CDs of Note

Jake Hertzog, Chromatosphere (That’s Out Records)
The younger the musician, more generations - and genres - of musicians may have influenced him or her. That’s how the theory goes, and 23-year-old Jake Hertzog is helping prove it. While his guitar elders may have developed under the spell of, say, Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, Wes Montgomery or Jim Hall, Hertzog’s primaries have included Pat Metheny, Mike Stern and Jimi Hendrix. The Berklee grad works in drummer Victor Jones’s Group Culturversey and is musical director for The Naked Brothers Band, the Nickelodeon phenomenon starring pianist Michael Wolff’s sons, Nate and Alex.

This quartet project teams Hertzog with Wolff, Jones and bassist Harvie S. Highlights include Hertzog originals “California Hills” and “Lullabye for a Dreamer,” (the latter is a great new song). Wolff uncorks a very strong solo on “Nectarine.” Hertzog offers a beautiful solo version of the Rodgers-Hart standard “Falling in Love with Love.” There is much here to enjoy.

Grace Kelly, Mood Changes (Pazz)
I’ve watched in fascination as Grace Kelly has grown from a prodigious 12-year-old with strong chops and passion for jazz. Now at age 16, she tours the world, has a stunning array of mentors, including Phil Woods, Lee Konitz and Kenny Barron to name just a few, and is a freshman on full scholarship at Berklee College of Music. Heck, she's even been asked to perfrm the national anthem at tonight's Boston Celtics game. She’s developed as a player, has expanded from alto to include soprano and tenor saxes in her arsenal, and as a skilled songwriter. And she is just out with her fifth CD as a leader. (No. 4 was a well-received co-led project with Konitz called Gracefullee.)

Mood Changes is a dandy. My favorite track is her original “Tender Madness,” which has a cinematic feel. Its artful blend of happiness and melancholy is just waiting for the right soundtrack project to grab it. Four years ago, Kelly’s voice was unavoidably girlish. It has matured into a sound that serves her music well without being overbearing. “Comes Love” is a great example of her ability to use her voice in combination with her horn - in this case a swirling overdubbed blend with soprano and alto saxes. There’s also a stunning reworking of Bill Withers’ classic “Ain’t No Sunshine” with more than a few Kelly twists. Trumpeter Jason Palmer, pianist Doug Johnson, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Jason Perlson are featured here from her regular band. Perlson splits drum duties with Terri Lyne Carrington. Other guests include guitarist Adam Rogers and trombonist Hal Crook. This is a May 5 release.

Fly, Sky & Country (ECM)
There is an interesting dynamic at work in the saxophone-bass-drums trio. Sonny Rollins, Sam Rivers, Albert Ayler and more recently Joshua Redman have used it to great effect. So is Fly, the all-for-one, one-for-all trio of drummer Jeff Ballard, bassist Larry Grenadier and saxophonist Mark Turner. All three members of this leaderless collective contribute compositions and share the soloing opportunities in very engaging ways.

This second CD by the group, a follow-up to 2004’s Fly on the Savoy label, offers contexts that comfortably range from abstract to free-spirited swing. Turner’s playing is a treat, particularly on tenor, where he has become a master of its alto-like upper register as shown on the opener, Ballard’s tune, “Lady B” and his own “Ananda Nanda.” This is a band that knows and shows how to make music that breathes; the open spaces in the players’ musical conversation are welcome – and become a key part of their dynamic. Curiously, at least five and perhaps six of the tunes are named for women.

Beaty Brothers Band (Beaty Brothers Productions)
Regardless of how it’s rated by the critics, brothers Joe and John Beaty’s eponymous debut recording merits a serious listen - because it’s very existence is a testament to their against-all-odds perseverance. The twins, born in Beaumont, Texas, have struggled since they were youngsters, surviving a broken home, as well as parents and multiple step-parents with various addictions.

Their musical talents brought them out of that mess and to Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy boarding school program. Success at Interlochen netted them scholarships to the New School University. Arriving in New York, they had virtually nothing and were as much as homeless, stealing food or subsisting on two bowls of rice per day - or handouts. They began to make inroads as serious musicians. The work and struggles continued as trombonist Joe Beaty developed a rare heart problem that too five years to fix - only after two failed surgeries, one episode of cardiac arrest and a successful surgery in January 2009. Alto saxophonist John Beaty continued to work and support them both during this added challenge.

This CD was recorded in December 2007, when the brothers couldn’t be sure if this was to be just their first recording - or also their last. The project includes three longtime friends and bandmates - pianist Yayoi Ikawa, bassist Jim Robertson and drummer Ari Hoenig, a longtime associate of pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, who helped support the brothers through their recent struggles. This is a tight band. All seven Beaty Brothers originals are riveting and this project has a strong sense of vitality. At times, their very different horns blend as if they’re one. Ikawa’s electric and acoustic piano work is a strong complement.

George Wein-Festival Network saga continues

As impresario George Wein and his team continue preparing for two festivals under his own name in Newport this summer because of the anticipated demise of Festival Network LLC, the venture that bought out his Festival Productions Inc. operation two years ago and ran things into the ground quite quickly in 2008.

With FN out of the picture, at least as far as the State of Rhode Island is concerned, Wein is preparing for his own events, being called "George Wein's Folk Festival 50" and "George Wein's Jazz Festival 55," since FN bought the rights to the names of his venerable Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Folk Festival.

While Festival Network hasn’t officially folded it’s tent, the calendar is working against any serious effort for it to produce festivals this year - anywhere.

Wein has made it clear that his focus is Newport, in order to preserve the birthplace of his festival legacy in July 1954. He has said he won’t put on a similar jazz festival in New York this June, telling the New York Times' Ben Sisario this week: “I’m not necessary in New York. New York’s a jazz festival all year long.” Nor has JVC indicated it will sponsor festivals anywhere. Apparently the Japanese economy is as just as bad as ours.

However, Wein is producing two Diana Krall concerts at Carnegie Hall on June 23 and 24 - and according to a news release from his office this week, he will produce a series of additional concerts in New York in June. Publicist Carolyn McClair said New York and Newport artists will be announced in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Festival Network CEO Chris Shields, likely the company’s only remaining “employee,” continues to issue statements thanking Wein for laying the ground for his outfit’s return to Newport. That’s not likely.

Adventure revisited

The Boston jazz scene has a tradition of adventurous bands - George Russell’s Living Time Orchestra, the Fringe and the Either/Orchestra to name but a few. Another, Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet, was created in 1980 and active into the 1990s, making one LP and five CDs, countless appearances around New England and New York, and forays into the Midwest, as well as touring Europe's club, concert and festival circuit 11 times. In the process YNSQ built a solid book of nearly 200 original compositions and arrangements.

Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet - featuring Allan Chase and Cercie Miller on alto and soprano saxes, Joel Springer on tenor sax and Tom Hall on baritone sax - is making a reunion appearance on Sunday, April 5 at The Lily Pad in Cambridge, Mass. “I'm really excited about this rare reunion of Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet,” Miller said, calling the band “one of my favorite groups I've ever played with.” In addition to dusting off its old charts, the YNSQ also plans to play some new pieces that evening.

It ought to be quite an interesting, and improvisational, evening.

CDs of Note

Richie Goods & Nuclear Fusion, Live at the Zinc Bar (RichMan Productions)
Bassist Richie Goods' latest recording project is a contemporary jazz gem – in the finest, non-smooth sense. This is a fusion project that pulls from the best aspects of the genre. Goods’ band includes Helen Sung on keyboards, guitarist Jeff Lockhart and ex-Headhunters drummer Mike Clark. It is quite a treat to hear Sung stretching out on the sonic possibilities of an electronic keyboard rather than the acoustic piano we have heard her on since her emergence from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance’s first class in 1997, and her work with the T.S. Monk Band and Mingus Dynasty Band among many others. My favorites here include their exploration of Wayne Shorter’s “Elegant People” and the centerpiece, Goods’ own “Desert Song,” which is featured (after a 90-second introduction track) as a spectacular 6:29 main track that indeed creates a Middle-Eastern aura, and, for those who thirst for more, the CD winds down with a 13:25 minute extended version. Goods also includes two Herbie Hancock tunes that from the Headhunters era –“Sly” tribute to the leader of Sly & The Family Stone and “Palm Grease.”

Avery Sharpe Trio, Autumn Moonlight (JKNM Records)
This session, is filled with great group interplay and dynamics. Sharpe, the ex- longtime McCoy Tyner bassist is joined by pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs and drummer Winard Harper. There is a wonderful extended exploration of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” a tune that ought to be heard more often in a jazz context because this trio shows that the melody lends itself to wonderful improvisational possibilities. This version swings very hard. Gumbs’ original “Palace of the Seven Jewels” sparkles like a melodic gem. This CD offers an hour of clean, tasty swing – mighty swing at that. This is an April 14 release.

Melissa Morgan, “Until I Met You,” (Telarc Jazz)
Once in a great while, and thankfully so, a project arrives from a fresh voice that is fully formed. From the first bars, you know it is something special – and far above the dozens of vocal discs you’ve sifted through recently that are ordinary at best. Such is the case here with Melissa Morgan, a young vocalist who was born in New York City, raised in northern New Jersey and now lives in Los Angeles. She was a 2004 Monk Competition semi-finalist. Telarc was wise to sign this singer, whose many strong influences meet at the intersection of Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson. Her project is filled with very individual takes on vintage material, including Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby,” “Cool Cool Daddy” and “Save Your Love for Me,” among others. These tunes have been around for a long time, but none of them are tired. The session was co-produced by Chris Dunn and trumpeter Christian Scott, who is also aboard as a player. Gerald Clayton is a standout on piano on this session where the instrumentation ranges from quartet to a full-blown, horn-rich octet. This is an April 28 release.

Newport update

After 25 years of sponsoring the Newport Jazz Festival in an affiliation dating to 1984, JVC has bowed out. So impresario George Wein, the man who brought the corporate title sponsorship concept to musical events - guaranteeing mention of the company's name in publicity and promotion, is looking for a new backer for the event that began the global jazz festival tradition as we know it.

Wein has put out the word that he is looking for new corporate backers in Newport. This comes just a few weeks after he regained production rights for jazz and folk festivals in Newport, following the financial slide of Festival Network LLC, the company that bought his former Festival Productions Inc. operation two years ago.

This year’s Newport event is scheduled August 7 to 9, a week after Wein will present a 50th anniversary edition of the folk festival in Newport.

“The sponsorship fee is attractive and we look forward to forging new relationships as we continue to bring great music to Newport and beyond," Wein said in a news release.

So now there is an opportunity for new backers to join a long line of corporate supporters that have been there for Wein and his team for decades in a variety of cities and musical formats. The line began with the beer company Schlitz and the Kool cigarette brand and has since included Mellon Bank, Benson & Hedges, JVC, Essence and Playboy magazines, Ben & Jerry’s, Freihofer’s (now owned by the George Weston Bakeries), Dunkin’ Donuts and Verizon, among others.

Whoever signs on will follow an amazing sponsorship run by JVC, which supported Wein-produced events all over the world. Newport, New York, Miami, Chicago, Concord, Calif., Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rotterdam… the list of cities where JVC events were held over the past quarter-century goes on and on.

“The association with JVC is perhaps the longest-running event sponsorship in history,” Wein said. “The company placed us at a level that no one can ever imagine and affected jazz and the jazz festival in a way that increased awareness of the art form and touched people around the world.”

Wein produced America's first jazz festival at Newport in 1954 - and it has been a significant venue for a Who's Who in jazz ever since (except for a 10-year hiatus that ended in 1981).

Porky would be pleased

The late trombonist Porky Cohen, whose career ranged from section work in the big bands of Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, Tony Pastor, Artie Shaw and others starting in the 1940s to his higher-profile work in Roomful of Blues from 1979 to 1988, once told me a wonderful story about one particular bus ride with Roomful.

They were on a tour of one-nighters through the southwest… and the bus brought them through the little town of Vernon, Texas. As they passed the “entering Vernon, Texas” road sign, Porky got excited. He’s reached the birthplace of Jack Teagarden, and the hometown of the Teagarden clan. He was in trombone heaven.

The little bus pulled over at a convenience store. Porky went in and exclaimed to the young clerk. “I can’t believe I’m finally in Vernon, Texas, the hometown of Jack Teagarden.” To which the young clerk responded: “Who’s Jack Teagarden?”

Porky would be pleased that Teagarden may finally be getting a hometown salute. The Fort Worth Business Press reported this month that the town is considering creating a museum dedicated to its musical native son.

It seems late Teagarden memorabilia and recordings collector Joe Showler wanted to move to Vernon from Canada and turn his collection into a museum. After his death the town has started a $175,000 fund-raising campaign to finance moving the archive from Toronto to Vernon and establish a museum in honor of the jazz great.

CDs of Note

Fareed Haque + The Flat Earth Ensemble, Flat Planet (Owl Studios)

Chicago-based guitarist Fareed Haque has found an intriguing – and most interesting – way to blend jazz and the rather complex Hindustani folk music rhythms of northwestern India and Pakistan, and perform the resulting new music in a band that blends jazz and south Asian instrumentation (adding sitar and tablas primarily). The resulting funky blend of music on Flat Planet has a wonderful cinematic quality and uptempo groove.

There are several tunes that he calls Hindu boogaloos. I particularly like “Big Bangra,” “Blu Hindoo” and “Bengali Bud.” The latter track features Haque with Bengali sitar player Indrajit Banerjee and tabla player Subrata Bhattacharaya. Haque describes the opening track (“Big Bhangra”) as quite intriguing, which it is: “Funk drums and funky tablas go together so nice. Imagine a long, long caravan approaching the Rawalpindi spice bazaar complete with camels, donkeys and cassettes of Al Green for sale. Oi!”

The timing is perfect for this CD, as the phenomenal popularity of the Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” (including best original song and best original score and best soundtrack) draws more attention to south Asian culture – and may even help this project reach more ears.

Dee Alexander, Wild Is the Wind, (Blujazz)
Chicago-based Dee Alexander displays the vocal talent that is deserving of far greater recognition beyond the Windy City. In developing her art, Alexander has drawn lbits from other masters who have had a tremendous impact in shaping her musical sensibilities, among them five women for whom last names are unnecessary: Sarah, Dinah, Carmen, Nina, Dee Dee. Her version of the title track shows the direct and poignant influence of Nina Simone, who made the song her own.

A clavé feel enhances “Surrender Love,” an infectious tune by the late trumpeter Malachi Thompson that showcases Alexander’s immense range. The original tune “Rossignol” (a French reference to a nightingale) has a segment that enables her to scat the sound of a violin, creating subtle counterpoint on the track for violinist James Sanders. There is much, much more to savor on this CD, including the skill and empathy of pianist Miguel de la Cerna.

The Steve Haines Quintet with Jimmy Cobb, Stickadiboom (Zoho)

In a nutshell, this is a Jazz Messengers sound for the new millennium. Bassist Haines has assembled a horn-rich project that is anchored on six of its eight tracks by the great Jimmy Cobb. Haines penned seven of the tracks, and the session closes with Cobb’s crackling “Composition 101.”

The boogaloo title track “Stickadiboom,” which introduces Cobb into the mix here, refers to a sound made on the drums. “Sutak 9-1-1” is another high-energy gem. “Freightrain” has a rolling, perpetual motion feeling, though actually named for the quintet’s regular drummer, Thomas Taylor Jr. The project is a great showcase for Haines’ fine composing skills - and for the two horn players - Dave Lown on sax and Rob Smith on trumpet and sax.

Joel Larue Smith Trio, September’s Child (self-produced)
It is most appropriate that pianist Smith calls one of his original tunes here “Common Ground” – for this is a CD project that celebrates the wonderful intersection of jazz and Latin music, with a few hints of classical thrown in for good measure. Smith, who has largely flown under the radar, presents us with a gem.

Virtually all of the material (principally originals) is from the Latin genre or has been re-arranged to take advantage of Latin energy and rhythms, and of course, the clave. He even reworked Wayne Shorter’s ballad “Fall,” first heard on Miles Davis’s Nefertiti recording, to give it an intriguing Latin flavor. The former Mario Bauza sideman also includes the Bauza classic “Mambo Inn” and Armando Peraza’s “Barandanga,” as well as Pedro Flores’ “Obsesion.”

“Miramar,” “Narrow Escape” and the title track are standouts among the originals. Treats abound, thanks to the wonderful teamwork of Smith, bassist Fernando Huergo and drummer Renato Malavasi.

Montreal Jazz Festival enhancements

There will be more to celebrate - and enjoy - when the 30th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is held July 1 to 12.

The festival, the world's finest - and largest - jazz event, draws more than 2 millon attendees and 3,000 musicians from 30 countries for its 550 concerts (370 of them free outdoor events).

By the time the festival opens, the production organization Equipe Spectra will have opened its own new building that adds a new venue in the festival's downtown site, in and around the Place des Arts. Festival Co-Founder and Artistic Director Andre Menard said that new building, Maison du Festival de Jazz, will house a 350-seat cabaret-style performance hall, restaurant, hall of fame, archives and exhibition space. It will also house the festival's media space.


Co-Founder/Artistic Director Andre Menard, 2008 ... >
Every five years, the festival has added a prestigious new annual award to honor musicians from various genres. This year it is adding the Bruce Lundvall Award to honor the achievement of a non-musician from either the music business or the media. Menard said in Boston this week that the first recipient of that new award will be Bruce Lundvall himself, for his 25 years as president of Blue Note Records and his many other contributions to the industry.

Festival headliners this year include Jeff Beck, blues guitarists Buddy Guy and Susan Tedeschi, pianist Chucho Valdes, singers Melody Gardot, Patricia Barber and Madeleine Peyroux - and many more to be announced later this month.

Newport lives

George Wein wasn't about to let Festival Network LLC's financial woes put an end to the two festivals in Newport, Rhode Island that launched his 55-year run of producing festivals across the United States and around the globe. (See December 31 blog entry for background.)

While it is unclear what will happen to the rest of the festival events that Wein produced before he sold his Festival Productions Inc. operations to a group of investors and young entrepreneurs two years ago, including the JVC Jazz Festivals in New York and elsewhere, Wein had some welcome news today.

He announced that he applied for – and received – a license from the State of Rhode Island to produce a folk festival this July 31 to August 2 and a jazz festival the following weekend, August 7 to 9. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Newport Folk Festival, and it is 55 years since the jazz festival concept blossomed in Newport in 1954.

The license to put on these two 2009 events going to the Wein production team is not surprising, considering that Festival Network, as of late January, hadn't paid the state the thousands of dollars in usage fees it was due from the 2008 festivals at Fort Adams State Park last August. Other vendors from those weekends were also owed money. Festival Network did pay the $200,000+ owed to the state - due since August - sometime in February. The state subsequently voided its three-year contract with FN because of the late payment. That gave Wein the opportunity to step back into the picture.

"When I was informed that the festivals, which have been the most important part of my life since 1954 and 1959, might be lost forever, I realized that it was necessary for me to come back and apply for the rights to produce jazz and folk festivals in 2009 and beyond," Wein said in a news release. “The traditions we have established (in Newport) mean everything to me."

If you read between the lines, and not very deeply, it sounds like Festival Network has a slim-to-none chance of righting its ship – and slim stayed in port.

Wein and his veteran team are among the best at producing festivals. After all, they pretty much created the mold. It’s a pity that the Festival Network LLC team never took the opportunity to learn from the masters. Rather, they ran the operation into the ground – and doubtless created angst and heartache for this true gentleman of jazz. Fortunately, he persevered.

Stay tuned. We still haven’t heard what may become of the other festivals that became part of the Festival Network LLC operation.

DVDs of Note

'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris (Outsider Pictures/Naxos of America)
Filmmaker Raymond De Felitta’s documentary is built around the plunge into obscurity that became singer Jackie Paris’s fate after a promising career start that was in full blossom in the late 1940s and early 1950s. (It garnered him Downbeat’s best new male vocalist honors in 1953.) The hook here is De Felitta’s rediscovery of Paris just as the singer was making a comeback appearance at the Jazz Standard in New York City in March 2004. From his interviews with and performance footage of Paris, and interviews with relatives and a long series of jazz luminaries turn this into a story of career ups and downs, artistic frustrations and tragedies and perseverance. This gem could be a parable for other superb artists who for one reason or another never quite grasp or hang onto the brass ring despite their immense talent. This is a March 31 release.

Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus (Acorn Media)
This is a DVD update of the original 1986 documentary about Rollins that is enhanced with new reflections on the project by filmmaker Robert Mugge. Many highlights come from an outdoor concert at Opus 40, a rock quarry converted into a performance space in Saugerties, N.Y., where Rollins’ performance on “G Man” is a tour de force for his solo skills. At one point in the concert, he jumps off the stage with the intent of playing in the crowd. He broke his heel upon landing, unbeknownst to his band or the audience, but lay on his back and continued to play. The DVD also features interviews with and about Rollins, and a world premiere concert with a Japanese symphony in Tokyo. This is essential for any jazz DVD collection, unless you already have the VHS version.

Make room for Mingus

For more than a decade now, Jazz at Lincoln Center has provided a major showcase for the best of high school jazz bands across the United States with its Essentially Ellington competition. It now has company and needs to share the spotlight.

The first Charles Mingus High School Jazz Band Competition took place in late February at the Manhattan School of Music. Five high school combos and five big bands from across the Northeast competed in the finals, pared down from 60 applicants.

There were two winning ensembles in the Combo Category: King Phillip Regional High School Combo 1 from Wrentham, Mass. for a non-specialized high school; Manhattan School of Music’s own won for a combo from a performing arts high school.the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra from Rochester, N.Y. took high school big band honors.

Just as the Essentially Ellington competition features the bands performing Duke Ellington material, the new kid on the block, as competitions go, features work from Mingus’s enormous and varied book (including “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love,” ironically). Next year's competition will be expanded to include high schools nationwide.

Sue Mingus, Director of Let My Children Hear Music, and Justin DiCioccio, Assistant Dean and Chairman of the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Arts program, produce the event.

CDs of note

Terrence Brewer, Groovin Wes, (Strong Brew Music)
The northern California (Bay area) guitarist pays tribute to modern jazz guitar icon Wes Montgomery on this fine project. It includes eight tunes that Montgomery wrote or covered. “Bumpin’ on Sunset” and “Yesterdays” are highlights, as are John Coltrane’s “Dearly Beloved” and a fresh take on Dave Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way.” In addition to Brewer’s clean, warm-toned sound, this classic guitar-organ-drums trio session is a superb showcase for Wil Blades on B3. Twenty-something Blades’ past affiliations have included the bands of John Lee Hooker, Stanton Moore and Idris Muhammed. He has also participated in organ summits with his B-3 mentor, Dr. Lonnie Smith. Micah McClain’s drumming is supportive and on the mark without being overbearing on this, his third CD session with Brewer.

Marc Copland, New York Trio Recordings, Vol. 3: Night Whispers, (Pirouet)
With the right combination of musicians, there can be extraordinary chemistry within the traditional piano-bass-drums trio. When they’re truly on, the magic is something to behold. Marc Copland’s trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Bill Stewart is climbing toward that rarified air. On this third volume of his trio recording series, Copland starts off with and then intersperses the trio work with three very different solo piano versions of “Emily” – one pensive and rather straight-forward, one busy and frenetic, one shimmering with bell-like tones. The bell-like theme to the first trio piece, “The Bell Tolls,” rather chant-like in its intensity. Copland’s title track, “Night Whispers” is more groove-like with interactive soloing. Exploration of the depths of possibilities within their interesting hornless version of “So What.” The Copeland-Gress-Stewart interplay is very fine throughout the trio pieces. Each of the players brought original music to this summit. Their collaborations on Copland’s “Scattered Leaves” and Stewart’s “Space Acres” (from his own 1995 release, Snide Remarks, stand out.

John Monllos, Shadow's Dance, (self-produced)
When you think Newport, it is natural to think jazz because of the granddaddy of all jazz festivals. But is also good to do so because of the Newport-based talent – players who work in and around the coastal resort city year-in, year-out. One such player is guitarist John Monllos, who built his chops in a Newport-based Navy Band, and decided to stick around these parts after his military days were done. Monllos is a versatile, high-energy guitarist whose sound has absorbed quality portions of rock, funk, Latin and contemporary jazz (a la Pat Metheny and Mike Stern, not the jazz smoothies or instrumental popsters). The title track is gorgeous, with very sensual samba-rhythm that blends his acoustic guitar sound with some very nice flute work by reed player Art Manchester, another local deserving wider recognition. There’s a wonderful and uncanny Carlos Santana sound on the Monllos original “CSW,” the best I’ve heard by someone other than Santana himself. Not surprising, CSW stands for Carlos Santana Wannabe.” Trumpeter Doug Woolverton turns in fine support on “Shadow’s Dance” and the funky ballad “Red Wine Girl.” Non-originals here include bassist Joe Potenza’s “Where the Buses Don’t Run,” a hot version of Miles Davis’s “Nardis” and a tribute to Michael Brecker – on Brecker’s composition “African Skies.”

John Scofield, Piety Street, (EmArcy)
This latest project from the versatile modern guitar master is a gem. It’s a project in which the bluesy side of gospel intersects with the funky, authentic sound of New Orleans. Scofield’s biting, stinging, singing guitar fits right in with his principally New Orleans-based bandmates – with Jon Cleary on keyboards and vocals, George Porter Jr. on bass and Ricky Fataar on drums. With this project recorded at New Orleans’ Piety Steet Studios, the unit became the Piety Street Band for a tour now supporting the CD. Crescent City local treasure John Boutté splits and shares vocal duties with Cleary. “Motherless Child,” “It’s a Big Army,” “The Angel of Death” and “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” are among the highlights. The singers blend nicely on “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” while Boutté shines on “Never Turn Back” and “The Old Ship of Zion,” which becomes a very strong guitar-vocal duet of sorts. This is due for release on March 31.

Another golden celebration

Was there something in the water back in 1959 that made it such a very good year for jazz recordings? We’ve already seen tribute events celebrating the 50-year legacy of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. The folks in his hometown of Stockton, California, aren’t about to let us forget Dave Brubeck’s classic (time-signature-stretching) Time Out.

At the 2009 Brubeck Festival (running March 28 to April 4) Brubeck will perform the album in its entirety. Organizers say it'll be the first time he's peformed all of the album's seven pieces in one concert. That April 3 concert is at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

In addition to the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s performance of Time Out, the concert will include a performance of Dave and Iola Brubeck’s choral and orchestral work, “Earth Is Our Mother.” Also that week, the festival will premiere an orchestral composition, “Ansel Adams: America,” that was co-written by Dave Brubeck and his son Chris. The work, being performed by the Stockton Symphony, is based on photographs by another California treasure, the late Ansel Adams.

Dave and Iola Brubeck, 2004... > >>
Mark this one down as a festival that appeals greatly to my twin interests in jazz and photography.

Coryell Auger Sample Trio - in concert

Coryell Auger Sample Trio

(Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River MA) Musical chops – and genes – were quite evident during the first East Coast tour of the southern California-based Coryell Auger Sample Trio, which consists of guitarist Julian Coryell, drummer Karma Auger and bassist Nicklas Sample. In a February 11 southern New England performance in support of its self-produced debut CD, Coolidge Returns, and preview of tunes written and recorded for the trio’s sophomore project, CAST (as they abbreviate their grouping) was impressive.

They have an affinity for improvisation and strong interaction. They say that was evident when the first sat down as a group in August 2007 – and developed the music for the project in four hours. They haven’t slowed a bit, describing their collaboration as prolific ever since. 

 It was only fitting that midway through the trio’s long set, they performed “Song For Our Fathers,” a tune from that not-yet-mixed, not-yet-named second CD. With very much the same intent and a bit of the feel of Horace Silver’s classic ”Song for My Father,” this piece is a tribute to guitarist Larry Coryell and keyboard players Brian Auger and Joe Sample. In the hands of his son’s exquisite soloing, the latter track and a tune called “Purple Panther” displayed a very strong Larry Coryell melodic influence. “Purple Panther” additionally underscored the strong interaction that gives this band a jazz-based jam band sort of propulsion. 

Auger’s solid drumming, alternating between delicacy and a firestorm, was an interesting contrast with his rather low-key demeanor. He and Sample provided interesting colors as they shared and shifted rhythms and melodies. The high energy of two vamp-based originals, “Walk of the Dragon” and “Rice Krispy Socrates,” also provided great improvising moments for all three players. Coryell Auger Sample Trio is well on the way to becoming one of the more interesting new fusion bands – able to draw both from its highly credentialed jazz roots, as well as modern rock.

A month of Marco, sort of

Keyboard player Marco Benevento is on the cutting edge of blending modern and classic rock with the art of jazz improvisation, often in an other-worldly sonic atmosphere. The intensity, gorgeous musical palette and his vivid imagination make it something to check out.

Bay Area fans are getting a month (sort of) to do so in a live context, with Benevento performing at Yoshi’s in Oakland, Calif., every Tuesday in February with a different set of special guests each week.

Those of us not on the Left Coast don't need to feel slighted. Benevento’s newest CD Me Not Me is out on his own new label, The Royal Potato Family. In addition to three originals, it includes covers of material ranging from Deerhoof, My Morning Jacket and Leonard Cohen to Beck, George Harrison and Led Zeppelin. His band includes ex-Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey bassist Reed Mathis, and Andrew Barr and Matt Chamberlain splitting the drum work. Benevento’s sonic arsenal includes piano, Optigan, Mellotron, tack piano and clavinet.

Benevento played a packed side stage at last August’s JVC Newport Jazz Festival, where saxophonist Chris Potter joined the trio for its rousing take on Led Zeppelin’s “Friends” and it is good to see that tune is superbly included here, albeit without sax. Chris Potter sits in with the Marco Benevento Trio, JVC Newport, August 2008 ... >
Me Not Me opens with Jim James’ My Morning Jacket hit “Golden.” As the CD features Leonard Cohen’s “Seems So Long Ago Nancy,” it isn’t surprising to hear Benevento dropping a few most-memorable bars of Cohen’s anthemic “Hallelujah” into his take on “Golden.”

The leader’s own material includes “Now They’re Writing Music,” a rather straight-ahead version of his catchy tune “Mephisto,” and his Beatles-reminiscent “Call Home.”

Celebrating two seminal recordings with golden updates

The music will be golden, no matter how its sounds, this month when Jazz at Lincoln Center presents the latest installment in its Hall of Fame concert series. The February 12 to 14 event will mark this year’s 50th anniversaries of the recording of two seminal albums: Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps.

In part one of the evening, saxophonist Ted Nash will debut newly arranged solos from Giant Steps, in which he will be joined on stage by tenor saxophonist George Garzone and fellow Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra saxophonists Walter Blanding and Sherman Irby. In the second half, pianist Mulgrew Miller’s trio will be joined by the a capella group Take 6 for a new interpretation of Kind of Blue.

Drummer Jimmy Cobb, the only surviving player from the recording sessions, is scheduled to perform in each set of the concerts at the Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall. Giant Steps was recorded between April 1 and December 2, 1959. Kind of Blue was recorded between March 2 and April 22, 1959. Cobb was on both albums.
< < < Jimmy Cobb, Newport, August 2008

CDs of note heard in January:

Mike Clark, Blueprints Of Jazz Vol. 1 (Talking House)
This stunning new CD by ex-Headhunters drummer Mike Clark shows off his straight-ahead jazz side than the fusion for which he is best known. The band smokes. It includes pianist Patrice Rushen, bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Christian Scott, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and tenor saxophonist Jed Levy. This recording surfaced on several “Top 10” lists for 2008 - despite a February 3, 2009 release date.

Mark Rapp, Token Tales (Paved Earth)
The New York-based trumpeter was a pleasant surprise this past August with his band with a late morning on the JVC Newport Jazz Festival’s Pavilion Stage. This CD of primarily original, rhythmically strong material by the neo-traditionalist is a very strong debut recording. My favorites are the title track and the gorgeous ballad “Thank You.”

Joe Zawinul, 75 (Heads Up International)
At his best, and that usually meant before an audience, fusion pioneer Zawinul and his Zawinul Syndicate band produced music that feels brawny and ferocious. This two-CD set, recorded on his 75th birthday at a jazz festival in Lugano, Switzerland, captures that jazz-meets-world music intensity – just two months before Zawinul lost his battle with cancer.

One poignant track, recorded August 2, 2007 at a concert in Hungary, just five weeks before his death, reunited Zawinul with Weather Report co-founder Wayne Shorter on a extended version of Miles Davis’s “In a Silent Way.” The ferocious tracks include “Orient Express,” “Madagascar” and the medleys “Fast City”/”Two Lines” and “Badia”/”Boogie Woogie Waltz” (the latter pair from his Weather Report days.

The Bad Plus, For All I Care (Heads Up International)
As The Bad Plus, pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King have found notoriety for deconstructing and reconstructing principally rock tunes as improvisational progressive jazz pieces. In doing so, they have thrown out the notion that jazz needs a strong link to The Great American Songbook. Or perhaps they’ve been adding a new chapter.

This newest project is their first that brings aboard a vocalist. Minneapolis-based alternative rocker Wendy Lewis joins the trio for eight of the 12 racks on For All I Care.” The band’s often slowed or fractured tempos give Lewis space to stretch the lyrical possibilities amid the band’s improvisations. This time around they tackle Kurt Cobain’s “Lithium,” Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” Yes’s “Long Distance Runaround,” Wilco’s ”Radio Cure,” Oklahoma City alternative/indie-rock band The Flaming Lips’ “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate,” the Bee Gees’ “How Deep is Your Love,” Roger Miller’s "Lock, Stock and Teardrops" and Heart’s “Barracuda.”

This time, the band broadened its repertoire considerably, but Lewis sits out on the CD’s three classical reconstructions (plus one alternate take) of material by Igor Stravinsky, Milton Babbitt and Gyorgi Ligeti.

Big numbers in a January without IAJE

A jazz-related gathering in Boston next weekend will be a hang of sorts for thousands, but not on the wide range of levels as the gone-but-not-forgotten IAJE conferences.

Saturday, January 31 brings the Berklee College of Music's 41st annual High School Jazz Festival, with some 3,000 musicians in 200 bands competing for $175,000 in Berklee scholarships.

In addition to the student competitions, the Hynes Convention Center event will feature concerts and clinics (free and open to the public), featuring brothers Delfeayo (trombone) and Jason Marsalis (vibes), and drummers Gregg Bissonnette, John Blackwell and Terri Lyne Carrington.
Berklee says the festival, originally called the New England High School Stage Band Festival, is the oldest and largest competition of its kind in the United States. That longevity is remarkable - and laudable.

Plaque on the wall honors the musical history and promise inside

Move over Faneuil Hall, Old South Meeting House and other designated historic sites in Boston. You have company. Company with a jazz connection that dates to the 1940s.

On January 30, Wally’s Café Jazz Club, originally known as Wally’s Paradise, will be recognized by the Boston Historical Society for its contributions to the city’s cultural fabric.

Among many other notables, Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday performed there, as did native son Roy Haynes in the 1940s and ‘50s. Haynes was back to sit in on occasion after Wally’s moved across the street to its current location at 427 Massachusetts Avenue and became a fertile performance space for young student players from the nearby Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory and other area schools, many of whom became part of subsequent generations of jazz greats.

That mission continues today under the management if brothers Frank, Lloyd and Paul Poindexter, and their mother, Elynor. The Poindexters took the reins after Elynor’s father, Joseph “Wally” Walcott, died in 1998. Walcott was the first African American to own a nightclub in New England. The club still presents live music nightly.

A jazz impact to celebrate

Anyone with even the most casual interest in the impact jazz has had on society at-large should seek out the comprehensive essay that Nat Hentoff published on the Thursday, January 15 edition of The Wall Street Journal. It is a must-read.

His piece, How Jazz Helped Hasten the Civil-Rights Movement, traces the very strong role that the music and its makers played, as early as the 1920s and through the 1960s, in eroding the segregation that was so prevalent. Even in Boston, where there was no law against racial intermingling, "it was frowned upon in official circles,"in the early 1940s, Hentoff recalls, except for the city's Savoy Cafe.

That's just one of many reminders of another place and time that Hentoff recalls in this piece, which blends the two subject matters about which he is so passionate - jazz and civil liberties as they were intertwined in the battle agaainst Jim Crow.

In its own vivid way, it is a celebration of the milestone that the United States will pass on January 20 when Barack Obama takes the Oath of Office as the nation's new President.

Whisper My Name – CD Review

Steven Santoro is a hopeless romantic, at least on his newest CD, and we are the better for it.

On Whisper My Name (Red Lion Music), he sings and writes primarily of many forms of love - and the ups, downs and frustrations of romance - the ‘it will last forever’ puppy love, unrequited love, hopeful love, and the we-can-work-it-out kind of love. Also the love-of-mankind that will overcome issues and problems we face as individuals or as a people.

Santoro’s debut CD Moods and Grooves (produced by the late Ahmet Ertegun) came out in 1995 on Atlantic Records under the singer’s real name, Steven Kowalczyk. He now uses Santoro, which was the last name of his saxophone-playing grandfather, Libertore Santoro.

In addition singing and writing memorable songs, Massachusetts-born and Connecticut resident Santoro the Younger teaches at the Berklee College of Music and is the lyricist for a new musical, "Ivory Joe Cole," which is scheduled to open this summer at Alliance Theatre, a professional residence theater company in Atlanta.

Confident and hip with a pleasant and assured mid-range voice, Santoro opens his newest CD project with the swinging double-time message of "Whisper My Name" - a tune that conveys he’s prepared to go his own way but will be back in a flash if his former lover merely whispers his name. It’s subtle and clever in its lyrical construction - and a great introduction for listeners who may not be familiar with him.

Santoro wrote 10 of 11 tunes here, plus a bonus track called “Run Away” from his R&B-laced tandem project Where I Come From. The lone chestnut here is the Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny Mercer classic, “I Thought About You” - another romance tune of course.

Another treat is his R&B-tinged “Waiting for Grace,” which is about another sort of love – salvation. (“Life is a slap in the face but I’m still waiting for grace.”)

There are many more such fine gems on this very pleasant and intriguing CD. Check it out. Santoro gets stunning support throughout from saxophonist Jon Childers, guitarist Marc Ciprut, pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist James Genus and drummer Clarence Penn.

Hope amid New Orleans’ slower-than-slow recovery

Another glimmer of hope and positivity among turtle-slow efforts to bring New Orleans back from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina occurred in grand style on Thursday night, January 8.

It was the reopening of the Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts in Armstrong Park. A $22 million renovation brought the theater back from the brink of ruin three years ago. The opening concert featured local musical fixtures (would anything else be appropriate?) including the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Irma Thomas, Freddy Omar, Marva Wright, Philip Manuel, Michael Ward and Ingrid Lucia.

One other appropriate touch… tickets were free but were required since seating was limited.

For reopening details, check out Michelle Krupa’s reporting in The Times-Picayune, The curtain rises at Mahalia Jackson Theater.

Since President-elect Barack Obama has made it clear that an essential ingredient in America’s recovery from the current economic travail is rebuilding the country’s infrastructure as a way to put people back to work, he ought to make sure a lot of that effort is committed to rebuilding New Orleans. In that way, Obama can fulfill the promise that W. made but soon forgot as his presidency spiraled and sputtered out of control in so many ways.

Do you hear what I hear?

The easy answer is “not likely.” No two people hear things exactly the same. But what is it that draws we musicians and/or listeners to a particular instrument, grouping of instruments, or the specific sound of a player or singer over others? Why might our LP and/or CD collections be weighted more towards one instrument than another?

The subject came up last weekend at a regular brunch session with several friends. One is not keen on solo performance of any kind. He might tolerate a trio now and then, but prefers a quartet or quintet with horns. With certain exceptions like J. J. Johnson or Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, he doesn’t really care for trombone or vibes either. Yes, he’d buy in to some variation of the joke used for everything from lawyers to trombonists: “What do you call 1,000 (trombonists) (lawyers) at the bottom of the ocean?” Answer: “A good start.” BA DUM BUM.

But why do people choose, or like, particular instruments or instrumentalists or singers?

I listened later that afternoon to a new CD with a quartet whose leader plays bassoon (Daniel Smith, Blue Bassoon). To my ears, the low-pitched, double-reeded distant cousin to the clarinet sounds like a cross between bass clarinet and baritone sax – with the expressiveness of neither.

While best known in classical circles, the bassoon has a rather obscure place in jazz, with its best-known occasional players including saxophonists Frankie Trumbauer, Garvin Bushell, Yusef Lateef, Illinois Jacquet and Frank Tiberi.

Dan Smith likely wants to take his place as a generational successor. His CD is brimming with terrific jazz material. There’s not a tired tune among the 13 pieces by 13 of the greatest writers and performers in jazz and the blues. But there is a bassoon in the mix. And for that reason, it doesn’t make me groove to the music, despite many fine performances by the other instrumentalists.

So I ask again: Why do people choose, or like, particular instruments or instrumentalists or singers?

Please weigh in with your own thoughts.

Blue Note Records is doing it up big – again

The esteemed Blue Note jazz label loves milestone celebrations. And we are at the beginning of another.

It was 25 years ago this month that the label re-launched itself under the leadership of current President Bruce Lundvall, celebrating the revival a year later with a February 22, 1985 concert of historic proportions at Town Hall in midtown Manhattan that featured dozens of Blue Note artists past and future.

The who’s who in jazz that night included Art Blakey, Lou Donaldson, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Lloyd, Jackie McLean, Woody Shaw, Jimmy Smith and Grover Washington Jr. The new voices included Stanley Jordan, Michel Petrucciani and Bennie Wallace. There were many more participating, including a solo performance by Cecil Taylor and a cameo walk-on by the ailing Hank Mobley. It was a stirring evening of musical moments to witness. Soon after, Sony released the concert on a two-volume video called One Night With Blue Note Preserved.

Grover Washington Jr., Jack DeJohnette, Jimmy Smith and Stanley Turrentine – One Night With Blue Note rehearsal, Feb. 21, 1985 ... >
Now, the label is marking the 25th anniversary of its rebirth as well as the 70th anniversary of its founding in 1939 by a pair of jazz-loving German immigrants, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, a musical commitment that spawned a historic catalog of music by many of the giants of jazz when the music was thriving.

The current Blue Note anniversaries celebration will feature a worldwide tour (with 50 U.S. concert dates) and a CD release Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note Records (2 CDs) [AMAZON EXCLUSIVE] by the Blue Note 7, a septet consisting of pianist and musical director Bill Charlap, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash.

The year will also include book releases; jazz festival spotlights in Monterey, Montreal, Newport, New York and Portland, among others; a month-long Manhattan jazz club invasion by Blue Note artists that opens in late January, a Grammy salute in Los Angeles; a series of Blue Note reissues and a newline of clothing by the company Friend or Foe featuring classic Blue Note cover art.

It has the makings of a high-visibility year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the effort brings more followers to – or back to – jazz.