VIBEMASTER
Jazz at William paterson
ALL THAT’S JAZZ
BY CYDNEY HALPIN
Jazz is a community and my life is so much richer being a part of it!
Please join us this Sunday, November 3rd for our Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert as we showcase the NJJS 2024 Scholarship winners —Lasse Corson and Isaac Yi (Performance) and Joseph Foglia and Gabriel Chalick (Composition)—alongside industry professionals: NJJS Advisor saxophonist and educator Don Braden, Many Ann McSweeney on bass, Alvester Garnett on drums, all under the guest musical direction of guitarist and educator David O’Rourke.
Please see the news article on our website homepage njjs.org for more information. Tickets are available at: artsintrinsic.ticketleap.com/jerseyjazz-live-nov/ Come support the Juried Scholarship Competition initiative and get to know the future of jazz. Admission is $10 members/$15
non-members. Doors open at 2:30 p.m., concerts begin at 3:00 p.m. Refreshments are available for purchase. Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Free street parking is available.
Launched in 2022, the competition awards two $1,000 and two $500 prizes in two categories: Performance and Original Composition. The competition is open to all New Jersey college students enrolled in a college undergraduate music program or New Jersey residents enrolled in an out-of-state program.
Along with a cash award, winners receive guidance, mentorship and the opportunity to perform with industry professionals along with coverage in Jersey Jazz. The 2025 competition will open in January, with winners announced in April.
The 2024 competition was 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, sidewoman, and educator.
Our deepest gratitude to judges Don, Mariel, Ted, and Jason for their dedication and expertise, and for their input and advice as we continue to grow this competition.
The 2024 competition was generously supported by Nan Hughes Poole. This special LIVE! performance is generously sponsored in part by NJJS Board Members Cynthia Feketie and James Pansulla. We’re very grateful to these patrons for their dedication
to the young musicians of tomorrow. If you’d like to make a donation to further support and expand the 2025 competition prizes, you can do so at njjs.org via the red “Make a Donation” button on the homepage, or by check payable to NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07091. Please note “Scholarship.”
Save the date: Sunday, December 8, for NJJS’s last LIVE! concert of 2024, and our Annual Meeting featuring The Summer Camargo Trio. Put your festive foot forward and come cast your vote for the 2025 Board of Directors and enjoy an afternoon with Saturday Night Live band member and the first female trumpet player to be named Best Soloist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Festival. Please see page 09 for more information on this fabulous young musician and her band. Tickets are
available at: artsintrinsic.ticketleap. com/jersey-jazz-live-december/
If you’ve attended these events, you know they’re great value and that the talent of our featured performers and the showcased Rising Stars is incredible. If you haven’t yet attended a LIVE! event, come be a part of the musical celebration, and bring a friend!
The New Jersey Jazz Society was founded with the mission of promoting and preserving jazz. To that end, please consider helping NJJS continue its performance and educational initiatives by donating to our “Charting the Future … with YOU!” fundraising campaign either by mail (watch your mail boxes), or ANYTIME online at www.njjs.org via the red “Make a Donation” button.
Tuesday, December 3rd is the National Day of Giving, a day to celebrate radical generosity and to “do
good” —so perhaps you’d like to join this global movement and participate on this date directly online with a tax-deductible donation.
Many of you work for employers that have a matching gift program - that will double the impact of your gift for free—by completing and submitting a simple form. Check with your Human Resources Department for further information.
On behalf of my fellow Board members, we thank you for all you do to support jazz music and education. Together we’re preserving the future of this uniquely American art form.
While every month should be Arts & Humanities month, the Morris County Board of County Commissioners proclaimed October 2024 “Arts and Humanities Month.”
Commissioner Director Christine Myers presented the proclamation
to Tom Werder, Executive Director of Morris Arts, alongside leaders from local arts organizations including Mayo Performing Arts Center, the New Jersey Jazz Society, Morris Music Men, and Morris Museum.
The Board and I would like to thank the County of Morris Commissioners, along with Tom Werd-
er and the staff of Morris Arts, for their tireless support of the Arts, and specifically their support of NJJS.
As the holiday season is officially upon us, I’d like to wish you all a very happy, blessed and healthy Thanksgiving, and safe travels if you’re venturing away from home.
Jersey Jazz
LIVE!
FEATURING NJJS 2024 Scholarship Winners with Industry Professionals
DAVID O’ROURKE, Music Director/Guitar
DON BRADEN, Sax
MARY ANN MCSWEENEY, Bass
ALVESTER GARNETT, Drums
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3 3:00 PM
ON KINGS ROAD
$ 10 MEMBERS | $ 15 NON-MEMBERS
$ 5 STUDENTS (WITH VALID I.D.)
EDITOR’S
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Female Jazz Instrumentalists: No Longer a Novelty
In late October we received word from multireedist Ted Nash that he is leaving the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and is being succeeded by alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino. “After playing in the Orchestra for 26 years,” he posted on Facebook, “it feels gratifying to pass the torch to a musician like Alexa—a great saxophonist, doubler, and improviser, and someone who brings such a positive vibe to the band.” (see photo of Nash and Tarantino)
Tarantino was the Jersey Jazz cover story in March 2022. Wynton Marsalis once called her “a one-woman wrecking crew, an indomitable force for expression, education, and absolute excellence.”
She first came to Marsalis’ atten-
tion when her high school band participated in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, and she talked about that event in her interview with Jersey Jazz’s Schaen Fox. “It was a very exciting opportunity for us,” she recalled. “That was my introduction to Jazz at Lincoln Center. I met Wynton Marsalis, Ted Nash, and so many other people. That was very inspiring for me as a high schooler.” Tarantino started subbing in the JALC orchestra about seven years ago.
Another young musician with a connection to Essentially Ellington is trumpeter Summer Camargo, who will perform at the NJJS Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert on December 8. She’s interviewed on page 09 and has also
been praised by Marsalis. When she performed her Best Original Composition, “Leapfroggin’”, at the 2018 Essentially Ellington, Marsalis introduced her, saying, “She is spectacular in her playing and her presence. What can I say about her? It just gives me so much hope and feeling.”
Helped by the Laurie Frink grant, Camargo released her debut album, To Whom I Love, on JALC’s Blue Engine Records label. The grant is named after the late trumpeter/educator, to help young brass players under-
take a creative project. I saw Laurie Frink perform as the lead trumpeter in Gerry Mulligan’s big band in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, and it was a rarity to see female trumpeters or saxophonists in those days. Now, as exemplified by artists such as Tarantino and Camargo, that is changing.
Our Rising Star in this issue, alto saxophonist Veronica Leahy (page 34), is on Camargo’s album, and she also has connections to Ted Nash and Wynton Marsalis. Leahy plays in Nash’s big band, which has a bimonthly residency at Dizzy’s Club. Nash first saw her perform about nine years ago when she was 14. “I was one of the judges in a contest on jazz improvisation,” he recalled, “and she was the undisputed winner. As part of her award, she got to sit in with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a concert that night, and she turned everyone’s heads in the band, including Wynton Marsalis’.”
ABOUT NJJS
Founded in 1972, The New Jersey Jazz Society has diligently maintained its mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form—jazz. To accomplish our mission, we produce a monthly magazine, Jersey Jazz ; sponsor live jazz events; and provide scholarships to New Jersey college students studying jazz. Through our outreach program Generations of Jazz, we provide interactive programs focused on the history of jazz. The Society is run by a board of directors who meet monthly to conduct Society business. NJJS membership is comprised of jazz devotees from all parts of the state, the country and the world.
MEMBER BENEFITS
You become an integral part of the NJJS community, and the history and future of jazz
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
A collection of used CD’s & LP’s available at reduced prices at specific events and through mail order njjs.org/shop
JOIN NJJS
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
Members at Bandleader level and above and Corporate Memberships receive special benefits. Please contact Membership@njjs.org for details. The New Jersey Jazz Society is qualified as a tax exempt cultural organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Federal ID 23-7229339. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. For more Information or to join, visit www.njjs.org
Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society
VOLUME 52 • ISSUE 10
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.
Editorial Staff
EDITOR
Sanford Josephson, editor@njjs.org
ART DIRECTOR
Michael Bessire, art@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR
Mitchell Seidel, photo@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Bill Crow, Joe Lang, Jay Sweet
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Joseph Berg, William Brown, Roy Cox, Jimmy Katz, Carol LoRicco
WEBMASTER
Christine Vaindirlis
WEBSITE DESIGN
Prism Digital
Advertising
DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING
Cydney Halpin, advertising@njjs.org
ADVERTISING RATES
Full Page: $135, Half Page: $90, 1/3 Page: $60, 1/4 Page: $30
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
New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2024
PRESIDENT
Cydney Halpin, pres@njjs.org
EXECUTIVE VP vicepresident@njjs.org
TREASURER
Mike Katz, treasurer@njjs.org
VP, MEMBERSHIP membership@njjs.org
VP, PUBLICITY
Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com
VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING
Mitchell Seidel, music@njjs.org
RECORDING SECRETARY Irene Miller
CO-FOUNDER
Jack Stine
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Mike Katz
DIRECTORS
Jay Dougherty, Cynthia Feketie, Paul Flexner, Pete Grice, Carrie Jackson, Caryl Anne McBride, Robert McGee, James Pansulla, Stew Schiffer, Elliott Tyson, Jackie Wetcher
ADVISORS
Don Braden, Mariel Bildsten, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, Jason Olaine
SNL Trumpeter Summer Camargo to Play Mix of Standards and Original Compositions
“Her Improv Style is Such That Melodic and Rhythmic Surprises Lurk Behind and Leap from Every Corner”
During the pandemic, the New Jersey Jazz Society held virtual concerts that appeared on njjs.com and the NJJS Facebook and YouTube sites. In March 2021, the performers were two second-year Jazz Studies students at Juilliard: trumpeter Summer Camargo from Hollywood, FL, and pianist Tyler Henderson from Houston. Four months later, Camargo received a phone call that changed her life and career. It was from Lenny Pickett, Musical Director of the Saturday Night Live band. Recalled Ca-
margo, “He gave me a call, out of the blue, and asked me if I’d like to be in the band. I’m so grateful to the New Jersey Jazz Society because actually the video where Lenny Pickett saw me perform was the NJJS concert. It’s incredible how a five-minute phone call can change your life. I’m still in the band, and this is a special season because it’s the 50th anniversary of SNL.”
A movie, Saturday Night, celebrating the 50th anniversary, had its world premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 31 and had a limited theatrical release in the United States
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE!
on September 27 before its wide release by Sony Pictures on October 11. “I’m in the movie,” Camargo said. “I was called by Jon Batiste in April to be on the film score; and, later in the summer, I was called through SNL because they wanted the SNL band to record. So, I got recorded twice for the movie.”
At 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, December 8, Camargo will lead a trio at NJJS’ Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center. “We’re going to be playing some standards, some new originals, and we’re also going to be playing some songs that are on my album,” Camargo said. The album, To Whom I Love, was released earlier this year on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records label. It contains seven Camargo original compositions and two standards: Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields’ “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and Neal Hefti’s “Splanky”. Nicholas F. Mondello, reviewing
the album for AllAboutJazz, wrote that Camargo “has a luscious trumpet and flugelhorn tone, highly expressive command of her axes, and uses her vast technical chops to deliver the entire spectrum of volume, inflection, and nuance. Her improv style is such that melodic and rhythmic surprises lurk behind and leap from every corner.”
The album started, Camargo said, “because I was part of a class at Juilliard called ‘Leadership in the Arts’. There are a lot of amazing grant opportunities at Juilliard, so my assignment was to put together an application for some of the grants. I took it really seriously and said, ‘OK, I have enough original compositions for an album.’ I had a concept and thought of the personnel. But I didn’t submit through a Juilliard grant; I ended up submitting to the Laurie Frink grant. (Named after the late trumpeter and educator Laurie Frink, the grant offers young brass play-
ers an opportunity for serious study or to undertake a creative project).
“I ended up winning,” Camargo continued, “which was really unexpected. So, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I have to put together this album.’ So, I called a bunch of people. I called Sean Jones, Bria Skonberg, and Wynton Marsalis; and they all really helped me a lot. When I talked to Wynton, he told me about Blue Engine, and that’s how I got connected with the label. Sean
became my producer, and when I said I wanted an organ player, he recommended Joey DeFrancesco. We recorded the whole album in August 2022, and I had just found out about Saturday Night Live the month before that.”
Camargo’s relationship with Marsalis goes back to 2018 when she became the first female trumpet player to be named Best Soloist at JALC’s Essentially Ellington festival. And her composition, “Leapfroggin’”, won
The band on To Whom I Love. Clockwise, from top left: Varun Das, Esteban Castro, Raul Reyes Bueno, Jeffrey Miller, Summer Camargo, Veronica Leahy
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE!
the Songwriting award for Best Original Composition and Arrangement. When she performed it, Marsalis introduced her, saying “She is spectacular in her playing and her presence. What can I say about her? It just gives me so much hope and feeling.”
Jones is Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall’s NYO (National Youth Orchestra) Jazz Orchestra, and Camargo was selected for that ensemble
twice—in 2018 and 2019. NYO accepts 22 student musicians from across the country. During Camargo’s senior year at Fort Lauderdale’s Dillard High School, Jones was the guest artist. He was also at the Vail Jazz Festival when she did the Vail Jazz Workshop. The theme of her album, Camargo said, is “dedicating songs to the people I most treasure in my life—family, my mentors, and my friends and also
just giving back to the community that has helped me so much. ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’ is dedicated to my first band director, Jim Mullen (at Calvary Christian Academy in Hollywood). That was his favorite song ever.
‘Splanky’ is dedicated to my high school band director, Christopher Dorsey, because we played a lot of that in class.”
Band members on To Whom I Love, in addition to the late DeFrancesco, are: Veronica Leahy, reeds; Jeffrey Miller, trombone; Esteban Castro, piano; Raul Reyes Bueno, bass; Varun Das, drums; and Jamey Haddad, percussion. Leahy is the Rising Star in this issue of Jersey Jazz (see page 34); Esteban was our Rising Star in April.
The Juilliard experience, Camargo said, “was amazing. It helped me grow as an artist, as a bandleader, and as a composer.” She reeled off a long list of teachers who were important in her musical development, but one special mentor was the late trumpeter Chris
Jaudes, who passed away in February. “He was my teacher for my first year at Juilliard,” she said. “He told me that he recommended me for the New Jersey Jazz Society online concert.”
Jaudes, who lived in Maplewood, NJ, next door to NJJS Board member Jay Doherty, suggested Camargo and Tyler Henderson to Doherty for the series.
The other two members of Camargo’s trio at the December 8th Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert will be pianist William Schwartzman and bassist Ben Feldman. Schwartzman, a Jazz Performance major at Juilliard, has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival. In 2023, as a member of the Carnegie Hall NYO Jazz Orchestra, he toured Europe with Sean Jones and NEA Jazz Master vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Feldman has a Bachelor in Music in Double Bass Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He studied with bassists Ron
Evan Gongora
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE!
Carter and Buster Williams and has performed with vibraphonist Stefon Harris, pianist Gerald Clayton, and drummer Matt Wilson, among others.
The Summer Camargo Trio will be preceded by a Rising Star opening act featuring the Evan Gongora Trio. Gongora, a baritone saxophonist from East Hanover, NJ, and freshman Jazz Studies major at William Paterson University, was the Jersey Jazz Rising Star in May. David Demsey, Coordinator of Jazz Studies at WPU, recalled that, “When our faculty first heard Evan, we knew that he had something very special and has limitless potential for his future.” Gongora’s trio will include two other William Paterson students, bassist Eli Leder from Avon, Ohio, and drummer Luke Richards from Sacramento, CA.
This month, Camargo’s quintet will be performing at the Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective on November 17 and at the Tilles Center for the Performing
Arts in Brookville (L.I.). NY on November 21. The other members of her quintet are Bueno, Das, guitarist David Rourke, and alto saxophonist Jerian
Jamanila — SANFORD JOSEPHSON
: The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for NJJS members and $15 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase. To order tickets in advance, artsintrinsic.ticket leap.com/jersey-jazz-live-december
: 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
Inspired
by Art Blakey and Tony Williams, Cindy Blackman Santana Brings Her Energetic Drumming to NJPAC
“I Love This Band. We Create an Ocean Wave of Sound”
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
Cindy Blackman Santana has two drum heroes—Art Blakey and Tony Williams—and she doesn’t believe either of them have received the recognition they deserve for two of the major movements in jazz history—the introduction of bebop and the emergence of jazz-rock fusion.
Blakey, she said, “doesn’t really get the credit for it, but he was the first person to start playing what was named bebop with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie because they were all in the Billy Eckstine Band. So, when they started to break off into small groups and start exploring, Art Blakey was the drummer. Max (Roach) recorded with them before Art, so he gets the credit. And, you know all about Max’s amazing innovations, but I’d like to add that Art was the first to play with Charlie and Dizzy, and his work with Monk was just so innovative—the way he approached polyrhythms and his use of triplets over the music.”
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Williams, in Blackman Santana’s opinion, “is the one who was responsible for that whole jazz-rock movement. Many people named it fusion, but Tony didn’t call it fusion. He called it jazz-rock, and that’s what he was doing. He was mixing jazz and rock together. The combining of that was this whole new pathway of playing, this whole new genre of music. Every band that came after that, including Miles playing Bitches Brew, was influenced by Tony. Sadly, he doesn’t always get the credit for that, but that’s it. He’s the one who did that.”
On Sunday, November 17, Blackman Santana will bring the Cindy Blackman Santana Band to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s TD James Moody Jazz Festival. “I love this band,” she said. “I’m currently working on a new album with a lot of original compositions, and we’ll play a couple of those selections.” Her bandmates include tenor saxophonist
Emilio Modeste, pianist Zaccai Curtis, and guitarist Aurelean Budynek. Modeste, she said, is “an amazing young voice” on saxophone. He also plays with bassist Stanley Clarke’s N 4EVER band and has shared the bandstand with such legends as bassists Ron Carter and Buster Williams and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Curtis, who teaches at the University of Hartford’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, has played with saxophonists Lakecia Benjamin and Donald Harrison and trumpeter Brian Lynch, among others. Said Blackman Santana: “He has beautiful flowing solos and gets us to really structure.”
Budynek “comes out of the jazzrock world,” Blackman Santana said. He is a founding member of the rock group, DareDevil Squadron and has played in the orchestras of several Broadway shows such as Hamilton, Book of Mormon, and School of Rock. Blackman Santana’s regular bassist, Felix Pastorius, will
be out of the country, “so I don’t know who the bassist will be yet.
“As a whole,” she added, “this band is really driving. We play with a lot of subtlety when needed and fire when needed. And, it’s a lot of fun because it allows us to take on some great explorations. We create an ocean wave of sound.”
Blackman Santana, who is 64, was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and her family moved to Bristol, CT, when she was 11 years old. “At three, I had an
interest in drums,” she remembered. “I started getting little drum sets by the time I was seven. Then I got my first student model kit, and then I saved up for my first professional kit, and it kept snowballing from there.” Her first professional gig was with a punk rock trio at age 13. She eventually attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and that experience, she said, was “amazing. It was a beautiful experience to be amongst all these young cats from all over the world. You form
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
lasting and meaningful relationships. Places like Berklee not only provide training, but they provide an atmosphere. It’s sad to see that so many schools have taken away arts programs. Even if a child does not want to pursue music or art, to have that in their lives or brains is an inspiration.”
Blackman Santana can’t help returning to thoughts about Blakey and Williams, though. The former was, “Everybody’s Daddy, and not just drummers because he was just such an amazing force in the music, such an incredible inspiration and teacher. He had all the drive you could ever hope for in a drummer, and he just led the band with such incredible energy and wisdom.”
She got to know Blakey when she came to New York in the 1980s. “I became the babysitter of his children,” she said. “The great thing for me is that he would always tell me these stories. I was over at his house all the time. I
never took a formal drum lesson with him, but I never had to because he was always telling me stuff. He would always answer my questions with the greatest detail. So, he’s been a great mentor for me and a great father figure for me in the music and with the drums. All the young cats wanted to come to New York to audition for his band,” she continued. “That’s the kind of magnetism and pull he had. Since he passed there’s been a void that I don’t think has been filled to this day.” Williams, she pointed out, “innovated on the entire drum kit—sound inno-
vator, technique innovator, conceptual innovator, before he was even playing with Miles. Listen to what he did with Sam Rivers, Kenny Dorham, Jackie McLean, Grachan Monocur. After he left Miles, every single record and every step of the way was an innovation.”
When Williams formed his own quintet, it “blew the doors off everybody’s brain because it was just amazing the way he combined everything he loved in that group. Unfortunately, he left us at 51. I got to see him the very first time in a drum clinic, and I was just floored. I knew if that wasn’t the level of musicality I was going to chase, I might as well do something else because he set the stage and set the bar so high.”
In 1968, Williams left the Miles Davis Quintet and created a jazz-rock band called Tony Williams Lifetime. It included organist Larry Young and British guitarist John McLaughlin. The band recorded the double album
Emergency (Polydor, 1969) which AllAboutJazz’s Trevor McLaren called “essential listening for fans taking the next step from rock into jazz.” The band released another Polydor album, Turn it Over in 1970, which featured Cream bassist Jack Bruce. Williams later returned to acoustic jazz with Herbie Hancock and a Miles Davis Quintet with Freddie Hubbard playing trumpet in place of Davis who died in 1991. Williams passed away in 1997 from a heart attack. Cindy Blackman was playing with singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz’s rock band at a festival in Germany in 2005, and guitarist Carlos Santana was on the same bill. “That was my first introduction to Carlos,” she recalled, “very brief. In 2010, Carlos had a booking, and his drummer, Dennis Chambers, was booked to do something else. So, his team called me to sub for that gig. That’s where we started this musical friendship. But there were things about
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
him that I just loved. We both adored Miles Davis and Tony Williams, and Coltrane, so there was a lot that we had in common musically. And, spiritually, there was a lot we had in common. The rest is kind of history from there.” They were married on December 19, 2010.
In 2020, Blackman Santana released an album on the Copperline label called Give the Drummer Some, a mix of jazz, rock, and funk that featured “my first expedition into vocalese.” AllMusic’s Thom Jurek wrote that, “Cindy’s vocal is resonant; its spirit evokes Marvin Gaye as Carlos supports her with some of his most emotional work here ... the music provides a truly remarkable showcase for Blackman Santana’s depth as a musical renaissance woman whose signature is marked by infectious grooves and a truckload of soul.”
The NJPAC concert will not include any vocals from Give the Drummer Some, Blackman Santa-
na explained. “I love drumming so much,” she said, “that my focus with this particular version of my band is just on the creativity of that. Right now I just want to play drums.”
Now, based in Las Vegas, Blackman Santana said, “I’m looking forward to this concert. I love the energy of the East Coast. This summer I performed at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues (Portsmouth, NH), Keystone Korner (Baltimore), and I did five nights at Birdland. The energy was so incredible. I was born and raised in Ohio, but I consider myself to be a New Yorker. Everybody who’s an innovator spent some time in New York. Being in New Jersey will be incredible because we’ll be right close to my favorite city in the world.”
: The Cindy Blackman Santana Band will perform at 3 p.m. on Sunday November 17, in NJPAC’s Victoria Theater. For information or tickets, log onto njpac.org or call 1-888-my-njpac.
Andrew Neu and Pete McGuinness
Will Direct the All-State Jazz Ensemble and Choir
The Two Groups Will Present a Joint Performance of Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”
On Friday night, November 15, the New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA)/ New Jersey Association for Jazz Education (NJAJE) All-State Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Choir will take the stage at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The Jazz Ensemble will be led by saxophonist/ educator Andrew Neu, and the Choir will be directed by trombonist/vocalist/educator Peter McGuinness.
Although the program was not finalized at presstime, Neu, Director
of the Jazz Ensemble at Swarthmore College, said the Jazz Ensemble’s repertoire will include some of the following: Thad Jones’ “Pretty People”, Oliver Nelson’s arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone”, Sammy Nestico’s “Get Up and Go”, and a couple of Neu compositions, “Too Much of a Good Thing” and “Zebrano”.
The Jazz Ensemble has 18 members from 14 different high schools.
Four high schools—Columbia in Maplewood/South Orange, Shawnee in Medford, Robbinsville, and Prince-
ton—have two members each. Two of the band members have performed in a Rising Star opening act at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Sunday afternoon Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts in Madison, NJ. At the March 2023 JJL, trombonist Alexander Marichal, from Mount Olive High School, was part of quintet led by fellow Mount Olive student, saxophonist/clarinetist Gabe Serna. In March 2024, pianist Thomas Dinh performed in a quintet led by Columbia High School guitarist Sally Shupe, a member of last year’s AllState Ensemble. This is Dinh’s second consecutive year in the All-State band.
The Jazz Choir will include 20 vocalists from nine high schools—seven sopranos, seven altos, four tenors, and two baritones. Several high schools are represented by more than one member: Rahway and Perth Amboy, four; East Brunswick, three; Hopewell Valley Central, Villa VictoAndrew Neu
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
Sonny Rollins’ “Tenor Madness”, arranged by Michelle Weir, including a scat singing improv from members of the group. Then the choir and ensemble will join together for a performance of Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”, arranged by McGuinness.
In addition to his duties at Swarthmore, Neu, a multireedist, directs the jazz program at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, PA. He has performed with a long list of jazz artists including alto saxophonist David Sanborn, bassist Brian Bromberg, and trumpeter Rick Braun.
talizing tenor sax but wrote (or cowrote) eight of the album’s handsomely designed numbers and arranged all of them, laying bare remarkable ingenuity and awareness in every sphere.”
McGuinness is Associate Professor of Jazz Studies/Arranging at William Paterson University. As a trombonist, he has performed with such legends as Lionel Hampton and Jimmy Heath and was a member of the Maria Schneider Orchestra on the 2004 ArtistShare recording, Concert in the Garden. It won a Grammy Award ry Academy (Ewing Twp), and Abraham Clark (Roselle), two. The choir will be accompanied by a jazz quartet. McGuinness said the choir’s selections will include his arrangements of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “This Time the Dream’s on Me” and the Gershwins’ “Lady Be Good”; and
In 2018, he released his debut album as a big band leader, Catwalk, on the CD Baby label. Among the band members were saxophonists Bob Mintzer and Eric Marienthal and trumpeter Randy Brecker. Reviewing it for AllAboutJazz, Jack Bowers wrote that Neu “not only plays a tan-
for Best Large Jazz Ensemble album. His big band, The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, was nominated for two Grammys—Best Instrumental or A Capella Arrangement and Best Instrumental Arrangement with Vocals for his 2014 Summit Records album, Strength in Numbers. As a vocalist, McGuinness spent eight years with the vocal group, The Royal Bopsters, performing with them at the December 2023 New Jersey Jazz Society Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert in Madison, NJ.
“ THE JAZZ CHOIR WILL INCLUDE 20 VOCALISTS FROM NINE HIGH SCHOOLS. ”
Pete McGuinness
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
All-State Jazz ensemble
» Anish Alur Alto Saxophone, Ridge High School
» Noah Tamiso Alto Saxophone, Newark Academy
» Joanna Hyland Tenor Saxophone, Audubon High School
» Jackson Pellegrino Tenor Saxophone, Columbia High School
» Henry Yip Baritone Saxophone, Morristown High School
» Rex Jacobs Trumpet, Shawnee High School
» Lucas Comesana Trumpet, Princeton High School
» Armando Martell Trumpet, Robbinsville High School
» Matthew Chen Trumpet, Princeton High School
» Alexander Marichal Trombone, Mount Olive High School
» Cameron Van Wyk Trombone, South Plainfield High School
» Anthony Orphanos Trombone, Shawnee High School
» Xander Baltuano Bass Trombone, Passaic County Technical Vocational High School
» Jackson Provan Guitar, James Caldwell High School
» Thomas Dinh Piano, Robbinsville High School
» Anders Ryen Bass. Ridgewood High School
» Emmet Simon Vibes, Columbia High School
» Christopher DeLaRosa Drums, Egg Harbor Twp High School
All-State Jazz Choir SOPRANOS
» Elise Granzow Hopewell Valley Central High School
» Giana Griffiths Villa Victory Academy
» Julianne Handzus Sparta High School
» Vidhya Karuppiah East Brunswick High School
» Marnie Kramer East Brunswick High School
» Gillian Rasp West Milford High School
» Mia Romero Perth Amboy High School
ALTOS
» Angelyna Bonilla Rahway High School
» Leah Brown Abraham Clark High School
» Ethan Fastag-Rosenfield Hopewell Valley Central High School
» DiMarie Morales Perth Amboy High School
» Amelia Schaller Villa Victoria Academy
» Alina Valdez Perth Amboy High School
» Nicole Weathers Rahway High School
TENORS
» Niko Alexis Abraham Clark High School
» Charles Japheth Rahway High School
» Jeffrey Lopez Rahway High School
» Christopher Vasquez Perth Amboy High School
BARITONES
» Tom Anzuini Burlington City High School
» Luca Como East Brunswick High School
INSTRUMENTAL QUARTET
» Luke Blatt Guitar, Kingsway High School
» George Shekiladze Piano, Lyndhurst High School
» Ted Crall Bass, Newark Academy
» Vir Mehrotra Drums, West Windsor Plainsboro South High School
TD James Moody Jazz Festival Schedule
All performances at NJPAC unless otherwise noted.
NOV 7, 1:30 PM Paquito D’Rivera Quintet with NJ Symphony
NOV 8, 8 PM Paquito D’Rivera Quintet with NJ Symphony
NOV 10, 3 PM Paquito D’Rivera Quintet with NJ Symphony, Mayo PAC, Morristown
NOV 14, 7:30 PM Tribute to Funk! with Bilal, Nona Hendryx, Christian McBride, Savion Glover, Vernon Reid, George Clinton, and Ray Chew
NOV 15, 7 PM NJMEA/NJAJE Jazz Ensemble and Choir
NOV 15, 7:30 PM Tyshawn Sorey Trio with Aaron Diehl, Harish Raghavan, and Sandbox Percussion
NOV 16, 1 PM WBGO Children’s Concert with Davell Crawford, Newark Symphony Hall
NOV 16, 7:30 PM Madeleine Peyroux
NOV 17, 3 PM Cindy Blackman Santana
NOV 21, 7:30 PM Jazz Jams Open Mic, Clement’s Place, Newark
John Pizzarelli and Catherine Russell
NOV 21, 7:30 PM Bethany Baptist Jazz Vespers@25, Honoring Rev. M. William Howard, Jr., Bethany Baptist Church, Newark
NOV 22, 7:30 PM John Pizzarelli & Catherine Russell, Billie & Blue Eyes
NOV 23, 6 PM & 8:30 PM Dorado Schmitt and Sons: Django Festival All-Stars
NOV 23, 8 PM Kronos Quartet
NOV 23, 8 PM Philip Bailey, Lisa Fischer, Dianne Reeves, and Christian McBride Big Band
NOV 24, 11:30 AM & 1:30 PM Dorthaan’s Place: Brandee Younger Trio, Nico Kitchen+Bar
NOV 24, 3 PM 13th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition
For information or tickets, log onto njpac.org or call 1-888-my-njpac.
Paquito D’Rivera
Warren Wolf: Paying Tribute to Masters of the Vibraphone
“I’m a Fan of All Kinds of Music. Most of the Music I Grew Up Listening to Was Hip-Hop and R&B”
BY JAY SWEET
There are many pitched percussion mallet instruments, such as the glockenspiel, marimba, and xylophone, but the vibraphone has been the most represented in jazz since the 1920s. With its metal bars and a motorized mechanism that creates a vibrato effect, it became popular early on in big bands and small groups through artists such as Red Norvo, Lionel Hampton, and Milt Jackson. Over the decades, the instrument has been featured across various jazz subgenres, but it is still considered a bit of an outlier or novelty in terms of usage. In fact, the majority of casual music fans would likely be remiss to
name even one famous vibes player, let alone the 11 that Warren Wolf paid tribute to in his newest release, History of the Vibraphone (Cellar Music), with the backing of saxophonist Tim Green, pianist Alex Brown, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Carroll “CV” Dashiell III. The album has succeeded notably, spending three weeks at Number 1 on the JazzWeek charts.
Wolf will be appearing at 3 p.m., Sunday, November 24, at William Paterson’s Jazz Room series. “I’ve been touring this project for about two years now,” Wolf told me. “I have several different projects that I’m passionate about. One thing I’ve noticed is when-
JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON
ever I meet someone at the airport or wherever, they’ll ask, ‘What do you play?’ And when I tell them I play the vibraphone, they often have no idea what that is. So, I’ll say, ‘You know the bells, the instrument you played in grade school, or the xylophone?’ And they go, ‘Oh yeah, now I get it.’
“Even though the vibraphone has been around for about 100 years, it’s still relatively unknown to many people. I wanted to create more of a history lesson with this project. I decided to take these songs and just play them straight through—no elaborate arrangements or complications. I present them in a way that pays tribute to the original artists. I wanted to show how the instrument’s sound has evolved to the present, not just from a vibraphone perspective.
“If you also listen to the band, you’ll hear how music has changed— from early swing, the kind people used to dance to, to Third Stream, bossa
nova, fusion, adult contemporary—a range of styles. That was the concept: to give people a history lesson and help them discover these other great players. I wanted to highlight some incredible musicians who’ve played the vibraphone that people might not have heard of. I tried to include as many key vibraphonists as possible on the record. Still, with only 12 tracks, I obviously couldn’t represent everyone.”
Reviewing the album in the October issue of Jersey Jazz, Joe Lang wrote that, “Wolf has taken on the challenge of paying trib-
ute to these masters while maintaining his own individuality and has succeeded magnificently.”
While all the tracks on History of the Vibraphone are notable, two standout selections are Gary Burton’s “Captain Senor Mouse” and Dave Samuels’ “Spring High”. Both have a special connection to Wolf.
“I was at Berklee from 1997 to 2001,” he recalled, “but Gary Burton did not teach vibraphone then, although he had previously taught at the school. When I arrived at Berklee, he was the institution’s Vice Pres-
ident. I definitely knew Gary, and we did a couple of projects together. I played marimba while he played vibes. Then, I was on faculty in the percussion department from 2002 to 2004, after which I completely left Boston and moved back to Baltimore.
“Dave Samuels was my teacher at Berklee and my number one influence—not in all music, but at least in the vibraphone. After I finished practicing with my dad (Warren Wolf, Sr.), a vibraphonist, we often played games of pool. While playing, we always had music on in the background. One of the
Gary Burton (left) and Dave Samuels were important mentors to Wolf.
JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON
songs I frequently put on was ‘Morning Dance’ by Spyro Gyra. Although Dave didn’t play vibraphone on that track—he played marimba—I found it difficult to grasp improvisation back then. However, hearing that track helped me understand things a bit better. It was like light bulbs went off.”
In addition to tracks connected to masters Terry Gibbs, Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson, Cal Tjader, Gary Burton, Roy Ayers,
Dave Samuels, and Joe Locke, Wolf included an original composition, “I See You, Baby, Lookin At Me” which is fitting. After recordings with Christina McBride’s Insight Straight and various solo and sideman projects, Wolf is now considered one of the top jazz vibraphonists of the era.
When asked about the funk element associated with the tune, Wolf explained that, “I’m a fan of all kinds of music. I always tell my students
to explore everything and absorb it all. I’m definitely a ‘90s kid. Most of the music I grew up listening to was hip-hop and R&B. My dad was also influential in the ‘80s, playing a lot of Motown, Anita Baker, Spyro Gyra, Yellowjackets, and Grover Washington albums. I was exposed to all these different sounds, which led me to write that song. It was inspired by a groove I heard from the soundtrack of Superfly. So, I decided to apply that groove to my song and give it a repetitive melody. I believe that not everyone who comes to see you understands all the notes and harmonies, but they do connect with feeling and groove. I created a simple, repetitive melody with some great sounding chords. It’s just a really chill, laid-back tune.”
Wolf credits much of his success to his rich musical upbringing, growing up in Baltimore. “I started playing classical music at three,” he said, “learning the vibraphone and
the marimba, xylophone, drum set, and piano. My dad trained me. My daily practice schedule consisted of 30 minutes on each instrument, rotating through vibes, mallets, drum sets, and keyboard studies. This routine lasted about 90 minutes daily, six days a week, for 15 years. On Saturdays, I took lessons at the Peabody Preparatory with Leo Lepage, a member of the Baltimore Symphony.
“I primarily grew up as a classical musician, even serving as the principal timpanist for a youth orchestra at Peabody called the Peabody Symphonia. One of my first tours with that group was to Holland, where we performed in Amsterdam and Rotterdam when I was about 10 years old. I’ve often viewed my musical career in two halves: my early years from ages three to 17 and a gap during high school when I didn’t pursue music as much. My dad also introduced me to jazz; his band played contemporary
JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON
music around Baltimore and D.C. Although they didn’t focus heavily on swing, they sometimes performed tunes from the Stanley Turrentine book. One of the most valuable styles my dad taught me was the blues. I believe it’s essential for any musician, regardless of genre. Before diving into complex chord changes, I encourage my students to learn the blues. Eventually, during high school, I shifted away from classical music. I was quite good at it, but it was the right time to explore other musical avenues.
“In Baltimore, I experienced a vibrant jazz scene characterized primarily by organ trios and quartets. I was fortunate to have unique opportunities, especially when my dad would sneak me into his band’s performances. Their sets typically started at 1 a.m. and ran until 4 a.m., which was tough for me as a high school student who needed to get up for school. One of the first musicians I met was alto saxo-
phonist Antonio Hart, who lived nearby and studied with my dad. I remember struggling with a tune by Clifford Brown called “Joy Spring.” My dad arranged for Antonio to play it for me, and he performed it flawlessly. I was amazed at his talent, especially since he was in high school at the same time.
“While I didn’t engage deeply with the scene as a youth, I knew several notable musicians from Baltimore. For example, trumpet player Dantae Winslow, still active today, has succeeded in both jazz and the pop world. Baltimore’s jazz history is rich, featuring influential figures such as Gary Thomas, Tom Harrell, and Cyrus Chestnut. We also celebrate legends like Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, and Ethel Ennis.”
“Today, the jazz program at the Peabody Conservatory (where Wolf teaches) has significantly grown. Our faculty includes talented musicians like Sean Jones and Tim Green. We
have promising young players contributing to the thriving Baltimore jazz scene. Living in Washington, D.C., can be quite expensive, but it is relatively close, so many musicians choose to reside in Baltimore, where the cost of living is more reasonable. This affordability has contributed to a vibrant jazz community in the area. Baltimore boasts several venues that serve as key spots for live music, including Keystone Corner,
An Die Musik Music, and Caton Castle. These locations provide numerous opportunities for musicians to
perform. Additionally, the city hosts thriving jam sessions at least four nights a week, fostering collaboration and creativity among local artists.”
Before we ended our conversation, Wolf hinted that there might be a follow-up to this record with tracks devoted to Red Norvo, Tito Puente, and Mike Mainieri, as he looks to continue to showcase the vibes and its masters. : For more information or to order tickets, log onto wpunj.edu/ wppresents/jazz-room-series or call (973) 720-2371.
Honoring Drummer Lewis Nash: ‘Blindingly Quick ... But Never Overbearing’
Drummers Paying Tribute Include Tommy Campbell, Winard Harper, and Evan Sherman
When Lewis Nash led his quintet at the Village Vanguard in 2011, The New York Times’ Nate Chinen wrote that “The music unfolded as articulate hard bop, neat and accomplished with Mr. Nash setting the tone.” Nash, he added, “suggests a strong breeze, a study in steadiness and equipoise. He can be blindingly quick, sticks flying over cymbals and toms, but he’s never overbearing. In his playing, there are myriad echos of jazz drummers past: a few times in this set he fleetingly evoked Jo Jones.”
Nash’s quintet that night included trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist Renee Rosnes, and bassist Peter Washington. Among the selections were compositions by Thad Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Heath, and Johnny Mandel.
On Saturday night, November 30, Nash will be honored at the annual Giants of Jazz concert, produced by
GIANTS OF JAZZ
bassist John Lee and presented at the South Orange Performing Arts Center. Among the performers: drummers Tommy Campbell, Winard Harper, and Evan Sherman; trombonist Steve Davis; trumpeter Freddie Hendrix; pianists Cyrus Chestnut, John Di Martino, and Mike LeDonne; bassists Dezron Douglas, Rufus Reid, and Buster Williams; saxophonists Don Braden and Eric Alexander; and vocalist Roberta Gambarini.
In 2012, Nash left New York City for his original hometown of Phoenix, AZ, and established a jazz club called The Nash. In 2017, he joined the Jazz Studies faculty at Arizona
State University, and in 2021, the university established the Lewis Nash Scholarship Endowment, to be awarded annually to a deserving ASU Jazz Performance student.
When Lewis arrived in New York in 1981, he joined vocalist Betty Carter’s trio. That was followed by performances with a long list of jazz legends including Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Sonny Rollins, and Clark Terry.
His latest recording is as part of the sextet on Davis’ Smoke Sessions album, We See, released on October 25. Davis and Nash are joined by trumpeter Eddie Henderson, tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore, Rosnes,
and bassist Essiet Essiet. Nash and Davis previously worked together on the trombonist’s 2017 Smoke Sessions album, Think Ahead, with saxophonist Jimmy Greene, pianist Larry
“ WHERE SOME MEAN TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES, HE MEANS TO EXPRESS THE MUSIC. ”
Willis, and bassist Peter Washington. Modern Drummer Magazine once called Nash jazz’s “MVP’, saying: “Where some see a complicated chart, he hears the music of the spheres.
Where some mean to express themselves, he means to express the music.”
: The Giants of Jazz concert begins at 8 p.m. For more information or to order tickets, log onto sopacnow.org or call (973) 313-2787.
Paul Desmond: ‘Nobody Else Played with the Same Touch That He Did’
“With
His Elegant, Sinuous Style, an Unlikely, Yet Perfect, Companion to Brubeck”
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
The last time I interviewed Dave Brubeck, in 2008, he recalled Paul Desmond’s final concert with him, at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in February 1977. “Paul wanted to play so badly that he got out of the hospital,” Brubeck recalled, “and blood transfusions gave him the strength to play that night. It was really emotionally so tough for all of us and for all his friends who came backstage because they knew what he was going through. At the end of the concert, I said, ‘Paul, we’ve got to do an encore.’ And, the last thing he said was, ‘No,
Dave. Leave ‘em wanting more.’”
Desmond, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday on November 25, met Brubeck in the Army in the 1940s. They continued their musical relationship at Mills College in 1947. Brubeck was leading a trio at night, and Desmond would sometimes sit in as well as play with an experimental octet Brubeck led at Mills.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet was formed in 1951. According to Sandra Burlingame, Editor-in-Chief of jazzstandards.com, “Desmond’s airy, melodic style was a perfect
JAZZ HISTORY
Top, Brubeck and Desmond; bottom, the classic Brubeck Quartet, with drummer Joe Morello and bassist Eugene Wright.
balance to Brubeck’s forceful, polytonal playing. Their uncanny rapport and ability to interact kept the music exciting and fresh.”
The quartet was well received on college campuses but when Time Magazine featured Brubeck on the cover in November 1954, its popularity skyrocketed. In 1959, the quartet’s Columbia album, Time Out, featured Desmond’s composition, “Take Five”, written in 5/4 time. It was the first jazz instrumental to sell more than one million singles. “Take Five” worked, Desmond once said, because of “the bridge, which we almost didn’t use ... I shudder to think how close we came to not using that because I said, ‘Well, I got this theme that we could use for a middle part.’ And, Dave said, ‘Well, let’s run it through.’ And, that’s what made ‘Take Five’.”
The classic Dave Brubeck Quartet—with Desmond, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums
--split up in 1967. Desmond stopped performing for three years to concentrate on writing. He was presumably working on a book, How Many of You Are There in Your Quartet?, a question often asked of him by airline stewardesses. The book was never published, and Desmond was eventually persuaded to come out of retirement. He played occasionally with Brubeck as well as with guitarist Jim Hall, baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, trumpeter Chet Baker, and as a guest artist with The Modern Jazz Quartet. One of his best albums as a leader was the CTI release, Pure Desmond, recorded in 1974 and released in 1975. He was joined on the recording by Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Connie Kay. Reviewing a 2011 reissue of it in AllAboutJazz, John Kelman described Desmond’s “dry tone and unhurried phrasing definitive of the emergent West Coast Cool, an alter-
native to the edgier hard bop coming from New York.” The album, he said, “finds Desmond in great form just three years before his death in 1977 (of lung cancer at the age of 52).
Pure Desmond, Kelman wrote, “stands as one of the altoist’s best records—as cool as a calming breeze on a summer’s day ... ” It featured a wide range of standards from composers such as Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Jerome Kern.
In its bio of Desmond, AllAboutJazz described the “pure, gentle tone of his alto saxophone and the elegant lyricism of his improvisations ... In an era that worshipped the frenetic, bebop style of Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond found his own sound ... a sound that made him a favorite with critics and fans alike.” Nat Hentoff called him “one of the most creative figures in modern jazz.” Brubeck said, “his lyricism has never been equaled.” As we
approach his 100th birthday, I asked several current alto saxophonists what made Paul Desmond special to them.
Olivia Hughart, our March 2024 Rising Star, told me she became a big Paul Desmond fan when she first started playing saxophone. “I first heard Paul Desmond on Dave Brubeck’s album, Time Out,” she said. “My mom is a piano player and loved listening to many of his records. That was also around the time when I started learning more about tone and sound on the saxophone and trying to get more jazz language under my fingers. I was always taught to think about sound and what makes you sound like you. When you hear Cannonball, you know it’s Cannonball; when you hear Coltrane, you know it’s Coltrane. Same with Paul Desmond—nobody else played with the same touch that he did. Desmond described his own sound as a ‘dry martini’. As a kid I had no clue
what that meant, but now as an adult over the age of 21, I see that being an apt description. I find his sound very intriguing as a listener, almost as if you have to lean in to really hear every note and every word he has to say.”
Like Hughart, Andrew Neu’s introduction to Paul Desmond was through the Time Out album. “I grew up in a household that was filled with classical music,” he said. “Listening to Paul was the ideal connection be-
tween classical and jazz. His sound, execution and perfectly formed lines almost sounded pre-composed. At a time when every other alto player was emulating Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond had his own clearly formed identity as a true artist.”
Nelson Hill, a member of the Eric Mintel Quartet, considers Desmond “one of the nine great alto saxophone players in the history of American jazz music. He was definitely the
most unique player because of his light and lyrical sound. You really couldn’t take anything away from his solos because they were pure melody. Even though they were less ‘notey’ and less hyper, they were just as exciting as other great altoists, in my opinion, because of the element of mystique. He also played effortlessly
in 3/4, 5/4 and 7/4 meters.” Hill has also heard the “dry martini” description, and he considers that “accurate.”
Desmond’s sound, to Jay Rattman, “was delicate and translucent, but it still always had a focused core to it and projected evenly from the bottom of the horn to the altissimo range. What always appealed most to me about his playing is his harmonic precision and his gift for polyphony—that’s two or more simultaneous melodies. As saxophone is a monophonic instrument—meaning it can only play one note at a time for the most part—there are two ways he was able to play polyphonically: In combination with partners like Gerry Mulligan or Jim Hall, he was masterful at responding in the moment to what they played, predicting where they might go next and improvising a line that perfectly complemented theirs; and in his own solos, he could construct lines that implied multiple
voices at once, moving independently.”
Desmond’s playing taught Jon DeLucia “to slow down and play logically. The type of discourse he engages in with his improvisation is different from pretty much everyone else—one phrase leading to another, a witty joke, a Bach-like series of arpeggiation, all with a beautiful sound ... But there is a lot
more to the way he improvises than just sound. He wanted to be a writer, and you can hear that in his playing—the humor, wit, and cohesion.”
In his 1976 book, Jazz People (Harry N. Abrams), Dan Morgenstern pointed out that, “The urbane, witty Desmond, with his elegant, sinuous style, made an unlikely yet perfect companion to Brubeck.”
Brubeck elaborated on their chemistry in a 1980 interview with me. “If we were riding in a car,” he said, “and something came on the radio that the other guys would want to turn off, Paul and I’d simultaneously say, ‘Leave it on.’ One of the last interviews Paul gave was with the BBC. I heard it after he was dead. He said he used to try and trick me all the time—playing the least likely note to see what I would do. He said I’d always resolve it and set up for the next note. It’s a good thing I didn’t know what he was doing—I was sweating for 30 years trying to keep up with him.”
After leaving the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Desmond often played with guitarist Jim Hall.
One of Desmond's best solo albums was the CTI release, Pure Desmond.
Alto Saxophonist Veronica Leahy: ‘A Natural Leader on the Bandstand’
“I’d Improvise Off of the Classical Pieces, and My Teacher Would Get Mad”
Growing up in Charlotte, NC, Veronica Leahy began playing classical piano at an early age. Then, when she was in the fourth grade, she heard a recording by tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman. “There was something about the saxophone that caught my fascination,” she recalled. “It was kind a fusion record, but I did eventually go to see him live.” Leahy was somewhat familiar with jazz because her father plays jazz trumpet—“not professionally, but it’s like his biggest hobby in life.” As a result, “I grew up listening to a lot of classics, like Ella
Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.”
When she started playing jazz on the alto saxophone in seventh grade, improvising came naturally to her because, “I always was an improviser, and I didn’t even know it. I’d improvise off of the classical pieces, and my teacher would get mad.” While she was learning the saxophone, her parents took her to a Chick Corea concert. “He was asking, ‘Are there any young musicians in the audience?’ My parents were pointing at me, and he brought me up. I wasn’t really a jazz player at the time; I was just starting to get interested in it. We
RISING STAR
improvised this little piano duet together. Whatever I played, he made it sound good. I really learned about the power of improv. It was life changing.”
Leahy’s school didn’t have a jazz band, but, fortunately, there was a youth music program in the Charlotte area called the Jazz Arts Initiative (now known as Jazz Arts Charlotte). The organization was founded in 2009 and became a 501 (c) (3) a year later. It is run by Lonnie Davis, a flutist and arts advocate who is Immediate Past President of the Jazz Education Network.
“Sort of our version of Jazz House Kids,” is how Leahy described the organization. “That was really my first exposure to playing jazz with other people,” she said. Prior to that, she would just play with recordings—“I would just try to learn all of Charlie Parker’s solos.” JAC, she said, “connects people from all across the city to play together. There were just enough
Ted Nash: “She turned everyone’s heads in
the band including Wynton Marsalis.”
of us that we could form a band and learn from each other at a young age.”
Davis described Leahy as “a shining star with a real dedication to the music ever since she joined us in the eighth grade. Although she was one of the youngest students in our most advanced student ensembles, she always exhibited a high level of dedication and maturity, both socially and musically. She was a real force (in the best sense), a natural leader on the bandstand, and beyond. She inspired so many of our students to become
better musicians, because she showed them what was possible. We are extremely proud of her and what’s ahead for this brilliant young woman.”
Other student musicians with Leahy at JAC included pianist Sean Mason and pianist/drummer Luther Allison. Mason was featured as a Rising Star in the October 2021 issue of Jersey Jazz and recently recorded an album with vocalist Catherine Russell, My Ideal (Dot Time). At presstime, it was Number 6 on the JazzWeek chart. Allison now has his own trio and
sextet and has performed with vocalist Samara Joy and drummers Joe Farnsworth and Ulysses Owens, Jr., among others. His Posi-Tone album, I Owe It All To You, was Number 21 on the recent JazzWeek Top 50 chart.
After graduating from high school, Leahy was accepted into a dual degree program at Harvard University and the Berklee College of Music. “It was an amazing experience,” she said. “The way that works is it’s a cross enrollment. I got my degree from Harvard, but Berklee was where I was taking private lessons, and I was part of the ensembles. I remember applying to that when I was in high school. I didn’t feel quite right just going to a conservatory; I still wanted to take classes in other areas. I applied to Harvard/Berklee early action and found out in early December that I’d gotten in. I canceled all my conservatory auditions because I realized that’s what I really wanted.
RISING STAR
“Berklee and Harvard were very open minded,” she continued. “I was really able to craft my own way through it. I still ended up majoring in music at Harvard. I really liked their music department—musicology, music theory. I minored in the theater, dance, and media program, but theater was what I was focusing on. I got really interested in writing musicals. It was a really cool experience.”
Her musical mentors at Berklee were drummer Teri Lyne Carrington, pianist Kris Davis, and saxophonist George Garzone; at Harvard, her main faculty mentor was pianist Vijay Iyer. “He was my thesis advisor. I ended up doing a huge thesis project my senior year. I wrote a whole suite of music about chronic illness because I have type 1 diabetes. I’m hoping to record it soon.”
Leahy was heavily involved in Berklee’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, founded by Carrington “to recruit, teach, mentor, and advocate for
musicians seeking to study or perform jazz, with gender justice and racial justice as guiding principles.” In 2013, Carrington was the first woman to win a Grammy Award in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category, for the Concord Jazz recording, Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, a reconceptualizing of the Duke Ellington classic.
“The idea of the Institute,” Leahy explained, “was that, rather than say it’s going to be all women, they just wanted to have more gender balance. The ensembles would be at least half women, and through that I got very close with Teri Lyne; when she did this project called 101 Lead
Sheets by Women Composers (Berklee Press: 2022), she featured me in the book. I have a composition in there, and I play bass clarinet on her album, which ended up winning a Grammy (New Standards Vol. 1, Candid: 2002, Best Instrumental Jazz Album, 2023). It was a crazy experience. My composition was called ‘20/20.’ Teri is such an amazing player. She doesn’t have to do all that she does in terms of mentorship. She’s called me for gigs. I get to play with her in a professional setting. There was always a mentor relationship, but she’s also treated me like a professional and hired me to play, which was really cool.”
Leahy moved to New York after graduating and is currently studying for her masters degree at Juilliard. A few months ago, she had her first gig as a bandleader during the 11 p.m. set at Dizzy’s. She plays with multireedist Ted Nash’s big band, which has a residency at Dizzy’s. “That’s really a
fantastic experience. I love woodwind doubling, and he always writes lots of very involved clarinet parts, so it’s a challenge.” She also plays with Ed Palermo’s big band, and, drawing on her theater experience, she’ll be playing woodwinds in the Christmas show at Millburn, NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse.
Nash met Leahy in Charlotte when she was 14 years old. “I was one of the judges in a contest on jazz improvisation,” he recalled, “and she was the undisputed winner. As part of her ‘award’, she got to sit in with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a concert that night, and she turned everyone’s heads in the band, including Wynton Marsalis’.
“For several years, Veronica and I maintained a teacher-student relationship with private lessons, mostly handled virtually. I loved working with Veronica. Besides being talented, hardworking, and dedicated, she was open to trying different approaches to playing.”
RISING STAR
When Leahy arrived in New York after graduating from Harvard, Nash was assembling his big band for a bimonthly residency at Dizzy’s. “I jumped at the opportunity to invite her to be part of the band,” he said. “With her incredible ability at doubling (playing flute and clarinet in addition to sax) and her complex yet soulful improvisations, she is really bringing something special to the band. It brings a smile to my face to hear her play and remember the 14-year-old girl I met in Charlotte nine years ago.”
Part of a group of young female jazz musicians making their mark on the New York jazz scene, the 23-yearold Leahy is on trumpeter Summer Camargo’s debut Blue Engine Records album, To Whom I Love. And, she has performed with big bands led by trumpeters Kellin Hanas and Grace Fox. Camargo and Hanas have previously been featured as Jersey Jazz Rising Stars, May 2021 and January 2024,
respectively, and Fox was a 2023 New Jersey Jazz Society scholarship recipient. Camargo, who will be leading a trio at NJJS’ December Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert (see page 09), said she and Leahy “have a musical connection on stage where we can almost read each other’s minds. She is an amazing section player. I really thought of her immediately when I was writing my tunes because she’s able to double on everything super well. It’s unusual to see someone in our age range who can do that. I told her, ‘If I end up writing oboe in my music, I’m sure you can learn that in a week and be fine.”
Hanas, when asked about Leahy, described her as, “not only one of the best friends I’ve ever had, but arguably the most hardworking, gifted and intelligent person/musician I’ve ever met. Her incredibly individual and unique perspective on music and art is exactly what the world needs right now.” — SANFORD JOSEPHSON
FROM THE CROW’S NEST
BY BILL CROW
Back in the 1950s, when I was studying bass with Fred Zimmerman, I got my first awareness from him of bowing technique and the existence of a fingering system. After studying for a while, I played a little etude at one of my lessons, and he said, “Why, that was beautiful!” He called his wife in from the other room and asked me to play it again. I did, and he said to his wife, “Isn’t that lovely? And he’s not even serious!” I think that meant that he knew I didn’t aspire to be in the Philharmonic.
When I was playing bass in Peter Duchin’s band in Fort Lauderdale in 1971, we were invited to visit the yacht that be-
Bill Crow is a freelance musician and writer. His books include Jazz Anecdotes, Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around, and From Birdland to Broadway. This column is reprinted with permission from Allegro , the monthly magazine of AFM Local 802.
longed to Mr. Evinrude, the outboard motor king. After showing us the captain’s deck on the yacht, he led us down to the living room, where we saw a small piano tucked behind the stairway. “And,” said Mr. Evinrude, “Do you know who was the last person to play that piano? Richard Nixon! And he played VERY well!”
“Well,” I scoffed, “He’s no Harry Truman!” I wasn’t surprised that nobody laughed. They were all Republicans.
Iheard Count Basie’s band many times when they played at Birdland, and I got to know Basie better on a wintertime Birdland tour that included the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, with which I was playing bass, Basie’s band, and four other groups. I only got to play with Basie once, in his dressing room in a Detroit stadium.
There were several dressing rooms, but the one that had been
assigned to Basie was the only one with heat, and it was a very cold day, so everyone on the tour was in there with Basie while Miles Davis’ quintet was onstage. There was a small upright piano in Basie’s dressing room, and he sat down on the bench and began playing. I was standing nearby with my bass, ready to go onstage, and I started playing along with him. Freddie Green broke out his guitar, and a couple of horn players joined in.
A few more musicians drifted in for a sample of Basie’s scotch, and I was having a great time playing, until I realized that there were six bass players in the room, and one of us should have been onstage. Sure enough, it was me. I stopped playing in mid-measure and ran out onto the stage with my bass, where Gerry Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer and Dave Bailey were just about to start playing without me.
FROM THE CROW’S NEST
Chuck Redd sent me this: “I loved and respected Joe Ascione. His humor and virtuosity are legendary. On one of the last jazz parties that we were on together, he asked if he could use my cymbals. As a joke, I requested that he please only play on the underside of the cymbals, so he wouldn’t ruin the shine on the top. I walked into the room where he was playing a very swinging up tempo tune. He spotted me and immediately started playing UNDER the cymbals, still burning! He was funny and great.”
Jason Ingram told me this about baritone sax player Frank Hittner: “Frank used to buy his tuxes used at thrift stores. I guess when you bought stuff at thrift stores the suits and tuxes were cleaned prior to reselling them. Frank would wear a tuxedo until it was getting dirty, and then he would go to a thrift shop and donate his tux,
“
THAT’S CALLED IMPROVISATION. THEY ARE NOT WRITTEN BUT SPONTANEOUSLY CREATED ... ”
and pick out another used one. He repeated this process for years on the road. One day, when he had selected another tux to buy, he noticed that his name was written on the label. It actually had been one of his old tuxedos that he had donated years earlier.”
Michael Rose sent me this: “Richard Hayman, who for 30 years was the principal arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra directed by Arthur Fiedler, told me that on one occasion he met with Duke Ellington to discuss the tunes that he wanted
arranged for a solo appearance with the Pops. During a rehearsal for the show, Richard presented Fiedler with the score for him to conduct, and every thing went well. After rehearsal, Fiedler approached Richard and said that the arrangements sounded great, but that there were a lot of notes that Ellington played that were not on his score. Richard said, ”Arthur, that’s called improvisation. They are not written but spontaneously created by jazz musicians during the performance.” Fiedler said, “Yes, but I find it difficult to follow him if I don’t know what he is going to play.”
Songbook Summit: Fifteen Pioneers of American Sound
By William Reardon-Anderson
SELF-PUBLISHED, NEW YORK, 123 PAGES, 2024
BY JOE LANG
For several years, Will Anderson and his brother Peter, excellent reed players, have done a se ries of programs honoring many of the creators and stalwarts of the Great American Songbook. They have been multi-media presentations with Will providing commentary containing interesting background information about the subjects of their programs. Having accumulated this information, it seemed natural for him to present this material in book form. The result is the highly readable Song book Summit: Fifteen Pioneers of American Sound. The emphasis is primarily on the composers and lyricists such as Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin,
Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Henry Mancini, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Jimmy Van Heusen. However, there are also chapters on performers such as Louis Armstrong, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra. Of course, Ellington and Armstrong are at home in either category.
For each of his subjects, Anderson provides essential biographical background, but what makes this volume particularly fascinating are Anderson’s frequent asides related to the more personal aspects of his subjects. Even the most informed readers will find some facts that will be surprising and interesting.
Generally, having a deeper understanding about the lives and personal traits of the creators and performers of the music allows one to appreciate their output on another level. Songbook provides this extra element that makes your listening experiences that much richer.
Hard copies of Songbook Summit can be ordered by contacting Will Anderson at songbooksummit@gmail. . Kindle versions are available at amazon.com
OTHER VIEWS
BY JOE LANG
If you have ever heard the earlier releases of the Terry Gibbs Dream Band, then you will be excited to learn that Gibbs has found some unreleased material from that band. With the help of the terrific sound engineer, Rod Nicas, he has remastered the original tapes to produce Vol. 7: The Lost Tapes (Whaling City Sound – 143), 18 swinging tracks taken from 1959 live performances of the band at the Seville Club and the Sundown Club. This was simply one of the greatest of all big bands. Gibbs had the cream of the crop of Los Angeles-based jazz players like trumpeter Conte Candoli, trombonist Carl Fontana, saxophonists Joe Maini, Med Flory, and Bill Holman, pianist Lou Levy, drummer Mel Lewis and, of course, leader Gibbs on vibes. Then there were the arrangers among whom were Bill Holman, Med Flory, Marty Paich, Al Cohn, and Bob Brookmeyer,
all men whose creativity just pours out as you listen to their magnificent charts. The program includes mostly jazz and pop standards such as “Begin the Beguine,” “After You’ve Gone,” “The Song Is You,” “Don’t Be That Way,” “Prelude to a Kiss, and “Flying Home,” with a couple of Holman originals, “Bright Eyes” and “No Heat”, plus “It Might as Well Be Swing” by Gibbs. If you can listen to this music
without tapping your toe and swaying along as the sounds fill your ears, you had better check to see if you have a pulse. whalingcitysound.com
The Visions Jazz Ensemble , a septet co-led by trumpeter Sam Butler and tenor saxophonist Garrett Fasig, plays jazz takes on college fight songs. The result is a swinging album that mixes creativity with the emotions brought forth by these tunes. Butler and Fasig are joined by trumpeter Nick Recktenwald, trombonist/bass trumpeter Jeff Parker, pianist Dan Ventura, bassist Jacob Smith, and drummer Francis Bassett-Dilley, with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon guesting on “Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.” The selections are “Tiger Rag” (LSU), Anchors Aweigh” (Navy), “Rocky Top,” “Across the Field” (Ohio State, “Glory, Glory” (Georgia), “Hot Time
in the Old Town Tonight” (Florida A&M), “Fight On” (Southern Cal), “Hail Purdue” (Purdue), “The Victors” (Michigan), “Wramblin” Wreck” (Georgia Tech) “Victory March” (Notre Dame) and “On Wisconsin” (Wisconsin). For college football fans, this collection will certainly strike a familiar chord, but for anyone who digs swinging jazz, this will certainly satisfy you as well. visionjazzensemble.com
For the last several years, the Hot Toddies Jazz Band has been one of the hottest draws on the hot jazz/ swing scene in New York City. Its second full album, Triple Step (Prohibition Productions) contains 15 hot and swinging tracks, including “In a Mellow Tone,” “You Turned the Tables on Me,” “Moonglow,” “You Made Me Love You,” and “School Days”. The band includes Alphonso
OTHER VIEWS
Horne on trumpet, Linus Myrsch on reeds, Jake Handelman on trombone, Jason Yeager on organ, Justin Poindexter on guitar, Ian Hutchison on bass, Patrick Soluri on drums, and Hannah Gill and Queen Esther handling the vocals, with Handelman and Poindexter providing vocals on one track each. It is a pleasure to hear this kind of music still being produced in an age where most jazz musicians are involved with more modern approaches. hottoddies.com
Readers who have seen the Count Basie Orchestra in recent years have been exposed to the trombone artistry of Iasea Butler, the lead trombonist. Despite many years as a sideman in various big bands and small groups, Congo Lament (self-produced) is his first release as a leader. Currently the Director of the School of Music at the University of Nevada Las Ve-
gas, Butler enlisted fellow Basieite Doug Lawrence on tenor sax, plus Las Vegas-based pianist David Loeb, bassist Steve Flora, and drummer Bob Chmel for this tribute to two of Butler’s trombone heroes, Bennie Green, and J.J. Johnson. Butler chose tunes from Ike Quebec’s Easy Living, an album that featured Green and one selection from Green’s Swings the Blues, “Pennies from Heaven.”
The tunes from Quebec’s album are “Congo Lament,” “I.Q. Shuffle,” “Easy Living,” “B.G’s Groove,” “Que’s Pills”, and “See See Rider.” Butler has successfully absorbed the influences of his heroes and added his personal perspective. Lawrence has obviously listened to a lot of Zoot Sims, as he has a similar innate sense of swing.
The rhythm trio is perfectly supportive. The album captures the early ‘60s Blue Note vibe that remains appealing to this day. isreabutler.com
The eclecticism of clarinetist Anat Cohen has been a hallmark of her career. She has performed as a leader and as a group member in a variety of settings from small groups to big bands. The material that she has performed has also varied from swing to more contemporary styles. One area that she has spent much time exploring is Brazilian music. There is a strong Brazilian influence in her latest group, Quar-
tetinho as can be heard on its second release, Bloom. The other group members are Victor Conçalves on piano and accordion, Tal Mashaich on bass and guitar, and James Shipp on vibraphone, marimba and percussion. Cohen, Mashiach and Conçalves contributed one each of the eight selections, Shipp composed two and co-wrote one with Cohen; and they also turned their attention to “Trinkle, Trinkle” by Thelonious Monk and Augustin Barrios Mangoré’s “La Catedral: III.Allegro Soloemne.” Cohen’s clarinet artistry is always impressive, and her fellow band members each demonstrate their superb creativity and musicianship. Quartetinho has now released two exceptional albums, and more gems are sure to come. anzicrecords.com
The name Dwayne Clemons is probably unfamiliar to most readers, but one listen to Center of Gravity: Live
OTHER VIEWS
at Smalls (Cellar Music – 010) and you will quickly wonder why this is so. The reality is that Clemons, who is based in Copenhagen, does not play in the States too often. His career was sidelined for about five years in the 1990s due to a prison term resulting from a narcotics conviction. Eventually, he was encouraged by Smalls owner Spike Wilner to make an appearance there, a New York club where he has since performed several times over the years. This recording, with alto saxophonist Amanda Sedgwick, tenor saxophonist Aaron Johnson, pianist JinJoo Yoo, bassist Paul Gill, and drummer Taro Okamoto, is his second live album from Smalls. The program includes a few standards, “Honeysuckle Rose,” “I Cover the Waterfront,” “Smoke Rings, “Sweet Emmalina, My Gal” and When I Grow Too Old to Dream;” a few jazz tunes, “Burgundy” by Barry Harris, “Hey George” by J. J. Johnson and
“Hornin’ In” by Thelonious Monk;” plus two originals by Sedgwick, “Center of Gravity” and “Shadow and Act.”
The band has a bebop/swing approach that is readily accessible to those who dig straight-ahead jazz. Clemons is someone you will be pleased to discover, and his supporting cast is superb. The center of gravity on this recording is the fine playing of the leader and how his efforts inspire his cohorts. cellarmusicgroup.com
Hearing the trumpet of Brian Lynch is listening to one of the special sounds in jazz. On 7x7by7 (Holistic Musicworks – 23), there are ample opportunities to absorb his playing. The interesting title describes an album containing seven tunes, each of them seven minutes long, played by seven musicians. Lynch’s septet, in addition to himself on trumpet, includes Craig Handy on tenor sax, Alex Wintz on guitar, Luis Perdomo on piano, Boris
Kozlov on acoustic and electric bass, Kyle Swan on drums, and Murph Aucamp on percussion. The album is a very personal statement by Lynch. On the album notes, he elucidates the significance of the seven titles which represent where Lynch was at in his life at seven-year increments starting at his 21st year through his 63rd year. The music is spirited and engaging, consistently interesting, and made more significant when the listener is made aware of what Lynch was specifically referencing as he composed each piece. holisticmusicworks.com
Portland-based pianist/composer Bryn Roberts has released his first piano trio album, Aloft (Elastic Records). His partners for this seven-song album are bassist Matt Penman and drummer Quincy Davis. Five of the selections are originals by Roberts. He has a knack for creating titles for his pieces that are clever.
“Let’s Agree (That You Agree with Me) references the way in which so many people today are unwilling to have meaningful exchanges of perspectives. There is an inner intensity to the piece reflective of the title. “Stevedore Cosplay” references people who dress “as though they work as a lumberjack or longshoreman but who are actually employed as a barista, or in a record store.” It has a rambling intensity. The other two songs are standards, “My Ship” and “You Do Something to Me,” that Roberts plays with a personal approach demonstrating his originality. Roberts has served as leader or sideman on many previous recordings, but with Aloft, he has found a format that nicely presents his artistry. elasticrecords.com
Listening to Evans on Evans (Shamus Records) by pianist Jaden Evans, grandson of the legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans, it is surprising to discov-
OTHER VIEWS
er that he is only 16 years of age and has essentially been jazz-directed for only about three years. For his initial recording, he has chosen a program of nine selections composed by Bill Evans: “Peri’s Scope,” “Re: Person I Knew,” “For Nenette,” “Very Early,” “Turn Out the Stars,” “Five,” “Time Remembered,” “Waltz for Debby”, and “Peace Piece.” He is joined by Vicente Archer on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums, a pair of experienced players with whom Evans meshes well. It is just about impossible to find a pianist who has not been influenced by Bill Evans. Jaden Evans is no exception but is already evolving a voice of his own. The results here point to a bright future. evansonevans.com
Canadian guitarist Jocelyn Gould has released her fourth album, Portrait of Right Now (self-produced). Accompanied by Will Bonness on piano, Jared
Beckstead-Craan on bass, and Curtis Nowosad on drums, Gould assays eight original tunes plus “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and Wes Montgomery’s “Jingles.” As she has on some previous efforts, she adds her gentle vocalizing to three tunes, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “I Haven’t Managed to Forget You” and “Spring, It Seems.” She has quickly become an international favorite with
her playing which displays her hard swinging, imaginative approach and technical mastery. Bonness has the chops to nicely complement her artistry. If jazz guitar is in your scope of favorites, Portrait of Right Now is an album for you, right now. Gould was the Rising Star in the April 2021 issue of Jersey Jazz. jocelyngould.com
There are many fine female vocalists based in Canada, and among the best of them is Vancouver-based Angela Verbrugge. On Somewhere (OA2 Records – 22228) she concentrates on standards, such as “I Had the Craziest Dream,” “Somewhere,” and “Born to Be Blue”, among others. She adds her own “Je Ne Veux Pas Te Dire Bonsoir.” Her support comes from Ray Gallon or Miles Black on piano, Cameron Brown or Jodi Prozniki on bass, and Anthony Pinciotti or Joel Fountain on drums, with Dave Say
adding his sax on two tracks and Erik Kalaidzis providing a vocal duet partner on “Somewhere.” Verbrugge has a pleasant voice that draws you in, and she can swing out smartly when the arrangement calls for her to do so. The musicians provide wonderful accompaniment that enhances her vocal artistry. The album clocks in at only 30 minutes and leaves you wishing for more. angelaverbrugge.com
Pianist/vocalist
Yvonne Monnett has been a stalwart on the New England scene for several decades. Monnett has released You Fascinate Me So: A Tribute to Blossom Dearie (self-produced). While she often has a sound that suggests Dearie, this album is not an attempt to channel Dearie, rather her own takes on a program of songs associated with the honoree. She is joined by Alan Bernstein on bass and Vinny Pagano on drums with occa-
OTHER VIEWS
sional contributions by Harry Allen on tenor sax, Gray Sargent on guitar and Mike Renzi, who also served as the primary arranger, on piano/keyboards. Vocalist Nicholas King joins in on “The Doodlin’ Song,” Among the songs she has included are “Deed I Do,” “Blossom’s Blues,” “Everything I’ve Got Belongs to You,” “Someone’s Been Sending Me Flowers,” “Give Him the Ooh La La,” and “There Ought to Be a Moonlight Savings Time”. The folks in New England are fortunate to have an artist like Yvette Monnett spreading the good sounds around the area, and this album enables a wider audience to enjoy her talent. (A download of this album is available at amazon.com)
Although the title sounds like an album designed for playing at Halloween, Spooky Jazz, Vol. 2 (Turtle Bay Records) by vocalist Hannah Gill is just a fine recording with a theme centering around songs appropriate for the Hal-
loween season. Gill is surrounded by a cast of New York City musicians who have specialized in older jazz styles: Gabe Terracciano on violin, Ricky Alexander on reeds, Mike Davis on trumpet or trombone, Justin Poindexter on guitar or organ, Gordon Webster on piano or organ, Philip Ambuel on bass, and Ben Zweig on drums. This album is a follow-up to her 2020 Spooky Jazz. Gill is a gifted vocalist who has a nice jazz feeling and an appreciation for the lyrics that she sings. The band provides a terrific musical bed for her vocalizing. The 11-song program includes “I’d Rather Be Burned As a Witch,” My Man’s an Undertaker,” “Love Is a Necessary Evil,” “Hummin’ to Myself,” “Love Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere”, and “Oogie Boogie’s Song”. You should find this an appealing collection by someone who has been an important part of the jazz scene, accompanied by younger players who dig the styles of the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s. turtlebayrecords.com
SUNDAYJAZZ
Sunday December 15 • 3:00pm
Claire Daly: Sound of the Baritone
‘Resonated
to Me in a Very Personal Way’
A Founding Member of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra
BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
When I interviewed Claire Daly in February 2014 for my book, Jeru’s Journey: The Life and Music of Gerry Mulligan (Hal Leonard Books: 2015), I asked her how she selected the baritone saxophone as her main instrument. She told me she didn’t play baritone until she was in her 20s. “I was already working in New York as an alto player,” she said, “and someone was selling a baritone. I played a note on it, and it was an epiphany. The range of the sound resonated to me in a very personal way.”
Daly, who died October 22, 2024, at the age of 66, after a year-long struggle with cancer, clearly made the right choice. She went on to win awards from the Jazz Journalists Association, and the DownBeat Critics and Readers Polls several times.
I was fortunate to be at one of those JJA Awards ceremonies—in 2018— when five of the eight awards pre-
sented in New York went to women. Accepting hers, Daly said: “I really love the jazz community—the people who play the music, who write about the music, and enjoy the music.”
Growing up in Yonkers, NY, Daly graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston where one of her mentors was tenor saxophonist George Garzone. He was a guest artist on her most recent album, the self-produced 2023 recording, VuVu for Frances, a tribute to one of New York City’s venerable jazz supporters, the 98-year-old Frances Ballantyne. Speaking with DownBeat the day after Daly’s death, Garzone said, “She came forward with the goods. I’m not just saying that. She couldn’t have known it would be the last record she made, but she played right up to the mark, the best I’d ever heard her.”
In his review of the album, DownBeat’s Frank Alkyer wrote of
her “warm, inviting, witty, tremendously engaging personality that shines through in her playing ... Daly and Garzone together are magic. They flow in and out of each other’s lines, complement each solo, and charm the bejeezus out of you on each of this set’s 13 tunes.” Those tunes ranged from Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” to Jimmy Van Heusen’s “All The Way” to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “People Will Say We’re In Love”, described by Alkyer as “at one of the fastest tempos this writer has ever heard.”
Daly was a founding member of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, playing baritone for seven years. DIVA’s leader, drummer Sherrie Maricle, paid tribute to Daly on Facebook. “Your insight, experience, expertise, and positive energy,” she said, “helped lay the foundation for the band and inspire everyone that was fortu-
nate enough to swing with you.”
Another DIVA alum, tenor saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, told Alkyer that “Claire was all about swinging and great sound. She never tried to fit in or do what anybody else thought she should do. I always appreciated that so much. It was always about the music and not a macho competition.”
Rah!Rah!, her 2008 self-released album, was a tribute to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Reviewing the 2020 Ride Cymbal reissue, AllAboutJazz’s Chris M. Slawecki wrote: “An indescribable but palpable fun energy radiates from every groove of Rah!Rah! Daly’s thankful music may enter through your ears and mind but ultimately hits and settles deep down in your soul.”
Daly is survived by her brother, Frank Daly, of Goshen, CT. A memorial is being planned for sometime in 2025.
Trumpeter John McNeil: Unique Ability to Connect with Students
“Unmatched in the World of Jazz Education”
In the mid-1970s, trumpeter John McNeil arrived in New York City and played with some of the leading jazz musicians of the day—Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Horace Silver, and Gerry Mulligan. He went on to record 20 albums as a leader and was also a composer, arranger, and producer for many
other recordings. But he was perhaps best known for his skills as an educator. McNeil died September 27, 2024, in New York at the age of 76. He taught for 42 years at Boston’s New England Conservatory, and Ken Schaphorst, Co-Chair of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department, in a news release, described him as “an artist of the highest caliber and one of the cornerstones of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department ... His ability to connect with students and teach them the foundations of the jazz languages while at the same time encouraging each student to develop
BIG BAND IN THE SKY
their own individual voices may be unmatched in the world of jazz education.”
In 2020, vocalist and NEC alumnus Allegra Levy released an album on the SteepleChase label called Lose My Number, a recording of McNeil compositions for which she wrote the lyrics. In his review for AllAboutJazz, Jerome Wilson wrote that, “Levy’s voice flows over the twists and turns of McNeil’s melodies with the flexible ease of an Annie Ross or Nancy King ... This CD is a sly little romp that sways between dark sarcasm and intimate romance, bringing the writing of John McNeil and the singing of Allegra Levy together into an enjoyable package.”
In the NEC news release, another
“
former student of McNeil’s, trumpeter Jason Palmer, said, “John McNeil was the greatest teacher/mentor that I’ve ever had ... He had the succinct knack of assessing any given issue or challenge that a student was facing and give the most impactful solutions each and every time.”
During his lifetime, McNeil suffered from several physical ailments. As a child, he had a twisted spine and spent many years with various leg and back braces until he had surgery at age 16. As an adult, a genetic disorder of the nervous system forced him to stop playing for much of the ‘80s and ‘90s. He is survived by his long-time partner, trombonist Lolly Bienenfeld.
THE GREATEST TEACHER/
MENTOR THAT I’VE EVER HAD. ”
Cissy Houston
Sang Gospel at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival
In his book, Myself Among Others A Life in Music, written with Nate Chinen (DaCapo Press: 2003), George Wein, Founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, pointed out that perhaps the most important feature of the 1957 NJF was “John Hammond’s visionary idea of presenting gospel music. Gospel sounds of the African-American church were quite alien, not only to the Newport crowd, but to white America at large.
“I was moved years later,” Wein
continued, “when I saw a television documentary on gospel music; Cissy Houston (Whitney’s mother) was describing how nervous her group, the Drinkard Singers, was before their Newport appearance. They had never performed for a white, nonchurch audience before.”
Houston, who died October 7, 2024, at the age of 91, was born Emily “Cissy” Houston in 1933 in Newark. She began singing with her family’s gospel group, the Drinkard Singers, when she was five years old. Of the Newport experience, she once said: “It was a revelation for us and everybody else because they weren’t having gospel at a jazz festival at that time. It was really a wonderful experience.”
In the 1960s, Houston sang with the Sweet Inspirations vocal group, providing background vocals for such musical stars as Otis Redding, the Drifters, and Van Morrison. In 1979, she had a disco hit, “Think It Over”.
THANK YOU and welcome to all who have recently joined or renewed their memberships. We can’t do what we do without you!
Your membership is vital to NJJS’s mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form— JAZZ!
NOT WITHOUT YOU!
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