BILLY COBHAM

N EW YO R K @ N I G H T
An hour into the pianist’s solo set at the Park Avenue
Armory (Mar. 7th), a sweaty and wrung-out Jason
Moran admitted, “solo piano is a terrifying act”.
Echoing the existential tightrope walk of saxophonist
Steve Lacy, himself known for solo performance, the
unspoken reality was that Moran was in constant
dialogue, never truly unaccompanied—whether
engaging his teachers and influences, the instrument
itself or the Louis Tiffany and Stanford White-designed
Veterans Room, the restoration of which his
performance commemorated. Picking an improviser,
and specifically this improviser, to open the Veterans
Room was a logical and savvy choice; Moran’s
eclecticism stems from equal engagement with the
music of Jaki Byard and art of Robert Rauschenberg,
playfulness and drama that runs the gamut from
abstraction to coy lyricism while the American
Aesthetic Movement design of the room brings latticed
symmetry into conversation with brusque molding,
wrought iron and aquamarine tile with an odd logic.
Moran worked through ten pieces and an encore of
“The Single Petal of a Rose” (one of the most beautiful
renditions I’ve heard), utilizing the resonant space to
his advantage on ebbing and subtly overlapping
ballads as well as chugging minimalist motors (the
latter partly derived from his work with choreographer
and visual artist Joan Jonas) and clustered fantasias
that would make Fred Van Hove and Alexander von
Schlippenbach blush.
—Clifford Allen
We don’t often appreciate the impact of someone’s
life until it’s over. Many of late vocalist Mark Murphy’s
extended family and friends may have been meditating
on this during the memorial for him at Saint Peter’s
(Mar. 14th), because it was abundantly clear by the end
of the evening that his life and music had touched and
moved so many. His complex personality was partially
revealed through reminiscences by those who knew
him well while his musical legacy was evident in the
fantastic performances given by his peers and mentees.
After vocalists Nancy Kelly, Daniel Čačija and Carol
Fredette had set the mood, Roz Corral’s lubriciously
crooned “What a Way to Go”, followed by Kurt Elling’s
muscular “I’ll Close My Eyes”, began a deeper
collective channeling of Murphy’s hovering presence.
His “sister spirit”, Sheila Jordan, visibly moved, dug
deep into “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” with rich,
quavering long-tones, pulling her phrases back and
forth across the band’s pulse. Murphy’s facility with
scatting and vocalese was echoed in The Royal Bopsters
rendition of “Red Clay” (Freddie Hubbard’s tune set to
Murphy’s lyric) and Giacomo Gates’ deft delivery of
“Boplicity/Bebop Lives” and “Lord Buckley”, a
hilarious mash-up of Shakespeare and beatnik-speak.
After Annie Ross, resplendent in matching Persian
carpet hat and jacket, gave a sibilant Sprechstimme
reading of “Lush Life”, the evening ended with Jordan
and Elling’s duet, “Where You At?” We knew. Murphy
had been there all along.
—Tom Greenland
da ping luo
Jason Moran @ Park Avenue Armory
© R.I. Sutherland-Cohen / jazzexpressions.org
Kurt Elling & Sheila Jordan @ Saint Peter’s
Far out in Flushing in the auditorium connected to the
Black History Research Center at the Langston Hughes
Library, the first concert of the month-long Lady Got
Chops Festival featured a quartet both deeply rooted
in tradition and forward-looking. Harlem-based
pianist Bertha Hope and Philly guitarist Monnette
Sudler were joined on six standards by electric bassist/
festival organizer Kim Clarke and drummer Luciana
Padmore. Veterans of two different and contentious
periods of this music—Hope was married to bebop
piano architect Elmo Hope in the ‘60s while Sudler
honed her chops playing with free musicians like
drummer Sunny Murray and vibraphonist Khan Jamal
in the ‘70s-80s—they often engaged in spirited, subtle
conversation. Always a tough and inventive player,
Sudler brought a dry twang to “West” and her dialogue
with Hope on Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny Burke’s
“Polka Dots and Moonbeams” held a gentle,
authoritative drift. Aided by the rubbery pull of Clarke
and Padmore’s dry chatter, the quartet held a bright
sway. The drummer’s West Indian jabs called to mind
Max Roach and Denis Charles on an uptempo, Calypsoinspired
version of Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart’s
“Blue Moon” and granted healthy lift to a spry version
of Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa”, Sudler treading on
chunky, repetitious phrasal paths recalling Grant
Green. If the sound was occasionally imbalanced, the
genial Saturday afternoon vibrations on Northern
Boulevard more than made up for it.
(CA)
For the 25th anniversary of its Women’s Jazz Festival,
Harlem’s Schomburg Center held four Monday night
concerts in March, the first, “Sacred Revolution” (Mar.
7th) going back to the root of the African-American
musical tree: gospel. Emceed by Toshi Reagon, the
show tributed Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples and
Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It didn’t take long to get that
sanctified feeling when Marcelle Lashley sang “How I
Got Over”, stepping over the monitors to get closer to
the crowd, followed by Josette Newsam Marchak’s
full-blown delivery of “If I Can Help Somebody”.
Reagon spoke to the audience about gospel music’s
spiritual and political impact, its central role in Black
empowerment, then sang a Staple Singers-style version
of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”. Continuing on the
political note, Jhetti Rose Lashley gave a more subdued
but deeply soulful reading of “A City Called Heaven”,
the band (pianist Glenn Gibson Jr., organ player
Samuel Guillaume, guitarist Kat Dyson, bassist Fred
Cash and drummer Shirazette Tinnin) winding down
slowly at the end, as if reluctant to abandon the feelings
Lashley had stirred. Other highlights: Kimberly
Nichole rocking “Strange Things Happening Every
Day” and “Respect Yourself” and co-leading “Didn’t It
Rain” with Shelley Nicole; Christina Sayles belting
“It Is Well with My Soul”; and Reagon bellowing low
under the other ladies’ a cappella harmonies on a remix
of Tharpe’s “Rock Me”. Like a moving service,
spirituality permeated the hall.
(TG)
4 APRIL 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD