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News :: Press Releases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/30/08 Download as a PDF National Jazz Museum in Harlem's May Schedule
Unless you have a photographic memory, mark your May 2008 calendar with the plethora of National Jazz Museum in Harlem events! From four weeks of insights into the musical world of John Coltrane, discussions with elder statesmen Lee Konitz and Jimmy Cobb, and New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff, to a host of live performances and special events, the public programs of National Jazz Museum in Harlem are clear evidence that jazz music is alive and well. Come listen to how and why—if not now, when? You have nothing to lose, everything to gain, plus you’ll be a part of jazz history in the making.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS John Coltrane’s early years will be discussed in detail at this first of four sessions on the world of John Coltrane. Here’s a brief bio of Coltrane, to contextualize his musical journey: John Coltrane was born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet North Carolina and died July 17, 1967 at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, NY. Coltrane grew up in High Point NC, moving to Philadelphia PA in June 1943. He was inducted into the Navy in 1945, returning to civilian life in 1946. Coltrane worked a variety of jobs through the late forties until (still an alto saxophonist) he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1949. He stayed with Gillespie through the band’s breakup in May 1950 and (now on tenor saxophone) worked with Gillespie’s small group until April 1951, when he returned to Philadelphia to go to school. In early 1952 he joined Earl Bostic’s band, and in 1953 he joined Johnny Hodges’s small group (during that saxophonist’s short sabbatical from Duke Ellington’s orchestra), staying until mid 1954. Although there are recordings of Coltrane from as early as 1946, his real career spans the twelve years between 1955 and 1967, during which time he reshaped modern jazz and influenced generations of other musicians. Coltrane was freelancing in Philadelphia in the summer of 1955 when he received a call from trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis, whose success during the late forties had been followed by several years of decline, was again active, and was about to form a quintet. Coltrane was with this first edition of the Davis group from October 1955 through April 1957 (with a few absences), a period which saw influential recordings from Davis and the first signs of Coltrane’s ability. This classic First Quintet, best represented by two marathon recording sessions for Prestige in 1956, disbanded in mid-April. During the latter part of 1957 Coltrane worked with Thelonious Monk at New York’s Five Spot, a legendary gig. He rejoined Miles in January 1958, staying until April 1960, during which time he participated in such seminal Davis sessions as Milestones and Kind Of Blue, and recorded his own influential sessions (notably Giant Steps).
Thursday, May 8, 2008 HARLEM SPEAKS One of the most individual of all altoists (and one of the few in the 1950s who did not sound like a cousin of Charlie Parker), the cool-toned Lee Konitz has always had a strong musical curiosity that has led him to consistently take chances and stretch himself, usually quite successfully. Early on he studied clarinet, switched to alto and played with Jerry Wald. Konitz gained some attention for his solos with Claude Thornhill's Orchestra (1947). He began studying with Lennie Tristano who had a big influence on his conception and approach to improvising. Konitz was with Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool Nonet during their one gig and their Capitol recordings (1948-50) and recorded with Lennie Tristano's innovative sextet (1949) including the first two free improvisations ever documented. Konitz blended very well with Warne Marsh's tenor and would have several reunions with both Tristano and Marsh through the years but he was also interested in finding his own way; by the early '50s he started breaking away from the Tristano school. Konitz toured Scandinavia (1951) where his cool sound was influential and he fit in surprisingly well with Stan Kenton's Orchestra (1952-54), being featured on many charts by Bill Holman and Bill Russo. Konitz was primarily a leader from that point on. He almost retired from music in the early '60s but re-emerged a few years later. His recordings have ranged from cool bop to thoughtful free improvisations and his Milestone set of Duets (1967) is a classic. In the late '70s Konitz led a notable Nonet and in 1992 he won the prestigious Jazzpar Prize. He kept a busy release schedule throughout the '90s and dabbled in the world of classical with 2000's French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century. The Mark Masters Ensemble joined him for 2004's One Day With Lee. And in 2007 he recorded Portology with the Ohad Talmor Big Band. He has recorded on soprano and tenor but has mostly stuck to his distinctive alto. Lee Konitz has led consistently stimulating sessions for many labels including Prestige, Dragon, Pacific Jazz, Vogue, Storyville, Atlantic, Verve, Wave, Milestone, MPS, Polydor, Bellaphon, SteepleChase, Sonet, Groove Merchant, Roulette, Progressive, Choice, IAI, Chiaroscuro, Circle, Black Lion, Soul Note, Storyville, Evidence and Philogy.
Friday, May 9, 2008 HARLEM IN THE HIMALAYAS Adam Rudolph: Originally from Chicago, composer and handrummer/percussionist Adam Rudolph has, for the past three decades, appeared at festivals and concerts throughout North & South America, Europe, Africa, and Japan. In 1988 Rudolph began his association with the legendary Yusef Lateef, which lasts to this day. He has recorded 14 albums with Dr. Lateef including their large ensemble collaborations: The World at Peace (1995), Beyond the Sky (2000) and 2003’s In The Garden with Rudolph conducting his Go: Organic Orchestra. He has performed worldwide with Dr. Lateef in ensembles ranging from their acclaimed duo concerts to appearing as guest soloist with Koln, Atlanta and Detroit symphony orchestras. Since 1992 Rudolph has lead his own performing ensemble, Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures, featuring drummer Hamid Drake, Ralph Jones, and Venice based Butoh dance innovator Oguri. The group has performed in both Europe and the United States, and has released several CD’s featuring Rudolph’s compositions. In 1995 he premiered The Dreamer, an Opera based on Nietzsche's "Birth of Tragedy". From 1998 to 2001 Rudolph performed at the Festival D’Essaouira in Morocco in collaboration with many leading Gnawa Maleems (masters). For two of those years he was artistic director and curator of “Calling Across the Water” an acoustic collaboration between American, Bambara and Gnawa musicians at that festival. Graham Haynes: Regarded as an innovator on cornet and flugelhorn, an extraordinary composer, and an emerging force in contemporary electronic music and world music, Graham Haynes has attempted to redefine and deconstruct the genre we still call jazz. While his main instrument is the cornet, he is by no means just making jazz music. These days, Haynes uses technology to create imaginative, subtle sonic environments. Even amidst electronic processing, his horn stands out, providing a level of expression that humanizes and elevates the synthetic sounds. The son of legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes, Graham was born in 1960 and raised in Hollis, Queens, where he was surrounded by innovators (his neighbors included Roy Eldridge, Milt Jackson, and Jaki Byard). While studying composition, harmony and theory at Queens College, Graham developed an interest in classical and electronic music (Robert Moog was professor of electronic music at that time). In 1979, he met alto saxophonist Steve Coleman. They formed a band called Five Elements, which launched the M-Base collective, an influential group of New York improvisers. Haynes spent much of the 1980s collaborating with Coleman and Cassandra Wilson. In the late 1980s he formed his own ensemble, Graham Haynes and No Image, and recorded his first album as a leader, What Time it Be? Since 2000, Haynes has collaborated as music director and composer on the following multimedia projects: - Electric Church, a multimedia event series at Walker Stage, NYC (2000; Haynes served as producer and curator of the event); Sights and Sounds, multimedia collaboration with visual artists at Bronx River Arts Center-Artist Space Program (2000); Afrofuturistic, with writer Tracie Morris, presented at The Kitchen, NYC (2003); A Cruel New World, a dance work by choreographer Donald Byrd, performed by Spectrum Dance Company in Seattle, WA (2003); Improvizions, with choreographer Roxane Butterfly (2005); and 51st Dream State, multimedia project by Sekou Sundiata (2006 international tour). In 2003 Haynes composed the score for Flag Wars, a film funded by PBS. And during 2004-2005, he composed and produced the original soundtrack for the film The Promise by Maria Norman. Throughout his musical career, Graham Haynes has brought together different musical traditions from African, Asian, and Arabic countries. He has lectured at New York University on the subject of Music and Trance and is a perennial guest at the Gnawa Trance Music Festival in Morocco. Graham Haynes tours annually in Europe, Asia and Africa and has appeared several times on national TV. He is in high professional demand as musical director and composer by film, theater, dance, performance and multimedia artists.
Monday, May 12, 2008 JAZZ FOR CURIOUS READERS Ben Ratliff has been a jazz critic at The New York Times since 1996. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and their two sons. His New York Times Essential Library: Jazz was published in 2002. Since the museum’s sibling program, Jazz for Curious Listeners, is peering into the musical world of John Coltrane, Ratliff is a fitting choice for the newest public program of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Jazz for Curious Readers. From Ray Olson’s Booklist’s review of Ratliffe’s Coltrane: The Story of a Sound (2007): “Sonny Rollins made an album called Saxophone Colossus, but his contemporary John Coltrane became the embodiment of that title, the last soloist to date to dominate jazz as Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker had. New York Times jazz critic Ratliff gives us not another biography but rather a history of Coltrane's "sound," his personal manner of playing. Half the book traces Coltrane from beginning on the alto sax to adopting the tenor during early jobs to initial fame in Miles Davis' and Thelonious Monk's working bands and as a leader on recordings in the 1950s. The rest analyzes his last seven years leading the most successful quartet of the 1960s, for which he took up soprano sax, and more experimental ventures after disbanding it. Ratliff demonstrates that the first period was one of increasing complexity in Coltrane's solos; the second, of increasing tonal variety and extramusical (spiritual) motivation but decreasing structural underpinnings as Coltrane exploited modal scales over sparse or no Western chord changes. This is popular, non-technical music analysis at its best.”
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS Jazz for Curious Listenerscontinues an exploration into the music of jazz icon John Coltrane with a focus on Coltrane’s tenure with sui generis pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, a short period in which he found his definitive voice. He also played at various times with various configurations of Miles Davis’s small groups. His growth and development at these junctures with Davis will be apparent to all in attendance. Rest assured that you’ll hear some of most stunning tenor saxophone playing anywhere at anytime!
Friday, May 16, 2008 Special Event: A fine hard bop trumpeter with a wide range, Michael Mossman has proven to be an asset to many swinging sessions. A flexible player, he toured Europe in 1978 with an orchestra led by Anthony Braxton and played on two tours with Roscoe Mitchell. But Mossman was in more logical surroundings when he was with Lionel Hampton (1984) and during the one month he played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He played with Machito and Gerry Mulligan in 1985 and then toured and recorded with Out of the Blue (OTB), which also featured the jazz alto saxophonist many consider the best of his generation, Kenny Garrett. Mossman played lead trumpet with Toshiko Akiyoshi’s Jazz Orchestra, was in Horace Silver's group (1989-1991), and was a member of Gerry Mulligan's Rebirth of the Cool Band (1992). In addition, he toured with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra, the Philip Morris Superband, and Slide Hampton’s Jazz Masters Orchestra. He has also played with the Latin jazz bands of Michel Camilo, Mario Bauza, and Eddie Palmieri. Michael Mossman co-led sessions for EGT and Red and had a 1995 release on Claves. He was recently heard in the trumpet section of Jimmy Heath’s Big Band at the Iridium Jazz Club.
Friday, May 16, 2008 HARLEM IN THE HIMALAYAS Colombian Harpist, Band leader and composer Edmar Castañeda was born in Colombia Bogota where he started playing the Colombian harp at the early age of thirteen. He has a unique style of playing harp, combining Latin jazz with traditional Colombian music, and has carved a firm place in the international jazz scene. A jazz harpist of imposing talent, Castañeda transforms the harp into a lead instrument to phenomenal effect. Producing cross-rhythms like a drummer, smashing chordal flourishes like a flamenco guitarist and collating bebop and Colombian music, he is practically a world unto himself. His style is fascinatingly percussive and he plucks dynamic bass lines almost invisibly while picking out melodies with his right hand. Now in his late 20s, Castañeda moved to the United States in 1994 and was quickly recognized for his unmatched style and sound. He has performed with Paquito D'Rivera, John Scofield, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, John Patitucci, Pablo Zinger, Dave Samuels, Trio De Paz, Guiovani Hidalgo, Lila Downs, Janis Siegel, the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Band, The United Nation Orchestra, among other renowned groups and musicians. He also tours regularly as the leader of the Edmar Castañeda Trio, together with trombone and drums. His playing is striking for its rhythmic complexities and sheer musical force.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS In the late ’50s John Coltrane formed a quartet after his legendary recording dates and live performances with the Miles Davis Quintet. Alex Henderson’s “All Music Guide” profile on Coltrane informs us that, “That group was the New York-based John Coltrane Quartet, whose original lineup included ’Trane on tenor and soprano sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Steve Davis on bass. Davis didn't stay long; Coltrane went through a few more bassists (Art Davis and Reggie Workman) before hiring Jimmy Garrison in 1961. Like his former employer Miles Davis, Coltrane was a very restless musician who was determined to forge ahead -- and his 1960-1965 quartet did exactly that. In the 1950s, Coltrane's main focus had been hard bop—Giant Steps, recorded in 1959, is considered [by many as] bop's ultimate blowing tune. But it was also in 1959 that Coltrane was prominently featured on Davis' influential modal classic Kind of Blue, and the saxman took the modal plunge in a major way when he became a full-time group leader in 1960. That year, Coltrane's new quartet recorded My Favorite Things, an Atlantic release that did as much to popularize modal playing as Kind of Blue. My Favorite Things' title track is considered a definitive example of modal post-bop, as are "Impressions," "Equinox," "Miles' Mode," and other gems that Coltrane's quartet unveiled in the early '60s.,
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Special Event: Dine Around Downtown During the National Jazz Museum in Harlem’s recent Harlem Speaks Education Initiative youth jazz education class, young trumpeter Dominick Farinacci discussed his formal education as well as his acculturation into the nighttime jazz scene. He also played the blues in the styles of Louis Armstrong and then Clifford Brown, so the youth could hear the distinction in the styles of two giants of jazz trumpet. Farinacci, 24, is a recent graduate of the Institute for Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, and has already recorded six records for the Japanese label M & I Jazz. These recordings garnered Dominick the "International New Star" Award from Swing Journal Magazine (Japan) in 2003, an honor that has been previously awarded to Christian McBride and Diana Krall, among others. Dominick also received Gold Disc Awards (signifying a record of the month for Swing Journal) for three of those recordings. Dominick has already toured several times throughout Japan, and has performed in the USA with such luminaries as Tony Bennett, Ira Sullivan, Joey DeFrancesco, and Jason Miles. In December of 2000, Dominick performed with Wynton Marsalis (one of his mentors) and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra as a featured student in a Louis Armstrong tribute, which was broadcast on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center. In 2005, Dominick performed with his own groups at both the Blue Note and Birdland Jazz Club in New York, as well as at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in September of that year. Dominick’s quartet recently recorded a live performance at the Kennedy Center in February 2006 for NPR's JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. He is currently performing regularly with his own group and as a sideman throughout the US and on several international tours this year.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS
Thursday, May 29, 2008 HARLEM SPEAKS Jimmy Cobb is largely self-taught, though he studied briefly with Jack Dennett, a percussionist in the National Symphony Orchestra. He played engagements with Charlie Rouse, Leo Parker, Frank Wess, Billie Holiday, and Pearl Bailey in Washington. After leaving the city in 1950 he played with Earl Bostic (with whom he made his first recordings), Dinah Washington (for three and a half years), Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1958 he replaced Philly Joe Jones in Miles Davis’ group, with which he remained until 1963, and is the only living member of the famous Miles Davis Quintet that recorded the timeless Kind of Blue. He then joined Paul Chambers in the Wynton Kelly Trio, which toured and recorded both on its own and with Wes Montgomery and J. J. Johnson. He accompanied Sarah Vaughan through the 1970s and later played with Rich Cole, Sonny Stitt, Nat Adderley, and Ricky Ford. Most recently he was heard in pianist Cedar Walton’s group at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. Cobb's style of drumming is in the classic hard-bop tradition of Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. As an accompanist he plays forcefully, aggressively, and slightly ahead of the beat; as a soloist he uses the entire drum set in a quasi-melodic fashion.
Saturday, May 31, 2008 Special Event: During the 1930s, the big band sounds of the great pianist and bandleader William "Count" Basie captivated New Yorkers. Roxane Orgill, author of Dream Lucky: When FDR Was in the White House, Count Basie Was on the Radio, and Everyone Wore a Hat (HarperCollins, 2008), will discuss the importance of this tumultuous period and Basie's rise to fame. She will then join in a panel discussion moderated by Loren Schoenberg, Executive Director of The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, featuring the trombonist Benny Powell, who played with Basie. Benny Powell is a journeyman trombonist whose bold sound bridges bebop and swing. His work employs the vocal color of great swing trombonists and the technical fluidity of bop practitioners. Powell plays both tenor trombone and the bigger-bored bass trombone broadening the colors he brings to an ensemble. Known exclusively as a sideman, he's made valuable contributions to several notable bands, ranging from the rocking swing of Lionel Hampton to the roots-informed avant-garde of John Carter. A native of New Orleans, Powell started performing professionally at 14. By age 18, he had joined Lionel Hampton, and three years later he left to join the Count Basie Orchestra, just as Basie was re-establishing his band as one of the benchmarks of the field. Powell's horn plays the bridge on Basie's biggest hit "April in Paris." He stayed with Basie through 1963, making small band sessions with a number of leaders, most often fellow members of Basie's orchestra. From 1963, he first worked as a session man in New York, notably with the band for the Merv Griffin Show. He moved to California with the show and continued to be in demand with rehearsal big bands in which studio players got a chance to exercise their jazz chops. Prominent among these was the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. Powell recorded one session with the group taking the highly charged and characteristic solo on "Fingers." That swaggering solo style combined with a studio player's dependability landed him stints with Abdullah Ibrahim and John Carter, contributing to all five recordings that comprise Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music, and Randy Weston. Weston's big bands proved especially fitting showcases for the range of Powell's work. In 1991, Powell recorded his second session as a leader under his own name. The session features a number of his own compositions which draw on a variety of styles and prove apt vehicles for his expressive horn. Powell has also been active in teaching young people about jazz and the roots of African-American music, including work with the Jazzmobile in New York City.
This press release was composed and edited by Greg Thomas. The National Jazz Museum in Harlem has been ensconced in its Harlem offices for over five years now; its public programs now attract several thousand people a year. Good news: The Victoria Theater on 125th Street will be redeveloped and includes space (10,150 sq. feet) for the museum! The Victoria Theatre on 125th Street will be redeveloped and includes space (10,150 sq. feet) for the museum! If you would like to receive updates on our progress or further information, please contact us online at http://www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/contact.php or by phone at 212-348-8300. To find video clips, event summaries, program updates and photographs galore from our previous programs, venture here: www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org |
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