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july 2013

George Duke

30 Happy Trails
After his wife died, George
Duke was in a funk for months.
Finally, his mojo returned.
By Bill Milkowski

38 Playing Smart
Pondering the curious mind and
music of Craig Taborn.
By Shaun Brady
4 july 2 013 jazziz Photo by Toshi
THE 13TH ANNUAL SAILING OF
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WHERE EVERY PERFORMANCE
IS SPECIAL

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 Prelude 16
Eliane Elias recalls Chet
Baker; Bill Frisell surveys
Big Sur; Will Calhoun
plays the world; Marc
Cary salutes his mentor;
and Geri Allen, Terri Lyne
Carrington and Esperanza
Spalding convene in
Portland.

Auditions 48
Reviewed: The Greyboy
Allstars, Gerald Clayton,
Jaimeo Brown, Laszlo
Gardony, Nicole Mitchell’s
Ice Crystal, Dave Douglas
Quintet, and Jacky
Terrasson.

Will Calhoun

8 july 2 013 jazziz Photo by Bill Bernstein

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Prelude
To a
Beautiful
When Eliane Elias croons 14 Chet Baker clas-
sics on I Thought About You (Concord Jazz),
the Brazilian pianist and singer’s tribute to
the late trumpeter and vocalist, she brings more
to the session than a passing interest in Baker’s
legacy. The iconic musician was a major influ-

Musician
ence on the creation of the suave bossa nova
Elias heard while growing up in her native São
Paulo. On earlier recordings, she has frequently
sampled Baker’s expansive songbook. And, on one
unforgettable night in Manhattan, the two met
face-to-face for the first time.
“It was 1982, and it was my very first gig
as a leader in the U.S.,” she recalls of the night
she performed at a club called Seventh Avenue
South in New York City. Because Elias was still
an unknown commodity in town, she agreed to
work for the door and take her chances. Happily,
both shows sold out and she was able to pay the
musicians fairly well. Then a lanky guy with an
instantly recognizable voice walked up. It was
Chet Baker. He told the pianist that he’d been
present for both sets and that he really liked her
playing. “Naturally, I was very flattered,” she
says. “We talked a bit and exchanged phone num-
bers. Then he said that he was having a problem
with his wife and couldn’t go home. He also said
he didn’t have any money.” Unaware of Baker’s
drug addiction, she forked over a fistful of bills. “I
gave Chet all of the money I’d made on my first
gig in the States,” she says, laughing. “He took off
his cap, handed it to me and left.”
On I Thought About You, the pianist is joined
by husband and bassist Marc Johnson and
former husband Randy Brecker, whose trumpet
and flugelhorn work on three tracks evokes
the warmth and brevity of Baker’s cool-school
style. On three bossa-style takes, Brazilian
acoustic guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves is present
while Steve Cardenas appears elsewhere,
adding electric-guitar comping and solos on
tunes that range from such sexy ballads as
“Everything Depends on You” to up-tempo fare
like “This Can’t Be Love.”
“I saw Chet perform a couple of times,” Elias
recalls, “and when I sing ‘There Will Never
Be Another You,’ I vividly remember how he
performed that tune, how he put the microphone
so close to his lips and how softly he sang. What
an incredible sound and great phrasing. He was a
beautiful musician.” —Mark Holston

Photo by Bob Wolfenson jazziz july 2013 17

World Without Boundaries
Will Calhoun is best-known as the drummer for the rock group
Living Colour. But he’s always been musically adventurous,
recording jazz and world music-influenced projects under his
leadership. His latest album, Life In This World (Motéma), com-
bines all of his musical influences in a jazz framework. Not that
Calhoun bothers with those types of labels.
“Studying in Africa the last 15 years has taught me to listen
to sounds and not styles,” Calhoun says. “I just stopped thinking
in that framework because I was learning so much stuff about
Manding rhythms and Dogon rhythms and all these things that
are so connected to different parts of the continent. When you
start to study it you realize how connected everything is, you just
have to call it music after a while.”
Calhoun’s experiences from living and studying in Africa are
evident throughout the record — not just on an obviously African-
influenced track like “Afrique Kan’e,” but also on Thelonious
Monk’s “Evidence,” which Calhoun plays in a 6/8 Manding
rhythm. For Calhoun, who is as intelligent and passionate about
music as anyone you’ll come across, becoming immersed in
African music was essential to expressing his love of jazz.
“I understood more of what Max and Elvin and Miles and
Ornette and these guys were doing when I went to Mali,” he
18 july 2013 jazziz
says. “I wanted to put an indigenous 40,000-year-old rhythm
from the Manding people in Mali on the record along with
gentlemen like Ron Carter and Wallace Roney, and tie together
this spirituality and history of the music.”
For Calhoun, having a legend like Carter play bass on Wayne
Shorter’s “Etcetera” was both a thrill and a way to connect to the
jazz tradition. But the other musicians — including contemporaries
such as pianist Marc Cary and bassist Charnett Moffett — also
bring the genre-bending sensibility that Calhoun believes is es-
sential for ensuring jazz’s continued relevance.
“It’s horrifying if [jazz] becomes like a museum piece,” he says.
“It’s important what younger folks are bringing to the music, and
it’s very important that we stay in touch with the roots of the
music. We’re not abandoning one for the other.”
For Calhoun, who’s getting ready to record a new album with
Living Colour, combining all of his influences in a common
framework is his way of treating jazz with integrity. “I want to
approach the music with respect, but I think it’s very important
for me to respect the music in a Will Calhoun fashion,” he says. “I
don’t think I would be honest with the art form if I just covered
an Art Blakey record. Honesty is important in art. Life In This
World is total honesty.” —John Frederick Moore
Photo by Bill Bernstein
In Tribute
In the jazz world, a veritable deluge of
solo-piano albums have dropped in the
last year or so. One of the better ones
was recently released by Marc Cary, the
late Abbey Lincoln’s longtime pianist.
Released on the Motéma imprint, For the
Love of Abbey is a lovely, 14-track tribute of
sorts to Cary’s mentor, who passed away
three years ago. In a sturdy career that
includes work with Dizzy Gillespie, Betty
Carter, Jackie McLean, Carmen McRae
and others, as well as the production of a
number of projects and recordings of his
own, this is Cary’s first solo-piano record-
ing, and it goes far in honoring Lincoln’s
remarkable body of work.
The disc includes 11 Lincoln composi-
tions, one Ellington piece (“Melancholia”)
and two Cary originals, all of them
played as instrumentals. Says Cary,
“Abbey’s compositions are worthy of
an instrumental approach because
they’re so rich and lend themselves to be
interpreted as instrumentals.”
Cary’s 12-year tenure with Lincoln
was longer than any other pianist, a list
that includes such luminaries as Mal
Waldron, Hank Jones, Wynton Kelly
and Kenny Barron. Clearly this album
means a lot to the the 46-year-old
pianist. “This project is my celebration
of an incredible person, composer, art-
ist, bandleader and friend,” he wrote in
the liner notes. “The impact Abbey has
had on my career and family is just so
big that I had to show her music to the
world through my heart and soul.”
During his career, Cary has earned
a reputation as one of the most creative
pianists around, a bandleader with
musical interests that encompass jazz,
go-go, hip-hop, electronic music, Indian
classical music and more. Asked for the
single most valuable lesson he learned
from Lincoln, he responds: “Learning
how to shed things you don’t need, and
claim what is yours.”
For more information, go to www.
marccary.com.

20 july 2013 jazziz


OnDisc
On
For more information regarding this and more than 100 other JAZZIZ discs available for purchase, go to
Top practitioners of contemporary jazz
for more than
30 years, the
Yellowjackets
(above) have re-
ceived an infusion
of new blood. On
the quartet’s lat-
est recording, the
quite straightahead A Rise in the Road
(Mack Avenue), bassist Felix Pastorius
takes over for founding member Jimmy
Haslip. The son of fretless-bass innovator
Jaco Pastorius, Felix has been touring
with the band for the past couple of
years, but makes his recording debut as
a Yellowjacket here. While he plays his
dad’s bass on the album — the first time
the instrument has been recorded in
nearly 30 years — Felix doesn’t attempt
to imitate his father’s sound. Rather, he
selflessly serves each song, providing
a sturdy foundation alongside veteran
Yellowjackets drummer Will Kennedy.
And with saxophonist Bob Mintzer and
keyboardist Russell Ferrante penning
JAZZIZ ON DISC is a 2-CD music compilation from the artists of yesterday, today and tomorrow, bundled in the subscriber copies of the print editions of JAZZIZ
Magazine. For this issue, we’ve made Disc One a collection of music by artists who have already appeared or who will soon appear at JAZZIZ Nightlife, this
magazine’s sister nightclub, opened recently in Boca Raton, Florida. Disc Two is a potpourri of contemporary jazz from a range of musicians.
34 summer 2013 jazziz
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JAZZIZ Nightlife
most of the material, that’s a wise
decision. On Ferrante’s “Can’t We Elope,”
our selection, the rhythm section plays
a variation on the groove of Herbie
Hancock’s funky classic “Cantaloupe
Island,” with the bass line echoing the
original and Ferrante dancing along
on bluesy acoustic piano. Trumpeter
Ambrose Akinmusire lends some hot
brass to the proceedings, and Mintzer’s
tenor remains one of the fierier voices in
the contemporary-jazz world.
In jazz, there’s a long tradition of musi-
cians honoring
cherished col-
leagues with a
song title. “Lester
Left Town,”
“Jumpin’ With
Symphony Sid,”
“In Walked Bud”
and “Re a Person I Knew” (an anagram
of Orrin Keepnews) are but a few.
Perth, Australia, born saxophonist
Troy Roberts joins their ranks with
www.jazziz.com
his composition “Mono Stereos,” a
nod to frequent collaborator Silvano
Monasterios. The Venezuelan-born,
South Florida-based keyboardist, a leader
in his own right, is a member of Roberts’
Nu-Jive band, and the pair frequently
guest on each other’s albums. Roberts’
latest recording, Nu-Jive 5 (Xenden),
showcases his liquid-fire tenor and
funky, contemporary-jazz sensibilities.
The aforementioned “Mono Stereos,” our
selection, is a typical slice of Roberts’
writing and playing with this ensemble.
His molten leads flow over an insistent
groove laid down by guitarist Tim Jago,
bassist Eric England and drummer Dave
Chiverton. And, quite naturally, he
leaves plenty of room for Monasterios’
lovely Fender Rhodes solo. The piece
takes some intriguing turns in its final,
dramatic moments.
Jazz fans would hardly mistake the
sounds of Bob James and David
Sanborn for those of Dave Brubeck
and Paul Desmond. Nor was it James’
LISTEN
and Sanborn’s intention to imitate the jazz album was the best way to honor JAZZIZ OnDisc SUMMER 2013
groundbreaking his legacy. Certainly, having bassist
pianist and saxo- James Genus and drummer Steve
phonist on their Gadd aboard helps in that regard.
new recording, From the opening “You Better Not
Quartette Humaine Go to College,” a nod to Brubeck’s
(Sony/Okeh), but popularity at institutes of higher
SUMMER 2013
JAZZIZ Nightlife
rather to stay true learning, to the concluding “Deep in
Disc 1
to their forebears’ the Weeds,” the foursome engage in
emotional directness and emphasis on highly attuned, sometimes fanciful, Bob James/David Sanborn • Gino Vannelli
quartet dynamics. The contemporary-jazz musical conversation. The latter track,
7Crossing • Troy Roberts • Perry Joslin Project
Ariel Pocock • Tom Schuman • Yellowjackets
Antonio Adolfo • Negroni’s Trio
Jesse Jones Jr.
giants had been thinking about Brubeck, included here, wraps up the album on
who had passed away a week before a funky, celebratory note. Sanborn’s 000000
WHITE
they entered the studio in December blues-drenched alto bounces joyously YELLOW
MAGENTA
2012, and concluded that a straightahead over the propulsive rhythms, which are BLACK
CYAN
Please see our file submission form at
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Disc 1 XXXXXX
01 Bob James/David Sanborn
“Deep in the Weeds”
Quartette Humaine (Sony)
02 Gino Vannelli “Brother to Brother”
The Best and Beyond (Inka Productions)
03 7Crossing “We Can Get Through This”
Relentless (Red Rock Productions)
04 Troy Roberts “Mono Stereos”
Nu-Jive 5 (Xenden)
05 Perry Joslin Project “Pinnacle Mountain”
It’s a Strange Thing (Palmstone Productions)
06 Ariel Pocock “Real Emotional Girl”
Touchstone (ArtistShare)
07 Tom Schuman “Designated Planets”
Comprising members of The Miami Sound Machine and Gloria Estefan’s bands, 7Crossing Designated Planets (Jazzbridge)
mines a wealth of musical talent. Keyboardist Clay Ostwald and 08 Yellowjackets “Can’t We Elope”
guitarist Lindsey Blair composed most of the material on the band’s A Rise in the Road (Mack Avenue)
2011 debut CD Relentless (Red Rock Productions), a contemporary- 09 Antonio Adolfo “Floresta Azul”
Finas Misturas (AAM Music)
jazz album that brims with bright horns, Latin rhythms and pop
10 Negroni’s Trio “Dancing With the Bass”
instincts. Grooves are expertly supplied by bassist Jorge Casas, On the Way (AA Records & Entertainment)
drummer Olbin Burgos and percussionist Edwin Bonilla. Saxophonist 11 Jesse Jones Jr. “So Then”
David Fernandez brings the tropical heat, while Joy Francis handles The So Then Collection (self-released)
the vocals. The versatile Blair seems to be channeling Pat Metheny on
“We Can Get Through This,” our selection, as he opens the atmospheric ballad with his sub-
lime picking. Ostwald’s solo picks up on the wistful mood, which is enhanced by Fernandez
and the rhythm section. The band name, Ostwald reveals, refers to the many times the seven
bandmates’ paths had crossed over three decades. “I found some Web sites on ‘knot theory’
and the 7-crossing knots — a knot that crosses 7 times,” he relates by email. “I thought it
was a perfect fit for us and had kind of a magical, mystical meaning, as well — wizards and
magicians do all kinds of things with knots! So that made it fun and unique.”
If you purchased this magazine without the CDs or would like additional copies, e-mail service@jazziz.com
or log onto www.jazziz.com.
jazziz summer 2013 35
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34TH EDITION

tr é
JUNE 28 TO JULY 7, 2013

Mo n J a z z
3000 musicians 12 concert halls
10 days of great music
500 events
SOME OF THIS YEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS:
WAYNE
SHORTER
80th Birthday
Celebration

PINK
MARTINI June 27 - 28

ARETHA JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA

WITH VERY
FRANKLIN June 29
WYNTON
FEATURING
SPECIAL GUEST
JAMES WAYNE SHORTER QUARTET
HUNTER WITH DANILO PEREZ, JOHN PATITUCCI,
MARSALIS June 28 BRIAN BLADE, JOE LOVANO AND DAVE
DOUGLAS QUINTET: SOUND PRINTS
FEATURING: LAWRENCE FIELDS,
LINDA OH AND JOEY BARON
AND ACS: ALLEN, CARRINGTON,
SPALDING June 29

JOSHUA
RAVI COLTRANE REDMAN
QUARTET June 28 QUARTET
AN EVENING WITH SHARON JONES
GEORGE BENSON June 30 & THE DAP-KINGS July 3

with AARONGOLDBERG,
REUBEN ROGERS
& GREGORY HUTCHINSON
DOUBLE BILL and ORCHESTRA,
DR. JOHN & THE NITE PLAYING SELECTIONS
PRESERVATION HALL HOLLY COLE June 27-28-29 TRIPPERS AND FROM THE NEW ALBUM
WALKING SHADOWS June 29
JAZZ BAND July 5 LEON RUSSELL July 3
JAZZ ACCOMMODATION PACKAGES
Want to take your adventure to another level and enjoy the Festival to the fullest? Opt for our exclusive package that combines the joys
of vacation with those of the FESTIVAL! Visit MONTREALJAZZFEST.COM/PACKAGES to book your stay now!
Festival.Jazz.Montreal @FestivalJazzMTL
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accomodation packages, updates and much more
montrealjazzfest.com
Bill Frisell’s Big Sur
Listeners are accustomed to associating Bill Frisell’s music with
images. The films of Buster Keaton, the paintings of Gerhard
Richter, and the oddball collection of Depression-era portraits
by photographer Mike Disfarmer have all been grist for various projects
by the guitarist/composer. Even when he’s not focusing on a particular
subject, the impressionistic, lyrical spaciousness of Frisell’s particular
brand of jazz-Americana can conjure vast Midwestern landscapes.
With his latest project, Frisell took to one of America’s most

Photo by Monica Frisell

distinctive landscapes, the rocky central California coastline. Big Sur,
his Okeh/Sony Masterworks debut, combines his 858 Quartet and
Beautiful Dreamers trio into a band Frisell calls the Big Sur Quartet,
which includes violinist Jenny Scheinman, violist Eyvind Kang, cellist
Hank Roberts and drummer Rudy Royston. Commissioned by the
Monterey Jazz Festival, the album’s 19 tracks are a beguiling fusion of
roots music, hymns, jazz and even a touch of rockabilly — all imbued
with cinematic overtones. The titles are mostly suggestive and
non-specific: “A Good Spot,” “A Beautiful View,” “The Animals.” “I don’t
want a title to dictate too much,” the guitarist says. “I like them to be
vague enough so that people can come up with their own images.”
According to Frisell, the Monterey commission offered no direc-
tives about the content of the piece. Instead, it simply gave him
a place to work —the private Glen Deven Ranch — for 10 days. “I
probably shouldn’t say this,” he confides on the phone from the San
Francisco airport, “but I don’t even know if the music is about Big
Sur. But Big Sur gave me the chance to get inside my own head and
let whatever was in there come out. … I didn’t feel like I was under
the gun to accomplish anything. I was writing all the time, but I
wasn’t worried about what it was or how it was going to come out.”
Frisell worked in a small cottage on the ranch, occasionally drove
into Monterey to pick up food, and took long walks with a notebook,
often settling on a spot that overlooked the steep cliffs above the
Pacific. “It was so inspiring on so many levels — being hit by this
awesome beauty, the smell of the eucalyptus trees,” he says.
When it was time for the full band to rehearse, Frisell brought
everyone to Glen Deven so they could get a feel for it. “I found that
when we did the record and were playing, it triggered memories of
the place,” he recalls. “Little flashes. It is connected.” —Jon Garelick

A Non-Profit Jazz Label With a Mission

Devoted to Preserving Jazz and Discovering the Rising Stars of Tomorrow

A previously unreleased concert discovery

recorded February 7th, 1982 at
Keystone Korner in San Francisco.
• Deluxe CD digi-pack contains
23 page booklet with notes by:
• 180-gram vinyl pressed on 12" LPs at 45 RPM Todd Barkan, Dan Morgenstern,
by Record Technology Incorporated (R.T.I.). Howard Mandel, Renee Rosnes & Bill Charlap.
• Hand-numbered gatefold by Stoughton Press.
• Includes 4 panel LP booklet & Keystone Korner • Includes photos by:
commemorative postcards. Tom Copi, Brian McMillen & Kathy Sloane.

Freddie Hubbard Wes Montgomery Bill Evans

“Pinnacle: Live & Unreleased “Echoes of Indiana Avenue” “Live at Art D’Lugoff’s
from Keystone Korner” Top of The Gate”
detroit jazz & you
34th annual detroit jazz Festival – labor day weekend 2013
the world’s largest Free jazz Festival
david Murray big band featuring
Macy gray
ahMad jaMal Quartet
joshua redMan with strings
john scoField uberjaM
sheila jordan with strings
Featuring the alan broadbent
trio
Mccoy tyner trio with
savion glover
bill Frisell – lennon Project
yellowjackets
2013 artist-in-residence
danilo Pérez
and many more amazing performers
V.I.P. package available from the Detroit Marriott
at the Renaissance Center for $349 a night.
Package includes: overnight accommodations,
two V.I.P. passes with dinner, drink tickets and
reserved seating for the night of the reservation.
For more information on the V.I.P. package, visit
detroitmarriott.com or call 888-833-1514 and
mention Promotion Code XY0.
To see a full lineup or for more
information, visit detroitjazzfest.com
 High Times
in the City
of Roses
The 10th edition of the U.S. Bank Portland Jazz Festival closed on a high note with
a sold-out show at the 900-seat Newmark Theater that featured the ACS Trio, the
sobriquet assumed by the potent threesome of pianist Geri Allen, drummer Teri Lynne
MAGNUS LINDGREN Carrington and bassist — and Portland native — Esperanza Spalding. It was a fitting
conclusion to a festival that’s quickly taking its place among North America’s best.
This year’s affair, which ran from February 15-24, featured a wealth of jazz tal-
ent in addition to the ACS Trio (pictured above), which was making only its third
appearance and its first on the West Coast. Pianist Steve Kuhn brought his magic to
the Winningstad Theater, where he was joined onstage by local saxophonist Devin
Phillips for a couple numbers. That was one of several occasions wherein Portland
musicians shared time on the bandstand with national headliners. On the following
night, Portland-based pianist George Colligan joined Jack DeJohnette’s For Portland
Only 70th birthday celebration, which also featured multi-instrumentalist Don Byron
(who replaced Ravi Coltrane on short notice) and bassist Matthew Garrison. DeJohnette
was making his first festival appearance. Berlin-based guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel
Batucada Jazz likewise made his Portland Jazz Festival debut this year when he performed at Evans
Auditorium with Aaron Parks, Eric Revis and Justin Faulkner.
Elsewhere, NEA Jazz Master Gerald Wilson (who last performed in Portland in 1949)
conducted a Portland-area student big band and then enjoyed a set of his compositions
arranged for septet under the musical direction of pianist Darrell Grant. “The most gratify-
ing aspect of the Portland Jazz Festival to me is the way it has come to reflect community,”
said Grant, who teaches jazz studies at Portland State University. “This festival is not just
about bringing world-class jazz artists to Portland; it’s about celebrating Portland’s own
world-class jazz. The PDX All-Star Student Big Band concert with Gerald Wilson was a
great example. First we witnessed the wealth of incredible young jazz talent coming up
in Portland. Then we saw those young musicians inspired to an even higher level by this
94-year old jazz legend, and then we have the joy of seeing him energized and delighted by
the music they made together. This is what jazz and community are all about.” 
Fyra
Other performers at this year’s festival included pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, the
Afro-Cuban All-Stars, the incomparable pianist Barry Harris, Wayne Horvitz, George
Cables, Matt Wilson, Patricia Barber and Kenny Garrett. The Jazz Message: Celebrating
Art Blakey, under the musical direction of Javon Jackson, featured drummer Lewis
Nash along with Blakey alumni Curtis Fuller, Bobby Watson, Eddie Henderson, George
www.magnuslindgren.com Cables and Buster Williams. —DP
International management & booking:
26 july 2013 jazziz
Mark van den Bergh vanbergh@wxs.nl Photo by Mark Sheldon
The New Jazz Culture
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 Happy
Trails
After his wife died, George Duke was in a funk for months.
Finally, his mojo returned.
By Bill Milkowski • Photos by Toshi
George Duke is living proof that sometimes there is light
at the end of the tunnel of despair. Following the death of
his wife, Corine, the Grammy-winning keyboardist found
himself so consumed by grief that he couldn’t work on his
music. Artistic stasis had set in, and he didn’t see any way
out of his doldrums. Finally, when he was at his lowest ebb,
something clicked in him, sparking a flood of ideas and a wave
of momentum in the studio that culminated in the July release
of Dreamweaver (Heads Up), which Duke calls his “most honest
album in several years.”
“It was pretty difficult, actually, to begin,” he says, reflecting
back on that dark period when nothing seemed to be happening
for him. “My wife passed last July, and then I was supposed to
start the album right after that, but I didn’t feel like creating any
music. I have a studio in my home, and I’d walk in there and look
30 july 2013 jazziz
at the console and my equipment and go, ‘Nah, not today.’ And
that kept going on. And that’s unusual because normally music
is my respite, but I just did not feel any creative urge. I could not
think of a single note to play or any groove that I wanted to do.
And it didn’t happen for a long time.”
During a Soul Train Cruise last October, Duke got his mojo
back. “I was there by myself. It was the first time I had done one
of those cruises without my wife, which was strange enough.
I didn’t have to play for a few days, so I had a couple of days to
just do nothing — listen to other bands and kind of just stare at
the sea. On the third day, something happened. I had watched
some bands and stayed up kind of late. It was around four in the
morning when I finally went back to my room. But I didn’t feel
like going to sleep, so I went out and sat on the deck and just
stared at the water go by until the sun started coming up. Then
suddenly some ideas started flowing. I mean, lyrics and melodies Sometimes I’d be awakened at
and everything just came to me. I went back to my room, got “I wanted to go three in the morning with the
out my computer and started jotting down some things, mostly
lyrics and some melodies. And at least three of the songs on the
back to all of my knocks on the wall from the
headboard of his bed hitting
new album were written that night.”
One of them was the heartfelt ballad “Missing You,” dedicated
old instruments against my wall. And along
with that I’d hear walking
to his late wife. “I actually had to change the lyrics around — the ARP Odyssey, bass lines, trumpets and
because I just couldn’t get through a take without breaking up,”
Duke recalls. “So I changed the lyrics to make it more generic as
the Minimoog, saxophones with the piano
and drums, which I tried to
opposed to being specific to her, and that’s how I got through it.
But I know what the song’s about.”
the Prophet 5, filter out from all these other
sounds. I learned a lot about
The rest of the material flowed from there when he got back the Memorymoog how this music works just by
to his home studio in Los Angeles. “The main thing was, I wanted
to play a lot of synths on this record,” says Duke, who first gained
— all this stuff listening to whatever music
this guy would play while he
accolades for his accomplished keyboard work during the ’70s
as a valued sideman to Frank Zappa and Cannonball Adderley.
that coughs and was having sex. It was a very
interesting, very educational
“I wanted to go back to all of my old instruments — the ARP sputters when experience for me.”
Odyssey, the Minimoog, the Prophet 5, the Memorymoog — all
this stuff that coughs and sputters when you turn it on. I wanted
you turn it on.” While working toward a
master’s degree in composi-
to use all those things along with my old Fender Rhodes, the tion at San Francisco State
Wurlitzer, the Hohner clavinet, and make that be the meat of University, Duke and his trio
what this album is all about.” secured a gig as the house
Those old-school synths are put to good use on the P-Funk- band at the Half Note, where
inspired instrumental “Ash Tray,” the raucous 15-minute “Burnt he had his first encounter
Sausage Jam” and the full-blown synth manifesto “Brown Shoes,” with a major jazz figure,
which finds him running his Prophet 5 through an amp to get a one who would later become his employer and mentor. “I was
nasty, distorted-guitar sound and soloing wildly on Minimoog playing there with my trio featuring Al Jarreau on vocals, and
and ARP Odyssey. right up the street was a place called the Both/And Club, where
Duke’s 33rd recording under his own name and third for the Cannonball Adderley played with his quintet. Cannon and his
Heads Up label was completed in record time. From its inception — brother Nat would come down to the Half Note, mainly because
that serendipitous day on the cruise ship in October 2012 — to final he liked Al. I remember him telling me years later that I sounded
mastering, the project breezed by in just six months. “Once I got into like a bad Ramsey Lewis. And so I asked him, ‘Why’d you hire
it,” the 67-year-old keyboardist says, “it was like going downhill.” me then?’ And he said, ‘Because you got better.’ So I met Cannon
Sadly, two artists who appear on the record — singer Teena Marie around ’65-’66, but I didn’t start working with him until 1971.”
and Philadelphia-based guitarist Jef Lee Johnson — passed away In 1966, just barely 20 years old, Duke recorded his first album,
before its release. “It’s been crazy, man, absolutely crazy,” says Duke, Presented by the Jazz Workshop, a standards quartet outing which
reflecting on the deaths of two friends and a wife in such a short he now dismisses as the product of a nervous youngster trying
span of time. “But you know, it is what it is. Death is part of life.” too hard to impress. “For some reason I thought all I had to do was
Fittingly, the album closes with “Happy Trails,” a soulful play the head of a tune real nice and then proceed to rattle off a
remake of the old Roy Rogers theme song (Duke’s answer to Sly bunch of notes at high velocity. This did not make for a pleasing
Stone’s take on “Que Sera Sera”). “I thought it would be a great result, but it was all I knew.”
way to end the record by singing ‘Happy trails to you, until we By 1967, Duke had begun experimenting with fusion in a
meet again’ to these people, you know?” group featuring the Flying Frenchman, progressive jazz violinist
Jean-Luc Ponty. They held down a longstanding gig at Donte’s
in Hollywood and by 1969 were approached by Dick Bock of the
A native of northern California, Duke was exposed to jazz Pacific Jazz label to record a live album at a Hollywood rock club
at an early age while growing up in a post-WWII housing called Thee Experience. While Duke was accustomed to play-
project for people of color, as he details in the lyrics of ing only acoustic piano at that point, Bock supplied him with a
Dreamweaver’s autobiographical song “Trippin.’” “There was Fender Rhodes electric piano for the live recording. In the audi-
this single guy who lived in the adjacent apartment and he was ence that night was Frank Zappa, who would later compose all
a jazz fan with a good record collection,” he recalls. “At night he the material for 1969’s King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music
would play music — Ray Charles, Les McCann, Miles Davis — and of Frank Zappa, on which Duke played a key role.
it would seep through the walls and into my bedroom. So while Duke ended up joining Zappa’s band in 1970, first appearing on
I’d be lying in bed late at night, between all the sex noises going Chunga’s Revenge and eventually playing on 13 additional Zappa
on over at his place, I would be hearing all this great music. albums during the next several years, including such Zappa

jazziz july 2013 33


Composing for the Prince of Darkness
George Duke composed two songs that appeared on Miles
Davis recordings during the ’80s — “Backyard Ritual,” on
1986’s Tutu, and “Cobra,” on 1989’s Amandla. Says Duke: “Miles
used to call me from time to time and say in that raspy voice,
‘Hey, George, this
is Miles. I want
you to write me a
tune.’ And when
I asked him what
kind of tune he
wanted, he’d yell
into the phone,
‘You know what
I sound like! Just
write me some-
thing like you
think I oughta be
doing NOW!’
“So first I
wrote ‘Barnyard
Ritual’ and sent
him a demo. Then
I didn’t hear from
him for three,
four weeks. So I
called him up and
said, ‘Hey, Miles, this is George. Did you get the tune?’ He told
me he got it and liked it, and I said, ‘Oh, great, man! When
we going in the studio to record it?’ And he kind of grunts,
‘It’s already recorded.’ And I said, ‘What are you talkin’ about,
man? That was a demo. At least let me change the sax and
the drum sounds.’ And he says, ‘No, I like it ’cause it sounds
funny.’ And it went on the record just like that.
“So my first experience working with Miles was a
demo. After that he’d call me from time to time, trying
to get me to come over to his house when he was living
in Malibu. And, basically, every time he called, he’d say,
‘I ain’t dead yet. Write me something.’ I wrote more than
he actually ended up recording because he passed in the
middle of all of this.” —BM
classics as 1973’s Over-Nite Sensation, 1974’s Apostrophe and 1975’s
One Size Fits All, which includes his bravura vocal performance
on the time-shifting, interval-leaping number “Inca Roads.” Duke
says the late guitarist-composer was a key figure in his career.
“I never played synths before Frank. He’s the one who got me to
play synthesizer and also encouraged me to bring my humor out,
to be more tolerant of simpler forms of music. I mean, he really
opened up the doors of my creative awareness. That’s why I’m in
the shape I’m in, musically.”
Following an invaluable stint with the Cannonball Adderley
34 july 2013 jazziz
Quintet in the early ’70s, Duke returned for a second tenure in
Zappa’s band, which lasted through 1975. The following year,
he formed the Billy Cobham-George Duke Band, a powerhouse
fusion outfit featuring former Weather Report bassist Alphonso
Johnson and guitarist John Scofield. “I had met Billy in 1973
when I was in Zappa’s group, and we opened for the Mahavishnu
Orchestra. On that tour is when we first talked about forming
a band. Billy was like a freight train running loose on the rails
back then. We only recorded one album [1976’s Live on Tour in
Europe] but we have lots of extra stuff from that tour that we’re
currently remixing and will be putting out soon.”
By 1980, Duke began pursuing a slightly different muse
when he formed the R&B flavored Clarke/Duke Project with
bassist Stanley Clarke, who appears as a special guest on
Dreamweaver, unleashing one of his signature upright-bass
solos on the lush, large-ensemble number “Stones of Orion.”
“I first met Stanley at a jazz festival in Pori, Finland,” Duke
recalls. “We met in the hallway. Actually, our Afros met in the
hallway. I was trying to pass by him to get to my room, and
our Afros touched. It was a very small hallway. Later I went
downstairs and heard him play. He was sitting in and just jam-
ming, and it was absolutely amazing. Chick Corea was playing
drums, Stanley was playing bass. I was there with Cannonball
Adderley, and he was there with Return To Forever. That’s the
first time we actually started talking, and he heard me play
there with Cannon. Eventually he played on my records, I played
on his, and it continues from there.”
While playing together in an updated edition of the Clarke/
Duke Project, the two old friends have also entered into a new
musical situation that has reaped musical rewards for both men.
“We have begun to do duo concerts, just acoustic bass and piano,
which allows me to stretch out and do some other things that
I don’t do on my normal records and in normal performance.
It’s very challenging. We tried it at the Blue Note in New York
for four nights. We did eight shows there, and it was absolutely
incredible. It actually worked. We kept the attention of the audi-
ence the whole time, just with piano and bass.”
Duke has also recently played several two-piano concerts
with Joe Sample, and they’re planning more. Chick Corea has
also expressed interest in going out with George for a series of
duo concerts. “We talked about doing a two-piano thing but I
said, ‘Man, I don’t want to go out and be embarrassed. I’m not
going out with Chick Corea unless we play the blues all night.’ So
I have a standing joke with him about that.”
Duke also plans to record his next orchestral project (a follow-
up to his triumph at the 1993 Montreux Jazz Festival, docu-
mented on the live recording Muir Woods Suite) by early next
year. “I’ve written a bass concerto for Christian McBride, which is
probably the most astute and mature orchestral writing that I’ve
done so far,” he says. “We premiered it here in Los Angeles a year
or so ago, and I think we’re going to go into the studio and record
it in January or February of 2014.”
While still grieving over the loss of his wife, Duke continues to
fill the hole in his soul with music. And if music is a healing force,
Dreamweaver is an impressive first step on the road to a full recovery. s
Photo by Sharon Alouf
38 july 2013 jazziz
 Playing Smart
Pondering the curious mind and music of Craig Taborn.
By Shaun Brady
Like many of his peers, Craig Taborn forged his sound, at least
partly, in college classrooms. Unlike most of his peers, how-
ever, he didn’t spend much time at college actually studying
music. Instead, Taborn majored in literature at the University of
Michigan and graduated with a general liberal arts degree, secure
in his belief that the non-musical knowledge he gained would
positively influence his playing. “I thought the exclusive study of
music was a waste of my time,” the 43-year-old pianist says today.
“It just felt like a collapsing spiral.”
A born polymath, Taborn had begun his own study of music
years earlier by digging through his father’s eclectic record
collection. As he grew older, he explored a diverse range of music
in the record stores and concert halls of his native Minneapolis,
taking in everything from jazz to heavy metal to electronic music
to hardcore punk. By the time he reached college, he had decided
to concentrate on other areas of study, the results of which are
evident in the intellectual content of his own music.
Thomas Morgan, the bassist in Taborn’s current trio, describes
Taborn as having “a very wide-ranging curiosity about music —
and just about everything else, too, as far as I can tell — and he
goes deep in his studies.”
All of his knowledge, Taborn contends, can be found in his play-
ing. “I always thought that music was enhanced by study,” he says.
“I had a sense that what you learn impacts your creative life, so I
just wanted to explore and understand a lot of different things.”
That open-minded approach to creative inspiration may help
to explain how Chants (ECM), the new CD by Taborn’s trio with
Morgan and drummer Gerald Cleaver, seems to both reinvent
the piano-trio tradition while remaining indebted to it. The fo-
cused, intimate interaction between the three musicians exempli-
fies the format’s ideal, while the dense, mysterious intensity of this
particular group belongs to it alone.
“To make a contribution to that tradition, you have to chal-
lenge yourself to not make constant reference to the past out
of a space of total reverence,” Taborn says on a humid June day
over lunch at a Cuban restaurant near his home in the Flatbush
section of Brooklyn. “It’s just a balance of how much you’re tak-
ing from it and how much you’re offering to it, and I’m definitely
into trying to offer more.”
While Chants is this trio’s debut recording, Taborn has been
touring with Morgan and Cleaver since their first performance
together at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival. He’s been playing with
them individually for even longer. The group’s singular, almost
cryptic sound on Chants, Taborn says, is the result of working
through the music, night after night, over the past six years. “It just
takes risk. You have to risk failing and then working it through.
With this trio, it’s always worked to a certain extent, largely
because it was conceived around Gerald and Thomas, and they’re
not normal thinkers anyway.”
The band continues to develop, according to Cleaver. “Chants rep-
resents a particular moment,” the drummer says. “It’s not meant to
be a definitive statement. In fact, the performances of those songs
now are almost unrecognizable from the originals at times.”
40 july 2013 jazziz
At the Philadelphia Art Alliance in early May, the trio
demonstrated how it had grown since recording Chants nearly
a year earlier. Fluidly segueing from one piece to the next, the
band blurred the lines between composition and improvisation,
suggesting elusive forms without revealing the underlying
architecture. It maintained the delicacy of the interplay heard on
the album while revealing a more forceful element, seemingly
drawn from the audience’s enthusiastic reaction.
The band’s evolution is by design — or, maybe more ac-
curately, a lack thereof. “I don’t like settling on an aesthetic,”
Taborn explains. “I just don’t play jazz and improvisational
music to do that. It’s really through the process of playing that
a group identity forms, and if you’re willing to let that happen
then all this magic starts to happen. You can try to manufacture
it, to move toward an endpoint, but then you have to break up
the group because you haven’t allowed anywhere for it to grow.
My thing, particularly with this group, is the opposite of that. It
just keeps transforming and reinventing.”
Taborn has been transforming and reinventing himself
throughout a career that now exceeds 20 years. He first emerged
as a straightahead pianist accompanying saxophonist James
Carter before unveiling his avant-garde side with multi-reedist
Roscoe Mitchell in a band where he shared piano duties with fellow
forward-thinkers Matthew Shipp and Vijay Iyer. The electronic-
music world discovered him collaborating with Detroit techno
innovator Carl Craig; subsequently Taborn applied elements of their
work to the sprawling, complex jazz compositions of saxophonist
Tim Berne. He is equally at home conjuring sci-fi atmospherics for
guitarist/producer David Torn or laying down a Rhodes groove in
Chris Potter’s Underground.
“I’ve never been a joiner,” Taborn says. Growing up, “I was
interested in everything. I was just as interested in rap and hip-hop
as I was in metal and punk rock and jazz and classical. I didn’t get
into anything exclusively. Ever.”
Taborn was born and raised in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a
suburb just outside of Minneapolis. His father, a psychologist,
played the piano at home and had a healthy collection of blues
and jazz LPs by the likes of Ray Charles and Cannonball Adderley.
He began playing piano at the age of 11 and received his first
synthesizer soon thereafter.
In middle school, Taborn started to regularly attend concerts,
checking out everything from gigs by David Murray or the George
Adams-Don Pullen Quartet to hardcore punk shows. “I had a buddy
in eighth and ninth grade who had his own punk fanzine,” he
recalls. “I started going to see shows with him and realized how
eclectic and creative and strange that stuff could be. You never
knew what you were going to hear.”
Two-thirds of the jazz power trio The Bad Plus, bassist Reid
Anderson and drummer Dave King, also grew up in Golden Valley.
With them, Taborn began combing local record shops and playing
in “stupid suburban basement rock bands doing Van Halen covers.”
Jazz didn’t necessarily exert a stronger pull on Taborn’s at-
tention than did other styles of music, but it did coincide nicely

with his experimental inclinations. “A lot of what I was doing
was improvisational,” he says. “I didn’t and still don’t make
much of a distinction in terms of the process, but I knew that a
lot of the strong examples of improvisation were in jazz. I can’t
say that I was more focused on it than on other music, but it
demanded a certain kind of attention because it was something
I had to learn how to do.”
When Taborn enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor, he was resistant to the idea of transplanting his pas-
sion for music into the classroom. He did begin studying jazz
the old-fashioned way, however — on the bandstand. While at
university, he met Gerald Cleaver and began accompanying the
Detroit native home to play alongside some of that city’s greatest
jazz talent: Marcus Belgrave, Rodney Whitaker, Donald Walden,
James Carter and others. At the time, Taborn says, Cleaver was
a far more straightahead player than his current aesthetic sug-
gests. “He was a very traditional bebop and hard-bop drummer
when I met him. His concept for and appreciation of free playing
grew over the years. He’s coming from a really strong place, but
he’s also very creative and non-traditional. We know so much
about where each other is coming from because we’ve gone
through so many developmental stages together. There’s a whole
history there.”
The two met while auditioning for a jazz combo class — the only
music-related class Taborn attended during his college years — and
instantly found “a mutual recognition,” Cleaver says. “We both set
42 july 2013 jazziz
Thomas Morgan, Gerald Cleaver and Taborn
out on some rhythmic permutation on a standard and instantly rec-
ognized the alien in each other.” Since then, Cleaver has played in
two different permutations of Taborn’s trio (with Morgan or Chris
Lightcap), and the two have also played together in the trio Farmers
By Nature with bassist William Parker, in Danish saxophonist Lotte
Anker’s trio and in bassist Michael Formanek’s quartet.
Taborn’s trips to Detroit led to his first major break, an invita-
tion to join James Carter’s quartet. Subsequently he would ap-
pear on five of Carter’s CDs, beginning with the saxophonist’s
debut as a leader, JC on the Set. Taborn’s affiliation with that quartet
helped establish his early reputation as a straightahead player,
but Carter’s tastes were never so cut-and-dried. Take a CD like
1996’s Conversin’ With the Elders, which features guest appearances
by Hamiet Bluiett, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Lester Bowie, and
includes selections that range from bebop standards to gutbucket
blues to skewed takes on reggae and waltz music.
Carter’s quartet featured the rhythm section of bassist
Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal, both of whom were in
Taborn’s first trio and appeared on his self-titled 1994 debut. The
two were also playing with Geri Allen, Sun Ra, Cassandra Wilson
and others at the time. Together they ushered Taborn into his
next formative experience — playing with Roscoe Mitchell, one
of the leading lights of the Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians.

Possibilities and Limitations
While his own recent releases have concentrated on the acous-
tic piano, Taborn continues to split his focus between acoustic
and electronic playing. “I invest a little bit in each,” he says.
The major difference between the two, Taborn explains, is
the open-ended definition of “electronics.” To him, the word
signifies an approach more than an instrument, and it can
encompass electric keyboards, synths, laptops and all manner
of gadgets and programs. “I don’t view the electronics as one
instrument. I view it as more of a process of engaging with a
lot of different tools, so I always have to reinvestigate what my
instrument is at the time. The piano is always a piano, so your
concept may change but that stays the same.”
The constancy of the piano can be both a strength and a
weakness, Taborn says. When a piano and electronic instru-
ments are both present, the piano “becomes part of the larger
battery. Because you have all this stuff, the piano’s not going to
predominate. It tends to just blend in.”
Removing electronic alternatives, on the other hand, forces
Taborn to take a more inventive approach. “When the piano is
the only tool I have,” he says, “I have to really try to hyperex-
tend it to get some other sounds out of it. Consequently, some-
times I get more mileage out of just playing the piano than if
I have more synths. A lot more will happen sonically because
I’m forced to try to push beyond a boundary. I’ve often found
that with electronics, the more stuff I have, the less actually
happens. I’ve definitely noticed diminishing returns.” —SB
“That was an aesthetic sea change,” Taborn says of playing
with Mitchell. “The lens on how I perceived making music was
definitely changed. Roscoe just had a different way of thinking
about improvising and putting together music. That affected ev-
erything I’ve done, even straightahead playing, since. I just think
really differently. To be honest, I can probably remember how I
would have thought back then, but I can’t remember why I would
have ever thought that way. It totally changed my awareness.”
Taborn says his experiences playing with Mitchell provided
him with the tools needed to play with Tim Berne. That op-
portunity came shortly after he moved to New York City in
1997, during which time he was working more frequently with
electronics in collaboration with Carl Craig. (Taborn plays on
the 1999 album Programmed with Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra.)
Berne says he first approached Taborn after regularly spotting
him in their shared Brooklyn neighborhood. “I used to see him
walking around the street, and I just thought he looked like
a space cadet — in a good way,” the saxophonist recalls. “And
every time I saw him, I would go, ‘I know I’d like to play with
this guy.’ I had this idea for an electronic thing that would cover
guitar and keyboard and bass at the same time.”
Taborn played electronics — including synth, laptop and
Rhodes — in Berne’s trio Hard Cell (with drummer Tom Rainey)
and his quartet Science Friction (which added guitarist Marc
44 july 2013 jazziz
Ducret) through the early 2000s, and the two continue to play
together in bands led by Michael Formanek and David Torn. “He
might be one of the greatest electric bass players in the world not
playing electric bass,” Berne says of Taborn before also praising
his acoustic piano playing. “The thing that separates Craig from
a lot of people is that he has a real sound, a real command over
the sound of the piano. He has an incredible dynamic range and a
variety of touches; it’s not one dimensional. A lot of people just sit
down and play the piano, but with Craig his whole body goes into
it. I’ve seen a million different things come out of him, and I don’t
hear a lot of people who have that much variety in their sounds.”
While his previous work had led to different reputations in
different circles, from electronic music to straightahead jazz to
free improvisation, working with Berne finally brought those
worlds together. “It really forced me to negotiate all those spaces
at once, which I’d never had to do before,” Taborn says. “In each
of the other contexts, one of those elements was removed. I
improvised and played challenging written music with Roscoe,
but on piano; with Craig, I was using all these electronics but it
didn’t require me to deal with so much stuff flying at me. So that
was a huge growth period.”
Taborn’s association with Berne led to opportunities to play and
record with Dave Douglas and Steve Coleman, and to mix it up with
other forward-thinking musicians in New York. He became a regu-
lar at saxophonist David Binney’s Tuesday night sessions at 55 Bar
in Greenwich Village. It was there that he met Morgan for the first
time, which he calls “a revelation,” and also where he played with
Chris Potter in a bassless format that led directly to the formation of
Potter’s long-running electric band Underground.
“I love Craig’s attention to detail and his commitment to being
uncompromising about what he really wants to sound like,” Potter
says. “He’s such a bright guy and so well-versed in so much music,
especially music that’s kind of far from the mainstream. And you can
hear it in his playing. Somehow, even when you’re playing a blues,
you’ll hear these references from contemporary classical music or
death metal or whatever he’s into. It’s inspiring for me to be around.”
Following the release of his 2004 electric quartet CD Junk Magic,
Taborn didn’t release another album under his own name until
2011’s magisterial solo breakthrough Avenging Angel, his debut
on ECM Records. Initially he talked to the label about recording the
trio that eventually made Chants, but misaligned schedules led to
the decision to record a set of solo improvisations instead.
Despite the differences between Avenging Angel and Chants —
one solo, one trio; one improvised, one composed — the two albums
share a similar feeling of fragile intensity and an otherworldly air of
elliptical mystery. Taborn himself sees “a lot of cross talk between the
aesthetics” of the two albums. “They share certain ideas about static
versus dynamic space, engaging with sound in an environment.”
The acclaim that has met both discs appears to be a breakthrough
for Taborn, even as he refuses to settle on a fixed group sound. It’s a
testament to the one constant — an untranslatable beauty — that
runs throughout a music that constantly changes and deepens as he
and his trio continue to perform and we continue to listen. s
Diana Krall
Wayne Shorter Quartet
Bobby McFerrin
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club
Featuring Omara Portuondo
& Eliades Ochoa
George Benson
Prism
Dave Holland, Kevin Eubanks,
Craig Taborn, Eric Harland
Joe Lovano (Artist in Residence)
David Sanborn & Bob James
Featuring Steve Gadd & James Genus
Dave Douglas (Showcase Artist)
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
Gregory Porter
Ravi Coltrane
Dr. Lonnie Smith
Cedar Walton
Lou Donaldson
Big Sam’s Funky Nation
Orrin Evans
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 Auditions
Jaimeo Brown
Transcendence
(Motéma Music)
Knowing that at least some of the
roots anchoring
Transcendence can
be traced back to
research done by
drummer Brown
while assembling
his master’s thesis at
Rutgers may spark
trepidation in many listeners. After all,
projects that start in academia can tend
toward the pedantic. They can seem stiff,
overly formal, all head and no heart — let
alone parts located lower. But Brown’s de-
but on the Motéma imprint is exciting and
vital, an organic amalgam of American
music whose intelligence is foregrounded
by musical adventurism.
The project’s eclecticism is undeni-
able. There’s jazz, as represented by
tenor saxophonist JD Allen, whose brash
delivery is bracing in an age of studio
perfectionism; echoes of blues and rock
from guitarist Chris Sholar; Indian influ-
ences via singer Falu; and the deep gospel
of the Gee’s Bend Quilters, an astonishing
Alabama group whose recordings (some
from as far back as the 1940s) are sampled
to thrilling effect. And as if that’s not
enough, there are also contributions from
Brown’s parents, bassist Dartanyan Brown
and pianist/flutist Marcia Miget, plus
his daughter Selah Brown, who puts her
stamp on the beguiling “I Said” despite
being only 2 years old.
That may sound like too many elements
for an album to contain, but this bursting-
at-the-seams quality turns out to be an
asset, not a deficit. “Mean World” finds com-
mon ground between spiritual lamentation
and vintage skronk; “Somebody’s Knocking”
layers Eastern vocalizing over a cymbal-
splashed soundscape; “Power of God” gains
strength from the subtle interpretations of
48 july 2013 jazziz
pianist Geri Allen; and “This World Ain’t
My Home” is sonic voodoo capable of both
chilling blood and causing it to race.
Somehow Brown manages to keep all
these plates spinning while demonstrat-
ing his virtuosity as a player who knows
when to offer support and when to bring
the thunder. His studies have clearly paid
off. —Michael Roberts
Gerald Clayton
Life Forum
(Concord Jazz)
Pianist Gerald Clayton favors a more col-
laborative dynamic
over displays of
individual virtuos-
ity. On his excellent
new record, that
means establishing
a template based
on the interplay
between instruments and voice.
The blueprint is established on the
opening track, “A Life Forum,” with
vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Sachal
Vasandani echoing the horn section,
adding rich textures on top of poet Carl
Hancock Rux’s recitation of a text in his
rich baritone. It’s a technique the vocal-
ists frequently employ to great effect
elsewhere (“Future Reflection,” “Some
Always”). Parlato, who has earned well-
deserved raves for her wordless vocaliza-
tions on her own records and other musi-
cians’ projects, adds both a sweetness and
a subtle percussive quality to “Deep Dry
Ocean,” on which she mirrors Clayton’s
melodic line with her ethereal soprano.
Equally compelling are Clayton’s cas-
cading harmonies and lush horn melodies.
When Clayton does solo, he’s focused and
concise, delivering impressionistic state-
ments that emphasize melodic contours.
That’s most evident on the piano-bass
duo of “Mao Nas Massa,” which features
Clayton trading terse left- and right-hand
figures on top of drummer Justin Brown’s
Brazilian-inspired rhythms. The melody
never follows a set pattern, yet it doesn’t
feel the least bit scattershot.
Along with his core trio members
— Brown and bassist Joe Sanders — sev-
eral tracks feature trumpeter Ambrose
Akinmusire and saxophonists Logan
Richardson and Dayna Stephens. It’s
a testament to Clayton’s vision as a
bandleader that all of the components
blend so seamlessly. When the horns,
vocals and Clayton’s crystalline piano
solo intersect on the cascading “Like
Water,” the effect is simply majestic.
The same can be said for this album as a
whole. —John Frederick Moore
Laszlo Gardony
Clarity
(Sunnyside)
There’s a telling passage on the opening
track of this solo
recital by Laszlo
Gardony. The
pianist’s tentative
playing on the
song, “Settling of a
Racing Mind,” isn’t
surprising, given
that he spontaneously created all of the
album’s 10 tracks as a way of coping with
the recent deaths of his parents. The warm
chords he selects to introduce the piece
radiate a gospel-like, meditative quality.
Then Gardony abruptly hammers out a
muscular, dissonant chord, which lingers
until the cluster of notes achieves its full
measure of edgy ambiance. Somewhat
jarringly and in rapid succession, the pianist
repeats the same chord and a fragment of
the phrase that follows seven times. Finally,
as the notes soften and the tempo relaxes,
Gardony gathers himself and proceeds in a
more focused manner, seemingly at peace
with his circumstances.
The Hungary-born pianist, composer
Photo by Rebecca Meek
Jaimeo Brown
 The Greyboy Allstars
and longstanding Berklee professor titled
the songs after-the-fact. As with the
opener, wherein it seems that Gardony’s
fingers sometimes have difficulty keep-
ing up with his brain’s flow of ideas and
emotions, each tune delivers a point-of-
view on a wide range of sentiments, from
grief to optimism.
As the program evolves, his concepts
and readings gain focus. The shorter
works that dominate the beginning of
the album, such as “Surface Reflections,”
provide insight into his state of mind via
their slow tempos, the often-halting qual-
ity of Gardony’s touch and the generally
pensive tone that prevails. The heavily
ruminative emotions have passed and the
pianist has changed styles by the time
the ninth track, “Resilient Joy,” arrives.
One of the session’s only two long-form
performances, the piece is energized by
a rollicking tempo and boasts the kind of
folkish Appalachian air that would be at
home in a Copland suite. —Mark Holston
50 july 2013 jazziz
The Greyboy Allstars
Inland Emperor
(Knowledge Room Recordings)
Post-Grateful Dead jam bands share
plenty of common
elements with fu-
sion outfits, includ-
ing a love of groove
and a fondness for
extended structures
(or, oftentimes, a
lack thereof). Hence,
the development of groups that try to ap-
peal both to jazz aficionados and modern-
day hippies with a surplus of Phish in
their diet. But this slope can be slippery,
especially for practitioners of the style
who are less interested in artistic heights
than in the lowest common denominator.
Which brings us to the Greyboy Allstars,
who have built a large and enthusiastic fan
base via near-constant touring and an abil-
ity to win over rock-oriented audiences that
wouldn’t know Charlie Parker from Charlie
Rose. Inland Emperor, the group’s latest, is
certainly eager to please, and it showcases
players with noteworthy chops. But the
deeper a listener digs into its sonic offerings,
the less he’s likely to find.
“Profundo Grosso,” the first track,
features the alternately punchy and swirl-
ing keyboards of Robert Walter, accented
by Elgin Park’s Santana-esque guitar lines,
saxophonist/flutist Karl Denson’s tight
accompaniment and a subtlety-free
rhythm section manned by drummer
Aaron Redfield and bassist Chris Stillwell.
The genre-blurring result is entertaining
enough for its nearly four-minute running
time, but the tune vanishes from memory a
nanosecond later.
The same quandary afflicts vocal
tracks such as “Bitch Inside Me,” a song
with a New Orleans feel that won’t
bring the Meters to anyone’s mind, and
“Old Crow,” which sports lackadaisical
delivery of vapid lines such as “What is
right/Doesn’t really matter.”
Photo by Bruce Tom
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 Other tracks are more noteworthy,
including “Multiplier,” which is marked
by a flowing melody right in Denson’s
wheelhouse, and the pleasingly moody
“Diminishing Blackness.” As a whole,
though, Inland Emperor is apt to leave
most jazzbos hungry for a more substan-
tial meal. —Michael Roberts
Nicole Mitchell’s Ice Crystal
Aquarius
(Delmark)
Flutist Nicole Mitchell moved to California
a couple of years
ago, but it’s clear
that Chicago — her
home base for more
than two decades
— is still imprinted
on her musical DNA.
The experimental
spirit of that city’s improvised music
scene is evident throughout this thor-
oughly creative and highly enjoyable disc.
The central motif of Mitchell’s Ice
Crystal configuration is the shimmering
ambience created by the tonal precision
of Mitchell’s flute and the thick harmo- there’s also the graceful post-bop swing
nies of Jason Adasiewicz’s resonant vibra- of “Adaptability” and the soulful groove
phones. It’s a sound that indeed suggests of “Sunday Afternoon.” But even in those
cool, crystalline textures. Though the familiar contexts, Mitchell’s melodic
opener “Aqua Blue” will instantly bring contours and shifting harmonic colors
to mind the combination of Eric Dolphy upend expectations in the best way.
and Bobby Hutcherson, the remaining  —John Frederick Moore
nine tracks clearly put Mitchell’s wide-
ranging creativity on display in a way Dave Douglas Quintet
that blurs the line between composition Time Travel
and improvisation. (Greenleaf Music)
The arpeggios that dot “Above the Sky” Dave Douglas’ new group is the perfect
suggest contemporary classical music outlet for the
even as the rhythm section occasionally always-creative
injects pockets of swing. The title track trumpeter. While he
begins as an ethereal chamber piece, with has been consis-
Mitchell floating on top of Joshua Abrams’ tently inventive
bowed bass lines, then concludes with a throughout his ca-
free improvisation. Drummer Frank Rosaly reer, some settings
rounds out the all-Chicago lineup, and he find him playing
and Abrams form one of the more flexible in more introverted or laid-back fashion,
and creative rhythm sections around. The but those aren’t issues with this group.
pair can lock into a groove as easily as they Sharing a frontline with tenor saxophon-
can move freely around Mitchell’s swirling ist Jon Irabagon means that Douglas
lines, often on the same song, as on the couldn’t take it easy even if he wanted to.
multi-layered “Yearning.” Irabagon’s muscular playing is full of wit
Lest you think this is all abstraction, and power. With the further assistance

Dave Koz is joined by Mindi Abair, Richard Elliot & Gerald
Albright on Summer Horns to re-interpret an array of
powerhouse horn-heavy songs made famous by Tower of
Power, Chicago, EW&F, James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone,
Ronnie Laws, BS&T and many others.
Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole is one of the most
meaningful recordings of George Benson’s career and is a
testament to the spirit of Cole’s timeless body of work. Benson
provides heartfelt renditions of some Cole’s greatest songs
with guests Idina Menzel, Judith Hill and Wynton Marsalis.
BWB’s Human Nature spotlights three of the most distinct
stylists in contemporary jazz today: trumpeter Rick Braun,
saxophonist Kirk Whalum and guitarist Norman Brown. Each a
musical force in his own right, they team up to give a new spin
to well-known Michael Jackson tunes.

Steve Tyrell, noted singer and song Eliane Elias, the sultry Brazilian pianist-
interpreter, pays tribute to famed vocalist-arranger, wraps her jazz and
songwriter Sammy Cahn whose Great bossa nova style around classic tunes
American Songbook tunes gave life to associated with iconic jazz trumpeter/
the Rat Pack’s repertoire. vocalist Chet Baker.

Available at

Amazon, Amazon.com and the Amazon.com logo are

registered trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
 Advertisement

independentculture Passion-driven independent record companies have produced some of the most
important music in jazz. The tradition continues.

COrinA BArTrA KAiT DUnTOn AnnE WALSH

Cielo Sandunguero (Blue Spiral Music) Mountain Suite (read & imagined Music) Go (Atozink Music)
An innovator in fusing together Peruvian music Los Angeles pianist/composer Kait Dunton’s Anne Walsh’s newest release Go (a follow up to
with jazz, Cielo second album, with her Grammy nominated
Sandunguero is a Bob Mintzer and Peter Pretty World) shines
change of pace for Erskine, is a breath with lyricized selections
Corina Bartra, for the of fresh air. Mountain from Wayne Shorter
singer is joined by a Suite is an album- (“Go”) and Azymuth
small big band that length journey meant (“Cascade of the Seven
includes six horns. She to be heard as a single Waterfalls”) as well
blends in well during narrative — though as classic pieces like
her wordless passages Dunton’s genre- “Cinnamon and Clove,”
with the horns, defying, expansive “So In Love,” and
introduces six of her originals, and performs an compositions for trio and quintet can certainly several originals including the catchy “Bumble
offbeat version of “Night And Day.” The music is stand alone, and merit careful listening. “A Bee” and the dark and moody “Je Vousem
haunting, swinging in its own way, and Ms. Bartra stunning showcase of a jazz newcomer holding Beacoup.” The title track “Go” is a beautiful
gives her sidemen a generous amount of concise her own with legends.” —The Examiner. Wayne Shorter composition re-arranged for
solos. This is one of her better recordings. vocals, featuring Anne, Brian Bromberg, and
Available from www.bluespiralmusic.com riTA MAriE Gary Meek. www.annewalsh.com
So Many Stars (rita Marie Music)
DEBOrAH PEArL Picture yourself in an intimate, New York JAniCE FinLAY
Souvenir of You (Lyrics to Benny Carter salon while listening Anywhere But Here (Self-released)
Classics) (Evening Star) to Rita Marie ‘s From hardbop to heartfelt, toe-tapping to
Deborah Pearl’s “meltingly beautiful voice” debut release, So touching, saxophone
breathes new life into Many Stars . With her to vibraphone, Janice
Benny Carter’s genius lush and passionate Finlay’s latest release
instrumentals in this voice she skillfully Anywhere But Here
moving tribute inspired delivers the intricate is a soul-satisfying
by her friendship with melodies found on listen from start to
the jazz master. Critics this unique collection finish. Finlay’s lyrical
rave, “Her words are of standard gems. saxophone style,
perfect.” “Soulful in Tasteful accompaniment is delivered by Rick evocative originals
all the right places Doll on bass, Giuseppe Pucci on drums, and and all-star cast of top
and a faultless match Jeff Padowitz on piano. Get that massage you Canadian jazz artists merge superbly throughout
for Carter’s stellar compositions.” Scatting to need through your ears with this delightful jazz the disc, showcasing “...great soloing by Finlay
Benny’s solos on two cuts, Phil Woods calls it journey. www.ritamariemusic.com and tight ensemble play” (Chris Smith, Winnipeg
“a magnificent collaboration.” Singers should Free Press) in “a killer contemporary jazz set
flock to titles like “People Time,” “Doozy,” and CArLA MArCiAnO that reaches back for some old man jazz vibes
“Souvenir.” www.deborahpearl.com Stream of Consciousness (Alfa Music) ... Finlay is someone you’ve got to get to know
She is a marvellous saxophonist and improviser, better.”(Chris Spector, Midwest Record Review).
EMY TSEnG consistently www.janicefinlay.com
Sonho (Mei Music) demonstrating
Singer Emy Tseng’s recording debut “marks impressive control of YOKO MiWA
her as one to watch her instruments and Live at Scullers Jazz Club (Self-released)
in the Brazilian her material. David Pianist Yoko Miwa’s fifth CD displays her stylistic
jazz category.” Franklin “She takes range and expertise
—Dan Bilawsky, her liberal breaks in communicating
AllAboutJazz. with a powerful directly in a variety of
com. A collection force, absorbing all moods — standards,
of songs by Brazil’s the energy from the samba, and the
most sophisticated room and channelling it into an open space as blues, three originals
composers (Jobim, would the eruption of a volcano. At other times, (including tribute to
Toninho Horta, the mood shifts toward sensitive ballads.” Benny Green, Mr.
Chico Pinheiro) and eclectic arrangements Jim Santella “One of today’s strongest female B.G.) and two unlikely
of standards including a haunting version of saxophonists.” Mark.F.Turner. transformations of
“California Dreamin’,” Tseng “has honed a rock material. Her trio has become a mainstay at
beguiling sound steeped in jazz and the sensuous Boston’s leading jazz clubs, gaining widespread
rhythms and melodies of Brazil.” —Andrew acclaim and national radio airplay. Last August
Gilbert, Sonho Liner Notes. www.emytseng.com she became the first Japanese female to join the
Berklee College of Music Piano Faculty since
Toshiko Akiyoshi. www.yokomiwa.com

Launch the Digital Edition of this issue at www.jazziz.com and click on the album covers to hear featured tracks.
 JAZZ
of pianist Matt Michael, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Rudy
Royston — all of them playing together as a tight, determined
unit — Douglas is driven to great creative heights.
And the evidence here convincingly suggests that Douglas
inspires his musicians at least as much as they inspire him.
The seven compositions that he contributed to the album
are challenging and spark passionate and intense solos.
While “Law of Historical Memory” is a bit somber, “A Bridge
AT T H E B O W L
to Nowhere” swings hard; “Time Travel’ boasts a nifty
JUL 10
push-and-pull rhythm; “Golden State” fairly bursts with fire
Queen Latifah • Roy Ayers
and energy; and “Beware of Doug” resounds with joy and
jubilation. One of the album’s highpoints is “Little Feet,” an
JUL 17
abstract exploration loosely based on a children’s song that Sergio Mendes • Herb Alpert & Lani Hall
features explosive playing.
Throughout Time Travel, Douglas balances composed passages JUL 31
with improvisational jamming sections and individual solos. In Props to Pops: Dr. John’s Tribute to Louis Armstrong
addition to the brilliance of his sidemen and the high-quality The Blind Boys of Alabama, Dee Dee Bridgewater,
compositions, the album is notable for Douglas taking some of Anthony Hamilton, SPECIAL GUESTS • Terence Blanchard,
the finest trumpet solos of his career. —Scott Yanow Nicholas Payton, Arturo Sandoval, Marcus Belgrave,
Wendell Brunious, GUEST TRUMPETERS
Jacky Terrasson
AUG 2
Gouache Tony Bennett
(Sunnyside)
When Jacky Terrasson first emerged, winning the Thelonious AUG 7
Monk Piano Competition in 1993 and re- Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
cording for Blue Note the following year, FEATURING Edie Brickell
he was thought of by some as a French, Preservation Hall Jazz Band • Madeleine Peyroux
modern-day Bud Powell who would HollywoodBowl.com |
help keep bebop alive. Terrasson instead AUG 14 323.850.2000
An Evening with Natalie Cole • Chucho Valdés
developed his own voice, consistently
using his superb technique and vivid
AUG 18
imagination to create new music and to Smooth Summer Jazz
occasionally play standards in unusual ways. Dave Koz & Friends Summer Horns Tour 2013
On Gouache, a trio outing with bassist Burniss Earl Travis II WITH SPECIAL GUESTS Mindi Abair, Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot
and drummer Justin Faulkner plus a few guests, Terrasson keeps Morris Day & The Time • Jonathan Butler • Yellowjackets
listeners guessing. The opening “Try To Catch Me” could’ve been
subtitled “Try To Figure Out the Time Signatures.” A rapid bass AUG 21
line, handclapping and speedy piano patterns regularly appear
Buddy Guy • Funky Meters
and disappear, alternating with brief, relaxed sections in 4/4.
AUG 28
The next track, a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” is an uptempo
Wayne Shorter 80th Birthday Celebration
acoustic-trio romp when it’s not a slower funky number aug- Wayne Shorter Quartet WITH Danilo Perez, John Patitucci,
mented with electronics. Terrasson’s sly wit, evident on several Brian Blade and special guest Herbie Hancock
of these performances, comes to the fore during a version of the ACS: Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding
late Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” which the keyboardists renders Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas Quintet: “Sound Prints”
as a relaxed strut complemented by surprising emotional
outbursts. The album also includes a pair of romantic songs with SEP 11
George Benson Inspiration Tour –
vocals provided by Cécile McLorin Salvant (one apiece in French
A Tribute to Nat King Cole
and English); versions of “Valse Hot” and “C’est Si Bon” that are Dianne Reeves
completely unrecognizable before the themes emerge; and brief
but effective appearances by bass clarinetist Michel Portal and
trumpeter Stephane Belmondo.
Terrasson, who emulates Keith Jarrett’s bluesiness and use of
repetition on “Happiness,” performs music that is both unpredict-
HOLLYWOOD BOWL
able and stimulating. He does not have to worry about anyone ON SALE NOW!
HollywoodBowl.com | 323.850.2000
accusing him of being a revivalist. —Scott Yanow
Groups (10+)
800.745.3000 323.850.2050
Programs, artists and dates subject to change