Live Jazz: The Tierney Sutton Band at Catalina Bar & Grill

By Don Heckman

One of the great pleasures of writing about music is the opportunity to experience the progress that can take place, over months and years, in the work of gifted artists.  Hearing the Tierney Sutton Band at Catalina Bar & Grill Friday night was a good example.

It had been less than a year since I’d last heard Tierney and the guys in the same venue.  And that performance was admirable in every way.

This time out, some of the material from that show was repeated, notably selections from the TSB’s latest recording, American Road. And there was more – some random choices from the Great American Songbook, medleys of songs from My Fair Lady and Porgy and Bess.  All of it illustrating the creative evolution of this remarkable musical collective.

Regardless of what Tierney sang, it was offered with an almost literary layering of emotional story telling.  The impact began early in nearly every song. Often, starting with the opening Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise, her first expression was a wordless improvised passage.  Some of them recalled the musical intimacy of the Bach Sonatas for Solo Violin.  Others simmered with slipping and sliding jazz accents.

When Tierney moved into the interior of a song, the carefully crafted group arrangements that are an essential characteristic of the TSB took over.  Some of the arrangement elements depicted stylistic aspects of the band’s unique musical identity: shifting from a groove tempo, often in 6/4, to a high speed, autobahn rhythm in 4; using dramatic percussion explosions from drummer Ray Brinker to create emotional transitions; dazzling improvisational interplay between Tierney’s wordless scatting and the fleet-fingered soloing of pianist Christian Jacob.

Tierney celebrated the presence of Alan and Marilyn Bergman in the audience with an exquisite version of “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” completely capturing the song’s light-hearted poignancy.  Another standard, “I Want To Be Happy,” showcased more of the TSB’s stunning blend of precise, but hard-swinging rhythm and soaring improvisational spontaneity.

Add to that a pair of tunes from the band’s Desire album juxtaposing the sweet sentimentality of “Then I’ll Be Tired of You” with the darker tendencies of “Cry Me A River,”  linked by a surging bass interlude from Kevin Axt. And top it off with Tierney’s rousing romp through “The Lady Is A Tramp.”

As I suggested above, hearing the continually growing artistry of an already masterful jazz ensemble such as the Tierney Sutton Band is one of the great satisfactions in my line of work.  And this performance offered all that and a lot more.

The Tierney Sutton Band performs tonight (Sunday) in the final performance of their three night run at Catalina Bar & Grill (323) 466-2210.  Don’t miss it.

CD Review; Joe Walsh “Analog Man”

 Joe Walsh

Analog Man (Fantasy)

 By Brian Arsenault

Ah, Joe Walsh. You expect big guitar riffs and he doesn’t disappoint. This is a guy who doesn’t need to be anything other than a rock ‘n roll guitarist so you get authenticity, veracity, even tenacity.

You expect humorous, sometimes ironic lyrics.  He doesn’t disappoint even if you also get some sentimentality but, hey, who needs consistency let alone obscurity.

For a while this album seems to be pretty much the Joe Walsh/Jeff Lynne (yes, ELO and The Traveling Wilburys‘ Jeff Lynne) as Lynne produces and plays whatever Walsh doesn’t. But look, here comes Ringo on drums for a song and Crosby and Nash (but no Stills) doing backup vocals on another.

But make no mistake this is not a Ringo’s All Star band or big name collaborative album.  It is Joe Walsh throughout.

Did I mention the big guitar riffs?

The album has just been released — first in vinyl with CD to follow.  Walsh may be an Analog Man but he’s no fool.  He knows that turntable stereos are secreted away by some of us other analogs like short-wave radios hidden by the French Resistance.

The vinyl package even includes a card good for “a free 24 bit 96 KHZ high resolution audio download.” Proud to say I don’t know what hardly any of that means and if Joe doesn’t either he at least knows that you need it.

If it were still possible for a simply good rocker to be a hit single (please tell me it is), “One Day at a Time” would have a real shot even if it is a bit of a lament for hard living older guys.  Did I mention the big guitar licks? An infectious toe tapper for those no longer able to dance the night away.

“Spanish Dancer” might also manage radio play. A neat tribute to a woman who can entrance with a dance, it’s the surprise delight of the album. Oh, and some big guitar licks.

“Band Played On” seems a little George Harrison in instrumentation and lyrical stylings. Probably no mistake that Ringo shows up on this track. Note that I am not mentioning the big guitar licks.

“Funk 50″ is, well, funky and “India” is almost completely big guitar licks.

And there are even words to live by. On “Lucky That Way”, Walsh intones “if you just act like you know what you’re doing . . . everybody thinks that you do.”  That’s a pretty good description of my meandering so-called professional life and that of many others.  I also know the converse to be true: that almost nobody knows, so acting like you do is a necessity.

This is not a long album, nor a dreaded “concept” album.  And almost nothing, thank goodness, sounds like the Eagles. There are some recurring themes but it’s mostly just good rock done by an old, make that veteran, master.

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To read more posts and reviews by Brian Arsenault click HERE.

Jazz with an Accent: New CDs from e.s.t., Tania Maria and Eddie Gomez, Alfredo Rodriguez, Diego Schissi, and Christian Escoude

By Fernando Gonzalez

The music business might be not much of a business these days, but the quantity, variety and quality of the music being released is quite astonishing. No, not every recording is great or even merely necessary. Few would argue against democratizing the production and delivery process in music – but on the other hand, not everybody who can make a recording should. That said, trying to stay up to date with worthy new releases has become a frustrating proposition. Rather than “Jazz with an Accent” these notes might soon be titled “Running after the Bus.”

Here are some notable new releases.

 e.s.t.

301 (ACT)

Just about as it was gaining recognition as one of the most promising groups in 21^st century jazz the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, or e.s.t., came to a brutally abrupt, tragic end when its pianist and leader died in a scuba diving accident in June, 2008.  The sound of the trio, which included drummer Magnus Öström and bassist Dan Berglund, was an intriguing mix. It could play as cooly lyrical jazz one moment, informed by European classical music and Nordic sensibilities, and blow up as drum’n’bass, with bits of noise and electronics and a ferocious rock energy the next.

Culled from the material developed in two days of jamming in a studio in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 in the off days of an Asia and Australia tour, 301 plays as a terrific summation of the group’s power and music. It is actually the second posthumous recording from those sessions. According to the promotional information, Svensson had edited the material from those sessions down to two albums. Only one was released — Leucocyte (ACT 2008). Edited by Öström, Berglund and the band’s regular sound engineer Ake Linton, 301 (the name refers to Sydney’s Studio 301 where it was recorded) shows a mature, confident group working as a unit, listening hard, paying attention to dynamics and generally pushing and chasing each other down unexpected rabbit holes.  It’s tempting, But pointless, to hear 301 and wonder what might have been. What it is, is remarkable.

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Tania Maria with Eddie Gomez

Tempo (Naïve)

France-based Brazilian pianist and vocalist Tania Maria’s first album of new music in nearly six years is a surprising, small pleasure. A capable pianist who also was once nominated for a Grammy as a jazz vocalist (at one point in time her label promoted her as sounding  “sometimes” like a “Brazilian Aretha Franklin”), Tania Maria gained an international following as a fiery, high-energy performer. But in Tempo, a duet recording featuring bassist Eddie Gomez, her approach, while still full of verve, is pared down to essentials — and made better for it.

Tania Maria’s originals are all instrumentals, none particularly memorable but all well constructed. She draws from Brazilian music, blues and jazz and frames the mix with a pop sensibility.  She sings here, very effectively, in both Italian (“Estate,” an Italian pop hit since turned standard by artists as disparate as Joao Gilberto and Shirley Horn), and Portuguese (“Sentado A Beira Do Camino,” “A Chuva Caiu,” and “Bronzes e Cristais”).

Gomez is an invaluable partner throughout, laying down a solid foundation with a percussive edge, smartly letting the music breathe but also forceful and active when needed. And, no news here, Gomez is an effective soloist,  including  a beautifully bowed performance in Tania Maria’s “Senso Unico.”

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 In short …

 Alfredo Rodriguez: Sounds of Space (Mack Avenue)

The debut recording of LA-based Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez plays like a sampler  –  all original pieces in a variety of styles, both traditional and his own, showcasing his technical breadth and depth.  Consider the opening “Qbafrica,” with its baroque Hermeto Pascoal references, leading into the elegant bolero “Sueño de Paseo,” and back up again to the burner “Silence.” Rodriguez is featured here leading two ensembles, one from Cuba, the other one based on the United States.

 Diego Schissi Quinteto: Tongos (Sunnyside)

Argentine pianist and composer calls his music “not tango, but close.” In fact, his post-Piazzolla tango features a similar instrumentation to that of the maestro’s (violin, guitar, bandoneón, bass and piano) and shares references (Bartok and Stravinsky as well as tango tradition) before going its own way. Not much improvisation here, but smart writing, beautifully shaded, and paced playing and a path to the tango for the 21^st century – or something close to it.

Christian Escoudé Plays Brassens (Sunnyside)

How much you may enjoy this release by French guitarist Christian Escoudé does not depends on how much you know about the great poet and songwriter George Brassens. Originally mostly voice-and-guitar songs, Escoudé treats them as standards and arranges them for various sextets. If you know these songs, you´ll appreciate the humor and affection in Escoudé´s versions. But even if you don´t, the pleasures in these well-constructed songs and the unhurried swing and modestly displayed virtuosity of Escoudé and his ensemble (which includes guitarist Birelli Lagrene on one track) need no translation. A delight.

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To read more posts from Fernando Gonzalez and “Jazz With An Accent” click HERE.

Picks of the Week: May 22 – 27

By Don Heckman

Los Angeles

Kathleen Grace

- May 22. (Tues.)  Kathleen Grace Group.  Singer Grace, a true musical adventurer, combines the folk-based methods of the ‘70s singer songwriters with her jazz roots in her new album, Mirror.   Blue Whale.    (213) 620-0908

- May 22. (Tues.) Otmaro Ruiz/Aaron Serfaty Quartet.  Versatile pianist Ruiz and drummer Serfaty – musical partners for three decades — get together with the solid bass playing of Edwin Livingstone and the lush vocals of Brazilian singer/composer Catina De Luna. Vitello’s.    (818) 769-0905.

- May 24. (Thurs.)  Vardan Ovsepian.  Armenia-born pianist/composer Ovsepian celebrates his birthday with a release party for his new CD, Chromaticity.  Blue Whale.   (213) 620-0908.

- May 24 – 27. (Thurs. – Sun.)  The Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Four consecutive nights of Mozart compositions conducted by Gustavo Dudamel,  Thurs. and Sat. will begin the three year Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy with Don Giovanni. Friday night and Sun. afternoon will feature Exultate, jubilate and the Posthorn Serenade (K. 320) with soprano Kiera Duffy.  Disney Hall.    (323) 850-2000.

Tierney Sutton

- May 25 – 27. (Fri. – Sun.) Tierney Sutton Band. It’s one of the finest musical partnerships in all of jazz – the almost symbiotic connection between Sutton’s warm, pliable voice and the complimentary responsiveness of her Band.  Hopefully they’ll play some selections from her latest CD, American Road.  Catalina Bar & Grill. (323) 466-2210.

- May 26. (Sat.)  War and Tower of Power. Two of the heavy rhythm, hard charging rock bands of the late ‘60s and beyond, War and Tower of Power impacted much of the crossover music that followed.  And they’re still at it. Greek Theatre.    (323) 665-5857.

- May 27. (Sun.) Alan Broadbent.  The gifted pianist/composer Broadbent, long one of the Southland’s jazz benefits, moved to the east coast last year.  Fortunately he comes back from time to time, so don’t miss this visit, in which he’ll be backed by bassist Pat Senatore and drummer Kendall Kay.  Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc.    (310) 474-9400.

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May 27. (Sun.) The 2012 Playboy Jazz Festival’s Second Community Concert. The Playboy Jazz Festival’s annual free concerts leading up to the Festival itself — which takes place on June 16 & 17 at the Hollywood Bowl – are some of the Southland’s greatest jazz bargains. And this year is no exception.  The second free concert of the 2012 Festival takes place at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.  The featured act is the Jeff Lorber Fusion.

Jeff Lorber

Founded in 1977, the Fusion was a pacemaker in transforming cross-over pop- and rock-influenced jazz into a convincing musical blend.  Since then, Lorber’s done everything from solo recording and production and session work to r&b and video game music.  But his many fans are always delighted on the rare occasions when he once again revives the inimitable Jeff Lorber Fusion.

Also on the bill, the fine playing of the Washington Preparatory High School Jazz Ensemble, another collective of Southland young players convincingly proving that the future of jazz is in fine hands.,  The Second Free Playboy Community Concert at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.        (310) 450-1173.

 San Francisco

- May 25 – 27. (Fri. – Sun.)  Joshua Redman’s James Farm group examines some of the far reaching connections between jazz and contemporary pop sounds.  With pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Eric Harland.  Yoshi’s Oakland.   (510) 238-9200.

Chicago

- May 24 – 27. (Thurs. – Sun.)  Gerald Clayton Trio.  Already an impressive pianist when he was in his teens, the twentysomething Clayton has matured into one of the gifted jazz artists of his generation.  Jazz Showcase.    (312) 360-0234.

New York

Joe Lovano

- May 22 – 26. (Tues. – Sat.)  Joe Lovano US Five. The dynamic tenor saxophonist’s talented young band checks out the music from his Bird Songs album – the still potent pleasures of bebop and its memories.  Birdland.    Bird Songs.  Album  *212( 581-3080.

- May 22 – 27. (Tues. – Sun.)  Fred Hersch Duos & Trio. Pianist Hersch continues his fascinating journey through classically-oriented jazz territories via his work with duos and a trio. The Jazz Standard.    (212) 576-2232.

- May 277. (Sun.)  Ravichandra Kulur.  South Indian flutist Kulur is a master of the Carnatic ragas and talas of his homeland.  His improvisational excursions are aided by Arun Ramamurthy, violin, and Akshay Anantapadmanabhan, mridangam.  Cornelia St. Café.   (212) 989-9319.

London

- May 27. (Sun.)  Sunday Jazz Lunch Celebrating the Modern Jazz Quartet.  The ensemble of Jim Hart, Barry Green, Matt Ridley and Steve Brown perform the memorable music of the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet.  Ronnie Scott’s.   020 7439 0747.

Berlin

Anat Cohen

- May 22 (Tues.)  The Three Cohens.  The gifted Cohen siblings Anat, clarinet and tenor saxophone, Yuval, soprano saxophone, and Avishai, trumpet, display their extraordinary jazz skills in the company of pianist Yonatan Avishai, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Jonathan Blake.  A-Trane.  030 / 313 25 50.

Milan

- May 23 – 25. (Wed. – Fri. )  The Yellowjackets.  After more than three decades of musical togetherness, the Yellowjackets continue to bring some impressive jazz essence to their unique blend of fusion and smooth jazz.  Blue Note Milano.   02.69.01.68.88.

Tokyo

- May 22 & 23. (Tues. & Wed.)  The Brian Blade Fellowship Band. Always a much in demand jazz sideman, drummer Blade has recently begun – with his Fellowship Band — to reveal his significant skills as singer and a songwriter.  Blue Note Tokyo.  03-5485-0088.

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Tierney Sutton photo by Tony Gieske.  

Theatre Review:

“FOLLIES“

By Don Heckman

I finally got around to seeing Follies last Thursday night.  I’d had some reservations about what to expect from a revival of what is, by almost any standard, one of the seminal American musical theatre pieces.  But when our dear friend Susan Watson Wright, an enchanting member of the cast, offered us some house seats, how could I resist.

The current revival had received rave reviews from its original performance at the Kennedy Center, after the opening of its six month run on Broadway, and after its Los Angeles premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre on May 3.  But Bernadette Peters had dropped out after the Broadway run, choosing not to be part of the L.A. cast.  And one couldn’t help but wonder what impact this had on the creative communal interaction among the large cast.

As it turned out, no worries.  About anything.  Follies is already being touted as a favorite to win a Tony Award in the best revival category, and the show’s seven other Tony nominations cover acting, costumes, sound and lighting.  All with excellent reason, as the Ahmanson production thoroughly confirmed.  Suffice to say that no dollar was left unspent, no stone left unturned in creating a performance brilliantly illuminating Follies’ stunning combination of music and story.

The setting is a 1971 reunion  party for the showgirls of Weissman’s Follies.  Among the party goers, a collection of aging performers – many of whom are seeing each other for the first time in decades.  And some of whom are still captivated by their early love affairs, despite having moved on to other relationships – most notably two unhappily married couples, Phyllis and Ben, and Sally and Buddy.

Book writer James Goldman’s story has been transformed by Stephen Sondheim’s stunning score into musical theatre at its finest.  In classic fashion, one illuminating song after another advances the plot while simultaneously providing a vehicle for several brilliant solo performances from the stellar cast.

Among them are some now-legendary Sondheim songs: “Broadway Baby,” sung in explosively dynamic fashion by Tony-nominated Jayne Houdyshell; “I’m Still Here,” in a superb rendering by the U.K.’s theatre star, Elaine Page; “Could I Leave You?” delivered in convincing fashion by Tony-nominated Jan Maxwell; and the “folly” song “Losing My Mind” sung and performed emotionally by Victoria Clark.

Other songs were equally vital in bringing the story to life: “The Road You Didn’t Take”; and the three other final, individual “folly” songs, sung by the other members of the two couples, “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues” by Danny Burstein; “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” by Maxwell; and the climactic “Live, Laugh, Love” by Tony-nominated Ron Raines.

And there’s much more.  Including “Who’s That Woman,” a wild, choreographic delight in which the elder showgirls go step for step with the young images of their distant past.  As well as the startlingly dramatic visual transformations – some of them cinematic in scope – accompanying the “Loveland” segment that closes the performance.

In short, it was just about everything one could ask for in musical theatre.  Follies has been – as I suggested above – one of the definitive words/music/dance works of the American theatre since it first arrived on Broadway in 1971.  I didn’t see that version, but it would be hard to imagine a more convincing production, on all counts, than the show that runs at the Ahmanson through June 9.  It simply doesn’t get any better than this.

CD Review: Martha’s Trouble “A Little Heart Like You”

Martha’s Trouble

A Little Heart Like You (Aisling Records)

By Brian Arsenault

Martha’s Trouble, for the uninitiated ‘til now like me, is a husband and wife folk duo — Rob and Jen Slocumb — who had great critical success with their first album a few years ago, did the touring thing, released more albums with some success and then devoted some years primarily to their two young children.  A happy outcome of that kid commitment, besides presumably happier children, is their album of lullabies, to wit:  A Little Heart Like You.

The Slocumbs wrote several of the tunes here and interpreted some traditional lullabies as well.  The result is pleasing without being saccharine and, hey, we’re talking lullabies here.

Martha’s Trouble (Rob and Jen Slocumb)

If you had a musical cousin somewhere in the hill country, a sweet girl, a thoughtful girl, a sometimes sad girl, her singing would probably sound a lot like Jen’s. Rob’s deeply rooted acoustic guitar playing supports and enhances her voice throughout.

Fiddler Natalyn Weinstein is but one of several skilled players who lend a hand on gentle stringed instruments played gently.  The playing throughout seems as soft as a gentle hand, especially to one who spends most of his time hearing electric and brass.

The “standards” you know: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,”  “You Are My Sunshine” (perhaps the best ever), “Hush Little Baby (Mockingbird)” and so on but you may never have heard them done as real music for children, as songs of some integrity unembellished by fake kid voices and tinkly instrumentation. Trust me, a kid would prefer to fall asleep to these versions.

“Goodnight Sweet Child” is an example of the same kind of quality in composition and execution in the songs the Slocumbs wrote themselves. “Little Heart” is a poetic notion with which to characterize a young child or babe. “Precious Love” typifies the whole album, a love song to their babies.

That’s what raises the album above the pretty or simply cute.  It is an expression of parental love and a good one.

A secular Yankee like me inhaled a bit deeply at the inclusion of “Jesus Loves Me” and “Bedtime Prayer.” Is that bravery on the part of the Slocumbs in an age when so many run away from any representation of faith?  Or is it simply an unselfconscious shot at hope for higher love for their kids in an all too often cold cruel world?

At least in their version of “Bedtime Prayer” they left out the verse I knew and recited nightly for many childhood years with the terrifying line about dying “before I wake.” Who, as a child, completely comprehended that phrase about God taking your soul to keep? Who does now?

I can’t close without noting that I like very much that the album credits include a thank you to businesses in Auburn/Opelika, Alabama that provided “support” in the making of the CD. The list includes an insurance agency, a chicken finger restaurant, a dentist and a salon. Local sponsors. Cool, huh?

If you have a baby or a young child in your family and maybe you can’t sing a note or plunk a chord or even if you can, get this for an early musical experience.  Fortunately, there’s a baby due in our family in August and I now already have a great gift for him. And his parents.

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To read more reviews and posts by Brian Arsenault, click HERE.

Humor: The Top Ten Words And Phrases Over Used By Rock/Pop Journalists.

By Devon Wendell

Growing up as an aspiring musician, besides practicing the guitar, bass and harmonica obsessively like a geek, I also read a lot of books, articles, reviews, and interviews on all kinds of music. In doing so I found myself most aggravated by the writing in the “major” music publications like Rolling Stone, Spin, etc. There were always historical inaccuracies, poor grammar and — most bothersome — overly used cliches in describing an album, performance, or artists.

Years later, I still read the stuff churned out by many publications and find the same old catch phrases. I see images of Lester Bangs’ ghost looking bored as he reads many of the obits on artists like Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.  I find much of today’s music journalism as derivative and repetitive as the music of today, but maybe we writers are not completely to blame? Maybe we need better inspiration or, conversely, maybe we just to be annoyed by the work of several artists for a few months.

I do admit I’m a bit of a snobby-nerd and appreciate jazz and blues journalism over mundane, pseudo-hippie rock writing.  But its time for a change in all those areas.  So I’ve compiled a top ten list of overused phrases and words in the music journalism world that I feel should no longer be permitted. And I’ll admit that I’m just as guilty of falling back on these innocuous cliches as anyone on the staff of Rolling Stone. Especially when I’m overly tired, or just being lazy, a condition that both musicians and writers are familiar with.

Leonard Cohen

But maybe I’m doing this to cleanse myself and push my intellectual barrier much further. I got an A+ in advanced Chekhov in college, so why can’t I find some new and more creative adjectives for Leonard Cohen’s latest music? I know he’s expecting more, so here you are Leonard. Let the exorcism begin.

1) “Prolific Artist”: This has been used way too liberally in reference to musicians who are simply down right lazy in regard to their body of work. It would seem most musicians are prolifically under-productive, even those considered the most brilliant. So let’s be prolific writers by continuing not to use these words.

Justin Bieber

2) “Pivotal Recording”: Here’s another one that’s been used way too much. Not every recording by, say, Bob Dylan, Sonny Rollins, or Prince can be called “Pivotal.”  In fact, this term doesn’t always have to be used as a positive.  How about trying it as a negative.  Like, for example: “That new Justin Bieber recording is a pivotal recording in the world of crap?”

3) “Scorching, burnin’,” or “blistering”: These are frequently used in reference to an instrumental solo, mainly guitar.  But we journalists should be trying our best not to sound like Jack Black or Beavis And Butthead.

4) “Eccentric,” “esoteric” or “weird”: Come on journalists, these go-to, cop-out terms are just another way of saying you don’t understand a lyric, a chord progression, or a musical style. It’s perfectly OK to say “What the Hell is this?” Or “Screw you Donald Fagen, I only got my GED or writing gig after my stint as roadie for Grand Funk Railroad!”

Grateful Dead

5) “Jazzy”: Rock journalists who know nothing about jazz will often use this one too freely when they hear a chord progression with flatted 5th, 7th, and 13 chords, basically anything more sophisticated than 3-chord rock. Sorry to break it to countless rock journalists, but there was nothing “jazzy” about the Grateful Dead. Just because you improvise on a pentatonic scale past the twenty minute mark doesn’t make you a jazz player, just self-indulgent, really stoned, or both.

6) “Poet-Rocker”: Just because a rocker writes a lyric a little more sophisticated that “Yeah, baby, baby,” doesn’t make him a poet. Many ambitious rockers may rip-off some Shakespeare or Rimbaud and I applaud their efforts in obtaining a library card, but they really should find their own language.  Sure, Dylan, Cohen, Waits, and Springsteen get a pass in this area, but even with these artists, those two labels have been overused.  I’d like to hear something more along the lines of Polka-Poet or Klezmer-Poet. This also goes back to number four. It seems many music journalists refer to a musician as a “Poet” when the lyrics are over their heads. If a lyric isn’t understood, it’s usually assumed it’s about drugs.  But that’s only right half of the time. Come on folks, it’s rock not rocket surgery.

7) “Pseudo-Pop”: Isn’t this redundant?

8) “Retro-Rock”: Again, isn’t this redundant?

Lady Gaga

9) “Groundbreaking”: I’ve heard this in reference to people artists like Kanya West, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Sorry but that’s just wrong. These musicians may be groundbreaking in terms of how much money they make for their record companies, but artistically? I’m not saying these artists haven’t entertained millions or that they lack talent.  But where will their albums be in five to ten years. Come on writers, let’s try not to sound like snotty purists stuck in the past.  And let’s not lower the bar any more than we already have.   There’s got to be a balance.

10) “Beautifully haunting”: These words together make more sense in terms of silence or a description of a really attractive stalker or an apparition. A song, an album, a performance, or even a note can of course be beautiful, too.  But if it’s haunting you, talk to your shrink.

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To read more posts by Devon Wendell click HERE.

CD Review: Fenway Park Greatest Hits

“Fenway Park Greatest Hits: 100 Year Anniversary” (Abkco)

By Brian Arsenault

In my household and many other New England homes for most of the twentieth century, the Boston Red Sox were not just a professional baseball team but an article of faith.  And in the middle of that century, the high priest of the Red Sox was Ted Williams: Teddy Ballgame, the Splendid Splinter. Greatest hitter ever, fighter pilot in two wars – the man John Wayne played in the movies, someone once said.

So now that we are in the twenty-first century and the hundredth anniversary of Fenway Park has rolled around, I guess it was inevitable that the hype include an album of songs closely and loosely associated with the team. After all, Fenway has endured while most sports arenas come and go in three or four decades.

Fenway Park

The concession areas underneath the stands may be a bit dark and dingy but to step out into that sea of green, reinforced and reflected by the well-named left field monster of a wall is to feel baseball as it must have been a hundred years ago – fresh, clear, untrammeled by 24-hour a day sports news cycles that lessen rather than heighten the experience.

It’s no wonder that the ballpark featured early in the film Field of Dreams is Fenway. It’s one of the last reminders of what baseball felt like to kids who dangled a glove on the handlebars of their bicycle and went to the neighborhood park looking for a game.

That’s gone as we now interview 12 year olds playing in the Little League World Series as if they were major leaguers, and create 13 year old eligibility so there can be more home runs and faster fast balls.

Paradise lost.

Ted Williams

The surprising thing for me is that the musical quality of the album isn’t bad.  “Not bad” like when you walk into a small club and the cover band plays respectably.  I was expecting the musical equivalent of a polka band playing, but there’s some fun stuff.

You still can’t help but smile at “Dirty Water,” the most embraced song about a city’s least attractive feature: the absolute filth of Boston’s Charles River not so long ago. Still, I don’t know why the album’s producers didn’t buy the rights to the Standels’ original version.  Too expensive, maybe, or the fact that the Standels were actually a California band.

There’s also a pretty good cover of the Cars’  “Let the Good Times Roll” featuring rock stalwarts Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt.  And “Dream On,” a hit by that guy who’s a judge on American Idol, is also given workmanlike treatment. And we can all be thankful Steven Tyler is not on the album singing the National Anthem.

If you are not a Red Sox or even a baseball fan, you are probably wondering by now what these songs have to do with the team. Well, you see, several are played at intervals during the game. The pauses in a nine inning contest just keep coming and sports fans are now judged to be so lacking in basic intelligence that every stadium must blast loudspeaker music whenever there’s a break in the action. “Here we are now, entertain us.”

Which brings me to the most grating aspect of any Red Sox game except for their middle relievers. The fingernails on a blackboard experience of  “Sweet Caroline.” (Neil Diamond, God will probably forgive you for penning this ditty but I will not.)  And here the song is sung by some guy from Glee, a show that’s equally objectionable on any grounds.

You see, it’s not just having to listen to this sing-songy crap, it’s also the point in the game where the vapid blondes in their pink Red Sox caps, an oxymoron of note, get to jump up and warble “so good, so good, so good”  while shaking their pony tails. They can finally “get into the game,” these babes who think a suicide squeeze is what their boyfriends want after midnight and that a fielder’s choice is the special at Chili’s. Which it probably is.

But you’ll survive it. And it’s offset by a rousing “Knights of Bostonia” led by Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys.  That kind of typifies the album: the audio pain of Kevin Millar’s “Tessie” balanced by the enjoyable “Meet Me at Mary’s Place.” Is that really Peter Gammons?

A recitation of John Updike’s wonderful New Yorker piece “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” about Ted Williams last home run in his last at bat of his last game, misted me up, I have to admit. My Dad never got to see the two Red Sox championships early in the twenty-first century after a nine decade title drought but I still have the scorecard he kept from a game he attended in 1946.  I wonder if any fans can even keep a decent score sheet any more.

Williams was in left field, of course.

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To read more posts and reviews by Brian Arsenault click HERE.

Live Jazz: Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke at Catalina Bar & Grill

By Don Heckman

Catalina Bar & Grill was packed to the gills Tuesday night.  If there was an empty seat anywhere in the big, comfortable L-shaped room, it was hard to locate.  Why such a crowd for a mid-week night?  Easy answer: The band on stage consisted of a trio that can pretty much be expected to draw a lot of attention: Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Jack DeJohnette.

Chick Corea

All-star jazz groups – especially those consisting of artists with well-established careers and styles of their own – can sometimes be more appealing on a marquee than on stage.  Iconic egos don’t always fit well into the same groove.

But no such problems for this group of stellar players.  In a set that was largely oriented toward extended solos woven into ensemble textures, the results were memorable on every count.  Reaching from originals by some of the group members to Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” (arranged by Corea), each number was a study in world class music-making.

Jack DeJohnette

The evening was billed as a celebration of DeJohnette’s seventieth birthday.  So it was appropriate that the opening number offered a wide open space for his impressive skills to be on full display.  DeJohnette’s versatility is well known to anyone who’s heard him with the Keith Jarrett trio, or on his own stylistically far-reaching recordings.  And in this performance, as elsewhere, he transformed the basic jazz drum set into a virtual collection of musical instruments, employing them as a fascinating, rhythmically dynamic percussion orchestra.

Stanley Clarke

Corea and Clarke have worked together frequently over the years, most recently with Lenny White in the Grammy-winning “Forever” ensemble.  And what happens between them can best be described as a musical symbiosis, in which their individual creative perspectives become completely blended.  That quality was especially apparent in “Lush Life,” with Clarke’s ostinato pattern weaving intimately around Corea’s soaring melody lines.

With DeJohnette added to the Corea/Clarke mix, the musical palette became even richer.  On “Summer Night,” a rarely heard tune from Miles Davis’ Quiet Nights album, improvisational complexity was placed fully at the service of a compelling, multi-layered musical expressiveness.  In passages like this, the real essence of musical fusion, with all its far-reaching emotional possibilities, came vividly to life.

As I suggested earlier, a memorable night of music-making, to be sure.  And a rare one, at that.  Fortunately DeJohnette, Corea and Clarke will continue their musical magic through Sunday night at Catalina’s.  Don’t miss the opportunity to help celebrate DeJohnette’s 70^th in such a mesmerizing musical fashion.

Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea ant Stanley Clarke at Catalina Bar & Grill.  (323) 466-2210. Tonight Through Sunday.

A Russian/Californian in London: “Madame Butterfly” by the English National Opera

With this post, writer/composer/singer Ella Leya begins her International Review of Music reports on the cultural view from London and beyond.

By Ella Leya

London.  It’s been a few months since I left the gold-and-sapphire paradise of the Southern California Rivera and arrived at the rainy, smoky, dressed-in-tarnished-iron and moldy stone banks of river Thames. A move much desired and anticipated since the first time I crossed the Atlantic Ocean twenty years ago – an emigrant from the then Soviet Union – and landed in… well, Norfolk, Virginia. Neatly cut grass lawns, smiling faces, suburban flare – everything I had never seen before, neither in my hometown Baku, nor during my jazz tenure in Moscow. But not exactly what I had envisioned to be America.

Soon after, I progressed to Chicago, IL., then Laguna Beach, CA, all while missing dear old Europe with its cultural abundance and familiar non-American uncultivated lifestyle. Of course, in the process I failed to notice how American I had become. Indeed, we humans make those kinds of transformations better than lizards – shed our tails at dusk and grow a new one before dawn.

Mine grew so California lavish and Chicago comfy that it instantly got clipped as a part of London’s no-nonsense welcome. A huge, self-absorbed, swarming beehive of people from all over the world – half from Arabia and the other half from Eastern Europe.  Young, ruthless, with strong fangs, indoctrinated with Mark Zuckerberg ambitions and quite often blessed with Maria Sharapova looks. All going about their business amid a nucleus of rigid, proper, Elizabeth the First’s England.

I tried to escape into long desired and missed cultural abundance, but got drowned in a big puddle the moment I stepped foot in the West End. My head spun as I tried to follow a kaleidoscope of theater bills with their repetitious quotes from the same three papers, in which a handful of critics gloated with praise – “the best ever,” “the first time ever,” “triumph of theatrical experience,” “the most innovating,” “the never before seen…”

How in the world could I make a decision? After all, In California, I was accustomed to a schedule of four-great-dances and a couple of concerts packaged for me and delivered to the conveniently nearby Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Drenched and frustrated, I came back to my London flat and began packing my suitcase, ready to depart for the safe enclave of my home in Laguna Beach. But, as I was ready to send Time Out London magazine into the trash, a beautiful picture caught my attention. A woman wrapped in red silks against the red glow of a sunset. Madame Butterfly.   Opera by Puccini, performed by the English National Opera at London’s Coliseum. In English.

What? A Puccini opera in English? Didn’t make sense to me.

The London Coliseum from the Dress Circle

But I went. Last Saturday. And London will never be the same for me.

First of all – the Coliseum, a majestic palace and London’s largest theater.  It rose at the beginning of the 20^th century on St. Martin’s Lane, featuring my favorite art deco elements. And it felt like my new home the moment I landed at my seat in the center of the Dress Circle.

Mary Plazas as Cio-Cio San

Then the magic began. With that very image that had spurred my interest. Mary Plazas as Cio-Cio-San, dressed in a traditional kimono, in a slow, eloquent dance with two golden fans, emerged on stage, out of a red glow of sunlight.  A beautiful butterfly, her wings caught in the flames of love, trailing, being wrapped into long red silks of blood. With no music. With lots of air. An introduction to the show and a quick synopsis of Madame Butterfly’s story.

The captain of an American ship, while stationed in Japan, marries a young geisha for convenience. Soon the captain, portrayed effectively by John Fanning, departs for America. For three years Cio-Cio-San longs for his return, bears their son, then gives the child up to be raised in American prosperity by her wretched, disloyal husband and his new lawful American wife. While she commits hara-kiri.

The production was sweepingly cinematic.  Not like on a huge Cinerama screen but in a three-dimensional way, with no sense of stage limitations. And minimalist to the bare bone. With no palaces, forests, and ships cut out of plywood and propped on stage to look fancy. Nothing but the dark, shiny, ascending floorboards of the stage.  A large, sloped mirror ceiling reflecting the characters.  Brilliant light bursting through a rectangular, letter box gap, rivaling the sunset and the sea, with a few moving Japanese screens and flying lanterns. And, of course, gorgeous traditional Japanese costumes detailing every flower in a blossoming spring garden.

But the character who stole my heart was Madame Butterfly’s son, a puppet manipulated by three ascetic figures in black. So tender and expressive were his movements as he picked up the flowers for his mother, rested his head in her lap, stared lovingly at her, that I had tears in my eyes, wishing for my own son to communicate even a small portion of that same tenderness.

Not once during two and a half hours of the show did I question the sincerity of Cio-Cio-San’s love. (Though, once or twice, when her American lover aimed at a high vibrato note, I wondered why she would love him.  But that’s me – not a big fan of the leading tenors.)  Nor did I question Puccini’s tuneful melodrama, in part thanks to the smooth, sophisticated cruising through the score by the ENO Orchestra with charming Oleg Caetani at its helm.

But most of all because of the genius of the late Anthony Minghella, who directed this stunning masterpiece, together with his wife, Hong Kong-born choreographer Carolyn Choa. Unfortunately, it was Anthony Minghella’s only opera, Instead, he’s been known and  hailed internationally as the Oscar-winning director and writer of English Patient and BAFTA-winning The Talented Mr. Ripley, two of the most captivating films of the last fifteen years.

As I was leaving the Coliseum, into the sun and the crowds of people in St. Martin’s Lane, I stopped by the box office and bought tickets for every show of the English National Opera and Ballet for the rest of the season. A good place to start sinking my teeth into big, wondrous London.