NOVEMBER 2020—ISSUE 223

YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENENYCJAZZRECORD.COM

DIGITALONLYEDITIONDANIELHUMAIR
DRUM ARTIST
DRUMS
ISSUE
JOE
JEFF
FARNSWORTH WILLIAMSAVREEAYL
RA

BABY
DODDS

Managing Editor:
Laurence Donohue-Greene
Editorial Director &Production Manager:
Andrey Henkin
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NOVEMBER 2020—ISSUE 223
NEW YORK@NIGHT

Laurence Donohue-Greene:ldgreene@nycjazzrecord.com

INTERVIEW : JOE FARNSWORTH

Andrey Henkin:ahenkin@nycjazzrecord.com

ARTIST FEATURE : JEFF WILLIAMSGeneral Inquiries:
info@nycjazzrecord.com
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Calendar:calendar@nycjazzrecord.com

ON THE COVER : DANIEL HUMAIR
ENCORE : AVREEAYL RALEST WE FORGET : BABY DODDSLABEL SPOTLIGHT : DOT TIME

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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, Michael Cobb,
Jordannah Elizabeth, Pierre Giroux, George
Kanzler, Steven Loewy, Kyle Oleksiuk
Contributing Photographers
Olivier Degen, Eliott PeacockJohn Pietaro, R.I. Sutherland-Cohen
Fact-checker
Nate Dorward

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by alex hendersonby kyle oleksiukby michael cobb
by kurt gottschalkby stuart broomer
by marilyn lester
by suzanne lorge
by andrey henkinby andrey henkin

Jazz fans are many things but passive is not one of them. Anyone who takes the time todelve deeply into this art form spends quite a bit of time thinking about it, learning
history, forming opinions, making connections. Jazz is about discovery, whether it be a
new artist or a note in a favorite solo, unheard despite repeated plays. And jazz fans are
not passive because this is a genre consigned to the dustbin of history more times thancan be counted in lieu of the next new thing, yet, jazz is still here, stronger than ever,even if these days it is to be found most often on the other side of a computer screen.
In our home city of New York, we recently voted early. To see hundreds upon hundredsof people lined up for hours on cold fall mornings waiting patiently—even excitedly—
to cast a ballot in a presidential contest where the results, at least in NYC, are most
likely not in question was an amazing sight. These were people of all ages, ethnicities,
professions, cultural backgrounds, economic classes and faiths who shared one thing:activity versus passivity. In a time when isolation is the theme, whether via social
distancing and quarantine or the walls thrown up by “social” media, here was true
community, one that can only be achieved in person and with true purpose.
By the time this issue comes out, the election cycle will almost be over but you will still
have a few days to make your voice heard. And while sometimes it can seem small andinaudible remember that you are part of a democratic big band, your trumpet joining
with millions of others to create a sound so loud no amount of fingers in ears can blockit. But it only works if passivity is set aside, if agency is embraced. Go vote...and thenlisten to your favorite or most-recently bought jazz record, happy with a job well done.

On The Cover: Daniel Humair (photo by Olivier Degen / olivierdegen.com)
All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors.

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NEW YORK @ NIGHT
Seeing Bill Charlap performing alone on live-stream The Vision Festival is all about adaptabilty. It has

happened in so many venues in its 25-year history that
it is independent of place. Its homespun quality meansthat as long as Roberta and Richard Berger are taking
tickets, there are pots of steaming food in the back andorganizer Patricia Nicholson-Parker is announcing theartists while pleading for social justice, it is the Vision
Festival. This year ’s show had to go on and it did...inthe parking lot of Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Centerand live-streaming (Oct. 8th-12th). A small number of
in-person listeners spread themselves across theasphalt for music and poetry, happy for the community
and the still-warm weather. Oct. 11th was a drummer ’s
affair: last year ’s Lifetime Achievement AwardeeAndrew Cyrille leading a quartet of Bill Frisell (guitar),
David Virelles (keyboards) and Ben Street (drums) and
Gerald Cleaver presenting his Black Host with Darius
Jones (alto saxophone), Brandon Seabrook (guitar),
Cooper-Moore (piano) and Brandon Lopez (bass) [twoBrandons in the same band? What is this, Jazz 90210?],the sets bookending the compelling verse of Tyehimba
Jess. While it would seem that Cyrille should havegotten closing honors, the ethereal, wispy, spacy ECM
grooves of band originals was ideal for the gloaming.
Cleaver ’s group too was designed for darkness, as
surf-rock met Deodato-style fusion, liberally frosted
with cosmic free jazz. Jones stood in the middle of it
all, bleating like mad, all eyes (including in theapartments above) on him.
—Andrey Henkin

R.I. SUTHERLAND-COHEN / JAZZEXPRESSIONS.ORG

from Dizzy’s Club (Oct. 8th) to a roomful of “empty
chairs at empty tables”, red candlelight aglow at eachtable as if offered in prayer for the absentees, dimly lit
Columbus Circle skyscrapers visible in the giant
picture windows back of the stage, was like watchinga scene from Les Misérables. But this didn’t keep the
pianist from expressing his deep and abiding love for
the Great American Songbook. More than delightful
melodies married to equally delightful harmonies,
these songs become miniatures of emotion in Charlap’s
capable hands, the unheard lyrics implicit in his
eloquent interpretations. Thanks to excellent camera
work and mic’ing, the concert provided the audience
with an up-close-and-personal experience. Charlap
adds bits of everything—stride, locked-hand chords,
quicksilver runs, fluid counter-lines, tastefully
dramatic codas—to his spontaneous arrangements, butthere is never a sense of compulsion or crowding.
Rather his playing always leaves just enough breathing
room to suggest the spaces between ideas, ideas thatflow like mountain snowmelt runoff in the spring.
Uniformly excellent, standout renditions from the
20-plus-song set included an introspective “In YourOwn Sweet Way”, leisurely “Embraceable You”, harddriving “How About You”, strong but sensitive “Polka
Dots and Moonbeams”, imaginatively harmonized “It
Could Happen to You” and two barnburners: “ByMyself” and “After You’ve Gone”.
—Tom GreenlandBill Charlap @ Dizzy’s Club

Gerald Cleaver @ Vision Festival“I just imagine I’m playing in Japan,” quipped pianist Live music indoors is LOUD. One can be forgiven for
Aaron Diehl during a Q&A session following his
slowly but steadily rousing concert in the lavishly
appointed (but almost empty) Rosen House Music
Room at Caramoor (Oct. 16th). He was referring to thereticence of Japanese jazz audiences during shows (thethunderous applause comes only at the end) whencompared to their vociferous Western counterparts,
only now the gaping silence wasn’t culturally induced,
it was a result of quarantine. The trio, with bassist Paul
Sikivie and drummer Aaron Kimmel, all Juilliard
alumni, hadn’t played together since March, so to saythat their musical social skills were rusty is anunderstatement. What fascinated about the set,
however, was the gradual syncing up that occurred, alimbering of reflexes, an increased ability to react andrespond to each other in real time (and space). It started
as a rhythm section in support of its leader, the mood
restrained, like a chamber ensemble or the Modern
Jazz Quartet (sans Milt Jackson), but about halfway
through the set, during a cover of Cedar Walton’s“Clockwise”, something began to click. Sikivie’s
inventive solo brought a chuckle to Diehl’s up-untilthen-somber demeanor, inspiring a rhapsodic cadenza.
There was more trading and playing with the pulse on
Freddie Hubbard’s “Happy Times”, delicate intensity
on the laid-back but swinging “Autumn in New York”
and some of the best moments of all during the lastpiece, Ornette Coleman’s “Blues Connotation”.
(TG)

4 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

forgetting this as it has been months—or, more
precisely, 229 days—since this reviewer saw a concert
not constrained to a computer screen or competingwith outdoor noise. The event was the album release
concert by trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer
Tcheser Holmes for Heritage Of The Invisible II(International Anthem) and venue Greenpoint Art
Gallery IRL—shout-out to nearby Polish restaurant
Karczma and its white borscht in a bread-bowl—
a converted office with the vibe of an L.A. mountaintop
mansion. Attendance was good and, refreshingly,
skewed young and of color, masks glowing in the neonof the dark room. Navarro and Holmes are best known
as 40 percent of Irreversible Entanglements yet thealbum has little to do with that group’s highly-politicaltake on spirit jazz, instead being a series of pastiches
heavy on groove and rhythm, both subverted andconjugated in electr(on)ic fashion. The evening’s firstset did not try to recreate the album’s contents but was,instead, a 40-minute piece that took elements from its
tunes and wove them together, Navarro supplementing
his horn with two keyboards, including a MOOG
synthesizer that provided an apocalyptic drone
throughout. The juxtaposition with Holmes’ purely
acoustic instrument was striking. Navarro’s use ofeffects on his horn drew a direct line from Miles Davisto Bill Dixon to Peter Evans, creating a new genre: freeelectronica or maybe Sketches of Spain’s Factories. (AH)F resh off of closing out the Walk With The Wind Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted’s dizzying
weekend concert series in Central Park, saxophonist
Chris Potter’s Trio with bassist Joe Martin anddrummer Nasheet Waits made their way to Brooklyn
for the first weekly Wednesday night live-streams fromBar Bayeux (Oct. 14th). Potter got things started with ashort unaccompanied tenor solo, before launching intoa hard-swinging rendition of standard “My Shining
Hour”, on which the strong influence of Sonny Rollins,
who popularized the piano-less trio format, was clearly
evident. Martin followed Potter ’s bebop-and-beyond
outing with a lyrical solo of his own before the leader
returned trading four-bar exchanges with Waits. That
segued into a motivic tenor improvisation, leading into
Eastern-tinged original “Okinawa”. After taking timeout to present the trio, thanking the unseen audience“for not coming, staying home and checking us out”,
Potter introduced Ed Blackwell’s “Togo”. The folkish
melody hearkening to West Africa, first recorded by
Old And New Dreams, had soulful drumming on topof which Potter stretched out over the range of hishorn, blowing muezzin-like lines punctuated by
anguished altissimo cries. Calming the mood the band
eased into Potter ’s stirring “The Dreamer Is The
Dream”, then took off to the races with a fiery versionof his “Amsterdam Blues” which combined intense
modal and boppish lines over propulsive rhythm. The
set ended with “Body and Soul” before bebopping out
with Charlie Parker ’s “Donna Lee”.
—Russ Musto

labyrinth that confounds even we natives, wasunforgiving that day (Oct. 4th) as this reviewer sought
out a particular concert site. Unable to locate thatstage, however, I wandered into the Befo’ Quotet’sirresistible post-Bop and R&B. A veritable flute flightsoared above sizzling lead guitar and a rhythm sectionof poignant subtlety and grace. Drenched in jazz,
Motown, djembe funk and, at points, Harmolodics, thefoursome also incorporated vocals, conjuring memories
of back when. Passersby grooved to a stop, but just as
the crowd got comfortable, the music playfully
morphed into traditional rhythms under “That’s All”,“Get on Up” and “Mona Lisa”. Atiba Kwabena-Wilson,
flutist, vocalist, poet and percussionist, has been
performing in Harlem for decades. A teaching artist,
he’s lectured on African culture widely, was a voice on
WBAI-FM and led ensembles in haunts like the St.
Nick’s Pub and Paris Blues, both of which featured the
Befo’ Quotet in lengthy residencies. “This band grewout of my African cultural ensemble, Songhai Djeli, but
has its own identity.” Guitarist James Rohlehr ’s solo
on “St. Thomas”, interspersed with biting dyad attacks,
led to an uptempo “Killer Joe”. Drummer Sean Brock
dropped wonderfully disjointed tom accents against
bassist “Dr.” William Dotts’ throbbing line as
Kwabena-Wilson’s nimble flute alternated withdjembe, bearing an atmosphere at once timeless andcurrent.
—John Pietaro

W H AT ’ S N E W S
An update from an item from last month: the
Copenhagen Municipality has promised three yearsof support for the Jazzhus Montmartre, staving off
its closure.
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced
the 2021 class of Jazz Masters, who will be celebrated
in April 2021: drummers Terri Lyne Carrington andAlbert “Tootie” Heath, saxophonist/flutist Henry
Threadgill and scholar/radio host Phil Schaap. For
more information, visit arts.gov/honors/jazz.
Recipients of the 2020 Doris Duke Artist Awards
have been named and include drummer Andrew
Cyrille and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, both
receiving $250,000. For more information, visit
ddcf.org. Additionally, Salvant was named one of the2020 MacArthur Fellows, receiving $625,000.
On Nov. 3rd, US Election Day, Deep Tones for
Change, an initiative of Deep Tones for Peace, will
broadcast 4 performances hourly for the entire 17
hours polls are open nationwide, totalling 68 individual
performances. For more information, visit facebook.
com/groups/DeepTonesForPeace2020.
The 50th Annual Pitt Jazz Seminar and Concert—
Celebrating Dr. Nathan Davis and Geri Allen, featuring
panel discussions, symposia and performances, willtake place online Nov. 2nd-7th at youtube.com/
channel/UCzhaYWy3kDp19c8mskKBMlg/videos.

JOHN PIETARO

Our own Phil Freeman, who has run the arts andculture zine/website Burning Ambulance since 2010,
has announced the founding of a related label, Burning
Ambulance Music, to be inaugurated in 2021. For
more information, visit burningambulance.com.

Chris Potter Trio @ Bar Bayeux

Befo’ Quotet @ Central Park

A class act is how one could best describe Lafayette Experimental series Brackish Brooklyn, organized byHarris. Jr.: the kind of artist who shows up as elegantly
attired for his sans-audience live-streamed gig at
Brooklyn’s Soapbox Gallery (Oct. 21st) as he would foran engagement in any of the world’s toniest venues hehas performed in during an illustrious career. Joined
by longtime partner, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, the pianist
opened up his set noting, “Let’s start off with astandard that everybody knows”, to preface hisswinging delivery of “It’s Almost Like Being In Love”;
he quickly established his bebop credentials, quoting
from Charlie Parker ’s “Now’s The Time”. He further
confirmed the tradition of which he is one of today’sfinest proponents dedicating a take of “Autumn In
New York” to “the great Bud Powell”, kicking it off
with a faithful rendering of Powell’s own harmonicallydazzling improvised intro, before putting his own
stamp on the piece. He continued with Sonny Rollins’“Valse Hot” on which he demonstrated estimablecapacity to lend singing lyricism to a composition
without words, an ability further evinced on his own“Achern”, the flowing melodicism of which cries out
for a lyric of its own. Turning to the Gershwin songbook
he played “Who’s Got The Last Laugh Now” with
Ellington-ian flourishes, following it with Powell’schallenging “Cecilia”. His soulful side came to the foreon Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” and wasequally evident on the Clare Fischer bossa “Pensativa”
and set closer “The Juicy Blues”.
(RM)

Angela Morris and based in Gowanus since its 2016
inception, has lately extended its reach with outdoor
live performance. Following Red Hook and Park Slopeshows, Brackish took to the steps of the Park Church
Co-Op in Greenpoint (Oct. 8th). Morris, a saxophonist,
founded the series with trumpet player Jaimie Branch
and performance artist Stevie May. Brackish (a fresh/
saltwater mix found most distinctly in the Gowanus
Canal) is one of several indies heartedly shredding
creative/industry boundaries. For this, alas, final
outdoor edition, improvisational music met sound art,
poetry and dance. Headliner Multi Culti (a name
terribly reminiscent of Don Cherry’s latter-day band)united drummer Gerald Cleaver, vocalist Jean Carla
Rodea, bassist Brandon Lopez and synthesizer player
Cecilia Lopez. During a lengthy work led by Rodea’s
electronics-affected voice, the quartet cast an everchanging soundscape. Rodea, seated behind the rest,
was largely focused on her laptop, face turned awayfrom all and her extended vocal techniques were hardto detect within the octave-dividing wash. Throughout,Cleaver played understatedly, static, but bass wasperpetual motion and the actual melodic force. Earlier,the duet of Lindsey Weaving and Max Jaffe presented
a pensive piece of movement and percussion (withdrums-triggering laptop) while alternating poets, Ariel
Yelen and Evan Gill-Smith, added literary musings to
the clear autumn night.
(JP)

Tenor/alto saxophonist Maciej Obara was therecipient of two Fryderyk Awards, as presented by the
Phonographic Academy of Poland: Jazz Artist of theYear and Jazz Album of the Year for his 2019 ECM
release Three Crowns.
New England Conservatory has launched a “lowlatency music-making initiative”, which allows
musicians to collaborate across long distances with“virtually lagless audio-visual elements to enhance
digital music making with a setup anyone canassemble at home.” For more information, visit
ianhowellcountertenor.com/soundjack-real-timeonline-music.
Brooklyn Raga Massive has announced its 2020
Ragas Live Festival. The 24-hour event will livestream for free starting Nov. 21st at 7 pm and will
include over 90 artists participating from 15 cities.
For more information, visit ragaslive.org.
Blue Note Records has announced the Classic
Vinyl Reissue Series, a continuation of its Blue Note
80 Vinyl Reissue Series launched in conjunction
with the label’s 80th anniversary in 2019. The series,
which drops Dec. 4th, is available for pre-order now
and will begin with pianist McCoy Tyner’s The Real
McCoy and trumpeter Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder.
For more information, visit bluenote.com/classicvinyl-reissue-series.
Submit news to info@nycjazzrecord.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 5

INTERVIEW

JOE

COURTESY OF THE ARTISTFARNSWORTH
by alex henderson
Although Joe Farnsworth has only recorded sporadically asa leader, his list of sideman credits reads like a Who’s Who of
jazz. The veteran drummer, now 52, has backed heavyweights
including tenor saxophonists Benny Golson, Pharoah
Sanders, Junior Cook and Eric Alexander, baritone
saxophonist Cecil Payne and pianists Harold Mabern andCedar Walton. Farnsworth, originally from Massachusetts,
has spent much of his adult life in New York City and has along association with the Upper West Side club Smoke. His
new album as a leader, Time to Swing, has been released on
its in-house Smoke Sessions label, Farnsworth leading a bandof trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pianist Kenny Barron andbassist Peter Washington. During a recent interview,
Farnsworth discussed Time to Swing and some of the many
jazz icons he has worked with over the years.
The New York City Jazz Record: Time to Swing isn’t
your first album, but is your first for Smoke Sessions.
How did your association with Smoke come about?
Joe Farnsworth: In 1993, I took over playing every
night at a place called Augie’s, which is Smoke now.
I was there playing every Friday and Saturday. It was agodsend to me. I brought in everybody: Junior Cook,John Ore, Cecil Payne, Big John Patton, Dizzy Reece.
So many guys—Julian Priester, Harold Mabern.
[Guitarist] Paul Stache was working there and thenPaul and his friend [Frank Christopher] took over andstarted Smoke. And so, when Smoke opened up in
1999, I played the very first weekend, the grandopening. And I convinced Paul to get George Colemanand Harold Mabern. I said, “When you get someone
like George Coleman, then that makes the club muchbetter. It raises everybody’s game.” And then [in 2013]
Paul started his record label, Smoke Sessions. Thatclub is family to me, it’s a home away from home.
TNYCJR: The late Harold Mabern featured you onsome of his albums for Smoke Sessions.
JF: I brought Harold to Smoke. We got a Rhodes for him.
Harold played there when it was Augie’s, in fact. It
wasn’t even Smoke then. And Harold was hesitant to go
up there to Augie’s and play a Rhodes, but he did andhe loved it. I was the first one to bring him up there.
TNYCJR: Jazz clubs certainly come and go. Many New
Yorkers who know Smoke never saw it as Augie’s.
JF: Augie’s was a dump. It was kind of a college
hangout. They didn’t charge a cover and they used topass the hat. Augie’s was very vibrant, but it was alittle too low-brow for some of the really big-nameguys. When Paul took over and it became Smoke, hechanged everything. They went from zero cover charge
to $30, 40. They made it into a real club.
TNYCJR: You have played with so many jazz icons
who are no longer living.

JF: When Harold Mabern died, one of the things
I missed was that Harold could bring you back to 1950.
I mean, he used to talk about picking cotton in Memphis
as a kid—and he would make you feel like you wereright there. Harold had so many stories. There are somany stories in jazz.
TNYCJR: You’ve played with Eric Alexander a greatdeal. He was one of the Young Lions in the late ‘80s-early‘90s; now he is 52 and helping the young musicians out.
JF: I met Eric at William Paterson [University] in 1987.
TNYCJR: So, you knew Eric about half a decade before
his first album as a leader, Straight Up (Delmark, 1992)?
JF: Yeah, Straight Up with Harold Mabern, George
Fludas. I went to William Paterson and met Harold in1986 and Eric came there in ’87. So Eric, Harold andmyself basically started that relationship in ’87. And
then, once I graduated in 1990, we started hiring
Harold for gigs. We would get gigs and give him all themoney just to have Harold Mabern there.
TNYCJR: Eric and Harold had such a close relationship.
Eric played as a sideman on Harold’s albums andHarold played as a sideman on Eric’s albums. And you
were on many of those albums, whether it was Eric
leading or Harold leading.

TNYCJR: You use different combinations: quartet
performances, trios and a solo drums feature.
JF: Wynton is a busy guy. So, I was just glad he could
do it and I certainly wasn’t going to be greedy and ask
him to do a whole date. I asked him just to do fourtunes. The way I planned it was almost like an oldrecord date, a vinyl date, a Side A and Side B. Side A,
we go in there and play trio with Kenny Barron andPeter Washington. And then, you flip over to Side B
and Wynton Marsalis joins us.
TNYCJR: How long have you known Kenny Barron?
JF: I used to sit there in awe for 25 years at Bradley’s,
watching Kenny with Ray Drummond and Ben Riley.
And of course, I saw Kenny in the group Sphere,
I used to love that group with Charlie Rouse. Bradley’s
was where I really saw Kenny Barron a lot. When
Kenny did this record I asked him what he wanted toplay. I wanted to play tunes that he wanted to play
because he certainly has a wider variety of experiences
than me. I learned that with Junior Cook a long timeago: instead of telling these people what to play, I love
asking them what they want to play.
TNYCJR: You play Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to aKiss” as a bossa nova.
JF: That’s what happens when you get Kenny Barron:
you’re free to do anything. I knew we were going toplay Kenny’s tune “Lemuria” and I knew we weregoing to play “Monk’s Dream” by Thelonious Monk.
TNYCJR: Kenny has always had a broad repertoire.
JF: Some guys just don’t know many tunes. But guys
like Kenny Barron, they know tunes. Harold Mabern
knew tunes. Barry Harris knows tunes. And Kenny
Barron knows tunes. When I was planning the record,
I thought, “I have Wynton Marsalis, I have Peter
Washington, if Kenny Barron would just say yes, thatwould bring everything to the date: maturity,
knowledge, swing, blues, history, everything.” And
Kenny couldn’t have been any nicer.
TNYCJR: Ellington-Strayhorn’s “The Star-Crossed
Lovers” is done as a trio with Kenny.

JF: Yes. Ever since I met Eric in 1987, we learned
together. We did sessions together every night incollege for three years and we went to New York City
together. We both wanted the same things. There were
two main groups for us: the George Coleman Quartet
was a big school for us and the other one was Cedar
Walton. Those were the two camps that we loved. Me
and Eric both wanted to be in those two camps and it
was almost the same journey. Through Eric and Harold,
I got to play with George Coleman and to this day,I still play with George a lot. I was fortunate to playwith a lot of great tenor players, man: Junior Cook,Johnny Griffin, Pharoah Sanders, George Coleman,
Benny Golson, Eric Alexander. George recommended
me to Pharoah Sanders. I was with Pharoah Sanders
for 16 years. I was with Pharoah from like 2000-2016,
and that was all because of George Coleman.

JF: We did “Lemuria” in one take and we did “The StarCrossed Lovers” in one take. Kenny nailed it, man,nailed it. It was right there on his fingertips. Kenny has
a hell of a presence on the piano. That’s why you get
Kenny Barron. I think all the takes were one take.

TNYCJR: You played with Wynton Marsalis in the past.

JF: I asked Wynton what all he wanted to play, whatballad he wanted to play, what up tune he wanted toplay. For an up tune, he suggested “Hesitation”, which
I hadn’t heard him play since his debut record with
Ron Carter and Tony Williams. And I said to Wynton,“Let’s play something like gospel.” He wanted to do“Down by the Riverside”. I used to think it was an
Irish song. “Down by the Riverside” is a tune that mybest friend’s father used to sing. I didn’t realize it wasa spiritual. And the way Wynton described it was				(CONTINUED ON PAGE 30)

JF: I had made a record with Wynton before called
Live At The House of Tribes—a live record for Blue
Note—and I always wanted to do another record datewith him. For many, many years, I just waited andwaited to make another record with Wynton. And we
did this movie recently called Motherless Brooklyn so
we reconnected and we did some movie release parties.
I just knew now was the time. I asked Wynton and hesaid yes. So, I automatically went to Smoke Sessions.

6 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORDTNYCJR: “One for Jimmy Cobb” is your solo feature.
JF: Yeah. It came to me: I should do something for
Jimmy Cobb. I was just thinking about [late drummer]
Jimmy Cobb and how soulful he was, how great he
was as a human being. Just solid. So, I tried to base it
on his personality more than anything.
TNYCJR: One of the most soulful things you do on
Time to Swing is the spiritual “Down by the Riverside”.
Wynton is really digging into his New Orleans heritage.

COURTESY OF THE ARTISTARTIST FEATU RE

This month, drummer Jeff Williams is releasing

Road Tales, a live album in celebration of live music at
a time when there are no live performances. Williams
says that he prefers to release live music to studiorecorded music, “because you have more energy andless self-consciousness than when you’re recording ina studio.”
Road Tales, which was recorded at the London Jazz
Festival in 2018, confirms that there is something tothat idea: performances by alto saxophonist JohnO’Gallagher, tenor saxophonist Josh Arcoleo andbassist Sam Lasserson, in addition to Williams himself,
all stand out. O’Gallagher, Arcoleo and Lasserson havebeen playing together with Williams for many years
and he says that their work on Road Tales “really
represents what happens when you’re able to keep aband together for a few years and the material evolves
over that time.”
Williams first began ‘assembling’ the Road Tales
quartet in 2004 when he moved from New York to asecond home in the UK with his wife, the novelist
Lionel Shriver. “I didn’t really like London right away,
but that changed as opportunities came my way,” hesays. “I began teaching at the Royal Academy of Music,
where I had a saxophone student [Arcoleo]… He took
maybe four lessons with me and I was really impressedwith him. I remember saying at the time, ‘I’m going to
put you in my band’, but I really didn’t have one in the
UK at that point. So he was the impetus.” Williams
assembled the band over several years, with a numberof other musicians he knew and played with—including ones from his old group from New York.
“I had two bands, one here and one there,” Williams
says, “and occasionally I was able to mix and match.
John O’Gallagher, who I’d been playing with off andon since the ‘90s, was in my New York band. And thenhe decided to get his doctorate at Birmingham
Conservatoire, so suddenly he’s in the UK, whereas theguitar player in my UK band, Phil Robson, moved to
New York. So they sort of changed places.”
This kind of in-person, gig-based process was how
Williams got his start in music. His early career wasshaped in large part by traveling to New York, where
he was able to watch and learn from live performances.
”I had an unusual upbringing,” he says. “My motherseparated from my father when I was nine and went to
New York to become a professional jazz vocalist…
I would go to New York for the summer or Christmas
vacation. [My mother] got to know pretty much
everyone and they liked her, so I was able to meet
people like [drummers] Papa Jo Jones, Elvin Jones,
Oliver Jackson... We didn’t sit down and have drum
lessons, but because it’s quite a visual instrument, you
can actually see what’s being done. That’s how I
learned, along with listening to and playing along withrecordings.”
After a brief stint attending the Berklee College ofMusic in Boston and studying under Alan Dawson,
Williams moved to New York in 1971, where he joined

JEFF
WILLIAMS

For more information, visit willfulmusic.com
Recommended Listening:• Dave Liebman—Lookout Farm (ECM, 1973)• Richard Beirach—Methuselah (Trio, 1975)• Frank Kimbrough Trio—Lonely Woman(Mapleshade, 1988)• Paul Bley—Paul Bley Plays Carla Bley
(SteepleChase, 1991)• John O’Gallagher Trio—Dirty Hands(Clean Feed, 2007)• Jeff Williams—Road Tales (Live at London Jazz
Festival) (Whirlwind, 2018)by kyle oleksiuk

Grammy Award-winningjazz drummer, composer,
educator, and producer
Ulysses Owens, Jr.

the burgeoning loft movement. That scene, which
existed for much of the ‘70s, was made up of “not just
performance lofts, like Sam Rivers’ Studio Rivbea,”
Williams explains, “but lofts that musicians lived inand could have sessions in. They were industrial
spaces that weren’t meant for you to live in, but you
could get around that. Typically the loft would have asink and a toilet, but you’d have to put in a shower, astove, a heater of some sort... And when you moved in
you would have to pay what was known as ‘key
money’ for the improvements that the previous tenant
had made, the landlord sort of turning a blind eye... It
was a desirable thing to do. It was cheap and you could
play anytime you wanted.”
The unconventional nature of the loft spaces led toa number of strange living situations. “Funny story,”
Williams relates, “at [pianist] Marc Copland’s loft,
when I first started going there to play, he had aroommate who was working on Wall Street and his bed
was right in the middle of the room. He would comehome after work with his suit and tie on and go to bed,
because he had to get up really early. We would start
playing around nine o’clock at night and he would
somehow sleep through it even though he was lessthan four feet from my drums, it was remarkable.” Fora time, Williams himself slept under a piano in a small
loft he shared with a friend, before moving into
Copland’s loft.
Loft-living over the following year helped Williams
get to know the performers who were in New York atthat time. He soon got into contact with Free Life
Communication, a co-op run by saxophonist Dave
Liebman, who began taking the drummer seriously
when he was hired to play with Stan Getz in 1972.
After two years with Getz, Williams joined pianist
Richie Beirach and bassist Frank Tusa to form
Liebman’s band Lookout Farm. With Lookout Farm,
Williams “recorded for ECM and toured the world:
Japan and India, all over Europe, the East Coast, theWest Coast, for about three years.” It was everything
he had been looking for when he first came to New
York and led him into a life of teaching, performing
and recording.
Now 70 years old and cooped up indoors, Williams
worries that younger musicians might not get theopportunities to play live that were so instrumental in
making him a musician. “It’s been a time for reflection,”
Williams says. “I feel so fortunate to have had all thesewonderful experiences playing music and I’mconcerned for the next generations, what’s going to beleft, how long it will take for people to feel safe to go
hear a live performance without social distancing, sothat it’s feasible financially for venues to even exist.
I’m worried about how the younger musicians I playwith in the UK are going to pay their rent, how they’regoing to survive, if they’ll be able to play music… [butat the same time] I’m heartened to see so manymusicians continuing to produce their work in spite ofthese challenges. We will persevere.” v• Play-along tracks anddemos that allow you toplay with a vocalist and fullrhythm section comprisedof some of today’s best jazzmusicians• Instructional videos inwhich Ulysses shows you how
to implement the discussed
techniques in real time
• Bonus interviews• A comprehensive list ofrecordings of jazz brushes
players from over the years

JAZZ BRUSHES

for the Modern Drummer

An Essential Guide to the Art of Keeping Timehalleonard.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 7

ON THE COVER

OLIVIER DEGEN / OLIVIERDEGEN.COM

DANIEL HUMAIR
DRUM ARTIST

by michael cobb

Daniel Humair is a drummer, composer and a painteroriginally from Geneva, Switzerland, now living in rural
France. With the exception of Miles Davis and Sonny
Rollins, the 82-year-old Humair has played with themost legendary musicians in jazz since the late ‘50s. As asideman he has supported some of the biggest jazz actsof all time and has appeared on such classic albums as
Chet Baker’s Chet Is Back!, Art Farmer’s What Happens?
and Lucky Thompson Trio’s Memorial Oscar Pettiford.
At 14, Humair fell in love with New Orleans jazz.
He remembers how he first discovered jazz from afriend who had records. “As soon as I heard Louis
Armstrong I said, ‘that’s what I want to do!’” Soon
after, Humair joined several amateur groups, won firstprize at the Zürich Amateur Festival in 1955 andbecame a professional working musician. In 1958, hewent to Paris to play with Don Byas, Kenny Dorham,
Bud Powell, Eric Dolphy, Pettiford, Baker andThompson. Humair ’s work with such illustrious
legends of jazz allowed him to witness the evolution of
the genre. He notes, “Bebop was the main revolution
because jazz stopped being for dancing and became
music for listeners.” About playing with suchluminaries, Humair says, “When I played with Gerry
Mulligan it was different than with Joe Henderson or
Stéphane Grappelli or Phil Woods or Oscar Peterson.
You have to have a different attitude with each of them.
I only played with people who let me be free. I always
tried to understand what would be the best mix.
I worked so much because I have absolutely no ego asa drummer. I adapt to the situation and if it doesn’t
suit me, I don’t go. I just go where I’m gonna have fun.
And when I have fun, I do my best.”
While in Paris in the late ‘50s, Humair begana long collaboration with pianist Martial Solal andplayed frequently with violinist Grappelli, well known
for his work with Django Reinhardt. Humair fondly
recalls other career highlights with jazz giants, “Once
I had the chance to play at the Philharmonic in Nicewith Cannonball Adderley, Milt Jackson, Dizzy
Gillespie and Oscar Peterson. I was in heaven!” During
the ‘60s, Humair had fruitful collaborations with
European musicians. He formed a trio with violinist
Jean-Luc Ponty and organ player Eddy Louiss.
Together, they recorded two albums at the Paris clubCaméléon, which have since been reissued.
When asked if Europeans approach jazz differently
than Americans, Humair says, “No. Being American,
black or white doesn’t mean anything. Jazz is a totallyinternational language. Anybody can play it if you
know what it is. It’s not because you’re a good musician
or an American that you’re gonna play better; that’s notgood enough. You have to know the past, the folklore,
that’s the main thing. If you don’t know Louis
Armstrong, you cannot start at John Coltrane. You alsoneed culture. If you’re not interested in art, architecture,design, food, theater, you’re losing a lot, you know? The
best players are original, have a concept and apersonality. For me, the genius of the century is Sonny
Rollins. He could do anything, be creative and improvise
with it. He is a situationist who plays with what he hasaround him. To me that’s jazz; he’s a jazz creator.”
In the late ‘60s-early ‘70s Humair continued tosupport touring American musicians and participated inWoods’ famous project The European Rhythm Machine.
For his work he was named “Drummer Deserving Wider
Recognition” by the DownBeat International Critics Pollin 1970. Throughout the ‘70s, Humair was a sideman for
Jim Hall, Lee Konitz, Johnny Griffin, Herbie Mann,
Anthony Braxton and Hampton Hawes. He formed trioswith François Jeanneau and Henri Texier and with
Joachim Kühn and Jean-François Jenny-Clark andworked with Michel Portal, Richard Galliano, Jerry
Bergonzi and David Liebman. These experiences allowed
him to develop as a composer and break new ground as a
drummer. Regarding the evolution of his style, Humair
states, “You try to find a solution that is not too evident.
You have tradition, but if you go a little bit further,sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Creation isan accident. You have to take risks.”
In terms of band leadership, Humair eschews
typical hierarchy and prefers a collaborative process.
He doesn’t like leaders and believes there is too muchemphasis on them today. “That’s part of the problem
with American jazz today; you sell people. When you
go to a club and see the name of a leader and not thesidemen, I think it’s abnormal because jazz is aconversation. It’s like the conversation we have now,
you ask me a question and I try to answer it, but I say
what I want. That’s jazz to me,” he says. Live, hethrives on improvisation. “When I go onstage, I don’t
wanna know what tune we’re gonna play, who’s gonnatake the first chorus or the tempo. We just go onstage
and play. One note from the guy in front makes you
respond and play. As I said, it’s a conversation. If you
have a role to play that’s preconceived, then you’re not
improvising and you’re not creative.”
Humair has performed at major jazz festivals in
America and Europe including Newport, Monterey,
Paris, Berlin, Montreux, Chicago, Barcelona, Nice andAntibes. However, he finds European and American
audience reactions to jazz very different and says,“I think jazz is more respected as an art form here than
it is in America. In Europe when you play somewhere,
nobody speaks. In America, I was very shocked to hearmore noise from the bar than from the bass player. Whensomebody in the audience speaks too loud, I just stopand say, ‘Why don’t you go to the next bar if you’re notinterested in our work because you’re disturbing otherpeople.’ The rules are different. It’s a culture of respect
for arts in general.” And Humair is vocal about his
displeasure with how the difficulties obtaining working
permits prohibits the recognition of European jazzmusicians. “The whole American scene can come toEurope, but you [Europeans musicians] cannot enter
America without a visa. It takes 15 days to get papers tocome to New York. It’s totally ridiculous. That’s why I
don’t come and European musicians are not known. I
can tell you that there are monster players in Europe.
I’m sorry that it cannot exist the way it should,” he says.
While most of the jazz legends have passed on,
Humair thinks much can be learned from their

8 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

recordings: “All the big masters are people that went
beyond technique. The chops shouldn’t be evident; themusic should be in front. That’s why I like Elvin Jones,
Philly Joe Jones or Mel Lewis. They were really playing
the right thing to hear at the right place. Their style lets
you know who they are.”Humair believes jazz can continue and should beas elevated and respected as classical. “I think jazzshould be in the same position as classical music today
as a concept of listening. I think it can keep going on infestivals. Hopefully one day people can know Coltrane
as well as Mahler. That would be paradise, you know?”
Dedicating his life to modern jazz in Europe has
earned him the official recognition of Chevalier andOfficer of Arts and Letters by the French government.
Reflecting on his long and distinguished career helaughs and says, ”I’ve had good moments and very
few bad. I don’t keep bad company. I don’t drink,
except wine, I don’t do drugs and I have a Swiss watch.
What can I say? I’m a serious guy!”
In addition to all the accolades for his music,
Humair is just as highly regarded for his art. When
asked how drumming and painting compare, he says,“When you play music you have a way of timing andphrasing so that the space is controlled. It’s the samething in painting, also an awareness of the front andthe background. And I have the same attitude of
improvisation. The big difference is that if you play aconcert with musicians in front of people and make a
mistake, you cannot correct it. Painting you do alone
and you’re the only one responsible for your work. If
you don’t like it, you don’t have to show it. I can paintin a more comfortable situation, but drums allow me to
be a little more adventurous.”With gigs cancelled due to COVID-19 and the global
music scene essentially shut down, these days Humair
spends more time painting than playing. He says, “I
think I’m more of a professional painter today than aprofessional drummer because I spend much more time
doing that. I’ve done over 5,000 paintings. I can paintfor most of the day whereas as a musician, I only playfor a few hours. Today, I prefer to watch the birds frommy country house. I can afford to be selective.” v
For more information, visit danielhumair.com
Recommended Listening:• Daniel Humair/Pierre Michelot/Rene Urtreger—
Hum ! (Vega-Fresh Sound, 1960)• Lee Konitz/Martial Solal—European Episode/
Impressive Rome (Campi-CAM Jazz, 1968)• Daniel Humair—Drumo Vocalo: Drums for Screen no.1
(Percussioni ed effetti)(International Music Label/Flower, 1970)• Joachim Kühn/Daniel Humair/Jean-François
Jenny-Clarke Trio—Joachim Kühn Birthday Edition(ACT Music, 1987/1995)• Steve Lacy/Daniel Humair/Anthony Cox—Work (Sketch, 2002)• Daniel Humair/Samuel Blaser/Heiri Känzig—
1291 (OutNote, 2020)

PRESENTING THE ARTISTS ON ONYX PRODUCTIONS MUSIC LABELMASTER DRUMMER RALPH PETERSONNEW ALBUM WITH THE MESSENGER LEGACY:“ONWARD & UPWARD”

RISING TRUMPETER ALONZO DEMETRIUS
DEBUT ALBUM“LIVE FROM THE PRISON NATION”

VIBRANT VOCALISTLAINIE COOKE“THE MUSIC IS THE MAGIC”

ALL OUT NOW

ENCOREAVREEAYL
RA
by kurt gottschalk“My first mentor wasn’t a musician.” It’s anunexpected statement coming from someone who fromall indications lives and breathes music, but when
asked about the lessons learned over a lifetime ofplaying, drummer Avreeayl Ra’s immediate response
is about healing. “Henry Rucker,” he said definitively,
speaking from the apartment that by all indications
he’s soon to lose on Chicago’s South Side. “He taught
me to believe in and manifest impossible things.”
Ra became involved with Rucker ’s Psychic
Research Foundation in the late ‘60s, the same time hebegan working with trumpeter Phil Cohran, one of thegreat, unheralded figures of the explosion of African
American artistic ingenuity. He has stayed the parallelpaths of natural healing and musical improvisation tothis day. “The lesson that I got from Phil was the lessonof intention,” he said. “Now I’m trying to fuse the two
together, the music and the healing.” Cohran and Ra
were both a part of the Sun Ra Arkestra during the
band’s fertile, formative Chicago years and,unsurprisingly, the composer, philosopher and teacher
also had an influence on the drummer. “He told me toplay round and he gave me an image with his
fingers because I was playing angular,” according to
the younger Ra. “This is something I’ve been working
on ever since, playing circular. That circular motion
sets up a vortex that doesn’t happen when you’re
playing angularly. It really affects the third eye, thatcircular energy.
“My main lessons were given to me by gestures,”he continued. “They weren’t explained with words.
Professor Longhair told me a certain way to swing—
there again, it was with a hand motion. He said ‘you
give people something to think about but I want you to

get this.’ He was a tap dancer too so he knew rhythm.”
Conversation with Ra easily revolves aroundinfluences, likely because he’s so open to them. “He’s avery creative person but also very committed tohealing, very grounded,” according to flutist Nicole
Mitchell. “He maintains this childlike curiosity inalways wanting to learn more and grow more.” That
curiosity keeps him open to new ideas, new experiences
and to playing with new people. His openness toworking with up and coming players has made him astaple among younger generations of Chicago
musicians.
“He definitely loves to share his enthusiasm toyoung people and is very encouraging,” Mitchell said.
“He’s one of our most encouraging mentors. He took
me seriously. He believed in me. When you’re starting
out, it’s really important to play with older musicians
who can bring that experience into what you’re doing.”
Mitchell recalled inviting Ra to early rehearsals
in walk-up apartments. “He would never bring adrumset,” she said. “He would just pick up pots andpans and you would never know that you’re missing
anything.” His contemporary, reedplayer Mwata
Bowden, another frequent collaborator, also noted suchof-the-moment innovation. “He never went to a store
and bought himself a five-piece drum set and said,‘OK, I got what I need,’” Bowden explained. “His stuff
was always a hodgepodge. He made his own sound.
Extremely rhythmically complex but he is always there
where you need him.”
Ra was born in Chicago in 1947 and named after
his father, saxophonist Arthur “Swinglee” O’Neil,a mentor to John Gilmore who was friendly with Henry
Threadgill, Ed Wilkerson and other musicians of Ra’s
generation. With a brief stay in New Orleans in theearly ‘70s, Chicago has remained his home. And now
it’s he who’s doing the mentoring, working regularly
with Joshua Abrams, Christopher Dammann, Dave
Rempis and other newer names on the city’s scene.
“Chicago’s a magnet and a lot of the younger
players now are not necessarily from Chicago,” hesaid. “I embrace them. My father was a great mentor.
When I started playing, people didn’t know I was myfather ’s son because I changed my name, but most of

my friends were friends of my father ’s.” The city “hasa very innovative atmosphere that I don’t find in many
places,” he added. “It’s a certain earthiness and it’s likea southern town, you get eye contact, people talk toyou.” In recent years, however, the city hasn’t been
easy on Ra. In 2016, he was jumped by a group of white
men outside the jazz club The Green Mill. “This was at
the beginning of all the turmoil with Trump and I reallythink it was related,” he said.
More recently, he’s been facing the threat ofeviction. With no gigs happening under the pandemic
lockdown and no other means of income, Ra fell behindin his rent enough to get a warning from the landlord.
Longtime friends in the Association for the
Advancement of Creative Musicians set up a
crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds and he wasable to make up the back rent.
But things aren’t likely to pick up soon, he said,
and he’s looking to put his possessions in storage andfind a single room to wait it out. “I’ve got only a couple
months before I’m in the same situation, I see thatcoming already,” he said with a disarming laugh.
“It really was touching that somebody was thinking
about me. Things that you can’t control, you’ve got tosee how to work with,” he added. “Every experience
you have is a part of who you are, it becomes a part of
how you make sense of life.” v

Early accounts of jazz celebrated drummers above
everyone else, raving about stick-juggling acrobatics;
in contrast, early jazz recordings usually omitted themaltogether, their instruments too loud for sensitive
acoustic recording. Dodds suffered on both counts: he
was an intensely disciplined, musical drummer, not avaudevillian; though he thought the drum was the key
to the orchestra, when he first showed up on the classic
Creole Jazz Band recordings, he was restricted to a
woodblock, a washboard or a cymbal. On “Riverside
Blues” by the Oliver band, his perfect timing andshifting accents are restricted to a woodblock.
When the Oliver band broke up in 1924, Dodds
stayed in Chicago playing in his alto saxophonist/clarinetist brother Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom
Stompers, among others, and recording withArmstrong’s Hot Seven on masterpieces like “Potato
Head Blues”. He and Johnny also recorded as a trio
with Morton, including “Wolverine Blues”. On Johnny
Dodds’ recording of “After You’ve Gone”, Baby takes
an electrifying drum break during a rather lugubrious
Gerald Reeves trombone solo.
Like many musicians of his generation, Dodds
turned to other work to survive the Great Depression,
but the ‘40s brought a new regard for jazz as anauthentic art form, providing Dodds with fresh
opportunities and definitely better quality recordings.
Alfred Lion of Blue Note gave him an opportunity torecord as a bandleader and Dodds assembled his Jazz

Four with the great News Orleans clarinetist Albert
Nicholas. Dodds shone in such small groups andthere’s a trio session under his name available, Jazz à laCreole from 1946, with Nicholas and a newcomer,
pianist Don Ewell. He recorded with clarinetist Mezz
Mezzrow and soprano saxophonist/clarinetist Sidney
Bechet and also toured France with them. A 1947 New
York City concert recording includes performanceswith Bechet and trombonist Jack Teagarden. In a moreunusual collaboration, Dodds was engaged by dancer/
choreographer Merce Cunningham for a drummer/
dancer duet.
The burgeoning interest in the roots of jazz led to
special opportunities for Dodds to document his lifeand music. There’s a 1946 Folkways recording Talking
and Drum Solos and a 1953 film of Dodds demonstrating
drum techniques. That same year Larry Gara conducted
the extensive interviews that would become The Baby
Dodds Story (Contemporary Press), an engaging
memoir. Sadly, it was published shortly after Dodds’
death in 1959.
While critics and publicists of the ‘40s era createdlargely imaginary jazz wars between generations,Dodds was held in high regard by the great drummersof modern jazz. When Max Roach talked about thecelebration of horn players at the expense of drummers,
he cited Armstrong and Dodds, and some can hear
Dodds’ phrases in Art Blakey’s fills. In a 1960
					
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)

For more information, visit charity.gofundme.com/
o/en/campaign/avreeayl-ra-fundraiser
Recommended Listening:• Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble—
South Side Street Songs (Silkheart, 1993)• Ari Brown—Venus (Delmark, 1998)• Edward Wilkerson, Nicole Mitchell, Harrison
Bankhead, Avreeayl Ra—Frequency(Thrill Jockey, 2006)• Fred Anderson Quartet—Live Volume IV(Asian Improv, 2010)• Dave Rempis/Joshua Abrams/Avreeayl Ra +Jim Baker—Perihelion (Aerophonic, 2015-16)• Mwata Bowden—1 Foot In 1 Foot Out(Asian Improv, 2019)

LEST WE FORGET

BABY
DODDS
by stuart broomer
W arren “Baby” Dodds was the first great New

Orleans jazz drummer to record, playing in the 1920s
with cornet player King Oliver, trumpeter Louis
Armstrong and pianist Jelly Roll Morton. His advanced
technique and fluid accents influenced drummers like
Dave Tough and Gene Krupa and in the ‘40s he became
an important figure in the revival of traditional jazz.
His autobiography and solo recordings are significant
documents of early jazz history.
Born on Dec. 24th, 1894 (according to his own The
Baby Dodds Story), 1897 or 1898 (numerous sources) in
Waveland, Mississippi, Dodds relocated to New
Orleans at 16. A serious student of the drums, helearned to read music and practiced multiple musicalstyles, soon playing in trumpeter Bunk Johnson’s
parade band, the legendary trombonist Frankie
Duson’s Eagle Band and pianist Fate Marable’s
steamship band. In 1921, he left to join Oliver in
California and went with him to Chicago.

10 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

L ABEL SPOTLIGHT

DOT
TIME
by marilyn lester
Back in 2012, friends Johanan “Jo” Bickhardt andAndrew Read, both with expertise in the record businessfrom managing and distribution to performing, had avision: to start their own label. But one that would place
the creativity of the artist first, rather than focus on
business and sales, which they viewed as the negative
default position of other record labels. Read, a native ofAustralia, a musician also schooled in business, hadsettled in the Netherlands in the early ‘90s. Bickhardt, a
vocalist, had been working for the distributor who
handled Read’s label. And so it was that Dot Time wasincorporated, with offices in the Netherlands and theUS, where Bickhardt resided. In the first year of its
existence, the company prolifically released a number ofalbums, including Matt Baker’s Underground, Lucettevan den Berg’s Benkshaft, Mark Zandveld’s Zandscapeand Paula Atherton’s Enjoy the Ride.
Three years later, in 2015, a significant change
occurred at Dot Time with the arrival of Jerry Roche, aproducer and historian. In 2004 Roche established thereissue label Mighty Quinn “to save great music of the
1950s and 60s.” “I used to work at Mosaic Records,” headds, “and Mighty Quinn, actually named after mydaughter, was an outgrowth of that experience.” For
Mosaic, noted for producing exclusive boxed set jazz
reissues, Roche participated in research, production
and packaging, including the Grammy-nominated Bix
Beiderbecke set and the Joe Venuti/Eddie Lang andLive in France
Louis Armstrong

Alone Together
Catherine Russell

Louis Prima/Wingy Manone sets.
Within a few years of its birth, Mighty Quinn had
already brought back recordings by Harold Land,
Pepper Adams, Ray Nance, Eddie Condon and more. It
so happened that Mighty Quinn was distributed by
Bickhardt. “Jo recognized the quality of what I’d been
producing at Mighty Quinn,” says Roche. “He thought
it would be a good idea to have a Legends Series for
Dot Time.” So, with his experience of sourcing andreleasing the Mighty Quinn albums, each restored andremastered to keep the original feeling of the record
intact, Roche was brought on board, launching Legends
as a collaborative effort with Bickhardt. Those first
Legends releases included albums by Ella Fitzgerald(Live At Chautauqua Vol. 1), Gerry Mulligan (Live At The
New School) and the Joe Bushkin Quartet (Live At The
Embers 1952).
Also, around this time, Bickhardt’s partnershipwith Read was dissolving, creating an open door for
Roche to come in and assume a leadership role at Dot
Time. Roche became Bickhardt’s new partner. The
European office was relocated to Bremen, Germany,
where administrative functions are handled. “Wechose Bremen,” Roche explains, “because it’s a fun,great city for jazz and home to the Jazzahead festival
and conference.” The original mission of the company
remained, stated on the label’s website: “Our label will
be successful only when our artists are successful. Our
mission is therefore to work together with our artists
to help them succeed in reaching their goals.”
In the transition of partners, reevaluation of thelabel and its future inevitably had to take place. Dot
Time is essentially a three-person shop: the partners
and their administrator in Europe. “Jo and I focused onBallads for Two
Wolfgang Lackerschmid/Chet Baker

growing the label. We knew for that to happen we
needed greater visibility, which would lead to greater
opportunity.” In 2016, walking the talk, the Grammynominated vocalist/pianist/composer and arranger,
Nicole Zuraitis, was signed, which met her “bucketlist” desire to have a label that would support her as an
artist. “The team at Dot Time is top of the line and very
invested in the success of their artists,” she enthuses.
“They were not afraid to take a chance on my jazzadjacent pop album All Wandering Hearts. They werewilling to expand their boundaries of traditional jazzfor the sake of good music.”
The Legends Series’ growth has also expanded thelabel’s visibility. Four previously unreleased Louis
Armstrong recordings were discovered among thearchives of Queens College and a licensing agreement
was achieved with the Louis Armstrong Foundation
Inc. “This was a major windfall for us,” Roche reports.
“It really got us noticed.” The collection is available in
CD, digital and vinyl formats, with extensive liner
notes and images created for the physical product.
A synergistic phenomenon for Dot Time, Roche notes,
is the resurrection and popularity of vinyl, which has
not only breathed new life into the record industry as awhole, but has especially invigorated the jazz sector,
which is particularly fond of the collateral material
that is part of each release.
The Legends Series also has the benefit, throughits success, to allow Dot Time to keep a focus on thequality of their artists, avoiding the risk of overextending. Hence, another key artist signing with Dot
Time arrived in Grammy-winning jazz royalty: vocalist
Catherine Russell. She was introduced to the label
				(CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)

All Wandering Hearts
Nicole Zuraitis

Dancing On The Edge
The Kaleidoscope Quintet

VOXNEWS

LATINXVOICES
by suzanne lorge
Heroes honor heroes. So writes music journalist

Michael Ambrosino in the liner notes for The Art ofDescarga (Smithsonian Folkways). Here he’s talking
about percussionist John Santos’ furthering of thelegacy of Cuban bongocero Francisco “Chino” Pozo,
whose irresistible rhythms found their way into themasterworks of American jazz bandleaders like Dizzy
Gillespie and Tito Puente. The new release digs deep
into AfroCaribbean and AfroLatin beat traditions,centering on the music of descargas: Cuban jam sessions
full of exhilarating rhythmic possibilities. In descargas,
singers like Orlando Torriente sing backup (coro) andwill solo at times, though the focus of the improvisationis always the motion of the groove. On The Art ofDescarga, Torriente—who’s been singing with the Bay
Area-based Santos for more than 15 years—contributes
lead vocals to two tracks, sultry mambo “Bernal
Heights” and spinning bomba “Lo Tuyo No Va”. Placed
right at the upper edge of his range, Torriente’s
spontaneous vocal lines ring with barely restrained
fervor—they’re an invitation to join in the excitement.
Los Angeles disc jockey Jose Rizo leads his nonet
Mongorama on Mariposas Cantan (Saungú), a 12-trackcollection featuring the esteemed timbale player Ramon
Banda on what would be his final recording. The group’s
regular lead singer James Zavaleta displays striking
rhythmic acuity on tunes like playful “Quindimbia” and“Descarga Ramon Banda”, the ensemble’s lengthy ode to
the late percussionist, only to wax disarmingly romanticon the title cut (translated, “Butterflies Sing”). Guest
vocal soloists also share in the album’s success: Darynn
Dean’s jazz-textured solo work grounds “Helen of Jazz”,
a flute showcase in honor of late disc jockey Helen
Borgers, and lends a bluesy-funk vibe to the group’s
Latin run-down of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon
Man”. Alfredo Ortiz, who plays percussion provides anirrepressibly upbeat vocal line on “Fiesta deCharangueros” and Yoshigei Rizo, the bandleader’sdaughter-in-law, stands out for her heated performanceof Ernesto Duarte Brito’s popular bolero “Como Fue”.
The notion behind the Jazz Is Dead series—
brainchild of hip-hop composer Adrian Younge and
A Tribe Called Quest DJ-producer Ali Shaheed
Muhammad—is to re-contextualize celebrated jazzartists within a contemporary framework, using
electric guitars and keyboards, recorded in an analog
environment. Their third such collaboration highlights
prolific Brazilian singer-songwriter Marcos Valle’s
silken bossa voice, sometimes in duo with wife/singer
Patricia Alvi or gospel singer Loren Oden. This
eponymous album comes as a surprise, not just because
it’s the Brazilian icon’s first stateside recording in 50

years, but also because he manages to condense these
five decades of excellence into a mere eight tunes:check out his unhurried vocalese against thesmoldering pulse on “Queira Bem”; tight repartee in
Portuguese with Alvi on whirling bossa nova “Viajando
Por Ai (Traveling Around)”; R&B-tinged wordless duetwith Oden on “Gotta Love Again”; and intuitivephrasing against raucous synth lines on “A Gente Volta
Amanhã (The People Return Tomorrow)”. Ageless.
Singer/composer Eva Cortés fronts an impressiveroster on Todas Las Voces (TRRC), her second album
with producer Doug Beavers. Besides the latter ontrombone, the flamenco-suffused tunes feature bassists
Christian McBride and Luques Curtis, pianist Elio
Villafranca, drummer Eric Harland, saxophonist
Román Filiú and percussionist Luisito Quintero. Mostof these expertly crafted songs are originals: plaintive
modern jazz anthem “Canción con Todos”; coolly
sophisticated “Hills of Silver”; and smart, laid-back“Out Of Words”, co-written with Villafranca, forexample. But she also includes a smooth jazz version of
the popular Latin tune “Gracias a la Vida” by influential
Chilean composer Violeta Parra and an alluringrendition of Horace Silver ’s beseeching ballad, “Peace”
with words by Bobby McFerrin. And with the album’s
title she offers a clue to her humanistic motivations asa singer-songwriter; translated as All Voices, it canallude not only to her skills behind the microphone but
also to her wish for the world. v

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 11

IN MEMORIAM

ELIOTT PEACOCK / COURTESY OF ECM RECORDSGARYPEACOCKby andrey henkin

G ary Peacock, a legendary bassist whose resumé since

the mid ‘50s reads like a history of jazz and who also
enjoyed a fruitful career as a bandleader, most notably
for ECM, died Sep. 4th at 85.
Peacock was born May 12th, 1935 in Burley, Idaho,
and grew up in Yakima, Washington. His earlyexperience with music was as a pianist and he attended
Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles. It was
during his time in the army that serendipity came: hisunit’s bassist quit and Peacock slid over from the piano
bench to take over. While stationed overseas, Peacockmade his first recordings as part of the 1957 Jazz Salon
Dortmund 1957 (released as EPs on Metronome). Backon the West Coast, he began his jazz career in earnest,
working with Bud Shank, Carmell Jones, the Candoli
brothers, Don Ellis, Clare Fischer, Barney Kessel andPrince Lasha. That early work presaged Peacock’s
entire career, one that found him working alongsidemusicians from every subset of jazz. Later credits inthe ‘60s, when Peacock was based in New York,
included Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Lowell Davidson,
Albert Ayler, Tony Williams, Paul Bley and even a stintwith Miles Davis. Speaking to Florence Wetzel for
a 2007 interview for this gazette, Peacock recalled thatwhen playing with Davis, “listening became part of
my body. Sometimes Miles would be playing and he’dstop in the middle of a song and turn around and lookat me. The first couple times I thought, ‘Jeez, I musthave fucked up.’ After a while I realized that he waslistening to everyone around him.”
After taking some time away from music, spendingtime in Japan to study Eastern medicine, Peacockreconnected with Bley, recording with him in various
groups throughout the first half of the ‘70s, and madehis first albums as a leader for CBS/Sony, featuringsome of Japan’s first generation of avant garde players.
In 1977, Peacock recorded Tales Of Another for ECM,
the first document of what would become the noted
trio of himself, pianist Keith Jarrett and drummer Jack
DeJohnette, active through 2014. Speaking of that trioto Wetzel, Peacock said, “If three people share acommon history in a particular area of music and they
all found something in that music that freed them,when they get together to play a piece everyone is
100% in that composition... So although there’s adistance in age, we share the same inspiration from somany people and compositions that we’re already inquite a magical setting.”
Peacock continued to work with a starry array ofplayers and release further albums for ECM (his final
release was 2016’s Tangents), Postcards and Pirouet.
When asked by Wetzel about his listening habits, hisanswer reflected his years of practicing zazen or sitting
meditation: “Precious little. Where I live is very silent...
So mostly I spend a lot of time in silence.”

STANLEY CROUCH (Dec. 14th, 1945 –Sep. 16th, 2020) The controversial jazzcritic, scholar, NEA Jazz Master and
MacArthur Genius (known as “Stanley
The Crouch”) came up as a drummer inthe Loft Jazz scene of ‘70s New York,
recording with David Murray and Leo
Smith, wrote liner notes for albums by the likes of Murray,
Bobby Bradford, Rashied Ali, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Max
Roach and Wynton Marsalis as well as critical books onjazz history (including a tome on Charlie Parker) andrace issues in the US. Crouch died Sep. 16th at 74.

(LEST WE FORGET CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10)

REGGIE JOHNSON (Dec. 13th, 1940 –Sep. 11th, 2020) The bassist, long basedin Europe, was a key figure in The New
Thing in ‘60s New York, recording with
Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Giuseppi
Logan, Valdo Williams, Alan Shorterand Jazz Composer ’s Orchestra, plus,
later, more straightahead credits with Booker Ervin,
Bobby Hutcherson, Harold Land, Kenny Burrell, Sonny
Stitt, Walter Bishop, Jr., Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Johnny
Coles, Frank Wess, Mingus Dynasty, Tom Harrell,
Robin Kenyatta, Steve Grossman and others. Johnson
died Sep. 11th at 79.

Recommended Listening:• King Oliver—The Complete 1923 Jazz Band
Recordings (Off The Record-Archeophone, 1923)• Johnny Dodds—Great Original Performances 19231929 (BBC, 1923-29)• Louis Armstrong—The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven
Recordings (Columbia-Legacy, 1926-27)• Bunk Johnson—Rare and Unissued Masters, Volume
Two (1943-1946) (American Music, 1943-46)• Baby Dodds—Talking and Drum Solos(Smithsonian Folkways-Atavistic, 1946/1954)• Baby Dodds Trio—Jazz à La Creole(G.H.B.-ORG Music, 1946-47)

HAROLD LIEBERMAN (1931 – Sep.
16th, 2020) The trumpeter had a pair of‘60s recordings featuring himself
overdubbed in duets or octets and was
also a member of the Music Minus One
Orchestra, the titular ensemble of thelabel, which made play-along records.
Lieberman died Sep. 16th at 89.
BILL PURSELL (Jun. 9th, 1926 – Sep.
3rd, 2020) The pianist was better known
for his later work in country music but
had early jazz albums for Columbia anda 1960 sideman credit under Hank
Garland (alongside a 17-year-old Gary
Burton). Pursell died Sep. 3rd at 94 fromcomplications of COVID-19.
HANS SALOMON (Sep. 10th, 1933 –
Sep.
24th,
2020)
The
Austriansaxophonist was part of the 1958
Newport International Youth Band andwent on to work with Friedrich Gulda,
Erich Kleinschuster, Art Farmer, ORFBig Band, Aladár Pege and others.
Salomon died Sep. 24th at 87.
MAYNARD SOLOMON (Jan. 5th, 1930
– Sep. 28th, 2020) The producer andco-founder of Vanguard Records withhis brother was known for his classicalreleases and books on composers but
his label did release albums in the ‘60s70s by Buck Clayton, Bunky Green,
Clark Terry, Larry Coryell, Elvin Jones, James Moody
and Oregon. Solomon died Sep. 28th at 90.
IRA SULLIVAN (May 1st, 1931 – Sep.
21st, 2020) The multi-instrumentalist(trumpet, flugelhorn, alto, soprano,
tenor saxophones) and stalwart in his
adopted home of Chicago of the ‘50s70s was active since the mid ‘50s wellinto the new millennium, working withRed Rodney, Art Blakey, J.R. Monterose, Roland Kirk,
Eddie Harris, Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, Frank
Catalano, Silvano Monasterios, Brad Goode, Bob
Albanese, Mike Reed and others while releasing his
own dates for ABC-Paramount, Delmark, Vee Jay,
Horizon, Galaxy, Stash, Muse, Go Jazz and Origin.
Sullivan died Sep. 21st at 89. v

12 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

DownBeat interview, Philly Joe Jones described once
taking a break during a gig and discovering Dodds
playing across the street: “He was swinging so much I
was late an entire set!…I couldn’t leave, I sat down andjust stayed.” In a 2011 JazzTimes interview, Roy Haynes
remarked of Talking and Drum Solos, “I’d listen to it
over and over again, like I’d never heard it before.” v
For more information, visit pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/warren-baby-dodds(LABEL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11)
through Director of Research Collections for the Louis
Armstrong House Museum, Ricky Riccardi, during thereissues of the Armstrong live performances. “Jerryand I hit it off right away because of our similar taste
in—and his vast knowledge of—all different genres ofmusic,” she says. Roche shares that mutual appreciationand characterizes Russell as “a consummate
professional who owns any room she sings in.” Heralbum Alone Together for Dot Time received a 2019
Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
With the COVID-19 pandemic creating havoc inlive performance and greatly affecting creative artists
across all genres, it’s the record industry that’s least
unscathed. Dot Time has “great plans” for the future,
which Roche acknowledges with enthusiasm. That’s afeeling shared by Russell. “I love working with Dot
Time Records! They give me creative freedom to record
what I choose,” she says, “and they attend my gigs
whenever possible. I’m very fortunate to have foundthem.” The label’s philosophy of win-win has been a
constant since its inception and now, with Roche solidly
in place and the business activities of the label settled,
the path ahead seems paved with the ingredients forfurther success, a notion that Zuraitis endorses. “I feelDot Time has become one of the most successful andaccredited labels in the jazz world today,” she says.
Just released is another in the Legends Series,
Wolfgang Lackerschmid (vibraphone) and Chet Baker(trumpet, vocal) and their Quintet Sessions 1979 with
Larry Coryell (guitar), Buster Williams (bass) and Tony
Williams (drums) on all platforms as well as
Kaleidoscope Quintet’s Dancing On The Edge (recorded
in 2003) with Dave Liebman (tenor and soprano sax,
wood flute), Joe Lovano (tenor and flute), Tony Marino(bass) and Michael Stephans (drums), with vocals by
Judi Silvano on CD and digital. An unnamed project forearly 2021 release will showcase leader Roni Ben-Hur(guitar) with George Cables (piano), Harvie S (bass),
Victor Lewis (drums) and Ingrid Jensen (trumpet). Also
coming, in 2021, is Evan Arntzen, the Canadian-bornsaxophonist, clarinetist and vocalist, with Countermelody,featuring guest Russell. It would seem that within theever-changing landscape of the record industry, Dot
Time has solidly settled into a groove with happymaking purpose for all. v
For more information, visit dottimerecords.com. Russell
live-streams Nov. 22nd at 92Y.org/billieholiday.

DRUMSISSUEALBUM REVIEWS

America The Beautiful
Kahil El’Zabar (Spiritmuse)by Scott Yanow

Percussionist Kahil El’Zabar (who turns 67 this month)

believes that it is not too late to save the United Statesfrom its current direction. While a realist, he is also
optimistic about its chances. He sees playing what hecalls “spiritual jazz” as his best way to make acontribution to one’s spirits. On America The Beautiful,which begins and ends with very different versions of
the anthem, El’Zabar otherwise plays his own
compositions with a colorful group of skilled
instrumentalists. The originals, many of which are
one-chord vamps, often utilize repetition in theaccompaniment and in its riffs while either theensemble or a particular solo voice is in the forefront.
The first version contains rich and unusual
harmonies. The often-jubilant “Jump And Shout” has
Corey Wilkes’ expressive trumpet in the lead over thedense and colorful rhythmic ensemble. Dennis Winslett
takes honors on the simple but effective “Express
Yourself” with his boppish alto saxophone flying over
the riffing strings. The late great baritone saxophonist
Hamiet Bluiett is showcased on “Freedom March”,
playing freely over a three-note pattern that loops
behind him for the entire eight-minute performance. It
is good to hear Bluiett again in fine form (no one else
could play in the extreme register of the baritone quite
like him) but he deserved a more challenging vehicle
than this very repetitious piece. “Sketches Of An
AfroBlue” is mostly an ensemble piece with prominent
trumpet and strings, hinting at “Afro Blue” near its
conclusion. Muted trumpet is in the lead on the ballad“How Can We Mend A Broken Heart” and emulates
Sketches of Spain-era Miles Davis on “That We Ask Of
Our Creator”. El’Zabar, who mostly plays in theensemble, is heard a bit on flute during “Prayers For
The Unwarranted Sufferings” and sings a bit on the
funky second version of the title track.
The compositions could be stronger but the sincere
intentions and high musicianship make this aworthwhile acquisition.
For more information, visit spiritmuserecords.com

Onward & Upward
Ralph Peterson & The Messenger Legacy (Onyx)
by Ken Dryden

Art Blakey groomed numerous musicians into leaders

by encouraging them to compose for his Jazz
Messengers. Drummer Ralph Peterson, the lastmusician Blakey hired, formed the Messenger Legacy
to build on the foundation of this landmark band. Its
second release includes both Blakey alumni andmusicians who never worked with him in various
combinations. Instead of exploring staples from the
Jazz Messengers repertoire, they performed inspired
originals by Peterson and his bandmates.

Peterson’s value as a composer and arranger has
been well established during over three decades ofrecording. Each of his three originals has a slightly
different frontline, with the only constant trumpeter
Philip Harper. The nicest surprise is the extendedfeature for bassist Melissa Slocum in the Latin-flavored“Sonora”. Pianist Joanne Brackeen had a brief tenurewith Blakey and while one doesn’t typically think ofher as a hardbop stylist, her challenging “Tricks Of The
Trade” reveals she still has chops to burn in thisatypical setting. Brian Lynch’s lively “El Grito” is atantalizing AfroCuban vehicle for his sparkling
trumpet while trombonist Robin Eubanks and risingstar pianist Zaccai Curtis also shine. The compositionsof Eubanks, Curtis, Jean Toussaint, Steve Davis andLonnie Plaxico also merit high praise.
The premiere webcast from The Side Door in Old
Lyme, CT was videotaped a few days earlier, whichallowed Peterson to Zoom chat live with viewers. Fora venue new to this format, the audio and mix of six
camera angles were excellent while Peterson added
commentary between songs. The first set had Harper,
Curtis, tenor saxophonist Bill Pierce, alto saxophonist
Craig Handy and bassist Essiet Essiet. Highlights
included Peterson’s Monk-flavored “Forth And Back”,
featuring the horns to good effect; “Tribute To Lord
Willis”, a lush ballad honoring Larry Willis, showcasing
Curtis’ formidable gifts; and the pianist’s lively“Un Poco Haina”, saluting Max Roach and Blakey andfeaturing the leader. Eubanks and trumpeter Sean
Jones replaced Handy and Harper for set two.
The latter ’s hip “Red Black And Green Blues” packed
a punch with strong solos by the leader, Jones andEssiet. Pierce’s toe-tapping “Sudan Blue” andPeterson’s heartfelt ballad “I Remember Bu” also standout. The Side Door has made a major statement with its
initial webcast.
For more information, visit ralphpetersonmusic.com/onyx.html

clarinet, his lines flying as Medeski playfully interjects
and Perowsky drives the bus with surprising tempochanges. “Side Car” starts with drum sticks andgrooving organ, showing Medeski’s deep knowledgeof Larry Young’s quartal harmony, which he mixes
with blues wails. “Love and the Apocalypse” has aspooky start with low dissonant organ, Speed enterswith a lovely melody in contrast and Medeski changes
the direction again with some angular melodies.
This eclectic Hammond trio recording steps gently
into the avant garde while keeping the groove and gritof all your favorite organ grinder sides.
For more information, visit perowsky.com

CAPRI RECORDS DRUMMERSFROM THE YOUNG LION TO
THE SEASONED VETERAN

Upstream
Ben Perowsky/John Medeski/Chris Speed (Upstream)by Brian CharetteThis allstar trio had its first gigs at The Stone around2000 but recorded this album in upstate New York in
2014. All three, drummer Ben Perowsky, organ player
John Medeski and tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Chris
Speed, are well known leaders and sidemen.
The disc opens with an obscure Jaco Pastorius
tune, “Dania”, short, twisty tenor lines and organ bass
grunts, Perowsky’s swing pushing the time with adelightfully trashy ride. Speed has a strong tone thatsits comfortably between the whirring rhythm section
and his clipped phrases gradually expand into
interesting intervallic leaps. “Kanape” is a loose
Perowsky funk tune named for an upstate stream. The
simple tenor melody is supported by spry organ. Speedsolos first with cool chromatic lines broken up by justthe right amount of idiomatic squeals, Medeski
supportive with repetitive sixteenth notes in the bass
and cleverly placed counter melodies. There’s a great
drum solo over the memorable riff at the end, Perowsky
rocking out with big tom hits and sizzling snare work.
“Paul” has shades of The Beatles’ “I am the
Walrus” with a slow spacey descending bass, Medeski
giving the tune shape by pulling and pushing organ
drawbars while his Leslie spins fast then slow then fast
again. “Worms” features Speed’s great control over his

14 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD“COLIN STRANAHAN DEMONSTRATES MONSTERCHOPS, UNCANNY MATURITY, AN UNQUENCHABLE
FIRE AND AN INFINITE CAPACITY TO SWING.”—JAZZTIMES“… A PLAYER WITH THE VERSATILITY TO
MOVE EASILY AND EFFECTIVELY THROUGH
ARENAS RANGING FROM THE LARGER-THAN-LIFE
DEMANDS OF BIG-BAND DRUMMING TO SMALLGROUP WORK AND VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT. AS
THE LEADER OF HIS OWN TRIO HAMILTON FACES
MORE SUBTLE RESPONSIBILITIES.”-LOS ANGELES TIMESCAPRIRECORDS.COM

DRUMSISSUE

Lead Belly Reimagined
Adam Nussbaum (Sunnyside)
by Joel Roberts

After a 40-year career performing with the likes ofMichael Brecker, John Scofield, John Abercrombie andDave Liebman, among many others, drummer Adam
Nussbaum’s long overdue debut as a leader was a bitof a surprise. Released in 2018, The Lead Belly Project
was a tribute to the legendary folk-blues singer,
guitarist and songwriter Huddie William Ledbetter.
Two years later, Nussbaum, who turns 64 this month)
has reunited the same group with tenor saxophonist
Ohad Talmor and dual electric guitars of Steve
Cardenas and Nate Radley (and, notably, no bass
player) for another deep dive into Lead Belly’s music.
Focusing this time mostly on lesser-known material,
the quartet takes Lead Belly’s simple, yet powerfultunes, some more than a century old, in unexpected
directions while always maintaining respect for their
history and origin.
From the first beats of the drum intro to the loping
blues “Relax Your Mind”, there’s an enviably relaxed,
spacious feel that recalls some of Bill Frisell’s folk-jazz
projects and fellow drummer Brian Blade’s eclectic
recordings with his Fellowship band. A lot of stylistic
ground is covered, reflecting Lead Belly’s disparate
influences, from the bouncy Celtic dance grooves of“Laura” to the New Orleans shuffle of “Shorty George”,
highlighted by Nussbaum’s second-line snare andenergetic guitar interplay. The most well-known song,“Rock Island Line”, is given a thorough makeover,with the familiar melody only hinted at by saxophone.
“Governor Pat Neff”, named for the man who pardoned
Lead Belly in 1925, facilitating his release from a Texas
prison where he was being held for murder, closes thealbum on a bawdy, high-spirited note.
Nussbaum has called Lead Belly a transformative
influence during his formative years and his affection
for the music is evident throughout this highly
enjoyable album.
For more information, visit sunnysiderecords.com

Walls”, a solemn entreaty that has Overall pleadingly
intoning “I hope they let me go tonight” over Mike
King’s droning synthesizers, buoyed by Brandee
Younger ’s harp, Jay Gandhi’s bansuri flute and Morgan
Guerin’s bass clarinet. Overall’s drumbeats underpin
his vocals on the darker “Please Don’t Kill Me”, on
which pianist Sullivan Fortner, bassist Stephan Crump,
vibraphonist Joel Ross and flugelhorn player Theo
Croker join the fray.
J Hoard teams up with Overall on vocals on “FindMe”, a genre-leaping collage of moods with Aaron
Parks’ sampled piano and Guerin’s EWI creating a
dreamy sci-fi-ish atmosphere. Melanie Charles comesaboard, partnering with J Hoard on vocals for “I Know
You See Me”, which finds Overall in a moreconventional rapper role. Gandhi returns for “Sleeping
On The Train”, soaring melodically over Courtney
Bryan’s piano and Overall’s drums.
Arguably the most compelling piece, “Show Me A
Prison”, with Hoard singing “Show me a prison /Show me a jail / Show me a prisoner / Whose face hasgone pale / I’ll show you a young man / With so manyreasons why / Let go of the fortune / Let go you and I”
over a wash of keyboards, is tagged by Angela Davis’
voicemail that ends “Stay strong my brother”.
Autobiographical tracks “Halfway House” and“Landline”, the former with Fortner, King and Crump,the latter a duet with saxophonist brother Carlos, offer
further insights into the life journey of the leader, whosings with palpable honesty on “Darkness Of Mind”,
backed by Fortner ’s Chopin-esque piano recalling
Jobim’s “How Insensitive”.
Optimism abounds on “The Best Of Life” and“Got Me A Plan” before the date ends with “Was She
Happy (for Geri Allen)”, a Fender Rhodes-drums duetwith Vijay Iyer, Overall ardently answering the title
query, “She was on a quest”.
For more information, visit brownswoodrecordings.com

Natural Selection
Dan Weiss Starebaby (Pi)by George Grella

The metadata on the digital copy of the new album

I Think I’m Good
Kassa Overall (Brownswood Recordings)
by Russ Musto

Steeped in both modernism and tradition through hiswork with Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington,
drummer-DJ-MC Kassa Overall stands at the forefrontof a socially-conscious hybrid music fusing jazz andhip-hop, one capable of appealing to fans of both
Herbie Hancock and Kendrick Lamar. On this, his
sophomore release as a leader, the follow-up to his
pioneering 2018 self-released album Go Get Ice Creamand Listen to Jazz, Overall is joined by a cast of similarly
minded innovative players, who ably assist in bringing
his uniquely personal artistic vision to light.
The suite-like date opens gently with “Visible

from drummer Dan Weiss’ Starebaby band declares thegenre as “Avant Jazz”. But critics should ever remember
Marcus Aurelius’ question, “This thing, what is it in
itself, in its own constitution?” Because this band ismetal, man.
Avant, certainly, and stylistically inventive. John
Zorn showed that people known as jazz players could
make (in)credible metal and he opened up the ears ofjazz listeners as to the vast range of ideas possible inmetal. Starebaby makes theirs with plenty of prog/
math patterns, washes of ambient sound and room for
substantial improvisation. That last may be the “jazz”
element, but this doesn’t swing (well, it does inmoments), it pounds and thrashes (not bad things) andthe composed and improvised music mesh in aseamless, dense texture.
That texture can be slippery, or maybe just a matterof taste. Weiss is the leader and the talent here isphenomenal—guitarist Ben Monder, keyboard players
Craig Taborn and Matt Mitchell and bassist Trevor
Dunn—and there’s a sense of collective purpose, butalso a purposeful feeling of demonstrating that thething can be done. As the thing has now decades-oldroots in Last Exit, Naked City, Painkiller and otherprojects, the time seems to be past for proof-of-concept
stage, the field awaits maturity.
On this record and the band’s 2018 eponymous
debut, one whipsaws between the ensemble crushingout some riffs and drums full-throttle behind blistering
guitar and bass solos and wondering just how many
more changes in section and meter and angular line
will have to pass before the playing and forward
momentum pick up again. The 13-minute opening
track, “Episode 18”, has three or four distinct changes
in the first two minutes and many smaller episodes.
On an almost 80-minute album, the ears flag.
For more information, visit pirecordings.com

UNEARTHED GEM

The Skies of Copenhagen
Ra Kalam Bob Moses (Ra-kalam)by Mark Keresman

At risk of angering the Hyperbole Gods, Bob Moses

is one of the most underrated American drummers
on the jazz scene. He’s been active since the ‘60s.
playing with Larry Coryell, Gary Burton, the Steve
Kuhn/Sheila Jordan group and Pat Metheny. He’s
also an ace composer but, alas, many of his ambitious
large-group albums on the Gramavision label (circa
1982-1994) are out of print.
Yet he’s not slowing down—The Skies of
Copenhagen (perhaps a nod to Ornette Coleman’sorchestral Skies of America?) is a two-CD set recorded
in 2012, which features Moses as composer anddrummer leading a group of (mostly younger)
Danish compatriots: Anders Banke, Sture Ericson
and Jesper Zeuthen (reeds), Martin Nilsson (guitar),
Søren Kjærgaard (piano), Richard Andersson (bass),
Nils Davidsen (bass) and Michala ØstergaardNielsen (drums, percussion, glockenspiel). Some of
the music is group improvisations, others composedby Moses, plus a pair by group members and one by
the late legendary saxophonist John Tchicai.
Opening track “Force of Nature” sets the stage
for what’s to follow. There’s extended turbulent
passages and, at times, with its stately, somber
rhythm, vague resemblance to the first movement ofa symphony. The title track consists of contrasts—
the underlying rhythm is restless and forwardmoving, over which the saxophonists agitatedly
wail in a free-ish manner with an eerie calm at theeye of this storm. “A Chaos With a Little Bit ofOrder” by Tchicai is a steely dirge reminiscentslightly of Albert Ayler ’s more funereal pieces: lotsof harrowing vibrato in the leading horns, yet with abuoyant, ringing motif three-quarters of the way
through, a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel.
This is a collection of cerebral and thoughtful
music, albeit presented in a vibrant and directmanner. Favorable comparisons could be made—shades of Don Cherry, Gil Evans and George Russell
can be discerned—and some of this recalls Moses’
aforementioned large ensemble efforts. For thoselooking for an album to luxuriate in, with lots of fineand subtle musicianship throughout, partake.
For more information, visit nativepulse.com/ra-kalambob-moses-records

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 15

DRUMSISSUEG LO B E U N I T Y

Schlingerland/Dynamische SchwingungenSven-Åke Johansson (FMP - SAJ-Cien Fuegos)
Provinces
Christopher Icasiano (Origin)
The Meinl Session
Christian Lillinger (Plaist)by Tom Greenland

Solo drums is a perplexity. Capable drummers generate

dense polyrhythmic textures by employing all limbs at
once, but the expression of melodic and harmonic ideas
poses a challenge. In the hands (and feet) of the artists
reviewed here, any limitations are only opportunities toturn taps into tunes and sounds into songs.
Leading the charge is the remastered release of
Swedish-born, Berlin-based drummer Sven-Åke
Johansson’s Schlingerland/Dynamische Schwingungen,recorded in 1972 in Stockholm. The two epic tracks,“Nahbild” (“close-up”) and “Etwas Entfernt Vom
Mikrofon” (“a little away from the mic”), weigh in at
18 and 21 minutes, respectively, artfully constructedto lead up one side of a musical mountain ridge,
pausing midway at plateaus, descending the far side,
only to regroup at the bottom and rise again for two
more consecutive peaks. The slow gradualaccelerandos and crescendos, countered byritardandos and diminuendos, are executed with the
impeccable finesse of Buddy Rich and loose swing ofLouie Bellson, both endorsers of Slingerland drums.
The work is measured yet rampant, as deliberate as itis spontaneous, a masterstroke of extended narrative
form realized through minimal means.
Seattle-based Filipino-American Christopher
Icasiano’s solo debut Provinces is another example ofa highly disciplined yet exploratory approach. In
addition to a basic drumkit, he uses foot-controlled
synthesizer samples to make loops or drones. As on
Schlingerland there are two extended pieces, but
Icasiano’s music, unlike Johansson’s organicallyunfolding arcs, forges ahead with an incessant,robotic consistency, the pulse wavering only slightly
in places to reveal that it’s a man, not a machine,
making the music. The six parts of the title suite are
performed without pause until a sudden break atthe beginning of “IV” gives way to quietly rumbling
electronics and wind sounds, then more atmospherics
and a polyrhythmic finish. “Taho”, named for theFilipino snack food, shows similarly supple
manipulations of the pulse and further integrationof drumkit, synths and sampled sounds.
German Christian Lillinger’s The Meinl Session is
the most concise, an EP of alternating solo and grouptracks. The trio numbers, featuring tenor saxophonist
Otis Sandsjö, interesting in their own right, provide
contrast to the eight solo drum numbers. Lillinger’s
approach, like Icasiano’s, is more episodic thanteleological and his rhythmic mantras are relatively
brief. Like Johansson he plays a bare-bones kit,favoring a tight, dry snare sound and using only a
few extended techniques. Many of the beats seem toderive from the kick drum, snare chattering incounterpoint, cymbals busy everywhere else,
sometimes whooping like Chinese gongs or pressed
for their overtones. Given their brevity, the solo
tracks serve more as vignettes than adventures, yet
contain enough interest to suggest rich possibilities
should Lillinger undertake an album-length project.
For more information, visit cienfuegosrecords.com,
originarts.com and plaist-music.com

Pursuit of The Pan African Pulse Compilation SeriesVol. 1: Drum SongsVol. 2: Percussion Rhythms, Melodies and Solos
Famoudou Don Moye (AECO)
by Marc Medwin

The most unfortunate aspect of these two excellent

compilations of Famoudou Don Moye’s music is norecording info is provided. We are given a list of pieces
and that’s all. The tracks are drawn from throughout
the drummer ’s illustrious journey as musician andphilosopher, from his extensive career with the Art
Ensemble of Chicago (AEC) and other groups he has
led or co-led. Taken as a whole, Moye’s music is that ofan explorer, a traveler and a consummate melodist
with a gift for rhythmic complexity to match.
Like Eddie Prévost, Moye is both a drummer and a
percussionist and the two are separated to a degree.
Both aspects of his musical career are represented onthese compilations, which present a third aspect ofMoye’s skill set, that of business representative. It was
he who started the AECO label when Atlantic refused
to release the AEC’s 1974 Montreux recordings and it
has been home to exemplary material ever since, bothfrom the AEC and from Moye’s solo ventures. From theearly days, it was important to the AEC to structure intime away from the group to pursue solo projects andthey have a home on AECO. From the album African
Song, a 1996 disc featuring Moye and fellow
percussionist Enoch Williamson, we hear Moye thepercussionist in the slowly and inexorably building“Welcome/Diaspora Express”, its propulsive rhythms
and shouts churning toward breaking point against a
subtly morphing backdrop of what sounds like the purr
and rumble of gongs. Related, we hear the effervescent“Folo Folo”, twice in fact, once on each volume,
originally from the 2004 album Folk Bass Spirit Suite.
Along with percussionists Baba Sissoko and Maurizio
Capone, Moye engages in a joyfully contrapuntal
dialogue, complete with intoned modal vocals. It is amarvel to watch the lines circle and merge and even theoccasional punctuations of gong and cymbal do notbreak the exhilarated calm amid the storm of interwoven
percussion, modal vamp and delicate upper-register
piano that is more than filigree. The shouts of exultation
ending the track are more than warranted.
As drummer, Moye is both in the tradition andsomehow delightfully at odds with it. That’s what
could be expected from the young drummer blazing his
way into the AEC on the rock-and-soul-tinged 1970
soundtrack to Les Stances a Sophie. From the AACM
flagship group, we hear the breathtaking version of“Dancer”, taken from the 2003-released concert disc
Urban Magic. Moye glides in on gently rolled snare, but
it is only a preamble to the rhythmically multidirectional
pyrotechnics to come. Just listening to his snare conjures
shades of Max Roach’s resonant solo on the 1945
recording of “Ko-Ko” mixed with the snappy sizzle of
Roy Haynes’ approach to that versatile instrument.
Add in the other drums and cymbals and Moye themelodist emerges, motives easily and expertly executedon skin and metal mirroring a percussion ensemble interms of complexity and intrigue. Best of all is a sectionof cymbals exclusively, each strike a resonance andeach resonance a melody in itself, all ornamented bywhat sounds like a penny whistle in the background.
The AEC offers a sonic extravaganza, no matter what
its size, and this track is no exception. For more of
Moye’s longest-lasting musical association, go to thesecond volume for the powerful “Sangaredi” from
Tribute to Lester and a mix of Moye the drummer and

16 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

percussionist as something near swing is complemented
by polyrhythms and, eventually, a low-register dirge,
perhaps from bass saxophone, in tribute to the band’slate trumpeter. For Moye and Lester Bowie’s trumpetingoutside the AECO orbit, the first volume contains“Miss Nancy” by The Leaders, a band containing Moye,
Bowie, Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe, Cecil McBee andKirk Lightsey.
In truth, any boundaries between drummer andpercussionist are tenuous at best when the work of sucha complete musician is assessed. The fact that Moye canadapt to such diverse and deliciously volatile musicalsituations speaks to the more than a half-century
invested in the study of music, its attendant practices
and transcultural philosophies. These are compilations
befitting and confirming Moye’s master status.
For more information, visit donmoye.com

Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison
Jerry Granelli Trio (RareNoise)by Marco Cangiano

Drummer Jerry Granelli is a treasure yet to be fully

discovered. After many years, he has become a sort ofan all-around inspirational guru and his biography is
so dense and varied it can hardly by summarized in a
few sentences—the reader is strongly recommended tocheck out Colin MacKenzie’s 2002 documentary In
Moment available on Youtube. It is thus very fitting forsuch a creative musician to revisit for the first time inmany decades the music of Vince Guaraldi and Mose
Allison, with whom he collaborated at the start of his
career in the early ‘60s and throughout the ‘70s-80s,
respectively. This is no repertoire trio though, as acomparison with original versions clearly illustrates.
Granelli’s trio of pianist Jamie Saft and bassist
Bradley Jones approaches the material with respect but
without intimidation. The result is a fresh take at threeof Guaraldi’s most successful tunes, ranging from theclassic “Cast Your Fate” and bossa-nova-inspired “StarSong” to melancholy ballad “Christmas Time”. The
treatment these immortal tunes receive summarizes
how jazz has evolved and, in particular, the trio format.
Although more of a contemporary player, Saft has
totally absorbed and is able to distill the jazz pianotradition. Granelli’s palette of colors and accents,
delivered with subtleties hard to appreciate fully at thefirst listen, is unparalleled. Jones follows the steps
initiated by Scott LaFaro and Charlie Haden, the latteronce partnering with Granelli in the Denny Zeitlin Trio.
The approach to Allison’s material is similar, butabsent the vocal element, Granelli’s trio takes more
liberties, almost masking the blues format, yet keeping
its spirit. “Parchman Farm” is a case in point, Saft
twisting Allison’s blues into an abstract funk culminating
in a solo cadenza exploring piano jazz history à la Jaki
Byard. “Young Man Blues” verges on the ironic, Jones
sustaining the main theme on his bow while Granelli
and Saft stretch the blues as if they were playing witha rubber band. The CD also offers two close conversations
between Granelli and Jones, master classes in brushwork alongside tuneful phrasing. Much like Saft, Jones
has deep knowledge of the jazz tradition and although
his resumé reveals a preference for avant garde music,
his contributions to revisiting more traditional material
is nothing short of outstanding.
For more information, visit rarenoiserecords.com

DRUMSISSUEIN PRINT

Jazz Brushes for the Modern Drummer
Ulysses Owens, Jr. (Hal Leonard)
by John Pietaro

W ithinthe vast bibliography of drumming
instruction books, the art of playing brushes has
been woefully underrepresented. In this writer ’slong-ago experiences as a drumset student,
recordings of giants like Jo Jones, Ed Thigpen,
Connie Kay or Shelly Manne wielding wirebrushes fell into the realm of the mystical. Most
teachers, mine included, tended to adapt sticking
exercises to brushes after some basic coaching,because little had been put to paper. Thigpen’s
legendary book on brushes wasn’t published until
1981, closely followed by Louie Bellson’s, which
included sections on Latin music.
Since that time other volumes have sought toshed light on differing usages. Clayton Cameron,celebrated for his advanced brush techniques, has
had a noted book out since 2003. Over the years,
drummers have placed much emphasis on brushfills, solos and unique approaches to the swishes,

sweeps and taps, but the initial concept of playing
time with a warm, gentler sound with fluid attack
has too often been lost. Enter Ulysses Owens, Jr.
(Christian McBride, Gregory Porter, et al.) who, in
his new book, advises the reader that, “we mustcherish timekeeping because it is at the heart of our
purpose in the music.”
Owens uses his 80 pages extremely well, moving
through the history of recorded brush use from the
1920s through to the present before addressing
specific techniques, from standard jazz time to adetailed view into brushes used in piano trios, witha vocalist and during a bass solo.
Well-illustrated renditions of hands holding
brushes as well as the circular sweeping patterns
they produce are realistically presented and theapplication to timekeeping is consistent during mostof this book. There are also sections on the different
types of brushes, grips, angle, position and height ofthe snare drum, posture, arm movements (“Like aballet dancer”), articulation and drumhead materials
as well as the different areas of the head and how
these effect sound, feel and time.
Uniquely, Owens writes about playing time withand then without the hi-hat. An entire chapter isdedicated to the use of embellishments and fills
within time-keeping, citing historic recordings,
which leads into Application and Performance
Scenarios. In the latter, Owens emphasizes the needfor fullness of sound for the maintenance of presenceon the bandstand. While most drummers are familiar
with playing brushes in trios and other low-volume
gigs, it’s a fact that playing in a big band is a muchgreater challenge in maintaining presence. Owens
writes of playing brushes nearer the center of thesnare drum for a deeper, fuller sound while feathering
the bass drum pulse, but clarifies that the drummer’s
inner confidence is just as responsible for presence.
Important aspects of instructional books arerecorded examples, but instead of including a CDwithin, Owens offers a link unique to each copy foraccess to downloadable recordings. These include
Owens playing within a trio (instrumental or
inclusive of a vocalist) and then in the old Music
Minus One tradition, the same recordings sans
drums: “You’ll hear me do it and then it will be yourturn,” he writes. “Be mindful of your body andbreath. Don’t just play at the recordings but withthem, as if you are a member of the ensemble.”
The reader also has access to videos, whichmake techniques come to life when applied to
uptempo, ballads, waltz time, special effects,“Swinging with Rudiments” and solo trading fours,
twos and eights. Stressing the importance of timeand feel, Owens only offers a section on solos in theclosing chapter; however it begins with theimportance of melody, asking the drummer to singout same as a means to “tell a story” while building
techniques for soloing over it.
Jazz Brushes for the Modern Drummer is an
important piece in this still shrouded aspect ofdrumming and it does much to cut through themystery. More so, it embodies the mastery. This bookcan be taken as a complete instructional document or
as one specifically time-focused within the leanpantheon of published wire brush wisdom.
For more information, visit halleonard.com/product/298188/
jazz-brushes-for-the-modern-drummer. Owens live-streams
Nov. 12th at jazzatlincolncenter.squarespace.com.

A Film About Paul Motian
Featuring

Joe Lovano Bill Frisell Chick Corea
Carla Bley Arlo Guthrie Gary Peacock
Steve Kuhn Larry Grenadier Manfred Eicher
Chris Potter Masabumi Kikuchi Steve Swallow
Tony Malaby Steve Cardenas Anat Fort
“A beautiful expressionof love, and a marvelous
insight into a master drummer
living his life inside themagical world of music.”“An alternate history ofmodern/contemporary jazz
through the lens of one of its
great enigmatic originals.
Really something special.”-VICTOR DELORENZO
Drummer, Violent Femmes-HANK SHTEAMER
Senior Music Editor, Rolling Stone"Great historic footage and engaging interviews
with some of the creative residents of Paul Motian's
world add up to an affectionate portrait of thedapper, creative, funny and vividly alive
drummer/composer/bandleader.”Right Stick.
Right Sound.
Since 2005, crafting a carefully designed lineof vintage inspired sticks & brushes.
Proud to offer Bopworks’ exclusive
Art Blakey & Mel Lewis models.

-HOWARD MANDEL
Author of Miles, Ornette, Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz

AQUAPIO FILMS LTD presentS “MOTIAN IN MOTION”
WITH BEN RATLIFF JEROME HARRIS BOB ARKIN GREG OSBY ED SCHULLER LORRAINE GORDON FRANK KIMBROUGH
Animation Emily HUBBLY EDITORS WHITNEY TROWER & DAN SCOFIELD
SOUND MIX ERIC CARBONERA camera LARS ELLING LUNDE MARC WISHENGRAD JULIAN RODRIGUEZ GRAPHICS BRYAN RIBEIROPRODUCEd BY SUZANNE HAYES Directed by MICHAEL PATRICK KELLY
THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 17

DRUMSISSUEON SCREEN

Expanding Light
Whit Dickey Trio (TAO Forms)
Morph
Whit Dickey (ESP-Disk’)by Steven Loewy
Motian in Motion
Michael Patrick Kelly (Aquapio Films)
by John Pietaro

J azz is a performance thriving in reach of its

audience. Emotional outpouring and paths ofcreativity bear a reciprocal effect, infusing live
spectators with a vibrancy far beyond recordings.
Filmed concert footage, let alone brief performanceclips, have rarely captured the music’s core. Rarer
still are the films that accurately depict the lifestyleof the musician along with the music. With Motian in
Motion, filmmaker Michael Patrick Kelly counters
all odds and delivers just that.
Kelly’s film picks up during the drummer’s final
decade until his 2011 passing, capturing interviews,
performances, sessions, subway and cab rides, jogs
through Central Park and quiet moments in his
Upper West Side apartment. Interview segmentswith associates as well as older performance footage
allow for a historical vision of Motian’s time andplace, bringing the viewer well into the story throughcarefully spun character development. Motian’s
inimitable laughter was a feature as was his rapidfire New York speech patterns. Ben Ratliff states,“Paul’s bravery was in doing things musically, notfast and loud” while Gary Peacock calls him a“Master craftsman…even in 1962 he was so far
ahead.” Other compelling testimony comes from
Carla Bley, Chick Corea, Steve Kuhn, Jerome Harris,
Steve Swallow, Bill Frisell, Greg Osby, Joe Lovano,
Marilyn Crispell, Mark Helias and others.
It was with the Bill Evans Trio that he achieved
international acclaim. “I started to hear differently…
like an orchestra,” Motian explained. This trio,
appropriately, is given ample time among theconcert footage, almost alarmingly vibrant, andMotian is also seen within ensembles of Paul Bleyand Keith Jarrett. The drummer, in 1969, began
touring with Arlo Guthrie and was with the singersongwriter for the Woodstock Festival; “It was justanother gig,” Motian added ironically, “but we had
to get there by helicopter.” Later, he was seen onlyin the most advanced jazz units including therenowned Liberation Music Orchestra and Carla
Bley’s ensemble for Escalator Over the Hill. Following
this, Motian focused on the role of bandleader,
committing to this almost entirely by 1976.
Archival footage of the ‘80s Motian trios andquartets with Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano and Charlie
Haden carries something three-dimensional, themusic reaching beyond the screen. By the time
Motian decided to cease touring (“I won’t get on aplane for a billion dollars.”), his compositions
developed vastly and the ensembles grew in scope.
The smaller groups as well as the Electric Bebop
Band are seen performing in venues such as
Birdland, Blue Note and the Village Vanguard,
where the leader held court for a decade.
He appeared tireless, eternal, so Motian’s death
was deeply trying. Frisell: “It was terrifying to findthat he wasn’t there.” Motian in Motion encompasses
the many aspects of this man of rich, quiet acclaim.
For more information, visit motianjazzdoc.com

Drummer Whit Dickey has proven himself through

The Aiki
Masahiko Satoh/Sabu Toyozumi (NoBusiness)
Future of Change
Sabu Toyozumi (Chap Chap)
ReAbstraction
Sabu Toyozumi (FMR)
by Andrey Henkin

Drummer Yoshisaburoh “Sabu” Toyozumi is Japanese

the years to be a compelling performer. Acclaimed for
his role in the David S. Ware Quartet of the ‘90s, he also
worked in groups led by pianist/partner in the Ware
Quartet Matthew Shipp and saxophonist Ivo Perelman,
among others. As an occasional leader, he has
performed some of his best work with Shipp, alto
saxophonist Rob Brown and the late trumpeter Roy
Campbell. The albums reviewed here were released in2020 (though recorded in 2019), the first time Dickey
has two recordings as a leader in a calendar year.
Expanding Light is a blistering collection performed
by a power trio of Dickey, Brown and bassist Brandon
Lopez. Aside from his impressive drumming, Dickey is
excellent in his choice of players and disciplined
approach he brings to his groups. While he performs
some exciting solos, as on “The Outer Edge”, his real
talent is the way he cajoles and pushes. Brown
demonstrates an amazing ability to spurt forth endlesslengthy lines of astonishing intensity, with a searing
tone, trills, altissimo shrieks, split notes and lengthy
complex phrases and his longstanding relationshipwith the leader shines through, as the two interact andanticipate each other ’s moves. On the best and closing
track, “The Opener”, Brown’s rambunctious, elastic
notes ride hard above deep pounding drums and the
hardboiled bass emanations. Dickey, by the way, isgenerous as a leader, giving his sidemen ample space
throughout. The results are not to be missed.
Double CD Morph offers a different view, as Dickey
leads distinct free-style groups through a series ofshorter, yet also captivating, pieces. The first CD,
Reckoning, consisting of eight tracks, is a duo between
Dickey and Shipp. Perhaps because of the freedom thedrummer gives him, the pianist offers a somewhat
kaleidoscopic display of his skills, ranging from dark,even morose block chords on the title track, with its
changing tempos (a Shipp trope), to the heavy, slow,
forceful pronouncements on aptly-titled “Thick”, with
its focus on the percussive lower register and Dickey,
who never dallies, providing solid support. Shipp is inexcellent form and his ability to change on a dime oroffer complex, brooding and cubist lines permeates thepieces, although he also offers quiet, glorious, lyricalpronouncements, as on “Helix” and Firmament”. The
second CD, Pacific Noir, with another eight pieces,adds trumpeter Nate Wooley to the duo. The pianist isagain in near-perfect form, as is Dickey, who sports
sparkling, sometimes dazzling support and theoccasional solo. Wooley offers variety, too, as his
clipped phrases, modest structures and muted tones
are devastatingly persuasive on “Take the Wild”,
particularly when juxtaposed against Shipp’s quirky
boppish passages, simple outlines and pounding
chords and Dickey’s forward-looking thrusts. There isa bit of an avant garde ragtime swinging feel toward
the end and even a strong melodic element that makes
the piece compellingly accessible. Coupled with theoutlandish and variegated “Epiphany”, the best pieceof the set, with jagged clumps of pianisms, oddball
syncopation and far-reaching trumpet, the trio displays
another side of the multi-talented Whit Dickey.

free jazz royalty, a lifer in a range of situations since
the late ‘60s, when he was in his early 20s, through tothe current day and elder status, both with countrymen
like Mototeru Takagi, Masayuki Takayanagi, Kaoru
Abe, Toshinori Kondo, Masahiko Togashi, Tetsu Saitoh
and Masahiko Satoh and international improviserssuch as Bob Reid, Peter Kowald, Wadada Leo Smith,Peter Brötzmann, Paul Rutherford, Kenny Millions,Arthur Doyle, Barre Phillips and more.
The Aiki is another entry in Lithuania’s NoBusiness’
partnership with Japan’s Chap Chap, co-produced by theformer’s Danas Mikailonis and the latter’s Takeo
Suetomo, from whose archive of concert recordings theseries derives. Toyozumi is found in duo with pianist
Satoh—a couple of years older and as seminal in theircountry’s avant garde world—in Yamaguchi City in 1997
for two improvisations, just over 30 minutes and a hair
under 20, respectively. In this equal partnership, the rolesof each player are pliable, Satoh at points emphasizing
the piano’s foundation as a percussion instrument andToyozumi light and airy around his kit, creating whirls of
melody and texture. The titles, “The Move for The Quiet”
and “The Quiet for The Move”, are descriptive as the firstis expansive and stays at a reasonable volume while thesecond is much more explosive.
Drummers, perhaps more than any other
instrumentalist, can shape free improvised encountersto their liking. While every player is capable ofdynamics and density, those behind the kit can prod
their partners into shambolic overdrive or egg them on
into near-silence. Collaborators of more recent vintage
for Toyozumi are alto saxophonist Rick Countryman(14 years younger), expatriate in Manila, Malaysiantenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen (33 years younger)
and Filipino bassist Simon Tan (27 years younger), thefour men working in various combinations since 2016.
Two concert recordings from the Philippines madethree days apart in early 2020, one as a trio sans Tan,the other as a full quartet, show how much free
improvisation is of the moment, sounding completely
different even with the same principals.
Future of Change comes first and, although beinga trio date, feels more like a duo, as the duelingsaxophones of Countryman and Yandsen become
a wall of sorts against which Toyozumi can volley hisrolls, cracks and crashes. The three pieces are ofdescending length, 35:53, 24:34 and 12:46, respectively,
and maintain a certain energetic focus typical of such
performances. Despite disparities in their age andorigin, Countryman and Yandsen come at the music
similarly, even often occupying one another ’s range.
Toyozumi doesn’t prod so much as he corrals.
Surprisingly, the addition of Tan for ReAbstraction,rather than making the proceedings more dense, opens
up the five pieces, creating a more balanced ensemble
and one that takes increased chances by varying thevolume and layering. That the improvisations areshorter also displays more attention to detail, knowing
when to finish up rather than missing cues as to good
conclusions. Also of note is a long stretch of Toyozumi
playing erhu (Chinese spike fiddle), sawing away withthe fury of Nero waiting for the fire department.

For more information, visit taoforms.bandcamp.com andespdisk.com

For more information, visit nobusinessrecords.com,
chapchap-music.com and fmr-records.com

18 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORDDRUMSISSUEMy Shining Hour
Roy Haynes (Storyville)
by Scott Yanow

Drummer Roy Haynes is possibly the only jazz artist

who recorded in the ‘40s who is still active. He is
certainly the only musician to work with Luis Russell(1945-46), Lester Young, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker,
Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious
Monk, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane (often subbing for
Elvin Jones), Gary Burton and Chick Corea in addition
to leading his own groups. It seems strange that he wasunderrated and overlooked for so long, overshadowedby Max Roach, Art Blakey and others, but he is finally
rated on their level.
The Europeans were ahead of the Americans ingiving Haynes the recognition he deserved. In 1994 he
was awarded the Danish Jazzpar Prize, which, in
addition to a large cash award, always resulted in arecording session with top local musicians. On thisreissue CD from Storyville, Haynes performs eightnumbers with Swedish tenor saxophonist Tomas
Franck and two Danes, pianist Thomas Clausen andlate bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, takenfrom three performances in Denmark in March 1994.
While Haynes begins the proceedings with a briefsolo on “My Shining Hour” and has a few short spots
during the set, he does not dominate. In fact, Franck
is often the main soloist, taking several impressive
forays. His individual sound is somewhere between
that of Rollins and Coltrane and while he can be pretty
adventurous (as he shows on “My Shining Hour” and“All Blues”), he also caresses the melody of “I Fall In
Love Too Easily” with warmth. Clausen has recordedwith everyone from Dexter Gordon to Tim Berne, waslong in demand by American artists touring Europe
and is a solid and quietly swinging player. As for
Pedersen, he deserves his reputation as one of the alltime greats.
On a program that includes standards, blues andFranck’s “Bright”, Haynes is both subtle and assertivein his creative accompaniment of Franck and Clausen,
really pushing the former during “All Blues”. The
drummer concludes this fine album by thanking his
hosts, but it is he who deserves our thanks for his many
decades of rewarding music.
For more information, visit storyvillerecords.com

Transparency
Dafnis Prieto Sextet (Dafnison Music)
by Russ Musto

The latest release from Dafnis Prieto, debuting thenewest edition of his sextet with Alex Norris (trumpet),Román Filiú (alto and soprano saxophones), Peter
Apfelbaum(tenorsaxophone,
melodica
andpercussion), Alex Brown (piano) and Johannes
Weidenmueller (basses), once again underscores the
Cuban-born drummer ’s considerable talents as acomposer/arranger with eight new pieces traversing
a wide variety of moods and modes, plus one strikingly
original arrangement of a jazz classic.
Opener “Amanecer Contigo” is an episodic outingthat begins with horns blowing a festive carnival-esque
melody over a churning rhythm section. It then turns
straightahead with Brown’s fluid solo before Filiú onalto comes in, adding a romantic tone, after which
Prieto takes charge with a climactic solo over riffing
horns. Melodica is featured on “No Es Facil”,
a melancholy tango-flavored piece, which also includes
emotive piano, bass and trumpet statements. Prieto’s
ringing cowbell-augmented drumkit introduces
urgently swinging “Uncerntradition”, Brown poundingout a powerful 1-2, 1-2-3 clave beat on top of which
tenor, trumpet and soprano solo over a foundation
modulating
between
AfroCuban
pulse
andhardbopping shuffle rhythm.
Prieto’s arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s“Con Alma” opens with relaxed malleted toms anda distinctly original melodic prelude, before stating theiconic melody at a much slower than usual tempo,
accentuating the song’s inherent beauty, further
highlighted in Apfelbaum’s lush tenor solo. “Cry WithMe” begins with Prieto energetically soloing over aslightly dissonant unison horn line that serves as anunderpinning for hard-swinging solos all around.
Spanish and classical traces are in evidence in thesecond section of “On the Way”, a bifurcated piece
beginning with a mournful soprano and tenor stateddirge, then transitioning into an uptempo tour deforce. “Feed The Lions” is an exhilarating Middle
Eastern-tinged outing with Apfelbaum’s bells andshakers augmenting Prieto’s polyrhythmic drumming
to enhance the exotic flavor. Electric bass introduces“Nothing or Everything”, which soulfully references“A Night In Tunisia” and “Monk’s Mood”. The dateends on a funky note with “Lazy Blues”, a showcase
for the leader ’s loping solo.
For more information, visit dafnisonmusic.com

The Daily Biological
Chad Taylor Trio (Cuneiform)by George Grella

The press materials for this release describe drummer

Taylor as “protean and prolific” and that’s a unique casewhere the promotion is accurate and meaningful. Taylor
has been popping up on numerous recordings over the
past several years, as a leader, collaborator or sideman.
And the situations are constantly shifting: duos withsaxophonist James Brandon Lewis; pianist Aruán Ortiz’
trio; the solo drum album Myths and Morals.
Protean is a fitting one-word description of thisalbum, made with tenor saxophonist Brian Settles andpianist Neil Podgurski. The musicians each contributed
material to the session and the three sensibilities pushand pull at each other across the album as a whole andsometimes within the confines of a single track. Thoughthat means there are a few places where things either
don’t mesh, or where the group seems to be at odds with
its own strengths, this is a strong record with an up-todate sensibility and a compelling drive toward discovery.
The fit between the three voices and the groupplaying is terrific. Settles is full of energy and intelligenceand the recording captures his brawny, soulful,sometimes velvety sound. Taylor sounds here much as
he did on the early Chicago Underground records, witha relatively light touch that still pushes an edge ofintensity, and Podgurski comes at everything from a
new angle, his playing maybe the most inventive herein.
The trio can balance groove and structuralcomplexity, as on “Swamp”, and when that happens(frequently) this is one of the best releases of the year. But
there’s also gestures that have become common clichés inshowing how ‘modern’ the music is, like the fussy head
and awkward cadence of “Prism” and bits of “Birds,
Leaves, Wind, Trees”. The music is simply not fluid here
and that’s the foundation of the rest of the album.
Fortunately these interruptions to the flow are few.
For more information, visit cuneiformrecords.com

DROP THE NEEDLE

Internationale Solidarität
Kapital Band 1 (Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu)
by John Pietaro

Coming at you on shining, clear vinyl, this record by

Martin Brandlmayr and Nicholas Bussmann is a study
in cooperative imagination, patience and vision. On
their third release since 2004, the pair embody theconcept of solidarity from the time-honored perspectiveof “L’Internationale”: not the socialist anthem itself somuch as its call (to arms; to instruments). Though
Brandlmayr plays his primary instrument, drumkit,
noted cellist Bussmann is heard on “robot-controlled
grand piano”, a design of Winfried Ritsch, a media
artist, engineer and professor of electronic music who
first premiered his automated piano nine years ago.
Kapital Band 1 has been integrated into art
installations in Berlin and impactful within experimental
music, but here the duo engages in something altogether
new. Electronically, Bussmann plots the piano course
and, robotically, it proceeds. Throughout the duet carveout a unique, often intriguing course. The first side
opens with atmospheric leanings and simplistic
repetition, a generous opening as the work builds. The
piano sounds move from a realistic grand to toy piano
and into the marimba-like, but in each case, Brandlmayr
grows any and every musical germ heard from
Bussmann’s machinations. Mallets on cymbals, accentson toms in response to the high-end piano piercing theroom, the thread is realized as tight and consistent.
Whereas the first side, a continuous piece focusedon the sonic network, is atmospherically thick(including call and response), the second feels more
spacious. It opens with piano in double time to thedrumset rhythm, offset by an electronic alarm bell,
which develops into a drone, allowing for Brandlmayr
to roam freely. Switching to brushes, he allows theatmosphere itself to direct his actions, carrying thepulse equally with the robotic piano’s soundscape.
One-third of the way, the music recalls a film score
ideal for thrillers, what with the repetitive piano
against its own darkening chords and free drumming.
One segment opens with distorted drum sounds,
Brandlmayr released over his toms, slowly extending
to the entire kit. The music is all the more engaging as
wider piano harmonies are heard, summoning freedrumming that almost pulls the piano along, marching
stridently, as stinging repetition spills into dire urgency.
For more information, visit ni-vu-ni-connu.net

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 19

Songs From Home
Fred Hersch (Palmetto)
by Dan Bilawsky

P ositivity was in short supply when COVID-19 forced
CHARLES MINGUS
AT BREMEN 1964 & 1975
SSC 1570 - 4 DISCS DIGIPAK & BOOKLETSTREET DATE 11/13/20

T

he great bassist and composer Charles Mingus had his diehard supporters and detractors. His explosive intermingling of devil may care attitude,
imposing character and aggressive music was sure to rub some listeners thewrong way and was just as likely to attract adventurous fans. But his genius
could not be denied; it just may have taken some time to break down barriers.
good way to examine this change in listener attitudes is to investigate thedifferences in critical appraisals from two performances in the port cityof Bremen, Germany, a decade apart. The initial performance in 1964 introduced Mingus’s firebrand ways to an unsuspecting audience while his 1975
appearance was met with the expectancy of jazz royalty. The performances
appear in their first official release remastered from the original source
tapes on Charles Mingus @ Bremen 1964 & 1975.

A

JOE CASTROPASSION FLOWER -FOR DORIS DUKE
SSC 1393 - 6 ALBUMS & BOOKLET BOXED SET
STREET DATE 11/20/20

T

he initial Joe Castro boxed set, Lush Life – A Musical Journey(Sunnyside, 2015), provided an insight into the world of the pianist’s earlymeetings with the greats of jazz at home recorded sessions. These recordings included Buddy Collette, Chico Hamilton, Teddy Wilson, Stan Getz, Zoot
Sims and Lucky Thompson, a Castro Big Band and the Teddy Edwards Tentet.

T

he second boxed set of recordings from Joe Castro’s collection, Passion
Flower – For Doris Duke, highlights his collaborations with a vast array ofgreat musicians (Paul Bley, Paul Motian, Leroy Vinnegar, Paul Chambers, Philly
Joe Jones, Cannonball Adderley). There are fine home recordings of jam sessions, studio recordings of Castro’s Atlantic Records releases, recordings ofprojects of friends and productions that were done under the aegis of Clover
Records, the label that Duke and Castro founded and briefly ran.

all into isolation back in March, but Fred Hersch still
managed to inject a little beauty into each afternoon.
Hunkered down in his home in rural Pennsylvania, thecelebrated pianist offered serious solace with nearly
two months of “Tune of the Day” performances on
Facebook. At some point those benefactions began to
sew themselves into the fabric of our times, so it’s only
fitting that that daily experience would blossom into
the creation of an album for the present and posterity.
Songs From Home serves as a respite from themadness of the moment. There are places where
markers of his tremendous technical abilities areapparent, but the overall effort is one connected to theconcept of balmy beauty. Essentially without peer
when it comes to enrapturing ears with reflective
grace, Hersch uses 88 keys to engender innumerable
emotions tethered to a single reality. On a plaintive
rendering of Frederick Loewe-Alan Jay Lerner ’s“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” he envisions a moment when
we can gather again and gain comfort in company.
With an expansive yet loyal trip through Joni Mitchell’s“All I Want” his hands speak true to Blue. And in Duke
Ellington’s “Solitude” he taps into the essence of thecomposer ’s vision with an empathetic nod.
While Hersch acknowledges some minor
deficiencies with his 50-year-old, seven-foot Steinway
Model B, the communion between the two, reflecting
lives lived together in service to music, is as much thestory of this album as anything else. Hersch shows atrue familiarity with the landscape, which adds anotherlayer of meaning to what he creates. Whether flowing
and growing through his “Sarabande”, blending thefamilial and the folk in a marriage of the maternallymoored “West Virginia Rose” with “The Water Is Wide”
or proving suave on a stride ride through Turner
Layton’s timeless “After You’ve Gone”, he shows adegree of commitment and understanding that speaks
volumes about the setting and current state of affairs.
For more information, visit palmetto-records.com. Hersch
live-streams Nov. 6th-7th at villagevanguard.com.

SSC 1597 - STREET DATE 11/27/20
assist Alex Claffy’s enthusiasm for collaboration motivated Roemer to push through the
production of House of Mirrors. Roemer set up
recording dates and they brought on pianist
Addison Frei and drummer Adam Arruda.
Roemer also benefited from great contributions
by guitarists Ben Monder and Gilad Hekselman, saxophonist Dayna Stephens, andpercussionist Rogerio Boccato.

T

he music of Kristiana Roemer comes from an honest place, a place of appraisalsof actions and embracing all potential paths, whether taken or not. Her House of
Mirrors is a diverse and brilliantly devised program of music that illustrates where
Roemer has been and where she will go in her bright future.

www.sunnysiderecords.com

For more information, visit blueenginerecords.org. Marsalis
live-streams Nov. 5th at jazzatlincolncenter.squarespace.com.

(Solo Guitar) (Hittite)R • Dave
Douglas—Marching Musice • Ella(Greenleaf Music)
Lost Berlin Tapes (Verve)c • KirkFitzgerald—The
Knuffke—Tight Like This
(SteepleChase)o • James
Brandon Lewis Quartet—
Molecular (Intakt)m • Miklós Lukács Cimbiosis Trio—Music From
Solitude of Timeless Minutes
m the(BMC Records)
Martínez/Juan Saiz/Lucía Martinez—e • Baldo
Frágil Gigante (Leo)
Monk—Palo Alto (Impulse!)n •• Thelonious
Wassim Mukdad/David Rothenberg/d Volker Lankow—In The Wake of Memories(Clermont Music)e • Angelica
Sanchez/Marilyn Crispell—
How To Turn The Moon (Pyroclastic)d Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor• Orhan Demir—Freedom in Jazz, Vol. 2n • duotrio—In the Bright and Deep (Blujazz)
Cline Singers—Share the Wealthe • Nels(Blue Note)w • Dave Douglas—Marching MusicKRISTIANA ROEMER
HOUSE OF MIRRORS

B

been described as “like playing tennis without a net”.
Wynton Marsalis writes that both the game and themusic “reward improvisation and split-second decision
making against the pressure of time and the restrictionof a clearly defined geometric form.”
The various dedicatees on this album include
James Naismith, the inventor of basketball as we know
it today; Lynette Woodard, one of the greatest femalebasketball players; and Wilt Chamberlain. Each piece
was written by a different member of the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra and some are moreadventurous than others, but the ensemble’s collective
identity shines through them all. “Phog Allen” is quite
playful; it begins with the horns imitating the squeakof sneakers on the floor, as the bass drum mimics a ballbeing dribbled. Then a shrill whistle blows and thetune proper begins. The drum break leading into
Marsalis’ stagger-stepping trumpet solo on “D(efense)Up: The Untold Story of Darnell Valentine” delivers aparticularly potent bolt of energy. That piece isfollowed by “The Truth (for Paul Pierce)”, a strolling
blues written by alto saxophonist Sherman Irby thatlets the baritone saxophone rumble like the bass singer
in a doo-wop group as Chris Crenshaw delivers apassionate lyric about the player in question.
The orchestrations are rich and full throughout;they’ve got a forceful, deeply bluesy swing that recalls
Duke Pearson as much as Duke Ellington. It should be
noted, as well, that despite this existing as a form of“program music”, intended to conjure images of
events—some as specific as a single shot from a game—
it is absolutely enjoyable even for a listener with zeroknowledge of or interest in basketball.

Rock Chalk Suite
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with
Wynton Marsalis (Blue Engine)by Phil Freeman

The Rock Chalk Suite was commissioned in 2018 tocelebrate the 25th anniversary of the Lied Center,a performing arts space on the campus of the Universityof Kansas. The suite honors the school’s basketballteam, the Jayhawks, with each of its 15 pieces paying
tribute to a different legendary player. Basketball is
one of the sports most commonly compared to jazz;boxing is another and of course avant garde jazz has

20 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

r
e
l
e
a
s
e
s

(Greenleaf Music)• Kirk Knuffke—Tight Like This
(SteepleChase)• Travis Laplante & Yarn/Wire—
Inner Garden (New Amsterdam)• Steph Richards—Supersense (Northern Spy)
• Sylvain Rifflet, Jon Irabagon,
Sébastien Boisseau, Jim BlackRebellion (BMC Records)• Terje Rypdal—Conspiracy (ECM)• Sabu Toyozumi, Simon Tan, Yong Yandsen,
Rick Countryman—ReAbstraction (FMR)• WHO Trio—Strell: The Music of Billy
Strayhorn & Duke Ellington (Clean Feed)
Andrey Henkin, Editorial Director

NEW ON INTAKT RECORDS

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JAMES BRANDON LEWISQUARTET MOLECULARTIM BERNE’S SNAKEOIL
THE DECEPTIVE 4 – LIVEJames Brandon Lewis: Tenor Saxophone
Aruán Ortiz: Piano
Brad Jones: Bass
Chad Taylor: Drums, Mbira

Tim Berne: Alto Saxophone | Matt Mitchell: Piano
Oscar Noriega: Clarinets | Ches Smith: Drums

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ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACHSLOW PIECES FOR AKIPIANO SOLODAVE GISLER TRIOWITH JAIMIE BRANCHZURICH CONCERT

Alexander von Schlippenbach: Piano

Dave Gisler: Guitar | Raffaele Bossard: Bass
Lionel Friedli: Drums | Jaimie Branch: Trumpet

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SYLVIE COURVOISIER TRIOWITH DREW GRESS AND KENNY WOLLESEN

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Sylvie Courvoisier: Piano
Drew Gress: Bass
Kenny Wollesen: Drums, Wollesonics

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THE CHOIR INVISIBLE
GREVE - SPERRAZZA - TORDINIOMCharlotte Greve: Saxophone
Vinnie Sperrazza: Drums
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Percussion, Bowed Metal

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Christoph Irniger: Tenor Sax
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Shane Endsley: Trumpet | Miles Okazaki: Guitar
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Dan Weiss: Drums
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Scarab (Beatles Piano)
Wayne Alpern (s/r)
Play Sgt. Pepper
Michael Wolff/Mike Clark/Leon Lee Dorsey(Jazzavenue1)
by Elliott Simon

The Beatles’ official breakup was 50 years ago andthese releases continue the tradition, begun in 1964 by
Ella Fitzgerald (“Can’t Buy Me Love”, Verve), of
jazzing up their music. On Scarab, arranger Wayne
Alpern and pianist Billy Test rework ten Beatles tunes
while Play Sgt. Pepper features pianist Michael Wolff
and a stellar rhythm section of bassist Leon Lee Dorsey
and drummer Mike Clark. The only title in common is“When I’m Sixty Four” and Alpern’s arrangement
begins with a pensive melodic statement that morphs
into a ragtime/barrelhouse piece. Putting the second
recitation of the melody in the left hand briefly adds
depth to the original whereas the trio, led by Clark’s
expressive touch, exposes its contemporary pathos.
Scarab is heavy on Paul McCartney melodies, with
only three from John Lennon and none from George
Harrison or Ringo Starr and its song selection is narrow
with “Eleanor Rigby” and “When I’m 64” the sole
representatives from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts ClubBand and Revolver. Alpern’s stated goals are to“musically transform the ubiquitous into the unique,the commonplace into the extraordinary, the beetle

into the scarab…” But what he doesn’t acknowledge isthat The Beatles are “commonplace” because they wereextraordinary and “ubiquitous” because they remain
unique. Reconciling the original melody and bassline
on “Norwegian Wood” into a beautifully pure waltz,
a clever new bass part for “Lady Madonna” and Test’s
clean open arpeggios on “Let It Be” are some instanceswhere Alpern’s objectives are met. However, theexceptional loneliness of “Eleanor Rigby” is not fully
captured, “Penny Lane” is enjoyable yet hollow, “HideYour Love Away” is too grandiose with jarring dynamic
contrasts, “Yesterday” is unrecognizable and“Blackbird” would have been better left alone.
Conversely, Pepper’s wide sonic palette is fertile
territory for Wolff, Clark and Dorsey’s group approach.
They treat each song with respect and use the melodies
as jumping off points for thoughtful interpretations.
Previously Clark and Dorsey enlisted guitarist Greg
Skaff to channel Monk (Monk Time, Jazzavenue1, 2019)and here they similarly enhance the core of Pepper.
“With A Little Help From My Friends” and “Lovely
Rita” are swinging send-ups retaining the originals’
frivolity and adding depth through group interplay.
“A Day In The Life” is a gorgeous ballad although“She’s Leaving Home” doesn’t quite succeed at escaping
its inherent mawkishness. “Lucy in the Sky With
Diamonds” is a multi-faceted piano portrait and thetitle cut retains its rocker excitement in the context of ajazz arrangement. Harrison’s rarely covered devotional“Within You, Without You” works surprisingly well as ameditative spiritual jazz piece and is a session highlight.
For more information,
leonleedorsey.com

visit

waynealpern.com

andFor more information, visit sunnysiderecords.com andcleanfeed-records.com

Passion Flower (The Music of Billy Strayhorn)
John DiMartino (Sunnyside)
Strell: The Music of Billy Strayhorn & Duke Ellington
WHO Trio (Clean Feed)by George Kanzler

F or many years subsequent to their deaths, the music

JASON HARNELL
SOLO ALBUM
A one-of-a-kind musical exploration throughthe creative mind of master drummer,
Jason Harnell. From abstract rhythmic
wormholes to beautiful vocal landscapes,
the Total Harnage universe will surprise anddelight at every turn.
“Run for cover!”—George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly“Other worldly drummer.”—Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs

JASONHARNELL.COM

and drummer Lewis Nash. Except for a “Take the ‘A’
Train” that only outright presents the melody for thelast eight bars of the track, the tunes here are allpresented fully, although rhythms and tempos can beadventurous: “Daydream” done as a waltz; “Chelsea
Bridge” in a bolero rhythm; “The Star-Crossed Lovers”
rendered as a bossa. Alexander channels some of theglissandos and slides Johnny Hodges brought to theballads, eschewing his usual tenor muscularity.
DiMartino is admirably spare, in a Duke-ish way, in his
soloing especially on the tenor-piano duet “BloodCount” and moving solo finale “Lotus Blossom”.
Strell features The WHO Trio: pianist Michel
Wintsch, drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Bänz
Oester. The opening and longest, track, “The Mooche”,
is more an atmospheric meditation on the early
Ellington piece than a rendition. Hemingway chants
wordlessly into a lampshade over his snare, suggesting
the muted, wah-wah brass of early Ellington. But
Wintsch’s lugubrious solo never summons the melody.
Contrastingly, “In A Sentimental Mood” highlights the
melody on piano while Oester plucks the melody of“Fleurette Africaine”. “Black and Tan Fantasy” tooleads with bass, but also incorporates random
percussive taps and scrapes, as well as Tom Waits-likegrowling and groaning from Hemingway. Moresqueaks and scrapes, anything but mellow, infest “In A
Mellow Tone”. “Angelica” retains Ellington’s original
calypso rhythms and feel.
Both sets include emotionally effective renditionsof Strayhorn lyrics: Raul Midón limns a heartfelt “LushLife” on Passion Flower; Hemingway delivers a fragile“A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing” on Strell.

of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (who would
have turned 105 this month) was consideredinseparable as Ellingtonia. More research has been able
to distinguish the contributions of Strayhorn, giving
him a more prominent place in the composition ofmany pieces, although Ellington’s imprimatur on
collaborations—like the many suites they wrote—suggests he may have helped shape even the sections
attributed to Strayhorn. Of these two albums of
Ellingtonia, pianist John DiMartino’s Passion Flower
consists entirely of Ellingtonia attributed to Strayhorn,as well as some indubitably his alone, such as “LushLife” and “A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing”, both withlyrics also by Strayhorn. (It’s a shame his lyrics to“Satin Doll” have been lost). The WHO Trio’s
sometimes avant explorations on Strell mix tunes
credited to Strayhorn with early Ellington pieces
written before the pair ’s collaboration started.
One of the great strengths and reasons for thestaying power of Ellingtonia is that both Ellington and
Strayhorn had a strong melodic sense, i.e., they wrote
memorable, often hummable, melodies. That theirwriting was also harmonically sophisticated makes it
as admired by musicians as it is by listeners. Of these
two albums, one adheres close to the melodies andharmonies while the other ventures beyond the tunes’
usual parameters.
On Passion Flower, DiMartino employs a quartet oftenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist Boris Kozlov

22 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

Three records, with Randy Brecker as the connective

tissue. Judging solely by the volume of releases featuring
his golden trumpet, it’s fair to say the man is having acareer renaissance. But then, he never went away.
The very first concert this reviewer ever went tofeatured Buddy Miles around the time of the Them
Changes album. One of my classmates—all of 15 years
old—jammed with Miles on stage that night andsubsequently went on the road with him. The title
track/big hit of that Miles record leads off Benjamin
Koppel’s two-disc Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue. Koppel isa prolific Danish saxophonist who has recorded withsome of these American musicians before. This one’s
an allstar lineup, with Brecker, bassist Scott Colley anddrummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie joining Koppel andcountryman keyboard player Jacob Christoffersen livein Copenhagen. Brecker must have felt right at home,because this is funky music in the Brecker Brothers
wheelhouse. It’s good to see Purdie working and hereally kicks the band into life. This is hardly the firsttime he and Randy Brecker have worked together.
Purdie was on his first solo album Score in 1969, also
featuring 19-year-old tenor saxophonist Michael
Brecker on his first record date.
The material is mostly soul classics from Curtis
Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone and King Floyd,
with some Dizzy Gillespie and Burt Bacharach thrownin. Brecker sounds great on these discs, but what about
the leader? Koppel is on alto and if his style has perhaps
a little too much Scandinavian cool for the material, he’s
still a strong mainstream player who holds his own andsounds tight on the ensembles. Good writer too, asshown on “Feel the Bern”, which also includes hisstrongest extended solo. When Brecker was asked forrecollections of this evening, he said, “I had just comestraight from a week ‘special guesting’ with Billy
Cobham, also in Europe, but in Copenhagen we just had
a rehearsal right before the concert and then ‘hit it andquit it’ and I was onto the next thing. Benjamin is greatand his family is like the first family of music in
Denmark. Everyone plays, sings or composes.” Anyone
who’s ever heard Joey DeFrancesco will want a
Hammond organ on the scene and Dan Hemmer is on
board to play it here, complemented by Christoffersen
on Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer and synthesizers. Neither
one is out front all that much, but they add someseasoning and keep things bubbling.
Koppel’s album doesn’t go down any roads that
weren’t thoroughly explored 30 years ago, but it’s tasty
music and a nice artifact from the road warriors of
2019. It makes a nice contrast to the Breckers’ two-disc
Live and Unreleased, recorded on tour in Germany in1980. That was 40 years ago, but Brecker sounds thesame, though the music is funkier, driven by Barry
Finnerty’s boiling wah-wah guitar and keyboards fromthe late Mark Gray, who loved his Prophet V and MiniMoog and shows what he could do with the latter on
Brecker ’s Benny Golson-influenced “Inside Out”.
The Brecker Brothers studio records always soundedkind of cold, overly arranged and aggressive. They were
way more fun live, as this music attests. The late Michael
was simply astounding on stage. He rips into a solo
during his own “Funky Sea, Funky Dew” that almost
outdoes Gray on the electronic effects. Michael’s “Strap

For
more
information,
visit
randybrecker.com and marccopland.com

is that the son is still going strong at close to double theage the celebrated father was when he left this plane
and the quote is actually only often repeated by thosein the know. The holy ghost was here in human form
for a mere 34 years, releasing about a dozen albums
during his time. It’s perhaps not a surprise he isn’t
among the championed figures of the free jazz
explosion. His music was brilliantly maddening, asing-song squall, nursey rhymes ready to abrupt at any
time. His records were, and are, fantastic, exciting andfar from for everyone. But to those in the know, those
who repeat the quote above, those who maybe swear
by it, Ayler is vital. And fortunately, his work remains
available and is kept alive by musicians continuing to
explore the trails he blazed and the byways implied.
Eugene Chadbourne has been one of the great
champions of Ayler ’s music. He’s not the only artist totranslate the saxophonist’s slippery lines to guitar, but
he’s chased the Ayler train more than most anyone andis perhaps the only player to take it on on banjo. His
sextet session Ayler’s Children is, perhaps, an imaginingof a Charlie Parker With Strings type session for theHoly Ghost, but the lead horn is oboist Carrie Shull,
who was a part of another inspired Chadbourne jazz
tribute, the band Hellington Country. Rounded out by
viola, cello, bass and drums, the group finds plenty
besides the jazziness in Ayler music on which to focus.
It’s more about the marches, drones, chaos and theobsessive repetitions. The 20 minutes of “Bells” is an
invocation that borders on séance with instrumental
and vocal moans creaking like floorboards under thegroup variations. Two takes on “New Generation”,
from Ayler ’s radical and maligned New Grass, become
the rockers Ayler wanted it to be. The rest of the eightsong set is as lovingly unpredictable, with all the
fidelity and room sounds of Ayler ’s own live albums.
Ayler’s Mood’s Combat Joy sticks closer to form, a
trio vamping its way through a 54-minute improvisation
recorded live in Rome. Pasquale Innarella has a wonderfultone on tenor, evoking the Holy Ghost’s sound quite
convincingly. (He has also recorded tributes to Dexter
Gordon and Thelonious Monk). He’s joined by bassist
Danilo Gallo and drummer Ermanno Baron for thecompelling and warmly recorded set. No titles are given
to the long jam, divided into six sections and as the liner
notes state “the inspiration comes directly from the spiritof Albert Ayler. But we are not talking about covers here.”
The blatant incorporation of Ayler themes underminesthat claim, however, despite the composition credits
given solely to the trio. While Chadbourne’s group stakes
the claim to being Ayler’s children, Ayler’s Moods seemto consider themselves his heirs. Unfortunately, passion
and dedication don’t equate ownership.
For
more
information,
visit
eugenechadbournedocumentation.squarespace.com and autrecords.com

unitrecords.com,

F R E S HS O U N D

N E W

T A L E N T

P R E S E N T S

JEFF DAVIS “THE FASTNESS”
It is a record of kaleidoscopic dynamism, spanning his influences from the
Tony Williams Lifetime to Radiohead. The quintet has a shape-shifting
quality—from dark and mysterious to grooving and bright. You need a highlevel of trust to play music thisfreely, and these five men
have played together for nearly 20 years.

Ayler’s Children (Albert Ayler with Strings)
Eugene Chadbourne (House of Chadula)
Combat Joy
Ayler’s Mood (AUT)
by Kurt Gottschalk“Trane was the father. Pharoah was the son. I was theholy ghost.” So goes an often-repeated quote with noundue humility from tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler,
one of the most vital voices of the ’60s “New Thing”.
who died 50 years ago this month. The rest of the story

This is Jeff Davis’ new all-starelectro-acoustic quintet, featuring Tony Malaby (ts, ss),
Jonathan Goldberger (g), Russ
Lossing (p, org) and Eivind
Opsvik (b).

JEFF DAVIS.COM

Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue
Benjamin Koppel (Unit)
Live and Unreleased
Brecker Brothers (Piloo)
QUINT5T
David Liebman, Randy Brecker, Marc Copland,
Drew Gress, Joey Baron (Innervoice Jazz)
by Jim Motavalli

Hangin’” is a highlight, super catchy and likely inspiredby Albert Ayler’s “Ghosts”; dig Randy on the wah-wah
trumpet and Michael’s work is reminiscent of latter-day
Sonny Rollins. The tunes are pure funk, but the horns
never forget they’re attached to jazz guys. They could
have left the novelty number “Don’t Get Funny With My
Money”, featuring Randy’s vocal, on the cutting-roomfloor, but there’s some good blowing on it. This kind ofmusic isn’t heard much these days—jazz fusion has seen
better days. Sure, it sounds a bit dated, but in this live
period context, the overwhelming talent in the band,
which was “killing every night” on this tour, Randy
says, shines through. 1980 was the year Herbie Hancock
released Mr. Hands, Weather Report put out Night Passage
and Chick Corea issued The Best of Return to Forever.
Funk was in the air and this album captures that. In
closing to wild applause, someone in the band says,“I hope we didn’t make you deaf.”
QUINT5T, recorded in New York this year justbefore COVID descended, won’t make you deaf. It’s
ruminative allstar postbop, with leaders Dave Liebman(tenor and soprano saxophones), Brecker (trumpet),Marc Copland (piano), Drew Gress (bass) and Joey
Baron (drums). One may expect fireworks from thislineup, but instead three tunes in a row—Duke
Ellington’s “Mystery Song”, Liebman’s “Off a Bird”(a tribute to Charlie Parker) and Drew Gress’“Figment”—are all pretty subdued. Compelling, witha cool finish.
Brecker leads off Baron’s “Broken Time” with anextended solo that builds in intensity. Now we’recookin’, the trumpeter getting great support from therhythm section. Liebman takes the same approach andsoon he’s his usual volcanic self. Gress could be a little
higher in the mix, so turn the volume up listening tothis; he’s still improvising madly as the tune ends.
Brecker’s “Moontide” appeared way back on the 1993
In the Idiom album. The two horns weave around eachother on the attractive head. Liebman’s tenor issearching, full of sharp but controlled cries. The
composer follows suit with more tamped-down fury.
Liebman is always fabulous on soprano and that’s what
he plays on his own lovely and entrancing “Child at
Play”. Great interplay between the horns on this one,
Copland is lyrical and Baron is spotlighted near theend. Brecker’s “There’s a Mingus Amonk Us” is justwhat the title suggests, Mingus meets Monk, ina way that suggests vast appreciation for both of thosegeniuses. Listeners may wish they’d carried the concept
all the way through the tune—with Copland echoing
Monk’s spare style and the horns ragged and right—
but the head and outro make the case plainly enough.
The album closes with Baron’s ballad “Pocketfulof Change”, a fine showcase for Brecker ’s tender side.
Liebman is so breathy he sounds like Ben Webster. The
album is music for a rainy day, played by five masters.

“A drummer and composer ofsure footing but adventurous
inclination.” —New York Times
AVAILABLE (FSNT 590)
ON FRESHSOUNDRECORDS.COM
AMAZON AND iTUNES“Jeff Davis has quietly emerged as one of the most consistently engaging drummers.”—NYC Jazz Record

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 23

Art of the Descarga
John Santos Sextet (Smithsonian Folkways)
by Tom Greenland

Did you know there are some 30 different rhythmic‘dialects’ of Puerto Rican bomba music? And as only
one of the island’s regional styles to influence Latinjazz musicians—others are danzón, guaracha, jíbaro andplena while Cuba and Brazil provide many more—“Latin jazz” can be as diverse and nuanced as the wide
world. Which brings us to the new release by the sextetof John Santos (who turns 65 this month), Art of the
Descarga. The San Francisco Bay Area percussionist’s
project serves as an anthology of Latin jazz dialects.
Based around his working quintet of flutist John
Calloway, tenor saxophonist Melecio Magdaluyo,
pianist/trumpeter Marco Díaz, bassist Saúl Sierra andtrap drummer David Flores (with cameos by latetrumpeter Jerry González, percussionist Tito Matos,
vocalist Orlando Torriente, flutist Orlando Valle andtimbalero Orestes Vilató, among others), the alloriginal set reflects the collective spirit of men who
have played together locally for many years.
Flores’ kit, augmented by a timbale drum, alongwith Santos’ layered-in congas, bongó, shakers,
scrapers, claves, cowbells and other hand percussion,
together create an undulating sea of rhythm. Calloway,
Magdaluyo and Díaz are supple soloists prone to terse
but creatively impactful statements. The album,
buoyant throughout, makes its biggest waves in thesecond half, when descarga numbers that highlightspontaneous interplay between parts become more
prominent. “Descargarará” (based on AfroCuban
Arará) pits piano against bass; the rhumba “Madera
Avenue” tenor saxophone against percussion;“Descarga con Changüí” features flute, then tenor,
then piano; “Descarga Jarocha”, another rhumba,
features three-way horn trading and a trap-set/congas
duel. Finally, “Tichín”, a descarga based on a son
montuno, showcases the leader ’s fine conga work and
Flores’ versatile drumming. Besides the many
AfroCuban, AfroCaribbean and Latin jazz dialects
audible in this encyclopedic recording, listeners may
even hear traces of a West Coast accent.
For more information, visit folkways.si.edu

Transformación del Arcoiris
David Virelles (Pi)by Tyran Grillo

Despite, if not because of, the fact that David Virelles’
Transformación del Arcoiris was born in a time of social
distancing, it feels close enough to smell the creativity
in its breath. With a borderless aesthetic that pushes
two hands outward for every foot planted inward, it
treats the canvas of an album not as blank but as aliving surface whose own imperfections must be
articulated in the spirit of truth. As much an ambient
sound collage as a musical object, it grinds expectationin the respective mortar and pestle of future and past
until a mélange of the present reveals its fragrant spice.
Playing a Roland Juno-6 synthesizer, piano andsampler and accompanied by Los Seres, a virtual
percussion ensemble programmed by himself, Virelles,
who turns 37 this month, begins the circle with “Cause
and Effect”, in which the sounds of chickens activate
a schism between history and its erasure. As in othertracks that follow, but especially the concluding “Findel Cuento”, a found-sound aesthetic prevails. While
there are moments of transcendence, including thesun-drenched blush of “Holy City”, there’s a sense thatshadows are always lying in wait for the chance to sinktheir teeth into progress. It’s as if our pre-pandemic
state was digital and the new normal was analog.
Sensations of flesh and flora meet in “Babá la
Paloma”, the tropical climate of which yields two
distinct seasons. In the dry we encounter the goodnessof “Tiempos” (made all the dreamier by guest Marcus
Gilmore on MPC drumkit) while in the wet we inhale
the spores of “De Cómo el Árbol Cantó y Bailó” as if
they were life itself. Each of these requires the
microscope of an ear and nowhere so magnified as in
the cinematic wonder of “Babujal”. Here the pianofeels like a relic in a sea of orchestral trembling.
Virelles is always exploring, examining andanalyzing genealogies that have lodged themselves
within. This is music that does more than stand at a
crossroads; rather, it ties those roads into a bow until
their beginnings and endings are one and the same.
For more information, visit pirecordings.com

The Lost Melody
Joe Bonner Quartet (SteepleChase)by Pierre Giroux

Joe Bonner, who died six years ago this month at 66, is

not a name that readily comes to mind when discussing
the postbop era. Nevertheless he was a pianist with avigorous and decisive style as well as a skilled performer.
The Lost Melody was originally recorded for
SteepleChase in 1987, one of several albums Bonnerrecorded for them during the period he lived in
Denmark. Now with the reemergence of vinyl as adesirable and saleable format, the same label has
reissued the session. Supporting Bonner is another US
expatriate, formidable tenor saxophonist Bob Rockwell,along with one of Denmark’s leading bassists in Jesper
Lundgaard and the understated yet consequential
Finnish drummer Jukkis Uotila.
This six-track release is composed equally of
Bonner originals and standards from the Great
American Songbook. Side A starts with Cole Porter ’s“You And The Night And The Music”. Stepping out ata blistering pace, Rockwell shows unbounded curiosity
as he probes the limits of his horn without repeating
himself. Bonner picks up the number in his strongnote-striking style, showing the influence of McCoy
Tyner, as he covers the keyboard with pulsating energy.
The first of the Bonner original tunes is “Vibeke”,
Danish for “female warrior”. It is dynamic composition
with propulsive rhythmic sensibility and empathetic
interplay between Bonner and Rockwell, plus someJohn Coltrane-style riffs alluding to “A Love Supreme”
towards the close of the composition.
Side B opens with Bonner ’s title track, a lovely
ballad with an interesting harmonic presentation.
Rockwell starts off with a repeated phrase in a minor

24 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

key both thoughtful and introspective. Bonner ’s solo isdeveloped in long single-note lines and sly runs, whichmature into a series of block chord choices. Lundgaard
is a steady presence with pulsing brawny notes while
Uotila dances over his cymbals. The final track isanother Bonner original entitled ”Manuella”. Rockwell
is a revelation. With a bold sonorous tone, he attacks
the music with impressive technique and selfassurance. Bonner continues to sparkle as his playing
is filled with polished concepts and a clear sense of
expression. This session is a wonderful example of an
enthusiastically committed group relationship.
For more information, visit steeplechase.dk

COLIN HINTON: SIMULACRAANNA WEBBER: TENOR SAXOPHONE, FLUTE, BASS FLUTE
YUMA UESAKA: TENOR SAXOPHONE, CLARINET,BASS CLARINET, CONTRALTO CLARINETEDWARD GAVITT: ELECTRIC AND ACOUSTIC GUITARSSHAWN LOVATO: BASSCOLIN HINTON: DRUMS, PERCUSSION, GLOCKENSPIELCOLINHINTON.BANDCAMP.COM

RECORDED LIVEAT B É L A B A R T Ó K C O N C E R T H A L L

Arctic Riff
Marcin Wasilewski Trio/Joe Lovano (ECM)
by Phil Freeman

P olish pianist Marcin Wasilewski, who turns 45 thismonth, has been leading a trio with bassist Sławomir
Kurkiewicz and drummer Michał Miśkiewicz for over
25 years, first as the Simple Acoustic Trio and since2005 under his own name. Their debut album featured
interpretations of one of Poland’s most importantcomposers, Krzysztof Komeda; it was released in 1995.
After that, they became the late trumpeter TomaszStańko’s backing band for several years, before
resuming activities on their own. In the subsequent
decades, they’ve worked with other horn players,
including Swedish saxophonist Joakim Milder on theirlast studio album, 2014’s Spark Of Life, and Norwegiansaxophonist Trygve Seim on Forever Young, an album
led by guitarist Jacob Young, also released in 2014.
The partnership with tenor/soprano saxophonist
Joe Lovano is a fruitful one. He doesn’t sound likea guest; he sounds like he’s been with the band since
the beginning. He feels his way into the music withrespect. His voice on the horn is mellow and pensive,
somewhat in the mode of Joe Henderson’s laterecordings. There’s more than a tinge of the blues in
his phrases, particularly when he lets a line end with asqueal or a low bark. In the final moments of the second
track, Carla Bley’s “Vashkar”, his phrasing brings
David S. Ware to mind, if only for an instant (but, ofcourse, Henderson’s “El Barrio”, from 1964, prefigured
much of what Ware would do years later). “Fading
Sorrow” is a romantic ballad that could have beenrecorded in 1975 as a TV show theme; the rhythm ticks
along gently as the piano strolls down Bob James-ian
streets. “L’Amour Fou”, meanwhile, is a bouncing,
joyful postbop dance. Kurkiewicz and Miśkiewicz are
mellow but unfettered throughout the album, in theway two men who’ve been playing together for aquarter of a century can be; their exchanges are liketwo old friends on a park bench who can talk to eachother about anything. Wasilewski is a romantic,
verging on sentimental; his playing is sometimes likean Eastern European Keith Jarrett, though at least someof the murmuring and singing picked up by Manfred
Eicher ’s microphones likely belongs to Kurkiewicz.
For more information, visit ecmrecords.com

El Duelo
Diego Urcola Quartet (featuring Paquito D’Rivera)(Sunnyside)by George Kanzler

A smart combination of tangos, jazz standards andrepertoire gleaned from the ensemble format mirroredon this album makes for a scintillating, constantly
invigorating program of 15 tracks brimming withhighlights. Trumpeter/flugelhorn player Diego Urcola,
who turns 55 this month, has been a member of Paquito

D’Rivera’s ensembles for decades and he enlists thealto saxophonist/clarinetist in a pared-down, pianoless quartet in the tradition of Gerry Mulligan and
Ornette Coleman. The harmonic and sonic openness ofthe ensemble—enhanced by the free-flowing,
adventurous rhythmic takes of bassist Hamishi Smithand drummer Eric Doob—spur D’Rivera to some of his
most ebullient, buoyant soloing on both of his
instruments. And the concise nature of the short but
musically potent dozen-plus tracks give the listener aconstant roller coaster of musical thrills.
Urcola delves specifically into the piano-lessquartet tradition on three tracks. “Una Muy Bonita” is
one of Coleman’s early quartet numbers, the horns
interacting over percolating rhythms, D’Rivera in a
Coleman-like mode. Mulligan’s “I Know, Don’t Know
How” recreates the smooth swing feel propelled bybrushes of Mulligan’s quartets, with clarinet andflugelhorn weaving the theme. The late trumpeter
Kenny Wheeler, who also featured piano-less quartets,
wrote “Foxy Trot”, a quick-tempoed, rocking track.
A native of Argentina, Urcola embraces thecountry’s tango music on four tracks, including Ethan
Iverson’s delightful mashup of the tango “La Yumba”
with Juan Tizol’s “Caravan”. His “Buenos Aires”
features swirling clarinet while Astor Piazzolla’s“Libertango” pairs muted trumpet with alto. Urcola
also explores Wayne Shorter ’s “Sacajawea (Theme)”,incorporating aspects of Shorter ’s pianist Danilo Pérez’solo into his arrangement. And the quartet ends withtakes on three jazz standards: Dizzy Gillespie’s “ConAlma” as a reduction of Slide Hampton’s Big Band
chart; a rumba take on Benny Golson’s “Stablemates”;
and Jerry Gonzalez’ AfroLatin version of Thelonious
Monk’s “Bye-Ya”.
For more information, visit sunnysiderecords.com

Blasphemious Fragments
Phil Minton/John Butcher/Gino Robair (Rastascan)
by Kurt Gottschalk

The opening smudges of detuned radio set a pathquite nicely for Blasphemious Fragments, a trio session
recorded in 2017 with saxophonist John Butcher andvocalist Phil Minton (who turns 80 this month) joinedby percussionist Gino Robair. It’s not an entirely
unusual sonic setting, but it creates an of-this-worldbut-not-in-it feel that persists through much of thecoming hour.
That brief track, turns out to be a duo, or very
nearly one, with Butcher imparting signal waves on
saxophone against the electronic static and hum. The
next track, a bit longer, finds Robair on muted
percussion (soft mallets on drums) with Minton crying
and rumbling, Butcher hanging at back before offeringsome deep, hollow, tenor tones. There’s a lot of
invention going on here, a lot of reshaping. There are
moments of dialogue, some may even induce a smile,
but much of the time the three are suggesting a broad
field, a sonic event horizon just this side of the familiar.
Minton is an enormously likeable vocalist. He canbe a bit like an adult cartoon. (Let’s not read that asmeaning “pornographic”, though. While the suggestion
is apparent, it’s not what’s being said—somewhat akinto the album’s title, which isn’t “blasphemous” at all
but seems to be some arcane mathematical term.) His
performances are rarely (but not never) funny, butthere’s so much character in them that they might be

26 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

called “animated” nevertheless.
He and Butcher have a history going back to the‘80s in duo, a trio with guitarist Erhard Hirt and in thequartet responsible for Minton’s excellent Mouthfull of
Ecstasy using text from James Joyce’s writings. The
appeal Joyce must hold for Minton seems apparent;
they share a talent for abstract expression of very
direct expression of emotion. Joy and anguish flip andslide about like little salamanders, imparting meaning
by extension to the variety of blurs crafted by Butcher
and Robair.
Freeform improvisation can suggest manythings—anxiety, bliss, chaos, isolation, serenity—butrarely does it work quite this well as a series of distinct
sensations, like an ice cube tray of Jell-O cubes, each
one wobbling away but retaining its own unique form.
For more information, visit rastascan.com

The Latin Side of Horace Silver
Conrad Herwig (Savant)by George Kanzler

Trombonist Conrad Herwig, who turns 62 this month,has been recording editions of his “Latin Side” projectfor 25 years. This is the eighth and most successful inpairing AfroLatin rhythmic settings with a jazzcomposer. Not only are Horace Silver ’s tunes eminently
suitable to the concept, they are also distinctive in any
milieu. Silver is the quintessential hardbop composer.
While others from the era were admired by, and wrote
for, musicians, they are played today often because of
the harmonic challenges they provide. Silver aimed at
pleasing the audience, a tunesmith who could create
catchy hooks and memorable melodies. Of his
contemporaries, Silver was much closer in spirit to Ray
Charles than to Wayne Shorter.
Herwig gets the populist nature of Silver ’s workand keeps the catchy tunes squarely in the frame. From
the jaunty, bop-meets-rock “Nica’s Dream” to kickerhook of “Filthy McNasty”, he emphasizes the shapeand contour of Silver ’s compositions. He and fellow
arrangers Bill O’Connell (one of the two pianists here)
and Marc Stasio also use Silver ’s contrasting, two-parthorn arrangements as a template for expansion.
Herwig and tenor saxophonist Igor Butman emulate
the tenor parts in Silver ’s quintet charts while alto
saxophonist Craig Handy and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin
echo the trumpet lines.
The approach to solos, track to track, is varied.
“Cape Verdean Blues”, a natural for the dancing
AfroLatin rhythms, hosts pairs of diminishing four-bar
to two-bar trades and tandem soloing from Herwig
and Sipiagin, then Handy and Butman, followed by an
O’Connell solo over a montuño rhythm. On the twoballads, “Peace” and “Silver ’s Serenade”, Handy plays
flute and Sipiagin flugelhorn. The AfroLatin jazz spirit
becomes stratospheric on three tracks featuring guest
pianist Michel Camilo. His two-handed fervor andcomping sets the bar high on “Song for My Father” forsubsequent solos from Butman and Herwig. “The Godsof the Yoruba”, a lesser-known Silver tune, showcases
Camilo in settings from horn riffs and montuños tointeractions with Robby Ameen’s drumkit and Richie
Flores’ congas. And “Nutville”, the uptempo closer,
builds incendiary momentum through a series of hornsolos ushering in rousing Camilo piano.
For more information, visit jazzdepot.com

Breath & Hammer
David Krakauer/Kathleen Tagg (Table Pounding)by Alex Henderson

Clarinetist/native New Yorker David Krakauer has

been a leader of the neo-klezmer movement, combining
traditional Jewish music with jazz, funk, rock, hip-hop
and other influences. On Breath & Hammer, he forms a
duo with South African pianist Kathleen Tagg, who
now lives in New York City. The latter also provides
electronics, or as Krakauer describes them, “pianoorchestra”. The end result is an acoustic/electronic
sound that doesn’t pretend to be traditional klezmer
but, rather, gives the genre a modern spin. During thecourse of the album, Krakauer and Tagg draw on
everything from jazz to funk to classical.
Breath & Hammer gets off to a festive start with
exuberant opener “The Geyser”, a Krakauer-Tagg
original, but takes a much moodier turn on percussionist
Roberto Juan Rodriguez’ “Shron” and Syrian clarinetist
Kinan Azmeh’s “November 22” as well as two pieces
by John Zorn: “Ebuhuel” and “Parzial”. If Cecil Taylorand Albert Ayler had been klezmer musicians, theresults might have sounded something like what
Krakauer and Tagg come up with on “Ebuhuel”.
Krakauer, on both clarinet and bass clarinet, andTagg look all over the jazz spectrum for inspiration.
While Krakauer ’s improvisations suggest postbop on
the aforementioned “November 22”, Krakauer ’s funky“Rattlin’ Down the Road” and accordion player Emil
Kroitor ’s “Moldavian Journey”, the influence of fusion
asserts itself on Tagg’s “Berimbau” and accordion
player Rob Curto’s “Demon Chopper”. The former
favors an unlikely combination of fusion, Brazilian
jazz and klezmer while the latter manages to bridge
the gap between klezmer and fusion bands like
Weather Report and Spyro Gyra.
Krakauer ’s risk-taking music has gone way
beyond combining klezmer and different types of jazzand Tagg has no problem keeping up with him on theunpredictable Breath & Hammer.
For more information, visit krakauertaggduo.com. This duolive-streams Nov. 14th at brandeis.edu.

49th Parallel
Neil Swainson Quintet (Concord-Reel to Real)by Dan Bilawsky

Bassist Neil Swainson’s only leader date—recorded in

1987, initially released by Concord Records andreceiving this proper reissue treatment from Reel to
Real—is an absolute doozy. The album’s two-horn
frontline consists of trumpeter Woody Shaw, making
one of his last known studio recordings before his
untimely passing in 1989, and tenor saxophonist Joe
Henderson, just a few years shy of the late-career
renaissance that would seriously elevate his status.
The all-Canadian rhythm section matches Swainson
with two fellow Toronto scene-makers: pianist Gary

Williamson and drummer Jerry Fuller. And the playlist,
focusing almost exclusively on the bassist’s originals,
is full of first-rate material.
The reason this album has become something ofa cult classic is pretty easy to understand: It’s all aboutthat lineup, the stories, and, of course, the sounds. The
full membership of the quintet had never played
together as a solid outfit prior to gathering in thestudio. Shaw, essentially blind as a result of thedegenerative disorder retinitis pigmentosa, had tolearn Swainson’s compositions by rote leading up to
the sessions. And Henderson, who was known to havethe occasional scheduling snafu, missed the first of twodays allotted to make the album. Taken together thosefacts might have pointed to a shambolic outcome. But
the end result couldn’t be further from that possibility.
Everybody was in the zone, as the music bears out.
Opening with the title track, which vacillates
between different feels while dealing with latitude on
multiple levels, the band gives off sparks that light theway for all that follows. “Port of Spain”, slotted second,flows with a samba-esque stride. “Southern Exposure”
and “On the Lam” traverse solidly swinging courses instyle. “Don’t Hurt Yourself” speaks to Henderson’sinterpretive brilliance with a ballad. And “Labyrinth”
lives up to its name with sinuous movements. Then it
all comes to an energetic close with Henderson’s bluesbased “Homestretch”.
The world will never know what could’ve been if
this band had room to grow beyond one single point intime. But that moment and the arresting music it
produced—now highlighted and preserved for a wider
audience—is, thankfully, here to treasure.
For more information, visit cellarlive.com

SOURCE
Nubya Garcia (Concord)by Jordannah Elizabeth

British tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia continues toemerge as a significant voice with her leader debut
SOURCE. This sensuous collection is admirably played
by Joe Armon-Jones (piano), Daniel Casimir (bass) and
Sam Jones (drums), produced by Garcia and Kwes, thelatter working with notable artists like Solange and
Bobby Womack. This combination of musicians andproducers is sonically compatible and gels well on an
intuitive level as well as technically. Garcia is an
imaginative storyteller, SOURCE a reflection of her
swirling inner world of familial history, highs andlows of attaining well-earned prestige and personal
struggles of grief while experiencing the world throughan Afrodiasporic lineage and lens.
Opening “Pace” begins with deep bass
ornamentation and ethereal piano and drums, overwhich Garcia plays fluidly and confidently. Her notes
are strong, steady and clear, giving her sonic commandthroughout the album as she lays out her story. The title
track features a fusion of reggae and vocal
accompaniment layered with an echoey hall reverb,
making the track sound like it is submerged in a
primordial reality, continuing to showcase the album’s
otherworldly sound and expands on its international
appeal. The album ends with “Boundless Beings”,
featuring guest vocalist Akenya. She and Garcia double
the melody, offering a postmodern romantic ballad.
This album has its own distinct sound, Garcia
merging undertones of Guyanese folk songs alongwith carnival culture of London and the Caribbean.
While there are moments of sadness and stealthy
overtures of a world and perspective only she canunderstand, this album has a connective force thatdraws the listener in. Her rich and eclectic background,ear for natural melody, and emotional arrangements
make SOURCE a resoundingly pleasurable album.
For more information, visit concordmusicgroup.com

Lose My Number
Allegra Levy (SteepleChase)by Jim Motavalli

W henever this reviewer has seen vocalist Allegra

Levy live, she was either performing with trumpeter
John McNeil or playing his songs. On her new album
she doubles down on McNeil’s music—writing lyrics
for and performing nine McNeil compositions andfeaturing his horn on three of them. The music ischallenging, especially for a singer. From Neil Tesser ’snotes: “[McNeil’s] tunes cover a lot of range. They
often have huge intervallic jumps, with adjacent notes
leaping tall buildings in a single bound.” The result, it
must be said, is not instantly satisfying in the same
way as a swinging Ella Fitzgerald record with aprogram of familiar Tin Pan Alley standards. But giveit a chance and it will sink in.
Levy’s lyrics are frequently really downbeat, but
the music is happier. Opener “Samba de Beach” is fullon deep regret. She laments taking a difficult career
path made harder by COVID-19 and rejecting a lover
because of pride. But it’s kind of a bouncy tune and it
benefits from the work—top-notch throughout—of the
all-female band (pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Carmen
Rothwell, drummer Colleen Clark). Staaf’s solo on thistrack sparkles.
“Livin’ Small”, with lyrics from a decade ago,
dates to a more optimistic time, the beginning of theaffair, as it were. Levy imagines a cozy nook with herpartner, living on love (“A walk-up’s fine / As long as
you’ll still be mine”). “Tiffany” is a “Girl from Ipanema”
for our times. The setting is Fifth Avenue instead of abeach in Brazil, but the lady is just as unattainable. The
ultra-slow tempo, with lots of atmospheric pauses,
makes room for moody solos from Rothwell and Staaf.
Levy is better on faster material like “Strictly
Ballroom”, a kiss-off to a dance partner that features
McNeil. Clark really pushes the track forward; she’s
someone to watch. “C.J.” is a favorite, a straightaheadswinger with the dark-voiced Levy scatting andchanneling Annie Ross. McNeil gets some good licks inand doubles Levy’s vocal at the close.
Some of these tunes accommodate lyrics better
than others. “Ukulele Tune” is quite simple and lovely,
with words that fit like a Brooks Brothers suit. Let’scall it a new standard for our time. “Zephyr” floats byand the album closes with the title track, so tricky andshapeshifting it almost defies Levy’s brave attempt at
vocalizing. She wants this would-be paramour to do
more than lose her number: “Boy, do you suck / Just
my luck / I’d rather go and get hit by a truck”. “Dover
Beach” also doesn’t quite gel for the same reasons.
The album celebrates two talents who should bebetter known, Levy and McNeil. And the music is
played by a truly exceptional band Levy should takeon the road...when that’s possible again.
For more information, visit steeplechase.dk

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 27

Live in Graz
Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut (Multiphonics Music)
by Ken Dryden

J oe Fiedler ’s Big Sackbut has a touch of humor before

one even hears a note, given that sackbut was thetrombone’s original name when it was first conceived
centuries ago to double the voices of a choir. Although
Fiedler is not the first jazz composer and arranger towrite for multiple trombones, the unusual makeup of
his quartet includes fellow trombonists Luis Bonilla
and Ryan Keberle, the rhythm duties capably handled
by tuba player Jon Sass (who steps in for original
member Marcus Rojas), giving the band a rather
unique sound. These 2019 concert performances fromGraz, Austria—made during Fiedler ’s residency atthat city’s University of Music and Performing Arts—
feature his superb arrangements, though there is
freedom for exploration within them.
The lack of a piano, guitar or other chordal
instrument is never missed, due to the virtuoso skillsof each player as they wend their way through eachchallenging chart, without a net, Sass providing a solid
rhythmic foundation. Opener “Peekskill” begins withan unaccompanied tuba solo, then Fiedler and Co.
taking a wild musical journey with blistering solos andsuperb ensemble work. Charles Mingus’ “Devil
Woman” takes on a new dimension with Keberle’s
whimsical, conversational, muted introduction and themultiphonics in his growling solo. The quartet isinfused with the composer ’s playfulness as they makeit their own with a spirited interpretation.
Bonilla’s boisterous introduction to Fiedler’s “I’m
In” suggests “A Night In Tunisia” as its inspiration,
though it quickly alters its character with jagged, often
rapid-fire horn lines, Sass darting out of his steadyrhythm to join in the interplay. The leader’s “Ways” isanother strong feature for him. Roswell Rudd wasamong the most acclaimed modern trombonists andseveral of his compositions are explored: “Bethesda
Fountain” is a raucous affair, Sass serving as the bridge
between Keberle and Bonilla’s featured solos; bluesy“Yankee No-How” is full of twists; and “Su Blah Blah
Buh Sibi” combines a menacing theme with brilliant
interplay and lively solos with a comic tinge. Thisdelightful recording reveals new facets with each listen.
For more information, visit joefiedler.com

How To Turn The Moon
Angelica Sanchez/Marilyn Crispell (Pyroclastic)by Mark Keresman

It is still relatively rare that pianists team up for a duo

session—Mary Lou Williams and Cecil Taylor haveteamed-up in tandem, so have Tommy Flanagan andHank Jones and, more recently Vijay Iyer and Craig
Taborn. Add to that list Angelica Sanchez and Marilyn
Crispell. Aside from a formidable pile of platters under
her own leadership (both with ensembles and solo),

Crispell was a longtime member of the Anthony
Braxton Quartet. Sanchez has been a mainstay on the
NYC cutting-edge jazz scene since 1995, playing with
Tim Berne, Mark Dresser and Tony Malaby. Both havevery free styles, each with their own approach toexpression, but all firmly part of the jazz tradition.
With a program of originals mostly composed by
Sanchez and three co-written tracks, the pair weave amostly introspective tapestry that has its earthshaking, bracing moments. Crispell especially has asomewhat percussive, volatile approach, yet she andSanchez play off each other ’s ideas with melodiousness
and understated warmth.
Opener “Lobe of the Fly” has a midtempo,
gradually surging drive, both pianists engaging inenergetic runs, each with a spiky approach tempered
by a measured, questing quality. The overall effectseems off-kilter yet has an energizing upshot. SanchezCrispell’s “Space Junk” sounds as if it could fit nicely
into a movie about space exploration and the hazards
it entails; seemingly random yet carefully generated
creaks and rattles paint an eerie aural scenario.
”Ceiba Portal” is a mini-epic, flowery, ornate andloaded with subtle tension, spiky notes and raining
cascades adding drama and dread in a roundaboutmanner, building a carefully ominous and palpabletension while sidestepping melodrama until an oddly
sweet resolution. “Fires in Space” features suitably
surging, urgent, authoritative chords and tense
melodic lines—copacetic collision— maintaining andexchanging a conscious flow of ideas in a thoughtful
yet authoritative manner.

album Glimpses—and drummer Paul Romaine create alayer of solid bossa rhythm over which both tenors
improvise with facility and ingenuity. “Sweet Sucker”
opens with some unison blowing, before Person packs
his notes with a lot of robustness and feeling. Oxman
then picks up the theme with his crisp tone while
offering a continuously changing harmonic approach.
Great playing by both men.
There are four tracks on which Oxman is the lonehorn and two cuts featuring vocalist Annette Murrell.
But it is the tracks with Person that stand out and makethis a special release.

For more information, visit pyroclasticrecords.com

two based in Rome and two in Chicago, at the 2018Forlì Open Music Festival. Two improvisations,though having little in common, are of almost theexact length (17:51 and 17:52) and of seemingly equalparts electronic and acoustic. The latter is a bit of astretch, but each member of this quartet led byelectronics artist Luigi Ceccarelli indulge insonorities that can sound anything but organic.
Drummer Hamid Drake approaches his collection of
instruments like an orchestra while reedplayer Ken
Vandermark often revels in coaxing riveting sounds
from his saxophones and clarinets. Italian flutist
Gianni Trovalusci, even during melodic flights,
blends so well with the others that his instrument
recalls analog electrical sounds. Throughout the first
selection, side-long “Open Border, Part 1”, theensemble operates fully as a collective, with few
moments of any singular voice coming to the front.
Trovalusci shines on Side B (“Open Border, Part2”), bouncing and sputtering off of Drake’s softly
dictated pulsations, vocalizing through his headjoint both with and in opposition to his standardlyplayed sounds. Vandermark blows with fervor andat least a degree of abandon, carrying the gritty
urbane into this European session. Electronics thentake the lead with a wall of sound as cymbals soundand simmer, but Trovalusci moves to center again,
filling the soundscape live and in response as his
instrumental voice is manipulated by Ceccarelli.
The result is fascinating and, frankly, could havegone on longer. This piece closes with a pensive,
calming repetitive melody shared by electronics,
saxophone and flute in varying degrees of rhythmic
uncertainty, creating a cascading effect.
While the title indicates a positive meeting ofinternational artists, the turbulence within appears
to carry stronger symbolic meaning referencing thepolitical strife around our government’s austerevision of border security. Most striking, particularly
towards the close of side two, is the image of nationalboundaries as imagined by the global creative
community as opposed to the bearers of arms.

Two Cigarettes In The Dark
Keith Oxman (Capri)
by Pierre Giroux

Two Cigarettes In The Dark is tenor saxophonist Keith

Oxman’s 11th release for Capri and places him in thecompany of one of jazz’ most revered tenor saxophonists,
Houston Person. At the time of this 2018 session, Person
was 84 and was still playing with an air of easiness on
the six tracks on which he appears. The track list is a
mixture of standards, originals and a couple of tunes
from bop masters Hank Mobley (“Bossa For Baby”,
from 1967’s Far Away Lands) and Johnny Griffin (“Sweet
Sucker”, from Bennie Green’s 1961 album Glidin’
Along), all of which allow Oxman and Person lots ofinterior room in the song structures for improvisation.
Following that old adage about “never getting asecond chance to make a first impression”, the twotenors come charging out of the gate with the Frank
Loesser classic “I’ve Never Been In Love Before”. Bothshowcase their defining interpretive skills andentertaining harmonic vocabularies, Person in theright channel and Oxman in the left.
In this politically correct, health-conscious age,
the title track seems somewhat incongruous. Howeverback in 1934 when Lew Pollack and Paul Francis
Webster wrote the tune and Bing Crosby recorded itlater in the year, it had some cachet. Taking the number
in a moderate swing tempo rather than the original
ballad version, Person’s smoky tone captures the
feeling beautifully while Oxman delivers a spareenergetic solo.
On “Bossa For Baby”, pianist Jeff Jenkins, bassist
Ken Walker—the latter pair both on Oxman’s 2018

28 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

For more information, visit caprirecords.com

DROP THE NEEDLE

Open Border
Luigi Ceccarelli/Hamid Drake/Gianni Trovalusci/
Ken Vandermark (Audiographic)
by John Pietaro

This LP is a fascinating union of pairs of musicians,

For more information, visit audiographicrecords.com

It’s often been said that the true test of an
improviser is the way they treat a ballad and when
Hollyday examines Saul Chaplin-Hy Zaret-Sammy
Cahn’s “Dedicated To You”, he passes that test withflying colors. It even compares (favorably) to the goldstandard established on John Coltrane and Johnny
Hartman, a claim not made lightly.

IN PRINT

For more information, visit christopherhollyday.com
Dialogue
Christopher Hollyday & Telepathy (Jazzbeat Prod.)by Robert Bush
Jazz Images by Francis Wolff(Elemental Music)
by Russ Musto

If the name Christopher Hollyday sounds vaguelyfamiliar, it should, provided you have enough years
behind you as a jazz fan. Hollyday made a big splash
in the Boston area in the mid ‘80s when he was being
mentioned in the same breath as Wynton Marsalis,
Marcus Roberts and Roy Hargrove. After a few initial
releases on his own label (Jazzbeat), Hollyday scored amajor label record deal with RCA/Novus, releasing his
eponymously titled debut in 1989. How much of a big
deal was the still teenaged alto saxophonist back then?
Well, big enough for the label to invite Wallace Roney,
Cedar Walton, David Williams and Billy Higgins as his
bandmates. He went on to make four albums for RCA/
Novus before abruptly vanishing from the mainstream
jazz scene in 1992. After completing studies at the
Berklee College of Music, Hollyday moved to San
Diego in 1996, teaching high school music for the next
26 years. He returned to the music scene with a cast ofWest Coast heavyweights in 2018 for the record
Telepathy. This session reunites the Telepathy band of
Gilbert Castellanos (trumpet), Joshua White (piano),
Rob Thorsen (bass) and Tyler Kreutel (drums) withpredictably pyrotechnic results.
The album opens with Hollyday’s title track, whichmorphs from a fanfare into a blistering bebop escapade.
The leader courses through the changes with a fat,sassy tone and joyful smears. Castellanos follows withclarity and ideas galore before handing the baton to
White and Kreutel for brief commentary. White and theleader begin Josef Myrow-Mack Gordon’s “You Make
Me Feel So Young” as a simpatico duet before Kreutel’s
exuberant brushes launch into compelling swing time.
The melody gets parsed among the principals before
Castellanos delivers a remarkable distillation of Dizzy
Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard. Thorsen slips in a big,
woody exposition for good measure.
The disc as a whole embraces the ‘60s Blue Noteaesthetic with an earnest fidelity, particularly
noteworthy on the Horace Silver classic “Kiss Me
Right”, which features the amazing White, who mightjust be the next big voice on the instrument. Castellanos
and the leader come off as soulmates on this one, easily
capable of finishing each other ’s thoughts.

“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

It can be considered somewhat ironic that one of the
Clear Line
Jacob Garchik (Yestereve)by Robert Iannapollo

F or the past 20 years or so trombonist/composer Jacob

Garchik has been busy in various groups, including thelarge ensembles of John Hollenbeck, Mary Halvorson
and Henry Threadgill. Although he’s been releasing
his own small group recordings since 2003, they’vebeen few and far between (only five since then). But
he’s been busy scoring films (Guy Maddin’s The Green
Fog, 2017) and working on arrangements for various
ensembles including Kronos Quartet. Mention also has
to be made of his 2012 solo project The Heavens:
The Atheist Gospel Trombone Album, where he skillfully
overdubbed himself into a multiple brass quartet.
Garchik’s most recent release, Clear Line, features
him as a composer/conductor of a 13-piece windensemble and it’s a remarkable work. It’s in nine
movements whose organizational ideas stem fromGarchik’s interest in the “ligne claire” style ofillustration, which was developed by Belgian cartoonist
Herge, creator of the Tintin comics, due to the tendency
of ink to bleed in newspaper illustrations. “Ligne
claire” put the characters clearly in the forefront of anillustration rather than blending in the background.
Clear Line is scored solely for horns with no rhythm
section but it doesn’t need one. The piece is asrhythmically forward as it is linear-based and themusicians carry off both aspects with strength andconfidence. Lines in their various manifestations(individually, contrapuntally, massed) are the chief
feature. The piece announces itself with a full-force
blast, then all 13 instruments extend outwardly invarious directions with arpeggiated lines.
Although clearly a group piece, throughcomposed, Garchik leaves room for soloists. The firstto appear is Anna Webber with a bristling tenor solo.
“Stacked Volumes”, as its title implies, groups together
various instruments in harmonies redolent with
dissonance. It’s a remarkable section. “Sixth” openswith an ostinato played by Carl Maraghi (baritone
saxophone) and trumpet. Over that emerges a beautiful
solo by trombonist Natalie Cressman before the otherhorns filter in and around her solo. “Mobius And
Mucha” features trumpeters Jonathan Finlayson andAdam O’Farrill soloing over a bed of mostly brass.
Oddly, the closing title track concludes with all
saxophones soloing to a gauzy, almost indefinite
conclusion. Garchik avoids clichés associated withgroups this size and compositions of this type, such as
the big finish. And this seems to carry over to thesoloists’ performances as well.
Garchik and all of his players are to be commended.
Clear Line is an exceptional piece. There’s always
something happening. There hasn’t been an album
quite like this in a while.

most important collections of photographs
depicting many, if not most, of the greatest AfricanAmerican jazz musicians of the mid 20th Century
should be the effort of a German-Jewish immigrant.
But that is the case of Francis Wolff (né Jakob Franz
Wolff, 1907-71) who fled his homeland in October
1939 to escape the genocidal Anti-Semitism ofAdolph Hitler ’s Nazi regime, emigrating to New
York City to join his boyhood friend Alfred Lion,
who had arrived in the city several years earlier andhad just recently founded Blue Note Records inorder to document the music for which the pairshared a passion.
Noted biographer, music historian and jazzcritic Ashley Khan’s introduction to the 168-page
volume of more than 150 black and whitephotographs, most published here for the first time(plus a 16-track CD sampler from the Francis Wolff
Collection), details Wolff’s rise from shipping clerk
to staff photographer for the label, noting his
development over time of a “recognizable visualsignature, catching musicians in candid, relaxedmoments”, during rehearsals (a hallmark of thelabel) and soundchecks, first in Rudy Van Gelder ’s
parent’s Hackensack living room and later in his
own Englewood Cliffs studios.
Himself an avid photographer, Van Gelder
describes Wolff’s style on the book’s dust jacket:“The majority of the pictures that Frank took werewith the Rolloflex with a hand-held flash held at
arm’s length. He’d hold the camera in his left handand hold the flash up with his right hand—Statue of
Liberty style—trying to get the light source in theproper position. At Blue Note sessions Art Blakey
was the thunder and Frank was the lightning.”
Indeed the photograph of drummer Blakey thatgraces the back of the dust jacket, his tie tucked into
the collar of his sweat-soaked white shirt, his
sleeves rolled up above the elbows, his head cocked
back, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as hestrikes his ride cymbal, iconically depicts one facetof Wolff’s style.
Other photos within the book reflect anotheraspect: the capturing of intimate moments captured
during recording sessions, like that of drummer
Philly Joe Jones leaning over the piano holding asheet of music as he looks into the eyes of pianist
Elmo Hope, pencil in hand.
Some of the book’s most striking images arephotos from album cover shoots, such as that of theOrnette Coleman Trio in a snowy Stockholm park
(At The “Golden Circle” Stockholm, 1965) or Herbie
Hancock standing in the middle of a New York street(Inventions And Dimensions, 1963). The latter ’s
appraisal that “Wolff’s images of musicians at work
are so relaxed and intimate that they capture thespirit not just of the moment, but the era” says it all.
For more information, visit elemental-music.com/
jazz-images-by-francis-wolf

For more information, visit jacobgarchik.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 29

Present Company
Peter Hess Quartet (Diskonife)by Thomas Conrad

Tenor saxophonist Peter Hess and trombonist BrianDrye have both been active members of New York’s
creative music scene for over 20 years. Hess has said,“Over the decades I’ve been involved with so manydifferent artists and made so many recordings, but so
few of them uniquely mine.” For Hess, and surely for
Drye as well, Present Company is a leap into this breach.
They are all alone together in the frontline, backed by avolatile rhythm section of bassist Adam Hopkins anddrummer Tomas Fujiwara.
A two-horn quartet with no chording instrument
is a naked format. There is nowhere to hide. Improvisers
sink or swim depending on whether they have thegoods. Hess and Drye swim. In their solos, ideas
tumble over one another in their urgency to get
expressed. Drye’s maneuvers usually flow into droll
melodies. Hess’ inspirations come in quick slashes andlong careening runs. When they improvise together
they sound relentless yet not quite manic. The creative
atmosphere is impulsive, but in a context of tonalharmony. Most tunes are like “Sanford Theme” and“Ring Tone”: outbreaks of energy that provide soloists
with running starts.
The joy that these two take in raising hell together
is obvious and exhilarating. But there are some solemn
moments. “The Net Menders” unfolds as patiently as adirge. Hess and Drye only threaten to erupt. “Engines”
is an elegy for Paul Motian. It is as paradoxical as
Motian, intense but contained. Hess intends it toportray Motian’s “profound calmness”. Fujiwara, an
explosive drummer, just stirs and whispers, on brushes.
For Hess Present Company is an impressive DIY
project. He wrote all seven tunes, recorded it in his
home studio and put it out on his own label, Diskonife(a partnership with vibraphonist Matt Moran). Home
studios keep getting better. The sound of this album is
intimate, strong and clear. To cite only one example,
Hopkins’ bass thrives.
For more information, visit diskonife.com

his own originals, including the bluesy “Obama”.
Most of the music is light but creative funky jazz.
One could imagine John Coltrane or Pharoah Sanders
digging into the opening Heath piece “Heritage Hum”,
which features Shelton on tenor. He plays pleasing
soprano on the groove number “Angel Man”, singsa bit on “I Love The Life I Live” and Cole’s ballad “DC
Farewell” and is heard at his best playing flute on
Foster ’s minor blues “Simone” and tenor on theswinging “Half Moon Street”. Pianist Jon Davis (whoswitches to organ on “Simone”) and guitarist Lou
Volpe also have fine solos scattered throughout thisaccessible outing.
Plan Be Dream Music, put out in conjunction withthe release of Shelton’s first book, Excel In Two Careers…
Plan Be Your Dream, was also recorded some time ago,
back in 2015. Shelton really shows his versatility on
this set, playing not just tenor, soprano, flute andpiccolo but alto, sopranino, bass clarinet and alto flutein addition to taking a few vocals. Many of his lyrics
are of the self-help variety (tying in with the book) andhis vocals are partly spoken and brief. Three of thestrongest pieces, “Inspiration”, Dedication” and“Surrender”, are heard twice, once with vocals and at
the conclusion of the set as instrumentals. All of thenumbers are originals by bandmembers (Shelton
composed 8 of the 13 songs and co-wrote one), mostare attractive and some are quite catchy during what isessentially a straightahead jazz session. Highlights
include “That Works For Me”, “Inspiration” (which
has Coltrane-worthy chord changes) and cooking blues“Gino’s Groove”, which has a hot piccolo solo. Pianist
Gino Rosaria and guitarist Jim Klein are strong assets
both as soloists and behind Shelton and the rhythm
section of bassist Tom Charlap and usually drummer
McLester McKee is tight and swinging. While both setsare enjoyable on their own level, Plan Be Dream Music
gets the edge.
For more information, visit chipshelton.com

O n Mentors, Chip Shelton pays tribute to some of thepeople (mostly musicians) who inspired him, but in his
own way. He dedicates the set to Jimmy Heath, Bill
Barron, Julius Baker, his manager/producer Kenny
Mead, Frank Foster, Frank Wess, John Purcell andpercussionist Daoud David Williams. Shelton has
generally been best known as a flutist but on this set, in
addition to playing the end-blown flute, he performs
some numbers on the rare C-tenor and C-sopranosaxophones. The program, which was recorded back in2008 but is being released for the first time, has Shelton
performing two Heath songs and one apiece by Foster,Wess, Willie Dixon and Richie Cole along with five ofFor more information, visit steeplechase.dk. Lossing livestreams Nov. 23rd at russlossing.com.

(INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6)
funny. He said, “You’ve gotta play it like those church
ladies who are trying to swing it on the tambourine,
but aren’t really swinging.” So, it’s swinging, but it’s
not swinging like a Kenny Clarke swing. It’s an oldchurch lady tambourine swing.
TNYCJR: Your tune “The Good Shepherd” also has aspiritual mood.
JF: Yes. I was thinking about all the good shepherds inthe jazz world. It’s such a crabs-in-the-barrel world,
where people try to take you down or they don’t pay
you well. There’s so much negativity connected to it.
But you have all these good shepherds, who gave metheir time after I got to town and they could have easily
said no.
Junior Cook could have easily told me no, hedidn’t want to play up at Augie’s for 100 bucks, but hesaid yes. He gave us lessons and showed us things thathe learned from Horace Silver. Another good shepherd
was Lou Donaldson, telling us about playing funkyand playing for the people. The good shepherds help
you. They don’t bring you down, they lift you up.
Another good shepherd was McCoy Tyner. I played in
McCoy’s group during the last part of his life.
TNYCJR: Another one of your associations was with
Cecil Payne, the great baritone saxophonist.

Mood Suite
Russ Lossing (SteepleChase)by Mark Keresman

P ianist Russ Lossing, product of Columbus, Ohio, has

Mentors | Plan Be Dream Music
Chip Shelton (s/r)
by Scott Yanow

winsome character, with the notes seeming to dangle
off Lossing’s fingertips. The album concludes with
“Postlude”, its sparse sounds as if it might have been agroup improvisation: Lossing probes in a very
deliberate manner yet maintains a potent expressive
flow; McPherson storms (almost literally); and Helias
throbs with great resolve. The end result feels bothchaotic and strangely resigned. Lossing treads watera bit too much here and there (“Sarcastique”, for one
instance) but mostly the trio plays with great unity,
economy and empathy.

a resumé that includes journeys with Paul Motian,
Loren Stillman, Samuel Blaser and Lena Bloch. Youthfulmeetings with composer John Cage had a major impact
on Lossing and it’s almost easy to see that in Mood
Suite. “Almost” is key, as the influence of Cage is moreevident sound-wise than compositionally. Like Cage,
Lossing lets the sounds express themselves and doesn’t
overly complicate the proceedings with too many
notes. His trio seems to be like-minded: ever-steady,ever-reliable Mark Helias (bass) and the crisp, electriclike vibrance of Eric McPherson (drums). This is a true
unit, not just an ad hoc collection of players.
“Obsessed” is a darkly-swinging piece that carries
echoes of Bud Powell and some of the crystalline
lyricism of McCoy Tyner and the rhythm team convey
a searing, nearly volcanic urgency. With its clipped,
insistent theme, “Furiosa” recalls the looping
minimalism of Philip Glass crossed with the wiry
urgency of Powell. Lossing’s keys crackle withpoignant wit and angular stylishness. “Naughty” hassome more of that Powell puckishness and drollery,but is most notable for the driving, hot-blooded swingof Lossing and McPherson. “Enchanté” has a haunting

30 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

JF: Before Augie’s was Smoke, I started hiring Junior
Cook for the club and Junior Cook introduced me to
Cecil Payne. Junior hired me for a Jazzmobile concert
and this one was in Brooklyn. I got there early andCecil was the only one there. Oh, man, I was so nervous.
This was Cecil Payne, the original bebop baritone
player with Dizzy Gillespie. I walked up and said hi tohim. I was so nervous that I flubbed my last name andCecil thought I said “photographer” and Cecil said,“I’m not really wanting to take pictures now.” So, wewent up there and played and Cecil turned around andsaid, “Oh, man, you sound really good. You’re a really
good drummer for a photographer.” v
For more information, visit joefarnsworthdrums.com.
Farnsworth live-streams with George Coleman Nov.
6th-7th, Veronica Swift Nov. 13th-14th and Ron Carter
Nov. 27th-28th, all at smokejazz.com.
Recommended Listening:• Cecil Payne—Cerupa (Delmark, 1993)• One For All—Upward and Onward(Criss Cross Jazz, 1999)• Wynton Marsalis—Live At The House Of Tribes(Blue Note, 2002)• Mike LeDonne—Night Song (Savant, 2005)• Joe Farnsworth Quartet—My Heroes (Tribute to The
Legends) (Venus, 2014)• Joe Farnsworth—Time to Swing(Smoke Sessions, 2019)B OXED SE T

The Complete Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970
Hank Mobley (Mosaic)
by Scott Yanow

This limited-edition boxed set is an eight-CD

package that has all of the sessions led by tenor
saxophonist Hank Mobley (1930-86) during thesecond half of his career. He took up the tenor when
he was 16 and was largely self-taught. Within just a
few years he was playing with classic hardbop
greats. Mobley made his recording debut withdrummer Max Roach in 1953, worked and recordedwith trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie the following year
and was an original member of the Jazz Messengers
with whom he made his first Blue Note recordings.
He was with the Messengers for two stints, served
briefly as a member of pianist Horace Silver ’s quintet
and was part of Miles Davis’ band during 1961-62
although the trumpeter consistently made it clearthat he wished he had Sonny Rollins instead.
Otherwise Mobley occasionally led his own shortterm groups for New York engagements but isprimarily known today for his many recordings.

Mobley first recorded as a leader for Blue Notein 1955 and, although he would lead some dates for
Savoy, Prestige and Roulette later in the decade, hebecame a Blue Note regular. For that label as asideman, he uplifted sessions led by Silver, Kenny
Dorham, Julius Watkins, J.J. Johnson, Lee Morgan,
Jimmy Smith, Johnny Griffin (with John Coltrane),Curtis Fuller, Sonny Clark, Dizzy Reece, Donald
Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Drew, Herbie
Hancock, Freddie Roach and Grant Green. As aleader, Mobley made 25 Blue Note albums,
coincidentally the same number as Lee Morgan.
Mobley’s last 12 Blue Note records (The Feelin’s
Good, No Room For Squares, The Turnaround, Dippin’,
A Caddy For Daddy, A Slice Of The Top, Straight No
Filter, Third Season, Far Away Lands, Hi Voltage, Reach
Out, The Flip and Thinking Of Home) are reissued infull on this set, including a few tracks that earlier
had made their debut in expanded CDs and just one
previously unissued performance, the alternate takeof “Me ‘N You”. Six of the albums feature Mobley ina quintet with a trumpeter. The others add atrombone and/or guitarist, two include an alto
saxophonist and Slice Of The Top is an octet witharrangements by Mobley and Duke Pearson.
While Mobley’s life had its ups and downs due
to a drug problem and he was frustrated that five of
these albums were not released for years due to
Alfred Lion selling Blue Note in 1966, the music isquite consistent and his playing is excellent
throughout. Mobley was always a hardbop stylist
with a sound and style that was flexible enough todisplay the inspiration of both Rollins and (in later
years) Joe Henderson. Counting alternate takes, hewrote 59 of the 75 selections on these sessions andwhile none became standards, they inspire strong
solos, ranging from boogaloos clearly designed to try
to duplicate the success of Morgan’s “The Sidewinder”(“A Caddy From Daddy” is very similar) to hardbop
romps and modal explorations. Mobley never crossed
the line into free jazz although he displays its
influence now and then when he distorts his sound alittle. In general his approach is unchanged from thelate ‘50s but he was flexible enough to react to hissidemen’s more adventurous ideas.
The sidemen form an allstar cast with trumpeter
Morgan and pianist McCoy Tyner sometimes stealing
the show during their forceful and creative solos.
Other key players include trumpeters Woody Shaw(in particularly inspired form), Blue Mitchell, Byrd
and Hubbard; pianists Harold Mabern, Cedar
Walton, Barry Harris and Hancock; and drummer
Billy Higgins although virtually every musician is amajor asset. The only weak tracks are on the Reach
Out album when the sextet (which includes guitarist
George Benson) gets commercial on “Up Over And
Out” and “Goin’ Out Of My Head”. However the
exuberant “Good Pickin’s” makes up for those
temporary lapses.
After his final Blue Note album, 1970’s Thinking
Of Home, Mobley would only make two more
appearances on records: the fine 1972 Cobblestone
album Breakthrough (co-led by Walton) and a guest
solo on “Autumn Leaves” for a Tete Montoliu album
from 1980. Mobley’s final 16 years are depressing tothink about, but he left behind plenty of glorious
music that still sounds timeless more than a halfcentury later.
For more information, visit mosaicrecords.com

THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | NOVEMBER 2020 31

MISCELLANY
ONbyTHISDAYAndrey Henkin

Poll Winners Three!
Kessel/Manne/Brown (Contemporary)
November 2nd, 1959

Freeman & Co.
Bud Freeman (Fontana)
November 2nd, 1966

Music for Xaba
Dyani/Temiz/Feza (Sonet)
November 2nd, 1972

Live in Berlin
Stone Alliance (PM)November 2nd, 1980

At The End Of The Universe
Klaus König (Enja)
November 2nd, 1990

This is the third of four albums madeTenor saxophonist Bud Freeman was

Poor Johnny Dyani (bass), Okay

Stone Alliance was active from 1975-

Taking its inspiration and titles fromfor Contemporary between 1957-60
by the trio of guitarist Barney Kessel,
drummer Shelly Manne and bassist
Ray Brown under the moniker The
Poll Winners, due to their success invarious jazz magazine reader surveys(they would reconvene in 1975 foranother Contemporary date). By now
the formula for their sessions wasestablished: mostly standards—in thiscase by the likes of Benny Goodman,
Cole Porter, Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht
and Billy Strayhorn—offset by someoriginals by the principals.

born in Chicago in 1906 and died
there in 1991 but he spent part of the‘70s in the U.K. Before that came thisdate, one of a pair he made in London
for Fontana in 1966. Joining him forstandards and his “77 Charing Cross
Road” (site of a jazz record shop) and“Larkhill” (near Stonehenge) is Roy
Williams (trombone), Johnny Barnes(baritone), Fred Hunt (piano), Jim
Douglas (guitar), Ron Mathewson(bass) and Lennie Hastings (drums)
or Dick Katz (piano), Spike Heatley(bass) and Tony Crombie (drums).

Temiz (percussion) and Mongezi Feza(trumpet). They must have been
freezing taking this picture in Sweden
so far away from the warmer climes of
their native South Africa and Turkey.
This is volume one of a concert at
Stockholm’s Theater Nine (an earlier
show from its Museum of Modern Art
was released in 1988 on Cadillac).
Of the nine pieces played that night,
Dyani wrote five, Feza one, plus two
improvisations and “Idyongwana” byVictor Ndlazilwane. Feza would diejust over three years later at 30.

83 with bassist Gene Perla and late
percussionist Don Alias at its core. It
made four albums for Perla’s PM, itsdiscography expanded by live setsfrom 1977 released in 2004 and then,in 2010, this German show. Perla,
Alias, period members Bob Mintzer(reeds, winds, percussion) and Kenny
Kirkland (keyboards, percussion) andguest keyboard player Jan Hammer(Perla’s mate from Elvin Jones’ early‘70s bands) play tunes by Alias, Perla,Hammer, former member Steve
Grossman and Orlando Lopez.

Douglas Adams’ epic The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy, this Berlin Jazz
Festival concert is three “acts” plus
overture, eight total pieces by German
trombonist/conductor Klaus König,who has an interstellar band poweringhis Heart of Gold spaceship: Conrad
Bauer, John Betsch, Jane Ira Bloom,
Horst Grabosch, Frank Gratkowski,
Wollie Kaiser, Dieter Manderscheid,
Michel Massot, Simon Nabatov, Tom
Rainey, Matthias Schubert, Louis
Sclavis, Tim Wells, Kenny Wheeler
and Reiner Winterschladen.

BIRTHDAYS
November 1†Sabby Lewis 1914-94†Sam Margolis 1923-96
Lou Donaldson b.1926
Roger Kellaway b.1939†Raphe Malik 1948-2006
Carmen Lundy b.1954
Conrad Herwig b.1959
Antonio Sanchez b.1971

November 5
Diego Urcola b.1965
Kenny Brooks b.1966
Neil Cowley b.1972
Ben Markley b.1981

November 2†Bunny Berigan 1908-42†Rudy Van Gelder 1924-2016†Herb Geller 1928-2013†Phil Woods 1931-2015
Phil Minton b.1940
Rudy Walker b.1947
Ernest Dawkins b.1953
Frank Kimbrough b.1956
Gebhard Ullmann b.1957
Kurt Elling b. 1967
Chris Byars b.1970

November 7†Joe Bushkin 1916-2004†Howard Rumsey 1917-2015†Al Hirt 1922-99†Ray Brown 1948-2002†David S. Ware 1949-2012
René Marie b.1955

November 11†Willie Cook 1923-2000†Mose Allison 1927-2016†Ernestine Anderson 1928-2016
Mario Pavone b.1940
Hannibal Peterson b.1948
Kahil El’Zabar b.1953
Mark Shim b.1971

November 6†Francy Boland 1929-2005
Arturo Sandoval b.1949

November 12†Buck Clayton 1911-91†Lou Blackburn 1922-90†Charlie Mariano 1923-2009†Sam Jones 1924-81
Wolfgang Schluter b.1933
Koby Israelite b.1966
November 13†Bennie Moten 1894-1935†Eddie Calhoun 1921-93†Hampton Hawes 1928-77†Idris Muhammad 1939-2014
Janet Lawson b.1940
Ernst Reijseger b.1954
Ari Hoenig b.1973

November 8†Chris Connor 1927-2009
Bertha Hope b.1936
Don Byron b.1958
Jerry Costanzo b.1959
Russell Malone b.1963
John O’Gallager b.1964
Vadim Neselovskyi b.1977

November 3†Joe Turner 1907-90†Billy Mitchell 1926-2001†Andy McGhee 1927-2017†Henry Grimes 1935-2020
Joe McPhee b.1939
Azar Lawrence b.1953
Deric Dickens b.1973

November 14†Art Hodes 1904-93†Billy Bauer 1915-2005†Don Ewell 1916-83†Ellis Marsalis 1934-2020
George Cables b.1944
Kim A. Clarke b.1954

November 9†Mezz Mezzrow 1899-1972†Pete Brown 1906-63†Muggsy Spanier 1906-67

November 4†Joe Sullivan 1906-71†Joe Benjamin 1919-74†Ralph Sutton 1922-2001†Carlos “Patato” Valdes
1926-2007†Larry Bunker 1928-2005†Willem Breuker 1944-2010
David Arner b.1951
Jeremy Pelt b.1976

November 10†Paul Bley 1932-2016
Houston Person b.1934
Andrew Cyrille b.1939
Hubert Laws b.1939
Stanton Davis b.1945
John LaBarbera b.1945
Mark Turner b.1965
Gustavo Casenave b.1971
Warren Wolf b.1979

November 16†WC Handy 1873-1958†Eddie Condon 1905-73†Dolo Coker 1927-83
Diana Krall b.1964
November 17
David Amram b.1930†Roswell Rudd 1935-2017
Lisle Ellis b.1951
Ben Allison b.1966
November 18†Johnny Mercer 1909-76†Claude Williamson 1926-2016
Victor Sproles b.1927
Sheila Jordan b.1928†Don Cherry 1936-95
Bennie Wallace b.1946
Cindy Blackman-Santana b.1959
November 19†Tommy Dorsey 1905-56
Nobuo Hara b.1926†André Persiany 1927-2004
Vincent Herring b.1964
November 20†Skeeter Best 1914-85†June Christy 1925-90
Jay Rosen b.1961
Don Braden b.1963
Geoffrey Keezer b.1970

November 15†Gus Johnson 1913-2000†Jerome Richardson 1920-2000†Ali Haurand 1943-2018
Kevin Eubanks b.1957
Ted Rosenthal b.1959
Roland Guerin b.1968
Susie Ibarra b.1970

November 21†Coleman Hawkins 1904-69†Lloyd Glenn 1909-85†Alvin Burroughs 1911-50†Sal Salvador 1925-99
Peter Warren b.1935†Alphonse Mouzon 1948-2016
Rainer Brüninghaus b.1949

November 22†Hoagy Carmichael 1899-1981†Horace Henderson 1904-88†Ernie Caceres 1911-71†Gunther Schuller 1925-2015†Jimmy Knepper 1927-2003
Ron McClure b.1941†Tyrone Hill 1948-2007
Rogério Boccato b.1967
November 23†Tyree Glenn 1912-74†Johnny Mandel 1925-2020†Pat Patrick 1929-1991†Victor Gaskin 1934-2012†Alvin Fielder 1935-2019Jiří Stivín b.1942
Ray Drummond b.1946
Melton Mustafa b.1947
November 24†Scott Joplin 1868-1917†Teddy Wilson 1912-86†Wild Bill Davis 1918-95†Serge Chaloff 1923-57†Al Cohn 1925-88
Gary Boyle b.1941
Brian Charette b.1972
November 25†Willie “The Lion” Smith
1897-1973†Willie Smith 1910-67†Joe “Bebop” Carroll 1919-81†Paul Desmond 1924-77†Matthew Gee 1925-79†Dick Wellstood 1927-87†Etta Jones 1928-2001†Rusty Bryant 1929-91†Nat Adderley 1931-2000
Steve Johns b.1960
Terell Stafford b.1966

November 26†Jack Perciful 1925-2008
Kiane Zawadi b.1932
Art Themen b.1939
Mark Dresser b.1952
November 27†Eddie South 1904-62†Nesuhi Ertegun 1917-89
Michel Portal b.1935
Randy Brecker b.1945
Lyle Mays b.1953
Maria Schneider b.1960
Joris Teepe b.1962
Wessell Anderson b.1964
Jacky Terrasson b.1966

BILLY HART

November 29th, 1940

November 28†George Wettling 1907-68†Gigi Gryce 1927-83†Gato Barbieri 1934-2016
Roy McCurdy b.1936
Adelhard Roidinger b.1941
Butch Thompson b.1943†Dennis Irwin 1951-2008
Charlie Kohlhase b.1956
November 29†Billy Strayhorn 1915-67†Nathan Gershman 1917-2008†Bobby Donaldson 1922-71†Ed Bickert 1932-2019
Tony Coe b.1934
Billy Hart b.1940
Adam Nussbaum b.1955
Fredrik Ljungkvist b.1969
November 30†Benny Moten 1916-77†Jack Sheldon 1931-2019†Johnny Dyani 1945-86
Stan Sulzmann b.1948

Who could have guessed
when a not-yet-21-year-old
Billy Hart recorded withpercussionist Buck Clarkein the former’s hometown
of Washington, DC, that hewould go on to be one of
the most significant andlongevous drummers injazz history. His first big gig
was with Jimmy Smith afew years later. His sideman
discography is massive,from Wayne Shorter to Lee
Konitz, Eddie Henderson toJohn
McNeil,HerbieHancock to Kenny Barron,
Buster Williams to Cecil
McBee, Pat Martino to John
Scofield and hundreds in
between. He has recorded
as a leader since the late‘70s
forGramavision,
Arabesque, HighNote andSteepleChase and, in the
new decade, three highlyregarded ECM dates. (AH)

CROSSWORD
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Iskra 1903, Company and others (abbr.)

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By Andrey Henkin 			

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visit nycjazzrecord.com for answers

2. Revolutionary Ensemble drummer’s revolution?
3. Norwegian studio owner Bendiksen

8. What Steve Swell aimed to do with his most recent

5. Festival head (abbr.)
6. Suffix added to jazz that won’t help sell records?

10. Capra Black’s instrument in the hereafter?

7. British cornet player’s arctic fish?

13. 1960 Tina Brooks Blue Note album ____ Blue

8. TNYCJR photographer monogram

14. Label founded by Chris Cutler

9. Like trumpeter Paolo Fresu

15. Where the Kühn Brothers were from (abbr.)

11. What 1 Down should do

16. Record label that sounds financial

12. 2018 Akira Sakata Family Vineyard album ____ Pump

17. Recording EQ standard org.

19. Airport code needed for the Ocean City Jazz Festival

18. Saxophonist whose pseudonym was Unidentified Cat

21. Curr. you’ll need to attend the Oslo Jazz Festival

20. Doc Cheatham’s grandson’s reptile?

22. Time zone for Tallinn’s Jazzkaar (abbr.)

24. Finish used on wooden instruments

23. Info. for a tour

25. Bassist Derek of group Ahleuchatistas

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1. Someone who cuts off another’s solo

4. Like a fair portion of ECM’s roster

RogueArt album

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26. EmArcy catalogue prefixes

32 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD