Jazz Police - Bill Carrothers European Trio: American Tour in July

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Sunday, 21 March 2010

Bill Carrothers European Trio: American Tour in July

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Friday, 03 July 2009

"Bill Carrothers expresses himself best while streaming intricate concepts into long, elegant lines of melody through a harmonic topography that varies between crowded and open stretches..." --Robert Doerschuk, Downbeat

L-R, Nicolas Thys, Bill Carrothers, Dre Pallemaerts

Edina, MN native and internationally acclaimed pianist Bill Carrothers and his European trio make a rare American tour this month with stops in St. Paul (July 9th at the Artists Quarter) Chicago (July 10-11 at the Green Mill) and New York (July 14-19 at the Village Vanguard). Bill’s Belgian compatriots include bassist Nicolas Thys and drummer Dre Pallemaerts, who appeared with him on his 2005 recording, I Love Paris (Pirouet). The trio continues to perform together throughout Europe.

Bill Carrothers©Andrea Canter

Bill Carrothers has hardly followed the typical path of a musical prodigy. Growing up on the edge of the Twin Cities metro area, he heard lots of jazz at home, from his father’s recordings of Dixieland and Gerry Mulligan to his mother’s singing and piano playing. He started out with lessons from his church organist at age five—and he initially hated the piano. “My mom made me play… She used to set the oven timer for a half-hour and I'd have to just sit there, even if I didn't play, I had to just sit there and stare at the keys and I just hated it. I wanted to play baseball.” But eventually Carrothers was turned on to jazz by his piano teacher, the late Bobby Peterson, who eschewed the academic exercises; instead “it was all sitting down and listening to records, playing along with them, or turning the stereo off and playing duets.” Peterson also introduced young Bill to Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and most importantly, Miles Davis. Starting with Davis’ Greatest Hits, he was mesmerized: “I wore it out. I listened to it 100 times. I'd never heard anything like that before.”

After playing in his high school jazz bands, Carrothers moved on to the jazz program at North Texas State on a scholarship. However, he found the formality of college music studies frustrating. “I decided that the best way to learn it was to start buying every kind of jazz music I could find and start listening to it…” Gradually, Carrothers gained experience playing with visiting artists like James Moody and Billy Higgins, and recorded a well-received CD (A Band in All Hope) in 1986. By 1988, he’d had enough of college studies and headed to New York, where he recorded with Gary Peacock and Bill Stewart, and had gigs at the Village Gate, Birdland and Visiones. But the big city never felt like home, and after five years and leading one recording (The Artful Dodger), Carrothers gave up on the Big Apple, recognizing he preferred a quieter, more rural life than the frenetic pace of most jazz musicians. “The whole schmoozing, going to clubs, being seen and hanging out is not my thing at all.” After trying upstate New York (Woodstock) for a couple years, he returned to the Midwest, and now makes his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. For much of his music, however, he spends his time in Europe, where he finds more work and a more open attitude toward jazz.

Now past 40, Bill Carrothers has had a relatively low profile but has established a strong following, touring throughout the U.S. as well as European venues. As a sideman he has appeared with Joe Beck, Scott Colley, Buddy DeFranco, Dave Douglas, Curtis Fuller, Billy Higgins, Lee Konitz, James Moody, Dewey Redman, Charlie Rouse, and Toots Thielemans, among others; as a leader he has released 16 acclaimed recordings. European honors have included the 2000 French Diapason d'Or de l'Année, and the 2004 Grand Prix de l'Academie Charles Cros, and numerous Top 10 of the Year lists in France. Bill’s Birdology recording, 2000’s Duets With Bill (Stewart), was awarded the German Schallplatten Preis. Departing from the acoustic piano, Carrothers played Fender Rhodes on The Electric Bill (Dreyfus, 2002) with Bad Plus partners Reid Anderson and Dave King, a release dubbed by Tom Surowicz (Minneapolis Star Tribune) as one of the best recordings of 2002, “as serious and sensuous and spacey as Miles Davis in his pioneering fusion period.” Noted Jazziz (2002), “Carrothers' playing recalls that of Andrew Hill and Herbie Nichols, pianists both known for their patient improvisations and composerly senses of intrigue.” Carrothers’ 2005 release, I Love Paris (Pirouet), followed a more mainstream direction, focusing on tunes from the 20s-40s. Turning sharply again, in late 2005, Carrothers, with Twin Cities’ cohorts Gordon Johnson and Dave King, released Shine Ball (Fresh Sound/New Talent)—mostly spontaneous improvisations. While on the surface there are incongruities—lyrical piano passages in tandem with oddball percussion gadgetry, quirky “preparations” of the keyboard challenged by pure acoustic basslines―it all melds together to produce a unique yet accessible, often playful result, always challenging the listener to find the common threads, to anticipate the next turn. Noted John Kelman (All About Jazz), “Shine Ball is spontaneous composition of the highest order.” [Click here for a Jazz Police review.]

Never one to take a break if there’s a piano nearby, Bill Carrothers released Keep Your Sunny Side Up (Pirouet) in early 2007, featuring bassist Ben Street and drummer Ari Hoenig. [Click here for a Jazz Police review.] In October 2008, a long-lost trio date with Gary Peacock and Bill Stewart (recorded in 1992) was brought back to life and released as Home Row (Pirouet). Walter Kolosky (jazz.com) noted that this session boasts “top-notch musicians jumping into each other's bags to play intricate and interesting progressive jazz.”

Bill’s interest in American history led to several projects, including his tributes to the Civil War (The Blues and the Greys, Bridge Boy Music, 1997; Armistice 1918, Sketch, 2004; and the live solo CD, Civil War Diaries, Bridge Boy Music, 2005). Armistice was nominated for the 2005 French “Grammy” equivalent, Les Victoires du Jazz. European honors have included the 2000 French Diapason d'Or de l'Année and the 2004 Grand Prix de l'Academie Charles Cros, and his recordings have appeared on numerous Top 10 of the Year lists in France.

Electric and acoustic bassist Nicolas Thys is a native of Brussels who has lived in Amsterdam, New York and again is based in Brussels. Appearing on over 50 recordings, Thys has performed or recorded with Mal Waldron. Zap Mamma, Lee Konitz, Mark Turner and Bill Carrothers.

Drummer Dre Pallemaerts grew up in Antwerp. After meeting American bassist John Clayton, he was introduced to drummer Jeff Hamilton, with whom he then studied in New York. Soon he was working with Ernestine Anderson, James Williams, Art Farmer, Joe Lovano, Judi Niemack, Fred Hersch, Bob Brookmeyer, John Scofield and more. Pallemaerts teaches at the "CNSM" in Paris and at the Lemmens Instituut in Leuven, Belgium, and works as a sound-engineer as well as drummer and composer of electronic music.

Simultaneously traditional and avant, playful and deadly serious, always insidiously brilliant, Bill Carrothers often goes to a familiar space and then deconstructs his surroundings, all while staying within an acoustic environment. These three gigs provide American audiences with a very rare opportunity to see and hear what European jazz fans have long recognized--Carrothers and company are playing some of the most inventive yet accessible music in the 21st century.

The Bill Carrothers Trio tour: