JAZZ CULTURE New York Jazz Project
In These Pages: Review Rome Event: L. Fabris 2‐3 Mastering Guitar: R. Stone 3‐4 Dr. Frank Foster 5‐8 by C. Bridgewater Billie Holiday Tribute 9‐11 646‐312‐7773 info@newyorkjazzproject.com http://newyorkjazzproject.com
George Gee Swing Orchestra at Swing 46 more on p.5
REVIEW ofGEORGE GEE SWI G ORCHESTRA On Friday May 11, 2012, The George Gee Swing Orchestra was swinging so hard the musicians fled outside on their breaks to cool down. We usually think musicians play an instrument, but Conductors shape the sound, unify the band, indicate where sections and solos come in, control dynamics, the beat, the repertoire and set list. George Gee is a master at this with over 30 years experience leading big bands, his band now playing every Tuesdays and some Fridays at Swing 46, stomping grounds for the world’s swing lovers. He started as a bass player. The band played “A Train,” “Route 66,” “Candy,” “Puttin on the Ritz,” “Moten Swing,” “Hard Times,” “Count Basie (Red Bank) Boogie,” “Misty,” “It Had to be You,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” and “A Very Good Year,” punctuated by Geeisms: “After all these years I can still say, ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing If it Ain’t Got that Swing;” and “This is dedicated to the fried chicken lovers all over the world.” Gee has a solid rhythm section in the lovely toned Marcus McLaurine on bass, Willard Dyson, drums, who lit up the house on “Sing, Sing, Sing,” harkening back Jazz Culture by YJP v1, n4
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to the Golden Age of Swing, and pianist Steve Einerson. Dave Gibson, trombonist, is an excellent composer/arranger (his “On the Road to Roscoe’s” perfectly captured a free-spirited car ride headed to some great fried chicken). Gee features some terrific soloists, including Mike Hashim on tenor, with a stirring, unique tone, Vitale Golovnev, a talented trumpeter, Julius Tolentino, who combines a black/Filipino sound with lyric intensity, a singer named Angel Rose who does ballads with a silken voice and swings the blues. The only time Gee’s smile paused was recollecting how sad he was when Frank Foster passed. “We recorded a cd of Frank Foster’s arrangements in 2004,” he said. “He and Cecilia were great.” Otherwise, he asked, “Is everybody happy?,” and seemed to mean it. See George Gee.com to hear the band.
ROME EVENT
From March 19-23, 2012 at the Felt Club in Roma, Italy, there was an international masterclass featuring Barry Harris with 90 students from 19 different countries, including Europe, the United States, Canada, Israel, Syria, Russia, Japan, and Cyprus. The highlight of the event was on Friday, March 23, when Barry Harris played also a memorable concert with Luca Pisani on bass and Oreste Soldano on drums. Luciano Fabris, pianist
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This was the 11th time a unique event of this kind has been produced in Rome by the Roma Jazz Workshop Cultural Association. Over 600 students have had the possibility in the last seven years to study with this great teacher, composer, and performer of jazz music,.Besides being the foremost musician in the world with knowledge of Charlie Parker and Bud Powell's music, he is recognized worldwide as an innovator, also because of the great contribution to musical theory of his sixth/diminished scales. Barry Harris has a unique way of teaching. He believes that the best place to learn how to play is a class, where people of different levels come together and can improve. Seeing Dr. Harris p2
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at work, sitting in front of a bunch of horn players ready to play scales and phrases at really fast tempos and challenging them to play faster is a remarkable experience. For many years Barry Harris has traveled all over the world to teach young people and spread his message and his passion for jazz. In Rome, the brilliant pianist Andrea Papini collaborates with Dr. Harris as translator. Also every night, passionate jam sessions were held until late in the night, conducted by different piano players. Italian audiences had the chance to listen to some great players as Richard Clements from USA and Kuno Kurner from Germany, beside the Italians Fausto Ferraiolo and the above mentioned Andrea Papini. After the class was over, as always we received a lot of messages of joy sent for days from students and audiences alike, filled with gratitude. Things like that can happen when somebody's heart is touched.
Mastering Guitar
by Rick Stone
Photo: Chris Drukker
A person can obviously become a GREAT jazz guitarist without going to a music school (countless examples exist) but the problem we face now is a lack of working situations and bands for a young musician to learn in. If you look back at the early history of jazz, most musicians got a lot of their training from playing in bands, learning on the job. But now people are so used to canned
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music, that in most cities, only the best musicians get to play even on little bar or cafe jobs that barely pay. This leaves very few opportunities and so the schools have kind of come in to fill that void by providing a place where young musicians can learn from (and sometimes perform with) their elders and perform with their peers. A degree is really only necessary if one is going to teach or have any sort of job in an academic setting. Teaching is really a different art from playing. Early on in my life I had some great teachers who inspired me to want to follow in their footsteps, but I also wanted to be a player. So I've kind of followed a split path; I've tried to grow as a player AND as a teacher. You have to really make a study of that and observe the lessons that you yourself have learned, and whether those things translate to your students. Every student is different as well, so to be a good teacher, you have to learn how you can get through to that person in a way that effects them positively. It takes a TREMENDOUS amount of patience and can be really frustrating at times. Not every musician has the temperament to be a great teacher. Most jazz guitarists prefer an arch-top guitar. Of those, there are two main varieties: A carved top (in which the top is carved from a single piece of spruce) is much more responsive acoustically acoustically, but also much more expensive and fragile. Good examples of these are the Gibson L-5 and many guitars handmade by luthiers like Benedetto, Buscarino and Comins (which is what I play). A "laminate" (or plywood top) on the other hand, has a top that is arched by molding the wood on a form. The laminate is cheaper to build and much sturdier, so it's often the choice for a "road" guitar, even for musicians who prefer a carved top at home and in the studio. The Gibson ES-175 is a good example and there are many laminate instruments being made by Asian companies now that fall easily into the beginners’ budget. It should also be noted that when played electrically, a laminate is often less prone to feedback, so some players prefer them in live situations for that reason. I should also note though that ANY guitar can be used to play p.4
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jazz and the choice of instrument can be a really personal thing. Some players (thinking now especially of the great Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert) even prefer solid body instruments like the Fender Telecaster, which believe it or not, can be a really great sounding jazz guitar (in the right hands of course!). I personally use several guitars regularly; I use two Bill Comins "Classic" models, both carved archtops (one is a 17" and the other an 18"). I also use a D'Angelico SS which was redesigned for the company by Bill Comins a few years ago. The SS is a laminate with a smaller body (14.75") and is very comfortable to play. I also use a Vestax nylon string guitar that was made as a prototype for the NAMM show about 10 years ago. It's different from a traditional classical in that it has a smaller body (15") and an arched top. The neck is also narrower than a traditional classical guitar and meets the body at the 14th fret (as opposed to the 12th) so it feels more like my jazz boxes. I've got a closet full of other instruments, but the ones I described are kind of my "go to" instruments for almost everything.
JAZZ HERITAGE
Frank Foster
by Cecil Bridgewater
[Frank Foster] He had several bands, the big band for festivals concerts that also played dances. He had another group called Swing Plus, a smaller group, more of a dance group, with fewer horns and a rhythm section. He also had the Non Electric Company, a small group – quintet/sextet. Cecilia his wife took over the booking and management and PR and all that. She was as
Photo: Brian McMillen Jazz Culture by YJP v1, n4
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much a part of the band as he was. She was behind the scenes, taking care of the business stuff. It was a great partnership. It took a lot of work to get rehearsals, trying to transport and house that many people. Festival people or concert people Cecil Bridgewater rehearsing for 25th don’t want to put out that Anniversary of ew School Jazz much money. It is a lot harder for bands to travel now days. I remember Max Roach told me that bands used to stay in a city for 8 weeks at a time. Nowadays you travel to a venue, do the concert/engagement and return home until the next concert. A lot of concerts are in colleges or schools. In Europe you’re doing festivals, so you during the festival season. It’s a little more difficult, in terms of financially making it viable not only for the artist but the venue. Frank did all kinds of other things as well, commissions. He just finished writing the “Nippon Lament,” for the people of Japan tsunami victims, which had its premiere at his memorial on September 23, 2011. He also taught at Jazzmobile and several Colleges and Universities around the world. [Now you have a] General public [who] doesn’t hear jazz. Unless you seek out WBGO or some other jazz stations so there is less awareness and appreciation for the music. You have to seek it out. Going to Europe and Japan someone would come up to and say, “I remember a recording you made for so and so..” often something that I had forgotten. There is a different level of knowledge of the music. A lot of people in this country don’t know who Frank Foster is. We don’t remember the ancestors whose shoulders we are standing on, we’re always looking for the next new thing, we don’t give them the respect their due until after they’re dead and gone, whether it is in fashion or music. It’s very very young country… this country is very young like a little kid, and so the music is the same way. We’re so used to throwing away p.6
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stuff, so we toss it aside. It has to be termed monumental for something not to be built in its place…in another place they wouldn’t think of doing. Jazz has withstood the test of time for 100 years, but that’s still a very short time. [Frank Foster] He is one of America’s great composers, along with Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, his contributions have been as a saxophonist, mentor, composer, arranger and organizer. Those are things he…excelled in from the time he left Cincinnati, from the time he left college. Some [people] are great instrumentalists, or great innovators, [e.g] John Coltrane was great innovative, saxophonist, but Frank was known for all of those things, and revered for all those things. He was a great teacher. I first encountered him as a teacher at Jazzmobile, Diz and Jimmy Heath used to teach there. He went on to teach at several universities. Within the band he was always challenging us, making us experience the difficulty in his music. As a composer, arranger, saxophonist, as a mentor, all of those things... We are going to do the best we can to keep the music going and let people know who Frank Foster is. He was one of the few people who had a hit, like “Shiny Stockings,” his music was in a couple of Jerry Lewis films; Dizzy commissioned him to write for London Philharmonic. He was commissioned to do a piece for double big bands, in Ohio, Sean Jones’ Big Band, and Byron Striplings Big Band. That’s a very rare happening. Lincoln Center Orchestra commissioned him-- he wrote for everybody. His great sense of humor and curiosity came through and gave life to everything. He fought through his illnesses. Taking on having your own big band is a huge task as well, to try to keep it working. Frank’s life was a big part of the history of the music, from the era of Basie right on up to last year. A simple thing, never give up your dream. Whatever you think you want to do, don’t shrink that for an easier route. Something you really want to do, put in the effort and it’ll happen...He would come to rehearsals in a wheelchair and conduct the band, the band was his instrument. You felt the energy he was putting into it, you Jazz Culture by YJP v1, n4
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could do no less. He was the kind of person that overcame all the obstacles, no matter what it was. Continued from p.1, George Gee Swing Orchestra. Dawn Hampton, right, swing dancers left experience the rapture at Swing 46
BILLIE HOLIDAY TRIBUTE Photos by Richard Williams
Michael Morgan & Frank Robinson
Connie Mc amee & Jim Malloy
Jo Marchese Maggie Malone
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Joe Gimpel & Lana Sokolov
Photos by Richard Williams
April 7, 2012 The first annual Tribute to Billie Holiday took place at The Rum House, a gourmet drinking establishment in the Edison Hotel, (on 46th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue) decorated with art nouveau lighting, dark wodden panelling. About 24 singers took part in the festivities, featuring a trio with Kuni Mikami, pianist, Jon Roche, bassist, Clifford Barbaro, drums. Singers and audience alike exclaimed their love for Billie Holiday, one of the jazz greats we all idolize and try to learn from, as she was a natural genius and innovator. Overcoming a horrific childhood, she became at the age of 18 one of the biggest stars in New York, recorded by John Hammond, who called her "an improvising jazz genius." Nat Hentoff called Billie Holiday "the best and most honest jazz singer." Kumiko Yamakado & Sybil Evans
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Photos by Richard Williams Mary Rocco & Maki Mototsu
Lisi Paluski & Anthony Maxwell
Attending but not photographed were Joyce Deyo, Tom Breuer, Sonya Perkins. Belonging to the jazz world is a blessing, where we have so many recordings and memories of stars like Billie Holiday, who filled our heartbreak, happiest moments,solitude and memories, struggles and joys with some of the greatest music the world has known, free for all of us to share, belonging to all those who claim it. p.10
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Richard Williams and Lesli
Tamiko
Ron Saltus & Mike Sergio Lafayette Harris- the Harlem Jazz Festival Ginny's Supper Club
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Let's Link
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Clarence Banks, Count Basie Trombonist. Clinics, Private Lessons Call: 917-428-6746
Congratulations, Jazz Culture! Kuni Mikami Jazz Pianist on CD BABY:
See LafayetteHarris.com Cds, Clinics, Lessons
Hamp's Boogie
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John Watson @johnpiano man.co.uk The Langham, London Lionellehamanaka.comPhoto: Max Garr Publisher Jazz Culture by YJP v1, n4