London Jazz Festival 2010


"Welcome to this year’s London Jazz Festival, produced by Serious in association with BBC Radio 3.
Our city’s annual celebration of jazz continues to grow and grow, enabled by a strong network of relationships with artists, venues, producers and sponsors. These partnerships make the Festival what it is and we thank everyone for the part they play. The programme features international and home-grown stars from across the generations and a number of themes can be found running through the Festival: this year includes a focus on French, Scottish and Danish music, alongside a final weekend of events celebrating the vibrant UK scene; Latin jazz makes a big impact, with a particular emphasis on Cuba; the sound of the big bands includes new projects from Norway, France, USA and UK; and a strand evoking the spirit of European cabaret and chanson provides a further set of contrasts. Premieres, commissions, collaborations and family-friendly work are in abundance and around a quarter of the 250-plus events are free. There is much to explore and looking beyond the concert halls and clubs you will find a series of talks, masterclasses and workshops offering an open door into the music and its history. Behind the scenes our Learning & Participation team runs a hub of activity, working with artists, local schools and communities. Through the huge international city that is London, the Festival takes the global language of jazz far and wide. But if you are not in the capital there is no need to miss out. BBC Radio 3 will broadcast over 40 hours of music and you can join the blogging and tweeting online. Download the Festival’s iPhone app for your pocket-sized programme and to share your photos and experiences.

To find out more about our work throughout the year, both in London and across the UK, visit us at serious.org.uk
Have a great Festival!"

www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk
Broadcast exclusively by: bbc.co.uk/radio3




















For more info download the brochure here

l

Kurt Elling - The Messenger

(Click on the pic to download)


We are back

Hello folks, long time without posting something here.
I've been a bit busy with other projects...but now we are back, hope this time without interrumption :)

Thanks for being there.

Ahh by the way follow us on twitter too

Upcoming Album





'Pathways' is the debut recording of Dave Holland's octet. It is based on his regular quintet with three added horns.

As Dave Holland writes:

'I had always loved the sound of the Duke Ellington small groups, often with a 5 horn front-line plus the rhythm section. The combination of 2 brass and 3 saxes gives access to a wide range of textures and colors and allows a composer to evoke the sound of a big band or create the more intimate sound of a small group.

I also wanted a project that would include at its core my regular working quintet (Robin Eubanks, Steve Nelson, Chris Potter, and Nate Smith) and build the music around what we had already developed as a small group. The additional horns gave me some different compositional options but equally important, the personal sound, style and creative approaches of Antonio Hart (alto), Gary Smulyan (baritone) and Alex Sipiagin (trumpet) add a great deal to the creative mix.' 


The band is thus: Dave Holland (bass), Chris Potter (tenor, soprano sax), Antonio Hart (alto sax), Gary Smulyan (baritone), Alex Sipigian (trumpet), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Steve Nelson (vibes, marimba), Nate Smith (drums).

The album was recorded live at Birdland, NY in 2009.

Dave Holland's writing is the main feature: 


'I often revisit compositions I have recorded at different stages in my career. Over the years, one of the things that has changed is my approach to playing them. Writing the song is just a starting point and after that the improvisor develops different ways of interpreting it. There are some compositions that seem to remain relevant and that continue to evolve.'

'Shadow Dance' harks back to Dave Holland's first album, '
Jumpin' In' while 'How's Never' is from the Gateway trio era with Jack DeJohnette and John Abercrombie. As with the remaining Dave Holland compositions, the expanded sound palette of the eight-piece band is used to great effect
.




This title will be released on March 23, 2010.


Sad news for Jazz

 

R.I.P  John Dankworth

"The globe keeps turning – and the musical world keeps revolving with it. I have been privileged to witness (and play a minor part in) one complete revolution of the wheel of jazz music, running concurrently with my own lifespan. The succeeding turn of that wheel is just beginning; indeed I hope to contribute a bit to its next revolution before I finally withdraw (I hope gracefully) from the arena of jazz, that unique form of self-expression which has played such a huge part in my own passionate affair with the sounds of musical endeavour."      

- John Dankworth in his autobiography, Jazz In Revolution (Constable 1998)

 

John Dankworth, 82, was a British jazz legend who worked with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and Oscar Peterson. In 2006 he was knighted by the Queen. So I guess it’s Rest In Peace, Sir John Dankworth.

Dankworth, inspired by the music of inspired by Benny Goodman, applied to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London when he was just 17. He formed his band the Dankworth Seven in 1950 and it rapidly became one of Britain’s top jazz groups with him as saxophonist and clarinetist. Three years later, he formed his big band, which he led for two decades. Many arrangements featured vocals by Cleo Laine, who he married in 1958.
He and Laine were one of the best known couples in jazz. She announced his death at a concert marking the 40th anniversary of the Stables Theatre, a concert venue in the grounds of their home in Buckinghamshire, northwest of London. Instead, the all-star concert became a tribute to Dankworth.

 


Upcoming Album

 

Christian Wallumrød has worked as a musician and composer since 1992, and he is considered one of the most prominent musicians of the younger Norwegian generation.
He made his debut on ECM Records with the album "No Birch" (issued in 1996) to considerable critical acclaim. The album "Sofienberg Variations" with a new ensemble (Christian Wallumrød Ensemble: with Nils Økland, Arve Henriksen and Per Oddvar Johansen) was released on ECM in 2003. Wallumrøds third album "A Year From Easter", with the same ensemble, was released in spring 2005 on the German record label. An extended version of his acoustic ensemble (sextet with long time partners Henriksen and Johansen in addition to Gjermund Larsen on violins, Tanja Orning on cello and Giovanna Pessi on baroque harp) is playing Wallumrøds compositions on the recent ECM album "The Zoo Is Far" (spring 2007).
A fairly new project is a quartet named 'Dans Les Arbres' with Norwegian impro-musicians Ivar Grydeland and Ingar Zach (known from the band Huntsville) and French clarinet player Xavier Charles. This is a group who works solely with acoustic and improvised music, in a different way. The first Dans Les Arbres album was released on ECM Records in spring 2008.
Wallumrød has had long term collaborations with a.o. singer Sidsel Endresen (w/ Merriwinkle and w/ Jan Bang) and drummer Audun Kleive (with his Generator X), resulting in various recordings (Jazzland Records). He has also recorded several albums on Norwegian labels, a.o. with the trio Close Erase.
Wallumrød has generally focused on small ensembles, both as a performer and a composer. Apart from his present acoustic ensemble (CWE) were he writes all the material, most of his work is based on improvisation and the fluid borders between improvised and written music. Since the beginning of the 90’s he has toured, played festivals and made broadcasting recordings in Norway and Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, UK, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czeck Rep., Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia, Italy, China and Canada.
At the Ultima Festival for Contemporary Music 2000 (Oslo) he participated as an improvising soloist on Fender Rhodes (el-piano) on Eivind Buene‘s (N) "Objects of Desire" with Oslo Sinfonietta, conducted by Christian Eggen.
In addition to the various ensemble work, Christian Wallumrød has done several solo performances, a.o. at the Ultima Festival 2003.


 

Christian Wallumrød Ensemble
Fabula Suite Lugano
Christian Wallumrød - piano, harmonium, toy piano
Eivind Lønning - trumpet
Gjermund Larsen - violin, hardanger fiddle, viola
Tanja Orning - cello
Giovanna Pessi - baroque harp
Per Oddvar Johansen - drums, percussion, glockenspiel
Recorded June 2009
ECM 2118

This title will be released on February 9, 2010.







Jazz Middelheim Festival '09 Visual Architecture

Video Architecture Design - Jazz Middelheim Festival 



The architect Michael Langeder asked to Mattia Casalegno to help him with the design of visual contents specifically conceived for the facade of an historic "villa" at the Middelheim Park in Antwerp, Belgium. The interaction between the visuals and the facade is then rendered in a spot for the Jazz Middelheim Festival 2009, aired in some belgian TV in Spring 2009.

Filmed and edited by Pimps production, the spot feature a soundtrack by John Zorn.





Jazz + Graphic Design


Design and art direction for a new dvd music label as well as the first references.
This is the very first one, the ones that follow come with different Pantone-metallic variations


 Capitán Burrito's Portfolio


NTSC/Region 0. This DVD contains splendid performances from Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, taped during the beginning stages of his career. The first four performances were taped in San Francisco in 1968. The Isle Of Wight footage with Miles Davis was filmed in 1970. Finally, the Turin, Italy performance with Miles was shot in 1971. Six tracks. Standing Oh!vation.

Upcoming Album


This is music that sings, at once gentle and robust. Lyrical, immediately memorable songs, songs of an appealing freshness, yet sophisticated in their involvement with the melodic line.

Tord Gustavsen has released a trilogy of trio albums that proved both a popular and a critical success (cf. The Critics). The trio has toured extensively world-wide, crystallizing its musical approach and developing new compositions. It's still very melodic and romantic music. It still displays a striking, spacious 'Nordic-Caribbean-gospel-bluesy' fresh feel while presenting Tord Gustavsen's original compositions. But the trio employs more dynamics and explores some new musical fields in its interaction on the last recording. The musicians are just as un-compromising in their search for beauty as they are in their search for a creative approach with fresh phrasing and imaginative playing.

In 2008, Tord Gustavsen works with somewhat more flexible line-ups - in duo, trio and quartet settings. And he presented a commissioned work for the Vossajazz Festivel in Norway March 2008 that became the starting point for his new Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, featuring Tore Brunborg on saxophones, Mats Eilertsen on bass and Jarle Vespestad on drums. For the full version of the commissioned work, the ensemble also includes Kristin Asbjørnsen on sung vocals and Cecilie Jørstad on read poetry.

A re-worked and transformed vesion of the music from this work is recorded and will be found on the upcoming album release "Restored, Returned"



This title will be released on February 9, 2010. 
Pre-order at Amazon

 

 

Tord Gustavsen Ensemble 

(Concert Excerpt)


 

Tord Gustavsen Trio

(Concert Excerpt)

Recommended Album

Oscar Peterson's Debut Box Set

This time we show you a very nice box set. It's all about the Oscar Peterson's Debut recordings. Here we can find the first Peterson's US records. Great stuff for collectors.

(Click on the pic to buy it)

Tracklist:

DISC 1
1   Announcement - (live, with Norman Granz)
2   I Only Have Eyes For You - (live)    
3   Fine and Dandy - (live)
4   Carnegie Blues - (live)
5   Gai - (live)
6   Padovani - (live)
7   Tea For Two - (previously unreleased, live)

DISC 2
1   Debut
2   They Didn't Believe Me
3   Lover Come Back To Me
4   Where or When
5   Three O'Clock In the Morning
6   All the Things You Are
7   Tenderly
8   Oscar's Blues
9   Little White Lies
10   In the Middle of a Kiss
11   Nameless
12   Two Sleepy People
13   Jumpin' With Symphony Sid
14   Robbins Nest
15   Tico Tico
16   Get Happy
17   Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
18   Deep Purple
19   Exactly Like You
20   I'll Remember April
21   Easy To Love
22   Taking a Chance On Love
23   Squatty Roo
24   After All

DISC 3
1   Caravan
2   Summer Nocturne
3   Salute To Garner
4   I Get a Kick Out of You
5   What's New?
6   Dark Eyes
7   What is It?
8   Way You Look Tonight, The
9   Minor Blues
10   Slow Down
11   How High the Moon
12   Nearness of You, The
13   There's a Small Hotel - (previously unreleased)
14   Lover
15   Gypsy In My Soul (Fancy Free)
16   On the Alamo
17   Lullaby of the Leaves
18   Laura
19   September In the Rain   

Recommended Album

(Click on the pic to buy it)

Sam Yahel Trio - Truth And Beauty

In what is going to be a more active year than recently for Joshua Redman, the gifted tenor sax player appears in a second new trio jazz release (following his own "Back East") in as many weeks. Now the format is sax, Hammond B3 (Sam Yahel) and drums (the wonderful Brian Blade) but the basic tenet is the same; less is more - more jazz from a paired down setting.

Sam Yahel is composer on most of the tracks ("Truth and Beauty", "Man O’ War", "Bend the Leaves", "Saba", "Child Watching" and "Festinhas") and he continues with the inventiveness that he has shown on his earlier albums "Searchin'", "In the Blink of an Eye" and "Trio", all highly recommended, especially for the playing of Peter Bernstein (guitar). Notably, Brian Blade plays drums on the last two of these earlier albums, pointing to the long relationship and the accumulated understanding between the two musicians.

Joshua Redman replaced Peter Bernstein when the trio went on to produce "Yaya3" in 2002 and this same set-up featured as the core of Joshua Redman's successful album "Momentum", released in 2005. "Truth and Beauty is completed by the Ornette Coleman composition "Check Up", the Gil/Donato song "A Paz" and a take on Paul Simon's "Night Game" which emerges as one of the most successful tracks of the album for its relative simplicity and knowable direction alongside the complexity of the Coleman and Yahel compositons.

Overall this is a winning continuation of a fine development of involving and subtle Hammond B3 based jazz and is highly recommended.



Academic Jazz Pt.2

What Types of Compositions Become Jazz Standards?

The most common categories of origin are:
  • Tin Pan Alley
  • Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies
  • Jazz composers
In the broadest sense of the definition one might also include:
  • Traditional (folk, church, Christmas)
  • Rock and roll
  • International popular and folk music

Album Recommendation + Graphic Design


(Click on the cover to buy it)

 


Tracklist:

1. Comme il Faut 
2. Space Jungle II 
3. Song for Che 
4. Broken Shadows 
5. Tomorrow



2008 reissue of this long unavailable live recording from the Ornette Coleman Quartet. The quartet on this performance features Coleman, Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell. Features five extraordinary tracks including 'Comme Il Faut', 'Broken Shadows' and 'Tomorrow


Thelonious & Theodore: The Inside Story of Monk and Rollins


Sonny Rollins: Sax colossus

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts on a titan of jazz. See photographer Jamie-James Medina in conversation with Sonny Rollins here




"My love for Sonny goes back a long way. I would have been 15 or 16 when I first played his records, first with Max Roach and Clifford Brown, then his stuff with Miles, and then of course on his own. I first saw him in 1964 in the original Birdland club on 52nd Street, playing with a trio. To sit there and watch Sonny Rollins, my God! In those days he did this fantastic thing: he used to start playing in the dressing room with no band, then walk out and go around the stage, using the room to bounce the sound off. It was amazing. I'd never seen anyone do that.
"He was incredibly hip and looked fabulous, and he still does. We have the same tailor friend who makes our clothes in New York, and Sonny is still a very sharp man. He looks amazing. He's gone perfectly white in his beard and hair; it's like Samuel Beckett when he got old.
"I've been fortunate enough to get to know him a bit. Mick [Jagger] asked me about a tenor player for the Stones' Waiting on a Friend and I suggested Sonny. He did that song then wanted to have a go at another one, a real lairy rock'n'roll thing called Neighbours. He played great on it. It was an overdub, unfortunately, so we never played together. Probably just as well. My goodness, I'd sit there and think, 'bloody hell, what am I going to do here?'I'd feel like an impostor, because that's the highest company you can keep.
"There are people who burn bright and fade quickly, and there are those who burn bright and keep going. You have to admire that. Sonny has never made a bad record – ever; some are simply greater than others. When he stands and plays, there isn't a saxophone player who doesn't look on in awe. He's the last one standing, and he's still playing as well today as he was then. He's still at the peak at what he does. It's great inspiration that there isn't really a time limit, but very few people can do it at that level.
His wife died a few years ago and it hit him very hard. He became much more reclusive, but we ring each other now and then. He's not just a saxophone player, he's something else. He's iconic, a leader without having to explicitly say it. I think you'd follow Sonny into war."

Key recording: Saxophone Colossus (Prestige, 1956)

Academic Jazz Pt.1

What is a Jazz Standard?
The terms "standard" and "jazz standard" are often used when one is referring to popular and jazz music compositions.  A quick search of the internet reveals, however, that the definitions of these terms can vary widely. So what is a standard?  Comparing definitions from a number of dictionaries and music scholars and basing a definition on the points on which they are in agreement, it is reasonable to state:
A "standard" is a composition that is held in continuing esteem and is commonly used in musical repertoires.
And,
A "jazz standard" is a composition that is held in continuing esteem and is commonly used as the basis of jazz arrangements and improvisations.
Sometimes the term "jazz standard" is used to imply a jazz composition that has become a standard. Words and phrases often have multiple valid meanings and this term is no exception. At this site we will use the definition having the more general acceptance, one that allows compositions from any origin.  To better understand our decision, consider the contents of the following sheet music collection titled Jazz Standards:



Series: Paperback Songs
Composer : Various

110 classics, including: All the things You Are • Autumn in New York • Bewitched • Cry Me a River • Don't Get Around Much Anymore • A Fine Romance • I Can't Get Started With You • I've Got You Under My Skin • The Lady Is a Tramp • Manhattan • Misty • My Funny Valentine • Old Devil Moon • Prelude to a Kiss • Route 66 • Smoke Gets in Your Eyes • There's a Small Hotel • When Sunny Gets Blue • You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To • and more.



Clearly the majority of these "jazz standards" were not originally jazz compositions.  When music publishers include the term "jazz standards" in a description or title they almost always are referring to compositions used as the foundation for jazz arrangements or improvisations, regardless of whether or not they were written by a jazz composer.
In general, music authors and theorists also favor the broader definition.  Will Friedwald, in his book Stardust Melodies, comments how Coleman Hawkins did more than anyone else to establish Johnny Green's "Body and Soul" as an all-time jazz standard. In Listening to Class American Popular Songs, Allen Forte, author and Battell Professor of the Theory of Music at Yale University, refers to Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight" as a jazz standard, a song that was introduced by Fred Astaire in the RKO musical Swing Time.

Cheltenham Festivals -Jazz10



About the Jazz Festival

One of Europe’s leading jazz festivals… famous names, rising stars, club nights, jazz standards, big bands, soloists, funk, blues, fusion, latin, soul, family events, school concerts… save the date, 28 April–3 May 2010.

“Jazz you can dance to; jazz you can expand your mind to; jazz you can party to.”
Jamie Cullum



Jazzlife Books -Special & Collector Editions-

Jazzlife Special Edition


(Click on the pic to buy it)

Hardcover + CD, 696 pages


"Jazzlife is surely the most thorough and imaginative visual record of American jazz at mid-century that we'll ever see." - Newsweek, New York

The sights and sounds of American jazz

In 1960, photographer William Claxton and noted German musicologist Joachim Berendt traveled the United States hot on the trail of jazz music. The result of their collaboration was an amazing collection of photographs and recordings of legendary artists as well as unknown street musicians.

The book Jazzlife, the original fruit of their labors, has become a collector`s item that is highly treasured among jazz and photography fans. In 2003, TASCHEN began reassembling this important collection of material—along with many never-before-seen color images from those trips. They are brought together in this updated volume, which includes a foreword by Claxton tracing his travels with Berendt and his love affair with jazz music in general. Utilizing the benefits of today's digital technology, a restored audio CD from Joachim Berendt's original recordings has been produced and is included in this package. Jazz fans will be delighted to be able to take a jazz-trip through time, both seeing and hearing the music as Claxton and Berendt originally experienced it.

• Featuring photographs of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, Gabor Szabo, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and many more
• Includes bonus CD of digitally remastered recordings of music made during Berendt and Claxton`s journey (originally released in 1960 as two records)

About the photographer:
William Claxton (1927-2008) began his career shooting jazz record cover art. His iconic images of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and many others reflect his preeminence among photographers of jazz music. Claxton worked for many of the biggest publishers including Life, Paris Match, and Vogue magazines. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, and his photographic prints are now sought after by collectors of fine art photography. He passed away on October 11, 2008 in his hometown Los Angeles.

About the author:
Joachim E. Berendt was a founding member of South West German Radio (Südwestfunk) and produced more than 250 records. In 1953, he first published Das Jazzbuch, which became the most successful history book on jazz worldwide. His collection of records, books, and jazz documents form the basis of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. Berendt died in an accident in 2000. His contributions to jazz are internationally recognized to this day.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Jazzlife Collector's Edition


(Click on the pic to buy it)
Hardcover + Box + 4 signed prints, 696 pages 


The Jazzlife Collector's Edition

  • Limited to 1,000 individually signed and numbered copies
  • Every copy comes with four signed and numbered, 50 x 60 cm (19.6 x 23.6 in.) ultrachrome prints
  • Book and prints packaged in a clothcovered box

In 1960, photographer William Claxton and noted German musicologist Joachim Berendt traveled the United States hot on the trail of jazz music. The result of their collaboration was an amazing collection of photographs and recordings of legendary artists as well as unknown street musicians.

The book Jazzlife, the original fruit of their labors, has become a collector`s item that is highly treasured among jazz and photography fans. In 2003, TASCHEN began reassembling this important collection of material – along with many never-before-seen color images from those trips. They are brought together in this updated volume, which includes a foreword by Claxton tracing his travels with Berendt and his love affair with jazz music in general. Utilizing the benefits of today's digital technology, a restored audio CD from Joachim Berendt's original recordings has been produced and is included in this package. Jazz fans will be delighted to be able to take a jazz-trip through time, both seeing and hearing the music as Claxton and Berendt originally experienced it.


  • Featuring photographs of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, Gabor Szabo, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and many more
  • Includes bonus CD of digitally remastered recordings of music made during Berendt and Claxton`s journey (originally released in 1960 as two records)


About the photographer:
William Claxton (1927-2008) began his career shooting jazz record cover art. His iconic images of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and many others reflect his preeminence among photographers of jazz music. Claxton worked for many of the biggest publishers including Life, Paris Match, and Vogue magazines. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, and his photographic prints are now sought after by collectors of fine art photography. He passed away on October 11, 2008 in his hometown Los Angeles.

About the author:
Joachim E. Berendt was a founding member of South West German Radio (Südwestfunk) and produced more than 250 records. In 1953, he first published Das Jazzbuch, which became the most successful history book on jazz worldwide. His collection of records, books, and jazz documents form the basis of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. Berendt died in an accident in 2000. His contributions to jazz are internationally recognized to this day.



William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 1
Metropole Café on Broadway near Times Square, New York City, 1960  

 

William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 2
Stan Getz by a stage door on Cosmo Alley, Hollywood, 1956



William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 3
The George Williams Brass Band, New Orleans, 1960



William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 4
Ray Charles with a Raylette, New York City, 1960