Sambanova

The nylon string guitar to my ears is a central element in the rich heritage of the Brazilian Samba. The genre is built with distinctive subtleties in its harmonic and melodic content that combine with seductive rhythms to evoke layers of emotion. In this offering by composer and performer Joan Griffith, full credence is paid to the guitar in a full range of roles. With Griffith's guitar, graceful support and musical excellence is delivered by pianist Laura Caviani and percussionist Cyro Baptista. Sambanova (Pleasing Dog Music) takes the listener through a journey of enchantment and beauty true to the Samba. Griffith's guitar is well recorded with intimacy, clarity, and the great resonant tonal character of the nylon string guitar.

The fact that Griffith's "Sambanova No 1 in C" is the perfect way to start this recording became more evident with each listening. In this well-crafted project, "Sambanova No 1 in C" gives a listener a faithful introduction to the Samba. From the beginning, Griffith drives the song with chords and a rhythmic pulse of classic Samba while Caviani plays a bright melodic introductory figure. Shortly thereafter Griffith and Caviani share a brief melodic figure which transitions to Griffith playing another melodic figure alone. Some lively melodic choreography moves throughout this piece (and others) in a playful interchange given wings with pleasing percussion grooves introduced by Baptista.

Tito Puente & His Orchestra (1977)

One of the world’s most revered and the longest-running jazz festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival celebrated fifty years in 2007. In addition to a star-studded event worthy of this milestone, the Monterey Jazz Festival and Concord Records collaborated to form Monterey Jazz Festival Records, releasing the first group of seven historic, never-released recordings in conjunction with the 2007 festival. This first releases included Louis Armstrong (caught headlining the first night of the festival in 1958); Miles Davis (introducing to the West Coast his soon-to-be-classic '60s quintet rhythm section in 1963); and Thelonious Monk (his quartet augmented by bassist Steve Swallow and an expanded five-piece festival workshop in 1964), plus sets by Dizzy Gillespie (1965)) and Sarah Vaughan (1971) as well as a 50th anniversary compilation.  Continuing the series, Monterey Jazz Festival Records has released six more discs in time for the 51st festival getting underway this weekend.  

The new releases include two “best of Monterey” collections, Fifty Years of Dave Brubeck (1958-2007) and The Best of Cal Tjader (1958-1980), along with performances from Art Blakey and the Giants of Jazz (1972),  Shirley Horn (1994), Tito Puente (1977), and Jimmy Witherspoon with Robben Ford (1972). 

The Influence of Bix Beiderbecke

The aim of this compilation is evident from the title, to chart how Bix’s playing cast its spell over those musicians who heard his music, both in person and on record, and how that was then reflected in their own work. This aspect was touched upon in Volume 5 of the Bix Restored set, and care has been taken to avoid duplicating anything on that earlier reissue. [Click here for a Jazz Police review of Bix Restored.]  

Just to give you a flavour of the contents, the American disc kicks off with a June 1924 George Olsen recording into which, regardless of the fact that it was an entirely different number, Red Nichols interpolated note-for-note Bix’s February 1924 solo from “Jazz Me Blues.” Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, he did the same thing with Bix’s solo from “Tiger Rag” during the California Ramblers May 1925 recording of the same number. And here we run up against one of those puzzles that have plagued Bix scholars for years, namely that the Wolverines’ recording wasn’t issued until over 10 years later. Max Easterman’s 28-page booklet provides an authoritative guide to this and every other track, dispelling the myths that have grown up around them, not least the thorny question of attribution. That is to say, many of the contributions on record, by such disciples as Andy Secrest, Sterling Bose, and Manny Klein, were virtually indistinguishable from the genuine article.   

Family

“Each project comes from a different place,” says Kelly Rossum of his four CDs. “I don't view these recordings as an evolution, per se, but as an eventual profile of my personality.” With the release of Family, Rossum’s profile not only is updated, but his lineage more clearly defined, his cachet as one of the region’s most musically divergent thinkers and performers reinforced. 

A distinctive and versatile trumpeter whose history includes directing the big band at Busch Gardens (Virginia), earning his doctorate in Baroque Trumpet at the University of Minnesota, and currently coordinating jazz studies at the MacPhail Center for Music, Kelly Rossum has honed his skills over two decades of performing from Bach to rock, from swing to avant garde. Even his current projects reflect a restless eclecticism that informs his compositions— soloing with the Skyway Jazz Orchestra, Pete Whitman’s X-Tet, the Jazz Is Now! Nownet, the Ellen Lease/Pat Moriarity Quintet, the Dolphy-inspired Out to Lunch Quintet, and his new Rossum Electric Company. But his small ensembles, the Kelly Rossum Quintet and now Quartet, offer the most integrated view into the heart and mind of a musician who reveres his artistic roots while always pushing ahead to wherever those connections might lead. 

Bix Biederbecke

Jazz’s start can not be summed up with any big bang theory. A more accurate image would be a pebble thrown into a lake, concentric circles branching out from the initial impact, all the generations of composer/players and their contributions. While who was jazz’s “all father” is a subjective issue that can make for some interesting debates, more easy to agree upon are the first waves of composer/musicians who midwived this art form in its naissance.  Along with Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), jazz’s other initial great horn soloist was Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931).  Their styles were drastically different but both paved the way for generations of jazz musicians and soloists to come. Louis Armstrong had a more direct effect on soloists while Bix, once memory of seeing him perform live began to fade,  seemed to influence more through a sort of sonic osmosis. A five-volume reissue from Sunbeam Records, Bix Restored, released over a decade (1995-2005), brings overdue attention to this Jazz Age Gabriel.

Too often represented by apocryphal tales, Bix’s real life reads very much like something from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s oeuvre. It makes for perfect symmetry as Bix supplied the soundtrack for this era whose list of tragic anti-heroes he would join.

Loverly

Sooner or late, it seems every jazz vocalist digs into the Great American Songbook, jazz classics, or popular canon. For some it is a safely charted journey of well worn songs bound to find a receptive audience. For others, it’s an opportunity to take the familiar into unmapped territory, to surprise, reconsider, reinvent the songbook and challenge listeners to respond rather than merely receive. No one would ever accuse either Cassandra Wilson or Patricia Barber of following the path of least resistance, and neither does so on her new Blue Note release of mostly standards. Two contenders for jazz vocal release of the year offer aural bouquets of (mostly) old tunes for new ears. 

Cassandra Wilson, Loverly (Blue Note)