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That kind of range is evident on 1991’s The
World Is Falling Down (Verve). Lincoln’s lyrics
for Haden’s “First Song” tell an innocent story of
preternatural love. A few tracks later, “I’ve Got
Thunder (And It Rings)” takes issue with the
notion that a woman can’t be both feminine and
opinionated.
“Once you see an injustice it stays with you
the rest of your life,” said Haden, whose friendship
with Lincoln deepened over a long period of
shared social circles and albums. “During President
Reagan’s tenure and under Bush Sr., she was
disgusted. She was a very deep person who had
reverence for the preciousness of life.”
Reeves once tried to produce a concert that
would acknowledge Lincoln’s vast contributions
to music. “She shut it down,” Reeves recalled
with a laugh. “Abbey said, ‘Tributes are for people
who are not here, and I’m not dead.’ I respect
that. She was really just someone who lived her
truth, and that takes a lot of guts.”
Lincoln’s remarkable self-awareness and her
ability to “be vulnerable enough on the band-
Marsalis’ International
Collaboration
Archived for Virtual
global Audience
Wynton Marsalis downplayed the notion
that the 2009–’10 premieres of his notquite-finished
versions of a pair of commissioned
symphonic opuses by the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra —“Blues Symphony” last
November with the Atlanta Philharmonic and
“Swing Symphony” on June 10 with the Berlin
Philharmonic—represents any sort of anomalous
spike within the context of his total corpus.
Even though, as Marsalis noted, deadline obligations
forced him to compress the process of
composing them from a projected three years of
work into one.
The June premiere of six of the seven movements
of Marsalis’ “Swing Symphony” was
viewable with a broadband connection and is
available on the Berlin Philharmonic’s “Digital
Concert Hall” archive (dch.berliner-philharmon
iker.de). Edited to provide visual references to
Marsalis’ sonic combinations, and capturing the
interplay between the section members while
keeping the overall picture firmly in view, the film
provides a palpable sense of how the orchestras
coalesced in performing Marsalis’ symphony.
“The idea was to do not the normal thing,
where the jazz band plays and then the orchestra
does something stiff—or long notes—in
between,” director Simon Rattle said in an interview
that’s also available as a podcast. “Something
where we are really two orchestras, like a
concerto for two orchestras—a conversation.”
For this to work, both emphasized, it was essential
to reach consensus on time and meter.
“What Wynton would call freedom exists
stand to experience what’s deep in your heart and
your soul,” as Blanchard put it, is also part of her
legacy. “When you talked to her, the person you
spoke to was the person you saw onstage.”
If anyone understood that about Abbey Lincoln,
it was Chicago singer Maggie Brown,
whose father, Oscar Brown Jr., wrote the Freedom
Now lyrics. When she was still a child,
Brown knew Lincoln through her family, and
she became an important mentor. Brown later
recorded two duets on Lincoln’s Wholly Earth
(Polygram) in 1999, and was tapped to perform
Lincoln’s music at this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival
on Sept 4.
“Abbey created herself, musically,” Brown
says. “She blossomed into this strong writer who
could compose the inspirations she was sent that
speak to us all with that soul-stirring emotion.”
Before Lincoln died in Manhattan in August,
Brown visited her nursing home, where
they revisited their old duet habit. “She was a lot
weaker,” Brown remembers, “but she was still
singing.” —Jennifer Odell
Wynton Marsalis with the Berlin Philharmonic
within an incredibly tight rhythmic discipline,”
Rattle said. An orchestral percussionist in his
youth, he analogized the orchestra to “a big,
invertebrate animal” forced “to find a way to
be free and make our shapes” within Marsalis’
guidelines.
Self-mandated to “celebrate all of the great
achievements of jazz music in the 20th century
from a jazz musician’s perspective,” Marsalis
addressed iconic songs from the timeline—reharmonizing
“Body And Soul” as well as the
Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Charles
Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie songbooks. He distributed
the motifs democratically (as always,
he held the fourth trumpet chair), scoring virtuosic
interplay between the JALC woodwinds and
brass and the Berlin Philharmonic flutes, oboes,
bassoons, horns, violins, cellos, contrabasses
and percussion. —Ted Panken
FRank steWaRt
Hand FloRine
riffs
Dana Leong (right) with Project Bandaloop dancer
Musical Suspense: Trombonist/cellist Dana
Leong was commissioned to compose a
new piece, “IdEgo,” for the San Franciscobased
Project Bandaloop dance company.
Their late-September and early October performances
at the Orange County Performing
Arts Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., included
Leong playing while suspended from a rope.
Details: danaleong.com
Miami Jazz: Florida’s Adrienne Arsht Center
for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade
County has collaborated with jazz producer
Larry Rosen for its Jazz Roots 2010–2011
season. Concerts include Poncho Sanchez
and Tiempo Libre on Dec. 3, Keith Jarrett on
Jan. 21 and Marcus Miller’s tribute to Miles
Davis’ Tutu on Feb. 25. Details: arshtcenter.org
yellowjackets Sign: The Yellowjackets
signed with Mack Avenue Records. The
group’s debut for the label is set for release
in 2011 and will celebrate its 30th anniversary
with a guest appearance by the group’s
co-founder, guitarist Robben Ford.
Details: mackavenue.com
SfJAZZ Collected: SFJAZZ Collective has
released the three-CD set Live 2010, which
documents its recent tour and features
the group’s arrangements of Horace Silver
compositions and works by the ensemble’s
members. It is available only online.
Details: sfjazz.org
Pérez honored: Danilo Pérez has been
awarded the 2010 ASICOM International
Award by the Ibero-American Association of
Communication (ASICOM) and the University
of Oviedo (Principality of Asturias).
Details: daniloperez.com
Burton’s Recruits: Gary Burton has recruited
guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley
and drummer Antonio Sanchez for his new
quartet. The group debuted at the Red Sea
Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel, in August, and
the vibraphonist intends to bring them into
the studio to record for Concord and tour in
2011. Details: garyburton.com
NOVEMBER 2010 DOWNBEAT 15