jazz / classical / alt / rock MARK KERESMAN
Ella 100: Live at the Apollo! HHHHH Concord Jazz Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917-1996) was and remains one of the great American ladies of Song. Fitzgerald was one of the few jazz artists whose popularity and influence went beyond the jazz sphere and impacted mainstream pop music. Frank Sinatra counted her among his favorite singers, and the two performed together periodically over the years. (As to why they did not record together, check out the book The Song is You, the great Will Friedwald bio of Sinatra’s recording career.) Fitzgerald sang with crisp, clean articulation and could improvise like the master musicians with whom she shared stages and studios. Swing was/is the thing, and Ella symbolized that as few others could. Like Elvis would do later, Fitzgerald slimmed and shattered the barriers between musical zones—The NY Times’ Frank Rich said of her, “Here was a black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians.” This might not seem crucial today, pilgrims, but when one stops and considers the stratification of American society and culture—there was a time when folks with non-
warhorse “How High the Moon.” (Worth the price of admission—take that to the bank.) Take a breather from all that singing with a driving, droll instrumental “Back to the Apollo” that shows the Basie legacy is indeed in good hands (and showing why the Basie band was favored by Sinatra, dancers, and swing aficionados then and now). Cassandra Wilson applies her trademarked dusky, smoky tones to the classic torch/cry-in-your-beer ballad “Cry Me a River,” and Monica Mancini—daughter of cool-cat soundtrack wizard Henry—channels the Ella influence via a crystalline barebones take on “Once in a While.” The show closes with the slightly irreverent/joyously jivey “You’ll Have to Swing It Mr. Paganini” duetted by Austin and Grier. Unlike some “tribute” discs, this celebrates more than pays homage to the legacy of Ella Fitzgerald…as well as showing her legacy is in good hands/throats. Ohad Talmor Newsreel Sextet HHHHH Long Forms Intakt Every once in a while, you read about someone who makes you realize how little you’ve accomplished: saxophonist Ohad Talmor grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, mixed it up in the European jazz scene with Joachim Kuhn, Steve Swallow, and Lee Konitz (the latter a mentor to him), had his music performed by European orchestras (such as Germany’s legendary WDR Big Band and Portugal’s OJM Big Band), composed the score for the depressing-but-worth-seeing biopic Lowdown (starring John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, Glenn Close, and Peter Dinklage), a Professorship at Queens College CUNY, and finds time to lead swell studio sessions such as this. Among his combo is trumpeter Shane Endsley, guitarist Miles Okazaki, and rock-solid drummer Dan Weiss. “Casado” is a rich panorama of spare, ringing piano chords and haunting, intertwining horn phrases over a majestically pensive rhythmic base. “Kayeda” features overlapping phrases from the horns and guitar, rippling yet reflective piano from Jacob
Cassandra Wilson.
pale skin tones were forbidden to drink Cokes at the same counters and Jews could not rent hotel rooms where their Christian brethren could— it’s significant. Fitzgerald performed and recorded with some of the greatest big bands ever, those of Count Basie, Chick Webb (mentioned in the film Taxi Driver), Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Ms. Ella appeared in movies too, including Let No Man Write My Epitaph (starring Burl Ives, Shelley Winters, and tragic heroine Jean Seberg) and Pete Kelly’s Blues (starring Jack Webb, Peggy Lee, and Lee Marvin). In 2007 there was the release of We All Love Ella, a tribute album recorded for the 90th anniversary of Fitzgerald’s birth featuring Michael Bublé, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, Queen Latifah, and Linda Ronstadt. Her legacy continues. Ella 100: Live at the Apollo is a recorded celebration of Ella’s life and enduring inspiration. Co-hosted by singer Patti Austin and actor/singer David Alan Grier, this concert program features Lizz Wright, Cassandra Wilson, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ayo, Afro Blue, Monica Mancini, and Brian Nova. Grier essays a surprisingly suave “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me” with spunky accompaniment from the Basie outfit. Lizz Wright navigates “Love You Madly” with swaggering grace and irresistible uptown sass. The vocal ensemble Afro Blue dazzles with “Lady Be Good,” the voices wordlessly glisten separately/together as light through a prism, then join Austin for a grooving, kaleidoscopic, and STUNNING take on the 20
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Sacks, driving cyclic phrases that drill into your skull, and soloing from Talmor that, like that bowl of Cream of Wheat TV commercial, will follow and warm you all day. “Scent” is a spacious hunk of balladry in which notes are parsed out with an aching, yet not tentative, clarity and a bereaved sob-into-the-wilderness (a little different than cry-in-your-beer) quality. Talmor has a vibrant, hearty, low-on-vibrato, and a not too sentimental tenor sound, but his compositions are the stars here—no frameworks/excuses for drawn-out soloing, full of intriguing shades/arrangements and loaded with gutsy delivery. A winner. (6 tracks, 52 min.) intaktrec.ch
