The Jazz Owl
  • Travis Rogers, Jr. -- The Jazz Owl
  • A Love of Music
  • Music Reviews
  • Reviews on Travis Rogers Jr.
  • Meetings with Remarkable People
  • SoulMates by Candlelight
  • Music in Portland
  • Toshi Onizuka
  • The Arts: Film, Literature and More
  • A Love of History
  • Baseball Stories
  • Personal Reflections

A Sad Farewell to Gordon Lightfoot

5/7/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Just over a week ago, we lost the marvelous Gordon Lightfoot, a Canadian singer-songwriter who has had a significant impact on the world of music, in general, and on me, in particular. His career spanned over six decades, during which he has produced a vast body of work that has inspired and influenced generations of musicians and songwriters.

The music of Gordon Lightfoot can be described as a blend of folk, country, and pop styles, characterized by his distinctive baritone voice, intricate guitar work, and thoughtful lyrics. It was the lyrics of Lightfoot's songs are the hallmark of his music. He is known for his ability to write deeply personal and introspective lyrics that explore the universal themes of love (“If You Could Read My Mind”), loss (“Race Among the Ruins”), and the beauty of nature (“Spanish Moss”). His lyrics were often poetic and used vivid imagery to create powerful emotional connections with his listeners.

He could spin tales of real events like the melancholy “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” That song told the story of the loss of the cargo ship Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975. Much like Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane,” the song took some poetic license with the actual facts of the story but it riveted a nation—in fact, two nations including Canada—with the story. He built on the universal fascination with ships lost at sea. Think of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Wreck of the Hesperides” or Gerard Manly Hopkins’ “The Wreck of the Deutschland” or the movies concerning the Titanic.

But that song only built on his own growing fame and reputation. It started long before 1975’s “Wreck…” And, if I am entirely honest, “…Edmund Fitzgerald” was one of my least favorite of his works.
​
I was sitting watching TV in 1965. Mom and Dad had gone to bed and I woke up to watch “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Carson introduced me to much of the music that I still love today and, that night, Gordon Lightfoot performed “Early Morning Rain.” It remains one of my favorite pieces. Four years later, 1969, he was on “Hullaballoo” performing “For Lovin’ Me.” I thought he was even better.
Picture
Of course, at 10 years of age, I still had no money of my own, so I didn’t buy any records yet. In fact, my first album I bought with my own money was “In-a-Gadda-da-Vida” by the Iron Butterfly—a far cry from Gordon Lightfoot. But in 1972, a local station in Miami re-ran a Gordon Lightfoot concert from the BBC and I first heard “Summer Side Of Life” and “Minstrel Of The Dawn” and several others. At the same time, the radios were playing lots of his big hit, “If You Could Read My Mind.” By this time, I was mowing lawns for money and buying my own records.

I went to The Tape Deck a record store in my home town, a place I would later work, and bought the albums “Sit Down Young Stranger” on “Don Quixote.” I admit, I was drawn to “Don Quixote” because I had just read “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes and was intrigued to hear the musical interpretation. What I was not prepared to hear and experience was the song “Beautiful”—to this day my favorite Gordon Lightfoot song.
          “At times I just don't know
          How you could be anything but beautiful
          I think that I was made for you
          And you were made for me”
I was only 14 years old but this song put a vision and a longing in my head that would not be fulfilled until 2019, when I married Nicole. Almost 47 years later. 
I got to see him in concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, in September 1980. He was at the height of his popularity and creativity. He was marvelous.

Many years and many albums later, in 2002, Gordon Lightfoot suffered a near-fatal ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, similar to the condition that took the life of actor John Ritter. He withstood six weeks in a coma, four surgeries, and two years of extensive rehab. His first extensive tour did not happen again until 2005.

He then suffered a minor stroke in 2006 that temporarily affected his ability to play guitar but he continued touring. Ten years later, he performed 80 concerts and told The Canadian Press, “At this age, my challenge is doing the best show I can.”

In an interview with the CBC in 2004, Lightfoot had said that he wanted to be like Willie Nelson and “Just do it for as long as humanly possible.” Then in April of this year, he announced that he was canceling all his scheduled concerts for health reasons.

On July 15, 2022, however, I finally got to take Nicole to see him at the Grand Theater in Wausau, WI. He struggled with his voice, often missing a note or a lyric here and there. But it was Gordon Lightfoot.
​
He played many of his great and best-known songs. But one was missing. He returned for a sing-song encore and, sitting with Nicole and holding her hand, he wonderfully performed “Beautiful.” The last words fading out,
          “And I must say it means so much to me
           To be the one who's telling you,
           I'm telling you,
           That you're beautiful”
​
Farewell, Gordon Lightfoot. Thanks for giving me the vision of what life and love could be.
0 Comments

Farewell, Graeme Edge

11/17/2021

0 Comments

 
PictureGraeme Edge (Photo by Lyndy Lambert)
​I know that I write a lot about the passing of famous musicians. Many of them you may have never heard of or certainly do not care about. But I always feel like their passing is the occasion to reflect on what they contributed to the world of music or art or literature to me, personally.

One of my favorite bands growing up was The Moody Blues. They weren't the exquisite musicians compared to bands like Yes or King Crimson or most anybody you care to name in the Jazz world. But their music was sometimes philosophical, always meditative, often whimsical.

Graeme Edge was their drummer. In fact, he was one of the founding members of the band. He was a fine drummer, a light hearted and fun loving character, but he turned out to be quite a remarkable poet. Truth be told, I think it was his poetic interludes in their various albums that attracted me to the band in the first place.

When he died last week, he was the only remaining original member of the band and had played his last concert with them in September of 2019. That year, age and illness began to take its toll and he retired from performing. With his retirement, the two remaining members—Justin Hayward and John Lodge—decided that the Moody Blues could not continue. They are now touring separately.

Graeme was born in Rocester, England on March 30, 1941. He had performed with various startup bands in the early 1960s but, in 1964, he became a founding member of The Moody Blues. He provided a solid foundation for the original R&B and Rock flavored band, fronted by Denny Laine, playing on all their Decca singles, including the UK chart topping "Go Now" (January 1965), and other 1965 hit songs; "I Don't Want To Go On Without You", "Everyday", and "From The Bottom of My Heart (I Love You)", which were additionally released in that same year.

After the departure of Denny Laine (who would eventually wind up with Paul McCartney & Wings) and bassist Clint Warwick. Graeme was integral in the recruitment of Justin Hayward and John Lodge in 1966. While the band continued to play the R&B style material, a tirade from a fan led to some soul-searching. Graeme said, “'That guy was right...we were rubbish!” This retrospection led the band to decide to abandon the Blues style covers and begin writing and recording their own songs, exclusively. 

Graeme initially was a poet for the band contributing Morning Glory and Late Lament to the Days of Future Passed album in 1967 (although the poem was narrated by Mike Pinder). If you’ve ever heard the extended version of Nights in White Satin, you have heard Graeme’s poem.
Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day's useless energy spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one.
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son.
Senior citizens wish they were young.
Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white,
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion.

Edge himself opened In Search of the Lost Chord (1968) with his brief poem Departure although Pinder again narrated his The Word poem later on that set. Further poems provided by Edge included In The Beginning (co-narrated by Justin Hayward, Graeme Edge, and Mike Pinder in turn), and The Dream (spoken by Mike Pinder) for On The Threshold of A Dream (1969).

Later in 1969, as The Moody Blues launched their own label Threshold Records, Edge began contributing songs, his Higher And Higher (a spoken lyric over music with a dramatic rocket blast off opening) commenced the album To Our Children's Children's Children, which also featured his instrumental composition Beyond.

Edge 'whispered' the lyrics to his song Don't You Feel Small over the band’s sung vocals on A Question of Balance (1970) on which he also contributed a co-written with Ray Thomas closing poem/song The Balance. This was the poem that always got me somehow. When I got to see them perform in 1982, I was thrilled to see them perform that song. The lights were low and a single spotlight was on Graeme as he sat at his drum kit. His arms were folded across his drums sticks and he began to recite, so sweetly,
After he had journeyed,
And his feet were sore,
And he was tired,
He came upon an orange grove
And he rested.
And he lay in the cool,
And while he rested,
He took to himself an orange
And tasted it,
And it was good.
And he felt the earth to his spine,
And he asked,
And he saw the tree above him,
And the stars,
And the veins in the leaf,
And the light,
And the balance.
And he saw magnificent perfection,
Whereon he thought of himself in balance,
And he knew he was.

The thing is, when I first heard that song, my friend Jimmy and I were eating oranges at that very moment. We paused, after we heard that line about tasting the orange, and just looked at each other. To this day, hearing recordings of Graeme reciting that poem that he and Ray Thomas wrote, gives me a thrill.

Next came the band’s album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour in 1971, on which his song, After You Came, featured the four lead vocalists—Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder, Justin Hayward, and John Lodge—all together and taking brief solo lead lines in turn. 

For their 1972 Seventh Sojourn album, Edge co-wrote You And Me with Justin Hayward who took lead vocal. In 2013, Graeme said of Seventh Sojourn: "I didn't listen to that album, because I was going through a divorce at the same time and so it was very, very painful for me. Once it was finished, I didn't play it for years and years and years. Never played it. Not that I play our stuff very much anyway but I never ever played that one. And I hadn't really heard it apart from the singles from it, until much later when it came out first time on CD and I had to listen to it digitalized, just to sort of say 'Yeah, that's fine by me.' And I thought, 'Well actually, that's not too bad an album!' That's the closest I'll ever be to hearing a Moody Blues album for the first time."

After The Moody Blues' world tour ended in 1974, the band members took a break with all the members of the band releasing solo albums or duet albums (as in the case of John and Justin, calling themselves the Blue Jays). They were all really quite good. At least, to me.


​
​Graeme formed his studio-based The Graeme Edge Band (featuring guitarist/vocalist Adrian Gurvitz) who first issued a non-album single We Like To Do It in July 1974. The Graeme Edge Band then released two albums in the mid-1970s. The first was Kick Off Your Muddy Boots in September 1975. It featured Adrian Gurvitz and Paul Gurvitz, plus a guest appearance co-drumming with Graeme by Ginger Baker (of Cream, Blind Faith, and Ginger Baker’s Air Force) with backing vocals by fellow Moodies member Ray Thomas. This first album reached No. 107 in the USA on the Billboard chart. Their second album was 'Paradise Ballroom' in 1977, charting in the USA reaching No. 164 on the Billboard chart. It was also featured Adrian and Paul Gurvitz.

After The Moody Blues' reunion in 1978, Graeme provided the strong I'll Be Level With You (sung by the group, led by Justin Hayward) for the album Octave. When it came time to sign the touring contracts, co-founder and keyboardist Mike Pinder just couldn’t sign. He couldn’t face the crowds, the media, everything, and he bowed out of the band—the first band member to quit since 1966. The band hired (ex-Refugee and ex-Yes) keyboardist Patrick Moraz to take Pinder’s spot.

For Long Distance Voyager in 1981, Graeme contributed the song 22,000 Days—the length of an average human lifespan in days–sung by Ray Thomas, John Lodge, and Justin Hayward. Graeme’s heartfelt Going Nowhere (sung by Ray Thomas) was his lone composition on The Present album in 1983, and he teamed with Moodies keyboardist Patrick Moraz for The Spirit (sung by the group's vocalists in harmony) on The Other Side of Life album in 1986.

Edge was not featured as a songwriter or poet on either Sur La Mer (1988) or Keys of the Kingdom (1991), and was not drummer on every track on the latter album. However, he did contribute the thought-provoking closing poem/song Nothing Changes which was initially narrated by himself, then sung by The Moody Blues (Justin Hayward featured) on the Strange Times album issued in 1999.

Beginning in 1991, Gordon Marshall was co-drummer for the Moodies concerts. Rock and Roll drumming is tough on wrists and Graeme was no exception. Still, Graeme’s drumming style was instantly recognizable and most distinctive.

His divorce had taken a heavy toll on him, emotionally. He finally fell in love again but said that his girlfriend Susan would not marry him because she did not want to be named Sue Edge (sewage). He was a big fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. An article about him said he has "plenty of time for overseeing some rental properties, doing charity work, playing lots of golf and watching Deep Space Nine at his Sarasota home on Florida's Gulf Coast."

To date, the Moody Blues have sold more than 70 million album, In 2018, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The song Nights in White Satin has been covered more than 140 times.

Graeme died on Thursday, November 11, 2021. He was 80 years old.

​Just a small example of what Graeme and the Moody Blues mean to our household, Nicole had no idea what I was writing just now. She walked in and started playing the Moody Blues.
0 Comments

A Bad Week for Drummers

8/31/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
For fans of drummers, the last week was a heartbreaking one. Two of the premier drummers of the 1960s Rock scene died, leaving music fans grief-stricken and in disbelief.

Last Tuesday, August 24, the great Charlie Watts died with no cause of death yet released. He was 80 years old. On Sunday, August 29, Ron Bushy passed away from esophageal cancer at the age of 79.

Ron Bushy of Iron ButterflyRon Bushy was the menacing drummer who will always be remembered for the epic drum solo that consumed almost all of Side 2 on the Iron Butterfly’s magnum opus album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Bushy was the only member of the band to appear on all six official Iron Butterfly albums.

And Bushy was the perfect name for Ron’s looks with his bushy eyebrows, dark hair, dark moustache and goatee. He looked a bit too much like Charles Manson before we had even heard of Charles Manson. After Manson’s infamy, Bushy would change the looks that belied his sweet nature. When asked about having to stay isolated due to COVID-19, he responded with, “We have been home and going out only when need. I’ve been fortunate, because I’m happily married, and I actually enjoy being with my wife Nancy.”

Ron Bushy in later years, still playing with Iron ButterflyIn-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was the first album I bought with my own money. It was 1968 and I was 10 years old. Truth be told, although I was fascinated by Bushy’s thunderous drumming, it was the keyboardist, Doug Ingle, who grabbed my attention. Ingle’s father had been a church organist and that influence showed on the son’s Rock musicianship.

But almost every boy I knew memorized that drum solo from In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. We could all bang along on the table in synch with the Bushy beats. The album stayed on the charts for 140 weeks, 81 weeks in the top ten. The album has sold over 30 million copies and was actually the very first album to be certified Platinum when it sold 8 million copies.

In March of this year, Bushy donated his iconic drum set to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This drum set was created for Ron Bushy in 1969 by Bill Zickos. It is the very first set the company built and the first clear, acrylic drum kit in the world.

Of the band members on In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, only Doug Ingle remains. The Official Twitter account for the band issued this statement on Bushy’s death: “Ron Bushy, our beloved legendary drummer of Iron Butterfly, has passed away peacefully, with his wife Nancy by his side, at 12:05am on August 29th at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital," the band said in a statement. "All three of his daughters were also with him. He was a real fighter. He was born Dec 23, 1941. He will be deeply missed!”
Picture
Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones
On Tuesday, we received word that Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones had passed. His death sent seismic shockwaves through the music world. If anyone of the Stones was expected to pass, it was not Charlie Watts.

Charlie Watts never expected to play with the Rolling Stones for 58 years. In fact, he thought that the band would play together and fade away. But America discovered the Beatles in 1964 and the Stones were never far behind. 

Watts was never especially interested in Rock and Roll, either. He considered himself a Jazz drummer and you can hear that in his playing with the Stones. But he could also play with metronomic steadiness like on Miss You or with swinging savvy like on Rock and Hard Place. He could play the Motown tunes like he was an original Funk Brother or carry on in straight-up Jazz like Elvin Jones or Jack DeJohnette.

Very recently, I saw a video of the Stone touring their old neighborhood. Guitarist Keith Richards said, “Oh, man. It’s great to see old friends. And to make some new ones.” Singer Mick Jagger looked over at Charlie Watts, who was walking with his head down and his hands in his pockets, and said, “Whad’ya think, Charlie? Charlie lifted his head with a big smile and just said, “Yes!” The other three Stones burst into laughter and Mick put his arm around Charlie and pulled him close, saying, “Ah, my Charlie!”

That was nice to see after so many years together. And it wasn’t always that way. Here’s my favorite Charlie Watts story.

The Stones had been on tour in America and Charlie, as usual, went to the hotel and to bed before the rest of them. Sometime late in the night, Mick arrived at the hotel and, in the lobby, yelled, “Where’s my %#@*ing drummer?” He repeated it and then called up to Charlie’s room and repeated the line to Charlie.

Charlie got out of bed, washed, shaved, put on his suit, and went downstairs to the lobby. When he saw Mick, he crossed the floor of the lobby and punched Mick right in the face. Mick dropped like a …well, stone…and Charlie stood straddling the prostrate Mick and pointed his finger at Mick, saying, “I’m not your %#@*ing drummer! You’re MY %#@*ing singer!”
According to eyewitnesses, Mick just lay there giggling as Charlie went back upstairs to bed.

I was never really a Rolling Stones fan but I was always a huge Charlie Watts fan. The only reason I ever wanted to see the Stones in concert was to see Charlie.

Who can forget the now-famous video of the Stones performing Start Me Up with multiple cutaway shots to Charlie who was playing spot-on but shaking his head and laughing at the antics of Mick and Keith…and Ronnie Wood.

The Stones paid tribute to Charlie with a very sweet video that remembered Charlie’s playing and personality and declared his drum set “closed for business.” 

​Rest in Peace, Charlie. My world is a bit sadder without you in it.
Picture
0 Comments

Rediscovering My Records

7/6/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
As I grew up, I began collecting records at about the age of nine years old. My first record was Schubert’s Symphonies No. 5 and 8 (The Unfinished Symphony). I still have it in my collection and Schubert has remained a favorite composer of mine.

My first paid-for album
The first album I ever bought with my own money was Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. It was the 17-minute title track on Side Two of the album that had everybody enthralled. The drum solo was probably 12 minutes long and everybody was wondering what in the world the song was referencing.

​As it turns out, Doug Ingle—lead singer and keyboard player—slurred the words “In the Garden of Eden.” The band was kind of vamping the song as they waited for the producer to arrive in the studio. But the recording engineer decided to roll the tape and they wound up with this extended, slurred pronunciation, beat-your-brains-out drum solo version that they all loved when they played it back.

In 1971, I heard an interview with Doug Ingle. He described a concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, where Iron Butterfly had a band called Yes as their opening act. They were so taken with the band that they came back onstage and jammed with Yes. Straightaway, I was intrigued and I approached my friend, Jimmy Lester, and he loaned me the latest album (at that time) from Yes called, The Yes Album. I was immediately and irretrievably hooked on Yes. To this day, they remain my favorite band.

Discovering My Favorite Band, a Band called YES
I discovered that Yes had released two previous albums and I went out and bought those and have bought every album ever since. Even the unofficial releases. 

Doug Ingle’s father was a church organist and that influence always played heavily in Iron Butterfly’s sound. Chris Squire of Yes had been a member of the St. Paul’s Cathedral Boys Choir and the vocal arrangements of Yes always had that layered, sometimes contrapuntal, aspect to the vocals. Plus, Rick Wakeman (Yes’ now and again keyboardist) was trained in church music and has written numerous hymns.
Picture
But the Yes album that has remained my favorite was the album Close to the Edge. I have probably listened to that album and the title song more than any other album and song. 
​
One time, my oldest son and I were driving someplace and the song Close to the Edge was playing on the car stereo. My son said, “How long have you been listening to this album or song?” The album was released in 1972 and I got it the day it was released. My son asked me the question in 1996 so, doing the math, I answered, “24 years.” 

He said, “Okay, I’m going to turn the volume to zero but let the song keep playing. When I’m ready to turn the volume back up, tell me where the song is.” I agreed. He turned the volume down and waited a minute or two. When he reached for the volume knob I started singing, “On the hill we viewed the silence of the valley…” And that, of course, is exactly where the song was.

My son just shook his head and said, “You’re a freak.”

So, through all my years of getting new car stereos or home audio equipment, the first thing I always listened to on the new sound equipment was Close to the Edge. I’ll come back to that.

A Growing Record Collection
I eventually accumulated a collection of 3,500 record albums and countless 45 RPMs and cassettes and CDs. I wound up selling off most of the albums and singles, keeping only the precious core albums—no more than 200 albums. I sold off my stereo system around 2001 but kept the records, even though I had nothing to play them on.

My wife Nicole is the only one (besides my sister and children) who understood what those albums meant to me. Months ago, she began introducing the idea of me getting a new stereo system. The new systems were hideously expensive (at least, for the brands I wanted), so I began to look at vintage systems. Those older systems sound better, anyway.

A New Stereo System
I finally got the system I wanted. Recovering from the shoulder surgery kept me from installing it right away but I finally was able to move around the heavy components. I was setting it all up late one night and Nicole came into the room. I heard her laugh behind me and I turned around. “Wow,” she laughed. “You sure are concentrating. I have been calling your name and you never even heard me.” I apologized, kissed her goodnight, and went back to it.

The next morning, Nicole asked if I listened to the stereo. I told that I did. “What was the first thing you listened to?” she asked. “Close to the Edge,” I answered. Then came John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, and more.

Music and Me
Music that we love is a funny thing. As I sat listening to the album, a lifetime of memories washed over me. I remembered the first time I heard it, late at night, when everyone in my parents’ house had gone to sleep, then to driving in my first car and listening on my Pioneer Super Tuner™ KP-500. Then graduation night from high school, when I skipped out on the parties and drove to the beach to sit on the hood of my car and listen to Close to the Edge alone. College, grad school, my cousin Linda, my boys, all came back to me. And it helped me remember who I am.

That rediscovery of me has been a long and slow process. Experiences and pains had buried a lot of me. Then Nicole, like Jesus calling Lazarus to come forth, reawakened me and removed my grave clothes. They joy of simply listening to a record I love had been withheld from me for a long time but Nicole gave it back.

To touch a vinyl record, remove it from the sleeve, smell that distinctive smell of the record, read the liner notes on the interior sleeve or back of the album, is a sensory delight.

​And for those who say that CDs are superior…well, I don’t even want to know you.
0 Comments

On Bob Dylan Turning 80

6/8/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Bob Dylan turned 80 on May 24. There are only a handful of artists who have changed, shaped, upended the musical world like Dylan.

It is a telling fact that Dylan is the first songwriter to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 but he didn’t win it for songwriting; he won it for poetry. He also won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize For his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. And that tells you everything you need to know.

But I have more on the topic of Bob Dylan. And this is where it gets personal.

Bob Dylan in Concert
Bob Dylan doesn’t sing sweetly like a Harry Nilsson and sometimes, especially in concert, it is difficult to make out the lyrics. But if you are going to Dylan for the tunes, you’re going for the wrong reason and the Nobel and Pulitzer prize committees understand that.

When I like authors, I don’t just like the stories they tell. I like the way they tell the story, the words they use. There is a reason Shakespeare is Shakespeare. In Henry V, my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays, King Henry is encouraging his men before the Battle of Agincourt where the French outnumbered them 3:1. With the battle about to be fought on St. Crispin’s Day (October 25), Henry told his beleaguered troops:
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

The Poetry of Dylan
For me, Dylan has that kind of poetic power. Whether he is being comical as in Buckets of Rain or indignant against injustice like Hurricane (about the framed boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter) or leisurely like Mozambique, he uses words and not melodies to tell the stories he wishes to tell.

Having listened to Bob Dylan for far more than 50 years, he never ceases to move me with his writing. In Shelter from the Storm, Dylan writes/intones:
In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes
I bargained for salvation an’ they gave me a lethal dose
I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn
“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”

That stanza gets me every time I hear it. And I hear it a lot because it’s one of my favorites. More than that, it describes for me what my life was like leading up to when I fell in love with Nicole.

Then there is the poetry and power of All Along the Watchtower with its second stanza that almost become like hallowed scripture to me with its imagery and wisdom.

There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late

Talk falsely now. What a phrase.

The Cool of Bob Dylan
If Miles Davis is the embodiment of cool, Bob Dylan is the Spirit of cool. Here’s a great example: Dylan was invited to perform at the Obama White House. I heard President Obama describe this to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.

“It’s mysterious. Has a little quirky smile on his face,” President Obama told Fallon. “That’s what you want from Bob Dylan. You don’t want him to be all chatty and eating off the cheese plate and all that stuff. It would disappoint you.” 

Bob Dylan at the White House (Photo courtesy of the Obama White House Archives)He said that most performers show up early and chat up the staff and try to get a photo with the president. Not Dylan. “He showed up only a few minutes before the show and walked right on stage, sang, and walked off. He just looked at me and winked,” the President said. “I leaned over to Michelle and said, ‘He’s just so cool.’”

He performed with George Harrison in the Concert for Bangladesh and in The Last Waltz with the Band. He introduced me to Emmylou Harris back in 1975 when she sang seven songs with Dylan on the album Desire, especially the song One More Cup of Coffee which was inspired by Dylan leaving his time spent with Basques. It becomes a dialogue between a man and a woman who are forced to leave each other. But what makes the song even more amazing is the natural minor scale used and Dylan sings it in a Basque style of vocalization.

Again, you don’t go to Dylan for a catchy tune. You go for imagery and wisdom and the beauty of words.

I’ve only gotten to see Bob Dylan twice in concert and I wish Nicole could have been there with me. But we were taking a long drive one weekend to and from La Crosse. We found a radio station that was playing a marathon of radio shows wherein Dylan hosted the show and played songs of interest to him with his cool narratives between the songs. At one point, he said, “Did you know that the harmonica is the most popular instrument sold in the world? You’re welcome.”

Best of all, Nicole likes him as much as I do and she listens to him without prompting from me. My girl.
Picture
0 Comments

The Jazz Owl Favorites of 2020

12/31/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
The year 2020 belied all expectations and defied all predictions. Nevertheless, this annus horribilis was met with unabashedly remarkable music that flew in the face of dashed hopes. He was speaking of violence but Leonard Bernstein said, “This will be our reply…to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

This is exactly what the following artists have done. In the face of pandemic, cultural distrust, incompetent political leadership and, yes, violence, these wonderful people have created intense, beautiful, and devoted music.
​
I cannot categorize the music between formats and styles this year. All I can say is that this is the music that inspired me and gave me hope. I love these artists as people as much as musicians and composers.

AJOYO – War Chant
Do not let it be said that Jazz has nothing to offer in this present time. The glory days of jazz are not over, far from it, and if you need proof of it, all you need to do is listen to AJOYO’s new album War Chant. This is their second release following their 2015 eponymous album.

War Chant is a spiritual call-to-arms against oppression, greed, fear of others, and isolation—national and individual. AJOYO does it with grace and strength, intelligence and wit, and—most of all—a love and acceptance of who we are and who we should be.

Markus Reuter Oculus – Nothing is Sacred
Markus Reuter is one of the most extraordinary musicians and composers of this or any other century. In the wake of so many brilliant and innovative releases, Reuter presents his first Oculus project, featuring equally remarkable musicians who fit like a fist in glove in their presentation of Nothing is Sacred.

Markus Reuter Oculus’s Nothing is Sacred is everything we have come to expect, respect, and admire from Markus Reuter. No idea is left unexplored, no question unanswered, in this brilliant album of shadow and light.

Alex Wintz Trio – Live to Tape
Alex Wintz decided to go old school with his trio and record his latest album Live to Tape on analog equipment in a successful attempt to recapture the warmth of the Blue Note era recordings. It was the perfect set-up for the guitar trio format, made more perfect with the artistry of bassist Dave Baron and drummer Jimmy Macbride, his longstanding comrades in arms.

Antonio Adolfo – BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento
Antonio Adolfo, one of the great talents to emerge from Brazil, has released BruMa: Celebrating Milton Nascimento. Antonio first met Milton in 1967 when they were both participants at Rio de Janeiro's International Song Festival. The next year, Antonio and his trio performed with Milton, first in the recording studio and then a two-months run of their show in Ipanema. Now, Antonio Adolfo breathes new life into the work of the maestro in a time when Milton Nascimento’s vision and voice should not be forgotten.

David Cross & Peter Banks – Crossover
David’s violin brilliance and Peter’s guitar work is more beautiful than ever and the support of these astounding musicians with Peter and David make this album feel as monumental as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Bravo, David Cross, for finishing what you and Peter Banks started over seven years ago. It has truly been worth the wait.

David K. Mathews – The Fantasy Vocal Sessions, Vol. 2
David K. Mathews has taken a delightful collection of songs from several genres and has given us a masterwork of favorite vocalists interpreting these moving and inspiring and reflective songs in ways that do honor to the originals. Mathews’ playing is incredible and his assembly of supporting artists is appropriate and well-conceived.

I can’t wait for Volumes 3 and 4.

Sarah Elizabeth Charles & Jarrett Cherner – Tone
Tone is the inevitable evolution of the talents, skills, and hearts of Sarah Elizabeth Charles and Jarrett Cherner. Like lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids combing to make life, these two amazing artists have created something unique that the world has awaited since the beginning. It’s that good.

Jasnam Daya Singh and the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble – EKTA: The Unity Project
EKTA: The Unity Project is not about Utopia—it is not the absence of division but the overcoming of it. Nor is it simply a hope for the future but a vision that begins with coming together, followed by acceptance, and ending in oneness and walking forward together.

Jasnam Daya Singh is not only a national treasure. He is a global one.

Gary Husband & Markus Reuter – Music of Our Times
Gary Husband and Markus Reuter were on tour in China and Japan with Stick Men. They had finished their one and only performance in Nagoya, Japan, at the famed Blue Note. Then the world changed. The Stick Men Tour (with Tony Levin, Markus Reuter, Pat Mastelotto and special guest Gary Husband) was abruptly canceled. Producer and MoonJune Records owner Leonardo Pavkovic quickly booked studio time in Tokyo before the return flights of Reuter and Husband. The results--Music of Our Time--are something extraordinary.

LP and the Vinyl – Heard and Seen
I’ve been a fan of Danny Green for quite some time now. His trio’s Altered Narratives was on my Favorites of 2016 list and 2018’s One Day It Will ranks as one of my all-time favorites. In the review of One Day It Will, I wrote, “And just when I thought Danny Green’s Trio had outdone themselves with 2015’s Altered Narratives, they release One Day It Will, their third album on OA2 Records. It is the very same brilliant trio of Danny Green on piano, Justin Grinnell on bass, and Julien Cantelm on drums. In fact, they have been together since 2010.”

On One Day It Will, Danny & Company added a string quartet from the San Diego Symphony. The latest project brings a return of that great trio with the remarkable addition of Leonard Patton on vocals. That assembly is called LP and the Vinyl and their album is Heard and Seen.

Susan Tobocman – Touch & Go
Now this is a good album. Susan Tobocman has chosen a fine collection of standards, classics, and originals and a band of dedicated and interpretive artists that can give life to the instrumentation and can give her space for her own vocal expressions to make her album Touch & Go a work worthy of great attention and praise.

Susan Tobocman is a Jazz lover’s dream. Her vocals are beyond compare but her arrangements and compositions are beyond description. She is talented and brilliant beyond measure. Touch & Go does not describe the power and beauty of the album; she was full on, right on, every step of the way.

Spanish Harlem Orchestra – The Latin Jazz Project
The Latin Jazz Project is what we have been waiting for from Spanish Harlem Orchestra. With six previous recordings, they have given us glimpses and splashes of Latin jazz. Thanks to Artistshare, a fan-funded project program, SHO have given us a full-length recording of pure Latin jazz. Their last album, Anniversary, was the Grammy winner for Best Tropical Latin Album. A wonderful album.

But Musical director Oscar Hernandez, with two brilliant Latin Jazz albums under his belt, has brought his full creative force to bear with SHO for another album of wonder. The Latin Jazz Project will certainly be a Grammy contender.

Rudresh Mahanthappa – Hero Trio
I've always enjoyed about Rudresh Mahanthappa is the way he never settles on a given expression or style. Ever since I began listening to him, he has pushed his own boundaries to new places and always finds fertile soil for his musical imagination wherever he ventures. Such is the case with his new album entitled Hero Trio.

Hero Trio is exactly what it says it is. Rudresh Mahanthappa, Franςois Moutin, and Rudy Royston have created a powerful, precise, and—okay—perfect album. There’s no Kryptonite on this album.

Lauren Henderson – The Songbook Session
Lauren Henderson continues to thrill, comfort, and amaze with every album she has released. Whether YouTube live performances, EPs, or full-length albums, Lauren never disappoints. Her 2020 CD The Songbook Session is no different.

The Songbook Session is Lauren’s third full-length album and it is her best to date. She takes standards from the 30s and 40s and breathes sweet life into them all over again, almost as if we had never heard them before. When an artist can make you forget everything that has gone before, it is something amazing. Such is this album.

Jesse Fischer – Resilience
It has been an excellent year for Jesse Fisher. First, he participated in the phenomenal War Chant album by Ajoyo. Now he releases his latest project as a leader called Resilience. Resilience incorporates the influences of modern Jazz, African music, and Near Eastern music reflecting Jesse's own Jewish heritage.

Jesse Fischer has not only envisioned and composed a beautiful album, he has brought together the right players for the right job. It is executed with power and precision and—dare I say—purity. Resilience does not lose its way once. It is focused and is a frontal assault at what life throws our way, and how we can overcome.

Gato Libre – Koneko
Koneko is the eighth album from Gato Libre and the first since 2017’s Neko. Since 2015, Gato Libre (Spanish for Free Cat) has been a trio comprised of Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Yasuko Kaneko on trombone and Satoko Fujii and accordion. Unlike Kaze (Japanese for Breeze), the other band with Tamura and Fujii, Gato Libre is more informed by tone and texture than in frenetic virtuosity.

Koneko (Japanese for Kitten) is a further exploration into the far reaches of said tone and texture. It is music to be heard with intent—not background music while making breakfast.

(Live Streaming Performance) Farofa – Jazz on YOUR Green; Live at the Omaha Performing Arts
In the days of limited access to live music, innovative promoters and artists are finding a way to still bring the joy and magic of the live performance. God bless Jazz on YOUR Green, Omaha Performing Arts, Manager Marian Liebowitz, and the band of extraordinary artists called Farofa.

It was a joyous romp that was energetic, spirited, fascinating, and leaving you wanting more. Farofa is a new band with original compositions and original takes on old songs. Farofa pulls the listener up to their level and makes you crave their understanding of life in the world we live.

Favorite Record Label - MoonJune
Leonardo "MoonJune" Pavkovic is a one-man record label who brings together the most remarkable musicians and composers from every country and every genre. The whole always becomes greater than the sum of their parts. Leonardo is a visionary who loves artists and the music they create.
​
I am thankful for all the beautiful work offered in 2020 by all of these beautiful people.
 
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is the Jazz Owl
0 Comments

Farewell, Peter Green

7/27/2020

0 Comments

 
On Saturday, July 25, 2020, the music world lost Peter Green, a great guitarist and the co-founder of the band Fleetwood Mac. His family released a statement to the BBC on Saturday morning.

That same day, music legend Peter Frampton Tweeted: “Most sadly have lost one of the most tasteful guitar players ever. I have always been a huge admirer of the great Peter Green. May he rest in peace.”

I feel compelled to write about Peter Green since, sadly, so few people know who he was. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and original founding member and leader of Fleetwood Mac, he was only in the group for two years and eight months (starting in 1968 and leaving in May 1970). 

Early Career
Born in London in 1946, Peter began his career as a teenager in 1965 as the guitarist for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, where he replaced Eric Clapton who had moved on to form the band Cream. Two years later, Peter teamed up with drummer Mick Fleetwood to form Fleetwood Mac after they recruited John McVie on bass.

The original Peter Green version of Fleetwood Mac was a blues-based band. Under Peter's direction, the early incarnation of Fleetwood Mac released three albums, starting with its 1968 self-titled debut, followed by Mr. Wonderful (1968) and Then Play On (1969).

Huge Hits
During his time in the group, Peter penned such popular songs as Albatross, Man of the World, Oh Well and Black Magic Woman, which later became a massive worldwide hit for Carlos Santana.

“Peter’s voice, and the songs he wrote, often spoke of troubled thoughts, and his guitar solos relied on expressive, long-lined melody rather than speed,” wrote New York Times music critic Jon Pareles. 

“I like to play slowly and feel every note,” Peter once said.

Peter Green’s instrumental piece Albatross became a #1 hit in the UK in 1969. At one point, Peter suggested the band donate a percentage of their royalties and profits to help alleviate poverty. After all, he reckoned, how much money does one person need? The band refused but Peter took it on himself to donate from his huge royalties. 

According to one of the band’s managers, The Green Manilishi, the last song that Peter wrote and recorded with Fleetwood Mac, was about the negative aspects of money, fame, and greed. Peter left Fleetwood Mac in 1970.

Schizophrenia
Peter continued to release music following his departure from Fleetwood Mac, including his 1970 solo debut, The End of the Game. Peter would later be diagnosed with schizophrenia, a possibly incorrect diagnosis. He was, nevertheless, institutionalized and given electro-shock treatments which ultimately made his condition more severe and unstable. He struggled for quite a while, was institutionalized again and heavily sedated for years. Because of his mental illness, however, the guitarist wouldn't release another solo album until 1979. His last solo release was 1983's Kolors.

He returned to performing and recording on and off, eventually achieving some mental stability after he stopped taking medication. 

A Return to Music
During the 1990s, Peter teamed up with guitarist Nigel Watson and drummer Cozy Powell to form Peter Green Splinter Group, releasing several albums in the late 90s and early 2000s.

In 1998, Peter Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with seven other past and present other members of Fleetwood Mac.

In February, Mick Fleetwood organized an all-star tribute to the early years of Fleetwood Mac with Peter, featuring performances by Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Steven Tyler and many others.
​
“The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music,” Fleetwood explained in a statement. “Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honored to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician.”
According to his family, in a statement released to the BBC, Peter died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 73.
0 Comments

On the Passing of Lyle Mays

4/19/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
On Monday, February 10, Nicole and I had finished putting the February 11 edition of the Sentinel & Rural News together and Nicole was getting the last of the pages sent to the printer. As I waited for her, I was looking through my Twitter feed and ran across the terrible news that Jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays had died at the age of only 66 years. 
Only last year, Jazz journalist CJ Stearn from New York City had interviewed me for his Jazz Talk program and we spend a good deal of the two-hour discussion about Lyle Mays and his work with Pat Metheny. Lyle was a longtime collaborator with Metheny. He was an innovative keyboard player whose expansive textures and touching solos on grand piano provided a key element of the Pat Metheny sound. Indeed, he was a cornerstone to that sound. Mays was also co-composer of many the Pat Metheny Group anthems for four decades. 


A Wisconsin NativeLyle was a native of Wausaukee, Wisconsin. He studied Jazz at North Texas State University when it, along with the University of Miami, was accounted as the best Jazz schools in the country. He played for the North Texas State University Lab Band and was composer-arranger of the Grammy-nominated album Lab 75. In fact, a friend of mine’s son is studying Jazz at University of North Texas (as it is now called) and said that they are still performing the charts created by Lyle 45 years ago.
Lyle later toured with Woody Herman’s Orchestra for eight months (1975-1976). Then he met Pat Metheny.


Lyle Meets Pat MethenyThey first met at the Wichita Jazz Festival in 1975 and Lyle later appeared on the Metheny’s 1977 album, Watercolors. 
I had come to Jazz through the 1975 Keith Jarrett album, the Köln Concert. I grabbed all the Jarrett albums I could and was—and still am—hooked on piano Jazz. But through my growing familiarity with Jarrett, I came to know many other Jazz artists with whom he performed and recorded and then who recorded with them and so on. It led me to an album by a guitarist named Pat Metheny (who had attended University of Miami) called Bright Size Life. It was a trio album with the great Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on drums. I enjoyed the album a lot but there were no keyboards on that album. That was 1976. 
The next year brought the release of Watercolors with Metheny on guitar, the amazing Eberhard Weber on bass, the equally amazing Danny Gottlieb on drums and a kid named Lyle Mays on piano and keyboards. Lyle became the reason that I stayed a fan of the Pat Metheny bands for so many years. I saw Pat Metheny in concert four times from 1979 through 1990 and I went in order to see Lyle.
Lyle contributed as a player and co-composer to a remarkably productive string of Pat Metheny Group albums, including 1978’s Pat Metheny Group, 1979’s American Garage, 1981’s Off Ramp, 1983’s Travels, 1984’s First Circle, 1987’s Still Life (Talking), 1989’s Letter From Home, 1992’s Secret Story (although Lyle is rarely present), 1993’s The Road To You, 1994’s We Live Here, 1996’s Quartet, 1997’s Imaginary Day, 2002’s Speaking of Now and culminating with 2005’s The Way Up, a sprawling through-composed jazz tone poem co-written by Mays and Metheny divided into four sections. Mays and Metheny also lent their trademark sound to the sweeping soundtrack to the 1984 film The Falcon and the Snowman, which featured David Bowie’s vocals on “This Is Not America.”
Contributions to the Pat Metheny GroupWith Lyle on keyboards, especially on piano, the group’s sound became joyful but reverent. On the 1980 album As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, the song September 15 was dedicated to the inimitable Jazz pianist Bill Evans who had died on September 15, 1980. It was the best thing I had ever heard. It was sweet and sad and to this day I still am moved beyond words by the beauty of that piece.
But in 1984, the Pat Metheny Group released the album First Circle. That album contained a track called Praise. Pedro Aznarprovided wordless vocals overtop the exquisite keyboards of Lyle and the beautiful guitar of Metheny. I think I wore out three copies of that vinyl record.


Meeting LyleAs it worked out, I got to tell Lyle that myself in 1984 just before their concert in Waco, Texas. I was living there at the time and I knew a guy who worked at the concert hall. I convinced him (okay, I gave him $20) to let me in to see the soundcheck before the show. I got to meet Lyle who—despite the stories of him being so reclusive—was incredibly friendly. I realized that he was only five years older than me and told him of my admiration for September 15 and Praise. I even said that Praise was a song that I wished would never end. He smiled and said, “Well, I see what I can do.”
That night, they performed most of the songs from the First Circle album and more but…no Praise. They left the stage and I was extremely disappointed. I thought, “Well, maybe I’m the only one who likes it.” Then, with the standing ovation still in progress, the band returned to the stage for an encore. Metheny walked up to the microphone and said, “We usually play American Garage for our encore but Lyle wanted to save the encore for this one.” I wish we had iPhones in those days so I could have recorded it.
They started on the first chord and I—and everyone else—knew that it was Praise. That song is 4:19 on the album but, that night, it went on for over 10 minutes. When I thought they were closing out the song, Lyle circled his finger over his head and the vamping began. They played off each other incredibly and I had the time of my young life.


Lyle as Leader and Solo ArtistLyle didn’t record much as a leader, beginning with his self-titled 1985 debut and continuing with 1988’s Street Dreams, 1992’s Fictionary and 2000’s Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano. He was a member of the celebrated band on Joni Mitchell’s Shadows and Light tour in 1979 that included Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker and Don Alias. He won 11 Grammys and was nominated 23 times. In 2016, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry’s Hall of Fame.


Reactions to Lyle's PassingPat Metheny posted on his website the day Lyle passed, “Lyle was one of the greatest musicians I have ever known. Across more than 30 years, every moment we shared in music was special. From the first notes we played together, we had an immediate bond. His broad intelligence and musical wisdom informed every aspect of who he was in every way. I will miss him with all my heart.”
Steve Rodby, who joined as bassist and producer for the Pat Metheny Group in 1980, also issued a statement on Metheny’s Facebook page: “I had the great privilege of having Lyle in my life for decades, as an inspiration and as my friend. As anyone who knew him and his music will agree, there will only be one Lyle, and we all will continue to appreciate his soulful brilliance, in so many ways.”
On Thursday, Metheny expanded on his thoughts of Lyle: “There was a valuable lesson I learned early on from my most important mentor, Gary Burton; when you start a group, you have an obligation to choose the best musicians you can possibly find.  And then, if you are lucky, once you have great people in place, you have an even more important obligation; to create an environment for them to do their very best.
“The mandate of the bandleader as I understood it from Gary, (and I believe he understood it from Stan Getz who got it from —… who got it from —…ad infinitum) was to offer the most talented players every opportunity to develop the things that they are most interested to the highest degree possible under your auspices; to create a platform that intersects with what your goals are as a leader, but also a zone that provides a world open to exploration and expansion for everyone. When the moment comes that that intersection is no longer in sight for either side of the equation, that is when it is time to make a change.
“With Lyle, as with Steve Rodby, that moment never came. There was always plenty to talk about. In fact, it seemed infinite…
“As I wrote earlier. I will miss him with all my heart.
In addition to everything else; Lyle, Steve, and I were friends for going on half a century, and together we shared many of the ups-and-downs of our lives together here on the planet, on and off the bandstand. I am most grateful for that above all.”
I had hoped that someday we could get Lyle Mays to the Central Wisconsin Jazz Festival. And even though we will never get to hear more from him, we are blessed that we have such a wealth of recordings that can be summoned for our pleasure and edification whenever we want.
Thanks for all of it, Lyle.​



0 Comments

Farewell, McCoy Tyner

4/19/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
On Friday afternoon, March 6, I saw the announcement from McCoy Tyner’s family that he had passed away. He was a cornerstone of John Coltrane’s groundbreaking 1960s quartet and one of the most influential pianists in jazz history. He was 81.

It has been a bad couple of weeks for Jazz pianists.

McCoy and John Coltrane
Tyner first attracted wide notice as a member of John Coltrane’s famed quartet of Coltrane, Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. This was my favorite quartet ever. 

He influenced virtually every pianist in Jazz in one way or another. Along with Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, and only a few others, Tyner was one of the main expressways of modern Jazz piano. Nearly every Jazz pianist since Tyner’s years with Coltrane has had to learn his lessons, whether they ultimately stayed with them or not.

Tyner’s style was modest, even reserved, but his sound was so rich, so percussive and so serious. His emotional improvisations were anchored by powerful left-hand chords marking the first beat of the bar and the tonal center of the music. That sound helped create the foundation of Coltrane’s music and, to some extent, all Jazz in the 1960s. 

He served as a grounding force for Coltrane. In a 1961 interview in Downbeat, about a year and a half after hiring Tyner, Coltrane said: “My current pianist, McCoy Tyner, holds down the harmonies, and that allows me to forget them. He’s sort of the one who gives me wings and lets me take off from the ground from time to time.”

When he left Coltrane in 1965, Tyner did not find immediate success. But within a decade, his fame had caught up with his influence, and he remained one of the leading bandleaders in Jazz as well as one its most honored pianists for the rest of his life.

Younger Years
Alfred McCoy Tyner was born in Philadelphia on December 11, 1938, to Jarvis and Beatrice Tyner, both natives of North Carolina. His father sang in a church quartet and worked for a company that made medicated cream; his mother was a beautician. Tyner started taking piano lessons at the age of 13 and, a year later, his mother bought him his first piano and set it up in her beauty shop.

While still in high school, Tyner began taking music theory lessons and, by 16, he was playing professionally with a rhythm-and-blues band at house parties around Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

Tyner was in a band led by the trumpeter Cal Massey in 1957 when he met Coltrane at a Philadelphia club called the Red Rooster. At the time, Coltrane, who grew up in Philadelphia but had left in 1955 to join Miles Davis’s quintet, was back in town, between tenures with Miles’ band. The two musicians struck up an immediate friendship. Coltrane was living at his mother’s house, and Tyner would visit him there where they would sit on the porch and talk. Tyner would later say that Coltrane was something of an older brother to him.

Joining the Trane
In 1958, Coltrane recorded one of Tyner’s compositions, The Believer. There was an understanding between them that when Coltrane was ready to lead his own group, he would hire Tyner as his pianist. Coltrane did eventually form his own quartet, which opened a long engagement at the Jazz Gallery in Manhattan in May 1960, but with Steve Kuhn as the pianist. A month later, halfway through the engagement, Coltrane made good on his promise, replacing Kuhn with Tyner. It was the best decision Coltrane could have made.

That October, Tyner made its first recordings with Coltrane for Atlantic Records that produced much of the material for the albums My Favorite Things, Coltrane Jazz, Coltrane’s Sound and Coltrane Plays the Blues.

He was 21 when he joined the Coltrane quartet. He would remain — along with the drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison — for the next five years. Through his work with the group, which came to be known as the “classic” Coltrane quartet, he became one of the most widely imitated pianists in Jazz. Coltrane is my all-time favorite Jazz artist and Elvin Jones remains my favorite drummer. Tyner was blessed indeed to be in the midst of those two along with Jimmy Garrison.

 He knew when to hammer on and when to lay off. “What you don’t play is sometimes as important as what you do play,” he told his fellow pianist Marian McPartland on her wonderful NPR show called Piano Jazz. “I would leave space, which wouldn’t identify the chord so definitely to the point that it inhibited your other voicings.”

The Coltrane quartet worked constantly through 1965, reaching one high-water mark for Jazz after another on albums like A Love Supreme, Crescent, Coltrane Live at Birdland, Ballads, and Impressions, all recorded for the Impulse label.

Leaving the Trane
When Coltrane began to expand his musical vision to include extra horns and percussionists, Tyner quit the group at the end of 1965, complaining that the music had grown so loud and unwieldy that he could not hear the piano anymore. For the next two years he hooked up with Art Blakey’s band.

Just before Coltrane’s death in 1967, Tyner signed to the Blue Note label. He stayed with Blue Note for five years, starting with a fairly familiar quartet sound and progressing to larger ensembles, but these were temporary bands assembled for recording sessions, not working groups. It was a lean time for Jazz and for Tyner. It was a big deal to have quit Coltrane’s band. He was not performing much and, he later said, had considered applying for a license to drive a cab. By 1972, however, he had gained a higher profile and much more success. In those years he worked steadily with his own band, including at various times with other notable musicians.

McCoy's Own Path
Tyner did not use electric piano or synthesizers, or play with rock and disco backbeats, as many of the best Jazz musicians did at the time, including guys like Chick and Herbie. He maintained one of the strongest and most recognizable keyboard sounds in Jazz. He was committed to acoustic instrumentation. His experiments outside the piano ran toward the koto, as heard on the 1972 album “Sahara,” and harpsichord and celeste, on “Trident” (1975).

He formed several more bands, including big bands, and continued reaching and teaching Jazz musicians, especially pianists, everywhere.

In 2002, Tyner was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, one of the highest honors for a Jazz musician in the United States. He resisted analyzing or theorizing about his own work. He tended to talk more in terms of learning and life experience.

The Impact of McCoy Tyner
“To me,” he told Nat Hentoff in a remarkable interview, “living and music are all the same thing. And I keep finding out more about music as I learn more about myself, my environment, about all kinds of different things in life.

“I play what I live. Therefore, just as I can’t predict what kinds of experiences I’m going to have, I can’t predict the directions in which my music will go. I just want to write and play my instrument as I feel.”

The resounding echoes of grief were heard all over Twitter, Facebook, websites, and more over the weekend as the Jazz world tried to come to grips with the death of the teacher.

The great bassist Stanley Clark Tweeted: “A truly great one has passed. I cannot begin to tell you the depth of this great ones influence in music. Every jazz pianist has a bit of McCoy within their heart. He was the last member of the transformational, supernatural group The John Coltrane Quartet of John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones. Every time I’ve ever played or recorded with McCoy it was like receiving the greatest healing medicine you could ever want.”

Clark Gayton posted on Facebook: “One of the highlights of my life was going on the road with the McCoy Tyner Big Band in 1990. The lineup was ridiculous. I learned so much about music and the generations before me. Too much to get into on a post. But there was this time I lost my bags in Italy. Everything. We had a show that night, and I didn't have anything to wear. I got a call from John Stubblefield right after sound check... "You can wear a pair of my shoes tonight, man". 10 minutes later, McCoy calls my room." I heard about your situation. Come by my room. I may have something for you." I stopped by his room, and he presented me with one of his very expensive suits. "You can use this until you locate your bags, don't worry about it." I ended up wearing his suit for a week, until my bags were found somewhere. Two things, neither the shoes nor the suit fit me at all. I looked ridiculous, to put it simply. But I couldn't have been prouder! I really felt like I was one of the cats wearing that outfit. Somehow, I can't imagine that happening today. They literally gave me the clothes off their back to help me. The stories were hilarious and plenty for those 8 weeks in Europe. The band became a living being on the road. A beast. We plowed through Europe like a wild bull, and it changed my life. Thank you, McCoy. Love you much, and safe passage.”

I got to see McCoy Tyner with saxman Joe Lovano in Portland in February of 2009. I had came down with a 101º temperature but I went to the show anyway. I had gotten my tickets long before and was not going to miss seeing him—my first and only time. For the 2-hour show, I forgot about what ailed me. I still have the concert poster in the office upstairs.
0 Comments

Bohemian Rhapsody the movie and the wonderful Freddie Mercury

11/16/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last Saturday, Nicole and I decided to head for the movies. If there are no concerts around, movies are the next best thing.
​
We had seen the movie posters hanging in the theatres when we went to see "A Star is Born" a week ago and I knew I wanted to go see this, especially with Nicole.

"Bohemian Rhapsody "was the movie. It was better than a simple bio-pic, it was about the band Queen and their approach to making music—incredible music. It was about the flamboyant Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) and the three brilliant musicians who joined him to make one of the most entertaining bands ever. EVER.

The movie begins with the wide-toothed Freddie approaching guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor about him becoming their new lead singer. Taylor laughed at him and said, “Not with those teeth, mate!” Freddie had been mocked and bullied about his teeth since childhood and he almost walked away. He turned on his heel to face the two again and belted out a glorious rendition of the song that their band had been playing only moments before.

Freddie took control and said, “I have four additional incisors. Makes my mouth wider and gives me better range. I’ll let you know my answer.”

I loved Freddie Mercury. I remember the first time I heard him. It was 1973 and I heard "Keep Yourself Alive" on the radio on WSHE in Ft. Lauderdale. I loved the Brian May’s squeaky guitar, John Deacon’s thundering Fender bass, and Roger Taylor’s powerful drumming. I was hooked from the first.

Then came "Killer Queen" from the album "Sheer Heart Attack." By this time, the production had gotten so much cleaner and it only made Freddie’s voice soar even more. Then in November of 1975, Queen released "A Night at the Opera." I was taken with the title because it was the title of a Marx Brothers movie and I loved the Marx Brothers. But this album was remarkable.

It rendered such hits as the operatic "Bohemian Rhapsody", the ridiculous "I’m in Love with My Car" and the 1920s-sounding "Lazing on A Sunday Afternoon."

I played that album over an over and (yes) over again. Ask my cousin Linda. She recently told me that she has only been able to listen to Queen, especially that album, again in the last five years. She was subjected to constant play of that album (on 8-track!) in a car trip from Florida to Detroit. All Queen, all the time.

But the greatest song on the album, for me, was "Love of My Life." It was one of the most poignant moments of the whole movie when Queen were performing in Rio de Janeiro and Freddie stopped singing and the entire audience was singing the song.

Rami Malek charmingly portrayed Freddie Mercury and he was wonderful. He had the mannerisms and the vocal patterns down-pat. The actors who played May, Taylor and Deacon looked just like the real guys, especially Gwilym Lee who played Brian May.

May and Taylor were the executive producers of the movie, so it gave the authentic nod to the honesty of the movie. The critics have hated the movie and that made my sister and I even more interested in seeing it. Critics have always hated Queen.

In one ironic twist in the movie, when the song Bohemian Rhapsody was released, the screen was filled with all the noise issued by the music critics. Rolling Stone magazine called Bohemian Rhapsody “brazen hodgepodge.” Later, of course, they would list it as one of the 500 Greatest Rock songs ever. The New York Times called them “pretentious and irrelevant.”

It was a laugh-out-loud moment to see all those words splashed across the screen and to realize that, here we are, calling each band member by name and I don’t even know the names of the critics.

While Bohemian Rhapsody is the title of the movie and indeed their most popular hit single, the real theme of the movie is wrapped up in Love of My Life. That song was about Mary Austin whom Freddie adored.

Mary was the love of Freddie’s life. Even when Freddie discovered he was gay, he didn’t want to leave Mary. He bought her a home right next to his after they had separated. He would still flick the lamp on and off to say goodnight to her.
He sang:
"Who will remember
When this is blown over
And everything's all by the way
When I grow older
I will be there at your side to remind you
How I still love you - (I still love you)"

Poor Freddie. When Mary left, he was rudderless. Wonton and clinging people attached themselves to Freddie’s fame and fortune. It hurt his friendship with the band itself, tearing them apart.
Then came Live Aid, the greatest concert ever. Queen performed at the last minute and absolutely stole the show.

Despite the fact that Freddie discovered that he had contracted AIDS. In 1985, there was nothing that could be done. In the end, however, Freddie had made amends with everyone. He had made an opera album with Montserrat Caballé, the great Spanish opera star. It was wonderful.

What the movie does not show, however, was that Mary never really left Freddie alone. She stayed with him even in the last years as he was slowly dying. But he wouldn’t allow tears around him and she once had to excuse herself when they were watching a recorded concert of Queen. Freddie said, “I used to be handsome.” It caught Mary by surprise and she had to leave the room tom compose herself.

After his death in 1991, Freddie was showered with honors from the UK and abroad. He loved playing in Queen, “a band of misfits who don’t belong anywhere but together.” But his greatest honor, he said, was the have been loved by Mary Austin. I understand what he meant.

The soundtrack for the movie reached #1 a few days ago—Queen’s first #1 album in over 30 years.

Nicole and I saw the movie six days ago. It still hasn’t left me.


   ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
0 Comments

Gil Defay Shows Exactly Why It's All Love

11/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
   I first heard Gil Defay on Jeremy Warren’s fine album I Can Do All Things. On that album, Gil played with blistering beauty, powerful punctuation, and was constantly cool and always appropriate. With Gil in that excellent venture were Joel Desroches on piano and Parker McAllister on bass and he has brought them into the present recording.
   Thank God he did. The artistic camaraderie evidenced then is even more pronounced now. Add to that fine mix Gil’s brother, Ansy Defay, on tenor and soprano saxes, Matthew Smythe on organs, Ben Nicolas on drums, Bendji Allonce on percussion, and Antonio Peñalva on guitar. Now we got the makin’s.
   To say that Gil and the guys are incredible musicians is obvious. From the fun run of D. Bros Groove to the tight cohesion and sweet lyricism of Le Cri, the artistry of each musician in on full display. Ben Nicolas is absolutely enthralling with his drumming. Joel Desroches and Parker McAllister are simply splendid together and hearing te Defay brothers in tandem is a joy everyone should experience.
   But there is something about Gil that draws you out. There is a sweetness to the man, a spirituality that reaches deep, if you’re willing to let it. When you get to the third track, What a Friend, everything becomes clear. It is a crystal clear expansion on the old church hymn What a Friend (We Have in Jesus).
   Ah, so there it is. The sweetness of Gil Defay is the sweetness of something else passing through him but conforming Gil to that other image. And each one of the artists make a beautiful contribution to that hymn and confirm what Art Blakey said, “Where Jazz is played is a sacred place.”
   Sacred. That is the word. Are the remaining pieces religious? Not at all. Are they even spiritual? Not really. But they are sacred. Purified by love and devotion, there is a feeling of transcendence in the album.
   From the warm devotion of You’re So Good to the smoking blues of D Bros Blues and Parker McAllister’s thunderous bass lines to the cool delivery of The Lean, Gil plays, arranges, produces, and directs this album to brilliance.
   Wonderful and On That NYC are proof enough of all that. Gil and his guys can swing, smoke, chill, and choke the tones, rhythms, harmonies, and grooves from each piece, mining every morsel of beauty and emotion. And just when you think you’ve heard it all…
   The album closes with Epistrophication, the coolest reworking of Thelonious Monk you could ever hope to hear. Appropriately, the keys lead off the piece with guest Toku Jazz joining in on vocals until he joins Gil on flugelhorn. This just may be Gil at his finest but, with an album as rich and cool as this one, it is certainly hard to tell.
   There is a reason the album is called It’s All Love.


      ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is ​The Jazz Owl
0 Comments

One Wish Granted, Another Deferred--Soft Machine in St. Paul

11/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
   It was something that I have waited to see for  45 years. Having lived in some of America’s larger cities, I always thought for sure that I would be able to catch them in concert. Now, living in rural Wisconsin, I was able to catch the final concert of the US tour for that great jazz rock band Soft Machine.
   They were called psychedelic rock, avant-rock, progressive rock, and jazz-fusion, but they always seemed to exceed the boundaries set for them by critics and fans. They had shared the stage with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and with Syd Barrett’s incarnation of Pink Floyd. They moved in the same orbits as King Crimson and Yes. But not quite any of them.
   When I was describing the band’s sound to Nicole, I said, “Think of King Crimson but not exactly that, either.”
   Finally, I was going to see the band whose albums and (now) CDs had loaded my shelves and record cases for decades. Better still, I was going to see them with Nicole. She makes even the best things better.
   I’d become well-acquainted with the owner, promoter, manager of MoonJune records, Leonardo Pavkovic. It was he told me that Soft Machine was going to be in concert at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ah, the Turf Club. It’s called “The best remnant of the 40s.” Onstage, lead guitarist John Etheridge would that he was the best remnant of the 40s.
   Leonardo and I had tried to meet face-to-face a couple of years ago when he was promoting the band, Stick Men. Just before that concert, I took ill and had to miss the show and to finally meet Leonardo. This time was going to be different.
   Leonardo is an incredible man. Born in Bosnia in 1962, he studied literature and is himself a poet. He has actually published two volumes of original poetry. But the guy loves music. And music-lovers love him. Especially me.
   In 2000, he established MoonJune Management and Booking which became MoonJune Records. Where did the name MoonJune come from? It came from the phrase “Moon in June” in Robert Wyatt’s tune on the third album by…wait for it…Soft Machine. That album was released in 1970. Obviously, Soft Machine has been near and dear to Leonardo for a long, long time.
   MoonJune Records is a one-man shop. He has taken bands to over 50 countries and has put on well over 2000 concerts. All by himself. Not kidding.
   Somewhere around 2011, Leonardo read some stuff and I had written and asked if I would review some of the albums that MoonJune was releasing. I liked Leonardo’s sense of humor and his dedication to his artists. I had no idea what working with him would be like.
   He began sending me CDs of the most incredible artists I had ever heard in my life. He discovered (for the West) artists and bands from Indonesia, Italy, Serbia, and everywhere one cares to name. One of my favorite “new” bands had the great name of I Know You Well, Miss Clara.
   Then Leonardo started putting together artists in the most amazing combinations, introducing unbelievable artists to appear on albums together. Every time I get a new CD from Leonardo, I immediately look to see who is performing on the album and I am never disappointed.
   So, we were not only going to hear Soft Machine but we were going to get to meet Leonardo Pavkovic.
   We got to the club ahead of time, so that we would have plenty of time to see Leonardo. We were going to get to hang with him after the show.
   When we walked in, a guy was near the front door and had a curious look about him. I don’t mean that he looked odd but that he was looking at me curiously. I thought the myself, “Wow, that guy looks just like Beledo. But what would he be doing in St. Paul?” Beledo is another one of the MoonJune artists, a brilliant composer and a fantastic guitarist and keyboardist. We walked past each other with a smile.
    Nicole and I sat down and ordered something to drink. I texted Leonardo and said, “We are here!” He responded, “I am not there. I am in a hospital in Milwaukee with a bacterial infection. Look for Beledo.”
   Are you kidding me? Come to find out, our guy had cellulitis and was kept in Milwaukee.
   Then I told Nicole, “Oh, wow! That was Beledo!” I hoped that maybe he was the opening act for Soft Machine.
In a few minutes, he came walking by and I called his name. He turned and he greeted us warmly, giving Nicole the Spanish double-kiss. He explained what had happened to Leonardo and, sure enough, he was going to open for Soft Machine.
I texted Leonardo again, all of us saddened that we would have to wait yet again. “We’ll keep trying,” we said.
   Then Beledo came onstage and treated the house to beautiful Spanish guitar and beautiful keyboards. He couldn’t keep himself from singing, either.
   When Beledo described that Leonardo couldn’t be there, the crowd gave an audible groan. Since when does a manager/record-label owner/promoter ever get known or, even more, loved and admired? When it’s Leonardo Pavkovic—the guy who loves and cares for his artists and the people who love music.
   During Soft Machine’s performance, John Etheridge announced that the Downbeat magazine Reader’s Poll had just been released. The number one record label was Blue Note Records, that venerable and ancient Jazz label. Number Two was ECM, another label that has given the world amazing albums—like Keith Jarrett—since 1969.
   The third record label listed in the Reader’s Poll was MoonJune Records. In 2017, it was fourth. The year before, it was fifth.
   A one-man label was ranked third in the world for producing albums that everyone wants to hear.
Picture
   Nicole and I had also discovered that Soft Machine’s drummer, John Marshall, had been recalled home because of his wife’s illness. Taking his place was none other than Gary Husband. Marshall has been with Soft Machine since 1973. Husband had played with the great guitarist Allan Holdsworth, who had been a part of Soft Machine in 1975 (and again in 1981) and was replaced by John Etheridge, the current guitarist.
   Some call Gary Husband “the greatest drummer in the world” and it is certainly a discussion worth having. At any rate, his performance with Soft Machine in the latter part of the US tour was nothing short of astonishing.
   None of the original members of Soft Machine are in the band today but the band’s legacy is kept very much alive by guitarist and onstage spokesperson John Etheridge (who joined in 1976), bassist Roy Babbington (1973), sax/flute man Theo Travis (2006) and the missing John Marshall (1971).
   The last studio album from Soft Machine was 37 years ago, 1981’s The Land of Cockayne. In 1984, it looked like Soft Machine was done…and I had missed them, I feared.
   In 2004, four long-time members started touring again after 20 years under the band name Soft Machine Legacy. It was during this period that they signed with MoonJune Records and Leonardo Pavkovic. And they only looked back to pick some sweet music from the highwater days of 1967-78. With the passing of Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper, the band moved forward with the youngest member Theo Travis and their great bassist Babbington. As they say, it is 3/5 of the 1975-77 line-up of greats.
   In 2015, they dropped the Legacy part of the name and returned in strength as Soft Machine, playing music of early composers like Mike Ratledge and Hugh Hopper. Just in September of 2018, they released Hidden Details with band members Etheridge, Travis, Babbington, and Marshall.
   This was the show Nicole and I got to see…for me, 45 years in the making and—Good Lord—I was not disappointed.
It wasn’t a concert of rattling around old numbers from their salad days nor was it simply a live casting of their new album. It was a beautiful mix of old and new. Etheridge and Travis do most of the writing these days but they included great stuff from Ratledge and Hopper.
   John Etheridge gave sage advice to young women that, if they want to stay young-looking, “Just be seen with old geezers like us! Then people will say, ‘What is that young thing doing with an old guy like him!’”
   They were fun. They were skilled. They were exactly what I had hoped they would be.
   They moved from lyrical and melodic to furious and exacting.
   They were worth the 45-year wait.

              ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is ​The Jazz Owl
0 Comments

Wonderful Wise Fest 2018

9/17/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Back in July, Nicole and I were invited to be VIP guests at Addison Agen’s concert in Gilman, as a result of our sponsorship of the event. While we were greatly anticipating Addison’s concert, following fresh on the heels of her second-place finish in The Voice competition, we were pleasantly surprised—indeed amazed—at the opening act, a husband and wife duo calling themselves Wise Jennings.

Wise Jennings billed themselves as being Americana/Rock Roots music, heavy on the rock. It was a perfect description. Melissa played drums and harmonica (at the same time) and was on vocals with Jeff who played guitar and bass pedals and vocals, as well. These two belonged together.

After the concert, I got to briefly meet Melissa while Nicole was taking photographs. Later, I got to chat with Jeff about the gear he was using and discovered that he was creating that thunderous bass line by playing bass pedals with his feet. They had decided to have a music festival at their place near Lake Geneva, WI, and they invited Nicole and me to attend.
​
That event, which they named Wise Fest, would showcase five bands in a show that started at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Nicole and I arrived around 3:45 and the yard was filling up with cars. Three Vintage VW buses were parked and several tents were set up for those who planned on making it an all-night excursion. There were people with frisbees and hula-hoops and bean-bag tosses, blankets all over the lawn (it was a huge green space) and lawn chair set up for the concert.
PictureMelissa and Jeff Weishaar, Wise Jennings, the hosts. Photo by Travis
Since Jeff and Melissa Weishaar (Wise Jennings) were the hosts, they took on the role of opening act and played, sadly, for only about 30 minutes before surrendering their custom-built stage to the following acts. That was the only disappointment of the day. We could have listened to them all night.

The remaining groups were those whom Jeff and Melissa had met along the way in their own musical travels—groups with whom they had played on the same billing and groups that they had heard and liked.

The people were wonderful. Not just Jeff and Melissa but the groups and the concert-goers, also. There were people our age (and older!) and people much younger than us. At one point, I said to Nicole, “In 1979, I was at a Grateful Dead concert. This reminds me of that!”
​
The sense of community was established by the shared love of the music. My kind of place.

PictureMiles Over Mountain
While Wise Jennings played the Americana/Rock Roots style, the remaining bands all had their own genre. The band which followed Wise Jennings was a trio from Racine called Miles Over Mountain and they played bluegrass with guitar, upright bass, and mandolin. They were cool customers. Not just in their playing and in their attitudes, they were cool in the face of adversity. The sound system pretty much tanked on these guys and, knowing that there was a tight schedule to be kept, the trio stepped off the stage and continued to play with amplification while the sound engineers worked out the kinks.
​
They were literally within four feet of their audience and the listeners ate it up. Grace under fire.
After Miles Over Mountain, Pretty Beggar took the now-corrected stage. The quartet featured a lead guitar and vocalist, rhythm guitar and backing vocals, electric bass, and drums. They tended toward the heavier side of the rock category and featured a Red Hot Chili Peppers kind of vibe in the instrumentals. Nicole and I had a brief encounter with the rhythm guitar player before their set and he was the nicest guy you could hope to meet. Later, we found that we were sitting by his parents and got all kinds of back-stories on the band. These guys were dedicated to the music. As were each and every one of these bands.

Following Pretty Beggar came Pidgin, a band described by Melissa as “Swamp Rock.” I braced for impact as that description did not sound like anything I would want to hear. It was just one more time that I found myself wrong about music.

I am a bit of a Jazz snob, as I have confessed before. Sure, I listened to other forms but I was pretty well locked into my chosen category. Nicole and Wise Jennings got me to listen to other forms and I’m glad they did.

So, along comes Pidgin, the swamp-rockers. It was two guys who looked like 2/3 of ZZ Top. One played an acoustic guitar with effects pedals and the other played electric bass with a kick-bass drum which he played while standing. After a couple of songs by these guys, I turned to Nicole and said, “I have never heard anything like this.” I meant that in a good way.
​
The guitarist was so imaginative in his effects and in his skill. I never expected to hear such a crafty bit of guitar work from a swamp-rocker. The bassist was right on target, as well. I should have picked up their CD.

PictureSomething to Do
The final act was a Ska band called Something to Do. Ska originated in Jamaica and is usually characterized by a lively and quick lines. The lyrics are rapidly strung together, so you need to pay attention. The original Ska music was kind of a mix of Jamaican mento and calypso rhythms with R&B melodies. Modern Ska sounds like New Wave or Punk accompanied by horns.

Something to Do was all of that. In addition, it was a band of comedians with each one of them making jokes with the audience and between each other. You were defied not to have fun.

All this in the face of the reality that the lead vocalist and bassist was running late because he had been caught in North Carolina and was trying to make it back from the storm to get to Wise Fest.

Dedicated musicians. I love ‘em.

The audience and the bands were such wonderful people and they were there because of their love for Jeff and Melissa Weishaar. So were we. We enjoyed everyone we met because they were all so much like the Weishaars. I guess it’s true that you draw people who are like you.

We can't wait for Wise Fest 2019.
1 Comment

Michelle Coltrane and the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra

7/16/2018

4 Comments

 
PictureMichelle Coltrane with the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra. (Photo by Nicole Shattuck)
   Over a year ago, Nicole and I were invited by BluJazz Records label owner Greg Pasenko to attend the 10th Annual Woody Fest (a continuing celebration of Jazz great Woody Hermann) and photograph and review the event in Milwaukee. The concert featured the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra (MJO) under the direction of tenor saxophonist Curt Hanrahan.
   I had been writing reviews for BluJazz for five or six years and Nicole and I took Greg up on his offer. The concert was stellar (I wrote about it in the March 20, 2017 edition of the Sentinel & Rural News). 
   We also got to know Curt Hanrahan and his brother, drummer Warren Hanrahan. With them was Curt’s son, Tim Hanrahan, on bass. No chlorine in that gene pool! Along the way, we became pals with Warren’s wife, Maryann. Wonderful people, one and all.
   This year, Greg Pasenko and Curt Hanrahan invited us to the MJO concert with Michelle Coltrane as guest vocalist and Shea Welsh as Michelle’s musical director. The concert was held at the Racine Zoological Gardens, an excellent venue for Jazz.
   Nicole had discovered that the concert was an outdoor concert but what we didn’t know was that you needed to bring your own seating. All we had was a blanket in the trunk of the car.
   We spread out the blanket only to discover that we couldn’t see when people would put their chairs in front of us. We kept moving up until…oh, yeah…we were like Bob Uecker—“On the front row!”
   We met up with Maryann before the show and got an enthusiastic wave from Warren from behind his drum kit. But no Greg Pasenko yet.
The concert started almost right on time, a rare occurrence in the music world, with the mighty MJO starting off with Keith Jarrett’s The Raven Speaks. Guitarist Steve Lewandowski just cooked his solo and the orchestra was in powerful form.
   From there, they moved to a Curt Hanrahan original called Seattle. I thought it was a description of driving through the “Emerald City” but Curt came clean on the inspiration for the piece when I asked him about it last year.
   “It was when the Packers lost to Seattle and that ‘Fail, Mary’ pass,” Curt had confessed. It is featured on the MJO album, Welcome to Swingsville, and is one of Nicole’s favorite tunes on the CD. Eric Shore played tenor sax and wailed that piece.
   The final number before being joined by Michelle Coltrane was Juan Tizol’s Caravan, made famous by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. With a big band of four saxes, four trumpets, and four trombones, plus the drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards, the zoo was lit up. Tim Hanrahan got special attention for his bass work.
   Michelle joined the band, after the crowd settled down from Caravan, for All the Things You Are by Jerome Kern. The song was made famous by Tommy Dorsey and Dizzy Gillespie with Charlie Parker. Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra put their stamp on it but Michelle Coltrane just owned it.
An original by Michelle, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, followed. A beautiful piece that she performed with grace and beauty.
   That Old Black Magic set up a sweet surprise with Michelle singing lyrics that she wrote for her father, John Coltrane’s, song Moment’s Notice. A few years ago, I got to hear Ileana Santamaria perform her own lyrics for her father, Mongo Santamaria’s, tune Afro Blue. Something cool about hearing the lyrics that daughters write for their fathers’ songs. A nice way to end the first set.
   During the break, we got to say a few words to Curt. He was talking about the outdoor venue and the heat of the July afternoon. “You should’ve seen the rehearsal this afternoon,” he said. “We were burning.” I said, “All right, then!” “No” he corrected, “I mean burning like we were hot as can be in this sun!”
   The heat didn’t die down after the break. The MJO started off with Carole King’s Jazzman. It is a great song in its own right but the MJO makes it swing. Warren and Tim Hanrahan are just hounds for the groove—they can sniff it out from a mile away. They are an amazing rhythm section. Like Curt said, “Ah, it’s in the genes.”
   Michelle returned for Softly As in a Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was also covered by John Coltrane in the 1962 album, Live! At the Village Vanguard. She followed with All of Me before Shea Welsh got his turn with his own composition Sancho T. Panza. It gave Michelle a breather but not the band. It was hotly heavy on the Latin rhythms and the band did everything Welsh could have asked.
S   tella by Starlight was also performed by John Coltrane with Miles Davis and Michelle turned it into one more tribute to her dad. But the sweetest tribute was her closing number, My Favorite Things. Of course, the piece is from The Sound of Music but John Coltrane took the Rodgers and Hammerstein song and made it into something truly spectacular. It was recorded when Coltrane left Miles Davis’ group so Coltrane could explore freer, more modal expressions. And it was played on soprano sax, an instrument not widely used in Jazz yet, to perfection. Curt Hanrahan boldly took the challenge and worked it beautifully. Michelle would have made Rodgers and Hammerstein and her father proud. Next to A Love Supreme, My Favorite Things is my favorite Coltrane number.
   Sunny by Bobby Hebb was the encore number. It was the finish to a concert I hoped would never end.
   But when the concert finished, we found Greg (who had only been siting about 10 feet away from us) who introduced Nicole and me to Michelle Coltrane. We got hugs and photos and I didn’t want to leave.
  Poor Nicole. I babbled about the concert and the song selections for the next couple of hours. Fortunately, Nicole enjoyed it as much as I did.


   ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
4 Comments

Wise Jennings Stole My Heart as They Opened for Addison Agen

7/9/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
   Addison Agen and her brother, Korrigan, spent so much time between their home in Ft. Wayne, IN, and their grandparents’ home in Gilman, WI, that they consider Gilman home too. When Addison stormed through the TV talent show called The Voice, her grandfather became one of her biggest cheerleaders. When the show ended, Addison was the first runner-up and one TV critic proclaimed that “the best singer did not win this season.” Clearly, Addison’s devotees were dedicated.
   After the season ended, Addison returned to Gilman and performed for her grandmother and her grandmother’s fellow-residents at Thorp’s Oakbrook Health & Rehabilitation Center. She also made a stop in at Romig’s Hardware in Gilman where her proud grandfather, John Agen, could crow about his girl.
   As a thank you to her extended family and second-home-city, the Gilman and Jump River Lions Club put together a concert in the Gilman High School gymnasium. Ken Klahn and the Lions got a splendid opening act, Wise Jennings—a husband and wife duo now living near Lake Geneva, WI.
   Melissa Weishaar was a 1994 graduate of Gilman High School and was thrilled to play before a crowd she knew so well. Addison’s mother was also a graduate of Gilman High from 1989.
​   Last Saturday night, July 7, it all came together.
   When Wise Jennings took the stage at 7 p.m., the place may not have been packed but it was extremely well-attended. Melissa played drums, tambourine, harmonica and vocals. Husband Jeff Weishaar played guitars and sang, as well.
   Here’s the thing: I’m not a huge fan of Americana/Country music. Okay, I’m not even a small fan. Wise Jennings refer to themselves as Americana/Roots Rock and, if there is a difference, then it is all the difference. Jeff was an extremely skilled and talented guitarist. Melissa sat the minimalist drum kit and played harmonica at the same time.
   [The harmonica was attached to the microphone. Think of Bob Dylan or Neil Young with their harmonicas on a neck-strap.]
   After the first or second number, I leaned over to Nicole and said, "Oh, my God. These guys are GOOD!"
   Melissa was propulsive in her drumming—not just keeping time, she moved things forward, neither rushing nor lagging even once. She was good.
   At one point, she kept time with the stick in her left hand and she played tambourine in her left, hitting the crash cymbal with the tambourine. And when she hit the crash cymbal, it CRASHED.
   All the while, poor neglected Jeff is simply playing perfect guitar. And when Jeff and Melissa sang, they were pitch perfect. So very complementary.
  Not only was Jeff working the guitar, he kept a bass line alive with bass pedals like those on an organ. Jeff describes it like this: "It is basically a 17-key organ pedal that controls a microkorg synthesizer. It rounds out the low end but, unless people really look, they don't realize what they are hearing."
   Nicole and I both liked the stage set-up of Wise Jennings. They sat facing each other—Melissa on the drum throne and Jeff on the guitar stool. Comfortable with each other, reassuring each other, and focusing entirely on the music.
   If it sounds like I’m gushing, it’s because I am.
   As I told Melissa, I’m a bit of a Jazz snob. Actually, I’m a terrible Jazz snob but they hooked me from the opening number and I never looked back. Were they Jazzy? No. They were straight-ahead, meaningful, fun music.
   Go to wisejennings.com and buy their new CD. Seriously. When they finished their set, the went to the front of the stage, turned the lights on, and got a photo of themselves with Melissa’s hometown crowd behind them. These are nice people.
   Addison Agen and her brother, Korrigan, followed after the intermission. I admit, I did not watch The Voice but I did see repeats of her performances on YouTube. She seemed like a nice young woman and there was no doubt that she was a gifted singer.
   She is 17 years old and Korrigan, who played bass, is a couple of years older. The two of them performed together for all but a couple of the songs.
   She opened by praising Wise Jennings saying, “There were only two of them but it sounded like six buhzillion people up here.” She said that she wanted them to move to Ft. Wayne, “so I can see them anytime I want.”
   She was a good guitarist but it was, after all, the voice that got so much attention. And rightfully so.
   Sometimes she sounded like Lisa Loeb and sometimes like Melissa Manchester, Addison had a sense of what intonations and vocalizations were appropriate to the mood and maybe even the audience. Even at age 17, one gets the feeling that this teenager knows how to respond to a room.
   She sang from her experience. That’s a big deal because nothing is worse than watching a would-be cowboy in $1,400 boots sing about sweating in the fields. Not buying it.
   No, Addison would introduce the songs and tell the situation of how it came to be written or chosen. Make no mistake, she composes very well. And she writes about what it meant to be singing before a television audience of 15 million people. She wrote and sang about the changes in the one-year season she was on The Voice. If you think that she focused too much on that experience…remember that she’s only 17 years old. As she experiences more, she will write about those new experiences, too. It’s a trip worth going along.
   Addison is unabashedly Christian. In fact, she concluded her concert on what can only be called a worship song. It was really quite something to hear a large portion of the audience singing in response. Yeah, she has that kind of charisma.
   Keep your eyes on Addison Agen. And go see Wise Jennings if they are ever anywhere within driving distance.


~Travis Rogers, Jr. is ​The Jazz Owl
0 Comments

Bobby Sanabria Reimagines West Side Story

5/28/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
   ​Leonard Bernstein was America’s premier conductor of classical orchestras but he was also, without a doubt, one of America’s greatest composers—not just his orchestral music but, if for no other achievement, for the music of West Side Story. That musical bought together the perfect storm of composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and choreographer Jerome Robbins.
   Sondheim was a young man and Bernstein wrote on November 14, 1955, “"A young lyricist named Stephen Sondheim came and sang us some of his songs today. What a talent! I think he's ideal for this project, as do we all. The collaboration grows."
   The music and the story—after all, it is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Rome and Juliet—have not grown stale despite the passage of over 50 years.
   The setting for West Side Story is New York City in the 1950s. The turf war between the Sharks and the Jets was about the newly arrived Puerto Rican kids and the more “American” kids. But what’s missing, if anything can be said to be missing from a Bernstein masterpiece, is the Latin rhythms that would have been so familiar to the “Nuyoricans”, as they would come to be called.
   Enter Bobby Sanabria.
   Sanabria is a brilliant Jazz composer and percussionist. He thinks in rhythms as much as he thinks in terms of keys and scales. Chembo Corniel once said, “Most musicians think in terms of wanting to compose in a specific key. Percussionists think in terms of composing something in 6/8 or 9/8.” Bobby brings that and more to a new music project that is certain to set things on fire.
   In July, Bobby will release West Side Story, Reimagined. It is the music of Bernstein with the rhythms of Puerto Rico and other Latin styles. The project is not only about the music; it is about Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico has been devastated by hurricanes over the last two years. I talked to Bobby on the phone about the music and the situation in Puerto Rico.
   “Where my mom grew up, there was the best baseball field that was used for the Puerto Rican leagues. It was the best ballpark found anywhere. It was destroyed by the hurricanes. Just gone,” he described. “Not only that, but the musicians have lost their venues for playing. Some have lost their instruments. Man, they are out in the streets playing in front of kiosks, playing on street corners with buckets for spare change and these are accomplished musicians!”
   Worst of all, “there is still no power and it has been a year,” Bobby added. “People say, ‘Why don’t they move away?’ You can’t just move away from where you’re born! There is a spiritual connection to the place of your birth, man.”
   And Bobby himself feels that spiritual connection to the land of his parents and his family. Because of that, Bobby has put the West Side Story, Reimagined project on Kickstarter for the purpose of raising money for the relief of Puerto Rican musicians left wrecked by the storms Irma and Maria.
   The Kickstarter project can be found at www.kickstarter.com/projects/845666182/west-side-story-reimagined-bobby-sanabria-big-band. Watch the video and see Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie, sing the praises of Bobby Sanabria and the Reimagined project.
   The fundraiser is scheduled to end on Monday, June 4. There is still time to make a donation and pick up a donation reward of a signed CD or signed poster or even a drum lessor with Bobby.
   On the Kickstarter page, Bobby writes: West Side Story is as timeless and timely now as it was back when it was first created. We’re still struggling with the same question: “How does one fight hate and how does it not consume us?” The work is a true masterpiece by probably the greatest musician this country has produced, Maestro Leonard Bernstein. This project is being produced with the blessing and support of the Leonard Bernstein Organization. Bernstein's daughter Jamie remarked: "What I love about Bobby Sanabria's take on "West Side Story" music is that it's a kind of rhythm fission: my dad's music is already so drenched in rhythm. Then along comes Bobby and explodes it to an even richer rhythmic level!"
In April, Bobby was one of the headliners at the Eau Claire Jazz Festival. UW-Eau Claire Jazz Studies director, Bob Baca, wanted Bobby Sanabria to headline this year’s festival, even though Bobby had been there several years ago. Baca got his way and Bobby returned for the best event of the last many years.
   Bobby raved about the Eau Claire music department and had high praise for Baca’s leadership and inspiration.
   “That festival was on fire!” Bobby said. “Eau Claire has got to be the best kept secret in all of Jazz,” he went on. “I mean, I kind of want to keep it that way because I don’t want people pouring into Eau Claire, messing it all up!”
Bobby Sanabria is an astonishing artist with a heart of compassion and understanding that makes his music irresistible.
   If you want to hear the seven-time Grammy nominated artist, come over to the office and I’ll play you some CDs. We’ll crank it up.
0 Comments

Eau Claire knows Jazz

4/23/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​   This weekend marked the 52nd Annual Eau Claire Jazz Festival. It is a festival of Jazz education, workshops, and great music. The headliners this year were saxophonist Bob Mintzer and drummer/percussionist Bobby Sanabria.
   Over 130 bands from middle schools, high schools, and colleges came from all over Wisconsin and Minnesota to participate in the workshops and competitions. The headlining acts come to educate and perform with the young Jazz students.
   Bob Mintzer became a well-known Jazzman by learning his chops first with Tito Puente and then moving on to the Buddy Rich Big Band. It is famously said that, upon hearing of Mintzer’s decision to move on with Buddy Rich, Tito said, “You think I’m a son of a ­­­____? Wait till you get with that guy!” But playing with “that guy” developed Mintzer into one of Jazz’s great horn players, leading him to form his own band, The Yellowjackets. He teaches at USC and his dedication to education brought him to the Eau Claire Jazz Festival.
   And then there is Bobby Sanabria. Please allow me to switch to first-person narrative as I tell you that Bobby has been one of my two favorite drummers of the last 10 years. He and I worked on a campaign called GrammyWatch about six years ago when the Grammys decided to drop 31 categories from Grammy contention including Latin Jazz categories and many Gospel categories. In the end, seven of the 31 categories were restored including one of the Latin Jazz categories. This is part of the reason that Bobby has become such an avid ambassador for and educator of Latin Jazz.
   But the guy is just amazing to see. As Nicole and I sat in our seats (front row!) waiting for Bobby to take the stage, I told her, “You’re going to love this.” And she did.
   He also set about educating the audience with his talks about how he got into Jazz. Jaybird Koder says that he got into it by listening to the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. For Bobby, it was listening to the cartoons of Hanna-Barbera. Hoyt Curtin was an amazing composer who made Jazz arrangements of the cartoon themes to Top Cat, Huckleberry Hound, and The Flintstones.
   So, the opening tune for Bobby’s set was The Theme from Jonny Quest. And these kids blew the doors off. It was also announced during the performance that it had just been announced that the DownBeat magazine awards were in. The DownBeat awards are the college equivalent of the Grammys. Not kidding.
   The UW-Eau Claire Big Band had just won the DownBeat Award for “Best College Large Ensemble.” You should have seen the faces of those kids. It seemed to give them a surge that showed as they played on Friday night.
   They beat out the great schools like North Texas University, University of Miami, all places that are known for their Jazz Studies programs. It is called by the New York Times "one of the most well-regarded jazz studies programs in the country." 
Moreover, it was their second award in a row, their sixth overall. Impressive. Director of Jazz Studies Bob Baca was awarded UW-EC’s first “Career Excellence in Teaching Award” in 2013.
   But Bobby had these kids on fire that night. And Bobby himself was impressed.
 “Incredible night last night,” Bobby said  the next day. “We got a 5-minute standing ovation! These young lions are the real deal! No wonder they won the DownBeat Award for the second year in a row!”
   During the performance, the young bassist took his solo and Bobby yelled out, “Go to church, young man! Where Jazz is played is a sacred place.”
   And you wonder why I’m like a religious zealot about Jazz?



~Travis Rogers, Jr. is ​The Jazz Owl
0 Comments

So Long to a Jazz Legend and His Legendary Club

1/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
So Long to a Jazz Legend and His Legendary Club
by Travis Rogers, Jr. The Jazz Owl

Fifteen years ago, I went to Portland, OR, for the first time. I was teaching a seminar and the guy whose charge I was in knew that I was a Jazz fan. He took me to a place that had recently opened in the famous Pearl District of Portland, just down from the world-famous Powell’s Books. Powell’s was already a landmark; the Jazz club would become one. Downbeat magazine would call it “One of the World’s Top 100 Places to Hear Jazz.”

Jim Makarounis was the founder and owner of Jimmy Mak’s. Working the bar, and the resident musicologist, was Wisconsinite John-David Stubenberg. He was called “J.D.”

J.D. was often mistaken for the owner because it was he who introduced the bands and promoted the place tirelessly. But Jimmy was the man.

The food was Greek and the music was heavenly. The local Jazz talent was always showcased but Jimmy also drew established, and rising star, acts like the great B-3 organist Joey DeFrancesco and the young lion Melissa Aldana. The Portland musicians included the wonderful Mel Brown, who enjoyed weekly residencies there, along with Jay Bird Koder’s SoulMates, Paul Creighton’s Soul Vaccination, and so very many more.

Jimmy Mak’s was the Mecca of Jazz in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, it was the only Jazz venue in Portland for some time. But Jimmy Mak’s soon paved the way for other clubs to open and for restaurants to start featuring Jazz musicians.

The first Jimmy Mak’s location was a small venue that could not seat very many people, at all. It was dark and tight but the music shone like the sun. This was where I first heard Mel Brown’s Quartet, then his septet, then his trio, and I was never disappointed. Tony Pacini was Mel’s pianist and musical director with Dan Balmer on guitar, Ed Bennett on bass, and Mel Brown on the drums.

I was a fixture there every week, if possible. I usually took the table just off the left shoulder of Mel.

The only time Jimmy was up on stage was when Martha Reeves, of Martha and the Vandellas, pulled him up on stage and she sang the Vandella’s hit Jimmy Mack to him. She told him, “Jimmy Mak? I’ve been looking for you for over 30 years!”

The club moved to a larger venue in 2010. It was a scary, risky endeavor but Jimmy claimed to be the Type A personality and he made it work. He and his wife had mortgaged their home, raided his 401(k), and went all in. It was a monumental achievement. They were “profitable within six months.” And the music just got bigger and bigger.

However, he never forgot the local guys and always showcased them. But you’d better fill the house, if he let you perform there.

The place was home for my Portland music friends and heroes.

Jimmy had battled and beat laryngeal cancer a few years before but it had come back with a vengeance. Then came the announcement from Jimmy himself.
To the Jimmy Mak’s community—musicians, fans and patrons:
It is with a heavy heart I write this today. On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2016, Jimmy Mak’s will host its final show and close its doors indefinitely.

I am currently undergoing immunotherapy treatments for cancer of the larynx, which has intensified in the past five weeks. My doctors insist that I step away from Jimmy Mak’s business to focus solely on healing.

You might have heard we were moving the club around the corner and east on N.W. Everett. That was the plan. The building the club currently occupies was sold for development approximately one year ago, and the new club’s buildout was fully funded and moving ahead, with a move and grand opening in early 2017: a beautiful new space with a larger stage, upgraded sound and lighting, designed to provide unobstructed site lines with more seating available for both reserved and general admission ticket holders. In addition, a spacious new outdoor courtyard was in the works.

As it became apparent my health could prevent us from moving forward with the move, we began to explore opportunities for other owner/operators to step in and finish the project to keep the club open. Unfortunately, we could not find anyone willing to take on the project.

At present, there is still an opportunity for another owner/operator to step in to fund and finish the buildout of the new location and carry on the Jimmy Mak’s brand. We welcome any offers to do so.

Jimmy Mak’s has been a family home to world-class musicians of many different genres, particularly the city’s best jazz players. The club also presents many of the world’s top jazz and blues players and has become a significant West Coast stop on many of these artists’ tours. It is Portland’s longest-running jazz club and one of the oldest single-owner nightclubs of any genre in town.

Please join us during the month of December for many fine shows, culminating in our New Year’s Eve curtain call with Soul Vaccination. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your patronage and friendship for the past two decades.

Paul Creighton, one of my favorites, got to close the doors on Jimmy Mak’s with a great performance on New Year’s Eve with his band Soul Vaccination. I wish I could have been there.

I still can close my eyes and see and hear Jay Bird Koder playing his guitar, strolling through the audience. Or hear Jarrod Lawson singing “A Song for You” or feel the thump of Damian Erskine’s bass or the heart-stopping rhythms of Reinhardt Melz’s drums, George Colligan’s liquid fire piano work, Farnell Newton blowing his horn like Gabriel, Arietta Ward singing words that can only be called prophecy, Saeeda Wright with her gorgeous self, and Mel Brown’s smooth swing.

At 12:45 a.m. on Monday, January 2, 2017, less than 24 hours after the doors closed for the last time, Jimmy Makarounis passed away.

Some people are irreplaceable.
 

0 Comments

Jazz Owl Favorites of 2016

12/30/2016

0 Comments

 
It was an amazing year of great music from astonishing musicians. So many great horn players and pianists, and so very many great debut albums. This was an extremely difficult year to choose favorites. Once again, these are my favorites for the year. I would not presume to judge who is the “best.”
 
Solo: Takeshi Asai Solo – “Live in New York”
Duo: Natalie Cressman and Mike Bono – “Etchings in Amber”
Trio: Danny Green Trio – “Altered Narratives”
Quartet: Hristo Vitchev Quartet – “In Search of Wonders”
Quintet: Chembo Corniel Quintet – “Land of the Descendants”
Large Ensemble: Ed Neumeister – “Suite Ellington”
Big Band: Carrera Quinta – “Big Band”
Vocals: Jackie Gage – “Siren Songs”
Debut Album: Megumi Yonezawa – “A Result of the Colors”
Album of the Year: Ilhan Ersahin “Istanbul Underground”

0 Comments

Words of Wisdom from Bobby Hutcherson via Gene Ess

7/4/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Bobby Hutcherson is probably the greatest vibraphonist of all time. Sure, Milt Jackson is considered the godfather of Jazz vibraphone but Bobby took it to another level. In fact, Bobby was inspired to play the vibes when he heard Milt Jackson play Bemsha Swing on the Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants album when Bobby was only 12 years old.

Later, his older sister Peggy was dating the great alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy and introduced Bobby to Dolphy. Bobby would record on Dolphy’s greatest album, Out to Lunch!

Just today, my friend Gene Ess, the brilliant Jazz guitarist, told this story that he had heard from Bobby Hutcherson.

"I’m rehearsing with Eric at his loft — myself, Tony Williams, Richard Davis and a trumpet player named Eddie Armour. We were rehearsing for about an hour and a half. It was a cold, winter day. All of a sudden, right in the middle of the tune, the trumpet player, Eddie, starts cussing and packing up his horn. We get to the end of the tune and Eddie says to Eric, ‘You’re nasty’ And Eric was real sweet, just like Trane was — you know, a real sweet cat. Eric said, ‘What?’ Eddie says, ‘I don’t like you, I don’t like your music, and I’m not going to play this gig. I’m out of here. F you. F this band. That’s it. How do you like that?’

We’re all standing there thinking, ‘My God, how can this cat say this?’ And he continues to put his horn away, clip the fasteners on his trumpet case. He grabs his coat, pulls his hat down and goes stomping to the door. He gets to the door — I mean, just yanks it open. The door hits the wall. Bam! He’s just about to go out the door.

Eric had just been sitting there with his head down. We’re all thinking, ‘Eric must feel horrible. What’s he going to do?’
All of a sudden, Eric says, ‘Hey, Eddie.’ Eddie turns around and says [in growling voice] ‘What?’ Eric, with the most conviction and love, says, ‘If I can ever do anything you need, please don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll be there for you anytime.’

Whoa! And Eric was serious. With that, this cat really got upset — he slammed the door and stormed out. We just stood there all quiet. It was like he Sunday punched him with love. The lesson was, ‘Love conquers all,’ you know? It’s like the devil couldn’t take that love, and this is what Eric was showing him. He went out that door with so much hate, but with a message that Eric still cared about him. This was one of the biggest lessons Eric showed me — that if you can forgive somebody right when they do the most horrible thing they can to you, you just immediately take the weight of what they did off your back and just make it this beautiful experience, so that you can go on and do the things you want to do during the day and not waste time with negative feelings and negative thoughts.

Well, we sat there quiet for two or three minutes — didn’t say anything. Then we went on with rehearsal and we never played so hard in our lives. We were just overcome. Then Eric called Freddie Hubbard, and that’s when we did Out to Lunch!”

Gene’s point in telling the story was that we must realize that we can never let the anger or animosity of another shake us from who we are. Eric Dolphy was not shaken from himself, but remained the calm, kind, loving person he always had been. After the insult from Eddie Armour, Eric called up Freddie Hubbard who was soon to be known as one of the greatest trumpet players ever and they recorded Eric Dolphy’s masterpiece.

And what became of Eddie Armour? No one knows.

1 Comment

50 Years of the Eau Claire Jazz Festival...and Jimmy Heath

4/25/2016

0 Comments

 
PictureMe and Jimmy Heath at the Eau Claire Jazz Festival. A rare treat.
This past weekend in Wisconsin, the Eau Claire Jazz Festival celebrated 50 years of bringing together Jazz artists, instructors and students to participate, learn and enjoy together. The events began early on Friday morning and concluding very late on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

It was the biggest year yet in terms of band participation.

“Last year,” said Artistic Director Robert Baca, “we set the record at 117 bands. This year, we have over 130 bands.”

While the concerts draw the crowds, it is the workshops and competitions that draw the middle school, high school and college ensembles. The workshops were held in six different locations from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and covered many topics of Jazz interest from arranging, practicing, careers in Jazz, improvisation, specific instruments and much more. The highlights were the Master Class sessions with Jazz stars Connie Evingson, the brilliant Stefon Harris and the great Jimmy Heath.

The astonishing thing about the Eau Claire Jazz Festival is that it is a festival run by students for students. It is one of the top three student-led Jazz festivals in the country. Already, they have begun working on next year’s festival.

On Friday night, the clubs and theatres on Barstow Street recreated the atmosphere of New York City’s 52 Street from back in the day where the various clubs and restaurants participated in hosting live Jazz.

But it was Friday and Saturday nights’ Headliner Concerts that impressed and thrilled the most. Friday night saw Connie Evingson of the Twin Cities perform with the UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I and, later, Jimmy Heath performed with the same ensemble to close the night.

On Saturday night, the Headliner Concert was opened by the Minnesota Youth Jazz Ensemble, an amazing big band sound with young musicians from middle school on up. Throughout the evening, the winners of the four classes of Honor Big Bands performed and showed why they were indeed the best in their class.

It was watching Stefon Harris and, later, Jimmy Heath perform with the UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I that was so amazing. Certainly, the performances were wonderful. Even the young musicians gathered cheers and applause. The tall, impeccably dressed bass player Sam Olson turned in fine solos and, with drummer Cami Mennitte Pereyra, created a formidable rhythm section. Pereyra was solid and understated and showed a quick vision of her proficiency in Afro-Cuban rhythms. Pianist Andy Colburn played with strength and precision and won well-deserved praise for his talents.

Stefon Harris had originally planned to be a classical musician but hearing the music of Charlie Parker changed everything. He is an incredible vibraphonist who began his Jazz career in 1996. He began racking up awards in 1999 for his recordings and has been named “Mallets Player of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association and by Jazz Times magazine. He was infectious in his enthusiasm for Jazz and the young performers responded with equal enthusiasm.

Then came Jimmy Heath. From soprano to tenor saxophone to composing, arranging and teaching, Jimmy Heath has influenced generations of Jazz artists and listeners. He is a treasure trove of stories about Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lester Young and so many more. He replaced John Coltrane in Miles Davis’ band in 1959.

“Trane was always high on Jimmy’s playing and so was I. Plus, he was a very hip dude to be with, funny and clean and very intelligent. Jimmy is one of the thoroughbreds,” said Miles Davis.

John Coltrane told Downbeat in 1960, “I had met Jimmy Heath, who - besides being a wonderful saxophonist - understood a lot about musical construction.  I joined his group in Philadelphia in 1948.  We were very much alike in our feeling, phrasing and a whole lot of other ways.  Our musical appetites were the same.  We used to practice together, and he would write out some of the things we were interested in.  We would take things from records and digest them.  In this way, we learned about the techniques being used by writers and arrangers.” 

His compositions have gained near-standard status, including Gingerbread Man which was covered by Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis and more. Gingerbread Man was one of the set-pieces for Saturday night.

His performance was sheer artistry, of course. But he revealed his nature as educator, as well. He served as band leader to the young ensemble and pushed them and taught them and brought out the very best in them. He gave hand signals for two trumpets to mirror the alto saxophone. Drummer Cami Mennitte Pereyra seemed to please the Maestro and pianist Andy Colburn got several grins from him.

Jimmy Heath brought out their best and gave them his best.

Wisconsin Public Television was there to record the clinics and live performances. They have planned a fall WPT broadcast of the weekend’s events. I want to relive it all over again.


Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 
 

0 Comments

Taste of a Tour..."Midori" by Stick Men+

4/17/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
On April 10, 2015, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Markus Reuter and special guest David Cross performed two live shows at Billboard Live Tokyo.  That recorded event has been released as Stick Men+ Midori. The album also serves as the calling card for the Stick Men+ 2016 tour coordinated by Leonardo Pavkovic of Moonjune Music. The album itself is on the Moonjune Records Label (MJRSM1).
 
The first show opened with the Opening Soundscape: Gaudy. The tone and texture of the opening is profoundly reminiscent of the days of King Crimson from the earliest days to the most recent. David Cross’s violin brings to mind the heady days of the Larks’ Tongues in Aspic album while surging beyond those boundaries. The expanding horizons with the soundscape itself are mesmerizing and deep. It is the introduction to all that follows.
 
It moves effortlessly into Improv – Blacklight with the heavy drums of Pat Mastelotto. Markus Reuter (Touch Guitars® and keyboards) pushes the structure outwards as Levin (Stick) and Mastelotto anchor the piece with a free rhythm. Again, the post-Crimson texturing is evident in the Improv and creates a bridge into Hide the Trees.
 
Hide the Trees (Reuter, Levin and Mastelotto) is performed with perfection, as one would expect. Levin and Mastelotto nail the groove from the start but Reuter takes on the melody for several bars until the groove resumes the dominance. David Cross glides in with his violin and the smile appears on your face.
The broken beat of the drums are still given structure from Levin and Reuter until Mastelotto comes back to the corral. This is profoundly satisfying. Even at 8:54, it seems too short. For longtime King Crimson fans, hearing Tony Levin say, “David Cross on violin” is pure gold.
 
Improv – Moth follows after and is opened with Cross’s pizzicato violin and a wash of Reuter’s keyboards. The fluttering wings of the moth are almost visible in the imagery created. Once again, Cross is in stunning form and Mastelotto’s strokes are incredible. Levin works the bass groove from beginning to end Listening to these masters improvising so telepathically is a treat to be savored.
 
Industry is a favorite from the Bruford-Levin-Fripp-Belew days of the early 1980s. The moth motif morphs into an industrial one as cold, steel machine moves into the dominant theme. Mastelotto recaps Bruford’s line and then some. Reuter shows himself the true disciple of all things Crimson. The droning and heavy rhythm creates an enclosed space within which Reuters and Cross move.
 
Cusp is a Reuter-Levin-Mastelotto piece. This is a hypnotic exercise in rhythm and free-flowing melody. It is a Mastelotto highlights reel. All the while, Reuter’s Touch Guitar is understated but very imaginative. This was a winner.
 
Cusp slowly bleeds into Shades of Starless (Cross-Reuter-Levin-Mastelotto). The theme is obviously from the King Crimson song, Starless, but this is a variation on a theme. The presence of David Cross makes such a difference. Cross is so distinctive. His artistry leaves no doubt as to whom the violin belongs. The same goes for Levin. John Wetton was a great member of King Crimson but the Jazzy twists of Tony Levin are almost incomparable.
 
The Talking Drum continues the take on King Crimson. Written by Cross, Fripp, Wetton, Bruford and Muir, this is a smoking scenario for the present quartet. The dialogue of Reuter and Cross with the pulse-pounding rhythms of Levin and Mastelotto is electrifying.
 
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part 2 (Robert Fripp, composer) is probably my favorite King Crimson piece of all. The movement of the piece is fascinating. Starting with up-tempo and the coolest chord changes, it slows to a moderate step with a more lyrical melodic line. The tight bass and drums are a clinic in precision. Then the seven-note thematic climb begins leading to the bridge. Cross wails with the violin and Levin and Mastelotto thunder their support. The dénouement is magnificent. It is the perfect way to close out the first show.
 
The second show kicks off with Opening Soundscape: Cyan(Reuter-Cross). The ambience is punctuated with rhythmic stabs and soaring violin and leads precipitously into Improv: Midori where the march of Levin and Mastelotto add stridence to the melodic features. The purpose in concert may be warm-up but the creativity and imagination is phenomenal.
 
The group then tears into Robert Fripp’s Breathless. It is the archetypal King Crimson piece with the great guitar riffs and staggering bass and drums. The momentary howling bass is certainly breath-taking and the guitar of Reuter is spot-on.
 
The band returns to an improve with Improv: Moon. Far more delicate than the previous two ventures’ beginnings. The bass and guitar are anchored by the drums as they are joined by the violin. It shimmers and reflects off of the rock-hard rhythm section. A delicacy remains within the violin but it is well-protected and sometimes well-hidden.
 
It is followed by another Crimson favorite, Sartori in Tangier from the Three of a Perfect Pair album. The violin opens the piece with the beautiful chords in a meditative introduction. The tight rhythms and the Saharan melodies are amazing, as much now as when the original was first released. The music is still fresh and timely and the performance is on fire. The groove is monstrous. The stratospheric violin ascends in enlightenment. This was the power and the glory of King Crimson and it has been restated in equal measure by Stick Men plus David Cross.
 
Crack in the Sky (Reuter-Levin-Mastelotto) is a cool track with Tony Levin on vocals. Loved the guitar work of Markus Reuter over the R&B bass and drums. The ambient keyboards are well-spaced and affirming. This may be Reuter’s showcase track.
 
Shades of Starless makes another appearance in this, the second, show of the night. A song so nice, you need to hear it twice. It is almost a minute shorter than in the first set. Maybe it’s me but the violin seemed more plaintive here than before. Loved the fade-away.
 
Who could have expected Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite next? Stravinsky, sure, but this is Stick Men and make no mistake. I have heard Emerson, Lake and Palmer with their arrangements of Classical pieces and have enjoyed them. But this! This was furious—just like Stravinsky would have enjoyed.  Exquisitely powerful.
 
The Talking Drum was also reprised in the second set, albeit a minute longer this time due to an extended violin lead-in.
 
The second show also ended with Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part 2. No problem! I can’t get enough of it, anyway. There were some noticeable differences that make it a fascinating study to compare them both. Brilliant.
 
With Stick Men+ beginning the 2016 tour, the release of Midori serves as a herald for the excitement awaiting concert-goers.
 
The four artists never disappoint in their various groups and incarnations. I have seen Levin and Mastelotto together and have seen Levin with Bill Bruford as a duo and as part of King Crimson. But these four with this music is right on time and in perfect sync with each other and their audiences.
 
Midori has captured a moment from Japan in 2015 that is rich and amazing. What wonders await the 2016 tour.
 
 
 
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

0 Comments

George Colligan Does It All on "Write Them Down"

4/8/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
I’m a George Colligan fan. So sue me. I have loved all of his albums and his collaborations with the greats among the Jazz stars. Yes, he made his fame playing piano with Jack DeJohnette and others but he was first trained in drums and trumpet.
 
He was the drummer for Kerry Politzer’s great piano Jazz albums and was so again on his early 2015 release Risky Notion. He has developed a bass proficiency to go with all the keyboards, horns, percussion and now, with the release of Write Them Down (Resonant Motion RMI1502), he adds vocals and has written all the music and lyrics which he sings and plays. A complete solo recording.
 
The album opens with The Ice World. George is heard singing from the very outset. Aside from hearing him speak and introduce songs in concert, I had never heard his voice before. It is George on lead and backing vocals and, I confess, I was hooked. For the first time through the album I kept wondering who it is that George’s singing brings to mind. Finally, I had it! No one. He sounds likes no one.
 
Of course, his piano artistry is just phenomenal and always has been. His drumming is tight and deliberate. But we need to focus, for a moment, on his vocals. He delivers a cool, Jazzy vocal intonation that never loses definition and diction. In other words, Colligan is not puffing his own ego by taking on all parts. Far from it, he has taken on all the parts in order to maximize the delivery of his message and music. He knows how he wants each piece to sound and he guarantees its sound by his own artistry. As our grandmothers used to say, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” George has done it right.
 
So, on The Ice World, the tight piano and drum mix perfectly sets up what he wants to achieve with the lyrics and vocals. The lyrics are bright with imagery and the music adds the color and shade to present a striking picture.
 
You need to know, Write Them Down—the album—requires multiple listenings. The first couple of times through, it was the new Colligan vocals, as stated above, that grabbed me. Then listen to the piano, always a Colligan hallmark. Next for the drums, then the bass and horns. Yeah, you need to hear it that many times. Or, rather, you’ll just want to.
 
Get In Line follows with a nice layer of backing vocals behind the lead. The drums are exquisite and you can hear ever-so-slight influences, here and throughout the album, from George’s heroes like Jack DeJohnette and Lenny White. Colligan swings with the best of them.
 
The piano solo is vintage Colligan. Straight up and bright. And I really dug the lyrics and his delivery of them. Piano and drums steal the show, though.
 
That tight-fisted rouser is followed by Never Let Go, a longing hope for support and strength in the arms of another.
The maudlin desire is kept at bay by the tone and tempo. George knows how to write a mature, yet bright-eyed, song of belonging.
 
Write Them Down follows next. The electric keyboards and rim-playing on the drums create a snappy flair that makes for a tongue-in-cheek reverie of “possibilities” and “little schemes.” The pocket trumpet is a fine addition here, adding a whimsical touch to the feeling. Splendid artistry cloaked in great fun.
 
Beginning of the End is a lament for the end of western civilization but it is crafted within a rhythmic structure of Native American culture. He creates a cyclical view of history in his music while intoning the victory of commercialism over culture in his lyrics.
 
The bass is strident in keeping with the militaristic drums. Brass marching instruments take their place among the disintegrating esprit de corps. So well-written and performed.
 
The pace returns to up-tempo Jazz-Pop with I Don’t Have the Time. The chord changes are cool and, at times, unexpected. The theme is centered around what Colligan would do if he were the king, president, prime minister, emperor, supreme leader or generalissimo. He mixes noble aspirations with somewhat hedonistic impulses and musically shapes just such a world where he just doesn’t have the time for all of that.
 
Paradise is a slow-paced, fearful, look at what troubles may come and have come to so many. The organ wails quietly behind the pulse-pounding rhythms of bass and drums. It is heavy-laden with grief and fear of bereavement. And Colligan delivers it spot-on.
 
Magic Laughter is a welcome comic relief to the sadness that came before. It brings a sense of joy that alleviates the agony of Paradise. Listen to George’s intonation of “round” and “sound” as he delivers an intentionally nasal tone that heightens the levity of the piece. Colligan knows what he’s doing.
 
The instrumental interlude is exacting and exciting. He sings, “I would run and jump and slip and fall” and then creates the sonic image with a stumbling, crashing drum run that is guaranteed to bring a smile. This is a cheerful, hopeful piece of beautiful whimsy.
 
The album concludes with I Would Be Nothing Without You. It is the most soulful piece on the album. The electric piano is the perfect choice to go with the soul vocals. The bass and drums are forward-leaning R&B and Colligan, again, pulls off the vocals with great aplomb.
 
Write Them Down is the next evolutionary step for George Colligan the artist, the composer, the thinker. It is an album for those who don’t want their musical heroes to stand still and just keep repeating what they have been doing for the last 50 years. For George Colligan, Write Them Down is yet another surge into the unknown, filling with sound what was once a void.
 
Yeah, I’m a George Colligan fan.




~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 
 
 

1 Comment

"Land of the Descendants" by the Chembo Corniel Quintet. 

3/25/2016

1 Comment

 
PicturePhoto by Jerry Lacay
In the Autumn of 2012, Wilson “Chembo” Corniel, Jr. released what became one of my favorite albums of all time, entitled Afro Blue Monk. It was filled with brilliant compositions from Mongo Santamaria, Thelonious Monk and more. The band was hot and Chembo brought forward some of the coolest music of the last decade. After all, he is the Master of the Tumbadoras.

Three and one-half years later, the Chembo Corniel Quintet has returned with Land of the Descendants (American Showplace Music ASM3108). Of the quintet, only Frank Fontaine (saxophones and flute) and Chembo himself remain. But don’t lose heart, this incarnation of the Quintet has lost nothing in the exchange and the Master is still the Master.

With percussionist Chembo Corniel are, as mentioned, Frank Fontaine, who composes and arranges two songs and arranges Chembo’s original plus Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life, and Darwin Noguera on acoustic piano, Ian Stewart on electric bass and drummer Joel Mateo who contributes an original composition/arrangement of his own. Guest artists include Kat Gang—who is the vocalist for Lush Life—and James Zollar on trumpet, in addition to several other percussionists. Fontaine is the chief arranger for Land of the Descendants, the role played by pianist Elio Villafranca for Afro Blue Monk.

The idea behind Land of the Descendants is stated by Chembo himself, saying, “I am proud to embrace and transmit what has been passed on to me… Land of the Descendants, a reflection of the here and now, deeply rooted in the African-based rhythms and Nuyorican Jazz. It is my contribution to the growing body of work that represents our musical heritage.”

Chembo draws on music from Strayhorn to Sonny Stitt to contemporary composers and artists to create the feeling of our inherited culture and how we can build and expand that culture without conquest but through a shared understanding of what touches us all. We are all descendants and we owe a debt that cannot be repaid except through perpetuation.

Descendants—composed and arranged by Takeo Heisho—opens the album. James Zollar makes the first of four appearances on this piece, along with Victor Rendon and Cascadu, both on the batás. The introduction is provided by the piano and bass with the whole group jumping in with great and joyous rhythms. The pace is electrifying and Fontaine and Zollar bring the brass with flair and bravado. Zollar’s trumpet trills is exciting stuff.

All the while, pianist Darwin Noguera keeps a minimalist melodic line that rolls heavy with the percussionists. There is a brief period, near the beginning, that is almost a moment of meditation, only to be exploded into those smoking rhythms and horns.

Now this is how to kick off an album.

El Antillano, composed and arranged by drummer Joel Mateo, creates a great dialogue between Fontaine’s sax and Noguera’s piano. The rolling then galloping rhythm set by Chembo is met with the percussive playing of Fontaine and Noguera. A rhythmic delight.

Chembo’s original, Transparent Souls, opens with a lovely piano introduction that sounds like it came from 1950s Havana. The swing and movement of the piano is brilliant and the flute and violin create the perfect harmony for the tango rhythms that swell.

The flavors of African rhythms and Latin melodies are easily seen and experienced through the transparency of our mixed and enriched culture. The wonderful tonality of Chembo’s playing is rich against the smooth but vibrant playing of the rhythm section. This may be my favorite piece on the whole album.

Straddling the track list are two standout Jazz classics: Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn and Night Letter by Sonny Stitt. Lush Life has the added attraction of Kat Gang’s single vocal appearance on the album. Pianist Darwin Noguera arranged the standard for the album. Ms. Gang is a wonderful guest artist and contributes such cool Jazz delivery. Noguera is equal to the task of accompaniment with delicate touch and phrasing. Ian Stewart’s bass is smooth and supportive.

The easy percussion accentuates the dance-step embrace of the quintet’s movement. The understated rhythm is like a whisper that commands attention.

Stitt’s Night Letter follows with the funky twists of Stewart’s bass intro that opens the portals for the quintet’s solid swing. As surely as Strayhorn contributed to our land of descendants’ culture and spirit, Sonny Stitt’s forthright swing and swagger is equally important to who we are.

The rip of the sax, the runs of the piano and the throbbing bass with set-upon drums reveal what is solid in us and what allows for the open-hearted proclamations of sax and trumpet—our voices heard loudly as we endeavor to speak truth to one another.

Two pieces by Frank Fontaine follow. Bottoms Up is a tongue-in-cheek summersault of bass and percussion overtop the melodies. The deep bass gets a prime spotlight in what must be Stewart’s most prominent moments on the album. The piano reacts in melodic intensity while the bass drops down with the percussion and makes clear space for brief moments of sax interruption. The broken five-counts are ear-catching and memorable.

Parisian Cha, Fontaine’s second original, provides a great exchange for Zollar and Fontaine while the rhythm section gives a clinic in the straightforward cha-cha-cha so adored everywhere, always and by all. The percussiveness of the piano with its melodic breaks keeps the rhythm with the drums and bass as Chembo solos magnificently.

The album concludes with Rick Faulner’s Newtown. The sax of Frank Fontaine is set against a full-set rhythm section of Chembo and Mateo along with Yasuyo Kimora on cajón base and Ken Yanabe on cajón repicador.

Noguera has perhaps his most impressive moment in the middle section over against Fontaine’s mournful sax. The playfulness and smothered by the melancholy and regret. The heartbeats slow to silence in the end.

This, too, is who we are and what we share: the grief, the joy, the laughter, the tears. It is a shared heritage that we adopt and to which we adapt. We are all descended from Africa and the African-based rhythms touch us on our deepest levels. Our melodies come from all over the globe but our rhythms have a foothold in our place of shared origins.

In the Land of the Descendants, we can rejoice in our shared and unsheltered culture. It reminds me of the lines from the poet Rumi, "Come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It does not matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again. Come, come."

Listening to Chembo Corniel and his Quintet is an experience in understanding, compassion and love. 

1 Comment

Melissa Aldana Looks "Back Home" for Her Fourth Album

3/24/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
It has been two agonizing years since the release of Melissa Aldana and Crash Trio (early 2014), the album released on Concord Records as part of her winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2013. That was her third album as leader, following Free Fall and Second Cycle on Greg Osby’s Inner Circle Music label.

Those first two albums were set in the quartet format and drew great attention from various quarters. I was among those who saw in Melissa Aldana a passion and virtuosity and drive that would set her apart. I have watched and listened with rapt interest ever since.

After the release of Melissa Aldana and Crash Trio, she toured the world in festivals and concerts across the planet. She has gained an international following that is sure to grow even further with the release of her latest album, Back Home.

At first, the title may seem to suggest a return to Chile, her country of origin, but it is not so blinkard as that. According to Melissa herself, it refers to Sonny Rollins and the first time she heard Rollins and began to investigate his approach to the trio. In fact, she wrote to song Back Home for Sonny Rollins.

There is also a reference to first hearing the ballad My Ship with her dad. It was her father—Marcos Aldana—who was her music instructor. First on alto sax, then after hearing Sonny Rollins, she switched to tenor sax, which her grandfather, Enrique Aldana. Look at the art work and publicity photos of Melissa Aldana and you will see her affectionately holding her grandfather’s Selmer Mark VI tenor sax which she still plays.

She has been with management agency Word of Mouth Music for years now but Back Home is her first album with the Wommusic label (WOM0006). Anders Chan-Tidemann, president of Word of Mouth Music, has devotedly and enthusiastically championed Melissa Aldana. The man knows talent.

I asked Chan-Tidemann about Melissa and the album and he gave his response with his usual zealousness for all-things-Melissa.

“Melissa has that extra touch of magic that focuses your mind in on what you recognize as something mysterious—the inevitable logic of an idea you could never have thought of yourself. But, after you’ve heard it presented this way, you know that’s the way it had to be. Melissa’s album Back Home is rich in those moments and we, at Wommusic, couldn’t be happier than to be a part of her team and to help tell her story.”

The album is, to be sure, “rich in those moments.”

The trio on Back Home is Melissa with Pablo Menares again on bass and, this time, with Jochen Rueckert on drums. Rueckert brings a different approach than did Francisco Mela, Melissa’s previous drummer. There is a different understanding between this trio and the groups that have performed with Melissa before.

In addition, their compositional skills are top-rate, with Melissa composing four of the nine tracks, two tracks each for Menares and Rueckert and only one cover. That cover, as stated before, is My Ship by Weill and Gershwin.

But the album is launched by Melissa’s original, Alegria. The word itself means “joy” and this is just what Melissa recreates and shares. Rueckert’s drums provide the introduction in an upbeat frivolity. The sax at first offers a repose, a rest in the contentment of joy because joy does not always mean excited-ness or even happiness but is, rather, a deeper sense of connectivity and peace. That connectivity is exemplified in the artistic oneness of the trio in cooperation.

Melissa’s sax is the extension of her own personal joy in her love for family and music and, one would imagine, the people that she meets.'

Desde La Lluvia is Pablo Menares’ first composition of the album. The title is best translated as “from the rain.” Melissa’s solos are lovely and warm. Rueckert’s rhythmic choices jump out at the listener in contrast to the walking bass and the personal sax. The washing cymbals and punched drum strokes are like rivulets of water and rolling thunder behind the delicacy of the rain itself.

It is a cool swing and is the perfect example of the vulnerability of the single melodic instrument. In the liner notes, Ashley Kahn comments “Then trio format can really leave the saxophonist so naked,” to which Melissa responds, “Yeah, I love it.” One can almost see the grin on her face.

Obstacles is the first written offering from drummer Jochen Rueckert. Probably the most quickly-paced track on the album, it alternates between two tempos as if the trio must slow down to navigate the “obstacle” before resuming the stepped-up movement. Menares himself navigates the bass lines brilliantly and proves why he is Melissa’s bassist of choice for so long.

En Otro Lugar (“In another place”) is the second piece by Menares. The introduction is provided by Menares own solo bass. It is sweet and all-too-short but beautifully provides the entrance for Melissa’s haunting tenor sax interpretation of Menares’ intent.

The disillusion with here is expressing so well by Melissa’s use of bent notes. With every album, with every song within every album, Melissa proves why she is the present and future of Jazz sax. Solidly incorporating the styles and techniques of those who have gone before, she is able to use that as her vocabulary with which to write the story of what is to come. She is miraculous.

My Ship, the only cover, comes at the mid-point of the album. There is a certain strategy to that, I think. It serves as her own reminder of what once was, musically, with her dear father as they listened to ballads together and how that stills serves as a centerpiece or focal point to what surrounds.

The languid ballad is treated affectionately by the Melissa and Pablo and the pacing extends the reminiscence into the present. She shows how this classic, and so many others, has become part of her. But what is truly amazing on My Ship is that it is done without Reuckert!

Again, Anders Chan-Tidemann points out, "I think it's because both Melissa and Pablo plays with such rhythmic assurance
but also because of what precedes the track and comes after it." This is one of those great examples of the strength of great programming. The track arrangement has truly enhanced the overall effect.

Servant #2 is Rueckert’s second song on the album. A slower-paced swing, it is often interrupted by the revival of the introduction to the piece. The full stops keep the trio tight. Melissa’s melodic lines are cool as can be and Rueckert’s own bass solo is great work.

This is a unique composition. It is like listening to science-fiction Jazz. The ideas are futuristic and full of fun and intrigue.

Before You was written for Melissa’s boyfriend while she away on her Homeresque tours. Like Odysseus, she had someone waiting at home, also. This was for the guy who was waiting for her return. There is a dance-like quality with almost solo-dancing inferences—perhaps like dancing before a mirror. While there is movement and contentment, there remains a feeling of space-as-yet-unfilled. Melancholy without sadness.

Time is another Melissa original and is her own personal reflection of the days, months and years that have passed since leaving her beloved Santiago, Chile. She speaks of being “very emotional, it was raining and there was a change of seasons and I came up with that tune out of nostalgia, thinking of my life up until now.”

There are bright moments, some darker episodes—even some sadness—but there remains that joy that is the heart and soul of Melissa Aldana. It is an exquisite piece.

The album concludes with the title track, Back Home. There is a more apparent camaraderie and interaction, playfulness and trust, as the trio releases a robust shout of growth and maturity unheard before. What was first hinted in Melissa Aldana and Crash Trio has become a proclamation with both the album and the song Back Home. The logic of the Jazz and the inevitability of the composition, indeed, makes this one of those moments of an album “rich in those moments.”

Back Home was surely worth the wait. Melissa Aldana with Pablo Menares and Jochen Rueckert were the right trio to make this album as penetrating and mature as it should be. Melissa never ceases to amaze, intrigue and inspire.

It is a fascinating thing, watching this young woman—seen riding a bike with her grandfather’s tenor sax strapped across her back in the inner fold of the album jacket—with the energy and fun of youth but the skill and drive of someone much older. She grows and grows with each performance and recording.

She has often been called “a rising star” but that says too little about her prowess and maturity and conviction. More than a rising star, she is as bright and permanent as the Sun. Melissa Aldana is one of the greats now. In my review of her previous album, I said, “It is not too early to call her great.” I meant it then and I mean it even more now.

She is wonderful.
 


~Travis Rogers, Jr, is The Jazz Owl



To read my review of Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio, go here: http://travisrogersjr.weebly.com/a-love-of-music/melissa-aldana-crash-trio-it-is-not-too-early-to-call-her-great
To see my review of Second Cycle, go here: http://travisrogersjr.weebly.com/a-love-of-music/second-cyclethe-new-release-from-melissa-aldana

0 Comments
<<Previous

    A Love of Music

    Join Amazon Prime - Listen to Over a Million Songs - Start Free Trial Now

    Archives

    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011

    Categories

    All
    3rdegree
    Aimee Allen
    Allan Holdsworth
    Ambrosia
    Annette Aguilar
    Beginnings
    Berta Rojas
    Bob Arthurs
    Bobby Sanabria
    Brand X
    Dann Zinn
    Dan Robbins
    Darrell Marrier
    David Sancious
    Dewa Budjana
    Don Cornelius
    Dweezil Zappa
    Eleanor Rigby
    Eugene Marlow
    Farnell Newton
    Flash
    Grammys
    Hristo Vitchev
    Igor Atalita
    Jarrod Lawson
    Jenika Marion
    Jimmy Johnson
    Joe Derose
    Kevin Louis
    Louis Maser
    Marcus Reynolds
    Mary Lou Williams
    Melissa Aldana
    Murray Low
    Naras
    Neil Portnow
    Paquito D'rivera
    Patrick Moraz
    Paul Creighton
    Peter Banks
    Reinhardt Melz
    Rock And Roll
    Ronnie Ciago
    Rosewater
    RUNA
    Shannon Lambert-Ryan
    Steve Lamattina
    Steven Kroon
    Stevie Wonder
    The Left Banke
    The Soulmates
    Toshi Onizuka
    Vinnie Colaiuta
    Zappa Plays Zappa

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.