jazzandbluesnews

I guess it was really too much to hope for a miracle that jazz great Freddie Hubbard would manage to pull out of his coma and survive.  Still, with it being around Christmas you kind of hope for miracles and when the news is full of stories of a girl suddenly coming back to life after being taken off of machines and an “angel” appearing in her room, that hope burns a little brighter.  Sadly for those of us still here on earth, Freddie passed away at the age of 70 on Monday December 29.

From the Associated Press story by John Rogers, “Freddie Hubbard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician whose style influenced a generation of trumpet players and who collaborated with such greats as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, died Monday, a month after suffering a heart attack. He was 70.

Hubbard died at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his manager, fellow trumpeter David Weiss of the New Jazz Composers Octet. He had been hospitalized since suffering the heart attack a day before Thanksgiving.

A towering figure in jazz circles, Hubbard played on hundreds of recordings in a career dating to 1958, the year he arrived in New York from his hometown Indianapolis, where he had studied at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music and with the Indianapolis Symphony.

Soon he had hooked up with such jazz legends as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and Coltrane.”

The rest, as they say, is jazz history.  Freddie went on to become a jazz legend.  Wynton Marsalis has stated that Freddie went on to influence countless trumpeters and jazz musicians who came after him.

The one benefit we have is that Freddie was a legend and that means we have the music he recorded to remember him by.  It’s rather interesting when you are an artist, writer or musician and your work can live on long after you are gone.  That’s certainly true of Freddie who will likely continue to influence the young jazz musicians who will come after him.

From YouTube, here is another clip of Freddie Hubbard playing live.  RIP, Freddie.

Well, the gift-giving season is over with and no one in the record business seems to want to actually release a new album in the last few days of 2008.  You have to admit if you are an artist on a label and your new album is coming out the last week of the year, after the holidays, amidst all of the new year deals, you might feel a little slighted and like your work is being buried.  So, there isn’t much new coming out this week.  In fact, there is not a single jazz release listed, that I can find, for December 30, the Tuesday, and the normal day during the week to put out the new stuff and the reissues.

So, thanks to AllAboutJazz.com for another year of providing me with the information I provide you here about the new albums and reissues for jazz fans.  Again, I can’t recommend that site highly enough.  It is all-volunteer and the articles and pictures are great.  I don’t know who compiles the new release and reissues list, but I couldn’t write this darn blog without them.  I would send them flowers or a card or a big gift if I knew who they were and where to send it.

The new releases and reissues are spread out over a few days.  Looks like the biggest day this week is actually the first day of the new year.  However, I peeked ahead and it looks like things get back to a more normal release schedule the first full week of 2009.  I look forward to bringing it to you.

Wednesday December 31, 2008

NEW RELEASES

Best Small Jazz Bands - Best Small Jazz Bands (Fremeaux & Assoc. FR )
Trio De Clarinettes - Ramdam (Fremeaux & Assoc. FR )

Thursday January 1, 2009

NEW RELEASES

Dino Coccia - SWUNG DRAWN & ALTERED (WIDESPACE RECORDS)
SHAKEY VICK BLUES BAND - GOT BLUES IF YA WANNIT (WIDESPACE RECORDS)

REISSUES

Dino Coccia - WIDESPACE (WIDESPACE RECORDS)

For me, New Years Eve and New Years Day is a very stupid non-holiday.  I appreciate the time off from work and my mom always makes this fantastic ham dinner on New Years Day that makes me and my dad say, why don’t you make this more often, but essentially it’s a rather silly holiday.  Last year I am pretty sure I was in bed by 10 and sound asleep come midnight.

Maybe that’s because I have never really been the partying type.  I have only had a small handful off New Years Eves upon which I had anyone to kiss at midnight.  I used to volunteer to work the New Years Eve Countdown shift at the classic rock radio station I worked for in Rockford Illinois.  I would take requests and stuff online and hang out in the studio and darkened office building and rock out.  Then I would drive to a friend’s house to spend the night and watch the fireworks going off all over the place.

There have been very few pleasant New Years Eve memories for me.  Twice I have been at the Metro watching the band The Flaming Lips when the new year rung in.  That was fun.  I had a nice party once in St. Louis that involved eating fondue and another before that one where I kissed two women!  Including my friend Cheri that I always had a bit of a crush on, which was nice.

No, for me, it makes little sense to mark the passage of time.  It marches forward without noticing us at all, why do we bother to notice it?  Still, if there’s an excuse for some great jazz, then I am going to use it.

Sure enough, you can always turn to the vocalists for music about just about anything.  Diana Krall is gorgeous, sexy, play piano amazingly well and has a voice that oozes sex appeal.  She is also married to Elvis Costello which is also just so damn cool you have to admire that.  Among the vocal jazz players, she is one of the ones I like. 

So, from YouTube, here is Diana Krall singing about New Years Eve.

As you may know by now, I am a big fan of the Velvet Lounge jazz club here in Chicago.  My brother is the first person to mention it to me.  There’s this very non-descript jazz club, he told me, that you would probably drive right past if you weren’t aware of it or looking for it.  When you get inside, he said, it’s small and smoky and there’s a stage at one end of the club and that’s where the band plays.  It’s just what you imagine when you think of jazz clubs.

The cool thing about it, beyond the fact that it’s just set up in a cool way that you might think a jazz club would be set up, is that it’s proprietor is a jazz legend.  His name is Fred Anderson and he plays the tenor sax.  He was born in 1929 in the state of Louisiana but now resides in Chicago and has been in Chicago for a very long time.  He is now a staple in the jazz music scene here in Chicago since his early years.  His family actually moved to the northern suburb of Evanston in the 1940s and he’s been here ever since.

Maybe his name isn’t as well known as other famous saxophonists like Charlie Parker or John Coltrane, but perhaps it should.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that he stayed and settled here in Chicago.  That would be too bad.  He deserves his recognition.

The Velvet Lounge was actually already in existence when Fred took over ownership in 1983.  He has been running it ever since and it’s still the best place to catch him and the musicians who like to play with him.  If you look at the schedule for the Velvet Lounge on their website, you can see times whe he and his trio or some other band will be playing.

So, just to give you a bit of Fred and his playing, I dug around on YouTube and found this performace of the Fred Anderson Trio.  Enjoy.

I should take a moment to wish a happy Kwanzaa to anyone who does celebrate that holiday.  Sadly that is a holiday that tends to get the short shrift.  A lot of people roll their eyes and look down upon it.  I will confess, I have done so myself.  But still, who am I to judge anyone their holiday and celebrations?  It certainly doesn’t seem to harm anyone and the values that surround it seem like good ones.  So, whatever holiday you may be celebrating, I hope you have a great one.

Below is something lifted from WDCB’s website and is my pick for the show to see this weekend.  I am a big fan of the Velvet Lounge and its owner and proprietor Fred Anderson.  The man himself is playing tonight and I think if you are looking for something to do, this would be the thing to do.

Three Jazzy Woodwinds: Fred Anderson, Ari Brown, Rich Corpolongo Ensemble 

Well, another Christmas has come and gone.  One thing is for sure, however, the next one will be here so fast it will make your head spin.  I still can’t believe 2008 is over, people.  It seems like just yesterday my baby niece was born and I was helping her celebrate her very first Christmas.  Now she’s 1 and starting to walk and talk.  How crazy is that?

I hope you all had a great, fun, safe and blessed Christmas and/or holiday.  Up next is New Years, but I have to admit that has never been a particularly important holiday for me and my family.  Other than the great ham my mom makes on New Years Day, there ain’t much goin’ on for me during that time.  I used to volunteer to work New Years Eve at the radio station in Rockford Illinois I worked at for that holiday.

Anyway, there are a bunch of jazz concerts and shows going on this weekend.  I got this list from the website of the great radio station WDCB in DuPage county and on the campus of the College of DuPage.  They still list a bunch of jazz shows but no blues shows.  I recommend you check out some of the blues venue website around town for that.

JAZZ

Chris Greene Quartet
Friday, December 26; 8 to midnight
Philander’s, Oak Park 

Typhanie Monique - Neal Alger Trio
Friday, December 26; 5 pm
Andy’s, Chicago 

Marc Pompe Trio
Friday, December 26; 8 pm to 12:30
Pete Miller’s - Wheeling, Wheeling 

Bob Davis Trio
Friday, December 26; 8 pm to 12:30 am
Pete Miller’s - Schaumburg, Schaumburg 

Ken Chaney Trio
Friday, December 26; 9 pm to 1 am
Pete Miller’s - Evanston, Evanston 

BMR-4
Friday, December 26; 9:30 pm
Andy’s, Chicago 

Willie Pickens Trio and Guests
Friday, December 26; Sets at 8 and 10 pm
Jazz Showcase, Chicago 

George McRae Trio
Friday, December 26; 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Pops for Champagne, Chicago 

Kwanzaa Celebration
Friday, December 26; 9:30 pm
Velvet Lounge (new location), Chicago 

Dan Trudell Quartet
Friday, December 26; 9 pm
Pops for Champagne, Chicago 

Green Mill Quartet Jam Session
Friday, December 26; 1:30 to 4 am
Green Mill, Chicago 

Skinny Williams
Saturday, December 27; 5 pm
Andy’s, Chicago 

BMR-4
Saturday, December 27; 9:30 pm
Andy’s, Chicago 

Rich Corpolongo Sextet
Saturday, December 27; 9:30 pm
Velvet Lounge (new location), Chicago 

Stephanie Aaron
Saturday, December 27; 8 to midnight
Philander’s, Oak Park 

Dan Trudell Quartet
Saturday, December 27; 9 pm
Pops for Champagne, Chicago 

Marc Pompe Trio
Saturday, December 27; 8 pm to 12:30
Pete Miller’s - Wheeling, Wheeling 

Corey Wilkes & Black Slang
Saturday, December 27; 9:30 p.m.
Morse Theatre, Chicago 

Three Jazzy Woodwinds: Fred Anderson, Ari Brown, Rich Corpolongo Ensemble
Saturday, December 27; 9:30pm to 12:30am
Velvet Lounge, Chicago 

Willie Pickens Trio and Guests
Saturday, December 27; Sets at 8 and 10 pm
Jazz Showcase, Chicago 

Ken Chaney Trio
Saturday, December 27; 9 pm to 1 am
Pete Miller’s - Evanston, Evanston 

Bob Davis Trio
Saturday, December 27; 8 pm to 12:30 am
Pete Miller’s - Schaumburg, Schaumburg 

After Hours Jazz Party with Sabertooth
Saturday, December 27; midnight to 4
Green Mill, Chicago 

Willie Pickens Trio and Guests
Sunday, December 28; Sets at 4, 8 and 10
Jazz Showcase, Chicago 

Kimberly Gordon Organ Trio
Sunday, December 28; 11 pm to 2 am
Green Mill, Chicago 

Scott Earl Holman
Sunday, December 28; 6 pm - 10:30 pm
Chicago Chop House, Chicago 

D.O.3.O
Sunday, December 28; 5 pm
Andy’s, Chicago 

Velvet Lounge Jazz Jam
Sunday, December 28; 9 to midnight
Velvet Lounge (new location), Chicago 

Andy’s Jam Session
Sunday, December 28; 9 pm
Andy’s, Chicago 

Dee Alexander
Sunday, December 28; 7:30 to 11:30 pm
Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 

Well, the big day is finally here.  Now you can relax, right?  Just plan that New Years Eve party or something and then you’re home free and it’s finally socially acceptable to be depressed about it being winter for the remainder of it.  Given how bad the winter has been here in Chicago already, January and February are likely to be doozies.

So, Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you have a great day and your family has a great day and everyone travels safe and enjoys their presents.  Be careful out there as Mother Nature seems hell-bent on destroying us this Yuletide. 

I gathered a bunch of Christmas-related videos from YouTube for your holiday.  It’s the best I can do for a Christmas gift to you.  It’s been a mixed year for me when it comes to blogging about jazz and I truly want to thank you for sticking with me and following me as I bounced all over the net trying to find a new home after the original one vanished on me.  I hope to have an exciting 2009 ready for you.

OK, it’s officially Christmas.  Well, OK, it’s technically Christmas Eve, but I bet a lot of you out there are like my family and you do your Christmas family stuff on Christmas Eve.  That’s the way it’s always been at my house.  When we were kids, sure, we opened the gifts from our parents on Christmas morning, but times change and people get married and other families become part of yours and so the rules change.  We always did the visiting of grandma and my cousins on Christmas Eve, though.

I tried to find someone like a Charlie Parker or Miles Davis or John Coltrane playing just one Christmas tune.  Instead, what I found was a bunch of high school Christmas programs with the jazz band doing interpretations of Christmas carols.  Most of them were from a long way away by parents proudly holding up hand-held digital cameras.

This one isn’t very different except that it’s closer and there was just something about it.  Sure, this isn’t a jazz club and it’s no one you are likely to know, but I sat there watching this and listening and just smiled from ear to ear.  It’s nice to see some young people playing jazz and enjoying it, I guess.  I like knowing that maybe jazz isn’t some dying form of music and maybe there are young folks out there who appreciate it.

So, I hope you grin too when you watch this.  It may not be pros…but it kinda has that warm fuzzy thing going on.  From YouTube, it’s Christmas jazz on the sax:

Well, if you are still looking for gifts for the jazz fan in your life at this stage of the game you are a procrastinator of nearly epic proportions, I must admit.  Still, there are a few new ones and reissues that waited until now to come out.  Granted, not very many, but enough for a posting which should help me meet the minimum word count, which is always nice ;-).

Thanks goes out to AllAboutJazz.com, as always, for helping me with this list.  Again, great website folks and you really need to be checking them out.

NEW RELEASES

Aki & The Good Boys - Live At Willisau Jazz (Pid )
Al Jazzbo Collins - Tells Fairy Tales For Hip Kids (El )
Alfonso Ponticelli & Swing Gitan - Caravan (Ponticelli Music )
Asheni - Butterfly Survival Kit (Pid )
Bill Gerhardt - All That I Have (Steeplechase )
Blue Pages - Jazz In Sweden 1997 (Pid )
Brad Treeby & The Simplist - Wake Your Soul (Pid )
Chase - Chase/Ennea/Pure Music (Wounded Bird )
Christian Brueckner - Ich Bin Sehr Jung Auf (Pid )
Dan Nimmer Trio - Kelly Blue (Pid )
Danilo Rea - Introverso (Pid )
DAVID THOMPSON - INTROSPECT (MEDIAREACH) - Book
Django Reinhardt - Very Best Of 1934-1939 (Cleopatra )
Don Grolnick - Media Knotch (Pid )
Eric Rasmussen - School Of Tristano 3 (Steeplechase )
Fredrik Ljungkvist - Yunkan 12345 (Caprice )
Fredrik Nordstrom - On Purpose (Caprice )
Georg Riedel - Nu Sjunger Naektergale (Pid )
Georg Riedel - Lilla Ungen Min (Pid )
Georg Riedel - Till Amanda (Pid )
Grandes Gueules - Exercise De Style (Rca Victor Europe )
Harald Svensson - Vanished (Pid )
Harvey Mason - Latamaque? (Pid )
Hiram Bullock - Plays Music Of Jimi Hendrix (Pid )
HR Jazzensemble - Unauffaellige Festansa (Pid )
Jaco Pastorius - Who Loves You-Tribute (Pid )
Jam Session 27 - Jam Session 27 (Steeplechase )
Jam Session 28 - Jam Session 28 (Steeplechase )
Jeanette Lindstroem - I Saw (Pid )
Jeanette Lindstroem - Sinatra/Wiell (Pid )
Jens Winther - Directions / New Directions (Stunt )
Jens Winther - Directions/New Directions (Stunt )
Jerker Lindstroem - April In Taeby (Pid )
Johan Borgstroem - Smile & Be Serious (Pid )
John Coltrane - Art Blakey’s Big Band (Pid )
Kevin Blechdom - Chaddom Blechbourne Experience (Victo )
Kuehntett - Image Of My Soul (Pid )
Lennart Aberg - Green Print (Pid )
Liana Carroll - Best Standard Issue (Pid )
Lindgren Quartet, Ma - Game (Pid )
Lindha Svantesson - Far From Alone (Caprice )
Lindstroem Quintet - Another Country (Pid )
Lulu Alke - Jazz In Sweden 1989 (Pid )
Magnus Lindgren & The Swedish Radio Jazz Group - Paradise Open (Caprice )
Marcus Miller - Sun Dont Lie (Pid )
Mats Holmquist & St - A Tribute To Chick Cor (Pid )
Miles Davis - Miles Davis Quartet (Pid )
Miles Davis - Diggin’ With The Miles (Pid )
Paul Jackson Jr. - Never Alone (Pid )
Per Henrik Wallin - One Knife Is Enough (Pid )
Raymond Scott - This Time With Strings (Pid )
Real Group - Nothing But The Real Group (Caprice )
Real Group - Roster (Caprice )
Red Mitchell - Home Suite (Pid )
Schmolling Trio, Mar - Siebenundsechzigzwei (Pid )
Shoot The Moon - Glory & Decay (Pid )
Sonny Stitt - Move On Over: Eddie Buster Sides ( )
Steve Kuhn Trio - Plays Standards (Pid )
Szczu - Freelectronic In Montr (Pid )
The John Temmerman Quartet - Live in Evanston - John’s Mixed Bag (JFT)
Tomasz Stanko - Chameleon (MVD)
Various Artists - 10 Corso Como 4:Mare Nostrum (Phantom Sound & Vision )

REISSUES

Sadao Watanabe - California Shower (Victor)

Sometimes I just get in the mood to go back to the album that started it all for me.  I was working at a college radio station.  It was broadcasting to the entire St. Louis area and Webster University was managing and running the station while the license itself was held by the St. Louis Public Schools.  It was a chance to run a real FM radio station so the agreement was reached and our tiny AM carrier-current radio station that broadcast just to the dorms across the street was replaced by a station that covered the entire Metro area.

First, the station was not in stereo which limited the kind of music we could play.  Second, since the license was held by the St. Louis Public Schools, they decided what formats we had to choose from.  They also wanted one of their schools, down in the city, to broadcast one hour a day during the week.  We had a choice of classical or jazz and fearing that far too many potential DJs would mispronounce composers like Chopin, we chose jazz.

I had neve given much thought to jazz.  I was into progressive rock and grooving out to Pink Floyd.  I played jazz in the afternoons, the entire afternoon drive shift, and helped pick out the music.  It was fun, but I rarely actually listened to the music.  I started trying to find the longest tune I could get away with playing.  In fact, I got into a contest with the mid-day guy to see who could get away with playing the longest track.  As I recall he won by playing a Keith Jarrett track that played for a full half hour and our program director put an end to our contest after that.

“Kind of Blue” was on vinyl and it had long songs.  That was all I knew about it.  I did not know it was one of the seminal recordings in music history.  I did not know it was the best-selling jazz album of all time.  I didn’t really know much about Miles Davis at all.  I simply grabbed the record, noticed that the tune “All Blues” had an 11 minute playing time, cued it up and hit the button that started the record spinning.

Normally I would get up and wander around the station and the building the studio was in during long songs.  I would keep an eye on my watch and get back in plenty of time.  However, with the first few notes of “All Blues” I found myself unable to get up.  I didn’t even take off my headphones.  Before I knew it, I had sat there and listened to the entire 11 minutes, with my headphones on, completely transfixed.  Those last few trumpet notes at the end echoed in my brain.  I was speechless.  I wanted to play it again as soon as it ended.

Thus, I was changed from a punk kid listening to Floyd (although I still do) to a punk kid who was now a fan of jazz.  Kind of Blue was one of the first jazz CDs I ever got for Christmas and my love of Miles Davis continues unabated to this day no matter how much of a jerk he was in real life.

So, today, we are going back to the tune that started it all for me.  It’s a Monday and it’s the week of Christmas and I was just in the mood.  From “Kind of Blue” here is Miles Davis and his historic group with the tune “All Blues.”  Maybe it will change you the way it did me.