Jazz Infuses New York
June 13, 2003
By BEN RATLIFF
THE last two weeks of June in New York - JVC Jazz Festival
time - answer at least two questions: Which musicians are
making tours of the festival circuit? And what constitutes
a general-audience show in jazz?
What the festival doesn't answer, because it can't, is the
question of what is the full scope of jazz in 2003.
No matter who its underwriters are, a jazz festival needs
generalist jazz enthusiasts - thousands and thousands of
them - to fill large halls. And the people who think first
about buying tickets to a festival show, as opposed to
diving into the regular hurly-burly of year-round jazz in
New York clubs, are by and large the generalists.
So here's some reading between the lines of the JVC
schedule to determine what the generalists might think this
year:
Ornette Coleman and Wayne Shorter are now considered old
favorites. Mr. Coleman was the terror of jazz-town when he
came to New York in 1959 and confounded everyone by playing
- would you believe? - sections of music that had no
determined key. And Mr. Shorter is playing his most
aggressive and fragmented acoustic material with a hungry
new band.
Afro-Cuban music is obviously and inextricably linked to
jazz and jazz audiences.
The experimental side of jazz has finally entered a
healthy working relationship with the bebop-and-beyond
mainstream tradition.
Great singers, especially those whose sensibilities
straddled a few different kinds of music, are a safe bet
for a promoter even after they're dead.
All this may be obvious, but this festival tends to deal in
the obvious. A nonobvious measure it has taken for the
second year running, however, is simultaneous, smart
bookings at the Village Vanguard and Birdland: the modern
sounds are at the Vanguard, and the more traditional side
of jazz at Birdland. For the Vanguard series JVC has
finally copied an idea used at the Montreal Jazz Festival
since 1989: booking a single important musician for several
nights in the same room and featuring him in entirely
different contexts each night.
It's a simple enough idea and absolutely worthwhile for
several reasons. One is that it's a true representation of
a working life in jazz: most bandleaders need to keep
several bands going to survive and to keep an audience
interested. Another is that the series builds momentum and
excitement in a town that's seen it all.
And because the focus of the Vanguard series (June 24 to
29) is the drummer Paul Motian, a septuagenarian whose
life's work - from his role in Bill Evans's famous trio of
the early 1960's to his own Electric Bebop group of the
1990's - has always been alive to contemporary directions
of serious jazz, you're getting the possibility of learning
a huge amount about jazz in a few days.
Below are a critic's recommendations for every day through
the end of the JVC festival, which starts on Sunday and
runs until June 28. And because the festival creates a
certain amount of jazz tourism, with nightclub bookers
creating worthwhile events during the two-week stretch,
I've added on some days, starting with today, and extra
enticements in the clubs.
Today
WYCLIFFE GORDON The trombonist Wycliffe Gordon can make his
instrument act like a laser or a smudgy piece of charcoal;
in his hands the trombone seems something small and easy to
manipulate. Since leaving his position as a regular member
of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra a couple of years ago,
he has started to pop up in lots of jazz contexts,
delivering on his years of restrained promise as a
functionary within a touring band. In place of the Cuban
pianist Chucho Valdes, who was originally scheduled to play
at the Vanguard this week, Mr. Gordon will lead his own
quartet, which includes one of the better young pianists
around, Richard Jones. Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue
South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037; 9 and
11 p.m. And tomorrow night at 9, 11 and 12:30 a.m.; and
Sunday at 9 and 11 p.m. Admission: $20 tonight and tomorrow
night, $15 on Sunday, with a $10 minimum all nights.
Tomorrow
LUCIANA SOUZA QUARTET Ms. Souza, a singer,
doesn't have a big, dynamic instrument like a Sarah Vaughan
- or for that matter a Dianne Reeves - but in her finely
attenuated head-voice there is a great musicality and a
firm intelligence. For the last few years she has been
performing Brazilian music, often with the guitarist Romero
Lubambo as a duet partner; together they make fizzy, alert
versions of sambas, bossa-novas and baiaos. But she has
moved on to some new small-band music and some cleverly
written rearrangements of standards, as heard on her new
album
idsrc="nyt_ttl"> "North and South"
(Sunnyside) and as played by a quartet including the
pianist Bruce Barth, the bassist Scott Colley and the
drummer Clarence Penn. Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street,
Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 p.m.
Admission: $20.
Sunday
CEDAR WALTON QUARTET (JVC festival event.) The pianist
Cedar Walton began his career when jazz was, if not exactly
popular music, an adult music that great portions of
America really cared about. He had the thorough
rhythm-section training of playing with Art Blakey's Jazz
Messengers; he was able to move through funk and electric
pianos in the 1970's and move past them without remaining
too hung up on whether jazz should mimic pop. With his sure
touch and skill at arranging and composing, he helped form
what the post-1960's small-group mainstream would be, and
he has never swerved. Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, at 135th Street,
Harlem, (212) 491-2200; 3 p.m. Admission: $15; members,
$12.
Monday
TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEATURING LEW TABACKIN Ms.
Akiyoshi, one of the best orchestral composers in jazz
since the 1960's, has steered her big band through more
than five straight years of Mondays at Birdland; it's the
kind of steady work that insures a great live sound.
"Hiroshima Rising From the Abyss," her new album on True
Life records, thematically concerns itself with the victims
of atomic bombs, but the music amalgamates various levels
of the jazz mainstream through history: Armstrong,
Ellington, bebop and the deep-harmony experiments of the
post-Gil Evans large-ensemble tradition. Birdland, 315 West
44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; 9 and 11 p.m.
Admission: $20, with a $10 minimum.
Tuesday
"WILD, WILDER WESS: A CELEBRATION OF THE MUSIC AND LIVES OF
FRANK WESS AND JOE WILDER" (JVC festival event.) Both Mr.
Wess, the saxophonist, and Mr. Wilder, the trumpeter, are
81. Playing at that age is almost normal for jazz, which is
patronized by loyal fans who will find a way to appreciate
their favorite players even when they turn frail. But
what's thoroughly abnormal is the strength of these two
musicians. Both are alumni of Count Basie's band - Mr. Wess
from 1953 to 1964, Mr. Wilder only briefly, for the last
six months of Mr. Wess's tenure. They're more linked,
however, by an almost classical control over their
instruments, which came in handy when they went into the
studio-musician business in the 1960's and 70's. Here's
where you will see the old camaraderies of jazz come out in
full view: a group of admirers, including Bill Charlap, Roy
Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Renee Rosnes and Phil Woods, will
be playing for them and with them. Kaye Playhouse, 68th
Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, (212) 772-4448;
8 p.m. Admission: $40.
Wednesday
"PIANO STARTS HERE" (JVC festival event.) Produced by the
pianist Ted Rosenthal, this concert takes a core group of
pianists representing various flavors of the jazz
mainstream - Kenny Barron, Bill Charlap, Joey Calderazzo,
Eldar Djangirov, Eliane Elias, Mr. Rosenthal himself, Cedar
Walton and Kenny Werner - and presents them in various
configurations, including solo, two-piano duos, trios with
bass and drums and possibly two-piano quartets with bass
and drums. A concert for serious keyboard-heads as well as
the general-knowledge pianist who's been wondering about
the state of mainstream-jazz piano. Kaye Playhouse, 8 p.m.
Admission: $40. In the clubs: ELVIN JONES WITH CECIL TAYLOR
In what is becoming an annual event, the pianist Cecil
Taylor joins the drummer Elvin Jones for a single set
during Mr. Jones's weeklong stint at the Blue Note. They
don't always do the same thing; each has an enormous
dynamic range in their careful, abstract, improvised duets,
and they take turns playing bear or butterfly. Blue Note,
131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 475-8592;
10:30 p.m. Admission: $30 at the tables, with a $5 minimum;
$20 at the bar and a one-drink minimum.
Thursday
"BIX LIVES ON: A BEIDERBECKE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION" (JVC
festival event.) Here's a concert that shines all kinds of
light on old music associated with the great cornetist and
composer Bix Beiderbecke: it presents his music straight,
dices it up and rearranges it, and in some cases expands
it. Among the new ideas will be a few Bix pieces arranged
for three cornets (played by Jon-Erik Kellso, Randy
Reinhart and Randy Sandke) and several arrangements of his
solo-piano pieces for large ensemble. And with Howard
Alden, Wycliffe Gordon and Ken Peplowski. Kaye Playhouse, 8
p.m. Admission: $40.
June 20
"THE MOVIE MUSIC OF SPIKE LEE AND TERENCE BLANCHARD" (JVC
festival event.) Since "Mo' Better
Blues" Spike Lee has used Terence Blanchard,
a jazz trumpeter and bandleader, as his soundtrack
composer. Jazz or not, the soundtracks have built up a body
of work, and festivals like this exist in part to coalesce
and plead for bodies of work. Among the performers for the
pieces will be the singers Cassandra Wilson, Angie Stone
and Musiq. Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; 8 p.m. Admission:
$25 to $70. In the clubs: HAROLD MABERN TRIO. Harold
Mabern, who came out of the Memphis music scene of the
1950's, likes to say that he thinks of himself as "a blues
pianist who understands jazz." He's underrating himself,
you say, but only if you believe that the blues makes
simple music. In fact it's an essential part of jazz that's
fading fast, since most jazz musicians don't come from the
South or church backgrounds anymore, which makes Mr.
Mabern's charging, heavily chorded style a more precious
thing. Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212)
864-6662; 9 and 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. And June 21, same
times. Admission: $15, with a $10 minimum.
June 21
LOS VAN VAN, RAY BARRETTO (JVC Festival event). This double
bill tries to tie up the loose ends pertaining to jazz's
connection with Cuba. Mr. Barretto, the conguero, was born
in New York City and got his start playing congas with jazz
performers. In 1961 he stumbled into a career playing Latin
music, segueing nicely into salsa, which emerged in the
late 1960's as basically a New York form of Cuban music.
He's back to jazz now, playing with excellent young
musicians like the saxophonist Miguel Zenon and the pianist
Luis Perdomo; Mr. Barretto's opening set will feature both
his new jazz sextet and the return of his salsa orchestra.
Los Van Van, formed in 1969 and much changed since the
beginning, presents a tidal wave of Cuban dance music, with
interlocking rhythm-section parts that are calculated to
amaze. Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m. Admission: $25 to $70. In the
clubs: TONY SCOTT, BUDDY DeFRANCO (JVC festival event.) The
two top bebop clarinetists of the 1950's went along
different paths. Mr. DeFranco kept a touring musician's
life in America, fitting into a traditional conception of
jazz; Mr. Scott turned mystical, grew a long white beard
and relocated to Italy. They haven't played together much
for 50 years, and they're accompanied each night of a
fascinating weeklong engagement by various avant-gardish
clarinetists; on this particular night it's Marty Ehrlich,
one of the most pliable jazz musicians, in terms of style,
of the last 40 years. Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st
Street, (212) 582-2121; 8, 10 and 11:30 p.m. Admission:
$30, with a $10 minimum.
June 22
CHICO O'FARRILL'S AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ BIG BAND, WITH SONNY
FORTUNE (JVC festival event.) After the death of Chico
O'Farrill, the Cuban composer and arranger, his son Arturo
took over his regularly performing band and kept developing
pieces from his father's repertory; this band, with some
adjustments, turned into Lincoln Center's new Afro-Latin
Jazz Ensemble, which has made great strides in only a year
of life. And for an extra jolt of excitement the
indefatigable saxophonist Sonny Fortune seems like a sure
bet. Birdland, 9 and 11 p.m. Admission: $25 with a $10
minimum.
June 23
"THERE'LL BE ANOTHER SPRING: A TRIBUTE TO MISS PEGGY LEE"
(JVC festival event.) Peggy Lee really was a strange and
daring kind of singer, which is the reason so many people
love her stuff, inside and outside jazz. Like a lot of
today's big names in what's vaguely described as jazz
singing - Cassandra Wilson, say - she hung out with jazz
musicians, lived in a jazz context but always seemed to
transcend matters of style and tradition. The homageurs
include (how's this for different walks of life?) Bea
Arthur, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Peter Cincotti, Freddy Cole,
Deborah Harry, Shirley Horn, Eartha Kitt and Jane Monheit.
Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m. Admission: $25 to $75.
June 24
MACEO PARKER AND ROY HARGROVE WITH RH FACTOR (JVC festival
event.) The Maceo Parker part we know: the former
saxophonist with the James Brown band who rediscovered his
jazz roots in the 1990's and has been playing good
half-jazz, half-R&B party music since then. But the part
involving Roy Hargrove looks intriguing, because "Hard
Groove" (Verve), Mr. Hargrove's ambitious and sprawling new
neo-soul album, is so studio-created. Apollo Theater, 253
West 125th Street, Harlem, (212) 531-5305; 8 p.m.
Admission: $37.
June 25
ORNETTE COLEMAN TRIO AND CHARLIE HADEN (JVC festival
event.) Mr. Coleman's music for acoustic trio - the nub of
his conception of jazz - has winnowed down to almost pure
outpourings of melody. He's not impressing anyone with
sound or intensity; he's going for a much sweeter, low-key
sort of music, kept bubbling by the drummer Denardo Coleman
(his son) and the bassist Anthony Falanga, who play the
rhythm of no rhythm. Opening the concert is the bass player
Charlie Haden, a former collaborator of Mr. Coleman,
playing music from his new album, which is alternately
treacly and exciting. There will be a string orchestra on
hand, as well as some great hard-core jazz musicians: the
saxophonist Michael Brecker, the pianist Kenny Barron, the
drummer Rodney Green. Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m. Admission: $25
to $70. In the clubs: CARLA BLEY BIG BAND Ms. Bley, the
pianist and composer, has nurtured a mischievous streak
since the 1960's, and it's evident in "Looking for America"
(Watt), a new record in which American anthems and marches
keep dissonantly poking in to the tromping bustle of a
swinging 18-piece orchestra. Iridium, 8 and 10 p.m.
Admission: $27.50, with a $10 minimum.
June 26
"AN EVENING WITH CHICK COREA AND FRIENDS" (JVC festival
event.) Onstage Mr. Corea, a virtuosic pianist, seems
completely relaxed and amused by the game of music making;
this ought to make it easier to hang in there through this
concert's various hard right turns, from duets with the
vibraphonist Gary Burton to a set with Mr. Corea's Elektric
Band to his Three Quartets band, with Michael Brecker,
Eddie Gomez and the drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. Mr. Corea can
play a lot of different kinds of music, including excellent
bebop and ballads; but a good deal of this evening will
include truckloads of notes played hard, a heavy dose of
jazz-math. Avery Fisher Hall, (212) 875-3030; 8 p.m.
Admission: $25 to $60. In the clubs: JOE LOVANO'S STREET
BAND Formed for his last album, which paid a highly
conceptual tribute to Enrico Caruso, Mr. Lovano's Street
Band tries to evoke the kind of bands that turned opera
arias into popular music all over Italy: ragtag groups
playing melodies in raucous, not-perfect unison. (Sometimes
you have to go backward to go forward.) The band has
saxophone, clarinet, two basses, accordion, wordless
singing and percussion on drums and cookie tins. Yes, it
sounds crazy on paper, and it's one of the most fascinating
groups I've seen in recent years. Jazz Standard, 117 East
27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Admission: $20.
June 27
DAVE BRUBECK AND SHIRLEY HORN (JVC festival event.) You
can't argue with Mr. Brubeck's place in jazz: crowds still
flock to his concerts, hanging in there through the recent
stuff until he finally rewards them with "Take Five" or
"Blue Rondo à la Turk." But Ms. Horn's place has only been
recently staked out, since she started the second phase of
her career in the late 80's, when she was well into middle
age. She's not playing piano anymore, but on her new
record, "May the Music Never End" (Verve, to be released
next week), her singing is as slow and rhythmically shrewd
as ever. Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m. Admission: $25 to $65. In
the clubs: DOUG WAMBLE QUINTET On a curious new record,
"Country Libations" (Marsalis Music), Mr. Wamble, the
guitarist, blends bebop, country, blues, gospel, soul and
his own blue-eyed soul singing. Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson
Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063; 9
and 10:30 p.m. Admission: $12; members, $10.
June 28
WAYNE SHORTER (JVC festival event.) It is good to see Mr.
Shorter - the greatest living composer of small-group music
in jazz, and a pretty wonderful saxophonist - play music
that he and audiences can both sink their teeth into. His
return to prominence in the last few years, leading a
first-rate acoustic jazz quartet playing the best of his
music from his days as part of the Miles Davis Quintet to
the present, has yielded incredible performances, full of
stubbornly original tenor saxophone improvising. Here,
aside from the quartet, a chamber orchestra will flesh out
some of his new arrangements, and Herbie Hancock and Savion
Glover will appear as guests, playing and dancing in Mr.
Shorter's world of gnomic melodies and genuinely stirring
harmony. Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m. Admission: $25 to $65.
June 29
McHENRY, HADEN & MOTIAN TRIO This unlikely gig
was added to the end of a week of JVC shows at the Vanguard
involving the drummer Paul Motian. It's a trio with two
all-time greats on bass (Charlie Haden) and drums with a
not-widely-known newcomer, Bill McHenry, on tenor
saxophone. Luckily Mr. McHenry grew up memorizing Mr.
Haden's music, and this could be an important moment for a
bright, rising talent. Mr. McHenry plays with ripe feeling,
easily cutting across bebop and free-jazz languages.
Village Vanguard, 9 and 11 p.m. Admission: $20, with a $10
minimum. And in the clubs: TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO Mr.
Gustavsen, a youngish Norwegian pianist, plays slow music
that melts off the bandstand into puddles of feeling,
backed by a low-key funk rhythm; it's séance music, and
this show is his first American concert. Joe's Pub, 425
Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212)
239-6200. 7:30 p.m. Admission: $15.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/13/ar...4f99cc4758d292
Linear Mode
