JULY 2020—ISSUE 219

YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENENYCJAZZRECORD.COM

hank

mobleya mosaic of mobley

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editionjoemorrismarcinra kalamwasilewski bob moses

jymiemerritt

Managing Editor:
Laurence Donohue-Greene
Editorial Director &Production Manager:
Andrey Henkin
To Contact:
The New York City Jazz Record
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Phone/Fax: 212-568-9628

JULY 2020—ISSUE 219
New York@Night

Laurence Donohue-Greene:ldgreene@nycjazzrecord.com

Interview : joe morris

Andrey Henkin:ahenkin@nycjazzrecord.com

Artist Feature : marcin wasilewski

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Staff Writers
Duck Baker, Stuart Broomer,
Robert Bush, Kevin Canfield,
Marco Cangiano, Thomas Conrad,
Pierre Crépon, Ken Dryden,
Donald Elfman, Phil Freeman,
Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland,
George Grella, Tyran Grillo,Alex Henderson, Robert Iannapollo,
Mark Keresman, Marilyn Lester,
Suzanne Lorge, Marc Medwin,
Jim Motavalli, Russ Musto,
John Pietaro, Joel Roberts,
John Sharpe, Elliott Simon,
Anna Steegmann, Scott Yanow
Contributing Writers
Dan Bilawsky, Brian Charette, Pierre Giroux,
George Kanzler, Steven Loewy
Kyle Oleksiuk, Eric Wendell
Contributing Photographers
Gildas Boclé, Scott Friedlander,Jack Vartoogian, Francis Wolff
Fact-checker
Nate Dorward

nycjazzrecord.com

On The Cover : hank mobley
Encore : ra kalam bob moses
Lest We Forget : jymie merritt
LAbel Spotlight : more is more
VOXNEWS
obituaries
album Reviews
Miscellany

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by michael cobb
by george grellaby george kanzler
by jim motavalli
by marilyn lester
by john sharpeby suzanne lorge
by andrey henkinby andrey henkin

Originally, after a couple of months of lockdown, we thought to have a more light-hearted
edition, inspired by Sesame Street: this issue was brought to you by the letter M—saxophonist
Hank Mobley (On the Cover), multi-instrumentalist Joe Morris (Interview), pianist Marcin
Wasilewski (Artist Feature), drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses (Encore), bassist Jymie Merritt(Lest We Forget) and More Is More (Label Spotlight).
But, with the pandemic raging and the economy in free fall, a third crisis has come to thiscountry. While the first could have been mitigated and the second inevitable and necessary,
the third is akin to that old jazz cliché: new wine in old bottles. The killing of George Floyd is,
tragically, unremarkable in this country, given a history of racism and use of force by those inpower throughout U.S. history, much less the past few years. What has been remarkable is thatthe pace of response—even when faced with the dangers of COVID-19—has been astonishingand heartening, but only if something lasting and positive comes out of his and many others’
senseless deaths. One could theorize that the intensity of the movement is a direct comment on
those at the top of the power chain who have done little to fix the systemic problems and have,in many cases, exacerbated it for their own short-term political gain.
Simply put, you cannot pick up this gazette, professing an interest in jazz, without having
a concurrent interest in Civil Rights. While we may try to remove the individual personality
from his or her artistic output in the case of some problematic figures, to say that jazz and thehistory of African-American struggle can be separated somehow is to say that Olivier
Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps could have been written anywhere, at any time.
However you choose to register your protest, it is your duty to do so. Jazz may be entertaining
but it is not entertainment. Those that suffered to bring it to us and inspired the generations
that followed need to know that the world of the future can be better than the one they knew.
On The Cover: Hank Mobley (Photograph by Francis Wolff © Mosaic Images LLC)
Corrections: In last month’s CD Reviews, in the Susannah B. album, John Ballinger provided all thearrangements as well as the vocals on “Lullaby Land”.
All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors.

2 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORDNEW YORK @ NIGHT
P ianist Dan Tepfer blends conservatory training with In the upper-left-hand corner of the Smalls live-stream

STEVE CARDENAS
BLUE HAS A RANGE
SSC 1588
AVAILABLE 7/10/20

T

here is a rooted and natural expressiveness in the music ofguitarist Steve Cardenas. He has developed a spacious yet
personal style that reflects his influences but has also broadened them into a palette of many hues. Cardenas’s new recording, Blue Has a Range, presents a new view of his breadth
as a player, composer and collaborator, remaining attachedto the essence of jazz, while alluding to blues in all its tones.

C

ardenas’s ability has provided him opportunities to play insituations of many varieties. Beginning in his hometownof Kansas City and settling in New York City, Cardenas’s pathhas been full of remarkable associations. Notably as a longstanding member of groups led by legendary jazz artists suchas bassists Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow and John Patitucci, as well as drummers Paul Motian, Joey Baron and Adam
Nussbaum.

It was only natural that Cardenas would pick friend and longtime collaborator, Ben Allison, to play bass, co-produce andmix the recording. When Cardenas was confirming Cowherd’s
availability in July 2019 to record, Cowherd informed Cardenas that he would just be concluding a run at the Blue Notewith drummer Brian Blade’s Life Cycles band. Blade was free
after the Blue Note run, and so the band was set. Soon after,with these musicians in mind, new compositions began toflow from Cardenas.

improvisation and technology. For a recent live-stream
performance (Jun. 6th), he used a series of selfprogrammed digital algorithms (from his latest project,
Natural Machines) to control his Yamaha Disklavier.
Seated at his state-of-the-art player piano, Tepfer
becomes a cyborg, the instrument a biomechatronic
extension of his body and imagination. The first piece,
using a program called “Canon at the Octave”,
generated a second voice, 12 tones apart, creating theunusual effect of Tepfer in nervous conversation withhimself. On an improvisation using an algorithm called“Inversion”, digital images of the computer ’s responses(projected on the right side of the screen) popped up
and morphed into different shapes and colors, a visual
metaphor for Tepfer ’s thought process. A piece set to“Tremolo” combined a classical psalm with thereminlike glissandi. “Intervals”, based on a folksy tune in
E Major, was amplified by eccentric arpeggios thatskated across the keys as no mortal hands ever could.
Watching the keys play automatically—with no finger
touching them—as Tepfer played alongside, was likewatching him duet with a ghost, the self-depressing
keys the visible traces of an invisible machine mind.
“Triad Sculpture” allowed Tepfer to modulate hymnharmonies; “Demonic March” added trailing accents toa baroque theme; “Constant Motion” spun out shortideas into lingering loops; and a final piece trilled—Tom Greenland
tastefully in F minor. 		

feed is a counter of active watchers. While saxophonist
Abraham Burton’s trio with bassist Dezron Douglas
and drummer Eric McPherson (Jun. 23rd) had
90-something viewers at one point it was anothernumber, 665K, that is significant. That is the total
audience for all of the club’s streams over the past
years. As such, Smalls was much better positioned toadapt to the COVID-19 reality of online concert
attendance: the shows were sponsored as part of the
Smalls Live Foundation, so those involved need notworry about donations; the sound was excellent,allowing for depth and dynamics to be appreciated,
and lighting professional and, um, illuminating; there
were three camera feeds in rotation, removing thedeer-playing-saxophone-in-headlights static tableau of
most live-streams; and the technology was reliable,with a nary a digital wobble nor source breakdown tobe found. Thus it felt as close to being at a concert as
we are likely to get for a few months yet and Burton
particularly relished the opportunity. “I feel a sense ofhappiness of playing with some people and something
coming back at you,” he said. “You can be champion of
the world shadowboxing,” he continued but expressed
how much you need to go up against real competition.
The environment was not adversarial, however; morecathartic, ranging from spiritual to gleeful and it was arelief, echoing Burton’s observation, to see people in aroom that wasn’t their kitchen.
—Andrey Henkin

Dan Tepfer

Abraham Burton TrioEntering its second decade, Joel Harrison’s Alternative
Guitar Summit camp has gone online, necessitated by
COVID-19. One important ramification is that, due tothe inherent latency of digital broadcasts, musicians
can’t play in time together unless they’re in the same
physical space. This didn’t prevent guitarists Nir
Felder and Tim Miller, two of the featured faculty thisyear, from turning in some captivating solo
performances on the opening night (Jun. 18th) of thethree-day event. After exchanging chitchat and mutual
compliments from their respective rooms, Felder
sprinted into a rocking/bopping excursus on “I Fall In
Love Too Easily”. Miller answered his challenge in thisever-so-friendly cutting contest with an exposé on
panoramic chords laced with internal melodies overa progression that turned out to be “Stella by Starlight”.
Unfortunately, Felder ’s equipment malfunctioned andhe couldn’t hear Miller for the rest of the concert.
Indeed, half the fun of listening to Felder play “All The
Things You Are”, during which he tried out some
unusual banjo-inspired ideas, was watching Miller ’sface (screen left) respond to Felder ’s amazing touches.
Miller ’s audio and visual signals were not as clear as
Felder ’s, but he played some inspired harmonies on
his original, “Lift”, and some jaw-dangling arpeggios
over “Solar”, his delicate fingers traversing the neck
like a long-legged crab. Felder was looser, earthier,busier, a wellspring of ideas, some so inventive they
made Miller ’s nose scrunch up in appreciation.
(TG)

O ne wonders if other professional fields where there
is often marriage among co-workers have had similar
approaches as jazz to getting through the pandemic.
Are married lawyers, bereft of opportunities to litigate
in a courtroom setting, engaging in mock-trials in theirliving rooms? Are spousal stockbrokers jumping overeach other in their pajamas, keeping the muscles strong
for an eventual return to the trading floor? Anyhoo, aspart of Arts for Art’s live-streaming series, saxophonist
Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey expanded
their regular duoship by adding bassist Nick Dunston,participating in his own apartment, the threesome
connected by video but, more importantly, headphones(though Laubrock seemed a tad encumbered by hers),
allowing for a surprisingly fluid mini-set of two
improvisations. There were technical glitches as far as
switching between the streams but that did not
negatively affect the music, Dunston, fearless as ever,pushing himself nicely into a partnership of longstanding. His feed was a closeup and viewers had achance to see his muscular approach and deep
concentration (though his sound did clip at times). The
first piece was 15 minutes, the second 8, the former inenergy mode, the latter darker, grimier, deeper, slower
and the degradation in the feed gave the musicians a
Photoshop filter look that was noirishly appropriate.
The one lost opportunity was that Rainey, in his
kitchen, stuck to his kit instead of including pots, pans
(AH)
and the proverbial kitchen sink. 		

GLENN ZALESKI
THE QUESTION
SSC 1591
AVAILABLE 7/17/20

T

he summer of 2019 brought pianist/composer Glenn Zaleski to a new milestone in his life. As he left his twenties,
he also found out that he was expecting his first child. This
led Zaleski to a period of reflection. He began to reexamine
his youthful early interpretations of the world, the media andlife in general, preparing himself for this transitional period.

Z

aleski discovered that his initial concerns might not havebeen the ones he should be focusing on. He may havebeen distracted from his path and might not have been asking the right questions. Zaleski’s new recording, The Question, explores the mood during this period of uncertainty andreflection. It also marks the pianist’s return to an ensemble,
the quintet, that provided a great deal of inspiration earlier in
his development.

Z

aleski’s choice of instrumentalists was easy and inspired.
He knew that he wanted to feature the incredible sound oftenor saxophone and trumpet as leading voices. Saxophonist
Lucas Pino is one of the pianist’s oldest friends and collaborators, so there was no question about his involvement. Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill is a more recent acquaintance but one
that Zaleski wanted to revisit after first playing with O’Farrill
seven years ago.

T

he rhythm section includes two musicians that Zaleski has
long admired and performed with. Bassist Desmond Whitehas been a regular collaborator with the pianist since college
and drummer Allan Mednard has been a favorite time-keeper
on many stages.

www.sunnysiderecords.com

4 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

“Did you like that? We liked it,” Billy Hart declared, W ithin the pains of social distancing and clubsmiling broadly as he addressed the unseen listeners
tuned in to the inaugural live streamed performancefrom the Village Vanguard (Jun. 13th). He andbandmates tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist
Ethan Iverson and bassist Ben Street had opened up
their set with Iverson’s “South Hampton”, a bluesy
homage to the late Hampton Hawes, Turner blowing
with Coltrane-ish intensity. Iverson’s classically tinged
improvised prelude introduced a harmonicallyengaging arrangement of “Giant Steps”. It opened
ethereally, buoyed by Hart’s effervescent brushwork,
before swinging straightahead as he switched to sticks,
propelling authoritative tenor and piano solos thatmined the Coltrane classic for fresh melodic twists andrhythmic turns. A malleted drum solo initiated Hart’s“Teule’s Redemption”, a lively modal outing at times
reminiscent of the spiritual character of some works by
the drummer ’s one time boss, McCoy Tyner. Iverson’s
pretty melancholic ballad “Showdown” showcased his
nuanced melodicism and Hart’s painterly mallet andbrush backing. The drummer dedicated his “Duchess”,
a bouncy melody with a soulful bassline “to all the
grandmothers of the world” while his atmosphericallyexotic “Song For Balkis”, a feature for Turner ’s airy
tenor, fêted the Queen of Sheba. The set concluded
with “Neon”, a commanding Iverson composition,
brimming with an optimism much needed in these—Russ Musto
troubling times. 		

closures, this odd new milieu offers a unique
opportunity for informal teach-ins “onstage”,
something rarely seen in New York nightlife before.
Once a level of normalcy returns, we may find that theviews absorbed in this period may have worked to thepositive. Brooklyn Raga Massive has been among thosepresenting enticing lecture/performances painting aworld of sound. Kenny Wessel, the guitarist who
spent a dozen years with Ornette Coleman, hasdedicated much time to North Indian classical music,
however, he’s yet actually to study it formally. “I’ve
collaborated with many Indian musicians, particularly
Badal Roy. As a jazz musician, I seek points ofintersection and departure with this music,” heexplained to the audience (Jun. 9th). Discussing the
subject with host David Ellenbogen, Wessel outlined
a comparative short-list between Indian classical andWestern jazz, including the spiritual connection and,of course, improvisation. It all came together when
Wessel launched into a fascinating 5/4 version of“Solar” (Miles Davis, or Bill Evans or Chuck Wayne?)against a two-measure click pattern, which must havecaused conniptions in drummers. Flowing over the
expanded melody line in shades of purple and blue,
Wessel admitted he’d stumbled once, but recovered
well. “When Ornette attended an Indian classicalconcert and was questioned later, he would only say,
‘They’re all sweatin’ to get to 1’”.
—John Pietaro

W H AT ’ S NEWS
Entries are now being accepted for the Ninth
Annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz
Vocal Competition, tentatively scheduled tobe part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival in
November. Applicants must submit by Sep. 8th
and finalists will be announced Oct. 13th, to be
judged by a panel of Christian McBride, Carmen
Lundy, Vanessa Rubin, Robert Ottenhoff andChuck Mitchell. For more information and to
apply, visit sarahvaughancompetition.com.
The fourth annual Seifert Competition,
named in honor of Polish violinist Zbigniew
Seifert (1946-79) will take place online from
Jul. 8th-10th. Finalists are Omer Ashano,John Pearce, João Silva, Dominic Ingham,
Dawid Czernik, Kristijan Krajnčan, Johannes
Dickbauer, Gabriel Terracciano, Gabriel
Vieira, Tadas Dešukas, Clement Janinet,
Youenn Rohaut, Kristjan Rudanovski andGreg Byers. For more information and to
watch, visit facebook.com/SeifertCompetition.
Virtual screenings of Ella Fitzgerald: Just
One Of Those Things (Eagle RockEntertainment) began Jun. 26th (see review
on pg. 21). To watch the film, make areservation at watch.eventive.org/ellamovie.

Billy Hart Quartet @ Village Vanguard

Jazz Power Initiative will be holding its sixth
annual Jazz Power Institute, which “willaddress the theme of adaptability, providing
strategies and online tools for remotely
engaging students from all backgrounds injazz” online Jul. 7th-8th in partnership with
Lehman College. For more information, visit
jazzpower.org.

Kenny Wessel“It definitely feels so good to actually get out of the C omposer/guitarist John King is among the many
house and go to a venue to do a gig. Even though there
is nobody here, I feel the energy of everybody
watching,” Luis Perdomo announced to the audience
viewing to his live-streamed performance at Brooklyn’s
Soapbox Gallery (Jun. 11th). Nattily attired for theoccasion in a black suit, the Bronx-based, Venezuelaborn pianist had gotten the recital started witha stirring, classically-tinged reading of the standard“I Fall In Love Too Easily”, followed by his own“Unexpected”, a lilting rhapsodic melody well servedby the full bodied sound of the room’s Yamaha grandpiano. He continued with a dramatic, deliberately
paced extended free improvisation flowing into theLennie Tristano classic “Lennie’s Pennies”. Declaring,“I’m not really sure what I’m going to play next, but
I’ll figure out soon,” it didn’t take long for him to wend
his way into an appealing interpretation of “I Thought
About You”, which had him interjecting stride pianopassages. He then introduced his “very, very special
guest”, longtime bassist partner Mimi Jones. Picking
up the pace, the pair got started with a version of Ellis
Marsalis’ “Swinging At The Haven” that lived up to its
title. Jones’ engaging “Baby Steps” opened ethereally
before resolving into a briskly swinging rhythm
changes romp. The duo dug into Perdomo’s Latin roots
with an exciting rendition of his “Berimvela” before
closing out with an encore, Dave Brubeck’s beautiful(RM)“In Your Own Sweet Way”. 		

seeking to break the silence of COVID-19 lockdown.
His series of Sonic Gatherings have, true to form,
united a variety of genres and schools of thought, fromthe composed to the wholly improvised (Jun. 3rd).
King’s “electrified e-bow guitar” painted large swathsof the soundscape, at points creating a field that had
little in common with standard guitar (one could think
there was a hidden bank of keyboards), yet at otherpoints, he dispensed with such timbres and simply
tore into the music. In any case, the concept was tomingle his rich palette with the deep, throaty trombone.
Three of them, in fact. Chris McIntyre, already wellversed in the use of electronics for sound-shifting, wasa fitting companion in this sojourn as was German
trombonist Stephan Kirsch, broadcasting from hishome in Mannheim. Though both are welcome names
to TNYCJR readers, the third, Steve Swell, had to cancel
at the last moment. Hard not to be disappointed
as Swell’s presence anywhere is nothing short ofmasterful, but the pair with King cast textures at onceenveloping and gripping. Out front, two gifted dancerchoreographers Brandon Collwes and Claire Westby,
both from the Liz Gerring Dance Company (Collwes
also did years with Merce Cunningham) brought themusic into the fully tangible, embracing each shift withpose and motion that had your frustrated reviewer
damning the limits of technology. Catching a live Sonic(JP)
Gathering is on the agenda ASAP.

Bloomingdale School of Music’s Ready,Set, Summer (Online)! virtual music classes
will begin Jul. 6th, 2020. Among the eightweek offerings are Jazz Improv Workshop
for children K-12, A Rough Guide to Jazz
History by percussion faculty Douglas
Marriner and Summer Jazz Ensemble. For
more information, visit bsmny.org.
Clarence Otis has been selected by the
Board of Directors of Jazz at Lincoln Centeras its next Board chair, effective Sep. 15th,
succeeding Robert J. Appel, who has servedin that capacity since 2012. For more
information, visit jazz.org.
South Arts has awarded 450 jazz musicians
across the U.S. $1,000 Jazz Road Quick
Assist grants, unrestricted funds to support
artists who have lost significant work andincome due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For
more information, visit southarts.org.
Submit news to info@nycjazzrecord.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 5

© SCOTT FRIEDLANDER

I NTERVIEW

joemorrisby michael cobb

J oe Morris is a composer/improviser who plays guitar,double bass, mandolin, banjo, banjouke, electric bass anddrums. He is also a recording artist, educator, producer,
concert curator and author. DownBeat magazine called
him “the preeminent free music guitarist of his generation”.
Between 1975-86 he was active on the Boston creative musicscene as a performer and concert organizer. In 1983 heformed his own record company, Riti, and recorded his first
LP Wraparound. Between 1986-89 he lived in New York
City, then Boston and in 2001 he returned to the New
Haven, CT area. In 2019 he began his “Instantiation”
project, recording the first four parts of the multi-part work,
which uses the properties of free music in new ways withvarious ensembles. He is featured as leader, co-leader andsideman on 150 recordings to date. In 2012 he published thebook Perpetual Frontier: The Properties of Free Musicand has authored many articles. He has taught at Harvard,
Princeton, Dartmouth, University of the Arts, Berklee
College of Music, Tufts University Experimental College,
Southern Connecticut State University and the Longy
School of Music at Bard College. He is a faculty member at
The New School and New England Conservatory of Music.
The New York City Jazz Record: Did you grow up in amusical household?
Joe Morris: Not exactly. My father ’s oldest brotherJohnny Morris was a drummer, singer and bandleader
who was very successful starting back in the 1920s. He
played with Benny Goodman, Eddie Lang, Bix
Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Tony Pastor, Artie
Shaw, etc. He was a hero in my family. My mother ’s
parents played music. Her mother played piano andwas apparently able to go to Broadway to see a show
and then come home and play all the music on the
piano from memory. My parents met at a dance where
my uncle performed. My mother had seen him at theParamount opening for Sinatra before. Mutual friends
introduced my parents. My father had been a roadmanager for swing bands in the late ‘30s. He met Louis
Armstrong, Art Tatum and traveled all over. Music
mattered to my family.
TNYCJR: How did you come to music?
JM: I always wanted to play music. I took trumpet
lessons at school when I was 12, but I had school issues
and there was no money for lessons. At 14 a friend
showed me some guitar chords and I got hooked.
I saved and borrowed money to buy a crappy guitar
and an amp for $99 and started playing.
The guitar was like learning philosophy. It was soimportant to me as a kid. I needed something that
I could really concentrate on to have a sense of calmand organization in my life and music has always donethat for me. It’s always given me a focus. It reallyhelped me a lot to grow. You hear music and it speaks
to you and you want to be involved. Especially forpeople in their adolescence, having something thatthey can express themselves with that demands someskill, that gives them something to deal with, is really
healthy. It gives them a lot of self-respect. But mainly
I just loved music. I think with my ears.
I needed to engage in abstraction and the more
I understood that, the more music became more
important to me. It’s not that I have any particular loveof music; I love the complexity I get to engage with byformulating
abstraction,
playingmusic
andimprovising and playing with people. That’s really
what I needed from music and fortunately I found it.
TNYCJR: John McLaughlin was pivotal for you.
JM: It was confusing, exhilarating and inspiring tohear him. His influence made me study and practice ina different way. It changed us and made us listen to
Miles Davis, which connected to Chick Corea and thento Anthony Braxton and on and on... We learned to do
it because we wanted the skill but didn’t think it would
define us. We thought we’d define ourselves our own
way. Playing along with those records taught me how
to play modal music.

started with New Haven and the material that informedthat wasn’t really present in Boston. Boston was modal,
fusion, late Coltrane and changes. There was morecompetition about what you were supposed to play
because of Berklee. But I didn’t care, I knew what
I wanted to do.
TNYCJR: How did you teach yourself to play music?
JM: I got books and did my best to understand what
was in them. The few lessons I had gave me a goodstart. I think many people older than me were selftaught. As a guitarist it was common, except for those				(CONTINUED ON PAGE 13)

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NEW FROM ESP-DISK’TNYCJR: You cite the following as major influences:
Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Leroy Jenkins, Thelonious
Monk, Jimi Hendrix and West African string music.
Who else influenced you?
JM: They all did for the reasons that are very apparent
to anyone who hears their music. They were different
and deep, they were all connected by a very specificidea. I also got a lot from Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry,
Django Reinhardt, Anthony Braxton, Jimmy Lyons,
René Thomas. So many, everyone. Charles Ives, Olivier
Messiaen, Evan Parker, Barre Phillips. So many.
TNYCJR: Can you talk more about West African stringmusic and its influence on you?

Whit Dickey: Morph

JM: At a critical point I was concerned about righthand technique for solo music. I didn’t think classicalguitar music was the way to go. Instead, I focused on
the Delta blues players who had a different way. I was
attempting to deal with the model that Cecil Taylor ’s
piano playing presented and do what I could with thaton guitar. That required density. Anyway, the blues
technique led me to go to the deeper source, which was
African string music, in particular Kora music [WestAfrican harp built from a gourd]. That helped me withthe guitar problem and the Cecil problem. But I wanted
to be an American musician, which is a synthesis of all
kinds of things. I’m just trying to participate in a thingthat’s compelling. I think everyone in the U.S. should
follow the lead of people who do good things.
TNYCJR: Tell me about your time in Boston in the ‘70s.
JM: I wasn’t into it. I already had a direction that had

6 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

Thollem/Parker/Cline: Gowanus Sessions II

espdisk.com | espdisk.bandcamp.com

gildas boclé / courtesy of ecm records

ARTIST F E ATURE

marcinwasilewski
by george grella“I’m just amazed by what they did, how jazz spread allover the world. You can hear how deep they were into
this music to survive, to fight, through such hard lives forso many years. And still there is racist behavior.” Pianist
Marcin Wasilewski was speaking on the phone from hishome in Warsaw, Poland, in the middle of June, two
weeks into the steady, worldwide demonstrations against
racism. The agonizing ironies, that such a demand must
be made to begin with and that America, where AfricanAmerican musicians built the foundation of so much of
the nation’s culture, was both the focal point and thematch that lit the fire, were not lost on Wasilewski.
“The music we play,” he continued, “this AfricanAmerican jazz music, makes me so proud about thepeople who discovered this sound and this music.
How they suffered, how they built this music, blues,
jazz, gospel…It’s just amazing for me because I’m
playing the music of Black [musicians] mixed with
European musical traditions”, which came via
European settlers and immigrants. “But without theAfrican-American traditions it wouldn’t be…theybrought this rhythmic tradition, which is mostimportant, with blues.”
Easy, powerful swinging and fluid, rock-flavoredrhythms are one of the trademarks of Wasilewski’s trio
with bassist Sławomir Kurkiewicz and drummer
Michał Miśkiewicz, who followed up their scintillating2018 ECM release Live with Arctic Riff, featuring tenor
saxophonist Joe Lovano, released in late June.
Wasilewski related a capsule history about how ayoung Polish musician came to collaborate with one of
the leading contemporary American jazz musicians.
Wasilewski began playing jazz as a teenager.
“When I was 13, I went to a jazz festival with aclassmate and still my bassist Sławomir. It was the
1989 International Jazz Festival in Warsaw. Every year
there was a formula, many great American jazzmusicians, European jazz musicians and Polish jazzmusicians. There were so many amazing musicians,
Gene Harris, Ray Brown, Joey Calderazzo Quartet withthe great Michael Brecker.” The experience left such a
deep impression that the young men “decided to playthis music, started to learn how to play this music.”
Like most neophytes, they did a lot of learning
through records. “I was listening to a lot of Americanand European jazz musicians. Then I discovered that
there were these great Polish musicians, [pianist andfilm composer] Krzysztof Komeda, [trumpeter] TomaszStańko…we started to have contact with them and we
started playing with them and it was the best way tolearn, to play with better musicians, like Stańko. Whenwe were teenagers, we met Stańko and that’s how westarted to play with such a great musician.”
The trio backed Stańko on the trumpeter ’s ECM
albums Soul of Things, Suspended Night and Lontano, thefirst recorded when the rhythm section were in their
20s. Stańko was an indispensable mentor. When theyfirst met him, “We were still in high school. Stańko’s
approach to the music—so free—we didn’t know in the

beginning how to play this, what was this free music,
how do you play it? We were playing conventional music.
“But we were listening to the Miles Davis Quintet
with Wayne Shorter and we were wondering how toplay like this, it was conventional but also very open,
very free. Our focus was to connect these two
approaches to improvising. Stańko was very free andwe wanted to connect [our] rhythmical playing withhis approach. He liked it, we liked it and we werediscovering such great freedom from him in the music.
We tried to connect our world to his.”That fruition can be heard on Arctic Riff. Lovano
has long been comfortable playing both inside andoutside song form and harmonic rhythm and the trio
are as at ease and responsive on the two takes of Carla
Bley’s “Vashkar” as they are on the grooves and riffs of“L’amour Fou” and midtempo ballad “Fading Sorrow.”
With Lovano’s warm sound and the soul the trio brings,
the album comes off as a worthy successor to the label’srecordings of Keith Jarrett’s European Quartet.
And how did Wasilewski and his band start playing
with Lovano? It had to do with another jazz festival.
“We first met in 2006” at the Lotos Jazz Festival in
Bielsko-Biala, Poland. Lovano was scheduled to play ina duo with pianist Hank Jones, but had to reschedulelate. “He chose us as his rhythm section, we had alreadycrossed paths through touring with Stańko, so he hadheard us playing. The concert went very well!”
The polish of the new album belies the fact that themusicians did not meet to play again until theyassembled in the studio in the late summer last year.
Since the tracks were laid down, the world has changed
immensely, with all sorts of playing opportunities set
by the wayside due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Wewere planning a September tour with Lovano, but we
had to postpone it to February 2021. But we still don’tknow what’s going to happen” if the virus continues,
or returns in future waves. The trio does have one live
date coming up: “We will play an opener in July,”
Wasilewski explains, “a concert for the [second
anniversary] of Tomasz Stańko’s death. We will playsome special projects” of the trumpeter ’s. Still, rightnow, Wasilewski says, “it’s scary to be a musician, thewhole world is scary. We don’t really know what’s
going to happen” after the pandemic. “Things havecollapsed in the music industry.”
And then there’s the intense roiling in the public,
which is not confined to America. “Of course it’s very
scary what’s happening with our government” in
Poland, he says. “They have focused on nationalism, afeeling that I thought was far behind us in history.
“I have been in America, but just for short trips,”
he adds, pointing out that he doesn’t know how itreally feels to live here, “but I know they are still, still
faced with racism. It’s incredible, I don’t understandwhy [George Floyd was killed].” Wasilewski is clearly
troubled by the balance between a culture he admires
and a savagery he loathes. “Improvised jazz music, it’s
so beautiful, so fantastic that the music spread out allover the world. Everywhere people want to play thisbeautiful music coming from America.” v
For more information, visit marcinwasilewskitrio.com
Recommended Listening:• Simple Acoustic Trio—Komeda (Lullaby For Rosemary)(GOWI-Not Two, 1995)• Tomasz Stańko Quartet—Soul of Things (ECM, 2001)• Tomasz Stańko Quartet—Lontano (ECM, 2005)• Marcin Wasilewski Trio—January (ECM, 2007)• Marcin Wasilewski Trio—Live (ECM, 2016)• Marcin Wasilewski Trio/Joe Lovano—
Arctic Riff (ECM, 2019)“His natural swing andtaste allow him to revisit
well-throttled standards withgusto and originality...
A welcome debut by an artist
who definitely deserves
wider exposure and appreciation.”—The New York City Jazz Record

watjazz.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 7

ON THE COVER
Photograph by Francis Wolff © Mosaic Images LLC

hank mobley
a mosaic of mobley
by george kanzler

The casual jazz fan doesn’t usually ask Siri to play

Hank Mobley, who would have turned 90 this month,but hears him whenever jazz radio plays an early Jazz
Messengers track or Horace Silver’s early hits like “ThePreacher”. The tenor saxophonist on them is Mobley.
He’s also the tenor you hear on a lot of trumpeter Lee
Morgan’s recordings, as well as those of guitarist Grant
Green and trumpeter Donald Byrd, notably the latter’s
A New Perspective. From 1955-70, Mobley recorded
prolifically as both a sideman and leader, helming 24
albums for Blue Note alone during that decade, as well
as over 50 as a sideman on various labels.
Yet for many, Mobley remains the aural equivalentof “invisible in plain sight.” In many ways, he was
THE hardbop tenor saxophonist, pioneering andestablishing the style with the original Jazz Messengers
and Silver and later with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers,
Max Roach and even Miles Davis, in whose quintet heheld the tenor chair after John Coltrane.
It was Roach who discovered Mobley playing at a
Newark NJ club in 1951 (Mobley hailed from nearby
Elizabeth, NJ) and brought the 21-year-old to the Big
Apple with his band. Mobley remembered those earlyyears in an interview he did with John Litweiler in
DownBeat in 1973: “To the best of my knowledge,
Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, myself, Jimmy Heath, John
Coltrane—we called ourselves the ‘Five Brothers’, youknow, the five black brothers—we all started playing
alto, but Charlie Parker was such a monster that we all
gave up and switched to tenor. I wasn’t creating
anything new, I was just part of a clique. When welistened to Fats Navarro and Bud Powell, when wewere 20, 21, all of us were learning together. We weren’t
trying to surpass Parker or the heavyweights. But as
you get older you start finding different directions. At
the time it was like going to college. It was just doing
our thing, playing different changes, experimenting…”
Bird was the lodestone of Mobley’s generation.
“I played with Parker a lot of times.” he told Litweiler,“and he told me a lot of things. To a young person hewouldn’t say much, but what he said meant a wholelot. He didn’t say, ‘Practice these scales, do this or dothat—he just said ‘Baby, you’d better learn those blues;
can’t play enough of the blues. Where do you think
everybody got the blues from? Did you ever hear
[Parker ’s] ‘Just Friends’ and tap your foot to it? [My]‘Soul Station’ is the same thing, just like walking down
the highway, it sounds like somebody’s saying ‘Oh,
man, I’m tired of this town, got to get away from this.’
Parker played the modern blues; what he’s saying isthat so much of modern jazz, structures, harmonicprogressions, they’re all based on the blues.”
A tenor saxophonist known for his blues-rooted
playing, Houston Person avidly followed Mobley onrecords as he learned and honed his craft in the south,
before moving north in the late 60s. “Hank was one of theinfluences on my sound,” Person remembered over thephone, “He was one of my main guys. He was phenomenal;
the way he used space and silence and his compositions
were distinctive. But his sound was the kind that I liked
when I was approaching jazz, a sound somewhere in the

middle—not Trane or Rollins, not so stark—I wouldn’t
quite describe it as smoother, but a big, burnished sound,like another of my favorites, Zoot Sims.”
Of the Five Brothers, Coltrane (1967) and Stitt(1982) died before Mobley (1986, although he stopped
actively recording in 1970), but Coltrane had thebiggest influence on tenors of them all and both Rollins
and Heath continued to add to their considerable
legacies in the 21st Century. Coltrane’s impact was sooverwhelming that many of his contemporaries aped
or adapted his style, not always with the best results.
“I was surprised some of my really respected hornplayers tried to go the way of Trane.” says Person.
“Harold Land tried out Trane and I said, ‘what in thehell is he doing?’ But Hank never faltered, he wasalways Mobley. He was THE first hardbop tenor and agreat ballad player too.” And one of Mobley’s mostresilient talents, notes Person, was his adaptability.
“He could blend in with and adapt to the other guys
[in the frontline]”, says Person. “Hank was great withtrumpeters like Lee Morgan and with othersaxophonists like Johnny Griffin and Trane.”It’s no accident that almost all of Mobley’s own
recordings feature him sharing a frontline with otherhorns, unlike those of the other four Five Brothers.
Mobley’s ability both to blend with and enhance theroles of trumpeters especially, is what makes his
recordings so timeless and worth hearing. Trumpetersfrom Kenny Dorham to Morgan, Bill Hardman to Byrd
and Woody Shaw to Blue Mitchell, all shine in his
presence on records he made for Blue Note and now
available on two Mosaic boxed sets, the most recent
The Complete Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970. Yet most ofthat music is hardly ever heard outside of those sets.
As Person notes, “people sort of give Mobley abackseat, as they do Johnny Griffin [and many othersaxophonists of that era]. We take the Big Three, so to
speak, and then try to pigeonhole everybody else, but
we can’t do that. Like people just forget about [James]
Moody and I’ll never understand that.”
Mobley revealed his strategy for a personal soundand approach to Litweiler when remembering an uncle
who “always used to say, ‘Listen to Lester Young.’
When I was about 18 he told me: ‘If you’re withsomebody who plays loud, you play soft, if somebody
plays fast, you play slow. If you try to play the samething they’re playing you’re in trouble.’ Contrast. If
you play next to Johnny Griffin or Coltrane, that’s hard
work. You have to out-psych them. They’d say, ‘Let’s
play ‘Cherokee’, I’d go, ‘naw, naw-ah, how about alittle ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’? I put my heavy form on them,
then I can double up and do everything I want to do.”
The critic Leonard Feather effectively hammered
the metaphoric nail in the coffin of Mobley’s reputation
when he referred to him as the “middleweightchampion of the tenor saxophone”, a comment often
seen as disparaging him as not a “heavyweight” like
Coltrane, Rollins or Dexter Gordon. If only Feather had
called him the “Sugar Ray Robinson of tenors” instead,
Mobley’s heritage might be completely different.
Or maybe not. For like many of Bird’s admirers,

8 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

Mobley also followed Parker into heroin addiction. But
he was a late starter, as he told Litweiler: “I had theknowledge. When I got strung out it was my own fault.
A person getting strung out at 18; that’s a problem. He
doesn’t even have a chance to learn what life is about.
By the time I got strung out I had learned my instrument,
I was making money.” Mobley was incarcerated twice
for drug use, once in the late ‘50s and again in 1964.
When Mobley returned from Europe in 1970, tenor
saxophonist Leo Johnson, a stalwart on the Newark, NJ
jazz scene and a player whose sound has been
influenced by Mobley, remembers a homecomingcelebration for him at the Tremont Lounge in East
Orange. “Hank didn’t have a horn, so I lent him my
Selmer I had just bought recently in Paris,” remembers
Johnson, who adds “he played it, but I stayed very
close to him”, not wanting Mobley to lose or pawn it.
Drugs and later alcohol, would curtail Mobley’s career.
He stopped playing and reportedly was homeless forlong periods until his death. But Mobley’s career mightalso have suffered from his his extreme reticence.
Sonny Greenwich, a Canadian jazz titan known for
his Trane-like playing on guitar, appears on a 1967
Mobley septet album, Third Season. “I got a call to be on
the date because I knew Lee Morgan [also on the date].
At the rehearsal it was a real party atmosphere, a lot of
people were there [who weren’t on the record] like
Kenny Burrell and Duke Pearson. Hank himself was avery quiet, quiet person, almost invisible. I got afeeling he was interested in doing another session with
me—we got along real well musically—but we didvery little talking. He was very quiet throughout.”
The introverted Mobley’s reticence was no match
for achieving success at Blue Note. The company
recorded him prolifically, but many of the album
sessions he cut never saw the light of day until years
later, some being released only in Japan or
posthumously. “I’m tired of people saying, ‘Do a
record date’ and you go through all the effort,” he told
Litweiler. “You write something good that should beheard and they sit on it. What’s the point of it all?”He goes on to mention a “brass ensemble” record
with trumpets, trombones, French horn, baritone horn
and tuba that was never green lighted. Five tracks froma session with five horns, including euphonium andtuba, from 1966, can be found on the aforementioned
1963-1970 set, just another tantalizing example of theunder-appreciated artistry of Hank Mobley. v
For more information, visit bluenote.com/artist/hank-mobley
Recommended Listening:• Horace Silver—And The Jazz Messengers(Blue Note, 1954-55)• Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers—At The Jazz
Corner of the World, Vol. 1-2 (Blue Note, 1959)• Hank Mobley—Soul Station (Blue Note, 1960)• Miles Davis—In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at
The Blackhawk (Complete) (Columbia-Legacy, 1961)• Hank Mobley—Dippin’ (Blue Note, 1965)• Hank Mobley—A Slice of the Top (Blue Note, 1966)

You can find Julia's music on Apple iTunes andAmazon Music or scan the respective QR code below:

Soulharp.com

Following six entirely instrumental releases, in an unexpected
but welcome stylistic shift, the acclaimed Victoria, BC-based
harpist JULIA CUNNINGHAM releases Songs from the Harp –her first full jazz vocal album. Masterfully recorded by noted
producer Joby Baker, Songs from the Harp represents theculmination of a two decade-long creative dream.
Drawing heavily on the Great American Songbook andfeaturing the absolute cream of Victoria’s jazz fraternity,
Songs from the Harp is an essential addition to the sultry
late night jazz catalogue.

ENCOREra kalambob
moses
by jim motavalli
The man formerly known as the jazz drummer Bob
Moses, active since the ‘60s and on albums by everyone
from Gary Burton to Henry Kaiser, is now
Ra Kalam. The new name was bestowed upon him by
Bhapuji Tisziji Muñoz, a spiritual guide to manymusicians and also a killer guitarist.
When Kenny G put his Los Angeles farmhouse on
the market in 2018, the asking price was $4 million. By
contrast, Moses lives in a Quincy, Massachusetts
apartment he shares with two roommates. He doesn’t
have a lot of possessions and doesn’t go out much, but
he’s happy. “We live in the funkiest house on theblock,” said Moses, 72. “I don’t have a TV or takevacations, but creatively, spiritually, this is the best
time for me.” Can Kenny G say as much?
We need to start with Muñoz, because his counsel
is very central to the centered being Moses is today.
They play together as regularly as they can and talkfrequently on the phone. “Tisziji has been known
to play for 11 hours straight, going through several
drummers,” Moses said. “I know because I was one ofthem. He wears them out.” Muñoz’ message to Moses
boils down to this: leave your reference points behindand be free. He once leaned in on Moses during a gig
and whispered the phrase “no time” with a beatificexpression on his face.
Some Moses ancient history. He grew up in the
Bronx, arriving during the terrible blizzard of 1948.
His parents weren’t particularly musical, but his father
was a press agent who worked with musicians. “I sat in
Dizzy Gillespie’s lap when I was five,” Moses said.
A life in jazz seemed pre-destined, especially when—at
their son’s insistence—the family moved to Manhattan,
Central Park West and 101st Street. The address isimportant, because the building they chose was also
inhabited by Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Art Blakey.
Moses’ jazz-loving uncle used to dry clean Horace
Silver ’s suits for free. C’mon, is that fate or what?
Booker Little and Lee Morgan came by. Moses saw
Blakey evicted, with his Gretsch drums arrayed on the
sidewalk. He saw Eric Dolphy playing with the birds
on the curb and they became friends. “He was a humble
cat and he was interested in me,” Moses remembers.
“His death affected me more than Coltrane’s.”
Moses showed an early aptitude for music andpicked up several instruments before settling on thedrums at age 10. He played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk
while still in his teens and appeared on I Talk with theSpirits (1965). Moses’ first group, after playing salsa in
Puerto Rican groups when he was 13, was The Free
Spirits, who lived up to their name by being into
everything: rock, jazz, blues, free jazz, Bob Dylan, The
Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Along for the ride wereboth guitarist Larry Coryell (who ended Moses’ shortcareer as a jazz snob) and saxophonist Jim Pepper.
Coryell got hired away by Gary Burton and soon Moses
also joined the vibraphonist’s band. He was on board
by 1967, in time to play on the groundbreaking Lofty
Fake Anagram and two other Burton RCA LPs (theylater worked together on two more for ECM in the‘70s). His brief taste of record company money was
when his jazz fusion band Compost (with Harold Vick,
Jumma Santos, Jack Gregg and Jack DeJohnette) signed
to Columbia in the early ‘70s.
Moses was up and running. He formed close
collaborations and recorded with many postbop
players, including Dave Liebman, Paul Bley, Pat
Metheny, Steve Kuhn, Michael Gibbs, Gunter Hampel,Terumasa Hino, Emily Remler and Steve Swallow. He’s
still doing that work today, but he also recorded
extensively as a leader. Bittersweet in the Ozone, released
in 1975, is a favorite (both of Moses and this writer).
The drummer on it is Billy Hart, because Moses found
it was difficult to play the skins and conduct at thesame time.
In the early ‘80s, Moses wasn’t finding much workin New York and got offered a teaching gig at the New
England Conservatory. He moved up there around thetime his son was born (1985) and has stayed put.
“I thought it might be good for my gigging career,”
he says, with some delight. “It didn’t work out thatway. So here I am living in Quincy, on a dead-end
street, with no culture around, no great musicians toplay with and no girlfriend and I’m in my most creative
place.”
I asked drummer Billy Martin, of Medeski, Martin& Wood, for an assessment of his friend: “I love him,”
Martin said. “I can’t imagine what my life would be
like without him in it and we’ve visited each other overthree decades. He’s a true artist who is both playful
and timeless.”
Moses has been putting out records on his
Ra-Kalam label, the most recent being a collaborationfrom the early ‘70s (discovered on an old cassette) withkeyboard player Mike Nock playing early synthesizers.
The recording was enhanced with overdubs fromrecent collaborators, including horn players Stan
Strickland, Daniel Bitran, Jorrit Dijkstra and Edmar
Colon. Moses said the new musicians played in reaction
to the old tape; they couldn’t hear what the otherguests were doing. Now that’s free!
And Moses is free. He doesn’t have much money,
but he gets by—drum lessons via Skype are one avenue.
“It’s a hard time for the earth and I feel the sadness ofpeople, but it hasn’t affected how I live all that much,” hesaid. “I love being alone. I’m playing my drums almost
every day and I have eight or nine new paintings.” v

Ornstein School of Music in Philadelphia and with Carl
Torrello of the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1944-46,
Merritt served in the army. After his discharge, heworked for a short time with his father in real estate
before setting out on his full-time music career. From
1949-53 he backed rhythm and blues artist Bull Moose
Jackson and then toured with B.B. King. Then hetransitioned into jazz with Blakey, recording on seminal
albums such as Moanin’ (1958), At the Jazz Corner of theWorld (1959) and A Night in Tunisia (1960). After leaving
Blakey, Merritt established Forerunner in 1962,
a cooperative in Philadelphia’s cultural and community
activities into the late ‘80s. As part of that initiative, hisband of the same name included saxophonists Odean
Pope, Julian Pressley, Bobby Zankel and Terry Lawson;
percussionist Warren McLendon; drummer Alan
Nelson; and his son, bassist Mike Merritt. With The
Forerunners, Merritt and his men further explored his
theories of chord inversions, harmonics and uniquecompositional styles, which became the Forerunnersystem, embodied in Merritt’s expansive composition“Visions of the Ghost Dance”. Approaching his 90thbirthday, Merritt was still performing with the latest of
many incarnations of The Forerunners band.
In the period after leaving the Jazz Messengers,
Merritt also worked with trumpeters Chet Baker,
whose unfinished autobiography features him
prominently, Dizzy Gillespie and Lee Morgan, working
in the latter ’s final bands in the late ‘60s-early ‘70s.

Morgan’s Live at the Lighthouse (1970) features Merritt’s
compositions “Absolutions” and “Nommo”, written
for drummer Max Roach, with whom he worked from1965-68, the former that appears on Roach’s 1968
album Members, Don’t Git Weary and the latter on
1966’s Drums Unlimited.
Professionally active throughout his life, Merritt
has been recognized by awards that include the Don
Redman Heritage Award in 2008, sponsored by theHarpers Ferry Historical Association and the Jefferson
County NAACP under the auspices of the Don Redman
Heritage Society of Piedmont, West Virginia; and in2009 the Jazz Heritage Award, presented to him by thelate Philadelphia bassist Charles Fambrough at thePhiladelphia Jazz Fair. Merritt also received the Clef
Club of Philadelphia’s Living Legend Jazz Award,
bestowed upon him and fellow bassist Reggie
Workman in 2013. v

For more information, visit nativepulse.com/ra-kalam-bobmoses-records
Recommended Listening:• Steve Marcus—Tomorrow Never Knows(Atlantic, 1967)• David Liebman—Open Sky (PM, 1972)• Pat Metheny—Bright Size Life (ECM, 1975)• Bob Moses—When Elephants Dream of Music(Gramavision, 1982)• John Medeski/Tisziji Muñoz—Beauty as Beauty(Anami, 2008)• Ra Kalam Bob Moses—The Skies of Copenhagen(Ra-Kalam, 2012)

LEST WE FORGE T

jymie
merritt
by marilyn lester
Philadelphia-based bassist Jymie Merritt, who passed
on Apr. 10th of liver cancer a few weeks shy of his 94th
birthday, has long been recognized as an importantinnovator in the jazz world. He was one of the earliest,
if not the first, to use an electric bass, an instrument
that’s become standard since he adopted it in 1951, theyear Leo Fender’s perfected Precision Bass went into
production. Merritt had been attracted to the electricbass early on, playing the hybrid Ampeg transducer/
amplifier system for the upright bass, prior to purchasing
his Fender. Merritt never recorded as a leader, yet wasan anchor for several key postwar jazz groups, mostnotably Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1958-62.
James Raleigh Merritt was born on May 3rd, 1926
to a businessman father and a voice and piano teacher/choral director mother, who encouraged his studies inmusic. He began on the saxophone, but was so inspiredby recordings of the great Duke Ellington bassist Jimmie
Blanton he took up the instrument, studying at the

10 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

For more information, visit mikemerritt.com/wp/?page_id=310
Recommended Listening:• Sonny Clark—Sonny Clark Trio (Blue Note, 1958)• Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers—Moanin’(Blue Note, 1958)• Dizzy Reece—Comin’ On (Blue Note, 1960)• Wayne Shorter—Wayning Moments (Vee-Jay, 1962)• Max Roach—Members, Don’t Git Weary (Atlantic, 1968)• Lee Morgan—Live at The Lighthouse (Blue Note, 1970)

L ABEL SPOTLIGHT

more
is
more
by john sharpe
It’s not an exaggeration to say that trumpeter Peter
Evans is one of those rare musicians identifiable after
a single note. He’s one of a select cohort who has taken
his instrument to levels undreamed of by previous
generations, especially in the realm of solo playing.
His debut under his own leadership was a striking
unaccompanied outing titled More Is More on Evan
Parker ’s psi imprint in 2006 and he’s also used that as
the banner for his own label.
Why did he choose that name? “I thought at thattime that it reflected the aesthetic as well as beinga kind of a riff on a common phrase.” It’s an aesthetic
that still has currency as Evans affirms: “I like works ofart that give the experiencer more than they can chew
on at first sittings.” And that depth and richness ofmaterial applies to much of the music on the label,
whether solo, duo or ensemble, although he goes on to
explain: “It doesn’t mean I just put out records ofsuper-dense music.”
Of course, musician-run outlets are no rarity. The
impetus for Evans to found More Is More in 2011 camewith the self-recorded Ghosts. Although he had
multiple releases under his belt on a variety of labels
without any misfortunes, he found the experience of
shopping Ghosts around labels and fitting in with long
release schedules demoralizing. “I didn’t want to wait
around and because I didn’t start the label until I’dbeen around a little bit, some people knew who I was

EponymousRocket Science

GhostsPeter Evans Quintet

and I had some contacts, so that record did really welland it made it seem like, OK this isn’t actually that
hard.”
Subsequent recordings have tracked the evolutionof his astonishing solo trumpet music, beginning with
Lifeblood in 2016, on through The Veil (2018) and latterly
Into The Silence (2020), as well as the daredevil
expression of his quintet, which made Ghosts,
Destination: Void (2014) and Genesis (2016), along withother projects like Rocket Science and Pulverize The
Sound. The label remains primarily a vehicle for Evans’
own efforts, although there is one album in the
catalogue by another artist, a solo session by New York
saxophonist Aaron Burnett.
Evans takes a purposeful approach to what he puts
out. “I decide way ahead of time I’m going to do thisthing. And if it doesn’t work, then I don’t put it out.
Sometimes these things take years and other times
they are really quick. So with The Veil, I had these
specific ideas I wanted to do, I practiced for thesepieces for a couple of months and then recorded them.”
There are benefits from operating small-scale,Evans finds: “It keeps the costs down. An album like
Lifeblood, I would say a third of the record is live.
The title track is a live solo gig from Cleveland, which
I didn’t even know was going to be recorded. At thattime I was going for a certain thing. After the gig
I asked for the recording and it came out well. So
I attached it to the other stuff that I had. I spent somemoney on it but that album did well. With the ensemble
records it’s more difficult. I always pay musicians,
especially if it’s a studio thing. So I’m just about
making the cost back.”
Evans shares the logistics with his wife and he has

Lifeblood
Peter Evansa de facto team for production. “Any record that Sam
Pluta is on he usually mixes, because it’s just the waythat music works with live processing, the way that itcomes from background to foreground, it might bea bit difficult for someone to mix that. Then once
I started recording with Jason LaFarge at Seizure’s
Palace, because he was there and does a really goodjob, I had him mix them. And Weasel Walter does all
the mastering. So I don’t have to think about it.”
By this stage, the label is largely digital, although he
has experimented with USB drives for albums withlonger running times. As the next two releases fit
comfortably on an LP they’ll also be issued on vinyl.
In 2020 Evans releases albums by two contrasting
outfits. Being & Becoming is the first from an acoustic
jazz quartet with three younger players from the New
York scene: up-and-coming vibraphonist Joel Ross,
bassist Nick Jozwiak and drummer Savannah Harris.
“They are all really open and they seem interested indoing anything I throw at them. Every time we played
it was something different. We’d do a gig that was all
free improvisation, or all standards and not like freestandards, or new compositions. After six months
I thought OK there’s certain things that work and areslam-dunks, things that are maybe a bit too easy.
So I wrote specifically for the record. I’ve just tried toget variety in there, tried to make sure that everybody
has a moment to shine, that we do some of the expectedthings, but also some of the unexpected things.”
Then on August 15, Evans drops Horizons by
a different, more radical quartet, comprising violinist
Mazz Swift, percussionist Levy Lorenzo and the
keyboards of Ron Stabinsky, which grew out of his
				(CONTINUED ON PAGE 13)

Pulverize The Sound
Peter Evans/Tim Dahl/Mike Pride

Eponymous
Being & Becoming

VOX NEWS

SilentNo
Moreby suzanne lorge
Singer/composer Sara Serpa’s silken voice stands incontrast to the theme of her June release Recognition:
Music for a Silent Film (Biophilia). This soundtrack from
Serpa’s affecting 2017 multimedia project Recognition,
takes to task 500 years of colonial abuses her native
Portugal perpetrated against the black citizens ofAngola. The film portion of the project—available on
Serpa’s website—comprises actual footage of ‘60s
Angola from a family archive.
Throughout the footage of bombings and military
parades, Serpa interspersed text from the writings ofAmílcar Cabral, the anti-colonial thinker credited withoverthrowing Portuguese dominance in the Africancolonies. The relevance of these provocative texts tothe legacy of African slavery in modern-day America ishard to miss and Serpa’s disturbing images alongsidethese textual overlays have only become more
distressing in the few years since she debuted the
project. Without these additional media, however, hermusic takes on a wholly different character. Whatemerges from the audio-only experience is simply theelegance of Serpa’s intervallic vocal lines and theimpressionistic interplay of harp (Zeena Parkins),

saxophone (Mark Turner) and piano (David Virelles)on tracks like “The Multi-racialism Myth”, “Civilizing
Influence” and “Unity and Struggle”. Thus the album,
as a stand-alone, shows how beauty works as a tool ofprotest.
Banjo player/singer Don Vappie revitalizes anearly forgotten New Orleans musical tradition on
The Blue Book of Storyville (Lejazzetal), a collection of 17
banjo-centered tunes. Backed by a trio of guitar (DaveKelbie), bass (Sébastien Girardot) and clarinet (David
Horniblow), Vappie champions the Créole contribution
to the exquisite blend of ragtime, marches, hymns andblues that became New Orleans jazz. “I really wanted
to advance the banjo in a more melodic role as
I perceived it was in some of the Caribbean and African
styles”, Vappie explains in the liner notes. With this inmind, he turned out the bawdy, blue-tinged title track,
one of four originals on the album; happy jags like thetraditional “Mo Pas Laimé Ça”; more well-known
tunes like Jelly Roll Morton’s droll “Buddy Bolden’sBlues”; and homages like “C’est L’autre Cancan” by
Créole jazz trombonist Edward “Kid” Ory. In sum, ajoyous reminder of New Orleans’ diverse heritage.
Singer/composer Jay Clayton, one of the mostimaginative free singers around, excels in small
formats, where her roomy, nuanced improvisations canreceive the necessary attention. On her latest release
for Sunnyside, Alone Together—a duo album withdrummer Jerry Granelli, recorded completely

extemporaneously—she sings and voices spoken wordwith only percussion for accompaniment. For source
material, Clayton drew on the writings of e e cummings,
whose verse inspired the album’s bookends, opening
with “Because It’s Spring” and closing with “BellsToo”. The freeform poet’s tantalizing words land in thesweetest part of Clayton’s voice, where the warm
lower tones are just beginning to melt into her
surprisingly light soprano. This time she also recorded
one of her mainstays from Ornette Coleman’s canon,“Lonely Woman”, its solitary melody all the moreaching for the lack of chordal backing. And on inventive
originals like “Swing Thing” and “New Morning
Blues” Clayton used electronic effects in real time toenhance the textures of her wordless vocals—a tricky
technique that few do as well.
But Clayton, also a jazz educator, is more thanwilling to share what she knows—she recently signed
on as a coach with jazzvoice.org, vocalist Alexis Cole’s
new educational site for vocal jazz. Born of lockdown
necessity, the site is unusual for the access it gives new
singers to A-list jazz vocalists; besides Clayton,interested singers can study privately with the likes of
Karrin Allyson, Paul Jost, Jane Monheit and Tierney
Sutton, among equally impressive others. Subscribers
can participate in master classes with pros like John
Proulx and Catherine Russell and free-accesseducational videos can help aspirants understand how
jazz singers approach feel, vibrato and scatting. v

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 11

i n memoriam

jimmy
cobb
by andrey henkin

ALDO BASSI (Jan. 29th, 1962 - May 10th,2020) The Italian trumpeter was active
since the late ‘80s, working with Riccardo
Fassi, Mauro Zazzarini, Mario Raja, Barrio
Jazz Gang, Antonella Vitale, Federica
Zammarchi, Nina Pedersen and Carla
Marcotulli. Bassi died May 10th at 58.

© Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

ALDIR BLANC (Sep. 2nd, 1946 - May 4th,2020) The Brazilian composer had hissongs recorded by Claudette Soares,
Ronald Mesquita, Tamba Trio, João Bosco,
Elis Regina, Quarteto Em Cy, La Gran
Orquesta De Paul Mauriat, Milton Banana,
Lee Ritenour, Zimbo Trio, Irakere, Karrin
Allyson and Stefano Bollani. Blanc died May 4th at 73.

Drummer

Jimmy Cobb, usually described in
reductionist terms as the last surviving member ofMiles Davis’ Kind of Blue band but who was active foryears before and decades after, died May 24th at 91.
Wilbur James Cobb was born Jan. 20th, 1929 in
Washington, DC. Recalling his youth to our own Russ
Musto in December 2018, Cobb said, “there was musiccoming out of everywhere…Baptist churches, little
places that would have people come into town on theweekend, jazz places... And there was the Howard
Theater.” Cobb became interested in playing drums
while listening to jazz records and he’d “bang on theside of the table.” His first professional engagements
were in a band that included the slightly older
saxophonist and Washington, DC stalwart Buck Hill.
Then he supported other up-and-coming locals likeCharlie Rouse and Leo Parker.
After moving to New York, Cobb joined alto
saxophonist Earl Bostic’s band and it was with him andhis singer Dinah Washington that Cobb got his firstrecording credits. More work would follow with
Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Kelly and Paul
Chambers on albums made for EmArcy, Mercury,Riverside and Vee-Jay. It was through Adderley that
Cobb would be connected to Davis, the drummer
stepping in for an absent Philly Joe Jones on occasion.
He then got the gig full-time when “Miles calls me up
and says ‘Well Joe’s not going to be in the band...
I asked when the next gig was going to be and he said,‘Well, actually I’m working tonight.’ I said, ‘Oh yeah,
where?’ And he said Boston. I said ‘Boston?’ And it’s
like 6:30 in the evening and I’m at home in New York.
I asked, ‘Oh yeah, what time do you start?’ And he said,‘Nine o’clock.’ I said, ‘Nine o’clock; how am I gonna getthere at nine o’clock?’ He said, ‘You want the gig, don’tyou?’” Cobb would appear on such Davis albums as
Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain and, of course, Kind ofBlue, working in the trumpeter’s bands from 1958-62.
During and after his time with Davis Cobb worked
with Wayne Shorter, Nat Adderley, Art Pepper, Bobby
Timmons, John Coltrane, Julian Priester, Mark Murphy,
Dorothy Ashby, Paul Gonsalves, Sonny Red, Bill
Hardman, Wes Montgomery, Benny Golson, Shirley
Scott, Hubert Laws, Bunky Green, Walter Bishop, Von
Freeman, Sarah Vaughan, Mongo Santamaria, Joe
Henderson, Kenny Drew, Ricky Ford, Billy Mitchell, Red
Garland, Nick Brignola, Richie Cole, David “Fathead”
Newman, The Great Jazz Trio, Kenny Barron, John Hicks,
Mark Morganelli, Frank Morgan, Bud Shank, Bertha
Hope, Rahn Burton, Antonio Hart, Peter Bernstein, RoyHargrove, Ernie Watts, Eddie Gomez, Cedar Walton,
Geri Allen and many others. Cobb finally debuted as aleader in 1981 for Contempo Vibrato and released several
more albums on Milestone, Chesky, Marsalis Music andSmoke Sessions well into the new millennium.

BOB NORTHERN (May 21st, 1934 - May
31st, 2020) The French horn player andflutist contributed to dozens of albums in
the late ‘50s-60s by Art Farmer, Gil Evans,
Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy
Byers, John Coltrane, John Lewis, Julius
Watkins, Milt Jackson, Michel Legrand,
Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Donald Byrd, The Jazz
Composer’s Orchestra, McCoy Tyner, Charlie Haden,
Sun Ra and others as well as his own few albums for
Strata-East and Divine as Brother Ah, the moniker heused to host his weekly jazz radio program in
Washington, DC. Northern died May 31st at 86.
BOB PILSBURY (1927 - May 12th, 2020)
The pianist was a member of the Black
Eagle Jazz Band, active since the ‘70s
with albums on G.H.B., Stomp Off,
Philips and other labels, plus his own‘80s date for Dirty Shame. Pilsbury diedMay 12th at 93.

RICHIE COLE (Feb. 29th, 1948 - May
2nd, 2020) The saxophonist got his startwith Buddy Rich in the late ‘60s, worked
with Eddie Jefferson, Don Patterson,
Red Rodney, Vic Juris, Mark Murphy
and others in the ‘70s, was a regular
accompanist
for
The
Manhattan
Transfer in the ‘80s, was on Veronica Swift’s 2004 debut
when the singer was only 10 and made records
regularly as a leader from the ‘70s onwards for
Progressive, Muse, Seven Seas, GNP Crescendo, Palo
Alto, Concord, Fantasy, Milestone, Candid, Venus, Jazz
Excursion and other labels. Cole died May 2nd at 72.

HOLLI ROSS (1957 - May 9th, 2020)
The vocalist was a founding member of
the String of Pearls trio and The Royal
Bopsters quartet, wrote lyrics sung on
albums by Mark Murphy, Claudio
Roditi, Giacomo Gates and others anddirected the jazz vocal ensemble at
Montclair State University. Ross died May 9th at 63.

SONNY COX (1938 - May 5th, 2020) The
alto saxophonist was active in the mid‘60s as part of The Three Souls with two
LPs on Argo and his own date for arenamed Cadet, then left music to pursue
a career as a high school basketball coachin Chicago, where his teams won threestate championships. Cox died May 5th at 82.

HERMAN SANDY (Nov. 15th, 1921 May 13th, 2020) The Belgian trumpeter
had his own entry in the Innovation En
Jazz series in 1955 and recorded with
Jacques Pelzer, David Bee, St. Tropez
Jazz Octett, Fats Sadi, Belgian Big Band,
Victoria Jazz Band and others. Sandy
died May 13th at 98.

JOHN CUMMING (Sep. 30th, 1948 May 17th, 2020) The British jazz
impresario and OBE recipient founded
the Bracknell Jazz Festival, Camden Jazz
Week, managed John Surman and Andy
Sheppard, was an original member ofthe European Jazz Network and, mostnotably, began and ran the London Jazz Festival from
1993-2017. Cumming died May 17th at 71.

CAREI THOMAS (1938 - May 28th,2020) The composer, pianist andsometimes-vocalist’s Feel Free Ensemble
released a 2002 album on Roaratorio andhe had a record under his name forInnova in 2005, all featuring his original
music. Thomas died May 28th at 81.

HENRY ESTRADA (Jul. 25th, 1936 May 10th, 2020) The saxophonist was
one-third of the titular Estrada Brothers,
which had albums on Chazz, Rumba
Jazz, Milestone and Cougar in the ‘90s
and recorded with Gary Lefebvre in the‘80s. Estrada died May 10th at 83.
MORY KANTÉ (Mar. 29th, 1950 - May
22nd, 2020) The Guinean kora player
and vocalist had albums since the ‘80s
on Barclay, Syllart and other labels plus
recording credits with Manu Dibango,
Azikmen, Sofi Hellborg and others.
Kanté died May 22nd at 70.
LENNIE NIEHAUS (Jun. 1st, 1929 May 28th, 2020) The St. Louisan alto
saxophonist was a West Coast jazz
fixture from the ‘50s onwards, boththrough his albums for Contemporary
and EmArcy and work with Stan
Kenton’s various ‘50s groups as well as
Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars and Shorty
Rogers but known most to the general public for his
helping composing for Clint Eastwood-directed movies
like Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.
Niehaus died May 28th at 90.

12 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORDDONN TRENNER (Mar. 10th, 1927 May 16th, 2020) The Connecticut pianist
established himself on the West Coast in
the ‘50s with Stan Getz, Dave Pell, Helen
Carr, Les Brown, Ben Webster, Mel
Tormé, Nancy Wilson and others andreleased two late-career duo records
with vocalist B.J. Ward. Trenner died May 16th at 93.
DON WELLER (Dec. 19th, 1940 - May
30th, 2020) The British saxophonist
recorded with Stan Tracey in the ‘70s90s, Harry Beckett, Michael Garrick,Marvin Hannibal Peterson, Gil Evans,
Charlie Watts, Mick Pyne in the ‘70s-80s
and Tina May in the ‘90s, all this to go
along with his own handful of albums since the late
‘70s on Affinity, Emanem, 33 Records and Trio. Weller
died May 30th at 79.
JÜRGEN WUCHNER (1948 - May 1st,2020) The German bassist was active
since the early ‘70s, working withMichael Sell, Hans Koller, Bob Degen,Heinz Sauer, Herbert Joos, Vienna Art
Orchestra, Gunther Klatt and Uwe
Oberg, leading his own dates for View,
Sporeprint and his own JWJ imprint and was integral
to the founding of the Jazz Institute in his hometown ofDarmstadt. Wuchner died May 1st at 72. v

(INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6)
who went to Berklee back then. And they all sort ofplayed the same way. So, I think it helped me to figure
it out my own way.
TNYCJR: What’s distinctive about your style and voice
as a musician?
JM: I’ll leave it up to other people to draw their own
conclusions about that, but I will say that I am
influenced by a unique set of people and ideas.
I incorporate things and draw from them in a creative
way. My output is varied to the point of confusing
people about who I am and what I do and there is a lotof it because I try to never repeat myself, which makes
every day a beginning of my musical life. Also, mysense of what I feel is melodic seems to confound many
listeners who hate what I do. So, my best effort toentice people to enjoy my music as a way to havea new experience seems to annoy more people than
I would have ever expected. I’ve been heavily criticizedfor decades for not sounding like other people and I’ve
been praised for the same thing.
TNYCJR: What kind of gear do you use and does that
affect your sound?
JM: I used to play a ‘71 Les Paul Custom [Black Beauty]
plugged into a Fender Deluxe amp for years, but thatwas burned in a fire. That was the only guitar I everreally loved. Later, I got another Les Paul but about 20
years ago I got interested in archtop guitars and thenworked for a long time to have a way to sound as
acoustic as possible and still loud enough to be heard.
I have a Heritage Eagle and an Eastman AR810 that
I have modified with piezo pickups added with thefloating pickup. I use a DPA mic sometimes too. My
preferred amp for that is an Acoustic Image Clarus
combo. I have some Moogerfooger effects, a ring
modulator and a freqbox, which I add expression
pedals to. I use an old feedback pedal sometimes and adelay and octafuzz. Mainly I prefer the most active useof pedals through the expression pedals. They allow
me to improvise with sound rather than just stomp
them and leave them on. I like the mystery offered byusing the pedals that way. I separate all of my guitar
playing, techniques and gear based on what I expect toplay and with whom. So my guitar playing is never
one thing, never fixed to make the same point and asoften as possible, with every allowance for redundancy,
open to discovery on the spot. I also have very studied
techniques that I use when I need or want it.
TNYCJR: Talk about the record label you started andsome of the groups and artists you’ve worked with.
JM: I followed the lead of people I admired, like Julius
Hemphill, and started my own label in 1983. I did it
because no one else would release my music, or at least
I figured they wouldn’t until I did it myself. The name
Riti is taken from a one-string African fiddle thatfactors into a technique I use.
TNYCJR: You live in New Haven, CT, not a place
people typically think of for jazz. What’s the jazz scene
like there and how does it compare to other places?
JM: New Haven has a small and varied jazz scene withgood players in a lot of different approaches. The scene
I’m in here is small but serious. Growing up, there wasa lot going on. There were a lot of smart people anda lot of creativity and it was more accessible than New
York, though I went to New York as often as I could.
Also, we have one of the best venues in the world,
Firehouse 12, and others like State House and Cafe 9 allon the same city block. Getting easy space to play otherthan those is tough, but we keep trying. We play at

Never Ending Books and Best Video. I’ve presented
things at city libraries, art galleries. We also have
Hartford 40 miles north where Real Art Ways is very
special. There are venues in Willimantic CT, inGreenfield MA, in Providence, Boston and quite a few
house show venues especially Orchard Strassa in New
Haven, etc. We do our best to make it happen here. It’s
all very grassroots and musician-generated except for
the few venues I mentioned.
TNYCJR: What about your work as an educator?
JM: Well, there is a lot to say. I’m in my 21st year at
New England Conservatory. I teach lessons at The New
School. I’ve taught at a few other places too: Longy
School of Music of Bard College for 10 years, Universityof Calgary and Southern Connecticut State University.
I have a curriculum that is laid out in my book Perpetual
Frontier: The Properties of Free Music. I teach someharmonic things, but I specialize in improvised musicthat is not based on harmony. I teach ensembles, lecture
and teach private lessons.
TNYCJR: What projects are you currently working on?
JM: I made 13 recordings so far in 2020. Four more aredue. But my main big thing is the first volume of my“Instantiation” music: four CDs, Paradoxical, Versioning,
Locale and Switches. “Instantiation” is a composition forimprovising musicians’ projects. I plan to continue with
the next volume of recordings as soon as society opens
up again. I’ve been thinking about how I might
configure melody differently so that it functions as adifferent type of template for different kinds ofimprovisations. That’s something I’m working on right
this minute. I also work a lot on technique so that I havethe facility on my various instruments so that I can
execute what I’m hearing and thinking. And this whole“Instantiation” project is a way of combining regularnotation with graphic notation that I invent to getgroups of people to have a certain kind of control overneeding no control to get new things. This last group ofrecords that I made with this concept are all pretty
different but have the similarity based on how thecompositional material steers them. But still, 99% of themusic is improvised. I’m interested in things like that.
I have a new record coming out with Tomeka Reidthe cellist, I’m on [vocalist] Fay Victor ’s new record
and I am constantly putting out things on my
Bandcamp label. I have a lot of different projects,
they’re all sincere, there isn’t one part of it that is lessimportant to me than the other. That’s what I do. The
similarities and variety of it, that’s who I am, that’s
what I’m trying to do. It’s a bigger objective than trying
to do one thing and perfect it.

settles back to its earlier messed-up level and we canget back to doing everything possible to change things
by playing music together. v
For more information, visit joe-morris.com
Recommended Listening:• Joe Morris Trio—Symbolic Gesture (Soul Note, 1993)• Joe Maneri/Joe Morris/Mat Maneri—
Three Men Walking (ECM, 1995)• William Parker/Joe Morris/Hamid Drake—
Eloping With The Sun (Riti, 2001)• Joe Morris/Barre Phillips—Elm City Duets(Clean Feed, 2006)• Joe Morris—Solos Bimhuis (Relative Pitch, 2013-14)• Mary Halvorson/Joe Morris—Traversing Orbits(RogueArt, 2018)(label CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11)
quintet with Pluta and Jim Black. “It felt to me three orfour years ago, OK that had had its life, let’s dosomething else with this group. So I added Mazz andLevy to make a seven-piece band. Because Levy, Mazz
and Ron all live in the New York area, that subgroupbecame its own little thing. We did a few shows and themusic also became modular. That band, anything
I can imagine, they’re down to do. It’s truly
experimental, not in terms of making the weirdest
sounds, but in terms of just sheer approach. OK, we’regoing to do notated chamber music, then we’re going tohave a Weather Report-style groove with a synthesizer,
so anything that I feel like doing, they’re game.” v
For more information, visit peterevanstrumpet.com

TNYCJR: How are you adapting to the pandemic?
JM: My life is pretty normal so far, because I live in thewoods, isolated from people, and I’m used to being
here a lot when I’m not teaching or performing. I missplaying with people and lately it’s hit me that this isprobably the longest length of time without that in
decades. My understanding of myself and what to do
is more dependent on playing with people thanI thought. But I have made a couple of recordings
remotely with [keyboard player] Jamie Saft. [Drummer]
Mike Pride is on one of them. I’ve been getting caught
up on mixing and releasing recordings for release on
my Glacial Erratic Bandcamp page.
TNYCJR: Thoughts about the future?
JM: Keep going. “Instantiation” will be a big part ofthat. Playing more bass, new duos with Tomeka Reidand Ken Vandermark, special things coming up with
Jamie Saft. Playing gigs on drums, which I started
doing more last year. Hoping like hell that the world

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 13

album REVIEWS

Songs from the Harp
Julia Cunningham (s/r)
Tortues vapeur
Susanna Hood/Martin Tétreault (Mikroclimat)
A Cheerful Little Earful
Diana Panton (Hamilton)
by Pierre Giroux

PaisajeSebastián Greschuk (ears&eyes)
El Contorno Del Espacio
SLD Trio (Fundacja Słuchaj!)
New Improvised Music from Buenos Aires
Various Artists (ESP-Disk’)by Tom Greenland

These three releases are interesting examples of whatsome Canadian jazz and contemporary music artists
are up to these days. They are a mélange of English
and French-Canadian cultures (with a tinge of avantguard edginess) fitting nicely in the country’s duality(Happy Canada Day—Jul. 1st).
“Recording Songs from the Harp was by far themost fun I’ve had making a record and a long held
dream.” So says Victoria B.C.-based harpist/singer
Julia Cunningham. Starting with a prestigious musicaleducation studying classical harp and several years
touring jazz and blues festivals with Solomon Burke,
followed by a half-dozen self-released instrumental
recordings, Cunningham delivers a stellar vocal recitalof compositions from the standards songbook. One has
to wonder what took her so long to get to this place.
Throughout this 14-track release, produced by Joby
Baker, Cunningham stays in her comfort zone as she
delivers delightful turns on “There’s A Small Hotel”,‘God Bless The Child” and the uptempo “On The SunnySide Of The Street”. Not forgetting her harp antecedents,
she features a gorgeous instrumental rendition of theConsuelo Velázquez bolero “Bésame Mucho”. With thisdebut vocal release, Cunningham has laid down a marker
that this could be the kick-off of something important.
Tortues vapeur (Steamed Turtles) is a digital releasefrom Montréalers Susanna Hood and Martin Tétreault,
who really are performance artists more thanmusicians. The sounds they produce are primarily ofelectroacoustic provenance. Although the six tracks are
given titles, they provide no guidance to their content.
Each is an amalgam of noise, rhythms, textures, voice
and snippets of previously recorded material, creatinga sound-garden to be tilled or left fallow as the listenerchooses. So regardless of how this process is described,
it’s certainly not for the faint of heart.
When Diana Panton started out to record A Cheerful
Little Earful, it may have been originally directed
towards a younger listening audience. However, theend result certainly has an adult construct with themusical support of two Canadian jazz stalwarts:
guitarist Reg Schwager and the multi-talented Don
Thompson. Both have great reputations in Canada, butalso gained broader recognition as members of the final
iteration of the George Shearing Quintet.
Using material from the Great American Songbook,along with melodies that popped up in films andBroadway musicals, Panton’s expressive satiny voice
weaves a little magic into these compositions. The
acquaintance with the songs as well as their joyfulpresentation is never discourteous to the composers’
intentions, as for example the opening track “Happy
Talk”, which is delivered with direct simplicity. The
title track has, thanks to some over-dubbing, a Shearing
Quintet feeling (not unsurprisingly) and Panton revelsin the accompaniment. Following Panton’s lovely
acappella opening to “Look To The Rainbow”, both
Schwager and Thompson on piano provide sympathetic
support as Panton smoothly searches the lyrics in her
amiable style. Regardless of the composition, Panton
approaches the lyrics with sense of delight andwonderment, which fits perfectly with her exuberant
vocal style.

Buenos Aires, Argentina has long supported creative

For
more
information,
visit
soulharp.com,
mikroclimat.bandcamp.com and dianapanton.com

impulses, including music from classical to tango tofree improvisation. Three releases—two recent, thethird a sampler of the previous eight years—show
several directions these impulses have taken (Happy
Día de la Independencia—Jul. 9th).
Trumpeter Sebastián Greschuk’s Paisaje swims inthe mainstream tradition of postbop, adapting its
vocabulary and mannerisms with a certain personal
flair. The music on this evenly paced set is both relaxed
and urgent, the melodies drawn from the serpentine
architecture of bop and peppered with flat-five
intervals, all prodded along with gentle syncopation.
“La Aspera”, rendered on buttery flugelhorn, is anaffecting tune, the solo showing Greschuk’s penchantfor sequenced ideas and gently squeezed grace notes.
Avoiding the highest register, he prefers to speak in thewarmer, gruffer tones available to the lower regions of
the horn. Pianist Nicolas Boccanera trades between
acoustic and electric instruments, like Greschuk
showing a penchant for patterned lines, yet equallyfond of fluid, textural gestures. Bassist Matías
Crouzeilles is something of a sleeper here, making
his strongest moves later in the game: a persuasive
soliloquy of sliding double-stops introducing“Boomerang”; then a swinging solo over the tune,
adeptly complemented by drummer Sebastián deUrquiza (just before Boccanera joins them for aninteractive threesome); and finally a third turn on theimpressionistic closer “Moñongo-Cherry”.
The SLD Trio, an acronym for pianist Paula
Shocron, bassist Germán Lamonega and drummer
Pablo Díaz, has been active in Buenos Aires’ free improv
scene for five years. El Contorno Del Espacio, their third
disc, recorded in the studio, is a relatively structured
effort, with three compositions by each member anda cover of Duke Ellington’s “Melancholia”. Likea successful television sit-com, where the ensemble
chemistry makes (or breaks) the show, here the mutual
chemistry is immediate and persuasive, from theunderstated tension of the title track, to the collective
climax and spun-out release of “Jiwasa”, continuing
through a gamut of mutual motions both dense andspacious, spattered and smooth, until the impressive
denouement to Shocron’s intense outpouring on“Máquina Verde”—an effortless yet immaculatedeconstruction of the ‘groove’. The last piece, “Caída
Libre”, shows Shocron’s proficiency in permuting andthrough-thinking a motive (this one reminiscent of theMission: Impossible TV theme) in the manner ofBeethoven, John Coltrane or Thelonious Monk.
New Improvised Music from Buenos Aires is ananthology of (mostly) studio pieces featuring a rotating
cast. The SLD Trio is here, three-fifths of a quintet withcornet player Enrique Norris and tenor saxophonist
Pablo Moser on “Improvisation on Graphic Score”,
which transitions from bangings and tinklings to rock/swing and back. Shocron duets with Norris on thepretty “La Puerta R”, but plays alone on a highly
contrapuntal piano improv beginning with rapid,
scampering lines, which, for all their speed, never lose
clarity, settling into a more stately and rhapsodic mood
towards the end. Díaz reappears on “Improvisation
0681”, a short, forceful trio piece with tenor saxophonist
Miguel Crozzoli and bassist Juan Bayon; and on“La Playa Pequeña”, a fast freebop number with Norris

14 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD(employing an Ellington-esque growl tone) and bassist
Maximiliano Kirszner. Other cast members of note
include reedplayer Luis Conde, who pairs with pianist
Fabiana Galante on three short vignettes (“Relámpagos
I-III”) and whose booming bass saxophone makes anindelible impression on “Primer Jugo Bovino”, a duowith guitarist Ramiro Molina; on “18:18”, a duo withclarinetist/synthesizer player Jorge Chikiar; and on“Transición”, the final track with Galante, flutist José
María D’Angelo and bandoneón player Eliseo Tapia,
who pumps with the power of a runaway train.
For more information, visit
fsrecords.net and espdisk.com

earsandeyesrecords.com,

John Fedchock NY Sextet
Tuesday, July 28
7 & 9:30 PM

Birdland315 W. 44th Street
New York, NY
212-581-3080***CD RELEASE
CELEBRATION***"Timeless hard bop, free of cliché"

R Faces of Souls (Leo)Akinmusire—on the tender spot ofe • Ambroseevery calloused moment (Blue Note)
Clayton/Fritz Pauer/Ed Neumeister—c • Jay
3 For The Road (Meisteromusic)o • Agustí Fernández—Camallera (Sirulita)
Greene—Spirituals (Unseen Rain)m •• Hilliard
Ray Mantilla—Rebirth (Savant)m • The Necks—Three (Northern-Spy)
Rubalcaba/Aymée Nuviola—e • Gonzalo
Viento y Tiempo—Live at Blue Note Tokyo(Top Stop Music)n • Marc
Schmolling—Suvenyrd (SCHMOLLINGSTONES)Santos Silva—e • Susana
The Same Is Always Different (s/r)
d Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor• Aardvark Jazz Orchestra—

10 9 – Today Is Better Thann • Angles
Tomorrow (Underflow)
Trio—Digging the Sande • AVA(Marocco Music)w • Omer Avital Qantar—New York Paradox

r
e
l
e
a
s
e
s

(Zamzama)• Brecker Brothers—Live and Unreleased(Piloo)• Grencsó Collective Special 5(with Ken Vandermark)—
Do Not Slam The Door! (BMC Records)• Mark Helias—Available Light (s/r)• Bob James—Once Upon A Time: The Lost
1965 New York Studio Sessions (Resonance)• Jorge Roeder—El Suelo Mío (s/r)• Josh Sinton’s What Happens in a Year—cérémonie musique (Form is Possibility)• Charles Tolliver—Connect (Gearbox)
Andrey Henkin, Editorial Director

Everything Old Is New Again
Mark Soskin (SteepleChase)by Alex Henderson

Pianist Mark Soskin has embraced a wide variety ofjazz over the years. Everything Old Is New Again finds
the Bay Area native, who turns 67 on Jul. 12th, offering
mostly acoustic postbop influenced by the mellower
sides of saxophonists Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane andPharoah Sanders. Soskin leads a quartet of Billy Drewes(soprano saxophone and bass clarinet), Jay Anderson(bass) and Matt Wilson (drums). This is the same lineup
Soskin led on his 17 (Seventeen) album from 2001, absent
trumpeter Tim Hagans and percussionist Daniel
Sadownick. Everything Old Is New Again consists ofseven Soskin originals, Ornette Coleman’s “Happy
House”, David Crosby’s “Guinnevere” and the Todd
Rundgren ballad “Pretending to Care”.
None of the Soskin originals are barnburners,
a relaxed, contemplative mood usually prevailing,from “Tribute” and the title track to “Hymn for Her”.
The exception is “Happy House”, which brings a doseof abstraction. The influence of Shorter, Coltrane andSanders comes through not only in Soskin’s composing
but also in Drewes’ soprano solos (he switches to thebass clarinet on “Happy House”, “Pretending to Care”
and Soskin’s “Stretching”). “Elvin’s Tune” one may
assume was written for Elvin Jones; it recalls the morelaid-back recordings that the drummer played on aspart of Coltrane’s quartet in the early ‘60s. “One Once”
is easily the most Latin-flavored track, reminding
listeners of Soskin’s Latin credentials (in the ‘70s,
Soskin was part of the Latin band Azteca and wasfeatured on some albums by percussionist Pete
Escovedo). “Guinnevere” started out in folk-rock when
Crosby unveiled it as part of Crosby, Stills & Nash in
1968; Soskin takes the song in a very different direction
as he also does with Rundgren’s ‘80s pop-rock song.
17 years passed between 17 (Seventeen) and
Everything Old Is New Again and it’s good to see thatSoskin’s rapport with Drewes, Anderson and Wilson
was as strong in 2018 as it was in 2001.
For more information, visit steeplechase.dk

In Concert
Norma Winstone/John Taylor (Enodoc - Sunnyside)by Dan Bilawsky

While July 2020 marks five years since British pianist
John Taylor’s passing, time and absence have done
nothing to dull the beauty and power of his work. An
autodidact, who nodded toward Bill Evans, absorbed
and refracted classical nuances, established a firmrhythmic presence and embraced metric wrinkles,
Taylor was a school of one. Over the course of
approximately half a century he carved out a place inthe pantheon through associations with the likes of John
Surman, Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs and numerous
other creative heavyweights. But his most enduring andfruitful relationship was with his one-time wife, vocalist
Norma Winstone. Artistically aligned in every way,
theirs was always an easy rapport with a hard-todescribe synergy at play in their cooperative ventures.
A remastered reissue of an Enodoc Records release,
In Concert finds Taylor and Winstone working theiroff-the-cuff programming skills. Having completed
a teaching engagement at London’s Guildhall Schoolof Music and Drama in the summer of 1988, they wereasked to put on a concert with little notice. Not
surprisingly, their collective presence thrives on the
spontaneity. Taylor and Winstone prize zeal andengage in a bit of pointillism during Steve Swallow’s“Ladies In Mercedes”. They use Egberto Gismonti’s“Café” as an opportunity to stretch out across time andspace, with stark suggestions, flowing lines and dreamlike charms passing through. There’s push and pull atplay in their reimagining of Dave Brubeck’s “In YourOwn Sweet Way”. And they float off on risingreflections during Ralph Towner ’s “Celeste”. Winstonetreats lyrics—both her own and others’—as poetry andputty and Taylor tailors every song to fit the duo’s
frame. Masters of perception and persuasion, Winstone
and Taylor were made for each other.

Buckingham’s also-doubled solo. A sudden beat dropand spooky reverb settles into chill reggae with small
percussion that trades with far off honkey tonk for theunderstated recapitulation.
“Port of Entry” is a lovely tribute to Jaco Pastorius.
Haslip, who for the rest of the album makes departuresfrom a strict interpretation of the bass chair, switches
to fretless and expertly cops the sound of the revered
bassist. His channeling is wrapped in gorgeous
polysynth hits, unusual vocal bursts and a perfectly
trashy cymbal that rides the tune out. This recording is
Weather Report 3000 and a lovingly brilliant tribute.
For more information, visit whirlwindrecordings.com

U NEART H E D G EM

For more information, visit sunnysiderecords.com
Ow!: Live at The Penthouse
Johnny Griffin & Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis (Reel to Real)by Duck Baker

We Speak Luniwaz: The Music of Joe Zawinul
Scott Kinsey (Whirlwind)by Brian Charette

Dynamic Los Angeles-based keyboardist Scott Kinsey
knew Joe Zawinul, who would have turned 88 thismonth, well; the latter was executive producer ofKinsey’s album Kinesthetics and the former produced
Zawinul’s Faces and Places. This coupled with Kinsey’s
direction of The Zawinul Legacy Band and work withfusion super-group, Tribal Tech, gives Kinsey street credwhen it comes to this particular set of music. Kinsey
talks about how he learned to speak “Luniwaz” in his
own dialect by studying the compositional approach of
the master. It’s immediately apparent that Kinsey
understands the subject matter deeply and has evenexpanded on some of the Austrian maestro’s concepts.
Atmospherically panned shakers and quirky mono
synths kick off “The Harvest”. Percussion splashes
blossom into a robotic vocal line and Kinsey’s spot-on
sonic emulations. The strident flute of Katisse
Buckingham peeks out as the tune develops witha vicious offbeat ride cymbal from drummer Gergő
Borlai. A bewitchingly wide stereo mix grants surprisingsonic bursts from every angle. At the climax, Jimmy
Haslip’s bass darts from left to right as Kinsey’s lush
poly chords accompany slight ring-modulated blips.
The title track gets its time feel from a woody synth
sequence precisely peppered with thin organ; Cyril andYon Atef’s scatting cements the oh-so “Mr. Gone”
feeling. Splash cymbals ping gently as a bee swarm ofsaxophone explodes into vocoded bliss. The rhythm
section jams with effortless propulsion and a perfectly
placed bass harmonic completes the wink. The take on
Weather Report classic “Black Market” is slower thanthe original and augmented by the actual vocal samples
gifted to Kinsey by Zawinul. Bobby Thomas, Jr.’s finger
cymbals and Buckingham’s golden saxophone tones are
echoed by the sly vocal of Arto Tunçboyaciyan. On adime, the band metrically modulates into the originaltime feel, which they replicate with alarming accuracy.
Kinsey comps with layered synth punches behind

Here’s more manna from jazz heaven via the trove oflive recordings made by radio station KING-FM at thePenthouse club in Seattle during the ‘60s, the third
release from this archive to appear on the Reel to Reallabel and all of them terrific. Ow! was taped on May
30th and Jun. 6th, 1962, just weeks after Pisces, the lastof the five studio dates made by the Johnny GriffinEddie “Lockjaw” Davis quintet and features the same
lineup with Horace Parlan (piano), Buddy Catlett(bass) and Art Taylor (drums). But the records that it
will be compared to are the four that were taken fromtheir Jan. 6th, 1961 gig at Minton’s Playhouse.
Considering that this, the hardest-hitting of all twotenor lineups, was only around for a couple of years,
we can only marvel at their prodigious output.
The idea of “battling tenors” came to the fore
when Herschel Evans and Lester Young were membersof Count Basie’s Orchestra and was further enshrinedby the extended battles of boppers like Wardell Grayand Dexter Gordon in the late ‘40s. Like Evans, both
Griffin (who died 12 years ago this month) and Daviscan be seen as stylistic descendants of Coleman
Hawkins, Griffin by way of ultra-extroverts like
Illinois Jacquet and Griffin more out of Don Byas. But
there’s no mistaking one for the other; each had aunique style, Davis relying on smears, slurs andalmost disjointed phrasing only a self-taught genius
could have developed and Griffin on a staggering
technique and postbop harmonic sense. Both players
were lyrical ballad interpreters (Griffin’s feature on“Sophisticated Lady” here is a good example) and theprogram includes a couple of midtempo excursions
like “Bahia” but plainly they felt that uptempo
burners like “Blues Up And Down” and completely
ridiculous “Tickle Toe” were what their audience
wanted to hear and it’s obvious that they loved
dishing out the hottest heat on any jazz menu.
The rhythm section is every bit as good as the
Junior Mance/Larry Gales/Ben Riley team featured
on the earlier live recordings and the recording balanceis fantastic, allowing us really to hear what each player
is doing and how they all are interacting. Add a
27-page booklet full of great notes and interviews andyou have a package no hardbop fan will want to miss.
For more information, visit cellarlive.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 15

G LOBE U NITY

ABC, Vol. 1
Samuel Blaser/Marc Ducret/Peter Bruun (Blaser Music)
Audio Rebel
Samuel Blaser/Marc Ducret (Blaser Music)
by Robert Iannapollo

Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser, who turns 39 thismonth yet has almost two-dozen compelling albums
under his belt since 2008, and French guitarist Marc
Ducret began a musical partnership in 2009 and it
seems to get stronger with each year. Ducret first
appeared on Blaser ’s quartet record Boundless(hatOLOGY, 2010) and Blaser returned the favor asa member of Ducret’s group on Metatonal (Ayler, 2014).
But perhaps their bond is best exemplified in the trio
the two share with Danish drummer Peter Bruun. They
released the live Taktlos, Zurich 2017 on hatOLOGY togreat reviews and toured the album.
They now have a second disc, ABC, Vol. 1, selfreleased by Blaser in digital-format only. Each player
contributes material and it marks a step further in theirdevelopment. The opener is an epic 25-minute versionof Ducret’s “L’Ombra Di Verdi”. It develops intoa three-way improvisation alternating between thespacious and the dense; at the midway point, all build
to a fever pitch and seamlessly lock into a repeated riff,which demonstrates how attuned these players are to
one another. Bruun contributes “Svesker”, a slowly
developing, brooding piece with the melody handledby trenchant trombone. Blaser ’s arrangement of a brief
Stravinsky piece, “Fanfare For A New Theatre”,(originally a miniature, scored for two trumpets)is also found on the Taktlos disc. But whereas thatearlier version serves as a prelude to a Ducret piece,
here it is given a full nine-minute treatment with thebrief theme cropping up throughout in fragments andreprised at the end. Blaser ’s “The Rain Only Drums At
Night” is a beautiful piece with the composer andDucret harmonizing on the melody as Bruun artfully
splashes cymbals to accompany them. This is aremarkable trio. Blaser has a number of projects in his
arsenal but this is one of the best.
The first meeting of Blaser and Ducret as a duo
happened in 2009. And while they’ve played together
in several formats, the duo has continued throughout.
Audio Rebels stems from a tour of Brazil they did in
2013. This set is from the Rio de Janeiro performanceand it’s a corker. The seven tracks sound like a mixtureof complete pieces and excerpts. But they are all
discrete and play well as excerpted. Both players aresonic texturalists and vary their sound throughout.
In this performance one can really appreciate Blaser ’s
use of harmonics and deft handling of mutes. Ducretuses the occasional attachment (particularly effective
is a gnarly fuzz) but many of the textural shifts stemfrom the handling of his instrument’s strings andfretboard. Opening with the title track, it’s quiet,
almost tentative with the two seemingly feeling eachother out. But they quickly find their mark and they’reoff. Blaser does some remarkable muted work during
this section as the two intertwine around each other.
“La Voie Grise” is a beautiful interlude with abittersweet melody. It’s not quite three minutes longyet still a complete piece unto itself. It’s hard to tell
if its fade is engineered or natural. The album closes
with a more compact version of “L’Ombra Di Verdi”(5 minutes vs. 25 found on ABC, Vol. 1) and while notquite as satisfying as the trio version it’s a perfect way
to close out this album.
For more information, visit samuelblaser.com

16 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

Plays Ingrid Laubrock
GGRIL (Circum-Disc)If You Listen Carefully The Music Is Yours
Gard Nilssen Supersonic Orchestra (Odin)
Espoo Suite
Espoo Big Band (Galileo)
by Tom Greenland

W hen many people are talking at once, it’s hard tobe heard, even harder to make one’s point. Such isthe challenge for large improvising ensembles. New
releases show how the challenge was met in Canada,
Norway and Finland.
Le Grand Groupe Régional D’Improvisation
Libérée (GGRIL) is based in Rimouski, Québec, welloff the urban grid inhabited by most big bands. These
small-town Quebecois have notably “big ears” and, ofthe groups reviewed here, show the most open-ended
approach to improvisation. Plays Ingrid Laubrockinterprets three of the German-born saxophonist’s
pieces. “Silent Nights” blends acoustic and electricstrings with percussion, suggesting a large factory inwhich the distinct grinds, groans, rattles or hums ofeach worker’s machine add to the melodiouscacophony. “Stark Dark” starts with raucous guitars,
soon subsiding into subtler tonal manipulations. The
initial crash cymbal roll on “Palindromes” stops
suddenly, setting up a slow, inexorable six-minutecrescendo, as ominous as the approach of a zombie
army, culminating with a sound like that of a chainsaw
hacking through a large glass window.
Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra melds theflexibility of a small combo with the polyrhythmic
urgency of a drum circle. Its instrumentation isunusual: one trombone, two trumpets, sevensaxophones, three basses and three drumsets, witheveryone doubling on percussion. If You Listen
Carefully The Music Is Yours, the group’s live debut,
opens with “Premium Processing Fee”: a series ofcued hits, a chaotic group squall, then off into a
limping waltz (every fourth bar is a beat short),
ending with four horns howling like wolves.
“Bøtteknott” swings in 6/8, with gentle chorales
and dynamic tenor saxophone solos by Per “Texas”
Johansson and Kjetil Møster. “Teppen Dance” and“The City of Roses” are loose, bouncy and ecstatic in
the manner of Charles Mingus. “Jack” puts the threebasses up front before busting out the funk, cappedby “Bytta Bort Kua Fikk Fela Igjen”, which adds
tribal and disco touches to even fiercer funk figures.
The Espoo Big Band, under the baton of Finnish
composer/arranger/guitarist Marzi Nyman, fêtes
its home base on Espoo Suite. Of the albums underreview, it hews closest to the classic Count Basielineage in its juxtaposition of trumpet, trombone
and saxophone sections, though the twin drumkits,
electric bass, keyboard and guitars (one often playedwith a slide) lend it a more progressive aspect.
Nyman’s charts have spry background figuresbehind the soloists (heard on “Quiet Flows the
Aspen River”, “Moonshine Chase” and in the
middle of “Finale”) and painterly touches à la Duke
Ellington (as on “Quiet Flows…” and “Igor ’s
Lament”). There are also bits of techno, heavy metal,
R&B, even Roma music. “Espoo Blues”, the ‘encore’of this studio set, contains oddly accelerated phrases
deftly executed by the soloists and the band.
For more information, visit circum-disc.com, odinrecords.com
and galileo-mc.deAcross the Universe
Al Di Meola (Ear-Music)
by Robert Bush

There could just be a portrait of an old Al Di Meola,
who turns 66 this month, stashed away in the guitarist’s
attic somewhere because he does not seem to have
weathered much since breaking into the public
consciousness as a 19-year-old virtuoso back in 1974,
when he joined Chick Corea’s Return to Forever (RTF).
Di Meola was fresh out of Berklee College of Musicat the time and he was drafted into RTF to replace Bill
Connors (apparently Earl Klugh briefly preceded him),
just in time to make the album Where Have I Known You
Before, before hitting the road. Di Meola made his
debut album under his own steam, Land of the MidnightSun for Columbia, in 1976 and would go on to makenine records for the label, culminating with Scenario in
1983. Never a traditional jazz guitar player, he received
his share of slings and arrows from the jazz critics, but
he carved out a comfortable niche in the “instrumental
rock/Latin” area since the late ‘70s.
This is his second album of Beatles covers,
following 2013’s All Your Life: A Tribute to the Beatles
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Whether anyone needs
another instrumental take on the Fab Four is an open
question. For the hardcore Di Meola contingent, all
the signature salient features are intact: very precise
layering of multiple guitars; blazing speed; andscreaming distortion. Much of this record illustrates
a “one-man-band” kind of aesthetic, with Di Meolahimself handling most of the instruments, aside fromsome percussion and keyboard contributions.
George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun” receives
a drastic makeover. It’s one of those tunes where
Di Meola plays everything, including bass and drums,
and it’s all done very well, but absent a compelling
vocal, it does not feel superior to the original.
“Norwegian Wood” piles everything but the kitchensink into an elaborate redux leaning heavily on thepresence of Amit Kavthekar ’s tabla to emphasize aneven heavier Indian vibe than the original.
Strangely enough, this reviewer found the solo
guitar rendition of “Here, There and Everywhere” tobe utterly charming and aesthetically appealing.
Alternating between finger-style and conventional
chord-melody work, each note conveys layers of
meaning.
For more information, visit ear-music.net

BalladesAhmad Jamal (Jazzbook/Jazz Village)by Stuart Broomer

P ianist Ahmad Jamal, who turns 90 this month, has

worked for most of the past 70 years as the leader ofvery distinctive trios, first with guitar and bass, thenbass and drums, sometimes supplementing them withpercussion or collaborating with a horn soloist.

His distinctive use of vamps and ostinatos has madehim both influential (on musicians like Miles Davis,
John Coltrane and Keith Jarrett) and a bête noire (literalmeaning intended) for a certain kind of critic who can’t
understand jazz that’s genuinely popular or genuinely
original. Jamal may have also suffered for achieving
a certain perfection in his ‘50s trio with bassist Israel
Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier.
This solo recording dates from 2017, when Jamal
was already 87, but there’s nothing to suggest decline
in his skills as he explores a program including
personal standbys, enchanted ballads and scatteredoriginals, occasionally with his regular bassist James
Cammack joining in. The music can pass for sweetly
decorative, but it’s also music by a man who would
open a jazz club, in Chicago circa 1960, which didn’t
serve alcohol and was called the Alhambra for that
Andalusian encyclopedia of geometric pattern andinfinite reflection, a temple of perfectly chiseled text.
Sometimes the music doesn’t seem strong on shape ordrama, but Jamal is a master of a dense chromaticism
overlaid on beautiful tunes and he shapes adjoining,
shifting segments by drawing from that chromatic
wealth, moving from overlays of exotic modes
suddenly to reveal the original composer ’s particularand perfect harmonic sequence, as in “Poinciana”,
a tune with which Jamal has undoubtedly spent vastly
more time than its composer, Nat Simon, who jotted it
down on a restaurant table cloth and seems to haveadapted it from a Cuban folk song. The same gifts areapplied to repertoire like “So Rare” (Jimmy Dorsey),“I Should Care” (Axel Stordahl-Paul Weston-Sammy
Cahn), “What’s New” (Bob Haggart-Johnny Burke),“Spring Is Here” (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart) andJohnny Mandel’s “Emily”, a song so beautiful that
Jamal barely deigns to exploit its melody.
There’s a sense of reverie, of reflection, everywhere
here. A well-known moment in Ken Burns’ Jazz is when
Duke Ellington, being interviewed at a piano andplaying sporadically, remarks, “This isn’t piano. This is
dreaming.” That’s precisely what Jamal offers here.
For more information, visit pias.com/labels/jazz-village

Giuseppe Verdi Entangled
Oscar Del Barba OX Quartet (Da Vinci)
by Elliott SimonO scar Del Barba’s earlier OX Trio (OX, Dot Time
Records, 2017) expands to a quartet and focuses on the
pianist’s arranging and leadership skills on Giuseppe
Verdi Entangled. Del Barba wisely recruited clarinetist/saxophonist Achille Succi, who turns 49 this month,
to help him reimagine these 10 pieces drawn fromthree of Verdi’s operas. Succi’s tonal mastery, especiallyon bass clarinet, and overall improvisational ability
bring Del Barba’s creative arrangements to life. Bassist
Giacomo Papetti and drummer Andrea Ruggeri havea long association with Barba and all are at home with
Succi’s style. This is important and the program
succeeds largely on the quartet’s holistic approach,with Succi an integral part of these modern jazz
explorations.
The session includes well known selections fromIl Trovatore, La Traviata and La Forza Del Destino but
two of Verdi’s most famous operas, Aida and Rigoletto,
are not represented. The band has no operatic pretense
but instead uses Verdi’s context and intent to create
new music. The music stands on its own merit and canbear little relationship to the original melody with awell-known refrain, as on opener “Coro Degli Zingari(Anvil Chorus)”, sometimes seeming out of place. But
more often than not Del Barba frees songs like “Addio
al Passato” from their baggage while enhancing their
exoticism.
Papetti’s emotive touch combines with Succi’s
gorgeous tone and Barba’s plaintive chords for amoving rendition of “Di Provenza il Mar, il Suol”.
The bassist then sets a bewitching atmosphere for“Di Quella Pira” before Ruggeri, through freeform-ish
maneuverings, morphs it into fiery ambience. On“Overture of Destiny”, the band becomes a superb
storyteller conveying a range of emotions within Del
Barba’s brilliant setting. Closer “Preludio” continues
the deep expressive mood through elegant Succi/
Papetti voicings while Del Barba instills hints ofchordal optimism. The OX Quartet excels as a unit as
they open up new vistas for these 19th Century arias.
For more information,
da-vinci-jazzvisitdavinci-edition.com/cds/

Children of Art: A Tribute to Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers
Joshua Breakstone Trio (Capri)
by Joel Roberts

A guitar trio may seem like a curious format for

paying tribute to Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, a bandthat epitomized uptempo hard bop and featured a longline of legendary horn players like Jackie McLean,
Hank Mobley, Benny Golson, Lee Morgan, Curtis
Fuller, Wayne Shorter and Wynton Marsalis, among
others. But veteran guitarist Joshua Breakstone is morethan up to the task on his latest release Children of Art:A Tribute to Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, tackling theBlakey legacy in a mellower-than-usual tone with thehelp of bassist Martin Wind (a frequent collaborator
with drummer Matt Wilson, pianist Bill Mays andmany others) and former Bill Evans drummer Eliot
Zigmund.
Breakstone, a New Jersey native who turns 65 thismonth, has impeccable hardbop chops and his trio
mates are a fine match for his sophisticated, unhurried
approach. He has previously issued tributes to Grant
Green, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Bud
Powell and recorded his Blakey tribute in 2019 in honorof the drummer ’s 100th birthday.
Rather than revisiting the Jazz Messengers’ biggest
hits, like Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’” or Dizzy
Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia”, Breakstone focuses oncompositions by former members of the band,
including some that were never recorded under the
Messengers banner, such as Benny Golson’s swinging“Stablemates” and Horace Silver ’s lyrical andevocative “Lonely Woman”. Lee Morgan’s “Witch
Doctor”, the opener, serves as a no-frills bop workout
for the entire trio while Golson’s “Holy Land” starts
with an authoritative unaccompanied solo by theleader before Wind and Zigmund join in. Breakstonealso takes on some less well-known fare like the fairly
straightahead early Wayne Shorter tune “El Toro” andWalter Davis Jr.’s “Splendid”.
The title cut, the lone Breakstone original, is aquiet and introspective ballad, a perfect closer to thisthoughtful tribute to a jazz giant and his many
descendants.
For more information, visit caprirecords.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 17

The Complete Morton ProjectAndrew Oliver/David Horniblow (Lejazzetal)
by Scott Yanow

All over the world, although often below the radar of
the jazz press, talented musicians have long been
exploring vintage jazz from the 1920s. England has aparticularly viable classic jazz scene, which includes
pianist Andrew Oliver (originally from Portland, Oregon)
and clarinetist Dave Horniblow. The talented pair haverecorded together in several groups including The Dime
Notes, The Vitality Five and Horniblow’s Hot 3.
Oliver and Horniblow love the music of Jelly Roll
Morton, jazz’ first great composer, arranger andpianist, who died 79 years ago this month. In 2018 they
performed all 93 of Morton’s compositions as YouTube
videos. Their single CD, The Complete Morton Project,
unfortunately does not live up to its title but does
contain 15 of Morton’s pieces.
The emphasis is on Morton’s lesser-known works,
with only “Shreveport Stomp”, “Black Bottom Stomp”
and “Mr. Jelly Lord” coming close to being standards.
Most intriguing are two numbers never recorded by
the composer. While “Croc-O-Dile Cradle” is verymuch in the tradition of his 1920s compositions, “GanJam” from around 1940 is quite modern, influenced byclassical music and a bit eerie.
Oliver can sound close to Jelly Roll Morton but isgenerally creative within Morton’s style rather thanclosely copying what the pianist did on records.
Horniblow, who is heard on bass clarinet on two
numbers and bass saxophone during one other, plays
clarinet very much in the 1920s style, hinting at Johnny
Dodds, Omer Simeon and their contemporaries but
mostly sounding like himself.
In addition to enjoying the frequently hot playing,a listen to The Complete Morton Project allows one toadmire the wide range of Morton’s writing, from thefuturistic one-chord piece “Jungle Blues” and lowdown“I Hate A Man Like You” (which Morton recorded withsinger Lizzie Miles) to the virtuosic “Finger Buster”
and exciting “Black Bottom Stomp”.
Now if only Oliver and Horniblow could be
persuaded to record the other 78 Morton songs.
For more information, visit lejazzetal.com

Round Again
Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau,
Christian McBride, Brian Blade (Nonesuch)by Thomas Conrad

The phrase “allstar band” is thrown around too
loosely in jazz. No one would dispute that it applies
here, but the people on Round Again constitute an
allstar band with a difference. 26 years ago, they were
just saxophonist Joshua Redman’s young quartet.
Redman says that, even at the time, he knew his firstgroup would be short-lived. He knew his sidemen
were in too much demand. They stayed together a year

and a half and made one album, MoodSwing, in 1994.
There are pros and cons to all-star bands. Typically,
they offer major solo firepower. Typically, they lack thecohesion and purpose of a working ensemble. But thegroup here, 26 years on, is still tight. 		
Round Again is an impeccably executed recording,especially so given the tricky program material.
Redman takes some formidable solos, primarily on his
second horn, soprano, and bassist Christian McBrideand drummer Brian Blade, the latter who turns 50 thismonth, know countless ways to swing.
But it is a curious album. You ask yourself, “Why
don’t I care more about this very nice record?” Maybebecause it is only a very nice record. Maybe because of
the tunes. There are seven well-crafted, forgettable
originals, with contributions from each member of thequartet. This band could have eaten seven standards
alive, but their own tunes are mostly like Redman’s“Undertow”: vaguely familiar melodies and erudite
arrangements with fidgety, convoluted, precise unisons
by Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau. Redman’s “Silly
Little Love Song” is, unfortunately, just that. “Floppy
Diss”, McBride’s kinky blues, is clever and cute. The
best tune is the simplest and shortest. Blade’s ballad“Your Part to Play” is unfolded with sincerity by
Redman on tenor.
The player who is least well served in this format
is Mehldau. He usually sounds like he is in a box.
When they made MoodSwing 26 years ago, theseguys were less sophisticated and much less famous but
more likely to convey the exhilaration of discovery andthe passion of inner necessity.
For more information, visit nonesuch.com

KonekoGato Libre (Libra)
by Tyran Grillo

The eighth album by Gato Libre, since 2015 a trio
consisting of trumpeter Natsuki Tamura (who turns 69
this month), Yasuko Kaneko on trombone and Satoko
Fujii on accordion, is a minimal and delightful context
for the patient charm of Tamura’s compositions. By
turns mysterious and whimsical, improvisational
elements bring out the rapport of the trio, one built on
deep listening, while prewritten material exploits theirability to hone in on what is most essential.
In that respect, the album’s title (Japanese for“kitten”) gives some insight into the blend of mystiqueand playfulness one experiences in these eight felinethemed scenes. Each track, in fact, is named for adifferent kind of cat. On the one hand, we encounter
programmatic gems like “Ieneko” (domesticated cat)and “Bakaneko” (silly cat), both of which sport a rangeof textures and emotions while exhibiting Tamura’s
painterly brilliance, as well as the avant-gardism of his
formative years. On the other hand, we join the“Noraneko” (stray cat) and the “Yamaneko” (wild cat)on their nocturnal adventures, rendered in exquisite
detail by Fujii’s starlight, Kaneko’s slinking motions
and Tamura’s restless energy. Together, they wander
through favorite haunts in search of sustenance in thespirit of survival. The latter tune feels like a folk songdeveloping in slow motion and finds Kaneko in aparticularly soulful mode.
Each musician, but especially Tamura, is content
coloring both inside and outside the lines, allowing
quiet atmospheres to unravel as they will until the18 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

closing “Kanbanneko”. The term refers to a cat that
hangs out in a store (often seen sleeping in the window)
and is well known by regular customers. Like its
namesake, the music seems to insist on being left alone
in a corner as the hustle and bustle of commerce hums
in the background. And because the recording is only
subtly processed, allowing for instruments’ natural
reverberations to shine through, we can be sure thatevery meow is heard.
For more information, visit librarecords.com

C. M. Musictrain (Revisited)
Carsten Meinert (Spectator-Stunt)by Steven Loewy

This expanded reissue of Danish tenor saxophonist
Carsten Meinert’s long out-of-print C. M. Musictrain
album from 1969 comes as a welcome surprise. Barely
remembered outside of Denmark, Meinert was an early
adaptor of some of the new waves from the ‘60s,
absorbing the influence of John Coltrane, as evinced byMeinert’s full-throated rendition of “Naima” on his
seminal To You album, released the year before. The CD
edition includes photos from the original session, in
which a total of 15 players participated and modest,
though valuable, new liner notes from Ole Matthiessen,
who performed on the original album on Ampliano(electric piano), and, as producer of the reissue, enhanced
the sound. The only person in the band who built a
noteworthy international career was a young guitarist
named Pierre Dørge, who went on to record dozens ofalbums as a leader, but for whom his contributions to
C. M. Musictrain were so obscure that his role as asideman is rarely, if ever, listed in his discographies.
The recording is made up of the original five
tracks, including a 30-second snippet for “I’m Going to
Valby by the Railroad Track”, plus three additionaltakes of minor interest. What distinguishes the album
are the original compositions and arrangements by
Meinert, whose writing revels in a stew of fusion, funkand avant garde saxophone, all with an almost
danceable beat. As a result, the album is surprisingly
accessible and although the sound is sometimes
somewhat dated (largely due to the electric piano) it isnonetheless riveting and often exciting. To put thealbum in greater perspective, it was recorded aroundthe same time as Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and in someways echoes its concept.
The catchy theme of the rhythmically powerfulopener “San Sebastian” sets the tone, with lots ofpercussive support and strong keyboards, with Meinert
soaring on his varitone-altered sax, a relic of the ‘60s.
It is not hard to consider the influences of not only
Coltrane, but of Pharoah Sanders, Lonnie Liston Smithand others. “Before Sunrise” features an attractive andslow Sanders-like melody in which Meinert soars
above the rhythm, along the way allowing for a meatysolo from bassist Henrik Hove. The third/title trackalso features a solid, full toe-tapping melody withplenty of percussion and saxophone, plus somenoteworthy amplified piano, solo acoustic bass andguitar while fusing rock, free-ish jazz and pop
influences. “This Time” is more of the same, withskillful writing, busy percussion and attractive
saxophone, bass and piano solos, mostly played withdedicated support from the ensemble.
For more information, visit sundance.dk

drop the needle

A Rite For All Souls
The Mark Harvey Group(Americas Musicworks)
by Donald Elfman

In the liner notes for John Coltrane’s Live At Birdland
album, Amiri Baraka (then Leroi Jones) referred to the“daringly human quality” of his music and suggested
that with ears open to it, a listener may think of “weird
and wonderful things” and possibly “even become oneof them.” This reviewer was reminded of thosesensations and sense of becoming upon encountering
Mark Harvey’s extraordinary “aural theatre” A Rite For
All Souls.
The recording is a complete and unedited
performance of a concert at Old West Church in Boston(at which Harvey was an intern minister) on Halloween
Night 1971. It embraces explorations of sound,spiritual, social and political direction and activism,
poetry, a sense of theater and, certainly, the colors
and textures of jazz and improvisational music. The
musicians are Harvey (oddly credited on “brasswinds”),
Peter Bloom on woodwinds and both Craig Ellis andMichael Standish on percussion (alas, the latter two, so
vital to the ultimate power of this music, are now
deceased). There is a dazzling array of instruments atwork and play here: trumpet, flugelhorn, conch shell,saxophones, clarinet, kazoo, mbira, brake drums, ironcookware ... and so on.
The 90-minute concert opens with “Invocation”
and a recitation called “Spel Against Demons” (by poet
Gary Snyder). There are mysterious sounds played onflute, a length of pipe and a saxophone mouthpiece.
Immediately, Baraka’s words come into play as theresonances are otherworldly, yet, somehow inviting
and pointing towards what else may come. Harvey isstrange and wonderful on trumpet, punctuated bydelicate percussion sounds. There’s a trap drum solo
by Ellis and that shepherds in Bloom playing tenor
saxophone in a full-throated and enfolding manner.
Ellis takes on Snyder ’s poem, a sort of anti-violence
intonation, and it ends in an actual Sanskrit chant.
In the church, the four return in monk’s robes andblow into organ pipes for a “Fanfare”, which, evolving
into a meeting of trumpet and tenor, leads to a recitationof William Butler Yeats’ noted “Second Coming” poem,
recited by Standish. Bloom takes off on tenor again,
eddying into a more lyrical section by Harvey, who
spreads his palette on trumpet and makes intensely
intimate use of silence as a kind of outlining device tohighlight his distinctive sounds. And so, the first discconcludes.
In the second section, we hear again the deliberate
and yet subtle interaction between group andindividual. There’s a haunting prelude with cosmicallyunusual sounds that introduce Ellis reading his own“Napalm: Rice Paper”, which seems like a threnody tothe suffering of children, from the Vietnam War andbeyond—think of all war and the unique situation in
our world at present. Bloom on soprano and Harvey
on French horn express sorrow and compassion andthen there is a devastating percussion duet seeming toencapsulate the violence and suffering the poem has
amassed.
A Rite For All Souls is a deeply engaging series ofimprovisations, sound worlds and rich musicalexpression.
For more information, visit americasmusicworks.com

For Now
Brian Landrus (BlueLand)by Marco CangianoThis is Brian Landrus’ tenth album as a leader andmarks quite a departure from his highly praised
Generations, which was performed by a 25-pieceorchestra. The Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist
and composer specializes in low woodwind family,
which makes him a much in-demand performer.
Recorded on BlueLand, which Landrus founded someten years ago, this CD goes back to a core quartet, which
is augmented by the trumpet of Michael Rodriguez ona few pieces and a string quartet (violinists Sara Caswell
and Joyce Hammann, violist Lois Martin and cellist
Jody Redhage-Ferber) arranged by Robert Livingstone
Aldridge for about half of the 13 tunes, consisting of ten
originals and three standards (Bronisław Kaper-PaulFrancis Webster’s “Invitation” and Thelonious Monk’s“’Round Midnight” and “Ruby My Dear”).
Although the album conveys Landrus’ personalviews on romance as gleaned from his own experiences,it provides for a varied and nuanced musical journey.
The core quartet comprises Fred Hersch (piano), Drew
Gress (bass) and Billy Hart (drums), all of whom
require no further introduction. Hersch is a real asset
with his subtle comping, graceful intros and exquisite
solos. Gress is unfortunately penalized by a slightly
off-balance sound and limited to a single solo outing,whereas Hart excels in subtleties and the capacity toadapt to and enrich every musical situation.
As to the augmented quartet, the pleasant surpriseis Rodriguez’ warm and supple trumpet sound andphrasing, of which it would have been pleasant hearing
a bit more besides the brilliant solos in the opening “TheSigns” and “J.J.”. The string quartet does not always
mesh completely with the core quartet, but provides
emphasis and depth besides dramatic intros, such as on
the title track, “For Whom” and “The Second Time”.
Caswell delivers a delightful solo on “Her Smile”.
Landrus’ nimble baritone saxophone dominates
the proceedings, with his tendency to exploit the
instrument’s upper reaches and its more delicate aspects
in contradistinction to most baritone specialists. Thereis no trace of zealotry and the notes flow unhurriedly.
“The Night of Change” also features Landrus on alto
flute, which provides an inspired pairing with muted
trumpet besides a heartfelt solo contribution. But it isLandrus’ bass clarinet that hits a particular chord with adramatic solo interpretation of “‘Round Midnight”, left
hanging at the end without resolve, and an almost
restrained reading of “For Whom”.
As noted, the program, while coherent, leaves
ample room for variety: “The Signs” comes across likea postbop standard that could have been performed by
Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers in the ‘60s:“Clarity” is more of a ballad, well supported by thestring quartet; “The Miss”, following Hersch’s
exquisite overture, lands on a lightly bouncing waltz
showcasing Hart’s nimble cymbal work; and “J.J.”
delivers more evocative atmospheres. Last, but
certainly not least, as they say, Landrus and Herschwrap up the CD with a wonderful duo rendition of“Ruby My Dear”. There is much to listen to in Landrus’
most recent effort, and there is certainly more to come.
For more information, visit briandlandrus.com. Landrus
will be discussing the album and performing solo Jul. 17that 2 pm at youtu.be/bG7Vvodwm2I.

With Henry Grimes
Duology (Ujamaa)
by Marc Medwin

This vinyl-only release from the long-standing duoof multi-instrumentalist Michael Marcus (foundhere on clarinet) and trumpeter Ted Daniel comesfrom a July 2009 concert at Columbia University andfeatures guest bassist and violinist Henry Grimes.
As it turns out, this would be the last to be released
during Grimes’ life; he passed away in April of 2020
from complications of COVID-19. It attests both tohis still-underappreciated artistry and to a duo thatshould be more adequately documented.
There is no doubting the Daniel/Marcus
chemistry, as can be felt when the openly modal
improvisation “Reconciliation” eases its way into
existence. The melodies liberally peppering thealbum also display a tightness and focus
demonstrating the duo’s affinity, as does every
diverse solo they play and every interaction in which
they engage. Dig Daniel’s vast arsenal of articulations
and the way he leaps register and rhetorical topic
in the proverbial single bound, or relish Marcus’
highest register exhortations, which need to be heard
to be believed. His dulcet tones on the head of
Marcus’ “Spiral Landscape” are also a wonder tobehold, as is Daniel’s deliciously muted horn.
Anchoring it all, from centerstage, is Grimes.
As Marcus and Daniel navigate what multiinstrumentalist Cooper-Moore would call theneighborhood of history and influence, Grimes isright there with that stunning bass pizzicato and thetimbrally complex arco, alternately crystalline andmiles-deep, which travels all over the instrumentwith dexterity equaled only by invention. He is in his
post-return prime on this date and lifts the groupbeyond itself as it creates a special kind ofcounterpoint that offers new aspects on each airing.
The only tragedy is that his bass is undermixed andsome more presence would have drawn welcome
attention to every detail in the pioneering languagethat was uniquely his. At least his Protean liquidgold violin, opening the second side, comes throughwith the clear presentation it deserves.
Despite extraordinary playing throughout,including some delightfully humorous momentsfrom Daniel, nothing prepares for the sublimatedmajesty and power of Daniel’s closer “Truth Telling”,
as muted trumpet carries the gospel-soaked
exhortation along, drenched deep in a blues thatsomehow seems ancient and comforting as it eases
from the speakers. Grimes and Daniel emote as one
instrument, each cry and moan somehow anguishedand sage in equal measure, a thing of beauty whoserhythmic freedom and subtlety speaks to absolute
mastery. While the trio gets down in the gutbucket atvarious points throughout the album, particularly inDaniel’s “Qusim”, this finale is one of the mosttrenchant, heartbreaking, uplifting and downrightgorgeous pieces of music to grace these ears in sometime and a more fitting conclusion to the album isdifficult to imagine.
For more information, visit michaelmarcusmusic.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 19

Secrets Are The Best Stories
Kurt Elling (Edition)
Life Of The PartyOWL Trio with Kurt Elling (Newvelle)by Marilyn Lester

K urt Elling, 2020 Jazz Journalists Awards Best Vocalist

winner, has long proved himself the thinking person’s
jazz singer and poet/lyricist, combining intelligenceand emotional accessibility in his work. His 2018
album The Questions tackled large social and politicalissues. Secrets Are The Best Stories takes that exploration
further in an ambitious partnership and collaboration
with Panamanian pianist/composer Danilo Pérez,whose music is found on several of the tracks;“Epilogo” the final piece, an evocative, soulful pianosolo, smartly showcases his work. Bassist Clark
Sommers, percussionist Rogério Boccato and drummer
Johnathan Blake are joined on selected tracks byguitarist Chico Pinheiro, alto saxophonist MiguelZenón and percussion master Román Díaz.
Secrets Are The Best Stories is much more than thesum of its parts. This inspired voice of protest
emphasizes the spoken word, mostly delivered as
sprechgesang—an amalgam of plainchant, recitivo andparlando, demanding that close attention be paid. Eachof the 11 tracks reflect the expressive compositions ofPérez as well as arrangements of Wayne Shorter, Jaco
Pastorius, Vince Mendoza and others and withadditional narrative input from a few other sources.
From the outset, “The Fanfold Hawk (for Franz
Wright)” to a Pastorius melody creates a sacredexperience; with multi-tracked voices, Elling’s lyric isdelivered like a hymn. Leading into track two,
“A Certain Continuum“ (Pastorius), Díaz’ percussion
creates a primal, tribal experience. Two purely
melodic works appear near the end of the album.
“Rabo de Nube”, music and lyrics by Cuban artist
Silvio Rodriguez, is sung by Elling in Spanish tinged
with melancholy but still expressive of hope. It’s also
the tune that demonstrates Elling’s rich baritone andvocal dynamism.
The clear standout of the album is “Beloved (forToni Morrison)”, with brilliant full-ensemble playing
and Elling intensely delivering a nuanced retelling of
Morrison’s story through a narrative building to astunning conclusion. Also significant is “Song of the
Rio Grande (for Oscar and Valerie Martinez-Ramirez),based on a true story. As the dramatic arc builds, Pérez’music, impelling forward like the raging river, becomesdissonant and chaotic. Elling’s overdubbed harmonies
intensify the text, which slams hard into its conclusion:“America, you’ve lost your mind”. The last vocal trackof Secrets Are The Best Stories, “Esperanto”, with
Elling’s lyrics to music by Mendoza, returns to thebeginning, to the sacred, harkening back to themysteries addressed in The Questions. This time Elling
answers those questions with a profound sense of what
is uplifting and what is holy.
The OWL Trio, with Orlando le Fleming (bass),
Will Vinson (tenor sax) and Lage Lund (guitar), in theirunique marriage of two types of strings and a reed,
produce a synergistic, creative interweave of smoothsound. Life Of The Party, featuring Elling on two of thenine tracks, offers free improvisations on original
material and three standards. The latter, “We’ll Be
Together Again” (Frankie Laine/Carl Fischer), “Timeon My Hands” (Vincent Youmans/Harold Adamson/
Mack Gordon) and “The End of a Love Affair” (Edward
C. Redding) are given a respectful bow to their lovely
melodies, with creative ideas providing a total packageof inspired jazz originality.
Elling’s poetry forms the lyric to Lund’s title track
and Vinson’s “Perfectly Out of Place”. Both tunes are
fairly lyrical, in contrast to Elling in dark mode, with“getting old” a common thread in both. “These aredark times,” Elling has said. Yet his sprechgesang vocal
technique is full of energy. His narrative takes up
a little less than half the run time for each track, butwhat he has to say and the unembellished, direct forceof how he says it is powerful. The soulful playing of
the trio in and around Elling’s semi-sung words deftly
gives support to that power. Among the other originalpieces, a potent contribution is “Struggle Session” byle Fleming. His forceful bass playing drives the piecehome with intense musical onomatopoeia.
For more information,
newvelle-records.com

visit

editionrecords.com

andNorthern NoirRan Blake/Andrew Rathbun (SteepleChase)
by John Pietaro

Throughout his storied career, the position of pianist
Ran Blake, 2020 Jazz Journalists Awards Boston Jazz
Hero Award winner, in the jazz pantheon has been
singular, with one hand reaching into the well ofmodernism as a matter of course. But this isn’t “Third
Stream” anything; the music stands alone, bathed in
the richest blue-blacks and charcoal grays. It’s only
fitting, then, that he’s a deep aficionado of all things‘noir ’ with a true affection for films noir. He’s exploredsuch concepts before, yet—as always—cannot help but
outdo his earlier forays.
Northern Noir is a deep walk through not only
some notable film music but also songs that bridge theera (including Thelonious Monk’s “Pannonica”) andoriginals, drawing every nuance from the period andthe acoustics of the studio. The darkness at the heart ofthis genre is gorgeously portrayed through Blake’s
expansive harmonies, stealth basslines and bedazzling
passing tones, which blur harmonies much as the
shadows of the movies confound conception. Blake, heof the wide intervallic grasp and alternate use of spaceand chordal clouds, loves the intimacy of duos. While
he’s known for working with deeply expressive
vocalists, for this outing his partner is Canadian tenor
saxophonist (and film composer, not incidentally)
Andrew Rathbun, whose instrumental voice is no lessexpressive.
Selections include powerful, perhaps definitive
renditions of “Dr. Mabuse the Gambler” (Konrad
Elfers), “The Spiral Staircase” (Roy Webb) and“A Streetcar Named Desire” (Alex North). David
Raksin’s “Laura” is performed akin to a dreamsoundtrack, designed to seduce and mesmerize, much
like the film. And the adaptation of Bernard Herrmann’s“Vertigo” score, incorporating several themes, isinitially played at tempo and true to the page, before
taking the listener through a night journey.
The album both opens and closes with the stirring“Strange Fruit”, composed by Abel Meeropol in 1938.
Both versions capture the sad urgency built into its
every fiber. How prescient a statement Blake andRathbun emit (the recording was completed in 2018) as
the nation is again embroiled in mass protests against
racial injustice. And lynchings.

IN PRINT

The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma
Ben Sidran (Nardis)
by Kyle Oleksiuk

An uncut gem, the music biography of the year. The
Ballad of Tommy LiPuma is about record producer
Tommy LiPuma (1936-2017) but is not a traditional
biography—more compressed, more fun and lesscareerist. If biographies are beer then this is tequila.
The man himself is mostly famous for having
produced wildly popular jazz records in the late 20th
Century. His style was unusual; he would remain on
the same side of the glass as the musicians. The records
he made this way were real commercial triumphs, but
the highest highs of his production career are thelowest lows of the book; Natalie Cole, Paul McCartney,
George Benson and Diana Krall, the artists that LiPuma
won Grammys with, are great musicians but boring
characters and Ben Sidran can’t wring much drama or
humor out of the production process.
The real content of the book is its freewheelingstories of LiPuma’s personal life. The first of these
begins when his father Sam moves from Sicily to
America in search of the man who killed his father
Giuseppe. He never succeeds. Instead he opens abarbershop in Cleveland and starts using hair tonic
to make bootleg liquor. Soon he’s wrapped up insomething called the Cleveland “Sugar Wars”, getting
visits from the Feds. The book is filled with
unexpected stories like this, of people going from thedonkey trails of Sicily to the gangster wars ofCleveland, from the barbershop to the red carpet.
During the depression, kids start out on the baseballfield and end up on the iron lung. In the ‘60-70s, LSDinhaling jazzniks are making piles of money and inthe ‘80s in rehab complaining about gangsta rap.
The common element is LiPuma’s sense ofhumor. Describing his childhood, he says: “Mymother, bless her heart, could not carry a tune… andwhen she got a few bars into a song, apparently I told
her, ‘That’s okay, Mommy, stop singing and I’ll go tosleep.’” After his father retired from bootlegging,“the Feds continued to come by his shop every sooften to check up on him. They would say, ‘We want
to check that delivery of hair tonic you just got.’ Sam
would say ‘Go ahead, take a drink.’” Even among thefamous and talented, there are goofs and gags:
paranoid Phil Spector throws a coffee maker into aravine because he’s convinced it’s a bomb. Miles
Davis hears a guitarist playing too quickly and says
“Man, I’m gonna send you to Notes Anonymous.”
Sidran is a songwriter and used the songwriter’s
toolbelt to write this book. One part is vernacularlanguage. People know where the bodies are buried,they’re riding high and riding low, an honest person
isn’t in anybody’s pocket, an ugly man has a face forradio and sadness is as deep as the ocean. Anotherpart is simple, slapstick fart joke-level humor thatmost everybody enjoys. He writes all of Sam’s
dialogue like this: “I’m-a gonna sit down next to you
and hold out-a my hand”. The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma
is very special and the world would be a better placewith more books like it.
For more information, visit bensidran.com

For more information, visit steeplechase.dk

20 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

United In Swing
Wycliffe Gordon (with the B# Big Band) (s/r)
by Eric Wendell

Swing is one of the building blocks of jazz, what sets itapart from other genres, especially with big band groups.
As a result, big band music suffers a brand crisis as often
feeling outdated. However, put the instrumentation in
the hands of someone like trombonist Wycliffe Gordon,
2020 Jazz Journalists Awards Best Trombonist winner,and it feels as fresh as it ever has. On United In Swing:
Wycliffe Gordon with the B# Big Band, Gordon and Co.
brilliantly capture the fun of big-band music.
While the album does not bring anything new to
big band repertoire, it’s a great example of the pure joythat big band music can bring. With the rhythmic andharmonic dexterity of the Australia-based B# Big Bandbehind him, Gordon’s rounded tone cuts right throughto the core of each and every tune. An early example isthe second track, “In A Mellow Tone”, where the Duke
Ellington-penned number showcases Gordon’s snagand snarl solo approach. At 2:04, Gordon begins his
prologue of barks and growls and beautifullycomplements the ensemble’s interplay.
The group’s rendition of “Take the ‘A’ Train”
further displays Gordon’s beautiful melodic demeanor;
during his solo beginning at 1:56, he snaps, bristles

and delights, displaying the sheer joy of this tried andtrued jazz standard.
The rapport between Gordon and the ensemble isthe clear dynamic on the album. The trombonist is
most at home with the robust performance of vocalist
Yvette Johansson. On “That Old Black Magic” theHarold Arlen-Johnny Mercer classic is invigorated by
Johansson’s gorgeous burst of bombast and nuance;
the result is pure bliss, simple and purposeful in its
execution. The Ellington-penned “Cottontail” isGordon at his most fun, lively and maintaining a joyful
feel with the ensemble.
This album is a shining example of the charm bigband music provides. While the band is dazzling, theadded component of Gordon makes the release a heartopening triumph that will not soon be forgotten.
For more information, visit bsharpbigband.com.au

In The Spirit of Herbie Hancock
Don Braden/Joris Teepe Quartet (OAP)by George Kanzler

The most famous compositions by Herbie Hancock,2020 Jazz Journalists Awards Best Keyboardist winner,have become part of the jazz firmament. Tunes such as“Maiden Voyage”, “Watermelon Man” and “Speak
Like A Child” are regularly called at jam sessions aswell as being co-opted as covers for recording sessions
and, as here, serving as the ballast repertoire fora semi-ad hoc jazz quartet at a quarterly concert at
a private club in The Hague, Netherlands.
As at jam sessions, the quartet co-led by American
saxophonist-flutist Don Braden and Dutch bassist Joris
Teepe adapts the bare bones of Hancock’s pieces to fit
the parameters of their situation, in this case a quartet
consisting of a rhythm section—rounded out by Dutch
pianist Rob Van Bavel and American (ex-pat) drummer
Owen Hart, Jr.—plus horn. Jettisoned are suchtrappings as the atmospheric ensemble harmonies of“Maiden Voyage” and Caribbean carnival rhythms of“Watermelon Man”, yet both pieces retaining theharmonic and captivatingly melodic appeal of thecomposer ’s versions.
Braden’s soaring tenor saxophone—and on“Butterfly” his flute—dominates the heads andmelodies of six (out of nine tracks) Hancock tunes here
while Teepe contributes the bulk (five) of thearrangements. They lean toward straightahead
hardbop, leavened by the Elvin Jones-like drummingof Hart, Jr., for instance in his polyrhythmic extensionsof the basic ballad pulse of “Actual Proof” behind
Braden’s expansive, billowing tenor solo. Also adding
to the appeal of this program is the kinetically engaging
Van Bavel, who rumbles with two-hand flourishes on“Speak Like A Child”, encapsulates the rollicking blues
affirmation of “Driftin’” and creates a swinging
contrast between an improvising left hand and melodygrounded right hand on Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach’s“Yesterdays”, the only standard and a memorable
performance all around.
The co-leaders both provide an original each:
Braden’s “The Ingenious Catalyst” references Hancock
standards, its highlight a duologue between tenor anddrums; Teepe’s “Role Model” begins with a hypnotic
bass solo leading to a central theme more Monk-ian
than Hancock-like.

on screen

Just One of Those Things
Ella Fitzgerald (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
by Anna Steegmann

This gem of a film deserves a worldwide audience.
Director Leslie Woodhead tells Ella Fitzgerald’s
story through old black- and- white shots, images
and music that evoke the feeling of the time, neverbefore-seen
performancefootage,archivalinterviews as well as new ones with her drummer
Gregg Field, pianist Kenny Barron (who played onher final album), Tony Bennett, Smokey Robinson,
Itzhak Perlman, Fitzgerald’s son Ray Brown, Jr.,
Norma Miller and others. The film is visually andmusically stunning and you’ll be longing for more
after watching for 90 minutes.
In the opening scene, dancer Miller, age 98,
recalls the Apollo Theater ’s first amateur night in
1934. The audience laughed at Fitzgerald, a skinny
16-year-old in a dirty dress, when she came on stage.
She had planned to perform a dance but changed
her mind at the last minute. She had never sung inpublic before yet won that night.
Fitzgerald lost her mother at age 13 and spenttime in a state reformatory school for young truants
where she was beaten and kept in solitaryconfinement. She ran away to Harlem and washomeless for a while. Winning amateur night was
her ticket to a new life. She started to sing with
Chick Webb’s band in 1935. He was Harlem’s top
bandleader at the time and became her mentor.
Audiences loved her immediately. In 1938 sherecorded “A-Tisket A Tasket” with Webb’s orchestra.
The song became a blockbuster hit and reached #1
in the charts.
When Webb died at 34 Fitzgerald took over hisband. Later she toured with Dizzy Gillespie andlearned to scat improvise and use her voice likea bebop musician. She married bass player Ray
Brown, adopted his son, divorced Brown but neverstopped playing and touring with him.
Marilyn Monroe, a huge fan, helped her careerby demanding that the prestigious Hollywood club
Mocambo open its doors to Fitzgerald. The ‘50s
brought her international acclaim. Her manager,
Norman Granz, a righteous man and founder ofVerve Records, was instrumental in her worldwide
success, including her in his various Jazz At The
Philharmonic tours; she performed on the world’s
greatest concert stages and became globallysynonymous with the Great American Songbook
through her volumes (Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, theGershwins, et al.) on Verve from 1956-64. As themost popular female jazz singer in the U.S. she soldover 40 million albums in her 60-year career andwon 13 Grammy awards. She never complained
about her punishing tour schedule and was happiest
performing in front of people.
Fitzgerald (1917-96) never led a scandalous life.
She did not fit traditional beauty standards. She
excelled in multiple musical genres. Duke Ellington
called her beyond category. This film shows you why.
For more information, visit ellafitzgeraldmovie.com. To
watch this movie, visit watch.eventive.org/ellamovie.

For more information, visit oaprecords.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 21

EponymousPeter Evans Being & Becoming (More Is More)
Reality Check
Theo Hill (Posi-Tone)
The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella
Jason Palmer (Giant Step Arts)
by John Sharpe

Although only 24, Chicago-born, New York-based
vibraphonist Joel Ross is already turning heads. He
won the Jazz Journalists Association Best Mallets
Player 2020 award, although that may mean slightly
less to him than the similarly affirmative signing to theBlue Note Records roster, which produced Kingmaker,
the debut from his band Good Vibes last year. With hishighly rhythmic approach allied to a precise focus on
tone he’s inevitably in demand as a sideman too,vouchsafed by appearances alongside hometown
talents drummer Makaya McCraven and trumpeter
Marquis Hill. What’s refreshing is that he doesn’t limit
himself, as shown by his participation in the threerecordings at hand.
Out of left field is trumpeter Peter Evans’ Being &Becoming, by an acoustic jazz quartet completed by
Ross and two other younger players from the New
York scene, bassist Nick Jozwiak and drummer
Savannah Harris. Ross and Evans enjoy a predilection
for both the insistently repeated motifs and sudden
shifts of gear that pepper the trumpeter ’s five originals
as they switch back, swerve and spin off the tracks.
Evans’ writing accentuates the percussive side of theband, with Ross’ abstract comping and incisivecounterpoint a major force. Each cut leaps out of the
speakers in a blaze of combustive energy, lurching
momentum and mutable time, studded with
opportunities for the band to shine, whether alone
or within the ensembles. Evans doesn’t flaunt thetechnical prowess that illuminates his solo offerings
other than in the outrageous corkscrewing between
machine-gun spray and driving swing and theexpressive asides, which show his command of texture
and tonal variation. Highlights include: opener“Matrix”, where Evans embroiders a melody
reminiscent of Mussorgsky over an off-kilter clatterresourcefully tooled by Harris and Ross; the martial
tattoo underpinning a slow lament on “Sphere”; and“Double Drone”, which begins as a stumbling ballad
before gunning the throttle in a succession of nagging
riffs. Each piece jostles with event and drama,
as demonstrated on “Point Of Return”. Between
bookending
trumpet/vibraphone
tandems,itencompasses shuddering paroxysms of reiterated
phrases, dashing lines that propel vibraphone incascading waves and an unaccompanied passage inwhich bass sighs and groans, before morphing intoa chamber elegy.
Ross also plays an integral part in pianist
Theo Hill’s Reality Check and indeed some of the finest
episodes on the disc stem from the lucid exchanges
between the two. It seems Hill is going for a classic
Blue Note sound on this, his fourth album, inescapably
casting Ross in the role of an updated Bobby
Hutcherson. Other modernist touches come courtesyof the leader ’s additional use of Rhodes and synthesizer,
drummer Mark Whitfield, Jr.’s sometimes hip-hopinformed beats and bassist Rashaan Carter ’s fat
popping electric bass. Piano and vibraphone get thelion’s share of the spotlight, though all the time
supported by the robustly flexible work going on
beneath. Pick of the ten selections, including seven Hill
originals, is the striking opener “Blue Poles”, written
by David Berkman, which opens out for a vibraphonesolo buttressed by gaunt jabbing rhythm gradually
coalescing into a stuttering swing. Ross repurposesthat stuttering figure as the basis for his sparklingruns, before Hill takes over in similar vein. While therest of the program doesn’t quite reach those heights
there are still some nice moments, such as the singing
rapture of “Guardians Of Light”, which contains hintsof a Keith Jarrett country blues, and the propulsive“Mantra”, which recalls McCoy Tyner in its funky
vamp and features heated intertwining by hurtlingvibraphone and piano. The theme to Mulgrew Miller ’s“Pressing The Issue” unfurls to launch anotherbreathless flight, in which Ross melds his individual
notes into an undulating shimmer.
The ground tilts closer still to the tradition on The
Concert by trumpeter Jason Palmer, where Ross rounds
out a quintet completed by tenor saxophonist Mark
Turner, bassist Edward Perez and drummer Kendrick
Scott. Palmer ’s inspiration for the dozen compositions
on the double-disc set derives from a series of empty
frames on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum in Boston, the result of an audacious heist in
1990, which netted masterpieces by Rembrandt,
Vermeer and Manet among others. His pieces reside in
the modern mainstream, with nods to the hardbop
vernacular among his involved unison themes andstrings of subsequent solos. With selections hovering
around the ten-minute median, there’s ample spacefor everyone to exhibit their wares. Ross gets to partakemuch of the time, either furnishing a lattice-like
substructure with spare accents or unfolding into
longer features predicated on tension built andreleased. His spot on “Program for an Artistic Soiree(Degas)” provides one of the high points, as he dances
a pas de deux with just bass at first, before easing into an
outing full of characteristic snags and spurts. Then on“An Ancient Chinese Gu”, a jittery feel encourages
Ross to indulge in pugilistic interplay with Scottespecially. While Palmer and Turner, like Scott andPerez a regular collaborator, share an unshowy yetelegantly inventive aesthetic, they excite the mostwhen they interweave, as on the lyrical title track andthe stealthy lope of “Self Portrait (Rembrandt)”.
For more information, visit peterevanstrumpet.com,
posi-tone.com and giantsteparts.org

Americana (with Bill Frisell)
Grégoire Maret/Romain Collin (ACT Music)
Life Changes
Tim Ries (Ropeadope)by Jim Motavalli

Coincidences abound. Fact: yesterday, by chance I
listened to a new album by another European harmonica
player, Hermine Deurloo. Fact: I was just reading about
the recording of Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms and here’s
a new album by a Swiss harmonica player featuring thattune. The album is led by Grégoire Maret and keyboard
player Romain Collin and is primarily a duet project.
Don’t buy it expecting the new album by Bill Frisell,
2020 Jazz Journalists Awards Best Guitarist winner. But
applying new changes to Americana is one of Frisell’sdelightful obsessions and one shared by Maret and
Collin. A gathering of forces seemed appropriate andwith Clarence Penn on drums (used sparingly) they
convened on Brooklyn’s Bunker Studios.
This is lovely, delicate, calming music, appropriate
at a time like this. Maret and Collin (who is French)both live in the U.S. and their simpatico playing
implies regular interaction. Frisell doesn’t appear on
every track, but is a great asset on his own “Small
Town” (playing banjo!) and “Rain, Rain”.

22 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

Jazz harmonica playing is a largely European
tradition—consider the great Toots Thielemans. Maretis undoubtedly influenced by Thielemans, but at leaston this album has a gentler touch. The music iscollectively spun, an organic weave of the players—
listen to Maret’s “Back Home” for a master class in
subtlety. Collin writes movie scores and his “San Louis
Obispo” is very cinematic, a catchy theme easy to
imagine over end credits. Collin’s playing is lilting andloping and a perfect foil for the other two. The hit is thetake on Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman”. Harmonica
tracks Glen Campbell’s voice line by line and withequal poignancy. Then Frisell becomes the nominal
lead voice, but there are no solos per se. Just that
Kansas lineman, still on the line. Equally sublime is
Justin Vernon/Bon Iver ’s “Re: Stacks”.
Tim Ries is a jazz guy with a long resumé including
lots of first-tier session work and holding down bothsaxophone and keyboard chairs in The Rolling Stones
since 1999. His new album, Life Changes, is fascinating
jazz-rock fusion, with guest star Keith Richards
channeling his inner Al Di Meola. Ha ha, no it isn’t. It’s astraight jazz album, with not a hint of “Jumpin’ Jack
Flash”. And the guitarist is, once again, Frisell.
All the compositions are by Ries, except “Monk’s
Dream”, dedicated to the late Joe Henderson. And if
The Stones didn’t influence the music, their patronage
did perhaps give Ries the wherewithal to record alovely album with myriad name players—in addition
to Frisell and Maret, they include Jack DeJohnette on
drums, Scott Colley (one track) and James Genus onbass and Larry Goldings on piano and organ.
The title piece wafts in on a swaying breeze.
“For Elis” (Regina, perhaps?) picks up the pace andfeatures Ries getting his ya-yas out in an assured
postbop style, followed by a nice turn from Maret.
DeJohnette is strongly assertive and Goldings’ slightly
discordant piano dances in and out on the tail end.
Ries is in full command on this album. Dig the way hecomes in, burning on soprano, halfway through “Late
Last Night”. Jasia Ries plays the violin (at age 11,
doubling her father ’s saxophone) on the theme to“Eliana’s Song” (and, in her 20s now, sings impressively
on “Bella’s Lullaby”). Ries has three daughters andthey get three tunes. Ries’ wife, Stacey Shames, isa Juilliard-trained harp player and appears on two
tracks. “Eliana’s Song” rivals “Naima” for tenderness
and is so memorably haunting that film directors
should secure the rights. On the long (12 minutes plus)
version of “Monk’s Dream”, Ries is on soprano andGoldings on organ, with Frisell initially in a rhythm
role. When he solos later, it’s (atypically for him) in amainstream bop mode appropriate to the composition.
Goldings supplies a touch of chitlins and gravy, with
sublime comping from Frisell. DeJohnette is once again
on fire. Great fours at the end. It’s a strong piece andcould have been recorded anytime in the last 40 years.
Put this album on if you had a bad day; it has an
uplifting quality that never wavers. A peace piece, as it
were—only the reprise of “Life Changes”, with whatsounds like backwards tape and a destination-out
second half, disturbs the mood. Highlights include
Ries’ superbly melodic but muscular tenor on “As It
Happens”, getting driven along by DeJohnette, andFrisell’s solo on “Hearing Around Corners”, with more
superb drumming. On the latter, Ries explores his
lower register and Goldings does crazy things to anorgan. According to Randy Brecker ’s liner notes, bothtunes were written with DeJohnette in mind.
All the compositions on this album are really good.
Maybe writing them is what Ries does backstage at
those Stones concerts. Brazilian music was an influenceand not only on “Amor Até O Fim”. And Shames’
harp—a resurgent instrument in jazz, thanks to
Brandee Younger—adds invaluable color on anothergorgeous charmer, “It’s Magic”.
For more information, visit actmusic.com and timries.com

BO X E D SET

Season Five
Newvelle Records
by Franz Matzner

A single descriptor for Newvelle’s fifth season ofsubscription-only LPs might be “crisp”, like the firsttaste of a dry martini. All six albums arrive in sleekly
art-directed covers. The translucent 180-gramrecords seem almost futuristic. And then there’s theaudiophile sound quality, which, even compared toother high-level production, captures in astonishingdetail the roster of top-tier musicians populating theseries. No common theme or style unites the albums,
however, the clarity offered by Newvelle’s techniques
lends itself to exploration of the subtler realms overexcursions into the outer reaches, making for ashared tonal quality of refinement and restraint. A
survey of the fifth season’s immensity illustrates theresults of Newvelle’s marriage of superior musicianswith superior production across the six-LP set.
In the first notes of the Rufus Reid and Sullivan
Fortner duo Always in the Moment, one discovers arichness and warmth in Reid’s bass rarely

encountered outside of live performance. Fortner ’s
delicate and exact touch rings equally clear as theduo strip tunes like “Duke Ellington’s Sound ofLove” and “Sophisticated Lady” to their essentials
so that they vibrate with newly focused meaning.
Pianist Pablo Ablandeo’s Chistreza moves in the
opposite direction, showcasing an octet with theunusual inclusion of violin, clarinet and electricbass. The album leaps with rhythmic energy as the
instruments engage in a sensuous dance of exchange
defined by Ablandeo’s sophisticated orchestrationand structured compositions. The opening “La
Senal” stalks like a proud cat. The following“Karmavaleando” sprints forward, saxophones,
trumpet, violin and clarinet chasing each otherjoyously, like children playing an elaborate game oftag. If There Are Mountains documents the challenging
artistic conceit that Dave Douglas and Elan Mehler
have undertaken, creating musical renditions ofworks by esteemed haiku poets and other verse.
Composing and performing based on a notoriously
irreducible artform seems a recipe for disaster, or atleast the trite. In this case, each work is treated withdeep respect. The compositions reflect haiku’s
distilled nature and are conveyed through concise
performances the aural depth of which facilitates the
instrumentalists’ support of Dominique Eade’s
vocals, delivered with appropriate balance andlightness of touch. Woodland presents the Carmen
Staaf Trio, which leans toward straightahead jazz.
Her exceptional use of dynamics and tempo shifts
are clearly rendered and Michael Formanek’s rocksolid bass resounds warmly, especially at the low
end. The trio is able to swing and engage in tighttrading, like on the snappy tune “The Hunt” and is

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equally adept at conveying nuanced emotional states
as on the melancholic “Canons”, which marches
forward at a somber pace while Staaf sculpts apoignant study in the interwoven threads of loss,
beauty and regret. Book of Dreams, product of thePatrick Zimmerli Trio, is an evocative affair.
Reedplayer Zimmerli’s aggressive style coupledwith Kevin Hays’ insightful piano and Satoshi
Takeishi’s expressionistic percussion are displayed
best on the album’s slower tempos. Percussion isfamously difficult to record, but here Takeishi’s
unique voice is revealed in exquisite detail, including
elements often obscured, like the gentle overtones ofcymbal work, the perfectly placed snare snap andthe extended resonance of a bass drum reasserting
the pulse. Life of the Party by OWL Trio concludes theseason with a pleasurably old-school presentation
accentuated by Kurt Elling’s unmistakable voice, hisdelivery and grain like a Bukowski poem. The title
piece exhibits this in spades as the trio adeptly backs
Elling’s reading of “The Guy Who Died” by Gregory
Corso. The vocal pieces, however, are not all thatdefine the album. The instrumental works provide aseries of mellow constructions, including the aptly
named “Melanchollie Willage”, on which Lage
Lund’s cool, ever-lithe guitar lines blend seamlessly
with saxophonist Will Vinson’s patient delivery.
Newvelle Season Five lives up to the elevatedstandards established in previous seasons. Everyelement of production is attended to from A to Z,
aiding each of the estimable musicians in expressing
the scope of their talents. Candy to the ears andsustenance for the mind, it deserves close attention.

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Fred Staton
Photo by Richard Corman

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | JULY 2020 23

M ISCELLANY
ONbyTHISDAYAndrey Henkin

Trombones And Flute
Various Artists (Savoy)
July 18th, 1956

Pianist Extraordinary
Don Shirley (Cadence)
July 18th, 1960

California Concert
Various Artists (CTI)
July 18th, 1971

In Florence 1981
Donald Ayler (Frame)
July 18th, 1981

@ The Village Vanguard
Fred Hersch (Palmetto)
July 18th, 1997

It doesn’t seem like a fair fight, pitting

Pianist Don Shirley was classically

Los Angeles’ Hollywood Palladium
was the site for this allstar concert
comprising artists who led sessions
for CTI in 1971: guitarist George
Benson, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard,
flutist Hubert Laws, tenor saxophonist
Stanley Turrentine and organ player
Johnny Hammond, plus somesidemen from those dates: Hank
Crawford (alto), Ron Carter (bass),
Billy Cobham (drums) and Airto(percussion). Hubbard, Turrentine
and Carter contribute tunes alongsidemusic by James Taylor (“Fire andRain”) and fellow CTI-er Deodato.

Like their contemporaries and fellow
saxophonist/trumpeter Wayne andAlan Shorter, Albert and Donald
Ayler did not have equally luminous
careers. The younger Ayler did win
out in the longevity department
though his life had its own tragedy.
These three concert volumes represent
his sole output as a leader, seven longtunes by the trumpeter essayed by an
obscure band: Abdul Rahim Mustafa(reeds), Frank Doblekar (tenor
saxophone), Anthony Smith (piano),John Davis (guitar), Radu Williams(bass) and Jerry Griffin (percussion).

Of pianist Fred Hersch’s few dozen
albums as a leader, several entries arelive from the hallowed basement thatis the Village Vanguard. This set,released 21 years after the fact, is with
Hersch’s trio of the period, bassist
Drew Gress and drummer Tom
Rainey, which recorded albums for
Enja, Chesky and Nonesuch. The
eight-tune program is split between
originals (two by Hersch, one by
Gress) and standards by Cole Porter,
Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart, Harry
Ruby-Bert Kalmar, Gene de Paul-Don
Raye and Harry Warren.

four trombones against a single flute
but if anyone could manage, it would
be Frank Wess, one of the masters. He
wrote two of the five pieces, the others
being one by participating trombonist
Henry Coker and a pair of standards.
The trombone section is filled out by
Bill Hughes, Benny Powell and Jimmy
Cleveland, backed by pianist Ronnell
Bright, guitarist Freddie Green,
bassist Eddie Jones and drummer
Kenny Clarke. Wess, Coker, Powell,
Green and Jones were all period
players in Count Basie’s band.

trained yet, given the racial politics of
his era, couldn’t pursue a concertizing
career, instead becoming a virtuosic
jazz player with a slew of albums on
Cadence from 1955-61, often in duos
and trios (bassist Richard Davis’ firstrecordings). This set, however, is asolo date with a program of standards
plus “Russian Folk Song”, the latter
wherein Shirley’s classical abilities aremost apparent. His profile got a huge,
if controversial, boost from the 2018
Hollywood film Green Book, Shirley
portrayed by Mahershala Ali.

BIRTHDAYS
July 1†Earle Warren 1914-94†Rashied Ali 1935-2009†Ndugu Chancler 1952-2018
Erik Friedlander b.1960
Sameer Gupta b.1976
Brandee Younger b.1983

July 7†Tiny Grimes 1916-89†Frank Rehak 1926-87
Doc Severinsen b.1927†Hank Mobley 1930-86†Joe Zawinul 1932-2007
Sue Evans b.1951
Michael Henderson b.1951
JA Granelli b.1966
Orlando le Fleming b.1976

July 2†Charlie Kennedy 1927-2009
Richard Wyands b.1928
Ahmad Jamal b.1930†William Fielder 1938-2009
Mike Abene b.1942
Gary Dial b.1954

July 11
Henry Lowther b.1941†Tomasz Stanko 1942-2018
Travis Sullivan b.1971
Will Vinson b.1977
July 12†Sam “The Man” Taylor
1916-90†Paul Gonsalves 1920-74†Conte Condoli 1927-2001†Big John Patton 1935-2002†Jean-François Jenny-Clark
1944-98
Mark Soskin b.1953
Ken Thompson b.1976
Ron Caswell b.1977

July 8†Bill Challis 1904-94†Louis Jordan 1908-75†Johnny Mince 1912-97†Billy Eckstine 1914-93†Ken Hanna 1921-82
Roy Babbington b.1940
Sakari Kukko b.1953
Russ Johnson b.1965
Kendrick Scott b.1980
Tyshawn Sorey b.1980
Matt Wigton b.1980

July 3†Johnny Coles 1926-96
Ronnell Bright b.1930†Ron Collier 1930-2003†Pete Fountain 1930-2016
Rhoda Scott b.1938
Dr. Lonnie Smith b.1942
John Klemmer b.1946

July 13†George Lewis (cl) 1900-68†Bengt-Arne Wallin 1926-2015†Leroy Vinnegar 1928-99†Albert Ayler 1936-70†Earl Grubbs 1942-89
George Lewis (tb) b.1952

July 9†Joe Darensbourg 1906-85†June Richmond 1915-62†Duke Burrell 1920-93†Alex Welsh 1929-82†Frank Wright 1935-90

July 4†Aaron Sachs 1923-2014
Conrad Bauer b.1943
Butch Miles b.1944
Fred Wesley b.1943
Matt Steckler b.1974

July 14†Billy Kyle 1914-66†Alan Dawson 1929-96
Lauren Sevian b.1979

July 10†Noble Sissle 1889-1975†Ivie Anderson 1905-49†Cootie Williams 1910-85†Milt Buckner 1915-77†Dick Cary 1916-94†Major Holley 1924-90†Buddy Clark 1929-99†Arnie Lawrence 1938-2005†Lee Morgan 1938-72
Brian Priestley b.1940

July 5†Ray Biondi 1905-81†Bruce Turner 1922-93
Sha b.1983
July 6†Betty Smith 1929-2011
Chris White b.1936
Klaus Kugel b.1959
Torben Waldorff b.1963

July 15†Philly Joe Jones 1923-85†Joe Harriott 1928-73†Henry P. Warner 1940-2014
Rodrigo Amado b.1964
Petros Klampanis b.1981
July 16†Teddy Buckner 1909-94†Cal Tjader 1925-82
Bobby Previte b.1957

July 17†Mary Osborne 1921-92†Ray Copeland 1926-84†Vince Guaraldi 1928-76†Joe Morello 1928-2011†Ben Riley 1933-2017†Nick Brignola 1936-2002
Chico Freeman b.1949

July 22†Paul Moer 1916-2010†Al Haig 1924-82†Bill Perkins 1924-2003†Keter Betts 1928-2005†Junior Cook 1934-92†Johannes Bauer 1954-2016
Al Di Meola b.1954

July 18†Charlie LaVere 1910-83†Ray McKinley 1910-95†Joe Comfort 1917-88†Don Bagley 1927-2012†Carl Fontana 1928-2003†Buschi Niebergall 1938-’80s†Dudu Pukwana 1938-90
William Hooker b.1946
Theo Croker b.1985

July 23†Emmett Berry 1915-93†Johnny Hartman 1923-83†Claude Luter 1923-2006
Bill Lee b.1928†Richie Kamuca 1930-77†Steve Lacy 1934-2004
Daoud-David Williams b.1943
Khan Jamal b.1946
Loren Schoenberg b.1958
Achille Succi b.1971

July 19†Buster Bailey 1902-67†Cliff Jackson 1902-70†Charlie Teagarden 1913-84
Bobby Bradford b.1934†Carmell Jones 1936-96
Didier Levallet b.1944
July 20†Bill Dillard 1911-95†Joachim Ernst Berendt
1922-2000†Ernie Wilkins 1922-99
Peter Ind b.1928†Charles Tyler 1941-82
Samuel Blaser b.1981
July 21
Helen Merrill b.1930†Sonny Clark 1931-63
Plas Johnson b.1931
Scott Wendholt b.1965

July 24†Joe Thomas 1909-84†Billy Taylor 1921-2010
Ronnie Lang b.1927†Rudy Collins 1934-88
Mike Mainieri b.1938
Charles McPherson b.1939
Jon Faddis b.1953
Barry Romberg b.1959
James Zollar b.1959
Etienne Charles b.1983
July 25†Darnell Howard 1895-1966†Johnny Wiggs 1899-1977†Johnny Hodges 1907-70†Jef Gilson 1926-2012†Don Ellis 1934-78
Günter Lenz b.1938
Brian Blade b.1970
Mike DiRubbo b.1970

July 26†Gus Aiken 1902-1973†Erskine Hawkins 1914-93†Louie Bellson 1924-2009
Charli Persip b.1929
Joanne Brackeen b.1938
Natsuki Tamura b.1951
July 27†Charlie Queener 1923-97
Charlie Shoemake b.1937
Carl Grubbs b.1944
Joel Harrison b.1957
Jean Toussaint b.1960
July 28†Corky Corcoran 1924-79†Jim Galloway 1936-2014
Nnenna Freelon b.1954
Delfeayo Marsalis b.1965
July 29†Don Redman 1900-64†Charlie Christian 1916-42†Joe Beck 1945-2008
July 30†Hilton Jefferson 1903-68†Roy Porter 1923-98†Frank Smith 1927-74†Vernell Fournier 1928-2000
James Spaulding b.1937
Hal Smith b.1953
Kevin Mahogany b.1958
July 31†Hank Jones 1918-2010†Ahmet Ertegun 1923-2006†Bjarne Nerem 1923-91
Kenny Burrell b.1931
Michael Wolff b.1952
Stanley Jordan b.1959

natsuki tamura

July 26th, 1951

The dramatic quality of
Natsuki Tamura’s trumpet
may be traced to his
decade playing in the TV
bands in his native Japan.
His earliest work was in
the late ‘70s-early ‘80s
with Toshiyuki Miyama’s
New Herd and he attended
Berklee College of Musicin the ‘80s. His career has
mostly been in avant garde
circles since his 1992
quartet debut Tobifudo. A
key moment came five
years later via a duo
release with pianist Satoko
Fujii (who was on the 1992
date). Since then, the wifehusband team have madedozens of albums under
one of their names, as a
duo or in cooperative
bands of varying sizes andwith an international arrayof collaborators, playing
their compositions. —AH

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By Andrey Henkin 			

3. Keyboard player Horace who played withLou Donaldson and Jimmy McGriff
4. Dave Brubeck percussionist Lloyd Davis was part of
1. Chinese free jazz saxophonist Dan
this org.
4. Narrator Wu ____-Ying who worked with John Zorn
5. Jelly Roll Morton Orchestra tune “Big Fat ____”
8. New melody over old changes
6. Use these to counter an orchestra of basses?
11. Primordial New Orleans tenor saxophonist
7. Lyricist Harbach, trumpeter Radke and others
13. “All The Things You ____”
8. Wrong note
14. Repeated, Monk’s daughter’s nickname
9. Saxophonist Greg Wall is one
15. Brazilian pianist Salvador or guitarist Minasi
10. 1981 Bob James Tappan Zee album All ____ Town
16. City where Stan Getz died12. The London Improvisers Orchestra recorded an album
18. Guitarists Gene and Mikeon the ____ President, a decommissioned British Royal
19. 1967 Lee Morgan Blue Note album The Sixth ____
Navy ship
21. Eyal Maoz project
17. Bassist Junius Paul 2019 debut album on International
24. Cedar Walton birthplace
Anthem28. Cuban dance music
18. 1998 Makigami Koichi Tzadik album Electric ____
29. This phone co. has partnered with SFJAZZ
20. Jeremy Steig had a band filled with this Greek
30. Russian experimental sound ensembles Mork ____
mythological creature
31. Elvin Jones speciality
21. Forward-looking Wayne Shorter song
34. Plays over and over?
22. 1970 Dave Pike Vortex album ____ of Perceptions
35. Ravi to John, Makaya to Stephen
36. 1993 Marcus Miller Dreyfus album The Sun Don’t ____ 23. Like most Ivo Perelman albums
25. Finnish saxophonist Pentti who worked withcountryman Edward Vesala
DOWN
26. Vocalist Cyrille
27. Sarah Vaughan had lots
1. Trumpeter Rudy who worked with Nat King Cole
29. Trumpeter Farmer and bassist Davisand Elvis Presley
32. 1992 Steps Ahead NYC Records album ____-Yang
2. Photographer Adams whose cacti are on the cover of
33. Guitarist Farlow
Jimmy Giuffre’s Western SuiteACROSS

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24 JULY 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD