BRIA SKONBERG COVERED A LOT OF GROUND ON DEBUT

Bria, what’s nice about running a jazz blog is the new albums I get from jazz musicians across the country I never heard of. Honestly, I haven’t received any groundbreaking albums, but most  are worthwhile, and I encourage my readers to buy them. This year, I’ve received a bunch of  excellent albums by white female jazz singers. I don’t know why.

Maybe, the female singers have a movement underway I’m unaware of. If that's the case, they can count on my support. “So is The Day,” which Random Act Records released Tuesday is the best one I’ve listened to. Bria, you covered a lot ground. Before I comment on that, I want to formerly introduce you to my readers. I won’t take long.

Bria Skonberg is a jazz trumpeter and singer influenced by trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Bria is a better singer than Armstrong was. I was convinced of that after I listened to the title cut, a blues number enhanced by a wonderful solo by sax player Victor Goines, a veteran of  Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. 

Bria grew up in Western Canada, and everybody in her immediate family plays an instrument. After she graduated from Capilano University, she led three short-lived jazz bands The Big Band Jazz Band, Bria’s Hot Five, and the Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band., which may explain why she's comfortable playing various styles of jazz.

Jazz critic Nat Hentoff praised her in the Wall Street Journal. Hentoff is a jazz God, and he was on a first-name basis with Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Carmen McRae, and Dinah Washington.  I’m not suggesting Bria is in their league.

If Bria keeps putting out bulletproof jazz albums like "So is The Day," someday she'll be a brand like Fitzgerald, Holiday, McRae and Washington were.. For now, Bria is leaving her footprint all over New York’s jazz scene. 

Earlier I said you covered a lot of ground on “So is The Day”. It’s full like a fat man’s dinner plate. Making the album was a big undertaking the could've gone awry, writing most of the songs and keeping the special guests--Wycliffe Gordon, Victor Goines, and John Pizzarelli-happy was no small feat.  

In spots,  "So is The Day" felt like a neighborhood block party.Your band had a ball recording “Chilliwack Cheer”. It sounded like a parade was in the studio. That song is my pick for the album’s MVP. “My Friend” was a close second. 

It was the kind of tearjerker gospel song you’d write if a close friend died unexpectedly. Bria, I wondered why you decided to close with that song, given most of the album was upbeat. Anyway, “So is The Day” is a debut jazz album that made the hairs on my neck, knuckles and toes dance..

KENNY WERNER ON HIS NEW SOLO ALBUM, HIS WILLINGNESS TO SELL OUT, AND WHY JAZZ IS ALIVE AND WELL

"Me, Myself, & I” is a solo album jazz piano player Kenny Werner cut live last year at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill in Montreal. Werner has cut other solo albums “Live at Maybeck Concert Hall, Volume 34” and “Live at Visiones” for example. Neither has the abstract feel his new album has, which Justin Time Records will release Tuesday. 


The title is misleading. It suggests the album is about self-indulgence, but that is false. "'Round Midnight," "All the Things You Are," and "Giant Steps" are some of the oldies but goodies Werner sicked  his imagination on. Frankly, I'm not a fan of solo jazz piano projects. Most come off as self-indulgent woodshedding sessions, but "Me, Myself & I" surprised me.  


Werner is comfortable playing unaccompanied. The album is more than a garden variety piano recital. It’ll run circles around any solo jazz piano album out there. Jordy Freed of DL Media, the company that handles publicity for Justin Time Records, had Werner answer  some questions I had about the album.

How does "Me, Myself & I" stack up to your other solo albums?

It's more abstract than any of them and as I said in the liner notes, I've never been captured on a recording feeling in such good shape

Some noted jazz pianists have recently put out solo albums. Did you feel any peer pressure to make this album?

I don't feel peer pressure in general.

Is playing solo piano in front of a live audience nerve-wracking? 

No.

Bassist Andrea Veneziani featured you on his debut "Oltreoceano". You totally dominated the album. When you play with younger jazz musicians, do you have to modify your playing any, or do you let it all hang out no matter what?

I don't think about it. I respond to the music in the moment and if I have to measure how much passion to bring to the music I can't play.

You are a great composer. Why did you decide to perform golden oldies and only one original?

Because when you know the songs so well you can go the farthest away from them and still be playing them. How many years has Lee Konitz been playing "All The Things You Are."

You are jazz bigwig. Do you have to fight your record label to make the kind of albums you want?

No. I haven't experienced a company get in the way of the music since I was just starting out. Companies don't invest much in you so they have to respect what kind of CD you want to make. I've always said I'm willing to sell out, but the price is going to be prohibitive.

Is there an upcoming tour to promote the album?

I'll be playing a series of solo concerts in Belgium and Holland in May. Other than that Patricia Barber {jazz vocalist} and I will play duo piano for the Montreal Jazz Festival. I'll be at The Blue Note in NYC playing my music from my previous album{Balloons}with The Brussels Jazz Orchestra. The entire band is coming over to play the week. Sort of the opposite of a solo concert.

There's been talk lately about jazz being dead, which I think is bull. What are your thoughts about the topic?

There's always talk of that. It was supposed to be dead in 1970 when I was first starting out. If  jazz is dead then why is every jazz musician who's worth hearing so damn busy?

Do you have another solo album in you?

Always.

SHEILA JORDAN'S 'YESTERDAYS' STIRRED UP OLD MEMORIES

Chances are you don’t remember me. I’m the jazz reporter you talked to for two hours straight in 2004.  The former owner of Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, John Colbert, gave me your telephone number. At the time, I was writing a story about Baker’s 70th anniversary shindig that Colbert organized. It was a four night event, and you were the opening act. You had a history with Baker’s, and I wanted to quote you.

Instead of a quote, you gave me your life story. I figured I caught you on a day when you were thinking about your life.  Mrs. Jordan, it was the best interview of my career, and a dream come true. You are my favorite jazz singer. I fell in love with your singing after I heard your first album “Portrait of Sheila,” which I picked up used at Car City Records in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.  

I was out of work nearly two years. I had to sell my jazz collection, about 1500 discs. It was painful letting go of my Booker Ervin, Steve Lacy, Ornette Coleman, and Yusef Lateef discs. I refused to part with my “Portrait of Sheila” album. I thought about it long and hard. I couldn’t do it. The album means that much to me. I want to be buried with it.

 Every time, I played it I think about how open you were with me, a reporter that you had never met face to face.  We were supposed to me after your performance at Baker's. After the set, well-wishers and autograph hounds surrounded you. I couldn't get to you. I talked to you a few days later, and I told you what happened. You were pissed that I didn't wait around. Imagine that the great Sheila Jordan pissed at me. 

You told me about your rough upbringing. Your folks were dirt poor. At age 13, you moved from Pennsylvania to Detroit. You wanted to be a  jazz singer after hearing a Charlie Parker record on a jukebox at your favorite after school hangout. You told me about all the flak you got because you hung out with black jazz musicians. You married bebop piano player Duke Jordan, and you explained how his drug addiction ruined the marriage. You’re with Charlie Parker the night he was banned from Birdland. 

I didn’t get a usable quote for my article, but you provided me with enough information to write a 3,000 word story about your life, which detroitmusichistory.com published. I bet right now you’re wondering why I’m reminiscing about a telephone conversation that took place eight years ago. 

Two weeks ago, High Note Records, mailed me your album “Yesterday,” a live recording with bass player Harvie Swartz. “Yesterday” made me think about our conversation, and why you are my favorite jazz singer. 

On “Yesterday,” you sang standards such as “I Concentrate On You,” “Lazy Afternoon,” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is”. You scrubbed the mildew off them, and you made them sound brand new. It was clever how you worked in a story about jazz critic Leonard Feather while you sang “The Very Thought of You”. 

That’s one of your trademarks infusing standards with humor and personal recollections. On the “Fats Waller Medley” you sang as fast as Charlie Parker played changes. The duo format is your forte’.  I wonder if you invented it. I will check with my friend, jazz historian Jim Gallert.  He will know.

Lately, Mrs. Jordan, I’ve been hard on jazz singers. Most are obsessed with standards. But you’re different because you have fun with them.  Wherever I get the desire to replay “Yesterday,” I will marvel about having a candid two hour conversation with one of the world’s greatest jazz singers.

HALIE LOREN'S FIFTH ALBUM IS SOMETHING TO BEHOLD

I promised Maureen McFadden of DL Media, the company that handles publicity for Justin Time Records, I’d spend some alone time with your new album ”Heart First”. Maureen shipped it to me a few weeks ago.  I gave it my undivided attention Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Not that I was searching for flaws. Nowadays, it seems impossible to make a flawless album., but you pulled it off. 

Of the albums by jazz singers I received this year, “Heart First” is the one that stands out the most. Before I played it,  I did some homework. I discovered you grew up in Nashville, and started writing songs as a teenager. “Heart First” is your fifth album, and overseas you're a big star.

You've been compared to Norah Jones and to Diana Krall.  Loren, from where I sit, you’re a better singer than they are. “Heart First” showed you have more versatility. At times, Norah can be bland, and not so long ago Diana was pound for pound the best jazz singer around. Now she’s a crossover sensation. You're a singer who can't be typecast. 

In general, what bugs me most about jazz singers is their reluctance to step outside their comfort zone of singing mostly jazz standards. There’s nothing criminal about singing standards, but what's the point if jazz singers are going to sing them like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holiday did. 

At any rate, I was happy you chose to sing mostly new songs such as “Tender to the Touch” and “Woman’s Way”.  And it was cool how you dolled up the oldies “My One and Only Love,” and “All of Me”. On that one you slowed the tempo down to a crawl. The organ in the background was a nice nuance. 

You put a lot of thought into “Heart First”. That much is obvious. None of the arrangements were overwrought. You pampered each song. It was clever closing the album with a redesign of Van Morrison’s gem “Crazy Love”. Monday, I'm going to drop Maureen a note, thanking her for staying on my case about listening to "Heart First"

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TAUREY BUTLER AND ANDREA VENEZIANI WORLD PREMIER AS SESSION LEADERS

Jazz piano player Taurey Butler has been compared to Oscar Peterson. If you pay close attention to Butler’s new self-titled album, which Justin Time released last week, you will conclude piano player Cyrus Chestnut had a bigger influence on Butler. His world premier is like Chestnut’s early albums “Revelation,” “The Dark Before the Dawn,” and “Earth Stories”. Butler sounds as if he used those albums as guideposts. Like Chestnut, Butler can play beautifully and rambunctiously. He's comfortable with gospel and the blues. Butler raises hell throughout the album, particularly on “Please Send Me Somebody to Love” and “Preacher”. 

The upside of bass player Andrea Veneziani hiring piano player Kenny Werner to play on his first album “OLTREOCEANO” is Werner brings a craftsman’s touch to every song. Werner is a prodigious piano player with a ton of frequent-flier miles, and he can unconsciously bogart a session, which he does on “OLTREOCEANO”.  Veneziani is a wonderful bass player, and he has history with Werner. He was Werner's pupil, and their camaraderie is apparent on “Night Flight” and “Time Remembered”. Veneziani gives a glimpse of his virtuosity on "Free Episodes#1," but overall, Veneziani behaves like a sidekick instead of  the leader. He allows Werner to bogart the session.

KATHY KOSINS TOASTS LADIES OF WEST COAST COOL

On jazz singers Kathy Kosins’s new album “ the Ladies of Cool,” her lovely, soft, and soothing voice made me want to curl up in her lap, and listen to her sing every song on the album over and over. “to the Ladies of Cool” is her first album for Resonance Records, and it’s due out March 13th. 

The album appears to be a tribute album on the surface, but it isn’t although Kosins performs songs  jazz singers Anita O’Day, June Christy, Chris Connor, and Julie London made hip. Kosins gives a spit-shine to  “Learnin’ the Blues,” “Free and Easy” and “November Twilight”..   

Before Kosins became a big time jazz singer, she made her bones on Detroit’s music scene. One of her first jobs was arranging and singing background for music producer Don Was of Was/Not Was. 

Kosins built up her jazz and swing acumen in the JC Heard and Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Not long after that job ended she struck out on her own. Over time, she put out five albums, and racked up accolades by the mother-lode.  

Days, after I listened “to the Ladies of Cool,” I shot Kosins some questions about the album's conception, and about her admiration of those West Coast darlings, which she gladly answered. 

What inspired the making of "to the  Ladies of Cool"?

The West Coast Cool movement of the 1950's and 60's inspired me. This was an extension of my previous disc “Mid-Century Modern,” where I cover a lot of material from the West Coast Cool school.

Although you’re toasting Anita O’Day, June Christy, Chris Connor and Julie London, "to the Ladies of Cool," doesn’t feel like a tribute album. 

This is not a tribute disc. It is a contemporary exploration of the West Coast Cool movement that celebrates the artistry of those iconic vocalists, and the relationships the women had with the composers and arrangers who defined West Coast Cool.

What do you admire about those singers?

I loved their true sense of lyricism and understatement.

Were there obstacles making the album? 

There were no obstacles for this project. It was almost as if I had a green light, and blessings from the spirits of the artists. They seemed to be with me on my journey from finding the songs, to hiring the arranger, to recording and mixing, and to designing the cover.

Was selecting the songs for “the ladies of cool” difficult?

It was a long process and I chose over 20 songs before honing in on the nine and writing the 10th to Johnny Mandel's instrumental of “Hershey Bar”, which is now titled “Hershey's Kisses”.

Did O'Day, Christy, Connor and London have a big influence on your style?

These women did not influence my singing. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and many of the jazz instrumentalists from the 40's and 50's did.  But I grew up listening to those women on my mother’s stereo. I found I connected with each one on some fundamental level each for a different reason. I won’t give the reasons. The list is too long.

GREGORY PORTER, OLIVER JONES, AHMAD JAMAL HAVE IMPRESSIVE NEW ALBUMS

“Be Good” is jazz singer/songwriter Gregory Porter’s second album. In 2010, he put out “Water,” his first album, and it caught the jazz world off-guard. It was nominated for a Grammy, and surprisingly it made him the shit overseas. He kicked the dreaded sophomore jinx in the ass.

“Be Good” is a perfect album. It will make Porter a household necessity stateside. He can sing his ass off. Of the twelve songs on “Be Good,” Porter wrote ten. He writes more like a poet than a songwriter. 

For example, “On My Way To Harlem,” he wrote: “I was baptized by my daddy’s horn. (That line floored me.) On “In Good Hands,” he’s a love-struck guy, asking his lady’s dad for permission to marry her, assuring him she’ll always be in good hands.  

 Porter stripped the old paint off the chain gang anthem “Work Song” and juiced up the tempo. On “God Bless the Child,” he sang a cappella. That was the only time on "Be Good" he showboated. 

 Piano player Oliver Jones is a loyal man. He’s been making albums for Justin Time Records since 1983. Sticking with a label that long is rare for any recording artist, particularly a jazz musician.

Why screw with a relationship that works? Jones--an Oscar Peterson acolyte who's not afraid to flex his virtuosity--has a new album on the market “Live In Baden Switzerland”.

 “Live In Baden Switzerland” is a trio date recorded 23 years ago, and then shelved. Only Jones and the executives at Justin Time know why the album is just seeing the light of day.

 At any rate, on the live album, Oliver covered a lot of ground. The late Ed Thigpen (for a long time Thigpen was Oscar Peterson’s drummer of choice) and bass player Reggie Johnson were at Oliver’s side. 

Oliver's trio plays standards, ballads, blues, and gospel cookers. In short, the trio put on a complete show. “George Gershwin Medley,” “Something for Chuck,” and “Hymn To Freedom” were showstoppers. 

 Drummer Herlin Riley, percussion player Manolo Badrena, and bass player Reginald Veal have been running the streets with piano player Ahmad Jamal lately.

 It’s one of the tightest jazz band's working. Last year, I caught Jamal’s band at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor Michigan. That show is engraved in my memory. 

 That night, Jamal had a cottony soft touch on ballads, and on up-tempo songs he switched tempos faster than a runway model switches outfits at a fashion show. 

 “Blue Moon,” is Jamal's new album. He recorded songs his band performed at Hill Auditorium, for example, “I Remember Italy,” and “Morning Mist”. On “Invitation” and the title track, Jamal was playful with Riley, intercepting his rim shots mid-flight.