A LITTLE JAZZ FOR YOUR HOLIDAY STOCKING

First of a series of weekly holiday music posts this season...here are some jazz favorites of mine...Dave Brubeck, Dexter Gordon, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dorough & Miles Davis, Duke Pearson and Vince Guaraldi. What are your favorite holiday jazz tracks?

JAZZ NEWS - TIM BERNE

SAXOPHONIST TIM BERNE'S INTERVIEW IN VILLAGE VOICE

I've had the pleasure of seeing Tim Berne perform live in numerous settings and ensembles since the early 80s and it is always a mind-boggling experience. Testing the listener's pre-conceptions and notions of what music not only is made of but of what kind of physical and emotion sensations one is able to absorb from a musical experience.

Here is a fun and rare interview with the artist which delves into his perspectives on being an independent label owner (Screwgun) and creative musician in today's Internet driven landscape.

55th MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL JUST AROUND THE CORNER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2012 www.montereyjazzfestival.org
Monterey Jazz Festival Enhances Its Services and Offerings for Patrons Including Live Webcast from the Night Club,  Free Wi-Fi on Fairgrounds, Free 55th Festival Apps for iPhone and Android Mobile Phones Festival Increases Greening Efforts in 2012 to Include U.S. Pure Water Stations, Food Waste Collection Program, Free Bicycle Valet Parking Festival Parking Arrangements Courtesy of Monterey Peninsula College and JAZZ Shuttles for Patrons Provided by Monterey-Salinas Transit September 12, 2012; Monterey, CA; Monterey Jazz Festival is proud to announce a number of enhancements to the 55th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, all to benefit the patron experience. Once again, nightly concerts from the Night Club’s Bill Berry Stage will be available through a free live Web stream, brought to a global audience through a partnership between Monterey Jazz Festival and StreamGuys. Nine shows will be available September 21-23, beginning with Friday Night’s Pedrito Martinez Group featuring Ariacne Trujillo; Gregoire Maret Quartet; and Gregory Porter streaming live starting at 8:00 p.m. Saturday’s shows, beginning at 7:30 p.m., include Christian Scott; Tierney Sutton Band; and Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreamers featuring Eyvind Kang and Rudy Royston. Sunday’s Web stream, starting at 7:00 p.m. includes the Hammond B3 Blowout with the John Abercrombie Trio; Larry Goldings Trio; and the Chester Thompson Quartet. All Webcasts are Pacific Standard Time. Visit montereyjazzfestival.org/2012/live for our 2012 live Web stream. Also returning for 2012 will be the free 55th Monterey Jazz Festival App, for iPhone and Android and free Wi-Fi on the Festival grounds, so patrons can use these apps with ease. Each version of the Monterey Jazz Festival App gives patrons the ability to build a customized schedule of events, read artist info and bios, watch the live Webcast, access photo archives, and many more interactive features. The App can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or Google Play by searching for “Monterey Jazz Festival.” The free Wi-Fi is brought to Festival patrons by Meraki and Alvarez Technology Group. Continued efforts to make the Monterey Jazz Festival as green as possible include offering a self-service filtered water station, beverage container recycling, food waste recycling, and bicycle valet.  The self-service filtered water program, in association with U.S. Pure Water, will help to eliminate the need for and the waste of single-use plastic bottles at the Festival.,  All Festival attendees will be provided free access to multiple USPW filtered water stations (using compostable coconut shell carbon) throughout the three-day festival. Patrons are asked to assist in the success of this new program by refilling and reusing drinking containers, leading to a huge reduction in plastic bottle waste from the event. Water bottles will also available for purchase, with the proceeds benefiting the Festival’s life-changing jazz education programs. Ecology Action of Santa Cruz, in partnership with Pacific Grove’s The Offset Project will continue to implement comprehensive beverage container recycling programs and collect the food waste from the vendor areas, to help get closer to zero waste. The Monterey County Fairgrounds received hundreds of blue recycling barrels that are currently used during all venue events, and in 2011, the program transported nearly 3,000 pounds of food waste. Returning to the Monterey Jazz Festival for the fifth year in a row is the free Bicycle Valet Parking for patrons who are able to commute to the Festival from local hotels and residences, provided in partnership between Monterey Jazz Festival, the Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey Green Action, and Green Pedal Couriers. The free Bicycle Valet Service is located at Fairgrounds Gate 3, on the corner of Fairground Road and Garden Road, at the southwest end of the Festival grounds. Monterey Green Action is committed to minimizing the environmental footprint of the city of Monterey, promoting green policies and practices, raising awareness, and spurring community action. General Paid Parking for the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival will be at Monterey Peninsula College, a short distance from the Fairgrounds, located at 980 Fremont Street, Monterey, CA 93940. The Monterey Jazz Festival will charge $10 to cover parking costs. Complimentary Bus Service, provided by Monterey-Salinas Transit, will be available every fifteen minutes throughout the Festival weekend, offering easy and eco-friendly transportation between the parking areas at Monterey Peninsula College and the Monterey County Fairgrounds. The new JAZZ bus line will be unveiled for Festival patrons, which will serve the most heavily travelled route across Monterey beginning fourth quarter of 2012, reducing local travel times by as much as 25%. The JAZZ line will also connect over 30 custom designed shelters that feature displays highlighting the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 55-year history. Complimentary Bus Service to the Festival will begin when the parking areas open at Monterey Peninsula College, beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 21; 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 22; and 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 23. All buses will be wheelchair accessible. We encourage all patrons to visit the Monterey Jazz Festival Web site, montereyjazzfestival.org  to view maps and more information regarding the parking for this year. Tickets for the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival September 21-23 are available by phone at 888.248.6499 through the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Web site, montereyjazzfestival.org, or through walk-up service at the Monterey County Fairgrounds beginning Monday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m. About Monterey Jazz Festival Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates the legacy of jazz and expands the boundaries of and opportunities to experience jazz through the creative production of performances and educational programs. The Festival, now in its 55th year, is the world’s longest continuously-running jazz festival.
### The 55th Monterey Jazz Festival partners include Alaska Airlines, Amoeba Music, Big Sur Land Trust, Carmel Road Winery, DownBeat, Gallien-Krueger, Inns of Monterey, The Jazz Cruise, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jelly Belly, KGO 810, KUSP 88.9, Monterey Peninsula College, North Coast Brewing Company, Remo, San Jose Mercury News, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, StreamGuys, Yamaha Instruments, and Casa Vinicola Zonin. Monterey Jazz Festival also receives support for its Jazz Education Programs from AT&T Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Community Foundation of Monterey County, D’Addario Music Foundation, Joseph Drown Foundation, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Fund, Harden Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Quest Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Rotary International, Upjohn California Fund, Union Bank Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Robert & Audrey Talbott Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, and generous individual contributors. THANKS TO TIM ORR AND MJF FOR PROVIDING THIS PRESS RELEASE...

JAZZ NEWS - RON MILES "QUIVER" w/ FRISELL & BLADE

Trumpet Luminary RON MILES Releases Quiver (Enja/Yellowbird), October 9 Live Recording Featuring Trio with BILL FRISELL and BRIAN BLADE Master trumpeter Ron Miles injects his radiant, lyrical tone directly into the lifeblood of American music on his latest release, Quiver. A compelling, inviting trio date with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Brian Blade, Quiver combines the singing melodicism of American folk musics, the heightened communication of the most progressive jazz forms, and an entrancing, airy openness. The album finds three genre-defying musical masters at their creative best, lacing easy camaraderie with virtuosic interaction. “I conceived it so that there was a lot of space in the music,” Miles told writer and session annotator Chip Stern, “which just makes it a perfect vehicle for Brian and Bill, who are so purposeful in the way they think through a phrase with all of the silences intact and create all of this motion and energy without any wasted gestures or by playing a whole bunch of notes.” Miles is solidly grounded in the jazz tradition yet open to all manner of ethnic, popular and classical sources - let alone down-home American folk. Just try not to be intoxicated by the joyous hoedowns and hosannas of “Just Married,” in which country music and blues share a glorious two-step. Miles’ keen sense of those qualities which elevate the joy and drama of the very earliest jazz recordings enlivens the trio’s forays into roots elements of the music as well as its more modern iterations on Quiver. On “Guest Of Honor,” Miles infuses post-modern nods towards Scott Joplin with personal and political feeling. “Honor is my son’s name,” Miles explains. “I always wanted to do something syncopated in a ragtime manner, and it got me thinking about Scott Joplin and the opera which preceded ‘Treemonisha,’ which was ‘A Guest Of Honor.’ We don’t actually know what the music sounds like, because it was never sent to the copyright office. Apparently ‘A Guest Of Honor’ referenced the story of how Booker T. Washington was invited to the White House by Teddy Roosevelt, with all the controversy that subsequently ensued. And so while we tend to think of Joplin writing upbeat music such as “Maple Leaf Rag,” here he was writing political operas as far back as 1903.” On Miles’ more modernist conceptions, from the jagged hesitations and stutter steps of “Bruise” to the Ornettish exposition of “Rudy Go Round,” the composer’s love of extended forms, asymmetrical abstractions, and dramatic syncopated dances between dissonant and consonant elements rings just as true as his forays into the music’s earliest roots - as do the torchy tenderness and lyric splendor of his balladic interpretations, such as “Days Of Wine And Roses” and “Queen B.” The music on Quiver expands brilliantly on the technical and spiritual foundations this Denver-based, 49-year-old musical trailblazer has crafted for himself since graduating from the Manhattan School of Music in 1986. The album is a logical evolution of Heaven, his deceptively quiescent 2002 duet recital with Frisell. “If we were going to add a third person,” Miles says, “we both agreed it should be Brian more than anyone else because he is one of the most musical drummers on the scene.” In fact, it’s hard to imagine many other drummers approaching this music with both the pianistic elegance and intellectual discretion to lay back and allow the action to come to him - never truncating the conversation with some nervous compulsion to fill every inch of space with excitement. Witness how Blade sets the table for the old-timey jazz feeling of Miles’ brilliant re-working of that Roaring Twenties chestnut “There Ain’t No Sweet Man Worth The Salt of My Tears” with some of the most beautifully inflected mallet phrases this side of Big Sid Catlett and Elvin Jones, even as Frisell gets up on his Charlie Christian soap-box, while Miles seemingly channels the spirit of Lester Bowie in his solo passages. In short, on Quiver Miles brings the history of jazz up to date by neither disregarding its history or by remaining enslaved to it, instead giving an extremely personal account of the divergent branches of the music’s immeasurably rich family tree. “Listening to composers the likes of Scott Joplin, James Reese Europe, Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington on one hand, and improvisers such as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry on the other, is both humbling and inspiring,” Miles concludes. “And as much as anything, after a lifetime’s study, what this music has given me is a sense of the enormity of spirituality; of being American, of being African-American; of how privileged I am to walk that path and how much work I still have to do. There are so many people who’ve inhabited this music: living it, writing it, playing it, listening to it. So you just find a way to be you in it, to find your way in it. That’s what we’re trying to do on Quiver.” Release Date: October 9, 2012 Ron Miles official site www.enjarecords.com Publicity Contact: Matt Merewitz - Fully Altered Media 347-384-2839 matt@fullyaltered.com fullyaltered.com twitter.com/fullyaltered

ZUBATTO SYNDICATE - live!

ZUBATTO SYNDICATE plays SEATTLE - March 10 - Don't Miss This Band!

Check out the link above for more info on this great band's upcoming concert.

Their debut album made my TOP TEN JAZZ CDS of 2011 list...unique, fun and exhilarating music.

JAZZ LOVERS ARE NOT BORN THEY ARE MADE

An age-old adage in jazz is that if only people had more exposure to it they would learn to love it. Like my Mom used to say about broccoli, "How do you know you don't like it if you won't try it?"

I was lucky. My Dad, then a cop, now a painter/sculptor, used to play "Dixieland drums" on the weekends along with his Louis Armstrong, Kenny Ball and Red Nichols records. My folks would take us down to a Quonset hut next to the L.A. river to hear live trad jazz. It was an Elks Lodge or some such meeting house just downstream and across the "river" from the present day Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park where my father has some sculpture in their permanent collection. My brother and I would climb through a hole in the chain link fence, scurry down the slanted cement walls of the "riverbed" and forage for tadpole and anything scavenge-able for 7-10 year olds while our parents and their friends would slide the the first pitcher of beer and sack of pretzels listening to the bands.

Once we'd get bored or wet and filthy, we'd head back to the lodge, belly up to the bar for a Coca-Cola in a bottle and sit down in front of the stage. There would generally be 5-8 musicians up there mostly older than my folks by 10-20 years with the occasional young acolyte, playing standard New Orleans fare. "Bourbon Street Blues", "Bill Bailey", Rampart Street Parade", "Tiger Rag" (I loved that one as a kid), "My Mother's Eyes" and on and on. They were transplanted Southern men, for the most part. Many had come West for gigs working in the TV and movie studios. Occasionally they'd bring in a ringer. Someone in town for a big paying gig who would drop by and jam a few numbers with the locals. "The Southern California Hot Jazz Society" was what, I believe, this group of fans and players called themselves. I don't know if they are still in existence.

My mom also loved music. She'd play records by vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, John Gary as well as the occasional Swing record and show tunes. She also adored taking us to Children's Symphony concerts at the Pasadena Civic where we were exposed to orchestral music. 

So I was lucky, the exposure to music and especially improvised music really set me up for those first jazz records I'd buy on my own at the used LP stores in San Diego while attending college. The first one I really recall twisting my head around was Miles Davis' "Round Midnight" LP featuring John Coltrane. Once in college, with a little expendable cash, I haunted the used record stores and sucked up lots of jazz. I was a huge fan of anything Miles, Monk or Mingus did and LOVED the Brazilian sounds o Flora Purim, Airto, Milton Nascimento, Hermeto Pascoal. I was involved in booking concerts on campus and helped bring a lot of great jazz acts to the school including Sonny Rollins, Weather Report, Art Blakey, The L.A. Four,  Hubert Laws, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison, Pat Martino, McCoy Tyner (with John Blake), Leonard Feather, Jean-Luc Ponty, Cobham-Duke Band (with John Scofield & Alphonso Johnson, Elvin Jones, Chuck Mangione, Ron Carter, Tom Waits, Gary Burton, Jan Hammer Group, Noel Pointer, Yusef Lateef, John Klemmer, Oregon, Flora & Airto, Manhattan Transfer, Old & New Dreams (Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry & Dewey Redman, and Hiroshima, Stanley Clarke, The Crusaders, among them.

These were just the jazz bands we had on campus. I was hooked, I took Jazz Appreciation classes with Dr. Eddie Meadows, and also hit tons of shows around town by any jazz artists I could find. Places like The Catamaran Hotel in Mission Beach and for a short while Elario's penthouse restaurant in La Jolla were hot spots for national jazz acts. You could go to the Civic Theater downtown and see people like the Milestones Jazz Stars (Rollins/Tyner/Carter/Al Foster) or VSOP (Hancock/Shorter/Carter/Tony Williams/Hubbard) but the number of dedicated jazz venues were fw and far between other than on the college campuses. These days with the establishment of the beautiful downtown cultural area, the town's jazz offerings are more frequent.

My tehn soon-to-be father-in-law also needed someone to attend swing concerts with since his wife and daughters were less likely to go with him while he fed his obsession. Through his tutelage I was lucky to see and in some cases meet many of the great band leaders, singers and players from the golden years of the Big Bands such as Count Basie, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, Les Brown, Maynard Ferguson, Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Williams, Marshall Royal, Snooky Young, as well as "ghost" bands like Glenn Miller Orchestra, and the bands of Woody Herman and Artie Shaw. I was just old enough to still catch many of the jazz greats who are no longer with us like Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Alice Coltrane, Hank Jones, Colin Walcott, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Willie Bobo, Jaki Byard, Dannie Richmond, Don Pullen, Joe Farrell, Jaco Pastorius, Joe Zawinul, Tony Williams, Bud Shank, Shelley Manne, Laurindo Almeida, Milt Jackson, Connie Kay, Gerry Niewood, Esther Phillips, T. Lavitz, Tito Puente, Kenny Kirkland, and on it goes.

Once out of school, I couldn't stay out of the music business. I built a log house, worked in the burgeoning video business but never seemed far from a conversation about music and especially jazz. When I made the switch and moved from California to the East Coast in the early 1980s I could only take 100 of my 1200 LPs with me. 30 of them were Miles Davis records. I was in deep, a die hard collector since my first Beatles 45 in 1964. Within a decade, I was pushing 10,000 LPs and the CD thang was just beginning.

The live music scene in Philadelphia was especially strong and had great opportunities for jazz. At clubs like the original Zanzibar Blue and The Ripley Music Hall (both now gone) where you could catch national talent as well as accomplished local heavyweights. Larger crossover and fusion guys played the Chestnut Cabaret (defunct) or the T.L.A. and occasionally a BIG act like Pat Metheny would play the legendary Tower Theater in Upper Darby. Later on the Keswick Theater in Glenside became the go-to spot for fusion, contemporary and groups too popular for the smaller clubs like from straight-ahead legends like Marian McPartland to the chameleon-esque Chick Corea performed there. Philly may get short shrift in the press since many of the great, homegrown talents have made a tradition of leaving for the more fertile jazz climes in NYC just up I-95 but this proximity also allows for artists of note stopping in town more frequently than to cities a greater distance from the jazz center of the universe. Locally you could catch the Sun Ra Arkestra a couple times a year or the masterful saxist Odean Pope regularly at places like the Painted Bride Arts Center. The great Pat Martino still gives lessons from his family home in South Philly when not on the road as one of the predominant guitarists of his generation. For a few years the Afro-American Museum or the Clef Club was a hot spot for shows by the likes of Benny Carter, David Murray, Max Roach, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and many others, the latter still promtes jazz through concerts, education and community outreach.  The Philadelphia Art Museum still has a long-running weekly series Art After 5 on Friday nights. !st Fridays feature international music and all other Fridays feature jazz, drink & food and of course, their world-class art exhibits. Art After 5 has featured everyone from Greg Osby, Jason Moran, Brad Mehldau, Trudy Pitts, Bill Charlap, Trio 3, and hundreds of others. The Academy of Music hosted big names and the KOOL Jazz Festival played multiple venues in town including dates at the large outdoor Mann Music Center where you might see Miles, Dizzy, Blakey, Ella, Herbie, Oscar Peterson, The Heath Brothers etc. over the course of a two-day festival. Nowadays Philly boasts the Kimmel Center, one of the nation's finest performing arts venues for it's most prestigious jazz shows and right around the corner.  Ars Nova Workshop continues to put on dozens of concerts a year featuring the hippest avant-garde musicians and ensembles from around the country and the world, many shows free of charge in unique and varied setting from college classrooms, off the beaten track city parks to venerable old historic buildings. By far one of the premier left-of-center jazz series presented continually in the country. Philly's vibrant jazz history continues to evolve and there is always some new venue or neighborhood embracing the music.

I was also very blessed to have always lived in towns where there was a strong and dedicated jazz radio station or two. In L.A. it was KLON back in the day, now KJaZZ has taken up the standard. KSDS in San Diego was an incredibly vibrant station back in the late 70s and long a major contributor to the popularity of the music in the region. In Philly, WRTI, even when going from 24/7 jazz to jazz all-night and classical all-day, still holds onto some of the hippest programming around with the old school knowledge and good taste of DJs like Philly's own Bob Perkins and the ever challenging, hip and wide-open playlists of J. Michael Harrison's late-night show, "The Bridge" on Fridays which stretches the boundaries of improvised music with great interviews, a dash of poetry and genre-bridging choices.
 
So through the 10 years of owning a jazz-centric record store, booking shows by national jazz acts and later as a publicist for over a decade and a half for some of the greatest jazz legends and legends-to-be, collecting nearly 30,000 pieces of recorded music and memorabilia and enjoying a legion of mind-blowing performances, I have been and always will be indebted to those first Sundays when my folks would take us to the river and anoint us with the jazz spirit.  

As a long-time publicist for the lamentably dissolved IAJE's annual jazz conference, I witnessed first hand each January, 1000s of jazz fans, musicians, educators, students and industry professionals coming together to share their enthusiasm and love for the music. Every year formal panels and informal discussions proliferated asking the same question, "How do we get more people to love jazz?" And often, through all of the hypothetical business models, prospective educational  solutions and harsh economic realities, the answer always seems to hinge delicately on the idea that one must "play it and they will come."

Nearly every time you go into a Starbucks or half of the fine restaurants in the world. You will hear jazz playing in the background at some point during your stay. In a huge portion of the movies in theaters, jazz or jazz influenced music is part of the soundtrack. Commercials constantly pick hip vintage jazz tunes to help them sell their products.

Maybe we just need to get more music out of the pricey concert halls, dwindling clubs and back out on the streets, into the public's ears where it is unavoidable. More free concerts in town squares, more festivals and yes, more jazz for cows.

 The most entranced jazz crowd ever.

LET'S NOT FORGET CORNELL DUPREE & JOE MORELLO

Better late than never...I wanted to be sure to not miss talking a bit about two of the music world's great musicians who passed away earlier this year.

Within two months of each other this past Spring, the music world lost two masterful musical treasures. JOE MORELLO, the innovative jazz drummer passed on March 11th and one of the major unsung heroes of the electric guitar, the great CORNELL DUPREE died on May 8th. Dupree was 68 years old and Morello, 82.

Having recorded on more that 2500 recording sessions, the word among musicians and fans alike was that Dupree always made everyone he played with sound better. His round tone and biting attack somehow complimented each other while his speed, tasteful choices and stylistic diversity made him an in-demand session man and band member.

If you have been collecting music for more than the past 5-10 years you will undoubtedly have numerous records in your stash featuring the smoldering licks of the always slick and tasty Mr. Dupree. Just a small illustration of the breadth and influence of this largely unheralded master, check out this very minor sampling of his session work. He has recorded with:

- King Curtis:

"Memphis Soul Stew"

- Esther Phillips

- Rahsaan Roland Kirk

- Wilson Pickett

- Freddy King

- Gabor Szabo

- Lulu

- Aretha Frankin

- Laura Nyro

- Les McCann

- David 'Fathead' Newman

- Carmen McRae

- Eddie Harris

- Leon Thomas

- Herbie Mann

- Grover Washington, Jr.

- Archie Shepp

- B.B. King

- Donny Hathaway

- Rufus Thomas

- Eddie Palmieri

- Stanley Turrentine

- Bette Midler

- Sonny Stitt

- Duane Allman

- Guess Who

- James Brown

- Lou Donaldson

- Billy Cobham

- Ashford & Simpson

- Jackie DeShannon

- Maggie Bell

- Buddy Rich

- Big Mama Thornton

- Hank Crawford

- Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson

- Michel Legrand

- Ian Hunter

- Ringo Starr

- Elvin Jones

- Etta James

- Gladys Knight

- The Average White Band

- Carly Simon

- Chaka Khan

- John Mayall

- The Crusaders

- Sam Cooke

- Michael Franks

- Lou Rawls

- Lightnin' Hopkins

- Lena Horne

- Andy Gibb (yes, Andy Gibb)

- Mariah Carey

- Delbert McClinton

- David Sanborn

- LaVern baker

- Dakota Staton

- Jackie Wilson

- Yusef Lateef

- Grant Green

- Duke Ellington

- Ray Charles

- Peter Wolf

- Jack McDuff

- Dusty Springfield

- Sam Moore

- Quincy Jones

- Brook Benton

- David Ruffin

- Miles Davis

- The Gadd Gang:

"Watchin' The River Flow":

More Gadd Gang "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" (not Stuff as it claims)

Many of you folks of my generation know him from his work on Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon or his work from the mid-70s with Joe Cocker. Dupree appeared on these records with his bandmates in STUFF, who released five records for Warner Brothers during the same period. This particularly prolific period for Dupree also found him recording and releasing his first records as a leader.

Cocker was a wreck on this tour but Stuff was the tightest, most inspired band he'd ever front. Here's an audio track from the tour. Listen to guitarists Dupree and Eric Gale wail!

During his recording career, his guitar playing on his own records was as diverse and genre busting as his work as a sideman. Always with a round tone and smooth, tasteful choice of notes, both his rhythm and lead playing were funky and soulful whether playing rhythmic soul numbers of more expansive jazz melodies. His late 80s/90s output was decidedly more jazzy with 1992's live UNCLE FUNKY and 1994's BOP N BLUES being among my favorites. COAST TO COAST WAS NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY IN 1988.

"Sunny":

I recently spotted Dupree near the end of the wonderful documentary on reclusive singer Bill Withers. Withers has disappeared from the recording and live performance scene for many years and near the end of this illuminating film, we see Withers re-inspired and joining Dupree for an impromptu live version of the singer's own "Grandma's Hands". A stirring and soulful moment.

There is a ton of Dupree video on YouTube. Check out any of it...

The tasteful sounds of Cornell Dupree live on in our music collections.

##

If the only session he ever cut was Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", Joe Morello's place in musical history would be assured. The fact is that he was a vital force in the Dave Brubeck Quartet during the years when they were not only the most popular jazz band in the world but a band who brought jazz back onto the pop charts and influenced a nation of college kids and jazz fans with their popularization of non-traditional time signatures, their melodic compositions and impeccable group interplay. In the rhythm section alongside bassist Eugene Wright, Morello redefined jazz drumming for a generation of music students. 

He was child violin prodigy playing with the Boston Symphony at age 6 but by the time he turned 15 he had decided that the drums were his musical calling. He studied and played around Springfield, MA before heading out on the road with Grand Old Opry star, guitarist Hank Garland. In short order he found himself drawn to NYC where he begins getting gigs with the likes of Sal Salvador, Stan Kenton Big Band, Tal Farlow, Gil Melle, Jimmy Raney and really  began to make a name for himself with pianist Marian McPartland's Hickory House Trio (with bassist Bill Crow) in New York in the early 50s. He passed on stints with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey to take a two-month tour with Dave Brubeck that would up lasting over 12 years.

When Brubeck disbanded the Quartet in 1968, Morello dove head first in academics given private lessons, clinics, lectures, etc. As a drum teacher he is raved about by all of his former students. He has mentored many young drummers through private lessons and instructional videos.

Delaware based drummer for the band Kombu Combo, John DiGiovanni remembers Joe:

"I took some lessons with Joe at Glenn Weber's Drum Shop in West Orange, where he'd been teaching for years. I don't know if he was completely blind at this point, but he didn't need to see well to know what I was doing! He was older at this point but he still had those blazingly fast hand chops. I was working through his Master Studies book at the time, putting 2 to 4 hours a day into it. Joe kept directing me to his teacher George Stone's book, Stick Control, which he basically took and made 10 times more challenging. The Master Studies book is arguably the best book for getting your hands together. Very unassuming and humble guy he was, and I wish I could have had more time with him. 

"Joe was one of the very best, one of the few drummers who could give Buddy Rich a run for his money, chops- wise, plus he had all of that sensitivity and great timing. After all, he played on the most famous jazz recording of all time!"

He eventually formed his own bands and played almost exclusively around the NYC area finding time over the years to record on over 120 records (including 60 with Brubeck).

Here are some examples of the late, great Joe Morello in action.

 

 Sounds of the Loop:

Take FIve in 1995 on Conan O'Brien

Heard here with Marian McPartland and Bill Crow in 1955:

and an hour long Drum Method video from Joe for all you drummers out there...don't say I never did anything for ya!

CD REVIEW: Bonebridge / Erik Friedlander

The cello has never been known as a real genre-busting instrument in general music circles. In fact, other than the occasional solo in E.L.O. (which was more of a contrived concept than even a break-through) or the trendy style-hopping of the still decidedly classically entrenched Yo-Yo Ma, or the edgier leanings of the KRONOS QUARTET, there have been very few cellists who have spent their careers hopping from idea to idea, style to style. Avant-jazz/rocker, the late Tom Cora seems the only real model. Sure there have been cello-sightings through out the jazz world for years, Mingus but generally they were either instances of the instrument used in a basically jazz formula or as colorization or thematic foils as in some of the Third Stream music of the late fifties/early sixties.

Cellist Friedlander has been part of the NYC underground scene for years while not remaining true to any die-hard stylistic tendencies other than that of change. While he has been heard in avant-garde, chamber, Easter European, rock, and free jazz ensembles over the years making his rep playing sessions and/or gigs with John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Myra Melford and Marty Ehrlich.

What Erik Friedlander has done with his latest recording, Bonebridge (also the name of the ensemble) has been to simplify the melodies, clean up the harmonies and dissonance into a more rural sound where bluegrass, Appalachia, and Delta immediacy, converge with swinging rhythm and jazz improvisation. It is, in essence a strings album with cello, the upright bass of Trevor Dunn and the slide guitar of Doug Wamble joined by drummer Mike Sarin’s delicate drive. Wamble’s Southern sensibility as a jazz player known for his affinity for rootsy blues and seminal country textures is a perfect foil for Friedlander’s vision. Sarin and Dunn’s simpatico playing comes from their time as 2/3 of the cellist’s Broken Arm Trio.

Bonebridge is an incredibly listenable album which transcends the jazz categorization in which Friedlander has most frequently been pigeonholed. The music’s melodies are, for the most part, tinged with a rootsy Americana vibe but less stylized then Bill Frisell’s best-known excursions of similar textural reference. My initial thought on first listen was that this music hung on the “New Acoustic” shingle from which sprang Bela Fleck, Mark O’Connor and Viktor Krauss. That genre’s more overt bluegrass and Gypsy stylings are hinted at but the compositions here are emboldened by a concrete jazz sensibility in the way the musicians react to one another. Not overtly swing driven like Grisman or classically emboldened or slickly countrified like some of the more ambitious music of the genre, but taking the music into a more simple and rootsy space balanced by some very melodic choices out of the bluesy Southern rock vibe at times. Coupled with occasional outside elements from the underground jazz school and virtuosic playing from all involved, Bonebridge creates a roots-based primitive feel intrinsic to much of the great music of the aforementioned genres. Catchy, tasteful, communicative yet still challenging enough in the sheer instrumental prowess and succinct point of view. Loved it.

Here is Friedlander in other contexts...

above: Masada String Trio: Erik Friedlander: cello, Greg Cohen: bass, Mark Feldman: violin

above: Bar Kokhba - live in Marciac 2007 // Marc Ribot - guitar / Mark Feldman - violin / Erik Friedlander - cello / Greg Cohen - bass / Cyro Baptista - percussion / Joey Baron - drums / John Zorn - conductor

www.erikfriedlander.com

TODAY’S LISTENING PLEASURES (#2)

Whenever I get to either coast, I generally spend some time catching up on the stack of CDs awaiting me in my overflowing mail bin or rediscovering some things I may have yearned for while “stationed” on the other shore. Here’s what I’ve been listening to this week.

Ratings system for music is as such:
***** Don’t miss this one. A keeper.
**** One of the better records I’ve heard lately. Well worth the price.
*** If this artist is on your radar, you won’t be disappointed but probably not my favorite thing they’ve done.
** If you are a fan, take a chance. An average record for my taste. Find it on sale if you can’t resist. Who knows I could just be in a bad mood. I’ll always listen again to a ** CD, just to be sure,
* I made it all the way through once. Unlikely I’ll listen a 2nd time.
No stars Sing in the shower, you’re better off.




CHICO HAMILTON – TWELVE TONES OF LOVE – Joyous Shout (2009)
***1/2
This recent release is a wonderful testament to the history and musically diverse jazz sounds of bandleader/drummer/composer Hamilton who continues to put out exhilarating music on his own Joyous Shout imprint at 88 years of age. Like his old friend and musical compatriot, Gerald Wilson, Hamilton is an NEA Jazz Master and continues to make vibrant artistic statements when most of his peers are long since gone. A tribute to his late wife and to many of the musical friends and cohorts he has known throughout his illustrious career (including the tune “Steinway” written in honor of Wilson) Twelve Tones Of Love finds Hamilton writing for septet with a couple of ringers thrown into the mix. Trombonist George Bohanon, alto saxist Jack Kelso and vocalist Jose James make stellar appearances. The only two tunes that don’t move me are the two back-to-back electric bass features, “First Light” and “Raoul” which, to these ears interrupt the flow of the record’s wonderful atmosphere.


ONE FOR ALL – RETURN OF THE LINEUP – Sharp Nine Records (2009)
***1/2
The New York-based cooperative jazz group is made up of solid leader/arranger/improvisers across the board hence the name producer Marc Edelman gave their previous outing, The Lineup. In the liners he explains the impetus for the name was that they “are all heavy hitters”. And this, as with most of their previous output, is a strong top-to-bottom hard bop session. Wonderful playing around every turn from all involved, especially by the always-formidable tenor player, Eric Alexander. Rotundi’s solo turn on the second track is flowing and concise and followed by Eric’s warmed toned and crystalline solo. Pianist David Hazeltine and drummer Joe Farnsworth comping lively behind him, finds John Webber on bass as the solid pulse holding things tight. For my money Farnsworth is the lynchpin on this record. He does nothing but swing and especially on the up-tempo tracks he and Hazeltine seem to think and move as one. Art Blakey alumnus trombonist Steve Davis has long been one of the premier bop players on his instrument.
A first call guy, tremendous arranger and what led me to this band in the first place. They are a fantastic band live. FYI – the incredible Peter Washington was long the main bassist in the band but whether Washington, Webber, or Ray Drummond onboard this band is all about solid swing, tight ensemble playing and writing and inspired soloing in service of the group’s dynamic arrangements. Favorites here are Eric’s arrangement based on Coltrane’s take on the Gershwin tune, “But Not For Me”, Eric’s own “Road to Marostica” which features his most burnin’ outing on the disc and the final cut, Hazeltine’s quick-paced walker, “Blues for JW”. If you like your bop with a major does of swinging propulsions try The Return of the Lineup.

THE FULL DISCLOSURE SECTION:

CDs by CURRENT & RECENT ROLLING THUNDER PR CLIENTS ~ , FORMER CLIENTS THRU DL MEDIA ~~ , MUSIC BY FRIENDS^, AND MUSIC FEATURING ME^^ (in musician, production or songwriting capacities) …

As a publicist for my own firm, ROLLING THUNDER PR, I am pleased to be working some spectacular releases. In my CD player are always some of my current and recent clients as well as music I have been fortunate to be affiliated with as a publicist for DL MEDIA since 1987. Thus I will refrain from reviewing or rating those releases but will include either press quotes or synopsized blurbs from press releases to give you a glimpse of my musical surroundings as well as places to find out more information.

~ANDRE MATOS – QUARE – Inner Circle Music (2010)
With influences ranging from Trane to Lightnin’ Hopkins, Schoenberg to Nirvana, Jim Hall to Derek Bailey guitarist Andre Matos has embraced the New York improvised music scene since his arrival from his native Portugal. His latest release on Greg Osby’s Inner Circle Music label is a fascinating and open-minded step forward for the fearless young artist. Willing to embrace the sonic possibilities of his young ensemble and incorporate electronics, modern avant-garde elements while remaining rooted in the atmospheric daring of his generation’s predecessors makes for one of the year’s most interesting guitar records.
“There is no doubt that Matos has chops to burn. I would place him firmly in the tradition of a John Abercrombie/Pat Martino, a bit of Sonny Sharrock at moments, definitely a lot of Berkelee influence…” – AllAboutJazz
Learn more about Andre Matos...

~FRED HO & THE GREEN MONSTER BIG BAND – CELESTIAL GREEN MONSTER – Mutable/Big Red Music (2010)
One of the true modern Renaissance men, Fred Ho is a consummate baritone saxophonist, bandleader and composer of operas, multi-media pieces and music for his many different ensembles. He is also an accomplished author, essayist, political activist, clothing designer and outspoken cancer survivor. His latest group FRED HO & THE GREEN MONSTER BIG BAND shines on their debut recording. CELESTIAL GREEN MONSTER features arrangements of music from American pop cultural treats such as the “Theme from Spiderman” to Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” as well as original compositions that push and challenge the amazing improvisational talents of this incredible band. Where Mingus meets the avant-garde on the Green Hornet’s turf.
For more on Fred Ho...

~JD SOUTHER – RAIN: LIVE AT THE BELCOURT THEATRE – Slow Curve Records (2009)
Featuring members of the band from his comeback CD including Flecktones saxist Jeff Coffin, Nashville trumpet man Rod McGaha and New Orleans pianist Chris Walters among them, JD and his crack ensemble lay fresh spins on tunes from IF THE WORLD WAS YOU as well as a couple of his greatest hits, including “A NEW KID IN TOWN” and “SILVER BLUE”. The six song EP is not only Souther’s first official live document but his first digital-only release (available at Amazon, iTUNES and all the usual download spots…look for the exclusive iTUNES download of JDs Top Ten hit, “You’re Only Lonely). Recorded at the historic Belcourt Theatre in Nashville.
For more on JD Souther...

~JD SOUTHER – IF THE WORLD WAS YOU – Slow Curve Records (2008)
Souther’s comeback record after 25 years out of the limelight. He’s written some great tunes influenced by a trip to Cuba ten years ago and pulled together a band of jazz ringers to suffuse his always pretty and slippery melodies with some Latin touches and a looseness born of playing with the band live in the studio. As a former jazz drummer/saxist, JD knows from whence he draws.

~LAUREN SEVIAN – BLUEPRINT – Inner Circle Music (2009)
~JACOB YOFFEE – DEAD RECKONING – Inner Circle Music (2008)
Two wonderful yet very different young saxophonists on Greg Osby’s Inner Circle Music label. I keep coming back to these CDs. Yoffee is a protégé of Gary Thomas, out of Baltimore by way of Pittsburgh. Sevian gained some important NYC cred as one of the rotating bari players in the Mingus Big Band, sharing that chair with major players such as Ronnie Cuber and Gary Smulyan. Well-conceived, smart recordings filled with impeccable players and invigorating charts. Keep an ear open for these two fresh jazz talents.
Learn more about Lauren Sevian and Jacob Yoffee

~~HUGH MASEKELA – PHOLA – Time Square Records (2009)
Masekela returns to his South African roots while embracing the modern technological sounds of his more recent offerings. The wide-open spaces in this music, it’s political observations and warm, good time sound all combine to make one of his most enjoyable and heartfelt records in many years. I love the bed of South African rhythm and guitar sounds throughout.
For more on Hugh Masekela...

~~PAT METHENY/GARY BURTON – Quartet Live! – Concord Jazz (2009)
This highly anticipated “reunion” tour of the band that launched Pat Metheny to national prominence as a teenager in his late 70s stint in Burton’s quartet, is as expected, brilliantly played. The joy of their playing together after all these years is palpable. Though the force of Metheny’s stardom and musical persona have only clarified and been accentuated over the ensuing years. Pat has now usurped some of his former boss’s luster. But you can’t tell on this recording. Burton was indeed the mentor and guiding light of the early band, but the current tour provided some of the most invigorating playing from the vibraphonist in years and Steve Swallow is a great foil for the front men as well, his thick electric tone perfectly intersecting with the ensemble. Antonio Sanchez, who has played with the guitarist since 2002 in both the Pat Metheny Group and the Pat Metheny Trio with Christian McBride, seems right at home filling original quartet drummers, Bob Moses or Danny Gottlieb’s shoes.
For more on Metheny/Burton Quartet Live!


^BEAR BONES – LIVE AT THE PUB, BIG BEAR LAKE, CA – EJN Music (2008)
Bear Bones is a local Big Bear Lake acoustic band led by guitarist/vocalist Rich Spaulding. I have known and played with Rich is various grouping on the mountain over that past four years or so. A fellow Deadhead, Rich’s love for old-time roots music, folk, bluegrass and blues is what is central Bear Bones repertoire. Roy Coulter on mandolin, vocals and occasional guitar is deeply rooted in the Great 60s Folk Scare bringing a batch of tunes into the band from that period and beyond. Bassist Eric Nutter is the documentarian for the band as well. Also on this CD is Bongo Billy Soares who keeps to the fringes in more ways than one. This homemade release helps me hear what they are striving for so that when I hit town I know what they’ve been up to. They play songs here like the Irish fiddle tune “Whiskey Before Breakfast” (sans fiddle), Norman Blake’s “Slow Train Through Georgia”, Tom Russell’s “Blue Wing”, Jimmy Reed’s “You Lied, You Cheated” and traditional keepers such as “Hand Me Down My Walkin’ Cane”, “I Never Will Marry” and “Stewball” among them. I enjoy playing with these guys every chance I can because the sets consist of so much music I don‘t get to play in any other configuration. For Bear Bones, it’s all about the tunes.
For more on Bear Bones and Rich Spaulding...


^^CHRIS HAZEWSKI – “TIME TO DANCE (FREE AT LAST)” – MPEG-4 video songwriting demo –
My good buddy, Zeus, original guitarist for my fave East Coast band the Mad-Sweet Pangs is following in my footsteps and now calling the beaches of San Diego his home. We had a great time reuniting in DE for the holidays this past December and I sent him a couple sets of lyrics to put some music to. Low and behold here is the first fruits of our efforts. A grand start, I do believe. Thanks for sending the video, Zeus. Can’t wait to get this tune into the studio and see what becomes of it. Zeus also sent it to the Pangs to peruse so I’m crossing my fingers that they will dig it and splash it around their sets. It’s a tune all about starting over and reinventing oneself, sort of the follow-up to my song, “Why Waste Time” which led off the PORCH CHOPS’ Lifeboat CD. I was one of those people who rarely if ever danced but at 48 years old my friend Katy Morris enticed me onto the dance floor at Christian and Ellen’s wedding and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. How else will a shut in like me get any exercise?
“TIME TO DANCE (FREE AT LAST)” © 2010 Brad Riesau & Chris Hazewski / v32unes