Volume 8, No. 7 January 2012

JAZZ @ THE CAM IS BACK! By Tanya Suarez

Put January 5th from 6:30 until 8:00 pm on your calendar. It marks the return of @ the CAM on the first Thursday of each month through April (except February when it is the 2nd Tuesday instead.) January’s program restarts the series with a bang. El Jay Johnson and the Port City All Stars produce hand-clapping, toe-tapping jazz that will invigorate us after the long stressful holiday. So come and shed your cares and be prepared to leave with a smile and a lighter heart.

El Jaye has been seriously involved with music since age ten. He has expanded his involvement in music beyond performing. He is the founder and owner of EDJE Records, an independent record label, which is a subsidiary division of his business El Jaye Enterprises. Since it’s founding, El Jaye has worked as a songwriter, arranger, producer, engineer, promoter and educator. On stage you will see him energetically bounce around from guitar to trumpet to singing and dancing. And although he is an accomplished musician in his own right, he likes to be considered an entertainer, rather than just a musician. He thrives on captivating his audience through his music and his dynamic performances and tries to reach not just their feet, but also their hearts.

This show will feature El Jaye Johnson on guitar, trumpet, and vocals joined by a group he created called the Port City All Stars. The All Stars include Kevin Kolb on keys, Teddy Burgh on saxophone and flute, Taylor Lee on bass, Morey Jenkins, Jr. on drums, and Mike Hanson on congas and percussion. Barry Salwen of CVNC.net recently commented about their dynamic shows: “Led by drums and guitar, they showed versatility in playing styles ranging across African, jazz, and Caribbean, and gave the audience a rocking good time.”

Tickets may be purchased at the Cameron Art Museum the night of the concert or earlier online at http://www. cameronartmuseum.com/. The prices are: $7.00 for CFJS and CAM members; $10 for nonmembers and $5 for students.

Happy New Year to All! from The North Carolina Jazz Festival May 2012 be filled with the wonderful sounds of live jazz. ’Tis the season to be Jazzy Cate Falcone

The CFJS annual Holiday Party took place on December 4th, and if you weren’t there you missed a great time. Members had an opportunity to get acquainted with some of our new folks and to catch up with some of our longtime friends. We had a record number of attendees this year and were able to raise nearly $400 with the raffles and merchandise sales. The Doug Irving Trio provided some fabulous music and really got everyone jazzed up for the holidays. We’d like to thank Rucker John’s for their support of CFJS, and for helping us have a great holiday celebration. Finally, we should take a minute to thank the many CFJS members who helped with everything from sending in their reservations to getting raffle prizes donated and cleaning up when the fun was over.

Jazz In the Cape Fear Region

January March 5th Jazz @ the CAM with 1st Jazz @ the CAM with the Wahl Project* El Jaye Johnson & the 6:30, Cameron Art Museum Port City Allstars* (910) 395-5999 6:30, Cameron Art Museum www.cameronartmuseum.com (910) 395-5999 www.cameronartmuseum.com 25th Liz Pina & the FROG Project* 3-5, Community Center 21st New York Voices Southport 8:00, Thalian Hall (910) 632-2885 April 5th Jazz @ the CAM with Benny Hill* February 6:30, Cameron Art Museum 2nd-4th North Carolina Jazz Festival (910) 395-5999 Hilton Riverside, Wilmington www.cameronartmuseum.com ncjazzfestival.com 20th CFJS/UNCW Scholarship Concert 9th Jazz @ the CAM with with Karrin Allyson* Stardust Kenan Auditorium, UNCW (Jim & Laura McFayden & Friends)* (910) 962-3500 6:30, Cameron Art Museum (910) 395-5999 May www.cameronartmuseum.com 11th John Brown Orchestra 8:00, Thalian Hall 28th Wynton Marsalis (910) 632-2885 Kenan Auditorium, UNCW (910) 962-3500 *An asterisk indicates events sponsored or co-sponsored by the Cape Fear Jazz Society

HELP WANTED: CFJS ARCHIVIST

We are seeking an archivist to collect, catalog and maintain our photos, articles, posters, concert announcements, etc. in our archives. Into scrapbooking? You are just the one we need to “put it all together.” This volunteer position has many rewards including being a part of an organization dedicated to keeping jazz alive in the Cape Fear region. Interested volunteers should contact President Tanya Suarez at 910-792-9531 or [email protected] or send us a note via our website, www.capefearjazzsociety.org JAZZ ACROSS THE STATE Contributors: Matthew Lilly, Tanya Suarez, and TomtheJazzman Mallison

JANUARY 2012 Wednesday, 21st DAVID BENOIT & BRIAN CULBERTSON Friday, 13th BRANFORD MARSALIS Carolina Theatre Duke University Durham, NC Durham, NC Thursday, 22nd HERBIE HANCOCK Saturday, 14th BRANFORD MARSALIS UNC Duke University Chapel Hill, NC Durham, NC Thursday, 22nd DIANA KRALL Friday, 27th NNENNA FREELON Durham Performing Arts Center Grove Park Inn Durham, NC Asheville, NC Saturday, 24th JOHN PIZZARELLI & Friday, 27th JOHN PIZZARELLI JESSICA MOLASKEY Grove Park Inn NC State University Asheville, NC Raleigh, NC

Saturday, 28th JESSICA MOLASKY & APRIL AARON WEINSTEIN Grove Park Inn Thursday, 10th JOSHUA REDMAN & Asheville, NC BRAD MEHLDAU UNC Saturday, 28th TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET Chapel Hill, NC NC State University Raleigh, NC FEBRUARY MAY

Thursday, 9th CHRIS BOTTI Saturday, 12th RIPPINGTONS East Carolina University High Point Theatre Greenville, NC High Point, NC Friday, 10th OVERTONE QUARTET (DAVE HOLLAND, CHRIS JUNE POTTER, JASON MORAN, & ERIC HARLAND) Friday, 22nd PIECES OF A DREAM UNC, Chapel Hill, NC Uptown Charlotte Jazz Festival Charlotte, NC Friday, 10th PAT BERGESON & ANNIE SELLICK tickets at www.uptowncharlottejazzfest.com Heart and Soul of Jazz Festival at Carolina Hotel Saturday, 23rd BONEY JAMES Pinehurst, NC Uptown Charlotte Jazz Festival Charlotte, NC Saturday, 11th BRIAN NEWMAN tickets at www.uptowncharlottejazzfest.com Heart and Soul of Jazz Festival Carolina Hotel, Pinehurst, NC

Friday, 24th CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE UNC Chapel Hill, NC

Saturday, 25th STEPHANIE NAKASIAN Pamlico Musical Society Oriental, NC

MARCH

Thursday, 15th WYNTON MARSALIS JAZZ AT LINCOLN UNC CENTER ORCHESTRA Chapel Hill, NC The Jazz Library: (1917-1993)

Last month’s article featured one of the two fathers of , . The other father, of course, is the groundbreaking trumpeter and musical ambassador Dizzy Gillespie. Of Parker I wrote “performer, composer, one of the fathers of bebop, and icon for the beat generation – all these labels work for Bird, but his immortality is due to the way he taught the world to improvise.” Exactly the same can be said for Gillespie, and because the two were so closely linked, it’s essential to do these two articles back- to-back. John Birks Gillespie was born in Cheraw, SC, son of a bricklayer who was a pianist and bandleader in his spare time. Gillespie Senior kept all the instruments for his band around the house: young Gillespie, a pianist from early on, tried the trombone, but his arms were too short. At age 13 he heard Roy Eldridge on the radio, fell in love with the trumpet, and never looked back. He received a music scholarship at the Laurinburg Institute in Dizzy Gillespie, ca. 1950 NC, a traditionally Black prep school that flourishes to this day. © Unknown He studied music theory, harmony and performance for two years, but had to leave when his family moved to Philadelphia. There he began playing with local bands. His crazy antics on stage quickly earned him the nickname “Dizzy.” The name, and the antics, lasted the rest of his life. In 1937 Dizzy moved to New York, first playing with his idol Roy Eldridge’s band, then with Cab Calloway. He was fired by Calloway after a notorious incident in which Dizzy, fond of throwing spitballs during performances, allegedly threw one at Calloway: in the resulting post-concert confrontation, the mercurial Gillespie pulled a knife and cut Calloway in the hand. Gillespie worked with a “who’s who” of other bands during the early 1940s (Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, and Benny Carter). He was in the band in 1943 when he worked with Charlie Parker for the first time, and the two moved together to the more Dizzy Gillespie, ca. 1965 musically adventurous Billy Eckstine band. Of that time Gillespie © Unknown recalled, “New York is the place, and both of us blossomed.” They formed their own combo in 1945; as discussed last month, it ushered in the bebop era and was one of the greatest small bands of the 20th century. In 1946 the two made a California tour with great success, but as we discussed last month, the trip ended with Parker’s commitment to a rehab facility. Gillespie, who did not do drugs and used little alcohol, returned on his own to lead other small combos (including such luminaries as Ray Brown, , John Coltrane, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, and Lalo Schifrin). He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic. Gillespie’s and Parker’s famous “Salt Peanuts” introduced the world to bebop. This column has not discussed the great and sudden transition in jazz of the early 1940s, which made “Salt Peanuts” such a surprise to the world, so a digression is in order. In August of 1942 the American Federation of Musicians, trying to escape the powerful financial thumb of the recording companies, imposed a ban on all recordings by union members. It lasted a long time: the two largest companies, Victor and Columbia, did not settle with the union until November, 1944. The recording companies took advantage of a loophole in the ban that allowed vocal, but not purely instrumental recordings. As a result, during most of World War II, few instrumental jazz recordings were published. The recording companies were not hurt by the strike, but the big bands (which relied largely on recordings for revenue) were devastated. The effect of this long hiatus (exacerbated, of course, by fact that many instrumental musicians were in the military during the War) was to cause a decline in popularity of instrumental jazz and the beginning of the era of popular singing stars. Big bands, even the likes of Ellington’s and Goodman’s, struggled to stay alive. Most did not make it. Instrumental jazz continued to develop, but only in live performances and almost entirely by small groups. During this long drought of instrumental recordings, bebop was born without the world knowing about it. So when Gillespie’s and Parker’s “Salt Peanuts” was issued in February 1945, the effect on music lovers was electric. Jazz singer Jon Hendricks’ obituary in the Toledo Blade provides an amusing, if extreme, example.

While coming back to America on a troop ship, something really grabbed Hendricks’ ear. “I heard ‘Salt Peanuts’ over the boat’s radio, and it shook me up. I went to the DJ and asked him what song that was. He said, ‘I don’t remember.’ I said, ‘You don’t remember? Well, where’s the record?’ ‘It’s over there on the floor and it has a red label,’ the DJ said, pointing to a sloppy pile of dozens of records.” After a frantic search, Hendricks found the record with the red label. “I gave the DJ $20 and said, ‘Play that record for the next hour.’” Many of Gillespie’s compositions have become jazz standards, not only “Salt Peanuts” but also “Manteca,” “Groovin’ High,” and “Night in Tunisia.” His signature trumpet with the upturned bell, his black horn-rimmed glasses, his beret and goatee, his pouched cheeks, and above all his antics, made him emblematic of the bop era. From the beginning, Dizzy wanted a big band of his own. His first big band was formed about 1947, and he continued to lead big bands on and off for most of the rest of his life. The Rough Guide to Jazz describes Gillespie’s musical style: The whole essence of a Gillespie solo was cliff-hanging suspense: the phrases and the angle of the approach were perpetually varied, breakneck runs were followed by pauses, by huge interval leaps, by long, immensely high notes, by slurs and smears and bluesy phrases; he always took listeners by surprise, always shocking them with a new thought. His lightning reflexes and superb ear meant his instrumental execution matched his thoughts in its power and speed. And he was concerned at all times with swing – even taking the most daring liberties with pulse or beat, his phrases never failed to swing. In the late 1940s, Gillespie introduced Afro-Cuban music to the jazz scene, immensely enriching not only jazz but pop music as well. In 1956 the US State Department sent him on an overseas tour, earning him the sobriquet “Ambassador of Jazz.” During the 1964 United States presidential campaign the artist, with tongue in cheek, put himself forward as an independent write-in candidate. According to a 2008 BBC radio broadcast, He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed “The Blues House,” and his cabinet would be composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X (Attorney General). He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller. Universally beloved, and a legend in his own time, Gillespie died of pancreatic cancer at age 75, in the company of his wife of 53 years. For beginning collectors, the Ken Burns Jazz Collection CD featuring Gillespie is the best possible single-CD survey (Verve, still in print). Honestly, the Ken Burns people don’t pay me for these recommendations: each of the 22 artist-specific Ken Burns CDs is worth every nickel, and I own every one of them. For the aficionado, Savoy Jazz has done Gillespie fans a huge service by compiling tracks from a variety of labels and settings for a three-CD set titled Odyssey: 1945-1952 (Savoy, still in print). This survey documents Dizzy’s growth from a revolutionary-upstart to a major figure in the world of jazz. The British Avid label has a marvelous two-CD reissue of three small-ensemble Gillespie LPs and some additional material, all from the 1950s, called All Star Sessions: 3 Classic Albums Plus (Avid, still in print). This CD includes the LP Tour de Force, in which the holy trinity of Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, and Harry “Sweets” Edison practically melt brass by playing together. They are backed by the likes of Oscar Peterson on , Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and Buddy Rich on drums. Tour de Force, a must-have, is also available as a separate CD (Fresh Sound, still in print). The quality of Fresh Sound’s remastering may well be better than the Avid release: I have not heard it. Avid’s other Gillespie release, Four Classic Albums, is undesirable due to poor sound quality. For Gillespie’s big-band works with his own orchestras, the two-CD Birks Works (Verve, still in print) is a great compilation of three LPs from the late 1950’s. There are some marvelous players and arrangers, and everyone rocks. The rare Dizzy Gillespie: The Legendary Big Band Concerts 1948 (Vogue, out of print but available used) is one of the greatest jazz albums of all time. A great summary of Gillespie’s work in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s is Dizzy’s Diamonds, a 75th birthday tribute of the Verve years (Verve, still in print). One CD is big band, one is small groups, and one is Afro-Cuban. Outstanding set. An episode of Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz program on NPR featured Dizzy as guest artist (Jazz Alliance, still in print). Dizzy is clearly not a master pianist, but he uses the instrument to illustrate how he composed. His discussion of how “Manteca” was developed demonstrates Gillespie’s absolute security in music theory. The two duets with McPartland on piano and Dizzy playing the horn are worth the full price of the CD. There are dozens of other Gillespie CDs in print, including Newport Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall performances, and you can’t go too wrong in trying. It’s a pity that no one has seen fit to issue a “complete” Dizzy Gillespie collection with fine remastering.

Pat Marriott WHQR-91.3fm Public Radio Wilmington NC Review: Tony Bennett’s Duet’s II Primus Robinson

I’m going to step into a conundrum of my own making: the difficulty of critiquing near perfection. In his second collection of duet collaborations with the worlds greatest voices, Tony Bennett has heightened his ability to sing in tandem with artists whose range and diversity defines the pinnacle of nearly every vocal genre. The only area Mr. Bennett has not yet melded his voice with is probably Gregorian chanters. In this chapter of Duets, Tony gives us an LP so great that the only thing missing in this package is a discount coupon for one of his great paintings.

I became a Tony Bennett admirer early on. I admired the earthiness in the voice of the young Mr. Bennedetto and championed the grit displayed in his comeback, engineered by his son Danny. I was also an admirer of his staunch civil rights activism, walking arm in arm with Martin Luther King Jr. and Harry Belafonte. However, I became a Tony Bennett fanatic after seeing him perform at the Vegas Dunes in 1980, with a very risque Joan Rivers as his opening act. The man was magic on stage with a shining presence. He reigned over the American/Jazz songbook.

Tony Bennett, like Quincy Jones, does not try to be young. He instead exploits his commonality with youth. So, on this LP with seventeen contributors, all younger (some two thirds so), he uses that commonality to help them define their individual talents. I won’t assess each individual track, but instead highlight some defining moments that shift the artists into Bennett’s paradigm.

As with the greats like Aretha Franklin, Tony helps them summon recreations of their greatest era. On their duet, Aretha sounds like the Queen still being fitted for her crown, a la Atlantic days, before her exercises singing the phone book. Natalie Cole and Willie Nelson are similarly reinvigorated. He adds another chapter to the awe inspiring emergence of Queen Latifah. Who would have thought that from the rapper would come not only a great actress, but also a jazz voice with the ability to sustain such sweet melody.

As he did on Duets I with Christina Aguilera, he elevates great, youthful talent in their ability to touch further boundaries. Say what you may about the visual contrivances of Lady Gaga, she has a great voice and she puts her tongue all the way through her cheek on “The Lady Is A Tramp.” The apropos “Body and Soul”, performed with Amy Winehouse is underlined with “Dock of the Bay” tones; another needed talent that has rushed past saturnian evolution into the “28” club. Rounding out my selective perspective, I say that the greatest established talents can learn from a Tony Bennett whose voice molds to the accompaniment and the occasion of the song. Thanks K.D. Lang and Andrea Bocelli for being thus malleable. And thank you Mr. Bennett for the privilege of putting thought to your talent. Keep the coupon. I see the bigger picture.

Members: Please be sure to bring your membership card to all events to receive your discounts, and please check your membership expiration date. You should receive two renewal notices when your membership is expiring, but a double check by you is helpful. Also, please let us know if you have any contact information changes, e.g., address, email address, etc. We don’t want you to miss any information about jazz in the Cape Fear region and need updated information to get jazz news to you. Thank you. The CFJS Board.