Esperanza & Fred: Great Music for a Good Cause!

Over his career, pianist and composer Fred Hersch has performed and recorded in the duo setting many times with partners such as Jay Clayton, Norma Winstone, Bill Frisell, Anat Cohen, Jane Ira Bloom, and more.  Up until this year, he's been holding an annual Duo Invitation Series in New York City (at The Jazz Standard with select dates at The Village Vanguard and Jazz at Lincoln Center).  Since the pandemic struck the United States, Mr. Hersch and his fellow musicians have been "sheltering" at home but that has not stopped from beginning a video series of daily (for a while) and weekly "living room" shows (which started daily on Facebook and is now weekly on Patreon – to subscribe, go to www.patreon.com/fredhersch).

This week and through the end of June, you can hear and purchase "Esperanza Spalding & Fred Hersch: Live at The Village Vanguard".  Recorded in October of 2018, this five-song program carries the subtitle "Rough Mix EP" and is being made available exclusively on Bandcamp (link below).  On the site, the artists tell you that "all proceeds benefiting the Jazz Foundation of America and the organization’s efforts to assist members of the jazz community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic." 

It's a delightful program –– the material includes one Fred Hersch original ("Dream of Monk"), "Loro" (Egberto Gismonti), "But Not For Me" (George & Ira Gershwin), "Some Other Time" (Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne), and the album's centerpiece, a hilarious take on "Girl Talk" (composed by Neal Hefti and Bobby Troup, made famous by Julie London –– watch Troup's video on YouTube for a comparison ). Ms. Spalding is in excellent voice and her sense of humor is evident throughout right through the dancing version of Gismonti's tune. As for Mr. Hersch, he proved years ago that he's a wonderful accompanist and he, too, is in "excellent voice."  

Music for a good cause?  Absolutely!  Good music??  No! No? Great music! Fun music! If you're not in a good mood after listening to "Esperanza Spalding & Fred Hersch: Live at The Village Vanguard", our prayers go out to you!

Go to https://esperanzaspaldingfredhersch.bandcamp.com and help these two artists help support the jazz community in this time of real need.

Two Duos & One Quartet

For more than five decades, vocalist Norma Winstone, born in London, England, has been creating music in settings that range from big band to quintets to trios to duos. She may be best known for her association with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and pianist John Taylor (the trio recorded for ECM Records as Azimuth) plus her duo work with her former husband Taylor as well as with Fred Hersch.

While her marriage to Taylor did not last, their musical partnership was particularly active in the 1980s and 90s.  "In Concert" (Sunnyside Records) is a reissue of a August 1988 concert Ms. Winstone and Taylor made at the end of a summer teaching job in London. Originally released in 1999 on Britain's Enodoc Records, it's a splendid collection of songs the duo put together on the fly.  The program features songs by Leonard Bernstein, Steve Swallow, Egbeeto Gismonti, Ralph Towner, Thelonious Monk, Lionel Hampton, and one smashing piece  – "Coffee Time" –  with improvised vocals, hand percussion (Taylor on the piano), and audience hand clapping.  Half the songs have lyrics by Ms. Winstone such as Swallow's "Ladies in Mercedes" and a pair by Towner ("The Glide" and "Celeste").

Two of the many pleasures of the recording is just how articulate the vocals are and how excellent the piano accompaniment is.  "The Glide" (first recorded in 1984 by Oregon) is a playful conversation with Ms. Winstone rising to the top of her range and Taylor dancing beneath.  The medley of "Round Midnight" (with lyrics by Bernie Hanighen) and "Midnight Sun" (music by Lionel Hampton, lyrics by Johnny Mercer) is bluesy, playful (especially the pianist's musical reactions to the lyrics), and includes a powerful piano solo in the second half.

Other highlights include the lovely take on Gismonti's "Cafe" (first recorded in 1974 with Portuguese lyrics by the composer) – in the early moments of the track, you can hear intimations of Brazilian rhythms that break out later in the piece (after Taylor's wide-ranging solo).  The different tempos, the longing in the voice, the dancing piano, all mesh to make the performance a show-stopper.

The program concludes with Towner's "Celeste" (first recorded by the composer with Kenny Wheeler, pictured above with Ms. Winstone and Mr. Taylor). It's another ballad with an emotionally rich vocal; the way Ms. Winstone gives each word its own weight and importance is stunning, especially near the close of the song when the duo raises the intensity only to bring the piece to a close with a gentle line "....it's so good to be home."  And, you believe it.

Despite the fact that "In Concert" was recorded in 1988, this music and the performance is timeless. Norma Winstone (MBE) & John Taylor make these songs come alive, each piece a world unto itself yet part of the whole.  Take your time to savor this experience – it is well worth your time!

For more information, go to www.normawinstone.com.

Here's the opening track (music by Maestro Bernstein with lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green, from "On The Town"):

Vocalist Jay Clayton and percussionist Jerry Granelli first met in 1979 and began a musical relationship that has lasted ever since.  The drummer convinced her to move to Seattle, WA in 1982 to teach at Cornish College where the vocalist taught for two decades. They first recorded together in 1994 in a quartet setting with trombonist Julian Priester and bassist Gary Peacock followed in 2001 by two albums: one a quintet date for Sunnyside with saxophonist Gary Bartz, pianist George Cables, and bassist Anthony Cox and the other a duo date for Winter & Winter.

In 2014, Ms. Clayton ventured up to Halifax, Nova Scotia (where Mr. Granelli has lived since the early 1990s) – the duo entered Sonic Temple Studio and the results of their sonic adventures can be heard on "Alone Together" (Sunnyside Records).  The eight-song program ranges from dazzling improvised pieces like "Swing Thing" – that piece opens with the multi-layered voice pushing out a wordless vocal before the drummer steps in for his own solo statement – to a stunning take of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" (lyrics by Margo Guryan) to the opening and closing pieces set to poems by e.e. cummings.  Those two tracks, "Because It's Spring" and "Bells Too" (the words are the first four lines from "You shall above all things be glad..."

Each track has moments of magic. One hears two master musicians in conversation, enjoying each other's company, and exploring material that is is familiar or made up on-the-spot.  "Wild is The Wind" is a composition from Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington from the movie of the same name and originally recorded for the soundtrack by Johnny Mathis.  Nina Simone also had a popular version of the song. Yet, the duo here do their own thing; Ms. Clayton embraces the melody while Mr. Granelli dances quietly beneath her voice.  And, it's lovely.  "New Morning Blues", composed by Ms. Clayton, dances forward on the strength of her layered vocals and the drummer's splendid brush work.  When the sticks take the place of the brushes, the piece takes on a serious groove.

"Alone Together" may not be very long – barely 39 minutes – but there's so much to absorb that you'll return time and again.  The program serves as a reminder of just how creative both Jay Clayton and Jerry Granelli can be.  It would be quite a treat to see and hear them in person inhabiting an intimate stage as their music caresses and plays with one's soul.

For more information, go to jayclayton.com (a site in need of updating) and to www.jerrygranelli.com.

Here's the opening track - the album will be released on 1/31/2020:

Composer, vocalist, and pianist Lauren Lee, who hails from the St. Louis, MO-area, issued an album in October of 2019.  "Windowsill" (eyes&ears Records).  She has been playing with her Space Jazz Trio in venues around New York City since the early 2010s as well with The Velocity Duo – you can find recordings by both ensembles on Bandcamp.  "Windowsill" features her in a quartet setting with Brad Mulholland (alto saxophone, flute, clarinet), Andy O'Neill (drums), and Marcos Varela (acoustic bass).  All the pieces are composed and arranged by Ms. Lee; one hears a "working" band who really listen to each other and help the leader interpret the music in an organic fashion. Intelligent overdubbing adds voices and extra reeds yet this music does not sound over-produced. Make sure to pay attention to the lyrics. Ms. Lee is a "truth teller" and not a person who appreciates b.s. from anyone.

A piece such as "Get Off Me" blends a handsome melody with words that tell a person to go away and stop making the narrator feeling shame instead of love or contentment.  "So Long" is a love song, a celebration of finding a person who is open, sharing, one who listens, who allows the narrator to take her time and explore new and surprising feelings.  The music is buoyant, including a wonderful "scat" solo as well as melodic bass solo plus a fine alto spot.   Ms. Lee moves to Fender Rhodes for "Peaks and Valleys" (and Mulholland to flute) for a celebration of the light from the sun. The piece is a gentle waltz that moves easily atop the melodic bass and dancing brush work.  Nobody rushes through the music and the piece unwinds naturally.

There is an experimental quality to the opening of "She Who Journeys" replete with wordless vocals and a reed section of overdubbed clarinets and flutes that leads to an alto sax solo.  Ms. Lee's voice returns and she scats along with her piano solo as the rhythm section pushes her forward.  The leader is generous with giving the musicians the opportunity to solo; they reward her trust by giving their all each time they step out.  The rubato opening of "Tomorrow is Coming" features wordless vocals, flute phrases that sometimes sound like birds bobbing and weaving in the sky while the rhythm section rumbles and keens underneath. Those several minutes of musical wandering underscores the message that Ms. Lee delivers over a slow ballad – she tells the listener that no matter how bad your life is today, "time will take your worries away."  The song describes a situation that all of us go through many times in our life, doing so gently and without lecturing.

"Windowsill" is a fascinating journey, adult music that makes one sit up and listen.  As much as one would love it, we all have troubles and desires – Lauren Lee approaches life as the opportunity to learn every day, creating music that stands out for its honesty and sonic clarity.  Do check it out!

For more information, go to www.laurenleejazz.com.

Here's the afore-mentioned "Get Off Me":

Looking Back Yet Sounding Like Today

If one subscribes to the belief that you learn something new everyday then the life of a reviewer can be very exciting.  I have known about the duo of Jeanne Lee (1939-2000, vocal) and Ran Blake (piano) but never really sat down to listen.  They first met in the mid-1950s and started performing together several years later.  Their debut album, "The Newest Sound Around" (RCA Victor), was issued in early 1962, a fascinating combination of standards, blues, and jazz. The Lp earned positive reviews but did not sell well in the United States.

Europe was another matter, especially Sweden and the Netherlands. Ms. Lee and Mr. Blake made several trips to perform there during the mid-1960s. Now A-Sides Records has issued "The Newest Sound You Never Heard", a double-CD collection recorded both in the studio and live in 1966 and 1967 while the duo was in Belgium. 33 never-before heard songs, some familiar to fans but many quite surprising. The 1966 sessions, a combination of a radio concert and "in-person" tracks, is a fascinating collection of songs, from Thelonious Monk's"Misterioso" (with lyrics by Gertrude Stein) to The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" to standards such as "Honeysuckle Rose", "Night and Day", and "Take The A-Train" to gospel, Broadway and even a funky reading of Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Him So."  Scattered among the tracks are several originals by Blake including an impressionistic instrumental titled "Birmingham U.S.A."  Ms. Lee, who said she was influenced by Abbey Lincoln, does some impressive scat singing on a number of tracks but don't ignore the lovely ballads. Included  in that list is Cole Porter's "Night and Day" - note how Ms. Lee caresses the words while Blake provides such a sympathetic background.  Disc One is quite the hour of music.

A year later, the duo returned to the VRT Studios and recorded the 14 tracks that appear on disc #2.  There's only one repeat from a year earlier (Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington's "Caravan") and more adventures in creativity.  Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" gets a gospel-flavored accompaniment while Ms. Lee stays close to the original melody; in the middle of the the song, the rhythm disappears and the duo move in and around each other Asia in a dream.  Ms. Lee's unaccompanied reading of Billie Holiday's "Billie's Blues" is an absolute stunner as is the duo's performance on Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman."  Listen to the spare piano backing to the highly emotional vocals, the essence of describing loneliness in music.  The final three tracks, "The Man I Love", Billy Strayhorn's "Something To Live For", and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most", make for an intimate and poetic close to the program.

There are moments on the 1967 sessions that remind this listener of the interplay between Cecile McLorin Salvant and pianist Sullivan Fortner on the former's latest album "The Window."  I hear it in the the playfulness and the intimacy, in how both participants interpret the music and the lyrics, making the songs their own.  Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake only made two studio recordings together Fresh Sounds issued a recording in 2013 of the duo from their 1966 visit to Stockholm, Sweden and, now with the release of "The Newest Sound You Never Heard", listeners get an even fuller picture of the magic these two created whenever they convened to make music.  And, it's amazing how contemporary these recordings, made over five decades ago, sound today.  Highly recommended!

For more information, go to ranblake.com.

Here's the Monk tune from 1966:

Eric Dolphy (1928-1964) had a short professional career as a musician but that career was quite full.  From the time he joined drummer Chico Hamilton's group in 1958, he rarely went without work. He hooked up with bassist and composer Charles Mingus in 1959 with whom he recorded the extremely impressive Candid album "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus." Even after he left Mingus's employ in 1960, Dolphy hooked up with the bassist for tours.  In 1960, the multi-instrumentalist (alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet) recorded his debut as a leader and in the next few years, recorded with Oliver Nelson ("Blues and The Abstract Truth") and began an exciting if short-lived relationship with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane.  Dolphy's own group, featuring trumpeter Booker Little, made an historic album "Live at The Five Spot" in 1961.

In February of 1964, Dolphy recorded his classic "Out to Lunch" for Blue Note Records but seven months prior to those sessions, he went in the studios with producer Alan Douglas the nine tracks that were split into two Lps, "Conversations" and "Iron Man".  Notable for the debut of 18-year old trumpeter Woody Shaw and the amazing bass work of Richard Davis, the tapes were released numerous times by different labels; along the way, the stereo master tapes disappeared and it turns out that the Dolphy family actually had documents, scores, and several reels of tapes which they gave to flutist James Newton for safekeeping. He, in turn, donated the documents to the Library of Congress.

In 2016, James Newton visited Resonance Records studios with the tapes in tow. Over the course of listening with producer Zev Feldman and executive producer George Klabin, they decided to release an album that featured a newly re-mastered versions of the two Douglas albums plus 80+ minutes of outtakes from the session - one notable exception is the 15-minute "A Personal Statement",  composed by pianist Bob James, from March of 1964. The resulting package, "Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions",  as issued in Fall of 2018 as a three-Lp set which is why you may seen the album on many "Best-of" lists.  The CDs have just been issued with an impressive booklet that features interviews with bassist Davis, saxophonist Sonny Simmons (who appears on four of the original Lp tracks and four of the alternate takes), Sonny Rollins, Steve Coleman, Oliver Lake, Nicole Mitchell, Marty Ehrlich, Henry Threadgill, Joe Chambers, Han Bennink, Bill Laswell, a former manager of the Douglas Record label Michael Lehman, and Dolphy's close friend Juanita Smith.

Photo: Blue Note Records

The two "official" releases continue the artist's explorations into expanding his musical range.  Four of the tracks feature Simmons, Shaw, Prince Lasha (flute), Clifford Jordan (soprano saxophone), Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone), and J. C. Moses (drums) while three add Garvin Bushell (bassoon), and Eddie Khan (who shares the bass parts with Davis). Drummer Charles Moffett appears on one track.  Dolphy is generous sharing the solo spotlight therefore the group tracks feature plenty of solos all around.  There are a pair of short unaccompanied alto sax takes of the standard "Love Me" in which you can hear how Dolphy expanded the language that Charlie Parker created for the instrument.  Perhaps the most fascinating outtakes are the two versions of Roland Hanna's "Muses for Richard Davis." Davis on bowed bass and Dolphy on bass clarinet explore the handsome melody with deep bass sounds and chords providing a strong foundation for the lower reed instrument.  Coming after the classic "Alone Together" (also a duet for bass - plucked here - and bass clarinet), the "Muses..." blend the expressive the reed sounds with the more formal sounding bass (Davis has such a wonderful sound and the mix here shows him in his best light.

Eric Dolphy may not have had a long life but his influence can still be felt 55 years after his passing. His willingness to experiment, his tart yet refreshing alto saxophone playing, his lovely flute, and his championing of the bass clarinet as a lead instrument, make him a role model for musicians around the world. "Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions" restores two albums that sorely needed someone's attention - how delightful and intelligent that James Newton brought the tapes to Resonance Records and what a splendid package.  The "limited edition" three-Lp set sold out quickly but, thanks to the sound restoration of George Klabin and Fran Gala (who also mastered the albums and CDs), the music steps out of the speakers and fills the room.  Highly recommended!!

For more information about this recording, go to resonancerecords.org/artists/eric-dolphy/.

Here's the exciting alternate version of "Mandrake":