blue note october 2011

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 P R O G R A M

W O R L D ’ S F I N E S T J A Z Z C L U B A N D R E S T A U R A N T131 W. 3RD ST. NEW YORK CITY 212. 475. 8592 WWW.BLUENOTEJAZZ.COM

Jimmy Heath October 25 - 30

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DAVID MURRAY PLAYS

NAT KING COLE

EN ESPAÑOL

NOVEMBER 17 | 8:00 | $30

“One of the most innovative and inventive musicians in jazz.” BBC RADIO 3

LIMITS AND RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY. SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY.

CURATED BY ISABEL SOFFER/LIVE SOUNDS

MENTION CODE AZUL05 WHEN ORDERING AND SAVE $5

GUY DAVISOCTOBER 3

DAVID SANBORN TRIO FT. JOEY DEFRANCESCOOCTOBER 4 – 7

DIANNE REEVESOCTOBER 8 – 9

FRANCISCO MELA’S CUBAN SAFARI QUINTETCD RELEASE FOR TREE OF LIFE OCTOBER 10

AN EVENING WITHPAT METHENY FT. LARRY GRENADIEROCTOBER 11 – 16

JACQUI NAYLOROCTOBER 17

DIZZY GILLESPIE™ ALUMNI ALL-STARSDIZZY’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONOCTOBER 18 – 23

JACQUI NAYLOROCTOBER 24

JIMMY HEATH 85TH BIRTHDAYCELEBRATIONWITH SPECIAL GUEST BILL COSBY (25TH ONLY)

OCTOBER 25 – 30

OCTOBER CALENDAR

TWO SHOWS NIGHTLY:FRI: SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION:

LATE NIGHT GROOVE:SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH

8PM &10:30PM12:30AM12:30 MIDNIGHT12:30PM& 2:30 PM

SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION

DONNY McCASLIN + SPECIAL GUESTSFriday, October 7

TBAFriday, October 21

TBAFriday, October 28

LATE NIGHT GROOVE SERIES

AZIZASaturday, October 8

SAUNDERS SERMONSSaturday, October 22

SUNDAY BRUNCH

ALEX BROWN QUARTETSunday, October 9

NOAH PREMINGERSunday, October 23

MARLENE VERPLANCK& THE DIVA JAZZ TRIOSunday, October 30

GUY DAVIS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3 8PM & 10:30PM $20 @ table / $10 @ bar

Whether Guy Davis is appearing in front of 15,000 people on the main stage of a major music festival or teaching an intimate gather-ing of students at a music camp, he feels the instinctive desire to give each listener his “all.” His “all” is the blues.

Davis is a musician, composer, actor, direc-tor, and writer. But most importantly, Guy Da-vis is a bluesman. The blues permeates every corner of his creativity. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to reviving the tradi-tions of acoustic blues and bringing them to as many ears as possible by performing the material of the great blues masters, African American stories, and his own original songs, stories, and performance pieces.

Throughout his life, Davis has had overlap-ping interests in music and acting, and he has enjoyed having the chance to combine the two on stage. He made his Broadway musical debut in 1991 in the Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes collaboration Mule Bone, which featured the music of Taj Majal. In 1993 he performed Off-Broadway as legendary blues player Robert Johnson in Robert Johnson: Trick the Devil, winning rave reviews. He also recently appeared on Broadway as the harmonica-playing Sunny in the revival of Finian’s Rainbow.

For the past decade, Davis has concentrated much of his efforts on writing, recording, and performing music. In the fall of 1995, he released his Red House Records debut Stomp Down Rider, an album that captured Davis in a stunning live performance. The album land-ed on top lists all over the country, including in the Boston Globe and Pulse magazine. Davis’s next several albums for Red House, including Call Down the Thunder (1996), You Don’t Know My Mind (1998), and Butt Na-ked Free (2000), won similar critical acclaim and solidified his position as one of the most important blues artists of our time. Davis’s fifth album, 2002’s Give in Kind, caught the ear of Ian Anderson, founder and lead singer of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest bands, Jethro Tull.

Davis’s fifth album, 2002’s Give in Kind, caught the ear of Ian Anderson, founder and lead singer of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest bands, Jethro Tull. Anderson invited Davis to open for Tull during the summer of 2003. In his invitation, he wrote: “Folk Blues (Sonny Terry, J.B. Lenoir) is where I started. Hearing Davis is like coming home again.”

Davis’s more recent albums, including Choco-late to the Bone (2003), Skunkmello (2006), and Sweetheart Like You (2009) have also garnered the bluesman numerous awards and accolades. Over the course of his career, he has been nomi-nated for nine W.C. Handy awards, including nominations for Best Acoustic Blues Album, Best Blues Song, and Best Acoustic Blues Artist.

In addition to his work on his own projects, Davis has contributed songs to a host of tribute, compi-lation, and children’s albums. He has conducted residency programs for the Lincoln Center Insti-tute, the Kennedy Center, and the State Theatre in New Jersey, and he works with Young Audiences of NJ doing classroom workshops and assembly programs all across the country and in Canada.

GUY DAVIS

DAVID SANBORN TRIO FT. JOEY DeFRANCESCOOCTOBER 4-7 8PM & 10:30PM $45 @ table / $35 @ bar

Renowned and revered the world over as one of the greatest saxophone players of all time, David Sanborn is an artist whose music has inspired countless other musicians while creating a body of work that spans the genres of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, pop, and jazz. A natu-rally gifted performer, Sanborn has helped defined the saxophone’s modern sound while influencing a generation.

Born in 1945 in Tampa, Florida, Sanborn contracted polio when he was only three years old. As a part of his rehabilitative therapy, he was introduced to the saxophone - an introduction with consequences beyond the imagination of his parents, doctors, or anyone else. “When I was 17 or 18,” Sanborn has said, “and it was time to figure out what to do with my life, I realized that I didn’t enjoy anything as much as I enjoyed playing music. I felt that I had no choice, that I HAD to become a musician. Either that or steal cars.”

Sanborn studied music for a year at North-western University before transferring to the University of Iowa. By 20, he was mar-ried and the proud father of a son named Jonathan, to whom each of Sanborn’s records have been dedicated. A phone call from drummer Teddy Steward, an old friend in San Francisco, convinced Sanborn to head for California. Through a connection with Phillip Wilson, another old friend, Sanborn sat in on a recording session with the Butterfield Blues Band. He ended up playing with the band for almost five years. Those five years with the Butterfield Blues Band saw Sanborn play Woodstock, among many other classic gigs. The demise of that band only brought him new opportuni-ties, and within a week he was touring with another legend – Stevie Wonder. Sanborn played on Wonder’s remarkable Talking Book LP, rocked briefly with rock ‘n’ roll heroes The Rolling Stones, then toured with David

Bowie, eventually performing his famous solo on Bowie’s 1975 recording Young Americans. It was also in 1975 that Sanborn released his first solo album, Taking Off. While Sanborn continued working with other performers such as Paul Simon and James Taylor in the coming years, he also continued flexing his considerable muscles as a solo artist, eventually scoring massive popular hits with Hideaway (1980), Grammy-winning Voyeur (1981), and Backstreet (1983), the last of which proved to be a major hit in the world of con-temporary jazz. He won his second of six career Grammy Awards in 1986 for Double Vision (with Bob James), and in the late 1980s he hosted the classic television program Night Music.

Throughout the ‘90s, ‘00s, and into the present, Sanborn has continued to tour and record, having amassed a wide and enthusiastic fan base around the world. Recent albums like Dreaming Girl (2008), Here & Gone (2008), and Only Every-thing (2010) reflect the essence of an artist at peace with his own sound and development, yet still hungry – eager to explore the possibilities of his instrument and his abilities.

DAVID SANBORN

Dianne Reeves is the preeminent jazz vocalist in the world today. As a result of her virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, she has received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings - a Grammy first in any vocal category.

Reeves appeared in George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck, the Academy Award–nominated film that chronicles Edward R. Murrow’s confron-tation with Senator Joseph McCarthy. The soundtrack recording for the film provided Reeves her fourth Best Jazz Vo-cal Grammy Award in 2006.

Reeves has recorded and performed ex-tensively with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Baren-boim, and she was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philhar-monic. She was also the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first singer

DIANNE REEVES

OCTOBER 8 – 9 8PM & 10:30PM $48 @ table / $35 @ bar

L a t e N i g h t G r o o v e

ever to perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall. Reeves worked with legend-ary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones & Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy-winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of ten standards featuring her touring trio. When her first holiday collection, Christmas Time is Here, was released in 2004, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, “Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assign-ment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CDs I’ve heard.”

In 2007, Reeves was featured in an award-win-ning documentary on the all-too-brief life of Billy Strayhorn. Her first solo album in several years, When You Know, was released in 2008. Since then, she has been touring the world in a variety of contexts, including Sing the Truth, a musical celebration of Nina Simone, which also featured Liz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. Reeves began 2011 performing at the White House State Dinner for the President of China, Hu Jintao. Her next album is set to be released later this year.

DIANNE REEVES

DIANNE REEVES

OCTOBER 8 – 9 8PM & 10:30PM $48 @ table / $35 @ barSPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTIONPRESENTED BY SEARCH & RESTORE

Spontaneous Construction, presented by Search & Restore, is a series based on jazz’s most important and distinctive element: improvisation. Each Fri-day night at 12:30am, ensembles are created from a pool of musicians ranging from the up-and-com-ing to the legendary, all hand-picked to perform as a group for the first time. No rules or boundaries exist - the artists are free to create music on the spot as they see fit. As the Blue Note celebrates its 30th year, this series brings back the feel of the club’s old Late Night Jam Sessions, but with a new and forward-thinking concept.

TONIGHT’S SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION WILL FEATURE: DONNY McCASLIN – An in-demand saxophonist with some of the industry’s finest musicians, including Dave Douglas, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Danilo Perez, Pat Metheny, and many more, McCaslin is a successful bandleader and composer. His latest CD, Perpetual Motion, was released in January on Greenleaf Music.

DONNY McCASLIN + SPECIAL GUESTSFRIDAY, OCTOBER 712:30AM $10 @ table / $10 @ bar

$4 Brooklyn Lager Beer Special

Ten years ago, Linda Williams, best known in music circles for her five-and-a-half years playing and conducting for Natalie Cole, had an epiph-any: it was time for a change - time for a new name, a new direction, and a new life. Aziza - the performer, the composer/lyricist, the complete art-ist - was born. The name comes from The Book of African Names, but the music and the lyrics come straight from the heart. The name Aziza means “beloved and powerful,”

and the songwriting has caused her brand new career to flourish. A hopeless romantic, Aziza, in song after song, reflects on the trials and tribulations of modern romance and dating. Night after night, she is conquering audiences with her brilliant songs and charming personality, while holding fast to the humility learned in her early life.

AZIZASATURDAY, OCTOBER 8 12:30AM $10 @ table / $10 @ bar


DONNY McCASLIN

AZIZA

The incredible talent of pianist Alex Brown was first noticed by audiences worldwide in 2007, when he joined Paquito D’Rivera’s group, sharing in the ensemble’s 2010 Grammy nomination as a part of D’Rivera’s album, Jazz-Clazz. Featured in the January 2010 issue of Keyboard Magazine, Brown’s reputation continues to expand via his notable performances with the industry’s finest, from innovative saxophonist Miguel Zenon to the legendary Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

In addition to touring with D’Rivera, Brown per-forms regularly as the leader of his own ensemble, whose music blends classical, R&B, hip hop, Afro-Caribbean, and Brazilian styles. Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Music from New England Con-servatory, where he studied with Danilo Perez and Charlie Banacos, among others. Looking ahead, his horizon is one devoid of hard and fast barri-ers – musical or otherwise. Clear and inviting, the music of this young pianist gives eloquent voice to a singular talent on the move.

ALEX BROWN QUARTETSUNDAY, OCTOBER 912:30PM & 2:30PM

$24.50 includes Show, Brunch & 1 Drink

BLUE NOTE SUNDAY BRUNCH SERIES

MELA CUBAN AD

HALF NOTE RECORDS NEW RELEASE

FRANCISCO MELA & CUBAN SAFARITREE OF LIFEON HIS SECOND RELEASE FOR HALF NOTE, DRUMMER FRANCISCO MELA CONTINUES TO FUSE THE RHYTHMIC LIFE FORCE OF HIS HOMELAND CUBA, WITH THE HEAT-SEEKING ENERGY OF MODERN JAZZ. HE IS KNOWN AS A MU-SICIAN’S FAVORITE - HE IS A MEMBER OF JOE LOVANO’S BAND, US FIVE - BECAUSE HE BOASTS A PASSION AND SPIRIT RARELY HEARD AMONG YOUNG NSTRUMENTALISTS. MELA’S GROUP IS NAMED CUBAN SAFARI, AND IT FEA-TURES STERLING PLAY FROM PIANIST ELIO VILLAFRANCA, SAXIST URI GURVICH, GUITARIST BEN MONDER AND SPECIAL GUEST ESPERANZA SPALDING. POLYRHYTHMS NOTWITH-STANDING, MELA’S TENDER VOCAL WILL SURPRISE ALL.

AVAILABLE UPSTAIRS IN THE BLUE NOTE GIFT SHOP!

ALEX BROWN

AD

FRANCISCO MELA’S CUBAN SAFARI QUINTETCD RELEASE FOR “CUBAN SAFARI” ON HALF NOTE RECORDS


Tonight, Francisco Mela and his acclaimed group Cuban Safari will celebrate the release of their brand new recording TREE OF LIFE on Half Note Records. Cuban Safari is an amalgamation of Mela’s favorite bands that inspired him to become a drummer – Miles Davis’ fusion group featuring Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, the all-star band Weather Report, and the Latin-jazz super group Irakere. Tree of Life, which features Grammy Award-winning vocalist Esperanza Spald-ing, has already received rave reviews from fans and critics alike: “Tree of Life is a wildly imaginative, expertly played recording; Mela and Cuban Safari illustrate that the future of jazz is indeed now.” – Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Acclaimed Cuban-born drummer Francisco Mela is a favorite among jazz’s elite instrumentalists, including Joe Lovano, John Scofield, JoAnne Brackeen, Kenny Barron, and McCoy Tyner, all of whom cite his charisma, sophistication, and life-affirming spirit as an extension of his incredible talents as a composer and drummer.

Francisco Mela was born in 1968 in Bayamo, Cuba. Inspired by his artistic father and the explosive sounds of Irakere, Mela im-mersed himself in Cuban traditional music and the jazz being played and performed in his hometown. Mela moved to Boston in 2000 to pursue a degree at the acclaimed Berklee College of Music. The faculty quickly recognized that Mela had much to offer students and promptly hired him to teach at the school.

Fellow Berklee faculty member and world-renown saxophonist Joe Lovano heard Mela and was immediately impressed, hiring him soon thereafter to play in his quartet. Since 2005, Mela has been an integral part of Joe Lovano’s quartet and his new group “Us Five,” a two-drummer quintet that features Lovano and Mela with bassist Esperanza Spalding, pianist James Weidman and drummer Otis Brown III.At the end of 2001, Mela began touring around the US, Europe and Canada as a

member of Jane Bunnette and Spirits of Havana, giving workshops and clinics at various universities. At the end of the tour, the group went to the studio to record Cuban Odyssey, which was nominated for a Grammy award.In 2007, Mela’s unique style and sound was no-ticed by piano legend Kenny Barron. Mela joined Barron’s trio in 2007, performing and touring all over the world until late 2009. In 2009, Mela was tapped by jazz legend McCoy Tyner to join his trio.Mela’s first CD, Melao, featuring Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Anat Cohen, and Lionel Loueke, among others, was released in 2006 nd called one of the best albums of the year by All About Jazz. Mela’s second release as a leader, Cirio, was recorded over a week-long period at the Blue Note for Half Note Records in 2008. The record-ing featured an all-star cast of Mark Turner, Jason Moran, Larry Grenadier and Lionel Loueke.

Whether it’s with Cuban Safari, his trio, quintet, or as a sideman in the groups of McCoy Tyner or Joe Lovano, the result is the same – Francisco Mela provides a passionate, thrilling display of exuberance and vivacity from the drum chair that is as pleasing to listen to as it is to watch.

FRANCISCO MELA

AN EVENING WITH: PAT METHENY FT. LARRY GRENADIERMONDAY, OCTOBER 11-16 8PM & 10:30PM

Pat Metheny was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954, into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age.

Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his trademark playing style, which blends the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility - a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues.

With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional jazz guitar sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic poten-tial of his instrument.

Metheny’s versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Milton Nascimento, and David Bowie. He has been part of a writing team with keyboardist Lyle Mays for more than twenty years - an association that has been compared to the Lennon/McCartney and Ellington/Strayhorn partnerships by critics and listeners alike. Metheny’s body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.

In addition to being an accomplished musician, Metheny has also participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received an honorary doctorate more than twenty years later in 1996. He has also taught music work-shops all over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South America. He has also been a true musical pioneer in the realm of electronic music and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. Years before the invention of MIDI technology, Metheny was using the Syncla-vier as a composing tool. He has also been instru-mental in the development of several new kinds of guitars, including the soprano acoustic guitar, the 42-string Pikasso guitar, Ibanez’s PM-100 jazz guitar, and a variety of other custom instruments.

PAT METHENY

It is one thing to attain popularity as a musi-cian, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaim Metheny has garnered from critics and peers. Over the years, he has won count-less polls as He has also won 18 Grammy Awards spread out over a variety of different categories, including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, and Best Instrumental Composition.

The Pat Metheny Group also won an unprec-edented seven consecutive Grammy Awards for seven consecutive albums. Metheny has spent most of his life on tour, averaging be-tween 120 and 240 shows a year since 1974. He continues to be one of the brightest stars of the jazz community, dedicating time to both his own projects and those of emerging artists and established veterans alike, helping them to reach their audience as well as real-izing their own artistic visions.

Born in San Francisco, bassist Larry Grena-dier fell in love with music at a young age. By age 16, he had a blossoming career playing in the San Francisco area with local musicians and those traveling through town in need of a bass player, including stand-outs like Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Toots Thielemans, Anita O’Day, Frank Morgan, and numerous others. He went on to study English Literature at Stanford University, graduating in 1989.

A call from legendary vibraphonist Gary Burton soon prompted Grenadier to move to Boston. He toured all over the world with Burton’s band before moving to New York in 1991. After settling in NYC, Grenadier beganforming musical associations with incredibletalents like Kevin Hays, Bill Stewart, Renee Rosnes, Ralph Moore, Billy Drummond, Danilo Perez, David Sánchez, Tom Harrell, and Billy Hart.

He also continued his associations with prominent musicians he had known from his time in Boston, including Joshua Redman,

Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jorge Rossy, Mark Turner, and Chris Cheek. In the early 1990s, Grenadier first met and played with pianist Brad Mehldau. Mehldau’s trio (including Grenadier and Jorge Rossy) went on to become one of the major groups of the time, embarking on numerous tours and recording multiple albums. Grenadier also played in John Scofield’s band during this period and spent a few years touring with Pat Metheny. He credits his experiences touring with Metheny’s trio as a significant learning experience.

Grenadier has worked with numerous other notable musicians, including Charles Lloyd, Billy Higgins, Michael Brecker, Paul Motion, Chris Potter, Brian Blade, Leon Parker, and Danilo Perez. He continues to perform regularly with Mehldau, is a member of the collaborative trio FLY (with saxophonist Mark Turner and drum-mer Jeff Ballard), collaborates regularly with his wife, singer/songwriter Rebecca Martin, and is actively involved in numerous other projects as one of today’s most in-demand bass players.

LARRY GRENADIER

TUES-THURS, SUN: $65 @ table / $45 @ barFRI-SAT: $70 @ table / $45 @ bar


KENNY WERNERWITH THE BRUSSELS JAZZ ORCHESTRA INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING

NYU STEINHARDT JAZZ/BLUE NOTE PRESENTS:

THE BARNES & NOBLE JAZZ INTERVIEW SERIES

Join us at 4:00pm on Fridays in June for live interviews with legendary jazz artists at Barnes &Noble located at 150 East 86th Street at Lexington Ave in New York City. The series is hosted by DAVE SCHROEDER, NYU Steinhardt Jazz Director. This interview

series is like no other on the planet, where you can listen to the leading exponents ofjazz music on a weekly basis discussing their careers and the state of the art of the

music industry. LIVE and IN PERSON And FREE OF CHARGE!

After contributing six decades of musical direction and genius, Randy Weston remains one of the world’s foremost pianists and composers today, a true in-novator and visionary. Encompassing the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa, his global creations musically continue to inform and inspire. “Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the rich-est most inventive beat,” states jazz critic Stanley Crouch, “but his art is more than projection and time; it’s the result of a studious and inspired intelligence...an intelligence that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique.” Now in his mid-80s, Weston is still performing and recording pro-lifically - his most recent recording is a live date at Dizzy’s Club in New York called The Storyteller released on Motema Records in 2010 featuring his Afri-can Rhythms Sextet.

October 7: Randy Weston

From the moment he made his debut in 1985 with the gold-selling Grammy® nominated album Magic Touch, guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan has proven himself as a forward thinking innovator. With his nimbly executed “touch” or “tap” technique, he ushered a dazzling and spellbinding new sound into the world of progressive instrumental music. Over the course of five major recordings and several smaller independent releases, Stanley has explored earthly and astral musical trailways. Because of the extraordinary originality of his approach to guitar, Stanley has been looked upon first and foremost as a musical original, orbiting in an artistic universe without predecessor or im-mediate successor. With his groundbreaking new album, State Of Nature (his first mainstream release in over a decade, and his debut for the Mack Avenue label), Stanley Jordan makes another bold step by using his music to aurally illustrate profoundly unifying truths about man’s relationship to nature and humankind.

October 21: Stanley Jordan

Join our blog at http://jazzonline.com/category/nyu-jazz-interview-seriesFor more information on NYU Steinhardt Jazz visit: www.steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/jazz

Visit Barnes & Noble on the web at www.bn.com


KENNY WERNERWITH THE BRUSSELS JAZZ ORCHESTRA INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING

Long regarded as one of Europe’s premier big bands - a group that “manifests love,” ac-cording to Grammy-winning arranger Maria Schneider - The Brussels Jazz Orchestra has joined hands with Kenny Werner to create a winning tableau vivant of spirited writing and performance. The Institute of Higher Learning features a sumptuous 3-part suite, “Cantabile,” that reinforces in a singular way Werner’s place among forward-thinking jazzmen. Textural, rhythmic, evincing cascading swirls of color, it was inspired by and dedicated to Bob Brookmeyer. Led by reedman and group founder Frank Vaganee, the BJO offers a perfect canvas for Werner’s painterly approach to composition and ar-ranging.



RANDY BRECKERWITH THE DANISH RADIO BIG BAND

THE JAZZ BALLAD SONG BOOKTrumpeter Randy Brecker, an emeritus statesman whose life in music spans six decades, forges a career record, exploring the contours of jazz’s Great American Songbook in collaboration with the DR Big Band and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. With lushly conceived charts penned by jazz’s premier arrangers, including Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, THE JAZZ BALLAD SONG BOOK is both cinematic and intimate, reflecting perfectly the scope of Breck-er’s contribution to popular music. Evergreens include “Cry Me a River,” “All or Nothing at All,” “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Skylark.”


JACQUI NAYLOR


Jacqui Naylor is not an easy artist to cat-egorize. There are times when she performs straight-ahead vocal jazz, but at other times she favors more of a folk-rock/adult alterna-tive approach. Depending on the mood she is in at a given moment, the northern Cali-fornian can bring to mind anyone from Cas-sandra Wilson or British jazz vocalist Claire Martin to Sarah McLachlan or Shawn Colvin -- she is as comfortable among jazz improvis-ers as she is in the singer/songwriter world.

Naylor, who is very jazz-friendly but far from a rigid jazz purist, brings a long list of influ-ences to her introspective work -- influences ranging from Billie Holiday, June Christy, and Nina Simone to Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant, Carole King, and Sheryl Crow. That is an unlikely combination of influences, cer-tainly, but it is one that works well for Naylor (who has used all of them to fashion a per-sonal, recognizable style of her own). Naylor has a highly diverse repertoire; on-stage, she is likely to perform a Tin Pan Alley standard right after something by the Rolling Stones or Talking Heads (in addition to performing songs of her own). Naylor is not an overly aggressive or forceful type of singer; she favors subtlety, restraint, and understatement, which are things that Holiday and Christy (one of the goddesses of jazz’s cool school) were both masters of.

Born and raised in Saratoga, CA, Naylor attended San Francisco State University after graduating from high school in the ‘80s. Nay-lor entered that college to study marketing, but along the way she became interested in drama and acting -- and after hearing the al-bum Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin in a music appreciation class, Naylor became seriously interested in vocal jazz. However, she continued to study marketing and earned a marketing degree from SFSU in 1991. After graduating, she spent six years as the market-ing director for the well-known clothing designer Lat Naylor. But she studied music on the side, and from 1991-1995, she studied with the San Francisco-based jazz

vocal teacher Faith Winthrop. In 1996, Naylor’s work in clothing design required her to spend a year in New York City, where she studied vocals on the side with Shirley Calloway (mother of cabaret/traditional pop singer Ann Hampton Calloway). Naylor returned to northern California in 1997 -- and at that point, she gave up the clothing business and made music her primary focus. Naylor became a recording artist in the late ‘90s, recording her self-titled debut album in 1998 and releasing it on her own independent label, Ruby Star Re-cords, the following year. She went on to record several more Ruby Star releases in the 2000s, including Live at the Plush Room in 2001, Shelter in 2003, the two-CD set Live East/West: Birdland/Yoshi’s in 2005, The Color Five in 2006, Smashed for the Holidays in 2007 and You Don’t Know Jacq in 2008.

Naylor’s most recent CD, Lucky Girl, was released on September 27, 2011.

JACQUI NAYLOR

DIZZY GILLESPIE™ ALUMNI ALL-STARS - DIZZY’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONFEATURING ROY HARGROVE, CYRUS CHESTNUT, LEWIS NASH, JOHN LEE, YOTAM SILBERSTEIN, JIMMY HEATH, & VOCALIST ROBERTA GAMBARINIOCTOBER 18 – 23 8PM & 10:30PMTues – Thurs, Sun: $35 @ table / $20 table Fri & Sat: $45 @ table /$25 @ bar

History has produced its share of great art-ists and great people—John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was both. As a performer, he left be-hind an incredible record of innovation and inspiration. As a composer, a broad reposi-tory of musical masterpieces, and as a man, a legion of friends, colleagues and compatriots who remember him with the same degree of love and esteem they reserve for his work.

For Dizzy Gillespie, playing in a small combo was never enough. His artistry compelled him to seek and to create larger ensembles because as a composer and ar-ranger, a big band was the ultimate vehicle for self-expression. Given that the majority of his career took place after 1950 when the big band era was over, it’s especially notable that Dizzy Gillespie continued to create brilliant music using the grand-scale formats of jazz big band and orchestra right up to the end of his life in 1993.

The Dizzy Gillespie™ Big Band and Alumni All-Star group (small group) are the direct descendants of these ventures, and happily, the tradition lives on, nurtured by Gillespie alumni and executive director, producer, and bassist John Lee.

The Big Band and the Alumni All-Stars feature some of Dizzy’s closest compatriots, ranging from former colleagues to protégés: Jimmy Heath, Roy Hargrove, Roberta Gambarini, musical director John Lee, and more. All of them are bandleaders, educators, and record-ing artists in their own right.

The small group debuted in 1996 while the Big Band debuted in 1998. Together they continue to delight audiences around the world with the enduring power and freshness of Dizzy Gillespie’s music. This is the legacy the master would have wanted—and a living tribute from the many extraordinary musi-cians in this group who exemplify his style, range, and commitment. Together, the Dizzy Big Band and small group All-Stars have

recorded five critically acclaimed CDs, Dizzy’s 80th Birthday Celebration (Shanachie), Dizzy’s World (Shanachie), and, as a big-band, Things to Come (MCG-Jazz), and Dizzy’s Business (MCG-Jazz). The latter features new arrangements by Slide Hampton, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, drummer Dennis Mackrel, vocalist Roberta Gambarini, and two vintage Ernie Wilkin’s arrangements originally commissioned by Dizzy himself.

The Dizzy Gillespie™ Big Band’s latest CD, titled I’m BeBoppin’ Too, was released on Half Note Records in June 2009. The big band CD features arrangements by Slide Hampton and a vocal appearance by Roy Hargrove on the title track. AllAboutJazz called the recording “a remarkably proficient and invariably engaging outing.”

The Dizzy Gillespie™ All-Stars’ home would have to be New York’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club, which was for many years Dizzy’s favorite jazz club not only in New York City, but in the world. The All-Star Big Band performs there for a week every summer, and this week, the Alumni All-Star small group will celebrate Dizzy’s birthday for the entire week.

DIZZY GILLESPIE™ ALUMNI ALL-STARS

SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTIONPRESENTED BY SEARCH & RESTORE

Spontaneous Construction, presented by Search & Restore, is a series based on jazz’s most important and distinctive element: improvisation. Each Friday night at 12:30am, ensembles are created from a pool of musicians ranging from the up-and-coming to the legendary, all hand-picked to perform as a group for the first time. No rules or boundaries ex-ist - the artists are free to create music on the spot as they see fit. As the Blue Note celebrates its 30th year, this series brings back the feel of the club’s old Late Night Jam Sessions, but with a new and forward-thinking concept.

TONIGHT’S SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION Check www.bluenote.net to see which artists will be performing in tonight’s Spontaneous Construction.

TBAFRIDAY, OCTOBER 2112:30AM $10 @ table / $10 @ bar


Saunders Sermons is an American soul, jazz singer, songwriter, and trombonist. Born and raised in Miami, FL, Sermons began playing the trombone at the age of 11. He honed his jazz skills at The New School in New York City, and since graduating, he has grown to become an established independent artist with an admi-rable music career. As a trombonist, SHe has performed and/or toured with hip-hop and R&B heavyweights such as 50 Cent, Diddy, Snoop Dogg, and Mary J. Blige.

Sermons has also performed with jazz trumpet player Roy Hargrove and R&B jazz saxophonist Mike Phillips. Fusing jazz with pop, R&B, and hip-hop is Sermons’ own unique blend of artistry. “I want to bring elegance back to music and set a new standard for the industry like the greats, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong,” he says. His debut album, Classic Delight, came out in 2009 and features Sermons collaborating with R&B giant Maxwell.

SAUNDERS SERMONSSATURDAY, OCTOBER 22

12:30AM $10 @ table / $10 @ bar


SAUNDERS SERMONS

Noah Preminger, Palmetto Records artist, is one of the fastest-rising tenor saxophonists and com-posers on the jazz scene today and the leader of the Noah Preminger Quartet. Preminger’s latest CD, Before the Rain (Palmetto Records, 2011), has received rave reviews in the New York Times, DownBeat, Jazz Times, and many other influential publications, and it has been getting radio airplay all across the United States. Based in New York City, Preminger is a constant pres-ence in the city’s jazz clubs as both a leader and an in-demand sideman, and his international tours have brought his music to audiences in Europe and Australia. His first CD,

Dry Bridge Road (Nowt Records, 2008), was named the year’s Best Debut in the 2008 Vil-lage Voice Jazz Critics’ Poll. In addition to his work as a bandleader, Preminger’s grow-ing reputation and avid interest in the musi-cal wisdom of elder masters has resulted in appearances and projects with such artists as Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, Dave Holland, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Victor Lewis, John and Bucky Pizzarelli, and many more.

NOAH PREMINGERSUNDAY, OCTOBER 2312:30PM & 2:30PM $24.50 includes Show,

Brunch & 1 Drink NOAH PREMINGER


For their second Half Note issue, the power trio of DONALD HARRISON, RON CARTER and BILLY COBHAM declare themselves spokesmen for a kind of exploratory improvisation and interplay known only to seasoned jazz profes-sionals. Staunch individualists all, they come together with a united voice of alto, bass and drums - at once steeped in jazz’s richly variegated traditions yet forward-thinking in the cause of new creative expression.

HALF NOTE RECORDS NEW RELEASEDONALD HARRISONRON CARTERBILLY COBHAMTHIS IS JAZZ


JACQUI NAYLOR


Jacqui Naylor is not an easy artist to cat-egorize. There are times when she performs straight-ahead vocal jazz, but at other times she favors more of a folk-rock/adult alterna-tive approach. Depending on the mood she is in at a given moment, the northern Califor-nian can bring to mind anyone from Cas-sandra Wilson or British jazz vocalist Claire Martin to Sarah McLachlan or Shawn Colvin -- she is as comfortable among jazz improvis-ers as she is in the singer/songwriter world.

Naylor, who is very jazz-friendly but far from a rigid jazz purist, brings a long list of influ-ences to her introspective work -- influences ranging from Billie Holiday, June Christy, and Nina Simone to Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant, Carole King, and Sheryl Crow. That is an unlikely combination of influences, cer-tainly, but it is one that works well for Naylor (who has used all of them to fashion a per-sonal, recognizable style of her own). Naylor has a highly diverse repertoire; on-stage, she is likely to perform a Tin Pan Alley standard right after something by the Rolling Stones or Talking Heads (in addition to performing songs of her own). Naylor is not an overly ag-gressive or forceful type of singer; she favors subtlety, restraint, and understatement, which are things that Holiday and Christy (one of the goddesses of jazz’s cool school) were both masters of.

Born and raised in Saratoga, CA, Naylor attended San Francisco State University after graduating from high school in the ‘80s. Naylor entered that college to study market-ing, but along the way she became interested in drama and acting -- and after hearing the album Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin in a music appreciation class, Naylor became seriously interested in vocal jazz. However, she continued to study marketing and earned a marketing degree from SFSU in 1991. After graduating, she spent six years as the market-ing director for the well-known clothing designer Lat Naylor. But she studied music on the side, and from 1991-1995, she studied with the San Francisco-based jazz

vocal teacher Faith Winthrop.

In 1996, Naylor’s work in clothing design required her to spend a year in New York City, where she studied vocals on the side with Shirley Calloway (mother of cabaret/traditional pop singer Ann Hampton Callo-way). Naylor returned to northern California in 1997 -- and at that point, she gave up the clothing business and made music her primary focus. Naylor became a recording artist in the late ‘90s, recording her self-titled debut album in 1998 and releasing it on her own independent label, Ruby Star Records, the following year. She went on to record several more Ruby Star releases in the 2000s, including Live at the Plush Room in 2001, Shelter in 2003, the two-CD set Live East/West: Birdland/Yoshi’s in 2005, The Color Five in 2006, Smashed for the Holidays in 2007 and You Don’t Know Jacqui in 2008.

Naylor’s most recent CD, Lucky Girl, was released on September 27, 2011.

JACQUI NAYLOR

JIMMY HEATHINTERVIEW

Jazz Inside NY: Could you share some experiences you’ve had with some of the masters in this music? Jimmy Heath: Louis Armstrong was working on a project for the Columbia Masterworks label. He wanted a chorus, but couldn’t af-ford a full chorus, so he hired Lambert, Hen-dricks and Ross. It was the life story of Louis Armstrong. He was there with his band. His female singer had died in Africa so he hired Carmen McRae. Louis would always ream his horn and clean it himself. After six days of recording we were talking and he said that when he saw me in Toledo, I reminded him of himself as a kid in New Orleans—because I had told him that as a kid I used to sing on the street. Anyway, we were doing a piece called “The Real Ambassadors.” Joe Morello, Brubeck’s drummer, set the tempo and it was as fast as could be [Jimmy sings cymbal beat, swing groove and then starts singing the lyr-ics to “The Real Ambassador”]. We sang the words—and we were enunciating them. So after we were through, Louis comes over and says, “Man you’re something, like you got a mouthful of hot rice.” [Jimmy laughs heart-ily] Every body just fell down laughing. It was so funny. Then Louis sang the same lyric real slow. What a beautiful cat. JI: What have you discovered about human nature in your extensive travels and experiences? JH: I think that man is, by and large, doing the best he can. He’s trying. He’s trying to stum-ble toward civilization and intelligence. He’s awfully dumb and made an awful lot of mis-takes. But by and large he is stumbling along. Courtesy of Eric Nemeyer and Jazz Inside NY. Used with permission.

JIMMY HEATH BIG BAND – 85th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONWITH SPECIAL GUEST BILL COSBY (OCT 25 ONLY)OCTOBER 25 – 30 8PM & 10:30PM $35 @ table / $20 @ bar

“All I can say is, if you know Jimmy Heath, you know Bop.” — Dizzy Gillespie

“Trane was always high on Jimmy’s playing and so was I. Plus, he was a very hip dude to be with, funny and clean and very intelli-gent. Jimmy is one of the thoroughbreds.” — Miles Davis

“Besides being a wonderful saxophonist, (Jimmy) understood a lot about musical construction…Our musical appetites were the same.”— John Coltrane, Downbeat, 1960

Jimmy Heath has long been recognized as a brilliant instrumentalist and a magnificent composer and arranger. Jimmy is the middle brother of the legendary Heath Brothers (Percy Heath/bass and Tootie Heath/drums), and is the father of Mtume. He has performed with nearly all the jazz greats of the last 50 years, from Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gil-lespie, and Miles Davis to Wynton Marsalis. In 1948 at the age of 21, he performed in the First International Jazz Festival in Paris with McGhee, sharing the stage with Cole-man Hawkins, Slam Stewart, and Erroll Garner. One of Heath’s earliest big bands (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, Ray Bryant, and Nel-son Boyd. Charlie Parker and Max Roach sat in on one occasion.

During his career, Jimmy Heath has per-formed on more than 100 record albums including seven with The Heath Brothers and twelve as a leader. Jimmy has also written more than 125 compositions, many of which have become jazz standards and have been recorded by other artists including Art Farmer, Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, James Moody, Milt Jackson, Ah-mad Jamal, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie J.J Johnson and Dexter Gordon. Jimmy has also composed extended works - seven suites and two string quartets - and he premiered his

first symphonic work, “Three Ears,” in 1988 at Queens College (CUNY) with Maurice Peress conducting.

After having just concluded eleven years as Professor of Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, Heath maintains an extensive performance schedule and continues to conduct workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Europe, and Canada. He has also taught jazz studies at Jazzmobile, Housatonic College, City College of New York, and The New School for Social Research. In October 1997, two of his former students, trumpeters Darren Barrett and Diego Urcola, placed first and second in the Thelonious Monk Competition.

For over 60 years, the legendary Heath Brothers have been synonymous with great jazz. Endurance on the JLP label is their first CD since the passing of their beloved brother, legendary bassist Percy Heath. This is masterful music from the brothers’ current working quartet that includes two rising young jazz stars: pianist Jeb Patton and bassist David Wong.

JIMMY HEATH


JIMMY HEATH

SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTIONPRESENTED BY SEARCH & RESTORE

Spontaneous Construction, presented by Search & Restore, is a series based on jazz’s most important and distinctive element: improvisation. Each Friday night at 12:30am, ensembles are created from a pool of musicians ranging from the up-and-coming to the legendary, all hand-picked to perform as a group for the first time. No rules or boundaries ex-ist - the artists are free to create music on the spot as they see fit. As the Blue Note celebrates its 30th year, this series brings back the feel of the club’s old Late Night Jam Sessions, but with a new and forward-thinking concept.

TONIGHT’S SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION Check www.bluenote.net to see which artists will be performing in tonight’s Spontaneous Construction.

TBA

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2812:30AM $10 @ table / $10 @ bar


Boston-based Jesse Dee is an immensely talented vocalist and songwriter with songs that are both humble tributes and smart updates to the past. Whether crooning a heartsick ballad or letting his backbone slip, Dee delves into “old soul” while reimagining it for the 21st century. Dee’s influences read like a who’s who of classic soul music - Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Al Green, and many others. Dee isn’t just a student of the classics, however. He also loves the new wave of rootsy art-ists, including James Hunter, Amos Lee, and John Legend. “

Soul music has always hit me harder than any other kind of music,” he says. Dee has been perpetually touring both near and far after re-leasing his critically acclaimed first album, Bittersweet Batch (7Not/Munich) in 2008. Along the way he has built up an impressive resume for a young soul singer. In addition to appearances at top international festivals, he has performed with artists such as Etta James, Al Green, Solomon Burke, Spencer Wiggins, Maceo Parker, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, James Hunter, and Los Lobos, among others.

JESSE DEE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22

12:30AM $10 @ table / $10 @ bar


JESSE DEE

Marlene VerPlanck began her career with the last of the big bands. She went on to become one of the busiest studio singers in New York and has sung backup for most every recording artist, from Sinatra to Kiss. Her voice has been heard on thousands of commercials – Campbell’s Soups, Michelob Beer, and Winston Cigarettes, to name a few. Presently, VerPlanck travels the world, sing-ing the very best of American popular standards, and she is often praised by the critics for her song choices and renditions.

She always spends the month of March on tour in the UK, which includes a performance at the famed club Ronnie Scott’s. Her performance at The Blue Note this afternoon will include songs from her 21st and latest CD, One Dream At A Time, and will feature the Diva Jazz Trio, com-prised of Sherrie Maricle on drums, Tomoko Ohno on piano, and Boots Maleso on bass.

MARLENE VERPLANCK WITH THE DIVA JAZZ TRIO

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3012:30PM & 2:30PM

$24.50 includes Show,

Brunch & 1 Drink

Striking, bold, organic, and beautiful. Those words describe Maya Azucena’s voice, her music, and her message. On CRY LOVE her impressive talent unfolds over eleven tracks. An anthem for justice, the title track constitutes the album’s core concept. Her desire to inspire and empower listeners saturates the edgy groove of “Warriors” and the sanguine sway of “Near”. “The Half” is a harrowing take propelled by rock icon Vernon Reid. She invited reg-gae legend and Billboard #1 artist iNi Kamoze aboard on “My Back’s Not Up Against The Wall” while the glistening, acoustic qualities of “Belong To The Sun” furnish another standout cut. The songs are all unified by a remarkable depth and stunning musicality.




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blue note october 2011

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