Rolling Jazz Thread 2013

Jazz Gallery reopening tonight at their new location in the Flatiron District. Good band tonight, Alex Brown on piano with his brother Zach on bass, Mike Rodriguez on trumpet and the dynamic duo of Eric Doob and Paulo Stagnaro on drums and percussion.

/street_team

Interesting Twitter tirade from Eric "ELEW" Lewis, a pianist who had a decent career in the jazz mainstream (played in Wynton Marsalis's band, etc.) but has since embarked on a somewhat showbizzy career playing solo piano versions of rock tunes. I like his stuff - it reminds me of Matt Shipp - but the jazz press pretty much turns up their nose at him. Here's what he had to say:

Its really sad to devote ones life to an Art form and be ignored on the basis of some Petty bias. Nancy has been trying to get press, and airplay from ALL these Jazz stations and Jazz shows since my record came out. We went to @jalcnyc I hand delivered a cd to the dude over there who runs the radio show and he has cold blown us off. I mean this AINT Hip Hop or Rock or Pop. Whats up with all the Hate? I mean there is so much i can share with the community at a historical level, Elvin, Wynton, Hendricks. Students and jazz fans would love to know some in depth stories about traveling and working with JAZZ LEGENDS. Why does the pop world have me performing with them and the JAZZ world ignore me? I mean i opened for @joshgroban and played ARENAS solo piano! Does anyone know how hard that was? Serious pressure trying to keep a gig and playing for people who are NOT Jazz listeners. But did @DownBeatMag or @JazzTimes cover it? No. Im contributing to the Story of American Jazz in a MIGHTY way and the people who are tasked with doing their part are being IGNORANT. I come from the Hood. Camden NJ. I should be the one acting all IGNORANT. I guess if i were to behave like a scary RAPPER or something these Jazz journalists would LOVE me. But when i have my manager contact these individuals like a pro i get treated WORSE than if I was trying to get on AMERICAS GOT TALENT and AGT treated me GREAT. And so did @joshgroban and so did Lil Wayne and Dave Matthews. When I bought advertising in Downbeat and Jazztimes NOBODY Discriminated. And if I was to buy ADVERTISING on these fundraiser needing radio stations, there would be no Discrimination against my dollar. So this is the situation huh? Jazz. And They wonder why I made Rockjazz. I don't need them financially speaking. Im CHALLENGING them to be what they are supposed to be and do what they are supposed to do. For JAZZ. Ive been wondering what it is that I need to do or tell Nancy but basically, like everything else, I gotta put LAMES on blast. Inner Urge. Solo piano. People are Strange. Stride. Complexions. Prepared Piano. Thanksgiving. Original Jazz Piano Composition. Please Play. It sounds good. Must I BEG? @checkoutjazz @nprmusic Is that what Im reduced to at THIS point? Is that what is needed? Sad. If Im wrong, I'd LOVE to know where. And if you're just gonna be silent and Ignorant, I ll be sure to tweet that too. I mean what do i have to lose. Brother gotta put on a monkey suit just to be a part of his own MUSIC. Get it? It aint my preference to have to be this way but the level of Ignorance basically requires this brute force method. Not just gonna let these LAMES be the sole voice by me forfeiting my AMERICAN right to raise HELL about the type of Hypocrisy they are trafficking in. I settle musical ISSUES at the Jam Sessions. Can YOU Play??? Bottom Line. Show due RESPECT. Period. DO your freaking Job. Report the NEWS. You see this? (link to photo)THIS is what Jazz complaining looks like. But here I am complaining to THEM about the same thing! CRAZY! They want more job opportunities but most can't really play. The environment isn't sharply competitive because every Tom Dick and Harry is on Jazz Radio sounding OK and every year either HERBIE or CHICK win a Grammy. BORING. They invalidate the commercial music on LAME grounds, and FAIL to realize that the other musics ARE at least as valid as the MEDIOCRE Jazz that is TYPICALLY found in clubs and radio, WORLDWIDE. Whatever. Im just lashing out today. Having a little fun. Im gonna jam tonite and burn baby burn. Oscar gig gettin booked. Rock and Win.

there's a really interesting and extensive interview with him on Do the Math: http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/2012/10/five-questions-for-eric-lewis.html

i'll always have love for eric lewis -- he was in the group when i saw elvin jones around '01, and playing the single most burning, intense piano solo i've ever heard live.

Looking forward to reading that interview, and the post above it, which I just now only skimmed, momentarily confusing jalc with jaymc. I met a guy once that lives in my neighborhood who started out as a jazz guitar player and now instead sells all those instructional DVDs about fingerstyle arrangements of Stevie Wonder tunes. He had the variant beef about how nobody knew who he was when he was playing the hard stuff but now he is much higher profile.

on one hand his current persona feels corny, and it's not a good look to seem like you're transparently grasping for crossover $$$ (ie "R0ckjazz", Coldplay covers, etc). on the other hand, he's certainly under no obligation to keep struggling in the straight-ahead jazz world for no money, and i hope he finds whatever success he's looking for. i definitely know some super bitter jazz musicians who think their talent & experience somehow entitles them to a career playing straight-ahead jazz, and constantly post rants on facebook about how "real music" isn't valued any more. also not a good look.

FWIW, I tried some recent Eric Lewis after seeing him on an EOY list (maybe from Philadelphia City Paper), but it didn't make much of an impression on me. From what I remember it did seem a little too pop for anyone to expect jazz publications to pick up on it in a big way, but I admit my memory of what it sounded like is hazy. (I think I've checked him out previously as well. I definitely remember seeing his name years back, playing at the Painted Bride, etc. but I've never seen him perform.)

definitely know some super bitter jazz musicians who think their talent & experience somehow entitles them to a career playing straight-ahead jazz, and constantly post rants on facebook about how "real music" isn't valued any more. also not a good look.

― keef qua keef (Jordan), Thursday, January 24, 2013 2:16 PM (10 minutes ago)

P lame rant imo. You have wide commercial success and you're mad because the miniscule jazz world isn't singing your praises?

Also to knock Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock winning grammies (often for for crossover albums) in the same breath.

You left out knocking the mediocre jazz that is found in the clubs. I mean, how can he be sure?

Also, listening to this dude now and really not feeling it at all. Jazz-rock Liberace. #countmeamongthehaters

i don't know that he really has much in the way of 'wide commercial success' though, and at the same time he's getting backlash from the jazz world where he's paid serious dues.

i have no interest in listening to his current stuff either, but i wish you could have heard him with elvin.

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but I'm trying to figure out who the characters are in this (maybe apocryphal?) story that I only very vaguely remember: bandleader asks for a drum solo, drummer goes off, bandleader tells drummer to start over and play it at half speed--doing so, bandleader says, is actually more challenging/beautiful/etc. I'm probably butchering the tale, but does anyone know? Is Buddy Rich involved? This came up in conversation recently and it's bugging me. Don't want, of course, to butcher it any longer. Thanks in advance and sorry for the little thread hijack.

it was monk + frankie dunlop:
http://shipdrummer.blogspot.com/2011/04/frankie-dunlop-on-monk.html

Yes!!! Thank you so much. God, that is an excellent read.

Tom Hull year end list always turns me on to jazz things.
sent away for his #2 (jazz) from last year by The Group (Ahmed Abdullah, Marion Brown, Billy Bang, Sirone, Fred Hopkins, Andrew Cyrille) - Live (1986, NYC)
i like all those guys think this would appeal to Ornette fans. just listening now for the first time and it sounds great

frankie dunlop is prob my favorite non-canonized drummer

The Group album is excellent. All the players are great, but for me, things really take off when Billy Bang solos. Beautiful version of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

No Business is such a great label - everything they put out is worth hearing. The Liudius Makunius/Barry Guy CD, Lava, is fantastic - hugely inventive and elemental sax and bass duet. There's also a terrific album by Bobby Bradford and a top notch band of Scandinavian free jazzers.

thx for the recs, Stew
i only know Barry Guy from Amalgam's Prayer for Peace but that's enough to make me know i need to hear Lava
and no doubt - Mr. Bang is playing his freaking heart out on this Group show

NoBusiness sends me everything they put out (CDs, and CD-Rs of the vinyl-only stuff). Unfortunately, the package that included that Group CD was completely destroyed by rain - the booklets were all melted onto the CDs. Would have liked to hear it.

Wayne Shorter's new album streaming here, for a little while:
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/27/170099510/first-listen-wayne-shorter-without-a-net?ft=3&f=126134671&sc=nl&cc=jn-20130203
Also, an intriguing interview, with excerpts of this 'n' that--downloadable, even:
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/02/170882668/wayne-shorter-on-jazz-how-do-you-rehearse-the-unknown

Wow, the Shorter is sounding great so far.

Looks like a pretty good band. Will have to check it out.

that's been his working band for a WHILE now. They're sick.

Pretty much the only jazz eminence gris whose new releases I still look forward to

The quartet's been together 12 years now. I interviewed Brian Blade last week - it'll be up on Blue Note's website on Tuesday.

They must be playing in places I can't get into.

I don't think they do many club or theater shows outside NYC - mostly festivals. I saw them in 2011 at Town Hall.

Flushing Town Hall?

No, probably not, because in that case I might have gone.

Anat Cohen on Fresh Air now: started with a slow, sly "La Vie En Rose", based on Louis Armstrong's version, with her clarinet instead of trumpet, keeping the orig duet w trombone (Wycliffe Gordon here), plus a more modern beat, though not too much--instantly killing me. Also demonstrates how she applies a touch of her tenor sax technique to the clarinet's lower register. Plus The Three Cohens Sextet, of course--anyway, here tis (can download it too) http://www.npr.org/2013/02/06/171176294/anat-cohen-bringing-the-clarinet-to-the-world

Also this tonight at 9 p.m. EST
http://www.npr.org/event/music/170717638/chris-potter-quartet-live-at-the-village-vanguard

Speaking of downloads and The Three Cohens, their Newport '12 set is still posted:
http://www.npr.org/event/music/158020922/three-cohens-live-in-concert-newport-jazz-2012

Who are the other two Cohens, her brother and the bass player with the same name as him?

Oh, I didn't know about the one who plays saxophone

kinda cool that john patitucci has gone from being associated with one of the corniest, least-loved eras of jazz ('80s fusion/Elektrik Band/GRP) to being in one of the most respected acoustic quartets out there.

OTM. I've heard good things about when he plays R&B gigs on electric too, although I haven't seen for myself.

I love how you can always really hear the room in VV recordings, and because of all the famous recordings there, you wind up hearing echoes of them in new ones.

really love this record by nathan hanson and brian roessler, discovered via Destination:Out
http://nhbr.bandcamp.com/album/selenographia

digging into the jose james record and i'm really, really feeling it. there's a lot more chris dave than i expected too (it's killing that i don't have track-by-track credits for this record....you'd think blue note of all labels would post them somewhere!).

I've been digging through criss cross stuff on Spotify a lot lately, and I'm kind of surprised by how many one-offs there are by randos featuring sick backing bands who seem to be playing at 80%. It's always like "Introducing Jorm Stiegmuller" feat Brian Blade, Peter Bernstein, Christian McBride and Chris Potter. Tight but forgettable record of standards/bop classics/dated-sounding "modern" originals.

OTOH I have been revisiting Tim Warfield's releases on Criss Cross (got into him briefly after seeing him with Nicholas Payton once), and I really like them -- very straight ahead, but band just has a vibe. Cyrus Chestnut, Clarence Penn, Tarus Mateen, Terrell Stafford on the one I'm listening to right now

lol @ "introducing jorm stiegmuller".

copying my list of criss cross faves from the 2012 thread:

billy drummond, dubai
clarence penn, penn's landing
ralph peterson, the art of war
melvin rhyne, mel's spell
conrad herwig & brian lynch, que viva coltrane
herlin riley, cream of the crescent

btw my favorite tim warfield is on that christian mcbride record, 'a family affair'. have you heard that? the opening track is one of my all-time faves, and it's got some other serious cuts.

Warfield's got a new one out this week with Nicholas Payton (who's become such a loudmouth asshole it actually dissuades me from listening to his playing), Cyrus Chestnut, Rodney Whitaker and Clarence Penn. I'm hoping to give it a listen soon, and might interview Warfield for Burning Ambulance.

So far this year very impressed with new Omar Sosa (homage to Kind of Blue but in afrocuban style), Teri Lyne Carrington (homage to Money Jungle), and Hiromi (2013 on these shores so I'm counting it). Some other stuff too -- that Wayne Shorter sounds all right to me, but Patricia Barber is not something that can be listened to casually so I'm still up in the air about her new one.

Released last year but I'm making my way through Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers now. First disc has string quartet and piano all over it. A few 'free' sections but all is planned, the intense passages you usually get with that kind of music are cut-off, but this is just the kind of mix between classical ensemble and improvisation I'm interested in.

Just starting...choosing this thread as a notepad of lame impressions if I have anymore.

Title almost made me spit my iced tea out:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KO7MgTorL._SY300_.jpg

Listening to it now. It may very well end up working as an introduction to Shipp.

Atomic Basie time.

Sorry, that's over now it's Battle Royal.

u guys which of the year's christian mcbride records do u like better

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18706-matana-roberts-coin-coin-chapter-two-mississippi-moonchile/

the next chapter of coin coin is out!!

chapter one was transcendent

Anyone heard Satelliti? Italian electronic / jazz duo - details & music here: http://www.satelliti.org/ and also here: http://satelliti.bandcamp.com/

The album (Transistor) was out last week and is really good; driving, jazzy, 70s fusion stuff with swirling keys and lots of early electronica bubbling underneath. Quite krauty, but definitely feels more jazz than anything else. Meant to be intense live, in a Bitches Brew in a nightclub way.

Matthew Shipp's (solo) Piano Sutras and his collaboration with Guillermo E. Brown, Telephone Popcorn, are both great. I would just post this to a Matthew Shipp thread but there is none and I haven't got enough to say about him to justify starting one.

Piano Sutras feels more expansive than One (but that is to say what exactly, considering how minimalist One was?). I haven't quite got a handle on it, but I love recognizing the moves he makes that are so simple and yet so distinctively his own. I think I'd need some music theory to describe them more concretely than that.

Title track of Telephone Popcorn is hilariously Raesque.

man that wayne shorter album this year. snooze. right? mad respect to the man, tho. he's a living legend.

dow: just saw your recommendation. cheers, i'll check it out.

i knew this guitarist when he lived in town for a minute, his record is pretty fiery: http://lukepolipnick.bandcamp.com/album/luke-polipnick-group-episodes

http://www.freejazzblog.org/2013/08/adam-lane-goes-traditional.html

finally got a chance to hear one of these new/old adam lane albums, 'oh freedom', some good loose blowing on it.

The Burning Ambulance 25 Best Jazz Albums of 2013 are rolling out in five parts. Here are #s 25-21.

hmm, that jeremy pelt track is on some erik truffaz vibes. can't decide if i'm into it or not. the drumming is the best part.

i'd love to check out the tim warfield and chris potter records when i get a chance.

I really wish ECM would put their shit on Spotify so I could embed something from the Potter.

I forgot that I have an eMusic subscription, and it just sparked back into life after I suspended it for three months, so I downloaded three Donald Byrd albums: Street Lady, Stepping into Tomorrow and Places and Spaces.

Anyone heard the Dawn of Midi album, Dysnomia? Not sure if it's jazz or postrock or just really, really minimal. 9 songs, 46 minutes, piano, bass, drums, recorded live, feels like one long track. Reminds me of The Necks, Fugazi, VERY minimal techno perhaps. Very metronomic, repetitive, subdued, but absolutely fascinating. Know almost nothing about them.

Yeah, I like it a lot. If you like it, you should check out early albums (the ones not on ECM) by Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, who do a similar thing but slightly more organic-sounding, even though they're driven by electric rather than acoustic piano.

I wish I liked Dawn of Midi more than I do.

Currently enjoying Next Collective, Cover Art: songs by D'Angelo, Kanye/Jay-Z, N*E*R*D, Pearl Jam, Stereolab, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bon Iver, Dido, and Little Dragon.

heh, here's another Cover Art that came out this year: http://hellfyreclub.bandcamp.com/album/cover-art

Well-said
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/12/the-quietly-revolutionary-guitar-of-jim-hall.html(Forgot Hall was in Jimmy Giuffre 3, who turned out to be quite the forerunners of atmospheric woodsy etc. Here they are, performing "The Train and the River" in Jazz On A Summer's Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfLsEH4csQ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfLsEH4csQ4 So good.

What happened there---sorry, here they are with *Hall*, not Brookmeyer (this is the original recording)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-4ZqhHOFsM

The Burning Ambulance 25 Best Jazz Albums of 2013:

25. Meg Okura and the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Music of Ryuichi Sakamoto
24. Tim Warfield, Eye of the Beholder
23. Tarbaby, Ballad of Sam Langford
22. Chris Potter, The Sirens
21. Jeremy Pelt, Water and Earth
20. David Ake, Bridges
19. Joel Harrison 19, Infinite Possibility
18. JD Allen, Grace
17. Miles Davis, Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2
16. Melodic Art-Tet, Melodic Art-Tet
15. Various Artists, Long Story Short
14. Nicolas Masson/Roberto Pianca/Emanuele Maniscanco, Third Reel
13. Rich Halley 4, Crossing the Passes
12. Little Women, Lung
11. Dead Neanderthals, ...And It Ended Badly
10. William Parker, Wood Flute Songs
9. Dave Douglas Quintet, Time Travel
8. Michael Bates/Samuel Blaser Quintet, One From None
7. Aaron Parks, Arborescence
6. Matthew Shipp, Piano Sutras
5. Matana Roberts, Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
4. Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Slippery Rock
3. Ghost Train Orchestra, Book of Rhapsodies
2. Hush Point, Hush Point
1. Nick Hempton, Odd Man Out

nice. i got excited thinking that the aaron parks was a new group record, oh well.

judging from your list i think you would dig this record i posted upthread.

Cool; I like the people in his band. I'll check it out as soon as The Wire tops off my Paypal account.

Francis Davis, with comments on the year in Jazz and overall poll results (agree w his disappointed minority opinion of the latest Shorter), but I prefer reading about his own choices and comments on same (damn, a New York Art Quartet box?!)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/18/252001963/wayne-shorter-and-the-years-other-passing-scenery

I'm on his side w/r/t Shorter too (that album was never even in contention for my ballot).

oh shit there was a new mary halvorson?

There several mary halvorson cd´s this year.
i guess this one was too late for Davis´ list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxBE7SyKzoA
It was reviewed at Stef´s freejazz blog.

There was also a bass/guitar release on Intakt with Halvorson and Stephen Crumb calles ´Super 8´.
A new Meg Okura cd? Nice.

Started new thread, hopefully the title will not confuse you: I don't know what they mean when they say 'swing hard' anyway. Rolling Jazz Dflat 2014 Thread