Jazz concert review: Poncho Sanchez at the Dakota

When: July 7, 2010 • Where: Dakota • Who: Poncho Sanchez, congas/vocals; David Torres, keyboards; Joey De León, percussion/vocals; Javíer Vergara, saxophone/flute; Ron Blake, trumpet; Francisco Torres, trombone; Tony Banda, bass/vocals; George Ortiz, timbales/percussion

Last night I saw Poncho Sanchez and His Latin Jazz Band play their fourth and final set in a two-night stay at the Dakota. What a class act. What a bunch of pros. What a pleasure. Unless you don’t enjoy the head-nodding, foot-tapping, hip-shaking—oh, just get up and dance, will you?—sounds of Latin jazz, you simply can’t go wrong with this band, whether they play a concert hall (like the Ordway in 2008, where I heard them last), a club (like the Dakota), an outdoor festival, or a street dance. I’d love to see them at a street dance someday, with moms and dads doing the salsa and teenagers strutting around and little kids jumping up and down.

The music began at 10 p.m. and ended after an encore at 11:15 or so. People danced among the Dakota’s tables. The band was relaxed, easy, comfortable, yet tight and precise. It seemed like a show you could have recorded and issued on CD with no second takes. A mix of faster and slower tunes, instrumentals and vocals, a lot of hot music packed into an hour-fifteen, all wonderfully entertaining.

I didn’t get a set list and they didn’t announce all of the tunes, but here’s some of what we heard: “Night Walk,” “Co Co May May,” “Psychedelic Blues” (the title track of Sanchez’s latest CD on Concord), “Raise Your Hand” (the old Stax tune and the title track of his previous CD, a soul music celebration). No "Cantaloupe Island" or "Watermelon Man" or "Night in Tunisia" or "Afro Blue," which disappointed me just a little because I love the Latin versions of those tunes.

The whole band played a syncopated “Happy Birthday” for the saxophonist, Javíer Vergara, whose birthday it was. Near the end of the set, Sanchez brought up his good friend from Minneapolis, percussionist and drum maker Wallace Hill, to play the batá (a two-headed African drum shaped like a top-heavy hourglass, held in the lap and played on both ends; Hill’s has bells around the heads). Hill began with an intricate rhythm, Sanchez joined in, they traded ideas, they laughed, the band came on board, and then it was just Sanchez and Hill again.

Sanchez sings well, as do his band members. When some band members were playing, the ones who weren’t stepped and swayed from side to side, moving with the rhythm. Everyone had the chance to solo, and while the solos were strong they were part of the fabric of the evening, never too long or showy. This is a band, an ensemble, a unit that has been together for many years, and it shows in every tune. (Some of the band members have been with Sanchez since his early days in Los Angeles clubs—more than 30 years.) If anything, I would have liked a few longer solos from Sanchez, the master conguero, and also from the ferocious timbalero George Ortiz.

Afterward we hung out just long enough for Sanchez and his band to emerge from the green room and head for the bar. We went to greet Sanchez (I had met him at the Ordway and interviewed him before that show; I didn’t expect him to remember but I wanted to say hello anyway) and he was warm and charming. We learned that the band travels with about 200 songs and has a book of over 1,000 songs, that they are often freshened up with new arrangements, that it has become very costly to travel with congas because each weighs more than 50 lb. (At the Dakota, Sanchez played congas made by his friend Wallace Hill.) Sanchez’s fingers, all of which are taped when he plays (a technique he learned as a young man from Mongo Santamaria), are as soft and smooth as a baby’s.

Photos by John Whiting. The lights were low and Poncho, as you can see, was wearing a hat.

Trombone Shorty brings a party to the Minnesota Zoo

Originally published at MinnPost.com, Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Let’s start with four facts about Trombone Shorty.

First, his real name is Troy Andrews.

Second, he’s called Trombone Shorty because he started playing trombone at age 4, when his instrument was longer than he was high. His older brother, James, saw him marching in a street parade, gave him the sobriquet, and it stuck. Today, at 24, Troy stands just under 6 feet, more Tally than Shorty.

Third, he plays all kinds of music — jazz, funk, hip-hop, fusion, rock, R&B. He calls it “supafunkrock.” Born and raised in the Treme (tre-MAY) neighborhood of New Orleans, still passionately attached to his hometown and rooted in its rhythms, he’s a child of the 2000s and a musical omnivore. He has already performed with Lenny Kravitz, Aerosmith, U2, the Neville Brothers, Green Day, and a Marsalis or two. He also plays the trumpet, keyboards, drums, and other percussion instruments, and he sings.

Fourth, 2010 is his breakout year. He signed with Verve and released his first major-label CD (his sixth overall), “Backatown,” in April; it spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album chart. He performed on “Good Morning America,” wowed the crowd at Bonnaroo, and appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” He had a cameo in the HBO series “Treme.” His touring schedule is brutal. He’ll alight in Apple Valley between dates at the Montreal Jazz Festival and a concert in Connecticut, after which he’ll carom from Wisconsin to Colorado, back to Quebec, and later Japan and Brazil. New dates are being added all the time. I hope he doesn’t have a cat.
Here he is on Letterman. (And, for historical interest, here he is at our own State Fair in 2008, tearing down the Leinie Lodge.)

The sound of Shorty and his band, Orleans Avenue — Pete “Freaky Pete” Murano on guitar, Michael “Bass” Ballard on bass, Joey “In and Out” Peebles on drums, Dwayne “Big D” Williams on percussion, Dan “Uncle Potato Chip” Oestreicher on baritone sax, and Tim “No Known Nickname” McFatter on tenor sax — is feel-good music, high-energy, street-gritty and fun. Most of the songs on “Backatown” are originals; the only cover is Allen Toussaint’s “On Your Way Down,” which Shorty completely revamped. Toussaint judged Shorty’s version a bridge between old and new, gave it the thumbs up, and recorded it with him.

It’s going to be a party at the Minnesota Zoo’s outdoor amphitheater this Thursday, a great place for a party as long as the weather holds. Shorty will play, sing, dance, and do his best to make us sing and dance along with him. He’ll probably perform a showy solo using circular breathing, the musical equivalent of an endless spin in figure skating.

And the ladies will love him. Shorty is making the trombone sexy. Not that Robin Eubanks hasn’t already done a pretty good job of that, but “sexy” is not a word most people think of when they hear the word “trombone.” In jazz especially, sexy usually means trumpet (Miles Davis, for example) or saxophone (James Carter, for instance). The trombone is the viola of jazz instruments, the butt of jokes. (What do you call a guy who knows how to play a trombone and doesn’t? A gentleman.)
I happen to really like the trombone, so I’ve been interested in Shorty since I first saw him live at a New Orleans jazz club in early 2009. There, he was part of a band backing Irvin Mayfield, just playing his instrument and doing a fine job of it. Now he’s a star on his own. It’s nice when that happens.

Trombone Shorty, Thursday, July 8, Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 7:30 ($28). Louisiana blues guitarist Tab Benoit opens. All ages, rain or shine. Tickets online, by phone (1-800-745-3000), at any Ticketmaster location, or at the Electric Fetus.

Tip: Can’t make Trombone Shorty’s show? Head to the Artists’ Quarter on Wednesday night for a double bill of bones. At 9 p.m., it’s Valves Meet Slide, with Brad Bellows on valve trombone, Dave Graf on slide trombone, Chris Lomheim on piano, Gordy Johnson on bass, and Mac Santiago on drums. Next up, Locally Damaging Winds — the first group plus two more trombones, Michael Nelson and Wade Clark, resulting in that rare jazz bird, a four-trombone front line. Artists’ Quarter, 408 St. Peter Street (in the basement of the Hamm Building), St. Paul. Wednesday, July 7, 9 p.m. ($5). 

Read a review of the concert here.

An open and shut case?

Here's a blog entry from earlier this year--March 11, 2010:

Writing for the Chicago Jazz Music Examiner, Neil Tesser notes that 1) Club Blujazz in Wicker Park is musician-owned and operated (by jazz guitarist/vocalist Greg Pasenko and his wife, jazz violinist Diane Delin), 2) the bar (and its noises) are located in the kitchen, 3) the club actually has a kitchen, and a light but varied menu, 4) it is being positioned as a listening room (complete with 6-foot grand piano and B-3 on the premises), not a talking room, and 5) Sunday-Thursday will feature mostly Chicago musicians, the weekends mostly national/international artists.

I went online to look at the schedule. Fred Hersch, Ingrid Jensen, and the Moutin Reunion Quartet in April. Joe Locke and Denny Zeitlin (with Buster Williams and Matt Wilson) in June.

Time to plan a trip to Chicago.

Photo from the Chicago Jazz Examiner.

Today (July 1) Tesser reported that "Blujazz...has closed its doors, at least temporarily," with no timetable for plans to reopen.

I hate when that happens.

Jazz in Glen Ellyn

A shout-out to Glen Ellyn, Illinois, the so-called bucolic bedroom community west of Chicago where I grew up, had crushes on the neighborhood boys (Chucker, Eddie, Gordie, and Jimmy), went to grade school and junior high and high school (at Glenbard West), and got confirmed as a Lutheran (Missouri Synod, no less). Who knew it would become a jazz mecca, home to Chicago's top jazz radio station (public radio WDCB-FM 90.9) and an annual jazz festival?

Tia Fuller concert review

From the Department of Better Late than Never, a review that should have been posted much earlier. It will live at the top of the blog for a short time, then  move to its proper chronological position.

When: May 25, 2010 • Where: Dakota • Who: Tia Fuller, saxophones; Shamie Royston, piano; Luques Curtis, bass; Rudy Royston, drums

I saw saxophonist Tia Fuller when she came to the Dakota last July. I thought she was good, although she didn't knock my socks off. (Her drummer, Kim Thompson, did.) Fuller returned to the Dakota in May of this year and I missed both nights, something I now regret. Here's what my friend Raymond Hayes wrote about her in an email to me the day after he saw her.

A quick review of last night's concert. Tia Fuller was great, way better then the first time she came. This time she had her own band. She had her sister [Shamie Royston] on piano, her sister's husband [Rudy Royston] on drums, and a very good bass player [Luques Curtis] who was not related. She did mostly original material with a few standards thrown in for good measure. She is a very powerful player. Definitely influenced by Coltrane (who isn't), she has obviously studied very hard. And her hard work is paying off. This band was as tight as any jazz band I have seen at the Dakota. But her personality is very bright and bubbly, more what you would expect from a singer then from a hard-core jazz player. She definitely loves playing. It was really interesting seeing this bright and bubbly person talk about her family and playing music. Then, all of a sudden, throw down as hard as Joshua Redman. Her sister is great piano player who can play both fast and hard plus light and lyrical. Her sister's husband, the drummer is one of the hottest guys out there, they said he just came off the road with Eddie Palmieri and has played with Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Charles Lloyd and many others. Same is true with the bass player ,who just joined the band last week. Only two things wrong. (1) I only went to one night and I should have seen both. (2) There were almost no people there. Why is it that some of the best jazz you hear comes when there is almost nobody around? I downloaded her new record [Decisive Steps, Mack Avenue, 2010]. It's very good. If she ever comes back you have to go. Ray

 Photo from Tia Fuller's website.

When: May 25, 2010 • Where: Dakota • Who: Tia Fuller, saxophones; Shamie Royston, piano; Luques Curtis, bass; Rudy Royston, drums

Benefit for Dean Magraw scheduled for August 22

It's been a year since the first in a series of benefits was held for guitarist/composer Dean Magraw. Time for another one, as Dean is still recovering and it's a long, slow, costly process. Come out and help a great musician/soul man/human being with medical and living expenses.

Musicians on board as of this writing: Frank Boyle and His Eminent Acoustic Entourage, Dakota Dave Hull, Lehto & Wright, Laura Mackenzie, Elgin Foster, Marcus Wise, Jim Anton, Mark Anderson, Gregg Herriges, Anthony Cox, Cory Wong, April Foo’s, Prudence Johnson.

When: Sunday, August 22, 2010, starting at 10 a.m.
Where: The Celtic Junction, 836 Prior Ave., St. Paul
FMI: Do the Dean

I wrote a profile of Dean in late 2008 that's still one of the pieces of which I'm most proud, not the least because he told me later that he liked it.

Photo by Manfred Pollert.

Craig Taborn Speaks

The innovative and daring young pianist/keyboardist/composer gives us glimpses into his process and thinking in an interview with WBGO's Josh Jackson. If you have time, go listen to the whole thing (and download a free concert from the Care Fusion festival) on NPR's excellent "A Blog Supreme." Meanwhile, here are a few illuminating excerpts.

On solos and soloing:
"A lot of my groups have very little soloing going on. It's all group improvisation, and solos may emerge, but it's less geared toward that...It's hard for my improvisational process to dictate solos, or even solo spaces. It's hard for me to say, 'Okay, now there's going to be a saxophone solo,' and have that hold in the moment, because it may not want to happen then...I'd rather just let the musical moment and the musicians themselves decide. If a solo emerges, it emerges because somebody is playing some really interesting material and everybody else decides to let that be at the forefront. For me, that seems like the only reason to really have a solo."

On playing both piano and synthesizers/electronic instruments:
"They're just different instruments and different ways of making music. They don't present to me much of a dichotomy that needs to be bridged...They feed on each other in my playing...I can access a certain kind of technical thing when playing a keyboard, for instance--or anything with buttons, actually. I have a digital dexterity that comes from playing piano, so I can make certain things happen live with synthesizers that is facilitated by having finger and hand independence. If I didn't play piano, I don't know if I'd be able to pull off some of the things I do, just because I can have my left hand doing something while my right hand's doing something else and really not think about it too much."

On playing two leads at once, one with the left hand and one with the right:
"It's all an illusion, but I'm trying to think of two things at once. What that boils down to is a kind of strobing between the ideas, the two hands and the ideas I'm trying to develop...I always to try to work on even more, like maybe if I get a third idea...It's just something I'm continually working on, and trying to hear that way, trying to hear counterpoint, contrapuntal ideas...I'm trying to hear multiple ideas all the time. A lot of that is an extension of things I heard Sun Ra do. "

On what it means to live with music:
"Not to get too Cage-like, but tuning into the environment--it's just sounds in time. Extending that, it's just events in time. For me, living with music is just more of an active participation in that, trying to create things that isolate or abstract from a larger world of sound and organize them in some way. That's the 'art form' I choose. But I think we all live with music all the time."

Thanks to Craig's mom, Marjorie Taborn, for alerting me to this interview and concert.

2011 NEA Jazz Masters Announced

On Thursday, the NEA announced the winners of the 2011 NEA Jass Masters Award: flutist Hubert Laws, saxophonist/flutist/composer David Liebman, composer/arranger/trumpeter/trombonist Johnny Mandel, jazz producer/author Orrin Keepnews (winner of the award for jazz advocacy), and the Marsalis family: pianist/educator Ellis Jr., saxophonist/composer/bandleader Branford, trumpeter/composer/educator/bandleader Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo, and percussionist/vibraphonist Jason.

I don't get the family award. (Lois Gilbert of Jazz Corner put it this way: "I'm kind of surprised at an all encompassing Marsalis family honor being named 2011 NEA Jazz Masters.") I agree that the Marsalis family has been and is important to jazz. Although each has occasionally said or done boneheaded things (except, maybe, for father Ellis), I'm not a Marsalis basher and never will be. But--Jazz Masters?

Here's how the NEA describes the award:

The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest honor that our nation bestows upon a jazz musician. Each year since 1982, the program has elevated to its ranks a select number of living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.

For the NEA Jazz Masters, the selection criteria are artistic excellence and significance of the nominees' contributions to the development and performance of jazz. The Arts Endowment will honor musicians who represent a range of styles and instruments. These awards will be categorical, e.g., a rhythm instrumentalist, pianist, solo instrumentalist, vocalist, and an arranger or composer.

Why not honor Ellis as paterfamilias, performer, composer, and educator? Although "educator" isn't one of the categories, and neither is "paterfamilias." I'm not saying that Ellis doesn't deserve to be honored and respected. But is he a Jazz Master? Wynton and Branford, one day, yes. Right now they seem kind of young to wear the Jazz Master hat. Delfeayo and Jason? Waaaay too soon to tell.

I'm not sure what the "family" award says about the Jazz Masters program. Currently this leads every story about this year's awards. "America's first family of jazz can now claim the nation's highest jazz honor" (AP). Most egregiously: "The patriarch of the first family of New Orleans jazz, Ellis Marsalis, will be honored along with his four sons as Jazz Masters by the National Endowment for the Arts...Three other artists also will be honored..." (WWLTV). We learn who the "three other artists" are at the very end of the article, almost as an afterthought. Let's hope the spotlight doesn't stay on the unusual "family" award while Laws, Liebman, and Mandel (and Orrin Keepnews) are left in the shadows.