Bright Moments

RJA Missive

2011-12-26T18:12:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

Here's hoping your holidays have been full of good food, good
fellowship…and good music.

If Santa didn’t drop enough jazz into your stocking, you might want to
check out some of our favorite CDs of 2011. Bob Doran published an
abbreviated version of our list in last week's North Coast Journal,
but you can find the full list--with links to the record labels'
online stores (and to many other people's year-end picks)--at

http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/picks11.html

And speaking of year’s end: if you're lucky enough to finish 2011
with a little extra money, and magnanimous enough to give some of it
away, then we hope you’ll consider including the Redwood Jazz Alliance
in your year-end plans. Ticket sales pay slightly more than one-third
of our program costs, so we count on the generosity of the community
to make up the difference. And since we’re a 501(c)(3) charity, your
donation to the RJA is tax-deductible. You can mail a check to P.O.
Box 4443, Arcata CA 95518 or give online at

http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm

More than anything else, though, we hope you'll support the music by
coming out to hear it. "These days," said Sonny Rollins in October,
accepting his Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievement in
performing arts, "we need anything to make America a greater place,
and jazz does that."

Our season resumes March 1 with drummer Harris Eisenstadt and his
group Canada Day.

http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/2011-12.html#nextshow

Until then, may your 2012 be filled with Bright Moments.

---The RJA

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redwood-Jazz-Alliance/166532702513

Loralei's Picks

2011-12-24T16:01:00.001-08:00

Top 10 2011 – Loralei Saylor

1. Steven Lugerner, “Narratives,” self-released

2. Verneri Pohjola, “Aurora,”

3. Chris Dingman, “Waking Dreams,” self-released

4. Rene Marie, “Black Lace Freudian Slip,” Motema

5. Adam Cruz, “Milestone,” Sunnyside

6. Vijay Iyer with Prassana & Nitin Mitta, “Tirtha,” ACT

7. Jason Parker Quartet, “Five Leaves Left: A Tribute to the Music of Nick Drake,” Broken Time

8. David Binney, “Graylen Epicenter,” Mythology

9. Ambrose Akinmusire, “When the Heart Emerges Glistening,” Blue Note

10. Ben Allison, “Action-Refraction,” Palmetto

Happy holidays to all!

Bright Moments Playlist for Tonight's Show

2011-12-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

Bright Moments with the Redwood Jazz Alliance (Music) with Michael Eldridge
2011-12-23 20:00:00 to 22:00:00

20:01:30-20:05:57 (4:27) Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" composed by John Lennon from "Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O" (CD, Other, 2010, added 2010-12-23) on Palmetto

20:05:57-20:08:59 (3:02) John Zorn "Bikkurim" composed by John Zorn from "Masada Guitars" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2003) on Tzadik

20:08:59-20:13:14 (4:15) Don Byron "Oi Tata" composed by Traditional from "Festival of Light" (CD, Other, 1996) on Six Degrees

20:13:14-20:18:40 (5:26) Frank London Big Band "Oh Hannukah Groove" composed by Trad., arr. London from "Festival of Light, Vol. 2" (CD, Other, 1999) on Six Degrees

20:21:30-20:24:17 (2:47) Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" from "Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O" (CD, Other, 2010, added 2010-12-23) on Palmetto

20:24:17-20:34:21 (10:04) Aardvark Jazz Orchestra "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella" from "Bethlehem Counterpoint" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2003) on Aardmuse

20:34:21-20:38:29 (4:08) Eric Reed "Little Drummer Boy" from "Merry Magic" (CD, Other, 2003) on MaxJazz

20:41:12-20:46:04 (4:52) Carla Bley "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" from "Carla's Christmas Carols" (CD, Jazz, 2009, added 2009-12-23) on ECM

20:46:04-20:51:50 (5:46) Steve Rudolph Trio "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" from "Christmas with the Steve Rudolph Trio" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2000) on R&L

20:51:50-20:56:10 (4:20) Geri Allen "Angels We Have Heard On High" from "A Child Is Born" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2011) on Motema

20:56:10-21:00:56 (4:46) Rahsaan Roland Kirk "We Free Kings" composed by Trad., arr. Kirk from "We Free Kings" (CD, Private, 1961) on Mercury

21:02:35-21:08:01 (5:26) Karrin Allyson "The Coventry Carol" composed by Traditional from "A Concord Jazz Christmas" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 1991) on Concord Jazz

21:08:01-21:11:04 (3:03) Chris Potter "O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)" from "A Concord Jazz Christmas 2" (CD, Other, 1996) on Concord Jazz

21:11:04-21:14:34 (3:30) Philip Manuel "Go, Tell It On the Mountain" from "MaxJazz Holiday" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2001) on MaxJazz

21:16:45-21:20:02 (3:17) Jon Ballantyne "Christmas Time Is Here" composed by Vince Guaraldi from "Justin Time for Christmas" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 1995) on Justin Time

21:20:02-21:24:14 (4:12) Ray Charles and Betty Carter "Baby, It's Cold Outside" composed by Frank Loesser from "The Spirit of Christmas" (CD, Other, 2009, added 2009-12-23) on Concord Jazz

21:24:14-21:30:40 (6:26) Duke Pearson "Sleigh Ride" from "Ultimate Jazz Christmas" (CD, Other, 2009, added 2009-12-23) on Blue Note

21:30:40-21:35:23 (4:43) The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City "Dance of the Mirlitons" composed by Tchaikovsky, arr. PPLBB from "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2011) on Tzigane

21:38:23-21:41:34 (3:11) Becca Stevens Band "Walking in the Air" composed by Howard Blake from "Walking in the Air" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2011) on Sunnyside

21:41:34-21:48:02 (6:28) John Zorn "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" from "A Dreamer's Christmas" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2011) on Tzadik

21:48:02-21:55:09 (7:07) Tom Harrell "The Christmas Song" composed by Mel Torme/Robert Wells from "Christmas Songs" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 1993) on Milestone

21:55:09-22:02:37 (7:28) Geri Allen "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" from "A Child Is Born" (MP3/IPOD, Private, 2011) on Motema

Eldridge Weighs In

2011-12-19T00:13:00.000-08:00

Hard to top Stratton; I won't try. But here's my humble offering, just the same:

First, 10 of my favorite discs of 2011, in no particular order (well, OK, in alphabetical order):

Ben Allison, Action-Refraction (Palmetto)
Etienne Charles, Kaiso (Culture Shock)
Adam Cruz, Milestone (Sunnyside)
Dymaxion Quartet, Sympathetic Vibrations (self-released)
Steven Lugerner, Narratives (self-released)
Rene Marie, Black Lace Freudian Slip (Motema)
Verneri Pohjola, Aurora (ACT)
Craig Taborn, Avenging Angel (ECM)
Tunnel Six, Lake Superior (OA2)
Sam Yahel, From Sun to Sun (Sunnyside)

And since neither rules nor algorhythms govern the blog, I'll follow with a slew of honorable mentions that I like just about as well as any of the ten discs above:

Ambrose Akinmusire, When the Heart Emerges Glistening (Blue Note)
Bill Carrothers Trio, A Night at the Village Vanguard (Pirouet)
Chris Dingman, Waking Dreams (Between Worlds)
Aaron Goldberg/Guillermo Klein, Bienestan (Sunnyside)
Joel Harrison String Choir, Music of Paul Motian (Sunnyside)
Orchestre National de Jazz/John Hollenbeck, Shut Up and Dance (Bee Jazz)
Noah Preminger, Before the Rain (Palmetto)
Matt Slocum, After the Storm (Chandra)

And Here's a Top 20 from RJA Friend Mike Stratton

2011-12-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

Michael Stratton has one of the great jazz shows in the States, the "Vinyl Side of Midnight." Sunday nights on WLNZ out of Lansing Community College in Michigan. You can listen live from 6 to 9:00 pm Pacific Time on the web.

Here's his list of the top 20, which is also the playlist for tonight's broadcast. This is a great list of one of biggest set of ears in jazz music.

*****************************************

TOP TWENTY 2011
12/18/11

20) WARREN WOLF (Mack Avenue Records)
In a great year for vibraphones (check out Gary Burton’s New Quartet) Warren Wolf’s debut demands attention. Functioning as one fifth of Christian McBride’s Inside Straight band, this album almost sounds like a continuation of that band.

19) MICHAEL DEASE - GRACE (Jazz Legacy Productions)
The best pure “straight ahead” album I heard this year, Dease proves to be a virtuoso of the trombone, his tone burnished and expressive. Add a crackerjack band with numerous ‘guests’ (Cyrus Chestnut, Roy Hargrove, etc.) and fine batch of compositions and you have a very entertaining hour of music.

18) NORDIC CONNECT - SPIRAL (Artist Share)
Nordic Connect features Ingrid Jensen and her sister Christine as a front line. The music reminds me of the ECM sound of the late ‘70s, only a little more melodic.

17) VIJAY IYER with PRASANNA & NITIN MITTA (ACT Music)
The Indo Pak coalition rides again. Piano, guitar and tabla mix improv structure, texture and timbre with sonority. Iyer continues to blaze new trails. His facility with the piano amazes.

16) DARA TUCKER - SOUL SAID YES (Watchman Music)
Some great ingredients of ballads, neo soul, gospel and blues make Dara Tucker’s release a winner, and someone to watch.

15) JOHN HOLLENBECK; ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE JAZZ - SHUT UP AND DANCE (Bee Jazz)
I’m a sucker for Hollenbeck’s large orchestra; his writing was solicited by this French company. The music blends Bob Brookmeyer Zappa and Steve Reich and something that is uniquely Hollenbeck. The man can write with humor and heart, one of the great composers of our time.

14) KURT ELLING - THE GATE (Concord Records)
In a banner year for vocal jazz, Elling comes up with another strong offering, covering tunes by Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire and Joe Jackson. Laurence Hobgood comes up with some superlative arrangements. Produced by Don Was (!), new head of Blue Note Records.

13) BEN WILLIAMS - STATE OF ART (Verve Records)
Winning the Thelonious Monk competition includes a record contract, and here are the results. MSU alum Ben Williams has made good, and his recording debut is very strong, mixing straight ahead, rap and grooves. Looking forward to a long career from this young bassist and composer.

12) GRETCHEN PARLATO - THE LOST AND FOUND (Obliq Sound)
A singular aesthetic, Gretchen has refined a subtle and sensual approach to jazz vocals. Good mix of originals and covers.

11) FRANCISCO MELA & CUBAN SAFARI - TREE OF LIFE (Half Note)
Percussionist Mela has created a program of (mainly) originals that highlights his working band with a guest shot by Esperanza Spalding, his musical compadre in Lovano’s Us Five. The results are a great assortment of percolating rhythms and tunes.

10) SUSANA BACA - AFRODIASPORA (Luaka Bop)
Peruvian vocalist Susana Baca cooks with fire on this strong recording. She stirs in a little N’Awlins flavor at one point, but the main ingredients are South American. Her ability to work a groove is reminiscent of some of the great soul singers of the 1960s.

9) WADADA LEO SMITH’s ORGANIC - HEART’S REFLECTIONS (Cuneiform Records)
The ghost of Miles hovers over this double disc set by trumpeter Smith, espescially on the badass back beat opener (dedicated to Don Cherry). Between the blues and the funk there is some old fashioned AACM style avant garde.

8) ROBERTA PIKET - SIDES, COLORS (Thirteenth Note Records)
Brooklyn pianist and composer Piket has one of the freshest releases of the year. At turns pretty (Laurie) and complex (check out the deconstructed gospel dedication to Sam Rivers, My Friends and Neighbors), Roberta is a force to be reckoned with and one to watch.

7) KEITH JARRETT - RIO (ECM)
Jarrett has built a career not just on his superlative trio recordings, but on his solo improv recitals as well. The newest, recorded in Rio (naturally) is maybe his best. Hard to believe that this fountain of ideas is conceived in the moment, so coherent and certain is Jarrett’s playing. Whereas in some of his earliest solo offerings there are extended and roiling sequences, here the pieces are compact and dense. Jarrett has astounding facilities as a pianist, and this may be his best work yet.

6) KARRIN ALLYSON - ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT (Concord Records)
Karrin has recorded a string of wonderful albums over the past decade or so, but this one stands alone. Like Frank Sinatra’s “Only The Lonely” or Joni Mithcell’s “Blue”, this recording relentlessly builds a mood for those with a need for expression of the ennui of love lost and longing. A heartbreaker of an album, from a heartbreaking singer.

5) BOB BELDEN - MILES ESPANOL (E One)
Like a previous project (Miles From India), Belden collects a small army of musicians (this time of the Hispanic persuasion) to interpret the Gil Evans / Miles Davis collaboration, Sketches of Spain. The double disc allows the conception to expand even further, utilizing some alum from Davis’ groups to romp cross cultures. And such delightful colors, utilizing exotic percussions, strings (Oud! Harp!) and even bagpipes. Not to be missed.

4) ETIENNE CHARLES - KAISO (Culture Shock)
Trinidad trumpeter Etienne Charles combines straight ahead with calypso to create a new and diverse dish. Sure, Blue Mitchell or Sonny Rollins have shown an influence from the isles, but Etienne goes the full monty here, including guest shots from Lord Superior, Ralph MacDonald and Monty Alexander. Another very young talent to watch.

3) SONNY ROLLINS - ROAD SHOWS VOL. II (Doxy Records)
This is a birthday party and a victory lap for octogenarian and living legend Sonny Rollins. Buoyed by a great band (Christian McBride, Roy Haynes and Russell Malone) Rollins is joined at turns by old friends Jim Hall and Bob Cranshaw, with a special guest appearance by Ornette Coleman. This document is a cherry that tops a stellar career.

2) JOE LOVANO US FIVE - BIRD SONGS (Blue Note)
Imagine Donna Lee as a ballad, or Dewey Square as a percussive rhumba, and you get the notion behind Lovano’s set of Charlie Parker music. Yet another entry in the book of Lovano, who is a perennial in the ‘best of’ lists at year’s end. One of the great sax players of our time, but also has the imagination to consistently find new ways to arrange and display the music of jazz.

1) LAURA KAHLE - CIRCULAR (Dark Key Music)
Laura has been known to refer to this album as ‘my little project’ (see Facebook), such is her modesty. This year may have been devoted to raising twin girls of she and husband Jeff “Tain” Watts, but the creation of this music is also more than noteworthy. This one seemed to get by most critics, but to my ears it’s the best thing I’ve heard in 2011. Why? First of all, the blend of Kahle’s pocket trumpet set against the uber powerful drumming of her husband creates a dynamic that reminds me of Miles and Tony Williams, or Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell. Her ideas are pithy, his funk is furious. This is music not to be missed. Claudia Acuna’s singular contribution is a rose in the forest. Beautiful.

This is the playlist for this week’s Vinyl Side of Midnight, which can be heard on 89.7 FM WLNZ in the Greater Lansing area, or you can tune in internationally on the web on http://www.lcc.edu/radio/ - hosted by Mike Stratton, Sunday nights, 9- midnight, Eastern Standard Time.

Dave's Top Ten List for 2011

2011-12-18T15:15:00.003-08:00

Dave Stacey’s Top CDs of the Year

Paul Motian. “Windmills of Your Mind.” (Winter and Winter)

Andrzej Pryzybielski and Oles Brothers. “De Profundis.” (Fenommedia)

Laura Kahle. “Circular.” (Dark Key Music)

Carol Morgan Trio. “Blue Glass Music.” (“Blue Bamboo Music”)

Kate and Anna McGarrigle. “Tell My Sister.” (Nonesuch)

Miles Davis Quintet. “Live in Europe 1967 The Bootleg Series, Volume 1.” (Columbia/Legacy)

Danny McCaslin, “Perpetual Motion.” (Greenleaf Music)

Etienne Charles, “Kaiso.” (Culture Shock Music)

Dave Holland & Pepe Habichuela. “Hands.” (Dare2 Records)

Joel Harrison String Choir. The Music of Paul Motian. (Sunnyside Records)

Verneri Pohjola “Aurora.” (ACT Music)

Steven Lugernet Septet, “Narratives.” (stevenlugerner0

Lina Allemano Four. “Jargon.” (Lumo Records)

Lynne Arriale, Convergence (Motema)

Live at Birdland - Konitz, Mehldau, Haden, Motian (ECM)

Top Ten Lists from the RJA

2011-12-18T15:09:00.000-08:00

Last year's top ten picks here

This year Loralei constructed a complicated algorithm involving all kinds of mathematical operations that go way over my head, but it was cool and it worked and after Bob Doran has published it in this week's North Coast Journal, we will publish it here too.

For now, we have some individual lists to share. Here is the first one, from Michael Quam.

**********************************************
Top Ten Jazz CDs of 2011 (from Michael Quam)

Here’s a list of my ten top favorites from the year. They’re not listed in any ranked order. The list could have been much longer, but the discipline of winnowing it down to ten made me think a little harder about what I especially enjoyed listening to this year.

Orrin Evans, “Captain Black Big Band” (Posi-Tone)

Bill Carrothers Trio, “A Night at the Village Vanguard” (Pirouet)

Patricia Barber, “Monday Night – Live at the Green Mill, Vol. 2” (Fast Atmosphere)

Verneri Pohjola, “Aurora” (ACT)

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, “40 Acres and a Mule” (Zoho)

René Marie, “Black Lace Freudian Slip” (Motéma)

Tom Harrell, “The Time of the Sun” (High Note)

Miguel Zenón, “Alma Adentro” (Marsalis Music)

James Carter Organ Trio, “At the Crossroads” (Emarcy)

Various Artists, “Miles Espanol: New Sketches of Spain” (Entertainment One)

*********************

Update: and here we are in the North Coast Journal with our official public list.

The Tiptons are coming! The Tiptons are coming!

2011-12-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! We're officially on holiday break till March 1, but just the same, there are several visiting artists coming through town in the month of December that you should know about. For instance:

On Wednesday, December 7th, "post-jazz" pianist Marco Benevento (of Garage a Trois fame) drops into Humboldt Brews. Last year, Benevento was featured on "The Checkout," NPR jazz flagship station WBGO's weekly podcast: http://www.wbgo.org/thecheckout/studio-session-marco-benevento/

And on Tuesday, December 13th, Medeski, Martin and Wood drummer Billy Martin teams up with organist Will Blades at Jambalaya Arcata for an evening of tasty jazz-funk grooves.

But the show we're most excited about (okay, partly because we're co-sponsoring it) happens Monday, December 12th, when the Tiptons Sax Quartet (plus drums) takes the stage at the Arcata Playhouse. Lots more info below, and streaming music at http://www.readthehook.com/66401/tiptons-sax-quartet -- but suffice it to say that we were elated when the Playhouse approached us about co-presenting this band. We've wanted to bring them back to Arcata ever since we heard them play a mind-blowing but severely under-attended gig at the old Muddy's coffeehouse a few years back.

This powerhouse quartet layers Afrobeat, Algerian rai, and Balkan rhythms over a hard-bop foundation. (They’re also not afraid of singing.) In a recent DownBeat feature, co-founder Amy Denio says that "People of all walks come to our concerts...blue-haired grandmothers next to blue-haired punks." "We have taken the free spirit of jazz," she says, "and are running with it."

Come and catch the spirit. General admission is $15, but for this show, the Playhouse is extending its $13 member discount to RJA members, too.
See you there!

Redwood Jazz Alliance
P.O. Box 4443
Arcata CA 95518

Laurels from the Press and Fellow Players

2011-10-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Allison Miller's "Boom Tic Boom" (with Jenny Scheinman, Myra Melford, and Todd Sickafoose) rounds out the fall half of our season on October 30. More to come soon, but in the meantime, you can read all about her here.

If we linked to every interesting thing we found in the jazz blogosphere, we'd try your patience. But here are two items we can't help passing along:

First, in "New Pilots at the Keyboard," New York Times music writer Nate Chinen singles out David Binney Quartet pianist David Virelles as someone who's gone "straight to the top of the class."
And in an interview with Ottawa Citizen music writer and blogger Peter Hum, 2009 MacArthur "Genius Grant" winner (and former RJA guest) Miguel Zenon holds forth on other contemporary alto saxophonists, including David Binney. (Miguel's a big fan.)

Closer yet!

2011-10-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

The David Binney Group will be here this Thursday, October 6 at 8 p.m.
in the Kate Buchanan Room at Humboldt State University. Tickets are
$15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors and are now
available at all of our outlets, including the Works in Eureka, and
Wildberries Market, Peoples Records and Wildwood Music in Arcata. You
can also purchase them online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm
and at the door.

The David Binney Group workshop is at 10:00 a.m. on Friday the 13th in
room 131 of the HSU Music Building.

A reminder about the Kate Buchanan Room: When we get a big crowd in
there and things heat up, the AC kicks in (and we have no control over
it.) You should probably bring a sweater…

We'll see you Thursday!

David Binney

2011-09-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Our fall season keeps rolling in less than two weeks with alto
saxophonist David Binney, who plays the Kate Buchanan Room with his
Third Occasion Quartet on Thursday, October 6. Stereophile calls
Binney "one of the most original minds in contemporary music," and we
agree: he's a powerful player and a distinctive composer, a
tremendously influential figure on the modern jazz scene. Tickets for
the show are $15 General Admission and $10 for students and seniors,
and are currently available online at the "Tickets" page of our
website only. (They'll be on sale at Wildberries, Wildwood Music,
People's Records, and The Works by the middle of next week.)

You can read more about David Binney and stream a set by the Third
Occasion Quartet from last year's Newport Jazz Festival at
RedwoodJazzAlliance.org:
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/binney.html

While we've got your attention, here are two bits of other news:

The Donny McCaslin Group's set from last weekend's Monterey Jazz
Festival is now available for streaming at NPR Jazz:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/09/21/140611177/monterey-jazz-2011-donny-mccaslin-group

And we're proud to pass along the word that earlier this week, our
October 2008 guest, drummer Dafnis Prieto, was named a 2011 MacArthur
Fellow (that is, he got a "Genius Grant"). If you're interested, you
can read about it here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/09/20/140621262/drummer-and-compser-dafnis-prieto-named-macarthur-fellow
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/09/20/congratulations-to-a-newly-minted-jazz-genius/

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. (And even though we're pretty
sure we had nothing to do with it, we can't help but point out that
Prieto is the second of our guests to win these laurels: saxophonist
Miguel Zenon was a 2009 winner. Great minds think alike, we
suppose...)

First Up!

2011-09-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

We're a week away from the start of our fall season, with the Donny
McCaslin Group coming to town on Thursday, September 15. (We're their
last stop before they play the Monterey Jazz Festival next weekend.)
The concert's in the Kate Buchanan Room at Humboldt State University
and starts at 8 p.m. Ticket prices remain a recession-friendly $15
general admission and $10 for students and seniors and can be
purchased at our newest ticket outlet, Wildberries Market, as well as
the Works in Eureka and Peoples Records and Wildwood Music in Arcata,
online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm and at the
door.

Donny and the band will also present a free workshop the day after the
concert, Friday, September 16 at 11 a.m. in room 131 of the HSU Music
Building.

Don't forget that you can also purchase season tickets (all six
concerts for the price of five!) online right now (http://
www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm) or at the door on the 15th.

You can read more about Donny and the members of his group and check
out streaming audio and video at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/mccaslin2.html

New Season; Old and New Friends

2011-08-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

Our new season is finally coming out from under wraps--and (if we say so ourselves) you will not hear any better touring jazz musicians 'round here in the coming months than our 2011-12 guests. Have a look--and a listen, via the magic of streaming audio--at our season web page. It all starts on September 15th with our old friend, saxophone giant and prince-of-a-man Donny McCaslin.

Speaking of unveilings: the results of this year's DownBeat Critics Poll were recently released, and upcoming visitors to HumCo were well represented there. Pianist Jason Moran, who'll appear as part of this year's Center Arts season with bass legend Dave Holland's Overtone Quartet (which also features RJA 2010-11 leadoff hitter Chris Potter, we might add), topped the list, winning both Artist and Album of the Year--not to mention Pianist of the Year. Holland himself won Bass honors. Meanwhile Rudresh Mahanthappa, who's slated to appear next April with Rez Abbasi's Invocation Quintet, took home Alto Saxophonist laurels.

Past guests were not scarce, either: Dave Douglas (RJA 2009-10) won Best Trumpeter for the umpteenth time; Anat Cohen (RJA 2007-08) took the Clarinet and Rising Star Soprano Sax categories; Craig Taborn (Michael Formanek Quartet, RJA 2010-11), Electric Keyboard, Rising Star Piano and Rising Star Organ; Ambrose Akinmusire (RJA 2010-11), Rising Star Trumpet and Rising Star Jazz Artist of the Year; Vijay Iyer Trio (RJA 2010-11), Rising Star Jazz Group; Luis Bonilla (Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy, RJA 2009-10), Rising Star Trombone; Ben Goldberg (Plays Monk, RJA 2006-07 and Go Home, RJA 2007-08), Rising Star Clarinet; and Nasheet Waits (Brass Ecstasy, RJA 2009-10), Rising Star Drums. Not bad, eh?

Scan the full results--and (if you're a DownBeat subscriber) vote for your favorite artists in the 76th annual Readers Poll.

And if you like reading and/or hearing about jazz when you're not listening to jazz, here are a couple recent recommendations:

Donny McCaslin was the subject of a feature article by David Adler, "Big Love," in the July issue of Jazz Times. (Our favorite line: "A gentle giant at 6-foot-3, McCaslin has the easy vibe of a native Northern Californian, an unflappability that once led pianist Frank Kimbrough to bestow a nickname: “the Donny Lama.”)
And bassist Ben Allison (RJA 2007-08) whose latest album Action-Refraction was named (by NPR) one of the 25 Best Albums of the Year So Far, was featured back in June on NPR's All Things Considered. (He was also profiled by Gene Santoro in the summer issue of Chamber Music America's Chamber Music magazine, but sadly the piece is not available online.)

Claire Iris Schencke at Piante Gallery

2011-08-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

If you've been following us for a while, you know we don't do endorsements: there's a ton of good art and music in Humboldt County, and we don't want to be seen to play favorites. So think of this as a public service announcement. You may have noticed friend of the RJA Claire Iris Schencke (full disclosure: Arcata Arts, the company headed by Iris's husband Gordon, has helped support our past two seasons) sitting in the front row at recent shows, furiously, thoughtfully slashing away at her iPad, with results like these:

Well, if you needed one more reason to check out Arts Alive tonight, August 6, then here it is: Iris has a show, The Glacier Art Project and At Waters' Edge, opening at the Piante gallery, 620 2d Street, Eureka. Get a preview at Iris's own website, or read this two-page spread by R. W. Evans in the North Coast Journal.

Formanek Added to This Year's RJA Season

2011-05-27T11:35:00.001-07:00

We're very pleased to be presenting the Michael Formanek Quartet in
our first-ever postseason show on Sunday, June 5 at 8 p.m. at the
Morris Graves Museum of Art.

Formanek's "The Rub and Spare Change" was one of last year's top
albums, so when Formanek told us he was bringing the same all-star
quartet (altoist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn, drummer Gerald
Cleaver) on tour to the West Coast, we knew we had to find a way to
make this show happen, even without our usual underwriters and
sponsors. You can read more about Formanek and his illustrious
bandmates and check out streaming audio and video of the quartet at
http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/formanek.html

Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors and
can be purchased at the Works in Eureka, Peoples Records and Wildwood
Music in Arcata, online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm
and at the door.

Because this is a post-season show and the concert is being funded
entirely by ticket sales, with all proceeds going directly to the
band, we can't include this in our season-ticket package, but we can
still offer reserved seating to our members. If you haven't yet joined
the RJA, you can do so online at http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm

Remember that seating is limited at the Graves, so we recommend
arriving early if you're not going to have reserved seats.

We'll see you on the 5th!

The Redwood Jazz Alliance

Jazz Journalists' Association award nominations

2011-04-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

I missed Ambrose Akinmusire last night...the final show of our fifth season! I'm sick. But at least I'll get to vote for him several times in several different categories. If I joint the JJA. Which I think I might do.

Nate Chinen Cannot Stop Talking about Ambrose

2011-04-04T12:10:00.001-07:00

Our next featured artist is getting lots of notice in NYC.

Ambrose in the NYTs

2011-04-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Our next performer is featured in today's New York Times.

Next Show Coming Up, April 26

2011-04-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

We round off the season with another rising star: Oakland native, Berkeley High grad, Monk Competition winner—and now Blue Note recording artist—Ambrose Akinmusire.

The 28-year-old trumpeter’s quintet (with tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III, pianist Gerald Clayton [replaced on this tour by Sam Harris], bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown) is a close-knit group of longtime friends who over a dozen years have forged a remarkable collective identity. It's a band that "seems destined for much wider recognition," says The New York Times.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times named Akinmusire one of its 2011 “Faces to Watch”: “With a chameleonic tone that can sigh, flutter or soar,” wrote the paper’s Emra Islek, “Akinmusire sounds less like a rising star than one that was already at great heights and just waiting to be discovered.”

As it happens, Akinmusire was “discovered” about a decade ago by saxophonist Steve Coleman, who was giving a workshop at Berkeley High and immediately heard promise in the young trumpeter, eventually hiring him as a member of his Five Elements band and embarking on an extensive European tour when Akinmusire was just 19. Coleman—considered by many to be the spiritual godfather of the current creative jazz scene—challenged Akinmusire on and off the stage. “Ambrose, what’s your concept?” Akinmusire remembers Coleman asking him on a train ride through Germany. “Concept? I’m 19, I don’t need a concept. It’ll just come one day,” shrugged Akinmusire, raising the saxophonist’s ire. “You’ve got to start thinking about it now,” Coleman told him. “Everything you don’t love, make sure that’s not in your playing.”

Akinmusire took the advice to heart, and returned to his studies at the Manhattan School of Music (on a full scholarship) determined to discover his own voice. “When I got back to school I wrote a list,” he explains. “It was very specific, it had things on it like ‘I don’t want to be confined by my instrument’ or ‘I want to have a sound like a French Horn player.’ I posted it on my wall so every day I was reminded of it. It caused me a lot of trouble because if a teacher told me to do something and it didn’t really fit what was on that list I didn’t listen to them. It really made me learn who I was because I had to defend that every day.”

Back on the West Coast for a master’s degree at USC, Akinmusire went on to attend the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. In 2007, he entered and won the Institute's prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition (whose judges included Blanchard, Quincy Jones, Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela, Clark Terry and Roy Hargrove). Later that year came his debut CD, Prelude…To Cora,on Fresh Sound New Talent, the label that first recorded such “new talents” as pianists Brad Mehldau and Ethan Iverson and saxophonist Mark Turner.

Moving back to New York, Akinmusire began making a name for himself, playing with jazz elders (Wallace Roney, Joe Henderson, Jimmy Heath, Herbie Hancock) and young mavericks (Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer, Esperanza Spalding, Linda Oh) while drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Chopin and Bjork. He also caught the attention of another discerning set of ears, those of Bruce Lundvall, President of Blue Note Records.

In view of the music industry's ongoing struggles, the news of a young artist jumping to a major label can seem almost quaint. But Akinmusire's signing to the storied Blue Note Records last summer sent ripples of excitement through the online jazz community. Co-produced by labelmate (and MacArthur "genius" grant winner) Jason Moran, When the Heart Emerges Glistening will be released April 5. In the lead review in this month’s DownBeat, John Corbett raves: “Akinmusire’s forceful outing is as noteworthy for the strength of the overall concept as for the individual accomplishments of its leader, head-turning as they are…the music and the band vibe are wonderfully original and current. Clearly something very special and personal is at work here, a vision of jazz that’s bigger than camps, broader and more intellectually restless than blowing sessions.”

(Adapted from Mariah Wilkins Artist Management and the Los Angeles Times.)

Tickets ($15 General Admission, $10 Students & Seniors) are available here at our website, or at Wildwood Music, People's Records, and The Works.

The Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet will also present a FREE public workshop the following day, Wednesday, April 27th, at 12:30 p.m. (location TBA). People of all levels of experience are welcome to attend.

Miles, Versace, Royston Trio

2011-03-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Yet another wondrous event--Wednesday night's performance at the Morris Graves Gallery in Eureka. Ron Miles has the most lyrical style of any modern trumpeter. "And that guy playing the drums," I heard somebody say,"he's playing melodies. I didn't think drummers could do that."

To see Bob Doran's fab pics, go here.

Next Show Coming Up

2011-02-19T11:53:00.000-08:00

Our next show is coming up soon.

What We're Playing Tonight

2011-01-28T16:28:00.001-08:00

BRIGHT MOMENTS
WITH THE REDWOOD JAZZ ALLIANCE

JANUARY 28, 2011; HOST: MICHAEL QUAM

Playlist

Bojan Z[ulfikarpašić], Transpacifik (Label Bleu ’03), “Set It Up” [1] (6:33)

Bobby Previte, Pan Atlantic (Palmetto ’09), “The Eternity” [3] (8:11)

Vijay Iyer, Historicity (ACT ’09), “Somewhere” [2] (6:57)

Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band (Verve ’93), “Darn that Dream” [4] (3:53)

Patricia Barber, The Cole Porter Mix (Blue Note ’08), “In the Still of the Night” [10] (5:25)

Alice Coltrane, Translinear Light (Impulse ’04), “Crescent” [8] (6:22)

David Binney, Aliso (Criss Cross ’10), “Africa” [9] (13:58)

---------------------------------------

Vijay Iyer, Solo (Pi ’10), “One for Blount” [11] (3:03)

Sun Ra, Somewhere Else (Rounder ’93), “Priest” [1] (4:01)

Guillermo Klein, Domador de Huellas (Sunnyside ’10), “Zamba de Lozano” [6] (4:24)

Enrico Rava/Dino Saluzzi Quintet, Volver (ECM ’88), “Tiempos de Ausencias” [4] (7:56)

Eddie Palmieri, Listen Here! (Concord ’05), “EP Blues” [10] (8:18)

Steve Turre, Rainbow People (High Note), “Forward Vision” [2] (5:59)

John Abercrombie, The Third Quartet (ECM ’07), “Wishing Bell” [4] (8:17)

Mary Stallings, Dream (High Note ’10), “Dream Dancing” [7] (3:13)

Nasheet Waits, Equality (Fresh Sounds ’08), “Tough Love” [1] (6:44)

Vijay Iyer Almost Here

2011-01-28T12:57:00.001-08:00

Sunday, February 6 is Super Sunday! And by that, of course we mean
it's the day of the Vijay Iyer Trio concert in HSU's Fulkerson Recital
Hall. We understand there's also a football game of some sort that
day, but the game should be over by the time the Iyer Trio hits at 8
p.m. (If it's not, hey, that's what DVRs are for…)

The trio's most recent CD, "Historicity," was the consensus jazz album
of the year in 2009 and is up for a Grammy at next month's ceremony.
Iyer was also named 2010's "Jazz Musician of the Year" by the Jazz
Journalists Association. You can read more about Vijay and his
terrific band and check out videos and streaming audio at
http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/iyer.html

Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors and
can be purchased at the Works in Eureka, Peoples Records and Wildwood
Music in Arcata, online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm
and at the door.

The Vijay Iyer Trio will also present a free workshop the day after
the concert, Monday, February 7 at 10 a.m. in HSU's Studio Theater and
Iyer will present a piano workshop at 3 p.m. that day in the Studio
Theater.

We'll see you on the 6th!

Peter Gannushkin

2011-01-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

It's quite possible that Peter Gannushkin is the best thing going in jazz photography at the moment.

I am "re-FaceBooking" his latest FB post here, so you can see what he's up to:

Added my tiny Vision Exehibition 2010 to Flickr: http://goo.gl/QjJxq and Facebook: http://goo.gl/1saB7 More stuff is on the way.

Jazz Beyond Awesome

2011-01-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

Howard Mandel's "Jazz beyond Jazz" is a phrase that grows on you. At first I thought it was just a cute name for his blog, but he refers to it a lot, as he might be expected to do, and it deepens. Beyond jazz is .... jazz...

It's like second wave feminism's main point: the problem with sexism in the language is that it goes "all the way down." With Mandel, the jazz thing goes all the way up. Get over jazz? All you get is more jazz....

Anyway...jazz beyond awesome is my term for this.

Individual "Best of Lists"

2011-01-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

This year Sister Loralei undertook a giant job of quantifying our membership's tastes for the best in the year's jazz. She used a spread sheet and here are the results.

Individually, the brothers and sisters of the RJA have come up with lists that refine their own preferences. Here is Brother Quam's list:

Favorite Jazz CDs of 2011

SF Jazz Collective, “Live 2010” (SF Jazz)

Randy Weston, “The Storyteller” (Motéma)

Benoit Delbecq Trio, “The Sixth Jump” (Songlines)

Jason Moran, “Ten” (Blue Note)

Lucian Ban, “Enesco Re-Imagined” (Sunnyside)

Marc Cary Focus Trio, “Live 2009” (Motéma)

Omar Sosa, “Ceremony” (Otá)

Tom Harrell, “Roman Nights” (High Note)

Bill Carrothers, “Joy Spring” (Pirouet)

Mary Stallings, “Dream” (High Note)

Myra Melford’s Be Bread, “The Whole Tree Gone” (Firehouse 12)

Dave Holland Octet, “Pathways” (Dare 2)

“Gerry Allen & Timeline Live” (Motéma)

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green, “Apex” (Pi)

Dave Liebman Big Band, “Live: As Always” (MAMA)

Annie's Memorial (Excerpts) from The Origin

2010-11-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

Almost Here

2010-11-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Brother Eldridge pens our latest "newser":

This may be our “sleeper” show of the fall: tenor & soprano
saxophonist Michael Blake, who plays HSU’s Kate Buchanan room Monday
night, was part of the downtown “Knitting Factory” scene in 1990s New
York, where he was a member of hipster legend John Lurie’s Lounge
Lizards. Since then, he’s played key roles in Steven Bernstein’s New
Millennial Territory Orchestra and many projects associated with the
Jazz Composers Collective (Ben Allison’s bands, the Herbie Nichols
Project, etc.)--all while leading a variety of groups of his own on a
series of well regarded albums. But somehow, as Chris Kelsey put it
in Jazz Times, he’s remained "one of an all-too-common subset of the
jazz community: players who create brilliant music while flying
largely under the radar of widespread critical and/or popular
acclaim...One hopes the public--or at least the critics--will get hip
to it eventually."

Here’s your chance to get hip. With members of his Danish quartet
Blake Tartare, Blake is on a West Coast tour that included a stop at
Seattle’s forward-thinking Earshot Jazz Festival earlier this week.
(See some fantastic pictures and read a short review at:
http://eyeshotjazz.com/2010/11/04/michael-blake%E2%80%99s-lucky-thompson-project-earshot-jazz-festival-photography/
.)

With a mix of imaginative covers and inspired originals, the group is
paying tribute to one of Blake’s own unsung heroes, tenor saxophonist
Eli “Lucky” Thompson, who died in obscurity after a promising career
in the 1950s and 60s.

We’re looking forward to a brilliant night of beautiful, straight-
ahead jazz that still knows how to throw some daring curves. We
really hope you don’t miss it. (Program note: Bring a sweater!
Fulkerson can get hot, but Kate Buchanan blows cold.)

Details: Michael Blake’s Lucky Thompson Project, Monday, November 8 at
8:00 pm in the Kate Buchanan in HSU’s University Center. Tickets ($15
General, $10 Student/Senior) are The Works and People’s Records--and
at our website: http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm

You can read more about Michael Blake, listen to his music, and watch
a video of the band at:
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/blake.html

--

Michael Blake

2010-10-24T11:07:00.001-07:00

The final show of the fall portion of our 2010-11 season is coming up
in just over two weeks, when saxophonist Michael Blake brings his
“Lucky Thompson Project” to HSU’s Kate Buchanan Room on Monday,
November 8th at 8:00 p.m.

With a mix of covers and originals, Blake—last heard here as part of
bassist Ben Allison’s group “Man Size Safe”—pays tribute to one of his
musical heroes, the unsung tenor Eli “Lucky” Thompson (1924-2005), who
left the US for a promising career in Europe in the 1950s and 60s but
eventually drifted into obscurity.

We’ve built a web page where you can read more about Blake, listen to
music from the Lucky Thompson Project, and watch a video featuring
members of the band. It’s at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/blake.html.

Tickets will soon be available at The Works, People’s Records, and
Missing Link Records, and in the meantime you can purchase them on the
“Tickets” page of our site: http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm.

Tom Harrell

2010-10-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tom Harrell

2010-10-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

The Tom Harrell Quintet last Tuesday night at the Fulkerson Hall was memorable, to say the lest. To see some pics from the afternoon's workshop, and a couple of concert pics as well, go here.

Scroll down past the pics of my backyard and Rupert the Cat.

Next Up!

2010-10-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Michael Blake Band: "The World Awakes" – A Tribute to Lucky Thompson

November 8. Go here for details.

Nate Chinen checks Bob Doran--sort of.

2010-09-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite jazz writers, Nate Chinen (New York Times, Jazz Times, etc., etc.) keeps an excellent blog called "The Gig." The day before last, in a post that linked to his NYT review of Antonio Sanchez's latest gig at the Jazz Standard, he used a photo by friend of the RJA and North Coast Journal Arts & Entertainment editor Bob Doran, who's shot some superb pix at our shows over the past few years. (This particular photo is part of a set taken at Sanchez's appearance here in Arcata last spring.)

We don't think Bob is especially particular about copyright or even about attribution--and heaven knows we're not always 100% scrupulous about securing permission to use work we find floating around on the web. But hey, Nate: come check us out! (And give a nod to Bob.)

We have a SEASON!!!!!!!!

2010-09-05T12:17:00.001-07:00

Hi friends,

It took a little longer than we had hoped for all of the pieces to
fall into place, but we are very pleased to finally announce our
2010-2011 season. The fall lineup features:

on September 24, the CHRIS POTTER UNDERGROUND, led by "the most
compelling saxophonist of his generation." (You can read more about
Chris and check out both audio and video of Underground at
http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/potter.html)

In October, it's the TOM HARRELL QUINTET, whose trumpet-playing leader
"captivates both the hearts and the minds of his listeners.”

November brings the MICHAEL BLAKE BAND's "The World Awakes—A Tribute
to Lucky Thompson," which "simultaneously embraces jazz history while
challenging it head on."

In the spring, we're proud to present:

The VIJAY IYER TRIO, whose most recent album, "Historicity," was
2009's consensus jazz album of the year.

The MATT WILSON-RON MILES DUO with GARY VERSACE, featuring two very
welcome returning guests and one of today's most in-demand
keyboardists.

The AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE QUINTET, led by the Berkeley High graduate and
Thelonious Monk Competition winner who's just been signed by Blue Note
Records.

Read more about the entire season at http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/2010-11.html

Season tickets (six shows for the price of five!) and tickets for
Chris Potter Underground ($15 general admission and $10 for students
and seniors) can be purchased online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm.
If you prefer interacting with real live humans, the humans at the
Works in Arcata and Eureka, Peoples Records and Missing Link Records
in Arcata will also sell you tickets for Chris Potter Underground.

Now is also a good time to renew your Redwood Jazz Alliance
membership, or become a member for the first time. Membership gets you
not only the warm glow that comes from knowing you're helping to
support bringing world-class jazz to Humboldt County and some lovely
perks from select RJA sponsors, but also reserved seating at any RJA
concert you attend. Read all of the details and purchase your
membership here: http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm

We'll see you on the 24th!

The Redwood Jazz Alliance

Alas....

2010-07-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Harry Becker, RIP.

And our own Gregg Moore's old employer, Willem Breuker.

KHSU Has a New Gadget--Spintron

2010-07-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Our every-experimenting brother Michael makes use of the latest gizmo for publishing the set list of our radio program, "Bright Moments."

What you learn reading Rifftides....

2010-07-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Harvey Pekar, dead!

Obit.

RIP Bill Dixon

2010-06-17T12:51:00.001-07:00

RIP Bill Dixon. I saw him and got to hang with him and wife for a day at the 2006 Guelph Festival. An angry crank on stage but a wonderfully warm guy off stage. I love his weird compositions and out-of-this-world tone. Will miss him.

Robert Holt at Jazz West

2010-06-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Down at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival on Sunday we made the acquaintance of Robert Holt, jazz photographer at the superb jazz photo site "Jazz West."

Here are Robert's photos from Sunday: Dafnis Prieto, Gretchen Parlato, Jason Moran. Great shots!

Bill Frisell at Healdsburg Jazz Festival

2010-06-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

RJA Interview at AllAboutJazz

2010-06-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

From our latest missive to our members:

We’re honored to join the illustrious ranks of guests on "The Jazz
Session," a weekly--sometimes twice or even thrice weekly--jazz
interview podcast produced by radio journalist and DJ Jason Crane and
hosted by AllAboutJazz.com, "the web’s leading source for jazz,
reviews, mp3 downloads, and more."

Jason talked to us last summer about what we do, how we do it, and how
our community makes it possible. You can find the Redwood Jazz
Alliance episode of The Jazz Session at

http://thejazzsession.com/2010/06/03/the-jazz-session-174-redwood-jazz-alliance/

or download it for free on iTunes.

While you're at the Jazz Session's site, check out Jason’s archive of
past interviews, which includes lots of musicians the RJA has hosted
(Marty Ehrlich, FLY, Frank Kimbrough, Donny McCaslin, Myra Melford,
Matt Wilson) and plenty more we haven't--yet (Gary Burton, Don Byron,
Nels Cline, Jason Moran, Sonny Rollins…the list goes on and on).

Stay tuned for news of the 2010-11 season--coming shortly!

Peter Gannushkin's Jazz Photography

2010-06-01T19:28:00.001-07:00

Over the past several months I've noticed on Facebook and elsewhere, mostly in relation to news about trumpeter Nate Wooley, that a jazz photographer by the name of Peter Gannushkin is compiling an interesting body of work.

He seems to be in the thick of several different jazz communities in NYC. And he seems to be capturing rather regularly very striking images of really interesting performers, in action, and they rather often happen to be players who have come west at one time or another to play for the Redwood Jazz Alliance.

Here are his photos at Flickr:

Here is an interview with him in which he talks about giving away his work for free:

He also maintains a web site, Downtownmusic.net

Check him out.

So Long, Hank

2010-05-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

I saw him only one time, in an all start tribute to Charlie Parker (Le Spectacle du ciecle!) at Place des Arts in Montreal, in probably 81 or 2. Dizzy was bandleader. Philly Joe Jones on drums, Ray Brown on bass, James Moody (the only extant member), Milt Jackson on vibes. Hank at the piano.

And it weren't just a blowing session, either. They played their butts off, and it were so grand.....

Penofin Jazz Festival

2010-05-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in Potter Valley:

Dottie Grossman (poet) and Michael Vlatkovich (trombone)
Rich Halley (tenor sax), Michael Vlatkovich (trombone) Clyde Reed (bass), Carson Halley (drums)
Farmers by Nature: Gerald Cleaver (drums), William Parker (bass), Craig Taborn (piano)
Laura Winter (poet), Rich Halley (tenor sax), Clyde Reed (bass), Carson Halley (drums)
Chicago Underground Duo: Rob Mazurek (trumpet and electronics), Chad Taylor (drums, vibes and electronics)

KHSU Concert Coming Up!

2010-04-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Local community public radio station KHSU is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a jazz show highlighting its many years of jazz programing.

The show takes place on Friday, May 7th.

Tickets are available online at KHSU.ORG.

There is a $1.99 service fee for an on-line ticket purchase, but this is a very convenient way to get a ticket ahead of time.

Tickets are also available at local shops: the Co-Op, the Works, Wildwood Music, and Fortuna Music Mart.

Performers are Darius Brotman and Friends with Juanita Harris, Shao Way Wu’s combo, and a group of HSU student musicians called Flannel Potato Bug.

Tickets are $10 in advance, and there are only 150 seats, so door tickets may be limited.

Also of interest: free hors d’oeuvres with ticket. Wine will be for sale (and sales of which benefits the museum).

Doors open at 6, show starts at 7.

Is This Not the Greatest Album Cover of All Time?

2010-03-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

Bob Doran Interviews Antonio Sanchez

2010-03-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Antonio Sanchez interview

When we caught up with drummer Antonio Sanchez, he was at home in New York City making last minute preparations for his West Coast tour.

Growing up in Mexico City, were you playing jazz at all?

Not really. I was mainly playing rock. I was taking private lessons with a friend of the family and I would play along to records of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin. My mom always liked rock so I grew up listening to rock and classical music -- not that much jazz. She did try to play me an Art Blakey record, when I was in my rock stage, but I didn't like it too much. I wasn't ready for it.

And you were playing in bands?

I had a bunch of rock bands. I would play with singers, stuff like that, but no jazz. Then I went to the conservatory in Mexico City and they had a jazz workshop. I used to go and hang out with the guys and started listening. Some of the guys told me, 'You should listen to this guy or that guy,' and they gave me tapes and I started listening. One of the first things I listened to was the Chick Corea Band -- that changed a lot of things for me because I came from rock and that music has rock elements, but it's instrumental and they're soloing all the time. That brought me to fusion and from fusion I went to Latin jazz and eventually straight ahead jazz.

What was the shift from rock to jazz like as a drummer?

It's a lot more demanding technically playing high level jazz. You have to solo a lot and that requires a deep deep knowledge of your instrument and the music. Rock is demanding in many ways too, but you don't solo that much and you're not improvising that much. It's a different set of skills.

And after the conservatory...

From there I went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1993.

Did you go there specifically to study jazz?

I went to study jazz -- that was my goal.

I know you went from Berklee to the New England Conservatory. Was it on to New York and professional gigging from there?

My whole stay in Boston I was playing professionally, but only locally. At the end of my Berklee stay I started playing with Danilo Pérez and Paquito D'Rivera. From there it started snowballing, playing with David Sanchez and Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Gary Burton, all these people that I play with today because they heard me with someone else and liked what they heard.

The first few musicians you mentioned are big names in Latin jazz. Do you think of yourself as a Latin jazz drummer?

In the beginning I used to play a lot of Latin jazz and play with salsa-based bands and play AfroCuban music. But I really wanted to break out of that. I knew it would be hard because my name is Antonio Sanchez and I come from Mexico, so people assume I play Latin jazz. But when I started playing with Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker -- people who don't belong in the Latin jazz circles -- then I started getting more credibility as a drummer who can play more than Latin jazz, who can play straight-ahead jazz.

Do you think perhaps some straight ahead players hire you because they see your skill, but also they want to add some Latin flavor?

Maybe a bit of both. Not necessarily because they want the Latin flavor, but a different flavor. When I fuse my influences with straight-ahead jazz it sounds different from someone who grew up playing straight-ahead jazz. I think I play it well, but I like to mix it up with other stuff I know - that's what makes my voice different.

At some point you put your own band together, Migration. Is it a lot different being the leader?

Oh yes. I've been a sideman for such a long time, but I've been around band leaders pretty much all my life, so I know it's very hard and very taxing on somebody to lead an ensemble, to write music for it, to get gigs, to pay everybody. It's a hard job. I knew it would be hard, but I had some music that I wanted to play and I really felt I had something to offer as a bandleader. So I put this band together that was basically two saxophones, bass and drums. It's a peculiar formation because you don't have piano or guitar to provide chords -- it has a very different color when you have all that space. So I wrote songs for that ensemble and it's been a lot of fun. I love that space that comes from not having a harmonic instrument.

And you're writing most of the music, the melodies?

Yes. On this tour I think pretty much everything we're playing is something I have written.

When you're behind the drums and someone else is playing your melodies, I suppose it takes a lot of trust...

I know exactly what you mean. Of course we're all musical kindred spirits in a way. We all share the same musical values and musical views and concepts. When I called the guys who are playing with me -- Donny McCaslin and Dave Binney play saxophone and Scott Colley plays bass -- well, I've been playing with them on and off for many years. I've played in their bands actually. So it's a healthy musical relationship.

There are not a whole lot of bands led by drummers historically. There's the band your mother played for you, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and a handful of others. Why do you think that is?

I'd say the primary reason is that a lot of bandleaders are leaders because they write a lot of music. They want to show something that they have created. If you have never studied anything but drums, it's hard to write music. Music is written on a guitar or a piano or a saxophone, but for me mainly on piano. That's why I studied piano, because I wanted to have an option of writing music. I always loved classical music and at some point I want to compose -- and I did compose classical sounding pieces. When I got into jazz I wanted to transfer that knowledge into the jazz world and write music. I think the reason there are not a lot of band-leading drummers -- and there are great drummers like Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes who led bands -- but they don't write music; they always play somebody else's music. I didn't want a band where I played somebody else's music -- I wanted to play my own music and have my own concept of what the band should be.

How do you lead from behind the drum kit?

Since it's my music, I feel like I have more authority to shape the music dynamically in term of, You're going to play soft, You're going to play loud, play slow, play faster. I can control those nuances that make the music sound one way or another. And the drums are such a powerful instrument -- you can drown everybody if you play loud enough, but you can also play incredibly soft and be very musical and sensitive. I like to explore all of that as a bandleader. But I don't want it to seem like I'm the bandleader -- I just want it to be like, that's a band playing music. Maybe you don't know who the bandleader is because everybody has an equal share in the ensemble.

Are you teaching also?

I teach, I do a lot of clinics, but I don't teach privately because I'm on the road so much. In my clinics I have drummers and different kinds of musicians, sometimes people who don't even play instruments, who just like music. I try to keep my clinics open in terms of concept, where everybody can use something. If I get too technical and start talking about my foot technique or stuff like that, then a lot of people don't get anything out of it.

Is there some broad stroke thing you are trying to get across?

I'm always trying to teach about musicality, and that goes across all instruments. You know, how to develop solos, how to interact with other musicians, and I also try to talk about the business, what it takes to make it in this business, both as a musician and as a person, as a human being. That's something I think a lot of times is overlooked.

What does it take?

It takes being a nice person actually. You're going to be dealing with people all the time, you're going to be going on the road, you're going to be sleeping badly, eating badly; you're going to be in a bad mood, but you still have to put on a nice face and try to make the best out of it. That can actually make or break your career, how you interact with other musicians on a daily basis.

It seems like it's getting harder to make a living as a musician in this day and age.

It isn't getting any easier. I think the economic downturn has hurt in general. For example, if anybody these days calls me for a tour, it's never a tour in the United States. It's always a tour in Europe, or sometimes Japan, but mostly Europe. That's where 80 percent of the stuff is happening. Last year I must have been over there 10 times for different things.

Why do you think that is? Because the American public doesn't support jazz?

It's the mentality of the United States right now. I think they're so drugged by TV and by the Internet, that I don't think they want to go out that much. I don't want to generalize, but there's a problem. Why would you go out to hear music that you've never heard on the radio or on TV? How are you going to get to know somebody if you never hear their name mentioned anywhere?

So partly it has to do with the fact that jazz has no place in broadcast media today...

It has everything to do with it. Why do you buy a record? Because you've listened to it somewhere else, on the radio or maybe someone plays it for you. Then you get to the record store, there are thousands of jazz records and you've never heard them, you have heard nothing, so what are you going to get?

I have to admit; there are big parts of the jazz world that I know little about.

Nobody does.

Well the guys in the Redwood Jazz Alliance do, the people who are bringing you here. They have a radio show, and a deep knowledge of jazz, and they love to share what they know.

People like that are sort of keeping jazz alive.

How do you see your role in the problem? What's the solution?

The only solution is to keep going out like we're doing now and try to play some music. Hopefully people will come and they'll like it and they'll spread the word around.

Sounds like a plan... Anything else you want to add?

We covered a lot of ground. The only thing I would like to add is that I have a new record coming out in the summer. It's a live record we did at the Jazz Standard in New York. It's a double CD called Antonio Sanchez Live in New York.

Who else is on it?

It's with David Sanchez, Miguel Zenon and Scott Colley. It should be out in June or July on Cam Jazz, the same people who put out my first record, Migration. I think people will like it.

Our Latest Missive

2010-03-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that our 2009-10 season is almost over. Thanks to
all of you for coming out to hear the music and for being such a great
audience. One of the things that we hear over and over again from the
artists is how much they enjoy playing for you, because you're really
listening and you're so supportive.

We're closing out the season with a bang. When Frank Kimbrough heard
that our last show of the year was Antonio Sanchez and Migration, he
exclaimed, "Oh, that band is KILLIN'!" Antonio Sanchez is probably
best known as the drummer in the Pat Metheny Group since 2002, but
that high-profile gig hasn't kept him from also playing with a host of
other jazz legends in the past decade. Migration also includes tenor
saxophonist Donny McCaslin (who many of you will remember from his own
concert here last season), alto saxophonist David Binney and bassist
Scott Colley. You can read more about the whole band, hear streaming
audio of their music and check out lots of cool links at
http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/sanchez.html

The concert is Thursday, April 1 at 8 p.m. in the Kate Buchanan Room.
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE—that's a change from our early publicity and
what's printed on the season tickets. Tickets are $15 general
admission and $10 for students and seniors and can be purchased at the
Works in Arcata and Eureka, Peoples Records and Missing Link Records
in Arcata, online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm
and at the door.

Antonio Sanchez and Migration will also present a free workshop the
afternoon of the concert, Thursday, April 1 at 5 p.m. in the Studio
Theater at HSU (right next to the Van Duzer Theater.)

We'll see you at the show!

Photos for the Kimbrough-Preminger Show

2010-03-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Bob Doran does it again.

RJA Upcoming: this week!

2010-02-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

Our next show, coming right up this Thursday evening, February 25th at 8 p.m. at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, 636 F Street, Eureka. It's piano-sax duo by two great New
York-based players: veteran pianist Frank Kimbrough and tenor
wunderkind Noah Preminger. This promises to be an intimate acoustic
show that will both smolder and spark. Arrive early to enjoy the
galleries at the Graves--and to enjoy some refreshment before the
show. (One of the many things we like about doing shows at the Graves
is that we're licensed to sell wine and beer there!)

Frank and Noah will also lead a free public workshop on composing,
improvising, and the unique challenges of playing as a duo on Friday
morning, February 26 at 11:00 on the stage of HSU's Fulkerson Recital
Hall.

More information on both events--as well as streaming audio of Frank
and Noah's music--here.

Thursday's performance isn't your only chance to hear great jazz at
the Graves this week. This afternoon (Sunday, February 21st), our
partner for the Kimbrough-Preminger show, the Humboldt Arts Council,
hosst the Inkling Quartet at the monthly Sunday Jazz Jam from 2:00 to
4:30 p.m. The group, which consists of Suzie Laraine on saxes, Jill
Petricca on flutes, Brian Post on keyboards, and Shao Way Wu on bass,
showcases original writing in a chamber-jazz vein.

Hope to see you more than once this week!

The NYT HEARTS Myra Melford

2010-01-26T11:21:00.001-08:00

There’s always room in the precincts of improvised music for a new album by the pianist Myra Melford. “The Whole Tree Gone” (Firehouse 12), her first as a leader in more than three years, is a knockout by any standard, including the bar set by her previous work. Ambitious but approachable, suffused with airy warmth and restless calm, it unpacks a suite of lyrical compositions Ms. Melford has been refining since 2004. Their character ranges from slyly furtive (“Moon Bird,” inspired by Miró) to gracefully frantic (the title track) to starkly elegiac (“A Generation Comes and Another Goes”), often shape-shifting in mid-song.

Be Bread, Ms. Melford’s coolly intuitive cohort, girds every structure with a pliable integrity, making these pieces feel both supple and sturdy. The group has a sympathetic front line (and a pair of commanding soloists) in the trumpeter Cuong Vu and the clarinetist Ben Goldberg; its rhythm section consists of the guitarist Brandon Ross and the bassist Stomu Takeishi, both playing acoustic instruments, and the drummer Matt Wilson, an endless fount of effervescence. Ms. Melford leads from within the stir, meting out her pianism in surges or shimmers, according to the music’s needs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/arts/music/24play.html

Our Latest Email Missive

2010-01-16T11:34:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! We're kicking off our spring season with the dynamic
pianist Myra Melford and her sextet Be Bread on Friday, January 29 at
8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 general admission
and $10 for students and seniors and can be purchased at the Works in
Arcata and Eureka, Peoples Records and Missing Link Records in Arcata
and online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm

We're sure that many of you caught Myra when she was here last month
with Jenny Scheinman. Now we're going to have a chance to hear Myra
perform her own music with her own all-star band. She put together Be
Bread several years ago to showcase music inspired by her study of
Indian music, but the band's sound isn't limited to one style, with
jazz, blues and avant-garde elements blending together with the South
Asian influences to create an unclassifiable yet cohesive whole. Be
Bread's concert here is part of a West Coast tour celebrating the
band's new CD "The Whole Tree Gone," which is being released next week
and is already gathering rave reviews. All About Jazz calls the album
"a committed and potent ensemble performance of music which satisfies
both the head and the heart" and "a triumph for Melford."

Besides Melford on piano and harmonium, Be Bread includes:

Trumpeter Cuong Vu, who is probably best known for his work in the Pat
Metheny Group, but he has also worked with everyone from Laurie
Anderson and David Bowie to Dave Douglas, as well as releasing four
critically acclaimed albums of his own.

Clarinetist Ben Goldberg, who is no stranger to North Coast audiences,
having previously played here with Go Home and Plays Monk.

Brandon Ross, guitarist of choice for Cassandra Wilson, Henry
Threadgill, Jewel, Tony Williams, Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron and
many more.

Stomu Takeishi, 2009 Downbeat Magazine Critic's Poll Rising Star
Electric Bassist. With Be Bread, Takeishi plays a 5-string acoustic
bass guitar.

Drummer Matt Wilson, who many of you will remember from Myra Melford's
concert here two years ago with the cooperative group Trio M. Matt
recently pulled off the rare feat of being featured on the covers of
both Downbeat and Jazz Times in successive months.

Myra and members of Be Bread will also present a free workshop
Saturday, January 30 at 10 a.m. in the Gist Hall Theater on the HSU
campus.

You can read more about Myra Melford and Be Bread and hear streaming
audio of their music at http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/bebread.html

Latest Missive from the RJA

2009-12-31T12:43:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

We hope the new year holds good prospects for you. We know that it
promises good music, starting with Myra Melford and Be Bread on
Friday, January 29th. (Look for more info on that show soon.)

Before the old year ran out, though, we decided to look back (at Bob
Doran's request) at some of our favorite recorded jazz of 2009, and we
wanted to share that backwards glance with you. Our Top 10 list is
just one among dozens, but for what it's worth, you can peruse it,
along with links to many others, at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/picks09.html

Finally, we hope you'll remember your favorite local jazz society in
your year-end giving. Donations to the Redwood Jazz Alliance are tax-
deductible (we're classified as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charity)--and
when you come to our shows, you'll hear the results of your investment
throughout the year. Details at
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm

Our best wishes for a safe, happy, and prosperous--and
melodious--2010!

2009 Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll

2009-12-31T12:28:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I find this kind of thing compelling, but I do. Those of us trained in traditional literary criticism, as I was long years ago, usually get "topicality" or "popular fashion" pounded out of our brainpans, but here I am in advanced middle age throwing off another ball and chain o' my youth.

I love this poll. It "rawks" my world, as the kids say. I always learn about everything I missed in the last year, which is usually "just about everything."

Actually, this year, in the spirit of self-grading modeled by your president, I got about a B- in keeping up. Which is better than usual. I even bought the complete Bill Evans Tony Bennett reissue, so I'm that little bit more hip this year for having enjoyed a reissue on the list.

I did buy and did not like Gretchen Parlato's new CD, and I missed Nellie McKay's tribute to Doris Day. I've just discovered Kitty Margolis, who does not appear on the list, but she's now on my list....

Where things get really interesting, IMHO, is the lists and lists and lists of the individual voters.

James Hale tunes me into Michael Musallami Trio, +3. Man, where have I been with this guy. Ralph Alessi is in the band! So is Joe Fonda. I love Joe Fonda!

Another Top Ten List

2009-12-26T17:20:00.000-08:00

RJA friend and East Lansing jazz DJ Mike Stratton sends us his top ten for the year. We have some overlap, but mostly this shows what an incredible year this has been for new music, as I've not experienced more than half of his entries.

My list:

Alex Cline - CONTINUATION; CrytoGramophone
A quintet that features Peggy Lee on cello and Myra Melford on piano is a mighty beast, indeed. Violin, bass and percussion round out the band, with the band leader taking a back seat as a player, first chair as composer. #1 (Nourishing Our Roots) is a bitter sweet Asian melody that would sound at home in the soundtrack of a Kurosawa film. #5 (SubMerge) visits an interior soundscape that invites reflection. Another beautiful melody is introduced but the band turns introspective. #6 (On The Bones of the Homegoing Thunder) goes from stringed dis-harmony to avant-piano-trio rolling and tumbling, then allows for a harrowing cello exploration of the depths. Violin is accompainied then, by an anchoring piano figure, giving the listener a chance to take a breath. This is music that goes someplace, quite unexpected, and invites many repeat visits.

Jeff “Tain” Watts - WATTS; (Dark Key Music)
With a front line of Branford Marsalis and Terrence Blanchard and Christian McBride locking it up with the leader, this is a players date that is killer diller. Much jaw dropping fun to be had.

Vijay Iyer - HISTORICITY; ACT Music
Vijay’s vision of jazz is unique; complex, dense, cerebral. This disc features some new compositions as well as some interesting covers (West Side Story? M.I.A.?). Not the same type of Philip Glass influence as on earlier recordings (I miss that, actually). Use #2 (Somewhere) #3 (Galang) or the #8 (Mystic Brew). I think this guy is the real deal and is a major stepping stone in the developmental of jazz piano.

Etienne Charles - FOLKLORE; Etienne Charles
This is a little masterpiece. Trinidad born trumpeter Charles leads a band through a set of original compositions that call on influences from calypso to Miles. Charles’ rapport with saxist Jacques Scharz-Bart seems telepathic. A beautiful disc. Use tracks #1 (Folklore) or #3 (Dance with la Diablesse).

Joe Morris - WILDLIFE; AUM Fidelity
I played the longest track first on my show (#2, Thicket); Sax, drums and bass. Saxist Cancura is influenced by Albert Ayler. First track (Geometric) shows this effectively.

Christian McBride & Inside Straight - KIND OF BROWN; Mack Avenue
This is a great record of straight ahead stuff. McBride put the band together to headline at the Village Vanguard, then recorded it on Mack Avenue last fall. The addition of vibes (Warren Wolf) is a masterful stroke. McBride composes the majority of the tunes. Use #1 (Brother Mister), or #2 (Theme For Kareem).

Joe Lovano Us Five - FOLK ART; Blue Note
Lovano continues his string of strong Blue Note recordings by leading this band of (mostly) youngsters by bridging the gaps of Ornette flavored free forms and more inside progressions. Use #5 (Song For Judi) as a ballad. #6 (Drum Song) in a free context or #7 (Dbango).

Bob Sneider & Joe Locke - NOCTURNE FOR AVA; Origin Records
The Film Noir project, as the artists call it, is a sampling of theme music, from Last Tango In Paris to Blow Up. Evocative music, smooth (in a good way), smokey and sensual.

Steve Lehman Octet - TRAVIL, TRANSFORMATION, AND FLOW; Pi Recordings
A very late addition to my list. Great timbres and motion. Steve Reich minimalism is as much a source as is Mingus.

John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble - ETERNAL INTERLUDE; Sunnyside
Another release by one of my new favorite band leaders. Hollenbeck is not just a formidable drummer, his abilities as a band leader and a composer are very striking. I hope he has a long, rich career.

RJA Members pick Top Ten CDs of 2009

2009-12-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

This year we undertook a somewhat complex formula to determine our collective choices. Full explanation here.

1. Dave Douglas, Spirit Moves (Greenleaf Music). A sublime homage to the all-embracing, pop-inspired spirit of Lester Bowie. This is brass band jazz that inherits and ennobles several different traditions at once.

2. Darcy James Argue, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam). With his “steampunk” big band Secret Society, Darcy James Argue seamlessly blends post-rock guitar, electronica-inspired textures and post-minimalist rhythms with the modern big band tradition that stretches from Thad Jones to Maria Schneider. He has a great blog, too.

3. Vijay Iyer, Historicity (ACT). Pianist Iyer is the man of the moment in the jazz blogosphere. He’s at the top of his game as a player, composer, and arranger (and explicator of his own work), and though he's been turning out fantastic stuff for over a decade, this trio record is his breakout disc. One of many high points: a totally rocking cover of M.I.A.’s “Galang.” That’s all the reason you need to check it out.

4. Ben Allison, Think Free (Palmetto). Allison continues his experiments with a sound that incorporates the rock, pop, and film music of his formative years--but with a new band, featuring holdover Steve Cardenas on guitar, trumpeter Shane Endsley replacing Ron Horton, Rudy Royston in the drummer's chair, and Humboldt homegirl Jenny Scheinman on violin.

5. Ron Horton, It's a Gadget World (ABeat). Horton is the most lyrical of the newer New York trumpeters. Even with an enormous, dark tone he creates finely shaped figures which contrast nicely against the complex rhythmic backgrounds provided by Antonio Zambrini’s elegant piano, Ben Allison’s fun-loving bass and Tony Moreno’s busy drumming.

6. John Hollenbeck, Eternal Interlude (Sunnyside). For his Large Ensemble, Hollenbeck writes lengthy, well-thought-out, richly detailed compositions with such a large palette of colors, rhythms and textures that the label "jazz" is no more adequate a description of it than any other that's yet been created.

7. Dafnis Prieto, Si ó Si Quartet Live at the Jazz Standard (Dafnison Music). Today’s most innovative young drummer polishes some compositional gems that he unwrapped in Arcata last spring. Nobody else makes polyrhythms sound so easy.

8. Joe Martin, Not By Chance (Anzic). There were a few higher-profile jazz “supergroup” albums this year, but this sleeper gets our vote for Most Noteworthy. Tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist Brad Mehldau, and first-call drummer Marcus Gilmore (see Vijay Iyer Trio, above) put their oversized talents to work in the service of nine beautiful, swinging tunes by in-demand bassist Martin, who steps out of his usual sideman role to lead the session.

9. Miguel Zenón, Esta Plena (Marsalis Music). The intense young altoist returns with his freshest exploration yet of the crossroads of jazz and the folk traditions of his native Puerto Rico. They don't give MacArthur "genius" grants to just anybody.

10. Tom Harrell, Prana Dance (Half Note). The veteran trumpeter/flugelhornist’s second album with a quintet of energetic young apprentices (Danny Grissett, Wayne Escoffery, Ugonna Okegwo, Johnathan Blake) serves up catchy but complex compositions and water-tight playing.

Jenny Scheinman at Center Arts

2009-12-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

Brother Dan and I and Ronite saw Jenny Scheinman play at the Van Duzer Theater last night. We did some tabling for next month's Myra Melford show in the lobby.

The show was sweet. First half was Myra accompanying Jenny, on harmonium and at the piano. The crowd loved them both. Myra makes everything, and I mean everything, all that more interesting with an inevitable hint of dissonance. She's amazing. During the second half, at the end of the show, when she came out to play two songs with the country Jenny, I thought she sounded like Monk playing barrel house.

Jenny's singing is a lot like her playing. Quirky, romantic, funny, packed-with-feeling. On several of the jazz duets the interaction between the two players got very hot and intense, evoking applauding interruptions from the audience. Quite a few citizens of Petrolia in the house, so there were frequent Humboldt war hoops too.

I got a moment to talk to Jenny and her Mom before the show. I told her we would love to have her come play for the RJA and she said "Yes!"

Top Ten Time

2009-11-26T12:49:00.001-08:00

Hep cats everywhere are summing up the year.

Here's my top ten for 2009:

Dave Douglas: Spirit Moves

Enrico Rava: New York Days

Andy Milne and Benoit Delbecq: Where is Pannonica?

Tomasz Stanko: Dark Eyes

Ben Allison: Think Free

Ron Horton: It's a Gadget World

Ralph Alessi: Open Season

Darcy James Argue: Infernal Machines

John Hollenbeck: Eternal Interlude

Denny Zeitlin Trio in Concert Featuring Buster Williams and Matt Wilson.

Runners Up:

Ben Sidran: Dylan Different

Linda Oh: Entry

Aki Takase and Rudi Mahall: Evergreen

Our Correspondent in New York

2009-11-26T12:43:00.001-08:00

Brother Dan Aldag has been living big in NYC this past week, sending back missives recounting incredible jazz encounters.

I want to post some of them here but he has requested that we wait till his return. Some of the stories are "juicy," as in, well....juicy...and Dan wants to edit the raw data before going to blog.

Stay tuned!

Bob Doran's Pics of the Ralph Alessi Show

2009-11-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Monday night's show with Ralph Alessi and This against That was another opportunity for Bob Doran to take another round of terrific pictures. He's a dab hand at a jazz study.

Check out the stream at Bob's Flickr site.

Bob Doran Interviews Ralph Alessi

2009-11-03T09:53:00.001-08:00

Bob kindly sends us this very interesting interview with our next guest.

********************************************

A conversation with Ralph Alessi

The short bio on the website for trumpeter/composer/educator Ralph Alessi (www.ralphalessi.com) jumps straight to 1991, when he became "an active member of the New York jazz and improvised music scene as both sideman and leader."
He'd moved to the Big Apple from the Bay Area that year after growing up in San Rafael. His father was a freelance classical trumpet player who'd worked for the Metropolitan Opera and his mother was an opera singer before they relocated to the West Coast.

So you grew up in Marin County and left there to go to college?

I went to couple of different colleges and ended up at CalArts in Los Angeles. [Among his teachers was bassist Charlie Haden.] I got a couple of degrees there [in trumpet and bass]. And right after that I moved to New York.

What were you looking for in New York?

It was more of a feeling that I didn't have a choice. I had to move to New York because of the experience I had at CalArts; in particular I'd developed relationships and friendships, musical relationships with individuals like Ravi Coltrane, Scott Colley, Michael Caine, Peter Epstein and others. They'd either moved to New York before me or followed me out there. There was this feeling that it wouldn't make any sense to not continue what we'd started. And obviously there were other benefits to moving to New York, although I was a little reluctant at making that move. I was a little intimidated by the idea of living in New York, but I felt like I didn't have a choice, so I did it. And I'm still here.

When you moved there did you fall into the M-Base Collective?

I'd been a student of Steve Coleman at the jazz program at Banff [Canada]. Steve was one of the teachers there. About three years later he called me to play on an overdubbing session for one of his records. Then maybe a year after that I toured with him, and I continued playing with him for five or six years. But by that time the M-Base Collective wasn't really a collective any more. All those people were doing their own thing by that point.

Would you say the M-Base philosophy informed the way you evolved musically?

The M-Base Collective wasn't really a collective like the AACM [Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in Chicago]. The AACM had very defined tenants and ideas about what that was about. To my knowledge, the M-Base Collective was more just individuals who were playing together in those days. I was influenced by the music Steve was making and Greg Osby and others, but mostly Steve. I was into his music prior to meeting him. There's no doubt being around him and playing with him was important — he was a master musician. I was influenced by how he played, how he composed music, and also how he led a band. I liked his aesthetic for being a band leader.

Was he a model for the way you lead a band?

He's not the only one. Also there was the way Miles Davis led a band; Uri Caine is another who I played with a lot. It's basically hands off. You basically leave it up to the individuals, assuming that they will have the responsibility to learn the music and bring something to it. If that doesn't happen, then you call someone else. That's as opposed to 'You need to do this and you need to do that.' I'm more into leaving it up to the players.

So you present a composition and assume the players will make their own contribution to it?

Within reason. There are definitely moments where you want to be more active in the direction of the music, but I rarely do that. I call people that I know can bring something to the music in their own way. There's a process: You want people to bring forth their ideas instead of demanding immediate results. It's also about being accepting of different ideas rather than being rigid about your own ideas.

How do those ideas carry over into what you do as a teacher at the School for Improvisational Music? [the music school in Brooklyn founded by Alessi]

I would say that same kind of thinking is pretty consistent across the board. A lot of people involved [in the school] play with each other and they have shared sensibilities about how to play music, how it feels.

How do you teach improvisation? Is it something that can be taught as a process?

Sure, it can be taught.

How do you go about it?

First of all you have to inspire the students to investigate the music, investigate the vast resources that exist, especially nowadays. You learn so much just listening to recordings. I know that at least half of my own education was just listening, listening to all of the usual suspects, all the people what are part of the canon, the usual suspects being Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, on and on, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins.
That music is just so rich; I continue to listen and learn from it myself. A lot of it is listening and being exposed to those ways of making music. The other part is encouraging people to play by ear, to play not so much from their intellect, but from what they're hearing, with more importance put on listening and ways of making music in the moment and the strategies that have to do with that.
Of course theory and harmony and things like that — the nuts and bolts of music — are part of the equation as well, but we deemphasize those things.

Didn't you initially learn music from your father?

I did. I took lessons from him for about 10 years, but in terms of the music that turned me on, it probably started with pop music of the day, but also my brother's record collection. It went from there. I really enjoyed playing the trumpet and I enjoyed how the trumpet fit into classical music, but eventually that kind of faded away as I had more experiences making music where you played more of an active part, as either an improviser or a composer. In particular the experiences I had at CalArts made it clear that I wanted to go in that direction. Once I moved to New York, I had made that commitment.

Do you think of yourself as a composer?

Not primarily, although improvisation is composition in real time.

You're a spontaneous composer...

In many ways. To me it's using the same creative energy. Both are very creative endeavors. So I guess I'm both an improviser and a composer...

And a teacher...

I enjoy teaching. I learn from it. It really gets you to think about your ideas in a deeper way. And I don't have a set way of doing it; a lot of times I'm improvising while I teach.

RJA Press Release for Ralph Alessi and This against That

2009-11-01T11:28:00.001-08:00

The last concert of our fall season is with trumpeter Ralph Alessi and
his quintet This Against That on Monday, November 9 at 8 p.m. in the
Kate Buchanan Room. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for
students and seniors and can be purchased at the Works in Arcata and
Eureka, Peoples Records and Missing Link Records in Arcata and online
at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm

Jazz Times magazine says Alessi has "drop-dead trumpet chops" and
calls his music "as clean and airy and sophisticated and disciplined
as post-modern progressive jazz gets.” Ralph Alessi was born in San
Rafael, the son of classical trumpeter Joe Alessi. (Brother Joe Jr.
is principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, and Ralph
himself freelanced with the San Francisco Symphony as he was coming up
through the ranks.) But after taking degrees in jazz trumpet and bass—
he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden at CalArts—he lit out for
New York, where he swiftly became an ubiquitous presence on the
downtown scene. He's been a frequent collaborator of such notable
musicians as Steve Coleman, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Uri Caine, Fred
Hersch, Dafnis Prieto and Jason Moran—most of whom have also played
and recorded in Alessi’s own groups. Alessi has recorded five albums
of originals which draw on everything from post-bop to neo-classical.
Jazz Times named This Against That's debut outing one of the ten best
recordings of 2002, while All About Jazz dubbed its 2007 follow-up
"Look" “an outstanding work of intellect and fire.”

This Against That’s current roster includes several A-list sidemen:

Tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby has been a member of Charlie Haden’s
Liberation Music Orchestra and Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band. The
New York Times put his debut album, "Sabino", among its top ten jazz
records of 2000.

Toronto-born pianist Andy Milne was voted “Rising Star Keyboardist” in
the 2004 DownBeat Readers Poll, and his band Dapp Theory blends jazz
with funk and hip-hop.

A partial list of bassist Ben Street's many credits includes tours and
recordings with Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Roswell Rudd, Paul
Motian, Lee Konitz, David Sanchez, James Moody, Mark Turner, Ethan
Iverson, Clark Terry, and Sam Rivers.

Drummer Mark Ferber was raised in San Francisco and took a BA in
Geography at UCLA while studying classical percussion with Mitchell
Peters and drums with Billy Higgins. Since moving to New York, he has
worked and played with Lee Konitz, Norah Jones, Fred Hersch, and Larry
Goldings, among many others.

A leading figure in jazz education. Alessi is the founder and director
of Brooklyn’s School for Improvision (SIM), which is playing an
influential role in development of jazz’s next generation. In a
departure from usual RJA practice, Alessi and his band will conduct a
master class with selected local student musicians the afternoon of
his concert. The master class is at 1 p.m. on Monday, November 9 in
room 131 of the HSU Music Building. The public is invited to attend
for free as observers.

You can read more about Ralph Alessi and his bandmates in This Against
That and hear streaming audio of their music at http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/alessi.html

We'll see you at the show!

The Redwood Jazz Alliance

Next Up

2009-10-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

We're getting revved for our next show featuring Ralph Alessi and This Against That.

Monday, November 9, 2009 at the Kate Buchanan Room on the campus of Humboldt State University.

So Long, Wayne

2009-10-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

RJA folks and members of the Humboldt State University mourn the untimely passing of our friend Wayne Knight. He died last week of complications from the flu.

In the immortal words of Todd Rundgren: a wizard, a true star. Wayne designed our logo and we love him for that.

He was a great guy and we will miss him terribly.

Top Ten Lists

2009-10-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Brother Michael urges us to turn our thoughts to the annual list-a-thon. As it's also getting on nigh the end of the decade, we might also be thinking of the top ten of the last ten years, too.

James Hale jumps the gun.

Moi, I have a weird hunch that once I hear the rest of Ben Sidran's Dylan Different (I heard one cut on Mike Stratton's Sunday night radio show on WLNZ), I'm going to want that CD in my top ten.

Same goes for Ben Allison's new release, Think Free.

For now, all I know for sure is that Ron Horton's it's a gadget world is somewhere between numbers 1 and 5.

Bob Doran's Pics of Holshouser, Moore and Bennink

2009-10-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Bob Doran has a very sweet slideshow at Flickr of Tuesday Night's RJA show.

A Workshop

2009-09-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Brass Ecstasy delivered a very wonderful workshop at Arcata High on Friday, September 4.

Bob Doran's pics from the Dave Douglas Show

2009-09-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Bob Doran took a great batch of pics. See them at his Flickr site.

Nasheet Waits and Me

2009-09-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Dave Douglas and Brass Ecstasy performed at the Arcata Theater Lounge on Thursday, September 3.

To see other photos, go here.

A Recent Missive Sent by the RJA

2009-08-16T09:56:00.001-07:00

Hard to believe that we're reaching the end of the summer
already, but that does mean that the first Redwood Jazz Alliance show
of the season is coming up, and it's one we're very excited about.

We've been trying to get Dave Douglas here for a long time, and he's
coming on September 3 with his group Brass Ecstasy. Their new album
"Spirit Moves" is getting rave reviews and Dave was just named the #1
trumpeter in the Downbeat International Critics poll for the 10th
consecutive year. You can read more about Dave and the other members
of his band and check out both audio and video of them at
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/douglas.htm

Tickets for Dave Douglas and Brass Ecstasy are $15 general admission
and $10 for students and seniors and can be purchased at the Works in
Arcata and Eureka, Peoples Records and Missing Link Records in Arcata
and online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm

Brass Ecstasy will be our first show at the gloriously restored Arcata
Theatre Lounge--and the first show of another season of six
performances by a wide variety of world-class artists, including some
of the hottest young players on the scene today. If you haven't yet
checked out the full season, please do so at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/2009-10.html

We're also very pleased to be able to make two new offers to you this
year:

1) From now through September 2nd, you can purchase a season ticket,
which will get you into all six shows of the season for the price of
five. Season tickets can be purchased online only at
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm Even if you end up
having to miss a show, you're not out any money. And we benefit from
having more money to sink into programming costs earlier in the year.

2) A Redwood Jazz Alliance membership now gets you not only the warm
glow that comes from knowing you're helping to support bringing world-
class jazz to Humboldt County AND some lovely perks from select RJA
sponsors, but also reserved seating at any RJA concert you attend.
Read all of the details and purchase your membership here:
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm Thanks to those of
you who have already joined, renewed, or purchased a gift membership!

We'll see you at the show!

Behold!

2009-08-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy

Thursday, September 3d, 8 p.m.

Arcata Theatre Lounge

Stand Up!

2009-06-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Gregg Moore and Bandemonium

2009-06-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Gregg has a new web site for all things Bandemonium .

http://relevantmusic.org/Bayside/Bandemonium/

"The Best in Human Powered Music for the Redwood Coast."

To see some really nice pics of Gregg and his tuba, visit Bob Doran's Flickr site and check out the photo set featuring Gregg.

The Redwood Jazz Alliance Needs Your Help!!!!

2009-06-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

The following note is our latest missive to the world:

We wrote a week or so ago with a preview of coming attractions, namely
the artists you can expect to hear in the RJA’s coming season: Dave
Douglas Brass Ecstasy, Third Man Trio (Michael Moore, Will Holshouser
& Han Bennink), Ralph Alessi & This Against That, Myra Melford’s Be
Bread, Frank Kimbrough with Noah Preminger, Antonio Sanchez &
Migration. More details soon.

Talent like that doesn’t come cheap, we said. And that’s why we're
writing again tonight.

Part of what lets us keep ticket prices low is avid, open-eared jazz
fans like you who become members. Some of you signed on as "charter"
members last year, and for that we owe you our abiding thanks. (And a
few of you, we still owe a letter and a membership card—soon come!)

Summer is our fundraising season, and the more members we can line up
now, the firmer footing we'll be on in the fall. None of needs
reminding what tough times these are, and it’s already clear that some
of the good folks who’ve given us money in the past—local businesses,
Humboldt State—just may not be able to come through this year. But
you can make up the shortfall.

Seriously: if millions of small donations can send a jazz-loving
president to Washington (what other recent chief executive can you
name who has Coltrane on his iPod and brings Esperanza Spalding to
play the White House?), then dozens of small donations can keep world-
class jazz coming to Humboldt.

For a $40 tax-deductible contribution (we’re a registered 501 (c)(3)
charity), you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve played an
extra-ordinary part in bringing some major players on the contemporary
jazz and improvised music scene to the North Coast. And on the theory
that one good turn deserves another, four local merchants who are
friends of the RJA have volunteered to extend special favors to RJA
members. Present your 2009-10 membership card at our ticket outlets
all season long and receive

• 10% off jazz CDs at The Works (Arcata & Eureka locations)
• 10% off featured CDs by RJA guest artists at People’s Records
(Arcata Plaza)
• 10% all purchases at Missing Link Records (8th & J in Arcata, behind
the Co-Op)

Plus get 10% off one purchase of any amount at Northtown Books in
Arcata.

And starting this year, we’re bending our strict egalitarian principles
—just slightly—by offering members, donors, and sponsors a crack at
reserved seating (rather than our customary general admission) at all
shows they attend.

If you became a member last year: thanks again—really. Can we count
on you to renew? (If you joined at our after our final show of
2008-09, we’ll automatically extend your membership through 2009-10.)

If you’ve come to our shows and/or workshops without becoming a
member, and you feel as though you can spare a bit beyond the price of
a cheap ticket now and again: please join! (Or make a donation in
any amount that seems right.)

And if you or your business are in a position to plunk down a bit more
cash and become a bona fide sponsor, we’d love to talk to you about
that, too.

You can become a member, donor, or sponsor online at
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm, or you can post a
check to: Redwood Jazz Alliance, P.O. Box 4443, Arcata CA 95518. If
you’ve got questions, please direct them to
rja@redwoodjazzalliance.org and we’ll gladly get back to you.

In any event: thanks for coming out to hear great music and signing
up for our list. It’s responses like yours that make us appreciate
what an amazing community we live in. Happy summer—and stay tuned for
news about Jazz Night at the Humboldt Folklife Festival and RJA Discs
of the Month.

Dan, Michael, Thomas, Eric, Michael, Loralei, and David
Redwood Jazz Alliance Board of Directors

New Season Teaser

2009-06-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Brother Eldridge recently composed this missive:

Dear Friends:

Hope your summer is off to a flying start.

It's downtime for us, concert-wise, but we're working hard to get
ready for fall and we wanted to give you a preview of what's in store--
before we announce it to the general public.

We're still finalizing dates in one or two instances, but here's who
you can look forward to hearing and seeing as guests of the RJA in
2009-2010:

In September, one of the most acclaimed (and eclectic) composers of
the past two decades, trumpeter Dave Douglas, leads off the season
with a new project, "Brass Ecstasy." The quintet (four horns and
drums) will be touring behind a brand new album and coming to us after
a residency at New York's famed Jazz Standard and an extensive summer
tour of Europe. You can stream the album---and watch a great
documentary video---at
http://www.greenleafmusic.com/store/productdetail.php?p=136

In October, local-boy-made-good, reedist Michael Moore, returns to
Humboldt County in an unusual trio with accordianist Will Holshouser
and fellow ICP Orchestra member (and 2008 winner of the European Jazz
Award), legendary drummer and wildman Han Bennink. The group's name--
the Third Man Trio--was suggested to them by an Austrian friend.
(They must have reminded him of the Viennese thugs in the Carol Reed
film, surmises Holshouser.)

In November, it's New York trumpeter Ralph Alessi with his band "This
Against That," featuring Tony Malaby, Andy Milne, John Hebert, and
Mark Ferber. The group--whose previous members have included Don
Byron, Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nasheet Waits--has recorded two
dynamite albums of adventurous, inside/outside music on Ravi
Coltrane's RKM label.

January sees the return visit of one of our most popular guests,
pianist and composer Myra Melford, this time leading a new incarnation
of her "Be Bread" ensemble, with a killer lineup of Cuong Vu on
trumpet; Ben Goldberg on clarinet; and Matt Wilson on drums. The
band's debut album is one of our favorites, and they'll be kicking off
a bi-coastal tour in Arcata behind a brand new disc on
Cryptogramophone.

In February, it's another of our favorite pianists, Frank Kimbrough,
whose influences run from Bill Evans to Andrew Hill, and who holds
down keyboard duties for the Maria Schneider Orchestra, among other
jobs. He'll appear in a duo with one of this year's up-and-coming
stars of the New York jazz scene, tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger.

And we close the season in March with another in a series of young
innovators of the nueva Latin Jazz movement: drummer Antonio Sanchez
and his band Migration. This version of the band will sport two of
following A-List saxophonists, any one of whom we'd love to bring to
Humboldt County (and two of whom we have!): on alto, David Binney or
MacArthur "Genius" Grant winner Miguel Zenon, and on tenor, Donny
McCaslin or David Sanchez (no relation).

Phew!

Talent like that doesn't come cheap--but with your help, and the help
of local business owners and professionals (and support from HSU)--we
can keep it affordable. We'll make a membership plea in another
message soon, but if you want to spare yourself the pitch, just go to
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm right now and become
a member or make a donation.

Thanks--and stay tuned!

UPDATE: Myra Melford writes to us today with a slight correction:

"Just wanted to clarify something: the new cd is coming out on Firehouse 12
(not Crypto)."

Late to the Party

2009-05-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

There's something wrong with me.

I have a job. And it's a busy job. It's getting busier. Teaching is never easy, but each semester it seems there's more to do and I have less energy for the doing of it, or at least some of the doing of it. Increasingly these days--ask any teacher at the university level--it's more and more about the business of the "managed" corporate university and less and less about the students and teaching.

But I digress. (Stop me before I start to scream again about the state of the CSU!)

Today I'm back, the grades are handed in ("submitted" [online] nowadays), and the blog can go on.

Go on about what?

The RJA season has ended. The Fly show, which I completely missed here at "Bright Moments," was another awesome show. It has come and gone. We are negotiating among ourselves about whom to ask for next year (and my goodness GRACIOUS do we have some great shows next season) . . .

Meanwhile, here's something we're doing in conjunction with new friends and sponsors at the new record shop in town, "Missing Links." More about them soon.

No I mean really....The New York Times REALLY likes Fly!

2009-04-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

2nd feature in two days in a row on our next RJA guest, Fly!

The NYT HEARTS Fly

2009-04-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Check out this profile of our next guest at the New York Times this morning.

This show is gonna be hot!

Next Up!

2009-03-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Mark Turner, and FLY!

April 26.

Here are the details.

Bob Doran Takes Great Pics!

2009-03-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

Wanna see something real real nice?

Bob Doran's Flickr set of the Uri Caine show.

Libation and Jazz

2009-03-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Ed Campbell at Libation provides the wine for the Redwood Jazz Alliance shows and other functions.

Libation is a friendly place for local jazz musicians as well as wine connoisseurs. On Friday and Saturday nights, Ed hosts a wine bar at the shop, where you can try out an assortment of reds and whites to the accompaniement of local musicians.

Good stuff.

Ed is one of the major reasons the RAJ is succeeding in bringing good new jazz to Humboldt.

Check it out at on the west side of the Plaza in Arcata and online.

Uri Caine Trio

2009-03-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

They put on a terrific show.

Drew Gress, Uri Caine, Ben Perowsky, March 12, 2009, at the Graves Gallery, Eureka, CA.

Uri Caine talks to Bob Doran

2009-03-12T15:55:00.001-07:00

The Uri Caine Interview (for the North Coast Journal, conducted by Bob Doran)

You seem to have a lot of projects going.

I do. I have different things happening.

I've been listening to your Live at the Village Vanguard album, thinking what you do is basically straight-ahead jazz. Then I took a look at the discography on your website and realized that's just one aspect of what you do. You seem to be musically omnivorous.

No, it's just a sequence of things. Musicians who grew up with a lot of different kind of music — and also if you're a keyboard player — you get a chance to play a lot of different styles of music. That's what I did when I was younger, which was a good way to start thinking about different ways of playing.

Different like your more electronic band, Bedrock...

Exactly. And sometime it's taking classical music, using it as a basis for improvisation playing with an ensemble. A lot of that is based on some of the CDs I've made, using those [pieces] as a basis for improvisation. And I play with all different types of improvisers. I've been doing that pretty much since I started playing music. But as I said before, playing keyboards has a lot to do with that — it's versatile. Looking back on the strong musical experiences I've had, everything from playing with singers and playing with choirs to playing different styles of jazz, free music, more swinging stuff, I've tried to get in touch with all of it.

It's omnivorous in contrast to other musicians who might focus more on just one style.

That happens in all types of music and art. For me, it's not just eclecticism for its own sake; it's more just moving from one opportunity to another. Playing swinging music is a different challenge from playing with an orchestra, or learning how to record yourself on a computer. You work on all those things. I think it's good also to have a wide variety of composition styles. In some cases you need something quite specific, other times you need something loose and open.

When it's more or less spontaneous composition...

Exactly. Or you set certain guidelines, underlying things that happen in each piece to set a structure for improvisation.

So while you describe yourself as a composer, sometimes that only means providing a framework.

Depending on the situation, you might have a group of musicians where some are reading and others are improvising or everybody is improvising over a certain chord change. Sometimes you create different sections within a piece by setting who's playing and who is not. Again, that comes from my experience. When I was growing up I was playing more straight-ahead jazz, bebop influenced, but at the same time I was working with people who were more into freer compositions.

Weren't you also studying composition with established modern composers?

That's right. I was lucky. When I was a teenager, I was studying with a composer in Philadelphia, George Rochberg. He was teaching a parallel course where we would go through a lot of classical forms. We'd write in forms like a Mozart sonata or a Beethoven development form. He had been known more for serial atonal work, but he'd switched back to more tonal styles and doing collage music that had snippets of other people's music. In academic circles that was considered radical.

Do you think we've reached a point in music where you don't expect that sort of reaction, where pretty much anything goes?

There's certainly more tolerance, allowing different styles to coexist. Especially today there's this information overload: You can sit and listen to music from Bali, then Beethoven, then to what was once obscure contemporary music or obscure electronic music — you can find it all. That tends to even things out. Everything becomes everything. But I think back then in the academic world coming out of the '50s and '60s, there was this thinking that there had to be a strong theoretical influence from contemporary music to be taken seriously, Arnold Schoenberg etc. etc.

What does it take today to be considered seriously?

A YouTube page.

Or a MySpace page.

Right. That's what I mean. The context is changing. I think it's a good thing for musicians. The whole idea of ownership of music and making money from music that way has changed.

It's hard to say what the new music business model will be if everyone can get music for free.

One of the things it does for performers is, it makes the performance more of an avenue. That's not touched the same way. People still want to see live music.

What's your deal with your recordings? It seems like you have a lot of liberty.

I record a lot for a record company based in Munich. It was Jazz Music Today, then it became Winter & Winter. They've made about 19 of the 20 or so CDs I've done.

Is it safe to assume you have relationship where they let you record whatever you want, up to a point?

Some of the music I've wanted to do is harder because it's very expensive, especially the more classical things with orchestra. You have a lot of musicians to pay. But most of my stuff was done through him.

What do you have in the works?

I'm making a new Bedrock CD, so we are editing that now and also working on building computer grooves. We're trying to get a certain rhythmic sound in editing on the computer. We looking for a certain spaced out sound, so that involves either working on what we've done and playing over it, or going in the studio then deconstructing it.

And in the middle of that you're shifting gears to work with a trio playing straight-ahead. Does that require realigning your thought patterns in some way?

No. Especially with our group because we've been together so long. We're used to playing with each other, so it's just natural. In that group we're mostly playing standards and originals, but there's also an open aspect to it. Things can go into different fields or grooves — we try not to play things exactly the same way. After working for days trying to construct something like what we do with Bedrock, it's actually a relief to go out and just play. You're free. You're not second guessing. You're just going for it. It's also different from this other thing I'm trying to finish, a piece for string quartet. The goal there is to create a piece that has space for improvisation but also a structure. That's also hopefully to be recorded in spring. All these different things make you think in different ways.

I see on your website that your record The Othello Syndrome was nominated for a Grammy for "Classical Crossover." What is that? I'm not sure I know what it means.

I don't know what it means either. I'm not really trying to do that. You have no control over how people interpret what you're doing. You just do it and hope that it's OK.

Jazz will Save The Economy

2009-03-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Uri Caine Trio Coming Soon!

2009-03-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Our next show is just around the corner. We're proud to present the Uri
Caine Trio on Thursday, March 12 at 8 pm at the Morris Graves Museum of
Art (636 F St. in Eureka).

Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors and are
on sale now at Peoples Records and the Works in Arcata and Eureka and
online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm. It's going to be
great hearing this brilliant piano trio in the wonderfully intimate
Graves, but that also means that seating is limited. If you purchase
tickets in advance online or at one of the outlets, we can guarantee that
you'll get a seat. If you get them at the door, standing room may be all
that's left. Remember also to come early to get a good seat.

Uri Caine is a wildly eclectic and inventive pianist known equally for his
massive jazz chops and his iconoclastic reinterpretations of classical
composers. He's collaborated with everyone from Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson
(of hip-hop band The Roots) to the Cleveland Orchestra, and his extensive
discography includes recordings dedicated to solo piano, Tin Pan Alley,
Jewish traditions and electro-acoustic grooves. In his trio, which has
been a working band for over a decade, Caine practices yet another musical
style in which he's deeply rooted: modern, acoustic, straight-ahead jazz.
But like the rest of his music, his work with piano trio both honors and
reinterprets the tradition, using familiar standards and his own originals
as springboards for surprising and adventurous improvisations. All About
Jazz called the group's signature album "Live at the Village Vanguard"
"relentlessly inventive...a masterwork from a pianist at the very top of
his game."

The other two members of the trio are fantastic musicians as well. Bassist
Drew Gress is a respected leader in his own right who has also served as a
sideman for musicians like Ralph Alessi, Tim Berne, Ravi Coltrane, Marc
Copland, Fred Hersch and John Hollenbeck. His album "7 Black Butterflies"
landed on a slew of "Best of 2005" lists. Ben Perowsky's drumming has been
heard with everyone from Rickie Lee Jones and James Moody to John Zorn and
John Cale. He also leads several groups of his own.

As with all Redwood Jazz Alliance concerts, the artists will present a
free workshop open to everyone the next morning. Caine’s workshop will be
at 10 a.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on Friday, March 13.

For more about the Uri Caine Trio, go to
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/caine.html. You'll also find streaming
audio of their music there.

We'll see you on the 12th!

Next Up: Uri Caine

2009-02-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

And a reader writes:

Saw the dude @ a sparsely attended Sunday a.m. concert @ the Brecon Jazz Fest (6 yrs ago?) - he was trippin' as they say - played nonstop for 75 minutes, all over the keyboard - once or twice (if memory serves me) even off the keyboard . . . In mid-air. Intense, a little mad, but also lyrical & a genius!

Enjoy - wish I were there.

Myron Tuman

Go Home

2009-02-05T19:44:00.001-08:00

Our first show of 2009 is coming right up and it's a good one. We're proud to present GO HOME, a new quartet featuring Ben Goldberg, Ron Miles, Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola, on Monday, February 9 at 8 pm in the Kate Buchanan Room on the HSU campus.

Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors and are on sale now online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm and at Peoples Records and the Works in Arcata and Eureka.

GO HOME has its origins in a recording project put together by Ben in April 2008. Charlie, Scott, and Ben came up together in the vibrant Bay Area music scene of the 1990s and had been talking for a few years about recording together. They saw an opportunity when Scott and Ben would be at the Jazz Standard in New York for a week. When they learned that Ron would also be in town playing with Bill Frisell, they added him to the band. Working with Ben’s compositions, GO HOME brings together Charlie and Scott’s rootsy, hard-driving grooves and the astute, lyrical interplay of Ron and Ben. Spacious melody and an incisive feel combine to create a unique and compelling sound.

Many of you remember Ben and Scott from their Fall 2007 RJA concert with the trio Plays Monk. Charlie Hunter is a Humboldt County favorite from his many appearances here in the '90s before he left the Bay Area for even greater fame and fortune in New York. He's noted for playing custom-made seven and eight-string guitars, on which he simultaneously plays bass lines, rhythm guitar, and solos. Ron Miles is probably best-known for his frequent collaborations with Bill Frisell, and he's also worked with such disparate performers as Don Byron, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Ginger Baker.

For more about Go Home and all of the guys in the band, go to http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/cohen.html. You'll also find streaming audio of their music there.

We'll see you on February 9th!

The Redwood Jazz Alliance

Short Bio of Ben Goldberg

2009-02-01T21:01:00.000-08:00

Clarinetist and composer Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver, Colorado, and received degrees from the University of California and Mills College. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo, and studied with both Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano.
In a March 2007 article in the San Francisco Bay Area magazine The Monthly, (http://www.themonthly.com/up-front-03-07.html), Andrew Gilbert heralded Ben Goldberg as “a dauntless musical explorer who has played a central role in the Bay Area’s improvised music scene for more than two decades.

Following his muse wherever it leads him has taken Goldberg on a circuitous musical journey, from Jewish roots music, blues and bebop to avant-garde jazz and chamber improvisation. Along the way, he himself has profoundly influenced some of the region’s most creative musicians…..It’s difficult to overstate Goldberg’s impact on the California music scene, though he has often flown under the mainstream radar, ridiculously undetected by major clubs, festivals and the jazz press. Over the past year or so, however, he’s been impossible to ignore, as a series of collaborations have put him smack-dab in the center of several of the scene’s most fertile musical ensembles.”

In addition to leading his own groups such as the Ben Goldberg Quintet, Mr. Goldberg performs with the New Klezmer Trio, Tin Hat, plays monk, the Graham Connah Group; and John Schott’s Typical Orchestra. He has received two NEA grants: one in 1993 for performance of the music of Andrew Hill, Bobby Bradford, Steve Lacy, Herbie Nichols, and Thelonious Monk; and another in 1996 for a concert series of his own compositions.

Go Home, on February 9th

2009-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Next up: "Go Home"

Ben Goldberg, Ron Miles, Charlie Hunter, and Scott Amendola

Monday, February 9, 2009 (8 p.m.) | Kate Buchanan Room, HSU

Guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter comes “home” for a reunion with some old Bay Area mates—drummer Scott Amendola (T.J. Kirk, Nels Cline Singers) and clarinetist Ben Goldberg (Tin Hat Trio, New Klezmer Trio)—in a brand-new quartet rounded out by the sublime cornetist Ron Miles, a frequent collaborator of guitarist Bill Frisell. Together they lay down rootsy, hard-driving grooves and dynamic interplay, perfectly structured by Goldberg’s lyrical compositions.

Martin Luther King Jr on Jazz

2009-01-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Trent Austin sent this to the Trumpet Players International list yesterday. I have yet to "check my sources" on it, but I have no reason to doubt its provenance.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Opening Address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz
Festival, WPFW News (Washington), [23 August 2002]

God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures
with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet
songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment
and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and
if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest
realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new
hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.

Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more
complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning,
the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which
flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American
Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists
and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world,
musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring
within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from
this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began
to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of
the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of
modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody
needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy.
Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping
stone towards all of these.

Darcy James Argue's Tribute to Freddie Hubbard

2009-01-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

For the most comprehensive round up of tributes and peons to the late great Freddie Hubbard, see Darcy James Argue's blog.

While you're there, why not take the opportunity to vote early and often for Lindsay Beyerstein, who is in the running for Best Individual Blog in the Weblog 08 awards.

She is apparently the partner of one of the band members and takes fantastic photos of Argue's "steampunk" big band, Secret Society. She is also the owner-operator of one of the longest running and best blogs out there, Majikthese.

This is not Jazz

2008-12-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

This is Trinidad, CA, on Christmas day (yesterday). High surf advisory, highest in years.

Miguel and Band

2008-12-21T11:56:00.000-08:00

Here's Luis Perdomo, Miguel Zenon and Hans Glawischnig at their RJA Show this past spring.

Ben

2008-12-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

Here's Ben Allison at his RJA Workshop in 2008.

Dafnis

2008-12-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

Here's Dafnis Prieto at his RJA Workshop.

RJA's Top Picks of the Year

2008-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

Read all about it at our blog. As ever, Brother Michael Eldridge delivers the good with fab style.

Dr. Dave’s Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2008

2008-12-15T11:55:00.001-08:00

Joe Locke. Force of Four. Who's afraid of Vibes!? We gotta get this guy here! Very advanced hot bop-tradition music, like Woody Shaw's fierce playing transferred to vibes.	Dafnis Prieto. Taking the Soul for a Walk. Dafnison Music. Prieto's RJA appearance (sans Avishai Cohen's trumpet) was like Zenon's, brilliantly evocative of the Caribbean roots of jazz. Live, the drumming is noisy and parade-like; the second horn makes the record more like a "concert" than the actual show.
Donny McCaslin. Recommended Tools. Greenleaf. Donny's explores the trio as the "most intimate" configuration, and reveals a huge personality behind his sound. Terrific technique never suffered less for expression of emotion.	Bill Dixon with the Exploding Star Orchestra. Thrill Jockey. I've heard several people, one a big swell who should know whereof he speaks, that Bill Dixon is coasting on his achievements of thirty years ago. Being one who coasts on the 70s—when you and I were young, Billy--I should be able to see it, but I don't. He's amazing. 83 is the new 40. I've been listening to small group and solo Dixon over the years, so hearing Dixon's round black tone inside this big band thing is an especial treat. It's cantankerous and fiddly and loud without being muddy, or fey, and I love it. And Mazurek is doing now what he'll "coast on" thirty years hence ….
Paolo Fresu. Mare Nostrum. ACT. Richard Galliano on accordion and bandoneon is the real reason for this choice, though Paolo's muted horn, even more Miles-like than usual, is always perfect. This is the soundtrack to the European holiday in my head.	Bennie Maupin. Early Reflections. Cryptogramophone. Sheer unadulterated pure scary beauty.
Miguel Zenon. Awake. Marsalis Music. Zenon is the most driven of any contemporary artist working to extend the main stream of the music. He brings extraordinary energy to the original African-Caribbean-North American fusion. Using the past to find the future with compelling, vigorous resolution. And as a "genius" grantee, he now has the bucks to help him to it!	Ben Allison. Little Things Rule the World. Palmetto. Program music for everyday life in the year of 2008. Program music for everyday life in the year of 2008.World. Palmetto.
Adam Kolker. Flag Day. Sunny Side	Nicholas Payton, Into the Blue. Nonesuch.

Extremely Honorable Mention

Mary Halvorson — Dragon's Head (Firehouse 12)

John Ellis. Dance Like There's No Tomorrow. HYENA.

David Sanchez. Cultural Survival. Concord Picante.

Harris Eisenstadt — Guewel (Clean Feed)

Conrad Herwig. Latin Side of John Coltrane. Reissue of My Year.

McCoy Tyner, Guitars. Half Note.

Don Cherry — Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966, Vol. 2 (ESP)

Things tipping over into next year (I haven't heard but want to):

Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet — Tabligh (Cuneiform)

Chico Hamilton, Andrew Hill, Dreams Come True, Joyous Shout, 2008

Taylor Ho Bynum — Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths (Hatology)

Ari Hoenig, Bert's Playground (Dreyfus)

On the Radio

2008-12-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

RJA Radio, this week:

Manuel Valera: FORMA NUEVA “nebulism” 5:32

Manuel Valera (piano), Seamus Blake (saxophone), John Patitucci (bass),

Bill Stewart (drums)

- Michael Moore & Fred Hersch: THIS WE KNOW “spirit of 76” 3:28

Michael Moore (clarinet), Fred Hersch (piano)

- San Francisco Jazz Collective: LIVE 2008 TOUR “the year 2008” 12:04

Stefon Harris (vibraphone), Miguel Zenon (alto sax), Joe Lovano (tenor sax),

Robin Eubanks (trombone), Dave Douglas (trumpet), Renee Rosnes (piano),

Matt Penman (bass), Eric Harland (drums)

- Jason Llindner: PREMONITION “mr. demargary” 6:12

Jason Lindner (piano), Myron Walden (alto sax), Alex Norris (trumpet),

Omer Avital (bass), Daniel Freedman (drums)

- Quest: OF ONE MIND “of one mind” 6:12

David LIebman (soprano sax), Richie Beirach (piano), Ron McLure (bass),

Billy Hart (drums)

- Brad Mehldau Trio: HOUSE ON HILL “backyard” 5:44

Brad Mehldau (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums)

- Dave Holland Sextet: PASS IT ON “sum of all parts” 8:11

Dave Holland (bass), Antonio Hart (alto sax), Robin Eubanks (trombone),

Alex Sipiagin (trumpet), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Eric Harland (drums)

- William Parker Quartet: PETIT OISEAU “the golden bell” 6:26

William Parker (bass), Rob Brown (alto sax), Lewis Barnes (trumpet),

Hamid Drake (drums)

- Joe Locke: FORCE OF FOUR “like Joe” 6:12

Joe Locke (vibes), Robert Rodriguez (piano), Ricardo Rodriguez (bass),

Jonathan Blake (drums)

- Francisco Mela: CIRIO “benes” 8:21

Francisco Mela (drums), Jason Moran (piano), Mark Turner (tenor sax),

Lionel Loueke (guitar), Larry Grenadier (bass)

- Frank Kimbrough: LONELY WOMAN “20 bars” 6:41

Frank Kimbrough (piano), Ben Wolfe (bass), Jeff Williams (drums)

- Harry Beckett: WARM SMILES “tender is the sky” 7:34

Harry Beckett (trumpet), Mike Osborne (alto sax), Frank Ricotti (vibes),

John Taylor (piano), Chris Laurence (bass), John Webb (drums)

- Antonio Sanchez: MIGRATION “one for antonio” 9:01

Antonio Sanchez (drums), Chick Corea, (piano), Scott Colley (bass)

- Ron Horton: EVERYTHING IN A DREAM “saint ita’s vision” 8:10

Ron Horton (trumpet), John O’Gallagher (alto sax), Tony Malaby (tenor sax),

Frank Kimbrouigh (piano), Masa Kamaguchi (bass), Mike Sarin (drums)

- Carla Bley Big Band: APPEARING NIGHTLY “greasy gravy” 8:50

Carla Bley (piano, conducting), & featuring: Gary Valente (trombone),

Lew Soloff (trumpet), Andy Sheppard (tenor sax), Wolfgang Puschnig (alto)

- Manuel Valera: VIENTOS “a la interperie” 8:53

Manuel Valera (piano), Joel Frahm (saxophone), James Genus (bass),

Ernesto SImpson (drums)

Anat Cohen with Several Members of the RJA

2008-12-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Jazz Recordings for 2008

2008-12-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

This little jeu d'esprit of jazz enthusiasts is coming up fast, parlor-game-wise.

Here's a whole bunch of them from The Jazzhouse.

Stay tuned for the RJA members' contributions.....