D'Amico Cucina: The second-to-last night

When: Friday, June 26, 2009 • Where: D'Amico Cucina, Butler Square

A few years back I took HH to D'Amico Cucina for his birthday. Last Friday's repeat performance was tinged with nostalgia. The fabled Italian restaurant would close the next day, a casualty of changing economic times, the proximity of the new Twins stadium, and various traffic and parking woes.



It's not that the company is failing--D'Amico and Partners owns Cafe and Bar Lurcat, all of the D'Amico & Sons restaurants, Campiello (although the one in Minneapolis has closed, there are others in Eden Prairie and in Naples, Florida for snowbirds), and Masa, the gourmet Mexican restaurant on Nicollet Mall. The closing is "proactive" and it's rumored that Cucina might relocate.

But the original location was special. It was beautiful, comfortable, and the food and service were amazing. It was also, for 22 years, a sophisticated jazz venue on the weekends and a constant gig for many area musicians. Think Bobby Short at the Carlisle in New York City.



The regulars came out on Friday, and many friends. We sat at the bar, where the music was. Adam Linz and Luke Polipnick were at the other end. Jeremy and Marsha Walker showed up. Benny Weinbeck was on piano, Gordy Johnson on bass, JT Bates on drums. The players changed throughout the evening: Adam briefly took over for Gordy, Phil Hey replaced JT, Tommy O'Donnell sat in for Benny. Scott Fultz brought his saxophone, Benny's brother Henry his cornet, and for a time it was a quintet.



From where we were sitting, we could see the musicians, and while they spent most of the evening playing, there were breaks when they stood and talked together, handsome men in suits and ties, class acts in a classy place. We ate ahi tuna and veal in a sauce and perfect seared scallops, lobster gnocchi and tiny green beens, beef tenderloin and chocolate. The place was packed, the bartenders worked at hyperspeed, it was noisy but fun. The music—classics, standards, swinging and sweet, the kind you can turn to and focus on, then turn away from to toast and kiss your husband, yet you're still hearing it and it's shaping your mood and making your wine taste even better—the music went on and on and then it stopped.



Photos by John Whiting. Top to bottom: Benny Weinbeck; Gordy Johnson; Phil, Gordy, Benny, Scott, Henry; Henry Weinbeck.

When a jazz venue closes

Earlier today I was interviewing bassist Adam Linz when he told me that the upscale Italian restaurant D’Amico Cucina was closing. I hadn’t yet seen the StarTribune story or read the company press release. Now I know the reasons: the times, the economy, parking problems, the proximity of the new Twins stadium.

Both the Strib story and the press release talk about the restaurant’s history, reputation, food and wine. Neither mentions that for 22 years D’Amico Cucina was a jazz venue. Not a jazz club, but a place where you could go to hear jazz on the weekends because owner Richard D’Amico liked it.

For 22 years, bassist Gordy Johnson and pianist Benny Weinbeck played there. For 15 years, starting when he was 19, Linz had a regular gig there. So did pianist Tommy O'Donnell.

All those years, all those weekends, all that music. The regular gig. The loss of these things makes me sad.

Whenever HH and I went to NYC, we would make our way to Ruth’s Chris on West 51st, where pianist Rick Germanson had a regular gig in the bar. We would sit at the bar for dinner, the better to hear him play. That ended several months ago.

Last year, Cue restaurant at the Guthrie featured jazz every weekend for several months. It has new owners and no one believes the music will return. The Phil Aaron Trio (with Tom Lewis and Jay Epstein) had a regular gig in the Chez Colette Lounge at the Hotel Sofitel for many years. Saxophonist Irv Williams ("Mr. Smooth") played the Top of the Hilton in St. Paul from 1968–74. Where are the regular gigs these days? Will anyone ever play anywhere again for 5 or 10 or 20 years?

Upscale restaurants are great places for live jazz. Piano jazz, or piano-bass jazz, or even piano-bass-drums jazz (as long as the drums aren’t too crashy) makes fine food taste better. It adds excitement to the air. It’s sensuous and unpredictable. It makes you want to start off with a dry martini, then order a bottle of wine, then work your way down the menu, simply because everything goes so well together. Piano and steak. Piano and lobster. Piano and bass and gnocchi and chocolate truffle cake. You enjoy your cocktail and smile at your dinner partner and converse in lower-than-usual tones and laugh, and once in a while you look over at the musician or musicians, men in suits and (less frequently) women who have taken time with their hair and makeup, and one is seated at a grand piano and one is embracing a double bass and it’s all good. Maybe they take requests and maybe they don’t, but chances are they play something you know, and on the way out you leave a tip in the jar on the piano.

Lose the live music and you lose more than the music. You lose the sophistication, the energy, the elegance, and the surprise that live performance adds to the ambience and the air itself. Pipe music in and it's like buying your food from a vending machine.

Everyone at D’Amico, including staff and musicians, got the news about the closing yesterday or today. Linz called it “a great ride…really one of the best gigs I’ve ever been fortunate to play.” Weinbeck called it “awesome.” Johnson is in NYC this week playing at Birdland with Stacey Kent. I hope he knows…I hope he doesn’t.

D'Amico closes its doors for good on June 27. There will be many opportunities between today (June 4) and then to hear Linz and Weinbeck and Johnson. Check the live jazz calendar at the top of the blog.

Bill Carrothers: One of a kind

When: Friday and Saturday, Dec. 26–27, 2008 • Where: Artists’ Quarter • Who: Bill Carrothers, piano; Gordy Johnson, bass; Kenny Horst, drums

Maybe it’s because he makes his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where he rides snowmobiles and goes blueberry picking with a shotgun in case he and a bear meet at the same bush, that Bill Carrothers’ playing is full of space, even when his notes are stacked in chords and linked in long glissandos. Maybe it’s because he lives outside an old copper mining town called Mass City (population around 600, one general store, one blinker light) and plays mostly in Europe that it doesn’t feel tied to a particular place or time.

Hearing him over a weekend at the end of December at the AQ, I’m reminded again of how unique Bill Carrothers is. He’s avant-garde and traditional, serious and playful, free-flying and grounded in history (maybe because his full name is William Gaylord Carrothers III—thanks for that fact, jazz.com). You never know where he’ll go next, whether within a live set or on his recordings.

This weekend he has three new CDs available for sale, which he mentions only in passing but Davis will gladly tell you about at the door. The Voices That Are Gone: The Music of Stephen Foster is an art-songs collaboration with cellist Matt Turner and Carrothers’ wife, Peg, a vocalist. Play Day is a children’s CD that includes a loving ballad arrangement of the old Oscar Mayer song (“Wiener Mood”). Home Row is straight-ahead piano trio goodness; recorded in 1992, it features Gary Peacock on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Writing for the New York Times, Nate Chinen suggests we treat Home Row like a modern recording and forget that it sat on a shelf somewhere for 15 years.

On both nights we hear standards transformed into originals by Carrothers’ passion, improvisational skills, vast musical knowledge, far-ranging intelligence, and sly wit. “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams,” “Billie’s Bounce” (which ends with a quote from “In Walked Bud,” played fast and loose), “Blue Evening,” Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count,” “Moonlight Serenade,” and a delightful “All of Me”—dusted off, reinterpreted, and kicked in the pants.

Then “Nature Boy.” Carrothers thinks about this one before he begins, fingers poised, head bowed. He becomes very quiet. It starts as a solo piano piece, a beautiful rumination. Kenny Horst comes in with mallets and a soft, persistent beat; Gordy picks up the melody on his bass. It’s breathtaking—a song everyone has heard countless times yet it feels like the first time, yet it’s suffused with the past and tradition and all who have gone before. Played with reverence and grandness, it ends with a wordless poem. No disrespect to the AQ’s piano but I’d love to hear Carrothers on a Steinway someday.

“Just You Just Me.” “Call Me Irresponsible” (with lots of notes). “This Is Worth Fighting For,” a WWII recruiting song that blends “America the Beautiful” with “Amazing Grace” and “The Christmas Song.” “So in Love.” A lush and lengthy series of chords that seems headed toward “When I Fall in Love” but ends up somewhere else. Gordy and Kenny are hyper-watchful; it’s clear this night is going wherever Carrothers wants to take it, not by a set list. “Con Alma.” “Rhythm-a-ning.” “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story.

Sometimes Carrothers seems to forget he’s part of a trio and plays like he’s alone. Perhaps he forgets us, the audience, as well. Maybe it's because he takes off his shoes and performs in his stocking feet that he seems so comfortable, so at home. The night ends with “Thanks for the Memories,” and I think of Bob Hope and his USO Christmas shows and our service men and women still overseas and I’m pretty sure that’s where my mind is supposed to go.

We can stay for only the first set on Saturday, long enough to hear “You and the Night and the Music” (tender, reflective, tinged with sadness), more “Moonlight Serenade,” a not at all wistful version of “Autumn Leaves,” “My Old Kentucky Home” (a tune from his new CD with Matt Turner), a “Let It Snow” that morphs into “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” Whatever Carrothers wants to play. A phrase from Kenny Werner pops into my head: Effortless mastery.

Watch Don Berryman's video of "Blood Count" from Friday night.




Photos to come.

Benny Weinbeck and Gordy Johnson

When: Thursday, July 3, 2008 • Where: D'Amico Cucina • Who: Benny Weinbeck, piano; Gordy Johnson, bass

It's one of the best-kept secrets in Twin Cities jazz: Every Saturday (and often every Friday as well), Weinbeck and Johnson perform in the tasteful and elegant bar of the very gourmet Italian restaurant in Butler Square. (We were there on the Thursday before the Fourth of July because owner Richard D'Amico was coming in and wanted live music.)

Johnson says it's been his regular gig for--12? 13?--years. I've known about it but haven't gone because the restaurant is notorious for being pricey. (I had first-hand experience of that several years back when I took HH there for his birthday with a few friends. Great food, wonderful time, but yikes, the bill.) What I didn't realize until recently is you can book a table or club chairs in the bar and eat there--or not eat and just enjoy the music with a cocktail and an appetizer or two.

If you sit at the bar, your chin is nearly on the bar because the soft leather chairs are luxe and low. Which simply means the lobster gnocchi doesn't have to travel as far to reach your mouth. I admit--we dined, making our way down the menu and sharing. The bartender treated us well. The music was perfect. And the bill wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Maybe D'Amico isn't that expensive after all, or maybe other Twin Cities restaurants have caught up.

I had the gnocchi ten years ago and have thought about it often since. It's still the amazing dish I remember: light, silky little pillows, not the usual gluey blobs. Fabulous.

Photo of Johnson and Weinbeck outside Butler Square from Weinbeck's website. Next time we go, we'll take pictures if they don't mind.

Gordy Johnson's CD Release

When: 5/25/08
Where: Dakota
Who: Gordy Johnson (bass), Tanner Taylor (piano), Phil Hey (drums)

Gordy Johnson is one of the reasons jazz is so strong in the Twin Cities. His appearance on any stage is a guarantee of a fine performance. Maybe it's because bass players often stand in one place all night long and play large instruments that they seem rock-like and stalwart. With his broad forehead, shaved dome, and commanding presence, Gordy is kind of a Mount Rushmore of bass players. His tone is beautiful and his playing always engaging. I often find myself watching Gordy when the star of the evening is a singer, a pianist, or a horn player—not because he calls attention to himself but because I like him so much.

He has just released the fourth CD in his "Trios" series. How the series came about and what might happen next are reported in my MinnPost column for Friday, May 16.

Because we were at the Dave Brubeck Quartet concert at Orchestra Hall, we missed the first two sets of Gordy's CD release at the Dakota (with pianists Laura Caviani and Bryan Nichols) but were able to catch the third with Tanner Taylor. First up, the fireworks of "Bouncing with Bud," followed by the lilting elegance of Tanner's composition "Evanesque." Gordy is wearing a Mexican shirt given to him by pianist Chris Lomheim; he looks relaxed and happy. It's an open curtain show and the house is nearly full. Many musicians are in the crowd: Mary Louise Knutson and Michael Nelson, Lucia Newell, Connie Evingson.



Next: "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," a track from Gordy's first "Trios" CD, where it was played by the late Bobby Peterson. Gordy mentions that Tanner sounds a bit like Bobby—"a powerful player." Then a Dizzy Gillespie tune, "Con Alma," a deliciously languid "Li'l Darlin'," and "Close Your Eyes." Finally "Blues for C.J.," a song Gordy wrote for his father, the late Clifford Johnson, a bass player for many years for the Minnesota Orchestra. It's the first song on the new CD and the last of the night. He and Phil Hey have been playing since 7 and it's time to go home.

Photos by John Whiting.

Jon Weber

When: 1/27/08
Where: The Artists' Quarter
Who: Jon Weber (piano), Gordy Johnson (bass), Kenny Horst (drums)

Weber is one of my favorite piano players. Self-taught, he can play anything, and he seems to know everything about music. He has perfect pitch and total recall; by age 6, he had memorized 2,000 standards from his grandmother's piano rolls. He's a riveting performer, a brilliant composer, and an imaginative improviser. Why he isn't more famous is a mystery. Maybe he's just too scary smart in a profession that requires more brains than most people realize.

Weber splits his time between New York and Chicago (six days a week in NYC, one day in the Windy City) and rarely comes to Minneapolis/St. Paul except for the annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival in June, where he's a beloved regular. This weekend, he played a private event in Minneapolis on Saturday, leaving Sunday free for the AQ.

Because Sunday was Jerome Kern's birthday (Weber appears to know—and quite possibly really does know—every composer's birthday, date and year, and when every song was written, and what movie or musical it came from, if it did), the first set at the AQ was devoted to the music of Jerome Kern: "Long Ago and Far Away" (from the 1944 musical Cover Girl), "Nobody Else But Me" (a tune Gordy Johnson recorded on his Trios Version 3.0 CD), "All the Things You Are," "The Song Is You," "I'm Old Fashioned" (from the movie You Were Never Lovelier), and "Old Man River" from the musical Showboat.

But that's not all we heard. Like most jazz artists, Weber never plays just one tune. Between statements of the melody (so we have some clue what we're hearing), he improvises. And Weber's improvisations are wild rides through pretty much everything musical. All jazz artists quote from other songs, but with Weber, the quotes are so diverse and they go by so fast you've barely figured one out before he's already three ahead. It's as if each improvisation is an opportunity for Weber to mine the vast and astonishing wealth of music in his head, and he does it at warp speed. I found myself holding my breath so I wouldn't miss a thing.

A lot of things I recognized but couldn't name flew by. A few I could: Bits of Mozart (Weber calls him "Zart;" the 27th was his birthday, too) from "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and more. Snippets of "Hooray for Hollywood" and "Chicago" (that toddlin' town). John swears he heard a phrase from an old Woolite jingle ("You'd look better in a sweater washed in Woolite"). Nothing was off limits and it all fit.

Between tunes, Weber talked, filling us in on what he had just played and preparing us (sort of) for what was to come, peppering us with facts and stats and stories. "Here we are in the second century of jazz," he said, "and you don't know what you're going to get.... It's the flying trapeze jazz act without a net."

The second set left Kern behind and chased the rest of jazz: "Swanee" (stride style), James P. Johnson's "Worried and Lonesome Blues" (Weber: "Someday I'm going to dedicate a whole show to songs with 'and' in the title.... 'You and the Night and the Music' will be a double"), "I'm Beginning to See the Light," Oscar Peterson's "Riff Blues," "Alone Together," "Very Early" (written by a 19-year-old Bill Evans), Charlie Christian's "A Smooth One," and "Sonnymoon for Two" by Sonny Rollins.



Introducing "Sonnymoon," Weber mentioned that Rollins was one of seven surviving jazz artists in the famous "Great Day in Harlem" photograph taken by Art Kane in 1958, a copy of which hangs on a wall at the AQ. Weber named six survivors but couldn't come up with the seventh, so after the set he and Kenny Horst and Davis Wilson and a few others gathered around the photo to try to figure it out.

Photos: Top: Jon Weber by John Whiting. Bottom: L to R: "Great Day in Harlem," Kenny Horst, HH, unidentified man, Jon Weber, Davis Wilson.

Valves Meet Slide: Back for More

When: 1/20/08
Where: The Artists' Quarter
Who: Brad Bellows (valve trombone), Dave Graf (slide trombone), Peter Schimke (piano), Gordy Johnson (bass), Mac Santiago (drums)

I can't imagine a better way to spend a cold Minnesota Sunday afternoon than in the warm embrace of the Artists' Quarter. There's something about parking on the St. Paul streets, walking through the lighted arch over the 7th Place Pedestrian Mall, passing the goofy drummer mannequin in the window of the Hamm Building (we call him "Dusty"), and heading downstairs to the basement jazz club that makes you think all jazz clubs should be in basements. Like the Vanguard, like the Iridium, like the Standard.

As promised, Brad Bellows brought appetizers: crab dip, chips, cheese and sausage. We sat and snacked and enjoyed almost four hours of music by a group that sounds better each time I hear them. We heard tunes by Freddie Hubbard and Dave Karr, J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Jobim, Bob Brookmeyer, Tad Dameron, Horace Silver, and Fats Waller, almost all of which had been transcribed for the quintet's unusual configuration, and an original by Graf, "Going Away." Everyone sounded great, everyone looked happy and relaxed, and everyone had a chance to shine. Gordy Johnson in particular was about the best I've ever heard him; at one point, Graf said, "Gordy's on fire."

The event drew a sizable crowd for a Sunday afternoon that also featured big football games and a figure skating championship at nearby Excel Energy Center. I've heard this was something AQ owner Kenny Horst wanted to try to see if it would fly--would people come to the club on Sunday afternoon? Make it as good as this and they'll come.

Photo by John Whiting. L to R: Peter, Gordy, Mac, Dave, Brad.

Video by Don Berryman.

Trombones help beat the winter blahs: Valves Meet Slide

Originally published on MinnPost.com, January 11, 2008

The unhappiest day of the year is almost here. Thanks to Welsh psychologist Cliff Arnall, who developed an equation that factors in bleak weather, Christmas debt, failed New Year's resolutions and other glum variables, the first Monday of the last full week of January is designated Blue Monday. This year, it falls on Jan. 21.

Don't despair — prepare. Spend part of Sunday the 20th at the Artists' Quarter and stock up on bonhomie for Monday and beyond.

The AQ is hosting its first Sunday Afternoon Jazz Party starting at 3 p.m., complete with free hors d'oeuvres. On stage: Valves Meet Slide, a quintet with two trombones and a killer rhythm section.

I first heard this group last November and I liked them a lot. The music is upbeat and warm — jazz standards you've probably heard before, but on different instruments. You can see them perform here.

Not your typical jazz horn
The trombone is not the first horn people associate with jazz; that would be the saxophone or trumpet. But it's an instrument with a great range and mellow sound. Usually you're lucky to hear one in a jazz ensemble. Slide Hampton, Robin Eubanks, J.J. Johnson, Steve Turre and Delfeayo Marsalis have all helped to popularize the horn with the big reach. Hearing two at the same time is a rare treat.

In Valves Meet Slide, Dave Graf plays the trombone most people are used to seeing, the one with the slide. Brad Bellows plays valve trombone, which uses valves (like a trumpet) instead of a slide to lengthen or shorten the pipe and create the notes. (Trombone trivia: The late Maynard Ferguson played a trombone with both valves and a slide. He called it Superbone.)

Bellows is the founder of Locally Damaging Winds, the Midwest's preeminent jazz trombone septet; earlier this month, they played to a near capacity crowd at the Bloomington Arts Center. Graf can be heard with the Latin ensemble Salsa Del Soul every Thursday night at the Times Bar and Café in Northeast Minneapolis. His musically varied background includes big bands, Brazilian music, A Prairie Home Companion, and a long association with the late trumpeter Red Wolfe in his Port of Dixie Jazz Band and the Ellington Echoes. Graf has also performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Slide Hampton, Jack McDuff, and the Woody Herman Orchestra.

It was Bellows who suggested to Graf that they get together and jam. "We started doing that for the heck of it," Graf says. "I like to practice with someone else, give and take, bounce ideas around. After we'd done that a couple of times, Brad said, 'Let's try and get a gig.' Next thing I knew, we had a booking at the AQ." That was last summer. The Sunday Afternoon Jazz Party will be the fourth time Valves Meet Slide has performed in public.

Both men have fond memories of the Emporium of Jazz in Mendota, where the Hall Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band played for 25 years. "They had a Sunday afternoon show," Bellows says, "and it was fun." Bellows and Graf have day jobs, as do most of their family members and friends. "People with day gigs don't want to go out at night during the week," says Bellows. "A Sunday matinee will give more people a chance to see the band."

They will have a set list but don't yet know what will be on it. "We play what we like, a variety of stuff, and we try to sneak in a couple of new songs every time we play," Graf says. "We keep it pretty loose."

Back-up from a dream team
In addition to his valve trombone, Bellows will bring his euphonium — basically a small tuba. (Its name comes from the Greek word euphonos, meaning sweet-voiced.) Graf and Bellows will be backed by a local dream team: Peter Schimke on piano, Gordy Johnson on bass, Mac Santiago on drums.

Bellows will supply the hors d'oeuvres. He's thinking crackers and cheese, chips and dips, the sort of thing you'd eat anyway if you were at home in front of the TV. The bartender at the AQ (maybe Dan, maybe Dave) will pour the club's famously generous and reasonably priced drinks. And Davis Wilson the doorman will take your money, about what you'd pay for a movie.

The AQ's doors are seldom open on Sunday afternoons. An earlier exception was last July 15, when a singer's showcase for the Jazz Vocalists of Minnesota packed the house. Graf laughs when I remind him of that. "Those were singers, we're trombones," he says. But good music is good music, and that's what you'll hear if you go.

What: Valves Meet Slide
Where: The Artists' Quarter, 408 St. Peter Street, St. Paul
When: 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20
How much: $7
Phone: 651-292-1359
Website

Upcoming picks

Slide Huxtable Quartet featuring Mark Miller: I've never heard of a jazz group playing three local clubs in the same week. Maybe one day Orchestra Hall and the Schubert Club could share a soprano? This very interesting quartet — all former members of the Motion Poets — includes Mark Miller on trombone, Chris Bates on bass, and J.T. Bates on drums, with guitar wizard Dean Magraw stepping in for regular group guitarist Bill Bergmann. Earlier this week, they played the Clown Lodge (in the basement of the Turf Club) and then the Artists' Quarter. Tonight they're on the Dakota's late-night bill. The Dakota, 11:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11 ($5).

Roseville Winter Jazz Blast: It's the 150th birthday of the state of Minnesota, and we're finally getting a state birthday song. The Roseville Winter Jazz Blast commissioned one by Dean Sorenson, director of jazz studies at the University of Minnesota; the song will have its premiere at this day-long festival for middle and high school jazz ensembles hosted by Northwestern College in Roseville. Come for the closing concert with the JazzMN Big Band, Judi Donaghy, and T. Mychael Rambo. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12 ($7-$17). Call 651-631-5151 or 866-821-5151.

Improvised Music at Homewood Studios: Every two months, this artists' workspace and community gallery in North Minneapolis hosts an evening of improvised music. In their words, "It's not your regular Lake Harriet Bandshell evening." That's for sure. This month features Milo Fine on drums and bowed cymbals, Davu Seru on drums, John O'Brien on trumpet and flugelhorn and Stefan Kac (of the Pan-Metropolitan Trio) on tuba. Homewood Studios, 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14 ($5).

Irv Williams

When: 1/6/08
Where: The Dakota
Who: Irv Williams (saxophone), Peter Schimke (piano), Gordy Johnson (bass), Phil Hey (drums)

At 88, Irv Williams (a.k.a. "Mr. Smooth," but certainly not because he plays smooth jazz) has released a new CD. He called it Finality which just makes people roll their eyes. Williams is the Energizer Bunny of jazz without the dorky drum. We caught the first set of his CD release at the Dakota, where he and his trio celebrated with standards: "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (a melody that makes me vow never to travel anywhere without my husband again), a spry, snappy reading of "I Thought About You," "Old Folks" (what Irv calls "my theme song"), "Come Rain or Come Shine." The downstairs was full, the crowd was devoted, and Williams' sax was warm and velvety.

Introducing his new CD, Williams pointed out the image on the cover: himself as a six-year-old child. Due to the age of the photo, it needed some restoring. He also mentioned he'd been born prematurely, a much bigger problem in 1919 than it is today. Then he told us he had his pen out and was ready to sign. He stayed on stage during the break and people got in line.

Read about Finality, listen to bits of each track, and maybe order yourself a copy.
Still my favorite Irv CD.

Photos: Irv then, Irv now.

Bill Carrothers' Armistice Band U.S. Premiere

When: 1/5/08
Where: The Artists' Quarter
Who: Bill Carrothers (piano), Peg Carrothers (voice), Jean-Marc Foltz (clarinets), Matt Turner (cello), Gordy Johnson (bass), Dre Pallemaerts (drums), Jay Epstein (percussion)

After previewing this show for MinnPost and reading Britt Robson's glowing article about in the Strib (which I would gladly link to here, except you'd have to pay to read it after three weeks) and Andrea Canter's piece on Jazz Police, I expected a crowd. In fact, it was SRO at the AQ, something that doesn't happen nearly often enough. Much of the audience was other musicians. Laura Caviani, Pete Whitman, Mary Louise Knutson, Phil Aaron, Chris Lomheim and his wife, Emily, Lucia Newell, James Buckley, Michael Lewis, Chris Olson, Mac Santiago, Miguel Hurtado, and Javier Santiago were all there—and those are just the ones I saw. We tried to imagine who was left to play piano gigs around the Twin Cities that night. Peter Schimke was at the Dakota; he came to the AQ after. Tanner Taylor must have been all over town.

Carrothers' Armistice 1918 suite was even more powerful in person than on the recording. We journeyed through optimism, death, and despair. While I love the more traditional piano-bass-drums trio, the other instruments—Turner's eloquent cello, Foltz's expressive clarinets, Epstein's limitless percussion array (which included a tart pan, beans in a bowl, goats' toenails, what looked like vacuum cleaner hoses, and something he later told me is called a Remo Spring Drum)—added great texture and dimension. And Peg's voice rose pure and clear above the music, even when it was buzzy and dark. Her version of "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" was devastating.

As an encore, they gave us "And the Band Played On" in a spooky David Lynch version. It was perfect, and in response, we gave them a standing ovation. Which was small thanks for a concert so epic and virtuosic and satisfying that it should have commanded and filled a much larger space. I heard the band had approached other venues and been rejected; Armistice 1918 was judged too old-fashioned, too anti-war, irrelevant. I heard the Walker turned them down. I recently read an article about a dance series at the Walker (again in the Strib, sorry, no link) in which performing arts curator Philip Bither said, "We consciously did not want to go back. These are the artists you see in the future." Maybe to Bither, programming Armistice 1918 would have meant "going back," but to those of us who sat still and silent, taking in as much as we could, it was about as modern and immediate and forward-looking as music can be.

Bill Carrothers' Web site is the only place you can buy much of his music including Armistice 1918.

Photos, top to bottom: Carrothers, Foltz, Turner. Photo of Matt Turner by John Whiting.

First must-see of 2008: Bill Carrothers' "Armistice 1918"

Originally published on MinnPost.com on December 21, 2007

Jazz pianist and composer Bill Carrothers has been a history buff since childhood. At age 10, he spent time with a World War I veteran and friend of his grandfather, taking in the old man's stories. As a boy growing up in Excelsior, he was fascinated by World War II. His interest in the Civil War was piqued by the Ken Burns documentary that first aired in 1990, and the fact that his great-grandfather was a lieutenant in Robert E. Lee's Army.

Meanwhile, Carrothers became a musician, taking piano lessons from the family's church organist, studying with Twin Cities legend Bobby Peterson, spending a year in the jazz program at North Texas State, moving to New York to try out the jazz scene there, then returning to the Midwest to settle in Michigan. (Listen to some of his work here.)

Today he makes his home in the Upper Peninsula but plays most of his music in Europe, where he tours frequently. (MinnPost caught up with him while he was in Messina, Italy.) Like many American jazz artists, Carrothers has found European audiences more accepting and supportive.

His early recordings include "The Blues and the Greys" (1993), a collection of Civil War-era songs. "One might think that Civil War music would be a rather abrupt change (from jazz), but it's not," Carrothers explains. "One of the things that makes jazz standards so appealing is their open-endedness and malleability. The same can be said of Civil War music."

Raves from the French

And for World War I music. In June 2003, Carrothers brought a group of musicians to Creation Audio in Minneapolis to record a two-CD set for release on the now-defunct French label Sketch. Supported in part by funding from a war museum in France's Somme region, Armistice 1918 won raves and the 2004 Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros, France's Grammy. Writing for The New York Times, Ben Ratliff called it "an ambitious work of repertory and imagination." Jazz magazines around the world included it in their Top 10 lists.

Armistice 1918 will be performed in the United States for the first time on Friday, Jan. 4 and Saturday, Jan. 5 at the Artists' Quarter. Forgive me; it's not exactly holiday cheer we're spreading here. But MinnPost goes on break the week between Christmas and New Year's, so this is my first chance to alert you to the first must-see jazz event of 2008.

Inspired by the work of Great War poets including Wilfred Owen (killed in action in Belgium at age 25), Armistice 1918 is a two-disc tone poem to World War I, poignant and deeply moving. It begins with the relative innocence of 1914 and songs of a man and woman in love ("Hello Ma Baby," "Cuddle Up a Little Closer"). The sweetness ends with the call to arms, separation ("Say Au Revoir"), and a sense of hope and purpose ("America, I Love You") that turns quickly to foreboding.

Disc 2 takes us to the front with popular tunes ("Roses of Picardy") and haunting, jarring originals and group improvisations ("Trench Raid," "No-Man's Land," "Funk Hole"). We hear death, disillusionment, devastation and despair. The closing track, "Armistice Day," is the sound of distant bells and, finally, silence.

A family affair

The recording features Carrothers on piano and his wife, Peg Carrothers, on voice. She sings on several tracks; her pure, clear soprano floats and soars. Bill calls her "the Angel of the Battlefield," and I couldn't imagine Armistice 1918 without her. Also on the recording: Matt Turner (cello), Drew Gress (double bass), Bill Stewart (drums), Jay Epstein (percussion), and Mark Henderson (bass clarinet).

For the Artists' Quarter engagement, Peg Carrothers, Turner and Epstein will return. Gordy Johnson will play bass, and the other two musicians — Jean-Marc Foltz (bass clarinet), Dre Pallemaerts (drums) — are coming from Europe. They'll record a children's CD with Bill and Peg during their stay in the States.

Plans are to play Armistice 1918 straight through in two sets, just like the CDs. With apologies to Artists' Quarter owner Kenny Horst, who's trying to make a living while keeping covers low, this may not be for you if what you want is a night of jazz as entertainment and background music. But if you're willing to listen quietly and intently — and if, as Carrothers hopes, you "come with an open mind and heart" — you'll experience the musical equivalent of a great war movie: moments of tender nostalgia, horror, irony, loss and regret, exhaustion and grief.

Armistice 1918 is about then, and of course it's about now, as increasing numbers of Americans and people around the world speak out against the war in Iraq. "I think if people studied history a bit more," Carrothers told MinnPost, "we wouldn't be so shocked by the events of today, and might be able to have a bit more perspective about our modern problems."

What: Bill Carrothers' Armistice Band U.S. premiere
Where: The Artists' Quarter, 408 St. Peter St., St. Paul
When: 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4, and Saturday, Jan. 5
How much: $15
Phone: 651-292-1359
Website

Upcoming picks

Sisters in Song: A holiday show by three terrific local singers: Vicky Mountain, Dorothy Doring, and Lila Ammons. Proof that you don't have to go downtown for jazz, they will perform at the Dakota County Music Café at the Holiday Inn in Burnsville. Friday, Dec. 21, and Saturday, Dec. 22, 7:30 p.m. No cover.

Frank Morgan Memorial: The great alto saxophonist Frank Morgan died on Friday, Dec. 14, not long after returning home from a European tour. Expect a brief service followed by music from those who knew and loved him. The Artists' Quarter, 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 23. No cover, but donations will be accepted.

The Bad Plus: Pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King have made an annual tradition of performing here at Christmas time. Do not expect a holiday show. Then again, you never know what to expect from this iconoclastic trio. The Dakota, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, Dec. 26-29 ($28—$40).

MinnPost: Jazzy Holiday Treats

What to give the jazz-loving friend, or the friend who might grow to like jazz with a little encouragement? For this week's MinnPost piece, I asked local jazz artists to recommend CDs by other local jazz artists. A dozen responded within 24 hours.

To fit everyone's recommendations into an article that was supposed to be around 500 words (and ended up around 800), I had to edit down what people wrote. Here are a few comments I would have liked to include in their entirety:

Singer and KBEM radio personality Arne Fogel on Maud Hixson's Love's Refrain and the Wolverines' Voracious: Live at the Times: "Both of these CDs sport a great deal of musical integrity. These discs feature people who know what they're doing and they just nail it, with no pretense. I admire that, and I enjoy hearing that sort of musical declaration."

Trombonist Dave Graf on the Hornheads' Fat Lip: "For someone who would dig some fun and funky a capella horn work, the Hornheads is probably the slickest horn section on the planet. Their 2004 release Fat Lip is an incredible display of chops and finesse, imbued with a wicked sense of humor. Michael B. Nelson's inventive writing, and the group's astonishingly tight execution of it, just makes you gape in wonderment. And lest you think it's accomplished by some sort of studio magic, they sound just as amazing live."

Bassist Gordy Johnson on Maud Hixson's Love's Refrain (a CD a lot of people like): "Wow, at first I thought of just ignoring this, or bowing out. It's a tricky question. Then I remembered driving home from a gig and hearing a track from Maud Hixson's new disc Love's Refrain, featuring just her with Rick Carlson at the piano. I would give that disc to anyone and everyone. I got goose bumps as I was listening on the way home that night. Everything about it is so absolutely right on, it's amazing! The piano is perfect and beautifully recorded. The piano playing is classic Rick Carlson: Swinging and casual, understated and perfect. Maud sounds relaxed and has such command of her art. Her intonation and phrasing are immaculate. It's in the groove and polished, totally first class."

Valves Meet Slide

11/14/07, The Artists' Quarter: We're celebrating Jazz Police chief Don Berryman's birthday. After hearing Dean Granros at Cafe Maude (sort of; loud crowd) over dinner, we head to the AQ for Valves Meet Slide, a quintet with not one but two trombones. Valve trombonist Brad Bellows and trombonist Dave Graf front Peter Schimke on piano, Gordy Johnson on bass, and Mac Santiago on drums.

It's cold outside, warm inside the homey AQ, one of my favorite places on the planet, where the size of the audience (small tonight) never seems to have a negative effect on the performance. Music as fine as you're likely to hear anywhere is a regular thing at the AQ.

See Valves Meet Slide on youtube.

Photo: L to R: Dexter Gordon (the famous AQ poster), Peter, Dave, Brad.