By Nick Catalano
March began on a high note for performances at the Jazz Standard. Benny Golson celebrated the release of his new Arkadia CD "That's Funky," which features recently deceased Nat Adderley. The personnel at the Jazz Standard gig were totally different from the CD with only Golson and bassist Ray Drummond appearing live. Usually this circumstance is disappointing but I was surprised to hear much more appealing material at the Standard than I heard on the CD. Mike LeDonne was superb on piano and Golson's playing was first rate.
On a related note, The Jazz Standard has inaugurated a new concept program with Don Sicker presenting the music of important trumpeters in a series dubbed "Gone But Not Forgotten." Such legendary figures as Booker Little, Bennie Harris, and Joe Gordon will be retrospected in coming weeks. In this writer's opinion, this series represents the most original production idea of any major New York jazz venue this season. For more information call (212) 576-2232.
A collection of jazz books that features important names has surfaced recently and is worth noting. Peter Levinson's tome "Trumpet Blues - The Life and Music of Harry James" is a highly readable account of one of the most astounding careers in American music history. With material from over two hundred interviews, Levinson has scoured the life of a brilliant trumpeter whose contribution was obscured because of enormous commercial success. James' life read like that of a contemporary Don Juan but his womanizing never interrupted a dedication to producing quality music. Levinson's account is precise and scholarly.
Speaking of trumpeters, my own biography of Clifford Brown has just been published by Oxford University Press and I am happy to report that it has received favorable reviews and is selling briskly in the bookstores. As most of you know, Brownie was the "baddest" and his music is as fresh today as it was fifty years ago.
One of the most unique jazz stories of recent memory concerns pianist/composer Darrell Grant who, unlike most performers has left a successful jazz apprenticeship in New York to move to Oregon where he is currently a professor at Portland State University and a writer to boot. Grant was well scrutinized in Gotham where he appeared with the likes of Betty Carter, Sonny Fortune, Roy Haynes, Frank Morgan and others. His neo-bop literature was always tres au courant as they say. Actually, my French reference is well timed because Grant has a new CD (Sh!ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ
it won't be released until May) for Lair Hill Records that highlights the music of Michel LeGrand. What can I say about this new CD "Smokin' Java" which won't sound like a review. (It is superb . . . There I said it.) SoÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ
Gotham's loss is Oregon's gain. I'm sure Professor Grant will be happy in the Northwest. His music surely sounds like he is enjoying the change.
