JAZZ at MAYO PAC
Orchestra. Photo by Gilberto Tadday
ALL THAT’S JAZZ
BY CYDNEY HALPIN
Happy New Year!!
Once again, it’s been a privilege to serve the New Jersey Jazz Society as Board president this past year, and I’d like to begin the New Year by thanking my fellow Board members for their support and dedication to the continued growth and development of NJJS.
I’d also like to acknowledge and thank all of the Jersey Jazz contributing editors and contributing photographers whose volunteerism and expertise have filled these magazine pages this past year.
With much gratitude I’d like to thank the following people and organizations/companies who contributed to the ongoing efforts and operations of NJJS in 2024: Sanford Josephson, editor and Mike Bessire, art director of Jersey Jazz, Christine Vaindirlis/ NJJS webmaster, Derek Forehand/ Prism Digital, NJJS’s Advisory Com-
mittee members Don Braden, Mariel
Bildsten, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, and Jason Olaine, Nan Hughes Poole, John Pietrowski & Caroline Romanelli/ Madison Community Arts Center, Jay Dougherty, James Pansulla, Cynthia Feketie, Ryan Roberts/1202 Creations, Tony Freeman, Tom Salvas, Vanessa Garnant, Patti Graham, Chuck Granata, Castle Printing, Jim Burns, Sandwiches Unlimited, and Bob Rizzo.
Advertisers are the sustaining life force for Jersey Jazz, as membership fees alone are insufficient to finance a publication of this caliber. Thank you to all who advertised this past the year, and to the many who have done so year after year. The Board and I are so grateful for your continued patronage.
With much appreciation, I’d like to acknowledge Morris Arts whose support—through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts—helped fund this year’s Jersey
Jazz LIVE! events, and who have generously committed to continued funding in 2025. Our 2024 programming was also proudly supported by a grant from The Summit Foundation. (Please note: Jersey Jazz LIVE! events can be enjoyed anytime for free on the New Jersey Jazz Society YouTube channel.)
Lastly, I’d like to acknowledge and thank our NJJS members and patrons. YOU are the heart and soul of this organization. Lists are tricky and my sincerest apologies if I’ve inadvertently omitted anyone.
Start the New Year with us Sunday, January 5, 2025, for our LIVE! concert featuring the Anderson Brothers Trio, as they present music in support of Will’s new book Songbook Summit. Come enjoy an afternoon with these joyous musicians, speak to the author, purchase a book and have it signed, and revel in the music of the great American Songbook. “These guys flood
the room with joy”—The Seattle Times The Rising Stars/Opening Act will showcase a trio lead by alto saxophonist Anish Alur of Ridge High School in Basking Ridge. A member of the All-State Jazz Ensemble, a member of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra led by Gerald Clayton at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and a 2024 Young Arts Award winner, bandleader Alur, along with bassist Chris Maratea and drummer Ishan Alur, are sure to kick the New Year off right! This LIVE! concert is generously sponsored by Rachel Domber/ ARBORS Records.
Admission is $10 members/$15 non-members/$5 children/students (w/ID). Doors open at 2:30 p.m., concerts begin at 3:00 p.m. Refreshments are available for purchase. Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Free street parking is available. Tickets available at: artsintrinsic.ticketleap.com/ njjs-anderson-brothers-01-05-25.
For more information about this event please see njjs.org/january-jersey-jazz-live-anderson-brothers-trio. (Please note: There will be a price increase for LIVE! events starting April 2025—$15 Members / $20 non-members / $5 children/student(with ID)).
The New Jersey Jazz Society was founded in 1972 with the mission of promoting and preserving jazz. The past two years have seen a renewed commitment to these founding tenets, with the expansion of our Juried Scholarship Competition and the Rising Stars/Opening Act at our Jersey Jazz LIVE! events. We could not have done this without your support through membership dues, event attendance, and the generosity of donors like yourself. Please consider helping NJJS continue its performance and educational initiatives by donating to our “Charting the Future … with YOU!” fundraising campaign either by mail, or
ANYTIME online at www.njjs.org via the red “Donate” button conveniently located at the top of our homepage.
Would you like to maximize the impact of your gift? Many of you work for employers that have a matching gift program—that will double the impact of your gift for free—by completing and submitting a simple form. Check with your Human Resources Department for further information. You can also make a tax-efficient gift from your IRA today! Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) , also known as IRA CharitableRollovers, are the savviest way for individuals 701/2 or older to use their IRAs to maximize their charitable giving. Your IRA donation is a generous way to fulfill your required minimum distribution for the year. Gifts generated directly from your IRA will save you on taxes while helping NJJS fulfill its mission to promote and preserve jazz. Every donation—large or
small—gets us closer to our $25,000 goal. If you’ve already contributed to this campaign, we thank you. If you haven’t already done so, please consider a tax-deductible gift (to the extent allowed by law) today.
A very special thank you to those who have already donated to this campaign. Given your generosity, we’re 1/3 of the way to our $25,000 appeal goal! On behalf of my fellow Board members, we thank you for all you do to support jazz music and education. you make it all possible! together we’re preserving the future of this uniquely American art form.
NJJS’s 2025 Juried Scholarship Competition—which will award a $1,000 and a $500 prize in each of two categories: Jazz Performance and Original Composition—is accepting entries. The competition is open to all students currently enrolled in a New Jersey college undergraduate music
program, as well as to Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out of state college undergraduate program. Proof of residency is required for Jersey applicants in out of state schools.
Please visit our website at njjs.org/ competition for more detailed information regarding the competition’s rules and regulations. Please contact NJJS President Cydney Halpin at pres@njjs. org if you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your applications!
Save the Date Sunday, February 2nd, as we celebrate Black History Month with a Centennial Celebration of saxophonist Gigi Gryce with the Bruce Williams Quintet. This LIVE! event is generously sponsored by NJJS member Noal Cohen. Please see page 09 for more details.
The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.—Melody Beattie
EDITOR’S CHOICE
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
An Evening with Bill Crow
The 1959 Columbia album, What Is There to Say?, was the last of Gerry Mulligan’s pianoless quartet recordings, and AllMusic’s Scott Yanow called it “one of the best.” It was a favorite of tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon, who was a teenager when he first heard it. Mulligan’s quartet members were trumpeter Art Farmer, drummer Dave Bailey, and bassist Bill Crow, and, said Weldon, “They were stars to me.”
So, more than 60 years after the album’s release, it was very special for Weldon to play Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone” with Crow at the celebration of the bassist’s 97th birthday at Shanghai Jazz in Madison, NJ. The party was held on December 18, nine days before Crow’s actual birthday on December 27.
The evening was hosted by the 22-year-old pianist Leonieke Scheuble, a recent graduate of William Paterson, who has been playing with Crow for several years as part of the Three Generations of Jazz Trio. The trio’s drummer is Leonieke’s father, Nick Scheuble, who is 62. During the pandemic, the three, plus several other musician friends, began having sessions in the Scheuble’s Rockaway, NJ, backyard, and the tradition has continued.
“We play six or seven tunes in five hours,” Leonieke told the Shanghai Jazz audience, “because it’s about 25 per cent playing and 75 per cent stories.”
Other guests during the first set were guitarist Flip Peters, tenor saxophonist Bob Hanlon, and vocalist and NJJS President Cydney Halpin, who joined the trio and Weldon on a spirited per-
formance of Walter Hirsch and Fred Rose’s “Deed I Do”. Leonieke’s older sister, Natasha, is an opera singer, and she treated the audience to her powerful interpretation of the Matt Dennis/ Earl K. Brent standard, “Angel Eyes”.
The Scheubles and Crow first played together in November 2015 at New Brunswick’s Hyatt Regency Hotel in an event called “A Night of Soul Jazz”, sponsored by the New Brunswick Jazz Project. The group was a quartet, with Bill Easley on tenor saxophone (See unrelated interview with Easley on page 27).
I got to know Crow in April 2013 when I interviewed him in his Rockland County backyard about Gerry Mulligan (for my book, Jeru’s Journey). He also writes a bimonthly column, “From the Crow’s Nest” in Jersey Jazz, and the stories he relates are endless and delightful.
Leonieke once told me she was
particularly impressed by the pulse of Crow’s bass playing on the 1960 Verve album, Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at the Village Vanguard. Nat Hentoff apparently agreed with her assessment. In the album’s liner notes, he wrote that, “Bill Crow’s bass solo leads into a crackling series of exchanges between Gerry Mulligan and Clark Terry.”
During our conversation 12 years ago, Crow related to me the magic of the concert jazz band, with Mulligan, Terry, and Bob Brookmeyer playing together. The sound of the band, he said, “was a blending of all the different colors, like the weaving of a tapestry. With Clark in the trumpet section and Brookmeyer in the trombone section, and Gerry in the saxophone section, we could open up any chart we wanted to.”
The players are different now, but Bill Crow continues to create musical magic.
ABOUT NJJS
Founded in 1972, The New Jersey Jazz Society has diligently maintained its mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form—jazz. To accomplish our mission, we produce a monthly magazine, Jersey Jazz ; sponsor live jazz events; and provide scholarships to New Jersey college students studying jazz. Through our outreach program Generations of Jazz, we provide interactive programs focused on the history of jazz. The Society is run by a board of directors who meet monthly to conduct Society business. NJJS membership is comprised of jazz devotees from all parts of the state, the country and the world.
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Members at Bandleader level and above and Corporate Memberships receive special benefits. Please contact Membership@njjs.org for details. The New Jersey Jazz Society is qualified as a tax exempt cultural organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Federal ID 23-7229339. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. For more Information or to join, visit www.njjs.org
Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society
VOLUME 53 • ISSUE 01
Jersey Jazz (ISSN 07405928)
is published monthly for members of The New Jersey Jazz Society
382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07901 973-229-0543 • info@njjs.org
Membership fee is $45/year.
All material in Jersey Jazz, except where another copyright holder is explicitly acknowledged, is copyright ©New Jersey Jazz Society 2025. All rights reserved. Use of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the NJJS.
Editorial Staff
EDITOR
Sanford Josephson, editor@njjs.org
ART DIRECTOR
Michael Bessire, art@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR
Mitchell Seidel, photo@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Noal Cohen, Bill Crow, Joe Lang, Vincent Pelote, Jay Sweet
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
John Abbott, Winnie Au, Joseph Berg, Bob Coscolluella, William P. Gottlieb, Jack Grassa, Catherine Hancock, Shervin Lainez, Shakiru
Bola Okoya, Gilberto Tadday, George Wirt
WEBMASTER
Christine Vaindirlis
WEBSITE DESIGN
Prism Digital
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Cydney Halpin, advertising@njjs.org
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New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2024
PRESIDENT
Cydney Halpin, pres@njjs.org
EXECUTIVE VP vicepresident@njjs.org
TREASURER
Mike Katz, treasurer@njjs.org
VP, MEMBERSHIP membership@njjs.org
VP, PUBLICITY
Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com
VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING
Mitchell Seidel, music@njjs.org
RECORDING SECRETARY Irene Miller
CO-FOUNDER
Jack Stine
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Mike Katz
DIRECTORS
Jay Dougherty, Cynthia Feketie, Paul Flexner, Pete Grice, Carrie Jackson, Caryl Anne McBride, Robert McGee, James Pansulla, Stew Schiffer, Elliott Tyson, Jackie Wetcher
ADVISORS
Don Braden, Mariel Bildsten, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, Jason Olaine
Jersey Jazz LIVE!
THE ANDERSON BROTHERS
“Songbook Summit” with guitarist Adam Moezinia SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 3:00 PM
Madison Community Arts Center 10 KINGS ROAD, MADISON, NJ
STREET PARKING ON KINGS ROAD $ 10 MEMBERS | $ 15 NON-MEMBERS
$ 5 STUDENTS (WITH VALID I.D.)
Funding for this concert has graciously been provided by RACHEL DOMBER / ARBORS RECORDS
Bruce Williams Quintet to Celebrate Black History Month with Centennial Tribute to Gigi Gryce
Gryce Left a Substantial Legacy of Outstanding Recordings and Compositions, Many of Which Endure to This Day
BY NOAL COHEN
Saxophonist Bruce Williams, who hails from Washington, D.C. and currently resides in Montclair, NJ, has made his presence known on the jazz scene by garnering critical attention with his own enthusiastically received CD releases, Brotherhood and Altoicity (Savant Records), and Private Thoughts (Passin’ Thru Records). In addition, he’s made an indelible impression as a sideman on more than 40 recording sessions. Williams has performed, toured, and recorded with a long roster of jazz legends including
saxophonist/flutist Frank Foster, pianist Stanley Cowell, The Count Basie Orchestra, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and trumpeter Roy Hargrove, to name a few. As an educator, he is or has been involved with Jazz House Kids, Bard College, Princeton University, The New School, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the Juilliard School.
On Sunday, February 2, at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center, Williams’ quintet with Freddie Hendrix (trumpet), Elliot Bernard (piano), Chris Berger (bass) and Alvester
Bruce Williams
Garnett (drums) will participate in Black History Month by celebrating the centennial of another great musician—saxophonist, composer, arranger, educator Gigi Gryce (1925-1983).
Gryce never attained superstar status in the jazz world; in fact his career as a musician only lasted about eight years. Nonetheless, during that time, he left a substantial legacy of outstanding recordings and compositions many of which endure to this day.
He was one of a group of accomplished, talented, and innovative jazz instrumentalists and composers of the 1950s including his friends such as Clifford Brown, Benny Golson, Horace Silver and Randy Weston. All of these artists helped transform bebop into a richer and more diverse genre that came to be known as hard bop and set the stage for the even more radical developments of the 1960s. Although eventually overshad-
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE!
owed by his longer-tenured contemporaries, Gryce participated in many recording sessions between 1953 and 1961, often as leader. And he composed prolifically, with his body of work including such frequently performed pieces as “Minority” and “Social Call.” His talents and interests, however, extended beyond the boundaries of those usually associated with jazz artists. He was a pioneer in music publishing and served as a mentor to younger aspiring musicians who needed assistance with problems both musical and professional. In many ways, Gryce was far from the stereotype of the jazz musician of his time.
Throughout his career, he collaborated with a number of noted trumpet players including Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, and Richard Williams. With Byrd, he co-led an ensemble known as the Jazz Lab which made several highly regarded
recordings in 1957. Utilizing a structured but strongly swinging approach, the Jazz Lab helped establish the standard for small group repertoire and performance during this period.
Gryce’s last ensemble was called the Orch-Tette and added vibraphone to the saxophone-trumpet front line.
As a music publisher, Gryce’s pioneering efforts to protect African-American composers’ rights were courageous but ill-fated and
led to serious professional and personal difficulties. In 1963, he left music and became a teacher in the New York City school system using his Muslim name, Basheer Qusim.
For 20 years, he taught at several schools, most notably C.E.S. 53 in the South Bronx, renamed The Basheer Qusim/G.G. Gryce School in his honor, after his death in 1983. He had earned an M.S. in Education Administration and Supervision from
Fordham University in 1978 and was working towards a doctorate when he passed away at the age of 57.
The Williams ensemble will play several of Gryce’s compositions and, in addition to the music performances, I will discuss the artist’s life and music. I am co-author with Michael Fitzgerald of Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce, now in its second edition.
: The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for NJJS members and $15 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase. This LIVE! celebration is generously sponsored by NJJS member Noal Cohen.
Gigi Gryce
Barbara Carroll: Pioneering Female Pianist Who Began Singing to Please Her Fans
“She Embodied a Timeless Bohemian Elegance and Artistic Grace”
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Pianist/vocalist Barbara Carroll’s first influence was Nat King Cole.
“Most people,” she explained to me in 2008, “do not realize that at the beginning of his career, he was only a jazz musician. He didn’t start singing until later. He began singing, I think, because he had his trio, and they were just playing instrumentally in some club in California, and people would come in and say, ‘Hey, don’t you know the words to that song?’ I guess he did know the words, and he started singing. That’s what happened to me many years later.” Carroll, who passed
away on February 12, 2017, at the age of 92, would have celebrated her centennial birthday on January 25.
For several years, Carroll played every Sunday during brunch in the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room, and, until December 2016, she also performed early Saturday evenings with bassist Jay Leonhart at Birdland. In 1986, when Carroll was playing regularly at Bemelman’s Bar in the Carlyle Hotel, The New York Times’ John S. Wilson described her singing as having “an ability to be simple, gentle, and emotionally moving.” The gig at Bemelman’s,
Barbara Carroll’s trio in the late ‘40s with bassist Clyde Lombardi and guitarist Chuck Wayne
which began in 1978, lasted 25 years.
The Times’ Stephen Holden said Carroll treated lyrics “as light verses with personal messages.” Pointing out that she was often introduced as “the first lady of jazz piano,” Holden added that, “with her bright red hair piled high, she embodied a timeless bohemian elegance and artistic grace.” Her piano and vocal selections ranged from Bach to Sondheim, but, “Behind it all,” Holden said, “was Ms. Carroll’s steady, unfailing sense of swing.”
Will Friedwald, in his book, A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers (Pantheon Books: 2010), said Carroll’s singing was “as lean and spare as her playing is opulent, but also as trim as her fingers themselves ... Clearly, she prefers the kind of story-songs that are more about the ability to convey a narrative rather than to hold a note.”
At age 15, Carroll formed her own combo and started playing at
local dances in the Worcester, MA, area; at 17, she enrolled in Boston’s New England Conservatory. After moving to New York in 1947, at the age of 22, Carroll was often booked as “Bobby Carroll”, so club owners would not know she was a woman until she showed up. “It was hard to establish yourself because you were prejudged,” she told me. “You were known as a ‘chick’ piano player. When I first came to New York from Boston, I didn’t know anyone here, with the exception of one pianist, George Marshall. If someone called him for a job, say on a Saturday night for a club date or a wedding or a bar mitzvah, and he couldn’t do it, he would recommend me. He’d say, ‘I can’t do it, but I have a friend, Bobby Carroll, who’s good and can do the gig’, never mentioning he or she. So, at 8 o’clock on Saturday night, Bobby Carroll would appear, and the bandleader would probably fall off the bandstand. It
Carroll with bassist Jay Leonhart
would be too late to send me home, so they’d let me play; that’s an example of the kind of prejudice there was.”
Carroll led a trio on Broadway in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Me and Juliet in 1953. When she played at the Tin Pan Alley club in the early ‘50s, a young vocalist named Tony Bennett was also performing there, and the two became lifelong friends. She was also regularly seen on 52nd Street during the last years of its
heyday. Friedwald recalled those 52nd Street days: “She was the leader of her groups, whose sidemen included such stars as guitarists Chuck Wayne and Charlie Byrd and bassists Clyde Lombardi and Joe Shulman (her husband from 1954 until his death in 1957). Her trios and quartets provided accompaniment for such colossi as Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, and even Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday.”
The engagements with Wayne and Lombardi were at 52nd Street’s Downbeat Club in the late ‘40s. Her trio alternated with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. Carroll talked about that experience in a March 2002 interview with saxophonist/composer Sue Terry, in Allegro, the newspaper of Musicians’ Union 802. “At that time,” Carroll said, “Dizzy had John Lewis playing piano, Ray Brown playing bass, and James Moody on saxophone. We were there for four weeks, and it was heaven.”
She also described to Terry the
Barbara
special atmosphere that permeated 52nd Street. “Charlie Parker was working at the Three Deuces; Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, they were all there. When I came to New York, Marian McPartland was here, and Mary Lou Williams was in town, but there were very few female players. I remember one time, on 52nd Street, standing outside the Downbeat Club, and Sarah Vaughan was there. Charlie Parker introduced us, saying, ‘I think you two chick piano players should know one another.’ Those were the days of ‘You play good for a girl’ or ‘You play like a man’. That was the ultimate compliment.”
In 52nd St.The Street of Jazz by
Arnold Shaw (DaCapo Press: 1977),
critic Leonard Feather pointed out that, “Girl musicians had a very rough time, with the exception of a few piano players. Barbara Carroll played 52nd Street quite a bit, and, as the first girl bebop pianist, made the scene with many combos.”
Another club that Carroll played at in the ‘50s was The Embers, which she described to me as, “a little more posh, with good food, as opposed to a lot of the jazz clubs that were small, intimate, dark, and didn’t have any food.” The Embers always had two attractions, and when Carroll arrived to play there the first time, “I was told that the other act was Art Tatum. I
praised Carroll’s 2011 album, How Long Has This Been Going On?, saying, “Her execution is unblemished, her touch is alternately nimble and sensitive, and her leadership is assured.”
restrained myself from running out on 54th Street into traffic.” But, “He was so wonderful to me, so encouraging. And, having the opportunity to listen to him every night was stunning.” Tatum’s technique, she
“ IT NEVER OCCURRED TO ME TO HIRE FEMALE MUSICIANS. ”
said, “was so staggering, his comprehension, his harmonic sense so fabulous that I don’t think there’s anyone playing jazz piano today who hasn’t been influenced by Art Tatum. When I first heard him, I was a kid, and I was totally overwhelmed; I still am every time I hear him.” Carroll never aspired to play like Tatum—“That would have been impossible,” she said.
In the spring of 1979, Carroll was interviewed by McPartland on the latter’s National Public Radio program, Piano Jazz. It was pretty much a mutual admiration society. McPartland mentioned to Carroll that “Something you do that I like a lot is that you get into some of the contemporary tunes instead of sticking to the old standards.”
Carroll replied: “Well, you know, we have all heard: ‘They’re not writing songs the way they used to.’ Well, they’re not writing songs the way they used to. They’re writing them differently. But that does not necessarily
JazzTimes
mean that some people are not writing good songs. Some people are. People like Leon Russell. And Stevie Wonder. And Billy Joel. There are others who are really writing some worthwhile stuff, and I like to play a lot of it because, for one thing, it’s a change of pace. And, it gets you away from the standards. There’s nothing wrong
with standards. We all love them. But it is nice to incorporate new things all the time. And I try to do that.” Then, she and McPartland played a duet of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely?”
McPartland and Carroll talked about how lucky they were to lead their own trios at a time that women (other than vocalists) weren’t accepted as musicians. And, they admitted that, in a way, they were sort of reverse chauvinists. Referring to the group she led with Wayne and Lombardi, Carroll said, “It never occurred to me to hire female musicians. I just wanted to hire the best musicians I could. We were victims of our conditioning because, weren’t we brainwashed in a sense to think that only male bass players and drummers could fit our standards?”
When The Times’ Holden reviewed a 2013 performance by Carroll at Birdland, he said she “exudes the spirit and enthusiasm of a very
sophisticated teenager, playing a set “whose moods ran from playful to reflective to a light stomp, sometimes all on the same song.” Two years earlier, when Carroll appeared with clarinetist/saxophonist Ken Peplowski at Dizzy’s Club, Holden referred to the Barbara Stanwyck film, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, to describe her versatility. Saying the movie “might as well have described the dual aspects of the great jazz pianist, Barbara Carroll,” he wrote about her “quiet, intimate side” at the Algonquin, followed by “the improvisational jazz swinger at Dizzy’s, who, at age 85, crunches down on the keyboard with the vigor and precision of a musician half her age.”
Carroll recorded an album with Peplowski, Leonhart, and drummer Alvin Atkinson at Dizzy’s Club called How Long Has This Been Going On? (Harbinger: 2011). Reviewing it for JazzTimes, Jeff Tamarkin pointed out that Carroll possessed “65 years of
professional experience, going back
to a time when women had to work doubly hard to prove they could play jazz at all. On How Long Has This Been Going On?, Carroll’s ideas flow quickly, her execution is unblemished, her touch is alternately nimble and sensitive, and her leadership is assured ... The performance speaks for itself, and were a listener to hear it with no foreknowledge of the artist’s vintage, there’d be no reason to assume that this vigorous, vital leader wasn’t at the outset of mid-career.”
Shortly after Carroll died, violinist Aaron Weinstein, on Facebook, described Carroll’s improvisations as “beautiful, exciting, thoughtful, and full of wit. She was enormously generous as a musician and as a person. Barbara was part of the New York City culture that made me want to live here in the first place. I feel lucky to have been able to listen to her play and make music with her.”
Pianist Donald Vega ‘Honored’ That His All-Original, As I Travel, Is Up for Best Latin Jazz Album
“We Do This Because We Love It—Our Passion. Getting Recognized Is Just a Bonus, a Bit of Encouragement”
BY JAY SWEET
Donald Vega is one of the most gifted pianists and composers on the jazz scene today, with a personality as effervescent as his playing. From his early roots in Nicaragua to mentorship by some of jazz’s greatest stars, Vega continues to uphold the jazz tradition through his performances, recordings, and teaching. I caught up with him during a recent Zoom conversation. He was introspective, attentive, and entertaining. Vega is currently promoting two new recordings: All Is Merry and Bright (Imagery Records), a Christmas album, and the Grammy-nominated As I Travel (Imagery Records) , which features his original compositions. He explained his reasons for recording a Christmas album. “All my heroes, like Oscar Peterson and many others I admire, have done Christmas albums. Over the years, I’ve been approached by different labels to do one, too. But I always felt like, ‘Man,
GRAMMY NOMINEE
I don’t think I can add anything new. Later on, I started working with Jim Anderson, the engineer. By then, I felt ready. I decided to bring two friends (Clovis Nicolas, bass, and Pete Van Nostrand, drums) to record with me. It was almost a last-minute project. I started putting together a list of tunes in my head, but I only finalized the arrangements about two days before the session. Everything came together beautifully, and I’m so happy with how it turned out.” (In the last JazzWeek chart of 2024, Merry and Bright debuted at Number 32).
As I Travel garnered significant attention, earning a Best Latin Jazz Album Grammy nomination. As the Grammys approach, Vega was delighted to discuss the album and its journey to critical acclaim. “I put a lot of thought into this project because it meant so much to me. The day before the recording, I had been pulling all-nighters. I was so busy working with
Ron Carter and juggling other commitments, but I stayed up late to ensure everything was exactly how I wanted it to be. Even up to the day before, I was still writing and revising, thinking, “I usually start with the groove. That’s what I love, just finding the right feel. Sometimes, I write the entire song, including the melody, from beginning to end. Other times, I only have fragments to build on. I worked with (bassist) John Patitucci, (drummer) Lewis Nash, and (percussionist) Luisito Quintero for this recording.
Lewis Nash has played on all my recordings and is a dear friend of mine. But this was my first time working with John Patitucci. I’ve listened to many of his recordings and thought, ‘He’s perfect for this.’ Luisito Quintero is from Venezuela, and we’ve worked together before. The winners will be announced on February 2nd. I’m excited about it. I always tell my students that we do this because we love it --our
passion. Getting recognized is just a bonus, a bit of encouragement. All the tunes on this album are my originals, so it’s incredibly fulfilling to be in this position. To even be mentioned alongside some of my heroes, like Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Eliane Elias, is a tremendous honor.”
Shifting gears, Vega spoke candidly about his Nicaraguan birthplace, reflecting on its music’s beauty and the challenges he faced growing up. “I
was born in Masaya, Nicaragua,” he said, “and my grandfather was the musician in the family. He played almost every instrument and taught all his kids, including my mother. My mother played five instruments but treated music more as a hobby. I grew up in that environment, constantly surrounded by music. They tell me I started playing when I was about three years old, beginning with percussion. That might explain why
I’m so rhythmically inclined—you can probably hear it in my playing. I played piano by ear at first, and then my grandfather began teaching me how to read music when I was around five. I grew up in a very musical household and eventually studied classical music. I attended a conservatory in Nicaragua to further my training.”
“The music of Nicaragua is very festive,” he continued, “and rooted in a style called Palo de Mayo. It reflects the country’s unique blend of indigenous, African, and Spanish influences. There’s a strong African connection, evident in the rhythms, which often have a 6/8 feel. The marimba is a very popular instrument in Nicaraguan music. One of my goals is to dive deeper into my cultural roots—to learn more about the music, talk to the people, and understand the history. Nicaraguan music is a true melting pot, though harmoni-
“
I GREW UP IN A VERY MUSICAL HOUSEHOLD AND EVENTUALLY STUDIED CLASSICAL MUSIC. ”
Ron Carter Golden StrykerTrio with Vega and Russell Malone. Malone passed away from a heart attack during the trio’s August 2024 tour in Japan.
cally, it tends to be more simplistic.”
“Due to the political climate at the time, once you turned 15 or 16, you were required to serve in the military. The government would stop buses, and if you were a boy of 15 or older, they’d take you. I remember hearing stories of young men being taken away and their families never seeing them again. In my neighborhood, I went to a lot of funerals. I was so young, but I vividly remember my mother’s wailing and crying. It was heartbreaking. What left a mark on me was that the families weren’t even able to bury their loved ones
properly. Instead, they mourned over their boots or helmets. The bodies were so mutilated that they were unrecognizable. That experience had a profound impact on me. I knew I had to leave. My mother immigrated to the U.S. first, and later I followed, crossing the border to Los Angeles.”
When Vega finally made it to the States, a new world of music became available, and he began studying and discovering jazz. “I had an uncle who once saw Duke Ellington when he performed in Nicaragua. My uncle used to listen to Ellington’s music, but when I grew up, jazz wasn’t widely
allowed or accessible in the country. I remember hearing Mongo Santamaría, and he had a piano player who sounded different. It was the harmonies—they stood out. Later, I found out the pianist was Chick Corea. That was probably my first real exposure to jazz. It wasn’t until I came to the U.S. that I truly began listening to jazz. That’s when I discovered Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, and Art Tatum.”
As with most great jazz musicians, much of their training came from the mentorship of the great, established musicians active on the scene, and Vega had many mentors. One of his earliest teachers was bassist and composer John Clayton, a man he spoke about fondly.
“John Clayton was an incredible mentor to me. He taught at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and was the head of the jazz program. I had the privilege of studying under him, and he became like
family to me. I used to go to his house.
I was one of the original members of the Clayton-Hamilton group, along with Jeff Clayton (late saxophonist who was John Clayton’s brother). I learned so much from John Clayton.
One memory that stands out is when he brought a new bossa nova tune he had written. We played through it, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ But when it was time to perform, he took my music away—his original tune—and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s go!’ That was how much he believed in me. I’m forever grateful for his mentorship and advice. He was an incredible influence in my life.”
Another notable person who helped shape Vega’s playing style was the drum legend Billy Higgins. “I didn’t take formal lessons from Billy Higgins,” he said, “but I met him at the World Stage in Los Angeles, and he was incredibly encouraging to me and the other musicians I was playing with at the time. He had a spiritual presence about
him, and when he played, this joy radiated from him. His personality came through so strongly in his drumming.”
Vega also mentioned the influence of Benny Golson, the legendary saxophonist/composer who passed away earlier this year. “Benny Golson came to Juilliard to do a masterclass, and he heard me play. We connected, and I had the opportunity to play with him. He asked me to perform with him on
the jazz cruise. Also, I spent the whole week hanging out with Benny when Ron Carter had a birthday. I carried his horn and listened to all his stories. From time to time, Benny would give me advice, and he wrote me these incredible letters with words that were so profound I had to look them up in the dictionary. Russell Malone and I often talked about what we learned from him—not just musically, but about how he lived and carried himself. His influence was immense.”
The one musician with whom the pianist has been most associated lately is Carter, who has featured Vega in his Golden Striker Trio. This association began 15 years ago. “The first time I heard Ron Carter play was at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles,” he recalled. “He performed with a trio alongside Mulgrew Miller and Russell Malone. At that time, I was working with another legendary bassist, Al McKibbon. Al wasn’t doing well healthwise, but
GRAMMY NOMINEE
when I mentioned I was going to see Ron, he said, ‘Please say hello to Ron for me.’ Al McKibbon was Ron’s hero, and they had so much mutual respect.
“Years later,” he continued, “I moved to New York and pursued my master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music before continuing my studies at Juilliard. Around that time, Mulgrew Miller decided to focus on his projects, which meant Ron Carter was looking for a new pianist. Jason Stewart, a friend from Juilliard, a New Orleans bassist, had a lesson with Ron. Jason and I had recorded an album together, and during the lesson, he played the recording for Ron and asked for feedback. Ron asked about the pianist on the album—me.
“My first gig with Ron was at the Regatta Bar in Boston. I was so nervous, and after the first set, he said, ‘Mr. Vega, I know you can do better than that.’ That feedback stayed with me, and I decided just to be myself.
After that, Ron said, ‘Okay, this is going to work,’ and I became the pianist for his Golden Striker Trio. It’s been an incredible journey ever since.”
In the same ways that Vega learned from Clayton, Higgins, Golson, Carter, and many others, he gives back and mentors others as a teacher at the Juilliard School. “As a professor at The Juilliard School, it’s been an incredible experience. I’m an alumnus who graduated from there and used to sub for Kenny Barron. It felt like a natural transition, which eventually led to me having more classes and opportunities to teach. I’m having a blast, honestly. I love working with the students and feel very lucky and blessed to share my knowledge and spend time with them. My parents taught me the importance of giving back, and I truly enjoy that. I always tell my students I am here for whatever they need.”
Municipal Auditorium
Terell Stafford as Music Director Emmet Cohen Trio with Georgia Heers and Terell Stafford Tony Monaco with Eric Alexander Marcus Miller
Gustav Viehmeyer Trio featuring Joscho Stephan, MJR Latin Project led by Mauricio J. Rodriguez, The Thomas Carabasi Quintet, Jazz Pub Crawl and much more!
New Jersey Jazz Society
The New Jersey Jazz Society is pleased to announce the
2025 JURIED SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION
This competition will award two $1000 prizes and two $500 prizes in two categories: Jazz Performance & Original Composition. The competition is open to all New Jersey college students currently enrolled in a college undergraduate music program, as well as to New Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out of state college undergraduate program. Proof of residency required. Along with the cash award, winners will receive guidance, mentorship and the opportunity to perform with an industry professional, and coverage in Jersey Jazz.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, March 28, 2025, 11:59 PM Eastern Time Visit NJJS .org/Competition for details. THIS COMPETITION IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED by NAN HUGHES POOLE and CYNTHIA FEKETIE
Sherman
JALC’s ‘Cool School & Hard Bop’ Will Showcase Two Important Offspring of the Bebop Era
“The Cool School Musicians Were Influenced by Bebop, But They Were Also Influenced by Swing”
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
In 1957, the Miles Davis album, The Birth of the Cool, was released by Capitol Records. While not immediately popular, it is today considered a landmark recording of original music that combined the intensity of bebop with a new ‘cool’ sound. Three years earlier, drummer Art Blakey and pianist Horace Silver formed a band called the Jazz Messengers. After Silver left the group in 1956, it became known as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, continuing for more than 40 years. That band and others like it spear-
headed another important musical development --the blending of bebop with elements of the blues, gospel, soul, and rhythm and blues to create what is now known as ‘hard bop’.
On Sunday, January 19, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, NJ, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will present a special concert called “Cool School & Hard Bop”. The concert will be co-directed by multireedist Sherman Irby (‘Cool School’) and pianist Joe Block (‘Hard Bop’).
The cool school, Irby said, “was a
Irby: The music will reflect “the overwhelming power of Gerry Mulligan, how influential he was.”
JAZZ AT MAYO PAC
response to the overwhelming popularity of bebop and how it changed the whole landscape of jazz. The cool school musicians were influenced by bebop, but they were also influenced by swing. Those musicians loved Lester Young—that lyricism of his along with some of the bebop harmonies they did.” In addition to The Birth of the Cool, the music will reflect “the overwhelming power of Gerry Mulligan, how influential he was. We’ve also got to have some John Lewis—he brought a little different side of it, and (pianist) Lenny Tristano, and (saxophonists) Warne Marsh, and Lee Konitz.”
The hard bop selections, according to the 25-year-old Block, will feature music from what he describes as “the golden era”, featuring contributions from the Art Blakey band that included trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter. There will be additional compositions from such artists as
Silver, trumpeter Clifford Brown, and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson.
Block and Irby also want to introduce their audience to at least one musician from each era who may not be as well-known as the others—“not household names.” For Block, that’s pianist Elmo Hope; for Irby it’s drummer Chico Hamilton.
National Public Radio’s Christopher Johnson once described Hope as “the biggest, most influential jazz pianist you’ve never heard of.” As a teenager, Hope was a big influence on his friends, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. The drummer Philly Joe Jones once said, “Monk and Bud loved Elmo so much. He was a real genius.”
Due to a heroin addiction and a number of other personal and professional problems, Hope never attained widespread recognition, although he did play with some of jazz’s giants such as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Block has creat-
Joe Block: “We’re going to have small groups, octet arrangements, big band.”
ed a big band arrangement of Hope’s “Minor Bertha”, which will be performed by the JALC Orchestra.
In the late 1940s, Hamilton was the drummer in Lena Horne’s band.
He also played in Charlie Barnet’s band at a Los Angeles club called Streets of Paris before being recruited by Gerry Mulligan to play in his pianoless quartet, which became one of the most popular small groups of the early 1950s. Mulligan once said that Hamilton had “such a good show sense that he brought that out in all of us.”
Pianists Luther Allison and Benny Green will be guest artists at the concert, premiering new compositions—Green’s “For Duke Pearson” and Allison’s “Milk Route”. The JALC Orchestra, will feature some of its newer members: saxophonists Alexa Tarantino, Abdias Armenteros, and Chris Lewis.
Irby has been a member of JALC since 2005. Earlier in his career, he played in bands led by trumpeter Roy Hargrove, drummer Elvin Jones, and pianist McCoy Tyner. He was also
impacted by another musician who is not well known to the general public, saxophonist Gigi Gryce. “When I just started to get into jazz,” he said, “I was really influenced by Gigi Gryce. He had another way of playing an alto. He didn’t sound like Charlie Parker. He had his own thing.” (For more on Gigi Gryce, see page 09) Block, along with trumpeter James Haddad, was featured as a
Rising Star in the January 2021 issue of Jersey Jazz while both were students at Juilliard. In 2013, Block was a semifinalist in the Herbie Hancock International Piano Competition. And, last September, he was named a Steinway artist. “I get to practice at their store in midtown,” he said, adding that’s important because, “It’s hard to find time and space in New York City to practice the piano.
“I’ve been doing stuff with JALC for quite a long time,” he continued. “I did their summer camps when I was in high school. I’m very grateful for the opportunities JALC provides for young musicians in New York.” Block’s quintet will be releasing a album on Blue Engine Records in February, and he recorded a solo piano album last summer, which will be released in the next couple of months.
“It’s all standards,” he said, “all the piano players I have been studying and been influenced by my whole life. There will be a lot of Monk’s music, some Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn music and some Great American Songbook things like ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ and ‘The Wee Small Hours of the Morning’.”
As for the Mayo concert, he emphasized that there’s going to be a lot of variety. “We’re going to have small groups, octet arrangements, big band. It’s going to showcase a lot of that era.” In addition to the Mayo performance, the concert will be presented three times in New York at JALC’s Rose Theater on January 16, 17, and 18. And after January, the show will be going on the road to Boston and Chicago.
: The Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South St. in Morristown, NJ. For more information or to order tickets, log onto mayoarts.org or call (973) 539-8008.
The music of some lesser known musicians such as pianist Elmo Hope, left, and drummer Chico Hamilton will be represented at the concert.
Jersey Jazz LIVE!
Bill Easley: ‘Looking Forward to My 66th Year as a Working Musician’
“No Matter How Strongly One is Influenced, What Comes Out is One’s Own Voice”
Multireedist Bill Easley’s last album as a leader was Diversatonic, released in 2022 on the Sunnyside label. “I made up the word,” Easley told me. “If you Google the word, I show up. The definition is: Diversity is a fact of life, and music is the tonic that often brings people together.”
Reviewing the album for Jazzwise, Alyn Shipton wrote that Easley’s “ballad playing is at its best in a sensitive reading of Duke Ellington’s ‘I Didn’t Know About You’, and the album highlight is old
boss Mercer Ellington’s ‘Things Ain’t What They Used To Be’.”
On February 7 and 8 Easley will be one of 15 musicians who will play each night at the North Carolina Jazz Festival in Wilmington, mixing and matching with each other. Easley will be part of groups led by violinist Jonathan Russell, pianist Kevin Bales, vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan, and bassist Herman Burney. Then, he will help conclude the final concert on February 8 in an All-Star Jam with trumpeter Bruce Harris, trombonist Charlie Halloran, guitaroist Nate Najar, pianist
NORTH CAROLINA JAZZ FESTIVAL
Rossano Sportiello, Burney, and vibraphonist/drummer Chuck Redd. The format is familiar to Easley.. “They used to call them jazz parties,” he said.
The festival will open on February 6 with three traditional sets: a trio led by pianist Carlos Garcia, a quartet led by saxophonist/clarinetist Gregg Gelb, and a jazz jam led by Redd (a preview of what’s to come on the following two nights).
Although he’s played as a sideman with practically everyone on the planet, Easley, who will turn 79
on January 13, has a special connection with the music of Ellington. “I grew up (in Olean, NY) and joined my parents’ band in 1959,” he said. “ I was playing Duke Ellington music. I was the saxophonist in my father’s band, and one of his features was ‘Sophisticated Lady’”.
In 1974, clarinetist Russell Procope left the Ellington band shortly after Ellington died, and Ellington’s son, Mercer, hired Easley to replace him. Easley stayed for about six months and when he left the band,
“
EASLEY HAS A SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH THE MUSIC OF DUKE ELLINGTON.
”
he said Mercer told him he had an open chair if he ever wanted to return. So, when Sophisticated Ladies opened on Broadway in March 1981, Easley was in the show’s orchestra.
Easley worked with guitarist George Benson in the late 1960s and with singer/songwriter Isaac Hayes in the ‘70s. Among the many others he has played with as a sideman are pianists Sir Roland Hanna and Mulgrew Miller, drummer Panama Francis, and organist Jimmy McGriff. “I’ve worked with every major organ player with the exception of Shirley Scott and Larry Young,” he said.
After Easley moved to New York from Memphis (where he had been playing with Hayes) in January 1980, he quickly was presented with three options: Art Blakey, Horace Silver, or Panama Francis and the Savoy Sultans. “Blakey wanted me to play baritone saxophone, which I didn’t
Bill Easley’s 2022 album, Diversatonic. “I made up the word. If you Google the word, I show up.”
want to do,” he said. “I chose Panama because he was going to be working steady in New York City. I had a wife, and kids, and a mortgage.”
Perhaps he was following the advice of tenor saxophonist/ flutist Frank Wess,”one of my main mentors. He told me, ‘If you want
NORTH CAROLINA JAZZ FESTIVAL
to play jazz, you have to travel all over the world. If you want to live in New York, you have to play all kinds of music.’ So, I opted to do that, and it worked out pretty well.”
Easley now lives in Ithaca, NY.
In 2008, Easley released an album called Hearing Voices on the 18th & Vine label. AllMusic’s Alex Henderson described it as “hard bop with a touch of soul-jazz. Hearing Voices,” he wrote, “is a tribute album, although Easley doesn’t pay homage to one artist specifically; instead, he salutes a variety of tenor and/or alto saxophonists who have influenced him along the way. And that means acknowledging everyone from Coleman Hawkins on ‘Coleman’ (an Easley original) and Lester ‘The Prez’ Young on ‘Lester Leaps In’ to Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker on ‘Confirmation’ and ‘Scrapple from the Apple’. Illinois Jacquet is acknowledged on
me,”sort of took me under his wings. He had me play with his band in Newark at the Key Club. Sonny Stitt was a very stern kind of cat. Even though he liked and respected me, he would look me right in my eye and say, ‘Bill Easley, you’re a pretty good saxophone player, but I am a master.’ I had no problem with that then or now. I never wanted to be a master. I’m just looking forward to my 66th year as a ‘working musician.’”— SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Sir Charles Thompson’s ‘Robin’s Nest’ while Cannonball Adderley is recognized on Sam Jones’ ‘Unit 7’.”
In the album’s liner notes, Easley wrote that he was “revisiting songs associated with masters of the saxophone. There is no attempt to mimic. No matter how strongly one is influenced, what comes out is one’s own voice: metal tubing attached or not.”
One person not mentioned in Henderson’s review was the great bebop saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who is represented on the album by his composition, “Eternal Triangle’, which was on Dizzy Gillespie’s 1959 Verve album, Sonny Side Up. The record featured Stitt and Sonny Rollins swapping solos.
“Sonny Stitt,” Easley told
: The North Carolina Jazz Festival is held at Wilmington’s Hotel Ballast, 301 North Water St. For more information or to order tickets, log onto ncjazzfestival.org or call (910) 399-6536. Performers in the Feb. 7th and 8th mix-andmatch sets not mentioned above are: trombonist Emily Asher and multi-instrumentalist Shaye Cohn.
Bill Easley with Arizona State Director of Jazz Studies, Michael Kocour, at The Nash Jazz Club in Phoenix.
NORTH CAROLINA JAZZ FESTIVAL
North Carolina Jazz Festival Schedule
THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 6
7:35-8:30 » Carlos Garcia Trio
8:35-10:05 » Gregg Gelb Quartet
10:05-10:30 » Traditional Jazz Jam directed by Chuck Redd
Bruce Harris
FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 7
7:35-8:10 » Chuck Redd Septet with Ken Peplowski, Bruce Harris, Emily Asher, Kevin Bales, Jennifer Hodge, and Chris Gelb
8:15-8:50 » Bruce Harris Sextet with Jonathan Russell, Nate Najar, Rossano Sportiello, Herman Burney, and Redd
8:55-9:20 » Jonathan Russell
Septet with Shaye Cohn, Bill Easley, Hodge, Najar, Bales, and Gelb
9:25-10:00 » Lucy Yeghiazaryan
Septet with Harris, Chuck Halloran, Peplowski, Sportiello, Hodge, and Gelb
10:15-10:50 » Ken Peplowski Quartet with Sportiello, Burney, and Redd
10:55-11:25 » Kevin Bales
Septet with Cohn, Halloran, Easley, Najar, Hodge, and Gelb
11:30-12:00 » Emily Asher Sextet with Cohn, Russell, Burney, Sportiello, and Redd
SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 8
7:35-8:10 » Shaye Cohn Octet with Peplowski, Halloran, Russell, Najar, Bales, Hodge, and Gelb
8:15-8:45 » Rossano Sportiello Solo Piano
8:50-9:25 » Lucy Yeghiazaryan
Octet with Redd, Asher, Harris, Easley, Bales, Burney and Gelb
9:40-10:10 » Nate Najar Quartet with Peplowski, Burney, and Redd
10:15-10:50 » Herman Burney
Sextet with Harris, Asher, Easley, Sportiello, and Gelb
10:55-11:25 » Duets: Najar & Russell, Peplowski & Hodge, Cohn & Harris, Yeghiazaryan & Sportiello, Najar & Russell, Peplowski & Hodge, Cohn & Harris
11:30-12:00 » All-Star Jam with Easley, Harris, Halloran, Najar, Sportiello, Burney, Redd, and Yeghiazaryan
Lucy Yeghiazaryan
RISING STAR
Mulgrew Miller’s Influence Spurred SASSY Winner April May Webb to Focus on Sarah Vaughan
“This Kansas Girl is Taking the Stage at Jazz at Lincoln Center! We’re Going to Shut it Down!”
When April May Webb was attending William Paterson University more than 10 years ago, pianist Mulgrew Miller, who was Director of Jazz Studies, came to one of her ensemble classes and played a Sarah Vaughan record. “He kinda was trying to fool me,” Webb said. “He didn’t tell me who it was, and he asked me, ‘Do you know what this is?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s Sarah Vaughan.’ He said, ‘You need to study her even more because she encompasses all the attributes you would want to have in a jazz vocalist.”
RISING STAR
On Sunday, November 24, 2024, Webb won the 13th annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, held during the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s TD James Moody Jazz Festival. She credits Miller for having “a great influence on me. He’s the reason why, as a vocalist, I focused on Sarah Vaughan.” Miller served as WP Jazz Studies Director from 2005 until 2013 when he passed away at the age of 57 from a stroke.
At the Sarah Vaughan finals, Webb’s three song selections were: her original composition, “Cottonwood Tree”, John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”, and “Round Midnight” by Thelonius Monk.
“Cottonwood Tree” is “one of the latest songs I’ve written, and it’s not released yet. It will be released on February 21 when I perform at Dizzy’s Club. It’s about my transition from Kansas to New Jersey, and it was difficult because I got really homesick.
My family home (in Newton, about 30 minutes from Wichita) had a huge backyard, and my brothers and I had all the fun stuff in our backyard. In the middle of it was this enormous cottonwood tree. It provided so much shade and so much beauty for our yard. So, I would come home often from New Jersey, and one of the times
I was home, I was sitting under the cottonwood tree. It was a beautiful fall day, and the leaves were falling, and I said to myself, ‘I’m finding what I need. Oh, that’s a song a few years later.’
“I started the show with ‘Giant Steps’ because I wanted to use a piece you don’t hear vocalists do a lot and this is notoriously difficult to improvise over. Then, I thought, ‘What’s the hardest song that I could do?’ It was ‘Round Midnight’. I’ve sung that song so many times with T.S. Monk. It’s the song we always close the sets
“ I THOUGHT, ‘WHAT’S THE HARDEST SONG THAT I COULD DO?’ IT WAS ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT’. ”
Webb and husband, trumpeter Randall Haywood.
RISING STAR
with.” Webb and her husband, trumpeter Randall Haywood co-lead The Sounds of A&R, a musical group that tours and often performs with drummer Thelonious Monk III.
“I was able to create an arrangement for T.S. Monk’s sextet that I really enjoyed. One of the reasons we enjoy performing with Monk is that he allows us to arrange music and to be collaborators on his set. It’s a powerful piece, and I’m used to doing it a lot.”
The Sounds of A&R was created in 2014 while Webb was still at William Paterson. Its latest album, Questions Left Unanswered was released on the Soaring Records label in 2021. Joining Webb and Haywood on the recording are Webb’s two brothers— bassist Jacob Webb and drummer Dr. Nathan Webb—both of whom preceded her at WP. The other members of the band on the album are guitarist Charlie Sigler, pianist James Austin, Jr., and harpist Riza Printup.
Reviewing the recording for Talkin’ Broadway, Rob Lester wrote that the music “floats through the air as his (Haywood’s) silky-smooth playing underscores her (Webb’s) elastic, sweet-toned voice ... she swings, woops, and impressively scats.”
In 2023, Sounds of A&R (aka S.O.A.R.) was a grant recipient of the Performance Plus program presented by Chamber Music America, supported by the Doris Duke Foundation. From February 13-16, S.O.A.R. will be an Ensemble in Residency at the CMA’s annual conference in Houston.
The February 21st date at Dizzy’s Club, referred to earlier by Webb, is part of the Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition prize, is addition to the $5,000 cash award. Shortly after learning she won the award, Webb said (on Facebook), “This Kansas girl is taking the stage at Jazz at Lincoln Center! This is such a huge milestone for us, and I cannot wait to bring our
artistry to this iconic venue. We’re going to shut it down!” Pianist Yayoi Ikawa will join Webb, Haywood and Webb’s two brothers at Dizzy’s. Haywood currently is on the Jazz Faculty at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and the couple reside in nearby West Hartford. S.O.A.R. played last year in the Hartford Public Library’s Baby Grand Jazz concert series. On July 20, the group will be part of the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in
Bushnell Park. Last month, S.O.A.R. performed six shows at the South Jazz Kitchen in Philadelphia.
The Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition (aka The SASSY Awards) was hosted by WBGO Radio’s Sheila Anderson. Judges were: drummer/educator Terri Lyne Carrington, pianist Bill Charlap (current William Paterson Director of Jazz Studies), vocalist Lisa Fischer, bassist and NJPAC Jazz Advisor Christian McBride, and singer/songwriter Madeleine Peyroux.
Second place honors and a $1,500 prize were given to Los Angeles-based vocalist Syndee Winters, and third place and $500 were won by Georgia Heers, who recently moved to New York City from Greenville, SC, to pursue graduate studies at The Juilliard School The other two finalists were Amira B of New York City and Angelique Nicolas of France. More than 220 vocalists from 21 countries entered the competition.— SJ
Webb accepting the SASSY Award
Reflecting on Last Record Set with Dan Morgenstern’s Liner Notes
BY VINCENT PELOTE
Shortly after the great writer, historian, and jazz advocate Dan Morgenstern passed away last September at the age of 94, Jersey Jazz reached out to the Institute of Jazz Studies—where Morgenstern served as Executive Director for 35 years—to see if IJS staff members might be willing to fill his shoes as bimonthly columnists for the magazine. Happily, the answer was yes, and the first column, by Vincent Pelote, Senior Archivist and Digital Preservation Strategist, appears in this issue.
Ithought it would be fitting to dedicate this first column to Dan Morgenstern and talk about the last liner notes he ever wrote and the record set it accompanied. Anyone who knows anything about Dan knows he was a prolific writer of liner notes. In fact, in his lifetime he won eight Grammy Awards for liner notes. His
last liner notes were done for Mosaic Records for the album Classic Black & White Sessions (Mosaic Records MD 11-273). It’s an 11 CD set featuring the output of a small independent label that was founded in 1943 by New York City record collector Lester Wilmot Wilbert Schriber (19011965). The label came into existence
while the United States was at war and during a recording ban called by then President of the American Federation of Musicians, James C. Petrillo, on August 1, 1942. It turned out to be the longest ban in the history of show business finally ending in 1944. Black & White was just one of a handful of small independent labels that sprung up during this time.
The type of jazz record collector
Schriber was interested in recording for his label was mainly traditional and small group swing with a particular fondness for a coterie of wonderful New York pianists including Cliff Jackson, Gene Schroeder, James P. Johnson, and Willie “The Lion” Smith. Some exceptional and (most important of all) swinging jazz can be found on this label: Solo piano sessions with Art Hodes and the underrated stride master Cliff Jackson as well as some tasty small group outings led by Willie “The Lion” Smith, clarinetists Rod Cless and Barney Bigard and drummer George Wettling, to name a few. Not all the names are familiar even to hard core jazz fans. There is a session with pianist Nat Jaffe, a very classically influenced, harmonically adventurous pianist, that includes guitarist Remo Palnier. Of course, the honor of having the best-selling Black & White recording goes to saxophonist
GUEST COLUMN
Jack McVea’s “Open the Door Richard” which according to DownBeat was selling 10,000 platters per day! Vocalists Ivie Anderson—Duke Ellington’s long time ‘girl singer’—and Helen Humes, who performed the same function with Count Basie, also recorded for Black & White; and there was even an all-female date by a group with the unfortunate name, the Hip Chicks. The label in its later years deviated from its output of small group jazz and recorded big bands including those of Wilbert Baranco, Gerald Wilson, and a progressive orchestra led by little known trombonist Earle Spencer. This isn’t the first time that some of this material was issued on CD. In 1989 producer Michael Brook issued CDs of some of this material for Pickwick Entertainment. Liner notes were supplied by Dan Morgenstern and me for which neither one of us regrettably were paid the promised fee.
Sound restoration on this set by Andreas Meyers and Nancy Conforti is excellent and far surpasses the aforementioned Pickwick CDs and any previous LP reissue of this material.
The liner notes are highly informative, as is the norm for any notes written by Dan. When he was working on these notes, he was 92 and while he was still sharp as a tack mentally, he did confess to me that he was having some trouble focusing on writing. Luckily, he got assistance from two individuals: Billy Vera, singer, songwriter, actor, author and music historian, and producer Scott Wenzel who has been with Mosaic Records since 1987. The bulk of the writing is Dan’s and the notes in the beautiful 44-page booklet (with some very nice photos) are an excellent addition to the wonderful music contained on this must have set. Thank you, Dan, and thank you Mosaic Records.
Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions
BY JOE LANG
During World War II, a series of recordings was made for distribution to servicemen. These were done by a large variety of artists who contributed their artistry without compensation for recordings that were not available commercially. Many of these recordings were outstanding small group jazz sessions, several of which were with vocalists. They were distributed to front-line troops and produced on thin black flexible plastic. They were supposed to be destroyed after the war, but many survived and found their way into the hands of collectors. Mosaic Records has recently released an 11-disc set, Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Ses-
sions (Mosaic – MD11-279), a collection that contains sessions gathered from a variety of sources, original discs, compilations on LPs and CDs, and tapes made from the original discs.
The result is a marvelous collection of performances of mostly classic jazz and small group swing. The music is of a consistently high quality performed by major jazz stars as well as some more obscure performers. As you work your way
through listening to the 11 discs, you will discover one gem after another.
The first disc opens with a couple of tunes by a Bunk Johnson-led group recorded at the Stuyvesant Casino in 1946. There is also a 1943 version of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, a 1943 Sidney Bechet session, and a 1944 V-Disc all-star jam session featuring Hot Lips Page, Red McKenzie, Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong with Bobby Hackett, Billy Butterfield, and Herb Ellis in various combinations.
Disc two has a couple of sessions led by Muggsy Spanier in 1944 and 1945 with Lou McGarrity, Pee Wee Russell, and Jess Stacy among the sidemen. There is also a 1944 session led by Wild Bill Davison with Pee Wee Russell, Joe Bushkin, Eddie Condon, and Jimmy Rushing along for the ride.
Leading off the third disc is a 1945 session led by Bob Crosby with vocals by Crosby and Martha Tilton. Then comes a 1944 session led by Eddie
Condon, and a few combinations of players led by Bud Freeman. The first session featuring a vocalist, Connee Boswell, is from 1945 with Yank Lawson, Boomie Richman, and George Wettling among the supporting cast. Groups led by Joe Bushkin in 1948 include singer Liza Morrow, Roy Eldridge, Peanuts Hucko, Buck Clayton, and Jack Lesberg, followed by a 1947 session fronted by Johnny Blowers.
After a couple of 1947 sessions led by Peanuts Hucko, the balance of disc four is dominated by vocalists. Jo Stafford is featured on a 1945 session with an octet. Martha Tilton and Jack Leonard are backed in 1945 by a group led by Bill Stegmeyer that also included Roy Eldridge and Trummy Young.
A final track from the Tilton/Leonard session opens disc five. Tilton was featured in another 1945 session where she was backed by an octet. A 1945 session, arranged by Sy Oliver found a pair of vocal tracks by Jack Leonard
and two tracks by the octet with Oliver adding a vocal on one track. The disc is completed by a dozen solo piano tracks by Art Tatum spread over two sessions, one in 1946 and the other in 1945.
Disc six includes two sessions. A 1943 session features Fats Waller, playing piano or organ, accompanying himself on the vocal tracks. The other session has Bobby Hackett leading an octet; it dates from1948 and is included in its entirety including in-studio conversation and alternate takes.
There is a lot of variety in disc seven. It starts off with a 1948 duo session by Bobby Hackett and Joe Bushkin. It also includes selections from Meade “Lux” Lewis in 1943 on piano and celeste, some new tracks by the Nat “King” Cole Trio, Hazel Scott on piano and vocals, a 1946 quartet session led by Andre Previn, a trio led by the much-overlooked pianist, Loumell Morgan, and a couple of tunes laid down in 1946 by The Page Cavanaugh Trio.
Following a 1943 session by the Teddy Wilson Quartet, disc eight includes three sessions led by lesser-known artists The always wonderful John Kirby led a quintet for five tracks from 1943. There are three selections from 1946 by the Catalina Sextet before the disc ends with three 1945 tracks by a nonet led by tenor saxophonist Dave Matthews, with one vocal by Betty Roche.
After a track by tap dancer Bunny Briggs with an unidentified octet opens disc nine, a 1945 session includes Woody Herman leading a variety of groups in 1945 that included Bill Harris, Ben Webster, Georgie Auld, and Flip Phillips, among others.
Bob Haggart led a 1947 octet session that recorded four tunes. Stan Hasselgard fronted a 1948 quintet session, while the disc closes with a quartet track by pianist Dave Martin.
Disc 10 starts off with some exciting trio tracks by Gene Krupa, a
1944 session with Buddy DeFranco and Dodo Marmarosa, and a 1945 session with Charlie Ventura and George Walters. A 1945 session is led by Roy Eldridge, and some 1944 material by Red Norvo led groups features vocals by Mildred Bailey. Red Norvo leads off disc 11 with a 1943 quintet that includes a couple of vocals by Helen Ward. Ella Fitzgerald contributes three tracks from 1945 with support by Charlie Shavers, Lou McGarrity, and Peanuts Hucko, among others. The box set closes with three 1947 tracks by the Clark
Terry quintet, and two 1946 tracks by a truly influential and unique pianist, Lenny Tristano, with his trio This set provides a treasure trove of exciting music sure to satisfy the appetite of jazz enthusiasts for music that has mostly been unavailable for close to eight decades. It is almost impossible to give an adequate depiction of what is waiting for the listener in this set short of providing the kind of session-by-session descriptions provided by Michael Steinman in his well-researched and insightful notes in the accompanying booklet. mosaicrecords.com
During World War II, a series of recordings was made for distribution to servicemen.
OTHER VIEWS
BY JOE LANG
Keenan McKenzie & The Rifters are led by saxophonist/clarinetist McKenzie who also penned the arrangements and wrote the music for eight of the 14 selections. On Lakewood Jump (self-produced), the septet includes Gordon Au or Al Strong on trumpet, McKenzie on reeds, Lucian Cobb on trombone, Chip Newton on guitar, Ryan Hansler or Clark Stern on piano, William Ledbetter on bass, and Dan Faust on drums with Brandon Mitchell on vibes added on four tracks. Vocalists Laura Windley and Dupresha Townsend contribute their voices to seven and three selections, respectively. This is a group that has swing in its essence, and the music is well-suited to those who enjoy swing dancing. You will dig the ensemble playing as well as the on-target soloists. In addition to the McKenzie originals, the selections include “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “Rhythm and Romance,” and “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To”, among others.
From the moment that you put this album in your CD player, your toes will start tapping ,and a smile will light up your face. keenanmckenzie.com
Mention ragtime, and the name of pianist Terry Waldo is sure to arise. His latest recording, Treasury Volume 1 (Turtle Bay – 24005) by Terry Waldo & The Gotham City Band, has a program of 10 selections that will be familiar to ragtime enthusiasts. In May 2022, the band, in various combinations,
recorded the first eight tunes. Mike Davis is on trumpet, Ricky Alexander on clarinet, Jim Fryer on trombone, Arnt Arntzen, Nick Russo or Jerron Paxton on banjo, Waldo on piano, Brian Nalepka on bass, and Jay Lepley on drums, with Colin Hancock on tenor sax and Jay Rattman on bass sax on one track each. Among the selections are “Blame It on the Blues,” “I Get the Blues When It Rains” (vocal by Tatiana Eva-Marie), “Wolverine Blues,” and “Yellow Dog Blues A 2018 recording of “After You’ve Gone” with a mostly asimilar lineup has a superb vocal by Veronica Swift. The final track, “Maple Leaf Rag,” was recorded on a studio horn from the 1920s in Waldo’s own studio with Hancock on cornet, Dennis Lichtman on clarinet, Sam Chess on trombone, Paxton on banjo, and Waldo on piano. It captures the sound of an old 78 rpm recording. The liner notes by Colin Hancock are engagingly informative. It is guaranteed that you
will have fun listening to this music. Although it comes from a bygone era, these musicians make it sound fresh and vibrant. turtlebayrecords.com
Vibe Check (self-produced) is a hip collection of eight selections by a septet led by vibraphonist Joe Baione. In addition to Baione on vibes, the players are Duane Eubanks on trumpet, Taru Dodo on piano, Marco Panascia on bass, and Jerome Jennings on drums. Baione’s daughter, Alexis Marie, provides an effective vocal on “Come Close.” Baione wrote six of the tunes, while the other three were composed by his late father, James Baione, who was a reed player and educator. There are 10 tracks on the recording including an alternate take on “Lost Control.” Baione’s playing is nicely conceived, serving as the centerpiece of the album with Eubanks and Dodo taking some intriguing solo interludes. Panascia and Jennings are strong in their rhyth-
OTHER VIEWS
mic support. This music becomes immediately familiar and holds your attention throughout. joebaione.com
Guitarist Dave Stryker goes in a different direction on his latest album, Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies (Strikezone Records – 8827). He teams up with arranger Brent Wallarab for an exploration of 11 compositions written for films, placing Stryker and his rhythm section of pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Jeremy Allen, and drummer McClenty Hunter as the core of a 30-piece orchestra including five trombones, saxophonist Greg Ward, trumpeters/flugelhornists Mark Buselli and Jeff Conrad and a 17-piece string section. The selections include “In Your Eyes” (Say Anything), “Cinema Paradiso (Main Theme), “You Only Live Twice”, and “Taxi Driver” (Main Title). Stryker is front and center throughout, while impressive solos are contributed by violinist Sara
Caswell, alto saxophonist Greg Ward, trombonist Jim Pugh, and flugelhornist Mark Buselli. The program is beautifully executed by the complete cast of musicians as they capture the beauty and creativity of Wallarab’s charts. Kudos to Stryker and Wallarab for conceiving and bringing to life the concept that evolved from a prior collaboration on a televised tribute to Wes Montgomery. (Release date January 10, 2025) davestryker.com
Since 2020, guitarist Doug MacDonald has released about a dozen albums placing his artistry in a variety of musical combinations from a trio to a big
band. No matter the setting, MacDonald’s creativity is always exemplary. For Santa Monica Session (Dmac Music – 27), MacDonald is joined by Bill Cantos on piano, organ, and Rhodes, Hussin Jiffry on bass, and Kevin Winard on drums and percussion for an eclectic eight-tune program that includes one standard, “Prisoner of Love;” a few jazz standards, “Minor Makeup” by Tadd Dameron,” “Pent Up House” by Sonny Rollins and “Perdido” by Juan Tizol; a pop tune, “Walkin’” plus three MacDonald originals. MacDonald captures many moods, and no matter the tempo, he always has swinging at the core of his playing. His support players nicely execute his arrangements with their occasional well-conceived solos. Once again, MacDonald has produced a collection of appealing music. dougmacdonald.net
While digging through a catalog from the Library of Congress, vocalist Bran-
don Tomasello discovered never-recorded arrangements by Billy Byers for a collaboration between Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. Tomasello has now engaged The City Rhythm Orchestra a band that includes Billy’s son, Bryant Byers, in the trombone section to record many of these charts on The Lost Sinatra-Basie (Soundplex Records). The songs include “Call Me Irresponsible,” “Too Marvelous for Words,” ”It’s Easy to Remember”, “All the Way”, among others. It is interesting to hear the arrangements of songs previously recorded by Sinatra. Tomasello has a smooth, swinging baritone that captures the feeling of the Sinatra approach without any attempt at imitation. The background of each track is nicely explained in Tomasello’s liner notes. It is a welcome pleasure to hear these charts performed with Tomasello and the band capturing the Sinatra/ Basie style. brandontomasello.com
OTHER VIEWS
Los Angeles-based vocalist Jack Wood and Australian jazz singer Nichaud Fitzgibbon are well paired for Movie Magic: Great Songs from the Movies (Jazz Hang Records –915JW). The tunes are standards that were not necessarily written for specific films but have been featured in at least one movie. They are backed by a variety of musicians for such selections as “Make Someone Happy,” “When I Look in Your Eyes,” “Speaking of Happiness”, and “Quando, Quando, Quando”. Both singers have voices and styles well-suited to the material. They each have five solo tracks and perform six as a vocal duo. No matter the backing, they fit the setting. Wood has been active on the Los Angeles scene for many decades and has released several albums. Fitzgibbon while a familiar figure in her native Melbourne, is being introduced to American audiences on this album and is a wel-
come addition to our shores. If you dig solid straight-ahead singing with support from many outstanding jazz players, Movie Magic will lie easily on your ears. jazzhangrercords.com
The jazzy singing duo of Anne Burnell & Mark Burnell perform a baker’s dozen of tunes on This Could Be the Start of Something Big (Spectrum Music & Video). Along with four originals by one or both of the Burnells, you will find such songs as “This Could Be the Start of Something Big,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Joy Spring”, and “Song Sung Blue”. The instrumental support comes from Pat Mallinger on saxophones, Mark Burnell on piano and keyboards, Fareed Haque on guitar, Joshua Ramos on bass, and Jim Widlowski on drums. The result is an album that will keep you listening for the surprising approaches that the Burnells apply to each of the selections. burnellmusic.com
Listen to Windmills (Perdido) by vocalist Jacqui Dankworth, and you will be assured that genes matter. The daughter of the great British jazz stars vocalist Cleo Laine and reedman/bandleader/arranger composer Johnny Dankworth, Jacqui Dankworth has emerged as an outstanding jazz vocalist who also works in other musical genres as well as performing as an actress. This album finds her in several settings: her own
quartet, her quartet with the Carducci String Quartet, the BBC Big Band, and the Bedazzle Strings. The songs are mostly standards, “London By Night,” “Windmills of Your Mind,” “Baubles, Bangles & Beads,” “If You Go Away,” “Lucky to Be Me,” “Send in the Clowns” and “Some Other Time;” a couple of bossa nova favorites, “So Many Stars” and “Love Dance;” an Irish folk song, “On Raglin Road;” Michael McDonald’s’ “I Can Go Now;” and her own tune, “Will You Wait for Me.” Her sound is reminiscent of her mother’s voice but she has her own approach to vocalizing. This is a lovely album. perdido.co.uk
What better name for an album is there for a couple of New Jersey-based artists than Journal Square (self-produced), the recent release by vocalist Audra Mariel and guitarist Anthony Fuscaldo. They perform a 14-song program of familiar songs,
OTHER VIEWS
including “Jersey Bounce,” “All the Things You Are,” “One Note Samba”, and “The Very Thought of You”. Mariel has a mellow sound and a fine feel for phrasing, comfortable at any tempo. Fuscaldo is a supportive partner with an understated approach that never takes attention from the vocalizing. They sound like they are having fun, and you will have fun enjoying their efforts. anthonyfuscaldo.com
Some singers grab your attention immediately. Such is the case with Tania Grubbs. Her new album, The Sound of Love (Travlin’ Music) contains a well-chosen 14-song program with her support coming from pianist David Budway, guitarist Ron Affif, bassist Jeff Grubbs, and drummer James Johnson III. A glance at the list of songs will inform you that this lady has diverse tastes with a particular
affinity for songs by Henry Mancini as she has included “Slow Hot Wind,” “Dreamsville” and “Two for the Road.”
She also digs songs written by jazz artists such as “(A Rhyme) This Time” by Earl Klugh and Al Jarreau, “Strange Meadowlark” by Dave and Iola Brubeck, “Something to Live For” by Billy Strayhorn,” “Four” by Miles Davis and Jon Hendricks, and “If You Could See Me Now” by Tadd Dameron.” Then there are pop tunes by Lennon and McCartney, “Blackbird,” and John Denver’s “Sunshine on My Shoulder.” There are two originals, her own “The Sculptor’s Hands” and ‘I Can Tell You Are Always There” by David Budway and Lou Tracey. The one Great American Songbook standard is the opening track, “But Not for Me.” Grubbs’ voice is smooth and appealing. She deeply conveys the meaning of each lyric. Her backing
quartet is right there throughout, with Budway’s contributions particular ly notable. You will love the sound of The Sound of Love.
Top Ten (Sun Goose Records) by Kate Voss & The Hot Sauce filled collection of pop songs from the 1950s and 1960s that Voss and her band take to new places, always having a jazz sensitivity. The group includes Voss on vocals, bass and melodica, Jason Goessl on guitar, Mike Underwood on drums and bongos, Kurt Shipe on trumpet, and Eric Koppa on tenor sax. Among the tunes are “You Can Never Tell,” “Stupid Cupid,” “Let’s Go Sunning”, and I Got a Boyfriend” (“I Got a Woman”). The collection does not fit any genre comfortably but has the kind of originality that should appeal to a wide range of listeners. sungooserecords.com
BIG BAND IN THE SKY
Danny Bacher: A Singer/Saxophonist Whose Music Expressed Joy and Wit
“You Swung Your Time Beautifully While You Were Here, Full of Grace, Humor, Gratitude”
On Tuesday evening, December 12, singer/saxophonist/songwriter Danny Bacher posted on Facebook that he was “so excited to be doing my first Jazz Nativity with the Royal Bopsters this coming Monday, December 16th. Many jazz luminaries will be joining us including the legendary Ron Carter!”
The Jazz Nativity was scheduled for 8 p.m. at St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City. Earlier that day, the 46-yearold Bacher died from a heart attack. Born in Pompton Plains, NJ, Bacher currently lived in Cliffside Park. He studied music at New Jersey City University, and vocalist Roseanna Vitro had him as a student. “I loved his tal-
ent, his wit, his heart,” she posted on Facebook. “When he decided to make his first album, we had so much fun.”
The newest member of the vocal group, The Royal Bopsters, Bacher was scheduled to sing with them at the Jazz Nativity. After hearing about Bacher’s death, Pete McGuinness, the singer Bacher had succeeded in the group, rejoined the Bopsters for the concert. Leader Amy London posted about the performance on Facebook.
“We Bopsters sang our hearts out for our beloved brother Danny in Anne Phillips’ Jazz Nativity last night. So glad that Pete could join us, he saved the day. We will always treasure the time we spent singing and laughing
with amazing talent Danny Bacher.”
Bacher’s two albums as a leader were Swing That Music! (Whaling City Sound: 2016) and Still Happy (Whaling City Sound: 2018). JazzTimes, reviewing the latter recording, pointed out that, “The song titles alone on soprano saxophonist and vocalist Danny Bacher’s sophomore release provide a pre-listening hint of what to expect: They contain words like joy, fun, lucky, hooray, laughing, and—three separate times—happy.
“Whether kicking up dust on the
jumpy, scat-centric original ‘Joie de Vivre’,” the review continued, “or kicking back on ‘Lazy Afternoon’, Bacher and company opt to shed pretense and solemnity and just play their hearts out. It’s contagious.”
Jersey Jazz’s Joe Lang reviewed Swing That Music! in the July/August 2016 issue. The album was dedicated to three men named Louis: Armstrong, Jordan, and Prima. Writing about a duet by Bacher and vocalist Cyrille Aimee on “That Old Black Magic”, Lang said it “recalls Louis Prima and Keely Smith, and Bacher does the classic Prima medley of ‘Just a Gigolo’ and ‘I Ain’t Got Nobody’ with reverence for the original.” The title tune of the album, of course, was one of Armstrong’s best-known tunes, and the recording also contained “Dream a Little Dream of Me”, “La Vie en Rose, and “A Kiss to Build a Dream On”.
Lang added that Bacher “has a pleasant baritone and a natural
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swing to his singing. The (supporting) players are all first class, with the horns of (Warren) Vache and (Houston) Person just perfection. SwingThat Music! does indeed swing.”
In 2023, Bacher received the Bistro Award for Outstanding Achievement as a Singer/Instrumentalist in the New York Entertainment Community. He was personally selected by vibraphonist Terry Gibbs as the vocalist on Gibbs’ 2023 Whaling City Sound album, The Terry Gibbs Songbook. Reviewing the album for Jersey Jazz, Lang wrote that, “Bacher has a nice feeling for lyrics and a jazz sensitivity that is natural given his experience as a fine saxophonist. The album conveys the joy that has always been present in the music of Terry Gibbs.”
Bacher was co-author, with Bernie Hogya of Collecting Laurel and Hardy, published in 2024 by Schiffer Press. In its description of the book, Schiffer Press pointed out
that “Danny Bacher began collecting Laurel and Hardy memorabilia at the age of five, and has since amassed one of the world’s largest and most important private collections.”
Along with his brother, Josh, Bacher was co-creator of an after-school puppet series called “The Backyard Players”. He also helped run Camp Liberty, an arts-based summer program in Jersey City.
Drummer Alvester Garnett, who played at last month’s Jazz Nativity and on Still Happy, described Bacher, on Facebook, as “one of the kindest, most gracious people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and performing with. You swung your time beautifully while you were here, full of grace, humor, gratitude as well as care and concern for others.”
In addition to his brother, Josh, Bacher is survived by his wife, Erin Bernard-Bacher, and his parents, Jane and Joel.
French Pianist Martial Solal
“Comparable to Art Tatum in the Speed of His Arpeggios”
French pianist Martial Solal grew up in Algeria playing classical piano, but, after taking jazz clarinet and piano lessons, Benny Goodman, Fats Waller, and Erroll Garner soon replaced Chopin and Bach as his musical heroes.
Solal, who died December 12, 2024, in Versailles, France, at the age of 97, played with American drummer Kenny Clarke in Paris in the early 1950s at the Saint-Germain-des-Pres club. While there, as a member of the house band, he would often accompany visiting American jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Art Blakey. In 1960, he was commissioned by Jean-Luc Godard to write the soundtrack for A Bout de Souffle (Breathless), which was a breakthrough. “It’s like I won the Lotto,” he told The Guardian’s John Fordham. He went on to write scores for several more films and, in 1963, he performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and at 52nd Street’s Hickory House with bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Paul Motian.
Solal continued to live and perform in Europe, rarely performing in the United States. While in Europe he teamed up for duos with Amer-
BIG BAND IN THE SKY
ican saxophonists Lee Konitz and Phil Woods. In 2007, when he visited New York to perform at the Village Vanguard, The New York Times’ Ben Ratliff wrote that, “Being 80 has not dimmed his agility or his imagination— he interpreted each passing moment of the songs as a provocation: spinning out a quick cycle of chords from just one, or interrupting the shape of a melody to add on a whole new structure, invented at breathtaking speed.” Village Voice jazz critic Francis Davis once described him as “comparable to Art Tatum in the speed of his arpeggios but thoroughly modern in his rhythmic accents and with a sense of caprice that seems all his own.”
His last public performance was a solo concert in 2019 at the Salle Gaveau Hall where he made his first Paris performance in 1961. Survivors include his wife, Anna; a son, Eric; a daughter, Claudia; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Eddie Decker, Guitarist/Educator
“His Willingness to Adapt His Methods to Fit My Learning Style Stuck with Me”
While still a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the late 1970s, Eddie Decker bought a small music teaching studio in Maywood, NJ. He named it Musically Yours, eventually moved it to Hackensack, and spent the rest of his life teaching aspiring guitarists. Decker passed away on December 12, 2024, at the age of 66, after a long battle with cancer.
In addition to teaching, he played the seven-string guitar, and for the last 16 years has been a member of vocalist/ pianist Tony DeSare’s band. On Facebook, DeSare posted these comments:
“I don’t have the words yet. This man was so many things to me. I’ll miss you every day. Love you, brother.”
In a review on njjs.org of DeSare’s February 2024 performance at
Birdland, Joe Lang pointed out that, “Decker got some front and center time, and the influence of his mentor, Bucky Pizzarelli, was evident.”
Pianist/educator Evan Toth, who hosts The Sharp Notes on Fairleigh Dickinson’s WFDU 89.1FM radio station, took guitar lessons from Decker before switching to piano. In an online tribute, he recalled that, “My mom brought me to Musically Yours, and I vaguely remember her talking to Eddie about lessons. I was a blank slate—no skills, but a spark of ambition. Eddie
agreed to take me on ... Eddie didn’t just teach me how to play the guitar; he taught me about teaching itself. His willingness to adapt his methods to fit my learning style stuck with me and influences how I approach teaching in my own life today ... Eddie Decker gave me more than music; he gave me an understanding of its seriousness, its beauty, and its demands.”
Decker grew up in River Edge, NJ, and most recently resided in Ho Ho Kus. He graduated from River Dell High School and studied music at the University of North Texas before returning to New Jersey to earn a BS degree in Business from FDU. He was very active in the redevelopment efforts for the city of Hackensack and, for the past two years, served as Chairman of the Main Street Alliance.
Survivors are: his wife, Linda; his mother, Flora; daughters, Madeleine and Chloe; granddaughter, Francesca; and two brothers, James and Joseph.
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