A Grand Night for Mastery
The annual National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters awards concert is always a grand night on the annual jazz calendar. Peculiar to this art form, jazz remains both nostalgic and forever questing in forward motion. But on this night we pause to honor the greats, including the year’s newly-minted class of NEAJMs and those past Masters in the audience; and therein lies one of the charms of these events, gazing around the hall and witnessing the pride and delight which the assembled Masters seem to take in this honor and this event. This year the NEA Jazz Masters evening shifted from its longtime January calendar slot to one conducive to April’s Jazz Appreciation Month designation. Despite the date shift the evening maintained its brilliance. For one thing its always interesting to glance around the room – in this case the NEA Jazz Masters event’s home for the last several years, Jazz at Lincoln Center – and gauge the assembled Masters in the house and their collective and individual responses to the acceptance speeches and subsequent performances of their peers. Just over the railing where we were situated I caught one of my mentors, NEAJM Randy Weston at rapt attention as the young heart/old soul vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant brought new depth to the timeless “Motherless Child” in tribute to the ancestor NEAJM Jimmy Scott. As she completed her performance a cappella, you could feel the rapt attention in the room poised to explode with applause. Hers was one of several house band serenades to the Masters, including the tasteful touch of their performing as the audience was being seated, which immediately elevated the collective attention span for the honors to come. Otherwise the performance component belonged to the new NEA Jazz Masters and friends.

Carla Bley gave a gracious, thoroughly selfless acceptance speech that was the start of a common thread in the acceptance remarks of the other two musicians – saxophonists George Coleman and Charles Lloyd – each of whom assured the audience in their individual parlance that theirs is a never-ending quest to truly learn this music; each conveying the sense that while graciously accepting this singular honor, none is ready to rest on these laurels. George Coleman, a bit halting of gait but forever brawny of tenor saxophone, teamed up with one of his acolytes, Eric Alexander, for a tenor tet-a-tet mini-set that sparkled particularly in the up tempo. Charles Lloyd brought the spiritual component with an extended performance of “Lark” from his new recording Wild Man Dance, his first for Blue Note.

This year’s NEA Jazz Masters A.B. Spellman recipient for advocacy went to the indomitable Joe Segal of Chicago’s enduring Jazz Showcase club. NEAJM Jimmy Heath introduced Segal with his usual puckish humor, then brought out his soprano sax to join Chicago’s own Ira Sullivan on alto for a squarely in the pocket tribute performance.

Word has it that the 2016 NEA Jazz Masters event will be held in DC; stay tuned… Here are some photos from this lovely evening, all courtesy of the keen eye of photographer Michael G. Stewart.

NEA JAZZ MASTERS CLASS OF 2015: l-to-r CHARLES LLOYD, CARLA BLEY, GEORGE COLEMAN, JOE SEGAL WITH NEA CHAIRMAN JANE CHU

CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT GAVE A SPELLBINDING READING OF “MOTHERLESS CHILD”

GEORGE COLEMAN WAS COMMANDING ON TENOR WITH ONE OF HIS ERSTWHILE STUDENTS, ERIC ALEXANDER, AND HAROLD MABERN ON PIANO

CHARLES LLOYD W/GERALD CLAYTON, JOE SANDERS, ERIC HARLAND, AND SOKRATOS SINOPOUOLOS

JIMMY HEATH & IRA SULLIVAN PROVING ONCE AGAIN THAT “BEBOP IS THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE”, AS NEAJM DEXTER GORDON SAID

THE HOUSE BAND FRONTLINE INCLUDED RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA ON ALTO, INGRID JENSEN ON TRUMPET, HELEN SUNG ON PIANO, RUDY ROYSTON ON DRUMS

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DC Jazz Festival Announces Lineup for
Jazz in the ‘Hoods Presented by Events DC
Neighborhood Venues Host More Than 80 Performances Citywide

One of the hallmarks of the annual DC Jazz Festival (full disclosure: your correspondent, Willard Jenkins is Artistic Director of DCJF) is its big tent component known as Jazz in the ‘Hoods. This annual celebration of the broad spectrum of jazz in our Nation’s Capital (a significant percentage of which is presented free of charge) is a vibrant component that includes venues and jazz producers from every quadrant of our city (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest), including jazz presented in neighborhoods that are generally deprived of live opportunities to experience this art of the improvisers, such as east of the Anacostia River. Here’s the 411 on our Jazz in the ‘Hoods component for 2016. For complete DC Jazz Festival information visit www.dcjazzgest.org

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2015 — The DC Jazz Festival is thrilled to announce the schedule for Jazz in the ‘Hoods Presented by Events DC. Jazz in the ‘Hoods is a major feature of the DC Jazz Festival (June 10-16) that highlights the city as a vibrant cultural capital, and brings jazz to all four quadrants of the nation’s capital – NE/NW/SE/SW. Over 80 performances at more than 40 neighborhood venues will entertain Washington, DC residents and visitors across the city.

”The DC Jazz Festival has grown into the largest music festival in the District of Columbia and as a supporter of the DC Jazz Festival for the last seven years, we are proud to be associated with the overall growth of the festival and in particular, Jazz in the ‘Hoods,” said Erik A. Moses, managing director of Events DC’s Sports and Entertainment Division. “The Jazz in the ‘Hoods series brings people together to enjoy great jazz in a variety of DC’s coolest neighborhood venues.”

Jazz in the ‘Hoods Presented by Events DC represents an exciting partnership with local clubs, restaurants, hotels and galleries in celebration of jazz in our nation’s capital. Jazz in the ‘Hoods takes place in over 40 DC venues with more than 80 performances in 21 neighborhoods throughout the city, presenting a mix of local and nationally recognized artists in an attempt to recognize and celebrate the genre. It has a tradition of attracting large, varied audiences of DC residents and tourists of great diversity.
For the fifth consecutive year, Jazz in the ‘Hoods will include CapitalBop’s DC Jazz Loft Series. A partnership of DC Jazz Festival and CapitalBop, DC Jazz Loft Series will present young, boundary breaking musicians as well as DC-based artists all grounded in the tradition of jazz and its extensions, often performing in unusual or pop-up venues. This is a “pay-what-you-can” series designed to attract the broadest spectrum of attendees, including young, first-time audiences.

The EAST RIVER JazzFEST returns for its 4th year. In collaboration with East River Jazz, a “festival within a festival” will present free jazz performances and programs to thousands of residents, at theaters, museums, places of worship, libraries and senior centers east of the Anacostia River. All EAST RIVER JazzFEST performances will celebrate American composer Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington’s chief collaborator

With a variety of free and ticketed performances in 21 neighborhoods, including Adams Morgan, Capitol Hill, Chinatown, Downtown, Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, the H Street Corridor, Southeast, Southwest, Takoma Park, the U Street Corridor and Woodley Park, Jazz in the ‘Hoods annually attracts a vibrant audience of thousands of music enthusiasts.

New in 2015: the University of the District of Columbia is partnering with DC JazzFest on music and education programs, including a Bossa Nova exhibition from the Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives, launching in June and running the entire summer. The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage will host the Discovery Series, five free concerts highlighting up-and-coming young artists. And, Transparent Productions, the DC area’s purveyor of cutting edge performances, will bring their unique flavor to the Festival.

Participating venue partners include Bohemian Caverns, Twins Jazz, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Atlas Performing Arts Center, and Gallery on H, and National Gallery of Arts Sculpture Garden, among others. Jazz in the ‘Hoods also features CapitalBop’s D.C. Jazz Loft Series at the Hecht’s Warehouse, THEARC and the EAST RIVER JazzFEST Series.

“Jazz in the Hoods is a classic manifestation of the DC Jazz Festival’s diverse, ‘big tent’ offerings, partnering with vibrant spaces and adventurous presenters around town to bring exciting artistry to our community,” said Willard Jenkins, the DCJF’s Artistic Director.

Jazz in the ‘Hoods showcases a virtual cornucopia of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and numerous outstanding D.C.-based jazz groups. The schedule to date includes:

Anacostia Arts Center (1231 Good Hope Rd, SE)
June 13, 10:00 AM, The Lovejoy Group; Saturday Morning Jazz Brunch

Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H St, NE)
June 11, 8:00 PM, Brad Linde’s BIG OL’ ENSEMBLE feat. Elliot Hughes
June 14, 6:00 PM & 8:30 PM, In Jazz We Trust: Music in Motion/ The Princess Mhoon Dance Project

Bistrot Lepic & Wine Bar (1736 Wisconsin Ave, NW)
June 10, Jazz in the Wine Room
June 15, Jazz in the Wine Room

Bohemian Caverns (2001 11th St, NW)
June 10, 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM, Braxton Cook
June 11, 7:30 & 9:30 PM, Gretchen Parlato / Lionel Loueke Duo
June 12. 8:00 PM & 10:00 PM, Gretchen Parlato / Lionel Loueke Duo
June 13, 8:00 PM & 10:00 PM, Nicholas Payton
June 14, 4:30 PM, AfroHORN (a Transparent Production)
June 14, 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM, Nicholas Payton
June 15, 8:00 PM & 10:00 PM, Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra (with Special Guest Oliver Lake)
June 16, 7:30 PM & 9:30PM, Artist in Residence: Christie Dashiell

Children’s National (111 Michigan Ave, NW)
June 16, 12:30 PM, Charles Rahmat Woods
June 16, 2:30 PM, Laura Sperling

Dorothy I. Heights Benning Neighborhood Library (3935 Benning Rd, NE)
June 15, 2:00 PM, Iva Jean Ambush and Jazz Abuscade: Billy Strayhorn and Lena Horne/They’re Together Again

Dukem Jazz (1114-1118 U St, NW)
June 11, 9:00 PM & 10:30 PM, Mark Meadows Quartet

Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library (3660 Alabama Ave, SE)
June 12, 1:00 – 3:00 PM, Janelle Gill Ensemble: Exploring Strayhorn
June 13, 2:00 – 4:30 PM, Christylez Bacon: Strayhorn from a Hip-Hop Perspective

Gallery On H (1354 H St, NE)
June 12, 8:00 – 11:00 PM, Music in the Courtyard
June 13, 7:00 – 11:00 PM, Jazz Circus in the Courtyard
June 14, 2:00 – 7:00 PM, Music in the Courtyard

Haydee’s Restaurant (3102 Mt Pleasant St, NW)
June 11, 7:00 PM, Rock Creek jazz
June 12, 9:00 PM, Little Red & The Renegades
June 13, 7:00 PM, D-6 Jazz Band

CapitalBop’s DC Jazz Loft Series at Hecht Warehouse (1401 New York Avenue, NE)
June 11, 8;00 PM, Trio of Trios: Gary Thomas / Warren Wolf / Young Lions
June 12, 9:30 PM, Thundercat / Sam Prather‘s Groove Orchestra
June 13, 8:00 PM – 12:00 AM, AACM at 50: Ernest Dawkins, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed, Tomeka Reid

Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital (921 Pennsylvania Ave, SE)
June 14, 5:00 PM, CapitalBop’s Hot 5 at Hill Center, feat. Fred Foss

Honfleur Gallery (1241 Good Hope Rd, SE)
June 14, 1:00 – 3:30 PM, Reginald Cyntje Ensemble: Strayhorn, Caribean Interpretations

Japan Information and Cultural Center (1150 18th St, NW)
June 11, 6:30 PM, Nobuki Takamen

Jojo’s Restaurant and Grill (1515 U St, NW)
June 10 & 11, 7:30 – 11:30 PM, Live Jazz, Blues & R&B
June 12, 10:00 PM – 2:30 AM, Late Night Live Jazz, Blues & R&B
June 14 – 16, 7:30 – 11:30 PM, Live Jazz, Blues & R&B

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (1550 Anacostia Ave, NE)
June 14, 10:00 AM, Herman Burney/ Reginald Cyntje: Sunday Morning Strayhorn Duet

Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (2700 F St, NW)
DC Jazz Festival “Discovery Series”
June 8, 6:00 PM, Elijah Jamal Balbed Jo-Go Project
June 10, 6:00 PM, Sweet Lu Olutosin
June 12, 6:00 PM, Alison Crockett
June 13, 6:00 PM, Sine Qua Non
June 14, 6:00 PM, Crush Funk Brass

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (7th St & Constitution Avenue, NW)
June 12, 5:00 – 8:30 PM, George V. Johnson, Jr.

NYU/DC Abramson Family Auditorium (1307 L St, NW)
June 12, 12:00 PM, Meet the Artist: Edmar Casteñeda
June 13, 12:00 PM, Meet the Artist: NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette

Renaissance Downtown DC (999 9th St, NW)
June 10, 5:00 – 8:00 PM, David Schulman and Quite Life Motel
June 12, 5:00 – 8:00 PM, Kenny Nunn-Trio

Renaissance DuPont Circle (1443 New Hampshire Ave, NW)
June 11, 5:00 – 8:oo PM, Eliot Seppa Trio
June 12, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM, Colin Chambers Trio

Rumba Café (2443 18th St, NW)
June 10, “La Trifulca” Live Tango Music, Emmanuel Trifilio in Bandoneon
June 11, 9:00 PM, Martin Zuniga Quartet, Afro Peruvian Music
June 12, 11:00 PM, Joe Falero’s Band, Latin Jazz, Boleros, Rumba
June 13, 11:00 PM, Kique’s Band, South American Rock Pop Acoustic
June 14, 9:00 PM, Pavel Urkiza” Cuban Troubadour – Ibero American World Music

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (600 I St, NW)
June 14, 2:00 PM, Meet the Artist: Billy Hart of The Cookers
June 14, 8:00 PM, The Cookers feat. George Cables, Billy Harper, Donald Harrison, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Cecil McBee, and David Weiss (including post-concert Meet the Artist Q&A)

Takoma Station Tavern (6914 4th St, NW)
June 10, 7:00 PM, Brilliant Corners featuring T. Sharron
June 11, 7:00 PM, Dial 251
June 16, 7:00 PM, Bill Freed with First and Third (Jam Session)

Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) (1901 Mississippi Ave, SE)
June 9, 10:30 AM, Jazz Meets Hip Hop: The W.E.S. Group – Free-registration required

Tryst (2459 18th St, NW)
June 12, 9:00 PM, Pocket Funk
June 15, 8:00 PM, Electric Trio
June 16, 8:00 PM, Wytold – Cello Soloist

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden (1644 31st St, NW)
June 10, 6:00 PM, James King String DUO with Donato Soviero

Twins Jazz (1344 U Street, NW)
June 11, 8:00 & 10:00 PM, Sasha Elliot
June 12, 9:00 & 11:00 PM, Michael Thomas Quintet
June 13, 9:00 & 11;00 PM, Michael Thomas Quintet
June 14, 8:00 & 10:00 PM, Marty Nau

Uniontown Bar and Grill (2200 Martin Luther King Junior Ave, SE)
June 13, 8:00 PM, Greg Hatza’s Organ Blues Band: Blues – Strayhorn – Blues

UDC Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives: Learning Resources Division (Library Building 41, Level-A) (4200 Connecticut Ave, NW)
Summer 2015, Mon-Sat, Library Hours, Exhibition: Bringing Bossa Nova to the United States

UDC: Recital Hall (Performing Arts Building 46-West) (4200 Connecticut Ave, NW)
June 9, 7:00 PM, JAZZforum: Muneer Nasser-UpWrite Bass: The Musical Life and Legacy of Jamil Nasser

UDC Amphitheatre (4200 Connecticut Ave, NW)
June 15, 7:00 PM, JAZZAlive in the Hood: Bruce Williams with Allyn Johnson and the UDC JAZZtet

We Act Radio (1918 Martin Luther King Junior Ave, SE)
June 14, 1:00 PM, Various Children Essays & Videos: A Strayhorn-Inspired Historical Collage Pop-Up
June 14, 4:00 – 7:00 PM, Pepe Gonzalez Afro-Cuban/Latin Jazz Ensemble: Strayhorn inspired Afro-Cuban Jazz

The 2015 DC Jazz Festival will be held June 10-16. For a complete schedule and more information, visit www.dcjazzfest.org.
Keep up with the DCJF:
• Twitter: twitter.com/dcjazzfest
• Facebook: facebook.com/dcjazzfest
• Instagram: instagram.com/dcjazzfest
• Flickr: flickr.com/photos/dcjazzfest
• Foursquare: foursquare.com/dcjazzfest

About DC Jazz Festival® (DCJF)
With more than 125 performances in nearly 60 venues across the city, the DC JazzFest is one of the largest music festivals in the country. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the DCJF has experienced spectacular year-by-year growth. As the fastest-growing jazz festival in the U.S., the DCJF celebrates America’s unique original art form during this international event that attracts jazz lovers from around the world to the nation’s capital. The DCJF also presents year-round programs with performances featuring local, nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. The DCJF’s mission is to promote music, particularly jazz, education programs and actively support community outreach to expand and diversify its audience of jazz enthusiasts. The 2015 DC JazzFest will take place June 10-16. For more information about the DCJF and its activities, visit www.dcjazzfest.org.

About Events DC
Events DC, the official convention and sports authority for the District of Columbia, delivers premier event services and flexible venues across the nation’s capital. Leveraging the power of a world-class destination and creating amazing attendee experiences, Events DC generates economic and community benefits through the attraction and promotion of business, athletic, entertainment and cultural activities. Events DC oversees the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, an anchor of the District’s hospitality and tourism economy that generates over $400 million annually in total economic impact, and the historic Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square. Events DC manages the Stadium-Armory campus, which includes Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and surrounding Festival Grounds, the non-military functions of the DC Armory and Maloof Skate Park at RFK Stadium. Events DC also built and now serves as landlord for Nationals Park, the first LEED-certified major professional sports stadium in the United States. For more information, please visit www.eventsdc.com.

Proud major sponsors of the DC JazzFest, to date, include: Events DC; Forest City Washington, Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District, The Washington Post; ABC7/WJLA-TV and News Channel 8; Squire Patton Boggs, LLP; LCG, Sage Communications; Clyde’s Restaurant Group and Hamilton Live; Renaissance Hotels, Destination DC; WHUR; the Washington City Paper; Linda and Michael Sonnenreich; Amtrak; WMATA; The Washington Informer; WAMU, Washington Parent, WPFW, and Hipnotic Records.
The DC Jazz Festival®, a 501(c)(3) non-profit service organization, is made possible, in part, with major grants from the Government of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, Mayor; and, in part, by major grants from the Anne and Ronald J. Abramson Family Foundation, Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Mayo Charitable Foundation, Venable Foundation, NEA Foundation, CrossCurrents Foundation, New Music USA; and with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the City Fund, administered by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. ©2015 DC Jazz Festival. All rights reserved.

Complete information: WWW.DCJAZZFEST.ORG

So what is it about playing the bass and developing a keen eye for photography? Remember those three superb coffee table photography books by one of the great jazz bass pioneers, Milt Hinton (“Bass Line”, “Over Time”, and “Playing the Changes”)? And what a gracious, storytelling man he was! One can absolutely feel the stories poring forth from the roving photographic eye of Milt Hinton in his on-the-road chronicles of the jazz life in those pages. I fondly recall one agreeable afternoon in Fano, Italy, a lovely beach town on the Adriatic Sea coast where Umbria Jazz producers had come to extend the abundant charms of their festival from the Etruscan hillside charms of Perugia to the “Italian Riviera”. As we sampled an amazing array of seafood at a large roundtable with fellow journalists, Milt regaled us with tales of early jazz lore. At one point his gracious wife Mona piped up “…he can remember what happened in 1925, but can’t remember what he had for breakfast this morning!” As always, Milt was strapped with his trusty camera, but I never got to ask him how he came to be not only one of the finest exponents of his instrument, but also such a keen photographic chronicler of his age.

A few years later came an assignment from the Smithsonian to conduct an oral history interview with bassist Keter Betts at his Silver Spring, MD home. You remember Keter, right?

THE EVER-EBULLIENT KETER BETTS
Keter was the steady bulwark behind so much of Ella Fitzgerald‘s small group work; with a fat sound and warm-heart, the ebony-hued presence of Keter, with his quick smile at some inside bandstand joke, the presence who gave lift to Ella’s girlish, scat-tastic flights. During our interview I asked him about the Billie Holiday contention that the most important musician in her ensemble was always the bass player. He responded that for his place on Ella’s bandstand, he always strategically planted himself directly behind Ms. Fitzgerald and aimed his bass at a figurative bullseye he’d paint directly in the small of her back; that was one key to their long partnership.

ONE OF KETER’S IMAGES OF THE FANS

Another major bullet point in Keter Betts’ career was his lengthy stint with another of the DC area’s musical pillars, guitarist Charlie Byrd. Though the modest Keter spoke about it with no apparent rancor, fact is the development of the 60s bossa nova craze might not have been quite the same without the bassist. Ahead of Byrd, and certainly ahead of Stan Getz – the biggest commercial beneficiary of all – it was Keter Betts who visited Brazil and carried home the compatible idea of jazz and bossa nova, hipping Byrd to the possibilities and leading to the historic Jazz Samba recording session at DC’s All Souls Church on 16th Street, just up the hill from the capital’s storied U Street (“Black Broadway”) district.

A KETER BETTS PRESS PHOTO SHOOT OF THE CHARLIE BYRD TRIO, KETER ON BASS

Betts was also bitten by the shutterbug. A significant sidebar to his career was capturing visual moments for posterity, particularly around the DC scene. Encountering musicians along the way who needed publicity shots, Betts even grew a side business of accommodating those self-marketing requirements of the trade, becoming an adept headshot hunter. Now, nearly 10 years after his ’05 passing on to ancestry, the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County (MD) has mounted a wonderful exhibit of Keter Betts’ photographic artistry. (Full disclosure: Suzan Jenkins is the CEO of the AHCMC.) Curated by Amina Cooper, from the collection of Keter’s daughter Jennifer Betts come images that tell stories of U Street jazz lore, capture delicious slices of the arc of DC’s understated master chanteuse Shirley Horn, Byrd and other stalwarts like fellow bassist Wilbur Little, bringing to life several angles on the DC scene and the broader world as Mr. Betts experienced it. An additional treat, courtesy of the longtime Silver Spring, MD-based monthly JazzTimes, is a wall dedicated to the masterful work of ace JT photog Jimmy Katz.

A FAN VIEWING THE CURRENT EXHIBIT

So just what is it about bass players and the art of photography? Both Milt Hinton and Keter Betts are lavishly credited with mentoring another highly-skilled contemporary bassist, DC’s own Herman Burney. Tall, bespectacled and professorial in bearing, the affable Burney brings ample bottom and gravitational lift to whatever bandstand has the good taste to engage him. Spend enough time around Herman Burney and your image is likely to be captured by his trusty, ever-present camera. A major component of “Bassically Yours,” the current Keter Betts photo exhibit, is three free programs featuring Herman Burney, including a conversation that promises to explore this whole bass player/photographer equation.

KETER BETTS DAUGHTER JENNIFER BETTS AT THE OPENING

Important Dates:
Friday, March 20 2015, 6pm – 8pm
The Betty Mae Kramer Gallery & Music Room Silver Spring Civic Building, One Veterans Place Sliver Spring, Maryland 20910
Monday-Friday, 9 AM – 6 PM

Exhibition Tour with Curator Amina Cooper
Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 12:00pm

Bass Choir Performance and Panel Discussion with Herman Burney, Kris Funn, & Victor Dvoskin Thursday, April 16, 2015 6:00pm – 8:00pm

A Special Performance of The Herman Burney Trio
featuring Herman Burney, Reginald Cyntje and Harold Summey Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 6pm

Exhibition Lecture – Bassist Herman Burney in Conversation with Willard Jenkins
Thursday, May 14, 2015 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Website: www.creativemoco.com/BassicallyYours

My WPFW colleague, scholar, educator and all-around jazz stalwart around town, Rusty Hassan recently posted an interesting post-concert observation in Facebook that struck a chord. Anyone who has read the Independent Ear knows that as a frequent jazz performance audience member, as well as a presenter of the music, I’ve often written on the seemingly lost art of jazz artists connecting with their audience – many failing to make even minimal efforts at doing so. These attitudes do little to build the audience for the music, as Rusty has keenly observed. Musicians: don’t sleep this responsibility, lest you some day find yourselves only playing for your peers, and that ain’t no way to make a living!

RUSTY HASSAN AMIDST SOME OF HIS TREASURES

The Artists’ Responsibility
by Rusty Hassan

The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival had a panel discussion moderated by your partner, Suzan Jenkins, that intrigued me. It was titled “Is Jazz Education Killing The Jazz Audience” and featured prominent musicians who were also educators, Paul Carr, Delfeayo Marsalis, Connaitre Miller and Rufus Reid. As often happens at festivals with overlapping performances and and the opportunity to engage musicians in conversations, I missed the beginning of the session. I had been talking with James Carter about Leo Parker and Art Blakey–great excuse! When I entered the room it was evident that the provocative title related to a topic I had been concerned about for years, musicians relating to their audiences.

Each of the panelists related instances of young musicians, products of some of the best jazz education programs, giving performances where they had little or nothing to say to the audience.
The point of the forum was to emphasize how jazz education programs are producing musicians who are talented and proficient on their instruments but are unwilling to relate to their audiences beyond the performance. The attitude among younger artists coming out of the programs seems to be the performance should speak for itself and if Miles, Monk and Trane didn’t talk from the stage, why should I. The panelists all stressed that at a time when audience development is imperative for the music, musicians should communicate something about their music to the audience.

A couple of weeks after the Festival I attended a concert at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. It featured Tigran Hamasyan on piano with Sam Minaie on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums. I took a friend who was visiting from out of town and is a casual jazz fan. Shortly after the performance I posted the following on Facebook: “A few weeks ago at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Suzan Jenkins conducted a forum with Paul Carr, Delfeayo Marsalis, Rufus Reid and Connaitre Miller about the importance of younger musicians connecting with their audience.

TIGRAN HAMASYAN

On Friday I saw Tigran Hamasyan give a fascinating performance at the Clarice Smith Center. Tigran, originally from Armenia and a winner of the Monk Competition, obviously drew upon his Armenian musical heritage in his performance. Halfway through the concert he said something like, “Yo Maryland, was up? On bass, Sam Minaie. Arthur Hnatek on drums. I’ll now play one of my compositions, Out of the Grid.” That was all he said to the audience.

The program for the concert included a bio by Guardian writer John Lewis which includes a discussion of how Tigran incorporates Armenian themes in his music and Tigran’s liner notes to his album
MOCKROOT. It would have been helpful if Tigran told us the names of the compositions he was performing and a little bit about his music. When you are incorporating Armenian and classical themes into original compositions, the music doesn’t necessarily speak for itself. An object lesson of what Jenkins, Carr, Reid, Miller and Marsalis were emphasizing about connecting to the audience. I did enjoy the performance.”

That FB post generated considerable discussion with insightful comments from Paul Carr and Larry Appelbaum. My favorite was a brief one from Bobby Watsond. He said, “People like to hear the artist speak. Not my idea. This was told to me.” I saw Bobby perform a number of times with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in the 1970s where he would
announce the tunes for the band. But at some point before the end of the set Art would always get up from behind the drum set and address the audience. I suspect it was Mr. Blakey who told Bobby Watson that people like to hear the artist speak.

Tigran’s performance was in the smaller cafe style auditorium at the center. The audience consisted mostly of students with a few of us older folks in the mix. I imagine there were a number of music students who had participated in his workshop. Perhaps he felt that he had talked with most of the audience already. The program notes contained his illuminating discussion of the tracks
on his latest album which I presume were among the compositions he played. I’m perplexed as to why he didn’t convey some of this information to the audience without assuming everyone would read the entire program. At least he could have told us the names of the compositions so that we could read about them later. My friend who accompanied me to the concert commented that he felt Tigran’s performance lacked soul. Perhaps some explanation to the audience along the lines of what he wrote would have given my friend some insight into his Armenian soul.

I saw another pianist a few weeks later that was very much in contrast to Tigran in how he related to the audience. Wade Beach is a Washington area pianist who spent twenty years with the Airmen of Note. He currently performs with Andrew White. That particular evening he performed as part of a series of solo piano recitals at the Arts Club of Washington. The series features area pianists such as Allyn Johnson, Lafayette Gilchrest and Janelle Gill performing original material.

WADE BEACH

Wade seems to be somewhat shy and humble but is an incredible pianist. He mixed in a few standards with his original compositions. He announced each tune with a few words of explanation about what went into the composition. He joked about academic jargon while explaining what a contrafact is musically, mentioning that Ornithology is based on the chords of How High The Moon. He related to the audience members so that they could relate to the complexity of his music. The audience at the Arts Club skewed older than that at Clarice Smith, probably mostly casual jazz fans like
my friend who had gone to see Tigarn with me or members of the Club.

In my conversations afterward folks told me they not only enjoyed the performance but they appreciated Wade’s commentary. This is not to say the audience did not appreciate Tigran’s performance; they obviously did, applauding for an encore. But I think Tigran may have lost one potential fan by not relating verbally to the audience.

Artists who feel that their artistry is such that they don’t have to talk to their audience often cite Miles Davis as someone who felt that the music should speak for itself. Well, he was Miles Davis. I’ll never forget taking my daughter Kenja to see Miles at Constitution Hall when she was in high school in 1985. He had large signs made up with the names of the musicians in his band. When Kenny Garrett soloed Miles would hold up the sign with Kenny’s name on it.

Miles related to the audience while demonstrating a sense of humor mocking his reputation as someone who would not communicate to his fans. My daughter got the joke. A few years later I took her and a Princeton classmate to hear Dizzy Gillespie at Blues Alley. While I was groaning at the jokes I had heard countless times, the audience was cracking up. They, of course, hadn’t heard those jokes before. Dizzy drew them into his music and made them fans.

MILES & KENNY GARRETT DURING THE ERA OF MD’S BAND INTRO PLACARDS

Jazz has always had a “hipper than thou” syndrome. It’s part of the culture and most of of us who are part of the music revel in it. I certainly do. We love a genre that’s not the popular music of mass consumption. We’ll dis an artist who becomes popular as a sellout. If we love a particular artist, it is frequently at the expense of another. Jazz musicians are, of course, fans of the music as well as performers and have been the essential participants in this culture of cool from the beginning. This has certainly impacted the size of the audienceBut now the music needs listeners more than ever. I’m not talking about the death of jazz here. It will certainly survive. But musicians should be more inclusive in reaching out to the folks who come out to their performances.

I’m also not advocating the watering down of the artistry of the music. I’ve been to concerts by artists such as Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor where they have talked with the audience about the titles of their compositions and thanked them for coming out. On a positive note with the younger musicians, I saw Braxton Cook, a young saxophonist who studied with Paul Carr before going on to Julliard, relate very well to those who came out to the Bohemian Caverns to hear his group. He clearly absorbed the lessons Paul Carr imparted about stage presence. If only his young peers would do the same. Jazz is indeed a bit of a mystery to many who come out to hear the music and you want those who feel that way to feel welcomed, ultimately to come back and hear more.

BRAXTON COOK

JAZZ TAKES A STAND
By Ron Scott
Regardless of America’s ever-changing situation black music has always been its soundtrack depicting the mood of the times from war to peace, lynchings to chain gangs, segregation, civil disobedience, integration, to police brutality, and nonviolent resistance.

Jazz musicians may not always be directly involved in protest marches, or on picket lines but their music has always been heard loud and clear. It’s the soul of black folks like the deep blues from the emotional river of Billie Holiday every time one hears her sing “Strange Fruit”. No the song isn’t about police brutality but it has everything to do with the killings of innocent unarmed black men, racism at its most sinister peak, and man’s inhumanity to man. Even today when folks hear “Strange Fruit” they get a chill visualizing the bodies hanging from those trees and the thought is this should never happen again.

The protesters in New York City, California, Cleveland, Ferguson and throughout America are saying the same thing “We do not want to see this again; unarmed young black men like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Timar Rice and many others being killed at the hands of police officers.” The song “Stand” by Sly and the Family Stone is an anthem for any protesters march. “Stand for the things you know are right/it’s the truth that makes them so uptight/Stand there is a midget standing tall and a giant beside him about to fall” for these purposes the giant is the system. These young men were “Young, Gifted and Black” as was the great poet Henry Dumas whose life was taken in 1968 by a Transit Policeman in a case of mistaken identity, he was 33 years-old just beginning a successful career.

Young, Gifted, and Black” was sung by Nina Simone: “To be young gifted and black/ yours is the quest just begun. To be young gifted and black is where it is at.” When they are so quickly taken away as in the cases of Brown, Garner, and Rice then for the parents these are “Stolen Moments” (Oliver Nelson). The dreams, aspirations, and hopes are gone and all that remains are memories.
In Her song “Why? (The King of Love is Dead)” she notes “Is it too late for us, and did he die in vain.”

Simone’s song “Four Women” depicts four black women whose lives are based on their skin color; Aunt Sara probably a slave as she says “my skin is black/my back is strong/strong enough to take the pain inflicted again and again.” The pain crying out in black America started with Aunt Sara, and travelled through Simone’s characters “Safronia” and “Sweet Thing” both misused and disenchanted by society. Simone finishes on a high note with Peaches. “My skin is brown/my matter is tough/I’m bitter because my parents were slaves/I’ll kill the first mother I see.” When equality doesn’t work for the masses and the same deadly situations become a hideous habit in black communities then “Peaches” appears wanting action.

They call it civil unrest or “riots” But riots wouldn’t occur if the problems were met with viable plans and solutions rather than politicians, commissioners, and others constantly living in the American tradition of reactionary mode. Let’s talk about Rodney King in 1991, and deal with those issues so it won’t happen again but here it is again. Dr. Billy Taylor wrote “I Wish I Knew How It Feels to Be Free,” and today many are still wondering.

In 1960 Max Roach’s We Insist! Freedom Now Suite was released on the Candid Records label. The cover reflects a sit-in of the Civil Rights Movement. The recording features five selections on protests, slavery, and the growing African independence movements of the 1950s. Only Roach and vocalist Abbey Lincoln perform on all five tracks, and one track features a guest appearance by saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.

John Coltrane’s “Alabama” appears on his album Live at Birdland (Impulse 1963). It was written in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15, 1963, an attack by the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four young black girls.

In 2012 Trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith recorded his 4/CD set Ten Freedom Summers that included “Emmett Till: Defiant Fearless” a tribute to the 14 year-old who was hideously killed in Mississippi, in 1955. Other titles in this collection include “Dred Scott, 1857”, “The Freedom Riders Ride,” Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 381Days”.
In the 1970s Chicago (Columbia Records) recorded their four-movement composition “Better End Soon.” The song reflects the tragedy of wars, and inequality, “people hating and hurting their brothers/they can’t understand/better end soon we can make it happen/we can change the world.”

The O’Jays say there is a “Message in Our Music.” “There is a message in our song/we are going to talk about all the things that’s been going down/so understand while you dance/trying to make you see things aren’t the way they’re suppose to be.”

Whether people are marching, dying, demonstrating, or crying there will be jazz warriors playing rhythmic sighs and bold tones of injustice and pain, and the hipness of the swing as it relates to blacks and every one of America’s freedom & justice movements.

The Kennedy Center, outside of Lincoln Center, offers the most extensive jazz programming of any of the major arts centers in this country. We owe that in part to the stewardship of the late, great jazz renaissance man Dr. Billy Taylor, who did so much during his storied tenure as Artistic Director for Jazz at the KC to not only provide the music with a prestigious platform, but also to dismiss the barriers and perceived boundaries between jazz and other classic art forms. Countless now-dedicated jazz enthusiasts mark one or a series of Billy Taylor presentations at the Kennedy Center as the turning point in their personal evolution through the music as consumers and lovers of the sounds, citing Billy as their virtual tour guide who demystified the music for them.

Working alongside Dr. Taylor for much of his tenure, steadily building the music’s significant Kennedy Center profile was the witty and erudite KC administrator Kevin Struthers, who has now been in place for over 20 years. It was largely Kevin Struthers who, upon the passing of Billy Taylor, had the prescience to engage a younger artist, pianist-composer Jason Moran, to take Jazz at the Kennedy Center to the next level. And when I speak next level, I’m also considering the fact that not only have Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wayne Shorter with the National Symphony, Charles Lloyd, and Robert Glasper found welcoming stages at the Kennedy Center in recent times, so have Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, the group Yard Byard, and Maceo Parker during Moran’s tenure. Along the way not only has the Terrace Theatre (gotta say, after years of descending stairs to lower level jazz haunts, I’ve always loved the idea of jazz being presented on the penthouse level at the KC!) been a welcome home to the music, but the music has also seen the altering of Kennedy Center’s physical plant in the morphing of a multi-purpose room into the Kennedy Center Jazz Club, and a huge, yawning atrium into the Crossroads Club. The latter, primarily under Moran’s keen programming, is a standing club, with bar, geared towards attracting younger audiences for dance-worthy presentations like Glasper’s Experiment, Soulive, Maceo, Roy Hargrove‘s RH Factor and others. Not only does the Crossroads Club lend itself to the dance impulse, its also friendly towards those who love nothing better than hitting up their devices during a performance to inform their social media contacts of the haps.

(Here’s a link to an interview I did with Jason Moran last spring.)
http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=A79419

Earlier this week the Kennedy Center held its 2015/2016 season press announcement event, which covered its symphonic, dance, ballet, chamber music, opera, and jazz presentations, including several crossover efforts between KC constituent forms. In addition to Moran and artists representing the various forms, KC Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates introduced his new curated contemporary music series KC Jukebox, which among other programs on November 9 will present Lounge Regime: 100 Years of Ambient Music, which promises to take listeners on “an immersive journey through a century of ambient music, from today’s electronica to 1970s minimal is, to the “furniture music” of 1930s Paris.” This is decidedly not your grandmother’s Kennedy Center anymore! Bates will also collaborate with Moran next March in Jason + Mason at the Crossroads Club, on an evening of electric jazz that will include a DJ set by Bates alter persona, DJ Masonic.

This artist-curated crossing genres series will include several additional Moran collaborations, with classical pianist Jeremy Denk, choreographer Ronald K. Brown, a duo concert with Charles Lloyd, and a Gershwin program that will include his wife Alicia Hall Moran, an opera contralto. The Moran series bound to generate the most buzz – details of which led off Wednesday’s Washington Post account of the KC’s ’15/’16 season – is Jason + Skateboarding, a reprise of sorts of a fresh program Moran premiered at SF Jazz. Finding a Line: Skateboarding, Music, and Media will run September 11-12, 2015. The Kennedy Center will build a skateboarding venue and Jason Moran and the Bandwagon will perform in interaction with the skateboarders.

In addition to the usual raft of Kennedy Center jazz presentations at the Terrace Theatre and the KC Jazz Club, other highlights of the ’15/’16 jazz season include presentations of NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Cobb, Jimmy Heath, and Charles Lloyd; Joe Lovano‘s new Village Rhythms Band (with Liberty Ellman, Michael Olatuja, Abdou Mboup, and Otis Brown lll) a world premiere commissioned work by trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and the Discovery Artists series at the KC Jazz Club. Vijay Iyer will partner with the Brentano String Quartet on an evening October 15, and A Family Affair series will feature twins EJ and Marcus Strickland, The Whitfield Family Band (dad Mark on guitar and sons Mark Jr. on drums and Davis on piano), and twins Peter and Will Anderson Quintet, the two sets of twin brothers evenings inspired by Moran’s own experience raising twin sons, as he remarked during the press event.

That’s only part of an auspicious 2015/2016 Kennedy Center Jazz season; for complete details visit www.kennedy-center.org or Google Kennedy Center jazz.