Freihofer's bakes another year of fine jazz

I've just filed my review of Freihofer's Jazz Festival in bucolic Saratoga Springs NY, held June 27-28, to allaboutjazz.com. I'll provide a link when available for the article, as well as for my profile of Marvin Stamm in this month's issue of HotHouse. In the meantime, here's a visual appetizer from Saratoga.
Bettye Lavette tore down the house... ^

MIJF 2009 opens Wonder-fully

What a way to kick off the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s 30th edition, a 13-day programming marvel that opened June 30 and runs through July 12.

Montreal pianist Oliver Jones opened the festival’s newest venue, MIJF’s year-round cabaret-style jazz club L’Astral, located in the festival’s new multiple-purpose Maison du Festival Rio Tinto Alcan (House of the Festival). The six-floor building also contains a bistro, a gallery space that becomes the bustling media center during festivals, archives and staging offices. L’Astral is an ultra modern, high-tech venue that retains more than as hint of the spirit of the festival’s old Spectrum venue, now just a hole in the ground across the street awaiting downtown redevelopment.


Oliver Jones at L'Astral... >
Jones paid tribute to mentor Oscar Peterson before shifting into an extended Gershwin medley that opened with a bit of “Rhapsody in Blue” and coursed through six other tunes, many from “Porgy and Bess,” before a rollicking finish with “I’ve Got Rhythm.” Ranee Lee joined him to sing Miles Davis’s “Four,” “Beautiful Love” and a bilingual version of “Stormy Weather,” as well as “Lady Be Good.”

Hundreds of thousands crowded into, or in some cases, within earshot of the festival site, and waited patiently, sometimes under a sea of umbrellas, for the festival’s first outdoor spectacle of the year, a free Stevie Wonder concert billed as ”A Wonder’s Summer Night 2009.” The huge main stage area couldn’t accommodate anything close to the throng, so many more stood transfixed wherever they could see one of the 10 video screens set up on other stages in and around the Place des Arts. The crowd was later estimated at more than 200,000.


If you couldn't jam into the main stage area, you had to settle for the great sound, and perhaps a glimpse of Wonder on one of 10 video screens, like this one near the Place des Arts Metro station... ^
While he hit the stage a half-hour behind the scheduled start, Wonder was generous with his time, playing for more than two hours. He paid tribute top the late Michael Jackson - interspersing some MJ tunes with his own classics. “The Way You Make Me Feel” opened with a Michael Jackson recording, with Wonder joining on the first refrain before taking over the tune. After his own “Higher Ground,” Wonder also channeled a lot of jazz material, exploring Miles Davis’s “All Blues” on harmonica, John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” on piano and an extended version of Chick Corea’s “Spain” featuring all of his horn players before delving into many of his own Grammy-winning hits.


Donny McCaslin, Julie Lamontagne... >
I like this festival because it presents a chance to see and hear so many artists who rarely get to convenient venues in the U.S. Other favorite shows in my brief Montreal stay included saxophonist Donny McCaslin with Canadian pianist Julie Lamontagne, Montreal pianist Vic Vogel’s robust big band performing an homage to the jazz masters on the General Motors main stage, singer Hilary Kole who opened for the energetic Brit Jamie Cullum, and Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe, who made his Montreal debut with a Japanese sextet that blended the best elements of bop, fusion, Afrojazz rhythms and the folk traditions of his homeland.Singer Melody Gardot played for nearly full houses two nights at the double-balconied Theatre Maisonneuve, weaving a vocal spell


Hilary Kole... >

with her sense of dark mystery and vocal intimacy.With a huge range of principally jazz artists featured indoors and an eclectic mix of jazz, blues, world music and other genres outdoors, the festival managed to create a superb anniversary celebration that figures to top prior years in attendance and the sheer numbers of concerts - giving a 30th edition gift back to attendees.
C’est magnifique.



Jamie Cullum... >

Montreal International Jazz Festival by the numbers

6 - major award winners in 2009. (Bruce Lundvall, Stevie Wonder, John Pizzarelli, Ornette Coleman, Susie Arioli, Toots & The Maytalls)

13 - The number of days of the festival this year not counting several preview concert events.

30 - When this 30th annual festival began in 1980, a ticket to see opening headliner Ray Charles cost $9.50. This year’s top ticket is $129.50 for guitarist Jeff Beck. In contrast, 2009 opening outdoor headliner Stevie Wonder’s show was free.

30 / 3,000 - The festival features 3,000 musicians from 30 countries.

681 -There are 224 ticketed indoor concerts this year and 457 free outdoor concerts, a noticeable increase from past years when there was about a 150/350 split.

60,000 - The festival recovers 30 tons of recyclable material annually. Additionally festival co-presenting sponsor Rio Tinto Alcan bought the carbon offsets to make the event carbon neutral.

36 million - The number of festival attendees from 1980 to 2008, with nearly 25 percent estimated being tourists from outside Quebec, the U.S. and around the world. Yes, this is a destination festival for some, but for many more, it is a huge hometown event.

CDs of Note...

Here’s a dose of CDs of interest, as I head out for a week of travels to Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga NY and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Yes, the sun is out today and my summer festival season is getting under way. Hope to see you here and/or there.

Burgstaller Martignon 4, Mozart's Blue Dreams and Other Crossover Fantasies (Summit Records)
Joe Burgstaller, a member of the Canadian Brass since 2001, teamed up with pianist Hector Martignon on this stunning crossover project that does far more than put a jazz spin on the classics. In some cases, the spin goes in the other direction.

It opens with the title tune, is a five-part jazzy take on Mozart's "Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major" that is filled with energy, Burgstaller’s sparkling, pinpoint trumpet work and great support from bassist Hans Glawischnig. Notes stretch here and bend there in ways the composer surely would consider hip if he revisited the planet to jam with them.

They also marry Frederic Chopin’s "Prelude No. 4 in E Minor" with Jobim's "Insensatez," (How Insensitive). a tune that the Brazilian bossa king based on Chopin's composition. They also revisit Duke Ellington’s “Echoes of Harlem” in an arrangement that enables Burgstaller to take on a Cootie Williams vibe – complete with growls and groans from his plunger mute.

The simple and succinct melodies of Chick Corea's "Three Children's Songs" give percussionist percussionist Joe Ferrari a chance to shift to vibes. The project pays tribute in a way to mid-1970s crossover king Claude Bolling with a fresh take on his five-part "Toot Suite." It winds down with versions of two tunes by Argentinean new tango master Astor Piazzolla: “Ave Maria” and “Oblivion.”

One For All, Return Of The Lineup (Sharp Nine)
As composers, arrangers and particularly players, the members of One For All have combined their talents into a longstanding sextet that have matured as one helluva supergroup. The group, which tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander considers his musical laboratory, includes trumpeter Jim Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth.

They’ve been playing together since at least 1998, producing about a dozen domestic and import-label recordings. This is a dandy. While there is much to savor here, my clear favorites are their take on the gorgeous Cedar Walton ballad “Dear Ruth,” arranged for this group by Rotondi, and Hazeltine’s original “Treatise for Reedus,” which he wrote in remembrance of drummer Tony Reedus, who died four days before the session and had been a friend to every member of the collective. If you love hard-swinging ensemble jazz, it doesn’t get much better than this.

LeBoeuf Brothers, House Without a Door (LeBoeuf Brothers Music)
Identical twins Pascal (piano and keyboards) and Remy (alto sax) LeBoeuf (the name is pronounced "le buff") have produced a gem with their latest recording project. It is fresh and forward-thinking, blending strong jazz roots with inescapable rock influences (particularly Radiohead) into an emotional and energetic sound that grabs the ears and won’t let go.

These young natives of Santa Cruz, Calif., still in their early 20s, are now making their mark in the Big Apple jazz scene. My favorites on this sometimes fiery quintet session include “Code Word,” the introspective and sometimes delicate “Wetaskiwin,” the title track and the uptempo “Chocolate Frenzy.”

The LeBoeufs are composers and players of great merit, as evidenced by the consistent quality of all 12 tracks. The quintet on most tracks includes tenor player Marcus Strickland or trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Clarence Penn. Tenor player Janelle Richman, drummer Greg Ritchie and bassist Billy Norris work into the shifting ensemble elsewhere. The appearance of two classical-influenced tracks, “Coffee Suite I: No Drink, No Think” and “Coffee Suite III: Exhaustion” begs the questions “Where’s ‘Coffee Suite II’ hiding and what’s it all about? Caffeine Jitters, perhaps?”

Mimi Jones, A New Day (Hot Tone Music)
A New Day encompasses a new name/alter ego and a debut CD all rolled into one for bassist Miriam Sullivan. This new project is built around the concepts of personal change and evolution – and Jones/Sullivan brought aboard some terrific talent to make it work quite well. Miki Hayama is superb throughout on piano, organ and keyboard. Marvin Sewell displays the same level of deep, empathetic support on acoustic and electric guitar that so nicely colored several of Cassandra Wilson’s Delta blues-tinged projects. He is particularly strong on “Watch Your Step,” “Silva” and “Sista.”

Sullivan sings her own heartfelt lyrics on eight of the CD’s 12 tracks, and finishes it with a version of the traditional “We Shall Overcome” that changes “overcome some day” to “overcome today.” Sullivan’s lyrics are somewhat simple and very brief, but certainly not simplistic. She gets right to the point. Her instrumental “Suite Mary” is a very nice nod to Mary Lou Williams. This is a September 15, 2009 release.

Singing about a vanishing icon

If you want to find Kodachrome after this fall, you’ll have to go see Paul Simon in concert or dig out an album. Kodak announced today that another American icon - born 74 years ago - is about to leave the planet.

That’s right, it is retiring the oldest (born in 1935) film in its portfolio because of slumping demand with photographers' combined shift to digital and/or newer fine-grain films. Unexpected? Hardly. Sad just the same. I knew one iconic music photographer who used it exclusively for his color work. David Gahr must be spinning in his grave - or perhaps smiling that Kodachrome outlasted him - barely. Perhaps he saw it coming.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry used Kodachrome when he shot his iconic and haunting National Geographic 1985 cover image of a young Afghan girl. Kodak said today it will donate “the last rolls” of the film to the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester NY, and that McCurry will shoot one of those last rolls for images to be donated to Eastman House.

In a few years, the younger generation will be scratching its collective head wondering what Simon was singing about. So sing now, Paul, while America briefly waxes nostalgic.

Montreal’s amazing block party

One of these years, I am truly tempted to go to the Montreal International Jazz Festival strictly for its free, outdoor concerts. The great variety of talent for the paid, indoor concerts in 10 or more venues each night makes it difficult.

But the outdoor stages transform downtown Montreal’s Place des Arts (soon to be surrounded by an expanded Place des Festivals) into an immense block party that opens in leisurely fashion at midday for early risers. By evening, the area is hopping with free music on nearly a dozen stages. There’s one for the blues, one for world music, one primarily showcasing bop-oriented smaller groups from Canada, and several that mix the talent.

All told, there are more than 350 free outdoor concerts over the festival’s 12-day run. Sometimes they afford the opportunity to hear Canadian, European and Cuban groups of great quality who rarely play in the United States.

Montreal’s Place des Arts at night, 2008... >
The most amazing part of the outdoor phenomenon is the mega-concerts and super-concerts on the primary stages that usually draw 100,000 or more fans. Some years, the crowd fills several huge blocks and has exceeded 200,000.

For this 30th year’s festival extravaganza, there will be five free “mega-concerts” in the Place des Festivals, as well as three free outdoor "super-concerts."

~ This year’s outdoor opener on Tuesday, June 30 will feature Stevie Wonder on the General Motors stage.
~ On Sunday, July 5 local singer-pianist Patrick Watson will be the Bell Special Event feature with string quartet, horns and several special guests, including Lhasa de Sela and Guy Nadon.
~On Tuesday, July 7 XM Radio Satellite presents the greatest names in Rocksteady - Ken Boothe, Stranger Cole, Hopeton Lewis, Leroy Sibbles and The Tamlins, as well as Bob Marley's onetime backup singers Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt in an event inspired by the documentary Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae.
~ On Sunday, July 12, the Rio Tinto Alcan Closing Event features two concert spectacles: Fiesta Cubana, with the Afro-Cuban All Stars and Los Van Van, and Ben Harper & Relentless7.

Also on tap are three extra outdoor super-concerts on the General Motors stage:
~ On July 3, the Florence K presents La Noche de Lola with jazz, bossa, blues and Cuban salsa.
~ On July 9, the rhythm shifts with the rumba flamenca of Jesse Cook and the Rumba Foundation as surprise guests.
~ On July 11, teenage vocal phenom Nikki Yanofsky, a Montreal festival darling for the past two years, will be featured.

Montreal does indeed know how to throw a block party. One of the most amazing occurred five years ago when the festival expanded the scope and shape of its largest outdoor stage for a grand event called “Soleil de Minuit,” celebrating the 20th anniversary of Montreal-based Cirque de Soleil and the 25th anniversary of the jazz festival.

Over the past decade, there has been at least one or two block-filling spectacular extravaganzas every year.

This year, there will be a handful. Bring lots of energy along with your enthusiasm.

CDs of Note...

Grant Geissman, Cool Man Cool (Futurism Records)
With the fun-filled spirit, wide stylistic range of original material and plethora of guest artists who have touched guitarist Grant Geissman’s musical life, this feels like a house party. Cool Man Cool is a party to which he invited old friends, colleagues, bosses and even the teacher (guitarist Jerry Hahn) who had the most indelible impact on his versatile style.

The guest list includes a lot of household names from the music world, his first high-profile boss, Chuck Mangione; pianist Chick Corea, who worked in Mangione’s jazz quintet in the mid-1960s; saxophonist Tom Scott; pianists Patrice Rushen and Russell Ferrante; saxophonist Tom Scott; and percussionist Alex Acuna among many.

It is great to hear Corea and Mangione collaborating on what Geissman calls the sound that likely would have resulted on a recording they planned but never got around to (though they have sat in with each other at jazz festivals on occasion).

Chuck Mangione and Chick CoreaNewport, August 1988 ... >

My favorite tracks include the funky shuffle-beat sound of “Nawlins,” featuring Geissman with Mangione, Rushen, B-3 player Emilio Palame and drummer Ray Brinker among others; the leader’s “One for Jerry” interplay with Hahn (who provided two years of weekly lessons that required a 180-mile round-trip drive for Geissman as a high school senior and college freshman); and the bop changes of “Dig Some Sides?” Brinker, bassist Trey Henry and saxophonist Brian Scanlon are making return appearances from Geissman’s Say That! session in 2006.

The N. Glenn Davis Quintet with special guest Phil Woods, Come Right In (Jazzed Media)
Bop lovers rejoice. This one’s for you. Cleveland-based drummer Glenn Davis, who spent 11 years on the Boston scene and several more in the Big Apple, is out with a wonderful session that features alto sax master Phil Woods as a special guest on three tracks - two Davis originals and the Tadd Dameron standard “If You Could See Me Now.”

As a leader, Davis gives his players plenty of room to stretch, and is a no-frills, swinging drummer who seems disinterested in being the center of attention. His solos are succinct and on point. This group includes Dave Sterner on alto and soprano sax, Jack Schantz on trumpet/flugelhorn, Mark Soskin on piano and Dean Johnson on bass. Stylistically, in both the range of the writing, and the masterful playing, there is much here to love, including Davis’s own “Just a Tadd” tribute to Cleveland native son Dameron, which features Woods and Sterner.

Rick Germanson Trio, Off the Cuff (Owl Studios)
This stunning mainstream session combines the talents of three players with longstanding histories and jazz pedigrees. Leader/pianist Rick Germanson’s primary gigs have included eight years with the Cannonball Legacy Band and a four-year stint with guitarist Pat Martino. He’s worked for about 15 years with bassist Gerald Cannon, a fellow Milwaukee native. Drummer Louis Hayes, a member of the original Cannonball Adderley quintet, leads the Cannonball Legacy Band.

The empathy among the players is quite evident – and provide a wonderful showcase for Germanson’s composition and swinging, crystalline playing. The band’s Freddie Hubbard tribute transforms the late trumpeter’s “Up Jumped Spring” into a meditative ballad. Germanson’s solo improvisation, “The Way of Water,” sounds a bit like the many nuances one would hear in an extended hike along a stream – from ripples and eddies to breathtaking waterfalls just around the bend. “Brick” is an uptempo burner with multiple high-spirited inspirations. I love the Tyner-like energy of “Daytona,” a clear contrast to Germanson’s pensive “Jill’s Song,” a tribute to the late sister who got him started on the piano.

The Stanley Clarke Trio, Jazz in the Garden (Heads Up International)
People who think of bassist Stanley Clarke, the young Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara and drummer Lenny White for their pop and fusion sides or technical bombast are in for a surprise. This intimate straight-ahead jazz CD project delights with its powerful empathy and subtleties. It is loaded with bop and popular standards, as well as originals.

My favorite tracks for the aforementioned subtleties are Clarke’s “Paradigm Shift (Election Day 2008),” the trio’s take on the traditional Japanese folk song “Sakura Sakura,” Hiromi’s “Sicilian Blue,” an intimate version of “Some Day My Prince Will Come.” The burners here include their takes on Joe Henderson’s “Isotope,” Miles Davis’s “Solar,” Hiromi’s own “Brain Training” and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1991 hit “Under the Bridge.” This is a beauty, filled with freshness, vitality and simpatico.

More thoughts on the current state of jazz media

All companies and nonprofits great and small are reassessing their viability and putting creativity to the test as they weather the effects of the current recession.Some make it, some don't and some seize the opportunity to reinvent themselves.

The jazz world clearly is not immune, though not all of the forces are purely economic. But the economy always seems to inject its ugly side at the worst possible time: just look at the Festival Network LLC's apparent demise and its impact on festivals that have gone away, vendors who haven't been paid from work last year, and the spin-off effect on JazzTimes, which likely budgeted a significant chunk of its 2009 income from the continued publication of JVC Jazz Festival program supplements in three issues. No festivals, no lucrative advertising supplements. And now JazzTimes has suspended publication while awaiting a possible sale and refocus.

But it is not alone in its woes.

The Toronto-based, 51-year-old Canadian jazz magazine Coda suspended its bimonthly publication in January to "adjust its operations." This month it produced its "Quintessential Canadian Jazz Festival Guide" and on the magazine's Web site, Publisher Mark Barnes said June 1 that publication of the next issue of Coda will resume shortly and all financial obligations will be honored "in due course."

Any day now, JAZZIZ magazine expects to issue its "summer" edition in a move from 10 print issues a year to quarterly publication. It plans to supplement those four print issues with a new subscribers-only Web site that will have daily news, reviews and digital online-only "filler" mini-JAZZIZ issues to be posted every month.

Yes, the soured economy is at work in all of these circumstances, but so is the opportunity to reinvent how one does business. As print publication becomes more challenging, there is greater emphasis on electronic options.

Web sites and blogs, for that matter, are growing in importance for communicators and consumers, as are the social networking sites. There aren't many musicians who don't have a presence on My Space Music or FaceBook in addition to maintaining their own individual Web sites.

The communications sphere has change rapidly - and continues to do so. Pain and innovation are certain elements as we move forward. Buckle your seat belts, as it certainly will be quite a ride to a destination yet uncertain.

In the interest of full disclosure: I have done freelance work at various times, and in some cases still do, for JAZZIZ, JazzTimes and in the more distant past, Downbeat. I wish each of them well as they take on the market-force challenges they face with creativity, enthusiasm and, hopefully, success.

First music gets spotlighted Monday

With the assistance of several nonprofits, First Lady Michelle Obama will use jazz on Monday June 15 to open the White House Music Series. The performance and education series will feature artists of all ages who will perform, educate and interact with young people.

The series will begin with the Jazz Studio on Monday followed by country and classical music events this summer and fall.

On Monday, some 150 middle school and high school students will participate in classes led by Wynton, Branford and Ellis Marsalis, followed by a concert featuring Paquito D’Rivera and child protégé Tony Madruga with his ensemble.

Participating organizations include Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts, Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, Levine School of Music, New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, SITAR Arts Center, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and the WPAS Capitol Jazz Project.

The afternoon events will take place in the East Room, State Dining Room and Diplomatic Reception Room of The White House.

It is great to see jazz first in line for this showcase and educational opportunity. We'd likely all heard that President Obama has several jazz players on his iPod.

The presidential jazz connection is stretching in a tangible way. It wouldn't surprise me if he shows up to enjoy at least some portion of the performances without upstaging the hostess.

JazzTimes confirms troubles

I just spotted this fresh posting today on JazzTimes' Web site, jazztimes.com.

An Important Message From JazzTimes Management

To our readers and members of the jazz community: JazzTimes has temporarily suspended publication of the magazine and has furloughed the bulk of its staff while it finalizes a sale of its assets. The brand and operation will undergo reorganization and restructuring in order to remain competitive in the current media climate. Print publishing is expected to resume as soon as a sale is closed. New information and statements will be posted at http://www.jazztimes.com/ as they become available. Thank you for your patience during this challenging period.

JazzTimes Management

All I can say to follow up on my weekend posting is that the newspaper and magazine industries have been socked hard this year, particularly through ad revenue declines. Let's hope JazzTimes does inded live on as a print publication, and in the interim, electronically through its newly launched "community" - as well as staff postings as much as possible on the Web site. It may have to re-invent itself. Stay tuned. -kf

Economic domino effect on jazz is troubling

These are indeed troubling times for the general economy – and the spillover to the jazz world was inevitable. Just as some companies and some parts of the economy seem to be doing OK, or at least surviving, others are folding or in danger of disappearing.

I took no pleasure in reporting (see my December 31, 2008 post) the earliest word about the apparent demise of Festival Network LLC. And now fellow blogger and jazz journalism colleague Howard Mandel has reported troubling news about the ill state of health of JazzTimes.

There is a spinoff economic effect at work here – since JT seems to have been quite dependent on the revenue it received by producing and publishing JVC festival supplements in three of its issues each summer. With JVC’s festival sponsorships down the tubes, it had to hurt deeply. Read Howard’s perceptive take on it in several posts he filed this week at his blog, Jazz Beyond Jazz. This is extremely painful. I have had a relationship with JT since the early 1980s (back when founder Ira Sabin produced it tabloid newsprint style) as a writer and photographer, and still do the occasional review for its Web site. I hope someone indeed steps in to ensure its survival because of its prominent stature in the jazz community.

These turns are troubling, as were some of the perspectives in West Coast saxophonist Mel Martin’s latest Jazz and Saxophone Newsletter. Mel reported that he “played the last night at Jazz at Pearl's (in San Francisco) while they were hauling out the coffee machine and the paintings on the walls. The Jazz and Blues Store in Carmel has folded, the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles is closed at the end of May and may relocate in Santa Monica.”

Struggles go on everywhere, yet there have been some glimmers of hope. George Wein, who sold his Festival Productions Inc. organization to Festival Network two and one-half years ago only to see the new owners run its operations into the ground by overspending and expanding at the worst possible time, found a way to continue jazz and folk festivals under his own name in Newport this summer despite uncertain sponsorship.

A few other former Wein-affiliated festivals continue to operate. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, produced by Wein associate Quint Davis, never was a part of the Festival Network deal. Two other festivals that were part of the FN operation in 2007 and ’08 – Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga NY and the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles, saw those contracts expire. Two other longtime Wein affiliates – Dan Melnick and Darlene Chan – now produce them (Melnick has Saratoga, Chan has Playboy).

The Montreal International Jazz Festival is preparing to celebrate its 30th annual event – expanding and vibrant despite this being the last year of title sponsorship by General Motors.

On the positive side of the California jazz club scene, Andrew Gilbert reported in the San Jose Mercury News that Yoshi’s jazz club recently ended an experiment with other forms of booking and returned with a solid lineup of stellar jazz bookings, particularly at the new San Francisco venue, in addition to its Oakland location.

Montreal jazz expands

When most of us outside of Canada think jazz and Montreal, we think early summer. Equipe Spectra, the organization that produces the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, wants to make that linkage year-round. It makes sense, as the city has a jazz hunger that extends beyond the summer season, no doubt whetted by the two-week extravaganza that ranks as the largest and generally the finest jazz festival on the planet. This year's 30th edition runs June 30 to July 12.

With expansion of the Place des Arts, the general home of the festival, into a full-blown Quartier des Spectacles, Equipe Spectra has transformed a neighboring former warehouse building into a multi-story, multi-purpose facility called Maison du Festival Rio Tinto Alcan (“House of the Festival” for short).

The centerpiece is L’Astral, a state-of-the-art, 350-seat, cabaret-style showroom. The venue will open June 29 with a pre-festival concert by Montreal pianist Oliver Jones (back from retirement once again) and singer Ranee Lee, and a public concert by the same pair on the 30th.

L’Astral... >
Tickets go on sale June 6 for L’Astral’s inaugural Jazz All Round series. The September through November schedule includes the Yaron Herman Trio (opening on Sept. 17), Harry Manx, the McCoy Tyner Trio, the Allan Holdsworth Trio, The Sociopaths featuring Charles Papasoff, Coral Egan and Matt Herskowitz; Kurt Rosenwinkel’s Standards Trio, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, the Steve Amirault Trio, Sara Tavares, Cowboy Junkies and Carol Welsman.

McCoy Tyner, Montreal, July 2008... ^

The new building on St. Catherine Street will also include a restaurant, hall of fame, archives and exhibition space, and the festival's media space.For more information, visit the festival's Web site, http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/.

CDs of Note...

Bobby Sanabria conducting the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Kenya Revisited Live!!! (Jazzheads)
The mouthful of a title and over-the-top use of triple exclamation points don’t detract from one of the finest Latin recordings to emerge so far this year. Drummer/percussionist Bobby Sanabria takes a fresh look at Kenya, a classic recording by Machito & The Afro-Cubans 50 years after its release. The project features MSM’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, which he directs, and several guest arrangers (mostly from his own big band).

This live concert recording featured conguero Candido Camero as guest solo on three tunes. The NEA Jazz Master performed on the original Kenya recording, whose notable soloists for that December 1957 session also included alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and Count Basie Orchestra trumpeter Joe Newman. The incendiary performances throughout this update show the strength of MSM’s collegiate jazz program - and are the project’s strongest exclamation points. Sanabria plays timbales on “Congo Mulence” and drums on “Wild Jungle.” This music is near and dear to Sanabria’s heart, as a one-time member of Mariao Bauzá’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. Bauzá was musical director and co-founder of the Machito band.

This recording also signals a noble partnership with Randy Klein’s Jazzheads Records. It is the first in a series of four recordings planned with MSM bands. The others will feature saxophonist Dave Liebman with the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra interpreting three Miles Davis classic works: Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess and Sketches of Spain. Proceeds from the sales of all four of these projects will be donated to the Manhattan School of Music Scholarship Fund-Jazz Arts Program. Kudos to Klein, Sanabria and MSM Jazz Arts Program chairman Justin DiCioccio, who also leads the school’s Jazz Orchestra that will be heard on the three Davis projects.

Scotty Barnhart, Say It Plain (Unity Music)
Scotty Barnhart, featured trumpet soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra for 17 years (during which time the band won two Grammys), finally has step forward with his own recording debut as a leader. And it is a dandy - enhanced by some stellar special guests. There is much to savor among the even split of original material and standards.

John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps," which opens the project, is masterfully rearranged with a funky New Orleans second-line swagger. Barnhart’s own “Haley’s Passage,” composed for writer Alex Haley and featuring the leader on flumpet (a flugelhorn/trumpet hybrid championed by the late Art Farmer) is stunning. Wynton Marsalis helps Barnhart turn Dizzy Gillespie’s beloved Latin ballad “Con Alma” (With Soul) into a seamless duet with dueling trumpets.

Clark Terry and Barnhart tear things up with a humorous original called “Pay Me My Money” with Terry at his Mumbles best to end this CD, whose other guests include Marcus Roberts, Ellis Marsalis, Bruce Barth and singer Jamie Davis, who is featured on “Young at Heart.” Barnhart has skillfully and soulfully added his mark to the jazz trumpet tradition with a clear tone and clear vision.

Curt Ramm, Dan Moretti, Bill Cunliffe, Foundations (Foundations Jazz Records)
A soulful groove is the foundation of this project, which puts a forward-looking spin on a sound that has fascinated hard-core jazz lovers ever since Cannonball Adderley and Horace Silver put their indelible funky imprints on the music. The three co-leaders, backed by bassist Marty Ballou and drummer Marty Richards, split writing duties. Cunliffe and Ramm co-write six and Moretti wrote the other five. It is music that is made to be fun for players and listeners alike. “Goin Nowhere Fast” showcases Ramm’s excellent trumpet work. Cuniffe’s B-3 work deepens the funkiness on “K-Funk” and “MM&D,” both penned by Moretti. “Vine Street” and “Podunk” are among the most exhilarating tracks. “Totem Dance” and “Get In Line” dig deep into the Adderley-Silver vibe.

Oran Etkin, Kelenia (Motéma)
For proof that the world has indeed grown smaller musically, look no further than Kelenia. Oran Etkin was born in Israel and began serious study of jazz as a young teenager in Boston, honing his skills under the tutelage of George Garzone. He also developed an early love of the brass band street music from New Orleans. “Kelenia” means love between people who are different from each other in Bambara , also called Bamanankan (the first or second language for 80 percent of the residents of Mali). On this project, Etkin, who plays tenor sax, clarinet and his primary instrument, bass clarinet, seamlessly blends pulsing rhythms, tones and melodies from the Middle East and Africa with a hip sense of urban jazz.

His band includes several players from Mali (Balla Kouyate, Abdoulaye Diabate and Mohammed “Joh” Sid Camara), guitarist Lionel Loueke from Benin, and bassists John Benitez from Puerto Rico and Joe Sanders from the United States. From start to finish, this project is intriguing and fresh. I particularly like the traditional African tunes “Nama” and “Damonzon,” Etkin’s blues “Brink” and their world music update of Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing.” There is much to discover and savor here. This is a June 9 release.

Joel Harrison, Urban Myths (HighNote)
Don’t bother trying to pin down guitarist, composer arranger Joel Harrison. Before you can finish, he’ll be on to something else. Jazz, country, blues, spirituals, classical, strings, music from West Africa and Appalachia have all found their way into his evolving palette.

Urban Myths, his 11th CD, uses his own new compositions (and variations on Monk’s “Straight No Chaser”) to celebrate the electric jazz of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, John McLaughlin and Frank Zappa that influenced him growing up in the 1970s. His ace band includes longtime collaborator David Binney on alto sax, Christian Howes on violin, Daniel Kelly on keyboards, Stephan Crump on bass and Jordan Perlson on drums, with several guest artists: Fima Ephron on electric bass, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Corey King on trombone and Jerome Sabbag on tenor sax. Electric keyboards and strings enhance its sometimes spooky, sometimes gritty sonic textures. Howes’ melodic teases keep the Monk exploration on course. The strongest groove comes on “Between the Traveler and the Setting Sun” and the title track.

My favorite Harrison recording is 2003’s Free Country, which put a fresh twist on a series of traditional country and Appalachian tunes. Norah Jones cameos on “I Walk the Line” and “Tennessee Waltz.” If you’re not familiar with it, I highly recommend you check out Free Country. It’s on the ACT label and also available through HighNote.

No slowing down

June’s issue of Hot House includes my profile of tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts, who is on the road as special guest with the new tribute project Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings Coltrane/Hartman. (They’re at Birdland June 16 to 20, and the project's CD is due out June 23 on Concord Jazz.

Watts talked at great length from his West Coast home. And not everything could be squeezed into the lengthy article.

Here are some of his additional thoughts:

His bittersweet tone, a key ingredient in the film noire sound of Charlie Haden’s Quartet West – “It is a combination of all of those years of listening to everybody, then focusing on Coltrane. The physical aspect to the sound partly derives from body type. Some people are big strong people and approach the instrument differently. I think my sound developed from thinking of the saxophone as a singing tool. I do a lot of pop music and R&B, when you are playing that music, you have to play in a certain melodic style that keeps the music authentic. With the sax, I thought of it as being a voice. Everything you do is a melody. You focus on playing something that is beautiful and clear. I realized that I had this singing ability in my sound.”

Ernie Watts, Montreal, June 2008... >>>
Music reflects life – “Every day is a new beginning. You can play great one night and get up the next day and feel awful. Some days I get up and it is like I never saw a saxophone before in my life. I have a practice routine to keep everything in balance. That helps a lot. It is like training for the Olympics continually.”

The importance of passing on knowledge through college workshops or master classes (Watts says does about six a year) - “When you talk about what you do and you vocalize it, it gives you a different view of something that is hard-wired and you normally wouldn’t think about. Life is like that. Every experience is a teaching experience and a learning experience. I learn as much from them as they learn from me. It forces you to reflect on things we’ve been doing for 30 years without thinking about it. Little things like vibrato and tonguing. When you have to explain it, it gives you another view of it. The music is to share, and that is very important.”

I’ll provide a link to the Hot House profile as soon as it is posted online.

The Jazz Forum lofts and their legacy – 30 years later

Mark Morgaanelli had producing events in his genes even as a 24-year-old trumpeter. For four years, starting in 1979, Morganelli ran the Jazz Forum – initially at 50 Cooper Square in New York City’s East Village and later at 648 Broadway at Bleecker Street - to offer more opportunities for emerging and established musicians and their groups to perform in a relaxed loft setting.

Initially, he rented the space one night a week to Barry Harris, where the pianist held music classes before relocating to his own Jazz Cultural Theatre. From Morganelli’s own rehearsal big band grew steady, weekly large ensemble presentations of Chuck Israels’ National Jazz Ensemble, Jaki Byard’s Apollo Stompers, and Charli Persip’s Superband. There were jam sessions, hundreds and hundreds of concerts, National Public Radio broadcasts, benefits for ailing musicians and several recordings.

On June 22, Morganelli will celebrate the Jazz Forum legacy at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater. He is gathering some 20 artists from the old Jazz Forum lofts for the concert. They include Kenny Barron, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Lou Donaldson, Ray Drummond, Al Foster, Slide Hampton, Barry Harris, Donald Harrison, Louis Hayes, Jon Hendricks, Joe Lovano, George Mraz, Rufus Reid, Claudio Roditi, John Scofield, Clark Terry, Cedar Walton, Buster Williams and Leroy Williams. It should be one whale of an evening.

Mark Morganelli, August 1996... >

Two years after the lofts closed, Morganelli established Jazz Forum Arts, a nonprofit arts-presenting organization whose events include the 15-years-strong Jazz at the Music Hall series in Tarrytown NY. He has produced numerous jazz festivals and concerts as well, including a piano series at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Dizzy Gillespie 75th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall, and the "Jazz Beats Breast Cancer" concert at Avery Fisher Hall.

Mark continues to perform with his Jazz Forum All-Stars. The band’s Brazil Project is scheduled to appear June 27th at Freihofer’s Jazz Festival at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, where the two-day schedule of talent is strong and wide-ranging, headlined by George Benson and Patti LaBelle. Besides Morganelli on trumpet, the Jazz Forum Brazil Project includes John Hart on guitar, Nilson Matta on bass, Adriano Santos on drums and singer Monika Oliveira.

DVD of Note...

Miles Davis, That's What Happened: Live in Germany, 1987 (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
This 1987 concert DVD captures Davis and his late-career jazz-rock band live in Munich performing some of the staples of his repertoire. In the late 1980s, “Human Nature” and “Time After Time” did for a Davis concert what “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “My Funny Valentine” and “Someday My Prince Will Come” did in the 1950s and ’60s - enabling his band to expand the possibilities and dramatically reshape beloved and instantly identifiable ballads from popular culture.


This 90-minute performance of ballads, blues and funk has great musical moments from Davis and his band. Little new ground is covered in the supplemental interview and glimpse of his art, though there is one snippet in the former making it clear that composing and drawing were essential parts of his psyche - and shared some common elements. As he talks, he draws.


That was also the case when I had a lengthy interview with him at his Manhattan apartment in April 1986 for an extensive 60th birthday profile initially published by UPI as part of its LifeSize series. Here’s a link to an archived version on the Jazz Journalists Association's Web site that also explores his music-art connection.

A-Team / Essentially Ellington overlap

Seattle’s Garfield High School and Roosevelt High School jazz bands have been perennial top finalists and/or winners at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, finishing first and second again this year. Now their directors are getting well-deserved moments in the spotlight.

Garfield’s Clarence Acox and Roosevelt’s Scott Brown are among the 11 winners of the A-Team class of "activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz" who will be honored June 16 as part of the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2009 JJA Jazz Awards event at The Jazz Standard in Manhattan.

The other A-Team honorees are: trumpeter and producer Herb Alpert for his longstanding commitment to jazz and philanthropy supporting music education; Dr. Agnes Varis of the Jazz Foundation of America; Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records; Dr. David Baker for revolutionizing jazz education; cultural historian Timuel Black; Jazz Institute of Chicago former president Steve Saltzman, Jazz Bakery proprietor Ruth Price, and two posthumous honorees: journalist-author-musician Richard Sudhalter and author-publicist Peter Levinson.

See the JJA Web site for details on other nominees, as well as event information.

CDs of Note

Lynne Arriale, Nuance: The Bennett Studio Sessions (Motéma) After a series of 10 highly regarded trio recordings over the past 15 years, pianist Lynne Arriale has changed things up. On this recording, made at Bennett Studios in northern New Jersey, she expanded her band to quartet – featuring trumpeter Randy Brecker. She had worked a few times previously with drummer Anthony Pinciotti, but this was her first collaboration with Brecker and bassist George Mraz.

The Nuance session reveals more beautiful facets of Arriale’s musical vision and crystalline sound. Most interesting is the way she and Brecker share and trade both melodic and harmonic lead roles. There is a beautiful version of Sting’s “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” This CD has much to offer both in the band’s reworkings of standards and performances of six Arriale originals.

My personal favorites are the poignant “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” and a rousing version of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” and Arriale’s beautiful, elegiac “A Gentle Soul” and her spirited “Crawfish & Gumbo.” As a bonus, the package includes a DVD with different versions of the tunes, performed at Bennett Studios in front of an audience.

Resonance Big Band plays tribute to Oscar Peterson (Resonance)
Los Angeles-based Resonance records is out with a gem that pays homage to the late Oscar Peterson - and introduces us to a keyboard artist who deserves watching in other projects going forward - no matter that he’s a thirty-something Romanian living in Finland.

This project took several of Peterson’s best-known compositions and other material that he made his own - and use new arrangements of those songs to celebrate Peterson’s passion, swing and technique. Marian Petrescu is no Peterson copycat. He blends in his own improvisations throughout the material. My favorites include the “Bossa Beguine,” “Little Girl Blue” (Rodgers and Hart) and “Sally’s Tomato,” a Henry Mancini piece using the original Claus Ogerman arrangement that Peterson used on his version on the 1969 big band recording Motions and Emotions on Germany’s MPS label. The other arrangements were done by Kuno Schmidt and Bill Cunliffe, who assembled this big band from among L.A.’s finest jazz and studio players. The CD ends with Petrescu’s nimble solo piano take on Peterson’s difficult, intimate burner “A Little Jazz Exercise.” An accompanying DVD explores the conception and production of this worthy project.

What a forceful project in which to introduce many more people to Marian Petrescu, a serious Oscar Peterson disciple and forceful/formidable pianist in his own right.

Note: there are two titles floating around the Intranet for this CD, the other being The Resonance Big Band plays the legacy of Oscar Peterson, which is how it can be ordered through Amazon.com. However I’ve been told by Resonance consultant Ricky Schultz that plays tribute to is the correct name.

Yotam Silberstein, Next Page (Posi-Tone)
Fans of Peter Bernstein and Howard Alden are likely to love this one, from a player of the next generation in the mainstream swing style, enhanced by his modern sense of harmonics and personal sense of phrasing. Yotam Silberstein grew up in Israel and his playing sometimes is colored by his Middle Eastern roots. The New School graduate and Thelonious Monk guitar competition semifinalist (2005) is joined on this session by Sam Yahel on organ, and Willie Jones III on drum, with Chris Cheek on tenor sax on five of the 10 tracks. So it is half organ-guitar trio and half a quartet project.

An array of originals are complemented by fresh takes on two standards, “Foolin’ Myself” and “If Ever I Would Leave You,” as well as “Ani Eshtagea,” a Venezuelan folk song performed by many Israeli singers. The latter tune and Silberstein’s energetic “Borsht” and reflective “Cancao “are standouts. This is a player fast on the rise. I heard him in April with Sylvia Cuenca’s band, and he deserves a close listen, whether with his own band or working with others.

Some golden jazz projects take on a new spin

A golden anniversary only rolls around once, so producers and promoters are smart to make the best of it.

To some ears, 1959 was the greatest year in jazz, given the pinnacle of talent and artful productivity in so many facets of the music. It was the year for recording projects that turned out to be pivotal for their makers – and for listeners. Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come led the charge.

We don’t dare forget about Davis’s enduring classic Sketches of Spain, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out and Charles Mingus’s Mingus Ah Um. And Columbia / Legacy is making sure we don’t forget them.

On May 26, the label is releasing 50th anniversary two-CD deluxe sets of the three classic recordings as part of its Legacy Edition series. Each has been enhanced or beefed up in some way for this 1959 – Jazz’s Greatest Year set:

· Sketches of Spain (50th Anniversary Enhanced 2 CD Legacy Edition) - The original of this Gil Evans-Miles Davis collaboration plus more than an hour of rehearsal or alternate takes, as well as a version of “Concerto de Aranjuez” from the only time they performed it live (Carnegie Hall, 1961) and a new essay by Gunther Schuller.

· Time Out -50th Anniversary (2 CD/1 DVD Legacy Edition) - Jazz’s first million-selling album is accompanied by previously unreleased recordings of Brubeck’s Quartet at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1961, 1963 and 1964 (eight tracks in all), as well as a 30-minute DVD documentary on the making of the project, an interview with Brubeck, an interactive piano lesson, and historic performance footage. There’s also a new essay by Ted Gioia.

· Ah Um 50th Anniversary (Legacy Edition) - The 1959 recording and its sequel, Mingus Dynasty, in their entirety, plus bonus tracks and alternate takes from the 1959 recording sessions for Mingus Ah Um and a new essay by Michael Cuscuna.

All three 50th anniversary sets also contain rare photos and previously unpublished documents and/or correspondence concerning the recording sessions.

The completists among us are likely to rejoice with this new ammunition for the argument that silence isn’t always golden.

CDs of Note

Melody Gardot, My One and Only Thrill (Verve)
In terms of a very intimate and endearing sound, Melody Gardot seems comparable to my ears to the late French chanteuse Edith Piaf. It is a sound that forces us to really concentrate in on the lyrics. Gardot writes most of her own material, sometimes in collaboration, just as Piaf did.

In the acknowledgments within this new (second) full-length CD, Philadelphia resident Gardot even describes her music as “the soundtrack to my life” – a life in which she is a survivor of great health challenges caused by an accident five years ago with the then-19-year-old was struck by an SUV while riding her bicycle. She sings beautifully and intimately about what she has called “the beauty of impermanence and the art of gradual, sensual and universal embrace.”

As you listen to the songs, you’ll also discover on My One and Only Thrill that she is a poet of the first order, telling emotional short stories with great impact. Her first album, Worrisome Heart, which made several 2008 Top 10 lists (including my own), featured Gardot with her working band. This Larry Klein-produced sequel, with arrangements by Vince Mendoza, adds a variety off guest musicians, with strings on six of its 11 tracks. My clear favorites here include “Who Will Comfort Me,” “Your Heart is as Black as Night,” ”Lover Undercover” and “Deep Within the Corners of My Mind.” There is much to savor here and you are certain to discover your own favorites. A principally French track, “Les Étoiles” (The Stars) enhances the Piaf linkage.

Nick Hempton Band (Triple-Distilled Original [TDR])
Australian alto saxophonist Nick Hempton leads this swarthy New York-based bop quartet with Art Hirahara on piano, Marco Panascia on bass and Dan Aran on drums. Together, these versatile players have an interesting edge to their sound on this debut CD. They have a fun time in which a serious sound is the result, such as on Hempton’s “The Artful Roger.” The three covers here include Benny Carter’s ballad “Lonely Woman,” Joe Henderson’s “Serenity” and the Johnny Burke-Jimmy Van Heusen chestnut “But Beautiful.” Hempton’s uptempo original “I’m a Nurse, I’m an Engineer” could be interpreted as the role of the jazz musician - to help heal, through music but also to design artful improvisation. But that’s just my spin on it. For an added bonus, check out Hempton’s own clever and witty liner notes.

April Hall, Fun out of Life (Bee Boy Records)
Florida-born, Boston-based April Hall is a singer of great quality and taste, as shown on her new CD, her second as a leader. She sings great standards, but none of the tired tunes. You know what I mean by tired tunes – the half-dozen or so songs that have been done to death by so many singers they really don’t need to be done again by anyone - but usually are ad infinitum. Hall has a great voice, a strong sense of material and a superb backing band, with Joe Mulholland on piano, Kenny Hadley on drums, Jon Damian on guitar on two tracks, and Tom Hall and Amadee Castanell sharing saxophone duties. In particular, this is a great showcase for Mulholland, whose sensitive accompaniment is as good as it gets. Hall is an award-winning songwriter, but this project celebrates the contributions of other musical wordsmiths. Her version of Michel Legrand’s classic “You Must Believe in Spring” is a tour de force.

Timing is everything

Timing has an impact on just about everything we do, including the attention given to various jazz releases. Bill Cunliffe’s Blues and the Abstract Truth: Take 2 released late in 2008 on the Resonance label is a case in point.

The CD is a masterful work - updating Oliver Nelson’s classic 1961 all-star project with great reverence while skillfully adding new twists and turns. Cunliffe and his nine-piece band perform updated arrangements of all six tunes from Nelson’s septet project, in exact order. Then he tacked on two originals, a forward-looking bop exploration called “Port Authority” and a Nelson-like homage to Cunliffe’s own piano mentor, Mary Lou Williams, called “May Lou’s Blues. This disc belongs on many a CD shelf, right next to Nelson’s original.

Now, about that timing. The CD was released on October 14, 2008, late in the year for consideration by critics assembling their Top 10 lists for 2008. I can’t begin to guess even how many received it or had a chance to give it a listen prior to submitting their various ballots or publishing their own year-end lists.

More than 75 of us contributed to Francis Davis’s very important 2008 jazz poll published last December 30 in the Village Voice. I double-checked yesterday. Cunliffe’s CD didn’t appear on a single list. My list for that poll, the Jazz Journalists Association’s Web site and allaboutjazz.com didn’t contain it, unfortunately, because I never received the disc. I listened to a friend’s copy this past week. Suffice it to say that I was blown away by this exceptional revisit/reinterpretation of the original project made nearly a half-century ago.

So even though it technically came out late in 2008, I am tempted to put it in my 2009 Top 10 list. And why not? It can balance things a bit - as several critics put drummer Mike Clark’s excellent Blueprints Of Jazz Vol. 1 (Talking House) on their 2008 lists… even though it wasn’t released until February 3, 2009 (see My January 25 blog entry).

The home-court advantage

The basketball and hockey playoffs that are under way have proven once again that there is a home arena / hometown advantage. For proof, look no further than the Boston Celtics' epic first-round series with the Chicago Bulls.

That advantage also exists in music, as I was reminded when checking out the Blue Note 7 in performances two weeks apart in two different cities.

The all-star group’s show in Worcester, Mass. on April 1 was quite good, but the impact was numbed a bit by a half-empty house and the very large stage at historic Mechanics Hall.

I also caught them at Birdland in New York on April 16. I doubt the band coasted in any of its performances in its 50-city U.S. tour, but what a difference it makes to play at home in familiar surroundings, in front of critics and peers.

The band was tighter physically and emotionally, and the sound was top-notch. The resulting music was stunning from start to finish. A few times, when he wasn’t soloing, Nicholas Payton stood at the wall at the rear of the stage, and added some comping riffs - off mic, yet filling the room.

Nicholas Payton, Birdland, April 2009... > The evening was punctuated by the ultimate musicians’ compliment… musicians who weren’t elsewhere that night or that set were checking out the band. Those in the room that night included Bob Sheppard, Eric Alexander, Anat Cohen, Jim Ridl, Roni Ben-Hur and Bill Mays. When the BN7 played its update to Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance,” pianist Bill Charlap noted that saxophonist George Coleman, who played on the original Blue Note session, was in the house - sitting close to the stage, holding court at his own table.

I suspect the six-night Big Apple winddown of the spring tour was like that every night. Those in the house the prior night, for example, included Steve Kuhn and Mike LeDonne.

Bennett joins the post-Katrina assistance brigade...

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but he leaves behind a significant monetary/cultural investment in New Orleans after a performance at JazzFest this weekend.

This past week, the singer's Exploring the Arts program was among the funders who donated $100,000 worth of new musical instruments to students at KIPP Believe College Prep, a charter school founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The instruments can help extend the city's great musical tradition to newer generations of players. Details on the funding, and its origins, can be found at Newsmax.com.

So we can add Tony Bennett - singer, painter, philanthropist - to the list of people who have found creative ways to help rebuild in ways NOLA needs it.Action like Bennett's is welcome, especially as parts of the city still haven't been rebuilt... and work on its infrastructure is far from complete.

It still baffles me that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal rejected the federal government's economic stimulus aid this year, aid that this state and city that likely need it the most. It could have gone a long way to continue work on levees and rebuild the Ninth Ward and other areas still blighted from Katrina's flooding effects.

CDs of Note

Sean Jones, The Search Within (Mack Avenue)
Trumpeter Sean Jones has wowed listeners with his chops ever since his recording debut five years ago with Eternal Journey. The chops are still amazing on The Search Within, but this project, his fifth recording as a leader, is more a celebration of what’s in his heart. The reflective aspects of the writing and performance in no way diminish the stylistic range of tunes explored by Jones & Co. In fact, they enhance it.

“The Search Within (for less),” the middle segment or interlude of his three-part title tune, is a beauty, as is his Khalil Gibran-inspired ballad “The Ambitious Violet.” The special guests featured with his regular sextet (pianist Orrin Evans, saxophonists Brian Hogans and Walter Smith, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvaire) include Gregoire Maret on harmonica, Erika Von Kleist on flute, Kahlil Bell on percussion and singer Carolyn Perteete, who also wrote the lyrics to Jones’s “Letter of Resignation.”

Barbara King, Perfect Timing (CCC Music Group)
One of the great treats at April's 31st Cape May Jazz Festival at the tip of the Jersey Shore was a chance to hear emerging talent Barbara King live. In person, her music is as strong and intriguing as on this debut CD. The Brooklyn NY native has an ear for great tunes that have been under-performed in jazz circles, a thirst for fresh arrangements (developed for this project by keyboard player Dorsey “Rob” Robinson) and a great voice (reminiscent of Sarah Vaughn at times) to make it all work.

The treats here include fresh takes on the Dionne Warwick-associated Bacharach-David tune “I Say A Little Prayer,” Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky,” the Donny Hathaway-penned Roberta Flack hit “Tryin’ Times” and the Beatles hit “Let It Be.” Her version of “Forever Young” enables us to savor the lyrics – something that would be a challenge on the original for all but the most die-hard Bob Dylan fans. King grew up musically in her church choirs. Her originals “Miracles,” “Perfect Timing” and “Your Smile” are both beautiful and carry great messages, as does J.C. White’s “One More Day.”

The rotation of players is excellent, including Robinson, George Colligan, John DiMartino and Arturo O'Farrill on piano; guitarists Rodney Jones and Romero Lubambo, saxophonist Jay Branford; bassists Dwayne Burno, James Cammack, Kenny Davis, Ray Drummond and Ruben Rodriguez; and drummers Carl Allen, Steve Johns and Phoenix Rivera, among others. Trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater and flute player Dave Valentin add their soloing talents to a track apiece.

Dave Siebels with: Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (PBGL)
The Hammond B-3 organ has a narrow but notable history in recordings w ith big bands. Jimmy Smith’s collaborations with Count Basie and Oliver Nelson come to mind, as does Jimmy Griff’s Couint Basie tribute project with a unit that evolved into the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. West Coast keyboard player/ composer /arranger/producer Dave Siebels wonderfully adds to that tradition in this project with pianist Goodwin’s Grammy-winning Big Phat Band. If, like me, you love the rollicking, had-driving energy of the B-3, this is a CD not to be missed.

Siebels, longtime collaborator with singer Pat Boone and other first-tier jazz, blues and pop performers, performs primarily originals with three excellent covers for ths sound - Stevie Wonder’s high-energy “I Wish” (with a tenor sax solo from Goodwin), Neal Hefti’s ballad “Girl Talk” (done in a trio setting with wonderful guitar work by Grant Geissman) and Lalo Schifrin’s “The Cat.” Siebels’ “The Coupe,” “Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That,” “The Gospel According to Hammond,” and the Latin-tinged “Sort of Like a Samba” (done by quartet) stand out. There’s not a dud in the mix.

Freddie Hubbard, Without a Song (Blue Note)
Oh how we miss the jazz great nicknamed “Hub Cap” (also the title of his 1961 album). Hard-bop trumpeter Freddie Hubbard passed last December 29 after more than 15 years of poor health and chops that had been blown out by his blistering style. This previously unissued recording was compiled from three concerts in England and Germany on a Jazz Wave on Tour visit 40 years ago this December with pianist Roland Hanna, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Louis Hayes.

There is a fascinating extended reworking of “Body and Soul,” a very strong opener with the title track, a comparatively tame version of “The Things We Did Last Summer” (with a few Hubbard upper-register flights) and a burning version of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia” that is also a Hanna showcase. Hubbard was in strong form throughout, in contrast to what we remember from recent comeback tries.

I confess that when I went to hear him a few years ago in Boston, I had to leave mid-way through the first song because listening to the music he was trying to make with his shot lips was so painful. For that sort of reason alone, this addition to the discography of Freddie at his prime Without a Song is most welcome. But it does not reach the pinnacle performances he turned live or in studio on The Night of the Cookers (recorded at Brooklyn’s Club La Marchal in 1965), Red Clay, and Blues for Miles. This is a June 2, 2009 release.

A Cape May weekend of jazz and blues

Twice a year for more than 15 years, Carol Stone and Woody Woodland and their team of supporters (as the nonprofit Friends of Cape May Jazz, Inc.) have been bringing jazz to Cape May, the Victorian resort city located at the tip of southern New Jersey. The event, held in early November and mid-April, is a great way to extend the tourist season in Cape May.

The 31st edition of their Cape May Jazz Festival was held last weekend with the most spectacular April weather of any of the many years I have attended.Most of the music was great as well. My review of the latest edition has been posted at allaboutjazz.com along with two photos.

This may be the most unusual format for a festival that many of us will encounter. Its scattered venues over the years have ranged from the city's beachfront Convention Hall (closed for the past year due to structural issues but expected to be razed and rebuilt), a state-of-the-art performance center at the nearby high school, an assortment of hotel ballrooms and restaurants, and a block of restaurant/bars along Beach Avenue, the main drag.

Saturday afternoon jam sessions generally featuring top regional talent from New Jersey and the Philadelphia area are wildly popular. If you get there after the start, it is tough to get a seat or a table most years. Shuttle buses move attendees between various venues all night long.

The city has much to offer, with its great blend of beach and "boardwalk," an amazing array of Victorian gingerbread houses (many of them now B&Bs), interesting boutiques for those who love to blend jazz and shopping on their visits, and some wonderful restaurants.

My favorite place to dine is The Merion Inn, a historic and popular venue owned by Vicki Watson, who runs it with her significant other, the talented and wonderfully versatile pianist George Mesterhazy. (In the interest of full disclosure: George and I have been close friends since 1992.) When the former Shirley Horn accompanist isn't on the road with singer Paula West or another gig, he usually can be found playing his Steinway in the restaurant's lounge. In the last year, he has also added a weekly Thursday night jam session at the Merion that builds off his basic local trio.

The complete Newport lineup

George Wein has added a great variety of musicians to his lineup for the jazz festival in Newport in August, scheduled August 7-9 and called "George Wein's JAZZ FESTIVAL 55."

This will be the 55th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival's first edition back in 1954. And the Friday night opener, as usual, is at the Newport Casino (International Tennis Hall of Fame) site that was the festival's home in 1954.

The new additions include singer, MC, musician and actor Mos Def, the dynamic MC, Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, singer Claudia Acuna, the Branford Marsalis Quartet and the Branford Marsalis-Joey Calderazzo duo, the Vandermark 5, and Rashied Ali-Charles Gayle-William Parker's "By Any Means.

Brian Blade and Christopher Thomas from The Brian Blade Fellowship, Newport 2008... >

Here is the full schedule as of today:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 - International Tennis Hall of Fame, 8 p.m.
Etta James and The Roots Band

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 - Fort Adams State Park, 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Mos Def; Branford Marsalis Quartet; Joshua Redman Double Trio; Esperanza Spalding; Cedar Walton All-Stars with Lew Tabackin & Curtis Fuller; Hiromi's SonicBloom; Vandermark 5; Christian McBride; Vijay Iyer Trio; Miguel Zenón Quartet, North Carolina Central Big Band, Branford Marsalis-Joey Calderazzo duo, Claudia Acuña.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 - Fort Adams State Park. 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tony Bennett; Dave Brubeck Quartet; Roy Haynes' Fountain of Youth Band; Michel Camilo; Joe Lovano's Us Five; The Bad Plus with singer Wendy Lewis; Ernest Ranglin;Conversations with Christian McBride; Millennial Territory Orchestra; Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band; Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition; Rashied Ali-Charles Gayle-William Parker's "By Any Means;" Afredo Rodriguez; The Rodriguez Brothers.

Tickets for the Fort Adams events go on sale tomorrow. Tickets for the Etta James performance go on sale May 13.

Wein's Newport return clears final hurdle

George Wein's Newport return this summer to produce jazz and folk festivals in the city where his festival legacy began has cleared its final hurdle.

The Newport City Council gave Wein permission in a 5-0 vote last Thursday evening to produce his two events after the apparent demise of Festival Network LLC, the upstart company that bought his Festival Productions Inc. two years ago then ran its expanded enterprise into the ground. At least that's how it appears, with word the company lost millions last year and still has vendors waiting for funds they are owed.

Wein's new firm, which is having nothing to do with FN, is called New Festival Productions, LLC. Tickets go on sale this Thursday for the 55th anniversary event of the jazz festival and on May 6 for the 50th anniversary edition of the folk festival. Each festival will include two full days of music on three stages at Fort Adams State Park and a Friday evening concert at Newport Casino, home of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Confirmed artists for "George Wein's JAZZ FESTIVAL 55" August 7 to 9 include Tony Bennett, Branford Marsalis, Etta James, Esperanza Spalding, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Vijay Iyer Trio, Cedar Walton with Lew Tabackin and Curtis Fuller, the Christian McBride Group, Roy Haynes Quintet, Joshua Redman Double Trio, Hiromi, The Bad Plus joined by Wendy Lewis, Michel Camilo, Joe Lovano, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miguel Zenon, Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band, and the Rodriguez Brothers.

Confirmed artists for "George Wein's FOLK FESTIVAL 50" July 31 to August 2 includes festival co-founder Pete Seeger, The Decemberists, Arlo Guthrie, Fleet Foxes, Joan Baez, Neko Case, Judy Collins, Campbell Brothers, The Avett Brothers, Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch, Del McCoury, Iron & Wine, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, Balfa Toujours, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Tim Eriksen and the Shape Note Singers, Langhorne Slim, Ben Kweller and Low Anthem.

The complete festival programs will be announced later this month.

Ticket detail is available at http://www.jazzfestival55.com/ and http://www.folkfestival50.com/.

In its heyday, Wein's former operation produced dozens and dozens of festivals all over the world. When he sold his company to Festival Network, he also sold the rights to the names Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Folk Festival. Hence the new event names this year.

Also gone are the festivals produced elsewhere, for the most part. There is no grand festival event in New York this June. But three other events formerly produced by Wein and his team live on.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was run separately and never fell under the Festival Network umbrella. Festival Network's contractual affiliation to produce the Playboy Jazz Festival and Freihofer's Jazz Festival in Saratoga, N.Y. expired last year.

Longtime Festival Productions senior producer Dan Melnick is the producing partner and artistic director of the Freihofer's event at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on June 27 and 28 through his own company, Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC.

Wein's longtime West Coast affiliate Darlene Chan now produces the Playboy Jazz Festival event at the Hollywood Bowl independently.

For kids of all ages - and the kid inside each of us

Three very different recordings have come across my listening post that have kids at heart. I’m referring to projects that can help interest more youngsters in jazz, or help bring out the kid side of those who sometimes forget those more innocent, imaginative days.

Phil Woods, The Children's Suite (Jazzed Media)
In 1967, alto saxophonist Phil Woods completed work on “The Children’s Suite,” which was carefully crafted when he discovered that the words in his kids’ A.A. Milne books would make splendid songs. So he wrote original music for more than a dozen of poems from “Now We Are Six” featuring Christopher Robin and his imaginary friend Winnie the Pooh.

It took until 2007 to complete Woods’ magical journey. The 40-year gap ended when he finished navigating an extended legal minefield to obtain the necessary permissions and conditions from the Milne estate and the Disney Company, which owns the rights to all of Milne’s literature.

The ambitious project’s ensemble features the vocals of Bob Dorough and Vicki Doney, Woods’ distinctive alto sax, and the narration of English actor Peter Dennis, a jazz fan who is the only person licensed to perform Milne’s works on stage. Dennis also deserves credit for helping Woods maneuver through the legal intricacies. The project was recorded to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, of which Woods was a co-founder.

Ezra Weiss, Alice in Wonderland (Northwest Children’s Theater and School)
Pianist Weiss’s intent was helping children discover jazz when he adapted “Alice on Wonderland” for a musical production by Portland, Oregon’s Northwest Children’s Theater and School, where he teaches. In the original production at NCTS, the jazz band was at center stage and all of the action took place around the musicians. Weiss took the opportunity to write and arrange his tunes to explicitly offer stylistic references to a substantial list of jazz greats including Ellington and Strayhorn, Miles, Trane, Bird, Mingus, Monk, Shirley Horn and the Latin size of Dizzy, as well as blues figures Bessie Smith and B.B. King.

For example, this blend of classic literature and jazz history quotes a bit of “A Train” on an Ellington-influenced version of “A Long and Sad Tail,” and the Caterpillar character on “Who Are You?” plays muted trumpet rather than smokes a hookah - and has a Miles-like whispery growl in his voice. The excellent adult voices include Pacific Northwest-based jazz singers Marilyn Keller and Shirley Nanette and 19-year-old Athena Patterson, who excels at the blues.

Holly Yarbrough, Mister Rogers Swings! (Vintagediscs.com)
This project, subtitled Holly Yarbrough sings the Fred Rogers Songbook, puts an adult twist on 16 tunes that entertainer Fred Rogers wrote for and sang on the 34-year run of his children’s TV show, “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.” Dressed up in a jazz setting, complete with robust horns and strings - and Yarbrough’s pleasant vocals, the lyrics take on just as much a message for adults as they ever held for kids. “You’ve Got to Do It” even carries a decidedly adult double-entendre feel. This also was one of the final studio sessions by late saxophonist Boots Randolph. Nashville-based Yarbrough is the daughter of folksinger Glenn Yarbrough.

Jazz and its makers link to other artistry

Many musicians aren’t one-trick ponies when it comes to artistry. Trumpeter Miles Davis, clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, bassist John Heard and singers Tony Bennett, Kate Westbrook and Meredith d’Ambrosio are just a few who have had solid reputations as painters.

Louis Armstrong took his off-the-bandstand creativity in a slightly different direction when he was on the road. The many hours he spent in his hotel room or dressing room while waiting for concerts provided the time and motivation to create more than 500 collages that were crafted from a variety of inspirations: newspaper articles, photos, his mail and even telegrams.

An exhibit of his art, called A Little Story of My Own: Louis Armstrong’s Collages, opened today at The Louis Armstrong House Museum at 34-56 107th Street in the Corona section of Queens, N.Y., and runs through July 12.

A Little Story of My Own provides the public a rare opportunity to view the collages. Except for several that were loaned to a national traveling exhibit sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution in the early 1990s, Armstrong's collages have never been exhibited outside of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, in large measure because they are so fragile. All but one of the collages in this exhibit are on view for the first time.

Museum Director Michael Cogswell likens Armstrong’s collages to his jazz improvisations. “Found material is divided and then rearranged to create new meanings. Many of Louis’s collages display multiple layers of meaning which are more intuitive than deliberate,” he said. Armstrong felt the same way, writing a friend in 1953: “My hobbie (sic) is to pick out the different things … and piece them together … making a little story of my own.”

The exhibit coincides with the release of an art book of Armstrong's collages, "Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong" (New York: Abrams, 2009), and an exhibit this month of reproductions of Armstrong's collages at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

CDs of Note

Seamus Blake Quartet, Live in Italy (Jazz Eyes)
Supercharged tenor sax player Blake recorded this two-CD project during three nights in three different cities of an Italian tour in February 2007. The band includes bassist Danton Boller, drummer Rodney Green and pianist David Kikoski.

This is a high-energy project, a tour de force if you will from the 2002 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition winner. My favorites are Blake’s “Way Out Willy” and “Fear of Roaming” and the quartet’s version of John Scofield’s “Dance Me Home.” They also tackled Claude Debussy’s “String Quartet in G Minor” which opens in rather laid-back, introspective fashion but builds in intensity to rival the more robust pieces mentioned above.

Big Band Ritmo Sinfonica Città Di Verona, "Restless Spirits" (Velut Luna)
When done right, there is something amazing about the lush creativity that a jazz big band can produce. Now, nearly triple that feeling, as happens in Verona, Italy and other European cities where the jazz big bands, or orchestras, are indeed orchestral in size. This 43-piece unit’s 20-piece horn section is larger than most entire U.S. big bands. This latest project features the music of talented pianist Roberto Magris, who joins the big band as a special guest on acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes.

This muscular band, under the direction of Marco Pasetto, is a joy to hear as it rolls beautifully through eight modern and hip compositions from the Magris songbook. All of the pieces are gems. The “Restless Spirits” title track features vibrant percussion section that is central to its several mood changes from ballad to bop-tinged Afro-Cuban jam that recalls the energy of Dizzy Gillespie’s finest big band projects. The trumpet highlights come from another special guest, Massimo Greco.

Mark Levine Trio, Exact Change (Jazzschool)
Pianist Mark Levine is best known for his work on the Latin side of jazz, particularly his affiliations with Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria, as well as his own band The Latin Tinge. This is his first jazz trio CD in more than 10 years, and it teams him with bassist Peter Barshay and drummer Mike Clark, with John Witala and Eddie Marshall subbing on the final track, Joe Henderson’s “Isotope.”

While Levine has had great success as a writer, this project consists entirely of well-known tunes by other jazz greats or American Songbook contributors. The trio here is strong and tight. Favorites include their versions of Mulgrew Miller’s “Exact Change” and “One Notch Up,” Donald Byrd’s “I’m So Excited By You” and their exquisite adventure on “I Hear a Rhapsody.”

Will Sellenraad, Balance (Beezwax)
New York guitarist Will Sellenraad is out with a dandy of a new CD (his third) with his longtime working quartet that features saxophonist Abraham Burton, bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummer Victor Lewis. All of the material is original, seven written by the leader, and one apiece contributed by Kitagawa and Lewis.

The blues-based “It's Been a Long Time” is beautiful and appropriately named - because Lewis wrote it about 30 years ago, unearthing it for its debut on this project. There are a variety of moods here, all imbued with the quartet’s swinging reverence for space and melody. Burton is especially strong on “Blewis,” a tune that the leader wrote in honor of his drummer.

This is Sellenraad’s debut on Beezwax Records, an Indiana-based label that prides itself on the rather quirky concept of hand-assembling, stamping and embossing every CD package that goes out its door with the owner or recipient’s name and a unique serial number. Over the past 12 years it has produced about 20 jazz, blues and brass releases this way.