MAY 2019—ISSUE 205 YOUR FREE guide TO tHe NYC JAZZ sCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM BARRE PHILLIPS END TO BEGINNING janis simon mulatu danny siegel nabatov astatke barker Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin To Contact: The New York City Jazz Record 66 Mt. Airy Road East MAY 2019—ISSUE 205 Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 United States Phone/Fax: 212-568-9628 new york@nigHt 4 Laurence Donohue-Greene: interview : janis siegel 6 by jim motavalli [email protected] Andrey Henkin: artist Feature : simon nabatov 7 by john sharpe [email protected] General Inquiries: on The Cover : barre pHillips 8 by andrey henkin [email protected] Advertising: enCore : mulatu astatke 10 by mike cobb [email protected] Calendar: lest we Forget : danny barker 10 by john pietaro [email protected] VOXNews: LAbel spotligHt : pfMENTUM 11 by robert bush [email protected] VOXNEWS by suzanne lorge US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $40 11 Canada Subscription rates: 12 issues, $45 International Subscription rates: 12 issues, $50 For subscription assistance, send check, cash or obituaries 12 by andrey henkin money order to the address above or email [email protected] Cd reviews 14 Staff Writers Duck Baker, Stuart Broomer, Robert Bush, Kevin Canfield, misCellany 33 Marco Cangiano, Thomas Conrad, Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Phil Freeman, Kurt Gottschalk, event Calendar Tom Greenland, George Grella, 34 Anders Griffen, Tyran Grillo, Alex Henderson, Robert Iannapollo, Matthew Kassel, Mark Keresman, Marilyn Lester, Suzanne Lorge, Marc Medwin, Jim Motavalli, Russ Musto, John Pietaro, Joel Roberts, John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Andrew Vélez, Scott Yanow Contributing Writers Mike Cobb, Pierre Crépon, George Kanzler, Steven Loewy, Franz Matzner, If jazz is inherently, wonderfully, about uncertainty, about where that next note is going to Annie Murnighan, Eric Wendell come from and how it will interact with all that happening around it, the same can be said for a career in jazz. To become part of this music is to spend the rest of your life inhabiting a Contributing Photographers Robert Frost poem, making choices both consciously and without realizing, following muses Enid Farber, Peter Gannushkin, down any number of roads, less traveled or otherwise. Runhild Heggem, Ayano Hisa, Maurice Robertson, Udo Salters Robert I. Sutherland-Cohen, Bassist Barre Phillips (On The Cover) didn’t set out to create the solo bass genre in 1968 yet Janis Wilkins, Ursula Zeidler he is rightly revered for that innovation by all those who have followed in his musical footsteps. Last year he released End To End (ECM), what he believes will be his final solo album; he Fact-checker celebrates it with an unaccompanied recital at Zürcher Gallery. A chance cab ride has led to a Nate Dorward 47-year membership in The Manhattan Transfer for Janis Siegel (Interview) and a fine solo career; Siegel continues her monthly “Vocal Mania” series at Birdland. And the jazz path of pianist Simon Nabatov (Artist Feature) traced a route from Moscow to New York to Cologne; he returns to one of his homes to play at 244 Rehearsal Space. nycjazzrecord.com On The Cover: Barre Phillips (Peter Gannushkin/DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET) All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. 2 MAY 2019 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD ERIC KRASNO BILL FRISELL TRIO & FRIENDS FT TONY SCHERR & KENNY WOLLESEN MACEO DIZZY GILLESPIE W/ SP GUESTS LISA FISCHER(5/16), W/ SP GUEST MARVIN SEWELL (5/4-5) PARKER AFRO CUBAN ALL-STARS LEDISI (5/17 & 18) & MONONEON (5/19) MAY 2 - 5 MAY 7 - 12 MAY 13 - 15 MAY 16 - 19 ROBERTA BRANDEE YOUNGER CHRIS DAVE & FRIENDS W/ SP GUESTS GAMBARINI KENNY RAVI COLTRANE (5/21) & THE DRUMHEDZ & NICHOLAS PAYTON (5/22) WITH SPECIAL GUEST QUARTET GARRETT MAY 21 & 22 MAY 23 - 26 MAY 28 & 29 MAY 30 - JUNE 2 SPECIAL SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH $39.50 INCLUDES BRUNCH, MUSIC & COCKTAIL @bluenotenyc l3l WEST 3RD STREET NEW YORK CITY • 2l2.475.8592 • WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY 8PM & l0:30PM • FRIDAY & SATURDAY LATE NIGHTS: l2:30AM TELECHARGE.COM WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS APPLY new york @ nigHt To provide healthcare and disaster relief for needy Jazz these days can be found most anywhere, from musicians, Wendy Oxenhorn and the Jazz Foundation hallowed concert hall to basement dive bar screaming o f of America must repeatedly replenish the non-profit’s fire-code violations. But perhaps the best place to hear FrEeDoM Sound coffers. The 17th annual “A Great Night in Harlem” creative musicians is in the company of other creations, benefit, held at the Apollo Theater on the anniversary like an art gallery or bookstore. There is an analogue of Martin Luther King’s 1968 assassination (Apr. 4th), between the notes and lines being generated by the could have been a somber occasion, but the mood was instruments and the colors and textures of a painting celebratory. Harry Belafonte (not present), Tony or sentences and themes of a novel. This synergy is Bennett and the late Hugh Masekela were honored for what drove local jazz journalist and all-around lifelong commitment to humanitarian causes, each an enthusiast Luigi Santosuosso to form a partnership agent for political change through music. Indeed, in with Rizzoli Books, one of the city’s most charming his remembrances of Belafonte and King, erstwhile purveyors of print. His series is in its ninth month and Civil Rights activist/ambassador Andrew Young fills a need for afternoon jazz appropriate for both quoted Paul Robeson: “Artists are the gatekeepers of aficionados and families striving to become so. On the truth.” The music, casual but passionate, scripted yet first gorgeous weekend of 2019, a large crowd came to freeform, reinforced the political spirit. Hoofer Savion hear saxophonist Michael Blake’s Blake and Brass Glover’s opening duologue with tenor saxophonist (Apr. 7th), a quintet as reflective of the various horn- Patience Higgins set the bar high early on. The Count oriented ensembles throughout jazz history as of the Basie Orchestra performed playfully respectful leader’s own eclecticism. Joining him were trombonist versions of “April in Paris” and Quincy Jones’ (sitting Clark Gayton, trumpeter Steven Bernstein, tuba player PeRcUsSiOn front row) “Li’l Ol’ Groovemaker”. Bennett glossed his Bob Stewart (who should have a gig every day, so still supple voice over “Love Is Here to Stay” and “I important is he as an innovator) and drummer Rudy Left My Heart in San Francisco”. 13-year–old piano Royston in the literary role of the ingénu. “Anthem for wunderkind Lydian Nadhaswaram rollicked “Autumn No Country” recalled Stewart’s former boss Carla Bley, MAY 3 - 4 Leaves”; Patti Smith rocked “Pissing in the River”. “Henry’s Boogaloo”, for the departed Henry Butler, Wallace Roney and Larry Willis trump(et)ed Masekela’s featured appealing polyphony over a break-beat, GLENFIELD MIDDLE SCHOOL “Grazing in the Grass”. Common rapped a few couplets Leadbelly’s “Take This Hammer” went from funereal ‘off the dome’. Even Oxenhorn took an effective to Second Line and Monk’s “Crepuscule with MONTCLAIR NJ harmonica turn on the final blues jam.—Tom Greenland Nellie”was stretched out like taffy. —Andrey Henkin ANDREW CYRILLE duos: BILLY HART + BRANDON ROSS SUSIE IBARRA presents FRAGILITY: AN EXPLORATION OF POLYRHYTHMS Y (Claudia Acuna, Yuka Honda, Jake H P Y A R Landau, Souleymane Badolo) H P G A O T WARREN SMITH + SCOTT ROBINSON R G O F O T YEYI (Adam Rudolph + Ralph M Jones) R E O B H R P TURNING JEWELS INTO WATER A S F R E D + I (Ravish Momin Val Jeanty) T L N E A S 9 PHEEROAN AKLAFF M.O.P. STRINGS 1 O 0 2 D (Aska Kaneko, Hilliard Greene, U © Tomoko Akaboshi, Matt Consul, Keyon Harrold & Wallace Roney @ The Apollo Michael Blake’s Blake and Brass @ Rizzoli Bookstore Miho Hazama, Ralph M. Jones) In many fields, 65 is the age when one ponders “It took me 40 years to build up the courage to do DD JACKSON retirement. Not John Zorn. If his inspired matinee this.” It seems incredible that bassist John Patitucci, SAMIR CHATTERJEE show with New Masada Quartet at Village Vanguard who, among other activities, has had long stints with (Apr. 14th) was any indication, the saxophonist/ Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, would feel intimidated ABDOU M’BOUP composer has many miles (and gigs) to go before he in any musical situation yet at Zürcher Gallery (Apr. KALUN LEUNG + ADAM VIDIKSIS sleeps. Part of his enthusiasm was surely due to the 5th) he was without the benefit of those august AFROCUBA BAND presence of guitarist Julian Lage, who, at 31, brings personages in front of him, or Brian Blade or Dave a younger generation’s vim to Zorn’s well-seasoned Weckl behind him, presenting music from his first solo oeuvre and ethos, as well as considerable chops and release Soul of the Bass. Some 51 years after the first Andrew Cyrille named Jazz Laureate sensitivity. Over the seven-song set, bassist Jorge shot fired, as it were, the solo bass album is no longer Roeder and drummer Kenny Wollesen provided firm unusual yet, like a writer tackling that first novel, each Max Roach Tribute • Planetarium Concert but pliant rhythmic bedrock for Zorn’s vibrant alto person has to approach it in his own way. Patitucci’s Conductive-Paint Installation work. Like Ornette Coleman, he is adept at subtle/ way was marked by two characteristics. The first was soulful pitch manipulation: during “Idalah-Abal”, concision, both on record and in front of a packed Help us build The World’s the finale and high point of the afternoon, he seemed house of friends, fans and fellow bassists including to suggest an extended harmonic progression merely mentor Rufus Reid, which spoke to a musician used to Largest Recyclable Drumkit ! by varying the tension of a single sliding pitch while working deep in the intersection between composition similarly expressive ‘microtonalisms’ were heard on and improvisation.