Billy Childs: From L.A. with Love
by Eugene Holley, Jr.
In 1988, Billy Childs was a young, Los Angeles-born pianist/composer bursting with promise when he released his first major label release, Take For Example This (Windham Hill).
Four decades later, that promise has been fulfilled: today, Billy is a multi-GRAMMY Award-winning artist, with 17 albums as a leader to his credit. His most recent albums on the Mack Avenue label include Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (2014), a star-studded tribute featuring Dianne Reeves, Esperanza Spalding and Wayne Shorter; Rebirth (2017); Acceptance (2020) and The Winds of Change (2023). They all feature compositions by Billy that brim with cutting-edge, angular melodic lines, sophisticated harmonies, dreamy ballads, and straight-ahead swing.
Billy brings that music to Columbia University’s Miller Theater, supported by a simpatico quartet that features trumpeter Sean Jones, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Ari Hoenig. “We’ll probably play ‘The Winds of Change,’ ‘Master of the Game,’ [Chick Corea’s] ‘Crystal Silence’ and maybe ‘Backwards Bop’ and ‘Dance of Shiva,’” Billy says. For him, the quartet’s sensitive accompaniment reaches classical proportions.
“Jazz is chamber music,” Billy says, “if you think of the definition of chamber music as a conductor-less [ensemble], one person to a part. The nature of the music is interdependency; everyone is depending on the next person to keep track of things. And so in that regard, these improvisations and the interpretations of the melodies are chamber-like. When you start playing with people like this, then they have such a command over their instruments and their concepts, when they see new music, they already can figure out how to arrange it … It’s a spontaneous way of composing that makes it interdependent like a chamber group.”
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/acd0442c83.html#page/11.
Nikara Warren: The Symphonic Power of Being Human
by Raul da Gama
In the year 2020, much of the world was held hostage by the global pandemic and, thanks to the lockdown, were also not exactly gainfully employed. But not Nikara Warren, granddaughter of the iconic jazz pianist Kenny Barron. The brilliantly educated Nikara, sassy, savvy, and highly opinionated in things most socially-relevant, a full-time composer, vibraphonist, and hip-hop rhymester and vocalist, was busy putting finishing touches on one of the most genre-bending septets – Black Wall Street Tulsa, Oklahoma.
For the uninitiated, the name of Nikara’s ensemble is a reference to a heinous event in Black American History. Atlanta Black Star’s Christina Montford reminds us of that. “In 1906, Ottaway ‘O.W.’ Gurley, a wealthy African-American from Arkansas, moved to Tulsa and purchased over 40 acres of land that he made sure was only sold to other African-Americans.”
Seeing opportunities in Tulsa, Gurley sold his store and purchased 40 acres of land in north Tulsa in 1906. In time, this prosperous area became known as the Greenwood District. O.W.'s intent for Greenwood was to establish a community-led and run by enterprising Black Americans. We all know what happened next. However, just in case, Nikara’s pulsating song “Solar Plexus” has a musical reminder for us that goes straight to the gut.
Its rhythmic propulsion is evocative of the Black Wall Street Tulsa Oklahoma massacre, when in two frenzied days of white supremacist terrorist rioting, mobs of white residents, attacked black residents. They burned and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the neighborhood housing one of the wealthiest black communities in the United States, known as “Black Wall Street.” The heinous crime left 36 Black Americans dead, 800 admitted to hospitals, and as many as 6,000 interred in large facilities.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/acd0442c83.html#page/6.
AVISHAI COHEN – PUSHING BOUNDARIES
By John Zaff
Avishai Cohen is a world-renowned bass player whose lifetime devotion to mastering his instrument has put him onto almost every jazz critic’s list of best contemporary bass players. There are several key factors that account for his rise to such prominence. Firstly, of course, Avishai is a virtuoso bassist, but perhaps that is the least of the reasons that his playing and his music fascinate and enthrall so many of his fans. As a composer, his works are deeply expressive and moving in a way that encompasses real emotional depth. Yet another important ingredient in Avishai’s secret sauce is his talent and ability to fuse together musical genres and sounds from his diverse cultural influences, often blurring and weaving them into something completely new. The broad musical palette that Avishai taps into as a composer has an interesting backstory, reflecting the sundry and diverse roads he’s traveled on in his lifetime.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/acd0442c83.html#page/18.
The Resilient Journey of Jon Gordon: Saxophonist, Composer, and Educator
by Ken Dryden
Jon Gordon is renowned as an alto saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and jazz educator, but his early life was a challenge, growing up impoverished with his loving but troubled mother.
Jon took music lessons in high school and was friends with pianist Bill Charlap and bassist Sean Smith. He recalls, “Bill played me a lot of stuff; that was my introduction to most things because we had so few records at home.”
Another great friend was saxophonist Jay Rodriguez, a fellow high school classmate. “Jay played me a bunch of records and a couple were by Phil Woods. I flipped out hearing Song for Sisyphus and Musique du Bois; that's when I realized I had the saxophone, and this was my passion, that's what I want to sound like.”
Jon’s goal was to study with Phil, repeatedly asking him for lessons over the course of a year. Jon says, “Finally, he looked at me and said, ‘Well, can you play?’ And I stammered. He threw his card down and said, ‘Call my wife. You got to pay me whether you can play or not.’”
The first two lessons with Phil were incredibly inspiring for Jon, but the third got off to a rocky start due to the sudden death of Phil’s good friend and mentor, Budd Johnson. Jon was already on the bus to Stroudsburg, as there was no way to reach him. Jon notes, “I got in the car with Phil and he said, ‘You better know why you're doing this. I lost too many great people who've given their lives for this music. You better want to change the world with it. Otherwise, don't come in my house.’”
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/acd0442c83.html#page/27.
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