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MAY 2016—ISSUE 169 YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM DAVE LIEBMAN EXPANSIONS CHICO NIK HOD LARS FREEMAN BÄRTSCH O’BRIEN GULLIN 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 2016—ISSUE 169 Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 United States Phone/Fax: 212-568-9628 New York@Night 4 Laurence Donohue-Greene: Interview : Chico Freeman 6 by terrell holmes [email protected] Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Artist Feature : Nik Bärtsch 7 by andrey henkin General Inquiries: [email protected] On The Cover : Dave Liebman 8 by ken dryden Advertising: [email protected] Encore : Hod O’Brien by thomas conrad Editorial: 10 [email protected] Calendar: Lest We Forget : Lars Gullin 10 by clifford allen [email protected] VOXNews: LAbel Spotlight : Rudi Records by ken waxman [email protected] 11 Letters to the Editor: [email protected] VOXNEWS 11 by suzanne lorge US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $40 Canada Subscription rates: 12 issues, $45 In Memoriam 12 by andrey henkin International Subscription rates: 12 issues, $50 For subscription assistance, send check, cash or money order to the address above CD Reviews or email [email protected] 14 Staff Writers Miscellany David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, 37 Duck Baker, Fred Bouchard, Stuart Broomer, Thomas Conrad, Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Event Calendar 38 Philip Freeman, Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, Anders Griffen, Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Suzanne Lorge, Marc Medwin, Ken Micallef, Russ Musto, John Pietaro, Joel Roberts, John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman Tracing the history of jazz is putting pins in a map of the world. Certain metropolises are crucial settings for the music’s timeline whether as incubators of talent or highly desirable Contributing Writers destinations for testing one’s mettle. Tyran Grillo, Wilbur MacKenzie, George Kanzler, Matthew Kassel, In our features this month, we have a fascinating cross-section of cities represented: saxophonist Mark Keresman, Nicole Muto-Graves, Eric Wendell, Scott Yanow Dave Liebman (On The Cover), is a local hero, hailing from Brooklyn, who will be playing three nights at Smoke; saxophonist Chico Freeman (Interview), scion of one the most famous Contributing Photographers Chicago jazz families, makes a rare trip to NYC for a one-nighter at Dizzy’s Club; keyboard Peter Gannushkin, Wolfgang Gonaus, player Nik Bärtsch (Artist Feature) comes from a European jazz center in Zürich and CT Konieczny, Zbigniew Lewandowski, celebrates his new ECM album at Rubin Museum; pianist Hod O’Brien (Encore), who will be Alan Nahigian, Christian Senti, at Saint Peter’s and Jazz at Kitano, was born in Chicago but cut his jazz teeth in New York; R.I. Sutherland-Cohen, Jack Vartoogian, and saxophonist Lars Gullin (Lest We Forget) may have been born on the small Swedish Ronald Weinstock island of Gotland but made Stockholm a stop on the world jazz trail. Fact-checker Nate Dorward The world is getting smaller but with globalization come culture clashes, diverging economic interests and the dredging up of old disputes. International leaders should take a page from the jazz book on how to exist peacefully and creatively with all global citizens. nycjazzrecord.com On The Cover: Dave Liebman (photo by CT Konieczny) Corrections: In the Vinterjazz Festival Report, Maria Faust did not play tenor saxophone, only alto saxophone and clarinet. In last month’s On Screen, all the material played by Gunter Hampel’s band was improvised. In the Daniel Freedman CD review, “Baby Aya” was sung by Lionel Loueke. In the John Stevens’ twofer, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble was co-founded with Trevor Watts. And in the David Fiuczynski review, Yazhi Guo was playing percussion on “Organ Wren”. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. 2 MAY 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM MAY 2016 KURT ROSENWINKEL RON CARTER JOSE JAMES & THE OJM BIG BAND: 79TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FEAT. SPECIAL GUEST “OUR SECRET WORLD” MAY 3 - 8 MAY 5 - 10 MAY 17 - 22 SCOFIELD /MEHLDAU / SPYRO GYRA MCCOY TYNER GIULIANA MAY 24 - 29 MAY 30 JAZZ FESTIVAL MAY 31 - APRIL 5 JUNE 1 - 30, 2016 • NEW YORK NYU JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH SPECIAL GUEST TOM SCOTT MAY 2 • MICHAEL OLATUJA & LAGOS PEPPER SOUP - 8PM / JAY RODRIGUEZ RELATIVITY - 10:30PM MAY 9 MARIKA HUGHES - 8PM / TBA - 10:30PM MAY 16 • JJ SANSAVERINO MAY 23 SUNDAY BRUNCH NYU JAZZ BRUNCH: COMBO NUVO W/ SPECIAL GUEST TOM SCOTT MAY 1 • MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH: MATT BAKER MAY 8 BLUE NOTE & THE JAPAN FOUNDATION PRESENT: EAST MEETS WEST BRUNCH SERIES KYOKO OYOBE GROUP MAY 15 • SHOKO AMANO W/ NORMAN SIMMONS QUARTET MAY 22 • NOBUKI TAKAMEN TRIO MAY 29 LATE NIGHT GROOVE SERIES TOBIAS MEINHART’S NATURAL PERCEPTION - CD RELEASE SHOW MAY 6 • DORON LEV & UGLYBRAINE MAY 7 • HOLLY BOWLING MAY 13 • TBA MAY 14 • KILLIAM SHAKESPEARE MAY 20 TBA MAY 21 • AJOYO MAY 27 • CLARA LOFARO MAY 28 RD bluenotenyc l3l WEST 3 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 @bluenotenyc SUNDAY BRUNCH, ll:30AM & l:30PM, $35 INCLUDES BRUNCH MUSIC AND DRINK JSnycjr0516 4/15/16 1:57 PM Page 1 TUE MAY 17 NOAH PREMINGER quartet JASON PALMER - KIM CASS - IAN FROMAN - PLUS A VERY SPECIAL GUEST WED MAY 18 “TOP 10 VENUES IMPACTING NY MUSIC SCENE TODAY” [2015]-NEW YORK MAGAZINE SUN MAY 1 AMY CERVINI - HILARY GARDNER - MELISSA STYLIANOUDUCHESS - MICHAEL CABE - JEFF LEDERER - MATT ARONOFF - JARED SCHONIG BILLY HART THE THU-SUN MAY 19-22 A 75TH b’day GIL EVANS PROJECT quartet: CELEBRATION DIRECTED BY RYAN TRUESDELL JOHN ROGERS/ECM MARK TURNER - ETHAN IVERSON - BEN STREET TUE-WED MAY 24-25 TUE-SUN MAY 3-8 trio DONNY MCCASLIN GROUP JASON LINDNER - TIM LEFEBVRE - MARK GIULIANA kenny barron THU-SUN MAY 26-29 trio KIYOSHI KITIGAWA - JOHNATHAN BLAKE TUE-SUN MAY 10-15 cyrus chestnut FRED HERSCH DUO BUSTER WILLIAMS - LENNY WHITE HINVITATION SERIES 10TH ANNIVERSARYH MON MAY 30HCLOSED FOR MEMORIAL DAY FRED HERSCH WITH TUE MAY 31 TUE MAY 10 FRI MAY 13 BIG HAPPY AVISHAI COHEN ANAT COHEN MATT WILSON’S FAMILY WED MAY 11 SAT MAY 14 TERELL STAFFORD - JEFF LEDERER - JOEL FRAHM - ANDREW D’ANGELO - AARON DIEHL - CHRIS LIGHTCAP - PAUL SIKIVIE HMINGUS MONDAYSHMINGUS MONDAYSHMINGUS MONDAYSH CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT KATE MCGARRY MON MAY 2 MON MAY 9, 16 & 23 THU MAY 12 SUN MAY 15 JULIAN LAGE YOSVANY TERRY MINGUS ORCHESTRA MINGUS BIG BAND HJAZZ FOR KIDS WITH THE JAZZ STANDARD YOUTH ORCHESTRA SEASON FINALE MAY 22 [RETURNING IN OCTOBER]-DIRECTED BY DAVID O’ROURKEH NEW YORK @ NIGHT The theme at Williamsburg’s The Firehouse Space Lee Konitz, the iconic ‘Cool School’ alto saxophonist, (Apr. 10th) was that of legacy and the teacher-student and Dan Tepfer, a French-American pianist who is relationship and featured bands led by former more than 50 years Konitz’ junior, hit it off, musically PETRA HADEN Bennington College Black Music Division faculty and speaking, almost a decade ago, finding common students. That program was instituted by trumpeter ground in each other’s traditionally rooted yet open- SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA Bill Dixon in 1973 as the preeminent course of study in minded approaches. A recent two-night duo gig at The grounded creativity and advanced sonic exploration. Jazz Gallery proved their creative chemistry is still Trumpeter Arthur Brooks, who taught at Bennington intact. After the snowy-haired Konitz had carefully PETRA HADEN SINGS JESSE HARRIS and was part of Dixon’s ensembles, convened a quartet scaled the sharply sloping stage, cracking jokes as he not dissimilar to the maestro’s Vade Mecum band. Matt eased into a chair, the Saturday night (Apr. 9th) early Weston occupied the percussion chair, playing kettle set commenced with an initially unrecognizable drum, bass drum, roto toms and a variety of gongs and version of “Stella by Starlight”, Konitz spinning out metal implements, frequently loud enough to drown fresh, singable melodies over the well-worn chord out Brooks’ chuffs and discursive cries. Brooks’ changes, his cheeks puffing out like kidney-shaped flugelhorn attack, which bored into the canvas’ center, bellows with each new phrase. After taking a brief stab was much harder to obscure and carried over Weston’s at “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (an audience request), ear-bending scrapes and the rumble of bassists Jeremy Konitz composed lines over “The Nearness of You” so Harlos and Anthony Santor. The second set consisted of cohesive they sounded like new songs, ending with drummer Ehran Elisha’s EYETone, comprised of scat vocals. Taking another request, “Over the longtime violinist Sam Bardfeld, bassist Sean Conly, Rainbow”, he scatted the song in his inimitable style. trumpeter Thomas Heberer and Rick Parker on Tepfer joined him for a sung duet over “Solar”, the trombone and electronics performing a three-part suite. pianist showing remarkable ingenuity in his soloing Elisha studied with Dixon and drummer Milford and accompaniment, even whistling at one point. The Graves and brings a historically-rooted approach to the set closed with “Body and Soul”, featuring more of kit: dryly voluminous and swinging, with shades of Ed Konitz’ gruff vocals and a brief alto solo while Tepfer Blackwell, Billy Higgins and Andrew Cyrille massing took increasing risks with the rhythm, followed by underneath an elegantly orchestrated ensemble “Thingin’”, a Konitz line written to “All The Things vaulting from electro-acoustic rumble to crisp, teetering You Are” chords, which contained some imaginative, postbop. —Clifford Allen mesmerizing moments.