"DownBeat" - March 2008

Cover Story
Dr. Lonnie Smith -- Step into the Good Doctor’s laboratory, where the B-3 legend plays music as soulful and greasy as any jazz heard on the planet. He tours tirelessly while making a bit of a crossover in recent years by playing festivals and venues catered to a younger audience. Here’s an “examination” of one of the most colorful figures in jazz.

FEATURES
Otis Taylor -- The blues innovator wants to make something clear: The banjo is not a “white” instrument. His Black Banjo Project shows the instrument’s African roots, and the vital role it has played in the evolution of jazz and blues. He recently hit the studio to “recapture” the banjo with Alvin “Youngblood” Hart, Corey Harris, Keb’ Mo’, Guy Davis and Don Vappie.

Eliane Elias -- The pianist delves into Bill Evans with her return to Blue Note, offering gorgeous interpretations of the Evans songbook as well as putting to album never-before-recorded Evans compositions.

Nicole Mitchell -- As DownBeat’s perennial “Rising Star” flutist, few artists are as motivated as Mitchell. She has been an organizer and creative spark in the Chicago improvised music scene for years while leading and working in numerous groups. One of her most heralded projects, the Black Earth Ensemble, recently released a live disc—just one component of this multidimensional artist

SPECIAL SECTION: Jazz Camp Guide -- Where to hone those chops and have some fun doing so in the upcoming summer months.

BLINDFOLD TEST -- Adam Rogers

PLAYERS
Hans Glawischnig (bass)
Arturo Stable (percussion)
Jay Azzolina (guitar)
Eli Reed (voice)

THE BEAT
• Riffs—Jazz News From Around The Globe
• Jimmy Amadie’s saga to play and record
• New Venezuelan Cacao Musica label
• Cecil Payne obit
• Improvements to Neshui Ertegun Hall of Fame at Jazz at Lincoln Center
• Vinyl Freak, The Question
• Backstage With ... Myra Melford
• Caught: Roy Hargrove Big Band at Harlem Stage Gatehouse; Motion, Frisell and Carter at New York’s Blue Note; Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet 10-Year Anniversary show

WOODSHED
• Jazz on Campus: UCLA lands major grant from Herb Alpert Foundation
• Transcription: Sonny Rollins’ saxophone solo on “Almost Like Being In Love”
• Master Class: Trombonist Joe Fielder

REVIEWS
Hot Box
Robert Fripp & Brian Eno, Beyond Even (1992-2006) (DGM)
Jimmy Blythe, Messin’ Around Blues (Delmark)
Lizz Wright, The Orchard (Verve Forecast)
Omar Sosa, Afreecanos (Otá)

Reviews
Eliane Elias, Something For You (Blue Note)
Dave Douglas & Keystone, Moonshine (Greenleaf Music)
Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Avatar (Blue Note)
Maceo Parker, Roots & Grooves (Heads Up)
Gebhard Ullmann, New Basement Research (Soul Note)
David Becker Tribune, Leaving Argentina (Acoustic Music)
The Chris Tarry Group, Almost Certainly Dreaming (Nineteen-Eight)
Herb Robertson NY Downtown Allstars, Real Aberration (Clean Feed)
Mike Taylor, Remembered (Dusk Fire)
Empirical (Destin-E)
Alfredo Naranjo, Y El Guajeo (Cacao Musica)
Tim Collins, Valcour (Arabesque)
Matana Roberts, The Chicago Project (Central Control)
Laura Crema, Spring Is Here (Maximum Jazz)
Abigail Riccards, When The Night Is New (Jazz Excursion)
Soulio (JJ)
Diane Schuur, Some Other Time (Concord)
Greg August Sextet, One Peace (Iacuessa)
Allan Harris, Long Live The King (Love Productions)
Chris Gestrin, After The City Has Gone: Quiet (Songlines)
Orchestra Ethiopia, Ethiopiques 23 (Buda Musique)
Raya Yarbrough (Telarc)
Bobby Few, Lights And Shadows (Boxholder)
Horace Silver, Live At Newport ’58 (Blue Note)
Sean Jones, Kaleidoscope (Mack Avenue)
Brad Turner Quartet, Small Wonder (Maximum)
Augusti Fernandez/Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton, Topos (Maya)

Jazz
Fisch im Trio, Live Im Bird’s Eye (Unit)
Tommy Meier, Root Down (Intakt)
Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet, Dance Of The Soothsayer’s Tongue (Clean Feed)
Ari Brown, Live At The Green Mill (Delmark)
Carla Kihlstedt & Satoko Fujii, Minamo (Henceforth)
Kim Richmond Ensemble, Live At Café Metropol (Origin)

Blues
Artie Traum, Thief Of Time (Roaring Stream)
Son Seals Story (VizzTone, DVD)
Ray Bonneville, Goin’ By Feel (Red House)
Back Door Slam, Roll Away (Blix Street)
The Wiyos (Pie)
Shirley Caesar, After 40 Years (Light)

Beyond
Bill Bruford, Rock Goes To College (Winterfold)
Bill Bruford Earthworks, Video Anthology Volume 1 (MVD)
Bill Bruford Earthworks, Video Anthology Volume 2 (MVD)

Historical
Bud Powell, Live At The Blue Note Café, Paris 1961 (ESP-Disk)
Sunny Murray (ESP-Disk)
Albert Ayler Quartet, The Hilversum Session (ESP-Disk)
Don Cherry, Live At The Cafe Montmartre (ESP-Disk)
Burton Greene, Bloom At The Commune (ESP-Disk)

Book
Gabriel Solis, Monk’s Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History In The Making (University of California Press)