Paul Newman 1925-2008

Grand Avenue Festival

This Sunday, downtown Los Angeles will host the annual Grand Avenue Festival. It's all about the arts- it will feature dance, flutes, guitars, and saxophones, etc.

At 3:15, the sax ensemble will be presenting what is called an "open rehearsal." We will be performing a variety of musical styles. (Yours truly did a basic arrangement of "In the Mood" for the group.) Look for me; I'll be the guy with the semi-curved soprano sax.

The Monterey Jazz Festival

The 51st annual Monterey Jazz Festival was held this past weekend. Once again, I was unable to attend. The last time I went was documented by the souvenir on the left. Time flies! The only acts I can recall right now are Billy Eckstine and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, but even that might not be correct.

At least recordings from the past few decades are being released. The latest batch showcases:

The Giants of Jazz, 1972 (Roy Eldridge(!), Clark Terry, Thelonious Monk, Al McKibbon & Art Blakey)

Jimmy Witherspoon, 1972, backed by the Robben Ford band

Cal Tjader, (The Best of, various years)

Tito Puente, 1977

Dave Brubeck, 1958-2007

Shirley Horn, 1994

Where in the world is....

......Eddie Henderson? England!

At least he was at the time of this recording. One of the banes of a musician's existence is the constant travel necessary to make a living. But it does give their fans in far away places a chance to see their favorite artists. I recently got a CD by a UK quintet called Ambulance (it's led by bassist Arnie Somogyi.) It was a pleasant surprise to see that California musician Eddie Henderson was a special guest, augmenting them into a sextet. I don't have as much Eddie Henderson as I should, so this was a pleasant surprise. [If you haven't had a chance, check out his work with Pharoah Sanders (Journey to the One) and Billy Hart (Enchance).] The Ambulance CD is entitled Accident and Insurgency (Linn Records ). The program is all original material and the group is tight. The two front line reedists double extensively, so there are a lot of variety in the textures. One of the things I like about the group is that they bring something back to jazz that isn't present too much anymore - a sense of humor!

Happy Birthday, Prez!

On this date in 1909, Lester Young was born. If not for a few unfortunate lifestyle choices, he would have been 99 years old. (This isn’t extremely far-fetched, his brother Lee Young, a drummer, passed away earlier this month at the age of 94.)


Hopefully, there are some Lester Young centennial tributes in the works!

Guitar Heroics vs. Bass Reality

Whenever I go into one of the big chain electronics stores, there’s always a bunch of kids vying to take turns at the Guitar Hero game. This whole phenomena makes me ill. It’s such a perfect illustration of instant gratification; why take lessons or practice scales and chords? When I see these kids, I think of Quick Draw McGraw’s alter ego, El Kabong. (If you don’t know what El Kabong did with his guitar, find a baby boomer and ask them.)

On August 10th, the New York Times ran a story about a 17 year old who is poised to make Tony Hawk-like deals (i.e., lucrative) due to his prowess on his “guitar.” The next day, the Los Angeles Times ran the story of a 39 year bass player's struggles as a talented and versatile musician. The title speaks volumes – When Music Barely Pays the Bills.

When you compare the rewards of pantomiming music against the realities of a skilled musician, there’s only one thing to say: KABONG!!!

Vinyl Edition

A couple of weeks ago, one of the participants in the Anthony Braxton online group bought a double album and he was certain that it was a mislabeled product. He told us that one album had side 1 and 4, while the other one had sides 2 and 4. It was rather amusing to watch the replies explain to the (obviously) young man that he didn’t possess a misprint, the layout was very deliberate. Even more fun was him trying to grasp the concept of the automatic record changer and stacking albums. Youth isn’t always an advantage…

They’re still making LPs and best all, they're not just for audiophiles. The Concord Music Group’s Collector’s Corner has vinyl! I have new pressings of John Coltrane (Soultrane), John Coltrane & Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans (Waltz for Debbie), Sonny Rollins (Saxophone Colossus), & Yusef Lateef (Eastern Sounds). I imagine that the original pressings of these albums would fetch quite a sum on eBay. But now, here they are again. There is really quite a difference in the sonic presence you get from the vinyl albums that’s missing from CDs. Another advantage – full sized text and photos for us baby boomers! ;>) Since I have a couple of these sessions in both formats, the comparison was not hard to make. Sadly, I only have one place to listen to albums (thinking about it, that’s always been true). With digital music, I can hear my music pretty much anywhere. Still, it’s worthwhile to treat yourself to a dedicated listening session with some first class vinyl sounds!

Johnny Griffin

Another of the great ones has left us....

Johnny Griffin passed away this weekend at the age of 80. He had been living in Europe for quite a while. His obituary mentioned that he didn't make it back here to the US too often. I only had the pleasure of seeing him play once. It was about 1983 at Hop Singh's, a now-defunct jazz club in Los Angeles' Marina del Rey area. He played the pads off of his sax!

Pictured: the autograph I obtained that night.

Free Jazz

Free Jazz, in this case, is not the classic Ornette Coleman album or the style pioneered in the 60s. I wanted to blog about the jazz that was free, as in no cost. Specifically, podcasts.

As a commuter (146 miles round trip), myiPod has been indispensable to my sanity. It helps drown out the mixture of traffic noise, conversation and snoring one gets in a vanpool setting. In addition to the songs I've condensed from my CDs, LPs and iTunes (18,415 and counting), there is a large variety of FREE podcasts available.
On previous blog entries, I mentioned the Sonny Rollins Podcast and the John Coltrane Traneumentary. Additionally, NPR has been running a series entitled Jazz Profiles. Hosted by singer Nancy Wilson, it's featured artists like Charles Mingus, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Gil Evans, Bessie Smith and Count Basie. It's both informative and entertaining.

Marian McPartland's long running Piano Jazz is another source of great music. Guests like Stephane Grappelli, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans are featured.

Last, but certainly not least, Riverside records founder Orrin Keepnews is the focus of Orrin Keepnews, Producer. He recorded folks like Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley and Wes Montgomery back in the 50s.

Although it doesn't fall into the free category (but certainly highly recommended none the less), the latest of some landmark Keepnews-produced recordings have been released as part of the Concord Music Group's continuing reissue of his distinguished oeuvre. The new series highlights Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Flies High, Sonny Rollins - Freedom Suite, Wes Montgomery - Incredible Jazz Guitar, Nat Adderley - Work Song, and McCoy Tyner - Fly With The Wind. After a half-century plus career, fortunately, Mr. Keepnews is still very much with us. I belong to the Thelonious Monk Yahoo! group and he is also a member and a very active participant. His emails to the group are very much in keeping with the personality he shows on the podcasts. Happy commuting!

Money Jungle

I recently found out that the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia will be included in the 2009 continuation of the state quarter program. The people of Washington, D.C. chose native son Edward Kennedy Ellington for their design!