Articles by John Ephland
Charlie Haden: Anatomy of a Jazz Classic
by John Ephland
It was a phoner from the suburban Chicago offices of DownBeat to bassist Charlie Haden in L.A. Our talk, which was held on September 15, 1991, was periodically interrupted by his needing to say, “Hold on one second." The occasion? The 30th anniversary of the release of saxophonist Ornette Coleman's groundbreaking LP Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. To this day, though, I do not recall this interview ever being published at the magazine. And to think that I talked with ...
Continue ReadingAnd His Name Was Max
by John Ephland
This interview was conducted during the Chicago Jazz Festival on August 31, 1990. A favorite topic: musicians who dedicate their artistic lives to the spirit of collaborations. When I was writing about Max Roach in the late 1980s, I was astounded by how many projects he seemed to be simultaneously engaged in. A giant among giants when bebop was on the march during the 1940s, Max would go on to perform with all manner of musician through the ...
Continue ReadingSylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells
by John Ephland
Tonally, these two artists offer what feels and sounds like an ideal fit. Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson are in no hurry with , their third collaboration as a duo, the title coming from a passage in the novel Trust, by Herman Diaz. There is gentleness mixed with a kind of dreaminess, interspersed with what feel like spasms of either delight or some sudden fury of exposition that must find an outlet. And like all duo ...
Continue ReadingGilmore Piano Festival 2024
by John Ephland
Irving S. Gilmore International Piano FestivalKalamazoo, MIApril 24 to May 12, 2024 Thelonious Monk ends his 1967 album Straight, No Chaser with the song “We See." This Monk classic quartet remake from the 1950s was also the last piece of jazz music performed at this year's Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. This time it was played by the Paul Cornish Trio. 'We See" was the only cover the group played in their (otherwise) startling all-original ...
Continue ReadingHenry Threadgill: The Other One
by John Ephland
Listening to Henry Threadgill's music, the bobbing and weaving doesn't maintain a continuity but can jump from one strand to another, one scene to another, as in a dream. It is tonal and not, just as dreams are, perhaps, rhapsodic or unkempt, the story or plot being as tangible, fungible as a summer breeze. Much is made of Threadgill's chamber-music esthetic. And rightly so. It is “so chamber music precise it must all be premeditated, right?" asked the ...
Continue ReadingLeo Genovese, Demian Cabaud, Marcos Cavaleiro: Estrellero
by John Ephland
Leo Genovese's piano can sound like an orchestra. It does as much amidst his voluminous solo work on bassist Demian Cabaud's “Arbol Negro," his thick chords, the density of his playing full and ripe. From their new trio recording, Estrellero, which also features the light, sympathetic stylings of Marcos Cavaleiro on drums, are five original compositions split between pianist and bassist. The contrast emerges in Genovese's own voice as he marks time with Cabaud's more plodding, abstract pen. ...
Continue ReadingMata Atlantica: Retiro e Ritmo
by John Ephland
The coastal rainforest of Brazil, otherwise known as Mata Atlantica, and “its beauty and vivacity" are the inspiration for Retiro e Ritmo. It is an album frontloaded with a varied cast of characters from hither and yon. Maybe that casting is behind a project seeking to draw worldwide attention to the ongoing shit-storm that includes not only the Amazon but the whole planet. Retiro e Ritmo is deceptive, calling attention to a source of worldwide calamity all the ...
Continue ReadingSue Foley: A Witness to Certainty in a World Gone Mad
by John Ephland
Sue Foley Old Dog Tavern Blues Bash Live 2022 Kalamazoo, MI July 16, 2022 It was a variation on what one might see at a contemporary classical music concert. Lots of grey heads, lawn chairs, not much movement. But there were numbers, lots of them, out to see and hear live music, outdoors, at one of Kalamazoo's best, most congenial night spots for evening entertainment. A kind of latter-day Woodstock generation of almost-mostly ...
Continue ReadingRan Blake: Gray Moon, When Soft Rains Fall and Northern Noir
by John Ephland
I'm a sucker for musical duets. Duets that make me feel like I'm in the same room with the two of them. Here we have three recent releases with the iconoclastic, legendary Ran Blake, now 83, in what is his most typical setting. Yes, to hear Blake paired up like this is to hear more of an artist completely at home by and with himself as well as with others, one at a time. In this ...
Continue ReadingELLNORA: The Guitar Festival
by John Ephland
Krannert CenterELLNORA: The Guitar Festival Champaign/Urbana, IL September 5-7, 2019 It takes place every other year; every odd year. Going back to 2005, ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival, held in the University of Illinois' Champaign-Urbana' one-stop-shop Krannert Center, has been celebrating the works of an amazing array of plectrists from all walks of life, genres and backgrounds. A bit of ELLNORA's history in the Krannert Center (the center this year also celebrating 50 years ...
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