Innehållsförteckning för July - August 2016 från JazzTimes

Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the creation of the Verve Label Group and appointed Grammy-winner Danny Bennett—manager of his father, Tony Bennett—as the new organization’s president and CEO. The new Verve Label Group, which will relocate to New York under Bennett’s leadership, will also include Verve and UMG’s U.S. classical labels Deutsche Grammophon, Decca Records, Decca Classics and Mercury Classics, in addition to ECM Records, which is distributed by Universal in the U.S. The Jazz Journalists Association named the recipients of its 2016 JJA Jazz Awards for Musical Achievement. Among the top honorees are Henry Threadgill (Lifetime Achievement in Jazz), Maria Schneider (Musician of the Year) and Kamasi Washington (Up and Coming Artist of the Year). The full list of awardees can be viewed at jjajazzawards.org .…

The collaboration of guitar and organ has long been embedded in jazz. The tone and the timbre of the two instruments make a very good blend in different contexts. Also, being that they’re both electric instruments, players can command their dynamics. On the guitar they have touch, which gives them control of volume and articulation, but they also have the volume knobs to make the signal louder or softer, which is the same as the organ. I use a volume pedal a lot when I play, and basically that’s an organ thing. They are definitely in the same family. Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery “JAMES AND WES” Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo (Verve, 1966) What comes out more than anything here is the warmth of Wes and the groove…

Predictions are for suckers, in music as in politics, but I’m prepared to say we probably won’t hear a heavier new track from a jazz combo this season than “In the Court of the Trolls.” The band in question is the Hedvig Mollestad Trio, from Norway, and the track appears on its fourth studio album, Black Stabat Mater (Rune Grammofon). With its convulsive snarl of chromatic riffs in 11/8 time, it’s a quaff drawn from the brackish well of prog-metal. But as the trio hurtles on, clearing room for an echoey, intrepid guitar solo, it also aligns with a jazz-rock axis. Hedvig Mollestad is the guitarist, in any case. She sounds like a holy terror. That much hasn’t changed since Mollestad released her debut album, Shoot!, five years ago. Her…

“IT’S SOUND, MAN—THAT’S THE FIRST THING THAT PEOPLE HEAR, BEFORE THEY EVEN START TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE NOTES YOU’RE PLAYING. THE SOUND OF YOUR INSTRUMENT IS YOUR VOICE, MAN. … JUST LIKE ORSON WELLES, OR JAMES EARL JONES OR PAUL ROBESON.’’ Russell Malone may be a jazz-guitar traditionalist in the spirit of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and the late Jim Hall, but he’s no purist. The first tipoff is when he picks me up at the train station in Jersey City, a 10-minute drive from the handsome four-story row house he calls home. The car stereo in his immaculate, late-model black Volvo S80 is set to a SiriusXM station, but not a jazz one. It’s vintage soul, and the first song that hits me is Percy Sledge’s recording of…

When Prince died suddenly on April 21, his music’s infamous absence on the Internet—the pop icon was a painstaking defender of his catalog—had fans sharing a small handful of available clips on social media. One of the most popular, and most unexpected, was a video of a soundcheck from his Musicology Tour of 2004. It features just under three minutes of Prince (on guitar) and members of his band jamming joyfully on a funky arrangement of Wayne Shorters “Footprints.” Covers were rare from Prince, an extremely prolific and successful songwriter; a jazz standard was almost unprecedented. But perhaps the surprise should be that it took him so long. Jazz was from the beginning of his 40-year career an essential part of the genre-busting musicians palette. “He was very much a…

Yamaha THR100H/THR100HD Modeling Amps Yamaha launched its THR modeling amps with some great-looking, great-sounding units best suited for writing tunes or learning licks in the parlor. Now, with the THR100HD ($799 online) and THR100H ($599) heads (and their sold-separately cabinets), the line is a real stage and studio contender. At NAMM, the THR100HD—that’s D for Dual—seriously impressed us: five amp types, five tube types and two truly independent amps in one box, for switching or blending—and no vintage-tube-combo hassle. usa.yamaha.com New From Gretsch Think Gretsch guitars are only for rockers, rockabilly cats and Nashville session aces? Then you might want to check out Freddie Green, Sal Salvador, Mickey Baker, Harry Volpe, George Van Eps, Brad Shepik, Bucky Pizzarelli or any of the other jazz masters who’ve taken up the brand’s…

THUMBSCREW [Mary Halvorson, Michael Formanek,Tomas Fujiwara] Convallaria The work of a true collective with all three players contributing compositions and taking equal responsibility for shaping the music. I.P.A. I Just Did Say Something A powerhouse Scandinavian quintet exploring the jagged contours of form and freedom, featuring members of Atomic, The Thing and Motif. THE CLAUDIA QUINTET Super Petite Their eighth CD packs the wit and virtuosity listeners expect from this critically-acclaimed, proudly eccentric band, into shorter time frames. REZ ABBASI & JUNCTION Behind the Vibration A modern, electric jazz album from musicians employing a breadth of influences from jazz & beyond as well as current technologies. Before you buy, listen at: cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com Buy these and thousands of other interesting releases at our online store: waysidemusic.com…

Before we get to the message, let us praise the logistics management. What poor, sleep-deprived soul was tasked with editing down the recent White House jazz concert, which stretched toward two and a half resourcefully efficient hours, into the single hour that aired on network television the following night? It was a necessary duty, sure, but also an absurd one. This all-star bonanza, hosted by the Obamas on April 29, was already engineered like a Swiss watch. Headliner-caliber musicians from around the globe rotated in and out with enough ease to suggest an oldies roadshow. Individual performances were kept to pop length but didn’t feel truncated. Well, with some exceptions. Chick Corea, on keys, guitarist John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter, on soprano saxophone, tabla master Zakir Hussain, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, electric…

The acclaimed Scottish-born saxophonist Joe Temperley, a veteran of the Duke Ellington and Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestras, died May 11 in New York City. The cause was complications related to gastrointestinal stromal tumors. He was 86. Flutist Jeremy Steig, who played with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, Bill Evans, Denny Zeitlin and others before finding success in fusion with his textural technique and global inflections, died April 13 in Japan, where he’d lived since 2010. The cause was cancer. He was 73. Nick Menza, a rock and fusion drummer best known for his work with the band Megadeth, died May 21 in Studio City, Calif., while performing at the Baked Potato with the jazz-rock trio OHM. The cause was a heart attack. Menza was the son of saxophonist and educator…

THE ELEVENTH HOUSE Introducing the Eleventh House With Larry Coryell (Vanguard 1974) Larry Coryell, who had gained acclaim via his work with Herbie Mann and Gary Burton, used his searing lead guitar and unpredictable flights of improvisation to lead a group of future stars including trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Alphonse Mouzon, along with pianist Mike Mandel and bassist Danny Trifan. The ambitious compositions are alternately trippy and hinged to fierce grooves informed by funk, rock and jazz. The psychedelic-leaning atmospherics are enhanced by Coryell’s experimental touches and Brecker’s wah-wah. Opener “Birdfingers,” with its speedy lines and shapeshifting form, is a highlight that sets the tone for the rest of the 10 tracks. THE GARY BURTON QUARTET Duster (RCA Victor, 1967) With the addition of the fiery guitar…

RICHARD CORSELLO IS UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO give advice to musicians trying to make their own live recordings on the cheap. “The key is to mic as close as possible to the sound source,” he says. “That includes using directs and contact mics. In a club, if you have overhead cymbal mics and the bass player is close to the drummer, you’re going to have bass coming into the cymbal mics. So use close mic’ing on each instrument. Then, to capture the environment—the audience, the applause—use a room mic, and mix the two together.” For recording, as well as for mixing, editing and “buffing,” he says, “Get yourself as much Pro Tools as you can, and get a Reamp. I have a 24-channel Pro Tools 12, but if you can’t do…

BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET/ SPECIAL GUEST KURT ELLING UPWARD SPIRAL (OKeh) How did one of the best and most important jazz bands around—saxophonist Branford Marsalis, pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner—come to unite with one of the best and most important jazz vocalists? The idea ignited when Marsalis and Kurt Elling met during the 2014 Monk competition. Two years on, immediately prior to a New Orleans recording session, Elling and the quartet shared a weekend engagement at Snug Harbor, finding their collective groove and testing various songs. That Elling becomes fully one with the group—this is truly a quintet album—is evident from the opening moments of “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York,” its feverish pace finally slowing as he adlibs 90 seconds of wolfish…