Lazaro Vega

Ditto "Shades of Red" and "Let Freedom Ring," as well as "Demon's Dance" and "Old and New Gospel," plus the Birdology Tribute to Charlie Parker with J Mac, Johnny Griffin and Cecil Payne on saxophones, Duke Jordan, piano, Roy Haynes, drums, amongst others. And "Donna" with Miles Davis on Blue Note.

Listening to "Shades of Redd" on the radio now. A listener sent in this article: JACKIE McLEAN: Sugar Free Saxophone by Mike Zwerin 24 September 1998 PARIS - Jackie McLean was looking for the common tone, to be able to move between all 12 tonal centers with total freedom and under complete control. The listener should know nothing about this. In order for this to work, the force must be emotional not technical. One night, during his two weeks at the Magnetic Terrace here in Paris, he felt he got pretty close to something he's been searching for for a long time. But those breakthroughs come and go and maybe don't really come at all and after a few days had passed he was no longer so sure. Anyway he's still playing and trying. McLean is among the few remaining evergreens with enough will and force to motivate themselves night after night despite age, a demanding métier, prejudice, tangents and contrary trends. His alto-saxophone style combines the solid texture of Sonny Rollins's tenor and the fluidity of Bud Powell's piano - shorthand, but true enough as far as it goes. His angular-phrased tough, seductive, sound is as unmistakably recognizable as anybody active today. He calls it "sugar free." Which may or may not have Freudian implications because he grew up on Sugar Hill, once a noble corner in Harlem which then soured into drugs and shoot-outs. "The streets were clean when I was a kid there," he said, at once proud and sour about it. "Duke Ellington, Nat Cole and Don Redman lived in the neighborhood. People cared about our neighborhood." McLean, who was born in 1932, heard Charlie Parker at the age of 14 and "the first time that name came out of my mouth I knew at that moment I was going to be a musician." Five years later, he joined Miles Davis. Looking back, he wondered: "How did I do it that fast?" He was fast and furious in his early 20s. "When I was strung out on dope my horn was in the pawn shop most of the time and I was a most confused and troublesome young man. I was constantly on the street, in jail, or in a hospital kicking a habit. "The New York police had snatched my cabaret card and I couldn't work the clubs any more except with [Charles] Mingus who used to hire me under an assumed name. [He can be heard already moving between tonal centers on Mingus's record 'Pithecanthropus Erectus' in the '50s.] The thing that saved my life was a Jackie McLean Fan Club started in 1958 by a guy named Jim Harrison. I didn't have a big name or anything but he collected dues and he'd rent a hall once a month and present me in concert." McLean played the saxophonist - four years at $95 a week - in the first Living Theater production of the "The Connection," an off-Broadway milestone which cast a new perspective on the nature of make-believe. The junkie hustling the audience in the lobby turned out to be an actor, the hostile woman in the mezzanine was part of the cast. Some of the actors were addicts, but you weren't sure who. Actors playing characters on stage never looked the same again. "I fell in love with theater then and there," McLean said. "Even my saxophone playing became a lot more theatrical after that." Remebering how lean and mean he looked in those days, like an early James Dean, and seeing him turn 60 with a girth approaching the late Sydney Greenstreet, it was astonishing how the lust to take risks can be, if anything, greater 35 years later. There has never been and there certainly was not now anything approaching fat or phlegmatic about this man's head. The following is a story about the old days told without punctuation during a run to a pharmacy to buy a cornucopia of homeopathic medicines (similar runs were once made for cough syrup or a lot worse): "Sonny Rollins and me were sitting in this club and suddenly the door opened and it's Sonny Stitt and he said 'okay I've been waiting for this,' and he had an alto under one arm and a tenor under another and it was like 'High Noon' or something and he said 'you're both hot stuff from New York and you both think you can play well I'll take on both of you up on the killing stand come on get up there on the killing post both of you.'" Those were tough and competitive times and survival was day-to-day. Stitt did not survive, while McLean and Rollins were still picking up steam, combining honed intelligence with renewed energy at an age when most men are well into retirement. It may or may not be coincidence, but both had strong wives who managed their careers. McLean said his wife Dolly "stood up when other women would have crumpled, or killed me. For years, she was the one who worked day jobs to keep us and our three kids together. I really owe her." Both McLean and Rollins also paced themselves by retiring from full-time playing for years during their middle age. Rollins periodically left for such places as India, upstate New York and the Brooklyn Bridge to meditate. McLean joined the faculty of the highly rated Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford in Connecticut in 1970, and he became chairman of its African-American music department. The department was established, he had a National Endowment for the Arts grant for his chair and he could afford to bring in guest lecturers when he was away. So he "came back on the scene for real. My original mission is still the same. I intend to try and continue to be significant on the instrument. Not just 'Jackie McLean, oh I remember him.' But to be at the forefront of the horn. I'm ready to kick the doors down." Photo: Jackie McLean. Credit: Christian Rose <· · · · · · [ E-MAIL TO MIKE ZWERIN ] [ BACK TO JAZZNET ] · · · · · · · · · ·> If you value this page, please tell a friend or join our mailing list. Copyright © 1996 -1999 Culturekiosque Publications Ltd All Rights Reserved http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/aloci...ugeraintrovert/

I was late to the party on Jackie Mac, but once there thanks to Nessa, had the good fortune to see him a number of times, including in close quarters in 1992 on jazz cruise dedicated to Dizzy when J allowed me to interview him. Was at his birthday celebration at the Iridium a couple of years ago and saw him amid his family as well as knocking another band into shape on stage. Man, I thought he'd go on forever. He was so much more powerful than Grachan Moncur at their Chicago Jazz Festival Reunion in the (was it 1990's, that long ago?) His music will go on forever. Rest in peace music messenger.

Henry Threadgill, X-75 Volume 1 on Arista/Novus (1979. Directed by Steve Backer; produced by Michael Cuscuna). 9 piece ensemble or less...

www.bluelake.org WBLV FM 90.3/WBLU FM 88.9 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. est Kalaparush (Born March 24, 1936 in Clarkville, AR.) is our featured artist. Each hour of the program will include some of his music, with a midnight special hour-long re-broadcast of Kalaparush and The Light live on Blue Lake Public Radio from March 3, 2005.

That's a good point. The daily me becomes the daily them. The band played in Ann Arbor tonight. I'm at work, playing Lennie Tristano's music among others, and await any word on the Kerrytown concert.

Did he say Large?

Allen, Yes, the Velvet Lounge is the former home of Jelly Roll Morton which is why they continue their avant garde music policy.

I tried using "Mr." in an article for the Grand Rapids Press and the editors asked me, "What? Is he DEAD?"

14 minute version of Coltrane's "Africa" on the new CD. I'm liking that Zenon tune "2and2." Played Nicholas Payton's trumpet solo on "When Will the Blues Leave" over and over from that first disc. Ornette's themes catch me -- people say the meeting between John Coltrane and Don Cherry and Ornette's rhythm section ("The Avant Garde," Atlantic) didn't work, but the world without their version of "The Blessing" would be less of a swinging place.

The touring Dutchmen touch down at the Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, on March 28th. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/arts/mus...i=5070&emc=eta1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 23, 2006 Jazz Review ICP Orchestra's Experimental Jazz Swings at Tonic By NATE CHINEN For the first 10 minutes of the ICP Orchestra's early set at Tonic on Tuesday night, the pianist Misha Mengelberg and the drummer Han Bennink indulged in an improvised duet, something they have been doing together for roughly 40 years. Their styles were complementary, if a bit bizarrely so. Mr. Mengelberg gave the impression of a man groping for the doorknob in a darkened room. Mr. Bennink occupied the same room, but with a different temperament, impatiently and heedlessly knocking things around. That somewhat comedic contrast has always characterized Mr. Mengelberg's rapport with Mr. Bennink; as an exploratory pair, they have as much in common with Laurel and Hardy as with Lewis and Clark. In 1967, they applied their collective energies to the formation of a Dutch avant-garde movement called the Instant Composers Pool, or ICP. (A third founding member, the multireedist Willem Breuker, left the organization within its first decade.) The ICP Orchestra, a flagship in a small fleet of like-minded projects, took shape in the early 1980's, with Mr. Mengelberg and Mr. Bennink at the helm. The 10-piece group still adheres to Mr. Mengelberg's mandate of "instant composition," a term that's best understood in opposition to the formless expanse of free jazz. At Tonic, most of the music was spontaneously conceived, and a good deal of it bore the hallmarks of free-form experimentalism: clarinet squeals, saxophone shrieks, twitchy arco bowing on viola, cello and double bass. But there were signposts embedded in the music. Coordinated ensemble figures cropped up unexpectedly, hinting at a secret discipline and a fondness for bygone jazz styles. Swing — the jump-band variety, not the polished orchestral fare — was a shadow presence throughout the evening. On one tune, horns and reeds attacked a scrap of melody with ramshackle exuberance, while Mr. Bennink's bass drum thumped four beats to the bar. Mr. Mengelberg, soloing with the rhythm section, reached for a modern sensibility; he sounded more than a little like the Duke Ellington of "Money Jungle," a 1962 outing with Charles Mingus on bass and Max Roach on drums. Every other member of the orchestra had at least one solo turn; a few, like the clarinetist Michael Moore, the cellist Tristan Honsinger and the trumpeter Thomas Heberer, made multiple contributions. The most engagingly emphatic was Tobias Delius, playing tenor saxophone on a set-closer; he began in the hard rhythmic style of Illinois Jacquet, and gradually pushed toward catharsis. Mr. Delius was essentially riding the wave of the ensemble's propulsion, which transported the song from crisp Ellingtonian swing (circa 1930's) into cacophonous group improvisation (late 60's). In that moment, and on an equally immersive rumba, ICP lived up to its name; not just the first two letters, but also P, for "pool." Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

From www.bluelake.org The Jazz Datebook March 23, 2006 Muskegon – Every other Tuesday The Truth in Jazz Orchestra plays at the West Side Inn, Beidler St. The sixteen piece big band led by bassist/bass trombonist Dave Collee features a swinging book and regular guests such as drummer Tim Froncek and trumpeter Dan Jacobs, who drives down from Bellaire . This neighborhood tavern fills up over the course of the performance. Music from 7 p.m. Holland – Thursdays, 8 to 11 p.m. at Till Midnight, 171 East 24th Street, area trumpeter Dave Shock’s group The Shock Effect with bassist Jeff Beavan, Battle Creek’s tasteful arranger and accomplished pianist Terry Lower, plus drummer Mike VanLente. Rick Hicks sits in on guitar. (269) 392-6883. Saugatuck – Friday, March 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. Jim Cooper contributes his solo vibraphone performance to an open house at The Saugatuck Center for the Arts, 400 Culver Street. Then Saturday, March 25th, 8 p.m., Chicago vocalist Kirsten Gustafson tunes up for a national tour with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra by appearing with entertainer Michael Holmes in their production called “Swinging the Standards” at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts’ Bertha Krueger Reid Theater. “You Taught My Heart To Sing” was Gustafson’s 1992 debut on Atlantic records with liner notes by Sammy Cahn. In 2000 she released “Live at Montreux” recorded at the famous Swiss music festival. Seats are $15 through the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, (269) 857 – 2399 or www.sc4a.org . Ganges – Sunday, March 26th from 5 to 7 p.m. the Dave Hay / Jim Cooper Quartet at the Lakeshore Interfaith Institute, 6676 122nd Street. Ganges is in the vicinity of Saugatuck and Fennville. $3. Hay, piano; Cooper, vibraphone; Tom Lockwood, bass; Mike VanLente, drums. Grand Rapids – Friday, March 24, 6:30 p.m. vocalist Mary Rademacher swings at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. $3, cash bar. www.gramonline.org Grand Haven – Saturday, March 25th from 7-9 p.m. Megan Horist is accompanied by the ragtime pianist Jim Eberhard and friends from Grand Rapids. In “Big Blue,” the building on the corner of Ferry and Columbus. Presented by the Grand Haven Area Arts Council. This concert is part of an on-going Saturday night series. Grand Haven – The Theater Bar, 24 Washington St., features either jazz and blues guitarists Rick Hicks or Eric Glatz on Wednesday evenings from 8 to 11 p.m. and live local jazz bands on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 to 11 p.m. Grand Rapids – On-going: Find out about the next “Jazz Gumbo Showcase” presented by the West Michigan Jazz Society. Phone (616) 458 – 0125, or log-on www.wmichjazz.org . Their regular venue is The Kopper Top Guest House, 638 Stocking N.W. who just announced The Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra, a talent rich area big band, will play from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the last Monday of each month beginning March 27th. Kalamazoo – Wednesday, March 29th @ 8:00 p.m. The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet celebrates their new CD “Spin” (Telarc Records) with a free form approach to musical styles in concert at the Dalton Center Recital Hall, Western Michigan University. $25 for adults (group discounts available), $5 for students. Phone for tickets (800) 228-9858, Coming from a classical music instrumentation the band has cross over appeal to jazz.. Residency activities by the LAGQ include: 3-29, 10:30am: Open House, The Fountains at Bronson, 1700 Bronson Way, Kalamazoo. 1:00pm: Western Michigan University Convocation Series, Dalton Recital Hall. Thursday, March 30th, 10am: Youth Concert, Dalton Recital Hall. A presentation of www.fontanachamberarts.org Ann Arbor – Tuesday, March 28th at 8 p.m., veteran improvisors of European jazz Misha Mengleberg, piano, and Han Bennink, drums with Holland’s world-renowned Instant Composer’s Pool Orchestra at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 North Fourth Avenue. For directions to the multi-directional music of the ICP Orchestra see www.kerrytownoncerthouse.com Ann Arbor – Thursday, March 30th at 8 p.m. Russ Gershon’s labor of love The Either Orchestra, recently recorded at the Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Ababa, also appears at the Kerrytown Concert House. A different vibe than the parade music to pure improvisation by the Dutchmen, Cambridge Mass.’s Either Orchestra is known for recasting jazz classics by Charles Mingus and Miles Davis, as well as leader Gershon’s absurdist wit, as in his piece “There’s a Bus That’s Leaving Soon for Alban Berg’s House.” www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com Ann Arbor – Friday, March 31st , 8 p.m., The San Francisco Jazz Collective plays a tribute to Herbie Hancock at The Michigan Theater. Joshua Redman, saxophones and artistic director; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes and marimba; Renee Rosnes, piano; Miguel Zenon, alto saxophone; plus a rhythm section to be announced. Part of the 12th Annual Jazz Series presented by The University Musical Society, now in it’s 127th season. See www.ums.org East Lansing – Wednesday, April 5th Doc Severinsen with the Great Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Cobb Great Hall, the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts. www.whartoncenter.com Hart – Friday, May 12th, pianist Butch Thompson and Friends at the Hart Public Schools Auditorium in the Hart Middle School. Tickets at the door, $7.00. Contact Tom Kirk, (231) 873- 6320.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2006/03/13 The Rythym of a Life 74-year old drummer Paul Motian reflects on his impressive career, and describes what it was like to play with Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk, and Bill Evans. Events:Paul Motian will be playing as part of the Bobo Stenson Trio Wednesday, March 15 through Saturday, March 18 at 9 and 11pm Birdland (315 West 44th Street,­ between 8th & 9th Avenues) Tickets are $30. Call:(212) 581-3080 or visit www.birdlandjazz.com

In Arhoos, Denmark, they say Vin-ding, everywhere else it rhymes with wind .

Anthony Braxton & Leo Records by Bill Smith Anthony Braxton and Leo Feigin share a certain persistent determination to document creative music. Leo, as a producer releasing numerous important recordings, beginning in 1979, and Anthony documenting his own music any way he could, starting with “Three Compositions of New Jazz” on the Chicago based label Delmark in 1968. Much has happened for both of them in the ensuing years including a partnership that has continued for the past 18 years starting with the release of the 3 record set – “Anthony Braxton Quartet (London) 1985”. Since that time Leo has released no less than 30 CDs of Braxton’s music.... http://vancouverjazz.com/bsmith/2006/02/an...eo-records.html

Yes, we've had that on the air and have enjoyed his version of "You're the Top."

Happy 77th Birthday to Fred Anderson (3-22)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi...hi-business-hed Closing time for historic Velvet Lounge Howard Reich Published March 22, 2006 If all goes as planned, the last show at the historic Velvet Lounge -- on the Near South Side -- will start about 10 p.m. April 1 and go into the wee hours. Scheduled to be razed to make way for a condominium development, the club -- a nexus for avant-garde jazz in Chicago -- will go out with a roar, featuring the mighty Chicago tenor saxophonist Edward Wilkerson Jr., guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer Avreeayl Ra. "Right now, I don't think the club will go any longer than that night," says owner and saxophonist Fred Anderson, who will be moving his celebrated venue a couple of blocks away, to 67 E. Cermak Rd. A fundraiser for the move will feature Anderson, Harrison Bankhead and Hamid Drake at 10 p.m. Saturday in the current location, 2128 1/2 S. Indiana Ave., with admission at $20. The new quarters have been completed, said Anderson, who hopes to reopen in late April or early May. ===================== remaining gigs- tonight: Greg Ward and Friends 23-Mar: Vincent Davis and Percussion Plus with special guest Ed Wilkerson Jr. 24-Mar: Nicole Mitchell Black Earth 25-Mar: Benefit: Fred Anderson, Harrison Bankhead, and Hamid Drake 26-Mar: Jazz Jam with Jabari Liu 29-Mar: Greg Ward and Friends 30-Mar: Vincent Davis and Percussion Plus with special guest Ed Wilkerson Jr. 31-Mar: Somebody's Trio + One, with Greg Ward, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Isaiah Spencer, w/special guest Ernest Dawkins 01-Apr: Avreeayl Ra, Ed Wilkerson, Jeff Parker

What label is that Warne Marsh/Art Pepper reunion on?

Thanks for the help on the pronouncer, but with "Tza" do you pronounce the "T." Thinking of Tchacai or Tchaikovsky where you don't...So, tee-zah, or Tah-zah...? sorry to be so thick....

http://www.dailymotion.com/alternativa/1 You can "search" jazz, too, for many more....

Typo alert: Lucky Millinder Has anyone heard Lateef's double CD from last year? The most recent music from Lateef that I've heard is that Go:Organic Orchestra music on Rudolph's Meta Records. That's an incredible melange. By the way, how do you pronounce Assif's last name? Thanks for posting the article.

If they're going to go to all that work (opera, sheesh, what an impossibility to have every element go smoothly) let's hope it is recorded commercially.

Been absorbing that new CD of Blake's. Some of his music is so stark. Went to hear and record Fred Hersch tonight in Grand Rapids so missed this radio program. Anyone catch it?

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steve Schram named interim director at embattled Michigan Public Media Susan Whitall / The Detroit News March 15, 2006 Veteran Detroit radio executive Steve Schram has been named interim director of Michigan Public Media at the University of Michigan, effective immediately. Schram replaces Donovan Reynolds, who departed last week at the same time a criminal investigation of fundraising incentives at WUOM-FM was launched by the U-M Department of Public Safety. Michigan Public Media includes Michigan Radio, an NPR news station broadcasting in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Flint, and Michigan Television, a PBS member station broadcasting in Flint. Schram, a 1975 Michigan State graduate with a degree in television and radio, has held the two top radio jobs in Detroit. From 2003-2005, he was senior vice president and director of sales for Infinity (CBS) Broadcasting's six-station Detroit cluster. Currently Schram heads up his own company doing media consulting. From 1996-2002, he was vice president and general manager for Clear Channel's seven Detroit-area radio stations. Schram also brings experience working for online giant AOL, as part of its web properties group, a job he held between his Clear Channel and Infinity gigs. "I am very pleased to join the team at Michigan Public Media," said Schram in a statement released by U-M. "These dynamic broadcast voices educate and inform their listeners at the very highest levels of excellence. I look forward to growing their impact and success." U-M President Mary Sue Coleman commented: "Our public radio and television stations make an important contribution to community education and an informed public dialogue in Michigan. I am pleased that Steve was available to contribute his business expertise to the stations during this period of transition." Schram, a Detroit native, grew up listening to Detroit radio of the 1960s, and with his friend Scott Westerman, another MSU grad, founded the website keener13.com, an homage to long departed WKNR-AM, their favorite rock station.