The Independent Ear

Jazz Venue Chronicles: Jazz is alive in Alabama

Posted on August 15, 2010 by The Independent Ear

There’s a tendency among some to view the presentation of live jazz as purely an urban, major-market phenomenon. I’ve had the privilege of experiencing jazz in seemingly unlikely places since developing the first regional jazz service program, at Arts Midwest in the mid-80s. Since then one of the great pleasures of this work has been hearing the stories of those who have striven successfully to present jazz performances in places that to some are off the figurative beaten path.

Communicating with good people like Arnie Malina, first about his jazz exploits in Helena, Montana, then about his more recent work in Burlington, Vermont at the Flynn Center and their annual Discover Jazz Festival, one of this country’s finest festivals; learning how Tom Guralnick developed Outpost Productions in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the work of Tim Jackson in Santa Cruz, California with the Kuumba Jazz Center; Ken Fischer’s exceptional series in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Art Center in Carborro, North Carolina; and countless otherwise unlikey places for jazz presentation, speak to why my glass is perpetually half-full when questions are raised as to the current state of jazz music.

I’ve been fortunate to have been part of funding efforts to support the presentation of jazz in smaller communities across this country, from Arts Midwest through the National Jazz Service Organization and our administration of the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest National Jazz Network, to my present work with the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters “Live” funding program. Among the organizations which have been supported by the latter is the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society in Huntsville, Alabama (TVJS). I recently sought out the TVJS executive director Howard Bankhead for the latest installment in our series of African Americans presenting jazz music.

What’s the history of the TVJS?

Howard Bankhead: The Tennessee Valley Jazz Society was founded in 1981 by some local jazz enthusiasts as a social club that loved jazz. In 1986 good friend Tyrone (who has since moved to the Gambia in Africa) and I wanted to start a non-profit organization to promote jazz. Through Kenneth Gurley’s (then a jazz producer at a local public radio station) radio program “Jazz Expression” we got introduced to local jazz activities and TVJS. From there we met TVJS member Jon Freeman and joined TVJS. Tyrone and I invested our human capital and cash and helped TVJS to survive, strive and become a successful non-profit arts presenting organization.

TVJS has a board of directors and executive director and over 180 members. TVJS operates and presents programs with funding from grants, membership dues, donations, sponsorships, and human capital.

TVJS executive director Howard Bankhead with TVJS education supporter Wynton Marsalis

It is difficult to give a brief history on an organization that has been around for going on 30 years and have a unique story on how it fulfills its missions. Before my time, TVJS was more performance-oriented by presenting local bands and musicians for community events and private gatherings. After we helped build TVJS’ performance/entertainment components, in 1998 I felt the need to expand the organization to the educational component targeting the youth. Since 1998 we have presented Jazz Education is Cool in the schools program to over 27,000 students, faculty and administrators.

Among the artists TVJS has presented are Roy Ayers, Jimmy Heath, Randy Weston, Freddy Cole, Marian McPartland, Fred Wesley, Dave Valentin, Richie Cole, Nnenna Freelon, Jerry Tachoir, Abstrace Jazz Band, Eric Essex, Devere Pride, Jaspects, Victor Goines and many others.

Annually TVJS presents three major projects and several smaller activities; the major projects include:
– Jazz History is American History Celebration (Feb.)
– Annual Jazz-N-June Festival: 8 days of jazz
– Jazz Education is Cool-in-the-Schools, offered
during the ninth month of the school year.
In 2011 we will celebrate 25 years of presenting Jazz History Celebration and the Jazz-N-June Festival.

So many folks seem clueless about anything happening in jazz beyond the major markets; why Huntsville, AL?

That’s a good question; the answer is supernatural. Huntsville, AL is a growing conservative town in the (Red State) south and in order for me to exist and deal with the old southern mind-set, I decided to use my entrepreneurial skills to present and promote what I love. I was not willing to wait on someone else to provide for me, when I was able to provide for them. The music affected me so, that I was compelled to share my personal experiences with others. So myself and a few others have been dedicated to presenting and preserving one of America’s true art forms.

Alabama has fertilized the world with jazz artists, including W.C. Handy, Sun Ra, Nat King Cole, Jothan Callins, Cleveland Eaton, and many others. I’m dedicated to the music, because I love what jazz has given me and I want to share that with others. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said at his opening speech at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, “Jazz speaks for live. The blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.”

Jazz Education-in-the-Schools is the major endeavor I’ve grown to appreciate the most. TVJS is committed to exposing young minds to positive music in today’s negative music culture. With the diversity of TVJS’ membership, we’ve presented the “smooth jazz” flavor as well, but for the most part, when TVJS presents a project, local and regional mainstream jazz is on the menu.

Howard Bankhead at one of the TVJS jazz education sites

What venues does TVJS use for your presentations?

Most of our jazz education programs are presented in the elementary and middle schools of our community. Other education venues include Alabama A&M University; the University of Alabama in Huntsville; public libraries and community centers. Our concerts take place at art museums; civic centers; hotels; clubs; parks and other public locations. For years we have partnered with the Huntsville Housing Authority to entertain senior citizens in the Authority’s retirement centers. In addition TVJS has contracted with private retirement communities to bring seniors the joy of music. Developing a jazz mobile concept is part of our long-term planning.

What other efforts has TVJS engaged in, beyond your public presentations?

We’ve engaged in youth golf and life skills development programs, and health awareness projects. In 1998 I proposed to that board that we expand our territory to expand our mission to offer education in other endeavors, such as sports (golf) and health. I felt that by offering the community other services to benefit the development of the youth and the general populace as a whole, TVJS could apply for additional funding beyond our jazz presentation grants, and increase our financial base.

Since then we’ve been on the Golf Channel twice, we’ve gotten golf scholarships for students, and we’ve impacted the lives of over 1,900 youth with life skills; we’ve introduced youth to alternative ways of living (health awareness), all the while continuing our core mission of being trustees for jazz in our community.

Would you say TVJS has broadened the audience for jazz in your community?

Through grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA), the National Endowment for the Arts, local financial support, and in-kind services from other partners (local media) and TVJS, we have presented jazz education to over 24,500 students, faculty and staff in the efforts at broadening the jazz audience. We must understand that the cultural war is waged on all fronts. Since 1998, TVJS has donated overe $300,000 in in-kind services to education.

Another part of TVJS’ long-range goals is to propose to ASCA the presentation of a state-wide jazz festival. We recognize that jazz education in the schools can make school and learning fun for students. We can seamlessly educate a percentage of the populace by presenting TVJS initiatives, which in turn helps to broaden the audience for jazz and the arts.

Visit the Tennessee Valley Jazz Society-Huntsville online at www.tvjs.webs.com.

Posted in General Discussion | 3 Comments

African Rhythms Video

Posted on August 4, 2010 by The Independent Ear

For the full story on the long journey towards development of the forthcoming book African Rhythms, the as-told-to autobiography of NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston, check out Bret Primack (“The Jazz Video Guy”)’s outstanding new video.  Click on below…

Posted in General Discussion | 2 Comments

Staying the course of creativity: Esperanza Spalding

Posted on July 28, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Bassist Esperanza Spalding has led a bit of a whirlwind artistic life for one so young and fresh off their second release as a leader.  Esperanza,  the singing bassist’s sophomore release on Heads Up was rather promising, if a bit all over the map — as freshman label releases often are.  It proved to be a good calling card, landing the young woman on all manner of stages and festivals.  I witnessed on at least three occasions how Spalding, generally opening for some higher profile artist (ala Dianne Reeves at the Warner Theatre in DC), captivated audiences with the impressive dexterity of her bass work and singing.  Yes indeed, her original lyrics — seemingly part of her masterplan insistence, and which left  little room for her to truly breathe a song, tumbling out in torrents — could use further study, and her voice needs ripening and broadening, but evidence suggests that will surely come with experience.

Acclaim has come all along her sophomore trail, landing her in rarified atmospheres for a jazz artist, including an appearance on the Letterman show that was an instant YouTube classic.  These opportunities also included her recent stint on the televised BET awards show, which sparked some aw shucks post-show remarks from the bassist that gave clear indication that such experiences wouldn’t deter her on the road to creativity.  Last week Robin Givhan’s excellent and expansive Washington Post Style section piece  on Michelle Obama’s impressive White House arts events (7/21 edition), once again highlighted Esperanza’s (likewise pianist Eric Lewis‘) earlier White House performance, with a photo and this priceless quote from the First Lady: “She was such a series of contradictions; this little-bitty woman with an Afro and a bass with that angelic voice playing jazz.  You know, I love that…”  That mini-triumph led to a command performance by Spalding at President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony; as I said, rare atmospheres for a jazz musician.  And Ms. Spalding is indeed a jazz musician, despite her crossover appeal; and that’s what is continually promising about this young woman.  She makes no bones about the fact that she’s still very much on the learning arc, and still very much committed to playing the art of the improvisers.  One need look no further than her ongoing stint as bassist in the restless saxophone master Joe Lovano‘s bristling Us Five ensemble for some evidence.

More recently Spalding, who at the time of her engagement several years ago as a professor at her alma mater Berklee College of Music was their youngest-ever instructor (succeeding Pat Metheny in that distinction), has been appointed artistic adviser to her hometown Portland Jazz Festival.  Along comes her Heads Up follow-up release  its very title, Chamber Music Society, serving notice that there’ll be no gratuitous effort at capitalizing on her crossover success.  Instead she delivers an understated record whose initial listens promise further revelations with successive spins.  As opposed to fluffy pop, she’s put together a program with arranger Gil Goldstein (noted grad of the Gil Evans school) with her bass and vocals shaded by chamber strings and spare rhythm section, addressing material from the books of Dimitri Tiomkin, Jobim, Leonardo Genovese, plus eight of her originals, one based on William Blake poetry.  This coupled with interview pronouncements bathed in humility and strongly suggesting an admirable quest, are hopeful signs from this unusual young artist.

Posted in General Discussion, Records | Leave a comment

Jazz Venue Chronicles: Monday Nights in Silver Spring

Posted on July 18, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Continuing our investigation of folks who are endeavoring to present jazz in non-traditional ways and non-traditional venues (ala Search and Restore), our series of conversations with what has become a seemingly rare breed over the last 40 years — African Americans who present jazz on their stages — this installment is our chat with emerging young vocalist Chad Carter and his father Ted Carter, who are successfully carving out a Monday Night jazz series at Vicino’s, an Italian restaurant in Silver Spring, MD.

Detail the history and development of Monday Night Jazz at Vicino’s, and also your operation JazzKnights.

Ted Carter: JazzKnights is my son’s creation and idea.

Chad Carter: When we first started Vicino’s we were green as green could be on all fronts.  However we were blessed with creativity and the ability to do critical thinking to make our way through the art and business sides. The real reason Vicino’s is a reality for the music was because I needed a place to work at my [vocal] craft.  I was not getting the kind of work I wanted to get.  While musicians were being gracious enough to allow me to sit in on their gigs to do a tune here and there, and since I was not in school for music, I needed to go to the school of life through doing more singing and paying dues.

Chad’s debut was recorded live @ Vicino’s

Chad Carter’s odyssey has taken him through the Ronnie Wells and Ron Elliston jazz vocal workshop, gigs with the late DC drummer Ricky Loza, volunteer work on Wells and Elliston’s former East Coast Jazz Festival (re-christened last winter as the Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival), and sitting in with all manner of DC’s finest.  Graduate studies took him to Pittsburgh, where he became a regular at Pittsburgh Jazz Society jam sessions, and interacted with such Pittsburgh stallwarts as drummer Roger Humphries.  After graduate studies, in true DIY fashion, Chad began casting about for his own platform on the DC jazz scene.

Chad: I went through the process of canvassing the DC metropolitan area for potential venues that were virgin territory for presenting jazz.  When I first approached my Pops about Vicino’s he said, “No, I don’t think this would work too tough… it’s in the basement… and I just don’t see this…”  A few months later he re-thought Vicino’s and we went back and spoke with [the proprietor].  We tried one show, he liked it and the rest is history.

Over time we have developed the “basement” into a nice little supper club setting, with jazz photos, and artwork all over the walls, up and down the stairwell, and even in the bathroom.  I really wanted to create a bonafide “jazz joint” and club.  To do that we had to have all professionals in there from the start.  Eventually we have been able to get emerging artists in the rotation for shows.  However, the only rookie on the show rotation in the early days was yours truly.  After all, I sought out a place for myself to develop and grow.

JazzKnights developed when I was in a web and multimedia class while in graduate school.  I wanted to come back to DC and create an online community for musicians in the DC metro area to sign up for jazz webpages off of my site.  So, years later, I’m using JazzKnights.com for the online community for Monday Night Jazz.  The name JazzKnights came from my desire to protect and honor jazz.  I like the idea of being a champion for something, giving honor to an honorable and treasured art form.

So why Monday Night Jazz, and why Vicino’s?

Chad: Monday was a day that no one in the DC metro area was really exploiting as a viable evening for events.  Additionally, this happened to be the slowest night for Vicino’s, which made everything we brought to the business a bonus.  By locking in Monday night, any new business we brought to an otherwise slow night meant we were instant value added to the already successful Vicino’s business.

Ted: A1. A cooperative owner; B1. Slowest night at Vicino’s; A2. We were able to “lock down” Monday Night for our shows at the exclusion of anyone else wanting to be there for any other reason.  We had Monday Nights exclusively.  B2. [Vicino’s] location is close to Metro, close to downtown Silver Spring on a familiar street (Sligo Avenue); and [Vicino’s is] 500 feet from Georgia Avenue, the main [traffic] artery running from midtown DC well into Silver Spring and all the way to Olney.

Chad: Also [Monday Nights] helped to keep us somewhat under the rader while we got ourselves together (i.e. learning how to program shows, learning the etiquette for dealing with musicians, learning sound equipment and stage setup and break-down, email lists, website promotion, reaching out to the local radio station [WPFW], etc.), and even learning where in the room to best place the stage.  We are still learning!

Eventually Monday became an extension of the weekend.  Often times when we think of the golden years of jazz music and the clubs it was played in, we think of those intimate settings in a smoky room with amazing talent on the bandstand capturing the listening audience.  Well, that’s the charm Vicino’s brings… minus the smoke.  Before the jazz, Vicino’s was already a wonderfully quaint family friendly restaurant, serving the best Italian cuisine in Silver Spring.  The other thing that makes Jazz at Vicino’s so special is the owner, John Eshun.  As John likes to say, “you do the music, and I’ll stick to the spaghetti and meatballs!”

What kind of music menu do you endeavor to present at Vicino’s?

Ted: Straight-ahead jazz, some blues, American songbook fare.  In addition, these presentations are offered by very young musicians (i.e. inexperienced players) to old, seasoned veterans like [tenor man] Buck Hill.

Chad: We look to present straight-ahead jazz, blues, and plenty of vocal fare.  I wanted to create a jazz vocalist-friendly venue.  Unlike instrumentalists, vocalists are afforded the lyric to tell a story that only words and music can [convey].  Someone once said, “if words were enough to express human emotion, there would be no need for music.”  I contend that with the marriage of words and music, human emotion can at times reach its highest heights.

What do you see as the benefits of presenting jazz in a restaurant setting?

Ted: It provides an opportunity to satisfy several senses: visual, smell, taste, and sound; the appetizing smell, taste, sound, and visual offerings make it an experience to remember.  The overall atmosphere tends to be a relaxed one, and it can sometimes satisfy intellectual curiosity.

Chad’s latest is a studio date featuring Philly tenor titan Bootsie Barnes.  Keep up with Chad at www.chadcartersings.com; with Monday Night Jazz at Vicino’s at www.jazzknights.com.

Chad: I openly and unapologetically say, from a very self serving standpoint, it has allowed me the opportunity to work at my craft outside of practicing.  Putting the practice to work in a real setting is the greatest learning experience of all, its called life, living in the moment.  They say there’s no education like experience itself.  I was looking to get that education from experience and that’s what Vicino’s represented to me.  Presenting jazz in the restaurant setting has a benefit through the additional shared experience of people breaking bread together and enjoying an unspoken connection through the universal language of jazz music.

What have been some of your most successful presentations at Vicino’s?

Ted: Performances by [tenor saxophonist] Bootsie Barnes, [pianist] Danny Mixon, and [vocalist] Barbara Morrison.  [Some of our most successful presentations have been] whenever we have hard driving, creative musicians that like and respect their audiences as well as their music.

Chad: Some of our most successful presentations have been by artists who take a proactive role in promoting themselves, the supporting venue, and the music.  Many times one would expect the less seasoned and lesser known artist to take the more proactive role, but we have found that often times it’s the artist who already has some name recognition that go the extra mile in making phone calls, beating the bushes and the pavement to get people out to hear the music.

Are you looking to expand at any time, and what do you have coming up that you can share with the readers?

Ted: We are experimenting with Friday night jazz and blues on selected weeks.  We contemplated having a workshop series which would in some instances include music performances.  There will also be a continued attempt to integrate high school students and young people in general in our jazz and blues workshop series.

Chad: We are always “noodling” through different ideas.  We continuously try to think of creative ways to bring more people to the music via new twists on tried and true formats.  Going against the norm when possible is one of the things that helps us to standout as a unique experience, although taking these risks can be politically risky at times.

Posted in The Presenter's P.O.V. | 1 Comment

A Portal to Jazz in New York City

Posted on July 18, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Plain and simple folks, as I’ve been preaching for many moons, the biggest issue facing jazz music is not a matter of lack of gigs or venues, dying record companies or jazz masters checking out for ancestry, or the lack of widespread 24/7 jazz radio; the biggest issue is audience, and our collective ability to grow the audience for this music.  I’ve long held that they’re out here — "they" being the latent audience for this music, the undiscovered audience for this music, the slumbering audience for this music.  After many years of teaching jazz courses on the college level, and hearing dozens of students exclaim that their experience with this music through my course was their first exposure to the music — and how a new world of music has opened up for them — I’m convinced there is a broader audience for this music than we’re reaching through our traditional means.

There’s a fresh web portal operating in New York City which is endeavoring to do its part to grow the audience for this music by providing timely information about who’s playing where in the five boroughs, and more.  But Seach And Restore is much more than an information-based web portal; they are also one of the entities behind the recent, and quite ambitious, 2010 New York City Undead Jazzfest.  Over two reportedly electric June nights in the Village, the Undead Jazzfest presented a 35+ group marathon festival at three venues not ordinarily known for jazz presentation: Le Poisson Rouge, Kenny’s Castaways, and Sullivan Hall. This was their first warm weather foray following two years of the very successful Winterfest, a similar jazz marathon presented in January to piggyback on the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference in NYC.  Recently I sought out Sarah Charles of Search And Restore for the 411 on their efforts.

What is the mission of Search And Restore?

Search & Restore is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining, expanding and exploding the live jazz audience in New York City among younger and bigger audiences.  Through creative concert presentation and SearchAndRestore.com, the best resource for live jazz in New York City, Seach and Restore aims to unite a community around forward thinking jazz and is determined to shatter the pretense that an audience needs to understand the music before they hear it.  Rather, Search and Restore feels that jazz being made today is some of the must human music ever made, and will bring these incredible melodies and improvised insanities to as many people as possible.  Don’t try and stop them.

How would you make the case for the basic necessity of Search & Restore?  And please detail the development of Search & Restore.

We’re just throwing the shows that we would want to go to.  When I moved to New York in 2006, I was 19 years old and every show I went to had incredible music, but there were a lot of issues present that I felt kept the scene from developing as a sustainable and dynamic community.  Most venues charged by the set, so you were basically ushered in and out of the venue for an hour of music.  On top of that there were drink minimums, and often times ticket prices that exceeded $20.  The only venues to see a great show for a cheap ticket were tiny, and a sold out show often meant some audience discomfort.  I knew that things could be better, so I started a monthly series at the Knitting Factory.  My goal has and will always be to value the audience and the music equally, as part of the whole, a positive and memorable event. 

The shows are often double bills, for one cheap cover, with a student discount, no drink minimum, and taking place in unconventional settings for the music.  The Knitting Factory series developed our community among jazz fans in the city, young and old alike.  Then when the Knit closed its doors we began working on SearchAndRestore.com, again making an effort to fill a void. 

I wanted to create a web site that was a true home for the modern jazz and improvised music scene, and was also a place for people who wanted to know more about the music but didn’t know where to start.  We started by taking the calendar information for every venue in the city that has jazz shows and putting it into our database, which we do by hand every month.  So, you can go to SearchAndRestore.com and find out what shows are happening every night, or see a venue’s calendar for the entire month all in one place.  We are slowly but surely making the move towards hosting much more original content, and in the next year SearchAndRestore.com will be the absolute best place to see dynamic video of all the amazing music happening in New York.  We really just want to provide a great place for people to go to discover new music.  Since the beginning I’ve built up a trust with the community that we only present and endorse what we think is great.  There’s so much magic happening in New York City and we want to show it to more people all the time.

Jazz accidentally became an exclusive and inaccessible art.  I believe that is due to the popularized academic notion that you need to truly understand the history of the music to understand what’s happening with it.  I’ve taken people to shows and they think they’re supposed to "get" something.  But they’re not.  There is a strong breed of modern jazz and improvised music being made right now that I believe is more human than anything.  You could have been born yesterday and let the music envelop you, and it would feel really, really great.  I’m in the business of music that makes people feel really great, and everything Search & Restore does revolves around that.  This music is for everyone; jazz is a music of the people, and we’re taking it back.

How can the jazz community best support the goals of Search & Restore and also become involved or engaged if they wish?

On the most basic level, the community can come to shows.  We’re always throwing shows and festivals and love seeing the recurring familiar faces as our community grows.  We’re all working towards the same thing.  Our organization has a large volunteer program as well. so if anyone would like to see great shows for free, they can email SearchAndRestore@gmail.com to find out how they can contribute to our operations of creative promotion, audience development, and the many other endeavors we have in the works.

Now that we are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization we also of course accept tax deductible donations.  We haven’t made a full-fledged fundraising effort, but we will embark on one in the next few months to help get our video department up and running.  Finally, people can simply tell their friends.  Our web site really needs to offer what every jazz fan is looking for, and the more people who can dig into it, the more we can grow.

Where do you and your partners envision Search & Restore going with this, and ultimately what services do you see yourselves providing to the jazz community?

I believe at the core, Search And Restore is injecting a raw energy into the jazz scene.  Because we are so young, we’re able to approach our shows in a unique way, and audiences are responding to being dealt something different.  So, we’re going to keep upping the ante.  Eventually we’ll be able to have a weekly concert series, a new double bill each week that can bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to hear some amazing music.  We’ve felt the fire, such as with our 4 night Kneebody consecutive nights residency at 45 Bleecker in February, which packed in 200 people every night, many of whom were under the age of 25.  I want to access that energy more frequently.

But the Search And Restore video peogram is the real gold on the horizon.  Once we begin integrating live video into our web site, done the only way we know how — by filming everything [ourselves] — people will suddenly have an entry point to the NY jazz scene online.  These bands truly shine in the live setting, significantly more than on record.  And the albums tend to sound better once you’ve seen it live.  So, by giving people a quality video database of amazing performances, more and more people will be able to engage with the music being made today, and modern jazz can develop a sustainable scene, rather than barely hold onto the audience it has.  The next step will be to travel to festivals across the world and film the jazz produced at a local level, so that through SearchAndRestore.com people can get a great sense for where jazz and improvised music is at on a global scale.

I also want to shatter the barrier between jazz and the rest of the music world.  The current rock scene is more dynamic than ever, but it’s been very hard to develop any audience crossover.  It’s been happening between rock and the classical new music scene, but never with jazz.  Jazz shot itself in the foot with the fusion movement, which was so explicitly "rock + jazz" and I think it scared a lot of people off, and still does.  But there’s so much great jazz happening now that has a serious aggressive energy and pulse that is not far off from current rock and roll magic being created by bands such as the Dirty Projectors or Liars, or These Are Powers.  The list could go on and on and on, and by recognizing that I think Search And Restore can become a trusted entry point into great jazz for people who have normally rejected the music all together.

                                                            www.SearchAndRestore.com

 

Posted in The Audience | 1 Comment