When: 5/4/08 Where: Dakota Who: Members of Tiempo Libre: Jorge Gomez (director and piano), Leandro Gonzalez (congas), Tebelio (Tony) Fonte (bass), Hilario Bell (drums); guest Doug Little, alto saxophone
Sometimes you can't see everything no matter how hard you try. The mega big deal about this night at the Dakota was the first half of the evening, when Sir James Galway joined the Grammy-nominated Cuban band Tiempo Libre on stage.
The man with the golden flute was in town for performances with the Minnesota Orchestra; Tiempo Libre were here to warm up for Galway's next CD, which they will record with him in Toronto. Called O'Reilly Street for a famous street in Havana, it will be released on Sony BMG in September.
I'm curious how Tiempo Libre (billed as "one of the hottest young Latin bands") and classical virtuoso Galway got together in the first place. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.
Anyway, I spent the first half of the evening at MacPhail, where I've been taking another class (a jazz book club) from Kelly Rossum. By the time we arrived at the Dakota, which was open curtain and packed, Galway was gone. Everyone we spoke with raved about his performance. I have no doubt this was a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I wish I had been there, but that would have meant missing Kelly's class and his very interesting thoughts on Wynton Marsalis.
The second half of the evening featured Tiempo Libre with local Latin music hero Doug Little. We heard "Night in Tunisia," a Chucho Valdes tune, and something by Miles Davis. It was good. I was happy. Writing for the Strib, Jon Bream wondered aloud if the Galway CD release party would be at the Dakota. If it is, I'll be there...or try.
My original blog about the Mike Vax Big Band included unkind remarks on how vocalist Ginger Berglund was dressed. After receiving a comment from Scott Whitfield, trombonist and Berglund's singing partner, which I've chosen not to post here (and I feel pretty confident Whitfield would prefer I not post, once he settles down), I've removed my remarks and Berglund's photo. The jazz life is sufficiently challenging that no one—singers, musicians, critics or bloggers—deserves to get slapped around. So let's all take a breath before we hit "publish" or "send."
I don't know why it has taken me so long to point toward the Jazz is NOW! Web site—my bad. I wrote about Jeremy Walker and the return of Jazz is NOW! for MinnPost in March. The site had not yet launched then (or had just barely launched) but now it's up and in full swing, with lots of good stuff: videos from the December 7 performance of Matt Wilson's Carl Sandburg Project (which I also wrote about), videos from the March 13 performance at the Minnesota Opera Center and the March 12 rehearsal the day before (it's really fun to watch the rehearsal videos, if you like going behind the scenes), music to listen to or download (for free or, your choice, a small, tax-deductible donation), scores and charts to download in PDF form, photos, a blog, and more. Go there, wander, listen, watch, and learn about a jazz nonprofit that's exciting, evolving, and deeply interesting. Could it become the Minneapolis/St. Paul equivalent of the SF Jazz Collective? I'd like to think so. Their next live performance is June 12.
If you heard us play on March 13, you heard the very beginnings. The music we played was partially finished. That performance was part of the finishing work. Jazz is great that way, finish work happens live, in front of an audience. Guys playing something surprising and it becomes part of a living song.
Jazz is NOW! rehearsal photo courtesy jazzisnow.net. L to R: Kelly Rossum, Scott Fultz, Chris Thompson.
When: 5/3/08 Where:Artists' Quarter Who: Dean Magraw (guitar), Chris Bates (bass), Jay Epstein (drums) We last saw this remarkable trio in December, when it was also (for part of the evening) a quartet, with Gary Schulte on violin. Tonight we skip the second set of the Mike Vax Big Band and arrive at the AQ midway through the first tune, something slow and mellow. For the moment it's just Dean and Chris, then Jay walks quietly on stage, unpacks his sticks and brushes, then begins softly brushing the drums. A lovely start to an evening full of music worth close listening.
They rarely tell us what they're playing; Magraw mugs at the mike but never quite gets around to saying "That was a tune by ____ and here comes a tune by ____." Next time I'll request the set list, if there is one. I know we hear something by Dave Holland, something about a place on the Asian steppes where the wind never stops blowing, a Chris Bates tune, Monk's "Let's Cool One" (which I think is a Django tune because it swings so hard), and the group's signature "Viva Coltrane," a long piece incorporating many of John Coltrane's compositions. Throughout the evening, Magraw is jazz man, folkie, and rock god, wailing away on a guitar so white it's blinding. We stay through both sets.
Back in December, Don Berryman made a video of Red Planet performing Coltrane. Especially if you haven't experienced this group in person (and even if you have), it's worth seeing and hearing.
When: 5/3/08 Where:Ted Mann Concert Hall Who: Kim Richmond, Pete Gallio, Keith Kaminski, Alex Murzyn, Joel Kaye (saxophones), Roy Wiegand, Scott Whitfield, Dale DeVoe, Mike Suter, Kenny Shroyer (trombones), Mike Vax, Dennis Noday, Carl Saunders, Steve Huffsteter, Don Rader (trumpets), Bob Kafka (piano), Chris Symer (bass), Gary Hobbs (drums), Dee Huffsteter (Latin percussion), Scott Whitfield and Ginger Berglund (vocals)
This was the final concert of the 2007–08 Northrop Jazz Season, and it wasn't my favorite. I almost wrote "I'm not a big fan of big bands," but that's not true; I enjoy the JazzMN Big Band, and the Northrop season has featured several big bands and jazz orchestras over the years: the Dave Holland Big Band in 2002–03; the Carla Bley Big Band, Chico O'Farill's Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Mingus Big Band in 2003–04; the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Maria Schneider Orchestra in 2005–06. Those were all good shows, with up-to-the-minute music.
Even the Mingus Big Band, which has a similar mission to that of the MVBB—to honor and sustain the music of a composer and musician who died several years ago—never sounded stale. (Kenton and Mingus both died in the same year, 1979.)
But while Vax insisted "this is not a ghost band" and "fifty percent of everything we play on the road is new, written by band members in the Kenton style," it felt like an old band, and not just because most of the band members are over 60. (Ahmad Jamal is 78, Randy Weston is 82, Dave Brubeck is 88, Roy Haynes is 82...there's a long list of jazz artists who are up there in age and still vital in terms of what they play.) It felt like an old band because they were corny. They told corny jokes and did corny things like spread out into the audience to play. (HH said that reminded him of the time he was trapped in the downstairs bathroom with bees.)
The music didn't thrill me: "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "You Are So Beautiful." I did like their version of "In a Sentimental Mood" with its long trumpet solo. Often, the rhythm section was buried by the brass; I'm not sure I ever heard the piano, and I know I never heard the congas.
To be fair, plenty of people enjoyed the show, and there were certainly Kentonites in the crowd. When band members asked how many had heard Stan Kenton live, how many knew the London album, how many remembered a night at the late Prom ballroom when there was so much snow the band almost didn't make it, and how many recognized the "boat quotes" in one of the tunes, hands went up all around. And there were shouts of recognition and approval throughout the first set. (We didn't stay for the second.)
The Northrop Jazz Season has always been about variety and taking chances. The 2007–08 lineup also included Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Steven Bernstein, Ramsey Lewis, Ravi Coltrane, and Roy Haynes. So Mike Vax didn't rock my world, no big deal. It was a good year and I'll continue to subscribe.
Michael Ekhaus is not a working jazz musician but that's only because he hasn't yet decided to become one. He is studying at least two instruments (conga and accordion), he blows glass, he makes shoes, he knits, he does math and God knows what else. He helped me make the pompom for Dave King's hat. He suggested adding a thin stripe to my hat design, so I did. Michael is an honorary cat.
When: 5/2/08 Where:Fitzgerald Theater Who:The Pines (opener), Greg Brown (voice and guitar), Bo Ramsey (guitar) Folk music is not my thing (and don’t get me started on musicals) but there are exceptions and Greg Brown is one. I’ve heard about him for years, occasionally catch him on the radio, and have a couple of his older CDs, In the Dark with You (1985) and Poet Game (1994). He comes around from time to time and always sells out his venue. When I learned he’d be at the Fitz (thanks to the theater’s monthly e-newsletter) I ordered tickets ASAP and still ended up in a back balcony. Luckily it's a small theater.
The Pines open. Dave Huckfelt and Benson Ramsey (son of Bo Ramsey, Brown’s producer and sideman) play tunes of their own from their Red House Records debut, Sparrows in the Bell. “As part of our contract with Greg Brown, we have to play a folk song that’s at least 75 years old,” Ramsey says at one point so we also hear Mississippi John Hurt’s “Spike Driver Blues.” They play a new song, “Coat of Arms,” with a memorable line: “And Jesus on the cross hangs ever further to the right.” Young Ramsey is a bit too nasal and Dylanesque for me. Other reviewers have called them “starkly poetic” (Strib) and “haunting” (Rift). I’ll just say I mostly enjoy this singing/songwriting/guitar-playing/hat-wearing duo.
Greg Brown is riveting. He looks like a bum (our friend Ellen says he looks like an old miner) but I love how he sounds—dark, grumbly, rumbly, the human equivalent of low brass.
I’ve heard Brown doesn't decide ahead of time what he’s going to perform during a show; it depends on how he and the audience are feeling, on his mood and ours. Tonight we hear “Cold and Dark and Wet” (“I fell in love like a drunk in a pond/That twisted gal of whom I was fond/She found a new man on the Internet/Wham I’m spam and it’s cold and dark and wet”), “Kokomo,” “Small Dark Movie” (“You leave whatever happened last night/like a cigarette in a champagne glass”), “Oily Boys,” “The Evening Call” (“She kept her cool, but after midnight she burned”), and the wonderful “One Wrong Turn” (which happens to be on The Poet Game so it’s one I know going in).
He shapes his words in unexpected ways, drawing out syllables over several notes, gliding up and diving down on the same long vowel. He quotes Mary McCarthy: “Religion is only good for good people.” He hooks me.
Bo Ramsey is a long tall drink of black-clad cowboy in a straw Stetson. You almost never see his face, and when you do catch a glimpse, you notice he’s wearing big black sunglasses. He may be shy about looking right at you but he moves his body like he’s alone on stage, swaying and bending and stomping his skinny Dwight Yoakam legs.
Brown tells us he and Bo most recently played in Utrecht, Netherlands, and here’s a video from that show (looks like Bo is wearing the same things he wore on stage at the Fitz):
Brown sings a song by Merle Haggard, whom he calls “a bad dude.” He sings one by his wife, Iris DeMent, based on a sermon about the Good Samaritan by the Rev. Sam Mann, a civil rights activist and the white pastor of St. Mark’s, a black Pentacostal church in Kansas City. (Brown and DeMent attended St. Mark’s when they lived in KC. Brown said DeMent took him there when they were getting to know each other. It was a test, he said, and he passed.) The song is called “He Reached Down” and it’s beautiful, whether sung by Brown’s deep-river voice or DeMent’s high-country one. I’d forgotten Brown and DeMent are a couple, and I think of June and Johnny Cash.
Brown sends out his final song to Bob Feldman, the founder and president of Red House who died in 2006 at age 56. At a time when record labels are fading, Red House is still in business, releasing new CDs and signing new and younger artists. Brown sings, “Tell me where the hope lies to bear this world.”
Every story is a human interest story. When I decided to write about the Grand Marais Jazz Festival for this week's MinnPost column, I thought I'd do a straightforward piece on who's playing when and where, with a bit of historical perspective. When I started talking with people about the festival, things changed.
I learned that festival founder Mike Raymond hosts a jazz radio show, sells real estate, and is a pilot who flies over area forests and wilderness to check for fires. People wear a lot of hats on the North Shore.
Last year, on May 5, a fire started that burned more than 75,000 acres at the end of the Gunflint Trail and into Ontario. This year, in recognition of the first anniversary of the Ham Lake Fire, the area is hosting a Gunflint Green Up on May 2–3. They're expecting hundreds of volunteers who will pitch in to plant 75,000 seedlings, weather be damned. (There's still ice on the water in northern Minnesota, and it could snow. It could snow in Minneapolis, too.)
I learned that the jazz festival is less about jazz, more about building tourism in the off-season in an area hard-hit by economic downturn with an off-season that lasts half the year. (Now factor in rising gas prices.) Headed by PR pro and go-getter Kimberly Soenen, the newly-formed Cook County Events & Visitors Bureau is convincing area business leaders, artists, outfitters, and lodgers to join forces, combine resources, and pony up dollars to fund events like the festival.
Soenen thinks Cook County could be the next Door County, and the Grand Marais Jazz Festival could be the north shore's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I wouldn't advise standing in her way. She's a woman on a mission.
And I learned that singer Rhonda Laurie and her family have a cabin in Finland near Silver Bay. She's originally from New York City and I never saw her as an outdoorsy type but there it is.
