NYCJAZZRECORD.COM YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE MARCH 2015—ISSUE 155 Women’S IYER History Month VIJAY REviews IN THE BREAK BETTY ALPHONSE CARTER JAMES MOUZON CARL FALZONE ALLEN Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin To Contact: The New York City Jazz Record 116 Pinehurst Avenue, Ste. J41 MARCH 2015—ISSUE 155 New York, NY 10033 United States New York@Night 4 Laurence Donohue-Greene: [email protected] Interview : Carl Allen by alex henderson Andrey Henkin: 6 [email protected] General Inquiries: Artist Feature : James Falzone 7 by clifford allen [email protected] Advertising: On The Cover : vijay Iyer 8 by suzanne lorge [email protected] Editorial: [email protected] Encore : Alphonse Mouzon 10 by anders griffen Calendar: [email protected] Lest We Forget : Betty Carter 10 by donald elfman VOXNews: [email protected] Letters to the Editor: LAbel Spotlight : Rune Grammofon 11 by ken waxman [email protected] vOXNEWS 11 by katie bull US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $35 International Subscription rates: 12 issues, $45 For subscription assistance, send check, cash or money order to the address above In Memoriam 12 by andrey henkin or email [email protected] Festival Report Staff Writers 13 David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, Fred Bouchard, Stuart Broomer, CD Reviews 14 Katie Bull, Thomas Conrad, Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Brad Farberman, Sean Fitzell, Miscellany 41 Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Event Calendar Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, 42 Suzanne Lorge, Marc Medwin, Robert Milburn, Russ Musto, 44 Sean J. O’Connell, Joel Roberts, John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman Jazz, more than any other genre, is a baton relay. Elder generations pass off the music to their heirs, who then themselves become veterans and the cycle repeats. Where some people see Contributing Writers tumultuous shifts, we see an unending font of vitality. Jazz is like a Thanksgiving turkey, Brad Cohan, Phil Freeman, Anders Griffen made more succulent by the application of new creative marinades. George Kanzler, Mark Keresman, Ken Micallef Pianist Vijay Iyer (On The Cover) has become one of the premier practitioners on his Contributing Photographers instrument; he continues a long piano tradition with his ECM trio debut and a concert at the Lena Adasheva, Néstor Ayala, Enid Farber, Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur. Drummer Carl Allen (Interview) took Peter Gannushkin, Erika Kapin, lessons learned from folks like George Coleman, Freddie Hubbard and Jackie McLean and Robert I. Sutherland-Cohen handed them down as the longtime Artistic Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School. This month he performs at Smoke with his band fêting his influences Elvin Jones and Art Blakey. And clarinetist James Falzone (Artist Feature) continues the rich Chicago jazz tradition, bringing his new all-reed sextet to Roulette. And to celebrate Women’s History Month and their many contributions to the history of jazz, we have front-loaded our CD reviews with a gaggle of female-led and co-led albums (pg. 14-19). nycjazzrecord.com If you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it, which is not what jazz is about. On The Cover: Vijay Iyer (photo by Lena Adasheva) In Correction: In last month’s Encore, Linda Sharrock’s birthday is Apr. 3rd. In last month’s On This Day, Lorenzo Bandini’s fatal crash was in 1967. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. 2 MARCH 2015 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD MARCH 20l5 RON CARTER QUARTET DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER ROY HAYNES 90TH BIRTHDAY MACEO PARKER JAMES MOODY 90TH BIRTHDAY MAR 3-8 MAR 10-12 FEAT. PAT METHENY & MAR 17-22 FEAT. DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, JAMES CARTER, JON FADDIS, CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE (3/13), WALLACE RONEY, NAJEE, ROY HARGROVE (3/14), RUSSELL MALONE, ANTONIO HART, & SAVION GLOVER (3/15) RANDY BRECKER, ROBERTA GAMBARINI, MAR 13-15 ROY HARGROVE, JANIS SIEGEL & MORE MAR 24-29 BANN MAR 2 • IVAN MELON LEWIS MAR 9 • MORLEY ENSEMBLE WITH SPECIAL GUEST ELIO VILLAFRANCA (8PM) / SAUNDERS SERMONS (10:30PM) MAR 16 THE MAURICE BROWN EFFECT MAR 23 • RUTGERS FACULTY JAZZ SEPTET & UNIV. JAZZ ENSEMBLE DIR. BY CONRAD HERWIG MAR 30 • GATO BARBIERI MAR 31 SUNDAY BRUNCH JOE ALTERMAN TRIO CD RELEASE SHOW MAR 1 • INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: WOMEN OF THE WORLD MAR 8 TBA MAR 15 • TBA MAR 22 • COMBO NUVO MAR 29 LATE NIGHT GROOVE SERIES COURTNEY BRYAN: PROPHETIKA SONGS MAR 6 • NO SMALL MONEY BRASS BAND MAR 7 • STRINGS ‘N SKINS MAR 13 • CPHOUR MAR 14 MANNER EFFECT MAR 20 • THE MIGHTY THIRD RAIL MAR 21 • MAKAYA MCCRAVEN MAR 27 • CROSSWALK ANARCHY MAR 28 bluenotenyc l3l WEST 3RD STREET NEW YORK CITY • 2l2.475.8595 • WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM @bluenotenyc TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY FRIDAY & SATURDAY SUNDAY BRUNCH ll:30AM & l:30PM TELECHARGE.COM 8PM & l0:30PM LATE NIGHTS: l2:30AM TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS APPLY @bluenotenyc $35 INCLUDES BRUNCH MUSIC AND DRINK L 2751 Broadway NYC, NY (btw 105th & 106th Streets) www.smokejazz.com 212.864.6662 MARCH 2015 MARCH WEEKENDS MARCH WEEKNIGHTS MARCH ’ROUND MIDNIGHT 3/6, 3/7 & 3/8 M 3/2 THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND Tu EMMET COHEN ORGAN TRIO BUSTER WILLIAMS QUARTET Tu 3/3 MIKE LEDONNE’S GROOVER QUARTET W CAMILLE THURMAN QUARTET Bruce Williams [sax] Eric Reed [p] W 3/4 JOANNA PASCALE QUARTET Th NICKEL & DIME OPS Buster Williams [b] Carl Allen [d] Th 3/5 CYNTHIA HOLIDAY F PATIENCE HIGGINS’ SUGAR HILL QUARTET Sa JOHNNY O’NEAL & FRIENDS 3/13, 3/14 & 3/15 Su WILLERM DELISFORT QUARTET “SPIRITMAN” CD RELEASE M 3/9 THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND Tu 3/10 MIKE LEDONNE’S GROOVER QUARTET STEVE TURRE QUINTET W 3/11 WALT WEISKOPF QUARTET JAM SESSION Steve Turre [tb & shells] M JAM SESSION w/CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND Bruce Williams [sax] Xavier Davis [p] Th 3/12 ALEXIS COLE Gerald Cannon [b] Willie Jones III [d] M 3/16 THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH 3/20, 3/21 & 3/22 Tu 3/17 MIKE LEDONNE’S GROOVER QUARTET Su ANNETTE ST. JOHN & HER TRIO WARREN WOLF & WOLFPACK W 3/18 ALLYN JOHNSON QUARTET Warren Wolf [vibes] Alex Brown [p] Th 3/19 STEVEN KROON LATIN JAZZ SEXTET Sets at 7, 9 & 10:30pm Vicente Archer [b] Pete Van Nostrand [d] M 3/23 THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND FRI & SAT ’ROUND MIDNIGHT SETS also at 11:45PM 3/27, 3/28 & 3/29 Tu 3/24 MIKE LEDONNE’S GROOVER QUARTET “THE ART OF ELVIN” W 3/25 REGGIE QUINERLY QUINTET MON at 7 & 9pm only CARL ALLEN’S TRIBUTE TO Th 3/26 SARON CRENSHAW MON Jam Session starts at 10:30pm ART BLAKEY & ELVIN JONES SUN Brunch sets at 11:30am, Keith Loftis [sax] Eric Reed [p] M 3/30 THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND 1:00pm & 2:30pm Yasushi Nakamura [b] Carl Allen [d] Tu 3/31 MIKE LEDONNE’S GROOVER QUARTET NEW YORK @ NIGHT Jazz at Lincoln Center kicked off its celebration of Lady In a flip of the usual jazz script, a single token male Day’s centennial (Feb. 7th) with a children’s concert in (Dave Trigg subbing on lead trumpet) was surrounded the Rose Theater under the banner “Who Is Billie by an all-female big band when the DIVA Jazz Holiday?” Holiday is a tough sell as a role model but Orchestra warmed up Iridium’s second-set crowd on pianist and bandleader Aaron Diehl did his best in Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14th). After romping through emceeing the matinee, talking about staying true to three numbers, which included bassist Noriko Ueda’s oneself with only a passing mention of staying away fine arrangement of Stanley Kay-Jon Hendricks’ from drugs. (Staying out of abusive relationships was a “Nothin’”, drummer/bandleader Sherrie Maricle lesson left for another time.) The music fared better, called out vocalist Diane Schuur (known as “Deedles” with Diehl’s septet remaining faithful to the music to fans), who immediately set a new tone when she sat without playing retro dress-up. In the challenging part down at the piano wearing a sparkly red jacket with of singer and frontwoman was Charenee Wade, looking matching cat-eye sunglasses, launched the band into “I elegant in a black-and-white print dress, who charmed Just Found Out About Love” and threw them a few in the title role even if she couldn’t resist stretching rhythmic curveballs with her loose, playful phrasing. beyond Holiday’s limited range now and again. They Moving to a tall stool for the remainder of the evening, ran through seven songs (nicely including the less often Schuur primed the crowd with naughty double heard “He Ain’t Got Rhythm” and “Laughing at Life” entendres and dazzling displays of her vocal dexterity. as well as a captivating “Strange Fruit”) but between Her set included the standards “Easy To Love”, “We’ll pieces Diehl was given to a fair bit of hyperbole. Calling Be Together Again”, “Love for Sale” and “‘Deed I Do”; her “one of the greatest musicians in the history of R&B-inflected “Caught a Touch of Your Love” and music” might be challenged in some quadrants. “Louisiana Sunday Afternoon”; ending with a fast Saxophonist Dan Block’s Coleman Hawkins/Lester mambo version of “Besame Mucho”. In the course of Young comparison worked better, discussing the her performance, Schuur toggled between two very evolution of the music without worrying about the different vocal sounds: a soulful, belting chest voice winner’s circle. Holiday is certainly deserving of praise, and high, piercing head voice.