[the title of this appreciation alludes to the Brubeck penchant for composing in unsual time signatures often combining two or more.  the most famous, Take Five, was significantly absent as this was a program of Dave Brubeck music; his alto saxist Paul Desmond composed it.]

the entire program was given over to Dave Brubeck’s compositions save one.  vocalist Hilary Kole sang These Foolsh Things which she sang on a recording accompanied by Dave in his last in-studio performance.

the selections were all from Dave’s studio albums and those which are the results from his quartet’s tours of Europe and the Middle East as well as those performed in the United States.  as Wein recounted he didn’t appear on the first Newport Jazz Festival but holds the appearance record for the many times he did.

unannounced guest Tony Bennett reminisced of the Brubeck/Bennett duets which were never released.  we are promised they will be later this month.  their last time together was Newport 2009.

l-r: Tony Bennett, James R. Bancroft, family attorney, Iola Brubeck, George Wein, Deborah Ross, Wein Associate (photo © Richard Conde, courtesy Sue Auclair)

Dave accompanied many vocalists on recordngs.  one of those recordings was on the only-once-performed show/opera “The Real Ambassadors,” which featured Carmen McRae and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, as well Louis Armstrong for whom it was written.  Darius and bassist Eugene Wright –”the Senator”– the last surviving member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet did King For A Day from that show.

 

above Eugene Wright, “The Senator” (©Frederic Sater) who played w/Darius Brubeck not shown

some other highlights: Koto Song (Paul Winter, alto sax –the echo suited him just fine– and Deepak Ram, wood flute); Travelin’ Blues (Andy Laverne, piano; Roberta Gamborini, vocals; Roy Hargrove, flugelhorn; Paquito D’Rivera, clarinet); The Duke (Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes four-handed piano); The Golden Horn (Randy Brecker  trumpet and D’Rivera (soprano sax); Doin’ The Charleston (John Salmon, solo piano); In Your Own Sweet Way (Mark Morganelli, trumpet; Michael Pedicin, Jr., sax; Gamborini); For Iola (Branford Marsalis, soprano sax); Strange Meadowlark (Chick Corea, solo piano); and finally Blues For Newport (Jon Faddis, trumpet.)

Chris Brubeck & Jon Faddis (© Richard Conde, courtesy Sue Auclair)

Chick Corea (© Frederic Sater)

Chris Brubeck, Branford Marsalis & Dan Brubeck (© Richard Conde, courtesy Sue Auclair)

Paquito D’Rivera & Chris Brubeck (©Richard Conde, courtesy Sue Auclair))

Miles Davis famously recorded In Your Own Sweet Way but flatted “Way.”  Dave said that forever thereafter audiences thought that he and not Davis was playing it incorrectly.

i first met Dave at Brooklyn College in 1956.  it was that concert which gave me the impetus to book jazz shows there every semester of my four years.  he never forgot our meeting as he constantly reminded me that he remembered when i had red hair.  alas, what remains is now grey.

text © arnold jay smith May 2013

photos © as indicated

PART I: EDDIE DANIELS/ROGER KELLAWAY 

billed and announced from the stage (first set second nght of two) as a recital of Ellingtonia –it wasn’t– these two virtuosi of their instruments –Kellaway piano; Daniels clarinet– played a whole lot more.  Daniels not only played a beautifully wooded instrument but also a gleaming new tenor on I Want To Be Happy and Night and Day.  in between there were Leonard Bernstein’s Somewhere and two originals, Kellaway’s Duke At Ojai (from the all Ellington CD “Duke At The Roadhouse”) and an excerpt from a Daniels suite Capriccio Twilight.  oh yes, there was also Billy Strayhorn’s Rock Skipping At the Blue Note, their one bow to Maestro Duke.

their performance at Dizzy’s Club was, for me, butter cream peaks on a cake which began the preceding Monday in their Manhattan hotel.  not only were they there together to speak with me, but our mutual friend clarinetist Ron Odrich “sat in.”  our conversation ran from Daniels’ meeting and sitting in with Ellington to Kellaway’s Cello Quartet.  both occasions came together on their aforementioned (out June 2013) CD “Duke At the Roadhouse” (IPO).

Kellaway spoke of those keyboard instruments which are their own recording studios. “i have a Clavinova [with 100s of attachments.]  twenty are useful,” he lamented.  ”the quality is awful.  you push the saxophone button…”  ”wait.  why would you need a saxophone button?,” Eddie interjected good naturedley.

from the Be-Careful-If-You-Get-a-Hit file, i asked Roger about his 1970s vintage “All In The Family” tv closing theme (Remembering You) and what it did for his career.  it has gone internet viral.  the producer Noman Leer is a big jazz fan.  in fact, he owns the Concord Jazz Family.  ”the only thing i had trouble with was telling people [who asked my to play it] was that while i came from a dixieland backgound i’ve moved on,” he replied.  audiences tend to brand you; they want to hear the hit just that way.  it drove Artie Shaw out of the business.  Remembering You was stride piano.  ”it did create millions of people who think that i am a honky-tonk piano player.

“i went to school with [author, cornetist] Dick Sudhalter and we spent time in his basement where his father stored his 78 rpm records.  i still have a copy of Joe Venuti’s Barnacle Bill the Shithead.”  [he sings the title.]  one thing led to another and Roger played Mohangony Hall, with people like Vic Dickenson and others whose names were obscure even to me.  he was playing bass at this time.

Eddie and Roger first played together at the suggestion of Jack Kleinsinger in April 1986 at one of his Highlights In Jazz concerts at New York University (see Part II below).  decades later that relationship culminated with CDs including “Duke At The Roadhouse.”

there is a one degree of separation between Daniels/Kellaway and Ellington.  Kellaway: “i opened for him with my trio in Santa Barbara, Calif.  i heard that he requested me.  i never met him; he never came out of his dressing room.  that was ’72.”

Daniels (see addenda below): Ellington was at a small room in Greenwich Village.  i was encouraged to ‘get up there.’  i did.  what a thrill!

the duo’s Ellington project has played Tempe, Ariz. and they are going to South Africa with the cello quartet.  Eddie suggested the duo plus the cello playing Duke.  some of his influences came from within the Ellington reeds: Barney Bigard, Russell Procope and Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet, Ben Webster and Paul Gonsalves, tenor.

Roger flat out says that his influence at the piano were not from Ellington. “but as a bass player i was listening to Jimmy Blanton [the 1940 so-called Blanton-Webster Ellington Band.]  i’m probably more interested in Ellington’s harmonic textures rather than as a pianist.”  Kellaway went on to say that he wasn’t much interested in other pianists as he was in writing.

Kellaway was reminded of something pianist Lou Levy said about Ellington’s Sophisicated Lady, the bridge to which was written some time after the refrain. “Let’s raise our glasses to those guys who died coming out of the bridge to Sophisticated Lady.”  Odrich chimed in, “i know someone who  starts the tune with the bridge just to get it out of the way.”

about the clarinet Daniels said that “there are younger people today who don’t even know i play the tenor sax.  i’ve been encouraged to play [tenor] more often.”  he did at Dizzy’s.

it was during a solo with the Jones-Lewis band that Daniels first pulled out the clarinet.  he remembers Thad, who did not particularly like the sound of that reed as much as he did the soprano, asked Mel, “Why the fuck did he do that?”  it was for that 32 bar solo that Daniels won the New Star category that year on clarinet.  (“Live At The Village Vanguard.”)

Daniels also plays bass clarinet and flute, “but i want to limit myself to the B Flat instruments [clarinet and soprano].  keeps things simple and still colorful.  what Benny [Goodman] and Artie [Shaw] did with it.  i just want to extend the range of that instrument.”

harking back to the opening gambit of the interview, as we parted Roger rode down to the lobby with me and told me a story of how he and Harold Mabern were on their way to Japan when Roger pulls up to the terminal in a stretch limo because a regular car was not available from the rental compnay. “the look on Harold’s face was, ‘it must be because of that All In The Family thing.’  Harold never got over that.  nor did Charles Lloyd.  ”you are never supposed to go outside the bubble,” Kellaway concluded.

Eddie Daniels (l) & Roger Kellaway @ Dizzy’s Club Coco Cola
photo ©Jim Eigo

Eddie Daniels, ts, Roger Kellaway, p at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola

photo ©Jim Eigo

[Addenda Statements by the Artists: "1966 was a big year for me. I was asked to join the Thad Jones- Mel Lewis orchestra and was thrust onto the American Jazz scene playing at the Village Vanguard every Monday night. There I was, playing with some of my own idols -- Pepper Adams, Hank Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, Snooky Young, Roland Hanna, Jerome Richardson -- it totally changed my world!

"Towards the spring of that year I was asked to play at a jam session with Duke Ellington. It was a small restaurant-bar in Greenwich Village. I walked in and there was Duke at the piano and people saying to me "Get up there and play Eddie". There was no rhythm section just the 2 of us. wow! and some other musicians in the wings waiting to get a chance. It was such fun to see Duke turn his head towards me and give me that big smile while I was playing. What an experience. indelible marks that last forever.

"Fast forward 56 years to last October 2012 in Santa Fe New Mexico, those indelible marks having helped carve a career for me that I always will be thankful for, I was asked to perform at a benefit concert by a group called New Mexico Center for Therapeutic Riding, which helps young people with disabilities while working with horses. The concert was to be held at the Lensic Theater. I immediately decided that the music should be Duke's and chose Roger Kellaway as my collaborator! Since Roger and I had already recorded 2 albums as a duo for IPO records --'A Duet of One' and 'Live at the Library of Congres'-- and given the idea of Duke's music, I thought that adding a cello to our duo would add a richness to the music. Roger, being a cellophile, known for his Cello Quartets albums, jumped on it!

 

"I then suggested to Roger that we each write an original tune dedicated to Duke. Roger's is called Duke in Ojai and mine being Duke at the Roadhouse, the latter being named after Harry's Roadhouse in Santa Fe, which bustles with Duke's musical energy and greatly reminds me of that place in the Village where I had my indelible Duke experience. Also part of our benefit concert was a painting donated by the legendary Native American artist Doug Coffin. The cover of this album 'Duke At The Roadhouse' was done by Doug as he listened to the final mixes of this live concert. He truly is part of the band.

"My special thanks to Roger, who is so much fun to play with, Morrie Backun, who made my clarinet, the Lensic Theater, The New Mexico Center for Therapeutic  Riding, Doug Coffin for being part of the interplay, cellist James Holland, and IPO’s Bill Sorin, who records music that he loves and is passionate about. Enjoy!!!"  -- ©Eddie Daniels

"Partnering with one of the world's great clarinetists is challenging. But, after more than 25 years, it's also musically quite rewarding. For this Santa Fe CD, Eddie suggested adding cello And, because of my passion for the cello [beginning with the A&M recording of 'The Roger Kelllaway Cello Quartet' 42 years ago], I was delighted.

“As with all of my cello writing, everything is written out, even the jazz solos. Therefore it becomes necessary for the cellist to have some knowledge of jazz phrasing in order to have the jazz solos sound like improvisations. James Holland said, ‘yes’ to this challenge. Once again, I’m delighted.”   — ©Roger Kellaway]

PART II: THE MUSIC OF SHAW AND GOODMAN

what a contrast!  the Peter and Will Anderson Orchestra included a string section for the Shaw segment.  10 pieces strong –totaling 25!– they mostly dutifully sawed underneath playing the Shaw classics plus a couple of originals in prepared harmonies.  comfort music.  there was one violin cat, though, who would not be contained as he rose from his seat and seemed to strum his ax while the front line filled with major soloists had their say.

among those were Wylciffe Gordon, John Mosca, trombones, Warren Vaché, cornet, Jon- Eric Kelso, Seneca Black, trumpets, plus a rhythm section which featured Howard Alden, guitar and Ehud Asherie, piano.

Shaw added a string quartet to his 1940s band and rarely traveled with them.  the Andersons Ork’s dektet of violins, violas and celli, orignally arranged by Lennie Hayton for Shaw, similarly played fills.  Tommy Dorsey’s full section of the same vintage, arranged by Sy Oliver, traveled in a separate bus just for the “orchestra” and equipment.

the Shaw popular swing classics were augmented by two extended works.  Concerto for Clarinet was from the two-sided 78rpm recording, and Reed Reflections, Movement 1 composed for the Andersons and conducted by its composer Kyle Athayde.  the ambitious work was appreciated by generous applause.

The Peter & Will Anderson Orchestra at Jack Kleinsinger’s Highlights In Jazz  photo ©Jim Eigo

Peter &Will Anderson

after the interval the Andersons were joined by Gordon, Vaché, Aldon and Asherie plus bass and drums for some BG Octets whch included a take on Mary Lou Williams’ In The Land of Oobla Dee, an usually (for Goodman) bebop-oriented selection from Goodman’s “Undecurrent Blues” LP.  Gordon pulled out his slide trumpet, an increasingly popular, if archaic, instrument, for a duet with Asherie.  nice sound.

The Peter & Will Anderson “Benny Goodman Octet”

watch for these multi-talented young men, the Anderson’s, who have five CDs available at this wrtiing.  they play multiple reeds, compose and arrange and best of all they are not afraid to take on new challenges.  the Twins joined vocalist/pianist Daryl Sherman in the Knickerbocker in Greenwich Village for a weekend romp.

speaking of singers, as she ever so gracefully aged, Lena Horne, who sang with Shaw, once quipped that she loved youth for being so good and hated them for being so young!

links of interest:

the Eddie Daniels/Roger Kellaway “Duke At The Roadhouse” CD link:      www.iporecordings.com 

eddiedaniels1006@msn.com

roger@rogerkellaway.com

the Anderson Twins link: www.andersontwinsjazz.com

to reach me: ajjazz9@earthlink.net

text ©arnold jay smith (unless otherwise noted) March 2013

photos ©Jim Eigo February 2013

the CD, entitled BRASS CARNIVAL & TRIBUTE!, features a brass band consisting of  tubas, trombones, trumpets, french horns and rhythm, also separates a small ensemble, TRIBUTE!, which plays original material by McIntyre in dedication to his multifarious musical and extended families.  McIntyre’s father, mother, uncles and aunts, Salvation Army Band Veterans all, played a variety of brass.  his wife, vocalist, educator Renée Manning, demonstrates her own brand of brassiness, the blues.

an Irish-Scottish jig-step away of the families McIntyre clans –there are several– eminates from the Caribbean so there’s more than enough rhythmic diversity in the admixture.  Earl, himself a veteran of various brass sections, has blown mean tuba and bass trombone in groups such as the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis –now the Vanguard– Jazz Orchestras, the Charles Mingus Big Band, the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, George Gruntz’s Concert Jazz Band, Howard Johnson’s Gravity, Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones, Taj Mahal’s band, and was a first call, when there were studios to call.  his charts appear on all of the recordings of the aforementioned.

McIntyre’s  cohorts are the heavyweight hornists Howard Johnson, Dave Bargeron, Joe Daley, Bob Stewart, and ‘boneman Sam Burtis who sometimes doubles on tuba as he did at the BCM.  the french horn section blossomed from his time with Thad & Mel.  Thad loved the colors from flugelhorns, a tuba-like-bore trumpet, and he had experimented with several hornists over the years.  on Brass Carnival they are Vincent Chancey, John Clark and Mark Taylor.  David Amram, a french hornist himself, conducted.

Earl & Renée met, as did he and i, during the Vanguard era, she in front of the band me in the kitchen “green room” in the mid 1970s.

the Tribute! ensemble which was featured at BCM included Chancey, Burtis, Jim Seely, trumpet and flugelhorn, Tommy Campbell, drums, Warren Smith, vibes and tambourine and McIntyre.  the selections each had a “family” story attached which served as preludes: Come Sunday for trombonist Britt Woodman, who was featured with Duke Ellington, Shapeshifter for Lester Bowie for whose various incarnations Earl wrote, JJ’s Whology, for J.J. Johnson, We Shall Rest With the Lord for Aunt Ruby, Earl’s mom.  in addition to those above the group offered Sunnyside of the Street –on the CD re-dubbed Please Remain on the Positive Side of the Solar Panel– a humorous derangement –not the original changes– as Uncle Eldon, Earl’s dad, played them [confirmed by Fran], Hot Sun In the Summertime for Sly Stone, and Pericles and the Lion.

the Tribute! Live band sounded as though it could have used a couple of  more rehearsals.  the soli were on the money but the noses-in-the-scores ensemble passages were a bit too ragged for me.  knowing Earl, for him as well.  i’m sure the audience hardly noticed.  it was the spirit which shone through.

the CD, however, is a solid gass!  the latin-ed jazz, the various Caribbean and African rhythms are all clearly delineated.  their titles tell the tales like Witches Samba, Here’s to Highlife, Second Line Soca/Brudda Singh and Rivals.  Manning’s All I Have To Give and You’re Hot (& I Like It A Lot), sung at BCM as well as on the CD have her imprimatur: joyously melodic and filled with bonhomie.

additional standout solosts: trumpeters Seneca Black on Highlife, Kenny Rampton, on Come Sunday, Lew Soloff on Soca, Stanton Davis on Pericles;   Warren Smith vibes on Whology, Victor See Yuen djembe on Highlife, and the tubas, euphoniums, horns “all ovah de plee-as” (excuse that attempt at Island-ese.)

[author's note: Vinnie Johnson, Earl and Renée's regular drummer, who is featured on the TrIbtute! tracks and solos on Whology, passed during 2012.  R.I.P. bro.] 

-  © arnold jay smith March 2013

Earl McIntyre contact: www.info@legendfactoryrecords.com

my e-dress: ajjazz9@earthlink.net

while considered the most perstiguous awards in Jazz the NEA JAZZ MASTERS, now down to four, are complex and vexatious.  the 2013 presentation of the 2012 announced $25,000 awards are Mose Allison, Lou Donaldson, Eddie Palmieri, and –pause for reflection– Lorraine Gordon.  the awards were held at Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola on the 14th.

all the presenters are Jazz Masters in their own right.  even the entre acts are Jazz Masters.

in no particular order let’s break ‘em down.  Mose Allison is among the most influential vocalists in all music.  his voice and presentation comes from the country-fied field hands.  my early jazz friends and i did not even know he was white.  his stylized nasality and the tales he weaves are distinctly Southern, his roots.  the titles of his songs tell the story even before he sings his lyrics: Your Mind Is On Vacation (and your mouth is working overtime), Parchman Farm, to name but two.

his daughter, Amy, sang Mose’s ballad Was accompanied by her father.  George Wein presented the award not quite saying that he and the honoree share a history that transcends most of the black-tie audience.  Ms. Allison shares the family nasality.

Eddie Palmieri is the current star of a long line of Latin-Jazz composers, pianists and bandleaders.  there are those out here who still do not believe there is any such thing as “Latin-Jazz.”  the late Tito Puente even hated the word “salsa.”  ”it’s what you put over food,” he loved to quip.

Palmieri’s acceptance speech was a dedication to his forebears on the Cuba and Puerto Rico side as well to the presenter pianist McCoy Tyner.  i remember well when Eddie was being called “the McCoy Tyner of Latin music.”  when i read that it stood me up.  there was a renewed feeling towards my friend McCoy and never having met Eddie i listened with new ammunition.

Eddie told of taking his breaks at the Palladium on West 53rd and Broadway and dropping down to the original Birdland near West 52nd and catching McCoy doing an extended solo while Tyner’s boss, John Coltrane, sat at a nearby table “doing the payroll, or something.”  (more likely writing his next epochal composition.)

the Palladium.  now there was a showplace for Latin music.  it was there in the 1950s and ’60s where one could dance to perhaps on a good night two headliners, and one comer.  Dizzy Gillespie and his beboppin’ partner Charlie Parker would go up those stairs –Birdland was down a flight– on their breaks to find out “where one was,” Diz liked to say.  (the first beat in the measure is obfuscated in Latin music.)

one Palmieri aggregation came to be called “La Perfecta.”  but Eddiie had other bands some of which even played disco-danceables, i call them.  but if you were listening, underneath were the Palmieri percussion tempi.  they are still enlightening.  and you’ll never hear them on commercial CDs.

Eddie’s contribution at the NEA Awards was a very percussive piano solo Iraida.

Lou Donaldson has been on the scene longer than some people have been on earth.  his acceptance speech was as good a stand up routine as any there is.  his presenter, Jimmy Cobb, could not keep from laughing at his own script when he was reminiscing about his time with Sweet Lou.

Donaldson opened by saying that he was “wondering when they were going to get around to me,” [while i'm still around.]  Lou claimed he owed his long life to modern day chemicals: Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, pausing between each with a perferctly timed, “very important.”

it was during a Charlie Parker Lecture Series at my New School’s “Jazz Insights”ⓡ when Donaldson told the class that all those other guests may talk about Bird, but “i actually knew him!”

his selection was his own Blues Walk, a collection of riffs which at this point he indeed walks through.  but even somnambulistically Lou Donaldson blows soulfully hard.  his r & b attack still heats things up.  he was backed by the Jazz Masters Trio (see below).

the house rhythm section, NEA Jazz Masters all, Kenny Barron, piano, Ron Carter, bass, Jimmy Cobb, drums, opened the festivities with a dedication to the late Jazz Master Dave Brubeck’s In Your Own Sweet Way.

Jazz Master Randy Weston in for Barron played his own Hi-Fly while the trio backed Jimmy Heath on his dedication to Gordon, Sweet Lorraine.  Master Sheila Jordan half-sang her story in Sheila’s Blues with trio back-up.  Masters Dave Liebman and Paquito D’Rivera plus Trio closed the affair with All Blues.

Former & current NEA Awardees @ Jazz At Lincoln Center Ceremony
photo Frank Stewart, courtesy Jazz @ Lincoln Center

i could get picky and ask why certain other performers and advocates are more deserving than others and why have they been overlooked to this point.  that would be pointless and self-serving as i’m sure so many others have their own faves.  but let’s face it, folks.  the NEA’s life seems to be tenuous what with gumment budget cuts and all.  reevaluation is needed as to whom presentation is made.  these awards are far too important to become a political football.

please reach me at ajjazz9@earthlink.net

ⓒ arnold jay smith

February 2013

WINTER JAZZFEST 2013 

Greenwich Village, NYC, hosted the annual celebraton of the multi-fariousness that is jazz.  six venues all within walkng distance of each other. a good thing that geography as it was raw outside.  no fewer than 70 groups were showcased on the 11th & 12th each night wafting into the following morning.

despite the ravaging flu the rooms –Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, the Bitter End, Zinc Bar, Bowery Electric and Culture Project Theater– were SRO.  due to the weather and that epidemic i was ensconced at Le Poisson Rouge where i caught four performances.  even though they tried to drive us out with the loudness of the music in between sets most of us remained, nay the crowds grew larger in this cellar on the site of the late Village Gate.

prior to the musical festivies the Jazz Jounalists Association held our annual lubricating meet’n'greet in the bar area warming us up (sic).  pianist/ composer/arranger Sy Johnson and i sat in a corner as the attending multitude passed before us kissing and hugging, spreading germs.  despite inoculations i caught it anyhow.

the  Amina Figarova ensemble, subbing for the absented Ibrahim Maalouf, opened.  the hard-edged group featured reedman Wayne Escoffery.  watch this multi-talented young man; good things to follow.

following the modern-latin-tinged pianist Figarova, vocalist Catherine “Cat” Russell belted her trad set.  i last saw her opening with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Newport this past summer.  as entertaining as the PHJB are Cat turned that band up a notch.  i doubted that few in my immediate area at Poisson Rouge –and judging from the ages of the audience at large — ever heard her.  this talented scion of a musical family –bassist/vocalist Carline Ray and pianist/bandleader Luis Russell– as Lester “Prez” Young might have said, tweaked some lobes this night.  those uninitiates heard some early rarely played jazz and blues.  the sound in the hall was piquant and Russell’s ca. ’20s lyrics found their way clearly out to us.  bright moments of joy and good feelings were the keynotes of her set.

Cat Russell @ Winter Jazzfest 2013 all photos ⓒ Enid Farber 2013

pianist/composer Monty Alexander brought his “Harlem-Kingston Express” band to Winter Jazzfest 2013.  his Grammy-nominated CD of the same title is, yes, refreshingly different.  it’s programmed that way.  it’s the blues in two languages, so to speak.  first we hear the funky, classic blue piano that is Alexander’s wont.  so Oscar Peterson it’s alomst scary.  then the rhythm section gets into that equally funkified Jamaican groove.  as in the case of Cat Russell, for the newbies unfamiliar with the multiple aspects of our music, it’s enlightenting.  to we jaded jazz junkies, it can become redundant.  as one seasoned professional seated nearby noted, “fun, but predictable.”  again every nuance of the percussion section was beautifully pronounced.  the set brought the house and Alexander had to placate them with an encore.  a great moment for him, i’m sure.

Monty Alexander @ Winter Jazzfest 2013

the last set i caught before heading out into the rain was by clarinetist Don Byron.  Byron, noted for his interpretations of jazz which preceded him –movie cartoon jazz, swing– brought his 21st Century band with him this time.  he has yet another side: i first caught him with the New England Conservatory Klezmer Ensemble.  not only did his frahlich clarinet jump out, he was the only person of color in that group, playing Yiddish music!  a first for me, a veteran of Catskill Mountains hotel entertainment.  Garrison Keillor on his “Prairie Home Companion” radio series made note of that as well  when the NECKE guested.  they also contained a Scandanvian-sounding name; you know Keiller riffed on that.  all that by way of saying that Byron does not, cannot and will not limit himsefl to any genre of jazz.  veteran bassist Cameron Brown was featured in his band at Poisson Rouge.

Don Byron @ Winter Jazzfest 2013

this preceding report is ony a pinky fingernail of what happened during the weekend of Winter Jazzfest 2013.  the New York Times covered other venues, as i’m sure other mags and newspapers did.  i refer you to them.  we all had our faves; these were mine.

text ⓒarnold jay smith                                                                             photos ⓒEnid Farber 2013

January 2013

not too far from Montreux another Swiss musical giant, GEORGE GRUNTZ, left us.

Granz’s fame began in a big town, San Francisco.  but Wein & Nobs took their wares to swank sleepy villages and made them more famous than the towns themselves.

all three loomed large in the imagination of a young jazzer who dreamed of one day meeting them.  many years later i actually screwed in enough courage as a neophyte publicist/promoter to ask if i might bring some talent to their venues.  i succeeded only with Nobs, whose staff i now realize humored me and allowed me to bring tapes to Montreux.  i must have been persistent enough because enventually i was offered employment for the Montreux Jazz Festival, as long as they had an IBM Correcting Selectric typewriter.  i was to be their U.S. Correspondent, a new position that was to be created.  it never happened.

i befriended Claude’s personal assistant, Sylvie.  and…i did get to meet and spend some personal time with the legendary promoter.

while i was not in any way as close as, say Quincy Jones, the very private Claude Nobs, gourmet chef, professonal engineer, allowed me into his sanctum sanctorum, his mountain studio under Montreux.

during one summer sojourn through Europe i dropped into Montreux to visit my then friend Stan Getz who was playng there and who invited me to stop by for a taste.  i also happen to have been seeing a woman who lived nearby.  Stan liked her as well.  one thing led to another and a casual introduction to Claude was made.

i thought that would be that.  the next day while sitting in the rear of the Casino watching the rehearsal of my pals in Irakere when two of Nobs’ creative people approached me to ask if i would photograph the presentation of instruments being made to the Cuban band.  perhaps Getz set that up.  i’ll never know.  ”and when you’re finished [and present us with the undeveloped film] Mr. Nobs would like to talk with you,” they added.  ”are you available for lunch?”  the great one wanted to talk with me!

we met in his spacious office suite overlookng Lak Lemain (Lake Geneva).  we walked along the cay to the famous Castle the ground floor of which was a seasonal restaurant serving one thing: lake perch specially prepared midday, only in summer.  we sat on the lakeside patio and talked of many things musical and personal.  he did seem interested in my business background, MBA, Wall St. career.  all very casual.  when i mentioned i had an electronics bent he asked if i’d like to see his Montreux setup, in the mountain!

my mind screamed “shit yeah!”  but like Oscar Brown, Jr., i was cool.  we walked back to the Casino but never made it there as we ducked onto a path which led to his Batcave.  there in dimly indirectly lit splendor built right into the rock was equiment i had never even envisioned.  ”this,” Nobs explained “is where and how i record everything (emphasis his).”  some of the equipment he invented and had built to his specs and, i presume, patented.  i knew i was being given a very privileged tour.

the invitation to return for more further consultation came later that Winter 1979.  they paid my way to meet with the powers that be including the man himself.  we talked for two days.  Sylvie took me to lunch in a mountain top chalet with hot rum on the menu.  it was one of those dead of winter days when one could sit on the sun-drenched patio, outdoors overlooking the ski-ers.  [N.B.: it was Claude Nobs who first fired my interest in cross-country skiing.  an accident while participating in the sport eventually was his demise.]  

it was there that i got the word that the vaunted position with the MJF was not going to open anytime soon.

i did manage to leave tapes of the late vocalist Joe Lee Wilson and my brother Noel a tenor saxist whose recordings included sidemen Billy Hart, drums, and pianist Fred Hersch.

the vibrantly creative talent that was GEORGE GRUNTZ is gone.  at least his physical presence.  producer, orchestra leader, composer, pianist, arranger, organizer, the Swiss-born Gruntz was more than all of that: his personna transcended his talent.  he directed the Zurich Opera, conducted, with Quincy Jones, the band that re-created some Miles Davis-Gil Evans charts at Montreux with Miles and Wallace Roney, wrote blues operas starring the likes of Sheila Jordan and Renee Manning.

to call his tourng ensembles “all stars” does not even begin cover the topic.  his bands drew from the vastness of international jazz.  sometimes the only common language was the music itself.

Gruntz was the accompanist of choice for visiting Americans as those “Jazz Icons” videos will attest.

i called him friend.  our exchanges were like family reunions.  we shared our lives –and loves– and his joix d’vivre.  you never saw him sans smiling countenance.  our conversatons always picked up where they left off no matter how long the time or distance between.

perhaps the most important thing about George Gruntz vis-a-vis me was the letter i received in 1976 inviting me to be the guest of the Berliner Jazztage, the Berlin Jazz Festival.  he had become the Festival’s Musical Director and he liked what i had to say in the pages of Down Beat.  my first sojourn to Europe was to be behind the Iron Curtain.  indeed, to a city divided by the dreaded Berlin Wall.

i had complete freedom to get all the color for my reportage.  with that in mind record company owner Joe Fields and i decided to cross over the Wall into the East.  it was scary fun being followed by heavily fortified soldaten.  on other occasions i would take verboten photos right under the guards’ –and their dogs’– noses.

in retrospect, i’d have to say that if i didn’t feel that i had a “safe house” under the aegis of Gruntz i might never have had the guts to do that.

there are many recordings still available by the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band (GGCB) as are those Jazz Icons videos.

Claude Nobs and George Gruntz left town on the same weekend in January 2013.  the warmth of the company and the long friendships remain with me.

ⓒ arnold jay smith

January 2013

[for the uninitiated Symphony Sid was Sid Torin a late night jazz and later latin jock, given to shiny sharkskin suits and pinky rings, who broadcast from studios and "live from ringside" at the original Birdland on Broadway and 52nd St. and at long-gone and lamented Harlem spots.  his raspy voice --he smoked, a lot, as did LaRoca; helped kill 'em both-- had a clear channel so you could hear him, on AM i might add, clear up the Eastcoast into Canada on some nights unencumbered on WJZ, WEVD or WADO.  if he liked you he would play your music every night, perhaps even do an interview between sets.  evidently he liked Pete.]

songwriter Sammy Cahn when asked the inevitable question, “which comes first the words or the music,” replied with tongue-not-really-in-cheek, “first comes the phone call.”  that’s how my personal relationship with Sims began many years after Sid had left the scene and my enjoyment of LaRoca’s contributions was only on recordings.  Pete called.  seems he was setting up a new band he called “SwingTime” and needed some advice on how to go about getting noticed, and gigs.

“no fancy stuff; just ‘ching-a-ding,’” he firmly opined.  [ching-a-ding was his way of pronouncing the dotted-16th note ride cymbal pattern]  Pete LaRoca, the not-really swarthy multi-rhythm traps perfectionist, wanted to become Peter Sims, his real surname, the in-the-pocket kicker of a sextet of fly-shit-reading all stars.  i am not too jaded not to take that term lightly.  cumulatively SwingTime became Joanne Brackeen, George Cables, piano; Dave Liebman, Bobby LaVell, Joe Ford, Doug Harris, David Sanchez, reeds; Claudio Roditi, Jimmy Owens, trumpet, flugelhorn; Santi de Briano, Clint Houston, bass.  i was at all the rehearsals and eventually all the gigs i arranged for them at a satellite venue to the current Birdland called Yardbird Suite, in Cooper Square in the East Village.  Gianni Valenti was the proprietor who liked Pete.  i was the club’s publicist at the time.  and, oh yes, i have the cassettes recorded on my then top-of-line portable with extra detachable mics.  early surround sound?

by 1993, the year of SwingTime, Peter Sims, Esq., had become a lawyer with many of his musician friends as clients: Lew Tabackin, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Liebman and Mike Longo among them.  all praised him for his efforts on their behalf saying that Sims understood them and their needs, i.e., musician-to-musician, better than other attorneys.

a memorial was held at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, the so-called Jazz Church, at which i was prepared to speak.  illness curtailed my appearance as well as a few other participants, but i managed to obtain a program.  frustratingly, i am unable to comment on the performances, but pleased that i  got the tune titles from the director of the night’s dedications Randa Kirshbaum, Dave Liebman and musical director David Weiss.  herewith the play-by-play.

(1)  George Braith played his two-horned Braithaphone backed by Brackeen, Lisle Atkinson, bass, and Billy Kaye, drums.  the selections: Invitation, Body and Soul.

(2) Tabackin, tenor with Akiyoshi, piano, Boris Kozlov, bass, and Mark Taylor, drums.  selection: Akiyoshi’s Farewell.

(3) Henry Grimes, bass, with Charles Davis, tenor, and Billy Hart, drums.  selections: Sonnymoon For Two, St. Thomas.

spoken dedications by bassist Larry Ridley and Owens, who played Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen on unaccompanied flugelhorn.  i’ve heard him do this a few times; a very moving moment.

(4) Susan Renee Sims, daughter, voice with Hart, Ron Carter, bass, Owens,   Steve Kuhn, piano, Joe Ragonese, tenor.  selection: Nature Boy.

(5) Kuhn accompanied by David Weiss, trumpet, Liebman, Carter, and  Hart.  selection: Eiderdown.

(6) Slide Hampton, trombone, with Michael Weiss, piano, Burno, and Carl Allen, dums.  selections: Lament, Sippin’ At Bells.

(7) Liebman concluded with Owens, Cables, deBriano, Billy Drummond, drums, and Jon Ragonese, tenor.  selections: Tomorrow’s Expectations, Footprints.

SwingTime was a band dedicated to their leader, Pete LaRoca Sims, who was beneficent in the extreme: he paid them before, if ever, taking any remuneration himself.  his “Basra” recording was reissued when SwingTime began making some noise.  the new band, did make one recording.  both are for Blue Note.

ⓒ arnold jay smith

January 2013

DIZZY @ 95

speaking of secrets, one of the best kept jazz venue secrets in NYC is Mike and Dottie Longo‘s Jazz Tuesday’s at the New York Baha’i Center –more on that next year, their 10th– which presents jazz groups some experimental, always exploratory, premiered Mike’s latest CD (CAP) saluting and celebrating both Diz and Miles Davis.  the CD, recorded live at the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium at the New York Baha’i Center, “A Celebration of Dizzy and Miles,” contains selections from the trumpeters’ books including Gillespie’s Con Alma, Ow, Here ‘Tiz, Tour de Force and A Night In Tunisia.  the Milesian inclusions are All Blues, Milestones, Freddie Freeloader, Summertime, You Don’t Know What Love Is and So What.  Mike’s accompaniment are Paul West, bass, and Ray Mosca, drums.

the CD is a fine example of what happens there every Tuesday night for two sets.  Longo himself has three (3) bands: his trio, big band, The New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble, and a pared down funk band with some added electronics.  all have CDs available on Longo’s own CAP label.  (www.bebopyo.com)  Dizzy Gillespie was Baha’i as are Mike & Dottie Longo.

Longo, a friend of and longtime musical director for Gillespie earlier issued a  CD entitled “We Miss You John” (CAP) when the trumpet master passed.  each year at Gillespie’s birthday Longo showcases his New York State of  the Art Jazz Ensemble (16 pieces) to play a long set followed by a video.  this CD release party was a bonus.  look for a profile of Longo in JazzTimes.

Jon Faddis was guest soloist at the Manhattan School of Music celebrating their continuing 30th Anny of MSM Jazz.  (see last month’s blog.)  entitled “Dizzy Atmosphere: The Big Band Music of Dizzy Gillespie,” the challenging program of a dozen transcriptions of big band favs written by or associated with Gillespie were enthusiastically performed by the constantly and always surprising screaming all student MSM Jazz Band under Justin DiCioccio’s direction.  various composers and arrangers were included: Tadd Dameron (Good Bait), Mary Lou Williams (In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee), John Lewis/Gil Fuller/Ray Brown (One Bass Hit and Two Bass Hit),  Brown and Fuller (Ray’s Idea).  Faddis, when not called upon to solo, as in the Gillespie/Fuller Tin Tin Deo, was excitedly setting up the under-the-solo riffing.  you could see how relaxed he was having played his mentor’s music for decades, i would say with complete confidence, virtually all his life

Gillespie’s own 0op Bop Sh’Bam found a vocalization by trumpeter Ben Benack.  other familiar Dizzy tunes included A Night In Tunisia, and a boisterous Things To Come.  Manteca is of particular interest.  written with Cuban congero Chano Pozo, Diz loved to tell the story of how Chano who  could speak no English and Diz no Spanish communicated.  Diz would say,”boom bink, boom bink” sounding like a conga drum.  ”i only wrote the bridge,” he confessed.  the original arranger was Fuller.  in this case DiCioccio.

Faddis later appeared in lec-dem format at New Jersey City University’s new series entitled “2-on-1.”  co-hosted by Prof. Richard Lowenthal and your blogmeister, the idea is to bring in jazz practitioners to talk about their art and how they do it, not unlike my Jazz Insightsⓡ course at the New School.

and finally in this cursory birthday fete of Dizzy’s Faddis made an appearance with the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra fittingly at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center.  along with Frank Wess, and Phil Woods they sat in with this fine band which has been in existence since 1996.  why we don’t hear more from them i can’t understand.  this is a hot yet introspective ensemble with fine soloists.  bring ‘em back!

Faddis’ contributions included Tin Tin Deo, and Whisper Not.  Wess played the beautiful ballad, The Very Thought of You, on flute.  gorgeous and sumptuous.  then Sleepy Time Down South, on tenor.  Woods added My Man Benny for his idol Benny Carter, then Carter’s Sunset Glow.  Woods’ sensuousness still has the power to send chills down me.  the three kicked it up a notch with some musical cayenne pepper on Groovin’ High.

links of interest:

Mike Longo: www.jazztimes.com                                           ; www.bebopyo.com

Sharon Preston-Folta: www.nytimes.com                               www.amazon.com

reach me at my e-dress ajjazz9@earthlink.net 

ⓒ arnold jay smith

December 2012

Comment:

In regards to the negative commentary regarding the recent MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra concert, Harlem Hothouses, which was in tribute to long gone Harlem nightclubs and dance halls and the dislike of the conductors leadership by the blogger/writer, it must have gone over the audiences heads since at the very end they, the audience, gave a 6 minute standing ovation (it was timed by the stagehands) to the orchestra and conductor. After three curtain calls they demanded an encore which they received. There were many highlights. One in particular was the world premiere of MSM alumnus Dr. Jeremy Fletcher’s “Invisible Man” which was in dedication to the renowned Ralph Ellison novel of the same name with its unique use of rhythm (the piece was built in multiples of 3, 4 and 12) in nod to the Yoruba deity Elegua, tonal shading – a nod to Ellington’s use of color, and dynamics which were controlled by the conductor. It’s unique use of the bass clarinet as the instrument to be featured (Leo Pelligrino) a choice made by the conductor, received a rousing ovation for Mr. Pelligrino’s unique skills on an instrument rarely featured as a jazz soloist and for composer Fletcher’s brilliant tone poem. Patrick Bartley’s alto feature on Isfahan and the multi-movement finale Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite for Duke Ellington were yet other highlights of many during the evening. The final judges were the audience and the ovation at the end which reflected and affirmed what really happened during the evening.

putting it in context, there were a couple of storms in there, petrol shortages, major power outages, floods, a public transportation shutdown and a sudden spurt of winter in New York City.

PART I : SYMPHONIC ELLINGTON

those of us who soldiered up to Harlem –MSM is located at W. 122nd St, and Broadway– were rewarded by some seriously sublime moments. not only the concert but memories it drug up (sic).  conductor Justin DiCioccio, who triples as Associate Dean and Jazz Director, offered up a program called “The Symphonic Ellington.”  culled from a collection of the same title which featured some of the great Orchestras of Europe plus transcriptions from the Columbia Masterworks LP originally called “Hi Fi Ellington Uptown” (available on CD as “Ellington Uptown”) the MSM Jazz Band played in concerto grosso format buoyed by the full MSM Symphony Orchestra, some 94 strong in all.

the highlight for this writer, was the David Berger transcription of the Maestro’s and Billy Strayhorn’s suite Night Creature.  originally commissioned by, written and performed with the Symphony of the Air in 1955, it was recorded in Stockholm and Paris on “Symphonic Ellington.” as a publicist i worked on the reissue.  Ellington penned a narrative to be read prior to each movement of which there are three, originally untitled until after its initial performances including one by the National Symphony in D.C.  it reads, in part, “Night Creatures don’t come out at night; they come on.”  he was one; so was i.

further, when Alvin Ailey premiered his choreographed version of if for his company at the City Center in N.Y.C. in the 1970′s with Duke’s son Mercer  on the podium i covered it for Down Beat.  it remains one of the most spectacular performances i have ever experienced and remains high in the pantheon of the Alvin Ailey repertoire encored regularly, sans live musical accompaniment.  it was also the premiere of a dance review in the pages of that magazine.  a poster from the “Ailey-Ellington” event hangs prominently in my entrance foyer.

[a personal note: i took my two then-young children with me.  the Maestro signed a post card recreation photo which they still have.] 

at a Duke Ellington Society N.Y.C. Conference which i chaired (dare i say choreographed?) then Ailey director Judith Jamison sat on a panel with Duke’s granddaughter Mercedes chatting choreographer-to-choreographer about Ellington’s participation with Ailey.  it was like being a fly-on-the-wall. (see photo below.)

(l-r) Ellington Society Pres. Ray Carman, Ailey Director Judith Jamison, Mercedes Ellington, arnold jay smith

so faithful to the original was the MSM performance that there is an underground buzz being created to get it released on CD.  you will read about it here first.

other Berger/Ellington transcriptions played in the Borden Auditorium at MSM that night included (A Tone Parallel To) Harlem, expanded and extended versions of Mood Indigo and Caravan and a premiere (to these ears) of the complete Queen’s Suite for full orchestra.

this is the essence of this music.  it’s not about treating it as museum pieces but about how it continues to live and breathe and offer great rewards to students and audiences alike.  one could see the young string players getting into what they were doing.  the respectful surprise of the European classical students with their noses buried in the difficult sheet music on the stands before them –most were reading their parts– and the joy of the American classical (jazz) players, who seemed to be performing from their hearts, knowing they were playing the great Maestro’s music.

i have heard how DiCioccio drives them to perfection.  it shows.  Justin, “we love you madly,”

PART II : THE MSM AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA: HARLEM HOT HOUSES

as sublime and subtle was the Ellington the dramatically and jarringly  opposite presentment was true of what followed a week later.  band director Bobby Sanabria led the MSM Afro-Cuban Ensemble in what was called “Harlem Hothouses.”  the guest was his friend and mentor NEA Master congero Candido Camero.

a frequent guest at MSM, the 90-year old Camero demonstrated his multiple-congas flying fingers on a piece written for him by Andrew Neesley, Que Viva Candido.  (N.B.: Sanabria, Candido and Michael Philip Mossman sat on another panel for that Ellington conference.  see photo below.)

(l-r) Candido, Michael Philip Mossman, arnold jay smith. (Bobby Sanabria sat to Candido’s right out of this image.)

the MSM program consisted of dedications to various Harlem edifices, personages and moments: Ellington at the Cotton Club, Dr. Billy Taylor in a premiere by Eugene Marlow called Taylored for Billy, Count Basie and the Woodside Hotel, Dizzy Gillespie, Strayhorn and Ellington, Machtio, Tito Puente and Spanish Harlem and the concluding Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite for Duke Ellington by Mossman.  it was heartening to see and hear that Duke Ellington is so remembered, revered and respected at MSM.

however, save for rare moments of introspection Sanabria’s penchant for overpowering his audience was unrelievable.  whether he was conducting or playing the drums his percussive attack was all f-f-f (triple forte).

the interesting part was how he reinterpreted, Afro-Cuban-wise, Jumpin’ At The Woodside, Woody’n You, which he identified as formerly Con Alma (news to me), and Isfahon.

PART III : SANABRIA AT THE DUKE ELLINGTON SOCIETY

Sanabria’s depth and knowledge of Afro-Cuban music history was demonstrated some weeks later at a meeting of The Duke Ellington Society.  his hour-and-a-half presentation opened a whole lot of eyes and ears, mine included, to the fact that Louis Armstrong and Ellington each recorded versions of an early Cuban tune, El Manisero (the Peanut Vendor).  ”they didn’t get the clavé right,” Sanabira said. “but they did record it and they swung it their own inimitable way.”  Louis’ vocal interpretation of the street vendor’s call, “Ma-a-ni,” is precious, as always.

Bobby Sanabria (l) & arnold jay smith @ Ellington Society (photo © 2012 Frederic Sater)

all the more puzzling as to why this brilliant musician, historian and educator belied the unsubtle manner he conducted the MSM A-C ensemble.

next month we celebrate Dizzy @ 95 with Mike Longo, Jon Faddis with the MSM Jazz Orchestra and at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Faddis lecturing at New Jersey City University, as well as an update of goings-on at the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium at New York’s Baha’i Center and related matters.

text © arnold jay smith, November 2012