Tuesday, December 15, 2009

some holiday help

For lovers of the accordion everywhere. I love the sitting vocal quartet too.

And the strangely prophetic ending...



Via Eivind Opsvik

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Kurt Rosenwinkel interview at All About Jazz




Besides being one of my favorite players and composers on the planet, Kurt Rosenwinkel is one of the most thoughtful and straight-shooting people an interviewer can ask for. This interview at All About Jazz is short, but worth reading. Here are a few of my favorite parts.

AAJ: Did you have a breakthrough moment when you committed to a career in jazz, or did it more evolve naturally over time?

KR: I committed to playing music for my life when I was nine! Since then, it's never been a question. So, I never committed to a career in jazz. It's all just music to me. Whether it's this or that, I like it all—mostly. I became a jazz musician because so much of the music I love is called that, and it inspired me to learn and grow in that direction.


AAJ: You mentioned, in a previous interview, that you moved to Europe because of a healthier lifestyle—better healthcare, etc. That was over six years ago, and while certainly the American lifestyle hasn't gone through a wholesale evolution, a lot has changed. It is arguably a different time in America now. Do you envision returning to the States at some point?

KR: For now I am cool where I am. I don't think it has gotten any better in the States in terms of the cost of raising a family. If anything, it's gotten worse. It costs next to nothing to send a child to school here, all the way through 'til [a] Master's degree. Health care is affordable. I am not bombarded with advertising everywhere I go, and people are generally pretty cool. That said, it is not my culture, and I do feel the sense that I "belong" more to the States than to "Europe."

But then again, I don't wanna belong. I don't want to be a part of that larger cultural conversation in the United States. I don't share the same experience or assumptions about life that most people do here or there, so it ain't really that simple.

Mostly it really just boils down to that my kids are in Berlin, so I will stay in Berlin.

AAJ: You chose to work with Eric Revis and Eric Harland. What about their playing fit this project?

KR:
Eric Revis and Eric Harland are the musicians I wanted to play with because they are both open minded and spontaneous, listening musicians. And also, as Ethan Iverson puts it in the liner notes, they are "committed to the straight-ahead mission," which means that we aren't trying to reinvent the wheel here, but rather play in the more traditional jazz conception that we love and know.

That said, there is no dogma involved and that is a critical point. I cannot play with anyone who is playing music from a dogmatic approach. But I also am not about throwing the baby out with the bathwater either. I love the jazz tradition, that is to say the music of jazz. And I know that we share this attitude, and I have had great experiences playing with Eric and Eric in lots of situations.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

2009

I just completed this questionnaire for the Interboro Rock Tribune, which got me reviewing my year. Here's my submission:

1. What was your favorite album of 2007 and why? Least
favorite album?

The Bad Plus - For All I Care - It's a masterpiece by one of the few real working BANDS that are out there in the jazz world. Proves that great music can be fun to listen to and the production is amazing.
2. What are your other four favorite albums of 2009?
Fred Hersch - Plays Jobim
Laurent Coq - Eight Fragments of Summer
Emilio Teubal - Un Monton de Notas
Matt Kanelos - Silent Show

3. What song did you love this year and hated yourself for it and why?

Porque Te Vas scene from the film Cria Cuervos - the song is from the 70's and is absolutely perfect kitsch

4. What was the coolest thing you downloaded off the
Internet this year?

eMusic - It can sometimes be so overwhelming to keep up with buying music. It really helps me stay with it and keep my ears fresh.
5. What annoyed you most about 2009 and why?
television news and the increasing impact that it has on our culture

6. What freaked you out most about 2009 and why?

see #5 - specifically the pathetic shape the discussion of health care reform took
7. What was the best thing you saw on television in
2009 and why?

MADMEN - Actually, it was the only thing I saw on television this year.
8. What was your favorite film of 2009 and why?
Man on Wire. I know it was made in 2008, but it made a lasting impression. Goodbye Solo was a quiet film that I really liked. The Mike Tyson doc was great too.

9. What was the best concert you saw in 2009 and why?

Pat Metheny, Larry Grenadier, Jack DeJohnette at the Bear Theater in Woodstock NY. I had never seen Metheny before and it was totally awe inspiring to see him in such a small place with such an incredible group. I felt like I was 15 again listening to these guys play.
10. What does your gut tell you about 2010?
Not much different from 2009
11. Of all the retail stores that went belly up in 2009, which one will you miss the most and why?
Falafel Fusion on Church Ave. in Brooklyn.

12. What are your thoughts on Obama now vs. back in November of 2008?

Not to say that I'm not troubled by a number of policy decisions, but for the most part he's fighting a noble fight and up against some harsh political and social realities. It's a lot easier to be critical of him now that he's not being compared to people like McCain and Palin.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

GLASS

Just watched the Philip Glass documentary on a bit of an impulse. I've never been the biggest fan, but have always been intrigued. It sucked me in right away, and I definitely gained an appreciation for his music and incredible output and longevity as an artist.

Here are a few of my favorite videos that I've found online.

See the movie. You can stream it on Netflix.








Sunday, November 22, 2009

local shame

Sad to find out that a bunch of popular restaurants in Park Slope (my former hood) have been caught using some questionable labor practices. Thanks to Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn for putting this up.

25 Park Slope Restaurants Cited/Fined for Labor Violations

Many favorite Park Slope restaurants are on the list released by the State Department of Labor Department yesterday. 25 Brooklyn restaurants owe at least $910,000 in unpaid wages to more than 200 workers.

In Park Slope, state inspectors found that workers make as little as $2.75 an hour way below state minimum wage of $7.25. They found that delivery workers earn $210 to $275 a week for 60 to 70 hours of work.

Of the 25 restaurants cited, 12 restaurants paid back the wages while 13 other restaurants are still in negotiations to pay back the wages.

Park Slope Restaurants With Violations

The following restaurants are negotiating a resolution for payment:
Aunt Suzie's Restaurant
Bagel World
Bogota Latin Bistro
Coco Roco
Joe's Pizza
Marcho Corp's Cholita
Olive Vine Cafe (two locations)
Rachel's Taqueria
Sette
Song
Taqueria
Uncle Moe's


Here's the link to the Daily News article that ran the story.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Paris



Thanks to a grant from Chamber Music America and the French American Cultural Exchange (FACE), I've had the great pleasure of putting together a great set of original music by both pianist Laurent Coq and myself. We have taken four poems (two originally in French and two written in English, both translated to the other language) and set them in our respective languages. Thanks to some great work from singers Christine Correa and Laurence Allison, bassist Yoni Zelnik, and drummer Karl Janusska we have a really wonderful set of eight songs.

We'll be at Radio France on Saturday November 21st and Sunside the following day.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Jazz Dock




I've had the great pleasure of playing with Czech guitarist/composer David Doruzka and his trio the past few nights in Prague. Here are some great photos by Barka Fabionova from a concert we did at Jazz Dock on Saturday.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

fOr yoUr eNjoYmeNt

I've put up some tantalizing videos on YouTube of tracks from the Words Project (2007) and Words Project II (2008)

Words Project III: Miniatures will be released Jan. 29th, 2010 at Galapagos.



Sunday, November 8, 2009

Required Reading



Knowing that I would have plenty of reading time over the next month (numerous flights and overnight trains) I bought this after I read the initial NY Times review of it, not realizing an even more full length review was to come out in the Sunday edition of the paper.

I'm midway through its hefty 450 pages of text and over 100 pages of notes and deeply impressed and inspired. Robin D.G. Kelly put in an extraordinary amount of research into this and takes on Monk's story with honesty, love, and compassion, through which he gained an unprecedented level of trust and closeness with the Monk family (including his wife Nellie before her recent death). The story of Monk and Nellie's ancestry is a deep portrait of slavery and the oppression of blacks in the South, which didn't end with the migration of Monk's family to the North and the days of living in San Juan Hill (now the ritzy area around Lincoln Center), and would follow Monk into much of his career. But not only is this a story of deep struggle, but also an incredible sense of pride and triumph. Monk's mother toiled as a cleaning woman for years in order to support her kids (including Monk through much of his twenties), and Nellie would do the same for many years until Monk's music began to bring steady income to the family. Despite early hardship, joblessness, and countless negative reviews, Monk never sacrificed his artistry and having learned some harsh lessons about the music business early on (his estate still only receives 1/3 of the royalties from "Round Midnight" due to Monk entrusting his publishing to others) he never allowed promoters, labels, and club owners to push him around.

It's an incredible portrait of the jazz scene from the forties into the seventies, and of musicians and others who lived by their own set of rules. Monk would have an incredible musical influence over the course of his lifetime. The number of musicians who he taught and who passed through his bands is staggering. Anybody who played with Monk had to be taught his music by ear, often in the studio or on the gig, resulting in numerous apprenticeships that would shape giants such as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes, and Steve Lacy.

As talked about in both reviews, the book also dispels much of the mystique surrounding Monk, and is a beautiful story of a lifelong love and devotion between Monk and Nellie, as well as Monk and his two children and extended family. He actively took a part in the well being of countless others, and donated his artistry numerous times to a number of civil rights organizations over the years. Monk did struggle with what would now most likely be diagnosed as manic depression and some horribly misguided treatments, not to mention his own alcohol abuse and occasional drug use, all of which took a toll on him. Still, he managed to persevere into the last decade of his life, leaving a legacy that has been paralleled by few artists in history.

I hope books such as this continue to raise the level of scholarship in jazz. Kelly undoubtebly went the extra mile to get the truth, making many sacrifices of his own along the way. I think any lover of Monk owes him an incredible degree of gratitude for his work.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Galapagos - Sunday, 10/25





New Music From Argentina
Sunday October 25th @ Galapagos Arts Space

* 7 pm: Fernando Otero


Fernando Otero: piano/compositions/ melodica
Juan Pablo Romarion: Bandoneon
plus special guests.

* 8 pm: Emilio Teubal & La Balteuband


Moto Fukushima: electric bass
Franco Pinna: drum-set
Chris Michael: percussion
Xavier Perez: tenor and sop. sax, flute
Sam Sadigursky: clarinet and sop. sax
Greg Heffernan: cello
Emilio Teubal: piano/ compossitions


Galapagos Art Space
16 Main street, Dumbo, NY
Tickets: $12
www.galapagosartspace.com
718-222-8500
buy tickets at: www.smarttix.com
www.emilioteubal.com
www.fernandootero.com
www.myspace.com/labalteuband
www.myspace.com/oteroxtango

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sept. 11th Concert in Ft. Greene




Home Grown: A Harvest of Fresh Music for Peace



This free concert is held as part of the September Concert, an annual citywide music festival in New York, in remembrance of September 11th and a celebration of our universal humanity. It includes performances of mostly original music by Brooklyn- and New York City area-based classical and jazz musicians and features fresh organic produce from local farms.

DATE: September 11, 2009
TIME: 8pm
RUNNING TIME: 3 hours
LOCATION OF EVENT: South Oxford Space

ADMISSION: free but recommended to reserve tickets in advance.

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
8 Pianist John McDowell and violinist Emmanuel Vukovich
8:45 Sam Sadigursky
9:30 DAAD Quartet
10:15 Frank Carlberg

Pianist, percussionist, producer, commissioned composer and instructor John McDowell achieved worldwide recognition with his soundtrack to the Academy Award winning documentary Born Into Brothels. He is also an organic, biodynamic farmer and runs Camp Hill Farm in Pomona, NY, just north of New York City.

Violinist, composer, and organic farmer Emmanuel Vukovich recently organized and performed in The Agri-Culture Concerts -- a series of benefit recitals on organic farms throughout the US and Canada. A graduate of Canada’s McGill university, Vukovich also studied at Juilliard.

Saxophonist, multi-reedist and composer Sam Sadigursky’s critically-lauded first recording, The Words Project, hailed as "an impressive debut" by the New York Times, was given a four star review by Time Out New York, who also named it one of the Top Ten Albums of 2007.

The DAAD Quartet is Can Olgun - piano, Nils Weinhold - guitar, Matthias Nowak - bass, and David Anlauff - drums. All four are accomplished German jazz musicians who have come to the United States as part of a grant through the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD.

Jazz pianist and composer Frank Carlberg's most recent release on Red Piano Records, The American Dream (2009) has drawn critical acclaim including the Hartford Courant who called it "...melodic, challenging, intelligent, and fiercely original."

WEBSITE: www.septemberconcert.org and www.petermcdowell.com

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Prez at 100





Lester Young's centennial was this week. With a little help from Ethan Iverson, who wrote a ten piece essay/interview/commentary complete with multipe transcriptions I've been thinking myself of Prez and how he has shaped the saxophone and improvisation.

As with my discovery of a lot of early players, I arrived at Lester Young through his disciples, principally Stan Getz, who was the first tenor player I ever listened to as a kid. Funny enough, I remember thinking Getz had a clunky sound on tenor, lacking the sheen and edge that the alto players I had been listening to had, namely Bird, Cannonball, and Phil Woods. I was seduced by his melodicism pretty quickly though (maybe it was our common Russian-Jewish ancestry) and could sing every solo on that two CD-set Best of the Verve Years by high school. Of course, you can't read anything about Getz (or Al Cohn or Zoot Sims) without mention of Lester Young's influence.

Eventually (I'm pretty sure through the old BMG music subscription service) I got The President Plays - Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio, recorded in 1952. Having already heard a little bit of Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins at this point, I could immediately tell that Getz and company got their sound from Young, but Young was not at his peak on his later recordings, and especially paled next to Oscar Peterson's virtuosity to a young listener. (Knowing Young's earlier work and the arc of his life and career to some extent now I can hear the beauty of these later recordings, but you're not hearing the player who shaped jazz to come on these recordings).

Unlike a lot of my peers, I was never particularly lured by the sound of big bands as a kid, and it was thus much later that I got the early Basie recordings where Lester really made his mark. It wouldn't be until late in college that I really heard Young's brilliance on the early Basie recordings and learned some of the pivotal solos, like Shoe Shine Boy, Lady Be Good and Blue Lester. His conception of the instrument and his lines are so different, especially when you consider the prevalent approaches of the time. There is such a cool, relaxed sense of swing, such a light and even sound on the instrument, and such an understated sense of melody. These qualities were never lost at fast tempos or shadowed by Young's virtuosity as a player. There is so much great vocabulary in the concise solos from this period. These aren't bebop lines, but nor are they the vertical approach that dominated pre-bebop. They're just pure melody, mostly diatonic, and a lot of rhythm.

For those who may not have a lot of this material, there's a great compilation on the Living Era label with 24 of Young's greatest tracks that you can get on Amazon here. Listening to this material again now, it's impossible not to hear just how pervasive Young's influence has been on so many of my favorite players, a very short list including the obvious Getz, Zoot Sims, and Al Cohn, but also Bird (there is an MP3 on Iverson's post of Bird quoting Shoe Shine Boy verbatim while playing tenor that I had never heard), Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham... the list goes on and on.

You can't talk about Young without remembering one of the most unique personalities in jazz. Here's an interview with Tootie Heath from Iverson's post:

I was about 19 or 20 when Lester came to Philadelphia a few times a year. We were the house band at the Showboat: me, Jimmy Bond on bass, and Jimmy Golden on piano. We backed Sonny Stitt, too, and Bond and I played for Thelonious Monk as well. Jimmy Bond also got me my first record date, with Nina Simone.

Lester was a piece of work. I loved being around this guy because he was just so different. He seemed like he was gay, since he swished when he walked, but he wasn’t. He was just unique. I was so young then and just enraptured by this cat. We all loved him. I couldn’t wait for him to come to town.

OK, you talked to Benny Golson? Well, Benny’s an angel, who never swears or curses. But if you’re talking about Lester, you’ve got to talk nasty, because he swore all the time. He called everybody “bitch.” Or “Pres.” It was “Pres” or “bitch” for everybody.

My father played clarinet on weekends. He liked John Philip Sousa. During the week he was an auto mechanic, but he played clarinet on weekends. Then he’d take the clarinet into the pawn shop on Monday, and the guy gave him 4 dollars for it until he pawned it the next weekend.

Anyway, my Dad came to the club to see me play with Lester Young. When the gig was over, we came out through the middle of the bar (that’s how the stage was set up). I proudly said, “Lester, this is my father.”

My dad said, “How do you like playing with my son?”

Lester replied, “Well, Pres, the bitch vonces just right for me!”

My dad grumbled afterwards, “I never liked that old man anyway.”

So, Philadelphia was dry on Sunday, right? So that’s why there were matinees on the first day, Monday, and the last day, Saturday, but no gig Sunday. Every night we’d play 9 to 1, but on Monday and Saturday we’d play 4 to 7 as well. And between the matinee and night sets, I’d join Lester at a little bar around the corner that was cheaper then the club. He’d order a small gin, then sweet port in a tall glass, and chased those with a Rolling Rock. Then, of course, he’d smoke a couple of joints. He called weed “Edis,” after “Con Edison,” meaning power.

Smoking weed was illegal in Philadelphia, and everybody knew Lester smoked, of course. In Philly they didn’t understand this guy. One time we were in the back room of the club and a black narcotics detective team came in. “Rez and Rags” were well known: “Rez” was light-skinned and “Rags” dressed in old clothes. They tried to put the heavy on Lester: “We know you have some weed, Pres.” But he held up his drink and replied, “Lester’s ginin’ it tonight!” They grumbled but left us alone.

But most of the time he was so high he’d be moving in slow motion. We were all so fucking high. One time he whispered to me on the stand, “You play and I’ll take the bridgework” - meaning the bridge -- “And then we’ll play “Lester Creeps” -- meaning, we’re so fucking high right now that we’d better just creep into “Lester Leaps In.”

I loved him so much man.

There was a local tenor player named Jimmy Oliver who was black! Blacker than you can believe. Black as night and only five feet tall. We called him the Satin Doll. Oliver loved Lester and imitated him; played all his licks.

One night he came in and asked Lester, “You mind if I sit in?” Lester responded, “Well, Pres, I don’t like to rumble. You play your little songs, then I’ll play my little songs. That way you don’t throw Lester down.”

Afterwards he walked Oliver over - took him by the hands -- to the Jewish owner, Herb Geller, and said, ”Look at the bitch’s palm’s: there is nothing blacker!”

He was so different.

He never told anybody in the band what to play. He’d never count anything off, either. He’d sing the tempo a little bit until one of started playing. When he said, “We are going to play ‘Polka Chips, Pres,’” that meant it was going to be “Polkadots and Moonbeams.”

He sure had a way with words. Roy Haynes sat in with Lester, and fired him up so much that Lester just loved it. Afterwards he came up to Roy and said, “The slave is yours if you’ve got eyes.”

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

keep it local

via the gothamist:

A local currency for goods and services in Brooklyn. Let's hope this catches on.

http://brooklyntorch.org/

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Drone Drone Drone

I found some great tracks to practice to today and figured I'd share them.

Enjoy.









Thursday, July 23, 2009

Keith + Ethan

Ethan Iverson did an interview with Keith Jarrett for BBC Radio that will be up for a week. It's great to hear Keith interviewed by another musician (a pianist nonetheless), and there are some great musical tracks on the program too, particularly some recent solo concerts that I'm not familiar with. Go here to listen to it.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Against Doctor's Orders




I do intend to get back to writing actual posts before the summer is over (a few ideas are starting to brew again), but for the meantime the blah blah blog will continue to be YouTube videos and shameless self promotion.

Darcy James Argue has shown me something to truly aspire to with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWCWdTM-Ogs



(This is so good that it can't be embedded. Trust me, it's worth the click)

Jokes aside, the CD this comes from the album Silhouette, which I was a proud owner of early on. In fact, I was obsessed with it. Thankfully, the Charlie Parker Greatest Hits album won out in the long run, but I can't say I don't owe Kenny G(orelick) anything. I still remember bringing my rented soprano saxophone to summer camp (in fact, it was Jewish summer camp, appropriately enough) and playing the title track (learned by ear, thank you) in the talent show. Thankfully, that has yet to surface on YouTube, and no I never cured any cancers or performed any miracles with my performance.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

this week

Wednesday, July 8th

Tim Ziesmer's Snafu plays Tea Lounge in Park Slope tomorrow night, wed, July 8th at 9pm. Tea Lounge is located on Union st btw 6th & 7th ave.

Snafu members tomorrow:

T.Z. - guitar
Nate Radley - bass
Vinnie Sperrazza - drums
Brian Drye - trombone
Sam Sadigursky - saxophone

Thursday, July 9th

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Encuentro + Lucia Pulido video

The Encuentro continues to grow year by year, both in size and vision. The energy in the room was incredible, and the mix of bands quite diverse. There were a number of highlights, and I even got a glimpse of the new Highline during a break in sets.

I shot two songs during Lucia Pulido's amazing set with Stomu Takeishi and Sebastian Cruz. Here they are:



Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Sixth Annual Encounter of Colombian Musicians




This Sunday at Highline Ballroom I'll once again be exploring my secret indigenous South American roots at the annual Encuentro, which has proven more extraordinary with each year. This year it will feature over one hundred different musicians over the course of ten hours. I'll be performing with Tibagui, Folklore Urbano, Diego Obregon, and La Cumbiamba.

Here's the info from Pablo and Anna Mayor followed by the schedule:

The time has finally arrived! Our "VI Encuentro" (6th Annual Encounter of Colombian Musicians in NY) is this Sunday, June 14th, at the renowned High Line Ballroom in Manhattan.
For those not familiar with the event, it is an all day/night festival of Colombian music-10 hours to be exact, 20 bands. It is a special evening (families welcome) that will keep you on the edge of your seats (and hopefully up on the dance floor!)....The program will take you from the intimate songs of Lucía Pulido and Marta Gómez, to an all-out dance celebration of Folklore Urbano and La Cumbiamba eNeYe, to awe at the virtuosity of Samuel Torres on percussion and Edmar Castañeda on harp. You will hear African music from the Pacific coast, guitar/tiple music from the Andes, harp from Los Llanos (the Plains region), Cumbia and Vallenato from the Caribbean, in styles from jazz to traditional to singer-songwriter---all influenced by Colombian rhythms and song. Folklore Urbano will be performing at about 6:45pm. See details that follow, including a full schedule. ***Purchase tickets ahead so you are assured admission! $12 tickets for children under 10 at the door

THIS Sunday, June 14th, 2pm-12am
VI Annual Encounter of Colombian Musicians in NY
VI Encuentro de Músicos Colombianos en NY
@
The High Line Ballroom
431 W. 16th St. (bt/n 9th and 10th Ave) in Manhattan
Subway: A,C,E to 14th St.
easy street parking since it's SUNDAY!
www.highlineballroom.com
to purchase tickets ahead: Ticket web: 866.468.7629/Nuestro Ticket (español) 201.633.1152

SCHEDULE/HORARIO
2pm Welcome
2:05pm Nilko Andreas Guarín
2:33 Gallo-Florez Duo
3:01pm Johanna Castañeda
3:29pm Hector Martignón
3:57pm Daniel Reyes y Parias Ensamble
4:17pm Diego Obregón
4:45pm Rebolú
5:13pm Tibaguí
5:41pm Fidel Cuellár
6:09pm Marta Gómez
6:37pm Presentación formal del Encuentro
6:52pm Folklore Urbano
7:20pm La Cumbiamba Eneye
7:48pm Lucía Pulido
8:16pm Sebastián Cruz
8:44pm Andrés Garcia
9:12pm Daniel Correa and the Crazy Rhythm Orchestra
9:40pm Harold Gutierrez
10:08pm Gregorio Uribe Big Band
10:36pm Samuel Torres
11:04pm Andrea Tierra
11:32pm Edmar Castañeda

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

So in Love - Fred Hersch



Thanks to Tyshawn Sorey for posting this on the Facebook. I've treasured the CD version of this found on Songs Without Words for a long time. It's captivating to watch this live version.

Tyshawn also linked to an excellent interview with Fred done by Ted Panken that can be found here.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Infernal Machines on New Amsterdam Records



Out yesterday on New Amsterdam Records... I'm really thrilled to be a part of this record and it's been a thrill seeing it get so much well-deserved attention and doing a great CD release at Galapagos last week. Thanks to Suzi Beyerstein for sponsoring my participation on the record.

Check out the amazing press this record has been getting:

"[A] fresh jolt of discovery [...] a potent debut [...] the weight of its achievement feels properly definitive."
— Nate Chinen, New York Times

"For a wholly original take on big band's past, present and future, look to Darcy James Argue."
— Seth Colter Walls, Newsweek

"It's maximalist music of impressive complexity and immense entertainment value, in your face and then in your head."
— Richard Gehr, Village Voice
"[A] seven-track marvel of imagination."
— David Adler, Time Out New York

"Infernal Machines stands defiant, updating the big band tradition for the new millennium while presenting exciting possibilities for the future."
— Troy Collins, All About Jazz

"[A] wonderful combination of sounds, styles, moods and messages"
— Richard Kamins, Hartford Courant

"[T]his is a seriously great record, one of the finest examples of new jazz I’ve heard in the past decade, one of the finest big band records ever made, one of the finest jazz records I’ve truly ever heard."
— George Grella, The Big City

"Among the young turks, Darcy James Argue has the most heat."
— Trevor Hunter, NewMusicBox

"An exciting stylist with an abundance of ideas, Argue deserves his place alongside Schneider, Hollenbeck and other contemporary big band arrangers who are looking beyond traditional notions of what a large jazz orchestra should, and can, sound like."
— James Hale, Jazz Chronicles

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Darn that Dream

Only Ahmad Jamal can make a ballad sound like it was made to swing. His influence as a pianist, arranger, and bandleader can't be underestimated.

This made my rainy day.

giving them the fix

These excerpts are from an interview with Brooklyn writer (aren't they all?) John Wray on Gothamist, who just published a new book called Lowboy.

I wanted my third [novel] to be as different as possible from my second. Mainly because— not because of ambition— I just didn't like the idea of always writing the same novel. There are authors I love who always write the same novel, like Ernest Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy. I mean they might not feel that way, Hemingway might have been like, what are you talking about? But from an aesthetic point of view, he was writing the same book over and over. It would drive me insane. It would be like an obsessive person at an asylum darning the same sock.

There's a tradition in film, and there's this thing that's kind of a curse on fiction in the 20th century, I don't know who it was in what writer's workshop who first thought of this "finding your voice" notion. I think it's destructive. I mean I think it's fine for certain writers who are finding a voice they're interested in— but they're choosing a voice, a particular role to inhabit. People with the archetypal voice: Gertrude Stein or James Ellroy or Raymond Chandler. I mean you hear it and you immediately know it's them, it's consistent from book to book. They chose that voice. Kids in creative writing programs are told that there's a single, genuine voice inside them, only one, and that they have to find it. And I think you can really give a kid a complex with that. The truth is you are starting out your career and you have this whole spectrum. You can choose what you want and it'll be your book no matter what. And you can do that again with your next book or you can do something totally fucking different if you want.

I once interviewed Haruki Murakami, which ended up being a great interview, one of the best things I've been involved in. It was a long Paris Review interview, which meant we could spend a long time talking. I'm a huge fan, and the interview process revealed a lot about what goes on behind the screen, and demystified it. One of the interesting things Haruki said was that while he had been interviewing John Irving, of all people— it's like this endless chain of writers interviewing writers— Irving said to Haruki that when you have your readers you want to hook them on your writing. You want to hook your readers on it like a drug. And you want to get them hooked on that particular feeling like you're writing it for them and you want to come back for every one of your books, like a fix. And if anyone was interested in taking on the whole Irving oeuvre, they'd probably see that.... I think there's a certain understanding of supply and demand that pertains to the microcosm of the literary world. With movies, traditionally, a lot of people going to the movies don't know who the director is, which is probably freeing. Authors are innately identified with their books.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Loser's Music



Picked this up on a recent trip to Amish country.

As if band kids needed one more reason to be bullied.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Words Project - 4/25 @ Portland Conservatory of Music

Featuring Christine Correa (vocals), Dan Tepfer (piano), Sam Sadigursky (saxophone)

Saturday April 25th @ Portland Conservatory of Music
202 Woodford St
Portland, ME
8 PM

Tickets are $15

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

4/17 at Cornelia St. Cafe



April 17th - 9 PM and 10:30
Cornelia St. Cafe
29 Cornelia St.
NY, NY
$10 cover

w/ Sam Sadigursky (saxophone, compositions, aimless reminisces, pre-midlife crisis), Monika Heidemann (voice), Christine Correa (voice), Dan Tepfer (piano), Eivind Opsvik (bass), Eric Doob (drums)

Monday, April 13, 2009

RIP Patelsons 1920-2009



Patelson's, soon to be a relic of another day, was one of those places that almost defined what was so great about being a musician in New York. The stock was great, you could always count on talking to somebody who actually knew what they were selling, and more than once I rubbed shoulders with the classical elite. It was a regular haunt of almost any musician who lives here, and one of the first stops for any musician swinging through town.

Here's the NY Times article about the closing, which details a quintessential New York family story.

Monday, April 6, 2009

the making of a saxophone

This is a total masterpiece.

I'll buy dinner for anybody who can tell me who's playing saxophone on this.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Sunday 4/5 @ All Souls

An Evening Meditation of Jazz and Poetry

Sunday April 5th
6-7 PM
All Souls Unitarian Church
Lexington at 80th St.

Featuring my settings of poems by Langston Hughes, Muriel Rukeyser, Osip Mandelschtam, Sadi Ranson, and Fernando Pessoa performed by:

Christine Correa (voice)
Dan Tepfer (piano)
Jorge Roeder (bass)
me (saxophone)

Details here.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Romance

Jacob Garchik has a new record featuring Dan Weiss and Jacob Sacks.

Watch this:

A guru for troubled times




Austin McBride has blessed us with a number of instructional music videos that are sweeping the web.

Watch him dispense his wisdom (free!) at Expert Village.

Friday, February 20, 2009

the music of words

from Daily Routines

Writing is physical for me. I always have the sense that the words are coming out of my body, not just my mind. I write in longhand, and the pen is scratching the words onto the page. I can even hear the words being written. So much of the effort that goes into writing prose for me is about making sentences that capture the music that I’m hearing in my head. It takes a lot of work, writing, writing, and rewriting to get the music exactly the way you want it to be. That music is a physical force. Not only do you write books physically, but you read books physically as well. There’s something about the rhythms of language that correspond to the rhythms of our own bodies. An attentive reader is finding meanings in the book that can’t be articulated, finding them in his or her body. I think this is what so many people don’t understand about fiction. Poetry is supposed to be musical. But people don’t understand prose. They’re so used to reading journalism—clunky, functional sentences that convey factual information—facts, more than just the surfaces of things.

-Paul Auster

Monday, February 16, 2009

All About Jazz review by Elliot Simon




Words Project II
Sam Sadigursky |
New Amsterdam Records(2008)



By Elliott Simon

Multi-instrumentalist Sam Sadigursky has released the second of his Words Projects, wherein musicians and like-minded vocalists present poetry in a beat-cum-back to the future manner. This is not your grandfather's poems read over a bongo but is creative integration of vocals into an instrumental fabric.

Sadigursky's saxophones and clarinet as well as Pete Rende's piano/Rhodes and accordion thoroughly blend with the vocals to create a "'reading" true to the overall meter and phrasing of the poem(s). Nate Radley's guitar/banjo stylings and Richie Barshay's percussion add a bit of needed color to what otherwise is a fairly monophonic sound palette, texturally rich but sonically narrow. This, combined with the artful vocals of Wendy Gilles, Monika Heidemann and Becca Stevens, makes for a deeply engaging listen.

Poet Andrew Boyd's three contributions are choice narrations of desperate situations that are a perfect fit for these environs. A lyric sheet is included and the way to experience these pieces is to use it while listening; otherwise one might not realize that the true definition of "rock bottom' is "purchasing the collected works of Yanni." Subjects also include David Ignatow's "No Theory," a description of the evisceration of a chicken, and "Miss Teen USA," whose legendary incoherence might be the seeds of a Vice Presidential candidacy someday. While the biting sarcasm of "The War Works Hard" is presented over a cacophonous build, all is not dark, and moments like Langston Hughes' uplifting "The Dream Keeper" and Sadi Ranson Polizzotti's lover's delight "Such Fruit-The Ritual" are points of light.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Gerry Niewood 1943-2009



I was terribly saddened to read late last night that among those killed on flight 3407, which crashed in Buffalo N.Y. Thursday night, was saxophonist Gerry Niewood. Along with guitarist Coleman Millett, they were on their way to a concert with Chuck Mangione, with whom Niewood performed and recorded with early on in his career.

I went to college with Niewood's son Adam and got to know Gerry a little while in school, and even took a lesson with him after finishing college. A few years later, I found myself sitting next to him when subbing in the orchestra for the Radio City Christmas Show. Over a period of three years, I played about seventy shows sitting next to him, and he was always a great source of warmth, encouragement, sound, professionalism, humor, and a real woodwind guru. He seemed to do things his own way, which isn't something I've encountered much playing on Broadway. I always felt that I emerged a better player after sitting next to him, and he always had something nice to say to me after the show, which meant a great deal to me being so new there.

I'll never forget how five minutes before the Christmas show I was once completely unable to find my tuxedo jacket, which I had taken off and hung somewhere after finishing the previous show. Totally baffled, panicked, and extremely embarrassed, I turned to Gerry for advice on what to do. After chuckling, he pointed me to a costume room upstairs where extra tuxedos were, and I was able to find one that fit to get me through the show. (As it turns out, mine had been hanging on a chair that was moved by the stagehands between shows.) Gerry was the kind of guy who I knew I could go to in this kind of situation, and he was totally there.

It's hard to believe he's no longer with us, and how his life could be taken so abruptly. I know he'll be sorely missed by everybody who knew him and played with him.

Here's the bio from Gerry's MySpace page:

Gerry Niewood is an instrumentalist (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone saxophones; flute, alto flute, bass flute, piccolo, clarinet) who has lent his melodic invention to artists as diverse as: Chuck Mangione, Peggy Lee, Simon and Garfunkel, Sinead O'Connor, Anne Murray, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Mark Murphy, Gil Evans, Astrid Gilbeto, Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra and Gerry Mulligan to name only a few. Gerry is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Following graduation, he embarked on a recording and concertizing schedule with the Chuck Mangione Quartet with which he performed for a total of nearly fourteen years. Six years after graduation, Gerry relocated to the highly fertile music scene of New York City and began freelancing. With so many colors in his Palette, and his adaptability to many musical styles, there has never been a shortage of opportunities for Gerry. But his distinctive voice on one instrument, the soprano saxophone, brought him the greatest praise. He was twice voted Downbeat International critic's poll winner in the category "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" on Soprano Saxophone...//// Gerry's Tenor Sax was heard on the sound track to the Robert DeNero film "A Bronx Tale," his woodwinds in the orchestra for "When Harry Met Sally, "Annie," "Shinning Through," "National Lampoon Goes to the Movies," "King of Comedy," and many others...//// Gerry is the 1st saxophonist of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. In that capacity, he has performed with some of the world's most famous entertainers.//// As a composer, Gerry Niewood's works have been recorded by: The Chuck Mangione Quartet, Rare Silk, Lena Horn//// Gerry's resume appears in the Encyclopedia of Jazz, and the Who's Who in Entertainment.

His son Adam Niewood, has posted a page on Myspace that will announce plans for a memorial service. It's here.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Blossom Dearie 1926-2009




We've lost one of the world's most original, swinging voices and pianists in jazz. For anybody who hasn't hear her, get her first record on Verve, which features Ray Brown and Jo Jones. The NY Times obituary is here.

15 steps

This almost makes me wish I had been in a marching band.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

a new chapter begins




America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Daily Routines

Sooner or later, the great men turn out to be all alike. They never stop working. They never lose a minute. It is very depressing. --V.S. Pritchett

A friend of mine pointed me to a website called Daily Routines yesterday, which chronicles how writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days. Compiled mostly from interviews and biographies, it's an intimate portrait of some startlingly disciplined and monastic work routines, juxtaposed against a few who find no need for routine. I wish there were more portraits of musicians (only Satie appears), but hopefully more will come along, especially as much of the content seems reader-generated. It's fascinating to read, and demonstrates so well the lack of any rule or formula in the creative world.

Here's the entry for Franz Kafka:


Begley is particularly astute on the bizarre organization of Kafka's writing day. At the Assicurazioni Generali, Kafka despaired of his twelve-hour shifts that left no time for writing; two years later, promoted to the position of chief clerk at the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute, he was now on the one-shift system, 8:30 AM until 2:30 PM. And then what? Lunch until 3:30, then sleep until 7:30, then exercises, then a family dinner. After which he started work around 11 PM (as Begley points out, the letter- and diary-writing took up at least an hour a day, and more usually two), and then "depending on my strength, inclination, and luck, until one, two, or three o'clock, once even till six in the morning." Then "every imaginable effort to go to sleep," as he fitfully rested before leaving to go to the office once more. This routine left him permanently on the verge of collapse. Yet when Felice wrote to him...arguing that a more rational organization of his day might be possible, he bristled.... "The present way is the only possible one; if I can't bear it, so much the worse; but I will bear it somehow."

It was [Max] Brod's opinion that Kafka's parents should gift him a lump sum "so that he could leave the office, go off to some cheap little place on the Riviera to create those works that God, using Franz's brain, wishes the world to have." Begley, leaving God out of it, politely disagrees, finding Brod's wish probably misguided. Kafka's failure to make even an attempt to break out of the twin prisons of the Institute and his room at the family apartment may have been nothing less than the choice of the way of life that paradoxically best suited him.

It is rare that writers of fiction sit behind their desks, actually writing, for more than a few hours a day. Had Kafka been able to use his time efficiently, the work schedule at the Institute would have left him with enough free time for writing. As he recognized, the truth was that he wasted time.

The truth was that he wasted time! The writer's equivalent of the dater's revelation: He's just not that into you. "Having the Institute and the conditions at his parents' apartment to blame for the long fallow periods when he couldn't write gave Kafka cover: it enabled him to preserve some of his self-esteem."


Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books, July 17, 2008 (reviewing The Tremendous World I Have Inside My Head: Franz Kafka: A Biographical Essay by Louis Begley)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ratliff Revealed

Ben Ratliff, the jazz and pop critic for the NY Times, gives a lot of thoughtful answers to some of the most difficult questions facing jazz here.

Also, kudos to Darcy James Argue, who gets a mention by Ratliff as one of the prominent young musicians to watch. Darcy's group, Secret Society, which I am a member of, just finished recording his debut record for New Amsterdam Records, which will come out in May. For those of you who don't know him, Darcy is one of the bravest and most dedicated people on the scene, not only as a composer and arranger, but also as a blogger. Catch Secret Society at the Jazz Gallery in February.