SEPTEMBER 2014 U.K. £3.50 DOWNBEAT.COM September 2014 VOLUME 81 / NUMBER 9 President Kevin Maher Publisher Frank Alkyer Editor Bobby Reed Associate Editor Davis Inman Contributing Editors Ed Enright Kathleen Costanza Art Director LoriAnne Nelson Contributing Designer Žaneta Cuntová Bookkeeper Margaret Stevens Circulation Manager Sue Mahal Circulation Associate Kevin R. Maher Circulation Assistant Evelyn Oakes 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] Advertising Sales Associate Pete Fenech 630-941-2030 [email protected] OFFICES 102 N. Haven Road, Elmhurst, IL 60126–2970 630-941-2030 / Fax: 630-941-3210 http://downbeat.com [email protected] CUSTOMER SERVICE 877-904-5299 / [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS Senior Contributors: Michael Bourne, Aaron Cohen, John McDonough Atlanta: Jon Ross; Austin: Kevin Whitehead; Boston: Fred Bouchard, Frank- John Hadley; Chicago: John Corbett, Alain Drouot, Michael Jackson, Peter Margasak, Bill Meyer, Mitch Myers, Paul Natkin, Howard Reich; Denver: Norman Provizer; Indiana: Mark Sheldon; Iowa: Will Smith; Los Angeles: Earl Gibson, Todd Jenkins, Kirk Silsbee, Chris Walker, Joe Woodard; Michigan: John Ephland; Minneapolis: Robin James; Nashville: Bob Doerschuk; New Orleans: Erika Goldring, David Kunian, Jennifer Odell; New York: Alan Bergman, Herb Boyd, Bill Douthart, Ira Gitler, Eugene Gologursky, Norm Harris, D.D. Jackson, Jimmy Katz, Jim Macnie, Ken Micallef, Dan Ouellette, Ted Panken, Richard Seidel, Tom Staudter, Jack Vartoogian, Michael Weintrob; North Carolina: Robin Tolleson; Philadelphia: David Adler, Shaun Brady, Eric Fine; San Francisco: Mars Breslow, Forrest Bryant, Clayton Call, Yoshi Kato; Seattle: Paul de Barros; Tampa Bay: Philip Booth; Washington, D.C.: Willard Jenkins, John Murph, Michael Wilderman; Belgium: Jos Knaepen; Canada: Greg Buium, James Hale, Diane Moon; Denmark: Jan Persson; France: Jean Szlamowicz; Germany: Detlev Schilke, Hyou Vielz; Great Britain: Brian Priestley; Japan: Kiyoshi Koyama; Portugal: Antonio Rubio; Romania: Virgil Mihaiu; Russia: Cyril Moshkow; South Africa: Don Albert. Jack Maher, President 1970-2003 John Maher, President 1950-1969 SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: Send orders and address changes to: DOWNBEAT, P.O. Box 11688, St. Paul, MN 55111–0688. Inquiries: U.S.A. and Canada (877) 904-5299; Foreign (651) 251-9682. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please allow six weeks for your change to become effective. When notifying us of your new address, include current DOWN- BEAT label showing old address. DOWNBEAT (issn 0012-5768) Volume 81, Number 9 is published monthly by Maher Publications, 102 N. Haven, Elmhurst, IL 60126-2970. Copyright 2014 Maher Publica- tions. All rights reserved. Trademark registered U.S. Patent Office. Great Britain regis- tered trademark No. 719.407. Periodicals postage paid at Elmhurst, IL and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: $34.95 for one year, $59.95 for two years. Foreign subscriptions rates: $56.95 for one year, $103.95 for two years. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, photos, or artwork. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from publisher. MAHER PUBLICATIONS: DOWNBEAT magazine, MUSIC INC. maga- zine, UpBeat Daily. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: DownBeat, P.O. Box 11688, St. Paul, MN 55111–0688. CABLE ADDRESS: DownBeat (on sale August 19, 2014) Magazine Publishers Association. Á SEPTEMBER 2014 On the Cover 30 John Coltrane Restless Urgency BY JAMES HALE A previously unreleased late- 1966 concert recording of John Coltrane has given fans, critics and musicians an opportunity to reconsider where the saxophonist was headed in the last year of his life. 36 Features 36 Arturo O’Farrill Arturo O’Farrill performs in New York City’s Central Park on Nov. 9. (Photo: Adam McCullough) The Same Root Cover photo of John Coltrane by Joe Alper. Photo courtesy of Joe Alper Photo Collection LLC. Cover photo BY TED PANKEN and the photo of John and Alice Coltrane on page 35 were taken by Alper at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. 40 Joshua Redman Unifying Elements BY YOSHI KATO 44 Rebirth Brass Band Keep It Goin’ Like a Heartbeat BY JENNIFER ODELL 62 The Microscopic Septet 64 Jimmy Cobb 66 Bob Stewart 70 Puss N Boots 48 Horace Silver ‘The Whole Package’ 82 Master Class Departments BY JOHN MCDONOUGH BY DANNY FOX 8First Take 59 Reviews 52 Indie Life 84 Pro Session BY BRADLEY SOWASH 10 Chords & Discords 94 Jazz On Campus SPECIAL SECTION 86 Pro Session 13 The Beat 98 Blindfold Test BY RUSS NOLAN 77 Keyboard School 22 Players Mike LeDonne Tyler Blanton 78 The World of Ultra 88 Transcription Kenny Barron Piano Solo Mario Pavone High-End Pianos Bria Skonberg BY MICHAEL GALLANT 90 Toolshed Noah Baerman 6 DOWNBEAT SEPTEMBER 2014 First Take BY BOBBY REED John Coltrane (at microphone) and his band at the Village Theater in New York City, December 1966. Photo by Frank Kofsky. Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, University of California, Santa Cruz & The Frank Kofsky Archives. Immortality Achieved TRANE LIVES. John William Coltrane may have left this vale of tears on July 17, 1967, but he’s still with us. Coltrane, like all great artists, has transcended death by virtue of his incredible oeuvre, including such classic albums as Giant Steps, A Love Supreme and Interstellar Space. Over the past 50 years, has any saxophonist prompted as much studious research, worshipful reverence and heated debate? The research, reverence and debate will enter a new phase with the Sept. 23 release of Offering: Live At Temple University (Impulse/Resonance Records). The concert was recorded by Temple’s WRTI-FM on Nov. 11, 1966. Joining Coltrane onstage that night in Philadelphia were his wife, pianist Alice Coltrane; saxophonist Pharoah Sanders; drummer Rashied Ali; and bassist Sonny Johnson (substituting for Jimmy Garrison). While on tour in ’66, Coltrane generously invited (or allowed) other musicians to sit in with the band, and Offering provides evidence of this, as two alto saxophonists and four percussionists join in. You can see additional evidence of this in Frank Kofsky’s photo above. Looking at the im- age from right to left, you can spot some percussionists, Coltrane playing sax at the microphone, Ali at the drum kit, Sanders holding his sax, Garrison playing bass and another bassist onstage. What do these kinds of loosely assembled concert ensembles—as well as the fiery, spiritual performance on Offering—tell us about Coltrane’s mindset during the final months of his life? It’s a question that DownBeat contributor James Hale deftly analyzes in our cover story. Two other groundbreaking musicians who will be remembered decades after their passing are saxophonist-flutist Paul Horn (Riffs, page 14) who, like Coltrane, ex- plored the spiritual and healing dimensions of music, and pianist Horace Silver, who composed numerous jazz standards, including “Song For My Father.” In the tribute to Silver that begins on page 48, DownBeat Senior Contributor John McDonough uses the phrase “passport into the future” to describe the way that Silver will be re- membered for decades because of the quality and popularity of his compositions. Another icon whose recent death has shaken up the jazz world is the bass- ist-composer-educator Charlie Haden, who influenced so many of today’s jazz play- ers. Be sure to check out our tribute to Haden in the October issue. (Visit downbeat. com to read obituaries of all the aforementioned artists.) Critics and fans often speak of musicians achieving immortality through their influential works, and the same is true of photographers and scholars. This issue’s beautiful cover shot of Coltrane at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival was taken by Joe Alper (1925–’68), and the image in this First Take column was taken by jazz schol- ar-photographer Frank Kofsky (1935–’97). I first saw this photo in Kofsky’s book John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s (Pathfinder), which contains Kofsky’s famous interview with Coltrane as well as the transcription of an interview that the saxophonist gave while on tour in Japan in 1966, apparently for a radio station. In our Coltrane feature, we’re proud to present classic images from two of the living masters of jazz photography: Jan Persson (page 31) and Chuck Stewart (page 32). For those of us who love Trane, we’re tremendously grateful that Alper, Kofsky, Persson and Stewart recognized the importance of what Coltrane was doing, and were on-site to chronicle it in such an elegant fashion. Bravo, gentlemen. DB 8 DOWNBEAT SEPTEMBER 2014 Chords Discords You Call That a List? In regard to your list (“The 80 Coolest Things in Jazz Today,” July), where the heck is Pat Metheny? You contradict yourself by saying, “We want to look at the present and future,” and then you put Ornette Coleman on your list. Also, where is Chick Corea when you have Keith Jarrett on the list? Of course you have to have Wynton Marsalis on your list—he has a shallow definition of what jazz is. You Wayne Shorter, but Ornette Coleman? Give included Jakob Bro but not Kurt Rosenwinkel. me a break. He just plays all over the place I might have to stop buying your magazine and never lets the music breathe. By omitting at the bookstores because of your shortsight- Metheny, Corea and Rosenwinkel—who is the edness. present and future—your list is not a list. I do like the fact that you have John JAMES GINGRICH McLaughlin and Sonny Rollins on your list. Also [email protected] 82 Coolest Things preferred that I had been consulted on this key The 80th Anniversary Issue is marvelous, but marketing decision, as it came as a surprise to your list overlooked two of the coolest people me. It may be that “LGBT” is not well-known as around who help make jazz the great art form a descriptive term outside of progressive circles; that it is: Bob Dorough and WKCR-FM radio “gay” is not inclusive enough, but “queer” is host Sid Gribetz.