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Freddie plays, Freddie talks

My NPR appreciation of the late, great Freddie Hubbard — with Freddie talking about himself, and music examples.

And for prime mid-period Hubbard hear his out-of-print 1978 album Super Blue, especially the tracks “Take It To The Ozone” and “Theme For Kareem” (the original unfortunately not available from Amazon as an MP3 — this version is from his final recording, On The Real Side).

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Sonny Rollins in Chicago

Sonny Rollins at 78 is still a saxophone collosus, as he demonstrated leading his touring sextet Thursday night to open the Chicago Jazz Festival. His bent posture, shock of white hair and strong features give him the air of an Old Testament prophet, and his stamina may not be all it was when he was younger, but he brought wisdom, humor and intensity to an upbeat and swinging rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Falling In Love Is Wonderful,” sweet warmth Â to Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood” (backed only by his rhythm section), and for a finale uproarious energy to a bare-bones Chicago blues. Read Neil Tesser’s article in the Chicago Reader for background on how Rollins cleaned up his act in Chicago, circa 1955, which accounts for his affection for the city to this day.Â

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Odd noise music alert, Brooklyn

A concert sponsored by The Onion — so expect to be amused, Wednesday July 30, starting at 6:30 pm, free in a tent by the Brooklyn waterfront:Â

John Zorn’s “Cobra” — an intricate musical game performed best by quick-witted improvisers with a handle of tactics governing the Avalon Hill board wargames of the ’60s — is being performed by an internation cast of a dozen such specialists (Zorn will be prompter, something between a card dealer and referee) –Â
Followed by The Theremin Society, three specialists in the no-touch sound controller invented in the 1920s and used ever since mostly for eerie soundtrack effects –Â
Finally Jonathan Kane, here being promoted as a bluesman with his band February, but I remember a performance piece in which he tap danced amplified big beats, and the hype is he’s also a montrous loud punk/minimalist drummer.

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Wynton’s Abyssinian Mass by guest blogger

It’s jazz-beyond-jazz, alright, when Wynton Marsalis composes a work for gospel choir andÂ the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. But I must admit that I am neither drawn to hear such work nor qualified to comment on it. Having experienced Marsalis’ previous large-scale religiously oriented works All Rise and In This House, On This Morning, I have developed some unshakable expectations and prejudices about such endeavors — it’s just not my cuppa tea. So I sought someone with fresh ears, more affinity for the material and less bias to report on the grand event. Meet Monica HopeÂ seen here singing Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” at a memorial service for the bassist Walter Booker, Jr.Â

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Not for Wimps

Maria Schneider – photo courtesy of the artist

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