MARCH 2017—ISSUE 179 YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM FITZGERALDELLA Centenni-ella WOMEN IN JAZZ ISSUE SHERRIE NICOLE KALI Z. DOROTHY MARICLE MITCHELL FASTEAU FIELDS Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin To Contact: The New York City Jazz Record 66 Mt. Airy Road East MARCH 2017—ISSUE 179 Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 United States Phone/Fax: 212-568-9628 New York@Night 4 Laurence Donohue-Greene: Interview : Sherrie Maricle 6 by m.j. lester [email protected] Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Artist Feature : Nicole Mitchell 7 by robert bush General Inquiries: [email protected] On The Cover : Ella Fitzgerald 8 by andrew vélez Advertising: [email protected] Encore : Kali Z. Fasteau by clifford allen Calendar: 10 [email protected] VOXNews: Lest We Forget : Dorothy Fields 10 by alex henderson [email protected] LAbel Spotlight : Harbinger by donald elfman 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 VOXNEWS 11 by suzanne lorge money order to the address above or email [email protected] In Memoriam Staff Writers 12 David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, Duck Baker, Fred Bouchard, “Women in Jazz” CD Reviews Stuart Broomer, Thomas Conrad, 14 Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Philip Freeman, Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, Anders Griffen, CD Reviews 20 Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Suzanne Lorge, Mark Keresman, Miscellany 40 Marc Medwin, Ken Micallef, Russ Musto, John Pietaro, Joel Roberts, John Sharpe, Event Calendar 42 Elliott Simon, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman, Scott Yanow Contributing Writers Robert Bush, Tyran Grillo, M.J. Lester It must have been some cosmic joke that the inauguration of Donald Trump was followed, in Contributing Photographers short order, by Black History Month and, now, Women’s History Month (to which we dedicate Crystal Blake, Peter Gannushkin, this issue). In the past these celebrations have been filled with inspirational stories of obstacles William P. Gottlieb, Michael Jackson, Tom Pich, Frank Stewart, Robert I. Sutherland-Cohen, overcome and rights won, looking backwards at a dark history. Yet the ascension of a bigot and Jack Vartoogian, Garth Woods misogynist to the highest office and the bigotry and misogyny he has unleashed across the country make it clear that the history of blacks and women—as well as other oppressed groups Fact-checker whose progress is in jeopardy—is still being written. The question is by whom? Jazz is but Nate Dorward a part of art and art is but a part of life but written into the DNA of jazz is struggle, whether against American racism, Latin American authoritarianism or European nationalism. The irony is that these month-long celebrations will continue in April when Jazz Appreciation Month competes with Confederate History Month. Wonder which Trump will tweet about... The centennial of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth is not only a chance to recall her contributions to jazz but also an opportunity to reflect upon the state of the country in 1917 and the strides made by blacks and women and other minorities over the past hundred years. How tragic then all that movement is now under serious threat. Where will the country be next year, much less in nycjazzrecord.com a hundred? That is a question we must answer with action. On The Cover: Ella Fitzgerald (William P. Gottlieb / Courtesy of the Library of Congress) Corrections: In last month’s CD Reviews, the Carmen Lundy album was incorrectly given the subtitle A Song Cycle for These Dangerous Times thus affecting the review. Also the track mentioning Patrice Rushen’s piano should have indicated it was Lundy playing. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. 2 MARCH 2017 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM MARCH 2017 ROY HAYNES ND LOU DONALDSON 92 BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION MARCH 2 - 5 MCCOY TYNER W/SPECIAL GUESTS MARCH 6 & 20 MARCH 9 - 12 STANLEY CLARKE / RON CARTER DUO ROBERTA GAMBARINI ROY HARGROVE QUINTET W/ SPECIAL GUEST RUSSELL MALONE MARCH 15 - 19 MARCH 21 - 26 MARCH 28 - APRIL 2 KEYON HARROLD & FRIENDS FT SPECIAL GUESTS - BLUE NOTE RESIDENCY MARCH 7 & 8 7 TH ANNUAL JAMES MOODY JAZZ SCHOLARSHIP OF NEW JERSEY YOUTH BENEFIT FT. RANDY BRECKER, PAQUITO D’RIVERA, JIMMY HEATH, KENNY BARRON & MORE MARCH 27 SPECIAL SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH $35 INCLUDES BRUNCH, MUSIC & COCKTAIL LATE NIGHTS TBA MARCH 3 • PHONY PPL RESIDENCY MARCH 4 & 18 • WINDOWS FT. MEMBERS OF SISTER SPARROW AND THE DIRTY BIRDS & MOREMARCH 10 CHRIS MCCLENNEY RESIDENCY LIVE AT BLUE NOTE MARCH 11 • TBA MARCH 17 • TBA MARCH 24 CAMP LO CELEBRATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT MARCH 25 • TBA MARCH 31 l3l WEST 3RD STREET NEW YORK CITY • 2l2.475.8592 • WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM @bluenotenyc TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY 8PM & l0:30PM • FRIDAY & SATURDAY LATE NIGHTS: l2:30AM TELECHARGE.COM TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS APPLY SUN MAR 19 RALPH ALESSI& this AGAINST THAT RAVI COLTRANE - ANDY MILNE - JOHN HÉBERT - MARK FERBER WED MAR 22 “VENUE OF THE YEAR” 2016 -NYCJR H“TOP 10 VENUES IMPACTING NY MUSIC SCENE TODAY”- NY MAGAZINE DAYNA STEPHENS GROUP WED-FRI MAR 1-3 TAYLOR EIGSTI - PETER BERNSTEIN - LARRY GRENADIER - ERIC HARLAND THU-SUN MAR 23-26 george COLEMAN: 79TH B’DAY “BirthDAY celebration” STEVE KUHN celebration FEATURING CHARLES McPherson [3/1-3 ONLY] DAVID WONG - BILLY DRUMMOND JEB PATTON - DAVID WONG - CHUCK MCPHERSON [3/1-2 ONLY] - GEORGE COLEMAN JR. [3/3 ONLY] WED MAR 29 duo SAT-SUN 4-5 BirthDAY camille bertault/dan tepfer george COLEMAN QUINTETcelebration THU-SUN MAR 30-APR 2 YOTAM SILBERSTEIN [3/4 ONLY] - PAUL BOLLENBACK [3/5 ONLY] - MIKE LEDONNE - JOHN WEBBER - GEORGE COLEMAN JR. FLAMENCO TUE-WED MAR 7-8 CHANO DOMINGUEZ QUINTET SONIA FERNANDEZ- ISMAEL FERNANDEZ - ALEXIS CUADRADO - JOSE MORENO BEN WENDEL GROUP HMINGUS MONDAYSHMINGUS MONDAYSHMINGUS MONDAYSH GERALD CLAYTON [3/7 ONLY] - KEVIN HAYS [3/8 ONLY] - JOE MARTIN - KENDRICK SCOTT MON MAR 6, 13, 20 & 27 THU-SUN MAR 9-12 MINGUS BIG BAND HMOBETTA TUESDAYSHMOBETTA TUESDAYSH BILLY HART QUARTET TUE MAR 14 TUE MAR 21 TUE MAR 28 MARK TURNER - ETHAN IVERSON - BEN STREET QUINTET THE MOOD LOVE POTION electric ride WED-SAT MAR 15-18 MAURICE BROWN MAURICE BROWN MAURICE BROWN CHELSEA BARATZ MARCUS STRICKLAND SKERIK CHAD SELPH JAMES FRANCIES CHAD SELPH ANTOINE KATZ BEN WILLIAMS NIR FELDER KENNY BARRON MARCUS MACHADO MARCUS MACHADO MICHAEL LEAGUE MIKE RODRIGUEZ - DAYNA STEPHENS - KIYOSHI KITAGAWA - JOHNATHAN BLAKE JOE BLAXX JOE BLAXX - CHRIS TURNER LEE PEARSON HJAZZ FOR KIDS WITH THE JAZZ STANDARD YOUTH ORCHESTRA EVERY SUNDAY AT 2PM -DIRECTED BY DAVID O’ROURKEH NEW YORK @ NIGHT For the closing night (Feb. 12th) of pianist Kris Davis’ Friday (Feb. 10th), Rose Theater: Dianne Reeves, weeklong stand at the venerable (and in its final year— resplendent in a pink coat, rose-red dress, bright blue wow, that’s hard to write) Lower East Side venue The high-heels and eye shadow, spangled earrings, Stone, a single hour-long set presented her in a trio bracelets, rings and smile, was Valentine’s candy for with tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer the eyes and ears. After her quartet opened with a Tom Rainey for a program of four knotty compositions. samba, the sexagenarian scatted over a slinky 3/4 Rangy and executing interplay with turn-on-a-dime Afrogospel vamp; brought out harmonica maestro precision, the trio found a space uniquely their own Grégoire Maret to riff over “The Man I Love”, the latter but format-wise split the difference between the dipping and bobbing like a bantam-weight boxer; and Schlippenbach Trio and an imagined aggregation of sang her lyrics to Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes”, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill and Joe Chambers. This introduced by pianist Peter Martin. “Nine”, a folksy group is the core of Laubrock’s quintet Anti-House and coming-of-age original replete with swooping soaring the quartet LARK. Davis was somewhat muted, vocal lines, was followed by Miles Davis’ “All Blues”, especially compared to the choppy and aggressive launched by Reginald Veal’s gutbucket bass and beats and subdivisions laid down by Rainey and building to a rousing, take-it-back-to-church climax, Laubrock’s thick, pillowy fulminations, but the attuned which ended as Reeves shuffled off stage, shoulders ear could pick up her cellular twists and painstaking shrugging, hips shaking, the crowd clapping on 2 and runs on a prepared instrument or more effusive 3. A brief stretch and she was back (now dressed in floridity emerging once interleaved objects were two-tone orange and black, with new earrings and removed from the strings. The set was initially billed bracelets to match) for a duet with guitarist Romero as a saxophone-piano duet and in a number of instances Lubambo and a cover of “That’s All”, another showcase the trio was broken down into permuted parts, micro- for her amazing scats, which ranged from bop-inflected phrase worries and clean, teetering brushwork or Fitzgeraldisms and McFerrin-esque yodels to soulful breathy resonance and pulsing tessellations finding shouts. After “I Concentrate On You” Reeves and common parallels. There is a reason that Davis, Maret again celebrated their intimate chemistry on the Laubrock and Rainey are in demand and it’s closely transcendent “Heavens” (his tune, her lyrics). The set related to their complementary language—one that closed with a slow, wordless tango and a neo-soul ode hinges on absolute clarity and the obvious joy of to the audience, who sang phrases back to her as they challenging one another. —Clifford Allen bathed her in LED phone-light.