Anna Mjöll @ Vibrato, Sept 19th

Almost sold out! This Friday, Sept 19th at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill Jazz:
Anna Mjöll/vocals - Pat Senatore /bass - Tom Ranier/piano - Mark Ferber/drums
For all those who didn't get in last time - call NOW 310.474.9400 for reservations!

DVDs & LD of the Day - "Joe Sample"

Legends: "Live at Montreux 1997"
Featuring: Joe Sample (acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes & Wurlitzer electric pianos), Marcus Miller (electric bass), Steve Gadd (drums), David Sanborn (alto sax) and Eric Clapton (electric guitar & vocals).
Sample shines throughout the concert, but his acoustic solo number, Jelly Roll Morton's "Shreveport Stomp," and the Crusaders' hit "Put Where You Want It" are specially noteworthy.

The Crusaders: "Live at Montreux 2003/1976"
Among the 12 tracks from the 2003 concert are "Viva De Funk," "Way Back Home," "Carnival of the Night," once again "Put Where You Want It" and 3 numbers featuring vocalist Randy Crawford: "The Thrill Is Gone," "Soul Shadows" and, of course, the title track from the "Street Life" album, a mega-hit she recorded with the band back in 1979. Besides Wilton Felder on tenor sax, this 2003 version of The Crusaders included Freddie Washington (electric bass), Kendrick Scott (drums), Ray Parker, Jr. (electric guitar) and Stephan Baxter (trombone).
But my personal favorite performances are the four bonus tracks from their first Montreux concert, in 1976: "Soul Caravan," "Spiral," "Hard Times" and the beautiful "A Ballad For Joe Louis." The band at that time included, besides Sample (using Rhodes, Wurlitzer and MiniMoog) and Felder (tenor sax, sometimes with electronic devices), another founding member, drummer Stix Hooper, plus Robert 'Pops' Popwell (electric bass) and Larry Carlton (electric guitar). Please note: The bonus footage from 1976 is only available on the European version of this DVD.

The Crusaders: "Purely Music Concert Series" (1991)
Tonight I'll be re-watching also a Crusaders video filmed for German TB broadcast in 1987, but only released here in the USA in 1991, on LaserDisc format, and unfortunately never reissued (anywhere!) on DVD. Among the guests are vocalist Reichii Guillory, Brazilian percussion master Airto Moreira (who often toured with The Crusaders but, oddly, never recorded on any of their albums) and, believe me, Kenny G. on soprano sax. My favorite tracks: "Carmel," "Chain Reaction" and "Sunrise."

R.I.P.: Joe Sample

(born Joseph Leslie Sample on February 1st, 1939 in Houston, Texas; died on September 12, 2014 in Houston, TX)

So sad about the passing of Joe Sample, a music giant. A couple of weeks ago, during a dinner with my friend and ace guitarist Barry Finnerty (who recorded on the Crusaders' legendary album "Street Life"), I told him I was concerned with Joe's health. Now I feel totally devastated, since he was one of my heroes, and one of my favorite Fender Rhodes players (what he does on Hubert Laws' "Say It With Silence" is pure magic!) Not coincidentally, it was that album that, almost a decade later, led me to know Joe Sample in person. Both me and my wife in the 80s, singer Yana Purim, fell in love with Joe's tune "It Happens Everyday," recorded by Laws. She wrote English lyrics for it, we did a recording (with Alphonso Johnson on bass) during the sessions for her "Harvest Time" album, and then we needed Joe's approval for the lyrics. We met him at the backstage of the NY Blue Note, in April or May 1987. He was very very kind, read the lyrics carefully, listened to the recording twice, and said: "Perfect. Great job!" After that, I met him several times (the last one in Montreux) and he always was very amiable. Rest in Peace.

Services for Joe Sample:
Friday, September 19, 2014, 6:00pm-9:00pm, wake and viewing open to the general public, Our Mother of Mercy Church, 4000 Sumpter St., Houston, TX, 77020. Funeral services will be private.
In lieu of flowers, etc., the family asks to make donations to the Joe Sample Youth Organization, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. Contributions can be made via paypal/credit card using the following link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QV5AUC3H6AGQL 
or via check to the following address: Joe Sample Youth Organization, P.O. Box 590254, Houston, TX 77259.

Lindsay Lohan's "Speed-The-Plow" Contest

More details about Lindsay Lohan's "Speed-The-Plow" contest.
Ends this next Wednesday, Sept 17th!
Grand Prize Winner gets 2 tickets to the show, second prize gets a SIGNED copy of the rehearsal script.
For more details, please check:
http://www.lindsaylohan.com/?p=14009

Ronda Rousey last night at the TUF 20 premier

Last night at the TUF 20 premier - Ronda Rousey!
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140910/the-ultimate-fighter-ronda-rousey-sets-bar-high-for-ufcs-first-strawweight-champion

Gina Saputo back @ Steamers, Sept 12th

This next Friday, Sept 12th, don't miss Gina Saputo @ Steamers!
Plus MATT POLITANO-BLAKE WHITE-RAMON BANDA-LARRY SALZMAN-COURTNEY LEMMON AND TIANA LE!

Gina be doing a very special performance for a Japanese online beauty magazine called bglenish!
"They will be following me all day and we'll rap up the shoot with an awesome of evening of music with my fabulous band and very special guest vocalists Courtney Lemmon and Tiana LE," she told us.

ALL AGES-! CALL 714-871-8800 RSVP-only $8
STEAMERS JAZZ CLUB
138 W. Commonwealth Blvd.
Fullerton, CA

Sheila E. @ Book Soup, signing and discussing her book with Billbaord editor Gail Mitchell

Tomorrow, Sept 10, at 7pm, don't miss Sheila E in conversation with Billboard editor Gail Mitchell about "The Beat of My Own Drum: A Memoir."
Location: Book Soup 8818 Sunset Boulevard (West Hollywood, CA)

From the Grammy Award-nominated singer, drummer, and percussionist who has shared the stage with countless musicians and is renowned for her contributions throughout the music industry, a moving memoir about the healing power of music inspired by five decades of life and love on the stage.

Sheila E., born Sheila Escovedo in 1957, picked up the drumsticks and started making music at the precocious age of three, inspired by her legendary father, percussionist Pete Escovedo. Two years later, she delivered her first solo performance to a live audience. By nineteen, she had fallen in love with Carlos Santana. By twenty-one, she met Prince.  

"The Beat of My Own Drum" is both a walk through four decades of Latin and pop music--from her tours with Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie, Prince, Tito Puente, George Duke, Flora Purim and Ringo Starr--to her own solo career. At the same time, it's also a heartbreaking, ultimately redemptive look at how the sanctity of music can save a person's life. Having endured sexual abuse as a child, Sheila credits her parents, music, and God with giving her the will to carry on and to build a lasting legacy.

Rich in musical detail, pop and Latin music history from the '70s and '80s, and Sheila's personal story, this memoir is a unique glimpse into a drummer's singular life--a treat for both new and longtime fans of Sheila E. And above all, it is a testament to how the positive power of music serves as the heartbeat of her life.

Kofi Baker's Cream Experience live in LA, Sept 11

Kofi Baker's power-trio Cream Experience live @ The Baked Potato (3787 Cahuenga Blvd., Studio City, CA, ph: 818-980-1615) on Sept 11, at 9pm & 11pm.
Featuring Kofi Baker (drums), Fran Banish (guitar) & Robertino Pagliari (bass).

Bob Barry's exhibition "Performance Portraits"

A note from renowned photographer Bob Barry about his exhibition that opens next Saturday, Sept 13, at the Mayme Clayton Library & Museum in Culver City:

"A brief reminder that the reception for my photo exhibit at the Mayme Clayton Library and Museum will be this coming Saturday (13th). There will be a screening of Dailey Pike's "Jazzumentary", Bob Barry - Jazzography in Black & White at 1:30, followed by a Q&A session with Bob & Dailey and the reception starts at 2:30 and will run till 7 PM. Refreshments will be served and Music provide for the reception by two wonderful pianists, John Campbell and Dan Marschak.
I am looking forward to seeing you all and sharing with you a great deal of my newest work. In total there will be 72 images being displayed for this exhibit."

Nicolas Bearde & Nat Adderley Jr. live @ Yoshi's San Franciso, this next Friday

Nicolas Bearde is a San Francisco Bay Area treasure. As a charter member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra ensemble as well as the innovative vocal sextet SoVoSó, he's long been internationally recognized as a versatile and fearless vocal improviser, charismatic performer, and distinctive jazz and soul stylist.

Bearde will bring it all to Yoshi's San Francisco on Saturday 9/13, in the company of his newest collaborator, the renowned pianist/arranger Nat Adderley Jr. Joining Bearde and Adderley for what's billed as a "Virgo Birthday Celebration" -- the leader's birthday is September 15 -- will be saxophonist Charles McNeal, bassist John Shifflett, and drummer Leon Joyce Jr.

"Nat has a way of starting you in a different direction," says Bearde of Adderley, who spent nearly 20 years as music director for Luther Vandross and grew up in a deeply musical family including his cornetist father Nat Sr. and his alto saxophonist uncle Cannonball. "He has no qualms about telling you 'That's not working,' and why. He also tells you what works. He has a way of voicing chords that is so very musical. You don't have to hear the melody to hear the melody within the chords. We found that during rehearsal of this new material. I thought, this is probably the most beautiful way I've ever heard these songs."

Bearde has already begun work on his next album with Adderley producing and arranging. A five-song late-July New York session, with bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Rocky Bryant, found Bearde delving into the jazz lexicon, including "Lush Life," "My One and Only Love," and "Save Your Love for Me." He'll be performing these, along with other new songs, at the Yoshi's show.
 














Bearde was introduced to Adderley about a year and a half ago while appearing at Trumpet's in Montclair, New Jersey. The club's owner recommended that Bearde call Adderley (pictured at left), who lived in the neighborhood, about the possibility of their working together at his next Trumpet's engagement.

"Nat said 'Send me the music and info, let's hear what you do,'" says Bearde. "So I sent him three albums' worth of material, and he called back and said, 'Where have you been? Why don't people know who you are? Of course I'll work with you.'"

The two continued to work together when Bearde was in the New York area and began to discuss a recording collaboration, now under way. The new album will focus on trio arrangements with guest horns-including alto saxophonist Vincent Herring -- with an anticipated spring 2015 release.
 

 

Nicolas Bearde (top) rehearsing with Nat Adderley Jr. at Bearde's Oakland home, July 2014.   

Nashville native Nicolas Bearde, who's been based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1970s, has worked extensively as an actor for stage, screen, and television and as a voice-over artist in addition to his vocal pursuits. By the mid-1980s, he'd hooked up with Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra, and when McFerrin decided to take a break from the group in the mid-'90s, Bearde and other members branched off into a smaller a cappella unit called SoVoSó, which included Molly Holm, Linda Tillery, Rhiannon, Joey Blake, David Worm, and Edgardo Cambon. "We followed in the improvisational tradition of Voicestra, but added more gospel, Latin, and R&B elements," he says.

Bearde has released four albums through his Right Groove imprint: Crossing the Line (1998), All About Love (2004), Live at Yoshi's: A Salute to Lou [Rawls] (2008), and Visions (2013).

The Yoshi's San Francisco show, at 8:00 pm on Saturday 9/13, is sure to reveal surprising new aspects of Bearde's extraordinary vocal artistry. 

Web Site: nicolasbearde.com

R.I.P.: Gerald Wilson

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gerald-wilson-20140909-story.html#page=1

Gerald Wilson dies at 96; multifaceted jazz musician
By Don Heckman, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Gerald Wilson, a bandleader, trumpeter, composer, arranger and educator whose multifaceted career reached from the swing era of the 1930s to the diverse jazz sounds of the 21st century, has died. He was 96.

Wilson, who had been in declining health, died Monday at his home in Los Angeles, two weeks after contracting pneumonia, said his son, jazz guitarist Anthony Wilson.

In a lifetime that spanned a substantial portion of the history of jazz, Wilson's combination of articulate composition skills with a far-reaching creative vision carried him successfully through each of the music's successive new evolutions.

He led his own Gerald Wilson Orchestras — initially for a few years in the mid-1940s, then intermittently in every succeeding decade — recording with stellar assemblages of players, continuing to perform live, well after big jazz bands had been largely eclipsed by small jazz groups and the ascendancy of rock music.

Gerald Wilson leads the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in a concert titled "Los Angeles: Central Avenue Breakdown" on Feb. 25, 2006. (Jack Vartoogian / Getty Images)

Seeing and hearing Wilson lead his ensembles — especially in his later years — was a memorable experience for jazz fans. Garbed in well tailored suits, his long white hair flowing, Wilson shaped the music with dynamic movements and the elegant grace of a modern dancer.

Asked about his unique style of conducting by Terry Gross on the NPR show "Fresh Air" in 2006, he replied: It's "different from any style you've ever seen before. I move. I choreograph the music as I conduct. You see, I point it out, everything you're to listen to."

That approach to conducting, combined with the dynamic quality of his music, had a significant impact on the players in his ensembles.

"There's no way you can sit in Gerald's band and sit on the back of your chair," bandleader/arranger John Clayton told the Detroit Free Press. "He handles the orchestra in a very wise and experienced craftsman sort of way. The combination of the heart and the craft is in perfect balance."

Wilson's mastery of the rich potential in big jazz band instrumentation was evident from the beginning. Although he was not pleased with his first arrangement — a version of the standard "Sometimes I'm Happy" written in 1939, when he was playing trumpet in the Jimmie Lunceford band — he was encouraged by Lunceford and his fellow players to write more. 

"Hi Spook," his first original composition for big band, followed and was quickly added to the Lunceford repertoire. Soon after, Wilson wrote a brightly swinging number titled "Yard Dog Mazurka" — a popular piece that eventually became the inspiration for the Stan Kenton hit "Intermission Riff." It was the beginning of an imaginative flow of music that would continue well into the 21st century.

Always an adventurous composer, Wilson's big band music often had a personal touch, aimed at displaying the talents of a specific player, or inspired by many of his family members. After marrying his Mexican American wife, Josefina Villasenor Wilson, he was drawn to music possessing Spanish/Mexican qualities. His "Viva Tirado," dedicated to bullfighter Jose Ramon Tirado, became a hit for the Latin rock group El Chicano and was one of several compositions celebrating the achievements of stars of the bullring.

"His pieces are all extended, with long solos and long backgrounds," musician/jazz historian Loren Schoenberg told the New York Times in 1988. "They're almost hypnotic. Most are seven to 10 minutes long. Only a master can keep the interest going that long, and he does."

In addition to his compositions, Wilson was an arranger with the ability to craft songs to the styles of individual performers, as well as the musical characteristics of other orchestras. It was a skill that kept him busy during the periods when he was not concentrating on leading his own groups.

"I may have done more numbers and orchestrations than any other black jazz artist in the world," he told the Los Angeles Sentinel. "I did 60-something for Ray Charles. I did his first and second country-western album. I wrote a lot of music for Count Basie, eight numbers for his first Carnegie Hall concert," he said.

He also provided arrangements and compositions for such major jazz artists as Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson and others, as well as — from various genres — Bobby Darin, Harry Belafonte, B.B. King and Les McCann.

Wilson's longstanding desire to compose for symphony orchestra came to fruition with "Debut: 5/21/72," commissioned for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1972 by the Philharmonic's musical director, Zubin Mehta. His "Theme for Monterey," composed as a commission by the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1997, received two Grammy nominations. In 2009, on his 91st birthday, he conducted the premiere of his six-movement work, "Detroit Suite," a tribute to the city in which his music career began, commissioned by the Detroit International Jazz Festival.

Gerald Stanley Wilson was born Sept. 4, 1918, in Shelby, Miss. He began to take piano lessons with his mother, a schoolteacher, when he was 6. After purchasing an instrument from the Sears Roebuck catalog for $9.95, he took up the trumpet at age 11. The absence of a high school for African Americans in segregated Shelby made it necessary for him to begin his secondary school studies in Memphis. But a trip with his mother to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 stimulated a desire to move north, and he was sent to live with friends in Detroit, where he attended and graduated from the highly regarded Cass Technical High School.

An adept trumpeter while still in his teens, Wilson played at Detroit's Plantation Club before joining the Chic Carter Band touring band. In 1939 he replaced trumpeter-arranger Sy Oliver in the Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra, then one of the nation's most prominent swing bands.

Wilson served in the U.S. Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center during World War II, then moved to Los Angeles, forming his own big band in 1944. Despite the band's almost immediate success, with nearly 50 recorded pieces and a string of national bookings in its first years of existence, Wilson was not satisfied with his own personal level of craftsmanship. He disbanded the ensemble to spend a few years filling in what he believed were gaps in his music education. He also went on the road with the Count Basie Band and Dizzy Gillespie's group.

Throughout the 1950s and '60s, Wilson was an established participant in L.A.'s busy music scene, arranging, composing for jazz and pop singers, big bands, films and television, while continuing to be active with his own orchestra. Eager to pass on his knowledge and experience, he taught jazz courses at what is now Cal State Northridge, Cal State L.A. and UCLA, and had a radio program on KBCA-FM (105.1) from 1969 to 1976.

As he moved into his 60s, Wilson viewed the commercial activity of his earlier years as the foundation that allowed him to concentrate on his creative efforts.

He had worked hard, he told the Boston Globe, so that in his later years he would no longer "have to go hustling any jobs. I have written for the symphony. I have written for the movies, and I have written for television. I arrange anything. I wanted to do all these things. I've done that. Now I'm doing exactly what I want, musically, and I do it when I please. I'm a musician, but first and foremost, a jazz musician."

Besides his wife and his son, Wilson is survived by daughters Jeri and Nancy Jo, and four grandchildren.

Comin' out today in Japan: Deodato's "O Som dos Catedráticos," newly remastered

Reissue Produced by Eumir Deodato & Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Remastered @ JSR Studios (Los Angeles, California, USA)
Featuring: Luiz Marinho, Sergio Barroso, Dom Um Romão, Wilson das Neves, Rubens Bassini, Jorge Arena, Neco, Geraldo Vespar, Aurino Ferreira, Alberto Gonçalves, Walter Rosa, Cipó, Edson Maciel, Maurilio Santos, Jorge Arena, Humberto Garin
デオダートの初期三部作である『インプルソ！』『トレメンダォン』『アタッキ』から選曲した傑作集。「サマー・サンバ」「オス・グリーロス」のオリジナル・ヴァージョン収録。マルコス・ヴァーリによる解説付。1964 年～1965 年録音。

Blu-ray Audio of the Month - "John Coltrane: A Love Supreme"

Blu-ray Audio of the Month

John Coltrane: "A Love Supreme" (Impulse!)

Rating: ***** (musical performance & sonic quality)

Universal Music Group has gone back to the original master tapes to deliver fully uncompressed, high-resolution versions of many of the highlights from their jazz catalogue on Blu-ray Audio. Mastered at 24bit/96kHz, Blu-Ray Pure Audio Discs deliver the sound the artists originally heard in the studio when these classic albums were recorded. Recordings are transferred from the original master tapes and delivered in high-resolution 24-bit/96kHz audio. No compression is utilized, and the sound quality is vastly superior to MP3 or standard CD. Features three separate choices of audio file format for playback: PCM 2.0, Dolby True HD, or DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1 available where noted). Your preferred audio format is chosen either by pressing the 'Audio' button on your Blu-Ray remote or via your onscreen menu display.

Blu-ray of the Month - "Wayne Shorter: The Language of the Unknown"

Blu-ray of the Month
Wayne Shorter Quartet: "The Language of the Unknown" (ArtHaus Musik) 2014

Rating: ***** (film & musical performance)

Release Date in Europe: September 9, 2014
Writer & Director: Guido Lukoschek
Producer: Ümit Uludag
Executive Producer: Norbert W. Daldrop
Editor: Helmar Jungmann
Cinematographer: Timm Kröger

Featuring: Wayne Shorter (tenor & soprano saxophones), Danilo Perez (acoustic piano), John Patitucci (acoustic bass) & Brian Blade (drums)
Mix: David Rädler
Concert Mix: Rob Griffin
Liner Notes: Guido Lukoschek & Christian Broeckling
Design & Booklet: Monarda Publishing House

Absolutely stunning! The 1-hour documentary film is "the main attraction." But the "bonus feature", a complete 93-minute concert filmed at Salle Pleyel, in Paris, on November 2012 is equally sublime and important. I've watched this DVD already three times and still can't live without any of their halfs. The official audio language is English, but there are subtitles in French, German and Japanese. It's a copy-protected Blu-ray Disc, with 25GB, 1080i High Definition, PCM Stereo sound, 16:9 Picture Format, and free for all regions.

I've been a Wayne Shorter fan since my childhood, had the honor and blessing to meet him in the mid-70s. Firstly in Los Angeles, later in my native Rio de Janeiro when he and his Portuguese then-wife Ana Maria Shorter went there to start Wayne's album with Elis Regina (that was never completed, unfortunately) as well as for a Weather Report performance (with Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Peter Erskine, Bob Thomas) in August 1980 at the Rio/Monterey Jazz Festival. [Weather Report had performed in Rio for the first time in 1974, with my late friend Dom Um Romão on percussion.] Later, I had the opportunity to attend other WR and Wayne's concerts in Montreux, both as a leader of his own ensemble (with another keybaord genius, Jim Beard) and as a member of an all-star quintet that recreated Miles Davis' quintet with Wallace Roney on trumpet.

Well, now we have this new superb Blu-ray. "The Language of the Unknown" enters to the universe of one of the last living legends of jazz; and its main philosopher. Wayne Shorter's maxim is to reinvent his music in each concert, always with radical originality. After his legendary work with the Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the second great Miles Davis Quintet (with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams) and his years with the Weather Report supergroup that he co-founded with the late Austrian genius Joe Zawinul in 1971, our hero formed the Wayne Shorter Quartet in 2000.

This group provides him with the freedom to reinvent and form his music always again. He sees the celebrated musicians Brian Blade, John Patitucci and Danilo Pérez less as sidemen but rather as equal elements of an organism. They call their method ‘Zero Gravity’, an original state of music which they always re-conjure in the interaction, and which is the basis of their explorative journeys into new musical territory. Lessons of music and life.

“The Language of the Unknown” accompanies the great saxophonist and his band with a concert on November 3, 2012, in the Salle Pleyel in Paris and observes the effect of the music on their creators, who are normally much too busy with creating the new rather than to deal with music already played. Surprising insights into the essence of their music open up, as well as the realization that true Creator-Spirit goes far beyond pure virtuosity. Blade updates Jack DeJohnette's subtleties, Patitucci alters moments of string pulse and great tenderness, and Perez's confirms the impressive evolution from his early days with Dizzy Gillespie to the complete maturity documented on his sublime collaboration with Claus Ogerman on the masterpiece "Across The Crystal Sea"; someting that reached a new plateau of creativity after he started to work with Shorter.

Besides the quartet members, only Wayne's best friend Herbie Hancock and Shorter's Brazilian wife, Carolina Shorter (with whom he married after the tragic death of his first wife Ana Maria Shorter) are interviewed. It's simply fantastic to see Wayne watching his performance on a laptop, reacting to (and commenting) the most significant moments of the concert. He listens carefully to "Lotus," "Prometheus Unbound," "She Moves Through The Fair," "Plaza Real" (on which the lyricism of his playing on the soprano sax reaches a divine dimension), "Starry Night" and "Joy Rider."

The titles of the film chapters reveal the philosophical aspects that Wayne is concerned to: "The lotus flower grows in a swamp," "The realm of potential," "Tragedy of life," "Flying all the time" (that's how he feels the quartet performing and how he felt during the Miles' years), "The unknown" (the most fascinating thing in life), "Jazz needs more color" (something that Miles also used to say), "Let's surprise each other," "You open the door and it's happening" (this chapter could also be titled "The power of surprise!"), and "Zero gravity." The documentary also shows Wayne & Carolina at home chanting the Nam Myōhō Renge Kyo mantra that is the central practice of all forms of Nichiren Buddhism. Haunting.

DVD of the Month - "Charles Lloyd: Arrows Into Infinity"

DVD of the Month
Charles Lloyd: "Arrows Into Infinity" (ECM) 2014

Fusion CD of the Month - "Moraine: Groundswell"

Fusion CD of the Month

Moraine: "Groundswell" (MoonJune) 2014

Produced by Dennis Rea and Steve Fisk.

Executive Producer: Leonardo Pavkovic

Recorded by Steve Fisk @ Sound House (Seattle), November 2013

Mixed by Steve Fisk @ Arundel Gardens (Seattle)

Mastered by Huntley Miller @ HM Mastering (Minneapolis)

Cover Photo: Tristan da Cunha (from space courtesy NASA)

Group Photos: Helaine Burch & Danette Davis

Cover Design: Alexandar Popovic

Liner Notes: Glenn Astarita

Featuring: Alicia DeJoie (electric violin), James DeJoie (baritone saxophone & flute), Kevin Millard (NS stick bass), Dennis Rea (guitar, electronic interventions, Mellotron), Tom Zgonc (drums)

Moraine's most recent metamorphosis highlights their reoccurring theme of unbridled invention -- undeterred by convention and delivered convincingly, with abandon! Brushing all preconception aside, Dennis Rea and company courageously initiate proceedings from a place to which most modern progressive bands can only dream of ascending. 

Featuring a host of engaging new originals as well as pieces written for the band by composers Daniel Barry and Jon Davis, Groundswell is certain to cement the band’s standing as a singular voice like no other in the modern progressive jazz-rock continuum.Building on the momentum generated by their previous releases for MoonJune Records, Moraine draws from the more exotic facets of the avant garde and fusion equations. [Their critically-heralded debut, 2009's manifest deNsity (MJR028), and 2012's spectacular follow-up, Metamorphic Rock: Live at NEARfest (MJR040), are albums which garnered hundreds of glowing reviews worldwide -- earning the band a diverse following, ranging from jazz aficionados, to metalheads, to world-music enthusiasts, and beyond.] 

Moments of "early-Crimsonesque" intensity are often balanced out by a more Eastern approach to melody, arrangement and ensemble delivery; the music is delightfully fresh and unpredictable throughout. Brilliant compositions decorated by powerful themes, sudden shifts, sensitive group dynamics and fiery solo excursions dominate this session, as Moraine reveals a more psychodelic vibe, while remaining collectively and steadfastly plugged into the magic of the moment at hand.Lovers of the best offerings from the RIO, classic fusion, prog rock, avant garde, progressive jazz, free jazz and Eastern music genres will all find plenty to sink their teeth into here -- but that only starts to penetrate the surface of this delectable amalgamation! 

All of the band's components -- leader/guitarist Rea; violinist, Alicia DeJoie; sax/flutist, James DeJoie; bassist Kevin Millard, and; the band's newest addition, seasoned veteran drummer Tom Zgonc -- are in peak form, playing in highly-inspired fashion, on this very special outing. "Groundswell" is one of the most ambitious, far-reaching albums from the progressive genre this year. This is "brave new fusion" ... as it's title might infer, this one is destined to leave a mark.

"The Ladies' Room" @ the Burbank Film Festival

The film ‪"The Ladies' Room‬," featuring my dear friend Holly Meowy, is in the Official Selection of the ‪Burbank International Film Festival‬ & has been nominated for Best Picture in the New Media Category.
Tomorrow night, we want to pack the theater with our friends and industry colleagues, so we hope to see all of you there.
Directed by ‎Mike Makara‬
Produced by ‎Devin Reeve‬ & JenaeAlt‬
Written by ‎Matthew Spradlin‬
Tickets can be purchased here:
http://www.itsmyseat.com//events/366868.html

Instrumental Jazz CD of the Month - "Jason Jackson: Inspiration"

Instrumental Jazz CD of the Month
Jason Jackson: "Inspiration" (Jack & Hill/Planet Arts) 2014

Rating: ***** (musical performance & sonic quality)
Recorded @ Capitol Studio A (Los Angeles, CA; engineered by Hank Cicalo), Clinton Studio A (New York, NY; by Gary Chester), and Jack&Hill Recording Studio (South Orange, NJ; by Jason Jackson)
Mixed @ Sear Sound (New York, NY) by Gary Chester
Mastered @ Arf! Digital (New York, NY) by Alan Silverman

Hip, hip, hip!!! What a classy, lush and sumptuous album! Its natural refinement puts Jason Jackson's "Inspiration" in the same company of such great albums from the late 70s as Dexter Gordon's "Sophisticated Giant" (btw, arranged by Slide Hampton, one of the very special guests on Jason's CD) and Woody Shaw's "Rosewood." The elegant sound of Jackson's trombone is pure velvet, combined with a perfect articulation and a highly creative phrasing of astonishing fluency. My new musical hero now belongs to my list of all-time favorite trombonists, alongside Urbie Green, Frank Rosolino, J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Tommy Dorsey, Slide Hampton, Bill Watrous, Raul de Souza, Jim Pugh and Bill Reichenbach.

In an era of so many sterile jazz albums (I usually receive around 100 jazz CDs per month, and 90% of them sound uninteresting to me, mere exercises in technique, acrobatics and useless ego-trips), "Inspiration" is a true musical oasis. The repertoire and the arrangements (mostly by Jason himself) are simply wonderful, complementing Jackson's flawless statements that are backed by a large all-star cast of sidemen. What a joy to see so many LA legends such as Ray Pizzi (one of Moacir Santos' favorite reedmen), Don Shelton, Gary Foster, Pete Christlieb, Bill Watrous, George Bohanon (an unsung trombone master), Marshall Hawkins and the late Mike Melvoin and John Guerin (the drummer on some of my favorite albums by Michael Franks and Claus Ogerman) playing together in the two tracks that were recorded years ago at the legendary Capitol Studio -- Richard Rodgers' haunting ballad "Spring Is Here," arranged by soundtrack master Eddie Karam, and Jason's own "My Friend Sam" (hot solos by the leader and tenorist Christlieb), a tune that showcases Jason Jackson's ability to make new themes sound like standards at the first listening, like Benny Golson does.

The remaining eight tracks were recorded in NY, with the ensembles including Bill Easley, Ralph Lalama, Gary Smulyan, Ron Tooley, Luis Bonilla, Rufus Reid, Dennis Mackrel, Monte Croft and many others. The title of the opener, "Brazilian Bop," says it all, featuring the leader, Slide Hampton and altoist Dick Oatts in a sambop propelled by percussionist Roger Squitero, who uses congas, a shaker and, lower in the mix, an Afro-Brazilian instrument called agogo. Evan Christopher does the clarinet solo on his own "El Huesero," and trumpeter Roy Hargrove excels in the fantastic (and very challenging) score -- built upon complex latin polyrhythmic structures -- to Vernon Duke's "April in Paris," which also features tenorist Rich Perry, and Squitero dueling with himself on congas & bongos. Another standard, "Tenderly," is pure romance and sophistication, with the leader flying & floating over a forest of woodwinds, strings and vibraphone, while the Spanish-tinged "Salute To Mandela" and the burning "Wake Up Election 2000" are both epic themes featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford. One of the best albums of the year.
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With the release of Inspiration, the second CD to appear under his name and first new one in 13 years, Jason Jackson emerges as a jazz master whose gifts as a composer and arranger match his virtuosity as a trombonist. His inspired combination of horns, strings, and rhythm is quite unlike anything else being recorded these days. The new disc will be released October 14 by Jack & Hill Music (the label venture he operates with his vocalist wife Rosena Hill Jackson) in association with Planet Arts.

Ten years in the making, Inspiration finds Jackson at the helm of full orchestras made up of rhythm, horn, and string sections. As one of the most respected and in-demand trombone players in New York City since settling there 21 years ago, Jackson was able to call on the services of friends and colleagues such as trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Terell Stafford, trombonist Slide Hampton, clarinetist Evan Christopher, saxophonists Pete Christlieb, Dick Oatts, Rich Perry, and Steve Wilson, pianists Roger Jones II and Michael Melvoin, bassist Rufus Reid, drummers John Guerin and Dennis Mackrel, and percussionist Roger Squitero. Of the ten selections on the CD, six of the arrangements were written by Jackson, one by his friend and former teacher Slide Hampton, one by Christopher, and two by the prolific motion picture composer Eddie Karam.

The remarkably varied program on Inspiration opens with the lively samba- and montuno-driven original "Brazilian Bop," which came out of Jackson's travels to Brazil with Ray Charles and the two years he spent in Dominican salsa singer Raulin Rosendo's band. The standards "Spring Is Here" and "Tenderly" showcase Jackson as a supremely lyrical interpreter of ballads in the tradition of such trombone predecessors as Tommy Dorsey and Urbie Green, both of whom he credits as influences, although he cites J. J. Johnson, his onetime instructor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, as his all-time favorite.

Other standouts are the swinging Jackson composition "Wake Up Election 2000" for full orchestra, with solos by Wilson (on alto), Stafford, and the leader; Vernon Duke's "April in Paris," for which Jackson's arrangement combines polyrhythmic swing with an Afro-Cuban feel; and "The Spot," the trombonist's swinging salute to jam sessions. "It's where musicians have sort of a social gathering; otherwise we're working all the time," he says. "It's where we go to play and hone our skills and be inspired by each other's ideas."

Jason Jackson was born on September 11, 1971, in San Bernardino, California, to an Italian-American mother and an African-American father, both of whom were jazz fans. While growing up in nearby Yucaipa, he picked up a trombone that belonged to his uncle and blew into it. "They were so amazed that I got a sound out of it, they gave it to me," he says of his family. He went on to play the instrument in the jazz band at Yucaipa Intermediate School. "I knew within my first year that this was what I wanted to do," he remembers.

In 1989, after graduating from Idyllwild preparatory school, he enrolled at Oberlin in Ohio, where for one semester his instructor was modern jazz trombone pioneer J.J. Johnson. "I couldn't believe I was sitting next to my idol," Jackson recalls. "He was such a force in my life and trombone playing for so many years."

Jackson received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin in 1993 before relocating to New York to study privately with Slide Hampton on an NEA grant and to work on a Master's Degree in Jazz and Commercial Music at the Manhattan School of Music, where his trombone instructors included Steve Turre and Jack Gale.

In addition to the two years he spent touring the world with Ray Charles not long after his arrival, he has been the lead trombonist in the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band for the past decade and also currently plays that part in orchestras led by Roy Hargrove and Charles Tolliver. And on Mondays, his off-nights from playing in the pit bands of such Tony Award-winning Broadway productions as The Color Purple, Wonderful Town, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and presently Motown the Musical, he has been a member for the past 10 years of the Grammy Award-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard. He also teaches part-time at City College of New York, performs about once per month in a group he co-leads with his wife, and even finds time to occasionally sit in at jam sessions.

Jackson recently appeared, last month, at the Jazz Standard, NYC, as lead trombonist and featured soloist with the Ron Carter Big Band, and is touring Japan 10/27-11/2 with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. His own Jason Jackson Orchestra, featuring music from Inspiration, will perform a CD release show at 11/29 at Smalls, NYC. "I needed to go ahead and go for it," Jackson says of his exciting new role as leader.

Web Site: jasonjacksonmusic.com

Box Set CD of the Month - "The Genius of Miles Davis"

Box Set CD of the Month

"The Genius of Miles Davis" (Sony)

43-Disc Collection in a Full-Size Trumpet Case with Replica Mouthpiece, Lithograph, and Tee

Set Contents

Miles Davis & John Coltrane: TheComplete Columbia Recordings (1955-1961)

Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (1957-1968)

Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Miles Davis (1963-1964)

Miles Davis Quintet 1965-’68: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings

The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions (1968-1969)

The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (1969-1970)

The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions (1970)

The Complete On The Corner Sessions (1972-1975)

Individually numbered full-size trumpet case

Replica of Miles Davis's custom-made ‘Gustat’ Heim model 2 trumpet mouthpiece

Previously unseen lithograph by Miles Davis

Exclusive T-shirt

Collecting every piece of music made by jazz pioneer Miles Davis would be a formidable task, but this comprehensive, 43-disc box set is a very good start. Inside a limited edition, individually numbered trumpet case sits eight CD box sets that chronicle Davis's work between 1955 and 1975, the golden era for the kind of smoky bebop Davis did so well. As you explore the wealth of material, you'll find a rare lithograph—a previously unseen piece of fine art by Davis—and a replica of the mouthpiece Davis had custom-made for himself.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Complete Columbia Recordings (1955-1961)

• 6-CD box set
• First released in 2000
• Winner of two Grammy Awards
• John Coltrane on tenor sax
• Red Garland on piano
• Paul Chambers on bass
• Philly Joe Jones on drums
• Contributions by Cannonball Adderley and Wynton Kelly
• Encompasses material for LPs like Kind of Blue and Jazz Track
• Includes 116-page book
• Track list

Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings

• 6-CD box set
• First released in 1996
• Winner of three Grammy Awards
• Spans 1957 to 1968
• Encompasses material for LPs like Porgy and Bess and Miles Ahead
• Includes 198-page book
• Track list

Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Miles Davis (1963-1964)

• 7-CD box set
• First released in 2004
• Herbie Hancock on piano
• Ron Carter on bass
• Tony Williams on drums
• Also features saxophonist George Coleman and Wayne Shorter
• Explores development of Davis's "second great quintet"
• Encompasses material for LPs like My Funny Valentine and Quiet Nights
• Includes 92-page book
• Track list

Miles Davis Quintet 1965-’68: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings

• 6-CD box set
• First released in 1998
• Grammy Award winner
• Features Shorter, Hancock, Carter, and Williams
• Encompasses material for LPs like Miles Smiles and Nefertiti
• Includes 116-page book
• Track list

The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

• 3-CD box set
• First released in 2001
• Covers critical period in Davis's career
• Introduces Chick Corea, Jow Zawinul, and John McLaughlin
• Encompasses material from LPs like Water Babies and In A Silent Way
• Includes 96-page book
• Track list

The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions

• 4-CD box set
• First released in 1998
• Grammy Award winner
• Reprises memorable cover art of Mati Klarwein
• Covers 1969 to 1970, directly after Woodstock
• Introduces influence of Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, and other young musicians
• Dozens of collaborators, including Harvey Brooks and Lenny White
• Includes 148-page book
• Track list

The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions

• 5-CD box set
• First released in 2003
• Grammy Award winner
• Covers sessions recorded in 1970
• Increased presence of John McLaughlin
• Includes 120-page book
• Track list

The Complete On The Corner Sessions

• 6-CD box set
• First released in 2007
• Covers sessions recorded in 1972 through 1975
• Much of the music here was previously unissued up until a few years ago
• Encompasses material on LPs like Big Fun and Get Up With It
• Includes 120-page book
• Track list

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

And Live The Life You Love!

Sheila E. signing her book at B&N in NY

Percussionist extraordinaire Sheila E. will be signing her book, "The Beat Of My Own Drum," this next Tuesday, September 2nd, 6pm @ Barnes & Noble - NY.

Jazz Connect Conference Returns to NY in January!

 The Jazz Connect Conference, organized by JazzTimes and the Jazz Forward Coalition, announced the dates and location for the annual gathering of the jazz community in 2015.  The conference will be held January 8-9, 2015 at Saint Peter's Church in New York City and will lead into the annual APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) Conference as well as Winter Jazzfest.  Now in its third year, the conference will continue to focus on vital issues affecting the jazz community carrying on the format and momentum from the January 2014 event which had over 800 registrants.

Moderators and panelists will again include an impressive cross-section of artists and professionals from around the world.  Early Bird Registration is only $75 until September 30, with additional discounts offered to members of various organizations.

The Jazz Connect Conference is organized by Peter Gordon of the Jazz Forward Coalition and Lee Mergner of JazzTimes, with assistance and input from over a dozen industry professionals.  With a theme of "Strength Through Community" the conference will again bring together a wide cross-section of the jazz community for 12 workshops and 5 plenary sessions, on a variety of timely subjects to engage, stimulate and challenge the registrants.  JazzTimes is the official publication for the event.

The Jazz Connect Conference was one of the pre-conferences tied to APAP, but due to the large number of attendees, the conference moved from its location for the last three years at the Hilton New York to nearby Saint Peter’s Church.  Located at 54th & Lexington, Saint Peter's provides a unique setting for this gathering of the jazz community.  The church has a long history of supporting and affiliating with jazz, going back to 1965 when the Reverend John Gensel created the Jazz Ministry.  The church will be providing the conference with multiple and spacious multi-purpose rooms, including a black box theater, for the workshop and panel sessions.

Panel and workshop topics will be announced soon, but the Conference has left a time slot open for a "Community Choice" panel.  If you have a topic that you think would be interesting to the jazz community, email it to jazzconnectnyc@gmail.com and put “Community Choice" in the subject line.

For more information about the Jazz Connect conference, you can e-mail jazzconnectnyc@gmail.com or go to the conference website.
To pre-register for the conference, go to the event page.  

To reserve a table-top display or to advertise in the Conference program with JazzTimes, contact Miene Smith at 617-706-9092

Box Set of the Month - "Hubert Laws: Crying Song / Afro-Classic / The Rite of Spring"

Box Set of the Month
Hubert Laws: "Crying Song/Afro-Classic/The Rite of Spring" (BGO/CTI) 2014

Original Albums Produced by Creed Taylor
Recorded & Mixed by Rudy Van Gelder
Cover Photos: Pete Turner
Original Albums Design: Bob Ciano

Hubert Laws on CTI Records – a mighty great thing, as you'll hear on these three vintage albums for the label! Laws' first three albums under the visionary production of Creed Taylor, and already featuring that all-star format of sidemen that became one essential point for the CTI success.

"Crying Song," though, is a controversial pop-jazz record, recorded mostly in Memphis with members of Elvis Presley's backing band. Actually, it was supposed to be a Stanley Turrentine session. But he couldn't make it at the last moment, due to contractual problems with his previous label, and Creed invited Laws, who was free from his contract with Atlantic. Anyway, the record sounded very different than Laws' 60s Latin sides for Atlantic, and handled in a pop mode that has his flute drifting over a mixture of organ, piano, electric guitars and rhythms augmented with strings – sometimes easy and jazzy in the same moment. Sometimes only easy listening, like happens on "La Jean," "Love Is Blue/Sing A Rainbow" and The Beatles' "Let It Be."

Other titles include "Listen To The Band", "Cymbaline", "Feelin' Alright" (written by Dave Mason of the English rock band Traffic from their 1968 album, "Traffic" and also covered by Joe Cocker), and The Bee Gees' "I've Gotta Get A Message To You." Three tracks were recorded in NY with different personnel: the title tune "Crying Song" (a psychedelic remake of Roger Water's ballad composed for the third album by the British progressive rock supergroup Pink Floyd), "Cymbaline" (another track from that same Pink Floyd album, "Soundtrack from the Film More," released in 1969), and Laws' own "How Long Will It Be," the only jazz tune on the album, featuring Ron Carter, Grady Tate and George Benson.

"Rite Of Spring," is another story. For many of his fans, Law's masterpiece. It's a groundbreaking record, a mixture of classical themes and jazz, handled with an airy CTI approach – and set to arrangements by Don Sebesky that are simply mindblowing! The album's a wonderful example of the way that CTI really pushed the boundaries of instrumental expression in the 70s – taking Laws wonderfully breathy work on flute, and mixing it with some well-crafted backings that also feature Bob James (Fender Rhodes), Ron Carter (acoustic bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums) and Airto Moreira (percussion) and the secret weapon of the session, Gene Bertoncini on the acoustic guitar.

This larger group is handled by Sebesky, who really brings some magic to the record – a sense of sound, space, and timing that's still a heck of a lot more mature and sophisticated than most instrumental recordings coming out today! Titles include Faure's "Pavane," an a cappella rendition of Debussy's "Syrinx" that sounds sublime, a bop-classical adaptation of Stravinsky's "The Rite Of Spring" built upon Jack DeJohnette's thunderous drums, and the album tour-de-force, the jazzy baroque version of Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No 3." Jazz flute and CTI were never the same after this album!

"Afro-Classic" is another amazing album, following the same concept of "The Rite of Spring," with the same arranger (Sebesky), most of the same musicians (except for Freddie Waits, then a member of Hubert Laws' touring band, replacing DeJohnnette on drums) – and the cornerstone of the CTI sound! The record's an incredibly baroque set of tracks featuring arrangements by Don Sebesky that mix complicated lines on flute with electric piano from Bob James, into a swirling mass of sound that's warm, soulful, and fuzzy. The record's incredibly hip, even on material like Francis Lai's mellow pop ballad "Theme From Love Story", then a monster hit on the Billboard charts.

On James Taylor's "Fire & Rain," that features an hipnotic bass groove, and Bach's "Passacaglia In C Minor", Laws and the group soar away into another plane of being!

Mezzrow Opens Next Week in NYC

Mezzrow, the new jazz piano room in Greenwich Village, opens on September 3rd with Johnny O'Neal.

Mezzrow is a listening room and lounge located at 163 West 10th Street (at the corner of 7th Ave.) in the basement space.  It's an elegant place with an amazing piano and their goal is to feature the best of New York's piano talent in that space. They've already an amazing lineup of great pianists scheduled to come in including Cyrus Chestnut & Dezron Douglas, Rossano Sportiello & Harry Allen, David Hazeltine, Richard Wyands, Aaron Parks, Spike Wilner & Peter Bernstein, Bruce Barth & Peter Washington in September alone.  In the next few months they'll got the likes of Ron Carter and Ethan Iverson, Larry Willis with Buster Williams, David Kikoski, Gerald Clayton, Orrin Evans and many, many more.

Please check out their new website -
www.mezzrow.com
You can see the schedule, and even purchase advanced, guaranteed seats for upcoming shows to insure seats for you and your guests.

Mezzrow is just across the street from Smalls Jazz Club - guests will be able to go back and forth and enjoy both clubs.

MEZZROW - A GREENWICH VILLAGE LISTENING ROOM & LOUNGE
163 WEST 10TH STREET (CORNER OF 7th AVE & 10th ST) - BASEMENT!
NYC, NY 10014

Sheila E. interviewed on OK TV

Tune in to watch OK TV USA's interview with Sheila E. tomorrow!
Check local listings & times:
http://www.oktvusa.com/articles/where-to-watch-477625/where-to-watch-12384209/
In Los Angeles: kcal 9