GA Russell

Bill Frisell: guitar | Thomas Morgan: double bass “It's in the more naked, completely vulnerable environs of the duo—where the need for musical trust is, perhaps, at its most crucial—that the profound chemistry shared by these two thoroughly synchronized players becomes even clearer…Frisell proves that it's possible to bring together original music, country music, jazz standards and more in an unfettered duet setting. At the end of the day, categories matters not; genres matter not; sources matter not… (He) has released an album that brings so many of his personal touchstones together while, at the same time, bringing its diverse program together into a unified whole… With Small Town, Frisell has clearly found another ideal musical foil to add to his growing cadre of musicians with whom he collaborates on a regular basis. Intimate, beautiful and deep, while at the same time knotty, witty and curiously skewed, Small Town delivers, in many ways, on the promise of In Line's five duo tracks 35 years on, with a live set that proves great music isn't just where you find it; it's everywhere.” -John Kelman, Allaboutjazz.com, 4 ½ stars TOUR DATES June 23 - Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Jazz Festival June 24 - Toronto, ON @ Toronto Jazz Festival June 25 – Rochester, NY @ Rochester Jazz Festival June 27 - New Haven, CT @ Firehouse 12 June 28 - Pawling, NY @ Darryl’s Place June 29 - Bay Shore, NY @ Boulton Center for the Performing Arts June 30 - Brooklyn, NY @ Roulette July 1 - Evanston, IL @ SPACE July 2 - Montreal, PQ @ Montreal Jazz Festival © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011

May 25, 1965 - Sonny Boy Williamson dies May 25, 1921 - Hal David born May 25, 1936 - Tom T. Hall born

Happy Birthday Jim!

I've never heard an album like this before. You will note that the press release says, "ten arrangements of producer/keyboardist's new composition." That is to say, it is one song played ten times. What it sounds like to me, just listening casually, is that the rhythm section's work is repeated ten times, supporting different instruments or vocals on each track. I like the tracks, but toward the end I start to get tired of hearing items repeated.

You're welcome bbr! I think it is fair to call this an unusual recording. The sound of the instruments is very smooth and relaxing, but many of the solos are somewhat "out there."

Steve, I bought the DVD of that just a couple of weeks ago. It's a longtime favorite of mine. The only other movie of hers that I remember making a splash at the time was The Horizontal Lieutenant with Jim Hutton. I like that one as well.

Lon, that's good to know. So that another Universal label I hadn't heard about. Thanks!

Take a look at this. Is Timeless now in the bootleg business? One reviewer calls this a limited edition Korean product. Legit? What do you think? Blue Note Jazz (box) https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Note-Jazz-Various/dp/B00030FJ3K/

May 23, 1966 - The Beatles release Paperback Writer May 23, 1969 - The Who release Tommy May 23, 1910 - Artie Shaw born May 23, 1920 - Helen O'Connell born May 23, 1921 - Humphrey Lyttelton born May 23, 1928 - Rosemary Clooney born May 23, 1974 - Jewel born May 23, 1994 - Joe Pass dies

Steve, what was the Paula Prentiss film you were referring to?

In 1980, the UHF station in Pittsburgh showed Maverick every weekday night. This was the first time I had the opportunity to see it as an adult, and I was surprised to find that I thought he was very good as Beau Maverick. In 1960, a Seattle TV station showed his syndicated Ivanhoe show every Friday night at 6:00 pm, and I never missed it! I remember that it was sponsored by Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat. A couple of years ago I read his autobiography My Word is My Bond, which I can recommend. https://www.amazon.com/My-Word-Bond-Autobiography/dp/1843173875/ RIP Roger Moore!

After 28 years, Carm Carteri is out as the Riders' radio analyst. He will be replaced by Luc Mullinder. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/22/28-years-carm-carteri-riders-radio-colour-commentator/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/05/22/carteri-chris-jones-seems-controlling-everything/#comments

1st Annual LuluFest In Austin, Texas To Be Presented Saturday, June 3 By Ritenuto Foundations, Inc. In Collaboration with The St. Edward's University Music Department & Festival Founder/Artistic Director Peggy Stern Women Bandleaders, Including Helen Sung, Ingrid Jensen, Albanie Falletta, Susanna Sharpe, & Peggy Stern, Are the Focus of LuluFest May 22, 2017 Pianist/composer Peggy Stern is passionate about creating opportunities for women bandleaders to present their music. In 2004, she founded the Wall Street Jazz Festival, which was held for 12 consecutive years in Kingston, New York, for exactly that purpose. After relocating to Austin, Texas in the spring of 2013, Stern was inspired to continue the festival's concept in Austin's forward-thinking community. Her new brainchild, the first annual LuluFest, is a women-led band festival that will premiere on Saturday, June 3, with concerts from 5 to 10pm and workshops scheduled throughout the day. The festival, presented by Ritenuto Foundation, Inc., in collaboration with the St. Edward's University Music Department and founder/artistic director Peggy Stern, will feature a broad spectrum of music -- from jazz to Western swing to Latin and Brazilian. The concert series will be held on Saturday, June 3, from 5:00 to 10:00 pm, at the Jones Auditorium in the Ragsdale Center at St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress Avenue, Austin. The focus of LuluFest will be women bandleaders, both seasoned and up-and-coming, who have committed their lives to music. "These festivals are my attempt to even things out, between men and women bandleaders," says Stern. "Obviously we have a long way to go, but having women in charge of the music they are presenting helps to change the tone of the jazz culture, for future (and present) composers and leaders." The evening concert schedule is as follows: 5pm: Albanie Falletta Trio, featuring Masumi Jones 6pm: Susanna Sharpe Brazilian Quartet 7pm: Ingrid Jensen Quartet 8pm: Helen Sung Trio 9pm: Estrella Salsa, featuring Peggy Stern, Suzi Stern (no relation), Joey Colarusso, Ingrid Jensen, Daniel Durham, Mike Longoria Daytime workshops will be instrument specific: Piano (Helen Sung); Trumpet (Ingrid Jensen); Vocals (Suzi Stern); Drums (Masumi Jones). From 12 to 1:30pm, the workshops will take place in St. Edward's University's Carriage House, and from 2 to 3:30pm, a master class will be held in the Jones Auditorium. Workshop passes can be bought separately at $30 for adults and $15 for students, or interested musicians can buy a festival pass for $50 that grant access to both the workshops and concerts. More information about the artists, the concept of the Festival, and fees and directions can be found at lulu-fest.com. This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department. Pianist/composer and native Philadelphian Peggy Stern lived, worked, and taught in New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle, and toured widely throughout Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan, before relocating to Austin in 2013. Her music has a particularly broad ethnic base -- in addition to European and American classical music, it draws from Brazilian, African, Jewish, Irish, Cuban, and traditional jazz influences. Joining the vibrant music scene in her new home city, she intends to create a new (for her) musical genre, which she calls Cowboy Jazz. Peggy has recorded and/or toured with such musicians as Lee Konitz, Diane Schuur, David "Fathead" Newman, Gary Peacock, Gene Bertoncini, Bud Shank, Thomas Chapin, Machito, Gerry Mulligan, and Emily Remler, to name a few. Among the many women bandleaders whom she booked to appear at her Wall Street Jazz Festival were Sheila Jordan, Ingrid Jensen, Christine Jensen, Jay Clayton, Dena DeRose, Su Terry, Claire Daly, Jamie Baum, Teri Roiger, Roberta Piket, Virginia Mayhew, Laura Dubin, Sheryl Bailey, Allison Miller, Marilyn Crispell, Jenny Scheinman, Natalie Cressman, and her own Estrella Salsa. Peggy Stern's most recent recording is Z Octet (2016, Estrella Productions). "It has been 16 years since Peggy Stern last applied her piano, composing and arranging talents to a mid-sized ensemble. Z Octet was worth waiting for . . . . Stern's writing weaves piano, clarinet, cello, trombone, flute, bass and drums into rich and often surprising textures. . . . The CD ends with an unlisted bonus track that makes enchanting use of cello, trombone and flute. The whole album is a bonus." -- Doug Ramsey, Rifftides "This is Duke Ellington's brilliance, Maria Schneider's local color, and Miles Davis' diamond hard seriousness all melded and tempered by a singular mind and talent into a cogent and familiar musical statement." -- C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz "Peggy Stern has taken from her experiences playing in the bands of Eddie Henderson, Machito and Lee Konitz to weave a very special tapestry of indefinable music that bobs and weaves like a boxer named Ali." -- Mike Greenblatt, Classicalite "This is music possessed of great explosions, bristling rhythms, dynamic contrasts starkly illuminated, and with unrelenting dramatic thrust. It is a record to die for." -- Raul da Gama, Jazz da Gama Photography: Brenda Ladd Web Sites: peggystern.com, lulu-fest.com

Frank Sinatra - The Box Set Series - $10.22 prime or $5.25 + 3.99 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKJ0XTA/

May 21, 1904 - Fats Waller born May 21, 1916 - Dennis Day born May 21, 1941 - Ron Isley born

May 21, 1955 - Chuck Berry records Maybelline.

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Does anyone remember the show Decoy with Beverly Garland? I don't, but I have seen references to it from time to time over the past twenty years. The complete series will be released May 30 for $11.53. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y18TNQ1/

Happy Birthday 2017 Larry!

Hbj, I don't see anything.

Laurie has released this 12:17 track from a concert in Australia. https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/almost-free-road-waltz-12-minutes

Let's look at recent news unrelated to the draft. Longtime CFL beat reporter Gary Lawless is leaving to join the NHL expansion team in Las Vegas. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/03/cfl-insider-gary-lawless-leaving-tsn/#comments ***** Shakir Bell has signed with the Redblacks. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/09/redblacks-sign-rb-shakir-bell/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/05/11/redblacks-ink-running-back-bell/ http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/article/rb-bell-signs-one-year-deal-with-redblacks-1.748929 ***** This year's Grey Cup is almost sold out. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/10/toronto-debacle-ottawa-grey-cup-ticket-sales-going-strong/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/05/10/105th-grey-cup-nearing-sellout-redblacks-announce/ http://www.tsn.ca/105th-grey-cup-nearing-sellout-redblacks-announce-1.747926 ***** The Lions have traded Mike Edem to the Riders. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/11/riders-acquire-canadian-safety-mike-edem-b-c-lions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/05/11/b-c-lions-traded-mike-edem/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/05/11/riders-acquire-safety-mike-edem-trade-lions/ http://www.tsn.ca/riders-acquire-canadian-s-edem-from-lions-1.749087 ***** Karl Lavoie has retired. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/11/beleaguered-stamps-offensive-line-suffers-another-blow/#comments ***** Arland Bruce lost his appeal in his concussion lawsuit against the league, so he will appeal to the BC Supreme Court. http://3downnation.com/2017/05/12/arland-bruce-loses-appeal-concussion-lawsuit-cfl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/05/13/bruces-lawyer-plans-take-concussion-case-supreme-court/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/05/12/cfl-releases-statement-court-decision-involving-arland-bruce/ ***** Tori Gurley has signed with the Redblacks. https://www.cfl.ca/2017/05/04/redblacks-sign-former-argo-bomber-wr-tori-gurley/ http://www.tsn.ca/redblacks-sign-wide-receiver-gurley-1.743563 ***** Colin Kelly has signed with the Eskimos. http://www.tsn.ca/eskimos-sign-former-redblacks-rt-kelly-after-nfl-stint-1.746571 ***** This year Jason Maas will let OC Carson Walch do the Eskimos' play calling. http://www.tsn.ca/eskimos-head-coach-maas-giving-up-play-calling-duties-to-walch-1.748066 ***** Alex Bazzie has signed with Carolina. http://www.tsn.ca/former-lions-de-bazzie-signs-with-panthers-1.745548 ***** The Eskimos made a profit of C$1.4 million last year. http://www.tsn.ca/eskimos-post-16-profit-of-1-4-million-despite-being-crossover-playoff-team-1.747127

Aaron Parks piano, Ben Street double bass, Billy Hart drums For his second ECM album, Aaron Parks has convened a cross-generational trio featuring bassist Ben Street and drummer Billy Hart. The rhythm pair, which also teams in Hart’s hit quartet for ECM, blends fluidity and strength – what Parks calls “an oceanic” quality, producing waves of energy for the pianist to alternately ride and dive into. Find the Way has the aura of a piano-trio recording in the classic mold, from melody-rich opener “Adrift” to the closing title track, a cover of a romantic tune Parks grew to love on an LP by Rosemary Clooney and Nelson Riddle. Aaron Parks | Ben Street | Billy Hart CD Launch Concert June 16 - Smalls 183 W 10th St, New York, NY © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011

ECM Aaron Parks Find the Way Aaron Parks: piano Ben Street: double-bass Billy Hart: drums U.S. Release date: June 2, 2017 ECM 2489 B0026548-02 UPC: 6025 478 1841 6 Aaron Parks / Ben Street / Billy Hart in concert June 16th at Smalls in NYC On his second ECM album– following the solo release Arborescence, which JazzTimes praised as “expansive, impressionistic… like a vision quest” – pianist Aaron Parks leads a cross-generational trio featuring Ben Street and Billy Hart. The bassist and drummer blend fluidity and strength and what Parks calls “an oceanic” quality, producing waves of energy for the pianist to alternately ride and dive into. Find the Way has the aura of a piano-trio recording in the classic mold, from melody-rich opener “Adrift” to the closing title track, a cover of a romantic tune Parks grew to love on an LP by Rosemary Clooney and Nelson Riddle. Parks also drew inspiration for this album from the likes of Alice Coltrane and Shirley Horn (for whom Hart played); space and subtlety are a priority, with the pianist aiming to allow “the music to breathe.” Parks recorded Find the Way with Street and Hart at the La Buissonne studio in the South of France, the trio working closely with producer Manfred Eicher. The pianist had previously played with Street in guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s band, and Parks was a longtime admirer of Hart, “from his days backing Shirley Horn to when he played with Herbie Hancock’s funky Mwandishi group to the Quest band with Dave Liebman to the Billy Hart Quartet on ECM, with Ethan Iverson, Mark Turner and Ben. I listened a lot to that quartet, really digging how he interacted with Ben “Ben and Billy have such a clear sense of where the ‘center’ is that they don’t even need to play it, just allude to it. But their playing has a centrifugal force – it’s like a whirlpool. Billy, in particular, has this special authority when he plays, this vital presence – and it makes you rise to the level of that engagement. He also has this subtle, poetic quality from his time playing with singers. He really is a poet of the drums.” The trio plays the music of Find the Way with special elasticity, a push and pull between high lyricism and kinetic energy. Parks is particularly pleased with “Melquíades” (named for a character in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude). “That piece has a classic ECM feel to me,” Parks says, “and Billy just breathes the music, with its constantly shifting time signature.” Parks conceived “Hold Music” as a miniature drum concerto especially for Hart but the pianist sprung “Unravel” on the drummer in the studio. “Ben and I had played the song before - it has this complicated 13/8 time signature, and even though Billy had never seen it on the page, he just started reacting when Ben and I started playing it – doing so with such individual color and vibrancy.” Another highlight is “Alice,” which Parks initially patterned along the lines of an Alice Coltrane number like “Ptah the El Daoud.” He says: “It was a swinging tune with a cross rhythm in the piano figure, but it ended up opening out once we got through the melody, becoming something a bit more mysterious.” A key influence throughout Find the Way is vocalist Shirley Horn, who was also a distinctive pianist. “Shirley, when she took her solos, would leave notes hanging in the air, teasing with duration,” Parks says. “There was a sense with her piano playing of not needing to prove anything, but of a desire to let the music breathe. I think I’ve become more patient as my own playing has evolved, with my touch more resonant. I don’t feel as much of a need to grab the lead, to fill space. I feel free to let a note ring out and hang in the air, to hear what the sound does as it decays, to allow the pedal to work its magic.” *** Aaron Parks was born in California in 1983 and raised in Seattle. By age 15, he was already attending the University of Washington with a triple-major in math, computer science and music; three years later, he was the champion Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association. Parks has recorded in the quartet collective James Farm with saxophonist Joshua Redman, as well as contributed to albums by trumpeters Terence Blanchard, Ambrose Akinmusire, Christian Scott and Philip Dizack guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mike Moreno, vocalist Gretchen Parlato and drummer Kendrick Scott, among others. For ECM, the pianist appeared on South Korean singer Yeahwon Shin’s label debut, Lua Ya. The Guardian pointed out that the pianist’s “melodic sense is acute and original, his narratives and harmonies varied, and his pacing subtle,” adding that “Arborescence has a low-lights feel, but its musicality and lyricism glow brightly.” ECM Ferenc Snétberger Titok Ferenc Snétberger: guitar Anders Jormin: double bass Joey Baron: drums U.S. Release date: June 2, 2017 ECM 2468 B0026549-02 UPC: 6025 574 0670 2 Hungarian guitarist Ferenc Snétberger leads a trio with Swedish bassist Anders Jormin and US drummer Joey Baron in this warm and involving recording, produced by Manfred Eicher in Oslo, and intensely melodic improvisation draws the listener gently into its sound-world. The gracefully flowing guitar (Snétberger has a way of making even complex phrases seem effortless), the enveloping rhythmic undertow, and the highly creative playing from all participants captivate throughout Titok. There is soloistic brilliance here and high-level interplay, and the music takes the time it needs to unfold, breathing very naturally. The compound sound of the trio, with Ferenc’s acoustic nylon-string guitar partnered by bass and drums, is special. Joey Baron shades and colors the music with great subtlety using brushes, sticks and hands, and the rapport between Snétberger and Jormin is evident from the outset, as both guitar and bass explore the contours of Ferenc’s compositions. “The dialogue here between classical guitar and Anders’s way of playing the bass seems to me unique,” observes Ferenc Snétberger. “Anders has a special ‘voicing’, a special way of entering into my music. And, together, he and Joey offer inspirations which are mirrored in my playing. Manfred’s participation was also inspiring – without his ideas, and his choice of pieces and the sequencing of them, the album could not have existed in this form.” The producer recommended Jormin and Baron for this project and the trio came together to play three concerts in Hungary before the session at Rainbow Studios, where spontaneity was the watchword. The album is framed by music freely created in the moment: the opening piece “Cou Cou”, the title track “Titok” and the three concluding pieces “Clown”, “Rush” and “Inference” are all improvised discoveries. The sense of searching and finding in the opening moments gives way to the clearly etched melody of “Kék Kerék”, a rather beautiful older melody of Ferenc’s. “Rambling” is the first of several pieces written for this trio, the writing leaving space for bass and drums to add their statements. The tenderly phrased “Fairytale” likewise invites Jormin to add countermelodies in the deep end. “Leolo”, dedicated to Ferenc and Angela Snétberger’s grandson Leo, begins with nursery rhyme melodic simplicity and develops into elegant chamber music, including a fine section with Jormin’s arco bass… Ferenc Snétberger’s thoroughly distinctive guitar style has been gradually shaped through the absorption and transformation of many influences. Born in 1957 into a very musical family, Ferenc had classical guitar lessons from age 13, and studied jazz guitar in Budapest. Based in Berlin from 1988, he began to harmonize the full range of his guitaristic interests, from Django Reinhardt and Roma music to Brazilian and other Latin American musics via US jazz and European classical tradition – from the baroque to contemporary composition. “Alom” on the present disc is an adaptation of an old theme referencing Roma music, while “Orange Tango” and “Renaissance” acknowledge their inspirational sources in their titles. Yet none of these pieces sounds “eclectic”, the diverse sources are integrated organically inside Snétberger’s music, and accessed readily through the guitar. (Throughout Titok, Ferenc plays a guitar hand-built to his specifications by the late German luthier Tom Launhardt.) Titok is the second ECM album by Ferenc Snétberger. It follows the critically-acclaimed In Concert, recorded at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy of Music (“A beautiful, assured performance” – All About Jazz). Anders Jormin and Joey Baron have appeared on many ECM records, but Titok marks the first time they have played together on a session for the label (they have periodically crossed paths in live contexts – playing for instance in trio with the late John Taylor). Jormin has made several albums as a leader for ECM, most recently Trees of Light, with singer and fiddler Lena Willemark and koto player Karin Nakagawa. His other discs include Xieyi, In winds, in light, and Ad Lucem. A long-time member of the Bobo Stenson Trio, he also appears on albums with Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd, Tomasz Stanko, Sinikka Langeland and others. Joey Baron has been John Abercrombie’s drummer of choice for two decades and appears on the Abercrombie Quartet’s newest release Up and Coming. Baron is also currently a member of the trios of Jakob Bro (album: Streams) and Gary Peacock (albums: Now This and the forthcoming Tangents, due this autumn). Plans for further Snétberger concerts with Jormin and Baron are currently being worked on. Meanwhile, Ferenc also fronts an admirable trio with British bassist Phil Donkin and New York-based Hungarian drummer Ferenc Németh, which recently brought some of the Titok repertoire to Europe’s clubs and concert halls. In October 2017 Ferenc Snétberger will tour in trio with Anders Jormin and Ferenc Németh.