Lazaro Vega

Henry Threadgill's story about his early life in the gospel music world was wild. "Pulling snakes out of people's mouths." Having to start your playing at the back of the stage and making sure, by the time you walked up front, that you had the audience with you or else.

(From Jazz Corner.com, probably written by Lois Gilbert) Jazz Showcase in Chicago is Back!! (soon) Cans of paint and crumpled dropcloths are scattered everywhere. Bare windows and half-empty walls stare at a couple of dusty cabaret tables and a few wooden chairs. But come Thursday, if all goes according to plan, this space-in-progress will emerge as ground zero for jazz in Chicago. Or perhaps we should say "re-emerge," for Jazz Showcase founder Joe Segal has been presenting music in this city for 61 years. He has done it in nondescript halls at Roosevelt University, starting in 1947, and in borrowed showrooms from the South Side to the North. Along the way, his son Wayne joined the cause, the duo bringing the world's greatest jazz stars—and local icons, as well—to celebrated spaces in the Blackstone Hotel and, more recently, at 59 W. Grand Ave., in River North. Now comes the latest and potentially the most sumptuous home yet for the Jazz Showcase, which was forced to find new quarters after losing its lease on Grand Avenue in 2006. "This is the last place," says Segal, 82, sitting alongside Wayne in their new spot, in Dearborn Station at 806 S. Plymouth Ct., the afternoon sun pouring in through floor-to-ceiling windows. Sun? In a jazz club? "Don't worry—we're getting curtains," says Wayne Segal, though the light might be a welcome feature for the Sunday family matinees that long have been a draw. The mere fact that the Segals have ordered window treatments—"burgundy and chocolate-colored drapes," brags Wayne—says a great deal about the ambition of the enterprise, and how it stands apart from much of what came before. "So many places we walked into, they were built out already, and we just hung up the pictures," says Wayne. "Here, we could decide where the walls would go, where the stage would stand, what the colors would be. Everything." Redefining the club The design the Segals have settled on represents something more significant than just a color scheme. Essentially, they appear to have redefined the nature of the Jazz Showcase, using their self-styled space to alter the room for 21st Century sensibilities. Rather than position the club as something close to a concert venue—in which audiences listen devoutly to a set, then stream out once the last note is sounded—they've tried to make the new Showcase "a hang," as Wayne Segal puts it. A large, three-sided bar anchors the back of the room, which seats 171 people in 3,500 square feet (slightly larger than the Grand Avenue spot, which seated 150 in 3,400 square feet). Still-to-be-ordered sofas and other amenities will encourage visitors to linger, the Segals hope. The nature of the bustling South Loop neighborhood would seem to facilitate the Showcase's recasting itself as a social nexus, albeit a somewhat rarefied one. "We've always been a classic jazz club, a sit-and-listen kind of place, and that won't change," Wayne Segal hastens to add. "But we also want it to be a place that's not just for listening but also for hanging out. People used to treat us as a concert hall, and we want to make it more conducive" to meeting, talking (softly) and having a drink or three. Creating a place to 'hang' At the head of the room, a large, raised stage— 2 feet high and thus more imposing than the low-slung one at either Grand Avenue or the Blackstone—is spacious enough to seat a roaring big band comfortably. State-of-the-art, accessible bathrooms will come as something of a shock to jazz clubgoers, where facilities typically lean toward a Third World ambience. But the bigger changes will emerge in the programming, say the Segals. For starters, the Tuesdays-through-Sundays engagements that have been a Jazz Showcase signature will be relegated to the past. Instead, most visiting headliners will play Thursdays through Sundays; the empty houses that the Showcase often endured Tuesdays and Wednesdays explain the change in strategy. In addition, sets will start earlier—7 p.m. and 9 p.m. every night of the week, to better attract folks who have to work in the morning. Most intriguingly, at 10 p.m. nightly, Chicago musicians will preside over informal jam sessions; big bands and still more jam shows will unfold Mondays through Wednesdays. Theoretically, the looseness of that format will encourage musicians and listeners to drop by for the informal "hang" that Wayne Segal covets. In that way, he hopes the room "will have the energy we used to have on Rush Street, where jam sessions would go on, and musicians would come in just to see if they could sit in." Ah yes, Rush Street. Back then, in an era when polyester suits and platform shoes were considered chic, the 1970s Jazz Showcase thrived a few steps below ground, underneath the Happy Medium (which presented plays, musical revues and, inevitably, disco). Segal's hippest setting It was by far the most glamorous, high-profile setting the Showcase had enjoyed, up to that point, and it had taken Segal a long haul to get there. Born in Philadelphia and smitten with the big bands he heard in the city's famous Earl Theater, Segal had taken trombone lessons as a youngster but soon realized his musical limitations. While stationed in Champaign, Ill., in the Army Air Corps in the mid-'40s, he routinely rode the Illinois Central train into Chicago's Randolph Street Station and immersed himself in jazz in the Loop, the Near North, the South Side—everywhere. By 1947, he was enrolled at Roosevelt University and began inviting jazz musicians who were playing clubs around town to appear there, snaring Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Lester Young, Dexter Gordon and the Modern Jazz Quartet. "If you were a student, you could hear the big-time players play," says Chicago trumpeter Art Hoyle, who recalls being blown away by the action at Roosevelt in 1949. "It was so exciting." 'He always found a way' After a decade of presenting music but never graduating, Segal moved on, presenting his beloved jazz stars at long-forgotten clubs such as the Gate of Horn and the French Poodle on the North Side, the Sutherland Lounge on the South Side. Not that it was easy. The rise of youth-oriented rock 'n' roll in the '60s forced many clubs out of business. Oftentimes, Segal would pay his musicians, then ask if he could borrow a buck for the ride home. "In spite of anything that interfered, he always found a way of making it work," says Charles Fishman, former personal manager of Dizzy Gillespie and executive producer of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. Though Segal has outlived many of his earliest fans, perhaps most listeners today best remember the rooms he had at the Blackstone Hotel and on West Grand Avenue. But this time, the stakes are higher. Wayne Segal, who's president of the Showcase corporation, put up his own equity as collateral to borrow money for the build-out—the first time that the Showcase has taken out a loan. Though the Segals decline to specify the amount, work of this kind often hovers in the low-to-mid six figures ( Fred Anderson's remodeling of his Velvet Lounge, two years ago at 67 E. Cermak Rd., cost more than $160,000). Would they be back? Nearly two years ago, after the Segals had lost the place on Grand Avenue, they wondered if they ever would be back. They had spent months surveying dozens of possible sites, but downtown rents were high, and build-outs are never cheap. During their down time, the Segals kept hearing the same question. "I'd go to [jazz] concerts at Symphony Center, and people would constantly be asking when the Showcase was coming back," recalls Wayne Segal. "You don't understand the impact of what you're doing, until you step out of it." Eventually, neither of the Segals could stand being without their club, which is second only to the Village Vanguard, in New York, in presenting jazz continuously in the United States (the Vanguard opened in the 1930s). So the Segals found the room at Dearborn Station, an unusual space in that it has no columns obstructing the view (practically a requirement for a jazz club). "This is our last home," says Wayne Segal, echoing his father. "The Jazz Showcase is back."

From Ben Opie: Hello: I'm still recovering from my extra-extended weekend with Anthony. What can I say, it was pretty freakin awesome. (I can probably say something better than that.) We had a fun duet session, rehearsed and actually pulled-off a smoking creative music orchestra concert, my high school students got to work with him, we played at the Aviary with the birds, etc etc. Everything was recorded and we could see as many as six CDs and a DVD of *good* stuff come out of this weekend. I am posting photos and a narrative of the time at www.myspace.com/braxtonplayspittsburghplaysbraxton. While I make no assumptions, if you have any accounts of photos to contribute, please let me know. -Ben More pictures from Pittsburgh, courtesy of Michael Pestel, hopefully more to come: http://flickr.com/photos/prouthillfarm/set...57605406757947/

There's a new Golden Quartet on Cunieform with Vijay Iyer, piano; John Lindberg, bass; and Shannon Jackson, drums. The piece "Rosa Parks" draws on some of that Miles inspired work, while "DeJohnette" lets it out. Have to check out the long title track yet, "Tabligh." Did the French Radio broadcast include composition titles?

This notion of the autodidactic and the schooled musician is a very important discussion, too. On the one hand you get all these distinctive, funky sounding instrumentalists (Von Freeman, example, on in New York, Jackie Mac), yet at the same time there's a need to learn from the dance band players who've been through it, who read well and play in sections. The Fate Marable part of Louis Armstrong's journey, if you will. There are stories of Budd Johnson teaching Pres, wasn't it? That evolution, the way the music was passed from generation to generation, and the way the music becomes standardized in jam session formulas because of economics, is an important discussion to have nowadays.

Norton's label, barking hoop records, offers some widely exploratory music.

p.s. and yes, it is that Andrew Bishop. He did an album of music by Hank Williams (with dedications to Willie Nelson, too). We played that version of "Buckets Got A Hole In It" last night to start "Out on Blue Lake," then went into his original music. Funsville.

Dan, you caught me with my article down! "Out On Blue Lake" is a regular Wednesday night feature of Jazz From Blue Lake, airing from Midnight Wednesday to 1 a.m. Thursday morning, then the program continues on until 3 a.m. Gasser ALOC made it through those three hours with us, wow, and heard some Either Orchestra recorded live in Grand Rapids back in 1999 with alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw who we featured last night during the rest of the program, but not during Out on Blue Lake.

ALOC, Your enthusiasm is gas. Have you listened to much Kevin Norton? And that Andrew Bishop on saxophones -- he's coming here to play live with a 10 piece band that specializes in proto big band arrangements of music by Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver from the 1930's as they expanded their instrumentation into sections. Early Ellington, too. www.porkjazz.com . And there he is on his own albums with Tim Flood and Gerald Cleaver sandblasting away forms. LV

Payment sent. LV

That book from a couple of years ago about Leonard Chess did a good job of bringing to life the scene surrounding Tommy Archia and the tavern musical culture in Chicago. The first chapter in "A Power Stronger Than Itself" with the thoughts of Muhal, Jodie Christian, LeRoy Jones and Malachi Favors woven into the narrative is even more vivid. Lewis's premise that academia represents more powerfully than journalism, if done with a different set of questions going in, is right on. Jargon or not he's taking on presuppositions that have come from journalism and clouded the musical/historical narrative. The scene they're describing, too, and how the music was learned -- rich.

I think so. He's added sections on contemporary pianists and singers since WWII.

Produced by Michael Cuscuna

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8051902576.html

Less of one after Chuck was shopping at Vertigo last April before the Gebhard Ullmann-Steve Swell Quintet with Barry Altchul that played right across the street! Vertigo does have a good jazz selection. Probably best in Grand Rapids.

We're playing Saxophone Summit's version of "Seraphic Light" late tonight on Jazz from Blue Lake.

http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/features/vinyl10308.aspx

Turns 50 on May 29th. We'll celebrate from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. est tonight. www.bluelake.org/radio

Do you know Dave Burns's composition "Rapid Shave"? Where did that come from? James Carter with trumpeter Dwight Adams, pianist D.D. Jackson, bassist James Genus and drummer Victor Lewis eat it up. As they do Marmarosa's "Dodo's Bounce." James's bass clarinet feature is "Bro. Dolphy" building through lyrical steps toward a power chord. He gives a nod to Django again with "Pour Que Ma Vie Demeure." Have aired this new recording twice on JFBL. Guitarist Rodney Jones and perc. added on some tracks. www.emarcy.com www.jamescarterlive.com

Unwrapped mine yesterday. Suggested AACM Listening from NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/arts/02b...amp;oref=slogin

THIRD ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF JAZZ AND IMPROVISED MUSIC IN DETROIT Greetings from Detroit: Joel Peterson, at Bohemian National Home in Detroit, has set up a mammoth two day festival of jazz and improvised music on May 30 and 31. Here's the lineup. Hope you can make it and please help spread the word. Friday May 30 (Doors at 5pm): (Approximate times of sets) 10:00 - MATTHEW SHIPP TRIO W/JOE MORRIS & WHIT DICKEY 9:00 - FARUQ Z. BEY & NORTHWOODS IMPROVISERS 8:00 - TATSUYA NAKATANI 7:00 - THE RAW TRUTH (W/DETROIT'S MIKE CAREY) 6:15 - JOE MORRIS (guitar) W/HANS BEUTOW & BEN HALL 5:30 - MICHAEL CAREY & PIOTR MICHALOWSKI (multiple reeds duo) Saturday May 31 (Doors at 2pm): 11:45 - SABIR MATEEN ENSEMBLE W/MICHAEL WEMBERLEY & WARREN SMITH (percussion) RAYMOND KING (piano), SHIAU-SHU YU (cello), JANE WANG (bass) 10:30 - FRED ANDERSON QUARTET W/SKEETER SHELTON, HAKIM JAMI, ALI ALLEN COLDING 9:30 - ANDREW LAMB TRIO W/TOM ABBS & WARREN SMITH 8:30 - ELLERY ESKELIN & SYLVIE COURVOISSIER DUO 7:30 - SARIS: SARA SCHOENBECK (bassoon) & HARRIS EISENSTADT (percussion) 6:30 - JASON KAO HWANG'S EDGE (Hwang, Taylor Ho Bynum, Ken Filiano, Andrew Drury) 5:45 - JACK WRIGHT 5:00 - THE VIZITORS W/KENNY GREEN, DUSHON MOSLEY, SKEETER SHELTON, AO 4:15 - HASSAN ABDUR RAZZAQ & RYAN JEWELL 3:30 - MEMBERS OF NEW MUSIC DETROIT 2:00 - TATSUYA NAKATANI WORKSHOP BOHEMIAN NATIONAL HOME AT: 3009 TILLMAN IN DETROIT (ONE BLOCK NORTH OF MICHIGAN AVE) PHONE: 313-737-6606 My Space page at: myspace.com/bohemiannationalhome General Admission: $25 Friday / $28 Saturday Advance 2 Day Pass: $45 Advance Reserved Seating $30/day Advance tickets by checks or PayPal will be available at Will Call the days of the festival Checks to: Joel Peterson 3009 Tillman Detroit, Mi. 48216 PayPal Account: newdetroitsounds@hotmail.com

http://www.jazzreview.com/photo/review-1779.html

What an entertaining article. That New York’s premiere jazz radio “personality” is a compulsive only seems appropriate. The complexities he personifies shake out in a contribution that’s been streaky. It’s too bad he wasn’t able to guide compulsive behavior with the professionalism his sports announcing brethren brought to their careers. It seems like everything – the radio program, the concerts, the attention to benefiting lost leaders, all led up to what for anyone is graduation: being invited from the non-commercial realm into the highest level of commercial responsibility a non musician can offer, the stewarding of recordings to the marketplace via Columbia. That that tenure, at that moment -- the 100th anniversary of Duke Ellington -- ended ignobly is reason for contrition, modesty, embarrassment. The Ellington at Newport CD was a revelation – that those two tapes came together, finally, and the live performance was separated from the studio one makes that issue an important addition. The Goodman at Carnegie Hall has problems with the sound, yet so does the massive RCA Ellington Centennial collection. That seemed to be the sound a generation wanted to hold up with their new technology. Too bad. Even though there are incredible re-masterings amid the over cooked high end 78 rpm cymbal and trumpet fizz-outs on the Ellington, I think it is time to buy the JSP Goodman at Carnegie and move on, use it in the library for airplay on that concert. For Schaap “Such Sweet Thunder” was a failure. What a tough and complicated high pressure game there, folks, and not many are set up to deal with it though Schaap had the chance to metamorphose into a player of major global and historical significance for all time, messed up, and was dismissed. What can you say about that? He was invited on to the roof and fell off. There are many New York musicians who I’ve spoken with who think he’s the greatest because of the radio show. The Monk anecdote is a career for anyone, even if it was to correct. Phil and the station engaged (engages?) the attention of the jazz world. Crouch’s quote summed up a lot. In any case, an entertaining article.

Begin forwarded message: (Start) Hello: Here's a little more information on the Braxton Pittsburgh weekend. The Braxton Septet performance at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild does have pre-concert sales available here: http://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?r=1E...&VenueID=13 Tickets are $20 apiece. This is, I think, the only event with pre-sales. A recap of the events: May 30: Braxton Septet at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, 8pm May 31: Syrinx Ensemble & AB, National Aviary, 10am (http://www.aviary.org/) May 31: AB & Three Rivers Tri-Centric Ensemble, with CAPA Antithesis, CAPA Theater 7pm ($10) June 1: Syrinx Ensemble & AB, National Aviary, 10am (+/-) Contact and information: www.myspace.com/braxtonplayspittsburghplaysbraxton -Ben (End)

"Clubbing" on Playground methinks is "Cherokee."