Archives for July 9, 2013

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, Somewhere (ECM)

The first release in four years by Jarrett’s Standards Trio captures interaction among the pianist, bassist Peacock and drummer DeJohnette that is like the activity of one mind. Their exploration of Leonard Bernstein’s “Somewhere” melds into “Everywhere,” a mantra that builds hypnotic fascination. In the quirkiness of his fragmented first bars of “Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” and his unaccompanied ruminations leading into “Solar,” Jarrett is as adventurous as in one of his celebrated solo concerts. Peacock and DeJohnette also have imposing solo moments, but in the end it’s the irresistible unity of the trio that inspires ecstatic response from the audience in Lucerne’s KKL hall.

Bill Potts, The Jazz Soul of Porgy & Bess (Fresh Sound)

In jazz, 1959 was a watershed, milestone, landmark (choose your cliché). Clichés embody truths; that’s how they become clichés. The truth is that this all-star recording of Porgy & Bess was one of the most important of the final year in a golden decade of jazz in New York. Potts’s arrangements are his most celebrated, for good reason. There is passion and commitment in the playing of the 19-piece ensemble and in solos by Art Farmer, Bill Evans, Phil Woods, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Harry Edison, Gene Quill, Bob Brookmeyer and Rod Levitt, among others. Remastering and CD packaging are consistent with the quality of the music.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, Woman Child (Mack Avenue)

In this November post, I observed that it was going to take a while to catch up with Cécile McLorin Salvant. It will take a while longer because she is moving fast, but her first CD portrays a singer who has emerged in her early twenties full of talent, versatility, taste and rare artistic judgment. With pianist Aaron Diehl’s trio, Salvant is unfailingly on target interpreting a collection of 12 dissimilar songs. She is equally affecting in her moody “Woman Child” the felicities of Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz” and the dramatic folk ballad “John Henry.” Diehl, bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Herlin Riley are ideal in support and solo.

Erroll Garner, No One Can Hear You Read (First Run Features)

This compact, well-made documentary leaves the viewer a puzzle: only 36 years after his death, how can memories of a stunningly original, universally admired pianist have grown so dim? Many, perhaps most, young listeners don’t know about Garner. The film’s abundant performance clips provide reasons that he should be an icon —his spontaneity, his irresistible swing, the witty deceptiveness of his introductions; the joy he took in playing, which was equal to the joy he gave. Ahmad Jamal, Woody Allen, Dick Hyman, George Avakian and Garner’s sister Ruth are among those who illuminate his life and career, but it’s Garner and his music that light up the screen.

Marc Myers, Why Jazz Happened (University of California Press)

A respected jazz critic and blogger with a masters degree in US history, Myers assesses the effects of social, political and business forces on the development of the music. He provides context in chapters on the influences of recording technology, radio, race relations, the G.I. Bill, the musicians union and rock culture, among other phenomena. Myers confines discussion of jazz’s first two decades to the introduction, but he is perceptive on the advent of bebop and on the relation of suburban spread to the burgeoning of jazz in Southern California. The title of his last chapter may be a note of optimism: Jazz Hangs On. This is a valuable study.