JENNY SCHEINMAN

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Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans Ryan Truesdell (ArtistShare) by George Kanzler Heralded as both a large ensemble and debut album of 2012, this exquisite and sumptuous mounting of ten previously unrecorded charts found among the late Gil Evans’ papers is a fittingly grand tribute to the late composer-arranger on his centennial. Ryan Truesdell assembled enough musicians to bring to life charts ranging from a woodwind-string-trombones-plus rhythm octet accompanying a vocal and the ‘40s Claude Thornhill Orchestra to a full 24-piece ensemble replicating a “dream band” Evans led at the 1971 Berlin Jazz Festival. He even adds a tabla player to the 16-piece instrumentation Evans had used on his 1964 Individualism of Gil Evans album to realize a chart intended for that recording. That piece, “Punjab”, is the most cinematic track. Truesdell, after listening to the (rejected) rehearsal takes, added Dan Weiss on tabla - an instrument Evans never used - and its sound informs the unique feel of the 15-minute track, from the long prelude, where it is joined by tenor violin, drums, guitar and flutes, to the main sections, part of the underpinnings to the whirling melody along with deep tuba-trombone chords. Solos by pianist Frank Kimbrough and alto saxophonist Steve Wilson weave in and out of the rich orchestral tapestry. As this music demonstrates time and again, Evans was about much more than melody and harmony in arrangements. Those rich tapestries depended on exotic textures, hence his novel voicings and lushly dramatic transitional passages, sustained notes and chords that floated free of themes and conventional linearity. The longest track here (19 minutes) is a medley, “Waltz/Variation on the Misery/ So Long”, resembling a rhapsody moving through myriad tones and colors in multiple tempos, touching down on wisps of melody but held together by the gossamer transitions and suspended rhythms. There are three vocal tracks, each featuring a different singer and differing instrumentation, which reveal Evans’ restless inventiveness at work behind singers and five charts originally written for Thornhill over 60 years ago. They show how creative Evans was dealing with Swing band vocabulary, but the real revelation is an early “The Maids of Cadiz”, more expansive than the version fashioned for Miles Davis a decade later on Miles Ahead. For more information, visit artistshare.com. A Gil Evans tribute is at Borden Auditorium Mar. 1st. See Calendar. Some More Love Songs Marc Copland Trio (Pirouet) by Joel Roberts Marc Copland started his career as a saxophonist in the ‘70s, but he’s long since developed into one of the more creative and accomplished, if underrated, 20 March 2013 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD pianists in jazz. His lyrical, expressive style puts him loosely in the Bill Evans-Keith Jarrett wing of modern jazz piano, but he has a sound that’s easily identifiable. Copland’s new release is a followup, seven years and at least that many albums removed, to 2005’s Some Love Songs. He has reassembled the same trio from the first outing (in-demand bassist Drew Gress and the fine German-born drummer Jochen Rueckert) and features a similar setlist of all love songs, mostly very familiar ones. But it’s not the tunes themselves that stand out here; it’s what Copland and company do with them, as he and his mates find new harmonic and melodic angles to explore in these chestnuts. The opener is a Joni Mitchell number, “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”, which Copland approaches with a quiet but firm command, sharing solo space (as he does throughout the album) with Gress. Two wellworn standards are given slightly offbeat twists: the usually bleak “My Funny Valentine” is taken at a swinging pace while the usually swinging “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” loses its Sinatra-esque bounce and becomes a slow, somewhat gloomy ballad that goes off in unexpected directions. “Rainbow’s End”, the only original composition by Copland here, is the album’s emotional core, evoking equal parts romance and sorrow. Though it’s an album of love songs, the overall tone of the session is blue (like the great Joni Mitchell album of the same name), but Copland doesn’t exactly play the blues. His vision of love - or at least his vision of love songs - is a complicated and refreshingly adult one, as much about longing and loss as it is about sweetness and bliss. For more information, visit pirouet.com. Copland is at Birdland Feb. 26th-Mar. 2nd. See Calendar. #BAM Live at Bohemia Caverns Nicholas Payton (BMF) by Sean O’Connell Trumpeter Nicholas Payton has made waves lately more on the heels of his social media prowess than with his trumpet. His BAM (Black American Music) movement has prompted more late-night, off-therecord conversations than one could have ever imagined. As the leader of a bold idea, naturally, his recorded output has been held to higher scrutiny. His last release, Bitches, was a foray into cathartic R&B but for this album, his first for his BMF record label, he returns to an instrumental sound with a stripped-down band of bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Lenny White. Curiously, what rises to the surface on this record is Payton’s way with a keyboard. Throughout the live date, the smooth but talkative leader spends as much time seated at the Rhodes as blasting his horn. The album kicks off with Payton in duet with himself, his plaintive trumpet cry matched by sparse chords. He alternates between pinched trumpet and a plucky Rhodes solo before briefly riding Wayne Shorter’s quartal “Witch Hunt” riff on his trumpet with punchy electricity. On “Catlett Outta the Bag”, a White original, Payton gets downright funky on the Rhodes, digging into a distorted stride as White beats the hell out of his kit. It’s an impressive display that seems to take the audience a bit by surprise. The applause is spacious and hesitant. They get a confident solo from Archer to sort things out. If that surprised them, then who knows what “The African Tinge” did. The 14-minute jam is a non-stop barrage of screaming Rhodes, somersaulting backbeats and rocketing trumpet pyrotechnics. “Frankie and Johnny” closes the set with a smooth swing. Archer takes a rumbling solo over White’s effortless brushes as the band takes their time with the mellow blues. The set runs a high-energy 80 minutes over just 7 tracks with clinking silverware and Payton’s quiet storm patter tying it all together, an engaging live date that reminds us why Payton’s opinions are given the weight they are in the first place. For more information, visit nicholaspayton.com. This project is at Iridium Mar. 1st-3rd. See Calendar. RECOMMENDED NEW RELEASES • Barry Altschul - The 3Dom Factor (TUM) • Ben Goldberg - Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues (BAG Production) • Eric Hofbauer - American Grace (Creative Nation) • Jonathan Kreisberg - One (New For Now) • Jeremy Manasia - Green Dream (Cellar Live) • David Weiss & Point of Departure - Venture Inward (Posi-Tone) David Adler, New York@Night Columnist • Jeremiah Cymerman Amplified Quartet - Sky Burial (s/r) • Mats Eilertsen Trio - Sails Set (Hubro) • Champian Fulton - Champian Sings and Swings (Sharp Nine) • Billy Martin’s Wicked Knee - Heels Over Head (Amulet) • Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer/Helge Lien - Memnon: Sound Portraits of Ibsen Characters (Ozella Music) • Neil Welch - Twelve Tiny Explosions (Table & Chairs) Laurence Donohue-Greene Managing Editor, The New York City Jazz Record • John Butcher/Guillaume Viltard/Eddie Prévost - Meeting with Remarkable Saxophonists Volume 2 (Matchless) • Silke Eberhard/Ulrich Gumpert - Peanuts & Variations (Jazzwerkstatt) • Ben Goldberg - Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues (BAG Production) • Ibrahim Electric - “Isle of Men” (Target) • JC Jones - Citations (Solo Bass) (Kadima Collective) • The O’Farrill Brothers Band - Sensing Flight (ZoHo Music) Andrey Henkin Editorial Director, The New York City Jazz Record
Play the music of Benny Carter Count Basie (Roulette-Fresh Sound) by Duck Baker Opus De Blues Frank Wess & Thad Jones Septets (Savoy/Roulette - Fresh Sound) Here are two excellent reissues to delight Basie fans, both those who love the big band and those with a taste for the winning style of small-group mainstream swing that his sidemen served up through the ‘50s and early ‘60s. And you needn’t be a specialist to enjoy these releases; having ears that work properly is the only prerequisite for that reaction. No pairing of LPs could be more logical than Kansas City Suite and The Legend, the 1960 and 1961 sessions arranged by Benny Carter for a Basie band that had, in the opinion of many, hit its postwar peak with The Atomic Mr. Basie in 1958. There were only a couple of personnel changes between the Atomic and Kansas City sessions. Eddie Lockjaw Davis was replaced by Billy Mitchell on tenor saxophone, but Frank Foster and Frank Wess remained, as did trumpet stars Joe Newman, Thad Jones and Snooky Young and trombonists Al Grey, Seldon Powell and Henry Coker. The section playing was still sensational and of course the rhythm section of Basie, guitarist Freddie Green, bassist Eddie Jones and drummer Sonny Payne was nonpareil. By the time The Legend was recorded, Newman and Grey had left, Budd Johnson had replaced Billy Mitchell and Sam Herman was subbing for Green. The soloists throughout are great, with Foster and Jones making, perhaps, the strongest impressions. Several of these tunes became standards and “Katy Do” is in the band’s book to this day, but there’s no sane way to single out individual tracks when every one is a classic. Carter’s writing is wonderful and draws things out of the band that Basie’s regular arrangers didn’t, especially from the sax and trombone sections. Carter did lead a good few dates during this period, but the only one that found him leading a big band was the magnificent Aspects (1958) and the similarity to the writing here is immediately apparent. The Frank Wess date Opus De Blues was recorded in 1959 but remained unissued, somehow, until 1991. The Thad Jones tracks were originally part of an unwieldy two-LP set called The Birdland Story, so the packaging of these two slightly out-of-the-way sessions Pugs & Crows - Fantastic Pictures “This is music of great strength and beauty.” - Alexander Varty, The Georgia Straight (Vancouver, B.C) Meredith Bates - violin / Cat Toren - piano / Cole Schmidt - guitar Russell Sholberg - bass / Ben Brown - drums recipient of Galaxie Rising Star Award at 2010 Vancouver Jazz Festival Available now: pugsandcrows.com is again good thinking, especially as seven of the nine tracks are Jones originals. The first session features fellow Basie hand Charlie Fowlkes on baritone sax and Curtis Fuller on trombone, with Hank Jones heading a three-piece rhythm section that manages the right swing feel while adding a few modern flourishes. Hank’s soloing is particularly tasty and his sense of humor is in evidence, the sly quote of “Star Eyes” at the beginning of his solo on “Boop De Doop” a noteworthy example. Though he’s listed as playing tenor and flute, Wess also plays alto on the opening “I Hear Ya Talkin’”. On the Birdland date (not sure what the reasoning behind that title was, since it was mostly a collection of unrelated studio sessions), our two protagonists are joined by Al Grey and Billy Mitchell. Is the cast sounding familiar yet? They certainly sound familiar to one another, making Thad’s charts sound as easy to play as they are to listen to, which is easy indeed! Brother Hank returns with more great piano comping and soloing and we get another rare chance to hear Wess’ alto, on “Friday the 13th”. Fans of his fine flute work and fluid tenor will find lots to like throughout the two sessions as well, of course. Opus De Blues is certainly a worthwhile addition to any collection but the Carter/Basie collaborations rank among the very greatest postwar big band records. You’ll like the former and you need the latter. For more information, visit freshsoundrecords.com. Wess is at Jazz at Kitano Mar. 2nd, Saint Peter’s Mar. 3rd as part of Prez Fest and Smoke Mar. 29th-30th. See Calendar. The Loneliest Woman Joe McPhee Po Music (Corbett vs. Dempsey) by Marc Medwin This version of Ornette’s classic composition blossoms into one of the best ever. Recorded in Basel, Switzerland in 1981 with some of European improvisation’s leading lights, it’s a wonder that the lonely 13-minute track is only seeing the light of day for the first time. Bassist François Méchali’s solo is indicative, gaining in momentum before settling down to a drone similar to Coleman’s 1959 version. Michael Overhage’s cello and Raymond Boni’s guitar emerge from the drone, providing a timbral and harmonic cushion where Coleman emphasizes the melody’s starkness. As in late-period Coltrane, there is a transparent layer of percussion, courtesy of bells and cymbals from Pierre Favre. While some room is provided midway for solos, notably a scorcher from trombonist Radu Malfatti, much of this music is collective in nature. It is as if Joe McPhee, or whoever was responsible for the lush and constantly morphing arrangement, realized Coleman’s harmolodic implications, bringing the music to the next level. Parts of the head are non-contiguously juxtaposed with others, giving the form the same freedom that meter and solos enjoyed in the original. Despite the present transfer obviously coming from a fairly high-generation copy, the recording is superb. Each detail is audible while not necessarily being realistically presented. Witness the hazy echo on certain saxophone passages as contrasted with the forward positioning of cymbals and Irène Schweizer’s piano. McPhee fans needn’t hesitate. For more information, visit corbettvsdempsey.com. McPhee is at Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center Mar. 2nd. See Calendar. JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER MAR MAR 8–9 7:30PM & 9:30PM MAR 8–9 8 PM MAR 15–16 7:30PM & 9:30PM MAR 22–23 7:30PM & 9:30PM 25 YEARS OF JAZZ charlie parker & dizzy gillespie Photo courtesy of the Frank Driggs Collection DIZZY & BIRD FESTIVAL PAQUITO D’RIVERA’S ‘CHARLIE PARKER WITH STRINGS’ D’Rivera honors the work of Charlie Parker, imparting a Latin twist to the familiar standard Free pre-concert festival, 6:30pm DIZZY & BIRD FESTIVAL CELEBRATING DIZZY GILLESPIE Master trumpeter Jon Faddis leads The Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra of New York through new transcriptions of Dizzy Gillespie repertoire Free pre-concert festival, 6:30pm CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE Blues master Charlie Musselwhite brings his bourbonsmooth tenor voice and masterful harmonica commentary to The Allen Room MADELEINE PEYROUX Vocalist and guitarist Madeleine Peyroux reprises originals and classics from artists such as Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and more BOX OFFICE BROADWAY AT 60 TH CENTERCHARGE 212-721-6500 JALC.ORG Preferred Card of Jazz at Lincoln Center Lead Corporate Sponsor THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | March 2013 21
Page 1 and 2: March 2013 | No. 131 CLAUDIA ACUÑA
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Page 5 and 6: Tom Greenland, Midnight Son Music H
Page 7: © Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos A
Page 10 and 11: ENCORE Valerie Capers by Brad Farbe
Page 12 and 13: LABEL SPOTLIGHT Libra Records by Ke
Page 14 and 15: CD REVIEWS Capricorn Climber Kris D
Page 16 and 17: GLOBE UNITY: NORWAY Memnon: Sound P
Page 18: New Blues Aki Takase (Enja/Yellowbi
Page 23 and 24: Music is Emotion Ryan Keberle and C
Page 25 and 26: The Exterminating Angel Kirk Knuffk
Page 27 and 28: Sojourner Truth (1797?-1883) led a
Page 29 and 30: It would be hard to overstate the e
Page 31 and 32: Ellington Saxophone Encounters Mark
Page 33 and 34: The Sirens Chris Potter (ECM) by Je
Page 35 and 36: Numerology (Live at Jazz Standard)
Page 38 and 39: CALENDAR Friday, March 1 êPreserva
Page 40 and 41: Friday, March 8 êPaquito D’River
Page 42 and 43: Tuesday, March 19 êJoseph Bowie’
Page 44 and 45: Thursday, March 28 êClaire Daly’
Page 46 and 47: (INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6) T
Page 48: presents John Williams, Guitar John

JENNY SCHEINMAN

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