September 2012 - The New York City Jazz Record

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Fortune Songs Jasmine Lovell-Smith’s Towering Poppies (Paintbox) by Wilbur MacKenzie The debut release by Jasmine Lovell-Smith has so much to offer: an arrestingly wry and lyrical compositional style, a cohesive quintet comprised of talented emerging artists and, nestled comfortably at the center, a distinctive new voice on the soprano saxophone. This is clearly a band that has worked together and learned to live and breathe in the music, extending far beyond the ink and into the realm of a truly communicative ensemble of effusive musical cohorts. On compositions like “Confidence (One)” or “Let Go Be Free”, the band will establish a pervasive mood inspired by the folk-like melodies, only to take a surprising turn towards expressionism, navigating constant shifts of hues in the most logical and evenhanded way. Sharing the frontline with Lovell-Smith is trumpeter Russell Moore, whose bright tone blends with the soprano, or darkens and widens in response to the shifts from ruminative sentimentality to impressionistic gestures. The rhythm section of pianist Cat Toren, bassist Patrick Reid and drummer Kate Pittman are in a constant state of ebb and flow, providing an ever-shifting framework. Pittman’s ability to integrate lyrical, almost melodic percussion with more frenetic gestures establishes a sense that the music will shift anywhere while Reid’s sense of melody and counterpoint are distinctive and Toren blends broad, lush harmonies with more plucky phrases. As a composer, Lovell-Smith’s penchant for counterpoint and distinctive blend of melodic phrasing, driving pulses and free jazz expressionism unfold throughout the record. Any given tune may favor one element or the other, but always reminding the listener that a few surprising changes to the color palette await around each corner. For more information, visit paintboxrecords.com. This group is at Korzo Sep. 18th. See Calendar. Claroscuro Anat Cohen (Anzic) by Tom Greenland With Claroscuro, Anat Cohen exceeds the orbital velocity of her rising star status, delivering an intelligent and infectious set with pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Joe Martin, drummer Daniel Freedman and guests clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and percussionist Gilmar Gomez. Cohen’s many strengths are immediately apparent on “Anat’s Dance”, where she spins out long, logical, rhythmically authoritative postbop lines; on “La Vie en Rose”, where she slips into a Sidney Bechet bag, constructing a liquescent, slightly sassy solo in five elegant phrases, and on “All Brothers”, where her 24 September 2012 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD dense/light soprano spews out high-energy solos full of quicksilver ornaments, slurred tumbling sequences, non-harmonic interjections, expressive scoops and slides, colored with a light, mercurial vibrato. She plays light, cool clarinet over the Brazilian ballad “As Rosas Nao Falam”, channels Artie Shaw in a faithful rendition of “Nightmare”, weaves fluid arpeggios around Lindner’s piano on Jobim’s “Olha Maria”, matches the irrepressible Paquito D’Rivera note for note in a revved-up, jaw-dropping run on Pixinguinha’s choro “Um x Zero”, then brings it all home with some soulful gospel preaching on “The Wedding”. Lindner is excellent everywhere, mixing solo and comping styles seamlessly while Martin and Freedman are effortlessly at-ease in their pan-global grooves. Gordon’s “Tricky” Sam Nanton-style growls and “Pops” Armstrong-esque singing are welcome additions to “La Vie en Rose” and Dr. Lonnie Smith’s “And the World Weeps”, as is D’Rivera’s impeccable playing on these cuts (his solo turn on “Weeps” is dazzling), “Um x Zero” and “Kick Off”, where his clarinet percolates over the hypnotic Candomblé beat. For more information, visit anzicrecords.com. This project is at Village Vanguard Sep. 18th-23rd. See Calendar. Magic Triangle/Leap of Faith Dave Douglas (Arabesque-Greenleaf Music) by Sean O’Connell Trumpeter Dave Douglas has released over 35 records under his own name in the last 20 years. Greenleaf Music, Douglas’ own label, has been a home to his recordings since 2005, including the overwhelming recordings of every note played during a six-night run at the Jazz Standard in 2006. Here the label has dug into Douglas’ back catalogue, releasing two albums originally on Arabesque, recorded in 1997 and 1998. Both sets feature the same tight quartet - Chris Potter (saxophone), James Genus (bass) and Ben Perowsky (drums) - with the 2-hour, 20-track collection entirely composed by Douglas. These two recordings are a fitting pair, highlighting the state of Douglas’ pursuits in such a brief timespan despite three other albums being released in between. “I was trying to see how much harmony I could get into the game with just three notes,” states Douglas in the liner notes. How much is a funny question. A lot isn’t quite an answer to it. Three melodic voices can just about make three harmonic relations but which and when is where Douglas makes it his own. Magic Triangle, which came out in 1997, was Douglas’ 11th album and opens with “Everyman”, a playful tune that has Douglas and Potter sharing the same breaths, almost finishing each other’s sentence, a trait that lasts throughout the recordings. “Padded Cell” gives Perowsky more room to splatter across his cymbals, taking things to the outer reaches of the record. “Kisangani” puts a mute in Douglas’ horn for a dirge-like spell aided by long saxophone tones and sputtering kit. The album closes with “The Ghost”; far from a wandering spirit, the track is a hard-hitting launching point for the entire band including a nice propulsive jaunt between Genus and Perowsky. Leap of Faith, Douglas’ 15th album, followed his major label release on RCA, Soul on Soul. The band picks up right where they left off, a little more aggressive and quickly digging into opening track “Caterwaul” with more disjointed harmony while the title track is a furious clatter that features Perowsky fighting a swarm of bees behind his kit as Douglas provides a merciless solo. The fairly straightforward “Mistaken Identity” finds Douglas at his most gilded, twittering over Potter’s engaging counterpoint. The album closes with the goofily titled “Euro Disney”, which offers up the classic Miles Davis “Theme” ending, a fitting closure to an album that embraces much of the bop crowd’s tight harmonic intimacy but takes it into a future of driving drums and greater harmonic freedom. For more information, visit greenleafmusic.com. Douglas is at 92YTribeca Sep. 19th as part of FONT. See Calendar. Remembering Sep. 11: Never Again! Jazz Celebrates New York featuring Musicians, Singers and Tap Dancers, celebrating Jazz in New York. Soft drinks and snacks available for purchase September 11, 2012 7 p.m. to 12 midnight Free! Cobi Narita presents SEPTEMBER 2012 JAZZ VESPERS Sundays at 5:00 P.M. — All Are Welcome — Free 2 Florian Höfner Group 9 Jimmy Owens Quartet 16 Ike Sturm Ensemble 23 Aaron Diehl Trio 30 Nadje Noordhuis Quintet Frank Owens Singers: all proceeds benefit the Frank Owens Workshops Kumiko Yamakado Jo Marchese Ira Lee Collings with the Frank Owens Trio September 15, 2012 7 to 10 p.m. $10 Zeb’s 223 W. 28 Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues), 2nd Floor - 212-695-8081 for more information: 516-922-2010 or cobijazz@optonline.net MIDTOWN JAZZ AT MIDDAY Sponsored by Midtown Arts Common Wednesdays at 1:00 P.M. — ($10 suggested) 5 Anderson Twins Sextet Peter Anderson, tenor sax/clarinet William Anderson, alto sax/clarinet/flute Jon-Erik Kellso, trumpet Ehud Asherie, piano Kevin Dorn, drums Clovis Nicolas, bass 12 Sandy Stewart, singer Bill Charlap, piano 19 Ralph Hamperian’s Tuba D’Amore, Bob Albanese, piano Will Woodard, bass Jeff Brillinger, drums 26 Aaron Diehl, piano JAZZ FOR ALL September 16 at 4:00 Free Improvisation Workshop for families and people of all ages
Rafale Forever KAZE Gato Libre (Circum-Libra) (Libra) by Marc Medwin Pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura’s output is astonishing in scope and diversity. Fujii manages to lead several large ensembles while participating in a seemingly infinite array of others, skipping between continents as if simply going out to the store and back. Tamura is on board for many of these projects, as composer or performer, and these two releases represent a part of the duo’s ever-evolving transcontinental scene. KAZE is a fairly new project, graced by the heavy trumpet frontline of Tamura and Christian Pruvost while Fujii’s piano is complemented by Peter Orins’ drumming. On Rafale, you can hear the trumpets pushing each other to new levels of exploration and interplay on “Polly”, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. This is a stunning achievement from note one and, as might be inferred from the title of the first track, “Noise Chopin”, the quartet tosses Chopin quotations around, or maybe it’s better to say the etudes and sonatas referenced form the brew of the piece. It’s all amidst a rapidly changing dynamic climate, sudden and dizzying shifts in tension and volume keeping things fresh over nearly a quarter of an hour. The whole disc teems with life, blistering free jazz tempered by moments of composed introspection that roil with their own undercurrents, threatening to explode at any moment. If the arc-and-build formula so common to western music, freely improvised music in particular, rears its head a bit too often, it hardly seems to matter in the face of such excellent and committed musicmaking. The recording is spectacular and it needs to be, given the group’s interest in sound and its deployment. Gato Libre’s Forever is not nearly as pleasing on the ears, having been done live in less than ideal circumstances. However, it represents bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu’s last recording with the quartet, as he died a short time after the performance. His sound is rich and full, perambulating the group through its spacious music, serving as an excellent foil to Kazuhiko Tsumura’s guitar. Tamura and Fujii provide liquid support throughout, the dynamic peaks and valleys softer and more malleable than that of KAZE, but a beautiful landscape nonetheless. The bass and guitar harmonics that punctuate the opening of “Court” while Tamura and Fujii emote coolly alongside give an idea of the group’s introspective sound yet the roles are switched on “Hokkaido”, where trumpet and guitar etch innocent lines as bass and accordion drone in sympathy. Were one forced to choose, KAZE maintains interest more completely. However, both discs project the Tamura/Fujii partnership’s interest in space, timbre and, above all, feeling. These releases are rife with conviction and that, peppered with the obvious abilities demonstrated by all involved, will carry any ensemble a very long way. For more information, visit librarecords.com. Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura are at Douglass Street Music Collective Sep. 22nd. Tamura is at Village Zendo Sep. 23rd as part of FONT. See Calendar. Live at the Blue Note Enfants Terribles (Half Note) by Clifford Allen There was a very interesting point raised in a recent post on the blog Running the Voodoo Down concerning the relevance of the standard repertoire in contemporary improvisation. From critic Phil Freeman: “This is a problem afflicting the music across the board and I think it may be time to lay down the law: Jazz musicians need to stop recording standards… Play the old standards live if you want, if you’ve got so little respect for your audience that you think they still want to hear ‘Body and Soul’ in 2012 (if you do still want to hear ‘Body and Soul’ in 2012, seek professional help).” He was referring to the present album by the quartet Enfants Terribles: altoist Lee Konitz, guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Joey Baron. Sure, their repertoire is based in a very specific sector of the book - “Body and Soul”, “I Can’t Get Started”, “I’ll Remember April” and, in a performance at the Blue Note last month, “All the Things You Are” and “Cherokee”, among others. The kick is that each musician starts the tune solo or in open dialogue, with the others falling into conversation. No discussion of the tunes or their order is supposed to color the proceedings. It’s meant to be spontaneous, insofar as the references are often oblique at first and the tunes are dealt with through a mutual love and respect for history as well as openness. Konitz brings to the proceedings a long, long relationship with these tunes and a ‘free’ conception of the repertoire is his blood and guts. He began his professional career six years before Frisell was born and a full decade before Baron, but that’s not to say their work isn’t integral: the joy and intellect shared between the guitarist and drummer is palpable on both recording and stage. Sure, nothing ‘new’ exists under the sun, but it’s enjoyable to hear Frisell’s muted, Americana-derived fragments weaving through the changes against loose, plastic rhythms and Konitz’ ebullient runs. Live at the Blue Note captures a 2011 run of the quartet and while not as wily with the same concept as, say, Ellery Eskelin’s Trio New York, Enfants Terrible’s approach shouldn’t necessarily be relegated to the bin of anachronism. For more information, visit halfnote.net THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | September 2012 25
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Page 4 and 5: NEW YORK @ NIGHT SMOKE ® JAZZ&SUPP
Page 6 and 7: Photo by Geoffrey Creighton INTERVI
Page 8 and 9: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 | 7:30PM |$3
Page 10 and 11: ENCORE Rahn Burton by Matthew Mille
Page 12 and 13: Inner Circle by Alex Henderson Greg
Page 14 and 15: IN MEMORIAM Lol Coxhill - a great i
Page 16 and 17: Plays Toninho Horta Duduka Da Fonse
Page 18 and 19: GLOBE UNITY: BRAZIL Piano Masters S
Page 20 and 21: Alive at the Vanguard Fred Hersch T
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Page 28: Live at Smalls Jesse Davis (smallsL
Page 31 and 32: Yesterday and Today Toots Thieleman
Page 33 and 34: Loverly Lenore Raphael/Howard Alden
Page 35 and 36: New York City’s most famous jazz
Page 37 and 38: Conduit Greg Diamond (Dot Time) by
Page 39 and 40: Golden Child Jared Gold (Posi-Tone)
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Page 43 and 44: Wednesday, September 5 êPeter Brö
Page 45 and 46: Friday, September 14 êDan Tepfer
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Page 49 and 50: CLUB DIRECTORY • 449 Lounge 449 L
Page 51: BUCKY ADAMS - As an 11-year-old tru

September 2012 - The New York City Jazz Record

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