May 23rd, 2008
“No Cover, No Minimum” - May 23, 2008
Here’s the playlist from today’s installment of “No Cover, No Minimum”. It was a fun show today, all over the map, with plenty of long tracks. Too bad nobody was listening—the web stream numbers were way below normal and I only managed to give away one pair of the fabulous Yoshi’s tickets I had on hand. Anyway, here’s what you missed…
HOUR 1 (0600 - 0700)
Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures - “Cousin Of The Moon” - Dream Garden (Justin Time)
Radio I Ching - “Gala 2000” - The Fire Keeps Burning (self-released)
Markus James - “Weather Vane” - Snakeskin Violin (Firenze)
Elliott Sharp’s Terraplane - “Katrina Blues/How The Crescent City Got Bleached” - Forgery (Intuition)
Felicia Carter - “S.O.S. Blues” - Feather / Step Lightly (Alberta)
Al Basile - “While We’re Dancing” - The Tinge (Sweetspot)
Aquiles Baez - “Asi Dice Mi Negro” - La Patilla (Cacao Musica)
Corbett/Chrisman/Tice - “Better Life” - Corbett//Chrisman//Tice (Patuxent)
Diabate/Khan/Krisnan - “Birds First Flight” - Strings Tradition (Felmay)
HOUR 2 (0700 - 0800)
John Zorn & Bar Kokhba - “Sother” - Lucifer: Book Of Angels, Vol. 10 (Tzadik)
Avery Sharpe - “Morning” - Legends & Mentors - (JKNM)
Charles Lloyd Quartet - “Migration Of Spirit” - Rabo De Nube (ECM)
Moutin Reunion Quartet - “Kuki’s Dance” - Sharp Turns (Blujazz)
Chicha Libre - “Popcorn Andino” - Sonido Amazonico (Barbes)
Mostly Other People Do The Killing - “The Hop Bottom Hop” - Shamokin!!! (Hot Cup)
Rob Brown Ensemble - “Clearly Speaking” - Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity)
Tango Negro Trio - “Murga Del Atardeces” - La Vuelta Del Malon (Felmay)
HOUR 3 (0800 - 0900)
Negroni’s Trio - “50 Years” - Father & Son (Cacao Musica)
Grupa Janke Randalu - “Confidance” - Live (Jazz’n’arts)
Nik Bartsch’s Ronin - “Modul 46” - Holon (ECM)
Jane Ira Bloom - “Electrochemistry” - Mental Weather (Outline)
Virginia Mayhew Septet - “Just A Blues” - A Simple Thank You (Renma)
The Bo-Keys - “Deuce And A Quarter” - It’s All Connected [label sampler] (Yellow Dog)
Denise LaSalle - “Mississippi Woman” - Pay Before You Pump (Ecko)
The Mannish Boys - “Low Down Feelin’” - Lowdownfeelin’ (Delta Groove)
Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King - “Freezer Burn” - Blood Brothers (Alligator)
Michael Burks - “Changed Man” - Iron Man (Alligator)
Blind Boys Of Alabama - “Free at Last” - Down In New Orleans (Time/Life)
May 22nd, 2008
Piano Ends Here?
I had not heard of the forthcoming Sony Masterworks CD Art Tatum - Piano Starts Here (Live at the Shrine) until Marc Myers wrote about it yesterday on his excellent JazzWax blog.
Apparently what’s happened is that the techno-whizzes have taken a scratchy, poor-quality recording of piano genius Art Tatum, recorded live at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium in 1949. Then using some cutting-edge enhancement software, they have extracted vast amounts of data from the recording, fed that into a Yamaha Disklavier piano (essentially a high-tech player piano with a hard drive), and recreated the concert. The results will be issued as Piano Starts Here in a couple of weeks.
I have not heard the CD, obviously, so I’ll leave any comment on what it sounds like to Myers. But I will say this: I’m offended. Not so much by what the engineers have done—it sounds like a valuable experiment—as by the fact that Sony has the audacity to sell this as “Art Tatum” and “Live at the Shrine”. It is neither. It seems to me that this is like placing a high-definition digital photograph of a Vermeer painting on view at a museum. People might want to go see that; it would be interesting to see details previously invisible to the naked eye. But it’s not a Vermeer, it’s just an image of one. And if the owner of the photograph sold it at auction as a real Vermeer, he’d be locked up for fraud.
Of course, a CD entitled Piano Starts Here: A Computer Re-Creation of Art Tatum Live at the Shrine probably wouldn’t sell as well.
May 16th, 2008
9, and William Parker
I didn’t realize it at the time, but this morning was the 9th anniversary of my radio show on KZSU-FM. Yippee!
Although I forgot to celebrate on the air, there was a special event nevertheless: I had a fine 30-minute interview with iconic avant-garde bassist William Parker, who’s coming to Northern California this weekend. He’ll be up in Ukiah for the Penofin Jazz Festival on May 17 (tomorrow!), followed by a swing through Santa Cruz on Monday the 19th and one show only at Yoshi’s SF on Tuesday the 20th, all with his regular quartet. This is almost a stealth tour; go see him!
As you might imagine, the man is deep. I didn’t get around to half the stuff I wanted to ask, but it didn’t matter. I’ll try to post a transcription here in the next couple of weeks.
Whoops, almost forgot. Fellow DJ David Bug tipped me off that Parker will be back in the Bay Area on August 10, as part of the all-star Eddie Gale Collective performance at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay.
Now, where’s that champagne?
April 26th, 2008
Jazz at Pearl’s Saved (Again) !
It looked like this was it for Jazz at Pearl’s, the wonderful San Francisco jazz room that for the past few years has been run by Kim Nalley and Steve Sheraton. Nalley sent out a press release on April 1 indicating that the club would be closing at the end of the month, but now she sends the following word through the Jazz at Pearl’s website…
Thanks for the many phone calls and emails of support that we have received in the past month with concern for Jazz at Pearls. I am pleased to announce that on April 23 we received an 11th hour reprieve and will remain open. We have accepted an offer from some local jazz aficionados that love Jazz at Pearls as much as I do and want to keep the club open, with the same terrific jazz and all the old familiar faces on staff, on the stage and in the audience, including myself. As soon as we go through the normal process of transfer of ownership and things are finalized we will announce the names of the new owners. In the meantime please enjoy a wonderful month of world class jazz that I put together at the last minute with the help and patience of many musicians. I hope you can spread the word that Jazz at Pearls is alive and well.
Best Regards,
Kim Nalley
This is the second time Pearl’s has been rescued from the edge of oblivion. Let’s all make sure it doesn’t have to happen again. Get out and hear some jazz!
April 22nd, 2008
New Articles in Down Beat & JazzTimes
I’m pleased to announce that I have articles in the May 2008 issues of both Down Beat and JazzTimes, which have recently shipped to subscribers and should be available on your local magazine rack any time now.
The May issue of Down Beat contains my news feature on the dynamic duo of rising singer Roberta Gambarini and legendary pianist Hank Jones. Crossing generations to make a terrific musical pair, Gambarini and Jones also have a deep personal relationship that has—quite literally—saved Jones’ life and helped to revitalize his career. It’s a fascinating story and hopefully you’ll find it a good read as well.
JazzTimes, meanwhile, is running an extra-large installment of my regular CD review column this month. “Undertones” usually contains 14 or 15 reviews, but the May issue includes my takes on 18 new releases by emerging or under-publicized artists. Yippee!
Check ‘em out when you get a chance, and as always, I’d love to hear what you think.
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