Newport Up! 2010 Edition - Day 2

Here is a wonderful version of Sweet Georgia Brown by Anita O'Day.

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Newport Up! 2010 Edition

It's that time of year in New England...bright blue sky, sailboats, and miles of cars pouring into the city with exotic license plates like New York and Massachusetts...

The Newport Jazz Festival starts this Friday!!! I am especially looking forward to the performances by The Maria Schneider Orchestra and DJA's Secret Society. As I did last year, I will run up to the festival with videos of some of my favorite Newport moments: Here's a great bit from 1979, Brubeck with Bergonzi....

At Last!

It's no secret that I am a big fan of Dave Liebman. When I received his latest newsletter announcing that he has been awarded the NEA's 2011 Jazz Master award I was thrilled. Here is a link to Lieb's newsletter with the announcement and he speaks very eloquently about the award and the idea of being recognized by the country that created the music (he often garners many more accolades in Europe). To me, Lieb is a total inspiration. Absolute commitment to the art, more artistic courage than just about anyone I can think of, and an absolute dedication to teaching.

It is in this last area that I have had my closest relationship with him. Through studying with him, my own aesthetic solidified and I gained a very concrete path into researching and studying the saxophone and, more importantly, this music for which I will be forever grateful. Not to mention the spirit of brotherhood that he engenders. All who have studied with him will know what I mean. If you ever were his student, you are his family forever. Studying with Lieb really shaped my entire world view in a way few teachers do.

Congrats, Brother

Wachet Auf!

A bit late on this as I've been recovering from a small surgical procedure, but the 2010 Newport Jazz Festival's program has been announced.

Highlights include both Darcy James Argue's Secret Society AND Maria Schneider's Orchestra.

A composer and arranger's dream...

Here's the entire line-up...contact me if you want to get coffee over that weekend...

Thinking of Michael...

My thoughts and listening have been dwelling on Michael Brecker of late. I was doing some study of Kenny Wheeler's composition recently and I pulled out Double Double You and ended up with tears in my eyes as I listened to Michael play. That led me through so much of his music that I haven't listened to for a while. 80/81, Three Quartets, Don't Try This At Home and many others. I still have a tough time with Pilgrimage. It's really tough for me to listen to that one...so many emotions are tied to it for me. The fact that I am so connected to Michael's music is a little funny in a way, I came to Brecker late (relatively speaking). I really never heard Brecker until I was in college, specifically the early 90s with Three Quartets. I grew up listening mainly to the "Big 4" of Trane, Wayne, Joe, and Sonny. About the only modern players I listened to were Branford and Lieb. I had heard of and about Michael, but I very naively "couldn't be bothered" to check him out in my high school days, ironic since learning of how close he and Lieb were and the esteem in which he still holds Michael. When I heard Three Quartets, it was one of those life changing moments. The sound, intensity, harmonic sophistication, everything just shattered my entire world. I never became a disciple the way some did, but I certainly checked him out whenever I could (I first heard him live with Paul Simon around that time). I remember doing my first Brecker Transcription (The Meaning of The Blues) in 1992 or 1993. It was during that exploration that I really started to see what all the fuss was about. He made everything sound so effortless that I was fooled into thinking the solo I was transcribing was much easier than it was.

Fast forward to 2007, I'm at IAJE when the word starts spreading around. The grief and sadness was palpable. I remember walking around and seeing all of my heroes absolutely stricken. An image that will stay with me forever was seeing Rick Margitza and Lieb sitting together with tears in their eyes the emptiest looks on their faces...so sad.

It goes without saying that Michael was a touchstone. He became an archetype of saxophone playing years ago and will continue to be one forever. I suppose that every sax player has a Brecker story. Here's mine: During the "Directions In Music" tour in 2002 or 2003, the group played at Ravinia in Chicago. My family and I went and had lawn seats. It was a typical outdoors summer concert, kids running around, people eating and drinking, a very pleasant, albeit slightly noisy evening. Michael did his solo version of Namia that night and over the course of the 10 minutes, the lawn got as quiet as I had EVER heard it. I like to tell people that even the crickets shut up!

That's what it was about his playing for me. Not the technique, sound or harmonic sophistication (although that is all great), but it was the way he could draw you in to what he was doing.

I miss him.

Sunday Video and some quick thoughts

There was a time that saying: "He's a West Coast player" or "He's a real Chicago Tenor" meant something very specific in terms of style, vocabulary, sound etc. Something that I hear today in my contemporaries and even in my own playing is no sense of regional identity. It is probably quite naive to think in this age of global information that there could be such drastic stylistic differences. An apprentice saxophonist today living in Nebraska has equal access to music from all geographic areas of the US as well as internationally at the click of a mouse. This is a wonderful thing for both the student and the professional, but, I do miss being able to hear a player' geographic linage in his or her playing. Today it sounds like we have all listened to the same 25 records, which of course, we have. As we move through the three stages of artistic development (Imitation, Style, Innovation) I think it would do us well as artists to undertake a study of a historic regional style of playing that appeals to us. We'll be more historically grounded in as well as discover new sources for our own vocabulary.

In that light, our Sunday Video today, features a true Chicago Tenor that I grew up listening to and that I have had the honor of performing with a couple of times...Von Freeman.

Von-Skis!!!!!

Sunday Video...

Some killin' Joe for your Sunday. The sound is a little fuzzy, but Joe's genius comes through. I may have to transcribe the initial statement of the melody! Enjoy...