2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival is worth the drive

Each year, quite a few jazz fans from the Twin Cities drive to and from Iowa City over the Fourth of July weekend for the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Depending on who's performing, it's worth the drive (about 600 miles round trip) for this free festival that often books top talent.

Over the years, featured artists have included John Scofield, Paquito D’Rivera, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Roy Haynes, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, Joey de Francesco, Charlie Hunter, Greg Osby, Cubanismo, Pat Martino, Paul Motian, Don Byron, Andrew Hill, Carla Bley, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Roswell Rudd, Steve Swallow, Yellowjackets, Patricia Barber, Sex Mob, and Stefon Harris.

This is a good year. Saturday brings New York/LA-based jazz-rock band Kneebody, followed by the Josh Roseman Unit. Roseman is a trombonist who studied under Lester Bowie and has played with people like Muhal Richard Abrams, John Zorn, Dave Holland, Dave Douglas, Oliver Lake, and Medeski, Martin and Wood.

If you can go for just one night, make it Sunday. John Ellis and Double-Wide, who wowed last year’s Twin Cities Jazz Festival, will play at 4. They’ll be followed at 6 by Ambrose Akinmusire, who currently has the hot new trumpet CD, When the Heart Emerges Glistening. At 8 the great pianist/composer and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston will take the stage. When he plays “High Fly”—which he probably will; it’s a signature song for him, and it’s on his latest CD, The Storyteller—the crowd sprawled and seated on the lush green lawn of the Pentacrest will sigh the leaves off the trees.

Randy Weston

2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival

Friday, July 1–Sunday, July 3

Full schedule here.

Concert review: The Fantastic Merlins at the Black Dog

When: Friday, April 22, 2011 • Where: Black Dog, St. Paul • Who: Nathan Hanson, saxophones; Brian Roessler, bass; Daniel Levin, cello; Pete Hennig, drums

L2R: Hanson, Hennig, Levin, Roessler

Oh, those Merlins were exciting on Friday. Playing for an overflow crowd at the Black Dog, they gave us two full, variegated, concentrated sets of melody and improvisation. They pulled from their velvet bag of existing compositions and also featured works by their new cellist, Daniel Levin, who officially became a Fantastic Merlin in January.

Levin is the Merlins’ third cellist. The first, Jacqueline Ultan, moved on to other projects after recording A Handful of Earth. She was followed by Matt Turner, heard on How the Light Gets In, who soon had scheduling conflicts.

Levin initially joined the band for a weeklong tour of France in 2010. “From the very first note we played together,” wrote the Merlins on their website, “it was clear that we are all on similar trajectories.” Jean Rochard, producer of How the Light Gets In (and founder of the French record label Nato), was at their debut show in France, before 500 people. He says that Levin was an immediate fit.

I’ve loved the Merlins since the first time I saw them play, but this is a different band, with a different energy level. Not to cast the slightest aspersion on any of the previous versions, but there’s more—how to say it?—testosterone now. Levin is a fierce, aggressive player, and the whole band seems tougher, edgier, badder. They’re still the lyrical, musical Merlins, but with more of a swagger. It’s a boy band.

Levin isn’t always fierce. Sometimes he coaxes sounds from the cello, leaning into it with gentle regard. Other times, however, he seems about to pull it apart or set it on fire with the force of his playing. 

In The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, author Thad Carhart writes that Liszt played the piano so hard during concerts that the stage would be littered with broken pianos. I thought about that while watching Levin play, and I prayed for that borrowed cello.

Photo by John Whiting.

2011 Twin Cities Jazz Festival lineup announced

The Twin Cities Jazz Festival used to be in Minneapolis, then in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. It used to be called the Hot Summer Jazz Festival. It used to go on for 10 days. And, for a time in 2009, it seemed doomed. Strapped-for-cash sponsors had pulled out and the organizers were ready to cancel.

Then St. Paul stepped up. Mayor Chris Coleman, local chambers, sponsors, clubs, and businesses joined forces to lure the festival across the river and into Mears Park, a gem of an outdoor space. The festival responded with a strong lineup that included Allen Toussaint and Esperanza Spalding (two years before she won the Best New Artist Grammy). During Spalding's set, Prince sat backstage in his limousine, listening.

Last summer brought several big names: trumpeter Sean Jones, saxophonist Joe Lovano, John Ellis and Double-Wide with Jason Marsalis, and John Scofield's Piety Band. Mears Park was packed. Vendors ran out of hot-dog buns and had to serve naked wieners in paper trays.

Mark your calendar now for June 23-25, because you won't want to be out of town for the 13th Annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival. This year's headliners are Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, paired with the great bassist John Pattitucci, and the New Gary Burton Quartet featuring Julian Lage, Antonio Sanchez, and Scott Colley.

High fives, TCJF.

Starting Thursday, June 23 (Jazz Night Out), the festival will also present many area musicians and groups, which is the right thing to do, given the richness of our jazz community. Performers will include Connie Evingson, Seven Steps to Havana, the Petersons, James Buckley, the Jazz Central All Stars, Salsa del Soul, and a so-far-unnamed quartet with Miguel Hurtado, Marquis Hill, Zacc Harris, and Jeremy Boettcher.

More area artists will perform in St. Paul clubs: Atlantis Quartet (just named "Best Jazz Artist" by City Pages), Butch Thompson, Arne Fogel and Maud Hixson, JoAnn Funk, Nathan Hanson/Brian Roessler/Pette Hennig, Gypsy Mania, the George Maurer Group, Ticket to Brazil, Lee Engele, Jack Brass, Cory Wong, Red Planet, and student bands.

On Thursday, the AQ will host a Stride Night with Butch Thompson and festival stalwart Jon Weber, who lives in New York but always comes in for the festival. Trust me: Stride Night is awesome.

This week’s jazz picks for Minneapolis-St. Paul

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 the week's jazz picks and more. 88.5 FM in the Twin Cities, streaming live on the Web. 

This weekend, it’s all about St. Paul. Or mostly.

Friday: Fantastic Merlins at the Black Dog

Confess: You’ve always wanted to know how to improvise. Or, at least, you’d like to know more about how improvisation works. Find out tonight at the Black Dog, when the Fantastic Merlins—saxophonist Nathan Hanson, bassist Brian Roessler, cellist Daniel Levin, drummer Pete Hennig—give a free masterclass. They’ll cover beginning techniques, improvising with an ensemble, and developing a personal voice. Piano, bass, and drums provided; if you play something else, bring it. Open to the public, to musicians of all ages and experience levels.

The class will be followed by a concert at 8-ish. We rarely hear the Merlins play live in the Twin Cities for the simple reason that Levin is a New Yorker. I like this group very much, and their blend of jazz, improvisation, and chamber music. Their playing always makes me feel hopeful, and these days that’s an especially good thing.

Listen to the Merlins here.

Friday, 5:30 (masterclass), 8-ish (concert), Black Dog in St. Paul’s Lowertown. No cover, but please feed the tip jar.

Friday-Saturday: Kip Jones CD Release at Studio Z

Kip Jones is a young violinist with a unique musical voice and background. Born in Duluth, he earned his degree in violin performance from Berklee in Boston, then hit the road: a nine-month motorcycle trip across North America, studies in Mumbai, a stint in rural South Korea, a year-long trip through South America.

Combine talent with travel, curiosity, and intelligence and (if you’re lucky) you get Hallazgo, Jones’s new CD of original compositions, performed on solo violin and voice. “Hallazgo” is a Spanish word meaning “a find,” and it fits. Jones calls his music “traditional fiction” or “experimental folk”—traditional music from regions or people that don’t exist—and says it’s “stylistically indebted to J.S. Bach, the Delta Blues, and minimalist Steve Reich.” To my ears, it’s foreign and familiar at the same time, solid and truthful and deeply intriguing.

The concert will have two parts: Jones solo, followed by Zations, his trio with accordionist Patrick Harison and bassist James Buckley. “Bulgaro-Macedonian improvisational stringy-accordion madness.” Bring it on.

Check out "Burst Into Song, And," a track from Hallazgo. 

Friday, 8 p.m., Studio Z, Northwestern Building in St. Paul’s Lowertown. Look for the big red neon Z in the window. $5.

Friday: Charmin Michelle and Joel Shapira CD Release

A class act through and through. Lovely, elegant singer Charmin Michelle and virtuoso guitarist Joel Shapira, longtime collaborators on the Twin Cities music scene, have made their second CD together, after Pure Imagination (2005). 

Just out, Dawning and Daylight is what they do best: jazz standards and classics from the Great American Songbook. This will be a night of beautiful music, swinging and soulful, pitch-perfect and impeccably performed. 

Friday, 9 p.m., Artists’ Quarter in the basement of the Hamm Building, St. Paul. $10.

Sunday and Monday: John Pizzarelli at the Dakota

Hearing jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli perform live is like having him show up in your living room. His concerts are warm, intimate, and relaxed—good music (Great American Songbook and beyond), performed with profound knowledge and real affection.

If you’ve heard his syndicated radio show, Radio Deluxe, which airs every Saturday on KBEM from 4–6 p.m., you have a sense of what he’s like in person. Pizzarelli is especially fond of Nat “King” Cole, and his latest recording, Rockin’ in Rhythm, celebrates the music of Duke Ellington. You can’t go wrong. 

Here's Pizzarelli in a charming and playful performance of Dave Frishberg's "I'm Hip."

Sunday and Monday, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall. $40/$25.

Wednesday and Thursday: Omar Sosa Afreecanos Quartet at the Dakota

Unless I'm mistaken, it’s been several years since multi-instrumentalist and five-time Grammy nominee Omar Sosa performed here. The last time I remember was 2002, when he played at the Walker with his septet—minus his vocalist, who couldn’t get a visa. 

Sosa returns this week with his Afreecanos Quartet to explore the music of the African diaspora, mixed with the sounds of modern jazz and the latest technology. Cutting-edge and traditional, folkloric and contemporary, global and personal, Sosa’s music is unlike anything else you’ll hear. Take a chance. 

The quartet includes Marque Gilmore on drum-and-bass, Childo Tomas on electric bass, and Peter Apfelbaum on saxophone. Sosa's latest CD is a solo piano album, Calma; we’ll probably hear some of that as well. His piano chops have been compared to those of Chick Corea and Chucho Valdes.

Sample Afreecanos here.

Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall. $30/$20.

One more thing:

Over at the Penumbra, Dennis Spears is starring in I Wish You Love, a new play by Dominic Taylor about Nat “King” Cole. After its world premiere performances here, it moves to the Kennedy Center. I bought tickets earlier this week and had a hard time finding a night when I could get two tickets together. Here’s Rohan Preston’s story from the Strib.

Wednesday–Saturday (7:30 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) through May 22, Penumbra Theatre. $38.

Check the live jazz calendar at the right or here for many more events.

John Pizzarelli photo by John Whiting. 

Icons Among Us complete set now affordable

Back in February, I griped about the fact that the full-length, four-part version of Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense was prohibitively expensive. At $495, it was priced for the educational market, which was once a major cash cow, like the Pentagon.

A shorter (90 min.), less expensive ($18.99) feature-length version has been available since 2009, but I've been dying to see the whole thing, which has aired on cable channels in some markets. So I'm pleased to report that the complete documentary series, plus extras, is now available for $49.95. For a limited time, whatever that means.

The four parts together run 220 min. Two hours of extras include performances by the Donald Harrison Jr. Quartet, Bill Frisell Trio, Matthew Shipp, Danilo Perez, Dafnis Prieto Sextet, The Bad Plus, Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, Jacob Fred, Jazz Odyssey, e.s.t, the Roy Hargrove Quintet, and Bugge Weseltoft, along with profiles of jazz advocates including Jazzreach, Earshot Jazz, and the Jazz Foundation of America. The set also includes a study and discussion guide on CD-ROM.

Go here to learn more about the series, view some videos, download a sample of the study guide, and press the BUY NOW button, if you're so inclined.

A history of jazz in the Twin Cities

This arrived in my mailbox on Saturday, and I can't wait to read it.

Author Jay Goetting is a journalist and bass player who lived and worked in the Twin Cities; he now splits his time between Phoenix and San Francisco. The foreword was written by Leigh Kamman, who spent 60 years in broadcasting, many as host of MPR's The Jazz Image. The Minnesota Historical Society Press is the publisher.

Goetting will be in town the first weekend in May. On Saturday, May 7, the Artists' Quarter will host a book signing. Kamman will also be there, along with members of the MnHS Press. The signing starts at 8, after which the Atlantis Quartet takes the stage.

Related: Joined at the Hip at the MnHS website.

News about e.s.t.

Last Friday at the Electric Fetus record store in Minneapolis, I picked up a copy of Magnus Ostrom's new CD, Thread of Life. Am looking forward very much to listening.

From B.H. Hopper Management in London:


On Saturday April 23 the tremendously popular cultural program “ARTE Metropolis” (France and Germany) will show a special report about Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund featuring their new bands and album projects. It can be accessed online via the arte TV website for seven days following the broadcast.

Magnus Öström has just recently released his debut album as a leader “Thread of Life”, which has been praised by the critics and entered the pop album charts in Germany and Sweden in March. Magnus will tour with his new band featuring Andreas Hourdakis (g), Gustav Karlöf (p) and Thobias Gabrielsson (b) throughout the rest of the year.

Dan Berglund´s TONBRUKET will release their second album on May 25 called “Dig it to the End” on ACT. TONBRUKET have extensively toured Europe in 2010 and will hit the USA and Canada for the first time in June this year. Further European touring will continue in autumn of this year. The new album consists of original material only and all members of the band, Johan Lindström (g), Martin Hederos (p) and Andreas Werliin (dr) have contributed.

2011 Monterey Jazz Festival lineup announced

It’s going to be a good one. The longest-running jazz festival in the world (think about that), Monterey is making sure that its 54th year is musical, memorable, and diverse, with something for everyone. 

Which includes non-jazz performers like Huey Lewis and The News (!) and India.Arie. To get this topic out of the way, Monterey has long (always?) included blues and some pop on its schedule. But unlike other big-name, so-called jazz festivals, it’s still mainly, mostly, predominantly, and proudly jazz. A point worth raising amid all the screaming about, for example, this year’s Montreux schedule, where the headliners include Liza Minnelli, Ricky Martin, Sting, Seal, Paul Simon, Deep Purple, and a whole lot of blues. It’s going to be hard to find what some people would call “real” jazz in Montreux.

Not Monterey. It’s delicious with jazz. Overflowing with jazz. Which will pose the usual hellfire torment for attendees: What will I see, what will I have to miss?