NOVEMBER 2015 2015 NOVEMBER U.K. £4.00 DOWNBEAT.COM DOWNBEAT JOHN SCOFIELD « DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER « AARON DIEHL « ERIK FRIEDLANDER « FALL/WINTER FESTIVAL GUIDE NOVEMBER 2015 NOVEMBER 2015 VOLUME 82 / NUMBER 11 President Kevin Maher Publisher Frank Alkyer Editor Bobby Reed Associate Editor Brian Zimmerman Contributing Editor Ed Enright Art Director LoriAnne Nelson Contributing Designer ĺDQHWDÎXQWRY£ Circulation Manager Kevin R. Maher Assistant to the Publisher Sue Mahal Bookkeeper Evelyn Oakes Bookkeeper Emeritus Margaret Stevens Editorial Assistant Stephen Hall Editorial Intern Baxter Barrowcliff 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 Sam Horn 630-941-2030 [email protected] OFFICES 102 N. 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Box 11688, St. Paul, MN 55111–0688. CABLE ADDRESS: DownBeat (on sale October 20, 2015) Magazine Publishers Association. Á NOVEMBER 2015 ON THE COVER 24 John Scofield Past Is Present BY PHILLIP LUTZ The superstar guitarist enlisted the help of Joe Lovano, his old friend and tenor saxophonist of choice, in recording Past Present—Scofield’s most personal album yet. 34 FEATURES Dee Dee Bridgewater (left) and Irvin Mayfield GREG MILES Cover photo of John Scofield and Joe Lovano shot by Jimmy and Dena Katz at 30 Aaron Diehl Birdland in New York City. Info for this venue is at birdlandjazz.com. The Well-Tempered Pianist BY ALLEN MORRISON 34 Dee Dee Bridgewater New Orleans State of Mind BY JOSEF WOODARD 38 Erik Friedlander Saluting the ‘Mozart of Jazz’ BY BILL MILKOWSKI 47 Arturo O’Farrill 48 Enrico Rava 53 John Fedchock 66 James Brandon Lewis 83 Fall/Winter Jazz DEPARTMENTS Festival Guide SPECIAL SECTION 8 First Take 43 Reviews Joe Locke 69 Reed School 10 Chords & Discords 102 Jazz On 70 Master Class Campus BY MILES OSLAND 13 The Beat 106 Blindfold Test 72 Pro Session 20 Players Joe Locke BY BILL KIRCHNER Nick Finzer 74 Transcription Sullivan Fortner Chris Potter Tomeka Reid Tenor Saxophone Solo Jim Campilongo 76 Toolshed 6 DOWNBEAT NOVEMBER 2015 JOHN ABBOTT First Take BY BOBBY REED No Boundaries JAZZ EDUCATORS TODAY OFTEN DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE of being able to play a variety of types of music. That advice isn’t intended to downplay the importance of mastering the fundamentals of jazz and developing improvisational chops. But rather, it addresses the reality that it can be tough to make a decent living as a musician. Many working musicians nowadays are able to thrive because they have one foot firmly planted in the jazz world, but they’re also flexible enough to play a session of pop, r&b, hip-hop or classical music. In our October issue, in a feature on the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, the school’s dean, Shelly Berg, said that one of his institution’s goals is “to engender a culture of respect for all types of music.” He also described the way that Frost’s jazz and classical music majors frequently perform together. For many working musicians today, it’s all about ignoring boundaries, playing music that they love, following their creative pursuits, and tapping into multiple genres—all while being mindful of the need to pay the rent. This issue of DownBeat spotlights a number of musicians who have the ability to play in a variety of settings and in multiple styles. Our feature on Erik Friedlander (page 38) is a fascinating look at a widely respected jazz improviser whose pri- mary instrument—cello—is one that many listeners associate with classical music. In his work as a bandleader and as a collaborator with a Erik Friedlander diversity of artists, including John Zorn, Friedlander has shown an adventurous spirit and opened people’s ears to what a cello can do. His latest leader album, Oscalypso, is a tribute to one of his heroes, jazz cellist and bassist Oscar Pettiford. See our sidebar on page 40 for an overview of the intriguing yet tragically short life of this jazz icon. In our Players section, we profile another import- ant jazz cellist, Tomeka Reid (page 22). Her background in formal studies of the clas- sical repertoire has greatly informed the genre-blend- ing music that she makes today. Reid is an artist to watch, as evidenced by her impressive work as a band- leader and as a collaborator RACHEL STERN with ensembles such as the Roscoe Mitchell Quartet (see page 46 for our review of the quartet’s album Celebrating Fred Anderson). Elsewhere in this issue, we catch up with pianist Aaron Diehl (page 30). Many jazz fans know him for his work with singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, but he’s also an exciting leader whose latest album, Space Time Continuum, has helped raise his profile. Journalist Allen Morrison got a firsthand look at how classical music has informed Diehl’s musical perspective. During the interview, which took place in Diehl’s home, the pianist illustrated many of his points by playing examples on his Steinway. (Diehl graciously gave DownBeat a three-hour interview, and we didn’t have room for all the terrific material in our print edition, so we will post a longer version of this feature on our website in October.) Drawing from multiple genres can lead artists down intriguing paths as they pursue the muse. One wouldn’t automatically associate a jazz icon like John Sco- field with country music, but in our cover story (page 24), he talks about how his forthcoming project will nod to that genre and possibly include such high-profile collaborators as bassist Steve Swallow, drummer Brian Blade and keyboardist Larry Goldings. We look forward to that. After soaking in the music on Scofield’s tremendously powerful, deeply heartfelt album Past Present—featuring contribu- tions from tenor sax titan Joe Lovano—we simply can’t get enough Sco. DB 8 DOWNBEAT NOVEMBER 2015 Chords Discords Fighting an Epidemic Paquito D’Rivera Kudos to Paquito D’Rivera for taking on the epidemic of over-amplification (“Al- fred Nobel and the Invention of the Mi- crophone,” June). I constantly encounter musicians in clubs or small concert spaces being amplified as if they’re playing large concert halls or stadiums. Here in Balti- more we have a great, intimate 75-seat concert venue called An die Musik. I have played there several times with unampli- fied clarinet, saxophone and piano, and everyone in the audience can hear those instruments just fine. Yet just about every other piano or horn player has chosen to be amplified there. I understand that guitarists, and often bassists, need amps. But I hope that pre- senters and musicians will heed Paquito’s warnings and turn down the volume or even eliminate the microphones and amps entirely. Our ears—both aesthetically and physically—need the relief. BOB JACOBSON R. ANDREW LEPLEY BALTIMORE Redd Defense right is his praise for bassist Jay Anderson and I am writing to express my disagreement drummer Billy Drummond. Both play at a high with Bob Doerschuk’s 2-star review of Freddie level throughout. Redd’s Music For You (July). Doerschuk nega- I hope that Doerschuk’s wrongheaded re- tively portrays the economy of Redd’s playing.