José James sings Coltrane

Earlier this year, while backgrounding José James for a piece I was writing, I came across a video of him singing lyrics to John Coltrane’s “Resolution.”

Until then, the only singer I knew who had tackled this gorgeous beast was Kurt Elling, whose vocalese version (with his original lyrics) sends chills up my spine each time I hear it.

But there was James, singing “Resolution” with different lyrics, and killing it.

What was the story?

In 2006, James made a demo EP that included two original songs (one was “The Dreamer”) and three covers of songs by Coltrane: “Central Park West,” “Equinox,” and “Resolution.” He brought copies to the UK when he went there for a jazz competition, and one ended up in the hands of Gilles Peterson of Brownswood, a UK-based label.

“Equinox” is one of Peterson’s favorite Coltrane songs, and before long, James was signed to Brownswood. In 2007, 500 10-inch, white-labeled, numbered copies of a test pressing including “Equinox” on one side and “Resolution” on the other were issued. Both were supposed to be included on James’s first CD. 

The day before the CD was scheduled to go to the pressing plant, Peterson and James learned that the Coltrane estate would not grant permission for the new vocal versions. The release date was postponed while James wrote and recorded three new tunes.

James later told an interviewer for the London dance club The End, “Alice Coltrane had a lot more say when she was alive, I think it was just her making all the decisions in fact, then after she died things got way more complicated – I think there were six kids or something like that. I was really disappointed actually, and Gilles was heartbroken, man, because that was kind of the whole reason we both wanted to do the project. 

"I was talking to Dwight Trible about the same thing about two weeks ago and he agreed, it seems they want people to remember him and have tributes and stuff, but they don’t really want the work changed, it’s like this whole yes-you-can-no-you-can’t thing…it’s a shame.”

Singer Trible recorded Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” on an EP called “Acknowledgment for J.C.,” released in 2008 on Kindred Spirits.

Side note: Elling secured the rights for his version from Alice Coltrane when she was still alive. He explained at a concert at Gustavus Adolphus college in October 2009: “Mrs. Coltrane did not cotton to people writing lyrics to her husband’s music.” He sent her a tape and heard back: “The first word is ‘God’ and I like that and that’s right, so he can record this—but no more from anybody.”

You can’t buy a CD of James singing “Equinox” and “Resolution.” But you can hear both in their entirety, and Coltrane’s “Central Park West,” with James’ lyrics, on his website. Go here, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, and enjoy. (Just above: an entire concert of James and pianist Jef Neve playing the music of Coltrane.)

Image of 10" pressing #205 from the Breath of Life website, where Mtume ya Salaam and Kalamu ya Salaam love James and his "Equinox."

Photo of José James by John Whiting.

Last-minute picks for a jazzy New Year’s Eve

If you have waited this long to make plans for New Year’s Eve, here’s help in the form of the very latest news about where and when to find jazz tonight. See the live jazz calendar at your right for even more options.

5 p.m. Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar, St. Paul. “Fantastic Fogie New Year’s Eve,” a.k.a. “New Year’s Eve for early birds and old buzzards.” A little live music, a little champagne, and home by 10 p.m.—or you could go somewhere else after. Music by Todd Harper, Nathan Hanson, Brian Roessler, and Pete Hennig. Don’t take “old buzzards” too literally; the Black Dog welcomes an all-ages crowd, including kids. No cover. Corner of 4th and Broadway in Lowertown, St. Paul. 651-228-9274.

6 p.m. Honey Lounge, Minneapolis. A New Year’s Eve dinner show with singer Maud Hixson and pianist Rick Carlson will feature “classic female songwriters of the flapper, swing and bebop eras.” You can never, ever go wrong in the company of Maud and Rick. 205 E. Hennepin, Minneapolis. $10 cover, plus whatever you spend on dinner. For reservations, call 612-746-0306.

7:30 p.m. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. A big shebang of a show with Patty Peterson on vocals, Peter Schimke on piano, Billy Peterson bass and vocals, Bobby Vandell on drums and vocals, Jason Weisman on sax and vocals, and special guest Ricky Peterson on keyboards and vocals. Until yesterday (Thursday), this event was available only as a dinner show ($200/couple) or dinner-plus-room deal ($269) but a show-only option was just added at $25/person, which includes both the 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. sets. Call 612-596-4663.

9 p.m. Artists’ Quarter, St. Paul. An AQ tradition since 1995, this is a warm and wonderful evening, complete with quirky hors d’oeuvres (usually including Swedish meatballs and Junior Mints), a champagne toast, and party favors. With Gary Berg on saxophone, Phil Aaron on piano, Dean Magraw on guitar, Jay Young on bass, Kenny Horst on drums, and the ever young and luminous Carole Martin at the mic, who will sing (I learned last night) despite an injured hip. The crowd will clamor for Dawn Horst to join her mom, Carole, onstage for “Evil Woman.” $45. 408 St. Peter St., St. Paul. Call 651-292-1359 this minute if you’re interested.

9 p.m. Café Maude, Minneapolis. Patty and the Buttons (with the phenomenal Patrick Harison on accordion) bring in 2001 in relaxed, leisurely style. Maude’s usual late-night leisure hour cocktail prices apply, and there will be a dance floor. $40/person for a lovely dinner of champagne, beer, or wine, smoked salmon tartar, wood grilled pork tenderloin, and shortbread cookies with pomegranate port cream. 5411 Penn Ave. S.. Call 612-822-5411.

10 p.m. Red Stag Supper Club, Minneapolis. The third annual Secrets of the City New Year’s Eve bash features indie/folk/pop man Brad Senne from 11 until midnight and sultry jazzer Sophia Shorai from midnight on. Truffled popcorn, champagne at the turn of the year. No cover. 509 1st Ave. NE, Minneapolis. The restaurant will be open for dinner; call 612-767-7766 for table reservations.

Dr. Billy Taylor on the music of freedom, and more

The great jazz pianist, composer, and educator Dr. Billy Taylor has passed. I had the opportunity and the privilege to interview him in February 2009, when he came to the Twin Cities to perform his work Peaceful Warrior with VocalEssence led by Philip Brunelle. We spoke by phone ahead of time, and I attended both the performance at the Ordway on Feb. 15 (which was stirring and beautiful) and a presentation Dr. Taylor gave for educators at Plymouth Church the next day. Drawn from my notes from the interview and the presentation, these are his words.

Laura Caviani with Dr. Taylor, 2/16/2009

"I was born a musician, born into the Baptist church. I wanted to play stride. Someone gave me a record by Art Tatum and I wondered, 'Who are those two guys?' I wanted to play like my Uncle Bob—stride learned by ear—then realized I had to do what my dad wanted me to do and pay attention to my music teacher. She prevailed."

"When I first started working on 52nd Street [in NYC], I had all the history of jazz around me. There were 25 clubs in a two-block area, playing Dixieland, show music, dance music... Everything happening in jazz was there. I would talk to all of these guys. I had to learn to capture the moment—to say 'This is what I want to learn from you.' Many people who teach jazz [today] make it unnecessarily complicated.... I'm nostalgic for the days when music meant dancing."

"In high schools and colleges alone, we have over 40,000 jazz programs around this country, and I'm probably undercounting. People come here from Israel, from Greece, from a lot of places [to study jazz]. They're attracted to the music and want to use it as a means of personal expression. Where we're having a problem now is I have more [students] from those places than I have from Harlem."

"When I was touring, I tried to be one of the best advocates [for jazz] I could be. People would ask me, 'Why don't the people at home support you like we do?' The first time I was away from [the United States] after World War II, I was supposed to go for six weeks but stayed eight months. People I met in Paris, Belgium, and the Scandinavian countries made me more patriotic than I had been before. This served me well for the rest of my life. All of the places I've gone, I've been able to say, 'Despite what you may have heard or read about us, I wouldn't trade.' Many of us found that even though some of the things we did were not appreciated at home, we have freedom. The music speaks of freedom."

Here's what Peter Keepnews wrote about Dr. Taylor for the New York Times. Here's Matt Schudel for the Washington Post. Here's NPR's "A Blog Supreme."

Monterey then, written as now

Michael Parrish has just written a fascinating review of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Not this year's festival, but the one that happened in 1969.

Did he discover old notes, or an old program, or a photograph that awoke 40-year-old memories? Writing about events that happened so long ago, he treats time as if yesterday and today are all the same. It's like watching a concert through a pair of binoculars that can view both time and distance. Zoom in to then, zoom out to now. It would have made me dizzy if it hadn't been done so well.

In Parrish's piece, the Modern Jazz Quartet is still together, still alive--and recording on the Beatles' Apple label. Roberta Flack is not yet a ballad singer. Bitches' Brew hasn't been released, but it's on the horizon. And you don't need press credentials to walk up to the front of the Arena stage and take pictures.

Makes me wonder if more reviews should be written from a distance. Makes me feel better about the many reviews I haven't yet written, the notes still in my pile of notebooks, waiting.

Live jazz to see in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Christmas weekend and beyond

KBEM's holiday broadcasts are automated, so I won't be on the radio with Ed Jones this Friday (Dec. 24) or next Friday (Dec. 31). We'll be back at 8:30 am on Friday, January 7.

Many clubs and cafes are closed on Christmas Eve and day, including the Artists’ Quarter, Café Maude, Honey, and the Red Stag. The Dakota is closed on Christmas Eve. If you plan to visit a favorite venue, call first.

The Bad Plus by Cameron Wittig

Saturday–Monday, December 25–27: The Bad Plus. It wouldn’t be Christmas in Minnesota without Holidazzle on the mall and The Bad Plus—pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King—at the Dakota. The trio first appeared at the old Dakota in Bandana Square as “The Bad Plus featuring Dave King” in 2000. That was before These Are the Vistas (released on Columbia in 2003) earned raves and caused a ruckus (“The Bad Plus is saving jazz!” “The Bad Plus is killing jazz!” “The Bad Plus is the new direction of jazz!” “The Bad Plus isn’t jazz at all!” yadda yadda). Since then, they have released several more albums, left Columbia, started their own label, and continued to do their own thing, which may not be as shocking as it once seemed but remains as intriguing and musically rewarding as ever. Their latest album, Never Stop (2010), is all originals, no covers, but if we don’t hear their signature takes on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” or “Iron Man,” I will be just a hair disappointed. Three nights, two sets each, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Dakota ($40). Tickets online or call 612-332-JAZZ (5299).

Connie Evingson by Tray Hirez

Sunday, December 26: Connie Evingson’s Holiday Songbook. Hear the songs of the season and learn the stories behind their creation. (For example, Mel Torme and Bob Wells wrote “The Christmas Song in 45 minutes on a blistering hot day in Los Angeles. I did not know that.) One of the Twin Cities’ favorite and most consistently satisfying singers, Evingson has done a series of performances this year in the intimate, inviting Jungle Theater. Her program on Sunday will include popular and lesser-known holiday songs and selections from her award-winning CD, The Secret of Christmas. One day, two performances, 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Jungle Theater ($25). Tickets online or call 612-822-7063.

Maud Hixson by Judd Sather

Monday, December 27: Maud Hixson and Rick Carlson at the Loring Pasta Bar. The Loring Pasta Bar is hosting a new series on Mondays called “Musique Mystique dans la Chambre Rouge”—Mystical Music in the Red Room, upstairs from the main Pasta Bar space. Each Monday they’re featuring a different female vocalist from the Twin Cities, and we’re fortunate to have so many. This week it’s the always elegant Maud Hixson, joined by her husband, Rick Carlson, a pianist much in demand by singers for knowing precisely how to be a perfect accompanist. 7 p.m., Loring Pasta Bar, Dinkytown, no cover.

Faye Washington

Wednesday, December 29: Capri Big Band Holiday Concert. Snowed out on December 11, this worthy event was rescheduled. Faye Washington leads the Capri Big Band in its third annual Christmas concert, “Home for the Holidays.” With vocalists Charles “Chako” Andrea and Aja Pridgen. Proceeds support the band’s twice-monthly rehearsals at the Capri. 7 p.m., Capri Theater, 2027 West Broadway, Minneapolis ($10). Tickets online or call 866-811-4111.

CD Review: "Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O"

I’d rather hear jazz artists perform Christmas songs than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (way rather than Mannheim Steamroller or, just shoot me, Mariah Carey) and have somehow accumulated several holiday CDs over the years. You have to love An Oscar Peterson Christmas and Marcus Roberts’ Prayer for Peace, Chet Baker’s icy-cool Silent Nights, and the great Joe Williams’ warm and swinging That Holiday Feelin’. 

Actually, I thought I had all the Christmas jazz albums I would ever need, and then came Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O, just out on Palmetto.

I’ve seen Wilson play live several times and he always makes me happy. Some musicians—Dave Holland is another—exude genuine joy when they play, and when you’re in the room, you feel it. Christmas Tree-O is a good-natured collection, and good-humored, putting “The Chipmunk Song” side-by-side with “Winter Wonderland,” tossing in “Mele Kalikimaki” (in a surprising klezmer arrangement) and speeding through “Little Drummer Boy,” a song that was utterly ruined for me the day I heard a plodding and deadly Celtic version. 

Each song is taken seriously as music, none is treated as a joke, and all are turned into real jazz, creative and unpredictable. Who else would merge Albert Ayler’s “Angels” with “Angels We Have Heard on High” and add toy piano? Or turn Handel’s revered “Hallelujah Chorus” into free jazz?

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.

Friday, Dec. 17: Dee Dee Bridgewater and Irvin Mayfield with the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall

The cover of "Eleanora Fagan"

One stage, two jazz stars (maybe more). Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater has a mantel full of serious music awards—a pair of Grammys, France’s Victoire de la Musique, a Tony for her turn as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz—and she’s exciting to see in person, passionate and uninhibited. She sings, she scats, and she makes jazz standards new again; on her latest CD, Eleanora Fagan (1915–1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee (Emarcy, 2010), she conveys the spirit of Billie Holiday without imitating her.

Irvin Mayfield

New Orleans-based trumpeter and composer Irvin Mayfield has been the face of the Minnesota Orchestra’s jazz series since being named its first Artistic Director of Jazz in 2008, a position he still holds. (He has since gone on to win a Grammy and a seat on the National Council on the Arts, which advises the NEA.) Founder and artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), he serves as cultural ambassador for his city and proud papa of Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, a club on Bourbon Street.

On Friday, both artists will perform with Mayfield's rhythm section—Ronald Markham on piano, Neal Caine on bass, Jaz Sawyer on drums—and the Minnesota Orchestra led by Sarah Hicks.

The first part of the concert will feature Mayfield playing a program of holiday faves including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” He may be joined by a special guest. I can't get more specific than that, but (big hint) who else is in town this week playing at Orchestra Hall?

Following the intermission, Bridgewater will sing "The Christmas Song" and other classics, plus jazz and pop standards including “The Way We Were” and Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.” It's likely that Mayfield will be at her side for at least part of her set.

The final concert is still in the works. I spoke with Lilly Schwartz, the Orchestra's Director of Pops and Special Projects, on Thursday morning, and she put it this way: "It's jazz, It's always improvised. You go in with a plan and it creates itself. The concert itself becomes a jazz song."

8 p.m. Friday, Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis ($22–$50, $60 VIP). Tickets online or call 612-371-5656.

Friday-Saturday, Dec. 17–18: Red Planet at the Artists’ Quarter

If memory serves and my notebooks don’t lie, I last saw Red Planet—the trio of Dean Magraw on electric guitar, Chris Bates on bass, and Jay Epstein on drums—in February 2009. Not long after, Magraw dropped out of sight to battle a life-threatening disease.

Red Planet's latest CD

He’s back with a new immune system and two new CDs, the just-released How the Light Gets In with tabla player Marcus Wise (Red House, 2010) and last year’s Space Dust with Red Planet (GoneJazz, 2009), which I’m counting as new because it came out during Magraw’s absence and hasn’t yet gotten the celebration it deserves. Featuring original compositions by Magraw and Bates and “deep-space tributes” to Coltrane (“Africa”), Hendrix (“Little Wing”), and Solomon Linda (“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”), it’s part poetry, part rock-and-roll, part flamethrower.

I saw Magraw play at Café Maude a couple of weeks ago and he looks and sounds great.

9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Artists’ Quarter,  in the basement of the Hamm Building in St. Paul ($10). Tickets at the door.

Saturday, Dec. 18: Zacc Harris, Adam Linz, and Babatunde Lea at Café Maude

Jazz guitarist Zacc Harris and bassist Adam Linz are familiar faces around town, but Babatunde Lea? The Afro-Cuban jazz/world beat drummer/percussionist who has played with Pharoah Sanders, Stan Getz, McCoy Tyner, Steve Turre, Ernie Watts, and Van Morrison, to name just a few?* What brings him to Maude in south Minneapolis? I called Harris to find out.

Lea from the cover of his "Soul Pools" CD

“I was doing a restaurant gig in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and during our last set a drummer asked if he could sit in,” Harris said. “We were like, all right, sure, and he came up and swung like crazy. Turns out he’s moving to western Wisconsin. We exchanged information, and later I went and checked out his website. He’s a heavy, but I knew that from playing with him. Since then, I’ve called him a couple of times to see when he would be in town. This gig [at Maude] was around the holidays, so I thought there was a good chance he’d be around.”

How would Harris describe Lea’s style? “Hard swinging, with a hard bop vibe going on, and a lot of world influences.”

The plan: Meet at Maude (with no rehearsal ahead of time), introduce Lea to Linz (the two have never played together before), play some standards, see what happens. Given the musicians, it’s bound to be good, it has the potential to be really good, and it’s definitely going to be as new as it gets. 

* Lea is not a household name; he's mostly known around the Bay area, where he spent several years. I happen to have heard him because someone gave me his Soul Pools CD a few years back, and I learned more about him then.  So there's no implication here that Zacc Harris doesn't know his drummers.

9 p.m. Saturday, Café Maude, 5411 Penn Ave. S., Minneapolis. No cover, but reservations are recommended: 612-822-5411.

The new and improved live jazz calendar

The Live Jazz in the Twin Cities calendar can now be found in two places: at the right, in agenda format, and on its own page, in standard calendar grid format (which you can change to agenda if you want, using the tab at the upper right).

Each entry contains a lot of information, and the way that information is organized has changed. Events are now listed by artist, not venue. Every listing is still a hot link, but when you click on it, the Where is the name and city of the venue, the map link usually leads to a real map (depending on whether Google Maps knows about the venue), and the Description now includes complete contact information for the venue: address, phone, URL.

I'm making these changes day-by-day going forward; not every event follows the new format yet, but eventually all will.

Sorry, this is calendar geek-speak, but I thought it might be helpful to people who use the calendar regularly.