NOVEMBER 2018 VOLUME 85 / NUMBER 11 President Kevin Maher Publisher Frank Alkyer Editor Bobby Reed Reviews Editor Dave Cantor Contributing Editor Ed Enright Creative Director ŽanetaÎuntová Design Assistant Markus Stuckey Assistant to the Publisher Sue Mahal Bookkeeper Evelyn Hawkins ADVERTISING SALES Record Companies & Schools Jennifer Ruban-Gentile Vice President of Sales 630-359-9345 [email protected] Musical Instruments & East Coast Schools Ritche Deraney Vice President of Sales 201-445-6260 [email protected] Advertising Sales Associate Grace Blackford 630-359-9358 [email protected] OFFICES 102 N. 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Box 11688, St. Paul, MN 55111–0688. CABLE ADDRESS: DownBeat (on sale October 16, 2018) Magazine Publishers Association. Á 4 DOWNBEAT NOVEMBER 2018 NOVEMBER 2018 ON THE COVER 30 Stefon Harris Nurturing Spirit JIMMJAMES FORNEY BY PHILLIP LUTZ DownBeat catches up with Stefon Harris, who topped the Vibraphone category in our 2018 Critics Poll. In a wide-ranging conversation, Harris talks about his new album, Sonic Creed, his innovative work as an app developer and his role as an educator at Manhattan School of Music, where he serves as associate dean and director of 44 jazz arts. Kandace Springs Cover photo of Stefon Harris shot by Jimmy & Dena Katz at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in FEATURES Newark on Aug. 9. Info for this venue is at njpac.org. 36 John Scofield Poignant Simplicity 5-Star Review +++++ BY KEN MICALLEF 40 Aaron Parks Intuitive Leadership BY TED PANKEN 44 Kandace Springs Motoring Forward 52 Nicole Mitchell 54 Judy Niemack 57 Ambrose Akinmusire 59 Sungjae Son BY BOB DOERSCHUK 89 Fall/Winter Festival Guide DEPARTMENTS 8 First Take 49 Reviews DRUM SCHOOL 10 Chords & Discords 110 Jazz On Campus 70 Drumming in a 78 Pro Session 13 The Beat 114 Blindfold Test 'Pianoless' BY ALAN HALL Ben Williams Ensemble 26 Players BY DANA HALL 82 Transcription Peter Erskine Drum Solo James Francies 74 Master Class Johnaye Kendrick BY ULYSSES OWENS JR. 84 Toolshed Stéphane Spira Ben Williams Chantal De Villiers DAVID TODD MCCARTY 6 DOWNBEAT NOVEMBER 2018 NOVEMBER 2018 DOWNBEAT 7 First Take BY GEOF BRADFIELD MICHAEL JACKSON Pianist Randy Weston (left) with saxophonist Geof Bradfield at the 2016 Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago Randy Weston's Generosity EVERY INTERACTION I HAD WITH RANDY clean,” he said. “To be a master [in African cul- Weston—who passed away Sept. 1 at age 92—was ture], you have to be clean of mind, you have to be a lesson in generosity. I first met him in 2011 while clean of spirit. You have to be a storyteller, you have I was researching and developing a project inspired to be a historian. ... Hawk and Dizzy were so great by Melba Liston (which I later recorded on my because they didn’t take solos, they told stories.” Origin album Melba!). Randy was a consummate storyteller him- I was thrilled to meet Randy, but I also felt self. As a young man on 52nd Street, he once some trepidation. Liston had been his friend overheard Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins and collaborator for several decades. Their talking about Don Byas. Webster warned work was explicitly Afrocentric, and I’m white. Hawkins: “You better watch out—there’s a young I was afraid he might view my work as unnec- guy in town, and he can play some saxophone.” essary—or even worse, an act of cultural appro- Hawkins’ solution was to hire Byas. Randy priation. Instead, Randy embraced me, over- recalled that the next time he saw Hawkins play, joyed that I shared his enthusiasm for Liston “He had Don Byas in the band out front, and and their work together. Hawk was in the back running his hands over A year later, he called me to wish me well on the keys. I said, ‘Wow, what a lesson!’” For Randy, the morning of the premiere of Melba! One Hawkins’ gesture affirmed an African values sys- of the great moments of my life was when tem that celebrated competition, but didn’t view Randy joined my band for a performance of it as a zero-sum game. his “African Sunrise” at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Randy rejected categories that could dimin- Festival. But before that, I had an equally amaz- ish the music: “For us it was not jazz music. For ing experience. In the fall of 2012, Randy invit- us it was African-American culture.” And he was ed me into his Brooklyn home, where he gave deeply interested in ways that music could unite, freely of his time and wisdom for two hours. rather than divide, people: “Charlie Parker is just Pan-African idealism was the root of Randy’s as spiritual as Mahalia Jackson—what’s the dif- generosity. He said he inherited his love for ference?” He proffered an intriguing explana- African culture from his father: “He let me know tion of the wide appeal of jazz: “Why do people I was an African born in America. ... You go there, in Japan and Europe love this music? Because we and you really understand the meaning of music, all come from Africa. Every damn person on the because music describes the life of the people.” planet’s got African blood.” During that conversation at Randy’s home, he I saw Randy for the last time in 2016, when he and I didn’t talk about the mechanics of music, played a solo-piano concert at the Hyde Park Jazz but rather about the African values that permeate Festival in Chicago. He shared with me a key to African-American culture. Randy saw evidence of his longevity: “I’m still learning. I’m like a 5-year- these everywhere. He read the Jimmie Lunceford old!” Let me add that insight to the long list of band’s sharp presentation as African. “They were gifts Randy Weston gave us all. DB 8 DOWNBEAT NOVEMBER 2018 Chords Discords Can Art Survive The Hot Box? In the Chords & Discords section of the August issue, Kevin McIntosh’s letter com- plains—in the lame name of gender equali- ty—that saxophonist Roxy Coss’ The Future Is DESMOND WHITE Female was not in The Hot Box. But he should thank Roxy’s lucky stars she was not reviewed there. I have followed the average ratings in The Hot Box for more than a decade; I can’t recall one instance of an average of 4½ stars. My sense is that The Hot Box is where al- bums go to die of mediocre reviews, averag- ing 3 stars or a little more. Roxy is great—I remember her at Garfield High School in Seattle—and she deserved her 4½-star review. Therefore, I’m glad she avoid- ed DownBeat’s Penalty Box. GARY ALEXANDER Saxophonist Roxy Coss is based in New York City. LOPEZ ISLAND, WASHINGTON Applauding Inclusiveness an extremely enjoyable visit. This was my I’ve noticed there are more female musi- 16th trip to this festival, and I will continue to cians being covered in your articles and re- attend as long as it exists. views. Thank you! These artists are beating I am so thankful to DownBeat for sup- the odds for the sake of their art, and they porting this and other live music around help many of us feel more welcome and the globe.