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Gosh, that was a busy concert year.

Denny Zeitlin, Zeitgeist (Columbia two eyes mono), and Paul Serrano Quintet, Blues Holiday (Riverside mono).

A guess would be that the lease is over at that time and the owner has other plans for the building.

Lucky Thompson (with Jimmy Hamilton, Billy Taylor, Oscar Pettiford and Osie Johnson) (Society). Impeccable British pressing.

I noticed that according to the schedule on the Stone's website, the venue is closing in February of 2018. JOHN ZORN IMPROV WEEK CELEBRATION TO RING THE BELL, CLOSE THE BOOK AND QUENCH THE CANDLE FOR THE STONE FEBRUARY 20-25

I came across the linked review of a fairly recent concert featuring Brian Charette and Jim Alfredson on dual organs. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/brian-charette-jim-alfredson-organ-duo-at-nighttown-brian-charette-by-c-andrew-hovan.php Brian Charette/Jim Alfredson Organ Duo at Nighttown slideshow By C. ANDREW HOVAN October 26, 2016 Brian Charette/Jim Alfredson Organ Duo Nighttown Cleveland, Ohio October 20, 2016 It's not often that you get the chance to hear two organists going head to head in a live setting. Jimmy McGriff and Richard "Groove" Holmes did it, but few others have dared to tread in such territory. Nonetheless, if New York heavyweight Brian Charette and Michigan marvel Jim Alfredson have anything to do with it, we might see a new precedence set for such an encounter. The pair first crossed path back in 2014 and have since enjoyed the benefits of what they call "four-fisted, double Hammond organ madness."...

Yes, the pianist in the clip linked above is Jason Moran. In recent years, Charles Lloyd uses either Jason Moran or Gerald Clayton on piano, when his group includes a piano.

January 13, 2017: Ike Stubblefield B3 Trio, Antone's, Austin January 21, 2017: Eddie Turner, Luckenbach Blues Festival, Fredericksburg January 21, 2017: Bnois King, Babb Bros., Dallas January 27, 2017: Ally Venable, Poor David's Pub, Dallas February 3, 2017: Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, McCullough Theater, Austin February 17, 2017: Al Di Meola, One World Theater, Austin February 17, 2017: Rotem Sivan Trio, Cezanne, Houston February 18, 2017: Al Di Meola, Majestic Theater, Dallas February 18, 2017: Joey Alexander, McAllister Auditorium, San Antonio College February 23, 2017: MVP Jazz Quartet (Bobby Watson, Donald Brown, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ray Drummond), Starlight Club, Walton Center, Fayetteville Arkansas February 24, 2017: Joshua Redman, Cullen Theater, Houston February 25, 2017: MVP Jazz Quartet (Bobby Watson, Donald Brown, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ray Drummond), South on Main, Little Rock, Arkansas February 25, 2017: Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University, San Antonio March 11, 2017: Marquis Hill Blacktet, Cullen Theater, Houston March 24, 2017: Cedric Burnside, White Water Tavern, Little Rock, Arkansas April 8, 2017: Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar) and Satyahit Talwalkar (tabla), Allen Public Library April 14, 2017: Stanley Clarke, One World Theater, Austin April 18, 2017: Cyrus Chestnut, Bates Recital Hall, Austin April 20, 2017: Terence Blanchard, South on Main, Little Rock, Arkansas April 21, 2017: Terence Blanchard, University of Texas at Dallas April 22, 2017: Terence Blanchard, Cullen Theater, Houston April 23, 2017: Terence Blanchard, Liberty Hall, Tyler April 28, 2017: Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, Denton Arts and Jazz Festival May 5, 2017: Vijay Iyer, Cullen Theater, Houston May 5, 2017: Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Octet, Carver Center, San Antonio May 6, 2017: Lucky Peterson, Antone's, Austin June 7, 2017: Helen Sung, Cezanne, Houston June 23, 2017: Lucky Peterson, Granada Theater, Dallas

Bob Brookmeyer Quintet, Traditionalism Revisited (World Pacific), and Dave Brubeck Quintet (with Paul Desmond and David Van Kriedt), Reunion (Fantasy)

Moving on to favorite non-jazz concert experiences this year: The Garifuna Collective (Belize)--New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Garifuna music was my favorite world music discovery of the year. Jeremy Jouve (Contemporary Classical)--University of Texas at Dallas. Solo guitar performance, mostly of compositions by French composer Mathias Duplessy. Led me to the terrific recording of these compositions, Cavalcade. Abhisek Lihari (sarod) and Subrata Bhattacharya (tabla) (Indian Classical)--Allen Public Library. The quality of performer in this series amazes me, before a crowd that appears to be in the range of 100-125. Tutu Jones (blues)--Balcony Club, The Goat, Bedford Blues Festival. Today's preeminent Texas Blues master plays sporadically in local dives and doesn't seem to tour at all. He is, however, the real deal. Lucky Peterson (blues)--The Balcony Club. Lucky Peterson, in contrast, constantly tours the world and only rarely plays in his home town. Bnois King (blues)--Bedford Blues Festival, Texas Musician's Museum. Wonderful singer and cool, spiky guitar player. Toronzo Cannon (blues)--Denton Blues Festival. Contemporary Chicago blues. Roy Gaines (blues)--T Bone Walker Blues Festival, Longview. Eric Gales (blues/rock)--T Bone Walker Blues Festival, Longview. Leni Stern (jazz/African)--55 Bar, NYC.

If this were in Dallas, I would probably go, but there is no trip to Houston in the cards for me on a Tuesday two days after Christmas.

I can't find any information about what Denardo is going to do at this concert. One will have to attend to find out

Melissa Aldana, Back Home (Wommusic) Ben Allison, Quiet Revolution (Newvelle)) Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, In Movement (ECM) Tom Harrell, Something Gold, Something Blue (High Note) Ari Hoenig, The Pauper and the Magician Manu Katche, Unstatic (Anteprime) Charles Lloyd, I Long to See You (Blue Note) David Murray, Geri Allen, Terri Lynn Carrington, Perfection (Motema) Herlin Riley, New Direction (Mack Avenue) Christian Scott, Live at the 2016 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Munck) Lonnie Smith, Evolution (Blue Note)

On second listen, I liked the first side just as much. The second side a bit less but still good. Joe Beck on guitar sounds perfectly fine to my ears. Next, Lee Konitz, Motion (Verve), and Jelly Roll Morton, Mr. Jelly Lord, Library of Congress Piano Solos (Riverside).

Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan Quartet (Pacific Jazz ten inch), and Marvin Stamm/Johnny Carisi, Machinations (Verve). The latter LP I had never heard before and listened to the first side expecting some sort of dated period piece--the liner notes after describing the songs say, Do you want to turn it over or listen to that first side again? On first listen, hell yes I want to hear that side again, it was unexpectedly great.

https://www.gofundme.com/hamiet-bluietts-recovery Hamiet Bluiett has had some severe health problems and it sounds like he will not play again. His granddaughter is trying to raise money to help him with his medical bills. "My name is Anaya Bluiett and I am the grand daughter of Hamiet Bluiett, world known Baritone saxophonist. Recently, he's been hospitalized for several months because he has had numerous strokes and seizures. He was in the critical intensive care unit, then the hospital and two rehabs to help him get back to himself but it's still going to take some time. I am trying to raise money for him for his bills and traveling expenses, since he no longer will be able to work. I'm working on moving him back to Saint Louis from New York, where he is currently living. I've been traveling back and forth to take care of him. He doesn't like asking people for help, but sometimes that's what you have to do, to be able to help yourself. He's been playing the baritone saxophone for decades and music is what he loves more than anything. For him to have to retire is going to be the most difficult part to deal with for him. If there's anything you'll can do to help, it would be greatly appreciated. You can look him up on google to find out any more information about him that you would like to know. Thank you."

Stan Getz, Interpretations (Norgran), and Dizzy Gilliespie/Django Reinhardt, Jazz From Paris (Verve). The second side of the latter, featuring what are said to be Django's final final recordings, has the most vivid and alive sound I've ever heard on a Django Reinhardt recording. On electric guitar, it sounds like he is in the room.

Quick Links Website Our Mission Contact Us Become a Member Support Workshops Youth Ensemble Past Events Links Stay Connected Join the Mailing List Forward to a Friend NAMELESS SOUND PRESENTS RAN BLAKE "Blake has a singular ability to make a single note speak volumes about the human condition, and to turn silence into a withering cry." - Bill Shoemaker, Jazz Times Ran Blake under James Turrell's Skyspace at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House 1318 West 26th St, HOUSTON, TX 77008 Saturday, January 7, 2017 SUNSET CONCERT Doors open at 4:30pm. Concert begins at 5pm (on time) in order to coincide with the sunset and James Turrell's Skyspace. The second set will be performed with Turrell's Night Piece. FREE Admission Ran Blake (Boston, MA) - piano Deeply introspective, often starkly expressed and sometimes beautifully austere, Ran Blake possesses one of the truly personal stylistic voices of modern jazz. It's is a piano music that is unquestionably of the idiom. Yet it defies the easy linear histories that simplify jazz as a succession of heroic musical innovations, and that position artists on a chronology of what is supposedly avant-garde. Much of Ran Blake's unique musical world is constructed from a combination of clear yet seamless inspirations. His deft ear and adroit touch that dovetail blues tonalities and atonalism are likely born from the marriage of early influences such as Bartok, Debussy, Stravinsky, Monk and Ellington. But other influences may be more surprising. Important to Blake is his love of singers like Mahalia Jackson, Al Green and Ray Charles. Far from mere stylistic influences, they are inspirations in the deepest sense, and subjects of study. One of Blake's most important influences is not directly musical. He apparently had a life epiphany at the age of 12, when he saw the film Spiral Staircase. And he watched the thriller 20 times in a three-week period. Of this period, Blake said: "Plots, scenes, and melodic and harmonic surfaces intermingled, obtruding into my day life as well as my dreams." He began mentally placing himself inside noir films. This, as well as real life scenarios, inspired his first original compositions. The influence of the Pentecostal church music he heard growing up in Suffield, Connecticut, combined with his musical immersion in what he terms "a film noir world" and laid the groundwork for his earliest musical style. He was formally and informally a student of some of the most impressive names in modern jazz, including Mary Lou Williams, Oscar Peterson, Mal Waldron, Bill Russo and Gunther Schuller. It was Schuller, who brought him on to the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, the first American conservatory to offer a degree in jazz. There, the future MacArthur "Genus" founded the Contemporary Improvisation Department and developed his pedagogical approach, called "The Primacy of the Ear". At New England Conservatory he became highly influential himself, mentoring generations of musicians including Matthew Shipp, Don Byron and John Medeski. "Here there is jazz per se, and there is music that sounds like Debussy improvising alone at night in a big room, trying to scare himself." - Ben Ratliff, New York Times About Ran Blake: https://ranblake.com/ About Live Oak Friends Meeting House: http://www.friendshouston.org/skyspace/about

Happy Birthday in the Land of Plano!

The fabulous rhythm section (Hampton Hawes, Charlie Haden, Shelley Manne) does meet expectations.

Art Pepper, Living Legend (Contemporary). Appears to be autographed by Art Pepper, "To Ken," which is me. Thanks to whoever got this record signed for me many years ago, or a cruel joke if fake. Dizzy Gillespie/J.J. Johnson, Perceptions (Verve).

The Immortal Charlie Parker, volume 4 (London/Savoy), Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, Battle of the Saxes (Prestige ten inch), and Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, Dizzy in Greece (Verve).

It was a rather good year for live jazz for me, mostly heard through travel. I picked the 20+ favorite jazz concerts I saw. Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock--April 24, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival James Blood Ulmer (solo)--January 15, Winter Jazzfest Heads of State (Gary Bartz, Larry Willis, David Williams, Al Foster)--May 1, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Mike Stern Quartet--October 17, 55 Bar, NYC David Virelles Mboko--January 15, Winter Jazzfest Don Byron Quartet, January 16, Winter Jazzfest Lonnie Smith Evolution, July 30, Lensic, Santa Fe Terence Blanchard E Collective, April 24, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival The Mashup (Grant Green, Jr., Ike Stubblefield, Terrence Higgins), May 1, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Christian Scott, April 22, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Elio Villafranca with Billy Harper and David Murray, October 15, Appel Room, NYC Ibrahim Maalouf, January 16, Winter Jazzfest Charles Lloyd New Quartet, July 29, Lensic, Santa Fe Dave Burrell and Andrew Cyrille, May 7, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston Joey DeFrancesco Trio, April 2, University of Texas at Dallas Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, April 23, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Ben Allison Easy Way Trio, October 19, Smoke Herlin Riley with Godwin Louis and Bruce Harris, April 24, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Louis Ford and His New Orleans Flairs with Jamil Sharif, April 23, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Tom Harrell with Dave Douglas, October 16, Village Vanguard Matana Roberts, January 14, 15, The Stone and Winter Jazzfest Roy Hargrove, January 15, Winter Jazzfest Geri Allen/Christian Sands/Russell Malone, April 22, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Shelley Carrol, April 12, St. Paul Methodist Church, Dallas

It's a great show--but not really a show, at this point a 60 hour epic film (sadly with only 12 or 13 hours remaining to be made).