LWayne

Last Thursday, my wife and good friend and I checked out the Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet at a free concert at the Underground, on the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh. Even though I regularly attend concerts here in my hometown, I was surprised to learn of this new venue. The snack bar/ student union has comfortable overstuffed chairs and a small stage/performance area. The acoustics are perfect for a small jazz ensemble. My familiarity with Kurt Rosenwinkel was limited to what I had read on the various bulletin boards prior to this performance. I had learned about some groundbreaking performances with Mark Turner. On this basis, I had purchased the "Deep Song" CD while on a business trip in Chicago. For this night, Kurt's quartet consisted of him playing guitar, Aaron Goldberg on synth, Joe Martin on bass, and Jeff Ballard on drums. While this group is not his regular touring lineup, nor the group that performed on his latest CD, they played very well together nonetheless. His style is almost effortless and the chords from his electric guitar melded well with the other instrumentation. While most of the set had an electronic influence, it was immensely enjoyable. He is a very talented guitar player. Since I was not familiar with his work, I did not recognize many of the songs but understand that a large portion of the set was drawn from his two most recent CDs on Verve: "Heartcore" and "Deep Song". Also had the chance to meet Cannonball-Addict between sets. Besides his Thursday morning radio show on WRCT, he is also very involved in trying to bring bringing some exciting and progressive jazz music to Pittsburgh. You will need to contact him directly for details. Very enjoyable evening listening to some challenging music from a talented, young, player. LWayne

Saw the Tomasz Stanko Quartet last Wednesday, March 16th at the HotHouse in Chicago, while I was visiting the town for business. As previously stated, the set was much more "up tempo" than the group's last two ECM sides "Suspended Nights" and "Soul of Things" I was likewise impressed with Stanko's ability to sustain a tune with his tone and not by resorting to histronics. Marcin Wasilewski, the piano player, was also impressive as he drove the quartet flawlessly. While this club probably seats 250 max, there must have been twice that number in attendance at the show, with a particularly large concentration of Poles and Eastern Europeans enjoying the show. Stanko walked quickly through the crowd at the end of the set, giving a couple of cursory autographs to his adoring throng, and seemed like an earnest, if shy, fellow. Altogether a great show and a memorable evening! LWayne

Last Wednesday, March 9th, my wife and I traveled eastward across Pennsylvania to Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. to catch a performance by the Dave Holland Big Band. In fact, after checking into our hotel on the outskirts of Easton that afternoon, we ran into Dave himself in the hotel lobby! It was great to get an autograph and chat with him before the show and share our enthusiasm for his music. The line-up of musicians for the concert was the same as on the great, new, CD "Overtime" save for Greg Tardy substituting for Chris Potter on tenor sax. Apparently, Chris had a prior commitment touring with his new quartet in Europe. The Williams Center for the Arts, while a smaller sized auditorium, is an ideal setting for such a concert owing to excellent acoustics and great sight lines. While we had seats in the middle section of the third row, there were truly no bad seats in such a cozy venue. Particular highlights of the show for me were Robin Eubanks’ funky playing on his rhythmic composition “Mental Images”, Dave Holland’s arco bass introduction on “Shadow Dance”, and both Antonio Hart’s alto sax and flute and Steve Nelson’s vibes and marimba adding color throughout the performance. The music played at the concert represented an event split of songs from the Grammy-winning "What Goes Around" and recent "Overtime" albums. The format of a big band (13 musicians) is always a treat in that you have the opportunity to experience the majesty and power of a larger ensemble, along with the subtle dynamics of group interplay, the inherent ebb and flow, and formidable presence of a big band. Simply put, the songs come alive! The band played a continuous set for about 1 hour, 45 minutes without an intermission. While the band did not come back for an encore, the audience rewarded the performance with an enthusiastic standing ovation in reward for a fantastic evening of challenging music played by a group at the top of its game. The set list was as follows: 1. The Razor's Edge (What Goes Around) 2. Ario (Overtime) 3. Mental Images (Overtime) 4. Blues for C.M. (What Goes Around) 5. Triple Dance (What Goes Around) 6. A Time Remembered (Overtime) 7. Shadow Dance (What Goes Around) It was truly a memorable evening. LWayne

I agree with Bev, Henri Texier is a tremendous talent. Wish he would come over to the USA with his sextet sometime. Two of his last CDs "Strings Spirit" and the new "Vivre" are quite enjoyable. LWayne

Picked this CD up last night and have listened to it all the way through twice so far. I am listening to it right now at work. Being an avid Dave Holland fan I am sure that I am biased in favor of liking the CD, but have nonetheless really enjoyed what I have heard on this killer CD. In particular, I really enjoy listening to the recorded version of "The Monterey Suite" which I had heard live as an encore performance by the band during their concert at the Symphony Center in Chicago in March 2003. One song in that suite, "Free for All", is a standard that I have always enjoyed from the quintet's live sets. Dave plays a great 2.5 minute intro on this tune, which has also become a trademark of his live performances. To me, this suite is the highlight of the disc. The rest of the set is enjoyable as well, with particular plaudits to "Ario" and the Robin Eubanks' composition "Mental Images" (no doubt named in tribute to his own group). Overall a very solid effort from a cohesive, tight, group at the top of its game. Can't wait to see the group perform live in early March at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. Anyone else going to this show? LWayne

Not my cup of tea. Brand new, played only twice. $33 delivered to your door anywhere in USA. Send PM if interested Thanks, LWayne B-)

Have heard various reports that this forthcoming CD by the Dave Holland Big Band will be released on February 22nd. I have even placed a pre-order at my local brick & mortar CD store. Have not seen any advance publicity on this release; not even on Dave's website www.daveholland.com. Does anyone have info on who was in this version of the group, track listing, advance reviews, and the like? Anxiously Yours, LWayne B-)

Jimmy-Goodbye and God Bless... I had a chance to catch his group with Mark Whitfield on guitar in Seattle at the Jazz Alley. While he was certainly not in a good mood that night, as he shouted down an over exhuberant fan in the back of the room, the music was transcendent. You will be missed... LWayne

All very good advice. I was at the Benny Green/ Russell Malone show at Top O' The Senator last January when Russell Malone go so irritated by a fan sitting at a table near the stage talking so much that he stopped playing guitar midway through a song to ask the guy (very kindly) to shut-up. Refreshing because I, for one, come to the shows to listen, and I also object to all the idle chatter. LWayne

Two immediate suggestions come to mind: Top O' The Senator-very good, atmospheric, club. Montreal Bistro http://www.jazzintoronto.com/ LWayne

In a couple of weeks (Feb 16-19) I will be visiting Orlando on business. Wanted to catch Sam Rivers live, if he is playing. Have checked samrivers.com, which does not seem to be operating anymore, and rivbea.com for tour info, but to no avail. Can anyone recommend a reliable, updated, site? Thanks, LWayne B-)

In no particular order: McCoy Tyner "Illumination" Dirty Dozen Brass Band "Funeral for a Friend" Fred Hersch "Fred Hersch Trio + 2" Ben Allison "Buzz" Joe Lovano "I'm All For You" Buster Williams "Griot Liberte" David Weiss "The Mirror" Frank Kimbrough "Lullabyeblue" Matthias Lupri "Transition Sonic" LWayne

While some might consider the Big Band CD not as compelling as the quintet recordings, I would doubt that that same could be said about their live performances. I was fortunate enough to see the Big Band at the Symphony Center in Chicago two years ago and really enjoyed the show. The sheer force of that many musicians playing those complex changes together was awesome. In fact, I just bought tickets today to see the Big Band live again in Easton, Pa this coming March. Can't wait, as I am sure it will be a spectacular event. To be fair, I will admit that I like the quintet better but that is due to my bias for the smaller group dynamics and virtuoso soloing that this format promotes. One question regarding the forthcoming CD: if is to be released at the end of February, there is precious little publicity surrounding its imminent sale on Dave's website, or Sunnyside Records as the distributor. Has anyone heard anything? LWayne

Thanks Sal for the advice. Hoping to arrive half-hour ahead of time due to business meetings. Possibly I will be lucky to find a seat. LWayne

Sal; I will be in town on business and plan on attending the Thursday night free show at the Chicago Cultural Center. Given that this is a no-charge offering from a fairly big-name act, any recommendation on how long before the show I will need to arrive in order to insure decent seats? LWayne

Guaranteed that this project was conceived before the passing of Ray Charles. I had a chance to speak with "Fathead" after his concert at Spivey Hall in Atlanta last July. He advised that he was leaving that gig to travel up to Woodstock NY to begin recording sessions for the Ray Charles tribute CD (would have been 7/23). Not saying that the label, High Note, might have influenced this choice, but "Fathead" has enough character to select his own projects. LWayne

My wife and I were fortunate to be able to brave the nasty winter weather and spend the weekend in the Baltimore/ Washington area. The undisputed highlight was catching Andrew Hill perform a solo piano set at An Die Musik on North Charles Street in Baltimore. As this was my first time at the club, we were both favorably impressed by the refurbished row house that serves as the An Die Musik store, gallery, bar, and club. Such a charming little enterprise with a very enthusiastic and helpful staff. Highly recommended, The music hall proved to be very quaint and hospitable with comfortable, overstuffed, Victorian-style chairs vs. uncomfortable folding wooden or metal chairs. Andrew took the stage about 8:05 and launched into an epic 30-minute piece that seemed to underscore his classical influences. Although I did not recognize the titles of any of the tunes played, since I a more familiar with his Blue Note catalogue, this unfamiliarity did not diminish our enjoyment. His playing was spectacular; understated at times, vibrant at other times. Overall, a very worthwhile concert to start the year. After the set, I learned from my discussions with the promoter that Andrew would be releasing a set of new music on Palmetto sometime this year. The promoter, a friendly Irish chap (did anyone catch his name?) also advised that Andrew was considering another new project on Blue Note as well! Then highlight of the evening was a chance to meet Andrew personally between sets in the cafe. He seemed very humble, almost timid, but was a delight to engage in conversation. I did not want to monopolize his time in that there were several friends of his waiting and the promoter advised earlier that Andrew had not been feeling well recently. He did seem sincerely grateful that my wife and I had traveled all the way from Pittsburgh to spend the weekend and watch him play. While he was not certain what his future release schedule will be, he did advise that he was cataloguing quite a few numbers that we wants to put out as recordings in the future, including some trio and solo work. Altogether an incredible night of music that I will treasure for quite some time to come. Anyone else see the show? Impressions? Also, can you help me with the name of the promoter? I want to thank him. LWayne

Some great recommendations so far. My top three picks are: 1. New Jazz Composer's Octet "Walkin' The Line"--simply superb interplay (by the way, I have an advance copy of some tracks from their upcoming release "The Turning Gate" which also promises to be amazing) 2. David Weiss "The Mirror"--one of the top six new releases from last year IMHO 3. Pablo Ablanedo Octet "Allegria"--great release from a couple of years back. Tremendous arrangements. LWayne

Agreed that $35 is cost prohibitive for a single CD; although I agree that Danilo Perez is an amazing artist. I have seen him live many times, most recently at the Litchfield Jazz Festival two years ago. Also caught him live with Wayne Shorter earlier that year at the New Orleans JazzFest. Simply an amazing artist. ArtistShare must price their diferent artist-backed releases depending upon the investment that they need to recoup. The example of Maria Schneider was already cited. My wife bought me the Jim Hall "Magic Meeting" Live at the Village Vanguard for my birthday in late December for $ 23.90 postage included. Much to my surprise, Jim Hall even autographed the CD! A little expensive, but a great listen. Not sure the reason for the pricing disparity. Does not bode well as it seems that more and more artists are going this route. According to Chris Potter's website, he is linked to ArtistShare as well. Oh well! LWayne

While a "newbie' on this board, I have been pretty active on the "All About Jazz" bulletin board. I like this one better and plan to stay! Yes, I am a refugee of the BNBB LWayne

...and what would Chuck want? LWayne

This has been a good year for box sets. After receiving the Mosaic Tal Farlow and Art Farmer/Benny Golson sets, along with the Miles Davis "Seven Steps to Heaven", I have a lot to offer. Please send me a private message with offers. Willing to sell hard-to-find items very reasonable. For Trade or Sale: Art Farmer Listen to Art Farmer & The Orchestra Verve Elite Edition Brad Mehldau Live in Tokyo Nonesuch Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie Bird and Diz Verve Master Edition David Murray David Murray/James Newton Quintet DIW David Murray Octet Hope Scope Soul Note David Murray Quartet Shakill’s II DIW Grachan Moncur III Some Other Stuff Blue Note Conn Grant Green Solid Blue Note Conn Herbie Hancock Head Hunters Columbia Legacy SACD Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars Jazz Invention Contemporary Kenny Burrell Kenny Burrell Blue Note TOCJ Miles Davis Miles in Berlin CBS Sony/Austria Miles Davis Miles in Tokyo CBS Sony/Japan Miles Davis New Miles Davis Quintet Prestige (Japan) Miles Davis Seven Steps to Heaven CBS Sony/Japan Roy Eldridge What It’s All About OJC/Pablo Tal Farlow Autumn in New York Verve Japan Tal Farlow Tal Verve Japan Tal Farlow The Interpretation of Tal Farlow Verve Japan Tal Farlow The Tal Farlow Album Verve Japan Tal Farlow This Is Tal Farlow Verve Elite Edition Wild Tchoupitoulas The Wild Tchoupitoulas Mango Yusef Lateef Live at Pep’s, Volume 2 Impulse! Want List: Fresh Sound New Talent, Mosaics, Andrew Hill, Bill Frisell, Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, TOCJ Japanese Blue Notes, Blue Note Connoisseurs, selected ECM titles, etc. Thanks, LWayne B-)

Just purchased this disc while on vacation last week, and it is a real keeper! Definitely one of the top 10 of the year. Great sound and Stefon Harris melds well with the band. Agreed with earlier comments that this disc is superior to his two most recent efforts for Blue Note under his own name. LWayne