October 2012 | No. 126 Your FREE Guide to the NYC Jazz Scene nycjazzrecord.com FINDING FREEDOM IN THE FORM BRAD MEHLDAU THURMAN • PETER • JUMA • SKIRL • EVENT BARKER EVANS SULTAN RECORDS CALENDAR CHUSEOK JOHN SCOFIELD TRIO RAY GELATO GRP 30TH ANNIVERSARY GADI LEHAVI YOUNGJOO SONG & FT. STEVE SWALLOW & BILL STEWART 10/8 FT. DAVE GRUSIN, LEE RITENOUR & 10/15 SANGMIN LEE 10/2-7 DIANE SCHUUR 10/1 10/9-14 DIZZY GILLESPIETM IMANI UZURI BANN BUIKA ALUMNI ALL-STARS 10/22 JIMMY HEATH 86TH SEAMUS BLAKE, JAY ANDERSON, 10/30, 11/1 - 2 FT. PAQUITO D’RIVERA & BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OZ NOY, ADAM NUSSBAUM CYRUS CHESTNUT 10/23-28 10/29 10/16-21 LATE NIGHT GROOVE SERIES: SUNDAY BRUNCH SERIES: BIG BROOKLYN RED 10/5 NYU JAZZ: COMBO NUVO 10/7 SPARKPLUG 10/6 ASSAF KEHATI TRIO 10/14 ANDY MILNE & DAPP THEORY 10/12 CECILE McLORIN SALVANT W/ AARON DIEHL TRIO 10/21 GORDON CHAMBERS 10/13 JUILLIARD JAZZ: TRIBUTE TO ART BLAKEY GABRIEL JOHNSON 10/19 AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS 10/28 WYLLYS FEATURING PETER APFELBAUM 10/20 JEREMY MAGE 10/26 MELISSA NADEL 10/27 TELECHARGE.COM TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS APPLY One of the things that makes jazz so appealing is that, despite being a ‘genre’ unto itself, across its century-plus history, it has incorporated pretty much every other style imaginable, transmogrifying the most unlikely sources into fodder for New York@Night improvisation. That eclecticism is not an accident; most musicians attracted to jazz 4 are open-minded by nature and bring with them a panoply of influences. Interview: Thurman Barker Our three big features exemplify this phenomenon. Pianist Brad Mehldau (On The Cover) combines a love of jazz standards with the pop and rock music that 6 by Alex Henderson informed his youth. He plays solo at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room this Artist Feature: Peter Evans month. Drummer Thurman Barker (Interview) is one of the earlier AACM’ers, bringing in blues and R’n’B into Chicago’s heady jazz scene. He leads a quartet at by Kurt Gottschalk 7 the Community Church of New York this month as part of the AACM-New York On The Cover: Brad Mehldau chapter monthly concert series. And trumpeter Peter Evans is equally comfortable by Sam Spokony in the worlds of classical (traditional and contemporary), electronic and jazz (both 9 inside and outside). He performs in a variety of settings this month around town. Encore: Lest We Forget: But the theme doesn’t stop there. Percussionist/bassist Juma Sultan (Encore) 10 played with both avant jazz saxist Archie Shepp and rock god guitarist Jimi Juma Sultan Willem Breuker Hendrix. Late Dutch multi-reedist Willem Breuker was famous for incorporating by Clifford Allen by Ken Waxman the most diverse elements into his original large ensemble charts; his long-standing Megaphone VOXNews Kollektief appears at ShapeShifter Lab as part of a memorial tour this month. And by Neil Cowley by Katie Bull Skirl Records, the brainchild of saxophonist Chris Speed, has, in its 20 releases 11 thus far, shown how many different styles can co-exist on one label. A Skirl Label Spotlight: Listen Up!: showcase is at ShapeShifter lab on Oct. 1st. We contribute to this cornucopia through the wide swathe of music we cut in 12 Robin Verheyen Skirl Records our CD Reviews, often jumping across musical worlds on the same page! And you by Sean Fitzell & Douglas Bradford can’t walk five feet in the city without having dozens of different kinds of shows - all to be found in our Event Calendar - open for listening. 13 Festival Report: Hudson Valley • Detroit • Guelph We’ll see you out there... CD Reviews: Michael Formanek, George Cables, Jason Robinson, Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor Andrey Henkin, Editorial Director Rez Abbasi, Andrew Lamb, David Krakauer, Scott Robinson and more 14 On the cover: Brad Mehldau (© 2011 Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos) Event Calendar 38 Corrections: In last month’s Label Spotlight, Jason Yeager was doubly incorrectly identified as a trumpeter (he is a pianist) and the publicist for Inner Circle. In last Club Directory month’s festival report from Newport, Scott Robinson played only tenor saxophone 45 with the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Miscellany: In Memoriam • Birthdays • On This Day Submit Letters to the Editor by emailing [email protected] 47 US Subscription rates: 12 issues, $30 (International: 12 issues, $40) For subscription assistance, send check, cash or money order to the address below or email [email protected]. The New York City Jazz Record www.nycjazzrecord.com / twitter: @nycjazzrecord Managing Editor: Laurence Donohue-Greene To Contact: Editorial Director & Production Manager: Andrey Henkin The New York City Jazz Record Staff Writers 116 Pinehurst Avenue, Ste. J41 David R. Adler, Clifford Allen, Fred Bouchard, Stuart Broomer, Katie Bull, New York, NY 10033 Tom Conrad, Ken Dryden, Donald Elfman, Sean Fitzell, Graham Flanagan, United States Kurt Gottschalk, Tom Greenland, Alex Henderson, Marcia Hillman, Terrell Holmes, Robert Iannapollo, Francis Lo Kee, Martin Longley, Wilbur MacKenzie, Laurence Donohue-Greene: Marc Medwin, Matthew Miller, Sharon Mizrahi, Russ Musto, Sean O’Connell, Joel Roberts, [email protected] John Sharpe, Elliott Simon, Jeff Stockton, Andrew Vélez, Ken Waxman Andrey Henkin: [email protected] Contributing Writers General Inquiries: [email protected] Neil Cowley, Brad Farberman, George Kanzler, Sam Spokony, Greg Thomas Advertising: [email protected] Contributing Photographers Editorial: [email protected] Jim Anness, Gary Firstenberg, Scott Friedlander, Peter Gannushkin, Calendar: [email protected] Len Katz, Alan Nahigian, Susan O’Connor, Jack Vartoogian, Michael Wilson All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All material copyrights property of the authors. THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | October 2012 3 NEW YORK @ NIGHT The trio Big Satan, by saxophonist Tim Berne’s own Celebrating 42 years as an ensemble, Oregon’s estimation, plays two or three gigs a decade, so their three original members - guitarist/pianist/principal ®appearance at the Greenwich House Music School composer Ralph Towner, multi-reedist Paul (Sep. 7th) was just a bit rarer than a blue moon. What McCandless and bassist Glen Moore - hit the Birdland wasJAZZ&SUPPER a staple band for Berne in the ‘90s with guitaristCLUB stage with percussionist Mark Walker (Sep. 7th) for a SMOKEJazz & Supper Club 2751 BROADWAY • NEW YORK • NY 10025Marc • Ducret212 864 and drummer6662 • WWW.SMOKEJAZZ.COMTom Rainey, Big Satan at stimulating set of newly recorded songs. Walker’s times became the core of the bands Bigger Satan and djembe kick-started “Bibo Babo”, soon joined by Wednesday, October 3 Science Friction led by Berne. Together they represent singing-string guitar and keening oboe, the circling, Mark Whitfield Quartet some of the most exciting work any of them individually Renaissance-style melody establishing a mood of has done. On this night they gave the visiting refined exuberance that would prevail for the next Friday & Saturday October 5, 6 Frenchman Ducret the spotlight, playing mostly his hour. The well-honed “If” was enhanced by compositions, which matched Berne for long, twisting McCandless’ cool but lively soprano and Towner’s Cedar Walton Trio lines. The three seemed at points to work in different flowing filigrees, followed by the tensely swinging Cedar Walton (p) • David Williams (b) • George Fludas (d) time signatures, meeting as if by accident in tandem “Tern”, Towner now on piano, Moore soloing refrains and being extraordinarily tidy about it. Ducret, convulsively with spidery fingers. McCandless was Wednesday, October 10 armed with only a slide, a volume pedal and sparing back on oboe for “The Hexagram”, another modal Mike Di Rubbo Quintet use of distortion, came off as about the cleanest electric melody soaring over open-string guitar timbres, but Mike Di Rubbo (a s) • Mike Rodriguez (t) • guitarist playing abstract jazz around. Berne, switched to bass clarinet for “Creeper”, an edgier Brian Charette (p) • Dezron Douglas (b) • Kyle Poole (d) meanwhile, had a great way of playing outside without piece. The band hit its high point on “Aeolus”, ever seeming to leave the pocket they’d made. And if Towner’s piano musings building to McCandless’ Friday & Saturday October 12, 13 Big Satan is the center of those other bands, Rainey inspired soprano solo and Walker’s dynamic soliloquy. was the center of the center: his impeccable timing and A free jam ensued, revealing a less ‘Oregon-ized’ side The Ben Riley Quartet plays Monk delicate persistence seemed to push from the inside of the band, something darker, less predictable, with “Thelonious Monk Birthday Celebration” out. Having demonstrated a methodology, they served Towner triggering a laptop and McCandless coaxing up surprises in the second half with an out-and-out bird-calls from penny whistles and a Norwegian flute. Wednesday, October 17 ballad, a surprisingly slow funk and a take on a Julius “Carnival Express” closed, McCandless’ high-calorie Hemphill tune, which built to a singularity made all sopranino trumped by Walker’s head-bobbing samba Tommy Campbell Quintet the more dizzying by the evening’s preceding solo, a stick in one hand, a shaker in the other. featuring Carolyn Leonhart weavings. - Kurt Gottschalk - Tom Greenland Friday & Saturday October 19, 20 Myron Walden Momentum Myron Walden (s) • Darren Barret (t) • Eden Ladin (p) • Yasushi Nakamura (b) • Mark Whitfield Jr. (d) Wednesday, October 24 Flamenco