May 2023

BY CYDNEY HALPIN

As part of NJJS’ 50th anniversary milestone in 2022, and in keeping with our mission to present, promote and preserve jazz, NJJS launched its Juried Scholarship Competition—which awards a $1000 first prize, and a $500 second prize, in each of two categories: Jazz Performance and Original Composition. The competition is open to 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 music program.

It’s with great delight that I share the news that this year’s Competition produced 17 student submissions—9 Jazz Performance applicants and 8 Jazz Composition applicants. This number of applicants represents growth—54.5%—

for this second year initiative, and bodes well for future growth in participation, prestige and funding.

Judged by professional musicians, educators and industry leaders Don Braden, Ted Chubb, Mariel Bildsten and Jason Olaine, the submissions are currently being assessed, and the winners will be announced and profiled in the June issue of Jersey Jazz. We’re very grateful to Don, Ted, Mariel and Jason for their participation and expertise, and continue to seek their advice as we grow this competition.

NJJS would also like to thank the New Jersey college educators who championed this initiative, and encouraged their students to participate.

This competition is generously supported by Nan Hughes Poole.

If you’d like to support this ini-

tiative, and help grow the prizes, you can do so with a credit card donation easily facilitated on our website njjs.org— please note “Scholarship Competition” when processing your gift, or by check: NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave, Ste. 217, Summit NJ, 07901, and note “Scholarship Competition” in the Memo. Please feel free to contact me via email at pres@ njjs.org or phone: 973.229.0543 if you have any further questions.

Please join us Sunday, May 7th at the Jersey Jazz LIVE! event featuring GRAMMY nominated Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo and NJJS favorite, cornetist Warren Vaché. Both are artists on the Arbors Records label, and this event is generously sponsored by Rachel Domber, owner and co-founder of Arbors Records.

The Rising Stars/Opening Act will present a quintet from Mount Olive High School led by Gabe Serna-tenor sax/clarinet, with Alex Marichal-trombone, Ange Ahart-guitar, Nate Miller-drums, and Sydney Gouveia-bass.

This new initiative—showcasing young musicians—has been met with much enthusiasm and reaffirms that jazz is alive and well, and thriving in the hands of the next generation of musicians.

It’s a rare opportunity that Diego is performing in our geography. This is going to be an afternoon of incredible music! You don’t want to miss it. For more information, please see page 8.

Admission is $10 members/$15 non members. Tickets are available online at madison-arts-and-culture-alliance.ticketleap.com/ new-jersey-jazz-society-concert

ALL THAT’S JAZZ

Tickets will also be available at the door. Doors open at 2:30pm, concert starts at 3:00pm. There will be light refreshments for purchase. Free street parking is available. Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ.

Perhaps you’d like to sponsor or co-sponsor a Jersey Jazz LIVE! event? Funding for the Jersey Jazz LIVE! events has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts though the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. While we’re very grateful for this support, this funding doesn’t cover the full costs of our programming.

If you or someone you know would like to sponsor or co-sponsor one of these programs, please contact me at pres@njjs.org for more information.

SAVE

THE DATES for the following future LIVE! events: June 11— pianist Ted Rosenthal, October 8—Bill Mays Trio, November 12—vibraphonist Chuck Redd, and December 10—TBD/NJJS Annual Meeting. Plan ahead and plan on joining us!

Congratulations to NJJS advisor, artist, educator, and composer Don Braden on receiving “The Jazzy”—the Jazz Arts Hero Award—from NJ-based Jazz Arts Project—jazzartsproject.org.

Don is definitely a hero to NJJS, and we’re delighted to see him honored.

C ongratulations to trumpeter, producer, and educator Jeremy Pelt on his new album The Art of Intimacy Vol. 2: His Muse spending the last three weeks at #1 on the Jazz Week chart.

Reviewed by Joe Lang in last

month’s issue of Jersey Jazz, this album is, “a musical interlude free of freneticism” and along with stellar jazz musicians, has a string ensemble arranged and conducted by David O’Rourke. Get yourself a copy!

Congratulations to Isaiah J. Thompson, Jazz House Kids alumnus—who won the American Pianists Association 2023 Award for Jazz and the Cole Porter Fellowship. Friend and fellow JHK alum Caelen Cardello (an NJJS featured Rising Star in the January 2022 issue of Jersey Jazz) and Esteban Castro, were also finalists in this fierce competition. BRAVO Isaiah, and well done Caelan and Esteban.

Congratulations to Tom Loughman, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Morris Museum.

NJJS has a longstanding relationship with the museum, and we look forward to continuing our support of jazz programming under Tom’s new leadership.

The Pizzarellis are dear personal friends of mine and it warms my heart to see the late Bucky Pizzarelli grace the cover of Jersey Jazz once again. The patron saint of NJJS, Bucky was the source of great pride and much musical joy for decades to our board, members and friends.

Thank you John for sharing your memories with us, and for honoring your father’s legacy and the ‘only thing he knew how to do’ in fine fashion. As the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree, I know Bucky (and Ruthie!) will be listening from afar on May 5th, as you present your tribute concert in Morristown. For more information see page 16.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON

Palladium’s Young Stars Pay Homage to Wayne Shorter

Ifirst saw alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan perform in December 2019 as part of drummer Evan Sherman’s big band at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Then, I saw her in January 2020 in trombonist Mariel Bildsten’s septet, celebrating the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington at the Morris Museum’s Bickford Theatre. One of the selections that night was Ellington’s “Lady of the Lavender Mist”, originally played by Ellington in1952 and introduced to Bildsten by Hanahan.

In the September/October 2020 issue of Jersey Jazz, Hanahan was our featured Rising Star, and she told me “Lady of the Lavender Mist” is one of her favorite songs. Playing it that night,

she added, was “a beautiful moment.” She also told me Jackie McLean was a major influence on her playing. She performed his “I Hear a Rhapsody” at her college acceptance audition at the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music’s Jackie McLean Institute.

Now, she’s playing the music of another saxophone hero, Wayne Shorter, who died March 2, 2023, at the age of 89 (Jersey Jazz, April 2023). Hanahan will be the saxophone voice of Palladium, a quintet of rotating musicians dedicated to celebrating Shorter’s music and legacy, when the group pays tribute to Shorter on May 3 at New York’s Smoke jazz club.

“Wayne Shorter’s music,” Hanahan said, “has had a great impact on

me and every musician who plays this music. Wayne truly had his own voice, not only on the saxophone, but in his composition style. He had a profound impact on everyone who surrounded him. Through his music and playing you can hear his sincere knowledge of harmony and his innovative approach to playing the tenor and soprano saxophone. Even through some of the most intellectual pieces, Wayne had a way of still emphasizing the melody. This is what made him truly unique.”

At Smoke, Hanahan said the group will “honor Wayne Shorter’s legacy by playing many different pieces through the decades of his career. We will play anything from the tunes he famously wrote with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers to tunes played with V.S.O.P. and beyond. That’s one of the greatest joys of playing his music. There is a song for every day and every feeling!”

Hanahan will be joined at Smoke

by vibraphonist Sasha Berliner, bassist Russell Hall, pianist Sean Mason, and drummer Domo Branch. Mason was the Jersey Jazz Rising Star in October 2021 and was part of Bildsten’s septet at The Bickford as well. He also played and recorded with Bildsten in December 2019 at Dizzy’s Club and is the pianist on the soundtrack of the Netflix movie, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Palladium was founded in 2015 by producer and Shorter family friend, Jesse Markowitz, who runs Shorter’s social media. Earlier versions of the quintet mixed older veterans with young emerging talent. The young talent in this group represents the future of jazz. As one of Hanahan’s University of Hartford teachers, trombonist Steve Davis, told me: “Sarah is the real deal. She has the fire! Her alto sound is powerful, fresh, and unique.”

For more information on the May 3 performance, log onto smokejazz.com.

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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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

VOLUME 51 • ISSUE 05

NJJS org

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 2020. 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

Bill Crow, Joe Lang, Alex Levin, Dan Morgenstern, Mitchell Seidel, Jay Sweet

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jaci Berkopec, Kathy Fallon, Bill Farrington, Jack Grassa, Carol Lo Ricco, Mitchell Seidel, Timothy White

WEBMASTER

Christine Vaindirlis

New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2021

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

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Cydney Halpin, advertising@njjs.org

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Mike Katz DIRECTORS

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Don Braden, Mariel Bildsten, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, Jason Olaine

Guitar-Trumpet Duo: Diego Figueiredo and Warren Vache

On March 17 at the Sarasota Jazz Festival, guitarist Diego Figueiredo joined with legendary pianist Dick Hyman to electrify the crowd with duo versions of three Antonio Carlos Jobim tunes, along with Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are”, the traditional Irish folk song, “Danny Boy”, and Ernesto Lecuona’s “Malaguena”. For good measure, Figueiredo added a solo performance of Zequinha de Abreu’s “Tico Tico”.

At 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 7, Figueiredo will perform with another jazz veteran, trumpeter Warren Vache, at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison, NJ, Community Arts Center.

In 2020, Figueiredo was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals,

for “Marry Me A Little” on the Cyrille Aimee Mack Avenue album, Move On: A Sondheim Adventure. In his review of Figueiredo’s 2022 Arbors album, Follow the Signs, Edward Blanco of AllAboutJazz, described him as “one of the finest acoustic guitarists in the world. A classically-trained musician influenced by Brazilian masters Joao Gilberto and Baden Powell,” Blanco continued, “he has also integrated the styles of American guitarists George Benson, Pat Metheny, and the great Joe Pass into his playing.”

DownBeat’s Frank Alkyer wrote that Figueiredo “weaves magic over the fretboard, demonstrating his command of the instrument and his art. The music of Diego Figueiredo has the ability to take your breath away in so many ways.”

Vache appeared last month at

the Chicken Fat Ball in Maplewood, NJ, and was one of the performers at NJJS’ 50th Anniversary Concert last October in Morristown, NJ. The New York Times’ John S. Wilson once wrote of his “gorgeously warm tone”, adding that he “adds roughtoned vitality to the brass section.”

The Rising Stars opening act will be a quintet led by Mount Olive High School tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Gabe Serna, who won a Gold rating in the Highly Competitive Division of the Sparta High School Jazz Festival, held April 5. Fourteen schools participated, but only three other student

musicians received the same rating as Serna. Other members of Serna’s quintet, also Mount Olive High students, are: trombonist Alex Marichal, guitarist Ange Ahart, drummer Nate Miller, and bassist Sydney Goureia.

The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. Admission to this event will be $10 for members and $15 for non-members. There will be light refreshments for purchase. To order tickets, log onto madison-arts-and-culture-alliance.ticketleap.com/new-jersey-jazz-society-concert. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.

Funding for the NJJS Socials has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts though the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts. This concert is generously sponsored by Rachel Domber/Arbors Records.

Diego Figueiredo

PHOTO BY CAROL LO RICCO

Annual Jam Session of Jazz Veterans Delights Maplewood Crowd

Solos Were Concise and On Point, and Everyone Got a Feature

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MITCHELL SEIDEL

The Chicken Fat Ball made its annual return to Maplewood last month, maintaining a standard that has proven it a favorite with jazz fans throughout the area. Normally held the first Sunday in January, the event was moved to spring last year after a one-year Covid hiatus. Producers Al Kuehn, Don Greenfield, and Ed Stuart usually stock their lineups with swing/bop/mainstream musicians and this year’s show, presented in association with the New Jersey Jazz Society, continued that tradition.

The April 16th program at The Woodlands featured mainstream veterans Warren Vache on trumpet, Randy Reinhart on trombone, Harry Allen on tenor sax, Ken Peplowski on clarinet and tenor sax, Mark Shane on piano, Gary Mazzaroppi on bass, and Paul Wells on drums. While not a working group, they have played with each other often enough in the

past to enable them to find common ground quite easily. It was as if some former bandmates got together after a short absence to have a jam session.

But this was not haphazard jam session. These were seasoned professionals who knew what tunes to play and how to structure a reasonably tight arrangement on the fly. The tunes played were all familiar territory for the musicians and the audience, so everyone was happily involved. Also, the key to the Chicken Fat Ball is that the musicians who perform are not hesitant to entertain, and the audience members are always satisfied.

Old friends, old tunes: You wouldn’t think there’d be any surprises, but right off the bat the group warmed things up with “Stuffy,” a classic Coleman Hawkins tune from 1945.  “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Creole Love Call”, and “There Will Never Be An-

From left, Shane, Mazzaroppi, Allen, Peplowski, Vache, Reinhart

other You,” were among the tunes that also got the full group treatment. If the tunes were old, the audience was equally superannuated, causing Peplowski to volunteer this breaking news to the crowd: “Dewey won.”

Solos were concise and on point, and everyone got a feature, even bassist Mazzaroppi, who dedicated his deep-toned presentation of “This Is All I Ask,” to the late pianist John Bunch, who had recorded the tune with Tony Bennett. “A Porter’s Love Song” got a trio treatment by Peplowski, Shane ,and Wells while Vache featured “My One and Only Love” with the latter pair as well.

The event concluded with an unidentified tune that Vache hinted was “the national anthem of jazz. You’ll know what it is.” The band sent everyone home with a rousing “Take the A Train,” and expectations that next year’s Chicken Fat Ball will be just as grand. Bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer Paul Wells. Mazzaroppi dedicated his deep-toned presentation of “This is All I Ask” to the late pianist, John Bunch.

Ahmad Jamal’s Sensitive Use of Silence Created a New Sound on Jazz Piano

“Every Time I Heard Him Was Jaw-Dropping from the First Note to the Last”

The Black-owned Pershing Hotel, on Chicago’s South Side, was demolished in 1964, but in the late 1950s, it was a hangout for celebrities such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Billie Holiday. In 1958, musical history was made in the Pershing Lounge, when the Ahmad Jamal Trio recorded the Argo album, Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me. Propelled by the popularity of Nat Simon’s Latin-flavored song, “Poinciana”, the album stayed on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart for 108 weeks, unheard of for a jazz recording.

Jamal, who died April 16, 2023,

in Ashley Falls, MA, at the age of 92, went on to become one of the giants of jazz piano, although he preferred to call jazz “American classical music.”

Born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, he started playing piano by ear when he was three years old and began formal lessons four years later. In a 2018 interview with Wax Poetic’s Eugene Holley, Jr., he said: “I studied Art Tatum, Bach, Beethoven, Count Basie, John Kirby, and Nat Cole. I was studying Liszt. I had to know European and American classical music. My mother was rich in spirit, and she led me to another rich person:

BIG BAND IN THE SKY

my teacher, Mary Cardwell Dawson, who started the first African-American opera company in the country.”

He attended Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse High School, whose alumni included the pianists Erroll Garner and Mary Lou Williams. By the time he was a freshman in high school, he was playing in Pittsburgh’s nightclubs. He once told DownBeat Magazine, “I’d do algebra during intermission, between sets.”

In 1950, Jones moved to Chicago and converted to Islam, changing his name to Ahmad Jamal. According to The New York Times’ Eric Grode, writing on the day of Jamal’s death, the pianist’s playing was “in marked contrast to the challengingly complex music known as bebop ... Bebop pianists, following the lead of Bud Powell, became known for their virtuosic flurries of notes ... Mr. Jamal’s laidback, accessible style, with its dense chords, its wide dynamic range and,

above all, its judicious use of silence, led to more than his share of dismissive reviews in the jazz press early in his career. But it soon became an integral part of the jazz landscape. Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett are among the prominent jazz pianists who looked to Mr. Jamal as an exemplar.”

The Washington Post’s Gene Seymour wrote that, “Pianists as diverse as McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, and Bill Charlap claimed Mr. Jamal as an influence on their approaches to the jazz piano trio.” In an April 2004 review of Charlap’s trio at the Village Vanguard, The New York Times’ Ben Ratliff wrote, “Sometimes Mr. Charlap can hark back in certain ways to Ahmad Jamal in the 1950s: in his expert manipulation of a crowd by mastering the rhetoric of beginnings, middles and ends, and in his intricate, confident bits of writing around familiar melodies. The last song of the set, ‘In The Still of the Night,’ was the most

BIG BAND IN THE SKY

Jamal-like: Where the phrase ‘’Do you love me as I love you’’ appears in the song, suddenly the band rocketed into superfast time, creating an almost physical sensation for the listener.”

The keyboardist Mike LeDonne, reacting to Jamal’s death on Facebook, wrote that, “I can’t conceive of a world without Ahmad Jamal in it. Every time I heard him was jaw-dropping from the first note to the last. Every tune was a thrill a minute and full of music as open as the sky but completely down to earth. That’s what Ahmad Jamal was like as a man, too. You knew he

was truly a musical genius and yet talking to him was so easy because he was so friendly and open. The music world has lost a guiding light and innovator of the highest order.”

Alex Levin, a pianist/educator interviewed in the January 2021 issue of Jersey Jazz, called Jamal “the North Star of jazz pianists. At least he is for me. I love his concept at the piano which is mischievous and playful and also deeply positive and swinging. The other thing that I think Ahmad shares in his playing is the notion of how to use the trio format with space and silence. And,

“ HIS LEFT HAND STAYS FOCUSED, AND HIS RIGHT HAND IS ALWAYS IN MOTION ... ”

he has an inherent trust in his listeners to travel with him through his inventions.” (See Levin’s centennial tribute to Red Garland on page 24)

Pianist Vijay Iyer told National Public Radio’s Martin Johnson that Jamal’s “sense of time is that of a dancer, or a comedian. His left hand stays focused, and his right hand is always in motion, interacting with, leaning on, and shading the pulse. He bends any song to his will, always open to the moment and always pushing the boundaries, willing to override whatever old chestnut he’s playing in search of something profoundly alive.”

In the mid-‘50s, Miles Davis reportedly told his pianist, Red Garland,

to “play like Jamal.” Whether or not that is true, is open to question, but in Miles: The Autobiography (Macmillan: 1990), written with Quincy Troupe, Davis wrote that Jamal “knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, and the way he phrases notes and chords, and passages.”

Some of Jamal’s best-known recordings were his interpretations of standards such as Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Surrey with the Fringe on Top”, the Gershwins’ “But Not for Me”, and Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale”. And, like many jazz instrumentalists, he learned the lyrics of the songs he played. In 2001, he told The New York Times about a conversation he once had with Ben Webster. “I once heard Ben Webster playing his heart out on a ballad,” he said. “All of a sudden, he stopped. I asked him, ‘Why did you stop, Ben?’ He said, ‘I forgot the lyrics.’”

Jamal is survived by his daughter Sumayah, and two grandchildren.—SJ

MEMBERS | $ 15 NON-MEMBERS Jersey

FEATURING

Diego Figueiredo & Warren Vaché

SUNDAY, MAY 7 3:00 PM

This concert is generously sponsored by

Rachel Domber/Arbors Records

Madison Community Arts Center 10 KINGS ROAD, MADISON, NJ

FREE STREET PARKING ON KINGS ROAD

REFRESHMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

“43 Years Ago, My Father Said, ‘Go Get Those Nat Cole Records.’ It Changed My Life”

John

Pizzarelli

Leads a Big Band Tribute to Bucky

BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON

It’s no secret that guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli has a fondness for Nat King Cole. In 2019, he released an album for Ghostlight Records called For Centennial Reasons: 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole. And, in the 1990s, he did two Cole-related albums, Dear Mr. Cole (Novus: 1994) and P.S. Mr. Cole (RCA: 1999). That affection for and appreciation of Cole, he said, can be traced to one person. “You can bring it all back to Bucky Pizzarelli,” he explained.

“Forty-three years ago, my father said, ‘Go get those Nat Cole records.’ I went to Sam Goody and got the records. They had just been re-released. It was sort of divine intervention. There they were—the best of the King Cole Trio. I remember my father saying, ‘Put ‘em on the stereo,’ and I remember listening to it and saying, ‘This is the greatest thing I ever heard. The only other drumless trio I’d heard up to then was my father’s group. I was having this major life discovery

while I was listening to those records. I can still see my father with his hands on the stereo, looking out the window and reliving his discovery of that group 40 years earlier. It was a beautiful moment as I look back at it. I’ll never forget it. It changed my life, and he was saying, ‘That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.’”

On Friday night, May 5, Pizzarelli will be leading a big band in tribute to his father at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, NJ. “I have a number of things that refer to stuff that I’ve played with him and that he’s played with us,” Pizzarelli said. “Most of the songs have some kind of relevance to what we’ve done together over the years. There’s a song about his sister called ‘Headed Out to Vera’s.’ I’ve thrown in one of his uncle’s songs called ‘A World Called Home’ that we used to play all the time. There’s a tune called ‘Strayhorn’; there’s another he wrote called

‘Flow Street’ that I really like. There will be some new things in there, too, as well as ‘I Like Jersey Best.’”

John’s memories of playing with his father are endless, but, “the one I remember the most—I think it was in the Morristown Library before my 20th birthday (He’s now 63). That was the first time we both played 7-string guitars. I remember him making that suggestion right before we got in the car. We made two albums for Stash—2 x 7

= Pizzarelli and Swinging Sevens. Then, we made a bunch in the ‘90s. The Pizzarellis: Contrast and John Pizzarelli: The Family Fugue were on Arbors, and there was one on a label called Victoria, Twogether That’s Really Good.”

Another favorite memory was about violinist Joe Venuti. “We had Joe Venuti over to the house. The way I remember it, these people came over, and everybody was milling around, and the phone rang, and my father

grabbed it, and it was Les Paul. And, Les said, ‘I hear Joe Venuti’s in town. Where the hell is he?’ And, Bucky said, ‘He’s on our couch.’ And, Les said, ‘I’ll be right over.’ And, Bucky said, ‘Les is coming over.’ And, so, then you had Les Paul and Bucky, and Joe Venuti in the same room playing tunes. That kind of stuff is irreplaceable.”

The big band at the Mayo will include four trumpeters - Tony Kadleck, Bud Burridge, James Zollar and Mark McGowan; four trombonists—John Mosca, Mark Patterson, Jason Jackson, and Douglas Purviance; five saxophonists—Chris Byars, Dan Block, Awan Rashad, Mark Lopeman, and Kenny Berger; Andy Watson on drums; plus the two regular members of Pizzarelli’s trio, pianist Isaiah J. Thompson and bassist Mike Karns. (Thompson was Jersey Jazz’s Rising Star in November/December 2020. He just won the American Pianists Association 2023 Award for Jazz and the Cole Porter Fellowship).

JAZZ AT MAYO PAC

Many of the band members have appeared with John Pizzarelli in recordings and performances. Berger, Kadleck, and Mosca were on a 2008 Telarc Pizzarelli album, With a Song in My Heart, celebrating the music of Richard Rodgers. Bucky Pizzarelli was a guest artist on the album, playing on “Easy to Remember”. Kadleck also appeared with John

and Bucky on the 1993, RCA/Novus album, Naturally. “Headed Out to Vera’s”, co-written by John and Grover Kemble, appeared on that album along with standards such as the Gershwins’ “Oh, Lady Be Good” and Hammerstein/Romberg’s “When I Grow too Old to Dream” as well as John Pizzarelli compositions such as “Splendid Splinter”, and “Your Song is

With Me.” John’s brother, Martin, is the bassist on both of those albums. Burridge, Patterson, Byars, Berger, and Watson joined Pizzarelli, Thompson, and Karn when Pizzarelli’s Swing Seven band appeared at Birdland last year. In his review of that performance, Broadway World’s Stephen Mosher pointed out that Pizzarelli, “always brought the conversation back

to the audience, sharing casual anecdotes about life, his life, the music, the friends, and his famous father.”

On April 21, Pizzarelli’s trio released a new album, Stage & Screen on the Palmetto label and performed songs from it at Birdland the week of April 25. “There’s an Oklahoma suite—five tunes from Oklahoma,” he said. “There’s a new one from Jason Robert Brown from Honeymoon in Vegas called ‘I Love Betsey’. There’s a Kander and Ebb tune called ‘Coffee in a Cardboard Cup’ from 70, Girls, 70. It’s a good little mix of tunes, going all the way back to No, No Nanette (‘I Want To Be Happy’, ‘Tea For Two’).”

The night after the Mayo concert, Pizzarelli’s trio will be appearing at The Vogel in the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank and will perform selections from the new album. Pizzarelli, Thompson, and Karn also appeared at Tarrytown, NY’s Jazz Forum in April and will head

From left, John, Bucky, and Zoot Sims

out on a national tour after the Red Bank appearance. (See Joe Lang’s review of Stage & Screen on page 39)

The opening song on the new album is “Mr. Wonderful”, the title tune from the 1955 Broadway musical starring Sammy Davis, Jr. Pizzarelli became reacquainted with it while watching a video of Bucky perform it with Bucky’s favorite saxophonist, Zoot Sims. In 1998, Bucky and tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton released an album on the Concord label, called Red Door, a tribute to Sims. “I re-

member when they made that record,” John said. “We had a lot of fun with Zoot Sims. We’d go to play at Waterloo Village with him. He played with us in Ridgewood at the bandshell the year before he died. We had some really fun and memorable moments with him.”

Pizzarelli recalled that, growing up, “I was always singing in groups and playing but when I started to play with my father, I didn’t have a real repertoire. I could sing ‘Popsicle Toes’ or a Kenny Rankin song. But when I heard those Nat Cole records,

I said, ‘Oh, this is perfect. ‘Route 66”, ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’. They were rhythm tunes. Then, Bucky said, ‘Try and find some of those Joe Mooney tunes. He kept talking about Joe Mooney all the time. (Bucky’s first musical hero was Mooney, a blind accordionist/organist/vocalist whom he would play with in Paterson, NJ, where they both grew up. Mooney wrote arrangements for such bandleaders as Paul Whiteman and Les Brown, led his own quartet, and sang with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra).

ing,” John Pizzarelli continued, “the more people who had 78s, would make cassettes of them and give them to me. That’s how I sort of built my repertoire of all these rhythm tunes. It really was a great foundation to what I’m doing 40 years later.”

“ THE OPENING SONG ON THE NEW ALBUM IS ‘MR. WONDERFUL’. ” PHOTO

“The more I was out there sing-

The Mayo PAC is located at 100 South St. in Morristown, NJ. For more information or tickets log onto mayoarts.org or call (973)539-8008.

The Vogel is located at 99 Monmouth St. in Red Bank, NJ. Log onto thebasie. org or call (732) 842-9000).

Pizzarelli, Thompson, and Karn at the Jazz Forum in April.

Trumpeter Joe Boga: ‘Be Ready to Expect Anything’ Music Festival Will Include Three Concerts in Maplewood and One at Town Hall in NYC

BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON

Cheryl Boga has been Conductor and Director of Performance Music at the University of Scranton for more than 40 years. Predictably, her son, Joe Boga, was exposed to music at an early age.

“My mom started me on violin,” he recalled, “and I didn’t want to do it. I kept begging to quit, and eventually she let me do it but insisted I couldn’t quit music altogether.”

Boga decided to take up the trumpet. “When I got to the fifth grade,” he said, “my band director told me if I went to the band room and practiced, I didn’t have to go to class. So, I was practicing a lot, and my parents got me a compilation CD of Louis Armstrong. I had no interest in jazz, so I let it sit on my desk for months. Then, I started to feel guilty about it, so I opened it and put on the first track, which was ‘Potato Head Blues’. It changed my life. I would go to bed every night listening to ‘Potato Head Blues’, and I

DJANGO A GOGO 20 th ANNIVERSARY

got so engulfed in jazz, listening to all these early Louis Armstrong tracks.”

Today, the 32-year-old Boga is the lead trumpeter for Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, often plays with David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band and James Langton’s New York All-Star Big Band, and leads his own sextet, the Scranton Ramblers. On Friday, May 5, Boga will be performing with guitarist Stephane Wrembel’s Django New Orleans band as part of the 20th anniversary of Wrembel’s Django A Gogo Music Festival and Guitar Camp in Maplewood, NJ. The May 5th concert will be at The Woodland in Maplewood, and the next night, a concert at New York’s Town Hall will feature the Django New Orleans band as the second half of a performance that will lead off with Wrembel’s international ensemble exploring and updating Django Reinhardt’s musical legacy. The Maplewood and New York concerts will also serve as release parties for

Wrembel’s new Django New Orleans album on his Water Is Life Records label.

Boga has been playing with Wrembel’s band for about a year. “He had gotten my name from (multi-reedist) Nick Driscoll, who also plays in the band, and his old guitar player, Roy Williams, both of whom are from Scranton.” The album will be a mix of tunes, ranging from Reinhardt’s “Nypheas” to Wrembel’s “Bistro Fada” to Bogo’s favorite, the Original Dixieland Jass Band’s “Tiger Rag”.

“To me,” he said, “the most quintessential and most popular tune of the ‘20s and ‘30s and beyond is ‘Tiger Rag’. I really like that ‘20s, early ‘30s scrappy Americana music. ‘Tiger Rag’ gives you a lot of freedom to play on. The chord changes aren’t too hard; they’re simple enough that they leave you space, but they’re interesting enough that it’s fun.”

If you’re coming to one of the Django concerts, Boga said, “Be ready to

expect anything. One of the things I really love about playing with Stephane is he likes to throw caution to the wind and go all in. It’s always exciting for me. He gets me a little out of my comfort zone. It opens my mind a lot.”

The other members of the Django New Orleans band are rhythm guitarist Josh Kaye, violinist Adrien Chevalier, sousaphonist Joe Correia, percussion-

ist David Langlois, Driscoll on clarinet and soprano saxophone, vocalist Sarah King, and drummer Scott Kettner.

When Boga was in the sixth grade, his mother took him to hear Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

“She got me backstage because he has gotten an honorary degree from the University of Scranton. I brought my trumpet and asked if I could play for

Stephane Wrembel

him. He spent like two hours with me and said I could start studying with him whenever I was in New York. He gave me his number and gave me an assignment of all these tunes I had to check out. I think I was supposed to listen to them, but I misinterpreted and thought I had to transcribe them. Some of these things—like Louis Armstrong’s ‘West End Blues’ and Roy Eldridge’s ‘After You’ve Gone’—were just so difficult. There was no way a sixth grade kid was going to be able to play those. The others were ‘Walkin’ by Miles Davis and ‘Ramblin’ by Ornette Coleman with Don Cherry’s solo on it.

“The ones I could do were the Miles Davis solo and the Ornette Coleman one. I ended up falling in love with Ornette Coleman. I would listen to that album, Change of the Century (Atlantic Records: 1960) over and over again. And the next time I went up to New York, I played Don Cherry’s solo on ‘Ramblin’.

“I was all about early jazz,” he said, “and I listened to Ornette Coleman all the time. It made me realize there’s a lot in common between avant-garde and early traditional jazz. When you think about it, the stuff they were doing in the in ‘20s and ‘30s was all experimental at the time. Not everything was 32 bars. There was just so much going on and people trying new things out. The thing that connects Louis Armstrong and Ornette Coleman and ties it into Stephane’s thing is that experimental quality. Trying out new things. Keeping things interesting. It never gets formulaic or too predictable.”

Boga got the lead trumpet chair in the Nighthawks about two years ago. “I had been subbing for Jon-Erik Kellso (a member of the trumpet section) for about six years. I’ve learned so much from Vince Giordano. He’s the 1920s guy.”

During the pandemic, Boga played “almost every day with David Ostwald in the parks.” Over the

BRIA SKONBERG

8:00PM SATURDAY, MAY 20TH

New York-based trumpeter/vocalist, Bria Skonberg, has been described as one of the “most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation.” A truly unique voice in the jazz-blues-crossover realm.

Tickets and info:

(201) 820-3007

www.hacpac.org

DJANGO A GOGO 20 th ANNIVERSARY

SMOOTH

years he’s done some gigs with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. From Gordon, “I learned a lot about how to play a gig and what not to do, when I first got to New York.”

Although he graduated from Juilliard in 2014, Boga acknowledges that he followed “a bit of an unconventional path” to get there. “Jazz for me was this special thing. I listened to it all the time, but there weren’t too many people my age in Pennsylvania who were interested in jazz. There were a lot of opportunities for playing in orchestras. So, I played in a community orchestra every Sunday. Before I got to Juilliard, I actually studied with one of the teachers at Juilliard, Mark Gould, who’s principal trumpet with the Metropolitan Opera. I took some lessons from him, leading up to my auditions. I loved playing in an orchestra, but my heart lied in jazz.”

For Boga’s own group, the Scranton Ramblers, his concept is “to get young musicians who play the old style correctly, but also to write new music to feature the individual musicians in the band, in that style – that scrappy American energy. I want to encap-

sulate that energy of scrappy American guys making music and being creative.” The other band members are bass saxophonist Jay Rattman, pianist Dalton Ridenhour, drummer Paul Wells, trombonist Sam Chess, and c melody saxophonist Tommy Gardner. “We did a gig in Scranton, and the plan is to get some promotional material out this summer.”

In addition to Django New Orleans, two other Django A Gogo concerts will take place in Maplewood. On Wednesday, May 3, Wrembel will lead a band with Kaye on guitar, Ari Folman-Cohen on bass, Nick Anderson on drums and some special guests from Wrembel’s international ensemble. On Thursday, May 4, The Django Experiment Band will feature Jason Anick on violin, Wrembel and Kaye on guitars, Anderson on drums, Folman-Cohen on bass, and Driscoll on tenor saxophone and clarinet. All four concerts begin at 8 p.m.

For information and tickets for the Maplewood concerts, log onto djangoagogo.com.

For the Town Hall concert, log onto thetownhall. org or ticketmaster.com or call (212) 997-6661.

THURSDAY, JUNE 22 | 7:30 – 10 PM

Pier 40 Houston Street & Westside Hwy. NYC

Boarding begins @ 6:30

Departure @ 7:30

Tickets: smoothjazznj.com or smoothjazznewyork.com

Onsite parking available

Boarding begins @ 6:30 | Departs @ 7:30

Gerald Albright

Jonathan Butler

Red Garland: One of the Architects of the Modern Jazz Sound

“Garland Says as Much with the Space in his Playing as He Does with the Notes He Plays.”

BY ALEX LEVIN

On May 13th of this year, take a moment to join me and, I imagine, almost every other modern jazz piano player, to celebrate the centennial birth of the great William McKinley “Red” Garland, Jr., better known as Red Garland. I became most intimately acquainted with Red’s playing while taking some piano lessons with a New York pianist, the late, great Enos Payne, who taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. My lessons took place in the afternoons at the defunct “Up Over Jazz Cafe.” Enos was a fun, upbeat teacher.

I enjoyed studying with him, and even though he was lighthearted enough to fit well with my learning style, a style I would call “non-linear and unconventional,” he would always come in with some serious music to learn. On one occasion, a fateful occasion, one might say, he brought me a transcription of Red Garland’s solo on “If I Were a Bell” from the (Prestige) record Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet from 1958.

While living in Berlin, I had listened to the record countless times and always loved every moment,

breezy and beautiful as it is. Still, when I started to learn all of the components of Garland’s solo, I realized how ingenious it is in its construction. Following a blazing Coltrane solo, Garland’s solo begins at the 4-minute, 22-second mark on the track. He immediately launches into what sounds like a “flurry of notes,” a cliche descriptor of piano playing that I have relied upon myself in my writing, but what sounds like a “flurry” is actually a twinkling, airy arpeggiation of ascending and then descending notes, a kind of response, in a musical sense, to Coltrane’s own arpeggiated style of soloing, but on the piano, and in the upper register. So, it was on an entirely different plane. As the solo continues, he plays some choruses of the tastiest blues licks while his left hand maintains a perfectly coordinated “left-hook” comping style. (Enos told me that many of the ‘50s pianists admired boxers, so the comping style

has its closest analogy in the jabs of an agile boxer defending a title.) Then, as if that weren’t hip enough (and it is definitely hip enough–at least to my ears), Garland starts playing block chords. Not just any block chords, either. He plays Red Garland block chords. There’s a reason why Red Garland is famous for his block chords. They are round, beautiful, and ringing,

and the melodic idea at the top of each chord sounds across the recording.

It is difficult to overstate the canonicity of the recordings Red Garland made with Miles Davis in the 1950s. Almost every tune from those sessions is bound to be called at jam sessions in New York and around the world. Those quintet recordings established a list of jazz classics and

an approach and style that jazz musicians are expected to know before approaching the bandstand. By virtue of his stellar playing on those records, Garland must be acknowledged as one of the architects of the modern jazz sound. Now, many people like to point out how Miles was calling tunes on those records without much thought, to fulfill a contract with Columbia Records. While that may be true, it is of very little importance. The way I see it, what you hear on those recordings is one of the world’s greatest, most powerfully swinging jazz bands at the height of its creative power. Even writing about it here makes me want to lay those records on the turntable and play along with the band–one of the most fun and exhilarating things I know how to do! All the soloists on those records are fantastic, but when Garland is soloing, it sounds like you’re listening to his record–a burning trio record.

This brings me to the other important aspect of Red Garland’s discography that I am most excited to write about: his recordings as a leader. His first trio record, A Garland of Red (Prestige: 1956), holds endless delights and incredible lessons for pianists. Take, for example, his rendition of “Makin’ Whoopee.” Garland’s statement of the melody is as dry and no-nonsense as can be. That said, he adds little bluesy flourishes and harmonized notes in the melody, making it all the tastier. Then, he adds those gorgeous block chords I mentioned above on the bridge. The first chorus of his solo is all block chords, and when it’s not block chords, it’s space. Like Ahmad Jamal, Garland says as much with the space in his playing as he does with the notes he plays. To me, that pianistic economy of notes is the most exciting aspect of any pianist’s ideas, and Garland was a genius at this element of soloing. And

before you move onto another track, be sure to check out his perfectly executed blues lick at the very end of his recording of “Makin’ Whoopee.”

As much as I’m fascinated by Garland’s block chords and tastefulness on ballads and mid-tempo tunes, I can’t say enough about his playing at fast tempos. On his album It’s a Blue World (Prestige: 1958), he plays “Crazy Rhythm,” and here, after stating the melody in block chords, he plays a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bebop solo of the highest order. It’s fun to hear how he adopts a Bud Powell simplicity in his left hand for comping as he peels off line after line of beautiful phrases, each one perfectly legato and in rhythm. Playing a tempo like this with such apparent ease and elegance is no easy feat, but Garland’s playing is so sharp he makes it sound like he’s strolling through the park on Sunday morning.

If I were to point a friend to a Red Garland record as a starting point

for listening, I would probably select the 1958 Prestige album, All Kinds of Weather, which he recorded with his late ‘50s rhythm section of Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. NPR fans will instantly recognize the opening measures of his take on “Stormy Weather;” it’s the music that accompanies reports of a down day on Wall Street on the program, All Things Considered. What I love about the record is the choice of tunes, some expected, like “Summertime,” played here at an achingly slow tempo that allows us to appreciate Garland’s talents as a balladeer. At the same time, you’ll find no better introduction to Garland’s block chord style than the opener, “Rain,” which bounces along at a healthy clip, and, just like on his recordings of “If I Were a Bell,” sits in the deepest pocket of swing you’ll find this side of the universe. Finally, I personally can’t resist the trio’s take on “Winter Wonderland,” which,

“ HIS INCREDIBLE MUSICAL LEGACY CONTINUES TO

INFORM AND INSPIRE. ”

listening to it now, evokes the joy of snowy days, despite our unseasonably warm spring weather. Here, too, you hear the fully-formed trio concept at play: block-chord statement of the melody, the punchy left hand comping through the first chorus of bluesy piano licks, and then blooming into a lush landscape of block chords. You’ve gotta love the bowed bass solo by Paul Chambers, too!

Jazz players like to talk about players having a “concept,” which is an all-encompassing term that denotes the stylistic coherence of a musician. As I listened to the albums Red Garland recorded with his trio for the

Prestige label, I was startled by the beautiful coherence of all of the recordings. Largely because the trio maintained a consistent rhythm section, the band is immediately identifiable and swings at full-throttle throughout each take. Given the uniformity of the music, you could perhaps miss the incredible artfulness of not only each take but of each phrase, indeed each note that Red Garland plays. The record I am listening to as I write the closing words of this article is another doozy of a recording: “Red Garland’s Piano,” which he recorded for Prestige in 1957. His take of “If I Were a Bell” on this record is a bit of theme and variations on his

recording of the same tune with Miles Davis’ Quintet. The tempo on the trio record is a bit more relaxed, and he plays some familiar phrases on both recordings, but here, with the tempo a bit slower, the richness of Garland’s sound and the tastiness of his phrases are given (arguably) fuller expression.

So, let’s all ring a bell and lay out a garland of red for Red Garland and celebrate his incredible musical legacy, one that continues to inform and

inspire musicians–not only pianists–around the world. Just like so many centennial celebrations of jazz musicians, no need to bring a gift to the party. The guest of honor has provided us with the eternal gifts of swing, harmony, and joyous expression.

Alex Levin is Head of the English Department at Philadelphia’s Germantown Friends School and a working jazz pianist.

MSC Meraviglia

Roundtrip from New York, New York

October 15 - 25, 2023

Featuring

Allan Vaché – Warren Vaché –Houston Person – Harry Allen –

John Allred – Dan Block –

Danny Tobias – Mike Pittsley –

Ted Rosenthal – Tardo Hammer –

Charlie Silva – Brian Nalepka –

Kevin Dorn – Danny Coots –

Mark Shane –

Vocalists

Banu Gibson Yve Evans

In addition to our internationally acclaimed artists, we will once again be offering more than thirty hours of opportunity for our guests who are amateur musicians to jam in your own JazzFest Jammer sessions led by John Skillman and Mike Evans. Plus, if you would appreciate some instruction and critique during the jam sessions feel free to ask .

Amazing Canada/New England itinerary roundtrip New York with p orts that include Newport, Boston, Charlottetown, Saint John, Halifax and Sydney! Get

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*Pricing is per person, cruise-only based on double occupancy and includes all taxes and fees. Must book with Cruise & Vacation Depot or approved agency to attend private performances. Deposit is $400 per person and is due at the time of cabin selection. Fares and performers subject to change. Please be advised the performance venue is non-smoking for all guests.

www. JazzFestatSea.com 1-800-654-8090

JAZZ FOR TEENS 25 th ANNIVERSARY

Drummer Jarrett Walser: ‘It Was Great to Play with Kids Who Were Better Than Me’

Walser’s Quartet, The Fanny Pack, Will be Opening the Newark Downtown District Market series on May 8.

BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON

In 2002, when he was 11 years old, Jarrett Walser was taking drum lessons at the JCC Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, NJ. Then, he learned of a jam session in his hometown, Teaneck. “It was at the Puffin Cultural Center,” he recalled. “Calvin Hill had his own group there. Calvin was on bass, Vince Ector on drums. I forget who was on piano at the time.”

The jam sessions were monthly, and at one of them he met a high school student named Alex Collins, who played piano. “He would always be at the sessions, and he suggested I

try out for Jazz for Teens at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. He thought I would be a good fit there, so I auditioned and was accepted. I was one of the youngest members. A cool experience.” (In 2010, pianist Alex Collins made his debut at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival with the Brandon Wright Quartet. Today, he leads his own trio, and has performed in bands led by drummer Karl Latham and bassist John Lee, among others).

This month, the NJPAC TD Jazz for Teens program will celebrate its 25th anniversary. The first Director, in

Jazz for Teens quartet: From left, Eric Neveloff, Jason Weinreb, Adrian Moring, Jarrett Walser

1998, was bassist Rufus Reid, followed by tenor saxophonist/flutist Don Braden. Alto saxophonist Mark Gross has been the Director since 2015, and one of the faculty members who has been there since the beginning is trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, a veteran of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. In an interview last year, Gross said, “You can imagine a young kid hearing Valery talk about being on the road with Art Blakey or playing with Elvin Jones or Charles Mingus.” (Jersey Jazz, May 2022).

for Teens, Braden was the Director, and, in addition to Ponomarev, other faculty members included drummers Ralph Peterson, Cecil Brooks III, and Dion Parsons as well as keyboardist Mike LeDonne and bassist Joris Teepe. In addition to what he learned from the professionals, Walser remembers that, “It was great for my development to play with kids who were better than me. Kids loved playing jazz and learning. We all really pushed each other. And, it afforded us cool gigging opportunities at a very young age. It

“

THE PROGRAM REALLY

When Walser was a student at Jazz was the type of professional experience that was very key—how to play a gig and plan a set. Our quartet was featured on News 12 New Jersey.”

OPENED OUR EYES

ABOUT

LEADING OUR OWN GROUPS. ”

After Jazz for Teens, Walser continued his music education at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts where he received his B.A. and M.M. in Jazz Performance. While there, he studied under drummer Victor Lewis as well as alto saxophonist Ralph Bowen

and trombonist Conrad Herwig. Lewis, Walser said, “was very much like a mentor. He didn’t get hung up on technique. He was more concerned about the music, how to play a gig. He never pushed anything on you. He guided you, helping you find your own voice, which I always appreciated.”

The 32-year-old Walser is now one of the teaching artists at NJPAC, in a Jazz and Poetry program funded by the

Jarrett Walser, as a JFT student, with Valery Ponomarev

JAZZ FOR TEENS 25 th ANNIVERSARY

Mellon Foundation. “It’s a three-year program where we work with poets. We go to different schools in Newark and create works for music and poetry.” He is also Band Manager for the New York Symphony Jazz Band. “My role there,” he explained, “is mostly organizing the music. The real reason I wanted to do it is that I was a band member for the 2012-13 season, and it was such an awesome experience. We got to play at Dizzy’s and The Appel Room with artists like (trumpeter) Brian Lynch and (trombonists) Wycliffe Gordon and Mike Dease. At that time, I was about 21. It was definitely a program I wanted to be a part of— helping out the kids and giving them the best experience they can have.”

He currently leads his own quartet, The Fanny Pack, which he described as “a jazz fusion, R&B, rock kind of group, sort of a Return to Forever type of vibe. Our goal is to play as

much original music as we can. I’ve played in rock bands, country bands, spoken word groups, poetry groups. Our goal is to play our own music and find the right musicians to play it.”

The other band members are Bill DiCarrion on bass, John Morrison on guitar, Campbell Charshee on keyboards, “and then I have electronic drums that I mix in with my acoustic kit. We’re doing two shows in May. We’ll be opening the Newark Downtown District Market series on May 8, from 11-3; and on May 13 we’ll be at Sip Studios in Jersey City alongside a Jersey City band called the Funky JCs.”

His preparation at TD Jazz for Teens, Walser added, was invaluable. “The program really opened our eyes about leading our own groups and exploring all types of music. It taught us to go out and be creative. It’s fun to see how a lot of people in that program have grown.”

RISING STAR

Princeton’s Kevin Huang: First Place in Gerry Mulligan Challenge and Two Awards at National Jazz Festival

“Playing in a Big Band Setting Every Day Really Developed My Jazz Playing A Lot.”

When Kevin Huang was in middle school, he started attending the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s TD Jazz for Teens program (See related article on page 29). “There were lots of incredible people there,” he said, “not only the mentoring from the actual teachers but the community of people I got to play with – my fellow peers, who were incredible musicians.” He spent six years in the program.

Huang, a senior at Princeton High School, whose primary instrument is alto saxophone, won a First Place award in this year’s Gerry Mulligan Jazz Challenge, sponsored by the Gerry

& Franca Mulligan Foundation. He received $500 for his performance of the Mulligan composition, “42nd and Broadway,” featured on Mulligan’s Grammy Award-winning 1980 DRG Records album, Walk on the Water. According to G&FMF Executive Director Cecelia Toschi, the judges felt Huang “played with enthusiasm, fire, and passion and that his performance was excellent.”

At Princeton High School, Huang is part of the Studio Band, Big Band, Princeton Studio Combo, and Studio Vocals. “The amount of fellow jazz musicians at Princeton,” he said, “is really incredible and playing in a big band setting every day real-

RISING STAR

ly developed my jazz playing a lot.”

On Saturday, April 22, Princeton competed in Philadelphia’s ‘National Jazz Festival, an event that brings together high school and middle school musicians from across the country for live performances and educational clinics. Huang won a Superior Musician award as part of the Large Ensemble competition and an Outstanding Musician award as part of the Small Ensemble competition.

“Getting recognition for all the music that I played,” he said, “really felt great to me, and I’m thankful that I was able to win those awards. The best part of that competition was really just having a place and a stage to play and express what I feel in front of lots and lots of people.” According to one of the NJF judges, University of the Arts Professor Marc Dicciani, Huang “displayed a very advanced skill set and a musical maturity well beyond his years. It is

a rare pleasure to hear this level of technical ability, musicianship, and creativity in such a young player.”

When Huang was at TD Jazz for Teens, guitarist Adam Moezinia showed him a video of alto saxophonist Eddie Barbash and singer/ songwriter/mandolinist Sierra Hull, playing “Gold Rush”, a tune composed by legendary bluegrass mandolin player Bill Monroe and his fiddler, Byron Berline. That performance had a lasting impact. “The amount of control and perfect articulation and lines in his (Barbash) playing was

just incredible to me. I’m really into Eddie Barbash,” Huang said, “but I actually haven’t heard him live yet.” Barbash is a member of Jon Batiste Stay Human, the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Moezinia remembers seeing Huang “a few years ago, in theory class. I think he wasn’t even in high school yet. I could definitely tell, as many other faculty members could as well, that he had a lot of potential and was on his way to being a great player. Fast forward through Covid. A few years later when I had the chance to hear him, he was dealing with the music on a serious level. It’s great to hear that he’s doing well and winning awards! He deserves it, and I wish him more success in his musical journey.”

Huang is preparing to play this summer in the Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra, an all-star big band made up of the best high school and college jazz musicians in the Philadelphia and New

Jersey region. It is directed by Joe Bongiovi, Director of the Princeton Studio Band. Huang has also formed a quartet with fellow Princeton students and hopes to have some local gigs this summer. In the fall, he will be attending the Berklee College of Music on a full tuition scholarship, and his plan is to be a full-time professional jazz musician.

He often thinks back, though, to his first day at TD Jazz for Teens. “I walked in early and heard (saxophonist) Michael Thomas playing patterns, and, at first, I thought he was a student. That’s what made me want to get better. That really gave me this feeling of what I could be.”—SJ

The Grand Prize winner of Gerry Mulligan’s Challenge was Yegor Noskov of Fairfield, CT. The other First Place winner was Oliver Shifrin of Norwalk, CT. The two Second Place winners were Evan Cerne and Sean McCoy, both of Seattle.

BY DAN MORGENSTERN

A couple of things that may be marginal to jazz but certainly are related, each of which is more than worthy of attention.

The first is easy: A wonderful biography of perhaps the greatest songwriter of the classic period, Irving Berlin: New York Genius, by James Kaplan (Yale University Press). It’s part of the series “Jewish Lives”. Forthcoming is Gershwin by Gary Giddins. To borrow from a notable colleague, Berlin almost literally came out of nowhere, was a self-made man. (Kaplan avoids that cliché). Told with insight, knowledge and, maybe most importantly, sympathy and understanding, this is also the story of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway musicals, and the whole panorama of American popular music of the Golden Era. It is a unique story of a

unique and uniquely gifted man, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The second is a bit more complex: Music and history wholly unknown to me, and probably to most of my readers. Encore ‘Lovey’! The Historic Trinidad String Band Recordings, 1912 and 1914 is a three-CD set housed in a 44-page bound volume with terrific annotation and illustration devoted to the recordings of what was the most famous and popular band of its kind. It took its name from its leader, a violinist whose real name was George Robertson Lovelace Baillie but who was known to all as simply “Lovey”. His band—a l2-piecer including the leader—made a 1912 trip to New York City for engagements that were recorded both by Columbia and Victor. The band made further records in 1914, recorded by visiting Columbia engineers to Trinidad.

What we have here are 65 selections by a unique band that includes a fine clarinetist, as well as a flutist, in addition to the various strings and bass, and cuatros (string instruments played at parties and traditional gatherings). This unique and charming music (some of it previously issued

“ A STUPENDOUS PIECE OF RESTORATION AND PRESENTATION . ”

Let me just say that I never thought that at 93 I would be privileged to discover something so old, yet new. Thanks to all involved, including my old friend Dick Spottswood. Do the Paseo!! on the Bear Family label, produced by the impressive team, of John Crowley, Steve Shapiro and Dick Spottswood. (The transfer engineers who did a superb job include Sherwin

Dunner, who’s done some fine jazz stuff.) The research, done by a team of eight, is terrific and wondrously illustrated by contemporary performance and record and record store ads. All told, this is a stupendous piece of restoration and presentation and a splendid contribution to the history of African-American music. It’s produced by the Irish RWA label (the initials stand for Richard Weize Archives), Info@rock-star-records.com.

Set 1 Guests:

Stephane Wrembel, guitar

Simba Baumgartner, guitar

Paulus Schäfer, guitar

Samy Daussat, guitar

Debi Botos, guitar

Tommy Davy, guitar

Aurore Voilqué, violin

Luanne Homzy, violin

Sam Farthing, guitar

Set 2 Guests:

Stephane Wrembel, guitar

Josh Kaye, guitar

David Langlois, washboard

Nick Driscoll, clarinet/tenor sax

Adrien Chevalier, violin

Joe Boga, trumpet

Joe Correia, sousaphone

Scott Kettner, drums

Sarah King, vocals

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BY JOE LANG

In recent years, there has been a steady flow of albums containing previously unreleased material by past jazz legends. Four such releases are reviewed in this month’s column, along with one of a reissue of significant music from albums first released in 1953.

The Savoy label recorded a lot of the music that evolved from the development of the jazz genre know as bebop or bop. In 1953, Savoy released five 10” LPs compiling bop tracks by Various Artists titled The Birth of Bop, Volumes 1-5. Now they are compiled in a two-CD set or 5-LP boxed set under the title The Birth of Bop (Craft Records-00591). The artists included are Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, J.J. Johnson, Milt Jackson, Fats Navarro, Kai Winding, Allen Eager, Stan Getz, Leo Parker, Budd Johnson, Don Byas, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Roy Porter, Serge Chaloff and

Morris Lane, plus many sidemen of note. The booklet that accompanies the set contains highly informative liner notes by Neil Tesser. The quality of the music is consistently high, the programming is well conceived and the overall result is a continuous listening joy, a perfect choice to keep you company while driving around in your car. CraftRecordings.com

Many current jazz listeners are familiar with the name Luis Russell as the father of vocalist Catherine Russell. He was, in fact, a significant figure in jazz, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. He led a popular big band that eventually became the band fronted by Louis Armstrong. At the Swing Cats Ball: Newly Discovered Recordings from the Closet (Dot Time8022) contains 16 tracks of music by Russell’s band, 10 of which had Armstrong as the leader, plus four

solo stride recordings. The big band recordings were taken from various radio broadcasts between 1938 and 1940. The recordings, discovered recently by Catherine Russell, were made at the request of Luis Russell who wanted to hear how the orchestra sounded. Many of the selections are tunes that were never commercially recorded. The recordings were cut directly to glass or shellac discs, and had been worn from extensive listening of them by Luis Russell. Sound engineer Doug Pomeroy has done a yeoman job of making the source material listenable enough for commercial release. It is a treat to hear this terrific band in live performance, especially the moments featuring Satchmo’s playing. Thanks go to Cat Russell, producer Paul Kahn, and Pomeroy for making this historically significant material available to the general public. DotTimeRecords.com

It is amazing that trumpeter Chet Baker survived a life plagued by serious substance abuse for as long as he did. He died at the age of 58 in 1988 and was able to play at a high level, although inconsistently, almost to the end. Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Sessions in Holland (Jazz Detective-008) finds Baker in fine form at two 1979 sessions, one producing seven tracks

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on April 10 and the other producing four tracks on November 19. His playing is clear, precise and full of his unique imagination. There are three vocal selections, “Oh, You Crazy Moon,” “Candy” and “My Ideal.” His vocals, although a bit inconsistent, capture the understated style that has appealed to so many happy ears from the beginning of his career. There are different rhythm sections on each session. The April session had Phil Markowitz on piano, Jean-Louis Rassinfosse on bass, and Charles Rice on drums; while the later session found Frans Elsen on piano, Victor Kaihatu on bass, and Eric Ineke on drums. Baker was a special player whose highly accessible style made him widely popular, but whose personal problems kept him from achieving the success that his talent deserved. His appeal, however, has been surprisingly lasting, as he continues

to find new enthusiasts 35 years after his too early and tragic death. This set should be just the right addition to the music libraries of those who still revere Baker, and is recommended to those who need to discover or rediscover him. TheJazzDetective.com

Saxophonist Sonny Stitt made most of his peers shake their heads at his combination of speed, technique, and creativity. Unearthing previously unreleased performance by him is a welcome discovery indeed. From the archives of Baltimore’s Left Bank Jazz Society, this concert from November 11,1973, was recorded at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore. Stitt plays both alto and tenor on Boppin’ in Baltimore: Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective-009) in the company of Kenny Barron on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. They play extended takes on “Balti-

more Blues,” “Star Eyes,” “Lover Man,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “A Different Blues,” “Stella by Starlight,” Deuces Wild”, and the “The Theme.” Stitt rarely had a working group, but this rhythm section was a perfect fit for his remarkable artistry despite his never having previously played with Barron. Jones and Hayes, on the other hand, were frequent partners on various bandstands, most notably in the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and the Oscar Peterson Trio. Put them together, and the result is an exhilarating romp that we are fortunate to have at long last available to hear. TheJazzDetective.com

To Swing Is the Thing (Cellar Music-091623) perfectly describes the content of this album led by drummer Mike Melito. Joined by tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, trumpeter/ flugelhornist Joe Magnarelli, pianist

Jeb Patton, and bassist Neal Miner, Melito and crew assay 10 selections. All of them except Jerome Kern’s “Make Believe” were composed by jazz musicians. The tunes include “You Said It” and “Bug Red” by Tommy Turrentine, “A Bee Has Two Brains” by Johnny Ellis, “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn, “Ruby My Dear” by Thelonious Monk, and “Straight Street” by John Coltrane, plus one original

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each by Magnarelli, Stewart, and Miner. Stewart and Magnarelli make up an outstanding front line, full of fire and musical imagination. Patton is a first-call pianist who adds something special to any session on which he appears, and the combination of Miner and Melito provide a rhythmic foundation that would be welcome in any group. CellarMusicGroup.com

One feature of the jazz life is that many of the musicians have long lives and remain active well into the years when people in other professions are retired. Tenor saxophonist George Coleman is a fine example of this phenomenon. Live at Smalls Jazz Club (Cellar Music-SLF006) is the latest project of the SmallsLIVE Foundation Living Master Series. Coleman certainly deserves a place in this series, having been named an NEA Jazz Master in 2015. Coleman was 87 when

he recorded this album with Spike Wilner on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums. All of them shine on this set, but the centerpiece of attention is the artful playing of Coleman. He has tone, control, and taste in his selection of tunes that are exemplary. The program includes “Four,” “At Last,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Meditation” “The Nearness of You,” “New York, New York”, and “When Sunny Gets Blue,” plus his own “Blues for Smalls.” This is a spectacular outing from a true jazz giant. CellarMusicGroup.com

The Heavy Hitters (Cellar Music-070129) is an album featuring the artistry of co-leaders pianist Mike LeDonne and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Kenny Washington filling out the

band. The album’s title is an accurate description of the group of players who dig into nine original compositions, six by LeDonne and three by Alexander. Guitarist Rale Micic joins the fun on Alexander’s “Chainsaw.”

These musicians have been on the New York City scene for decades and have often played together in various combinations with other musicians of comparable stature. The music is what I would call modern mainstream. Outstanding soloists are having a good time playing together, and the resulting sounds are filled with excitement and ingenuity. CellarMusicGroup.com

There are few figures in the history of jazz who have been more influential than Bill Evans. His harmonic concepts made players rethink how to approach melodies, and the way that he changed the concept of a piano trio from a pianist supported by bass

and drums to a true musical partnership has redefined what a piano trio is for many players. The recordings by Evans continue to interest jazz buyers, and there have been a steady flow of albums containing previously unreleased live performances, in-person or broadcast on the radio. It seems that there can never be too much Bill Evans available to flow into your ears. The latest entry of newly released material is Treasures: Solo, Trio and Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969 (Elemental Records-599044). These performances were taken from Danish radio broadcasts. There are four trio dates, two from 1965 with Nils-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Alan Dawson or Alex Riel on drums; one from 1966 with Eddie Gomez on bass and Alex Riel on drums; and one from 1969 with Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums; one from 1969 with

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The Royal Danish Symphony and The Danish Radio Big Band; and a solo piano session from 1965. There is not a lot of repeated material in the sessions other than two performances each of “Waltz for Debby” and “Nardis,” and four versions of “Time Remembered.” No matter the setting, Evans simply shines in his singular engaging manner. ElementalMusicRecords.bandcamp.com

It is hard to believe that the first recording by John Pizzarelli, I’m Hip (Please Don’t Tell My Father) was released 40 years ago. To paraphrase a popular saying, you’ve come a long way, junior. NJJS members of long standing will remember John and father Bucky playing duets at Waterloo Village and other venues in the New York Metro area. Now he has brought his current trio with pianist Isaiah J. Thompson and bassist Mike Karn into the studio to record a 12-track album,

Stage & Screen (Seven Strings, LTDJOP101), that draws its songs from Broadway and Hollywood sources. Among the selections are “Too Close for Comfort,” “Tea for Two,” “Just in Time,” “Where or When,” “Time After Time,” “You’re All the World to Me” and “As Time Goes By.” Three tracks are strictly instrumental, “I Want to Be Happy,” a medley of tunes from Oklahoma that they call “Oklahoma Suite,” and a solo guitar take on “Some Other Time.” Pizzarelli is known for his keen sense of humor, and that aspect of his persona comes to the fore on “I Love Betsy,” a witty list song by Jason Robert Brown written for the Broadway musical Honeymoon in Vegas, and “Coffee in a Cardboard Cup,” written by Kander and Ebb for 70 Girls 70. Once again, Pizzarelli has produced a winner of an album that oozes pleasure. JohnPizzarelli. com (See article about Pizzarelli’s big band tribute to his father on page 16).

Taj Mahal has recorded with a wide spectrum of influences during his career—jazz, blues, and various styles from the Caribbean and Africa. His latest effort, Savoy (Stony Plain-14700) fits into the jazz/blues category. The program, with the exception of “Killer Joe,” includes songs that one might have heard at the legendary Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. The opener is fittingly, “Stompin’ at the Savoy.” Along the way he lends his unique vocal style, a some-

The Sandy Sasso Quartet

The Sandy Sasso Quartet

May 19th, 7:30-10:00 at……….

The Long Branch Distillery

May 19th, 7:30-10:00 at The Long Branch Distillery

A night of great jazz, superb spirits distilled on the premises and we’ll be celebrating Sandy’s birthday in this very cool room.

A night of great jazz, superb spirits distilled on the premises and we’ll be celebrating Sandy’s birthday in this very cool room.

Snacks and gifts for all who attend.

Snacks and gifts for all who attend.

Make reservations at “Book Now” lbdistillery.com 732-759-8321

Make reservations at “Book Now”, lbdistillery.com 732-759- 8321

199 Westwood Ave, Long Branch

199 Westwood Ave, Long Branch

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what course voice with a natural swing, to a program of tunes such as “I’m Just a Lucky So and So,” “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You,” “Summertime,” “Mood Indigo,” “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby,” “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Lady Be Good,” “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home,” “Caldonia” and “One for my Baby(and One More for the Road).” Mahal, who plays harmonica in addition to his vocalizing, is supported by a rhythm section of pianist John Simon, guitarist Danny Caron, bassist Ruth Davis, and drummer Leon Joyce Jr., plus a varying cast of horn players. Maria Muldaur is his duet partner on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” StonyPlainRecords.com

After vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton’s graduation from the Jazz Studies program at SUNY Purchase in 2007, she established herself as a significant popular presence in New York City and beyond. Her warm and swinging vocals and her hip jazz piano stylings have won her both critical and audience acclaim. Meet Me at Birdland (Champian Records-005) is her 16th album as a leader and demonstrates the charismatic

presence that she brings to all of her appearances. Much of her program is a tasteful selection of standards such as “Too Marvelous for Words,” “Evenin,” “Just Friends,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “I Only Have Eyes for You”, and “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.” She also has a talent for digging out some rarer pop tunes. “Every Now and Then,” is a song from the late 1930s that was popular with the jazz crowd. “I Didn’t Mean a Word I Said” is most associated with Ella Fitzgerald, and “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” has been a staple of azz vocalists like Mark Murphy and Carmen McRae. There are three tunes that feature Fulton’s piano artistry, Phineas Newborn’s “Theme for Basie, her own “Happy Camper”, and Ray Bryant’s “I Don’t Care.” Each of them sparkles in Fulton’s hands. Birdland is where Fulton first made her mark, singing at the club with David Berger and the Sultans of Swing. This album proves that she has deservedly earned her place as a featured performer at premier jazz clubs anywhere. Champian.net

For more album reviews, log onto the News section of njjs.org on May 1.

THANK YOU and welcome to all who have recently joined or renewed their memberships. We can’t do what we do without you!

Your membership is vital to NJJS’s mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form— JAZZ!

NOT WITHOUT YOU!

NJJS org

NEW MEMBERS

Joanne Grand NUTLEY, NJ

Dorothy Westgate SKILLMAN, NJ

RENEWAL MEMBERS

Ed Berryman MADISON, NJ

Leslie Chang MORRISTOWN, NJ

Brian Hochstadt MORRISTOWN, NJ

Ronald Lilly FANWOOD, NJ

Linda Mortimer KINNELON, NJ

Seema Tepper WEST ORANGE, NJ