Concert review: Pat Moriarty and Phil Hey at the Black Dog

When: Friday, January 14, 2011 • Where: Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar • Who: Pat Moriarty, alto saxophone; Phil Hey, drums and percussion

What happens during improvisation? Over the past several months, I’ve been asking jazz musicians that question in a series of interviews for mnartists.org called “Conversations on Improvisation.” The answers are never the same.

In my head, I get that improvisation is a combination of musical knowledge and technical virtuosity, choice-making and risk-taking, listening and responding, playing and waiting, starting and stopping, and spontaneous composition, all in real time that speeds up for some and slows down for others.

In my heart, I think it’s magic.

Last night at the Black Dog in St. Paul during a snowstorm, saxophonist Pat Moriarty and drummer Phil Hey made magic, although they hadn't played together as a duo in many years.

They met in the mid-1970s and recorded one album, Let Them All Come, released in 1978 and known among those in the know. Writing for the Strib, Tom Surowicz called it "one of those 'private label' collector's albums that show up for big bucks on e-Bay." The cover, designed by St. Paul classical composer and trombonist Homer Lambrecht, appears in Freedom, Rhythm, and Sound: Revolutionary Jazz Original Cover Art 1965–83, compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, published by Soul Jazz Records Publishing in London. (Side note: Peterson is the guy who signed Jose James to his first record deal.) Pat still has copies available in the original shrink wrap; in his words, “some of them may be playable.”

Live jazz to see in Minneapolis-St. Paul: This week’s picks

Are you in your car or near a radio at 8:30 CST on Friday mornings? Tune to KBEM to hear me and Mr. Jones—Jazz 88 "Morning Show" host Ed Jones—talk about these events and more. 88.5 FM in the Twin Cities, streaming live on the Web.

Last week, we mourned the end of the Clown Lounge as the weekly home of Fat Kid Wednesdays. This week, let’s celebrate the opening of Jazz Central. 

In fact, Jazz Central opened quietly last summer as an underground venue, a place where jazz artists could perform, rehearse, and teach. Now there’s a performance scheduled for most Mondays, followed by an open jam session, and the public is welcome. There’s no cover charge, but donations are accepted. Pianist Tanner Taylor and drummers Mac and Luis Santiago, who jointly run the place, want to keep it “for the cats, by the cats,” and any amount helps.

Here's the performance schedule. This coming Monday, Jazz Central hosts trombonist Jeff Rinear, whose resume includes work with the Butanes, the JazzMN Big Band, Pete Whitman’s X-Tet, and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. He’ll play with Jazz Central’s house trio: Taylor on piano, Mac Santiago on drums, Keith Boyles on bass.

8 p.m. Monday, January 17, Jazz Central, 407 Central Ave. SE (across the street from the Aveda Institute). No cover.

What else is happening this weekend and into the week? As always, plenty.

Friday, January 15: Pat Moriarty and Phil Hey at the Black Dog

Saxophonist Moriarty and drummer Hey met in 1973 and formed a band. In 1977, they released their first and only recording, Let Them All Come. They haven’t played together as a duo for many years (though fans will remember their performance at Studio Z with Ellen Lease and Adam Linz last May). Expect a night of free improvisation with all of the delicious possibilities that presents.

8 p.m. Friday, Black Dog, corner of 4th and Broadway, Lowertown, St. Paul. No cover but donations are accepted (and the right thing to do).

Jazz concert review: Kendra Shank at the Artists’ Quarter

When: July 9, 2010 • Where: Artists' Quarter • Who: Kendra Shank, voice; Bryan Nichols, piano; Terry Burns, bass; Phil Hey, drums

There are good nights in jazz, and okay nights, and off nights, and then there are great nights when the unexpected happens and you almost forget to breathe.

Last night at the AQ was one of the great nights. Not because we were in a giant venue in a crowd of thousands with a jazz legend—someone like Sonny Rollins, which these days is kind of like seeing God Almighty play saxophone. We were in a small basement jazz club in St. Paul, where a jazz singer from New York named Kendra Shank has a two-night engagement with three area musicians, two of whom she has played with before (ten years ago) and one she met and rehearsed with briefly for the first time on Friday afternoon, only hours before the first set.

Shank is a fearless improviser and interpreter, which is important to know. She usually performs with her own quartet (also important to know), musicians with whom she has built an intimate relationship over many years: pianist Frank Kimbrough, bassist Dean Johnson, and drummer Tony Moreno. On this tour, the second half of a tour for her most recent release, Mosaic (Challenge, 2010), she’s traveling solo, as many artists do in this economy, working with artists recommended by club owners or friends along the way.

For her AQ dates, Shank is playing with pianist Bryan Nichols, bassist Terry Burns, and drummer Phil Hey. Shank and Nichols are new to each other. While any musician in a group this size can make or break a show, much of the conversation happens between voice and piano. What kind of conversation will it be? Will the two be equals? Will the voice make room for the piano, and the piano make room for the voice? Will they soar and inspire each other or simply get along?

From the first moments of the first song, Cole Porter’s “All of You,” something happens between Shank and Nichols. Then all four leap off a cliff together with “Incantation/Throw It Away,” a blend of Shank’s improvised introduction and the Abbey Lincoln song. 

“Incantation” is a mix of vocal clicks and aahs, ticka-ticks and soft whoops—not the usual scat sounds/syllables—that Shank later explains is her own private language, “whatever comes through the channels on a given night.” Just try playing along with that. In fact, Nichols, Burns, and Hey know exactly what to do. Nichols is the perfect partner, his own improvisations equally thrilling. Burns lays down a flawless rhythm. Hey drums with the flats of his hands, a soft, sensuous accompaniment. It’s glorious, and as the song unfolds, they all become aware of what they’re creating in this moment. It’s as if lights go on over their heads, and within their faces.

Afterward, Shank describes this rare and wonderful thing as “the universal language of jazz—the coming together.” The rest of the set stays at the same dizzying height: “I’m Movin’ On” (during which Burns plays a lovely solo); “Reflections in Blue/Blue Skies,” a completely different take on the old tune, rhythmically and emotionally, thanks to Shank’s searingly personal introduction (“Blue was the color of his eyes, on the day he left me…Then you came in view…No more good-byes…Just blue skies, smiling at me”). A song about hope, written by Kimbrough; “How Deep Is the Ocean,” with a lively improvised ending; a sweet, swinging “Blue Monk,” with Abbey Lincoln’s lyrics; and finally Shank’s passionate, powerful reading of “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” which can stand proudly beside Nina Simone’s.

Midway, between songs, when everyone is all smiles, Shank says, “I’m in love. I might have to move to St. Paul. I’m in love with these men!” We are, too, and also with you. Kendra. What an exciting, exceptional evening, and it could only happen live.

Photo of Kendra Shank and Terry Burns by John Whiting.

Trumpet Summit at the Dakota

When: Friday, July 31, 2009 • Where: Dakota • Who: Kelly Rossum, Manny Laureano, Charles Lazarus, John Raymond, and Jake Baldwin, trumpets; Tanner Taylor, piano; Gordon Johnson, bass; Phil Hey, drums

Maybe something in my brain snapped when I played “The Skater’s Waltz” with 50 other accordions (I was 12), but I’m drawn to live performances featuring multiples of the same instrument. Like two grand pianos. (Ellis Marsalis and Marcus Roberts at the old Guthrie, back in the day.) Or four trombones. (Steve Turre, Fred Wesley, Wycliffe Gordon, and Delfeayo Marsalis at the Dakota in June 2007.) Or seven trombones (Chris McIntyre’s 7X7 Trombone Band at the Stone, also in June 2007.)

Or six trumpets. That’s the most that crowds onto the Dakota’s stage at one time during tonight’s Minneapolis Trumpet Summit, an ever-changing cast of horn players backed by a rhythm section that holds it all together like an iron hand in a velvet glove.



The star (and likely the instigator) of the evening is Kelly Rossum, who moves to NYC at the end of this month and is playing everywhere he can with anyone he wants to until then. “We’ll start off where it all began,” he announces, then hands us Louis Armstrong’s “When It’s Sleepytime Down South.” From the first notes, the band is swinging and everyone is on.

For the rest of the evening, trumpeters move in and out, trade solos and phrases, play harmony and unison and challenge each other. Manny Laureano and Charles Lazarus of the Minnesota Orchestra (where Laureano is principal trumpet) and recent UW-Eau Claire graduate John Raymond join Rossum for a tune by Lazarus; the rhythm section sits this one out so it’s all horns. It’s the first time I’ve heard Laureano play jazz. (His horn and Rossum’s were both made by David Monette, who also made Irvin Mayfield’s Elysian Trumpet and horns for Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard.)

The rhythm section returns to back Lazarus on “Summertime.” Lazarus and Raymond share a lengthy and interesting introduction—Lazarus on mute, Raymond playing short, sharp notes—that resolves into “Caravan.” Raymond takes the first solo and Lazarus starts his on the same note Raymond leaves hanging in the air. Picture runners passing a baton.

“Sometimes this instrument is a beast to play,” Raymond says at one point during the evening, “so it’s great when you can find so many trumpets to play with.” You wouldn’t know he has any trouble at all from the confidence with which he plays, and his gorgeous tone on “A Night in Tunisia.”



While the horns are the heroes, I’m acutely aware of Taylor on piano, Johnson on bass, and Hey on drums, and how none of this could be happening without them. Thank you, rhythm section, for your steadfastness and your expertise and your solos, which sound especially inspired tonight.

Another trumpeter comes through the curtain: young Jake Baldwin, newly-minted Minnetonka High School graduate, headed for New England Conservatory in the fall, having just spent two years in the Dakota Combo under Rossum’s direction. He’s wearing an ice-cream suit and ready to play, and he more than holds his own on “All Blues” with Rossum, Lazarus, and Raymond. Later, Baldwin solos with self-assurance, imagination, and wit.



More music, more musical chairs, and the evening ends with a jam session: Raymond, Rossum, the Dakota’s own Dan Eikmeier (who plays with Big Walter Smith), Adam Meckler (who heads his own quintet), and someone I haven’t seen before—Solomon? They take us out on Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder.”

There’s still air left in Raymond’s lungs. He stays around to play the late-night show with his John Raymond Project band: Aaron Hedenstrom on saxophones, Javier Santiago on piano, Jeremy Boettcher on bass, Brian Claxton on drums. Visit Raymond’s website to hear this fine young player. He’s releasing his second CD (a live recording) in Eau Claire on August 7, then moving to SUNY-NY for graduate studies. Like Rossum, he’ll be missed.



Photos by John Whiting. T to b: Kelly "Dr. Awesome" Rossum, six trumpets (Rossum is hidden behind Baldwin) and the trio, Manny Laureano, four trumpets and the trio, the John Raymond Project

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.

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.

Karrin Allyson

When: 4/29/08
Where: Dakota
Who: Karrin Allyson (voice and piano), Rod Fleeman (guitar), Steve Nelson (vibes), Larry Kohut (bass), Phil Hey (drums)

I've seen Karrin Allyson several times—at the old Dakota, the new Dakota, and a Leigh Kamman tribute. This is my favorite time. She's relaxed, at ease, warm, and happy, her band is terrific, and every song is enjoyable.

Allyson's voice is instantly recognizable. Once you've heard her sing, you know that sound: the way she shapes a word before releasing it, her unique scatting style and syllables (oo-way, fuh-fay-ohhhh), slight huskiness, soft vibrato, broad vowels, long ees and esses. (Romance becomes romanssssssssss.) It's kind of a rumpled-bedclothes kind of voice. High-end Frettes.



She usually brings an acoustic guitarist (Rod Fleeman) and sometimes two (where's Danny Embrey these days?) but tonight is a surprise: Steve Nelson is on vibes. I like him a lot, having heard him play with Dave Holland and his own group. But backing a singer? This is a first and it's fresh and good.



Tonight we hear Artie Shaw's "Moon Ray" ("Nancy King turned me on to this song") and several selections from Allyson's new CD on Concord, Imagina: Songs of Brasil. All are in Portuguese, a language she likes to sing; her 1999 release, From Paris to Rio, includes songs in Portuguese.

Simply beautiful: Jobim's "O Morro Nao Tem Vez (Favela)," Rosa Passos's "Outono" (with English lyrics by Paul Williams: "Don't you love the way the shadows dance across the bedroom walls/There's a beauty in the morning that I never felt before/It's the warmth of you beside me..."), Jobim's "Double Rainbow" with new lyrics by Chris Caswell. She flutters her fingers while she sings and calls attention often to her band.



The mood shifts for "Long as You're Living," a song by Oscar Brown Jr. from her 2002 CD Blue, with a lot of lyrics and challenging intervals; it takes precision and there's no Jobim softness to it.

Tonight's audience includes members of Alicia Keys' band in town the night before her show at the Target Center. Allyson invites two of them to sit in. For "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance with you," Freddie Hendricks adds soaring flugelhorn; David Watson plays flute on a song whose name I've forgotten. On the way up, Watson teases Allyson for asking Hendricks to play first; on the way down, he says, "She's too good for me, I'm sorry!"



The second-to-last song is a bluesy, sassy, girl-in-control tune with provocative lyrics: "Don't want to burst your bubble but I don't even want to know your name.... You're right here, right now, and I like that." (Afterward, Allyson comments, "A little departure there for you.") Her final song is for her mom, something sweet in Portuguese.

Perfeito.

Photos by John Whiting.

Connie Evingson

When: 2/25/08
Where: Dakota
Who: Connie Evingson (vocals), Phil Aaron (piano), Dave Karr (tenor saxophone, flute), Gordy Johnson (bass), Phil Hey (drums)

It’s the CD release party for Connie Evingson’s eighth recording and maybe her strongest, Little Did I Dream. (The “maybe” is because I’m not familiar with her 2000 release, Some Cats Know, which a lot of singers love.) All 14 tracks are by St. Paul native, jazz legend, and wiseacre Dave Frishberg, who plays piano on the CD and is in the house tonight. It’s an open curtain show and looks sold out. Minneapolis and St. Paul love Connie.

The band warms up with an old song (1938) by Rudolf Friml called “Only a Rose.” Then Connie comes on stage looking fabulous in a sparkly, lacy cocktail dress and shrug. This is her night and she’s ready. She opens with the title track from the CD, “Little Did I Dream,” a swinging, sophisticated tune. Next up is the saucy “Peel Me a Grape,” a song I first heard sung by Diana Krall; it has also been recorded by Blossom Dearie, Shirley Horn, and Anita O’Day, among many others. This is a new arrangement Frishberg created for Connie, speedier than the languid, late-night Krall version.

She follows with the ballad “Our Love Rolls On,” then “Can’t Take You Nowhere,” more smart-aleck Frishberg. She tells us that Frishberg wrote the next tune, “Listen Here,” for Mary Tyler Moore in the 1980s. Before beginning “My Attorney Bernie” (as on the CD, she’s alternating more straight-ahead numbers with the witty lyrics Frishberg is famous for), she tells us that Bernie is in the room tonight as well.

After “Bernie,” Frishberg is persuaded to take the stage. He and the quartet play a song they recorded earlier that day, Fats Waller’s “Sweet and Slow.” Then Frishberg introduces “Quality Time,” a tongue-in-cheek tune about a couple too upwardly mobile for romance (“Come fly with me/Unwind, kick back, relax/I’ll bring my laptop fax/You’ll bring your new screenplay….”). He thanks Connie for making the record and all of us for coming: “This is probably the biggest audience I’ve ever had.” It’s a warm and affectionate segue to “Snowbound,” the song they sing together on the CD.

The first set ends with “Zoot Walks In,” with a spoken lead, Beat Poet style, by Karr (“Jazz is a saxophone sound...”). The second set continues to take us through the CD: a sweet and lovely “Eastwood Lane,” “In the Evening” (just Phil Aaron and Connie on this one), “Zanzibar,” “I Want to Be a Sideman,” “Heart’s Desire.” Connie is relaxed and easy with this music, and she nails every tune.

Frishberg’s Web site is full of fun stuff.

Gordy and Connie. Photo by John Whiting.

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.

Monk's Birthday, with Cake

Artists' Quarter, 10/10/07: Each year, pianist and composer Laura Caviani celebrates Thelonious Monk's birthday (and the day before her own birthday) with an evening of Monk's music at the AQ. This year, she was joined by Adam Linz on bass and Phil Hey on drums. (Adam leaves soon for three weeks of sold-out performances in France and Germany with Fat Kid Wednesdays.) Laura teaches when she performs, which I appreciate, letting us know what she is playing and telling us a little about each selection. ("San Francisco Holiday" was originally called "Worry Later" because whenever Monk was asked its name, he'd say, "I'll worry about that later.") The trio gave us inventive arrangements of already inventive tunes. How can you make "Bemsha Swing" even more intricate? By playing the melody with the right hand, and also with the left hand...a half-beat or so behind, as Laura does, making me wonder if somewhere along the way she had the halves of her brain surgically separated.

If listening to Monk is "difficult," as some have said, you couldn't tell from the crowd of smiling people nodding their heads and tapping their feet. Some were musicians and teachers (in the house: Eric Kamau Gravatt, who will perform at the AQ with his band Source Code on Friday and Saturday; Matthew McCright, an instructor in piano at Carleton College, where Laura also teaches; vocalist Lucia Newell). The two generous sets included "I Mean You," "In Walked Bud," "Epistrophy," "Monk's Dream," "Ask Me Now," "Bright Mississippi," "Rhythm-a-ning," "Coming on the Hudson," "Bemsha Swing," "Let's Call This," "Sweet and Lovely" (during Adam's bass solo, you could hear him sing "Sweet...and...lovely...."), and the finale, "Blue Monk." Between sets, cake was served; talking got louder around the bar during the second set, probably due to the sugar rush.

I've always thought that Monk's music had a lot of math in it, but beautiful math--less about calculations and memorizing multiplication tables, more about planetary orbits and the geometry of snowflakes. I could never play it in a million years, but I can enjoy it when it's played as well as it was last night. As the couple sitting behind me said, "What a great way to spend a Wednesday evening!" "And for just six bucks!"

Photo by John Whiting.