James Carter, Present Tense (Emarcy). When he burst onto the jazz scene from Detroit in the early ’90s, Carter’s virtuosity on an arsenal of woodwinds sometimes overrode content in his music. After a three-year recording hiatus, he reappears with no loss of dazzle and with the benefits of self-editing. Carter mixes original compositions and classics. Highlights: the rhythmic intensity of his flute work on Dodo Marmarosa’s “Dodo’s Bounce,” his reflective gospel coda to a speedy baritone saxophone romp through Gigi Gryce’s “Hymn of the Orient,” his bass clarinet evocation of Eric Dolphy on “Bro. Dolphy.”

David Braid Sextet, Zhen (DB). The pianist-composer and five other prominent Canadians 
 stomp with gusto in “Fishers of Men,” create compelling lyricism in “Lydian Sky” and find something new in Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” Braid’s sidemen include bassist Steve Wallace, drummer Terry Clarke and the remarkable saxophonist Mike Murley. Superior small-band music arranged by Braid with ingenuity and wit.

 
Swiss Jazz Orchestra and Jim McNeely, Paul Klee (Mons). Swiss Jazz Orchestra leader George Robert asked McNeely to compose an album’s worth of pieces inspired by Klee’s paintings. “I’ve always loved Klee’s work, so I put a lot of research into his life and his methods and his writings,” McNeely told me recently. The result is eight Klee impressions incorporating the vision and resourcefulness of one of the best living writers of music. They include a conceptualization of Ad Parnassum (seen here) that matches its inspiration’s mystery, allusion and whimsy. To learn more about McNeely, go to All About Jazz for a comprehensive verbatim interview.

Rosa Passos, Romance (Telarc). The greatest mistress of Brazilian song since Elis Regina sings a dozen love songs. Accompanied by small groups of superb musicians from her country, she sustains an air of enchantment and saudade, her small, rich voice simultaneously transmitting innocence and world-weariness.

 Ellis Marsalis, An Open Letter to Thelonious (ELM). If you’re not going to be
swallowed by Thelonious Monk’s mystique, recording a program of Thelonious Monk tunes with a rhythm section and a tenor saxophone requires a strong sense of self. Marsalis has that sense. He doesn’t solo on piano like Monk and he doesn’t comp like Monk behind saxophonist Derek Douget, who does not play like Charlie Rouse. Yet, the two of them, drummer Jason Marsalis and bassist Jason Stewart observe the letter of Monk’s music in the ensembles while accommodating it to their own spirits in their improvisation. Once, in his unaccompanied “‘Round Midnight,” Marsalis offers as a direct tribute an oh-by-the-way Monkish interval of a second. “Jackie-ing,” with its off-beat metre between Marsalis and Douget, is pure joy. I’ve been listening to Marsalis for forty years. I’ve never enjoyed him more than in this recording.

Mark Stryker of The Detroit Free Press sent the following comment about the current DVD in Doug’s Picks:

In honor of your DVD – Sinatra and Peggy Lee. “Ooh.”

Among all the other good things in this clip: Sinatra’s chops. How about that effortless low F at 1:54.

Ooh.  

Please direct your attention to the center column, where under Doug’s Picks you will find new recommendations for three CDs, a DVD and a book.

Every once in a while, news appears to remind us of the extent to which jazz has become an international art form and field of study. For example:

The third annual Romanian Jazz Education Summit will begin July 5, and last until July 10, 2008. All jazz music educators and most Romanian jazz students will attend. As always, the purpose of this summit is to provide intensive/detailed instruction of American jazz education techniques for Romanian educators and students through the assistance of dedicated mostly American jazz educators. The approximately 100 educators and selected performers will meet in the rustic Carpathian village of Jupinesti, away from the numerous distractions of cities like Bucharest.

The Romanian venture has come about largely through the efforts of an American musician and professor named Tom Smith, with a boost from the US embassy and the Fulbright Commission. Perhaps our government has not abandoned cultural diplomacy, after all. To read more, click here.

Rifftides reader Ian Bradley writes:

I have been meaning to write for a while to say how much I enjoy reading Rifftides. I was prompted to write following your two most recent posts on Bill Finegan and Billy Strayhorn. Whilst Glenn Miller’s music is often denigrated in jazz circles – criticised for something it never set out to be – I always thought there was lot in there to listen for.

I was fascinated to read – in David Hajdu’s Strayhorn biography, I think – that Billy Strayhorn had listened to, knew and appreciated all of Finegan’s work for the Miller band. I am sorry to think that only until a couple of days ago, we still had with us the man who created that legendary arrangement of “Little Brown Jug” – and that there existed such friendship between two such great arrangers. Add that I think Bill Finegan tutored and offered much to the young Nelson Riddle and you have the three greatest writers of a time when that sad disjuncture between popular music and jazz, written and improvised work, did not exist–and popular music was all the richer for it. 

( Mr. Bradley blogs at The Record Shows. — DR)

Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington’s creative alter-ego, continues to connect with old audiences and find new ones. His music is for everyone, but it is no surprise
that Strayhorn’s story and songs move the gay community, in which he has become a symbol and icon. The Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles paid tribute to Strayhorn last year near the fortieth anniversary of his death on May 31, 1967. Video of that ninety-minute production is now streaming in full on the internet. The chorus sings Strayhorn’s music with the swing and nuance it deserves.

Alan Broadbaent wrote the choral arrangements and the big band charts, led the band and played piano on some pieces. The rhythm section is Broadbent’s trio with bassist Putter Smith and drummer Clayton Cameron. Saxophonists Gary Foster and Bob Sheppard and trumpeter Steve Hofsteter are among the band members. The guest vocalist, enthusiastically received by the audience, is Tierney Sutton. Among the highlights, despite the distractions of strange pseudo-Fosse choreography, is the trio’s exploration of Strayhorn’s “Upper Manhattan Medical Group.” Jazz listeners will also appreciate Broadbent’s piano accompaniment and arrangement of “Lush Life” for Billy Porter, who narrates the evening and is an effective singer of Strayhorn’s songs.  Click here to go to the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles site, then click on the May 5, 2007 video at the bottom of the screen. Once it is running, double click on the picture to make it full screen. Do this when you have a spare hour and a half to enjoy it.  

Here is a rare and much shorter video of Strayhorn performing his most famous composition with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

 

 

For part of a documentary about Strayhorn, and Ellington’s reaction to his death, go here. If you wish to fully explore Strayhorn’s life and career, read Lush Life, the biography by David Hajdu. Not long after Strayhorn died, Ellington and his band recorded this heartfelt tribute. The CD of Strayhorn compositions is one of the best albums of Ellington’s later career.

Great artists pay homage to Billy Strayhorn’s God-given ability and mastery of his craft. Because he had a rare sensitivity and applied himself to his gifts, he successfully married melody, words and harmony, equating the fitting with happiness. — Duke Ellington

 ‘A’ Train was born without any effort – if was like writing a letter to a friend. — Billy Strayhorn

Bob Brookmeyer sent this message today:

Bill Finegan passed peacefully on today with his son James and his daughter Helen by his side. He was a hero, a dear friend and one of the most gifted arrangers we have ever had. Somewhere an orchestra sounds better.

Finegan was an arranger who gave Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey some of their most
substantial music. In 1952 he and Eddie Sauter formed the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, which was famous for its musicianship, wit and a couple of hits that included its theme song, a panoramic arrangement of “Doodletown Fifers.” At one time or another, the band included musicians of the quality of Nick Travis, Urbie Green, Eddie Bert, Mundell Lowe, George Duvivier, Eddie Costa and Don Lamond. This CD has a cross-section of the band’s work.

Finegan once said, ”From the time the late Eddie Sauter and I started this band, everything went wrong but the music.” To read more, go here.  

Bill Finegan was ninety-one.

Here’s something I’ve been saving for a slow day–that is, a day when I haven’t prepared a new posting. It’s Freddie Hubbard in 1962 at age twenty-four, getting famous with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. To many, this was the Blakey band. It had Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Reggie Workman and Hubbard. Watch for Blakey’s smile when Hubbard tears into the second chorus of his solo with that beautifully placed allusion to “Why Don’t You Do Right?”

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It’s too bad this is cut short after Hubbard, but with YouTube, you take what you get.

If someone wants to play music you do not have to get a ruler or whips to make them practice.–Thelonious Monk.

They would tell me to practice, and they would get on my case, but only because they knew that’s what I wanted to do. They never really did pressure me. They wouldn’t have made me take lessons if my heart wasn’t in it. I was 3 or 4 years old, and I wanted it.–Taylor Eigsti