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2010-06-01T13:37:00.001-04:00

This blog is on pause while we migrate to WordPress, very shortly. Thanks and keep checking in.

Six Picks: June 2010

2010-06-01T12:30:00.003-04:00

My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, June 2010:

Geri Allen, Flying Toward the Sound (Motéma)

Jimmy Amadie, Kindred Spirits (TP)

Ernesto Cervini Quartet, Little Black Bird (Orange Grove/Anzic)

John Hébert Trio, Spiritual Lover (Clean Feed)

Lee Konitz New Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Enja)

Adriano Santos Quintet, In Session (ind.)

No, Mr. Ebert, Israel is not worse than North Korea

2010-05-31T10:45:00.005-04:00

In response to this disastrous incident at sea involving the Israeli military and the Free Gaza Movement, Roger Ebert, the movie critic and prolific liberal tweeter, wrote this morning: "Why isn't Israel firing on a humanitarian aid ship worse than North Korea firing on a warship?"

This was quickly retweeted by Jeremy Scahill, who appended the word "Exactly." Scahill, to remind you, is an apologist for Somali pirates, or "pirates" as he refers to them. In other words, Scahill in some instances has no problem with heavily armed people waging violence against civilian ships. Just saying.

It seems clear that Israel handled this recklessly and its conduct should be investigated. Let me also state that Israel has pursued an immoral and counterproductive policy in Gaza for some time, and should rethink its blockade (which, to be clear, was instituted in response to Hamas aggression).

However, from video evidence here and here, it also seems clear that some of the Free Gaza Movement activists on that ship attempted to engage Israeli soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. At this stage it is rash to describe this as a simple matter of Israel wantonly killing civilians. But of course that's what many people want to believe.

This post by Glenn Greenwald makes no mention of the Free Gaza Movement, which is something close to journalistic malpractice. More than the humanitarian aid business, the Free Gaza Movement is in the propaganda business. It is an outlet of the extreme anti-Zionist left, essentially a Hamas support group. It has engaged in this same cat-and-mouse game with the Israeli navy for a long time. The people on that ship knew full well they would be intercepted. That was the whole point. These are theatrical stunts intended to provoke the Israelis.

Why is this incident unlike the Korean one? Because the Free Gaza ship was warned repeatedly to desist and change course, and then it was boarded — not fired upon, not sank. The North Korean regime sank a sitting-duck South Korean warship with premeditation and without a word of warning, apparently in order bolster the prestige and power of Kim Jong Il in a succession struggle. North Korea is a totalitarian state; Israel is a (deeply flawed) democracy.

What Ebert's formulation says, sotto voce, is that the actions of totalitarian states shouldn't bother us that much.

On David S. Ware

2010-05-26T13:44:00.003-04:00

My feature article on David S. Ware appears in the June 2010 issue of JazzTimes, now on the stands. Teaser here.

And don't miss the articles by my colleagues Shaun Brady and Mike West (on Fred Ho and Steve Coleman, respectively).

Koboku Senju in Philly

2010-05-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

In the new Philadelphia Weekly:

Koboku Senju
Fri., May 28, 8pm. $10. With Eric Carbonara. Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 1616 Walnut St. Suite 100 215.545.7562 www.arsnovaworkshop.org

No, it’s not a person. It’s a Japanese phrase meaning “selection of dead trees,” and also the moniker chosen by a unique quintet of Japanese and Norwegian improvisers: Tetuzi Akiyama on guitar, Toshimaru Nakamura on no-input mixing board, Martin Taxt on tuba, Eivind Lønning on trumpet and Espen Reinertsen on tenor saxophone and flute. Lønning and Reinertsen have a history as the duo Streifenjunko; Nakamura has roots in the Japanese onkyo or “quiet noise” movement. Their sound is electro-acoustic with an emphasis on the latter: slide guitar, subdued brass and reeds and otherworldly feedback create an open-ended atmosphere, beautiful in spite of its desolation. — David R. Adler

The week on disc (72)

2010-05-18T15:57:00.003-04:00

Hank Jones

2010-05-17T09:52:00.002-04:00

The great pianist has passed.

Jones was the subject of my first full-length feature in JazzTimes in 2004. Toward the end of the piece I quote him as saying, "I'm just going to keep going until I get it right." I should have also included his next thought, which I'll paraphrase: "Although in jazz, there really is no 'right.' It's like that old song 'Fools Rush In': 'Fools rush in, where wise men never go/but wise men never fall in love, so how are they to know?'"

Nikki vs. Nancy

2010-05-13T22:45:00.009-04:00

Having just heard vocalist Nancy King on Wednesday in a duo with pianist Fred Hersch, I'm all the more unmoved by 16-year-old vocal phenom Nikki Yanofsky, whose Decca debut Nikki grates on my last nerve, and whose rise to stardom has been ably dissected by my colleague Nate Chinen. This child is going to "save jazz" — here we go again.

Alright, let me be clear that I'm not anti-youth: Esperanza Spalding is a perfect example of a young vocalist (and bassist) who lives up to her hype, and whose artistry is therefore more than just hype. And I'm not expecting every young singer to sound as seasoned and world-weary (yet still utterly joyful) as King, who'll turn 70 next month and who walks with a cane.

But the experience of hearing King last night on "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" — well, let me just declare it to be probably the best ballad performance I have ever heard. Her connection with the crowd, the lyric, the daunting modulations of the final passage, which King tossed off as easily as breathing — this was not only virtuosity, it was humanity on display. And it made me wonder anew about the whole issue of "throwback style" versus the modernizing current in vocal jazz today, a subject that Nate has dealt with incisively. I'm more interested — and I think Nate would agree — in artifice versus art, regardless of genre or historical reference point.

Mostly, I'm saddened that Nancy King labors in obscurity while lightweights continue to be anointed as the music's saving grace.

Metheny/Kreisberg

2010-05-12T18:47:00.002-04:00

In the new Philadelphia Weekly:

Pat Metheny
Tue., May 18, 8pm. $52.50. Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside 215.572.7650 www.keswicktheatre.com

The former teen prodigy turned jazz guitar icon has done it all — or so it seemed until Orchestrion, Metheny’s latest for Nonesuch. Recording a suite of new music for fully automated acoustic instruments was the first step. Now Metheny is schlepping his fragile gear all over Europe, the U.S. and Asia for an epic one-man show that prompts us to hear his entire oeuvre in a new way. The technology goes way back (orchestrions were something akin to early jukeboxes), but Metheny bends it to his futuristic purposes, making music that’s dizzyingly advanced but warm and full of heart, the opposite of what you’d expect from machine-generated sound. — David R. Adler

Jonathan Kreisberg
Sat., May 15, 8 & 10pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com

Born in New York but raised from age 10 in Miami, guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg has a prog-rock and fusion past, but he’s bloomed into a fine straightahead jazz player with albums including Nine Stories Wide and Night Songs to his credit. He works tirelessly in New York clubs as a bandleader, and his fierce chops and musicality have earned him gigs with greats such as vibraphonist Joe Locke (Sticks and Strings) and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith (Spiral, due out later this month). This week he’ll front a tight and seasoned quartet with Will Vinson on saxophones, Matt Penman on bass and Mark Ferber on drums. — David R. Adler

Announcing the launch of JJA News

2010-05-10T20:34:00.003-04:00

Today the Jazz Journalists Association launched JJA News, its new official web publication, which takes the place of the quarterly Jazz Notes. I'm excited to be staying on as editor, so check out my introductory statement, and sign up at the column on the right to follow JJA News via Twitter, RSS and so forth.

The week on disc (71)

2010-05-07T14:52:00.003-04:00

An open letter to Andrew Sullivan

2010-05-06T23:24:00.007-04:00

Dear Andrew,

You have written approvingly (here and here) of John Mearsheimer's recent speech in which he divided American Jews into three camps: "New Afrikaners," or right-wing supporters of Israel; "righteous Jews," i.e., critics of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians; and the "great ambivalent middle." I'd like to focus on something that you glossed over entirely in your remarks: Mearsheimer's inclusion of Noam Chomsky among the "righteous Jews."

Clearly you are determined to wade into the muck that is the debate over Israel/Palestine, and on one level, more power to you — arguing for an end to Israel's destructive and immoral settlements policy is much needed. No one can plausibly claim that you're an antisemite for doing so. And yet I believe your antisemitism detector is in need of repair, and that you could be doing more to fight it. Let me explain.

You are of course familiar with Noam Chomsky's profile as an arch critic of American foreign policy, for you have linked in the past to Oliver Kamm's voluminous work showing Chomsky to be an unscrupulous demagogue. Incidentally, Chomsky is of Jewish descent but has never made a point of publicly identifying as a Jew, which makes Mearsheimer's mention of him all the more suspect. But that is for another post.

What you need to know is that Chomsky is listed here as an honorary member of something called the BRussells Tribunal [sic]. (Hat tip Adam Holland.) His name appears alongside seven other prominent figures and fellow honorary members, including Cindy Sheehan and the late Harold Pinter. At the top of this list is Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, the former prime minister of Malaysia, whose record of virulent antisemitism is well known. In a speech delivered in January of this year, Mahathir said this:

The Jews had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettoes and periodically massacred. But still they remained, they thrived and they held whole Governments to ransom. Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world. The Holocaust failed as a final solution.

Now, while it would not be fair to ascribe these views to Chomsky himself, Chomsky has opted to lend his imprimatur to an organization associated with Mahathir — indeed, even to allow his name to be displayed right alongside Mahathir's. I'm sure you will agree that this weakens the case for Chomsky as a "righteous Jew," but I would argue that it also reveals, at best, a fundamental ignorance and lack of judgment on the part of John Mearsheimer. (It is equally disgraceful that Mearsheimer listed as a "righteous Jew" Norman Finkelstein, a declared supporter of Hezbollah.)

To conclude: The charge of antisemitism is not simply a ruse, a means of silencing critics of Israel. Mahathir Mohamed is not a "critic of Israel"; he is a Jew hater. Noam Chomsky and Cindy Sheehan, among many others on the anti-Zionist left, are enabling his hatred and giving it a veneer of legitimacy. For many of us in the "great ambivalent middle," to attack the Chomskyite left, or to fail to condemn Israel with sufficient ardor, is to risk being labeled a "New Afrikaner" by the likes of John Mearsheimer. This is the silencing phenomenon that few commentators seem willing to address. I wish you would do so.

Respectfully yours,

David R. Adler

Fred Halliday, 1946-2010

2010-05-05T13:51:00.002-04:00

I am devastated to learn that Fred Halliday died while I was away and mostly offline in Florida. Halliday was a scholar of international relations, speaker of seven languages, one of the clearest progressive political thinkers of our day, a ruthless dismantler of nonsense from the right and extreme left. May his example live on for decades to come. His colleagues at openDemocracy pay tribute.

On Samuel Blaser

2010-05-05T11:40:00.005-04:00

This review appears in the May 2010 issue of All About Jazz-New York. Blaser plays Cornelia Street Café this Saturday as part of the Clean Feed Festival.

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Samuel Blaser Quartet, Pieces of Old Sky (Clean Feed)
Pierre Favre & Samuel Blaser, Vol à Voile (Intakt)

By David R. Adler

There’s a wonderfully eerie quality to Pieces of Old Sky, trombonist Samuel Blaser’s recording with Todd Neufeld on guitar, Thomas Morgan on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. Opening with the 17-minute title track, Blaser conjures a mood of dark, open expanse and gradual development. Neufeld lets his gently clanging chords and lines hang in the air, setting their quasi-metallic sound against Blaser’s horn, which is sleek and legato but not without an edge of its own. Apparently, Blaser has a thing for guitarists of the slightly grungier type: he recruited Marc Ducret for a recent tour, and his 2008 debut 7th Heaven featured the underrated Scott DuBois.

With “Red Hook,” and later with “Mystical Circle” and “Speed Game,” Blaser introduces fast, corkscrewing unison lines and tight orchestration, departing radically from the drawn-out minimalism of the first piece. There are several spots where Blaser falls quiet and allows Neufeld, Morgan and Sorey to stretch, much like they did as a trio on Sorey’s recent album Koan. But Blaser adds a deeper mournful mystery to their sound, evoking the blues (and perhaps a hint of “Ain’t Necessarily So”) on “Mandala” and sketching in fine melodic fashion with Neufeld on “Choral I” and “Choral II” — the first as a duo, the second as a trio with Morgan and no drums.

Along with the highly developed quartet language of Pieces and 7th Heaven, Blaser has made a mark with the unaccompanied 2009 disc Solo Bone and a duo with pianist Malcolm Braff titled YaY. To this we can add Vol à Voile (“gliding”), a new duo session for Intakt featuring Blaser with veteran Swiss drummer and improviser Pierre Favre. Here we get a much fuller view of the growling, groaning multiphonic techniques Blaser hints at during “Mandala” from Pieces. On “Quai des Brumes” he even achieves a contrapuntal effect, moving vocal pitches up and down against a low drone.

Favre brings an endless richness of timbre to the music, including bell-like tones on the closing title track, beautifully hollow and high-pitched toms on “Inextricable,” and a huge yet softly blanketing kick drum sound on “Franchement!” (“honestly!”) and “Babel I.” The nine tracks slink in and out of tempo and Blaser plays a largely melodic improvising role, although the tables are turned on “We Tried” when the horn almost becomes a rhythm section, riffing steadily on two notes while Favre assumes the role of soloist. There’s nothing else like it on the record, or for that matter on Pieces of Old Sky. But such is Blaser’s ability to cover all bases and continually adapt.

On Manuel Valera

2010-05-04T15:09:00.002-04:00

A version of the following review appears in the May 2010 issue of All About Jazz-New York.

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Manuel Valera, Currents (MaxJazz)
Samuel Torres, Yaoundé (Blue Conga)
Oscar Feldman, Oscar e Familia (Sunnyside)

By David R. Adler

Cuban pianist Manuel Valera is throwing his weight around the jazz scene and having an impact on several different levels. He’s a fine acoustic stylist but also a serious proponent of electric keys. He’s a rhythmic hyper-modernist (much like Dafnis Prieto and other innovating Latin jazz peers), but also a burner invested in the art of straightahead swinging. And last, he’s a viable bandleader honing his own voice, but also an active sideman who can function tastefully in any setting and leap out like a tiger as a soloist. To appreciate this pianist’s gifts, one should examine not just Currents, his fifth and latest album, but also his appearances on Yaoundé, the sophomore release by Colombian percussionist Samuel Torres, and Oscar e Familia, by Argentine alto saxophonist Oscar Feldman.

Of the three, Yaoundé is the strongest. The sound is enormous, and the band — with Valera heard alongside saxophonist Joel Frahm, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, bassist John Benitez and drummer Ernesto Simpson, plus guests — is beyond cooking. Valera’s first solo spot comes on track three, “Yaoundé,” followed by plenty more. His Nord organ sound brings a distinct shimmer to “Cosita Rica,” although the Rhodes solo attack on “Lincoln Tunnel” and the closing “Camino del Barrio” is a bit muddled and indistinct. “Bambuco,” “A Rose” and the opening “Un Atardercer en Cartagena de Indias,” all with exceedingly subtle piano orchestration, bring out Valera’s sensitive touch and team-player qualities — not to mention Torres’s flair for merging traditional Latin jazz with left-field ideas drawn from other vocabularies.

Quite unlike Yaoundé, Valera’s Currents is a piano trio date down the line, with Simpson again on drums and James Genus, who plays a pronounced and welcome role as a soloist, on acoustic and electric basses. Here, too, Valera adds Rhodes and even spacier Moog-type sounds (“Hindsight”) to the mix. One can hear the imprint of Chick Corea, perhaps, in the layered keyboard lines, odd kinetic rhythms and quasi-fusion aesthetic of the opening “Numerico” and the closing title track. But Valera stresses his songbook bona fides with “How Deep Is the Ocean,” the crystalline ballads “I Loves You Porgy” and “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” and a reading of Monk’s “We See” that calls to mind Danilo Perez’s brilliant Panamonk. Honoring the late Kenny Kirkland, Valera also offers “Dienda” and “Ode to Kenny,” the latter a fast, involved waltz co-written with Simpson. Valera sparkles and the trio connects on a high level, even if the audio here isn’t quite as crisp as it is on Yaoundé.

Oscar Feldman’s Oscar e Familia features Valera on all tracks except one. The disc juxtaposes Feldman originals with works by the altoist’s wide-ranging influences, from Guillermo Klein (“El Minotauro”) to Wayne Shorter (“Children of the Night”) to Astor Piazzolla (“Triunfal”) and most notably Feldman’s mentor Hermeto Pascoal, who wrote the title track and dedicated it to Feldman himself. The flavor of the set is heavily South American, with tango and Brazilian references, two tracks augmented by string quartet, one with bandoneon and one with a guest vocalist. The orchestration of the Pascoal number entails five overdubbed saxophones. If the program seems a bit overstuffed, let it be noted that Valera is easily a standout presence. He locks in once again with Benitez on bass, mixes acoustic and electric sound worlds and swings with gusto on Feldman’s Lee Konitz tribute “So Tenderlee.” Simply put, he makes his case as a vital player whose role in the music will only get more interesting.

Jacomo wha?

2010-05-03T23:45:00.004-04:00

I've been getting sucked into Treme on HBO (and enjoying Patrick and Josh's in-depth discussions), so thought I'd link to this interesting take on the meaning of the famous refrain "jacomo fi-na-ne." The Grateful Dead and its fans rendered the song's chorus as "Hey now, Hey now, Aiko Aiko all day," but this is it in Louisiana Creole:

Ena! Ena!
Akout! Akout an dèyè!
Jacomo fi nou wa nan né
Jacomo fi nan né

Rough translation:

Hey now! Hey now!
Listen! Listen! at the rear!
Jacomo gave life to our King
Jacomo made it happen

Jacomo may in fact be Jacquemot, a diminutive for Jacques (like Pierrot for Pierre), or something like this. But no one really knows. More details — many, many, many more details — at the link.

New York @ Night: May 2010

2010-05-03T11:38:00.003-04:00

In the new All About Jazz-New York:

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While bassist Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra is named to conjure up great size and bombast, at present it’s a compact sextet, and its sonic inventory includes passages of nuance and overall calm. With a Bay Area lineup, Lane has released No(w) Music (Cadence, 2001) and New Magical Kingdom (Clean Feed, 2006). His New York edition has a two-disc item, Ashcan Rantings, on the way. At the Brooklyn Lyceum (Apr. 14), Lane provided a window into his current thinking, joined by David Bindman on tenor/soprano saxes, Avram Fefer on alto sax and clarinet, Herb Robertson on trumpet, Reut Regev on trombone and Igal Foni on drums. “Cycles” established a mood of swing shading into funk, with a catchy, bluesy melody in 7/8, tart trumpet and alto solos and a tight framework of tempo shifts. “Imaginary Portrait” was also steeped in blues flavor, teetering from 4/4 to 6/4 and giving Robertson an unaccompanied spot that prompted obstreperous free group improv. Here and during “Sanctum,” Lane showed a penchant for simple horn unisons expanding into richly voiced harmony in the second pass — an Ellingtonian touch made all the prettier by Robertson’s cornet and Fefer’s clarinet. The tunes had a rough-yet-polished character, allowing for pockets of free blowing and hinting at the band’s rowdy punk-jazz origins. But “Calypso,” an upbeat tribute to the late Johnny Dyani, closed the set in sweetly melodic fashion, with Regev in the lead.

(David R. Adler)

Brian Drye and Westbrook Johnson, curators of the Second Annual Trombone Festival at IBeam, did a fine thing by corralling their trombone brethren and presenting 12 varied acts in five nights. The third evening in the series (Apr. 17) was a double bill shared by ERGO, with trombonist Brett Sroka, keyboardist Sam Harris and drummer Shawn Baltazor, and Curtis Hasselbring’s The New Mellow Edwards, featuring the leader/trombonist with Chris Speed on tenor sax and clarinet, Trevor Dunn on bass and Ches Smith on drums (standing in for John Hollenbeck). Simply put, ERGO is an electronic atmosphere band, NME is an acoustic blowing band, and both revealed a profound though dissimilar rock influence. Harris, taking the place of Carl Maguire, played Rhodes, synth and piano; Sroka, seated in a chair, molded sound with trombone, a laptop rig and pedals; Baltazor gave the mournful, ethereal and at times spooky music a beating heart of rhythm. Much of the material was from Multitude, Solitude, ERGO’s latest on Cuneiform, although “If Not, Inertia” and “The Widening Gyre” are yet to be documented. After the break, Hasselbring’s group exploded forth with a wry, peppy set of songs from their two releases on the Skirl label. They also snuck in a premiere, “You Are Many Names,” a wild bit of chamber funk with a snaking clarinet motif, arch dissonance from trombone and bowed bass, and strategically dished-out madness from the drums.

(DA)

Six Picks: May 2010

2010-05-02T10:52:00.003-04:00

My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, May 2010:

Anat Cohen, Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard (Anzic)

Jorrit Dijkstra, Pillow Circles (Clean Feed)

Yusef Lateef & Adam Rudolph, Towards the Unknown (Meta)

Olivier Manchon, Orchestre de Chambre Miniature – Volume 1 (ObliqSound)

Wallace Roney, If Only for One Night (HighNote)

Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu, Chiaroscuro (ECM)

ELEW

2010-05-01T09:47:00.003-04:00

There's been lots of derisive tweeting about pianist Eric Lewis, now known as ELEW, and his self-coined "Rockjazz." I'm in agreement with Peter Hum. Lewis is hiding behind the specious argument that jazzers playing rock is new and controversial, something critics can't handle. The truth is that the music stands or falls on its merits, and ELEW's music falls hard.

In my view, the following two performances belong in the same aesthetic category.

Defying the boycott thugs

2010-04-30T23:21:00.008-04:00

Proponents of an anti-Israel boycott have tried to pressure Amitav Ghosh, one of my intellectual heroes, to turn down the Dan David Prize. Ghosh has declined to do so, and his reasoning is characteristically eloquent. Margaret Atwood, Ghosh's co-recipient of the prize, has also rebuffed the boycotters, and just as eloquently.

[Via Normblog, Engage.]

In marked contrast, Gil Scott-Heron seems to have knuckled under to boorish anti-Zionist protesters and canceled an upcoming concert in Tel Aviv. But did he cancel or "reschedule"? It's not clear, as Nathalie Rothschild reveals in this incisive column.

Undead

2010-04-28T11:14:00.001-04:00

Another NYC mega jazz fest to pair with Winter Jazz Fest. This one in June. Details here.

Wayne Shorter in Philly

2010-04-21T10:33:00.005-04:00

Oh, I do wish I could go. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has commissioned Shorter and the quartet to premiere a new work inspired by the museum's Asian art collection. Details on the flyer below. Click to enlarge or go here for a clearer image.

On Bill Mays

2010-04-21T10:31:00.001-04:00

In the new Philadelphia Weekly:

Bill Mays
Sat., Apr. 24, 8 & 10pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com

Bill Mays was once a Hollywood session hand, but he rose to become a fine jazz piano modernist, paying dues with the likes of Bud Shank and Shelly Manne and recently succeeding Bill Charlap in the eminent Phil Woods Quintet. His discs for Concord in the ’90s and Palmetto in the ’00s have brought him higher visibility, but don’t let Mays’s second-tier fame deceive you. His commanding swing and fine-cut improvisation can inspire awe. Mays at the Movies, his latest, might suggest Hollywood nostalgia, but it’s a hard-boiled trio session, and a sign of what Mays will be up to this week with bassist Martin Wind and drummer Tim Horner. — David R. Adler

The week on disc (70)

2010-04-19T23:12:00.002-04:00

On a lighter note

2010-04-19T15:14:00.003-04:00

Via Huffington Post, via @coolmcjazz: