JazzTimes..April.2014

7/23/2019 JazzTimes..April.2014

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+MILES FILLMOR

CONCERTBRAD MEHLDAU &

MARK GUILIANMARK DRESSE

DREW GRESTIM LEFEBVR

THE STREAMING AUDIO REVOLUTION:IS IT GOOD FOR JAZZ

JACOPASTORIUSMemories of an IconBy Peter Erskine

ERIC

REVISPhysicalAuthority

RUFUS

REID AT 70His Sculpture-InspiredMasterwork

BONUS2014 GUIDE TOSUMMER JAZ

CAMPS & PROGRAM


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Cover photo of Jaco Pastorius taken in September 1979 by Ed Perlstein/MusicImages.com. Table of Contentsphoto by Shigeru Uchiyama.

Flower Power:Wayne Shorter, Peter Erskine, Jaco Pastorius

and Joe Zawinul (from left) are Weather Report; Japan, 1978

APRIL 2014VOLUME 44 NUMBER 3

As brilliant a player as Rufus Reid is, the bassists abilitieshave often been obscured by his generous duties as asideman and educator. Now 70, hes stepped into thelimelight with the most ambitious project of his career,Quiet Pride(Motma), a large-ensemble suite inspired bythe work of the late sculptress Elizabeth Catlett.By Giovanni Russonello.

RUFUS REID30

Whats more important than hearing the bass in aband? Feelingit. And Eric Revis always plays with acommanding physicality, whether swinging hard in theBranford Marsalis Quartet or exploring jazzs outer limitswith the trio Tarbaby or one of his own groups.By Michael J. West.

ERIC REVIS36

inside

AT JAZZT IMES.COMoutside

MP3spromotions - jazz MP3s

JazzTimes Spins & Riffs, a free podcast featuring vocalistRen Marie andJTpublisher Lee MergnerTeddy Wilson One OClock Jump(Lisem Enterprises)

EXCLUSIVE CONTENTarticles - columnsNew video interviews with artists aboard the Jazz Cruise 2014;exclusive Q&A: Tony Bennetts life in art and song by RoseannaVitro; Russ Davis profiles Amina Figarova and Bart Platteau;photo gallery: the Ottawa JazzFest Winter Series; live reviews:Freddy Cole, Mark Masters and many others; festival schedulesand updates; tons of news, reviews and much more!

COMMUNITY

Comment onJazzTimes features and reviews; createa profile and contribute your own articles and photos.

06 JT Notes by Evan Haga

08 The Gigby Nate Chinen

65 CD Reviews

77 Vox

79 Jazz Directory

80 Artists Choice Drew Gress on underrated bassist/drummer tandems

REVIEWS65

11 HearsayBrad Mehldau & Mark Guiliana are Mehliana,the Max Roach Collection, Rhapsody in Blueturns 90 in NYC, Mimi Jones, news and farewells

18 Before & After Tim Lefebvre

22 Overdue Ovation Mark Dresser

OPENING CHORUS11

SOUND ADVICE6060 AudioFiles A beginners guide to high-resolution audio

62 Gearhead Inside the plight of the traveling acoustic

bass player63 Gig Bag

He called himself the worlds greatest bassplayer, and over a quarter-century after JacoPastorius tragic death, the title continues tohold water. In this exclusive excerpt from hisrecent autobiography, No Beethoven(FuzzyMusic/Alfred), drummerPeter Erskinelooksback on one of jazzs greatest talents and mostunforgettable characters.

JACO PASTORIUS24

42BONUS!

2014 GUIDE TO SUMMERJAZZ PROGRAMS


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J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 44

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J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 46

Notes[JT]

by Evan Haga

Hooray for Holland

Ive been involved in the creation o 77 issues o JazzTimesnow,and while Im proud o each magazine that includes my name

on the masthead, I dont think Ive ever ully realized any othem. Teres always another new artist, another CD or box set,

another pocket o jazz history to research and report on. ake thisApril bass-themed issue, or instance. Teres plenty here or you

to dig into: a well-deserved major prole o Eric Revis, a sagelycrafed Artists Choice by Drew Gress and a candid reminiscence

o Jaco Pastorius by drummer Peter Erskine, to name just a ewclips. (I you enjoy Erskines piece, be sure and check out his recent

autobiography in its entirety, especially the bonus-material-lled

iPad version.)Still, I could plan at least two more bass-ocused magazines overthe upcoming weekend, easy. And eatured in a big way would

be Dave Hollands Prism, which released one o 2013s best jazzrecords and continues to schedule live dates, with appearances

conrmed or this years Playboy and Newport estivals. I was

reminded o this quartets radiance at the Highline Ballroom inNew York in mid-February, as this issues production cycle was

nearing its end. Like most groups you keep returning to, Prismeatures individually outstanding playersHolland, guitarist Kevin

Eubanks, keyboardist Craig aborn and drummer Eric Harlandthat achieve an unmistakable vibe when they coalesce. In this case,

that aesthetic means a mix o the highest-level current postbop, thestoned-R&B inections o seminal jazz-rock, and the sort o early

prog-rock that had a genuine edge to it, beore the geeks cooptedthe style. Te group reunites Holland with Eubanks, and reintro-

duces Eubanks into a great working jazz band; at the Highline,the guitarist was a orce o nature, aunting a studied recklessness

lost in todays post-Kurt Rosenwinkel age. I may have missed myopportunity to eature Holland in this issue, but you can still hear

Prism live, and should. JT


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J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 48

[the]Gig

by Nate Chinen

Beats Me: Streaming Services & Jazz

bards Liquid Love, released on Columbia in

75. Conrmation, another Parker track

sprung rom the vault at Verve. A gleeulromp through Telonious Monks Evi-dence by the Jaki Byard Experience, eatur-

ing Roland Kirk on tenor saxophone. TenMonk himsel, unveiling Criss Cross on a

session or Blue Note. And so on.For those who havent yet been bom-

barded by its massive ad campaign, BeatsMusicprominently backed by Jimmy

Iovine and Dr. Dre, the same industrymoguls behind the Beats by Dre head-

phone empireis the latest in a series oon-demand streaming companies, which

provide users with millions o tracks

through mobile apps or on the web. Tisisnt a new concept, not even in my ownCD-cluttered household. I rst checked

out Rhapsody ve years ago, around thesame time I began ooling around with

Pandora. My experience with Rdio, Radi-cal.FM, iunes Radio and assorted others

is practically nil, but Ive been on Spotiysince July 2011: I happened to sign up a ew

days beore bassist Ben Allison appearedon Soundcheck, the WNYC radio show,

to object to that services meager royaltystructure, and to voice a orward-looking

concern. My ear is that this is going toslowly become the way we listen to music,

he said. We now know that the only thinghe had wrong was the modier slowly.

By now there have surely been dozenso panel discussions, and many more bar-

room or tour-bus debates, about the meritsand hazards o streaming music services.

(Im told there was a good one at this yearsJazz Connect Conerence, whichJazzTimes

co-organizes; its also worth noting herethatJazzTimes editors recommend albums

or Spotiys Stylus app.) Opinion on thesubject looks airly polarized rom where

I sit, with a musicianly cohort that decriesthe current model as exploitative and a

customer base that holds convenience asits highest order. My own sympathies all

closer to the artist argument, especially inlight o a generation o consumers that has

been trained to view recorded music as anessential but cheap commodity, like the

water that ows rom the tap.We should draw a distinction here

between the likes o Spotiy and the realmo illegal downloads, a black-market pirate

economy that many music lovers supportwithout a second thought. But has one ed

into the other? It seems disingenuous tosuggest otherwise; the ounders o Pandora

were clearly on to something when theybrainstormed their brand name. Ten

theres the question o cannibalization:Why would anyone shell out or something

they can also nd, right now, or ree?Musicians and labels arent being paranoid

when they ret about the implications orthe bottom line. Te spokesperson or one

jazz label, which has licensed its catalogto Spotiy and others, politely discour-

aged me rom speaking with its corporateleadership because o the ambivalence I

was likely to encounter. I did talk to Yulun

Wang, co-proprietor o Pi Recordings,which sells music digitally but doesnt doany on-demand streaming. Its inevitable

that that will be the way most o us willlisten to music ve years rom now, said

Wang. But we dont want to be the ones onthat train until we absolutely have to be on

that train. Te same general eeling seemswidespread among jazz musicians. But I

wonder about the consequences o avoid-ance: I that train pulls out o the station

and working jazz musicians have reused toget aboard, does that mean theyll just be

lef behind?

What rereshed this line o thinking orme was the sleek mobile interace or Beats

Music, which puts an avowed emphasison discovery. Unlike, say, Pandora, which

relies on the aceless algorithms o theMusic Genome Project, Beats Music touts a

chie creative officer (rent Reznor o NineInch Nails) and a coalition o curators

that includes the Grand Ole Opry, Hot 97and, on the jazz ront, DownBeatmagazine.

Afer a signup screen that asked me toidentiy three avorite genres, I came to a

Just or You page. Among the options werea playlist titled Miles Davis: Live, another

one called Intro to Charlie Parker and,more striking, the 2006 album New Mon-

astery: A View Into the Music of AndrewHillby guitarist Nels Cline. During my

next session, I was offered the 2001 releaseCorridors & Parallels, by the David S. Ware

Quartet. I ound this heartening, all issueso royalties aside.

Tere was selection bias at play, ocourse: Id picked jazz as one o my three

core genres. When I swiped my screenover to the actual Jazz page, I saw playlists

devoted to pianist Paul Bley and bassistsDave Holland and Esperanza Spalding. Not

bad. Still, over a ew weeks o testing, it wasrare that I randomly heard even a semi-

recent jazz cut. (Look again at the trackslisted at the top o this column, not a one o

them made in my lietime.) And since themost determinative eld in Te Sentence

is a genre tag, theres almost no chance o

jazz slipping in the side door. Youll neverhear Ravi Coltrane while ON A ROOFOPand GAMING with SRANGERS to SOF

ROCK.But its early still. Te dreamer in me

can picture a world in which services likeBeats Music truly ll the role once held by

reeorm radio. And why shouldnt a casualuser stumble across some great new jazz

every now and then? Weve been so ocusedon the question o why jazz musicians cant

afford to engage with streaming that wemight have ignored another question: How

much longer can they afford not to? JT

Im AT MY COMPUTER and feel like SAVING THE WORLD with YOUR EX

to JAZZ.

Uh, come again? What you just read was my current arrangement of Te Sentence, a

trademark feature of the splashy new streaming service Beats Music. As I type this, Im

listening to a playlist generated by those Mad Lib variables in all-caps. And what has

this ransom-like command yielded musically? A 1950 recording of Charlie Parkers

Mohawk, from the album Bird and Diz. Te glossy-funk title track of Freddie Hub-

ILLUSTRATION

BYTHEO

PULFER-TERINO


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J A Z Z T IM E S . COM

14

18

22

Before & AfterTim Lefebvre

Inside

Overdue OvationMark Dresser

11 HearsayBrad Mehldau & Mark Guilianaare Mehliana, the Max RoachCollection, Rhapsody in Blueturns 90 in NYC, Mimi Jones,news and farewells

))))Stay in tuneCHORUSOPENING

work in tandem to domesticate the beast.

In an official sense, Mehldau and Guili-ana have been accomplices since 2011.

But their journey dates back to 2008,

when the two rst jammed together. Aferchecking out a Guiliana-ledgroup that was inuenced

by electronic musicaprecursor to Guilianas Beat

Music bandMehldaustopped by the drummers

New Jersey rehearsal spaceor a session. A Moog,

Korg and Fender Rhodeswere waiting or Mehldau

and, though Mehldau isbest known as an acoustic

pianist, Guilianas gig wasresh on their minds. So I

had this [keyboard] setupready, and just kind o gave

him a quick little tour owhat everything did, and,

you know, 15 minutes later,it was like he had been play-

ing this setup his whole lie,remembers Guiliana. It

was incredible.Gear-wise, Mehliana

today closely resembles itsrst assemblage. Onstage at

Some o the best riffs on Taming the Dragon(Nonesuch), the rst album rom

Mehliana, the electronica-inuenced duo o keyboardist Brad Mehldau anddrummer Mark Guiliana, are not composed o notes. One, soothingly intoned

by Mehldau, appears in Te Dreamer: He will orget the music he heard in hisdream. Music that made him y; music that made him escape rom his body; music that

made him escape rom time itsel. But he will remember, when he awakens, that therewasthis music, that there must be music like this somewhere, even i it is only in dreams.

Another, also spoken by Mehldau, comes rom the title track: So you dont try to kill thedragon. You know, the dragons where you get all that voodoo shit rom. Tats where you

get your power rom. You dont wanna snuff him out; you wanna tame him. You want toactually make riends with him and harness his power so you can use it. But the music

driving, uturistic grooves brought to lie by electric keyboards and intense drummingis

not overshadowed by these passages. Instead, text and sound are accomplices here; they

KEYBOARDIST BRAD MEHLDAU AND DRUMMER MARKGUILIANA STRETCH OUT AS THE ELECTRONICA-MINDEDDUO MEHLIANA

Two Players, Many Roads

GREG

AIELLO

Brad Mehldau (left) and Mark Guiliana at Manhattans Highline Ballroom in January

For more Mehliana live photos, visit JazzTimes.com


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J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 42

CHORUSOPENING

Jazz is synonymous [with]all the negative connectionsand social inequities that exist ina racially oriented society, wrote

Max Roach at the beginning o apolemic essay titled I Hate Jazz.

Te word jazz didnt sit wellwith the legendary drummer and

composer, even though he wasone o its most inuential gures.

Te Library o Congress dis-

played that handwritten essayamong other cherished gemsinside the Whittall Pavilion at the

Tomas Jefferson Building on Jan.27, as it announced the acquisi-

tion o the Max Roach Collec-tion. Te trove contains around

100,000 items: writings, photo-graphs, rare recordings, letters,

sheet music, contracts, videos and other memorabilia.Negotiations between Roach and the Library began in 1995,

when he visited the institution or a lecture, and talks continuedtoward the end o the decade. Tree years afer Max died in 2007

at age 83, Maxine Roach, his eldest daughter and a viola player,

visited the library when it announced the acquisition o DexterGordons papers. She must have liked what she saw, said Larry

Appelbaum, senior music specialist and jazz curator in the librarysmusic division. We signed the agreement [or the Roach Collec-

tion] at the end o 2012 but elt the responsible thing was to get a

AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, THE MAX ROACH COLLECTION REVEALS NEW

INSIGHTS INTO THE LIFE OF A MUSICAL AND POLITICAL HERO

Drumming Up Jazz History

New Yorks Highline Ballroomin January, Mehldau was work-

ing with a Fender Rhodes, aProphet 08, a Yamaha upright

piano and, or basslines, aMoog Little Phatty. In addition

to a drum kit, Guiliana had a

Roland sampling pad ed intoa Korg Kaoss Pad; Mehldaudidnt do any reciting on this

night, but, as on the album,the percussionist triggered an

Amelia Earhart vocal sampleduring Elegy or Amelia E.

But the sounds at the High-lineechoey Rhodes, synthy

washes, evil bass, clobberingdrumswere also right in

line with what the duo createdduring its initial adventure in

Jersey. Tat very rst timewe got together in 2008 didnt

sound that much different thanthe way the sound is today,

explains Guiliana. Because,really, to me, the project is all

about the two o us playing to-

gether, and the way we play to-gether. So o course the sounds

have changed and have beennuanced, and the repertoire has

changed or been developed, butreally, the aesthetic and the ini-

tial vibe was established imme-diately, and was really unspo-

ken. It was just what happenedwhen we sat down together.

Even beore they took aseat, Mehldau had a hunch

that he and Guiliana wouldclick. Marks rhythmic eeling

excited me right away, writesMehldau in an e-mail. Tere

was complexity and deepness,new kinds o rhythmic combi-

nations I hadnt heard beore, a

virtuosity, and also a rooted-ness that I thought could workwith me playing a bass role,

which is different o course on

a keyboard than with an acous-tic bass. O course, you never

know until you try something,

but Mark and I both went outon a limb and Im happy to say

that it really works or me. I eelcreatively challenged and stim-

ulated every time I play withhim, and the rhythm eels good

in my body, where it counts.Mehldau has experimented

with ideas rom electronicmusic beore, on his albumsLargoand Highway Rider, buthe dives right in with Mehliana.

While Guiliana cites electronicinuences like Squarepusher

and Aphex win, Mehldau iscoming rom a more classic-

rock place: bands like PinkFloyd and Rush. Te perorm-

ers are only 10 years apart in

ageGuiliana is 33, Mehldauis 43but thats enough spaceto give the pair a wide range o

giant-shoulders to stand on.O course we appreciate

each others electronic inu-

ences, but they kind o comerom different places, which

I think adds to the scope othe project, says Guiliana. I

think my inuences are morerom the 90s and programmed

drum-and-bass, jungle music,

and his are more 70s, 80s. Myinuences are more producersand individuals programming

music, and his are more bandsthat were utilizing these [key-

boards].When asked i he and

Mehldau have ever discussedgetting a bass player or saxo-

phonist, Guiliana explains theyhavent, since a lot o the ex-

citement about doing it is werepushing each other and learn-

ing a lot about the possibilities.I still think were scratch-

ing the surace, he adds. Eventhough its just the two o us,

there are so many roads totake. BRAD FARBERMAN

SHEALAHCRAIGHEAD,

LIBRARYOFCONGRESS

Hearsay

Items from the collection on display in January


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handle on organizing the papers beore we announced it.During the announcement ceremony, the library also dis-

played engrossing correspondence between Roach and suchprominent gures as Maya Angelou, Charles Mingus and

Coretta Scott King. Angelous 1965 letter (erroneously dated1964) reveals her eelings on the assassination o Malcolm

X a month afer the slaying. Mingus 1961 epistle is equally

impassioned: He conveys his suspicion o jazz patroness Nicade Koenigswarter, afer shed made some adverse commentsabout the Congolese independence movement leader Patrice

Lumumba, who had recently been killed. In a 1981 note toDr. Martin Luther King Jr.s widow, Roach respectully asks

permission to use the civil rights leaders amous I Have aDream speech as source material or his explosive compo-

sition Te Dream/Its ime, which kicks off his 1981 LPChattahoochee Red. Te library played a snippet o a music

video o Te Dream/Its ime, as well as a revelatory 1964solo piano improvisation rom obscure jazz gure Hasaan

Ibn Ali, recorded at Roachs home. Toroughly modern witha whimsical rhythmic undertow and wayward melodic pas-

sages, it sounds like a new Jason Moran composition.All ve o Roachs childrenMaxine, Daryl Keith, Raoul,

Dara and Ayodeleattended the ceremony, each offeringinsights into their athers lie and belongings during a brie

panel discussion. He was very serious about his inventory,Ayodele Roach said. I was on hand when he visited his stor-

age lockers. He liked to discover himsel.Ayodele and her twin sister Dara, the youngest o the ve,

transcribed numerous tapes or Roachs unpublished autobi-ographytentatively titledJazz Is a Four-Letter Wordthat

he wrote mostly in collaboration with Amiri Baraka. Te li-brary exhibited one o its chapters, Making a Way Out o No

Way, in which Roach eels deserted by members o the jazzcommunity in the wake o trumpeter Clifford Browns un-

timely death. Te chapter also alludes to how some o Roachsuncompromising views on civil rights might have inuenced

other jazz musicians to steer clear o him.Indeed, Roach became as well known or his strong socio-

political stance as he was or his music. When asked i Maxpaid a price or those unbending positions, Raoul Roach re-

plied, Absolutely! He said, You really dont pay a price. Whatprice can you put on your integrity? But rom the outside,

especially economically, he paid a price. He was committedto making a change or humankind. He wasnt going to back

down rom that or no amount o money. He thought that artshould serve the people.

Maxine Roach articulated her interest in seeing some o the

business contracts her ather signed over the years. She relayeda story about his tenure with Dinah Washington, who becameurious one night about a shady deal shed signed. She went

backstage, sat her band down and taught them a lesson about

contracts. He was so impressed by that, Roach recalled. Iminterested in seeing the contracts because it speaks to his pas-

sion to be recognized as not only a hard-working musician butas a human being. He ought or that on so many levels.

Te collection highlights Roachs entrepreneurship with busi-ness documents, letters and memorabilia related to Debut, the

independent record label he launched with Mingus. In the late1960s and early 70s, the drummer also had a short-lived busi-

ness venture with a sof drink, Aro-Kola, specically targeted toblack America. Te library played the jingle, which was marked


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J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 44

CHORUSOPENING

COURTESYOFHUDSONWESTPRODUCTIONS

Hearsay

Within the past year,George GershwinsRhapsody in Blue has intro-

duced viewers to LeonardoDiCaprio in the title role o

Te Great Gatsbyand helpedtransport the U.S. Olympic team

to Sochi in a United Airlinesadvertising campaign. Despite

its current ubiquity, however,

its initial reception in 1924 wastepid. Tat year, Paul White-mans Palais Royal Orchestra de-

buted the piece at Aeolian Hallnear Manhattans imes Square,

as part o a program dubbedAnExperiment in Modern

Music. On Feb. 12, the concerts90th anniversary and Lincolns

birthday, the entire programwas recreated at the own Hall

by conductor Maurice Peressand the Grammy-winning band

Vince Giordano and the Night-hawks, eaturing near-awless

perormances by pianists JebPatton and ed Rosenthal, with

aithul renderings o the musico Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Ir-

ving Berlin and Victor Herbert.Violinist Andy Stein oA Prairie

Home Companioname playedthe role o Whiteman.

Joe Franklin, Liza Min-nelli and several o White-

mans grandchildren were inattendance at the sold-out

own Hall show; Sergei Rach-maninoff, Jascha Heietz and

John Philip Sousa attended the1924 perormance a block away.

A jazz-age anthem as interwo-ven into the abric o American

culture as Yankee pinstripesor Disneys Cinderella Castle,

prior to its canonization, criticso Gershwins opus chided the

composer or its radical ormand orchestration. Tere was

a guy between Gershwin andMozart named Debussy who

said, Enough o this Germanorm. I want to write music

which is continually evolving.Debussy wrote his music that

way, as did George Gershwin,Peress told the audience. Peress,

a conductor and proessor atthe Aaron Copland School o

Music at Queens College, has

a pedigree or the Aeolian Hallprogram, having worked exten-

sively with Leonard Bernsteinand Duke Ellington.

Whiteman was a classi-

cal musician, and he wanted

to continue that dream withAmerican popular music with

some touches o jazz, saysGiordano, who in addition to

being eatured on HBOs Board-walk Empire, perorms every

Monday and uesday with his

Nighthawks at the Iguana in

Manhattan. I think Whitemanrealized that he wanted to do

more, to be able to take poptunes and play them in a sym-

phonic style. A lot o people

A BLOCK AWAY FROM WHERE IT PREMIERED, GERSHWINS EXPERIMENTALMASTERPIECE IS RECREATED ON ITS 90TH BIRTHDAY

Rhapsody Redux

Maurice Peress conducts Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks (and pianist Jeb Patton) at the Town Hall in February

by spirited churchy vocals, aorceul soul-jazz arrangement

and the unorgettable tagline thetaste o reedom.

Gleeul moments were pre-sented too, such as a mid-90s

video clip o Roach talking at

the library about his experienceworking with Duke Ellingtonat age 17. Another joyous video

vignette shows Roach poundinga thunderous solo in Otto Prem-

ingers 1954 lm Carmen Jones,starring Dorothy Dandridge.

Roachs eighth grade reportcard reveals that the master

drummer got a D in music;that grade didnt become em-

blematic o his lie as a musi-cian, o course. Troughout

his six-decade-long career, he

was constantly at the oreronto jazzs rhythmic pulse. Andthrough such inventive ensem-

bles such as his all-percussioncombo, MBoom, and his Dou-

ble Quartet, which gave wayto the Uptown String Quartet

eaturing Maxine, he crafed

innovative ways o reimaginingthe sonic and melodic capa-

bilities o drums and per-cussion. He was one o the

greatest chamber musiciansthat Ive ever heard or had the

privilege to play with, MaxineRoach said. When I was on

the bandstand with him, I satright next to his ride cymbal.

Never was it loud. His touchwas extraordinary. He listened

all the time. And he taught us

how to listen.

Although the treasures haveyet to be ully processed, Appel-

baum said that a sizable sum has,and is now available or public

view at the librarys PerormingArts Reading Room in the James

Madison Memorial Building.We will soon have a nding

aid to the collection online, heexplained. Its an enormous

collection. So being able to ndthings and provide access is the

key.JOHN MURPH


17/84

today dont understand what hewas trying to do.

Whiteman insisted thatRhapsody in Blue reect the

plurality and cosmopolitan-ism o American experience.

Composing the piece when he

was only 25, Gershwin suppos-edly completed it in ve weeksafer he was reminded about

the approaching concert in thenewspaper. Te original score

contained the notation Wait ornod, meaning Gershwins; in his

haste, he allegedly improvisedsome o the piano part live. Ger-

shwin didnt even receive topbilling, being listed afer ragtime

novelty composer and pianistZez Conrey. It was blending

popular music with classicalmusic and a newly emerging

jazz orm. Its important to showthe lineage o this kind o music

to modern jazz, says pianist JebPatton, who perorms regularly

with the Heath Brothers andplayed Conreys Nickel in the

Slot and Kitten on the Keysat the own Hall, among other

knuckle-busters.Where Conrey took his cues

rom a player piano or a cat,Gershwins rhapsody mimicked

the sound o a locomotive. Likea train, Gershwins sprawling

composition had more movingparts than Whiteman had mu-

sicians, even augmented withstrings, but the band was so

versatile that three reed playersmanaged to play a total o 17

parts, including the oboe-likeheckelphone, switching as the

music dictated. Te openingglissando originated when

clarinetist Ross Gorman slurred

the rubato introduction as ajoke. Gershwin loved it.By opening the piece in B-

at and modulating to an ada-

gio section in the key o Eaninterval known as a tritone and

integral to the bluesGershwinelegantly united the syncopated

urban vernacular that wouldlater populate Porgy and Bess

and the comparatively pastoralEuropean classical tradition

without diminishing either,Peress says. Te lilting part in

E made it a rhapsody; theragtime-inected B-at

sections made it blue.In addition to the rail

network that connectedthe great American cities,

Peress says Gershwins

tone poem was partiallyinspired by descriptionso modern art such as

Picassos Blue Period.On a different canvas, he

painted a sonic tableau oa cultural melting pot that

was rapidly churning outthe American songbook

along in Pan Alley.

Gershwin is one o theshining lights. He com-

posed, he was a virtuoso

pianist, he orchestrated,he wrote extended works,he wrote songs. He did it

all, says ed Rosenthal,who perormed the piano

solo at the own Hall.Rhapsody in Blue really

exudes an American spiritand has an American

aesthetic.Its perhaps no coin-

cidence that Whitemanchose the Great Eman-

cipators birthday or the

occasion; his inauguralexperiment (there wereeight in total) echoed

historian Carl Beckersbook Our Great Experi-

ment in Democracy, pub-lished that year. Despite

the classical gatekeep-ers criticism, it was one

o the rst prestigiousconcert hall presenta-

tions o the multiculturalpolyphony o voices that

would come to deneAmerican music. History

remembers Whitemanlargely or commission-

ing Gershwins Rhap-sody, though at his peak

o popularity, the portlyviolinist, bandleader and

impresario was knownas the King o Jazz. Yet

contrary to what hissurname might suggest,

Whitemans inuenceas an advocate or black


18/84

J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 46

CHORUSOPENING Hearsay

MYO

CAMPBELL

perormers and composers de-serves a place in the historical

rmament. People dont knowthat Whiteman had immense

respect and was vividly awareo where the music came rom,

says Peress. A lot o guys eel

that Whiteman was an exploit-er, but its not air.

In 1926, the year afer F. Scott

Fitzgeralds jazz-inused Gatsbywas published, Whitemans

bookJazzpaid deerence tothe musics Arican American

lineage: Jazz came to Amer-ica three hundred years ago

in chains priceless reightdestined to set a whole na-

tion dancing. Te Aeolian Hallconcert, recreated at Carnegie

Hall in the spring o 1924, setthe precedent or Benny Good-

mans iconic 1938 concert in the

hallowed hall, the rst major

perormance o an integratedband. (In that ensemble were

members o the Duke Ellingtonand Count Basie orchestras,

including saxophonist Lester

Young.) Out o respect, Good-man asked Ellington to open orhim, but he politely declined.

By 1938, Ellington hadalready established himsel

in Hollywood, on Broadwayand on the bandstand, but he

had not yet been accepted bythe more racially inaccessible

classical elite. Later that year,though, it was Whiteman who

commissioned Ellington tocompose the rhapsodic Blue

Belles o Harlem, his rstsymphonic piece perormed

in Carnegie Hall, part o the

eighth and nal Whitemanexperiment.

Earlier in 1938, Ellington hadnally lef the segregated Cotton

Club afer a decade-long resi-dency. Trough national radio

broadcasts he made his name atthe venue, but always had to en-

ter through the back door. Fiveyears later, in 1943, Ellington

was nally invited to CarnegieHall as a bandleader, where he

premiered Black, Brown andBeige, partially inspired by Ger-

shwin and expanding on ideashe had articulated in his earlier

composition or the Whitemanprogram. Tis achievement was

made possible in part because

Whiteman had recognizedhis symbiotic relationship to

Ellington. His musical debt tothe brilliant composer was im-

measurable, but Ellington owessome o his success to White-

mans vision, which, to borrowan Ellingtonian expression, saw

beyond category.

Te scope o that vision tran-scended Gershwins premiereat Aeolian Hall, pushing past

genre conventions, and Peressand Giordano honored that leg-

acy. Its remarkable that peopleare lining up out the door to

come to this concert, says DonRayno, author o the two-vol-

ume biography Paul Whiteman:Pioneer in American Music.

Ninety years later, people arecoming out to hear [this music]

on a cold night in Manhattan.AIDAN LEVY

In 2012, bassist and singer Mimi

Jones aced hard times. Gigs

dwindled, loved ones died, healthproblems arose. She was experi-encing the very opposite o the

optimism that surged through her2009 debut,A New Day. When -

nancial challenges nearly quashedthe completion o her new disc,

Balance (Hot one), the mountingpressures humbled her into reach-

ing out to riends or assistance.As a proud black woman, I had to

let my ego down and say, I needyour help, says 41-year-old Jones,

a longtime member o saxophon-ist ia Fullers all-emale quartet.

Hope started coming back in. Irealized that in order to appreciate

the good times, you need the badtimes. I ound this midpoint where

everything kind o settled.

Tat midpoint serves as thecentral theme o Balance. She con-

ronts her existential crisis on oBe, singing the lines, Am I choos-

ing to live/Or am I choosing todie? through gauzy sonic lters.

I was going through a living hell.

I woke up and sang that song

right out o my bed. I liter-

ally tracked [the vocals] thatway and kept it, Jones recalls.Tats a documentation o a

true moment.Dream tells o another

trying time. Jones dedicatesthe song to Israeli pianist

Shimrit Shoshan, who diedsuddenly at age 29 o cardiac

arrest in 2012. Afer playingwith Shoshan at the 2009 Mary

Lou Williams Women in JazzCompetition, Jones became

something o a mentor to her.Te gentle ballad eatures Mala

Waldrons soulul vocals anda pithy upright bass solo that

showcases Jones warm, ull-bodied tone.

Balanceexhibits brighter mo-ments too, such as Jones san-

guine treatment o Roy AyersEverybody Loves the Sun-

shine and her inventive take onthe childrens song Incy Wincy

Spider. Te album begins witha dazzling rendition o Noth-

STRUGGLE AND SURVIVAL INFORM BASSIST AND SINGER MIMI JONES LATEST

True Moments


19/84


Paco de Luca,the influentialSpanish guitaristwho was one ofthe most re-nowned propo-nents of flamencomusic, expand-ing its reach intoother genres in-cluding jazz, diedFeb. 26 in Can-cn, Mexico. Thecause was a heartattack. He was66. De Lucascollaborativerecordings withfellow guitarists

John McLaughlin

and Al Di Meo-labilled as theGuitar Triowerevery successful.Among his othercollaborators fromthe jazz worldwere guitaristLarry Coryell andpianist ChickCorea.

Alice Babs , aSwedish vocalistwho sang with

the Duke EllingtonOrchestra during the1960s and was par-ticularly acclaimedfor her contributionsto the composers Sa-cred Concerts, diedFeb. 11 in Stockholmfrom complications re-lated to Alzheimers.Babs was 90.

Richard RichMcDonnell, founderand owner of theMAXJAZZ recordlabel, died Feb. 8 inSt. Louis, Mo. He hadsuffered a stroke aweek prior. He was

68.

Robert BudSpangler, a drum-mer, producer andradio host who wasactive in the SanFrancisco Bay Areaover the past fourdecades and in theDetroit area prior tothat, died Jan. 16 inOakland. The causewas lung cancer. Hewas 75.

Jazz at Lincoln Center has an-nounced its 2014-15 season, theinstitutions 27th overall. Seasonhighlights will include festivals

devoted to Wayne Shorter, BillieHoliday and Brazilian music andmuch more. In other JALC news,the Allen Room will be renamedthe Appel Room in honor of Rob-ert J. Appel. Appel, JALCs chair-man of the board of directors,recently presented the organiza-tion with a $20 million gift.

Promoter George Wein has an-nounced the artist lineup for the60th anniversary Newport Jazz

Festival. The festival will nowrun for three full days, Aug. 1-3.Among the featured artists arethe Jazz at Lincoln Center Orches-tra with Wynton Marsalis, BobbyMcFerrin, Trombone Shorty, DeeDee Bridgewater, Robert Glasper,Dr. John, Darcy James ArguesSecret Society, Ccile McLorin Sal-

vant, Gary Burton, Gregory Por-ter, Jon Batiste, Dave HollandsPrism, John Zorn, Miguel Zenn,

the Cookers, Snarky Puppy andmore.

Sonny Rollins will release

Road Shows, Vol. 3on May 6.The recording begins a distri-bution deal between Rollinsimprint, Doxy, and the OKehRecords label, which Sony re-launched last year. The volumefeatures six tracks recorded be-tween 2001 and 2012 in Japan,France and St. Louis. Rollinscomposition Patanjali will ap-pear on record for the first time.

Composer and musician An-

thony Braxton will celebrate his69th birthday throughout 2014,with a series of premieres, per-formances and events includ-ing a packed schedule at hisTri-Centric Music Festival, to beheld April 10-19 at Roulette inBrooklyn. In the fall Braxton willrelease three CD box sets of newmaterial, two on the New Brax-ton House label and one throughFirehouse 12.

News from JazzTimes.com Farewells

ing Like You, an obscure BobDorough/Fran Landesman tune

eatured on Miles Davis 1967LP Te Sorcerer. Jones rendition

acts as a showcase or her arcotechnique beore launching into a

delightul mid-tempo trio excur-

sion eaturing drummer JustinFaulkner and her piano-playinghusband, Luis Perdomo.

Drummer erri Lyne Car-rington, who eatured Jones on

her Te Mosaic Projectrom2011, applauds Jones or her

old-school approach to play-ing bass. Tat approach comes

rom lessons Jones receivedrom Ron Carter, Lisle Atkinson

and Milt Hinton while growing

up in the Bronx and attendingthe Manhattan School o Music.

She deeply understands therole o her instrument to sup-

port others, and she suppliesthe necessary bedding or all

to dance, all, walk, stumble or

groove on, Carrington explains.I was denitely schooled by

some masters, who let me know

that tone is the very rst thingthat people are going to hear,

Jones adds. I you got a badtone, people are going to run.

Te bassists tone sets the atmo-sphere or the band. Rhythmi-

cally, I think like a drummer. Ilike breaking up the time. But I

also have to support the musi-

cians, because thats my job. I I

break up the rhythm, its to pushthe music to a new height.

Jones beguiles as a singer aswell, especially on her smol-

dering makeover o AdelesSomeone Like You and her

original raveler. She pos-sesses an espresso-avored alto

that recalls Joan Armatrading,and describes her own slightly

idiosyncratic singing as com-pletely organic. I discovered that

it was different rom the averagesinger. I actually battled with

that or many years, she says.I wanted to sing, but I didnt

think o mysel as a singer.Beore Jones launched her

solo career, she used her birth

name, Miriam Sullivan, andplayed with such jazz titans as

Kenny Barron, Ravi Coltraneand Lionel Hampton. She

crafed the alter ego in 2009 as away o reinventing hersel afer

another challenging period inher lie. I created Mimi so I

could become her and let go oall the heavy things associated

with being Miriam, she ex-plains. You cant be completely

intense all the time with peoplebecause sometimes its over-

whelming or them. [Listen-ers] need you to help release

them rom their own intensity.

JOHN MURPH


20/84

J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 48

Before & AfterCHORUSOPENING

Friendly and eager and always smiling, im Leebvre has

an energy that seems to arrive beore he enters the room.Its an energy one cant miss hearing in his conversation

or his playing. Originally rom southeastern Massachu-setts, the electric and acoustic bassist was in his 20s when he

moved to New York City in 1993. Tere, he began working with

an increasingly large circle o musicians, including jazz playerslike guitarist Wayne Krantz, keyboardist Uri Caine, drummerMark Guiliana and saxophonist David Binney and such pop

headliners as Elvis Costello, Sting, Patti Austin, John Mayer, BetteMidler, Donald Fagen and trumpeter Chris Botti. Leebvre (pro-

nounced leh-FAVE) relocated to Los Angeles in 2011 to pursueproduction and soundtrack opportunities while still playing and

recording with a wide range o musiciansDonny McCaslin,Knower and Emmy Rossum, to name a ew.

Just this past all, he agreed to pull out the bass case and hit theroad with the edeschi rucks Band, one o todays premier blues/

roots acts. It says a lot about the spirit in that group that Id getback on the bus to tour, Leebvre laughed. Working with Derek

[rucks] and Susan [edeschi] is just great, a real amily vibe.

Leebvres rst Beore & Afer orJazzimestook place at NewYork Universitys jazz acility. Tough Leebvre mentioned that

he never attended a music school, he had an instructors instinct,directly addressing the 20 or so students when he elt he had a

point they shouldnt miss. Leebvre is stylistically diverse in bothexperience and taste, but i hes known or one area o musical

expertise, its the three-way intersection o jazz, rock and unk.

He has a historical knowledge o studio work as well, so choosingthe tunes or this exercise held its own delight.

1. Steve KhanTe Breakaway (rom Casa Loco, Polygram). Khan, guitar;

Anthony Jackson, electric bass; Steve Jordan, drums; ManoloBadrena, percussion. Recorded in 1983.

BEFORE:Tat was wonderully weird. Maybe that was [guitarist]

Adrian Belew. Te bass player is great, whoever that iskillingpick-playing. I actually like that tempo; its very punky. Its teeter-

ing on the edge o chaos, but the bass is really holding it down

its pretty awesome. Its denitely rom the 80s, but thats not aprogrammed drum machine. Tats somebody playing that. Itsjust hilarious; its great.

AFTER: I would never have guessed Anthony Jackson. His tone

was denitely thinner then. I dont think I ever heard him playa [Fender] Jazz bassthats a Jazz bass or sure. Tat was an

amazing basslinemy God, ridiculous. I like bass parts like that,semi-complex. Tats some really heavy stuff thats going on there.

Anthony is just amazing to watch, and to hear the guy stretchis insane. He just does his own thing. Sometimes you can still

go see him at [NYCs] the 55 Bar, which is crazy, sitting just 10eet rom the guy and watching him rage. He played some with

Wayne Krantz beore I did. I think Anthony and [drummers] Ari

Hoenig and Dennis Chambers were his rst victims [laughs].[turns to audience] I dont know i you guys have recorded on

a project when you solo afer the other tracks have been done,

but I hear [Anthony] can get really meticulous about that stuff inthe studiohes kind o legendary or it. I mean, Steely Dan are

known or being the most nitpicky guys in the world and Antho-ny would stay afer they had lef: Hed out-Steely-Dan Steely Dan!

I you heard his track by itsel you could use it as a click trackthe guy is a machine. One o my avorite recordings is [keyboard-

ist] Jim Beards rst record, Song of the Sun, rom 1991. o meit captures some o the best Michael Brecker Ive heard andthe

best Anthony, all on the same track, Bakers Annex. Anthony isplaying some insane shitmuted stuff and a tricky bassline and

hes adding stuff in between. Ten theres Anthonys playing onSteely Dans Glamour Proession, which is thetour de orce o

pop bass playing.

2. Earl Van DykeTe Stingray (rom Te Earl of Funk, Soul). Van Dyke, organ;

George Benson, tenor saxophone; Robert White, guitar; James Ja-merson, electric bass; Uriel Jones, drums; Eddie Bongo Brown,

congas, percussion. Recorded in 1970.

BEFORE: Im probably wrong but I think I have an idea. Tatsunky as hell, thats all I know. [On bass] it sounds like Jerry Jem-

mott or Willie Weeks or one o those guys. Teres a sharpness in JEFFTAMARKIN

LOW END, HIGH SPIRITS

TIM LEFEBVRE

By Ashley Kahn


21/84


the tone; its really clear, like Jemmott and Weeks were on record.James Jamerson was a little more muddy because I think they

miked his amp a little close. I could be wrong, but there were somany good tracks rom that era.

AFTER:It is James? Wow! Whos on drums? Im woeully unin-

ormed about some o that stuff. Was that applause at the start?

Yeah. Its arena cheering dubbed onto music recorded in a

small Detroit nightclub.

Tats hilarious. But its a great trackeverybody was playing

super relaxed, just how they did it back then when people couldreally play. Go plug in and just play. It may be a blues, but that

bassline is so distinctive and it sits with the drums really well,plus the percussionist too. It kind o reminded me o Aretha

Franklins band a littleKing Curtis, I should sayexcept I knewit wasnt quite [drummer Bernard] Purdie. Like I said, theres so

much o that stuff I have to catch up on. James was so good.When I was a kid I didnt appreciate that old 70s sound. It was

playing at me rom AM radio and I just didnt get it yet. WhenI started listening to bass players, I heard that the guys I really

liked, like Darryl Jones and Victor Bailey, were all into JamesJamerson. I started paying attention to him and went back to all

that Motown stuff and checked it out. Ten I learned that olderR&B guys like Jemmott and Chuck Rainey, Louis Sattereld,

Ronnie Baker and all those guys who were crazy good, they allcame out o Jamersons thing. Even Bootsy Collins a little bit.

3. Matthew GarrisonSolitude (romMatthew Garrison, GarrisonJazz). Garrison,electric bass; Amit Chatterjee, sitar; Arto unboyaciyan, percus-

sion. Recorded in 2000.

BEFORE: Tats Matt Garrison. I dont know this track but I knowMatts playing pretty well and thats Arto unboyaciyan, whom

Ive done a lot o gigs with over the years. Matts the originator othat style o the Fodera ve-string, solo-istic stuff. You just cannot

mess with his harmonic sense. I like his writing tooa lot o itis simple like this track; its 10ths and just moves around a lot o

chords youre amiliar with, and then he does that really slick blow-ing in between. Also, in L.A. I play with [keyboardist-composer]

Scott Kinsey a lot [one o Garrisons bandmates in Human Ele-ment] and theyre all coming rom that Weather Report-y zone.

I like thatWeather Report-y.

Yeah, that kind o vibe. Tat line o bassists who came out o

Weather Report is just amazing. Tey can rip at speeds and withmore chops than Ill ever be able to. Tey play some intervallic

stuff that is just so slick. I had a band called Boomish, and wewere on the same label as [Weather Reports Joe Zawinul] when

he had his own band, so we got to play a ew estivals with him.I saw the group when Victor Bailey had come back, and Manolo

[Badrena] and Amit [Chatterjee] were with him too.

Amits on this track too.

Just amazing. Matts been stunning or years. Is this his newest

record?

AFTER: OK, 2000rst album. Nice. I got to hear Matt when I

rst moved to New York, and I knew he was amazing. He livedaround the corner rom me in Brooklyn and we got to be good

riends. Hes awesome, and his dad [Jimmy Garrison] obviouslywas very special. Matts so strongly into his own thing, like run-

ning ShapeShifer [Lab], his club in Brooklyn. [to audience] Itsworth the trip in case you havent gone there. I think Matts book-

ing some o the best, most creative stuff and just keeping it alive.I hope that is doing well or him because its invaluable. From

here its easy to get tojust hop on the R train.

4. Paquito DRiveraGdansk (rom Why Not!, Columbia). DRivera, alto saxophone;Claudio Roditi, trumpet; Michel Camilo, piano; Lincoln Goines,

electric bass; Dave Weckl, drums; Manolo Badrena, percussion.Recorded in 1984.

BEFORE: Tats the 90s or sure. Maybe its the 80sa bunch

o reverb on the drums and the keyboard sound, and thats de-

nitely a [Yamaha] DX7 synth. I have no idea who it is but its awell-planned-out composition; the bass is totally with the bassdrum and the vamps are thought out. Its cool but its that era.

Te alto player wasnt too Sanborn-y. I love Sanborn, but he in-uenced so many guys whove gone in another direction that he

didnt intend.

AFTER:Is it Lincoln Goines record? Oh, Paquito. Im not amiliarwith him too muchI should be a little more. Lincoln on elec-

tricnice.Actually, Lincoln was a big inuence on me because he had

the Wayne Krantz gig beore I did, so I really checked him out toknow how he was approaching that stuff. Waynes charts could be

like 50 pages longseriously, when I rst started playing there

were like 10-page charts with triple codas. [ laughs]I had to learn a lot o stuff, but there were sections notated

with slash marks, which kind o meant, Do your own thing. I

checked out how Lincoln handled it, which was really, really hip.I there was a section that repeated our times, he would play

around what was written the rst three times and then the ourthtime through he would play the written line exactly. Tats how

some o that music evolved at the 55 BarI dont think Wayneknew it was going to be that cool when he wrote it. When I start-

ed hearing Lincoln taking liberties with the music, it was veryinormative and helped me negotiate it. I stole a lot rom Lincoln

when I started the gig.

5. Monk MontgomeryGirl alk (rom Reality, Philadelphia International). Montgom-

ery, Fender bass; Bobby Martin, Danny Skea, electric piano; RonFeuer, organ; Santo Sazino, drums. Recorded in 1974.

BEFORE: Tats great. Super soulul. Is that a standard? It sounds

vaguely amiliar. [to audience] Does anybody know? OK, NealHefi. Man, whoever that was just sat there and played the whole

tune all up high on the neck and didnt play anything ashy. Ilove the vibe o thatsuper clear tone. I love it especially because

hes not shredding, hes just playing the melody with just a littleblowing over it. Who is that?


22/84

J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 420

CHORUSOPENING Before & After

AFTER:Monk did a solo record?

Actually, he did a fewfor Motown and Philadelphia International.

So I guess hes one of the rst guys doing that on electric bassplaying melodies up high and doing jazz material. Tat was great.

Dare I say that might be my favorite track so far? Such a strong

vibe. Id like to be able to play that way. You know, traveling withDerek and Susan and the band, its really a competition on thatbuswhos got the hippest [music] to play for everyone else. Ill

absolutely be playing this for them. [takes photo of album coverwith iPhone] I got some more ammo now. Tanks, bro!

6. Carles BenaventMario (from Un Dos res, Bebyne). Benavent, electric bass;

Roger Mas, electric piano. Recorded in 2011.

BEFORE:Wow. Teres some nice counterpoint in that; its a nicelittle tune at the beginning, especially when hes playing the melody

and hes completely rhythmically precise. I dont think its fretlessits a six-string bass, if I had to guess. [Ed. note: Benavent plays a

fretted ve-string bass guitar.] Tats just bending strings, doing

vibrato. I dont know who it is but he or shes pretty great.

AFTER:Interesting. Im not hip to him but Ive heard great things.

His name is one that most bassists know; its kind of ubiquitous.I heard about him because I played some amenco music with

dance troupes based in OaklandCaminos Flamencos and Jun-cal Street. Flamenco is not known for having electric bass but

Carles was the rst guy to take an interest in playing the instru-ment in that music. Tat amenco stuff is just part of the fabric

of your life [in Spain].Te fascinating thing about amenco music is that its not doc-

umented at all. You cant even nd videos on Youube of the typi-cal stuff theyre doing, but they have all these things that happen

in the music, like buleras, all these different dances. A lot of itsimprovised, but its kind of like the early phases of Ornette [Cole-

man], just not that free, more like, OK, this is the mode and therhythm were going to stay around. Te little I understand about

it, thats what its like. Also, they count in 12 so basically it feelslike a lot of 3 in the music, but its hairy and can be super fast and

there are no charts; its just handed down verbally from genera-tion to generation. I know that doesnt have much to do with the

tune we just heard, but thats what Carles is part of.

7. Derrick HodgeStill the One (from Live oday, Blue Note). Hodge, electric bass,

vocals; Chris Dave, drums. Recorded in 2013.

BEFORE:Is that from Derrick Hodges new record? I haventheard it yet. But you can hear where its coming from, with the

weird broken-beat thing orchestrating stuff on top, and blowingon top of it. Tat sounded cool. I have that rst [Robert] Glasper

Experiment album and a couple other things that Derricks on,like Gretchen Parlatos [second] record, and I just saw him live

with Kendrick Scotts Oracle at Jazz Standard. Derricks a bad

dude, really good on both electric and upright.I know Derricks sound pretty wellhes got a big sound, so

that despite there being weird beats, he holds notes out in a really

nice, strong way. Kind of legato, but when he holds a whole note itsa wholenote; its got impact, especially on electric bass. A lot of guys

may have chops, but theyll play short phrases and bounce around.Even when theres a groove going on and theres a lot of interaction,

Derrick stays with the big stuff and doesnt overplay. It makes thingssound less complicated and grounds it, even with all the stuff that

Glasper and Chris Dave will be playing. Tats really an underratedthing. You can hear he was ready to do his own album.

Are you a fan of bassists albums in general?

[laughs] I almost avoid buying bass records. I think thats a fault

but a good thing too, because 99 percent of the time theyre all

about bass soloing. Tats cool, and I wish I could dig into it bet-ter, but thats just not me.

Some of my favorite albums are Keith Jarrett records when

Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette are playing and Jacks mixingit up. But actually stopping and thinking about a solo and ripping

over changesI just dont do it. Tere are times, of course, whenI do want to take a solo.

If I do buy a bass players record it tends to be on the moreacoustic side, like one by [John] Patitucci or Wilbur Ware, or

something like that Monk Montgomery album. I havent checkedout enough stuff like that. I do have a lot of Marcus Miller re-

cords; he was a huge inuence. If its an electric bass album myear wants to hear more lines versus solos. Tats nothing against

any of those guys. If I had grabbed onto that style Id be solo-ing a lot more, but for some reason I just didnt hear it that way.

Tat could be the Wayne Krantz inuence, actuallyplaying inthat group really shaped how I hear stuff. If I could say I had one

main teacher it would be Wayne.

8. S.M.V.utu (from Tunder, Heads Up). Marcus Miller, electric bass,

bass clarinet, synthesizer; Stanley Clarke, acoustic bass; Vic-tor Wooten, electric bass; Karlton aylor, keyboards; J.D. Blair,

drums; Butterscotch, vocals. Recorded in 2008.

BEFORE:Is that the bass trio with Stanley and Marcus and Vic-

I ALMOST AVOID BUYING BASS RECORDS. I THINK THATS A FAULT BUT A GOOD THING

TOO, BECAUSE 99 PERCENT OF THE TIME THEYRE ALL ABOUT BASS SOLOING. THATS

COOL, AND I WISH I COULD DIG INTO IT BETTER, BUT THATS JUST NOT ME.


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tor Wooten? I can always pick Marcus Miller out. He has neverchanged that soundits great. Tats utu, in a different key

rom when Marcus did it with Miles. Stanley is playing uprighton that, right? I didnt hear Victor Wooten very clearly.

AFTER: Tat sounded a lot like Marcusthat 70s jazz bass

sound. Tis is a bass players record. I dont have it but Ive You-

ubed S.M.V. a ew times and Victor Wootens got a special thingtoo. Stanley I used to listen to when I was a kid. Tose are all baddudes. I only could wish to play as well as all those guys.

What was Miles rst comeback record?Man With the Horn.Teres a jam on there thats just so

Marcus. He tunes his bass down,and he does it on Star Peopletoo.

We Want Mileswas the rst oneI got into. Tose Miles records

changed my lie; they had the mostincredible playing Id ever heard.

At one point or another Mar-cus has been a huge inuence on

everyone. You couldnt escapewhat he was doing, all that creative

groove playing. I havent checkedout anything o his in a while, but

Im always going to be a an ohis playing. Marcus has got more

clones than Godalmost as manyas Jaco. Its cool. Tere could be

worse things.

9. The MetersNo More Okey Doke (rom New

Directions, Reprise). Art Neville,

organ, vocals; Leo Nocentelli, gui-tar; George Porter Jr., electric bass,

vocals; Zigaboo Modeliste, drums;

Cyril Neville, percussion, vocals.Recorded in 1977.

BEFORE:Is it Larry Graham?

AFTER: Tats not the Meters! Get

outta here! Are you serious? Cyrilon vocalsyeah, that threw me. I

dont think o the Meters with vo-cals. I was thinking that whoever it

is was unky as hellunk central.Someone just hipped me to the Lee

Dorsey stuff that the Meters playedon, produced by Allen oussaint.

Amazing stuff.Tats another thingI would

have never guessed the Meters with

that track because it was sort odisco-y. But that bassline is killing,

just killing. George Porters such abad dude. Incredible. Ive never met

him but I know he did the edeschirucks gig afer Oteil [Burbridge]

lef and they were looking at bass

players. I hear hes a real nice guy.

Truethats from personal experience. And hes still such an

important part of the New Orleans scene.

I did meet Jerry Jemmott, and he was a really nice guy too.

What is it about bass players?

Most o them are just cool people. You have to be cool to playthat instrument. JT


24/84

J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 42

CHORUSOPENING Overdue Ovation

Mark Dressers instrumental daring and orward-looking music have been a matter o record since he

launched his career in the 1970s, both as a solo artistand as a key collaborator in the bands o Anthony

Braxton, John Zorn, Ray Anderson, Anthony Davis and otherlikeminded mavericks. In recent years, his artistic vision has taken

on a new thrust with his elematic concerts. Using advancedber-optics technology, these concerts eature him improvising, in

virtually real time, with musicians in other cities around the world,in ront o audiences that can hear and see the perormers in each

locale, some in person and some via video.

His role as a pioneer in elematics bears rich ruit on Nourish-ments, the Mark Dresser Quintets splendid recent album. By turnsedgy and lilting, it teams him with a rontline o saxophonist Ru-

dresh Mahanthappa and trombonist Michael Dessen plus DenmanMaroney on hyperpiano (an ber-prepared piano). Te seven-

song album eatures several compositions Dresser and Dessendeveloped together via elematics. With elematics, or the rst

time, I can be in San Diego and play with peoplein other parts othe worldinterested in the same general genre o jazz and impro-

vised music as me, Dresser says.Mark is an unparalleled musician, says Mahanthappa, who is

also one o Dressers bandmates in the genre-shredding trio Mauger.He is a virtuosic master o his instrument, a prolic and innovative

composer, a orward-thinking technologist with regard to both his

implementation o electronics on his instrument and his elematic

work, and he is a sensitive and insightul collaborator.Mark is a giant, agrees trumpeter Dave Douglas, another o

Dressers many musical partners. Hes a volcanic orce on the bass,and what he does is subtle and perceptual. He can always nd the

magic in any musical situation.

My goals now are a little more specic than when I started,says Dresser, who teaches at the University o Caliornia at SanDiego (UCSD), his alma mater. But generally my goal is to make

a contribution o some sort, to be able to survive and thrive, and togive something back.

Dresser, a 63-year-old Los Angeles native, has consistentlyexpanded the parameters o the bass as a solo and ensemble

instrument, displaying a broad sonic, dynamic and texturalrange. Whether perorming cutting-edge jazz, orchestral works

or completely improvised musiccheck out the spontaneouslycomposed new trio outing Code Re(a)d(Hopscotch)he almost

simultaneously assumes melodic, rhythmic and harmonic roles.His arco technique nds him bowing in horizontal and vertical

directions, both above and below the bridge. His lef and righthands periodically alternate positions on the neck o his bass, in

rapid-re motion. His deeply elt lines are punctuated by taps,slaps and other rhythmic accents, each imbued with a sense o

purpose and musicality; Dresser eschews harmonizers, effectspedals and other high-tech accoutrements, in part because he

can achieve nearly the same results with just his hands, a volumepedal and his customized basses, which, in addition to a pickup

at the bridge, eature eight pickups built into the neck under eachstring, in two series o our. Four o the pickups are installed

near the nut o the bass, our more near the middle o the neck.ogether, they enable him to play and project requencies not

normally heard rom a bass, and to achieve a rare range o inec-tion, rising rom a whisper to a scream.

As a teenager, the people who excited me were Hendrix andMingus, Dresser recalls. I could hear how eedback and electron-

ic music were so possible on the bass. And, emotionally, I couldplug into it. I just elt this is who I was, and I heard mysel via this

language. As a musician, I ound I had to grow my strengths and[improve] my weaknesses, which meant things that were difficult

or meorm, time, harmony, traditional scales.So its not been a linear path, but I had early on a sense o

what my voice might become. I elt something personally engag-ing. Te idea o hearing the bass as an orchestral instrument,

meaning having an orchestra in your hands, was not an exag-

Recommended Listening:

Mark Dresser Invocation(Knitting Factory Works, 1995)

Mark Dresser TrioAquifer(Cryptogramophone, 2002)

Marilyn Crispell/Mark Dresser/Gerry HemmingwayPlay Braxton(Tzadik, 2012)

Mark Dresser Quintet Nourishments(Clean Feed, 2013)

MEETING MUSICS DEMANDS

MARK DRESSER

By George Varga

PETERGANNUSHKIN/DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET


25/84


geration. O course, it was, but it wasnt. o this day, what bringsme to the bass is sound. Sound is still my muse and a vehicle to

throw my energy into.As a kid, Dresser had an immediate affinity or the bass, which

he began playing at the age o 10. Afer perorming in a rock bandwith the son o Red Mitchell, he took a UCLA Extension class

when he was 16 rom jazz bass icon Ray Brown. Subsequently,

during his one year studying music at Indiana University in 1970,Dresser met contrabass pioneer Bert uretzky. He encouragedDresser to ollow his muse and persuaded him to transer to UCSD

where, more than 30 years later, Dresser was hired to ll uretzkysspot in the aculty o the schools music department. I knew I was

not a mainstream jazz player, Dresser says. My affinities werewith improvised music and experimentalism. It was Bert who was

the rst person to say, Dont think o yoursel as a bass player;think o yoursel as an artist. Tose were potent words or some-

one still trying to play a C-major scale!Bert introduced me to Stanley Crouch. Trough Stanley, I met

Bobby Bradord, Arthur Blythe and James Newton, and we startedplaying together in Los Angeles. Stanley was the rst person to talk

about responsibility and talent and what that meant, which mademe contextualize things on a bigger level. When I went to UCSD,

I was in the same class as [budding avant-vocal wizard] DiamandaGalas, who became a very close riend. We were both ambitious

and knew we wanted to do something bold and different.

Afer a two-year sojourn in New York, where he explored the

Big Apples then-burgeoning Lof scene, Dresser returned to Cali-

ornia in 1977 to complete his studies at UCSD. While there, heplayed in the San Diego Symphony and worked with some o the

citys leading jazz players, including saxophonists Charles McPher-son, Anthony Ortega and Daniel Jackson, pianist Butch Lacy and

guitarist Peter Sprague.

In 1983, Dresser received a Fulbright scholarship to study inRome with amed Italian classical bassist Franco Petracchi, aferwhich he moved back to New York until taking the UCSD gig in

2004. He continues to be perpetually active on the bandstand,in recording studios and in the classroom, as San Diegos Joshua

White, a ormer Dresser student and now a periodic bandmate,can attest. Marks always super-encouraging to younger musi-

cians to nd their own way, says White, who placed second inthe 2011 Telonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competi-

tion. What I love about him is that hell always speak his mindand be honest. He wants to get the best out o everybody, in any

situation.For Dresser, getting the best out o music is a lielong quest.

I love doing creative work, and music just demands everythingyouve got, he says. I mean, I have a amily and hobbies. But or

me, learning new things about music is the ountain o youth.How can we push ourselves? What can we do that hasnt been

done beore? JT


26/84COURTESY

OFTHESONYMUSICARCHIVES

The Legend Begins:Jaco Pastorius, December 1975


27/84


28/84

J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 46

IN 1977, NEW JERSEY-BORN PETER ERSKINE WAS A23-year-old drum powerhouse playing one-nighters in trumpeter

Maynard Fergusons big band. A year later, thanks to a good wordrom electric bass demigod Jaco Pastorius, Erskine would be tour-

ing arenas around the world as a member o the epochal usiongroup Weather Report, a chair hed hold until 1982.

Erskines recent autobiography, No Beethoven(Fuzzy Music/Alred),

is a narrative tracing the drummers rich and varied musical lie aswell as an account o the inner workings and sometimes outrageouspersonalities o Weather Report. Particularly touching are Erskines

writings on Pastorius, a musical genius who redened his instrumentbut whose mental illness eventually led to his tragic death in 1987 at

age 35. For this April bass issue, weve extracted a selection o Erskinesremembrances o his riend Jaco. THE EDITORS

HAVE FUN!

I owe the Weather Report gig to Maynard Ferguson bandmate and

trumpeter Ron ooley, who called Jaco up when the band was playingin Miami at the Airliner Motel in March o 1977. Ron was surprised

that his phone call was answered because Jaco was usually in Los An-

geles working with Weather Report, and he made the call intending tojust leave a message. So they talked or a while, and when Ron askedJaco i he would like to come and see the Ferguson band that night,

Jaco replied, Tanks but no thanks; I heard you guys the last time.Well, Ron said, we got a new drummer; you might want to check

him out. OK, Ill be there.Even though the epochal album Heavy Weatherwas just about to be

released, drummer Alex Acua was apparently already making plans toleave the band. So I met Jaco that night and we chitchatted or a while.

At rst I was staring at him because he looked so different in personcompared to his solo album cover photographthat stylized black-

and-white photo that made him look European. Here was this guy withstringy long hair wearing a Phillies baseball cap, horn-rimmed glasses

and a striped shirt that was buttoned all the way up to the top.Eventually the band break was over and I had to go back to the

stage to play the second set. Jaco then said something to me no one

else had ever said. As I was walking toward the stage I heard, Hey,man! and I turned around to look. Instead o saying somethinglike, Play well, or Have a good set, Jaco yelled, Have un! And I

thought, Wow, thats a nice idea. So I went up and had unsmil-ing and laughing and enjoying mysel, and thats how I played. Jaco

was that kind o person: He truly enjoyed bringing out something inpeoplemost ofen their best. Sometimes, getting any type o reaction

was good enough or him, even i it meant trouble to ollow. One nick-name he had or himsel was Catalyst.

Afer the Maynard gig was over that evening, Jaco and several ous sidemen stayed up all night listening over and over again to the

cassette tape that Jaco had brought with him o Heavy Weather. I toldhim, Tis is the version o Weather Report I have been waiting or.

He told me that he would be calling me one o these days.What ollows is a glorious period o spring touring with Maynard,

and Im listening to that cassette tape o Heavy Weather at every op-portunity, knowing that there is a great musical vista around the corner.

Tis is the kind o music I want to play when I grow up: It isnt therst and wont be the last time that thought occurs to me. Te sound,

the compositions and the playing on Heavy Weathermesmerize me.Its intoxicating, and so is listening to Jaco on Joni MitchellsHejira. Te

two best things Im hearing both have Pastorius all over them.

CLOCKWISEFROMILLUSTRATION:COURTESYOFPETERERSKINE;

MUTSYERSKINE;PHOTOBYPETERERSKINE

Clockwise from left:

a sketch of Peter Erskineby Jaco Pastorius; Ers-kine (left) and Pastoriusin Japan in 1978; JoeZawinul, Wayne Shorterand Pastorius (from left)in Germany in 78 For more of Peter Erskines archival photos, visit JazzTimes.com


29/84


Jaco is true to his word and does indeed call me months later. Itsthe beginning o a severe winter, and Weather Report is starting work

on a new album. Im invited to come out and audition in the orm orecording or a day in the studio with the band. With the combined

elements o the weather being so bad (making it risky or me to yout and back in or a Maynard tour without possibly hanging him up)

and my lack o studio experience, I turn down the offer to play with

Weather Report! Sorry, Id love to do it, but the timing just isnt right.Without my realizing it, this makes some sort o good impression. Teband proceeds to work on the album that would becomeMr. Gone

with drummers Steve Gadd and ony Williams. Eventually, a tour oJapan and Australia is planned and Weather Report needs a drummer

or that. I get the call again, and this time I accept the invitation.I bid Maynard and the band arewell and y out to L.A., check-

ing into the Sunset Marquis, Jacos hotel o choice. Hes nowhere to beound that evening. I nd out later that he was up the street at the Roxy,

attending a CBS Records album rollout gig or Billy Cobham. (Jacolater brags to me that he and Stanley Clarke were picking grapes, raisins

and nuts rom a record-company-supplied ruit basket and throwingthem at Billy during one o his drum solos.) Rehearsal is set to begin

early the next afernoon, and I decide to walk rom the hotel situatednear La Cienega Blvd. in Hollywood to the S.I.R. rehearsal studio thats

located near Highland Ave., a distance o two and a hal miles.It must be 6:30 or 7 p.m. by the time Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter

and Jaco enter the rehearsal studio together rom the parking lot.Im happy to see Jaco and walk over to greet him, but he only smiles,

waves and departs as quickly through the doorway as he had entered.Instead, I shake hands with Joe, who has a small, dried-out marijuana

roach stuck to his lower lip. He stares at me and shakes my hand,almost glumly. Wayne is ar riendlier and smiles warmly and broadly.

Tey go their way toward the stage where the band setup is waiting.Afer weve set up and started playing, I look out into the rehearsal

space and see Jaco re-entering the building, this time with a six-packo Heineken and a big smile. He quickly deposits the beer into the

studio ridge and jumps up onto the stage, turning to catch a Fenderbass thats airborne as soon as he is ready to catch it. He grabs it with

ease and astens the strap around himsel, turns a knob and were off tothe races. What unolds is an impromptu medley o Weather Report

tunes, all sounding very amiliar to me because I had done my listen-ing homework. Te experience eels as amiliar as possible, and yet I

know I am on new ground and that I am, in effect, playing or my lie.We cover a lot o musical ground and play a lot o tunes non-stop

or over 40 minutes without a word being spoken. I look out into therehearsal space at some point during all o this and see saxophonist

om Scott (whom Jaco had invited to come over) standing there mo-tionless with his mouth open. By this time we are playing Gibraltar,

which has a rousing vamp or a nale, and we all seem to know that

its time to end together, Zawinul conrming this with a jubilant andvigorous nod o his head. Bup-bup-buh, bap-bu-DAP! Te guys arehigh-ving and laughing and smiling and Im catching my breath. But,

o course, I am smiling too, and this all seems like a good thing. Tis is

conrmed by rehearsal being called or the night, with a photo sessionhurriedly scheduled or the ollowing day.

Te night, however, has just begun, and Im riding shotgun withJaco as we go rom one L.A. landmark to another, ending up at the or-

mer home o Stan Laurel. From a jam session with Michel Colombierto a drawn-out existential dialogue between Jaco and Steve Gadd that

I overhear rom the couch where Im napping (and lef to wonder howin the world these guys can stay up so late), I discover that Jacos sound

is indeed in his hands and that om Scott is a nice ellow, and that Jacoand Steve can really talk.

Jaco takes me to a clothing store on Santa Monica Blvd. the next

morning so I can get some hip stage clothes as well as something or theband photo. I put on my new white -shirt and join Joe Zawinul and

Wayne Shorter, who have been waiting or us to get into the picture.

THE DUMBEST F*$&ING THING IVE EVER HEARD

Scene: a record store in okyo in 1978. Jaco and I have been visiting

music stores and album shops with our tour interpreter (and my u-

HEAVY JACOHIS BEST WEATHER REPORT PERFORMANCESBY PHILIP BOOTH

CANNON BALL

Black Market(Columbia, 1976)Jacos fretless bass slithers, then darts, then gently nudges Za-winuls rising-and-falling synth melody. The bassist also offerschordal flourishes and curlicues, later subtly but firmly urgingon the rhythms under Shorters edgy tenor solo and the long,gently undulating outro. No over-the-top playing here; instead,its a laidback introduction to the bass soundthe distinctivelymwah-ing undertow and colorful, smartly placed linesthat

would redefine Weather Report.

HAVONAHeavy Weather (Columbia, 1977)On Jacos unclassifiable hybrid of fusion and Latin, he laysdown that trademarked driving 16th-note pattern in tandem withdrummer Alex Acua. Mid-song, the tune opens up for Jaco to

show off his mad improv skills, as he finds nooks in which toplace his volleys of notesplenty, but never too many. He driveshard throughout, dropping bursts of harmonics and at the endturning in relentless single-note pummeling.

TEEN TOWN

Heavy Weather(Columbia, 1977)Over Manolo Badrenas boiling congas and Jacos own funkydrumming, the bassist spins out an elongated, complex melodychockfull of tricky syncopations and unexpected pauses. Later,its all heavy grooves, a sort-of solo hinting at the head and aslam-shut coda.

BIRDLAND

8:30 (Columbia, 1979)The quartet, with then-new drummer Peter Erskine, offersa more muscular live take of the Zawinul hi t from HeavyWeather. Leading off with his innovative thumb-and-fingersplucking of artificial harmonics, Jaco, the tunes X factor, seam-lessly moves to pumping rhythms in the second section, punchy

walking during the neo-swing melody, long falls behind Shorterand finally the extended reprise of the main theme.

THREE VIEWS OF A SECRET

Night Passage (Columbia, 1980)Employing plucked harmonics again at the tunes start, Jacodemonstrates his deft touch with a ballad, in this case his own.Behind Shorters tenor and Zawinuls synths, he lays downdeep, burrowing lines and unexpected, room-filling swells,using his fretless to deliver a resonant, deep-sustain tone remi-niscent of an upright. As usual, he knows when to slightly amp

the energy up, and precisely where to aim those signatureharmonics volleys.


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J A Z Z T I M E S A P R I L 2 0 1 428

ture wie), Mutsy, who we have stolen rom the crew. I notice that therecord store has a copy o an album I recorded with Maynard a year

beore. Teres a usion production-tune extravaganza that has a lot odrumming on it, and Im curious to hear it again and excited to play it

or Jaco, and so Mutsy is put to the task o sumimasen-ing the storepersonnel and asking them to please play this album on the stereo

system in the shop, and to play this specic song. Tey do this or us,

and the music starts over the loudspeakers. All o a sudden, this tuneI had been proud o is not sounding so good to me, and the musicalseconds tick by like minutes. It doesnt take too long or Jaco to turn to

me impatiently and proclaim, Tis has got to be the dumbest uckingthing Ive ever heard. Come on, lets get outta here, and that was that.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE?

Jaco and I were each hal the age o Joe and Wayne when we played to-gether in Weather Report. Joe and Wayne were our elders and mentors,

but Jaco had the genius, talent, bravado and drive to compete with ourjazz ather guresespecially Joeas an equal brother. We were amily,

albeit one with a scorecard. ouring, playing live or in the studio, eating,meeting peoplethe band ethos was to reign supreme in all matters

large and small. Jacos ame burned bright during those days. And likeany kind o re, it consumed much o the oxygen surrounding it.

Its hard to believe that hes been gone now or over 25 years. Whatmusic he might have created had he lived a longer lie! His musical

legacy has been served both ill and well since his death, with variousalbumsmany o them bootlegsbeing released, the bulk o them

consisting o poorly recorded live gigs at a time when he was sick andnot playing anywhere near his best. His ascendency in Weather Re-

port and the time periods beore and immediately afer the band werewhen he galvanized the world o music with his talent and his ideas

and his audacity.One o the more common questions Im asked during my travels

is What was it like to play with Jaco? In a word, it was thrilling. Hewas certainly the brightest shining star in the constellation o musical

personalities that Ive encountered, bass or otherwise, and he madecertain that our collaboration was always un and challenging. He was

a good riend. And his innate and studied sense o time, as well as hisrhythmic execution, was the clearest and best articulated. Te act that

Jaco started off as a drummer when he was young, and was an avidand astute listener, gave him an understanding o the beat that ew

bass players will ever match. Te reerence to listening is an impor-tant one. Jaco counted Frank Sinatra as well as Bernard Purdie as his

inuences; Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky were every bitas important to his education as bassists Jerry Jemmott, Chuck Rainey,

Ron Carter and James Jamerson. Jaco was well educated, and he wasalso completely instinctive. He was serious, and he was un. He could

play rock-solid rhythms, and he could lyrically sing on the bass. His

16th-note execution was unparalleled. He could play in the style omany o his heroes, and yet he conceived, created and composed alanguage on his instrument that was as revolutionary as it was evolu-

tionary. His Caribbean beat consisted o conga drum patterns played

on the ba

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JazzTimes..April.2014