JANUARY 2008 WINNING SPINS BY GEORGE KANZLER The leaders' music and quartets on the two albums comprising this Winning Spins are a complete contrast, as elementally different as earth and air, fire and water. On the one hand is the force, weight and solidity of McCoy Tyner's oeuvre; on the other is the mutable, effervescent vortex of Jane Ira Bloom's creations. If Thelonious Monk was the 20th Century's "high priest of jazz," then Tyner deserves the title in this young century. And if he's a jazz priest, then Bloom is a jazz wizard or conjurer. McCoy Tyner Quartet (Half Note) has a celebratory, ritual feel, one heightened by the circumstances: It was recorded at Yoshi's in Oakland, Californian, as part of a live coast-to-coast New Year's Eve National Public Radio broadcast ushering in 2007. For the occasion Tyner introduced a new all-star quartet with Joe Lovano, tenor sax; Christian McBride, bass; and Jeff 'Tain' Watts, drums. The quartet revisits six of Tyner's compositions, engaging each with unfailing conviction, as if celebrating a mass. Tyner concludes the album with a solo rendition of "For All We Know" evoking jazz piano tradition, from stride to bop. Tyner's piano sound is the essence of big, pounding out passages like a roiling storm at sea with ceaselessly surging waves. Eruptive peals clang off rumbling chords, creating crosswinds of rhythmic turbulence. Holding a steady keel through it all, especially on the opening "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit," is the deliberate, granite steady beat of Watts and McBride. That rhythm takes on a triumphal feel spiritually matched by Lovano's exaltation in his solo on "Mellow Mirror," a piece climaxing in ferocious exchanges between Watts, Tyner and Lovano. "Sama Layuca" lopes along on a five-note processional pattern that shapes the solos of McBride (the bassist contributes outstanding solos throughout the album) and Tyner, whose own solo is built with the surety of a priest delivering a sermon. Watts prefaces "Passion Dance" with a jolting drum solo bringing in the theme more as stomp than dance, but McBride's nimble solo, mixing it up with tumbling drum/cymbal figures, leads to Tyner's most audacious solo, filled with disjunctive time, clashing arpeggios and asymmetries. Lovano has the preacher role, a more meditative one, on "Search for Peace," a model of spiritual gravitas achieving added depth with a Tyner ruminative turnaround segueing to a peaceful bass coda. "Blues on the Corner" follows like the uptempo coming-back-from-the-cemetery part of a New Orleans funeral. A backbeat shuffle animates Lovano's gruffest, most muscular solo, matched by Tyner's heavy lifting and tectonic chord shifts before the quartet takes it out in rough and tumble fashion. Bloom's Mental Weather (Outline), is a CD that contains two complete versions of the same material. The first version presents nine discrete tracks, while the second, MP3 version, presents a trackless continuum with the selections from the first version in a jumbled, or different, order, "more like we perform the music live," according to Bloom. That MP3 version captures the constant flux and kaleidoscopic, cat's cradle nature of the shifting rhythms, times and quicksilver moods of the pieces that make up Mental Weather. Bloom is that rare soprano sax player whose tone is clear and lustrous without being cloying. On "A More Beautiful Question" and "Cello on the Inside" she attains the purity of folk melody and, on the latter, a keening, sighing vocal tone. At other times she adds live electronic effects to thicken or multiply her sound and toss it around like a lure at the end of a fly fishing line. She's like a wizard conjuring up gossamer effects and elastic moods. To create this mutable music requires a quartet with pliable, nimble reflexes and in Dawn Clement, piano and Fender Rhodes; Mark Helias, bass; and Matt Wilson, drums and percussion, Bloom has the ideal band to realize her music. Catch how they accelerate and slow down time and change up rhythm on "Ready for Anything," Helias moving from bright plucking to drone-like bowing and back; Wilson matching solo emotions with tinkles and splashes; Clement racing along in unison with soprano sax. Bloom is like a magician constantly changing perceptions of what we're hearing by shifting the perspective from duets to solo breaks to quartet canons to clashing trios. The tracked version allows the listener some reflection, but the MP3 continuous version is more fun, like 45 minutes of dazzling slight-of-hand magic. McCoy Tyner appears at the Blue Note on January 15-20. Jane Ira Bloom's quartet plays at Iridium on January 30. SPOTLIGHT BY PAUL BLAIR AND GEORGE KANzler CYNTHIA SAYER BARGEMUSIC/JANUARY 10 If you’ve caught Woody Allen’s New Orleans band at Café Carlyle, you may have heard Ms. Sayer, a banjo player who speciualizes in the four-string model. Cynthia’s ever-expanding resume also lists work with Dick Hyman, Bob Wilbur, Doc Cheatham, Kenny Davern, Bucky Pizzarelli (who guests on her new album, Attractions) and Les Paul. She’s played Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian and the White House; appeared at festivals in France, Norway, Switzerland and India; and dueted with Marian McPartland on NPR. With her at BargeMusic will be guitarist Matt Munisteri and bassist Jennifer Vincent. PB BILL EASLEY KITANO/JANUARY 10 Though a jazz disc entitled Business Man's Bounce doesn't sound awfully promising, a new CD bearing that name by tenor and clarinet player Easley is worth multiple listens. And what a resume: part of a family combo at thirteen, study at Julliard, service in an Army band in Alaska, session work at Stax in Memphis, touring with George Benson and loads of sideman work once he'd relocated to NYC. Oddly enough, this new CD (for 18th and Vine) is only his fourth as leader. But the tune choices are imaginative, his liner notes are witty and he remains a swinger first class. Check out the samples audible at www.billeasley.net. PB JANE MONHEIT TRIBECA PAC/FEBRUARY 14 Though she was only twenty when she placed second to the late Teri Thornton in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Inrternational Jazz Vocals Competition, Jane Monheit was already performing in the classic jazz vocal tradition of her idols, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Irene Kral. Blessed with a rich, romantic voice capable of a wide stylistic jazz-pop range (catch her version of "Over the Rainbow"), Monheit has blossomed into one of the best young singers in jazz. She's a perfect choice for this Valentine's Day Highlights in Jazz 35th anniversary show, where she'll be appearing on a bill that also includes pianist Danny Mixon's trio. GK GARY VERSACE JAZZ STANDARD/JANUARY 10, 12 AND 13 Versace will unlimber his accordion to back violinist Regina Carter on three of her four nights at the Standard. He also plays that instrument with equal warmth in Maria Schneider's orchestra. As a pianist, too, he's much in demand. (See Hot Flashes for word on three gigs he'll make on that instrument with Loren Stillman's quartet.) But he's perhaps most singular on organ, as two recent Steeplechase CDs reveal: last year's Organic Lee, wherein he and Lee Konitz weave a series of spells; and Gary's own Reminiscence, a fine new one on which he's joined by guitarist Vic Juris and drummer Adam Nussbaum. Both albums are keepers. PB ADAM ROGERS JAZZ GALLERY/JANUARY 18 AND 19 The fact that he's been hired by John Zorn, Norah Jones and Elvis Costello suggests that Rogers is a truly versatile guitarist, comfortable in many musical circumstances. But get him into a studio to record his own music and you'll hear what he wants to play. On Time And The Infinite, his fourth for Criss Cross, that includes fleet treatments of "Night and Day" and Charlie Parker's "Cheryl," along with a gorgeous legato version of "Young and Foolish." Among several originals is the graceful title tune, played on a nylon-string acoustic. With him at the Gallery will be with Mark Turner (saxophones), Matt Brewer (bass) and Clarence Penn (drums). PB DEANNA KIRK ENZO'S/JANUARY 9 This singer, who once devoted much of her energy toward running an eponymous jazz venue in the East Village, returned to the studio recently to complete work on Beautyway, her fourth CD and the first to appear on her own record label. Her first three releases generated plenty of praise, winning her ink in such non-jazz publications as People and New York Magazine. Once again, she's chosen to focus on songs she's written or co-written with keyboardist Pat Daugherty. Tenor sax Harry Allen will back her with Larry Fuller-piano and John Ray-bass. At Smalls on Jan. 2 it will be John DiMartino-piano and Neal Miner-bass. PB JOHN BUNCH SMALLS/JANUARY 29 Hank Jones isn't the only jazz pianist in his late 80s who's still at the top of his game. John Bunch, at 86, Jones' junior by three years, also bridges swing and bop with a refined touch and elegant style. Bunch came up in big bands at the tail end of the Swing Era, playing with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich and Benny Goodman. He also spent six years as Tony Bennett's pianist. Lately, he's been a mainstay of the Arbors Jazz label - his latest CD being John Bunch Salutes Jimmy Van Heusen. Backed by Joel Forbes on bass at Smalls (with drummer tba), he can also be heard at the Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ, on January 12 with the trio New York Swing. GK WALLACE RONEY SMOKE/JANUARY 10-12 With at least a dozen CDs as leader to his credit, trumpeter Roney's latest (a High Note release entitled, simply, Jazz) may just be the best of them. On it, brother Antoine Roney plays soprano and tenor saxophones plus bass clarinet; wife Geri Allen and Robert Irving III share keyboard duties; and Rashaan Carter and Eric Allen are present on bass and drums. Yes, there are turntablists involved on five of the nine tracks, but it's primarily an acoustic album, alternately heated and moody. At press time, we're uncertain about what personnel will share the Smoke bandstand with leader Roney, but we hope it's this one. PB AL FOSTER SWEET RHYTHM/JANUARY 18 AND 19 In the realm of super sidemen, drummer Al Foster has few jazz peers. He's worked for such legendary giants as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner; and been equally at home in the electronic high energy of late Miles funk-jazz and the cerebral interactive empathy of pianist Steve Kuhn's trio. He's so much in demand as a first call drummer for so many top musicians that it's a rare treat to catch him at the helm of a band of his own. For this gig celebrating his 65th birthday, he'll be fronting a quintet with a trumpet-saxophone front line; at press time only Eli Degibri on sax and Doug Weiss on bass were confirmed. GK CHRIS JENTSCH TEA LOUNGE/JANUARY 10 You certainly won't find it at Wal-Mart, but guitarist-composer Jentsch's new CD, Brooklyn Suite (Fleur De Son) is worth searching out through Amazon and other web-based vendors. On it, his 16-member ensemble plays through a series of themes and variations that alternate in tempo, texture and mood - much like the borough it depicts so colorfully. The soloists are impressive as well. At Tea Lounge he'll lead a quartet version of that suite. (Note, too, that he'll premiere another work called "Cycles Suite" at the Kitchen on February 11.) Here's proof that music jazz critics term "important" can also be awfully enjoyable. PB JAZZ IN JERSEY BY FRED McINTOSH RON AFFIF CORNERSTONE/JANUARY 25 An inventive risk-taking Pittsburgh-reared guitarist, Affif is most often heard hearabouts at the Zinc Bar. He says that he's been heavily influenced by the world view of his boxer father - and also acknowledges the influences of jazzmasters like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Benny Golson (none of them guitarists, of course). He's studied with Pittsburgh guitar hero Joe Negri, Arnie Lawrence and Joe Pass - and worked with Natalie Cole, Sheila Jordan, Steve Kuhn, Bill Mays and Ralph Lalama. We especially admire his Pablo CD Solotude. Playing with him here will be Tomoko Ohno piano; Tim Givens, bass; and Nick Scheuble; drums. MOSE ALLISON TRIO SOUTH ORANGE PAC/JANUARY 12 There's only one Mose - a true original - and he really does hail from the Mississippi Delta, where he grew up listening to a father who played stride piano and surrounded by an admixture of blues, country music and pop that helped to mold his own tastes. Ask who else shaped him and he'll cite names like Muddy Waters, Percy Mayfield, La Rochefoucauld, Ambrose Bierce, Fats Waller, Erroll Garner, Bela Bartok and Charles Ives. Mose claims to be in the midst of more than fifty years of on-the-job training. All his recorded work (stretching back to some great 50s Prestige LPs) is definitely worth hearing, and so's he. ED ALSTROM 46 LOUNGE/JANUARY 2 Here's an organist carrying on an honored Philly and Jersey tradition: generating high-powered music with a tight little band that also includes a trumpeter (Vinnie Cutro, in this instance), a tenor saxophonist (Frank Elmo) and a drummer (Don Guinta). Alstrom, who's also a pianist, has gigged in the past with Bette Midler, Herbie Hancock, Bob DeVos, Chuck Berry and a bunch of others - everyone from Leonard Bernstein to Uncle Floyd. And sometimes, after finishing up a Broadway theater job, he even has a go at Yankee Stadium's Mighty Wurlitzer. Albums under his own name? Acid Cabaret and The Record People Are Coming, both on Haywire. STEVE TURRE QUARTET SHANGHAI JAZZ/JANUARY 4 AND 5 One of the most powerful and articulate of modern trombone players, Turre also brings along his collection of shells to be blown at appropriate times. Mentored by Woody Shaw, he's also performed with Blakey, Gillespie, Tyner, Puente, Silver, Roach, Ray Charles, Slide Hampton, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Hancock, Mongo Santamaria, Pharoah Sanders, Rahsaan Roland Kirk (who, he says, still inspires him), Jon Faddis, Chico Hamilton, Cedar Walton, and Mulgrew Miller. For many years, too, he's been part of the Saturday Night Live band. Look for One4J, a Johnson tribute on Telarc, and The Spirits Up Above, filled with vivid memories of Rahsaan. BENNY GOLSON: NOT A WHISPERER by Ken Dryden Even after more than a half- century at the pinnacle of the jazz scene, Benny Golson still sounds remarkably young and enthusiastic in conversation. Speaking of an upcoming quintet gig at Dizzy's, Golson remarks, "I'll play with Eddie Henderson on trumpet and a rhythm section that includes Mike LeDonne, Buster Williams and Carl Allen; I plan to revive the Jazztet name as 'Benny Golson's New Jazztet,' now that Art Farmer has passed on. The same band plus trombonist Steve Davis will be recording with me around May for Concord. We hope to have that CD out in time for the Kennedy Center tribute to me in January 2009, near the time of my eightieth birthday." This tenor saxophonist's long journey through music began in Philadelphia. "I got started at nine as a classical piano student," he recalls, "and that got a few chuckles in the ghetto." But the lure of jazz beckoned and he switched to tenor sax. "There were no jazz schools or visiting luminaries to assist me. All we had was each other, listening to 78 records and holding decoding sessions in my living room. When I began writing, it was by default. I was learning to play the saxophone and having trouble remembering what was being played. So I started writing it down in a very crude way, which only I could decipher. But we had jam sessions at my house and I had to learn how to write differently for everyone. It got better over time when I wrote arrangements for the Howard Swing Masters in college. I got $7.00 for each one, if I copied it." The NEA Jazz Master definitely remembers his first encounter with Charlie Parker: "John Coltrane was playing alto and sounding like Johnny Hodges, I was playing tenor and trying to sound like Arnett Cobb playing 'Flying Home.' When we went to a concert featuring Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, our lives changed. We tried to get ahold of what they were doing. After screaming in the balcony, we ran to the stage door to get their autographs. Then we walked with Bird to his gig at the Downbeat Club, where he was playing with a local rhythm section consisting of Red Garland, Nelson Boyd and Philly Joe Jones. John offered to carry his horn and we peppered him with questions about his horn, his mouthpiece, his reed and so on. I was disappointed that none of my friends were around to see me walking with Parker." Golson laughs at their naivety as he recalls the two of them being puzzled after switching reeds and mouthpieces themselves, yet still being unable to sound anything like Parker. His introduction to Art Farmer left a lasting impression. "In 1953, Clifford Brown, Tadd Dameron, Philly Joe, Cecil Payne and I were members of a band in Atlantic City playing shows for the Clarence Robinson Revue. Lionel Hampton's band came through town and they heard us. Quincy Jones was musical director and he told Hamp about us. Hamp wanted to hire Clifford, Gigi and me. But we had a contract with the club owner and he wouldn't let us go. I volunteered to stay if he'd let Clifford and Gigi go. He agreed, and then I joined them in South Carolina a month later, which is where I met Art, Quincy, Jimmy Cleveland and Monk Montgomery. You should've heard Art and Clifford hook up every night." Golson didn't stay long, since the pay wasn't great. By 1959, Golson and Farmer formed The Jazztet with Curtis Fuller, Addison Farmer and a young McCoy Tyner. "Art Farmer's sound drew my attention to him. He optimized that sound, poured his heart out so nobody could touch him on a ballad." After the Jazztet's breakup, Golson recorded several albums of his own, then felt a lure to head west in the mid-60s. "Quincy Jones scored the film 'The Pawnbroker' and arranger Oliver Nelson followed, eventually landing loads of work in Hollywood. Yet for two years after I moved out myself, there was nothing. My wife and I pawned everything, our nest egg disappeared and I thought, 'So this is how it ends.' Gordon Parks wrote music for 'The Learning Tree' and I was offered $10,000 to orchestrate his ideas. But I turned it down because I didn't want to be known as an orchestrator. Instead, I wanted to be a composer." Yet Golson did eventually gain a foothold writing for television, film and commercials. As a result, he didn't record another jazz album until the mid-70s. Golson has written numerous tunes that have become jazz standards (e.g. "Killer Joe," "Whisper Not," "Blues March," "Along Came Betty" and "Stablemates"). His ballad "I Remember Clifford' has been recorded at least 334 times. Golson jokes about some of the dogs that will remain on his piano bench - efforts like "I Found My True Love in Mexico." And music isn't all he's written. "My autobiography is finished, but the problem is getting it to a publisher in time so that it can appear by my eightieth. It's already a thousand pages long and they want no more than three-hundred. I'm thinking of calling it Whisper Not." The Benny Golson Quintet plays at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on January 2-6. PAUL MOTIAN ON THE MOVE by Paul Blair He first came to public notice as part of a much-acclaimed Bill Evans trio. Yet over the past four decades, Paul Motian's crisp, non-intrusive and highly musical drumming has enriched albums under the leadership of a wide range of other artists: Zoot Sims, Don Cherry, George Russell, Mose Allison, Paul Bley, Lee Konitz, Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Tom Harrell, Geri Allen, Tim Berne, Marilyn Crispell, Larry Goldings, John Patitucci, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ed Schuller, Leni Stern and Martial Solal among them. It was also he who added color and shading to Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill project and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. Over the course of eleven nights this month, he'll head up two very different bands at two of Manhattan's most prominent jazz venues. Born of Armenian parents who'd been raised in Turkey, Motian grew up in Providence hearing lots of non-Western music pouring out of his home's wind-up phonograph. He played drums in his high school's marching band and eventually joined a local ensemble that toured New England doing stock Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey arrangements. Excited by the bebop he heard being featured on Symphony Sid's live broadcasts from the original Birdland, the teenager soon began venturing down to Manhattan to hear jazz luminaries like Gillespie, Basie and Shearing headlining at midtown clubs. In 1955, after a Navy stint during the Korean war, he settled in New York permanently. Motian recalls that there were ample opportunities to play around the city in those days, particularly for a talented youngster not intent on getting rich. One night at a club called the Open Door (situated where NYU's Bobst Library now stands), Monk's drummer Art Taylor didn't show up. The fellow running things told Motian to dash home and get his drums. "So yes, I played with Thelonious and he gave me ten bucks at the end of the evening," he recalls. "I was thrilled beyond words." Soon thereafter, Motian began making sessions with Don Elliott, Tony Scott, Jimmy Knepper, George Russell, Coleman Hawkins and Lennie Tristano. It was also during this period that he first encountered Bill Evans, who was then doing sideman work himself. Eventually, Evans, Motian and Scott LaFaro formed the trio that recorded a series of landmark albums (including Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby) for the Riverside label. These days, Motian often performs and records with an outfit he bills as his Electric Bebop Band. The current lineup - the one booked into Birdland at month's end - involves two saxophonists (Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby), two guitarists (Steve Cardenas and Ben Monder) and two bassists (Jerome Harris and Ben Street), along with violist Mat Maneri. While past EBB recordings have featured reworkings of jazz standards by the likes of Parker, Monk, Gillespie, Powell and Dameron, a 2006 release on ECM called Garden of Eden features more of Motian's own quirky compositions. "This octet is an outgrowth of the Electric Bebop Band," says Motian on the phone. "And since we don't get to work together as a unit all that often, the personnel tends to change a bit from gig to gig. But we all certainly know one another. I've played off and on with both Chris and Tony for at least ten years. As far as the guitarists are concerned, the original configuration had Kurt Rosenwinkel and Brad Shepek. Then we had Wolfgang Muthspeil for awhile, and now it's Steve and Ben. And as far as using two bassists is concerned. I sort of let them handle how they fit into things, although if I hear something I don't like, I tell them. Ben Street is playing an upright, whereas you'll hear Jerome Harris on an acoustic bass guitar. The addition of Mat on viola? We tried that out on a recent Vanguard gig and I liked it." Meanwhile, an entirely different configuration under Motian's leadership - an acoustic trio that also includes saxist Chris Potter and pianist Jason Moran - will likely enthrall for six nights at the Village Vanguard. Motian's been bringing trios into the Vanguard for years, often the celebrated one that also includes saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist Bill Frisell. It's the unit documented on a series of memorable sessions on the JMT and Winter & Winter labels like Monk in Motian, Bill Evans: Tribute To A Great Post-Bop Pianist and On Broadway, Volume I. Those catching either the octet or the trio shouldn't expect crowd-pleasing drumset pyrotechnics. Instead, Motian specializes in tonal richness, impeccable timing and the sort of gentle polyrhythmic prodding that tends to bring out the best in his musical colleagues. One reviewer described this percussionist's approach as "painterly." That's an apt adjective. Paul Motian leads a trio at the Village Vanguard on January 8-13 - and an octet at Birdland for five nights beginning January 30. JAZZWOMEN! BY ELZY KOLB Turning over a new leaf 'Tis the season for New Year's resolutions, even in the jazz community. Flutist Jamie Baum plans to practice more, write more music, spend more time with friends and family, and get out more often to hear live music. She'll be at Kitano on Jan. 3 with TimePeace, a new cooperative group that also includes pianist Roberta Piket (who pledges to practice more and worry less) … Lil Phillips says although she's not a Trekkie, "This Star Trek Vulcan blessing just popped into my head as a worthy goal: Live long and prosper." Lil sings with the Harlem Heritage Big Band, featuring pianist Doreen Goldare, at the Malcolm Shabazz Cultural Center on Jan. 4 … Drummer Kim Thompson and alto saxophonist Tia Fuller just got back from a 95-city tour with Beyonce. In 2008, Kim will strive for peace and ways to honor one another without judgment. Tia is focusing on fitness of the mind, body and spirit. She points out that physical fitness plays a large part in the performance and spirit of a jazz musician. Hear Kim with Tia's band at Sweet Rhythm on Jan. 4-5, and with Mike Stern at the 55 Bar on Jan. 2, 10, 16, and 21. You say you've made a resolution … Vocalist Deborah Davis aims to raise at least $11,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2008, starting with her 11th annual fundraiser at the Blue Note on Jan. 7. Deborah raised the bar on her goal this year. "I think it's a good idea to always do better than you did last time. Why else do we keep waking up every day? It's the thought that we can do better today than yesterday that always keeps us moving forward" … Michelle Walker plans to eat less, drink less, "and probably be less merry." She sings at Bar Next Door on Jan. 7 … Kendra Shank resolves to expand her guitar playing, spend more time with friends, swim laps each week and keep things simple. Kendra sings at Kitano on Jan. 11-12 … Vocalist Judi Silvano aims to "focus on the many blessings of my life in music - the pleasure of self-expression, the resulting camaraderie, and opportunities to share my love of music - and to accept reality with gratitude; seeing frustration and disappointment as signs of expectations and attitudes are not in balance with my life purpose." Judi and her Women's Work Quartet - featuring pianist Janice Friedman, bassist Jennifer Vincent and drummer Bernice Brooks - play songs by American women at Kitano on Jan. 9 … Champian Fulton vows to record with her trio in 2008. She's at Garage with her trio Jan. 14 and 16. Or catch her at Birdland with David Berger and the Sultans of Swing on Jan. 1, 8, 15, and 29; and at Grand Harmony Palace with Ron Sunshine's band on Jan. 4 … Guitarist Amanda Monaco wants to "share as much music as I can with as many people as would like to hear it." She's at the Cornelia Street Café with her band Playdate on Jan. 9, and in concert at the New Victory Theater with John Lithgow on Jan. 18-20. Make it, don't break it Saxophonist Virginia Mayhew's goal is "to make Uncle Edward proud." She explains that Duke Ellington didn't like to think of himself as a grandfather, so he had his grandson and namesake, Edward Kennedy Ellington III, call him "Uncle Edward." She'll be playing with that grandson in the Duke Ellington Legacy at Sweet Rhythm on Jan. 11-12. Virginia also plays the early set at Sweet Rhythm on Jan. 10 with the smokin' Latin band, CocoMama. The collective resolution for the eight fabulous women in CocoMama: get a hundred gigs in 2008 … Count on vocalist Katie Bull to express happiness out loud, more often. Hold her to it at 55 Bar on Jan. 10 … Singer Tessa Souter's 2008 goals involve more composing and developing her repertoire. Check out Tessa at the 55 Bar on Jan. 11 … Amy London makes the same resolution every year: to lose 20 pounds. "Peace on earth is the one I want most, but it's not in my control. Ah! If only women ruled the world!" Amy sings at Barnes and Noble at 67th & Broadway on Jan. 12 … Melissa Stylianou categorizes her resolutions as "serious ones and silly ones." You can be the judge of that: She wants to start a candy-making company in her kitchen; to meditate; to learn Greek and Portuguese; to learn to see "the truth of the blanket" (name that movie reference!); and to write at least one new song each month. Melissa sings at Iridium's brunch on Jan. 13, and at the Benny Goodman tribute concert at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 16 … Ayelet Rose aims to spend more time with family and friends "and really cherish our times together. Those times are precious and fragile, and should not be taken for granted." Ayelet will perform her song cycle "Mayim Rabim" at Drom on Jan. 14. Jazzwomen hereby resolve to … Pianist/singer Deanna Witkowski wants to spend an extended period in Brazil, as well as more time enjoying, playing, and composing. Her quartet plays Sweet Rhythm on Jan. 16 … Pianist Daniela Schaechter aims to record music and poetry she's written for the 100th anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake that struck her hometown of Messina, Italy. Her dearest hope is that gun control laws will be enacted sometime soon. Daniela plays the New Leaf Café on Jan. 18 … Drummer Cindy Blackman resolves "Not to settle for anything less than the ultimate!!!" Cindy's fronting a quartet at the Jazz Standard on Jan. 21 ... New Years is guitarist Sheryl Bailey's favorite holiday: "It's a time of redemption and atonement for me," she says. "I'm always charged up with renewed energy for artistic and personal projects." Her resolution? "To take my time with life. Our lives are so short. I would like to slow down and enjoy the process of it, and not get so carried away with mundane, stressful distractions. The focus will be on living life!" Sheryl launches a new band at Kitano on Jan. 23 … Jay Clayton vows to: "Record, record, record." She's singing at Enzo's on Jan. 25, with pianist Dawn Clement … Diane Moser resolves to continue exploring new music for big band. Count on her to do that at Trumpets on Jan. 30, and the last Wednesday of each month … Saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom will be inspired by Ornette when she celebrates the release of her new CD Mental Weather at Iridium on Jan. 30; the band includes pianist Dawn Clement … Lenore Raphael vows to watch fewer "Project Runway" repeats, and to stop snacking on frozen date pieces. She plays piano at Strada 57 every Friday and Saturday. Baritone zone Baritone saxophonist Barbara Cifelli has a straightforward goal: "Avanti! Each and every day." Hear Barbara moving forward with Tommy Igoe's Birdland Big Band every Friday, and with Diane Moser's Composers Big Band at Trumpets on the last Wednesday of each month … Lauren Sevian aims to stay as physically healthy and in shape as possible, and to keep performing and creating original music. She's playing baritone at the Knitting Factory with Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra on Jan. 12 … Carol Sudhalter made her resolution early - after she was hit by a streetcar in Milan on her last European tour. She's going back to the basics: "Look both ways before crossing the street. Never assume that we are above being knocked right out of commission, from one day to the next." Hear Carol on bari with singer Elena Camerin at Enzo's on Jan. 30 … Claire Daly plans to enjoy this year as if it was her last. She's also focusing on a multimedia piece about a cousin who crossed Alaska, solo, by dogsled in 1936. Resolution-free area … or is it? Roz Corral says she's not one for New Year's resolutions: "I usually just recycle the resolutions from previous years that didn't get completed." Roz sings at brunch at North Square on Jan. 6 and 20 … Elisabeth Lohninger doesn't usually make resolutions, "But if I did, I'd resolve to laugh more, love more deeply, and sing until the cows come home. Oh, yeah, and make a new record!" Elisabeth sings at the River Room of Harlem on Jan. 19 and at 55 Bar on Jan. 23 … Andrea Wolper claims she's no good at making resolutions, but she plans to try to remember what really matters, and to be brave. Wish Andrea happy birthday when she sings at Kitano on Jan. 24 … Vocalist Lisa Sokolov isn't vowing to turn over a new leaf. "I will continue to hone my ideals and live them each day, one day at a time." Lisa is in fine form, singing and playing piano on her first DVD, Solo Live in Concert (Laughing Horse). Sidewoman says … Eri Yamamoto vows to ride her bike more often. Eri plays piano with William Parker at Symphony Space on Jan. 5. You can also catch her trio at Arthur's Tavern every Thursday through Saturday … Saxophonist Sue Terry says, "I don't do the new year's resolution thing. But Groundhog Day is another story." Catch Sue at Birdland on Jan. 29 with Brazilian composer/singer/pianist Luiz Paulo Simas. More words to live by Singer Roseanna Vitro: To give, serve and grow as a musician and human being … Pianist/vocalist Heather Bennett will strive to find the perfect balance between the music and her 14-month-old son … Singer Gabriele Tranchina resolves to make a new CD ... Vocalist Antoinette Montague says she doesn't have a new year's gig, just a goal: Try not to sweat the small stuff. Amen! HOT FLASHES BY PAUL BLAIR WINTERFESTS The NYC Winter Jazzfest being held at the Knitting Factory on Jan. 12 will involve no fewer than twenty-three different jazz groups (among them, outfits led by Don Byron, David Murray, Omer Avital, Doug Wamble, Wayne Horwitz and Dave Douglas) and you can take it all in. The whole sked, along with word on how to get in, is posted at www.winterjazzfest.com … Listeners with especially large ears will also want to check out the lineup for globalFEST 2008 -www.globalfest-ny.com- at Webster Hall on Jan. 13 … Scandinavia House, located four blocks south of Grand Central on Park Ave. presents an evening of varied musics by ensembles from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, the U.K and the U.S. The date is Jan. 14 and it's free. Info: 212-879-9779 … Smalls hosts the second annual Brooklyn Jazz Underground Festival on Jan. 17-19. Familiar with BJU? Its members (including Alan Ferber, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Benny Lackner, Anne Mette Iversen, Ted Poor, Alex Cuadrado, Dan Pratt, Sunny Jain and Jerome Sabbagh) have been creating some of today's most adventuresome and listenable music, and are worth hearing in any context. While a festival line-up wasn't ready at press time, check the Smalls website for particulars - or call 212-252-5091 … And here's another enticing freebie: a Grand Piano Marathon at Merkin Hall on Jan. 21, at which John Medeski, Anat Fort, Vijay Iyer, Lee Musiker and a bunch of others will play beginning at 2:00 PM. And get this: throughout the afternoon, students will present three performances of Ligeti's "Poème Symphonique" for one-hundred metronomes! Info at 212-501-3303. MVPs LIVE - AND ON DISC, TOO Trumpeter Marcus Printup, who sounds marvelous on a new Steeplechase CD (Bird of Paradise) devoted to imaginative and energetic reworkings of Charlie Parker tunes, will headline at the Rose Theater's "Kings of Crescent City" event on Jan. 11-12, along with Wycliffe Gordon, Jonathan Batiste and others … We're also high on pianist Frank Kimbrough's just-issued solo effort (entitled Air) on Palmetto. Frank backs Katie Bull at 55 Bar on Jan. 10 and Kendra Shank at Kitano on Jan. 12; will be part of Maria Schrieber's orchestra at the Jazz Standard on Jan. 14; and then returns to Kitano to lead his own trio on Jan. 25-26 … Bassist Greg August, whose One Peace effort made our Top-Ten-of-2007 list, leads his sterling sextet at Smalls on Jan. 3 and at the Jazz Gallery on Jan. 10 … Bassist Ben Allison continues to put together imaginative albums (Little Things Rule The World is his latest for Palmetto); he'll appear at Museo del Barrio's Teatro Heckscher at 4:00 PM on Jan. 5, as well as well as at the Knit's Winter Jazzfest cited above … Two of altoist Loren Stillman's recent CDs definitely merit attention: Blind Date (Pirouet) and Trio Alto, Vol. II (Steeplechase). Loren brings a quartet into Smalls on Jan. 19, with the same foursome slated for Biscuit BBQ on Jan. 29 and Barbes on Jan. 30 … And if you've been charting the career of harmonica and vibes player Hendrik Meurkens (who appears with a quartet at Kitano on Jan 30), you'll definitely dig the Brazilian goings-on documented on Sambatropolis, his new Zoho release. GUITARISTS ON TAP James Blood Ulmer at the Jazz Standard on Jan. 3 … Rudy Linka at Joe's Pub on Jan. 4 … Grupo Los Santos (which includes guitarist Pete Smith) at the Jazz Standard on Jan. 7, and then at Barbes in Park Slope the following night … Pat Martino at Birdland on Jan. 9-12 … Sheryl Bailey at Kitano on Jan. 23 … Peter Bernstein (with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart) at the Vanguard for six nights beginning Jan. 29 … Michele Ramo playing on Sunday evenings at the Spoon Café in Brighton Beach … and Peter Leitch continuing his wonderful duo series at Walker's every Sunday, with upcoming partners to include bassists Sean Smith (Jan. 6), Ugonna Okegwe (Jan. 20) and Harvie S (Jan. 27); Jack Wilkins fills in for Peter on Jan. 13. ELSEWHERE Curtis Fuller and “Fathead” Newman cerebrate their 75th birthdays at Iridium - but not together. Mr. Fuller plays the club on Jan. 17-20, while Mr. Newman follows with a group of his own on Jan. 24-27 ... If you were present at Benny Goodman's celebrated 1938 Carnegie Hall concert and are still ambulatory, you may wish to take in a special Jan. 16 event at the same venue - precisely seventy years later to the day. Feaured will be a brass-heavy ensemble fronted by Canadian clarinetist Bob DeAngelis (plus a string section) playing all those old BG chestnuts ... It's a two-for-one show at the Knitting Factory on Jan 27: Dave Binney's quartet and Uri Caine's Bedrock Trio (ultra-low door charges and a no-drink minimum, too) ... For word on attractions at the Vision Collaboration Festival, being held at Symphony Space on Jan. 10-12, visit www.visionfestival.org … There's curated jazz each Sunday and Wednesday at a remarkable Brooklyn performance space called The Lyceum, housed in what used to be a public bath facility; Google 'em … And don't forget that EZ's Woodshed in Harlem continues to offer no-charge live jazz daily 2:00-8:00 PM, and 8:30-11:00 PM on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. SCHOOL'S IN The Jazz Museum in Harlem, even as it moves closer to establishing a permanent uptown home for itself, continues with its valuable evening programs. This month's "Jazz For Curious Listeners" sessions on Jan. 8 and Jan. 15 feature drummer and record maven Kenny Washington. (But note a change in venue; they're being held at the Harlem School for the Arts on St. Nicholas Ave.). Meanwhile, the museum's "Jazz For Curious Readers" sessions (held at the public library on W. 115th St.) continue with Farah Griffin (Jan. 7) and Garry Giddins (Feb. 11). There's no charge for any of this. Everything you'll need to know is posted at www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org … And if you want to take part in more formal sessions, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Swing University winter classes may be be up your academic alley. A series of course offerings aimed at aficionados and wannabees include "Drums and the Rhythm Section," taught by percussionist Lewis Nash; plus three others moderated by Phil Schaap ("Jazz 201," "Let Me Make You a Jazz Expert in Eight Easy Lessons" and "Charlie Parker"). J@LC's Bridget Wilson at 212-258-9868 can pass on all the particulars.