05 5 $4.99 DownBeat.com 09281 01493 0 MAY 2010MAY U.K. £3.50 001_COVER.qxd 3/16/10 2:08 PM Page 1 DOWNBEAT MIGUEL ZENÓN // RAMSEY LEWIS & KIRK WHALUM // EVAN PARKER // SUMMER FESTIVAL GUIDE MAY 2010 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:28 AM Page 2 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:29 AM Page 3 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:29 AM Page 4 May 2010 VOLUME 77 – NUMBER 5 President Kevin Maher Publisher Frank Alkyer Editor Ed Enright Associate Editor Aaron Cohen Art Director Ara Tirado Production Associate Andy Williams Bookkeeper Margaret Stevens Circulation Manager Kelly Grosser ADVERTISING SALES Record Companies & Schools Jennifer Ruban-Gentile 630-941-2030 [email protected] Musical Instruments & East Coast Schools Ritche Deraney 201-445-6260 [email protected] Classified Advertising Sales Sue Mahal 630-941-2030 [email protected] OFFICES 102 N. 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Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106. MAHER PUBLICATIONS: DOWNBEAT magazine, MUSIC INC. magazine, UpBeat Daily. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: DownBeat, P.O. Box 11688, St. Paul, MN 55111–0688. CABLE ADDRESS: DownBeat (on sale April 20, 2010) Magazine Publishers Association Á 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:29 AM Page 5 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 4:10 PM Page 6 DB Inside Departments 8 First Take 10 Chords & Discords 13 The Beat 14 The Insider 20 Caught 38 22 Players Evan Parker Ali Jackson Jr. PETER GANNUSHKIN Carolina Chocolate Drops Brandon Seabrook 26 Miguel Zenón Joey Pero Pliability & Thrust | By Jim Macnie 51 Reviews It seems like everywhere you go, Miguel Zenón is somehow involved with dance. But the Puerto-Rico born alto saxophonist and recent recipient of a MacArthur 110 Toolshed “genius” grant doesn’t play dance music per se. His horn is better known for its agility, flying at breakneck speed and stressing his fluency in the bebop tradition. The dance elements bubble up because Zenón controls the music’s temperament 114 Master Class by gracefully thrusting himself into his rhythm section’s agitation, blending acute teamwork and killer chops while riding his band’s very intricate grooves. 116 Transcription 118 Jazz On Campus Features 122 Blindfold Test 34 Ramsey Lewis 42 Manfred Eicher 69 SPECIAL SECTION & Kirk Whalum DownBeat Lifetime 2010 Jim Hall The Naturals Achievement Award International By Frank Alkyer By Dan Ouellette Summer Festival Guide 38 Evan Parker 46 Gerry Mulligan Extraordinary Before & After Encounters By Leonard Feather // By Ted Panken May 26 & June 9, 1960 54 Mostly Other People Do The Killing 60 Brian Lynch 64 Buddy DeFranco/Martin Taylor 64 Al Di Meola 6 DOWNBEAT May 2010 Cover photography by Jimmy Katz. Special thanks to Jazz Gallery in New York City for their generosity in letting DownBeat shoot on location. 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:29 AM Page 7 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:30 AM Page 8 First Take by Ed Enright Gateway To Elegance Miguel Zenón didn’t get Miguel Zenón: to be Miguel Zenón— the transcriber recipient of Guggenheim and MacArthur grants, six-year veteran of the acclaimed SFJAZZ Col- lective and one of the brightest rising-star alto saxophonists/composers to emerge in the past decade—by resting on his laurels and relying on his native talents alone. He got there by wood- shedding, setting goals, taking risks, giving birth to dozens of original compositions … and JIMMY KATZ transcribing jazz solos from classic recordings. The act of writing out somebody else’s solo note-for-note is particu- larly hard work; it requires lots of time and keen attention to detail (plus a tape machine with playback speed control), not to mention sheer determi- nation. But transcribing solos as part of a regular pratice/study regimen has serious benefits for the development of any jazz artist. Just ask Zenón, who spent considerable time during his interview with DownBeat writer Jim Macnie talking enthusiastically about the educational experi- ence of putting some of his favorite jazz solos down on paper. The week they got together, the saxophonist had been working on a Sonny Rollins spin from “52nd Street Theme” recorded with Don Cherry. Recalling his own formative years, Zenón told Macnie that transcrib- ing was his first step towards learning the jazz language. The first solo he ever scrutinized was Cannonball Adderly’s flight on “Freddy Freeloader.” He said that Charlie Parker was his main man, though: “Embraceable You” is one of his favorites; “Warming Up A Riff,” too. “I’d transcribe one guy for an entire year, dig into someone,” Zenón said. “Joe [Henderson], Rollins, Lee Konitz.” Zenón noted that when he got to Berklee at age 19, he met other stu- dents who studied their heroes’ work by absorbing the trajectory of their solos. Jaleel Shaw, Jeremy Pelt and Avishai Cohen all enjoyed engaging in animated conversations about their forebears, from Johnny Hodges to Freddie Hubbard. Shaw, who’s now in New York and has worked with Roy Haynes among many others, recalled those school days. “We checked out differ- ent people and then shared what we learned,” he told Macnie. “The fact that Miguel was transcribing didn’t surprise me—I knew that’s what you had to do. That’s one of the reasons we got along. That, and talking about the things that were important: practicing, learning, developing your own sound. One of my earliest teachers in Philly had me transcrib- ing Miles Davis solos. I’ve always felt it was something that would help me understand vocabulary—just like learning how to talk. When you hear people talk, you pick up new words, formulate sentences. It’s important to check out the masters—Kenny Garrett was on the list for sure. Donald Harrison, too. My biggest hero growing up was Bobby Watson. I never transcribed him, but I could sing you lots of his solos. The more open you were to everyone, the more you knew.” Taking down transcriptions is a process of discovery, one that teach- es discipline and develops the ear while revealing the thought-processes and creative genius of jazz’s sagest improvisers. The more you do it, the more enlightened you will be, and the more eloquent your self-expres- sion will ultimately become. DB 8 DOWNBEAT May 2010 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 10:30 AM Page 9 002-025_FRONT.qxd 3/17/10 4:11 PM Page 10 Chords & Discords Interventions I’ve noticed that Man- fred Eicher’s interven- tions on his recordings can be too strong (“Jazz Producers: A New Reality,” March). I know how some of the Italian musicians he has produced sound when they play live sets: Stefano Bollani or Enrico Rava, for example. On the recordings all of them have been deprived of their joyful and ener- getic features. I prefer Jordi Pujol’s statement arguably the two most original big band com- about how each musician has his background posers of all time. and way of thinking. Maybe the truth is in the Gordon Webb middle. As a producer you need to be present Santa Clara, Calif. and give suggestions when needed, but most of the time you don’t need to say anything Hodges’ Last Jam because musicians have clear ideas.