe,

9:30 PM. 236 East 3rd St. Quincy Davis 5 at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Peter Valera and the Jump Blues Band at Garage, 10:45

PM. 99 7th Ave S. Brett Sandler 3 at Somethin’ Jazz, 11PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Bryan Carter Group at Dizzy’s After Hours, 11:30 PM. 10

Columbus Circle #5. Sonora Nuyorkina at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 11:30 PM

and 1:30 AM. 192 Mercer St. Eva Cortés at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Sunday, August 4

Jeremy Baum’s Soul Jazz 3 at The Falcon, 10:00 AM. 1348 Route 9W, Marlboro NY.



http://www.ftc.edu

http://www.dhpac.org


Victor Prieto 3 at City Winery, 11:00 AM. 155 Varick St. Ben Healy 3 at Garage, 11:30 AM. 99 7th Ave S. Hiromi Suda CD Release Party at Blue Note, 12:30 and

2:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Roz Corral 3 with Ron Affif at North Square Restaurant,

12:30, 2PM. 103 Waverly Place. Vanderlei Pereira and Blindfold Test at Charles A. Dana

Discovery Center, Central Park, 2:00 PM. Free. 110th Street bet. Fifth and Lenox Avenues.

Perfect Alibi 5 with Meg Macan at Hailey’s Harp, 3:00 PM. 400 Main Street, Metuchen NJ.

John Merrill 3 at Smalls, 4:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Marty Wilson 3 at Deer Head Inn, 5:00 PM. 5 Main Street,

Delaware Water Gap PA. The Four Horns at Saint Peter’s Church, 5:00 PM. 619

Lexington Avenue. Terry Waldo’s Gotham City Band at Fat Cat, 5:45 PM. 75

Christopher St. Jocelyn Shannon Band at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E.

52nd St. Steve Turre and The Bones of Art at Dizzy’s Club Coca


PM. 116 East 27th St. Joe Cohn/ Chris Flory Duo at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W

10th St. Carrie Jackson at Trumpets, 7:30 PM. 6 Depot Square,

Montclair NJ. Earl Klugh at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd

St. Ben Wolfe 4 with Orrin Evans at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM.

1650 Broadway. Shrine Big Band at Shrine, 8PM. 2271 Adam Clayton

Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Vijay Iyer and Mari Kimura at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM.

Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Groove Apparatus at Van Gogh’s Ear, 8PM. 1017 Stuyve-

sant Avenue, Union NJ. Ben Van Gelder 4 at Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Cor-

nelia St. Fat Cat Big Band at Fat Cat, 8:30 PM. 75 Christopher St. Swingadelic at Swing 46, 8:30 PM. 349 West 46th St. Al Foster 4 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178

7th Ave S. Luiz Simas 4 at Birdland, 9:00 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Susan Kramer 3, David Schumacher at The Wayland,

9:30 PM. 700 East 9th St. Mauricio DeSouza 3 at Garage, 11PM. 99 7th Ave S. Smalls Family Jam Session at Smalls, 11PM. 183 W 10th

Monday, August 5

Jonathan Saraga 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Clarke Thorell: Songs I Wish I’d Written at Birdland, 7PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Howard Williams Jazz Orchestra at Garage, 7PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Ed Vezinho / Jim Ward Big Band with special guest Eddie Bruce at Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro, 7PM. 908 Shore Road, Somers Point NJ.

Will Calhoun 3 at Bushnell Park, 7:30 PM. Free. Jewell and Elm Streets, Hartford CT.

Ali Jackson 4 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Sheryl Bailey / Paul Bollenback Duo at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St.

Abby Dobson at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Jane Monheit with The Les Paul 3 at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway.

Victor Baker at Shrine, 8PM. 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue).

Kavita Shah 3 with Yotam Silberstein at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Laila Biali at Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St. Paris Wright 4 at Fat Cat, 9PM. 75 Christopher St. Fernando Huergo 5 at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18

Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Leala Cyr and Ricardo Vogt at Cornelia St Cafe, 10PM.

29 Cornelia St.

Gerry Gibbs Group with Steve Wilson, Robin Eubanks, and Essiet Essiet at Smalls, 10PM. 183 W 10th St.

Justin Lees 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. After Hours Session, Fat Cat, 12:30 PM. 75 Christopher

Tuesday, August 6

Kazaam!: Love Songs, Recollections, and Contempo-rary Improvisations, Cornelia St Cafe, 6PM. 29 Cornelia St.

Yvonnik Prene 4 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Andrew Van Tassel 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM.

129 MacDougal St. Maucha Adnet and Helio Alves with special guests Cyro

Baptista and Anat Cohen at 54 Below, 7:00 and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St.

Wysocki Jazz 3 at Caffe Vivaldi, 7PM. 32 Jones St. Radam Schwartz at Central Avenue, Downtown Jazz

Festival, 7PM. 137 Central Avenue, Westfield NJ. Dave Leonhardt 3 at Elm Street, Downtown Jazz Festi-

val, 7PM. 105 Elm Street, Westfield NJ. Saul Rubin’s ZEBTET at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Danny Mixon at Jazzmobile, 7PM. West 135th Street at

Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Weyou at Shapeshifter Lab, 7PM. 18 Whitwell Place,

Brooklyn. Ali Jackson 4 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30

PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. New Dimensions in Latin Jazz: A Cuban Drum Series

with Enildo Rasua at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Diego Figueiredo at Joe’s Pub, 7:30 PM. 425 Lafayette St Fatum Brothers 3 + Jas Walton at The Lambs Club, 7:30

PM. 132 West 44th St. Paquito D’Rivera and His Panamerican Ensemble at

Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Jeff Siegal 5 at New York City Baha’i Center, 8:00 and


http://www.jalc.org/dizzys


9:30 PM. 53 East 11th St. Steven Golub and Uncharted Territory at Shrine, 8PM.

2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Carson Moody + Special Guests at The Stone, 8PM.

Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Nathan Hook Band at Tumulty’s Pub, 8PM. 361 George

Street, New Brunswick NJ. Jack Jeffers NY Classics featuring Monika Oliveira at

Zinc Bar, 8PM, 10PM. 82 West 3rd St. Knower at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place,

Brooklyn. Jacam Manricks 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30

PM. 129 MacDougal St. 3 3 (Oliver Lake/ Reggie Workman/ Andrew Cyrille) with

special guest Vijay Iyer at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Melissa Stylianou at Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St.

Steve Wilson, Orrin Evans at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Willie Martinez y La Familia at Fat Cat, 9PM. 75 Christo-pher St.

James Carney 3 with Mark Helias at Korzo, 9PM. 667 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Adam O’Farrill at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn.

Kat Calvosa at Cornelia St Cafe, 10PM. 29 Cornelia St. Red Wierenga at The Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street

and Avenue C. Nat Janoff 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Splang-a-Lang 3 with Mike McGinnis at Korzo, 10:30

PM. 667 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Wednesday, August 7

John Eckert’s New York Jazz Nine at Saint Peter’s Church, 1:00 PM. 619 Lexington Avenue.

Anderson Brothers at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Abe Ovadia 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 Mac-

Dougal St. We Three Swing at Inn at Millrace Pond, 6:30 PM. 303

Hope Johnsonburg Road, Hope NJ. Rafael D’Lugoff 3 + at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Will Calhoun at Grant’s Tomb, 7PM. Corner of Riverside

Drive and West 120th St. Fatum Brothers 3 at Nu Hotel, 7PM. 85 Smith Street,

Brooklyn. Bucky Pizzarelli at Shanghai Jazz, 7PM. 24 Main Street,

Madison NJ. Paul Carton at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Ali Jackson 4 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30

PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Next Collective at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116

East 27th St. Rubén Blades at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, 7:30

PM. Free. Corner of Amsterdam Ave & West 62nd St. Monday Blues Jazz Orchestra at Stardust Ballroom,

7:30 PM. 363 West Browning Road, Bellmawr NJ. Paquito D’Rivera and His Panamerican Ensemble at

Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Eddie Henderson 4 featuring Tiger Onitsuka at Kitano,

8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Najwa Perkins and the After Hours 3 + 1 at New Bruns-

wick Hyatt, 8PM. 2 Albany Street, New Brunswick NJ. Michael Reisman at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street

and Avenue C. 3 3 (Oliver Lake/ Reggie Workman/ Andrew Cyrille) with

special guest Vijay Iyer at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Wysocki Jazz 3, Caffe Vivaldi, 8:30 PM. 32 Jones St. Brianna Thomas at Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Corne-

lia St. Steve Wilson 4 with Orrin Evans at Village Vanguard,

8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Groover 3 at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Russ Nolan at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Gerald Clayton Group at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Joe Alterman 3 at Caffe Vivaldi, 10PM. 32 Jones St. Nicole Zuraitis at Cornelia St Cafe, 10PM. 29 Cornelia St. Lauren Radnofsky and Brad Lubman at The Stone,

10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Grandpa Musselman and the Syncopators at The Way-land, 10PM. 700 East 9th St.

Adam Larson 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Thursday, August 8

Tony Jefferson 4 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Aki Yamamoto 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485

Broadway. Bucky Pizzarelli and Ed Laub at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348

Route 9W, Marlboro NY. Clifford Barbaro 4 at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Sharon Rae North at Metropolitan Room, 7PM. 34 W

22nd St. Swingadelic at Sinatra Park, 7PM. Free. 401 Sinatra

Drive, Hoboken NJ. Engelbert, Gordon, and Lama at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM.

212 E. 52nd St. Jeff Ciampa/ Mark Egan/ David Mann/ Terry Silverlight

at Warwick Village Green, 7PM. Free. Railroad Avenue, Warwick NY.

Ali Jackson 4 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Next Collective at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Dance Heginbotham with the Raymond Scott Or-chestrette / Henry Butler, Steve Bernstein, and The Hot Nine at Josie Robertson Plaza, Lincoln Center, 7:30 PM. Free. 10 Lincoln Center Plaza at Columbus Avenue.

Paquito D’Rivera and His Panamerican Ensemble at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers at Highline Ball-room, 8PM. 431 West 16th St.

Akiko Tsuruga 4 at Makeda, 8PM. 338 George Street, New Brunswick NJ.

Marlene VerPlanck at Rock Hall Museum, 8PM. Free. 199 Broadway, Lawrence NY.

Bill Solomon and Kelli Kathman at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Eduardo Belo 3 with Koran Agan at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

3 3 (Oliver Lake/ Reggie Workman/ Andrew Cyrille), Vijay Iyer at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Steve Wilson 4 with Orrin Evans at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Florencia Gonzalez Candombe Project at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St.

Mimi Jones 3 at Thalia Bar, Symphony Space, 9PM. 2537 Broadway.

Chico Pinheiro and The Brazilian Dream Band at 54 Below, 9:30 PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St.

Taino Swing at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 9:30 and 11:30 PM. 192 Mercer St.

Gerald Clayton Group at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Greg Glassman 5 at Fat Cat, 10PM. 75 Christopher St. Oliver Hagen at The Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street

and Avenue C. Bryan Carter 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Friday, August 9

Joonsam Lee 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Bdwy. Amina Figarova Sextet at Deer Head Inn, 7PM. 5 Main

Street, Delaware Water Gap PA. Baby Soda Jazz Band at Pier 45, Hudson River Park,

7PM. Free. West Street at West 10th. Jeremy Pelt at Jackie Robinson Park, 7PM. Bradhurst

Avenue. Brenda Earle at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Russ Spiegal 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and

11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Myles Mancuso Band at BeanRunner Cafe, 7:30 PM. 201

South Division Street, Peekskill NY. Rodriguez Brothers Band at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola,

7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Next Collective at Jazz Standard, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30

PM. 116 East 27th St. Joel Press 4 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Paquito D’Rivera and His Panamerican Ensemble at

Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

August 2013 All Shows on Tuesdays at 8PM

July 30: Ray Blue Ensemble August 6: Jeff Siegal Quintet August 13: John Kordalewski and the Makanda Project August 20: Fyai Vilner Big Band August 27: Mike Longo Funk Band

http://www.saintpeters.org/jazz/



Matt Mitchell 3 at Greenwich House, 8PM. Suite 302, 224 West 30th St.

Jay Azzolina, Ron Vincent at Hastings Station Cafe, 8PM. 134 Southside Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson NY.

Roni Ben-Hur, Ray Drummond, Lewis Nash: Music of Billy Strayhorn at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av.

Paul Coleman at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.


Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra at SOB’s, 8:30 and 10:45 PM. 204 Varick St.

Steve Wilson 4 with Orrin Evans at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Marcus Gilmore at Jazz Gallery, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. Fifth floor, 1160 Broadway.

Steve Parker at The Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Valery Ponamarev Big Band at Fat Cat, 10:30 PM. 75 Christopher St.

Michael Dease 5 at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Hot House at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Chico Pinheiro and The Brazilian Dream Band at 54

Below, 11PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Sibling featuring Hailey Hiatt at Somethin’ Jazz, 11PM.

212 E. 52nd St. Courtney Bryan at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd St. Ehud Asherie at Smalls, 1:30 AM. 183 W 10th St.

Saturday, August 10

Daniela Schaechter at Garage, 12:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. B. D. Lenz at Liberty Village, 1:00 PM. Free. One Church

Street, Flemington NJ. Jazzmobile All Stars at Great Hill, Central Park, 4:00 PM.

106th Street and Central Park West. Andy Ezrin, David Finck Duo at Peach Grove Inn, 4:00

PM. 1572 Route 17A, Warwick NY. Andrew Grau’s Grautet at Somethin’ Jazz, 5:00 PM. 212

E. 52nd St. Joel Perry 3 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Lew Tabackin at Deer Head Inn, 7PM. 5 Main Street,

Delaware Water Gap PA. Avi Rothbard 3 at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Agachiko featuring Russ Gershon at Somethin’ Jazz,

7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Manami Morita at Caffe Vivaldi, 7:15 PM. 32 Jones St. Yotam Silberstein 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30,

and 11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Clifton Anderson 4 at BeanRunner Cafe, 7:30 PM. 201

South Division Street, Peekskill NY. Rodriguez Brothers Band at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola,

7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Next Collective at Jazz Standard, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30

PM. 116 East 27th St. Ben Perowsky 4 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Paquito D’Rivera and His Panamerican Ensemble at

Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Steve Kimock Band featuring Bernie Worrell at City

Winery, 8PM. 155 Varick St. Alan Rosenthal, Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485 Bdwy. Les Paul’s 3 featuring Nicki Parrott and special guest

Bucky Pizzarelli at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 8PM. 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook CT.

Roni Ben-Hur, Ray Drummond, Lewis Nash: Music of Billy Strayhorn at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av.

Carrie Jackson and Her Jazzin’ All-Stars at The Mill, 8PM. 101 Old Mill Road, Spring Lake Heights NJ.

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks at Newton Theatre, 8PM. 234 Spring Street, Newton NJ.

Dave Liebman at Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center, 8PM. 1351 Kings Highway, Sugar Loaf NY.

Dave Stryker at Trumpets, 8PM, 10PM. 6 Depot Square, Montclair NJ.


Swingadelic at Swing 46, 8:30 PM. 349 West 46th St. Steve Wilson 4 with Orrin Evans at Village Vanguard,

8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Jean Rohe at Cornelia St Cafe, 9PM. 29 Cornelia St. Manuel Valera’s New Cuban Express at Fat Cat, 10PM.

75 Christopher St. Jessica Schmitz at The Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street

and Avenue C. Michael Dease 5 at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Akiko Tsuruga 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Chico Pinheiro and The Brazilian Dream Band at 54

Below, 11PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Jazzmeia Horn 4 at Metropolitan Room, 11:30 PM. 34 W

22nd St. Rachel Eckroth at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Sunday, August 11

Lou Caputo 4 at Garage, 11:30 AM. 99 7th Ave S. Henry Butler New Orleans Brunch at Joe’s Pub, 12:00

PM. 425 Lafayette St. Mark Kramer, Gary Mazzaroppi, Dizzy Dolphin, Atlantic

Club Casino, 12:30 PM. 3400 Pacific Ave, Atlantic City NJ. Vic Juris’ Brazilian Band featuring Kate Baker at Blue

Note, 12:30 and 2:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Michelle Walker 3 with Ron Affif at North Square Res-

taurant, 12:30 and 2:00 PM. 103 Waverly Place. Nayibe la Gitana at Charles A. Dana Discovery Center,

Central Park, 2:00 PM. Free. 110th Street bet. Fifth and Lenox Avenues.

Hudson Valley Jazz Ensemble at Warwick Grove, 4:00 PM. 12 Cropsey Avenue, Warwick NY.

Leslie Pintchik at Smalls, 4:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Val Hawk with special guest Bob Dorough at Deer Head

Inn, 5:00 PM. 5 Main Street, Delaware Water Gap PA. Fred Sturm Big Band at Saint Peter’s Church, 5:00 PM.

619 Lexington Avenue. David Berger Jazz Orchestra at Pier 84, Hudson River

Park, 6:30 PM. Free. Dance lessons at 6:30 PM; music starts at 7PM. West 44th St.

Human Equivalent with Leah Gough-Cooper at Some-thin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St.

John Abercrombie/ Steve Swallow/ Adam Nussbaum/ Ohad Talmor at Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center,

7PM. 1351 Kings Highway, Sugar Loaf NY. Rodriguez Brothers Band at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola,

7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Dick Campo Big Band with special guests Valerie

Rogers and Nicolas King at Garde Arts Center, 7:30 PM. 325 State Street, New London CT.

Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Infinity Music Hall, 7:30 PM. 20 Greenwoods Road West, Norfolk CT.

Next Collective at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Lezlie Harrison at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Paquito D’Rivera and His Panamerican Ensemble at

Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Amina Figarova Sextet at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650

Broadway. John Zorn with special guests at The Stone, 8PM. Cor-

ner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Stephanie Jones Ensemble at Van Gogh’s Ear, 8PM.

1017 Stuyvesant Avenue, Union NJ.

http://www.lesliepintchik.com

http://www.aammusic.com


Fat Cat Big Band at Fat Cat, 8:30 PM. 75 Christopher St. Steve Wilson 4 with Orrin Evans at Village Vanguard,

8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Chico Pinheiro and The Brazilian Dream Band at 54

Below, 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Pedro Giraudo Expansions Big Band at Birdland, 9:00

and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Tangolando at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Afro Mantra at Garage, 11PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Monday, August 12

Shenel Johns 5 at Bushnell Park, 6:00 PM. Free. Jewell and Elm Streets, Hartford CT.

Casey Berman 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Eyal Vilner Big Band at Garage, 7PM. 99 7th Ave S. Brandee Younger Jazz Harp 4 at Bushnell Park, 7:30

PM. Free. Jewell and Elm Streets, Hartford CT. Jazz House Kids featuring Christian McBride at Dizzy’s

Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Jerome Sabbagh Duo at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Luke Celenza, Blue Note, 8PM, 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Andy Timmons and Anton Fig with the Les Paul 3 at

Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway. Alan and Warren Vache at Bickford Theatre, Morris

Museum, 8PM. 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown NJ. Deanna Witkowski 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and

10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Kitten Ruckus at Goodbye Blue Monday, 9PM. 1087

Broadway, Brooklyn. Michael Blanco 4 with Jonathan Kreisberg at Somethin’

Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Choro Ensemble with Pedro Ramos and Anat Cohen at

Barbes, 9:30 PM. 376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn. Ari Hoenig Group at Smalls, 10PM. 183 W 10th St. Chris Beck 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Tuesday, August 13

Mulgrew Miller Celebration at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 1:00, 7:30, and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Rob Edwards 4 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Tom Finn, Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Christian McBride 3 at 54 Below, 7:00 and 9PM. Lower

level, 254 West 54th St. Chuck Lambert Band at Westfield Train Station, Down-

town Jazz Festival, 7PM. 104 North Avenue West, West-field NJ.

Bo Ram Park: Hear the Beauty at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St.

Marcus Strickland 4 at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge at City Winery, 8PM. 155 Varick St.

Duo *3: Anna Webber, Gerald Cleaver, Han-earl Park, Viv Corringham and more at Douglass Street Music Collective, 8PM. 295 Douglass Street, Brooklyn.

John Kordalewski and the Makanda Project at New York City Baha’i Center, 8:00 and 9:30 PM. 53 East 11th St.

Mary Halvorson and Joe Morris at The Stone, 8PM.

Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Gusten Rudolph Band at Tumulty’s Pub, 8PM. 361

George Street, New Brunswick NJ. Gialedo and the Unpredictables at Shapeshifter Lab,

8:15 and 9:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Jonathan Greenstein 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and

10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Joey DeFrancesco with The City Rhythm Orchestra at

Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Lou Donaldson 4, Akiko Tsuruga, Randy Johnston at

Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Michael Attias 4, Nasheet Waits at Korzo, 9PM. 667 Fifth

Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn. Michael Aranella 3 at Edison Rum House, 9:30 PM. 228

West 47th St. Oz Noy 4 at 78 Below, 10PM. 380 Columbus Avenue. Jason “Malletman” Taylor at The Cutting Room, 10PM.

44 East 32nd St. Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook at The Stone,

10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Adam Rongo 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Ralph Alessi 3 at Korzo, 10:30 PM. 667 Fifth Avenue, Park

Slope, Brooklyn.

Wednesday, August 14

Roz Corral/ John DiMartino/ Paul Gill at Saint Peter’s Church, 1:00 PM. 619 Lexington Avenue.

Marc Devine 3 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Yuki Shibata Group at Shrine, 6:00 PM. 2271 Adam

Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Jeff McLaughlin 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129

MacDougal St. Wycliffe Gordon at Grant’s Tomb, 7PM. Corner of River-

side Drive and West 120th St. Michael Reis at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Roger Davidson at Caffe Vivaldi, 7:15 PM. 32 Jones St. Monty Alexander: Harlem Kingston Express at Dizzy’s

Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Marcus Strickland 4 at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM.

116 East 27th St. The Smoke Rings at The Lambs Club, 7:30 PM. 132 West

44th St. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Blue Note, 8:00 and

10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Ralph Peterson, Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway. Nancy Reed, Jim Ridl at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Nicki Parrott/ Rossano Sportiello and Friends at

Bickford Theatre, Morris Museum, 8PM. 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown NJ.

Songbird Takeo at New Brunswick Hyatt, 8PM. 2 Albany Street, New Brunswick NJ.

Thumbscrew 3 with Mary Halvorson and Michael For-manek at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM. 2nd Street and Ave C.

Ted Curson Memorial Jam Session at Trumpets, 8PM. 6 Depot Square, Montclair NJ.

Alex Wyatt Sextet at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn.

Joey DeFrancesco with The City Rhythm Orchestra at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Lou Donaldson 4 with Akiko Tsuruga and Randy Johns-ton at Village Vanguard, 8:30, 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Logan Richardson 4 at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Nobuki Takamen 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Thursday, August 15

Harlem Blues and Jazz Band at Urban Plaza, 12:30 PM. Free. 51 W. 53rd St.

Bill O’Connell and Triple Play at Theater Square, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 5:15 PM. Free. 1 Center Street, Newark NJ.

Clarissa Cinceno at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Newark, 5:30 PM. 224 Market Street, Newark NJ.

Josh Lawrence 4 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Kevin Wang 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 Mac-

Dougal St. Matuto with Clay Ross at Branford Town Green, 6:30

PM. 1019 Main Street, Branford CT. Jerry Topinka Ensemble at Center Street, 6:30 PM.

Center Street on Morris Avenue, Springfield NJ. Clem Ehoff 3 at Hecht Family Chiropractic Care, 6:30

PM. 201 Mountain Avenue, Springfield NJ. Marlene VerPlanck and Her 3 at Lyndhurst, 6:30 PM.

Free. 635 South Broadway, Tarrytown NY. Spanish Harlem Orchestra at Theater Square, New

Jersey Performing Arts Center, 6:30 PM. Free. 1 Center Street, Newark NJ.

Pam Purvis and the Blue Skies Band at Springfield Presbyterian Church, 6:30 PM. 37 Church Mall, Spring-field NJ.

Sharif Zaben 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Bdway. Allan Vache 3 at Shanghai Jazz, 7PM. 24 Main Street,

Madison NJ. Jon Nankof 4 with Casey Berman at Somethin’ Jazz,

7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Silver Arrow Band at Drom, 7:15 PM. 85 Avenue A. Monty Alexander: Harlem Kingston Express at Dizzy’s

Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Dr. Lonnie Smith’s ‘In the Beginning’ Octet at Jazz

Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St. Larry, Murali, and Julian Coryell at Bearsville Theater,

8PM. 291 Tinker Street, Woodstock NY. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Blue Note, 8:00 and

10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Cherry Poppin’ Daddies at City Winery, 8PM. 155 Varick Dennis Coffey at The Cutting Room, 8PM. 44 East 32nd Joe Magnarelli 4 at Makeda, 8PM. 338 George Street,

New Brunswick NJ. Hendrik Meurkens/ Antonio Adolfo Brazilian 4 at Kitano,

8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Myra Melford and Snowy Egret: Language of Dreams at

Roulette, 8PM. 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn. 30th Street Blues Band at Shrine, 8PM. 2271 Adam Clay-

ton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Thumbscrew 3 with Mary Halvorson and Michael For-

manek at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM. 2nd st & Ave C. Scott Feiner and Pandeiro Jazz: CD Release Party at

Shapeshifter Lab, 8:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Assaf Kehati 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

129 MacDougal St. Joey DeFrancesco with the City Rhythm Orchestra at

Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Lou Donaldson 4 with Akiko Tsuruga and Randy Johns-

ton at Village Vanguard, 8:30, 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Josh Deutsch and Nico Soffiato: A 3 of Duos at Caffe

Vivaldi, 9PM. 32 Jones St. Hector Martignon at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 9PM. 236

East 3rd St. John Marshall 4 with Tardo Hammer at Silver Lining,

9PM. 75 Murray St. Mind Open at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Los Hacheros at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 9:30 and 11:30

PM. 192 Mercer St. Devin Bing and the Secret Service at Metropolitan

Room, 9:30 PM. 34 W 22nd St. Briggan Krauss’ H-Alpha with Ikue Mori and Jim Black

at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Bklyn. Logan Richardson 4 at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Victor Prieto 3 at Terraza 7, 9:45 PM. 40-19 Gleane

Street, Elmhurst NY. Will Terrill 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Friday, August 16

Masami Ishikawa 3 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Champian Fulton 3 at Shanghai Jazz, 6:30 and 8:30 PM.

24 Main Street, Madison NJ. Mind Open at The Astor Room, 7PM. 34-12 36th Street,

Astoria, Queens. Alex Layne 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Bdway. Najwa Perkins and The After Hours 3 +1 at Deer Head

Inn, 7PM. 5 Main Street, Delaware Water Gap PA. Gabriel Butterfield Band featuring Jimmy Vivino, Pete

Levin and Rob Paparozzi, plus special guest Michael Davis at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348 Route 9W, Marlboro NY.

Gregory Generet at Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, Marcus Garvey Park, 7PM. W 122nd Stt and Fifth Avenue.

Chuck Braman Jazz Band at Pier 45, Hudson River Park, 7PM. Free. West Street at West 10th.

Sheryl Bailey ‘World on a String’ 3 with Ron Oswanski


“Men are anxious to improve their

circumstances, but are unwilling to improve

themselves; they therefore remain bound.”

-- James Allen

80 East Ridge, Ridgefield, CT

203.438.5795 • www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org

sunday, augusT 11 @ 8 pm

Justin Haywardspecial guest Mike Dawes

Known as the front man of rock band The Moody Blues, he has a new album “Spirits of the Western Sky” released earlier this year. Tickets: $70

saTuRday, augusT 24 @ 8 pm

Americaspecial guest Chris Berardo & The DesBerardos Acoustic Trio Show

America, a perennial classic rock favorite, is still thrilling audiences with their timeless sound. Tickets: $87.50

ThuRsday, augusT 29 @ 8 pm

Dave Koz & Friends

On tour, expect to see the Summer Horns playing gems

from the album and hottest hits from their individual

catalogues. Tickets: $80

ThuRsday, augusT 15 @ 8 pm

DonavonFrankenreiter

special guests Sosos, The Breedings

Continuing his folk-infused songs on his new album Start

Livin’. Tickets: $37, Mezz $28

fRiday, augusT 16 @ 8 pm

SouthsideJohnny& The Asbury JukesFor more than 30 albums, they have delivered their soul- searing brand of raucous blues and R&B. Tickets: $57.50

fRiday, augusT 23 @ 8 pm

Rita Rudnerspecial guest

Christine O’Leary

A top comedian and author, she is also a television

personality, screenwriter, playwright, dancer and

actress. Tickets: $58

http://www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org


and Ian Froman at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Jeff Allen 4 at BeanRunner Cafe, 7:30 PM. 201 South Division Street, Peekskill NY.

Monty Alexander: Harlem Kingston Express at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Dr. Lonnie Smith’s ‘In the Beginning’ Octet at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Ali Ryerson/ Joe Carter Duo at Palace Theater, 7:30 PM. 100 East Main Street, Waterbury CT.

Pete Malinverni 3 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Blue Note, 8:00 and

10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. B. D. Lenz Vocal 3 at Canal House, 8PM. 47 Kossuth

Avenue, Wharton NJ. James Blood Ulmer 3 at City Winery, 8PM. 155 Varick St. Michael Henderson’s Electric Miles Concert: From

Motown to Miles and Beyond at The Cutting Room, 8PM. 44 East 32nd St.

Lew Tabackin 3 at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Andy Milne and Dapp Theory with special guest David

Gilmore at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:00 and 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn.

Mitch Frohman and The Bronx Horns at SOB’s, 8PM, 10PM. 204 Varick St.

Mary Halvorson Septet with Tim Berne and Ingrid Laubrock at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM. 2nd St and Avenue C.

Gustavo Moretto 4 at Trumpets, 8PM, 10PM. 6 Depot Square, Montclair NJ.


Michael Formanek’s Resonator with Chris Speed, Loren Stillman, and Angelica Sanchez at Cornelia St Cafe, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St.

Sullivan Fortner at Jazz Gallery, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. Fifth floor, 1160 Broadway.

John Marshall 5 at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Kevin Dorn at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Jacqueline Hopkins and Her Ensemble at Metropolitan

Room, 11:30 PM. 34 W 22nd St. Darren Lyons at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Saturday, August 17

Alex Layne 3 at Garage, 12:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Guitar Summit: Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola, and Ed

Laub at Morristown Green, 2:00 PM. Free. 20 North Park Place, Morristown NJ.

Charanee at Jazzmobile, 3:00 PM. Corner of West 154th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Quinn Sullivan Band at Morristown Green, 6:00 PM. Free. 20 North Park Place, Morristown NJ.

Duke Bantu X at Shrine, 6:00 PM. 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue).

Joonsam Lee 3 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Galvanized Jazz Band at Music Mountain, 6:30 PM. 225

Music Mountain Road, Falls Village CT. Clarence Penn at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348 Route 9W,

Marlboro NY. Gary Fogel 5 at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield at Drom, 7:15 PM.

85 Avenue A. Larry Corban 3 with Harvie S at The Bar Next Door, 7:30,

9:30, and 11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Brian Conigliaro 3 with Jim Cammack at BeanRunner

Cafe, 7:30 PM. 201 South Division Street, Peekskill NY. Monty Alexander: Harlem Kingston Express at Dizzy’s

Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Louis Fouché 4 at Ginny’s Supper Club, 7:30 and 10PM.

310 Lenox Avenue. Dr. Lonnie Smith’s ‘In the Beginning’ Octet at Jazz

Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St. Sarah Partridge 4 at Maxfield’s On Main, 7:30 PM. 713

Main Street, Booton NJ. Nick Hempton 4 CD Release Party at Smalls, 7:30 PM.

183 W 10th St. Carter Calvert and The Roger Cohen 3 at Algonquin

Arts Center, 8PM. 173 Main Street, Manasquan NJ. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Blue Note, 8:00 and

10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Kuni Mikami 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485 Bdway.

The Four Freshmen at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 8PM. 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook CT.

Harry Allen 4 with Rossano Sportiello at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av.

Johnny A at Morristown Green, 8PM. Free. 20 North Park Place, Morristown NJ.

Andy Milne and Dapp Theory with special guest David Gilmore at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:00 and 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn.

Mary Halvorson, Tim Berne, Ingrid Laubrock at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Manuel Valera 3 at Trumpets, 8PM, 10PM. 6 Depot Square, Montclair NJ.


Michael Formanek, Chris Speed, Loren Stillman, at Cornelia St Cafe, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St.

Sullivan Fortner at Jazz Gallery, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. Fifth floor, 1160 Broadway.

Cristian Mendoza 4 at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd John Marshall 5 at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Denise Thimes at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Joseph Howell Jazz 4 with Jason Yeager at Somethin’

Jazz, 11PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Jessica Le Timbalera y La Malanga at Gonzalez y Gon-

zalez, 11:30 PM and 1:30 AM. 192 Mercer St. Anthony and the Blue Tiger Band at Metropolitan Room,

11:30 PM. 34 W 22nd St. Sam Kinninger at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Sunday, August 18

Mayu Saeki 3 at Garage, 11:30 AM. 99 7th Ave S. Amanda Ruzza at Blue Note, 12:30 and 2:30 PM. 131 W.

3rd St. Amy London 3 with Lisle Atkinson at North Square

Restaurant, 12:30 and 2:00 PM. 103 Waverly Place. Owl 3 featuring Lage Lund and Will Vinson at Saint

Peter’s Church, 5:00 PM. 619 Lexington Avenue. Monty Alexander: Harlem Kingston Express at Dizzy’s

Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Dr. Lonnie Smith’s ‘In the Beginning’ Octet at Jazz

Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St. Ehud Asherie 3 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at Blue Note, 8:00 and

10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St. Mary Halvorson Septet with Tim Berne and Ingrid

Laubrock at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Michael Winnicki’s Alignment at Van Gogh’s Ear, 8PM. 1017 Stuyvesant Avenue, Union NJ.

Swingadelic at Swing 46, 8:30 PM. 349 West 46th St. Lou Donaldson 4, Akiko Tsuruga and Randy Johnston

at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Roni Ben-Hur’s Tribute to Wes Montgomery featuring

Steve Nelson, Jeremy Pelt and Bruce Barth at Birdland, 9:00 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

John Marshall 4 with Tardo Hammer at Little Branch, 10PM. 20 Seventh Avenue South.

Abe Ovadia 3 at Garage, 11PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Monday, August 19

Nick Finzer 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 Mac-Dougal St.

Winard Harper at Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 7PM. 334 Furman Street, Brooklyn.

Howard Williams Jazz Orch, Garage, 7PM. 99 7th Ave S. Francisco Mela 4 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and

9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Mingus Orchestra at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM.

116 East 27th St. Peter Bernstein at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Liberation Prophecy at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM.

131 W. 3rd St. Magic 3 with Chris McNulty, Paul Bollenback, and

Ugonna Okegwo at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

George Braith and Friends, Fat Cat, 9PM. 75 Christopher Marcus Gilmore at Jazz Gallery, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. Fifth

http://www.jazzrecordcenter.com

http://www.widehive.com


floor, 1160 Broadway. Will Vinson 4 CD Release Party at Smalls, 10PM. 183 W

10th St. Kenny Shanker 4 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Tuesday, August 20

Ray Blue 3 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. New York Bakery Connection at Shrine, 6:00 PM. 2271

Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Adam O’Farrill 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129

MacDougal St. Anat Cohen and Choro Aventuroso at 54 Below, 7:00

and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Mike Kaplan Nonet at Central Avenue, Downtown Jazz

Festival, 7PM. 137 Central Avenue, Westfield NJ. Patty Cronheim Ensemble at Elm Street, Downtown

Jazz Festival, 7PM. 105 Elm Street, Westfield NJ. Hammers Band at PNC Plaza, Downtown Jazz Festival,

7PM. 1 Lincoln Plaza, Westfield NJ. Mauricio DeSouza and Bossa Brasil at Westfield Train

Station, Downtown Jazz Festival, 7PM. 104 North Avenue West, Westfield NJ.

Willie Martinez at Louis Armstrong House Museum, 7PM. 34-56 107th Street, Corona, Queens.

Brian Charette Organ Sextette at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Ambrose Akinmusire Project with Sam Harris and special guests TBA at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Roy Hargrove Big Band with special guest Roberta Gambarini at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd

Jazz Funk Soul Tour with Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp, and Chuck Loeb at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway.

Roomful of Blues CD Release Party at B.B. King Blues Club, 8PM. 237 West 42nd St.

Fyai Vilner Big Band at New York City Baha’i Center, 8:00 and 9:30 PM. 53 East 11th St.

Satoko Fujii / Tom Rainey Duo at The Stone, 8PM. Cor-ner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Sam Tobias Band at Tumulty’s Pub, 8PM. 361 George Street, New Brunswick NJ.

Matt Ullery’s Loom at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn.

Nick Vayenas 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Billy Hart 4 at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. K. J. Denhert 4 at Side Door Jazz Club, 8:30 PM. 85

Lyme Street, Old Lyme CT. Jimmy Cobb 3 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

178 7th Ave S. Marcus Gilmore at Jazz Gallery, 9:00 and 10:30 PM. Fifth

floor, 1160 Broadway. Bad Touch with Loren Stillman at Korzo, 9PM. 667 Fifth

Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn. Ben Eunson Group at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd Matt Ullery’s Loom with special guests at Shapeshifter

Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Satoko Fujii 5 with Nels Cline at The Stone, 10PM.

Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Paul Francis 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Pete Rende at Korzo, 10:30 PM. 667 Fifth Avenue, Park

Slope, Brooklyn.


Jack Wilkins and Peter Bernstein at Saint Peter’s Church, 1:00 PM. 619 Lexington Avenue.

Rick Stone 3 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Anat Cohen and Choro Aventuroso at 54 Below, 7:00

and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Lucky Peterson at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348 Route 9W,

Marlboro NY. Ian O’Berne 5 at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Chris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band at Dizzy’s Club

Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Ambrose Akinmusire, Sam Harris and special guests

TBA at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St. Thank You Les: A Tribute to Les Paul at Joe’s Pub, 7:30

PM. Artists TBA. 425 Lafayette St.

Jersey Jazz Collectiveat Trumpets, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 6 Depot Square, Montclair NJ.

Mark Small’s Open Ended: CD Release Party at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av.

Satoko Fujii 3 with Rene Hart and David Miller at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Austin Day 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.


Jazz Funk Soul Tour with Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp, and Chuck Loeb at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway.

Billy Hart 4 at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Nikolaj Hess 4 at Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Cornelia. Jimmy Cobb 3 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

178 7th Ave S. Piotr Pawlak UStet at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd New York Funk Exchange at Club Groove, 9:30 PM. 125

MacDougal St. Dayna Stephens Group at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th Junk Box with Satoko Fujii and John Hollenbeck at The

Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Grandpa Musselman and the Syncopators at The Way-

land, 10PM. 700 East 9th St. Kyoko Oyobe at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Thursday, August 22

Tim Hagans 4 at Urban Plaza, 12:30 PM. Free. 51 W. 53rd St.

Big Fun(k) at Theater Square, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 5:15 PM. Free. 1 Center Street, Newark NJ.

Akiko Tsuruga at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Newark, 5:30 PM. 224 Market Street, Newark NJ.

Tex Allen Sextet at Birdland, 6:00 PM. 315 W. 44th St. George Weldon 3 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Nicolas Letman-Burtonovic 4 at Shrine, 6:00 PM. 2271

Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue). Aleksi Glick 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 Mac-

Dougal St. Lao Tizer at Branford Town Green, 6:30 PM. 1019 Main

Street, Branford CT. Mike LeDonne’s Groover 4 at Lyndhurst, 6:30 PM. Free.

635 South Broadway, Tarrytown NY. Ohio Players at Theater Square, New Jersey Performing

Arts Center, 6:30 PM. Free. 1 Center Street, Newark NJ. Anat Cohen and Choro Aventuroso at 54 Below, 7:00

and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Ray Parker 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Bdway. Craig Harris – Oh Harlem: Reflections on Sekou Sun-

diata at Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, Marcus Garvey Park, 7PM. Corner of West 122nd Street and Fifth Avenue.

Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter featuring Marcus Strickland, J. D. Allen, Tim Green, Michael Dease, Jeremy Pelt, Geri Allen, Dwayne Burno, and others at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Ambrose Akinmusire, Sam Harris and special guests TBA at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.


Danny Jonokuchi Sextet at Goodbye Blue Monday, 8PM. 1087 Broadway, Brooklyn.

Surface to Air at Greenwich House, 8PM. Suite 302, 224 West 30th St.

John Lee Hooker, Jr. at Lucille’s, B.B. King Blues Club, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 237 West 42nd St.

Patrick Cornelius Sextet with Frank Kimbrough and Billy Drummond: CD Release Party at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av.

Mike Bond 4 at Makeda, 8PM. 338 George Street, New Brunswick NJ.

Satoko Fujii and Ikue Mori at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Peter Fish Group with Benjamin Drazen at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn.

Sebastian Noelle 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Billy Hart 4 at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Toubab Krewe at SOB’s, 8:30 and 10:45 PM. 204 Varick Jimmy Cobb 3 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

178 7th Ave S. New York Bakery Connection at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM.

212 E. 52nd St. Grand Street Stompers at Edison Rum House, 9:30 PM.

228 West 47th St. Los Hermanos DeLeon at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 9:30 and

11:30 PM. 192 Mercer St. L*A*W Band at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell

Place, Brooklyn. Dayna Stephens Group at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th Satoko Fujii 4 at The Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street

and Avenue C. Michika Fukumori at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Friday, August 23

Danny Bacher at Casa Dante, 5:30 PM. 737 Newark Avenue, Jersey City NJ.

Todd Marcus 4 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Anat Cohen and Choro Aventuroso at 54 Below, 7:00

and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Yaacov Mayman 3, Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Bdwy. Mike Collins 4 at Deer Head Inn, 7PM. 5 Main Street,

Delaware Water Gap PA. Jake Saslow 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and

11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Endangered Species: Music of Wayne Shorter featuring

Marcus Strickland, J. D. Allen, Tim Green, Michael Dease, Jeremy Pelt, Geri Allen, Dwayne Burno, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30, 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Gregory Porter at Jazz Standard, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Tardo Hammer 3 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Roy Hargrove Big Band with special guest Roberta

Gambarini at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd Manny’s Boogaloo Crew at Cupping Room Cafe, 8PM.

359 West Broadway. Alexis Cole 4 at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Min-Yoh Ensemble with Satoko Fujii and Curtis Hassel-

bring at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Ave C. Burr Johnson’s BJB 3 at Trumpets, 8PM, 10PM. 6 Depot

Square, Montclair NJ. Billy Hart 4 at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Bill Charlap at Side Door Jazz Club, 8:30 PM. 85 Lyme

Street, Old Lyme CT. Jimmy Cobb 3 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

178 7th Ave S. John Platz 4 at Goodbye Blue Monday, 9PM. 1087

Broadway, Brooklyn. Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic 4 at Nublu, 9PM. 62 Ave C. Aimee Allen 3 at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Jook Joint Shufflers at Edison Rum House, 9:30 PM.

228 West 47th St. Ole Mathisen’s Event Horizon at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30

PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Satoko Fujii and Kaze at The Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd

“"The difference between the right word

and the almost right word is the difference between

lightning and a lightning bug."

-- Mark Twain

“Time makes heroes and dissolves celebrities.”

-- Dan Boorstin, Past Librarian of Congress


Street and Avenue C. Scott Wendholt Group at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th Hot House at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Willie Villegas y Entre Amigos at Gonzalez y Gonzalez,

11:30 and 1:30 AM. 192 Mercer St. Nick Sample with Drop It Roxy at Blue Note, 12:30 AM.

131 W. 3rd St.

Saturday, August 24

Marsha Heydt and the Project of Love at Garage, 12:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Eight Days of Blues at Liberty Village, 1:00 PM. Free. One Church Street, Flemington NJ.

Karl Latham/ Vic Juris/ Mark Egan at Palmer Square, 2:00 PM. 40 Nassau Street, Princeton NJ.

The Red Microphone at Brecht Forum, 6:00 PM. 451 West St.

Donee Middleton at Shrine, 6:00 PM. 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue).

Champain Fulton 4 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Anat Cohen and Choro Aventuroso at 54 Below, 7:00

and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St. Dissident Arts Orchestra at Brecht Forum, 7PM. 451

West St. Dave Liebman 4 at Deer Head Inn, 7PM. 5 Main Street,

Delaware Water Gap PA. John Marshall 5 with Grant Stewart and Tardo Hammer

at Fat Cat, 7PM. 75 Christopher St. Christian Finger Band at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E.

52nd St. Ben Monder 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and

11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Native Soul with Marcus McLaurine and Michael Coch-

rane at BeanRunner Cafe, 7:30 PM. 201 South Division Street, Peekskill NY.

Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter featuring Marcus Strickland, J. D. Allen, Tim Green, Michael Dease, Jeremy Pelt, Xavier Davis, Dwayne Burno, and others at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Gregory Porter at Jazz Standard, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Lafayette Harris Group at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th Roy Hargrove Big Band with special guest Roberta

Gambarini at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Unconspicuous Meeting at Brecht Forum, 8PM. 451 West St.

Youngjoo Song at Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485 Broad-way.

Chieli Minucci/ Steve Adelson/ Frank Bellucci 3 at The Cutting Room, 8PM. 44 East 32nd St.

Brian Auger and Jeff Golub at Lucille’s, B.B. King Blues Club, 8PM, 10PM. 237 West 42nd St.

Junior Mance 3 at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Satoko Fujii Large Ensemble at The Stone, 8PM. Corner

of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Marlene VerPlanck at Trumpets, 8PM, 10PM. 6 Depot

Square, Montclair NJ. Billy Hart 4 at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Bill Charlap at Side Door Jazz Club, 8:30 PM. 85 Lyme

Street, Old Lyme CT. Swingadelic at Swing 46, 8:30 PM. 349 West 46th St. Jimmy Cobb 3 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

178 7th Ave S. Jidam Kang Group at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd Baby Soda Jazz Band at Cafe Moto, 9:30 PM. 394 Broad-

way, Brooklyn. Marek and the Boss Chops at Edison Rum House, 9:30

PM. 228 West 47th St. Echoes of Etta James featuring William Blake at Joe’s

Pub, 9:30 PM. 425 Lafayette St. Minamo: Satoko Fujii and Carla Kihlstedt at The Stone,

10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Glenn White 5 at Two Boots, 10PM. 514 Second Street,

Park Slope, Brooklyn. Scott Wendholt Group at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th Daylight Blues Band at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. La Evidencia at Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 11:30 PM and 1:30

AM. 192 Mercer St.

Lance Houston at Metropolitan Room, 11:30 PM. 34 W 22nd St.

Akim Funk Buddha at Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd Ian Hendrickson-Smith at Smalls, 1:30 AM. 183 W 10th

Sunday, August 25

Pete Levin 3 at The Falcon, 10:00 AM. 1348 Route 9W, Marlboro NY.

Iris Ornig 4 at Garage, 11:30 AM. 99 7th Ave S. Ayako Shirasaki and Marcus McLaurine at Dizzy Dol-

phin, Atlantic Club Casino, 12:30 PM. 3400 Pacific Ave-nue, Atlantic City NJ.

Nanny Assis and Group at Blue Note, 12:30 and 2:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Roz Corral 3 with Saul Rubin at North Square Restau-rant, 12:30 and 2:00 PM. 103 Waverly Place.

Hilliard Greene and the Jazz Expressions at Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, Central Park, 2:00 PM. Free. 110th Street bet. Fifth and Lenox Avenues.

Monday Blues Jazz Orchestra at German-American Society of Trenton, 3:00 PM. 215 Uncle Pete’s Road, Trenton NJ.

Kazzrie Jaxen Jazz 4 at Howland Cultural Center, 3:00 PM. 47 Main Street, Beacon NY.

Dave Lantz III 3 featuring Erin Malloy at Deer Head Inn, 5:00 PM. 5 Main Street, Delaware Water Gap PA.

Amy Cervini at Saint Peter’s Church, 5:00 PM. 619 Lexington Avenue.

Lance Houston 4 at Somethin’ Jazz, 5:00 PM. 212 E. 52nd St.

Terence Murren’s Jazz Manouche at City Winery, 6:30 PM. 155 Varick St.

Anat Cohen and Choro Aventuroso at 54 Below, 7:00 and 9PM. Lower level, 254 West 54th St.

Funk Junkies at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348 Route 9W, Marl-boro NY.

Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter featuring Marcus Strickland, J. D. Allen, Tim Green, Michael Dease, Jeremy Pelt, Xavier Davis, Dwayne Burno, and others at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Leon Redbone at Infinity Music Hall, 7:30 PM. 20 Green-woods Road West, Norfolk CT.

Gregory Porter at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Belgian/American International 4 with Marcos Varela at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St.

Bucky Pizzarelli/ Ed Laub Duo at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St.

Roy Hargrove Big Band with special guest Roberta Gambarini at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd St.

Ulysses Owens 4 with Marcus Printup at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway.

Joe Middleton and the Mighty Handful at Shrine, 8PM. 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue).

Satoko Fujii’s Brass and Percussion Ensemble with special guests at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C.

Anna Webber 3 at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:30 PM. 18 Whit-well Place, Brooklyn.

Jimmy Cobb 3 at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Tim Hagans 4 at Birdland, 9:00 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th Curtis MacDonald 3 at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18

Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Satoko Fujii 3 with Rene Hart and David Miller at The

Stone, 10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Dave Kain Group at Garage, 11PM. 99 7th Ave S. Smalls Family Jam at Smalls, 12:00 AM. 183 W 10th St.

Monday, August 26

Benjamin Bryden 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St.

Cecilia Coleman Big Band at Garage, 7PM. 99 7th Ave S. Deer Head Inn Jazz Orchestra at Deer Head Inn, 7:30

PM. 5 Main Street, Delaware Water Gap PA. Andy Milne 3 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30

PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5. Romain Collin 3 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Lakecia Benjamin at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131

W. 3rd St. Eric Divito 3 at Tomi Jazz, 8PM. Lower level, 239 E 53rd S Eliane Amherd 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30

PM. 129 MacDougal St. Dimitrije Vasiljevic 4 at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E.

52nd St. Ari Hoenig Group at Smalls, 10PM. 183 W 10th St. Austin Walker 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Tuesday, August 27

Nick Moran 3 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Paul Jones 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 Mac-

Dougal St. Don Braden/ Karl Latham Big Funk at Central Avenue,

Downtown Jazz Festival, 7PM. 137 Central Avenue, Westfield NJ.

Carrie Jackson at Elm Street, Downtown Jazz Festival, 7PM. 105 Elm Street, Westfield NJ.

Charlie Apicella and Iron City at PNC Plaza, Downtown Jazz Festival, 7PM. 1 Lincoln Plaza, Westfield NJ.

Anthony Nelson at Westfield Train Station, Downtown Jazz Festival, 7PM. 104 North Avenue West, Westfield NJ.

Elio Villafranco at Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro, 7PM. 908 Shore Road, Somers Point NJ.

Trio Da Pazat Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 10 Columbus Circle #5.

Linda Oh: Sun Pictures at Jazz Standard, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St.

Roy Ayers at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd Dirty Bourbon River Show at Brooklyn Bowl, 8PM. 61

Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn. Terese Genneco and Her Little Big Band at Iridium,

8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway. Bria Skonberg at Bickford Theatre, Morris Museum,

8PM. 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown NJ. Mike Longo Funk Band at New York City Baha’i Center,

8:00 and 9:30 PM. 53 East 11th St. Fred Frith and Laurie Anderson at The Stone, 8PM,

10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Mike Noordzy Band at Tumulty’s Pub, 8PM. 361 George

Street, New Brunswick NJ. Fung Chern Hwei at Shapeshifter Lab, 8:15 PM. 18

Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Syberen Van Muster 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and

10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration at Birdland, 8:30

and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Albert “Tootie” Heath/ Ethan Iverson/ Ben Street at

Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Gotham featuring Donny McCaslin at Korzo, 9PM. 667

Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn. Michael Aranella 3 at Edison Rum House, 9:30 PM. 228

West 47th St. Vicky at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell Place,

Brooklyn. Lucas Pino No Net Nonet at Smalls, 10PM. 183 W 10th Sarah Slonim 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Matt Silberman at Korzo, 10:30 PM. 667 Fifth Avenue,

Park Slope, Brooklyn.


Vinson Valega Group at Saint Peter’s Church, 1:00 PM. 619 Lexington Avenue.

P. J. Rasmussen 4 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Alex Sugerman 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129

MacDougal St. Kevin Hays’ New Day 3 at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348 Route

9W, Marlboro NY. Mika and Nori at Somethin’ Jazz, 7PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Trio Da Pazat Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM.

10 Columbus Circle #5. Roy Ayers at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd Papo Vazquez at Iridium, 8PM, 10PM. 1650 Broadway. Katsuko Tanaka 3 with Dwayne Burno and Willie Jones

III at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Fred Frith 3 at The Stone, 8PM, 10PM. Corner of 2nd

Street and Avenue C.


Mamiko Taira and Toru Dodo at Tomi Jazz, 8PM. Lower level, 239 E 53rd St.

Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration at Birdland, 8:30 and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Brazil Fest: Richard Miller 3 at Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St.

Albert “Tootie” Heath/ Ethan Iverson/ Ben Street at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S.

Deborah Latz 4 at Somethin’ Jazz, 9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Denise King at Metropolitan Room, 9:30 PM. 34 W 22nd Gabriel Guerrero 3 at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18

Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Donny McCaslin Group at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th Miss Ida Blue at The Wayland, 9:30 PM. 700 East 9th St. Brazil Fest: Grupo Los Santos at Cornelia St Cafe,

10PM. 29 Cornelia St. Samuel Bronkowski 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Thursday, August 29

Kenny Werner at Urban Plaza, 12:30 PM. 51 W. 53rd St. Chris Massey 4 at Garage, 6:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Joe Pino 3 at The Bar Next Door, 6:30 PM. 129 MacDou-

gal St. Mamiko Watanabe 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485

Broadway. Trio Da Pazat Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM.

10 Columbus Circle #5. Roy Ayers at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd Taj Mahal 3 at City Winery, 8PM. 155 Varick St. Asako Takasaki 4 at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM. 66 Park Av. Fred Frith and John Zorn at The Stone, 8PM. Corner of

2nd Street and Avenue C. Karl Berger’s Improvisers Orchestra at Shapeshifter

Lab, 8:15 PM. 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn. Benny Benack III 3 with Mark Whitfield Jr. at The Bar

Next Door, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration at Birdland, 8:30

and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. New Brazilian Perspectives: Billy Newman Sextet at

Cornelia St Cafe, 8:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St. Albert “Tootie” Heath / Ethan Iverson / Ben Street at

Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Willie Martinez y la Familia Sextet at Nuyorican Poets

Cafe, 9PM. 236 East 3rd St. AmmoCake featuring Dorian Wallace at Somethin’ Jazz,

9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Hot Club of Flatbush at Edison Rum House, 9:30 PM.

228 West 47th St. Adam Ahuja at Shapeshifter Lab, 9:30 PM. 18 Whitwell

Place, Brooklyn. Donny McCaslin Group at Smalls, 9:30 PM. 183 W 10th Brazil Fest: Guilherme Monteiro 3 at Cornelia St Cafe,

10PM. 29 Cornelia St. Fred Frith at The Stone, 10PM. 2nd Street and Avenue C. Sammy Miller 3 at Garage, 10:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Friday, August 30

Alex Layne 3 at Garage, 6:15 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Junior Mance 3 at Shanghai Jazz, 6:30 and 8:35 PM.

Reservations required. 24 Main Street, Madison NJ. Mind Open at The Astor Room, 7PM. 34-12 36th Street,

Astoria, Queens. William Spaulding 4 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485

Bdwy Bill Goodwin at Deer Head Inn, 7PM. 5 Main Street,

Delaware Water Gap PA. Tom Freund and Friends at The Falcon, 7PM. 1348

Route 9W, Marlboro NY. Jon Irbagon 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and

11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Trio Da Pazat Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM.

10 Columbus Circle #5. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie and Friends at Lucille’s, B.B.

King Blues Club, 7:30 and 10PM. 237 West 42nd St. Marianne Solivan Group at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th Richard Bona at SubCulture, 7:30 and 10PM. Lower level,

45 Bleecker St. Roy Ayers at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd

B. D. Lenz Vocal 3 at Canal House, 8PM. 47 Kossuth Avenue, Wharton NJ.

Taj Mahal 3 at City Winery, 8PM. 155 Varick St. Red Sahara Collective at Cupping Room Cafe, 8PM. 359

West Broadway. Dee Daniels 5 featuring T. K. Blue at Kitano, 8PM, 10PM.

66 Park Av. Fred Frith/ Nava Dunkelman/ Jeanie-Aprille Tang at The

Stone, 8PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration at Birdland, 8:30

and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Albert “Tootie” Heath/ Ethan Iverson/ Ben Street at

Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Brazil Fest: Amanda Ruzza Group with Ben Flocks and

Mamiko Watanabe at Cornelia St Cafe, 9PM. 29 Cornelia Maria Baptist at Caffe Vivaldi, 9:30 PM. 32 Jones St. Normal: Fred Frith and Sudhu Tewari at The Stone,

10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Brazil Fest: Rogério Boccato’s After Bossa Nova 4 at

Cornelia St Cafe, 10:30 PM. 29 Cornelia St. Landham Brothers Group with Orrin Evans and Bill

McHenry at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Jason Prover and the Sneak Thievery Orchestra at

Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S.

Saturday, August 31

Jacob Deaton 3 at Garage, 12:00 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Bill Noren Group at Liberty Village, 1:00 PM. Free. One

Church Street, Flemington NJ. Junior Mance 3 at Shanghai Jazz, 6:30 and 8:35 PM.

Reservations required. 24 Main Street, Madison NJ. Gilad Hekselman 3 at The Bar Next Door, 7:30, 9:30, and

11:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Trio Da Pazat Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, 7:30 and 9:30 PM.

10 Columbus Circle #5. Roy Ayers at Blue Note, 8:00 and 10:30 PM. 131 W. 3rd Marco DiGennaro 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485

Broadway. Gene Bertoncini/ Sara Caswell Duo at Kitano, 8PM,

10PM. 66 Park Av. Jerry Topinka 4 at The Mill, 8PM. 101 Old Mill Road,

Spring Lake Heights NJ. Fred Frith/ Ikue Mori/ Nate Wooley at The Stone, 8PM.

Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration at Birdland, 8:30

and 11PM. 315 W. 44th St. Swingadelic at Swing 46, 8:30 PM. 349 West 46th St. Albert “Tootie” Heath / Ethan Iverson / Ben Street at

Village Vanguard, 8:30 and 10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Terry’s Band with Terry Vakirtzoglu at Somethin’ Jazz,

9PM. 212 E. 52nd St. Maria Baptist at Caffe Vivaldi, 9:30 PM. 32 Jones St. Normal: Fred Frith and Sudhu Tewari at The Stone,

10PM. Corner of 2nd Street and Avenue C. Landham Brothers Group with Orrin Evans and Bill

McHenry at Smalls, 10:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Dre Barnes Project at Garage, 10:45 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Al MacDowell’s Just Ornette 4 with Jay Rodriguez at

Blue Note, 12:30 AM. 131 W. 3rd St.

REGULAR GIGS

Mondays (8/5, 8/12, 8/19, 8/26) Earl Rose at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:30 PM. 35

East 76th St. Kat Gang with Joe Young at Arcane Bistro, 7PM. 111

Avenue C. Grove Street Stompers at Arthur’s Tavern, 7PM. 57

Grove St. Brain Cloud at Barbes, 7PM. 376 Ninth Street, Park Slope,

Brooklyn. Leah Gough-Cooper/ Noah MacNeil Duo at La Flor

Restaurant, 7PM. 53-02 Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside NY. Meeting: International Women in Jazz at Saint Peter’s

Church, 7PM. 619 Lexington Avenue. Ken Fowser 5 (except 8/5) at Sandi Pointe Coastal Bis-

tro, 7PM. 908 Shore Road, Somers Point NJ. Mingus Big Band (except 8/19) at Jazz Standard, 7:30

and 9:30 PM. 116 East 27th St. Tatsuya Nakamura at Manhattan Inn, 7:30 PM. 632

Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Rob Reddy’s Tenfold featuring Bryan Carrott and

Pheeroan AkLaff at SubCulture, 7:30 and 9:30 PM. Lower level, 45 Bleecker St.

Blue Vipers of Brooklyn at Chez Oskar, 8PM. 211 DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Jazz 3 TBA at Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485 Broadway. Swing Dance Night with the Cotton Club All Stars at The

Cotton Club, 8PM. 656 West 125th St. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks at Sofia’s, Edison

Hotel, 8PM. 228 West 47th St. Iris Ornig Jam Session at Kitano, 8PM. 66 Park Av. Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at Village Vanguard, 8:30 and

10:30 PM. 178 7th Ave S. Earl Rose 3 at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 9PM. 35

East 76th St. Grupo Chonta (except 8/12) at Barbes, 9:30 PM. 376

Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn. Milkman and Sons at The Wayland, 9:30 PM. 700 East 9th Cole Ramstad and the Chinatown All Stars at Apotheke,

10PM. 9 Doyers St. Jam Session at Cleopatra’s Needle, 10PM. 2485 Broad-

way. Terry Waldo and His Rum House Jass Band at Edison

Rum House, 10PM. 228 West 47th St. Oz Noy Twisted Blues Band with Ron Oswanski at The

Bitter End, 10:30 PM. 147 Bleecker St. Ron Affif 3 (except 8/5) at Zinc Bar, 11PM. 82 West 3rd St. Richie Cannata Jam Session at The Bitter End, 11:45

PM. 147 Bleecker St. Spencer Murphy at Smalls, 12:30 AM. 183 W 10th St.

Tuesdays (8/6, 8/13, 8/20, 8/27)

Chris Gillespie at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:30 PM. 35 East 76th St.

Al Olivier at Bernards Inn, 6:30 PM. 27 Mine Brook Road, Bernardsville NJ.

John Zweig 3 with Rick Crane (except 8/13) at Shanghai Jazz, 6:30 PM. 24 Main Street, Madison NJ.

Melody Federer at Zinc Bar, 6:30 PM. 82 West 3rd St. Yuichi Hirakawa House Band at Arthur’s Tavern, 7PM.

57 Grove St. Mark Sganga and Larry D’Albero at Bayou, 7PM. 1072

Bay Street, Staten Island. Jo Shornikow at Manhattan Inn, 7:30 PM. 632 Manhattan

Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Spike Wilner 3 at Smalls, 7:30 PM. 183 W 10th St. Marc Devine 3, Cleopatra’s Needle, 8PM. 2485 Bdwy Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks at Sofia’s, Edison

Hotel, 8PM. 228 West 47th St. Tim Lekan Jam Session (except 8/27) at Sandi Pointe

Coastal Bistro, 8PM. 908 Shore Road, Somers Point NJ. Pedrito Martinez at Guantanamera, 8:30 PM. 939 8th Ave Dandy Wellington and His Band at Hotel Chantelle, 8:30

PM. 92 Ludlow St. Loston Harris at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 9:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Annie Ross at Metropolitan Room, 9:30 PM. 34 W 22nd Jam Session at Tumulty’s Pub, 9:30 PM. 361 George

Street, New Brunswick NJ. Jam Session at Cleopatra’s Needle, 10PM. 2485 Bdway. Smalls Legacy Band (except 8/27) at Smalls, 10PM. 183

W 10th St.

“The secret of freedom lies in

educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”

- Maximilien Robespierre


Joe McGinty at Manhattan Inn, 10:30 PM. 632 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Orrin Evans’ Evolution Jam Session at Zinc Bar, 11PM. 82 West 3rd St.

Kyle Poole and Friends at Smalls, 12:30 AM. 183 W 10th

Wednesdays (8/7, 8/14, 8/21, 8/28)

Louis Armstrong Centennial Band at Birdland, 5:30 PM. 315 W. 44th St.

Chris Gillespie at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:30 PM. 35 East 76th St.

Steve Salerno at Bernards Inn, 6:30 PM. 27 Mine Brook Road, Bernardsville NJ.

Eve Silber at Arthur’s Tavern, 7PM. 57 Grove St. Les Kurtz 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 7PM. 2485 Broadway. Leah Gough-Cooper/ Noah MacNeil Duo at La Flor

Restaurant, 7PM. 53-02 Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside NY. Julie Milgram 3 at Lime Leaf Thai Restaurant, 7PM. 128

West 72nd St. Joel Forrester at Manhattan Inn, 7PM. 632 Manhattan

Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Courtney Graf at Millesime, 7PM. 92 Madison Avenue. Reggie Woods at Sapphire, 7PM. 333 East 60th St. K. T. Sullivan and Larry Woodard Remember Mabel

Mercer and Bobby Short at Laurie Beechman Theatre, West Bank Cafe, 7PM. 407 West 42nd St.

Jason Marshall Organ 3 at American Legion Post #398, 7:30 PM. 248 West 132nd St.

Avalon Jazz Band at Apotheke, 8PM. 9 Doyers St. Sarah King and the Smoke Rings at Chez Oskar, 8PM.

211 DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Jam Session with Mike Lee at Hat City Kitchen, 8PM.

459 Valley Street, Orange NJ. Jonathan Kreisberg 3 at The Bar Next Door, 8:30 and

10:30 PM. 129 MacDougal St. Pedrito Martinez at Guantanamera, 8:30 PM. 939 8th Ave Jam Session with the Wolfpack at Adobe Blues, 9PM.

63 Lafayette Avenue, Staten Island. Kat Gang at The Rose Club, Plaza Hotel, 9PM. Corner of

Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. Loston Harris at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 9:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Jam with Joonsam Lee 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 11:30

PM. 2485 Broadway.

Thursdays (8/1, 8/8, 8/15, 8/22, 8/29)

Luc Decker, Sam Raderman at Smalls, 5PM. 183 W 10th Chris Gillespie at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. John Bianculli at Bernards Inn, 6:30 PM. 27 Mine Brook

Road, Bernardsville NJ. Tiffany Chang 3 at Lime Leaf Thai Restaurant, 7PM. 128

West 72nd St. Terry Waldo at Manhattan Inn, 7:30 PM. 632 Manhattan

Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Curtis Lundy Jam Session at Phoebe’s Place, 7:30 PM.

445 Cedar Lane, Teaneck NJ. Lauren Henderson, Millesime, 8PM. 92 Madison Avenue. Pedrito Martinez, Guantanamera, 8:30 PM. 939 8th Av. Lapis Luna at The Rose Club, Plaza Hotel, 8:30 PM.

Corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. Loston Harris at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 9:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Sweet Georgia Brown with Off the Hook at Arthur’s

Tavern, 10PM. 57 Grove St. Midnight Rumba: Roman Diaz and His Percussion

Ensemble at Zinc Bar, 12:00 AM. 82 West 3rd St.

Fridays (8/2, 8/9, 8/16, 8/23, 8/30)

Pasquale Grasso Jam Session at Smalls, 4:00 PM. 183 W 10th St.

Crooked 3 at Barbes, 5:00 PM. 376 Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Birdland Big Band at Birdland, 5:00 PM. 315 W. 44th St. Chris Gillespie at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Eri Yamamoto at Arthur’s Tavern, 7PM. 57 Grove St. George Fitzsimmons at Bernards Inn, 7PM. 27 Mine

Brook Road, Bernardsville NJ. Smokin’ Billy Slater at Manhattan Inn, 8PM. 632 Manhat-

tan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Lauren Henderson 3 at Millesime, 8PM. 92 Madison

Avenue. Gerardo Contino y sus Habaneros at Guantanamera,

8:30 PM. 939 Eighth Avenue. Day One 3 at Prime and Beyond, 9PM. 90 East 10th St. Loston Harris at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 9:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Sweet Georgia Brown with Off the Hook at Arthur’s

Tavern, 10PM. 57 Grove St. Jam with Joanna Sternberg at Cleopatra’s Needle, 12:30

AM. 2485 Broadway.

Saturdays (8/3, 8/10, 8/17, 8/24, 8/31)

Richard Pardon and Guests at DiWine Bar, 11:00 AM. 41-15 31st Avenue, Astoria, Queens.

Avalon Jazz Band at The Lambs Club, 11:00 AM. 132 West 44th St.

Jo Shornikow at Manhattan Inn, 11:00 AM. 632 Manhat-tan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Tommy Keys (except 8/17) at Baiting Hollow Farm Vine-yard, 12:00 PM. 2114 Sound Avenue, Baiting Hollow, Long Island.

Dandy Wellington and His Band at Hotel Chantelle, 12:00 PM. 92 Ludlow St.

Milkman and Sons at Skylark Bar, 1:00 PM. 477 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn.

New York Jazz Academy Big Band (except 8/31) at Somethin’ Jazz, 2:00 PM. 212 E. 52nd St.

Dwayne Clemons 5 at Smalls, 4:00 PM. 183 W 10th St. Chris Gillespie at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Jay Leonhart Duo (except 8/17) at Birdland, 6:00 PM. 315

W. 44th St. Eri Yamamoto 3 at Arthur’s Tavern, 7PM. 57 Grove St. Jim Nuzzo at Bernards Inn, 7PM. 27 Mine Brook Road,

Bernardsville NJ. Hammerheaded 4 at Dauphin Grille, Berkeley Ocean-

front Hotel, 7PM. 1401 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park NJ. Tommy Keys (except 8/17) at Tweed’s Restaurant and

Buffalo Bar, 7PM. 17 Main Street, Riverhead NY. Richard Wiggins at The Dautaj, 7:30 PM. 36 Oakland

Avenue, Warwick NY. Dandy Wellington and His Band at The Astor Room,

8PM. 34-12 36th Street, Astoria, Queens. Smokin’ Billy Slater at Manhattan Inn, 8PM. 632 Manhat-

tan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Avalon Jazz Band at Matisse, 8PM. 924 Second Avenue. Gerardo Contino y sus Habaneros at Guantanamera,

8:30 PM. 939 Eighth Avenue. Mal Stein at Cupping Room Cafe, 9PM. 359 West Broad-

way. Day One 3 at Prime and Beyond, 9PM. 90 East 10th St. Loston Harris at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 9:30

PM. 35 East 76th St. Marianni at Zinc Bar, 9:30 PM, 11PM, and 12:30 AM. 82

West 3rd St. Alyson Williams with Arthur’s House Band at Arthur’s

Tavern, 10PM. 57 Grove St.

Jam with Jesse Simpson at Cleopatra’s Needle, 12:00 AM. 2485 Broadway.

Sundays (8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25)

Richard Padron and Guests at DiWine Bar, 11:00 AM. 41-15 31st Avenue, Astoria, Queens.

Tony Middleton 3 at Kitano, 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. 66 Park Av.

Ian Sarver at Manhattan Inn, 11:00 AM. 632 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Dandy Wellington and His Band at The Astor Room, 11:30 AM. 34-12 36th Street, Astoria, Queens.

Baby Soda Jazz Band at Tribeca Grand Hotel, 11:30 AM. 2 Avenue of the Americas.

Mary Alouette and The Bailsmen at Hotel Chantelle, 12:00 PM. 92 Ludlow St.

Emily Wolf at Millesime, 12:00 PM. 92 Madison Avenue. Mark Sganga at Beso, 12:30 PM. 11 Schuyler Street,

Staten Island. Bob Kindred 3 at Cafe Loup, 12:30 PM. 105 West 13th St. Blue Skys 3 at Dauphin Grille, Berkeley Oceanfront

Hotel, 1:00 PM. 1401 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park NJ. Vocal Masterclass with Marion Cowings at Smalls, 1:00

PM. 183 W 10th St. Koran Agan 3 at Radegast Hall, 1:30 PM. 113 North 3rd

Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Milkman and Sons at Henry Public, 3:00 PM. 329 Henry

Street, Brooklyn. Keith Ingham 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle, 4:00 PM. 2485

Broadway. Earl Rose at Bemelmans’ Bar, Hotel Carlyle, 5:00 PM. 35

East 76th St. Birdland Jazz Party with the John Hart 4 and guest

vocalist (Nancy Harms on 8/4, Steve Kazee on 8/11) at Birdland, 6:00 PM. 315 W. 44th St.

George Gee Swing Orchestra at John Brown Smoke-house, 6PM. 10-43 44th Drive, Long Island City, Queens.

David Coss 4 at Garage, 6:30 PM. 99 7th Ave S. Creole Cooking Jazz Band at Arthur’s Tavern, 7PM. 57

Grove St. Peter Mazza, Bar Next Door, 8PM, 10PM. 129 MacDougal Forroteria at Millesime, 8PM. 92 Madison Avenue. Juan Carlos Formel y su Son Radical at Guantanamera,

8:30 PM. 939 Eighth Avenue. Stephane Wremble at Barbes, 9PM. 376 Ninth Street,

Park Slope, Brooklyn. Jam with Michika Fukumori 3 at Cleopatra’s Needle,

9PM. 2485 Broadway. Nicole Zuraitis with Dandy Wellington and His Band at

Ella Lounge, 9PM. 9 Avenue A. Candy Shop Boys (except 8/4) at Edison Rum House,

9:30 PM. 228 West 47th St. Baby Soda Jazz Band at St. Mazie, 9:30 PM. 345 Grand

Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. John Benitez Jam Session at Terraza 7, 9:30 PM. 40-19

Gleane Street, Elmhurst NY. Stew Cutler and Friends at Arthur’s Tavern, 10PM. 57

Grove St. Johnny O’Neal at Smalls, 10PM. 183 W 10th St.

- Albert Camus

“The welfare of the people in particular

has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a

good conscience”

“It is the highest form of self-respect to

admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows

infirmity of character.”

- Dale E. Turner


JI: What is it about musical improvisation that you find so valuable? What motivates you? WM: Improvisation is a key motivating force for me. Improvisation is about listening and reacting creatively while being totally “present” in the moment. For me, and my musicians within La Familia Sextet, the melody of a given piece requires our cooperation as a team, but the im-provised solos are what showcase our artistry and chemistry, and provide the magic for our “spontaneous conversations” with each other as individuals within the group. The ever-newness of these conversations are what I’m addicted to as a jazz musician, and what I believe audiences find most exhilarating when they go out to see their favorite musicians play time and time again. JI: What was it that initially inspired you to become a drummer?

WM: There was always music going on in my house, whether on the radio in the morning while getting ready for school, or on the weekends when my parents entertained. The two things I fell in love with first in the music were the emo-tion in the voices of the vocalists and the driving beat! There was an old pair of timbales in our attic and when I was about ten, I’d unscrew the wooden dowels from the old-fashioned suit hangers and play on the broken skins of those timbales for hours! After a while I dragged them down to the basement, where the turntable was, and played along with records, again for hours! I was, and still am, hooked! JI: Do you feel that it is important for drummers to explore musical elements other than rhythm in order to better empathize with their band-mates,

or bring another dimen-sion into their own playing? WM: Absolutely! I also love to sing and totally find that my singing brings something special to my drum-ming, and vice versa. All melodies have some sense of rhythm, and embracing those rhythms helps one to establish a more intimate groove behind those melodies. I remember a great book called New Breed, by Gary Chester, that focused on incorporating the voice, as well as melodies, with drumming exercises. It helped to develop a more profound independence, not only with one’s limbs, but also within one’s mind! Great stuff! JI: When you first embarked on the sophisti-cated journey of becoming a drummer, what were some methods that you found extremely useful to achieving your goals? WM: Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer by Jim Chapin was a very important bible for me. I still find myself going back to the beginning with that book to reinforce fundamen-tals. Conceptually, I have to say listening to the

way piano players “comped” behind soloists was a big thing for me. I remember having the pleas-ure of playing often with the great pianist, George Cables. I think I learned more about phrasing and incorporating melodic concepts on the drums by just watching and “feeling” his left hand! Another great source of inspiration for me was the three part percussion sections in tradi-tional Latin rhythm sections: timbales, congas and bongos. The ongoing conversations within their collective role, as a section, are full of “stuff” that could be totally incorporated into the American drum set’s vocabulary within the con-text of jazz music. Another important concept was embracing the discipline of taking my time to develop ideas, and achieving a more “conversational” approach on the instrument, thus developing a better understanding of the effective use of space.

JI: Outside of playing, what do you do to re-center and find peace of mind? WM: I pray a lot! As a father I think I’ve be-come a more prayerful, faithful and spiritual being. I find that it helps me to be more grounded and puts the everyday stresses of life into perspective. I also find that, for me, faith helps me to understand that I don’t have to shoulder the weight of the universe alone! It also helps me in my goal to be more patient, in mu-sic, as well as everyday life in general. JI: As a musician, what do you feel your role or responsibility is in our society? Is what you do something only for you and the musicians you are sharing the stage with, or are you trying to achieve something outside of that microcosm? WM: That’s a very interesting question! Actu-ally, I often contemplate what’s truly important

in our roles as human beings on this plane. I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the most im-portant responsibilities we have here is to simply be helpful and caring to each other. As a musi-cian I find many times that people will come to me after a performance and tell me that they were having a rough day and that the music made them feel better. I find that to be a very profound thing to be able to do for someone. We are truly blessed to be able to do what we do as musicians, and while I don’t think it’s necessary to over-think what our music is going to do for others at the very moment of creativity, I think being conscious of it and acknowledging it after the fact is very important, as well as rewarding.

Willie Martinez Interview by Eric Nemeyer

InterviewInterview

Hear Willie Martinez Tuesday, August 20, 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Louis Armstrong House / Museum Corona, Queens

https://twitter.com/Willie_Martinez

“… one of the most important responsibilities we have here is to simply be helpful and caring to each other . … I find that to be a very profound

thing to be able to do for someone.”


55 Bar, 55 Christopher St. (betw 6th & 7th Ave.), 212-929-9883, www.55bar.com 92nd St Y, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10128 212.415.5500, www.92ndsty.org Aaron Davis Hall, City College of NY, Convent Ave., 212-650- 6900, www.aarondavishall.org Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Broadway & 65th St., 212-875- 5050, www.lincolncenter.org/default.asp Allen Room, Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway and 60th, 5th floor, 212-258-9800, www.lincolncenter.org/default.asp American Museum of Natural History, 81st St. & Central Park W., 212-769-5100, www.amnh.org Arthur’s Tavern, 57 Grove St., 212-675-6879 or 917-301-8759, www.arthurstavernnyc.com Arts Maplewood, P.O. Box 383, Maplewood, NJ 07040; 973-378-2133, www.artsmaplewood.org Avery Fischer Hall, Lincoln Center, Columbus Ave. & 65th St., 212-875-5030, www.lincolncenter.org Backroom at Freddie’s, 485 Dean St. (at 6th Ave.), Brooklyn, NY, 718-622-7035, www.freddysbackroom.com BAM Café, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 718-636-4100, www.bam.org Bar 4, 7 Ave and 15th, Brooklyn NY 11215, 718-832-9800, www.Bar4.net Langham Place, Fifth Avenue, 400 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10018, 212-613-8738, http://www.langhamplacehotels.com Barbes, 376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.), Park Slope, Brooklyn, 718-965-9177, www.barbesbrooklyn.com Barge Music, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn, 718-624-2083, www.bargemusic.org B.B. King’s Blues Bar, 237 W. 42nd St., 212-997-4144, www.bbkingblues.com Beacon Theatre, 74th St. & Broadway, 212-496-7070 Bickford Theatre, on Columbia Turnpike @ Normandy Heights Road, east of downtown Morristown. 973-744-2600 Birdland, 315 W. 44th St., 212-581-3080 Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St., 212-475-8592, www.bluenotejazz.com/newyork Bluestone Bar & Grill, 117 Columbia St., Brooklyn, NY, 718-403-7450, www.bluestonebarngrill.com Bourbon St Bar and Grille, 346 W. 46th St, NY, 10036, 212-245-2030, [email protected], [email protected] Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (at Bleecker), 212-614-0505, www.bowerypoetry.com Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza, 2nd Fl, Brooklyn, NY, 718-230-2100, www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center, 605 Main St., Middletown, CT. 860-347-4957, www.buttonwood.org. Café Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St., 212-570-7189, www.thecarlyle.com Café Loup, 105 W. 13th St. (West Village) , between Sixth and Seventh Aves., 212-255-4746 Cafe Mozart, 308 Mamaroneck Ave., Mamaroneck, NY Café St. Bart’s, 109 E. 50th St. (at Park Ave.), 212-888-2664, www.cafestbarts.com Caffe Vivaldi, 32 Jones St, NYC; www.caffevivaldi.com Candlelight Lounge, 24 Passaic St, Trenton. 609-695-9612. Carnegie Club, 156 W. 56th St., 212-957-9676, www.hospitalityholdings.com Carnegie Hall, 7th Av & 57th, 212-247-7800, www.carnegiehall.org Casa Dante, 737 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ, www.casadante.com Chico’s House Of Jazz, In Shoppes at the Arcade, 631 Lake Ave., Asbury Park, 732-774-5299 City Winery, 155 Varick St. Bet. Vandam & Spring St., 212-608-0555. www.citywinery.com Cleopatra’s Needle, 2485 Broadway (betw 92nd & 93rd), 212-769-6969, www.cleopatrasneedleny.com Copeland’s, 547 W. 145th St. (at Bdwy), 212-234-2356 Cornelia St Café, 29 Cornelia St., 212-989-9319, www. corneliaStcafe.com Creole Café, 2167 Third Ave (at 118th), 212-876-8838. Crossroads at Garwood, 78 North Ave., Garwood, NJ 07027, 908-232-5666 Crossroads – 78 North Avenue, Garwood, NJ Cutting Room, 19 W. 24th St, Tel: 212-691-1900, www.thecuttingroomnyc.com Destino, 891 First Ave. & 50th St., 212-751-0700 Detour, 349 E. 13th St. (betw 1st & 2nd Ave.), 212-533-6212, www.jazzatdetour.com Division St Grill, 26 North Division St, Peekskill, NY, 914-739-6380, www.divisionStgrill.com Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Broadway at 60th St., 5th Floor, 212-258-9595, www.jalc.com DROM, 85 Avenue A, New York, 212-777-1157, www.dromnyc.com/

The Ear Inn, 326 Spring St., NY, 212-226-9060, www.earinn.com El Museo Del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Ave (at 104th St.), Tel: 212-831-7272, Fax: 212-831-7927, www.elmuseo.org The Encore, 266 W. 47th St., 212-221-3960, www.theencorenyc.com The Falcon, 1348 Rt. 9W, Marlboro, NY., 845) 236-7970, Fat Cat, 75 Christopher St. (at &th Ave.), 212-675-7369, www.fatcatjazz.com Five Spot, 459 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 718-852-0202, www.fivespotsoulfood.com Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY, 718-463-7700 x222, www.flushingtownhall.org For My Sweet, 1103 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY 718-857-1427 Frank’s Cocktail Lounge, 660 Fulton St. (at Lafayette), Brook-lyn, NY, 718-625-9339, www.frankscocktaillounge.com Galapagos, 70 N. 6th St., Brooklyn, NY, 718-782-5188, www.galapagosartspace.com Garage Restaurant and Café, 99 Seventh Ave. (betw 4th and Bleecker), 212-645-0600, www.garagerest.com Garden Café, 4961 Broadway, by 207th St., New York, 10034, 212-544-9480 Ginny’s Supper Club, 310 Malcolm X Boulevard Manhattan, NY 10027, 212-792-9001, http://redroosterharlem.com/ginnys/ Glen Rock Inn, 222 Rock Road, Glen Rock, NJ, (201) 445-2362, www.glenrockinn.com Greenwich Village Bistro, 13 Carmine St., 212-206-9777, www.greenwichvillagebistro.com Harlem Tea Room, 1793A Madison Ave., 212-348-3471, www.harlemtearoom.com Hat City Kitchen, 459 Valley St, Orange. 862-252-9147. www.hatcitykitchen.com Havana Central West End, 2911 Broadway/114th St), NYC, 212-662-8830, www.havanacentral.com Hibiscus Restaurant, 270 S. St, Morristown, NJ, 973-359-0200, www.hibiscusrestaurantnj.com Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th St (between 9th & 10th Ave. www.highlineballroom.com, 212-414-4314. Hopewell Valley Bistro, 15 East Broad St, Hopewell, NJ 08525, 609-466-9889, www.hopewellvalleybistro.com Hyatt New Brunswick, 2 Albany St., New Brunswick, NJ IBeam Music Studio, 168 7th St., Brooklyn, ibeambrooklyn.com Iridium, 1650 Broadway, 212-582-2121, iridiumjazzclub.com Jazz 966, 966 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY, 718-638-6910 Jazz at Lincoln Center, 33 W. 60th St., 212-258-9800, www.jalc.org Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th St., 5th Floor Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Reservations: 212-258-9595 Rose Theater, Tickets: 212-721-6500 The Allen Room, Tickets: 212-721-6500 Jazz Gallery, 1160 Broadway, New York, NY 10001 Phone: (212) 242-1063, www.jazzgallery.org The Jazz Spot, 375 Kosciuszko St. (enter at 179 Marcus Garvey Blvd.), Brooklyn, NY, 718-453-7825, www.thejazz.8m.com Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St., 212-576-2232, www.jazzstandard.net Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St & Astor Pl., 212-539-8778, www.joespub.com John Birks Gillespie Auditorium (see Baha’i Center) Jules Bistro, 65 St. Marks Place, Tel: 212-477-5560, Fax: 212-420-0998, www.julesbistro.com Kasser Theater, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair State College, Montclair, 973-655-4000, www.montclair .edu/arts/performancefacilities/alexanderkasser.html Key Club, 58 Park Place, Newark, NJ, (973) 799-0306, www.keyclubnj.com Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Ave., 212-885-7119. www.kitano.com Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, 33 University Pl., 212-228-8490, www.knickerbockerbarandgrill.com The Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St., Tel: 212-219-3132, www.knittingfactory.com La Famiglia Sorrento, 631 Central Ave, Westfield, NJ, 07090, 908-232-2642, www.lafamigliasorrento.com La Lanterna (Bar Next Door at La Lanterna), 129 MacDougal St, New York, 212-529-5945, www.lalanternarcaffe.com Le Grand Dakar Cafe, 285 Grand Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/le-grand-dakar/ Le Madeleine, 403 W. 43rd St. (betw 9th & 10th Ave.), New York, New York, 212-246-2993, www.lemadeleine.com Lenox Lounge, 288 Lenox Ave. (above 124th St.), 212-427-0253, www.lenoxlounge.com Les Gallery Clemente Soto Velez, 107 Suffolk St. (at Rivington St.), 212-260-4080 Live @ The Falcon, 1348 Route 9W, Marlboro, NY 12542, Living Room, 154 Ludlow St. (betw Rivington & Stanton), 212-533-7235, www.livingroomny.com The Local 269, 269 E. Houston St. (corner of Suffolk St.), NYC Makor, 35 W. 67th St. (at Columbus Ave.), 212-601-1000, www.makor.org

Lounge Zen, 254 DeGraw Ave, Teaneck, NJ, (201) 692-8585, www.lounge-zen.com Makeda, George St., New Brunswick. NJ, www.nbjp.org Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St, Hoboken, NJ, 201-653-1703, www.maxwellsnj.com McCarter Theater, 91 University Pl., Princeton, 609-258-2787, www.mccarter.org Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th St. (betw Broadway & Amsterdam), 212-501-3330, www.ekcc.org/merkin.htm Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd St New York City, NY 10012, 212-206-0440, Mirelle’s, 170 Post Ave., Westbury, NY, 516-338-4933 Mixed Notes Café, 333 Elmont Rd., Elmont, NY (Queens area), 516-328-2233, www.mixednotescafe.com Montauk Club, 25 Eighth Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 718-638-0800, www.montaukclub.com Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. (between 103rd & 104th St.), 212-534-1672, www.mcny.org Musicians’ Local 802, 332 W. 48th St., 718-468-7376 or 860-231-0663 Newark Museum, 49 Washington St, Newark, New Jersey 07102-3176, 973-596-6550, www.newarkmuseum.org New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark, NJ, 07102, 973-642-8989, www.njpac.org New School Performance Space, 55 W. 13th St., 5th Floor (betw 5th & 6th Ave.), 212-229-5896, www.newschool.edu. New School University-Tishman Auditorium, 66 W. 12th St., 1st Floor, Room 106, 212-229-5488, www.newschool.edu New York City Baha’i Center, 53 E. 11th St. (betw Broadway & University), 212-222-5159, www.bahainyc.org Night of the Cookers, 767 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY, Tel: 718-797-1197, Fax: 718-797-0975 North Square Lounge, 103 Waverly Pl. (at MacDougal St.), 212-254-1200, www.northsquarejazz.com Novita Bistro & Lounge, 25 New St, Metuchen. Nublu, 62 Ave. C (betw 4th & 5th St.), 212-979-9925, www.nublu.net Nuyorican Poet’s Café, 236 E. 3rd St. (betw Ave. B & C), 212-505-8183, www.nuyorican.org Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel, 59 W. 44th St. (betw 5th and 6th Ave.), 212-840-6800, www.thealgonquin.net Oceana Restaurant, 120 West 49th St, New York, NY 10020 212-759-5941, www.oceanarestaurant.com Opia, 130 East 57th St, New York, NY 10022, 212-688-3939 www.opiarestaurant.com Orchid, 765 Sixth Ave. (betw 25th & 26th St.), 212-206-9928 Palazzo Restaurant, 11 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair. 973-746-6778. www.palazzonj.com Pigalle, 790 8th Ave. 212-489-2233. www.pigallenyc.com Priory Restaurant & Jazz Club: 223 W Market St., Newark, NJ 07103, 973-639-7885 Private Place, 29 S. Center St, South Orange, NJ, 973-675-6620 www.privateplacelounge.com Proper Café, 217-01 Linden Blvd., Queens, 718-341-2233 Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th St. & Prospect Park W., Brooklyn, NY, 718-768-0855 Prospect Wine Bar & Bistro, 16 Prospect St. Westfield, NJ, 908-232-7320, www.16prospect.com, www.cjayrecords.com Red Eye Grill, 890 Seventh Ave. (at 56th St.), 212-541-9000, www.redeyegrill.com Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main St., Ridgefield, CT; ridgefieldplayhouse.org, 203-438-5795 Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen St, New York, NY 10002 212-477-4155 Rose Center (American Museum of Natural History), 81st St. (Central Park W. & Columbus), 212-769-5100, amnh.org/rose Rose Hall, 33 W. 60th St., 212-258-9800, www.jalc.org Rosendale Café, 434 Main St., PO Box 436, Rosendale, NY 12472, 845-658-9048, www.rosendalecafe.com Rubin Museum of Art - “Harlem in the Himalayas”, 150 W. 17th St. 212-620-5000. www.rmanyc.org Rustik, 471 DeKalb Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 347-406-9700, www. rustikrestaurant.com Shapeshifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Pl, Brooklyn, 646-820-9452. www.shapeshifterlab.com St. Mark’s Church, 131 10th St. (at 2nd Ave.), 212-674-6377 St. Nick’s Pub, 773 St. Nicholas Av (at 149th), 212-283-9728 St. Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington (at 54th), 212-935-2200, www.saintpeters.org Salon at Rue 57, 60 W. 57th St, 212-307-5656, www.rue57.com Sasa’s Lounge, 924 Columbus Ave, Between 105th & 106th St. NY, NY 10025, 212-865-5159, www.sasasloungenyc.yolasite.com Savoy Grill, 60 Park Place, Newark, NJ 07102, 973-286-1700 Schomburg Center, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., 212-491-2200, www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html Session Bistro. 245 Maywood Avenue, Maywood. 201-880-7810.

Clubs, Venues & Jazz ResourcesClubs, Venues & Jazz Resources


Shanghai Jazz, 24 Main St., Madison, NJ, 973-822-2899, www.shanghaijazz.com ShapeShifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11215 www.shapeshifterlab.com Showman’s, 375 W. 125th St., 212-864-8941 Sidewalk Café, 94 Ave. A, 212-473-7373 Silver Spoon, 124 Main St., Cold Spring, NY 10516, 845-265-2525, www.silverspooncoldpspring.com Sista’s Place, 456 Nostrand Ave. (at Jefferson Ave.), Brooklyn, NY, 718-398-1766, www.sistasplace.org Skippers Plane St Pub, 304 University Ave. Newark NJ, 973-733-9300, www.skippersplaneStpub.com Smalls Jazz Club, 183 W. 10th St. (at 7th Ave.), 212-929-7565, www.SmallsJazzClub.com Smith’s Bar, 701 8th Ave, New York, 212-246-3268 Sofia’s Restaurant - Club Cache’ [downstairs], Edison Hotel, 221 W. 46th St. (between Broadway & 8th Ave), 212-719-5799 Somethin’ Jazz Club, 212 E. 52nd St., NY 10022, 212-371-7657 Sophie’s Bistro, 700 Hamilton St., Somerset. www.nbjp.org South Gate Restaurant & Bar, 154 Central Park South, 212-484-5120, www.154southgate.com South Orange Performing Arts Center, One SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ 07079, sopacnow.org, 973-313-2787 South St Seaport, 207 Front St., 212-748-8600, www.southstseaport.org. Spoken Words Café, 266 4th Av, Brooklyn, 718-596-3923 Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 165 W. 65th St., 10th Floor, 212-721-6500, www.lincolncenter.org The Stone, Ave. C & 2nd St., www.thestonenyc.com Sugar Bar, 254 W. 72nd St, 212-579-0222, sugarbarnyc.com Swing 46, 349 W. 46th St.(betw 8th & 9th Ave.), 212-262-9554, www.swing46.com Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, Tel: 212-864-1414, Fax: 212- 932-3228, www.symphonyspace.org Tea Lounge, 837 Union St. (betw 6th & 7th Ave), Park Slope, Broooklyn, 718-789-2762, www.tealoungeNY.com Terra Blues, 149 Bleecker St. (betw Thompson & LaGuardia), 212-777-7776, www.terrablues.com Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd, 212-714-2442, www.theatrerow.org Tito Puente’s Restaurant and Cabaret, 64 City Island Avenue, City Island, Bronx, 718-885-3200, titopuentesrestaurant.com Tomi Jazz, 239 E. 53rd St., lower level. 646-497-1254, www.tomijazz.com Tonic, 107 Norfolk St. (betw Delancey & Rivington), Tel: 212-358-7501, Fax: 212-358-1237, tonicnyc.com Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., 212-997-1003 Trash Bar, 256 Grand St. 718-599-1000. www.thetrashbar.com Triad Theater, 158 W. 72nd St. (betw Broadway & Columbus Ave.), 212-362-2590, www.triadnyc.com Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St, 10007, [email protected], www.tribecapac.org Trumpets, 6 Depot Square, Montclair, NJ, 973-744-2600, www. trumpetsjazz.com Tumulty’s Pub, 361 George St., New Brunswick Turning Point Cafe, 468 Piermont Ave. Piermont, N.Y. 10968 (845) 359-1089, http://www.turningpointcafe.com/ Village Vanguard, 178 7th Ave S., 212-255-4037, www.villagevanguard.net Vision Festival, 212-696-6681, [email protected], www.visionfestival.org Watchung Arts Center, 18 Stirling Rd, Watchung, NJ 07069, 908-753-0190, www.watchungarts.org Watercolor Café, 2094 Boston Post Road, Larchmont, NY 10538, 914-834-2213, www.watercolorcafe.net Weill Receital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 57th & 7th Ave, 212-247-7800 Williamsburg Music Center, 367 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211, (718) 384-1654 www.wmcjazz.org Zankel Hall, 881 7th Ave, New York, 212-247-7800 Zebulon, 258 Wythe St., Brooklyn, NY, 11211, 718-218-6934, www.zebuloncafeconcert.com Zinc Bar, 82 West 3rd St.

RECORD STORES Barnes & Noble, 1960 Broadway, at 67th St, 212-595-6859 Colony Music Center, 1619 Broadway. 212-265-2050, www.colonymusic.com Downtown Music Gallery, 13 Monroe St, New York, NY 10002, (212) 473-0043, www.downtownmusicgallery.com J&R Music World, 13 Monroe St, 212-238-9000, www,jr.com Jazz Record Center, 236 W. 26th St., Room 804, 212-675-4480, www.jazzrecordcenter.com Norman’s Sound & Vision, 555 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11211 Princeton Record Exchange, 20 South Tulane St, Princeton, NJ 08542, 609-921-0881, www.prex.com Rainbow Music 2002 Ltd., 130 1st Ave (between 7th & St. Marks Pl.), 212-505-1774 Scotti’s Records, 351 Springfield Ave, Summit, NJ, 07901, 908-277-3893, www.scotticd.com

MUSIC STORES

Manny’s Music, 156 W. 48th St. (betw. 6th and 7th Ave), 212-819-0576, Fax: 212-391-9250, www.mannysmusic.com Drummers World, Inc., 151 W. 46th St., NY, NY 10036, 212-840-3057, 212-391-1185, www.drummersworld.com

Roberto’s Woodwind & Brass, 149 West 46th St. NY, NY 10036, 646-366-0240, Repair Shop: 212-391-1315; 212-840-7224, www.robertoswoodwind.com Rod Baltimore Intl Woodwind & Brass, 168 W. 48 St. New York, NY 10036, 212-302-5893 Sam Ash, 333 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001 Phone: (212) 719-2299 www.samash.com Sadowsky Guitars Ltd, 2107 41st Avenue 4th Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101, 718-433-1990. www.sadowsky.com Steve Maxwell Vintage Drums, 723 7th Ave, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10019, 212-730-8138, www.maxwelldrums.com

SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, CONSERVATORIES 92nd St Y, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10128 212.415.5500; www.92ndsty.org Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music, 42-76 Main St., Flushing, NY, Tel: 718-461-8910, Fax: 718-886-2450 Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 718-622-3300, www.brooklynconservatory.com City College of NY-Jazz Program, 212-650-5411, Columbia University, 2960 Broadway, 10027 Drummers Collective, 541 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011, 212-741-0091, www.thecoll.com Five Towns College, 305 N. Service Rd., 516-424-7000, ext.163, Dix Hills, NY Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St., Tel: 212-242- 4770, Fax: 212-366-9621, www.greenwichhouse.org Juilliard School of Music, 60 Lincoln Ctr, 212-799-5000 LaGuardia Community College/CUNI, 31-10 Thomson Ave., Long Island City, 718-482-5151 Lincoln Center — Jazz At Lincoln Center, 140 W. 65th St., 10023, 212-258-9816, 212-258-9900 Long Island University — Brooklyn Campus, Dept. of Music, University Plaza, Brooklyn, 718-488-1051, 718-488-1372 Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Ave., 10027, 212-749-2805, 2802, 212-749-3025 New Jersey City University, 2039 Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07305, 888-441-6528 New School, 55 W. 13th St., 212-229-5896, 212-229-8936 New York University-Jazz/Contemporary Music Studies, 35 West 4th St. Room#777, 212-998-5446, 212-995-4043 New York Jazz Academy, (718) 426-0633 www.NYJazzAcademy.com Princeton University-Dept. of Music, Woolworth Center Musi-cal Studies, Princeton, NJ, 609-258-4241, 609-258-6793 Queens College — Copland School of Music, City University of NY, Flushing, 718-997-3800 Rutgers Univ. at New Brunswick, Jazz Studies, Douglass

Campus, PO Box 270, New Brunswick, NJ, 908-932-9302 Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies, 185 University Avenue, Newark NJ 07102, 973-353-5595 newarkwww.rutgers.edu/IJS/index1.html SUNY Purchase, 735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase, NY 914-251-6300, 914-251-6314 William Paterson University Jazz Studies Program, 300 Pomp-ton Rd, Wayne, NJ, 973-720-2320

RADIO

WBGO 88.3 FM, 54 Park Pl, Newark, NJ 07102, Tel: 973-624- 8880, Fax: 973-824-8888, www.wbgo.org WCWP, LIU/C.W. Post Campus WFDU, http://alpha.fdu.edu/wfdu/wfdufm/index2.html WKCR 89.9, Columbia University, 2920 Broadway Mailcode 2612, New York, NY 10027, Listener Line: (212) 854- 9920, www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr, [email protected] One Great Song, Hosted by Jay Harris, www.wmnr.org (at 6 on Saturdays, and at www.tribecaradio.net at 11AM Sundays and again on Monday and Thursday nights at 11PM.) Lenore Raphael’s JazzSpot, www.purejazzradio.com.

PERFORMING GROUPS Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Emily Tabin, Director, PO Box 5 0 6 , C h a p p a q u a , N Y 1 0 5 1 4 , 9 1 4 - 8 6 1 - 9 1 0 0 , www.westjazzorch.org

ADDITIONAL JAZZ RESOURCES

Big Apple Jazz, www.bigapplejazz.com, 718-606-8442, [email protected] Louis Armstrong House, 34-56 107th St, Corona, NY 11368, 718-997-3670, www.satchmo.net Institute of Jazz Studies, John Cotton Dana Library, Rutgers- Univ, 185 University Av, Newark, NJ, 07102, 973-353-5595 Jazzmobile, Inc., 154 West 127th St, 10027, 212-866-4900, www.jazzmobile.org Jazz Museum in Harlem, 104 E. 126th St., 212-348-8300, www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org Jazz Foundation of America, 322 W. 48th St. 10036, 212-245-3999, www.jazzfoundation.org New Jersey Jazz Society, 1-800-303-NJJS, www.njjs.org New York Blues & Jazz Society, www.NYBluesandJazz.org Rubin Museum, 150 W. 17th St, New York, NY, 212-620-5000 ex 344, www.rmanyc.org.

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Andrew Cyrille (November 10, 1939) grew up in Brooklyn to become one of the preeminent free jazz percussionists of the ‘80s and beyond. He has successfully merged the tradition with the modern, synthesizing many musical styles, and expanded the language of the drum solo. Early on, he worked with mainstream giants such as Illinois Jacquet, Mary Lou Williams, Roland Hanna and Junior Mance, before succeeding Sunny Murray as Cecil Taylor’s drummer in 1964, making many influential recordings with the iconoclastic pianist over the next ten years. In addition to recording as a bandleader, he has recorded and/or performed with Milford Graves, Rashied Ali, Anthony Braxton, Charlie Haden, Coleman Hawkins, David Murray, Carla Bley, and he remains a member of Trio 3, the long-standing all-star group with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman. This four hour interview took place on May 13, 2013 in Philadelphia, the morning after Cyrille’s duet with saxophonist Odean Pope.

Jazz Inside Magazine: Joachim-Ernst Berendt wrote [The Jazz Book, Chicago Review Press] that “At the risk of oversimplification, [Andrew Cyrille] could be called the intellectual among free-jazz drummers.” It’s an interesting quote in that he manages to insult all the other drummers while pointing out your deep-thinking talent. What do you think of his impression? Andrew Cyrille: I don’t necessarily agree with his impression of a lack of intellectual drum-mers. Milford [Graves] is an intellectual, Mi-chael Carvin, Pheeroan akLaff and Barry Alt-

schul are no slouches. It’s a great compliment that he wrote that and I’ve been aware of it. I accept the praise but I don’t necessarily agree. All music is based on mathematics and I don’t know that my mathematics is better than anyone else’s. A lot of times I hear drummers play and I say, ‘How come I couldn’t think of that?’ JI: The critics have been impressed that you’ve studied the great past drum masters such as Baby Dodds, Chick Webb, Jo Jones and Sonny Greer. How has knowing their work advanced your playing? AC: I don’t know if I’ve actually studied them because if I had I would be trying to duplicate some of the things they played in the way that they played it. I know about those people. One of the first and last times I saw Sonny Greer, he was working with a blind piano player on First Avenue, and the way he was playing was magic to me. The people you mentioned kind of came out the theatrical era, out of Vaudeville, and I remember watching Sonny Greer and when he would hit with his left hand on the snare drum, he’d open his jacket and turn to the right. It was a show as well as the music he was playing. The people that I really studied were the bebop peo-ple because that’s when I came in on the scene. The people that I studied on a scientific basis to try and analyze what it was that they were play-

ing and, to some degree, I’m still trying to figure out what the sticking was are people like Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, and even Buddy Rich. Buddy Rich was really fast and sometimes it’s really hard to decipher what the ingredients were that he was using. JI: In the past, you’ve credited Philly Joe Jones as an influence, as have many other drummers, including Mickey Roker and Billy Cobham. I’ve heard all three of you say the same thing about Philly Joe that he let you hang with him but only once in a while would he reveal something about drumming. Why was this camaraderie with him

so important to so many drummers? AC: Joe was a very charismatic personality. He was somebody that was very beguiling. He was another showman, and he would do certain things, and you would try to figure out why he did it the way he did. But the thing about Joe was that his musicianship was at such a high caliber and he had such high intellect. He knew how to play certain things — we call them rudi-ments — in a particular way, so that they would come up representing the music he was playing so exactly. He was a heavy point of light within a certain period of this music. He used to take me to sessions with Stan Getz, Bud Powell and Miles Davis and my tongue would be hanging out just checking them out. I remember one time, and Gary Bartz always teases me about this, he and I were at Julliard and we’d go down and listen at the old clubs — like the original Bird-land. Gary and I were sitting in the seats right below the bandstand, and one night Joe was playing and he said, “Andrew, this is a Double Ratamacue, Andrew, this is a Drag Paradiddle” while he was playing the music. Gary got such a laugh out of that because Joe was teaching me from the bandstand in terms of what he was playing. I think the attraction that a lot of us had from him was that, and of course, how he ap-plied it and also the exacting technique that he had in terms of the tempo, how the force was, and his creativity in putting everything together was just fantastic. JI: What aspect of your playing, if anything, do you feel still needs work? AC: There’s three major pieces of creativity that make up music. Number one, you have to have technique, you need to know how you’re going to do certain things. They say it takes about ten years to get your technique together to solve the problems that are presented to you as a drummer. The next thing has to do with the con-cepts that are being proposed to you. The last thing, which may be the most difficult, is the communication, the spirit, the feeling that you’re trying to get. So if you ask me what I’m still working on, I’m really working on all three. JI: What do you feel is your greatest strength? AC: As I’m getting older and wiser, which they say age brings, it’s getting easier to say what I want to say, when I want to say it. I couldn’t do what I do now maybe 25-30 years ago. JI: Do you believe that improvisation passes mystically through the performer or is it totally a conscious process? AC: You’re asking me some heavy questions! Mystically? [Laughs] JI: You’re a heavy guy. AC: Well, I guess you can call it mysticism. We feel each other, we feel the music. It’s a spiritual, metaphysical plateau that you want to reach. Sonny Rollins said to me, “Every night I’d like


Andrew Cyrille Interview & Photo by Ken Weiss

InterviewInterview

Hear Andrew Cyrille with Andy Milne Monday, August 26, 7:30pm & 9:30pm

Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola Jazz At Lincoln Center, 60th & Broadway, NYC

www.jalc.org/dizzys

“Most of the people that I used to admire and have the

opportunity to hang out with on occasion, like Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Arthur Taylor and Frankie Dunlop, stressed that you had to make your contribution so I had to think about how was it

that I was going to make my contribution.”

http://www.jalc.org/dizzys


to get to that place with the band where we’re all one unit.” JI: During performances you often make a point of dedicating songs to other drummers. When you do that, are you utilizing their forms or is it always your own style? AC: It has to do with my feeling for the gift of their spirit that they gave me. I’m thanking them for being who they were and what they gave to us. I’m using music and not words to express that. JI: You were among the first wave of drum-mers, along with Sunny Murray, Milford Graves and Rashied Ali, to develop a new form of per-cussion that was freed from constant meter. How did your interest in that start? AC: Most of the people that I used to admire and have the opportunity to hang out with on occasion, like Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Arthur Taylor and Frankie Dunlop, stressed that you had to make your contribution so I had to think about how was it that I was going to make my contribution. I remember working with Mary Lou Williams and I said, ‘Gee, Mary, I’d like to be able to play the ride beat a little differently than it has been played traditionally,’ and she said to me, “Yeah, you can do that but you’ll never find any work.” I understood what she was saying but then came along Cecil Taylor and he gave me the opportu-nity to do whatever I wanted. In the eleven years straight that I worked with him, he never said a word. He’d say, “Well, you know what drum-

mers do.” So I approached this as my way to make a genuine contribution in terms of the feel-ing and not letting down all of the great drum-ming that had come before me. I wanted to do something that was a part of tradition but evolv-ing to some degree. A lot of the things that I was able to do with Cecil, I just did it with other people also. Cecil gave me a license to play how I feel. JI: Who was the first drummer you heard play-ing free and who had biggest influence on you? AC: I don’t know about influence but I was with Walt Dickerson and we were walking by a club on Bleeker Street and I heard Sonny and

Cecil playing. Another person I heard early was Milford. I was playing a dance with a trombone player and Milford was playing with another band there. The next time I heard him he had moved along with his concept. I was studying at the Hartnett School of Music and I was in a com-position class, and Giuseppi Logan came in with a recording and announced that he’d like every-one to hear the drummer on the record, Milford Graves — because he had some new stuff going on. Everything goes back into Africa. I’ve got recordings at home where it’s almost impossible to say what meter this music is being played in. I remember one day hanging out at the house with Max Roach and I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna’ get Max.’ So I brought this record from Uganda in, and it’s one of those without meter, and I said, ‘Ok Max, you Max Roach, right?’ So he looks at me and I say, ‘Tell me where one is?’ So you know him and his kind of reserved and intellec-tual way, and he says, “One is when the music starts!” [Laughs] What was I gonna’ do with that? He was right! JI: Denis Charles and Sunny Murray preceded you in Cecil Taylor’s band, how aware of their work with him were you when you joined him? AC: I remember Denis Charles playing up in Harlem in the early ‘60s and he always reminded me of Art Blakey. He played a lot of his stylings. When I heard Denis playing with Cecil, he was playing in meter. Also, Cecil didn’t always play the way he plays now, he played in meter also until he decided that he wanted to change. Cecil always talked about being connected to the tradi-tion and about people like Ellington being his father. JI: You spent 10 years with Cecil Taylor starting at the age of 24. Cecil Taylor opened up your playing but he didn’t tell you what to play. How

intimidating was it to play with him the first time? Would you have liked him to have in-structed you on what he wanted? AC: I met Cecil Taylor when I was playing with another piano player named Leslie Brathwaite and also Eric Gale and we were rehearsing one day at a place in Brooklyn and Ted Curson and Harold Ousley walked in and said, “We heard this music outside and we just wanted to see what’s going on.” Ted told me he had this piano player that he was supposed to have a rehearsal with in New York City named Cecil Taylor — and that he didn’t play piano like anyone else. So I went with Ted to Hartnett and there was Cecil playing the piano and Ted introduced me and

asked if I could play with them. We played to-gether some and then the school closed and Ted left but I told Cecil of a place on Amsterdam Avenue that was open and we took the train there. I knew the bartender and he let us play. I took out my snare drum and we played and talked and had fun. After that, I would see Cecil from time to time on the scene. I was playing with many other people like Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Roland Hanna and George Tucker and Cecil would come down and listen. One night after playing with Roland Hanna at the Five Spot, I spoke with Cecil at the bar and he told me he wanted to do some stuff with me and in 1964. At Hartnett I was playing in the school’s big band and Cecil came into the room and told me about a gig he had at Brandeis that Sonny Murray hadn’t shown up for, and he wanted me to join him in another room at the school after the practice. So I walked in the room and there was Cecil with Jimmy Lyons and Albert Ayler and Cecil said, “Look, you want to make this gig?” And that was the beginning of our profes-sional relationship. JI: Would you give some perspective on your experience recording Taylor’s early seminal recordings Unit Structures and Conquistador! [Blue Note, 1966]? AC: Well, we rehearsed quite a bit, a lot of people don’t think that but we rehearsed every day. It was Jimmy, I and Alan Silva up there in Cecil’s loft on 22nd Street I believe and when we decided that we would do the recording, we added people like Ken McIntyre and Henry Grimes and Eddie Gale. There was music written for them, he would give them notes to play in relationship to what his idea of the composition should be and where things should change, but with me, he never said do this or don’t do that. It was up to me to add to the whole and make it stronger, or at least larger. My remembrance is that I had to do something which had to deal with the tradition, was genuine, and people could relate to. After I knew what I was going to play in these different sections, it was repetitive. If I played something in the front of the composition in the rehearsal, that’s how it was going to be done at the recording only I didn’t write it out. JI: There was such great energy on those re-cordings. AC: Well, the energy was the fact that we were recording for the renowned Blue Note Records with all those great people who had recorded on that label before us so that when we got to the studio, it was fantastic. It was fantastic for me and I know it had to be fantastic for the others. The atmosphere in the studio with Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff and Rudy Van Gelder all came into play along with everything else be-came transferred to the music and the fact that we were doing something historical. JI: When the two albums were released, what was the reaction you received from the public and from fellow musicians?



Andrew Cyrille

“Early on Cecil [Taylor] asked me, ‘How do you think of rhythm?’ I said, ‘I think of rhythm in relationship to the dance,’ and that struck a chord between us because he thought the same way. I had worked a

lot with dancers when I graduated Julliard.”


AC: I can say, even to this day, some people like it and some people don’t. Some say it’s the best stuff ever and some cats say it doesn’t move them at all. I guess it’s like looking at a painting by Miro or Braque, some people want to see a photograph painted. JI: Can you bring up some names of musicians who had harsh words? AC: I’m not going to bring up names, but it was some who didn’t like and still don’t like it. Somebody said to me the other day that they listened to it the first time and put it away in the closet and now they’re kind of getting around to it. I remember going down to the Five Spot to listen to Ornette when he first came there with Charlie Haden, Don Cherry and Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell and I remember being in the club, which was filled with musicians, and there were people arguing while they were playing – “No, I can’t go for that!” And they were talking about playing changes because playing changes is not an easy exercise, you have to know a lot about theory and chords to play those things from one particular point to another and they have to come together at certain places, you have to crosshairs. Some people couldn’t take these geometrical shapes. Other people really liked what they were doing and the thing about Ornette’s music was that it was so forceful with the energy and the feeling that you couldn’t deny it. There was something that was going on and whether it was “legitimate” or not was a matter of philosophical discussion. JI: Taylor really bonded with you because you both thought of jazz performance in terms of dance. Do you still think of jazz in that way? People haven’t danced to jazz for 50 years. AC: Early on Cecil asked me, “How do you think of rhythm?” I said, ‘I think of rhythm in relationship to the dance,’ and that struck a chord between us because he thought the same way. I had worked a lot with dancers when I graduated Julliard. I had also worked early on with many different people and styles, people like Illinois Jacquet, Babatunde Olatunji, who was from Nigeria and played with African rhythms, and here’s another piece – the guy who used to write some of the tunes for Olatunji was Sun Ra so I got to play with Marshall Allen, John Gilmore and Pat Patrick. So by time I got to Cecil, I was able to apply all of it to the music. That’s why when you hear what the drums are playing on Unit Structures or Conquistador; Cecil didn’t tell me to do that. I did that from my own experiences and creativity and what made him so great was that he applied his stuff to what I was doing in terms of the rhythms. That’s how I came to being in the free situation. So when you ask me what is my strength, it’s the ability to summon a lot of those things when I feel I want or I need to. As far as actually dancing to the music, well, if you want to dance, I could

play some stuff to get you to dance right now! [Laughs] music and dance go together, as does working with someone painting while I’m play-ing. That’s another great experience. The prob-lem today has to do with technology. A lot of the stuff that’s being played now at parties is the canned stuff, it’s synthesized in a lot of ways. You go to a club now and you can hear canned music, even with dance companies you hear prerecorded music. The younger generation has to learn how they’re going to play the music that’s of their generation. How do you play jazz with all the other competition from the synthe-sizer business? JI: After your many years of playing open with Taylor, you played with other leaders holding down a more traditional drummer’s role. How was it playing with restrictions after playing free for so long?

AC: Who said the tradition wasn’t free? [Laughs] It’s always free whether you play in meter or not. It’s the concept and what you do with what is being proposed. In a scientific sense, how do you get to certain things? Jazz has to do with being able to play the same thing over and over and making it fresh. JI: What other important early playing experi-ences did you have? AC: The first drummer and gig that Freddie Hubbard had in New York was with me and my band. JI: What do you recall about your early re-cording session with Coleman Hawkins on The Hawk Relaxes [Moodsville, 1961]? AC: He never really said a word to me either.



Andrew Cyrille


When it was time for me to play that music in the tradition, in meter, there were certain things that I had learned while doing all those dances when I was a teenager that I was able to bring to that session. I remember him and Kenny Burrell and Ron Carter deciding what they were going to do and how to play it and me being the drum-mer, I was to play what came naturally. I was really afraid that they were going to send me home because they didn’t like what I was play-ing, I was like 21 years old. He never said a word to me besides, “Hello” and then “Thank you” and “Goodbye.” And the thing that really scared me at first was when he was warming up in Rudy Van Gelder’s studio playing those long tones – it sounded like a boat’s foghorn. This was Coleman Hawkins and the interesting thing about it was that I had never seen Coleman Haw-kins in person before, never heard him in person, only on the radio. JI: For those of us who never had the opportu-nity to experience him live what can you say about his presence? AC: He was majestic. He was Coleman Haw-kins! [Laughs] You know, what else am I sup-posed to think — me being who I was, and him being who he was. I was just glad to be there and it was an accident how I got to be there. It just happened that I was doing a session with Walt Dickerson for Prestige and the A & R man, Es-mond Edwards, said to me, “I’ve got this session with Coleman Hawkins in about a week and Charlie Persip can’t make it, you want to do it?” That’s how I got the session and never played with him again after that. I look at that as a gift to be able to play with that guy and so many people have given me credit because I did some-

thing with, in a sense, the father of the saxo-phone, parallel to Lester Young. Even the young cats who don’t want to play free relate to that! JI: In the mid 1970s, you were part of a trio of drummers, along with Milford Graves and Rashied Ali, that put on a series of shows called “Dialogue of the Drums.” How did that project come about and what were you looking to ac-complish? AC: It came about and both questions are con-nected. Number one, I knew we were doing something different in terms of playing rhythms and how we were assigning rhythms. I had been playing with Cecil, Milford had been playing with Albert Ayler and Giuseppi Logan, doing his thing, Rashied was playing with Coltrane, so I

thought to myself how could we get together and document this? I talked to Milford and we played a few duets and we related, there was no problem to connect. We decided to bring in - Rashied as a third person. Rashied had his studio down on Greene Street and we’d go there and play. The connection had to do with us wanting to document what we were doing in an evolu-tionary sense. JI: You’ve played with many culturally differ-ent musicians including those from Africa, Ko-rea, Japan and India. When you play with some-one from a very different background, are you looking to assimilate what new things they bring or do you maintain your established foundation? AC: I remember doing a concert in Israel in ’87 for the 20th anniversary for the Six Day War and there were drummers there from Iran, Morocco, three Arabs from the West Bank, an Indian drummer from India and me on a drum set. Eve-ryone else but me, more or less, played hand drums. Backstage a few of the people didn’t speak English yet we had to decide how we were going to play this music as an ensemble. So when you talk about assimilation, first of all, you have to find something in common in order to assimilate so one of the easiest meters to play in is 3, and everybody has their version of playing 3. So when we started playing, everybody felt the pulse – no problem. The Iranian did what he did, the Moroccan did what he did, and down the line. The only person who had some difficulty was the Indian because they don’t conceive of rhythm metrically in a digital sense the way that we do. Their rhythms are in scales of beats that are called taal. As far as assimilation, yeah, you assimilate after you find out what the common denominator is, and in this particular case it was 3. Now as far as the Indian, we said play what you play and we will relate to what it is and what you hear us doing. Do the best you can. We did the best we could to become the Tower of Babel.

It’s like if you go somewhere and you’re a cook, you may take the native ingredients and put them all together but you’re still doing it your way, it’s not the same as the native cooks. JI: Are there any world musics out there you’d still like to become acquainted with? AC: [Laughs] Universe music! I hear things, yeah, Chinese music is very interesting. They don’t particularly count the way we count in the West. I like Indonesian music with the metallic gongs that they use. There’s not anything that I’m chasing. I would just like to hear as much as I can and perhaps utilize some of the things that I hear in what it is that I do.

JI: What would you say has been your most unusual or surprising collaboration? AC: One thing that I can’t say it was surprising but what I delighted in was my duets with Rich-ard Teitelbaum, and him playing synthesized sounds on something which was inorganic. He put his thoughts into the computer and me being organic, in terms of not being programmed through electricity. It was a lot of fun. JI: Let’s talk about a few of your recordings. Your first release as a leader featured your group Maono and was called Metamusicians’ Stomp [Black Saint, 1978]. What’s behind the metamu-sicians term? AC: Meta means more than. I was looking for a term and stomp had to do with the tune which had them stomping with their feet. JI: You released My Friend Louis in 1992 [DIW] as a dedication to South African drummer Louis Moholo. Why did you single him out? AC: Because I had done a duet with Louis in England. Out of all the African cultures, the South African culture is closest to the American culture simply because of the English and the Dutch influence. I remember when we were together rehearsing for what we were going to play and I said to Louis, ‘Let’s play this shuffle,’ he knew what I was talking about. If I went to Ghana or Nigeria and said, ‘Let’s play a shuffle,’ they wouldn’t know what I meant. JI: Your Ode to the Living Tree [Evidence, 1997] [Editor’s Note: Jazz Inside’s Associate Publisher, Jerry Gordon, was the founder of Evidence Records] was the first jazz record ever made in Senegal and acknowledged the spiritual connection between American and African musi-cians. How did it feel to step on African soil the first time and be the first jazz musician to record in Senegal? AC: In a political social way, many of us Afri-can Americans were brought here to this country and so many of us have never been to Africa, and there are so many African retentions that have been passed down that a lot of people don’t even recognize as an African retention. So get-ting the opportunity to go to Africa was like something resuscitating for me. My parents are from Haiti and many say that Haiti is probably the most African-like of all the Caribbean coun-tries, but it’s still not Africa. When you go to Africa, you see the big picture, you see the whole thing as to what went down and why we black people in this country are the way we are and what contributed to that. It’s like if you go to Europe, you see the genesis of the Europeans that have come to this country. I kind of look at it like a funnel. I only went to two countries, Ghana and Senegal but still, you see all of those people that more or less look like you and also how they live life on a daily basis. Some of it’s good, some of it’s not so good, but it’s still a celebration, and you learn why certain things are the way they are. I’ll say this to you, and this is



Andrew Cyrille

“He was majestic. He was Coleman Hawkins! …..

what else am I supposed to think — me being who I was, and him being who he was. I was just glad to be there and it was an accident how I got to be there.”


something that I feel deeply. We were in Senegal and visited those slave dungeons for the people before they were put on the boats, and when you got ready to go on the boat, there was this door, they called it The Door of No Return, and one felt, I felt, very emotionally moved by that and also by having the opportunity to go back to the original continent so many years later. We don’t even know what tribes we come from because we’re all mixed up, especially in a place like Haiti. JI: C/D/E [Jazz Magnet, 2001] is a recording you made with Mark Dresser and Marty Ehrlich. It contains “Aeolus,” the beautiful tune by the late Thomas Chapin. It’s a most heart wrenching composition and Ehrlich is transcendent playing flute on the recording. How do you approach playing percussion on such a quietly stirring piece such as “Aeolus?” AC: Play it with brushes or mallets! [Laughs] JI: But how do you add your own voice and not just give warm support to something so tender? AC: Well, interpreting the music in terms of how I feel it. As far as the written score, you have certain points of expression. It’s like read-ing a page out of a book. You read it the way you think it should be read. Both of us would read the page a little differently, emphasize cer-tain words differently. Here’s my point, a lot of times when music is given to a drummer, the composer doesn’t want the drummer to play exactly what’s written. It’s a guide to do what drummers do, and drummers do different stuff from what the other instrumentalists do. They say the band is as good as its drummer. If you have a fucked up drummer, you’ve got a fucked up band. Great drummers can make musicians that are not so great sound good and bad drum-mers can make great musicians sound poor. If you have a great drummer with other great musi-cians, the whole thing raises. That’s why you talk about Philly Joe Jones in relationship to the bands he played with. He just made them sound great. JI: You recorded Route De Freres [TUM, 2011] in 2005 along with your Haitian Fascina-tion Band. You were 66 at the time and it was your first extensive work exploring your Haitian roots. Why did it take so long to delve into your own heritage? AC: The first recording that I did with a Haitian was with percussionist Alphonse Cimber on Celebration (IPS, 1975). One of the tunes on that recording was “Haitian Heritage.” This new recording, Route De Freres, was the first time anybody gave me the opportunity to record what I wanted to do in regards to my heritage and it turned out to be a Finn - Petri Haussila of Tum Records. I had done some other things with Petri and I said, ‘Hey man, I’d like to do something

with Haitian music’ and he said to go for it. JI: Is there much similarity between African and Haitian rhythms? AC: Yeah, all those rhythms that come out of the Caribbean come out of Africa. It’s just a branch of the same tree.

JI: Would you talk about your memories of the Voodoo ceremony you experienced in Haiti at age seven? AC: Oh, boy! I remember my uncle running around with a machete, chopping down trees and just doing whatever the ceremony called for. I guess in the Catholic Church they have the Eucharist as the body of Christ, so every belief has its own symbolic things. All of this is so relative in terms of the human species and what we do in order to survive. So you take Voodoo and you take the Loa, which is the spirits, the Gods - the Catholic Church has the same saints and those saints do the same things that the Voo-doo Gods do for the people. There are Gods in both religions that take you safely across the river. I did see a woman who got possessed at the ceremony and it was just like getting pos-sessed at Daddy Grace’s church in Harlem. I remember a few days after seeing the woman get possessed, she was passing through my uncle’s farm and got into a conversation with him. My hand was on the fence and this woman backed into my hand while she was talking and I could-n’t get my hand loose so I was wondering if it was because she had gotten the spirit, [Laughs] but of course not. JI: You’ve made some very powerful and crea-tive music with Oliver Lake [sax] and Reggie Workman [bass] in Trio 3. What’s special about sharing with those two masters? AC: Because we love each other! [Laughs] No, we have a business and we respect each other. Our motto is music is the leader, there is no leader. We all contribute to the whole and we play our compositions, as well as other peoples’, and we’ve been doing it now for about 23 years. We have an understanding. We have meetings and the majority rules. It’s been good business and great music. We’re going to record soon with Vijay Iyer. JI: In the early ‘70s, you were part of the Jazz

& People’s Movement, a political collective that interrupted TV show tapings [including the Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson shows] to demand more jazz and Black musicians on TV. Would you talk about that experience? AC: That came about through Rahsaan Roland Kirk and I guess how that stuff starts is that you look at the social situation. You look at why

things are. It was really still around that period of time when “black is beautiful” [became a cultural movement] and the civil rights move-ment was very much on everybody’s mind. Rahsaan, after having a dream, came up with the idea to protest the fact that there was not very much Black music or jazz on television, just some on Steve Allen’s show. Rahsaan had some of us call other musicians to meet in front of ABC or CBS studios and protest. Max Gordon gave us the use of the Village Vanguard in the afternoons to talk about what we were gonna’ do. There were a lot of people who agreed with us, not only Black people. We did it on two pro-grams. We couldn’t do it on the Johnny Carson Show because they had gotten wind of it already. The first one was Merv Griffin and we took our instruments and went into the studio while they were filming. There were some people in the house band like Snooky Young and Jerome Richardson. A signal was given and all the musi-cians in the audience got up and started making noise and startled Merv Griffin. We told him what our grievance was – that Black musicians were not being portrayed on television and there were a lack of Black producers and camera men. As a result, it was decided that we should meet with some of the producers from the television studios. So we sent certain musicians to meet with the producers to make our concerns known and could they do something about it. Their basic response was that they didn’t care what was being shown on television as long as some-body would sponsor the programming. They said when people come home from work, they don’t want to watch music on television, they want to see action, they want to be entertained and not hear about how bad things are. We were told if we could find somebody who would sponsor us, they’d give us a program. They just wanted to make some money. Dick Cavett was smart. He didn’t want us to interrupt his show so he invited Freddie Hubbard, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, but he was out of town and couldn’t make it so his wife went in his place. Jesse Jackson was also sup-



Andrew Cyrille

“[The network’s] basic response was that they didn’t care what was being shown on television as long as somebody would sponsor the programming. They

said when people come home from work … they want to be entertained and not hear about how bad things

are. We were told if we could find somebody who would sponsor us, they’d give us a program.”


posed to go but he didn’t show up. I was back-stage so they told me to go in place of Jesse Jackson. The problem, in my estimation, was the fact that Rahsaan really had no further ideas of what to do with getting the programs that we needed on television. The other problem was that musicians travel on the road all the time so if the TV station wanted to have a meeting, they’d be meeting with different people all the time, there was no consistency. I thought that what we should have done was hire a lawyer to represent us at each one of those meetings with the sta-tions. Without being more focused, it eventually all petered out but the statement was made and what did happen though was CBS gave Mingus, Rahsaan, and maybe Frank Foster, a show. JI: The Ed Sullivan Show aired a jazz band headed by Roland Kirk in order to avoid trouble. Sullivan gave a memorable quote when asked by Kirk why he’d never booked John Coltrane on his program. Sullivan asked, “Does John Col-trane have any recordings out?” AC: We all suffer from ignorance. It was also said, and of course this was backstage, that a lot of people don’t like to look at blind people play-ing because their eyes aren’t focused right and then maybe the way Elvin [Jones] looked the way he did when he played, that wasn’t some-thing that people wanted to see. Also, understand that there were other movements started by peo-ple like Randy Weston in Brooklyn who got musicians to protest the conditions of work. When looking at today’s younger generation, what are they about as far as being artists con-cerned within this society? What is it that they’re saying about the conditions? Artists have the ability to influence. See, outside of art the next thing to influence change is war and fighting. JI: What are your interests outside of music? AC: I like to read and exercise. I’ve been eating corn bread lately. I don’t look at a lot of televi-sion except for documentaries. I like the news programs and how the politicians debate each other. I don’t watch reality TV. JI: If music wasn’t an option, what other career would you choose? AC: I started off as a chemistry major at St.

John’s University but I was still playing gigs at night with people like Duke Jordan and Cecil Payne. I had to decide what I was going to do with my life and I remember once they had a university night at school and the kids could come and perform. So I brought my drums up and played a drum solo and afterwards the others said, “Man, with you playing drums like that what are you doing in here!?” [Laughs] I ended up moving on to Julliard and never looked back except in the beginning of my career when I realized I had to make some money. Then I thought I should have stayed in chemistry! [Laughs] JI: The last questions are from other musicians. Howard Johnson (baritone sax/tuba) said - “Ask him about the day he walked down the street and saw other drummers washing a car.” AC: Agggh, that had to do with Max Roach. I remember one day walking down Gates Avenue, coming home from school, and I saw drummer Willie Jones. He was one of the older musicians who was helping us youngsters learn about rudi-ments and he was always talking about how great Max was. Jones was with a few other drummers and they were all washing Max Roach’s Oldsmobile and Max was sitting on the stoop watching them and I thought – ‘Wow, this guy must really be something else.’ I heard Max direct them to wash one of the wheels better. When I actually met Max for the first time it was because Max’s first wife, Mildred, was the sister of my best friend in grade school. I’d go over to my friend Bernard’s house and there was Max’s drum set, which he would leave there when he went on the road, and we would play on them. JI: Did you pick up a rag and join in at the car washing? AC: No, I was a kid, I don’t know if I would have did that for Max! [Laughs] You know Philly Joe Jones wanted me to be his protégé but I told him, ‘No, I don’t want to be your protégé, I want to find my own stuff.’ That’s the kind of kid I was. Adam Cruz asked - “On New Year’s Eve, I was with bassist Ben Street and some friends and Ben called Andrew. Andrew said he was practic-ing and we were very impressed by the fact that he was practicing on New Year’s Eve. It got me wondering what does Andrew practice these days, both at drums and away from them? How has his practice changed over time? AC: I practice the basics – rolls and how to keep my strength. I practice so that I can move around the drum set so that when the ideas come – and you know, it’s not that I don’t struggle, I strug-gle because there’s things that I can’t do and I have to practice them in order to get to the end so that I can be satisfied. A lot of it has to do with being able to lift the drum sticks up and down and do certain things in certain tempos and sometimes I find myself within a particular piece and I’m trying to do something that needs a cer-tain technique and sometimes the technique is

not there so I say to myself ‘Gee, I’ve got to practice that so I can play the piece the way I want to play it he next time.’ So I go home and practice it, repetition is the mother of study. I’m always searching for new things. The other thing is that a lot of times I get music that’s written by other composers and they want certain things from the drums and some of these things are not easy. I have to analyze them and then I have to solve the problem of being able to execute what is being asked of me. A lot of people don’t real-ize, they don’t see this part of the mathematics when they see musicians playing, but we are counting and with the count you can play parts of the beat that are fractionalized. You have to look at the music and be able to do it without thinking so you have to practice that because sometimes it goes against the grain, it’s not a natural thing that you would do. So if some-body’s asking you to play one kind of beat against another kind of beat, you have to practice that. There are certain things that I still haven’t solved, I’m still trying to figure it out. How do I get this leg or this foot to be independent from this or that in almost an automatic way? What happens too, playing with drums, is muscle memory so that if you do it enough, it’s just there, you don’t have to think about it. You just have to do it long enough. Adam Cruz (drums) also commented that - “Andrew is a master drummer of course. One thing I love about him is how he seems to mani-fest both strength and humility in his playing at the same time. Other qualities I appreciate are his strong clarity of intention, his great patience, and his sense of orchestration. I always feel it’s a great learning experience after hearing him play. I took a private lesson from Andrew in order to get closer to him, ask some questions, and share some concerns about my own drumming. It was very helpful and I still think about moments from that lesson, particularly when he demon-strated a part of his process, not on the drums, but air-drumming and playing his knees and the music stand in front of him. He got into a flow that was so vibrant and then stopped himself and said, “I could do this all night.” And I could have listened all night as well! There was a depth there and all his musical ideas were filled with great meaning and resonance. Andrew is a musi-cian who really knows how to tune into the magic right away, or perhaps it’s better to say he’s always tuned into it and therefore when he plays, it just becomes apparent.” Justin Faulkner (drums) commented – “Andrew Cyrille is one of the most musically sensitive drummers that I’ve ever heard in my life, from the way that he actually pays attention to the detail within the groove of a song, to the overall picture. He’s always building and trying to create something so that the music is honest and genuine. He is truly one of the great drum masters who’s still here today and hasn’t let up a bit and the rest of us are still trying to catch up.” AC: I’m trying to catch up too.



Andrew Cyrille

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and

requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in

perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values

are in balance.”

- Brian Tracy


RH: James Williams took me under his wing when I lived in Boston and went to Berklee. I played a gig with him at the Willow. Ronnie Mathews led the trio that I went to Europe with when I was seventeen—still in high

school at the time. Clifford Jordan was a tre-mendous influence on me. JI: I think that it is significant to have artists of that stature take you under their wing. One of the ways we each seek to develop confi-dence is to have... RH: ...someone who believes in you. JI: I guess all of the more established players you were meeting were helping you along. RH: Well, some of them were and some of them weren’t. But I didn’t really care. I really wanted to play. I was hungry for it. JI: How did your association develop with Larry Clothier? RH: He was working with Carmen McRae, and he had worked with Dizzy. So he had a direct line to all the great jazz musicians. He would ask them, “why don’t you let this kid sit in?” Sometimes they said, “no.” But most of the time they said, “yeah, ok.” So, that opened the door for me. Larry [Clothier, Roy’s manager] put me up there with them and hoped for the best [laughs]. I had the con-viction. I had never been out of Texas before. So, it was an eye-opening experience for me—being on stage with the masters … peo-

ple who I had never dreamed I would actually meet in person. That was just a dream come true. That was also an inspiration for me to keep on trying to learn as much as I could, and act like a sponge around these guys. JI: How are you influenced by critics? RH: I try not to really get into that. Most of the time when somebody reviews me, I don’t read it—because I’m too sensitive. I can’t take it. I’ll take it personal and go looking for the

guy. [laughs]. I’ll think, “well how can he say that?” When I was younger I used to read reviews. As I keep going on I just don’t pay too much attention. I know they have to do their job, and that they have to make it inter-esting. So that’s why I don’t pay too much attention to it. If somebody says there’s a good review on you, then I’ll read that.

There’s nothing wrong with criticism though. It keeps you on your toes, and makes you understand where you need to go. It depends on who the critic is. If it’s George Coleman, I’ll take that. JI: Well, he can play. RH: Yeah! Exactly! [hearty laughs]. Exactly! JI: There is the answer RH: There IS the answer! JI: How do you stay balanced in the face of all the stress in contemporary society, and given all of your activities? RH: Man, the music! Come on. That’s easy. The music is what keeps me very level. I can always find a way to express my anguish through that—if there’s problems. Or, my

happiness—whichever. If not that, I try to read a book. I like biographies and self-help books...the James Redfield series, Deepak. My spirituality also keeps me focused. I have a very close relationship with God—and that keeps me grounded, most of the time.

Roy Hargrove Interview by Eric Nemeyer

InterviewInterview

Hear Roy Hargrove & His Big Band Tuesday through Sunday, August 20 - 25

Shows at 8:00 PM and 10:30 PM Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd Street, NYC

www.BlueNoteJazz.com

“...it was an eye-opening experience for me—being on stage with the masters … people who I had never dreamed I would actually meet in person. That was just a dream come true. That was also

an inspiration for me to keep on trying to learn as much as I could, and act like a sponge around these guys.”

http://www.BlueNoteJazz.com


Jazz Inside: Satoko, I am really looking forward to your week-long residency at The Stone, from August 20-August 25. How frequently have you played in New York City throughout your ca-reer? Satoko Fujii: I lived in New York City for awhile before 1997, so I performed there very often during that time. After I moved back to Japan, I tried to perform in New York three or four times a year. My husband — trumpeter and bandmate Natsuki Tamura — and I moved to Berlin in 2011, and since then we have only performed once in New York City. We now perform more in Europe. JI: Even though there are two shows a night on each of the six days you are appearing at The Stone, you are performing with different musi-cians for every show throughout the week. Could you please talk about this? SF: When I made the line-up at first, I was feel-ing a little too shy to have too many different settings. But I was encouraged by John Zorn to have diversity during my residency and have a

lot of different formats. As he said, I probably am one of a few who do so many different pro-jects. I am hoping to see members of the audi-ence come more than once in the week, because during this time my music will be heard in dif-ferent groupings with many different faces. I ended up scheduling duo, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, and eleven-piece large ensemble perform-ances. I will perform not only with long-time collaborators, but I will also have many “first meetings” with great musicians. [See the sidebar on page 46 for Satoko Fujii’s entire New York performance schedule for August.] JI: Would you tell us your history with some of

the musicians who will be performing with you? SF: For this residency, I have formed a new piano trio with great New York musicians, bass-ist Rene Hart and drummer David Miller. My duo with Ikue Mori (electronics) and also with drummer Tom Rainey are also very new. I’ve known them for long time, however. Also, my groups Junk Box, Kaze, Minamo, and Min-Yoh will be performing, and they are all long-time projects. JI: Your CDs feature all compositions that you have written. Will that be the case in your per-formances at The Stone? Will you have time to rehearse with the many players you are using throughout the week? SF: Yes, I am planning to perform all original music. My compositions allow the players free-dom and I very much enjoy musicians’ individ-ual voices in my music. I will have a few re-hearsals, and I am sure I can have the music come alive with these few rehearsals! JI: I have seen your music described as “avant-garde,” but I don’t think that describes your music very accurately. For those who are not familiar with your music, what can you tell them about it?

SF: This is a most difficult question. I don’t know what my music can be called. I studied both classical music and jazz music, so my mu-sic reflects my strong background in these musi-cal forms. I am Japanese and studied Japanese music so my music is informed by that. I listened to much pop and rock music when I was in high school. When I make music, I don’t try to make something in a certain style, I just let it be. I don’t know what exactly “avant-garde” means, but my music might not be traditional jazz jazz. I think the listener, the audience can decide what it is called, not me.

JI: You split your time between Berlin and To-kyo. How did this happen? SF: It is not a special thing. I have projects both in Japan and Europe so we decided to have two little places, in Tokyo and Berlin. JI: You have released over sixty recordings in less than 20 years. How do you manage to be so prolific? SF: I am doing just what I would like to do. I follow my feelings and it is not something that somebody has forced me to do. So it is not diffi-cult. JI: What inspired your interest in jazz? What were the first recordings that piqued your inter-est in jazz? SF: The reason I began to be interested in jazz was the influence of my classical piano teacher, Koji Taku. He was a great classical pianist and composer, and was Chairman of Piano Study at the Tokyo Art and Musical University, but he quit and began to play jazz in some cabaret. It is a very unusual thing because most people think classical music is more important than jazz and being Chairman [of a Department at a Univer-sity] is much, much more respected than playing in a cabaret! I was a teenager and was so im-pressed by his life. He lived with his own values and didn’t care what other people thought. Since he loved jazz, I began to be interested in jazz. I tried to listen to it, but it was not the music I could enjoy at that time — because of too much dissonance and tension. But one day I was listen-ing to some FM jazz program, and was so moved by a piece of music that I heard. That was John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” It had a lot of tension and I didn’t understand anything, but I was moved. This was my first experience where I was moved by something I didn’t understand. I felt some big energy behind the music. JI: Who else was a jazz mentor, and how did they affect your style? SF: When I attended the New England Conser-vatory, I studied with Paul Bley. I was encour-aged by him to be myself and to play my own music. Before then I was not sure if I could play some of my own music because I was afraid how it sounded to others. I began to record my music and through my recordings I became more and more comfortable with myself. JI: Were there other recordings besides “A Love Supreme” that inspired you? SF: When I hear some very original music, I get inspired. It doesn’t need to be jazz. I also get inspiration from natural phenomena: seasons, wind, rain, thunder, snow, ice...etc. These things in nature have big energy that we cannot control, and it gives me energy to create some new mu-sic. JI: I know you lead several bands, based in dif-ferent locations. Can you talk about them?


Satoko Fujii Interview by Jerry Gordon

InterviewInterview

Visit Satoko Fujii Online at www.SatokoFujii.com

“It had a lot of tension and I didn’t understand anything, but I was moved.

This was my first experience where I was moved by something I didn’t understand. I felt some big energy behind the music.”



JI: David, congratulations on your excellent new CD, Jazz In The New Harmonic. DC: My mother didn’t like it. JI: Well, she’s not the target customer. This is a special and very different CD for you. How would you characterize what we have here? DC: The ideal for me was to create an abso-lutely new concept of composition in which the jazz and classical would be so blended that you would not be able to identify the jazz roots from the classical roots. Today, I mostly work in the world of symphonies. I’ve been doing opera, symphonic works, concertos, ballets. But my roots are those of a jazz musi-cian. And when I write my symphonic works I use jazz as my base. It’s America’s music. When I write symphonies, I don’t want them to sound European. Jazz is our indigenous art form, it’s our way of thinking, and it’s synco-pated. So I try to use this language of jazz and rhythm when I write symphonic music. Now let’s flip it. I started off as a Jazz guy. And when I look at things. I don’t want to do the same thing all the time. I don’t need to play the same song. I don’t need to play minor, dominant, major chords. I want to get rid of

that. I want to use the harmonic language I use when I write my symphonic music—in jazz. And the clusters of atonality. It’s based on a whole different thing. I wanted to take the harmonic language of 21st century classical music and make it groove. As “Emeril” says we want to kick it up a notch. JI: I liked the chord clusters that you, as the

pianist and composer, presented to the great jazz musicians on this CD: Peter Washington on bass, Billy Drum-mond on drums, Javon Jackson on tenor, and Jeremy Pelt on trum-pet. It made the music sound alternatively urban, noir-ish, even dark at times. DC: Yeah, but if you just have all clusters and things that are out, it’s free. I don’t want to do that. I want it to be jazz and I want to groove. And by having Peter and Billy grooving and by writing these grooves, it’s like putting the piling of a sky-scraper into the ground. And then you can put something on top of it, you’re still grounded and it’s organic. And it’s New York. With Peter and Billy holding it down, I can do the painting above it with my harmonic language, which is coming from Messiaen, Webern and Ives. And I’m giving Javon and Jeremy chords that they don’t usually hear in jazz. This is not C major or C minor or some domi-nant raised sharp nine chord. It’s a new vo-cabulary and it’s forcing them to adapt and come up with it!

JI: Were rhythms improvised in the studio? DC: No that was all written out, that’s how I work, as a composer. The heads are written out. The songs are written out but the solos are improvised. Being jazz people, they take it and do their own thing, you know. In a sym-phony orchestra, a musician is a like com-

puter. You tell them to play a dotted eighth note, and he does it. A jazz guy is an inter-preter, so you write it out and they interpret it. Everybody has their thing, and that’s what makes jazz. So you lay this foundation of a groove. People can relate to it. And then you can stretch it out there and try to pull things into this new direction. I need this because as much as I like to sit down and play tunes on a piano, that’s been done already a million times. JI: Do you consider this CD to be taking your previous recording The New York Rags, one step further? DC: No, The New York Rags is a classical CD. It’s basically Jazz-based. Every note of the Rags is written out. Not one improvised note on the Rags. Any classical piano player who swings a little can play them. Totally different thing. But it comes from the same place, the harmonic language of the Rags comes from the same place. Where the Rags is a Jazz-influenced Classical thing, this is a Classical-influenced Jazz thing. Any piano player will play the Rag exactly how I wrote it. But on this CD, if I had different players in my band, it would be different. And I think what makes this band cool is the particular players, they make it really organic. They give it soul. Instead of it just being cerebral mathe-matics, it’s the combination of the harmonic clusters with these guys that have groove and soul that make it human. JI: Were the musicians surprised by the kinds of chords they were presented with?

David Chesky Interview by Jerry Gordon

InterviewInterview

Visit David Chesky Online at www.DavidChesky.com

“The ideal for me was to create an abso-lutely new concept of composition in which the jazz and classical would be so blended that you would not be able to identify the

jazz roots from the classical roots. ”

http://www.Chesky.com


DC: Well, not really, because they had a heads up. We sat down and discussed the mu-sic before hand. I told them for awhile that I wanted to do this type of concept. JI: How did you choose the musicians? DC: I’ve worked with Billy and a Peter for a long time. I like them. And I have worked with Javon, who brought Jeremy. I had said to Javon, “In a perfect world who you want to play with?” He said, “Jeremy.” JI: He sounds great on the CD. DC: Yeah, both those guys. They give it soul. JI: Do you think that listeners of your sym-phonic works will buy this CD and enjoy it? DC: The open minded, yes. The people that are closed minded, no. The thing I like about jazz is people always want new things. Jazz is so accommodating to what’s new. Classical music is fixated on the past. A very frustrating world to be in. The classical music I write reflects New York today. And I hope this band and recording reflects New York today. JI: Do you have any hopes to perform with this band in the city? DC: If we get some gigs! Yeah I’d love to play with them. It would be a very gratifying experience. JI: How do you feel the New York jazz audi-ences will respond to this hybrid music? DC: I have no idea. I hope that they dig it. It has a nice groove and you can get into it. JI: When did you start thinking about making this cd? When did you begin working on it? DC: It was something I wanted to do for a few years. I worked on the compositions over a three year period. JI: Although the chord structures and compo-sitions are unusual for jazz—what some peo-ple might describe as “Third Stream”—I find the music comfortable. It feels good. DC: Well that’s it, it grooves! We’re trying to do something a little different and new, and not be weird for the sake of being weird. I don’t like that even in classical music. It’s a lot about space. I’m not trying to play 90 miles an hour and fill up the space. I leave a lot of space. JI: Where can the CD be found? DC: Amazon or iTunes, anywhere. They can also get the music at HDtracks, available at a higher resolution.

JI: HD Tracks has the music at higher resolu-tion than anyone else? DC: Yeah, HD Tracks offers the recording at better than DVD audio quality. You know most download sites are mp3s. It’s not even as good as a cassette. A guy like Javon practices his whole life to try to get a beautiful tone on his saxophone and when you hear it on an mp3, it sounds cool. But if you listen to it in high res, you hear the beautiful burnish of the tenor like you’re in front of it. Mp3 is 128 kbps. HD tracks makes it available at 9216 kbps. JI: And what about the CD? DC: We’re way up there, we’re 24 bits. So

it’s a much bigger file. A few gigs, but man if you want to listen to music while you are vac-uuming or cooking dinner, HD Tracks is not for you. If you are passionate about music and love it and you want to sit down and be as close as you can to the musicians, then you stop what you are doing and you listen atten-tively. HD Track is where you want to be. JI: The CD states the recording is “binaural”. What is that? DC: It’s a dummy head we record with. You know, like a crash test dummy head. Inside each ear is a microphone so it “hears” like a human being. We have two ears, we use two microphones. Later, when you listen to this music with headphones, it’s like you are there. JI: Is the dummy a guy or a gal? DC: It’s a guy. His name is Lars. We named him Lars. JI: Would you like to say anything else about your previous CD, The New York Rags? DC: Ragtime is an amazing American genre. And no one has messed with it. I was listening to Dick Hyman play ragtime last summer and all I could think was how it was so amazing. It’s great music, stride piano and Dick is a monster. And I thought, “I want to do that.” So I wrote a rag. And another one. And a

month later I had 18 of them. We took the rag from the late 1800s and we kicked up the rhythm and we kicked up the harmony but it still has the same core spirit. And these Rags are totally inspired by the spirit of New York. JI: You mentioned some of your favorite classical composers earlier. What 21st century composers do you like? DC: Henri Dutilleux, Peter Eötvös. JI: What else is planned for 2013? DC: I have a ballet record at the end of Au-gust. A Children’s Ballet for Orchestra. And I’m going into the studio this week, working on a recording that mixes rap and a symphony

orchestra, I am trying to merge those two gen-res. JI: Classical and rap? Jazz and Modern Clas-sical? Children’s ballet? Ragtime? DC: I write urban classical music. I don’t live in the Canadian Rockies. I don’t live by a beautiful lake. I live in New York City. If asked to come up with a metaphor for the city in one second, I think it would be “get the f out of my face.” So my music has that edge to it. My symphonic music is hard, it’s aggres-sive. I reflect the culture of my city, and that culture is energy. My office is at 51st and Broadway. It doesn’t get more insane than where I am. I give rappers more credit than guys playing Mozart. Mozart you know wrote music 200 years ago for a king sitting on a throne 6000 miles away. Rap is striving to do something folkloric, and I want to morph it with a symphony orchestra and see what hap-pens. I like diversification. I don’t want to do the same thing all the time; it gets stale. A guy wants to go on the road and play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto 100 nights a year. How can he really make art out of it? How can he really dig it? I would go bananas. I want to do everything, because it keeps it fresh.

��

“I don’t need to play the same song. I don’t need to play minor, dominant, major chords. I want to get rid

of that. I want to use the harmonic language I use when I write my symphonic music—in jazz. And the clusters of atonality. It’s based on a whole different

thing. I wanted to take the harmonic language of 21st century classical music and make it groove.”


Gregory Generet: That Coltrane/ Hartman al-bum literally changed my life. I’ve been singing since I’m a child and I’d been doing Gospel and I also would sing a little, OK a lot in high school bands here and there. Everyone that knew me knew that singing was something that I enjoyed doing. Not that I was going to do it because I come from Southern parents who said you can sing for God but you’ve got to go get a job. So having that thought in my head I never thought I would pursue what I’m doing now. But , when I heard that album, it changed my life. I picked up that album; it was 1986, I was in Tower and I said, “Who is this?” I had no idea. I thought, “Coltrane with a singer? Wow.” I took it home and I sat there and I listened to all 32 minutes and I just could not stop playing it. The simplic-ity of that album is what struck me most. Sim-plistic in the way that there are no theatrics and there was no pretense. It was just a simple voice that was lush and that just emoted what the feel-ing of that song was. In that moment I said to myself, “That’s what I want to do. I want to be able to tell a story.” I remember sitting and lis-tening to that album – he made me go to a place in my mind that he was singing about. You know there are very, very few singers who are able to do that. The other singer in my life who did that for me was Shirley Horne. Jazz Inside: You have a really interesting his-tory in your career. You just put out a really terrific album. Talk a little bit about how it came from concept to sound to ultimately, completion. GG: Basically, in my former career, when I was working at CBS, I really had thought long and hard about wanting to begin to do more musi-cally. I was working at night trying to hammer out a small career as a singer, and then I began to get busier, which was really surprising to me considering that I had this full time day job that I was working at 18 hour days 7 day weeks for 10 months out of the year. So even trying to do this at night, you can imagine I was not able to sleep. But, doing it I realized that I was really enjoying myself. I was getting work by word of mouth. I had gotten a lot of work, and then 9/11 hit and as you know, so much work dried up. So, I just threw myself headlong into the career I’d al-ready had for 25 years. As the years went on, as we got closer to 2005, 2006 I was really finding

that I was no longer comfortable doing what I was doing. I felt the need to stretch out even more, crea-tively. JI: What did your job entail? GG: I was a post-production edi-tor. I edited video for different network broadcasts and I was do-ing video promotion for 48 Hours broadcast, and as well as for CBS Sports. I was a staff editor so I worked on the NFL Today, and then the NCAA Tournaments and pretty much most of the other news programs from CBS Evening News to CBS News This Morning. JI: Was that very high pressure, time sensitive? GG: Yes, very much so. A lot of waiting around as well, and then suddenly you have very little time to get a lot of things done. So as I began to get further along in my career there, I realized that I just was not happy creatively because the industry changed so much. Corporations got more involved with owning networks and sud-denly it didn’t become about the quality, it became about how fast you can do it and how quickly and cheaply it can get made. I just began to feel more and more unfulfilled. The turning point for me was that a very close friend of ours passed away suddenly. I have a condition that we discovered back in 1995. It’s sarcoidosis. Basically what happens is when your body has a fever it’s because it’s been killing off any kind of foreign cells that get into your body – colds, or a virus. The immune system kicks in and your body temperature rises. The body is burning off those cells and trying to flush it from your sys-tem. When that job is done your temperature returns to normal. With sarcoidosis, my tempera-ture would not return to normal, so I would have a fever anywhere from 101-105 on some days, 24 hours a day. JI: When did you discover that? GG: We discovered it in 1995. It took about a year to diagnose. I took prednisone medicine that suppressed the inflammation. You’re never cured from it, it just sort of goes dormant. It’s aggravated by stress. So, my friend who men-tioned, she had lost a great deal of her lung ca-pacity because of it. One day I’m sitting at work

and I called home like I did everyday to speak to my wife and she was crying that very dear friend had caught pneumonia, gone into the hospital on a Friday and by Sunday she was dead. I sat with it for a moment and that light went off in my head. It was that moment when you – you al-ways hear these clichés that when someone close to you passes on it makes you take stock in your life. But, some of us never really do. I had that moment where I did take stock in my life and I realized that I had been becoming increasingly unhappy. I have the same syndrome that she had and I did not want to spend the rest of my life sitting there, being unhappy, the stress making me more and more debilitated. So, I retired from the network. Once I discovered doing something that I wanted to do since I was a child, which was to sing publicly. I had met a few years ear-lier who is Onaje Allan Gumbs. Onaje was pretty much about the only person that I knew who worked in jazz music as a producer as well as a pianist. So, I asked him to work on it with me. Tamara Tunie agreed to executive produce. That’s how we came together to do the project.

Gregory Generet Interview by Eric Nemeyer

InterviewInterview

Hear Gregory Generet Friday, August 16, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

Marcus Garvey Park Richard Rodgers Amphitheater

West 122nd Street & Fifth Avenue www.GregoryGeneret.com

http://www.GregoryGeneret.com


JI: What specific things did you discover about playing, improvising, listening, and leading through your performances with the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band, led by drummer Louis Hayes? JP: Well, playing with Louis Hayes is a lesson plan in itself. With a drummer like him, I learn to develop a solo, leave space, and play dynam-ics. As far as being a part of that band, it’s great because in order for us (Vincent Herring and myself) to do justice to the music, we have to learn how to listen to each other and phrase the same, which is a big part of why that frontline (Cannon and Nat) is so funky. JI: What kind of sound and group dynamic are you seeking when you lead your own group? JP: I’m focusing all of my energy, I like to use sound as an ambient effect. I like layers. Dynam-ics really have to come into play so that every instrument can breathe. JI: What kinds of direction or perspectives do you impart as a leader in your group? JP: As leader of the group, I don’t like to really dictate a direction. I write the music, but their personalities give life to the compositions. I rely on their instincts to shape the piece. JI: You’ve worked in the bands of two drum-mers: Lewis Nash and Ralph Peterson. What are the differences in their respective musical styles and leadership, and how do you adjust your per-spective to accommodate each situation? JP: Well, frankly, one is subtle and one is not. Lewis, aside from being the world’s foremost drum set player, has the experience to know how to shape a band with his playing, and elevate the musicality of the band. With Lewis, I don’t have to adjust my perspective. He plays how I feel a drummer should. Ralph pushes the envelope. He likes to push the soloist to new heights in his solo—which could be a good thing or a bad thing. The fact that he is a very good composer gives him an innate concept of how a composi-tion as a whole should be played. With Ralph, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to adjust! He’s a very powerful player—just like his personality.

JI: What were the challenges and different cir-cumstances that you have faced preparing and playing in the Mingus Big Band, as compared with Frank Foster’s Big Band? JP: Playing in the Mingus band is challenging because you’re not just playing the music on the paper. You have to incorporate his attitude, his meaning into the notes to bring them to life. Point Blank. Playing in Foster’s band is always a fun experience. It’s challenging, but in a less aggressive way. He’s written some saxophone solos that make me glad not to be a saxophonist! JI: What are some of the critical elements that you’ve gleaned about music and or leading a band from your associations with Lonnie Plaxico, Eric Reed, Louis Hayes, and James Moody (with whom you recorded his album Homage this year)? JP: Interestingly enough, Lonnie and Eric have one big thing in common - they are both hustlers in terms of getting gigs. They understand that the gigs don’t come knockin’ on your door. You have to go and get it. That’s the biggest thing I gained from my associations with those two, because I saw what they would go through to keep their bands working. It’s really hard work and sacrifice. The bottom line with any band is you have to keep it working! JI: What were some of the significant elements that you’ve discovered as a leader? JP: I think one thing that I’m beginning to real-ize is I’m starting to learn how to pace myself better in the studio. Not being on a ‘major’ label, means that you don’t have the luxury of just laying around in the studio. You’ve got to get great results in little time — which is how it used to be anyhow). Also, I’m learning how to focus more, musically speaking.

JI: Discuss your associations with a couple of the jazz musicians who have been most influen-tial for you. JP: One of the most influential people for me has been Dr. Eddie Henderson. His playing is always clear and concise, and it is loaded with feeling. I’ve heard a lot of trumpeters who might not have the chops that they used to, but he is always very consistent. For me, all of the “older” cats—Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Louis Hayes, Eddie Henderson, et al, have given me the most insight on the music. I always love hearing anec-dotes and little tidbits of history from the older cats who were on the scene way back when. JI: Who are some of the composers who have impacted your own style as a writer, and how? JP: I think Wayne Shorter has been the biggest influences on me. For me, he kind of broke out of the typical A-A-B-A way of thinking—not saying that he was the only one. His melodies are so strong. Bach and Debussy are also very influential to me as well. I like the counterpoint that goes on under the melodies that Bach writes. Look at Branderburg No.2, for example. I’m very drawn to the moving bass line. Debussy has those strong melodies that I’m drawn to that tell a deep story. JI: How do you stay balanced as an artist, as an individual in contemporary society, in the face the stress and sensory overload that surrounds us? JP: You have to have other interests besides music, which I do. If all you do is music, you’re headed for an early grave. I like to meet up with friends that have nothing to do with music, that way I won’t end up talking about the same thing. Go to a museum! I love going to the movies.

Jeremy Pelt Interview by Eric Nemeyer

InterviewInterview

Hear Jeremy Pelt Friday, August 9, 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Jackie Robinson Park Bradhurst Avenue (betw 146th & 147th St), NYC

www.JeremyPelt.net

http://www.JeremyPelt.com


JI: What were the initial inspirations for pursu-ing drums as your primary outlet for expres-sion? FM: First of all, because I love rhythms and also because in my home town, Bayamo, which is a city full of culture and art. It is a city full of life, and traditional Cuban music. The rhythms are in the air. It will be impossible as a Cuban not to play percussion. Percussion is part of our culture. Something that really made me decide to take percussion, and the drum set as my out-let for expression, was when I went to a concert in my home town and I saw Osmani Sanchez, one of the most important Cuban drummers.

His playing really inspired me. At that moment I wanted to be like him and the drum set be-came an extension of my life. JI: What kinds of challenges did you experi-ence in Cuba during your musical develop-ment? FM: The biggest challenge was living in Cuba around all those talents, and great percussion-ists, and trying to be a professional musician, and create your own voice, your own sound as a drummer. Today, my biggest challenge is not only playing with Joe Lovano and Kenny Bar-ron—the challenge is to keep a musical dia-logue and be open to follow their deep melo-dies. JI: Discuss the kinds of encouragement you received from teachers and contemporaries? FM: The passion of music has been always in

my heart. The most important thing that I re-ceived from my teachers was the inspiration—the focus in my career and being always open to learn. JI: Could you talk about your association with the pianist Chucho Valdez? FM: Chucho Valdez inspired me as a musician for his contribution to the Cuban music. He is one of the first Cuban musicians in creating the Latin jazz movement whose work I always followed. I had the opportunity to record an album with Gabriel Hernandez, one of the youngest piano players in Cuba. Chucho was part of the project, and producer. Chucho Val-dez is the “key to open the doors” for so many young Cuban musicians, like me. JI: Talk about Jane Bunnett with whom you recorded Cuban Odyssey and talk about the cultural connection that was made between Jane, who is Canadian and the Cuban culture? FM: I had the privilege to be part of Jane Bun-nett’s band, Spirits of Havana, for four years. I recorded the Grammy nominated album, Cuban Odyssey. Jane influenced my writing, combin-ing the folklore Cuban music with free jazz and jazz. I had so many good experiences playing with Jane. The connection with Jane is that she loves Cuban music and I love jazz.

Francisco Mela Interview & Photo by Eric Nemeyer

InterviewInterview

Hear Francisco Mela Monday, August 19, 7:30pm & 9:30pm

Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Jazz At Lincoln Center 60th & Broadway

www.FranciscoMela.com

http://www.FranciscoMela.com


James Bond-esque, moved apart from his ECM projects approach and stood with the uncompro-mising Jordan for the set. Parker and Drake, who make up one of the most spectacular rhythm sections in all of creative music, played as paired souls, while Tusques, a pioneer of free jazz in France, picked his spots, adding “sheets of sound.” A late winding, rhythmic section spot-lighted the vulnerability of Jordan and Sclavis as the most achingly beautiful sounds suddenly poured forth from their horns.

Day 4 – June 15 Saturday afternoon offered a couple panel discussions and four bands comprised of area students. The evening’s presentations started with youth also in the form of young drummer Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook up (Michael For-manek, bass; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Brian Settles, sax; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet) and then Davis/Revis/Cyrille which included young pianist Kris Davis along with veteran bassist Eric Revis and iconic drummer Andrew Cyrille. Davis and the trio commenced with an impossi-bly fast piece that had her rocking back and forth, summoning the force to continue the for-ward assault. Their next song was a compara-tively atmospheric one utilizing a simple repeat-ing rhythm. Later came a very long section where Cyrille bent way over to blow and vocal-ize over his floor tom – “articulate” with it were his words. Bassoonist Karen Borca excitedly said, “Wow! Was that the first time they’ve

played together? [No it wasn’t] Watch out for their second set! Wow!” Next came grizzled veterans Sonny Simmons on alto sax and pianist Dave Burrell who threw down together for the first time. Simmons sat with eyes closed, musi-cally conversing with his new partner with pun-gent call and response, some Bird quotes, and a late romantic interlude. The night ended with Reggie Workman’s WORKz, a quintet including Marilyn Crispell (piano), Odean Pope (tenor sax), Tapan Modak (tablas) and Pheeroan akLaff (drums). Workman directed the unusual con-glomerate from behind his bass, often splitting up the artists into smaller formations to span a wide spectrum of music.

Day 5 – June 16 The final day began with a panel discussion and the presentation of Vipal Monga’s Butch Morris documentary. The music portion began with a cleared out section of the floor and a dance routine that included Hamid Drake and William Parker lending sound support to dancers including Miriam Parker, Jason Jordan, and floating large balloons. Positive Knowledge followed with stimulating West Coast based reedist Oluyemi Thomas, wife vocalist Ijeoma Thomas, drummer Michael Wimberly and Henry Grimes on bass and violin. Bluiett’s Bio-Electric Ensemble really brought the house down with a lively, funky good time brought by Hamiet Bluiett (bari sax), D.D. Jackson (piano), Harri-son Bankhead (bass), Hamid Drake (drums), and surprise addition, keyboardist Matthew Whitaker, the 12-year-old blind musical prodigy and Jackson student, who played through the entire set, including everyone’s solo, but slayed the sated audience with his over-the-top techni-

cal skills and resolve. Bluiett explained, “Sometimes you gotta’ take these guys up here with us – baptism by fire!” The leader’s baritone sax was as rich and powerful as always and his playful personality shined bright especially in the fun give and take he did, trading single notes, with Whitaker. The ensemble ended with a long, cool vamp that went deep into the night, way past stopping time. After Mario Pavone’s ARC Trio Music, with Pavone on bass, Craig Taborn on piano, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, a very serious set of deeply propulsive and inventive music, the festival ended with its most publically recognizable name – Christian McBride – lead-ing Marshall Allen & McBride’s BASS ROOTS. It was the cherry on the top, demonstrating the festival’s all-inclusive approach and fitting, be-ing that it was Father’s Day and McBride got the chance to play, for the second time ever, with his relatives - bassists Lee Smith (his father) and Howard Cooper(his uncle). The inclusion of Sun Ra Arkestra’s Marshall Allen made this an all Philly affair. Allen helped open up the music with his caustic alto sax and EVI (electronic voice instrument) work. This last set was cer-tainly the most traditional jazz presentation of the festival and a really remarkable mix but for some of the fire and brimstone enthusiast, it wasn’t “out” enough. The quartet ended with a heartfelt rendition of Sun Ra’s “Space is the Place,” expressing a nod to the past and hope for the future. It was the perfect festival landing spot.

For more information about the Vision Festival or all the community projects organized by Arts

for Art please go to www.artsforart.org.


Vision Fest 2013

Howard Cooper, Christian McBride, Lee Smith, Marshall Allen


SF: I have duo, trio, quartet projects with Japa-nese, American, and European musicians. I think

one of my interesting projects is my fifteen or sixteen piece large ensemble. The instrumenta-tion is the same as a traditional jazz big band. I started this project at Berklee in 1988, and at the New England Conservatory from 1993-1996. I moved to New York City and I formed the “Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York” in 1996. I

moved back to Tokyo and I formed the “Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo” in 1997. And then I also got a chance to form orchestras in Nagoya and Kobe. I still play with four large orchestras: New York City, Tokyo, Nagoya and Chicago. I am very lucky because in Nagoya, guitar player, Yasuhiro Usui produces the performances, and in Kobe, a club owner, Tetsumasa Kondo pro-duces. Without their big help, these big projects couldn’t happen. Also…a wonderful thing is that the Chicago Orchestra will appear in this sum-mer’s Chicago Jazz Festival, featuring great Chicago musicians. I am very excited!! JI: How are you able to take time to relax with this unparalleled work schedule? SF: I probably am some kind of workaholic. I can relax when I work. Making music is the best thing for me to relax. JI: Thank you, Satoko-san. Is there anything you’d like to mention? SF: I think I already talked too much. Well, after the Stone, I will have one more show at the Spectrum NYC on August 27. This is very dif-ferent from all my other shows at the Stone. It would be great if you would mention it!


Satoko Fujii

New York Performances, August 2013 THE STONE Tue. 8/20, 8PM: Duo with Tom Rainey 10PM: Briggan Krauss (sax), Kappa Maki

(trumpet), Nels Cline (guitar), Michael T.A. Thompson (drums)

Wed. 8/21, 8PM: Fujii Trio with Rene Hart (bass) and David

Miller (drums) 10PM: Junk Box — Kappa Maki (trumpet), John

Hollenbeck (drums) Thu. 8/22, 8PM: Duo with Ikue Mori 10PM: Fujii Quartet — Kappa Maki (trumpet),

Rene Hart (bass), David Miller (drums)

Fri. 8/23, 8PM: Min-Yoh Ensemble — Kappa Maki (trumpet), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), Andrea Parkins (accordion) 10PM: Kaze and Steve Dalachinsky (poet) Sat. 8/24, 8PM: Fujii Large Ensemble — Andrew D'Angelo

(alto sax), Petr Cancura (tenor sax), Josh Sinton (baritone sax), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), Joe Morris (guitar), Rene Hart (bass), David Miller (drums) + KAZE

10PM: Minamo — Duo with Carla Kihlstedt (violin) Sun. 8/25, 8PM: Brass and Percussion Ensemble KAZE with Frank London (trumpet), Nate Wooley

(trumpet) 10PM: Fujii Trio with Hart and Miller SPECTRUM NYC Tue. 8/27, 7PM & 9PM Dos Dos — Nina Inai (percussive dance), Kappa Maki (trumpet), Satoko Fujii (piano), Rafael Lariviere (percussion). http://spectrumnyc.com/blog/

Satoko Fujii

Yoron Israel (drums) said - “I saw Andrew play with Cecil Taylor when I was a youngster and I’ve always `wanted to ask him what it was like to play with Cecil Taylor because the forms and the music is so open. What kind of thinking goes into the preparation of playing with him? I know a lot of it is spontaneous but how did he ap-proach playing with Cecil night after night?” AC: It was just what am I going to do with this sound now? How am I going to orchestrate it? What is going to be the rhythmical structure that I play? I remember playing with Cecil in the beginning and on occasion, I tried playing in meter but it didn’t work. I could have stayed there and done that but it wasn’t conducive to what we were doing and what was going on in terms of a conversation. It’s a give and take as far as what’s being proposed so you go from the beginning of a phrase to its natural conclusion. As I’m speaking, I come to a rest and then I begin again and I say, ‘What did you say?’ And that might be the question in a musical sense. Cindy Blackman Santana asked – “Can you please describe the feeling, differences, inspira-tions, and learning’s of your experiences with Illinois Jacquet, John Coltrane and Mary Lou Williams?” AC: Well, I only sat in with Coltrane but I did have lengthy experiences with Illinois and Mary

Lou. With Illinois, I learned how to fundamen-tally play swing music. The drummer that Illi-nois liked very much was Jo Jones so I had to be able to at least consider what Jo Jones was do-ing, even though I’d never be able to duplicate that at the age of 19. Mary Lou was deeply in-grained with swing also but it was a little looser so I could play a lot of the bop type figures. The language was the same but the wording was a little different. She’d also comment on how I would solo. When I sat in with Coltrane, he was so powerful it was like a vacuum cleaner. I was only 18 or 19 and that was an experience that I’ll never forget, it was magical. Oliver Lake (sax) asked - “Andrew, from the years of playing with you, I have always noticed how the drum solos you play are so melodic. Who is one of the drummers who influenced you from a melodic perspective?” AC: Max Roach and also Philly Joe Jones. Billy Hart (drums) said - “This will be humor-ous for Andrew but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a deep, deep question. It’s one of the first ques-tions I ever asked him, that’s why he might en-joy it. How can he play or concentrate so long without stopping? Andrew is very deep, he’s a real innovator. I look at myself as more of a pattern player, not unlike Herbie Hancock. I put pieces of the puzzle into place, but Andrew cre-ates constantly and I’d like to know how he does that. AC: I just think about what I want to say next, where am I going? To be honest with you, all of us have clichés. People often say, “You know”

when they talk. Why do they say that? It’s be-cause they’re thinking about what they want to say next. You can either say “You know” or you can just be quiet, even though you’re thinking “You know,” and then say what you want to say. A cliché is like a rest period where you’re think-ing about what you want to say. You know what I mean? You know, you know? JI: Do you have any final comments? AC: This was a long interview but thank you. I will say that music is a celebration of life and if I had the say to do it, I would just want to feel good all the time, which is impossible because that’s not the way life really is, but if I could do things, from moment to moment, as what life is, one thing after another, I’d always do one thing after another that would make me feel good, and that’s the way I would like to celebrate my life and celebrate music. That’s kind of what I think about when I play — it’s to have fun. It’s serious though. It’s the same for the athletes. It’s game time baby, let’s have some fun!

Andrew Cyrille

“In a time of universal

deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

- George Orwell

Hamid DrakeHamid Drake

Photo By Ken WeissPhoto By Ken Weiss

Vision Festival 2013Vision Festival 2013


Vision Festival 18 Roulette, Brooklyn June 12 – 16, 2013

Review and photos by Ken Weiss The 18th Annual Vision Festival, the unpar-alleled presentation of free jazz/uncompromising music, ran 5 days this June, the second year in a row it’s been down from the usual 7 days, but nonetheless, another monumental achievement by activist/dancer Patricia Nicholson Parker and her Arts For Art crew who, year after year, fuse music, dance, poetry/spoken word, art and panel discussions cohesively together without the aid of major sponsorship. “We come together to be inundated by mu-sic, “Nicholson Parker proclaimed in her intro-ductory remarks. “Our belief is that music can make a difference.” Beyond category artist – drummer/percussionist/educator/scientist and groundbreaking thinker, Milford Graves, was this year’s honoree for the festival’s Lifetime of Achievement Award on open-ing night, leading 3 ensembles, each representing an important and different facet of his career. Graves began his career playing with Latin musicians, many of whom were surprised to learn at that time, after hearing him play with such authenticity, that he was African American and not of Latin descent. That strongly rooted foundation was on display with his Afro Cuban Roots band which combined Cuban and Puerto Rican musi-cians - pianist David Virelles, percussionist Roman Diaz, whose rousing vocals de-manded participation back from a willing audience, saxophonist Roman Filiu, and bassist John Benitez. Graves carefully constructed the per-formance and the band to cross cultural lines in order to bring about communal harmony. He opened with poly-metric playing, a very difficult process, typically requiring two players to achieve success, playing dissimilar rhythms on two ethnically different drums – the djembe from Guinea, on which he crafted some rhythms from the Congo, and a Nigerian style talking drum representing the Yoruba people. Graves was all smiles during the set, “I feel like a kid again,” he said, with his wife and extended fam-ily sitting before him in the front row. “This is what I used to do before I became an avant-garde jazz player.” Before it was over, “A Night in Tunisia” and “Afro Blue” broke out. The night’s following two groups featured Graves in a more typical setting with turbulent highs, ecstatic punctuations, and all-around in-candescent playing. Milford Graves Transition TRIO with pianist D.D. Jackson and saxophonist Kidd Jordan harkened back to the leader’s influ-

ential duo with Don Pullen in the late ‘60s, while the Milford Graves NY HeArt Ensemble (Charles Gayle, sax; Roswell Rudd, trombone; William Parker, bass; Amiri Baraka, poetry) was a composite of three members of the original NY Art Quartet (Graves, Rudd, Baraka) and occa-sional trio mates Parker and Gayle. Both bands offered inspired music, deeply connected to the past and present. For those unfamiliar with Mil-ford Graves, or have yet to experience him live, it’s time to get schooled, at 72 he’s playing bet-ter than ever. He does things no one else has ever done and many celebrated drummers were in attendance this night, including Andrew Cyrille, Adam Rudolph, Nasheet Waits and Adam Cruz, to pay their respect and to learn. The festival also honored a visual artist for the first time, Robert Janz, who creates works on the streets of NYC, providing social commen-tary. He’s been caught in the act by the police in the past and while they’ve had him pressed down on the sidewalk, he’s told them, “I’m 80, I’m just trying to recapture my youth!”

Day 2 – June 13 Roy Campbell’s Akhenaten Ensemble fol-lowed violinist Terry Jenoure and dancer Maria Mitchell’s performance based on Jenoure’s poem “Dreaming Florentina.” Campbell, a long-time Vision Fest participant, let his deeply felt connection to Egypt run wild along with Bryan Carrott (vibes), Hilliard Greene (bass), Michael Wimberly (drums), and for the first time in the group, Jason Kao Hwang (violin). At times, when Campbell’s trumpet combined with violin and vibes, the ancient sounds of Egypt did ring true with a magical glow. The leader also sang at points, mixing Louis Armstrong with Leon Tho-mas. The Rob Brown U_L Project mixed two bands in one. There were the ecstatic highs of flamethrowers Brown (sax) and Joe McPhee (trumpet/sax) throwing down together, and then the more restrained and mysterious sections featuring Miya Masaoka on koto, Mark Helias on bass and Qasim Naqvi on drums. The evening

ended with a peak as AACM icon Roscoe Mitchell led his trio with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Tani Tabbal. Except for the times Mitchell sat in a provided chair, resting, he was a whirlwind of activity, playing a plethora of reeds and drawing such a fullness of sound from each one. Each expressed squeak, with the use of deeply inserted mouthpieces, represented “mistakes” in the eyes of traditional players, but Mitchell turned each “mistake” into a connected sonic statement of undulations of timbre and screech as proxy for melody.

Day 3 – June 14 This evening was the French American Connection event - Vision (for the 21st Century) Festival style, made possible through funding, part of which came from the French Embassy, bringing disparate cultures together in a sensible fashion. Opening sets by sublime pianist Connie Crothers, who craftily supported the mind pro-voking poetry of the ubiquitous Steve Dalachin-sky, who can turn a phrase like few others, and the Bern Nix Quartet, which featured Nix in his Boy Scout shirt, thick round glasses and cap, hunched over his guitar to deliver knotty tunes with the help of Matt Lavelle (trumpet), Francois Grillot (bass), and Reggie Sylvester (drums).

And yes, that indeed was a bossa nova they got into on “Naomi.” The cosmopolitan section of the festival followed with the final two sets. The East-West Collective, with Frenchmen Didier Petit on cello and Sylvain Kassap on clari-nets, China’s Xu Fengxia on guhzeng (zither), and Miya Masaoka on koto, along with American saxophonist Larry Ochs, impressively presented each artist’s very personal statement without a watering down effect, even when the ensemble was in full throttle ahead mode. The two Chinese instruments added breathtaking exotic effects, especially during their duet. The Frenchmen, on

the other hand, had their own ideas regarding performance and theatrics. Petit and Kassap each added theater, without sacrificing their incredible technical chops. Petit, the barefooted wonder, bowed the back of his cello and spun it around with grand force, got out of his chair at times to involve other players, and added vocalizations – at one point adding an old man’s cough and growl. Kassap played ferociously and split his clarinet in half to blow through both sections. The memorable night closed with The French-American Peace Ensemble involving prominent Frenchmen who had never played together be-fore, pianist Francois Tusques and bass clarinet-ist Louis Sclavis, along with Americans Kidd Jordan (sax), William Parker (b), and Hamid Drake (drums). It’s not clear if peace was achieved but they did portray a communal sense that would serve the world’s leaders well to fol-low suit. Sclavis, looking very debonair and


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THIS DAY IN JAZZ — AUGUST By Alex Henderson

August 1 Robert Cray, 60 (8/1/1953). Famous singer/guitarist who is usually identified as electric blues but has played a lot of soul on his albums.

August 2 Larry Coryell, 70 (8/2/1943). Often compared to John McLaughlin, electric/acoustic guitarist Larry Coryell was a pioneer of jazz-rock fusion but is also known for his contributions to post-bop. 1968’s Lady Coryell, the guitar-ist’s first album as a leader, was among the earliest fusion albums. Billy Kilson, 51 (8/2/1962). The Washington, DC-born drummer Billy Kilson is known for his long association with bassist Dave Holland, who has been using him as a sideman since 1997. Kilson’s first album as a leader, Pots and Pans, came out in 2006. George “Big Nick” Nicholas (8/2/1922-10/29/1997). A big-toned tenor saxophonist with a strong Coleman Haw-kins influence, George “Big Nick” Nicholas was originally from Lansing, Michigan but spent much of his life in New York City. John Coltrane, an admirer of Nicholas’ playing, wrote “Big Nick” in honor of him. Nicholas was 75 when he died of heart failure in 1997.

August 3 Tony Bennett, 87 (8/3/1926). Rising to prominence in

the early 1950s with “Rags to Riches” and other major hits, Tony Bennett became one of the most important jazz-influenced traditional pop crooners of the 20th Cen-tury. Stylistically, the native New Yorker has often been compared to the seminal Bing Crosby (a major influence) as well as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. Roscoe Mitchell, 73 (8/3/1940). Alto saxophonist Ros-coe Mitchell has been a crucial figure in the Advance-ment of Creative Musicians (AACM), a Chicago-based organization known for advancing a more subtle and reflective style of avant-garde jazz. 1966’s introspective Sound, Mitchell’s first album as a leader, made extensive use of space and was a major departure from the harsh, abrasive density that Albert Ayler and other avant-garde players were known for at the time. Greg Osby, 53 (8/3/1960). Adventurous, New York City-based alto saxophonist whose work has ranged from post-bop to avant-garde jazz and electric free funk. Osby, who has been recording as a leader since the 1980s, is a long-time contributor to the M-Base collective and founded his own independent label, Inner Circle Music, in 2007.

August 4 Eric Alexander, 45 (8/4/1968). Gutsy, expressive hard bop/post-bop tenor saxophonist known for his soulfulness and his big, burly tone. Alexander’s influences have included Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon and George Coleman. Louis Armstrong (8/4/1901-7/6/1971). An iconic trum-peter, cornetist and vocalist known for Dixieland and swing, Louis Armstrong went down in history as of the

most influential jazz improvisers of all time. Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Buck Clayton, Cootie Williams, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Fats Navarro, Hot Lips Page, Ruby Braff and Rex Stewart are among the countless trumpet-ers or cornetists he influenced. The New Orleans native, who became a major jazz star in the 1920s, was 69 when he passed away in 1971. Terri Lyne Carrington, 48 (8/4/1965). Vertsatile drum-mer who has played everything from post-bop and fusion to R&B as is known for her associations with Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Al Jarreau and others. The Massachusetts native has been recording as a leader since the 1980s. Herb Ellis (8/4/1921-3/28/2010). Bop-oriented guitarist who is remembered for his twangy sound. Originally from Texas, Ellis spent much of his life in Los Angeles (where he played alongside pianist Lou Carter and bassist John Frigo in a drummer-less group called the Soft Winds in the late 1940s and early 1950s). Ellis was 88 when he died of Alzheimer’s disease in 2010. Jeff Hamilton, 60 (8/4/1953). Hard bop drummer Jeff Hamilton is best known for co-leading the L.A.-based Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra, which he co-founded with bassist John Clayton and Clayton’s brother, saxophonist/flutist Jeff Clayton, in 1985. Originally from Indiana, Ham-ilton has spent much of his adult life in Los Angeles. Eddie Jefferson (8/4/1918-5/9/1979). Risk-taking jazz vocalist remembered for his contributions to vocalese and for adding lyrics to bop and post-bop instrumentals. Jefferson, who was often compared to King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, was 60 when he was shot and killed outside a Detroit jazz club in 1979—and the violent na-ture of his death was sadly ironic in light of the fact that

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his song “Zap! Carnivorous” decried urban crime. Sonny Simmons, 80 (8/4/1933). Veteran alto saxophon-ist best known for his contributions to avant-garde jazz. Simmons, who has been recording as a leader since the 1960s, plays the English horn as a second instrument.

August 5 Airto Moreira, 72 (8/5/1941). Famous Brazilian drum-mer/percussionist who has been active in jazz since the 1960s and is known for his contributions to Brazilian jazz as well as fusion and post-bop. Moreira has been married to Brazilian jazz singer Flora Purim since the late 1960s, and their daughter, Diana Moreira Booker, is a singer as well. Jeri Southern (8/5/1926-8/4-1991). Excellent jazz-influenced traditional pop singer who, stylistically, was

often compared to Jo Stafford and Peggy Lee. The Ne-braska native, who enjoyed her greatest commercial success in the 1950s and retired from performing in the 1960s, was only a day away from her 65th birthday when she died of pneumonia in 1991.

August 6 Regina Carter, 47 (8/6/1965). Detroit-born jazz violinist Regina Carter has been recording as a leader since the mid-1990s. She is a cousin of saxophonist James Carter. Buddy Collette (8/6/1921-9/19/2010). A fixture on the Los Angeles jazz scene for many years, Buddy Collette was known for his proficiency on tenor saxophone as well as the clarinet and flute. Collette started out playing swing as a teenager in the 1930s, although bop became his main focus in the late 1940s. After suffering a stroke in 1998, Collette retired from performing and concen-trated on educational activities. Collette was 89 when he passed away in 2010. Ravi Coltrane, 48 (8/6/1965). Post-bop tenor saxophon-

ist Ravi Coltrane is the son of tenor/soprano saxophonist John Coltrane and acoustic pianist Alice Coltrane. His name reflects his parents’ interest in eastern religion and traditional Indian music; he was named after the great Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. Charlie Haden, 76 (8/6/1937). Versatile acoustic bassist who has recorded everything from avant-garde jazz to straight-ahead bop and post-bop. Haden rose to promi-nence in the jazz world as a member of alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman’s trailblazing free jazz quartet of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and after that, made his mark with a variety of projects ranging from the Liberation Music Orchestra in the 1970s to the Charlie Haden Quar-tet West in the 1980s and 1990s. Norman Granz (8/6/1918-11/22/2001). Famous concert promoter and jazz entrepreneur remembered for the Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) events he began producing in the 1940s. Founded Verve Records in 1956 and Pablo Records in 1973. Allan Holdsworth, 67 (8/6/1946). Veteran guitarist who has been active in music since the 1960s and is best known for his contributions to jazz-rock fusion. The Brit-ish improviser has been cited as an influence by major rock guitarists who include Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen. Byard Lancastar (8/6/1942-8/23/2012). Post-bop alto saxophonist/flutist from Philadelphia who was active in jazz from the 1960s until the early 2010s. Was 70 when he died of pancreatic cancer in 2012. Abbey Lincoln (8/6/1930-8/14/2010). Soulful, Billie Holiday-influenced jazz vocalist who emerged in the 1950s and continued to perform and record into the 21st Century. Was married to drummer Max Roach from 1962-1970 and was 80 when she passed away in 2010.

August 7 Benny Carter (8/7/1907-7/12/2003). The distinctive swing/bop alto saxophonist Benny Carter had one of the longest careers in the history of jazz, emerging in the 1920s and remaining active into the early 2000s. Carter, who was also known for his trumpet playing, was 95 when he passed away in 2013. Rahsaan Roland Kirk (8/7/1935-12/5/1977). Adventur-ous post-bop/hard bop musician remembered for his ability to play a long list of different wind instruments, including tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute and the piccolo. At times, he would play two or three different wind instru-ments at once. Idrees Sulieman (8/7/1923-7/23/2002). Big-toned hard bop trumpeter Idrees Sulieman recorded sporadically as a leader but had a long list of sideman credits in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Sulieman, who moved to Europe in 1961 and spent time in Stockholm and Copenhagen, was 78 when he died of bladder cancer in 2002.

August 8 Laurie Frink (8/8/1951-7/13/2013). Trumpeter and edu-cator Laurie Frink was part of the faculty of the New England Conservatory’s jazz department and co-authored Flexus: Trumpet Calisthenics for the Modern Improviser with fellow trumpeter and NEC faculty mem-ber John McNeil. Frink was 61 when she died of cancer on July 13, 2013. Lucky Millinder (8/8/1910-9/28/1966). Born in Alabama and raised in Chicago, bandleader Lucius “Lucky” Millin-der is remembered for his contributions to swing and early R&B. Millinder kept busy throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and died of a liver ailment in 1966. Jimmy Witherspoon (8/8/1923-9/18/1997). Arkansas-born Jimmy Witherspoon was a blues singer with a strong jazz influence. Witherspoon was sometimes com-pared to Joe Williams and Jimmy Rushing, but while Williams and Rushing brought blues into jazz,

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Witherspoon brought jazz elements into a blues-oriented environment. Witherspoon was 77 when he died of throat cancer in 1997.

August 9 Jack DeJohnette, 71 (8/9/1942). Veteran drummer who has played everything from post-bop and hard bop to fusion over the years. Began recording as a leader in 1969 and continues to keep busy in the jazz world. Harry Mills (8/9/1913-June 28, 1982). Baritone singer Harry Mills was a member of the Mills Brothers, one of the most influential traditional pop vocal groups of the 1930s and 1940s. Along with the equally influential Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers not only had a major impact on jazz-influenced traditional pop, but also, influenced many of the doowop groups that emerged in the 1950s. Robert Shaw (8/9/1908-5/18/1985). Barrelhouse pianist remembered for playing instrumental blues and boogie woogie. Died of a heart attack at 76 in 1985.

August 10 Arnett Cobb (8/10/1918-03/24/1989). A soulful, big-toned tenor saxophonist who became popular in the 1940s, Houston, Texas-born Arnett Cobb brought a strong R&B influence to his jazz improvisations. Cobb was part of the honker school of tenor players in the 1940s and 1950s and played with organ combos exten-sively in the 1960s. Cobb’s best known composition is “Smooth Sailing,” a major hit for him in 1951. J.C. Heard (8/10/1917-9/27-1988). Dayton, Ohio-born J.C. Heard was a versatile drummer who came out of the Swing Era but later played bop and soul-jazz. Heard was 71 when he died in 1988. Claude Thornhill (8/10/1909-7/1/1965). Swing-oriented acoustic pianist, composer and bandleader who is best

remembered for his ethereal 1941 hit “Snowfall.” Was 55 when he died of a heart attack in 1965.

August 11 Donny McCaslin, 47 (8/11/1966). Influenced by Michael Brecker, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter, the Santa Clara, California-born Donny McCaslin is a versatile tenor saxophonist who has played everything from hard bop and post-bop to fusion to avant-garde jazz. McCaslin was a member of Steps Ahead in the 1990s. Russell Procope (8/11/1908-1/21/1981). A swing-oriented clarinetist who also played alto and tenor sax, Russell Procope is best remembered for his 28-year asso-ciation with Duke Ellington. Pro-cope joined Ellington’s orchestra in 1946 and was still a member of the band when Ellington passed away in 1974.

August 12 Percy Mayfield (8/12/1920-8/11/1984). R&B/blues singer and songwriter who was influenced by Charles Brown and enjoyed his greatest popularity in the 1950s. Mayfield’s most famous songs include “Please Send Me Some-one to Love” (a #1 R&B hit in

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1950), “Strange Things Happening” and “Hit the Road, Jack” (a major hit for Ray Charles in 1961). When May-field died of a heart attack on August 11, 1984, he was only a day away from what would have been his 64th birthday. Pat Metheny, 59 (8/12/1954). One of the giants of fusion, the distinctive guitarist Pat Metheny is famous for his melodic, airy sound. Metheny’s early influences ranged from Jim Hall to John McLaughlin to Wes Montgomery, but Metheny proved to be quite influential himself and has influenced Chuck Loeb, Leni Stern, Rez Abbasi and many others.

August 13 Benny Bailey (8/13/1925-4/14/2005). Big-toned bop trumpeter Benny Bailey had a long career, entering the jazz world in the 1940s and continuing to record in the early 2000s. The Cleveland native spent much of his adult life in Europe, living in Sweden and Germany be-fore moving to the Netherlands. Bailey was 79 when he died at home in Amsterdam in 2005. Mulgrew Miller (8/13/1955-5/29/2013). In addition to his numerous sideman credits, acoustic post-bop pianist Mulgrew Miller began recording as a leader in the mid-1980s and recorded more than 10 studio albums under his own name. Miller was only 57 when a stroke caused his death on May 29 of this year. George Shearing (8/13/1919-2/14/2011). The melodic British bop pianist George Shearing enjoyed a long ca-reer in jazz, emerging in the 1940s and remaining active in the 21st century. Shearing’s best known composition is the standard “Lullaby of Birdland,” which he wrote in 1952. Shearing was 91 when he died of heart failure in 2011.

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Lorez Alexandria (8/14/1929-5/22/2001). An expressive jazz vocalist whose influences included Carmen McRae and Ella Fitzgerald, Lorez Alexandra first made her mark in her native Chicago before moving to Los Angeles in 1962. Alexandria was active on the L.A. jazz scene for many years but retired from performing in 1996 and suffered a stroke not long after her retirement; she was 71 when she died of complications from kidney failure in 2001. Alexandria was the mother of music journalist Michael Martinez, who was born in Chicago on Decem-ber 16, 1953 and died of a massive stroke on January 2, 2013 at the age of 59. Walter Blanding, 42 (8/14/1971). Cleveland-born tenor saxophonist known for hard bop and post-bop. Moved to New York City when he was 16 and joined the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in the 1990s. Blanding’s first album as leader, The Olive Tree, was recorded in 1999. Eddie Costa (8/14/1930-7-28/1962). Bop-oriented acoustic pianist and vibist who kept busy during the 1950s and is remembered for his work with Tal Farlow and Phil Woods, among others. Costa was only 31 when he was killed in a car crash in New York City in 1962. Stuff Smith (8/14/1909-9/25/1967). Along with Stéphane Grappeli and Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith was among the most popular jazz violists of the Swing Era. One of his biggest hits was 1936’s “If You’re a Viper,” a song that celebrated marijuana smoking (“viper” was 1930s slang for a pothead).

August 15 Oscar Peterson (8/15/1925-12/23/2007). Montreal, Canada-born acoustic bop pianist Oscar Peterson en-joyed an impressively long career in jazz, emerging in the 1940s and continuing to perform in the 2000s. The me-lodic but hard-swinging Peterson was 82 when he died in 2007 and left behind a huge catalogue.

August 16 Bill Evans (8/16/1929-9/15/1980). One of the most influential bop/post-bop pianists of all time, Bill Evans

was a major influence on Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Alan Broadbent, Michel Petrucciani, Fred Hersch, Eliane Elias and countless others. Evans’ most famous compositions include “Turn Out the Stars,” “Waltz for Debby,” “Very Early,” “Funkallero” and “34 Skidoo.” Al Hibbler (8/16/1915-4/24/2001). Baritone singer Al Hibbler is remembered for his years with Duke Ellington’s band as well as for the recordings he made after leaving Ellington’s employ in 1951. Hibbler’s biggest solo hits included “Unchained Melody” and “He,” both from 1955. Hibbler was 85 when he passed away in 2001. Alvin Queen, 63 (8/16/1950). Native New Yorker and veteran drummer known for his many years of playing hard bop and post-bop. Moved to Europe in 1979. Mal Waldron (8/16/1925-12/2/2002). Acoustic pianist Mal Waldron had a long career in music, entering the jazz world in the 1940s and remaining active into the early 2000s. Waldron played a variety of jazz along the way, ranging from hard bop to post-bop to avant-garde jazz. His most famous composition is the ballad “Soul Eyes.” Waldron was 77 when he died of cancer in 2002.

August 17 George Duvivier (8/17/1920-7/11/1985). Acoustic bass-ist George Duvivier came out of the Swing Era but went on to spend much of his career playing hard bop and is remembered for his associations with Shirley Scott, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. Du-vivier died of cancer in 1985. Everett Harp, 52 (8/17/1961). Typically compared to Dave Koz, Richard Elliot and Kenny G, Houston-born alto saxophonist Everett Harp has devoted much of his career to playing commercial “smooth jazz” but has also backed some major R&B stars (including Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and the late Teena Marie). Duke Pearson (8/17/1932-8/4/1980). Atlanta-born hard bop/post-bop pianist Duke Pearson is remembered for his association with Blue Note Records in the late 1950s and 1960s. Blue Note documented Pearson extensively as both a leader a sideman, and he worked in the label’s A&R department from 1963-1970. Pearson was 47 when


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he died of multiple sclerosis in 1980. Ike Quebec (8/17/1918-1/16/1963). A soulful, big-toned tenor saxophonist, Ike Quebec favored a breathy sound along the lines of Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. Quebec, who came out of the Swing Era but had no problem adjusting to bebop, hard bop or soul-jazz, was only 44 when he died of lung cancer in 1963.

August 18 David Benoit, 60 (8/18/1953). Acoustic pianist/electric keyboardist David Benoit is best known for playing com-mercial “smooth jazz.” However, the native Californian (who was born in Bakersfield and raised in Los Angeles) has occasionally recorded straight-ahead acoustic bop and post-bop and displayed a strong Bill Evans influence when doing so.

August 19 Ginger Baker, 74 (8/19/1939). London-born drummer Ginger Baker is best known for his contributions to rock, playing with Creem and Blind Faith in the late 1960s. But he has also played instrumental jazz-rock here and there and is known for being an avid jazz listener. Eddie Durham (819/1906-3/6/1987). Remembered for his extensive contributions to swing, Eddie Durham made his mark on the acoustic guitar before taking up the electric guitar in the late 1930s. He was also famous for his arranging and his trombone playing. Durham helped

arrange Glenn Miller’s 1939 recording of Joe Garland’s “In the Mood,” which was one of the biggest hits of the Swing Era. Tim Hagans, 59 (8/19/1954). Veteran trumpeter Tim Hagans has made his mark in hard bop and post-bop. His influences have included Freddie Hubbard, Thad Jones, Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. Jimmy Rowles (8/19/1918-5/28/1996). A diverse acous-tic pianist and singer, Jimmy Rowles played everything from swing and traditional pop to bop and cool jazz dur-ing his long career. Rowles, who was 77 when he died of heart disease in 1996, was the father of the late flugel-hornist Stacy Rowles.

August 20 Jimmy Raney (8/20/1927-5/10/1995). Talented guitarist who was a sideman for Artie Shaw and Woody Herman in the late 1940s but is best remembered for his contribu-tions to bop and cool jazz. Began recording as a leader in the 1950s. Frank Rosolino (8/20/1926-11/26/1978). Detroit-born trombonist and occasional vocalist who was active in the Motor City jazz scene during the 1940s but relocated to Los Angeles in the early 1950s after a stint with Stan Kenton’s orchestra. From 1954-1960, Rosolino was a regular with Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All Stars—and he backed his share of major jazz and traditional pop singers (including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Sarah Vaughan). Rosolino was 52 when, in 1978, he committed suicide after having shot his two sons (one died, while the other was blinded). Jack Teagarden (8/20/1905-1/15/1964). One of the top

trombonists of jazz’ pre-bebop era, Jack Teagarden is also remembered for his expressive singing. Teagarden was a member of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars in the 1940s, and he was only 58 when he died of a heart attack in 1964.

August 21 Count Basie (8/21/1904-4/26/1984). The soulful, bluesy pianist/bandleader Count Basie was a colossal figure in Kansas City swing. Basie made a name for himself play-ing with Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra from 1929-1932 before forming his own big band in the mid-1930s and becoming one of the most important band-leaders of all time. A long list of jazz heavyweights, from singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes and Joe Williams to tenor saxophonists Frank Foster and Frank Wess, were featured in the Basie orchestra. Basie was 79 when he passed away in 1984. Addison Farmer (8/21/1928-2/20/1963). The twin brother of Art Farmer, Addison Farmer was an acoustic bassist who focused on bop in the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. Addison Farmer, sadly, didn’t live as long as his brother; Art Farmer was 71 when he died in 1999. Addison Farmer was only 34 when he died in 1963. Art Farmer (8/21/1928-10/4/1999). Lyrical but hard-swinging trumpeter/flugelhornist remembered for his extensive contributions to hard bop and post bop. Farmer also played the flumpet, a hybrid trumpet/flugelhorn instrument that was especially designed for him by instru-mental maker David Monette. Malachi Thompson (8/21/1949-7/16/2006). Kentucky-born Malachi Thompson, who spent most of his life in Chicago, was a big-toned trumpeter capable of playing either avant-garde jazz or straight-ahead post-bop and hard bop. Thompson, who joined the AACM in the late 1960s, died of cancer in 2006.

August 22 Malachi Favors (8/22/1927-1/30/2004). Although he was born in Mississippi, acoustic bassist Malachi Favors was closely identified with the avant-garde jazz scene in his adopted home of Chicago. Favors, who was part of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and was a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musi-cians (AACM), died of pancreatic cancer in 2004 at the age of 76. Lex Humphries (8/22/1936-7/11/1994). Drummer Lex Humphries is remembered for his hard bop and post-bop activities but also dabbled in the avant-garde when he played with Sun Ra’s Arkestra. Humphries was 57 when he died in 1994.

August 23 Bobby Watson, 60 (8/23/1953). Not to be confused with the R&B-oriented electric bassist who was born in Mem-phis on February 24 and joined Chaka Khan’s soul/funk band Rufus in 1974, the Bobby Watson who was born in Kansas City on August 23, 1953 is an alto saxophonist who has been recording straight-ahead post-bop and hard bop since the 1970s. The altoist was a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the late 1970s and early 1980s and recorded his first album as a leader, Esti-mated Time of Arrival, in 1978.

August 24 Claude Hopkins (8/24/1903-2/19/1984). Alexandria, Virginia-born acoustic pianist Claude Hopkins is remem-bered for playing swing, Dixieland and stride piano and was active in New York City for many years. Hopkins was 80 when he passed away in 1984. Buster Smith (8/24/1904-8/10/1991). Texas-born Henry “Buster” Smith is remembered for playing swing—mostly on the alto sax, although he also played guitar, organ and


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clarinet. A serious auto accident in the 1960s rendered Smith unable to play the sax, but he continued to work as a bandleader nonetheless. Smith was 86 when he died in Dallas in 1991.

August 25 Charles Fambrough (8/25/1950-1/1/2011). Philadel-phia-born acoustic bassist Charles Fambrough was a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the early 1980s but was also a sideman for Shirley Scott and Freddie Hubbard, among others. Fambrough, who re-corded several albums as a leader in the 1990s, was 60 when he died in 2011. Pat Martino, 69 (8/25/1944). Philadelphia guitar virtuoso Pat Martino has recorded a variety of jazz along the way, ranging from post-bop to soul-jazz to fusion. Martino suffered a major setback in 1980, when he underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm that almost killed him and left him with total amnesia. But amazingly, Martino learned to play the guitar again by listening to his own albums and fully regained his chops. Wayne Shorter, 80 (8/25/1933). Famous for both his tenor and soprano saxophone playing and his compos-ing, Wayne Shorter is easily among the most important saxmen of the last 50 years. Shorter made a name for himself playing acoustic straight-ahead hard bop and post-bop in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, Shorter and Joe Zawinful’s partnership as the co-leaders of Weather Report had a major influence on jazz-rock fusion. “Yes or No,” “Witch Hunt,” “Infant Eyes,” “Virgo” and “Speak No

Evil” are among the many Shorter compositions that became post-bop standards.

August 26 Branford Marsalis, 53 (8/26/1960). The son of pianist Ellis Marsalis and the older brother of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and drummer Jason Marsalis, tenor/soprano saxophonist Branford Marsalis is best known for his contributions to acoustic post-bop but also plays European classical music and has backed pop-rock star Sting many times. The Louisi-ana native’s Buckshot LeFonque project has combined jazz, funk and hip-hop influences.

August 27 Alice Coltrane (8/27/1937-1/12/2007). Detroit-born pianist Alice McLeod Coltrane was the second wife of the iconic tenor/soprano saxophonist John Coltrane and joined his group in early 1966 when she replaced McCoy Tyner. Her recordings as a leader ranged from avant-garde jazz to post-bop and often reflected her interest in eastern religion (she was a convert to Hinduism). She was 69 when she died of respiratory failure in 2007. Sonny Sharrock (8/27/1940-5/26/1994). Electric guitarist Sonny Sharrock is best remembered for his extensive contributions to avant-garde jazz and free jazz but was also a contributor to fusion and post-bop. Sharrock, who was married to Philadelphia-born singer Linda Sharrock from 1966-1978, was only 53 when he died of a heart attack in 1994.

L e s t e r Y o u n g (8/27/1909-3/15/1959). Known for his lyrical and melodic tenor saxophone playing, the seminal Lester “The Prez” Young was as innovative as he was distinctive and proved to be every bit as influ-ential as the great Coleman Hawkins. Young came out of swing, yet his playing was the blueprint for so many of the tenor men who embraced cool jazz (which was essen-tially a subtle, re-strained, understated approach to bebop). Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Bobby Jaspar, Warne Marsh and Paul Quinichette were among the many cool-toned tenor men who were greatly influ-enced by Young’s innovations. Young, who battled alcoholism and severe depression, was only 49 when years of hard living ended his life in 1959.

August 28 Kenny Drew, Sr. (8/28/1928-8/4/1993). Hard-swinging acoustic pianist remembered for his contributions to hard bop and post-bop. The native New Yorker was

an important contributor to the Big Apple jazz scene in the 1950s but moved to Paris in 1961 and Copenhagen in 1964. Kenny Drew, Sr., who was 64 when he died in Copenhagen in 1993, was the father of fellow jazz pianist Kenny Drew, Jr. (b. June 14, 1958, New York City). Larry Goldings, 45 (8/28/1968). Boston-born Larry Goldings is among the organists who has been influ-enced by the post-bop innovations of Larry Young. Gold-ings is also a talented pianist and has played the acoustic piano exclusively on some of his albums.

August 29 Bennie Maupin, 73 (8/29/1940). Detroit-born windplayer Bennie Maupin is known for his contributions to post-bop and fusion. He played with Herbie Hancock extensively in the 1970s (including Hancock’s Headhunters band) and appeared on Miles Davis’ seminal Bitches Brew in 1969. Maupin’s instruments include tenor sax, soprano sax, flute, alto flute and bass clarinet. Charlie Parker (8/29/1920-3/12/1955). Although alto saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker only lived to 34, he went down in history as one of the most innovative and influential jazz musicians of all time. Bird, more than anyone, pushed bebop to the forefront of the jazz world in the mid-1940s—and producer Orrin Keepnews sum-marized his importance perfectly when he said that the history of jazz can be divided into main categories: before Charlie Parker and after Charlie Parker. “Yardbird Suite,” “Now’s the Time,” “Ornithology,” “Cool Blues” and “Parker’s Mood” are among the many Parker composi-tions that became bop standards. Dinah Washington (8/29/1924-12/14/1963). Born in Alabama and raised in Chicago, Ruth Lee Jones, a.k.a. Dinah Washington, achieved fame as a blues-drenched jazz/R&B vocalist in the 1940s before gradually shifting her focus to jazz-influenced traditional pop in the 1950s. “What a Difference a Day Makes” and “Baby, You’ve Got What It Takes” (a duet with Brook Benton) were among her many hits. Washington was only 39 when she died in 1963.

August 30 Kenny Dorham (8/30/1924-12/5/1972). Expressive trumpeter Kenny Dorham achieved prominence during the bebop era but had no problem embracing post-bop and modal jazz in the 1960s. Although best remembered for his trumpet playing, Dorham was also a fine singer. Dorham, whose Brazilian-influenced “Blue Bossa” be-came a standard, suffered from kidney disease and was only 48 when he died in 1972. Gerald Albright, 56 (8/30/1957). Greatly influenced by soul-jazz players like Grover Washington, Jr., Wilton Felder and Stanley Turrentine, saxophonist Gerald Al-bright has spent much of his career playing “smooth jazz” or backing R&B singers but has also recorded straight-ahead bop and post-bop on occasion. Teena Marie, Anita Baker and Whitney Houston are among the major R&B artists the Los Angeles native has backed.

August 31 Wilton Felder, 73 (8/31/1940). Veteran tenor saxophon-ist Wilton Felder is best known for the many years he played with the Crusaders, originally the Jazz Crusaders. Although famous for playing instrumental soul-jazz, post-bop and hard bop, Felder has also done a great deal of pop-rock and R&B session work and has backed major stars like Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel and Marvin Gaye. Herman Riley (8/31/1933-4/14/2007). An expressive, big-toned tenor saxophonist, Herman Riley is remem-bered for playing hard bop, soul-jazz and post-bop. Gene Ammons, Blue Mitchell and Jimmy Smith are among the people who employed him as a sideman.

Bennie MaupinBennie Maupin August 29August 29

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Billy Bang DA BANG! – TUM www.tumrecords.com . Da Bang; Guinea; Daydreams; Law Years; All Blues; St. Thomas. PERSONNEL: Billy Bang, violin; Dick Griffin, trombone; Andrew Bemkey, piano; Hilliard Greene, acoustic bass; Newman Taylor-Barker, drums. By Mark Keresman The late Billy Bang was one of the premier violinists of jazz’s tres avant wing, sawing, sear-ing, and soaring like few others before or since. Bang—born William Walker, 1947—was affili-ated with NYC’s loft jazz scene and played/collaborated with many of its firebrand-titans, including Sam Rivers, Charles Tyler, Frank Lowe, Sirone, and William Hooker. He also played in the boundary-defying ensembles of Material (under the leadership of Bill Laswell) and Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Soci-ety, and he was a co-founder of the String Trio of New York. While he could express righteous fury on his axe, like Don Cherry, Bang was a player that imbued his approach with earthy, and occasionally impish, joie de vive. Bang passed away in 2011 and Da Bang was his final studio album. For this session, Bang assembled a cross-generational ensemble—trombonist Dick Griffin was born in 1940 and pianist Andrew Bemkey in 1974. They tackle a program of originals by Bang and drummer Barry Altschul (himself a veteran of the loft scene and past collaborator with Bang), Ornette Coleman (“Law Years”), Cherry (“Guinea”), and a couple of the greatest jazz standards: Miles Davis’ “All Blues” and Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas.” The Altschul-penned title track leads off with some pensive but stirring swing, Bang’s lines building and surging as a tenor saxophonist might but with the supple grace of a violinist. Some jazz violinists favor a sweet, clean tone, but not Bang—his tone has aspects of a gritty Southern blues player that had to grab the attention of a rowdy barroom full of thirsty patrons. Bassist Hilliard Green is pliant and throbbing, as earnest and solid as Charlie Haden without sounding (much) like him. Grif-fin shares Bang’s gutsy earthiness, and Bemkey has some of the driving but tender lyrical quali-ties of McCoy Tyner. “Guinea” begins with some dazzling, sinuous soloing from Bang—what he seemingly “lacks” in delicacy, he more

than makes up for in percussive expressiveness. At times, Bang’s fiddle sonically resembles the pinging delight of a kalimba (an African thumb piano), then he captures the West African blues-tones of guitarists such as Ali Farka Toure and Habib Koité. Griffin lets loose some blistering bluesy burlesques while drummer Newman Tay-lor-Baker cracks like lightning, propelling the proceedings with punchy, unfussy aplomb. These fellows take you on a world-music tour in the privacy of your own head, drawing a line from NYC to West African to the heart of the blues and back again. Lest one get the idea that Bang, with his thorough background in jazz’s outer limits, can-not play tenderly, listen to the beautiful Bang original “Daydreams.” Here, Greene gets in touch with his inner Ron Carter, playing with steadfastness and slender classiness. Bang’s take on Miles’ “All Blues” really accentuates the blues in the title—that eternally catchy melody is still exactly that, but Bang and especially Griffin display rippling, almost bawdy solos…then Bemkey acts as a balm of sorts, still maintaining the bluesy vibe but with spare, amiable soloing that evokes Miles’ pre-modal pianist Red Gar-land. “St. Thomas” is justifiably renowned for its sunny Caribbean ambiance, but Bang and com-pany take it to New Orleans, with Band adding a hint of Latin flavoring, and Taylor-Baker some ebullient N’Awlins second-line/marching-band-style drumming…I could hear this track in a New Orleans-set movie someday. Da Bang makes for a mighty capstone to this illustrious violinist’s career. For fans of Bang and/or cutting-edge jazz violin, it is, of course, essential; and for those that subscribe to the stereotype that Billy Bang’s music is strictly “avant-garde jazz” and terminally angry or sol-emn, this beautifully recorded, packaged, and annotated disc is the cure for such notions. RIP, Billy Bang.

Gary Burton Guided Tour – Mack Avenue MAC 1074 . www.mackavenue.com Caminos; The Look Out; Jane Fonda Called Again; Jackalope; Once Upon A Summertime; Sunday’s Uncle; Remem-bering Tano; Helena; Legacy; Monk Fish PERSONNEL: Gary Burton, vibes; Julian Lage, guitar; Scott Colley, bass; Antonio Sanchez, drums


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By Scott Yanow In addition to being one of the most signifi-cant jazz vibraphonists of all time (he is one of the “great seven” along with Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Milt Jackson, Terry Gibbs, Cal Tjader and Bobby Hutcherson), Gary Burton has been a major bandleader since the mid-1960s. Norvo may have pioneered the regular use of vibes with guitar in his 1950-52 trios with either Tal Farlow or Jimmy Raney, but Burton’s track record of discovering and utilizing top young guitarists cannot be equaled. During the past 45 years his sidemen have included such guitarists as Larry Coryell, Jerry Hahn, Sam Brown, Mick Goodrick, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, and Julian Lage. Lage was just 15 the first time he recorded with Burton in 2003, the same year that the prod-igy became a member of the teaching staff at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. He first recorded as a leader in 2009 and, in addition to his developing solo career, he has been a member of the Gary Burton New Quartet since the summer of 2012. The current Burton quartet, which also features the always-stimulating playing of bass-ist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez, made its debut with the previous Common Ground CD. Guided Tour mostly has post bop originals written by the band members. The pro-gram begins with Sanchez’s episodic “Caminos,” which during the vibes solo be-comes a medium-tempo minor blues with a bridge. “The Lookout,” one of three originals by Lage, is a revision of Jim Hall’s swinging “Careful.” Burton and Lage (who is quite bluish during his improvisation) have fluent and heated solos over the relatively simple chord changes. The vibraphonist’s whimsically titled and com-plex yet accessible “Jane Fonda Called Again” has particularly strong guitar, vibes and bass solos. It is fair to say that Fred Hersch’s “Jackalope” is not played very often at jam ses-sions. While it is generally in 7/4 time, its un-usual and unexpected accents, which are echoed in the solos, keep the music quirky and colorful. Michel Legrand’s classic ballad “Once Upon A Summertime” is stated at great length and beau-tifully by Lage. The guitarist’s “Sunday’s Un-cle” sounds melodic but is quite unpredictable, switching moods and grooves a few times. Lage and Burton sound relaxed and effortless while floating over the complex chord changes. Burton’s “Remembering Tano” is a thoughtful and somewhat melancholy tribute to the bandoneon tango master Astor Piazzolla. Lage’s “Helena” finds the quartet’s fluency and tightness making the complicated structure seem almost like child’s play. One would guess that this piece took a bit of rehearsal to sound this spontaneous! Sanchez’s drum solo over Colley’s bass pattern during the closing vamp is a high-light. Scott Colley’s “Legacy” is a somber ballad that honors his father who recently passed away; the bass solo is quite heartfelt. Guided Tour concludes with Sanchez’s “Monk Fish,” a run-through over the chord changes of “I Got Rhythm,” but with an unex-pected three-bar extension in every chorus. Each of the musicians gets to solo during this witty

piece, which acts as a perfect closer to this memorable effort.

Will Calhoun LIFE IN THIS WORLD – Motema. www.motema.com. Brother Will; Spectrum; King Tut Strut; Love for Sale; Naima; Evidence; Afrique Kan’e; He Who Hops; Etcetera; Abu Bakr II; Dorita; Love’s Parody. PERSONNEL: Will Calhoun, drums, percus-sion; Marc Cary, piano, synthesizer; Ron Carter, John Benitez, acoustic bass; Charnett Moffett, acoustic & electric basses; Donald Harrison, alto sax; Wallace Roney, trumpet; Cheick Tidiane, piano; Doug Wimbish, Alioune Wade, electric bass; Brehima “Benego” Diakite, kamalen n’goni. By Mark Keresman While drummer Will Calhoun is perhaps best known as a member of the thundering rock band Living Colour, he also has a thriving career as both accompanist and leader. Calhoun has plied his craft with artists diverse as B.B. King, Carly Simon, Marcus Miller, and Herb Alpert. What some folks may or may not know is that Calhoun has deep roots as a jazz drummer, as befitting a graduate of the Berklee School of Music. His rock and pop pedigree aside, this disc is not “fusion,” not at all. Calhoun is—in this con-text—a jazz drummer that nonetheless plays with the enthusiastic roar and dynamics of the finest of rock drummers, such as Ginger Baker (who also has strong jazz roots) and the late Keith Moon of the Who. (Decades ago, during a blindfold test, none other than Elvin Jones him-self expressed admiration for Moon’s playing.) His fifth album as a leader is a first-rate, mostly straight-up jazz album, hard bop division with a few forays into interlacing it with African ele-ments and electronica. “Brother Will” kicks off the proceedings in fine style, a mid-tempo modal-styled mood piece with some wondrous Miles Davis-inflected wail-ing from Wallace Roney. “Spectrum,” a trio piece, is a hard-swinging wailer slightly reminis-cent of the swinging-‘til-the-cows-come-home piano trios of Sonny Clark and Red Garland, albeit with (strong) overtones of McCoy Tyner. Pianist Marc Cary’s approach is surging, full-bodied and rich with notes but avoids facile overplaying. If not for the tectonic-plates-shifting drums of Calhoun, one might swear this was a track from the early ‘60s Blue Note vaults. “King Tut Strut” too has a Blue Note flavor with its slightly funky, skipping-down-the-avenus blue-sharp theme, until Donald Harrison starts into some searing soloing with Ornette Coleman tartness and free-flowing energy. Calhoun does-

n’t hug the background as some jazz drummers do—he plays “lead drums” but with the right balance of super-charged, almost over-the-top (note: almost) vigor and the restraint so that he’s never overbearing. “Afrique Kan’e” finds Roney’s Miles-ish muted musings soaring over a percolating, ebul-lient West African griot-like rhythms and an African stringed instrument that sounds like a cross between a lute and a sitar. “He Who Hops” is a stirring, bob-and-weave duet/joust between Cary (a cat to be watched if you aren’t already) and Calhoun—the former plays slightly Afro-Cuban motifs and the latter roars and crackles, each spurring the other on, but with joy as op-posed to being confrontational. Wayne Shorter’s “Etcetera” has that classic Blue Note feel (surprise) but a little too much so—the lads give it a confident run-through but don’t really add anything to it. But then, the following “Abu Bakr II” is like opening a door and falling through space a la The Twilight Zone—it’s a singular mash-up of electric-era Miles, trip-hop (hip-hop’s psychedelia-inspired cousin), and sam-pled/warped African rhythms. This set closes with the dreamy, mysterious-sounding ballad “Love’s Parody,” which vaguely evokes Lad Zeppelin “ballads” such as “No Quarter”—Calhoun’s vocals are even a tad Robert Plant-like and his electric piano playing shimmers like a sunset. The last line: “Love is a miracle”—revelation or sarcasm? Either way, it sounds good and I could even imagine this getting some rock FM radio play. Throughout the soloing is terse, short and sweet—Roney, Harrison, and especially Cary do indeed shine, but—to coin a show-biz adage—this is Calhoun’s show all the way. Not that he hogs the spotlight, to be sure—but the focus in on the individual pieces, mostly Calhoun and Cary originals with a few evergreens. Life in This World is, simply put, a fine, durable piece of work, one with lots of variety and plenty of stylistic continuity.

Michel Camilo WHAT’S UP? – MichelCamilo.com. What’s Up?; A Place in Time; Take Five; Sandra’s Serenade; Island Beat; Alone Together; Pa-prika; Love For Sale; Chan Chan; On Fire; At Dawn PERSONNEL: Michel Camilo, piano By Curtis Davenport I was quite surprised to discover that What’s Up is only Michel Camilo’s second solo piano album. I had assumed that someone with Mr. Camilo’s technical prowess would have gone solo a few more times over the course of his 25-plus year career. But in fact, What’s Up?is number two, the other being 2005’s appropri-ately titled, Solo. Solo, though technically strik-ing, was perhaps overly reverential and intro-spective; so much so that parts of the album took on a certain sameness. The same cannot be said of What’s Up?, which crackles with percussive energy and invention from beginning to end. The Dominican pianist is determined to show all


sides of his musical personality on this album from Latin to Bop to Classical with many stops in between. Though he is known mostly for his trio work, he seems freer in this setting. Perhaps the absence of a bassist has allowed Camilo to do more creative things with his left hand and much of it is very impressive. The album kicks off with a bit of a surprise – the title track, a lively boogie-woogie/stride tune written by Mr. Camilo. His left is rock solid, the melody is infectious and he sounds right at home in this idiom. Equally exciting is his version of Paul Desmond’s “Take Five”, which he plays straight and very impressively, keeping that timeless 5/4 rhythm while flowing with loads of creative ideas from his right hand. The quasi-classical “A Place in Time” is just begging to be scored for strings, I can hear in my mind an orchestra caressing the quiet passages and exploding on the crescendos. As beautiful as that composition is, the best moments on the album come when Mr. Camilo gets to show off his rhythmic prowess, whether it’s an original or a cover. “Island Beat” is more Cuba than Ja-maica with Camilo managing to make us feel the missing timbales. “Alone Together” manages to be grandiose and intimately bluesy all at once. “Paprika” is a powerful joy with rumbling left hand voicings that virtually leap from the piano. He takes “Love for Sale” to places that it has probably never been, with knotty, shifting time signatures and once again, stunning left hand work. Then there’s “Chan Chan”, originally com-posed and performed by the incomparable Cuban guitarist/vocalist Compay Segundo and made famous by its appearance in the film Buena Vista Social Club. It’s a stunningly beautiful song to begin with and Camilo treats it with the grandeur that it deserves, starting subtly and letting the performance grow in power, chorus after chorus, while pulling jazz elements that the song didn’t have before, in with his right hand improvisa-tions. It’s a towering performance that improves on an already great composition. The album comes to a fitting conclusion with the evocative “At Dawn”, which features Camilo at his most lyrical. I’m usually not a fan of solo piano but Mi-chel Camilo’s work on What’s Up has made me reconsider. As much as I enjoy Michel’s duo and trio work, I would relish hearing more solo al-bums from him of this caliber.

David Chesky JAZZ IN THE NEW HARMONIC—Chesky Records 358. Web: Chesky.com, David-Chesky.com. Jazz in the New Harmonic; Broad-way; American Culture; Duke’s Groove; Grooves from the Underground; Deconstruc-tion; Burnout; Transcendental Tripping

PERSONNEL: David Chesky, acoustic piano, producer; Jeremy Pelt, trumpet; Javon Jackson, tenor saxophone; Peter Washington, acoustic bass; Billy Drummond, drums; Norman Chesky, executive producer; Nicholas Prout, producer, engineer; Alex Sterling, assistant engineer; Bill Milkowski, liner notes; Jeff Wong, graphic de-sign; Henry Usukumah, photography; Jude Man-silla, photography;

By Alex Henderson At least 26 years have passed since com-poser, pianist, producer, and three-time Grammy nominee David Chesky co-founded Chesky Re-cords with his younger brother Norman, and perhaps enough time was spent running the label that his own catalogue isn’t as large as it could be. Nonetheless, David Chesky has recorded some impressive albums along the way, ranging from jazz to Euro-classical to Brazilian music. Stylistically, he has not been easy to pin down. So when a new David Chesky album arrives, one isn’t quite sure what to expect. The title Jazz in the New Harmonic indicates that this is a jazz album, but what type of jazz? As it turns out, this November 2012 recording favors an intriguing blend of third stream and early fusion. With influences ranging from Gunther Schuller to Charles Mingus to late 1960s/early 1970s-era Miles Davis, Jazz in the New Harmonic thrives on both the funky and the cerebral. Chesky wears different hats on this CD: acoustic pianist, composer (he wrote all of the material) and producer (he produced the album with colleague Nicholas Prout). And on memo-rable tracks such as “American Culture X,” “Burnout,” “Grooves from the Underground” and “Transcendental Tripping,” Chesky shows a strong appreciation of Davis’ early fusion re-cordings—that is, gems like In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew from 1969 and A Tribute to Jack Johnson from 1970. But surprisingly, he does it in an acoustic environment. Jazz in the New Harmonic finds Chesky leading an acoustic quintet that includes Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Javon Jackson on tenor sax, Peter Washington on upright bass and Billy Drummond on drums; Chesky doesn’t play any electric keyboards this time, only acoustic piano. Davis, of course, did-n’t take an all-acoustic approach when he re-corded In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew or A Trib-ute to Jack Johnson. Those revolutionary clas-sics, which ushered in the fusion era, made ex-tensive use of electric instruments. But on “Broadway,” “Deconstruction” and the title track, Chesky’s quintet successfully incorporates rock and funk elements without electric bass, electric keyboards or electric guitar. Melodi-cally, harmonically and rhythmically, Jazz in the New Harmonic has no problem acknowledging early fusion even without all the electric instru-ments that early fusion was known for. And that

Davis influence comes through not only with Chesky’s composing, but also, with Pelt’s trum-pet solos. When Davis played his trumpet, he gener-ally wasn’t one to cram as many notes as possi-ble into a solo. Davis’ subtle, understated trum-pet playing had plenty of breathing room. And the same goes for Pelt, who certainly isn’t going for density on this album. Pelt, remembering Davis, doesn’t overplay his trumpet and puts a lot of space in his solos. But again, Davis is not the only influence on Jazz in the New Harmonic; the Schuller and Mingus influence shouldn’t be overlooked. “Duke’s Groove,” for example, has some of Davis’ late 1960s/early 1970s funkiness but also recalls Mingus’ ability to put an abstract spin on Ellingtonian ideas. Duke Ellington was a major influence on Mingus’ composing, arranging and bandleading, but Mingus’ work was more cere-bral—and “Duke’s Groove” fondly remembers that Mingus/Ellington connection. Over the years, Chesky has produced more albums for other artists than he has produced for himself. But it’s good to see him providing a new album of his own, and the modern classical/early fusion blend he favors on Jazz in the New Harmonic makes for a consistently exciting lis-ten.

Antonia Ciacca Quintet Introducing

Justin Echols JUST IN TIME – Twins Music TWM 00001 http://justinechols.com. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore; Just In Time; My Foolish Heart; If I Had You; Dany My Dear; Love Is Here To Stay; Stardust; All Of Me; The Very Thought of You; Wallys; The Way You Look Tonight PERSONNEL: Antonio Ciacca, piano; Justin Echols, vocals; Andy Farber, saxes and flute; Joe Cohn, guitar; Paul Gill, bass; Pete Van Nostrand, drums By Curtis Davenport Before he even sings a note, Justin Echols draws you in with his story. Eight years ago, Justin Echols neither played the piano nor sang. He was an Oklahoma City Police Officer who also served as a Military Police Officer in the Army Reserve. As he was training MPs for Iraqi deployment, Echols was injured in a car accident, which effectively ended his mili-tary service. With his dreams of being a military officer ended, Echols returned to the OKC Police Department. He also sought solace in music, beginning to tinker at the piano for the first time. He also took a greater interest in jazz. The tink-



ering soon morphed into serious practicing while also listening to Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and other great vocalists who drew him into singing. Within three years Justin’s reputation had grown to the point where he had caught the ear of Wyn-ton Marsalis. Wynton knew that Echols was a talent to be developed so he put him in touch with Italian pianist Antonio Ciacca who is Direc-tor of Programming for Jazz at Lincoln Center and a Julliard professor. Ciacca became Echols’ mentor and played a major part in his musical growth. Echols did not quit his day job as a po-liceman but at night he became instrumental in reviving the jazz scene in Oklahoma City, be-coming the artist in residence at the Hefner Grill, playing and vocalizing there five nights a week. In 2012, Echols and Ciacca entered the studio to record Justin’s first album, backed by Ciacca’s quintet, entitled Just in Time. It’s a very tradi-tional but extremely hard swinging set of nine standards and two originals. Ciacca is an excel-lent if still under-exposed pianist as well as a sensitive singer’s accompanist. His band consists of some top flight New York pros such as Joe Cohn on guitar and tenor saxophonist Andy Farber, who has got a whole lot of Ben Webster in his horn. They set the new singer up for suc-cess. Not that he needed much help, because Mr. Echols is a winning singer with voice that is a cross between the late Carl Anderson and Nat King Cole. He is a very good interpreter of lyrics and he has a highly developed sense of swing. The strongest tracks are the ones where Echols, Ciacca and company do something a little unex-pected with the arrangement, such as “Our Love Is Here To Stay”, where Echols enters the song a little bit behind the beat in a way that made me smile, and Farber enlivens proceedings even more with a nice flute solo. “Just in Time” threatened to swing me into an injury behind Echols’ vocals and a cool single line guitar solo by Cohn which suddenly jumps into octaves. Farber, not be outdone, gets downright “Brutish” on the tenor. “Stardust” is Echols’ finest vocal performance on the CD. He wraps himself pas-sionately around the lyric and makes the listener feel every note. Finally, “All of Me” gives Ciacca a chance to remind us of his prowess as a soloist. His statement behind Echols opening is brief but very inventive. Just in Time is a strong debut which shows off Echols promise. If he stays on this path, the OKCPD may have to learn to share this officer a bit more often.

Ian Dogole OUTSIDE THE BOX – Global Fusion Music www.iandogole.com. Blue Nile; Lonely Woman; Resurgence; Pointe de Areia/Lilia; First Light; Silk Road; Epistrophy; Yemanhu; Chil-dren of the Night; Hermanos Shamanicos Suite; Trusting the Journey; Silhouettes of Yesterday; Jungle Jive; Saadia; La Plomberie Entr’Amis; Struttin’ With Some Heinie Manush; Nature Boy; Brother Pax; Honey’s Romp. PERSONNEL: Ian Dogole, drums, dumbek, udu, cajon, percussion; Paul McCandless, Mi-chael Zilber, Dave Tidball, reeds; Bill Douglass, acoustic bass, flutes; Eric Golub, viola, fiddle,

Fred Randolph, acoustic bass; Frank Martin, piano; Deborah Winters, vocals; Warren Kahn, synthesizer; Yassir Chadly, oud, gimbri, vocals; Tito La Rosa, flute, shakapa, voice.

By Mark Keresman Many cities are historically important to jazz—NYC, Chicago, New Orleans, and De-troit—but Philadelphia is up there, too, as a great incubator of musical talent. Along with John Coltrane, Uri Caine, Philly Joe Jones (obviously), and countless others, add percus-sionist Ian Dogole to the list of excellent Philly-bred musicians. Dogole has long been working at a fusion of jazz and world music (what used to be called “ethnic music”) and now his latest opus, his eighth as a leader, is a mammoth ex-ploration—and celebration—of the intersections of Jazz and World Music boulevards. Outside the Box is a two-disc set, the first disc “favoring” jazz with a mixture of originals and jazz classics taken to new vistas; the second discs orientation is more towards international sounds. “Blue Nile” is a classic Alice Coltrane composition that originally appeared on her 1970 album Ptah the El Daoud—it’s a moving, heart-felt tribute to the modally-based spiritual jazz pioneers. Frank Martin’s heavy—as in elemental and substantial, not plodding—piano drives the piece over shifting rhythms that evoke North Africa and the Middle East, the horns by Paul McCandless and David Tidball wail passionately but with a strong sense of serenity at their cen-ters. Fred Randolph’s buoyant acoustic bass ripples and torrents, sounding almost like an oud and Yassir Chadly adds a brief, haunting melis-matic (i.e., Arabic-sounding) vocal part. If this were the only good track on this album, it would be worth the price of admission. Fortunately, there’s plenty more gold in these figurative hills. Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” is redone—surprise—as a dirge, but with a differ-ence. Dogole’s udu (an African water jug) lays down a kaleidoscopic, undulating rhythm which deliriously offsets the desolate, blues-descended yowl-song of the horns. (O.C. would be proud, I think.) “Resurgence” is a dandy bit of near-bebop with a gliding, elegant melodic line slightly similar to Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia.” Tidball’s “Silk Road” is another moody modal piece—in fact it might sound right at home on one of Yusef Lateef’s mid-1960s albums or Oregon’s Vanguard-era platters…no shock there, as McCandless was a founding member of Oregon, one of the 1970s primo jazz/world fusion combos. But then, we are trans-ported to the legendary ‘50s jazz club the Five Spot via an earnest, punchy-swinging take of Monk’s “Epistrophy.” McCandless’ soprano sax evokes a “sweeter” Steve Lacy and Tidball’s tenor is husky and bear-like as Ben Webster. Wayne Shorter’s “Children of the Night” gets a

swell workout, with its front-line melody deliv-ered with the oomph of a Woody Herman Herd, Dogole doling out the sharp swing as if Philly Joe himself was counting on him to get the mail through, pianist Martin getting into some rollick-ing 88s and the tenors of Tidball and Michael Zilber play in tandem like Clifford Jordan and Johnny Griffin. Disc two: The “head/solos/head” concept (in terms of jazz) is mostly shown the door—the accent here is on rhythm and texture, on ambi-ance and the exploration and extrapolation of common aspects of folk/traditional sounds from around the globe. “Silhouettes of Yesterday” has cyclic rhythms with McCandless’ oddly tart-but-serene soprano sax soaring and trilling over them. “Jungle Jive” evokes the after-sundown soundtrack of cicadas but with buoyant drum-ming and some Martin Denny-ish exotic whis-tles. “La Plomberie Entr’Amis” pulses and crackles like one of Harry Partch’s theatrical panoramas, like a lad playing a wood flute on a hillside on a South Asian island, like a couple or three ancient wise men near a river in Tibet…but then, “Struttin’ With Some Heinie Manush” struts down Central Avenue in Heptown, with Eric Golub sawing away at his viola like Stuff Smith at his bluesiest, or like Billy Bang tipping his out-jazz sombrero to Smith, with Dogole keeping time like Joe Morello in his Brubeck-ian prime. Outside the Box has more variety and imagination than many albums occupying space in the marketplace, but more importantly, it has the focus and quality to make it a keeper. Dogole and company are obviously devoted to the influ-ences and inspirations from both jazz and folk styles, enough to play them “right” but with the ambition and chops to truly make them new.

Paquito D’Rivera SONG FOR MAURA - Paquito 4554. www.PaquitoDrivera.com. Chorinho Pra Voce; Song For Maura; Di Meno; Sonoroso; Cebola No Frevo; For Leny; Murmurando; Ceu E Ma; Paquito; I X O; Tem Do; Recife Blues; Saidera PERSONNEL: Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet and alto saxophone; Fabio Torres, piano; Paulo Paulelli, bass; Edu Ribeiro, drums By Scott Yanow When Paquito D’Rivera first arrived in the United States from his native Cuba in 1980, he was rightly celebrated as a major bop and Afro-Cuban based altoist who fit in perfectly with Dizzy Gillespie’s group. At that relatively early stage he had already been a major player in Cuba for 15 years, and had his own sound. While he is still a brilliant altoist today, over the years he has


also become equally notable as a very fluent and virtuosic clarinetist. In fact, D’Rivera ranks at the top of his field alongside Eddie Daniels, Ken Peplowski and just a few others. His enthusiastic playing, original sound, and endless flow of ideas make him a giant on both of his instru-ments. While a major force in Afro-Cuban jazz, D’Rivera says in the liner notes for Song For Maura that “half of my heart is Brazilian.” Even as a child growing up in Cuba, he loved Brazil-ian jazz. Throughout the past 30 years, he has had many opportunities to interact with Brazilian musicians and master their music. On Song For Maura, D’Rivera performs with the musicians of Trio Corrente (pianist Fabio Torres, bassist Paulo Paulelli and drum-mer Edu Ribeiro), a fine Brazilian group from Sao Paulo. While one may think of Brazilian jazz as being strictly bossa novas, Trio Corrente is much more flexible than that. While some of their playing is gentle, they are also very familiar with the bebop tradition and the developments that have taken place since that time. A few years ago, Paquito D’Rivera had his first opportunity to play with Trio Corrente and he was rightfully impressed. Song For Maura is their first joint recording. Torres provided most of the arrangements and brought in two originals including one titled “Paquito.” D’Rivera contrib-uted the title track which is dedicated to his mother. In addition to a song apiece by Claudio Roditi (the exciting straight ahead “Recife Blues”) and Baden Powell (“Tem Do”), the rep-ertoire also includes traditional Brazilian melo-dies and pieces influenced by classical music and ragtime. D’Rivera plays the majority of the selec-tions on clarinet, with two of the more exciting pieces being “Chorinho Pra Voce,” and “I X O.” “Sonoroso” has an implied (rather than stated) tango rhythm that brings out the romantic side of his clarinet, while on the relaxed “Song For Maura,” his double-time lines are consistently creative. Throughout this CD, D’Rivera gives one the impression that his clarinet playing is effortless. He is also heard on alto during several numbers, most notably the explosive “Recife Blues” and Daniel Frieberg’s pretty ballad “For Leny.” Fabio Torres takes many concise piano solos on this set that never fail to swing while showing a great deal of emotion. His accompani-ment and interplay with D’Rivera is also on a high level. Bassist Paulelli and drummer Ribeiro are mostly heard in support of the lead voices, giving a Brazilian flair to all of the music, even when swinging hard. Song For Maura, which is filled with strong melodies, dynamic playing, variety and the feel-ing of joy, is highly recommended to fans of Paquito D’Rivera. It also serves as a perfect opportunity to discover the music of Trio Cor-rente.

George Duke DREAMWEAVER – Heads Up Records HUI-34170-02. concordmusicgroup.com. Dream-weaver; Stones of Orion; Trippin’; Ashtray;

Missing You; Transition 1; Change The World; Jazzmatazz; Round The Way Girl; Transition 2; Brown Sneakers; You Never Know; Ball and Chain; Burnt Sausage Jam; Happy Trails PERSONNEL: George Duke, piano, Rhodes, synths, drum programming, arp odyssey, mini moog, Wurlitzer electric piano, castlebar clavi-net, vocals; Stanley Clarke, upright bass; Gorden Campbell, drums; Daniel Higgins, tenor sax, flute; Everette Harp, alto sax; Kamasi Washing-ton, tenor sax; Gary Grant, trumpet; Michael Patches Stewart, trumpet; Paul Jackson, Jr., Jef Lee Johnson, guitar; Larry Kimpel, bass; Jim Gilstrap, background vocals; Lalah Hathaway, Rachelle Ferrell, Jeffrey Osborne, vocals; BeBe-Winans, Teena Marie, and others vocals; Chris-tian McBride, bass; and others. By Curtis Davenport The human spirit is a funny thing; when we are feeling our greatest pain is often when we rise to the occasion and deliver greatness. We often feel that kind of pain when we lose a loved one. Legendary keyboardist George Duke’s wife of 40 years, Corine, passed away in 2012 after a long battle with cancer. For quite a while Mr. Duke, a renowned workaholic, was devastated. He did not write or perform any music, some-thing he had often sought solace in during times of trouble. Then, while attending a music cruise and listening some of his colleagues play during the first few days, the inspiration returned. Duke began to write while still at sea and began to record when he returned to his studio. The result is DreamWeaver, an R & B and Funk-driven Contemporary Jazz album, which is the best thing that I’ve heard from Duke in at least a decade. Duke cut his musical teeth in the bands of Frank Zappa and Cannonball Adderley and Jean-Luc Ponty, in addition to his chart topping work with bassist Stanley Clarke in the eighties. I say that to remind everyone that eclecticism has been Mr. Duke’s calling card throughout his five decade career. And DreamWeaver touches on most of Duke’s musical stops. The best news is that each one of these stops is invariably satisfy-ing. The album was recorded over multiple ses-sions, which allowed Duke to bring on board an all-star lineup of guests; Mr. Clarke, Christian McBride, Everette Harp, Rachelle Ferrell, Paul Jackson, Jr.; Jeffrey Osborne and Lalah Hatha-way are among the “big names” that appear on various tracks. There are also two other guests who make contributions that turn out now to be extremely poignant; more on them in a moment. Though there are a couple of obvious and very moving tributes to his late wife here (“Missing You” which features Ms. Ferrell as a wordless vocal counterpart to Mr. Duke’s lead and “Happy Trails”, the old Roy Rogers sign-off, turned into a laid back piece of jazz-funk),

don’t think that DreamWeaver is some kind of sad jazz requiem. There are many tracks that will get your head nodding, your toes tapping and put a smile on your face as you reach for the “repeat” button. There’s “Stones of Orion”, a nice piece of straight ahead jazz with a touch of R & B; Duke’s piano and Clarke’s bass shine. “Trippin’” is a nice autobiographical slice of modern soul. “Ashtray” is hard driving funk out of the Bootsy Collins school. “Change The World” is a “We are The World”-style call for social change, complete with an all-star choir of vocalists. “You Never Know” is a nice laid back Latin groove with Duke’s falsetto singing about the impermanence of life. And “Burnt Sausage Jam” is a loose 15 minute improvisation, with Duke, McBride and many others clearly having a ball as they groove through multiple musical styles. Then there’s the appearance on many of the tracks of Jef Lee Johnson, the Philly-based guitar wizard who was a longtime musical partner of Duke’s. Johnson died suddenly last January, not too long after the sessions for this album were completed. He is a strong presence throughout. And there’s the unforgettable appearance on “Ball and Chain” by Teena Marie. At the time of her death in December 2010, Ms. Marie and Mr. Duke had just begun work on Marie’s long-discussed jazz album. The vocals for “Ball and Chain” were some of the only parts completed. After her death, Mr. Duke offered the track to Marie’s estate for release on her posthumous album Beautiful. They declined but gave Duke permission to complete the track, which appears on DreamWeaver. Teena Marie sounds wonder-ful and the entire track is first-rate, rivaling “Tune in Tomorrow” and “Casanova Brown”, two of the jazzier tracks on her classic R & B albums. Thinking about what her unfinished album might have been caused a lump in my throat. Though the circumstances surrounding its creation were less than ideal, George Duke has created a musical gem in DreamWeaver. We can only hope that his creativity continues for many more years.

Derrick Hodge LIVE TODAY – Blue Note Records B 001847702. The Real; Table Jawn; Message of Hope; Boro March; Live Today; Dances With Ancestors; Anthem in 7; Still The One; Holding Onto You; Solitude; Rubberband; Gritty Folk; Doxology (I Remember) PERSONNEL: Derrick Hodge, acoustic and electric bass, keyboards, percussion, table beats, synthesizers, lead bass distortion, fretless bass, synth bass, vocals; Common, vocals; Chris Dave, drums, percussion, table beats; James



Poyser, keyboards; Travis Sayles, synthesizers, keyboards, Hammond B3 Organ; Jahi Sundance, turntables; Keyon Harrold, trumpets, flugelhorn; Marcus Strickland, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Corey King, trombone; Robert Glasper, keyboards, acoustic piano, Fender Rho-des, table beats; Mark Colenburg, drums, percus-sion, snare drums, quads; Aaron Parks, acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes; Casey Benjamin, vo-coder; Alan Hampton, vocals, acoustic guitar; Martha Caplin, violin; Sophia Kessinger, violin; Sarah Adams, viola; Mark Shuman, cello. By Curtis Davenport If jazz has a future, then music like this is it. Though many of my generation and those older may not like to hear that and some will even almost fight to the death to deny it, let’s face facts: Young cats like Robert Glasper, Marcus Strickland, Derrick Hodge, Keyon Harrold and their contemporaries are playing jazz today that is influenced as much by hip-hop as it is by be-bop. Which is not a bad thing. They didn’t grow up with the Great American Songbook in their ears so why do so many “jazz people” get apo-plectic when these young guys play to their in-fluences? Granted, early marriages of jazz and hip-hop were often clumsy and sometimes downright awful, but these guys and others have learned from the earlier mistakes and refined these stylistic mergers into something that is new and fresh. The sound is compelling and exciting. Hip young people are beginning to listen and even a few “old heads” such as this writer have come around. This is the sound of “New Jazz” in the 21st Century. Bassist Derrick Hodge is known mostly for his work as a member of Robert Glasper’s for-ward-looking group. He was a major contributor to Glasper’s 2012 breakthrough album Black Radio. However, he has worked across multiple genres over the last decade supporting a wide range of artists from Gretchen Parlato and Mul-grew Miller to rapper Common and gospel singer Marvin Sapp. Live Today is his debut as a leader. Though it is cut from much of the same cloth as Glasper’s album, Hodge doesn’t have as many big name guest stars and he eschews cover versions of familiar pop tunes. What he does have are songs and arrangements that are com-plex, challenging and fresh. The direction of this album is announced right away on “The Real”, a busy amalgam of horn blasts, synthesizers, turntable scratches and sampled voices making statements all held to-gether by Hodges powerful bassline. It’s as close as I’ve heard to nailing the essence of what those seeking hip-hop/azz fusion have probably been looking for. Things really kick into high gear a few songs later on the title track. Glasper opens

it by sounding a subtle “alarm” with a repeated piano figure. He is then joined by guest star Common, whose tone here summoned memories of the late Gil Scott-Heron in his prime. The track is spare, only Glasper, Hodge and drummer Chris Dave back Common; yet it feels remarka-bly dense, as Common coolly brings forth rhyme after rhyme. I could easily listen to a whole al-bum of these cats flowing like that. The great vibe continues with the next track “Dances with Ancestors”, which features Harrold’s muted trumpet and Hodge on both acoustic and electric bass, while Aaron Parks on piano and Travis Sayles on the B3 play off of each other as they improvise the background. It’s beautiful in a mysterious way. “Anthem in 7” allows the leader to come to the forefront and remind us that he is one of the best young bassists around as he riffs over the complex time signature. On “Solitude” Parks and Hodge trade intricate solo statements, backed by a lush string quartet; the presence of Parks and Glasper throughout the album helps Hodge to put all aspects of his musical personal-ity on display. The disc closes with a nice bow to Mr. Hodge’s upbringing in the church, “Doxology (I Remember)”, anyone with a simi-lar background (such as this writer) will feel a smile of homecoming creep over their face as Hodge bows the familiar theme (“Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow…”) followed by Sayles organ. It’s a fitting end to this fine effort. According to Hodge’s recent statements, he did not enter the studio with intricate parts writ-ten out for each musician. The compositions

were purposefully left in a basic sketch state so that arrangements would occur organically; thus the title of the album. Miles Davis famously employed a similar strategy over fifty years ago on the sessions that created Kind of Blue. We all know now the influence that that album had on jazz. Live Today may not be as memorable as Miles’ classic, but it’s certainly bold enough to inspire many young musicians who will follow.

Robert Hurst BoB – A Palindrome Bebop Records. 3 For Lawrence; Picked From Nick; Big Queen; Tigers on Venus; Middle Passage Suite: For Those of Us Who Made It, For Those of Us Who Didn’t Make It, For Those of Us Still Here; Little Queen; Indiscreet in da Street; Jamming aka Ichabad. PERSONNEL: Robert Hurst, acoustic bass; Branford Marsalis, tenor & soprano saxophones; Marcus Belgrave, trumpet, flugelhorn; Bennie Maupin, flute, tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet; Robert Glasper, acoustic & electric pianos; Jeff “Tain” Watts, drums; Adam Ru-dolph, percussion.

By Mark Keresman Although he started on the guitar, Robert Hurst graduated to the bass and eventually on to playing with Out of the Blue, Harry Connick Jr., Tony Williams, and the bands of each of the Marsalis brothers. Now he’s released his fifth disc as a leader, although it was recorded in 2001and delayed until now. It’s as fine as his previous release, 2010’s Bob Ya Head. But whereas Head folded-in influences of hip-hop and electronica into Hurst’s sonic post bop stew, BoB is more of a straight-up jazz album, albeit one with lots of stylistic diversity. In some ways, BoB is a throwback to the early 1970s, but that’s meant in the best possible way. In that period—1970-1976, say—there were a large number of albums that reflected nearly all the prevailing trends going on in jazz at that juncture. Albums by Tony Williams, Gary Bartz, Joe Zawinul, Les McCann, and others took in aspects of hard bop and free jazz, electric instrumentation, and assorted degrees of fusion and funk. “3 For Lawrence” could have come from one of Yusef Lateef’s Atlantic era albums, featuring as it does Bennie Maupin’s serene but surging flute and Marcus Belgrave’s mellow but assertive trumpet over an ebb-and-flow rhythm. “Picked From Nick” is a dandy slice of medium-tempo meta-funk, featuring bubbling electric piano, an almost funky stop-start loping rhythm, Alan Rudolph’s spicy congas, Maupin’s thicken-ing-the-mix bass clarinet, and a pensive, yearn-ing melodious ambiance. “The Passage Suite” is something of a trib-ute to the makers of music, those that have tri-umphed in their lives and those that maybe were-n’t quite so lucky. It goes from exultant hard bop to a moody, Beat-tinged dirge (Hurst’s bass is subtly poetic) that’s touched by sad remem-brance and mournful appreciation. Maupin’s flute aches as if for the recent passing of a loved one, Belgrave’s muted brass is appropriately and prettily Miles-like, to a volatile near-free blow-out. Robert Glasper plays some tasty, spiky McCoy Tyner-tinged piano throughout this suite. “Indiscreet…” is some dynamic straight-ahead hard bop with Watts channeling his inner Elvin Jones and Belgrave his inner Freddie Hubbard…yet despite these iconic inspirations, this track doesn’t sound like classic Blue Note. It fades out just as it gets its “out” passage on. The final track, “Jamming” isn’t just that. It’s a grand strut in grand New Orleans style…that is, if Miles’ crew circa Bitches Brew took a vacation in N’Awlins, Watts giving his version of Orleans’ second line drumming, Rudolph adding some potent accents ‘n’ punch. Like Bob Ya Head, BoB is pretty much the product of an ensemble—while there are nifty solos aplenty, they are of the short and sweet variety, and the ensemble passages are well-thought and layered—no one player dominates. Even Hurst doesn’t really take “solos” per se, preferring to direct and inspire the course of the album as a whole while inserting some nice fills and frills. Hurst is a brave musician, claiming assorted “eras” of jazz (and beyond) but in thrall to none. He’s not just a player, he’s a creative director and producer.

(Continued on )

“It takes considerable

knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”

- Thomas Sowell

Jeff Hamilton Trio

“Red Sparkle is another winner, another compelling

performance by the terrific trio of jazz, another gem

of a recording that shines all over, a “Red Sparkle”

of contemporary and modern jazz.”

– Edward Blanco, ejazznews.com

Mark Masters &

Gary Smulyan

This is a superb CD that is a must buy for both

Ellington band fans, and those that appreciate

his famous saxophonists’ talents.

– Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition

Mike Wofford/

Holly Hofmann Quintet

“Polished and adventurous, this is a gem of a CD.”

– Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“All in all, this CD captures four West Coasters and

New York-based Stafford at the height of their powers.”

– Scott Albin, JazzTimes

Gary Smulyan

“Smul’s Paradise was worth the wait. Working with

Mike LeDonne on organ and Peter Bernstain on uitar,

and incorporating Smulyan’s drummer-of-choice Kenny

Washington, the saxist has produced an irresistible,

full-throttle date that pays homage to his heroes while

imparting his own distinctive spin.” —Neil Tesser

Stephanie Nakasian

Far from the more standard release we are treated

to more traditional swing, bebop roots, vibrant poly

rhythms and textured harmonic movement that takes

what could be considered the more typical and

elevates Nakasian to the level of special!

– Brent Black, CriticalJazz.com

Graham Dechter

A guitarist from Los Angeles who has already established

himself as a member of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz

Orchestra ... a powerful and confident sense of swing,

thoughtful small-group arrangements, warm guitar tone

and tasteful blowing. – Downbeat.com

www.CapriRecords.com

http://www.CapriRecords.com

August 2013 � Jazz Inside Magazine � www.JazzInsideMagazine.com 64

To Advertise CALL: 215-887-8880

Iverson/Konitz/

Grenadier/Rossy

COSTUMES ARE MANDATORY – High

Note HCD 7249. Blueberry Ice Cream Take 2;

Try A Little Tenderness; It’s You (Tempo Com-

plex); It’s You; What’s New; 317 East 32nd;

Body And Soul; Blueberry Hill; A Distant Bell;

Bats; Mr. Bumi; My New Lovers All Seem So

Tame; My Old Flame; Blueberry Ice Cream

Take 1

PERSONNEL: Ethan Iverson, piano; Lee

Konitz, alto sax, vocal; Larry Grenadier, bass;

Jorge Rossy, drums

By Scott Yanow

Although all four musicians on this fun set

are listed as co-leaders, it was organized by pian-

ist Ethan Iverson (who also wrote the informa-

tive liner notes), and even though the altoist sits

out on a few numbers, it is difficult not to think

of Lee Konitz as its leader. Not only is much of

the music on Konitz’s home turf (straight ahead

jazz inspired by Lennie Tristano) but he sounds

like the youngest musician on the session. Two

months shy of his 85th birthday at the time of this

Aug. 2012 recording, Konitz has had a career

that can only be classified as remarkable.

There are just a handful of current jazz

performers who have been active a little longer

than Konitz, most notably clarinetist Buddy

DeFranco (who got started in 1943) and ar-

ranger-bandleader Gerald Wilson (who joined

Jimmie Lunceford in 1939). One also should not

leave out the 99-year old singer Herb Jeffries,

who recorded with Earl Hines in 1934 but

stopped singing a couple of years ago. But

unlike those three, Lee Konitz (who became a

professional musician 68 years ago in 1945) has

been an adventurous improviser throughout his

long career. While his distinctive sound was

fully formed by1947 when he played with the

Claude Thornhill Orchestra, he has never been

content to play licks or clichés. One of the very

few young altoists of the late 1940s and 1950s

who did not sound like a close relative of Charlie

Parker, Konitz played free improvisations with

Tristano as early as the late 1940s. While often

heard playing over familiar chord changes dur-

ing his career, Konitz has also taken very free

solos on many occasions. His cool tone and re-

laxed style should never disguise the fact that he

is a fearless improviser who is always open to

new musical challenges. How many other jazz

musicians in history have played at this creative

a level for over 65 years?

While Ethan Iverson, who is best known for

his work with the Bad Plus, does not attempt to

sound like Konitz’s early mentor Lennie Tris-

tano on this set and he actually most enjoys hear-

ing Konitz playing without any piano, he comes

up with his own conception of the Tristano ap-

proach for these performances. Of the trio num-

bers, Iverson’s deconstruction of “Blueberry

Hill” is witty and he comes close to sounding

like Tristano (using a walking bass line) on

“Bats,” Bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer

Jorge Rossy (who teamed together for years as

members of the Brad Mehldau Trio) get their

share of solo space and are more interactive than

Tristano (who preferred a metronomic approach

from bass and drums) would have preferred.

But while all of the musicians play very

well, one’s focus always comes back to the age-

less altoist. Lee Konitz, who takes a surprise scat

vocal on “My Old Flame,” digs into such num-

bers as “Try A Little Tenderness” (which he had

never recorded before), “It’s You” (based on

“It’s You Or No One”), “What’s New,” “Body

And Soul” and Tristano’s “317 East

32nd” (based on “Out Of Nowhere”) with an

endless stream of fresh ideas.

Costumes Are Mandatory is easily recom-

mended to fans of Lee Konitz, Ethan Iverson and

modern straight ahead jazz.

Geoffrey Keezer

HEART OF THE PIANO—Motéma Music

125. Web: Motema.com, GeoffreyKeezer.com,

KeezersPianoLessons.com. Limelight; My Love

Is Like a Red, Red Rose; Come Talk to Me; New

York; Still; Suddenly I see: Chirizakura; Lullaby

for a Ladybug; Grunion Run; Take Time for

Love

PERSONNEL: Geoffrey Keezer, acoustic pi-

ano, producer; Daniel Atkinson, producer; Kent

M. Fuqua, engineer; Billy Martinez, graphic

design; Brad Buckman, photography; Mike

Pope, mastering

By Alex Henderson

One of the appealing things about the New

York City-based Motéma Music is the fact that

the company’s president, singer/songwriter Jana

Herzen, does more than release albums—she

oversees projects. A lot of thought typically goes

into Motéma releases; the company takes a lot of

chances but does so in a thoughtful way. And

this unaccompanied solo-piano album by Geoff

Keezer is a prime example. The former Jazz

Messenger could have easily gone into the studio

and recorded a run-of-the-mill “jazz pianist plays

Tin Pan Alley standards” album. But instead of

inundating listeners with an abundance of war-

horses that they have heard on countless jazz

albums, Keezer isn’t afraid to surprise us with

his choice of material. The album is consistently

intriguing.

Heart of the Piano isn’t the first time

Keezer has recorded an unaccompanied solo-

piano project; he was also unaccompanied on

1999’s Zero One. And while that album had an

interesting variety of songs (Keezer was willing

to play Duke Ellington one minute and Björk

the next), there is even more intrigue on Heart

of the Piano. During the course of the album,

Keezer turns his attention to everything from

post-bop material (including pianist James Wil-

liams’ “Take Time for Love” and Christian

McBride’s “Lullaby for a Ladybug”) to the 18th

Century Scottish folk standard “My Love Is Like

a Red Red Rose” to rock songs that include

Rush’s “Limelight,” Peter Gabriel’s “Come Talk

to Me,” Alanis Morissette’s “Still” and K.T.

Tunstall’s “Suddenly, I See.” Keezer’s sources

are impressively diverse on this album, but what-

ever he is performing—be it Scottish folk, Don-

ald Brown’s “New York” or Alanis Morissette—

Keezer maintains an introspective post-bop tone

and makes everything sound deeply personal.

Many acoustic-oriented post-bop musicians

avoid anything having to do with rock or R&B.

They fail to see how a song that came from

Marvin Gaye or Sarah McLachlan could possi-

bly work in an improvisatory jazz setting, but

such thinking is dogmatic and misguided. The

fact is that jazz musicians have always used

popular songs as vehicles for jazz expression,

and if generations of improvisers can find the

jazz appeal in Tin Pan Alley show tunes, there is

no reason why rock and R&B songs cannot

benefit them as well. Of course, the Bad Plus

realize that; so do the Modern Rock Quartet, a

chance-taking Philadelphia group that special-

izes in jazz interpretations of rock and R&B

64-66-68-69 page 2

Cyan

Magenta

Yellow

Black

Cyan

Magenta

Yellow

Black

Tuesday, July 30, 2013 02:41

http://www.moonjune.com

Antonio AdolfoFinas Misturas (fine mixtures)Tunes by John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, ChickCorea, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans & Antonio Adolfo

Piano: Antonio AdolfoTenor Sax & Flute: Marcelo MartinsElectric Guitar: Leo AmuedoAcoustic Guitar: Claudio SpiewakDouble Bass: Jorge HelderDrums & Percussion: Rafael Barata

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Available at all major websites www.aammusic.com

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in nyc - August 2013 only

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material. And Keezer, much to his credit, obvi-

ously sees things the same way. When Keezer

tackles Morissette, Rush, Gabriel and Tunstall, it

doesn’t sound the least bit forced or unnatural.

Keezer makes their songs sound perfectly natural

in an acoustic solo-piano setting.

The very fact that Keezer can find the post-

bop possibilities in rock songs speaks well of

him, but adding to the intrigue is the fact that he

isn’t necessarily going to choose a rocker’s most

famous songs. “Still,” for example, is a song that

Morissette’s hardcore fans know, but it isn’t as

well-known as “Ironic,” “Head over Feet,” “You

Oughta Know” or “Thank U.” In other words,

Keezer really does his homework when it comes

to choosing material. And through it all, he never

forgets his McCoy Tyner/Cedar Walton/Kenny

Barron heritage.

Hopefully, Heart of the Piano won’t be the

last time Keezer records an unaccompanied solo-

piano album.

Earl Klugh

HANDPICKED - Heads Up 33201

www.headsup.com. Alfie; Lullaby Of Birdland;

Blue Moon; In Six; Cast Your Fate To the Wind;

Hotel California; More And More Amor; ‘Round

Midnight; But Beautiful; All I Have To Do is

Dream; Going Out Of My Head; If I Fell; Where

The Wind Takes Me; Morning Rain; Love Is A

Many Splendored Thing; This Time

PERSONNEL: Earl Klugh, guitar; Bill Frisell,

guitar; Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele; Vince Gill,

guitar, vocal

By Scott Yanow

Ever since he emerged on George Benson’s

White Rabbit album in 1973 when he was 17

(two years after he made his recording debut

with Yusef Lateef), Earl Klugh has followed his

own musical path. While other guitarists of the

time period were influenced by rock and fusion,

Klugh considered his main influence to be Chet

Atkins. He has said that he was extremely im-

pressed by Atkins, who was the first musician he

ever heard “sing” melodies on his instrument

without actually vocalizing. One can also hear

bits of Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd in

Klugh’s playing, along with classical guitarists.

Rather than playing electric guitar, he has mostly

been heard on acoustic throughout his career.

Strange to think that Klugh was briefly a mem-

ber of an unrecorded version of Return To For-

ever in 1974 (right after Bill Connors and before

Al DiMeola). What did that group sound like?

In an age of guitar speed demons, Klugh

has been happy to perform his own brand of

beautiful music. He takes his time, caresses

melodies, displays his very attractive tone, and

(like Atkins) lets each note sing, even when

playing at a faster tempo.

While many of Earl Klugh’s recordings

have utilized a small band and have featured

light funk rhythms behind his lead, and other

sessions have had him accompanied by large

orchestras, his music is most rewarding when he

plays unaccompanied solos. In reality, he does

not need other musicians to assist him for he is a

quiet orchestra by himself, providing the mel-

ody, harmonies, chords and an occasional bass

line, all with a pretty tone.

On HandPicked, Klugh does welcome

guests to three selections. Guitarist Bill Frisell

blends in very well with Klugh on “Blue Moon,”

ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro helps out on

“Hotel California” and Vince Gill sings during

part of “All I Have To Do Is Dream.” Each of

the guests adds to the music in their own way

without taking the spotlight from Klugh.

Otherwise, Earl Klugh provides all of the

music. He emphasizes the melody throughout,

yet never allows his playing to become dull or

sleepy. His melodic variations are full of subtle

creativity, he contrasts sounds and silence, and

uplifts the wide repertoire. Whether it is a jazz

standard such as “Lullaby Of Birdland,” the

Vince Guaraldi pop/jazz hit “Cast Your Fate To

The Wind,” a 1960s pop song (‘Going Out Of

My Head”) with which Wes Montgomery had

some success, or the movie theme “Love Is A

Many Splendored Thing,” Klugh finds the inner

beauty of the melody and comes up with some-

thing fresh to say.

Strange as it may seem, my advice for this

CD is to play it loud. While Earl Klugh’s solo

guitar musings can serve very well as back-

ground music, it deserves a closer listen. What

he is playing is not as easy as it may sound, and

a close listen will reveal plenty of quietly excit-

ing moments. HandPicked is the guitarist’s most

satisfying album in years.

Christian McBride

OUT HERE - Mack Avenue Records MAC-

1069 - www.mackavenue.com. Ham Hocks And

Cabbage; Hallelujah Time; I Guess I’ll Have To

Forget; Easy Walker; My Favorite Things; East

Of The Sun; Cherokee; I Have Dreamed; Who’s

Making Love

PERSONNEL: Christian McBride, bass; Chris-

tian Sands, piano; Ulysses Owens, Jr., drums

By Scott Yanow

Bassist Christian McBride has been well

known in the jazz world ever since he joined

altoist Bobby Watson’s band in 1989 when he

was 17. He has recorded hundreds of sessions

since that time with the who’s who of jazz, been

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hailed as the successor to Ray Brown, and won

many polls. For many listeners, he is considered

the top jazz bassist to emerge during the past 25

years. While he has sometimes proclaimed his

love for fusion and funk, displaying his virtuos-

ity on the electric bass, in recent times he has

mostly been heard back on acoustic. McBride’s

recent projects include an 18-piece big band, the

quintet Inside Straight, an electric funky unit

called “A Christian McBride Situation,” and the

trio heard on Out Here.

On this CD, McBride teams up with pianist

Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens,

Jr. who are also members of Inside Straight. The

trio first came together for an Inside Straight gig

when vibraphonist Warren Wolf and saxophonist

Steve Wilson could not make it. McBride wisely

decided to work with the trio as an independent

unit. While the bassist has sometimes taken an

excess of bass solos on his own sessions, the

balance is just right on Out Here. He allows his

sidemen to shine, with Owens being strong in

support and Sands showing a great deal of talent

both as a soloist and an accompanist.

Out Here starts out like an Oscar Peterson/

Ray Brown tribute project before branching out

into other directions. The medium-temp blues

“Ham Hocks And Cabbage” that opens the set

has McBride playing the melody, Sands taking a

heated piano solo, and includes a few drum

breaks that make the group reminiscent of one of

Ray Brown’s trios. Oscar Peterson’s quasi-

gospel tune “Hallelujah Time” is an uptempo

romp that has Sands sounding close to Peterson

and McBride bowing in a relaxed fashion

(despite the tempo) a la Paul Chambers. After

the medium-tempo bossa ballad “I Guess I’ll

Have To Forget,” the Peterson “tribute” con-

cludes with one of the pianist’s finest originals,

“Easy Walker.” The close interplay between the

trio members along with Sands’ chord voicings

emulate the early 1960s Oscar Peterson Trio.

The remaining five selections are more in

the style of the Christian McBride Trio. “My

Favorite Things” is transformed into a romp in

5/4 with some explorative piano that hints at

McCoy Tyner while going beyond Tyner’s style.

On “East Of The Sun,” McBride takes the mel-

ody and the first solo, Sands plays soulfully and

there is a drum chorus over walking bass before

McBride takes it out.

“Cherokee,” formerly the test piece for

beboppers, has been taken at a breakneck speed

many times before. This version has the trio

playing in half time during each chorus’ bridge

before resuming its rapid speed. Somehow the

musicians sound confident and never falter.

This CD concludes with the ballad “I Have

Dreamed” (which has some fine McBride bow-

ing) and the only funky track of the CD, “Who’s

Making Love.” But even on the latter selection

which has a particularly catchy bass line, the

music is acoustic and swinging.

Out Here is a fine showcase for the Chris-

tian McBride Trio and will be enjoyed by fans of

acoustic trios in general and Oscar Peterson in

particular.

John Medeski

A D I F F E R E N T T I M E –

www.JohnMedeski.com. A Different Time; I’m

Falling in Love Again; His Eye is On The Spar-

row; Ran; Graveyard Fields; Luz Marina; Wait-

ing At the Gate; Lacrima; Otis.

PERSONNEL: John Medeski, solo piano.

By Mark Keresman

Born 1965, multi-keyboard whiz John

Medeski is of the recent generation(s) of jazz

musicians that unashamedly and eagerly ac-

knowledge and embrace influences outside of

jazz. Best-known as one-third of the hard-

grooving trio Medeski, Martin & Wood—a

combo embraced by the jazz, funk, and jam band

scenes—Medeski has made a career out of defy-

ing “borders” between styles/genres of jazz in

particular and music in general, performing and

collaborating with such swells as Iggy Pop, Trey

Anastasio, John Zorn, and John Scofield. But

Medeski cut his teeth with iconic jazz figures

Mark Murphy, Jaco Pastorius, Dewey Redman,

Bob Mintzer, and Billy Higgins, and he credits

Oscar Peterson as the impetus that got him on

the road to the piano.

A Different Time presents a very different

side of Medeski—instead of his usual battery of

electrically-powered keyboards, this is the result

of a 100% unplugged solo acoustic session.

Unlike some jazz pianists—unaccompanied or

not—this session has the additional wrinkle of

consisting of nearly all original material, with

the exception of songs by Willie Nelson (“I’m

Falling In Love Again”) and the gospel standard

“His Eye Is On the Sparrow.” The title track

opens the album—it’s a contemplative, deliber-

ate, slowly building piece that recalls some of

Keith Jarrett’s earliest solo work for the ECM

label. Like Jarrett, Medeski takes his time, deli-

cately but firmly daubing his notes on the sonic

canvas, establishing the introspective, harmoni-

ous ambience of this set.

Nelson’s “I’m Falling In Love Again” gets

a lovely reading here, with Medeski infusing his

somewhat Jarrett-esque rhapsodic approach with

some of the distilled minimalism of Thelonious

Monk. While Medeski is not nearly as blues-

oriented (hey, it’s there, really), he applies that

Monk-patented spare-ness, using no more notes

that necessary (plus a bit of drollery) to put the

song across, all the while maintaining the mel-

ody’s romantic yearning.

“Graveyard Fields” is a bit of a departure

from the first few tracks—the tone is less cozily

introspective and a bit gothic, as if Medeski were

laying the groundwork for a ghost story to be

told. The low notes palpably rumble like the

earth trembling, the higher notes spin a tale of

refugees from the bone orchard. “Luz Marina”

has some of the Impressionistic tenor of Bill

Evans, but with a “harder” sound, not nearly as

relaxed or “chill” as Evans. “Waiting At the

Gate”—perhaps the brightest, most up-tempo

track here—is laced with some gorgeously thick

gospel-style chords. (One could easily imagine

the late Gene Harris playing this.) “Otis” closes

out the album much as it began—it’s a melodi-

ously introspective meander paying tribute to…

well, Otis, of course. It’s so lovely it could al-

most be an outtake from Jarrett’s classic album

Facing You.

Medeski has prestigious technique but he

doesn’t make a “point” of it—he simply plays

and plays so very well and economically. Per-

haps A Different Time could’ve used a few more

variations in mood, but if you’re copasetic with

wistfulness and down with dreaminess in the

world of un-wired 88’s, this is one of the safest

bets around.

David Murray

BE MY MONSTER LOVE – Motéma Records

MTM-112 www.Motema.com. French Kiss for

Valerie; Be My Monster Love; Stressology;

Army of the Faithful[Joyful Noise]; Sorrow

Song; About the Children; The Graduate; Hope

is a Thing with Feathers

PERSONNEL: David Murray, tenor saxo-

phone; Marc Cary, piano, organ; Nasheet Waits,

drums; Jaribu Shahid, bass; Bobby Bradford,

cornet (track 7); Macy Gray, vocals (track 2);

Gregory Porter, vocals (tracks 4, 6, 8)

By Curtis Davenport

Man, you’ve got to love David Murray. Just

when you think that you’ve got the cat figured

out, he throws you that giant curve that freezes

you with the bat on your shoulders.

This time the curve arrives in the guise of

his latest album, Be My Monster Love. Murray of

course, is known worldwide as one of the found-

ing members of the avant-garde World Saxo-

phone Quartet and as one of the most important

free jazz saxophonists of our time. So what does

he do on this album? He turns around and drops

a hard-swinging straight ahead disc that for the

most part is as accessible as a Houston Person

album, but still utterly compelling in its unique-

ness.

Mr. Murray hinted that he may be looking

in a more mainstream direction on his last al-

bum; the well-received David Murray plays Nat

King Cole en Español. Though he still stretched

conventional boundaries in his solos on the Cole

album, many of the Latin based arrangements

kept Murray with one foot on the ground. On Be

My Monster Love, Murray goes all in on his

traditional side, with guest vocals from R&B

diva Macy Gray and soulful jazzer Gregory Por-Visit www.JazzNewswire.com

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ter. But in spite of the conventional trappings,

Murray still finds ways to keep us on our toes:

for instance, the accompanying booklet includes

not liner notes but a rather idiosyncratic short

story by award winning British crime writer

Robert Wilson, called “A Dangerous Kind of

Love”.

Listening to David Murray in this setting

made me realize that his sound is somewhat

reminiscent of Sonny Rollins. Don’t misread

that. Murray has too much of his own style to

ever be considered a Rollins clone but I defi-

nitely hear the Newk influence.

The album jumps out of the gate strongly

with “French Kiss for Valerie”, dedicated to

Murray’s wife. Murray’s new quartet of young

veterans—Marc Cary, on piano; Nasheet Waits

on drums; Jaribu Shahid on bass—set up a

steady waltz rhythm that Murray dives into with

gusto, with a solo that is at turns gentle and in-

sistent. This is followed by the incredible title

track—a finger snapping jazz groove tune which

is elevated by Macy Gray’s letter-perfect inter-

pretation of Ishmael Reed’s quirky lyric. A song

that includes lyrics such as “Suck me until I’m

anemic…Until the doctors give me up for

dead…” could go awry in the wrong hands. But

Gray’s eerie, gravelly voice is just right for the

job. Ms. Gray is no stranger to jazz by the way,

having been a jazz singer on the club circuit

during her early days. Murray and Gray are a

perfect team on this track. They first worked

together on a project helmed by Questlove, the

drummer of The Roots and Jimmy Fallon Show

fame. Their chemistry is obvious. I would like

hear more of them as a team.

The bop based “Stressology” gives Murray

a chance to blow hard and head a little toward

the outside. Cary turns in a strong solo as does

Waits on drums, who seems to get better on each

project that I hear him. Mr. Porter, who is one of

the hottest jazz singers around today, adds his

vocals to three of the eight tracks: “Army of the

Faithful [Joyful Noise]”, with a gospel based

lyric by Mr. Reed, is right in Porter’s soul-jazz

wheelhouse; with Cary on church organ and a

fiery tenor “sermon” from Murray, it’s the best

of Porter’s appearances. “Sorrow Song” seems

to be misnamed as it is in fact a rather joyous

nine minute romp with Murray flying high on

top of Cary’s solid comping. “The Graduate” is a

mid-tempo tune that is most notable for the ap-

pearance on cornet of 78 year-old Bobby Brad-

ford, who is renowned for his free jazz work

with Ornette Coleman and John Carter. Mr.

Bradford was also one of Mr. Murray’s teachers

in college, so the pairing of teacher and student

is a nice touch.

Those who love David Murray because of

his work in the WSQ may be disappointed in Be

My Monster Love. However, if your tastes tend

more toward mainstream jazz with a soulful

bent, you’ll probably find a lot to like here.

Old Time Musketry

DIFFERENT TIMES—SteepleChase 33101.

Web: SteepleChase.dk, oldtimemusketry.com.

Star Insignia; Parade; Different Times; Cadets;

Hope for Something More; Anger Dance; Highly

Questionable; Underwater Volcano; Floating

Vision

PERSONNEL: Adam Schneit, tenor saxophone,

clarinet; JP Schlegelmilch, acoustic piano, elec-

tric keyboards, glockenspiel, synthesizers; Phil

Rowan, bass; Max Goldman, drums, melodica;

Nils Winther, producer; Tom Tedesco, engineer;

Connie Wang, graphic design

By Alex Henderson

All too often, artists who are described as

“beyond category,” “impossible to categorize” or

“in a class by themselves” are, in fact, easy to

categorize; in other words, the artists aren’t

nearly as unusual or as interesting as their publi-

cists or managers would like to think they are.

But Old Time Musketry’s Different Times really

is a difficult album to categorize, and the New

York City-based quartet shows considerable

promise on this intriguing effort.

Old Time Musketry sounds like the name of

a folk group, but this 53-minute CD isn’t folk or

folk-rock. Rather, the group’s orientation is in-

strumental jazz, although exactly where they

operate in the jazz realm is open to debate. Per-

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haps the best description of what they do is

“world jazz with influences ranging from post-

bop, rock and avant-garde jazz to traditional

European folk.” Different Times isn’t full-

fledged jazz-rock fusion in the standard Return

to Forever/Weather Report/Scott Henderson/

electric Miles Davis sense, although rock is an

influence. And while parts of Different Times

have an inside/outside perspective, the material

(most of it written by JP Schlegelmilch or Adam

Schneit) is only mildly avant-garde and is clearly

on the melodic side. Adding to the intrigue is the

combination of instruments: while Schneit plays

tenor sax and clarinet and Phil Rowan plays

bass, Schlegelmilch is heard on acoustic piano,

electric keyboards, accordion and glockenspiel.

Max Goldman, the drummer, also plays the

melodica. And the use of instruments like the

glockenspiel, the accordion and the melodica

certainly adds to the Euro-folk factor.

A variety of songs are offered on Different

Times. While “Parade” has a funky, celebratory,

R&B-ish mood, “Hope for Something More” is

reflective and contemplative. Meanwhile,

“Floating Vision” and “Star Insignia” are moody

and haunting. On the latter, one hears both a

John Coltrane influence and an appreciation of

Medieval music. And elements of East European

folk assert themselves on “Highly Question-

able,” “Anger Dance” and “Cadets.” Indeed,

anyone who has spent a lot of time listening to

traditional folk music from Bulgaria, Slovenia,

Romania, Hungary or Poland—or, for that mat-

ter, trumpeter Dave Douglas’ albums—should

appreciate the East European factor that asserts

itself on those selections.

“Anger Dance” is one of the tracks that has

an inside/outside aesthetic. Schneit’s passionate

tenor sax improvisations during that selection

hint at the late free jazz firebrand Albert Ayler,

yet the East European-flavored melody doesn’t

sound like something Ayler would have done.

There are different levels of outside playing in

the avant-garde world, and even the most avant-

garde parts of this release are not examples of

atonal chaos for the sake of atonal chaos. Old

Time Musketry, for all their experimentation and

risk-taking, always have a strong sense of mel-

ody. On this 2011 recording, melody is never an

afterthought; it is an essential and integral part of

what these four explorers do.

Old Time Musketry’s willingness to take

chances yields excellent results on Different

Times.

Nick Sanders

NAMELESS NEIGHBORS—Sunnyside.

Chamberlain, Maine; Sandman; New Town;

Row 18, Seat C; Hymn; Dome Zone; Flip; ‘Orse

at Safari; Nameless Neighbors; Manganese;

Simple; Motor World; I Don’t Want to Set the

World on Fire.

PERSONNEL: Nick Sanders, piano; Henry

Fraser, bass; Connor Baker, drums.

By Eric Harabadian

The title Nameless Neighbors is, indeed,

intriguing and somewhat cryptic and curious.

The music certainly reflects that as Nick Sanders

fronts a not-so-typical piano trio. The modern

young trailblazer approaches the ivories with a

style that hints at convention but would rather

turn it on its ear. The opening piece

“Chamberlain, Maine” appears seemingly de-

void of a standard structure. But the band is

wonderfully in sync and harmoniously astute at

the same time. Sanders displays impressive clas-

sical-flavored runs coupled with weird little

improvisational sidebars and ideas. The appro-

priately named “Sandman” puts the listener in a

dream-like state. All three musicians seem to

exist in their own separate worlds but, by doing

so; they augment each other as well. Sanders

goes off on some minor tangents but resolves

with a lullaby-like theme toward the end. “New

Town” is a bit more dynamic as the group picks

up the pace. Sanders demonstrates some athletic

left hand work that complements his bouncy

Keith Jarrett-like melodic explorations. “Row

18. Seat C” swings in a bit more of a traditional

manner. Its mid-tempo feel is offset by an avant

garde-like thread that runs through Sanders’

playing. “Hymn” follows and has a reverent,

stately quality to it. The trio, again, takes liber-

ties and plays off each other nicely. “Dome

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Zone” is, essentially, a solo piano piece built

around clever repetitive figures and some catchy

syncopation. “Flip” is delicate and engrossing,

with a thoughtful bass solo placed comfortably

in the middle. The first of three covers is a tune

by Herbie Nichols called “’Orse at Safari.” It has

kind of a bluesy vibe, with some exotic and an-

gular intervals and harmonic ideas. The title

track “Nameless Neighbors” finds Sanders con-

structing the piece based on arpeggios that blos-

som into a lively odd-metered swing. In keeping

with an eclectic theme it’s no surprise that the

chose one of Thelonious Monk’s more rare com-

positions, “Manganese.” Sanders is brilliant in

taking a lot of Monk’s melodic inventiveness

and making it his own. He can also mimic the

master’s unique style to a tee. “Simple” is nice

because it shines the spotlight on bassist Henry

Fraser. He utilizes the time well, with a piece

that’s not necessarily flashy but is captivating in

its direct and no-frills approach. “Motor World”

is an interesting piece; It starts with solo piano

and then quickly picks up the tempo in a brisk

allegro fashion. True to form, Sanders concludes

the album as he began, with something some-

what unpredictable. The overall theme of the

record takes you on a journey to musical places

rarely visited or virtually unknown. So, why not

bring it all back to where music started for the

NYC jazzman,to New Orleans where Sanders

was raised. He masterfully plays a solo rendition

of the 1941 Inkspots chestnut “I Don’t Want to

Set the World on Fire.” And he performs with all

the playful nostalgia of, say, Jelly Roll Morton

as filtered through Eubie Blake.

The Nick Sanders Trio is a truly surprising

and accomplished group.

Buika

LA NOCHE MAS LARGA – Warner Music

Latina 535726 www.warnermusic.es. Sueno Con

Ella; Siboney; Ne Me Quitte Pas; Yo Vengo A

Ofrecer Mi Corazon; La Nave Del Olvido; La

Noche Mas Larga; Don’t Explain; No Lo Se;

Santa Lucia; Los Solos; Como Era; Throw It

Away

PERSONNEL: Buika, vocals; Ivan “Melon”

Lewis, piano, keyboards, percussion; Juan Jose

Suarez “El Paquette”, Carlos de Motril, guitar;

John Benitez, Alain Perez, b; Dafnis Prieto,

drums; Ramon Porrina, Pedrito Martinez, Israel

Suarez “El Piranha” percussion, vocals; Carlos

Sarduy, trumpet; Genara Cortes, Alicia Morales,

Saray Munoz, vocals; Pat Metheny, guitar on

“No Lo Se”

By Scott Yanow

Buika is a very passionate vocalist who

sings in Spanish. Her parents were from Equato-

rial Guinea and she was born on the Spanish

island of Mallorca. While her style has aspects

of jazz, soul and blues, and her tone sometimes

recalls Nina Simone, Buika has said that fla-

menco is the root source of everything she does.

Growing up black to African parents in Spain,

she often felt that she did not belong to any

country or fit in to any obvious culture. There-

fore it is quite fitting that she became a world

traveler, performing her largely unclassifiable

music before large audiences in a countless num-

ber of countries.

Buika first made an impact with her singing

career in 2007 when her album Mi Nina Lola

(My Little Girl Lola) was released worldwide

including in the United States. In 2011 she

moved to Miami which she now uses as her

home base for tours of the East Coast and

Europe. Her most recent CD before La Noche

Mas Larga, El Ultimo Trago, featured her per-

forming with Chucho Valdes.

The singer displays a jazz sensibility

throughout La Noche Mas Larga, a program

recorded in Madrid, Miami and New York. Pian-

ist Ivan “Melon” Lewis, who contributed some

of the arrangements, is a strong force on most of

the songs and is a jazz-oriented player. The sup-

porting cast features fine playing from guitarists

Juan Jose Suarez (known as ”El Paquette”) and

Carlos de Motril, occasional background singers,

and a solid rhythm section that is active and

often plays polyrhythms. Pat Metheny (who

considers Buika to be one of his favorite singers

around today) makes a welcome guest appear-

ance on “No Lo Se.” Quite eerie is one moment

during “Santa Lucia” when Buika sounds sur-

prisingly close to Ella Fitzgerald.

But it would be wrong and a bit unfair to

think of this as a jazz recording, for jazz is only a

small ingredient in the music. In addition to

singing an intriguing flamenco-oriented version

of Billie Holiday’s “Don’t Explain” and Abbey

Lincoln’s “Throw It Away,” Buika performs

Jacques Brel’s “Ne Me Quitte Pas”, and hits

made famous by Mexican singer Jose Jose (“La

Nave del Olvido”), Argentinian pop vocalist Fito

Paez (“Yo Yengo a Ofrecer Mi Corazon”) and

Spanish singer Migue Rios (“Santa Lucia”). She

also introduces five of her own colorful originals

and reinvents Ernesto Lecuona’s vintage

“Siboney.” The overall program is a type of

musical travelogue brought to listeners by a

powerful and charismatic guide, and a master at

what could be called (for lack of a better term)

World Music.

Buika sings with the power of an opera

singer, the expressive qualities of a gospel per-

former, and the flexibility of a jazz vocalist.

While those who do not understand Spanish will

not know exactly what she is singing about,

there is an accessible quality to her interpreta-

tions that overcome the language barrier. One

cannot help admiring her vocal talents during

this strong outing.

Orrin Evans

IT WAS BEAUTY—Criss Cross Jazz 1359.

Web: CrissCrossJazz.com. Black Elk Speaks;

African Song; Blues Connotation; Commitment;

Dorm Life; Rockin’ Chair; Ellipsis; Hats Off to

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Rebay; Ribisconsia; My Tribute

PERSONNEL: Orrin Evans, acoustic piano;

Eric Revis, acoustic bass; Ben Wolfe, acoustic

bass; Luques Curtis, acoustic bass; Alex Claffy,

acoustic bass; Gerry Teekens, producer. Graphic

design; Michael Marciano, engineer, mastering;

Ted Panken, liner notes

By Alex Henderson

Talk to Orrin Evans about Philadelphia

(where he grew up), and the acoustic pianist can

tell you a lot about all the great jazz pianists who

had a connection to that city (a list that includes,

among many others, McCoy Tyner, Bobby

Timmons, Sam Dockery, Ray Bryant and Sid

Simmons). Evans himself became a representa-

tive of the hard-swinging Philly jazz piano tradi-

tion, and he is in very good form on It Was

Beauty (which is his 20th album as a leader).

This January 2013 recording reunites Evans

with the Netherlands-based Criss Cross Jazz, a

label he recorded for a lot in the past. Produced

by Criss Cross founder Gerry Teekens, It Was

Beauty employs Donald Edwards on drums and

four different acoustic bassists: Eric Revis, Ben

Wolfe, Luques Curtis and Alex Claffy. Differ-

ent combinations of musicians appear on differ-

ent songs, and Evans’ expressive pianism is the

constant. It Was Beauty is largely, though not

exclusively, a trio album.

Evans shows a lot of diversity on It Was

Beauty, which is mostly a post-bop outing but

sometimes ventures into mildly avant-garde

territory. The pianist leans toward the abstract

and the cerebral on “Commitment” and “Dorm

Life” (both Evans originals) as well as Bill

McHenry’s “African Song,” Wolfe’s “Hats Off

to Rebay” and Revis’ “Black Elk Speaks.” And

Evans’ performance of Ornette Coleman’s

“Blues Connotation” is funky and angular at the

same time.

Evans’ performance of bassist Mark Helias’

“Ellipsis” is another selection with an inside/

outside perspective. “Ellipsis” is generally me-

lodic, but with enough avant-garde moves to

keep things interesting. And it’s important to

note that while It Was Beauty draws on both the

inside and the outside, the inside clearly has the

upper hand.

Parts of the album, in fact, are not avant-

garde at all. That is especially true of Evans’

performances of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Rockin’

Chair” and veteran gospel singer Andraé

Crouch’s “My Tribute.” Evans is warm and lyri-

cal on “Rockin’ Chair,” and he displays his soul-

jazz side on “My Tribute” (which works well in

an instrumental setting and is a piano/bass duet

with Claffy). The influential Crouch, for those

who aren’t familiar with his background, was

among the artists who made it fashionable for

gospel artists to incorporate R&B (along with

the Edwin Hawkins Singers, the Clark Sisters

and Rance Allen). Crouch is a master of all

things soulful, and “My Tribute” is a perfect way

for Evans to get in touch with his churchy side.

Evans, who turned 36 in 2012, continues to

build on the track record he established in the

1990s and 2000s—and It Was Beauty is an en-

gaging addition to his growing catalogue.

Alex Sipiagin

FROM REALITY AND BACK—5PASSION

01364. Web: alexsipiagin.com, 5passion.com.

Around the Bend; With the Tide; From Reality

and Back; End of…..; Here and Now; Chain

Reaction; Son, Uvedeny Posle; The Maze

PERSONNEL: Alex Sipiagin, trumpet, pro-

ducer, liner notes; Seamus Blake, tenor saxo-

phone; Gonzalo Rubalcaba, acoustic piano, elec-

tric keyboards, producer; Dave Holland, acoustic

bass; Antonio Sanchez, drums, percussion; Gary

Galimidi, executive producer; Mike Marciano,

engineer; Takashi Matsuzaki, photography;

Dayne Dupree, graphic design; Dave Darlington,

mastering

By Alex Henderson

Russian trumpeter/flugelhornist Alex Sip-

iagin is best known for his contributions to the

Charles Mingus ghost band, but the recordings

that he has made under his own name have not

been terribly mindful of Mingus’ work. A good

example is From Reality and Back, which Sip-

iagin produced with Cuban pianist/keyboardist

Gonzalo Rubalcaba. In fact, this solid post-bop

outing has more in common with Miles Davis in

the mid- to late 1960s than it does with Mingus’

output.

From Reality and Back finds Sipiagin (who

has lived in the United States since 1991) lead-

ing a cohesive quintet that employs Rubalcaba

on acoustic piano and electric keyboards, Sea-

mus Blake on tenor saxophone, Dave Holland on

acoustic bass and Antonio Sanchez on drums

and percussion. Sipiagin’s own material domi-

nates the session, and the only selection that he

didn’t compose is Pat Metheny’s “Son, Uvedeny

Posle.” The Davis influence comes through in

both Sipiagin’s trumpet playing (he doesn’t play

any flugelhorn this time) and his composing,

which is not to say that his sound is an exact

replica of Davis’. Sipiagin, rather, combines that

Davis influence with a healthy appreciation of

Freddie Hubbard’s playing. And Sipiagin origi-

nals like “Here and Now,” “With the Tide,”

“Chain Reaction” and “Around the Bend” recall

a time when Davis was still playing post-bop but

was only a few years away from the beginning

of his fusion years. Rubalcaba plays a lot of

electric keyboards on this album, although not in

a fusion-ish way. And while many people associ-

ate Rubalcaba with Afro-Cuban jazz, his expres-

sive solos on From Reality and Back are not

overly Latin-flavored.

Davis, of course, set off the fusion revolu-

tion with his 1969 recordings In a Silent Way

and Bitches Brew, both of which combined jazz

improvisation with plenty of rock muscle and

funk energy. But the Davis that Sipiagin recalls


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on this album is more the Davis of 1966’s Miles

Smiles, 1967’s Sorcerer and 1967’s Neferiti

(which was Davis’ last all-acoustic album—

1968’s transitional Miles in the Sky found him

incorporating electric instruments). And despite

all of Rubalcaba’s electric solos, the material is

still post-bop. Plus, Holland (who played electric

bass on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew) sticks

to the upright bass throughout the album.

From Reality and Back is definitely on the

cerebral side. That is true of the probing “Here

and Now” and the contemplative title track as

well as the energetic “With the Tide” and the

angular “The Maze.” And when Blake is stretch-

ing out on tenor, one is reminded of Wayne

Shorter’s contributions to Davis’ albums of that

period. From Reality and Back never quite be-

comes full-fledged avant-garde jazz, but like

Davis in the mid-1960s, it is intellectual music

that needs to be accepted on its own complex

terms.

Iit has been 22 years since Sipiagin’s move

to the United States from his native Russia at

the age of 24 (he presently lives on Long Island).

And as the engaging From Reality and Back

demonstrates, New York City is lucky to have

him around.

Dave Liebman

Michael Stephans

LINEAGE – Whaling City Sound WCS 064

www.whalingcitysound.com. Mr. Sandman;

Eleanor Rigby; Visions; Tequila; I Only Have

Eyes For You; Walk, Don’t Run; Woodstock;

Wipe Out; Here, There And Everywhere; Love

Me Tender

PERSONNEL: Dave Liebman, soprano sax,

tenor sax, flute; Bobby Avey, piano, organ, elec-

tric piano; Evan Gregor, bass; Michael Stephans,

drums, percussion; Vic Juris, guitar; Matt Vash-

lishan, alto sax, soprano sax, flute, EWI, clarinet

By Scott Yanow

One of the most prolific of all jazz musi-

cians on the scene today, Dave Liebman has

been heard in a countless number of settings on

recordings, ranging from unaccompanied so-

prano-saxophone albums to leading a big band.

Whether performing early in his career as a John

Coltrane-inspired tenor-saxophonists with Elvin

Jones, somehow finding a path for himself in

Miles Davis’ 1973-74 band, spending many

years exclusively focusing on soprano and flute

in order to achieve more individuality, or hold-

ing his own (and sometimes winning solo hon-

ors) in Saxophone Summit with Michael Brecker

and Joe Lovano, Liebman has been consistently

inventive and always musically curious. His

career has never been predictable.

Even with all of his productivity, it is fair to

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say that Liebman had never previously recorded

an album quite like Lineage. Although he had

co-led a short-lived group with James Brown’s

tenor-saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis in the 1970s,

Liebman has mostly avoided exploring pop

tunes, until now.

Growing up in the late 1950s and ‘60s,

Dave Liebman listened to and learned from what

he heard on the radio, gaining affection for some

of the pop and rock tunes of the time. 20 years

ago he tentatively compiled a list of pop songs

that he would like to record someday, but the

project was stalled until he more recently dis-

cussed the music with drummer Michael

Stephans.

While jazz musicians have played rock and

pop songs in the past, and some bewildering

projects were recorded (such as Joe Pass playing

the songs of the Rolling Stones and Ella singing

Beatles tunes), Lineage is on a much different

level. While Liebman plays such melodies as

“Mr. Sandman,” “I Only Have Eyes For You,”

guitarist Johnny Smith’s surprising hit “Walk,

Don’t Run”, later covered by the Ventures, and

the Beatles’ “Here, There And Everywhere,” the

songs are very much deconstructed. The chord

changes are reharmonized, sometimes distorted

and greatly altered. While the performances are

often much briefer than one might expect from a

Liebman session, the solos are fairly free and

passionate while keeping the melodies in mind.

For this project, Liebman and Stevens are

heard in settings ranging from a quartet with

keyboardist Bobby Avey and bassist Evan

Gregor to a quintet/sextet that sometimes adds

guitarist Vic Juris and Liebman’s talented stu-

dent Matt Vashlishan on reeds. There are many

high points of which I will name a few. The

theme of “Mr. Sandman” becomes haunting in

this rendition which has some modal piano (a la

McCoy Tyner) and adventurous soprano. The

interplay by the two reeds and Avey uplifts

“Eleanor Rigby.” The always-catchy “Tequila”

is transformed into a romp in 7/8 time that in-

cludes some wild guitar by Juris. “I Only Have

Eyes For You” is taken as a downbeat and

slightly menacing ballad while “Walk, Don’t

Run” has the two soprano-saxes of Liebman and

Vashlishan interacting joyfully. “Wipe Out”

lives up to its name during an eccentric rendition

that features r&b-ish tenor and rock-ish guitar.

“Here, There And Everywhere” evolves from a

slow ballad with quivering organ into a spec-

tacular showcase for Liebman’s tenor. The final

number, “Love Me Tender,” has some morose

tenor accompanied by a drip-drip sound from the

piano.

Lineage, which has brilliant playing by

Dave Liebman throughout, will certainly keep

listeners guessing and interested.

Wayne Wallace

LATIN JAZZ – JAZZ LATIN – Patois Re-

cords PRCD014 www.patoisrecords.com. ¡A Ti

Te Gusta!; Things Ain’t What They Used to Be;

¡Estamos Aqui!; Giant Steps; La Habana; I

Mean You; Prelude to a Kiss; Melambo; Puertas

y Caminos; Pasando El Tiempo

PERSONNEL: Wayne Wallace, trombone;

Murray Low, piano; David Belove, bass; Colin

Douglas, trap drums; Michael Spiro, percussion;

John Worley, trumpet; Masura Koga, tenor saxo-

phone; Mary Fettig, flute; Elena Pinderhughes,

flute; Jeremy Cohen, violin; Tregar Otton, vio-

lin; Mads Tolling, violin; Pete Escovedo, tim-

bales; John Santos, vocals; Orlando Torriente,

vocals; Jesus Díaz, vocals; Mike Mixtacki, vo-

cals

By Curtis Davenport

“Latin Jazz” is a term that has become ex-

tremely overused. You’ll find it slapped on virtu-

ally every style of instrumental music that em-

ploys even a hint of Latin rhythms, which makes

for a great deal of marketplace confusion. It’s no

wonder that Mario Bauzá, the celebrated Cuban

composer and bandleader, would bristle when

the term was applied to his art, insisting that it be

called “Afro-Cuban Music” instead.

In my opinion, there are a scant few musi-

cians working today who are able to fuse great

jazz improvisation with great Afro-Cuban/Latin

rhythms the way that Bauzá, Machito, Puente,

Tjader and Dizzy did. Those who can do it suc-

cessfully are the ones who have earned the right

to have their music called “Latin Jazz” or “Afro-

Cuban Music”. San Francisco based trombonist

Wayne Wallace had the cojones to call his latest

album Latin Jazz – Jazz Latin. That’s okay, be-

cause Wallace has the musical talent to back it

up.

Though he is relatively unknown in the

East, Wallace is one of the most important

names in Latin Jazz in the Bay Area. He has

released a string of Latin Jazz discs over the last

few years that have been consistently first-rate,

including To Hear From There, ¡Bien Bien!, and

Infinity. What sets his work apart from many of

his contemporaries is that there is always some-

thing new and fresh in Wallace’s arrangements,

making each disc a kind of concept album.

On Latin Jazz-Jazz Latin, Wallace makes

liberal use of a trio of violinists, not just as back-

ground “sweeteners” but as frontline part of the

arrangement usually doubling a pair of flutes.

The resulting sound caught my ear immediately

on the album opener “¡A Ti Te Gusta!” a terrific

descarga that leaves plenty of solo room for

violinist Mads Tolling, flutist Elena Pinder-

hughes and Mr. Wallace. When was the last time

you heard a “horn section” of flute, violin and

trombone? They manage to pull it off quite ef-

fectively, as pianist Murray Low keeps the clave

rolling under them. “¡Estamos Aqui!” a songo

that features counterpoint between the string trio

and a trombone choir is another winner; it will

stimulate your feet as well as your mind, espe-

cially when vocalists Mike Mixtacki and Jesus

Diaz join in. Speaking of the trombone choir,

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they really get a chance to shine on “La Habana”

a cool mid-tempo cha-cha/danzon that also fea-

tures a guest spot from Pete Escovedo on tim-

bales. There are shades of the great Barry Rogers

all over this piece and Murray Low once again

has a brief but memorable solo. Mr. Low is new

to me but I have to point out that he is marvelous

throughout this disc.

The four cover tunes are all effective, which

is a feat in itself. Often when Latin artists cover

a jazz tune, the results end up a bit messy as the

rhythm clashes with any attempt to maintain the

integrity of the original music. I never felt that

strain in this session; a tribute to the creative

arranging. Best of these is “I Mean You”, the

Monk tune which is turned into a very effective

bomba, with Wallace showing off his trombone

prowess to great effect. “Giant Steps”, which

I’ve heard some well known Latin groups fall

flat on, thrives in a mix of merengue and Afro-

Cuban beats in 12/8 time. There are nice solo

spots by Wallace and trumpeter John Worley but

who really steals the show here is Masaru Koga,

who sets an already hot performance on fire with

his gritty tenor sax solo. I’d never heard Mr.

Koga before this performance. I’ve got some

homework to do.

Latin Jazz-Jazz Latin is another strong al-

bum from Wayne Wallace. I think that Mario

Bauzá would be pleased.

Yellowjackets

A RISE IN THE ROAD - Mack Avenue Re-

cords MAC-1073 - www.mackavenue.com

When The Lady Dances; Civil War; Can’t We

Elope; An Informed Decision; Longing; Thank

You; Madrugada; An Amber Shade Of Blue;

(You’ll Know) When It’s Time; I Knew His Fa-

ther

PERSONNEL: Russell Ferrante, piano and

keyboards; Bob Mintzer, tenor saxophone; Felix

Pastorius, bass; William Kennedy, drums and

keyboards

By Scott Yanow

Hard to believe, but the Yellowjackets have

been together since 1981. However with the

recent departure of bassist Jimmy Haslip, only

keyboardist Russell Ferrante remains from the

original group.

A Rise In The Road can be considered the

beginning of the Yellowjackets’ fourth chapter.

The group originally consisted of Ferrante,

Haslip, guitarist Robben Ford and drummer

Ricky Lawson. After Ford left to launch his own

solo career, altoist Marc Russo gave the group a

different sound, moving away from fusion and a

bit closer to r&b. Russo was a major asset to the

band for quite a few years. When he left, tenor-

saxophonist Bob Mintzer moved the group a

little closer to straight ahead postbop jazz while

still keeping its roots in funk and (to a lesser

extent) fusion.

Haslip left recently after 30 years, with his

successor being Felix Pastorius, the son of the

remarkable Jaco Pastorius. Despite Haslip’s

longevity, this is not as radical a change in the

group’s sound as when Russo and Mintzer

joined. Pastorius mostly plays a supportive role

at this point, and his sound is not all that differ-

ent than Haslip’s, at least not on this CD.

Listeners who think of the Yellowjackets as

a fusion, funk or smooth band are well advised

to give A Rise In The Road a listen. The Yellow-

jackets’ 22nd album in 32 years, this set has its

funky moments but also explores polyrhythms, a

bit of straight ahead jazz, and modern jazz that is

unclassifiable. Five songs are by Ferrante, four

from Mintzer and one by Kennedy.

The main solo voice throughout this date is

Bob Mintzer. The opening “When The Lady

Dances,” which is loosely based on Tadd Dam-

eron’s “Good Bait” but with a key change and a

few more chords, gives Mintzer an opportunity

to hint at Stanley Turrentine and play soulfully

over the straight ahead rhythms.

“Civil War” is a mildly dissonant and funky

number that really does not fit the dramatic title.

“Can’t We Elope,” which has an even better title

(and one that apparently has not been used be-

fore) finds the Yellowjackets exploring the type

of late 1960s groove that Cannonball Adderley

would have enjoyed. Most surprising is that

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there is a trumpet solo by Ambrose Akinmusire,

who appears on three of the ten selections.

Trumpet is a sound that has rarely been heard on

a Yellowjackets recording.

“An Informed Decision” sometimes sounds

as if it is going to resolve into a blues but then

other chord changes are superimposed and the

piece goes in surprising directions. “Longing” is

a melancholy ballad that fits its title. Mintzer’s

playing on this piece is particularly sensitive and

pretty even while it is a bit mournful.

“Thank You” and “Madrugada” both take

surprising twists and turns with once again

Mintzer and Ferrante being the soloists. After it

gets past the introduction and theme, “An Amber

Shade Of Blue” has some fiery straight ahead

playing by both Mintzer and Akinmusire, culmi-

nating in a heated tradeoff. “(You’ll Know)

When It’s Time” is a brooding ballad that gives

Pastorius an opportunity to be in the solo spot-

light.

Finishing off this rewarding outing is “I

Knew His Father,” primarily a Mintzer feature

that one assumes refers to its title to him having

played with Jaco Pastorius around the time that

Felix Pastorius was born.

Even if you think that you know what the

Yellowjackets sound like, give A Rise In The

Road a listen. You may very well be surprised.

John Marshall

MARSHALL PLAYS HAZELTINE—Organic

Music ORGM 9762. Blues-Like; Little Angel; I

Should Care; Reflections; What Kind of Fool Am

I?; I Know That You Know; Shakey Jake.

PERSONNEL: John Marshall, trumpet and

flugelhorn; David Hazeltine, piano, arr. on

1,2,3,5; Grant Stewart, tenor saxophone; Johan

Horlen, alto saxophone; Peter Washington, bass;

Louis Hayes, drums.

By Eric Harabadian

This is a straight ahead date recorded

live from the “Generations Jazz Festival” in

Frauenfeld, Switzerland in October of 2012.

Although it is a John Marshall-led recording, he

graciously dedicates the album to and shares the

spotlight with his pianist David Hazeltine. Ha-

zeltine arranges four of the pieces performed

here, including the opening track “Blues-Like.”

They hit the band stand here in a simple and

direct manner. Hazeltine’s comping is vibrant

and strong. It provides a steady vehicle for stun-

ning and seemingly effortless blues-inflected

solos from those on the front line. They certainly

establish a classic cool jazz persona early on.

Continuing with another Hazeltine composition

“Little Angel,” the beautiful and buoyant melody

comes off lighter than air. A sturdy mid-tempo is

set by Louis Hayes that sparks the impetus for

great interplay from Marshall, Grant Stewart and

Johan Horlen. Sammy Cahn’s “I Should Care”

begins with Hazeltine taking a solo and rather

rubato-type piano intro. And then the band en-

gages up-tempo into a brisk and well-navigated

swing. Hazeltine’s arrangement is somewhat

atypical for a piece usually associated with more

of a romantic ballad feel. But it really works and

the transitions of the soloists on the front line are

superb. This is followed by Thelonius Monk’s

“Reflections.” It’s a nice walking and romantic

mood piece taken at a relaxed and moderate

pace. In particular, Marshall has some nice solo

time here. Anthony Newley’s “What Kind of

Fool Am I? has long been associated as a Broad-

way piece and contemporary pop standard. The

original tune had a certain reflective and

thoughtful quality to it. And Hazeltine brilliantly

captures those emotions and puts his own spin

on it. The group takes it a bit slower than the

original and re-harmonizes it, with denser, more

intricate horns and a deeper feel. Hayes kicks off

the standard “I Know That You Know” in a

spirited and propulsive manner. His lithe swing

gives the right amount of push to the soloists that

ignite their performances in a profound way.

Marshall, Horlen and Stewart trade amazing

solos in a heated manner, with all the passion

and urgency of an old-fashioned cutting contest.

And Hayes brings it all back to square one as he

began toward the finale. They conclude the con-

cert, with a bluesy Eddie Harris piece called

“Shakey Jake.” The jaunty melody is set by

bouncy comping from Hazeltine. This one really

swings as the date began, in an unfettered and

classic no-frills manner.

Swingadelic

TOUSSAINTVILLE—Zoho ZM 210306. Night

People; Southern Nights; What Do You Want the

Girl to Do; Yes We Can Can; On Your Way

Down; Java; Ruler of My Heart; Get Out of My

Life Woman; Sneaking Sally Through the Alley;

Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky; Working in a

Coal Mine; Whipped Cream; Fairchild; Up the

Creek; Mr. Toussaint.

PERSONNEL: Audrey Welber, alto sax and

clarinet; Paul Carlon, tenor and soprano sax; Jeff

Hackworth, tenor and baritone sax; John

DiSanto, baritone sax; Albert Leusink, trumpet;

Carlos Francis, trumpet; Rob Susman, trombone;

Rob Edwards, trombone; Neal Pawley, trombone

and vocals; Boo Reiners, guitar; John Bauers,

piano, organ and vocals; Dave Post, bass; Jason

Pharr, drums; Jimmy Coleman, drums; Queen

Esther, vocals; Rob Papparozzi, vocals.

By Eric Harabadian

The truly nice thing about projects like this

is it is really fun to view a comprehensive body

of work like pianist/composer Allen Toussaint

has and just be astounded. One view of the titles

and you can see that the New Orleans native has

had so many of his songs covered by a myriad of

pop, rock, jazz players. Herb Alpert, even Devo,

for crying out loud! But in whatever manner his

music has been interpreted, Toussaint’s

melodicism, groove and bluesy spirit always

shine through. And that’s what Swingadelic has

accomplished with this fine tribute.

This is the second tribute disc on Zoho for

the NYC-based “little big band.” This comes on

the heels of the critically-acclaimed The Other

Duke—Tribute to Duke Pearson. With Tous-

saintville, the group lovingly gives the Crescent

City icon’s music the attention and care it de-

serves. “Night People” kicks things off featuring

keyboardist John Bauers on lead vocals. He’s got

a smooth, yet gritty quality to his voice that suits

the mood and subject matter perfectly. It is ap-

propriately funky but with a light and insistent

jazzy backbeat. The ensemble’s tight arrange-

ment really fuels the noir-ish feel and party at-

mosphere. “Southern Nights” was a huge coun-

try and pop hit for Glen Campbell in 1977.

Again, Bauers is on the front line and gives it a

more ethereal read than the Campbell hit. But

then the band kicks in with more of an up-tempo

feel. There are some nice solos here from the

trumpet section and Paul Carlon on soprano sax.

“What Do You Want the Girl to Do” was a big

hit for Boz Scaggs, Bonnie Raitt and others.

Bauers throws his hat in the ring and reinvents it

once again. He really projects an authentic ro-

mantic mood and the ensemble plays very unob-

trusively in kind. “Yes We Can Can” was a hit

for the Pointer Sisters, and is bouncy and funky.

There is a true New Orleans vibe that comes

through via Audrey Welber’s stellar alto sax

work. “On Your Way Down” was popularized

by the band Little Feat. It’s a groovy R&B num-

ber given an especially soulful read by one of

Swingadelic’s founders Neal Pawley. The dense

horns and funly guitar backdrop really add to

Pawley’s heartfelt delivery. “Java” is an instru-

mental that every baby boomer will most defi-

nitely recognize. It was a hit in 1964 for New

Orleans trumpet star Al Hirt and the band plays a

warm, fun and faithful version of it. “Ruler of

My Heart” is a soulful torch song. And famed

NYC crooner Queen Esther delivers it with a

passion and charm that’s unmatched. “Get Out

My Life Woman” is, perhaps, one of Toussaint’s

most popular and well known songs, a hit for

Lee Dorsey. Boo Reiners’ guitar and Carlos

Francis’ trumpet really make this one jump.

Essentially all the titles recorded here are

indelible fixtures in the pantheon of American

music. Again, it’s rather jaw-dropping when you

consider all the hits that Allen Toussaint has

written and produced. It was certainly a mam-

moth undertaking but Swingadelic, again, proves

they are the masters at walking that fine line

between paying homage and putting their own

stamp on the music as well. Here’s to their next

project!

� � �

73-74-75 page 14

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