The TheonlyThe only jazz only jazzmagazine jazz magazine magazine in NY in inNY in print, NY in print, in online print, online andonline andon andapps on appson! apps! ! AugAuusAgt uu2sg0tu2 2s00t 220020 www.whwwowt.hhwoo.uthhsooetuhjasozeuzjsa.cezojzam.zczo.mcom JazzVoice.comJazzVoice.comJazzVoice.com Page 6Page Page 6 6 AlexisAlexisAlexis Cole Cole Cole DannyDannyDanny Mixon Mixon Mixon MarkMark MorganelliMark Morganelli Morganelli BryantBryant ParkBryant Park Park Page 2PageJazzPage 2 ForumJazz 2 JazzForum Forum Page 4PagePage 4 4 WhereWhereWhere To ToGo To Go & Go Who& Who& WhoTo ToSee To See SinceSee Since Since 1982 1982 1982 DANNY MIXON'S Jazz Mix By Eugene Holley, Jr. F YOU WERE TO CONSTRUCT A Iprototype for a hard-working, New York jazz musician, the Harlem-born, Brooklyn- based pianist, organist, bandleader and educator Danny Mixon would be the model. In the five decades he's been on the scene, he played with the brightest stars in the business, including Frank Foster, Charles Mingus, Yuseff Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Betty Carter, Kenny Dorham, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Cecil Payne. Danny replaced Bobby Timmons in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and was musi- cal director at Harlem's famed Lenox the piano sparingly, and his trademark Lounge until its 2012 closing. Danny, keyboard prowess slowly made its way whose latest recording, Pass it On, came back to Danny's fingers. "I started playing out in 2015, was a student of piano master songs that I knew by heart," he notes, "and Sir Roland Hanna. there were a lot of things that as a pianist Often expressing his moving and mod- I needed to work on, like scales and chords ern pianism in the trio and organ quartet … So all of that helped me to start playing formats, Danny has worked a multitude of the piano again." gigs in recent years. He could be found at On August 10, 11 and 13, listeners can The New School as an adjunct professor, hear the fruits of Mixon's pianistic wood- appearing with vocalist Antoinette shedding when he performs outdoors at Montague in New Jersey, busy with the the Piano in Bryant Park (PIBP) series in Jazz Foundation of America, and fronting Manhattan, in a rare solo setting. A popu- his organ quartet at Showman's Jazz Club lar performance program in the city for two in Harlem. Then COVID-19 shut every- decades, PIBP has showcased the city's thing down. Danny recalls wondering, finest stride, ragtime and modern jazz "Where in the world are we going?" pianists. Other jazz piano greats, including "People starving. People on the food Terry Waldo and Russ Kassoff among oth- lines. How am I going to pay my rent? I ers, also will appear in the midday events. didn't know what was going to be the next The program's return will no doubt be move by the government. There were welcomed by music lovers starved for the protests in the cities. It was [the fear of] live performances that disappeared during the unknown. There was a lot going on, the COVD-19 quarantine. Listeners are mentally," the pianist reveals. encouraged to wear masks and practice For the first time in his life, Danny social distancing while enjoying Danny’s went months without a gig. Quarantined potpourri of original compositions and at home, he fell into the kind of funk you standards. "It's part of my character and wouldn't wish on a musician: the funk of chemistry to play different styles of music," inactivity, brought on by the mental he says. "I like a little funk, the bossa nova, fatigue of dealing with the unfamiliar and the waltz, different meters … So I'm going unpredictable times that lay ahead. "I was- to demonstrate my ability to do all of that, n't motivated to touch my piano," he and make people smile, make people heal, muses. "I had no feeling for it. The only make people's spirit come up." thing I had a feeling for was the melodica. When the virus is brought to bay, and It was my best friend." things return to some altered form of nor- A handheld instrument developed in malcy, Danny hopes that hunger for live the '50s, the melodica combines a small music will be a boon for the jazz communi- keyboard with a mouthpiece. It's often ty, and will inspire a deeper appreciation heard in genres like folk, world and pop for the music. "I hope that jazz comes back music, with Brazilian composer Hermento harder than ever," he muses. "I hope that Pascoal, Jamaican reggae star Augustus people come out and support the music and Pablo and jazz pianist Jon Batiste among the musicians, and the young people who the melodica's well-known performers. "I are playing. And I'd like the clubs to be would pick it up when I was watching TV," more respectful to the musicians and pro- Danny explains. "I saw a commercial I mote them. That's what I'd like to see." Iiked, and figured out the chords for the ear training, the melody to learn the lines Danny Mixon plays lunchtime con- and the rhythm. That got me going." certs at Bryant Park August 10, 11 A month and a half later, he returned to and 13. 2 Cole cover photo by Alfie Goodrich, Mixon by Melanie Futorian. 3 the rhythm tracks himself, then played sax MARK MORGANELLI over it. We've had Bob James, Karrin Man on Wire Allyson, Jimmy Greene, a great lineup." The Jazz Forum's third anniversary cel- By Elzy Kolb ebration went online, with Mark and gui- tarist Roni Ben-Hur, bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Tony Jefferson mask- ing up and taking the stage for the only live stream so far from the empty club. "We got about 6,500 views for that," Mark points out. "People are interested. We got about 10,000 each for Donald Harrison and Bob James." Mark and Ellen produce weekly Jazz Forum @ Home blog posts and e-blasts with news, photos and links to video clips of past club performances. The tag line says it all: Because music sustains us. They've instituted a fund-raising cam- paign, Jazz Together, to stay connected to OME PEOPLE COMPLAIN OF the community and support jazz musicians. Sboredom and too much time on their Just before this interview, sponsors hands. Mark Morganelli is not among pulled the plug on Mark's long-running them. In pre-pandemic times, he was a series of free summer concerts held in perpetual motion machine, figuring out county parks. "I had 25 acts booked lineups for his Jazz Forum club in already, I had banners made," he laments. Tarrytown, working with visual artists for With New York's Stage 4 reopening regula- exhibitions in the venue, planning outdoor tions mandating gatherings of no more concert series and special events, looking than 50 people, "We'd have had to make it ahead to the next project, the next year, a ticketed event. It wouldn't be feasible—a the next challenge. And practicing, practic- crowd of 700 to 1,200 is usual for each of ing, practicing. our outdoor concerts," he says. "This is the It's different these days. The first time in 35 years we haven't had a free Westchester County-based multi-instru- summer series." mentalist (trumpet, flugelhorn, piano), A few days later, state officials declared composer, arranger, producer and entre- that the Jazz Forum must remain closed. preneur is still busy, still generating lists Mark's still waiting. By press time, and lineups, still talking to sponsors and there was no final decision on whether a drawing up contracts. But now a lot of deci- series of outdoor gigs in Sleepy Hollow fea- sions are out of his hands. It's not up to turing Mark's Brazilian Trio with Eddie just Mark and his wife and partner, Ellen Monteiro and Nanny Assis, would go off as Prior, to determine how many of their care- planned. fully plotted events, programs and per- Each day starts with music, with Mark formances will actually come to fruition. playing trumpet or flugelhorn or piano, As we scheduled this interview, Mark recording a short clip he shares on was waiting to find out if the club—closed Facebook. "That's my morning music, I since Friday, March 13—could reopen, if post it every day, usually by 7 a.m. It's a his summer concert series was a go, if minute or so, just playing the melody of a upcoming gigs with his trio would stay on beautiful tune, a standard, something from the calendar. the Great American Songbook, maybe But waiting isn't the same as doing something Brazilian or an original. It's a nothing. In recent months Mark's energy salve to the spirit," the multi-instrumen- level seems to have ratcheted up, as he talist says. While recognizing all that's strategizes ways to keep the shuttered happening in the world, Mark's sense of Jazz Forum viable and visible. He has run humor shows no sign of flagging. He's the metrics of opening with a smaller audi- recently penned a pair of topical originals: ence. He learned more than he'd ever "COVID Blues" and "Corona Calypso." imagined about crowd flow, air flow, social "We gotta stay sane," he advises. distancing, between-set sanitation. He worries, "Will people come out? I want to Check out the weekly live streams open, but it's got to be safe. People have to every Thursday at 7 p.m.