First Fusion
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APRIL 2014 - ISSUE 144 YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM LENNY WHITE FIRST FUSION BILL • LISA • ANDREW • CHESKY • EVENT LASWELL MEZZACAPPA WHITE RECORDS CALENDAR April 10, 2014 Chick Corea April 9, Solo Piano 2014 BUIKATHE TOWN HALL 123 W. 43RD ST. B/T 6TH & BROADWAY (212) 840-2824 WWW.THETOWNHALL.ORG APRIL 2014 ROY HARGROVE GARY BURTON & SAVION GLOVER PLAYING FOR JIM HALL: STANLEY CLARKE ERIC HARLAND’S APR 1 - 6 MAKOTO OZONE & FRIENDS WITH BILL FRISELL, JULIAN LAGE, & FRIENDS VOYAGER DUETS DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, SCOTT COLLEY, JOEY BARON APR 22 - 27 W/ JASON MORAN APR 8 - 13 KENNY BARRON + MORE + FRIENDS FEAT. CHRIS POTTER, APR 29 - 30 APR 15 - 17 GREG OSBY, LARRY GOLDINGS, BILL STEWART, RUSSELL MALONE, ADAM ROGERS, BILL CHARLAP & MORE APR 18 - 20 PURCHASE JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEAT. GARY SMULYAN APR 7 • BERKLEE GLOBAL JAZZ INSTITUTE FEAT. MIGUEL ZENÓN APR 14 DENNIS CHAMBERS & GRAFFITI APR 21 • JJ SANSAVERINO APR 28 SUNDAY BRUNCH BRAD SHEPIK & HIS NYU ENSEMBLE APR 6 “EAST MEETS WEST BRUNCH SERIES”: MANAMI MORITA APR 13 • THE ARCHI-TET (AKIHIRO YAMAMOTO) APR 20 • KYOKO OYOBE GROUP APR 27 131 WEST THIRD STREET NEW YORK CITY 212.475.8595 WWW.BLUENOTE JAZZ.COM TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY FRIDAY & SATURDAY SUNDAY BRUNCH 8PM & 10:30PM TELECHARGE.COM LATE NIGHTS: 12:30AM 11:30AM & 1:30PM TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS APPLY “BEST JAZZ CLUBS OF THE YEAR 2012” SMOKE JAZZ & SUPPER CLUB • HARLEM, NEW YORK CITY FEATURED ARTISTS / 7:00, 9:00 & 10:30pm ONE NIGHT ONLY / 7:00, 9:00 & 10:30pm Fri & Sat, Apr 4 & 5 Wed, Apr 2 SMOKE Smoke’s 15th Anniversary Celebration KEN FOWSER SEXTET Winter / Spring 2014 Josh Bruneau (trumpet) • Ken Fowser (tenor saxophone) GEORGE COLEMAN QUARTET Behn Gillece (vibraphone) • Rick Germanson (piano) featuring Harold Mabern Paul Gill (bass) • Jason Tiemann (drums) SESSIONS George Coleman (tenor saxophone) • Harold Mabern (piano) John Webber (bass) • Joe Farnsworth (drums) Wed, Apr 9 COMPACT DISC AND DOWNLOAD TITLES CHRIS WASHBURNE & SYOTOS Fri & Sat, Apr 11 & 12 Wed, Apr 16 JD ALLEN QUARTET DUANE EUBANKS QUINTET JD Allen (tenor saxophone) • Orrin Evans (piano) Duane Eubanks (trumpet) • Abraham Burton (tenor saxophone) Alexander Claffy (bass) • Jonathan Barber (drums) Marc Cary (piano) • Dezron Douglas (bass) • Eric McPherson (drums) Wed, Apr 23 Fri & Sat, Apr 18 & 19 GEORGE BURTON QUINTET Record Release Weekend Freddie Hendrix (trumpet) • Mike Lee (tenor saxophone) George Burton (piano) • Noah Jackson (bass) • Wayne Smith, Jr. (drums) VINCENT HERRING QUINTET Right On Time SSR-1402 The Uptown Shuffle SSR-1403 featuring special guest Louis Hayes Wed,SPECIAL Apr EVENT30 / 7:00, 9:00 & 10:30pm Wallace Roney (trumpet) • Vincent Herring (alto saxophone) FLEURINE Mike LeDonne (piano) • Brandi Disterheft (bass) Sun & Mon, Feb 9 & 10 Louis Hayes (drums) Mon,BRAD Apr MEHLDAU 28 & PETER BERNSTEIN ORRINBrad Mehldau EVANS’ (piano) • Peter CAPTAIN Bernstein (guitar)BLACK BIG BAND Fri & Sat, Apr 25 & 26 RECORD RELEASE PARTY JIM ROTONDI QUINTET featuring Antonio Hart Music 7 Nights a Week & Sunday Brunch Jim Rotondi (trumpet) • Antonio Hart (alto saxophone) No Music Charge (Sunday to Thursday) David Hazeltine (piano) • John Webber (bass) For Complete Music Schedule Visit Willie Jones III (drums) www.smokejazz.com Expression SSR-1404 For All We Know SSR-1405 WWW.SMOKESESSIONSRECORDS.COM 212-864-6662 • 2751 Broadway NYC (Between 105th & 106th streets) • www.smokejazz.com SMOKE In 2013, is “fusion” still a dirty word? Of course, in the late ‘60s through the ‘80s, the battle between the new electrified jazz and the proponents of tradition was New York@Night like the Crips and the Bloods. Decades later, it is hard to say who won, really, if 4 anyone, and if anyone really needs to win. Nowadays, up-and-coming musicians Interview: Bill Laswell take the best part of fusion - a willingness to embrace other styles of music with the welcoming arms of jazz - and make their own music richer as a result. Those by Kurt Gottschalk 6 musicians, such as our Artist Feature, bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, who visits from Artist Feature: Lisa Mezzacappa the West Coast for a number of performances around town, owe a debt to our by Ken Waxman Cover and Interview feature subjects. Drummer Lenny White (On The Cover) 7 played on one of the original fusion documents, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, and On The Cover: Lenny White then went on to work with the fusion supergroup Return To Forever; his own 9 by Brad Farberman work still has some of that feeling, even years later, sure to be heard in a raucous trio at Iridium this month with guitarist Larry Coryell and bassist Victor Bailey. Encore: Lest We Forget: Bassist Bill Laswell (Interview) also has a connection to Miles the fusioneer, having 10 Andrew White Jimmy Giuffre created the 1998 “tribute” album Panthalassa, based on music from the trumpeter’s fecund electric period. Laswell curates a week at The Stone and appears with by Clifford Allen by Fred Bouchard various groups. Saxophonist Andrew White (Encore), who makes a very rare Megaphone VOXNews appearance in the city this month at The Jazz Gallery, also dabbled in fusion, 11 by Amanda Monaco by Katie Bull liberally mixing R&B and jazz (and playing electric bass with Steve Wonder in the late ‘60s and oboe for Weather Report in 1972). And even late clarinetist Jimmy Label Spotlight: Listen Up!: Giuffre (Lest We Forget), known mostly for progressive acoustic trios, went electric for a period in the early ‘80s. 12 Chesky James Brandon Lewis After you’ve absorbed all of that, peruse our CD Reviews, where we’ll bet & Charles Turner by Ken Dryden you’ll find the fingerprints of fusion everywhere, whether it be a searing electric CD Reviews: Roy Nathanson, Alfredo Rodriguez, Conference Call, guitar line, Indian rhythmic concept or funky bassline. You see? Fusion’s not so 14 Sun Ra, Connie Crothers, Vincent Herring, Dr. Lonnie Smith & more bad when you realize all the good things it has brought to jazz over the years. We’ll see you out there... 34 Event Calendar Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor Andrey Henkin, Editorial Director 41 Club Directory On The Cover: Lenny White (Sánta István Csaba / www.photo-santa.com) Miscellany: In Memoriam • Birthdays • On This Day In Correction: In last month’s NY@Night, the instrument Rob Schwimmer 43 played with David Krakauer’s Big Picture was a Haken Continuum, not a theremin. In the Bertha Hope Encore, the name of the Jazzberry Jam drummer is Paula Hampton. Submit Letters to the Editor by emailing [email protected] US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $35 (International: 12 issues, $45) 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 - twitter: @nycjazzrecord - facebook.com/nycjazzrecord 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, New York, NY 10033 Katie Bull, Tom Conrad, Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Brad Farberman, United States Sean Fitzell, Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Suzanne Lorge, Wilbur MacKenzie, Laurence Donohue-Greene: Marc Medwin, Robert Milburn, Russ Musto, Sean J. O’Connell, Joel Roberts, [email protected] John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Jeff Stockton, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Contributing Writers General Inquiries: [email protected] Duck Baker, Brian Charette, Brad Cohan, George Kanzler, Ken Micallef, Amanda Monaco Advertising: [email protected] Contributing Photographers Editorial: [email protected] Sánta István Csaba, Scott Friedlander, Peter Gannushkin, Jack Vartoogian, Michael Weintrob Calendar: [email protected] VOXNews: [email protected] All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | APRIL 2014 3 NEW YORK @ NIGHT The clarinet looms large in Chris Speed’s work, Poised on the opposite side of the floor from his amp though he spent the first two nights of his residency at as if they were staring each other down, Brandon SPRING 2014 The Stone solely on tenor saxophone. In the last of four Seabrook launched abruptly into noisy, distorted runs trio sets with bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Dave in a fast and furious solo set at 61 Local’s “Snugs” series King (Mar. 12th), Speed focused mainly on music from (Mar. 2nd), only occasionally giving three or four SPECIAL SELECTIONS his new Skirl release Really OK, sitting in a low chair seconds of attention to particular groupings. Within the with the bell of the horn far away from the mic. “It’s fast runs - sometimes a single note repeated ten or more FROM nice to play some swing music here at The Stone,” he times per second - an occasional, solitary chord, struck said after a loping, slower-than-usual reading of John and quickly muted, could seem to give up a blues or Coltrane’s “26-2” came to a close. “All of Me”, the metal or prog derivation. It rarely felt as if a thought NAXOS OF AMERICA similarly relaxed and swinging finale, was also was completed throughout the first of three pieces; a something you wouldn’t expect under this downtown bassline walked in and out of dissonance coupled with roof. But the opener, a brief and agitated take on Albert a quick, country lick. The playing may have seemed Ayler’s “Spirits”, fit like a glove. Regardless of source static, but it was loaded with information, enough so material, the trio brought to bear a unified aesthetic, that the first real altering of course (less than 10 minutes rooted in Speed’s dark tenor sound and exploratory in) seemed to fall at least at the 20-minute mark just for JAZZphrasing.