Jazz Top 10 lists

It’s that time of year, when jazz writers, critics, bloggers and fans post their annual Top 10 lists. I’ve never made such a list—I know what I’ve been listening to, and I know what I like right now, at this moment, but I always suspect that two or three really great CDs are somewhere in the pile of things I haven’t yet gotten around to listening to. (For example, I'm listening to saxophonist John Devine's brand-new CD, A Little o' That, as I write this, and I like it a lot.) So I’m content to read other people’s lists and the contentious, incredulous, and occasionally rude comments they generate.

For those who also enjoy reading such lists, here’s a sampling. Some include links to other lists, so don’t blame me if you emerge, dehydrated and blinking, several hours after reading the first one. Or if you suddenly realize you’ve just spent a lot of money at Amazon.com or iTunes.

NPR’s A Blog Supreme. Patrick Jarenwattananon leads with Jason Moran’s Ten. Bill Carrothers’ Joy Spring takes the #4 spot. No argument here.

Changes coming to the live jazz calendar

Starting now, all new entries to the live jazz calendar will begin with the artists' name, not the venue. Many upcoming events have already been entered into the calendar, and I'll change those as time allows. I'm doing this so I can include an agenda version of the calendar here, as Dean Minderman does on his St. Louis Jazz Notes blog. The full calendar will still be available on its usual page.

I've asked a very few people (all jazz artists) what they think of this change. Some say do it, others say don't. If you have strong opinions one way or the other, please chime in.

Comments

Comments to bebopified are now open. There's a brief word-verification thing you have to do before you leave a comment, but you no longer have to be registered or have a Google account.

Yours truly, interviewed on KBEM's Corner Jazz

Maryann Sullivan, host of KBEM's "Corner Jazz" program (which airs live on Saturday nights from 8-11 p.m.), invited me into the studio last month for an interview. Portions aired in November, and now the whole edited interview is up on KBEM's website. We talk about jazz and jazz writing, learning curves and listening, how I got started, that sort of thing. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and grateful. I left the studio feeling I had been a boring blabbermouth, but Maryann's editing made me sound like a reasonably intelligent and thoughtful sort of person.

Maryann is a warm, smart, and gracious interviewer. Anyone she asks to speak with should say yes and be glad. She once told me that when she's preparing to interview someone, she writes down one question and lets the rest come naturally. That would scare the bejesus out of me.

Adios, MinnPost Arts Arena

A little over three years after my first MinnPost article was published, the Arts Arena is no more. Starting today and going forward, the very smart and capable Max Sparber will be covering all arts and culture in his daily column, “Max About Town.” I’ve been asked to stay on as a contributing journalist (which I have been all along) and write an article on jazz every four to six weeks, and I’m happy to do so.

I’m not so happy that arts coverage in the Twin Cities continues to shrink. I’m not saying that Sparber can’t write about anything his heart desires, just that I miss the classical music writers, and the dance writers, and the theater writers—people who developed expertise in specific areas. All arts writing is not alike.

And I’m not questioning MinnPost’s decision. In fact, I’m surprised that I was allowed to inhabit my merry little jazz corner for as long as I did. Most readers go to MinnPost for news about politics, public policy, and the media. The fact that I was paid to write about jazz (not a lot, but I was paid) for more than 150 weeks is pretty GD amazing, in retrospect. 

Concert review: Black Dub at the Cedar

Blade, Lanois, Whitley, Johnson: Official Black Dub  photo

When: Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010 • Where: The Cedar Cultural Center • Who: Daniel Lanois, guitar; Jim Wilson, bass; Trixie Whitley, vocals; Brian Blade, drums

Would I travel across town during a Minnesota winter weather advisory to crowd into the Cedar and stand in the back of the room, craning my neck for glimpses of the band? I would if the band included Brian Blade, and did.

I learned earlier this week that Blade would be in town as part of Black Dub, Daniel Lanois’ latest project. Until now I have only heard Blade play jazz, “only” in this case being a word as big as the sun, given the people he plays with (Wayne Shorter, his own Fellowship Band) and has played with (Herbie Hancock, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Bill Frisell, Chris Potter, Chick Corea and Christian McBride). Before last night, my latest Blade sighting was at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Billy Childs.

Lanois describes Black Dub as “kind of a rock thing, steeped in the Jamaican culture of dub.” I know little about dub but noticed a lot of rock, some country and blues in the part of the show we arrived in time for. By then the Cedar was SRO (the band had specified fewer than usual chairs; they wanted a standing crowd) and steamy hot. On stage were Lanois on guitar, Trixie Whitley (daughter of the late blues artist Chris Whitley) on vocals, Jim Wilson on bass, and Blade on drums.

On jazz accordion, accordionists, and the Northeast Accordion Festival

Anonymous young accordionist

As a former student of the squeezebox, I love how much accordion we're hearing these days in all kinds of music, including jazz. This year alone I've heard Will Holshouser play with Regina Carter, Ted Reichman with the Claudia Quintet, and Richard Galliano with Kurt Elling (I had to fly to New York for that and it was worth it). I've driven to Zumbrota for the annual Accordion-O-Rama extravaganza, gone to the Loring Pasta Bar to hear Dan Newton, headed to Fireside Pizza for Denny Malmberg, and followed Patrick Harison around town.

In years past I've seen Gary Versace with Maria Schneider, Fausto Beccalossi with Al Di Meola, Marcel Loeffler with Dorado Schmitt, and Charlie Giordano with James Carter, when Carter was on his "Chasin' the Gypsy" tour. I think I've seen Vinicius Cantuaria perform with an accordionist but I can't remember who it was. My point being, if there has to be one, that a band with an accordion generally gets my attention.

Jazz/pop/hip-hop concert review: “Lush Life” at the Southern

The end of the show: a "Moon River" sing-along.

When: Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010 • Where: Southern Theater • Who (deep breath): Devon Gray (dVRG), piano; Josh Peterson, guitar; Sean McPherson (Twinkie Jiggles), bass; Peter Leggett, drums; Chris Thomson, saxophone/clarinet; Steve Roehm, vibraphone; Adam Levy and DJ Jake Rudh, hosts and vocals; Janey Winterbauer, Mayda, Toki Wright, Bethany Larson, Omaur Bliss, Ashley Still, Carnage the Executioner and Desdamona (Ill Chemistry), vocals

It could have been ironic. It might have been a mess. Instead, it was courageous and entertaining, fresh and sincere.

On Sunday night, some of the Twin Cities’ top pop and hip-hop artists gathered at the Southern Theater to explore the American jazz canon. Specifically, the Great American Songbook, what co-host Adam Levy calls our “free lunch” and our “vast cultural inheritance, shaping not only our notions of American music and the popular song but our very ideas of romance, love and morality."

The sold-out show felt like a gathering of friends, a jam session in someone’s living room, complete with a sing-along at the end. Not every performance was successful, but some were revelatory and all came from the same place of wanting to know more about the music and treat it right.