Doug's Picks
February 5, 2008
CD: Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock, River, The Joni Letters (Verve). Without its cadre of vocalists, Hancock's tribute to Joni Mitchell would not have received a Grammy nomination or widespread critical attention. In varying degrees, Mitchell, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Luciana Souza and Corinne Bailey Rae do justice to Mitchell's songs. Leonard Cohen is effective in his atmospheric delivery of her lyrics in "The Jungle Line." But if the CD contained only instrumental tracks of the quality of "Both Sides Now," "Sweet Bird," "Solitude" and "Nefertiti," it might be the best Hancock-Wayne Shorter album ever. As it is, River is one of their finest collaborations.
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CD: Gambarini And Jones
Roberta Gambarini and Hank Jones, Lush Life (55 Records). With a new collaboration of the Italian singer and the American pianist about to be released, it is past time to tell you about this one. Gambarini and Jones are all but flawless in this collection of classic songs and two jazz standards, Gigi Gryce's "Reminiscing" and Tadd Dameron's "Cool Breeze." Highlights of the duets: a spirited "Just Squeeze Me" and a gorgeous "Then I'll Be Tired Of You" that includes the seldom-heard verse. Four tracks add bassist George Mraz and drummer Willie Jones III. A slightly different US release of the CD, called You Are There, has only Gambarini and Jones duets.
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CD: Stu Pletcher
Stu Pletcher, The Story Of Stewart Pletcher (Jazz Oracle). Stu Pletcher is not a household name. Even in the 1920s and '30s when he played in popular bands led by Ben Pollack, Smith Ballew and Red Norvo, he was not a household name. Nonetheless, he was a splendid cornet and trumpet soloist who modeled himself after Bix Beiderbecke and yet, like Bix admirers Rex Stewart and Bobby Hackett, developed his own conception. This collection assembled from rare sources by Pletcher's son Tom gives a rounded picture of Stu Pletcher's considerable gifts as a soloist, arranger and journeyman vocalist.
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DVD: Benny Carter
Benny Carter, Symphony In Riffs (Rhapsody Films). This documentary was made several years before the death in 2003 of the great saxophonist, trumpeter, clarinetist, arranger, composer and occasional vocalist. It tells Carter's story from early development as a prodigy through his crucial contribution to the development of big bands, his breakthrough as the first major black composer in Hollywood and his status as a universally acclaimed cultural figure. Burt Lancaster narrates this skillfully produced hour in which we see Carter in action as soloist, leader, teacher and avuncular role model to several generations. A coda to the new edition updates the original 1989 version and includes identification of key musicians who go unnamed in the body of the film.
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Book: Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins, Weather Bird: Jazz At The Dawn Of Its Second Century (Oxford). I take my time getting through Giddins's big compilations of his columns, reviews and essays. This one was beside my bed for a couple of years. I savored it a piece at a time, enjoying insights like this about Erroll Garner: "Two things invariably keep the train on the track. First, he swings hard enough to allay reservations; if he has charge of your foot, he can get to your mind. Second, and more impressively, he improvises with a matchless lucidity that allows people who glaze over at the thought of improvisation to follow Garner's most fanciful inventions." And this, in a chapter called "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead?": "For half a century, each generation mourned anew the passing of jazz because each idealized the particular jazz of its youth." Or, as Woody Herman, surveying the crowd at a dance he was playing, told me, "These people haven't listened to anything new since high school." Giddins, as they say, gets it.
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January 8, 2008
CD: Paoli Mejias
Paoli Mejias, Transcend (PMCD). A gifted 37-year-old percussionist, Mejias has been an admired figure in Latin music for years. Now, like some of his colleagues on this stimulating CD, he is breaking through to a wider audience. Miguel Zenón is on a couple of tracks, another talented young alto saxophonist, Jaleel Shaw, on others. Zenón's rhythm section--Luis Perdomo, Hans Glawischnig and Antonio Sánchez--give strong support, but the fiery Mejias is clearly in charge.
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CD: Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra, A Voice In Time (1939-1952) [Legacy]. The four CDs in this elegant black box begin with "All Or Nothing At All" and end with "I'm A Fool To Want You." They encompass a large percentage of what Sinatra recorded for Columbia and RCA Victor, first as the boy wonder of band singers, finally as a mature solo performer setting standards of musicianship and taste that singers will be trying to meet for decades longer than you or I will be around to listen.
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DVD: Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan Live In '58 & '64 (Jazz Icons). In the earliest of these European concerts, the divine Sarah is girlish and shy. By 1964, she had more confidence on stage and occasionally slid into grand vocal mannerisms. In all cases, she was magnificent, one of the most spectacularly gifted vocalists in history. For a complete Rifftides review of this essential DVD, go here.
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CD: Andras Schiff
András Schiff, Ludwig Van Beethoven, The Piano Sonatas, Vol. V (ECM). This leg of Schiff's journey through the 32 Sonatas finds him in Beethoven's middle period. Of the four included here, those given names as well as opus numbers are the most famous; "The Tempest," "The Hunt" and "Waldstein." The brilliant Austrian plays them with grace, passion and his celebrated touch and dynamic sense. But I find myself going back to the earliest of the set, number 16 in G-Major, for the unexpected treasure Schiff finds in the adagio movement. His complete sonatas project is on the way to ranking with Arthur Schnabel's and Richard Goode's.
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Book: Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin, All What Jazz (FSG). Perhaps I was too harsh when I called the late British poet and jazz critic a troglodyte. It must be admitted, however, that he found it difficult to say anything favorable about modern jazz without backing into the compliment. "I never liked bop," Larkin wrote. It seemed to me a nervous and hostile music, at odds with the generous spirit of its predecessors. But it had its masters. One of these was Clifford Brown..." Still, even his most wrong-headed conclusions can make entertaining reading. It is getting harder and harder to find this book. Now might be the time to snag a copy.
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December 5, 2007
CD: Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, My Foolish Heart (ECM). In his notes, Jarrett writes that this recording presents his Standards Trio "at its most buoyant, swinging, melodic and dynamic." Sure does. For evidence, follow the link above and sample Jarrett summoning the spirit of Fats Waller in "Honeysuckle Rose." Lately, I've had this disc permanently inserted in my CD changer with "Straight No Chaser" on repeat. I can't seem to accumulate enough hearings of the trio's quirky collective improvisation on Monk's blues.
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CD: Linda Ciofalo
Linda Ciofalo, Sun Set (Lucky Jazz). Matt Wilson, the drummer on the CD, suggested that I would like Ciofalo. I do. She is adventurous, but not to the point of disrespecting the material. She sings in tune, uses time play in her phrasing without losing rhythmic consistency and has a light, creamy voice that now and then drops to surprising depth. She is willing to take risks--for instance, singing with only drums or bass--and makes it clear that she enjoys what she does. Ciofalo is as convincing with a Beatles song as one by Gershwin or Rodgers. The band, John di Martino (p.), John Hart (g.), Joel Frahm (t.s.), Marcus McLaurine (b.) and Wilson (dr.), is splendid.
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CD: Nat Cole
Nat Cole, Penthouse Serenade & The Piano Style of Nat King Cole (Collectors' Choice). Nat Cole's singing made him a king of popular music. His playing influenced pianists from Bud Powell to Bill Evans and beyond. The two albums included in this reissue CD will help those who know him only as a pop star to understand why Cole is revered for his touch, harmonic ingenuity and melodic creativity. The Penthouse tracks are reminiscent of his trio days. In The Piano Style, spurred by Nelson Riddle's inspired arrangements, Cole did some of the best recorded playing of his career. Intimations of Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum flash through the deceptively placid surface of his swing-to-bop sensibility.
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DVD: Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery, Live in '65 (Jazz Icons). Anyone interested in guitar at the highest level will be fascinated by this DVD. If you are intrigued by the democratic, cooperative nature of jazz, you will relish the first segment. (For a complete Rifftides review of this DVD, go here.)
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Book: Gene Lees
Gene Lees, Song Lake Summer (Libros Libertad). Lees, the prolific biographer of musicians and proprietor of the invaluable Jazzletter, turns novelist with fiction about a little-remembered piece of history in the northeastern US. It is the tale of a deep and unlikely friendship that develops between two men, a love story with a surprising twist and a lyrical imagining of a time and way of life we'll never see again. Full disclosure: I wrote a blurb for the dust jacket ("Lees has the ability, reminiscent of Chekhov, to explore feelings and inner conflicts that his characters cannot define in themselves"). And I'd do it again.
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October 11, 2007
CD: Ted Rosenthal
Ted Rosenthal, The King And I (Venus). Following Shelly Manne's success with his 1956 trio recording of My Fair Lady, jazz versions of Broadway musicals were hot for several years. That was when there were musicals with songs that lent themselves to jazz interpretation. Those days are not gone for musicians with ears for quality material. Pianist Rosenthal brings taste, technique and imagination to Rodgers and Hammerstein's score. Bass master George Mraz and the eloquent drummer Lewis Nash are his sidemen. Among the highlights: Rosenthal's festive treatment of "I Whistle A Happy Tune," his tenderness in "We Kiss In A Shadow" and the trio's parade-beat romp through "March Of The Siamese Children."
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CD: Ed Reed
Ed Reed Sings Love Stories, Blue Shorts. Reed's drug habit put him in prison for large chunks of his adult life, derailing his hope for a singing career. In the 1980s, he defeated his forty-year addiction and went to work on his craft. Now, he emerges on record as a singer of warmth, deep feeling, accurate intonation and no affectations. Jazz has a shortage of male singers like that.
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DVD: Marvin Stamm
Marvin Stamm, Alone Together (Jazzed Media). Trumpeter Stamm's quartet with pianist Bill Mays, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Ed Soph reaches its peak in this concert at Rising Stars, a cozy Southern California concert space. Equipped with microphones, cameras and lighting, the little hall is also a state-of-the-art audio and video studio. We see and hear the musicians with clarity, intimacy and a variety of camera angles rare in jazz DVDs. From the chance-taking opening of the title tune to the rip-roaring "T's Butter," this hour-and-twenty-minute concert is a joy. The DVD comes with a bonus CD of the performance, minus a few minutes of spoken material.
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Book: Ron Hudson
Ron Hudson, Right Down Front (Jazzpress). A master of the moment, Hudson makes portraits of musicians in the act of creation. His cover shot of Milt Jackson --eyes closed, one hand grasping his vibes mallets, the other raised in affirmation-- illustrates the spirit of the book's title. His photographs define personalities as varied as those of Maynard Ferguson, Jon Hendricks, Elvin Jones, Ingrid Jensen, Carmen McRae, Ray Charles and a hundred or so others. I've never seen a better illustration than Hudson's of Ray Brown's power of concentration.
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August 27, 2007
CD:Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider, Sky Blue (artistShare). As I wrote in a Rifftides review of the album, this CD is the finest expression of the composer's restless and evolving talent. She writes with an ear for the capabilities and personalities of the musicians in her band. They respond with improvisations that suit the character of her music. It's a perfect marriage of a writer's intentions and her players' ability to carry them out.
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CD: Jay Thomas, John Stowell
Jay Thomas-John Stowell Quartet, Streams of Consciousness(Pony Boy). Delightful, often profound, intimacies. Thomas on fluegelhorn and Stowell on guitar sometimes blend in ways reminiscent of the Art Farmer Quartet with Jim Hall. When Thomas switches to tenor saxophone, the music moves into Wayne Shorter territory. Those comparisons are unfair to the originality of both of these veteran players, but it's unlikely to be a coincidence that three of the tunes are by Shorter. Bassist Chuck Kistler and drummer Adam Kessler are full contributors to the success of this imaginative recording.
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CD: Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong
Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong, Havin' Fun (Storyville). A two-CD set containing several of Crosby's radio shows from the late 1940s and early '50s with Armstrong as the guest, but not the only one. Jack Teagarden, Joe Venuti, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Shore show up, too. The album title, as Louis might say, ain't no stage joke, neither. They really do have fun, occasionally sending up the stilted lines the writers hand them and improvising their own. Great live radio of a kind long gone. Kidding aside - and there's lots of that -- the main thing is the music, and it's all good.
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DVD: Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitous, Live In Vienna (MVD Visual). Another in the series of bassists playing at Porgy & Bess in Vienna. This time the star is Vitous, an erstwhile wunderkind of the double bass who arrived in New York from Czechoslovakia in the late sixties and quickly installed himself in the US jazz scene. After concentrating on his role as an educator, he is again in heavy performance mode. In this concert, Vitous applies his formidable gifts to a range of music including Beethoven, Dvorak, Jewish melody, opera fragments, a lyrical ballad, free improvisation and straight-ahead jazz reflecting his days with Miles Davis. This is a solo bass recital. Despite the claim of the minimal liner notes that Vitous is accompanied by pianist Fritz Pauer and drummer John Hollenbeck, they are nowhere to be seen or heard.
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Book: Lee Konitz
Andy Hamilton, Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser's Art (Michigan). Unlike the overwhelming majority of books made up of verbatim interviews, this one works. Konitz's disarming candor about himself and others and Hamilton's organizational and writing skills transcend the form to create a balanced portrait of the alto saxophonist, one of the great individualists in jazz. Hamilton's transitions, insights, and interviews about Konitz with other musicians help make the book a success.
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July 24, 2007
CD: Sue Raney
Sue Raney, Heart's Desire: A Tribute To Doris Day (Fresh Sound). After too long, a new collection by a magnificent singer. See this Rifftides review for details.
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CD:Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell, Light On (High Note). Another artist who takes his time between releases, the trumpeter and uncompromising composer is worth waiting for. Light On has nine new Harrell tunes, his deep solo explorations, the muscularity of Wayne Escoffery's tenor saxophone and a fine young rhythm section. The intriguing "Sky Life" could capture the kind of attention Harrell achieved eighteen years ago with "Sail Away," his most famous composition.
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CD: Logan Richardson
Logan Richardson, Cerebral Flow (Fresh Sound New Talent). A twenty-seven-year-old Kansas Citian now living in New York, Richardson is an alto and soprano saxophonist with a song-like approach to improvisation, even at his edgiest. He and his equally adventurous quintet colleagues sustain interest through their interaction on ten pieces Richardson composed or, in the cases of "Animated Concept of Being" and "Free the Blues," conjured as urgent pas de deux for himself and drummers Nasheet Waits and Thomas Crane. His "Urban Folk Song" is a highlight. Vibraphonist Mike Pinto, guitarist Mike Moreno and bassist Matthew Brewer, like Richardson representatives of New York's yeasty new downtown jazz scene, function more as equal partners than as sidemen.
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DVD: Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitous, Live in Vienna (MVD Visual, Quantum Leap). Another in the Quantum Leap series featuring bassists in club performance at Vienna's Porgy and Bess. This time, it's Vitous, the Czech bassist who materialized in New York in 1967 and quickly became embedded with leading players in the US jazz scene. He was one of the founders of Weather Report. Now a veteran solo concertizer, his repertoire in this concert reflects his eclecticism with variations on Beethoven, Dvorak, Miles Davis, Victor Young and Jewish music, not to mention a pastiche of opera themes. Pianist Fritz Pauer and drummer John Hollenbeck--Porgy and Bess regulars--support Vitous with their customary attentiveness.
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Book: They're Playing Our Song
Max Wilk, They're Playing Our Song (Da Capo). Wilk's survey of classic songwriters doesn't have the wisdom and analysis of Alec Wilder's American Popular Song. Still it's a minor classic full of wonderful anecdotes about two dozen of the people who brought you the great American songbook, among them Kern, Gershwin, Berlin, Fields, Mercer, Duke, Rogers and Styne.
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June 18, 2007
CD: Bill Charlap
Bill Charlap Trio, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note). Pianist Charlap, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, the most publicized mainstream jazz trio of the decade, live up to their billing. Managing smoothness without sacrificing depth and daring, Charlap illuminates the Birth Of The Cool classics "Rocker" and "Godchild" and blazes through "My Shining Hour." He caresses "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "All Across the City" in versions as remarkable for their slowness as for their beauty. The Washingtons deliver power and finesse in support and in solo.
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CD: Darrell Grant
Darrell Grant, Truth And Reconciliation (Origin). With bassist John Pattitucci and drummer Brian Blade giving him solid underpinning throughout, pianist Grant includes four guest soloists in this two-CD profession of his humanist philosophy. He brings in the recorded voices of Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela. He sings his "When I See the Water" in an agreeable pop-gospel style and narrates another original, "The Geography of Hope." Beyond the message--or within it--is solid improvisation by Grant, guitarists Bill Frisell and Adam Rogers, saxophonist Steve Wilson and vibraphonist Joe Locke. There's a knockout trio version of Dizzy Gillespie's "Algo Bueno," aka "Woody'n You."
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DVD: Kristin Korb
Kristin Korb, Live in Vienna (Quantum Leap). Jay Leonhart wrote a song called "It's Impossible to Sing and Play the Bass." Kristin Korb didn't get the message. This video disc recorded at Vienna's Porgy and Bess presents Korb in a trio with club regulars pianist Fritz Pauer and drummer John Hollenbeck. The promotional blurb evoking Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald places a heavy load on her, but Korb justifies the hyperbole with musicianship and leadership. Her singing, bass playing and rapport with her sidemen and the audience are first rate. Highlights: Neil Hefti's "Whirly Bird" at approximately the speed of light and fine soloing by everyone on "Cheek to Cheek."
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DVD: Bud Powell And Others
Bud Powell, Dollar Brand, Don Cherry & Others, Jazz In Denmark (Marshmallow). The centerpiece of this limited edition import is Stopforbud, a film about Powell made in 1962 by a pair of young Danes. Powell's piano is heard throughout, although we only briefly see him playing. With a New Wave sensibility, the camera follows Powell as he wanders through a park, the streets of Copenhagen, a museum and a trash dump. Dexter Gordon narrates. The music is previously unreleased trio performances by Powell, bassist Niels Henning Ǿrsted-Pedersen and drummer John Elniff. It is a moody and affecting glimpse of the great pianist at a strange kind of ease. The DVD also includes club performances by the New York Contemporary Five with Don Cherry, John Tchicai and Archie Shepp in the front line, and Portrait of a Bushman, a short film about pianist Dollar Brand.
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Book: An Unsung Cat
Safford Chamberlain, An Unsung Cat: The Life and Music of Warne Marsh (Scarecrow). Researching aspects of the Lennie Tristano school recently, I unshelved Chamberlain's biography of Marsh for the first time in years. I was impressed all over again by Chamberlain's research, the quality of his writing and his balanced treatment of an uncompromising and compelling tenor saxophonist who could be as difficult as he was brilliant. Coincidentally, a video of Marsh performing "It's You Or No One" with Sal Mosca, Eddie Gomez and Kenny Clarke showed up not long ago on YouTube.
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May 9, 2007
CD: Bill Holman
The Bill Holman Band, Hommage (Jazzed Media). On the verge of his eightieth birthday, Holman retains the energy, wit, freshness and multi-layered conception that have made him a standard-setting arranger for fifty years. "Hommage á Woody," is a three-part suite that captures aspects of Woody Herman and his bands of five decades, with Bob Efford exuberant and touching in his central role on clarinet. Holman also honors Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Tadd Dameron with brilliant variations on their work. As always, Holman's band is loaded with impressive soloists, but there's no doubt that the arranger is the star. The album is dedicated to the memory of Bob Enevoldsen.
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CD: Anat Cohen
Anat Cohen, Poetica and Noir (Anzica). Two new CDs illuminate several facets of the remarkable Israeli reed artist who has become a star of the New York jazz scene. In Poetica, she plays only clarinet, with a rhythm section on some tracks, a string quartet on others. In Noir, with a medium-sized band, Cohen also plays tenor, alto and soprano saxophones. On all of her horns, fullness of tone, richness of conception and joyful presence make her one of the most compelling soloists to emerge in the new century.
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CD: Roland Kirk
Roland Kirk with Jack McDuff, Kirk's Work (Prestige). This reissue in the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters series presents Kirk long before he added "Rahsaan" to his name, before he became famous, when he was a tornado roaring out of the Midwest playing three saxophones at once, whistles, flute and siren at the ready on a chain around his neck. Kirk was organized turbulence stirring the air with music. Kirk's Work didn't get nearly the attention it deserved when it came out. It is one of his greatest albums.
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DVD: Chicago Underground Trio
Chicago Underground Trio, Chronicle (Delmark). The music is from the trio's Delmark CD of the same name. The latest expression of the avant garde Chicago cornetist and composer Rob Mazurek, it is alternately explosive and reflective and somehow leaves the listener with a sense of calm. The video by Raymond Salvatore Harmon is muted, layered in shifting pastel splashes and patterns over sequences of Mazurek, percussionist Chad Taylor and bassist Jason Ajemian playing. The visual aspect is as dreamlike as the music.
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Book: Miles Davis
Richard Cook, It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off The Record (Oxford). Yes, another book about Miles Davis. Neither a biography nor a discography, Cook's book has elements of both. The best way to read it is sitting next to your CD player with the fourteen Davis albums Cook analyzes as points of departure in considering the trumpeter's career and importance. It would be helpful to also have the 105 others that he references. Whether or not you do all that listening, Cook is a reliable and stimulating guide through Davis's five decades of changing music and persona.
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March 29, 2007
CD: Cannonball Adderley
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet In San Francisco (Riverside). This is the 1959 recording that made Adderley and his band famous and the Riverside label a stable enterprise. It is one of five albums inititating a new series of recordings overseen by Orrin Keepnews, now well into his second half-century as a leading jazz producer. It includes previously unissued takes of "You Got It!" and of "This Here," the hit indelibly associated with Adderley. If you have never discovered the excitement and joy Cannonball generated with his brother Nat, Bobby Timmons, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes, this welcome reissue is the perfect introduction. The first batch of the Keepnews Collection reissues also has CDs by Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Dorham. Thoughts about them later. I presume that there will be more to come, from Bill Evans, for instance, George Russell, Jimmy Heath, Yusef Lateef, Clifford Jordan, Bobby Hutcherson, Mulgrew Miller and other beneficiaries of the Keepnews touch.
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CD: Jack Reilly
Jack Reilly, Pure Passion (Unichrom). In his mid-seventies, Reilly continues on his independent way as a pianist inspired by many predecessors but shaped by his own expansive harmonic vision. In several of his CDs, I have heard no more ravishing expression of that vision than in his radical, utterly gorgeous, reharmonization of the famous Dizzy Gillespie coda to Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight." His "Das Fryderyk" reinforces my conviction that if Chopin had been born fifty years later, he would been a great blues player. This solo album contains pieces by composers including Kern, Rodgers, Victor Young, Vernon Duke and Gershwin. Its cover proclaims, "10 Standards, 6 Originals." In Reilly's hands, they are all original.
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CD: John Stowell
John Stowell, Swan Tones, Volume 1 (Soloway). One of the pleasures of the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival last month was hearing the guitarist John Stowell in several contexts including concerts, workshops and jam sessions. A free spirit, Stowell lives in Portland, Oregon, but mostly makes his living on the road. The road takes him to Europe, Asia and all parts of the United States. He paused long enough in Portland to record this solo album on a new guitar called, because of its long neck, The Swan. Soloway describes this session as a "remarkable spontaneous performance." Indeed it is. Stowell invents new melodies and variations based for the most part on songbook standards or jazz classics. Part of the fun of hearing them is identifying those songs. The title of "John The Giant" is bit of a giveaway. Others, "Will We Be One?" and "Ginger's Dance," for instance, may require finely tuned ears. Tune your ears and relax.
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DVD: Bill Mays
Bill Mays Trio Live At WVIA (Bill Mays Music). In their years as one of the few firmly established working trios in the upper ranks of jazz, pianist Mays, bassist Martin Wind and drummer Matt Wilson have developed uncanny empathy. Here, Mays largely concentrates on his compositions. He makes an exception with an adventurous version of "Darn That Dream." From time to time, he goes outside by going inside the piano, using the strings as a harp. Wilson's ingenuity with rhythm and unusual percussion instruments and Wind's virtuosity, particularly with the bow, are on full display. Video and sound quality are first rate in this program played for an audience in a Pennsylvania television studio. This is an instance of a musician guiding his own business interests by issuing a DVD without middlemen.
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Book: Willis Conover
Terence M. Ripmaster, Willis Conover: Broadcasting Jazz To The World (iUniverse). Rifftides readers may remember a series of postings about Conover that began with this one. Through his Voice Of America broadcasts, Conover practiced cultural diplomacy that made friends for the United States during one of the most perilous periods of its existence, the Cold War. He accomplished his mission without politics, with dignity, with understatement and taste. His country rewarded him with ingratitude and disregard. Ripmaster's biography, though uneven and in need of editing attention, provides valuable information about Conover's career and the esteem he generated around the world for jazz and America. At a time when the administration is working to downgrade the VOA's English language broadcasting capability, the Conover story underlines how badly the US needs a neutral instrument of foreign policy to create good will around the world.
The Rifftides archive (right-hand column) contains a number of postings and comments about Conover, including the effort to win him a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. Click on "Edit," then "Find on this page," and enter "Conover."
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March 3, 2007
CD
Tierney Sutton Band: On The Other Side (Telarc). The title is a phrase from Harold Arlen's and Ted Koehler's "Get Happy." Sutton and her band, one of the most tightly integrated small groups at work today, contrast the song's sunny lyrics with a deliberate pace and a minor-key setting. The result is the unlikely combination of a sense of irony with the song's essential optimism. As performed and programmed by Sutton and the band, the album's eleven classic standard songs comprise a suite that constitutes a meditation on happiness or, in three cases, its bittersweet opposite. Sutton's "You Are My Sunshine" is the most moving version I have heard since Sheila Jordan's 1962 recording with George Russell. Jack Sheldon's two guest appearances include a gorgeous trumpet solo on "Glad To Be Unhappy," and inspired singing and playing on "I Want To Be Happy."
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CD
Steve Kuhn Trio: Live At Birdland (Blue Note). The veteran pianist recreates the trio he led twenty years ago with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Al Foster. Deeply admired, always in demand, but never given the recognition his talent warrants, Kuhn is playing with greater depth and emotional charge than ever. It is good to see him get the exposure that comes with a release on a major label and good to hear him confident and assured with the fine support of Carter and Foster and an enthusiastic audience.
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CD
Larry Willis: The Big Push (High Note). Al Foster is also on drums here, fully integrated into a superb trio with pianist Willis and bassist Buster Williams. Willis's desirability as a sideman has kept him busy since the 1960s with leaders as varied as Hugh Masakela, Cannonball Adderley, Carla Bley, David "Fathead" Newman, Roy Hargrove and Blood, Sweat and Tears. The past few years, he has been stepping out more often as a featured soloist. This CD, a balanced mix of familiar and original pieces, is among his best work, with a gorgeous treatment of Burton Lane's "Everything I Have Is Yours."
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DVD
Dizzy Gillespie: Dizzy's Dream Band (Fox Lorber). This 1982 concert at Lincoln Center is a basic repertoire item for any collector of jazz DVDs. The sidemen and women in the specially assembled big band included Gillespie alumni from four decades, among them Jimmy Heath, Milt Jackson and John Lewis, with guest appearances by Max Roach and Gerry Mulligan. Dizzy was in high spirits and top playing form.
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Book
Alec Wilder: American Popular Song (Oxford). I have referred to this book so often over the years in articles, reviews and my own books that it makes sense to recommend it here. Wilder, with the indispensable assistance of James T. Maher, created an essential critical guide to the greatest songs and songwriters of the classic era of popular music. His opinions are strong and occasionally wrongheaded, but his overall grasp of what makes a good song remains unequaled. The one important songwriter whose work is not evaluated in the book is Alec Wilder. As Gene Lees has suggested, this is a book to be not merely read, but studied.
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January 26, 2007
CD
John Gross, Dave Frishberg, Charlie Doggett, Strange Feeling (Diatic Records). Gross, the outside tenor saxophonist; Frishberg, the inside pianist; and Doggett, the adaptable young drummer, meet on the common ground of a brilliantly assembled repertoire. The pieces are by Ellington, Strayhorn, Monk, Cohn, Davis, Brookmeyer and McFarland. Gross is calm in his delivery of solos that burn with convincing ideas. Frishberg is a foil for Gross's daring excursions and a soloist of forthrightness, whimsy and a powerful left hand. This one is a sleeper.
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CD
Fats Waller, If you Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It (Bluebird/Legacy). This is not a comprehensive Waller set, but a well chosen three-disc survey of the stride pianist whose song writing, singing and irrepressible personality made him an American favorite son in the 1930s and early '40s. Even listeners who have the seventeen CDs Bluebird released toward the end of the last century will want this box because of the 98-page booklet. The photographs, the introduction by producer Orrin Keepnews and the masterly notes by Dan Morgenstern make it one of the best studies of Waller. The music, from 1926 ("St. Louis Blues") to 1942 ("Jitterbug Waltz") is sublime.
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CD
Paul Carlon Octet, Other Tongues (Deep Tone). From Red Norvo to James Moody, Ray Charles, Rod Levitt, Gil Evans, Lee Konitz and Bill Kirchner, I'm a sucker for medium-sized ensembles supported by resourceful writing. To the list add this octet of New Yorkers led by saxophonist and flutist Carlon. The orientation is Latin, the arranging at once economical and adventurous. Billy Strayhorn's "Smada" becomes a danzón, Emily Dickinson's poem "A Certain Slant of Light" inspires a pointillist reverie, "Boogie Down Broder" a rambunctious trombone fiesta. And there's this encouraging disclaimer: "NO jazz musicians were harmed in the manufacture of this recording."
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DVD
Amalia Rodrigues: The Spirit of Fado (MVD World Music Talents). Rodrigues was the leading interpreter of fado, the moody music that expresses Portugal's national preoccupation with fate. In fado at its best there is a commonality with jazz in the give-and-take among the perfomer and the guitar accompanists. Rodrigues could be as moving as Billie Holiday or Edith Piaf. In the form of a documentary, the film traces her career to her death in 1999 at age 79. The logy script does not diminish the glories of Rodrigues' singing. The menu gives the viewer the option of isolating her performances from the pompous narration.
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Book
Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life In New Orleans (Da Capo). A friend asked me recently, "What's the best book about Louis Armstrong?" It may turn out to be the one Terry Teachout is writing, I said. I told him about Armstrong biographies by Gary Giddins, Laurence Bergreen, James Lincoln Collier, Max Jones-John Chilton and others, all with their strengths. But I suggested that if he had not read Armstrong's own account of his youth, that would be the place to start. This modest little autobiography is honest, conversational and true to the man's style as one of the positive, uplifting figures of our time.
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December 23, 2006
CD
Steve Turre, Steve Turre, Keep Searchin' (High Note). The prolific trombonist in the J.J. Johnson tradition in yet another stimulating collection. He features two brilliant soloists, vibraharpist Stefon Harris and pianist Xavier Davis, and the fine drummer Dion Parson. Gerald Cannon and Peter Washington trade bass duties. Turre's "Reconciliation" with its satisfying harmonic resolution, is a highlight, and he proves thatin the hands of an inventive player, there is always room for one more "My Funny Valentine."
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CD
Kristin Korb, Why Can't You Behave (Double K). Korb sings even better than on her previous CD and does it while playing the bass superbly. The Ray Brown protégé's power and note choices would make the late master proud. Her treatment of Cole Porter's title tune is appropriately wry and saucy, her minor key approach to "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" deep and reflective, with a penetratingly bluesy bass solo. Llew Matthews is Korb's spare, harmonically resourceful pianist, Steve Barnes her discreet drummer. Trombonist Andy Martin and guitarist Larry Koonse shine as guest soloists.
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CD
Lee Wiley, West Of The Moon (Mosaic). One of the most tasteful, distinctive and emotionally profound singers of the 1930s and '40s, Wiley was less active in the '50s. By the time she died in 1975, she was all but forgotten by the public. Her admirers never forgot her, though. Fortunately, one of them is Mosaic's Michael Cuscuna, who saw to the reissue of this 1956 masterpiece. Wiley's collaboration with arranger Ralph Burns came fairly late in her career, but it's one of her best albums. There are no more effective versions than Wiley's of "This is New" and "Can't Get Out of This Mood."
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DVD
Rufus Reid, Live In Vienna (MVD Visual). With Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer and fellow American John Hollenbeck on drums, Reid steps into the role of leader in this concert at the Vienna club Porgy And Bess. One of the most experienced and dependable sidemen in jazz, Reid demonstrates the musical wisdom and taste he has accumulated in decades with Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis and Freddie Hubbard, among others. Pauer, one of Europe's best jazz musicians, is likely to be a revelation to listeners elsewhere. Hollenbeck's balance of strength, speed and delicacy is on full display. Sound and visual quality are top notch. It is instructive to watch Reid use eye movements to cue his colleagues in this set of satisying music.
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November 22, 2006
CD
One More: The Summary, Music of Thad Jones, Vol. 2 (IPO). To name the players is to indicate the quality of this project: Eddie Daniels, Richard Davis, Benny Golson, Hank Jones, James Moody, John Mosca, Jimmy Owens, Kenny Washington and Frank Wess. Assembling all-stars is no guarantee of success, but most of these men worked with Jones in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, love his music and deeply understand it. They give "Little Pixie," "Three and One," six other Jones compositions and Jerome Richardson's "Groove Merchant" everything they've got. They've got plenty, and it is as much in evidence here as it was in Volume 1 with a slightly different cast.
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CD
Ruth Naomi Floyd, Root to the Fruit (Contour). Ms. Floyd is a Philadelphia church singer whose jazz connections and finely tuned musicianship are as organic to her art as are her Christian convictions. In her fifth album, she leads ten musicians including saxophonist Gary Thomas, drummer Ralph Peterson, bassist Tyrone Brown and the incredible flutist James Newton. Songs like "Mere Breath" and "The Bottle of Tears" disclose her as a solid composer and lyricist whose work holds up well in the company of pieces by Randy Weston, Mary Lou Williams and Antonín Dvořák. The control, phrasing and inflections of her creamy mezzo-soprano voice make Ms. Floyd one of the most compelling singers of the day, regardless of idiom.
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CD
BED, Bedlam (Blue Swing). BED is the acronym for vocalist Becky Kilgore, guitarist Eddie Erickson and trombonist Dan Barrett. The group also includes bassist Joel Forbes, but the name BEDJ wouldn't make much sense. What does make sense is Ms. Kilgore's sunny, flawlessly in-tune singing and the way she interacts with the easy-going playing and occasional singing of her three co-conspirators in the art of delivering fine songs. BED's repertoire includes great standards and some unusual entries: a banjo medley of tunes from "Oklahoma," for instance. And when is the last time you heard "My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes?"
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DVD
The Heath Brothers, Brotherly Jazz (DanSun). Part documentary, part concert, this engrossing film about the celebrated Philadelphia brothers was shot a year before elder brother Percy Heath died in 2005. Their life stories are varied--Percy the fighter pilot who became a major bassist--Jimmy, the saxophonist who transformed himself from an addict into one of the great arrangers--Tootie, the drummer who says his older brothers saved him from a possible future as a doctor or lawyer. They play for producer Danny Scher's cameras in one of their last gigs together. Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and Percy's fishing buddy Peter Jennings make appearances. The archival footage includes film of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, early colleagues of the Heaths.
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Book
Debra DeSalvo, The Language of the Blues (Billboard Books). From "Alcorub" to "Zuzu," Ms. DeSalvo combines solid research with humor, insight and straightforward description to explain the often arcane terms that populate blues songs. You may have an idea about the various meanings of "easy rider," but how about "faro," "biscuit," "cooling board?" "Mojo" gets two full pages. The book is more than a dictionary; it's a lesson in the Southern black culture that took root in rural blues and spread throughout the world. That's no woofin' (page 158).
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October 24, 2006
CD
Sonny Rollins, Sonny, Please (Doxy). A canny balance between new compositions and show tunes he loved in his youth. The great tenor saxophonist proves that since 2001's Without a Song, and following the loss of his wife two years ago, his strength, imagination and intensity are undiminished. Steady work together has finely attuned Rollins and his five bandmates. His solos, laced with allusions and quotes, are notably cheerful. Stephen Foster is on his mind. "Oh! Susannah" pops up on two tracks, and he summons "Old Folks at Home" on another. Of the new pieces, his tribute to Tommy Flanagan, "Remembering Tommy," should have the staying power to become a jazz standard. With this release on his own label, Rollins joins the ranks of musicians taking their business affairs into their own hands. Universal will distribute Sonny, Please as a digital download in November and a CD in January, but now it is available in both forms only through Rollins's web site.
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CD
Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri, Simpático (ArtistShare). Lynch, trumpeter for Eddie Palmieri, is the leader in this immensely satisfying album. He also works for Phil Woods and brings in both of his bosses as sidemen. At the piano, Palmieri ignites the proceedings spectacularly on Lynch's "The Palmieri Effect." Woods contributes stunning alto sax solos. Lynch plays throughout with fire, technical perfection and bebop harmonic understanding. Lila Downs brings emotional depth to vocals on two pieces, including Palmieri's classic "Páginas De Mujer." The bands range from six to thirteen musicians. This is Palmieri's most impressive jazz/Latin collaboration since his 1966 El Sonido Nuevo with Cal Tjader. It is a major achievement for Lynch, who composed four of the pieces and collaborated with Palmieri on the rest. Like Rollins, he is now in business for himself. The Simpático link above takes you to Lynch's web site.
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CD
Alan Broadbent, Every Time I Think of You (Artistry Music). The pianist applies his keyboard elegance and arranging talent to an album featuring his piano, Brian Bromberg's bass, Kendall Kay's drums and a string section. Broadbent's treatment of "Blue in Green" is a highlight, as haunting in its evocation of Bill Evans as is his "E. 32nd Elegy" of New York City in Lennie Tristano's day. His string writing supports and enhances the trio without a single harmonic clash, and it avoids the most common sins of jazz albums with strings, repetition and boredom. I keep going back to the shimmering ensemble beneath the simplicity of Broadbent tracing the melody of "Last Night When We Were Young" and to the noirish introduction to "Nirvana Blues."
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DVD
Vic Juris, Corey Christiansen, Live at the Smithsonian Jazz Café (Mel Bay). Relaxation and amiable swing characterize two-and-a-half hours with the veteran Juris and the relative newcomer Christiansen. The guitarists are close listeners and thoughtful improvisers more concerned with line, chords and mood than with display and fire. The varied repertoire includes well chosen standards, compositions by each and originals by Carla Bley and Wayne Shorter. Over the years, "All The Things You Are" has been ratcheted up faster and faster, the meaning squeezed out of it. Juris and Christiansen take it at ballad tempo, give it a minor tinge and find new insights into the piece. Bassist Bill Moring and drummer Tim Horner are strong in support. Sound is excellent. Video production is straightforward, with nary a three-second cut or exploded shot. The most adventurous techniques are the judicious use of split screens and occasional fades between color and black and white.
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Book
Lee Tanner, The Jazz Image: Masters of Photography (Abrams). The veteran jazz photographer assembles under one roof 150 examples of the best work of twenty-seven of his peers. Many of the prints are familiar--Herman Leonard's image of Dexter Gordon and a cloud of backlit smoke at the Royal Roost, Tanner's of Horace Silver musing. Others, less well known, are as surprising as the music itself--Ole Brask's image of a meeting of the Roy Eldridge-Norman Granz mutual admiration society; William Claxton's overhead view of young Chet Baker; Jim Marshall's picture of Duke Ellington clapping time and urging Paul Gonsalves to wail; a convocation of drummers photographed by Milt Hinton; Ornette Coleman cooly appraising his rhythm section in a double spread by Jan Persson. On your coffee table or your lap, this is an entertaining companion.
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September 25, 2006
CD
Diana Krall, From This Moment On (Verve). The pianist and vocalist returns to the mainstream with fine playing and singing on ten standards from the great American songbook and one by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Spare arrangements by Krall on four quartet tracks and John Clayton on seven with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra are effective settings for her dusky voice. Highlights: Gershwin's "I Was Doing All Right" and Berlin's "Isn't This a Lovely Day," the latter with short, story-tellling solos by alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton and trumpeter Terrell Stafford. Krall's piano solos throughout are eloquent and to the point, her singing warm and attuned to a selection of great songs.
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CD
Charlie Barnet, Town Hall Concert (HEP). As the swing era wound down, Barnet was one of the leaders hoping to keep big bands alive by pleasing the dancers while accomodating bebop developments. He had the right combination of elements; his adaptation of Elllingtonia, a smattering of bop-oriented young musicians, great arrangements by Andy Gibson, Neal Hefti and Billy May and--far from least--his own gutsy saxophone solos and charisma. The December, 1947, Town Hall concert is one of his enduring monuments. The trumpet work of 27-year-old Clark Terry--now thrilling, now endearing--is fresh fifty-nine years later.
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CD
The Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, In Progress (Pony Boy). Seattle seems to be breeding big bands. Cutler's is one of the best of the current crop. There's not a household name among the twenty-three musicians who appear in this stimulating collection of twelve originals and John Coltrane's "Dear Lord," but who cares? Execution and solos are first rate (watch out for tenor saxophonist Richard Cole). Cutler and Daniel Barry write beautifully.
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DVD
Jazz on the West Coast: The Lighthouse (RoseKing). This is the story of the club that became headquarters for music that blew a fresh wind through jazz in the 1950s when Chet Baker, Bud Shank, Shelly Manne and Bob Cooper were among the new stars of West Coast Jazz. Much of the story is told through recollections of veterans of the era, including Shank, Bill Holman, Stan Levey and Howard Rumsey. Rumsey was the bassist who partnered with a recovering gambler to make the Lighthouse an institution in Hermosa Beach. The California town was embarassed by the club until its leaders realized that they had a treasure in their midst. The DVD is a documentary laced with music.
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Book
Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here (Signet Classics). One of the Nobel prize winner's most clumsily written novels, it nonetheless carries a timeless warning about how a leader able to manipulate the citizenry could quickly erode democracy's fragile stability. The totalitarian takeover that Lewis created as fiction in 1935 is a graphic echo of Patrick Henry's (or Wendell Phillips's) reminder about the price of liberty being eternal vigilance.
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August 24, 2006
CD
Sonny Rollins, Work Time (Prestige). This was recorded more than fifty years ago. It is forever new. At twenty-six, Rollins was full of energy and bursting with ideas. I have never listened to him soar through "There's No Business Like Show Business" and Billy Strayhorn's "Raincheck" without grinning. Max Roach, high on his partnership with Clifford Brown, was at his apogee of drumming. Ray Bryant's gorgeous piano solo on "There Are Such Things" is his best ballad playing on record. The bassist, George Morrow, had been working with Rollins and Roach in the Roach-Brown group and locked powerfully into Rollins' momentum. This is a basic repertoire item.
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CD
Brian Lynch, 24/7 (Nagel Heyer). I just caught up with this 2002 album. Lynch teams his trumpet with Miguel Zenon's alto saxophone. The two of them groove with a fine rhythm section of pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Neal Smith. Everyone plays well on the originals by band members, but the prize tracks are Jerome Kern's "Nobody Else but Me" Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" and Ellington's barely-known ballad "Azalea." In the Kern, Lynch, using a tight mute, is quick and lyrical (yes, those qualities can go together). In "West End Blues," he nails Armstrong's cadenza opening and observes the original arrangement, then he, Zenon and Germanson (keep an eye on him) play stunning extended solos before wrapping it up with the celebrated 1928 Armstrong tag.
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CD
András Schiff, Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Volume II, op. 10 and 13 (ECM). If you are a jazz listener who doesn't cotton to what is often categorized as "classical" music, you have my sympathy because you won't be hearing this brilliant pianist in the second CD of his projected series of the Beethoven sonatas. Consider relenting. Even you can probably relate to the c-minor, the famous "Pathetique," but Schiff's magic with the slow movement of the D-major could just convert you entirely. Lucky you. Schiff is one of the supreme pianists of his generation. His first two volumes of the sonatas suggest that his complete set will rank with Richard Goode's among his contemporaries and Arthur Schnabel's among his predecessors. Aside: I can't help wondering if the classically-canny Bill Evans had the first movement of the D-major in mind when he wrote "Waltz for Debby."
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DVD
Jazz Shots From The East Coast, Vols. 1-3, Jazz Shots from the West Coast, Vols. 1-3 (EforFilms). The music on these discs is almost uniformly good. The video ranges from TV quality to grainy film, and no wonder; some of these clips are ancient soundies. There are great rewards here, but be warned: the producers provide no information beyond the names of the leaders and the tunes, unless it was superimposed on the original clip. No dates. No sidemen identification. Who was that marvelous alto saxophonist soloing with Duke Ellington on "Sophisticated Lady?" It was Willie Smith, replacing Johnny Hodges for a time in the early 1950s, but if you don't recognize him, you're out of luck. Fortunately, pianist Ronnie Matthews' name appears on the screen in a marvelous performance of "Monk's Dream" by Johnny Griffin, but that is a rarity. Who was East Coast and who was West Coast may have been decided by a toss of the dice. In the course of the series, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Bill Evans, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith and Thelonious Monk show up in both categories. But pigeon holes don't matter, music does, and for all of their informational faults, these DVDs deliver plenty of it by some of the best players of the twentieth century.
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Book
Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve, Composers' Voices from Ives to Ellington (Yale). This is the book that took first place over Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond in the Independent Publishers awards competition. But, no hard feelings, only gratitude for a hefty volume that presents oral history in a readable--and listenable--form. The book includes two CDs with, in many cases, the voices of the composers. Aaron Copland: "Music needn't be so high-falutin' that it becomes abstract and just pure notes, you know." Duke Ellington: "Everything is so highly personalized that you just can't find a category big enough. And 'jazz' certainly isn't big enough." If you wish to know more about Eubie Blake, Mel Powell, Nadia Boulanger, Edgard Varèse or Nicolas Slonimsky, among many others, this is a book for you.
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July 31, 2006
CD
One For All, The Lineup (Sharp Nine). I have groused often enough, maybe too often, about soundalike improvisers in the younger generations of jazz players. One For All have their audible influences but for the most part they are happy exceptions to the carbon copy rule. In addition, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trumpeter Jim Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth are a band, not just a bunch of guys thrown together to record. The album is consistently satisfying. One For All's version of "Sweet and Lovely" is a gem.
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CD
Neil Blumofe, Piety and Desire (Horeb). If you know New Orleans, you recognize Piety and Desire as the names of streets. If you know Jewish liturgy, piety and desire have additional meaning. If you think you know New Orleans music, you are likely to find surprises in this melding of Jewish and secular wedding themes, protestant hymns, blues, street parade rhythms, the sensibilities of traditional and modern New Orleans jazz and the spirit of a city determined to recover from disaster. Blumofe is a cantor with a clear voice, a clear vision and roots in the Jewish and jazz traditions. His ten sidemen include drummer Jason Marsalis, bassist Roland Guerin, saxophonist Alex Coke and the formidable tuba player Matt Perrine.
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CD
Jan Lundgren in New York (Marshmallow). The great young Swedish pianist teams with two of the brightest rhythm players in New York, both named Washington; Peter on bass, Kenny on drums. Lundgren and the Washingtons give satisfaction in a program of classic standards plus originals by John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Benny Golson and the pianist himself. With the exception of a speedy "Cherokee," Lundgren holds the fiery side of his nature in abeyance, but compensates with his touch, harmonic riches and gift of melodic invention. His refractive lines in solo on Shorter's "This is For Albert" are a particular pleasure. Ordering information for Marshmallow, a Japanese label, is available by e-mail.
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DVD
This is not, precisely, a DVD. It is a portion of the only known video of a collaboration between Stan Getz and John Coltrane, tenor saxophonists of different styles who admired one another's work. (Coltrane once said of Getz, "We'd all sound like that if we could.") The occasion was a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1960. The rhythm section is Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums; and Oscar Peterson, who is seen at the beginning relieving Wynton Kelly at the piano. There is more video of this encounter, but I haven't been able to turn it up on the web, and it is not available commercially. Thanks to Bobby Shew for alerting me to this rarity. The piece Getz and Coltrane play, coincidentally, is "Rifftide." To see it, go here and scroll down to the third item. Be sure your RealPlayer is up to date.
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Book
Ashley Kahn, The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records, Norton. John Coltrane's dominance of the jazz of the 1960s intensified after he moved from Atlantic to Impulse!, a new label. His success made it possible for Impulse! (the exclamation point was part of its name) to record dozens of other important musicians as stylistically varied as Pee Wee Russell and Albert Ayler. Kahn's story-telling ability, reporter-like objectivity and thorough research make what might have been dull corporate history a valuable reference work that is also a good read.
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July 4, 2006
CD
Ralph Burns, Perpetual Motion (Fresh Sound). Infrequently mentioned today, Burns was one of the great jazz arrangers of the 1940s and 50s, with a later career scoring for radio, TV and motion pictures. His arrangements were central to the success of several Woody Herman herds. The final movement of his "Summer Sequence" for Herman gained additional fame as "Early Autumn." This CD brings together two of his mid-fifties albums, Ralph Burns Among the JATP's and Jazz Studio 5. The soloists include Jazz at the Philharmonic regulars Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Roy Eldridge Flip Phillips and Bill Harris as well as comers like Joe Newman, Davey Schildkraut and Herbie Mann. But the star throughout is Burns' brilliant writing. His setting of Alec Wilder's "I'll Be Around" for Newman's trumpet is a quiet masterpiece.
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CD
Jenny Scheinman, 12 Songs (Cryptogramophone). Scheinman is the violinist who mesmerized a Portland Jazz Festival audience earlier this year as a member of guitarist Bill Frisell's Unspeakable Orchestra. Frisell is aboard here as a member of Scheinman's band, and much, but no means all, of the album's energy comes from the sparks flying between the two. The music by her seven-piece band ranges across a number of genres, including calypso, bluegrass-cum-Caribbean, what sounds like a schottische, and dirges. For all its eclecticism and free-ranging nature, the thread of Scheinman's personality runs through the twelve pieces. The album's charm, cohesiveness and sense of fun lie as much in her canny arranging as in the joyful peformances. I cannot classify this music and won't try to, but I've found myself listening to it often.
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CD
John La Barbera, On The Wild Side (Jazz Compass). This has been out for three years, but I just caught up with it. I'm glad that I did. La Barbera's arrangements for Buddy Rich and Woody Herman impressed me years ago, and so does this new batch. The album bears endorsements by Elmer Bernstein and Horace Silver. It features La Barbera's older brother Pat on tenor saxophone and younger brother Joe on drums and has other gifted players including trombonists Andy Martin and Bruce Paulson; trumpeters Wayne Bergeron and Clay Jenkins; saxophonists Tom Peterson and Kim Richmond; bassist Tom Warrington; pianists Bill Cunliffe and Tom Ranier; plus a guest appearance by Bud Shank. La Barbera's writing, marked by a judicious use of ensemble power, is among the most exciting by contemporary arrangers. I see that he has released a followup CD on Jazz Compass. If it is as satisfying as this one, I look forward to it.
Posted at 1:08 AM | permalink | email this entry | Comments (1)
DVD
Keith Jarrett, Tokyo Solo (ECM). With this magnificent DVD, the pianist banishes worries that his years under seige by chronic fatigue syndrome may have ended his solo career. He demonstrates, too, that he has learned the discipline of self-editing, reducing the average length of his inventions while sacrificing nothing of intensity, creativity or daring. Except for three encores, "Danny Boy," "Old Man River" and "Don't Worry 'Bout Me," his pieces have part numbers, not names. That may seem inelegant. The playing is not. The shortest piece is less than three minutes, the longest more than twenty. The instantaneous composition in one section of a piece inspires ideas for the next, and although the segments vary in shape and style, we witness the continuity of a fecund mind at work. As Jarrett wound down the ravishing "Part 1b," it occurred to me that it must have been something like this when Mozart improvised.
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Book
Catherine Dinker Bowen, Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention, May-September 1787 (Back Bay). With all of today's arguments about what is, isn't or should be constitutional, Bowen's classic offers a refresher course on the original arguments, who made them, why, and how the foundation of US liberty was built by a few men sweltering in a big room during a blazing hot summer. The book reads like a great novel, but most novels don't have this interesting a cast of characters.
Posted at 1:07 AM | permalink | email this entry | Comments (0)
June 12, 2006
CD
Marc Johnson, Shades of Jade (ECM). The cast of musicians--Johnson, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Eliane Elias, Joey Baron--might lead you to believe that it's an all-star jam session. But it's an hour of salon music, carefully conceived, beautifully executed, relaxed with an outré tinge, in the ECM fashion. Highlights: Johnson's medium-tempo blues "Blue Nefertiti," evoking a Miles Davis-Wayne Shorter mid-sixties mood, and Elias's "Ton Sur Ton." If you haven't heard Elias's piano playing lately, prepare to be impressed.Posted at 1:06 AM | permalink | email this entry | Comments (0)
Previously, he published 