Howard Mandel – Page 5

Jazz warms Chi spots: Hot House @ Alhambra Palace, AACM @ Promontory

There are good arguments for building venues justÂ for jazz.Â But speaking of arts communities in general: Most are moveable feasts, fluid, transient, at best inviting to newcomers to the table.

Kahil El’Zabar, Harrison Bankhead and David Murray at the Alhambra Palace, produced by HotHouse; photo by Marc PoKempner.

It’s demonstrable that when jazz players and listenersÂ alightÂ at all-purpose spaces such as Chicago’s Alhambra Palace, where Hot House produced the trio of saxophonist David Murray, bassist Harrison Bankhead and percussionist Kahil El’Zabar Â on Monday, Dec. 12, orÂ The PromontoryÂ in Hyde Park, where flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid and multi-instrumentalists Maia led ensemblesÂ inÂ Voices Heard: Expressions of Visionary Black Women on Saturday, Dec. 10 — we bring the empatheticÂ attentions that lendÂ the moment’s sounds memorable significance, wherever those moments take place.

janis-lane-ewart-hm-dee-alexander-voices-heard-lauren

Janis Lane-Ewart, AACM curator and Minneapolis radio personality, and singer Dee Alexander at Promontory forÂ Voices Heard (your blogger over Dee’s right shoulder). Photo by Lauren Deutsch.

Promontory, a 300-capacity room with copious table seating and bar space (plus in the summertime, an open-air veranda), features all sorts of events — local DJs and r&b groups, Latin dance nights, family holiday shows, homemade crafts fairs andÂ acts typically ranging from local rappers, djs and r&b stars to off-beat touring choices such as Average White Band. Voices Heard (produced by a coalition ofÂ the Jazz Institute of Chicago, the David and Reba Logan Center for the ArtsÂ and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), however, was a special two-day fest of talents too often and too long overlooked.

Mankwe Ndosi and Tomeka Reid, photo by Lauren Deutsch.

On Saturday, keyboardist and vocalist Amina Claudine Myers, one of the very first AACM members 50 years ago, improvised a warm, beguiling set with Mitchell. Vocalist Mankwe Ndosi and cellist Â Tomeka Reid performed uproariously, using loops andÂ other effects; the first ever AACM band ofÂ women, Samana, reunited with Maia emphatic on vibes; Mitchell on flute; Coco Elysses playing tympani and percussion; Shanta Nurullah on bass and mbira; singers Rita Warford, Africa Brown and Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, andÂ baritone saxophonist/digeridooist Mwata Bowden as an honorary male member. The groupÂ spun out a long collaborative take on a theme by Maia (who also plays harp).

Hot House shows commence after the audience stands and joins hands. Photo by Marc PoKempner.

In both cases, the audiences comprised familiar coteries of friends and associates. This is nice for those of us who know each other, but suggests the challenge facing these musicians and presenters in attracting new listeners. In both cases the music, familiar or not, offered rewards.

At the Alhambra, a spacious facility with Arabian Nights decor in its main serving and meeting rooms, balcony and bars, El’Zabar was in particularly strongÂ form on djembÃ©,traps set and mbira, bassist Bankhead sensitive to each nuancedÂ fluctuation of drum accents and volume, world-traveling Murray at home with his companions but also lifting their game withÂ his own assertive energy.

Kahil El’Zabar, photo by Marc PoKempner.

At Promontory, the black women in creative music made their statement that music isn’t the performance province of only one sex, and of course it values elders as well as youngsters.

Every time that point is made it’s a victoryÂ for allÂ and a step towards attracting people who may have previously felt shut out; now they’re specifically acknowledged and invited in. Both these venues were, at least for the length of the concerts,Â transformed from accommodating if somewhat impersonal halls into clubhouses welcomingÂ devotees. WheneverÂ spirited artists entertain their followers in flexible performance spaces, the events and attendees leave theirÂ impressions, ghostly vibesÂ that subtly attune the sitesÂ for whoever comesÂ next and later.

Thanks as always to my good friends Lauren Deutsch and Marc PoKempner for their lustrous images.

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Dr. Richard Wang, enabler of AACM experimentalists, RIP

Dr. Richard “Dick” Wang / no copyright infringement intended

In his first college teaching job at Wilson Junior College during the early 1960s, trumpeter Dick Wang encountered aÂ cadre of exploratory young Chicago musicians who would soon form the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). He encouraged them.

He introduced Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman and Malachi Favors, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Ari Brown and others to the writings of Paul Hindemith and Arnold Schoenberg; he instituted weekly a “head-knocking” jam sessions for these players, and cheered on their efforts to meld fixed composition and unfetteredÂ improvisation, which they pursued asÂ inspired of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, Eddie Harris and Richard (not yet “Muhal”) Abrams — a local pianist and savant with whom Wang would work to co-found the local Friends of Duke Ellington.

The FoDE organized a free concert in Grant Park, leading to the resurgence of the Jazz Institute of Â Chicago, which, while Dick Wang was its president, launchedÂ the free annual Chicago Jazz Fest. Until his death at age 88 on Oct 10, 2016, heremained a constant presence, upbeat supporter and wise advisor to musicians, journalists, historians, organizations and fans of music new or traditional, especially jazz.

Dick spoke to me briefly about composition and improvisation, students of his early days, Hindemith and Schoenberg and the AACM today, prior to a performance of Renee Baker’s “Brass Epiphany” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in November 2010. Sorry about the background noise, but I hope this five minute video captures something of Dick’s knowledge, breadth of experience and personal warmth. He will be missed. but his legacy endures: A decade ago the Jazz Institute established a scholarship in his name, given annually at the JIC’s fund-raising galaÂ (coming Oct. 27) to an up-and-coming Chicago musician, perhaps an Abrams, Braxton, Brown, Jarman, Mitchell, Threadgill in the offing.

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African roots, Middle Eastern extensions in Hyde Park Jazz Fest

Randy Weston in Rockefeller Chapel, photo by Marc PoKempner

Pianist Randy Weston, a magisterial musician at age 90 inspired by jazz traditions and its African basics, and trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has devoted himself to incorporating the Middle East’sÂ modal, microtonalÂ maqamÂ legacy into compositions for jazz improvisation by members of his Two Rivers Ensemble, were highlights of last weekend’s 10th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Both acts brought influences from afar back home.

The two-day fest in the neighborhood soon to hostÂ Barack Obama’s presidential library focused on local performers familiar to Chicago’s south side audiences — such as pianist Willie Pickens, alto saxist Greg Ward and singer Dee Alexander — performing on outdoor stages at the ends of a four-block long stretch of the Midway Plaisance (essentially, 59th St) girding the University of Chicago campus. I was busy at the nearby Logan Center the premiere of “Chicago’s Record Man: A Conversation with Bob Koester,”commissioned by the HPJF I co-directed with Matt Mehlan (who was out video-shooting other acts). There were also sets scattered around in venues as far off as the Little Black Pearl art and design center on 47th St., almost two miles away, the DuSable Museum (where trumpeter Orbert Davis’ Sextet had listeners to overflowing for a tribute to the late Freddie Hubbard), and other University facilities.

At 11 pm on a blissfully temperate fall Saturday night, Rockefeller Chapel, a studiouslyÂ non-denominational example of “CollegiateÂ Gothic” architecture with a 200 foot high tower, matched the grandeur of Weston’s rumbling bass motifsÂ and sparkling right hand melodic variations. Although the vast hall’s acoustics tend to minimize if not blur piano notes, Weston knew how to play it: sparely, with selective emphasis, taking time to let pitches ring and fade. His music flows like a slow but steady river, and staples of his repertoire including “Blue Moses,” “Little Niles,” “Berkshire Blues” and “African Sunrise” (commissioned in 1984 by the Chicago Jazz Festival for Weston to perform with an orchestra including Dizzy Gillespie) seemed ageless, ancient and enduring.

Two Rivers Ensemble, from left: Tareq Abboushi, Zafer Tawil, Ole Mathisen, Amir ElSaffar, Nasheet Waits, Carlo DeRosa; photo by Marc PoKempner

Several hours earlier a few hundred people came in from the sunny afternoon to the Logan Center performance hall to hear ElSaffar and his Two River Ensemble. A Chicago native who grew up seriously studyingÂ Western European classical and American vernacular music, ElSaffar, now 39, began researching his Iraqi ethnic heritage in 2002, spending two years abroad to learn maqam vocal techniques and santur (hammered dulcimer) that are now central to his compositions and concept.

Nasheet Waits, Amir ElSaffar at santur, Carlo DeRosa; photo by Marc PoKempner

What he’sÂ accomplished is remarkable. He’s affected a genuine absorption and adoption by his sextet members of Arab practices about harmony, ornamentation, intonation and rhythmic cycles in high contrast to American music’s familiar conventions. Simultaneously he’s managed to open those Middle Eastern elements to the expressive freedoms of spontaneous and often urgent improvisation.

In practice what this meant was ElSaffar and tenor saxophonist Ole Mathisen played tight, repetitive, minorish riffs in near-unison over the synchronized string and sometimes hand drum parts of Zafer Tawil and Tareq Abboushi, while Nasheet Waits drove the entire band from his traps, modulating volume nicely, and Carlo DeRosa supplied virtuosic bass lines.

On occasion ElSaffar sat at his santur, striking ping-like tones. AtÂ their concert climax Mathisen was wailing with all the fiercely garrulous grit of an Old Testament prophet, while ElSaffar flailed with delicate strikersÂ at the wire of his small, trapezoidal instrument. It was difficult to hear the hammered dulcimer’s sound — ElSaffar said he couldn’t hear it onstage — but the entire band’s fervor, grounded and moving on interlocking rhythms, was palatable. The Two Rivers Ensemble offered unusually new music and the seasoned Hyde Park Jazz Festival audience, ready for something more that simply pleasant background swing, stayed with the adventure, by the end gratified with risks and rewards, just as jazz intends.

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Chi jazz fest 2016, details in photos and words

My DownBeat overview of the 38th annual Chicago Jazz Festival, comprehensive as I could make it, didn’tÂ go into depth on any of the couple dozen performances I heard from Sept 1 through 4 in downtown

Bassist Tatsu Aoki’s Myumi Project with pianist Jon Jang, cellist Jaime Kempkers, tenor saxophonists Ed Wilkerson and Francis Wong, baritone saxist Mwata Bowden, Tsukasa Taiko with soloist Kioto. Photo montage by Marc PoKempner.

Millennium Park and the CulturalÂ Center.Â So here, with imagery by my photojournalist colleaguesÂ and friends Marc PoKempner and Michael Jackson (whose photo of drummer Dave King of the Bad Plus graced that DownBeat review) are some previously unreported details.

Tatsu Aoki‘s Miyumi Project continues to evolve as the Tsukasa Taiko Legacy troupe with soloist Kioto leans ever-closer into the rhythms of his jazz-oriented ensemble — driven by traps drummer Avreeayl Ra and hand-percussionist Coco Elysses. On this date Aoki’s Bay Area Asian Improv colleagues Jon Jang (piano) and Francis Wong (tenor sax) — who performedÂ a stunning mouthpiece-only solo — joined Jaime Kempkers, cello; Edward Wilkerson, tenor sax; Mwata Bowden, baritone sax, for no-holds-barred give-and-take.

Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, with the lateÂ founder’s bass chair filled by his one-time student Scott Colley, performed newÂ arrangementsÂ by conductor Carla BleyÂ that managed to be simultaneously free for roaring and transparently structured, genuinely patriotic and suffused with sad/defiant critical expression. Trumpeter Michael Rodriguez was probingÂ on most of the brass solos, but his section-mate Seneca Black crowned “American the Beautiful” with a gleaming high note.
from left: Curtis Fowlkes, Vincent Chancey, Joe Daley in Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Carla Bley. Photo by Marc PoKempner

Tenor saxophonists Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek presented a contrast of solo styles — the former voluble and gruff, the latter selective and bell-toned. Bley was understated when conducting, and deliberate at the piano; her charts appliedÂ high and low voices artfully, for clarity. Alto saxist Loren Stillman, guitarist Steve Cardenas, drummer Matt Wilson should not go unmentioned; trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, french horn player Vincent Chancey and tuba player Joe Daley supplied colorful depths.

Ornette Coleman’s 1971 album Science Fiction is one of my all time favorites, as relatedÂ inÂ Miles Ornette Cecil – Jazz Beyond Jazz. The Bad Plus with guests Tim Berne (alto sax), Ron Miles (trumpet) and Sam Newsome (soprano sax) did a mitzvah bringing to life Coleman’s seldom-attempted compositions “Law Years,” “Civilization Day,” “Street Woman,” as well as two originally sung by Asha Puthli, “All My Life” and “What Reason Could I Give.” Those two unusual ballads are gorgeous, were capably sung by Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson (who does not usually sing in performance),Â and pianist
from left: Ethan Iverson, Sam Newsome, Ron Miles, Tim Berne, Reid Miles, Dave King.Â Photo by Michael Jackson, who despairs of the image’s size.

Ethan Iverson performed an awesome episode on “Reason,” stating the melodic theme slowly with his left hand while with his right, independent of his bass rhythm, he touched onÂ high notes as if lighting stars.
Cameron Pfiffner and five other Chicago-identified reedists in his occasional group
Cameron Pfiffner in Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center, Howard Mandel listening — photo by Marc PoKempner

Adolph’SÂ AXÂ blew without amplification, walking through the crowd under the Tiffany dome at Chicago’s Cultural Center, to explore the glorious room’s acoustic properties. Although it may look otherwise from my expression, I was intrigued, not displeased.
Africa and Maggie Brown, daughtersÂ of the late singer-songwriter Oscar Brown Jr., sang their father’s lyrics with delightful high spirits and a casual back-and-forth as if they were in a private home or cabaret.
from left, Maggie and Africa Brown, photo by Marc PoKempner

Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson chose not to play some of his best known compositions — no “Killer Joe,” no “Along Came Betty,” no “I Remember Clifford.”

Benny Golson, with Buster Williams; photo by Marc PoKempner.

ButÂ accompanied by pianist Mike LeDonne, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Carl Allen, Golson did essay a perfectly lovely version of his song “Whisper Not.” He claimed the title had no specific meaning, that he’d chosen the words at random. Hard to believe, but he wouldn’t lie. And if Duke Ellington’s theme song “Take the ‘A’ Train” is Golson’s usual set-ender, at age 87 he’s got his reasons and they deserve respectful consideration.

Â I’m still trying to figure out how I liked the musicÂ of Christian Scott a Tunde Adjuah. He’s a powerhouse on trumpets and bold onstage, which shook things up. His “Stretch music” label is supposed to encompass jazz and other genres, though of courseÂ I heard it as jazz beyond “jazz” —
Christian Scott a Tunde Adjuah, in front of the Pritzker Pavillion’s giant video screen. Photo by Marc PoKempner

an attempt to get at the real excitement in the art form’s essence that is too frequently forgottenÂ amid the accretion of history, tradition, convention, rote performance, tired blood, call it what youÂ will. It seems obviously a descendent of Miles’ post-Bitches Brew, but more than just that. Flutist Elena Pinderhughes provided a cool contrast to overtly physical Adjuah; pianist Lawrence Fields played one affectingÂ solo on Rhodes piano. The leader’s street style and bountiful energy makes him seem outsized.

Scofield and Lovano, photo by Marc PoKempner

Guitarist John Scofield and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, on their finalÂ date of a Stateside tour, kicked out the jams like comfortably rambunctious best old friends. Bill Stewart drummed, Ben Street played bass, Joe and Sco’s tunes served to get them into and out of the blowing, during which all four seemed connected at the hip (by the hip?).

Candido Camero, conguero, capped the festival with Latin jazz all-stars. Conga drums (Sammy Figueroa filling
Candido Camero, 95. Photo by Michael Jackson

in behind Candido) and Â clavÃ© areÂ integral to any 21st century fest comprehensive representation of present-day Western Hemisphere music. We got that from a master.

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Thomas Chapin on film, with TromBari in Normal IL

from left: Jim Pugh, Ricardo Flores, Glenn Wilson, Armand Beaudoin at The Normal Theater; photo by Jeff Machota

Glenn Wilson, a terrific baritone saxophonist and flutist based in Normal, IL, is also a majorÂ mensch. Last Saturday, at the end of Normal’s Sweet Corn and Blues festival,Â heÂ organized a free concert and screening of Thomas Chapin: Night Bird Song,Â a comprehensive documentary about his friend, the usually exuberantÂ alto saxophonist, flutist and composer who died of leukemia at age 40 in 1998.

I was invited to lead a post-screening discussion with director Stephanie J. Castillo, who Skyped in from Brooklyn to The Normal Theater. Hear our discussion here.

Bloomington-Normal are twined cities of some 130,000, home to State-Farm Insurance as well as Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University, where Wilson is newly appointed jazz director. It’s about 125 miles southwest of Chicago. Wilson makes the relatively fast drive up and back frequently, sometimes to play on a Monday night at the Serbian Village. But his connections with Thomas Chapin go back to the late ’70s, when as students at Rugers’ Livingston College they were both in professor Paul Jeffrey’s band. Both joined Lionel Hampton’s touring outfit in the 1980s. They stayed close. Wilson treasures Chapin’s music.

from left: Dorothy Matirano, Ricardo Flores, Adriana Ransom, Armand Beadoin at The Normal Theater; photo by Walter AlspaughChapin’s music.

In 2012, 14 years after Chapin’s death, WilsonÂ re-arranged and recordedÂ several of piecesÂ from Haywire, Chapin’sÂ 1996 album for his trio supplanted by a second bass and cello. Wilson’s versions are heard onÂ The Devilâ€™s HopyardÂ byÂ TromBari, the ensemble heÂ co-leads with trombonist Jim Pugh. At The Normal Theater, TromBari — featuring violinist Dorothy Martirano, cellist Adriana Ransom, bassist Armand Beaudoin and drummer/percussionist Ricardo Flores — performed finely detailed yet hard-swinging parts that opened to rugged solo and group improvs. They did a rousing set before the theater darkened for the 150-minute version of the film (which Castillo is currently editing down to 90 minutes — she also has a four hour “director’s cut”) and returned for a brief blowout during an intermission. About 150 Central Illinois music devotees, some from as far away as Champaign (55 miles) and Peoria (40 miles), gathered for the eventÂ focused onÂ a musician who had never toured the region and whose many, varied albumsÂ recorded for small independent labels are rare and/or out-of-print. Thomas Chapin’s sister and brother-in-law drove from Chicago — the same trip took me about three hours — in order to see Night Bird Song on aÂ big screen for the first time.

Stephanie Castillo at Normal Theatre talkback (1)

Stephanie J. Castillo via Skype; Mandel (l) and Wilson in foreground.

Night Bird Song, like Wilson’sÂ evening-long, grant-supported screening/show, is a labor of love. Castillo, an Emmy-winning film-maker, was Chapin’s sister-in-law, but knew little about his music or the downtown New York scene he enlivened until after his demise.Â Having done deep research, she has made a thorough job ofÂ tracing Chapin’s musical life from its earliest glimmerings through his posthumous album releases, including interviews with such of his important collaborators as bassist Mario Pavone, drummer Michael Sarin and saxophonist Ned Rothenberg and great live performance footage.

Here’s Chapin, age 26, blowing the blues while Hampton, 84, bounces behind his drums. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Here’s Chapin highly charged at the Knitting Factory, winning over fans in Europe, spellbinding at the Newport Jazz Festival. Here’s Chapin in his down time, floating like a smiling angel with full appreciation of the world about him, whether he’s inÂ gritty Manhattan, on beautiful beaches or in East Africa, where he was suddenly stricken with his fatal disease.

Sad though it was and is that Thomas Chapin died so young, possibly on the cusp of a career breakthrough, it is heartening that friends like Wilson, Pavone, the Knitting Factory’s Michael Dorf, Festival Production’s Danny Melnick and of course Castillo herself have created such a rich and engrossing portrait of the artist. A film of this sort — which won the Best Story award at the Nice International Filmmakers Festival last May, and which will be shown at the Monterey Jazz Festival on Sept. 17 — provides significantly more proof of its
subject’s life, spirit and times than, say, a DownBeat article or a Wiki entry. Rather than being about a salacious, outlaw sort of jazz figure, it focuses on a man who lived to make music he could proudly claim was “pure.” I remember Thomas onstage, and in person — he was typically aglowÂ with delight. See Night Bird Song when it’s near you for exposure to a man’s sweetness and soulfulness, the likes of which inspires people such asÂ Glenn Wilson and his TromBari colleagues to keep working, teaching, playing beautiful sounds for everyone who will listen.

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A Great Migration suite from trumpeter Orbert Davis: Audio interview

Orbert Davis – Shilke Music

Orbert Davis — trumpeter, composer and leader of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, has been
commissioned by the Jazz Institute of Chicago to write and perform a suite about the Great Migration for the 38th annual free Chicago Jazz Festival.Â “Soul Migration,” for octet, will be heard Sept 1 at 8 pm in Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavillion.

With the composition in progress, Orbert spoke about it with me at his home studio, demonstrating with some synthesized samples and even improvising a theme. Thanks to Collin Ashmead-Bobbit for recording the interview, excerpted here.

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MCA-Chicago’s Terrace concerts, acing outdoor presentation

Hear in Now: Tomeka Reid, Sylvia Bolognesi, Mazz Swift. Photo by Marc PoKempner

Chicago’sÂ Museum of Contemporary Art has aced outdoor music presentations with its Tuesdays on the Terrace series, most recently featuringÂ the string trio Hear In Now performing strong yet sensitive chamber jazz. Drawing a thoroughly diversified crowd to enjoy fresh, creative music in open space on a summer afternoon for free (food and beverages extra) shouldn’t be difficult, but it’s the kind of programming New York’s Museum of Modern Art tried off and on for decades, seldom conquering the format’s challenges.

Cellist Tomeka Reid, violinist Mazz Swift and bassist Sylvia Bolognesi held rapt an audience sitting in folding chairs directly in front of their tented stage, another block of seating on the far side of a stairways in use throughout the two sets, 5:30 to 8 pm, and people at tables on a level above the musicians. Another coterie of attendees was spread across grass on the street level of the MCA’s “backyard” — sound was decently amplified into that space, but no one seemed constrained from socializing, and their conversations did not bleed up into the main music area.

Kerry James Marshall’s “Untitled (Painter),” 2009

People were also invited to enter the Museum itself, especially to view the powerful retrospective of Kerry James Marshall’s paintings — explosive, subversive and celebratory visions of black America. All together, the outdoors music and indoors exhibitions provided a welcoming ambiance for visitors old, young and in-between, black and white and other.

Marshall’s visions could easily be taken as counterparts of Hear in Now’s music. The painter and the players are all masterful (the retrospective is titled “Mastry”) and multi-layered. Ms.s Reid, Swift and Bolognesi plucked and bowed transparent but dense and busily detailed narratives — that is, pieces that seemed to go somewhere, purposefully. Each of the women plays precisely, virtuosically and with guts. They took chances, seeming to revel in surprising each other, never smug and indeed nearlyÂ giddy with pleasure in their collaboration. All three contributed framework compositions upon which toÂ expand, Swift sometimes singing along with her fieryÂ arco work. A version of one of H.T. (Harry) Burleigh’s spiritual-inspired songs was singularly affecting. Their concentration and satisfaction transmitted directly to their listeners — players and witnesses seemed united in one experience, always the goalÂ of performances.

However, the achievement of that goal byÂ institutions offering serious music out-of-doors must not be taken for granted.Â MOMA started presenting its Summergarden series of concerts in its sculpture garden in the 1960s — a wonderful Milt Jackson-James Moody album was recorded live there in ’65, the same yearÂ Sonny Rollins led an all-star bandÂ in the garden throughÂ There Will Never Be Another You. Rollins returned to record The Solo AlbumÂ in 1985.Â In the ’90s I went to SummergardenÂ performances by John Cage, Butch Morris and Henry Threadgill’sÂ ensembles, among others, but

Joel Sachs conducts at MOMA’s Summergarden, 2015. Photo by Scott Rudd.

MOMA’s amplification system did not deliver evenly throughout the walled space, traffic commotion on adjacent 54th St. was typically disruptive,there was often a stiffness in the presentationÂ and an abidingÂ sense that MOMA was concerned its free offerings might beÂ too popular, the sculpture garden not big enough to handle all comers and those attendees potentiallyÂ unruly, too. Perhaps these problems were solved for the four Sunday night Summergarden concerts MOMA produced this year.

MCA rear view, grass and terrace. Stage is usually set up on the upper level, at left – Lawndale News (no copyright infringement intended)

The MCA’s physical situation has some advantages, notÂ least of them beingÂ itsÂ terrace’s distance aboveÂ busy Chicago Avenue running along side. Traffic noises still threaten — Hear in Now at one point dealt confidentlyÂ with an ambulance siren cutting through the air by continuing to press its group sound, enfolding the whine.

I can’t say how this works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) which has won ASCAP/Chamber Music America awards for its adventurous programming, but one thing is clear: PeopleÂ love the musical and social opportunities these museums provide. Local artists and citizens from anywhere meet at these cool places for happy occasions. Applause for the musicians and the presenting institutions, too.

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Gospel (not my usual bag) keyboards revelations

I’ll never be an avid fan, much less an aficionado, of gospel music — but Lift Me Up, Chicago Gospel Keyboard Masters,Â new fromÂ The Sirens, a local independent label, is clearly full of joy andÂ inspiration. It also is notable for documenting a seldom spot-lit but obviously thriving American roots music scene.

ArtÂ arising from orÂ meantÂ to beget religiousÂ transcendence makesÂ me uncomfortable, but many others aren’t so biased, and all kudos go to Steven Dolins, The Sirens producer and my co-religionist, who says, “[G]oing back to Thomas Dorsey (Georgia Tom), Chicago gospel is also about community and passing down the tradition. Â . . . I appreciate gospel is an acquired taste, but the gospel melodies are a lot more interesting to me than 12 bar blues.Â I love the thick, rich gospel chords and the bluesy melodies.Â Also, I look at the lyrics like love songs.”

Especially resistingÂ gospel vocals, I gravitateÂ to the instrumentals onÂ Lift Me Up,Â of which there are plenty. In “Swing Chariot,” “Walk with Me Lord,” “I’ll Say Yes to the Lord,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “He’s My Everything,” “I’ll Overcome Someday” and “The Lord Is Blessing Me,” keyboardists Richard Gibbs, Bryant Jones, Terry Moore and Eric Thomas switch off between organ and piano (Elsa Harris and Lavelle Lacy play piano only), engaging each other in energizedÂ interactive duets, backed by drums, tambourine and (on two tracks) bass. The performers are all expert professionals with impressive credentials and affiliations, if any certification is required beyond what they play. Their squishy chords, driving left-hand parts, filagreed right- hand runs, pronounced backbeats and rhythms building chorus byÂ chorus are the raw materials of r&b, rock ‘n’ roll and much pop, brought out ofÂ the church byÂ the likes of Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Charles Brown, demonstrably still ableÂ to get people to move and testify. This spirit is nearly irresistible and certainly infectious.

Regardless of its godliness, gospel music is the opposite face of the blues coin (as Dolins mentionedÂ above,Â Thomas A. Dorsey earlier in his career was “Georgia Tom,” playing bluesy hokum with Tampa Red). My personal tastes run deep forÂ secular boogie-woogie, blues, stride and ragtime piano styles, celebrated by The Sirens in its other currentÂ releases: Last Call by pianist Erwin Helfer (full disclosure: I’ve proudly considered Erwin a friends for decades) — and Remembering The Masters by his close associate Barrelhouse Chuck.

Eighty-year-young Helfer’s album includes three historic tracks with singer Mama Estella Yancey, dating from 1957 and 1979 (further disclosure: in 1983 I produced Maybe I’ll Cry, Yancey’s last recording — she was 87 — on which she’s accompanied by Helfer, for Red Beans Records). He also features his longtime tenor saxophonist John Brumbach and vocalists Katherine Davis and Ardella Williams, but my favorite track is his introspectiveÂ solo versionÂ of “St. James Infirmary.”

In contrast to Helfer, Barrelhouse Chuck is generally gregarious, and sings as he plays with warm confidence. He’s also accompanied by guitarist Billy Flynn, and generously turns over two tracks to fellow pianists Lluis Coloma and Scott Grube). Remember The Masters has the loose feel of party blues recordingsÂ made decades back by such important mentors to Chuck as Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins and Little Brother Montgomery.

Until a recent health setback when he was on tour in Sweden, Chuck was playing on Wednesday evenings upstairs at Chicago’s Barrelhouse Flats. Helfer has taken over the gig, with his acolytes and students sitting in. Producer Dolins laments that other than Erwin, Chuck and some “record copiers,”Â there are no Chicago blues pianists left. I hope he’s wrong — as Muhal Richard Abrams, a founder of the AACM,Â once said, if you’re from Chicago you’re expected to play some blues.

Whether or not you can or do, Barrelhouse Flats on Wednesday nights is the place to delve theÂ eternal verities and infinite variations of ten fingers over 88 pitches grouped around aÂ three-chord progression. The music’s happy even when it’s sad. Note: Erwin Helfer, Barrelhouse Chuck and at least some of the Chicago gospel keyboard masters on Lift Me Up will concertize at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Saturday, September 10 — shows at 6 and 8 pm.

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Chicago’s free summer music cornucopia – Deutsch, PoKempner photos

Latin Jazz dancers in Humboldt Park — photo by Lauren Deutsch.

With a 10th annualÂ Latin Jazz festival produced in the neighborhood Humboldt Park by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and dynamite downtown concerts with headliners such as Nigerian juju star King Sunny AdÃ© and Afro-Cuban progressive Eddie Palmieri put on by DCASE, the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago’s free summer music programs are well underway.

Add the Museum of Contemporary Arts’ weekly Tuesdays on the Terrace shows, concededÂ that Chicago’s unparalleled Blues Fest is already over (as is Taste of Chicago, where bands including The Roots prevailed) but note that the classically-oriented Grant Park Music Festival continues whileÂ the very promising 38th annualÂ Chicago Jazz FestÂ looms to cap it all by Labor Day (we’ll also enjoyÂ an early autumnÂ Hyde Park Jazz Festival Sept 24th and 25th), and it’s hard to find a comparable wealth of beautiful sounds available to all comers, at least west of the Hudson River (NYC’s Summerstage highlights jazz this season, withÂ quite a worthy schedule).

John Santos at congas – photo by Lauren Deutsch

Less the Chicago presentations simply seem like wannabeÂ distractions from the localÂ plague of gun violence,Â ourÂ failed mayoralityÂ and (gladly) “lost opportunity” to squander lakefront on a movie director’s museum, I hasten to say the concerts are genuinely positive, citizenry-binding events.

While San Franciscan John Santos’ sextet, conguero Joe Rendon and Friends and Hector Silviera’s orquestra entertained on a stage set up in an open-air boat house, the surrounding, formerly dodgy Humboldt Park was bustling with family picnics and pickup-team games.

Hector Silviera – photo by Lauren Deutsch

Former (future?) mayoral candidate Chuy Garcia satÂ comfortablyÂ amid the crowd (also for Palmieri’s Salsa Orchestra atÂ Millennium Park), listening as a recognized, respected and unhassled member of the community.

That community in all its glorious if too often uneasy diversityÂ (approximately 1/3 African-American, 1/3 Hispanic background, 1/3 “non-Hispanic white”) has been well-represented at the Gehry bandshell of Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park.

Why is Chuy (at left) smiling? He digs the beat. Photo by Lauren Deutsch

There were perhaps 500 people at the Latin Jazz Fest at Humboldt on Saturday, July 16, but an estimated 10,000 (capacity crowd) attended the powerhouse Palmieri show on June 27 — people of every demographic dancing to the uncompromisingly dense, percussive and melodically improvised roar alone, in couples and/or fluid groups.

Ugochi at Millennium Park — photo by Marc PoKempner

Two weeks later, Ugochi and A.S.E — herÂ Afro Soul Ensemble — opening for Sunny AdÃ© and his Afro-Beats, aptly emboding Chicago’s breadth of influences and depths of talent. Born in Nigeria, Ugochi was raised on the South Side, and her relaxed yet keening vocalizations were likeÂ a junction of blues wailer Mama Estella Yancey with MalianÂ Oumou SangarÃ©. Cellist Tomeka Reed, an emergent leader of the Chicago branch of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) joined the A.S.E. for two or three songs, adding a subtle creative undercurrent to the band’s mid-tempo renditions of their leader’sÂ original material. Her lyrics were topical and inclusive (she introduced one as “three words my mother taught me thatÂ could save your life: ‘Don’t Mind Them'”). Judging by the crowd reaction, she won a lot of new fans.

Although there is a percentage of attendees at Millennium Park who just come because it’s a nice place to throw down a blanket, break out some refreshments and stare at the skyline as night falls, DCASE’s programming ensures aficionados also have a reason to come to these gigs. King Sunny AdÃ© probably drew on the basis of the fantastic tours he did in the 1980s — I heard him live three times in New York City, and will always (I hope) remember his concert at Roseland, where I discovered my body knew dance moves I’d never had tried before.

King Sunny AdÃ©, center with guitar, and his Afro-Beats. Photo by Marc PoKempner

In Brooklyn three years ago AdÃ© and company delivered an eagerly anticipated but somewhat disappointing show — the ensemble appeared aged, heavy and weary — but in Chicago July 18 all parties onstage felt regenerated and ebullient. AdÃ© will be 70 in September, but retains the dimples, grace and infectious humor that recalls at moments Cary Grant, Charlie Chaplin, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan and Chuck Berry. He sings rather complicated story-songs casually, usually with support from two sidemen who contribute pantomime to the narratives (incomprehensible unless one speaks a West African language). HeÂ strapped on his Fender guitar for only one song, adding an spicyÂ wham! to his figures. He moved from his hips, his knees, his ankles, precisely but self-deprecatingly.

Meanwhile, the Afro-Beats tore it up, a terrific though un-announced electric guitarist reeling off skeins of single note lines that suggested he was familiar with Buddy Guy as well as Jerry Garcia and Jeff Beck, an electric keyboards player who didn’tÂ offerÂ predictable runs when he could build surprising improvisations, and a traps drummer pounding rhythms that defined the tunes’ long themes and releases. The entirety was founded on urgent talking drum parts — those seated musicians started hot and never slowed down. Oh, there were two bodacious women dancers, too, shimmying in golden dresses.

In how many American cities does Sunny AdÃ©’sÂ audience, unbidden, sing along in Yoruba? How does an age-and-ethnicity-mixed mob of Chicagoans even know theÂ material of a group that hasn’t visited in decades, and gets scant-to-noÂ radio play? We can’t do muchÂ about intransigent Republican governor Rauner, hapless and unpopular Rahm Emanuel, hand-gun fueled gang wars taking a toll on innocent bystanders, but we can gather to hear music that brings everyone together and makes us happy.

Tomorrow (July 21): The Heritage Blues Orchestra, with my friend Junior Mack singing and playing guitar, and Toshi Reagon, free, starts at 6:30 pm. Thursday and Friday, July 22 and 23: Marin Alsop conducts the Grant Park Orchestra inÂ Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and violinist Regina Carter performs Duke Ellington’s orchestral works; next week (Tuesday, July 26),Â saxophonist Caroline Davis and pianist Rob Clearfields’s quartet at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 5:30 to 8 pm (free only to Illinois residents). More to come!

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Arhoolie Records (a dozen faves) to Smithsonian

Excellent news on the archival recordings front: Arhoolie Records, the 55-year old treasuryÂ of American folk and vernacular musics, has been acquired by Smithsonian Folkways, the non-profit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. So a broad, odd, historic, incomparable cultural catalog, founded and run since 1960 by producer Chris Strachwitz (now 84) entersÂ the public trust. Smithsonian Folkways guarantees “in print” status and teaching tools to itsÂ 3000-plus titles (also accessible by streaming), Arhoolie’s to be included.

The best way to celebrate what Arhoolie has done is to listen to its artists. True roots credibility — the music people make for their own pleasure or solace and that of their communities –Â hasÂ always been the label’sÂ hallmarks. That stance did not necessarily hinder Strachwitz’s success in the marketplace. The label didn’t seek commercial hits, but itsÂ releases were for a timeÂ monetized by a portion of royalties fromÂ Country Joe and the Fish’s “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag,” which I recall as an uneasily genuine expression of alarm among theÂ draft-aged among us duringÂ the Viet Nam war.

Here are some Arhoolie albums I’ve especially enjoyed:

Fred McDowell — You’ve Got To Move — Â During the ’50s/’60s folk Mississippi Fred, a slide guitarist/singer of north hill country blues style (the Delta blues less-structured cousin),Â gained white kids’ attention for his austere lyricism, aÂ well-spring of rock ‘n’ roll and much else.

George Coleman, Bongo Joe.Â The unique street performer based for decades in Galveston TX, George “Bongo Joe” Coleman used garbage cans as steel drums while whistling brightly and commenting freestyle, full of life andÂ wit.

Big Mama Thornton — In Europe, With the Muddy Waters Blues Band.Â AÂ toughÂ diva growls, backedÂ Â up by Muddy’s fine mid ’60s outfit with excitingÂ Buddy Guy and the Aces, bassist Louis Myers and drummer Fred Below.

BeauSoliel — The Best of BeauSoleil.Â Â Fiddler-scholar- Â preservationist-modernizer Michael Doucet in his familylike quintet invigorates Â beautiful Cajun (FrenchÂ Arcadian) and Creole (ethnically mixed Louisianan) traditions for today.

Klezmorim,Â The First Recordings, 1976 – 78.Â Who foresaw renewed enthusiasmÂ for theÂ jazzed-up Eastern European inflections of early 20th century Jewish-American greenhorns? Arhoolie helped launch the klezmer revival, too.

Jerry Hahn and his Quintet with Noel Jewkes, sax and flute; Ron McClure, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums; Michael White, violin. The straightforward, swinging, light-touched, fusion-nuancedÂ San Francisco guitarist in very goodÂ company, a snapshot of the Bay AreaÂ scene at the time.

Sonny Simmons, Manhattan EgosÂ Ferocious “free” alto saxophonist Simmons (he also plays English horn) with his then-wife, equally boundless and maybe even more scorching trumpeter Barbara Donald and a rhythm section that forges its own solid identity during the performance’s course.

Rebirth Brass Band, Here to Stay.Â Rebirth is right — the New Orleans marching band tradition was hereby injected with irrepressible, funkifiedÂ youthful energy, founded inÂ irresistibly upbeat syncopation.

Clifton Chenier,Â Louisiana Blues and Zydeco.Â Accordionist
extraordinaire, bluesman equal to any, Chenier leads his definitively roots band in rocking up’ up a reallyÂ good time.

Earl Hooker,Â Two Bugs and a Roach.Â Uproarious electric blues Â from one of Chicago’s premiere slide and boogie guitarists.

Dr. Isaiah Ross Call the Doctor. This gentleman played guitar, harmonica and drums simultaneously, interdependently, a solo blues orchestra, with grace and feeling.

Lydia Mendoza,Â La Gloria de Texas. Women singers sometimes stand as beacons forÂ an entire region or people. So it is with Ms. Mendoza,Â songbird of the Southwest, self-accompanied on 12-string guitar, expressingÂ dignity, forebearance, sorrow andÂ joy, transcending language.

The entire Arhoolie catalog is worth browsing — I know of no clinkers, and many other standouts. Up there with Yazoo, Delmark, Testament and Moses Asch’s original Folkways label — the basis of Smithsonian Folkways — as vital to capturing and disseminating our terrifically diversified nation’s sounds

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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.Â Jazz at its best Â has linked our nationsÂ forÂ decades, through the tangled historyÂ of corrupt dictatorship andÂ revolution, missile crisis, failed invasion, bad relations and trade embargo — and in this recent historic moment,Â Afro-Cuban-American music is exploding withÂ exciting new recordings. A hintÂ of accords and collaborations to come?

Irakere, circa 1978 – MIFA Festival

Disclosure: I attended an amazingÂ 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 theÂ broad political spectrum. WithoutÂ referencing those views, I point to artists of resounding passion, skill, smarts and lots of rhythm —
Â L’Ã³ dÃ¡ fÃºn BatÃ¡Â Â Roman Diaz is master of Yoruba ritual rhythms, here grounding fervent Yoruba chants praising ancestors and spirits. The beats are hypnotic, the callsÂ toÂ 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.

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

Â Cuba: The Conversation ContinuesÂ Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz OrchestraÂ Two discs of NYC’s expert large ensemble orchestra withÂ guest stars taking a variety of dramatic, virtuosic approaches to legacy and modernism, recorded during aÂ 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 gloriousÂ traditions.

Celebrating John Coltrane (Solo Flute Music)Â Maestro Bobby Ramirez is a Miami-basedÂ Cuban-American who plays Coltrane’s beautiful blues, ballads and burners all by himself,Â 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.

Hecho En CubaÂ 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!

CharlieÂ Gonzalo Rubalcaba is the mostÂ 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 bloggerÂ 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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Ornette Day, bits of wisdom with video clips

White sax, Denardo Coleman – Blue Note Jazz Festival

Ornette Coleman’s birthday is today, and his son Denardo has invited everyone to a walk with him from noon to three inÂ Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where his father, the prophet of Harmolodics, is interred near Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Celia Cruz — a very good neighborhood.

In Ornette’s honorÂ here are excerpts of his talk fromÂ my book Miles Ornette Cecil — Jazz Beyond Jazz. Also,Â how I came to love his music, and two videos:Â a choice “free” solo performance withÂ a rareÂ piano episode (fromÂ Berlin, 1972) andÂ a prime example of collective collaborationÂ (with bassists Albert McDowell, and Tony Falanga and Denardo on drums) interpreting “Lonely Woman,” the Coleman classic, from Jazz a Vienne, 2008.

On feelings in music:

“I was out at [anthropologist] Margaret Meadâ€™s school, and was teaching some little kids how to play instantly. I asked the question ‘How many kids would like to play music and have fun?’ And all the little kids raised up their hands. I asked, ‘Well, how do you do that?’ And one little girl said, ‘You just apply your feelings to sound.’ I said, ‘Come and show me.’ When she went to the piano to do it she tried to show me, but she had forgotten about what she said. So I tried to show her why all of a sudden all her attention span had to go to another level, and after that she went ahead and did it. But she was right: If you apply your feelings to sound, regardless of what instrument you have, youâ€™ll probably make good music.”

What is “harmolodics”?

“When youâ€™re dealing with an instrument and a melody, if youâ€™re playing a melody and you donâ€™t have everything in your mind that you can do with that note â€” what some people call improvising, which I now call the harmolodic theory and method, which has to do with using the melody, the harmony and the rhythm all equal â€” I find that itâ€™s much easier when a person can take a melody, do what they want to do with the melody, then bring his expression to yours, then combine that for a greater expression. But there are not many people that Iâ€™ve been able to teach how to do that because I havenâ€™t been working with a lot of people. But the people who I have worked with, they know how to do that.”

On singularity and the afterlife.

“I’m no different than anyone else. I’m no better and no worse, and I’ve just been born in America and come to understand that the one thing that’s true about human beings is that there’s something everyone’s inspired to do and to become, and there’s so many choices as to how you can get there. Because obviously the graveyard is not the graveyard. It can’t be. Something existed before that, so where’s that? Isn’t that true? Something existed before the graveyard, so where is that? It’s not real estate.”

Ornette’s sound grew on me gradually . . .

I hardly noticed it happening, but eventually I heard the music heâ€™d recorded as meaningful, the information he cast speaking shedding light on intangible but nonetheless real things: feelings, nuances of relationships, psychological states, motes in the air, qualities of time. I suspected I projected a lot of the meaning I perceived onto his sounds, but maybe not â€“ his sounds gave rise to notions I came up with no other time, listening to no other source.

What I was perceiving seemed like a gift, so I didnâ€™t think about whether or how it was really happening; Ornette played his music without seeming to worry about it overmuch, after all, and I noticed he got those around him to do the same. It seemed natural that musicians who were good musicians â€“ musical musicians, who hadn’t sacrificed innate musical impulses to the grind of making a living or any other struggle â€“ could and should be able to do just that: play. Anybody, really, could do it if we listened to each other. That is the basic idea about music, wasn’t it? Music is to be played.

Celebrate harmolodically.

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Chicagoans’ albums reviewed, author’s edition

My reviews of recordings Â by Chicago pianists Larry Novak, Laurence Hobgood and Robert Irving III, percussionist Art “Turk” Burton, and saxophonists Caroline Davis and Roy McGrath appeared in DownBeat‘s January issue, but the print edition limited their length. DB’s rating system ranges from one to five stars (*s), poor to masterpiece. Here’s my text as submitted:

Josh Berman, trumpet and Jason Adasiewicz, vibes, at Chicago’s recently closed Jazz Record Mart (we mourn its end). No copyright infringement intended.

In Chicago jazz, veteran modernists pave the way for innovators to expand on a fabled legacy. Experimentalists and mainstreamers alike convene supportive communities, yet everyone, whatever their aesthetic, presents themselves as an individualist. The longtime gulf between North (largely white) and South Side (predominantly black) scenes is still only partially bridged, but wherever they live Chicago artists must be talented and resolute, as nothing is readily given or easily achieved. Practicality, originality and integrity are valued. The breadth, depth and ongoing development of jazz from this Midwest capitol continues to impress and please local devotees, casual listeners and visitors from afar who discover its well established, under-promoted and/or newly emerging artists.

Larry Novak, at age 82, is current dean of Chicago’s pianists, an unofficial post previously held by such notables as Jelly Roll Morton, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Earl Hines, Nat “King” Cole, Ramsey Lewis, Art Hodes, Eddie Higgins, Judy Roberts and Muhal Richard Abrams. Invitation (Delmark 5022; 68:30 * * * *) is only Novak’s second album as a leader after 50 years of steady excellence at clubs including the London House, Mr. Kelly’s and the Jazz Showcase. With frequent sidemen bassist Eric Hochberg (also the album’s producer) and drummer Rusty Jones (who died unexpectedly in December 2015), Novak interprets not-quite-standards, applying elegant touch, deft technique and harmonic wisdom along with confident if self-effacing swing.

The pianist is indebted to Bill Evans, as avowed by his tender solo version of “Waltz for Debby” and trio rendition of “Very Early,” but really everywhere, including “The Days of Wine and Roses” to which he gives unusual brightness, and a fast, deft “Minority.” But Novak excels most in simmering late-night ruminations, like the 11-minute “Close Enough for Love” in which he spins free of the theme to enhance its romance.

More than 30 years Novak’s junior, Laurence Hobgood in Honor Thy Fathers (self-released; 60:53 * * * *) updates the trio format they share with understated treatment of would-be-pop anthems (“Sanctuary”), intimations of classicism (“Tryptich,” “The Waltz,” “Sharakumo No Michi”), hymn-like airs imbued with funk (“The Road Home”), a slightly more assertive yet still exquisite attack and carefully considered flow. Keith Jarrett may be one touchstone, The Bad Plus another, but Hobgood distinguishes himself with a plethora of influences in and out of jazz as well as nearly 20 years’ history as singer Kurt Elling’s music director. He attends to both arrangements and spontaneous play, engaging with ultra-responsive bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott, whose independent activity lifts several of tracks to their climaxes.

Five original Hobgood compositions are leavened with a New Orleans-syncopated take on Nat Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” unusual ostinato under the oldie “Give Me The Simple Life” — the one tracks here less than five minutes â€“ and a nuanced investigation of Stevie Wonder’s “If It’s Magic.” Overall the ambiance is warm, dark and reflective, which is not to discount the Hobgood’s strategically big, broad voicings, streaming glissandi and consistently perfect articulation.

So different from Hobgood and Novak’s albums it could be from another planet, conga drummer Art “Turk” Burton and Congo Square’s Spirits: Then & Now (TNTCD 101; 74:50 * * 1/2 ) arrives in conjunction with the 50^th Anniversary of Chicago’s AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), the loose-knit cooperative that has from inception rejected jazz staples for unconstrained but rigorously conceived and performed new music. Here, two pieces from a 1983 live public radio broadcast and six tracks recorded in a studio in 2015 strive to meet that standard.

“Cuba: A Tribute to Chucho” and “When Sonny Gets Blue” are the old bits; the first a tight, hot example of Windy City Latin jazz, the second a soul chestnut marred by unfortunately amateurish sax playing. The contemporary recordings feature mostly different personnel: Ari Brown on tenor and soprano saxes (sometimes both at once), his brother Kirk playing piano, Taalib-Din Ziyad on flute and singing, plus bassist Harrison Bankhead (present in ’83), traps drummer Avreeayl Amen Ra, hand percussionists Sammi “Cha Cha” Torres and Luis Rosario.

The rhythmists sync well and reedist Brown is commanding, but some editing would have been useful. The band commits itself to warhorses “Afro Blue” and “A Love Supreme” for 14 minutes each. Ziyad croons his own lyrics to a brief “Moment’s Notice,” then comes Mojuba,” a drums-and-bass vamp, and the jams “Mr. Brown (Cold Sweat)” and “Soul Naturals,” both too long despite bright moments.

Conversely Doors: Chicago Storylines (ears & eyes Records ee:15-039; 64:12 * * * Â½) by alto saxophonist Caroline Davis (now living in New York City) with her quartet plus special guests, is arguably too produced. Interspersing local players’ memories of people and places since the mid ’80s with small group instrumental episodes, she’s crafted a hybrid of podcast and suite, without the compelling narrative or structural balance of either form.

The oral history clips name-drop, accruing a sense of activity without informative details. They are either unaccompanied by music or laid over Davis’ mellow, sleek writing that features guitarist Mike Allemana, especially, bassist Matt Ferguson, drummer Jeremy Cunningham and on seven of the cd’s 13 tracks (10 of which start with interviews), trumpeter Russ Johnson. “Lincoln Land,” “Rounds: For the Horses,” “Chicago Sound,” “Delighted,” “Another Way,” “Fields” and “Doors” prove that Davis, a graceful soloist with a silvery tone, and her sympatico ensemble have a full album even without the speaking and sound effects, which, once heard, seem superfluous.

Tenor saxophonist Roy McGrath‘s quartet, on Martha (JL Music; 64:52 * * * Â½) abjures high concept in favor of straightforward presentation of six of the leader’s compositions, Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” incorporating a montuno, and Daniel Iverson’s “Spirit of the Living God.” Born and raised in Puerto Rico, a student at Berkeley and Loyola in New Orleans before he received a masters degree at Northwestern University under Victor Goines’ direction, McGrath has a fully mature tenor sax sound. He employs a hint of vibrato, dips into Dexter Gordon-like languor and can attain Stan Getz-reminiscent gleaming, too.

Pianist Joaquin Garcia accompanies and stretches creatively, attuned — as are bassist Kitt Lyles and drummer Gustavo CortiÃ±as — to McGrath’s mostly subdued moods. The four break into buoyancy midway through “Spirit,” and don’t lack passion, but might be more cheerful. They have the talent and chops to add upbeat feeling, always a welcome quality, to Chicago’s soundscape.

Robert Irving III,Â Generations: Our Space in Time (Sonic Portraits Jazz SPJ 1222)Â * * * *Â Our Space in Time addresses such themes as the links between artists past and present, the balance of legacy and innovation, where we are now and how to move ahead. Robert Irving III, an under-promoted Chicago-based pianist, arranger, composer, educator and producer has created a suite-like album and set his saxophonist wife as well as several mentees to exploring these concepts in progressive yet accessible contemporary jazz forms.

As a member of Miles Davis’ 1981 comeback band and later Davis’ music director, Irving rode a post-fusion wave when it was being supplanted by the Marsalis-led revival of hard bop. Here he resurrects an alternative strategy that Wayne Shorter proposed in albums like Atlantis and High Life: tightly knit, intriguingly complex charts for small ensembles, flexible enough to couch striking personal statements but distinguished by hooks and repetitions to comfort audiences with an identifiable thread.

Baabe, as Irving now calls himself, writes close parallels for his three capable horn players and directs his rhythm section’s approaches, leaving openings for his deft, light-fingered pianism and everyone else, too. Solos are usually backed by unusual group riffs. Dissimilar passages or stop-times effectively separate one spotlit bit from the next. The ten tracks, including two “interludes” under 50 seconds, expand on shared harmonic material that’s advanced from smooth soul-jazz progressions. Drummer Charles “Rick” Heath IV bonds with bassist Emma Dayhuff and Irving himself to inflect the backbeat.

“Posnan Dream,” named for a Polish festival town — spelled on the album with both “s” and “z” — evokes an airy wistfulness that recurs in “Octobre.” Scott Hesse’s guitar skitters through the saxes on “Generations,” and is generously featured on “Maat.” “Energy,” suggestive of McCoy Tyner, packs punches including Ms. d’Estival Irving’s fervent wail and hot, bubbling Hesse. Irving’s interlude recitation about our “once in a lifetime opportunity to get it right” may seem superfluous, but Rajiv Halim’s soprano makes “Our Space In Time” right.

“The Road Less Traveled” advances in stops and starts, the saxes expressing a broken line in unison then each individually, the ensemble picking up speed but suspending tempo entirely for Dayhuff’s wordless cooing and then floats, briefly free. “Amour Incondicional” is lovely before fading out at 40 seconds. Irving uses both electric and acoustic keyboards to lend “Every Today” an ominous undertone, support winding soprano and garrulous tenor solos; he concludes resolutely. The band’s response to the issues its leader raises is to play together, in the moment.

Our Space in Time: Poznan Dream; Generations; Energy; Aurora Australis (Interlude); Our Space In Time; Roads Less Traveled; Octobre; Maat; Amor Incondicional (Interlude); Every Today.Â Personnel: Irving, piano, vocals; Laurence d’Estival Irving, alto sax; Scott Hesse, guitar; Rajiv Halim, soprano sax, flute; Irvin Pierce, tenor sax; Emma Dayhuff, acoustic bass, vocals; Charles “Rick” Heath IV, drums.

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