By Don Heckman

Los Angeles

Demetra George

- Nov. 30. (Mon.)  Gala Opera Night.  Demetra George and Ralph Cato perform “Villains and Heroines at the Opera,” selections from Puccini, Verdi and Strauss.  Frank Fetta is music director.  Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc.   (310) 474-9400.

- Nov. 30. (Mon.)  Slide FX  Trombone Tentet.  Not quite enough trombones to play “76 Trombones,” but enough to produce a surprisingly appealing array of sounds and swing.   Steamers. (714) 871-8800. http://www.steamerscafe.com

- Dec. 1. (Tues.)  “Christmas in Ireland” The veteran Irish ensemble Danu combines with a choir to bring an Irish Christmas celebration –An Lollaig in Eirnn – to Southland audiences.  The Cerritos Center. (562) 916-8501.

- Dec. 1. (Tues.)  Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band.  Goodwin’s band is that rarity – a big jazz ensemble with steady personnel delivering performances that match well-rehearsed craftsmanship with inventive playing and imaginative arrangements.  Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc. (310) 474-9400.

- Dec. 1. (Tues.)  Henry Franklin Quartet.  Bassist “Skipper” Franklin plays with most of the hard driving ensemble from his recently released CD, “Home Cookin’”: Azar Lawrence, tenor saxophone, Theo Saunders, piano, Ramon Banda, drums.  Charlie O’s.   (818) 989-3110.

Hilary Kole

- Dec. 1 & 2. (Tues. & Wed.)  Hilary Kole. The critically praised New York jazz singer makes her West Coast debut, backed by the sterling ensemble of Alan Broadbent, piano, Larry Koonse, guitar, Tom Warrington, bass and Kendall Kay, drums.  . Catalina Bar & Grill (323) 466-2210.

- Dec. 2. (Wed.)  Peter Marshall sings “TIME WAS: Music of the Thirties and Forties.”  No Hollywood Squares in this evening of delightful musical nostalgia.  Upstairs at Vitellos.  (818) 769-0905.

- Dec. 2. (Wed.)  Judy Wexler. Gifted with a smoky sound, thoughtful phasing and a solid sense of rhythm, Wexler applies those qualities to her ever-intriguing jazz interpretations.  Café 322.  (626) 836-5787.

- Dec. 3. (Thurs.)  Tom Rainier.  With Trey Henry, bass and Ralph Humphrey, drums, the trio serves as the rhythm section for “Dancing with the Stars.”  But here they are, in a very different setting, doing their own thing.  Upstairs at Vitellos. (818) 769-0905.

- Dec. 3, 4 & 5. (Thurs, Fri. & Sat.)  Charlie Hunter.  The adventurous guitarist brings his cross-genre style to a pair of L.A. appearances.  Thurs., Saint Rocke, Hermosa Beach. 310-372-0035.  Fri. & Sat. The Mint.  323-954-9400.

Gaea Schell

- Dec. 3. (Thurs.)  West Coast Left Coast: Leonard Slatkin with the Kronos Quartet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform works by Gladsmith, Bates, Waxman and Newman in the continuing series.  Disney Hall.

- Dec. 4. (Fri.)  Gaea Schell Trio.  A hard-swinging, inventive pianist, Schell brings the qualities of an instrumentalist to her laid-back, but always intriguing vocals. This time out, she celebrates the release of her new CD, “After the Rain.” Café 322. (626) 836-5787.

- Dec. 4 & 5. (Fri. & Sat.)  5^th Annual Fil-Am Jazzfest.  Any original doubts about the reality of Filipino jazz have been thoroughly removed by these stirring annual events.  This year’s featured artists include Charmaine Clamor, Mon David, Tateng Katendig, Abe Lagrimas, Angelo Pizzaro, Sandra Viray and a special appearance by Eddie Katendig.   . Catalina Bar & Grill (323) 466-2210.

- Dec. 5. (Sat.)  The Nutcracker Suite.  The State Street Ballet Company brings an unusual slant to Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic with a newly choreographed production featuring Art Deco sets and 1930’s costumes..  2 p.m. and 7 p.m.  CSUN Performing Arts Center.  (818) 677-5768.

- Dec. 5. (Sat.)  Carol Welsman. Canadian pianist/singer Welsman illuminates songs associated with (or written by) Peggy Lee in her new album, “I Like Men.”   Spazio. (818) 728-8400.

Herb Alpert & Lani Hall

- Dec. 5. (Sat.)  David Ornette Cherry and Organic Roots.  Following in the footsteps of his father, Don Cherry, and his namesake, Ornette Coleman, Cherry’s envelope-stretching music also embraces eclectic aspects of cultures from around the globe.  World Stage Performance Gallery.  (323) 293-2451.

- Dec. 5. (Sat.)  Herb Alpert & Lani Hall. Show biz power couple Alpert and Hall also happen to be imaginative musical artists.  Performing selections from their recent album, “Anything Goes,” Alpert’s trumpet and Hall’s vocals make an appealingly intimate jazz marriage. Orange County Performing Arts Center. (714) 556-2787.

- Dec. 5 & 6. (Sat. & Sun.)  Lisa Mezzacappa.  San Francisco bassist/composer Mezzacappa says her music lives “at the intersection of music and composition.”  She brings her imaginative musical perceptions to a pair of Southland performances. Sat.: Café Metropole, / Sun: Eagle Rock Center for the Arts.

- Dec. 6. (Sun.) Inner Voices. “Christmas A Cappella Brunch.” L.A.’s most fascinating vocal ensemble – musically, harmonically and stylistically – present their annual look at the rich, creative potential of the familiar songs of Christmas.  Catalina Bar & Grill (323) 466-2210.

San Francisco

Dec. 2 – 6. (Wed. – Sun.)  The Taj Mahal Trio.  The blues legend displays his inimitable guitar and voice in the intimate frame work of a trio.  Yoshi’s Oakland.  (510) 238-9200.

New  York

- Dec. 1. (Tues.)  Jackie Ryan.  Praised from every direction, Ryan’s extraordinarily versatile voice, her buoyant swing and gifted story telling abilities will be backed by a pair of superb instrumentalists — trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and saxophonist Eric Alexander.  Birdland. (212) 581-3080.

Anat Cohen

Dec. 1 – 6. (Tues. – Sun.)  Anat Cohen Quartet.  In addition to her powerful – and often funky – tenor saxophone work, Cohen is bringing vital new life to the too-often under-appreciated jazz clarinet.  She performs with Howard Alden, guitar,  Carlos Enriquez, bass and Herlin Riley, drums.  Village Vanguard.  (212) 255-4037.

- Dec. 2. (Wed.)  Bob Brookmeyer celebrates his 80^th birthday with the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble.  Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of \Music.  Rochester, N.Y.   (585) 454.2100.

- Dec. 2 – 5. (Wed. – Sat.)  Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch.  “A Town and Country Christmas.” A pair of musical theatre and cabaret veterans come together for an evening of inspired song.  Birdland.  (212) 581-3080.

- Dec. 3 – 6. (Thurs. – Sun.)  The Chano Dominguez Flamenco Quartet perform “The Flamenco Side of Kind of Blue” – a fascinating musical concept that will be the final concert series of the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival,  The Jazz Standard.  http://www.jazzstandard.net (212) 447-7733.

- Dec. 4 – 6. (Fri. – Sun.)  Madeleine Peyroux.  “Remembering Lady Day: 50 Years.” Given the Holiday qualities that are such a distinct part of the Peyroux style, this should be among the more intriguing live performances of recent memory.  Blue Note.  The Blue Note. (212) 475-8592.

Sonny Rollins

- Dec. 6. (Sun.)  Sonny Rollins.  The icon of the tenor saxophone appears in a benefit Concert for Pete Seeger’s Clearwater.  He’s backed by his regular ensemble: Clifton Anderson, trombone; Bobby Broom, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Kobie Watkins, drums and Victor See-Yuen, percussion. Tarrytown Music Hall or call 877-840-0457.

- Dec. 6. (Sun.)  Alessandra Belloni.  “The Voyage of the Black Madonna,” written and directed by Belloni, with music composed arranged by John La Barbera.  The work features healing chants, ritual drumming and dances from Southern Italy performed by Alessandra Belloni with La Barbera playing guitars, mandolin, and Susan Eberenz playing flute, piccolo and recorders.  St. Mary’s Church, 521 W. 126 St. (212) 864-4013.

Il n’y a pas que les buts entachés par une main dans la vie. Et le triste France-Irlande de ce soir (1-1 mais une place au Mondial sud-africain) passera aussi vite que d’autres aléas sur lesquels je ne m’attarderai pas. J’ai plutôt l’envie de réécouter (et revoir) cette rencontre au sommet entre un roi du songwriting et un king du jazz (ou vice versa). C’est un enregistrement de 1989 pour le “Sunday Night” de David Sanborn. Leonard Cohen interprète Who By Fire porté par Sonny Rollins au saxo. La voix grave du Canadien et les nuances du jazzman que les rockers aiment inviter (Tattoo You des Stones notamment), un éphémère sans vainqueur qui efface la vanité d’une actualité bien moins durable.

Image used in the Guardian Review of London Jazz Festival 2009 opening weekend.

Picture blog here.

My abiding recollection of Saturday’s gig is the feeling of warmth that seemed to emanate from the the stiff legged, white haired, near octogenarian bundle of energy that  fronted the band . He was clad in a  baggy, silky shirt of more or less the same orange as all the signs around the Barbican, and it was tempting to assume that they had refurbished their look in his honour. That I’m recalling what it felt like to be there more than the musical content seems appropriate. I can’t better the description in the programme notes: muscular hard-bop, lilting ballads and cheeky calypsos. It was the first cheeky calypso about half way through that sent the energy levels through the roof. He stood at the footlights, honking, swaying, conducting himself and generally firing everyone up. My other pair of ears summed it up. “He’s getting down” she whispered. She also commented on the musical conversations that seemed to go on. After the theme of a lilting ballad say, Sonny honks and nudges, playing fragments of melody and long notes as one of the sidemen gets going on their moment in the spotlight – a bit of one to one on stage coaching. And all to soon it was the blues to jam out. We couldn’t believe how the time had flown. The encore? Don’t stop the Carnival of course.  This is what he does. Compare the review of yesterday with that from three years ago by John Fordham here and here. Not quite the same set but not far off. But it doesn’t seem to matter. Somehow he manages the trick of making it feel he’s communicating directly so the instrument and the material are a bit secondary.

Sonny Rollins: Moving Out (Prestige 0888072315945)
Sonny in 1954 with Kenny Doreham on trumpet, Elmo Hope on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Art Blakey on drums. This is still bebop inspired music, and swift from the start with the title track, even swifter to follow with Swingin’ For Bumsy. The whole band is cooking, especially Dorham and Hope in their solos, and drum connoisseurs will notice something strange about Blakey’s sound. Where’s teh hi-hat? Apparently due to some “technical issue” – did he leave it in the cab on the way to the session? – Art is sans certain cymbals.

The band calms for the ballad, Silk ‘n’ Satin, with Rollins in imperious form, luxuriating in the lower tones of the tenor from the start. Nice solo again from Hope and there are some lovely distant, echoey trumpet lines behind the saxophone on its re-entry, and it is over all too quickly.

Solid is a regular blues and a good-time thing.

Then, for the final track on this RVG remastered disc, we switch bands and with Sonny for a nearly 11-minute meander through More Than You Know are Thelonious Monk on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums. It’s a great tune, Sonny’s tongued phrasing on the melody is thick and his tone lush, and Monk plays it just as you’d expect, rich, crunchy chords pushing those off-off beats. Worth the price for this track alone.

È sopravvissuto a tutti i suoi grandi colleghi e oggi rimane l’ultimo gigante vivente dell’hard bop. Sonny Rollins, il colosso del sax, oggi ha settantanove anni e un solo desiderio: far capire alla gente che il jazz è vivo, che è necessario buttare al macero tutti quei «libri pieni di foto di musicisti morti». Coltrane, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk,Max Roach. Su ognuno di loro Rollins (che stasera suona al Roma Jazz Festival) haun ricordo, un’istantanea che va a costruire il mosaico della storia del jazz eppure ha voglia di andare oltre. Oltre i suoi cinquanta e più dischi (sette dei quali usciti tutti nel 1957, anno d’oro), oltre l’enorme influenza che ha esercitato su schiere di musicisti (compresi John Zorn, Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano ma Lou Reed o gli Stones, con cui ha anche suonato), oltre il lutto che lo ha colpito pochi anni fa,quando la sua adoratamoglie lo ha lasciato solo.

Signor Rollins, ha ancora qualcosa da imparare del jazz?
«Credo di avere da imparare di jazz e della musica in generale. La musica è qualcosa di cui non sai mai tutto, ecco perché è uno dei doni più affascinanti che abbiamo ricevuto da Dio».

Crede di aver da imparare più dal jazz o dalla vita?
«Beh, credo che le due cose vadano assieme. Una volta chiesero al grande Charlie Parker “che cosa suonerai stasera?”, e lui rispose: “beh, suonerò tutto quello che mi succederà durante la giornata di oggi”. Il jazz è la tua vita, le tue esperienze».

Una volta ha detto che il jazz trascende la vita delle persone, che è eterno, universale. È anche qualcosa che le serve per elevare il proprio livello spirituale?
«Beh, non amo quando parlo di me usare termini come “livello spirituale”, perché possono essere fraintesi, può risultare che mi considero un un saggio o cose del genere. Insomma non salgo sul palco e dico: hey ragazzi, sono SonnyRollins e la mia è musica spirituale.Èil mio pubblico ad usare termini del genere».

Lei viene da una famiglia di attivisti. Sua nonna, di St. Thomas (Haiti), faceva parte del gruppo di Marcus Garvey (l’attivista afroamericano che mise le basi per la nascita dei Black Panthers). Come ha accolto l’elezione del primo presidente afroamericano?
«È una domanda molto interessante. Da ragazzino mio nonna mi portava alle marce per la libertà dei neri e per i diritti di ognuno. La questione della “razza” ha accompagnato tutta la mia vita tanto è vero che ho inciso diversi dischi a tal proposito, come Freedom suite negli anni Sessanta. Ora, quando dici come mi sento ad avere un presidente afroamericano… beh penso che simbolicamente ciò sia un’ottima cosa. E penso anche che questo simbolo, in giro per il mondo tra la gente oppressa e ancora schiava, possa essere un segnale importante. Ma se debbo dare un giudizio più approfondito, dal mio punto di vista, quello diunuomoben più vecchio di Obama, che la politica l’ha praticata per molti anni, ecco devo dire che io mi posiziono ben più a sinistra di lui. Obama non è abbastanza radicale per me. Diciamoci la verità: la sua politica è conservatrice. Dunque sono contento di avere un presidente afroamericano, ma non mi esalto».

Mai sentito la responsabilità di essere uno degli ultimi grandi del jazz?
«In passato, ma oggi è diverso. Prima sentivo che era mio dovere rappresentare tutti i miei fratelli che non sono più qui. Monk, Miles, Coltrane, Charlie Parker. Ora è diverso: non si tratta di rappresentare gli altri ma di comunicare una forma di jazz alla quale la gente riesca a relazionarsi in maniera più intima. La gente vuole il jazz ma non gli viene offerto, non hanno la possibilità di viverlo, sono schiavi di una sottocultura che li tiene a distanza. In passato abbiamo avuto Louis Armostrong che è riuscito a portarlo alla massima popolarità, ma poi poco altro. Questa è la mia ambizione. Vorrei far sentire alla gente che il jazz è vivo, che non va solo letto nei libri pieni di foto di gente morta, no. Il jazz è vita, è pieno di vita e che ogni giorno è una musica diversa ».

C’è un musicista col quale non è riuscito a suonare a di cui si rammarica?
«Il primo che mi viene in mente è il grande Fats Waller che sentii da bambino quando ancora ero in culla e poi più tardi sulla radio. Lui fu la prima persona che mi fece apprezzare il jazz, riusciva a comunicarmi una gioia incredibile. Mi sarebbe piaciuto suonare con Duke Ellington e anche con Count Basie, che conoscevo bene e sapevo che apprezzava molto la mia musica. Sai… sfortunatamente non ho suonato con tutti quelli con cui avrei voluto, ma va bene così. È stato un onore farlo con tutti gli altri».

Al tempo c’erano queste due scuole di sax opposte: la sua e quella di Coltrane. Lei ha imparato qualcosa da Coltrane? «Assolutamente sì. All’epoca in cui suonavamoentrambi era impossibile che io apprendessi qualcosa da lui perché erano i miei stessi fan che non volevano, che tenevano al mio stile particolare. Mi volevano diverso, capisci? Ma quando lo spirito del mio amico Coltrane ha lasciato il pianeta, allora sì, ho potuto avvicinarmi a lui, assorbire la sua musica. Ma non solo. La mia storia è quella di uno molto felice e fortunato di aver imparato dagli altri mote cose. Ho imparato da Coltrane e prima di lui da Fats Waller, da Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Jordal, dal rhythm and blues».

La storia del jazz è piena di talenti morti troppo giovani, da Coltrane a Dolphy. Chi avrebbe cambiato veramente la storia del jazz se fosse ancora vivo?
«Hai citato Coltrane ed Eric Dolphy e senza dubbio entrambi, visto che la loro missione è stata sempre quella di sperimentare, sarebbero andati avanti, cambiando la storia.Èdifficile dirlo perché ogni generazione ha idee differenti. Per non parlare poi di Miles. Miles era una persona capace di tirar fuori di continuo nuove idee. Se fosse vivo chi può dire cosa farebbe oggi? Miles era creativo all’ennesima potenza, un genio».

È vero che disse di no al quintetto di Miles Davis, posto che poi fu preso da Coltrane?
«Oh, quella è una storia che è stata ingigantita dalla stampa. Ero in un’altra città e Miles stava per cominciare a fare delle cose con un nuovo gruppo. Miles era da tempo che diceva di apprezzare la miamusica e di voler suonare con me. Ma per varie ragioni nonriuscii a tornare in tempo a New York e quindi persi l’appuntamento, rimanendo a Chicago».

Che vita fa oggi quando non è in tour?
«Vivo fuori New York, in campagna, una vita molto tranquilla. Sa, sono vedovo da qualche anno e vivo solo nella stessa casa dove ero con mia moglie. Tutto quello di cui ho bisogno è di un posto dove poter provare col mio sax e dove stare al caldo durante l’inverno».

Silvia Boschero

l’Unità

8-30|11|2009
ROMA JAZZ FESTIVAL ‘09  – 33a ed.
JAZZ LABELS
Auditorium Parco della Musica
h. 21:00  da 10 €

Roma Jazz Festival 2009, rassegna giunta alla 33 edizione, sarà dedicata alle Jazz Labels, le case discografiche jazzs storiche e le nuove etichette, in virtù delle tante ricorrenze che proprio in questo 2009 ricordiamo. Primo fra tutti l’anniversario dei 50 anni dalla pubblicazione di Kind of  Blue il capolavoro di Miles Davis,  o come i 90 anni dalla prima incisione jazz in Italia.

Tutto questo verrà ricordato e festeggiato con un cartellone di artisti di fama internazionale che si alterneranno  per presentare le anteprime dei loso progetti.

Programma

Dom. 08/11/2009
Stefano Bollani Trio
Sala Santa Cecilia
h. 21:00 da 20 a 25 €

Lun. 09/11/2009
Kind of Blue Anniversary at 50
So What Band: J.Cobb, W.Roney, J.Jackson, V.Harring, L.Willis, B.Williams
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 15 a 20 €

Mar. 10/11/2009
Javier Girotto & Aires Tango “10/15″
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 15 €  >> evento su Facebook

Merc. 11/11/2009
Sonny Rollins Quintet
Sala Santa Cecilia
h. 21:00 da 40 a 80 €

Giov. 12/11/2009
Roberto Fonseca Quintet
in apertura Livio Minafra
Sala Petrassi
h. 21:00 15 €

Ven. 13/11/2009
Gabriele Mirabassi Trio, Cristina Zavalloni, Mario Brunello, Marco Zurzolo Band
Sala Petrassi
h. 21:00 15 €

Sab. 14/11/2009
Brad Mehldau Trio
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 20 a 25 €

Dom. 15/11/2009
Diana Krall Trio
Quiet Nights World Tour 2009
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 50 a 90 €

Lun. 16/11/2009
SOL6
Teatro Studio
h. 21:00 12€

Mar. 17/11/2009
Showcase di Jamie Cullum
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 10 €

Mar. 17/11/2009
3Quietmen Stefano Battaglia – Downtown Trio
Teatro Studio
h. 21:00 15 €

Merc. 18/11/2009
Antonio Placer Trio
Atlantiterraneo
Teatro Studio
h. 21:00 12 €

Giov. 19/11/2009
Nicola Conte Combo, Luciano Cantone
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 20 a 25 €

Ven. 20/11/2009
Alboran Trio
Teatro Studio
h. 21:00 € 12,00

Mar. 24/11/2009
Paolo Fresu, Uri Caine
with Alborada String Quartet
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 20 a 25 €

Dom. 29/11/2009
David Murray Black Saint Quartet
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 15 a 20 €

Lun. 30/11/2009
Richard Galliano “Solo”
Sala Sinopoli
h. 21:00 da 20 a 25 €

If you saw the title and assumed that this was a Sonny Rollins tribute band, get that thought right out of your head.  As much as I admire Rollins, the tenor saxophone is sufficiently well-established in jazz so that it doesn’t need the extra publicity.

No, TENOR MADNESS looks like this:

I’m only sorry that the picture is bite-sized, for it captures Phil Flanigan, heroic bassist, his wife Hanna Richardson, a wonderfully unaffected yet hip singer (and tenor guitarist), and Tom Bronzetti (also on tenor guitar).  Oh, say can they swing! 

They have a MySpace page, where you can hear them and see where they are playing next: http://www.myspace.com/tenorguitarmadness. 

I’ve been an admirer of Hanna and Phil’s for some years now, ever since I was asked to review their first CD (on the LaLa label) for the late lamented Mississippi Rag — I became a fan as well as a convert to their insouciant swing.  Jazz party producers, are you paying attention?  This trio is compact yet their swinging music pours out generously.  And they don’t care if the piano in your living room is out of tune.  I predict great things!

Click here to listen to the show.

On tonight’s show:

- The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

- Mad Men: Season 3, Episode 11: The Gypsy and The Hobo (2009)

- Daylight Savings Time, An Appreciation

- Billy Ripken aka F–k Face, and his 1989 Fleer card. Read all about it here.

- Interesting Death of the Week with B.K.: Roy DeCarava – photographer of great importance, click here to see an example of his work; John O’Quinn – Lawyer, car collector; Geocities – early internet whackadoo land

- Tonight’s score: Sonny Rollins is Our Man In Jazz

Some history might be needed here.  ”A fig,” ”a Moldy Fig,” even “a Mouldy Figge,” is now-archaic language invented during the Forties, when jazz found itself divided into warring factions called Dixieland and Bebop.  This divisiveness may have splintered the music and its audiences irrevocably.  Much of the noisy conflict was fomented by journalists and publicists seeking to attract audiences through controversy.  At this distance, we know that GROOVIN’ HIGH is only WHISPERING with a new blouse, but people allowed themselves to ignore this.  I find the poet Philip Larkin very endearing in his art and his vinegary energies, but his jazz prose embodies this point of view, where the world had reached an artistic peak in 1932 with the Rhythmakers recordings and had gone steadily downhill.  I agree with the first part of this formulation but not the second. 

I began my devotional listening as a Fig, so it took a long gradual period of contemplative immersion before I could understand that, say, John Coltrane wasn’t The Enemy out to destroy the music I loved.  In truth, I was never an extremist but I had strong, narrow likes and dislikes.  I remember having a brief conversation with another student in a middle-school Music Appreciation class who was deeply immersed in the New Thing — this was forty-plus years ago and the new thing was Archie Shepp, and the conversation went like this:

“Alan,” which might not be his name, but is a good guess: “I hear you like jazz.”

Me (brightening at having found a fellow subversive): “Oh, yes, I do!”

“Alan”: “Do you listen to Archie Shepp?”

Me (horrified that he hadn’t mentioned Louis, and coming up with a wise-acre New Yorker rejoinder): “Archie Shepp?! I say it’s spinach, and I say to hell with it!”

“Alan”: ”Well, the hell with you!”

So goes critical discourse at its finest! 

I would like to boast that I’ve seen the light and the scales have dropped from my eyes, but if you told me I had to choose only one jazz recording to spend eternity with, it still might be AFTER YOU’VE GONE by the Blue Note Jazzmen, even though I can understand and appreciate music that would have perplexed and repelled me in my youth.  And the music was always there, I just didn’t get it. 

This self-scrutiny is provoked by a phone conversation I had yesterday with Bob Rusch (or RDR), editor and chief spiritual guide of the quarterly journal devoted to Creative Improvised Music, CADENCE.  Full disclosure requires me to say that I write reviews for CADENCE, and I continue to admire the journal’s honesty.  And working with Bob has always been a pleasurable lesson in Emersonian candor: when I have felt an inexplicable need to tactfully cloak the truth in polite words, he has always asked, “Why?” 

If you’ve never read CADENCE, you have been missing something special and rare.  See for yourself (www.cadencebuilding.com).

In the course of our conversation — we speak infrequently, but over the past five years it has always been both bracing and affectionate — Bob said gently that he thought I was “getting more figgish,” and I agreed.  But it made me think, and perhaps my experience will ring true with my readers. 

There used to be “the jazz record industry,” and I am not talking about sixty-five years ago, the Commodore Music Shop, and listening booths.  Ten years ago, perhaps, there were many more active companies producing compact discs.  (If you want to have a sobering experience, casually inspect the spines of any fifty CDs in your library and note how many of those labels no longer exist.)  This, of course, has to do with the economy, an aging audience, and more. 

It has had an double-edged result.  On one hand, no more new issues from Chiaroscuro, no more Pablo, fewer ways for musicians to be encouraged by a label.  But because labels no longer exist, many energetic musicians have gone into business for themselves and produce their own discs.  

This can be a boon: musicians can record what they want, have it sound the way they want, without the interference of recording engineers or the heads of record companies . . . and splendid personal statements emerge.  But this asks musicians to be both courageous and affluent (or at least credit-worthy): a self-produced CD might require a $10,000 investment that the artist might get back over ten years of selling the discs one at a time on the gig.  We should all live and be well! 

(Musician joke: “My latest CD is a million-seller.  I’ve got a million in my cellar.”)

Many players I know have made a virtue of necessity, but I think many of them look back nostalgically to the dear dead days when they got a call to go to a studio at noon to make a date, they played their hearts out, they got paid, and eight months later they knew that the disc they had appeared on was being sold all over the world.  Yes, their control over the music was compromised, their pay was a percentage of the profit, but someone else was handling all the annoying business.  

What this means for someone like myself, reviewing CDs, is that a good deal of what I am asked to listen to is by artists new to me (a good thing) who are offering their own music (potentially a good thing).  And occasionally it leads me to sit up in my chair and say, “By God, (s)he’s got it!”  Melissa Collard was new to me when I first heard her OLD-FASHIONED LOVE, and she is one of those singers whose work I most treasure.  Mark Shane, Kevin Dorn, Dawn Lambeth, Marc Caparone, Danny Tobias, Lyle Ritz, Andy Brown, Petra van Nuis, and more.  

But much of what I hear is both competent yet entirely forgettable.  I know that Lips Page said, ”The material is immaterial,” but hand me a CD full of original compositions by a player and I wonder, “Gee, you’ve already decided that there’s nothing new for you to say on the blues or on I’VE TOLD EV’RY LITTLE STAR?”  Funny, that hasn’t occurred to Sonny Rollins.

And it is sad to receive a CD by a singer or musician, male or female, where great effort has gone into burnishing the exterior at the expense of other things.  When the artist credits his or her hair stylist and wardrobe person first, I think, “Oh no.  Repertoire, not manicure.  No one listens to the cover.” 

So my “figgishness” or “figitude” (both my own coinings) is a way to get back to what music means to me — a spiritual / intellectual / experience that makes me want to grin foolishly and shout exultantly.  I would indeed rather hear a wonderful performance of an original composition by musicians I don’t know than a tired rendition of OUR BUNGALOW OF DREAMS, but I need to hear jazz that makes me remember why I began to listen to the music in the first place: joy, inventiveness, clear delight in being alive in the face of death.  If your listening is purely an intellectual exercise and you find that gratifying, fine, but mine is tied up with the emotions.  Is the music beautiful?  Does it make me feel some strong emotion, preferably happiness?  Can I admire the players?            

So I close this post with a new example of FINEST FIG JAM — pure, organic, and locally sourced.  It’s another YouTube clip from the lucky and generous SFRaeAnn of the Eldorado Serenaders, whose front line is Don Neely on reeds, Robert Young on reeds, trumpet, and vocal, Dave Frey, plectrum banjo, Jim Young, tenor banjo, Steven Rose, sousaphone, Stan Greenberg, percussion.  This performance of BALTIMORE (one of those delightful songs-about-a-new-dance-craze) honors Bix and Wingy and Red, and I think this band is terribly, admirably brave to be shouting it out in a bookstore.  “Fit audience, though few,” said Milton, but he never had to worry about the tip jar.  It was recorded on October 25, 2009 at North Light Books in Cotati, California.  

For Immediate Release Oct. 12, 2009

THE JAZZ BARONESS, DOCUMENTING THE ENDURING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A BEAUTIFUL HEIRESS AND JAZZ LEGEND THELONIOUS MONK, DEBUTS NOV. 25. EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO2

She was a beautiful British-born heiress from a powerful Jewish dynasty. He was a quirky African-American musical genius who helped pioneer the jazz revolution known as bebop. They met in Paris in the 1950s and were inseparable for the next 28 years, as she became a loyal friend and fiercely protective patron of some of the era’s greatest musicians. THE JAZZ BARONESS chronicles this unlikely, controversial relationship when it debuts WEDNESDAY, NOV. 25 (8:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO2.

Additional HBO2 playdates: Sun. Nov. 29 (8:00 a.m.), Mon. Nov. 30 (3:00 p.m.), Thurs. Dec. 3 (6:30 p.m.), Fri. Dec. 11 (7:45 a.m.), Wed. Dec. 16 (1:30 p.m.)

THE JAZZ BARONESS tells the moving love story of Pannonica Rothschild (“Nica” for short) and pianist-composer Thelonious Monk. Directed by Nica’s great-niece Hannah Rothschild, the documentary features the voice of Oscar® winner Helen Mirren, who reads Nica’s words.

From wildly different beginnings — his on a humble farm in the American deep south, hers in luxurious European mansions frequented by kings, queens and heads of state — the film traces their lives up to the point of meeting, then follows their time together in a post-World War II New York City buzzing with pre-civil rights tension and the frenetic syncopation of bebop.

The film weaves together archival footage and interviews with family members, friends, jazz historians and luminaries, among them Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Thelonious Monk, Jr., Roy Haynes, Curtis Fuller, The Duchess of Devonshire and Clint Eastwood. THE JAZZ BARONESS also features footage of the groundbreaking Thelonious Monk Quartet playing such classics as “Straight, No Chaser,” “The Bolivar Blues” and “Nutty,” including a 1965 BBC appearance, when Monk finally began to get the recognition, if not the financial rewards, he had worked for.

Hannah Rothschild spent years uncovering the story of her great aunt, a woman who as a child learned magic tricks from Einstein, and in later life lived with more than 300 cats and served Scotch from a teapot. This search for information often met a wall of secrecy from family members reluctant to divulge details about a woman who had so radically, some say eccentrically, reinvented herself.

Rothschild’s film profiles an extraordinary woman who devoted herself to the cause of New York’s jazz elite, who were not only struggling artistically, but battling a racist culture. Nica sheltered them when they were broke, bailed them out of jail and helped them cope with their drug habits. (She even took the fall for Monk when police found marijuana in their car, earning a three-year jail sentence, though the conviction was later reversed.) In appreciation, Monk and others wrote dozens of songs for and about her.

Among the most compelling segments is the story of how Nica and Monk met. Then married, Nica was introduced by a friend to Monk’s “’Round Midnight,” which would become one of the most recorded jazz standards of all time. “I couldn’t believe my ears,” she recalled. “I’d never heard anything remotely like it.” Nica set out to find Monk, finally meeting him two years later. Interestingly, for all the mutual love and devotion that developed between them, some speculate that their relationship was essentially platonic. Monk remained married to his wife, Nellie, who seemed to embrace the unusual love triangle.

Ultimately, it was all about the music for Nica. She left her husband, she said, because he liked military drum music and hated jazz. Nica recognized Monk’s musical genius years before the critics and even many musicians. In the words of saxophonist Archie Shepp, “She was a woman who was ahead of her time. She took a stand when it wasn’t popular to do so.”

Before she died during routine heart surgery in 1988, six years after Monk’s death from a stroke, Nica made a special request. “I would like my ashes to be scattered on the Hudson River in the evening, around midnight,” she said. “Yes, that’s right, I said ‘ ’round midnight.’ I think you all know why.”

Hannah Rothschild is a British-born writer, producer and director whose projects include “To the Studio: Frank Auerbach,” about the German-born British painter; “Keeping Up with the Medici”; and “Sickert’s London,” about painter Walter Sickert. Her films have been broadcast on major public networks in Europe, Australia, America and Asia. In the mid-1990s, she set up an independent company, Rothschild Auerbach Ltd., and made films for Arts Council England and the BBC. She then ran London Films for two years, where she produced the series “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

THE JAZZ BARONESS was written, produced and directed by Hannah Rothschild; executive producer, Nick Fraser; associate producer, Lawrence Elman; co-producer, Bruce Ricker; sound engineer, High Mitchell-Dawson; editor, Guy Crossman. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

# # #

For screeners and interview requests, contact:
Donna Daniels ddaniels (at) ddanielspr.net
Holly Cara Price hcp (at) ddanielspr.net
Telephone: 347-254-7054

Fonte: “ilmessaggero.it“

In anteprima il nuovo album della Consoli, per Claudio 5 notti natalizie. Joss Stone a febbraio

di MARCO MOLENDINI
ORMAI diventa perfino difficile parlare della nuova stagione dell’Auditorium, il cui riposo stagionale è ridotto al solo mese di agosto. Così, mentre si annuncia il nuovo cartellone, in realtà quella che è senza dubbi la più grossa istituzione culturale italiana viaggia già a buon regime con le sue sale, le sue proposte, i suoi appuntamenti. La musica (naturalmente) fa la parte del leone e continuerà a farla per i prossimi mesi fra appuntamenti di prestigio, festival (come quello del jazz che occuperà il mese di novembre), rassegne, spazi offerti ai musicisti (la formula Carta bianca privilegerà due jazzisti come il chitarrista americano Bill Frisell e il pianista Stefano Bollani) e moltiplicando lo sforzo autoproduttivo, affiancando alla consolidata PMJO diretta da Maurizio Giammarco e all’Orchestra popolare di Ambrogio Sparagna, un Ensemble contemporaneo (PMCE) diretto dal maestro Tonino Battista e una quarta formazione di nuovi talenti (la PMJC) con la guida esperta di Enrico Rava con fidi solisti come il pianista Giovanni Guidi e il sassofonista Daniele Tittarelli. 
Quanto al cartellone dei concerti, l’elenco parte dal Roma jazz festival dove figurano ospiti di peso come Stefano Bollani (8 novembre), Sonny Rollins (l’11), Brad Mehldau (il 14), Diana Krall (il 15), Jamie Cullum (il 17), Paolo Fresu e Uri Caine (il 24), David Murray (il 29), Richard Galliano (il 30). Ma il jazz, si sa, è da sempre una delle colonne dell’Auditorium: così nel corso dell’annata sono previsti pure gli arrivi del funambolo della voce Bobby McFerrin (20 maggio), del pianista di New Orleans Allen Toussaint, del batterista Jack De Johnette con il sassofonista John Surman (il 27 ottobre) o di grandi nomi del jazz nazionale come Enrico Rava, Franco D’Andrea, Roberto Gatto o Gianluca Petrella. Ampia la presenza di specialisti delle sei corde in una rassegna che mette in fila lo stato maggiore dello strumento: da Bill Frisell (30 ottobre e 17 febbraio) a Peter Green (14 novembre), Paco de Lucia (28 febbraio), Pat Metheny (17 marzo), Al Di Meola (20 aprile), Marc Ribot (27 aprile), John Scofield (5 maggio), Mike Stern (18 maggio), John McLaughlin (19 maggio), Mark Knopfler (13 luglio). La serie ”Solo” riservata alle performance individuali presenterà il multistrumentista Nando Citarella (19 novembre), il pianista Bobo Stenson (4 dicembre), Peter Hammill (7 dicembre), Danilo Rea con un omaggio a De André (11 marzo), Uri Caine (17 aprile). Invece il cartellone dei duetti, Dialogo, metterà insieme il pianista Wayne Horvitz e il sassofonista Briggan Krauss (venerdì), Fausto Mesolella e Mimmo Epifani (5 dicembre), Ralph Towner e Javier Girotto, Enrico Pieranunzi e Stefano Battaglia (29 gennaio), Gianmaria Testa e Erri De Luca (aprile).
Quanto al pop, a parte Joss Stone (7 febbraio), la musica italiana ha un ruolo pesante con le 5 serate natalizie di Claudio Baglioni, dal 25 al 30 dicembre, col ritorno di Cristiano De André (13 dicembre), la prima del nuovo album di Carmen Consoli (1,2,3 febbraio), Elio e le storie tese (17 gennaio). La musica etnica è rappresentata oltre che dall’Orchestra di Sparagna, da Manu Katché, dai Radiodervish. Quanto all’angolo della sperimentazione, be music, night, in tandem con Radio 3, ha fra gli ospiti Alvin Curran (30 gennaio) e George Lewis (a maggio).

Tomorrow would’ve marked Thelonious Monk’s 92nd birthday. Without Monk so much would be different for me. I came to jazz through Miles Davis. Nothing unusual there. But my affinity for jazz beyond a casual interest came from the unusual. For no matter how mainstream and accepted Monk’s music has become, it is unusual and will forever remain so. What Monk did is still little understood. He was tight-lipped, difficult, and seemingly belligerent. An outward austerity beneath which lurked a prickly, sensitive, slightly unstable man capable for great artistic leaps and personal generosity. For Monk was generous. He gave his sidemen, those who could hang with his challenging music, near unlimited amounts of room with which to showcase and improve themselves. And those who were truly with it took advantage of it. We can thank Monk for the vast improvements in the abilities of such legends as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. But these were men destined to reap their many bountiful gifts.  Monk just softly pushed them along. But when I listen to the Five Spot recordings from August 7th, 1958 and I listen to Johnny Griffin just devour Monk’s music, that’s when I’m feeling the shepherding influence of Monk the most. Nearly every tenor who has come through Monk’s school of music has left their own idiosyncratic stamp on the music. The shuffling, snuffling tone of Charlie Rouse, instantly identifiable, became perhaps the most sympathetic to Monk’s cause. Rouse is continually overlooked most likely because he lingered with Monk too long. But in doing so, he became Monk’s greatest champion. Only Coleman Hawkins could be said to interpret a Monk ballad better. Listening to Harold Land tear through Monk tunes at The Blackhawk in San Francisco on a literal moment’s notice is a joy. That is baptism by fire. I knew Land was a great tenor but those recordings proved it. So many other players would’ve caved under the pressure of learning Monk’s tunes on the spot (while having to battle Rouse at the same moment). Billy Higgins sparkles on that record. I wish he’d recorded with Monk more. He could’ve been his definitive drummer (no disrespect to Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, and Shadow Wilson). I love all of Monk’s recordings, particularly those for Riverside and Columbia. When people ask me for Monk recommendations — man, that’s tough. I usually stick with my three perennial favorites: Monk’s Music (the meeting of Trane and Hawkins could only have occurred within the context of Monk’s music); Monk (the Columbia one that is so super playful with great Rouse solos); and those Five Spot Recordings with Griffin because they are exuberant.  Of course, immediately afterward, I want to thrust the Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, and early recordings into their hands, and well… it just continues forever.

Without Thelonious Monk, I would never have started down the path that brought me to jazz radio and a jazz blog. I really owe it all to him.

Fonte: “Ilgiornale.it“

di Duccio Pasqua

La stagione del nuovo Auditorium tra grandi artisti, emergenti, laboratori e novità per gli amanti dei libri
Un raro Lou Reed «metallico». Un inusuale Baglioni natalizio. E poi il grande jazz, le orchestre, i progetti originali e le «carte bianche». L’Auditorium si affaccia alla nuova stagione con un programma estremamente ricco, che farà la gioia dei musicofili di ogni genere (e non solo). Raccontare tutto è impossibile: centinaia di eventi già in programma da oggi alla fine di luglio, più altri ancora in fase di organizzazione. Le star della musica italiana: Carmen Consoli, Elio e le Storie Tese, Gino Paoli, Cristiano De Andrè e un quintuplo Claudio Baglioni (dal 25 al 30 dicembre). 
I big internazionali: Lou Reed, che a maggio proporrà un concerto per sola chitarra, per celebrare lo storico album Metal machine music; poi Mark Knopfler, Peter Hammill, Joss Stone. Naturalmente, il miglior jazz in circolazione: l’8 novembre si apre il Roma Jazz Festival, con il concerto di Stefano Bollani, e poi arriveranno Sonny Rollins, Pat Metheny, Bobby McFerrin, John Scofield, Diana Krall, Jamie Cullum. E tra i protagonisti della stagione ci sarà Enrico Rava, curatore del nuovo progetto «Parco della Musica Jazz Lab», autentica fucina per i nuovi talenti del jazz italiano, che esporterà progetti originali dall’Auditorium verso altre manifestazioni, come l’European Jazz Expo di Cagliari (a novembre) e Umbria Jazz Winter a Orvieto. Il Jazz Lab diventa a tutti gli effetti la quarta orchestra stabile, che si affianca alle veterane PMJO e OPI (l’orchestra popolare di Sparagna) e alla giovane PMCE, ovvero «Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble». «Tra le novità più rilevanti – spiega l’amministratore delegato Carlo Fuortes – c’è l’appuntamento di marzo con “Libri come”, una vera e propria festa del libro e della lettura che vedrà la partecipazione dei più celebri autori e artisti del panorama internazionale. Siamo anche felici di attribuire due premi: nell’ambito del Festival della Nuova Danza verrà consegnato il “Premio Equilibrio”, mentre in ambito teatrale nascerà il “Premio Vertigine”, curato da Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. Naturalmente seguiremo con attenzione i nuovi talenti, non tanto per motivi filantropici, ma perché siamo convinti che su di loro si basi il futuro di una struttura come l’Auditorium. Non è un caso che “Generazione X” diventi un vero e proprio festival, concentrato in cinque giorni».
Anche la nuova stagione sarà arricchita da numerosi appuntamenti fissi: le «Lezioni di rock» con Assante e Castaldo, gli «Incontri d’autore», le Lezioni di musica, di storia e di giornalismo, e poi i festival delle Scienze, il Natale all’Auditorium con il Festival Gospel, la rassegna «Cantando sotto la storia» curata dal presidente Gianni Borgna, le mostre d’arte. Se l’anno scorso è stato dedicato alla rassegna sul basso, quest’anno protagonista sarà la chitarra, con concerti dei già citati Metheny, Knopfler e Lou Reed, ma anche di Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Bill Frisell, John McLaughlin, Mike Stern, Marc Ribot, Al Di Meola, Tuck & Patti.
Ci sarà la musica contemporanea, con gli spettacoli di Philip Glass, Steve Reich e Arvo Pärt. E non mancherà l’attività della «Parco della Musica Records», etichetta dell’Auditorium, pronta a sfornare altri dischi jazz di alto livello.
Dopo sette anni di crescita continua, dunque, la struttura romana continua a offrire una programmazione di notevole qualità. Un ottimo inizio per superare il record di 1.300.000 spettatori conseguito l’anno scorso.

Vivir no es sólo existir,
sino existir y crear,
saber gozar y sufrir
y no dormir sin soñar.
Descansar, es empezar a morir.

Gregorio Marañón.

]]> http://trenardigans.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/satin-doll/ Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:54:40 +0000 trenardigans http://trenardigans.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/satin-doll/

Me playing Satin Doll. Check it out!