ALL ABOUT JAZZ-NEW YORK NEWS
October 31, 2009
Dear jazz community at large,
AllAboutJazz-New York's November 2009 issue (no. 91) is now available
at your favorite New York City jazz clubs and record stores.
On the Cover: JOHN MEDESKI
Interview: AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS
Artist Feature: FRANK GRATKOWSKI
Label Spotlight: KONNEX RECORDS
Club Profile: YORK COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Encore: ALVIN FIELDER
Lest We Forget: ALAN SHORTER
Megaphone: RANDY SANDKE
CD Reviews
And plenty more!
On the Cover: JOHN MEDESKI
By Graham Flanagan; photos by Max Flatow
The sight of John Medeski performing on stage - his brow furrowed by intense concentration - can be intimidating. Armed with an arsenal of instruments both traditional and unconventional, he concocts sonic combinations most listeners would never have otherwise conceived. It's obvious that he's there to work - not play. Like a mad scientist who's been stuck in his lab for months, Medeski proudly shows off the results of his experiments, making the listener sit up and take notice...perhaps even notes. The doctor is in session. Medeski is at The Stone Nov. 1st and 3rd-8th and at Nokia Theater Nov. 14th with Medeski Martin and Wood.
Interview: AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS
By Kurt Gottschalk; photo by Alan Nahigian
Composer, pianist and singer Amina Claudine Myers is a part of the first generation of the famed Chicago collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Coming north from her native Blackwell, Arkansas, she was an unusual presence in the organization - not just as one of the few female members, but as a singer and songwriter willing to, at times, employ traditional song structures. Outside of the AACM, Myers has played in bands led by Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Haden, Bill Laswell, Sonny Stitt and James "Blood" Ulmer and has released nine albums as a leader. She continues to be an active member of the New York chapter of the AACM. Myers is at Community Church of New York Nov. 13th.
Artist Feature: FRANK GRATKOWSKI
By Martin Longley; photo by Peter Gannushkin
The virtuoso German reed specialist Frank Gratkowski enjoys a particularly fertile range of collaborations, settings and directional thrusts. ...Gratkowski combines passion and control in his playing, qualities that remain paramount whether he's blowing alto saxophone, clarinet, bass or contrabass clarinet. He possesses a steely precision that channels sonic extremity within clipped or carefully shaped outbursts. Gratkowski is at Roulette Nov. 9th.
Record Label Spotlight: KONNEX RECORDS
By Celeste Sunderland
During the label's 25-year existence hundreds of records have been released under the Konnex name. These days Schiek simply selects recordings that he likes from among the many that pass by his desk, but in the early days, he was traveling to New York ten times a year to record the likes of Cecil Taylor, Sonny Fortune, pianist Borah Bergman, bassist Joe Fonda and clarinetist Perry Robinson. But he also went out to support Germany-based players such as saxophonists Peter Brotzmann and Charlie Mariano... Artists performing this month include Frank Gratkowski at Roulette Nov. 9th; Sonny Fortune at Sistas' Place Nov. 14th; Pascal Niggenkemper at Solo Kitchen Bar Nov. 15th and Douglass Street Music Collective Nov. 21st; Dom Minasi at Le Grand Dakar Nov. 19th and ABC No Rio Nov. 22nd; Joe McPhee at Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center Nov. 20th and Abrons Arts Center Nov. 21st and Blaise Siwula at ABC No Rio Nov. 22nd.
Club Profile: YORK COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
By Marcia Hillman
In the heart of south Queens, the York College campus sits on a 50-acre configuration of six super blocks divided by public streets. Part of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College's central campus includes the academic core which houses classrooms, lecture halls, laboratories, a television studio, art studios, library, computer facilities, academic and administrative offices, as well as dining facilities and a bookstore. On adjacent super blocks the 1,437-seat Performing Arts Center/180-seat Theater Building can be found. The larger main stage space is a proscenium style theater and the smaller is a more intimate arena thrust space. It is here that jazz has found a home. Performers this month include Burnt Sugar (Nov. 13th) and Cyrus Chestnut (Nov. 21st).
Encore: ALVIN FIELDER
By Clifford Allen
Though the phrase "Ancient to the Future" was a hallmark of the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the idea of a lengthy tradition related to the new music is something that's not often recognized. Free improvisation might seem to be part of its own microcosm, rather than an expressive form that springs from Baby Dodds, Jelly Roll Morton, Monk and Kenny Clarke. However, to hear drummer Alvin Fielder - whose early discography includes work with Sun Ra and reedman Roscoe Mitchell - talk about the music and his place in it, the work comes directly from a bebop lineage and an American music.
Lest We Forget: ALAN SHORTER
By Clifford Allen
Being in the orbit of Miles Davis, however tangentially, usually guaranteed one a spot in the jazz canon. It's somewhat surprising then that Wayne Shorter's older brother Alan, a trumpeter/
flugelhornist who appeared on Wayne's 1965 Blue Note LP The All-Seeing Eye, was treated with obscurity if not derision.
Megaphone: Creator vs. Interpreter
By Randy Sandke
We've all heard the saying that "Jazz is America's classical music." Implicit in this notion is the belief that jazz is equally worthy of respect, admiration and support as any 'serious' music. Over the past few decades, jazz has indeed found a greater degree of prestige, academic interest and corporate sponsorship than at any time before.
But there's a downside to this parallel between jazz and classical music. Jazz seems headed towards the same path classical music followed by becoming an interpreter's, rather than a creator's, art.
CD Reviews
(this month's performance venues in parentheses):
- Attila Zoller -- Common Cause Enja
- Sadao Watanabe -- I'm Old Fashioned (with the Great Jazz Trio) Test of Time
- John Hollenbeck -- Eternal Interlude Sunnyside (Le Poisson Rouge)
- Nicholas Urie -- Excerpts From An Online Dating Service Red Piano (Brooklyn Lyceum)
- Underground Horns -- Funk Monk s/r (BAMCafe; Nublu)
- Carlos Zingaro/Dominique Regef/Wilbert De Joode -- Spectrum Clean Feed (Roulette)
- Jerry Granelli -- Vancouver '08 Songlines (Roulette)
- Chris McGregor -- Our Prayer Fledg'ling
- Akira Sakata -- Friendly Pants Columbia-Family Vineyard
- Itaru Oki -- Phantom Note Offbeat-Doubt Music
- Miyumi Project -- Live in Poland Southport
- Jesse Stacken/Kirk Knuffke -- Mockingbird SteepleChase (Cornelia Street Cafe)
- Uri Gurvich -- The Storyteller Tzadik (Solo Kitchen Bar; Fat Cat; Tea Lounge)
- Vijay Iyer -- Historicity ACT (Jazz Standard)
- Miles Davis -- Sketches of Spain (50th Anniversary Edition) Columbia-Legacy (Manhattan School of Music; Dizzy's Club)
- Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra -- Miles Ahead Live Jazzheads (Manhattan School of Music; Dizzy's Club)
- Daryl Sherman -- Johnny Mercer: A Centennial Tribute Arbors (92nd Street Y)
- Sex Mob -- Meets Medeski (Live in Willisau) Thirsty Ear (Sullivan Hall; Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center)
- James Weidman -- Three Worlds Inner Circle (Jazz Standard; Village Vanguard)
- Miroslav Vitous -- Remembering Weather Report ECM
- Louis Sclavis -- Lost on the Way ECM
- Evan Parker -- The Moment's Energy ECM
- Jan Garbarek -- Dresden ECM
- Jeremy Steig -- Howlin' For Judy (Legwork/Wayfaring Stranger) Solid State-Blue Note
- Krzysztof Popek -- Estate Power Bros
- Anne Drummond -- Like Water Obliqsound (Dizzy's Club; Smalls)
- Tyshawn Sorey -- Koan 482 Music (Cornelia Street Cafe; AACM)
- Jesse Elder -- The Winding Shell Off
- Jacam Manricks -- Labyrinth Manricks Music
- Billy Lester -- Visceral Coppens
- Transit -- Quadralogues Clean Feed (Roulette; Douglass Street Music Collective; I-Beam)
- Nate Wooley/David Grubbs/Paul Lytton -- Seven Storey Mountain Important (Roulette; Douglass Street Music Collective; I-Beam)
- Randy Ingram -- The Road Ahead Brooklyn Jazz Underground (Cornelia Street Cafe)
- Rob Garcia -- Perennial Brooklyn Jazz Underground (Cornelia Street Cafe)
- Heath Brothers -- Endurance Jazz Legacy Productions (Iridium; Flushing Town Hall; Blue Note)
- Donal Fox -- Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project Leonellis Music (Zankel Hall)
- Jon Irabagon -- The Observer Concord (Goodbye Blue Monday)
- Noah Baerman -- Bliss Lemel (Jazz Gallery)
- Jason Lindner -- Gives You Now vs. Now Anzic (Nublu; Drom)
- Helio Alves -- It's Clear Reservoir (Kitano)
- Roscoe Mitchell -- Nonaah Nessa
- Paul Flaherty -- Aria Nativa Family Vineyard
- John Butcher -- Resonant Spaces Confront (Issue Project Room; Town Hall; The Stone)
- Edward Van Asselt -- A Smooth Journey Daybreak-Challenge
- Miles Davis -- Miles Prestige-Concord
- Miles Davis -- Kind of Blue (Legacy Edition) Columbia-Legacy
- The New Mellow Edwards -- Big Choantza Skirl (The Local 269)
- Tyft -- Smell the Difference Skirl
- Ben Perowsky -- Esopus Opus Skirl (The Stone; Nublu; Jazz Gallery)
- Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky/Andrey Kondakov/Vladimir Volkov -- Christmas Concert Leo
- Carl Ludwig Hubsch -- The Universe is a Disk Leo
- Various Artists -- Collaborations: 2004 and 2007 Leo
- Jan Klare/Bar Maris/Wilbert De Joode/Michael Vatcher -- Played 1000 Leo
- Frank Gratkowski/Alexey Lapin/Sebastian Gramss/Helen Bledsoe -- Unplugged Mind Leo (Roulette)
- Chet Baker -- Strollin' Enja
- Chet Baker -- Broken Wing Inner City
- John Proulx -- Baker's Dozen: Remembering Chet Baker MAXJAZZ (Feinstein's)
- James Carter/John Medeski/Christian McBride/Adam Rogers/Joey Baron -- Heaven on Earth Half Note (Birdland)
- Masada Quartet -- Book of Angels, Vol. 12: Stolas (feat. Joe Lovano) Tzadik
- Enrico Pieranunzi/Marc Johnson/Joey Baron -- Dream Dance CAMJazz (Birdland)
- Harry Allen/Joe Cohn -- Plays Music from South Pacific Arbors (Smalls; North Square; Tribeca Performing Arts Center; Knickerbocker Bar and Grill)
- Louis Amstrong -- The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946) Decca-Mosaic
- Paul Motian -- On Broadway, Vol. 5 Winter & Winter (Village Vanguard)
- Azar Lawrence -- Prayer for My Ancestors Furthermore (Dizzy's Club)
- Azar Lawrence -- Speak the Word Zarman Productions (Dizzy's Club)
- Revolutionary Ensemble -- Vietnam ESP-Disk
- Revolutionary Ensemble -- Beyond the Boundary of Time Mutable
- Larry Ochs -- Stone Shift Rogue Art
- Mysterium -- An Electric Soundpainting Septet Eavesdrop (Roulette)
- Mikkel Ploug/Sissel Vera Pettersen/Joachim Badenhorst -- Equilibrium Songlines (Douglass Street Music Collective; The Local 269; Le Grand Dakar)
...and Plenty More!
Look for other sections like On This Day, In Print, On DVD, Listen Up!, VOX News, NY@Night, Recommended New Releases, Birthdays, In
Memoriam, and our invaluable event Calendar.
Thanks so much for reading All About Jazz-New York, the city's only homegrown gazette devoted to the music.
All the best,
Andrey and
Laurence
All About Jazz-New York
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