The Jazz Culture
12th Annual Women's Jazz Festival The Bertha Hope Quartet
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Kim Clark on bass and producer ofthe Annual Women's Jazz Festival; with Lakecia Benjamin on alto saxophone, Luciana Padmore, drums; Ms. Clark with Rev. Mark S. Kellar of the First Reformed Church
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In These Pages 12th Annual Women's Jazz Festival 1‐3 Roma Jazz Workshop 4 February listings 5‐6 12th Annual Women's Jazz Festival 7‐11 More Memories of the Jazz Cultural Theatre 12
Bertha Hope and Kim Clark run down the set before starting; ladies of the First Reformed Church; some of the gentlemen; Luciana Padmore
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BARRY HARRIS JAZZ WORKSHOP FIVE DAYS MASTERCLASS FOR ALL MUSICIANS AND SINGERS From Monday 17 to Friday 21 March 2014 Felt music club & school – via degli Ausoni 84 – Rome, Italy Barry Harris is one of the world’s most respected jazz piano players and teachers, considered by many to be the foremost interpreter of the music of Bud Powell, Tadd Dameron and Thelonious Monk. For more than half a century, Harris has played with the giants of jazz including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley and Coleman Hawkins, travelling the world over as an ambassador of jazz (www.barryharris.com) Schedule:
Piano and Guitars 11:00 – 13:00 Singers 14:30 – 16:30 Horns & General workshop 16:30 – 18:30 On Friday 21 classes last one hour and an half
Fees: 160 €qQCostCc‐Cc15015015011 for the week/40€ for daily seminar Accomodation:
b & b or private apts, from 15 € per night
BARRY HARRIS TRIO FELT CLUB – CONCERT FRIDAY 21 MARCH 9:30 PM Luca Pisani,b;Oreste Soldano, d Admission: 15 € MONDAY TO THURSDAY JAM SESSION EVERY NIGHT Info: ass. cult. roma jazz workshop anna pantuso +39‐339 3383139 annapantuso@hotmail.com luciano fabris +39‐328 6748724 lucianofabris@hotmail.com
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ERRATA: The last issue omitted the name of Joe Wilder's wife, Solveig, as we were not sure of the spelling. Solveig Wilder is seated to the left next to her husband of many years, Joe Wilder.
The Jazz Culture Newsletter Wishes the Jazz World Community a Happy, Healthy Prosperous 2014! Jazz Tours in NYC are available; also music teachers in various countries for students & jazz lovers. email: info@thejazzculture.com. Ads are available in The Jazz Culture Newsletter. The Jazz Culture Newsletter has been read in 67 countries. Brian McMillen is a contributing Photographer. Connie MacNamee and Arnold J. Smith are contributing writers." Countries: US, UK, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bangladesh, Belize, Brazil, Burma, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam
March Listings Clarence Banks‐ Swing 46 most Thursdays with Felix and the Cats, 346 W. 46 St. Kim Clark‐ Women in Jazz Festival starts March 1 at First
Reformed Church, Jamaica; 802 Jam, March 1 7
Richard Clements‐ Pianist, 11th Street Bar most Mondays, 8 Kenney Gates, pianist. Philadelphia, Tues., Sun. some Sats.‐ High Note Cafe on Tasker & 13th, 5‐9 p.m. Bertha Hope ‐ Minton's on 206 W. 118 Street George Gee Orchestra at Swing 46, every Tues, most Fridays 9:30 Barry Harris, March 4, with Trio Emmanuel Baptist Church March 5‐9 Village Vanguard with Leroy Williams and Ray Drummond Loston Harris: Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle; Tues ‐ Thur
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9:30pm ‐ 12:30am, Fri‐Sat 9:30pm‐1:00am Bemelmans Bar Residency 12th year at The Carlyle, 35 East 76th St., New York, NY 10021 (76th St. & Madison Ave.) 212‐744‐1600 Mike Longo: Tuesdays in March‐ Gillespie Auditorium in the NYC Baha'i Center at 53 East 11th Street 8:00 and 9:30 John Mosca & Michael Weiss, Vanguard Orchestra every Monday at the Village Vanguard 8 p.m. David Pearl‐ Monday at the Thalia, 95 St. bet. B'way & West End 8 p.m. Bill Saxton; Every Friday and Saturday Bill’s Place 133 Street Rick Stone‐ Café Lore March 15 7:30‐11:00 w/Marco Panascia Murray Wall, bassist, 11th Street Bar most Mondays, 8 p.m. Leroy Williams, drums: Minton's Sun & Tues 2‐6 W. 118 St. ENGLAND: John Watson Trio at the Palm Court, Langham Hotel, London, 1c Portland, Regent St. 207‐636‐1000 Fri‐Sat Save the Dates: George Gee‐May 23, Frankie Manning's 100th, Edison Ballroom, NYC John Kamitsuka Annual Recital Weill Recital Hall April 30, 8 p.m. Tickets available at Carnegie Hall Box office $15 for students and seniors Photos of Richie Vitale & Band at Small's
Happy Birthday March Babies
Ilya Lushtak, Guitarist Composer Alex Stein, Tenor Saxophonist, Educator Frank Senior, Singer Brian McMillen, Jazz Photographer DeAlva Davis, Singer Jim Eigo, Jazz Lover
Brian M.
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12th ANNUAL WOMEN'S JAZZ FESTIVAL THE BERTHA HOPE QUARTET
by L. Hamanaka
Kim Clark behind Bertha Hope, announcing while Lakecia Benjamin looks on at the First Reformed Church n Jamaica, Queens
The 12th Annual Women’s Jazz Festival kicked off featuring the Bertha Hope Quartet, with Kim Clark, bass, Lakecia Benjamin, alto saxophone, and Luciana Padmore, drums at the First Reformed Church on 90th Avenue in Jamaica on Saturday, March 1, at 1 p.m. The First Reformed Church is a national landmark in the Romanesque style of architecture; led by Rev. Mark S. Kellar, it has become a consistent jazz presenter. The group started with “Invitation”, with a chordal intro on piano, on the 1st, 3rd beats with a vamp, an arrangement that turned to swing on the bridge, at about145=quarter note. Ms. Benjamin played the theme with authority, and Ms. Hope soloed first, close to the melody, then going into scalar extensions with some chordal bridging, accenting the upbeats provocatively; Ms. The Jazz Culture, V.III:8
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Benjamin did some whole tone scale inserts, peals and showed the influence of saxophone players from the 70’s, in an appealing, lyric style. Ms. Clark played some musically lilting, contrasting wide intervallic ideas that swung and mounted in intensity, climbing through the registers. Ms. Padmore traded 8’s, constructing funky and strong rhythmic ideas. A blues followed, called by Ms. Clark, at about 160=quarter note, a springy and bright sound with the swinging head played by Ms. Hope, a distinguished pianist and a composer of lovely songs. Ms. Benjamin chose a seven note motif, starting on a 8th note to a dotted quarter, and used space well, and then went into the blues scale, with some whole tone ideas and arpeggios. Ms. Benjamin can wail, and played some altered scalar licks in 16th note runs and then went back to a blues scale ending for her solo. Ms. Hope chose a simple chordal beginning that she then filled in with some right hand and insistently fierce chording. Ms. Padmore started with a lot of triplet figures that she then built into a strong solo. Ms. Clark played a melodic and rhythmically aggressive solo and did some big intervallic skips. The group traded 4’s in a very simpatico mood, all of them smiling. Ms. Hope then came and announced to the audience that “We just had a jazz conversation spontaneously, and it it up as we went along.” She said she was happy to report that “jazz has been legitimized in the scientific community,” that they have recognized that when jazz musicians are playing there is the interaction of a legitimate form of musical language. She also emphasized the need to bring the diaspora of “African American music back to the churches and other venues.” The group then played “When the Saints Go Marching In,” but before they did, they had some dialogue with the audience. It seems Ms. Clark and Ms. Benjamin had gone to the New Orleans Jazz Festival on the same plane, and when the plane landed, Ms. Benjamin started playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” on her saxophone; they got a standing ovation when the plane landed. Ms. Hope recounted the history of music of black people in New 8
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Orleans. The French army left all their instruments there. So people from New Orleans used their instruments on the Second Line in funerals and other processions. The Second Line in New Orleans is that body of dancers and musicians following the main section of the parade with the actual permit and brass band. At that point in history, Ms. Hope said, each drum was separate; there was no such thing as ‘drum kit.’ A musician from New Orleans told her that a woman was the one who started the idea of using a drum kit, and putting one together. She also explained that there were five beats that came from Africa, two forms of the clave that the Second Line played in processions. Ms. Padmore played a strong introduction and created a bright festive mood and accompaniment throughout; Ms. Benjamin played the melody, and Ms. Hope played a solo close to the melody. Lakecia Benjamin followed with short riffs and then long tones in sunch with the bass player. Ms. Padmore was really the featured player on this tune. Ms. Benjamin ended the tune with a short cadenza. Next was “Easy Living,” a feature for Ms. Benjamin, whom Ms. Hope said had hopped off a plane and come straight to this gig. Ms. Benjamin played the melody in a pretty tone in the middle register with some growling and scalar fills, with good articulation. She trilled lightly and added some blue notes on the turnaround. After this chorus, Ms. Benjamin went into doubletime, for two choruses, in a lyric musical style, sometimes bellowing up from her lower register and creating simple but effective motifs wit nice jaz fills. Ms. Hope played some ideas on the upper notes of the chord mainly with seconds and thirds. Ms. Benjamin played a pretty cadenza to end the tune. “Felicidade” was next, which Ms. Hope played with the trio, with a marcato touch. Ms. Clark and Ms. Padmore provided excellent and steady support. Ms. Hope bridged the Brazilian and American cultural divide with her own distinctive strong style sometimes doubling the rhythm in the right hand, coveying the joy of a land with many beaches, a very attractive idea in New York at The Jazz Culture, V.III:8 9
this time. Ms. Clark played lilting melodic solo evocative of foreign sunny climes, with a dance feel, and Ms. Padmore supported her with a feathery touch using sticks, playing ideas that were close to the melody of the song on drums. Ms. Hope reentered and played triplets in the right hand, chording and then broke into a scalar line above the original melody. The rhythm was very strong and the song ended on an upbeat. The group then did more interactive discussion with the audience. One audience member asked when they all started playing their respective instruments. Ms. Padmore replied, “I was nine.” Ms. Benjamin said that she was 9 or 10 in elementary schools, and “there were no musicians in my family.” In her school, they gave her a choice of instruments, and when she asked for a saxophone, she was told there was only one saxophone and it was already taken. She found out who had it, and also found out the girl did not play very well, and managed to somehow get ahold of it. Ms. Clark’s grandfather was a vaudevillian who played bass. “My babysitter dug out an old guitar out of her garage for me..” and later, when she attended City College, recounted with gratitude the generosity of a classmate..”she sold me an acoustic bass for $85.” Ms. Hope said, “I was three. There was a piano in my house. They found out I had perfect pitch. They took me to the local piano teacher. I started again at six—[at that time there was the] John Dewey progressive system in California.” They allowed students to pick out an instrument, and get promoted up through a band system in public schools. In this way, Ms. Hope was able to play violin, viola, cello, percussive instruments like the glockenspiel and so on. “What I really wanted to do was play the The Jazz Culture, V.III:8 10
trumpet,” Ms. Hope stated. “But my mother said I would turn out with a lip like Louis Armstrong.” Ms. Hope went on to discourse on the source of jazz, that she felt, “it was a ... music... All of this music happened because our bodies were enslaved. That’s why they hate this music so much…because it’s about freedom.” One of Ms. Hope’s experience in teaching was “doing after school programs [with the Jazz Foundation]. Kids have a very short attention span—unless it’s reinforced, it will get worse.” She stressed the need to “get jazz on the radio…that there were no jazz radio..” and also, in the education system, “we’re trying to expand that now, to do some work in schools where deprivation is the greatest.” At that point a gentleman in the audience said, “if you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you’re going—“ He recently attended a conference of churches. “We had 19 churches represented,” and said there was a need to establish communication between “churches and people like you, poets, playwrights, to combine our Christian and African and our American heritage.” Ms. Hope responded saying that she was glad the Church no longer considered jazz “the Devil’s music.” Ms. Clark noted that children are being led astray “by music that tells them they’re worthless.” The Bertha Hope Quartet then played another song, “It’s You or No One,” at about 175=quarter note, ending their concert in a festive mood on a bright swinging tempo. Ms. Hope played phrases related to the melody, using scalar lines and timely accents. The group traded 4’s with Ms. Padmore, who played with spirited drive. This led to a bass solo built on scalar ideas, quoting small sections of the melody, and then branching out to using the rhythmic ideas of the tune. The group played with optimism and happiness, ending the song with a cadenza by Lakecia Benjamin. The Jazz Culture, V.III:8
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MORE COMMENTS ON THE JAZZ CULTURAL THEATRE
I performed at the JCT frequently as a member of the Junior Cook/Bill Hardman Quintet, 1985-1987. I also attended many performances there and visited Barry's piano class since it opened. Because the JCT was musician owned and operated, it had more of the feeling of a community center or clubhouse for jazz musicians. Working there with Junior and Bill was a big deal for me. There was no telling who might be in the audience, from Donald Byrd to Sun Ra. Barry had two pianos there which were sometimes set up side by side on the stage. One time I found myself playing opposite Walter Davis, Jr. on Parisian Throughfare. We traded eights for what seemed like forever. I was young and ran out of gas after a few choruses but Walter just kept on inventing and laughing the whole time. That was an experience I will never forget, and will remember fondly as a Thorough Asskicking. Michael Weiss
www.michaelweiss.info I certainly remember the Jazz Cultural Theater. I think it was also known as the Jazz Cultural Center as well. I went there a number of times from 1983 to 1985. I can't remember exactly when it closed. Barry Harris ran the place. It was a great venue, almost a living room ambience, to see not only great jazz muscians but great jazz dancers as well. I remember seeing Jimmy Sldye, Lon Chaney, and Chuck Green perform there with Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, and Walter Bishop, Jr. On different occasions, Jimmy Slyde and Lon Chaney both invited me up to dance. The great amazing Barry Harris played for me. Even then, I realized what an honor that was. I also took some tap classes there with Tina Pratt. In 1983, my sister, Louise Tiranoff, video taped Jimmy Slyde and Lon Chaney at the Jazz Cultural Theater. I believe Roy Haynes was the drummer. My best, Toes Tiranoff The Jazz Culture, V.III:8 12