2014’s Top 10 Jazz Listings…. One Scribe's Take

This the season for the outpouring of Top 10 lists, and their many variations, for jazz, world events, etc. The jazz lists always have a lot of variation depending on the individual reviewer's personal tastes, as well as what he or she had a chance to hear during the year.* Bottom line, all of these are very subjective.

My choices below (aside from top 10 new songs of the year) were submitted to the Jazz Times and NPR Music 2014 compilations. (The latter is a Francis Davis-produced poll that previously was published by The Village Voice and Rhapsody.com).

 As I begin preparing my review of significant events and trends in jazz this year for allaboutjazz.com, I thought I'd share my "best of 2014" lists. *Always keep in mind the above caveats.

 The 10 best new jazz releases of 2014

1.   Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips, Moment To Moment (Nick Phillips Music)

2.   Barb Jungr, Hard Rain (Kristalyn)

3.   Pat Metheny Unity Group, Kin (↔) (Nonesuch-Metheny Group Productions)

4.   Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra, Habitat (Justin Time)

5.    Sonny Rollins, Road Shows, Volume 3 (Doxy/OKeh)

6.   Craig Handy, Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith (OKeh)

7.   George Cables, Icons & Influences (HighNote)

8.    Alan Broadbent and NDR Big Band, America The Beautiful (Jan Matthies)

9.   Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte, The New Standard (RareNoise)

10. Suzanna Smith, Between Heaven & Love (Ink Pen)

 

The best historical/reissues of 2014 (includes any recordings made over 10 years ago, whether newly released or reissued):

1.   Gene Ludwig-Pat Martino Trio, Young Guns (HighNote)

2.   Francy Boland, Playing With The Trio (Schema Rearward)

3.   John Coltrane, Offering: Live At Temple University  (Resonance)

4.   Miles Davis, Miles at the Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (Columbia/Legacy)

 
The 10 best new songs from CDs released in 2014, listed alphabetically:

1.   Noah Baerman, “Lester” from Ripples (self-produced)

2.  Laura Dubin, “Thank You For Your Time” from Introducing the Laura Dubin Trio (self-produced)

3.   Alex Garcia, “11:11 Spirit” from Alex Garcia’s AfroMantra, This Side of Mestizaje (AfroMantra)

4.   Kaszuo Ishiguro and Jim Tomlinson, “The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain” from Stacey Kent, The Changing Lights (Warner Bros).

5.   Pat Metheny, “Born” from Kin (↔) (Nonesuch-Metheny Group Productions)

6.   Ellen Rowe, “And Miles To Go (Part 2)” from Courage Music (PKO)

7.   Gonzalo Rubalcaba, “Volcan Durmiente” from Volcán (5Pasion)

8.   Jamie Saft, “Blue Shuffle” from The New Standard (RareNoise)

9.   Anton Schwartz, “Dawn’s Song” from Flash Mob (Antonjazz)

10. Herb Silverstein, “Wish You Were Here” from Monday Morning (self-produced)

 

2014’s best vocal recording:

Barb Jungr, Hard Rain (Kristalyn)
                                                  

2014’s best Latin/Brazilian jazz recordings:

1.  Volcán, Volcán (5Pasion)

2.  Omar Sosa, Real Live: The New AfroCuban Quartet Live in Japan (Otá)

3.  Afro Bop Alliance, Angel Eyes (Zoho)

4.  Yosvany Terry, New Throned King (5Pasion)

5.  Gabriel Espinosa and Hendrick Meurkens, Samba Little Samba (Zoho) 

2014’s best book about jazz:

“ART: Why I Stuck with a Junkie Jazzman,” by Laurie Pepper (APMCorp)

Jazz Times.com has posted excerpts from my new book, “Jazz in the Key of Light,” that spotlight nine of its 80 featured musicians.

The coffee-table-style book is drawing five-star reviews. 

Here is a sampling:

• “Just want to let you know I'm getting a late piano start today and it's YOUR FAULT! I got your book, and I decided to read it this morning instead catching up on the latest health and terrorist crises in our world. What a treat your book is! I'm not sure if I've seen something like this before, and I have a lot of books. Great photos with insightful words. Very cool!" – pianist-composer Lisa Hilton
• “Some non-musician/non-musical friends, who were here on a visit, began looking at the book on my coffee table. The format interested them enough to ask intelligent questions about jazz. There is obviously a wealth of enjoyment for the jazz enthusiast, but I saw that the book can both intrigue and draw-in the beginner. You've got a winner here!” – singer-guitarist Tony Boffa 
• “This book is going to be a collector's item. It is beautiful and thoughtful, marrying masterful photographs with telling quotes from each profiled musician. Author Ken Franckling has harvested decades of his work to capture the vitality and spirit of the jazz world for anyone who loves this type of music (and how can you not?).” – reader Michael Blumstein (posted on Amazon)

The Bobby van Deusen show

When you’ve got a piano marvel in the house, you wind him up and let him go – and then go along for the ride. That was the case Thursday when clarinetist Bud Leeds brought his quartet to the Venice (FL) Art Center as part of the South County Jazz Club’s matinee concert series.

 

Bud Leeds, Bobby van Deusen

The marvel was Bobby van Deusen, a ragtime and stride specialist who lives in Pensacola but was in the area for this weekend’s Suncoast Jazz Classic. Van Deusen will perform at the weekend-long trad jazz event in Clearwater with the Barbary Coast Dixieland Show Band. 

Bassist Don Mopsick, a 19-year member of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, and drummer Tony Martin, who had worked with van Deusen previously in New Orleans, rounded out Leeds’ band.

Whether organic or synthetic, jazz is good for the soul....

I walked into this afternoon's jazz concert at the Englewood (FL) Art Center expecting it to be a B-3 kind of afternoon with the Sarasota-based Organic Trio. But keyboard player Robbie Rose decided to bring his electronic keyboards to the South County Jazz Club matinee rather than transport the hefty Hammond B-3.

Two FLA jazz book-signing events 11/15, 16

There will be book signing/meet the author events this weekend for "Jazz in the Key of Light" in two Southwest Florida locations. Find out more about the book here.

Spotlighting obscure tunes with toe-tapping swing

Johnny Varro

Pianist Johnny Varro seems most at home in obscure jazz material - not only 50 or more years old, but in some cases, obscure even when it was first performed. Such was the case with more than half of the compositions he presented Monday night, November 11, with the Florida edition of his Swing 7 band at the Charlotte County Jazz Society concert series.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CD’s by Omer Avital, Nancy Kelly, and Gabriel Espinosa & Hendrick Meurkens …

Jazz singer shares new understanding of certain songs

June Garber

Transformative moments in life have an impact on music. Sometimes they inspire it. Sometimes they underscore the meaning within the lyrics, or help listeners - and singers -  better appreciate them. 

Such was the case Thursday, October 30, when singer June Garber performed at the Venice (FL) Art Center at a South County Jazz Club matinee concert, backed by saxophonist-flutist Tom Ellison, pianist Eddie Tobin, bassist John Lamb and drummer Dave Pruyn.

CDs of Note – Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CD’s by the Hutchinson Andrew Trio, the Mike Longo Trio and Marianne Solivan….

Looking Ahead: Southwest Florida jazz preview

The 2014-15 jazz concert season is under way. Here is a rundown of noteworthy jazz events, principally in the Sarasota to Naples territory, between now and the end of the year.

Two different yet effective jazz vocal approaches

The Charlotte County Jazz Society opened its 25th anniversary season Monday night with a double concert featuring Dave Pruyn and Paulette Pepper. The two Florida-based singers have very different, yet very effective, approaches to the Great American Songbook and jazz canon.

A generations-leaping jazz adventure

I’ve spent the last few days listening closely to Cheek to Cheek, the ambitious new recording by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. It debuted September 23 and soared to #1 on the Billboard 200 list. It also topped the Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts. Cheek to Cheek sold 131,000 copies in the week ending September 28, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Bennett is 88 and Lady Gaga is 28, yet they found common ground in exploring the Great American Songbook, which has always been Bennett’s forte. Gaga has also loved it, to a larger degree than most of her fans knew or appreciated.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by Dr. John, Mark Elf, Fred Hersch and Jane Potter.…

A jazz matinee with Larry Camp, Marty Morell, Bruce Wallace

Larry Camp

Bassist Bruce Wallace opened the South County Jazz Club's 2014-15 concert season Friday afternoon with a top-notch trio whose members had never worked together in this personnel grouping. It featured guitarist Larry Camp and drummer Marty Morell, best known in jazz circles for his seven-year stint in pianist Bill Evans' trio from 1968 to 1975.

Marty Morell

Musically, it was a fine, and poignant, afternoon at the Venice (FL) Art Center. This was Wallace's third consecutive season opener for the jazz club. Powerhouse pianist Kenny Drew Jr. had been pencilled in for the gig - until his unexpected death on August 3.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by Roberto Magris, Dan Moretti and Ernie Watts….

Jazz In The Key of Light

I’m pleased to announce that my new book, “Jazz in the Key of Light” (Eighty of our Finest Jazz Musicians Speak for Themselves), is being self-published in a limited edition on October 15. 

This is not your typical fine art photography book. Images of the featured artists, in performance or moments of personal reflection, are paired with illuminating quotes from interviews I had with those musicians in assignments for a variety of mainstream and music publications over the past 30 years.  

The spotlighted musicians range from legends Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan to a variety of today’s rising stars. Newport Jazz Festival producer George Wein wrote the Foreword. 

“Ken has leveraged his backstage pass to bring jazz fans closer to the music’s human source. Jazz In The Key of Light’s connection of words and images is a powerful complement to the music, since listeners often have no other statement from artists besides their art. As a result, we feel closer to the musician as a person.” 

        – Al Basile, poet, songwriter, and jazz & blues cornetist

“Jazz in the Key of Light,” published in hardcover format with dust jacket, retails at $59.95 (plus tax where applicable, and $5.99 shipping and handling). It is also available for purchase through Amazon.com.

Orders for signed or inscribed copies can be made directly, payable by check or through PayPal. Contact me for details at kfjazzpix@aol.com.

Moving from the disco ball to the jazz supper club

Singer Evelyn Thomas, best known for 1980s hit songs in Europe's disco and Hi-NRG dance club genre, is revisiting her roots as a singer. While not abandoning her dance music work, she has gone back to jazz. And she’s loving it.

Thomas made her local jazz debut Saturday night, September 13, at JD’s Bistro & Grille in Port Charlotte FL with her backing trio. She drew an enthusiastic audience for her blend of material from the canon of jazz standards, the Great American Songbook, and what we might call new standard fare: pop-associated material richly deserving of jazz treatments. Last night, JD’s had the feel and temperature of a fine New York supper club, a venue where Thomas and her backing trio plan to be Saturday night regulars.

 

Thomas’s spot-on vocals and her approach to her material reveal her influences from her early years as developing singer: particularly Nancy Wilson. The second set included Murray Grand’s haunting, lovelorn ballad “Guess Who I Saw Today,” which was a jazz vocal hit for Wilson in 1960. Other treats: her takes on the Shirley Horn- and Joe Williams-associated “Here’s to Life,” and one of those newer standards, “When October Goes” a 1984 Barry Manilow hit that combined his music with lyrics by the late Johnny Mercer.

Chicago-native Thomas has lived in southwest Florida for the past 21 years, using Port Charlotte as home base for her occasional disco-related tours to Europe as well as U.S. gigs. But she hadn’t immersed herself in the rather healthy local jazz scene – until now.

 “I still love that world (disco and Hi-NRG),” Thomas told me. “When they call, I’ve got to go (back to the world of dance clubs and disco balls), but I’m loving this too. I never left jazz, but now I’m doing more of it."

Thomas’s trio included her husband, Anthony Simpson (piano), Mark Fitzpatrick (electric bass) and Bob Ryan (drums). Their support was excellent.

Jazz in the Catskills

As a native son of Woodstock NY, best known to many over the past five decades as the namesake of a rock music festival that was held 60 miles away as the crows fly, an announcement this week came as welcome news.

Looking Ahead: Southwest Florida 2014-15 jazz season approaches

Here’s a preview of some of the more interesting jazz events in the Sarasota to Naples territory. The 2014-15 concert season hits full steam in October.

CDs of Note – Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by The Cookers, Theo Croker, Laura Dubin and Rotem Sivan ….

Another jazz postcard from Newport

As George Wein said in 1954: "A little rain can't stop us"

Even in fine weather, the logistics are mind-boggling. Three stages running simultaneously, with jazz to savor set by set or as a smorgasbord. Forty-three different acts over three afternoons at Fort Adams State Park, and two evening sets at historic Newport Casino, better known today as the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 
The fans turned out despite heavy rain on Saturday, August 2 and intermittent drizzle on Sunday. This was the 60th anniversary edition of producer George Wein's first festival - and the sea of colorful umbrellas, ponchos and rain suits added to the ambience. The mud, not so much.

Stepping up mightily

Joe Lovano

The jazz community has a proud tradition of jumping in to help out a great cause, particularly when it involves one of their own. They’re doing it again this weekend in northern New Jersey.  

Blue Note Records Chairman Emeritus Bruce Lundvall, the man who revived Blue Note as a powerful jazz label in 1984, has organized an all-star concert called the Sunrise Senior Living Jazz Festival. It is being held the afternoon and evening of Sunday, August 24, at Brighton Gardens of Saddle River.

Jazz postcard from Newport

Here is some more color, memories if you will, from the 60th anniversary edition of the Newport Jazz Festival, August 1-3. This was my 33rd festival in 34 years, covering for various employers and freelance assignments.

Jonathan Batiste and Stay Human

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by Dee Alexander, Joe Beck, and the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble…

Love and reverence for a jazz tradition

The 60^th anniversary edition of the Newport Jazz Festival turned into a weekend of love and reverence toward its founding producer, George Wein. He started the event in 1954 with backers Elaine and Louis Lorillard, a high society couple who wanted to liven up the summer social season.

More than a dozen jazz festival producers from venues across the U.S. and around the globe were on hand last weekend. Many of them introducing bands of the three festival stages at Fort Adams State Park, all of them thanking Wein either publicly or privately for starting the jazz festival tradition in which they are all now involved so deeply.

Wein’s current operation, The Newport Festivals Foundation (nonprofit successor to his long-running Festival Productions Inc.), is one of 16 or so members of the International Jazz Festivals Organization. Its members work together to develop synergies and to keep an eye on emerging talent the world over. They meet four times a year, with the U.S. meeting usually taking place in New York in September. This year, they adjusted their schedules to meet in Newport in August.

Newport Jazz Festival @ 60: lots of rain, great musical moments, loyal fans [updated]

The Newport Jazz Festival, grandaddy of outdoor music festivals all over the world, marked its 60th anniversary over the weekend in grand, loving and soggy fashion. 

The August 1-3 event was quite the extravaganza, keeping we writers and photographers racing from stage to stage to stage in pursuit of its strong lineups and great music. There were top-flight bands no matter your style preference, and none disappointed.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by the Larry Goldings-Peter Bernstein-Bill Stewart trio, and singers Sherie Julianne and Lisa Thorson ….

Farewell, Charlie...

Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, 
Montreal 2008

It's been a rainy day here in Florida, and such weather gave me a grand opportunity to revisit some of my favorite music by bassist, bandleader and NEA Jazz Master Charlie Haden, who left us last week at age 76 after a prolonged illness.

My clear favorites among the extensive Haden discography include two of his duet projects (Steal Away with pianist Hank Jones and Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories) with guitarist Pat Metheny), any of his eight recordings by the film noir-inspired Quartet West (but particularly Haunted Heart, released in 1992), and 2005's Not in Our Name by the Liberation Music Orchestra that he co-led with pianist Carla Bley.

Newport beckons

The 60th anniversary edition* of the Newport Jazz Festival is fast approaching. My bags and gear aren’t packed yet, but I’m preparing for my 33rd Newport festival in 34 years. (Since the festival returned to the City By The Sea in 1981, I only missed 1983 due to a fellowship commitment in Michigan.)

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by Jeff Colella and Putter Smith, Miles Davis, John Intrator and Sébastien Felix, and the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra….