Lennie Niehaus Mary Lou Williams Director, As Well As Leading the New School Sun Ra Ensemble Twice in Celebration of the Pianist/Bandleader’S Centennial
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MAY 2014 - ISSUE 145 YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM THE THING WHAT IS THIS LOVE CALLED THING AHMED • GREG • LENNIE • HEP • EVENT ABDULLAH WARD NIEHAUS JAZZ CALENDAR “BEST JAZZ CLUBS OF THE YEAR 2012” SMOKE JAZZ & SUPPER CLUB • HARLEM, NEW YORK CITY FEATURED ARTISTS / 7:00, 9:00 & 10:30pm ONE NIGHT ONLY / 7:00, 9:00 & 10:30pm Fri & Sat, May 2 & 3 Wed, May 7 TOMMY CAMPBELL & VOCAL-EYES JIMMY GREENE QUARTET Miles Griffith, vocals I Carolyn Leonhart, vocals I Helio Alves, piano Jimmy Greene, tenor saxophone I Xavier Davis, piano Ben Sher, guitar I Harvey S, bass I Tommy Campbell, drums Gerald Cannon, bass I Jeff “Tain” Watts, drums NEW RELEASES FOR 2014! AVAILABLE ON COMPACT DISC & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD Fri & Sat, May 9 & 10 Wed, May 14 NAT ADDERLEY, JR. QUINTET ERIC REED QUARTET Donald Braden, saxophone & flute I Nat Adderley, Jr., piano Seamus Blake, tenor saxophone I Orrin Evans, piano Trifon Dimitrov, bass I Rocky Bryant, drums Reuben Rogers, bass I Rodney Green, drums Wed, May 21 Fri & Sat, May 16 & 17 JERRY WELDON QUARTET Record Release Weekend Jerry Weldon, tenor saxophone I Jeb Patton, piano Mike Karn, bass I Jason Brown, drums LOUIS HAYES & THE JAZZ COMMUNICATORS Wed, May 28 Steve Nelson, vibraphone I Abraham Burton, tenor saxophone JOANNA PASCAL David Bryant, piano I Dezron Douglas, bass I Louis Hayes, drums WITH THE ORRIN EVANS TRIO JoannaSPECIAL Pascal, EVENTvocals / 7:00, 9:00 & 10:30pm Fri & Sat, May 23 & 24 Orrin Evans, piano I Vicente Archer, bass I Obed Calvaire, drums Miles Davis Celebration Sun & Mon, Feb 9 & 10 & Record Release Weekend BRAD MEHLDAU & PETER BERNSTEIN Brad Mehldau (piano) • Peter Bernstein (guitar) JIMMY COBB & FRIENDS Music 7 Nights a Week & Sunday Brunch Fri & Sat, May 30 & 31 No Music Charge (Sunday to Thursday) STEVE TURRE QUINTET For Complete Music Schedule Visit Bruce Williams, alto saxophone I Steve Turre, trombone www.smokejazz.com Xavier Davis, piano I Gerald Cannon, bass I Willie Jones III, drums WWW.SMOKESESSIONSRECORDS.COM 212-864-6662 • 2751 Broadway NYC (Between 105th & 106th streets) • www.smokejazz.com SMOKE “No man is an island,” wrote English poet John Donne in the 17th century. Jazz was a few hundred years off but his message is easily applied to the mentorship, New York@Night historical awareness and respectful homage inherent in the genre. To paraphrase, 4 “No musician comes out of nowhere” and some are especially grateful to their Interview: Ahmed Abdullah forbears, whether they be stylistic antecedents or direct teachers. The Thing (On The Cover), Scandinavia’s beloved power trio, was initially by Clifford Allen 6 convened to record a tribute album to trumpeter Don Cherry. All are avid students Artist Feature: Greg Ward of musical history and their brutal performances may feature anything from Albert by Ken Waxman Ayler to Lightning Bolt, all delivered with the delicacy of a 2x4 to the face. They 7 perform this month as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival. Trumpeter On The Cover: The Thing Ahmed Abdullah (Interview) learned his trade under the wise tutelage of figures 9 by Kurt Gottschalk like Sam Rivers and, most notably, Sun Ra, and then honed it alongside peers like Arthur Blythe, Frank Lowe and Billy Bang. Abdullah turns 67 this month and Encore: Lest We Forget: celebrates with his Diaspora band at Sistas’ Place, where he doubles as Music 10 Lennie Niehaus Mary Lou Williams Director, as well as leading the New School Sun Ra Ensemble twice in celebration of the pianist/bandleader’s centennial. Alto saxophonist Greg Ward (Artist Feature) by Marcia Hillman by Ken Dryden is the youngster of the group but no less aware of history, having been forged in the Megaphone VOXNews smithy that was legendary Chicago saxophonist Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge. 11 by Todd Stoll by Katie Bull Since then, he has worked with many of his peers in both Chicago and his adopted home of New York and presents a piece in homage to one of his mentors Label Spotlight: Listen Up!: commissioned by The Jazz Gallery. Without belaboring the theme, the impact of figures like saxophonist/ 12 Hep Jazz Yvonnick Prene composer/arranger Lennie Niehaus (Encore) and pianist Mary Lou Williams (Lest & Eyal Vilner by Donald Elfman We Forget) is still being felt in music made today, like the many albums you can CD Reviews: Ideal Bread, Allen Lowe, Rich Perry, Vijay Iyer, Sun Ra, find in our CD Reviews sections, linked to many release celebrations listed in our 14 Arturo O’Farrill, Ted Rosenthal, Lena Horne, Tony Malaby and more always-bursting Event Calendar. We’ll see you out there... 38 Event Calendar Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor Andrey Henkin, Editorial Director 45 Club Directory On The Cover: The Thing (Peter Gannushkin/DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET) Miscellany: In Memoriam • Birthdays • On This Day 47 In Correction: In last month’s CD Reviews, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens lives in Black Mountain, NC, not Memphis, TN. Submit Letters to the Editor by emailing [email protected] US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $35 (International: 12 issues, $45) For subscription assistance, send check, cash or money order to the address below or email [email protected]. The New York City Jazz Record www.nycjazzrecord.com - twitter: @nycjazzrecord - facebook.com/nycjazzrecord Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene To Contact: Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin The New York City Jazz Record Staff Writers 116 Pinehurst Avenue, Ste. J41 David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, Fred Bouchard, Stuart Broomer, New York, NY 10033 Katie Bull, Tom Conrad, Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Brad Farberman, United States Sean Fitzell, Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Suzanne Lorge, Wilbur MacKenzie, Laurence Donohue-Greene: Marc Medwin, Robert Milburn, Russ Musto, Sean J. O’Connell, Joel Roberts, [email protected] John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Jeff Stockton, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Contributing Writers General Inquiries: [email protected] Duck Baker, Brad Cohan, George Kanzler, Ken Micallef, Michael Steinan, Todd Stoll Advertising: [email protected] Contributing Photographers Editorial: [email protected] Jim Anness, Peter Gannushkin, Don Getsug, Alan Nahigian, John Rogers, Jack Vartoogian Calendar: [email protected] VOXNews: [email protected] All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | MAY 2014 3 NEW YORK @ NIGHT Roy Nathanson stood on the dimly lit stage at Joe’s Celebrating the 20th anniversary of South Africa’s Pub (Apr. 2nd), cradling his big baritone sax and independence from Apartheid Rule and favorite son/ SPRING 2014 listening to his band - a singing group as much as trumpeter Hugh Masekela’s 75th birthday, anything - play the title song from their new CD, Johannesburg all-star group Uhadi graced Dizzy’s Club Complicated Day (Enja/Yellowbird). His longtime for four consecutive nights. From the opening notes of SPECIAL SELECTIONS collaborator, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, sang the lead the opening set (Apr. 3rd), which featured vocalist and Nathanson, eyes closed, head bowed, smiled Sibongile Khumalo’s resonant scatting and flugelhornist FROM faintly. Over six years, his band has relaxed into itself. Feya Faku’s burnished sound, it was immediately Beatboxer Napoleon Maddox is better integrated now, apparent that here was a sweeter, gentler side of jazz, less a crossbred presence and more a percussionist. though not without its righteous fire. “Paddy’s Place” NAXOS OF AMERICA The addition of Jerome Harris on electric guitar and gave hints of Cape Town carnival rhythms in pianist backing vocals has smoothed the edges, helping them Paul Hanmer’s delicate chording, bassist Herbie pull off the stacked harmonies Nathanson writes for Tsoaeli’s booming tone and drummer Justin the group, and his guitar filled out their cover of Isaac Badenhorst’s buoyant stick-work. Winston Ngozi’s Hayes’ “Do Your Thing”, the third song they played “Yalchal’ Inkomo”, performed with a similarly that night, sung by Maddox. The ranks were further restrained but infectious lilt, showcased Khumale’s JAZZexpanded with a take on Johnny Nash’s “I Can See subtle play with pitch and rhythm and saxophonist & Clearly Now the Rain Has Gone”, with the leader’s son McCoy Mrubata’s masterful control of dynamics. But Gabriel on vocals and trumpet. Nathanson himself the music’s true power began to emerge on Hanmer’s NEW MUSIC PARTNERS sang “Slow Boat to China” and even while surrounded tune “Same Old”, which set South African author Don by stronger voices his love for the song shined through Mattera’s poem entreating us to “heal the Earth”, and HELEN CARR | DOWN IN THE DEPTHS OF THE 90TH FLOOR just as his love for songs is the real driving force of the Khumale and Faku’s “Hymn for All”, a paean to the band. On record and especially on stage, they were a spirits of bygone musicians, remembering them with “You take the records to your pad (home, apartment) still mumbling Helen-Helen-Carr-Carr-Carr, you put a black grooved disc on your very different band than they had been as a quintet. an improvised prayer poignantly embodied in Faku’s phonograph and it starts to spin. Suddenly the sound of “I Don’t Want To Cry Anymore” makes you realize in an atom-flash that here is no What started out as a jazz band with spoken word and fluid lip smears and Khumale’s distinctive yodeled stranger, but a friend you have yet to meet…” allusions to R’n’B has become, well, not that anymore. vocalese. “Grace and Mercy”, uncoiled in a snaky 6/8 –SID GARRIS, KBLA It’s still a band fronted by a jazz saxophonist who meter, wrapped up the musical offering, leaving BETHLEHEM RECORDS writes poetry, but it’s grown into its own skin.