Charles Pillow Large Ensemble, Electric Miles (Mama Records)
Whatever the title Electric Miles might lead you to expect, chances are that it wouldn’t be an album of non-electric big band music. A Louisiana alto saxophonist long since ensconced in New York, with skill and imagination Pillow arranges eight of the pieces with which Miles Davis surprised—even shocked—the jazz establishment in one of the trumpeter’s many influential next steps following the last phase in which he led a conventional quintet. The Bitches Brew album opened a new path for Davis and, to a considerable extent, for jazz. Pillow includes “Bitches Brew,†as well as “Sanctuary,†“In A Silent Way†and five other pieces from Davis’s electronic ventures. His writing for 16 pieces is alternately peaceful and stirring. In addition to his own soprano and alto solos, Pillow showcases trumpeters Tim Hagans and Clay Jenkins and, on “Black Satin,†David Liebman on soprano sax.
Drummer Cosgrove gets composer credit for all but one of the ten pieces in this collection. The exception is Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman,†the album closer. Coleman, of course, was a pioneer of free improvisation in modern jazz. For their adventurousness and interactive chance-taking, tenor saxophonist Robinson and bassist Filiano deserve equal credit because to a large extent this is improvisation as composition, or vice versa. In other words, it’s free jazz that extends the Coleman tradition. Cosgrove is a protégé of Paul Motian, the Bill Evans Trio drummer who, with pianist Evans and bassist Scott LaFaro, was central to liberating rhythm sections from the tyranny of strict time. Highlights include Robinson’s excursions into the tenor’s altissimo range, Filiano’s beautifully articulated bowing and in “Rays Of Dawn,†Cosgrove’s quiet cymbal splashes and brush work. This album rewards total concentration by the listener.
Cyrille Aimée is not a gypsy, but she has Roma fervor and intensity reminiscent of Django Reinhardt’s. It’s no wonder; when she was a little girl in northern France she sneaked out at night to join the neighborhood gypsies who sang and played around their campfires. Some of them had known Reinhardt. Their spirit has never left her. She combines it with intensity and accuracy of musicianship that compel the audience to occasionally participate in this performance at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge nightclub. Whether they are reinventing pieces by Stephen Sondheim, Michael Jackson or Thelonious Monk, the singer and her band transmit their infectious joy at making music. Aimée’s and guitarist Michael Valeanu’s “Each Day†is a highlight, as is the band’s nearly eight minutes of joyous complexity in Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t (It’s Over Now)â€. Indeed, the album itself is a highlight of the year.
Willard “Woody†Woodward writes a straightforward account of the career of the keyboard artist who pioneered the Hammond B3 organ in jazz. Milt Buckner paved the way for later organ heroes including Jimmy Smith, Don Patterson and—more recently—Joey DeFrancesco. His legacy encompasses the parallel-chords or locked-hands technique that Buckner developed as a pianist and transferred to his organ playing. Woodward, a pianist and organist inspired by Buckner, is thorough as he traces Buckner’s development, including his breakthrough in the early 1940s with Lionel Hampton’s band. In addition to his solid story telling, Woodward discusses details of Buckner’s settings of the pullout stops that determine the B3’s variety of sounds. It’s fascinating stuff, not too technical for most readers. If you are unfamiliar with Buckner’s work (it’s possible), 
The seasoned New York pianist traveled west to record with a sterling rhythm section of veteran Los Angeles players. The bicoastal combination clicked. Drummer Joe La Barbera, bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz, and—on two pieces—guitarist Larry Koonse meld with Piket in a collection of standards and originals by her and others. After Piket wrote “Mentor,†she discovered that it reminded her of her former teacher Richie Beirach and dedicated it to him.  Her eight-bar exchanges with LaBarbera highlight the track. Zippy versions of Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty,†Richard Rodgers’ “Falling In Love With Love†and George Shearing’s “Conception†are up-tempo successes balanced by the trio’s ballad artistry in Piket’s “A Bridge To Nowhere.†In Walter Donaldson’s 1920s ballad “My Buddy,†she lingers over the melody and Oleszkiewicz caresses the verse mid-chorus. They revive the song so touchingly that one wonders why it isn’t performed more often.
As Bruce Talbot points out in his 
Erskine’s quartet luxuriates in excitement that recalls and updates his achievements as Weather Report’s keystone drummer.  Later when he was with Steps Ahead,  that group further contributed to electronica as a legitimate jazz movement. The band features saxophonist Bob Sheppard, John Beasley playing keyboards, and the ebullient electric bassist Benjamin Shepherd. As it has for decades, Erskine’s drumming incorporates rhythmic subtlety and explosiveness in a balance that makes him in many respects the prototype fusion drummer. Highlights include humor and near-abandon as Erskine stimulates irresistible energy from Sheppard on tenor sax and Shepherd on bass in their solos on “Hawaii Bathing Suit†from a live date recorded in Italy. The tenderness of Sheppard’s tenor work is memorable in Henry Mancini’s “Dreamsville.†For sheer enjoyment, the live set edges out—just barely—the first disc, recorded in a US studio date.
McNeely fortifies his position in the upper echelon of jazz arrangers in this set of new pieces for the formidable Frankfurt Radio Big Band. The album begins with his tribute to the late Bob Brookmeyer, “Bob’s Here.†Despite the dedication to the iconic player of the instrument, Christian Jaksjö manages to be himself on valve trombone. Indeed, all of the Frankfurt BB soloists—too many to name in a brief recommendation—are top-flight. Wait, I must mention the tag-team tenor saxophone work of Tony Lakatos and Steffen Weber in “Falling Upwards.†McNeely pays tribute to the arranging pioneer Don Redman, incorporating the classic Redman device of clarinet trios into “Redman Rides Again,†a piece that otherwise does not evoke the 1920s. In four other new compositions, McNeely’s writing is notable for its textures, intersecting lines across the horn sections and ingenious use of time relationships.
Lilian Terry’s book is full of anecdotes about her friendships with the musicians mentioned in the title—and dozens of others. Enjoying modest renown in Europe for her singing, Ms. Terry has also been involved in radio and television broadcasting and is a cofounder of the European Jazz Federation. Her activities brought her in close contact with Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. She conducted extensive interviews with Ray Charles, who is quoted at length on musical and racial matters. Gillespie’s roguish personality comes through clearly, as does the sincerity that shone through the graciousness with which Ellington could seem to be parodying himself. She tells a touching story of Strayhorn providing her a lyric to his “Star Crossed Lovers,†which 
In this five-CD reissue, the formidable pianist plays pieces by ten composers who dominated American popular music for decades. Peterson had bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Barney Kessel, succeeded by Herb Ellis. It’s the trio that made Peterson famous with Jazz At The Philharmonic and–by way of the 10 albums reproduced here–on juke boxes and radio stations everywhere, when jazz was popular music. Among the songwriters are Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans and Richard Rogers. Peterson’s playing is exquisite, his support by Brown, Kessel and Ellis impeccable, the melodies precious to generations. The tracks tend to average three minutes or so. To single out just two performances, “Blue Skies†from the Berlin collection is impossibly fast and impossibly relaxed, Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady†is a tribute to a Peterson idol that verges on prayerfulness.
It has been a quarter of a century since Buddy Rich’s manager and relief drummer Stanley Kay found himself conducting a band whose drummer was young Sherrie Maricle. Intrigued by her playing, Kay set out to find whether there were other women jazz musicians of comparable talent. There were. DIVA was soon born and has been an important big band ever since. Its longtime leader, Maricle has booked the band into Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York City on Thursday, March 29, to celebrate the anniversary and release the anniversary album.
In 1998 Keith Jarrett was emerging from a siege of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that had sidelined him for two years. As he felt better, he was uncertain how completely his piano skill and endurance had returned. He decided to test himself. He gathered his longtime Standards Trio members—bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette—for trial runs, then decided on the challenge of a concert. In his album notes Jarrett writes that he felt that despite the genre’s complexities, the best course would be a repertoire of bebop tunes. The resulting two-CD concert departs from that plan, but “Scrapple From The Apple,†“Bouncin’ With Bud,†“Doxy†and “Moments Notice†fit the category. The trio is also in top form with ballads, among them “When I Fall In Love,†“Old Folks,†and Paul Desmond’s “Late Lament.†This album is one of the best by a remarkable trio.
The first volume of Kubik’s work is subtitled, “The African Undercurrent in Twentieth–Century Jazz Culture;†the second, “Jazz Derivatives and Developments in Twentieth-Century Africa.†The descriptions indicate the depth and scope of the Austrian ethnomusicologist’s research, which has taken him to Africa every year for nearly five decades. Happily for the general
reader, Kubik’s writing and explanations are straightforward. He accounts for Lester Young’s unorthodox way of holding his tenor saxophone as a profound influence on a school of African flutists who developed the powerful resonance that characterizes their playing. Kubik draws on his knowledge of psychiatric practice to realistically interpret the spoofing humor that doctors examining Thelonious Monk saw as mental imbalance. He has insights into the importance of musicians barely known on this side of the Atlantic, among them Winston Mankunku Ngozi, Donald Kachamba and Duke Makasi. These valuable volumes will endure.
Widely experienced and recorded in Europe, pianist Magris demonstrates in this club date that he knows how to reach an American audience steeped in Latin and Caribbean music. The front line has trumpeter Brian Lynch at his fieriest, and the imaginative young tenor saxophonist Jonathan Gomez. The Miami-area rhythm section is the veteran bassist Chuck Bergeron, drummer John Yarling, and Murph Aucamp playing congas. The album gives insight not only into Magris’s appeal at the keyboard, but also his flexibility as a composer. His “African Mood,†Il Bello Del Jazz†and “Chachanada†have drive and excitement that contrast with his adaptation of Rahssan Roland Kirk’s ballad “April Morning†and an unaccompanied solo on Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing.†Those relaxing moments are highlights, but—with good reason—the crowd’s most enthusiastic response is to the Latin- and Afro-tinged burners.
The title tune, written and first recorded by the Brazilian Renato Teixeira, was made still more famous by the singer Elis Regina’s 1977 recording. It has been a beloved standard song in Brazil for four decades. British saxophonist Sheppard and his quartet hew to the spirits if not the letters of Teixeira’s and Regina’s versions. Guitarist Elvind Aarset manipulates electronics to create atmospherics that expand the quartet’s harmonies. If that raises warnings for jazz listeners bothered by digital enhancement, never fear. Aarset’s contributions do not muddy the sound; they color it in intriguing ways. That is true throughout the album’s eight tracks. Sheppard wrote all of the pieces except for the one by Teixeira.
far back as the 1700s, the Swiss reed artist and composer Nicolas Masson uses his quartet to create soundscapes. With titles as abstract as the music, pieces like “Fuschia,†“Philae†and “Blurred†create peaceful moods that are occasionally roiled by interjections of rhythm from drummer Lionel Friedli and bassist Patrice Moret, separately or together. In the kaleidoscope of sound called “Philae†the quartet is compelling, in no small part because of Masson’s soprano saxophone intensity. On “Jura,†at first with only Moret’s accompaniment, Masson builds a tenor sax feature into a statement swelling into a cloud of sound that subsides only as the piece ends. Pianist Collin Vallon’s keyboard touch and dynamics are vital to the album’s success.
It would be interesting to hear Masson and tenor saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave together. Their tonal similarity might either blend into impressionist boredom or draw out competitive instincts. We’ll probably never know, but if ECM matched them, there could be surprises. Bordenave, the tenor player in Japanese drummer Shinya Fukumori’s trio, is French. The pianist, Walter Lang Junior, is German. There are Asian inflections in pieces like “Hoshi Meguri No Uta†and the modern Japanese standard “Ai San San.†That music is in contrast to the almost ballad-like reflection of some of the other pieces, notably two by Lang, “No Goodbye†and “When Day Is Done†(unrelated to the Victor Young song of the same title). Fukumori’s “Spectacular,†with his expressive drumming behind Lang’s piano, is a highlight. The album’s mixture of contemplative and active music of harmonic depth keeps it interesting.
Dawn Clement’s recording history includes piano collaborations with saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and trombonist Julian Priester, among other prominent colleagues. The Seattle Times has called her, “The leading Seattle keyboardist of her generation.†Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen calls her “…an eternal gift to the music.†Clement’s discography as a leader is growing, and this addition will almost certainly bring her increased attention. Tandem’s series of ten duets pairs her with guests whose musicianship, flexibility and humor match her own. Highlights: Two pieces with Priester’s piquant phrasing and playful rhythmic turns; alto saxophonist Mark Taylor’s grasp of the essentials of Lennie Tristano’s “Ablution;†The power of Matt Wilson’s drumming on Thelonious Monk’s “Bemsha Swing;†fellow singer Johnaye Kendrick’s soloing, and harmonizing with Clement, on “I Think Of You.†Ms. Clement brings smiles with her piano lyricism and vigor and the sweetness of her voice.
The scope of jazz played by large ensembles is vast, but the clear-thinking scholar-musician Jeff Sultanof compresses its century-long history into a 200-page book. He accomplishes that feat by leading readers through big band music and its makers almost as if he had us by the hand. He does so by presenting musical examples that are part of the digital world in which most of us live. He explains on an early page,
The daring American pianist Marilyn Crispell’s free jazz adventures have more than once been compared to volcanic activity. Here, Crispell joins the Scottish saxophonist Raymond MacDonald and the French-Canadian bassist and electronic adventurer Pierre Alexandre Tremblay. The project’s tectonic aspects alternate with moments so peaceful that they sometimes verge on the soporific—but not for long. That is particularly true in the beginning moments of “Duo # 1.†It opens with percussive slaps followed by vague sounds that may be either from Tremblay’s bass or his digital equipment. Soon, MacDonald appears on soprano saxophone. He and Crispell are off on the first of the album’s duets, her sensitive keyboard touch ameliorating and occasionally abetting, his chattering exclamations. “Duo # 2†finds Crispell and MacDonald in deep musical conversation that incorporates spontaneous mutual phrasing reflecting not only creative compatibility but also uncanny conjunctions of rhythmic like-thinking.
Director Étienne Comar’s Django portrays guitarist Django Reinhardt’s life during two years when it seemed that Europe might fall to Germany. His account emphasizes the greatness of Reinhardt’s music and the Nazis’ recognition of his extensive popularity. They coerce his collaborationist lover to persuade him to play in Berlin. Reinhardt chooses instead to escape to neutral Switzerland. In real life, his escape effort failed and he was returned to Paris. Reda Kater is credible, if sometimes phlegmatic, in the title role. The film emphasizes Reinhardt’s devotion to his Belgian Romany roots and people. A group led, a bit frantically, by guitarist Stochelo Rosenberg recreates Reinhardt’s music. The film is now playing in New York and Los Angeles. One hopes that the movie will encourage viewers to seek out the real Reinhardt. His recordings are plentiful