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.K. £3.50 .K. U ugust 2010 2010 ugust downbeat.com a DownBeat 58th Annual CritiCs Poll // Joe Lovano // Muhal RiChard AbraMs // Keith Jarrett & Charlie HaDen // hank Jones august 2010 AUGUST 2010 Volume 77 – Number 8 President Kevin Maher Publisher Frank Alkyer Editor Ed Enright Associate Editor Aaron Cohen Art Director Ara Tirado Production Associate Andy Williams Bookkeeper Margaret Stevens Circulation Manager Kelly Grosser AdVertisiNg Sales Record Companies & Schools Jennifer Ruban-Gentile 630-941-2030 [email protected] Musical Instruments & East Coast Schools Ritche Deraney 201-445-6260 [email protected] Classified Advertising Sales Sue Mahal 630-941-2030 [email protected] offices 102 N. 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Á 4 DOWNBEAT AUGUST 2010 AUGUST 2010 ON The COveR 58th Annual Critics Poll 26 Joe Lovano JazzArtist/JazzGroup/Tenor SaxophonistoftheYear 54 By Dan Ouellette Given the accolades the 57-year-old Lovano has received over the length of his career and the creative drive that is elemental to his music, the saxophonist indeed is a modern- day jazz titan in our midst. 34 Muhal Richard Abrams HallofFame By Ted Panken 36 Baby Dodds, Chick Webb, Philly Joe Jones, Billy Eckstine VeteransCommitteeHallofFame By JOhN MCDonough hank Jones hyou vielz hyou 40 Keith Jarrett & Charlie haden Cover photography in Times Square by Jimmy Katz PianistoftheYearMakes ARareCollaboration By Howard Mandel 44 Darcy James Argue RisingStarBigBand/ Arranger/Composer By Howard Mandel 46 Vijay Iyer 62 Ideal Bread 62 Rova & nels Cline Singers 71 Emilio Solla 73 Stephan Crump JazzAlbumoftheYear, RisingStarJazzGroup/ Composer By Aaron COhen DepartmeNTS 49 Complete Poll Results 8 First take 22 Players 78 Toolshed Dan Weiss 10 Chords & Discords 82 Master Class Whitney James FeatuReS 84 Transcription 13 The Beat Jason Adasciewicz 86 Jazz on Campus 19 European Scene Pharez Whitted 54 Hank Jones 90 Blindfold test AKnackForAccommodation By JOhN MCDonough 20 Caught 59 Reviews Shemekia Copeland 6 DOWNBEAT AUGUST 2010 first take | By AARon CohEn Vijay Iyer owPhotos r artoogian/Front v Jack Historicity and history hen I spoke with Vijay Iyer about his group’s recent Critics Poll victories (primarily for the disc Historicity) for this month’s article on page 46, I asked him about his teaching at WNew York University. He emphasized the need to have students look be- yond the work of their contemporaries. “I keep bringing people back to fundamentals, early decades of this music,” Iyer said. “I force people to transcribe Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. What I found is a lot of students today, their main points of references are Chris Potter, Dave Douglas, Bad Plus, Robert Glasper— I love all those guys, but they came from somewhere, they learned from this huge history of music. In a way, I’m trying to reintroduce this sense of continuity.” Iyer has been a great example of that continuity. His own work re- flects not just an immersion in the canonical jazz stars, but several who always stood further apart. And even though he’s primarily lived on the East and West Coasts, he has taken particular cues from the collective mindset and compositional emphasis that often defined the work of such one-time Chicago musicians as Steve Coleman and this year’s Hall of Fame inductee, Muhal Richard Abrams (page 34). There’s even a song on Iyer’s upcoming solo disc, “One For Blount,” which takes its name from Sun Ra. The DownBeat Critics Poll has always carried a certain historical sig- nificance. Winners throughout the years have gone on to fortify the jazz lineage, and the poll itself has helped them claim early on the recognition that would make their success possible (at least, according to the Ray Charles biopic Ray). Among this year’s winners is Darcy James Argue, who draws on, and twists, the big band tradition with his Secret Society. Howard Mandel’s profile of Argue, who won three Rising Star awards (Big Band, Composer, Arranger), is on page 44. Then there are musicians we applaud for constantly reinventing themselves over the long haul, like Jazz Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year Joe Lovano, who talks about his new, pan-generational Us Five (Jazz Group of the Year) with Dan Ouellette on page 26. Still, with all the awards bestowed during the Critics Poll, none of them have the impact of lessons that come directly from the actual mas- ters. We lost one of the great ones recently, pianist Hank Jones, a true inspiration as he continued working up until his passing at age 91. John McDonough’s moving tribute to him begins on page 54. With excellent teachers like Iyer and bright students across the coun- try, there’s no reason to believe that lessons from and about historic leg- ends and today’s greats are being lost. And it’s not just budding jazz musi- cians who are getting the message. In early June my wife and I saw the exciting young r&b artist Janelle Monáe perform in Chicago. While she sang, a film screen in back of her showed clips of Sun Ra. DB 8 DOWNBEAT AUGUST 2010 chords & discords Influential McCoy Tyner Deserves Inclusion I must take slight exception to Marius Nor- dal’s statement, in his interview with Chick Corea (June), that Corea, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett are the most influential pianists of the last 40 years. I don’t disagree with these choices, although if he’s going to name these three, he must expand the cat- egory to four to include McCoy Tyner. Tyner has certainly been as stylistically influential as the other “big three,” and if you look at his recorded output, has probably been stronger, particularly during the ’70s. While Corea was giving us The Leprechaun and My Spanish Heart, and Hancock was putting out “Rockit,” Tyner was releasing strong, acoustic jazz records such as Echoes Of A Friend, Enlight- enment, Atlantis and Supertrios. Leaving out Tyner would be a mistake and a real omission. BOB ZANDeR PALO Alto, CALIF. Evans’ Words Bring Tears have chosen to enter each year. It’s quite an To read Bill Evans’ own words explaining his honor to have winners from the New Or- personal feelings of what he presented to his leans Center For Creative Arts program. listening audience moved me emotionally (July). STeve ReYNOLDS For a man who was pretty secretive about his NOCCA MeDIA Arts—AuDIO music and gave interviews rarely during his active performing years, I gleaned information Logan’s Journey that made me understand what I believe was One needs only to look at the photo of soul-baring to Len Lyons. A couple of his state- Giuseppi Logan accompanying the brief ments brought tears to my eyes and his music column on his “return” to the music to realize has had that effect on me more than once. his struggle to get there (“The Beat,” June). DONNA ShORe LYN Horton ROhNert PARk, CALIF. WorthINGTON, MASS. Art Van Damme’s Keys Swung McLaughlin’s Trane Tributes As a long-time novice jazz pianist, I was some- In the article “Gratitude For Coltrane” (“The what dismayed that the passing of jazz accordi- Beat,” June), Ken Micallef states that John onist Art Van Damme in April was not mentioned McLaughlin’s “first foray into Coltrane” was in DownBeat.