By Chris M. Slawecki
AAJ tries to write about news, different events and stylistic developments in Jazz. Simple enough, right? However, although we try to focus AAJ primarily on the music, we also feel that there is more to Jazz than JUST the music.
The love Jazz fans feel toward the music also presents the opportunity to create a forum. Sure, the music is our initial common meeting ground a Thelonious Monk record sounds the same in my house as it would in your house (although whether we hear it the same or not is an entirely different matter). But the music also presents the opportunity for exchange. Monk fans talk about Monk, but they generally talk about other things as well.
Yes, were trying to make AAJ the first place you turn to read CD reviews and book reviews and artist interviews the first place you turn to read about the music. But we also want to be the first place to remind you that Jazz people do some pretty cool things without blowing, plucking, thumping or otherwise striking a note, too.
It was extremely rewarding, for example, to learn that several friends of AAJ had sent free music to SFC Michael Dyer, a military man currently stationed in Tuzla, Bosnia. Theres not a lot of Jazz programming in those parts, and he wrote AAJ to see if folks would mind sharing some tunes to help ease Michaels burden and that of his men. He called us from Bosnia to thank everybody (For more information, see our recent newsletter).
Ivan Lins Live At MCG is another recent example. Its the first installment of a new partnership between Heads Up International Ltd. and the Manchester Craftsmens Guild in Pittsburgh (PA). This year, Heads Up will release three live albums recorded at the MCG concert hall in the Iron City to benefit the MCG inner-city high school Jazz program, and plans to release subsequent installments next year.
Live At MCG has the chance to be a pretty solid series: MCG has for three decades been a model inner city service organization for education and social change and has sponsored more than 600 jazz performances since launching its concert series a decade ago. Jazz courses through Pittsburgh as mightily as its famous Three Rivers do, serving as the birthplace of such genuine giants as Erroll Garner, Billy Eckstine, Roy Eldridge, Ahmad Jamal, Eddie Jefferson, Stanley & Tommy Turrentine, George Benson, and Paul Chambers. MCG won a Grammy in 1997 for Live at MCG by the Count Basie Orchestra with New York Voices, and was also a nominee at the past NARAS ceremony for their album by Paquito D'Rivera with the United Nations Orchestra.
Like Antonio Carlos Jobim, his role model stylistically and career trajectory Ivan Lins is better known as a composer than a performer; over the past ten years, if youve heard anything you would describe as "romantic Brazilian pop," chances are Lins is responsible for it. His compositions have graced albums by George Benson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, Patti Austin, Take Six, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin and Sergio Mendes. Terrence Blanchard dedicated his 1996 album The Heart Speaks entirely to Lins compositions. Lins also owns a Grammy "Velas" earned Best Jazz Instrumental Performance honors for Quincy Jones opus The Dude and collaborated with the Manhattan Transfer on their Grammy-winning Brazil album.
Ivan Lins Live At MCG works better for me in the bright, soft yet crisp early morning than any other time of day. Theres something soothing yet energizing, supple yet intriguingly vibrant, about it. You might stack it in your collection smack-dab between Michael Franks (from its seductive and playful vocals) and Pat Metheny (from its airy and deft mixture of soft chords, percussion and breezy guitars). Lins even sings like Jobim, in a thoroughly unremarkable yet understated and competent voice that seems so warm and personal. The set list includes the premier of "Henrysville," Lins tribute to composer (and Pittsburgh native) Henry Mancini. Plenty of cooing, sighing ballads, too, most notably "Love Dance," well-suited for tender late-night gymnastics for two in a plush, dimly lit cozy room.
If you like what you hear, Lins will also be appearing on the following brief U.S. itinerary:
June 1 through 6 Oakland, CA Yoshis
June 7 Santa Cruz, CA Kuumbwa Jazz Center
June 10 Santa Barbara, CA Lobero Theater
June 12 Los Angeles, CA Playboy Jazz Festival
June 13 Wilmington, DE Clifford Brown Jazz Festival
June 15 through June 20 New York, NY The Blue Note
June 22 Boston, MA Scullers
