Back in 1968 in my Freshman year at Kent State, when I was basically getting my feet wet in this music we call jazz, I was encouraged by a good friend to check out a concert on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College in one of Cleveland’s far west side suburbs. The feature was the Charles Lloyd Quartet, with Keith Jarrett on piano, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and bassist Ron McClure (by that juncture Cecil McBee had split the bass chair). I had heard some buzz from the pop press on this quartet, which was quite unusual for an acoustic jazz quartet at the time. Seems this band was one of a handful of jazz bands booked into Bill Graham’s Filmore venues, East and West, and was one of the few bands that for some reason had been embraced by the psychedelic generation of my peers. Consequently they led something of a “rock star” existence, playing not only the Filmores but also touring the Soviet Union, which was pretty rare for those days. Much of that cache had to do with their breakthrough Monterey Jazz Festival recording of Lloyd’s transcendent piece “Forest Flower” for Atlantic Records. For some reason the psychedelic generation really took to that piece and consequently the Charles Lloyd Quartet became pretty big for an acoustic jazz band, let alone one with a somewhat “free” playing proclivity.

It was a fascinating concert at BW, and though Charles Lloyd was at the time being lumped in the post-Coltrane school of tenor acolytes, his tenor approach was of softer focus than the Trane school; there was an airy, pastoral quality to his tone; and though he could certainly go “out”, there was a somewhat tethered sensibility to his outer limits. And to augment his spirited tenor work Lloyd chose the more avian tones of the flute, rather than the prevailing soprano saxophone doublers rage that gripped so many tenor players in the wake of John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” breakthrough. Of equal interest was the sense of connectedness between the writhing, moaning piano man Keith Jarrett – not to mention he was also the rare white guy sporting an afro at the time, and who on first appearance appeared to be black – and the impossibly loose-limbed drummer Jack DeJohnette. Obviously their connection was even deeper than it appeared that afternoon as 18 years later, in 1983, they would come together again through Jarrett’s long and successful relationship with the ECM label as one of the late 20th century and today’s singular small bands; at first referred to as the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio, then simply as Jarrett-Peacock-DeJohnette as it became clear that although Jarrett’s name is on the marquee, there’s been a cooperative sensibility within that great trio for many years.

Manfred Eicher must have loved that Charles Lloyd Quartet as well. In the 80s he recorded several of now-NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette’s seminal recordings; likewise Eicher recorded Lloyd’s 90s return to record, a relationship which extends to Charles’ present recorded exploits. Four of those Jack DeJohnette sessions have just been reissued by ECM as a Jack DeJohnette Special Edition box set. Following on the heels of the DeJohnette box is Charles Lloyd Quartets, reprising five of Lloyd’s 90s recordings. Befitting ECM’s tight, simplistically-focused design tradition both sets are the same no-frills white boxes; no bells and whistles (recalling certain extravagant reissue boxes, like the over-designed lucite box number from Herbie Hancock’s vault that is so “cute” one can hardly fit the discs back in the attendant slots), each of these ECM boxes come with sufficiently informative liner and session notes.


While Lloyd’s unit of choice remains the quartet, DeJohnette has exercised a broad range of personnel configurations down through the years. These include the powerful lineup he assembled for his original Special Edition release: David Murray and Arthur Blythe on saxophones were at the time a kind of California expat sax dream team, having each made big impacts on the scene when they arrived in New York in the late 1970s. Bassist Peter Warren rounded out this exceptional piano-less cast. (At that Lloyd quartet sighting in ’68, little did I know at the time that DeJohnette was also a gifted keyboard player. In an interview last winter Billy Hart told me how surprised he was to see Jack playing drums when DeJohnette got to New York; he’d seen him around Chicago playing piano and organ! Small wonder that DeJohnette is one of our most supremely musical drummers.) to Coltrane is payed via John’s tunes “Central Park West” and “India,” however the key to this recording is DeJohnette’s “Zoot Suite.” Tin Can Alley casted Jack’s fellow Chicagoan Chico Freeman and John Purcell on reeds and flutes, plus the sturdy Warren. Jack’s extended ballad “Pastel Rhapsody”, with its lovely harmonies and DeJohnette’s overdubbed piano (or were the drums overdubbed?). But don’t sleep the raucous, bump & grind blues “I Know,” with Jack signifying vocally. Inflation Blues reprises the twin reeds of Freeman and Purcell, adding the free-leaning trumpet of St. Louis’ Baikida Carroll and Jack’s Chicago homeboy Rufus Reid on acoustic bass, plus a rare Rufus hearing on bass guitar. From this session Jack’s piece “Ebony” always struck me as something that might have been the hippest evening news intro tune had someone had big enough ears to so adapt it. Album Album closes out the box. Remember the lovely, woodsy shot of Jack’s family that graced the original Lp version? A couple of years ago when I met Jack’s youngest daughter Minya at the Panama Jazz Festival I reminded her of that cover shot, which pictured her in the position of precocious child; (she’s now married to Jack’s sound technician Ben Surman, son of saxophonist and frequent DeJohnette collaborator John Surman) she grinned and blushed at the memory of that apparent childhood embarrassment. From that session comes two of Jack’s more indelible compositions, “Ahmad The Terrible,” his homage to Ahmad Jamal, and “Zoot Suite.” Tuba and baritone saxman Howard Johnson lends additional bottom to the Purcell-Murray-Reid lineup in the ensemble. And if you can find it, get the Lp; besides the very warm front & back cover DeJohnette family photo treatment (doubtless standing in the Woodstock forest), this rare ECM gatefold package contains a priceless DeJohnette and sidemen black & white family photo montage inside (including Johnson in his Massilon High School marching band uniform and Murray as a schoolboy high jumper).

Meanwhile Lloyd’s ECM affiliation is ongoing, including brilliant documentations of his deep relationships with subsequent pianists Brad Mehldau, Geri Allen, and currently Jason Moran (including their most recent ECM duo session Hagar’s Song). The Charles Lloyd box contains his five ECM releases spanning 1990-97: Fish Out of Water, Notes from Big Sur (an obvious homage to the idyllic, fairly isolated life he and wife Dorothy Darr carved out in that “God’s country” sector of the California coastline), The Call, All My Relations, and Canto. Though many writers have remarked substantively on the key role of pianists in Lloyd’s music, from the salad days with Jarrett to his 80s reawakening by the late Michel Petrucciani, to Mehldau, Allen and his current piano mate Moran, recalling his Quartet days with DeJohnette, Charles Lloyd has long had a thirst for resourceful, challenging drummers who push his artistry to great limits. After DeJohnette came Sunship Theus, Jon Christenson, Billy Higgins (the latter two being more about texture than explosion), Ralph Peterson, and for three of the dates in this box the broad artistry of Billy Hart. Currently Lloyd is further challenged by Moran’s Houston homie, the crafty and propulsive Eric Harland.

For the past dozen years I’ve been curating a Spring series at Tribeca Performing Arts Center that celebrates historic, now-lost jazz venues around Manhattan. This Spring our focus lands on the legendary Birdland. We’ve viewing Birdland through the prism of the enormous legacy of the man after whom that jazz haunt was named, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. Our first concert was Friday, May 3 as alto man TK Blue recalled Bird’s experimentations with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and textures. Here’s more on our 2013 series…

Downtown Performing Arts for All New York

For Further Press Inquiries, Please Contact:
Allyson Morgan
Publicity Associate, BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Phone: (212) 220–1459 / Email: amorgan@tribecapac.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center Presents
Lost Jazz Shrines 2013: Bird – A World’s Eye View
(New York, NY) – BMCC Tribeca PAC’s Lost Jazz Shrines series is dedicated to restoring the memory of legendary New York City jazz venues to the consciousness of the world with a thorough remembrance and celebration. In celebration of the resonant history of Birdland, join us on May 3, May 17, and May 31, as we will examine the musical and stylistic legacy of Charlie Parker through three completely different lenses and cultural perspectives. This will be achieved through the efforts of three exceptional alto saxophonists (TK BLUE, MARTY EHRLICH & RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA) who have expanded the lessons of Bird. Each saxophonist will bring elements of his diverse backgrounds to our stage for fresh interpretations of the oeuvre of Bird. Each saxophonist will include their own combo.

Each concert will be preceded by a FREE Humanities program at 7PM with live panel discussions or film that showcase some of the celebrated figures associated with this year’s honorees, followed by the concert at 8:30PM. Tickets are $25 for each concert. Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticketing Services at (212) 220-1460 or online at www.tribecapac.org.

Schedule:

Latin Bird
TK BLUE – Musical Director
Friday, May 3
Concert at 8:30PM
$25 / students, seniors $15

Saxophonist/flutist-composer-educator TK Blue, whose family heritage is from the Caribbean (Jamaica and Trinidad), explores the Latin influenced rhythms and melodies of the great Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, the legendary Bird. In the 40s and 50s Charlie Parker had a number of fruitful interactions with such Latin music legends as Machito, Mario Bauza, and Chano Pozo. TK Blue’s concert will reflect that rich vein of Parker’s experience.

Performers:
T.K.Blue–flute, soprano and alto sax
James Weidman–piano.
Essiet Essiet–bass
Winard Harper–drums and
Steve Turre–shells and trombone

Birdland: Reminiscing in Tempo
Panel Discussion with NEA Jazz Masters Randy Weston and Dan Morgenstern
Moderated by Willard Jenkins
7PM – FREE

Charlie Parker: Timeless Innovation
RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA – Musical Director
Friday, May 17
Concert at 8:30PM
$25 / students, seniors $15

Rudresh Mahanthappa will present recontextualizations of Charlie Parker’s work as well as new material based on extractions of Bird’s vocabulary as both composer and improviser. Mahanthappa’s celebrated groundbreaking approach of synthesizing the traditions of jazz with modern musical concepts exemplifies the spirit of Bird. With some of NYC’s finest instrumentalists as a rhythm section, this evening will highlight the relevancy of Parker as a contemporary and timeless icon of modern music.

Performers:
Rudresh Mahanthappa – alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell – Piano
François Moutin – Acoustic Bass
Rudy Royston – Drums

Film screening: Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker
Celebrating Bird is a revealing look at an enigmatic yet endlessly appealing man, who soared to the heights of creative freedom but couldn’t beat a lifelong addiction to heroin. It includes a TV appearance with Dizzy Gillespie and rare footage with jazz greats including Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Clarke and Lucky Thompson, Lester Young, among others.
7PM – FREE

The Cartographies of Flight
MARTY EHRLICH – Musical Director
Friday, May 31
Concert at 8:30PM
$25 / students, seniors $15

“Charlie Parker Place. That’s my corner, just down from Bird’s house, now a historic landmark in the East Village. At times I imagine hearing him practice as I go by, infusing each rhythmic step and melodic turn with his characteristic sense of exaltation. “Bluing a new cartography of flight” is how poet Arthur Brown put it. Tonight’s concert will celebrate that Bird’s music points us forward, combining music with the images and syntax that he and his compatriots inspired in poets, then and now. “ – Marty Ehrlich

Performers:
THE MARTY EHRLICH ENSEMBLE
Marty Ehrlich – woodwinds
James Zollar – trumpet
Marc Ribot – guitar
Michael Formanek – bass
Nasheet Waits- drums
Erica Hunt – poet and reader
Charles Bernstein – poet and reader

The Impact of Charlie Parker
Panel Discussion with TK Blue and Marty Ehrlich.
Moderated by Willard Jenkins
7PM – FREE

Performers Subject to change.

BMCC Tribeca PAC is Downtown Manhattan’s premier presenter of the arts, reaching audiences from the college community, downtown residential and business communities, local schools, families, and audiences of all ages. BMCC Tribeca PAC strives to present a broad global perspective through the presentation of high-quality artistic work in music, theatre, dance, film and visual arts. BMCC Tribeca PAC is located on the Borough of Manhattan Community College campus, 199 Chambers Street (between Greenwich Avenue & West Street) and is convenient to the 2/3, A/C/E and R/W subway lines and the New Jersey Path Train. For more information please visit our website, www.tribecapac.org.

No hidden agendas here; taking particular interest and pride in younger African Americans who are working in jazz in entrepreneurial pursuits, last January at the NEA Jazz Masters awards program at Dizzy’s, at the pre-show media event, I met Brian Pace. His principle entry point in the jazz community has been in the visual media marketplace, particularly his video interview series, The Pace Report. What was also of interest was his news reporter (as opposed to “glorified fan”) approach to the task of interviewing artists; no surprise given his considerable legit news experience, detailed below. You can sample the Pace Report and some of his various interviews at thepacereport.blogspot.com and www.thepacereport.com. Clearly some questions for Brian Pace were in order…

Brian left, with (unidentified), the brains behind Jazzcorner Lois Gilbert, and JJA Prez Howard Mandel

What’s your background in music media and how did you get started down this path?

I’m originally from Indianapolis, Indiana. I got started in television production in high school at WJEL-FM/TV at North Central High School. They offered a class where they taught teens how to produce, write, and direct their own shows which aired on the local public access channel. They also had a student run radio station and we had to produce radio spots and DJ live shows and all the sporting events. It had a low signal, but teens played the music they wanted to for their shifts. This was also the time I joined the Youth Telecommunications Workshop for Indiana Black Expo. This program was created to teach African-American teens between the ages of 13-17 television production skills in which they produced local programming geared towards teens but as a need to get more students of color behind the scenes in television and film. It was also this program that got me to make a guest co-host of Black Entertainment Television’s “Rap City” with host and now comedian Chris Thomas. Upon graduation I was a producer and director for Indiana Black Expo’s video and public relations department working with international clients like Coca Cola and McDonalds.

I attended the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff where I got a job as the weekend disc jockey at KPBQ and KZPY-FM. It was there I got wonderful on-air experience doing country music and urban soul for Pine Bluff Radio, INC which owned three stations. One of my dear friends got me a radio producing job at WMC-AM in Memphis, Tennessee. I ended up transferring to The University of Memphis where I was working at the number # 1 news/talk, television, and FM station in the city. While there, I produced news segments and co-anchored the “Sunrise” with the late Dave Black who was the agriculture news director for WMC news. I was also blessed to intern on the television side at WMC-TV while working at WMC-AM and studying in college at the same time. During my time in school I worked as a producer for WHBQ-AM, and DJ and producer at WPLX-AM. When I finished school I moved to Detroit where I took many jobs in broadcasting like reporter/producer at WXYT-AM, Executive Producer and Reporter for the I.E. American Radio Network, Writer and Production Assistant at WXYZ-TV, and Marketing and Promotions at WCSX-FM. I was also the stateside reporter for Mississippi Public Radio for one year. Later I produced freelance work for WBGO Journal for WBGO-FM in Newark, New Jersey.

How did jazz come on your radar screen and what’s been your experience with the music in your media pursuits?

Jazz music was always played at my Grandparents home in Detroit, Michigan. In fact, all forms of popular Black roots music was played there. Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Jazz was where my deep love of the culture came from. My grandfather was a barber, math and carpenter teacher at Mumford High School, and was also a private contractor. My grandmother was a labor organizer for one of the major unions in Detroit. My grandfather was jack of all trades and used to cut Kenny Burrell and Elvin Jones‘ hair in the 1950’s. My granddad built this beautiful bar in the basement of their home in northwest Detroit and that was a staple where many of their friends would come over and stay all night playing cards and dominoes. In the basement “Paw Paw”(that’s what I call my grandfather) and “Granny” used to play those gothic Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff records. I think this was also how I’ve been able to shoot film and work late night into the morning working with artists today due to my grandparents all night shindigs!

My real first exposure to the music was when he’d try to teach me to play checkers and he played one of his favorite pianists, Dave Brubeck. “Jazz Goes To College” was my real foray into jazz music at 7 years old. I can see why now, looking back some 30 years. My granddad was an educator and an intellectual. Brubeck was the music of my grandparents generation long before rock and roll came along. But, Paw Paw was also an avid Louis Jordan and Charles Brown fan as well. The real record that my granddad played me that moved me was Duke Ellington‘s “Live at Newport”. Man, he had three copies of that record. Every year my granddad bought me jazz recordings and would teach me what big bands had the best players as well as the history of the music.

In addition to my hangs with Paw Paw, one of my favorite hangs was going to the famous Bakers Keyboard Lounge on Livernois which was under 10 minutes from their house. I used to see live jazz music at an early age and loved it just as much as hip-hop, which is the music of my generation. One more VERY important part of my love for the music and culture was Mr. Eugene Potts in Detroit. I used to hang at the barber shop with my granddad on the east side of Detroit. The shop was located on the corner of Chene and Mack. Right around corner was Potts Record Shop. Mr. Potts in addition to running his record store, was also a choir director and arranger. Mr. Potts taught me about Thomas A. Dorsey and some of the elements of the Blues, Jazz, and Gospel music. He’d give me stacks of records that were monumental in my learning of the music and history of Black music. At age 12 he gave me Stanley Jordan‘s debut album, and to this very day I am still his biggest fan. Mr. Potts gave me Roland Kirk, Pat Metheny, Stan Getz, Jean Luc Ponty, Bob James, David Sanborn, David “Fathead” Newman and endless records in my early teens. By the time I was 16, my musical tastes were so advanced due in part to my granddad and Mr. Potts.

Talk about some of your more successful encounters with jazz artists in your work.

I think every encounter with the artists I shoot for The Pace Report is successful. One, the artists or group gets treated equally. Two, The Pace Report was needed in that I needed to build and maintain a relationship with the record labels, publicists, management, artists, club venues, and music fans so that they can all interact via the internet and social networking platforms. The internet is what radio used to be! For the people, by the people! And The Pace Report has done great job getting the fans in touch with their favorite artists and the artists want to communicate with their fans. I still have some goals to accomplish but I haven’t lost sight nor God’s vision for me to fulfill his will.

With Branford Marsalis at the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters event at Dizzy’s

Your credo says the Pace Report is about “Presenting the Truth in Media”. Speak to that emphasis on the “Truth” as it pertains to your various observations of the music media.

There have been times where I’ve interviewed artists where the source of info was incorrect! Some of these sources are from credible and famous books and magazines, only to find out some or most of the information was inflated or not accurate at all. For years as a journalist readers and viewers have placed certain reporters or publications on a pedestal and hold them as “the law.” Now, with the over-saturation of bloggers and news websites, with slanted political views or favoring a certain position, then you’re misleading the people with false info. Plus, today’s news has gone in the way of the tabloid “crack” mode, meaning, “If it bleeds it leads, but lets make money by any means!” And some of the news organizations have made money by not checking the facts and its just business as usual.

I’m “Presenting the Truth in Media” because I’m going to the direct source! The artist will tell their side of their history not some journalist’s inflated version of their interpretation just to gain views or to sell copies. Every artist or group I’ve interviewed and profiled have been candid as well as frank about what makes them do and create what they do. In presenting their truths, its up to me to let them speak and bring everything to light that needs to cleared and open and let the viewers decide and learn from my dialogue with them.

How did jazz journalism and your media efforts intersect and develop?

I began The Pace Report based on three major influences of media that I saw as a teenager. On Sunday nights, Dr. Ben Sidran hosted and performed a groundbreaking show on VH-1 called “New Visions”. The show was my foray into the live jazz performances and interviews with the legends and newcomers to the world of jazz and blues. I saw the Marsalis Brothers, Courtney Pine, Dr. John, Jon Hendricks, Terri Lyn Carrington, The Microscopic Octet and endless others play and share their ideas about their music and works. Then, pianist Ramsey Lewis hosted a show on Black Entertainment Television that did the same thing as Dr. Sidran, but it wasn’t like “New Visions.” Then, Dr. Billy Taylor used to host the jazz segments on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” and he, like Dr. Sidran, became my heros! These guys really got me schooled on the art of our culture and got me to start reading biographies and studying the legends.

Now lets fast forward to 2003. Ramsey Lewis hosts the nationally syndicated PBS show “Legends of Jazz”. Mr. Lewis interviewed the legends and I began to see the lack of a couple of things. One, the focus of showcasing the culture was being weeded out to reality TV programming like “American Idol” and “The Real World.” Two, people of color are not carrying on the legacy of Dr. Taylor and other respected broadcasters like Gil Noble, Ed Love, Carl T. Rowan, and Tavis Smiley. So when I took my rich television and radio skills that I learned over the years and fused it with the social networking media that we’re in, I created a personal and up-front multi-media format that viewers and readers can pull up on their tablets, smart-phones, and internet driven devices.

What brought you to your current Harlem home-base?

Harlem is where one of the most important cultural experiences took place. The Harlem Renaissance was where the literary, music, fashion, religions, and language took shape that changed the Black experience forever. The new Harlem still reflects some of the old 1920’s. I wanted to come back to the roots of the experience and I think the spirits of old have had a strong presence in my work and attitude as well. I live a half block from the old Savoy Ballroom. That corner still speaks volumes without saying a word.

Given your observations of jazz and the jazz community, what’s your overall sense of the music here in the year 2013?

I believe jazz, like hip-hop, still is evolving and moving forward. I just posted my interview with pianist Christian Sands. This brotha is “outta this world”! He’s the last descendant of the late Dr. Billy Taylor, yet be brings a different flavor to the music and game. So do other pianists like Eldar, Orrin Evans, Marc Cary, John Medeski, and Gerald Clayton.

What I’m tired of is, the jazz community, especially writers, have gotta stop rehashing the past and riding their own coattails! What I mean by this is simply, BECAUSE YOUR A WRITER THAT’S BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR DECADES, IT DOESN’T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO PUT DOWN AND BE HARSH TOWARDS AN ARTIST’S WORK OR BODY OF WORK! I feel so sorry for the veteran writers that continue to bash producer and instrumentalist Robert Glasper. Glasper did what Miles Davis did with fusion jazz in the late 1960’s. Or, jazz writers who don’t want to acknowledge and respect guys like Medeski, Martin and Wood or US 3 or drummer Jamire Williams‘ EMiMAJ project. I love and respect all forms of music and for a writer to diss or disrespect ones work, that’s not a good move.

Many established writers feel that they’re entitled to being the so-called authority on the music and people quote them as the law! They may even have degrees to back their knowledge. But, a lot of times speaking and reading other writers work, they put their views on a high pedestal and have many times left the reader not interested in reading their work again. James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison wrote about what they knew, the black experience. They wrote critical analysis on music, politics, the arts, and religion. But what sticks out about their work is that they wrote from the heart and touched a nerve with readers. That’s what I’m doing with The Pace Report. I want viewers and readers to be compelled to spend time in a jazz club or music hall from Ramsey Lewis to soul icon Lenny Williams. My point, GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE AND WRITE FOR THE PEOPLE!

The major important fact of The Pace Report is that I’ve created community. I wanted as a journalist to let the artist set the record straight, as I stressed earlier. Some writers have forgotten that readers and viewers make the final decision. One or two bad reviews or negative interviews set musicians away from journalists. I’ve been told endlessly from many musicians over the years that they’ve enjoyed speaking with me and that they’ve expressed a disconnect with writers in general. Some have told me that writers can be mean-spirited and cold. Respected writers like you, Greg Thomas, and music websites like irockjazz.com and NextBop.com respect the basics of journalism. The who, what, where, why, when, and how.

With NEA Jazz Master conguero Candido

Speaking of writers like Ellison from yesterday, and today Greg Thomas, what’s your sense of African Americans writing about jazz?

I think the way the media industry is going, people of color have a great way to express what we need to say as a people via the social networking means of communication. Jazz is just another sidebar of what I write about. Now that the American people have elected the first President of Color and he’s invited soul, blues, and jazz musicians to perform at the White House, now is the time to make your voice known!

That’s why The Pace Report has taken off. I’m talking with the movers and shakers of the music world and they’ve been candid about their lives and art. So, as a Black journalist I hope that I’m carrying on Dr. Taylor’s legacy with his CBS segments that he hosted and produced for some 20 years. I hope that my race and political dialogue with the artists opens the door for people to have constructive conversations that both blacks and whites can agree to disagree upon. Me allowing to this helps other young journalists to do what I do via the black experience so other up and coming journalists can do the same, but better.

With Pat Metheny

What have you got on tap for the Pace Report and what are some of your aspirations with the work?

With The Pace Report about to enter it’s 5th anniversary in July, I will be getting more contemporary in the artists I interview. Jazz and soul music will be what my viewers will always expect, but its also time to interview the Paul Simons and Stevie Wonders of the recording industry. It’s beginning to move in that direction with some of the names that I’ll be interviewing soon and later in the year. Also, artists are hiring me to shoot their video and still photos for their upcoming recording projects. I’m glad that I’m working for myself for my production company and at age 40 more and more new doors are opening for me.

Being a jazz concert and festival presenter, radio programmer, and journalist I am the fortunate recipient of all manner of new and recent CD releases and digital downloads from artists, spouses, publicists, labels and friends. That phenomenon has increased exponentially in the DIY era of digital recording, which coupled with the decimation of the record label business, has both compelled and made simpler the process of artists recording, releasing and making available their music. Of all instruments represented by this constant stream of new artist releases, the voice is represented by seemingly dozens of new records every month; and that is particularly the case with the female voice. It has long been a rather peculiar part of the jazz equation that while men dominate the other instruments in jazz, women dominate jazz voice exploits.

Frankly – and I’d hazard a guess that I could recruit a multi-voice chorus of amens on this from my fellow journalists, radio programmers and presenters working in jazz who are privy to new releases – the great majority of these (overwhelmingly women) vocalists making records today are either too green or too mediocre to have survived in the bygone era of artists needing labels to choose and subsequently release, distribute and publicize them; many of them simply would not have passed muster. But because we’re in the DIY era as far as record production is concerned, these singers just keep plugging.

Now and then a voice of true distinction, a vocal artist of obvious promise, and someone blessed with requisite humility to go with that great talent, comes along. The most recent such vocal artist is Cecile McLorin Salvant. Based on her brand new release Woman Child for the Mack Avenue label, Ms. Salvant is clearly one to watch, someone whose career arc will delight many, and whose meteoric talent is literally bursting at the seams for wider recognition.

The Woman Child title of this recording is quite apt; at the startlingly young age of 23 (you’ll hear what I mean by “startling” as soon as you hear her) Cecile displays all the qualities of a young woman with an old soul. Of Haitian descent, she was born in Miami and moved to Paris to study at 18 – an immersion which broadened her approach and is borne out in many ways by her subsequent artistry (for reference on Woman Child check her original song “Le Front Cache Sur Tes Genoux”, based on a poem by Ida Faubert). Three years ago Cecile won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition and I had the pleasure of presenting her as part of our annual Monk in Motion young artist concert series at Tribeca Performing Arts Center (along with two other very promising young voices: Charenee Wade and Cyrille Aimee; based on subsequent sightings, as far as Monk Competition finalists go there’s been no better trio). On that occasion I was taken by Cecile’s range and zeal to address older and in some cases obscure songs; mark her in the book as someone to watch. The progress she has made since that appearance to the release of Woman Child gives one further faith in young talent, especially this woman!

Last week was the capper for me. Cecile performed along with trumpeter Dominic Farinacci and her piano accompanist, the equally precocious and mature pianist Aaron Diehl (whose Mack Avenue debut The Bespoke Man’s Narrative is also recommended) as part of Dominic’s ongoing Young Artist residency series with Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland (full disclosure: this writer has served as artistic director of that festival for 17 years). In addition to being a fine trumpeter, Dominic is a sharp young guy and a Tri-C JazzFest alum who came up through our education program, along with such other trumpet aces as Sean Jones and Donald Malloy (you’ll be hearing about him soon) and a keen judge of the talent pool of his peers. In this case Dominic was beyond prescient in bringing Cecile to our festival.

I had an opportunity to small-talk with Cecile on several occasions during last week’s Cleveland residency and was impressed by her humility, grace and obvious intelligence (and don’t let the serious looks on her album cover photos throw you; girl’s got a radiant smile as well). When Dominic introduced her to our audience on April 23 and she eased onstage with her close cropped natural hair, in a billowing black dress, her characteristic oversized white framed glasses adding further distinction to her face, and wearing hot pink pumps, she already had our audience captivated. When she opened those rangy pipes, and particularly when she plumbed the lower depths of her impressive range, that audience was completely hers. You hear a coquettish youthfulness, colors ranging from little girl highs to learned woman low register expressions; a melange of influences that include shades of Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan – hell, make that the pantheon of great jazz women!) and the kind of keen Afro-folk awareness embodied by Nina Simone and the sisters of (scroll down for reference) Sweet Honey in the Rock (dig her take on “John Henry” on the new release). And she’s got a fine sense of drama; dig her incredible rendition of the obscure song “You Bring Out the Savage in Me” on Woman Child. Such high-positive response as embodied by her Cleveland audience is almost certain to be the case going forward, and I’d hazard a guess that the audience for her Saturday, May 18 performance at the Kennedy Center’s annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival will be equally taken. Look out for this one; she’s ‘da truth!

Last evening, Monday, April 29, was a great night of youthful jazz at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) as the school presented its 27th annual Calvin Jones Big Band Jazz Festival. The event featured performances by the Howard University Jazz Ensemble, the University of Maryland jazz band, and concluded with a rousing set by the UDC Big Band under the skilled direction of soulful DC pianist Allyn Johnson. The festival is named after Calvin Jones, the musician-professor who founded the UDC jazz studies program, which is also closely affiliated with the excellent Felix Grant Jazz Archives, named after one of DC’s most historic jazz radio show hosts, the late Felix Grant.

In between the UMD and UDC band performances I was humbled to receive a 2013 Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) Jazz Hero Award for Washington, DC. It was indeed a lovely experience for which I am eternally grateful. On hand to present the award were my fellow jazz journalist Bill Brower (who frequently contributed to DownBeat under the byline W.A. Brower), and longtime congressional aide – and driving force behind the annual Congressional Black Caucus Jazz Day, Cedric Hendricks; also pictured in these photos is Cheryl Hawkins of UDC Media, who had previously hosted Randy Weston and me on her television program.