Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.
We’re off this week, but head on over to our archives for last week’s show with bassist Dave Holland and nearly 7 years of archived shows. And let’s get to our music listings.
Bassist Mimi Jones leads a jam session in the late set at Smoke on December 5th and continuing on Monday nights. She’s also leading an ensemble at Spanish Manor in Newark NJ on the 6th as part of the Blues People Festival.
Pianist and keyboardist Marc Cary is at Nublu in the East Village on the 5th as part of the Nublu Jazz Fest.
Saxophonist Gary Bartz is at The Blue Note on December 5-6 with pianist McCoy Tyner.
Finally, looking much further ahead, the Winter Jazz Fest has released a teaser and preliminary lineup for the 2017 shinding from January 5-10! We’ll have a lot more to say about it, but for now, we’ll point you to their promo video with the highlights.
That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is scheduled to be back on WBAI‘s airwaves on December 11. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.
We’re off this week, but if you missed last week’s show with drummer and percussionist Milford Graves, head on over to our audio archives and check it out. Meanwhile, the music rolls on as the fall begins to settle in.
Vision Fest promoters Arts for Art present a short series on Race and Resistance at El Taller Latinoamericano from October 10-12. Highlights include a talk on October 11th moderated by Suga in My Bowl host Joyce Jones and featuring poet Jesus Papoleto Melendez and dancer Patricia Nicholson Parker on the topic of Race and Resistance. Melendez also reads his poetry later that night. Bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake appear in a trio on the 12th. See the full schedule and details at their website.
Saxophonist Marshall Allen makes a rare non-Arkestra appearance at The Stone on October 12 with the UB313 ensemble.
Low brass specialist on tuba Joe Daley is at Terra Blues with Hazmat Modine on October 15th.
Saxophonist Oliver Lake is at Roulette in Brooklyn for the Passin’ Thru Festival on October 16-17. He leads a big band on the 16th and is joined by fellow TRIO3 collaborators bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille on the 17th.
BRIC Arts Media’s second annual Jazz Festival runs through October 15 at the BRIC Media House in downtown Brooklyn. There are free concerts on the 11-12 followed by three marathon nights of jazz from the 13-15 with saxophonist David Murray’s Infinity Quartet, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and the Soulsquad, guitarist Julian Lage’s trio, pianist and keyboardist Marc Cary, and guitarist Marc Ribot’s trio with bassist Henry Grimes among many other acts. The full schedule is up on the BRIC Arts media website and see our own preview for more details.
Finally, the Jazz Loft According to W Eugene Smith documentary film is running at the Metrograph Theater. See our review from a screening last year.
That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves on October 16. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Words by Hank Williams | Photos by Joyce Jones. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Main Photo: (L-R) James Stuart and Dave Davis of the Sun Ra Arkestra
For the second year in a row, the Sun Ra Arkestra led by Marshall Allen had a closing night spot at the Vision Festival. This year they celebrated the group’s 60th anniversary in grand style at the historic Judson Memorial Church on June 8th. The Arkestra is a blur of color, sound, and motion both on stage and off: they typically end their shows with members weaving their way through the audience, which you can see here. You really need to see the Arkestra in action as well as hear them. Joyce Jones’s photos give a sense of what the scene looks like during the shows. If you missed it, check out the rest of our daily coverage from Vision21.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Joyce Jonesis the executive producer and host of Suga’ in My Bowl. She is a graphic designer and her photos have been published in Black Renaissance Noir.
Words by Hank Williams | Photos by Joyce Jones. Creative Commons CC-NC-BY-ND. Main Photo: The Sun Ra Arkestra
On Wednesday night, poet Quincy Troupe took to the stage without introduction and launched into his work, reading from two unpublished collections of his work. Troupe, invited by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis to co-write the musician’s autobiography, has deep connections with jazz, infusing his work with references to musicians and even reading with musical cadences. Troupe knows improvisation, collaboration–and even the need to listen and work as part of an ensemble–as he’s collaborated with musicians before, having worked with trombonist and AACM member George Lewis and including guitarist Kelvyn Bell and saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett on his 2011 SOUNDART release. His set-closing poem “Blue Mandela”, dedicated to Harlem-based artist Xenobia Bailey’s installation in the NYC subway’s new 34th St.-Hudson Yards station, brought Troupe a standing ovation as he exited the stage.
Pianist Connie Crothers’s set was (as promised) an exercise in free improvisation building on her angular, shimmering piano styling nicely complemented by Warren Smith’s solid drumming and Michael Bisio’s standout performance on bass.
The Sun Ra Arkestra returned to Vision as the closing set for the night–fortunately, at an earlier scheduled time than last year, when they took the stage well past midnight.
No strangers to finely honed (and theatrical) performance, the Arkestra entered the hall single file, chanting “this is the planet dream of the Earth Galaxy” as they filed through the standing room only crowd to take the stage. It could also be seen as a continuation of earlier in the day, when the Arkestra was one of the highlights of what’s becoming a Vision tradition of having a parade starting in the adjacent Washington Square Park cross the street to Judson. Marshall Allen, the Arkestra’s 92-year-old leader and conductor, finished off the first song with a positively celestial sounding flourish on the Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI), which Allen uses to supplement his saxophone and has become an acknowledged master at. The sound meshed perfectly with Judson’s acoustics, which are challenging to large ensembles such as the Arkestra. Indeed, the sound was a challenge throughout the set, as musicians signaled for more volume for their instruments. Part of the challenge is the difficult acoustics of Judson itself, a large open church with hard surfaces and high ceilings. Allen seems to have mastered the tricky acoustics, though.
The Arkestra’s “Discipline 27-II” kicked off with the sampled voice of none other than Ra himself sending a missive to the “People of Planet Earth”.
The Arkestra then launched into “Angels and Demons At Play”, with vocalist Middleton’s rich, deep vocals meshing with the synthesizer. Saxophonist Knoel Scott was inspired enough to put down his instrument and step to the front of the stage to show off his dance moves. Multiple roles and talents are simply par for the course for Arkestra members. As vocalist Tara Middleton explained to us after the set, there is no set list with the Arkestra, following how things worked under Ra himself. The band just responds to the vibrations present at the time and chooses songs accordingly.
The next piece matched Middleton’s scatting vocals to Allen’s upper register sax squeals in the bass and electric guitar – heavy tune that had the Arkestra swinging hard.
A bluesy acoustic bass solo kicked off “Blues in the Night”, eventually giving way to flute and electric guitar solo by Dave Hotep that allowed Middleton to show off her Blues chops.
The Arkestra classic “Love in Outer Space” followed and “When You Wish Upon a Star” was given the Arkestra’s unique, slightly atonal treatment and gave Allen the space to kick off the latter with a solo.
The final set-closing medley of “We Travel the Spaceways” and “Space is the Place” with the Arkestra leading a second line through the audience came all too soon.
Despite the issues with sound and acoustics, the Arkestra put in a strong performance, with Allen still playing with a force, intensity, and enthusiasm that defies his age. I’ve written that a few times about the Arkestra before, but it remains true and it’s something I hope to continue reporting for quite a while. However, with the addition of Middleton and other members who’ve been with the Arkestra a long time, Ra’s prodigious back catalog, fresh tunes composed by Allen added to the performance rotation, and the release of the Babylon CD/DVD set, the Arkestra looks set to be continuing traveling the spaceways for quite a while to come.
We’ll be reporting from Vision throughout the festival and I’ll have a wrap-up when it’s all done. If you haven’t caught it already, you can hear our Vision Fest preview show with Marc Ribot, Geri Allen, Lisa Sokolov, and Andrew Cyrille discussing Grimes’s influence and festival organizer Patricia Nicholson Parker talking festival logistics, which she’ll discuss on our colleague Basir Mchawi’s Education at the Crossroads show on Thursday at 7 PM EST. And, remember our next Suga’ in My Bowl show with Andrew Cyrille this Sunday at 11 PM EST on WBAI.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Joyce Jonesis the executive producer and host of Suga’ in My Bowl. She is a graphic designer and her photos have been published in Black Renaissance Noir.
Suga’ in My Bowl host Joyce Jones and I refer to the annual Vision Fest as the high holy days of jazz and we’re only half-kidding. The festival has managed to outlast competing fests with much deeper pockets and big name corporate sponsors behind them while still managing the delicate balancing act between being a smaller artist-focused event willing to take risks and keeping up with the times and technology. So while you can now buy tickets online and follow their various social media feeds, Vision is unafraid to feature poets in prime time slots or book quirky acts. It’s all part of the scene and that’s why we’ve been going for several years now and have featured numerous performers as guests on the show. In full disclosure, WBAI Radio returns as a media sponsor this year and happily so: it fits the station’s vibe fairly well.
Suga’ in My Bowl previewed this year’s festival in our last show, interviewing festival organizer Patricia Nicholson Parker for a “big picture” view, along with pianist Geri Allen (in her first time Vision appearance), guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Andrew Cyrille and composer/vocalist Lisa Sokolof all speaking on the influence and importance of bassist Henry Grimes. If you missed that, be sure to catch WBAI producer Basir Mchawi’sEducation at the Crossroads show on Thursday June 9 st 7 PM EST, where Patricia Nicholson Parker will be giving an update.
Vision started on Sunday June 5th with 3 classic films celebrating the 60th year of the Sun Ra Arkestra at Anthology Film Archives. While none of the film’s are new, provided a good opportunity to see John Coney/Sun Ra’s Space is the Place, The Magic Sun, or Robert Mugge’s Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise again. Mugge’s documentary has aged well and does about as good a job as anyone could of giving a broad overview of Ra himself and the Arkestra. Coney’s film, on the other hand, is pure fun: a sci-fi/Blaxploitation mashup that’s the ultimate fan experience.
Vision settles in for the week at Judson Memorial Church from the 7-12 with nightly performances highlighting the career of bassist Henry Grimes. It retains its usual informal atmosphere and you’re likely to see musicians hanging out and checking out other sets. Everything happens in the main upstairs space, while the basement houses a marketplace and food vendors. It’s a good place to pick up some of the music you’ll hear over the course of the week and you can usually even get your CD autographed, too!
Tuesday night is all about this year’s Vision honoree: bassist/violinist Henry Grimes. Grimes leads two groups over the course of the evening and participates in a third. Pianist Geri Allen and drummer Andrew Cyrille join Grimes for the first set, while the final set of the night features a Grimes-led septet as an expended version of Marc Ribot’s trio with Grimes and drummer Chad Taylor, whose collaboration was captured in the 2014 Live at the Village Vanguard release.
Grimes’s story is a remarkable one. He was in high demand in the 1960s, especially in the free jazz scene, where he played with notables like Sunny Murray, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Cecil Taylor — to name only a few. Grimes suddenly dropped out of the music scene after getting stuck in Los Angeles with a broken bass he had no money to repair before being rediscovered. Bassist William Parker sent Grimes one of his basses and Grimes practiced feverishly to prepare for his reemergence on the jazz scene. Appropriately enough, his big return to New York was punctuated by a performance at the 2003 Vision Fest and he’s been a regular ever since.
Wednesday night has poet Quincy Troupe (who we talked to in May for a Miles Davis birthday show) given his own slot to read some of his work in prime time. Pianist Connie Crothers then leads a trio as a lead-in to the night’s closing act: the Sun Ra Arkestra led by the 92 year old saxophonist Marshall Allen.
While the Arkestra can be wildly uneven in the quality of their performances, they’ve been solid lately, including at last year’s Vision where they closed an evening with a phenomenal show, at the Winter Jazz Fest earlier this year, where they brought the house down with a midnight set at Judson Memorial Church, and an inspired performance at a Red Bull Music Academy-sponsored “Night of Spiritual Jazz” earlier this year. Much of what I wrote for their Winter Jazz Fest date still applies, including the vitality that vocalist Tara Middleton has brought to the ensemble. I’d add that the Arkestra is actually a perfect intro for people new to jazz and while they have showmanship and performance honed to a science, their level of performance lately has been high. Fortunately, you won’t have to stay up all night to see the Arkestra do their thing this time, since the scheduled descent to Earth is at a relatively early 9:40 PM.
Thursday night’s lineup starts with multi-instrumentalist Bill Cole, who leads his “UnTempered Ensemble” featuring saxophonist Ras Moshe–who channels the spirit of John Coltrane with nearly every breath he takes–followed by Vision veteran saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc’s ensemble and a first Vision appearance by poet Tonya Foster.
Trombonist Steve Swell leads a trio as a lead-in for the night’s closing set with drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake (who we profiled in 2014) backed by an all-star cast of saxophonist Kidd Jordan, pianist Cooper-Moore, and bassist Michael Bisio.
Friday night’s lineup has early sets of ensembles led by drummer William Hooker and pianist Cooper-Moore before a closing set with pianist Michele Rosewoman’s “New Yor-Uba” ensemble. We profiled Rosewoman in 2013, for the CD release of her New Yor-Uba project. Look for an inspired spiritual set from Rosewoman, as she blends Yoruba songs with jazz improvisation and expect a special touch of freedom for the Vision crowd.
Saturday night’s lineup highlights saxophonist Hamiett Bluiett and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, each leading ensembles. Bluiett wrapped up last year’s Vision on the last night leading a rousing performance with a cast so large that it spilled off the stage and needed to commandeer space on the floor to accommodate everyone. It was a grand vision (pun unintentional) of swirling sounds that captured much of what the festival is about. The enormity of the sound produced nearly shook the building at times. Expect a slightly less magisterial treatment this year, as he “only” leads a quartet, however, with solid backing from pianist DD Jackson and drummer Hamid Drake, expect a wild ride.
Sunday night’s lineup has saxophonist Kidd Jordan’s ensemble given the duties of closing out the festival: an honor Jordan’s been tasked with before and handled brilliantly.
I can only scratch the surface here while keeping this a readable length (and may have failed in the latter already). Check the full schedule to see all the acts with our preliminary recommendations in mind. My ultimate recommendation is to show up, watch, listen, and just get lost in the atmosphere. I always walk away from Vision blown away by someone I was vaguely aware of beforehand, but that’s the magic of this festival.
We wrap our coverage with a show interviewing drummer Andrew Cyrille on Sunday June 12 from 11 PM – 1 AM EST on WBAI. If you scoot home quickly after the Kidd Jordan set, you’ll be able to catch the tail end before calling it a night and wrapping it all up until this time next year. If you miss it, not to worry: we archive shows on our website.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Photo: Red Bull Music Academy’s Night of Spiritual Jazz
When Suga’ in My Bowl host Joyce Jones and I first heard about The Red Bull Music Academy’s “night of spiritual Jazz” featuring Pharoah Sanders, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and Kamasi Washington on May 8, it sounded like the perfect lineup and we immediately cleared our schedules to go. Details were sparse–and the location was unannounced until about a week ago–when the organizers also announced that it is sold out!
A few commenters on social media who signed up for notices say that the tickets went fast. Although the organizers have finally announced a location–Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse at 73 West St.–good luck getting tickets. Fortunately, you can catch some of the action in the comfort of your own home.
While it’s not quite the same as being there, it’s better than nothing and–depending where you live–either your only option or better than trekking out to a historic Greenpoint waterfront that looks to be a good walk from the G train.
Another option is checking into the event’s Facebook page, where people are asking for tickets. But the standard warnings obviously apply about safety and avoiding potential scammers.
Getting back to the radio channel, however, while scrolling through their online schedule, there were several interesting related broadcasts that are worth checking out:
And if it’s some consolation, you can catch the Arkestra at this year’s Vision Fest on June 8th and Kamasi Washington in a free show on June 19th at Central Park’s Summerstage. Sanders recently finished a run at Birdland; I’d look for him to return in the late fall. I’ll revisit Vision Fest with a longer preview later on (and a quicker take of the Summerstage Jazz lineup’s on the way too), but for now the audio stream will have to tide many of us over.
If you’re one of the lucky few to get tickets, let us know or feel free to leave some impressions of the performance in the comments.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.
We start this week with the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, whose 17th annual jazz festival kicked off on the 15th and runs until May 15th in venues throughout Brooklyn. WBAI Radio is a media sponsor. See the CJBC’s website for the schedule (opens as a PDF).
Drummer and percussionist Bobby Sanabria leads Quarteto Ache at Carnegie Hall on the 14th and will be at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College on the 21st for the Made in New York Gala.
Looking further ahead, Tubist Howard Johnson is at Craig Harris’s Harlem Afternoon Jazz Series at Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church for two lunchtime sets on May 17th.
That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves on May 15. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.
We’re off the air this week, but stop by our archives to get your fix from nearly 7 years of archived shows until next week. Also see our review of Will Calhoun’s art exhibit on display in the South Bronx. As usual, we have lots more music for you this week.
We start this week with the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, whose 17th annual jazz festival kicked off on the 15th and runs until May 15th in venues throughout Brooklyn. WBAI Radio is a media sponsor. You can get full information and a schedule from the CBJC by calling 718-773-2252 ext 103.
Pianist Randy Weston has a busy week. He leads the African Rhythms ensemble with bassist Alex Blake in the Dweck Center of the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch on the 26th and in a free performance at New School University’s Tishman Auditorium on the 28th to close out his yearlong residency. Finally, Weston returns to the Dweck Center on the 30th for a talk on the African roots of jazz. The Brooklyn library events are part of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival.
That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves on May 1. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.
This week’s guests are harpist Riza Printup and trumpeter Marcus Printup. Also scroll down for our coverage of the NEA Jazz Masters tribute concert in a previous post. As usual, we have lots more music for you this week.
We start this week with the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, whose 17th annual jazz festival kicked off on the 15th and runs until May 15th in venues throughout Brooklyn. WBAI Radio is a media sponsor. You can get full information and a schedule from the CBJC by calling 718-773-2252 ext 103.
Pianist Harold Mabern leads a trio at Smalls on the 20th.
Bassist Alex Blake and WBAI World of Jazz host Dwight Brewster are at Staten Island’s The Gallery on the 22nd. This event’s part of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival.
Pianist Randy Weston leads the African Rhythms ensemble with bassist Alex Blake in the Dweck Center of the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch on the 26th. Weston returns to the Dweck Center on the 30th for a talk on the African roots of jazz. These events are part of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival.
That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves on May 1. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.
—- Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.
In this part of the preview, I’ll look at a few select acts on Saturday night (Friday’s picks were in my previous post) and take a quick look at Sunday evening’s show that wraps up the festival.
Again, there’s an admitted bias toward musicians featured on our Suga’ in My Bowl radio show since we like to keep long-term tabs on the people we profile. But we think you’ll like them too — or at least should give them a shot.
As a reminder, the festival has several new stages this year–at New School University, WNYC Radio’s Greene Space, and elsewhere. The WJF is adding extra check-in tables at different venues (PDF), which should shorten some of the long lines from previous years, but it’s still best to plan to arrive really early for the sets you want to catch. The linked PDF gives a good overview of the logistics and you should take a quick look at it before you leave.
With that out of the way, let’s get to the music.
Saturday Highlights
Ibrahim Maalouf: New School Auditorium @ 66 W 12th St. 7:40 PM
Lebanese saxophonist Ibrahim Maalouf shows yet another of the intriguing directions jazz takes when interpreted by players worldwide. Maalouf’s work blends Arabic sounds with the jazz tradition and solid playing. Maalouf is coming off a successful show at Jazz at Lincoln Center and backed by bassist Larry Grenadier, his show will be one to catch. Here’s a clip from a live show in Istanbul.
Chris Potter Quartet: New School Tishman Auditorium @ 63 5th Ave. 8:40 PM
To be honest, saxophonist Chris Potter wasn’t really on my radar until he popped up on Pat Metheny’s new releases with the Unity Band. I’m fixing that omission now and beginning to appreciate Potter’s voice on the instrument, which shone more on the 2013 Kin recording (Nonesuch) with an expanded Unity Group that revisited some of the musical concepts of Metheny’s mid-90s recordings. With pianist (and longtime collaborator) David Virelles, drummer Marcus Gilmore (fresh off last night’s set with Vijay Iyer’s trio), and bassist Joe Martin, expect a hard charging, open set of music. Here they are live in Hanover, Germany.
Will Calhoun Celebrating Elvin Jones: New School Jazz Building 5th Floor Theater @ 55 W 13th St. 9:40 PM
Full disclosure here: I’ve been a fan of Will Calhoun since seeing Living Colour in the mid-90s and wore out the cassette of their critically acclaimed self-titled first release. Since then, he’s matured as a musician and gone in interesting directions, seriously applying his skills to jazz and African percussion. The Elvin Jones tribute makes perfect sense and complements Calhoun’s drumming style well, as he can play with the power (and volume) and finesse Jones was known for. Beyond that, however, Calhoun has an impressive narrative ability on the drum kit and, like Jones, can inscribe multiple textures and layers of meaning into a solo and carry it seemingly forever while still keeping it interesting. Here, he’s joined by a slightly different line-up than is on the planned release, but they’re easily up to the task. This is one set I’m really looking forward to. For a deeper dive, see our 2013 show profiling Will, or for a quick take, watch this preview of the Jones project.
Lakecia Benjamin: The Bitter End (147 Bleecker St) — 9:40 PM
The 9:40 PM conflicting shows gives an idea of the breadth of the WJF. Lakecia Benjamin’s been at the festival before and usually heads the Soulsquad, which derives as much from the wells of funk and soul as it does from the jazz tradition. Add the vocals of Nicole Phifer and The Bitter End’s loose atmosphere, and you have a party with equal appeal to listeners who aren’t diehard jazz fans or are new to the music. Don’t write her off as a novelty act, though. Her 2012 RETOX (Motéma) release showed her depth and range as a musician and just as Will Calhoun shows one way forward for jazz, Benjamin shows yet another possible direction. Choice is a good thing.
OGJB Quartet: New School Auditorium @ 66 W 12th St. — 10:20 PM
It’s hard to write a short intro to saxophonist Oliver Lake, because what do you omit? Lake, who has roots in the Black Arts Movement has been steadily playing and expanding his reach since then and currently works on a variety of projects. In addition to being a member of TRIO 3, with veteran players Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille, Lake leads several combos of his own including a big band and an organ quartet. Lake’s as comfortable playing “out” as he is swinging in a more relaxed setting, his command of the sax and ability to finesse the instrument clear no matter who he’s with. He appeared at last year’s WJF with TRIO 3 and his own organ quartet; this year you get to see what he does in a different setting altogether. For a deeper dive, see our 2014 show on him or watch this clip from a 2015 quartet performance with bassist Joe Fonda (who’ll also be at WJF) at the 2015 Krakow Jazz Festival for a quick take.
Sun Ra Arkestra directed by Marshall Allen: Judson Memorial Church — Midnight
If you haven’t seen the Sun Ra Arkestra in action, they’re a must see. Even if you have, they’re worth seeing again. They’re still led by saxophonist Marshall Allen, who’s been part of the ensemble since nearly the beginning and assumed conducting and leading duties after the deaths of Sun Ra himself and fellow saxophonist John Gilmore. Don’t be fooled, however: the Arkestra’s far from a novelty or throwback act. The 91-year-old Allen plays with astonishing power and enthusiasm that belies his age and has done an impressive job of honoring the tradition of the Arkestra while giving Ra’s compositions a fresh new spin and looking toward the future — which, of course, is what they’re all about. It helps that Ra was a prolific composer (Allen told us that he still has boxes of new work that he still hasn’t gone through) and the addition of vocalist Tara Middleton’s restored a welcome dimension to their performances, with a voice reminiscent of June Tyson, but fantastic depth and range. For a deeper dive, you can see our 2014 show, or for a quick take, watch this performance from 2015. Here they are live in Poland in 2015.
Julian Lage Trio: Subculture (45 Bleecker St) — 12:20 AM
Julian Lage has gone from a child prodigy on guitar, playing with luminaries such as Carlos Santana (at the age of eight, no less), Pat Metheny, and subject of the documentary film Jules at Eight to being the mature musician he is today. His latest recording (World’s Fair, Modern Lore: 2015) is a solo effort, but the interplay with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen should be particularly good. And you have the opportunity to see him solo, too, as he opens for Sunday’s closing show (scroll down for details). We talked to him last December and here’s the same trio in action at the Vermont Jazz Center in 2015.
Sunday Show
Channeling Coltrane: Rova’s Electric Ascension: Le Poisson Rouge 6 PM
If you still haven’t had enough after two marathon days, then why not wrap up the weekend in style with the Rova Saxophone Quartet? Guitarist Julian Lage is scheduled to open for them with a solo set drawing on his World’s Fair release. Rova themselves exemplify the large format free-form type of playing that’s a rare find outside venues like these. Their take on Coltrane’s classic and complex Ascension promises to be an incredibly challenging and exhilarating performance. If that’s you cup of tea, then it’s a must-see set. Here’s the Rova Saxophone Quartet live in 2012.
And if you still haven’t had enough, Vision Fest promoters Arts for Art have a monthlong “Justice is Compassion” festival running through the next week across town at the Clemente Soto Velez Center that’s definitely worth a look and I’ll profile later.
So that’s it. Again, it’s a lot of acts and I’ve only scratched the surface here, but they’re all really good and different in fun ways. Find who’s to your liking and take some time to see someone you haven’t — you might become a fan of a new group — or see how someone you’ve already seen interprets material this time. Look for a full review after it’s all over and I’ve gotten some sleep.
Are you going? Anyone in particular you’re looking forward to seeing? Let me know in the comments.
Hank Williamsis an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York. Find him on Twitter: @streetgriot
Photo Credit: Hank Williams
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