2009 March 25

Other Places: Speaking Of Bill Kirchner

March 25, 2009 by Doug Ramsey

Marc Myers, the proprietor of the blog called JazzWax, audited one of the polymath Mr. Kirchner's classes at the New School and filed a report that begins: Bill's two-hour class took his 40 students through Miles Davis' bio and recordings, complete with 13 prime audio examples. The sound system in the New School's fifth floor "performance space" is sensational. Each digital recording was vivid and exciting and rich with warm sonic detail. In between tracks, Bill filled in the blanks with … [Read more...]

Compatible Quotes: Miles Davis

March 25, 2009 by Doug Ramsey

I would go to the library and borrow scores by all those great composers, like Stravinsky, Alban Berg, Prokofiev. I wanted to see what was going on in all of music. Knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery, and I just couldn't believe someone could be that close to freedom and not take advantage of it. It was because of Bill [Evans]'s influence, I think, that I always had classical music on around the house. It was so soothing to think and work by. I mean people would come by and expect to … [Read more...]

Mike Harris on Irene Kral
Her version of "Don't Look Back" (with Alan Broadbent on the Where is Love? album) is easily the most memorable vocal ballad performance I've ever...
Posted Apr 18, 2014
Bill Crow on Irene Kral
Nice to hear Irene's version of this tune. The lyric was written by my friend Jack Segal, who saw me through some early hard...
Posted Apr 18, 2014
jeffsultanof on Irene Kral
Ms. Kral sang like an angel. One of my treasured memories is my boss at Warner Bros. Music playing Irene's album Better than Anything every...
Posted Apr 17, 2014
alan schultz on Irene Kral
Doug,thanks for the Irene clip.She was not only a great vocalist ,but someone who handled her health problems in a way we should all have...
Posted Apr 17, 2014
Don Conner on Irene Kral
Thanks, Doug, for the Irene Kral video posting. I've been following her since her first record entitled The Band and I on Capitol in 1958,...
Posted Apr 17, 2014

Monday Recommendation: The Girls In The Band

The slow acceptance of women as jazz artists is a microcosm of the larger struggle for equality of females in society. For decades, women jazz performers were largely relegated to ghettos

known as all-girl bands. Today, increasing numbers of gifted women jazz artists are accepted on an equal footing with men. The Girls In The Band, created with skill, sensitivity and documentary professionalism, is the story of the women who opened the way. There were, and are, many more of them than the handful who became household names. This moving film produced by Judy Chaikin should be experienced by anyone concerned with music—and with human progress. It is winning awards all over the place, and no wonder. It is not yet on DVD. To see a clip, and for information about screenings, go here.

CD Recommendation: The Keynote Box

The Keynote Jazz Collection 1941-1947 (Fresh Sound)

The Keynote records produced by Harry Lim trace jazz as it evolved from traditional through swing and bebop. The 11 CDs in the set begin in New Orleans with George Hartman’s trad band. By the time they end, the listener has spent time with a wide cross section of the decade’s best musicians, including Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Lennie Tristano, Red Rodney, Dinah Washington, Shorty Rogers, Sid Catlett, Dodo Marmarosa and dozens of others. Among the rarities: a 1945 Horace Henderson octet session and the Dave Lambert-Buddy Stewart bop vocalese recordings. The 124-page book with the discography and the story of Keynote is packed with photos. At last, we have all of the invaluable Keynote sides in a comprehensive, organized, beautifully produced box set. This is a major jazz event.

CD Recommendation: Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips

Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips, Moment To Moment (NPM)

Although Pianist Menzies and trumpeter Phillips make judicious embellishments in the ballads of this enchanting collection, their operating principle seems to be adoration of the melody. The tempos are slow, the harmonies rich, bassist Jeff Chambers and drummer Jaz Sawyer finely tuned to the leaders’ wave length. The quartet illuminates standards including “The Peacocks,” For All We Know,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” “Speak Low” and Kenny Barron’s “Phantoms.” Phillips’ C-minor musings on his composition “You” and Menzies’ touch and folkish harmonies on her “Mal’s Moon” are highlights, far from the only ones. By day, she’s a music teacher. He’s an executive at Concord Music. The quality of this collection makes it unlikely that it will be their last one.

CD Recommendation: Bill Kirchner

Bill Kirchner, Lifeline (Jazzheads)

In 2008, I initiated an occasional series called Medium But Well Done. It highlights the accomplishments of groups bigger than combos but smaller than big bands. Introducing it, I wrote, “Six to eleven pieces allow arrangers freedom that the conventions and sheer size of sixteen-piece bands tend to limit.” There is no better recent illustration of that proposition than this release by Bill Kirchner’s Nonet. His arrangements of pieces by composers including Wayne Shorter, Cole Porter, Denny Zeitlin and Kirchner himself show that a skilled writer using what some might consider a limited palette can achieve excitement, expansiveness and an impressive range of tonal colors. His adventurous three-part “Lifeline Suite” is an important contribution to the literature of mid-sized bands.

CD Recommendation: Anton Schwartz

Anton Schwartz, Flash Mob (AntonJazz)

The front-line blend of the leader’s tenor saxophone and Dominic Farinacci’s trumpet may recall Hank Mobley and Kenny Dorham, but if this is hard bop, its 21st century attitude is Schwartz’s own. His compositions have a distinctive quality that incorporates disparate harmonies and rhythms. “Pangur Ban” could be a down home Irish reel, if there is such a thing. “Swamp Thang” has overtones suggesting that the swamp in question is on Georgia or southern Florida tribal land. Thelonious Monk’s and Kenny Clarke’s “Epistrophy” and Dorham’s “La Mesha” are interesting for Schwartz’s special treatments, but his 10 originals hold their own in that distinguished company. He and Farinacci play beautifully throughout. Pianist Taylor Eigsti, bassist John Shiflett and drummer Lorca Hart are an impressive rhythm team.

CD: Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough, Eulalia (Merry Lane Records)

In addition to endearing vocal performances of several of his best songs, Dorough gives listeners what may come as a surprise to many; his ingenuity as an arranger. The deceptive simplicity of “Eulalia,” the album’s sole instrumental, is one of several instances of his melody lines and the tang of his voicings giving energy and richness to a mid-sized ensemble. Dorough plays piano. Other soloists include alto saxophonist Phil Woods, bassist Steve Gilmore and Dorough’s daughter Aralee, a symphony flutist. Woods is on fire in Dorough’s gospel anthem “A Few Days of Glory” and in the classic “I’ve Got Just About Everything.” When Dorough recorded Eulalia, he was 88. His musicianship and wit were ageless.

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