Stories » Trombone Shorty Academy students, master class with John Scofield / OffBeat Magazine - guest blog

Stories for December 19, 2018

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    Charlie Haden and Brad Mehldau. At long last / artsjournal
     
    Posted At : December 19, 2018 12:00 AM

    Charlie Haden (1937-2014) combined the solid tonal qualities of his bass playing with an audacious sense of harmonic adventure. Those qualities were ideal for the departures of Ornette Coleman's quintet in the late 1950s. After his time with Coleman, Haden continued to employ the contrasting aspects of his musicianship throughout his life up to, including and beyond his remarkable Quartet West recordings. After hearing, by chance, the 23-year-old pianist Brad Mehldau in 1993, Haden arranged for a 1996 engagement at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles with Mehldau and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. The next year, the three recorded together for the Blue Note label. Finally, in 2007 at the Enjoy Jazz Festival in Mannheim, Germany, Haden and Mehldau played for the first time as a duo. After years of delays, Long Ago And Far Away comes from the recording of that concert and finds the two beautifully interacting and supporting one another. READ THE FULL Rifftides REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

  • Anyone who knows and appreciates Rachmaninoff must be over the moon with this new BRCSO - Jansons recording / KLASSIK.COM
     
    Posted At : December 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    These three are the opera "Francesca da Rimini" op. 25, the symphonic poem "The Bells" op. 35 and Rachmaninov's last composition, the "Symphonic Dances" op. 45. What makes all of three pieces special, and therefore outstanding, is the fact that Rachmaninov succeeds in reinventing his own style in each case - and this in relation to the "Symphonic Dances" even in the face of his own demise. The composer was also of the opinion that he had created something special with "The Bells" and the "Symphonic Dances"; he himself described them as his best works.  "The Bells" and the "Symphonic Dances" are lovingly performed by the Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons and supported by the soloists Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Oleg Dolgov and Alexey Markov. Jansons once again proves his great class. It is precisely the long shadow cast by the 'Symhonic Dances' that he is able to turn into something both intoxicating and colourful. This interpretation leaves many others far behind, because it does not cause a great stir about itself.  "The Bells" and the "Symphonic Dances" are connected by two aspects: the spiritual and the emotional. This also explains the quotation in the title of this review. As already mentioned, this three-movement work is the composer's last. On October 29, 1940, according to the beautiful booklet text by Larissa Kowal-Wolk, Rachmaniow noted 'I thank you, God' under the last page. In this atmosphere, Jansons performs true miracles, which is especially noticeable in the second movement. Rarely has the mixture of diabolical and sentiment been so clearly and clearly worked out as in this interpretation. The outstanding soloists of the orchestra also have a great merit in this.  It is difficult here to assess the repertoire value, because hope, desire and reality are far apart. The highest score would be justified, but it is precisely "The Bells" that can probably never prevail against other far better known works by the composer. The "Symphonic Dances" in this release simply belong on every CD shelf, especially since this is a live recording, whatever that may mean in our times of digital adaptation. The sound quality is excellent in any case.  Anyone who knows and appreciates Rachmaninoff must be over the moon with this new recording of Mariss Jansons where two of the composer's three masterpieces can be heard. There is only one thing left to do: Get it!
    Simon Haasis  SEE THE KLASSIK.COM PAGE

  • Seong-Jin Cho discusses new Mozart recording with New York's WKCR
     
    Posted At : December 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    Seong-Jin Cho recently released his first Mozart recording, Piano Concerto No. 20 & Sonatas, on Deutsche Grammophon, boasting a dynamic interpretation of one of the composer's most powerful and dramatic piano concertos. The Korean pianist was fortunate that his earliest memories of Mozart were fixed by his parents' recordings of two of the composer's greatest operas: The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute. They opened the young musician's heart to the limitless compassion of Mozart's music, which continues to resonate with Cho. "When I play, I try to play with my heart, sincerely," he observes. "I try to convey my feelings and emotion – I've always tried to tell a story to the audience." Mozart, he adds, is the ideal story-telling composer. "His music is always closely related to singing and opera; very often the melodic line has to be rather like bel canto." Cho sat down with WKCR: New York's Simon Cohen to discuss the album. Listen to the attached interview.

  • Igor Levit's 'Life' is one of the most outstanding piano recitals ever / MusicWeb International - Recording Of the Month
     
    Posted At : December 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    This album is a tribute to Igor Levit's close friend, Hannes Malte Mahler, who died in a bike accident in 2016. The recital is a meditation on life and death and the protean nature of art. Many of the works are transcriptions. The towering shadows of Busoni and Liszt loom large. The secular and the sacred meld together in an uneasy cocktail, and the recital offers no easy answers to questions about grief and loss. This is one of the most outstanding piano recitals I have ever heard. Levit has a probing and highly original musical mind which he combines with the most breathtaking virtuosity. Amazing stuff! READ THE FULL MusicWeb International REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

  • Rachel Barton Pine chats with Spokane Public Radio
     
    Posted At : December 18, 2018 12:00 AM

    Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, Cedille Records' best-selling artist and longtime advocate for music by Black composers, performs a program of blues-influenced classical works for solo violin and violin and piano by Black composers of the 20th and 21st centuries on Blues Dialogues: Music by Black Composers, her newest Cedille Records album. Pianist Matthew Hagle, Pine's longtime recital partner, joins her on their third album together on Cedille and Pine's 21st for the Chicago-based label. 'Blues Dialogues' features several world-premiere recordings: Noel Da Costa's A Set of Dance Tunes for Solo Violin, Dolores White's expanded, four-movement version of her Blues Dialogues for solo violin, and Billy Childs's Incident on Larpenteur Avenue, a single-movement violin sonata exploring the events and impact of the 2016 killing of Philando Castile by a Minnesota police officer. RBP sat down with James tevenan from Spokane Public Radio to discuss the recording. Listen to the attached interview.

  • John Coltrane & Sons of Kemet make TREBLE - Best of 2018
     
    Posted At : December 17, 2018 12:00 AM

    TREBLE already shared their consensus lists of the Best Albums of 2018 and the Best Songs of 2018. Now here's each writer's individual top 10, along with some commentary where provided. On March 6, 1963, John Coltrane and his Classic Quartet - McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones - recorded an entire studio album at the legendary Van Gelder Studios. This music, which features unheard originals, will finally be released 55 years later. Titled Both Directions at Once - The Lost Album, this is, in short, the holy grail of jazz. Sons of Kemet third album - Your Queen Is A Reptile on impulse! / Verve features saxophonist, band leader and composer Shabaka Hutchings. The iconoclastic mix of tenor sax, tuba and double drums brings a genre defying approach that celebrates the restless exploration of identity within the Caribbean diaspora within the U.K. Your Queen is a Reptile was recorded in London with a host of guests spanning the breadth of the U.K. scene including jungle legend Congo Natty and poet Joshua Idehen. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

  • Charlie Haden, Brad Mehldau 'Long Ago and Far Away' makes stereophile - Best Jazz Albums of 2018
     
    Posted At : December 17, 2018 12:00 AM

    "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast," and there's plenty of breast-beating savagery out there, so I've continued to listen, and here is my dispatch on the Best Jazz Albums (10 new and two historical discoveries) of 2018. A more discursive version of this list, with descriptions and an audio track from each album, appears here in Slate (my editors indulge me now and then). Exclusively for this blog's readers, I append, below, some notes on the entries' sound quality. New Albums 1. Keith Jarrett, La Fenice (ECM, 2 CDs). 2. Cecile McLorin Salvant, The Window (Mack Avenue, CD or LP). 3. Fred Hersch Trio, Live in Europe (Palmetto). 4. Ben Allison, Quiet Revolution (Sonic Camera). 5. Dave Douglas Quintet, Brazen Heart: Live at Jazz Standard-Saturday (Greenleaf, 2CDs). 6. Frank Kimbrough, Monk's Dreams (Sunnyside, 6CDs). 7. Charlie Haden & Brad Mehldau, Long Ago and Far Away (Impulse). 8. Steve Coleman & Five Elements, Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol.1 (The Embedded Sets) (Pi, 2CDs). 9. Dave Douglas & Joe Lovano, Scandal (Greenleaf). 10. Charles Lloyd & the Marvels + Lucinda Williams, Vanished Gardens (Blue Note, CD or LP). Historical Albums 1. Miles Davis & John Coltrane, The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol.6 (Columbia Legacy, 4CDs). 2. Erroll Garner, Nightconcert (Mack Avenue).
      READ THE FULL stereophile ARTICLE

Top 10 for Dec

  • Yuja Wang :

    The Berlin Recital

     Internationally-acclaimed pianist, Yuja Wang will release her new album of solo works, The Berlin Recital, on November 23 on Deutsche Grammophonon - a survey of landmark works by the late-romantic era and 20th century composers: Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Ligeti and Prokofiev.
  • Various :

    A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper

     Impulse! has brought together some of the great progressive jazz musicians of our time to pay tribute to The Beatles'Sgt.
  • John Coltrane :

    1963: New Directions

     A selection of Coltrane's 1963 Impulse! recordings, derived from the original albums Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, Dear Old Stockholm, Newport ‘63 and Live at Birdland In the brief, bright arc that is the career of John Coltrane, 1963 marks a point of transition between past jazz masterpieces and future work, which would transcend the boundaries of the music itself.
  • Robert Ziegler - Czech Philharmonic :

    Christmas at the Movies

     ‘Christmas at the Movies' is a dazzling new album of movie music that beautifully captures the Winter holiday spirit.
  • Gustavo Dudamel :

    Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker w/LA. Philharmonic

     The Christmas ballet by Tchaikovsky that needs no introduction is brought to life in its entirety by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
  • London Music Works :

    The Nativity

     SILVA SCREEN RECORDS PRESENTS THE NATIVITY (CINEMATIC CHRISTMAS CAROLS) Performed by London Music Works.
  • Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra :

    The Capitol Studios Sessions

     Decca Records is thrilled to reveal details of the forthcoming album from Hollywood icon Jeff Goldblum and his long-time band The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, entitled The Capitol Studios Sessions.
  • Cally Banham :

    Cor Christmas

     Announcing the release of Cor Christmas, an instrumental collection of sacred and secular carols featuring the soulful sound of the English horn, performed by Saint Louis Symphony Solo English horn player Cally Banham.
  • The Piano Guys :

    Limitless

     Utah sensation The Piano Guys release an all-new album Limitless (Portrait/Sony Music Masterworks) on November 9.
  • 2CELLOS :

    Let There Be Cello

     The Croatian duo of Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, better known as 2CELLOS, today release their much-anticipated new album, Let There Be Cello, via Sony Music Masterworks – available everywhere now.

Trombone Shorty Academy students, master class with John Scofield / OffBeat Magazine - guest blog

Posted: April 7, 2018 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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We made it! Day 1 in New York City is a wrap! After an early (4 a.m.) meet up at MSY, our group of 17 boarded the first flight to Newark, and arrived in downtown Manhattan in time for lunch at the Italian market, Eataly, just down the street from where we are staying by Freedom Tower. Then we all hit the subway, taking the A Train to Greenwich Village and into the iconic Blue Note jazz club.

Our host, Alex Kurland, who books the Blue Note and also co-manages the Soul Rebels, put together an amazing afternoon of musical education and entertainment for us. Once he gave our group a history of the neighborhood and the club and explained his role as the Blue Note's talent buyer, legendary jazz/funk guitarist John Scofield took the stage and captivated us with a Master Class that included his discussing his deep respect for New Orleans, playing with Miles Davis and then calling our students to the stage for a funky jam session.

After the Master Class, we hit John's Pizza, and then back to the Blue Note for Scofield's early set. As we walked through Washington Square Park, the Shorty students took out their horns and drums and began to play.  Check out footage of their performance in the park here! We capped the night with an incendiary performance by Scofield and his stellar ensemble (Gerald Clayton on keys, Bill Stewart on drums and Vicente Archer on the bass).   photo: Dino Perrucci

 

READ THE FULL OffBeat Magazine ARTICLE

Crossover Media Projects with John Scofield

  • John Scofield

    Combo 66

    Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist, band leader and composer, John Scofield is set to release his new album, Combo 66, marking his 66th birthday, on September 28 via Verve Records. The album, which features long-time drummer Bill Stewart, bassist Vincente Archer and pianist/organist Gerald Clayton, combines jazz with genre-defying elements, allowing Scofield to find new modes of expression.

  • John Scofield

    Country For Old Men

    Coming off a Grammy win earlier this year for his last album, Past Present, John Scofield has been largely in the spotlight over the last year, sitting in the with The Roots on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, gracing the cover of Downbeat and garnering the attention of NPR.   His impressive 40-plus-year career has seen Scofield masterfully tackle multiple genres as well as several eclectic collaborations with everyone from Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, to Government Mule and Medeski, Martin & Wood, not to mention his own groups.

    6 NEW  221 TOTAL
    SYND:     Voice of America, Jazz After Hours, Jazz Happening Now, WFMTNet, Radio DeLuxe, Modern Jazz Today
    Direct: SiriusXM
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Denver, Miami, Portland, Cleveland, Houston, Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, St. Louis, New Orleans, Austin, Minneapolis, San Diego, Austin, Berkeley CA, Kansas City, Albuquerque, Madison WI, Tampa, Santa Fe, Knoxville, San Antonio, Wichita, Omaha, Chattanooga, Bridgeport CT, Bozeman, Honolulu, Toronto, Vancouver
    INTER: Canada, UK, Italy
    Online: Jambands.com, GreenArrow, MOJA, Soulandjazz.com, JazzTimes, billboard, JazzTrail, JazzWeekly, Jazz From Gallery 41, Radio Valencia, Radio CUH, Paste, The Eclectic Chair

    55 JazzWeek ADD's

  • John Scofield

    Past Present

    John Scofield updates his early-'90s quartet with drummer Bill Stewart and saxophonist Joe Lovano by recruiting bassist Larry Grenadier for his fetching, appropriately titled impulse! debut, Past Present. Between 1990 and 1992, the celebrated guitarist released three well-received discs – Meant to Be, Time on My Hands and What We Do – for the Blue Note label as the John Scofield Quartet. On those records, either Marc Johnson or Dennis Irwin played bass. Nevertheless, Grenadier also has history playing with Scofielld; he toured with Scofield in support of the 1996 disc, Quiet.

    The nine exciting tunes Scofield penned on Past Present also reflects his philosophy on playing jazz music. He stresses the importance of being knowledgeable of the music's deep, complex roots while simultaneously being spontaneous and in the moment while performing it. For an artist with such a multifaceted discography as Scofield's, getting to the root of jazz means channeling the blues, as demonstrated on the disc's closing, titled-track. 

    11 NEW  257 Total
    SYND: NPR/Songs We Love, PRI/Jazz After Hours, Voice Of America
    Direct: SiriusXM/Real Jazz, MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit, Baltimore, Denver, Portland, St. Louis, San Diego, Detroit, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Orlando, Berkeley CA, Tampa, Honolulu, Montreal, Vancouver
    Online: MOJA, Something Else, Taintradio, Jazz From Gallery 41, Party 934, KUHS, Green Arrow, Jazz Weekly, Jambase, PopMatters, Kaleidophonic Jazz, relix, Dirty Dog, animajazz
    INTER: Canada, Australia, Ireland, Italy

    65 Jazzweek ADD's

  • John Scofield

    uberjam deux

    Guitarist John Scofield is comfortable in any setting – whether it be jazz, blues or rock – as he demonstrates on his latest recording, Überjam Deux, on Decca/Emarcy. Überjam Deux has been a decade in the works, following 2002's Grammy-nominated Überjam; not that Scofield has been inactive in the interim, far from it.  There have been seven John Scofield albums in the intervening years, as well as five others on which he is a co-leader on the project. His last Decca/Emarcy release was A Moment's Peace (2011), a luxurious album of ballads – the polar opposite of Überjam Deux.  His uncanny ability to drift between various styles of music with fluency, virtuosity and sincerity is rare. 

    9 New 'ON' this week: 
    SYND:     CBC, Global Village, NPR: Living On Earth(transitions)
    Markets include: Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Wichita
    Online: Taintradio, David Bruce