Film Review: “City Island”

By Roger Crane

In the world of jazz, a “riff” is a repeated series of improvised notes, chord progressions or musical patterns. Since City Island’s screenwriter/director, Raymond de Felitta, is also a noted and practicing jazz pianist, it make sense that this movie feels like a jazz riff.

City Island introduces us to the Rizzos, a boisterous Italian-American family of four living in the tradition-steeped seaside spit of The Bronx called City Island. The Rizzos are a dysfunctional family who don’t talk to each other much and, when they do, the neighbors undoubtedly hear every word. But we understand…they shout because they are, well, Italian and because they care. Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a New York City prison guard (he prefers the term “corrections officer”). His wife is the sexy, frisky, high profile Joyce (Julianna Margulies). Their oldest child, Vivian, is played by Garcia’s real-life daughter, Dominik Garcia-Lorido. Their teen son, sarcastic Vinnie, is portrayed by Ezra Miller.

Steven Strait, Dominik Garcia-Larido, Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Ezra Miller

The Rizzos harbor secrets. Vince tells Joyce that he’s out playing poker when he’s really taking acting classes in Manhattan. Joyce smokes cigarettes on the sly and nurses a grudge about the extramarital affair she’s sure Vince is having. Vivian dances in a strip club to earn tuition money and Vinnie spies on an obese neighbor, since his “thing” is a yen for lavishly overweight women.

When Vince discovers that an inmate at his prison is his long-lost, love-child Tony (Steven Strait), he arranges to have him paroled into his custody, without explaining to anyone the reasons why. (He figures he’ll tell Tony and his sure-to-be-furious wife later.) Here is a paraphrased example of the Rizzo conversation that evening as Vince asks Joyce for a favor:

VINCE (smiling): Make something special for dinner. Like for a special occasion. Something nice.

JOYCE (loud, frowning and sarcastic): Want balloons or something?

VINCE (exasperated): Nah, I don’t want balloons or something. I’m just saying something nice.

JOYCE: Don’t I always make something nice?

VINCE: Make it nicer!

JOYCE (shouting): MAKE IT YOURSELF!

With a fifth character added to the Rizzo mix, confusions and complications ensue. Since Joyce thinks Vince is cheating, in retaliation she begins flirting with the 20-year old Tony. Joyce is a good looking woman, so Tony is intrigued but he is more interested in Vivian who, of course, unbeknownst to him, is his half sister. Meanwhile, Vince, at his acting classes, meets fellow student Molly (Emily Mortimer) who talks him into auditioning for a Scorsese movie.

I’ll leave the plot at this point and simply say, there are enough misunderstandings and dysfunction to fill five or more Mitch Leigh movies. But, like a good jazz riff, de Felitta keeps the many moving parts – perhaps a few too many – straight and, most importantly, fun. He understands that a proper farce, like a good jazz solo, needs plenty of tension and friction to work. De Felitta also works well with actors and, like a jazz arranger, gives each plenty of room to roam.

Garcia and Margulies have never been better. Their scenes together are brimming with life, are funny and occasionally harrowing. Garcia, in particular, gives a most satisfying performance and shows a previously untapped flair for comedy, making Vince a likable and vulnerable character. Margulies’ performance is equally stellar and the fierce and funny Joyce bears no resemblance to Alicia Florrick in the popular TV series The Good Wife. Mortimer exhibits an innate glow as fellow acting student Molly; her scenes with Garcia are believable and project much warmth. Alan Arkin, as usual, is great in a small role as Vince’s drama teacher.

No eye-blink edits, no squealing tires or shattering glass, no pumped-up special effects, just a warm story about a dysfunctional but likable family. De Felitta’s City Island is a relief from the usual Hollywood formulaic, by-the-numbers dreck and is highly recommended.

Raymond de Felitta displays the jazz piano side of his talents in a performance with his trio tonight (Sunday May 9) at Vibrato Grill Jazz… in Bel Air.  (310) 474-9400.

Live World Music: Saffron at the Skirball Cultural Center

By Don Heckman

Can one experience poetry without understanding the words?  Can the setting, the intonation and the rhythm be enough to communicate at least some sense of the poet’s intention?  Those were the questions hovering in the air Saturday night before the performance of the ensemble Saffron at the Skirball Cultural Center in a program titled “A Celebration of Rumi.”

Rumi

Rumi – Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi – was the 13^th century Persian poet and mystic whose transcendent works were based on his belief in the use of poetry, music and dance as pathways to reach God.  Saffron, a six person ensemble, performed a collection of Rumi’s ghazals and other poems in which instrumental passages embraced recitations, in Farsi, by Katayoun Goudarzi.

Shujaat Husain Khan

The opening ghazal established the sort of pattern that would continue for the balance of the selections.  Seated at the center of the group, sitarist and vocalist Shujaat Husain Khan initiated the music, sometimes on the sliding notes of his sitar, often adding his warm, engaging vocal timbres.  A brief melody slowly began to form, drawing in either the flute or soprano saxophone of Tim Ries and the piano of Kevin Hays.  As the textures began to fill, percussionist Satoshi Takeishi added accents from cymbals, brushes and frame drum, with tabla player Abhiman Kaushal underscoring the rhythm.

Once the setting was established, Gouradzi began her recitations, expressed with a rich array of dramatic emphases.  Around her, the germinating melodic fragment grew into trance-like repetitions.   Individual soloing from each of the instrumentalists added momentum as the music blossomed into passionate climaxes before ending in quiet resolve.

Katayoun Goudarzi

Was all this enough to elucidate Rumi’s intention in phrases such as “My sun and moon have come, my ears and eyes have come/That smooth and argent skin, that mine of gold has come”?  Or “Heaven and earth like a mirror, reflect your fair face/That mirror has come to life, marveling at its case”?

In a specific sense, of course not.  And the Skirball was wise to include English langue translations of the poems in the program.  But specificity is not always the goal with poetry, or with music.  And Gouradzi’s recitations captured – with her tone, her gestures, even the gaze of her dark eyes – the essence of Rumi, of the concept of tawhid (union with the beloved) that courses through his poetry.

As Gouradzi completed the final phrases of “Intoxicated,” the last poem on the program, I suspect that many in the enthusiastically appreciative audience felt, as did I, that – even without the translations – Saffron had brought the timeless poetry of Rumi vividly to life.

CD Review: Jeff Beck’s “Emotion and Commotion”

Jeff Beck

Emotion and Commotion (Rhino)

By Mike Finkelstein

For many years the arrival of a new Jeff Beck release has been eagerly anticipated by musicians and enthusiasts worldwide.  His body of work is a diverse and continuing work in progress and his influence is as widespread as that of any living rock musician.  It’s always an event when we finally get to hear what he has concocted. He is known fondly for his mercurial approach to playing electric guitar and three of his albums have earned Grammys.  Live and on recordings, his tone and technique are uniquely unpredictable, brilliant, and at times astonishing.  He often juxtaposes the calmest with the craziest of musical moments.  With his new album, Emotion and Commotion, he seems to be in a state of transition and experimentation.  Most of the album features Beck’s guitar blending with a restrained and streamlined rhythm section under a dominating orchestral presence.  The production by Steve Lipson and Trevor Horn and the arrangements by Pete Murray have yielded a state of the art contemporary sound that is extraordinary.

To hear Jeff Beck’s guitar tones simply blending and often camouflaged in the musical backdrop is news on its own.  For a long time his sound has meshed beautifully with the core of every song it was part of , but for single line solos it usually became a dazzling showcase.  Throughout Emotion and Commotion his guitar lines sound like another voice in the orchestra, fluid and ethereal as they could possibly be, and distinguished by their sustain and tone.  I suspect it was exactly this lush vibe that the project was striving for.

While the new album does sound beautiful, it is in stark contrast to much of the harder rocking moments we have come to know and expect from Jeff Beck over much of his recording career.  His music continues to develop as he has given a great deal of attention to textures, dynamics and the techniques he can use to blend his guitar with new musical situations.  For this project the thrust is towards playing with an orchestra to really make it sound integrated.

Jeff Beck is not an artist who plays it close to the vest for long, and making an album like Emotion and Commotion is not playing it safe.  It is a big departure from what his audience has grown to know and love about his playing over his career.  There is, by comparison to his earlier work, not a whole lot of soloing on the new disc.  The trademark crazy guitar playing and mutated effects, the big and busy drum fills, the slap happy bass lines, the funky keyboard runs…all have been streamlined in favor of the big ethereal.  Beck seems to be in a transition period with his music.

The album begins with “Corpus Christi,” which features no percussion, just the orchestra and a guitar tone that seems to breathe and sigh.  The tone and delivery are subtly elegant for their simple delivery.  Throughout the disc, this approach swells impressively as we see how expressive restraint can be when practiced by a guy like Beck.  Few players can make a guitar sound so enmeshed with an orchestral backing.  We catch a brief glimpse of the more raucous sounding Jeff Beck that so many have come to appreciate in “Hammerhead.” It features a distorted wah guitar that does more than hint at a Hendrix “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” tone.  The drums and bass flex their muscles accordingly and though the solo is short it is overdriven and rocking, full of whammy bar delights, wild and frenzied but always controlled. Next is “Never Alone,” with its light percussion, slinky rhythm guitar and ultra melodic lines.  Here we wait for the real JB to emerge but the track ends without him really cutting loose.  Still, the tone he refines here is gorgeous.

Oddly, we get a version of “Over the Rainbow” that, in terms of tone and arrangement, one could only expect from the likes of Jeff Beck.  His take on this standard is representative of Emotion and Commotion as it features a dramatically lush mix of cellos and whispering guitar lines.  The melody line is alternately unrecognizable and vivid.  The real story here is how smoothly his guitar weaves into the orchestral backdrop.  It’s Jeff Beck continuing to develop the art of blending in rather than jumping out.

With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You,” he gives us yet another entry in a career ripe with stylized takes on classic, yet somewhat out of the way songs.  Guest vocalist Joss Stone interprets the song soulfully and forcefully without going over the top.  Beck’s guitar tone glistens and twines around her voice famously, playfully and with spunk.  On this track, the strings do not overpower the guitar and the arrangement is better for it.  The piano was recorded clean, and locks in tightly with the cymbals, connecting the song nicely to its roots decades ago.

Stone also sings “There’s No Other Me.”  Here, her voice and his guitar are also a great match.  They feed off of each other.  One could say that in belting it out, she pulls the old Jeff Beck in from the wings of the studio to come have a blow, as his guitar alternately growls and groans the way we all had hoped it would.  He has a trademark ability to isolate the most fleeting sonic hues from a cranked guitar, just when it gets a mind of its own. The track cycles dynamically, going from cool, tight and funky to full fire hot a couple of times.  Tal Wilkenfeld’s bass smolders and slithers throughout and she, too, spurs Beck on to make his guitar sing.  In the end the song simply fades away, leaving this listener feeling that it ended too soon.

“Serene” is an aptly titled study in musical texture setting the mood for a vivid instrumental dialogue between Jeff and Tal.  The details of this arrangement are just gorgeous.  The feeling is so light and there is such a warm updraft for these two to glide upon.  The bass pulses deliberately then dances gracefully in the upper registers only to slide smoothly in any other direction she wants to take it.  Beck’s slinky, harmonized single track guitar lines embellish the whole track elegantly, leading into his singing, one note sustained lines and octave phrasing.   It’s a truly polished and soulful performance.  For anyone who has seen some of the dynamic footage of Jeff and Tal playing live, the visual imagery on a piece like this becomes very appealing.

“Lilac Wine” is one of two tracks Beck selected from the revered 1994 album Grace by Jeff Buckley.  Though neither “Lilac Wine” nor “Corpus Christi Carol” were written by Buckley, his stirring, straightforward interpretations inspired Beck to use them.  For “Lilac Wine” Imelda May’s soulful and oh, so warm voice is showcased in yet another beautiful pairing of voice with guitar — a study in inspired restraint.

On pieces like the Puccini aria “Nessun Dorma” and “Elegy for Dunkirk” (from Dario Marianelli’s Oscar-winning score for the film Atonement) the focus becomes achieving a seamless mesh of guitar and orchestra.  On these tracks Beck guides his guitar, using his tone and technique, into the registers of voice and winds with some of his most vocal guitar tones to date.  These tracks sound positively cinematic, with huge bass timbres in the strings and phenomenal clarity throughout.  And it may only be a matter of time before some of the music on the album shows up in movie soundtracks.  Still, this would be only one of many directions in which Jeff Beck can now take his music.  With so many sophisticated guitar and production techniques at work,  Emotion and Commotion establishes the possibilities of a nearly vocal connection between guitar, ensemble and orchestra.

It’s really amazing to stop and consider all of the musical ground that Jeff Beck has covered, crafted and innovated over the years.  His is one instrumental voice that you just have to listen to every time he’s got something new to release.  Most definitely!

To read more of Mike Finkelstein’s reviews click here.

Quotation of the Week: Artur Schnabel

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The notes I handle no better than many pianists.  But the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides!

~ Artur Schnabel

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News: SFJAZZ Builds A Home

By Don Heckman

SFJAZZ today announced that long-anticipated plans to build a permanent home for the 28-year old San Francisco organization have finally come to fruition.  The SFJAZZ Center will be located in the Hayes Valley neighborhood, at 205 Franklin Street, a few blocks from Davies Symphony Hall and the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.

SFJAZZ Center

Architect Mark Cavagnero has designed a 35,000 square ft. transparent structure that he describes as “the first free standing building, that I’m aware of, that’s designed specifically for jazz.”  The facility will include a large performance space created with both the pure acoustics and the unique, up-close visibility of jazz programs in mind.  “We want the artists,” continues Cavagnero, “to feel the energy and the excitement of the room….We want the audience to feel like they’re in it together with the musicians.  Like a large version of someone playing in the living room at a friend’s house.”

SFJAZZ Center Performance Space

The facility will also contain a smaller performance venue, a café/restaurant, classrooms and educational spaces and offices for the SFJAZZ organization.  In addition, the Center will provide a new home for the stellar players of the SFJAZZ Collective.

An on-going capital campaign to raise $60 million for construction of the Center has been led by an anonymous $20 million dollar contribution.

“Being truly an institution,” says Randall Kline, founder and Executive Artistic Director of  SFJAZZ, “means bricks and mortar.  It means having a place that people know to be the place that SFJAZZ lives.  The real reason that we’re doing this, and why we believe people should be joining us in supporting this building, is because it’s culture for the 21^st century.  We want this to be something that embodies the spirit of jazz.”

Computer renderings of the SFJAZZ Center provided by SFJAZZ and Mark Cavagnero Associates.

Q & A: Norton Wright, Fine Art Painter, Television Producer and Lover of Jazz

By Don Heckman

Fine art painter and television producer aren’t exactly career terms that are often heard in the same sentence.  Not even in the wildly multi-hyphenate world of Los Angeles.  Add to that the description “life long jazz fan” and the combination becomes even more unlikely.  But not completely.  Because all those labels – and attributes – apply to Norton Wright, whose name can be seen in the producing credits of numerous television shows and movies, reaching over the years from “Captain Kangaroo” and “Sesame Street” to the Emmy Award winning series “Freestyle” and tv movies starring Charlton Heston, Debbie Reynolds, Susan Lucci, Ed Asner and others.  His most recent film, “Safe Harbor,” was aired on the Hallmark Channel last year.

Wright’s color-filled “JazzWorks” paintings, which include titles such as “Mysterioso” (saluting Theloious Monk),” “Four Miles” (saluting Miles Davis), “Good Vibes” (saluting Terry Gibbs), “Touch of Silver” (saluting Horace Silver) and “Take Five” (saluting Dave Brubeck), have had various gallery showings over the years.  But at the moment many can be viewed – up close and personal — in the seemingly unlikely setting of the Wine Bistro Restaurant at 11915 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, California.  In a recent conversation  – peppered with his wry humor and jovial story-telling – Wright talked about his love of jazz, his painting, and the unlikely integration of his left and right brain activities.

* * * *

DH: Let’s start with your background, Norton.  I know you studied art at Yale with the famous Bauhaus painter and teacher, Josef Albers.  But I also know that you managed to sneak away most weekends, and take the train to New York to hear jazz.

NW:  Oh, yes. Those were the days. I was a big fan of Marian McPartland.  Still am.  I remember in the Hickory House days, in the mid-fifties, I’d go there with my college roommate and we’d camp out there starting at 9 p.m. Marian was playing with Joe Morello and Bill Crow.  Marvelous.

DH: A terrific band.

"Valse" (Saluting Bill Evans and Claus Ogerman

NW: Right.  And then there was the intermission pianist — a thin, gawky guy, played a lot of notes, and we couldn’t figure him out.  His name was Bill Evans.

DH: I’d call that a full evening of jazz.

NW: But it usually was just the start.  At one in the morning, Julius, the headwaiter, would lock the door, but we’d get to stay.  A little while later there’s a knock on the door.  It’s Tony Scott.  He comes in.  Another knock.  It’s Sal Salvador.  He’s just come through town.  And one after another they would show up.  Jackie Paris, the singer.  And when the Metropole down the street closed up, maybe Jimmy McPartland with Bud Freeman, and the party would go on until five or six in the morning.  The greatest musical time in my life.

DH: When you got back from the service in the early sixties, Bill Evans had been with Miles on Kind of Blue, become a major star, and jazz had evolved rapidly.  And you were still as much a fan as ever, even of the new stuff coming along.

NW: Sure.  George Russell with things like “Ezz-thetic.”  And Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh.  Ornette Coleman.  But the guy I’ve always liked, no matter what era, has been Herman Foster, the blind pianist.  Never made a huge name for himself, mostly backed singers.  But I have these two albums he made in which he starts in full musical orgasm.  And his music lights you up.  I can feel my whole metabolism kick up listening to this guy.  And I listen to him a lot, still.

"Floating Castle" (Saluting Lee Konitz)

DH: But you also wound up in commercial television – as a producer.  An area that would seem to be light years away from both jazz and painting.

NW: But I didn’t abandon either one.  And the reason that this painting thing became so important to me is that I was spending – still do — a good chunk of my time with my left brain on as a producer, where spontaneity is the last thing that you want.  In fact, when it does happen there, it’s usually called desperation.  From a producing standpoint, you’re turning on the side of your brain that balances your checkbook.  It’s people and facilities and budgets and timelines and deliver dates.  It’s prying the leading lady out of her dressing room with a crowbar when she has half of Bogota up her nose.

DH: Definitely left brain dominance.

NW:  Yes, but it’s not to say that every now and then in the producing business that your heart doesn’t lift.  There’ll be times when you’ll look at a rewrite and a tear will come to the eye or you’ll roll around on the floor laughing, and that is spontaneous.  The other time that it works for me in the movie production business is when the score is added to the picture.  And that which you thought was kind of good, your heart beats faster, and it’s that magic that happens when music elevates a dramatic moment, and really tells you what it’s about.

DH: Would that all television and film producers had the same sensitivity to music.  But, okay, so if that’s the left brain of producing, then what about the right brain aspects of painting?

"Four Miles" (Saluting Miles Davis)

NW: In the kind of painting I do, I look for spontaneity and minimum structure.  That’s not to say completely spontaneous.  A jazz player knows the difference between a twelve bar blues and a thirty-two bar ballad.   There’s a basic structure in 16^th century mannerism that’s based on a diagonal from the upper left hand corner to the lower right.  And I sketch those in, just a little bit.  From then on, I just go.  A commercial illustrator friend of mine told me that a painter should always control the painting.  And I told him, “No, that’s absolutely wrong for me.  I want the painting to tell me what to do.  And I think that’s similar to a jam session where you start out knowing what you’re going to do, and then Anthony Wilson does something else, and that gives you another idea about where you’re going to go.  In other words, the music tells you where you should go with your sax solo.  Which is not at all like doing a commercial illustration of a cowboy in which he has to have the sun in the upper left hand corner and leave room for the Marlboro logo across his moustache.

DH: That reminds me of what Ornette Coleman once said: “How can I know what I’m going to play until I play it?”  And then there was Harold Rosenberg, the art critic, who wrote about a painting as the produce of the encounter between the painter and the canvas.  That sounds pretty close to some of the things that happen in jazz, as well.”

NW: Yeah.  For me, in terms of the process, first and foremost is the business of me encountering a canvas and putting stuff on it that I hope is going to be unstructured, spontaneous and surprising.

DH: Okay.  We know you’re not an image painter – no Marlboro cowboys – so the JazzWorks aren’t portraits, they’re abstractions.  But what happens when you’re doing a JazzWorks painting, when you’re working on something inspired by a particular musician?  Don’t you listen to that musician while you’re doing the painting, and doesn’t that tend to guide your hand as you work?

"Aloft" (Saluting Chris Botti)

NW: Nope.  In fact, sometimes it’s a kind of retrofitting process.  I use music to trigger spontaneity.  But I don’t listen to a lot of different things.  And somewhere in the course of the visual structuring of the painting — the color tones, the horizontal relationships that kind of look like melody to me, and the vertical relationships that sort of have the feeling of a harmony of colors — a particular jazz artist will come to mind.  In the painting “Aloft,” for example, I don’t know if I was deliberately listening to Chris Botti, but that was a time when I was frequently playing his CDs in the studio.  And, hearing that floating tone of his, suddenly I thought “I’ve got two elements in this painting: I’ve got a firmament in the bottom.  And the second element floats at the top.”  And I thought, “This is the tone of Chris Botti, who seamlessly seems to float over this rich orchestration.”  And that loftiness, that airness led me to feel that it was a salute to Chris Botti.

DH: So, it’s like you said earlier, the painting tells you.  And since jazz is so much a part of who you are, the painting frequently tells you something that triggers a jazz response.

"Mysterioso" (Saluting Thelonious Monk)

NW: Right.  It’s like when I was doing “Mysterioso.”  It’s got the opposition of complimentary colors, it’s got blood red against thalo green.  Well, that’s like hitting a black note and a white note together, doing a diminished second.  It just jumps off the canvas.  I was exploring what you could do with shock in coloration.  And who shocked us more than Thelonious Monk in terms of the deliberate juxtaposition of the incompatible?  So that’s when I discovered that it sure did look like how Thelonious sounds.  Rather than the reverse approach — that I’m listening to Thelonious as I do the salute to him.  It actually goes the other way.

DH: Norton, I know jazz has always been an intrinsic part of your life, and your paintings.  But you listen to other music as well, I gather, while you’re in the studio.  How do you decide what to put into the CD player on any given day?

NW: It changes for me.  Yesterday, because of the way a painting was going, I knew it was going to work.  And when I know something’s going to work, I tend to put on happy stuff.  When I’m struggling, I usually put on the gloomy stuff.

DH: Like what?

NW: Well, like the Polish classical composer, Gorecki.  He’s got a choral work with Dawn Upshaw, and when I’m struggling I put that on because it’s contemplative.  And it’s dark, and it’s slow and it’s not ebullient at all.  It’s like a human struggle, which is something that art can be.

"Spectacular" (Saluting Diane Schuur)

DH: And when you’re not struggling?

NW: When you’ve already gone around the corner and you know you’re putting on the finishing touches to the visual, it’s time to put on Diane Schuur and the Basie Band.  The record that won the Grammy.  That just rocks along.  She’s so good on that. And she has a way of being able to shift from the up tempo stuff to something where the lyrics really make a difference.  You just get the feeling with her that there’s a tenacious and gorgeous spirit in that lady.

DH: If I were to ask which specific jazz artist you feel most reflects the way you work and think, who would come to mind?

NW: It probably changes from month to month.  I’ll say this, though.  Lee Morgan is my kind of guy.  He’s muscular, he’s daring.  I don’t know if I paint like Lee Morgan sounds, but I sure would like to.  I was a boxer at one point, in college, and I wanted to be Rocky Graziano.  Because he improvised, he had a huge right hand, and he was passionate and he was terrific.  Regrettably, I fought like Willie Pep.

DH: And what about your overall body of work?  What would that resemble, in a jazz sense?

NW: Much as I love her, it wouldn’t resemble Marian McPartland.  I think I’d have to go back to Herman Foster again, starting out in full orgasm and just getting better.  And I like to think that’s where my appetite is, in art and in life.  It’s so short, and so precious a period of time, that I really don’t want to spend it logically building something.  I just want to jump in feet first, and have so much fun.

DH: Thanks, Norton.  It’s been great talking with you.

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Norton Wright’s exhibition of New Paintings can be seen at the Wine Bistro Restaurant, 11915 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA.  (818) 766-6233.

Norton Wright is represented in Los Angeles by the Susan Schomburg Gallery.  (310) 453-5757.

Live Jazz: The Johnny Crawford Orchestra and the Bill Cunliffe Septet at a free Playboy Jazz Festival Community Event in Beverly Hills

by Devon Wendell

The 32nd annual Playboy Jazz Festival season kicked off with a free concert in Beverly Hills featuring Bill Cunliffe and his Septet, and the Johnny Crawford Orchestra — a pair of diverse acts preserving pivotal traditions in jazz history.

Bill Cunliffe

Opening the program, Grammy-winning pianist/arranger/composer Cunliffe and his players performed a set almost entirely dedicated to Oliver Nelson’s classic album, The Blues And The Abstract Truth. Cunliffe recorded his tribute to Nelson on his 2008 Recording The Blues And The Abstract Truth Take 2 (Resonance), which featured all the original tracks re-arranged by Cunliffe. This was pretty much the basis of his set, starting with “Hoe Down,” which had a rather sloppy intro due to sound problems; but the horn section quickly locked together in harmony. Art Velasco’s trombone solo was especially powerful, matching Cunliffe’s confidently fluid piano stylings.

“Stolen Moments” and “Butch and Butch” were very close to the original arrangements, but without the sense of adventure and risk in the soloing that Nelson, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Paul Chambers, and Bill Evans brought to the initial 1961 sessions.  Though skillful in their own right, alto saxophonist Keith Fiddmont and tenor saxophonist Rob Lockhart played it too safe on their choruses, as they replicated Dolphy and Nelson’s parts.

“Teenie’s Blues” allowed room for a little more freedom in its relaxed blues swing, and Cunliffe stood out, displaying a strong sense of dynamics and harmony, choosing less over more.   His two originals were the most fascinating performances of the set, with “Port Authority” featuring a complex, syncopated hard-bop motif.  Lockhart and Cunliffe soloed in unison without missing a beat.  And Joe La Barbera’s Max Roach-inspired drumming combined with Tom Warrington’s bass to put some fire beneath the band — fire which wasn’t always present on the previous numbers.

Cunliffe’s tribute to Mary Lou Williams (in his words, “my first piano teacher”), “Mary Lou’s Blues,” was outstanding.  Instead of opting to mimic Williams’ signature style, Cunliffe’s originality shone through with both elegance and command.  Bob Summers added tastefully soulful trumpet work, and Lockhart and Fiddmont played with more energy than on earlier songs.

The Septet closed with a dynamic reading of Nelson’s “Cascades.” Lockhart leaped from the lower register to the high effortlessly, on what Cunliffe designated as “one of the hardest pieces in jazz for a sax player.”  Unfortunately the set had come to a close – just as the band was getting thoroughly warmed up.  Too bad there wasn’t more time.

Johnny Crawford

Up next: Johnny Crawford, the former child star of TV’s The Rifleman and an original Mouseketeer, demonstrated the wonderfully unpredictable twists in the life of a Hollywood entertainer.  Dressed in an elegant  tuxedo and top hat, he led his orchestra in a program focusing on standards from the ’20′s and ’30′s, along with the great big band sounds of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Count Basie (just to name a few).

Combining his passion for film and music history, he opened with “One Hour With You” from the 1932 movie of the same title.  As the band began to swing, Crawford switched from focused conductor to crooner, with a smooth vocal style featuring a fast vibrato.  Chris Dawson’s stride piano was the engine driving the backing of the 16-piece orchestra.

On “Miss Wonderful” (made popular by a 1929 Ted Weems recording), Crawford sang and danced with grace and humor, occasionally invoking the spirit of Al Jolson.  Dan Weinstein and Andrew Lippman’s trombone rhythms added to John Hatton’s dark bass, creating a unique sound.  Violinists Johana Krejci and Ruzanna Sargsyan played the melody line, as guitarist John Reynolds performed a whistle solo, also  reminiscent of Jolson.

Rodgers and Hart were also one of the focal points of Crawford’s performance.  “The Blue Room” showcased his charm as the band took us back in time with convincing authenticity.  Drummer Larry Klein’s Jo Jones-like rhythms kept the beat with colorful vibes playing from Randy Woltz.

Crawford delved into film history again with “Three Little Words,” from the 1930 movie “Check and Double Check.” The piece was originally sung by Bing Crosby and arranged by Ellington, and Duke’s presence was certainly felt here. John Reynold’s playing captured the pre-Charlie Christian guitar stylings of Lonnie Johnson and Freddy Green — the perfect match for this era.  And the period atmosphere was further maintained when Reynolds switched to banjo and swung in time with Dawson’s piano work on Buddy Rogers’s playful piece, “Hello Gorgeous.”

The program swung into high gear with one of the show’s highlights when the full brass section danced along with Crawford’s spirited vocal delivery on George and Ira Gershwin’s “They All Laughed.”  Appropriately enough, the performance closed with Irving Berlin’s “Isn’t This A Lovely Day,” as Crawford humorously twirled an umbrella, singing to the gleeful sun soaked audience.  Even when he forgot the lyrics and began scatting, his enthusiastic dance steps enlivened every vocal nuance, every beat of the orchestra’s ballroom swing.

It was the perfect climax to this opening, free community concert of the 32nd annual Playboy Jazz Festival.  A concert featuring a pair of acts that took us back into daring and romantic times for jazz.  And, most importantly, did so with fun and style.

Picks of the Week: May 3 – 9

By Don Heckman

Los Angeles

Jeanie Brandes

- May 4. (Tues.)  Jeanie Brandes.  Songs from Brandes’ new CD, Kisses You Awake will be on the agenda for Brandes’ crystalline voice and elegant phrasing.  She’s backed by Bryan Bromberg, Shelly Markham and Tom Zinkas.  Catalina Bar & Grill (323) 466-2210.

- May 4. (Tues.)  Jonny Blu.  He’s a unique musical canaries, an American singer who has been a star in China, singing in Mandarin.  And he’s just as good with the classic American songbook.  Vibrato (310) 474-9400.

- May 5. (Wed.)  Cinco de Mayo Celebration.  Louis Cruz Beltran. The dynamic drummer/singer celebrates the holiday in an irresistible evening of rhythm and song. Vitello’s. (818) 769-0905.

- May 5. (Wed.)  Susie Hansen Latin Jazz Band.  The body-moving rhythms of Hansen’s dynamic ensemble are applied to tunes from her soon-to-be-released new CD, the appropriately titled Representante de la Salsa.  Atomic Ball Room, Irvine.   (914) 250-3332.

- Jan. 6. (Thurs.) Julie Kelly.  Kelly’s dulcet tones and brisk rhythms are supported by the stellar backing of Bill Cunliffe, Chris Collangelo and Kendall Kay. Charlie O’s.    (919) 994-3058.

Gustavo Dudamel

- May 6 – 8.  (Thurs. – Sun.)  Los Angeles Philharmonic.  An evening of dramatic music directed by the equally dramatic hands of Gustavo Dudamel: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #6 (Pathetique) and the Dvorák Cello Concerto, with soloist Alisa Weilerstein.  Disney Hall.

- May 7. (Fri.)  Charlie Shoemake and “Sounds of Shearing” Vibist Shoemake brings the classic Shearing sound back to life, recalling some of the classics, applying it to new repertoire.  Culver Club Radisson Hotel. Culver Club Raddison.

- May 7. (Fri.)  Rique Pantoja & Friends.  Brazilian pianist Pantoja leads a band that can easily cover all aspects of the jazz meets Brazilian rhythms style.  Bob Sheppard, Abraham Laboriel, Luis Conte and Russ Miller.  Vitello’s.  (818) 769-0905.

- May 7. (Fri.)  Shelly Berg Trio.  Jazz pianist and jazz educator Berg takes a hiatus from his academic duties in Miami for a one-nighter in Fullerton.  He’s backed by Chuck Berghofer and Greg Field.  Steamers.   (714) 871-8800.

Katayoun Goudarzi

- May 7.  (Fri.) Saffron.  A Celebration of Rumi. A rich blending of atmospheric music with readings from the sensual poetry of Rumi.  The engaging voice of reader Katayoun Goudarzi is accompanied by the playing of Sujaat Husain Khan, Tim Ries, Kevin Hayes, Satoshi Takeishi and Abhimann Kaushal.   The Skirball Center.   (310) 440-4500.

- May 8.  (Sat.) Patti LaBelle.  Ashford & Simpson.  A Mother’s Day Concert celebrates the maternal blessings with a classic collection of soul and r & b sounds. Gibson Amphitheatre.   (818) 622-4440.

- May 9. (Sun.) Raymond de Felitta Trio.  Pianist de Felitta is a legitimate show business mult-hyphenate.  In addition to this convincing keyboard work, he is an Academy Award-nominated independent filmmaker and writer.  His most recent film, City Island, received First Place Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Vibrato.  (310) 474-9400.

- May 9. (Sun.)  Judy Wexler. KJAZZ Mother’s Day Brunch. The singing’s great, the food is great, and the atmosphere is great.  Mother should be very happy to be here. KJAZ’s Helen Borgas hosts. Twist Restaurant at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.   (562) 985-2999.

San Diego

- May 7. (Fri.)  Eldar. The young prodigy jazz pianist from Kyrgyzstan, now 23, has matured into a top level improvisational artist.  Anthology, San Diego.   (619) 595-0300.

Farah and Strunz

- May 8. (Sat.)  Strunz & Farah. The veteran two-guitar team (from Iran and Costa Rica) are producing some of the finest music of their long career together.  Click here to read an iRoM review of a recent L.A. appearance. Anthology, San Diego.   (619) 595-0300.

San Francisco

- May 6 & 7. (Thurs. & Fri.)  Christian McBride and Inside Straight.  Everybody’s favorite bassist, adept at almost any given style, leads his own, appropriately titled straight ahead quintet.  Yoshi’s Oakland.  (510) 238-9200.

- May 7 – 9. (Fri. – Sun.)  Rachelle Ferrell.  A voice with no apparent limits ranges easily across styles, from blues and gospel to some convincing jazz singing.  Yoshi’s San Francisco.   (415) 655-5600.

New York

Chick Corea

May 4 – 9. (Tues. – Sun.)  Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez and Paul Motian.  “Further Explorations of Bill Evans” Corea must be serious about the quest to dig into the rich lode of Bill Evans music.  He’s performing with a pair of players – bassist Gomez and drummer Motian – who spent a lot of time on the bandstand with Evans.   The Blue Note.  (212) 475-8592.

- May 5 – 8. (Wed. – Sat.)  Umbria Jazz. Unfortunately trumpeter Enrico Rava, the headliner for this presentation of high level Italian jazz, had an accident and can’t make the gig.  He’s been replaced by close associate Dan Kinzelman (sax and clarinet), along with Gianluca Petrella (trombone) Giovanni Guidi (piano), Pietro Leveratto (bass) Fabrizio Sferra (drums), and the quality level is still something special to hear.  Birdland.  (212) 581-3080.

Kenny Garrett

- May 5 – 8. (Wed. – Sat.) Kenny Garrett Band. Alto saxophonist Garrett takes time off from the Five Piece Band to apply his free orbiting style to a collection of his own music.  Iridium.  (212) 582-2121.

- May 5 – 9. (Wed. – Sun.) The Julliard Jazz Orchestra examines some classic jazz repertoire in a program devoted to  “The Music of Mary Lou Williams and Duke Ellington”  with special guests Kenny Barron (Wed. & Thurs.) and Lew Tabackin (Fri. – Sun.)  Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola.   (212) 258-9800.

- May 6 – 9. (Thurs. – Sun.) Mulgrew Miller and Wingspan. Pianist Miller and his small band, Wingspan, have produced some of the jazz world’s most appealing sounds over the past three decades.  The current group features Antonio Hart, Steve Nelson, Duane Eubanks, Ivan Taylor and Rodney Green. Jazz Standard. (212) 576-2232.

Live Jazz: The Anthony Wilson Nonet at Vitello’s

By Don Heckman

Anthony Wilson has been a vital member of the Diana Krall quartet for nearly a decade, with all the attendant visibility that accrues from a gig with a major name talent.  But he’s had another career, less high profile, but infinitely rewarding to the Angelenos who have the opportunity to hear his many local performances, in many different settings.

Friday night’s appearance at Vitello’s was an especially appealing display of the length and breadth of Wilson talents that don’t always have the opportunity to be revealed in his big venue Krall outings.  The focus was on the nine piece ensemble he has assembled from time to time over the past thirteen years.  (The original nonet was featured in 1997 on his first album – the Grammy-nominated Anthony Wilson.  A second album, The Power of Nine, was released in 2006.)

A pair of Joe Zawinul pieces early in the set – “In A Silent Way” and “Walk Tall” – quickly established the range of music to expect for the evening.  And, as the program continued, even more intriguing areas were explored.  Among the many highlights: a surprisingly touching rendering of “Danny Boy” (Wilson introduced it as an “old ballad”) featuring baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder; an arrangement of Coleman Hawkins’ “Rosita” with a stylish harmony line between tenor saxophonist Matt Otto and trombonist Alan Ferber that wound up in a driving, Swing style groove; Wilson’s own “Power of Nine,” a minor blues showcasing his own, characteristically imaginative soloing.

There was much more, as well.  And the most appealing aspect of the music was centered around Wilson’s efforts to integrate complex ensemble passages with wide open opportunities for soloing.  Often, he spontaneously opened up individual segments if he felt a soloist was reaching into adventurous areas.  Pianist Josh Nelson, alto saxophonist Matt Zelby and trumpeter Josh Welchez always made the most of their opportunities.  And trombonist Ferber, in particular, generated outgoing, sometimes humorous, soloing – often as offbeat counterpoint to the surrounding ensemble sounds.  Supporting everything, bassist Darek Oles and drummer Mark Ferber added whatever was needed – from steaming rhythmic drive to subtle accents.

Leading the way, conducting the players, signaling tempos, Wilson also found time to insert a few of his own always fascinating individual excursions.  His most appealing qualities as both a soloist and a composer are his unpredictability and his capacity to find magic in unexpected places.  And both were amply present in this entrancing evening.

Live Jazz: Anat Cohen at Catalina Bar & Grill

By Tony Gieske

Anat Cohen brought her lovable quartet to Catalina’s for a swift Friday night performance, commemorating some kind of anniversary having to do with Benny Goodman and playing her clarinet with a deep, rich sound much like the King of — what’s this? — Swing.

Anat Cohen

And swing she memorably did, assisted in no small measure by the equally lovable pianist Benny Green.

Cohen is a radically unchic kind of person: She likes m-e-l-o-d-y. She plays with a-f-f-e-c-t-i-o-n.  These preferences were exhibited right off the bat with two stalwart old ballads understandably eschewed by Death Cab for Cutie and other contemporaries, “Lullaby of the Leaves” and “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise.”

This is reassuring fare, indeed, and the full house went for it just as I did.  Her improvisational prowess ebbed from time to time, though, and it was here that Green’s powerful and deeply swinging pianism came subtly to her aid.

Benny Green

Both players approached that sentimental bon-bon “Poor Butterfly” with telling restraint, softly and sweetly and most affectingly.

Peter Washington, bass, and Kevin Kanner, drums, fit themselves right in to the easygoing atmosphere, but when it came their turn to turn on the propulsion for “Reunion Blues,” a Milt Jackson classic, they were well up to the job.

“After You’ve Gone,” another Goodman classic, came out like a swiftly moving rapids, but you couldn’t help feeling a yen for Lionel Hampton when it was all over.

Photos by Tony Gieske.  Read and see more of Tony Gieske’s jazz essays and photos at his personal web site tonyspage.com.