Monday, December 21, 2009
Brad Linde Ensemble nominated for Wammie Awards
Brad Linde Ensemble nominated for a Wammie in two categories: Jazz Group and Jazz Album(for "Feeling That Way Now" Bleebop Records #0901). You can vote here: http://www.crosstownarts.com/wama/wammie
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Birdland at 60, Barry at 80, and Lee at the Iridium.
The past two weeks have found me in NYC for various jazz celebrations and performances. I was able to catch several sets of my friend and mentor, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. The first of those sets included a week run at Birdland with Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, and Paul Motian, celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the club and recording a live album for ECM(one evening included audience members Pat Metheny, Jeff Bridges, and Maggie Gyllenhaal). Following that was Barry Harris's 80th Birthday Party at Shutters with a performance by Charles Davis, Richard Wyands, Paul West, and Leroy Williams and then it was back to New York to see the rarest of treats: Lee Konitz and Mark Turner with Ethan Iverson, Ben Street and Albert "Tootie" Heath at the Iridium. The interplay between Turner and Konitz, improvising simultaneuously on complex lines including "Background Music", "317 East 32nd Street", "Palo Alto", "SubconsciousLee", and infusing standards with fresh and organic improvisations was as close to the heyday of Konitz/Marsh as I would come, but also new and inspiring to both the musicians and the audience.
During this latest sojourn to absorb the influence of my heroes, a Bob Brookmeyer interview with Eric Nemeyer published in the December 2009 issue of Jazz Inside NY, caught my attention. You can download the issue at link above or pick up a copy at most clubs in NYC. Here is an excerpt:
BB: "...the other option is that nobody is necessarily going to pay you to do what you want to do. There was something I wanted to do called The Electric Theatre Orchestra. The band was going to be great but I couldn't get funding for it. I realized that if I wanted to do it, I would have to work for half a year, save the money, and I pay the money to support my dream - because it is nobody else's dream right now. So if you're going to be what they call a pure artist, you do whatever you have to do to support it however you have to support it."
During this latest sojourn to absorb the influence of my heroes, a Bob Brookmeyer interview with Eric Nemeyer published in the December 2009 issue of Jazz Inside NY, caught my attention. You can download the issue at link above or pick up a copy at most clubs in NYC. Here is an excerpt:
BB: "...the other option is that nobody is necessarily going to pay you to do what you want to do. There was something I wanted to do called The Electric Theatre Orchestra. The band was going to be great but I couldn't get funding for it. I realized that if I wanted to do it, I would have to work for half a year, save the money, and I pay the money to support my dream - because it is nobody else's dream right now. So if you're going to be what they call a pure artist, you do whatever you have to do to support it however you have to support it."
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