By admin | February 26, 2010
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
From ESP-Disk’:
ESP-Disk’, after 45 years of presenting sounds like you’ve never heard before, now has a storefront to offer them directly to you. Our dedicated store staff started by sawing shelves and painting the front of our offices. Then they dug through collections to find the finest in rare ESP vinyls, obscure avant-jazz and the best in new music. All laid out lovingly for you to drool, dream and buy and own.
ESP Records
990 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205
G Train to Bedford/Nostrand
New Expanded Store Hours:
Starting tomorrow Sat Feb 27th!
| Saturday |
12:00 PM - 8:00 PM |
| Sunday |
12:00 PM - 6:00 PM |
| Monday |
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM |
| Tuesday |
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM |
| Wednesday |
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM |
| Thursday |
11:00 AM - 9:00 PM |
| Friday |
11:00 AM - 9:00 PM |
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By admin | February 26, 2010
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
Part of the Portland Jazz Festival, Rogue Ales is hosting three shows this week at their NW Portland location. Kicking off the three nights of live jazz, Portlanders were treated with a great show by Devin Phillips last night. If you are from Portland and do not know who Mr. Phillips is shame on you. Unfortunately, this pub is very unfriendly for live performances. Most of the guests who sat close to the bandstand could care less if there was a live jazz act or not — not to mention barely any standing room. But there were a few of ecstatic individuals (I being one of them) who were happy to be there, squeezing into awkward spots to see the drummer nail some killer grooves, or the bassist perform some crazy licks. Here’s a couple of photos, pretty much the only two out of many worth showing. I wish I had my SLR, these low light environments are awful for point shoots — at least mine.
Devin Phillips will be performing at Jimmy Maks on March 26th for those who’d like to see Portland’s best local jazz performer.
Below are some photos by Fran Kaufman. Check out the PDX Jazz Fest’s own Photostream.
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By admin | February 26, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
It’s stream of consciousness time here at Jazz Note. I am digesting a little new music by Noah Preminger, John Surman, Dave King, and Tom Varner. But I am not ready to post on any of that. Instead, I feel like returning to a handful of occasional them and letting them bleed into one another.
First: jazz solos and duets. Solo albums are the jazz version of a dry martini joke. Pour in the gin, whisper “vermouth,” over the angled glass and push it across the mahogany. If a jazz man isn’t playing the piano or recording multiple tracks, it’s hard to lay down anything for the listener to glide on. Only the raw ideas are expressed, leaving the listener to supply his or her own blues and swing. For that reason the solo recording can be as rewarding as it is demanding. You ain’t gonna make it rich that way.
Here’s an example of Steve Lacy playing Monk’s ‘Evidence’. Lacy is an avant garde master who was devoted to the soprano sax exclusively and Monk, well, a whole lot. The recording is from a relatively obscure album, the obscurity being no mystery. But I think you will dig it if you give it a chance. You are nowhere but in the horn on this one.
Steve Lacy/Evidence/5 X Monk 5 X Lacy
The duet can be as laconic as the solo even when a piano is included, especially if the piano player is Mal Waldron. Lacy and Waldron recorded a lot of records together and everyone of them is a work of dynamic genius.
Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron/Epistrophy/At the Bimhuis 1982
This is distilled love: Lacy and Waldron for one another and both for Monk. Waldron plays with a percussive style, just as Monk did; but no one would mistake Waldron for Monk here. I love how the piano’s insistent beating constantly invites the next note from Lacy’s horn.
Another horn/piano duet that probably isn’t on your iPod is Chris Potter and Kenny Werner’s album. I don’t know Werner, but I don’t think of avant garde when I think of Chris Potter. This treatment of the same song as above is altogether different: faster and fuller in sound. I like it a lot.
Chris Potter and Kenny Werner/Epistrophy/Concord Duo Series, Vol. 10
All of that gives you a pretty good idea of what a jazz solo and duo can do with a Monk tune. But I can’t let this one go without a fuller treatment for contrast. In 1964 Monk recorded a live album at the It Club in San Francisco. I only picked it up recently, but it is a four star document. Charlie Rouse plays tenor, Larry Gales bass, and Ben Riley drums. Wow is this double CD good!
Thelonious Monk/Evidence/Live at the It Club
And here is a little inside information from yours truly. Over the course of several decades I have majored in philosophy and minored in jazz. Both of these courses of study have allowed me to fall in love with other men, with no exchange of bodily fluids. Infection nonetheless occurred. I have been in love with Plato for a long time, and with Thelonious Monk for a good ten years. Listening to the It Club recording meant falling in love all over again.
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By admin | February 24, 2010
Submitted by Secret Society
Secret Society is moving.
Our new URL is:
http://www.secretsocietymusic.org
We kindly request that you update your bookmarks and links.
The new RSS feed is:
http://www.secretsocietymusic.org/darcy_james_argues_secret/rss.xml
No redesign, just a long-overdue URL change. The previous address was owned by our blog hosting software, but secretsocietymusic.org is our own domain, and will remain stable regardless of whatever might happen behind the scenes.
We also have a new email address: info@secretsocietymusic.org. If you are a subscriber to the Secret Society News-Letter, you might want to add that to your Address Book.
Speaking of which, the latest edition of the News-Letter is now out — you can read it here, or get it delivered to your inbox.
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By admin | February 22, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
In case there are any anxious and irritated music industry executives reading this blog, here’s how it works. I am in my kitchen, cleaning up the mess I made cooking burritos. I boiled the beef chuck in a crock pot for about six hours, then shredded and fried it, then reconstituted it with the bullion from the crock… Well, never mind that. Lots of pots and pans to load into the Kitchen Aid. I dock my iPod and listen to Ken Laster’s most recent
In the Groove podcast.
Then the piano starts, followed by a drum solo. I am half listening, half scraping. My beagle is very interested in what I am doing. Then the horns and piano come back in. It does that avant garde thing to me. I start dancing in the kitchen like the Frankenstein monster trying to take his first steps. Picture the monster with an aluminum bowl in one hand and a scouring pad in the the other, with a dog at his feet. The horn has me in its possession.
I keep listening and cleaning until Ken comes on and identifies the album. It is Perennial, by the Rob Garcia 4. As soon as I have that bit of information, I walk briskly and un-Frankenstein-like to my study. I sit down and purchase the album. That, dear record company executive, is how this works.
Perennial is very fine jazz. Garcia plays drums. Noah Preminger’s tenor is pied piper mesmerizing. Dan Tepfer’s piano is exquisite. Chris Lightcap plays a fine bass. Jazz is alive in New York. Keep it alive by buying this record. Here is a cut:
Perennial
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By admin | February 21, 2010
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
On Friday, Portland was treated with a great performance by JFJO. I was busy, out an about all day and arrived unprepared. No notebook, no camera. The group sounded great. They played two sets (I was only able to stay for the first), which consisted of three songs from “One Day In Brooklyn,” a few brand new songs for upcoming releases, and a couple of tunes from prior releases.
They sounded even better in person then on record. Fierce improvised solos, amazing technicality — while still not seeming like a robot, and a wonderful tightness with timing and flow of compositions. Overall, lots of energy and just fantastic musicianship. I’ll look forward to future shows, hopefully they’ll pop through Portland again during the summer after their June release. And I’ll try to be more prepared to document it. They also mentioned a new 7″ coming out in April for National Record Store day. Look for that as well.
If anyone who happens to pass by this post, and knows of/has any photo documentation of the show on 2/19 /10 at Mississippi Studios, I’d love to see if willing to share.
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By admin | February 20, 2010
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
Here is a document that I put together with scale options for Major seventh chords.
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By admin | February 19, 2010
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
I love doing this each year. Planning the few events in advance to partake in. And then I get all anxious about it. Here’s my list of events to attend. Related Post.
1. Rogue Ales Public House is hosting a handful of
local acts this year. I can’t remember if they’ve done
this in the past, but I know they are a good sponsor and support the fest with their Jazz Guy Ale each year — this year showcasing PDX Jazz’s Artistic Director, Bill Royston. I’ll be catching Devin Phillips there on Thursday, 2/25 at 9pm. I had seen him almost three years ago at the Bite Festival. He was playing with a vocalist (which I don’t remember her name — and that was the second time I had seen her). Needless to say, Phillips was exciting, the vocalist not so much.
2. Next up, I’m going to run home after work, get changed, grab one of my Impulse Pharoah Sanders LPs (in hopes of a handshake and signature) and bask in the wonderful conversation going on at the Art Bar. That’s Saturday, 2/27 at 6:30pm.
3. And Closing out the Fest on Sunday, 2/28 at 3pm, I will be there to see Mr. Sanders perform with his quartet. Which features Justin Faulkner on drums, Hans Glawischnig on bass, and William Henderson on piano. As far as I know, tickets are still available, but this is the last leg here.
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By admin | February 18, 2010
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
For those of you here in Portland who are able to check out this blog, I’d like to remind you that JFJO will be performing tomorrow night at Mississippi Studios. Doors open at 8pm. It should be a solid performance, and if you are aching to see some live jazz and need a little teaser before the epic Portland Jazz Festival, maybe this is the show for you.
Yesterday, to get myself pumped up, I spent a great deal of time watching some videos available on their site. Particularly, one that stood out was of the group playing Fables of Faubus – and playing it really good.
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By admin | February 18, 2010
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
Here are some exercises that I have my students do to correct the most common technical problem- fingers that fly off of the keys. In order to play fast and clean while staying relaxed the fingers must stay low to the keys. Lifting fingers too high can even cause carpal tunnel syndrome because the hands have to tense up in order to move the fingers so far. Some rare players can somehow play very fast and clean while lifting their fingers off of the keys very high, but these people are the exception.
Working on these exercises until your fingers stay right on the keys can really help with tension in the whole body, because if the hands are locked up, the rest of the body will follow.
Technical exercises to correct finger motion
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By admin | February 17, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
One of my frequent pet peeves is the unavailable status of so many jazz CDs. I understand that some CDs sell only a few hundred or even a few dozen copies, and that it doesn’t make economic sense to print more of them. But how much can it cost to make a copy available on iTunes or eMusic or CD Universe or Amazon? Surely at some point it becomes virtually free to distribute, and a few pennies here or there is better than nothing. But of these venues, only eMusic has a really rich collection of otherwise unavailable jazz.
On the other hand, it is exciting to find something rare that one is looking for. One example of a CD that I spent a lot of time tracking down is Arthur Blythe’s Night Song. Blythe’s alto has been pretty well represented on the pages of this blog. His 1978 magnum opus, Lenox Avenue Breakdown, wasn’t all that easy to find when I first went looking for it. It’s one of the great statements of avant garde jazz. But on eMusic was able to get superb slices of Blythe: Focus, Blythe Bite, Retrospection, and three Chico Freeman albums prominently featuring Blythe: Luminous, The Unspoken Word, and Focus. All of these are fine documents.
But Night Song, which I set after due to the four star rating in the Penguin Guide, eluded me until now. I finally did find a used copy for a reasonable price from one of Amazon’s independent vendors. In fairness, there are reasons for the obscurity of the disc. The label, Clarity Recordings, is obscure enough. The insert art looks like it was produced by a Bible Bookstore publisher.
One of the things that Blythe likes is to put a lot of unusual percussion instruments behind him. This gives his music a pronounced African flavor, but island African more than mainland African. This is pretty evident on his Focus, which is one of my favorite albums. His fanciful moods are somewhat reminiscent of Wayne Shorter’s compositions, but again more voodoo than Dracula’s castle.
Night Song was recorded at the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley (where else?) in 1996. Bob Stewart plays tuba, Gust Tsillis marimba and vibes, and Chico Freeman, God bless him, is there on bass clarinet and percussion. Also on percussion are Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Josh Jones, and David Frazier. The liner notes are grand, including an interview with Blythe and Freeman. I am tempted to drop the whole damn thing in my drop box, but I will resist the temptation. But here are three good samples. If you like them, demand the whole thing from your favorite vendor. And pick up the above mentioned discs. You won’t regret getting to know Arthur Blythe.
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By admin | February 17, 2010
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
This is a study to illustrate the use of pentatonics to side-slip chromatically over Impressions changes. Over the minor seventh chord a major pentatonic from the flat third is used as the starting point. Then the pentatonic moves up or down a half-step to a pentatonic scale that is
outside the key, then back to the inside pentatonic.
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By admin | February 16, 2010
Submitted by this SHAPE OF JAZZ
I just had to share this video. It really gets the heart rate up. Nothing quite beats this AEOC composition for me. Any punk rocker has nothing on these guys, this is real rock and roll!
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By admin | February 16, 2010
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
I put together a document that details 26 different scale options that work over dominant chords. All of the usual scale choices are here, along with many that are much less commonly used by Jazz improvisers. Some of the less common choices obviously do not fit as neatly as the more standard choices, but they can offer the player quite interesting and exotic scale options.
Let me know if you have any ideas for additions to this document, which is by no means exhaustive.
(click on each page for a full page image)
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By admin | February 12, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
The three box sets of John’s Coltrane’s Prestige recordings are treasure troves for jazz fans. The largest and best by far is Fearless Leader. If you have that one, you have most of Trane’s early albums as leader. Side Steps and Interplay contain Trane’s work as a side man and double listed albums, respectively.
Tonight I have been listening to Interplay, which just arrived in the mail. Two of the sessions included in the box were one that I have been long familiar with. I had a double LP that included Cats, with Tommy Flanagan as leader, and Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane. I think that the former, like Flanagan’s piano, has always been unfairly reviewed. Flanagan was all heart, and he was a great partner behind a lot of Kenny Burrell recordings. Here is one that has long been a favorite of mine. Burrell is here, along with Idrees Sulieman on trumpet, Doug Watkins on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. It was recorded in 1959, which might have been the single most magnificent year in the history of jazz.
Minor Mishap
A recording I didn’t have was Cattin’ with Coltrane and Quinichette. I don’t know Paul Quinichette. I think that the interplay between the two tenors is well worth listening to. The incomparable Mal Waldron is on piano, Julian Euell on bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums. Here is a sample:
Vodka
It is interesting to note something about the metaphysics of jazz criticism. Both of these recordings are solid jazz, and if they had been recorded by some minor league daimon of jazz, they would be justly praised. But because Trane is playing on them they get compared to the Genesis and Romans of his old and new testaments, and are found wanting. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s just interesting. If you are a Coltranist, as I surely am, you want to know the whole Bible.
I am thinking about listening to the Trane corpus chronologically, and posting on that experience. No promises, but if I do it you can read about it here.
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By admin | February 10, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
Last Sunday I had the chance to roam around Sioux Falls, and stopped at the Last Chance CD Shop. Or was it the Last Stop? Anyway, it was one of those rare places trading in used pieces of circular plastic pregnant with signal: CDs, DVDs, and video games.
I didn’t expect much, so I was pleasantly surprised to find cheap copies of Sam Rivers’ Dimensions and Extensions, and Wayne Shorter’s Footprints Live!. I am still not sure about Rivers, a substantial figure in avant garde jazz.
I am a little bit embarrassed to admit that I didn’t already own a copy of
Footprints Live!, claiming as I do the post of high priest in the cult of Shorter. See my
Guide to Wayne Shorter and
Guide to Wayne Shorter 2. The links to the samples don’t work yet, as I haven’t replaced them with drop.box files. I’ll try to get to that this week.
Anyway, I drove back to Aberdeen through a nightmarish snow and the next day was a snow day. Instead of teaching class, I found myself in my study at home, listing to Shorter’s 2001 show. The music blended perfectly with the shadows in the room and the whiteout conditions visible through my window. It gave me the same warm feeling deep down where I live that the cup of hot tea was giving my belly (deep down where I live). Both Wayne and his music still make that essential offer: common, he said, I’ll give ya shelter from the storm.
Footprints Live! is a wonderful recording. Danilo Perez plays piano. I don’t know him, musically speaking. But I know and have blogged on John Patitucci who plays bass, and I know Brian Blade. The band is exquisite, laying down a subtle and deeply sensitive background for Wayne’s playing. The old man, meanwhile, has that heart that lives in a horn. Every line is a meditation on some romantic and more or less supernatural landscape in his Gothic imagination. Two of my favorite Shorter compositions are on it: ‘Footprints’, of course, and ‘Juju’.
There is also a tribute to
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. For anyone who doesn’t know, Suu is the hero of the Burmese Democracy movement. Burma suffers under one of the worst gangster regimes. Suu has been under house arrest for decades, and goes for long periods without outside contacts. She is also a Buddhist, which is probably among the reasons that Shorter and I were drawn to her. At her website you will find the admonition: “please use your liberty to promote ours.” There are worse things than slick roads and poor visibility.
Here is Wayne’s tribute:
Aung San Suu Kyi
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By admin | February 7, 2010
Submitted by X… Y… Jazz
Recently a piano student of mine emailed me for some encouragement. He asked me “I was wondering what you do when you don’t like the way you sound on the piano?” This is definitively a question that most students have but few dare to ask. It’s a good question for several reasons the most important of which I believe is that it goes to the heart of the reason why a musician makes music. It also says a lot about this student’s attention to the process of becoming an accomplished musician.
There is a paradoxical nature to the pursuit of educating one’s self to be a creative musician. When we’re young many of us look at great jazz musicians and assume that the mind-blowing, creative sounds coming out of their instruments are being created entirely in the moment. Jazz, when it’s really happening is so spontaneous, exciting, and off-the-cuff that it seems as if it is literally bursting out of the air molecules. For me the sign of maturity in a developing player is when they give up trying to be completely breath-takingly in the moment and develop an appreciation for the craft of being a musician. They begin to distill their creative musical ideas and work them over and over again refining both their ideas and the execution of their ideas. At this level of artistic evolution a student looks up to their mentors not only as “geniuses” but also as craftsmen (craftspeople?) and develops an appreciation for the refinement and taste that exudes in their playing. However the pursuit of the craft of music inevitably takes us through the thoroughfares of drudgery. The hours of practicing some very non-creative things as a way of unlocking our creativity seems paradoxical and it becomes easy to lose the energy and inspiration that initially was driven by this perceived spontaneity.
Acquiring the skills of a master can take a lot longer than we had initially hoped. Our practicing can seem even futile. It’s almost as if we got up every day, stood in front of the mirror and tried to “will” our hair to grow. This would be a depressing way of growing one’s hair and yet for many students (myself included) it becomes part of our process of developing our skills as a musician. It would be silly for any of us to obsessively wish we were at a different hair-length since worrying about it would have no effect on the process that is already occurring at its own rate. (incidentally we all grow hair at different speeds!) Hair length is also neither good nor bad. It’s just shorter or longer. This is the same for our development as musicians. We are all developing at our own rates and it only serves to inhibit our development to use our limited energy judging ourselves.
Once when I took a lesson with Fred Hersch I asked a similar question to him. I don’t remember exactly the words I used but I intimated the sentiment that I was often over-whelmed by the prospects of playing solo piano. Fred’s answer was: “When you’re playing music use what you know, not what you don’t know”. Over-simplistic as it seems this answer is profound because it requires one to be completely honest about what one “knows”. This honesty is, in my experience, not very common and is what distinguishes the wheat from the chaff in terms of artistic integrity. Artistic intentions become quite transparent when it is clear that a musician is playing something that they don’t grasp. It’s innocent I know but it has the overall effect on the listener as music that is trying to be something that it is not; music that is perhaps trying to impress the listener by approximating something else rather than being simple and honest and what it is.
Younger players are often mired in judgmental decisions about the “hipness” of what they play. In the case of my student I find it heartening that he is perhaps beginning to dig deeper for a meaning to what he plays. As long as this feeling doesn’t turn into obsessive self-loathing this question is an acknowledgment of the deeper sometimes darker places within that must be faced with courage and honesty as part of the process of becoming a musician.
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By admin | February 7, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
Last October
I posted a review of Tom Varner’s
The Window Up Above: American Songs 1770-1998. Varner channels avant garde jazz through the French horn, which might be illegal in some states. His songbook is full of rich interpretations of traditional American melodies that accomplish the basic purpose of avant garde: expanding the original genius of the music along hitherto unsuspected dimensions. It is a magnificent album.
I didn’t notice until recently that Tom himself left a comment to that post:
thank you! got a new one out, too–you’d like it— a tentet, “Heaven and Hell” www.omnitone.com/heavenandhell has lots of info—- thanks for the listen, ken! best tom varner
I was excited and flattered to see this gracious comment. This is the first time that a jazz artist has responded to one of my reviews. I thought it only reasonable that I should obtain Varner’s new CD, so I ordered it from Amazon, along with the new Dave King recording (free shipping!) that reader Will mentioned. If I haven’t accomplished anything else with this blog, I am selling music to myself.
Tonight I have been listening to Varner’s The Mystery of Compassion. It is a delightful production from ink to beat. I love the cover and the album title. The list of song titles turns the music into a series of Zen koans: ‘How Does Power Work?’, ‘Death at the Right Time’, ‘$1000 Hat’. The music ranges from solid bop to intense avant garde wailing. Tom is no ordinary composer.
Here’s my favorite cut:
Tom Varner/Fool’s Oasis/The Mystery of Compassion
You can get it for few dimes from eMusic. Tell ‘em I sent ya. I’ll let you know about Heaven and Hell when it gets here.
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By admin | February 7, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
My father passed away on January 27th. As a practitioner of Zen Buddhism, I suppose I will have to begin celebrating that day in the future, as that is what Buddhists generally do. There is a kind of appealing symmetry in replacing the birthday with the day of passing.
My father had enormous reserves of good humor, love, and devotion. He served in the Pacific in World War II, along with three of his brothers. One of these heroes of the Republic, my Uncle Bill, did not make it back. Dad lived life on his own terms. He was one of those people who genuinely liked nearly everyone he met, and as a result everyone who knew him was better off for it. Dad was not a jazz fan. In fact, he had a tin ear. But he would have been amused to know that I am eulogizing him on this blog.
It only occurred to me tonight that Dad was born a couple of months after the great bop piano player Red Garland. So I decided to offer this post on Garland and John Coltrane in my father’s honor. Garland was part of one of the most famous rhythm sections in modern jazz, playing behind Miles Davis and John Coltrane in Miles’ first great quintet. He recorded a number of fine albums as leader, including four with Coltrane: High Pressure, Dig It!, Soul Junction, and All Morning Long.
Here is a sample from the last in the list. Donald Byrd plays trumpet, George Joyner bass, and Art Taylor drums. It is a bit longer than the samples I usually include, but this is a special post. This recording was made, as it happens, a few months after yours truly arrived on the scene.
Red Garland Quintet/All Morning Long
My readers will know that I offer these samples to illustrate my criticism and to encourage them to obtain the recordings. My old file sharing service, drop.io, expired without warning and I have switched to a new one,
dropbox. Unfortunately, all the older links are now useless.
But here is a very useful tip: the above recordings are part of a box set of Coltrane recordings,
Side Steps. You can get this collection of Trane’s work as a sideman very cheaply from two sources. One is eMusic. The other is
Hastings, which is letting it go for $19.99. That is a
steal. Pick it up at Hastings. You get the booklet and photos.
And here is another offering from a Coltrane box set: The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings. It is from the album First Meditations, recorded in 1965 (John Coltrane (ss, ts) McCoy Tyner (p) Jimmy Garrison (b) Elvin Jones (d)). Again, in my Father’s honor:
Love
So the Zen patriarch was watching a flock of ducks fly overhead. After they were gone he turned to a monk and asked: “What happened to the flippin’ ducks?” The monk answered “they have flown away.” The patriarch reached over and twisted the monk’s nose good and hard. “Shit!,” he cried, “why did you do that?” The old man replied: “how could they possibly have flown away?”
Commentary: the only ducks that there ever are are the ducks that are here. There is no such thing as a duck that has flown away.
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By admin | February 3, 2010
Submitted by Secret Society
Our next NYC hit is Tuesday, March 23 at Jazz Standard, as part of the New York-based celebrations surrounding the 40th anniversary of my alma mater’s jazz program. It is great to be a part of this — many of my most important musical/personal relationships began at NEC. In fact, that is where I first met and started working with Secret Society co-conspirators Josh Sinton and Sebastian Noelle. This will also be our first gig at Jazz Standard. It’s a pretty sweet room for bigbands — I have vivid memories of mind-blowing shows there by Maria Schneider’s Orchestra and John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble — and we are definitely looking forward to our own debut on that stage.
Of course, before this whole NEC-in-NYC shebang rolls in, the band is heading up to Boston for a gig at the Regattabar on February 25. Tickets are currently on sale for the 7:30 PM set — if, ahem, “demand warrants,” the club will add a second show at 10 PM, so the Society encourages our Boston-area partisans to buy early and, ideally, often.
Both the Regattabar and Jazz Standard performances will feature the return of some of our favorite guest co-conspirators, saxophonists John Ellis and Marc Phaneuf. Also joining the lineup for our Home game on March 23 is the unstoppable Ben Kono.
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By admin | February 1, 2010
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
Hello again, Tim Price here for Rico Reeds. I thought I might discuss some unique and important music played by Charlie Mariano and friends.
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady— Charles Mingus’s 1963 recording was wake-up call to jazz- - a lesson in alto saxophone expression by Charlie Mariano. Even so, today, in listening to that, one wonders why Mariano was not given his proper place in jazz he deserved-he played in a style derived from the mainstream of jazz’s development with constantly expanding horizons. Externally, Charlie’s style bore the marks of modern jazz in terms of melody, harmony, rhythm, and phrasing. His was a wholly romantic art. Charlie Mariano was always able to convey emotional depth via all musical elements.The real thumbprint of a jazz innovator!
His playing was always utterly spontaneous, and his resultant open ended saxophone sound is the stuff of which great jazz, and music without boundary’s is made.
As Mariano’s world opened while living in Europe his music became a pastiche of Indian, Japanese and other indigenous musics. Through his life Charlie would continue to combine musical genres; his interest in world music never abated. Elements of these music’s inevitably found their way into his compositions and performances, as, a characteristic celebration of his musical diversity. Musicians from other cultures sought him out as a mentor and voice to add the elements they heard in their music.
Here is a stunning example of this, with some of the greatest players on the planet. EG- Charlie Mariano, Chaouki Smahi, Billy Cobham, Bobby Stirn, Paul Shigihara, Mike Herting, Yahia Smahi. Check out how Charlie creates spontaneously in the moment while paying homage to the collective spirit of being in the ensemble.WOW!
Take note also, Paul Shihihara is one of the real voices in today’s music on guitar- very personal and beautiful.
Special thanks to Charlie’s daughter, Cynthia Mariano for sending this link to me ! Thanks Cynthia!
Mariano Cobham Smahi Friends
La Rose du Sable, Thinking Of You, Album 2009 www.chaoukismahi.com
Check this great clip out-and get the CD asap!!
This music, from all musicians within, is a very unique and inspired masterpiece.Totally profound !
Charlie’s musical legacy is one of such influence that decades from now people will still be talking about him, not only as a saxophonist but as a musician and human being that gave something deep and vital to the world.
Enjoy and stay in the moment ~ see ya next week~ Tim Price
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By admin | January 31, 2010
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
Warne Marsh has a claim on my heart. My first introduction to serious jazz was listening to Bill Evans in the apartment of an English Professor, Mead Harwell, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. One of my first purchases was Crosscurrents, featuring the Bill Evans Trio backed by Lee Konitz and Marsh. It is still one of my favorite albums. Here is a sample from this superb recording:
Every time we say goodbye/Crosscurrents
I looked for Marsh records for years, but it is only recently that I have managed to obtain some of his own recordings. Recently I got The Unissued Copenhagen Studio Sessions. You gotta love the title: how can they be unissued if they are on this CD? This is a beautiful piece of work. How many brilliant albums are still in the can somewhere out there? Marsh is backed by guitarist Dave Cliff, bass player Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, and drummer Al Levitt.
Marsh’s tenor had a fuzzy, impressionistic sound, even when he was playing very fast. Cut your pallet first, maybe, by listening to a bit of Art Pepper. Here is one of my favorite standards from the album. You might contrast it with Booker Evin’s interpretation.
You don’t know what love is/The Unissued Copenhagen Studio Sessions
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By admin | January 31, 2010
Submitted by Casa Valdez Studios
When I was going to school at Berklee back in the late 80’s I spent a lot of time hanging and playing with the students at new England Conservatory. This was mainly because my close friend Kenny Brooks, a fantastic tenor player, was a student there. Through Kenny I met Rob Scheps, who was leading an all-star big band called True Colors. I played with Rob’s band for almost four years and we worked all over Boston. There were many great players that
played with that band, including Kenny Brooks, Donny McCaslin, Douglas Yates, Josh Roseman, Curtis Hasslebring, Jay Branford, Anders Bostrom, Dave Finucane, Andy Gravish, Dmitri Matheny, Wessley Wirth, and John Dirac. I would have to say that out of all of those great players the cat who really stood out the most night after night was John Medeski. John was just on another level. He had unlimited emotional energy. He could just keep kicking it up and kicking it up until he seemed like if he played any harder his head would explode, then he would push it even further. He was a madman on the piano, a true musical genius.
Medeski could play any style of music, so I can’t really say that I’m surprised that he made a huge name for himself playing ‘Groove Jazz’, for lack of a better label. I hate to call it Jam Music or even worse- Nu-Jazz, though MMW is one of the very top groups on the Jam Band circuit.
One thing is clear, MMW rocks. They can whip up crowds into a rabid frenzy and keep them there for hours. Kelpers delight! (note: Kelpers are what the Jam band musicians call the Hippie chicks who dance with their hands waving above their head, because they look like a bed of sea kelp when dancing en masse)
MMW will be performing in Portland at the Roseland theatre on Friday, February 26th at 8pm and Casa Valdez is giving away TWO FREE TICKETS to the show!!!!!
So here are the contest rules:
1.You must live in the Portland metropolitan area
2.You may not be an employee of Casa Valdez Studios (there are none anyway)
3. You must love MMW (write one sentence expressing your devotion)
4. You must give me the names of four other bands/musicians that John Medeski has played with other than MMW.
So send an email to casavaldez@comcast.net with your name, address, why you love MMW, and the names of four other groups that John Medeski has played with (besides True Colors). The last item shouldn’t be difficult for anyone with an internet connection. The winner will be chosen at random from correct submissions and I will send you a pair of F-R-E-E tickets in the mail.
Good Luck!
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By admin | January 27, 2010
Submitted by Secret Society
Guest post by Sam Sadigursky
Tremendous thanks to Darcy for allowing me this space to share my work. I’m very excited to release Words Project III: Miniatures on January 29 at Galapagos (the same space where Secret Society kicked off the release of Infernal Machines) and thought I would take this opportunity to talk about the evolution of The Words Project, which has thus far been my focus as a leader and composer.
I wish I could say that I’ve been a lifelong reader of poetry and that this venture evolved naturally out of that. This couldn’t be less true, actually. I’ve always loved reading fiction, but never could achieve the quietness of mind that poetry demands. I read and memorized the requisite poetry fed to us in school, but beyond that I wasn’t exposed to much of it. Given how marginalized it is in our culture it’s easy to ignore. I can’t even say that I was ever very interested in song lyrics, even. I’ve always loved listening to music of any style with singers, but like many musicians I tended to ignore lyrical elements in favor of musical ones.
I spent a number of years in New York in search of what my own contributions here would be, dipping my feet into as many waters as I possibly could. I was involved with a few groups with singers and started to feel a shortage of new vocal pieces that involved lyrics (rather than wordless vocals), and many of the newer works I heard didn’t have very challenging lyrics or content. Having long loved the art-song tradition, I set out to find some initial poems to set, and started calling singers over to sing through my work. The directness to the human voice and its mysteries were thrilling for me, and I found myself thinking and working differently than ever before. Fortunately, I also began to discover a deep well of talented young singers eager to take on new material, which furthered my interest in this venture.
The first pieces I set were by Lithuanian-Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, whose work I’ve continued to set to this day. There’s a certain simplicity to his work that makes it highly typical of the kind of work I enjoy setting. The ideas in his work are by no means simple, but the use of language has a direct quality that makes his work conducive to musical setting. When poetry reaches a certain level of abstraction, there’s no longer room for the kind of music that I would like to write. Similarly, there’s a lot of poetry that tells something akin to literate story, which also doesn’t intrigue me as a composer. It’s difficult to define what lies in the middle of these two extremes, but I do tend to know whether I can set a work within the first few lines of it.
I’ve sometimes wondered whether it’s the poetry that I set to music or music I set to poetry. It’s probably a little of both… There have been times when everything has started simply with the words in front of me, a musical gesture or phrase that arises from the first stanza, with nothing else preconceived. Other times, there is a more intentional process, where I’ll employ a musical idea I’ve been toying with or use a certain stylistic notion in crafting a piece.
I don’t tend to dwell too much on the meaning of a poem before I start working with it. Perhaps this is out of impatience or over-eagerness, but I feel strongly that my job is not to filter the meaning of any work for the listener. I try my best not to interpret these poems or put any sort of definitive stamp on them. I simply want to color them and make them come alive in a unique way. Great works of poetry, like great works of music, can mean different things to us at different times. This is one of the beauties of art in genearal. Certain works can fill us with sadness one hour and be completely exhilarating the next. We bring our own experiences to whatever we take in, and it’s not my intention to subjugate this process by governing the experience of a poem. By the time it lands in my hands, the poem is a complete work of art on its own. It doesn’t need my efforts to be read or to thrive. It already exists in its full flowering, and this is a humbling thing that I always try to keep in mind.
One of the greatest challenges of this genre for me continues to be how to fit all this into the jazz continuum, one that is based on improvisation. Many of the longer works I’ve set demand long forms and it’s difficult to know where improvisation should fit in, or whether there’s a place for it at all. Personally, it’s unappealing to simply use words as a launching point for extended improvisation. I’ve always wanted to frame my work primarily around the poems themselves, and always have them be at the center of my work. Thus, I want any solos or improvisation to function somehow within the poems themselves, to make this all feel like one, creating the illusion that the words and the music came out of the same mind. All the principles of tension and release in music really come to the forefront. Sometimes improvised sections function as a release and other times they build tension or intensity from a place where there was not before. Other times they simply function as a breath within the poem, a chance for the listener to take in what has come before.
Melodically, my own voice tends to guide me when I write. I do my best to forget my background as an instrumentalist and try to think like a singer. I also keep the use of melody in everyday speech in mind. We all use varying degrees of pitch inflection and rhythm when we speak, and thus we’re so easily able to accept lyrics that are sung as a natural extension of everyday speech. Perhaps this is what makes so many of us want to be singers, to further the expression that language allows us, and possibly communicate things where speech falls short. To this effect, I tend to use mostly close intervals in my writing that mirror the intervals of everyday speech.
Words Project III: Miniatures comprises material that I’ve written spanning back to 2006, primarily songs that had never fit into the framework of what I’ve done previously both live and in the studio. The project started quite spontaneously…. I called Michael Leonhart to sing through some songs I had written for male voice, and he hit the record button and we started tracking. A few months later, vocalist Sunny Kim was in New York, and I decided to bring her into Michael’s studio to record a few things. Based on how well these two experiences went, not long after I chose material for an entire record of short songs.
Sometimes I had conceived arrangements and instrumentation before going into the studio, and other times these things came together as we worked. Most of the tracking was done individually, which allowed Michael and I plenty of room for editing and experimentation. I wanted to create a unique world of sound for each piece on the record, and used a lot of uncommon instruments and sounds in order to achieve this. Sometimes I had a good idea of what a piece would end up sounding like and other times tracks unfolded themselves from something more unknown.
The miniature aspect to each piece is really what holds this record together through all the changes of texture and instrumentation. These are musical portraits or glimpses, maybe akin to a collection of short poems or stories. I’ve always loved listening to collections of short pieces, whether they be art song or piano preludes. I love the challenge of creating interest in a piece quickly, constructing something that is short yet feels complete, taking a more microscopic look at the arc of a piece of music, and connecting a collection of short pieces to one another in order to assemble a larger work.
The broad mix of styles reflects the many kinds of music that have shaped me, perhaps never so apparently as on this record. There are very few improvised solos on any of the tracks, but to me the way this record was recorded gives it the feel of a jazz record, and most everybody who appears on it comes from a jazz background, although they all bring much more than that to the table. In any case, I’ll leave this to the listeners to decide where they want to put this album…
For more information, please visit newamsterdamrecords.com or samsadigursky.com. The CD will be available on iTunes and Amazon on January 26th. The release party will be January 29 at 8 PM at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn as part of the Archipelago series.
Watch a video here.
Visit Sam’s blog at www.theoneseat.blogspot.com.
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