I was asked to comment on issues of funding for jazz and jazz education in a roundtable exchange on Point of Departure (see links). Please check it out.
Some might know that I have my views about how the music works in many ways. I expect to use "Age of Everything" to do my bit to change the current state of rhetoric about the music, which is stuck in a kind of combination of post-Coltrane/70's European Free Improvisation rut. The people promoting those angles are often a couple of generations away from either of them. Or they are so enamored with those sub-genres that they are already past the point of being open to any other ideas. Worse, they think they are new ideas. Those of us who knew about them back when they really mattered and quickly moved on need to get involved in the discussion and make the differences clear. I'll do it in a way that is associated with performances and recordings I make. I have a lot of new work due for release soon that will give me ample opportunity to discuss these things.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Upcoming performances
June 19th Vision Festival NYC 7:30pm JM on guitar& banjo w/William Parker Orchestra
June 24th Vision Festival NYC 8:00pm JM on bass w/Daniel Levin Quartet
July 11th Hideout Chicago 8:00pm JM on guitar&banjo w/Hamid Drake BINDU
July 13th& 14th Iridium NYC 8&10pm JM on guitar w/David S. Ware Group
June 24th Vision Festival NYC 8:00pm JM on bass w/Daniel Levin Quartet
July 11th Hideout Chicago 8:00pm JM on guitar&banjo w/Hamid Drake BINDU
July 13th& 14th Iridium NYC 8&10pm JM on guitar w/David S. Ware Group
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
NEW RELEASE! Morris/Vandermark/Gray "Rebus"
Clean Feed records is about to release "Rebus" an new cd I recorded in January of 2006 with Ken Vandermark and drummer Luther Gray. "Rebus" is the group name. Ken suggested it. Of course it's a picto-puzzle. The music is all improvised. We recorded it at Firehouse 12 in New Haven CT. Nick Lloyd engineered it.
"Rebus" is tenor, drums and guitar. This format gives me the opportunity to do things on the guitar that are not possible to do with a bass player. The group and recording came as a result of many years of great discussion with Ken.
I first met Ken when I was playing at 1369 Jazz Club in about 1986. He was 17 I think. Nice kid. We've stayed in touch. This is our third cd together. The first two were "Like Rays" and DKV+Joe Morris "Deep Telling". We did a couple of concerts with Luther a few years ago. Two were with Joe McPhee and Nate McBride with me playing the other bass. Then a few "Rebus" gigs. Luther is my drummer of choice for many things especially those that include saxophone. He recorded with me on "Age of Everything" (riti) and "Beautiful Existence" (clean feed).
Ken and I share an interest in visual arts and we each gain a lot of influence from work we see. "Rebus" came from Ken's visit to the Rauschenberg exhibit at the Met in NY last year. We talked a lot about Walker Evans before we made this recording, American abstraction and narrative flow in improvisation. More on all that later.
The cd is in release and should be available very soon.
"Rebus" is tenor, drums and guitar. This format gives me the opportunity to do things on the guitar that are not possible to do with a bass player. The group and recording came as a result of many years of great discussion with Ken.
I first met Ken when I was playing at 1369 Jazz Club in about 1986. He was 17 I think. Nice kid. We've stayed in touch. This is our third cd together. The first two were "Like Rays" and DKV+Joe Morris "Deep Telling". We did a couple of concerts with Luther a few years ago. Two were with Joe McPhee and Nate McBride with me playing the other bass. Then a few "Rebus" gigs. Luther is my drummer of choice for many things especially those that include saxophone. He recorded with me on "Age of Everything" (riti) and "Beautiful Existence" (clean feed).
Ken and I share an interest in visual arts and we each gain a lot of influence from work we see. "Rebus" came from Ken's visit to the Rauschenberg exhibit at the Met in NY last year. We talked a lot about Walker Evans before we made this recording, American abstraction and narrative flow in improvisation. More on all that later.
The cd is in release and should be available very soon.
Matt Shipp "Piano Vortex"
I am lucky to say that I am the bass player on the upcoming new Matthew Shipp cd entitled "Piano Vortex" due for release in September on Thirsty Ear. Whit Dickey is the drummer. We all love the music on this recording and we anticipate a great deal of very positive response to it. There will be a record release performance on August 27th at the Blue Note in NYC. Matt has been a great friend of mine for 20 years. I did two guitar cd's with Matt, "Elsewhere" and "Thesis". He's always been a unique voice on piano and a real force when it comes to redefining how the music is played, heard and in terms of opening-up new avenues to audiences. Having the chance to play bass with him is fantastic. We've done a couple of gigs in Europe and in NYC. Check Matt's website for details on this release.
Morris/Cancura/Nazary
Last month I made what I think is a really great recording with two teriffic young players, Petr Cancura and Jason Nazary. I met both of them at New England Conservatory. Petr was a student of mine for a year and played in one of my ensembles. I met Jason through another great young drummer, Croix Galipault.
Petr was born in Czech Republic and grew up in Ottawa. He plays tenor, soprano, and alto saxophone, clarinet, and flute. He's unique because he seems truly open to anything and is able to sound like himself no matters what he plays. Jason is similar. He has a great dynamic control and personal kind of swing feel. Both are great communicators and really great to work with.
I played bass on the recording and contributed two of my compositions, "Beautiful Existence" and "Flip and Spike". Both are title cuts from guitar albums. One of the reasons I started playing bass was so I could play my older compositions. I wrote "Flip and Spike"in 1988 and recorded it in 1991 with Sebastian Steinberg on bass and Jerome Deupree on drums. The cd is on my label RITI.
Petr contributed two compositions as well. "Big Foot" and "Rwanda". The latter is based on some folk tunes Petr played while on tour with some African musicians from Ituri rainforest. I added a bass part.
We also play the classic "My Reverie" (made famous by Sonny Rollins on "Tenor Madness") "Gazzeloni", by Eric Dolphy and "Voice Poetry" by Ornette Coleman from his Prime Time period.
I am shopping the cd at the moment.
Petr was born in Czech Republic and grew up in Ottawa. He plays tenor, soprano, and alto saxophone, clarinet, and flute. He's unique because he seems truly open to anything and is able to sound like himself no matters what he plays. Jason is similar. He has a great dynamic control and personal kind of swing feel. Both are great communicators and really great to work with.
I played bass on the recording and contributed two of my compositions, "Beautiful Existence" and "Flip and Spike". Both are title cuts from guitar albums. One of the reasons I started playing bass was so I could play my older compositions. I wrote "Flip and Spike"in 1988 and recorded it in 1991 with Sebastian Steinberg on bass and Jerome Deupree on drums. The cd is on my label RITI.
Petr contributed two compositions as well. "Big Foot" and "Rwanda". The latter is based on some folk tunes Petr played while on tour with some African musicians from Ituri rainforest. I added a bass part.
We also play the classic "My Reverie" (made famous by Sonny Rollins on "Tenor Madness") "Gazzeloni", by Eric Dolphy and "Voice Poetry" by Ornette Coleman from his Prime Time period.
I am shopping the cd at the moment.
I intend to use this blog to write about issues pertaining to my music and issues pertaiinng to the coverage of jazz and improvised music in print and especially on the internet. I'll also post comments and ideas about where I think the music is going, who's taking it places that are interesting, and why.
I'll also post a schedule of upcoming releases on my label RITI and other labels and performances. Stay tuned and be patient with me while I figure out what this is and where it will lead me.
I'll also post a schedule of upcoming releases on my label RITI and other labels and performances. Stay tuned and be patient with me while I figure out what this is and where it will lead me.
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