Rio Paris
By James Manheim
A major attraction of soccer's World Cup, and some would say the very best thing about it, is the musical component, with genre-crossing all-star vocal collaborations the norm. Who can forget Barcelona's unexpected and absolutely stunning duets between Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury? This album may be the first in a flood of releases connected with the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and if the games result in a new appreciation of Brazilian music they will have been well worth it from a musical standpoint. Brazilian music crosses over among classical, pop, and jazz without giving very much thought to the dividing lines, and the mix here touches on some of the major figures from each corner. The three singers and one guitarist are not Brazilian; singers Natalie Dessay and Agnès Jaoui are French; singer Helena Noguerra is Portuguese-Belgian; and guitarist Liat Cohen is French-Israeli. Some of the music is sung in Portuguese, some in French, but even in a French translation Dessay does not sound especially comfortable in Antonio Carlos Jobim's Waters of March (here, Les Eaux de Mars). Hearing her in Villa-Lobos, however, is an unexpected pleasure. Jaoui and Noguerra, both actresses as well as singers, have a reasonable feel for the material, although one wonders whether a Brazilian singer might not profitably have been included. Perhaps the album's best feature is Erato's studio engineering; the dimensions of the sound are ideal for the music, and the guitar is impressively well recorded. A reasonably satisfying souvenir of the World Cup.
Peter Erskine
As It Is
Peter Erskine's group is openly influenced by both Bill Evan's Vanguard trio and Paul Bley's trio circa "Footloose" and "Closer", and brings some of their values into the present tense. At the same time, it has its own distinct character and understanding of dynamics. "As it Is" features works written primarily by John Taylor, with Erskine also contributing material. The group has been heralded for their understated approach to music which is performed with a controlled sense of freedom and simple lyricism.
Personnel:
John Taylor piano; Palle Danielsson double-bass; Peter Erskine drums
Sheila Jordan & Harvie Swartz
Peter Erskine's group is openly influenced by both Bill Evan's Vanguard trio and Paul Bley's trio circa "Footloose" and "Closer", and brings some of their values into the present tense. At the same time, it has its own distinct character and understanding of dynamics. "As it Is" features works written primarily by John Taylor, with Erskine also contributing material. The group has been heralded for their understated approach to music which is performed with a controlled sense of freedom and simple lyricism.
Personnel:
John Taylor piano; Palle Danielsson double-bass; Peter Erskine drums
Sheila Jordan & Harvie Swartz
Songs From Within
By Scott Yanow
Sheila Jordan is one of the few singers to record duets frequently with just a string bass, usually Harvie Swartz. Jordan and Swartz interpret a wide variety of standards on their CD along with two originals. Although the always-inventive singer is clearly the lead voice, Swartz is not restricted to merely an accompanying role; he often shares center stage in close interplay with Jordan and his lines are almost as unpredictable as Sheila's. Their versions of such veteran songs as "Waltz for Debbie," "St. Thomas," "My Shining Hour" and "In a Sentimental Mood" sound quite original and fresh. As is the custom with M-A, this CD concludes with a selection taken from another release on the label, a melancholy showcase for Marty Krystall's bass clarinet.
Spike Wilner
By Scott Yanow
Sheila Jordan is one of the few singers to record duets frequently with just a string bass, usually Harvie Swartz. Jordan and Swartz interpret a wide variety of standards on their CD along with two originals. Although the always-inventive singer is clearly the lead voice, Swartz is not restricted to merely an accompanying role; he often shares center stage in close interplay with Jordan and his lines are almost as unpredictable as Sheila's. Their versions of such veteran songs as "Waltz for Debbie," "St. Thomas," "My Shining Hour" and "In a Sentimental Mood" sound quite original and fresh. As is the custom with M-A, this CD concludes with a selection taken from another release on the label, a melancholy showcase for Marty Krystall's bass clarinet.
Spike Wilner
Solo Piano - Live At Smalls
By Mark Corroto
After a few minutes talking with pianist Spike Wilner, Charlie Parker's quote about authenticity in music comes to mind: "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn..." Actually, the entirety of Bird's thoughts best captures the art of Spike Wilner. Bird goes on to state: "They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
Wilner doesn't seem to have any boundary lines these days. The pianist-turned-club owner, jazz scholar, record label entrepreneur, and internet presenter has embarked on an ambitious concept to present jazz to a worldwide audience, from a club with a capacity of just fifty persons. Smalls Jazz Club, in New York City's West Village, opened in 1994, and quickly became a musician hangout and a place to find great music until first light of morning. A regular performer from the start, the pianist called the club, "a wild place, sometimes a free-for-all." Because it had no liquor license, customers toted their own, and often the place was "not an optimal performing experience."
Today, with an affordable cover ($20 before midnight and $10 after), Small's has become a go-to listening spot in New York—much like, Wilner explains, "the former Bradley's or Village Gate, because we maintain a comfortable and informal atmosphere." Since Wilner became a co-owner in 2007, the club has upgraded the piano to a Steinway and begun recording and archiving all performances. Consider for a moment, the depth and the breadth of such an archive. Like old-time radio broadcasts, Small's documents the live performances from hundreds of artists such as JD Allen, Mark Turner, Fred Hersch, and Jon Irabagon, captured nightly for the past three years, with plans to archive all future shows.
Wilner explains that he is "a scholar and an archivist by nature," and it appears the musicians—about 95% of whom have given him permission to record, archive, and live-stream their performances via the internet—understand that, in the 21st century, the rules for recording and presenting jazz have been blown away. Listeners from around the globe, something like 27,000 per month, tune in nightly to listen to (and watch) live jazz or to search for an individual musician's bio and performance dates. Others can search the extensive database and audio stream unedited, live recorded performances from the archive.
Wilner has also founded the Smalls Live label, to make physical CDs available from the archive. He approaches an artist, say drummer Ari Hoenig(who led his group at the club in February 2010), and asks him to choose all the music from the date to be mastered by an engineer to a hard copy CD, or iTunes download. The 14 live discs produced so far—featuring artists like Jimmy Greene, Ben Wolfe
, Omer Avital, Eric Alexander, Ethan Iverson, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Peter Bernstein—have received critical acclaim. There are several more in the works for 2011, including dates from Chris Potter and John Patitucci, and also Louis Hayes and Jeremy Pelt.
Interestingly enough though, and to his surprise, Wilner's own release, Solo Piano Live At Smalls (2010)—a recording culled from his performances this past summer—has been met with popular success. In fact, the first printing of the CD sold out. Wilner's performance is rooted in the stride piano tradition of James P. Johnson, Art Tatum, and Fats Waller. He describes the CD as a recording "off the beaten track as a concept recording." Wilner chooses to play with old tunes and ideas in an ageless, yet modern "straightforward and melodic manner," to just, as he states, "swing." Indeed, it does. The disc has the feel of the wee small hours, when a player is playing more for himself than the small crowd left in the club.
While amassing, perhaps, the best and most complete catalog of working New York City jazz musicians, Wilner is also forging a new path for jazz. This fall he met with several major record companies, who admitted to him that "everything is falling apart," as far as the traditional approach to marketing jazz recordings. Perhaps Wilner's approach—a universal concept of club performance, video and audio streaming, and producing select music CDs—may be the best way to capture a new audience for jazz, while satisfying the needs of audiophile collectors.
Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Bill Stewart
Live At Smalls
By Mike Joyce
Here’s proof that guitarist Peter Bernstein, Hammond B3 organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart excel at the art of the slow burn. Tempos aren’t rushed. Solos aren’t feverishly pitched. Call-and-response exchanges aren’t overheated. Instead, the trio shrewdly hews to a series of organ-combo grooves, turning this Manhattan club date into a simmering, soulful delight.
Nothing is more sublime than the performance of “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.” Bernstein subtly embellishes the theme with Jim Hall-like finesse and, thanks largely to Stewart’s cushioning brushwork, it isn’t long before the melody is floating in the air. The burn factor rises on this track, and elsewhere on the album, when Goldings begins to pull out the stops, but don’t anticipate a lot of fuss and flash. Even Goldings’ performance on “Molto Molto,” which he wrote, isn’t molto busy. Look forward, instead, to Bernstein’s softly glowing rumination “Just a Thought,” and a slinky, blues-hued arrangement of Jerome Kern’s “Nobody Else But Me.” A 12-minute take on “Milestones” burns brightest, but there are times when even that track, with its bleeping sci-fi atmospherics, sounds more whimsical than wired.
Not to be overlooked, too, is the way the trio salutes Ray Charles via Percy Mayfield’s “The Danger Zone,” which is saved for last. Bernstein is in slow shuffle mode, fluidly mixing blues riffs with jazz chromaticism until Goldings adds touches of Southern gospel fervor—just the right note for the album’s closer. Amen.
By Mark Corroto
After a few minutes talking with pianist Spike Wilner, Charlie Parker's quote about authenticity in music comes to mind: "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn..." Actually, the entirety of Bird's thoughts best captures the art of Spike Wilner. Bird goes on to state: "They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
Wilner doesn't seem to have any boundary lines these days. The pianist-turned-club owner, jazz scholar, record label entrepreneur, and internet presenter has embarked on an ambitious concept to present jazz to a worldwide audience, from a club with a capacity of just fifty persons. Smalls Jazz Club, in New York City's West Village, opened in 1994, and quickly became a musician hangout and a place to find great music until first light of morning. A regular performer from the start, the pianist called the club, "a wild place, sometimes a free-for-all." Because it had no liquor license, customers toted their own, and often the place was "not an optimal performing experience."
Today, with an affordable cover ($20 before midnight and $10 after), Small's has become a go-to listening spot in New York—much like, Wilner explains, "the former Bradley's or Village Gate, because we maintain a comfortable and informal atmosphere." Since Wilner became a co-owner in 2007, the club has upgraded the piano to a Steinway and begun recording and archiving all performances. Consider for a moment, the depth and the breadth of such an archive. Like old-time radio broadcasts, Small's documents the live performances from hundreds of artists such as JD Allen, Mark Turner, Fred Hersch, and Jon Irabagon, captured nightly for the past three years, with plans to archive all future shows.
Wilner explains that he is "a scholar and an archivist by nature," and it appears the musicians—about 95% of whom have given him permission to record, archive, and live-stream their performances via the internet—understand that, in the 21st century, the rules for recording and presenting jazz have been blown away. Listeners from around the globe, something like 27,000 per month, tune in nightly to listen to (and watch) live jazz or to search for an individual musician's bio and performance dates. Others can search the extensive database and audio stream unedited, live recorded performances from the archive.
Wilner has also founded the Smalls Live label, to make physical CDs available from the archive. He approaches an artist, say drummer Ari Hoenig(who led his group at the club in February 2010), and asks him to choose all the music from the date to be mastered by an engineer to a hard copy CD, or iTunes download. The 14 live discs produced so far—featuring artists like Jimmy Greene, Ben Wolfe
, Omer Avital, Eric Alexander, Ethan Iverson, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Peter Bernstein—have received critical acclaim. There are several more in the works for 2011, including dates from Chris Potter and John Patitucci, and also Louis Hayes and Jeremy Pelt.
Interestingly enough though, and to his surprise, Wilner's own release, Solo Piano Live At Smalls (2010)—a recording culled from his performances this past summer—has been met with popular success. In fact, the first printing of the CD sold out. Wilner's performance is rooted in the stride piano tradition of James P. Johnson, Art Tatum, and Fats Waller. He describes the CD as a recording "off the beaten track as a concept recording." Wilner chooses to play with old tunes and ideas in an ageless, yet modern "straightforward and melodic manner," to just, as he states, "swing." Indeed, it does. The disc has the feel of the wee small hours, when a player is playing more for himself than the small crowd left in the club.
While amassing, perhaps, the best and most complete catalog of working New York City jazz musicians, Wilner is also forging a new path for jazz. This fall he met with several major record companies, who admitted to him that "everything is falling apart," as far as the traditional approach to marketing jazz recordings. Perhaps Wilner's approach—a universal concept of club performance, video and audio streaming, and producing select music CDs—may be the best way to capture a new audience for jazz, while satisfying the needs of audiophile collectors.
Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Bill Stewart
Live At Smalls
By Mike Joyce
Here’s proof that guitarist Peter Bernstein, Hammond B3 organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart excel at the art of the slow burn. Tempos aren’t rushed. Solos aren’t feverishly pitched. Call-and-response exchanges aren’t overheated. Instead, the trio shrewdly hews to a series of organ-combo grooves, turning this Manhattan club date into a simmering, soulful delight.
Nothing is more sublime than the performance of “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.” Bernstein subtly embellishes the theme with Jim Hall-like finesse and, thanks largely to Stewart’s cushioning brushwork, it isn’t long before the melody is floating in the air. The burn factor rises on this track, and elsewhere on the album, when Goldings begins to pull out the stops, but don’t anticipate a lot of fuss and flash. Even Goldings’ performance on “Molto Molto,” which he wrote, isn’t molto busy. Look forward, instead, to Bernstein’s softly glowing rumination “Just a Thought,” and a slinky, blues-hued arrangement of Jerome Kern’s “Nobody Else But Me.” A 12-minute take on “Milestones” burns brightest, but there are times when even that track, with its bleeping sci-fi atmospherics, sounds more whimsical than wired.
Not to be overlooked, too, is the way the trio salutes Ray Charles via Percy Mayfield’s “The Danger Zone,” which is saved for last. Bernstein is in slow shuffle mode, fluidly mixing blues riffs with jazz chromaticism until Goldings adds touches of Southern gospel fervor—just the right note for the album’s closer. Amen.
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