| YEAR |
Piano/Blues/Lyrics
Source
Recordings
|
Guitar/Voice
Style
|
Band/Instrumental
Styling
HomeSource
|
Pop/Label |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lomax
Recordings |
Songs of the
South |
Fields/Slaves |
Field Hollers |
|
Lomax
Recordings |
Songs of the
South |
Churches/Slaves |
Spirituals |
| 1829-69 |
Louis
Moreau Gottschalk |
Oh,
Yeah, Another Liszt!??
|
Solo
Piano Rythmic and Chordal
|
Stunning Written and Improvational
Piano Style
|
|
early 1900s
|
|
|
Urban
Black Competitive Dance Music
|
Cakewalks |
| 1867-1944 |
Amy
Beach |
Her
Own!
|
|
Solo
Piano
|
| 1800-1990 |
Lomax
Recordings |
Songs of the
South |
Church Choirs |
Black Gospel |
| 1868-1917 |
Scott
Joplin |
|
|
Ragtime |
| 1860-1908 |
Edward
Macdowell |
|
|
Sheet
Music
|
| 1895-1988 |
|
Alberta Hunter |
New Orleans |
Brothel Blues |
|
1902-1989
|
Antonia
Brico
|
"Antonia:
A Portrait of the Woman," - an inspired video of her career
is an education for young musicians of either gender
|
Conducting debut in 1930 with
Berlin Philharmonic; First All-woman orchestra "Women's Symphony
Orchestra" begun 1935 in New York, became the Brico Orchestra on
admission of men players in 1939; Conducted Denver Businessmen's
Symphony, Littleton Symphony and Boulder Philharmonic - and others from
1950s-1980s.
|
Pianist, Conductor,
Teacher, Mentor to many fine musicians -
|
| 1914 |
W.C. Handy |
|
St Louis,
Blues |
Solo Blues |
| 1900-1919 |
|
|
Original
Dixieland Jazz Band |
New Orleans
Jazz |
| 1915-1980 |
Willie
Dixon |
|
Blues Bass
Lines |
Jazz-Blues-Pop
|
| 1920-1940 |
|
King Oliver |
Sydney
Bechet/Freddy Keppard |
Bawdy Houses |
| 1920s |
Jelly Roll
Morton/ |
Robert P.
Johnson |
Johnny
Dodds/Kid Ory |
|
| mid 1920s |
|
|
Habanera
Rythm/fusion |
Charleston |
| 1920-1930s |
The
Blues Singers |
Bessie Smith |
Fletcher
Henderson/Don Redman |
Big Dance Band |
| 1898-1937 |
George/Ira
Gershwin |
I Got Rythm,
etc. |
Porgy
and Bess |
AMERICAN
MUSIC |
|
1895-1978
1899-1974
|
William
Grant Still
Duke
Ellington
|
Johnny
Hodges/Cat Anderson |
Duke
Ellington Orchestra |
Symphonic/Opera
Jazz/Orchestra
|
| 1930-1950s |
Teddy
Wilson/Earl Hines |
|
Louis
Armstrong/paraphrased |
Improvizational
Jazz |
| 1928-1950s |
"Little Richard" - starts up his career |
Joe Williams
Voice of the
Blues
|
Coleman
Hawkins/Lionel Hampton |
Band Jazz |
| 1935-1950 |
|
|
Paul
Whiteman/Dance/Jazz |
White Blues |
| 1930s |
|
Bessie
Smith |
Count Basie
Orch/Lester Young |
Swing |
| 1939-1942 |
|
Charlie
Christian |
Benny
Goodman/Eldridge/Carter |
Jam Sessions |
| 1944 |
Norman
Grantz(Verve)Presents |
Jazz at the
Philharmonic |
Les Paul/Nat
Cole/JJJohnson/etc |
Concert Jazz |
| 1944-2001+ |
"Smoke
on the Water" was written in 1944 by
Zeke
Clements and recorded shortly thereafter by Red Foley
|
A recording of Foley's was
aired in August 2001 on "Hillbilly at Harvard" (WHRB in Cambridge).
This information came from a recording in the collection of Tillman
Franks via Hutch Hutchinson, and was from an Armed forces radio
broadcast in 1944 over WXLD on the island of Saipan where they were
building the airstrip to be used to bomb Japan. The band was "The
Rainbow Boys" featured on the "Calico Jamboree," and known members
included Tillman Franks, Merle Clayton on Vocals, and Pete Seeger on
Banjo. |
"Smoke on the
Water" is a famous and influential rock song by Deep Purple.
It was first
released on the album Machine Head.
|
AND ON
IT GOES!
|
| 1944 |
Norman
Grantz(Verve)Presents |
Jazz at the
Philharmonic |
Les Paul/Nat
Cole/JJJohnson/etc |
Concert Jazz |
| 1935-1955 |
Billy
Strayhorn |
Billie
Holliday |
Lester
Young/Eddie Haywood |
Cabaret Jazz |
| 1913 - Today |
Lalo Schiffrin |
|
Morton
Gould/Elmer Bernstein |
Movie Music |
| 1940-1950s |
Art
Tatum/Oscar Peterson |
Nat
Cole/Billie Eckstine |
Nelson Riddle
Orchestra |
Popular Jazz |
| 1946-1954 |
Thelonius
Monk/Bud Powell |
Ella
Fitzgerald/Lena Horn |
Dizzy
Gillespie/Charlie Parker |
BeBop |
| 1955-1990 |
Lennie
Tristano/Erroll Garner |
Sarah
Vaugn/Mel Torme |
LeeKonitz/StanGetz/JerryMulligan |
Sophisticated
Jazz |
| 1947-1965 |
Stan
Kenton/Dance/Orchestra |
4
Freshmen/June Christy |
Herman's
Herd/Ellington Orchestra |
Concert Jazz |
| 1947-1974 |
Atlantic
Records |
Tiny
Grimes/Ruth Brown |
Joe
Turner/Ray Charles |
Rythm and
Blues |
|
1950s
Gunther
Schuller - switches from the
solo Horn position at the NY Met Opera to Jazz Orchestras and Composing - and - Now - Jazz Historian
Perhaps -
Somethings
and some irreplaceable sounds had to go -
|
Ray
Charles/Quincy Jones
Gil
Evans contributed prominently to Miles Davis's nonet recordings for Capitol - later issued as the LP "Birth
of the Cool".
Parker,
Gillespie, Max Roach, Charlie Mingus and Bud Powell are recorded in
concert at Massey Hall in Toronto.
Armstrong
wins Downbeat International Critic's poll, Downbeat Hall of Fame award,
Melody Maker's Reader's poll, Melody Maker's Critic's poll, Jazz Hot
poll in France & Jazz Echo poll in Germany.
John
Coltrane Joins Miles davis' Group, and then is asked to leave due to
his drug habit..
|
Betty
Carter/Etta James
Third
Stream - coined by Gunther Schuller
Duke
Ellington led, and Gil Evans, While Gunther Schuller, Gerry Mulligan -
composed - new styles, and long-lived melodies, that were not limited
to Jazz, but exceeded all bounds.
Jerry
Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer - Salle Pleyel, Paris -1954
Mingus,
Mingus, Mingus Founded
the "Jazz Workshop," a group which enabled young composers to have
their new works performed in concert and recorded.
Dave Brubeck
Quartet - Live at Newport and Copenhagen
|
Blues
Bands/Arranged by folks outside the mainstream of Traditional Jazz
Big bands
and Soloist-led Groups had not only original tunes but other's melodies
and pieces 'Arranged'. for them by great composer-arrangers.
Then there
were those 'originals' such as Ornette Coleman who, in Los Angeles,
eventually came to the attention of Percy Heath of the Modern Jazz
Quartet - Coleman's first studio recording (for Contemporary in 1958)
reveals fully formed style and sound. Then, John Lewis, pushed for both
Coleman and trumpet-playing partner Don Cherry to attend the Lenox
School of Jazz in 1959 - where they became students of Gunther Schuller
et al.
BIG
Changes happen -
|
R&B and Blues with Big Band Arrangements
Great
- Well Recognized voices changed, and New Sounds were introduced - and
had to deal with a fuzzy - olde-timey market place - defied by Disk
Jockeys - who too often lost theirj obs for playing 'new jazz' sounds...
Django
Reinhardt dies in 1953; Charlie Parker and James P. Johnson die in 1955
-
A
New Age of Jazz begins to grow and thrive...
|
| 1959 |
Miles Davis,
Bill Evans and the Davis group, including John Coltrane on tenor sax
record "Kind of Blue"
|
Billy Holliday passes - the
end on an Era |
Sidney Bechet dies in Paris on May 14 - his
birthday. |
The
end of an Era |
| 1950-1965 |
Chuck
Berry/Buddy Holly |
Elvis
Presley/Bo Diddley |
Fusion of
Country/Rhythm= |
Rock and Roll |
|
1950-1965
|
Ink
Spots/Johnny Ray
|
Everley
Bros/Little Esther
|
Various Country Western Stars/
Marty Robbins/Willie Nelson
|
Juke
Box Rock
|
| 1950-1963 |
Thelonius
Monk/John Lewis |
Lambert/Hendricks/Ross |
Charlie
Mingus/Sonny Rollins |
Modern Jazz |
| 1918-1990 |
Leonard
Bernstein |
West Side
Story |
On The Town |
American Music |
| 1950-1959 |
Gil
Evans/Bill Evans |
Frank Sinatra |
Miles
Davis/JJ Johnson/ |
Cool Jazz |
| 1956-1963 |
The
Weavers/Travellers Three |
Harry
Belafonte |
|
Folk/Coffee
House |
|
1960-1965
|
Jimmy
Smith/Wes Montgomery |
Joe Williams |
Cannonball
Adderley |
Jazz Funk |
| 1958-1962 |
Ivory Joe
Hunter/Ray Charles |
Jackie
Wilson/Lavern Baker |
BookerT. and
the MG's |
Motown/R&B |
| 1958-1969 |
Aretha
Franklin/Wilson Pickett |
Etta
James/Sam Cooke |
Roberta
Flack/Donny Hathaway |
Soul/Funk |
| 1960-1967 |
Little Stevie
Wonder |
Diana
Ross/Marvin Gaye |
Mary
Wells/Martha Reeves |
Detroit
R&B |
| 1958-1963 |
Sonny
Terry/Brownie McGee |
Kingston
Trio/Joan Baez |
Peter, Paul
and Mary |
Traditional/Folk
Revival |
| 1958-1970 |
Cal Tjader |
Watermelom
Man |
Mongo Santa
Maria - Congas |
Afro-Cuban
Fusion |
| 1960-1970 |
Bob Dylan |
Simon and
Garfunkle |
Sandy Bull |
Folk Rock |
| 1962-1968 |
Wilson
Pickett/ Sam & Dave |
Esther
Phillips/ Otis Redding |
|
Rythm and
Blues |
| 1962-1971 |
Leon
Russel/Carol King |
Getz,
Gilberto/Jobim |
Beach
Boys/Poco K.Kristopherson |
Country/Cool/Surf
Rock/Brazilian
Influences |
| 1960-1970 |
Miles
Davis/Herbie Hancock |
Weather
Report/ Zawinul/McLaughlin |
Coltrane/Ornette
Coleman |
Free Jazz |
|
1968-1970
|
Cecil Taylor |
|
Bill
Chase/Don Ellis Orchestras |
Big Band Rock |
|
1968-1974
|
Herbie
Hancock/ Headhunters |
|
Miles
Davis/Ravi Shankar |
Fusion Rock |
| 1964 |
|
Beatles/Stones |
|
British Rock
Invasion |
| 1965 |
Stevie Wonder |
Joni
Mitchell/Judy Collins |
Lydia Pense
& Cold Blood |
New Backup
Formats |
| 1965 |
Big Brother
& Holding Co. |
Grateful
Dead/Moby Grape |
Country
Joe/Jefferson Airplane |
Acid Rock |
| 1965-1967 |
Watts
Riots/civil unrest affect |
more than 100
cities |
Vietnam War
escalation |
Hippie/Yippie anti-war move
|
| 1966 |
The Who/The
Experience |
Cat Stevens |
Frank
Zappa/Mothers of Invention |
Arena
Rock
|
| 1967 |
Cream/Eric
Clapton/Hendrix |
Janis
Joplin/Otis Redding |
Monterey Pop
Festival |
UK
Blues Rock
|
| 1967 |
Sgt.
Pepper/Byrds/Doors |
Sam and Dave |
Janis
Joplin/Big Brother & Holding Co.
|
Hard
Rock/Soul Fusion
|
| 1968 |
The Fugs/ |
Martin Luther
King, jr. |
Robert Kennedy |
Assassinated |
|
1968-1974
|
Led Zeppelin |
Muddy Water/
Electric Mud |
Butterfield
Blues Band |
Heavy
Metal/Blues Fusion |
|
1970-1976
|
Bob Dylan/The
Band |
Credence
Clearwater Revival
|
Leo Kotke/ Kweskin Jug Band |
Country Rock |
| 1968-1970 |
EmersonLakePalmer |
Blood Rock
CTA/Chicago |
Blood
Sweat&Tears/ Poco/TowerOf Power |
Rock Band
Music |
| 1969 |
CrosbyStillsNashYoung |
Buffalo
Springfield |
Woodstock
Festival |
Concert Rock |
|
1970
1970-1974
|
Janis Joplin
Passes
Allman Bros./Doobie
Bros.
|
Jimi
Hendrix passes
Bill Withers/Taj Majal
|
Kent State Massacre |
Concert Rock |
| 1970-1978 |
Loggins/Messina/Edgar
Winter |
Canned
Heat/Santana |
Moody Blues |
Production
Blue/Latin/Rock |
|
mid 1970s
1975
1976
1977
1979
1980
|
Jaco
Pastorius / Jeff Beck
Charles
Mingus Passes
|
Freddie King/Johnny
Winter
T-Bone
Walker
Freddie
King passes
|
John
McLaughlin/Pointer Sisters
Elvis
Presley passes
John
Lennon passes
|
Blues/Rock/Jive
|
| 1980s |
Dr.
John/Professor Longhair |
Richie
Havens/Koko Taylor |
Neville
Bros./Stevie Ray Vaughn |
Blues/Rock |
|
1980s
1989
|
Eurythmics/Rap
Jaco
Pastorius passes
|
Enya/SineadO'Connor |
Madonna/U2/Little
Feat/LL Cool |
Pop Rock/Rap |
| 1990s |
Abdullah
Ibrahim |
Robert
Cray/Robben Ford |
Joanna
Connor |
Blues/Rock |
|
1990
|
Stevie
Ray Vaughn Passes
|
Rock
'N' Roll Links
|
Los
Lobos
|
Chicano
Rock
|
|
1991
|
Miles Davis
Passes
|
Wallace
Roney
|
|
All About Jazz
|
|
1992
|
Albert
King Passes
Astor
Piazzola passes
|
Joshua
Redman
|
Medeski,
Martin
& Wood
|
NY
Fusion jazz
|
|
1993
|
Frank Zappa Passes
|
|
Mumbo
Gumbo et al.
|
Cal-Val-Latino
|
|
1996
|
Ella Fitzgerald
Passes
Jerry
Mulligan passes
Jon
Jang & James Moody excell @MryJazzFestival
|
Howard
Johnson and GRAVITY make
your feet and mind Happy!
|
Brownie McGee
Passes
|
Little
New???
|
|
1997
|
TRIO!
Redman, McBride, Blades! WOW!
Jimmy Witherspoon passes/
|
Josef
Zawinul/Sindicate still HOT!
Diane
Krall can Sing, and Play Piano, too!
|
Blues
By Nature/Karen Laurence and their young lead guitar Monster:
The
New young Blues MoFos!
|
Free!!!
Together!
|
|
1998
|
Jimmy Heath "retires"
from teaching onto the Road Again with Percy and Tootie!!
|
Jack
DeJohnette, Mike Cane, "Somebody" Paris, and Benny Maupin
Kick
Ass!!!
|
We Be Waitin'
|
Some
Old Young-Blowin MoFos!!!
|
|
1999
|
Joe
Williams passes
Mel Torme and
Lionel Hampton pass
We'll miss these great
Musicians
|
20th Century American Composers and Other Music Celebrated Again by 37th Cabrillo Music Festival, Santa Cruz, CA,
Then there was this
year's Monterey Jazz Festival:
Lots
of Tributes to Duke Ellington, but the Asian American Band was primo,
playing Anthony Brown's re"Vision" of the Asian Suite, with more Asian
instruments, great soloists, and a sound that would have made both Duke
and Strayhorn smile!
Check
out Asianimprov.com
|
Marin
Alsop Conducted Bernstein
"Mass" 3 times to full houses; An
Evening of Reich, Copland, Adams and Rouse; Torke,
Copland, Hanson, and Daugherty's
Le Tombeau
de Liberace; and finishes a wonderful Festival with Shades of
Delight with Danielpour, Beamish, MacMillan, and the FABULOUS Kernis Lament and Prayer for Solo
Violin, Oboes, and Strings -
Yumi Wang -WOW!
|
There is nothing like
well chosen, well played music for resurrecting a warm, satisfying
feeling that people can work together, and create messages that
transcend the gnarly realities of Old, painful day to day bigotry,
hatred and ... War amongst the ignorant.
|
|
2000
|
Steve Allen, Stanley
Turrentine pass on...
|
Mark
O'Connor (Fiddle) Yo-Yo Ma (Cello) with Edgar Meyer (Bass) Allison
Krauss (Violin) and James Taylor (Song) Appalachian Journey is a real
musical treat.
KRONOS
hits another high with "Caravan"
Santa
Cruz' New Music Works was extra inspired: The Night of the Living
Composers was a treat, wth Lou Harrison's up front and casual
pre-concert talk - and then there was Robben Ford's evening with NMW!
|
Marin
Alsop, does it again!
This
year she matched up O'Connor and Krauss, for a delightful tour of
fiddle/violin pieces, and then joined in a trio witten by O'Connor. The
evening ended with O'Connor's Double Concerto, as originally written
for himself, and Allison Krauss.
MRY
Jazz Festival celebrated with 'trumpets' this year, along side the
Charles Ford Reunion Band, Keb' Mo', Lou Rawls and Les McCann.
Wow!Wow!Wow!
|
There
are several ways to ring in the New Year, and New Millennium, in San
Francisco, but there is a 'best' way:
Beach
Blanket Babylon worked!
My music amigos from the mid 1960s, my wife and I revelled in the Club
Fugazi, with several hundred others, to Great Music, Great Theater, and
one Hell of a Good Party atmosphere.
|
|
2001
|
Les Brown, passes
|
Just
wait!
|
Phil
Collins and the New music Group of Santa Cruz have filled a unique
niche - first evolved by Lou Harrison, the Group's musical guru.
Everything from house music, to full blown recitals, to open air
concerts and garden parties - these folks mix and match modern music,
om all over the world - and never leave you wondering if you have had
yet another 'expeience' - Always top rate.
|
American
Music Rules!
|
|
2001
|
Paco de Lucia, and seven
Great Players including Flamenco Bailero - Joaquin Grilo; with Rafael
de Utrera - doing those compelling Gypsy Songs
|
Solo,
o con dos Cajas, adding
one or two players at a time up to the
full Ensemble of three
guitars, a bass/mandolin, the singer, the flute/sax man - and then the guy doing the Gypsy Rythm foot
tapping and clapping Jumps up! and Dances
- you can tell immediately why he ain't got no
ass...
|
The Lights go down
–
Paco takes his seat -
within the circle of the Overhead Spot. Chills and Thrills begin with a
quiet solo, a graceful exercise in Spanish Guitar technique- Step by
step the Heat Rises, until that amazing Flamenco dancer takes the
center stage – to stomp, spin sinuously, and kick off the
real show. It just gets better from there. By the finish, the eternal
haunting sounds of North Africa, the gypsies, and Pure
España take you for an exciting ride - and culminate with El
Bailero spinning in place - light hues unhurridly shifting, to catch
the perspiration from his body mid-flight – then... Silence!
|
Clearly,
when it all comes down to the way to reach your innner heat
–
Gypsy Music Rules!
Flamenco
is total ensemble, total body art!
|
|
2001
|
Medeski,
Martin and Wood - raise the ante -
as the 'opening set' for
Karl Denson's
Tiny Universe!
|
Well
- its like someone reinvented Hip-Hop!!! (just for us 'Old F_cks) These are some of the best sounding Riffs and Solos I've heard in years - and
the occaisional lyrics are not only clean, but COOL!
MM&W
have their voice,
YET...
Karl
Denson has krafted a tight, upbeat boogie band with such appeal that you are immediately tempted to dig into
your early 1970s jazz-fusion and funk albums to see just how they
compare.
|
MM&W are maturing (John shaved his pate to
camouflage his receding hairline) and their music has even more Punch!
than when we saw them 10 years ago.
Karl
Denson is a true voice from the past, a "Tenor Man" working with a
tight crew "Tiny Universe" whose bottom line is fast 4 Hip-Hop beat -
with a Cannonball Adderly + Nat, and a Young Jimi Hendrix-sound-alike,
plus a fine 'Synthesized organ', a Pounding bass and Hot tasteful
drummer- all waiting for the "Hubert Laws" flute solo....
This
is a generally kick-ass show. See
This one!
Denson and MM&W are touring as a double bill.
|
American
Music Rocks!
|
|
2001
|
This has Been a tough
year in Jazz History, as so many
have passed...
Chico O'Farrill, `Ozzie''
Brown, Milton Barnes, Billy Higgins, Les Brown, JJ Johnson, Joe
Henderson, John Lewis, Lorez Alexandria, Susanna McCorkle, Papa John
Phillips, John Fahey, John Lee Hooker, Smith Dobson from Monterey Bay
Jazz Scene... and so many more
-
A jazz musician dies and goes to heaven where he is told -
"Hey
man, welcome! You have been elected to the Jazz All-Stars of Heaven --
right up there with Satchmo, Miles, Django -- all the greats! We have a
gig tonight.
Only
one problem... God's girlfriend gets to sing."
|
Marin
Alsop, does it again!
This year she matched up
great scores with great visuals, including
one of the most powerful Multi-Media events I have ever witnessed...
and I seen a few... Phillip Glass' truly minimal score, only serves as
your 'pacemaker' during this amazing performance of a 3 Act Play -
THE
PHOTOGRAPHER
The
Choreography, alone was a 'show', but from the first gunshot, the near
opera-like schizo-story of Eadweard Muybridge, the man whose stop-image
camera techniques have fascinated all ages, for nearly a century - was
true ART!
|
Then
there was the historical 1937 Farm Services Administration' Pare
Lorentz documentary, narrated by Milton Thomas, with score by Virgil
Thomson, and a great script by Pare Lorentz...
THE RIVER
This
twenty minute movie shows the consequences of industrial deforestation
of the Mississippi Valley, the various mining and iron-related
industrialization, colonization by share-croppers, urbanization, and
the complete devolution of a once productive watershed, into a mud
generating near-desert - all used in creation of new buildings and
export products for European industry - all wonderful ideas, but in the
long run, completely negative in terms of 'balanced ecosystems', and
true sustainability...
How
many of our grandparents would be able to sit through this one, sans
tears?
|
Last,
but not least, the Finale, the San Juan Batista Mission Concert,
provided this year's aural treasures, as two short luscious works of
Chris Rouse (b1949) and James MacMillan, (b1959) - introduced by the
composers - filled the Mission with truly aetherial music...
The
last 'sounds' were Einjuhani Rautavaara's "Angel of Light" or Symphony
No. VII reflecting his early stay at the Sibelius Academy and the lush
tonality that emanates from high latitude composers as they 'resolve'
their experiences, and hope for the light to emerge.
|
|
2002
|
The
piano quartet formerly known as 'Tiramisu' - now the 'Mozart Piano
Quartet -
started off with an early work by Mozart - his Quartet in E-Flat Major,
K493 - and it was very immediately clear that this was not just another
'violin', 'piano', 'viola' and 'Cello' wading their way from solo line
to solo line.
|
All
early music - rejected or lost or 'rebuilt' from 'notes' - Scnittke, et
al.
Lucky
us. What a Blend - the power of complete togetherness as in one grand
intsrument. Whew.
BUZZZzzzzz.....
|
The liner notes were
startling.
The
two ladies, piano and violin were from Australia - Two early age
virtuousi - and yet about as far apart as one might imagine - Asian
violonist (short-dark
haired) and the eastern Caucasis
European with auburn-red
hair, who started at age 2 and was playing for the public
at 4) -
Now
hanging with a pair of Musicke Hochschule dudes from Vienna and
Switzerland.
|
The
Stuff that is about CHORDS, MELODIES, COUNTERPOINT, COUNTER MELODIES,
and a STORY !!!!!!
These
folks played "MUSIC"!
|
|
2002
|
Monday
night at Kuumbwa Jazz Center - in Santa Cruz - where we watched and
listened to John Scofield's new
Quartet - including a young bass guitar dude from Santa Cruz who we
have watched grow - and a 'mad' Rythm guitar player from somewhere in
eastern Europe - with
a mess of 'sampler' controller hardware in front of him - and a
percussion guy -
whose near total musical anastymosis to the Bass guy was worth the trip.
|
As I was being blown away
by what these guys were playing - I kept poking Kathy and telling her
that what they needed was to meet Karl Denson - and Mike Medeski et al.
because they were 'ready'. When the concert was over, I headed for the
pisoir, and met Kathy on the way out. I made
a similar comment to the Club Owners, and one said -"You will be happy,
very soon", spying the CD in Kathy's hands. - She had slowed down
enough to buy Scofield's 'New CD'.
|
We
were both pretty hyped - and not ready for sleep when we got home. So I
peeled away the layers of impossible plastic wrap etc, and put the New
CD disk on to play - 'explaining' to Beaker as I let him out for his
evening flyover - that
this was what he had been waiting so patiently for.
Beaker
was excited as ever to hear the cross-chordal sounds and rythmic energy
- and let that be known in his own eager sing-along style.
Then I read the notes on
the disk...
|
Denson and Medeski are
each featured -
within the group sound-scape on two each of four separate pieces.
HHHhhhmmmm?????
MMMmmm....
|
|
2002
|
Another
Monday, we saw the Mingus Big band - at Kuumbwa - and got there early
enough (I had to meet Kathy after work in Santa Cruz) for us to park
nearby, and go have a Murphy's at the local Irish Pub - Cancer Creation
Centre - cough, cough, cough - then walk a few yards to the Club to
settle in for good seats, and some chips and dip, etc. The band had
just broken up after a quick warmup rehearsal and sound check - and
were eating dinner from the food kitchen, and wine/beer back wall - All
were drinking diet drinks or cold bottled teas???
Maybe there are lessons being learned.
|
I was fascinated by the
age disparities, as there were three generations of players, and the
'manager' was in the middle group, and caring for everyone
involved from band guys to Club folks. Getting them rounded up to eat,
drink, and sign photos of the band for the Club to Exhibit...
The audience strolled in
- not quite filling 200 seats
and
the
DownBeat was a recognizable Mingus Tune - with a new twist.
Sue
Mingus - Charles amazing wife jumped up on the stage and introduced
herself - and the fact that she had been 'busted' at "StreetLights
Records" for stealing bootleg "Charlie" Mingus CDs and records.
|
She
explained to us that Charles Mingus never let anyone use "CHARLIE" on
any of his legitimate recordings.
Sue
had even gone so far as to scope the place out, ask the guy behind the
register for a large Plastic carryout bag - and unloaded every disk
with the wrong lable with 'Charlies' name on them into it - and -
Walked out through the electronic equivalent of BofA Super Vault.
Bells,
whistles, clerks, and a guy about 7' 24" came down the street after her
- as she strolled away. They snagged her - and dragged her back to the
store - where she requested they call the POLICE. They did - and she
will see them in court. However, she has deposited the 'stash of disks'
with the Police - and will win, once again, because she has been doing
this same scam on Fink-Fuck-Musicians-Shop owners for decades - in many
countries.
|
Meanwhile,
back at Kuumbwa - The Band was AMAZING!!!!
Totally Mingus, loose, yet togther - loud, and yet soft - and every
piece had a great long-assed Bass intro - improvisation by a mid
thrities guy named BORIS -
blue eyes, stocky - Russian!
Who Played Mingus - well - like CHARLES®MINGUS®!
It
was really pleasing and emotionally buzzing to see the Old and New
generation - PLAYING and Grooving on one another's shit! -
Oh, and Sue Mingus was sitting in front of me - and everytime I let out
a peep - just went Wow!
She would turn around and SMILE - and shake here head - as if to say -
Yes! Yes!! YES!!! (as in - "You
know it too, baby - this is LIFE for all of us!") Whoeeeeeee!
YES!
|
|
2002
|
May
Day!
A
phone call from my Music Buddy - David Nyman - from FAO Jazz Club Daze
- who is now situated in Santiago, Chile, where there is more music
than most 'developing countries' - including both my Andean favorites
and it's own very active Jazz Club.
I
realized that I had been remiss.
|
David's brother, Michael
Nyman - is one of Europe's great 'jazz'
musician-writers - I found that out before connecting with David back
in 1978 - David is now in Santiago - where I have had so many amazing
music moments, from the Opera House - to the streets - to the
Peñas - Chile has its own music world - including the
Santiago Jazz Society - where I saw and heard Gerry Mulligan Quartet at
a local theatre one night in 1989 before I left for home...
|
Well, as in most things
fate had Gerry and I meet again in the Santiago airport waiting room as
we all headed north. We had a long conversation about folks who we
shared as colleagues and musical highlites over our shared years.
He and I shared one
experience as members of the 2nd Air Force Band when we were stationed
at Barksdale AFB - The band barracks is next door to the Air Police -
and the canine corps kennels. (I ate my lunch most days with an
AirPolice dude whose dog I really liked...)
Bark
for Barksdale - anyone?
|
Gerry asked and liked why
I was in Chile - (I was there for FAO to assist Chilean Fisheries
managers on developing ocean monitoring) - Gerry was not just a
braindead saxophonist - We swapped telephone numbers for a future
conversation - and should I get far enough north to arrange a visit.
Gerry died in 1996 from
bungled knee surgery.
|
|
2002
|
Where
do the next great players come from? and Who will know and support them?
|
The
Wait is Over!
|
Just
go out and Buy "Sergio & Odair Assad Play Piazzola".
They PLAY Piazzola. Most people just play with Piazzola.
|
Good
Music Rules!
|
|
2002
|
and the LIST Grows
Longer, and Longer.....
or
is that shorter and shorter...
|
Well,
my brother Ray called last week - a complete mess after preparing to go
see The Who - and then discovering that John Entwhistle had died the
night before - in Las Vegas. I started quickly trying to understand why
this one Who performer - Mr. Bass - had instilled such respect and love
in my Brother...
Then
I remembered the
photo that Ray had sent me some years before - when he and my nephew Rob had spent a good
part of an afternoon with Entwhistle - that later John signed.
|
The
fun - and pain - are part of life.
The
great players and writers are what make life pleasant- even tolerable -
Well, what comes
around goes around...
-
a few days later my NPR station is broadcasting Jazz at 7:30AM -
A
Tribute to the late, Great Ray Brown - the basist's Bass Player had
died the night before - July 2nd, after a gig in Chicago...
The
Blues do set in...
and
now I hear that Warren
Devon was diagnosed with lung cancer - Warren
Who?
|
Meanwhile,
back at home - first the Santa Cruz Blues Festival, where the Bone
Shakers started off by getting everyone on their feet - and the Dakota family quartet -Indigenous-
raised Guitar Blues to levels that Jimmy Hendricks would have loved -
Then
the Monterey Jazz Festival - where I took Leonid Klyashtorin for his
first immersion in Americana. He loved it, and the total attitude of
the rich mix of cultures - all enjoying - in peace - dozens of bands -
and Alligator's 5 year old Blues Singin' son!
|
|
2002
|
Summer
came and went - but
never warmed up...
|
The
Cabrillo Music Festival was, again, inspired with great performances
and wonderful highlights. Evelyn Glennie - What can anyone say - but - WOW!
|
The
Monterey Jazz Festival, next weekend -will feature Dave Brubeck and family -
as well as some of my favorites, such and Mingus
Amongus and the Mingus Big Band.
Stay Tuned!
Oh Yeah!
I taped the entire Arena
Stage Program for 2002. Brubeck et
al. Swing,
Stomp, and Blow your mind
|
Kuumbwa
Jazz Center in Santa Cruz hosted Omar Sosa's Quartet 9/16 - 4 guys from
Cuba, USA, and Barcelona
- playing amazing
sounds - from mosques
to the Andes to Cuba -
from everywhere - unlike anything - but... Uniquely Phenomenal!
Sosa's new CD
'Sentir' is getting Rave Reviews. Don't ever miss a chance to see this
guy - and his gang -
They are Great!
|
|
2003
|
This year starts out with
some serious losses - we lost Lou Harrison - the 85 year old musical
guru of Asian and uniquely styled orchestral winners into mixed chamber
works, and gamelan... & within days, we also lost Mongo
Santamaria - one of the most beloved of all Cuban Conga Men - who
perked up all ears... and always got your feet moving...
I
can still see & hear him between sets - filling the air and
time with fresh rythm - during my 1st live encounter with Cal Tjader
Quartet in 1959..
|
Well,
Kathy and I managed to miss the year's first New Music Works concert-
and Lou Harrison's last living performance/talk -
as
well as the KRONOS 30th Anniversary Warm Up at CSUMB -
We
just used our Turtle
Island String Quartet tickets ...OK!!!
Playing
on a Blue &
Green theme - they visited lots of novel pieces, and finished with lots of Miles' Tunes, particularly ones written by others that he made 'eternal' - All in All
- Fabulous Playing & Great Music.
|
Of
course, my brother came through for the Xmas holidays with the 20 CD
Miles Live at Montreauz set
-
and
the Hendrick's Family selected 4 CD set -
that
is sharing air time with the 1st 25 years KRONOS 10CD set -
and
we are even looking
forward to arrival of
a 40 CD set of Jazz Pianists -
But-
all this we will not let these keep us away from the real, live thing -
while we have it - again!
Then
there were the B-Day DVDs of Monterey Pop Festival & even more
CDs - The Stan Kenton Story and Woody Herman early band set...
|
Then, there was the - - All Zorn Out!
by New Music Works at
Santa Cruz' Rio Theater
Phil
Collins sat in at desk, with a candle and a glass of water -
SCRIBBLING - AUDIBLY! - while the various
players responded to a random selection of que cards. This should be required therapy music for
sleep deprived - it was so soothing - Quiet -
yet continuous new sounds, underlain by frantic
percussion... ZZZzzzzz
|
|
2003
|
Charles
Lloyd - You mean the guy who plays more notes in a set than Miles
played in his life?
|
Monday night at Kuumbwa -
again - and a truly notable one at that.
Started
off with a classic mosque call, too.
|
Forest
Flower - Finally in
context - as the young bassist, and drummer, set the scene for
wonderful sax and piano solos - No wonder that lady at the previous
week's Yoshi performances kept trying.
|
Welcome revisit, from one of the 1960-70s
finest jazz iconoclasts - The lady playing piano was absolutely
dynamite and the
evening ended on a quiet - Nooooote... |
|
2003
|
... And then there is 82
year old Dave Brubeck, son of a farmer from Stockton California, and a
mother who gave piano lessons to anyone who wanted to learn...
And
there we were ---
My
Friends, the family Spencer, sitting up front to see their son Thomas,
Principal bass with the UOP Orchestra - onstage - along with a few hundred others - settled in
for one wonderful experience in sound and history
Wow,
What a weekend!
|
Celebrating
Dave Brubeck's contributions to American music was the point, and well
done to say the least. The 62 year collaboration with his wife Iona was
also high on the list. The fifty some year's work with Bill Smith,
whose clarinet sang the songs of the times - and performances of
brother Howard's and son Chris' compositions for orchestra, as well,
were aongst the signs of the breadth of the Brubeck Legacy.
|
University
of the Pacific's Brubeck Institute provides young musicians with access to
more than training by greats such as Christian McBride. They gathered
together five extremely talented young musicians to form the signature
Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet. Ages 18-20, and blessed with voices and
talents of the finest senior jazz musicians -
Fabian
Almazan - piano; Joe Sanders - bass; Anthony Coleman - trumpet; Justin Brown - drums; and Tommy Morimoto - sax - ready to play anything -
particularly for moments with Dave
Brubeck out front.
Great
Perfomances here - and at last year's Monterey Jazz Festival. You'll hear a lot more of these guys -
everywhere - and soon, I hope!
|
The
entire series was a multi-way salute - where not only the audiences
were appreciative, but the musicians were, too.
The
multiple venues, each providing the performers with just the right
settings for their shows - a hall for the Orchestral pieces, and the
smaller stages for more intimate groups.
The
highlight was the Haggin Museum's backwall painting of fullsome nude
ladies partying around a forest pond -
What More could
the Turtle Island String Quartet desire to keep it's Brubeckian
audience In the Mood?
|
|
July 2003
|
Thousands
of Cubans marched in a funeral procession for Compay Segundo of "Buena
Vista Social Club" fame -
and
 Alto
saxophone giant, arranger, composer, Benny Carter - both died at age 95.
Bill Berry, age 72 - Big
Band leader and trumpeter
who performed with Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and on Merv Griffin's
television show - Leader of Monterey Jazz Festival Jazz Education Bands
-
Long Live Their Heirs!
|
Segundo's
real name was Maximo Francisco Repilado Munoz. He was the father of the
revival of Cuban son following the 1997 release of the "Buena Vista
Social Club" soundtrack, highlighting Cuban "son" performed by himself
and other creators of the music. He had built a musical reputation
before the "Castro" revolution as one of Los Compadres (the
Godfathers). The diminutive of compadre is "compay" and since he sang
the second voice part, he became "Compay Segundo."He composed more than
100 songs, including "Chan Chan" and "Macusa."
In
the 1960s and 1970s Segundo disappeared from the music scene, working
variously as a cabinet maker, hairdresser, actor and cigar roller. He
returned to music in the late 1980s, winning wide acclaim and, with the
other Buena Vista musicians, introduced a new generation to the lilting
melodies of son, a music that sounds deceptively simple but requires
technical mastery, improvisational skills and, above all, a high level
of complicity between the players. Compay Segundo said the secret of
his longevity was cigars, flowers, rum and women.
|
Carter was one of
the two preeminent alto saxophonists in jazz, along with Johnny Hodges,
from the late 1920s until the arrival of Charlie Parker in the
mid-1940s. Carter was also an accomplished soloist on trumpet and
clarinet, and on occasion he played piano, trombone and both tenor and
baritone saxophones.
He helped to lay
the foundation for the swing era of the late 1930 and early '40s with
arrangements he had written a decade earlierfor his own big band and
the orchestras of Fletcher Henderson and Chick Webb, as well as for
Benny Goodman before Goodman was acclaimed as the King of Swing. He
later contributed arrangements and compositions to Glenn Miller and
Count Basie.
From 1929 to 1946,
Carter led big bands full of young talent. His band in the early 1930s
included pianist Teddy Wilson,saxophonist Chu Berry, trombonist J.C.
Higginbotham anddrummer Sid Catlett. A decade later, his contingent of
future jazzstars included trombonists J.J. Johnson and Al Grey,
trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach.
His compositions
included "Blues in My Heart," "When Lights Are Low," "Blue
Star,""Lonesome Nights," "Doozy" and "Symphony in Riffs." Beginning in
the early 1940s, hecomposed and orchestrated music for films, and from
the late '50s, he also composed for television.
|
There
is certainly a "Next Generation" - as well as a lot of thosewho are
still carrying the 'Tune' from these two marvels of Music and Life...
My
visit to Washington DC last month included a stay-over with friends
with a 16 year old musician daughter - she started on clarinet, then
took on violin and piano. Kimberly's 16 year old boy friend, Bill Hinz,
plays piano in a Jazz Band of like-age kids - The Night Caps - whose trombone playing leader also produced
a CD of their works in May 2003.
If you want to hear/read,
or learn what is available about them - a note to nightcapsjazz@aol.com will get
you started.
I
sat in my friends' livingroom, listening - with ears smiling, and my
feet tapping - as they worked their way through some of my favorites,
from 'Summertime' to 'Take the A Train' with several familiar standards
and a few new bop bits...
|
|
September 2003
|
Rest in Peace Man in
Black.
Johnny Cash died - still
suffering from the loss last May of his wife June Carter Cash. At 71 he
suffered from several ailments that claimed him, but June was his life.
He was revered by his
fellow musicians -- if not always by a music industry that had a hard
time figuring him out.
|
His 1997 autobiography,
Cash reflects on a career that began with hit singles but eventually
saw him searching for a proper record label -- a search that ended only
when Rubin, a ground breaking rock and rap producer, signed him to
American Recordings and produced four starkly brilliant albums.
|
Many radio stations
wouldn't play his album, "Bitter Tears", featuring several powerful
messages like 'As Long as the Grass Shall Grow', 'Apache Tears' and
'The Ballad of Ira Hayes.' He was telling it like it was. Even as Cash
was widely honored in his last years, his music was seldom played on
mainstream country radio. In 1998, after Cash won the Grammy award for
best country album...
|
American Recordings
purchased a full-page ad in Billboard that was addressed to country
radio programmers who had failed to play his music - that featured a
picture of a much younger Cash with his middle finger held high in a
fierce, defiant gesture - He was long past pulling punches.
|
|
September
19-21, 2003
|
46th
Monterey Jazz Festival
|
Saturday:
Lots of Great Moments - New Orleans style, Buckwheat
Zydeco, The
Preservation Hall Jazz Band The
Neville Brothers - They've
still Got IT!
|
Saturday Night: Ralph Towner & Gary Burton; 4 Brothers: Kurt Elling, Kevin Mahogany,
Mark Murphy, John Hendricks; Clayton
-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
|
Sunday:
Berkeley High
School Band, MRJF All-Star Band
Night: Dave Douglas New 5-tet; Nnenna Freelon; Herbie Hancock & Bobby Hutcherson
|
|
January
April
2004
|
Billy
May passes - Leaving a very large void in the jazz world - Now Missing
Big Fat Brass
|
Joe
Zawinul and Syndicate - after several long years away - it was a great
Monday Night at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz - Manolo Badrena,
Amit Chatterjee, Nathaniel Townsley, Linley Marthe, and Sabine Kabongo.
|
Some old faces - some new faces - and then,
there was Zawinul at his keyboards - while the Call to Mosque was
premium, the gal Sabine from west Africa did more than just toot her
whistle & shake her arms - she sang Great Jazz Standard as well
as homeland charmers. |
SwingMusic.net is cool
Celebration
of 2004 Centennial of Count Basie
|
|
June 10, 2004
|
|
A Huge Chunk of my SOUL
just disappeared.
I had been waiting
fearful anticipation since hearing recently that Ray Charles, my Main
Man, was on his deathbed...
|
Fuck Ronald "Raygun" and
all his racist azole partners - Brother
Ray brought everyone together - and we shared Love, Life,
and A Lot More
|
Biography
Seventeen
in Seattle
|
|
August 2004
|
Elmer Bernstein passes
|
A generation or three of
movie-goers have been enjoying This man's background sounds for some of
the more powerful stories from several genres... including True Grit;
The Ten Commandments; To Kill a Mockingbird - comprising children's
piano one-liners - but WOW! A Walk on the Wild Side!
|
One of my early sound
track memories can still be heard whenever I think about The man With
the Golden Arm - Frank Sinatra sitting behind his drum set - meanwhile
it was really Shelley Mann pumping out that subtle
Chi-Chichi-Chi-Chichi Chi-Chichi- Chi - then - DaduddydaDump - and way
it goes... with trumpet and sax wailing Shorty Rogers and Bud Shank -
Looking Good, sounding more and more like West Coast Jazz...
|
The Man with the Golden Ear
Will be Remembered
|
|
April 2005
|
Tutti
Camerata
and
Stan Levy
Pass
|
Well,
it was a fun time when "Tutti's Trumpets" hit the records stores, and
tight multi-trumpet ensemble playing pushed aside the saxaphones, etc.
Then came "Tutti's Trombones" - Tutti, the man, helped make Jazz even
more fun...
|
Stan Levy's Jazz-Be-Bop
drumming was in a class by itself. Always more than one step up and
away from the Boom-Chicka-Boom... that characterized swing and earlier
Jazz formats. He kept time for such musical greats as Dizzy Gillespie,
Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Stan Kenton orchestra - after
30 years - in 1973 bailed to become a photographer -
|
A
Tutti! - Amen!
Stan Levy
- Bio
|
| Winter 2006 |
Don
Butterfield -
The Tuba
Player in "Top and Bottom Brass", the Mingus Band and so many others...
and
Tommy
Johnson the
71
Year Olde Voice of "Jaws" and "Aliens" - Pass...
Jay
McShann - Kansas City Jazz Guru - passed
|
The MODERN
JAZZ TUBA PROJECT GETS YOU STARTED...
and the
International Tuba-Euphonium Conference
give a hint... They're gone - but there are still "Tuba Voices" on the
ground... 99 of them showed up to perform a 'tubaistical'
finale
at the Memorial Concert in Hollywood - |
Kansas City blues and jazz
legend pianist/composer/bandleader
Jay "Hootie" McShann was an influencial figure throughout the 1940s,
the years that saw the end of the Big Band era and the emergence of
smaller ensembles that would change the direction of jazz on the one
hand and see the development of rhythm 'n' blues music on the
other. Jay McShann was still making records, well into his
late
80s. |
McShann - MovieFone |
| 2007 |
Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927-2007
"Jazz Diva" Dakota Staton Passes
Herb Pomeroy - trumpet
1930-2007
Max Roach Passes
Luciano Pavarotti Passes
Josef Zawinul
- Passes
|
Phillip Stayce ROCKS!
|
When
I was visiting NZ back in the mid-1970s - Weather
Report came to town -
and as I was already a fan - I went down to see them.
Only 30 some years later - three CD recordings and a DVD of an amazing
1978 show in Germany is on the streets - google on
Weather Report: Forecast:
Tomorrow
In the 1990s Zawinul
Syndicate would arrive and play at Kuumbwa Jazz in Santa Cruz
-
and then they slowed their US Tours -
At the end of his last World tour, in July - he checked
into the hospital in Vienna - and on September 11, he passed
away - RIP JOE Z |
|
| February-March
2008 |
Buddy Miles passes
Teo Macero passes
Jeff Healey passes
|
Buddy
Miles, played drums in Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys
-
In addition to Hendrix, Miles played with Carlos Santana, John
McLaughlin, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters and David Bowie over his four
decade career.
His biggest contribution was to the Band of Gypsys, and along with
bassist Billy Cox, was immortalized after performing four nights at the
Fillmore East in NYC around New Year’s 1970. Later,
Miles’
and sang in the claymation commercials featuring the California Raisins
in the 1980s - especially their version of “I Heard It
Through
the Grapevine” |
Teo
Macero, a record producer, composer and saxophonist most famous for his
role in producing a series of albums by Miles Davis in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, including editing that almost amounted to creating
compositions after the recordings, helping to build albums like Bitches
Brew, In a Silent Way and Get Up With It...
Macero used techniques partly inspired by composers like Edgard Varse,
who had been using tape-editing and electronic effects to help shape
the music. Such techniques were then new to jazz and have largely
remained separate from it since. But the electric-jazz albums he helped
Davis create--especially Bitches Brew, which remains one of the
best-selling albums by a jazz artist -- have deeper echoes in almost 40
years of experimental pop - as in work by Can, Brian Eno and Radiohead.
Jeff
Healey was too young - only 41 -
but had made his
"point"! |
|
| August 2008 |
Isaac Hayes passes
 |
A
major figure in American soul music, Isaac Hayes also enjoyed a long
and memorable career as an actor and film composer. His score for the
movey Shaft made him the first African-American to win an Academy Award
for music, and was one of the first examples of a pop-based film score
that developed a market life of its own.
Through the 1970s and into the ’90s he acted in several films,
including “Escape From New York” in 1981 and the spoof
“I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” in 1988. |
In
1962, Hayes cut his first record for a local label, and in 1964 he'd
worked his way up to playing keyboards with the house band at Stax
Records, just then establishing themselves as one of the South's
premier soul music labels. At Stax, Hayes began writing songs with
David Porter - together they penned a long string of hits for Sam &
Dave, including "Soul Man," "Hold On, I'm Coming," and "When Something
Is Wrong With My Baby,"
His character in “South Park” |
Isaac
Hayes was born Aug. 20, 1942, in a tin shack in rural Covington, Tenn.,
to a mother who died early and a father who left home.
His music sales slowed in the '70-'80s - but his career was revived in
1997 when he began playing Chef on “South Park.” He quit
the show in 2006, saying that he had been offended by an episode that
ridiculed Tom Cruise and other prominent Scientologists. He also had a
radio show in New York in the 1990s.
In addition to his 3rd wife, he is survived by their son, Nana, + 11 other children. |
|
Asylum
Street Spankers ??? |
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Links
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BOOKS
|
Instruments
|
History
of Jazz
and American Jazz
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Jazz
Clubs Around World
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