The Hot Club of Baltimore: Baltimore Discovers the Spirit of Django
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FEB/MARCH 2014 The Hot Club of Baltimore: Baltimore Discovers the Spirit of Django . 1 Cold Spring Jazz Quartet – Night Songs: The Music of Film Noir . 3 BALTIMORE JAZZ ALLIANCE An Interview with Donny McCaslin . 4 Warren Wolf, Christian McBride and Friends . 6 Jazz Jam Sessions . 10 BJA Member Notes, Products and Discounts . 10 Ad Rates and Member Sign-up Form . 11 VOLUME XI ISSUE II THE BJA NEWSLETTER WWW.BALTIMOREJAZZ.COM Baltimore Discovers the Spirit of Django The Hot Club A cold start to February’s Monday night ously sat in. On this particular night a Gypsy Jazz Jam didn’t prevent Balti - blend of accordion, violin, harmonica more’s Djangophiles from flocking to and four guitars kicked off the jam. of Baltimore Liam Flynn’s Ale House, an atmospheric, Swinging into action in the middle of welcoming, bare-bones pub on W. North the room, seated in the round and soloing Avenue, Baltimore. For nearly a year, in rotation, the musicians started with the under the leadership of guitarist Michael jazz standard “Coquette.” Harris’s open - Joseph Harris, whom many will know ing solo embellished the song with the through his band Bossalingo, the Mon - arpeggios and flourishes that typify the day night jam has been picking up acco - Django style. Arefin’s guitar picked up the lades and winning over fans. City Paper theme, building the rhythmic energy with recently declared the jam to be Best Mon - a more chordal solo before handing off to day Night in Baltimore. the liquid Wes Montgomery-style runs of Musicians from as far away as Jim Tisdall. Ed Kaitz (harmonica), Art Philadelphia and Frederick have been at - Cohen (accordion) and Lloyd Lachow (vi - tending to explore and perform the spir - olin) added to the Parisian atmosphere ited blend of Parisian musette and New with their accomplished playing through - Orleans jazz created by Belgian guitarist out the evening. Django Reinhardt and his Hot Club in Over a twenty-five-year career Rein - the 1930s. His Gypsy jazz provides the hardt recorded some thousand sides of soundtrack to our imagining of 1930s- original compositions and jazz interpre - 40’s Paris and has been enjoying a world- tations. So Harris has plenty of material wide resurgence for some twenty years to choose from and included such Hot among both musicians and listeners. Club classics as “Swing 42,” “Nuages,” Harris and his core musicians Sami and a fantastically swinging “Avalon,” Arefin (guitar), Nora Leighton (guitar), on which he displayed a dizzying virtu - and Ed Hrybyk (bass), members of the osity in his single-note lines. He was band UltraFaux, turn up most weeks. also quick to pick up on other sugges - There’s no predicting who else might tions, including an improvised “Sum - play as the jam is organic and demo - mertime,” after overhearing the melody cratic, offering a warm invitation to mu - on accordion and fiddle. sicians of all levels to share their love of As the evening heated up, musicians PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL JOSEPH HARRIS the style and enrich the Django commu - came and went, and the circle expanded …Michael Joseph Harris, whom many will nity. Guitarists Tom Mitchell, Joe Freid - to a dozen instruments, including bass, know through his band Bossalingo… man and clarinetist Seth Kibel are mandolin, dobro, flute and horns. While among the musicians who have previ - some musicians were content to work (continued on page 2) (continued from front page) The Baltimore Jazz Alliance is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. The Hot Club of Baltimore The Baltimore Jazz Alliance (BJA) is a grass-roots organization of jazz aficionados, musicians and venues dedicated to enhancing and promoting jazz in Baltimore and the surrounding areas. New members sharing this passion are always welcome as the BJA continues its efforts to build a stronger and better networked jazz scene. Together we can help this music thrive in the region and reward listeners and musicians alike. L to R: Jim Tisdall (electric guitar) Sami Arefin (guitar) BJA Priorities Michael Joseph Harris (guitar) • To develop new audiences for jazz Nora Leighton (guitar) • To strengthen communication Tomasz Smok (guitar) within the jazz community Art Cohen (accordion) • To improve media relations on behalf of the jazz community Foreground: Ed Kaitz (harmonica) PHOTO CREDIT: KEN AVIS • To bring greater visibility to the entire array of jazz offerings in the …under the leadership of guitarist Michael Joseph Harris…the Monday night jam has Baltimore region been picking up accolades and winning over fans. • To provide greater access to performance opportunities for through the changes and explore new way. We sometimes forget that jazz was Baltimore-area jazz musicians tunes, there were also stunning contri - first and foremost a people’s music Visit www.baltimorejazz.com butions, notably the bravura cascading meant for dancing and socializing. One for information about our solo by saxophonist Daniel Wallace and evening at the jam demonstrates why accomplishments and future goals. the tasteful melodic inventions of Brad jazz has been so irresistible to listeners Gunson on trombone. all over the world. Give yourself a treat, Baltimore Jazz Alliance The Ale House soon resembled a and bring your bagpipes if you must! 847 North Howard Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 bistro as the audience grew. A table of The Gypsy Jazz Jam takes place every beaming women from France and Que - Monday night starting at 8pm at Liam Please direct your bec listened and chatted. Before the end Flynn’s Ale House, 22 W. North Avenue, questions and comments to: [email protected] of the night they would find themselves Baltimore. No cover. in an impromptu and impressive dance Michael Joseph Harris and Sami Are - display with the sharply dressed Mark fin also perform Wednesday nights at BJA BOARD Luce, a Monday night regular, sup - WC Harlan’s at 400 West 23rd Street. porter, and bon vivant, who provided a UltraFaux is currently running a Alice Downs Liz Fixsen, Secretary delicious potluck dish to fuel the event. Kickstarter campaign to fund a CD of Barry Glassman, Founder and Emeritus Drop by Liam Flynn’s Ale House for original compositions in the style of Vernard Gray the Monday night Django Jam, whether Django Reinhardt; for details, visit Brad Gunson you’re a musician, a music lover or sim - https://www.kickstarter.com/pro - Trish Hennessey ply curious. It’s a delight to hear such jects/656170063/ultrafauxs-original- Bob Jacobson, Vice President great music played so well and in such gypsy-jazz-recording-session-a Irene Jalenti a relaxed, spontaneous and generous Sara Jerkins – KEN AVIS David Madoff Todd Marcus Camay Calloway Murphy, Emerita UNIFIED JAZZ ENSEMBLE Mark Osteen, President Ian Rashkin EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT at 49 WEST CAFE Robert Shahid, Treasurer 49 West Street in Annapolis, Maryland Marcellus “The Bassman” Shepard 410-626-9796 / www.49westcoffeehouse.com $6 cover / www.unifiedjazz.com Page 2 / February–March 2014 Baltimore Jazz Alliance COLD SPRING JAZZ QUARTET Night Songs: The Music of Film Noir “Smoky night clubs, rain-slicked streets, world-weary detectives, and dangerous dames.” Those are the images conjured up by movies in the film-noir tradition, according to the program notes for “Night Songs,” presented by Mark Osteen and his Cold Spring Jazz Quartet at Germano's Cabaret on January 24th. Osteen, professor of English at Loy - ola University and author of Nightmare Alley: Film Noir and the American Dream , brought together his scholarly interests and his avocation as a jazz musician for this multi-media pro - gram of jazz tunes from film noir of the 1940s and ‘50s—com - plete with a screen and projector to show clips from the films, accompanied by Osteen’s lively narration. Film noir’s stories are based on the hard-boiled school of crime fiction that arose in the United States during the Great Depression. Characters are worldly, cynical, and of ambiguous morality. Urban settings—Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago, in particular—predominate, and scenes often take place in shadowy bars, lounges, and nightclubs. Given the dark themes of existential isolation, anxiety, fu - PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK OSTEEN tility, and violence common in film noir, one might imagine L to R: Anthony Villa, Greg Mack, Gary Kerner and Mark Osteen that it was a dreary evening at Germano’s. But the mood was instead one of amused nostalgia, and there were no dull mo - ments among the showing of film segments, the explanatory Other tunes included “I’ll Remember April” (from the comments, and the band’s renditions of the tunes. 1944 film Phantom Lady ); “I Hear a Rhapsody,” from the 1952 As Osteen noted, only rarely were these tunes newly com - film Clash by Night ; and “Harlem Nocturne,” by Earl Hagen, posed for the films; instead, they were drawn from the reper - who wrote a number of tunes for noir films and noirish tele - toire of the Great American Songbook. The beguiling lilt of a vision detective dramas such as Mod Squad . The band also swing tune would evoke a sophisticated milieu. Slow, elegiac paid homage to actress and film director Ida Lupino by orchestral ballads would convey the hopelessness of a for - showing a clip of her world-weary, gravelly-voiced rendition bidden relationship. The sultry moan of a jazz saxophone of “One for My Baby” (from the 1948 film Road House ) and would echo the erotic undertones of a tête-à-tête between a then playing the 1964 Carla Bley composition, “Ida Lupino.” jaded detective and an alluring but untrustworthy femme fa - The program wrapped up with the themes from television tale—but mostly in the later films.