February 2001
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ALL ABOUT JAZZ monthly edition — january 2001 03 Jazz Ed. by Aaron Wrixon 04 From the Inside Out by Chris M. Slawecki 07 Fantasy Records by Derek Taylor EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aaron Wrixon 09 Improvisation by Peter Madsen ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Michael Martino 12 Bill Kirchner by R. J. DeLuke CONTRIBUTORS: 21 Kevin Breit by Aaron Wrixon David R. Adler, Glenn Astarita, C. Michael Bailey, Mark Corroto, R.J. DeLuke, Rob Evanoff, Flibbert J. Goosty, Chris Hovan, Nils Jacobson, Peter Madsen, Douglas Payne, Jim Santella, Chris M. 27 Christian McBride by Jason West Slawecki, Derek Taylor, Jason West, Aaron Wrixon. Jimmy Smith photos by James Minchin. 35 The Penguin Guide by Nils Jacobson PUBLISHER: 38 CD reviews Michael Ricci Contents © 2000 All About Jazz, Wrixon Media Ventures, and contributors. Letters to the editor and manuscripts welcome. Visit www.allaboutjazz.com for contact information. Unsolicited mailed manuscripts will not be returned. I love surprises. 3,000 miles away from my home offi ce. I’m Wait. surprised daily by the fact that people think I Let me clarify that. can see them all. I’m not too keen on “You’re being audited” And then there are the CDs. They’re often surprises. Or “Fixing your transmission will cost good for a nasty surprise or two. Guh. you $1400” surprises. Sometimes, though, you fi nd those I love good suprises. proverbial quarters in the couch and it’s all Like when you wake up on Sunday morning worth it again. and everything outside is covered with snow. Like Not By Coincidence – Live, Michael Or when you’re 50 cents short for the Aarons’ magnifi cent, unpredictable wake-up laundromat and you fi nd two quarters in the call to all that is staid and stuffy in the couch. It’s moments like those that make me jazz idiom. I was surprised by Aarons’ disc glad I’m alive. when it arrived unsolicited in the mail, but So I guess it’s no surprise that I love jazz. not as much as I was when I put it on and Let your guard down with Billie Holiday heard what he does with a guitar. To say he ED. and she’ll strike. Beware Miles Davis when he channels the Masters would do a disservice to knocks on the door to your heart; open up and his inventive approach. he’ll set a bomb off. Go, now (or, at least, as soon as you’re Yes, jazz is the art of the unexpected. fi nished reading this month’s AAJme), to The jazz business, however, isn’t all it’s http://www.michaelaarons.com/ cracked up to be. Too many suprises of the Drop him a line and tell him you want to nasty kind. buy his CD. Surprise him. There are the vacuous press releases lauding Surprise yourself. one “genius” after another. They surprise me in — Aaron Wrixon their ability to so consistently say nothing. There are countless emails about shows JAZZ NOTES FROM THE EDITOR He’s known as one of the founding jazz fathers of Hammond B-3 organ funk, but Jimmy Smith has always played the blues. Born in December 1928 in a suburb west of Philadelphia, Smith has been performing since he was 12, at that time in a song and dance act with his father. After a stint in the navy, Smith took advantage of the GI Bill to study bass, piano and music theory upon his service discharge. During this period Smith discovered the Hammond B-3 organ, an instrument that up until that time lay relatively unexplored from a jazz perspective. Smith taught himself how to make the B-3 swing and moan; in Smith’s own words, he “tamed the beast”. His combination of determination, talent, and irrepressible sense of groove make Smith one of the rare, elite instrumentalists who defi ned the modern sound of their instrument. Smith established the classic Hammond B-3 FROM THE jazz sound and remained the organ’s defi nitive jazz stylist for decades thereafter. He enlisted fi rst with Blue Note for whom he unleashed a string of classic party ‘til dawn, smoky INSIDEOUT jazz throwdowns simmering with blues, gospel, CHRIS M. SLAWECKI soul, and funk. These classics include 1958’s The Sermon, with its stunning side-long title the spotlight back around to Jimmy was to Willie Dixon’s classic “I Just Want To Make track, in the company of Lee Morgan, Art have him cut something outside of the jazz Love To You”, with its lyrics reworked to fi t a Blakey, Kenny Burrell, Lou Donaldson, and marketplace. Why not the blues?” woman’s perspective. Dr. John sings and plays other masters of the blue groove; and Midnight Coinciding with the past year’s painful piano on the opening track, his original “Only Special and Back At The Chicken Shack, with Nasdaq market plunge, dot com blues is like In It For The Money”. In this rollicking blast an ensemble smaller in size but not in effect one of those old soul/R&B reviews where of New Orleans, John’s piano counterpunches (a quartet with Burrell, drummer Donald Bailey, the same crack band backed up about a Smith’s organ smears like a body puncher and Stanley Turrentine), both recorded on the dozen different groups, all of whom performed pounding the heavy bag. First solo, fi rst track, same torrid August day in 1960. “Greatest Hits” segments with machine-gun Smith sets the standard – this is gonna be one Smith joined Verve Records in the mid-60s precision. Smith’s quartet with guitarist Russell groovy blue and lowdown set. and recorded for the label up until 1973, Malone, bassist Reggie McBride and drummer Throughout, Smith seems content releasing several albums orchestrated by Oliver Harvey Mason serve as the core band. contributing to the mood instead of seeking Nelson and scoring with Who’s Afraid of Consistent with this approach, dot com blues the spotlight. The rest of his band also comes Virginia Woolf? and other theme-oriented features several vocalists and the assistance through. Guitarist Malone steps in style out productions. He later briefl y rejoined Blue of Dr. John as composer, pianist, and lead on this leisurely, seven-minute-plus workout of Note and recorded for Milestone and several vocalist on numerous tracks. the classic blues “C. C. Rider”, not only as other labels before landing back at Verve in Smith features three guitarist/vocalists in a soloist but also in his funky blue ‘comping 1995 with the heat-seeking Damn!, cut with straight-up blues, including “Strut”, a simple behind Smith’s solo. Malone also rocks the and across generations of sizzling jazzmen Texas shuffl e from Taj Mahal, and “Over & fi zzing, sloe gin blues of a title track and including Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Nicholas Over” from Keb’ Mo’. But wizened B. B. seems to deepen the fl ame of Smith’s playing Payton, Roy Hargrove, and Christian McBride. King steals the guitar jamboree with his there too. Mason’s snare lags just “behind the Ron Goldstein, President of the Verve Music own composition, the timeless “Three O’Clock 4” in this remake of Smith’s “Eight Counts For Group, tried to fi gure out how to handle Blues”, where his sweetly stinging guitar and Rita”, creating a New Orleans “second line” Smith’s debut for the label’s Blue Thumb defi ant vocal practically roar, “You can call me feel that seems to solidify Smith’s infl uence on imprint and fi rst new recording in over fi ve MISTER King!”. Medeski, Martin & Wood. years: “I fi gured the best way to swing Etta James swings sassy with her vocal on Perhaps because of the more compact 1201 Music 32 Records 33 Jazz 4W Records Accurate Records Ace Records Acid Jazz Ltd ACM Records Acoustic Records Acqua Records ACT Music + Vision Adelphi Records Affinityjazz Ahea structure of “Rita”, compared to the more Behind Music Airmen Records Aleph Records Allegro Music Alto Records Amherst Records Amig lengthy tunes, Smith’s playing seems most Musik AMM Group Antilles Records AntonJazz Apple Jazz Records Arabesque Jazz ARAS Record Arbors Records A-Records Arhoolie Records Arkadia Jazz Art By Heart Artifex Records Artists On focused here. He also brightens with brilliant AsianMore Improv Records labels Atavistic Atlantic than Jazz Audiophile you Imports can AudioQuest Music AUM Fideli swaths this remake of “Mood Indigo” Records Axiom Azica Records Babel Barracuda Basin Street Records Bassic Sound Beezwax Record (Ellington), genteel and elegant in the face of Bembé Biograph Records Black Hat Records Black Orchid Music Black Saint Bleeding ARTs Blu Jackelshake Blue Night Recordsa stylus Blue Note Recordsat. Bluejay Records Boheme Music BOPO Record the funky honky-tonk feel in the rest of this BrainChild Records Braxton House Brisa Music Bucky Ball Music Butterfly Records BVHAAST Record set. Caber Music Candid Records Carbon 7 Carpet Cat Records CARS Production Catalyst Production Jimmy Smith’s dot com blues sounds and Catfish Records (UK) Cathexis Records Cavity Search Records Cexton Records Challenge Record ChartMaker Records Chase Music / Mighty Tiger Chesky Records Chiaroscuro Records CIM feels like a newly discovered Booker T. & The Records Collectables Columbia Records Compass Records Concord Records Cordova Bay Record MGs set or like a legendary 1960s soul/R&B Corridor Records Cravin Records Criss Cross Cubop Cuneiform Records Curling Legs Dacap revue. It may not be all jazz all the time, but Records Darwyn Records DCC Delmark Records Denon/Savoy Diamond Cut Records DMP Record J Double-Time Records Dragon Records DreamSea Records Dreyfus Records Drimala Records Dro it plays comfortably and well.