Downbeast - music blog

A remembrance for Lily Belle Burk, daughter of Greg Burk and Deborah Drooz, will be held Sunday, August 9, at 4:30pm at The Great Lawn at Barnsdall Art Park.

The park is on a steep hill with many stairs. However, shuttle vehicles will be available to assist. Parking is limited. But watch for signs and parking attendants; space may be procured from nearby Kaiser.

From Greg and Deborah:
"We have been greatly moved by the outpouring of support. No more flowers or gifts, though, please; we are swamped. For any who wish to donate, Lily’s favorite charity was Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, at which she volunteered in the needle-exchange program."

Pianist Motoko Honda is the walking definition of the phrase “sound sculpturist.” She stands as much as she sits during her performances: either to direct her ensembles with a sweep of the hand or stabbing point of a finger, or to just lean into her open piano to perform some sort of bewitching skullduggery on its prepared strings—all the while working her (bare) foot pedals to create loops of electronic squiggles and sighs. Not content to simply compose and make music, Honda, in the sage words of Greg Burk, “colors the air.”

Like her colleagues in L.A.’s creative-improvisational community with whom she’s played—quite a a few, like Vinny Golia, our fearless leader Jeff Gauthier, Steuart Liebig, April Guthries, Alex Cline, Emily Hay, Ben Wendel, Joe Berardi, Kris Tiner, Andrea Centazzo, Ivan Johnson, Jesse Gilbert, Fumiko Amano and Carole Kim, are from the Crypto extended family—Honda marries classical, jazz, avant-garde, Pacific-Rim textures and 21st century technology into musical soundscapes that reflect Obamanian visions of a seamless mix-and-match between colliding world cultures.

(To underscore this point: she’s from Yokohama, Japan by way of Lindsborg, Kansas.)

The organizers of this year's Angel City Jazz Festival are proud to announce that The Eclipse Quartet will be joining pianist Billy Childs for his ACJF set (8-9pm, Sunday, Sept 6, 2009).

Billy Childs performs "Autumn Leaves" live in Palermo, Italy (3/22/07)

Eclipse Quartet live at Location One Roulette, New York (December 2005)

In the picnic area of the Ford Amphitheatre from 4pm to 11pm each day of the festival, visual artists Fumiko Amano, Favianna Rodriguez and Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca will be painting live, directly inspired by the music being performed during the festival.

All live paintings will be available for sale at affordable prices ranging from $20 to $100: proceeds will benefit the Angel City Jazz Festival. Go here for more info.

Greg Burk's Live Jazz Pick's (Aug. 7-13)
Don Heckman's Live Jazz Picks (Aug. 3-9)
Brick Wahl's Live Jazz Picks (Aug. 6-12)

REST IN TEMPO
Betty Allen
Merce Cunningham
John “Marmaduke” Dawson
Willy DeVille
Titus “Baatin” Glover
Robert Hilferty
Andy Parle
Billy Lee Riley
George Russell
Mike Seeger
Michael Steinberg
Tom Wilkes

CRYPTONIGHTS and THE MUSEUM OF NEON ART Present

Jeff Gauthier - violin, electric violin, electronics
David Witham - piano, keyboards, electronics

Friday August 7th - 8PM
Museum of Neon Art
136 W. 4th St., LA 90013
Tel. (213) 489-9918
Tickets are $10 at the Door
Parking is available on the street, and in adjacent parking lots.
For more information and a map, please go to: www.neonmona.org

Cryptonight and the Museum of Neon Art present pianist/keyboardist David Witham and violinist Jeff Gauthier in an evening of electronic and acoustic composed and improvised music. On Friday, August 7th at 8PM, Jeff and Dave will play their own compositions, as well as music by J.S. Bach, Eric von Essen, Nels Cline and free duo improvisations based on MONA's extensive collection of rare and unusual neon art.

The results are in from Downbeat magazine's 57th Annual Critics' Poll.

And it looks like a happy one for our fearless leader...

Violin Rising Star - #6 Jeff Gauthier
Rising Star Producer - #10 Jeff Gauthier
Producer - #11 Jeff Gauthier

I intend to experiment more and more in the studio to create something that is original, sonically satisfying, soulful, but not necessarily jazz.
-Larry Goldings

In April 2006, a bizarre MySpage page appeared hawking the musical philosophy and wares of an Austrian pianist named Hans Groiner. Hailing from the city of Branau am Inn (“also the birthplace of Hitler, but please don't hold that against me"), the classically trained Groiner accounted his introduction to the world of jazz: "One day, around 1978, I heard a very interesting piece of music that turned out to be a jazz pianist named Thelonious Monk. It pickled my interest because it was very different from anything I had ever heard.”

Then it all went horribly wrong. “Although his music fascinated me, I had very mixed feelings,” Groiner went on to explain. “On the one hand, Mr. Monk had obvious talents, but on the other hand, his piano playing was very messy, and his songs had many funny notes and rhythms. Over the many years that I have been studying his music, I have grown to the conclusion that his songs would be much better, and much more popular, if many of the dissonances, or "wrong notes," were removed.” On his new CD, entitled Hans Groiner Plays Monk, the pianist claims he has done just that with such Monk classics as “Well, You Needn’t”, “I Mean You” and “Think of One.” “I think music fans from all over will agree that this new interpretation brings Monk's music to a much prettier, much more relaxing place.”

“Hans Gronier” expounds on the music of Thelonius Monk

Unfortunately, it does not bear the happiest news...

THE WIZARD FROM WISCONSIN

Lester William Polsfuss (1915-2009)

THE INTERSTELLAR STELLAR

Robert Patterson (1935-2009)

EN OTRO NOTICIAS:
After losing the Jazz Bakery in May, now it seems the Dark Forces (whatever or whomever they may be) are giving chase to even PRIVATE jazz clubs. Case in point: David Anderson's Live at the Atelier salon in Mar Vista, which LA Citybeat's Kirk Silsbee called "one of the best" home jazz salons in Los Angeles. David himself sent us the specs:

Dear Friends,

We have more world-class artists wanting to play at the Atelier than we have time for this year---that's a good thing. We'll keep you posted as soon as we know anything. Please keep checking back, and thanks for your interest.

As for salons that are still holding equity, Mimi Melnick's Double M Jazz Salon is hosting an unmissable feast of talent next Sunday, August 23: bassist Roberto Miguel Miranda, woodwindist Charles Owens, drummer Sonship Theus and pianist Wayne Peet with Aubrey Seibert and Stephen Blake adding vocals and spoken word. For times and directions, email MImi at mmelnick@sbcglobal.net.

Crypto's rez percussionist Alex Cline will be Michael Davis’s guest on Davis' radio show Trilogy (KXLU 88.9-FM) tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 9pm. The artist himself: "I will be shamelessly promoting the jazz fest...and myself, I guess." Typical blowhard comment!

REST IN TEMPO
Hildegard Behrens
Carleen Hutchins
Ernst Katz
Allan Shellenberger

I would love to make music that no one has heard before.
Satoko Fujii

Ah wouldn’t we all. But how many of us get the chance -- much less the Herculean discipline -- to do it?

Here at da Beast, we like to throw around metaphors as carelessly as the next blog—but even this might be stretching it for us: think of the Satoko Fujii Four as The Band of nü jazz. Wait, wait for it...Here are a group of musicians whose diversity of ranks produces a diversity of sounds: there’s the Japanese husband–and-wife team of pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, the West Coast chamber music/avant-jazz elder statesman, bassist Mark Dresser, and the maniacally divergent young New York drummer Jim Black. Their combined assault of all these ingredients—from willowy caresses of Asian or European folk music and intricately latticed classical etudes to the chest-seizing peals of avant-noise—are, wrote Jazz Central Station’s Drew Wheeler, “a potent mix of passion and calculated madness.” “They are the masters of paradox,” added Music and More's Tim Niland. “Managing contradictory feelings and statements, mixing drama with fun, calm and nervousness, composition and improvisation, but all within the same very coherent idiom.”

Fujii herself has been invariably compared to Toshiko Akiyoshi, not in the least because (thanks, in part, to lazy journalists) both are Japanese pianists who are Berklee School of Music alums and had to endure painful breaks with tradition. In the former’s case, it was Western male-dominated jazz; in the latter, her parents.

West Coast Premiere of CHOPS: THE MOVIE!
Where: The Royal/T Cafe, Culver City
When: August 28, 2009 @ 7pm
Whence: $20

Admission price includes:

* A glass of Champagne (whoo-hoo!)
* Cryptogramophone Compilation double CD + DVD
* A chance to win 2 tickets for the Angel City Jazz Festival (John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, 9/6 & 9/7)

CHOPS: THE MOVIE Trailer

CHOPS tells the story of a group of kids with extraordinary musical ability who learn to make the most of their gifts in an acclaimed public school jazz program in Jacksonville, FL.

From their early, squeaky scales to soaring, improvisational solos, we have a front row seat for their fascinating transformation. We're with them as they stick together and as they fall apart. And we see up close how the events of their daily lives are expressed in their music. We follow their musical journey from Florida to New York City, where they compete against the top high school jazz bands in the nation at the prestigious Essentially Ellington Festival. Win or lose, the Essentially Ellington experience puts them at the threshold of their dream, and reveals the incredible growth they've experienced personally and musically.

(UPDATE: Pianist Motoko Honda and violinist Jeff Gauthier will be performing as well.)

Co-sponsored by Cryptogramophone Records and the 2009 Angel City Jazz Festival.

In today's L.A. Times, Chris Barton offers a budget-conscious survey of live jazz in Los Angeles and Orange County -- and a few familiar names (Alex Cline, Peter Erskine, Hans Fjellstad, G.E. Stinson, our fearless leader Jeff Gauthier, Ken Kawamura, David Witham, Darek Oles, Bob Sheppard, Will Salmon) get a shout out. Read the full article here.

Saxophonist Jason Robinson performs at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts. (Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times)

(UPDATE: ...and the readers respond!

Thanks for the list of jazz venues ["Jazz at a Cool Spot," by Chris Barton, Aug. 22], but you missed a terrific one: Jazz Vespers at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica, the second Sunday of every month. Jazz performances with a brief vespers service. This charming little church presents a wide variety of jazz artists in a welcoming, intimate setting with amazing acoustics. It's become my favorite monthly outing, and I'm not even religious.

Kay M. Gilbert
Santa Monica

Ouch! How could you have failed to mention the free Friday evening concerts at LACMA? Or the rich, varied and free music performances at the Levitt Pavilion at MacArthur Park or downtown at the Grand Plaza?

Ruth Kramer Ziony
Los Feliz)

Greg Burk's Live Picks (Aug. 21-27)
Brick Wahl's Live Picks (Aug. 20-26)

REST IN TEMPO
Berle Adams
John E. Carter
Chris Connor
Jim Dickinson
Adam Goldstein
Ellie Greenwich
Larry Knechtel
Joe Maneri
Sergei Mikhalkov
Virginia Ramo

One of Da Beast’s favorite sets at last year’s Angel City Jazz Festival was the sublime and serpentine performance of keyboardist Wayne Horvitz’s Sweeter Than the Day: one almost forgot it was the middle of a balmy Labor Day weekend inside the Gal Lery Theatre at Barnsdall Art Park, the set unfolded like cigarette smoke in the early morning air of a European jazzkeller, daring the sun-kissed crowd to follow them down the road of calm introspection in the face of the dizzying parade of big-city stimuli.

Which is all just a snooty way of saying: Mr. Horvitz makes you slow down, stop the car, get out and amble through the roses.

FADE UP:

EXT – SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES – DAY

Guitarist NELS CLINE, a tall gentleman wearing black combat boots and a stylish Givenchy shirt, paces back and forth before his 3-man squad of avant-garde jazz musicians. They are drummer SCOTT AMENDOLA, bassist DEVIN HOFF and guitarist JEFF PARKER – all standing at rapt attention.

NELS: My name is Nels Courtney Cline, and I’m putting together a special team. And I need me three musicians. Three – avant – garde – jazz - musicians. Now, you might have heard rumors about a jazz festival happening soon. Well, those rumors are no longer rumors. In two weeks’ time, we’ll be parachuting into the rugged foothills above the Pilgrimage – uh, excuse me – Ford Theater, dressed as normal civilians – and no, I will not be wearing this shirt, sadly to say.

NELS: (Cont'd) And once we’ve staged our assault on the theatre stage, as a bushwhackin' improvisin' seratonin' pocket army of forward thinking alchemists of jazz/rock sonic exploration, we’re gonna be doing one thing and one thing only: melt faces. Musically speaking, that is. The Man has conquered Los Angeles jazz through supper clubs, cocktail lounges, dental offices and hotel piano bars in a pogrom of dilution and faux-respectability.

Following Alex Cline's appearance last week on KXLU's Trilogy, pianist Larry Karush will appear on John Schneider's Global Village (KPFK 90.7-FM) next Thursday, Sept. 3 at 11am. Besides performing live, he will be talking about the music he'll be performing at the Angel City Jazz Festival as well as the festival in general.

Greg Burk's Live Picks (Aug. 21-27)
Don Heckman's Live Picks (Aug. 25-30)
Brick Wahl's Live Picks (Aug. 27-Sept. 2)

LAST DAY TO GET DISCOUNT FOR THE ANGEL CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL!

Hey Angel City Jazz Festival Fans, Today is the last day to get $5 off our already low ticket prices. After August 30th prices go up to $35 (from $30) for adult tickets. Students are just $12!!

The Festival is next (Labor Day) weekend, Sept 6-7 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. There will be food, drink, crafts, and live painting. Go to http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.angelcityjazz.com and click on Buy Tickets.

Come hear Dave Douglas, Benny Maupin and Dolphyana, The Nels Cline Singers with Jeff Parker, Billy Childs, Larry Goldings, Wayne Horvitz, Satoko Fujii and many more.

UPDATE (9/02/09): Whoops! Looks like we missed a couple of ACJF '09 promotional appearances. There was Bennie Maupin's guest shot on KPFK 90.7-FM's Global Village Monday with Maggie LePique. (You can listen to the 8/31/09 podcast here.)
Jesse Sharps also stopped by the KPFK studios of RISE with Mark Maxwell. (Check out the audio archive of the show here.)

But that's not all: Tonight at 6pm on KXLU, ACJF co-organizers Jeff Gauthier and Rocco Somazzi will be guests on Jazz Journey with Eddie B. Tomorrow morning, in addition to Larry Karush's appearance listed below, pianist Billy Childs will stopping by KPFK at Noon for a live studio performance. Finally, on Saturday at 12pm, Rocco and organist Larry Goldings will pop by KJAZZ's The JazzCat with Leroy Downs. Leroy will (coincidentally) be repeating his duties as Master of Ceremonies for both days of the festival. Let's hear it for L.A. Jazz DJs for their support!

Greg Burk's Live Picks of the Week (Sept. 4-10):
Sun.-Mon. Sept. 6-7 -- Before last year’s Angel City Jazz Fest, Los Angeles had not hosted a wide-scale progressive jazz festival drawing from beyond local environs in something like a quarter of a century. What an embarrassment -- cities less than a tenth of our size such as Portland and San Francisco constantly kick our ass in this category with conclaves far larger than L.A. has ever mustered. Equally embarrassing was the response to the event by the media, which virtually ignored it. (LA Times improved its record this year via Chris Barton’s online interview with festival promoters Rocco Somazzi and Jeff Gauthier.) There ought to be a sign at the city limits that says NOW ENTERING HICK TOWN: NO WILD JAZZ OR PRO FOOTBALL. Despite his personal challenges, Somazzi has not given up, and he and Cryptogramophone’s Gauthier are acting as a pair of bolt cutters in a nation of artistic shackles....Damn, this is gonna be fun." (GB)

Don Heckman's Live Picks of the Week (Sept. 1-6)

"Highlight: Sept. 6 – 7. (Sun. & Mon.) Angel City Jazz Festival. The second installment of this adventurous Festival now takes place in the airy outdoor setting of the Ford Amphitheatre. And the line-up is an impressive collection of some of the contemporary jazz world’s most cutting edge artists and ensembles. The line up includes Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy, Bennie Maupin and Dolphyana, Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble, Alex Cline’s Band of the Moment, Larry Goldings Trio, Wayne Horvitz’s Gravitas Quartet. Larry Karush, Dwight Trible, Satoko Fuji and more. Ford Amphitheatre. Angel City Jazz Festival. (323) 461-3673." (DH)

Brick Wahl's Live Picks of the Week (Sept. 3-9)

"FESTIVALS OF NATIONS: Three big jazz festivals in the area this weekend, each completely different. Way different describes the Angel City Jazz Festival at the Ford Amphitheatre. The whole point of this event is to collect all kinds of creative-for-creative’s-sake jazz in one place — hours of it. And they’ve certainly assembled two days of brilliant stuff. Sunday’s headliner is trumpeter Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy (trombone, French horn, tuba and drums). Their Spirit Moves (on Greenleaf) is a glorious mix of a nearly New Orleans–style classic jazz — hence the tuba — and some strikingly expressive pieces with melodies that really stick with you in their odd way; the semi-oddball mix of horns blending beautifully. And Douglas blows a beautiful trumpet. Also on the bill is saxist Jesse Sharp’s stunning collective known as The Gathering (with saxist Kamasi Washington and violinist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson). Just wait till Dwight Trible joins them, his voice soaring and filling the whole place. Pianist Billy Childs’ Jazz Chamber Ensemble (with harpist Carole Robbins and saxist Bob Sheppard), the Satoko Fujii Quartet with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, pianist Larry Karush, and the clarinet fronted trio Plays Monk fill out the rest of the day. Top of the Monday’s bill is brilliant reedman Bennie Maupin & Dolphyana, an all-star band — flutist Nestor Torres (filling in for an ill James Newton), vibist Jay Hoggard, bassist Darek Oles and drummer Billy Hart — performing newly discovered compositions by the great Eric Dolphy. Wow. Also, drummer Alex Cline’s Band of the Moment ought to be playing material from his striking Continuation; Larry Goldings has the great NYC guitarist Peter Bernstein in his organ trio; The Nels Cline Singers pair Nels with Jeff Parker of Tortoise, doing who knows what, pianist Motoko Honda improvises with butoh master Oguri, and the Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet feature the often radical trumpeter Ron Miles. Incredible lineup in one of our favorite outdoor venues. See www.angelcityjazzfestival.com for prices (not bad at all) and details." (BW)

From L.A. Weekly's Music Picks (Sept.4-10): "Angel City Jazz Festival at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre: It’s billed as “L.A.’s Only Alternative, Non-Commercial Jazz Festival,” and you really ought to be grateful for the progressive plateful of heavy hitters shreddin’ the boards for your new thing–seeking pleasure. This is a chance to experience the very best in the more modernist spheres of jazz-aligned new music. Certain highlights are Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker’s jam with the Nels Cline Singers, featuring superax from Wilco guitarist Nels (and not a singer in sight); Nels’ bro, drummer-composer extraordinaire Alex Cline, brings his Band of the Moment; revered nu-jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas debuts his alternatively arranged Brass Ecstasy; woodwind player/composer Bennie Maupin and an all-star crew present Dolphyana, West Coast premieres of newly discovered compositions by Eric Dolphy. Also, pianist Wayne Horvitz’s extraordinary Gravitas Quartet, pianist Motoko Honda and butoh master Oguri, the Gathering, featuring woodwind player Jesse Sharps and vocalist Dwight Trible, and many others. Also Mon." (John Payne)

From Flavorpill-Los Angeles: "Get Labor Day started a bit later: Ford Amphitheatre's two-day jazz festival gets cooking at 4pm. Double Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas (along with five-piece band, Brass Ecstasy) headlines the fest in support of his debut disc, Spirit Moves, an original outing that also features arrangements of classics by the likes of Otis Redding, Hank Williams, and Rufus Wainwright. Also on the bill: jazz pianist Larry Karush, Thelonious Monk devotees Plays Monk, and the Nels Cline Singers with Jeff Parker." (Julian Hooper)

Dave Douglas

RE-UPDATE (9/05/09): Check out this interview with ACJF co-organizers Rocco Somazzi and Jeff Gauthier on the L.A. Times' Pop & Hiss blog!