Archives for July 2019

Departure for Sweden is delayed a day. Let’s use the pause to mention some of what I’m looking forward to at the Ystad Jazz Festival, in addition to the charming medieval town itself. We don’t have time for more than a couple of mentions and preview videos, but I must tell you that I’m anticipating my first live performance by the Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson. The video was made of part of her quartet gig aboard a boat, the s/s Blidösund. We’re not told the name of the body of water or the other members of the band, but we know who the drummer is–Johan Löfcrantz Ramsay (no relation). If this is the group Ms. Gustafsson is taking to Ystad, hooray. The song is by Cole Porter.

 

It will also be a treat to once again hear Mare Nostrum, the trio composed of accordionist Richard Galliano, pianist Jan Lundgren and trumpeter Paolo Fresu. They have become favorites of the Ystad audience…for good reason. Here, they play Lundgren’s “Love Land.”

 

Rifftides reports from Ystad 2019 will begin in a couple of days.

Recent Listening In Brief

Preparing to leave for Sweden to report on the Ystad Jazz Festival, we call your attention to two of the dozens of piano trio recordings that have appeared fairly recently.

Yoko Miwa Trio, Keep Talkin’ (Ocean Blue Tear Music)

A professor at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, pianist Miwa has become a featured performer in Boston and New York clubs. Her playing and composing reflect influences in the post-bop and hard-bop milieus of the 1950s and later, but even when she plays pieces by Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus or–for that matter–by Lennon and McCartney, there is a firm lyricism in her approach. In part, that has to do with her sure but soft keyboard touch. Other factors include a predisposition to harmonies and rhythms that reflect Brazilian music. Often, that means a subtle adaptation, as in Marcelo Camelo’s “Casa Pre-Fabricada,” in which Scott Goulding’s brushes on cymbals hint at echoes of Brazil, even as Miwa’s rich harmonies steal the scene. Other highlights: Miwa’s take on Mingus’s “Boogie Stop Shuffle,” where she observes the feeling of the famous Mingus recording while managing to make the piece her own–no mean feat with Mingus looking over your shoulder. Her “If You’re Blue” is a nifty turn on, of all things, the harmonic changes of Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ On The Ritz.” Her own “Sunshine Follows The Rain” is an exquisite album closer featuring guest bassist Brad Barrett’s bowed bass and his sensitive pizzicato solo. Miwa’s primary rhythm section is bassist Will Slater and Scott Goulding, her husband, on drums.

Greg Reitan, West 60th (Sunnyside)

Fleet as ever in his keyboard forays, Reitan also achieves an aching sentimentality in the late vibraharpist Bobby Hutcherson’s “When You Are Near,” which features superb backing from his longtime sidemen, drummer Dean Korba and bassist Jack Daro. Reitan and his trio are also notably gentle in Herbie Hancock’s “Little One” and his adaptation of Aaron Copland’s “Four Piano Blues. Movement No. 3.” The eight Reitan compositions on the album range from the excitement of “Hindemith,” inspired by German composer Paul Hindemith’s sonatas, to “Epilogue,” the fast yet gentle waltz that closes the album. Throughout, Reitan has notable support from Korba and Daro. They are a trio tightly connected and conditioned by years of mutual achievement. In recent years, Reitan has written and arranged music for a variety of film and television projects, but this album is a reminder that he is prominent among contemporary jazz pianists.

The time-consuming non-Rifftides project we told you about earlier this month has wrapped up and we are moving on to other matters. When certain permissions have been approved, that project’s overseers will announce it. I think it’s safe to predict that many of you will be pleased to know about it.

Among impending commitments: we will be covering the 2019 Ystad Jazz Festival in Sweden. It has been a couple of years since Rifftides has been to Ystad, which hosts one of Europe’s most consistently rewarding festivals. We are looking forward to returning. The neighborhood in the photo gives an idea of the charm of that medeival town on the Baltic coast of southern Sweden. The festival is overseen by its artistic director, pianist Jan Lundgren; chairman Thomas Lantz, a dedicated staff and a and board of volunteers whose community spirit and dedication have kept the festival thriving for a decade. Before I leave, I hope to post a rundown on the schedule and the artists.

Bob Sheppard, The Fine Line (Challenge)

The veteran saxophonist and flutist Bob Sheppard has worked with a cross-section of other major jazz artists including Freddie Hubbard, Billy Childs and the Akiyoshi-Tabackin big band. He has also been a major player in the film and television studios of Los Angeles. All of that activity may account for Sheppard’s not having achieved greater fan recognition. The Fine Line could change that. Sheppard’s alto, soprano and–particularly–the fluidity and forcefulness of his tenor saxophone seem bound to attract more listeners. In an annex to Sheppard’s liner notes, Dutch bassist Jasper Somsen stresses the compatibility that he and Sheppard felt at their first meeting and then developed in this project and others. They played a series of concerts in The Netherlands and eventually developed this album for the Challenge label. With Somsen, drummer Kendrick Scott and pianist John Beasley in support, the music exudes solidity and creates a sense that just around the next turn of phrase, something interesting and surprising is about to happen. The tantalizing, almost teasing, ending of “Maria’s Tango” is one example. The waltz-time treatment of Rodgers and Hart’s “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” with its compelling Sheppard soprano saxophone line, is another. That piece also provides a superior instance of rhythm section sensitivity in Scott’s, Beasley’s and Somsen’s interactions under Sheppard’s solo, as they adjust to him and one another. Few jazz artists think of the old Ralph Rainger Bob Hope theme song “Thanks For The Memory” as a contemporary ballad choice. The feeling that Sheppard pours into it may make you wonder why they don’t.

Maria Puga Lareo–Mrs. Sheppard–sings unison melody with her husband’s alto sax on his intriguing title tune, which is briefly enhanced by his flute obbligato. Bassist Somsen’s “Above & Beyond” features his bass line swinging flawlessly and opening the way for a Scott drum solo. Sheppard wraps up this satisfying album with understated tenor sax power on his reflective arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing.” As throughout, the rhythm section supports him beautifully.

The man often called the founding father of bossa nova, died today at home in Rio de Janeiro. Joao Gilberto was 88. Along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto pioneered the form that became a phenomenon of popular music in the early 1960s. With varying degrees of authenticity, bossa nova was adapted  by performers around the world. It sprang from traditions of Brazilian music that reached far into Brazil’s history and reflected aspects of American music that in the fifties and sixties was often described as cool jazz. This recording by Gilberto, his wife Astrud, composer-pianist Jobim and tenor saxophonist Stan Getz dominated radio air waves for weeks and is still a favorite today.

For a comprehensive history and obituary of Joao Gilberto, see Ben Ratliff’s article in The New York Times.

 

 

George Cables, I’m All Smiles (High Note)

When George Cables was the pianist in the late saxophonist Art Pepper’s quartet, Pepper gave him a nickname that has endured: “Mr. Beautiful.” Anyone coming to Cables for the first time by way of this superb trio album will have no difficulty understanding what inspired Pepper’s choice of words. Whether in his unaccompanied version of Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood,” or waltzing through the title tune, Cables is at the top of his optimistic game. He is as positive and resourceful as ever, managing to maintain his sunny musical disposition despite having been through a seige of medical setbacks that included the amputation of one of his legs above the knee. Essiet Essiet is the gifted bassist in the trio. His tone and note choices have put him in consistent demand in New York jazz circles. Essiet often teams with drummer Victor Lewis, and they work together beautifully in this collaboration with Cables, the three exploring tunes that will be unfamiliar to many listeners and others that have been neglected or too seldom revived. Among the latter are Jaco Pastorius’s “Three Views Of A Secret” and Freddie Hubbard’s “Thermo.” On the other hand, if you think that “Besame Mucho” has been overdone, the unrestrained joy of Cables’ version may change your mind.