Jim Alfredson Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Do you live in MI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Vitus Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Yup, I go to MSU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Well sonuva bitch... do we know each other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Vitus Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 You don't know me, Jim. I'm not a local, just here for a degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 And you've never come out to a gig and introduced yourself? FOR SHAME!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Vitus Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 I will on one of these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 (edited) Unfortunately Joe is unable to use the ticket I got for him tonight. If anyone else can use it get ahold of me here ASAP. Edited February 16, 2004 by Upright Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Skid Posted February 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Bummer! I was looking forward to "talking shop" with one of my favorite guitar players. At least we'll see him Sunday night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Bummer! I was looking forward to "talking shop" with one of my favorite guitar players. At least we'll see him Sunday night! I was disappointed too. I haven't heard from Jim yet. I'm hoping he doesn't cancel as well. I expect his call pretty soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Unfortunately I don't feel comfortable driving all that way without my wingman. I'm working in Ann Arbor right now and that would mean 3 hours of non-stop driving on 6 hours of sleep. I'm sorry. I really would like to go... but I'm pretty fried as is. How about Chuck Nessa and his lovely wife Ann? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 This show is coming to Phoenix 3/10/04. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Vitus Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 The lineup may change by the time they get to Arizona. I think I heard Ken Peplowski and Terence Blanchard will be part of the all-stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazaro Vega Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 I have a guy who wants a least one ticket if Chuck and Ann aren't up for it -- Far Coston. He's not on the list here, but his e-mail is mfcoston@charter.net and his phone in Spring Lake is (616) 842 - 1305. I hope you can hook up. Please post if you do or don't so I can know. Thanks, Lazaro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Damn! I can't use the ticket/s. Thanks for thinking of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazaro Vega Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 the e-mail feature is not working. anyone in Muskegon who can get a hold of upright bill, please let him know about the above post. thanks, lv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Far Coston is meeting me at the front door. He was pretty excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 I decided to spend most of the afternoon chipping the packed snow and ice from the driveway and missed the earlier opportunity. Ann went down to MCC for her regular pottery night and I could have ridden along. My beloved Nissan is too sick to risk the drive to Muskegon. I hope James Moody kicks ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Sorry fellas, I hated to disappoint you, and I was looking forward to the hang and the concert. But the wife is pretty sick, and I don't want to be two hours away with the cell phone turned off with her like that. Like Mark said, we'll be able to hang out at Docker's very soon. Enjoy the show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Joe, I hope all goes well with your wife. See you on the 22nd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Thanks Chuck. It's a chronic battle, unfortunately. Are you sure you want to waste your time with a bunch of "lily-white funk wannabes"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 I decided to spend most of the afternoon chipping the packed snow and ice from the driveway and missed the earlier opportunity. Ann went down to MCC for her regular pottery night and I could have ridden along. My beloved Nissan is too sick to risk the drive to Muskegon. I hope James Moody kicks ass. Chuck, I'd have gladly come and picked you up. James Moody did indeed kick ass. When he rapped it was almost too much. What a great sense of humor and amazing musician! I will be adding some James Moody and James Carter to my collection. They were all great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Sorry fellas, I hated to disappoint you, and I was looking forward to the hang and the concert. But the wife is pretty sick, and I don't want to be two hours away with the cell phone turned off with her like that. Like Mark said, we'll be able to hang out at Docker's very soon. Enjoy the show! Your family is more important. I hope all is well soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upright Bill Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Are you sure you want to waste your time with a bunch of "lily-white funk wannabes"? You sound like a tune Uncle Skid and I do, we call it "White Monk." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Bill, thanks for the mini report. More in the morning? Joe, don't get me started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazaro Vega Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 (edited) History Lesson at the Frauenthal: Newport Jazz Festival All Stars salute first 50 years of America’s first jazz festival. By Lazaro Vega Blue Lake Public Radio Monday night at Muskegon’s historic Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts, the Newport Jazz Festival All Stars completed a swing through Michigan with a two and half hour concert that brought to life the repertoire of jazz greats Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Don Byas and Duke Ellington. This performance was unique in that it was free as a gift to the people of Muskegon County from the Collins Fund of the Muskegon Community Foundation, so all 1,700 plus seats were taken. It wasn’t repertoire alone that evoked jazz played on those long July 4th weekends in Newport, Rhode Island, but the way the melodic vocabulary of an era salted Monday night’s improvisations. And, of course, the band member’s introductions – this group used everything in its power to connect with the audience: information, humor, a variety of instrumental settings and most of all music. The band featured a trumpet/two saxophone front-line with a full, i.e. four-man, rhythm section of guitar, piano, bass and drums. Trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonists James Moody and James Carter; guitarist Howard Alden; bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash made for the all-star band. Chief instigator of the spontaneous review of jazz vocabulary and popular song favorites was pianist Cedar Walton, who was introduced as the band’s composer as well as pianist (near the end of the concert, the full band played Walton’s "Firm Roots"). When joined by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash for the feature "Over The Rainbow" Walton improvised a clear, continuos flow of ideas which lingered on that famous rhythmic figure in the bridge to "Over the Rainbow." Walton lightened the mood and seemed to be talking over the fence to his band mates with melodic allusions to "There’s No Business Like Show Business," "Mona Lisa" and a handful of other familiar themes. At one point in James Carter’s tenor sax feature for Coleman Hawkins, "Stuffy," guitarist Howard Alden added a famous riff from the Count Basie band, that (chromatic?) figure leading to Jimmy Rushing singing, "Don’t the moon look lonesome shining through the trees." During the full ensemble opener, "Dig," Miles Davis variation on "Sweet Georgia Brown," James Carter soloing on soprano sax laid in one of Charlie Parker’s recognizable variations on those familiar chords. That sort of stuff went on all-night and there was so much of it woven into the fabric of the music that it became more than just quipping or joking or coasting: it was deep, though playful, homage. The historical terrain of the Newport Festival is the landscape of brilliance and creativity made last century. That the players Monday evening -- young, old and in between -- were able to find so much inspiration from that rich past is testament to the versatility and resilience of jazz and the universal appeal of swing. And that seemed to provide a more entertaining history lesson than musician’s aping styles by the masters of jazz: if individuality was a hallmark of a musician’s greatness in the tradition, then James Moody was there to remind us of it. Sounding like no one else but himself, Moody played an imaginatively taught, melodically sustained improvised performance on "Body and Soul" with just the swinging bass of Peter Washington to set him off. Of course it was a tribute to Coleman Hawkins, and Moody’s brilliantly arppeggiated and extended harmonic lines were in the spirit of Hawk. Yet unlike Hawkin’s famous 1939 recording Moody played the whole tune, and in method was as much informed by the mid to late-1950’s musical extensions of John Coltrane, as he was by the first great tenor saxophonist of jazz. In any case, it was beautiful and a highlight of the concert. Though trumpeter Randy Brecker had a chance to pull a Miles Davis imitation on his feature, "All Blues," Brecker didn’t compromise the brilliance of his sound or the almost lead trumpet register he can dance in during his sped up interpretation of the classic from the record selling album "Kind of Blue." Brecker put some Mile-isms into his first half chorus, then went for himself. Later while he and Moody played a simmering version of Dizzy Gillespie’s "Con Alma," Brecker kept the Gillespie-isms to a gesture, as well, and created a moving original performance. Of course Moody was a regular feature in the Dizzy Gillespie quintet, not only on saxophone, but also flute, and his turn on "Con Alma" Monday showed how he’s still finding ideas to spare in that well traveled terrain. He and James Carter did the tenor battle thing on "C Jam Blues," replete with telescoping chase choruses and a free for all collective improvisation. Moody started off the solo rounds, and it seemed to me he was using some of Carter’s ideas and moves in that opening solo, just not with the forceful textures of Carter’s style. Moody remained tastefully centered, while Carter bedazzled. James Carter, who spent many formative years at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Muskegon County, and played there again last July, was the crowd favorite: he had them by turns hollering questions and retorts at the bandstand, whooping, snickering, laughing, exploding in applause, gasping in appreciation, and abiding the most outrageous sounds of the night. With only guitarist Howard Alden to accompany him, Carter on baritone sax created his only unaccompanied cadenza of the night in introducing "Gloria," the Don Byas number found on Carter's new Columbia Recording "Flowers For Lady Day." While Alden waited patiently, Carter pulled out every trick in his bag, from his signature staccato accelerandos, to high harmonic yaps, to swaths of exciting circular breathing, to blowing whispers of air through the horn without triggering the reed. It was brief and almost an afterthought as he and Alden flowed together into the tune itself and played beautiful music together. After hearing Carter Monday, one might say he’s gaining more control, meaningful musical use, in deploying his fearsome saxophone chops. He summed up the post-Coltrane era of expressionism in jazz saxophone for Monday night’s crowd, and for this tour in general, and made it work within the very traditional settings. The rhythm section was unflagging. Alden took for his feature Barney Kessel’s "64 Bars on Wilshire." Drummer Lewis Nash took a few Max Roach style solo phrases on "Dig," but really let loose in his own manner on "Caravan," a perennial showcase for the jazz drummer, and was otherwise an inventive, constantly interesting presence during Monday’s music. And Walton and bassist Peter Washington found common ground everywhere they went together. Newport thrived on the ‘all-star’ band concept – that is a hand-picked group of sometimes very different musicians who don’t work together regularly put together for a concert set. That the band which came to Muskegon Monday night had played Friday at Michigan State University in East Lansing and Valentine’s Day night at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo helped make it more than a one-off. However short-lived, this is a touring ensemble with an exciting program they’re working out night after night on the bandstand, and recommended to any seeking to hear jazz with a strong connection to the iconic past. Edited February 17, 2004 by Lazaro Vega Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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