Eddie Higgins 1932 - 2009

By Lee Mergner
The versatile pianist Eddie Higgins died Aug. 31 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He was 77 years old. The cause of death was cancer. Higgins was born and raised in Cambridge, Mass., and started playing piano when he was just 4 years old. After attending Andover Prep where his father taught, Higgins left for Chicago to attend Northwestern University. He proceeded to spend his formative years as a professional musician in that city, working with a veritable who’s who of mainstream jazz.
For one span of more than 10 years, Higgins and his trio served as the house band at the London House in Chicago, frequently playing on bills with the greats of jazz, such as Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and many others. During his time in Chicago he also recorded as a sideman on various recordings led by jazz players of nearly every style, including Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Al Grey and Jack Teagarden. A quintessential sideman, Higgins recorded sporadically in the ’60s as a leader for small labels like Vee-Jay, Replica and Atlantic. Moving back to the New England area in 1970, Higgins settled in Cape Cod and gigged as a solo pianist and bandleader. He later formed a partnership, both personal and professional, with the singer Meredith D’Ambrosio, whom he married in 1988. Over the years, the two recorded both together and separately for Sunnyside, as well as Venus, generally releasing about one CD per year since 1990, including Christmas CDs in 2004, 2005 and 2008. In a review for JazzTimes in 1997, Doug Ramsey called Higgins’ third album for Sunnyside, Portrait in Black and White, “one of the most impressive piano trio albums in recent memory.” And, he added, “Higgins is less a stylist than a brilliant generalist who ranges through the history of the music, selecting, winnowing and refining. He has long since melded his touch, voicings, relaxation, inventiveness and natural swing into an approach that draws from all eras of jazz piano without being tied to any of them. Rather than blandness, his eclecticism brings to his improvisations focus, definition and purpose.” D’Ambrosio and Higgins became staples of the mainstream jazz parties, as well as the jazz cruises. In fact, the couple wintered in the Ft. Lauderdale area, not far from the embarkation point of many of the cruises. In 2006, The Jazz Cruise inducted Higgins into their Hall of Fame. A very literate man, Higgins sometimes wrote his own liner notes in a wry, self-effacing style.
Higgins’ ashes will be spread by his home in Cape Cod, Mass.

George Russell 1923 - 2009

Caros Amigos,
Faleceu ontem, o primeiro musico a entender a grandeza do jazz e do Bill Evans: George Russell.




Posted Tue Jul 28, 2009, 9:04 PM ET
George Russell died today, at the age of 86, after a long bout with Alzheimer’s, and if you’ve never heard of him, all the deeper pity.
Russell was one of the great unsung heroes of modern jazz. In this summer when many are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, it is worth noting that there would have been no such album—the art of jazz might have languished in post-Parker malaise for a few years longer—had there been no George Russell.
Born in Cincinnati, a prodigy on piano and drums, he moved to New York in the late 1940s, wrote “Cubano Be, Cubano Bop” (the pioneering work of Afro-Cuban jazz) for Dizzy Gillespie, and joined a coterie of composers—most notably Gil Evans, John Lewis, and Gerry Mulligan—pushing the music in more inventive directions.
Soon after, Russell contracted pneumonia and spent over a year at St. Joseph’s Hospital in the Bronx, where a nurse showed him a piano in a library that almost nobody used. Friends brought him musical theory books, and every day he fiddled with new combinations of chords and scales. Finally, he hit upon a whole new way of playing jazz—improvising not on chord changes, as Gillespie and Charlie Parker had done in the bebop revolution of a decade earlier, but on scales, specifically church modes that hadn’t been explored by anyone in over a century.
The distinction might sound academic, but it was profound. When a bebop musician improvises, the chord changes serve as a compass; they point the directions to the next bar or the next phrase. The chords follow a particular pattern; you knew what the next chord would be. Playing blues, you also knew that this sequence of chord changes would be finished in 12 bars, and then you’d either end your solo or start over again. The best musicians took flighty excursions on these solos, but the chord structure determined or limited which notes they could play and for how long.
With Russell’s theory, the compass was thrown out the window, or its needle was sent spinning in multiple directions. You could play the notes of the chord, or any note along its scale, and you could play on that scale for as long as you wanted. As Russell put it in his book, The Lydian Chromatic concept of Tonal Organization for Improvisation, “The concept provides the possibilities. It is for the musicians to sing his own song, really, without having to meet the deadline of a particular chord.”
Miles Davis was a friend of Russell’s and one of the first to grasp his theory’s implications. “When you go this way,” Davis explained in a 1958 interview with Nat Hentoff, “you can go on forever. You don’t have to worry about changes, and you can do more with time. It becomes a challenge to see how melodically inventive you are… I think a movement in jazz is beginning, away from the conventional string of chords and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variations. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.”
Kind of Blue, recorded in 1959, would be the perfect expression of this concept—and the exemplar for a new generation of jazz musicians seeking freer ways of playing music (sometimes for the better, sometimes not).
Russell led some great albums of his own: Jazz Workshop with Bill Evans (whom he introduced to Miles Davis—another prerequisite to the wondrous novelty of Kind of Blue), Ezz-thetic with Eric Dolphy, and New York, New York with Evans, Bob Brookmeyer, Max Roach, and John Coltrane. All are very much worth checking out.

2 Sem. 2009 - Part One

The Christian Jacob Trio
Live In Japan - WilderJazz 0801



Um grande pianista e arranjador, acompanha a cantora Thierney Sutton (da qual sou um admirador) desde seu inicio, há mais de dez anos. Aqui está o Trio sem a cantora. So confirma o grande musico que ele eh. Uma pena que grave tão pouco. Muito bom Cd.

by JazzTimes
The Christian Jacob Trio with bassist Trey Henry and drummer Ray Brinker, is probably best known as Tierney Sutton’s back-up band. But they have also been a stand-alone ensemble for 12 years and sound like it. They interweave their three voices with a confidence and clarity that only come with time.
This album was recorded at the TUC jazz club in Tokyo. Christian Jacob makes the inspired choice to include four melodies that “every Japanese person would recognize.” They are depictions of the four seasons that have been taught in Japanese elementary schools for generations. “Hana” is a little like “Up Up And Away” and is airy and bright with the affirmation of spring. Jacob’s trio makes “Akatonbo” sound like a classic jazz ballad about autumn.
Jacob is an accomplished pianist, but his single greatest strength may be his capacity for creating fresh, ambitious, architecturally meticulous trio arrangements. That skill accounts for his seamless transformation of old Japanese children’s songs into jazz. It also explains why his versions of done-to-death standards like “Too Close for Comfort” and “All or Nothing At All” and “It Never Entered My Mind” all sound like their composers wrote them yesterday and gave them to Jacob to rework them.


Denny Zeitlin Trio
In Concert - Sunnyside SSC-1206



Um belissimo CD, do grande Denny Zeitlin. Grava pouco em função de ser psiquiatra e grande sommelier.

by Michael G. Nastos
Denny Zeitlin is the greatest unsung modern pianist jazz has ever produced. His daily occupation as a psychotherapist keeps him close to home in Northern California, but he occasionally steps out with a concert performance or very worthwhile recording. On this CD, done at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles or the Outpost in Albuquerque, you get the best of both with professional musicians like bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson. Usually heard solo or in duets, we should be happy Zeitlin's trio hits on all cylinders of passion, literacy, brilliant inventive musicianship, and teamwork to offer a set of music that should please anyone who enjoys original jazz keyboard works without compromise. What is telling in the construct of Zeitlin's melodies, reharmonizations, and solos is that he is always interesting without being flashy or bound to clichés. He has his own voice on his instrument, an admirable quality very few can claim. To "facilitate airplay," Zeitlin splits "Mr P.C." in two shorter parts, the first portion a furiously fast paced blow out with harmonic add ons and a solo break motivated by stride implications, the second an easier swing with bass and drum solos. He also apportions the near-20-minute medley of the standard "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" in improvised and open, completed phrases with his pensive original "10,000 Eyes" with no real paraphrasing or reduced value between the two. When Zeitlin plays a ballad such as "The We of Us," the melody is again advanced instead of sublimated, while the standard "All of You" is revised and reharmonized many times over. Zeitlin's greatest artistic achievement, his Zen-like musings, come full circle during the complex "Prime Times" where endless ideas tumble like streams of consciousness. The David Friesen composition "Signs & Wonders" starts with Zeitlin's atypically zinged strings and arpeggios leading to a free discourse without Wilson, then to swing in two-fisted chordal punctuations and rumblings. The expert backing of Williams and Wilson allows the pianist great freedom to play any way he wants, and the result is an incredibly diverse program within the tried and true piano-bass-drums format. That Denny Zeitlin gets better and better with the passage of time is not surprising. That he is as great as any in contemporary jazz — and that includes Keith Jarrett or Chick Corea — should be a well kept secret no longer. You'd be well advised to pick up this extraordinary live date, and his other live trio CD for the Venus label, as well as his reissued recordings for Columbia records from the Mosaic series.


Joey DeFrancesco
Estate - Zucca Records 2008



O Cd Estate, Joey vem tocando alem do organ, trumpet, fulgelhorn, & vocal. O disco eh gravado na Italia, e eh muito bom, com o bonus de um novo pianista Massimo farao ( sera irmao do Antonio ?? ).


Joey D ! - HighNote HCD-7190



O segundo CD JOEY D ! , um trio e como um sempre um belissimo disco, e apresenta seu novo organ da Diversi.

By Jack Bowers
Joey DeFrancesco, who has graduated from heir-apparent to undisputed king among contemporary jazz organists, is in his element here, presiding over a trio comprised of himself, undervalued tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon and reliable drummer Byron Landham. Rest assured DeFrancesco's nimble fingers are as virtuosic as ever, and there's no need to fret about the slender rhythm section, as DeFrancesco happily provides his own.
DeFrancesco is perfectly at ease and in control even though recording for the first time on a new Diversi DV-Duo Plus drawbar organ with "modified sound engine and modeling technology." It comes alive, as one would expect, in DeFrancesco's proficient hands, and he is squarely on his game regardless of mood or tempo. The same can be said of Weldon, an unapologetic bopper whose hard-edged tenor complements superbly the leader's more even-tempered moments. Landham, DeFrancesco's longtime companion and helpmate, is ideally cast in the role of rhythmic navigator.
DeFrancesco's choice of music is exemplary, from Miles Davis meteoric curtain-raiser, "Dig," to the heated finale, Gene Ammons impulsive "Blues Up and Down" (which underlines the Dexter Gordon ascendancy in Weldon's arsenal). The trio even manages to make "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" seem fresh and engaging. Completing the prismatic program are J.J. Johnson's plaintive "Lament" and the tasteful standards "If Ever I Should Lose You," "Besame Mucho," "Come Dance with Me" and "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)," the last two associated with Sinatra.
This is high-quality straight-ahead contemporary jazz, a worthy successor to splendid organ trios led in years past. DeFrancesco is the monarch now, and if Joey D! is any signpost, he harbors no desire to abdicate.


Luigi Ferrara Quartet
Another Day - Philology W 728.2



O sucessor do grande Toots. A Italia eh o pais que mais produz Jazz no mundo e da mais alta qualidade. O grupo eh forte e inspirado, tem um belissimo pianista: Ramberto Ciammarughi. O belo CD.
Luigi Ferrara, musicista marchigiano residente è, da oltre un decennio, uno dei Pianisti- Armonicisti più apprezzati del panorama jazz nazionale. Alcuni anni dopo la realizzazione del suo primo CD "The Life Always' e la registrazione, a Londra, del CD "Simply Me" insieme alla cantante inglese Helen Abbey, l'artista pubblica, proprio in questi giorni, il suo ultimo lavoro discografico."Another Day" – è questo il nome del CD prodotto dalla Philology Records – è stato realizzato insieme ai musicisti Ramberto Ciammarughi (piano), Gabriele Pesaresi (contrabbasso) e Massimo Manzi (batteria). Corriere Adriatico (Italia)

Track List :
1 - Rio
2 - Another Day
3 - In Love In Vain
4 - Blues Hot
5 - Simple Life
6 - Blue To You
7 - Presenza E Apparenza
8 - Mamma
9 - Moment
10 - Libero
11 - Bill Evans


Introducing Giulio Stracciati Trio
Free Three - Philology W 328.2



Uma grande surpresa, não sabia que a Italia fazia guitarista. O trio todo eh desconhecido, mas o CD eh muito bom.

By Marco Losavio per Jazzitalia
Se si suona con coinvolgimento, se la musica spicca il suo volo densa dell'intimità di chi l'ha prodotta, quando giunge all'ascoltatore non può non farsi notare. E' come osservare con i propri occhi una storia, ce ne sono tante, tutte uguali, ma se se ne riconosce l'autenticità allora si rimane, a propria volta, coinvolti. E' ciò che capita ascoltando lo scontato disco di Giulio Stracciati. Già, scontato come potrebbe essere un qualsiasi lavoro che si presenta con un trio chitarra, contrabbasso e batteria e con una sfilza di standard suonati ovunque e da chiunque. L'ascolto quindi deve necessariamente mettere da parte la pretesa di percepire novità, idee geniali che facciano gridare al miracolo, sarebbe controproducente e non sortirebbe effetti positivi. Se invece ci si pone dinanzi a questo album con rilassatezza e con il "semplice" proposito di voler ascoltare un buon jazz ben suonato allora si potrà ascoltare una musica fluida, articolata secondo gli stilemi classici rispettati ed assimilati in modo molto adeguato, con un ottimo controllo dinamico e dei suoni, con una padronanza di linguaggio ragguardevole e, perchè no, con delle invenzioni estemporanee che lasciano anche spazio a sprazzi di novità piacevoli come l'arrangiamento di My Funny Valentine, l'interplay di Memories of Istanbul, i momenti con la chitarra classica di Ouverture e Folk I.
Il chitarrismo di Stracciati fa riecheggiare fraseggi della scuola di Mick Goodrick, Joe Diorio, basati innanzitutto sulla elevata pulizia delle note, l'uso delle dita, i rapidi spostamenti tonali che rendono meno scontate le soluzioni adottate, lo sfruttamento delle triadi, l'andamento obliquo delle frasi. Poi c'è il senso del respiro, il suono della chitarra che, come una voce, rispetta un'esigenza fisica, quella di prendere fiato, principio di cui il grande maestro è Jim Hall e che Stracciati ha assimilato riportandolo in modo naturale nel suo modo di suonare senza perdere in virtuosismo, anzi, riuscendo a prendere velocità in modo molto più consistente ma senza affanno, quindi con timing notevole. La capacità di attendere che il suono abbia finito il suo corso, la mancanza di fretta, possibili grazie a molta tecnica nel tocco, alla solida consapevolezza delle dinamiche disponibili. Ma tutto questo vuol dir poco o nulla se poi non lo si condisce con quell'ingrediente citato all'inizio: l'intimità, la propria anima musicale che rende il tutto comunque unico, forte di un'identità che anche se può tardare dal punto di vista prettamente stilistico (impresa oggi titanica!) sicuramente non manca dal punto di vista della musicalità, del gusto e dell'impronta impressa al suono globale.
Il merito quindi di "Free Three" è nell'essere riuscito a trasmettere, ad arrivare, a non restare lì, nel lettore, a suonare senza che l'ascoltatore se ne accorgesse. Al contrario cattura l'attenzione, impone la ricerca del silenzio per potersi far ascoltare meglio. Altro merito è quello di aver offerto a chi scrive (e speriamo davvero a tanti altri) l'opportunità di conoscere la raffinatezza di un batterista come Piero Borri, eccellente, fondamentale nel permettere che Stracciati abbia potuto esprimersi nel modo descritto e la possenza e precisione dell'ungherese Janos Egri al contrabbasso. Due musicisti che hanno contribuito in modo determinante al raggiungimento del suono globale, risultato a cui ogni trio ha il dovere di ambire.
Good for you, Giulio!

Enrico Rava
New York Days - ECM2064



Ultimamente tenho a certeza de estar ouvindo o melhor trumpetista do Jazz, e quando se junta com o Stefano Bollani, não tem para nobody. Eh um CD no estilo Rava, a medida que se vai ouvindo, vai crescendo no prazer do Jazz. Obrigatorio.

By John Kelman
In assessing Enrico Rava's lengthy career, while it is clear that he is still reaching for the unattainable, in recent years the Italian trumpeter's context has been considerably more centrist. Easy Living (ECM, 2004) and The Words and the Days(ECM, 2007) were undeniably mainstream, albeit with an unmistakable European and, at times, Mediterranean bent. New York Days teams Rava and pianist Stefano Bollani—last heard in duet on the marvelous The Third Man (ECM, 2008)—together with perennially underrated tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, increasingly ubiquitous bassist Larry Grenadier and drum icon Paul Motian for a set of nine originals and two free improvisations that, like The Third Man combine innate lyricism and swing with some of Rava's freest playing in years.
Whether suggested by Rava or ECM owner/producer Manfred Eicher, it's an inspired grouping. Motian collaborated with Rava and Bollani on TATI (ECM, 2005), though that was a more compositionally democratic affair. Here, with the exception of the two improvs, it's all Rava, and the trumpeter's writing brings the set a greater stylistic focus. The material does have breadth, however, ranging from the dark-hued, European impressionism of "Interiors" to "Thank You, Come Again," which leans more to the west side of the Atlantic in its harmonic approach and gentle swing.
Elsewhere, however, there are unexpected detours. "Outsider" begins with Grenadier's frenetic bass line, setting the stage for Bollani's oblique harmonies and Motian's trademark implicitness. Rava retains his own unmistakable melodicism while reaching for abstract heights as Grenadier, Bollani and Motian regularly break down and regroup, with Rava leaving space for Turner to demonstrate the kind of immediacy that's made him a highly respected figure amongst musicians—if not a hugely popular figure amongst the jazz listening populace. Wayne Shorter-like in his cerebralism and ability to make a single note mean everything, he darts in and out, punctuating and delivering lean, lithe lines that set up a brief but unrelenting duet between Bollani and Motian where the excitement is ratcheted up, with Grenadier only reentering in time for a brief recapitulation of the piece's high velocity theme.
How well these artists work together— intersecting in the past but never together as a quintet (e.g. TATI, Turner with Grenadier in Fly; Grenadier with Motian's Trio 2000+One)—is, perhaps, best heard on the two improvisations. Despite the freedom of "Outsider," "Improvisation I" is a classic case of pulling form from the ether, as the quintet gradually coalesces, over the course of four spare minutes, to create a clear compositional kernel. "Improvisation II" is starker still, but half-way through Bollani begins to bring form, leading to a remarkable series of cascading lines where the quintet magically connects.
Throughout, Turner's interactions with Rava at an equally deep level are further evidence of his remarkable talent. As the entire quintet finds new ways to coincidentally respect and reject tradition, New York Days emerges early in 2009 as one of Rava's richest and most rewarding showings since he returned to the label in 2003.
Track Listing:

Lulu; Improvisation I; Outsider; Certi Angoli Segreti; Interiors; Thank You, Come Again; Count Dracula; Luna Urbana; Improvisation II; Lady Orlando; Blancasnow.
Personnel: 

Enrico Rava: trumpet; Mark Turner: tenor saxophone; Stefano Bollani: piano; Larry Grenadier: double-bass; Paul Motian: drums.


Peter Nordahl Trio
The Look Of Love - ADCD 26



Ouvi Peter Nordahl pela primeira vez acompanhando a cantora Lisa Ekdahl. Ela aquela tipica voz nordica "fina" mas o trio muito bom. Este eh o primeiro CD que ouço dele. Bons arranjos, bem tocado e em consequencia uma bela surpresa.


Julia Hülsmann Trio
The End of a Summer - ECM2079



A alemã Julia Hulsmann tem um estilo "ECM", mas com boas composições. Este eh o prmeiro CD trio dela que escuto, me lembrou o segundo CD do Tord Gustavson. Belo inicio. Tem um outro CD dela com o cantor Roger Cicero.

By John Kelman
Why do some artists achieve popularity in their own country and fail to make an impression elsewhere, while others cross that boundary with apparent ease? It's easy to argue that there's an "X" factor involved, a singular and identifiable something that allows an Esbjorn Svensson to attain international stature while pianist Julia Hulsmann, with a trio nearly as old as the late Svensson's heralded e.s.t., hasn't managed to break out of her native Germany.
Differentiation is key; equally, exposure is a factor. e.s.t. landed a strong break with its two-album Columbia deal in North America, spending some serious road time in Europe, Canada, and the United States. While three of Hulsmann's first four discs are on the not insignificant German ACT label, they didn't receive the same kind of international push. The End of A Summer, the pianist's first pure trio disc since the indie Trio (BIT, 2003), benefits not only from its wider reach, but from the brand loyalty ECM has built over the past four decades. That The End Of A Summer is deserving of that loyalty only makes Hulsmann and her twelve year-old trio all the more overdue a discovery.
Hulsmann has, in the past, demonstrated a pop sensibility not unlike Svensson's, enlisting singers to interpret pop music by Randy Newman, Nick Drake, and Sting, as well as the oblique poetry of e.e. cummings and the fatalistic Emily Dickinson, supported by Hulsmann's own music. Here, stripped down to its essentials—bassist Marc Muelbauer and drummer Heinrich Kobberling—Hulsmann's trio continues to largely work in song-like miniature, with the disc's ten tracks rarely cracking the five minute mark. Lyricism and introspection define the set, although the trio isn't averse to bursts of energy on Hulsmann's spry "Quint" and more dramatic yet still sparsely populated "Geld," where Muelbauer's pedal point allows the pianist to wax modal, even as the occasional injection of changes lends it more definitive form.
The chemistry is deep and the approach democratic. Muellbauer's robust bass is a melodic partner to Hulsmann's gentle but confident touch on Kobberling's "Where In The World" where the trio subtly stretches and contracts time, underscoring its unshakable forward motion with an understated tension and release. On Hulsmann's more pensive title track and Muellbauer's deceptively idiosyncratic and implicitly swinging "Last One Out," the trio combines generous use of space with thoughtful melodies—at times, near-singable but elsewhere more curious and opaque. Hulsmann demonstrates elegant simplicity and respectful reverence on a tender rework of the Seal hit "Kiss From A Rose" and her own "Senza," adding blue shades to her lengthy solo on the loosely swinging "Not The End Of The World."
Avoiding blatant virtuosity, The End Of A Summer engages, instead, on a deeper, more subconscious level. Profoundly beautiful and possessing a telepathic interaction that can only come from years playing together, this may not be the Julia Hulsmann Trio's debut, but it will be a first encounter for many, and a fine one it is.

Kenny Rankin ( 1940 - 2009 )

Faleceu em 07 de junho de 2009, um grande musico, cantor, que cativou-me pela sensibilidade em que sempre mostrou-se em seus CD's ou DVD's. Kenny Rankin foi quem me mostrou o talento de nossa Rosinha(Rosa Passos). Segue uma de suas ultimas entrevistas.

By R.J.DeLuke
Kenny Rankin died of lung cancer on June 7th, 2009.
This interview was conducted in July 2002.
He sings with a fluid ease, whether it's a standard like "The Very Thought of You," the Beatles "Blackbird," a Latin-flavored "Berimbau," or his own "In the Name of Love." His soft voice caresses the most delicate phrases and gallops at fast tempos. But always, there is the twist of a phrase, taking a line somewhere unexpected, but inspired; a harmony tossed in that gives the song a lift, a tug here or there, a new way of showing you what the lyric is about. He's an interpreter whose brushes are dipped in passion and feeling and beauty.
He's Kenny Rankin, a treasure for over three decades. If he isn't often mentioned in the discussion of classic singers, it's not because he lacks the talent. Maybe it's because he's hard to categorize. He has a fondness for the great standards and can play a jazz room, but he has played folk and rock gigs as well. When it comes down to it, categories don't matter. Rankin quotes the oft-repeated Duke Ellintonism that there's only two types of music: good and bad.
"I'm just a singer. And I can sing anything that touches my heart," says Rankin in his mellow tenor tone. "And I think anybody can. If it touches you, it moves you. You're human. You're real. It stirs a passion. You become compassionate for whatever the song is being written about, sung about; spoken about... I can sing 'Blackbird,' I can sing 'Round Midnight.' I can sing 'Billie's Blues.' I can sing 'My Baby Just Cares For Me.' And I can sing that, and friggin' mean it. Because I've been there. Done that. I've got the T-shirt. You know what I mean?"
Listen to his albums over the years and you know he's right. Kenny Rankin, if nothing else, is passionate about his art. He's about to unveil the latest—very worthy—documentation of his musical journey. A Song For You will be released on the Verve label in August, produced by Tommy LiPuma and Al Schmitt. It's his first collaboration with those giants of the recording industry and he's excited about it. He should be.
The tunes on A Song for You are those that have been around, even a couple he's recorded before. But don't expect "Round Midnight" to sound like the version on Because of You, nor "I've Just Seen a Face" to sound like the rendition on the live disc from New York City's Bottom Line. The disc is fresh, heartfelt, and full of expression. It's Rankinesque, damn it.
Rankin jumped into a music career at a young age, signing with Decca as a teenager after a brief encounter with an agent who recognized his talent right away. He admits singing has always come natural to him. And he's pretty much always done things his own way. A conversation with Rankin is a free-flowing dialog about music and art, zest for both music and life and compassion. His eloquent dialogue is laced with humility and humor. And it's genuine. Like his art. Rankin is a person with everything in perspective. That shows up in his work.
"I've said this before, but I think it's worth repeating, because I think it explains it," he says in his casual, unassuming manner. "When I was born and was a kid, I was blessed with this gift of music. Because it came so easily, I thought what I did was who I was. Most of my career I thought that. Not consciously, but I thought that. Because being appreciated and acknowledged is a very intoxicating thing. It's very heady. Over the years I've come to understand that what I do is not who I am. Although I love my job, I'm not my work.
"The gift that's been given to me, of ability, I bring that to the work. So it's about the work. Which takes all the pressure off, and it comes back to me inside as an expression, as passion. As compassion for whoever's being spoken about. Then when I bring it on the stage in a concert setting, it's about—not me—it's about the audience, who've invited me into their evening. And given me the opportunity to share what I've discovered.
"So it's a joyful noise. It's a union of two energies; of my own and the audience; which gives rise to this wonderful experience that we all share. That I'm delivering it is kind of secondary, although I'm very honored to be able to do that, and grateful to be able to do that. And I'm having the time of my life. I'm having more fun. This is one of the easiest recordings I've ever made and had the pleasure of being involved in... Since what I do is not who I am, I'm out of the way, so there's really no obstacles in that sense. What's coming up is just a natural flow of ability. That's pretty much it."
Sounds easy. Isn't. But Rankin has a wealth of natural ability that has helped him put across the music his fans have loved for decades. Whether A Song For You brings in droves of new fans isn't the point. Creating the art is the means to a creative end. In the ear of the behearer, as it were.
"I listened to Sinatra and Mathis and Torme. I don't really listen to them, but I've heard them. It's more like the song," he says. "What is done with the song. I never took it apart. I never diagnosed it. I never did a biopsy on anyone or anything in music. What happens is, I have an experience. I have this feeling. I can relate to this, that or the other thing. Let me express my view of it. That's sort of what I do. I'm sort of an organic kind of guy."
Rankin grew up in New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood, which he said was a mix of various Latin cultures. Growing up wasn't easy there, and he found acceptance in music. Specifically, he says, the ice broke in the fourth grade when his teacher, Isabel Pringle, had him sing "Oh Holy Night," for a school Christmas play. After singing it, "she came over and patted me on the head and said, 'Kenneth, that was lovely.' And she sent me on the path of music that I find myself on today. Word for word, that's what happened."
"And I never did homework again," he chuckled. "I became consumed with singing and music. Because I found something, or something found me, where I could get that pat on the head. Everybody wants to be loved. This was my vehicle to that end."
The rest was easy—almost too easy, Rankin acknowledges.
"What happened was, I was 16, and I kept hocking my mother about taking singing lessons. What happened was we went downtown one day to 57th Street, and I auditioned for this guy named Al Seigel for $10. He said, 'OK, I'll teach you.' The next week, he took me over to see a guy named Bobby Brenner at MCA, the agency. By the next week he was at Decca Records and signed me on the spot.
"They gave me a stack of songs and told me to pick four. They didn't tell me what to do. They made one suggestion, 'Itsy Bitsy, Teenie, Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.' I said, I don't know about that. I don't like the beach. I don't like seaweed on my feet. Even at that age, I didn't know if I can get behind singing about clothes. So we didn't pick that one. That was the beginning of my recording career."
"What did I know?" he says, bemused by the whole situation. "I was just so happy. Of course after that, I'm walking down the street with my mom, looking at the Cadillacs, saying we're going to get one of those. Big dreams, you know. Expectations. They wind up to be resentments under construction," he chortles at the memory.
Rankin never did study the works of great improvisational singers. Instead, he followed his own inner voice. But in 1960, he met his main musical influence in the person of Laura Nyro, singer-songwriter highly regarded among musicians in New York City who came up in that era. Her career blossomed to national prominence.
"As I look back, she profoundly changed my musical life, and affected my musical life to this day, and always will," he says fondly. "She was probably the one musician that impacted my creativity more than anyone or anything else. She was deep; she was dark; she was light; she was the spectrum of passion. When we met in Greenwich Village, we immediately fell in love with each other, in that linear way. We were so friend-mates. I drew from her so much of how to sing."
"I never studied her. I'm a lazy guy, I don't study. I never did," he laughs. "I'm kind of lazy in that way, but I absorb. And it became part of my soul. And we came from the same place, which is why we were such kindred spirits. We came from that same groove of music and we heard the same things."
Rankin won't say how old he is. "I'm too old to die young. Leave it at that," he says with a warm laugh. "I've gotten older, but I haven't grown up yet." Good enough. He's in a great place, enjoying his art. He's wise enough now to know they aren't one and the same. We should all be so lucky.
"I get the opportunity to live my life and what a really interesting thing, when you get out of the way and just observe your place in it and be glad you're still standing. My big attitude today? I'm glad I survived myself. That's it."
"I'm still viable and still making music. Making people happy. I get these e-mails sometimes at my website that really just fill me with joy and love that I've made a change in people's lives or the songs that I've selected have affected people in such a way that they tell me. There's no better reward, better prize."
Rankin spoke about his new music and his writing with All About Jazz.
All About Jazz (AAJ): I've followed you since the late 70s. The new one seems to have a laid back, a little softer tone, to me. Is that the concept, or is it just where you are now? Is it the song selection?
Kenny Rankin (KR): I've never approached any recording with a concept. I think that, for me, the softness you refer to might be a result of an evolving process as an interpreter. There will be work that I do in the future that might have some more energy. But each song, piece by piece, dictates, pretty much, what's going to happen, relating to what's being said. And it's all about the lyric. I have been accused of straying from the melody. When I'm singing I'm not really thinking, I'm feeling.
I think a mellowing comes with time as well. But for the most part, it's the feeling that the songs give to me. For example, "Spanish Harlem," which is not necessarily a jazz tune. That song speaks to me because that's my neighborhood. That's where I grew up in Washington Heights. And of course you venture into other neighborhoods in this wonderful island called New York City. The roots for that song were deep. The rest, like "A Song For You," you have someone in mind that you want to speak to.
For me as a singer and an interpreter, I get to say things with these songs, and most songs, to someone a lot easier than I would to try and speak to them the words I feel. Songs are just a great way of... [pensive pause]... putting feelings out there.
“I've always messed with the melodies. I've always heard something other than what was written... I like to say that what I do is: I sing the story, and I tell the song.”
On stage or on a recording, I get to speak to whoever might be in my mind, in my heart, in my life, in my day, these words that were written by some wonderful composers. Although when I sing it, I don't really have a personal experience in particular, I might have a life experience in general about the song. Like "Where Do You Start," for instance, by Allan and Marilyn Bergman. I have moved in and out of relationships and they've begun and ended for one reason or another and collected things along the way. Boy, that really speaks to it—the sadness and the heartache of these individuals who now must separate their lives. And to some extent, their belongings, which are a reflection of memories, as well as their feelings. I love doing that.
AAJ: You mentioned you don't do concept albums, which is great. Some people do, which is probably the business people directing them in that way. That being said, what do you do when you approach a project? Do you just have some songs that you're feeling at the moment that you'd like to get out?
KR: I can tell you how we did this one. First of all, it's the first time in my career that I've worked with such extraordinarily gifted producers. Tommy LiPuma along with Al Schmitt. In my opinion, these guys are the Scorceses of music. Tommy is a producer- producer and Al is an engineer producer. For someone like myself, it doesn't really get any better than that.
I sat down and we just started going through songs, looking at a lot of songs and listening to things, and titles, and what jumps out at me. They asked me to do the basic arrangements. Tommy and Al said, "Take the guitar and after you pick out your songs, do with them what you want." So I'd pick out songs. The litmus test was—I'd be playing a tune and I'm into the zone of it, and suddenly some of the hairs on my arm would stand up and I'd get a chill. Sometimes Al and Tommy would experience the same thing, and say, "Man, this is good!"
AAJ: One song, in particular, "Round Midnight," had maybe the most different take that I've heard of that song.
KR: Well, the lyric is so morose...[exaggerates] "...it really gets badddd, round midnight." God! I'm goin' out a window [chuckle]. I'm glad I didn't write that, but I know how that feels. I just thought I'd put a little thang to it. A hint of optimism behind this dark image of solitude and isolation and pain and all the feelings of regret and remorse that come with having lost something you think you want, but maybe it's just as well as that it didn't go your way.
I'm just coming stream of consciousness here. I've never really given that much thought. I just thought I'd do something different because the song has been done as it has been done ever since it was written. A really slow, dirge kind of thing. But the message still gets across. It's pretty sad, but there's a subliminal light at the end of the tunnel.
I never really consciously thought about it, I just did it. I grew up in a very urban, Afro- Cuban neighborhood in Washington Heights. Dominican and Cuban and Puerto Rican. My first instrument was conga in the neighborhood. I grew up with Machito, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Bobby Montez, all these cats. It's in my roots. The when I discovered Brazilian music, I said "Whoa...I'm there."
"Spanish Harlem" has also got a little thing. When I think of that song, there's only one rose that I think of when I sing that song. And her name is Yvonne. She went to school with my sister. And I've known Yvonne since she was 8 years old. When we were kids, we got married and had three kids of our own. We were kids raising kids. She's Venezuelan and Puerto Rican. The children are beautiful—they're people now. But that's who the rose of Spanish Harlem is to me. So when I sing that song, and put all these different colors in, different arrangement, different approach, different voicings—that's the bottom line, in those days.
AAJ: When I first started listening to you, I'd been listening to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan and all the greats over the years. I wasn't listening to you as a jazz singer, but I would constantly go, "Wow! There's a really interesting twist on a melody, or harmony," the way you phrase, that I've never heard before. Do you consider yourself a jazz-influenced singer? Duke Ellington didn't like to categorize people and I'm not trying to do that, but what do you feel? Did you listen to people who would rework melodies and harmonies? Because it seems to come so natural to you.
KR: That's the answer. It just comes so natural. I don't think, I feel. I've listened to everybody, not studying them, just turning them on. What I really love to listen to all the time is classical music. I'm not knowledgeable about the classical artists or the composers, all these people, but the sweetness and the passion of strings moving.
Then basically, it's a life experience. I don't know how to define what I do. I've gone into record stores and seen my records in three different places. Pop rock. Folk rock. Jazz. I've always messed with the melodies. I've always heard something other than what was written. I'm not academically trained in music. I don't read music. I've never taken any voice lessons, which was a problem in the beginning because I thought that "Gee whiz. Aren't I wonderful. I'm what I do." That was early on in my teen years into my young adult years. And I didn't know. And I didn't know that I didn't know. Until one day there was this moment of clarity, you might call it, and the sky opened up, and the pressure was off. I was no longer the center of the universe [chuckle], which was wonderful. Because the pressure was off and I began to have the time of my life. So I like to say that what I do is: I sing the story, and I tell the song.
AAJ: I know you play guitar and you play piano. These are things you just picked up on your own?
KR: Right. I started guitar when I was about 24. I was in Las Vegas singing in a group and Don Costa was at the Landmark Hotel at the time writing charts for Sinatra or Mathis at the time, and I was making coffee for Don, who I love. He went on to be a big, big influence in my musical life. I always wanted to do something with him, and we finally did in 1976 [ After the Roses ]. I was hanging there and some fella had come up from Brazil with a recording of Joao Gilberto. Don played classical guitar, and they played this recording of Joao and I said "whoa." I bought a 50-dollar guitar, I quit the band and I went home. My son had been born. We were pregnant with another baby. I just bought a lot of songbooks with photos of the hands in position and taught myself to play the guitar.
I remember I was up at Bell Sound studios, diddling with the guitar and [jazz guitar whiz] Bucky Pizzarelli came over and said, "Here, this is an A Major Seventh, and this is a C Major." And showed me the changes. He gave me a couple of those clues. God bless Bucky. He's still kicking. And his wonderful son, John...And I just took off, learning, isolating. Mathematics was my best subject. So I saw these equations, like this chord is to that chord as that chord is to this chord. Along the way once in a while, there would be someone who would show me a chord that would be up the neck a little bit. I'd take that, and that would sprout. There were little seeds people would give me, and they would just flourish.
Then, on top of that, I had my voice, which I could sail over. And so many times, I would find a song, key against the music, see the chords, and I would find a chord in the neighborhood of the real chord. That's good enough. Then I'd hear something and the melody would just shift enough to suit the chord that I found that was in the neighborhood of the original chord that should have and could have been played.
I've since gone to sticking more to the melody. This is something that Tommy and Al really asked me to focus on. Establish the melody, stay with the melody. OK, fine. But I always slid a little different kind of a chord underneath the real melody. Which gave it a little different hum, or something.
And I've had the time of my life. I've never had it so good, in my work. Doing this work. And bouncing these things off Tommy LiPuma and Al Schmitt—it just doesn't get any better than that, for me.
They've asked me already to start picking songs for the next one and get into them and hone them and learn them. It's a labor of love. It's a good thing.
AAJ: As a writer, do you do it regularly? Just when something hits you?
KR: When I first started playing guitar, I wrote a song called "Haven't We Met," and the lyrics were written by Ruth Bachelar. It was a jazz waltz and I wrote it quickly. I was in a place of discovering chords and I had all these chords and I whipped through them. It just came along and the lyrics were someone else's job.
Moving along, I've written a bunch of tunes. Some of them have stood the test of time. The ones that have were written in about 5 or 10 or 15 minutes. They just showed up. I report what's going on. The songs usually come from one of two places—extreme joy, or some real pain. Anything in the middle, it's work, and I'm not good at that.
I'm not good at—boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy breaks girl's heart, girl takes revenge, paints boy's car aquamarine. I don't know how to do that. What I do is I just come from my heart and I just speak the truth.
AAJ: So people don't come up to you and say, "OK we'd like an original tune here"
KR: I don't know how to do that. Or I say, "I have a bunch. Try these. If any of these will work for you, good."
AAJ: When you're picking songs, I notice back to the beginning, a lot of the repertoire is what's know as the Great American Songbook, or jazz standards. Some jazz musicians say that the reason that those songs are still played today is because they have the interesting chord structure, changes. There's a lot more to improvise with on Cole Porter or the Gershwins than there is Bruce Springsteen. Do you find that attraction to those standards?
KR: Absolutely. I mean" She was Too Good to Me," a very simple song by Rogers and Hart. [speaks the lyric:] "She was too good to me/How can I get along now. So close she stood to me/Everything seems all wrong now. She would have brought me the sun/Making me smile, that was her fun."
Wow. That's powerful. The hairs on my arms are standing up right now, I swear to God. I get chills and I get a lump in my throat when I think of that.
I'm all for "Born in the USA," and I love Bruce. [Springsteen]. As a matter of fact, some years ago some friends of mine were producing a concert in Colorado at Red Rocks for Bruce Springsteen. And they said they wanted someone to come out, a little classy thing, do about a half hour in front of Bruce Springsteen. I said fine. The money's good. It will be a nice time. Red Rocks, Colorado. Great.
So I get out there, and I'm doing like "Blackbird," and [laughter] half the audience, like they do at those big concerts, was looking for their seats. The other half had found their seats, and they're all in unison going, "Bruuuce, Bruuuuuce!" It was wonderful. [laughter] What a wonderful day that was. Truly. What an experience.
AAJ: Do you look at the future of the music world optimistically? Some jazz musicians are not optimistic. You don't rely on that. You can play a jazz room, but you can be outside it too.
KR: The technology has so changed things for the good and for the band. Expanded things. Broadened things. On the one hand you have digital sampling stuff that gave rise to urban music and the technology that's been utilized in that regard in rap music, in hip-hop. Which is very cool. Ellington said there's two kinds of music, good and bad. Where's the line between? Then it comes down to individual taste. I keep and open mind and an open heart and I listen to whatever comes in. I don't seek it out. I don't try and critique it. I don't try and break it down. What does it do to me?
Technology has given people a lot of opportunities. It's also taken away a lot of opportunities for people that might not go in that direction. In the music business in general, there are radio stations that have been playing the same kind of music for years. I know there's a lot of music being made—and good stuff. Because I hear it in the clubs. But it hasn't been on the airwaves, because it comes down to commercial time and what's the advertisement. And I stop right there. I don't go into that. I love to hear beautiful music. I love to hear rockin' music. I used to clean the house to ZZ Top, Eddie VanHalen. I love that stuff. These guys are good. They got something going on. Dr. John.
Where's the music business going? I've never known the answer to that one. And I kind of like not knowing. It becomes more of an adventure. I've never tried to accommodate or placate or patronize an audience by playing what I "think" they want to hear. I've been so lucky and so blessed to enjoy the work that I've chosen to do and have an audience appreciate that effort. I'm very lucky to be able to say that and experience that.
And I don't take it lightly. The invitation that I get on a daily basis from an audience who've invited me into their evening, I don't take that lightly. That's big stuff. Is it humble? No, it's real, man. It's real stuff.

Brad Mehldau Live at The Village

Ola turma do Jazz,

Estou na fase de avaliações dos novos CD's, tão logo acabe de ouvi-los, irei posta-los.
No momento este otimo artigo sobre o Brad Mehldau, ao vivo.



Brad Mehldau at the Village Vanguard Brad Mehldau - Published: May 15, 2009
By Eric Benson
Discuss Brad Mehldau Trio Village Vanguard New York, NY May 5 & 9, 2009
No major jazz artist of the last 25 years has been more closely associated with a single venue than pianist Brad Mehldau with the Village Vanguard. Of the 11 trio albums he's released since signing with Warner Bros in 1994, four have been recorded live at jazz's most hallowed club. Pianist Bill Evans—who had a similarly synergistic relationship with the Vanguard (Mehldau once wrote that the comparison to Evans "has been a thorn in my side.")—used to play there six weeks a year; Mehldau restricts himself to just one. Last week, the Brad Mehldau Trio made its annual visit back home.

Mehldau's long-term penchant for recording at the Vanguard means that we have an easy-to-compare chronicle of his evolution as a musician. In 1997, when Mehldau recorded Live at the Village Vanguard (his first Vanguard album), he was a superhero improviser fond of showing off the brilliance of his new-found powers. His introduction to "Young and Foolish" is so wrenchingly lyrical that it could have been a complete, emotionally exhausting song on its own. His explosive, virtuoso solo on "Monk's Dream" sounds like the work of two ambidextrous pianists, with Mehldau creating so much tension that, when the solo ends, the audience cheers and roars like it's just seen Superman save the day. Pianist Ethan Iverson summed it up well for the writer Nate Chinen: "hearing those guys play, say, 'The Way You Look Tonight' in '97—that was really a thrilling moment for jazz."
Mehldau's follow-up at the Vanguard, Back at the Vanguard, recorded in 1999, showcases the same kind of bountiful outpouring. In the solo introduction to "All The Things You Are," he slowly builds the melody from a series of jagged, short phrases—a sorcerer conjuring a new creature into being. After each improvised chorus, on standards like "Solar" and "I'll Be Seeing You," you think he must be nearing fatigue, but he keeps going, the tension keeps building, and by the time he reaches a resolution, both audience and performer are dripping with figurative (if not literal) sweat.
Mehldau's first two Vanguard albums are such impressive displays of artistic sophistication and pianist prowess that it's hard to imagine how he could have upped the ante on them. Whether or not Mehldau himself could have imagined it, we'll never know; instead of striving for ever bigger, faster, and stronger improvisations, he opted to focus increasingly on dynamics, compositional structure, and group interplay. Mehldau's maturation as an artist has meant that I've often left his performances slightly disappointed. Why, I've wondered, isn't he delivering the goods like he did on the first two Vanguard albums? Why does he pull up short on his improvisations before we can see Superman flex all of his muscles?
The writer David Foster Wallace once wrote that he worried that his work had been driven by a "basically vapid urge to be avant-garde and post structural and linguistically calisthenic." I've never spoken to Mehldau, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had similar (if somewhat less self-critical) feelings when looking back on his salad days. It's not as if Mehldau has suddenly become a minimalist, but there's been a shift in his focus to subtler, less flashy aspects of the music.
“The arc of Mehldau's performances are more narrative now, even if that narrative rarely climaxes in the big finish that was once his signature.”
Despite having seen Mehldau play on about a dozen occasions since 2001, I've spent orders of magnitude more time listening to his records. Actually witnessing the man in the flesh can be jarring. His playing sounds athletic—notes flying this way and that; hands crossing, uncrossing; choruses passing like rounds for an inexhaustible prize fighter—but it looks practically sedentary. His head hangs slightly, his hands move slowly, and his rapid-fire fingers lift just enough to clear the keyboard. In other words, Mehldau has impeccable technique, expending effort only on what directly affects the production of sound. His shoulders are the only part of his body that communicates the tense build-up of his playing. They're often raised at the outset, they get increasingly tight in the fury of improvisation, and loosen in the cathartic finale.
Even more jarring than Mehldau's economy of motion is how quiet his playing sounds compared to what we hear on the early records. This, I suspect, has as much to do with sound engineering as with any pianistic evolution, but it's hard to ignore the fact that live the the trio's balance is much more egalitarian. Instead of the great soloist zooming up and away from his band mates as the Warner Bros. recordings would have you believe, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard (who replaced Jorge Rossy in 2005) are integral to the pianist's propulsion.
The first three songs on Tuesday—the unrecorded Mehldau originals "Dream Sketch," "Twiggie," and "B Blues"—showcased the trio's rapport with Ballard palming the floor tom, Grenadier plucking a high staccato on the bass, and Mehldau making quick stabs instead of baroque flurries. When Mehldau finally took a long solo, on "B Blues," Grenadier fell into a walk and Ballard started to swing, but they remained strong and flexible partners, not docile accompanists. On "Samba e Amor," Mehldau dominated but never rose above the group, the music a slow burn that flickered with intensity but never quite burst into flame. The final number, Kurt Weill and Ira Gerswhin's "My Ship," began as a tender ballad before switching gears and ending in a collective rattle.

On Saturday night, Mehldau went farther and deeper into the music. With the late night crowd bringing a palpable excitement that was absent from the Tuesday performance, the Mehldau trio played an 80 minute set—very long for the Vanguard—punctuated by a sprawling version of "I Fall In Love Too Easily" that broke for an unaccompanied Mehldau interlude. Mehldau's solo piano approach has undergone a more radical transformation than his trio playing. He's replaced the long lines of Elegaic Cycles with an excessive, almost droning, use of repetition, creating hypnotic textures and a sometimes grating sameness. Why, I've asked myself (especially after listening to the disappointing Live in Tokyo), does such a loquacious pianist resort to what can sound like a musical stammer? Luckily on "I Fall In Love Too Easily," Mehldau's repetitions didn't have long enough to annoy, unfolding instead like a rubato daydream amid the more hard driving work of the trio's waking life.
I doubt I'll ever like anything Mehldau does quite as much as his early Vanguard albums, both because their artistry is so powerful and because they occupy a crucial place in my own jazz life. Hearing Mehldau's solo introduction to "All The Things You Are" convinced me that today's jazz could be every bit as thrilling as the Monk and Miles in which I was immersed at the time. Kind of Blue made me fall in love with jazz; Mehldau's Back at the Vanguard sent me on a quest to the basements of downtown Manhattan, searching for the living music.
As much as I'd love to hear more of the showstopping solo introductions of Mehldau's early years, they would feel indulgent now—the work of a musician with something to prove. The arc of Mehldau's performances have become more narrative, even if that narrative rarely climaxes in the big finish that was once his signature. Instead of intoxicating tension and resolution, Mehldau honors the structure of each composition more faithfully and when he breaks from a song's form, as in his performance of "I Fall In Love Too Easily," he's more likely to add textural elements like the dreamy solo break. Now approaching 40, Mehldau is no longer content to be just a great improviser, more than ever before he seems to be thinking with a master composer's complexity and patience.
Photo Credits Courtesy of International Music Network
Discuss

1 Sem 2009 - Part One

Roger Kellaway
Live at the Jazz Standard

by Andrew Velez
Pianist Roger Kellaway can swing hard and has played with everyone from Sonny Rollins to Joni Mitchell. His knowledge of music is encyclopedic and his pianism is instantly recognizable for its airy, sparkling quality, flowing from a singular skill he has to incorporate stride, swing, boogie and more into something totally modern. Long an in-demand sideman, Kellaway has too rarely recorded fronting his own group. Which brings us to the happy occasion of this live 2006 Jazz Standard set with his "East Coast group" (he also maintains a "West Coast group").
The opener here is Duke Ellington's "Cottontail," on which Kellaway exhibits finger-twisting runs in company with Stefon Harris guesting on vibes. It's a breathtaking turn that leads into yet more Ellington joy with "C Jam Blues" on which Russell Malone's guitar propels even more non-stop swinging.
If further evidence was needed of Kellaway's diversity, the Russian classical cellist Borislav Strulev joins the festivities for the leader's "All My Life." The chamber-style duet is as deep and passionate as it is resonant. Kellaway's approach to Dave Brubeck's hit, Paul Desmond's "Take Five" begins lightly and gently skipping; he seamlessly shifts from soft to emphatic chords and, with Jay Leonhart's bass and Malone's guitar, builds to a bedazzling crescendo of fresh possibilities. This is followed by a sweet meditation on "The Nearness of You" joined by Malone and Harris.
Pushing musical explorations even further, the second disc opens with "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." "Tumbling Tumbleweeds"? Who knew? It's just further proof of Kellaway's ability to unearth fresh rhythms and find unlikely places in which to swing. Turning to the more familiar jazz terrain of Redman-Gilbert's "Cherry," Kellaway recalls the hard swinging sound of the early Nat "King" Cole Trio. On the closer, Monk's "52nd Street Theme," all hands cut loose to go way past the speed limit. When they called this a "live set" they weren't kidding.


Renato Sellani
A Sergio Endrigo (Nelle mie notti) - philology W 360.2



Tracks:
1. Nelle Mie Notti
2. Ci Vuole Un Fiore
3. Adesso Si
4. Canzone Per Te
5. Teresa
6. Nelle Mie Notti (Take 2)
7. Via Broletto
8. Lontano Dagli Occhi
9. Io Che Amo Solo Te
10. Vecchia Balera
11. Samba Para Endrigo
12. Io Che Amo Solo Te (Take 2)

Kenny Barron
The Traveler - SSC 3079



by Ken Dryden
These 2007 sessions by Kenny Barron are a bit unusual, as he works with several different groups, playing mostly originals. His trio with bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummer Francisco Mela are present on eight of the CD's ten tracks, including one trio feature, the light-hearted "The First Year," penned by Alex Nguyen. The masterful soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson is added on three numbers, including the intricate post-bop vehicle "The Traveler," the driving "Speed Trap," and the lovely impressionistic ballad "Illusion." African guitarist Lionel Loueke is Barron's sole partner for the avant-gardish "Duet," while also adding flavor to Barron's engaging "Calypso." There are several vocal features. "Phantoms" begins with a distinctively African flavor, with Loueke adding an uncredited vocal and simulating an African thumb piano on his guitar; then Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition winner Gretchen Parlato takes over, adding her haunting vocals. Veteran drummer Grady Tate has occasionally sung during his career and he adds warmth to Barron's ballad "Um Beijo." Ann Hampton Callaway is more of a cabaret singer, though she proves effective in Barron's dreamy ballad "Clouds." The pianist has Eubie Blake's "Memories of You" all to himself, sounding as if he is playing for his own enjoyment at home in a humorous arrangement that would have likely pleased its composer.


Harvey S with Kenny Barron
Now Was The Time - SCD 2092



by Ken Dryden
Harvie S and Kenny Barron were two of many jazz musicians who worked together in duo settings when Manhattan jazz clubs were unable to get cabaret licenses (which allowed them to book larger groups) back in the 1980s. This winter 1986 studio session, which was halted prematurely due to the pending arrival of a blizzard, lay forgotten for over two decades among many tapes in the bassist's collection until he ran across it and had it issued by Savant in the summer of 2008. The session took place without rehearsal, while the musicians are improvising from the start of each tune, rather than state the melody first. Harvie plays the lead in the whispering take of "Body and Soul," with Barron's soft, lush playing providing the perfect backdrop, while the bassist is also up front in the lighthearted take of "Isn't It Romantic?" Barron shines in the shimmering interpretation of Wayne Shorter's "Miyako." The bassist's "Take Your Time" is a hip, bluesy post-bop vehicle in a breezy setting. The final selection is an mesmerizing unaccompanied bass solo of "Chelsea Bridge," in which Harvie manages to explore at length without running out of ideas. Perhaps he should look closer at his tape collection to see what additional hidden gems need to be issued in the future.


Irio de Paula convida Gianni Basso
O Amor em Paz - Philology W341.2



Track Listings:
1. Meditaçao
2. Desfinado
3. O Grande Amor
4. O Amor Em Paz
5. Insensatez
6. Samba de uma Nota
7. Triste
8. Chega de Saudade
9. Garota de Ipanema
10. Corcovado
11. So Danço Samba

Bill Cunliffe
The Blues and The Abstract Truth Take 2 - HCD2003



by Ken Dryden
Bill Cunliffe was invited to do an updated arrangement of Oliver Nelson's landmark album Blues and the Abstract Truth, a tough challenge, given Nelson's superb charts and the numerous all-stars he had on the 1961 session (pianist Bill Evans, alto saxophonist/flautist Eric Dolphy, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard in the front line). But the pianist tweaked each of the pieces just a bit, altered some of the instrumentation (a trombone replaces baritone sax, while soprano sax is added on some tracks), while also making subtle rhythmic changes at times. "Stolen Moments" has long since become a jazz standard and it is tough to measure up to Nelson's second version (he scored an earlier one for a big band led by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis), since Dolphy (on flute), Evans and Nelson laid down such superb solos. But Andy Martin's vocal-like trombone is a highlight, even if Cunliffe doesn't try to compete with Evans' work. Trumpeter Terell Stafford and Andy Martin burn in the playful "Hoe Down," while tenor saxophonist Bob Sheppard wails in "Yearnin'." The closing two songs are originals by Cunliffe that are in the spirit of Nelson (who died at age 43 of a heart attack in 1975). Tribute albums are always difficult, as they aren't intended to replace the recordings they honor, but Bill Cunliffe has easily achieved his goal on this rewarding CD.

Resultado Final Jazz 2008

Segue abaixo resultado das listas de "melhor do jazz 2008", montage feita pelo maior ouvinte de Jazz, Claudio Botelho:

Dessa forma, feitas as contas, cheguei no seguinte:
1- Antonio Faraò – Woman´s Perfume: 4 votos.

2- Michel Wolff – Jazz, Jazz, Jazz; Ricardo Arrighini –Garota de Ipanema; Robert Lakatos – Never Let Me Go; Stefano Bollani – Carioca; Roma trio – Ciao, Ciao Bambina; Trio Sud – Young and Fine; Alboran Trio – Near Gale e Fausto Ferraiolo Trio – Changing Walking: 3 votos.

3- Martin Bejerano – Evolution/Revolution; Jessica Williams – Songs for a New Century; Patricia Barber – The Cole Porter Mix; Ricardo Arrighini – Luciana; Karel Boehle – Last Tango in Paris; Marcin Wasilewski Trio – January e Francesco Cafiso - Portrait in Black and White: 2 votos.

4- Chris Wabish – Jade Vision; Paula Schocron –Urbes; Ernesto Jodos – Ernesto Jodos Trio; Alan Broadbent – Moment’s Notice; Taylor Eigsti – Let it Come to You; Robert Jan Vermueulen – En Blanc et Noir; John Beasley – Letter to Herbie; Roma Trio – Love is a Many Splendored Thing; Vladimir Shafranov – Portrait in Music; Paul Bollenback – Invocation; Maria Pio de Vito – Jazz Italiano 2007; Dena Derose – Live at jazz Standards Vol. 1; Andy Bey – Ain´t Necessarily So; Alboran Trio – Meltemi; Ed Lincoln – Doucemant Novamente; R. Menescal – Os Bossa Nova; Leandro Braga – A Música de Dona Ivone de lara; Alda Montellanico & Enrico Pierannunzi – Danza de Uma Ninfa; Judy Wexler – Easy on the Heart; Riccardo Arrighini – Black on White; Oliver Antunes – Alice in Wonderland; Ted Nash – The Mancini Project; Dan Nimmer – Yours in My Heart Alone; Jane Duboc – Canção de Espera; Dena Derose – Live at jazz Standards vol. 2; Jon Mayer – So Many Stars; Franco D’Andrea – Creole Rhapsody; Brad Mehldau – Live; Ares Tavolazzi - Godot and Altre Storie di Teatro; Anat Cohen – Notes from the Village; Ada Montellanico – Il Sole di un Attimo; Grant Stewart – Young at Heart; Tönu Naisso – You Stepped out of a Dream; The Romantic Jazz Trio – Magical Mystery – Tribute to Monk; Riccardo Fioravanti Trio – The Bill Evans Project; John Taylor- Whirlpool; Norma Winstone – Distances; Peter Delano – For Dewey; Kenny Wheeler – Other People; Armen Donelian – Oasis e Joel Weiskopf – Devoted to You: 1 voto.

Freddie Hubbard ( 1938 - 2008 )

By G1
Trompetista tocou com John Coltrane e Ornette Coleman.Hubbard iniciou a carreira em 1958 e influenciou uma geração de jazzistas.
O trompetista norte-americano Freddie Hubbard.
Freddie Hubbard, o jazzista norte-americano ganhador do Grammy cujo estilo influenciou toda uma geração de trompetistas e que colaborou com artistas como Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane e Sonny Rollins, morreu nesta segunda-feira (29), um mês após sofrer um ataque cardíaco. Ele tinha 70 anos de idade. Segundo seu empresário, o também trompetista David Weiss, do New Jazz Composers Octet, Hubbard morreu no Sherman Oaks Hospital. Ele havia sido hospitalizado após um ataque cardíaco no dia 26 de novembro Figura importante nos círculos de jazz, Hubbard tocou em centenas de discos, numa carreira que começou em 1958, ano em que chegou em Nova York, vindo de sua cidade natal Indianápolis, onde ele estudou no Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music e com a Sinfônica de Indianápolis. Logo ele começou a andar com lendas do jazz como Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley e Coltrane. “Conheci Trane (apelido de John Coltrane) numa jam session na casa de Count Basie, no Harlem, em 1958”, contou Hubbard à revista especializada “Down Beat” em 1995. “Ele disse: ‘Por que você não chega mais e vamos tentar ensaiar um pouco’. Eu quase fiquei louco. Imagine, um garoto de 20 anos de idade tocando com John Coltrane. Ele me ajudou muito, e trabalhamos bastante juntos”.
Influente
Nos seus primeiros trabalhos, que incluem os álbuns “Open Sesame” e “Goin’ up”, lançados pelo selo Blue Note, a influência de Davis e outros no trabalho de Hubbard é obvia, disse Weiss. Bem em um par de anos ele desenvolveria um trabalho único, que influenciaria uma geração de músicos, incluindo Wynton Marsalis. “Ele influenciou todos os trompetistas que vieram depois dele”, disse Marsalis. “Certamente eu ouvi muito do seu trabalho... Todos nós o ouvíamos. Ele tem esse som alto, e um grande senso de ritmo e tempo e a grande marca do seu estilo é uma exuberância. Sua técnica é exuberante”. Hubbard tocou em mais de 300 discos, incluindo seus próprios álbuns e em bandas de apoio de outros artistas. Ele ganhou um Grammy em 1972 como melhor performance de jazz em grupo, pelo disco “First light”.

ENRICO RAVA QUINTET Brasilia 2008

WORLDJAZZ TOP 10 - 2008

Here is the 2008 CD of the Year List

CD DO ANO 2008 - Jessica Williams " Songs for a New Century "

VOCAL 2008 - Dena DeRose " Live at Jazz Standard - Volume One & Volume Two"

HONORABLE MENTION 2008 -
- Alboran Trio " Near Gale "
- Riccardo Arrighini Trio " Garota de Ipanema(Ana Silva) "
- Trio Sud " Young and Fine "
- Jon Mayer " So Many Stars "
- Antonio Faraó " Woman's Perfume"
- Franco D'Andrea Trio "Creole Rhapsody(The Duke Ellington Suites 1931-1974 Chapter 1)"
- Brad Mehldau Trio " Live "
- Ares Tavolazzi " Godot e altre storie di teatro "

SURPRISE 2008 - Riccardo Fioravanti Trio " Bill Evans Project"

HORS CONCOURS 2008 - Eliane Elias " Something For You - Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans "

MINHA PISADA NO TOMATE 2008
- Fred Hersch & Norma Winstone " Songs & Lullabies " from 2003

ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2008 - Chico Pinheiro ( Arranjos & Guitar ) & Andre Ceccarelli ( a giant on Drums )

Neal Hefti 1922 - 2008

Neal Hefti, trumpetista de big bands, arranjador e compositor das trilhas do filme “Um estranho casal” e do seriado “Batman” morreu neste sábado (11) aos 85 anos, segundo seu filho Paul Hefti. Um dos feitos mais notáveis de Hefti inclui o tema característico do seriado dos anos 60 estrelando o super-herói Batman, que virou hit nas rádios e rendeu ao autor um Grammy em 1966 na categoria “Melhor tema instrumental”.
Ele também compôs trilhas para filmes como “Um estranho casal”, “Descalços no parque” e “Harlow - A Vênus prateada” - este último trazia sua clássica faixa “Girl talk”. Seu filho disse que o tema de “Batman” foi a composição mais difícil para Neal Hefti, que levou um mês para compôr o baixo e os ataques explosivos de trompete.
"Ele gastou mais partituras de papel nessa coisa do que me qualquer outra música", disse Paul Hefti à Associated Press.
Neal Hefti nasceu em 29 de outubro de 1922, em Hastings, Nebraska, e tocou trompete com bandas locais quando adolescente, para ganhar dinheiro.
Na fase adulta, ele trabalhou e fez arranjos musicais para grandes nomes da era das "big bands", incluindo Countie Basie, Woody Herman, Charlie Spivak e Harry James.
"Ele era um dos grande arranjadores e compositores do seu tempo", disse o radialista e amigo de longa data Gary Owens ao "Los Angeles Times".
Fonte: G1

Joe Beck ( 1945 - 2008 ) & Esbjorn Svensson ( 1964 - 2008 )

Joe Beck ( 1945 - 2008 ) 



By The Sun New York
Joe Beck, a jazz guitarist who collaborated with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, and James Brown, died July 22 at a hospital in Woodbury, Conn. He was 62, and had battled lung cancer.
Beck got his start as a teenager in the 1960s playing in a jazz trio in New York. By 1968, he was working with Davis and other top jazz stars.Beck was a prolific studio and session performer, arranger, and producer, with an identifiable harmonic and rhythmic sound. He was honored five times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as a Most Valuable Player.
"My career happened because I happened to be in the right place at the right time in a very unique time of jazz music," Beck said in an interview last year with JazzGuitarLife.com.
After taking a three-year break from music to run a dairy farm, Beck went back to music in the 1970s, working with artists such as Gloria Gaynor and Esther Phillips, including on Phillips's hit single "What a Difference a Day Makes."
In 1975, his collaboration with the saxophonist David Sanborn, "Beck and Sanborn," became a cool fusion hit.
Beck went back to farming in 1988, but was recording and touring again by 1992. In 2002, he organized the 72nd birthday celebration for the king of Thailand, who played saxophone with Beck.


Esbjorn Svensson ( 1964 - 2008 )




By All AboutJazz
e.s.t. is a phenomenon: A jazz trio, which sees itself as a pop band that plays jazz, which broke with the tradition of leader and sidemen in favor of equality within its members, which not only plays jazz- venues but also venues usually reserved for rock bands, which uses light effects and fog-machines in their live shows, which gets a whole audience to sing-a-long with jazz-standards as eg. Thelonious Monk's “Bemsha Swing”, is a trio that goes beyond the scope of the usual classic jazz trio. Their music can be found in the pop-charts and their videos are playing on MTV Scandinavia. With their unique soundscape, combining jazz with drum 'n' bass, electronic elements, funk rhythm, and pop and rock as well as European Classical music, e.s.t. won an audience spanning from the classic jazz-fans to the youngest HipHop fans. Critics and audiences world-wide agree: e.s.t. is definitely one of the most innovative jazz bands of today.
Openness, curiosity, and a little bit of chance are all a part of Esbjörn Svensson's artistic foundation: “I play piano because we didn't have any other instrument in the house. Actually, I would have rather played drums. For instance, as a kid, I put together a set out of old odds and ends, and tried to sound like “Sweet” on “Ballroom Blitz”. But then Magnus-ström came with his drums, and I decided to stay with the piano. Magnus and I grew up together, and have played together from the beginning. When Magnus was given his first drum set, he brought it over to my house, and we started playing. We had no idea how to play, but it was a lot of fun. Since we didn't have a teacher, and no one was telling us how to play, we were able to gradually develop our music in a very unique, individualistic way.”
From the mid-eighties on, Svensson and--ström established themselves as inspiring sidemen in the Swedish and Danish jazz scenes. They formed their first trio in 1990, but it wasn't until 1993 that they got the necessary lift to get a CD off the ground. It was then that they met Dan Berglund. Both were fascinated by the structural strength and creative diversity of his playing and were able to entice Berglund into joining the trio.
In 1993 the Esbjörn Svensson Trio recorded and released their debut album, When Everyone Has Gone (Dragon): in 1995, the live recording Mr. & Mrs. Handkerchief (Prophone), which has been released in the rest of the World six years later under the title e.s.t. Live '95.
By the mid nineties the trio had made a name for themselves in Sweden and got a recording-deal with the pop-oriented label Superstudio Gul / Diesel Music. The first album for this label, released the same year, was E.S.T. Plays Monk, which quickly sold over 10.000 copies in Sweden. And the talented newcomers started to collect prizes: in 1995 and 1996 Esbjorn Svensson was awarded Swedish Jazz musician of the Year and 1998 Songwriter of the Year, and the 1997 release “Winter in Venice”--consisting mainly of original material--was awarded the Swedish Grammy.
The 1999 release of From Gagarin's Point of View was the first e.s.t. album to be released outside of Scandinavia through the German label ACT und live appearances at festivals as Jazz Baltica and Montreux marked the beginning of the international break-through of the band.
A year later the CD Good Morning Susie Soho was released and earned the trio the title “Trio of the Year” by Jazzwise, UK. e.s.t. toured on the “Rising Stars” Jazz Circuit and played all major festivals throughout Europe. The same time Sony Columbia USA released the first CDSomewhere Else Before a compilation from the European albums From Gagarin's Point of Viewand Good Morning Susie Soho in the USA.
Strange Place For Snow, e.s.t.'s 2002 release was supported by a 9-month tour through all European countries, but also the USA and Japan. Music from that album also became the soundtrack for the French movie Dans ma Peau directed by the french actress and screen writer (8 Women) Marina de Van. The album earned numerous awards for the band such as the “Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (from the German Phonoacademy), the “German Jazz Award”, “Choc de l'annee” (Jazzman, France), the “Victoire du Jazz”--the French Grammy--as best international act and also the “Revelation of the Festival” award, a special award from Midem.
In 2003 the band released Seven Days of Falling. The album immediately after release went into the pop album charts in Germany, France and Sweden (topping at No. 15). Besides in Europe the album was also released in the USA, Japan and South Korea. The band supported K.D. Lang on her tour throughout the USA performing in stadiums and large concert halls to over 50.000 people. More than 100.000 people watched them perform live in the 12 months after the release of Seven Days of Falling. As a result of all of this e.s.t. was awarded the Hans Koller prize as “European Artist of the Year” in December 2004--voted by 23 jazz industry professionals from 23 European countries.
Their latest release so far Viaticum(January 2005) has even surpassed the success of the previous albums. It went into the top 50 pop album charts in Germany and France and topped in Sweden on position 4. The band extensively toured the world to support the album release and appeared in major concert halls and festivals in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and the USA. They were awarded a gold and a platinum German Jazz Award, the IAJE award and the Swedish Grammy and were the first European jazz band ever to grace the cover of the Downbeat jazz magazine in the USA (May 2006 issue). Not only in Europe e.s.t. have become a major concert attraction in their own right pulling large crowds all over the continents.
Their new album Tuesday Wonderland (release date: September 22nd 2006) connects directly to Viaticum. The interpretation of Viaticum was that the music is the provisions that you take with you on your journey through life. Tuesday Wonderland (is the spiritual journey itself that opens new worlds and guides you to the Wonderland of e.s.t.'s music. And the journey continues...
In 1995 and 1996 Esbjorn Svensson was selected the jazz musician of the year in Sweden. On June 14th 2008 Esbjorn Svensson, 44 years old, died during a diving accident yesterday outside of Vrmd near Stockholm. He was in a company of divers at a Swedish jetty/landing stage under supervision of a dive-leader when he was found severely injured at the bottom.

uma pena,
Leo

alguns videos do Joe Beck,
tem o DVD do Kenny Rankin, onde ele participa !

1 Sem 2008 - Part 5

Bill Carrothers
After Hours, Volume 4



by Jim Santella
Pianist Bill Carrothers has selected songs you’ve heard time and again out on the town, when the club is getting ready to close and everyone’s left but you and the band. Dedicated to Frank Sinatra, the album contains romantic ballads that would follow heartbreak and reveal hopes of turning one’s love life around. Carrothers has a deeply emotional piano style that stresses harmony by overlapping the tones to create soundscapes. Supported by Billy Peterson, a lyrical bassist who works hand-in-glove with the pianist, and drummer Kenny Horst, a timekeeper with a feel for appropriate textures, Bill Carrothers works his way through one dreamy melody after another. Billy Strayhorn’s "Chelsea Bridge" and "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing" have all three artists pouring out their hearts, finding new and different modes of expression. The bass rumbles, the drum head squeaks, and the piano drifts on, moaning about what’s going on in one man’s heart while others elsewhere may be dancing down the street. Again on "For All We Know," the trio searches out new and different ways to provide a variety of textures. Horst introduces metallic squealing sounds from the cymbal while Peterson spells out the familiar pizzicato melody. All the while, Carrothers is coloring with overlapping tones and lingering thoughts. There are microphones in and around the trio; however, the sound isn’t the best. It does add authenticity, though; makes you feel like you’re there in the club. The material on this album was recorded after hours, between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. over several nights. In the "Wee Small Hours" of the morning a dreamy piano begins all alone, is joined by bass & drums, and then the three improvise until it’s time to go home. Sssh, be careful on the way out. You may wake up that guy over there in the corner. Recommended.Track listing: Wee Small Hours; Green Dolphin Street; Green Dolphin Street (reprise); For HeavenPersonnel: Bill Carrothers- piano; Billy Peterson- acoustic bass; Kenny Horst- drums.


Guido Manusardi Trio
No More No Less



Year Of Release: 2006
Label: Soundhills Records - SSCD-8135
Total Time: 65:52 min
Tracklist:
1 Softy As In A Morning Sunrise
2 Like Sonny
3 You Stepeed Out Of A Dream
4 Ice Drops
5 Bios
6 Old Folks
7 Who Can I Turn To
8 Just One of Those Things
9 Here's That Rainy Day
10 Untitled 7
11 Labytinthus
Personnel: Guido Manusardi - Piano; Yuri Goloubev - Bass; Massimo Manzi - Drums


Cassandra Wilson
Lovely



by Thom Jurek
Vocalist Cassandra Wilson has used her 15 years at Blue Note to explore the interpretive range of her voice, whether singing tunes by Van Morrison, Robert Johnson, Lewis Allan, Miles Davis, or Hoagy Carmichael. In many ways, Wilson has offered a new view of the standard by using classic rock and Delta blues tunes in her live and recorded repertoires. That said, Loverly is her first offering comprised almost completely of American songbook standards since Blue Skies 20 years ago. Wilson produced the recording in Jackson, MS, and surrounded herself with old friends: guitarist Marvin Sewell, bassists Reggie Veal and Lonnie Plaxico, drummer Herlin Riley, and labelmate and pianist Jason Moran. The material is beautifully chosen; it ranges from Oscar Hammerstein's "Lover Come Back to Me" and Luiz Bonfá's "A Day In The Life Of A Fool" (the English version of "Black Orpheus") to Juan Tizol's "Caravan," Irving Mills' "St. James Infirmary," and Ray Noble's "The Very Thought of You." Given Wilson's working methods, these standards are performed in iconic ways — without losing the central integrity of their sources. A prime example would be "Caravan," where the basic rhythmic pulse has been doubled with a snare, hi-hat, and taut, edgy piano. Wilson offers the melody as written, but with her own stretched-line phrasing applied to the lyric. "Lover Come Back to Me" carries within it the gentle bounce of the original, and Wilson evokes both Nina Simone and Betty Carter in her rhythmic approach to the lyric and melody. The warm double-time guitar strut of Sewell paces the track; Moran's solo walks a line between show tune formalism and vanguard improv that is fresh and exciting. The reading of "Black Orpheus" here is unusual: Wilson is very conservative in her approach to the melody, so much so that the beautiful Portuguese "saudade" element is texturally amplified and bossa is stretched to the breaking point. The band's meld of subtle Afro-Latin rhythms evokes Cuban son, and conserves the root elements in the original. The duet between Sewell's truly unique acoustic guitar style and Wilson's vocal on "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" is utterly tender. A pair of left-field cuts are here as well. First is a group improvisation called "Arere." Propelled by a hypnotic, nearly funky upright bassline, Sewell plays short choppy chords with Afro-Cuban percussion in the backdrop; Moran plays around and through the polyrhythms as Wilson sings and speaks — she improvises with the band in a number of different languages. Strangely, it doesn't feel out of place here. The other ringer is a read on Elmore James' trademark blues "Dust My Broom." It is not offered as the raucous barroom wailer it classically is. Instead, it's snaky, sultry, and steamy. Sewell's edgy, razored slide guitar, hand percussion, and Wilson's finger snaps accompany her voice on the first verses, establishing a groove before the rest of the band enters. Her phrasing is pure sassy soul that gradually takes this blues firmly into the jazz camp. Wilson has done what many other singers — many of them on Blue Note — couldn't even envision: she has taken a substantial part of the American songbook, employed a crack, risk-taking jazz group, and added new depth, texture, and meaning to these songs, without sacrificing their elegance or appeal. Loverly is the only reason to avoid imposing a moratorium on the very tired standards genre that has become the bane of jazz in recent years. It cannot be recommended highly enough.


Stefano Battaglia
Re: Pasolini



by Thom Jurek
To call Stefano Battaglia's Re: Pasolini on ECM, ambitious would be an erroneous understatement. In fact, it is an undertaking of enormous propensity. In the United States, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) is known primarily as a filmmaker, whose works such as the Decameron, Canterbury Tales, Medea, and the notorious Salo (based on the Marquis de Sade's mammoth encyclopedic novel of perversion and violence, the 120 Days of Sodom, reset in the Italian countryside during the Second World War). He was in fact, a true renaissance man in the grand Italian tradition and was widely known as one: he was a popular poet, playwright, journalist, novelist, actor, painter, linguist and a truly controversial political activist who also challenged the Italian government, the Church and consumerist Italy openly. He was brutally murdered on an empty beach on the evening of All Saints Day (the murder has never been fully explained). Pasolini was a giant figure, a near mythic figure in Italian society and an aesthetic giant in all of Europe. So how does one represent such a figure in music? Battaglia has decided to look at Pasolini's life and work in equal measure. He celebrates and examines them so closely in his medium, so as to be as close to the inside eye of the artist — and perhaps the man — as is possible. Over two discs, he uses two different ensembles to meditate upon the legacy left by this great and tragic artist through his chosen medium: a music that combines in equal parts jazz, classical, and improvisation. Disc one features a sextet that includes trumpeter Michael Gassman who has been collaborating with Battaglia for 15 years. The other members of this first ensemble include Mirco Mariotinni on clarinet, cellist Aya Shimura, bassist Salvatore Majore, and drummer Roberto Dani. The music here is lighter; reflective, melodic even at its moodiest. The opening track "Canzone di Laura Betti," is a song inspired by Pasolini's muse, an actress who worked not only with him but also Bernardo Bertolucci, Alberto Rosselini Federico Fellini and other great Italian directors. Led so beautifully by the piano, the tune serves the deep lyricism of the truly Italian form of jazz, cinema music and the ballads sung by traditional Italian singers, and even opera arias. The cello lilts in and around the piano as it quietly digs into the lyric line and celebrates it to brushed drums and a simple bassline. This gorgeous piece reflects on the actress in a nearly spiritual manner. Other tunes here reflect poems written by Pasolini, and the place of actors he worked with, and the fifth cut, "Fevrar," is named for one of Pasolini's poems. Battaglia uses it as an implement for melodic improvisation on a rural landscape. Sparse, nearly skeletal lyric lines open mysteriously and are commented upon by Majore's bassline, a tapped bell on a cymbal, and intermittent trumpet lines that last only moments. The droning repetition of the bassline suggests the rhythmic line of a poem even as it opens out onto another musical vista, where it never strays far from the emptiness and elegance of the landscape. The entire disc reflects the aspects of his subject's character, an artist and man for whom tenderness, classicism, romanticism and nostalgia were motivating factors and states of being The second disc is another matter altogether as Battaglia teams with members of Louis Sclavis' band — Dominique Pifarély (violin), Bruno Chevillon (bass), and Vincent Courtois (cello) — along with drummer and percussionist Michele Rabbia offer a much darker, more improvisational — and at times tenser — meditation on less pleasurable aspects of Pasolini's life and the often radical nature of his work: his troubled relationship to the Roman Church and his radical politics that were truly committed to a working prole (during the student strikes and riots in Italy in 1969 he backed the police over students because the former were true working men and the students "pampered boys," the leftists backed the students) and railed against the kind of materialism that gave way to consumerism and, he claimed, ruined Italian society. This is chamber music that walks a thin and blurred line between classical music and free improvisation: not free jazz. It courts tension. It is fully engaged, with sometimes-heated dialogue between musicians, but it is also dirge-like in places, brooding and full of uneasy space. It feels like an elegy. Its pieces wind through and around an eight-piece "Lyria" of shorter works. This reflects both the scenic work of the cinema and the episodic nature of epic Italian poetry that often ends in tragedy. Here "Ostia" (named for the beach where Pasolini was killed) — the only long work on disc two and its second from last cut — is full of ambiguity, darkness and open space between the lower register chords of Battaglia's piano and the alternately mysterious strings. The set ends with a sorrowful, melodic ballad that is as moving as the final cue of a soundtrack as it plays the final credits, the last moments of an opera that ends in tragedy. It is one that denotes memory, dignity, and loss. Battaglia has achieved his ambitious aim. His devotion to the work of his subject has moved through him and inhabited him. Not as a ghost, but as a Muse who speaks through his compositions and the truly empathic communication of both these groups. As a true bonus, Battaglia annotates his liner notes, track by track, exhaustively, offering their sources and inspirations as further information. America may have known Pasolini as an art house filmmaker; via Battaglia's Re: Pasolini, he has become something more, something other, a force of the mythic universe. Battaglia's work is an epic, and yes, a masterpiece that is a force in and of itself to be reckoned with. It is the high point in an already celebrated career.


Jessica Williams
Songs For A New Century



O melhor de 2008. Suas composições são fortes e tem inspiração para um brilhante Cd de Jazz. E solo, mas nessse nivel, quem precisa de outro instrumento.

By Dan McClenaghan
If you slip into Jessica Williams' web site and ride the currents of her blog, you could get the feeling that the (proudly) sixty year-old jazz pianist is something of an eccentric. Which is a good thing—in this case, an eccentric being one who has walked away from the hype, b.s. and group think with her head held high, coming up with her own take on the world and this thing called life that we're trying to navigate with as much grace as possible. Her writings reveal a woman of exceptional grace and wide-ranging intelligence, and they also reveal a woman who just might get a wild hair idea and break out her tool kit—the screw drivers and the socket set—to take apart her piano and reassemble it in a fashion that is more to her liking. An eccentric.Williams' Songs For A New Century, a solo piano outing, reveals an evolving artist. Williams thinks it may be her best work. A re-spin of her outstanding Live at Yoshi's, Volume One (MaxJazz, 2004)—a trio affair featuring bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis—spotlights an artist making beautiful sounds and taking beautiful risks within a mainstream framework, a pianist with the joyousness and flair of Erroll Garner, the swinging virtuosity of Oscar Peterson, the depth of emotion of Bill Evans, the sly pizazz of Fats Waller and the soul of John Coltrane.Songs for a New Century is a step forward. The set of all Williams originals, and one Sonny Rollins tune—"A Blessing in Disguise"—opens with "Empathy," an achingly beautiful ballad full of delicate, crystalline notes in a teardrop melody—a spiritually salubrious sound if there ever was one. "Toshiko," for pianist/big band leader Toshiko Akiyoshi, glows eastward sporting a Japanese aura, with Williams making koto sounds, via the tool kit lady's mechanical tweaking (?) of the piano strings. "Dear Oscar," a nod to Oscar Peterson, swings easily on a bluesy late night roll, while "Spoken Softly" sounds like a gloriously implacable truth revealed.Amazingly, Williams recorded this life-affirming set while wrapped in the life-draining, leaden embrace of hypothyroidism, when she had energy for her art and little else.She is evolving; but multiple spins of this gorgeous music say that Williams must be very close to the absolute pinnacle of artistic growth on the enthralling Song for a New Century. With her diagnosis and subsequent management of her disease, who knows how far she can take her musical endeavors.Track listing: Empathy; Toshiko; Fantasia; Song for a Baby; Blessing in Disguise; Lament; Dear Oscar; Spoken Softly; If Only.


Alboran Trio
Near Gale



By John Kelman
Groups like e.s.t. and The Bad Plus have undeniably given the decades old piano trio format a much needed kick-in-the-ass but, as innovative as they've been and continue to be, some of their founding premises run the risk of inherent self-limitation. Still, despite e.s.t.'s ever-increasing pop sensibility and integration of electronics and sound manipulation, the extended tracks of Live in Hamburg (ACT, 2007) demonstrate that its improvisational acumen and longstanding chemistry remain intact.In some ways, however, it's the trios remaining truer to their acoustic roots who are providing definitive evidence that the format is not an anachronism relegated to endless interpretations of the Great American Songbook. Brad Mehldau Trio's recent Live (Nonesuch, 2008) combines unexpected source material like Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" with clever reinventions of classic jazz tunes and complex originals material. By contrast, Italy's Alboran Trio relies almost exclusively on compositions by its pianist, Paolo Paliaga on Near Gale, it's follow-up to Meltemi, the ensemble's 2006 ACT debut.Paliaga's writing (drummer Gigi Biocati contributes one tune, the gently optimistic closer, "Seguendo Il Filo") is unmistakably informed by a warmer and breezier Mediterranean aesthetic than e.s.t., but the group chemistry is no less evocative. Bassist Dino Contenti is every bit as imaginative e.s.t.'s Dan Berglund and just as capable with a bow, based on his intro to "Invariable Geometries." But while Berglund's extracurricular heavy metal proclivities compel him to, at times, wail on his double bass guitar-like, Contenti is overall subtler, more lyrical. Classical romanticism is a part of Paliaga's playing and writing—unmistakably evident on "Invariable Geometries"—the overall approach of the trio is rarified, even as the rhythm section picks up steam behind the pianist's gradually intensifying solo.Contenti is also a focused and theme-oriented pizzicato soloist on tracks like the initially elegant "Fuori Stagione," where he dominates for the first half of the tune before Paliaga takes over and the tune turns idiosyncratic, largely due to Biocata's texturally focused but nevertheless propulsive kit work.Mediterranean references aside, another Alboran Trio demarcator is Biocati's broad worldview. The percussionist has studied rhythms from around the world, having spent significant time in Africa, where he examined and compared its cultural rhythms with those of Europe, America and Asia. The result is a pan-cultural approach to the kit that is never directly referential but, instead, suggests an integrated cosmopolitanism, providing gentle forward motion on the impressionistic and dark-hued "Olvido," while delivering some unexpected hand-driven funk on the barely more grounded "Rrock in the Dark."Alboran Trio may not have the instantly attention-grabbing qualities of e.s.t. or TBP, but with Near Gale it proves itself a nascent group on the move. For those who think the piano trio is an outdated concept with nothing new to offer, Alboran Trio and Near Gale represent a compelling argument to the contrary.
Track listing: Selen Moi; Autumn Mist; Delle Cose Nascoste; Also Sprach Raul; Rrock In The Dark; Fuori Stagione; Invariable Geometries; Olvido; Pow Wow; Selon Moi 3/4; Seguendo Il Filo.
Personnel: Paolo Paliaga: piano; Dino Contenti: double bass; Gigi Biolcati: drums.


Ahmad Jamal
It's Magic



By Ian Patterson
That a Japanese mountaineer successfully scaled Mount Everest in May 2008, at the age of 75, is proof that age is no barrier to those with new goals to conquer. If pianist Ahmad Jamal, at 78, were a mountaineer, he too would surely be attempting to scale Everest. There are those, however, who argue that Ahmad Jamal reached a creative peak in the late '50s, but the truth is that Jamal is neither better nor worse than when he recorded the classic Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing (Argo, 1958) and But Not for Me (Argo,1958). He has simply evolved, and done so without compromising or losing his musical identity. The tremendous energy, finesse and sheer originality present in It's Magic, which has characterized much of Jamal's music this last decade in particular, is evidence that there is plenty of life in the old dog yet.The opening "Dynamo" is, however, something of a misnomer. Jamal and his musicians' energy levels are unquestionably high, but the tune is a bit stop-and-start. It's as if, like a young pianist debuting, Jamal wants to say all he can inside four minutes. There are the trademark contrasts between light and heavy touch, alternating punchy chords and short staccato bursts interspersed with longer, dazzling runs, and here and there flirtatious reference to old standards and even The Beatles. The song is not without merit, but there's almost too much going on.Thankfully, Jamal steers a steadier course on the remaining tunes. The grandiose and elegant "Swahiliand," a perennial Jamal favorite, is reappraised with drummer Idris Muhammad's cymbals marking the pianist's bold chord changes. Jamal has recorded this tune at least four times since the '70s; like Duke Ellington, for Jamal a song is not something with limitations or fixed parameters, it is an ever-evolving work. Similarly, "Arabesque," first recorded on Crystal (Atlantic, 1987) gets a brush down. An infectious bass motif from James Cammack and gently percolating percussion from ex- Weather Report percussionist Manolo Badrena lend this beautiful melody a delicate, lilting swing.There are several old show-tunes: the softly played "It's Magic," by Sammy Cahn and Julie Styne, which finds Jamal at his intimate best; Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkine's "Wild is the Wind," which segues into "Sing," by Joe Rapaso, where Jamal gives his most extended workout; and the Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields ballad, "The Way You Look Tonight," where Jamal is sensitively accompanied by Cammack on bass. This latter tune and the self-penned "Papillon" are reminders that few pianists can play a ballad the way Jamal does.Four old tunes revisited, three show tunes and only two completely new tunes might sound like a less then indispensible Jamal recording, but in spite of this, his playing is as sensitive, as passionate and as hypnotic as it's ever been. At 78, fifty years on from one peak, and three years on from yet another, the universally acclaimed After Fajr (Dreyfus, 2005), this most influential of pianists shows no signs of slipping off the mountain top just yet.
Track listing:
Dynamo; Swahililand; Back to the Island; It's Magic; Wild is the Wind/Sing; The Way You Look Tonight; Arabesque; Papillon; Fitnah.
Personnel: Ahmad Jamal: piano; Idris Muhammad: drums; James Cammack: bass; Manolo Badrena: percussion.