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Jazz Beyond Jazz

Howard Mandel's Urban Improvisation

Is NYC (still) capital of jazz?

The early January concurrence of the Jazz Connect conference, the annual convention of APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters), Global Fest and Winter JazzFest makes a good case for Manhattan being the capital of jazz-and-beyond.

Shabaka and the Ancestors, London-South African band breaking out via Winter JazzFest at (le) Poisson Rouge; photo by Jati Lindsay

It’s inarguably true that creative sound-organizing with improvisation and rhythm is world-wide, and our native version — jazz and its derivatives – thrives throughout in the US, even in places it’s overlooked. And the record biz centralized in NYC, which fed this music’s market segment from the ’20s into the ’00s, is a blip of its past. But still, New York City . . .

The annual Jazz Connect conference ran Jan. 5 and 6, with some 1000 musicians, their managers, agents, labels, publicists, presenters, broadcasters and critics filling meeting rooms and even the chapel of St. Peter’s Church. Produced by the Jazz Forward Coalition (Peter Gordon of Carmel CA’s Thirsty-Ear Records, director) in partnership with JazzTimes (principally via Lee Mergner, publisher of the Braintree MA-based magazine and website) with special assistance from Don Lucoff of DLMedia (of suburban Philadelphia and the PDX Jazz Festival in Portland OR), Jazz Connect is the sole US get-together for jazz professionals who aren’t educators (they met the same weekend, this year in New Orleans, via the Jazz Education Network (JEN)).

I must have schmoozed with half of those at Jazz Connect, including friends and associates from Albuquerque (Tom Guralnick of the Outpost), Austin (pianist Peggy Stern, splitting her time in Kingston NY), the Bay Area (promotions and public relations specialist Marshall Lamm), Baltimore (writer Geoff Himes, JJA board member Don Palmer), Boston (Berklee student and JazzBoston newsletter editor Grace-Mary Burega), Boulder (Peter Poses, dj at KRFC), Columbia MO (Peter’s brother Jon Poses, of the We Always Swing jazz series),  Honolulu (Stephanie Castillo, filmmaker, director of Night Bird Song about the late Thomas Chapin), Los Angeles (Zev Feldman of Resonance Records), New Haven (musician and writer Allen Lowe), Richmond VA (broadcaster Josh Jackson), Rochester NY (Derrick Lucas, Jazz90.1), Paris (journalist and radio show host Alex Dutilh), Pittsburgh (journalist Mike Shanley), Portland OR (Matt Fleeger of KMHD), Seattle (Earshot’s John Gilbreath), Tucson (Yvonne Ervin; the Charles Mingus Festival and Memorial Park in Nogales, AZ is among her many works), Washington DC (Rusty Hassan of WPFW,  Willard “Open Sky Jazz” Jenkins, NEA jazz specialist Katja von Schuttenbach), Wilmington (writer Eugene Holley), Ypsilanti (WEMU’s Linda Yohn) —

— and of course many New Yorkers (journalist/educator David Adler, producer Todd Barkan, singer E.J. Decker, Jim “JazzPromo Works” Eigo, Barney Fields of HighNote/Savant Records, Albany/Nippertown jazz journo J Hunter, baritone sax star Howard Johnson, Jeff Levenson of Half Note Records, Village Voice and JazzTimes writer Aidan Levy, Jason Olaine of Jazz at Lincoln Center, pianist Roberta Picket (hanging out with saxophonist Virginia Mayhew), Mark Ruffin of Sirius/XM Radio, singer Kendra Shank, trumpeter-producer David Weiss, pianist-educator Eli Yamin, . . way too many to name) and fellow Chicagoans (saxophonist/AACM chair Ernest Dawkins, Hot House presenter Marguerite Horberg, writer/radio producer Neil Tesser) . . .

Many attendees, after hours of concentrated schmoozing, went directly to play or hear music, at one of the couple dozen venues detailed in the admirably comprehensive performance calendar of The New York City Jazz Record.

Harlem party — Wayne Escoffery holding his tenor sax. Photo by Alain Biltereyst.

On the Thursday night I went with fellow Jazz Journalists Association members Angelika Beener and Ted Panken to hear L.A.-based pianist-composer-arranger John Beasley‘s star-studded Monk’estra at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center — beautifully detailed, original expositions of centennial celebrant Thelonious Monk‘s indestructible melodies (chatted with heir/drummer T.S. Monk there, as well as alto saxist Ted Nash — hear his Presidential Suite (Eight Variations on Freedom) and Jazzweek publisher Ed Trefzger)– then cabbed to the Harlem apartment of Azerbijian-born pianist-composer Amina Figarova and her husband flutist Bart Platteau, originally from Belgium for a party/jam session that included tenor saxist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Bertha Hope, bassist Ark Ovrutski, guitarist Roni Ben-Hur and 15-year-old singer Alexis Morrast giving lustrous voice to “My Funny Valentine.” Talked at length to Jim Wadsworth, presenter at Cleveland’s Nighttown, and photographer Gulnara Khamatova, one of the photographers for Winter JazzFest.

Friday Jan 6 was the first night of the WJF marathon, performances from dozens of new and emerging artists/ensembles from 6 pm to 2 pm simultaneously in 13 downtown venues. The clubs and concert halls are no longer grouped all on or near Greenwich Village’s main drag Bleecker Street — they’re now dispersed as far east at NuBlu on Ave. C, as far south as Bowery Ballroom at the edge of Chinatown, and west to S.O.B.’s on 7th Avenue South. Getting everywhere might be possible by bike, scooter or Segway but I ping-ponged only from 13th Street, where buildings of the New School offered variously sized stages, to (le) Poisson Rouge and Subculture on Bleecker, 10 blocks down.

My aim was to hear music not likely to be in Chicago soon, and I started with trombonist/composer/conductor Craig Harris‘ Breathe, which collected some 35 players to embody the JazzFest’s stated mission to “explicitly support social and racial justice by presenting socially engaged artist who have urgent and beautiful musical messages to share.”

Singer Alexis Morrast, photo by Alain Bilteryst

Harris did this in a suite-like structure by featuring soloists – first up, Zusaan Kali Fasteau on ney — and spontaneously conjured backdrops, sometimes drawing from his established compositions (the finale has been recorded as “Lovejoy”). Individualistic expression was implicit in this plan, a diversity of personal statements that did not detract from overall unity of purpose. Closeup portraits projected behind the ensemble emphasized the humanness of those imperiled by racial discrimination — which is everyone.

On the advice of publicist Matt Merewitz, I hurried to Subculture for trombonist Jacob Garchik’s Ye Olde, with guitarists Mary Halvorson, Ava Mendoza and Jonathan Goldberger, plus drummer Vinnie Sperrazza. Garchik has earned his reputation as a skilled and witty composer-arranger. In this very loud setting, he outlined minimalisticly short riffs familiar from rock/r&b/pop classics, freeing the guitars to rampage wall-of-sound style. Mendoza is a find, and Ye Olde, which seeems highly tourable, may appeal to audiences that aren’t used to or interested in “jazz” per se. Maybe even for some who are. I stayed for a tune by singer Somi, accompanied by a quartet fronted by guitarist Liberty Ellman — also not for me.

Craig Harris conducts Breathe; photo by Gulnara Khamatova

Back in New School land, I caught trumpeter Paul Smoker with pianist Uri Caine, bassist Mark Helias and drummer Clarence Penn reeling a far abstraction back into its basis in the standard “All the Things You Are,” and then a highlight: Chicago drummer Mike Reed’s Flesh and Bone septet, with wild spokenwordsman Marvin Tate, alto saxophonist Greg Ward, bass clarinetist Jason Stein, cornetist Ben Lamar Gay, tenor saxist Tim Haldeman and bassist Jason Roebke showing how high energy blowing can be framed by riffs and rhythms for fun in balance with frenzy. Hot stuff — look for Flesh and Bone’s album in March-April. Nightcap was Arturo O’Farrill’s quintet with saxophonist Roy Nathanson, new-to-me trumpeter Billy Mintz, bassist Brad Jones giving a lot of juice to Monk music.

Shabaka Hutchings at (le) Poisson Rouge, photo by Jati Lindsay

Saturday began at ECM Records‘ stage, with bassist Michael Formanek’s quartet of alto saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Their interactions struck me as densely detailed, kinetic and self-referential. Hastening through slush to (le) Poisson Rouge, I caught Shabaka & The Ancestors, based in London, rooted in South Africa, and poised to emerge from their North American debut opening a sold-out show for Pharoah Sanders as next to enjoy the new audience popularity of, say, Kamasi Washington. Tenor saxist Shabaka Hutchings has a big yet essentially easy-going affect, matched and poked by altoist Thunzi Mvubu, with Siyabonga Mthembu providing vocals, often wordless. There was an appealing aspect of chant to their tunes, which flowed from calm to intensity and back; rhythm by bassist Ariel Zomonsky and drummer Tumi Mogorosi was strongly African in tone — authentically so, never outlandish. Subsequently I’ve listened to they album Wisdom of Elders, distinguished by warm, swinging soulfulness, the addition of a trumpeter and a fine keyboardist Nduduzo Makhathini, and spare use of electronic effects.

As I’d written a DownBeat record review of Cuban pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa‘s El Viaje and was only six snowy blocks from Subculture, I went to hear him live. His trio had his brother Ruy Lopez-Nussa on drums and electric bassist Julio Cesar Gonzalez — “Lopez-Nussa always has the best bassists,” connoisseur of Cuban culture Ned Sublette remarked before they went on, and by reference to Gonzalez, he’s right. The three were spirited, but their material seemed anodyne — a reaction which tells me I’ve heard enough music. And having spoken in passing with folks including percussionist Adam Rudolph, drummer Hamid Drake, guitarist Kenny Wessel, Kent Devereaux (ex-Cornish Institute, now president of New Hampshire Institute of Art), Seattle music journalist Paul deBarros, writer Bill Milkowski, composer-orchestra leader Darcy James Argue, ECM publicist Tina Pelikan, storyteller Mitch Myers, former film producer Bill Horberg (now working with Karl Berger’s Creative Music Studio), photographer Alan Nahagian, Tom Greenland (author of Jazzing: New York City’s Unseen Scene) and Vancouver Coastal Jazz festival’s Rainbow Robert, among others, I was exhausted so called it quits early, missing much. Didn’t even try Sunday for Globalfest, the showcase of international acts eager to tour our country, at Webster Hall. By then I was eager to fly home.

The capital is, after all, where people come together for business. It’s not necessary to live there. I lived in NYC for more than 30 years, and it’s fun to return but I don’t miss being there daily now. Is it the capital? Despite its considerable challenges — costs of travel, accommodation, transportation, meals, at the very least —  no other place seems so hospitable for the gathering of jazz people. Yet we are everywhere, and it’s vital we listen to what surrounds us.

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Historic days for US and Cuba, accompanied by jazz

Congratulations to the U.S. and Cuba for advancing our long overdue reset. It’s about time. Jazz at its bestimgres-2 has linked our nations for decades, through the tangled history of corrupt dictatorship and revolution, missile crisis, failed invasion, bad relations and trade embargo — and in this recent historic moment, Afro-Cuban-American music is exploding with exciting new recordings. A hint of accords and collaborations to come?

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Irakere, circa 1978 – MIFA Festival

Disclosure: I attended an amazing jazz festival in Varadero in December 1980, after having interviewed an early cast of Irakere (Chucho Valdez, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Carlos Emilio Morales) in ’78 for DownBeat. Since then I’ve met and listened to Cuban musicians whose political views range over the broad political spectrum. Without referencing those views, I point to artists of resounding passion, skill, smarts and lots of rhythm —
51M0tyiDijL._AA160_ L’ó dá fún Batá  Roman Diaz is master of Yoruba ritual rhythms, here grounding fervent Yoruba chants praising ancestors and spirits. The beats are hypnotic, the calls to the orishas compelling, the intent absolutely serious. These foundations of Cuban music should not, will not be forgotten — no more than the cry of the blues.

61NJLid4SPL._AA110_Jane Bunnett and Maqueque — Afro-Cuban for “the spirit of a young girl,” Maqueque is all that: Four young women from the island having raucous, funky fun playing keyboards, electric bass, drums and singing, proudly presented by Canadian saxophonist-flutist Bunnett, their indefatigable guide to North America.

71IlvsKs1NL._AA160_ Cuba: The Conversation Continues Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Two discs of NYC’s expert large ensemble orchestra with guest stars taking a variety of dramatic, virtuosic approaches to legacy and modernism, recorded during a 2014 trip to Havana. Composer-conductor-chief instigator O’Farrill’s father Chico O’Farrill wrote for Machito and Charlie Parker in 1950, Dizzy later; Arturo extends the glorious traditions.

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Celebrating John Coltrane (Solo Flute Music) Maestro Bobby Ramirez is a Miami-based Cuban-American who plays Coltrane’s beautiful blues, ballads and burners all by himself, with straightforward, sweet and spiritual affects. A devotional album, easy to listen to, deceptive because challenging to have taken on and difficult to have done.

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Hecho En Cuba Dominic Miller and Manolito Simonet The great Manolito, keyboardist-arranger-composer of tight hot Havana timba, unites with Argentine-born, English-chilled guitarist Miller in simmering salsa-nova production numbers. Intriguing, unlikely success!

Charlie Gonzalo Rubalcaba is t41uo4QTU6lL._SX350_PI_PJStripe-Prime-Only-500px,TopLeft,0,0_AA110_he most intensely expressive, deeply romantic pianist ever from Cuba, a composer and improviser of international stature, here paying tribute to and with the late great bassist Charle Haden, who loved music with Hispanic inflections as well as Americana and liberty for all. Just out, downloaded, no credits, I can’t tell who’s playing — Metheny? Lovano? Waits? (No, fellow blogger Ted Panken tells me it’s guitarist Adam Rogers, alto saxophonist Will Vinson, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Marcus Gilmore). Moody, fine.

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Salsa dura and NYC jazz hot

My new City Arts column cites Chris Washburne‘s SYOTOS band, Arturo O’Farrill and Bobby Sanabria as avatars of Latin American music’s essential excitement, so well depicted by the 4-part PBS documentary “Latin Music USA” (viewable online). But let’s not forget Eddie Palmieri is still in his prime (and coming to the Blue Note jazz club Dec. 9 – 13).

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Jazz Foundation knows how to party

To raise money for musicians’ health and welfare, how ’bout a jazz party? In three lofts with river views, a thousand attendees of every age, shape, style enjoyed food ‘n’ drink ‘n’ performances including Jimmy Heath playing “Gingerbread Boy,” Arturo O’Farrill‘s teen sons mastering Latin jazz, baritone saxist Hamiet Bluiett with Kahil El’Zabar on mbira. The Jazz Foundation of America kicked out the jams on Sunday night, and raked in donations.

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Backlash against grants for jazz?

Nate Chinen, estimable New York Times music journalist, questions the effect of grants like the $253,000 announced by Chamber Music America for jazz composers: Are applicants pressed to create overly grand and pc projects? Ottawa Citizen blogger Peter Hum asks why Canada’s government supports jazz at all.

But Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra leader Arturo O’Farrill has been commissioned to write a Latin jazz orchestra piece in honor of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Are grants and government support bad for jazz?

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Howard Mandel

I'm a Chicago-born (and after 32 years in NYC, recently repatriated) writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and nascent videographer -- a veteran freelance journalist working on newspapers, magazines and websites, appearing on tv and radio, teaching at New York University and elsewhere, consulting on media, publishing and jazz-related issues. I'm president of the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit membership organization devoted to using all media to disseminate news and views about all kinds of jazz.
My books are Future Jazz (Oxford U Press, 1999) and Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz (Routledge, 2008). I was general editor of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Flame Tree 2005/Billboard Books 2006). Of course I'm working on something new. . . Read More…

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