EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

A true legend of modern jazz, seldom seen outside of his work with Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock returned to Seattle with his sparkling trio of Marc Copland, piano, and the great Joey Baron on drums on Feb 20th to the Seattle Art Museum in an Earshot jazz presentation.
The senior statesman Peacock has traveled far and wide in the realms of jazz, playing key roles in some of the art form’s most meditative as well as the most daring explorations. Early on he played with West Coast stars like Art Pepper, then accompanied Miles Davis, but also found his way into the soaring, sometimes torrid experimentation of Albert Ayler. He also worked with great innovators like Jimmy Giuffre, Bill Evans, Roland Kirk, George Russell, Tony Williams, and Paul Bley.
Peacock has always been known as a player of rare ability in the most heady of jazz, but also the most heartfelt. He expanded his abilities not only technically but aesthetically, hearing his way on the bandstands and off into idiosyncratic resonances. In Japan, he studied eastern religions and medicine; in Seattle, in the early 1970s, he studied biology at the University of Washington. By then, he was ready to begin his long association with pianist Keith Jarrett and drummer Jack DeJohnette; it occurred on Peacock’s ECM debut Tales of Another, in 1977. Peacock then spent four years in Seattle teaching at Cornish College of the Arts until 1983 when ECM guru Manfred Eicher asked Jarrett, DeJohnette, and Peacock to come together formally as the Standards Trio, which for 25 years would transcendentally define the jazz trio.
Since 2000, in the Standards Trio’s last decade, Peacock began a string of other stellar associations – with Bley, drummer Paul Motian, pianist Marilyn Crispell, saxophonist Lee Konitz, guitarist Bill Frisell, and others – and then formed in 2015 the Gary Peacock Trio that performs this month in Seattle. It sees him join forces with two earlier colleagues: drummer Joey Baron, with whom he, Konitz, and Frisell recorded Enfants Terribles: Live at the Blue Note, in 2012; and pianist Marc Copland, whom he has often accompanied in recent times.
The trio’s Now This appeared last summer, timed to the bassist’s 80th birthday, with Peacock compositions old and new as well as pieces by Baron, Copland, and Peacock’s fellow bass giant and late Bill Evans accompanist, Scott LaFaro. All the pieces, Thomas Conrad wrote in making the album an Editor’s Pick in JazzTimes, are like Peacock’s solos: “spare, self-contained figures of mysterious expectancy. In his haunting high bass lines, melodies linger, resolve, and disappear.”
Conrad had high praise for Copland, calling him “the right pianist for an album about atmosphere and mood. But his quietude is deceptive. His scattered fragments and his counterintuitive chords create continuous subtle diversions. Baron is also subtle and provocative, and essential as a colorist.”

Last weekend for the Earshot Jazz Festival, the always-in-demand New York pianist who “swings like a beast” returned to Seattle, where from 1988 to 1993 he was Ernestine Anderson’s music director. He excels in the hard-driving traditions of mainstream jazz, as he demonstrated with legendary bassist Ray Brown’s Trio, and John Pizzarelli.

Raised in Toledo, Ohio, Larry Fuller began his musical studies at age 11, immediately showing a talent for jazz. At 13, Floyd “Candy” Johnson, a veteran of the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras, took Fuller under his wing, hiring him for regular paying gig. In his early years, Fuller became a regular on the Midwest jazz circuit, performing frequently in Detroit and Ann Arbor.

Fuller has performed with Harry “Sweets” Edison, Stanley Turrentine, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Herb Ellis, Marlena Shaw, Kevin Mahogany, John Clayton, John Heard, Bennie Golson, Emily Remler, Jimmy Witherspoon, Eddie Harris, Anita O’Day, Steve Allen, Regina Carter, Nicholas Payton, and John Legend.

Today, Fuller performs as bandleader. His self-titled album dropped last year, and received consistent, exceptional praise.All About Jazz says: “Chops, class, and in-the-pocket ensemble playing are all on full display. There’s plenty to marvel at.”

Last Saturday night at Town Hall, Earshot Jazz Festival 2013 presented La Familia Valera Miranda.
Father Félix Valera Miranda (guitar and vocals), wife Carmen (maracas and vocals) and sons Enrique “Kiki” (cuatro), Raúl (bass) and Ernesto (bongos) have virtually defined Cauto son, the mid-tempo form of the Cuban son style, marked by its easy-going, contagious swing. In this special Seattle residency, this family, plus Wilfredo Fuentes (congas) and Antonio Rodón (clave and vocals), from Santiago de Cuba, shares in a masterclass and performs.

One of several families that have played a significant role in carrying the deeply rooted local traditions of Cuba’s unique musical identity, La Familia Valera Miranda stems from subsistence farmer ancestors that populated the rural areas of the Oriente (eastern Cuba), primarily the Cauto River valley near the villages of Bayamo and Las Tunas. As they gradually migrated to the areas of Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, and the legendary Sierra Maestra mountains, La Familia’s ancestors exchanged artistic knowledge of their music as well as their daily and social life.

The Valera branch contributed Hispanic elements and Afro-Cuban elements derived from Bantu origins. The Miranda branch brought elements specific to the Canary Islands and Andalucía, as well as unusual Afro-Hispanic mixtures represented, in part, by the famous singer Milla Miranda, the mother of Félix Valera.

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

The Earshot Jazz Spring Series brought he ICPO live on Stage at the Seattle Art Museum on April 3rd to an almost full house. One of the most wonderful performances I can remember seeing in a long time. I always really enjoy seeing Han Bennink perform but the whole ensemble this time was memorable.

“Bit-by-bit zany and artistically and technically brilliant, the ICP Orchestra is likely the globe’s most startling and ear-stretching jazz ensembles. This lineup of the world’s greatest collaborative improvisers was minus it’s founding pianist Misha Mengelberg, now in his late seventies.

Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink, along with Willem Breuker, formed the group in Amsterdam in 1967, in the full throes of the free-jazz movement. The ICP Orchestra was then, and remains now, a marvel of instant composition driven by the spontaneity and idiosyncrasy of its members. In that lineup of maverick contributors: trombonist Wolter Wierbos, bassist Ernst Glerum, clarinetist and saxophonist Ab Baars, tenor saxophonist Tobias Delius, multi-reeds hornman Michael Moore, trumpeter Thomas Heberer, violist Mary Oliver, and cellist Tristan Honsinger.” – Peter Monaghan Read more on Earshot Jazz

 

In the second presentation of the Earshot Jazz Spring Series, Ben Williams put on a tremendously pleasing show last Saturday night. Rising-star bassist Ben Williams performed with his group at the Seattle Art Museum, downtown. The Washington DC-born, Harlem-based bandleader, musical educator, composer, electric and acoustic bassist was the winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, an award that helped the young artist produce his debut CD release State of Art. That record has galvanized Williams as an emerging and prominent voice in the jazz today.

State of Art is a mature statement stamped with his voice: “I wanted to make an album that regular nine-to-five people could enjoy,” Williams says, “and to make a deep artistic statement as well. I like music that grooves, and I make sure that my music feels good.” Even before the release of State of Art, Williams was one of the most sought after young bassists in the world; his resume is a who’s who of jazz wisdom: Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Terence Blanchard, Christian McBride Big Band, Nicholas Payton, Paquito D’Rivera, Cyrus Chestnut, Benny Golson, Roy Hargrove, and Mulgrew Miller, to name a few. Williams’ warm, woody tone, flowing groove, melodic phrasing and storytelling approach has found favor among musicians, but also a larger audience.

On the bassist’s appeal, Nate Chinen of the New York Times writes, “Williams took several long solos in his first set at The Jazz Gallery … and each one felt more like an entitlement than an indulgence.” He’s a natural who shares through his music what he sees happening in the world right now. From the liner notes of State of Art, by Williams: “This album is my honest and humble attempt at expressing (musically) what it feels like to be alive in 2011.” In this February’s issue of JazzTimes magazine, writer Giovanni Russonello reports on Williams and contemporaries in Harlem doing just that – Christian Scott, Gerald Clayton, Justin Brown, Jamire Williams. “It’s almost like a second coming of the Harlem Renaissance,” trumpeter Christian Scott says.

The outstanding pianist/vocalist Robin Holcomb with the lineup from her entrancing recent CD Presenting the Point of It All: Ron Samworth (guitar), Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Dylan van der Schyff (drums), Peggy Lee (cello), and Bill Clark (trumpet).

The work of outstanding pianist, composer and vocalist Robin Holcomb has been called “remarkable” (CMJ), “entrancing” (Billboard), “sensitive, descriptive, adventuresome and full of soul” (Washington Post). Her work evokes thoughts and moods of many facets – country, rock, Baptist hymns and Appalachian folk tunes, and according to the New York Times, “the music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful.”

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Saturday Night, Earshot Jazz presented Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock Trio at the Chapel Performance Space. Their creative collaboration in the unique venue was an wonderful event to witness.

“The trio is a truly collective effort. How and where it came about is a perfect reflection of the real world of working jazz musicians.

About two and a half years ago, shortly after Laubrock moved to New York, all three musicians got together for a session. Davis and Sorey had met earlier, playing together in another group. They were exploring a different context of collaboration, and Davis invited Laubrock to join them.

“It was an informal session,” Davis says in recent interview, “the kind of thing musicians do in New York possibly a couple of times a week as a way to meet people, have new music read, etc.” After improvising for almost two hours, it was clear the trio was something special and the music had to be explored further. Kris says there was “that instant connection and understanding, and we were excited to see where it could go.”

The trio met a few more times and began working with new music, each musician bringing original compositions. The music was written earlier for different groups, but the trio found new ways to make it their own. They soon began regular performances, interpreting the written material afresh each time.

In Davis’s words: “The way we play together … it feels like you can do no wrong – whether you are improvising or playing written music – it is wonderful.”

Continue reading story by Greg Pincuson on Earshot Jazz‘s website

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Billy Bang, a violinist whose gritty, expressive and spirited playing earned admiration in contemporary jazz circles, died on Monday at his home in Harlem. He was 63. The cause was complications of lung cancer, said Jean-Pierre Leduc, his friend and agent.

Photos of Billy are from his performance at the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle October, 2008.

Prominent as a bandleader and a sideman throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Mr. Bang achieved his most substantial success with the 2001 album “Vietnam: The Aftermath,” which featured music inspired by his time serving in the Army during the Vietnam War, played with peers who had also served. The album — and a 2005 sequel, “Vietnam: Reflections,” which included Vietnamese musicians — in turn inspired “Redemption Song,” a 2008 documentary film about him.

Continue reading at The New York Times.

Just got back from THE CROCODILE where Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio performed and with Cuong Vu / Andrew D’Angelo: Agogic doing the opening set. What a night. It is late so I will post a brief and add more on Tuesday.
When the 25 year old Cuban born percussionist Dafnis Prieto’s arrived on the New York scene back in 1999 it sent shock waves throughout the jazz world. His subsequent years of performing, composing and recording have gone a long way toward cementing his place as one of the world’s preeminent percussionists. If fact, many believe he is revolutionizing the art of drumming.

Continue reading at: EarshotJazz Festival

Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2010 Earshot Jazz Festival

Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan creating portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with a photojournalist style.

Edward Simon (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), Don Byron and Billy Hart (drums) on stage at the Triple Door tonight as the Earshot Jazz Festival carries on in its last week.

For me, the Don Byron Quartet performance was one of the most enjoyable of the Festival so far. Maybe it was the way he sang a Hank Williams tune or how he referenced one of his compositions to the 1968 Olympics high jumper who first took the plunge backwards, but the performance felt very satisfying and complete. I like his eyeglasses too.

Conceived as a means of expressing gratitude to Lester Young, Don Byron’s 2004 release Ivey-Divey convened an all-star trio with Jason Moran and Jack DeJohnette to revisit and reinterpret some of Lester Young’s finest works. Taking its name, orchestration, and much of its repertoire from Young’s great 1940s trio with pianist Nat King Cole and drummer Buddy Rich, Ivey-Divey was immediately recognized as a masterwork. Reflecting Young’s gifts as a communicator, Byron’s ensemble combines the same unbridled joy and enthusiasm of Young’s classic lineup with the innovations and technical advances of the last half century. With Byron playing clarinet and tenor sax, this expanded version of the Ivey-Divey project features Edward Simon (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), and Billy Hart (drums). As with many of Byron’s diverse forays, the Ivey-Divey Quartet is a wholly compelling and at times unpredictable vehicle for Byron and his peers to let loose. From the Earshot Jazz Festival guide.