The deeply organic, folkloric, and humanitarian expressions of the a cappella ensemble known as Sweet Honey in the Rock has made the ensemble an institution. Sweet Honey in the ROck was founded in 1973 by the distinguished freedom fighter Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon. Dr. Reagon retired from the group several years ago and they continue to soldier on in their rich tradition. Throughout the ensemble’s history Dr. Ysaye Maria Barnwell has always been an imposing presence, her burgundy voice most often occupying the bottom register of their characteristic harmonic pallet. Though not a jazz ensemble, their level of interplay and soloist support reflects that of the best small ensemble jazz tradition. Their latest recording, titled A Tribute (Appleseed Recordings), pays homage to Odetta (whose ancestral presence is best represented by Ms. Barnwell in the ensemble), Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, and Abbey Lincoln. A bonus with this release is Ms. Barnwell’s renewed violin playing. We caught up with the multi-tasking Ms. Barnwell recently for some questions, about this latest Sweet Honey in the Rock release as well as her plans now that she too has retired from the ensemble that has brought so much definition and distinction to her career.

Clearly for you the latest Sweet Honey in the Rock release is special; but other than the fact that it marks your recorded transition from active performance with the group, why do you feel this new release is special?

This is the first recording in which we pay tribute to women musicians who have influenced each of us on a deep personal, artistic and political level. Personally, I feel I was politicized by ODETTA, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln and Miriam Makeba and was inspired by all of them. In 1963 I entered the State University College of NY at Geneseo, and there were 7 Black people on the campus (faculty, students and staff) and there were no books by Black authors or about Black people in the library. This was shocking coming from NYC. These women literally provided the sound track which helped me define who I was in that environment, helped me to understand my issues in a much larger context and gave me a vocal repertoire with which to express myself.

Your new release A Tribute, recorded live at Jazz at Lincoln Center (Appleseed Recordings) has been characterized as perhaps having a stronger relationship to jazz than previous Sweet Honey releases; please talk about that aspect.

For me one of the strongest elements of jazz in the evolution of African American music was the introduction of instrumentation. Sweet Honey In The Rock (SHIR) is principally an a cappella group and while there are elements of Jazz improvisation in our vocals and while we have a few jazz inspired tunes in our repertoire and in our own compositions, it is the addition of the jazz trio (piano, bass and drums) [on A Tribute] that tips the balance for us and allows us to explore new territory as vocalists.

How have you gone about developing your distinctive role as the “bottom” of the Sweet Honey sound?

I think that I am the only member of SHIR who did not identify as a singer when I came into the group. I had studied violin for 15 years, majored in music in High School, and had sung in choirs in Junior High School and College. I learned to play guitar while in College and sang folk songs in the manner of ODETTA, Richie Havens, etc. but earned both a Bachelors and Masters in Speech Pathology. I gradually completed these studies in 1968 and came to DC to teach at Howard University. I left the faculty for 2 years to earn a PhD and returned. Being a musician was never on the radar although music was a vital part of my life. So when I was invited to audition and then join SHIR, I had no preconceived notions about my voice; no actual repertoire or genre that I was attached to. I had learned from ODETTA and Nina that women could utilize the low register at will and so when asked to harmonize it was no problem to “go there” since that territory was available. Through the years my vocal range has expanded in both directions and I have had the opportunity to use my full range in the group.

What would you say have been some of the high points of your tenure in Sweet Honey?

There have been many. Here re a few.
-I don’t remember the year but one year on my birthday (2/28) SHIR performed a concert on the stage of Central High School in Little Rock AK with Daisey Bates sitting on the first row in an integrated audience.
– When Nelson Mandela was released from prison and toured the US, SHIR sang at the rallies in NYC, DC and CA. SHIR had been singing about apartheid in South Africa for years and Bernice and I had both been arrested for demonstrating and being messengers at the South African Embassy.
– SHIR was the first concert at the Obama White House during his first administration. He and family members including his mother and sister in Hawaii have seen us perform in various locations before any of us actually met.
– I gave up the violin when I went to college and not majoring in music and continuing with this instrument severely damaged my relationship with my father who had been my only teacher. The first time SHIR performed at Carnegie Hall, I invited my parents and they came. My father was proud and loved the group. Our relationship changed after that.
– Now, after exactly 40 years of not playing the violin, I have begun to play again. My initial feeble attempts can be heard on the Tribute CD recorded 2 years ago at the premiere of this concert. I’m getting better now, have found a great teacher and when I have time I study and practice consistently, so you never know…
– Being in SHIR has led me to a number of profound opportunities which I have grown from and which I will now continue to pursue with greater intensity and devotion; composing, conducting my Building a Vocal Community Workshops and leading Community Sings, and being open to new collaborative projects several of which have brought music and my background in Public Health into wonderful alignment.

Now that you’ve announced your intention to retire from Sweet Honey, what opportunities or projects are you looking at on the horizon?

– I have just trademarked THE FORTUNE’S BONES PROJECT and hope that it will have greater visibility in the future.
I want to create several more children’s books based on my songs.
I want to expand my teaching opportunities.
I’d love to do some recording projects.
I’d love to collaborate with other artists.

Contact: www.ymbarnwell.com

Many thanks to the voters in the annual Jazz Journalism Awards for nominating Willard Jenkins for a Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism; I’m deeply honored by this nominationNOMINEES
FOR JAZZ JOURNALISM AWARDS
29) LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN JAZZ JOURNALISM

Ted Panken
W. Royal Stokes
Willard Jenkins
Stanley Crouch (declined to participate)

…And many thanks for Willard Jenkins’ selection as one of the 2013 JJA “Jazz Heroes”…

Willard Jenkins- Washington, D.C.

Willard Jenkins is a giant among jazz journalists, and that’s not even accounting for his 6 foot 7 inch frame, which helps the more vertically challenged of us easily find him in a crowd. The man whose invitation in 1986, while he was working with Arts Midwest, to jazz writers and broadcasters inviting them to convene in Chicago — which led to the founding of the Jazz Journalists Association, has been a feature writer, radio programmer, television show host, co-author (or, as he puts it, “arranger”) of Randy Weston’s autobiography African Rhythms, a blogger, a concert and festival artistic director, an educator and consultant.

With these efforts and also invaluable behind-the-scenes work, Willard has helped keep jazz honest and advancing, usually from his home base in Rockville, Maryland (suburban Washington D.C.) although his activities spread across the U.S. and to Africa as well. He got his start as a journalist in the early 1970s at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and since then he’s written for virtually every jazz-oriented publication, and many online platforms (he maintains his own provocative blog, the Independent Ear, on his website OpenSkyJazz.com). He’s been an editor and done oral history interviews for the Smithsonian Institution and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation; he’s had a radio show since 1989 on WPFW, Washington’s Pacifica Radio Station, and in 1994 he became affiliated with Black Entertainment Television, hosting, writing and producing series, specials and documentaries for its BET Jazz and BET J channels.

Having worked in the late ‘70s with the Northeast Ohio Jazz Society, he got involved with the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland, and appointed its artistic director in 1995. Since 2005 he’s taught the online course Jazz Imagines Africa for Kent State University, his alma mater, and he’s contributed educational content to the International Association for Jazz Education website and the Thelonious Monk Institute’s Jazz in America website. As executive director of the National Jazz Service Organization from 1989 to 1994 he was responsible for many powerful projects, perhaps most significantly the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest National Jazz Network of presenting organizations and regional arts organizations. Most recently Willard has worked with Paul Carr and the Jazz Academy of Music to establish the Mid-Atlantic jazz Festival as an important winter season event for the metropolitan Washington area.

The efforts cited above only begins to suggest the enormous amount of work Jenkins has done on behalf of jazz, blues and other American culture resulting from the African diaspora. He has, most essentially, connected people throughout diverse and sometimes conflicting facets of the jazz world to one another. It should be said, though, that his demeanor is that of a modest man, who nonetheless has an engaging laugh and the wit to discern quality music, good journalism, useful ideas. It’s about time the Jazz Journalists Association recognized its former vice president for what he is: a Jazz Hero.

— W.A. Brower

Multiple poll-winning flutist (currently nominated in the Flute category of the Jazz Journalists Association annual poll) Nicole Mitchell has a new recording “Aquarius” on the Delmark label, with a fairly new ensemble she calls Ice Crystals. Much about this new recording, which features vibist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist Josh Abrams, drummer Frank Rosaly, and spoken word artist Calvin Gantt on one track, recalls Eric Dolphy‘s classic Blue Note recording Out to Lunch, an impression conveyed through listening well prior to reading Lofton Emanari lll’s informative liner note reference to the Dolphy-Bobby Hutcherson hook-up. Couple this new sound with the fact that Ms. Mitchell, who is due to grace the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in May, has relocated from Chicago to Southern California and clearly some questions were in order.

You’ve been identified with the Chicago scene for so long, as musician-composer, as an officer in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), it was kinda surprising to hear that you’d relocated to California. What implications has this had on your music and your efforts as a creative artist in general?
Nicole Mitchell’s latest recording for the Chicago-based Delmark label

Chicago will always be home, and I’m really thankful for the wonderful community there. I learned so much and I know my connection to Chicago is forever. Like most of my friends, I had hard times and great times there. In 2010, twenty years after moving to Chicago, I went through a real change in my life. Things were simultaneously amazing and bleak. For example, it was a life-changing opportunity to be Artist in Residence at the Chicago Jazz Festival that year, and yet in between rehearsals and performances, it was comical that I found myself stranded several times that weekend because my old rickety Volvo finally petered out! Months before my flute had been stolen, which was devastating, but it gave me the opportunity to realize how many people cared and how strong the international arts community is, and the result was an endorsement with Powell Flutes. Those were just a few of many the contrasting details of that year, but by the time 2011 came along, my life had shifted 180 degrees. I felt a real calling to come to California, and I didn’t have it all figured out why, or how it would work. I told my finance, I really wanted to go, and said “Let’s do it!” It was almost as if once the decision was made, everything just came together. I looked up and I had a new life: a new marriage, a new job, a new flute and in a new place to call home. I miss Chicago and will always be connected in some way to the AACM, but I’ve also embraced change.

I’m teaching at UCI (University of California, Irvine), which has been incredibly rewarding. The program I’m in is called ICIT (Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology) – a really unique program that is more expansive than a traditional jazz or composition program. I have a group of super nice, talented and brainy colleagues at Claire Trevor School of the Arts. I’m probably going to sound too sappy, but it’s been really inspiring! I especially enjoy giving guidance to students that are doing such creative and exciting work.

All these things have definitely had an impact on my music, although it’s not clear to me yet how I would define it. One big recent change that didn’t have to do with moving is that I spend so much more time composing!! Right before we moved, I had started doing works for orchestra, and I ended up having pieces premiered with the American Composers Orchestra, Chicago Composers Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta. It’s super challenging, and it seemed to have an impact on my music overall. I used to write music really fast, and it seems the more experience I have writing, the LONGER it takes!!

I’m still busy traveling and performing outside of the country, and I’m hoping….dreaming, that during this period I can actually do some more performances here in the USA. I’m super psyched that Ice Crystal will be playing the Kennedy Center [Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival] this spring!

Nicole with Ice Crystal vibist Jason Adasiewicz

Have you found a compatible community of artists in California, comparable to those you’ve collaborated with in Chicago all these years?

Being a part of a vital arts community is still really important to me, and I’m still finding my role here. It takes time to get rooted, but I will say there’s a place in south LA (Leimert Park) that reminds me so much of the Velvet Lounge in Chicago. It’s called the World Stage. Many musicians that perform there have a history with Horace Tapscott and the Pan African Arkestra. The spirit of the music of these musicians is so connected to the AACM, except they never incorporated as an official institution. Horace is gone but his legacy lives on. I’ve also met and heard some great musicians at this other place called the Blue Whale. I started working again with my first mentor, Najite Agindotan, a Nigerian master drummer who studied with Fela and who has an Afrobeat band called Olokun Phophesy. And Dwight Trible is a vocalist that you would swear was from Chicago, the way he sings. There are many amazing musicians here, and so far I’ve worked with pianist Anthony Davis, trombonist Michael Dessen and bassist Mark Dresser and Devin Hoff, among others. Maia (multi-instrumentalist) and Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell and Jeff Parker (guitarist) are other AACM musicians that got here before me. It’s definitely different in California and my biggest observation is that there is so much talent and so many interesting things going on, but the geography is split up into little cities, so it’s more challenging for people to get the word out about what’s going on. You don’t feel the connectedness as much, but I’m hoping somehow I can help that. For example, I’m working with my Chicago friend (cellist) Tomeka Reid on putting together a Women’s Jazz Composer Festival for the fall. The first one happened last fall and it was very empowering.

Has your overall artistic outlook changed much since you relocated?

The biggest change was a discovery I made a few weeks ago. I was minding my own business, composing, and unintentionally I started hearing electronics for the project and have now incorporated them for the first time with my music. This is a direct influence of the ICIT program at UCI, and it surprised me! I’m excited and challenged to do new things. That’s always been my outlook – to keep growing.

Talk about your new Delmark record “Ice Crystal”. The record seems a bit of a departure as well, not only in terms of overall textures, but in musical cohorts as well.

Does it? Ice Crystal has been around for a little while – since 2007. We just were kind of in the background, with so much great stuff happening in Chicago, and the other projects I was doing. The record just brought it a little more to light, hopefully. I really love the sound of the vibes with flute – always have! When I was a student at Oberlin, the first music I wrote and performed had vibes in it. I’ll never forget that. The song “Yearning” on the album came from way back then. In terms of the band, Joshua (the bassist) has been working with Black Earth since 2000. Wow does time go fast!! I met Jason when Rob Mazurek invited me to play with Exploding Star Orchestra in 2005. He’s a gem. And I’ve always admired Frank’s playing; we just never got much of a chance to work together until now. I have big hopes for the group and the album.

Now that you’ve teaching full-time, how do you envision that experience impacting or dovetailing with your performance career?

Actually, I’m not really teaching more than when I was as an adjunct in Chicago, because I always had 2-5 jobs while I was simultaneously playing the music. It’s actually less stressful (just having one job!!) So the teaching commitment doesn’t really affect my commitment to writing and performing. I just have to be mindful to keep a good balance.

What’s next for Nicole Mitchell?

This weekend, as we speak, I’m preparing for a “Virtual Tour” — a series of telematic concerts where a group of us will be playing in San Diego with a live audience (Myra Melford on piano, Mark Dresser on bass, Michael Dessen on trombone and myself on flute), and simultaneously playing with musicians in other geographic locations in real time via the internet and through video streaming. The audience will see the other musicians on video and hear them as if they’re in the room. Pretty trippy.

Sonic Projections with David Boykin (sax), Craig Taborn (piano) and Chad Taylor (drums) just recorded a new album for Rogue Art. The project is called “The Secret Escapades of Velvet Anderson” and I CAN’T WAIT to share that music with people!! Also, FPE records is going to release my second chapter of music inspired by Octavia Butler, called “Intergalactic Beings”, hopefully in fall 2013.

Sonic Projections is yet another of the diverse Nicole Mitchell’s ensemble projects

I’m also in the development stages of a new multi-arts project called Mandorla Awakening. I’m asking the question: “What would a technologically and spiritually advanced society that is built in harmony with nature be like?” And I’m inviting as many people as possible to imagine with me and contribute to the project in a story of two merging worlds that intersect in the same time/place, but different dimensions. I’m working with video artist Ulysses Jenkins and choreographer Lisa Naugle and also hoping to get students and community members involved in the project, which premieres fall 2013 at UCI’s Xmpl Theater.

More than before, I’m really trying to dig in and do the things that are most important to me as an artist. For example, I’m super excited to premiere this chamber work with the Tri-centric Orchestra April 21st, because I’m finally starting to incorporate some of the poetry and writing that I’ve done over the years with my music and this project does that. I’m really honored to have vocalists Fay Victor, Carl Hancock Rux and Kiran Ahluwalia involved. It’s called “When Life’s Door Opens,” and it’s an expression of what happens when we are at the crossroads of deciding to take our path (whether in art or something else).

Thanks so much for asking these tough questions!

Last weekend, on the occasion of the Dave Brubeck Institute’s annual festival, at the invite of the exceedingly pleasant and humble Brubeck executive director Simon Rowe, I had the distinct pleasure of making a site visit to their Stockton, CA digs. I had met Simon at a couple of recent conferences, most notably the Jazz Education Network conference in Atlanta last January. I was immediately struck by the humility and openness of the man, who by profession is not only a skilled and experienced jazz educator but also a pianist heavily invested in the jazz tradition. Unlike other Institute CEOs I’ve encountered along the way, this forthright Australian man seemed to not only bring a high level of expertise to his work, he also appeared refreshingly open to networking within the jazz community as well as a great thirst for exploring how others have achieved success in their corner of the music world; the lack of a certain all-knowing attitude was remarkable. I was pleasantly surprised to spot Simon at the Jazz Connect conference in New York, which followed on the heels of JEN. Here again, unlike others I’ve encountered at such Institutes, this was a director interested in being a real, deeply-invested part of the jazz community. We had several subsequent exchanges and the weekend of March 22 I landed in Stockton, specifically on the idyllic campus of the University of the Pacific, for the annual Brubeck Festival.

Simon Rowe directs the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific

For those not familiar, Stockton is about 75 minutes due southeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, though its closer and more convenient to fly into Sacramento. With a student body just north of 5K, the private University of the Pacific is one of those orderly, leafy-green, pristine campuses where students evidence a bit more carefree attitude than one might find on the typical state school mega-campus. One might easily envision student Dave Brubeck wandering around curiously seeking inspiration for the music that must surely have been buzzing around his head during his undergrad days there; in fact there was a lovely story recounted at some point during the weekend about the exact spot on campus where Dave met his eventual wife Iola. And therein was another of that weekend’s revelations. Admittedly I’ve not studied deeply on Brubeck’s stellar career, beyond knowing his key recordings, compositions, and bands. But the importance of Iola Brubeck to so many aspects of Dave’s hallmark career, from composition development to essential career advisories and bringing a level of common sense to a head constantly muddled by all manner of compositional and band leadership minutia, was driven home by the many stories and anecdotes I heard all weekend. Theirs was truly a partnership. Iola Brubeck was a serene presence at all of the festival activities – sans any sense of the ever-vigilant widow’s guardian of the flame, micro-managing posture I might add.

I suppose the same could be said of the two Brubeck sons on hand for the festival as well, bassist-trombonist Chris Brubeck and middle brother, drummer Dan Brubeck, both of whom appeared quite pleased at how their beloved dad’s legacy is being preserved at UOP. Apropos, their band set brought a rousing closure to the festival’s concert component. Their energetic performance included several re-imaginings of chestnuts from Dave’s book, like my personal Brubeck favorite “In Your Own Sweet Way.” And no, despite the fact this was a three evening festival (with some free music by the Brubeck Fellows on the lawn Saturday afternoon), audiences were not worn out by tired, rote versions of “Take Five” or “Blue Rondo a la Turk”, though they were both in the house.

In addition to the festival the Brubeck presence on the UOP campus also houses an extensive Dave Brubeck Archives. On-site we examined some fascinating documents relative to Brubeck’s various pronouncements and stances on civil rights – including a newspaper nugget detailing the fact that he gave up $40K in income as a result of his hardline stance that he would not bring his most famous quartet, integrated by bassist Eugene Wright, to play for segregated southern audiences in the turbulent ’60s at the height of his popularity. That kind of conviction is not common; an impression enhanced all the more by a quick calculation of what $40K would mean in 2013 dollars versus 1960s bucks! Dave Brubeck the humanitarian is highlighted in his archives at nearly the same level as Dave Brubeck the pianist-composer. We were treated to at least one rare recording, a rehearsal tape for Dave’s performance of “The Real Ambassadors” at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Dave rehearsing Louis Armstrong‘s vocal with Carmen McRae in Pops’ absence. Ever heard Dave Brubeck sing? Archivist Michael Wurtz can hook you up! Facts surrounding the development and staging of “The Real Ambassadors” and Iola Brubeck’s key role were also made crystal clear at the archives. The Dave Brubeck Archives are housed in the UOP University Library; learn more at http://go.pacific.edu/specialcollections or contact Michael Wurtz at 209/946-3105.

Arriving on Thursday afternoon, a couple of days after the festival kicked off, our first stop was a festival reception at an art exhibit at the LH Horton Gallery titled “The Art of Jazz” featuring jazz- themed works adjacent to the campus of Delta College. Among other interesting pieces we encountered the meticulously collaged baby grand piano conversion in the photo below, significantly with the equally iconoclastic Thelonious Monk, a Brubeck favorite, gazing down from an adjacent wall.

That evening the resourceful trumpeter-flugelhornist-composer Tom Harrell led his superb quintet – Danny Grissett on piano, Jonathan Blake on drums, Ugonna Okegwo on bass and tenor man Wayne Escoffery – through a harmonically expansive program of his original music. Particularly impressive was drummer Blake, whose accommodating style balances an innate sense of pushing and prodding the music in a way that brings real heft to the ensemble. There’s an impressive economy of motion in Jonathan Blake’s work, his cymbal set-up is low at drumhead level. And Tom Harrell remains one of the craftiest trumpeters in the music.

Friday afternoon presented the heart of the Brubeck Festival humanities component: interview/symposia with Gunther Schuller and Wynton Marsalis. In the company of fellow journalists Ashley Kahn and Howard Mandel, we had the pleasure of motoring to several activities with the erudite Schuller, mind still razor-sharp despite the physical infirmities of his senior years that have slowed his gait. For Schuller’s symposium he was quizzed by Simon Rowe on his brilliant career, including anecdotes from his fruitful Third Stream efforts of the 1950s when he and cohorts including pianist John Lewis endeavored with varying degrees of success to bridge the supposed gap between jazz and European concert music. Inevitably there were also details on Schuller’s participation on french horn in the Miles Davis Nonet billed as The Birth of the Cool. Part of that legend had musicians experimenting at Gil Evans‘ midtown Manhattan apartment. When Mandel inquired further, Schuller chuckled that apparently the place was awash in the blue haze of “smoke” and mattresses strewn across the floor; somewhat the crash pad. The ever-accommodating and erudite Wynton was quizzed by a squad of four eager UOP students before a rapt, full-house audience. Marsalis warmly recognized Schuller in recounting his successful teenaged audition for a spot in the annual summer intensive at Tanglewood. Among the judges of the young aspirants, Schuller championed Wynton’s admission to the program despite the fact that Marsalis fell south of the age limitation. Gunther recalled spotting Wynton off in a corner prepping for his audition, whispering to his trumpet not to fail him.

Later that evening the festival’s musical highlight was provided by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Arriving at the Bob Hope Theatre in downtown Stockton, it was refreshing to see an energetic audience lined up around the block to enter the sold-out theater. Once the band was announced the audience erupted in a display of pure joy that was startling. And the joy never let up as they lifted what had been a tired Orchestra on the final date of a 3-week tour to heights they likely hadn’t imagined when they dragged themselves onstage, weary from travel. The true fireworks came from the second half of the show when Wynton programmed a set that included arrangements of pieces associated with some of Brubeck’s favorite pianists, including Thelonious Monk’s “Light Blue,” and Chick Corea‘s “Windows.” Dave himself was represented by the week’s most successful “Blue Rondo a la Turk” essay.

The festival closed with a Saturday evening concert featuring the Brubeck Fellows (preceding the Brubeck Sons), augmented by choir and horn quartet, in a program of Brubeck’s work for jazz band and voice that was conducted by Dave’s longtime manager Russell Gloyd, who proved a most affable navigator guiding the audience through several delightful Brubeck anecdotes and generally demystifying what might have been a ponderous program in less skilled hands.

The latest crew of Brubeck Fellows studying at the Dave Brubeck Institute

Each evening the festival was capped off by an afterglow set at the club Take Five, just off the Stockton strip known as the “Miracle Mile.” A very accommodating room carved out by the wise woman who owns the joint, adjacent to her lively sports bar, Take Five serves as club/workshop for the Brubeck Fellows quintet and whatever visiting artists, or in this case festival artists, arrive at the Brubeck Institute to educate. The first of our three Take Five nightcaps we heard Simon Rowe on piano in a band that included impressive alto man Patrick Langham (below), the director of jazz studies at UOP, and guest vocalist Janeice Jaffe. Closing night of the festival at Take Five featured the Brubeck Fellows, eager and impressive young musicians to be sure.

Patrick Langham

To learn more about the Brubeck Institute, including their Fellowship Program for young musicians and the Brubeck Summer Colony, visit http://pacific.edu/community/centers-clinics-and-institute/Brubeck-Institute. You’re going to witness more and more Brubeck Fellows on the frontlines of jazz development in years to come, including one exceptional alum I saw recently in a performance of his own music, young drummer Justin Brown, who is seen most often these days as a member of Gerald Clayton‘s trio, along with bassist Joe Sanders who also prepped at the Brubeck Institute.

Saxophonist Tim Warfield has big ideas about developing a very particular kind of jazz presenter circuit; ideas which have likely been germinating ever since he took on a producer role for the annual Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz festival in Harrisburg, PA, not far from his York, PA hometown. Towards that end, last June at the annual Pennsylvania Presenter Conference in Harrisburg Tim asked me to moderate a panel discussion on jazz presenting. Besides Tim the other panelists were tenor saxophonist Paul Carr, who has also taken on a festival producer role at the annual Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (scroll down through the Archives for the 2013 edition), and a sister named Laura Gentry who I had not met. Laura has been doing some wonderful things with jazz presenting in the areas around Cincinnati, OH, through her own LAG Productions, and our panel experience left me quite impressed with her work. In keeping with our Independent Ear month of March (Women’s History Month) series of women’s voices, some questions for Laura Gentry were in order.

What’s your background; how did you come to have such a passion for jazz?
My parents instilled in me a love for music by exposing me to every genre they enjoyed. My mother is the daughter of a musician. My maternal grandfather played guitar, banjo, and harmonica, and primarily performed blues, country, and folk music. She listened to everything: Pop, Folk, Country, Soul (now referred to as R&B) and Jazz. My father was the big jazz lover, and I heard a lot of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy McGriff, Bob James, Charles Earland, and Nancy Wilson in my home while I was young. I started singing in a Baptist church when I was 5, and also sang every week at Catholic Mass at my parochial school. I sang in musical theater in high school, and continued singing in R&B cover bands during college, so I had a well rounded exposure to all music. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that I developed a better appreciation and love for jazz, and I attribute that to the foundation laid by my parents.

How did you transition that initial love for the music into LAG Productions?
I graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio with a degree in Accounting, but by my late 20’s I realized I needed another level of fulfillment in my life other than my career. It was as simple as asking myself “What would make me happy?”, and I knew the answer lied in getting back to something with music, preferably jazz. I started hanging out at clubs and lounges in Cincinnati that had live jazz, and just trying to meet musicians and other jazz lovers. Mutual friends introduced me to a guy who was promoting “jazz sets” in his home, and calling it The Loft Society. The Loft Society held monthly jazz sets with local, regional, and a few national artists. It was quite bohemian with folks sitting on the floor in a big loft, right at the foot of the musicians, eating, drinking, getting high, and enjoying the music. As I became friends with the owner of The Loft Society, I started assisting him in coordinating the monthly performances, executing the PR for each month, scheduling and paying the bands, collecting the cover charge at each gig, and even bringing food to feed the musicians. One of the regular players at the Loft, trumpeter Mike Wade, came to me after one gig and said, “Laura, you’re doing all the real work, why don’t you do this on your own?” And that’s when the light bulb went off in my head. My birthday is February 6th. I promoted my very first gig in February 1999. It was a birthday themed event called “Aquarius Jazz Jam”, and it was a hit. I promoted the “Aquarius Jazz Jam” annually for 5 years, expanding it each year by bringing in national acts like Rene Marie, Steve Wilson and Mulgrew Miller. That very first concert in 1999 sprouted the roots for LAG Productions.

Talk about your LAG Productions activities as they relate to jazz music.
Under LAG Productions, I’ve primarily done jazz concert promotion and venue booking, working with national artists such as Steve, Wilson, Mulgrew Miller, Rene Marie, Javon Jackson, Tim Warfield, Terell Stafford, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis, Jeremy Pelt and Tia Fuller. I’ve promoted and booked jazz in venues in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio with local, regional, and national artists. I worked with the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music for five years assisting with a scholarship fundraiser for the Jazz Studies Department. In 2002, I was the co-producer and festival coordinator for the Greater Cincinnati Jazz & Heritage Festival. For 13 years I’ve been the talent coordinator for the It’s Commonly Jazz concert series. Held every Thursday in August, It’s Commonly Jazz is the longest running free jazz concert series in Cincinnati, Ohio, with 2013 being our 27th year. Since 2007, I’ve been the main coordinator for the annual Col. Bill Williams Music & Heritage festival in Greenup, KY, a festival in honor of my maternal grandfather. I have been executive producer on 3 CD’s for local musicians, and been involved with artist management/consulting for several musicians, offering service for booking/road management, composing bios, and financial advice. I joined the board of non-profit organization Jazz Alive in 2008, and became president in 2010.

The ever-sassy vocalist Rene Marie has been an LAG Productions featured artist.

Which came first, LAG Productions or Jazz Alive?
Jazz Alive was founded in 2001. The three founders, Gordon Brisker, Joseph Gaudio, and Donald Carr, are all graduates of the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music (CCM). I was invited to join the board in 2008 at the request of president emeritus Don Carr (saxophone) and vice president Jim Anderson (acoustic bass), serving as Director of Media Relations and Promotions. Both Don and Jim knew me personally and professionally as a promoter, had invited me to several Jazz Alive events, and I had also donated to the organization. I was elected president of Jazz Alive in 2010.

Please tell us more about Jazz Alive and your related activities.
Jazz Alive is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the uniquely American music art form of jazz and its practitioners. Our mission is to bring greater appreciation and understanding of jazz from bebop era to present day. Jazz Alive does this through its five areas of presentations:
1) In School Time Jazz Program – instruction and in school performances geared toward spawning the next generation of jazz enthusiasts and musicians.
2) Jazz for Seniors Program – to entertain a forgotten audience of jazz lovers in nursing homes and retirement centers.
3) Jazz concerts within the Greater Cincinnati area – encouraging a greater appreciation of jazz in our community, and preserving and expanding the heritage of jazz.
4) Jazz Alive on the Wind radio program on WMKV-FM
5) Co presenter for the It’s Commonly Jazz concert series
In 2012 Jazz Alive presented 4 concerts in Greater Cincinnati, including the CD release party for Lucky 13, the latest CD from saxophonist Javon Jackson and Les McCann. We held 7 In School Time Jazz events reaching 600 students ranging from 2nd thru 12th grades. We were the co-presenter for the 2012 It’s Commonly Jazz series, featuring national artists Wycliffe Gordon and Steve Wilson. And we presented 3 Senior Service events, providing entertainment to 100 senior citizens in nursing homes and retirement centers in Greater Cincinnati.

What’s your sense of trying to bring jazz to your part of the country?
Promoting jazz is hard because of the lack of focus it gets as part of the arts, but it’s particularly challenging in Greater Cincinnati. I had to learn the dynamics of my market, which is critical to any promoter on how to reach your core constituency and generate new patrons. Acceptable venues that are fitting for promoting jazz and ticket price also factor into how I promote and negotiate with national artists. What some artists may not realize is they cannot command the same fee in every geographical region. It may differ tremendously from the East Coast, South, and Midwest based on the mindset and cultural awareness of the market. As a promoter I strive hard to bring artists that are affordable for my market and give great performances because I feel every jazz concert should be an event that leaves a lasting impression on the listener. I like bringing in artists that I know my market has not been exposed to, whether they’re newcomers or have some tenure in the jazz world. That gives greater exposure to my patrons about musicians on the scene and for the artist to a new audience. In 1960 George Wein produced one of his first festivals in Cincinnati, The Ohio Valley Jazz Festival It morphed into the Kool Jazz Festival, but the great tradition that was established ended in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when it changed to primarily R&B. I hope in some small way as a promoter I can contribute to the history that started with jazz in Cincinnati, and keep growing and exposing my audience into larger numbers and higher appreciation for the music.

Tenor man Javon Jackson has been featured in LAG Productions with a CD release party for his collaboration with Les McCann (shown in the collage below); this April Javon will appear in Cleveland at the annual Tri-C JazzFest (April 19-27) in residence and in tribute to Dexter Gordon.

To contact Laura Gentry: www.jazzalive.info