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winning spins by George Kanzler
Miles Davis was such a protean figure as trumpeter, bandleader and stylistic innovator that it's hard to think of him - or of his influence - in the singular. Take the two trumpeters whose albums are the subject of this Winning Spins. Although both Wallace Roney and Alex Sipiagin are under the influence of Miles, they sound nothing alike. They draw from different aspects of Miles as a player and, in Roney's case, as a bandleader. Roney embraces the Miles of the late Sixties and early Seventies, when Davis was at his most extroverted and virtuosic as a player, and when he was experimenting with electronics and jazz-rock fusion. Sipiagin, on the other hand, taps into the more lyrical and fragile 50s Miles, as well as trumpeters Chet Baker and Art Farmer, who mined that same lyric vein.
"People are always going to hear Miles Davis in my playing," Roney is quoted in the CD booklet to his new album, Mystikal (High Note), "and if someone is going to buy my record or go to my concert to hear if I'm going to sound like Miles or not… well, then they can just stay home, because it's always going to be there. I play like this because it's the way that I do. No, I'm not gonna explain what's different about me anymore because I'm tired of apologizing for what I'm doing."
If you sense a certain belligerence in that quote, you're probably right. And that anger and/or stubbornness is at the strength of Roney's playing. He brings a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that was more part of Miles' persona than his playing, and makes it almost overt in his own work. Take his entrance on Wayne Shorter's "Atlantis," which leads off the CD. He rides in on a Miles line, almost a Miles quote, but continues in both that vein and his own more aggressive approach, melding the two. Or listen to his Harmon-muted solo of the old Temptations' hit, "Just My Imagination." It's so steeped in Miles that it lacks the edge Roney brings to his best solos.
The album title suggests certain extra-musical concepts like the almost subliminal voices (of turntablist Val Jeanty and Roney himself) intruding on a number of tracks. The album tends to suffer from a severely split (schizoid?) personality. Funky vamps and electronic spaciness à la Bitches Brew alternate with hard-bop and acoustic settings, including a warm closing duet by Roney and his wife, pianist Geri Allen (the album's scene-stealing soloist), on Bud Powell's "I'll Keep Loving You." Roney should keep his fusion and straight-ahead jazz projects on separate CDs, mixing them up doesn't do justice to either.
Sipiagin's Returning (Criss Cross), employs an instrumentation - Seamus Blake, tenor sax; Adam Rogers, guitar; Scott Colley, bass, and Antonio Sanchez, drums - that, without the harmonic heft of a piano, keeps the ensemble sounding light and airy. In contrast to his playing with large ensembles like Dave Holland's or the Mingus Big Band, Sipiagin here concentrates on a clean, mellow tone perfect for lyricism, so much so that it's hard to distinguish his flugelhorn from his trumpet.
One of the delights of this album is the way in which the ensemble members interact, creating floating and flowing lines as trumpet, sax and guitar interweave, sometimes joined in the colloquy by Colley, as on the dreamy transition from theme to bass solo on the leader's "Extra Change." That tune is the second of three Sipiagin originals that kick off the album, serving as a mini-suite through their related mood and approach. Even more complex and interwoven is Rogers' "Pictures," a piece with call-response melodies in tandem before exploratory solos by the leader and Rogers.
Closing out the album is an imaginative reworking of pianist Bill Evans' "Turn Out the Stars," suggestive of Gerry Mulligan's quartets and sextets in its interplay of sax and trumpet.
Wallace Roney's group plays at Iridium on January 12-15. Alex Sipiagin will be featured at Birdland on January 18, 20 and 21 as a member of Dave Holland's big band and septet - and at Iridium on most Tuesday evenings with Mingus Dynasty.ANTHONY WONSEY
SMOKE/JANUARY 5-7
Trumpeter Danny Moore, who died last year, was a frequent performer at Smoke's Monday night sessions. He'll be remembered over three evenings as old pals Wonsey (piano), George Coleman (tenor), John Webber (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums) hold forth on the bandstand. Wonsey himself has worked around town with groups under Carl Allen's and Nicholas Payton's leadership. Other colleagues have included Antonio Hart, Roy Hargrove and Kenny Garrett. The Evidence label released Anthony's debut CD, Antho- nyology and it's a promising one. Look for his newest, The Thang (Sharp Nine) coming out next month.JACOB ANDERSKOV
CORNELIA STREET CAFE/JANUARY 11
Danish pianist Anderskov's name isn't as familiar to we insular American jazz listeners as it should be. But hold tight. He brings his Anderskov Accident sextet to Cornelia Street - and then performs during the IAJE conference on January 12 at 3PM. For both appearances, his group will also add two undaunted locals: trumpeter Coung Vu and saxophonist Chris Cheek. The sextet's most recent CD is Unity of Action (ILK/scraggly). A reviewer for Cadence magazine described the band's sound thusly: "African township jive with Frank Zappa-ish arrangements and a Miles Davis electric groove, cater-wauling saxophones, aggressive drumming and more."ALLAN VACHE
JAZZ AT NOON/JANUARY 6
Here's one good thing that has lasted: Les Lieber's noontime concert series at Cafe St. Bart's, now in the midst of its 41st season. A core group of non-professional musicians and business execs invites one top-rank jazz player to join them each Friday for two sets. There's tasty food and no cover charge. With the regulars for this month's first concert is clarinetist Vaché (yes, cornetist Warren's brother). Slated for subsequent Fridays this month are Bob Mover (13), Bucky Pizzarelli (20) and Pete Sokolov (27). If you dote on the albums issued these days by Arbors and Nagel-Heyer (Vaché has recorded for both labels), you'll really enjoy this series.STEVE WILSON
JAZZ STANDARD/JANUARY 4-8
Into the Standard for five full nights rolls Wilson, whose work on alto and soprano saxophones first came to prominence nearly a decade ago with Chick Corea's Origins band. The rhythm section backing him for this engagement - pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Ed Howard and drummer Adam Cruz - is the same one whose support he enjoyed on his CD Passages, issued a while back by MaxJazz. Joining them, too, will be trumpet pal Nicholas Payton, who also guested on that album. By the way, Wilson slips easily into a sideman role on January 13-14, when he appears with pianist Michael Weiss' group at Kitano.BRUCE ARNOLD
LOTUS MUSIC & DANCE/JANUARY 7
At this 8:00 PM concert on the 8th floor at 109 W. 27th St., guitarist Arnold and his eight-member outfit Spooky Actions offer new takes on works by Schoenberg, Webern and Messiaen. Bruce describes the process this way: "We approach a classical piece as if it were a jazz standard. The 'head' is stated, then we base our improvisations on that." Although he currently teaches at the New School, NYU, City College and Princeton, this guy's music is anything but stuffy, as his contributions to CDs by Harvie S and George Schuller have proven. Or check out Bruce's own A Few Dozen (Muse-eek), a real triumph of adventuresome playing.PAUL KOGUT
55 BAR/JANUARY 9
Perhaps you heard guitarist Kogut during 1994-98, when he was involved in a graduate program at Manhattan school and gigging around town at places like the 55, Zinc Bar and Augie's. He's since relocated to Chicago where, he reports, playing opportunities are ample. His trio includes Dave Ambrosio on bass and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums. We liked Paul's recent CD on BluJazz - and especially enjoyed its title: Know It? I Wrote It!" The tunes featured aren't all originals; covers range from "In Your Own Sweet Way" to "Can't Buy Me Love." But Kogut lines like "Fat Cat," "Small Doses" and "Jay Walk" swing the hardest.PETER ZAK
JAZZ GALLERY/JANUARY 15
Since relocating from Northern California, this pianist has worked locally in groups led by Jon Hendricks, Eric Alexander, Ryan Kisor (with whom he's recorded a pair of CDs), Peter Bernstein and Joe Magnarelli - and done some teaching in the New School's jazz program. At the Gallery, in partnership with bassist Paul Gill and drummer Al Foster, he'll perform a three-part suite commissioned by Chamber Music America. His latest CD, Peter Zak Trio (Steeplechase) fairly bristles with good playing and writing. Especially nifty is an uptempo original entitled "Better Late Than Never," built over the harmonies of "Just in Time."MARCUS STRICKLAND
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY/JANUARY 6
Hear saxophonist Strickland on his most recent Fresh Sounds CD Brotherhood (his debut on the label was At Last); or catch him live at the museum with his current bandmates: pianist Robert Glasper, himself the object of much recent press attention; bassist Vincente Archer; and drummer E.J. Strickland, who just happens to be Marcus' twin brother. In fact, you should do both. Marcus is also set to play with Dave Douglas at Zankel Hall in February - and as part of Roy Haynes' band at the Vanguard in mid-March. Equally facile on soprano and tenor, he's a fine writer, too. All but one of the nine tunes on Brotherhood are his.DIVA
BLUE NOTE/JANUARY 3-8
TNT, the title of the newest Lightyear album by this roaring big band, apparently stands for "Tommy Newsom Tribute." The sparkling arran-gements are his, and this fifteen-member outfit really does them justice. The ensemble work under drummer Sherrie Maricle's leadership is super-tight and the soloists outstanding throughout. Note, too, that several of Diva's leading voices (including saxophonists Karolina Strassmayer and Anat Cohen) comprise the septet heard on a new Arbors CD Five Play...Plus. Catch one of these Blue Note shows (which also feature Ann Hampton Callaway) and you'll be enjoying, in effect, both groups.MICHAEL ABENE
IAJE CONFERENCE/JANUARY 12 AND 14
Abene's manifold composing and arranging talents are showcased twice in concerts at this year's IAJE blowout. On January 12, he'll lead Germany's WDR Radio Big Band in Django-inspired material he created to highlight the talents of guitarist Birelli Lagrene. The 14, it'll be other new Abene charts written for Paquito d'Rivera, again with backing by the WDR aggregation. Busy on the scene for four full decades, he spends at least six months yearly working with large ensembles in Europe - particularly in Cologne, where he's been the WDR's musical director since 2003. If you can't catch these IAJE sets, hear the same acclaimed big band at Dizzy's on January 17.
JAZZ IN JERSEY BY FRED McINTOSHSAL MOSCA
TRUMPETS/JANUARY 28
This pianist's interest in music began with the player piano in his Mt. Vernon home. He studied with Lennie Tristano during the late 40s; recorded with Miles, Konitz and Warne Marsh; and did considerable teaching. For this rare NJ appearance, he's lined up fellow Tristano-ites Jimmy Halperin (tenor), Don Messina (bass) and Bill Chattin (drums). Mosca's recording career dates back to 1949. In fact, he played on the original release of "Ezz-thetic." The latest under his own name is Thing-Ah-Majig (Zinnia). And here's Lennie's endorsement: "Of all the great people in jazz since the 1940s, Sal Mosca is one of the greatest." This is the real avant-garde!MICKEY GRAVINE
SOLARI'S/JANUARY 3
Long-running gigs? Trombone guy Gravine's big band has been playing at Solari's in Hackensack on the first Tuesday of every month for the past seven years. Mickey's own resume includes stints with Benny, Woody and both Dorseys, as well as plenty of film soundtrack work and other jobs that had him backing Sinatra, Streisand and Ella Fitzgerald. The fact that this River St. venue boasts a dance floor helps to bring out a host of weekly regulars. So does outstanding solo work by trumpeters Kevin Bryan and Tim Yedloudsnig, trombonists Matt Billick and Ben Williams, saxophonists Sal Granata and Jim Perry and bassist Jerry Bruno.GERRY NIEWOOD
CORNERSTONE/JANUARY 11
One of Jersey's own, Niewood brings his straight-ahead tenor into this Metuchen hotspot with Sarah Jane Cion playing piano and Phil Polumbi on bass. Gerry cites Cannonball, Trane, Rollins, Bird, Stitt and Phil Woods as influences. He's played with Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band and toured Europe with a Gil Evans ensemble. Perhaps best known to the non-jazz audience for his participation in a series of Chuck Mangione CDs, he's also played behind Liza Minelli and Simon & Garfunkel. Gerry's Facets (on the Native Language label) also includes tenor work by his son Adam, along with examples of Gerry's playing on flute and other reed instruments.WILLIE MARTINEZ
CECIL'S/JANUARY 20 AND 21
Percussionist/vocalist Martinez, who's played behind Charlie Palmieri, Chico O'Farrill, Bebo Valdes, Johnny Colón, Ray Vega, Hilton Ruiz and other Latin jazz greats over the last twenty-five years, has been stirring things up at this West Orange club every Thursday since it opened. With him most weeks are David Braham on piano and Andy Eulaa playing bass. Meanwhile, a new CD by his La Familia sextet - Family (Cuch Be Witcha Productions) - adds saxophone and trombone voicings for an even fuller sound. You may also have heard Martinez with Norman Hedman's Tropique group, which shades a bit toward R&B.Heart is a melody
Pianist Hiromi has been writing music daily since she was six years old. "I couldn't always write the notes on paper, but I was always creating something. If someone came to the door, I'd sing to him: 'What did you bring me?' I was an annoying kid, I didn't want to let them go." Hiromi compares composing with keeping a diary. "I feel like writing when my heart responds to something. The music is shaped by my emotions." There seems to be a story behind each tune on her new CD, Spiral (Telarc). "Old Castle, by the river, in the middle of the forest" was written after a painting caught her eye in a small museum in Europe. The untitled painting "really stayed in my brain. Maybe listeners can paint a painting in their minds when they hear this." Hiromi wrote "Return of Kung-Fu World Championship" in honor of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. "Martial arts and music are close to each other," she explains. "Both require continuous effort, concentration and improvisation. You don't know when a person will kick, so you have to use constant improvisation in martial arts." Though Hiromi doesn't practice martial arts, she'll be kickin' it musically at the Blue Note on January 17-22.A Dickens of a year
Singer Stephanie Jordan, a New Orleans native, calls 2005 the best and worst of times. "I feel blessed. A lot of us made it out of the hurricane alive," she says. "We lost a lot materially, but the loss of the community, the loss of neighbors, that's hard to fathom." She was listening to recordings by singer Arthur Prysock last summer and, since the disaster, has added some of his material to her repertoire. "I want to sing songs that remind me of being in my parents' house. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in August, right before the storm. They'd had that house for years and it may be destroyed." However, Stephanie believes "The Best is Yet to Come," which she plans to sing when she makes her "true debut in New York" at the Jazz Standard on January 30. Check out her version of "Here's to Life" on Higher Ground, Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert (EMI). Proceeds from CD sales benefit Katrina survivors.Exception that rules
Pianist Eliane Elias rarely works on other musicians' projects, but she's made an exception for bassist Marc Johnson. They co-wrote the music for his new CD, Shades of Jade (ECM), on which she also plays. "We started working together in 1987. He's been part of all my projects. It's rare to play with someone that long, but our musical affinity is great. He's an incredible bassist," she says. Eliane has been working on a new CD as a leader, which should be out in the spring. "My last CD, Dreamer, was classic bossa nova. I didn't want to do Dreamer II. It's part of the creative process to try to do things I feel at the time I do them. It's more challenging, more instigating to your creativity to do something fresh. There's more excitement about a different kind of project," Eliane says. Regardless of what she's working on, "Some of the elements remain the same, the artistic integrity and artistic expression is there," she says. "I try to go for the highest possible place I can go to musically." Eliane, Marc, Joe Lovano and Joey Baron will play music from Shades of Jade and more at Dizzy's on January 31 through February 5.Blow out the candles …
With chanteuse Rochelle Thompson as she celebrates her birthday at the Lenox Lounge on January 13-14. The diva confided that she was actually born on January 12, but "Every day in January should be my birthday! They can celebrate it every day of the month if they want to." The gig's theme is "Red roses, too," from the lyrics of one of Rochelle's favorite songs, "What a Wonderful World," which she sings just about every time she's behind a microphone. "I thought it would be beautiful to have the room full of flowers when I play there," Rochelle says. Expect to see roses on the piano, as well as blossoms elsewhere, and don't hesitate to bring your own floral tribute.Congrats …
To Grammy nominees Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nnenna Freelon, Dianne Reeves, Luciana Souza, Tierney Sutton, Imani Winds and Maria Schneider.Make a resolution …
To hear more live music in 2006. For example, you might check out singer Pam Purvis every Sunday night at Cecil's … Violinist Jen Shyu is at Kavehaz on January 5; she's followed by drummer Allison Miller's Agrazing Maze on January 7, then saxophonist Virginia Mayhew on January 13 … Vocalist Ayana Lowe appears at 55 Bar on January 7 … Choices on January 11 include percussionist Annette A. Aguilar and her StringBeans Latin jazz quartet at Trumpets; saxophonist Ada Rovatti at Enzo's Jazz in the Jolly Hotel Madison Towers; singer Christine Tobin at Joe's Pub; singer/pianist Dena DeRose at the Jazz Standard; and clarinetist Rozanne Levine and the New Reeds Quarter presenting BushWacked: A Spoken Opera at the Stone … Catch pianist Renee Rosnes at Dizzy's with Lewis Nash's quartet on January 10-15 … Pianist Helen Sung is at Kitano on January 12; while Judi Silvano's All-Star Sextet with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen is at Birdland that same evening … It's a lucky Friday the 13th at Enzo's, with a double bill of Barbara Sfraga's Center Search Quest and the Mala Waldron Project … Vocalist Joan Crowe at Iridium on January 14 … Have brunch with flutist Jan Leder at Rudy's Beau Rivage in Dobbs Ferry on January 15 and 29 … Roz Corral sings at Enzo's on January 27.
New CDs
Singer Natalie Douglas' To Nina…Live at Birdland (WBG) … Singer/percussionist Susie Arioli's Learn to Smile Again (Justin Time) … Saxophonist Layla Angulo's self-produced Live at the Triple Door.
HOT FLASHES BY PAUL BLAIRIAJE: ONWARD AND UPWARD
The ultimate jazz carnival returns to town this month - and do attend, if you can somehow set aside nearly four full days to immerse yourself in the merriment. It's the 33rd International Association of Jazz Educators Conference, which pretty much takes over two midtown hotels (the Hilton New York and the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers) on January 11-14. Once you're inside, brace yourself for a bewildering range of choices. This year, there'll be live performances by Ravi Coltrane's quartet; Maria Schneider's orchestra; Monty Alexander's, Kenny Werner's and Jean-Michel Pilc's piano trios; Jane Ira Bloom's Like Silver, Like Song project; the Jim Cullum Jazz Band; singers Karrin Allyson and Kitty Margolis; groups led by Stefon Harris, Dafnis Prieto, Curtis Stigers, and Javon Jackson; various Mingus Dynasty ensembles; Bob Mintzer's big band; Nimmons 'N' Nine; the U.S. Army Blues Jazz Ensemble with Buddy DeFranco out front; the celebrated One O'Clock Lab Band from the University of North Texas; and much much more.
Birelli Lagrene and Paquito d'Rivera will perform newly commissioned works with Germany's WDR Big Band. Many of Scandinavia's best musicians will be showcased - for example, the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra from Norway performing with guest Chick Corea. Other ensembles from Peru, Croatia, Israel, Australia, Canada and the U.K. will strut their stuff. National Endowment for the Arts awards will be presented to seven newly tapped Jazz Masters. There'll be dozens of panels devoted to topics like recording, production, promotion and journalism, as well as workshops in myriad musical disciplines. You can lose yourself in a 75,000 square foot industry exhibition space - and take delight in finding yourself surrounded by at least 7000 other people just as enthusiastic about this music as you are. Best of all, you needn't even be a jazz educator to take part in the celebration. Complete information about programs and admission policies is posted at www.iaje.org.THAT LATIN TINGE
The fact that percussionist Ray Baretto is one of seven luminaries being honored by the NEA at this year's IAJE is further confirmation that Latin is now a vital part of the jazz mainstream. In fact, there'll be good Latin jazz being played in at least one venue around town just about every night this month. For example, the Chico O'Farrill Jazz Orchestra, under the leadership of Arturo O'Farrill, is now in the midst of its ninth year of residency every Sunday at Birdland, with crackling-good sets beginning at 9:00 and 11:00 PM. (Arturo also heads up Jazz at Lincoln Center's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, whose Una Noche Inolvidable CD, recorded live at Rose Hall last year, has just been nominated for a Grammy.) ... J@LC programmers are careful to include a variety of Latin entries on their menu. This month's bill of fare at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola includes Paquito D'Rivera & Panamericana (winding up a six-night stint on January 1); and a descarga (jam) celebration of the great tradition of tumbao grooves in the world of Latin bass playing featuring Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Andy Gonzalez, John Benitez and Charnett Mofett on January 27-28. Over in the Allen Room on January 19-21, vocalist Miguel Poveda, percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo and guitarist Juan Gómez Chicuelo explore the links between jazz and the flamenco tradition ... Chris Washburne and the S.Y.O.T.O.S. band heat things up at Smoke on Sundays from 9:00 PM onward ... Even a cursory glance at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe website (www.nuyorican.org) confirms that their longstanding commitment to great Latin jazz continues; Ray Vega's a frequent headliner there - and Willie Martinez leads a group at the club on the third Thursday of every month ... This month's lineup at Joe's Pub includes Claudia Acuna on January 13 and January 19; while Luciana Souza headlines on January 23 ... Zinc Bar features Brazilian sounds two nights each week. Featured every Saturday evening is singer Marianni; while Sundays belong (as they have for the past ten years) to Cidinho Teixeira & Friends, with the piano vet leading a group that often includes bassist Sergio Brandao and percussionists Portinho & Paulo Braga, along with a Brazilian vocalist or two ... There's also Brazilian jazz heard on Saturdays from 10:00 PM onward at the World Bar at Trump World Tower. Carlos Munhoz is the featured artist ... Ritmo de Vida, a recent CD by the group 3D, has been getting loads of airplay lately. Catch this group yourself at Gonzalez y Gonzalez (625 Broadway between Houston and Bleecker) on January 12 - or at Ashford and Simpson's Sugar Bar (254 W. 72nd) on January 13 ... The Pirate Troubadours octet that trombonist Papo Vazquez leads at the Jazz Standard on January 24-25 also includes saxophonists Willie Williams and Sherman Irby, with Edsel Gomez at the piano ... Makor's pan-Latin blowout at 7:30 PM on January 19 includes wild Brazilian accordion forro from a group led by Rob Curto, along with Pablo Mayor's Folklore Urbano band - working in what they call a "Balkazilian groove" - and a third outfit called Gil, Cartas & Tuey, whose members (Mexican, Cuban and American) blend beats from gypsy jazz, flamenco, blues, Cuban son, Mexican folk and more. At Jules Bistro Sunday nights belong to Anat Cohen and her Choro Ensemble with Brazilians Carlos Almeida - 6 & 7 string guitar, Gustavo Dantas - 7 string guitar, Pedro Ramos - cavaquinho & tenor guitar, and Zé Maurício - pandeiro & percussion.FESTIVAL WATCH
Just how chilly do you want to be in coming weeks? You might find the climate in Panama City, Panama somewhat more to your liking. The Third Annual Panama Jazz Festival on January 19-26 will welcome groups led by Danilo Pérez, Randy Weston, David Sanchez, Kurt Rosenwinkel - and you, too, if you spend a few of those frequent flier miles to jet in. (www.panamajazzfestival.com) ... Organi-zers of the Key West International Jazz Festival offer an evening of music by Claudia Acuna at the San Carlos Institute on January 21 (www.keywestjazzfestival.com) ... Meanwhile, the Sixth Annual Newport Beach Jazz Party, taking place in a prime SoCal resort area on February 16-19, is billing the Four Freshmen, Winard Harper's sextet, Heavy Juice (with Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen duking it out), Renee Rosnes, Stacy Rowles, Bill Cunliffe's Imaginacion group, a Horace Silver salute featuring L.A. tenor star Ricky Woodward, Luther Hodges' Cannonball-Coltrane Project, the John and Gerald Clayton duo, flautist Holly Hofmann, Benny Green, Chicago guitarist Henry Johnson, a big band or two, a Saturday night dance and plenty more. Among the New York favorites on hand in various roles will be Lewis Nash, Houston Person and Wycliffe Gordon. (www.newportbeachjazzparty.com) ... Maybe you'd prefer Oregon weather instead. The Third Annual Portland Jazz Festival (taking place on February 17-26) has secured the talents of McCoy Tyner, Eddie Palmieri, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Miguel Zenon and Bill Frisell, among others. The schedule also boasts dozens of educational events and freebies around the city. (www.pdxjazz.com)OTHER NIGHTS, OTHER BANDSTANDS
At Makor on January 5, the seven-member Raymond Scott Orchestrette performs vintage works by Scott, including his novelty jazz numbers from the 1930s, some rarely-heard orchestral pieces and acoustic renditions of his 1960s electronic works ... Jazz at Lincoln Center salutes Detroit traditions and players this month. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra premieres a long-form composition by featured guest Yusef Lateef in Rose Hall on January 12-14. Joining the band for these concerts will be several famed Detroiters still on the scene: trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, bassist Ron Carter, trombonist Curtis Fuller, alto player Charles McPherson and Lateef himself on tenor, flute and oboe ... Included in the five-week New York Guitar Festival (kicking off on January 14; see www.newyorkguitarfestival.org) are Lennie Stern and Brandon Ross at Flushing Town Hall on January 21 and Bill Frisell's 858 Quartet at Zankel Hall on January 29 ... A piano party at the 92nd St. Y on January 7 will include keyboard frolicking by Derek Smith, Dick Hyman and Bill Charlap ... Bassist Robert Hurst brings two different quartets into Sweet Rhythm for late-night sets on January 13-14 ... The long-running Jazz on the Mountain series, hosted by WBGO's Michael Bourne, brings Steven Bernstein, Michael Carvin, Dena DeRose, Dave Stryker, Hilary Kole and Rebecca Coupe Franks to Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz on January 13-16 ... The arrangements (by Bill Holman, Ralph Burns, Ernie Wilkins and Quincy Jones) heard on two well-remembered 1957 albums by Jackie Cain and Roy Kral will be played again at Trumpets on January 25 by Diane Moser's Composers Big Band, conducted by Bill Kirchner. The best part is that Jackie herself, who's sounding great these days, will be there to sing ... And one more note of special interest! Jean Bach's much-loved "A Great Day in Harlem" documentary, which won acclaim with its first release some years ago as an hour-long video tape, has now been expanded into a six-hour, two-DVD retrospective on the 1950s NYC scene with loads of fresh new material. It should be available through Amazon and retail outlets before the end of this month. You'll surely want to see it - and probably own it as well.
BACKSTAGE PASSJazz Anecdote by Bill Crow
Jazz bassist Bill Crow has written two entertaining books, available in paperback from Oxford University Press: Jazz Anecdotes, a collection of stories about jazz and jazz musicians, and From Birdland to Broadway, a personal memoir of life in the jazz world. You can order them from your favorite bookseller.
Wally Dunbar was browsing in an art gallery when he overheard a conversation between two business types: "I used to have a jazz club," said one, "but things got pretty expensive. You have to pay the musicians, you know." The other nodded sagely and opined, "That's what kills it."
Lee Konitz played on a Dutch television program and did an interview between tunes. The emcee told Lee that he had seen and heard him in the Netherlands, performing with the Stan Kenton orchestra, in '53. Konitz said, "Ah, that must have been 1853."
Bob James started a conversation with a young woman who was sitting next to him on a plane. When she found out that he was a jazz musician, she exclaimed, "Oh I just love jazz. Except when it sounds like they're making it up."A Moment You Missed by Fran Kaufman
It wasn't the Grinch who stole Christmas. Jazz musicians wouldn't let that happen. When plans for the 2004 Jazz Nativity celebration in New York City fell through, it looked for a moment as if the holiday would be cancelled. So Benny Powell, Art Baron, Gene Bertoncini, Virginia Mayhew, Junior Mance, Jim Masters, Dean Johnson, John Hart, Bob Kindred, Anne Phillips, Clark Terry, and others joined up at Cafe Loup to pay tribute to the holiday -gig or no gig, pay or no pay. "That's the true spirit of the holiday," said Bob Kindred. "There's nothing more spiritual than jazz. After all, every time a musician takes a solo, it's the birth of something new."
JOE WILDER: DEBUTING AT 83 by Yvonne ErvinWith nearly 70 years of experience in big bands, studio groups, symphonies and Broadway pit orchestras - plus scores of jazz and classical recordings as both sideman and leader - it's hard to believe that trumpeter Joe Wilder has never led his own jazz group in New York City. He's just been too busy, he says, and he started early.
Wilder went to a Philadelphia area high school with a stellar music program that also helped to produce Red Rodney and Buddy DeFranco. While still in high school, he played with two big bands, one of which did radio broadcasts twice weekly. Just shy of graduation, Wilder went on the road with Les Hite's orchestra.
"I played with Lionel Hampton's band after I left Les Hite and that was very exciting," he recalls. "The band was young and the whole style was completely different," Wilder said. "Lionel, for all his faults, was a real innovator, and the band was certainly one of the swingingest bands I've ever played in, along with Basie's."
His stint with Hampton was interrupted by a call from Uncle Sam for World War II. Wilder started out in a Marines special weapons division: but the unit's Morale Officer, Bobby Troupe of "Route 66" fame, quickly recruited Wilder into the camp band.
After the war, the trumpeter played for Jimmy Lunceford and then took over Doc Severinsen's chair on Sam Donahue's band. "You couldn't go in and step into his shoes," Wilder said of Severinsen, "because they were big enough to house the entire New York Philharmonic!"
In Donahue's band, Wilder was the only African-American - something he got used to when he became the first black principal trumpet player in a Broadway show: Cole Porter's "Silk Stockings," which was followed almost immediately by "The Most Happy Fella."
"I had a real streak of luck," he recalled. "It was a challenge, too, for me and for the producers as well. We were in Philadelphia, my hometown, and the racial epithets were frightening. But the people involved in the show tolerated none of that foolishness." When the Masons in Philly threw a party for members of the ensemble and no "Negroes or Japanese" were invited, the producers said anyone who actually attended the party would be fired. No one went," Wilder recalls. "It's something that I haven't forgotten to this day."
In the late 1950s, he joined the music staff of ABC, where he stayed for 16 years. While doing two sessions a day for that network, he also played as a sideman for many jazz legends and joined Benny Goodman's tour of the Soviet Union in 1962. Wilder's lyrical trumpet can also be heard behind top vocalists like Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Tony Bennett. He recently laid down a track for a forthcoming Anita O'Day CD. "I used to do a lot of playing for singers," Wilder said. "And I always found it enjoyable because you had a chance to play plenty of ballads that ordinarily might not be acceptable just as instrumentals."
In the 1960s, he played on occasion with the New York Philharmonic and was principal trumpet for the Symphony of the New World. His one solo classical album included a sonata written especially for him by Alec Wilder. (While he doesn't remember exactly how he met the other Wilder, he does recall that it had something to do with their having the same name.) Yet he didn't make a single jazz disc as leader between his 1959 release Wilder and Wilder and 1992, when he began recording on the Evening Star label.
Lately, the trumpeter has been playing the jazz party circuit with other elder statesmen of jazz and performing with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Recent cuts in arts funding, though, has lately reduced that ensemble's activities. On the positive side, Wilder's free time is a jazz fan's good luck. Pianist Michael Weiss, bassist John Webber and drummer Lewis Nash will join him this month for a long-overdue first gig as leader in the Apple - at the age of eighty-three.
Joe Wilder plays at the Village Vanguard on the evenings of January 31 through February 5.
JIMMY HEATH: LITTLE BIRD STILL SOARS by Ken DrydenTo say that Jimmy Heath is still going strong - over a half-century after his 1948 recording debut with trumpeter Howard McGhee - is an understatement. He was born in 1926 as the second of three brothers: bassist Percy was the eldest and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath the youngest. "My father played the clarinet," he recalls, "when he wasn't working as an auto mechanic, and my mother sang in the church choir." Starting on alto saxophone at the age of 14, Heath eventually added tenor, soprano, and baritone to his reed arsenal, along with flute and alto-flute.
In addition to appearing as a sideman on over 100 albums, he’s issued twelve under his own name and seven more as part of the Heath Brothers. Heath has written oft-recorded jazz standards like "Gingerbread Boy," "CTA," "For Minors Only" and "Gemini." Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Blue Mitchell and Sam Jones are just a few of the bandleaders who've utilized Heath's considerable skills as an arranger.
"Arranging is different for a lot of people. You outline what you want to do, who you're assigning the melody to, how you're going to develop the melody, who's soloing and how you're going to get to your tutti section. I started out learning how to deal with the keyboard, thanks to Dizzy Gillespie's advice in 1945; the whole orchestra is there. Sometimes you're inspired by a melody that you came up with on your instrument and other times, you write down things using a process I've learned over the years as I've studied orchestration. In 1987, when I started teaching at Queens College, I got hold of a Macintosh computer. I still use it to write because of the editing I can do with all my sound sources. I've been guilty of composing while traveling. Then I develop it once I get back home. Sometimes I get an idea in the middle of the night. I think my best compositions have come to me while I was driving - but then I forget 'em by the time I got home!"
Not all of Heath's focus is on new compositions and arrangements. "I've been working on my autobiography for seventeen years. I've been with so many people in my life that the title will be I Walked With the Giants.
Speaking on the phone just before departing for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Washington, Heath says, "I was on the Monk Institute's Board of Advisers, I'm now on their Board of Trustees. For one special saxophone competition, I chaired a panel that included Frank Wess, Benny Carter, Jackie McLean and Branford Marsalis. That year, Joshua Redman's final performance was outstanding. He brought something new. His concept was welcomed by the entire panel."
Working with young players remains an important part of Heath's activities. "I taught at Housatonic Community College in Connecticut and at City College of New York before moving to Queens College. Prior to that, I'd taught in Philadelphia, people like Jimmy Garrison and Ted Curson. One of my saxophone students was Sam Reed, who ended up running the big band at the Uptown Theatre for all the shows there. I also did Jazzmobile for a number of years."
"I just did one recording with one of my students, [trumpeter] Diego Urcola; and another with a former student, Antonio Hart, who took my place at Queens College as professor." Heath also reports that a new big band recording is well underway, with six songs already in the can. "It's got Slide Hampton, Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Jeb Patton [the Heath Brothers' pianist], Antonio Hart, Doug Purviance, Frank Greene, Michael Mossman and Terell Stafford. We still need about three or four more tracks - but the problem is getting all these people together at one time so we can finish it. I'm also trying to get a company to release the last three things I did with the Heath Brothers at the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts."
Early in the year that marks his eightieth birthday, Heath will again be a presence at the International Association of Jazz Educators conference, at which he'll be honored with a humanitarian award. "I'm performing with black college students on January 14 at IAJE," he reports. "I'm also doing a commission for the Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra. In February, I'm going to Frankfurt to play with the Radio Orchestra. And I'm doing a boat ride date, produced by Joe Segal, with Lou Donaldson and Bud Shank - two more 80 year old guys."
Jimmy Heath’s IAJE concert will take place on January 14. His Highlights in Jazz performance with Slide Hampton, Frank Wess, Bill Charlap, Peter Washington and Kenny Washington will be on February 9.