Jazz Beyond Jazz

My maybe unpublished 25th anniversary liner notes for Conduction #1, Current Trends in Racism in Modern America, A Work in Progress, by the late Butch Morris with all-star improvisers, recorded 28 years ago today (Feb 1, 2013) and sonically as relevant as ever.  [The cast is: Frank Lowe, tenor sax; John Zorn, alto sax and game calls; guitarist Brandon Ross; harpist Zeena Parkins; cellist Tom Cora; turntablist Christian Marclay; vibraphonist Eli Fountain; pianist Curtis Clark; percussionist Thurman Barker; vocalist Yasunao Tone and Butch, of … [Read more...]

Lawrence Douglas "Butch" Morris, one of the most brilliant and musically generous of artists who emerged from New York's East Village in the 1980s as an experimental cornetist, composer of melodies and settings, and instigator of the burgeoning act of Conduction (a term he copyrighted), died January 29 of cancer at age 65, and the world mourns. Besides my "appreciation" for National Public Radio, heartfelt writings have been posted in the New Yorker blog by cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, in the Wall Street Journal blog by Vipal Monga (who … [Read more...]

The National Endowment for the Arts is not in its essence a presenting organization. Its annual productions of ceremonies inducting new Jazz Masters, like the one at Dizzy's Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 14,  are special projects, probably stretching the Endowment's resources of staff, finances, time and energy. I commented in my last post that media attention to this event is unfortunately much less than it deserves, and suggested three ways outreach, hence notice, might be improved, which I'll return to below. But … [Read more...]

There is no Golden Globes, Emmies, Oscars or highly hyped Grammys for jazz. So the National Endowment of the Arts' Jazz Masters award is, as acting NEA chair Joan Shigekawa said at ceremonies crowning its 2013 inductees on Jan. 14, "the greatest honor the nation can bestow" on veteran creators of America's world-beloved vernacular yet "classical" music. You'd think there'd be a lot of media brouhaha, generating publicity that gets jazz high in the day's trending topics, especially with past Masters and the new ones all together for a night of … [Read more...]

The second weekend of January is now the fullest on NYC's jazz calendar, with continuation of the high energy, two-night showcase Winter Jazzfest in multiple Greenwich Village venues, and aspirational ensembles elsewhere playing (they hope) for booking agents and curators attending the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters convention. Having responsibilities of my own Friday and Saturday after the Jazz Connect conference (held in conjunction with APAP), I had to limit my actual listening -- but took in the start of pianist Monty … [Read more...]

Jazz Connect, a confederation of jazz activists including principals of JazzTimes magazine,  AllAboutJazz.com and Thirsty Ear Recordings, produced a free multi-meeting conference with no specific theme other than what's happening in the musical "community" now, on Jan 10 and 11 at the New York Hilton. (Correction: JazzTimes is NOT part of Jazz Connect, but did organize the Jazz Connect conference). With nominal support from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters convention -- the occasion of many artists showcases last weekend … [Read more...]

Jayne Cortez, a no-nonsense poet who often declaimed her incisive lines of vivid imagery tying fierce social criticism to imperatives of personal responsibility with backing by her band the Firespitters, died Dec. 28 at age 76 (according to NYT obit, age 78). Her deep appreciation of American blues and jazz was another of her constant themes; her son Denardo Coleman played drums in the Firespitters, with whom she recorded six albums. An activist in the Civil Rights movement, organizer of Watts writing and drama workshops, founder of … [Read more...]

Checking out new recordings is the motivation of much jazz journalism, though at top-10 time having so much new stuff can be a bedevilment, if not a curse. Here's a baker's dozen of my favorites from among the 11-some-hundred sent by record labels, publicists and, increasingly, the artists themselves. They reward multiple listenings, so I keep learning about them. Maghostut Trio – Live at Last (RogueArt) -- In  Oct 2003, five months before his death, Malachi Favors Maghostut,  the profoundly sure bassist who co-founded the AACM … [Read more...]

Things may be somewhat up-for-grabs at the National Endowment for the Arts, with chair Rocco Landesman  stepping down at year end (NEA Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa will serve as the agency's acting head), but assuming the show will go on I urge Reggie Workman (b. 1937, Philadelphia) receive a 2014 NEA Jazz Masters Award. Workman is an oak of a bassist who has helped sustain, secure and advance jazz before and since the revolution started by John Coltrane. He's been a messenger of jazz with many of the music's leading lights … [Read more...]

Eddie Palmieri is a new NEA Jazz Master -- to be inducted Jan. 14 in a ceremony at Dizzy's Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center, to be webcast live. He is, contradictorily, the spark-plug/conservator of the Americas' indefatigable Afro-Caribbean music. He turned 76 yesterday (Dec. 15), celebrating with a a "career retrospective" featuring his jazz band and dance ensemble at JALC's Hall. Here's Palmieri's portrait with his timbalero José Claussell, taken last night by Sánta István Csaba, a Budapest-based photographer currently visiting New York … [Read more...]