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JULY 19–28<br />
JIMMY GREENE<br />
Tenor Sax<br />
DON’T MISS A BEAT<br />
of summer’s hottest jazz festival — with<br />
artistic director BILL CHARLAP<br />
and six sizzling lineups.<br />
Featuring FREDDY COLE<br />
DICK HYMAN<br />
JIMMY GREENE<br />
HOUSTON PERSON<br />
CAROL SLOANE<br />
TED ROSENTHAL<br />
GENE BERTONCINI<br />
ANAT COHEN and many more!<br />
SPECIAL EVENT!<br />
Screening of feature documentary<br />
VINCE GIORDANO —<br />
THERE’S A FUTURE IN THE PAST<br />
Sun, Jul 10, 6 pm<br />
NEW YORK PREMIERE<br />
Join Vince Giordano, Bill Charlap and<br />
filmmakers Dave Davidson and Amber Edwards<br />
in conversation followed by a performance from<br />
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks.<br />
ReNew<br />
Shunzo Ohno (Special Sessions Music)<br />
by Terrell Holmes<br />
Trumpeter Shunzo Ohno presents songs with a<br />
striking blend and balance of musical and cultural<br />
influences on his excellent new album ReNew.<br />
From the drop of the bass and drums, opener “Easy<br />
Does It” confirms Miles Davis as Ohno’s main stylistic<br />
influence. With its funky street-corner cool and Ohno’s<br />
smooth, measured lines, this song is like the guy who<br />
knows he’s cool but doesn’t need to say it. Ohno builds<br />
solid harmonies with clear logic and rock-steady<br />
tonality. Miles is his muse but Ohno has his own style,<br />
playing with crisp rhythm and spacing, occasionally<br />
underscoring his ideas with clustered trills.<br />
The title cut is an emotive ballad, contemplative<br />
and developed gradually, unfolding like one of those<br />
elapsed-time films of flowers blooming. Ohno, guitarist<br />
Paul Bollenback and keyboardist Clifford Carter<br />
complement each other perfectly (Ohno’s daughter,<br />
Sasha, a cellist, joins her dad for the lovely reprise of<br />
the tune). Another ballad, “Alone, Not Alone”, which<br />
sounds like it has “’Round Midnight” somewhere in its<br />
lineage, is spare throughout and melancholy at its<br />
edges, with Ohno overdubbed on trumpet and Carter<br />
mimicking flute on the keys.<br />
Ohno is admirably fluent in several subsets of<br />
jazz, as he proves with “Musashi” and “Lea’s Run”,<br />
forays into so-called acid jazz fueled by the passionate<br />
vocals of slam poet George Yamazawa. His words are<br />
inspirational and the pace is upbeat and urgent.<br />
Returning to Miles, one may think of Doo-Bop or,<br />
perhaps, hip-hop meets hagakure.<br />
Ohno is quite adept at playing in the classic style.<br />
“Song for Sensei”, written by bassist Buster Williams,<br />
is a perfect study in hardbop execution, sparked by<br />
Ohno’s soaring play and a fantastic solo by Bollenback.<br />
“First Step” is a similarly fierce race to the finish,<br />
relentless drumming setting the pace. The percussive<br />
genius of Cyro Baptista, tabla work of Ray Spiegel and<br />
more of Carter’s keyboard wizardry fuel the wonderful<br />
“Tairyo Bushi”, a Japanese folk song Ohno translates<br />
nicely into the jazz idiom.<br />
ReNew will have something for everyone. All of<br />
the songs are on point and the energy and enthusiasm<br />
that Ohno and his fellow players bring to this project is<br />
palpable throughout.<br />
For more information, visit shunzoohno.com. Ohno is at<br />
Club Bonafide Jun. 25th. See Calendar.<br />
and Piket’s own composing, arranging and playing.<br />
McPartland, who died in 2013, composed six of<br />
the eight tunes. The opener is “Ambiance” and this<br />
arrangement realizes McPartland’s interest in Herbie<br />
Hancock and Wayne Shorter. The impressionistic<br />
melody is fueled by the horn section of Steve Wilson<br />
(flute and alto), Virginia Mayhew (tenor saxophone)<br />
and Bill Mobley (trumpet). Wilson and Piket solo<br />
impressively over the distinctive mood of the changes<br />
spurred on by the rhythm section of bassist Harvie S<br />
and drummer Billy Mintz.<br />
Of special note here is the inclusion of McPartland’s<br />
ballad “Twilight World” with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.<br />
After a poignant introduction, with what sounds like<br />
Piket playing inside the piano, guest vocalist Karrin<br />
Allyson beautifully intones the luscious melody with<br />
only Piket as accompaniment. (The idea for the duet<br />
was suggested by producer Todd Barkan.)<br />
McPartland is shown as an open-minded composer<br />
on four other tunes: bittersweet ‘In the Days of Our<br />
Love”; mournful and soulful “Threnody” (McPartland’s<br />
recollection of Mary Lou Williams); exotic “Time and<br />
Time Again” and “Kaleidoscope”, the ever-changing<br />
tune that served as the theme for Piano Jazz.<br />
The title track and “Saying Goodbye” are Piket<br />
tunes and they touch on the broad interests of<br />
McPartland the musician and the person. The former is<br />
a cooker with an intriguing melody and brief pointed<br />
solos by Mayhew, Piket and Wilson while Piket played<br />
the latter on McPartland’s last Piano Jazz show and the<br />
host liked its expression of positive sense of loss. Piano,<br />
bass and trumpet solo and help express ongoing love<br />
for this great woman of music.<br />
For more information, visit thirteenthnoterecords.com. This<br />
project is at Ibeam Brooklyn Jun. 4th. See Calendar.<br />
ORDER TODAY!<br />
92Y.org/Jazz | 212.415.5500<br />
92nd Street at<br />
Lexington Ave, NYC<br />
An agency of UJA-Federation<br />
One for Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland<br />
Roberta Piket (Thirteenth Note)<br />
by Donald Elfman<br />
Roberta Piket first met fellow pianist Marian<br />
McPartland in 1994 and a lasting friendship was<br />
developed. Piket’s new album is a remarkable tribute<br />
to her late friend, celebrating McPartland as a composer<br />
32 JUNE 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
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