Sound Prints

Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano's quintet with Lawrence Fields, Linda Oh, and Joey Baron. So killing:

Money Jungle

Worth your time: Terri Lyne Carrington reworks the classic Ellington/Mingus/Roach album Money Jungle (which she recorded herself last year):

Personnel
Terri Lyne Carrington: drums
Aaron Goldberg: piano
Tia Fuller: soprano sax, alto sax, flute, narration
Antonio Hart: alto sax, flute
Claus Reichstaller: trumpet, flugelhorn
James Genus: bass

Setlist
Money Jungle
Fleurette Africaine
Very Special
Wig Wise
Switch Blade
A Little Max
No Boxes
Come Sunday
Grass Root

Live at the 45th Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen, Wackerhalle, Germany, March 27, 2014

tUnE-yArDs at Coachella

Not quite jazz, but I love the way Merrill Garbus incorporates improvisation into her live performances.

Ornette

Ornette Coleman Trio Performing The Soundtrack (1966):

Via @destinationout

Esperanza Plays The Daily Show

Part 1:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Esperanza Spalding - "Black Gold"
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Part 2:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Esperanza Spalding - "Crowned & Kissed"
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Happy Birthday Herbie

Rudresh Mahanthappa's Tiny Desk Concert

I totally slept on Rudresh's last album (Samdhi), must catch up.

Via NPR Music

Eric Harland makes ruins sound like a drum kit

Via NPR Music. Eric Harland sounds like I think I do when I drum on my desk with pens, except a million times better. 

Trombone Shorty plays Tiny Desk

Just call him George Steer-ing

Not an Onion video, Playing jazz for cows in France:

I've been a vegetarian for ethical reasons (i.e. anti-factory farming) for four years. However, I would most definitely eat a steak made from one of these cows. I'd put some Miles on my turntable while I ate it, too.

Happy Birthday Bird

1. Ballad (Hawkins, Bird, Jones, Brown, Rich)
2. Celebrity (Bird, Jones, Brown, Rich)

Personnel: Charlie Parker, alto saxophone; Coleman Hawkins, tenor saxophone; Hank Jones, piano; Ray Brown, bass; Buddy Rich, drums

First of the Month

Avishai Cohen did a studio session for The Checkout recently:

I like his latest album (featuring Nasheet Waits on drums and Omer Avital on bass) more and more with each listen. Also, Nasheet Waits wins the week for his sweet Unity tee.

Dave Holland

Happy 64th to Dave Holland.

Dave Holland 5tet from Eu2020 on Vimeo.

h/t: Donna

Happy Birthday Wayne

It's Funny Because It's True

Comedian Paul F. Tompkins on jazz:

Jokes.com
Paul F. Tompkins - Jazz is Lousy
comedians.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Russell Simmon Stand-Up Comedy

Whether you like the bit or not, this guy has clearly listened to some jazz, otherwise he wouldn't know about musicians laughing on stage. Not for nothing, this is Exhibit A in my case for rebranding jazz.

It's Tuesday

And all I want to do is hear Dizzy Gillespie.

More Diz after the jump...

Great Moments in iPod Shuffles

1. Steve Reich: Six Marimbas

-

2. Jason Moran Bandwagon: Out Front

Dave Holland: A Latter Day Art Blakey

Of the generation of musicians who came of age during the development of bebop, Art Blakey is remembered as the great teacher of subsequent generations of jazz musicians. His band, The Jazz Messengers, are frequently referred to as a university of jazz in the historical literature. And his place in this slightly mythologized narrative is secure. His former sidemen, which includes Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Donald Harrison, and Terence Blanchard, all credit Blakey to their developments as musicians. Blakey is the classic evangelist, as the tall tale goes:

Art was driving to an out-of-town job and passed through a village where traffic was completely tied up because of a funeral procession. Since he couldn't get past the cemetery until the service was over, he got out and listened to the eulogy. The minister spoke at length about the virtues of the deceased, and then asked if anyone had anything else to add. After a silence during which nobody spoke up, Art said, "If nobody has anything to say about the deceased, I'd like to say a few words about jazz!"¹

Such was Blakey, always educating. And he is not the only musician who should be championed for his role as a bandstand professor. Dave Holland has served as a kind of Dean of Postbop for the past 30 years. His working bands, while they lack the brand name of Blakey's Messengers, have nonetheless served as a revolving door of talent which Holland nurtures. Like Blakey, Holland has an impressive record of graduates: Chris Potter, Steve Coleman, Eric Harland, and Kenny Wheeler, to name but a few.

But the analogy runs deeper than that. It is one thing to hire a bunch of up-and-coming sidemen, but quite another to let them develop as individuals while keeping your own stamp on the band at the same time. Holland and Blakey were both members of their respective rhythm sections; they could not be as overtly dominant as a front line player. Indeed, both men also recorded many original compositions written by their sidemen, and are remembered by their sidemen for their encouragement in contributing tunes to the book. But at the same time, the recorded outputs of Blakey and Holland each bear a distinctive sound. You know whose band is on the stand anytime either plays. It takes a special kind of musical leader to develop such a recognizable style with a continually changing cast of musicians passing through their bands.

Holland's recordings always seem to be well-received, but he has not quite reached the historical status of Blakey. Of course Blakey had the benefit of one of his sidemen acquiring an incredibly powerful position for mythmaking (ahem), but that's not territory I wish to cover here. Blakey also played during a time when stylistic categories within jazz were less complicated (it's much easier to approach a definition of hard bop than it is for postbop). However, if we can call the Jazz Messengers Hard Bop Academy, I think it's about time we start calling Holland's quintet the School for Postbop Studies.

Bonus material after the jump.

Hope you were good this year...

Holiday Weekend

A little late, but enjoy...