Passing Notes

8/5/12

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 8/5/12

Song, Artist, Album

12 Steps to Hell, Jazz Punks, Smashups
Holiday for Strings, Paul Motian and the EBBB, Holiday for Strings
You Can't Hold Me Down, Us3, An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place
Bowling for Peace, Prasanna, Electric Ganesha Land
French Quarter, DJ Logic, The Anomaly
My Bird Can Fly, Teddy Pressberg, Blueprint of Soul
U-Bend, FFEAR, Mirage
Raucous Bacchus, The Odd Trio, Birth of the Minotaur
Funky Kingston, Toots and the Maytals, Funky Kingston
Lovely Love My Family, The Roots, Yo Gabba Gabba - Music Is Awesome
Bright Mississippi, Eric Reed, The Baddest Monk
Fish Ain't Biting, Corey Harris, Fish Ain't Biting
Sweet Home Chicago, Magic Sam, West Side Soul
Lay Your Burden Down, Gov't Mule, Mulennium
Ring of Life, Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau, Metheny Mehldau
2 pm, The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman, Audio from live performance
Florentine Pogen, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, One Size Fits All
Freedom Jazz Dance, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, Second Wind

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8/3/12

PN 212 - Don Van Natta Jr. - 'Wonder Girl'

The award-winning journalist takes a look at the life of pioneering sports figure Babe Didrickson Zaharias, perhaps the best all-sport athlete of all time.

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8/2/12

PN 210 - On Vacation

7/30/12

Miami Jazz Cooperative - Rent Party

Tonight at The Stage in the Design District, join some of the best musicians in the area for the monthly MJC rent party, proceeds to help establish a jazz-only performance venue in South Florida. Hope to see you there!

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7/29/12

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 7/29/12

Song, Artist, Album

Believe, For It Is True, The Cookers, Believe
Vater Time, Wallace Roney, Jazz
Etienne, Garage A Trois, Outre Mer
Notwithstanding, Kneebody, Low Electrical Worker
Footprints, The Harris Group, Choices
I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good, Oscar Peterson, Oscar Peterson in Russia
Moonlight, Joshua Redman, Compass
She Caught The Katy, Taj Mahal, Martin Scorcese Presents the Blues
Worried Life Blues, Johnny Shines, Johnny Shines with Big Walter Horton
Bad Life Blues, Buddy Guy, Blues Singer
Me and My Chauffeur, Memphis Minnie, Martin Scorcese Presents the Blues
Strollin' With Bones, T-Bone Walker, The Very Best of T-Bone Walker
Too Many Dirty Dishes, Albert Collins, Cold Snap
Guitar Sammich/Now's The Time, Ray Parker, Swingin' Never Hurt Nobody
Ethanopium, Dengue Fever, Broken Flowers Soundtrack
Back Back, Archie Shepp, Kwanza
Freedom Jazz Dance, Cynthia Felton, Freedom Jazz Dance

6/26/12

Review - Meg Okura and The Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble - 'Naima'

Note: This review appeared originally on EJazzNews

Naima, Meg Okura and the Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble (2010)

A confident collection of chamber jazz that is wide in scope and deep in feeling, follows the award-winning self-titled 2006, the second release from Meg Okura's group earns its audacious title, taken from one of John Coltrane's best-known and finest compositions. One imagines that, like Coltrane's, Okura's range of listening, playing, and traveling as a musician has lead to a natural preference for genre-blending and experimentation, andNaima does not disappoint in those respects. At its best, Okura's latest album boasts fresh textures and tones drawn from its eclectic blend of intstruments and its borrowings from 20^th century orchestral composers.

The title track, “Naima,” is a reworking of Coltrane's ballad in which the Okura's lush rendition of the melody is carried forward over cycles of flute and piano arpeggios. The violinist's joyful improvisation rises above the work of her band mates on this song – perhaps by design. But everyone in the group rises to the occasion on “Hannah's Vocalise,” a tight number with a lyrical melody, quirky piano work by Mamiko Kitaura in counterpoint, as well as some excellent and subtle drumming from Willard Dyson. Okura's chops are on display in “Caprice,” in which she rips through a virtuoso cadenza alla Paganini, then settles into a fine Latin groove that features outstanding solos by Okura and Kituara.

Most far-reaching in its materials is the geographically-titled “Afrasia,” which opens with a driving interplay that features Jun Kubo on the Japanese shinobue flute, then, after a bit of Stravinsky-esque dissonance and transitions, drops into a subtle funk. “San San Nana Boshi” as well, offers a complex layering of instruments – reminiscent of Philip Glass – before the excitement gives way to excellent solos from Rubin Kodheli on cello and Orkura.

The jazz-only listeners out there might find the final section of Naima less noteworthy than the rest. The 25-minute suite “Lu Chai,” based on a poem by Tang Dynasy poet Wang Wei, is appropriately impressionistic. Opening with the dramatic “Empty Mountain,” the quite then moves to the wild “ Echo of Voices, ” perhaps the best section, but also a little too smooth in parts. The final pieces are more even in tone with the bittersweet “Sunlight” and peaceful “Green Moss.” Ambitious and challenging, “Lu Chai” suggests that Okura might have had Coltrane's A Love Supreme in mind when she was writing this homage to China's Poet Buddha. The suite may yet reward additional listening, to be sure.

Fully in command of the music as performer, composer, arranger, and producer, Meg Orkua offers a clear sense of vision of her world of music. Okura's Naima goes to many places, speaks in many voices, and is often rich with surprises and admirable in its aspirations. The work of a musician who is clearly interested in a musical journey, this album doesn't need to offer a sense of fully arriving. One suspects that, for Okura, the voyage – not the destination – is very much the most interesting part of her musical life.

Meg Okura – Violin and erhu

Anne Drummond – Flute

Jun Kubo – Flute and shinobue

Rubin Kodheli – Cello

Mamiko Kitaura – Piano

Jennifer Vincent – Bass

Willard Dyson – Drums

Satoshi Takeiski – Percussion

Dave Eggar - Cello

6/24/12

Review - Gwilym Simcock - 'Blues Vignette'

Note: This review originally appeared in EJazzNews

Gwilym Simcock, Blues Vignette - Basho Music - 2010

The latest release from the gifted, young pianist Gwilym Simock, Blues Vignette (Basho 2010), offers a welcome challenge – to listen carefully and not be restricted by the classifications of genre and style. Purists of one sort or another, who would define classical or jazz music as confirming to a short list of recognizable traits, will likely struggle with the over two hours of music on the curiously titled Blues Vignette, an ambitious double-CD that ranges from solo piano numbers, to a concerto duet for cello and piano, to the familiar – but fresh-sounding – trio of piano, bass, and drums. Gwilym Simcock is generous with his surprises.

The first disc seems to offer Simcock in what might be described as a “concert hall” mode, presenting the pianist alone, working through his ideas and showing his chops on his instrument or playing thought-composed pieces. Opening with a lyrical composition, “Little People,” Simock lets everyone know that his European training can swing as well. This is followed by two pieces in tension with each other, the serene “Exploration on Movement II of Grieg Piano Concerto” and the familiar “On Broadway,” which Simcock tears through, even utilizing the wood and metal guts of the piano for percussive effect. Shifting moods, Simcock then mediates over the keyboard in three “Improvisations.” Further exploration of the landscape of the piano happens in the dramatic “Caldera,” a composition which takes its name from a particularly interesting geologic formation found in volcanic craters. Simcock finishes his solo work with the dynamic “Jaco and Joe,” a study in left hand and right hand interplay named with musicians Pastorius and Zawinul in mind, one assumes. Closing the first half of Blues Vignette is the two part “Suite for Cello and Piano,” on which Simcock is joined by Cara Berridge, and the music here is thoughtful in a similar manner to the earlier improvisations.

More suited to jazz fans is the second disc, where bassist Yuri Golubev and drummer James Madden join Simcock in moving to a jazz trio setting. Always mindful of the order of songs on Blues Vignette, however, Simcock's “Introduction” to CD two sounds very “classical” indeed, right down to its bowed bass lines. “Tundra” is a brisk baroque swinger that could have come straight out of the Brad Meldau catalog. By the time we settle into the title track, the group is indeed swinging and moving through the blues in a angular, supple manner without ever losing its sense of collective groove. Most radio-friendly of the bunch is the cheerful “Black Coffee,” which finds an irresistible burn thanks to Golubev and Madden. Simcock's “Longing to Be,” “1981,” and Hamilton's “Cry Me A River” all have their pleasures, but a highlight of Blues Vignette is certainly the trio's work on Gershwin's “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” which has as flexible a sense of tempo as you can imagine but which never stumbles. It is an exciting display of collective playing.

One can often hear the jazz side of Simcock's musical influences Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and the aforementioned Meldau, but Simcock never seems to copy or resort to musical cliches. The challenge in encountering Simcock's prodigal talent is to listen with fresh ears to a full dose of musical ideas that are themselves quite new. There's not much proper blues on Blues Vignette, of course, but the music is nevertheless bent in interesting new directions, and Simcock certainly understands the transformation of the blues: playing about feeling bad in order to feel good. Come to think of it, with some 130 minutes of music, the release is anything but a vignette; Simcock must be having a joke at his own expense, and the pianist and composer is all the more likable for the irony. Confident, smart, ambitious, Blues Vignette shows a young talent coming fully into his own and points the way for even better music to come.

6/22/12

PN 206 - Bobbie Ann Mason - 'The Girl in the Blue Beret'

A real-world family connection for the noted author leads to a new novel about a World War II veteran

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6/19/12

Review - Randy Klein - 'Sunday Morning'

Note: This review originally appeared in EJazzNews

Randy Klein, Sunday Morning - (Jazzheads 2010)

Set apart from the basic rhythm of the workaday world, our Sunday mornings are often a time of the week unlike any other. Rested and reconnected, we often find ourselves worshipful, thoughtful, peaceful, and playful on a Sunday – or at least refilling those parts of ourselves drained by the business of the week before. Sunday morning is a state of mind. On his latest release, Sunday Morning, pianist and composer Randy Klein has cooked up a batch of music that will likely complement whatever you might find yourself doing on the old school “day of rest.” At our house, we’re happily serving up this music with pancakes, bacon, and hot coffee.

To borrow a term from Hollywood, “high concept” aptly describes Klein’s approach, as he structures each piece as a conversational duet between his piano and, from track to track, Oleg Kireyev on tenor and Chris Washburne on trombone. None of the tunes are particularly long or heavy, and most wrap up their contemplation of some music idea about that Sunday-state-of-mind by the five minute mark. All of the musicians know each other well – Kireyev and Washburne, in addition to playing often with Klein, release through the Jazzheads label, which Klein started. He serves as sole producer of Sunday Morning as well.

The opening track, “Hiding Out,” clocks in as the longest, at just over six minutes, a lighthearted mid-tempo back-and-forth between Klein and Washburne. On the tango-flavored “Truly Yours,” Kireyev is as capable a partner as Washburne, and with these first two tracks the listener understands that Klein’s compositions will fill the musical space adeptly as well as provide moments for each player to come forward and make a statement. A canny accompanist, Klein always manages to take a subtle step into the background when his horn players step up.

Washburne displays his chops in the higher registers in the tense and shifting “I Caught You In A Lie,” and Klein’s solo on this song takes several turbulent turns. The title track builds from a spiky right hand arpeggio by Klein though to some very sweet and melodic lines from Kireyev. “Doo Boo Bop” is as cheerful and brisk as its title suggests, and features some of Washburne's best playing. The ballad “Now I Wonder” gives Kireyev an opportunity to explore the full range of tones on his tenor, and the recording is so fine, at times, you will feel the saxophonist is in the room with you.

Just as the musicians play off each other within songs, the order of tunes often alternates between bright tonalities and more somber, thoughtful atmospheres. “House On The Hill” again has Washburne working the upper range of the trombone on a song that offers beautiful voicing and harmonies. “I’ve Got An Itch” is build around a vamp that lets Klein and Kireyev scratch their musical sweet spots as much as they care to, and “Lottery Day” is a tune built very much around the same basic structure. “Petit Pois” is a romantic, rubato effort that any two people in love could listen to in a quiet moment of togetherness, and “Her Beautiful Soul” returns to some of the music landscape of “House On The Hill,” but with some of Klein’s best work on the piano. Sunday Morning closes with an outstanding composition, “Fly Free,” a waltz whose melody moves through dissonance and minor chords to a lush and joyful resolution. Again, Klein and Kireyev make the lilting descent into a final phrase that truly makes the listener feel free.

Jazz on a Sunday is certainly a custom for some radio stations and in some homes. A more free-form, improvisational music fits the humor of the day. Randy Klein’s Sunday Morning is certainly music to listen to during the period its title suggests, although you wouldn’t want to do this music a disservice by just having it in the background. Before you put these songs into your playlist and shuffle them in with all the rest, be sure to sit down during a quiet hour and listen all the way through. Your weekend will thank you for it.

Randy Klein – piano

Oleg Kireyev – saxophone

Chris Washburne - trombone

6/17/12

Review - Ethan Mann - 'It's All About A Groove'

Note: This review originally appeared on EJazzNews

Ethan Mann, It’s All About A Groove (2010 Petunia Records)

For Ethan Mann, it most definitely and unmistakably is all about a groove – locked in, propulsive, and subtly swinging. The guitarist’s most recent release, It’s All About A Groove, finds Mann working with drummer Greg Bandy and keyboardist Chip Crawford, in a studio version of the same group you might have caught some Saturday night at Jules Bistro in the East Village, NY NY. These jazzmen have over 60 years worth of gigging between them, especially notably Bandy, who’s been ratamaflamming and other drum-type activities since 1964.

From the first note of the opening track, “Foxy,” and hard-swinging midtempo Mann original, it’s clear that these three musicians have also been playing together for some time. Their sense of dynamics and group transition is outstanding, with Bandy demonstrating the clear intention of collaboration with Mann and Crawford, highlighting aspects of their playing without pulling too much attention to the drums. It’s a good opening number, one to get the listener excited about the rest of the show. The Latin-tinged “What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life?” a Michael Legrand song, presents some bubbling synthesizer work from Crawford that supports a brisk series of runs from Mann, then bursts out into its own enthusiastic solo. These two numbers, one groovy and the other sleek, present the two musical points that the album moves between.

Next up are a trio of tunes from the Philly soul group The Stylistics, “Betcha By Golly Wow,” “People Make the World Go Round,” and “Stop, Look, Listen To Your Heart.” The first is a very sweet rendition of the ballad, and the second finds a surprisingly heavy groove despite its poignant melody, but “Stop, Look, and Listen” is easily the best of the three. Featuring Crawford back on the organ and Mann playing the opening lick in Wes Montgomery parallel octaves, this last Stylistics song gives all three musicians a chance to swing hard, and we are treated to some of Bandy’s best drumming on this track.

Two blues numbers drop down next. “Woman Please,” written and narrated by Bandy, puts forward a bluesy vamp over which the drummer laments being torn between loving his lady and playing his music. What’s a guy to do? Laugh a little at this over-the-top number. The pace picks up greatly with another Mann composition, “Blues For Now,” a blues to be sure, but fast and angular, with one of Crawford’s best solos and Bandy’s earnest efforts to propel the song forward and kick the energy level higher and higher.

Mann’s trio has done well in choosing songs that are a little off the beaten path, and that continues with, “The Look of Love” the Burt Bacharach tune from the James Bond filmCasino Royale – the 1966 film, not the 2006 one. Peter Sellers, not Daniel Craig. The agreeable take on this tune makes way for Crawford’s composition, “Minor Steps” (based on Coltrane’s “Giant Steps), which no doubt was a challenge to write and must be a challenge to play. Both Mann and Crawford do the melody justice and navigate their way through the changes ably and emerge unscathed.

As a solo guitarist, Mann plays such a lyrical and beautiful rendition of the Rainger/Robin song, “Easy Living,” one almost wishes he’d recorded a few more of just him alone with his instrument. The second time through the bridge of the song, Mann displays some outstanding movement on the low strings while comping on the upper end. And, closing the album on a high, the band returns to the classic organ trio configuration from the Schwartz/Deitz tune “You And The Night And The Music,” which charges along with plenty of fire and imagination. The closing minute of the last track, in which none of the musicians appear to want to let go of the tune – but ultimately do -- is a rousing show-stopper.

It’s All About A Groove is straightforward, swinging, and presents three thoroughly professional jazzmen in top form. More than most albums, this one will make you feel like you’re sitting in the club on a Saturday night, sipping on the second of your two-drink minimum, soaking up the atmosphere. The night is young, everyone is good-looking and witty, and you have cab fare home. With Ethan Mann and his crew taking care of the music, you’ll definitely want to stay and listen a little longer.

Ethan Mann – guitar

Chip Crawford – keyboards

Greg Bandy - drums

6/12/12

Review - Kneebody - 'You Can Have Your Moment'

Note: This review appeared originally on EJazzNews

CD Review: Kneebody, You Can Have Your Moment (Winter & Winter 2010)

Like their music, Kneebody’s recording history moves around on you. After their 2005 self-titled debut on Greenleaf, the group next appeared with singer Theo Bleckmann on 2009’s Winter and Winter release, Twelve Songs by Charles Ives, which earned a Grammy nomination. This year’s release finds Kneebody with an advanced sense of collective musicianship and a carefully honed approach to improvisation. Simply put, they don’t sound like anybody else. Their voice is born out of a group consciousness developed from an intimate approach to learning the songs (by ear, no sheet music here) and an idiomatic system of musical cues when playing together.

The opening track, “Teddy Ruxpin” seems a simple enough song, starting with a relatively straightforward and clean melody from songwriter Shane Endsley on trumpet and Ben Wendell on sax, but then it shifts to a more suspenseful set of phrases, finally landing in a most excellent and grisly rock groove. Once the effects are punched up – and I’m not complaining – everyone cuts loose, with Kaveh Rastegar on bass and Nate Wood on drums pounding the song forward on the low strings and kick drum. It’s clearly improvised, but it rocks very hard. Apropos the title, this is no cute talking teddy bear of a song. This Teddy Ruxpin is a nasty-ass bear with big claws that will tear your face off. Following this, another Endsley composition, Held,” is more moderately paced, moves through a rich variety of harmonic changes, and presents Wendell in some extended explorations of the possibilities of the song’s structure. But Ruxpin has left an impression; you can’t wait to hear what’s next.

One of the most odd (and most successfully hypnotic) tunes here is keyboardist Adam Benjamin’s “The Entrepreneur,” in which the horns provide background accompaniment to a melody played by Ragestar and Benjamin (on the Rhodes). The fascinating drumming on this track is reason enough in itself to listen; you would swear that Wood is playing them backwards. Maybe he is, and that would do things to your face, as well. The skipping, cascading melody of “No Thank You Mr. West,” by Wendell, creates a familiar context for solos from Benjamin – who is surprising melodic on the tune. And Benjamin’s “You Have One Unheard Message,” with its blinking red light of a vamp, is built around two overlapping patterns that make more for interesting rhythmic improvisation than harmonic investigation. The musicians make ample use of effects on this machine-like, comical tune.

Bassist Ragestar’s bluesy song, “The Blind,” written on guitar, is soulful but offers a dynamic and harmonic range that sounds unlike any blues you might know, and comes home to rest in a contented place. Still better is the title track, “You Can Have Your Moment,” also by Rastegar, begins with a cheerful, hooky interplay from the rhythm section and an lovely, expansive melody from the horns. But just as you think the song is going to lift you higher, it turns into a dissonant, crashing, and ultimately disappeared ending. Maybe the bear ate it. The irony of the song’s development is clear enough, but you’re really going to want to hear that melody again.

“Desperation Station,” by Benjamin , offers a similar sort of structural tension, as this slow, meditative song begins with a melody that sounds (sort of, but not quite) familiar, then wanders through a troubled landscape of echoes and effects, returning once again to its starting place. The brief, spastic “Nerd Mountain” (Endsley) quite amusingly lurches forward, presenting one interesting hook after another, each of which vanishes into the next. Shifting musical grounds abound, again, in Wendell’s “Call,” which layers shifting rhythmic patterns over differing time signatures, and, despite (or perhaps because of) the metrical complexity, the song offers some of the most lyrical solos from the band. Yet another song that highlights Kneebody’s ability to alter textures quickly and confidently, “Unforeseen Influence” (Benjamin) also exhibits the best drumming from Wood. You Can Have Your Moment closes with Endsley’s “High Noon,” a cycle-structured song in which you can hear the parts moving from instrument to instrument as the overall pattern is reset from time to time – presumably the “high noon” of the title. Wendell delivers a muscular and determined solo that carries the song on his back to its close.

Kneebody is an ensemble dedicated to writing and performing music in which everyone can improvise, and not just by stepping to the front and blowing a wild solo – although there is plenty of that on You Can Have Your Moment. The music is at its most interesting when the entire band suddenly takes a turn in tempo, tone, and texture – as when the grunge kicks in during “Teddy Ruxpin” or the lovely dream of “You Can Have Your Moment” turns to discord and shadows. The musicians of Kneebody are strong writers, and they write for the group, and they clearly enjoy the process of discovering, in every moment, where the gear and joints of their musical structures will take them. You might call it swing, but it’s a swing of structure – and that’s a newer development, perhaps. Kneebody’s second release is full of excitement, imagination, and ambition. Most of all, it’s great fun and great music. Let the teddy bear do his worst, but I’m putting You Can Have Your Moment on again.

Adam Benjamin – Fender Rhodes, effects

Shane Endsley – trumpet, effects

Kaveh Rastegar – bass, effects

Ben Wendell – saxophone, melodic, effects

Nate Wood - drums

6/11/12

PN Unscripted - Ben Katchor - 'The Cardboard Valise'

6/10/12

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 6/10/12

Song, Artist, Album

Missing, Ben Allison, Action-Refraction
Hide Away, Freddy King, The Very Best of Freddy King
3 String George, Gov't Mule, High & Mighty
Sam Huff's Flying Rage Machine, Lettuce, Rage
I Go To Work, Us3, Hand On the Torch
Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing, Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood, Out Louder

Happy, The Bamboos, Rawville
Baker's Dozen, Galactic, Late for the Future
Back in the Game, Grayboy Allstars, What Happened to TV?
Ali, Moon Boot Lover, Back On Earth
Aquaman, Brad Mehldau Trio, Ode
Helio, Michael Manring, Soliloquy
Donna Lee, Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius
Woody'n You, Ahmad Jamal, Blue Moon
In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, John Pizzarelli, Double Exposure
Luther's Blues, Luther Allison, Luther's Blues
Tamp 'Em Up Solid, Ry Cooder, Paradise and Lunch
Wang Dang Doodle, Howlin' Wolf, His Best
Snatch It Back and Hold It, Junior Wells, Hoodoo Man Blues
Low Down (and High Up), Canned Heat, The Very Best of Canned Heat
Smokestack Lightnin, Howlin' Wolf, His Best
Freedom Jazz Dance, Dodge, Javabubbaboogaloo

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Reader's Notes - Texting Shorthand for Musicians

From the awesome website Tone Deaf Comics, I offer the following chart. Full-size here.

6/9/12

Review - Glen Ackerman - 'The Glenious Inner Planet'

NOTE: This review originally appeared in EJazzNews.

CD Review: Glen Ackerman, The Glenious Inner Planet (Blue Bamboo Music 2010)

Jazz is always at its most interesting when it looks to the future – or even when it sounds like it’s coming from the future – and bassist Glen Ackerman’s latest release, The Glenious Inner Planet, looks and, more importantly, sounds as if it might have been sent back in time from the 23^rd century. Or maybe it was sent forward in time from some 1960s sci-fi movie. In either case, this CD offers all the quirks, surprises, and hilarity you could want in a collection of music that is most recognizably classified as jazz. It’s jazz, yes, but Ackerman’s Planet, doesn’t exactly keep a close orbit around a center of gravity that is straight-ahead-and-in-the-pocket. This music is far out – as in, intergalactic.

Opening with a reworking of Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo a la Turk” – not exactly a straightforward tune, with its eccentric time signature, Ackerman switches the instrumentation around – substituting guitar for piano, soprano sax for alto – and he turns the choruses into a searing succession of solos. Chris Cortez rips into his solo with a wild series of guitar acrobatics, and Ackerman slaps and pops his solo on the electric bass (his usual axe) in a most audacious way. By the song’s last note, the tune has been completely reworked, and Ackerman actually chooses to retitle the tune “Blue Rondo a la Raad,” which I believe may be a reference to a certain type of missile found most often in some parts of the Middle East. It’s a confident move, but he’s earned it.

The next tune, “There is a drop of Roppongi on my shorts,” is a fairly easy to follow number, constructed as it is around a reliable vamp, and it offers strong playing from Paul Chester on guitar, Joel Fulgum on drums, Woody Witt on sax, and, naturally, Ackerman, who manages to solo memorably on the groove without falling into a rut or losing his way. “Inner Planet” is a loosely structured, textural composition held down by tight work from the drum and bass while the guitar, sax, and keyboard (Ted Wenglinski) go exploring. “Khalil,” as well, is a atmospheric piece taken at a slow tempo and in a mode that evokes the exotic -- all the more so for the shimmering piano work and lyrical clarinet throughout. Ackerman’s work on the acoustic bass on this song is especially strong, as he employs the percussive capacity of the instrument to free the drummer to investigate the sparkling sounds of the cymbals.

We return to an angular but swinging groove with “Potato Wagon,” which features my favorite solo from guitarist Chester, Ackerman’s funk chops on full display, and the strongest ensemble playing on the entire CD. After all that sweating, it’s perfectly acceptable to slow things down with a ballad, especially one as charming as “. . .this lontano i.” a tune that, with the sharp simplicity of its melody, is all the more memorable for the suspended chords that underpin the song and inspired solos from Witt, Chester, and Wenglinski.

The influence of Dave Brubeck is felt on “The Thing, and the thing that makes The Thing,” which lilts along in what feels like a 5/4 time signature, only to offer shades of the prog-rock band Yes in some of its instrumental back and forth, with work on guitar and bass that would make Steve Howe and Chris Squire proud. This rock dynamic is even more evident on the gleefully herky-jerky “4 is a Feeling,” which you might just feel compelled to get up and dance to, only to find yourself inexplicably skipping through the song’s phrasing. “The Angel of the Odd,” which closes the album, builds around a thorny four-bar phrase carried forward by all the players at one point or another to the song’s midpoint, which pauses for an interval, only to have the song resume its happy trudge, this time to the outer limits of everyone’s musical imagination, then fading into whimsical oblivion.

At its best – and there are many good moments – The Glenious Inner Planet will remind listeners of Miles Davis in his pre-comeback fusion years, of Weather Report, and even of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Ackerman’s strength as a musician is not so much in his playing – and he is a fine player – but as a composer. For all the thoroughly enjoyable flash and fun of this release, each song is also written around very clear and interesting ideas, and Ackerman, one suspects, is wise enough to back off on his playing and let his writing speak for itself. So, kids, get your space helmet polished and stock up on Tang and powdered eggs – it’s time to fire up the spaceship and chart a course for that inner planet called Glenious.

Glen Ackerman – bass

Joel Fulgum & JD Guzman – drums

Paul Chester & Chris Cortez – guitar

Ted Wenglinski – keyboards

Woody Witt – tenor and soprano saxes, clarinet

6/8/12

PN 204 - Ben Katchor - 'The Cardboard Valise'

Gil Scott-Heron - 'The Last Holiday: A Memoir'

Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Holiday: A Memoir (Grove Press 2012)

Gil-Scott Heron’s death last year took away a voice that, looking back, meant more to us in its eloquence, compassion, and wit than perhaps we had realized. It seems we’d been listening all along to what Scott-Heron had been saying, and, with the arrival of a hip-hop sensibility in the mainstream during the 1990s, the man frequently cited as the “godfather of rap” looms ever larger in the shadow of his death. All the more happy we should be, then, to have such a vibrant, personal record of Scott-Heron’s life in his memoir, The Last Holiday.

As much as Scott-Heron was known for his poetry and lyrics, he began his life as a writer with the publication of two novels early on, The Vulture (1970, when he was 21) and The Nigger Factory (1972), and there’s a third novel (Circle of Stone) sitting in the archives at Johns Hopkins, where Scott-Heron earned his MFA in creative writing. A publisher’s note explains that The Last Holiday was “written over many years, starting in the 1990s and all the way up to 2010, and during this period the book has undergone some significant transformation. Even calling it a memoir may be misleading, because it certainly is not a memoir in the conventional sense.”

For all of the occasional shifts in tone and style, The Last Holiday engages the reader with a fascinating structure – the narrator’s particular journey to fame as an artist, and the larger framework of the voyage to have Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday declared a national holiday. The Last Holiday was published, after all, on King’s birthday very same day this year. Maybe, the title suggests, a day commemorating King will be the last one America needs if we can all reach the full promise of social justice and freedom that make up the nation’s professed ideals. And that’s just the kind of sardonic, poetic twist you’d expect from Scott-Heron.

The earliest parts of the book are strongest – those that deal with Scott-Heron’s family life in Jackson, Tennessee and his relationship with his extended family in the South, his coming East to live with his mother in New York even as the city was sliding into urban decay, and his negotiation of the educational institutions of Fieldston and Lincoln University – in short, his youth. Certainly, by the time Scott-Heron signs with Arista records and releases The First Minute of a New Day, about 1975, the book loses its focus, as his life may have lost focus in the rush or recording and touring. But, as he notes, "I signed on for the shows. I saw where I had to be and when. I came in after 1 a.m., called the desk after 2 a.m., asked for a wakeup call at 7 a.m., and got over my amnesia about 7:05."

The latter parts of the book have moments of clarity at but a few points: touring with Stevie Wonder in 1980 and the election of Ronald Regan, as well as the death of Scott-Heron’s mother. The factors that contributed to his death – drug use, primarily, as well as some rough patches and prison time in the last decade or so – aren’t touched on much in the book. Maybe Scott-Heron would have gotten around to that in another work. It makes you wonder what's in that novel sitting there in the archives at Johns Hopkins. Let's hope some wise publisher gets around to releasing Circle of Stone some day.

So take as a guiding principle the title of the work, The Last Holiday, the day set aside by the nation to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. As Scott-Heron argues, it’s not just that King led a successful movement of resistance to injustice, it’s that it was nonviolent. As Scott-Heron knew well, to speak truth to power was one thing; there were many preparing to fight back with fists and blood and bullets. What King did, he argues, is to save us from another civil war. That is something to celebrate, and a victory as important for what it prevented from coming into the world as what it did. Scott-Heron should know; he was there to see it all happen. That alone makes this artful, human, provocative and brilliant book well worth your time. And it will make you wish that Gil Scott-Heron – writer, musician, activist, and a compassionate soul – had a little more time on this Earth.

6/7/12

Reader's Notes - 'The Jazz Review' Online

Check out the treasure trove of jazz writing from Nat Hentoff, Martin Williams, LeRoi Jones, Orrin Keepnews, Gunther Schuller, and Studs Terkel, among others, in this online archive of The Jazz Review. A short-lived journal, but one of the best. Hopefully, the full run of this excellent publication will be available for all.

Link to the archive.

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6/5/12

PN Unscripted - Bob Edwards - 'A Voice in the Box'

6/4/12

Review - Suresh Singaratnam - 'Lost in New York'

NOTE: This review originally appeared on EJazzNews.

Suresh Singaratnam – Lost in New York (2010 Suresong)

Meet Suresh Singaratnam. Like Wynton Marsalis, to whom he will often very likely be compared, Singaratnam is trained in both the classical and jazz traditions. His first two records have offered classical music -- 2009’s Two Hundred Sixty-One, Volume 1 -- and jazz -- 2010’s Lost in New York, the subject of this review. To have a career begin in impressive musical presence of Marsalis is a bit much, so let us give Singaratnam enough space to let him be his own man. He’s not lost at all. He finds his way pretty well, no matter what music he’s playing.

Canadian by way of the United Kingdom and Zambia, Singaratnam distinguished himself as a teenager in Toronto concert circles, excelling beyond the usual stars of the philharmonic pack on piano and strings. After a year studying classical trumpet at the University of Toronto, Singaratnam transferred to the Manhattan School of Music, eventually transferring as well to jazz, working with Lew Soloff. Soloff’s name, of course, is often preceded by “classical trained jazz musician.” Singaratnam’s graduate work was in the classical field, and it clearly informs his compositions.

But the whole classical/jazz dichotomy gets tedious, doesn’t it. It’s like the old commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. “Your jazz is in my classical!” “No, your classical is in my jazz.” But the truth is that Louis Armstrong loved his operatic arias, Thelonious Monk loved his piano concertos, and Marsalis – well, everybody already knows about Wynton. So let’s talk about Suresh’s music.

“Temporal Incursions,” the opening track of Lost in New York, evokes great energy and a real sense of disorientation, blending tempos and textures across driving two-bar bass lines that anchors the song like the pavement beneath your feet. Drummer Lee Pearson and pianist Fraser Hollins step up to the challenge of this song and never really lose their sense of time or place. Following the wildness of the first track, “m104” – named after a Broadway bus route – rolls along through a familiar bebop opening and a blues-based structure. Singaratnam and tenor Saslow chase the rhythm section through this up-tempo all the way uptown and back again

The breezy mid-tempo bounce of “Beneath A Smile,” complete with springy guitar chords-on-the-quarter-notes courtesy of Jesse Lewis, gives way to dissonance and free jazz work from Singaratnam and Lewis, the latter whose solo sounds as if piped in from one of the moon’s of Jupiter. “Spring For All But Me,” a ballad that features a self-assured vocal by Charenée Wade and a read on Singaratnam’s lyrics:

Time has passed, blossoms now illuminate the trees,

Once bare branches soon dressed in green

It is springtime, a chance to start anew

Hopeful spring for all but me. . .

Singaratnam’s solo at the bridge is lovely and wistful, but appropriately brittle and pinched in parts, as if the horn player is more doubtful of the prospects of the new season than his words would suggest.

“Chrysanthemum,” is a perfectly pleasant and layered tune, presenting Saslow another chance to step forward on sax. One of the high point of the album is “Fortress of Song,” its simple and direct foundation carried forward by bassist Hollins’ secure efforts at the bottom end as the rest of the players build the tune into an awesome mass of musical ideas. “Remnants of Eternity” has a bright quality that doesn’t seem to fit its ominous title, and “She Spoke So Well,” a jazz waltz, has a contemplative romance

Singaratnam wisely closes with the outstanding “Peripheral Fission,” which highlights his precision as a player and his boldness as a composer – or is that his precision as a composer and boldness as a player. Opening with nothing more than some astoundingly fast playing from Singaratnam, the tune locks into a driving vamp that stalks along until, just in time, it releases into a liberated swing. All the musicians distinguish themselves on this tune – although Lewis, regrettably, is not given a solo – but Pearson’s drumming is exceptional on this last number.

So let’s just say that Lost in New York is not just an outstanding debut album for a gifted player and composer – it’s simply an outstanding album. Add to the music the fascinating CD booklet – the first half of which is a miniature graphic novel , the second half being an expert and inspired set of liner notes from Nathaniel Smith, and Lost in New Yorkis an unmistakably original and engaging announcement: Suresh Singaratnam has arrived. He’s standing on the corner of Broadway and West 122^nd Street. Just how he got here – via the jazz bus or the classical one – you’re not really going to care.

Suresh Singaratnam – Trumpet

Charenée Wade – Vocals

Jake Saslow – Tenor Saxophone

Jesse Lewis – Guitar

Fabian Almazan – Piano

Jamie Reynolds – Piano

Fraser Hollins – Bass

Lee Pearson - Drums