{"id":4137,"date":"2012-10-23T23:03:59","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T06:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4137"},"modified":"2012-10-24T13:27:47","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T20:27:47","slug":"recent-listening-in-brief-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/10\/recent-listening-in-brief-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening In Brief"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Stacks and boxes of CD review copies surround me, an indication that the music is alive and well or—at any rate—an indication that lots of jazz artists are recording. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good. The bad news is that unless someone discovers a way of listening that is other than sequential, it is impossible to hear and evaluate more than a smattering of those albums. <\/p>\n

Let’s attempt to catch up with a few recent releases. I thought of adopting the Twitter maximum of 140 characters, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably carrying brevity too far. Some recordings may deserve as many as 200 characters.<\/p>\n

Clare Fischer Orchestra<\/strong>: Extension<\/em><\/a> (International Phonograph, Inc.) <\/p>\n

Until recently, the only reissue of this vital 1963 album was an inadequately remastered vinyl disc released in 1984. Following Fischer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death<\/a> early this year, \"\"<\/a>Johnathan Horwich\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s International Phonograph company has restored the music to the luminous sound of the Pacific Jazz original, even improved on it. Fischer specialized in tonal shadings and harmonic subtleties, but also in rhythmic vitality. He melded those qualities in pieces like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ornithardy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Extension\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Canto Africano.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Quiet Dawn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he created a masterpiece of reflective impressionism. The improvising soloists are Fischer, brilliant on piano and organ, and tenor saxophonist Jerry Coker. <\/p>\n

The classy CD package is a miniature of the original double-gatefold LP sleeve, with the extensive liner notes reproduced in readable type size on a removable sheet tucked into the CD pocket. The music is a reminder that with this album, at age 35 Fischer confirmed his place in the ranks of major jazz arrangers and composers. This is a most welcome release. <\/p>\n

Tia Fuller<\/strong>: Angelic Warrior<\/em><\/a> (Mack Avenue) <\/p>\n

Fuller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alto saxophone solo on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body Soul\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and her obbligato in the piece behind guest singer Dianne Reeves typify her growth as an improviser. Her band with pianist sister Shamie Royston, drummer brother-in-law Rudy Royston and lifelong friend Mimi Jones on bass provides the\"\"<\/a> setting for Fuller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s increasingly forthright soloing on alto and soprano——and an outlet for her imaginative writing. Appearances by bassist John Patitucci and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington add sonic and rhythmic interest to the album. The two duet with delight and density on Fuller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrangement combining Cole Porter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So in Love\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All of You.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Elsewhere, Patitucci plays electric piccolo bass, soloing on it like a guitarist. Despite the presence of heavyweight guests, the imagination and aggressiveness of Fuller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing dominate the CD. She, Rudy Royston and Carrington are formidable in an alto-percussion conversation on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cherokee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Joe La Barbera<\/strong>: Silver Streams<\/em><\/a> (Jazz Compass) <\/p>\n

Long after the east-vs-west nonsense of the 1950s and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc60s, much of the jazz establishment still looks the other way, listens the other way, when it comes to music played and recorded on the left coast. Such close-\"\"<\/a>minded listeners—they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t include you, of course—would be well advised to make an exception for this album by a powerful and subtle drummer. It is yet another sleeper by La Barbera, who with trumpeter Clay Jenkins, bassist Tom Warrington and guitarist Larry Koonse founded the Jazz Compass label a few years ago. Jenkins, Warrington, saxophonist Bob Sheppard and pianist Bill Cunliffe join La Barbera in a collection that contains a stunning version of Scott LaFaro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jade Visions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In it, the leader displays the lacy cymbal work that has been one of the joys of his music from his days with Bill Evans. Cunliffe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s title tune, structured like a suite, opens for mutual improvisation as well as solos by all hands. Further highlights: the quintet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s takes on Steve Swallow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quirky \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bite Your Grandmother\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Elvin Jones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153E.J.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Blues.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Carol Vasquez<\/strong>: I Have Dreamed<\/em> <\/a>(Carol Vasquez Music) <\/p>\n

Vasquez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s classical training and musical theater background are apparent in her phrasing, diction and clarity of intonation. She imparts cabaret intimacy to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Safe and Warm,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with its insinuating guitar accompaniment by\"\"<\/a> Charlie Hunter, and to Bill Evans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s harmonically challenging \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Remembering the Rain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She swings nicely in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Song is You,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d expresses the heartbreak of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blame it on My Youth\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and captures the longing of Curtis Lewis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Night Long.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The canny arrangements and piano accompaniment are by Jan Stevens, who in his internet life is the proprietor of The Bill Evans Webpages<\/em><\/a>. The repertoire is eleven standard songs of generations from Cole Porter to Stevie Wonder plus \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On My Way to Love\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Stevens and Vasquez, which has standard potential. <\/p>\n

Duke Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s My People:The Complete Show<\/em><\/em><\/a> (Storyville)
\nDuke Ellington:<\/strong> The Treasury Shows, Vol. 16<\/em><\/a> (Storyville)<\/p>\n

Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music is replete with African-American themes, but he made only one overtly angry statement about racial injustice, a powerful one. \"\"<\/a>He composed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153King Fit the Battle of Alabam\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as a centerpiece of My People<\/em>, the tribute to black Americans that he wrote, produced and directed in Chicago in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement. Taped during the run of the show but never released in its entirety until now, the original cast recording features singers Jimmy Grissom, Joya Sherill and Lil Greenwood, a chorus, and an orchestra led by Jimmy Jones that includes members of Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s band. Ray Nance, Bill Berry, Booty Wood, Bob Freedman, Harold Ashby, Louie Bellson and Russell Procope are among the soloists. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Come Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and variations on it run through the production, there are strains of the blues and allusions to Black, Brown and Beige. But at the end, what lingers is the rage when the chorus sings \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Martin—Luther—King—fit the battle of—bam—bam—bam!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the band follows in a round of solos saturated with the energy of positive indignation. <\/p>\n

Simultaneous with My People<\/em>, Storyville released the most recent of the apparently endless series of Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 1945-46 radio broadcasts for the Treasury Department, inspiring Americans to buy war bonds, then victory bonds. The series amounts to an audio album capturing the Ellington band\"\"<\/a> still populated by some of its biggest stars, including Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton and Cat Anderson. The two-CD set has a few rarities; an early version of the Carney baritone sax feature \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Frustration,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s composition \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jennie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the incandescent vocalist Kay Davis singing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dancing in the Dark,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the premier of Hodges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Crosstown,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Billy Strayhorn on piano backing Hodges in Strayhorn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Passion Flower.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In several solos, Al Sears acquits himself well in one of the toughest assignments in jazz, as Ben Webster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s successor on tenor saxophone. The set has a few bonus flashbacks to broadcasts of the 1943 edition of the band, when Webster, Shorty Baker and Taft Jordan were still aboard. <\/p>\n

Just for fun, let’s go out with a bonus of our own. Here’s a piece from a later Ellington Treasury broadcast. He was still doing his patriotic duty in 1951. The introduction is by Willis Conover. <\/p>\n