I DIG JAZZ

I'M SORRY JOHN BROWN

2012-01-31T14:32:00.000-05:00

Jazz bassist John Brown

I owe you a big apology, John. When I put together my top 10 jazz albums of 2011 list, I left off “Dancing with Duke an Homage to Duke Ellington”. I played the album all last week. I hate I didn’t include it. It’s an outstanding shot-out to Ellington. Your trio piano player Cyrus Chestnut and drummer Adonis Rose did justice to the nine Ellington songs you picked.

I applaud you for not getting carried away with Ellington’s work. I’m sure playing it straight was challenging enough. Ellington’s music was perfect. Adonis and Cyrus are tasteful dudes, and they never toyed with Ellington’s work.

Cyrus’s soloing on “Pie Eye’s Blues,” “Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear from Me,” and “I Got it Bad(And That Ain’t Good) was some of his best work to date.

Cyrus has always been my man. I have all his albums on Atlantic Records. Cyrus could do no wrong in my eye. “Revelation,” “The Dark Before the Dawn,” and “Soul Food” should be considered classics. But, since Cyrus left Atlantic, Cyrus has slipped some.

Cyrus's output has been hit or miss, and I questioned if Cyrus had used up his mojo. His last album ,"Journeys," which I adored proved Cyrus still has the goods. I never gave up on him.

On “Dancing with Duke,” Cyrus plays so much piano I wondered if he had more than two hands and ten fingers, given the flurry of notes he played on “In a Mellow Tone”. You Know, John, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people thought Cyrus was the leader of your trio. His presence was that strong.

John, last year I reviewed about 200 jazz albums. It was hard picking my ten favorite. I’ve been doing it for 20 years now, and I never look forward to it.

“Dancing with Duke” was a treat. Ellington would’ve enjoyed it, and put it on whenever his buddies Johnny Hodges and Billy Strayhorn visited. If Ellington was around today, and still running his orchestra you’d be on the payroll.

Like Ellington’s bass player Jimmy Blanton, you have blue collar chops. Cyrus and Adonis sounded grand because you’re backing them. Putting out “Dancing with Duke” was a swell way to honor of Ellington's music. Forgive me for overlooking it.

WEEKEND WITH MONK

2012-01-23T18:03:00.000-05:00

Monk, I spent the weekend at home listening to some of your classic albums. I don’t know why I locked myself up with your music. I didn’t have anything planned. Over the weekend, the weather in Detroit was bad. It snowed Saturday and it rained off and on Sunday. My blogging output has slowed down. So far, I’ve only received five new albums. I’ve only attended three concerts. I’m expecting things to pick up soon.

Anyway, I put on “Solo Monk” first. I’m not a big fan of solo piano. But I always loved when you performed alone. Most solo piano albums I’ve listened to come off as practicing. Not your solo sets.I had a surreal moment with “Solo Monk” as if you and Nellie invited me over for beer, sandwiches, and a private concert. I was in heaven.

Just me and you in your study as you played “Dinah,” “Sweet and Lovely,” “I Surrender” and other Monk classics. At one point, I envisioned Nellie walking into the study carrying refreshments as you began “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)”. Nellie put the refreshments on the table next to Robin D.G. Kelley’s biography “Thelonious Monk the Life of an American Original”.

Then Nellie asked me to dance. I put my arm around her waist and we slow dragged. Monk, Nellie is like my wife soft-spoken, petite and seemingly born to be an unselfish wife.

After I was finished with “Solo Monk,” I put on “Monk’s Dream”. That’s my favorite Monk album mostly because of your longtime running buddy Charlie Rouse. As a tenor player, Rouse was unsung. I never hear Rouse mentioned when great jazz tenor players are discussed. Rouse was a craftsman. Rouse never played wildly. He was too down to earth for that. I gather that was why you hired Rouse in the first place.

Monk, back in 2006, I got into an exchange with my editor at the Metrotimes. Blue Note Records had released “Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane Live at Carnegie Hall”. All the leading jazz magazines talked about how great it was. It made many noted jazz writers—including my editor’s—list of top jazz albums of 2006.

It didn’t score well with me. It was overrated. I told my editor so, adding the only tenor player that you really connected with was Rouse. My editor asked what about your work with greats such as Johnny Griffin, Harold Land and Sonny Rollins. You and Rouse were soul-mates.

Speaking of Johnny Griffin, I played your live album “Misterioso” next. You made it at the Five Spot in the summer of 1958. Griffin was in the band along with drummer Roy Haynes and bass player Ahmed Abdul Malik. Honestly, it wasn’t your best outing. I fault Griffin. Griffin was in his own little world, sleepwalking through your songs and his solos. Honestly, Monk you were off your game.

I followed up “Misterioso” with “Thelonious Monk Quartet plus Two at the Blackhawk” and “Underground”. On the latter album, I kept replaying “In Walked Budd”. Next to “Rootie Tootie” that’s my favorite Monk song. I especially love the version of “In Walked Budd” on "Underground" because you did it with singer John Hendricks, the king of jazz scatting. Hendricks could take apart a song part by part like a mechanic a transmission.

By now, you may be tired of me going on and on about your work. Chances are you forgot about many of your albums In your lifetime, you made so many classics I imagine it would be hard to keep track. Monk, you played the piano as if it were an extension Nellie, taking your own sweet time with each note that you played. For proof, I point to “Everything Happens to Me,” the eighth cut on “Solo Monk”. It was the best weekend I’ve had in a long time.

COMING DOWN THE PIKE

2012-01-10T13:27:00.002-05:00

Yes “The Monk Project” is yet another homage to TheloniousMonk. Yes, there is a Monk shot out album on every street corner. But “The MonkProject” is not your average shot out to Monk. Trumpeter Jimmy Owens is the brainsbehind “The Monk Project”. Owens is a fantastic musician and arranger. Owensmade his bones on the jazz big band circuit, so swinging is in his blood.

For “The Monk Project,” which IPO Records will putout January 12. Owens gives a facelift to some of Monk’s classic tunes “BlueMonk,” “Well You Needn’t,” and “Brilliant Corners,” for example. Owens keptthings respectable, and he never took stupid risks with Monk’s work. Hell, Monkmusic is hard enough to play as is. Owens understands that.

Owens staffed the date with name brand swingers suchas Kenny Barron, Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Strickland, Kenny Davis, HowardJohnson and Winard Harper. “The Monk Project” is a worthwhile nod to Monk.

Tom Wetmore is a jazz piano player and a composerfrom Massachusetts in the process of building his brand brick by brick. Thusly,Wetmore has earned enough street cred to work with greats such as Clark Terry,Slide Hampton, and Bernard Purdie. “Desired Effect” is Wetmore’s first time inthe captain’s seat. The album is due out January 17.

On the album, Wetmore made some smart choices.He played the electric piano throughout, which gives many of the songs alatter-day Miles Davis feel, particularly “Wild Card” and the title cut.

Wetmoresmartest move was spreading around the rhythm section duties to guitar playersJustin Sabaj and Brad Williams. This is not the can of jazz album picky jazzpurists fancy. Wetmore infused every square inch of it with the zest only ahungry upstart embodies.

“Smul’s Paradise,” the new album by baritone saxplayer Gary Smulyan, is an organ driven project Smulyan always wanted to make. Smulyanis jazz’s sharpest baritone player (at least he is in my book) and is the heirapparent to the greatest baritone player off all times the late Pepper Adams.

“Smul’s Paradise” is Smulyan nod to the era injazz when organ albums put out my organ greats Lonnie Smith, Don Patterson,Jimmy Smith, and Larry Young were popular. Smulyan was a big fan of thatperiod. Organ jazz is played out now although the jazz world is littered withsome wonderful organ players.

Smulyan for this project hired one of the finestin Mike LeDonne.

Although the album is billed as an organ throwback project, “Smul’sParadise” is the kind of biscuits and gravy jazz album Smulyan always makes. Stillhe deserves props for stepping outside his comfort zone at this leg of hiscareer. “Smul’s Paradise will be available nationwide January 17 on CapriRecords.

Do not be alarmed if you never feel like dancingwhile listening to Omar Sosa’s new date “Alma,” which is Sosa most pensivealbum to date, and which I found hard to categorize. Normally, Sosa plays damnnear ever form of jazz from Afro-Cuban to free jazz. Apparently, Sosa was in asolemn mood when he made this album with the celebrated Italian trumpeter PaoloFresu.

This album is not the first time Sosa and the trumpeter have hooked up.In 2007, they put out the album “Promise,” and two year later they toured Italy.

Fresu is a good trumpeter who invested a greatdeal of time studying Miles Davis. Fresu fits with Sosa like peanut butter andjam. Sosa is a creative guy. He likes to use gadgets. He uses plenty of them on“Alma”. Sosa is a swinger and an exciting showman as well. This time around Sosa seems perfectlycontent with showing off his virtuosity.

What is there left for drummer Jack DeJohnetteto do? DeJohnette has been involved in every jazz movement since hard bop.To date, he has made over 30 jazz albums as a leader. It would consume too muchtime to count his output as a sideman.

This year DeJohnette will receive the NationalEndowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship. That is the highest honor for ajazz man. That alone seems like enough for the drummer to prop his feet up onhis laurels, right? Not DeJohnette. January 17, he will make public his newalbum “Sound Travels”.

Many DeJohnette fans will be a bit disappointedbecause outside of composing all the tunes on the album DeJohnette did not playa big role. He centered the compositions around he’s special guest. There areplenty.

“Sound Travels” is a low-fat jazzalbum. DeJohnette shares the light with established stars Bruce Hornsby, TimRies, and Bobby McFerrin and contemporary heavies Esperanz Spalding,Ambrose Akinmusire, Lionel Louke and Jason Moran. This is a cross cultural gettogether.

WALLACE RONEY'S BAND KICKED OFF TEMPLAR JAZZ SERIES

2011-12-31T22:09:00.000-05:00

Wallace Roney

Trumpeter Wallace Roney’s band opened the Templar Jazz Series at the Masonic Temple in Midtown Detroit Friday night with two hot sets of jazz music best described as hard bop on steroids. Roney came to town with a band of young players who looked like teens—with the exception of Roney’s brother sax player Antoine Roney—but they showed they have big league skills.

How good were they? If Roney had come down with a bad cold that prevented him from performing, his band bass player Rashaan Carter, drummer Kush Abadey, alto sax player Arnold Lee and the piano player whose name I did not catch could have carried the concert. No one would have demanded their money back.

The band was hyped up both sets, partly because of the loud and aggressive drumming of Kush Abadey. I could not tell if his microphone was set higher than the others, or if he just liked playing loudly, which is common among too many young jazz drummers out to prove themselves. He has nothing to prove. For goodness sake he is touring with Roney. That speaks volumes.

Anyway, when a jazz band has a pushy and a loud drummer, he makes his band mates work harder than normally required. Abadey pushiness was the only glaring eyesore. Otherwise the band was tight, particularly Antoine Roney.

Clearly, Roney has spent time pouring over John Coltrane’s early albums as a leader and his worked while on Miles Davis’s payroll. I wonder if Roney hired his brother because he plays like Trane.

Anyway, on sax Roney has a tone so big and wide it could fill up a fat man’s boxer shorts. Roney’s soloing was one of the highpoints of both sets. As for his big brother Wallace, he finally after years of copying his hero Miles Davis, sounds like his own man.

My pal Luis, a red-blooded American jazz fan, disagreed with me. Roney is known as a great jazz trumpet player and a Miles Davis copycat. After the concert, Luis said Roney’s sounded like Miles did on “In a Silent Way” and on “Water Babies”.

To me, Roney’s onstage behavior favors Miles’s. Last night, Roney never acknowledged the audience. Nor did he give the title of the tunes his band played.

Those were forgivable sins given how good his band played. Both sets were a big step toward establishing the Templar Jazz Series as worthwhile program in a city with a jazz series on damn near every corner.

TOP TEN JAZZ CONCERTS OF 2011

2011-12-25T15:42:00.000-05:00

Omar Sosa

1.) Omar Sosa (Jazz Cafe)

2.) The Stanley Clark Band (Orchestra Hall)

3.) Ahmad Jamal (Hill Auditorium)

4.) Jeff “Tain” Watts (Charles A. Wright Museum of African-American History)

5.) Bob Hurst (Virgil Carr Center)

6.) Steve Nelson and Mulgrew Miller (Virgil Carr Center)

7.) Karriem Riggins wsg Common (Detroit Jazz Festival)

8.) The Gerald Clayton Trio (Detroit Groove Society)

9.) Buddy Green, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Vijay Iyer (The Power Center)

10.) Kate Patterson (The Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church)

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...TOP TEN JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2011

2011-12-15T14:07:00.001-05:00

James Carter Caribbean Rhapsody (Emarcy)

This is Carter’s first masterpiece in what’s shaping up to be a hall of fame jazz career.

Christian Scott, David Sanchez, Stefon Harris Ninety Miles (Concord)

For serious acoustic jazz lover this date is the equivalent of comfort food.

The James Carter Trio At the Crossroad (Emarcy)

What a grand way to celebrate the trio’s tenth anniversary with a blues and gospel tinged outing.

Christian McBride Conversations with Christian (Mack Avenue)

The greatest jazz bassist of his generation having some one on one time with many of his favorite musicians.

Michel Camilo Mano Mano (Emarcy)

The jazz pianist served up the tastiest version of Lee Morgan classic “Sidewinder” I’ve never consumed.

Rene Marie Voice of My Beautiful Country (Motema)

Marie gave me my first ear-gasm listening to this offering.

Rahasaan Barber Everyday Magic (Jazz Music City)

This glorious album is proof Tennessee is still making top choice jazz saxophone players a la Sonny Criss, Hank Crawford, and Frank Strozier.

Rez Abbasi Invocation (Enja)

A killer jazz album from a not so well-known jazz guitar player with Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa riding shotgun.

Robert Hurst Unrehurst Volume 2(Bebob Records)

Could serve a template for future generations of how a trio jazz date should sound.

Noah Jackson Contemplations: A Suite (Self-release)

Jackson’s senior recital project when he was a student at the Michigan State University, and it has the polish and seriousness of a major label release.

VIBING WITH STEVE NELSON

2011-12-10T14:10:00.002-05:00

Steve Nelson

Steve, I just want to drop you a note to thank you and Mulgrew Miller for putting on two wonderful sets Friday evening at the Virgil H. Carr Cultural & Arts Center in Detroit. Man, it was cold as all get out last night, but inside the center it felt like summer.

Jazz concert promoter Bill Foster put together the all-star band. Bass player Bob Hurst and drummer Karriem Riggins rounded out the band. You and Miller should keep this band together. It seemed as though you guys have worked together for a long time.

I dug how you started the concert with two well-known songs played at quick tempos “Up Jumped Spring” and “It Could Happen to You”. Then giving the audience a breather with Monk’s “’Round Midnight” before playing “If I Were a Bell” at the fastest tempo I have ever heard it performed. Your buddy Miller was great. You were right pointing out Miller is a living master on the piano. No one in their right mind would refute that.

Bob Hurst is a genius on the upright bass. Wherever you took the music Hurst was right there. And I knew it would only be a matter of time before you let Karriem Riggins loose. You know as well as I do you cannot contain Riggins for long.

He exploded on “You and the Night and the Music” like a kid shaking a bottle of soda then removing the cap. For me that solo was the highlight of the concert. Steve, the band cooked all night long. You could tell that because Rebbecca Hope danced both sets.

Hope was the tall white lady wearing the printed green dress who yelled out as if she was having an orgasm when the band closed the concert with “Bags Groove”. Hope is a big time supporter of the music. All the local jazz musicians know and respect her. She goes to all the jazz concert big or small.

Steve, I know that you Miller, Hurst, and Riggins are busy, but sometime soon, you all should think about touring nationally and cutting an album.

GRAMMY NODS

2011-12-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

Ron Carter

I Dig Jazz would like to take a minute to tip its hat to the jazz musicians and bands who’re recently nominated for a Grammy. This year was an excellent year for jazz music. Many of the albums selected were talked about on this blog, and I Dig Jazz agrees wholeheartedly with the nominations. Here’s a sample of the jazz musicians nominated.

Gerald Clayton Bond: The Paris Sessions (Best Jazz Instrumental Album)

Joe Lovano Us Five (Best Jazz Instrumental Album)

Sonny Rollins Roadshow Vol.2 (Best Jazz Instrumental Albums)

Christian McBride The Good Feeling (Best Jazz Large Ensemble Album)

Ron Carter You Are My Sunshine (Best Improved Jazz Solo)

Fred Hersch Work (Best Improved Jazz Solo)

Gerald Wilson Legacy (Best Jazz Large Ensemble Album)

Karren Allison 'Round Midnight (Best Jazz Vocal Album)

Kurt Elling The Gate (Best Jazz Vocal Album)

JAMES CARTER AT THE CROSSROADS

2011-11-24T19:56:00.001-05:00

James Carter

Detroit jazz saxophone player James Carter is having a really good year. In May Decca Records released Carter’s much anticipated first classical album Caribbean Rhapsody Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, which critics have called a masterwork. With the recent release of At the Crossroads, Carter’s organ trio celebrated its tenth anniversary. Recently, I Dig Jazz talked to Carter about the two new albums and the trio’s milestone and a few other jazz related topics.

Your organ trio is coming up on its 10th anniversary. What’s the key to keeping a band together that long?

It goes back to my musical father, Donald Washington. He always said longevity is the key, and, of course, that plays well with singular longevity and collective longevity. The longer a group stays together the more it becomes of one mind as the relationship and musicianship progresses. Case and point, look at the classic Coltrane quartet albums Night at the Village Vanguard and One Down One Up. Those recording are great as the result of the band playing together for a while as opposed to doing the recording with pickup bands. Those recordings weren’t some all-star hookup.

Jazz record companies nowadays are big on all-star projects it seems.

I fought tooth and nail with Atlantic Records back in day when they were trying to hook me up with New York-bred individuals. They’d say, “Why don't we try something different?” If I wanted a Detroit drummer, they’d say he played too much hi-hat. You want that on the record?' I’d say, “Yeah!” That's something that can be worked out when the album is mixed. As far as letting them dial in some musician that I wasn’t in tune with, wasn’t going to happen. Especially when this is a document I have to live with for the rest of my life.

Why are you so loyal to Detroit cats?

I think it's because I feel musically and socially connected to them. That definitely makes for a better and more cohesive project. As fate would have it, after the formation with my first group with Tani [Tabbal}, Jaribu [Shahid] and Craig [Taborn] ran its course, that’s when Leonard King and Gerard Gibbs came on board.

Gerard Gibbs is outstanding on At the Crossroads. All the slick tricks you can do on the horns Gerard can do on the organ.

Gerard has grown a heck of a lot. When you look at Live at Baker’ Keyboard Lounge’ recorded in 1996 up until now that's a heck of a lot of growth. And that's definitely come from us growing on stage, and also growing as men. I think he told me a long time ago that music and life don’t separate. With this group, it's not only about us on stage; we check on each other; we check on our families, see if there's anything we can do.

You guys are brothers.

Yeah, and it manifests itself in the music. I can definitely and truly say that.

Does the current generation of Detroit jazz musicians have the same type of no-nonsense mentoring from older cats that your generation had?

Mentoring and the outlets have definitely disappeared. It's funny you mention that, I'm back here in Detroit working on my mom's place. I just put in a new furnace and an alarm system. I was rummaging and going through things.

I came across old newspaper clippings from back in the day. I kept quite a few of them like, there was a one from the Michigan Chronicle that I had. Teddy Harris' band was down at Bomac’s, Larry Smith and Ray McKinney were playing at other clubs, this was all within a week. Teddy's band was also playing at Dummy George's. We could either play with the group if you knew them, or you were a part of that group. Like all that has mad changed within the past 10 years or so.

You are known as a killer improviser, and you have done some amazing shit on the saxophones. You are also a damn fine composer. Why don't you write more?

I actually compose whenever the muse hits or if I’m commissioned. Like if I have an album coming up and we need six banging songs on it or whatever. I mean, the closest I've done something on that end was on ‘Present Tense’. Whenever the vibe hits, and you know, I do have some stuff I’m sitting on that I need to develop more.

You have a knack for putting a spin on obscure jazz tunes. Your take on Julius Hemphill’s tune “The Hard Blues” is a prime example. When you put together an album like At the Crossroads what do you look for?

Well, with At the Crossroads, I think this is the first time that you'll actually see it being billed as a group as opposed to James Carter. We all picked our tunes and OK'd them. On my other albums, I came and said these are the tunes, this is how we're going to do them. We all picked stuff out on this one, it was more of a team involvement. We all brought individual things to the table.

Has the jazz world changed much over the years?

It's definitely changed, as far as the packaging goes, being online and actually using online as one of the main routes to get jazz music out. I think it's a good thing, but at the same time, you miss the connection with the people doing the in-store appearances. Now you have to do live blogs. I guess exposure is exposure either way it goes. If you got people that are able to just tune in the comforts of their home and have music streamed live it’s kind of similar to staying at home with Netflix, or making it a Blockbuster night or whatever. So why go to the concert? So, that's the downside.

Is there an upside?

The upside is, as a musician you're potentially getting a lot more people. Hopefully that will act as a catalyst to get them to the real thing and want to see musicians in real time. So many people I think are just disconnected. Here's the irony, that they are connected you know with cyberspace and all that stuff. It's still real-time music, it's real-time art, it's art of the moment; It's one thing to see it online, but it's another to be in a club.

Could you imagine getting someone saying, “Yeah I heard the Trane at the Vanguard live stream” and get that same effect out of hearing Trane live. My mom talked about the first time she saw Billy Eckstine live at the Paradise Theater in Detroit and how his sound hit her body. You can’t get the same effect listening to an artist streamed live.

The latest thing is how jam sessions are basically replacing group stints at jazz club. If a group was playing and somebody sat in that's just an extra bonus. Like if I happened to be in town I’m going to sit in. Maybe the best case scenario is you'll get somebody like a house band that plays their own set, they'll take a break, then they'll come back and their next two sets they'll open it up for folks to come up and play.

And that's good as far as what the promoters and club owners do, because they're get off cheaper by paying them a certain amount. Their patrons get to hear a whole lot of cats playing. The bad part about that is, the house band or the band that should've been playing their own repertoire, they don't get a chance to grow or play that repertoire. Sometimes the core members of that group wind up going to the bar while somebody else sits in. So there's no growth, and that's becoming the standard at most venues nowadays.

On Caribbean Rhapsody, why did you make the album with the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra instead of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra?

There were some logistic problems. I think when it came time to do it, it was the Warsaw Symphony that stepped up to the plate. We were kind of up in the air because I hadn't heard really much of the Warsaw Symphony.

Of the two new albums which is your favorite?

They're both different children and I've always said that about the albums. I've also said it about horns. They're different people and they do certain things for you. The concerto continues to grow for me, there's been mad growth on that piece since you've seen it at the world premiere with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

One of things I love about Caribbean Rhapsody is Roberto Sierra compositions leave plenty of space for you to improvise and play your trademark cadenzas.

I remember showing the compositions to three different saxophone professors and they said, “Who’s going to be able to play all this?” Yeah, the piece has grown big time, and Roberto has put so much harmonic and melodic information in there that I can keep feeding off of for years.

Michael Cuscuna has produced Caribbean Rhapsody and At the Crossroads. How is it working with a living legend?

Well, with him, he's part of one of the soundtracks of our lives. The stuff he used to do for Blue Note, and Mosaic. Inside the studio, he opens up more possibilities.

What some of your future aspirations?

I have aspirations to keeping myself open to all possibilities.

ONE ON ONE WITH CHRISTIAN McBRIDE

2011-11-16T15:47:00.003-05:00

"Conversations with Christian” is the second album the jazz bass player has put out this year. The first was “The Good Feeling”, McBride’s first shot at a big band album, which focused on his star-packed band, and his arranging skills. The second album is way different.

McBride is in a one on one setting with musicians he think the world of. “Conversation with Christian” is the offspring of McBride’s satellite radio show of the same title. McBride interviewed bigwig musicians such as Sting, Dee Dee Bridgewater, George Duke and Dr. Billy Taylor.

This album is better than “The Good Feeling”. On that date,” McBride was happy putting the spotlight on his band members. Listeners got the chance to see McBride as an arranger. Not that McBride needed to prove himself.

No other jazz bass player on the planet understands his role more than McBride does. McBride is special and he’s been blessed with alien chops. That’s what listeners of “Conversations with Christian” get to hear firsthand.

The album displays McBride skills more than any of his other albums. My favorite track “On Conversations with Christian” is McBride’s session with Dee Dee Bridgewater. They have a lustful kind of magic. McBride and Bridgewater should consider making an album.

The only track on “Conversation with Christian” that comes up short is McBride session with trumpet player Roy Hargrove. They grew up in the same generation, and have endured the test of time, so you’d think chemistry would be a given. But the session is flat and a pimple on an otherwise smooth album.

In the one on one sessions McBride is relaxed and is having a swell time with his peers, letting the music happen naturally. There’s a lot of ad-libbing, but even that comes off as choreographed instead of hatched on the spot.

UP CLOSE WITH THE GERALD CLAYTON TRIO

2011-11-14T14:14:00.000-05:00

Gerald Clayton

At one point during the Gerald Clayton’s trio first set at the Detroit Groove Society’s home concert series, I feared Andrew Rothman, the series producer, would have to call in the West Bloomfield Hills fire department. Clayton’s trio drummer Quincy Davis and bass player Joe Sander nearly set the house afire on the “Bolivia”.

Sander called the number and it was a sample of the level of swing the trio would offer the second set. Clayton kept the first set to a simmer, getting the crowd good and ready for the second where his trio played hits from his first album “Two Shades” and his most recent outing the “Bond: the Paris Sessions”.

Clayton is a killer jazz piano player. Three years ago, Clayton gave two hot sets at the Detroit Groove Society, and the concert series regulars have been anxiously waiting for Clayton return.

Sunday’s concert was wonderful, and a fitting end to a four night run for Clayton’s trio. Wednesday through Saturday they played the Dirty Dog Jazz Café. There was no sign the concerts took a toll on the trio.

For nearly three hours Sunday, the trio was crisp and creative. Clayton showed his skills, and his enjoyment of playing songs with many tempo changes. Clayton loves playing in Detroit, and we love having him here whether it’s at a jazz club or at a house concert.

Clayton always does his best. Rumor is Mack Avenue Records wants to sign Clayton. That would be a big score for the Detroit based record company. Clayton will be on the team with Christian McBride, Sean Jones, Gerald Wilson, and Gary Burton. Not bad company.

During the break Diane Rothman told Clayton why she and Andrew started putting on concerts. They were big timed jazz concert goers.

The Rothman’s became dismayed. They would pay good money but not be able to enjoy a concert because of people yapping away while the musicians played.

So they decided to host concerts in their home. They did a dry run by holding a concert for Andrew’s 40th birthday. It was a big hit. George Cables and Geri Allen are two of the big time musicians who played in the Rothman’s home.

Andrew has an eye for the top jazz talent and a complete love for jazz. When the Detroit Jazz Festival’s board was shopping for a new director, the board should have considered Andrew. Of course, he would have turned them down flat, but he would have been a good fit.

The home jazz concerts are gifts for jazz fans because at each gig they have a ringside seat, and they can mix and mingle with the musicians during the break. The concerts are reasonably priced and the Rothmans have plenty to eat and drink.

Unfortunately, the Rothman’s only held two concerts this year. Maybe next season the supporters of the series will insist the Rothman’s put on more shows and, of course, bring Clayton’s trio back.

NEW ORLEANS BLOCK PARTY IN HILL AUDITORIUM

2011-11-12T13:42:00.000-05:00

Donald Harrison

Donald, it was the wildest jazz concert I’ve attended at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor Michigan. What an over the top spectacle you and the Rebirth Brass Band put on Friday night. New Orleans cats know how to through a party, but last night you all got carried away.

It was my least favorite concert in all the years I’ve covered the University Musical Societies jazz concert series. The Rebirth Brass Band seemed like a pieced together band of New Orleans street musicians with entry level skills.

They were super loud, and the music they played lacked grit. Even the four special guests Cyril Neville, Dr. Michael White, James and Glen Andrews could not save the evening.

James Andrews made a complete ass of himself dancing around the stage like a drunken fool. Then again he's known as the Louis Armstrong of the ghetto.

And Glen Andrews parading through the audience blowing his trombone was over the top. Donald, even the first solo you played was dull, and came off like you were practicing. The only part of the concert I liked was Dr. Michael White's take of "St. James Infirmary".

Overall, the concert felt like a neighborhood block party. The only things missing were the Mardi Gras beads and some women exposing their boobs.

And I didn’t understand why the front man of the Rebirth Brass Band invited people to join the band on the stage.

I wouldn’t be surprise if I was the only person there who absolutely hated the concert. It was my worse concert experience ever.

OPEN LETTER TO CHRIS COLLINS

2011-11-11T11:58:00.005-05:00

Saxophonist Chris Collins

Dear Chris,

There are rumors flying around about how you landed the job as the artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival, and how you orchestrated Terri Pontremoli's ouster. I'm sure you've heard them. One rumor circulating is as a DJF board member you had your eye on Terri’s job for some time. You convinced your fellow board members you could do a better job. Chris, I’m not part of the DJF's inner circle so I will never know for sure what went down and why Terri was ousted.

I'm a Terri Pontremoli fan. Not because she treated me with respect and valued my insight as a jazz journalist. I liked Terri because she had vision and she brought a certain level of excitement to the jazz festival. She saved it from the bone yard, and she elevated it to international acclaim. The reality is you’re now the captain of the ship.

You’re lucky. You’re taking over after all the hard work has been done. Terri deserves credit for saving the jazz fest. You’re stepping in when the fest has international standing. Sadly, In a few years, Terri will be forgotten about and there will not be a monument to celebrate the wonderful job she did.

Unfortunately, she will be a distant memory, and you will get all the glory. That’s not right. At this point, it doesn’t matter if any of the rumors are valid. Yoi have some big shoe to fill. I don’t envy you one bit. But I’m a fair man, and hope you have a successful run.

I hope you will book topnotch international jazz musicians. Surely, you will be partial to the local jazz musicians who’ve been complaining about being shunned when Terri ran the show. Man I hope you don’t bogged down the jazz fest with local acts.

I can’t speak for other DJF goers and supporters, but I don’t want to sit at a for four day jazz fest listening to local jazz acts I can hear nightly at Bert’s, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, Cliff Bell’s and the Jazz Café. Chris, time will tell if the DJF board made the right move, or if you sold them a bill of goods.

I wish Terri the best. Surely, she will land on her feet. And she will be snapped up by a fledgling jazz festival and do for it what she did for the DJF.

I wish you the best. I hope you have the vision, drive, and commitment to grow the DJF. I’m going to be watching you like a hawk. If you succeed, which I have my fingers cross you will do, I’m going to praise you as I did Terri. And if you stink up the place, I’m going to be on your case big time.

Chris, you deserve a fair shot. Terri got one and I’m sure there were people who questioned her abilities. Terri proved them wrong. Now you have to prove yourself.

Best wishes,

Charles

RAW DEAL

2011-11-08T18:51:00.001-05:00

Terri Pontremoli

Terri, I’ve been calling around trying to find out why the bigwigs at the Detroit Jazz Festival decided to let you go. So far, all I’ve come across are rumors. There’s one circulating the bigwigs are going to replace you with the man who runs Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I can picture it now A-list jazz musicians such as Regina Carter, Wayne Shorter, and Jason Moran arriving to the DJF opening night on a parade float dressed like pilgrims. Maybe the jazz fest bigwigs want to turn the number three jazz festival in the world—a distinction the DJF reached last year—into a spectacle.

Terri, under your watch the DJF was major. You brought in Regina Carter, Christian McBride, John Clayton, Mulgrew Miller and Jeff “Tain” Watts as artist in residence, making them an integral part of the jazz fest education programing. You made the festival world-class with outstanding programming year after year.

How many jazz fest directors could’ve pulled off booking Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer, Dave Holland and the Sun Ra Arkestra on the same bill? Not many I bet.

Terri, another rumor I heard was you got canned because you got too big for your britches, and you were behaving as if the festival was your pet project.

Terri, I bet the real reason you were let go was you rubbed one of those bigwigs the wrong way. They had to teach you a lesson. That being the D JF can thrive without you. The jazz fest bigwigs will find out soon enough.

The fest won’t be the same with you gone. I bet there’re others Detroit jazz fest fans who share my view.

You took hold of the DJF when it was on life-support. And you pumped new life into it. Once it got back on its feet the festival soared to international respectability. You should have received a key to the city. Instead, you got a pink slip. Shame on bigwigs for making that foolish decision.

I hate to see you go. You were world-class. I witnessed your predecessors in action. They did a fairly decent job of running the festival. But, in my book, You were the best director the DJF ever had.

Before I sat down to write this, I received an electronic press release, announcing Wayne State University's professor of Jazz Studies Chris Collins as your replacement.

Time will tell if Collins is the right person for the job. The jazz fest bigwigs are confident he will grow the festival. Maybe he will. In all fairness, he deserved the shot to prove he has the goods.

I don’t know if Collins has the vision to take the jazz fest to the next level. I hope he won’t be the bigwig's puppet in their quest to turn the DJF into a watered-down version of Arts, Beats &Eats where the emphasis will be on attendance. For now, I’ll assume Collins is a good man who has some big shoes to fill.

THE DWIGHT ADAMS QUARTET MUSCLED THROUGH JAZZ CLASSICS AT THE DIRTY DOG JAZZ CAFE

2011-11-06T21:18:00.001-05:00

Dwight Adams

Dwight Adams is one of the top jazz trumpet players breathing. It’s a crying shame Adams is not on a major jazz label like his peers Sean Jones, Terell Stafford, Jeremy Pelt, Nicholas Payton and Marcus Printup. Being unsigned doesn’t bother Adams at all. Adams told me so between sets at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe Saturday night.

We set at the bar. I asked if he was working on his first album yet. Adams said, “Some cats have a lot to say musically, and they have a desire to be in the spotlight. I think that’s okay, but I’m not that kind of guy”.

I shot back, “You need to document that you’re a major figure on the Detroit jazz scene”.

“I’m documented on a lot of albums,” Adams countered.

That’s true. Adams has played on albums by James Carter, Donald Walden, Rodney Whitaker, Buddy Budson, Sean “Thunder” Wallace, Stevie Wonder and a host of others.

For now, Adams is perfectly happy with recording as a sideman. Adams is a fine bandleader. When he’s not touring with Stevie Wonder, he leads a righteous quartet that includes bass player Ralphe Armstrong, drummer Alex White, and piano player Rick Roe.

Saturday night, that quartet muscled through jazz staples “Seven Steps to Heaven,” “In Your Own Sweet Way,” “One Finger Snap,” “Freedom Jazz Dance,” and “Ask Me Now”.

Adams never the attention hog put the spotlight on White and Roe. White is a promising young drummer. He was comfortable sharing the bandstand with Detroit jazz royalty. His solos were thought out.

I heard White for the first time a few months ago at Cliff Bell’s. White was louder than a drunken sports fan. Last night, White proved he’s capable of modifying his playing to suit any musical setting.

Adams is a no-nonsense boss. He won’t tolerate showboating under his watch. He picked up that hard-nose trait during his apprenticeship with the great piano player and jazz educator Teddy Harris.

Roe and Adams have been running together for ages it seems. Lately, Roe has been inactive. His wife is ill. Roe dropped everything to take care of her. Roe only plays occasionally, but his chops are still up.

Roe had the house piano swinging like a puppet on Herbie Hancock’s “One Finger Snap”. Then Roe lulled the standing room only crowd like a mother does a newborn on Thelonious Monk’s ballad “Ask Me Now”.

Adams gave the crowd a gift, inviting drummer Karriem Riggins to sit-in for two songs. Riggins set the drums ablaze, and White jokingly refused to resume playing afterward. Adams had some choice solos. On slow tempo number he glided through the tunes like a world champion figure skater.

Adams runs a disciplined band. Even Ralphe Armstrong who’s prone to clowning around was on his best behavior. Maybe one day soon, Adams will give his fans a gift by putting out his first album.

HAL GALPER CHRISTENED FIRST ANNUAL PARADISE JAZZ FESTIVAL

2011-11-05T12:39:00.003-04:00

Jazz pianist Hal Galper

Hal, I didn’t know what to expect from your show at the Virgil Carr Center Friday night, which opened the first annual Paradise Valley Fall Jazz Festival. My friend, jazz critic Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press gushed about your unorthodox style in his weekly column. Another friend who publishes the weekly jazz e-newsletter the Usual Suspects raved about you also, and encouraged his subscribers to attend your show and bring some extra cash to buy your CD’s.

Yesterday evening was the first time I heard your music. Thursday, I did a google search, and I watched some videos of you explaining your style of jazz. I learn you’ve performed with some big name jazz musicians Chet Baker, Phil Woods, and Stan Getz to name three. And you’re heavily into Rubato, which as I understand is stretching the beat and modifying the rhythmic structure of a composition.

On one video, you demonstrated how you reshape standards. That’s what impressed me about your concert last night. Your trio drummer John Bishop and bass player Jeff Johnson played well-known standards “Embraceable You,” Alice in Wonderland,” “Four” and “ I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry”.

I’ve heard those standards a million times, but never like your trio worked them. On each song, you put the melody in the passenger seat, and let the harmony drive the tunes. It was intriguing how you stretched and stretched a song as far it could go before it snapped.

It was great when you allowed the crowd to ask questions about the music, which proved you genuinely wanted them to understand and be consumed with your music.

The turnout was small. I counted 30 people. That was cool because it gave the concert a more intimate feel. Bishop and Johnson were on fire. I chatted with Johnson after the first set. I asked Johnson how it felts playing with a leader as unorthodox as you.

Johnson likened it to water skiing behind a powerful boat. Any musician brave enough to play with you must possess monster chops because your music demands they ad-lib over song forms and play counter-lines. The concert had many high points.

My favorite was your duet with Johnson on “I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry”. It was originally written as a sad ballad, but you and Johnson made it zesty.

Hal, your concert christened the Paradise Valley Jazz Series, which is put on my the Jazz Network and Serengeti Production. Mulgrew Miller, Marion Hayden, Karriem Riggins, Mike Jellick, and Barry Harris are also playing the fest. You set the bar high for them.

THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND OPENED 2011-2012 PARADISE JAZZ SERIES

2011-11-04T10:48:00.007-04:00

Stanley Clarke

I caught your show Thursday night at Orchestra Hall in downtown Detroit. Stanley. I enjoyed last night’s show more than your show in 2010 at the Sound Board inside the Motor City Casino. That show was more rock than jazz, which irked the shit out of me. Sure the audience was totally into all the showboating you and piano player Hiromi fed them for two hours. The show was unnecessarily over the top.

The crowd at the Paradise Jazz Series is hipper, and they have sophisticated ears. Horsing around on the bandstand would never fly with them, no way. Your current band drummer Ronald Bruner Jr., piano player Ruslan Sirota, and violin player Zach Brock have to be the grooviest jazz band on the scene.

Until last night, Omar Sosa’s show at the Jazz Café was my top jazz show of 2011, and Ahmad Jamal’s recent show at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI was a close second. Your set bumped Sosa from my top spot. Your band started out swinging with the Return to Forever favorite “No Mystery” and continued swinging and swinging.

The band approached the tune like a relay race with Bruner running the last leg. Bruner was the crowd favorite. Funk driven drummers aren’t my favorite, but Bruner was excitable and animated. I bet he dropped 10 pound soloing on “Song to John”.

Brock was my favorite. He’s going to have to take his violin to a masseur for a rub down because of the workout he put it through soloing on “No Mystery,” “Black Narcissus,” and “Paradigm Shift”.

Stanley, I could’ve split after the first tune. It was that satisfying. It ran 28 minutes. I clocked it. It was a mini-concert in itself.

Had I split I would’ve missed your duet with Bruner on Duke Ellington’s “Take the Coltrane”. The duet was the most memorable part of the concert. Your interpretation of Duke’s tune would’ve made him blush and would’ve given Coltrane goose bumps.

Stanley, it was smart giving the crowd an intermission. Had you not, 70 percent of them would’ve missed work tomorrow because of exhaustion. They were jamming that hard all night long. Two things annoyed me. Neither annoyance had anything to do with the band’s performance.

Before the show began, the volunteer usher who escorted me to my seat barked at me because I opened the $2.00 pack of Twizzlers candy I bought at the bar in the atrium. The usher barked that food wasn’t allowed in the auditorium.

I asked the usher to back off because Twizzlers aren’t a part of the four basic food group. They are junk food, and I didn’t see any signs posted forbidding junk food. The usher stormed off just as the lady in front of me spilled the latte she snuck into the auditorium from Starbucks.

The other annoyance was the jerked seated to my left talking on his cell-phone during your brilliant solo on “Black Narcissus”. Had the jerk arrived on time, he would’ve heard the announcement to turn off all cell-phones and other electronic devices.

I started to give him a piece of my mind. But I decided not to, reasoning a jerk who wore dirty work boots to Orchestra Hall must have a few screws loose and maybe prone to violence. The usher never berated the jerk, or the people recording the concert with their smart-phones. What does all this have to do with your excellent show? Not a darn thing. I’m blowing off steam.

Stanley, you have an exciting band. Your bass playing is more exuberant than ever. You didn’t walk the bass, you ran with it the entire night. The show was the best opening night of the Paradise Jazz Series since Ramsey Lewis’s set in 2008. You know how to throw a concert.

FEELING FREE

2011-10-31T21:39:00.003-04:00

Trumpeter Tim Hagans

Tim, I owe you and Ann Braithwaite, the publicist for Palmetto Records a big apology. Ann sent me an advance copy of your new album “The Moon is Waiting” two weeks before Palmetto released it nationwide October 11th. I gave Ann my word I’d post a review. I was smitten with the album right away, but I never got around to reviewing it.

In October, I get flooded with new releases and I normally get behind. Last week, Ann shot me an email asking if I still planned to review “The Moon is Waiting”, pointing out the album is a killer and she loves it. I rarely get follow up emails from publicists.

Over the weekend, I replayed “The Moon is Waiting”. It’s the kind of album you’d get if the Miles Davis of the 70’s had joined forces with Ornette Coleman.

Honestly, I have to be in a certain mood to digest most free jazz and smooth jazz music. At heart, I’m a red-blooded jazz purist. “The Moon is Waiting” is a free jazz album I could listen to daily.

I’m listening to the album right now. You just finished a beautiful muted trumpet cadenza on the title cut, and now you and guitar player Vic Juris are doing some far-out rock-n-roll-ish playing on “Get Outside”.

The ballad “What I’ll Tell Her Tonight” shows you’re not all fire. You have a warm and fuzzy side. Tim, the only thing on the album I couldn’t make sense of was the title. What does the “The Moon is Waiting” mean?

The eight compositions you wrote for “The Moon is Waiting” are intricate and require musicians of extraordinary chops to execute. That’s what drummer and piano player Jurkkis Uotila and your longtime collaborator bass player Rufus Reid bring to the table.

It's neat how you gave Reid the floor on the closer “These Happen in a Convertible”. I’m familiar with Reid’s chops, but I didn’t know he had a flair for free jazz.

Tim, “The Moon is Waiting” comes off as if you spent months doing nothing else but perfecting each song.

Your blowing is breathtaking throughout, and although you’re a veteran trumpeter, I could still detect your musical influences Herb Alpert, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard.

I'm going to shoot Ann Braithwaite an email to say thanks for turning me on to "The Moon is Waiting", and for staying on my case until I gave it the attention it deserves.

DIGGING FOR COLE

2011-10-25T19:19:00.005-04:00

After Mrs. Henry’s funeral last month, her family and friends gathered at a small hall in Southwest Detroit to unwind and to eat. Mrs. Henry was a family friend for years. She was 82-year-old. She had three sons and two daughters. She was gentle. When she was younger, Mrs. Henry was the splitting image of Eartha Kitt. Mrs Henry died of breast cancer. She hide the illness from her family. They founded out after it was too late to insist she undergo treatment.

At the after party, Mrs. Henry's husband of 60 years, William Henry Sr., played some of your albums. Mr. King. I didn’t get the titles, but I recall Mr. Henry saying you’re the greatest interpreter of loves songs from the American songbook, a red-blooded American legend.

As Mr. Henry boasted about you, I pictured him and Mrs. Henry snuggled up on the sofa, after the kids were put to bed, listening to you sing love songs. I wondered if Mr. Henry would be okay now that his queen is gone. He'll always have your voice to comfort him.

Mr. King I’ll level with you. I’m only familiar with some of the songs you made classics such as “Unforgettable”, “Mona Lisa” and Mel Torme’s the "Christmas Song".

I attended Natalie Cole's set at the 2003 Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival. She sang those songs while images and video footage of you played on a big screen overhead to the left of the bandstand. It was touching. The stroll down memory lane made Natalie cry.

Mr. Henry boasting about you being the greatest balladeer of all-times made me curious. I wanted to buy some of your albums. But I was unsure where to start. I emailed my friend, Andy Rothman for some recommendations.

Andy runs the Detroit Groove Society's home concert series. Andy hosts the concerts in the living room of his West Bloomfield Hills home. Danilo Perez, George Cables and Geri Allen have performed there. Next month jazz piano player Gerald Clayton's trio is scheduled to perform. Your spirit should drop by. I’m sure Andy will let it in free.

Andy recommended I track down the trio albums you made for Capitol Records, saying the albums are collector items and maybe hard to find and pricey. Last Friday, I stopped by Melodies and Memories, a record store in Roseville, a small city north of Detroit.

The owner ushered me to the store’s comprehensive jazz vocal section. Melodies and Memories didn’t have the albums Andy recommended. But they had 15 of your albums, and I purchased “Dear Lonely Hearts and “I Don’t Want to be Hurt Anymore”.

At the checkout counter, I told the owner I’m just getting into your music. I asked if those albums were good starting points. The owner vouched for both and recommended several others, which I’ll buy next week. Over the weekend, I listened to “Dear Lonely Hearts” and “I Don’t Want to be Hurt Anymore”.

If you remove the orchestras, and turn up the tempo a bit, you would've been left with two smoking blues albums. Most of the songs were touching with sad lyrics such as: I don’t want to see tomorrow unless it’s with you, or the ache in my heart is for you.

The only issue I had with the albums was the orchestras that accompanied you. They didn’t add anything novel or interesting to the mix. Your voice was good enough. I hate orchestras backing singers. Nine times out of ten, the orchestras get in the way.

With a voice as smooth as your voice was, all the instruments and harmonizing in the background was overkill. That aside, I enjoyed “Dear Lonely Hearts and “I Don’t Want to be Hurt Anymore" enough to buy more of you albums.

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND

2011-10-19T15:36:00.001-04:00

Alone time

I was certain jazz bass player Christian McBride couldn’t outdo himself after making “The Good Feeling,” his first big band album for Mack Avenue Records released nationwide September 27th, but I was wrong. McBride has another new album coming out November 8th “Conversations with Christian”. On this excellent album, Christian has some alone time with musicians that he admires. Dr. Bill Taylor, Regina Carter, Sting, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Hank Jones were some of the musicians McBride hooked up with. “Conversations with Christian” is better than his big band album. The selections I predict with get played over and over are McBride’s duet with singers Angelique Kidjo, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Brotherhood

Luques is a jazz bass player. Zacci is a jazz piano player. They are known in jazz circles as the Curtis Brothers. They hail from Hartford, Connecticut and alto sax legend Jackie McLean taught the brothers the basics of swing. On October 25th Truth Revolution Records—the brothers own the label—is putting out the Curtis brother’s new album “Completion of Proof”. It’s a star studded modern hard bop album. Alto saxophone player Donald Harrison, drummer Ralph Peterson Jr., and trumpeter Brian Lynch are some of the household names who have a cameo. The Curtis Brothers are a righteous and a tough jazz tag team.

The Indian collection

Rex Abbasi’s is a marvelous jazz guitar player. But unfortunately, he’s not as well-known as say Pat Martino and Jim Hall, two jazz guitar giants. If Enja Records market Abbasi new album “Invocation” due out November 8th, properly it could catapult Abbasi into the national spotlight, where he deserves to be. “Invocation” is a borderline free jazz album worthy of a big reception. Two of Abbasi’s homeboys help make the album out of sight the alto sax player Rudresh Mahantahappa and piano player Vijay Iyer. It's impossible to make less than a hit with their participation.

Dynamic Duo

On February 25th, Clarinet player Eddie Daniels and piano man Roger Kellaway gave concert goers at the Library of Congress a textbook demonstration of musical virtuosity. For that occasion the dynamic duo played some recognizable standards such as Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning" and the Gershwin's "Strike up the Band" and some exquisitely crafted originals. Fortunately, for those unable to catch the concert, IPO Recordings recorded it, and will make it available for public consumption on January 12, 2012. So you have plenty of time to save up for this album.

A LOOK BACK AT SOME MEMORABLE JAZZ CONCERTS

2011-10-13T12:26:00.002-04:00

Omar Sosa

The past week or so, I’ve been thinking about some of the wonderful and not so great jazz concerts I’ve caught this year. It’s has been a banner year for jazz in Detroit both on the regional and on the national front. Last month, at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI jazz piano player Ahmad Jamal put an unforgettable show only rivaled by Omar Sosa’s hit earlier this year at the Jazz Café.

Hometown jazz piano player Mike Jellick treated the Thursday night crowd at Cliff Bell’s in downtown Detroit to some hip and slick arrangements of some jazz classics beloved the world over. Jellick had two rising swingers on staff bass player Noah Jackson and drummer Jesse Kramer.

In May, jazz singer Naima Shamborguer rocked the St. Matthew and St Joseph Episcopal Church on Woodward Ave with selections from her new album ‘Round Midnight’. Jazz piano great Larry Willis was Shamborguer’s special guest. They had the statue of St. Matthew snapping its fingers and bobbing its head all concert long.

At the end of the year, I post a list of my favorite jazz albums. This year will be the first time I’ll post a favorite jazz concerts list. I decided to give my readers a preview of some concerts vying for a spot on my list. I've also pointed out some concerts that were disappointing.

Omar Sosa at the Jazz Café

This was the most memorable jazz set I’ve attended since I started writing about jazz in 1997. Old-school jazz critics and jazz journalists acknowledge Sun Ra and Dizzy knew how to put on a memorable show. I don’t doubt that one bit, but I doubt if Ra and Diz could captivate an audience for two sets like Sosa did. Sosa played the piano, keyboard and several percussive contraptions, blending Afro-Cuban jazz with bop, hip hop and some swing for good measure.

Ahmad Jamal at Hill Auditorium

At Jamal’s hit, I saw a lot of Detroit’s rising jazz musicians in the audience. I hope they took copious notes. Jamal show was a textbook demonstration of how a tightly knit band sounds. Jamal played mostly songs from his lengthy discography, which I expected. And drummer Herlin Riley was animated and outstanding as always. How good was Jamal’s show? He received three ovations, and had Jamal not obliged the audience with two encores chances are a riot might’ve ensued.

Kate Patterson at the Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church

Patterson has been battling Leukemia for sometime now. Patterson refuses to allow her illness to stop her from giving her fans 110 percent. Her annual concert at the Jazz Forum Concert Series has been the most anticipated and attended since the series started 22 years ago. Patterson is a beautiful old-school jazz singer who knows how to work an audience. Patterson served up songs from the American songbook, and she sang for an hour without coming up for air.

Pianist Vijay Iyer

Bunky Green, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer at the Power Center

Iyer is the top jazz piano player of his generation. That’s saying a lot because his generation includes Jason Moran, Marc Cary, Orrin Evans, Anthony Wonsey and a host of other fine jazz piano players. I had to contain myself from dancing in the aisle when Iyer played Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”. As for Bunky Green and Rudresh Mahanthappa, their set was like watching a master and his protégé working out. Rudresh is the best alto saxophone player working. Yes, I know Kenny Garrett, Vincent Harring, Miguel Zenon and Wessell Anderson are on the scene, but neither compare to Rudresh in my book.

Bob Hurst at the Virgil Carr Center

Pound for pound Hurst is the top jazz bass player on the planet. His chops are on par with the great Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, and Sam Jones. Hurst has an impeccable track record, and he’s a wonderful composer. Hurst unveiled his new band drummer Karriem Riggins, sax player Marcus Miller and piano player Ian Finkelstein. Hurst’s quartet played material from his excellent albums “Unrehurst” and “Bob Ya Head”. This was a night of some solid jazz music. I would pay to hear this band every day of the week.

Jeff “Tain” Watts at the Charles A. Wright Museum of African-American History

“Tain” was the artist in residence for the Detroit Jazz Festival. Honestly, by the time the jazz fest opened, I was tired of seeing “Tain”. But "Tain's" set at the museum was star-studded and outstanding. Geri Allen, Bob Hurst, Nicholas Payton, were in “Tain’s” band. It’s impossible to put on a less than stellar show with that kind of muscle. “Tain” is the type of jazz drummer who likes to swing outside the box and he demands his supporting staff have the same mentality.

DISAPPOINTING HITS

Robert Glasper at the Jazz Café

I’ve been a fan of Glasper since Blue Note Records put out his first album “Canvas” in 2005. I was anxious to experience Glasper live. He showed up to the gig without a game plan and I guess he thought Detroit jazz fans who paid good money to hear him weren’t hip nor sophisticated enough to notice his trio was winging it. After the show, the promoter asked me what I thought. I told her the show was nice, which was my nice way of saying I wanted a refund.

Rafael Statin at Cliff Bell’s

My friends have been boasting about Statin for months, comparing him to James Carter, which I figured was overpraise. Statin doesn’t have enough mileage on his horn to be compared to a jazz giant like Carter. I was anxious to see if my friend’s comparison was accurate. Statin is a heck of a saxophone player and it was obvious he admires Carter, Kenny Garrett and John Coltrane.

So my friends were on the money in that regard. But Statin's presentation was a mess. Statin started late. He didn’t have a set-list prepared. The audience has to wait while the band agreed on what song to play next. And his band was unrehearsed. The solos his band members played her long and self-indulgent. At some point, he has to learn the bandstand is sacred ground not a playground

Bill Charlap and Rene Rosnes

I’m pissed at myself for attending Charlap and Rosnes’ hit instead of alto sax player Miguel Zenon’s. Zenon played the same night at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Individually, I’m into Charlap and Rosnes, but not together performing a duet. I’ve been going to jazz concerts for a long time and I’ve never walked out of one, but that’s what I contemplated doing at Charlap and Rosnes’ concert. The concert was a major bore equivalent to watching two piano players killing time practicing.

THE BLACK FRANK SINATRA

2011-10-10T10:19:00.002-04:00

Jazz singer Milton Suggs performed Saturday evening with his quintet vibraphone player Justin Thomas, bass player Nathan Brown, drummer Samuel Jewell, and piano player Michael Malis. Near the end of the first set Suggs let on that he met Malis hours before the hit, which I found shocking because Malis fit in nicely with the others.

I heard Suggs for the first time last year when his publicist provided me with an advance copy of his second album as a leader “Things to Come”. The album coldcocked me. “Things to Come” made my best jazz album of 2010 list, and I thought seriously about driving to Suggs’ hometown, Chicago, to catch him live.

That never happened. But I connected with Suggs on facebook. I was tickled pink when Suggs invited me to his hit at Cliff Bell's in downtown Detroit. I cleared my schedule. Nothing was going to keep me from catching Suggs’ live. His performance exceeded my expectations.

I sat at the bar flanked by jazz singer Audrey Northington and jazz super fan Rebecca Hope. Suggs started the set at 9:30 sharp with a spiritual, followed by Cedar Walton’s “Fantasy for Two, and Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints”. Suggs wrote lyrics for both, proving he's also a gifted lyricist.

The first set Suggs turned the floor over to Justin Thomas and Michael Malis. Thomas worked the vibes like a masseur a tense neck, and Malis gave the out of town jazz musicians a taste of how it is to share the stage with a prime cut Detroit jazz piano player.

It wasn’t Malis plan to be a ball-hog, but he had the house piano testifying. Malis, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, he studied with the great jazz piano player Geri Allen. Suggs waited to the second set to take flight.

Suggs opened the second set with Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight”. Then he segued into Benny Golson’s “Along Came Betty”. By the time, Suggs got to the Civil Rights anthem “Lift There Voice and Sing”, he’d hit his stride. Rebecca Hope danced about, and I overheard Northington tell her date Suggs’ style was like Mel Torme's and Frank Sinatra’s. And he should be billed at the black Frank Sinatra.

I agreed with Northington in part. Suggs is definitely classy like those singers were, but Suggs has a more booming voice. It could fill up Comerica Park. Suggs reminded me of Joe Williams and Kevin Mahogany.

Suggs put on a great show. It's worth pointing out his only visible shortcoming is his lack of stagecraft. That will come as he gains more experience. He’s a pure jazz singer nonetheless, and unlike many of his peers Suggs doesn’t scat his way through songs.

TONY BENNETT ACT 2

2011-10-06T19:01:00.003-04:00

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

Mr. Bennett, I feel like a schmuck. A few weeks back, I wrote you expressing how much I enjoyed your new album “Duets An American Classic”, and my disappointment your collaboration with pop sensation Lady Gaga didn’t make the final cut. When I purchased the album at Barnes & Noble, I didn't know that you released two duet albums. Gay Talese didn’t mention that in his New Yorker article..

I overlooked the second one because both have the same cover art. Anyway, Mr. Bennett, I picked up “Duets II” Monday, and I like it way more than the first one. But—this may sound crazy—I can’t explain why at the moment.

I listened to the second album non-stop for three days. I was thrilled you opened the album with your duet with Lady Gaga. The version of “The Lady is A Tramp” is a killer. I haven’t followed Gaga’s career much. I watched an interview she did with pop writer Toure’ on MTV, and I saw some of Gaga’s recent HBO special.

Strip away the outlandish outfits. Take away the lavish over the top production, and the scantily clad dancers and what you have underneath is a woman who can sing her ass off. I mean sing better than any—male or female pop star—I ever heard. Gaga could’ve been big in R&B, country & western and jazz if you wanted to. Mr. Bennett, we both know all the big money is in pop stardom.

As much as a liked “The Lady is A Tramp” it wasn’t my favorite duet on the album. (It was in the top five). My absolute favorite is your collaboration with Amy Winehouse on “Body and Soul”. Mr. Bennett, for the life of me I can’t figure out how Winehouse was able to sound exactly like Billie Holliday. It was as if Winehouse channeled Holliday’s spirit. Could you sense that when you were recording with Winehouse? Man, she was scary good. Holliday and Winehouse were great singers who led trouble lives.

My other favorite is your duet with country icon Willie Nelson on “On the Sunnyside of the Street”. How did you and Nelson pull it off? How sweet the duet was caught me off guard. You and Nelson are from different points of the music spectrum more so than the other singers on the album.

Mr. Bennett, there’re plenty more breathtaking selections on “Duets II”. For example, your duet with Sheryl Crow, Queen Latifah, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Faith Hill and Natalie Cole are off the chain.

The only gripe I have with “Duet II” is you using an orchestra on every selection. The album still would’ve been killer if you had decided against using the orchestra. The collaborations were that awesome. So Mr. Bennett, there you have it. You made two killer albums with many of the best singers in the music business. That was some feat you pulled off.

THE NOMINEES ARE...

2011-10-01T12:05:00.004-04:00

Pianist Monty Alexander

Around this time of year, I start compiling a list of the best jazz albums I’ve heard, which by the end of December I have narrowed down to my ten favorites. So far this year I’ve heard roughly 150 jazz albums. It may seem too early to talk about my favorites of 2011. There’re more jazz albums coming out before the end of the year. James Carter, Geri Allen Rez Abbasi's, and Oscar Perez have upcoming releases. Selecting 10 from a 150 stellar albums is tough. One reason is the quality of jazz music has gotten better. Anyhow, here're a preliminary list of the best jazz albums I’ve come across so far this year.

Uplift by Monty Alexander (Jazz Legacy Production)

With this album Alexander proved it’s still humanly possible to make a kick ass jazz trio album.

The Time of the Sun by Tom Harrell (High Note Records)

Sort of a weird title. Nevertheless, Harrell has everything I want from a jazz trumpeter beauty, lyricism, and in-your-face swing.

Faith by Gonzalo Rubalcaba (5Passion)

My readers Jazz know I can’t stand most solo piano albums. Most are boring. I have to admit that Faith caught me off guard. Rubalcaba is a virtuoso in every sense of the word.

No Need for Words by Sean Jones (Mack Avenue Records)

Sean Jones is the best jazz trumpeter of his generation. Jones has proven that album after album. Jones thing is hard bop. With this album he stepped outside of that comfort zone some. Jones takes a stab at free-jazz on the closer. I wonder if that foreshadows a new direction Jones is contemplating.

Pianist Gerald Clayton

Bond the Paris Sessions by Gerald Clayton (Emarcy)

The piano player is still a wet behind the ear swinger. To date, his best moments have been his work with the Clayton Brothers (his dad John and his uncle Jeff). Bond the Paris Sessions is Clayton second album as a leader. This is a sweet ass album. Clayton is still a few albums away from a breakthrough.

Song of Mirth and Melancholy by Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo (Marsalis Music)

Branford and Joey have been running the streets together for ten years now. Both are heady improvisers. This album isn’t austere as the title suggest. Branford and Joey are in lockstep from the beginning to the end.

Blues for Pekar by Ernie Krivda (Capri)

This is a downhome bop album. The most memorable I’ve come across in a long while. People familiar with Krivda understand that downhome bop is his specialty.

“State of Art” by Ben William (Concord Records)

As a bandleader the young jazz bass player doesn’t have a lot of frequent flier miles. State of Art is his first time in the pilot’s chair. Williams poured some of his musical influences into this album jazz, classical, and hip-hop, which could’ve been a disaster. With the grace of god, Williams pulled it off. State of Art is an excellent debut album.

Christian Scott, Stefon Harris and David Sanxhez

Ninety Miles by David Sanchez, Stefon Harris, and Christian Scott (Concord Records)

So far this year, Ninety Miles is my favorite jazz album. Sanchez, Harris, Scott are infallible. They’re masterful on their respective instruments. Somehow, they were able to avoid turning Ninety Miles into an ego fest.

Mano A Mano by Michel Camilo (Emarcy)

I set a world record for the number of times I replayed Camilo's take on Lee Morgan’s hard-bop classic the Sidewinder. Honestly, I know the exact number of times I listened to it. If I revealed it, you wouldn’t believe me.

Warren Wolf by Warren Wolf (Mack Avenue Records)

This is the vibraphone player’s third album, but his first for a big time record company. Wolf has the chops, and there’s no vibraphone player out there who play as fast as Wolf can. I bet during his formative years Wolf studied a lot of bebop music. This self-titled album will establish Wolf as a major force.

Jazz vocalist Rene' Marie

Voice of my Beautiful Country by Rene Marie (Motema)

To hell with Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Sheila Jordan. Yes I said it. For my money, Rene' Marie is the best female jazz singer of any era. On this album—her first for Motema—Marie voices melts in your hands.

Close to You by Penny Wells (CDBY)

I don’t know if Penny Wells considers herself a jazz singer. I do know Wells has an excellent voice. For her first album Shine, Wells wrote all the songs. With Close to You, Wells covers standards from Burt Bacharach’s songbook, proving she can sing standards as beautifully as she sings originals.

Everyday Magic by Rahsaan Barber (Jazz Music City)

Barber is not a household name yet. In his home state Tennessee—also the home of the late great sax players Sonny Criss, Frank Stozier and Hank Crawford—Barber is the shit. And so is his first album for Jazz Music City. He owns the label by the way. On Everyday Magic, his energy to swing is inexhaustible.

The Story of Cathy and Me by Curtis Fuller (Challenge Records) The trombone player's wife of 30 years passed away in 2010. This album is Fuller's final love letter to his beloved Cathy, and it one of Fuller best albums in years.

Dancing with Duke by John Brown (Brown Boulevard Records)
This is a cover album of some of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's well-known material. Yes, there're a million such albums on the Market, but none sweeter than this one. What I dig most about Dancing with Duke is Brown did not take too many liberties with the compositions, and on several of the compositions, Brown relinquished control to Cyrus Chestnut, a killer piano player. Brown made an awesome jazz trio date.

STAR-STUDDED GET TOGETHER

2011-09-25T17:06:00.003-04:00

I was in Barnes & Noble Friday night. I picked up a copy of your new album “Duets An American Classic”. It was on sale for $9.99, a bargain, and I couldn’t resist buying it. I found out the album was coming out while reading “High Notes Tony Bennett in the studio with Lady Gaga in the New Yorker. You remember that article, right? Your pal Gay Talese wrote it.

Talese gave a blow by blow account of your studio experience with Lady Gaga doing take after take of “The Lady is a Tramp”. I’m a jazz man. I’m not familiar with Gaga’s music, but I understand she’s a hot commodity in the world of popular music.

Talese captured what went on in the studio that day, and I was anxious to hear the final outcome. I was disappointed the duet with Lady Gaga didn’t make the album. Talese is an idol of mine. Man, I wish I could write like him and had his sense of style.

Talese was credited as the pioneer of literary journalism. That’s not true. St. Clair McKelway was the pioneer. McKelway was a reporter, a managing editor, and a rewrite man for the New Yorker back in the ‘30’s when Talese was a kid.

Last year, the book publisher Bloomsbury put out “Reporting at Wit’s End Tales from the New Yorker”. The book is a collection of McKelway’s articles. What does all this McKelway stuff have to do with your new album? Nothing, I’ve been itching to share that bit of trivia with someone.

At any rate, Mr. Bennett “Duets An American Classic” is nearly perfect although the duet with Lady Gaga was left out.

The album feels like a big get together. And you asked all your favorite singers to participate. I bet you didn’t have to ask them twice. When the great Tony Bennett called the Dixie Chicks, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, John Legend, Sting, and Stevie Wonder—six of the big named singers that you collaborated with—came running like they were hit with subpoenas.

At 85, your voice is still in good shape.

Did I have any favorite tracks? Absolutely. I was totally into “The Best is Yet to Come” with Diana Krall, “For Once in my Life” with Stevie Wonder, and the “Very Thought of You” with Paul McCartney.

With this album, listeners get a ringside set at this star-studded get together. Honestly, Mr. Bennett, if of went at it allow, "Duets An American Classic" still would've been a thrill

As for Lady Gaga, my thinking is you were so blown away by her that you decided not to include her on “Duets An American Classic” because someday you want to do an album with her. That'll be an other American classic.

BUY THESE ALBUMS

2011-09-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

With “at the crossroads,” James Carter is back with his organ trio drummer Leonard King and organ player Gerard Gibbs. They've been working together for a decade , and have made some excellence jazz albums “Live at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge,” and “Out of Nowhere”. Carter loaded this new album with blues and gospel tunes, and guest appearances. “at the crossroads” isn’t a masterwork like Caribbean Rhapsody, which came out in May. But “at the crossroads” is outstanding nonetheless. Gibbs deserves the lion share of the credit. Long ago, Gibbs earned his spot as one of the top jazz organ players around. All the slick things Carter can do on the sax Gibbs can do on the organ. That no easy feat. Decca makes “at the crossroads” available for public consumption October 4th.

Yoko Miwa new album “Live at Sculler Jazz Club” is the best jazz trio album I've come across this year. Around the Boston jazz scene Miwa is a big deal, and after I listened to "Wheel of Life" and "Season of Wither," I understood why. She a has a mean left hand and a restless right one. She plays a little bit of everything samba, blues, and hardcore bop. On November 17, Jazz Cat Amnesty Records makes “Live at Sculler Jazz available to the public.

Tenor saxophone player Tim Mayer built his chops from scratch. He idolized Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt. That comes through on Mayer's debut “Resilience”. Like his saxophone idols, Mayer has a sound that’s big and wide. Mayer went for broke playing songs by jazz heavies Charles Tolliver, Steve Turre, George Cables, and Lee Morgan. Jazz Legacy Productions releases “Resilience” September 27th.

This is jazz piano player Geri Allen’s second solo album for Motema Records. Last year, Allen served up “Flying Toward the Sound,” which was a nob to her idols Herbie Hancock, Cecil Taylor and McCoy Tyner. The album was praised, but I wasn’t feeling it. It came off as if Allen was home alone, killing time practicing some of her favorite tunes. I,m totally into Allen's new solo outing “A Child is Born”. Allen plays 14 Christmas songs, and she dedicated the album to her immediate family. “A Child is Born” is a jazz holiday album I'll play year around. It will be on the streets October 11th.

AHMAD JAMAL AT HILL AUDITORIUM

2011-09-19T13:15:00.012-04:00

Ahmad Jamal

Jazz piano player Ahmad Jamal opened the University Musical Society 18th Annual Jazz Series Saturday evening at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor Michigan. Jamal set the bar high for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Charles Llyod Quartet, acts scheduled this season. Jamal, 81, performed songs from his albums Quiet Time, It’s Magic, Awakening and Poinciana.

Drummer Herlin Riley, bass player James Cammack, percussion player Manolo Badrena walked on stage first, and positioned themselves behind their instruments. Then Jamal strolled on the stage to rousing applause befitting a jazz master.

Jamal started the 75 minute set with Appreciation. Then he cruised into After Math and After Jalc. Jamal is an interactive bandleader. He doesn’t just set at the piano hammering away. He used hand signals like a third base coach, signaling to his band mates to solo, to speed up the tempo, and to settle down.

When Badrena soloed on After Jalc, Jamal stood in front of him, and egged him on. When Riley was wailing and one of his drumstick flew out his hand, Jamal fetched the drumstick., and he handed Riley it like a high school principal hands an honor student a diploma.

I saw Riley last at Orchestra Hall many years ago with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. It slipped my mind what a freewheeling, and animated drummer Riley is. Cammack is an awesome bass player. All night long, he walked the upright bass like a hot date. Jamal's guys earned their paycheck. Jamal was most valuable player.

Jamal still have that light and buttery soft touch. And the space he leaves between notes is so wide a trucker could park his big rig comfortably. Jamal closed the set with his classic Poinciana. After that the audience gave him a length ovation. They didn't settled down until Jamal, Cammack, Riley and Badrena agreed to an encore. to an encore.

SONNY ROLLINS' TRAVELING SHOW

2011-09-18T09:11:00.001-04:00

In 2008, Sonny Rollins put out the Road Show Vol. 1. The album was bits of his never before released live concerts, and some of his unreleased studio recordings cut and pasted together. As a lifelong Sonny Rollins follower, I hated the first Road Show album. It didn’t suck me in like some of Rollins’ other albums Way Out West, Saxophone Colossus, Night at the Village Vanguard, and Without a Song the 9/11 Concert. Besides, the production quality sunk.

Tuesday, Road Show Vol. 2 went on sale nationwide. It’s better than the first volume. Road Show Vol. 2 is filled with guest spots. Trumpet player Roy Hargrove, bass player Christian McBride, and guitar player Jim Hall participate. With that level of star power, it would be tough to make a dud. What pushes Road Show Vol. 2 over the top is the surprise appearance from Ornette Coleman.

Rollins threw a concert to celebrate his 80^th birthday, and he invited Coleman. Rollins didn’t know if Coleman was going to show.Well Coleman did show, and he killed on Sonny Mood for Two. Rollins chose that number for Coleman. It has room for Coleman to rove.

Rollins and Coleman are old-timers. They have been pals forever. The birthday bash was the first time they played side by side. The other guest spots on Road Show Vol. 2 are good, especially Hargrove’s playing on I Can’t Get Started and Rain Check and Jim Hall's strumming on In a Sentimental Mood.

But neither guest spot compare to the magic Rollins and Coleman generate.They didn’t horse around. They’re too up there in age for that. They sound like to friends shooting the breeze, catching up on old times. Coleman taking part in the Road Show Vol. 2 is the biggest reason the album is worth having.

IN THE MOMENT

2011-09-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

Karriem Riggins

Karriem. I want to thank you forproving once and for all there're similarities between jazz and hip-hop. Anybodythat left your set at the 20011 Detroit Jazz Festival, feeling otherwise is a numskull plain and simple. Your group the Karriem Riggins Ensemble with special guest hip-hop artist Common ripped up the JP Morgan Chase Stage, and settled an argument.

Many avid jazz fans believe there's no connections between jazz and hip-hop. I believe there are. Jazz musicians improvise and hip-hopmusicians free style. They are the same in my book. The musicians create on thespot or in the moment.

I’ve never had a problem with jazz musicians combining hip-hop with jazz. Of course, in thewrong hands, mixing the two could be messy. Branford Marsalisproved that with his album Buckshot LeFonque. But his peers jazz trumpet player Russell Gunnand saxophone player Courtney Pine successfully combined the two forms..

Common rhyming about Detroit was totally improvised. When MikeJellick’s--one of the most in demand jazz musicians in Detroit right now--soloed, he spilled his musical imagination all over the piano.

Karriem, if naysayers need more proof that free styling and improvising are blood relatives, they should watch the cypher segments of the BET Hip-hop Awards show. Top hip-hop artists come up with slick, colorful, and witty rhymesoff the top of their heads.

OrnetteColeman’s album Free Jazz that featured Eric Dolphy, DonCherry, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins is a good example of jazz musicians creating in the moment or free styling.

Coleman andcompany weren’t battling or trying to outplay each other. They let theirimaginations run free, and what they came up with was out of sight.

The Karriem Riggins Ensemble was more cohesive than your other ensemble VirtuosoExperience. Don’t get me wrong, I liked VE. I’m just pointing out VE had some rough edges. Slum Village wasn’t as hyped as Common was.

Common fit perfectly with the band of A-list Detroit jazz musicians in the Karriem Riggins Ensemble. Karriem, you proved that jazz and hip-hop have glaring similarities.

OPEN LETTER TO JASON MORAN

2011-09-09T14:11:00.001-04:00

Jazz pianist Jason Moran

DearJason,

I’mstill pissed your set at the Detroit Jazz Festival was called off. I know itwasn’t your fault. I’m having a hard time letting it go. Man, I was anxious to hear your trio. But Mother Nature made it rain, and the Saturday evening acts were cancelled. Theaudience didn’t give a shit about the thunder and the lighting. With your own eyes, you saw people out there with umbrellas, and rain gear, waiting for Mature Nature tocool it.

Jazz fans are dedicated, especially the ones from Detroit. Had Hurricane Irene swept through Detroit the fans still would’ve shown up.I wondered why Mother Nature decided to target Detroit anyway. She’s never interrupted thejazz fest before. She knows good and well this is Detroit's biggest music event of the year. It attracts jazz fans from all over the world.

Maybe Mother Nature and Father Nature had a big fight. Maybe Father Nature forgot her birthday, or came home after his curfew smelling different than when he left home. I'm going to investigate what cause Mother Nature to lose it. If Father Nature provoked her, I'm going to give the rascal a piece of my mind.

Jason,it’s been almost two decades since I’ve seen you in person. In the late 90’s,you played at a bar in Hamtramck, a small cityoutside of Detroit.I forgot the name of the bar. I was only there that one time. BlueNote Records had just signed a bunch of young lions. The company put togethera band, and showcased it in select cities. Mark Shim, Greg Osby, and StefonHarris were in the band. Neither of you were household names yet.

Thatshow was pretty amazing. A year or so later, jazz concert producer Bill Fosterbooked Osby at the Serengeti Ballroom on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. You werein the rhythm section.

Ihave your albums. I marvel at how you manipulate special effects. On one song, two women gossiped on the telephone while you improvisedin the background. I understood the point you're trying to convey. That even meaningless gossip is music, or itcan be turned into music.

Onanother record, you improvised while someone scribbled in a notebook. Jasonthat floored me. Just when I thought youcouldn’t get more creative you turned the hip hop classic Planet Rock into ajazz tune.

Imissed your set with Joe Lovano at Hill Auditorium a few years ago. My friendAndy was in the house. He said your solo set was beyond amazing. So, you understandwhy I was hot when your set at the jazz fest was called off. My ears wereready. Iskipped some of the afternoon acts. I wanted to be fully rested to hear your trio, Sun Ra Arkestra, andDave Holland. That’s a lot of swing to consume back to back.

Saturday, I spotted you twice. First, with your family near the Pyramid Stage. Then I saw you before the Sun Ra Arkestra was set togo on. You were backstage at the Carhartt Stage. I wanted to ask you a few questions. But the timing was bad. You were with your sons. I decided not to bother you.

Iwanted to know if someday you plan to record any of Jaki Byard’s songs, seeingas how Jaki influenced you. I also wanted to know if you plan to make astraight ahead jazz trio album without the sound effects. Not that I’m tired ofthe music you’ve been making. I wonder if a jazz musician as daring andcreative as you are could play it straight.

So,Jason that why I was pissed your set got cancelled. There’s a silver lining, however.You are playing with saxophone player Charles Lloyd in Ann Arbor, MIin April.

Allthe best,

Charles

2011 DETROIT JAZZ FEST FINALE

2011-09-06T07:13:00.003-04:00

Jazz singer Champian Fulton

I asked a handful of people I ran into at the Detroit Jazz Festival every year their thoughts about this year’s fest. The consensus was the fest felt different. Honestly, I did not know what to make of that. Did they mean the fest didn’t meet expectations. Or did it exceed their wildest dreams. The only difference to me was the weather was shitty.

Back stage before the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra’s set began, I overheard a female DJF staffer tell Maxine Gordon—tenor saxophone God Dexter Gordon’s wife—the DJF is the only music fest in the world where you get to experience summer, autumn, winter, and spring in the same weekend. Friday it was hotter than Arizona in July. Monday, it felt like winter.

Mother Nature had a chip on her shoulder. Or she was testing us, wanting to weed out the real jazz fans from the people who attended the fest because they did not have other plans. The shitty weather did not keep the real jazz fans away.

I bounced from the Carhartt Stage to the Pyramid Stage, to the JP Morgan Chase stage. As I hammered out this last jazz fest review, my dogs were aching something awful. I heard some fantastic jazz music Monday.

I caught Gary Burton’s performance at the Carhartt Stage. Burton played with his new band Julian Lage, Antonio Sanchez, and Scott Colley. They worked out on material from Burton’s first album for Mack Avenue Records Common Ground.

During the set, I almost lost my cool. A jerk sitting to my immediate right was yelling while Burton played the most beautiful solo I’ve ever heard a vibraphone player play. I couldn’t hear the name of the tune, and when Burton was wrapping up the solo, the jerk tapped me on the shoulder. He told me if I cut off my mustache, I’d look exactly like news reporter Bill Proctor.

Honest to God, it took all the strength I could muster not to slap the shit out the jerk. One of the greatest jazz vibraphone players ever was 50 feet from me spilling his soul on the bandstand, and I could hardly enjoy.

The crowd loved Burton. They begged for an encore. Burton obliged. He played a slick version of the Milt Jackson's jewel Bag's Groove. I darted over to the Pyramid Stage to hear jazz singer Champian Fulton’s hour-long set. It was her first time in Detroit. She came with her A game

I never heard of her. But when I spotted Andy Rothman of the Detroit Groove Society and the Detroit Free Press jazz critic Mark Styker sitting in front of the stage, I knew I was in for something special. Fulton didn’t disappoint. I sat next to Rothman and a fellow named Jose S. DaCosta. The business card he gave me said he runs a jazz program in Rochester, New York called Exodus to Jazz.

After Fulton sang The Song Has Ended, and Love So Much, Rothman whispered in my ear Fulton plays the piano like the great Erroll Garner. Then DaCosta whispered in my left ear Fulton plays like Detroit piano player Johnny O’Neal. Rothman and DaCosta had a point.

I was sold on Fulton after she sang If I Had You. Diana Krall sang the song on her breakthrough album All for You A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio. Krall’s take was my favorite until I heard Fulton sing If I Had You.

I arrived at the JP Morgan Chase Stage roughly 20 minutes before jazz drummer and hip-hop producer Karriem Riggins was scheduled to perform with Grammy winning rapper and raising move star Common. This was the second year Riggins put together a jazz and hip-hop hybrid concert. Last year, Riggins presented Karriem Riggins and Virtuoso Experience with special guest Slum Village. It went over big. This time, Riggins collaborated with Common.

Riggins showed a rapper free styling is the same as a jazz musician improvising. Both are creating on the spot. That is what Common did when hit the stage. He free styled about how much he loves Detroit. “Detroit has so much soul even the white people has soul,” Common rapped. My favorite jazz fest solo was Riggins free styling at the end of his set. His rapping skills are nearly as amazing as he drumming.

Back at the Carhartt Stage, the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra, played the music of Christian McBride. Singer Ernie Andrews was the special guest.

The DJFO premiered four songs from McBride’s upcoming album That Good Feeling. I got my hands on an advance copy of the album. It’s McBride’s first shot at a big band album, and he nailed it. The jazz fest finale was a ploy to promote the date..

Andrews’s performance wasn’t nearly as amazing as his set last year. This time, Andrews traipsed through the Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn songbook. Andrews’s interpretation of Sophisticated Lady and Take the A Train wasn't half bad.

Adding to the mix Anat Cohen, Regina Carter, and a group of teenage trombone players was overkill, , which the Detroit Jazz fest has been guilty of before. I would have loved an other taste of McBride’s new album.This just my opinion, the finale felt spur of the moment. It was McBride’s coming out party, and he deserved more of the spotlight.

The festival met expectation no more no less. The only disappointment was I didn’t get to hear Dave Holland, the Sun Ra Arkestra and Jason Moran. Those performances were cancelled because mother nature had a chip on her shoulder.

Bass player Christian McBride

NOTES FROM THE 2011 DETROIT JAZZ FEST

2011-09-05T12:48:00.002-04:00

Piano player Aaron Diel

I soaked up a lot of music today at the Detroit Jazz Festival. I started the day at the Carhartt Amphitheater. The Michigan State University Jazz Orchestra performed. Bass player Rodney Whitaker was the conductor, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts was the special quest. On the MSU campus, the orchestra is known as the Be bop Spartans. For a collegiate band thery are pretty good. The orchestra jump-started their set with bop piano player Duke Pearson’s New Girl. Then the orchestra showed they have range by playing an uber-hip verse of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. That got the crowd goosed up.

Before Watts joined in, Whitaker daughter, Raquel, sang a blues by Chicago Pete. Raquel has a fairly decent voice, but she needs to work on her stagecraft. The best part of the set came when the Be bop Spartan’s played Oliver Nelson’s arrangement of Down by the Riverside. Whitaker alter part of the arrangement. Instead of letting the saxophone section battle, Whitaker let the trumpet section duke it out.

A cutting contest is more of a saxophone player thing, but Whitaker likes to buck convention from time to time, so he thought it be novel to let his trumpeter players have at it. Whitaker raised some wonderful jazz musicians De’Sean Jones, Thaddeus Dixon, Noah Jackson, and Ben Williams. All have promising careers. I heard Williams’s first album for Concord Records State of Art is currently the hottest jazz album on the market. Watts joining the Be bop Spartan didn’t enhance their set any. Watts played a handful of aggressive solos.

J.C. and E Dog's celebration

I shot over to the Mack Avenue Waterfront Stage to take in some of Regina Carter’s performance. Carter is always a big draw whenever she plays the festival. When I arrived at the stage, Carter was hand feeding the standing room only crowd tunes from her latest album Reverse Thread.

I didn’t stick around. I headed back to the Carhartt stage to catch the J.C. Heard Tribute Band under the direction of trumpet player and arranger Walt Szymanski, Heard’s point-man for many years. Szymanski also dedicated the set to the recently departed tenor sax player Scott “E Dog” Peterson. Szymanski did something that damn near had me weep.

He had Peterson’s tenor sax on the stage.Then Szymanski told the crowd Peterson would be playing with the band in spirit. Today five big bands played at the Carhartt Stage. The J.C. Heard Tribute Band smoked them all.

Anat Cohen

Her inner swinger

My next move was to check out Anat Cohen at the Absopure Pyramid Stage. It was the third time I’ve seen Cohen in person. The first was at the Detroit Groove Society’s concert series. Anat played two killer sets with guitar player Howard Alden. I fell for Cohen after the first set. Not too long ago, I saw her at Orchestra Hall. She played a double bill with the Hot Club of Detroit. Her set was rush and she didn’t open up like she did at the Detroit Groove Society hit, and at the Pyramid Stage yesterday afternoon. Cohen can swing her butt off, and she has an abundance of stagecraft, and she knows a thing or two about getting her audience involved in her performance.

The Riel deal

At the Mack Avenue Waterfront Stage Aaron Diehl Quintet, set began 20 minutes late. Before Diel, Wessell “Warm Daddy” Anderson, Lawrence Leather, and Dominick Farinacci took the stage, an executive from Mack Avenue Records announced Diel is the newest member of the Mack Avenue clan. I enjoyed Diehl’s set, particularly his take on Nat Adderly's tune Little Boy with the Sad Eyes. Hands down, Anderson was the crowd’s favorite. Diel playing is a mix of Duke Ellington and Kenny Barron.

If I had my way, the young Detroit jazz musicians I’ve come down hard on recently, would’ve been required to attend Diehl’s set. They could have picked up some pointers from Diel about being professional, and presenting a complete package to an audience. Diel’s staff was dressed impeccably. They were rehearsed, and they had strong game plan.

Wilsonian grain

Last year, Maria Schneider’s Orchestra tore up the Carhartt Stage. Alto sax player Steve Wilson was Schneider’s right hand man. This time around, Wilson was the boss. At the Absopure Stage, Wilson showed off his band Steve Wilson and Wilsonian Grain. It’s a fierce band. Wilson and, bass player Ugonna Okegwo are the brains of the quartet, and drummer Clarence Penn and piano player Orrin Evans are the muscle. Wilson cut down the changes to Thelonious Monk’s Well You Needn’t like a weed whacker. The entire set Evans put a hurting on the piano.

Joe Lovano

Lovano hating

I closed the night back at the Carhartt Stage. Joe Lovano band Us Five played. Lovano called tunes from his albums Bird Songs, US Five and Symphonica. Some of my jazz buddies hated Lovano’s show. They could not understand why he used two drummers. And they said his chops are average at best. I didn’t have a problem with Lovano’s set. Neither did the crowd. They gave him two standing ovations. On the third number, Lovano almost blew a hole in the moon. Deep down Lovano wants to be a free jazz saxophone player. I saw that during his solo on Yardbird Suite.

SWINGIN' IN THE RAIN

2011-09-04T10:17:00.002-04:00

Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra

Today was the first full day of music at the Detroit Jazz Festival. I planned to catch Kimmie Horne, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Jason Moran, and Dave Holland. I got a late start. I missed Horne’s set, but I bumped in the Horne and her manager Michael Cash on my way to hear trumpet player Sean Jones. It was the first time Horne hit at the festival in a while. I asked her if she was pleased with her set. She was.

I caught the tail end of Jones’ set. Jones had just called Forgiveness (Release), the closer on his latest album No Need for Words. He took the audience on a rollercoaster. Forgiveness was my favorite song on that album because It was the first time I heard Jones play free jazz. His staff Orrin Evans, Brian Hogans, Luques Curtis and John Davis threw down. The audience loved it. I wonder if Jones plans to play more free jazz stuff in the future.

After Jones’ set, I bumped into photographers Karen Fox and Nina Simone Simms-Bentley. They talked about how different the festival feels this year. It was hotter than hell in August. I think the heat had gotten to them. Before I headed to the VIP section, I chatted with the Detroit Free Press jazz critic Mark Styker, and his wife Candice. Styker told me the University of Michigan Press will published his first book next year. The book (he didn’t tell me the title) is a collection of article he’s written about Detroit jazz musicians.

In the VIP section, I asked my friends Marc Arden and Luis Torregrosa—in my book the smartest jazz fans on the planet—to name their favorite acts so far. They said Warren Wolfe & WolfPac, and Derrick Gardner & the Jazz Prophets. I have an extra copy of Wolf’s new album on Mack Avenue records. I promised Marc I would give it to him tomorrow.

Then I told Luis that guitar player Bobby Broom disliked my review of his new album Wonderful!, and Broom wrote me nasty note questioning my jazz acumen. Luis got a kick out of that. Luis heard Wonderful!, and agrees with me that it was not a good album.

I didn’t eat while in the VIP section. I wanted to save my appetite for the Sun Ra Arkestra set at 7:00pm at the Carhartt Amphitheatre Stage. Fifteen minute before the Arkestra was set to hit the stage it started thundering and lighting something awful.

The set was delayed 30 minutes. When the rain stopped, the Arkestra, led by sax player Marshall Allen, took the stage. They were decked out in sequined jackets and matching headdress. The thundering and lighting knock out the power. The microphones were dead, and the stage was unlit. That didn’t stop the Arkestra.

The horn section paraded around the stage as if nothing was wrong. After the fourth tune, a festival staffer announced another storm was coming. The remaining sets were cancelled. For a moment, I thought a riot was going to break out. A woman yelled out “It’s just water for goodness sake”. The audience wanted the show to go on. A storm ain't enough to scare away diehard jazz fans

Tomorrow is another full day of music. Jeff “Tain” Watts, Joe Lovano, Regina Carter, Vijay Ayer, Anta Cohen, and Paquito D’Rivera are scheduled to play.

RAHSAAN BARBER'S MAGIC TOUCH

2011-09-03T11:15:00.000-04:00

“After I recorded this album, I told my dad if I get hit by a car tomorrow it would be okay because I made this album. It is that personal for me,” said saxophone player Rahsaan Barber, 31, about Everyday Magic, his new album Jazz Music City released Tuesday. Barber has big aspirations for Nashville, his hometown. He wants it to be a jazz hub like New York, Chicago, and Detroit. Everyday Magic is the initial step toward that goal.

Barber was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. His dad was a bass player. His mom was a sister, and his grandmother was a piano player. His twin brother Roland (their dad named them after the jazz saxophone player Rahsaan Roland Kirk) plays the trombone. In 2001, they co-led the album Twinnovation. Barber attended Manhattan School of Music. He decided to make his mark in Nashville instead of New York. He pointed out Nashville is full of unsung jazz musicians, and the jazz scene there is ripe.

Everyday Magic is Barber second album as a leader. Trio Soul was his first. He owns the record label and concert promotion company Jazz Music City. On Everyday Magic, he composed all the music, and hired Nashville jazz musicians Adam Agati, Jody Nardone, Jerry Navarro, and Nioshi Jackson.

One of Everyday Magic’s many highlights is a spirited exchange with Roland on Why So Blue. Barber boyhood idol was sax man Stanley Turrentine. Barber's playing is deep and soulful like Turrentine's was. You can also hear elements of three soulful Tennessee saxophone players in Barber playing Hank Crawford, Sonny Criss, and Frank Strozier.

“This record is the culmination of many years of hard work, and it is good to have this record in hand. I think there are more years of practicing and long, long hours in store for me, but it is nice to have gotten to this point,” Barber said. I Dig Jazz talked to Barber about Everyday Magic and his plans for Jazz Music City.

Your band is tighter than strings on a tennis racket. Were they a natural fit for your originals?

We literally learned to play this music in the studio. That is not the way I like to record. I like to go out and play this music for a year, and then record it. But it didn't work out that way given our schedules. The majority of the music we didn't play until the Monday we went into the studio. I’m looking forward now to going out and playing this music more regularly.

Why did you record all originals and no standards?

I don't now any standards that sound the way these tunes sound. It's certainly possible that we could have done A Child is Born instead of Manhattan Grace, and Naima instead of Adagio. I felt that I had enough material to work with this record at a high enough level without stepping outside of my own compositions.

I think I have been fortunate enough to play with theses great Nashville jazz musicians that master whatever music I put in front of them. I think I have found myself musically at a higher level than I could when I was 25-year-old.

Did you set out to make a statement with this album?

I hope that Everyday Magic cast a light on what is happening on the jazz scene in Nashville. I've had a lot of conversations here in the black community about the future of jazz music. Conversations like are there people doing more than simply making money off the music verses trying to continue on the legacy of the music. That's what I would like to do, keep this music going here.

How is the jazz scene in Nashville?

It is growing. I think the level of musicianship is here. I think it is on the level of anything happening anywhere. However, we are still in desperate need of a major venue. With Jazz Music City, I am trying to address that, and present the many world-class jazz musicians in this city. In some situations, we have world-class jazz musicians playing background music because that is the only gig available to them. There is not a situation industry-wise that can help them have the careers that they want to have.

Are southern jazz musicians unique?

There is a certain kind of conviction jazz musicians from the south have. There is certain musicality that draws my ear and excites me about the musicians. They understand the power of the music, and the stylistic breadth. Hopefully, that comes through on Everyday Magic. What makes jazz musicians in Nashville unique is we are in a town where we play all types of music. It is only natural as a composer that I bring to a project a wide range of music. Nashville has a lot of those kind of musicians but it is not a jack-of-all-trades master of-none thing.

Why did you decide make your mark in Nashville instead of in New York?

You know that old adage if you can pay your rent in New York you have made it. That is great if your aspiration is to pay your rent. Some of my friends live in New York, and they are living in what looks like a closet to me. I did not feel a kinship in New York. Not that I couldn't play the way musicians play there. There were many things calling me back to Nashville, and I felt that I could have the career I wanted to have here.

What are your plans for Jazz Music City?

With the Jazz Music City Records, We are trying to create footsteps for local acts to become national acts. It won't be all about me. We have this depth of talent here that needs to be showcased like New York and Chicago showcase their musicians to the world. I definitely want to create a catalog. I don't want to create a Blue Note Records of the south, but there are plenty of jazz musicians here that if Blue Note heard they would be interested in signing them. That is where Jazz Music City comes in.

It is a record label and a concert promotion company. It is entirely independent at the moment. But I feel so strongly about what I'm doing if I lost everything on it I wouldn't regret it. I don't think that is going to happen. I know the talent here is at a certain level, and if you believe in the talent and present it right, the company will be successful.

Saxophone player Rahsaan Barber

HITTING THE STREETS SOON

2011-08-29T20:44:00.001-04:00

Unnatural habitat

Jazz Singer Chris Connor made a name in Stan Kenton’s big band, garnering comparisons to Anita O’Day and June Christy. Connor wasn't as well-known as they were, but Connor was a better singer. She had a long career with only a few mishaps. In the 60's, pop music dominated the charts. Record producer Kenny Greengrass convinced Connor to make a pop album. The outcome was Chris Connor Sings Gentle Bossa Nova, which Just A Memory is reissuing September 13th. She owned a voice that was pure as spring water, but Sings Gentle Bossa Nova wasn’t her best output. Her voice was made for jazz. With this pop oriented offering, Connor strayed too far away from her natural habitat.

McSwingin'

A few years ago, Mack Avenue Records snapped up jazz bass player Christian McBride. His debut album was Kind of Brown, and McBride unveiled his new band Inside Straight. It was my least favorite Christian McBride album. But, McBride’s second album for Mack Avenue The Good Feeling, due out on September 27th, is McBride’s first masterpiece. On The Good Feeling, McBride shows off his big band, and he has some bigwigs on the payroll Ron Blake, Nicholas Payton, Steve Wilson and Xavier Davis. Davis is my pick for the album's MVP. McBride did a fine job making sure The Good Feeling swings from head to toe.

Soft touch

Resonance Record will release jazz trumpet player Claudio Roditi’s new album Bons Amigo on September 13th. Roditi is a senior citizen., and he’s still making some of the best Brazilian jazz music around. I can come up with a million reasons why Bons Amigo is a bulletproof investment, but I will only supply one. Roditi is a divine lyrical trumpeter with a tone soft as snowflakes.

NOT SO WONDERFUL!

2011-08-21T16:25:00.005-04:00

The past few years, guitar player Bobby Broom has been in shout out mode. In 2009, he put out Bobby Broom Plays for Monk. The album was a shout out to Thelonious Monk, and it was a pretty good take on some of Monk’s timeless songs. Broom is a laid-back guitar player by nature. That can easily be mistaken as boring, which honestly Broom can be at times.

To his credit, Broom has done his best playing with Sonny Rollins. Most of the time, Rollins prefers guitar players over piano players. And because Rollins has stuck with Broom since the mid-80's is a testament to his worth.

Last week, Origin Records put out Wonderful!, a shout out to Motown legend Stevie Wonder by the Deep Blue Organ Trio. Broom co-captains the DBOT with organ player Chris Foreman, and drummer Greg Rockingham.

For Wonderful!, the DBOT cherry picked nine songs from the Stevie Wonder songbook, for example Tell Me Something Good, If You Really Love Me, and You’ve Got it Bad Girl. Broom wrote all the arrangements. And clearly the DBOT tried hard to put a jazz spin on Wonder’s hits, but the DBOT failed.

Wonderful! lacked excitement and soul. Broom and Foreman are the blame. (Rockingham gets a pass, but his drumming was nothing to write home about.) Broom's arrangements are stiff.

Foreman is an easygoing organ player. He opened up the throttle some on You Haven’t Done Nothin’. But on the other songs it seemed as if he syphoned all the soul out of his organ. The DBOT clearly had the best intentions when they made Wonderful!, but they did not go deep enough.

ADVANCE SCREENING

2011-08-19T14:48:00.006-04:00

Tennessee soul

Tennessee is not a jazz hub although some remarkable jazz sax players were born there Frank Storizer, Sonny Criss and Hank Crawford for example. Monday, I received Everyday Magic by saxophone player and Tennessee native Rahsaan Barber. (Rahsaan and his brother Roland were named after the great multi-reed player Rahsaan Roland Kirk.) Everyday Magic is Barber’s second album as the boss, and the first on his label Jazz Music City. Barber has that fat, soulful, and bluesy sound unique to Tennessee bred sax players. If you think it’s impossible for Barber chops to be up there with Storizer, Criss, and Crawford at this stage of his career pick up a copy of Everyday Magic when it's available to the public August 30th. Then play Floodsong, and Why So Blue. You will understand why I compare Barber’s chops to those great Tennesseans.

Swingin' with the oldies

A few months back, my friend stated Kenny Garrett is the reigning king of the alto saxophone. Garrett is an awesome musician. No sane jazz fan would dispute that. But Miguel Zenon is my pick for the top alto sax player working today. To my friend—and to anybody else who agrees Garrett is the shit—I offer to them Zenon’s new album Alma Andentro the Puerto Rican Songbook. Marsalis Music makes the album available nationwide August 30th. Zenon plays the songs of Bobby Capo, Pedro Flores, Rafael Hernandez and Sylvia Rexach. They were to Puerto Rican music culture what Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and Jerome Kerns were to American culture. Zenon is a clever improviser with a flair for updating oldies. In Zenon’s hands, national treasures such as Incomprendido and Silencio have that fresh out the oven aroma.

Progressive smooth jazz

Songs from the Chateau is bass player Kyle Eastwood’s second album for Mack Avenue Records. Eastwood is the famous actor and director Clint Eastwood's son. (The elder Eastwood supports jazz.) For a smooth jazz player, Eastwood has a heighten sense of swing, and he has an eye for like-minded jazz musician. On Song from the Chateau Eastwood used piano player Andrew McCormack, trumpeter Graeme Flowers, saxophone player Graeme Blevins and drummer Martin Kaine. They made an album that will be mistaken for straight ahead caustic jazz. Actually, Song from the Chateau is a progressive smooth jazz album. Eastwood has moved smooth jazz to a new level. This album is set for release on August 30.

VIP list

For his new album, Friends, guitar player Stanley Jordan took a page for the hip-hop and R&B playbooks. Jordan loaded Friends with guest spots, and the album—his sophomore date for Mack Avenue Records—has the spirit of a family gathering. Jordan got all dolled up. There’s a photo next to the liner notes of him with his toenails painted pink. I don’t know what Jordan was getting at, but he has taken that metro-sexual shit too far. At any rate, Charlie Hunter, Ronnie Laws, Russell Malone, Bucky Pizzarelli, Regina Carter and Kenny Garrett are on the VIP list. Jordan doesn’t really have anything in common with them. Yet Friends is still a worthwhile album. It hits the streets September 27th.

Something old, something new

Dizzy Gillespie once said jazz is about keeping one foot in the tradition and one foot in the future. Piano player Armen Donelian lives by Dizzy’s statement. Donelian is known for his work with Sonny Rollins, Billy Harper and Mongo Santamaria. Years ago, Donelian proved time and time again he was no ordinary piano player. On his new album Leapfrog, which goes on sale September 13th, Donelian combined old world jazz and contemporary jazz. That’s clear as day on tunes such as Rage, Behind the Veil and Bygone.

HOWLIN' WOLF

2011-08-16T05:52:00.001-04:00

Today is jazz vibraphone player Warren Wolf’s dig day. Mack Avenue Records—the home of Kenny Garrett, Gerald Wilson, Gary Burton, Sean Jones, and Christian McBride—makes available nationwide Wolf’s self-titled album Warren Wolf.

Wolf has two other albums available Incredible Jazz Vibe and Black Wolf on a Japanese label. Wolf is a household name there, and his reputation as a grade A jazz vibe player a la Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutchinson, Cal Tjader has been soaring in the states lately.

Wolf grew up in Baltimore. For eight years, he studied classical composition at the Peabody Preparatory school. At Berklee College of Music, Wolf studied jazz, and graduated in 2001. Wolf became a hotshot on the Boston jazz scene.

In recent years, Wolf has worked as sideman with Tia Fuller's quintet, with Christian McBride’s band Inside Straight, and with Karriem Riggins outfit Virtuoso Experience.

The Warren Wolf album is his best yet, Wolf said last week during a telephone interview with I Dig Jazz.

“With this record, I wanted to go out there and put my stamp on the world. Most of the album is bluesy. I wanted to make an album people could sit back and really listen to,” Wolf said. He achieved that, and he showed off every inch of his amazing chops.

How did you hook up with Mack Avenue Records?

They first noticed me when I played on a few tracks of my label-mate Tia Fuller's most recent album Decisive Steps. Christian McBride was on that album too. Christian started talking about this new band he wanted to start and premier at the Village Vanguard. From there we went in the studio and recorded Christian's band's Inside Straight. From those two albums, Mack Avenue had their eye on me.

You have two albums that were big in Japan. Is Warren Wolf your best album?

I think so. The Japanese records, in my opinion, were designed to get me out there in Japan, to make me a star in Japan. Those records were mainly standards. They are big on standards over there. With my new album, I did two standards but the other songs are all originals by myself and a couple of the guys in the band, and a few obscure tunes like Chick Corea's Senor Mouse. That’s a tune nobody would normally call.

What song on Warren Wolf really shows off your chops?

One for Lenny. I played that song at a super fast tempo. Normally, you will never hear a vibraphone player trying to play that fast. Nowadays, you don't even hear jazz musicians in general trying to play that fast.

Why did your dad insist you study classical music?

Music was always a big hobby of his. He got me into music around age 3. He always wanted me to be the best. So he knew studying classical music would help me out with technique and learning how to read.

Who is your favorite vibraphone player?

Milt Jackson. I like the way he played ballads. The ballads he played were very pretty. Coming up my dad played all the great vibraphone players for me Cal Tjader, Bobby Hutchinson, Lionel Hampton, and Gary Burton. My dad introduced me to all their music.

Is it true that horn players had more of an influence on you?

My dad also introduced me to a lot of horn players. I don't know if my dad picked that up that I liked horn players. I naturally gravitated to them. If you look at the music on my Ipod, you won't see a lot of vibraphone players. But, you will see a ton of horn players on it. My whole attack when I play music is like a horn player. I like how fast they play.

How do you measure up to your peers Steve Nelson and Stefon Harris?

I wouldn't say that I measure myself to anybody out there. We all are still students of the music game. I would say the one thing that Steve and Stefon have over me is they have more experience, especially Steve. Steve has been out there for a long time. Stefon came out in about 1995. So they have more experience touring, but we are all on the same level because we are still learning, and still trying to become better each and everyday.

RAFAEL STATIN ON THE SET

2011-08-13T17:24:00.002-04:00

Rafael Statin

My friend Marc wrote in his weekly jazz e-newsletter 21-year-old saxophone player Rafael Statin is a James Carter-like wunderkind. Nine times out of ten, Marc is right, and after hearing Statin wail on the tenor and the alto sax at Cliff Bell’s Thursday night, I agree wholeheartedly with Marc. But, I have concerns with Statin's overall presentation.

Statin started the 9:00pm set with a modern take on Miles Davis’ So What. Statin played the alto sax, and he barreled through his solo like a fullback. I did not hear the James Carter influence until the next song, but clearly Kenny Garrett also influenced Statin. He has Garrett’s stamina, and he rocks back and forth like Garrett when soloing.

Next, Statin called Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay. Stanton switched to the tenor sax. Right away, I heard James Carter’s influence. Statin updated Red Clay like Carter updated Take the "A" Train and Out of Nowhere on his second album Jurassic Classics.

At one stretch, Statin was blowing so forcefully and recklessly, I thought the tenor would explode in his hands. (I saw James Carter at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge once blowing so forcefully two keys popped off his tenor. I am not kidding.) Statin’s staff piano player Mike Jellick and drummer Alex White were equally rambunctious, playing long self-indulgent solos.

Statin closed the set with Caravan. White played a bombastic opening passage. He overplayed Stanton and Jellick the entire set, making them work harder than necessary. He has to learn, at some point, how to play tactfully.

The set felt like a jam session. The younger generation of Detroit jazz musicians have a tendency to treat every gig like a jam session. Showing up for gigs without a game plan. Then bull-shitting their way through three sets.

Statin did not have a set list. After each song, Statin, Jellick, and White huddled up to discuss what song to play next. Keeping the audience in limbo was unprofessional. What tunes to play should've been worked out before the gig.

Statin has promise. He is going to have a successful career. The same goes for Jellick and for White. A few weeks ago, Statin played with Jeff “Tain” Watts and Bob Hurst in New York. And Statin has received some pointers from Kenny Garrett. Statin needs to work on a few things.

First, Statin needs to tighten up his professionalism. Kicking off a gig on time would be a good start. Secondly, stop treating gigs like jam sessions, and the bandstand like a playground. Jazz fans are hip and discerning.They know when bands skipped rehearsing. Finally, cutback on the hey-mom-check-me-out circus tricks. The tricks are cool in moderation. It took James Carter some years to learn the art of self-editing.

CURTIS FULLER LOOKS BACK

2011-08-07T10:39:00.003-04:00

Jazz great Curtis Fuller

Trombone player Curtis Fuller new album is The Story of Cathy & Me. Cathy was Fuller’s wife, and they were married 30 years. In 2010, Cathy died from lung cancer. During recently telephone interview with me, Fuller said for a while Cathy concealed her illness from him. That’s the kind of wife Cathy was, protecting her man from anything that would interfere with him making music. The Story of Cathy & Me is Fuller's homage--or better yet--final love letter to Cathy.

Fuller is a jazz legend, No sane jazz fan familiar with his recording output and his accomplishments would refute that. Fuller's masterworks include the albums New Trombone, Bone & Bari, Soul Trombone, and Cabin in the Sky. Don’t even get me started on his work as a sideman with, the Jazztet, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

The Story of Cathy & Me is not a mournful album. Many of the songs Fuller plays symbolizes the kind of marriage they built such as I Asked and She Said Yes, Look What I Got, and Love Was Everything When Love Was You and Me. The album’s highlights are the three cuts where Fuller recounts his life with Cathy. While doing so tenor sax player Akeem Marable improvises in the background.

Like Golson the album touched me. And I wanted to interview Fuller about The Story of Cathy & Me. Ann Braithwaite, the publicist for Challenge Records put me in touch with Fuller. On August 2, I interviewed Fuller, but surprisingly, Fuller didn’t know the album was available nationwide. Fuller also said he never heard the finished album.

I asked Braithwaite why Fuller was in the dark about the release of The Story of Cathy & Me. She didn't know, but she gave me Jacey Falk, the album's executive producer telephone number.

Fuller received copies of the album last year, Falk said. But Falks believes Fuller flat out forgot about the album. Six months after Cathy passed away Fuller recorded the album. During the session, Fuller was also worried his playing wasn't up to snuff. At 76, Fuller's blowing remains robust. When The Story of Cathy & Me was completed, Falk let Fuller’s lifelong friend sax man Benny Golson hear it. The album made Golson weep.

I talked to Fuller for an hour about a variety of topics. Fuller discussed losing his beloved Cathy, making the rounds on Detroit's jazz scene in the 50’s, and playing with Yusef Lateef and Lester Young.

Fuller on losing Cathy.

Once your spouse dies, you are put in a very precarious situation. When you're used to being with someone all the time, it’s the same as having children around, watching them grow up and leave. It’s the same as losing your spouse. It happens to everybody. Sonny Rollins lost his wife, and James Moody's wife lost him.

Cathy was my friend. She was my buddy and my comrade. We disagreed on a lot of stuff. We were from two different worlds. She knew my shortcomings. With Cathy, I got to know real passion. She was Irish Catholic. You know, you can't always chose your partner.

Fuller looks back on his early years in Detroit

I grew up in an orphanage in Detroit. As I got older, I was put in a boy’s home in Inkster. I lived on American Ave. It was called the West End back then. Louis Hayes lived in the next block.

I started playing trombone at Dwyer Elementary School. Back then, I was trying to play the violin, and a teacher told me stop it. She said you guys [blacks] don't play that. The irony is we still don't. You know the brothers got to have a beat. In those days, some music teachers were still hostile towards jazz. If they caught you trying to play some Charlie Parker licks they would kick you out of class.

The camaraderie on the Detroit jazz scene was unique. I will put it that way. Even back then, it was an integrated scene. I remember brothers playing with white cats like Frank Rosolino and Pepper Adams. I met Pepper when I got out the service. We had a band called Bone & Bari. I was in the service with Cannonball Adderly. He was the band director.

Cannonball got me into the band in the Army band, which was the last all black Army band. We're based in Louisville, Kentucky. I met Dannie Richmond down there. He started out playing tenor saxophone, but he ended up playing the drums in Charles Mingus's band. Mingus offered me a job, but I turned him down because Mingus was knocking out cats on the bandstand. I didn’t want any of that.

Fuller on hanging out with Yusef Lateef.

Yusef was such a nice human being. He touched everybody. Brother Yusef and I used to go out to Belle Isle at night and practice. He had his flute and his oboe. What a sound playing over the Detroit River at night. After we played at a club, we would drive out there. Some people at the club would followed us. It was a different time. You could go out there and nobody would split your head open. Now I hear Belle Isle is like Baghdad.

Fuller on his influences.

Of course, I loved JJ Johnson. But it was this guy around Detroit Bernard McKinney he was already a master along with his brothers Raymond and Harold. On my instrument, my biggest influence was Claude Black. In addition to playing the piano, Claude also played the trombone, and I believed he played the French horn, too. At gigs around Detroit, Claude would give me his trombone, and invite me on the bandstand.

I remember going on the bandstand when Wardell Gray and Frank Foster were going at it. I played a blues with them. I had enough nerve to get into their cutting contest, and they beat me up. That was a big learning process for me.

You know, God put me in the right places at the right times. As soon as one thing would end, another opportunity would open up. I went to New York to play with Miles, and he got sick. I remember walking the streets thinking what now.

Somebody told me Lester Young wanted me to play with him at Birdland. I was in his band when Lester died. There's a live recording of me playing with Lester at Birdland that Symphony Sid recorded. After Lester died, I ended up working with James Moody. He came to the clubs to hear Lester, and James hired me. I've been blessed.

I look back on my career, and I thank God for giving me a chance to be an entertainer. God has afforded me a chance to see the world almost in its entirety. I went to South American with Coleman Hawkins, and traveled with Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy. Ain't no complaints here.

God took my parents, but He gave me a wonderful musical life and He breathed life into my soul. The other day, I was sitting at home looking out at the lake thinking about how blessed I am.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

2011-08-04T05:24:00.001-04:00

Last October, I caught your performance at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. Michel, do you remember that set. You played with your all-star big band. Antonio Hart and Conrad Herwig were in your band. You only played fast tempo Latin jazz songs, which was fine with me. But, midway through the set, I wondered if you could play love songs with the same facility. Anyhow, I thought about that concert for a long time.

At the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, weeks later, I talked about that concert with my friend, Chris. Chris said you played the piano like you’re juiced up. That October evening was my first time hearing you live, and you put on a good show. On the drive home, I wondered how you would sound with a trio.

Two weeks ago, Decca Records mailed me your new trio album Mano a Mano. Michel, honest to God, I’ve played it everyday since. I liked how you mixed your originals with some familiar jazz classics such as John Coltrane's Niama and Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder.

You may find this hard to believe. I play your Latin jazz makeover of Sidewinder at least ten times daily. The first time I heard it my ears jumped of the a side of my face and started break dancing

Of course, there’re other memorable songs on the album Then and Now and Rice and Bean are good examples. And You and Me and About You are perfect slow jams.

If Lee Morgan were alive, I bet he’d appreciate how you changed Sidewinder. Michel, I’d send people out to buy Mano a Mano just to hear your spin of Sidewinder. I guarantee they’d like the album. But, if they don’t, for some strange reason, I’d refund their money.

ANOTHER ELLINGTON SHOUT-OUT

2011-08-02T20:20:00.001-04:00

Duke, there’s a new Duke Ellington tribute album out. Do you know how many jazz albums have been made in your honor? There's too many to keep track of. How many of them do you like? The latest is Dancing with Duke an Homage to Duke Ellington. Jazz bass player John Brown made it with piano player Cyrus Chestnut and drummer Adonis Rose. Duke, since I’ve been in the jazz journalism field, I’ve heard many Duke Ellington shout-out albums. Many were noteworthy, and some were forgettable. Brown’s tribute ain’t half-bad.

Are you familiar with Brown? He’s an awesome bass player. In the 90’s, Brown played in Elvin Jones’s band. Jones never had any scrubs in his band. None that I know of. So, Brown must be the real deal. I think Brown is, given how meticulously he handled your material.

For years, Brown has wanted to record with Chestnut and Rose. Until recently, their schedules wouldn’t allow it. With Dancing with Duke, they finally hooked up. Brown selected 10 of your well-known songs such as In a Mellow Tone, Perdido, Pie Eye’s Blues and I Got it Bad (and That Ain’t Good). I’m listening to the album as I write his post.

Brown, Chestnut and Rose are doing a killer version of Pie Eye’s Blues. Chestnut took the first solo. Brown followed. Rose had the final say. I must point out, Duke, Brown is the captain, but Chestnut has the strongest presence. Duke, Chestnut plays beautiful flourishes on I Got it Bad (and That Ain't Good) gave my soul goosebumps.

Chestnut is a commanding piano player He’s my all time favorite after Gene Harris and Monk. I don’t believe Chestnut set out to steal the show, but that’s what he did anyway. Chestnut is at his best in a trio. Duke, if you need proof download his album Revelation. But, lately, as a leader, Chestnut has been in a rut.

The albums Chestnut has put out since parting ways with Atlantic Records are okay. I can’t think of one I’d implore anyone to buy. But, on Dancing with Duke, I couldn’t tear my ears always from Chestnut’s soloing, particularly on Ishfahan, Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear from Me, and Solitude.

Brown, Chestnut and Rose put their twist on your songs. On the first half of Dancing with Duke, they had us all worked up. Then they dimmed the lights, and played four of your slow jams that Brown neatly rolled into a suite titled Sweet Ballad Suite. Duke I recommend Dancing with Duke. You should download it right away. If you like it, which I’m certain you will, let Strayhorn check it out.

RICK BRAUN WITH STRINGS

2011-07-30T23:11:00.005-04:00

Rick Braun is a swell jazz trumpeter and singer. Clearly, during his formative years, he spent considerable time with Chet Baker’s catalog. Braun is debonair like the great Tony Bennett. Braun is also at home singing timeless oldies and love songs.

Sings with Strings, his fifth album—due out August 2, on Artistry Music—is his first full length vocal album with strings. (The executives at Artistry Music, a sister company of Mack Avenue Records, should have insisted Braun come up with a catchier title.)

The good thing is Braun didn't allow the strings to overwhelm him. The downside is he didn't do anything remotely interesting with the oldies, and the string accompaniment is pretty basic. Singing oldies is a rite-of-passage for jazz singers of Braun's persuasion it seems.

The man's voice is warm and comforting. And he takes good care of it. It seems unjust to classify Sings with String as run-of-the-mill. But, honestly, that's what this album is.

Braun seemed content leaving well enough alone. His take on Lucky to be Me, Say It, and I've Never Been in Love Before will make you quivering. Unfortunately, those interpretations alone aren't sufficient enough to save Sings with Strings from being run-of-the-mill.

JAZZ ROOTS

2011-07-24T16:51:00.000-04:00

Thaddeus Dixon (Photo by W. Kim Heron)

I met drummer Thaddeus Dixon when he was a teenager. Dixon was a mentor in the Civic Jazz program sponsored by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I watched Dixon grow up on the Detroit’s jazz scene. At Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, I attended his debut as a bandleader. Dixon was 18-year-old, organized, and profession. Dixon’s quartet played proficiently many jazz classics.

Shortly after Dixon graduated from the Michigan State University, he toured with some big R&B and hip hop acts. I was happy and concerned. I felt once Dixon got a taste of that R&B and hip hop money he’d quit jazz.

I saw that happen to one of Teddy Harris’s students, Charles Wilson. Harris was an acclaimed jazz piano player, and educator. Many Detroit area jazz musicians grew up in Harris’s big band the New Breed Be Bop Society. Wilson was a promising jazz piano player.

Wilson stopped playing jazz. I heard Wilson was pulling in $5,000 per night touring with pop megastar Timberlake. I was concerned Detroit’s jazz community would also lose Dixon.

I was wrong. At the jazz club Cliff Bell’s, last night, I caught Dixon’s set. He performed with his quartet bass player Josef Deas, piano player Mike Jellick and saxophone player Daniel Bennett. They kick started the set with Invitation, moved smoothly into All the Things You Are, followed by Bye Bye Blackbird and Footprints.

Right now, Mike Jellick is the most exciting jazz piano player on Detroit’s jazz scene. That’s a big deal. Detroit has a bunch of good jazz piano players. I sat near the piano with Christopher Harrington of the Detroit Jazz Festival. Jellick had us worked up like sport geeks after he soloed on Invitation and Footprints. Jellick's fingers zipped and somersaulted across the piano keys all set long. I wondered if Jellick has to soak his fingers between sets.

Daniel Bennett is a mean sax player. After the first set, Dixon told me Bennett was a substitute for sax player Marcus Miller. Bennett clicked with Dixon’s regulars. Bennett’s tone was big and wide like snow tires.

Surprisingly, Dixon didn’t have a sit list prepared. He called the tunes on the spot, and his band mates played as if they rehearsed each tunes for weeks. It never appeared the quartet was winging it.

Dixon’s drumming is stronger than ever. His solos were explosive and short. He amused the crowd dedicating the oldie Bye Bye Blackbird to his ex-girlfriend. They broke up recently.

Before Dixon closed the set with Sonny Rollin’s Oleo, he talked about the story in the music section of the Metrotimes. The article detailed Dixon's career path. Dixon had about 30 copies of the newspaper on hand, and he jokingly said he was selling copies for $5.00 each after the set.

I left Cliff Bell’s confident no matter how many hip hop and R&B acts Dixon tours with, he will never stop playing jazz.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

2011-07-23T15:11:00.001-04:00

Howlin’ Wolf

Warren Wolf's self-titled debut for Mack Avenue Records is highly anticipated. For the past few years, Wolf has been touted, and his chops rivals his peers Stefon Harris and Steve Nelson. If you think it's impossible for Wolf to be that damn good, check out Wolf's soloing on Senor Mouse and on Katrina.

If you're still skeptical after listening to Wolf soloing, your ears may need a tuneup. Wolf has two other albums Incredible Jazz Vibe and Black Wolf on the market. Both are Japanese imports. Warren Wolf is his first date for a major jazz record label.

Wolf's staffed this album with Jeremy Pelt, Greg Hutchinson, Peter Martin, Tim Green, and Christian McBride. (McBride co-produced the album.) Wolf let them loose on his originals 427 Mass Ave., Sweet Bread, and How I Feel at This Given Moment. Warren Wolf goes on sale August 16.

Lover man

At the 2004, Detroit International Jazz Festival, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave organized a trumpet summit. He rounded up many of the top jazz trumpeters. Dominick Farinacci participated. He was the more lyrical of the trumpeters. The others were brash and enjoyed trying to outplay the other. It was all in good fun, but Farinacci had something special. You could hear a storyteller emerging in Farinacci’s playing.

Farinacci's new album Dawn of Goodbye, due out July 26, on 100% Womon Records. has a storybook feel to it. The album opens with Farinacci interpretation of the timeless love song You Don’t Know What Love Is. His phrasing on I Concentrate on You is cozy like a lounge chair. Farinacci can play upbeat songs and the blues, but his chops are designed for love songs.

Gentle streak.

I caught jazz piano player Michel Camilo last year at the Paradise Jazz Series at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. Camilo played with his all-star big band. It was my first time hearing him live. He was rambunctious and many of the originals his big band played sounded alike. he was hyped up, hammering the piano keys as if going through “roid-rage”.

On Camilo's upcoming album Mano a Mona scheduled for release September 13, he performs mostly duets with percussion player Giovanni Hidalgo and bass player Charles Flores.

Camilo has a gentle streak. Songs such as Then and Now, Naima, and Alfonsina Y El Mas melted in my ears. Camilo arranged Coltrane’s Naima for piano and drum. And Camilo has a blast with Lee Mogan’s Sidewinder. Camilo's rambunctious side surfaced only once on the cooker Ramba Pa’ Ti.

STRAIGHT-AHEAD GUY AT HEART

2011-07-19T22:40:00.002-04:00

Bass player Noah Jackson has only been a professional jazz musician little under a year. And Jackson has already put out his first album Contemplations: A Suite, which will be tops on I Dig Jazz’s best jazz albums of 2011 list. Jackson is 22-year-old. He’s a husky fellow with gentlemanly disposition, and he uses good grammar.

Jackson lives in New York now. He's a graduate student at the Manhattan Institute of Music. And Jackson is getting his name out there running the streets with the jazz quartet the Misfits. Before Jackson moved from Detroit to New York, he held the bass chair in the jazz ensemble Planet D Nonet. Jackson's played on the nonet's albums Ballads, Blues & Beyond, Blowin' Away the Blues, and We Travel the Spaceways.

On the bass, Jackson has an aggressive sound like jazz bass players Rodney Whitaker and the late Don Mayberry. Jackson becomes animated when he’s soloing. Beads of sweat collects on his forehead, and he rises on his tiptoes when hitting certain musical notes.

In 2010, Jackson graduated from Michigan State University. Jackson played the compositions on Contemplations at his senior recital. The recital was successful. Some friends encouraged Jackson to record the suite. Jackson hustled up the money, and a friend, who's a recording engineer, gave Jackson a deal on the studio time needed to completed the project.

Save for Jackson work with the Planet D Nonet, he has a traditional jazz background. But, surprisingly, Contemplations has a free jazz and a contemporary jazz feel.

“ I didn't intend for the album to come across as free jazz. I think people can relate to it because it has a good rhythmic pulse,” Jackson said.

I Dig Jazz spoke with Jackson about the album’s evolution days before the official album release party at Cliff Bell’s in downtown Detroit.

You’re just getting your feet wet as a professional jazz musician. Why did you release your debut album so early in your career?

NJ: Why not? I mean there's only one way to be ready, and that is just to do it. I never felt like I had to do this album. But, things lead up to the point where I had to make it.

How did Contemplations come about?

NJ: I did the whole suite as my senior recital at Michigan State. I got an overwhelming positive response from the recital, and some people told me that I should record it.

I’m glad you listened.

NJ: I have a good friend who runs a recording studio outside of Lansing, and he made it possible for me to make the album. Contemplations started as a collection of themes and ideas that I wrote over a period of time. It wasn't written as a suite. It was five different pieces that I wrote the music so it would have this nice logical progression.

The first tune that I wrote, which is independent from the other tunes was the ballad My Reflection. I wrote that a year ago, and everything else I wrote after that. I just kind of put things together and it worked out very well.

Bassist Noah Jackson

Contemplations has a free jazz feel. That shocked me because you have a straight-ahead jazz background.

Because Michigan State is such a straight-ahead school, I didn't want to deviate from that because I'm a straight-ahead guy at heart. I wanted to do something a little bit different and unique that had a distinct sound. The album has a free jazz vibe to it. But it not free jazz.

What category of jazz does Contemplations fit?

If you have to put it in a box, I would say it's contemporary jazz. It has a contemporary sound, but it doesn't stray away from harmony and melody. I don't consider it a perfect package, but the album is something that people can listen to and enjoy and make it their own.

The band is tighter than a banjo string. How long have you performed with the musicians on the albums Anthony Stanco, Marcus Miller, Walter Harris III, Ryan Goh, and Ryan Ptasnick?

NJ: I've played with them all for many, many years. But the recital and the recording was the first time we all played together.

Where are you headed musically?

NJ: I not know. I had a lot of fun playing the music on Contemplations. But I'm still a huge disciple of swing, and that's never going to change anytime soon. I want to add to that. I really enjoy post bop hard bop and swing. That's my bread and butter.

At the end of the day, I still want to play with Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter. Their careers obviously went in a different direction and people still respect their art. I don't necessarily want to be in that same circle. I want to be of the mindset of constantly changing and not being pigeonholed as one type of musician.

You’ve put a good product on the market.

NJ: I didn't what to shortchange anybody. I didn't want to take the audience for granted, and give them a product that I didn't believe in. If I believe in something, I'm going to do it right. I’m still a work in progress. The album is a stepping-stone. The album is something that I want to improve on. When I mature more as a musician, and when I stretch higher I will have this album to rely on to make the next album even better.

IMPROVED SWINGER

2011-07-15T20:18:00.001-04:00

Mike Jellick

Piano player Mike Jellick spent the past two years in Chicago soaking up its diverse jazz scene and it did him a world of good. His playing has grown considerably. I caught Jellick’s sets Thursday night at Cliff Bell’s in downtown Detroit. Jellick played with rising jazz lion’s drummer Jesse Kramer and bass player Noah Jackson.

Jellick has been on my radar for a while. I heard him for the first time on jazz singers Jesse Palter’s outstanding 2006 album Beginning to See the Light. Jellick was in his early 20’s then and he was promising.

A year later, I caught Jellick at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge with tenor saxophone player De’Sean Jones’ band. The concert was disappointing. Jellick got tangled up in his solos as if his imagination was ten steps ahead of his technical ability. I wrote a harsh review on the Metrotimes music blog, singling out Jellick as the band’s weak link.

I kept my eye on Jellick though. I knew he’d improve by woodshedding, and working with more advanced jazz musicians. Over time, that happened. Now Jellick’s ability and imagination are neck and neck. He's an awesome piano player and an adventurous arranger. Jellick proved that Thursday night.

Jellick’s trio opened with Joe Henderson’s Recorda-Me. Then the trio played Song for My Father. Horace Silver would love Jellick’s modern and funky spin on his classic. Modernizing Silver’s classic wasn’t enough.

Jellick gutted the standard Alone Together. Then he remodeled it. The trio played the standard in 7/4, and changed tempo several times. Jellick played the electric keyboard and the acoustic piano simultaneously. And his left foot wiggled under the piano like a catfish out of water.

Normally, Jellick plays the monthly concert with Jesse Kramer. Kramer is a wonderful young drummer. He looks like Penn of Penn and Teller. Kramer has a full and a ferocious sound like Elvin Jones. Noah Jackson was Jellick special guest.

Jackson lives in New York now. He's running the streets with some young and hungry jazz musicians. Jackson chops have blossomed the ten months he's been in New York. This week, Jackson is in Detroit to promote Contemplations: A Suite, his first album as a leader. The album release party is Saturday at Cliff Bell's.

Jellick’s arrangements allowed Jackson room to explore. Jackson took full advantage. When he soloed, Jackson sounded like a mix of Don Mayberry and Rodney Whitaker. Jellick, Kramer, and Jackson would be a successful jazz trio. Jellick should keeping the trio together.

THE RIGHT SETTING

2011-07-12T06:19:00.002-04:00

At the height of Jimmy Amadie’s career, he has a major setback. He developed tendonitis in his hands and for several decades he stopped playing. He loved working. He was known to work 70-hour wor weeks.

Amadie was the go to jazz piano player for some great jazz saxophone players. Coleman Hawkins and Phil Woods had him on speed dial.

Amadie kept busy writing music and music books. It took many operations to fix his hands. He slowly rehabilitated them, gradually moved back into the public eye. He put out some good jazz albums such Let’s Groove and Savoring Every Note.

Today, Amadie new album Something Special is on sale. It’s a jazz trio album, and the right setting to hear him. Amadie is a conservative jazz piano player who never takes stupid risks. Amadie is comfortable playing any tempo. Bass player Tony Marino is a natural born jump.

Marino displays that on Get Happy, but Amadie never allows Marino to get carried away. Amadie's drummer, Bill Goodwin, has a cooling in the shade style. Goodwin never makes a fuss.

Amadie has a ball playing the timeless standards on Something Special. On My Funny Valentine and Sweet Lorraine, Amadie play warm opening passages. His fingers seem to melt all over the piano keys like butter on a stack of pancakes. Something Special is a clean cut jazz trio date you’ll never grow tired of hearing.

RED-BLOODED CROONER

2011-07-11T06:18:00.001-04:00

The oldies Bryan Anthony sings on A Night Like This have been done over and over by singer's way more popular. Anthony is still working on becoming a household name. Anthony grew up in Houston, Texas. In his early 20’s, Anthony toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Not a bad start to what will be a promising music career if Anthony stays focus.

Of the many takes of How Deep is the Ocean, Stardust, I’m in the Mood for Love and April in Paris available few are good as Anthony’s take. Anthony is a red-blooded American crooner like his idols Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

Anthony has Sinatra’s coolness and Bennett’s laid back style. (Many jazz singers of Anthony’s generation copy Sinatra. Seems to be a Sinatra movement going on.) Like Sinatra, Anthony fancies slim fitting suits and wears his neckties loose. A Night Like This is Anthony first album for Mercator Media, and it goes on sale Tuesday.

Anthony sings 13 songs. Ten songs are easy to identify standards. Piano player Gary Norian did the arranging. Norian know every nook and crevice of Anthony's voice. And Norian purposely keeps the arrangements basic, and the song’s original melodies within reach.

Anthony is not a scatter. Nor is Anthony a ham. But A Night Like This is a standard heavy jazz album that jazz singers have to get off their chests. Making an album of mostly standards seems to be an unavoidable rite-of-passage for many. And a confidence booster for others. Assuredly, as Anthony matures, he'll tackle more challenging projects.

Anthony is a unique jazz singer. Anthony undresses and caresses songs. He does so to This is All I Ask, So in Love, and I’m Confessin’. Anthony’s ability to treat songs as if he loves them sets him apart from other jazz singers of his generation.

TENOR TANDEM

2011-07-05T23:44:00.005-04:00

Over the holiday weekend, Booker, I listened to your albums The Freedom Book, The Song Book, and Booker & Brass. Last night, I played Setting the Pace. That’s one of my favorite jazz albums. Do you remember making it? You made it in Munich, Germany in 1965. Dexter Gordon played on the title cut and Dexter’s Deck. Your longtime bandmate's Jaki Byard, Alan Dawson and Reggie Workman were in the rhythm section.

Do those details jog your memory? Man, you and Dexter showed out. Setting the Pace was the hottest sax tandem I’ve heard. And I've heard plenty such as the dates Gene Ammons co-led with Sonny Stitt. You and Dexter never upstaged each other. Instead, you guys took your talent and stretched it as far as it would go. Your styles are different.

Dexter had a lean tone. Dexter could jump over chord changes like a hurdler. Booker, your tone was wide like the state of Texas. You had enough horsepower to zoom through changes like a speedboat.

Booker, before the holiday, I talked with the friend, who introduced me to your recordings ten years ago. We talked about how today’s jazz musicians, especially jazz saxophone players sound the same. My friend said players from the swing, bebop, hard bop, and free jazz eras strove for uniqueness.

Charlie Parker, Art Blakey and Ornette Coleman could play a few licks and right away, listeners could identify those musicians. They had their own sound.

Today’s jazz musicians lack individuality, and it seems as if they learned from the same textbooks, my friend stressed. Booker, I disagree with my friend.

James Carter, Christian McBride, and Cyrus Chestnut--three current and accomplished jazz lions--are unique. Yes, many jazz musicians from the bebop, hard bop, and free jazz eras were innovators.The current generation isn’t concerned with changing jazz music, which is fine. Booker what do you think?

Not every jazz musician has to be an innovator. If they play with the same level of commitment, musicianship, and creativity, you and Dexter showed on Setting the Pace that’s good enough in my book.

IN HINDSIGHT

2011-07-04T19:23:00.000-04:00

Saturday afternoon, I talked to writer Bill Harris about jazz bass player Marion Hayden’s 2007 album Visions. Bill has been my mentor well over 20 years. We talk weekly about a variety of topics, mainly books, writing and jazz music. Marion is popular around Michigan. And she’s a top bass player in the nation. That’s my opinion. I bet others acquainted with Marion feel the same.

Visions was Marion’s debut recording. Marion has played on many jazz albums. And she cut three albums with the female jazz band Straight Ahead Look Straight Ahead, Body & Soul, and Dance of the Forest Rain. Visions was the fourth album I reviewed for I Dig Jazz.

For the most part, I liked Visions. But I recall writing Marion’s band Steve Turre, Wendell Harrison, and Kirk Lightsey—great bandleaders—eclipsed her. I felt Marion should’ve been more aggressive. I learned a few years later, after interviewing her, aggression wasn’t her style.

Bill thinks the world of Marion. Last week, Bill caught Marion’s set at jazz guitar player A. Spencer Barefield’s home concert series. Bill bought a copy of Visions. And he raved about it, ranking Visions among the best jazz album by a Detroiter he’s ever experienced. That’s a big compliment. To Bill jazz is important as food and shelter. Bill disagreed with my review of Visions.

I listened to Visions again a year or so after interviewing Marion for a Metrotimes article. My editor, W. Kim Heron headlined it ‘Mother of the band’. I asked Marion about her low-key style.

Part of a jazz bass player’s job, Marion explained, is keeping the band in check. Consumed with the basic duties of a jazz bass player, Marion rarely has the opportunity to play long solos or showboat.

In June, Marion performed with saxophone player Salim Washington at the Detroit Institute of Arts. That was the first time I’ve seen Marion solo on nearly every song. Washington gave Marion the floor. And she kicked butt.

Looking back, I wished I’d interviewed Marion before I reviewed Visions. Now I understand her, and what the duties of a jazz bass player are.

WATCH OUT FOR...

2011-07-01T15:34:00.001-04:00

I Dig Jazz recommends three new jazz albums, Kaiso, 33, and Something Special set for release soon.

Caribbean bop

Trumpeter Etienne Charles was born in the Caribbean. Charles’ third album Kaiso , which is set for release by Culture Shock Music July 12, is a bop album with a calypso feel, especially on songs such as Ten to one is murder, congo bara, and Kitch’s bebop of calypso. Charles is a lyrical trumpeter like Johnny Cole. Charles can speed up the pace when necessary. Charles hired a talented rhythm section. Ben Williams keeps time throughout Kaiso accurately like a grandfather clock. (Williams' first album as a leader State of Art hit record stores last month.) And there's plenty highlight worthy solos from piano player Sullivan Fortner Jr.

Comeback

A few years ago, Canadian jazz singer Alex Pangman had a double lung transplant that could’ve ended her career, which was on an upswing. But she’s tougher than rubber, and she kicked the odds that were stacked against her in the ass. On July 12, her comeback album 33 goes on sale. 33 is her first recording for Justin Times Records. She didn’t play it safe. 33 is a period piece jazz album. Pangman sings songs--I Found a New Baby, Ain’t Cha Glad, and A Hundred Years from Today--that were big in 1933. She blew the dust off those relics and modernized them.

The bionic man

Piano player Jimmy Amadie stopped playing for 30 years because he developed a terrible case of tendonitis in his hands. Amadie was a workaholic and a favorite of many top tier jazz saxophone players Coleman Hawkins, Benny Golson, Lew Tabackin, Phil Woods, and Lee Konitz. When Amadie was out of the public eye, he kept busy composing and writing instructional music books. He had surgery on his hands. Over time, he painstaking rebuilt his chops. Then he returned to active duty, releasing some solid albums Always with Me and Philadelphia Story are two of his best dates. August 16, TRRecordings is scheduled to unveil Something Special, a cover album of some well-known standards such as All the Things You Are, Sweet Lorraine and Fly Me To The Moon. Those and seven other classics are reinterpreted brilliantly by Amadie and his mate’s bass player Tony Marino, drummer Bill Goodwin.

STRUTTING THEIR STUFF

2011-06-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

Mirth and Melancholy is Branford Marsalis’ fourth duet album. Branford made one with his father, Ellis, and two with singer and piano player Harry Connick Jr. This time around, Branford teams up with his longtime bandmate Joey Calderazzo, who in 1998 replaced Branford’s regular piano player Kenny Kirkland. Joey found his voice in Branford’s band, and Joey has recorded two albums on Branford’s label Marsalis Music.

Mirth and Melancholy, which Marsalis Music released on June 7, is the best of Branford’s duet albums. The music on the album is what the title proclaims. There’s two mirthful songs the opener One Way and the closer Bri’s Dance. Branford and Joel have a field day improvising on those songs.

Mirth and Melancholy is more melancholic, but in a good and interesting way. It also has a classical music feel. You will be taken by Branford and Joey’s virtuosity. Branford always makes great albums, and his musical achievements are known. But, his cerebral way of improvising gets overlooked. Branford’s musical imagination is on par with Sonny Rollins.

Back to Joey. In Branford’s band, Joey’s chief responsibility is backing Branford, which is a big undertaking because Branford is a note monger. Count the notes Branford plays on Face on the Barroom Floor, and Precious. In a one on one setting, Joey seems less stressed.

That’s clear on The Bard Lachrymose and Endymion. Joey isn’t face with the everyday chores of a jazz piano player. Joey roves and explores freely. Mirth and Melancholy shows two virtuoso jazz musicians making each other look good.

NEW LION

2011-06-26T19:28:00.002-04:00

After graduating from Michigan State University and winning the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Competition for Double Bass, Ben William became sought after, playing on two important albums for Concord Records Stefon Harris’s Urbanus and Jacky Terrasson’s Push. On June 28, William’s debut album State of Art will go on sale nationwide.

State of Art is Williams’s first go round as a leader, and he takes some risks. Williams successfully blends hip-hop, R&B, and classical music. That’s a lot of calories to consume on a debut.

William’s staff saxophone player Marcus Strickland and piano player Gerald Clayton are bandleaders, and they have more work experience. Neither has any issue working for an inexperienced boss.

Clayton soars like a hang glider on Mr. Dynamite. Strickland has a tone fattier than cheesecake on Moontrane and This Don’t Exist. Williams plays with a puppy love kind of charm and innocence on Little Suzie Intro.

How is Williams as the boss? Williams is the kind of boss every dedicated employee wants. Williams shows complete faith in staff. State of Art is as much about them as it’s about Williams.

Lee Morgan Story is the only stain on State of Art. Rapper John Robinson raps about Morgan’s life story while trumpeter Christian Scott apes Morgan’s style. A rapper reciting Morgan’s life story seems like a novel concept on paper. On State of Art, the song seems misplaced.

At Michigan State University, Williams was exposed to jazz bass player Rodney Whitaker. Whitaker runs the university’s jazz studies program. Whitaker’s gentlemanly manner of playing the bass rubbed off on Williams.

AMY WINEHOUSE'S DAD SINGS, TOO

2011-06-25T14:27:00.005-04:00

Mitch Winehouse is pop scarlet Amy Winehouse’s father. Until recently, he was a cab driver in the UK and a closet jazz singer. In March, Winehouse’s debut album Rush of Love went on sell. Winehouse is 60-year-old. He never felt it was too late in life to start a singing career. Amy used her star power to help her Father get going.

For Rush of Love, Winehouse choose songs from the American songbook such as Please be Kind, Tell Me, I Apologize and April in Paris. Winehouse decided to go big, So he used a big band on all but one song, Tell Me.

Winehouse is a hopeless romantic with a voice that’s smooth like body lotion. On the tearjerker Tell Me, he gives us a taste of how sweet he sounds back by only a rhythm section.

Maybe Winehouse will only use a rhythm section on his next album. Anyway, Rush of Love is a wonderful debut. And Winehouse sounds as if he had a swell time making it.

CELEBRATING A CRITIC

2011-06-24T16:10:00.008-04:00

"Ernie Krivda is one of the best jazz tenor sax men in the world,” the late jazz critic Harvey Pekar once stated. If you require proof Krivda deserves praise, buy Krivda’s new album Blues for Pekar. Pekar and Krivda were friends. Blues for Pekar is Krivda’s second album in two years. Last year, Cimpol released Ernie Krivda & the Detroit Connection Live at the Dirty Dog.

Save for adding Detroit bass player Marion Hayden, Krivda uses the rhythm section that played on Live at the Dirty Dog piano player Claude Black, and drummer Renell Gonsalves. There’re cameos from trumpeters Sean Jones, and Dominick Farinacci. Blues for Pekar is the kind of straightforward bop album that Krivda loves making and his admirers expect.

The album opens with The End of a Love Affair. Wear a hardhat listening to this song. Krivda blows forcefully enough to demolish an abandon warehouse. On the ballad More Than You Know, the notes drip off Krivda’s tenor like tears off an infant’s cheeks. At the end of the ballad, Krivda plays a catchy cadenza.

Krivda is a generous bandleader. He shares the wealth with his bandmates, particularly Claude Black. Black and Krivda have been together for decades. They’re comfortable like an old married couple.

Black—a down home bebop piano player a la Duke Jordan and Walter Bishop Jr —presence resonates. On Valse Hot and Fried Bananas, Black takes the tunes on a 5k run. And Jones and Krivda trade measures like hot gossip. Farinacci, a trumpeter with journeyman’s chops, digs into the song like a landscaper.

Pekar was a hard-ass and he never minced words. Not many jazz musicians would dedicate an album to a jazz critic. Check around, Krivda might be the only one. Harvey Pekar and Krivda were close. Blue for Pekar is a celebration of their friendship.

THREE OF A KIND

2011-06-23T11:00:00.004-04:00

Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, and Christian Scott have a few things in common. They’re Grammy nominated jazz musicians. (Sanchez won a Grammy in 2005 for best Latin Jazz Album.) They’re signed to Concord Records, and are the faces of Concord’s jazz division. They’re successful bandleaders with a string of good jazz albums on the market.

Scott is younger than Harris and Sanchez, and presently Scott is more of a daredevil. Harris and Scott are time tested. Proving themselves is no longer a priority. I heard Scott for the first time in Detroit with alto saxophone player Donald Harrison’s band. Scott was only 17-year-old at the time. Scott had that rugged and piecing sound New Orleans’ trumpet players have. Scott had a lot of heart as well, and he seemed comfortable among musicians twice his age.

Harris and Sanchez hit the jazz scene in the mid-90’s when major record companies such as Atlantic, Blue Note, Criss Cross, Evidence, and PolyGram were giving young and promising jazz musicians such as Mark Turner, Christian McBride, Mark Shim, Cyrus Chestnut, and Anthony Wonsey sweet recording deals. Doing so upset many veteran jazz musicians because they couldn’t get the same although they had a fan base.

By 2000, those record companies downsized, and many of those promising jazz musicians lost their deals. Harris and Sanchez survived the downturn, and have successful recording careers.

On the new album Ninety Miles, which Concord Records made public on June 21, Harris, Sanchez and Scott, combine their work experience, resulting in one of the finest jazz album I’ve come across this year. Harris, Sanchez and Scott made Ninety Miles in Havana Cuba, which explains the album’s Cuban favor.

Ninety Miles starts out running and never makes a pit stop. Harris, Sanchez, and Scott brought to the session a swinger's mentality, and their distinct styles mesh.

The album has a bonus tracks, and a DVD that gives insight into the album’s creation. Including a DVD suggests Concord Records knew bringing Harris, Sanchez, and Scott together was epic. And their fans would enjoy a sneak peek of the making of Ninety Miles.

As a leader, Scott has been off course, preoccupied with fusing other forms of music with jazz. Scott hasn’t put out a red-blooded jazz album yet, leaving some jazz people wondering if Scott will ever return to his jazz roots. The wondering can stop because Scott is back to his jazz roots on Ninety Miles, blowing with heart and enthusiasm on City Sunrise, Black Action Hero, and Brown Belle Blues.

Harris and Sanchez are brilliant. Sanchez slow dances with his tenor on The Forgotten Ones. Harris probably has to rub down his vibraphone because of the workout Harris subjects it to on Brown Belle Blues and on La Fiesta Va. If Ninety Miles is hits--which undoubtedly the album will be--Concord Records should encourage Harris, Sanchez, and Scott to record together again.

BORN TO SING

2011-06-20T22:35:00.003-04:00

For 40 years ago, jazz singer Ed Reed was a self-loathing heroin addict. Reed served four stints in San Quentin State Prison for drug related crimes. Strangely, in prison, Reed developed his chops, performing with other musically inclined criminals in a 17-piece ensemble called the Warden’s Band. Reed said jazz great alto saxophonist Art Pepper was in the band. “At one point, Art played on all the songs I sung in that band,” Reed recalled.

Reed grew up in California. Reed began singing as a kid, and he dreamed of stardom as a jazz singer. Reed became an addict in the Army. The addiction sidetracked his dream.

In 1986, Reed had an encounter with a smelly fat man at a bus stop that compelled Reed to get clean. Reed has been clean now for 25 years and he works with addicts and their families at the Kaiser-Parmanente’s Chemical Dependency Recovery Program in Vallejo, California.

At 82-year-old, Reed is vibrant. Reed is also candid. Reed is an old-school jazz singer and balladeer a la Bill Henderson and Johnny Hartman. Reed’s voice has a literary quality, built for songs that convey stories. Reed put out two popular jazz albums Ed Reed Sings Love Stories and The Song is You.

The father of jazz journalism, Nat Hentoff, has praised Reed. In 2008 and in 2009, Reed placed fourth in DownBeat magazine prestigious critic’s poll for Male Vocals, Rising Star. Tuesday, Blue Shorts Records makes public Reed’s new album Born to be Blue.

On June 15, I Dig Jazz had a telephone interview with Reed. Reed discussed starting his recording career at 78, kicking heroin, and why Born to be Blue is his crowning achievement.

Why did you start your music career at age 78?

Ed Reed: You know, I spent so much time being crazy. I was just interested in my recovery. I wanted to know what makes people drink and do drugs until they are dead. That's where my interest was, and still is.

Singing was like dessert. I had always sang, but I didn't take it seriously until I went to Jazz Camp West and Peck Allmond [ jazz trumpeter and composer] asked me where my records were. He said you got to record and he hooked me up with Bud Spangler, and the rest is history.

When you were using, were you performing?

Reed: If I came across some money to tide me over, I would sing occasionally, but when I was an addict singing wasn't that important to me. I didn't believe that I had anything to offer the world musically.

Born to be Blue is a blues album...

Reed: There's only one blues song on it, but the other songs are stories of sadness, confusion, hope, and being unable to talk that sort of stuff. If you look at the picture on the cover, I was like 5-year-old, and I was really unhappy, and it made me realize when I looked at that picture that was the way I started out being unhappy, and out of shape.

I talk about that in my classes. That community and family shapes character, and we all have the blues. We should acknowledge the blues so we can free ourselves of it, and live in the moment. That's where the concept for the album came from.

Jazz vocalist Ed Reed

Was there a jazz band in San Quentin?

Reed: San Quentin had a band that performed for the Warden Show. The Warden Show was a tour the warden set up to show professional law enforcement people about what the penitentiary was like. The warden had a tour twice a month, and there would be a dinner. The band played at the dinners.

Art Pepper was in that band.

Reed: Art Pepper played on every tune that I sang. We had some great players. That band was a trip.

How much time did you serve?

Reed: I had four stints, from 1951 to 1953. The second time I went back from 1955 to 1958. Then I went backs from 1960 to 1963. Then I went back 1964 to 1966. It was like living life on an installment plan.

You had plenty time to hone your craft.

Reed: I did that and I worked in the library. I was trying to find out what was wrong with me.

What did you discover?

Reed: You know, I don't think anything was really wrong with me except by ignorance. I didn't know how to take care of myself. Most people don't. By that I mean, we don't understand what other people do is because of them not because of us. And what we do is because of us not others. To understand that took me a long time. The discomfort of the belief system that somebody did something to make me mad is the kind of stuff that creates addiction.

When did you hit rock bottom?

Reed: I was sitting on a bus bench and I was brokenhearted. I smelled something like a dead animal. And it was this big guy who looked like he was 400 pounds. He smelled like he was dead. He was coming to sit on the bench, and I told him, 'Man you can't sit here. This is my bench'.

I heard that and I said here I am claiming a bus bench. If this was the only thing I had in life was to claim a bus bench, I needed to do something to change my life. But, I didn't know what to do. Back then, I didn't believe in God. So I went to an AA meeting. It was really painful to know I was claiming a bus bench. That was in 1986.

How does Born to be Blue compare to Ed Reed Sings Love Stories and The Song Is You?

Reed: The first two albums all I did was sing the tunes. I didn't have much to say about how the tunes were going to be played, and who was going to play on them. And there were time constraints. This time around, I'm the co-producer and I had a lot of say about what we're going to play.

Which tunes are your favorites?

Reed: I really like Inside a Silent Tear and Abbey Lincoln's Throw it Away. That song it about letting the stuff go that bends us out of shape.

When you decided to make this album, what kind of songs, did you want?

Reed: I wanted songs that everybody wasn't singing. The songs needed to be beautiful to me. Harmonically, they had to say something I wanted to say. I wanted to do the songs my way, and they had to say something about dreaming and being happy.

Do you listen to your albums often?

Reed: I have a hard time listening to my recordings...

That's odd. you have such a wonderful voice.

Reed: Every time I listen to my albums, I find something that I should've done or should've changed.

Were you pleased with the outcome of the other albums?

Reed: No. They got a lot of attention, but they left a lot to be desired. I never got to do the tunes the way I want to. I wanted to try the tunes on with the band. I never got a chance to do that. I didn't get to sing with the band. They laid down the tracks and I recorded over them.

You’ve come full circle . Are you happy?.

Reed: I was thinking about my addiction the other day. Man, what a miserable human being I was. But now I have a good thing going. I have somebody that loves me, and I love her. You know we've been married 43 years now. These records wouldn't be out with out her.

PREACHING AT THE DIA

2011-06-18T22:57:00.002-04:00

Salim Washington (photo by Ricardo Thomas)

Before saxophonist Salim Washington began his set Friday night at the Detroit Institute of Arts, he gave 15-year-old tenor sax player Steve Grady some pointers. Grady was at the concert with his parents and his sax teacher JuJu Johnson. Three tunes into the set, Washington put Grady on the spot, inviting him to sit-in.

Grady wasn’t scared. Grady’s tone and phrasing revealed he's spent quality time listening to Hank Mobley’s albums. Grady could play rhythm changes. After Grady soloed, the crowd erupted. Washington told them when he was a teenager his idol saxophonist Pharoah Sanders put him on the spot on many occasions.

Washington played two stunning sets. The first set Washington called familiar free-jazz tunes such as Frank Lacy’s Aquarius Rising and Andrew Hill’s Symmetry. Washington hired Detroiter's pianist Pam Wise, drummer Djallo Djekete, and bassist Marion Hayden.

Friday was the first time Hayden had played publicly with Washington, but you couldn’t tell. They clicked immediately. Hayden is best backing saxophonists. Hayden did some of her best work with the late Donald Walden. Hayden has never demanded much solo time. All night, Washington encouraged Hayden to stretch out.

Hayden was featured on You Can Fly, a song Washington wrote for his sister. Hayden’s intro was dazzling. On Is That Jazz, Djekete was powerful. Djekete is a blue-collar jazz drummer. He always shows up prepared and he keeps the beat masterfully. The second set Washington called mostly his originals.

The set began with Elder Washington, a nod to Washington’s father. Washington explained he wanted to express the hurt a father experiences mourning his daughter’s death. Surprisingly, Elder Washington wasn’t mournful. There’re several tempo changes, and a Jaki Byard-like solo by Pam Wise.

Washington’s playing resembled Pharoah Sander's style. Washington is a true free-jazz sax player, and his blowing wasn't too way out to understand. Washington closed the concert with Sun Ra’s Inner Stellar Low Ways, Grady joined in again. Washington tried to trip up Grady, but he didn’t take the bait. The concert was uplifting like a church sermon. Washington used his sax to preach.

ART PEPPER IN LONDON

2011-06-17T15:37:00.004-04:00

In 1980, alto saxophone player Art Pepper played two nights at Ronnie Scott’s, a jazz club in London, England. That was Pepper’s first time performing in London. Mole Jazz recorded the concerts, and titled the live album “Blues for the Fisherman”. Jazz Mole only released four tracks, which stayed atop the British charts for a year.

Pepper's rhythm section included drummer Carl Burnett, bass player Tony Dumas, and piano player Milcho Leviev. Back then, Pepper was signed to Galaxy Records. And Galaxy wouldn’t allow Pepper to record as a leader for another label. So, Jazz Mole listed Leviev as the leader, which didn’t seem to bother Pepper one bit.

On June 14, Widow’s Taste Records, owned by Pepper’s wife Laurie Pepper, unveiled nationwide “Blues for a Fisherman,” in a four-disc set. In 2006, Mrs. Pepper formed the record label. Since then, Mrs. Pepper has put out one Art Pepper album per year.

Because “Blues for the Fisherman” was a do-it-yourself endeavor and Mrs. Pepper had a small budget, she produced a limited number of box sets. Mrs. Pepper sent reviewers a 67-minute sampler disc. The eight songs sampler represented the best moments of the live album.

The sampler opened screaming. Pepper played an original “Blues for Blanche”. Blanche was Pepper’s beloved cat. Pepper followed that with “Rhythm-A-Ning”. Leviev is listed as the leader. At times, his playing seemed misplaced. Leviev played a barrage of notes. On “Blues for Blanche,” he sounded like he was firing an Uzi, and his hammering the piano keys on the ballad "What's Now" was odd.

Pepper troubled past is known. Pepper talked candidly about his heroin addiction and stints in prison in his autobiography Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper. Despite his troubles, Pepper made some acclaimed jazz albums “Straight Life,” Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section,” "Intensity,” and “Art Pepper+Eleven”. Undoubtedly, Pepper was a great alto saxophone player. “Blues for the Fisherman” ranks among Pepper’s finest recordings.

Pepper’s playing had a thick tone laced with sadness. The blues was Pepper's natural habitat. All hell broke loose on the title cut. Pepper ripped open his chest, and poured his heart all over the bandstand. Near the end of Pepper’s cadenza, he had a barroom kind of exchange with Leviev, which the audience ate up.

The production quality of “Blues for the Fisherman” was topflight. Listening to the album, you feel as if you're inside Ronnie Scott’s, seated near the stage drinking Pepper’s music like cocktails. The audience was considerate.

On so many live jazz albums, you hear people talking while the musicians work their tails off. On “Blues for the Fisherman,” the audience was silent, but at the end of the concert, they erupted.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT

2011-06-13T11:02:00.000-04:00

Last week, I Dig Jazz received four upcoming jazz albums "Ninety Miles," "State of Art," "Born to Be Blue," and "Monty Alexander Harlem-Kingston Express Live! at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, NYC. Each album is worth the sticker price and will be on the market in late Junes.

Saxophonist David Sanchez and vibraphonist Stefon Harris are survivors of the jazz youth movement of the late 90's when many jazz record labels only singed musicians under 25-year-old such as saxophonists Mark Turner, Teodross Avery, Mark Shim and a host of others. The movement was short-lived, and many of the musicians—who were pretty good—got canned when record companies closed their jazz divisions. Sanchez and Harris were the exception, and now are label-mates. For Concord Records, Sanchez, Harris and new jazz lion trumpeter Christian Scott are the co-leaders of “Ninety Miles”. I predict “Ninety Miles” will be favorite among jazz writer's. ”Ninety Miles” takes off running and never stops. Scott has experimented with different forms of music lately. I figured he'd completely forsaken his jazz upbringing. And I questioned if Scott would ever play hardcore jazz again. “Ninety Miles” is the first hardcore jazz album Scott has been an integral force on in years.

I first heard jazz bassist Ben Williams play with rising jazz vocalist Jesse Palter. And I liked Williams—a student of the accomplished jazz bassist Rodney Whitaker—right away. Since graduating from Michigan State University, and winning the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Competition for double bass, Williams has become an in demand bassist, playing with many of today's leading jazz musicians. On June 28, Concord Records offers to the public Williams' debut album “State of Art”. The album is a cogent example of the fusion course some new jazz lions are traveling these days. Williams was influenced by jazz, hip-hop, R& B and classical music. Williams successfully blends those forms, which is a lot of calories to consume on a debut album.

Jazz singer Ed Reed was a self-destructive junky most of his adult life. And Reed was in and out of jail also for various drug related offenses. Reed never gave up on himself, and the one thing he loved more than anything, singing. Reed is 82-year-old now. The hard knocks phase of his life is behind Reed. He's buried that monkey on his back two decades ago. When Reed is not recording and performing around the Bay Area , he helps other addicts change their lives. Reed has put out two acclaimed albums “Ed Reed Sings Love Stories and “The Song Is You” since getting his act together. On June 21, Blue Shorts Records debuts his third album “Born to Be Blue,” which finds Reed wailing on some blues tunes. Reed has a slow conversational manner comparable to the great Andy Bey’s style but not has lucid. Anyway, Reed can sing his ass off and he seems at home with the blues tunes he picked for “Born to Be Blue”.

Jamaican born jazz pianist Monty Alexander has been in the jazz business for 50 years. Alexander started celebrating that milestone in March when Retrieval Records released the wonderful trio album “Uplift” (one of I Dig Jazz's all time favorite Alexander trio albums). Alexander has more than enough seniority to call it quits . But instead of kicking back, propping his feet on his laurels—or at least slowing down some—on June 14, Motema Records will make available for purchase Alexander's second album this year “Monty Alexander Harlem-Kingston Express Live! at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, NYC”. The album is a Reggae jazz album that only Alexander could pull off. The albums has Bob Marley covers as well as familiar jazz staples "Freddie Freeloader" and a Reggae tinged version of "Sweet Georgia Brown".

'ROUND MIDNIGHT RELIVED

2011-06-11T00:15:00.004-04:00

Saxophonist Dexter Gordon

Dexter, Thursday the Detroit Jazz Festival held a screening of the film “’Round Midnight” at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. After the screening, your wife, Maxine, discussed the making of ‘Round Midnight’. Maxine also, revealed that you alway talked about moonlighting as a famous actor. Twice you had a small role on the series “Crime Story”.

Maxine told the audience you're convinced the Academy of Motion Pictures would nominate you for a best actor. Maxine was surprised it happened. Maxine said you wrote an acceptance speech. I wonder if Maxine kept it. Dexter I have “’Round Midnight” on DVD. I’ve watched the film countless times. Wednesday evening “’Round Midnight” was part of a jazz movie marathon on the cable network TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

The jazz marathon began with “’Round Midnight,” followed by “Thelonious Monk Straight,” “Eastwood After Hours,” “Bird,” and “Young Man with a Horn”. I watched each. “’Round Midnight” and “Young Man with a Horn” were my favorites. There’s a Detroit alto saxophonist, Larry Smith, who resembles, Dale Turner, the troubled jazz musician you portrayed in “’Round Midnight”. Are you familiar with Larry? Larry is a terrific alto player in the same league as Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt. Dexter if you email me your address in heaven, I’ll send you a copy of Larry’s albums “Estate’,” and “Larry Smith& Company Live at the Slovak Philharmonic”.

Dexter did you ever see “Young Man with a Horn”? Kirk Douglas played a trouble jazz trumpeter. Director Michael Curtiz based the film on trumpeter Bix Biederbecke's life story. I won’t give details. I don’t want to spoil it for you in case you plan to see “Young Man with a Horn”.

Anyway, Maxine talked about the making of “’Round Midnight”. Making the film was stressful for director and co-author Bertrand Tavernier. Bertrand developed a stomach ulcer. Bertrand believed making a film with jazz musicians would be easy.

Maxine said you declined after reading the first draft of the script. Bertrand depiction of jazz musicians was inaccurate. But you’d reconsider participating if Bertrand reworked the script. You explained if you’d played Dale Turner as written the NAACP would’ve revoked your lifetime membership. The jazz musicians you knew had their demons, but they were smart and hardworking. You wanted them depicted as such. Begrudgingly, Bertrand made changes, and “’Round Midnight” was successful.

Warner Bros. considered killing “’Round Midnight”. Your inexperience concerned Warner Bros. Actor and director Clint Eastwood—a diehard jazz fan—supported you, offering to finance the film. You proved Warner Bros wrong.“’Round Midnight” received Oscar nominations, including best actor in a leading role. Paul Newman won for The Color of Money".

Dexter, during the Q&A segment, I planned to ask Maxine three personal questions about you. But I didn’t get the chance. First, when did you and Maxine first meet, and how long were you all married? Secondly, how was it being married to one of the greatest jazz saxophonist of any era? Lastly, did you have annoying habits such as leaving the toothpaste uncapped?

Maxine shared a story about your relationship with the great tenor saxophone man Ben Webster. You and Ben toured. “Body and Soul” was on the set list. Ben liked to play "body and Soul" straight. Once you deviated from the song's structure, playing the bridge like John Coltrane used to. At the bridge of “Body and Soul,” you played some of the changes to Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”.

Ben was irate and accused you of destroying the song. Ben stopped speaking to you for months. Dexter, the audience at the Michigan Theatre laughed when Maxine said Ben apologize, and gave you a gold Cartier cigarette lighter. Dexter, Maxine is doing a swell job carrying on your legacy. Maxine is scheduled to give a lecture during the Detroit Jazz Festival. Maybe then, I’ll get the chance to ask those silly personal questions only Maxine can answer.

GERALD WILSON’S WORLD

2011-06-08T17:42:00.004-04:00

Big band leader Gerald Wilson made three albums dedicated to his favorite cities. In 2003, Mack Avenue signed Wilson. He was already a Hall of Fame worthy bandleader, and he had enough seniority in the industry to retire, but he did nothing of the kind. Mack Avenue released Wilson’s “New York New Sound”. Back then, Mack Avenue was small, vying for respectability. Landing Wilson was a big score that paid off.

“New York New Sound” received a Grammy nod, and Wilson became Mack Avenue’s best selling artist at the tender age of 84. In 2009, Wilson made “Detroit,” a homage to the Motor City, and Wilson’s best album for Mack Avenue.

By 2009, Mack Avenue was a household name with top jazz musicians on the roster such as Sean Jones, Kenny Garrett, Ron Blake and Christian McBride. Wilson remained the company’s ambassador, making a string of hit albums. At 92-year-old, Wilson still has the imagination and verve of a man half his age. You find that statement unbelievable? Then check out Wilson's new album “Legacy,” a nod to Chicago. "Legacy" will be available nationwide on June 21st.

With “Legacy,” Wilson shares some of the spotlight with his son Anthony Wilson and grandson Eric Otis. Wilson’s son wrote “Virgo,” and Otis wrote “September Sky”. Seems as if the elder Wilson is preparing his kin to run the big band if he retires.

“Legacy” has two drastically different moods. First, the top half of “Legacy” has a jazz meets classical feel. Wilson’s big band performs “Theme by Igor Stravinsky,” and “Variation on a Theme by Giacomo Puccini”. Obvious nods to Wilson’s classical heroes.

“Variation,” is intricate. Wilson mix blues and classical. Plus, Wilson send the composition through two tempo changes. Blues coexisting with classical is a novel concept. The mixture works because piano player Renee Rosnes is proficient in blues and classical music.

Secondly, the other half of “Legacy” is a suite titled “Yes Chicago Is… (suite)". It starts with the glum movement “Jazz Mecca”. The suite ends similarly with “A Great Place to Be”. Those movements are the suites’ weak links.

But, the other movements are upbeat. Wilson put his faith in key soloists—Terrell Stafford, Ron Blake, and Gary Smulyan—to convey musically and succinctly the influence Chicago had on Wilson. They didn't let Wilson down. The soloists are accomplished jazz musicians with egos, of course, but in Wilson’s big band they mesh swimmingly.

Stafford, Blake, and Smulyan give the suite a richness that would be missing had either musician not participated. So how does “Legacy” compare to Wilson’s “New York New Sound” and “Detroit”? “Legacy” deserves a high mark, but Wilson's nod to New York and to Detroit are better.

OLD SCHOOL FLAIR

2011-06-07T13:05:00.000-04:00

Sachal Vasandani has many things working in his favor. Vasandani is handsome, dapper, and classy. And Vasandani is signed to a record company that respects jazz musicians. Above all, Vasandani is a wonderful singer. His vocal style is a mix of Frank Sinatra and of Mel Torme'. Vasandani definitely embodies their lounge singer swagger.

On June 21, Mack Avenue Records releases nationally Vasandani’s third album "Hi-Fly". It’s Vasandani best so far. On his previous albums—particularly “Eyes Wide Open”—Vasandani sang some songs that didn't fit his voice. That’s not the case on “Hi-Fly”. Every song fits perfectly.

There’re oldies galore on “Hi-Fly,” and Vasandani only sings three of his own songs, which is unfortunate for us because his songwriting is powerful like his singing. (On his next album, he should include more originals.) Of course, singing oldies isn’t a bad thing. Many jazz singers do so marvelously, and Vasandani is no exception.

Vasandani obvious flair is singing love songs. Keep tissue handy while listening to Vasandani sing, “Love Is a Losing Game,” “That’s All I Want From You,” and “Flood”. Vasandani is careful with each song like pushing them up a street in a baby stroller.

Vasandani can also sing the blues and scat convincingly, which he has a ball doing with his idol Jon Hendricks on “Mint Julep” and the title song. “Hi-Fly” is Vasandani's best albums so far, but not his magnum opus. That’s coming in the near future. Bank on that. “Hi-Fly” proves Vasandani is among today’s top male jazz singers.

GOOD VIBRATION

2011-06-03T15:48:00.002-04:00

Vibraphonist Gary Burton has a fresh start. Mack Avenue Records signed Burton back in February, which was a major score for the company. Burton has a new band. And Burton has a new album, Common Ground, due out Tuesday. Common Ground is Burton’s first album in 5 years, and Mack Avenue's best album so far this year.

During Burton’s 5 year break, Burton kept his chops up. Burton still has a keen eye for gifted jazz guitarists. In the past, Burton worked with Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Kurt Rosenwinkel, three of jazz’s more creative minds. Burton help shape their reputations.

On Common Ground, Burton works with drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Scott Colley and Guitarist Julian Lage. Sanchez and Colley efficiently handle all the manual labor.

On “Never the Same Way, Colley spreads notes around like fertilizer. Sanchez swings toe-to-toe with Burton on the title cut. Lage is the dominate voice throughout Common Ground. It seems Burton designed Common Ground as a platform for Lage.

Lage is a maverick with good gut instincts. In April, Lage put out a concept album Galdewell. The album shows his knack for writing intriguing compositions.

On Late Night, Lage uses those instincts to navigate the changes. Burton and Lage have a sentimental father and son moment on My Funny Valentine. Burton has new musical soul mate in Lage. .

OLD FASHION BOP

2011-06-01T10:11:00.002-04:00

Andy, I finally listened to Frank Rosolino Quartet Featuring Sonny Clark Complete Recordings you gave me in April. I would’ve listened to the album sooner. But I was swamped with new albums. This years, new albums have been rolling in faster than I can review them. Over the weekend, the mail carrier dropped off a stack of albums from High Note Records that'll take me a good two weeks to listen to.

Anyway, the Frank Rosolino Quartet Featuring Sonny Clark Complete Recordings was everything you promised, clean old fashion be bop. A long time has passed since I’ve heard a pure be bop album. I guess I’ve been longing for one. Rosolino quartet with the great be bop piano player Sonny Clark—in my book the greatest ever, that’s not a slap in the face to Monk and Bud—was a good be bop band.

Andy, you have great taste in jazz, and a nose for tracking down obscure jazz musicians who never received—for whatever reasons—the praise they deserved. To your credit, Andy, you’re a hardcore jazz man. And, of course, the brains behind the Detroit Groove Society, the excellent home concert series. Also, thanks for emailing me jazz critic Gene Lee’s article about Rosolino’s suicide. I was upset after reading Rosolino killed his son then himself.

Lee nailed Rosolino personality. If playing jazz trombone hadn’t panned out, Rosolino could’ve made a living as a comic. Andy, if you listen closely you’d hear humor is his playing. Right now, I’m listening The Complete Recordings. He just wrapped up My Delux. Now he's playing the head of the slow jam Flamingo. He could cook and tell stories on his trombone. I have to pause for a moment. Sonny Clark is taking a solo. Clark’s playing is crisp as a laundered dress shirt.

On It Had to be You, alto sax man Charles Mariano sounds as if he invested time studying Charlie Parker’s licks. Parker’s influence is evident. I appreciate how Rosolino took his sweet time on some up tempo tunes. Rosolino could race, too. On Sweet Georgia Brown Rosolino, Mariano and Clark chew up the changes like chicken wings.

Andy, what I appreciate most about having a hardcore jazz man as a friend is you’re always turning me on to hip jazz musicians and jazz albums.

BOOGIE CONSCIOUS

2011-05-30T12:16:00.004-04:00

Trumpeter Tom Harrell wrote nine new songs for his latest album Time of the Sun, which High Note Records is releasing Tuesday. Harrell has worked with the same band--drummer Johnathan Blake, piano player Danny Grissett, saxophone player Wayne Escoffery and bass player Ugonna Okegwo---for five years. Harrell’s band has a strong rapport.

Harrell is a self-less leader. Harrell writes songs that accentuates his band strength. Foremost, Harrell's band is boogie conscious (danceable jazz music). Some of Harrell’s songs on Time of the Sun--Ridin’, River Samba and Cactus--are boogie friendly.

Seem as if Harrell’s band went into the studio to make an album that feels like a block party. Ridin’ shows the band in full party mode. Playing the Fender Rhodes, Grissett gives Ridin’ a retro-funk feel, and Blake opens a can of whip-ass on his drum solo.

Harrell jumps too, but Harrell sounds best on the bump-n-grind ballads he wrote, employing his trademark soft and poetic tone that makes it seem as if the trumpet can dissolve in his hands at any moment. Escoffery can play poetically, too, making Harrell and Escoffery the model frontline on ballads.

Don’t think for a minute Harrell’s band can only play ballads and boogie tempo songs. The band can also play conservatively, which happens on Harrell’s straight-ahead jazz song Open Door.

PICK UP A COPY

2011-05-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

Recently, I Dig Jazz came across three jazz albums A Matter of Black and White Jaki Byard Live at the Keystone Korner Vol. 2, Twogether and Moment to Moment that have been on the market for a while. If you don’t already have the albums, they’re still available and worth adding to your jazz collection.

In March, High Note Records released A Matter of Black and White Jaki Byard Live at the Keystone Korner, Vol. 2. However, IDJ has to tip its hat to High Note for putting out a solo album by an incomparable jazz piano player. Byard became prominent working with Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, and Booker Ervin. On a good night, Byard could play the history of African-American music in a single solo. On A Matter of Black and White, Byard put his twist on standards that we all love. The album’s highlight was the Ellington and Strayhorn medley Byard closed the album with.

Pianist John Hicks and saxophonist Frank Morgan made Twogether, a duet recorded live in 2005 at the Jazz Bakery not long before Hicks and Morgan died. As a bonus, the album's producers included Hicks playing three songs alone recorded a year after Twogether. Obviously Twogether was designed around Hicks' chops. It's unknown if Hicks and Morgan planned for Twogether to be their farewell album after Hall of Fame careers. With Twogether, fans experienced Hicks and Morgan raw and uncut, playing familiar ditties. The attention grabbers were Hicks’ take on Parisian Thoroughfare, Is That So and Passion Flower. Morgan penetrates the fiber of Night in Tunisia and ‘Round Midnight. Hicks and Morgan were a charming duo, and Twogehter was a fitting farewell.

Houston Person has the attributes you want from a tenor saxophone player. Person has soul. Person has a mellow tone that’s big and wide as a beach towel. Plus, Person “swing-ability” ranks up there with other great tenor sax players such as Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons. All those attributes are apparent on the mellow and groovy Moment to Moment. For the album, Person called on his longstanding band-mates piano player John DI Martino, bass player Ray Drummond, drummer Willie Jones III and guitar player Randy Johnson. Person added another sharpshooter to his band trumpeter Terrell Stafford. When Person searched for a trumpeter to give Moment to Moment edginess that some of his other albums lacked, Person couldn't have signed up a more well rounded trumpeter. Person and Stafford clicked immediately, trading measures on I Cover the Waterfront. Stafford's presence was vital throughout. Don’t Take Your Love Away from Me, Just the Way You Are and Love Won’t Let Me Wait are the songs you’ll keep replaying.

SOLO FEVER

2011-05-25T20:30:00.002-04:00

The popular thing among some jazz piano players nowadays is making a solo album. Geri Allen made one last year. A reissued solo album by the late Jaki Byard and one by Sir Roland Hanna are available. More solo albums are surely coming. Too often, the solo albums sound as though the piano players used the same game plan, rely heavily on introspection. Granted some of the solo albums are likable enough, but most come off like self-indulgent practice sessions.

Sorry to say, Cuban born jazz piano player, Gonzalo Rubalcaba's new solo album Faith, sounds self-indulgent or as if Rubalcaba is killing time practicing his favorite tunes. That’s disappointing, given Rubalcaba reputation as a piano wizard. Faith comes out the first day of June on Rubalcaba's new label 5Passion.

Of the fifteen songs on Faith, Rubalcaba’s wrote ten. Derivado 2 and Oro are likable tunes, offering only a glimpse of Rubalcaba's skills. On many of his other albums, Rubalcaba was exciting and imaginative, but on Faith his playing is flat. Did he intend for Faith to be uncharacteristic? Only he can answer that.

But, absent from Faith is the sharpness and the excitement Rubalcaba has displayed before as a sideman and as a leader. If that assertion warrants proof, listen to Rubalcaba’s handiwork on the album The Monterey Quartet: Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival.

Rubalcaba livens up some on Derivado 2, Oro, and Improvisation 1. The latter original is a nod to John Coltrane. The chord changes are like those on Coltrane’s Giant Steps, widely spaced. Unfortunately, you have to weed through some banal tunes before experiencing Improvisation 1. Faith doesn't come close to capturing the inner workings of Rubalcaba’s playing.

HARD BOP COMFORT ZONE

2011-05-23T10:19:00.006-04:00

Sean Jones’s followers pretty much know what to expect from a Sean Jones album, a straight-up swing affair mixed with some warm and fuzzy ballads. Jones has become an established force and the top jazz trumpeter of his generation. That’s huge, considering Jones’s peers are trumpeters Marcus Printup, Jeremy Pelt, Terrell Stafford, Dwight Adams, Russell Gunn and Nicholas Payton.

When Mack Avenue Records opened in 2004, Jones was one of the company's first employees. Jones made a string of solid albums, and later on earned the coveted first chair in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. (Jones recently quit to focus on other musical interests.)

I heard Jones for the first time at the 2004 Detroit International Jazz Festival. Jones was a member of Marcus Belgrave’s Trumpet Summit. Belgrave assembled jazz trumpeters from across the country, and Jones outplayed them all.

Like his hero trumpeter Clifford Brown, Jones likes to dwell in the upper register of the horn. And Jones blows forcefully enough to topple a garbage truck. My only pet peeve with Jones is some of his albums sound the same. So far, Jones’s third album, Roots showed his complete game. Jones is an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it bandleader, so he uses the same rhythm section from some of his previous albums.

Tomorrow, Mack Avenue Records offers to the public Jones’s new album No Need for Words. Jones is faithful to his hard swinging formula with some ballads strategically placed, giving the listeners a breather from the high premium swing that is No Need for Words main thrust. The Ballads Momma, Touch and Go and Forgiveness (Release)—are Jones’s most endearing yet.

Forgiveness (Release) comes across as if Jones has finally reconciled some deep seated issues that have bothered him for sometime. When Jones hits high notes, it sounds as if he’s screaming “hallelujah.

Love’s Fury is the stand out, and is Jones’s stab at free jazz. His band goes at it like wild animals on the attack. Love Fury is the farthest Jones has moved outside his hard-bop comfort zone. Love’s Fury foreshadows a new direction Jones is test-driving.

DULL DUET

2011-05-21T13:56:00.000-04:00

Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap

At Detroit's Orchestra Hall Friday evening, husband and wife duo Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes closed the 2010-2011 Paradise Jazz Series in lackluster fashion. At 8:00am on the button, the piano players walked on the stage hand in hand sporting pallbearer black suits. They bowed to the audience. Then Charlap and Rosnes started the concert with Never Will I Marry followed by Antonio Carlos Jobim's Double Rainbow and Joe Henderson's Inner Urge, songs from Charlap and Rosnes' 2010 album Double Portrait..

The entire evening, Charlap and Rosnes sounded like one piano player instead of two with different styles. The duo piano thing is tough to pull off. Many respected jazz piano players have tried. Eric Reed played with Cyrus Chestnut. Mulgrew Miller played with Kenny Barron. And Hank Jones played with Oliver Jones. Those duets were uninteresting.

Charlap and Rosnes are excellent jazz piano players. No jazz fan or jazz writer worth his or her salt would disagree. Charlap is reserved, but he can swing if a situation demand him to. Rosnes is a natural swinger at heart. Rosnes can swing faster and harder than any of her peers. But together Charlap and Rosnes are shockingly dull.

In 2007, Charlap and Rosnes wed at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, forming a top-flight jazz duo. Charlap and Rosnes brought stellar credentials to their marriage. Charlap has two praiseworthy jazz trio dates to brag about S. Wonderful and The Bill Charlap Trio Live at the Village Vanguard.

Rosnes played with the late saxophone player Joe Henderson. Rosnes also played with the San Francisco Jazz Collective.Three years after Charlap and Rosnes wed, Blue Note Records put out the couple’s first duo piano date Double Portrait. Jazz album reviewers spoke highly of it.

The set Friday wasn’t completely dull. Charlap and Rosnes gave the audience a jolt on Charlie Parker’s Confirmation. And the blues number Charlap and Rosnes played near the end of the set was pleasing. Charlap wow the audience, playing the number with one hand. On the whole, the hour-long set was lackluster. Charlap and Rosnes failed to do what both are capable of, swinging. But was swinging their intent?

MIDDLE AGE BLUES

2011-05-19T09:39:00.002-04:00

Like his peers Tim Warfield, Joshua Redmond, Craig Handy, and James Carter, Eric Alexander is a middle age saxophonist now. Being that hasn’t changed Alexander’s playing one bit. Alexander remains an eager improviser, which Alexander proved on a string of fantastic jazz albums Prime Time, The Battle and Revival of the Fittest.

Revival of the Fittest was Alexander’s last album and was a fan favorite, leaving. fans wondering what Alexander had planned for a follow up. Last month, High Note Records ended the suspense making public Alexander’s new album Don’t Follow the Crowd, covers of some noted pop songs and songs written for films.

Pianist Harold Mabern had a big influence on Don't Follow the Crowd. Mabern convinced Alexander to record Cavatina from the Deer Hunter, Charade and Shaft’s Big Score!. Then Mabern supported Alexander throughout the album like a fitness trainer. Alexander's other staff members bassist Nat Reeves, and drummer Joe Farnsworth were helpful as well, giving Cavatina from the Deer Hunter, Charade, and Shaft's Big Score!—songs written for film—more curb appeal.

In his career, Mabern has backed some influential jazz saxophonists such as Frank Strozier and George Coleman, Alexander’s role model. Mabern never crossed or upstaged Alexander. On Nomor Senterbress and Footsteps, Mabern surveyed the land before Alexander took off on an improvisational expedition.

Remix Blues and She’s Out of My Life stood out the most on Don’t Follow the Crowd. Pop icon Michael Jackson made famous She’s Out of My Life. Alexander kept the song’s gloomy disposition. Farnsworth and Reeves were most aggressive on Don’t Misunderstand, and Remix Blues.

With Don’t Follow the Crowd, Alexander proves—not that he had to prove anything—middle age hasn’t diminished his skills one bit.

MASTERPIECE

2011-05-17T11:40:00.010-04:00

At this stage of his career, James Carter can put out any kind of album he wants to. At one of Carter’s concerts, I overheard someone saying, “James could blow into a garden hose and that would sound good”. I don’t doubt that. Carter is undoubtedly one of the principal jazz saxophonists of his generation—on second thought of any generation. Carter has recorded some remarkable concept albums “Jurassic Classics,” “Conversin’ with the Elders,” “Chasin’ the Gypsy” and “Gardenia for Lady Day” are some examples. But none more remarkable as his new album “Caribbean Rhapsody: Concerto for Saxophones.

Today, Emacry Records offers to the public “Caribbean Rhapsody: Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra”. Roberto Sierra, who has worked with Carter off and on for nearly a decade, composed the music. Sierra cut open Carter’s style, like a coroner a corpse for an autopsy. Sierra dissected every part of Carter’s style. Sierra's crafted compositions befitting Carter's many hallmarks.

One of Carter's hallmarks is coming up with imaginative cadenzas. Sierra kept the back door of some of his compositions wide open for Carter to play cadenzas.

“Caribbean Rhapsody" is not Carter’s first stab at classical music. In 2002, Carter performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Neeme Jarvi. Sierra composed the music. The concert was successful. The following year Carter played with the DSO again. Classical music doesn’t allow any room for improvising. Sierra knows Carter playing relies heavily on improvisation.

And asking Carter to play music without improvising would be like asking a slugger to hit a home run without a bat. Sierra composed music for “Caribbean Rhapsody,” that doesn’t restrict Carter’s inner swinger. Sierra’s compositions challenge Carter to dig deeper into his bag of improvisational tricks, and Carter exceeds the challenge.

“Caribbean Rhapsody” opens with “Ritmico”. Carter does the bolero with his tenor. On “Tender,” Carter plays the tenor and soprano tenderly like a mother tending to a scrape on a child’s knee. “Playful” meanders along until Carter kicks the tempo in the ass. Then Carter and the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra swing home the rest of the way.

“Caribbean Rhapsody” has many unforgettable moments. Two moments are Carter soloing on “Tenor Interlude” and Soprano Interlude” Carter weeds through the changes like a landscaper. (Someday Carter will replace saxophonist Sonny Rollins as the reigning king of improvisation.) Another unforgettable moment is Carter’s exchange with The Alkun Dixon String Quintet on the concerto “Caribbean Rhapsody,” In the second, movement Carter and guest soloist violinist Regina Carter swing high like trapeze artists.

Carter has 14 albums under his belt now. “Caribbean Rhapsody” is Carter’s first masterpiece. “Caribbean Rhapsody is the second album legendary jazz record producer Michael Cuscuna has produced for Carter. At 42, every aspect of Carter’s playing has matured, and Cuscuna is the right partner for Carter at this stage of his career.

SNEAK PEEK

2011-05-16T16:24:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend, I Dig Jazz received a stack of upcoming jazz releases. Some were worthwhile, and other were not. As a courtesy to I Dig Jazz reader's here is a sneak peek at three jazz albums from that stack you should purchase when they are released to the public.

Jazz singer Sachal Vasandani has the goods. Vasandani is handsome, cool, dapper. And Vasandani is also one of the best male jazz singers around. How good is Vasandani? As good of a singer you could produce by mixing Frank Sinatra’s DNA with Mel Torme’s. On June 21, Mack Avenue Records release, Vasandani’s third album HI-Fly. HI-Fly will catapults Vasandani into the international spotlight. Vasandani also gives listeners a sampling of his songwriting skills. Of the 12 songs on HI-Fly, Vasandani only wrote three, but they are the most memorable on the album. Vasandani hired his idol, jazz vocalese great John Hendricks, to play a few tracks.

At 92, big band leader, Gerald Wilson is still composing sweet big band music. Wilson is one of Mack Avenue Record’s best selling artist, and Wilson’s debut for MAR, New York New Sound, was nominated for a Grammy in 2003. On June 21, Wilson’s fourth date for MAR, Legacy, will be available. Legacy is a ballad heavy album with a lovely suite Wilson composed as a salute to Chicago, one of Wilson’s favorite cities. Wilson’s orchestra is star-studded. Pianist Rene’ Rosnes, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash make big contributions. Wilson's orchestra would be incomplete without his Mack Avenue brothers saxophonist Ron Blake and trumpeter Sean Jones.

Off the top of your head name some legendary Detroit jazz piano players. I will wager a month’s salary that piano player Sir Roland Hanna's name did not come up, which is a damn shame. Hanna was one of the jazz world’s unsung greats and a consummate craftsman. For a while, Hanna worked in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Hanna gigged frequently with tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. For those who enjoyed Hanna playing, but may have forgotten about him, IPO Recordings, Inc. makes available, August 1st, an excellent album of Hanna playing solo piano amply title Colors from a Giant’s Kit. Hanna serves up ballads, ragtime, and blues with amazing aplomb. Many solo piano albums sound like practice sessions, but not Hanna's album. Hanna sounds as if he's playing for an appreciative audience.Colors from a Giant’s Kit will put Hanna back on your jazz radar..