APRIL 2016—ISSUE 168 YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM drumMER issue BILLYBILLY COBHAMCOBHAM DRUMDRUM SPECTRUMSPECTRUM DAVE CHAD BERNARD DONALD WECKL TAYLOR PURDIE BAILEY Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin To Contact: The New York City Jazz Record 66 Mt. Airy Road East APRIL 2016—ISSUE 168 Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 United States Phone/Fax: 212-568-9628 New York@Night 4 Laurence Donohue-Greene: Interview : Dave Weckl 6 by ken micallef [email protected] Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Artist Feature : Chad Taylor 7 by ken waxman General Inquiries: [email protected] On The Cover : Billy Cobham 8 by john pietaro Advertising: [email protected] Encore : Bernard Purdie by russ musto Editorial: 10 [email protected] Calendar: Lest We Forget : Donald Bailey 10 by donald elfman [email protected] VOXNews: LAbel Spotlight : Amulet by mark keresman [email protected] 11 Letters to the Editor: [email protected] VOXNEWS 11 by suzanne lorge US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $40 Canada Subscription rates: 12 issues, $45 In Memoriam 12 by andrey henkin International Subscription rates: 12 issues, $50 For subscription assistance, send check, cash or money order to the address above FESTIVAL REPORT or email [email protected] 13 Staff Writers CD Reviews 14 David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, Duck Baker, Fred Bouchard, Stuart Broomer, Thomas Conrad, Miscellany 36 Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Philip Freeman, Kurt Gottschalk, Event Calendar Tom Greenland, Anders Griffen, 38 Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Suzanne Lorge, Marc Medwin, Ken Micallef, Russ Musto, John Pietaro, Joel Roberts, As we head into spring, there is a bounce in our step. We like that feeling. To keep it going as John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, long as possible, we are devoting this issue to those players who keep us moving, in time or Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman otherwise. These drummers play to the Circadian rhythms in all of us. Contributing Writers Billy Cobham (On The Cover) has defined fusion drumming for as long as the genre has Brad Cohan, Matthew Kassell, existed. He performs at Blue Note with the working trio of Donald Harrison and Ron Carter. Mark Keresman, Eric Wendell, Dave Weckl (Interview) has a sessionography that averages out to 15-20 albums a year with Scott Yanow artists as disparate as Chick Corea and Madonna. He plays Iridium in a trio with Oz Noy and Jimmy Haslip. Chad Taylor (Artist Feature) has made a name for himself in not one but two Contributing Photographers jazz metropolises: NYC and Chicago. He is all over this town, literally, with shows in Nikolaus Becker, Scott Friedlander, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie (Encore) is a jazz, soul, funk and Boris Lemon, Da Ping Luo, R&B legend making a rare city appearance with David Haney while Donald Bailey (Lest We Susan O’Connor, Forget) powered the albums of everyone from Jimmy Smith to Sarah Vaughan. Billy Martin, Robert I. Sutherland-Cohen best known for his work with MMW, documents his and others’ more percussive side with Jack Vartoogian, Luba Vorob’eva Amulet (Label Profile). And finally, we topload our CD Reviews (pgs. 14-21) with releases from a variety of sticksmen, past and present. nycjazzrecord.com On The Cover: Billy Cobham (photo courtesy of the artist) Corrections: We apologize sincerely for printing the wrong photograph with our obituary on Bill Dunham (long live bassist and longtime Dunham collaborator Michael Weatherly!) All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. 2 APRIL 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM APRIL 2016 PHONY PPL WITH SPECIAL GUESTS - 8PM MOBB DEEP & PHONY PPL OMAR SOSA JOHN SCOFIELD QUARTET PERFORM THE INFAMOUS: QUARTETO AFROCUBANO FEATURING JOHN MEDESKI RECORDING FOR LIVE ALBUM - 10:30PM MARCH 31 - APRIL 3 APRIL 5 - 10 APRIL 12 - 13 MICHEL CAMILO TRIO LATINO DONALD HARRISON, RON CARTER, THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER W/ DAFNIS PRIETO & RICKY RODRIGUEZ BILLY COBHAM TRIO APRIL 14 - 17 APRIL 19 - 24 APRIL 27 - MAY 1 JACOB SHULMAN FT. 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Many of late vocalist Mark Murphy’s Moran admitted, “solo piano is a terrifying act”. extended family and friends may have been meditating Echoing the existential tightrope walk of saxophonist on this during the memorial for him at Saint Peter’s Steve Lacy, himself known for solo performance, the (Mar. 14th), because it was abundantly clear by the end unspoken reality was that Moran was in constant of the evening that his life and music had touched and dialogue, never truly unaccompanied—whether moved so many. His complex personality was partially engaging his teachers and influences, the instrument revealed through reminiscences by those who knew itself or the Louis Tiffany and Stanford White-designed him well while his musical legacy was evident in the Veterans Room, the restoration of which his fantastic performances given by his peers and mentees. performance commemorated. Picking an improviser, After vocalists Nancy Kelly, Daniel Čačija and Carol and specifically this improviser, to open the Veterans Fredette had set the mood, Roz Corral’s lubriciously Room was a logical and savvy choice; Moran’s crooned “What a Way to Go”, followed by Kurt Elling’s eclecticism stems from equal engagement with the muscular “I’ll Close My Eyes”, began a deeper music of Jaki Byard and art of Robert Rauschenberg, collective channeling of Murphy’s hovering presence. playfulness and drama that runs the gamut from His “sister spirit”, Sheila Jordan, visibly moved, dug abstraction to coy lyricism while the American deep into “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” with rich, Aesthetic Movement design of the room brings latticed quavering long-tones, pulling her phrases back and symmetry into conversation with brusque molding, forth across the band’s pulse. Murphy’s facility with wrought iron and aquamarine tile with an odd logic. scatting and vocalese was echoed in The Royal Bopsters Moran worked through ten pieces and an encore of rendition of “Red Clay” (Freddie Hubbard’s tune set to “The Single Petal of a Rose” (one of the most beautiful Murphy’s lyric) and Giacomo Gates’ deft delivery of renditions I’ve heard), utilizing the resonant space to “Boplicity/Bebop Lives” and “Lord Buckley”, a his advantage on ebbing and subtly overlapping hilarious mash-up of Shakespeare and beatnik-speak. ballads as well as chugging minimalist motors (the After Annie Ross, resplendent in matching Persian latter partly derived from his work with choreographer carpet hat and jacket, gave a sibilant Sprechstimme and visual artist Joan Jonas) and clustered fantasias reading of “Lush Life”, the evening ended with Jordan that would make Fred Van Hove and Alexander von and Elling’s duet, “Where You At?” We knew. Murphy Schlippenbach blush. —Clifford Allen had been there all along. —Tom Greenland G R O . S N O I S S E R P X E Z Z A J / N E H O C - D N A L R O E U H L T G U S N I .