The major fall festivals — Chicago, Guelph, San Francisco — are not on my agenda this year, so why not look ahead with anticipation to 2009?
My friends in the Ottawa area will be interested to note that the SFJAZZ Ensemble is listed on Pollstar as playing the cozy Library & Archives Canada Auditorium on March 1. The collective's site doesn't project beyond the current season yet, but sources on the West Coast tell me that the band will undergo some significant changes for 2009. No word yet, either, on which jazz composer the group will be interpreting next year.
Jazz Chronicles regulars may recall that I was less than enthusiastic about the SFJAZZ Ensemble's debut 2008 performance in Portland last February, when they were interpreting the music of Wayne Shorter. I wish I'd had the chance to catch them again after hearing many good reports from the road. (And, hey, I'll be the first to admit that my reflections on that Portland show were likely coloured by the brilliant set I heard immediately after by Myra Melford's Be Bread Quartet — a show that is still near the top of my list of best concerts of '08.)
Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Herbie At Newport
National Public Radio in the U.S. is now streaming last weekend's performance at the Newport Jazz Festival by Herbie Hancock's River Of Possibilities project.
It's not often that a jazz artist mounts a tour that's as much a set-piece as this band presented. Just about every stop this summer the band opened with Hancock's fusion chestnut "Actual Proof" and ended with an extended, funked-up workout on "Chameleon." In between, guitarist Lionel Loueke got a long solo piece, and singers Sonya Kitchell and Amy Keys had showcase songs. Both times I caught the show, the highlight was a long central section featuring solos by bassist Dave Holland and Hancock on acoustic piano. Unfortunately, that part of the standard set is absent from the Newport performance, but check it out, if for nothing more than the pleasure of hearing Holland playing more Fender bass than he has since leaving Miles Davis in 1970.
It's not often that a jazz artist mounts a tour that's as much a set-piece as this band presented. Just about every stop this summer the band opened with Hancock's fusion chestnut "Actual Proof" and ended with an extended, funked-up workout on "Chameleon." In between, guitarist Lionel Loueke got a long solo piece, and singers Sonya Kitchell and Amy Keys had showcase songs. Both times I caught the show, the highlight was a long central section featuring solos by bassist Dave Holland and Hancock on acoustic piano. Unfortunately, that part of the standard set is absent from the Newport performance, but check it out, if for nothing more than the pleasure of hearing Holland playing more Fender bass than he has since leaving Miles Davis in 1970.
Jerry Wexler
Coming less than a week after the sudden death of Isaac Hayes, Jerry Wexler's demise, at age 91, all but draws the curtain on the great rise of soul music in the 1960s. Along with sound engineer Tom Dowd, Wexler was the architect of so much terrific music from the South.
Of course, Wexler was much more, too. His career – often in concert with the Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun – spanned several decades, and saw him bringing out the best in artists that included Clyde McPhatter, Joe Turner, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Duane Allman, Dr. John, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Esther Phillips and Etta James. More recently, his work included sessions with Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana. And, oh yeah, he signed a little British band called Led Zeppelin.
If you haven't read Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music – co-written by Wexler and David Ritz – it's a must. A compelling look at the rise of Atlantic Records and the life of a guy who was a unique visionary in the music business.
Of course, Wexler was much more, too. His career – often in concert with the Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun – spanned several decades, and saw him bringing out the best in artists that included Clyde McPhatter, Joe Turner, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Duane Allman, Dr. John, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Esther Phillips and Etta James. More recently, his work included sessions with Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana. And, oh yeah, he signed a little British band called Led Zeppelin.
If you haven't read Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music – co-written by Wexler and David Ritz – it's a must. A compelling look at the rise of Atlantic Records and the life of a guy who was a unique visionary in the music business.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Now Spinning
Donny McCaslin Trio: Recommended Tools
The great tenor saxophonist steps up with a tour de force performance in the style of Sonny Rollins' trio recordings. Live to two-track and produced by longtime collaborator Dave Binney, this is a set of 10 songs that demands your full attention.
Joan Jeanrenaud: Strange Toys
For some reason, cellist Joan Jeanrenaud hasn't managed to escape her membership in the Kronos Quartet, even though she's a powerful and unique solo performer. Strange Toys has a nice mix of pieces with her on electronically enhanced cello, as well as collaborations with guests like Paul Dresher and William Winant.
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet: One Dance Alone
On the topic of terrific cellists, Peggy Lee is onboard – along with bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and cornetist Ron Miles – for one of two new recordings Wayne Horvitz has out. Horvitz has an uncanny way of slipping into my subconcious, and this disc is no different.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Isaac Hayes
Sure, he'll always be remembered for the shaved head, the chains, the bad attitude that sold his theme song for Shaft, but Isaac Hayes was largely responsible for shaping the sound of the South in the 1960s. Working with his partner David Porter, Hayes turned out some landmark songs for Sam & Dave – as well as some of the others who recorded for Stax and Atlantic Records – and helped pioneer a sound that was a saltier rival to what Motown was turning out.
Along with James Brown, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and a handful of other high-profile African-American stars of the '60s, Hayes also played a huge role in creating a new, proud image for the black U.S. male. No quarter asked, none given.
Soul man, indeed.
Along with James Brown, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and a handful of other high-profile African-American stars of the '60s, Hayes also played a huge role in creating a new, proud image for the black U.S. male. No quarter asked, none given.
Soul man, indeed.
Newport By Proxy
National Public Radio in the U.S. is streaming extensive programming from this year's Newport Jazz Festival this weekend.
Today, they've posted part of the set by the kind of all-star band that the Newport festival has featured since its inception in the mid-'50s: Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Eric Harland.
[Update] Now that I've listened to it, I can tell you that the set – despite a few technical issues during the opening song – is intense and compelling, particularly Potter's "Ask Me Why."
Today, they've posted part of the set by the kind of all-star band that the Newport festival has featured since its inception in the mid-'50s: Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Eric Harland.
[Update] Now that I've listened to it, I can tell you that the set – despite a few technical issues during the opening song – is intense and compelling, particularly Potter's "Ask Me Why."
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Seasonal Listening
In addition to the Anthony Braxton listening referenced in an earlier post, I've found myself drawn back 15 years to a couple of the first Dave Douglas recordings that caught my ear, and I'm recalling the excitement generated by his fresh voice and expansive musical vision.
His Soul Note debut – Parallel Worlds – includes music by Webern, Brecht/Weill and Ellington, as well as several intense and sprightly originals, and I had forgotten his lovely tribute to Tony Williams on Convergence.
Looking back over those 15 years, it makes perfect sense that Douglas became co-curator of a trumpet festival, because these recordings were really the first wave of a series of exciting new trumpet-led projects, which have included Taylor Ho Bynum, Abram Wilson and Peter Evans.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Summer... So Far
Some musical highlights so far...
Sonny Rollins at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival – After seeing Rollins perhaps a dozen times over the years, I finally caught him on one of those nights (one of those sets, actually) when he seems like he can scale tall buildings. I haven't figured out the cause-and-effect equation yet, but I was happy to experience this in a place where the audience responded with equal passion.
Kathleen Edwards at the Cisco Systems Bluesfest – When someone becomes a "star" it can become difficult to see the transition when you live in the performer's hometown. Appearing on one of the Bluesfest's main stages, Edwards left no doubt why she's now a major concert draw around the world.
Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival – Seven days on tour, playing inside a basketball arena, and this band still plays the hell out of Schneider's gorgeous book of compositions.
And a few highlights within concerts: Including Herbie Hancock's acoustic solo at his performance in Ottawa; Eric Harland's terrific stickwork on his hi-hat during Charles Lloyd's concert in Spain; and the gusto Bettye LaVette brings to the stage.
Sonny Rollins at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival – After seeing Rollins perhaps a dozen times over the years, I finally caught him on one of those nights (one of those sets, actually) when he seems like he can scale tall buildings. I haven't figured out the cause-and-effect equation yet, but I was happy to experience this in a place where the audience responded with equal passion.
Kathleen Edwards at the Cisco Systems Bluesfest – When someone becomes a "star" it can become difficult to see the transition when you live in the performer's hometown. Appearing on one of the Bluesfest's main stages, Edwards left no doubt why she's now a major concert draw around the world.
Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival – Seven days on tour, playing inside a basketball arena, and this band still plays the hell out of Schneider's gorgeous book of compositions.
And a few highlights within concerts: Including Herbie Hancock's acoustic solo at his performance in Ottawa; Eric Harland's terrific stickwork on his hi-hat during Charles Lloyd's concert in Spain; and the gusto Bettye LaVette brings to the stage.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Remembering Jimmy Giuffre
My obit of Jimmy Giuffre is in the current issue of DownBeat (August), but due to space limitations they didn't have room for the original version. For those interested, here it is:
It’s common wisdom that an artist’s influence is directly proportional to his or her exposure. Jimmy Giuffre – who died April 24 at age 86 from complications of Parkinson’s disease – shattered that truism.
Active on the recording scene for a total of just 38 years and unable to play since 1996, the native of Dallas casts a long shadow as a composer, multi-reed player, educator and free thinker. His sphere of influence encompasses big band music, chamber jazz and the avant-garde.
A graduate of North Texas State Teachers College who served as a bandsman in World War II, Giuffre moved to Los Angeles in 1946 to pursue graduate work at UCLA. Instead, he made some important breakthroughs by studying privately for five years with Wesley LaViolette, a specialist in counterpoint and tonal music, and arranging for Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey and Woody Herman. For the latter, in 1947, he created his first significant work when he wrote and arranged “Four Brothers,” a hit that helped revolutionize harmonic writing for reeds. While clarinet had been his principal horn since the age of nine, he earned his keep in California by playing tenor and baritone saxophone in small groups led by Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne and Howard Rumsey. His first manifesto – the 1955 album Tangents In Jazz – eschewed chordal instruments and signaled his desire to write intricately laced chamber jazz that challenged the prevailing tenets of bop.
“Jimmy’s most radical contribution was his use of linear counterpoint and his determination to destroy the dominance of chords,” said pianist Paul Bley.
A series of albums on Atlantic from 1956-58 cemented his reputation as an imaginative composer, and his dominant use of the clarinet’s lower chalumeau register was as distinctive and resonant as Miles Davis’ raspy Harmon mute. His most-successful trio – featuring guitarist Jim Hall and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer – is immortalized in Bert Stern’s film Jazz On A Summer’s Day, playing the folk-influenced “The Train and the River.”
Outwardly mild-mannered, Giuffre sought to break even further away from conventions, and the spark was ignited when he encountered Ornette Coleman in 1959 at the School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachusetts. Giuffre was in his third summer on the faculty and Coleman was in attendance as a special student. Many who saw it – including Gunther Schuller, Dave Brubeck, Perry Robinson and Giuffre’s future wife, Juanita – recall a particular jam session where Giuffre had a breakthrough.
“He got creative,” recalled Coleman, speaking to drummer George Schuller, the producer of the documentary film Music Inn. “He got very creative, and he realized something.”
Energized, within a year Giuffre took the dramatic step of replacing Hall with Bley – like Coleman, a radical thinker newly arrived from California – who subsequently introduced Giuffre to bassist Steve Swallow.
“He was an imposing figure,” recalled Swallow. “It was remarkable at his age to make such a drastic change in his music, to so thoroughly turn his back on what he had been doing and embrace a really challenging and harshly dissonant vocabulary. I think he had occasionally let his true spirit out of the cage before, but with our trio he never looked back.”
While Bley and Swallow agree that the trio’s music – documented on the albums 1961 and Free Fall – found some followers in Europe, audiences and club owners were generally unwilling to accept Giuffre’s conversion to free jazz. After the trio’s final gig in 1961, the three men divided their $1.05 take for the evening at a late-night restaurant called The Hip Bagel and called it quits.
“Jimmy was a very kind, polite man, but inwardly he was a little stubborn,” said pianist Ran Blake, a colleague at Lenox and the New England Conservatory, where Giuffre taught from 1978-96.
“We were all saddened by our failure,” said Swallow. “We were convinced of the historical imperative of what we were doing.”
Disillusioned, Giuffre didn’t record again until 1972, and avoided returning to free music until the trio reunited in 1989. By then, Giuffre’s music had influenced a new generation of fans, including Vancouver-based clarinetist François Houle. “I was looking for mentors and trying to find my voice when I discovered his music,” he said. “It was mind-blowing for 30-year-old music, particularly the way it integrated solos with the overall form. It was a model of democracy at work.”
“We took up where we left off,” said Swallow of the trio’s reunion. “Jimmy’s music continued to evolve. His sense of himself was unshakeable.”
Tragically, while the trio continued to be a popular draw at European jazz festivals in the early ‘90s and recorded several times, Giuffre’s Parkinson’s was advancing.
“The symptoms were clear during our last tour,” recalled Swallow. “Sometimes, miraculously, Jimmy would be able to function well once he got onstage, but the writing was on the wall. It was heartbreaking because he was still growing.”
“He was a rare creature in this business,” said Bley, “a gentleman.”
Asked for a final thought on his friend, Bley turned uncharacteristically sentimental: “Bring him back.”
It’s common wisdom that an artist’s influence is directly proportional to his or her exposure. Jimmy Giuffre – who died April 24 at age 86 from complications of Parkinson’s disease – shattered that truism.
Active on the recording scene for a total of just 38 years and unable to play since 1996, the native of Dallas casts a long shadow as a composer, multi-reed player, educator and free thinker. His sphere of influence encompasses big band music, chamber jazz and the avant-garde.
A graduate of North Texas State Teachers College who served as a bandsman in World War II, Giuffre moved to Los Angeles in 1946 to pursue graduate work at UCLA. Instead, he made some important breakthroughs by studying privately for five years with Wesley LaViolette, a specialist in counterpoint and tonal music, and arranging for Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey and Woody Herman. For the latter, in 1947, he created his first significant work when he wrote and arranged “Four Brothers,” a hit that helped revolutionize harmonic writing for reeds. While clarinet had been his principal horn since the age of nine, he earned his keep in California by playing tenor and baritone saxophone in small groups led by Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne and Howard Rumsey. His first manifesto – the 1955 album Tangents In Jazz – eschewed chordal instruments and signaled his desire to write intricately laced chamber jazz that challenged the prevailing tenets of bop.
“Jimmy’s most radical contribution was his use of linear counterpoint and his determination to destroy the dominance of chords,” said pianist Paul Bley.
A series of albums on Atlantic from 1956-58 cemented his reputation as an imaginative composer, and his dominant use of the clarinet’s lower chalumeau register was as distinctive and resonant as Miles Davis’ raspy Harmon mute. His most-successful trio – featuring guitarist Jim Hall and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer – is immortalized in Bert Stern’s film Jazz On A Summer’s Day, playing the folk-influenced “The Train and the River.”
Outwardly mild-mannered, Giuffre sought to break even further away from conventions, and the spark was ignited when he encountered Ornette Coleman in 1959 at the School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachusetts. Giuffre was in his third summer on the faculty and Coleman was in attendance as a special student. Many who saw it – including Gunther Schuller, Dave Brubeck, Perry Robinson and Giuffre’s future wife, Juanita – recall a particular jam session where Giuffre had a breakthrough.
“He got creative,” recalled Coleman, speaking to drummer George Schuller, the producer of the documentary film Music Inn. “He got very creative, and he realized something.”
Energized, within a year Giuffre took the dramatic step of replacing Hall with Bley – like Coleman, a radical thinker newly arrived from California – who subsequently introduced Giuffre to bassist Steve Swallow.
“He was an imposing figure,” recalled Swallow. “It was remarkable at his age to make such a drastic change in his music, to so thoroughly turn his back on what he had been doing and embrace a really challenging and harshly dissonant vocabulary. I think he had occasionally let his true spirit out of the cage before, but with our trio he never looked back.”
While Bley and Swallow agree that the trio’s music – documented on the albums 1961 and Free Fall – found some followers in Europe, audiences and club owners were generally unwilling to accept Giuffre’s conversion to free jazz. After the trio’s final gig in 1961, the three men divided their $1.05 take for the evening at a late-night restaurant called The Hip Bagel and called it quits.
“Jimmy was a very kind, polite man, but inwardly he was a little stubborn,” said pianist Ran Blake, a colleague at Lenox and the New England Conservatory, where Giuffre taught from 1978-96.
“We were all saddened by our failure,” said Swallow. “We were convinced of the historical imperative of what we were doing.”
Disillusioned, Giuffre didn’t record again until 1972, and avoided returning to free music until the trio reunited in 1989. By then, Giuffre’s music had influenced a new generation of fans, including Vancouver-based clarinetist François Houle. “I was looking for mentors and trying to find my voice when I discovered his music,” he said. “It was mind-blowing for 30-year-old music, particularly the way it integrated solos with the overall form. It was a model of democracy at work.”
“We took up where we left off,” said Swallow of the trio’s reunion. “Jimmy’s music continued to evolve. His sense of himself was unshakeable.”
Tragically, while the trio continued to be a popular draw at European jazz festivals in the early ‘90s and recorded several times, Giuffre’s Parkinson’s was advancing.
“The symptoms were clear during our last tour,” recalled Swallow. “Sometimes, miraculously, Jimmy would be able to function well once he got onstage, but the writing was on the wall. It was heartbreaking because he was still growing.”
“He was a rare creature in this business,” said Bley, “a gentleman.”
Asked for a final thought on his friend, Bley turned uncharacteristically sentimental: “Bring him back.”
Sunday, June 29, 2008
School's Out
It won't be a jazz-free summer by any means—I'm headed to the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival in a couple of weeks—but probably a blog-free summer, barring something pressing and unexpected time on my hands here in the office.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Mighty Maria
Composer and bandleader Maria Schneider dominated yesterday's Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards presentation at The Jazz Standard in New York City. Riding high on the heels of her stunningly beautiful recording Sky Blue, Schneider took home four awards: Record of the Year; Composer of the Year; Arranger of the Year; and Large Ensemble of the Year.
This is the second time that she has walked away with four Jazz Awards statuettes. She first accomplished the feat in 2005, in the wake of her Grammy-winning ArtistShare debut album, Concert In The Garden.
Here's a complete list of this year's winners:
Lifetime Achievement in Jazz
Marian McPartland
Musician of the Year
Herbie Hancock
Up & Coming Musician of the Year
Lionel Loueke
Record of the Year
Sky Blue
Maria Schneider Orchestra
ArtistShare
Reissue/Historical Release of the Year
Cornell 1964
Charles Mingus Sextet
Blue Note
Reissue/Historical Box Set of the Year
A Life In Time: The Roy Haynes Story
Dreyfus Jazz
Record Label of the Year
Blue Note Records
Composer of the Year
Maria Schneider
Arranger of the Year
Maria Schneider
Male Singer of the Year
Andy Bey
Female Singer of the Year
Abbey Lincoln
Latin Jazz Album of the Year
Big Band Urban Folktales
Bobby Sanabria
Jazzheads
Small Ensemble of the Year
Ornette Coleman Quartet/Quintet
Large Ensemble of the Year
Maria Schneider Orchestra
Trumpeter of the Year
Terence Blanchard
Trombonist of the Year
Wycliffe Gordon
Player of Instruments Rare in Jazz
Scott Robinson, reeds/brass/antiques
Alto Sax Player of the Year
Ornette Coleman
Tenor Sax Player of the Year
Sonny Rollins
Soprano Sax Player of the Year
Jane Ira Bloom
Baritone Sax Player of the Year
James Carter
Clarinetist of the Year
Anat Cohen
Flutist of the Year
Nicole Mitchell
Pianist of the Year
Hank Jones
Organ-Keyboards of the Year
Dr. Lonnie Smith
Guitarist of the Year
Bill Frisell
Bassist of the Year
Christian McBride
Electric Bassist of the Year
Steve Swallow
Strings Player of the Year
Regina Carter
Mallets Player of the Year
Joe Locke
Percussionist of the Year
Candido Camero
Drummer of the Year
Roy Haynes
Events Producer of the Year
Patricia Nicholson-Parker, Arts for Art, RUCMA, Vision Festival
Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award
Doug Ramsey, author, biographer, blogger
Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Broadcasting Award
Nancy Wilson, for “Jazz Profiles”
National Public Radio
Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Feature & Review Writing Award
Nate Chinen
New York Time, JazzTimes
Best Periodical Covering Jazz
JazzTimes
Best Website on Jazz
AllAboutJazz.com
Best Book about Jazz
Playing the Changes: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photographs, by Milt Hinton, David G. Berger and Holly Maxson (Vanderbilt University Press)
Lona Foote-Bob Parent Photography Award
Milt Hinton (1910-2000)
Jazz Photo of the Year
“Time Stood Still for Andrew Hill,”
by Laurence Donohue-Greene
http://www.jazzhouse.org/vote/pho08/
The Jazz Journalists Association 2008 Award for the ‘A Team’ Activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz
Dr. Valerie Capers, pianist, composer, emeritus chair of City University of New York Department of Music and Art at Bronx Community College;
Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts;
Lauren Deutsch, photographer and executive director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago;
Susan Muscarella, pianist-composer-arranger-educator, founder of JazzSchool (Berkeley);
Phil Nimmons, clarinetist, improviser, father of Canadian jazz education;
George Russell, conceptualist, composer, orchestra leader, educator (New England Conservatory)
Dick Wang, musician, educator (Univ of Illinois-Chicago), mentor, historian, archivist, co-founder, past president and current board member of the Jazz Institute of Chicago;
Dr. Herb Wong, founder of the Palo Alto jazz alliance and Berkeley public school jazz programs, broadcaster, record producer and annotator, past-president of the International Association of Jazz Educators, spirit of the Monterey Jazz Festival
Wendy Oxenhorn, executive director of the Jazz Foundation of America, founder of Street News, blues harmonica player
Thursday, June 12, 2008
What Makes A Festival Festive?
Although I'm paid three times a year or so to write reviews about jazz festivals, it's seldom the festival itself I review. Whether I'm reporting from New York, Vancouver, Cleveland or Montreal, I try to keep the focus on the music, unless there's something extraordinary about the setting or the crowd that warrants notice. That approach can create confusion. Once, when a festival organizer complained about the bad review I gave his festival, I replied: "It wasn't the 'festival' I was reviewing. I didn't see you onstage playing a saxophone."
Yeah, that was overly glib and facetious, but you get my point.
After helping to run a festival for a few years in the 1980s and attending at least three events a year since 1991, I've developed a few thoughts on what – music aside – separates great festivals from the also-rans. Bear in mind that the Number 1 thing that makes the difference is artistic vision, but let's pretend that all things are equal on that front for the sake of argument. What makes the ideal festival?
As in real estate, location plays a major role. I like urban settings and the ocean, so I'm partial to events in San Francisco, Vancouver and Halifax, but putting that bias aside, festivals that provide the equivalent of a palette-cleansing course at a restaurant are appreciated. In San Francisco, I love the opportunity to walk across the street to the Museum of Modern Art after catching a show at the Yerba Buena Gardens or check out the collection at the Legion of Honor, the great venue that SFJAZZ sometimes uses out by the Golden Gate Bridge. In Vancouver, I dig sitting at an outdoor cafe on Robson Street – people watching in the West End – between shows. Sometimes, this is a question of timing, too. I know only a few people who really enjoy festivals that cram musical acts up against each other; it's nice to have time to process what you just heard.
Food also plays a key role. One of the best festival sites I've been to is in San Jose, California, where, during the festival, Cesar Chavez Square is lined with vendors dispensing a variety of ethnic cuisines. One of my least-favourite festival sites is Victoriaville, where the lack of time between shows combines with the paucity of good restaurants to put me in a bad mood every time. (During the early years of the Guelph Jazz Festival – when critics were still discovering its terrific programming and great setting – my Toronto colleague Mark Miller uttered the immortal line, "This is like Victoriaville, but with better food.") In Ottawa this summer, I'm looking forward to the fact that a local, organic, micro-brewery has won the beverage contract over the big breweries. Later in the summer, I'm making my first trip to the Vitoria festival in Spain, and I'm looking forward to the Basque cuisine almost as much as catching Maria Schneider and Wayne Shorter... almost.
Overall, though, it's that intangible "vibe" that wins me over. It can be sitting in a park – doesn't matter which city – under a beautiful sky, or in a funky old hall with terrific sound; if the vibe is right, everything sounds better.
What about your favorite festivals? Which ones are you partial to? What makes it work for you? Send your picks for where people should head this year as we enter festival season.
Yeah, that was overly glib and facetious, but you get my point.
After helping to run a festival for a few years in the 1980s and attending at least three events a year since 1991, I've developed a few thoughts on what – music aside – separates great festivals from the also-rans. Bear in mind that the Number 1 thing that makes the difference is artistic vision, but let's pretend that all things are equal on that front for the sake of argument. What makes the ideal festival?
As in real estate, location plays a major role. I like urban settings and the ocean, so I'm partial to events in San Francisco, Vancouver and Halifax, but putting that bias aside, festivals that provide the equivalent of a palette-cleansing course at a restaurant are appreciated. In San Francisco, I love the opportunity to walk across the street to the Museum of Modern Art after catching a show at the Yerba Buena Gardens or check out the collection at the Legion of Honor, the great venue that SFJAZZ sometimes uses out by the Golden Gate Bridge. In Vancouver, I dig sitting at an outdoor cafe on Robson Street – people watching in the West End – between shows. Sometimes, this is a question of timing, too. I know only a few people who really enjoy festivals that cram musical acts up against each other; it's nice to have time to process what you just heard.
Food also plays a key role. One of the best festival sites I've been to is in San Jose, California, where, during the festival, Cesar Chavez Square is lined with vendors dispensing a variety of ethnic cuisines. One of my least-favourite festival sites is Victoriaville, where the lack of time between shows combines with the paucity of good restaurants to put me in a bad mood every time. (During the early years of the Guelph Jazz Festival – when critics were still discovering its terrific programming and great setting – my Toronto colleague Mark Miller uttered the immortal line, "This is like Victoriaville, but with better food.") In Ottawa this summer, I'm looking forward to the fact that a local, organic, micro-brewery has won the beverage contract over the big breweries. Later in the summer, I'm making my first trip to the Vitoria festival in Spain, and I'm looking forward to the Basque cuisine almost as much as catching Maria Schneider and Wayne Shorter... almost.
Overall, though, it's that intangible "vibe" that wins me over. It can be sitting in a park – doesn't matter which city – under a beautiful sky, or in a funky old hall with terrific sound; if the vibe is right, everything sounds better.
What about your favorite festivals? Which ones are you partial to? What makes it work for you? Send your picks for where people should head this year as we enter festival season.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Happy Birthday To Us
Two jazz magazines... two anniversaries... two very different approaches. That's what readers of Coda – the venerable Canadian journal of improvised music – and Signal To Noise – an up-and-coming quarterly magazine based in Houston, Texas – have in their hands this month. Coda is marking 50 years of existence, while STN is celebrating 50 issues.
I contribute to both, so I'm not playing favourites, but it's interesting to note the differences in how the publications view their legacies.
The Coda retrospective takes a top-down approach, with lengthy remembrances from founder/former publisher John Norris, former editor Bill Smith and former publisher Nick Pitt. There is no shortage of 'those were the days' stories of how the magazine got its start as a mimeographed-and-stapled collection of reviews, but almost nothing about the legion of writers and photographers who contributed to what Coda grew to be. This is ironic, considering that Smith and his successor, the wonderfully insightful Stuart Broomer, were great advocates for letting journalists have their say. Today, Coda has passed from their hands.
STN publisher – and editor (though he doesn't call himself that on the masthead) – Pete Gershon is cut from the same cloth as Smith and Broomer, but his 50th celebration trumpets that fact, while Coda seems to be trying to re-write history. Rather than continually beat the reader over the head with the difficult realities of running a publication, Gershon lets the writers do what they do. His novel approach to marking his 50 milestone was to ask 50 contributors to submit short descriptions of their most-treasured piece of music-related memorabilia. Simple but effective.
I have edited half-a-dozen or so publications during my career – and continue to do so at a small community paper in the neighbourhood where I grew up – and I've learned that the biggest mistake you can make as an editor is to forget that it's the names on the bylines and not at the top of the masthead that make a magazine or newspaper what it is. It is writers' enthusiasms and voices, and photographers' vision and imagination that readers respond to – regardless of how skillful or dedicated the editor.
I contribute to both, so I'm not playing favourites, but it's interesting to note the differences in how the publications view their legacies.
The Coda retrospective takes a top-down approach, with lengthy remembrances from founder/former publisher John Norris, former editor Bill Smith and former publisher Nick Pitt. There is no shortage of 'those were the days' stories of how the magazine got its start as a mimeographed-and-stapled collection of reviews, but almost nothing about the legion of writers and photographers who contributed to what Coda grew to be. This is ironic, considering that Smith and his successor, the wonderfully insightful Stuart Broomer, were great advocates for letting journalists have their say. Today, Coda has passed from their hands.
STN publisher – and editor (though he doesn't call himself that on the masthead) – Pete Gershon is cut from the same cloth as Smith and Broomer, but his 50th celebration trumpets that fact, while Coda seems to be trying to re-write history. Rather than continually beat the reader over the head with the difficult realities of running a publication, Gershon lets the writers do what they do. His novel approach to marking his 50 milestone was to ask 50 contributors to submit short descriptions of their most-treasured piece of music-related memorabilia. Simple but effective.
I have edited half-a-dozen or so publications during my career – and continue to do so at a small community paper in the neighbourhood where I grew up – and I've learned that the biggest mistake you can make as an editor is to forget that it's the names on the bylines and not at the top of the masthead that make a magazine or newspaper what it is. It is writers' enthusiasms and voices, and photographers' vision and imagination that readers respond to – regardless of how skillful or dedicated the editor.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
RTF v.3.0
With Return To Forever's vaunted reunion tour now in full swing – it kicked off last week in Texas and winds through the summer until early August – I've been thinking about a quirk I have about original lineups. It's no surprise that I like the original configuration of The Mahavishnu Orchestra best (does anyone prefer one of the latter versions?), but I also have a preference for the first incarnation of Weather Report, Genesis, The Allman Brothers Band, The E Street Band (okay, maybe not "Mad Dog" Vinny Lopez) and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
I deviate a little from this pattern with RTF, but only if you're one of those who consider the Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Joe Farrell band RTF. (Their acoustic basis and heavy Brazilian influence make them a whole other category than what followed, once Lenny White and Bill Connors came along.) For me, Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy ranks with The Inner Mounting Flame, Sweetnighter and Head Hunters as an album that defined the fusion genre in the early '70s. Al DiMeola has just never really done it for me, though one of his later recordings – Orange And Blue – is pretty fine.
A few years ago, I got a chance to interview Connors, then 55. I was always curious about why he decided to drop out of RTF after his exceptional work on Hymn and Stanley Clarke's solo debut.
Looking back at his decision, Connors was at a loss to explain it, despite many rumours that Corea's Scientology devotion or leadership manner were at the root. "Maybe I should've just taken a few days off. It (his decision to quit) was a little rash."
He didn't seem like a man to harbour regrets. After all, he's had a full career of recording (including some great work for ECM) and teaching. Still, he also said this: "It hurt when people would tell me that I must've listened to a lot of Al DiMeola. I was robbed of my identity... (it was like) my guitar was a credit card that had been stolen and I'd been left to pay the bill."
While some people I've talked to have expressed regrets that Moreira and Purim aren't involved in this summer's RTF reunion, I'm wishing that Chick had invited Connors along for the ride.
I deviate a little from this pattern with RTF, but only if you're one of those who consider the Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Joe Farrell band RTF. (Their acoustic basis and heavy Brazilian influence make them a whole other category than what followed, once Lenny White and Bill Connors came along.) For me, Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy ranks with The Inner Mounting Flame, Sweetnighter and Head Hunters as an album that defined the fusion genre in the early '70s. Al DiMeola has just never really done it for me, though one of his later recordings – Orange And Blue – is pretty fine.
A few years ago, I got a chance to interview Connors, then 55. I was always curious about why he decided to drop out of RTF after his exceptional work on Hymn and Stanley Clarke's solo debut.
Looking back at his decision, Connors was at a loss to explain it, despite many rumours that Corea's Scientology devotion or leadership manner were at the root. "Maybe I should've just taken a few days off. It (his decision to quit) was a little rash."
He didn't seem like a man to harbour regrets. After all, he's had a full career of recording (including some great work for ECM) and teaching. Still, he also said this: "It hurt when people would tell me that I must've listened to a lot of Al DiMeola. I was robbed of my identity... (it was like) my guitar was a credit card that had been stolen and I'd been left to pay the bill."
While some people I've talked to have expressed regrets that Moreira and Purim aren't involved in this summer's RTF reunion, I'm wishing that Chick had invited Connors along for the ride.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
NEA Jazz Masters
The U.S. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has named the recipients of its 2009 Jazz Masters Award. The winners are: guitarist-singer George Benson, 65; drummer Jimmy Cobb, 79; alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, 80; harmonicist-guitarist Toots Thielmans, 86; and trumpeter Snooky Young, 89. Veteran recording engineer and studio owner Rudy Van Gelder, 83, has been awarded the 2009 A.B. Spellman Award for jazz advocacy.
The criteria for the Jazz Masters Award are excellence, impact and significant contributions to keeping jazz alive.
Clearly, some excellent choices here – particularly the nod to Young, a fine player who is often overlooked because he chose a route other than as a high-profile bandleader. Good to see Cobb and Konitz cited, as well. Van Gelder? A no-brainer.
The odd man out, of course, is Benson – not just for the fact that he's a generation younger than the others, but for the fact that there are dozens of others his age who are arguably as worthy. Does impact merely equate to commercial sales? Does one keep the jazz tradition alive by finding success in the pop mainstream? Benson is, of course, a fine guitarist, but there are a score of instrumentalists his equal. His citation highlights his "innovative practice of playing a florid guitar melody accompanied by an identical, scatted vocal line." Thin gruel there; questionably innovative given how widespread that practice was among blues guitarists and others well before Benson. Perhaps of more significance is one other fact his citation notes: "Winner of ten Grammy Awards." As usual, these things often come down to nothing more than popularity contests.
The winners of the NEA Jazz Masters Award receive a $25,000 grant. The awards will be presented in October in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and will include a performance saluting the artists' work by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
The criteria for the Jazz Masters Award are excellence, impact and significant contributions to keeping jazz alive.
Clearly, some excellent choices here – particularly the nod to Young, a fine player who is often overlooked because he chose a route other than as a high-profile bandleader. Good to see Cobb and Konitz cited, as well. Van Gelder? A no-brainer.
The odd man out, of course, is Benson – not just for the fact that he's a generation younger than the others, but for the fact that there are dozens of others his age who are arguably as worthy. Does impact merely equate to commercial sales? Does one keep the jazz tradition alive by finding success in the pop mainstream? Benson is, of course, a fine guitarist, but there are a score of instrumentalists his equal. His citation highlights his "innovative practice of playing a florid guitar melody accompanied by an identical, scatted vocal line." Thin gruel there; questionably innovative given how widespread that practice was among blues guitarists and others well before Benson. Perhaps of more significance is one other fact his citation notes: "Winner of ten Grammy Awards." As usual, these things often come down to nothing more than popularity contests.
The winners of the NEA Jazz Masters Award receive a $25,000 grant. The awards will be presented in October in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and will include a performance saluting the artists' work by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Dum-de-Dum-Dum, Dum Dum, 1928-2008
Long before I had heard the word "mojo" I knew Ellas McDaniel was working some kind of magic. When I was eight or nine I was fascinated by two things: odd-sounding music and cowboys. So when my cousin pulled out a copy of Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger and put it on his basement record player I was enthralled. First of all, who was called Bo Diddley? No one in my orbit. Second, who in 1962 had heard of a black cowboy? No one who grew up watching Rawhide, Wagon Train and Cheyenne.
And then, there was the sound. Simple, yet spooky. Much darker than the white rockabillies my older brothers favoured, let alone the music on the radio of the day. And that beat. Well, I had heard that on a Buddy Holly record, but who was this guy claiming it as his own, and basing almost every song on it? Something in the audacious minimalism grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Little wonder, then, that The Rolling Stones had me over The Beatles when they covered "Not Fade Away" and then "Mona," or that Bruce Springsteen's "She's The One" has remained one of my favourite of his songs in concert.
So long, Bo. You were one of a kind.
And then, there was the sound. Simple, yet spooky. Much darker than the white rockabillies my older brothers favoured, let alone the music on the radio of the day. And that beat. Well, I had heard that on a Buddy Holly record, but who was this guy claiming it as his own, and basing almost every song on it? Something in the audacious minimalism grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Little wonder, then, that The Rolling Stones had me over The Beatles when they covered "Not Fade Away" and then "Mona," or that Bruce Springsteen's "She's The One" has remained one of my favourite of his songs in concert.
So long, Bo. You were one of a kind.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Best Wishes for Ajay Heble
It was a shock to learn today that Ajay Heble – founder and artistic director of the Guelph Jazz Festival & Colloquium – has suffered a heart attack. One of the most creative festival directors in the world, Ajay has established an enviable record in Guelph, despite the festival's relatively small size. Earlier this spring, he was nominated for a Jazz Award by the Jazz Journalists Association.
Here's the official release on the state of Ajay's health:
(June 4 Update: Ajay is now recuperating at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, after being transferred from Goose Bay.)
Here's the official release on the state of Ajay's health:
GUELPH – Guelph Jazz Festival artistic director Ajay Heble suffered a heart attack Monday during a return flight from Paris where he was attending a conference. He was attended to by physicians and nurses who were on his flight, and the airplane made an emergency landing in Goose Bay, Labrador, where he was transferred to hospital. He is now in stable condition.
Heble's wife Sheila O'Reilly was on the flight with him, as was colleague Bill Brydon of Winnipeg and his wife. All three are with Heble now in Goose Bay.
Michelle Lobkowicz, president of the Guelph Jazz Festival, said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Ajay, Sheila and their two children. We're thankful that he received prompt medical attention and is over the immediate crisis."
Heble is the founder of the Guelph Jazz Festival and has been its artistic director for the past 15 years. He is also a professor of English at the University of Guelph, and the director of a multi-million dollar social research project entitled Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice. It was in regard to the latter project that Heble was in Paris over the previous week.
It's not yet clear when or how Heble will be moved from Goose Bay, for specialized cardiac care closer to his home in Guelph.
With regard to this year's Guelph Jazz Festival, executive director Derek Andrews says that Heble's heart attack is a tremendous shock but adds that this year's lineup of musicians has been largely decided and booked by Heble. The organization was planning to announce the feature artists for the 2008 Festival this week. Although that announcement has been postponed, Andrews says the Festival still plans to unveil the full season lineup in mid-June, even though Heble in all likelihood will not be present.
"We're glad Ajay is safe, and for the time being, his well-being is all we're worrying about," says Andrews. "Our board will meet later in the week to adjust our plans for the three-month Festival run-up period."
(June 4 Update: Ajay is now recuperating at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, after being transferred from Goose Bay.)
Friday, May 23, 2008
Re-discovering Braxton
If you're like me, you probably have chunks of your vinyl collection that you haven't gotten around to replacing with digital copies or updating to reflect re-packaging, re-mastering, etc. For me, it's Anthony Braxton. There were holes in my collection to begin with, largely because my discovery of Braxton coincided with the years when I worked in campus radio and had ready access to a lot of his prime work and ample time to play it. And once you're behind in collecting Braxton, there's a lot of room to make up. So, I've determined to make it a priority for this year.
This was spurred by hearing him talk and play at last fall's Guelph Jazz Festival and Colloquium, and also by the flood of new Braxton releases that have landed on my desk lately. It has been a particularly rich time for Braxton recordings – both current and a few years old. I'm presently reviewing two new Victo releases – featuring his Diamond Curtain Wall Trio and the other his 12+1tet – and on their way to me are a handful of his Black Saint releases and the lauded Quartet (Coventry) 1985 on Leo, which somehow has eluded my listening all these years. I'm looking forward to this with more anticipation than I've felt in a long time.
One thing that strikes me listening to new Braxton is that he has recently employed two of the most-interesting guitarists around: Mary Halvorson and Kevin O'Neil. Both of them play with enormous texture and sonic breadth, and sound quite unlike the prevailing jazz guitarists of the past 15 years.
This was spurred by hearing him talk and play at last fall's Guelph Jazz Festival and Colloquium, and also by the flood of new Braxton releases that have landed on my desk lately. It has been a particularly rich time for Braxton recordings – both current and a few years old. I'm presently reviewing two new Victo releases – featuring his Diamond Curtain Wall Trio and the other his 12+1tet – and on their way to me are a handful of his Black Saint releases and the lauded Quartet (Coventry) 1985 on Leo, which somehow has eluded my listening all these years. I'm looking forward to this with more anticipation than I've felt in a long time.
One thing that strikes me listening to new Braxton is that he has recently employed two of the most-interesting guitarists around: Mary Halvorson and Kevin O'Neil. Both of them play with enormous texture and sonic breadth, and sound quite unlike the prevailing jazz guitarists of the past 15 years.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Join Us In Ottawa
Time to reveal the full plans for three events at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival that I've been working on in my role as vice-president of the Jazz Journalists Association.
Over three days in late June we'll be staging public events over the lunch-hour in the National Arts Centre's Fourth Stage.
A core trio for these events will be myself, veteran jazz journalist Howard Mandel (whose book Miles Ornette Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz was published this year) and Reuben Jackson, who's a poet, journalist and archivist at the Smithsonian Institution.
On June 24, we'll be joined by pianist and educator Andy Milne and Dr. Alan Stanbridge from the University of Toronto to discuss the rich tradition of improvising on popular songs. Whether it's Charlie Parker spinning harmonic magic from "Embraceable You," John Coltrane turning "My Favorite Things" into a dervish dance or Herbie Hancock plumbing the emotional depths of Joni Mitchell's songbook, jazz musicians have long found rich improvisational ground in pop songs. But what is the common ground? We'll discuss. This panel follows a performance by Hancock's all-star band at the festival, so we'll have plenty of fuel. In addition, one of Milne's three(!) recent CDs finds him interpreting music by Mitchell, Neil Young and other contemporary singer-songwriters, and Stanbridge has written frequently on popular music.
The next day, we'll be joined by veteran arts administrator Richard Davis from the Canadian Department of Heritage and others to conduct a workshop on arts journalism. The fundamentals and standards of professional arts journalism remain little understood or discussed in this era when the arts – in particular music – are increasingly available to and commented upon by eager consumers. We're planning to have a wide-ranging discussion of issues of connection and impartiality, reported observation and personal explanation.
Finally, on June 26, we'll be getting warmed up for that evening's performance by Return To Forever by looking back over 40 years of fusion music. Born in 1968, when leading jazz musicians began exploring the sonic possibilities of electric instruments, fusion music dominated jazz in the '70s. Artists like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke and Miroslav Vitous – all of whom will be at this year's Ottawa jazz fest – found new avenues of expression and inspired a generation of young improvisers. We'll be joined by two musicians who were influenced: guitarist Wayne Eagles, who teaches at Carleton University, and pianist Peter Hum, who is the assistant arts and culture editor at the Ottawa Citizen and the author of a terrific blog.
If you're in the area – or especially if you're in town for the festival – I hope you can join us.
Over three days in late June we'll be staging public events over the lunch-hour in the National Arts Centre's Fourth Stage.
A core trio for these events will be myself, veteran jazz journalist Howard Mandel (whose book Miles Ornette Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz was published this year) and Reuben Jackson, who's a poet, journalist and archivist at the Smithsonian Institution.
On June 24, we'll be joined by pianist and educator Andy Milne and Dr. Alan Stanbridge from the University of Toronto to discuss the rich tradition of improvising on popular songs. Whether it's Charlie Parker spinning harmonic magic from "Embraceable You," John Coltrane turning "My Favorite Things" into a dervish dance or Herbie Hancock plumbing the emotional depths of Joni Mitchell's songbook, jazz musicians have long found rich improvisational ground in pop songs. But what is the common ground? We'll discuss. This panel follows a performance by Hancock's all-star band at the festival, so we'll have plenty of fuel. In addition, one of Milne's three(!) recent CDs finds him interpreting music by Mitchell, Neil Young and other contemporary singer-songwriters, and Stanbridge has written frequently on popular music.
The next day, we'll be joined by veteran arts administrator Richard Davis from the Canadian Department of Heritage and others to conduct a workshop on arts journalism. The fundamentals and standards of professional arts journalism remain little understood or discussed in this era when the arts – in particular music – are increasingly available to and commented upon by eager consumers. We're planning to have a wide-ranging discussion of issues of connection and impartiality, reported observation and personal explanation.
Finally, on June 26, we'll be getting warmed up for that evening's performance by Return To Forever by looking back over 40 years of fusion music. Born in 1968, when leading jazz musicians began exploring the sonic possibilities of electric instruments, fusion music dominated jazz in the '70s. Artists like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke and Miroslav Vitous – all of whom will be at this year's Ottawa jazz fest – found new avenues of expression and inspired a generation of young improvisers. We'll be joined by two musicians who were influenced: guitarist Wayne Eagles, who teaches at Carleton University, and pianist Peter Hum, who is the assistant arts and culture editor at the Ottawa Citizen and the author of a terrific blog.
If you're in the area – or especially if you're in town for the festival – I hope you can join us.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Now Spinning
I'm currently pursuing a story about ECM Records, which involves a convoluted interview process with the globe-trotting Manfred Eicher, so the label is much on my mind. Considering ECM, it is always difficult to overlook the monster in its catalogue, Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert, which continues to click along in sales like Kind Of Blue. Jarrett's improvised solo recitals and – more recently – the staggering output of his so-called Standards Trio tend to overshadow the work I first loved: the American Quartet with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, which recorded for ABC in the mid-'70s. I saw them live the same month that I first saw Bruce Springsteen, and both events are seminal for me. As good as Jarrett's solo outings and trio are, I know I'm not alone in wishing that he would compose again.
I think drummer George Schuller is with me on that. A criminally under-appreciated drummer and bandleader, Schuller has just released an homage to Jarrett's quartet. Like Before, Somewhat After features a quintet (with Brad Shepik on guitar, Donny McCaslin, saxes, Dave Ambrosio, bass, and Tom Beckham, vibes, along with percussionist Jamey Haddad on a few tracks) performing five Jarrett compositions and a couple of Schuller originals inspired by the Jarrett four.
Very interesting, and I'm digging the way Schuller takes liberties – particularly on one of my favorites from Jarrett's Fort Yawuh: "De Drums." This is great music that deserves to be re-discovered. Sadly, those original recordings are hard to find. Pick them up if you find them, and hope that they get a proper resurrection sometime soon.
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