gram JAZZ PROMOTING AND NURTURING JAZZ IN CHICAGO FEBRUARY 2020 WWW.JAZZINCHICAGO.ORG YOUNG PHENOMS KICK OFF A YEAR OF TRIBUTES TO CHICAGO LEGEND EDDIE HARRIS! NEXTGENJAZZ: FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE FEB 7 AT 7 PM FOSTER PARK 1440 W 84TH ST. HOW MUCH OF A FREE SPIRIT WAS THE LATE, GREAT SAXOPHONIST Eddie Harris? "I love shocking people," he once said. "I'll play `Pop Goes the Weasel' and then suddenly go way out, and people will say, 'Oh man what happened?' and I say, `That'll teach you to program me!'" And in addition to his stylistic adventures onstage, he invented an electric saxophone– and, using a trombone mouthpiece, the "saxobone." His psychedelic jazz was an early forerunner of jazz-rock fusion. He recorded with British rockers Stevie Winwood and Jeff Beck, dabbled in singing (he did a mean Billie Holiday impression) and even performed as a standup comic. (Hear his 1975 album, The Reason Why I'm Talking S--t.) Free jazz? Harris was free in every which way. "He never stays in one spot," said John Scofield. "One minute, he'll be in a groove, and the next minute he'll play something that will just blow you away." Even the vaunted music program at DuSable High School led by Capt. Walter Dyett, which turned out dozens of future jazz greats including Von Freeman, Muhal Richard Kurt Shelby Abrams and Johnny Griffin, couldn't contain Harris. Dyett, he recalled in an interview, "was against anybody playing anything that he didn't tell them to play." He was kicked out of the band twice and transferred to Hyde Park High School for his senior year. Harris' devotion to being himself – he came up with the tag "The Unoriginality of Predictableness" as part of his mission statement – should make him a role model for all aspiring artists, in and out of jazz. Consider the young next-generation lineup drafted by the esteemed saxophonist and educator Jarrard Harris (no relation) for the first of JazzCity's 2020 tributes to Harris lucky to be plugging into his legacy. Performing some of Harris' most popular songs, including "Freedom Jazz Dance" – a hit for Miles Davis – will be saxophonist Len'i Glenn-McKinney, trombonist Royce Harrington, pianist Elio Adriano, bassist Kurt Shelby and drummer Josh Ross. All come from first-rate training grounds including the Merit School of Music. All boast strong reputations among their peers. A tenor player in the driving Chicago tradition whose band regularly performs at clubs including Andy's and the Jazz Showcase, Jarrard Harris is a native of Louisville. He moved to Chicago in 1998 to attend DePaul University, where he acquired his Master’s degree in jazz studies. He has served on the jazz faculties of Northwestern University, Purdue University, Columbia College Chicago and the City Colleges of Chicago. He was a founding board member of the Jazz Education Network and serves as a board member of the Jazz Institute of Chicago. The Jazz Institute, which programs the JazzCity series, previously presented a yearlong examination of one artist and his impact on Chicago in 2018 with shows celebrating Von Freeman. Following a break to celebrate the Jazz Institute’s 50th anniversary, JazzCity continues its exploration of the lives and legacies of Chicago’s jazz giants with its Eddie Harris salutes. n JazzCity is a free concert series initiated in 1997 by the Jazz Institute of Chicago in collaboration with the Chicago Park District to bring people together from across the city to listen to Chicago’s top jazz musicians. JazzCity is sponsored by WDCB 90.9 FM and WHPK 88.5 FM Radio and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. JAZZ IN CHICAGO FEBRUARY 2020 2 CHICAGO OUT-OF-TOWN: HEADLINERS AND CONNECTIONS BY HOWARD MANDEL ©2020 [email protected] CHICAGO MADE A STRONG SHOWING AT EVENTS FOR artists and activists of the world-wide jazz community held in New York City and New Orleans in early January. Some of Chicago's most recently celebrated locally bred- and based- players were headliners at the Winter Jazz Festival held in Manhattan and Brooklyn, while Jazz Institute principals plunged into the programs of the Jazz Congress at Jazz at Lincoln Center, following the visit of Executive Director Heather Ireland Robinson's and Director of Education and Artistic Development Diane Chandler-Marshall to the Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans. The JEN conference is a key event of the year for high school and college educators and students, and Chandler-Marshall sat on JEN's board of directors from 2015 to 2019. The Jazz Congress, however, remains the more inclusive convening of artists, media, Heather Ireland Robinson, Howard Mandel and Adriana Prieto non-profit, business and philanthropic entities concerned with jazz's profile and impact as cultural expression, musical entertainment, viable for-profit industry and opportunity for individuals' personal pleasures. An outgrowth of conferences first held by the publication Radio Free Jazz (which evolved into JazzTimes) in 1979, this Congress is a result of 40 years of collaborations with multiple sponsors and partners. Its survival has been no mean feat! This year held Monday and Tuesday, January 13 and 14, at JALC's two floors in the Time Warner Building overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park, the Congress was dedicated to the legacy of vocalist and independent record producer Betty Carter. Panel participants with Chicago ties included Jaimie Branch, Kurt Elling, Marquis Hill and Rufus Reid; Chicago-based BluJazz Records was a table sponsor. When not absorbing presentations, Heather and JIC Program and Marketing manager Adriana Prieto spent their Congress time connecting with peers from SFJazz, Jazz St. Louis, the Kennedy Center, Earshot Jazz (Seattle) and DC Jazz Festival, among like-minded organizations. I was there, too, as a JIC board member and president of the Jazz Journalists Association (we held a small members' gathering off-site). The weekend before, Chicago's up 'n' coming millennial instrumentalists -- some who trained through the JIC's Jazz Links program, most of them heard at the JIC's Jazz City or Jazz Festival shows – wowed the crowds rotating among a dozen walking-distance venues during the Winter Jazz Russell Malone, Kevin Eubanks and Mark Whitfield Fest Marathon nights (Friday Jan. 10 and Saturday Jan 11). Photo: Jazz at Lincoln Center Facebook Trumpeters Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die and Marquis Hill's "New Gospel Revisited," as well as the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (children of revered Chicagoan Celan Phil Cohran) and Makaya McCraven's groups were featured at The Dance, Mercury Lounge and Webster Hall. Vibist Joel Ross, saxophonists Greg Ward and Irvin Pierce and bassist Junius Paul appeared in those sets, and others. Winter Jazz Fest listeners were abuzz about all these players, with excitement about Ross – who I saw in bassist Harish Raghavan's ensemble "Call for Action" -- and Paul, with his new International Anthem album just released, especially high. Of course! Titled Ism, Paul's debut album was recorded live at Chicago venues, and includes McCraven, Hill, Pierce, Vincent Davis, Justin Dillard, Corey Wilkes, Isaiah Spencer, Jim Baker, Rajiv Halim, Scott Hesse, Tomeka Reid and Xavier Breaker in its cast. If you've been following Chicago jazz, you know these are some cats. Now fans of New York's Winter Jazz Fest have learned that, too. n JAZZ IN CHICAGO FEBRUARY 2020 3 MIGUEL ZENON CELEBRATES SONERO! BY COREY HALL AS THE SONG'S LYRICS ABOUT FREEDOM were sung, the child's conscience consumed them whole. This child, ten years young at the time, had never heard the singer, Ismael Rivera, or the song, "Las Tumbas," before, but, three decades later, this initial impression remains in Miguel Zenon’s memory. "I was taken by the song's overall structure and the way his voice worked within the song," said Zenon, an alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, whose music has earned him Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships and multiple Grammy nominations. "The song's theme is about him being jailed and wanting to get out and walk the streets again. It's really powerful." Here is an excerpt from "Las Tumbas," translated from Spanish by genius.com: "From the Tombs I want to leave/I don't know when it will happen. The graves are for the dead/And dead I have no na." "Las Tumbas," along with nine additional songs style-stamped with Rivera's spirit, is included in Sonero: The Music of Ismael Rivera, featuring Zenon and his quartet, pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Henry Cole. Rivera, (1931-1987), is recognized in Afro-Caribbean music as a pioneer and "The People's Poet," as a 2014 biography by Rosa Elena Carrasquillo anointed him. While Zenon never saw Rivera perform live, he remembers hearing his parents talk about seeing the performer—affectionately nicknamed "Maelo," (Dude)—walking among the people in a neighborhood near San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenon's birthplace. "He was an important part of the community and really admired," he said, during a recent conversation. A sonero, Zenon explained, is a singer endowed with special abilities. The sonero sets his talents above others by expertly improvising on songs from the Salsa genre. "You sing the song, and there will be call and response. The chorus will say something, and then you answer back," Zenon said. "Maelo was known as the greatest sonero of all time. He is the one who took this art form to the highest level." Zenon and his quartet toast Rivera's improvisation skills by interpreting "Las Caras Lindas," a recording renowned for the lyrics the artist delivers during an instrumental solo.