June 2024

THE MAGAZINE OF THE NEW JERSEY JAZZ SOCIETY

JerseyJazz

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 52 ISSUE 06

JAZZ at NJPAC

SAMARA JOY

IN THIS ISSUE ARTICLES/REVIEWS

ON THE COVER _ Samara Joy. Photo by ambe j. williams

NJJS.ORG

COLUMNS

10

2024 NJJS Scholarship Winners

03

All That’s Jazz

13

Jersey Jazz LIVE!: Forbidden Tropics

06

Editor’s Choice

44

Dan’s Den

45

Not Without You!

15

Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon: Joel Zelnik Trio

17

Big Band in the Sky: David Sanborn

21

Jazz at NJPAC: Samara Joy

25

Jazz on the Back Deck: Jazz Goes to the Movies

30

Rising Star: Dani Assis

33

NYO Jazz Orchestra: Ben Schwartz

37

Big Band in the Sky: Bill Holman

39

Other Views JERSEY JAZZ

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ALL THAT’S JAZZ

BY CY DNE Y HA LPIN

E

xciting news … NJJS has a newly designed, fully operational website! I hope you’ll spend some time exploring it and that you’ll visit often, staying current on all things NJJS and jazz.

As with most new things, there are new features to discover and master. Our award-winning digital magazine is presented in a new format.

Please NOTE the directional icons for ease of use are located below the magazine cover. The magazine is best enjoyed using the full screen mode and then click on the + option to enlarge the type, and your mouse (on your computer or auxiliary) to slide text left and right. You also have the option to download the magazine to your chosen device and enjoy it as you would other downloaded material.

I’d like to extend a special thank you to Derek Forehand of PRISM Digital for his partnership and expertise

NJJS.ORG

with this endeavor. He made a stressful undertaking easy and I’m sure you’ll appreciate all the work that went into the new site. Please contact info@ njjs.org if you have any questions.

T

he 2024 Juried Scholarship Competition produced 14 student submissions—seven Jazz Performance applicants and seven Jazz Composition applicants, and was once again adjudicated by our prestigious panel of professional musicians, educators and industry leaders comprised of: Don Braden—world class tenor saxophonist, flutist, composer and educator, Ted Chubb—Vice President, Jazz Education + Partnerships Associate Producer, Jazz House Kids, trumpeter, composer, and educator, Jason Olaine— Vice President of Programming, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Mariel Bildsten— Trombonist, bandleader, side-woman,

and educator. The competition has concluded and the Board and I are delighted to announce the four winners!

In the Performance category the $1,000 winner is pianist Lasse Corson from William Paterson University and the $500 winner is saxophonist Isaac Yi from Princeton University. In the Composition category the $1,000 winner is saxophonist Joseph Foglia from William Paterson University and the $500 winner is trumpeter Gabriel Chalick from Princeton University. Congratulations to the winners! Congratulations to department heads Dr. David Demsey (WPU), and Rudresh Mahanthappa (Princeton) for supporting this program and encouraging their students to participate.

While the competition ultimately produced four winners, it was a very competitive field, and the Board and I would like to acknowledge and

congratulate the other 10 applicants whose submissions have proven that jazz is alive and well and competently in the hands of this generation.

The Performance applicants were: Nick Barbuto, MSU, drums; Lasse Corson, WPU, piano; Charles Dutta, Princeton, piano; Oliver Koenig, Northwestern, saxophone; Diego Mamani, MSU, guitar; Ariana Hartunian-Sowa, Rutgers, saxophone; Isaac Yi, Princeton, saxophone.

The Composition applicants were: Danny Allen, Rutgers University, piano; Gabriel Chalick, Princeton, trumpet; Justin Farquhar, Rutgers, bass trombone; Joseph Foglia, WPU, saxophone; John Hoey, Rowan University, trumpet; Jacob Hurlock, Rutgers University, multiple instruments; Kenneth Taylor, Princeton University, multiple instruments.

Learn these musicians’ names as there’s no doubt you’ll be seeing

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ALL THAT’S JAZZ these cats in the years to come.

Our deepest gratitude to judges Don, Ted, Mariel, and Jason for their dedication and expertise, and for their input and advice as we continue to grow this competition.

So many life skills are developed through the discipline of music. Thank you and congratulations to ALL the teachers and mentors of these winners and applicants for your dedication and training. The art of jazz takes a village and each of you has a vital role in the personal and professional lives of these fine young musicians. For more information on the winners, please see page 10.

We’re exceedingly grateful to Nan Hughes Poole for her generous multiyear donation in support of this initiative, and to NJJS Board Member Cynthia Feketie for her additional gift.

If you’d like to make a donation to further support and expand the

NJJS.ORG

2025 competition prizes, you can do so at njjs.org via the red “Donate” button on the homepage, or by check payable to NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07091. Please note “Scholarship.”

J

une marks our second anniversary in partnership with the Madison Community Arts Center in presenting our Sunday afternoon Jersey Jazz LIVE! programming.

Thank you, John Pietrowski— Director of Arts and Events and Caroline Romanelli—Events Coordinator at MCAC for your incredible efforts in support of NJJS. Our next LIVE! concert is Sunday, June 9, and will feature the AfroPeruvian jazz of Forbidden Tropics.

The Rising Stars will showcase the Alexander Rausch Quartet. Please see page 13 for more detailed information.

If you haven’t yet experienced

a LIVE! event, I encourage you to do so. Come celebrate America’s original art form with joy and community and support our 52nd year dedicated to the performance, promotion and preservation of jazz.

Admission is $10 members; $15 non members; $5 students (ID required) and children. Tickets are available online at: madisonarts. ticketleap.com/njjs-forbidden-tropics-06-05-24. Tickets are also available at the door. Doors open at 2:30 pm, concert starts at 3:00 pm. Light refreshments for purchase. Free street parking is available. Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Save the Dates for the following future LIVE! events: October 6—A screening of the documentary Jimmy Van Heusen: Swingin’ With Frank & Bing along with live music, Q&A, and commentary from Direc-

tor Jim Burns, November 3—2024 Scholarship Winners Showcase with industry professionals, and December 8—TBD/NJJS Annual Meeting.

Plan ahead and plan on joining us!

I

t’s that time of year again for “Jazz on the Back Deck” at the Morris Museum which begins Saturday, June 15th with Stephen Fuller and AMANI in a tribute to Tony Bennett.

I’m delighted to to be part of the “Jazz Goes to the Movies…Lights, Camera, SWING!” concert Saturday, June 22nd, along with industry greats Don Braden, sax & flute; David O’Rourke, guitar; Oscar Perez, piano; Bill Crow, bass; Karl Latham, drums.

Bring a chair, a picnic, and kick off the summer programming in style! These shows sell out so get your tickets ASAP. Please see page 25 for more information and for tickets visit morrismuseum.org.

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JerseyJazz LIVE! FEAT U R I N G

Forbidden Tropics AFRO PERUVIAN JAZZ SUNDAY, JUNE 9 3:00 PM

Madison Community Arts Center 10 KINGS ROAD, MADISON, NJ FREE STREET PARKING ON KINGS ROAD $

10 MEMBERS | $15 NON-MEMBERS $

5 STUDENTS (WITH VALID I.D.)

EDITOR’S CHOICE

BY SA NFO RD JOS EPHSON

Alto Saxophonist Jon Gordon Remembers Phil Woods and Seventh Avenue South

T

he last time alto saxophonist Jon Gordon played at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, PA, was in May 2016, “a tribute to Phil Woods.” Gordon, now Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music, will be returning to the Deer Head on June 15; and his appearance there will bring back memories of his first jazz hero, Woods, who lived within walking distance of the popular club.

Gordon first heard Woods at the Manhattan club, Lush Life, “I introduced myself, and I got to study with him a handful of times over a couple of years. He was tough, but he cared. If you cared and gave it your all, he’d give you everything

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he had. The third lesson I had with him, he said, ‘If you’re not trying to change the world with this music, don’t come in my house.’”

Seventh Avenue South, Gordon’s latest album, was released last month on the ArtistShare label, and he will play some selections from it and his previous ArtistShare recording, Stranger Than Fiction (2021), at the Deer Head. Seventh Avenue South is a tribute to the popular jazz club that flourished at 21 Seventh Avenue South (and Leroy Street) from 1977-1987. Compositions on the new album are all originals by Gordon except Quincy Davis’ “Paradox” and Paul McCartney’s “Here There and Everywhere”.

Gordon’s initial visit to Seventh Avenue South was in 1983 when he was 16. He was a student at the Performing Arts High School, and a classmate’s mother, Margaret Davis (who was married to the bassist Henry Grimes) took him to see drummer Art Taylor’s quartet, which featured 23-year-old saxophonist, Branford Marsalis, bassist Ron Car-

Phil Woods and Jon Gordon in 1992 at the Red Rock Recording Studio in Saylorsburg, PA

ter and trumpeter Clark Terry. “Two Mondays later,” Gordon recalled, “I heard Gil Evans’ Orchestra, and I spoke to David Sanborn on the break (See Big Band in the Sky, page 17).

Then, David said to me, ‘Hey, Jon, can you play the last set for me? I’ve got to go.’ I was 16, and I probably looked 12. It was a wild experience.

“I also sat in during the Saturday brunches with (tenor saxophonist) Eddie Chamblee,” Gordon said, “and I got to sit in occasionally with Doc Cheatham at the Sunday brunch.”

So, Gordon, on June 15, will be combining two memories —his days at Seventh Avenue South and his mentorship with Phil Woods. He will be joined by pianist Bill Mays, who often played with Woods, bassist Marcos Varela, and drummer John Reilly. “I’m really looking forward to being back at the Deer Head,” he said.

“Every time I’m there, I think of Phil.”

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ABOUT NJJS

F

ounded 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.

MEMBER BENEFITS

JOIN NJJS

You become an integral part of the NJJS community, and the history and future of jazz

Family/Individual $45 (Family includes to 2 Adults and 2 children under 18 years of age) Family/Individual 3-Year $115 Musician Member $45 / 3-Year $90 (one time only, renewal at standard basic membership level.)

Youth $15 - For people under 21 years of age. Date of Birth Required.

Give-A-Gift $25 - Members in good standing may purchase unlimited gift memberships.

Applies to New Memberships only.

Fan $75 - $99 Jazzer $100 - $249 Sideman $250 - $499 Bandleader $500+ Corporate Membership $1000

Access to 11 Digital Issues of our Award Winning Jersey Jazz Magazine — Featuring Articles, Interviews, Reviews, Events and More Discounts to our Jersey Jazz LIVE! Sunday Concerts Discounts at NJJS Sponsored Concerts & Events.

MUSICIAN MEMBERS

FREE Listing on NJJS.org “Musicians List” with Individual Website Link FREE Gig Advertising in our Monthly eBlast THE RECORD BIN

Visit www.njjs.org or email info@njjs.org for more information on our programs and services NJJS.ORG

A collection of CDs & LPs available at reduced prices at most NJJS concerts and events and through mail order www.njjs.org/Store

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

JERSEY JAZZ

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Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society VO LU M E 52 • I SSUE 05

NJJS org

Editorial Staff

New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2024

EDITOR

PRESIDENT

Sanford Josephson, editor@njjs.org

Cydney Halpin, pres@njjs.org

ART DIRECTOR

EXECUTIVE VP

Michael Bessire, art@njjs.org

vicepresident@njjs.org

CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR

TREASURER

Mitchell Seidel, photo@njjs.org CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Bill Crow, Joe Lang, Dan Morgenstern, Jay Sweet CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Mike Katz, treasurer@njjs.org VP, MEMBERSHIP

membership@njjs.org

VP, PUBLICITY

Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com

Jack Grassa, Andrew Lepley, Todd Rosenberg, Mitchell Seidel, Meredith Truax, Aykut Uslutekin, Ambe J. Williams

Mitchell Seidel, music@njjs.org

WEBMASTER

RECORDING SECRETARY

Christine Vaindirlis

VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING

Irene Miller CO -FOUNDER

Jack Stine

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 2024. All rights reserved. Use of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the NJJS.

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Advertising

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Mike Katz

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

Cydney Halpin, advertising@njjs.org ADVERTISING RATES

Full Page: 135, Half Page: 90, 1/3 Page: $60, 1/4 Page: $30 $

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For reservations, technical information and deadlines contact advertising@njjs.org or visit njjs.org/Magazine/Advertise.

Make payment at PayPal.com: payment@ njjs.org, or via check made payable to NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07901.

DIRECTORS

Jay Dougherty, Cynthia Feketie, 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

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FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2024 123 W 43RD ST NYC | THETOWNHALL.ORG CONNECT: @TOWNHALLNYC

800-745-3000

2024 NJJS SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS Students from William Paterson and Princeton Receive This Year’s Awards The New Jersey Jazz Society is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Juried Scholarship Competition. They are:

1,000 PRIZE

500 PRIZE

$

$

FOR PERFORMANCE:

FOR PERFORMANCE:

Pianist Lasse Corson

Saxophonist Isaac Yi

Minneapolis, William Paterson University Jazz Studies

Leonia, NJ, Princeton University Program in Musical Performance

$

1,000 PRIZE

$

FOR COMPOSITION:

FOR COMPOSITION:

Saxophonist Joseph Foglia

Trumpeter Gabriel Chalick

Raleigh, NC, William Paterson University Jazz Studies

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500 PRIZE

Naples, FL, Princeton University Program in Musical Performance

LASSE CORSON

W

hen Corson was attending the LaVilla School of the Arts middle school in Jacksonville, FL, his instructor, Christopher Banks, introduced him to the Miles Davis Columbia album, Kind of Blue, featuring Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly on piano. And, Corson’s father bought him Oscar Peterson’s Verve album, Night Train. “Those two records,” he said, “were life changing and were the start to my jazz education.”

After his family moved from Jacksonville to Minneapolis about 11 years ago, Corson continued his jazz education at the Brubeck Jazz Colony, Minnesota Youth Jazz Band and the MacPhail Dakota Combo, an audition-based jazz combo made up of the region’s top high school jazz musicians. This summer, Corson will be attending the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead

Residency at the Kennedy Center.

Corson began playing classical piano, but “the room for imagination and collaboration drew me in, and away from the classical music I was studying before.” Dr. David Demsey, William Paterson Coordinator of Jazz Studies, described Corson as “not just a pianist. He’s a musician who is a pianist. He is a tremendous, imaginative player who can react and excel in many musical situations. He is one of our most busy and in-demand pianists, and it continues to be a joy to have him as a member of the Jazz Program at William Paterson.”

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2024 NJJS SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS JOSEPH FOGLIA

F

oglia is receiving his second NJJS scholarship. In 2023, he received the $500 second prize for Performance. “My favorite thing in the whole world,” he said, “is to play and compose music.” Foglia also got his first exposure to jazz in middle school when the Band Director, Renee Todd, “created an encouraging learning environment.

She really started me from a young age thinking that jazz was cool.”

He has been accepted into the BMI Composers Workshop in New York, led by tenor saxophonist Andy Farber and trombonist Alan Ferber.

The program enables composers to come together in order to share ideas and to learn from one another. This summer Foglia will be attending the Brevard (NC) Jazz Institute as a Teaching Assistant. The Institute

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is led by trombonist Michael Dease, and the Artist in Residence this year is pianist Kenny Barron. Other faculty members include saxophonist Sharel Cassity, guitarist Randy Napoleon, and pianist Luther Allison.

After Brevard, Foglia will be going to Aspen, CO, for Jazz Aspen Snowmass where he’ll be playing in the Afro-Caribbean Big Band led by trumpeter Etienne Charles. Demsey said Foglia is “an imaginative and very advanced composer/arranger for someone of his young age.”

ISAAC YI

W

hile a member of the jazz band at Leonia (NJ) Middle School, saxophonist Isaac Yi happened to hear Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite”. After that, “Music was never the same for me,” he said. “My mind was blown. I would ecstatically come home looking forward to transcribing his solos.”

After middle school, Yi studied at the JCC Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, played in the Bergen Technical High School jazz band, and attended the Manhattan School of Music Precollege program.

He graduated with a Jazz Certificate from Princeton in May and hopes to focus on both composing and performing. One dream of his is to recreate the music of the 1995 Verve album, Charlie Parker with Strings. His current saxophone he-

roes include Seamus Blake, Max Ionata, Mark Turner, and Patrick Bartley.

Rudresh Mahanthappa, Associate Director of Princeton’s Program in Musical Performance said Yi “is one of the best student musicians I have encountered in my career as a jazz educator. He has great potential to be a shining young voice in this music.”

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2024 NJJS SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS GABRIEL CHALICK

G

abriel Chalick majored in Art History at Princeton, with a minor in Music Performance.

“My vision for the future,” he recalled, “was getting a job after graduating and playing music on the side, just for fun.” That has all changed. “As I have gotten to the end of these four years,” he said, “I have realized how much I need music to be omnipresent in my life. I simply can’t live without it.” As a result, Chalick, who grew up in Naples, FL, will be pursuing his Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at Montclair State.

Chalick learned to play the trumpet from the late Dan Miller, who played in bands led by Harry Connick and Maynard Ferguson. Miller directed the Naples Youth Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra, and, said Chalick,

NJJS.ORG

“He taught me standards, improvisation, phrasing and articulation, and the history of jazz. He was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge. He is my trumpet hero -- he played with a big fat sound, swung with authority, and was one of the most positive and giving people I have

ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

Mahanthappa has “had the pleasure of watching Gabriel grow over the past four years. He is an incredibly thoughtful and sensitive trumpet player and composer. His sense of wonder and thirst for exploration, combined with his respect for the tradition of this art form will surely yield superlative and singular work.”

The NJJS Scholarship Competition was open to all New Jersey college students currently enrolled in an undergraduate music program, as well as to New Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out of state undergraduate program. Along with the cash awards, these winners will receive guidance, mentorship and the opportunity to perform with an industry professional. Corson, Foglia, Yi, and Chalick have been invited to perform at the November 3rd Jersey

Jazz LIVE! concert in Madison, NJ. The NJJS Board of Directors would like to thank our esteemed panel of judges for these awards: Don Braden, world class tenor saxophonist, flutist, composer, and educator; Ted Chubb, Vice President, Jazz Education + Partnerships Associate Producer, Jazz House Kids, trumpeter, composer and educator; Jason Olaine, Vice President of Programming, Jazz at Lincoln Center; and Mariel Bildsten, trombonist, bandleader, sidewoman, and educator.

We would also like to thank Nan Hughes Poole and NJJS Board Member Cynthia Feketie for their generous support of this initiative.

And, we couldn’t have done this without the support of New Jersey college educators who championed this initiative and encouraged their students to participate.

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JERSEY JAZZ LIVE! Forbidden Tropics Mixes Jazz and Festive Afro-Peruvian Rhythms

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From left, James Nascimento, Robbie Sko, Alejandro Ataucusi, Mike Dick, and David Greiff.

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he Forbidden Tropics band, led

by Perth Amboy-based guitarist Alejandro Ataucusi, blends Afro-Peruvian rhythms with harmonic elements of jazz. The Afro-Peruvian styles developed from the music of the African slaves brought by the Spanish to Peru during the 17th century. The band will be bringing its festive music to the Madison, NJ, Community Arts Center on Sunday, June 9, as part of the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! series.

Among the styles played by Forbidden Tropics are: Festejo, which in Spanish means “celebration”, and is the most buoyant of the Afro-Peruvian styles. Lando, said to have been handed down from the bantu slaves who came from Angola. In contrast

to the lively Festejo style, Landó is often performed in a minor key at a slower tempo. Panalivio, originally sung by the slaves while working in the fields. It was brought over by the Spanish colonizers to Argentina, Cuba, and Uruguay and was a forerunner to tango dance music.

Peruvian Rhapsody, Forbidden Tropics’ latest album, was released in 2022 on all streaming platforms. The band was a headliner at last year’s Middlesex County Jazz Festival, performing in Perth Amboy. Recent appearances have been at William Paterson University’s Midday Concert and at the New Brunswick Jazz Project’s Tavern on George. Last summer, Forbidden Tropics appeared on alternate Friday nights

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JERSEY JAZZ LIVE! from June through September on the Madison Community Arts Project’s Rose Pavilion outdoor stage.

Ataucusi is a William Paterson graduate and a member of the WPU Latin Jazz Ensemble. He has played with such Latin jazz luminaries as trumpeters Claudio Roditi and Ray Vega and percussionist Jose Madera.

Other members of the band are: keyboardist Robbie Sko, bassist James Nascimento, drummer/percussionist David Greiff, and drummer Mike Dick.

Forbidden Tropics will be preceded by a Rising Star quartet led by Tinton Falls guitarist Alexander Rausch, a member of the Case Western Reserve University Jazz Ensemble and

Ellipses Jazz Combo. At age 11, Rausch began studying at Red Bank’s Jazz Arts Project where he was mentored by such artists as pianist Brandon McCune, guitarist Doug Clarke, and bassist Gary Mazzaroppi. He founded the first jazz band at Freehold’s Biotechnology High School and was a member of the New Jersey Association of Jazz Educators’ All-State and All-Region Jazz Ensembles. He was also a participant in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Jazz for Teens program and was selected as a member of the Art Blakey Ensemble and the James Moody and George Wein Scholars Ensembles.

A biochemistry major at CWRU, he

Alexander Rausch

plans to pursue a career in the medical field while continuing to be an active member of the jazz community.

The other members of Rausch’s quartet are: drummer Alex Kavlakian, a senior at Rahway High School;

pianist Ben Peters, a freshman at Rutgers; and bassist Damien Dudek from Pompton Lakes, who is part of the NJPAC Jazz for Teens program.

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 will be $10 for NJJS members and $15 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase. To order tickets in advance, log onto madisonarts.ticketleap.com/ njjs-forbidden-tropics-06-05-24/.

:

“ ALEXANDER RAUSCH FOUNDED THE FIRST JAZZ BAND

Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts. This program is also proudly supported by a grant from The Summit Foundation

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JERSEY JAZZ

AT FREEHOLD’S BIOTECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL.”

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JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON Pianist Joel Zelnik Will Celebrate the Music of Bill Evans

O

n October 23, 1968, a performance by the legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans at the Top of the Gate, the upstairs restaurant/bar at the Greenwich Village jazz club, the Village Gate, was recorded. Twenty-two-year-old engineer George Klabin was given permission to make the recording by Evans’ manager, Helen Keane, but the resulting album, Bill Evans: Live At Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, wasn’t released until 2012, by Resonance Records. Reviewing it for AllAboutJazz, Edward Blanco pointed out that although Evans died in 1980, “his music continues to inspire new generations of young musicians and remains an integral part of jazz history.”

Jazz pianist Joel Zelnik met Evans in the mid-1960s when, as an ac-

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companist for vocalist Stan Edwards, he alternated sets with Evans on Monday nights at the Top of the Gate. “I have never forgotten sharing the stage with the great Bill Evans,” said the

79-year-old Zelnik. “He had such an impact on me as a young man, and his approach to jazz was so influential.”

On Sunday, June 2, in a program called “My Bill Evans—A Personal Conversation”, Zelnik will lead a trio celebrating Evans’ music, by playing signature Evans works as part of the Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts in Toms River, NJ. “We’ll perform several of Bill’s signature pieces,” he said, “such as ‘Waltz for Debby’, ‘The Touch of Your Lips’, ‘Emily’, and ‘You Must Remember Spring’. I’ll also add a piece or two of music I think he might have wanted to perform or record.”

Evans was born in Plainfield, NJ, and Zelnik was born in Elizabeth. At one time, they both lived in Closter. “I helped to establish a wall in our library called the Closter Wall of Fame,” Zelnik said, “where Bill is listed along with his photo and

contributions.” Zelnik remembers one night when, prior to the Top of the Gate performances, Evans was playing some Rachmaninoff Preludes. “He then commenced to go into double time and transpose them into different keys!” In addition his genius, Zelnik pointed out, “He did have a great sense of humor!”

Zelnik will be joined in Toms River by bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer David Cox.

:

The New Jersey Jazz Society is a proud supporter of the Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series. The series is made possible, in part, by the support of the Wintrode Family Foundation.

The Joel Zelnik Trio concert begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts is located on College Drive on the campus of Ocean County College. For information and tickets, log onto grunincenter.org or call (732) 255-0500.

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY David Sanborn, a Saxophonist Who Glided Easily In and Out of Several Musical Worlds “I Wanted to Play the Alto Saxophone Because of That Emotional, From-the-Heart Kind of Sound to It”

BY SA NFO R D JOS E P HSON

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W

hen David Sanborn was 11 years old and growing up in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, he was recovering from polio.

His doctors advised him to learn a wind instrument to build up his lungs and help regulate his breathing. After attending a St. Louis Hawks basketball game, he stayed for the postgame concert. “It was the Ray Charles band,” he said. “The band did about an hour before Ray came on, and I heard the alto saxophonist Hank Crawford play. He just knocked me out.”

Sanborn, who died May 12, 2024, at the age of 78 after a six-year battle with prostate cancer, told me that story 44 years ago when I was interviewing him for an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Until that Ray Charles concert, he was undecided about which instrument to choose, but Crawford’s sound, he said, “just really cut through. It had an emotion-

al quality to it that really appealed to me. I think that probably the reason I wanted to play the alto saxophone was because of that emotional, from-the-heart kind of sound to it.”

The emotional quality Sanborn recognized in Hank Crawford’s playing became the embodiment of his style. Composer/arranger Gil Evans once characterized Sanborn’s playing as having “that great cry.” DownBeat, reviewing his 1979 Warner Brothers album, Hideaway, described his sound as “penetrating, yet satiny sensuous and romantically evocative.” Nate Chinen, writing on wrti. org the day after Sanborn’s death, said his “keening cry on alto saxophone was as bright and steadfast as a lighthouse beacon during a career that spanned nearly 60 years and included collaborations with everyone from David Bowie to Stevie Wonder.”

In the 1980s, Sanborn ranked as

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY high as second on alto saxophone in DownBeat’s annual Readers Poll. He was somewhat surprised by that. “I grew up reading that magazine,” he told me. “It’s a little embarrassing to finish ahead of people that I consider to be better players than myself, but I still feel flattered. I’m not egotistical enough to admit to not liking it.”

As Chinen pointed out, Sanborn has always been able to glide easily in and out of several musical worlds—from jazz to rock to soulful rhythm and blues. He often collaborated with popular vocalists such as Linda Ronstadt (“Ooh Baby Baby”) and John David Souther (“Trouble in Paradise”).

By the time he was 14, Sanborn had gained enough confidence from playing along with records to start hanging out at St. Louis area teen centers. “They had various bands,” he remembered, “people like Jules Blattner and the Teen Tones, Albert King, and

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Little Milton.” After playing in bands at clubs in St. Louis’ Gaslight Square area, he worked his way into a band led by King, a blues legend. “I kind of snuck in the background,” he said.

“Albert had four or five horn players who were just playing tunes like ‘doo dah’. Once in a while, one of them would take a solo.” Sanborn’s introduction to jazz came through playing with Phillip Wilson, a St. Louis drummer. “I really didn’t know what the distinction was at that point (between jazz and blues),” he said. “I pretty much played what I’d always played.”

After studying jazz at Northwestern University and the University of Iowa, he moved to San Francisco in the summer of 1967. “I was walking down the street in Haight-Ashbury,” he said, “and I ran into Phillip Wilson. He had just joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.” Sanborn went to see the band at the Fillmore and,

Sanborn, with Michael Dease

again, managed to sit in, eventually joining the band and staying for almost five years. (The band played at the 1969 Woodstock festival). Then, he moved to the East Coast, played with Stevie Wonder and David Bowie and landed a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records. “I think it’s absolutely necessary for me to play

in a lot of different contexts,” he told me. “It keeps my playing fresh. My records are kind of distilled versions of all these inspirations and styles and types of music that I listen to.”

Twenty-eight years later, I updated that 1980 newspaper article for a chapter on Sanborn in my book, Jazz Notes: Interviews Across the Gener-

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY ations (Praeger-ABC Clio: 2009). In that 2008 interview, Sanborn told me that, if he was remembered for one accomplishment, he would like it to be his efforts in breaking down the barriers between different types of music. “Common ground, that’s what interests me,” he said, “on a musical level, on a sociological level, on a human level. There’s no reason Sonny Rollins and Leonard Cohen can’t play music together. Or James Taylor and Michael Brecker. Or Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson.”

He had just released an album, Here and Gone, on the Decca U.S. label, that stretched the limits of eclecticism. It had three tracks closely identified with Hank Crawford: “Stoney Lonesome”, “What Will I Tell My Heart?”, and “Please Send Me Someone to Love”. He “felt like it was the right time to try to acknowledge my debt to him and to the music that

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Sanborn and Bob James released the acoustic Quartette Humaine 27 years after their Grammy-winning Double Vision

really got me excited about becoming a musician in the first place.” Other artists on the album included jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney on “St. Louis Blues” and Eric Clapton performing “I Wanna Move to the Outskirts of Town”. There were also guest appearances by guitarist Derek Trucks, vocalist Joss Stone, and Sam Moore, the drummer from Sam & Dave.

Sanborn won six Grammy

Awards: Best R&B Instrumental Performance, “All I Need is You”, from the 1981 Warner Brothers album, Voyeur; Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Straight to the Heart (WB: 1984); Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Double Vision with keyboardist Bob James (WB: 1986); Best R&B Instrumental Performance, “Chicago Song” from the 1987 WB album, A Change of Heart; Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Close-Up (Reprise: 1988); and Best Contemporary Jazz Performance, Inside (Elektra: 1999).

In 2013, Sanborn and James released an acoustic album called Quartette Humaine on the Masterworks label. Pointing out that it had been 27 years since Sanborn and James’ Grammy-winning Double Vision, Matt Collar of AllMusic wrote that, “Sanborn benefits from the more freewheeling style and showcases an earthy, blues-oriented sax sound that

brings to mind such influences as Hank Crawford and David ‘Fathead’ Newman. Joining the duo are drummer Steve Gadd and bassist James Genus, whose compelling rhythmic choices and more than technically proficient chops are a perfect match for James and Sanborn. These are classy, no-nonsense songs that allow both of these jazz superstars to stretch themselves past what any existing fan might have thought of as their limit.”

James, posting on Facebook, said the news of Sanborn’s death, “has deeply saddened me. I was so privileged to share major highlights of my career in partnership with him.

His legacy will live on through the recordings. Every note he played came straight from his heart, with a passionate intensity that could make an ordinary tune extraordinary. I loved David’s subtle sophisticated humor, which carried over

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY ON A

S U N D AY AFTERNOON

into his music and always made it inspiring to perform with him.”

Trombonist Michael Dease, who played in Sanborn’s quintet six years ago, also posted a Facebook tribute, describing Sanborn as, “fearless, willing to experiment, and he trusted his band family. It was a deep learning experience to share the frontline with one of my all-time musical heroes from youth. My tenure with him taught me many things, but I’ll start with this one. He was a model of staying grounded, grateful, and fascinated by the beauty of life and living.”

The last time I spoke with David Sanborn was in September 2016 for a preview article for Jersey Jazz on a TD James Moody Jazz Festival concert honoring the late Larry Rosen, Co-Founder of GRP Records. In the early 1980s, GRP signed artists who played a style of music bridging the gap between jazz and the popular music of the day. Sanborn was one of

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several former GRP artists performing at the November concert, and he told me that GRP “created an environment so musicians could make a living playing the music they love.” At the concert, Sanborn’s pulsating performance of Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments” from the legendary album, Blues in the Abstract Truth, was the highlight of the night. That album, released on the Impulse! label in 1961, was re-released by GRP in 1995. Next up was “Maputo”, written by bassist Marcus Miller for the Grammy-winning Double Vision. That was the last time I saw Sanborn perform live. The first time was in the mid-’70s, when I discovered him, subbing for Michael Brecker at a Brecker Brothers concert.

He is survived by his wife, vocalist Alice Soyer; a son, Jonathan; two granddaughters; and sisters, Sallie and Barb.

Continue on page 37

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Sunday, June 2 • 3:00pm For the complete performance schedule, visit grunincenter.org.

Grunin Center Box Office Hours Tuesday-Friday 12:00pm-5:00pm 732-255-0500 College Drive • Toms River, NJ ADA wheelchair and companion seating is available. Assisted listening devices are available at all performances.

JAZZ AT NJPAC Samara Joy: Expanding Her Repertoire for an Increasingly Diverse Audience “The First Grammy Nominations Gave Me a Hint That Things Might Accelerate A Bit Faster Than We All Expected”

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hen I interviewed Samara Joy in June 2021 (Jersey Jazz July/August 2021), the country was easing its way out of the pandemic, and Joy was embarking on an ambitious recording and performing schedule that included a concert at William Paterson University and a trip with pianist Emmet Cohen to the Umbria Jazz Festival.

Joy had won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Compe-

tition in November 2019 and recalled how that suddenly put her on the jazz radar. People were wondering, she said, “Who is this girl? Where did she come from?”

People are wondering no more.

Joy, who will be appearing at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Sunday, June 23, won two Grammy Awards in 2023—Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album, for her 2022 Verve Records album, Linger Awhile.

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PHOTO BY AMBE J. WIL LIAM S

BY SANFORD JOS E P HSON

JAZZ AT NJPAC This year, she won another Grammy, Best Jazz Performance, for her single, “Tight”, written by Betty Carter.

“I think the first Grammy nominations,” she said, in an email interview, “gave me a hint that things might accelerate a bit faster than we all expected. To receive that kind of recognition just two months after releasing the album was pretty surreal to experience ... It’s been a wonderful journey thus far.”

That journey started in the Bronx where Joy was exposed to a variety

of music while growing up. “My mom was really into the disco funk era, and gospel came from my father’s side,” she told me three years ago. “It was a great mix of grooves and really had an impact on me.” She was in the jazz band during her senior year at Fordham High School for the Performing Arts and was accepted into the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College as an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar.

“When Samara first came to us,” said pianist Peter Malinverni, who was then Purchase Chair of Jazz

PHOTO COU RT ESY O F NJPAC

“ THE AUDIENCE IS BECOMING

INCREASINGLY MORE DIVERSE WHICH I’M GRATEFUL FOR.” NJJS.ORG

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JAZZ AT NJPAC Studies, “her talent was obvious—it was our job to nurture her gifts.” Alexis Cole, Lecturer, Jazz Studies, Voice, described Joy’s voice as “an absolutely glorious instrument. During her time at Purchase, she developed a deep love for jazz and became completely steeped in the tradition. She could do any style of music. Lucky for jazz lovers, she chose jazz.”

Joy looks back at her days at Purchase as “where I truly was able to plant seeds for where I am right now, without even fully realizing it at the time. In addition to the incredible faculty and their support through each year, I met my community of peers there. I felt behind when it came to music school, but I learned so much from going to concerts and jam sessions with classmates as well as asking for help on assignments when I needed it. It gave me the confidence to pursue becom-

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Linger Awhile [Deluxe Edition] includes the original 10 songs, plus eight more (nine on the Amazon edition).

ing a better musician and artist.”

London Jazz News’ Adam Sieff described Linger Awhile as an album “with a classic sound that could have been recorded anytime since Norman Granz founded Verve in 1956.” Sieff singled out “a swinging version of pianist Ronell Bright’s ‘Sweet Pump-

kin’ where she really stretches out ...

She performs an adventurous ‘Round Midnight’ ... ‘Misty’ is gorgeous, Garner’s classic never sounded fresher.”

AllMusic’s Matt Collar particularly liked “her vocalese take on trumpeter Fats Navarro’s ‘Nostalgia’ for which she wrote her own romantic lyrics, including some for the legendary bebop trumpeter’s original 1947 solo.”

The Jon Hendricks lyrics on “Round Midnight”, Joy told me, “are my favorite! I heard Carmen (McRae) sing it on a show called Jazz Casual, and I was hooked.” The two singles from Linger Awhile were “Sweet Pumpkin” and Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh’s “Can’t Get Out of This Mood”. Joy described them as “Two of my faves!

Because they were lesser-known, I think it was easier to promote them as my own songs/sound.”

Joy listed five vocalists as having “a tremendous impact on me.”

They are: Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Abbey Lincoln, and Betty Carter. “I admire all of them for the fullness of their voices and the warmth of their tones,” she said, adding, “Abbey and Betty, for their musical growth and lyrics and confidence in their performance; Ella, Sarah, and Carmen, for their elegant and unique voices as well as the depth of their range, both emotionally and technically.”

Currently, Joy performs with two different bands—a trio and an octet.

“My trio has Cameron Campbell on piano, Felix Moseholm on bass, Evan Sherman on drums. My octet has Connor Rohrer on piano, Paul Sikivie or Felix Moseholm on bass, Evan Sherman on drums, Kendric McCallister on tenor saxophone, Donovan Austin on trombone, David Mason

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JAZZ AT NJPAC

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“ SAMARA JOY IS THE REAL DEAL.

SHE IS A MULTI-GENERATIONAL TALENT...”

Last October, Verve released Linger Awhile [Deluxe Edition]. It includes the original 10 songs, plus eight more (nine on the Amazon edition). Among the additional tracks are “I Miss You So” (Bertha Scott, Jimmie Henderson, Sid Robin), recorded in 1947 by the (Nat) King Cole Trio; and “Sometimes Today Seems Like Yesterday”, composed by the late pianist Barry Harris, one of Joy’s mentors.

Reviewing the Deluxe Edition for AllAboutJazz, Dave Linn wrote, “Samara Joy is the real deal. She is a multi-generational talent with the potential to be the greatest main-

stream female jazz singer since Vaughan, McRae, and Betty Carter.”

Asked if she could give a preview of what NJPAC audiences might see on June 23, Joy said, “I’ve had the chance to write lyrics to jazz compositions over the past couple of years, so I think people will be pleasantly surprised to hear these songs in a new light, backed by my incredible band.”

PHOTO BY AMBE J. WIL LIAM S

on alto saxophone, and Jason Charos on trumpet. It’s a pretty organic process,” she said. “Based on where I am musically and what sound I desire, I choose musicians who can not only play their instruments very well but who have a certain depth of musicality that allows them to contribute to the growth of the band with fresh ideas and arrangements.”

I asked Joy if she feels she is converting younger audiences to classic jazz and/or if she feels a responsibility for keeping classic jazz alive for younger audiences. “I don’t know if I can pinpoint my audience,” she said, but, “the audience is becoming increasingly more diverse, which I’m grateful for. I feel more of a responsibility to develop as an artist and expand my repertoire, making the music accessible through every possible medium so people of all ages can decide for themselves if the music speaks to them.”

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The Samara Joy concert on June 23 begins at 7 p.m. on the Betty Wold Stage in Prudential Hall. For information and tickets, log onto njpac.org or call (888) 696-5727.

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JAZZ ON THE BACK DECK

‘Jazz Goes to the Movies’ Will Celebrate the Music and Stories Behind the Songs “Everybody in the Group is Bringing a Tune or Two, and We Will Each Tell a Story About the Tunes We Chose”

BY JAY SW EET

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Museum. Audience members are invited to set up their own chairs and bring refreshments while enjoying the music and the sunset.

Braden acknowledged that, “Sometimes, people don’t think of jazz songs as songs from movies, or movie songs as applicable to jazz, but we will celebrate that connection. We are still working on the program, but I’ll probably contribute something fun like ‘The Pink Panther,’ as it’s a total

PHOTO BY ANDR EW LE PLEY

M

any jazz standards and today’s most popular songs were first featured in films. On Saturday, June 22, an all-star ensemble featuring Don Braden on tenor saxophone and flute, David O’Rourke on guitar, Oscar Perez on piano, Bill Crow on bass, Karl Latham on drums, and Cydney Halpin on vocals will celebrate jazz in film with a concert called “Jazz Goes to the Movies” on the back deck at Morristown’s Morris

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Cydney Halpin

Karl Latham

Bill Crow

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saxophone song. There are a couple of good Disney songs, and I did an arrangement of ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin. When my daughter was little, we watched it all the time. I recorded it on one of my albums (Luminosity, Creative Perspective Music: 2015), so we’ll probably do that. Everybody in the group is bringing a tune or two, and we will each tell a story about the tunes we chose. I like that dimension of the storytelling component as part of the presentation.”

Born in Cincinnati, Braden grew up in Louisville, where he developed a passion for music early on and quickly displayed talent that set him on the path to becoming a professional musician. “I got into jazz through my school bands,” he recalled. “I was big, so they gave me a tenor sax. They had a little jazz band in my high school, which interested me in the possibility of improvisation, and once I started,

there was no stopping. I practiced hard and then got with Jamey Aebersold, who was in Indiana. Jamey just took me under his wing, and I studied with one of his great students, Mike Tracy. The years with Jamey ended up being very productive.

“Then,” he continued, “I went to Harvard to study engineering and

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CY DNEY HALP IN PHOTO BY JAC K GRASSA ; BIL L C ROW PHOTO BY MITC HELL SEI DEL

JAZZ ON THE BACK DECK

JAZZ ON THE BACK DECK

“ I DID AN ARRANGEMENT OF

‘A WHOLE NEW WORLD’ FROM ALADDIN. ”

played a lot in Boston on the weekends. As luck would have it, my roommate was a piano player, and one of my bandmates was the son of John Lewis from the Modern Jazz Quartet. John Lewis took an interest in me, especially when I went to New York City; and he was extremely supportive. I was really blessed.”

Braden’s career took off while in New York. “Betty Carter was the first major jazz artist I got to play with,” he said. “She was a constant educator.

She really wanted us young people to know what was happening. She taught me the importance of always swinging and being mindful not to play too many unnecessary notes, es-

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pecially when she was singing. Those lessons stay with me to this day, and I share them with my students.” After that, Braden worked consistently with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and Tom Harrell.

His work as a bandleader began

Oscar Perez

in the early 1990s, and he has since released numerous albums showcasing his versatility and depth as a composer and performer. One of his most recent and impressive projects can be heard on his two Earth Wind and Wonder albums, which feature the music of Earth Wind and Fire and Stevie Wonder. Discussing his Earth Wind and Wonder”project, Braden explained, “What I’ve been doing with the music of Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire is treating it like jazz standards—taking a popular song, doing some arranging and reharmonization, and creating improvisational sectors. Most of Stevie Wonder’s tunes have a little more improv

Braden: “I’ll probably contribute something fun like ‘The Pink Panther,’ as it’s a total saxophone song.”

elements because Stevie himself is quite a great improviser. Earth, Wind & Fire’s material is highly arranged and sculpted, so adjusting these songs for jazz has been an adventure. I’m a huge fan of their music, especially since I grew up listening to the tunes.

These tunes are in my heart, and that

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JAZZ ON THE BACK DECK

Jazz on the Back Deck 2024

David O’Rourke

level of emotion comes through in my playing.” (Earth Wind and Wonder, Creative Perspectives Music: 2018 and Earth Wind and Wonder Vol. 2, Creative Perspectives Music: 2023).

Braden’s journey in jazz and his commitment to music education are inspiring. His teaching positions at prestigious institutions such as the

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New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Litchfield Jazz Camp, and William Paterson University, and his return to Harvard University as a visiting lecturer, are a testament to his dedication to sharing his expertise and passion for jazz with students.

As Braden himself puts it, ‘Your contribution is not only about you but

SATURDAY, JUN 15

»

Amani Tribute to Tony Bennett

SATURDAY, JUN 22

»

Jazz Goes to the Movies

THURSDAY, JUN 27

»

Antoinette Montague

SATURDAY, JUL 13

»

Evan Sherman Big Band

THURSDAY, AUG 01

»

Harlem Quartet

SATURDAY, AUG 10

»

Laura Anglade Quartet

SATURDAY, AUG 17

»

The Fumos

SATURDAY, AUG 24

»

Vanisha Gould

SATURDAY, SEP 14

»

Mike Davis and the New Wonders

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JAZZ ON THE BACK DECK

31 st Annual S U M M E R

“ BRADEN’S JOURNEY IN JAZZ AND

HIS COMMITMENT TO MUSIC EDUCATION ARE INSPIRING.”

the totality within which you fit.’

His influence continues to be far-reaching. Throughout his career, Braden has maintained a balance between honoring jazz traditions and pushing the genre forward. His technical proficiency, innovative compositions, and dedication to education have left a mark on the jazz world, and his dynamic career exemplifies the evolving nature of jazz.

Looking ahead, he revealed that, “I have a second Big Funk album to put out, then a new Earth Wind and Won-

The Jazz Goes to the Movies concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on June 22. For information and tickets, log onto morrismuseum.org or call (973) 971-3706.

R O O M

Wednesday, July 24 • 7:30 p.m.

Brian Lynch and Spheres of Influence

The Kelly Green Seems Quartet

SMOOTH JAZZ Thursday, July 25 • 7:30 p.m.

The Tia Fuller Trio

Brian Lynch

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Friday, July 26 • 7:30 p.m.

Wycliffe Gordon and Friends SHEA CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS 973.720.2371 • WP-PRESENTS.ORG • WAYNE, NJ

Benny Benack Wycliffe Gordon Funding for the Jazz Room Series has been made possible, in part, by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tia Fuller Trio

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Monday, July 22 • 7:30 p.m.

The Kelly Green Seems Quartet Tuesday, July 23 • 7:30 p.m.

Benny Benack with the Big Beat Big Band (and that’s a lot of B’s!)

der; and then I’ll probably do another contemporary standards album. I also desire to do a big band album. Additionally, I’m a big advocate of health and fitness. You have to be healthy to maximize your energy. I’ve been digging into research between health and creativity, and I hope to do something in the future on the subject.”

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2024 Summer Jazz Performances

RISING STAR Mentored by His Parents, Vocalist Dani Assis Honed His Jazz Skills at Oberlin “He Comes from a Musical Family with Brazilian Roots, So He Has the Dance in His Blood.”

BY SANFORD JOS E P HSON

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ocalist Dani Assis’ bio points out that he was born into a musical family. That is an understatement. “When I was younger,” he said, “I didn’t know there was anything else to life other than music because both my parents were musicians. My mom, Adriana Quadros, is a wonderful singer, and my father, Nanny Assis, is a percussionist (and singer), so I remember being under 10, just crawling under the tables of New York bars—SOBs (Sounds of Brazil),

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the Zinc Bar, the Knickerbocker—all these great places where the music really happens. From an early age, there was nothing else I could do.”

The 23-year-old Assis is this year’s winner of the Blues Alley Jazz Society’s Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition. The theme of this year’s competition was “Ella Loves Cole”, so, in the last round of competition, Assis sang three Cole Porter tunes: “Easy to Love”, “What Is This Thing Called Love”, and “It’s De-Lovely”. The judges were the four members of the vo-

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cal group, New York Voices, and one of them, Kim Nazarian, told Jersey Jazz she was impressed by “the beautiful quality of his singing voice, his extensive range, and his exemplary improvisation skills. He comes from a musical family with Brazilian roots, so he has the dance in his blood.”

Assis’ parents moved from New Rochelle, NY, to New Canaan, CT, when he was around seven or eight, and he remembers, as a nine-yearold, singing on a local Connecticut TV news program, “an image of me singing with my dad at SOB’s. He would always bring me onstage, just for fun. Every time my parents would be cooking dinner, they would be playing some music. So, my really early mentors were my family.”

Growing up, Assis “did not like jazz. I sang classical music, and I sang Brazilian music, but I never got into heavy straight-ahead swing until my freshman year at Oberlin

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Conservatory in 2019.” He won a full scholarship to Oberlin, and studied there with vocalist La Tanya Hall, percussionist Jamey Haddad, and trombonist/arranger Jay Ashby.

Hall met Assis “when he was 15, and his father brought him to my house for a lesson. He was shy, deeply steeped in musical theater, but really

wanting to explore jazz. I could hear the potential in his instrument. When he graduated from high school, I accepted him into my program at Oberlin where he grew by leaps and bounds as he became immersed in the language of jazz. It’s been a joy watching him develop his artistry, and I expect amazing things from him in the future.”

Haddad was not surprised by Assis’ award. “The fact that Dani Assis won this year’s Blues Alley Ella Fitzgerald competition,” he said, “is no mistake! Dani comes from a family of musicians who were devoted to his music education, and they provided Dani with as many contextual experiences with as many artists as they could engage him with since he was a child. I met Dani as a freshman at Oberlin.

He participated in every manner of world music and jazz ensemble. His growth since his graduation last year has been a pleasure to watch!

Last August, Assis released a single, “My Own Embrace”, a contrafact (musical composition consisting of melody overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure) of Miles Davis’ “Blue in Green”. His first full album, entitled DaniEL, will be released August 25, on the one-year anniversary of the single. On “Blue in Green”,

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PHOTO BY AY KUT US LUT EK IN

RISING STAR

RISING STAR

Assis is accompanied by his father on percussion, Ron Carter on bass, Pete Levin on drums, and Tolga Bilgin on trumpet. The album, he said, will include, “a lot of the masters of the music, truly living legends.” Some of the music will feature Brazilian composers—Antonio Carlos Jobim, of course, and Egberto Gismonge.

“We played a song of his called ‘Loro’.

It means forever. You can tell the rhythmic influence from Brazil; the

harmonic influence from America; jazz from Black American music; and then, just the heart of the Brazilian melody, bouncy and rhythmic.”

This was the seventh Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, and previous winners included two Jersey Jazz Rising Stars, Lucy Wijnands (June 2021) and April Varner (June 2023). Second place winner was Aviana Gedler of West Des Moines, Iowa. Third place winners were: Angelina Kolobukhova, Minsk, Belarus; Arvin Ma, Shanghai, China; and Tina Hashemi, Charlottesville, VA. On May 29, Assis performed at Dizzy’s Club with his father, Carter, Bilgin, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, pianist Helio Alves, guitarist Chico Pinheiro, and drummer Edu Ribeiro.

He also appeared with a quartet at Arthur’s Tavern in Greenwich Village. Those accompanying him were pianist Hyuna Park, bassist Michael O’Brien and drummer Noah Sherman.

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NYO JAZZ ORCHESTRA

Drummer Ben Schwartz Returns to Carnegie Hall with a Broader View of the Music World “He Doesn’t Just Play the Drums. He Understands Harmony, Is Already a Composer, and Can Get Around the Piano, Guitar, and Bass”

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n 2022, Maplewood, NJ, drummer Ben Schwartz, a student at Livington’s Newark Academy, was one of 22 musicians from across the country selected to participate in Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

This summer, he is returning for a second year with NYO. His first experience, he said, helped him decide “what I wanted to do with my life and how I saw myself pursuing music after high

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school. I pretty much learned that this is what I want to do. If it’s not playing drums, it’s composing, bandleading, music production, anything involving music. Playing with NYO really taught me how much I loved music. We traveled across the country, and we went to so many places and played to so many different people. Doing all that and seeing how happy that made these people showed me why I wanted to do this.”

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NYO JAZZ ORCHESTRA The experience also broadened his view of the music and the people who play it. “I’ve always been in my own New Jersey world,” he explained. “I have some music friends in New Jersey, but it’s really limited to about eight or nine people. So, when I went to NYO, eight or nine people turned into 28 or 29 people. Now, I

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know these 29 people, and they introduced me to another 29 people, so now I have 60 people who I know.

This is a network that can help you get gigs, plus I’ve developed a really strong relationship with a few of my peers from 2022, who I always look to for advice and guidance. So, it is really a family, and, no matter what

city I’m in, I know I can call somebody to play with or have a place to stay.”

Schwartz will be attending Columbia University in the fall, joining three other student musicians he met and played with in the NYO program.

One of them, guitarist Maurice Chakour from Jacksonville, FL, is already a Columbia student. The other two— trumpeter Skylar Tang from San Francisco and bassist Ruby Farmer from Brooklyn—will be joining Schwartz in the freshman class. Columbia students don’t have to decide on a major until the end of their sophomore years, but Schwartz said his will probably be “some sort of cross between cognitive science and music. What I really love about the program,” he continued, “is the fact that jazz isn’t consolidated to the jazz department. It’s part of Columbia’s defining element, which is the core curriculum. Every student has to learn about music, in particular, jazz—the music of Louis Armstrong,

Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington. I think it’s a very impressive thing to have for an Ivy League institution.”Columbia’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program was founded in 2001 by Chris Washburne, now Chair of the Music Department.

Current LAJPP Director Ole Mathisen told Jersey Jazz he “is constantly in awe of how high school jazz programs and organizations such as Carnegie Hall NYO, Lincoln Center Jazz Academy, SF Jazz, and Berklee Summer Programs develop incredibly mature jazz performers at such young ages. I am beyond thrilled that we are going to include Ben, Skylar, and Ruby in our program this fall!” Participants in the NYO Jazz Orchestra, he added, “are extraordinary individuals and would have their pick of any stalwart music college.” In addition tp Chakour, another NYO alum at Columbia is Emma Lacy, an alto saxophonist from Boston. Columbia jazz faculty

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NYO JAZZ ORCHESTRA

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I was 12 or 13, I saw a video of Jazz House Kids at Essentially Ellington.

Some of my heroes at that time were (saxophonist) Julian Lee, (alto saxophonist) Alex Laurenzi, (drummer) Cameron Macintosh, (pianist) Isaiah Thompson, and (alto saxophonist) Zoe Obadia. These were all people who were not much older than me.

They were in high school, but they were playing at such a level that was inspiring and made me feel like I’d like to do that.” Ani Chakravarthy, a tenor saxophonist in the Newark Academy band, who soloed on Ellington’s “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” at this year’s Essentiallly Ellington, is also attending Columbia in the fall.

Julius Tolentino, Schwartz’s Band Director at Newark Academy, calls him “a musician’s musician.

What I mean by that is he doesn’t just play the drums. He understands harmony, is already a composer and can get around the piano, guitar, and

2022 NYO Jazz Orchestra. Ben Schwartz is at center of back row.

bass. This allows his drumming to be more informed because he sees the big picture when it comes to composition and telling a story. As a student, he’s been pivotal to our program and has raised the bar for years to come, not only with his playing but with his support and his inclusiveness of our younger students.”

That description of Schwartz is echoed by his private drum teacher, Matt Slocum, who pointed out Schwartz’s ability “to hear the entire

musical picture—how his drumming relates to, supports, and acts as a catalyst for the entire ensemble.

I think Ben is the first high school drummer to be selected for NYO Jazz twice. He has received pretty much every jazz award/accolade available on a high school level—YoungArts finalist, Vail Jazz Workshop, Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Gen Ensemble, DownBeat Student Music Awards, NJAJE All-State Jazz.”

Slocum was most impressed by

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PHOTO BY TOD D ROS ENBERG

members include pianists Helen Sung and Bruce Barth, guitarist Paul Bollenback, and drummer Vince Cherico.

Last month, Newark Academy was the First Place Winner in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, and Schwartz was recognized as one of the Outstanding Drums. “What’s always been so special about Essentially Ellington,” Schwartz said, “is that it has its own culture within music education—really unique from any other program or competition. A lot of the time, kids are coming to this music because they saw a YouTube video of Essentially Ellington from a couple of years ago, and they say, ‘Wow, I want to do that.’

Kids are so attracted to it because it’s kids who are playing the music, and it’s kids from a high school that could be anywhere in the country. It seems really accessible, and it feels a little more doable than watching Elvin Jones or John Coltrane play. When

NYO JAZZ ORCHESTRA Schwartz’s recent gig with trumpeter Sean Jones, who is NYO Jazz Artistic Director. Jones, said Slocum, “heard Ben performing on the Jazz Cruise and, shortly after, hired him to perform with his quartet. The other members of the ensemble were (pianist) Orrin Evans and (bassist) Luques Curtis, two incredible professionals who have appeared on almost all of Sean Jones’ recordings and have been performing/recording with him for at least 15 years.”

Schwartz has also been playing gigs with Tolentino. “We have a gig upcoming on June 1,” he said, “at Brush Culture in Teaneck. Playing with Mr. Tolentino this year has been great because we’ve done a lot of new things. Typically, we play shows in New Jersey for audiences we know well, and it’s not really a scary or unfamiliar environment. This year, we played four shows in two nights at

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Smalls. It was a lot of fun. We were playing in New York City, and it was a real New York City experience getting to play at one of the most famous jazz clubs in the world. I knew about four or five people at each show, but the rest of the audience were just people who were trying to hear some music. That felt great.

“The music,” Schwartz continued, “is about giving back to people when you become an established musician. But it is just as important to be somebody who’s on the ‘comeup’, who may not be an established musician but is getting somewhere, like myself, to make sure I’m bringing people along with me, treating them the way Cameron Macintosh and Alex Laurenzi treated me, trying to be a big brother to people. That’s the other thing I learned through all this stuff—being there for the next person in line.” —SANFORD JOSEPHSON

This Year’s NYO Jazz Orchestra Will Tour South Africa THE 2024 NYO JAZZ ORCHESTRA, DIRECTED BY SEAN JONES, WILL PLAY ITS FIRST

concert on July 20 at Carnegie Hall and then begin a two-week tour of South Africa, including performances in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town.

The orchestra will be joined at Carnegie Hall and on the tour by special guest, vocalist Alicia Olatuja, who was a featured soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.

For the 2024 concerts, Carnegie Hall has commissioned a new work by South African jazz pianist/composer/educator Sibusiso Mash Mashiloane.

The orchestra’s program will also include big band arrangements of music

by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Mary Lou Williams; a new arrangement of The July 20th Carnegie Hall Terri Lyne Carrington’s “New Standards: concert will begin at 8 p.m.

101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers”; on the Perelman Stage of the and alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s Stern Auditorium. For more “Trane”, arranged by Jhoely Garay. The information and to order tickconcert and tour will be preceded by a ets, log onto carnegiehall.org.

10-day residency at Purchase College.

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY Continued from page 20

Bill Holman, Celebrated Arranger for Leading Big Bands

He Penned Charts for Such Bandleaders as Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, and Gerry Mulligan

BY JOE L A N G

Since big bands arrived on the scene in the 1920s, there have been many notable arrangers, but for my ears, one stands above all of them, Willis “Bill” Holman.

He left us on May 6, 2024, two weeks shy of his 97th birthday Holman was born on May 21, 1927, in Olive, CA, and spent his formative years in Orange and Santa Ana. His family was not musical, but he developed an early love for the big bands that he heard on the radio and started playing clarinet in junior high school, eventually turning to the tenor saxophone. While still in high school, he formed his first band. Following high

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school, he joined the U.S. Navy where he studied mechanical engineering, and after his discharge, he enrolled at UCLA to further his engineering studies. However, he realized his primary interest was music, so he continued his studies at the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles, a school that was home to many jazz musicians who became prominent on the West Coast jazz scene.

Following were periods with the bands of Ike Carpenter and Charlie Barnet. While with Barnet, he was introduced to Stan Kenton by arranger/ composer Gene Roland. Kenton was between bands at the time but heard a

chart by Holman that interested him, so he asked Holman to write a couple of arrangements. The charts were not successful, but when Kenton reformed his band in 1952, Holman was hired for a tenor sax chair and eventually was asked to write some charts. Holman felt confident he could write charts that would fit the band and maintain some influences from his favorite band, the swinging Count Basie Orchestra, in many ways the antithesis of Kenton’s approach. Several Hol-

man pieces entered the Kenton book, but he really came to prominence when he contributed six of the seven arrangements for Kenton’s 1955 Capitol album, Contemporary Concepts. Three of them became popular: “What’s New,” “Stella by Starlight”, and “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” the last of which is probably the most played Holman chart of all that he wrote. His employment of linear writing and extensive use of counterpoint became hallmarks of Holman arrangements.

Suddenly, in 1956, Kenton fired Holman. There has been much speculation about why this happened, but the most likely explanation is that Holman’s charts were more swinging than the kind of music that Kenton favored. This was not a big problem for Holman, however, as he had started to write arrangements for other bands.

He eventually penned charts for such bandleaders as Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, Gerry Mulligan, Terry

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY Gibbs, Buddy Rich, and Basie. He also arranged for many vocalists such as Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Natalie Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Jackie Cain & Roy Kral, Michael Bublé, and the Fifth Dimension.

During the late 1950s, Holman recorded three big band albums with studio orchestras, but it was not until 1975 that he formed a permanent big band. The band held weekly rehearsals at the Los Angeles Musician Union Local 47 and played gigs whenever available. Holman always was able to attract the finest of Los Angeles area musicians for his band as they were thrilled to be able to play the adventurous and demanding, but always accessible, charts he created. Having this outlet for his creative energies was a great benefit as he was able to explore new ideas and almost immediately hear how they played out, making any necessary adjustments.

The band continued until the pan-

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demic cut things short but resumed once conditions allowed. He also continued to create arrangements for other bands, most notably for several of the permanent big bands associated with radio outlets in Europe.

Holman’s band was a fixture at many of the semiannual events that Ken Poston produced for the Los Angeles Jazz Institute. In October 2022, the event was dedicated to the music of Bill Holman. (Review in the December 2022 issue of Jersey Jazz.) Holman was elected to the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 2006, and I was privileged to present him with his award at the LAJI event in October 2006.

When Holman participated in one of the panels at these events, he always attracted a full room. His wit and informative commentary added a special element to these occasions. On a personal note, I had several opportunities to meet and speak with Holman at LAJI events, and he was always warm

“ HOLMAN ALWAYS WAS

ABLE TO ATTRACT THE FINEST OF LOS ANGELES AREA MUSICIANS...” and engaging during our brief chats.

Two LAJI concerts by the Holman band were recorded and released commercially on the Jazzed Media label: The Bill Holman Band Live (2005) and Hommage (2007).

The band also released three albums on JVC Jazz, The Bill Holman Band (1987), A View From the Side (1995), and Brilliant Corners: The Music of Thelonious Monk (1996), one of the finest big band albums ever recorded.

Among other honors he accumulated during his career were three Grammy Awards and selection as a National Endowment for the Arts

Jazz Master in 2010. For those interested in an in depth understanding of Holman, the man and his music, I highly recommend Conversations with Bill Holman: Thoughts and Recollections of a Jazz Master by Bill Holman and Bill Dobbins (Alfred Music: 2017). It was reviewed in the January 2018 issue of Jersey Jazz.

The passing of Bill Holman leaves a large void in the world of jazz, but his recordings and the recordings of his music by so many major artists in the worlds of jazz and pop will ensure that he has an enduring legacy that will be enjoyed by many generations to come.

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OTHER VIEWS

BY JOE L A N G

On Love Cole Porter (AAM Muwsic – 0718), pianist/arranger Antonio Adolfo leads a nonet playing 10 Cole Porter tunes in a variety of Brazilian jazz styles. The nonet includes piano, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, and saxes/ flute. This format gives the music a sound that fluctuates between a small group feel and a small big band. The horn players are given ample solo space. The songs are all popular Porter tunes, “Easy to Love,” “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye,” “I Concentrate on You,” “I Love You,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Just One of Those Things,” “Love for Sale,” “Night and Day,” “So in Love”, and “You Do Something to Me.” Adolfo varies the tempi from song to song, giving the program an interesting flow. aammusic.com Two jazz musicians from Singapore, veteran pianist Jeremy Montiero and 25-year-old tenor saxophonist Sean

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Hong Wei, currently attending New York’s The New School, team up on The New Jersey Sessions (Jazznote).

They are joined by bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Evan Sherman in a New Jersey studio where Monteiro’s co-producer, John Lee, oversaw the recording. The album has a mix of nine jazz tunes and standards with Alex Sipiagin added on trumpet for “Dewey Square” and Houston Person adding his tenor sax on “When Sunny Gets

Blue” and “Bags’ Groove.” Among other selections: “A Weaver of Dreams,” “I Want to Talk About You,” and “Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You”.

Wei is a mature player who shows an appreciation for the mainstream approach too often overlooked by many of today’s younger players. Monteiro, who has recorded almost 50 albums under his name, is a swinging presence. As always, it is a pleasure to hear the musical ruminations of Person. jeremy-monteiro-store.myshopify.com Standards II (Sunnyside – 1739) is the second album of standards by pianist Noah Haidu and his musical partners, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart. Among the standards: “Over the Rainbow,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,”, and “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)”. Haidu has wonderful touch at the keyboard. Williams and Hart, who have been on and off collaborators for five decades, give

Haidu the kind of support that makes the group feel fully integrated rather than just a pianist with a rhythm section along for the ride. If you are in a relaxing mood, Standards II is a perfect choice for musical accompaniment. sunnysiderecords.com English alto saxophonist Sam Braysher has made a daring choice for his third album, That’s Him: The Music of Kurt Weill (self-produced). Braysher has chosen a program of songs that range from selections familiar to song enthusiasts, “Here I’ll Stay,” “MoonFaced, Starry-Eyed” and “This Is New” to others that are mostly under the radar, “What Good Would the Moon Be,” Liebeslied,” “The Right Guy for Me,” “Materl,” Bilbao-Song” and “That’s Him.” Sara Dowling adds fine vocals on “What Good Would the Moon Be,” “The Right Guy for Me”, and “That’s Him.” Braysher has a light tone, a creative improvisational approach

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OTHER VIEWS and always has a swing feeling no matter the tempo.” sambraysher.com Barry Harris was a mentor to a plethora of jazz musicians. One jazz star who credits Harris as a major influence is alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, who will turn 85 in July and is still playing magnificently. McPherson dedicates his new album, Reverence (Smoke Sessions – 2402) to Harris.

Joining him in this live recording from Smoke Jazz Club during a week-long residency in November 2023 are trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong, and drummer Billy Drummond. McPherson became a jazz enthusiast when he was 14 and heard a recording of “Tico Tico” by Charlie Parker. Bebop became his passion and has never left his side. He has not been restricted by sticking to playing straight bop, but those roots are never far from him. For this recording, McPherson has selected four of his originals, “Surge,”

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“Blues for Lonnie in Three,” “Dynamic Duo” and “Ode to Barry” plus “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Old Folks,” a Parker favorite. The players are all top drawer and the special feeling developed when performing before an audience has resulted in one of those albums that keeps saying “play me again.” (McPherson talked about Barry Harris’ influence on him in the May/June 2020 issue of Jersey Jazz). smokesessionsrecords.com

Smoke in the Sky (Cellar Music – 100123 is a dynamic new release by Dave Schumacher & Cubeye. The band includes Schumacher on baritone sax, Manuel Valera on piano, Alex “Apolo” Ayala on bass, Mauricio Herrera on percussion and Joel Mateo on drums and bells, plus either Josh Evans or Jesus Ricardo on trumpet for seven of the eight tracks, and Peter Branin on tenor or soprano sax on five tracks. Schumacher has been on the New York City scene for over 40 years, with extended stays in the orchestras of Lionel Hampton and Harry Connick Jr. as well as periods with T.S Monk’s Monk on Monk band and Tom Harrell’s Octet. Along the way, he developed an affection for Afro-Cuban music, and he devotes this album to that influence. There are three tracks of music by Schumacher, as well as “You Know It’s Wrong,” “Caridad,” “Cal Massey,” “Walk Spirit Talk Spirit”, and “Poinciana.” Most of the pieces, ar-

ranged by either Schumacher or Valera, have a strong Afro-Cuban feeling.

The sole exception is Schumacher’s heartfelt ballad mastery on (“No More) Smoke in the Sky.” cellarlive.com Scott LaFaro was expanding upon his singular approach to playing jazz bass when a tragic car accident took him from the scene. His influence, however, carries on today as is evident on bassist Brian Bromberg’s LaFaro (Be Squared Productions). Bromberg does not channel LaFaro in this tribute, but the kind of imagination and technical mastery that was the hallmark of LaFaro’s playing is ever present. He has chosen a program of tunes mostly associated with Bill Evans in whose trio LaFaro came to prominence. Joining Bromberg in this venture are pianist Tom Zink and drummer Charles Ruggiero. The program includes “Solar,” “Waltz for Debby,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Gloria’s Step,” a LaFaro orig-

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OTHER VIEWS inal, “Blue in Green,” Israel,” “Milestones,” “Nardis,” “My Foolish Heart,” “Scotty’s Song,” (a piece by Bromberg honoring LaFaro),” “What Is This Thing Called Love, and ‘Danny Boy,” which contains a terrific bass solo to complete this wonderfully executed tribute to LaFaro. brianbromberb.net The empathetic pairing of vocalist Petra van Nuis and pianist Dennis Luxion has been delighting music lovers in Chicago for many years. From Me to You (String Damper Records – 2141) is their second recording as a duo. The warm voice of van Nuis and the sensitive accompaniment of Luxion direct their talents to a well-chosen program of 13 selections.

Similar to van Nuis’ previous albums, she has chosen songs that are mostly familiar but not overdone. The familiar include “I Got Lost in His Arms,” “I Wish I Were in Love Again,” “Take Me in Your Arms,” and “Help

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Me Make It Through the Night”. She also selected two songs by veterans of the Chicago scene, “Nothing” by vocalist Marc Pompe and “From Me to You” by the late singer/pianist Bob Dogan. The consistent element here is the way in which van Nuis and Luxion give each song respect, van Nuis in her immaculate phrasing that brings out the essence of each lyric, and Luxion in his choice of notes to enhance the melodies petrasings.com On her latest album, Feelin’Groovy (Arbors – 19490), vocalist/bassist Nicki Parrott turns her attention to pop songs of the 1960s. She recently moved back to her native Australia, so the band accompanying her on this recording is an all-Australian cast: pianist/organist Steve Russell, drummer Dave Sanders, tenor saxophonist/flautist Martha Baartz, trumpet/flugelhornist Todd Hardy, trombonist Shane Hannan, guitarist Jim Kelly, and per-

cussionist Nanny Assis, employed in various combinations from track to track. (Assis’ son, vocalist Dani Assis, is this issue’s Rising Star. See page 30) The program includes “Feelin’ Groovy,” “He Calls Me Baby,” “Everybody’s Talkin’”, and “These Boots Are Made for Walkin”, among others.

Parrott offers up her usual vocal excellence, and the settings are jazzy. While nicely listenable, and worth adding to your library, it is not a release that will leave the shelf as often as earlier Parrott efforts. arborsrecords.com Megg Farrell, Sweet Megg, has her foundations in the worlds of both classic jazz and country music. Her new release, Bluer Than Blue (Turtle Bay Records -24002) finds her backed by a combination of Nashville country players —fiddler Billy Contreras, bassist Dennis Crouch, drummer Chris Gelb, and lap steel guitarist Chris Scruggs —and New York City

jazzers—trumpeter Mike Davis, trombonist Sam Chess, reedman Ricky Alexander, pianist Dalton Ridenhour, and guitarist Justin Poindexter. It is interesting that this album arrives soon after On the Trail by Hilary Gardner, a collection of cowboy songs on which Poindexter played a key role.

The dozen selections include a couple of jazz/pop standards, “Someday Sweetheart” and “In a Sentimental Mood,” but the balance of the tunes are from the country field, such tunes as “Bluer Than Blue,” “Once More with Feeling”, and “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight”. Sweet Megg and her

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OTHER VIEWS crew strike a perfect balance between the two genres. Her voice is suited to both jazz and country, and her understanding of both styles is apparent throughout. The players all gathered in one studio for the recording, and they blend together seamlessly. A nice bonus is the informative commentary in the liner notes by Ranger Doug Harmony. turtlebayrecords.com The Path of a Tear (Lateralize – 020) This is the fourth release by English vocalist Jo Harrop, and the first recorded in the United States. She has become one of the most celebrated jazz singers in London, and this album should establish her with American listeners. She is accompanied by terrific Los Angeles area musicians, Anthony Wilson on guitar, Jim Cox on keyboards, David Piltch or Larry Klein on bass, and Victor Indrizzo on drums and percussion. There are 11 tunes on the program, eight of which

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have lyrics by Harrop set to tunes by six different composers. The other songs are Leonard Cohen’s “Traveling Light,” Leon Russell’s “If It Wasn’t for Bad”, and Steve Earle’s “Goodbye.”

The songs are about the vagaries of life and love. Harrop’s dusky voice lends itself well to the introspective nature of the material. If you are looking for an uplift, The Path of a Tear is not a wise choice, but if you find yourself challenged to explore the realities of life at difficult times, Harrop does an effective job of doing so with feeling and intelligence. (Release date June 7, 2024) joharrop.com Between 1959 and 2006, Nancy Wilson recorded more than 50 albums and was a popular favorite as a performer in clubs and in concert. This provided vocalist Amber Weeks with a wealth of possibilities when she decided to record a tribute to Wilson. She settled on 13 selections

which can be found on A Lady with a Song – Amber Weeks Celebrates Nancy Wilson (Amber Inn Records – 8712). Weeks has her own sound and style, but her interpretations of the songs reflect the influence of Wilson.

Among the songs included are “Gentleman Friend,” “Save Your Love for Me,” “What a Little Moonlight Can Do”, “Suppertime,” with a spoken interlude that sets the lyric, and “Guess Who I Saw Today,” Wilson’s signature song. There is a floating cast of Los Angeles musicians led by Mark Cargill who also created the impressive charts for this superb nod to Nancy Wilson’s legacy. amberweeks.com

by Corky Brumble, “Love on the Tyrrhenian” and “Once Again It’s Winter.”

The balance of the program includes “The Riviera,” “Little Boat,” “Say It Isn’t So” and “You and the Night and the Music”, among others. Gable is an assured singer with a voice that is easy on the ears and has a feeling for lyrics that would make the lyricists smile.

The musical settings fluctuate from song to song. The charts are by John Shipley, who plays piano on five tracks and organ/Fender Rhodes on one selection. Gable has once again shown that she is a singer who is wonderfully adept at choosing material and delivering it in style. cecegable.com

It took more than 25 years of singing professionally before vocalist CeCe Gable released her first album in 2020.

Her latest album, Love on the Tyrrhenian (CeCe Gable – 1002), is a collection of hip tunes bookended by two songs with lyrics by Gable and music

The Bing Crosby Estate is releasing a series of albums containing performances by Bing Crosby that have not previously been available commercially. They are taken from radio tapings. The latest is Bing Crosby Sings the Cole Porter Songbook. The album

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OTHER VIEWS contains 14 tracks, including “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “What Is This Thing Called Love,” “Night and Day”, and “You’re Sensational”. Crosby is at his relaxed best, swinging with a jazz feeling. Interesting to note is the inclusion of “You’re Sensational,” a song from the film High Society but sung in the movie by Frank Sinatra, not Crosby. These selections are sure to please Crosby enthusiasts as well as those who dig Porter, a win/win situation. (This album is only available in digital format.) bingcrosby.com For many years, Bob Anderson was known for his amazing impressions of numerous singers. In order to accomplish this, he had to have a superb singing voice. Finally, he has released an album titled Bob Anderson LIVE! (Jazz Hang Records – JHR910BA) that contains 16 tracks of Bob Anderson doing Bob Anderson. These live performances, taken from several dif-

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ferent concerts, show that Anderson is a fine vocalist in his own right who has absorbed the lessons learned from those whom he spent years studying and performing impressions of such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Tom Jones, Mel Tormé, and Jack Jones. There are popular standards like “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “I Remember You,” “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “Some Other Time.” He also dipped into the treasure trove of great songs that do not get as much attention, such as “I Won’t Send Roses,” “I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You”, and “I Still Miss You”. Then there are selections like his appropriate opener, the selfpenned “So Much Music in Me,” and a couple of tunes by Victor Harris and Frankie Chaksfield, “Streaks of Lavender” and “Midnight at Malibu,” unique to Anderson. He has a strong baritone and knows how to put a song across convincingly. jazzhangrecords.com

Vocalist Jack Wood has been on the Southern California scene for many decades and has released eight previous albums. The Gal That Got Away (Jazz Hang Records – JHR906JW) compiles some of the best tracks from those recordings. Wood sings such songs as “Gypsy in My Soul,” “The Gal That Got Away,” “I Will Wait for You”, and “Secret Love”. He has a pleasant baritone and is in the tradition of singers like Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, and Vic Damone. His backing ranges from combos to a big band, and the songs vary in tempo from ballads to swingers. An added bonus is the inclusion of two tracks by Nichaud Fitzgibbon, an Australian vocalist who impressed Wood when he discovered her on YouTube. She sings “It’s Crazy” and “After Hours.” Hearing these tracks, it is obvious why Wood found her appealing. They are planning on releasing an album of duets in the near future. jazzhangrecords.com

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SandySasso.com for more Sandy info

DAN’S DEN

BY DA N MORG ENST ERN

Remembering Michael Cuscuna

S

o, Michael Cuscuna has joined the Big Band in the Sky and is bound to provide it with some new material. Finding unknown unissued stuff in the copious archives of Blue Note, his very favorite label, was the beginning of Mosaic, the unique and marvelous reissue label he and the late Charlie Lourie formed in 1983. Its unique black box container, adorned with a black and white hitherto unseen photo, mainly from Blue Note cofounder Francis Wolf’s fine stash and filled with state of the art remastered CDs, flawless discography and classy liner notes have gained fame and fans over the decades.

The loss of partner Charlie was a threat but Michael soldiered on and soon found a new partner in Scott Wenzel, who knows jazz from all aspects, including the perspective of a musician.

So, dear Michael, thanks for all you’ve done for the music. It will live on!

:

For more on Michael Cuscuna, see Big Band in the Sky in the May 2024 issue of Jersey Jazz.

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

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