February 2012 | No. 118 Your FREE Guide to the NYC Jazz Scene nycjazzrecord.com TIM BERNE Berne-ing the Midnight Snakeoil ROY • RENÉ • PETE • OUTNOW • EVENT HARGROVE MARIE LA ROCA SIMS RECORDS CALENDAR For the last several months, much of the national news has been devoted to the (not-all-that) upcoming presidential election. Now that it is less than ten months away, coverage will only intensify and voting, that great totem of democracy, will (or should) be on everyone’s mind. But you can get a headstart on the process: New York@Night participate in The New York City Jazz Record’s Second Decade poll. As we approach 4 the milestone of our 10th anniversary (May 2012), we‘d like to hear from you, our readers, about the job we’re doing and suggestions you have for improvement. Interview: Roy Hargrove Visit our homepage (nycjazzrecord.com) and click on the “Take Survey” button at 6 by Russ Musto the very top (no lines or newfangled electronic voting machines); a few minutes of your time will give us invaluable information as we at The New York City Jazz Artist Feature: René Marie Record start planning for the next 10 years. 7 by Marcia Hillman As we hunker down for the city’s coldest month (supposedly), don’t get too comfortable wrapped in your afghans and drinking hot chocolate with an excessive On The Cover: Tim Berne amount of marshmallows. There’s still plenty of music to stir you from your winter 9 by Martin Longley torpor. Saxophonist Tim Berne (On The Cover), a New York stalwart has released his debut on ECM Records and celebrates with a concert at the Rubin Museum. Encore: Lest We Forget: Trumpeter Roy Hargrove (Interview) may be more of a middle-aged lion these 10 Pete La Roca Sims James Reese Europe days but is still pushing the boundaries of modern jazz; he leads a big band at Blue by Ken Dryden by Donald Elfman Note this month. And vocalist René Marie released two compelling albums last year, the grab-bag of covers Voice of My Beautiful Country and the mostly-originals Megaphone VOXNews Black Lace Freudian Slip (both on Motéma Music). Marie warms up Valentine’s Day 11 by Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris by Katie Bull week at Dizzy’s Club. With this being a leap year, there’s one extra day of concert listings in our Label Spotlight: Listen Up!: Event Calendar, which in New York usually translates to about 30 shows. So rather 12 OutNow Joe Alterman than spending money on the heating bill or extra-thick sweaters, go out and get by Ken Waxman & Sean Ali warm in the company of your fellow jazz fans. Happy Black History Month... CD Reviews: Jason Stein, Harry Allen, Christian McBride, Nate Wooley, 14 Matt Wilson, Ornette Coleman, Matthew Shipp, Gianluca Petrella and more Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor Andrey Henkin, Editorial Director 32 Event Calendar On the cover: Tim Berne (photo by Claire Stefani) Corrections: In last month’s In Memoriam spread for Paul Motian, the photo credit was obscured; it was john rogers/wbgo/ johnrogersnyc.com. There were several Club Directory errors in the Encore on Hal Singer: the later picture was of Andy Hamilton; the 37 emphasis of Singer’s work as a sideman was misleading as most of his career has been as a leader and Singer’s “Rock Around the Clock” was recorded in 1950 and 39 Miscellany: In Memoriam • Birthdays • On This Day then done in 1954 by Bill Haley with the same title and many of the same lyrics. Submit Letters to the Editor by emailing [email protected] US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $30 (International: 12 issues, $40) For subscription assistance, send check, cash or money order to the address below or email [email protected]. The New York City Jazz Record www.nycjazzrecord.com Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene To Contact: Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin The New York City Jazz Record Staff Writers 116 Pinehurst Avenue, Ste. J41 David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, Fred Bouchard, Stuart Broomer, Tom Conrad, Ken Dryden, New York, NY 10033 Donald Elfman, Sean Fitzell, Graham Flanagan, Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, United States Laurel Gross, Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Francis Lo Kee, Martin Longley, Wilbur MacKenzie, Marc Medwin, Russ Musto, Joel Roberts, Laurence Donohue-Greene: John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Jeff Stockton, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman [email protected] Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Contributing Writers Katie Bull, George Kanzler, Matthew Kassel, Sharon Mizrahi, Butch Morris, Sean J. O’Connell General Inquiries: [email protected] Contributing Photographers Advertising: [email protected] Jim Anness, Crush Boone, Alan Nahigian, John Rogers, Claire Stefani, Jack Vartoogian Editorial: [email protected] Calendar: [email protected] All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | February 2012 3 NEW YORK @ NIGHT The term “groove-oriented” usually describes jazz of It’s funny how in “Sex Mob Plays Nino Rota, Ellington a funkier, danceable sort. But it’s not how many would & Bond”, the name of the program slide trumpeter categorize the maddeningly complex music of pianist Steven Bernstein and company presented at 92YTribeca Vijay Iyer and his trio with bassist Stephan Crump on Jan. 13th, the fictional spy gets credit alongside the and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Pulsing rhythm, composers. Ellington, of course, doesn’t need his full however, has always played a significant role for Iyer name to be used and Nino Rota - best known to the and at Le Poisson Rouge during Winter Jazz Fest (Jan. degree that he is for scoring Fellini’s films - gets first 7th) he brought the beat like never before, drawing on but full-name billing. Colliding realms is nothing pieces from the forthcoming ACT release Accelerando. unusual for Sex Mob, which for 17 years has been The atmosphere was just right: packed and sweaty demonstrating that cheek needn’t come at the expense crowd, eager for something new. Like a good DJ, Iyer of smart charts and hard playing. They opened with a reached back to 1977 with Heatwave’s “The Star of a deft take on Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy” Story”, shrouding the pretty chords and melody in a followed by Bernstein’s trumpet and Briggan Krauss’ fragmented, bass-heavy pattern. “Lude”, with an saxophone laying into the achingly familiar lines of almost imperceptible segue into “Optimism”, featured John Barry’s “Goldfinger”, which then decelerated into Iyer in a more pronounced soloing role, though the a lullaby-like take on Rota’s “Amarcord Suite”. Backed mix was too muddy at times to hear it well. “Actions by bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, Speak”, another original, closed the set at warp speed they mixed reverence and swing in Barry’s “You Only and allowed Gilmore time for a seal-the-deal drum Live Twice” and Ellington’s beautiful “Heaven”. They solo. Hypnotic deconstructed rhythm was the focus brought Duke into the cinephilia with “Flirtbird” from here, giving a consistent band sound to a set that his score to Anatomy of a Murder and closed with Rota’s ranged from “Hood”, inspired by Detroit’s ‘minimal “La Dolce Vita Suite”. As can be counted on with the techno’ pioneer Robert Hood, to “Human Nature”, the Mob, it was good fun, the kind - whether it’s coming Michael Jackson classic from Thriller. The latter, which from Cab Calloway or James Brown or Paul McCartney led off Iyer’s 2010 disc Solo (and was once a concert - that doesn’t just happen. It comes from Bernstein’s staple for Miles Davis), got a thorough going-over savvy arrangements, which well demonstrated his from the trio, in a limping modified shuffle feel - a beat objectives: a bit of humor and a bit of confrontation that seemed to hold together by nearly falling apart. and ultimately allowing the song to reign supreme. - David R. Adler - Kurt Gottschalk P h o t o b R y P A N l a / n s r N e g a o h R i g n i a h n o J Vijay Iyer @ Le Poisson Rouge Steven Bernstein @ 92YTribeca Surging and inescapable rhythm is what gives Adam Joel Harrison’s “Alternate” wing of the New York Rudolph’s Moving Pictures Septet its broadly Guitar Festival brought a parade of exceptional players accessible and riveting sound. This much seemed clear to Rockwood Music Hall the weekend of Jan. 13th, to a late-night Winter Jazz Fest crowd at Zinc Bar (Jan. including a nightlong tribute to legendary plectrist Jim 6th), where Rudolph played a short but solid set with Hall on Sunday. But an appearance on Saturday by fellow percussionists James Hurt and Matt Kilmer, guitarist Dave Tronzo and bassist JA Granelli (along guitarist Kenny Wessel, acoustic bass guitarist Jerome with the previous night’s concert by Sex Mob) made Harris, reedist Ralph Jones and cornet/flugelhorn man the cold nights feel like old home week. They opened Graham Haynes. An avant garde theorist and student with a remarkably decentralized blues, walking of musical traditions from around the world, Rudolph without a count, a plastic-cup slide giving Tronzo’s had a wealth of sounds available and he used them Silvertone a hollow, muted sound, freed from any brilliantly: lap-steel guitar from Harris on the opening worries of sustain. The first turn came shortly “Oshogbo”; flute and muted cornet dissonance on the thereafter, when Tronzo went from truncation to closing burner “Dance Drama”; Hurt’s melodica and looped, ringing notes and a gentle but crisp melody Wessel’s ethereal effects at the opening of “Love’s while Granelli played soft finger-picked patterns on Light”, a bluesy meditation; Jones on “Return of the his Danelectro piccolo bass.