Artistic Director Speaks: Darius Jones (may 30, 2014)

Artistic Director Speaks: Darius Jones 

May 30, 2014

Twitter: ken_pickering

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ken.pickering.969

Darius Jones Quartet featuring Tarbaby

June 27, 2014 – The Ironworks – 9pm

"Trane was the father. Pharoah was the son. I was the holy ghost." – Albert Ayler

Darius Jones (photo: Michael Lease)

First heard in Vancouver at the kick ass Ironworks show we presented in October of 2010 with his trio, Darius Jones returns to the festival with Tarbaby, one of the heaviest trios in jazz – with Orrin Evans - piano, Eric Revis - bass and Nasheet Waits - drums.

Tarbaby with Orrin Evans, Nasheet Waits, Eric Revis

Alto saxophonist Darius Jones is steeped in, but not limited to that amorphous classification that most of us consider to be the jazz tradition. Jones brings the broadest frame of reference imaginable to a wide range of music projects that encapsulate all eras of jazz, blues and funk, noise and beyond that positions his singular artistry squarely in the continuum of  (what the Art Ensemble of Chicago called) great black music. 

His sound possesses a distinctive sweet, searing vocal quality; having come up in the American south (Richmond, Virginia) Jones is no stranger to the country preachers of the Pentecostal church and in interviews has talked about “speaking in tongues” and “searching for the holy ghost”. (Thus the opening Albert Ayler quote). 

It’s no surprise that Darius has studied all of the masters, delving deeply into the music of his saxophone heroes: altos such as Johnny Hodges (his all time favourite?), Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman, to tenor men John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sam Rivers and Sonny Rollins. He feels a kinship to modern tenors – greats of today like Tony Malaby, Ellery Eskelin and Chris Speed.

The Legendary alto saxophonist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra - Johnny Hodges

For Darius, it’s not about aping your heroes, it’s about finding one’s own voice, a notion integral to the best jazz since inception and although aligned with the adventurous or non traditional wing of contemporary jazz most of his music has plenty of structure and swing without quite being straight ahead. 

Some of my favourite Darius Jones to date is drenched with that greasy soulful feeling, taking cues from the best soul singers – music that has nothing to prove, that isn’t overly intellectual but moves and touches people where it counts. Check out this video clip at Roulette with his quartet.

Also check out Book of Mae’bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) on Aum Fidelity with the same quartet (Matt Mitchell, Trevor Dunn, Ches Smith) here. When I first encountered this music it reminded me of an album that I first heard and loved when I was in high school at the end of the 60'a by the late alto saxophonist Marion Brown Why Not? on ESP (La Sorrella).  Something seemed familiar in the looseness of the swing feel and the bittersweet alto tone shared by both saxophonists that drew me in. I can't say enough about Matt Mitchell - a great pianist that Tim Berne first twigged me to a few years back.

Darius Jones Quartet Book of Mae'bul (on Aum Fidelity with cover art by Randal Wilcox)

Still in his 30’s Darius arrived in NYC in 2005 (in his 20’s), if not fully formed as a musician, still potent, his presence exuded strength and confidence, his talents brought a soulful new blues and gospel drenched take into the scene that slowly brought him support and recognition by his peers and elders. His continued development is based on deepening his historical knowledge, understanding and recognizing the importance of earlier musical forbearers and working with great musicians both young and old..  His fundamentals are sound - he’s primed to be a difference maker in this music. As pianist Cooper-Moore (with the trio Man’ish Boy - Darius and legendary drummer Bobby Moses) said, “Darius knows what the journey is. He knows how far he has to go, and he knows how hard you have to work at it. He knows the tradition and he knows his place. Without being a braggart about it – that he’s going to make a difference.”

Darius Jones (photo: Peter Gannushkin)

A sonic explorer - his influences and interests are wide ranging taking in John Cage and Muddy Waters, Duke Ellington and all of jazz history, Mozart, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Patti Labelle, Nirvana, Lightning Bolt and Prince. He works in selective situations: among them are Mike Pride’s Bacteria to Boys, Eric Revis Quartet, Trevor Dunn’s Proof Readers, the collective quartet Little Women, Man’ish Boy, his own trio and quartet.

Man'ish Boy (cover art by: Randal Wilcox)

The respect that his peers have for this young man – especially among those that are at least a generation older speaks volumes – for instance Matthew Shipp at the 2009 Vision Festival in NYC had this to say. “I’m cynical. But I was completely blown away. My first impression was that Darius was approaching avant-garde playing with an extremely authentic jazz sensibility. His phrasing was so snakelike, elastic and rooted in a Cannonball-ish way that night. I was shocked, because I didn’t expect to hear that from a younger guy.”

The fact that the heavyweights in Tarbaby: Orrin Evans – piano, Eric Revis – bass and Nasheet Waits – drums are in the Darius Jones camp is significant. Tarbaby is a whole other thing that deserves another page or two. YOU NEED TO BE AT THIS SHOW! Darius Jones & Tarbaby will SMOKING HOT! That’s guaranteed.

Darius Jones Quartet featuring Tarbaby

June 27, 2014 – The Ironworks – 9pm

Steven Joerg's great record label

Check out these interview articles used in researching this piece.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/darius-jones-from-johnny-hodges-to-noise-jazz-darius-jones-by-aaj-staff.php?&pg=4#.U4i8ACjA5UQ

 http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2012/DB201202/single_page_view/24.html

A big thank you, to our Manager of Artistic Programming - Rainbow Robert for her good taste. Not to mention the significant elbow grease invested into this project thus ensuring that Darius and Tarbaby got the right gigs in Canada.

Artistic Director Speaks: Charles Lloyd - the legend

Artistic Director Speaks: Charles Lloyd

May 27, 2014 (by Ken Pickering)

Twitter: ken_pickering

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ken.pickering.969

Charles Lloyd

Vogue Theatre – Friday, June 27, 2014 – 9pm 

My first encounter with the music of saxophonist / flutist Charles Lloyd came at the tender young age of 17 in the living room of media director John Orysik’s family home in front of one of those super old school wooden console hi-fi systems circa '68/69. The album in question was Forest Flower – Lloyd’s breakthrough album recorded at the 1966 - Monterey Jazz Festival with Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette; a helluva band by anybody’s standards. Probably John's first jazz album!  Fantastically. all four of these jazz giants are still alive and well on this planet! Teenage years for John and myself and the beginning of a life long passion for jazz –those were the days when we used to spend all of our limited disposable income on a vinyl record habit that would become increasingly expensive over the years; records that provided valuable fodder for the numerous listening sessions and blindfold tests that we enjoyed together as we strived to become knowledgeable about jazz. 

Memphis raised, (his closest childhood friend was the magnificent trumpeter Booker Little) one of his early teachers was the underrated pianist Phineas Newborn – by the mid 50’s Charles moved to Los Angeles and began his education in the clubs with Billy Higgins, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry among other west coast heavyweights. 

Charles Lloyd was already well established in the jazz world of the 60’s becoming known through his engagement as musical director with Chico Hamilton (replacing Eric Dolphy in 1960 who left to join Charles Mingus) in a legendary band that included guitarist Gabor Szabo and bassist Albert Stinson (a personal favourite from that period is the Impulse album Passin’ Thru). Dig this track by Szabo called Lady Gabor.

I’d forgotten that Lloyd had also worked with the soulful Cannonball Adderley for two years from 1964 (with brother Nat, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes) an important period in his development as a leader running parallel to Lloyd’s first albums released in 1964 and 1965 for CBS – the second of those was masterful, the burning Of Course, Of Course with Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Gabor Szabo - reissued on Mosaic (and worthy of purchase, but I just checked and it seems the edition has run out - ebay time!) - still sounds fresh today! Here's a tune called The Best Thing For You.

In 1965 Lloyd formed his legendary quartet (see first paragraph) recording Dream Weaver and subsequently the historic Forest Flower (Atlantic Records) –– achieving a million in sales, a rarity in the annals of jazz! Crossover success was in the air – leading to the quartet’s appearance on billings (with Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Cream) at rock palaces such as the Fillmore and also to Lloyd guesting with bands ranging from the Byrds to the Doors. Even more amazing was the fact that here we had an acoustic jazz band that seemed to resonate with open-minded audiences in the heyday of the psychedelic 60’s before the electric / jazz rock /  fusion era was ushered in by Miles Davis.  Lloyd also performed in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War in 1967. Here's a video clip from a 1966 concert in Portugal.

Charles Lloyd was often mentioned along with the pervasive influence of the legendary John Coltrane in any discussion that focused on the new spirituality in jazz throughout that era. Their musical approach couldn’t be more different. While Coltrane was a force of nature (especially towards the end of his life), Lloyd on the other hand had a restrained lyrical quality to my ears that was more akin to a Lester Young influence via Stan Getz and possessing a sweet sound that oozed of liquid honey.

By the 70’s there was a slow fade – although continuing to record and do sessions (Beach Boys) he strangely became an afterthought on the jazz scene of the day, partly due to his relocation to Big Sur and personal issues that needed to be addressed.

In the 80’s Charles Lloyd resurfaced with a vengeance after the talented French pianist Michel Petrucciani arrived in Big Sur and inspired his return to performance and world touring that was cited by many critics as a major event in the 80’s jazz world.

Michel Petrucciani

A little known fact – Michel Petrucciani Trio was the first Coastal Jazz concert, presented at the Western Front in 1984. I remember it well.

After surviving a medical scare in 1986 Lloyd hasn’t looked back. He continued to work with the best musicians around beginning with Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson and Bobby McFerrin - quickly leading to a long-term association with ECM from 1989 beginning with Fish Out of Water and a series of albums that included many of the best and brightest musicians of our time; Brad Mehldau, Dave Holland, Billy Hart, Eric Harland, Zakir Hussain, Billy Higgins, Geri Allen and John Abercrombie. 

One of my favourite releases is the recent set of duets Hagar’s Song with the important young pianist Jason Moran – a duo that I had the extremely good fortune to hear last summer at the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway and they were stunning.

Charles Lloyd speaks about his last quartet, together through most of the 2000's with Jason, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland on this video clip. Now 76 years of age and still at the top of his game, Charles Lloyd hasn’t performed at the Festival since the early 90’s; so it most definitely wouldn’t be wise to miss this rare Vancouver appearance of a living jazz legend! His new touring quartet includes the estimable Gerald Clayton – piano, Joe Sanders – bass and the fabulous Gerald Cleaver – drums.

Vogue Theatre – Friday, June 27, 2014 – 9pm 

Artistic Director Speaks: Harris Eisenstadt & Alexander Hawkins

Artistic Director Speaks: Harris Eisenstadt / Alexander Hawkins +++

(by Ken Pickering)

May 26, 2014

twitter: ken_pickering

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ken.pickering.969

Harris Eisenstadt's Golden State - The Ironworks - June 28

Alexander Hawkins / Francois Houle / Harris Eisenstadt - The Ironworks - June 29 and Performance Works - July 1

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about my ongoing friendship with drummer / composer / bandleader Harris Eisenstadt and the interconnectedness of the creative / jazz / improvisational music scenes around the world and how many unexpected encounters lead to constantly expanding networks and surprising outcomes. 

Harris Eisenstadt (photo: Ziga Koritnik)

It was in the early 2000’s when I first started to hear about Harris and it wasn’t too long after that I heard from the then young man directly. This was back in the day when he was at Cal Arts studying with Wadada Leo Smith and around the time bassist Torsten Müller had moved to Vancouver from Bremen, Germany who also factors into this story.

It must’ve been around 2004/5 when I met Harris for the first time in London, UK at a church concert that he participated in –John Butcher was among the cast performing and I also remember eating pizza and attending that gig with Steve Beresford. Maybe he played as well. Eisenstadt was one of the rare young North American jazz musicians (a true blue Canadian) that was not only comfortable playing with European improvisers but was very conversant with that language and the players; happily discussing the merits of Tony Oxley or Han Bennink as he was dealing with the music of American jazz masters such as Jack deJohnette and Max Roach. 

For the first decade of the new millennium our Time Flies (Vancouver Improvised Music Meeting) was in full flight each February with Torsten Müller joining me as co-artistic director and it was on his recommendation that we invited Harris to Vancouver. Torsten  had met Harris around 2002/3 when he was in LA with Wolfgang Fuchs –which let to Torsten and Harris touring with the late great British improvising trombonist Paul Rutherford. Harris also attended a Detroit Tigers fantasy camp with his father around that time that made the travel section of the Globe and Mail, but that’s another story. 

Harris Eisenstadt (photo: Evan Eisenstadt)

In the intervening years our friendship blossomed and I’ve had the good fortune to share many fantastic hangs with Harris and his wife Sara Schoenbeck mostly in Brooklyn (but in Vancouver too). In fact Rainbow Robert (Manager of Artistic Programming) and I actually commandeered their kitchen during an APAP conference and cooked orecchiette with cauliflower for many of our Brooklyn friends a few years back! What fun! One particularly funny moment at their place was captured when Harris photographed me holding his young son Owen in full Maple Leafs regalia – but you can’t hold being a Leafs fan against Harris, not when one of his main bands is called Canada Day (featured at the festival in 2010). Not sure if he still has that photo!

Eisenstadt also has numerous engaging projects beyond his stellar Canada Day, including the September Trio (with Angelica Sanchez and Ellery Eskelin); their second Clean Feed album – The Destructive Element is a must hear. Many Canadian listeners heard Harris with Francois Houle’s 5tet + Benoit Delbecq during their triumphant summer 2012 jazz festival tour. There’s a great disc from this band available on Songlines – features some of my favourite musicians and people; in addition to Francois, Harris and Benoit, Michael Bates, Samuel Blaser and Taylor Ho Bynum. The recent Clean Feed album (with Harris) led by trumpeter Nate Wooley’s also a monster. Nate and DJ Olive also play the fest on June 28^th (The Ironworks) under the moniker Destroy Vancouver - deets here.

Another festival convergence represents an outgrowth of Harris’ musical relationship in a cross continental amalgamation with American trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum (he was here with Anthony Braxton’s Sonic Genome during the Cultural Olympiad 2010) and Brits Dominic Lash and Alexander Hawkins in their appropriately named Convergence Quartet. Right now I’m listening to their excellent second album (rec 2011) Slow and Steady. Check out this podcast of Alex Hawkins talking about that album.

Harris provided the initial introduction to Alex Hawkins and over the past year or more I’ve had some great twitter conversations with him about all kinds of jazz. Even more fun was the vinyl shopping (Jan Ole spent all the money), a Turkish kebab meal and listening to the final concert of the ICP Orchestra (with Misha Mengelberg) at the Vortex in London (last January 2013) in Alex and Jan Ole Otnaes’ (Oslo) company. In relatively short order this young pianist’s meteoric rise has cemented a reputation as one of Britain’s most highly regarded pianists (and organ too) working with Joe McPhee, Louis Moholo Moholo, Evan Parker, Mulatu Astatke and most recently he was found in Italy working with Wayne Horvitz’ conduction ensemble. His knowledge of jazz history from its origins and across all styles (Ben Webster to Roscoe Mitchell, Hampton Hawes to Cecil Taylor) is impressive (a vinyl collector) and would seem to belie his youth.  Possessing great knowledge of the jazz tradition, Hawkins is at his core a staunch modernist as his musical associations attest. He’ll perform twice (plus a workshop lecture at the Roundhouse) at the festival as part of the Made in the UK series with a new trio that includes Harris and Vancouver clarinetist Francois Houle. Deets for June 29^th gig here and July 1^st here. 

Alexander Hawkins (photo by: Edu Hawkins)

Finally the original point of this piece: to let you know that the  Harris Eisenstadt Golden State Quartet is touring Canada (with the support of Canada Council for the Arts – his first touring grant!) to perform music from their gorgeous and quite recent album on Vancouver’s Songlines imprint - catching this unique one of a kind quartet live is a must! 

Harris Eisenstadt's Golden State

The original band had a most unusual lineup: Nicole Mitchell – flute, Sara Schoenbeck – bassoon, Mark Dresser – bass and Harris – all great musicians and leaders in their own right. Check out this video with Harris talking about the quartet, the music concepts and how it all came together. The liner notes by Brian Morton explain the genesis of this group (rooted in Harris and Sara’s 2012 residency at Cal Arts) rather perfectly. Although Nicole will not be on this tour due to family obligations (and we’ll miss her), saxophonist / clarinetist Michael Moore (ICP Orchestra) is a more than able replacement as most of you probably know. 

Here's a great review of Golden State in All About Jazz by Glenn Astarita.

The concert - June 28 at the Ironworks 9pm – deets here.

And there you have it – a rambling story, Harris Eisenstadt to Alexander Hawkins with multiple detours in the telling. See you at the concerts!

Artistic Director Speaks - Komagata Maru Blues

Artistic Director Speaks: Neelamjit Dhillon Quartet and Michael Blake 

Two Visions / Remembrances:  Komagata Maru

(by: Ken Pickering) May 23, 2014

twitter: ken_pickering

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ken.pickering.969

Before we get to the connection with the Jazz Festival a little preamble is required because today's the day.

I read the two articles by Marsha Lederman (Globe and Mail) that follow over the past 24 hours. 

Sadly and only a short time before the ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Komagata Maru incident the public monument commemorating the incident (hundreds of men stranded in the harbour for two months and then refused entry into Canada despite the fact that they were British subjects) has been defaced for the second time in recent months. May 23, 2014 –  today - marks that anniversary. The lack of respect for this important monument that commemorates one of the darkest incidents in the history of British Columbia is an indictment on the perpetrators - so depressing and undignified - they should be spanked in public. It’s really pathetic that we still have to endure this sort of nonsense in today’s Vancouver.

On a more positive note this article talks about the man behind the project that marks the 100^th anniversary and tells the fantastic story of the brick.

Perhaps lesser known is the connection of the Komagata Maru incident to the Jazz Festival. Two very different musicians (Neelamjit Dhillon and Michael Blake), both with Vancouver roots, but living (at least some of the time) elsewhere have developed their own separate independent projects that reflect on that story of xenophobia and social injustice that we would like to think would have been completely eradicated in today's Canadian cultural mosaic – but that seems to not be the reality. Even so, Vancouver still seems to be one of the more culturally open cities in this world in my experience. In addition to the music, we'll also be co-hosting an unconventional colloquium that will focus on some of these issues - who belongs?

So what's going on?

The Neelamjit Dhillon Quartet - Komagata Maru (Chris Gestrin – piano, André Lachance – bass, Dan Gaucher – drums, Neelamjit – tabla) will explore in a 60 minute work, where we have come from, where we are and where we hope to go. 

Social justice and marginalized people within our social fabric will be central themes in a work that encapsulates a musical language bridging jazz and classical Indian forms from the perspective of a South Asian in today’s multi-cultural Canadian society. 

Neelamjit Dhillon Quartet – Komagata Maru performs – Saturday, June 21^st at Performance Works 1:30pm  - free to the public.

Details here. 

Michael Blake’s – The Komagata Maru Blues will explore the incident from another perspective with a stellar jazz ensemble of Vancouver’s finest improvisers (Ron Samworth – guitar, Peggy Lee – cello, Dylan van der Schyff – drums, Chris Gestrin – keyboards, JP Carter – trumpet and André Lachance - bass). It's worth noting that both Chris and André are performing in both projects. The music will be very different! Sunday, June 22 at The Ironworks 9pm ($25)

Details here.

For Brooklyn based (but Vancouver raised) Michael Blake there’s an ancestral connection. A man named HH Stevens was an important politician and MP during the Komagata Maru era and was responsible for much of the anti-Asian bias at the time. Ends up he was not only a bigot and an expulsionist, but was also a distant relative and an embarrassment to later generations of his family for his racist views. 

Michael Blake’s project will be a remembrance that will honour the lives of those people who were affected by those policies of racial exclusion.

An Unconventional Colloquium - Improvising Across Boundaries 

June 21 and 22 at Robson Square Room C400 from 10am (free)

There will also be an unconventional festival colloquium co-presented with UBC –that ties into these themes. Focusing on ways in which improvisation  - in music, in theatre, in dance and text can offer strategies and practices to help us negotiate boundaries and borders, with the challenges presented by the politics of gender, history and social class or by multiculturalism, by race and racism. Inclusion and exclusion, community building or confrontation – can improvisation enable new modes of cultural and social understanding? 

Thanks to Rainbow Robert, Neelamjit Dhillon, Michael Blake 

Thanks to Barking Sphinx Performance Society. 

Artistic Direct Speaks - Cassandra Wilson and Bobby McFerrin

Artistic Director Speaks – Cassandra Wilson and Bobby McFerrin (May 22, 2014)

(by Ken Pickering)

Twitter: @ken_pickering

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ken.pickering.969

Whilst in flight en route to Bremen, Germany for the Jazz Ahead conference last month I noticed a very good article / interview with the great singer Cassandra Wilson in Lufthansa’s in flight magazine to promote her European tour. Needless to say I was very impressed; pretty darned hip promotion not only in Europe, but even closer to home, especially in light of the fact that Ms Wilson returns to the Jazz Festival on our side of the pond after too long of an absence for an appearance at the Vogue Theatre, June 29^th with her crackerjack band. 

As a long time fan, I first became aware of Cassandra Wilson’s rarified deep smoky voice in the mid 80’s through her guest appearances on three tracks on New Air Show No. 1 (Henry Threadgill, Fred Hopkins, Pheeroan AkLaff) on Soul Note and her work with the founder of the M-Base collective in Brooklyn, Steve Coleman – Motherland Pulse (1985) – in the mid 80’s. 

Up to that point she had been largely focused on the standard jazz repertoire but began to move towards developing her own original material through Coleman’s influence. Studies with Grachan Moncur 111 and deep listening to Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln prepared her for ambitious complex non-song based projects with innovative saxophonist / composer Steve Coleman. This led her to the German JMT label and a series of individualistic triumphant albums under her own name (and collaborations with Coleman) through the late 80’s beginning with Point of View. Her most popular album through that period was Blue Skies – ironically a set of wonderful renditions of some great tunes from the great American songbook that brought her widespread attention, yet her significant breakthrough came when she signed to Blue Note and released the Craig Street produced masterpiece Blue Light ‘til Dawn in 1993. That album was a knockout with cover versions of Robert Johnson, the Monkees, Hank Williams and Joni Mitchell. Her interpretations of a diverse and wide range of material has paved the way for jazz singers to move beyond the standard songbook and that influence continues to this day. Her version of Black Orpheus at the Vitoria-Gastiez Festival in Spain. Here's an amazing take on that old chestnut  Caravan.

Cassandra Wilson is one of the great singers in this or any other era, never standing still or resting on her laurels she continued to expand her repertoire by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her work. Although her music is most often categorized as jazz and is certainly recognizable as such by most listeners, she’s very comfortable to define her music as part of the continuum Nicholas Payton calls Black American Music.  

Erudite scribe and card carrying member of the jazz twitter-brigade, Richard Scheinin (San Jose Mercury News) has a very high opinion of Cassandra Wilson and has included her in his 12 most important living jazz musicians. Read. I'm sympathetic with Richard sentiments; there’s little doubt in my mind that Ms. Wilson’s music will stand the test of time. 

Her first visit to the festival goes back to 1995. My last encounter with her music in the live context was a superb mesmerizing performance at The Blue Note in NYC a couple of years ago. Her bands are uniformly excellent and serve her music well. Her concert at the Vogue should be a fitting end to this year's  festival.

His website nails it – “listening to Bobby McFerrin sing may be hazardous to your preconceptions. Side effects may include unparalleled joy, a new perspective on creativity, rejection of the predictable, and a sudden, irreversible urge to lead a more spontaneous existence”. Check out this wicked version of Joshua with his spirityouall band.

Bobby McFerrin’s arrival in the early 80’s was somewhat monumental and mind expanding; it wasn’t long before his talent was universally acknowledged and it wasn't long before he took his destined place in the pantheon of modern jazz greats. His first three albums dated from 1982, 1984 and 1986.

Bobby McFerrin takes me back to an earlier time in my life; and as I reflect on the era of those first albums that were released back in the days of vinyl records and my time overseeing the Black Swan Records shop on 4^th Avenue I remember very well, the excitement that this amazing new vocalist was creating in the jazz world. He was working with a cross section of the best talents in jazz and beyond from the get go. Jazz legends such as Victor Feldman, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Jon Hendricks, Manhattan Transfer to comedian Robin Williams and singer / songwriter Phoebe Snow factored in on his earliest albums.

His talent would eventually transcend the jazz audience and cross over to the mainstream music audience with the release of his biggest hit – 1988’s Don’t Worry Be Happy on the album Simple Pleasures – a tune that was composed and recorded almost as an afterthought to the session at the very last minute. It amazes that this break out album featured only Bobby’s voice with overdubbing.

Since the 80’s McFerrin has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (Creative Chair since 1994) and has conducted orchestras worldwide. His projects include his legendary solo shows, voicestra, VOCAbuLarieS, bobble and variety of collaborations and special projects with some of the world’s highest profile artists.

The first Vancouver International Jazz Festival took place in 1986 and Bobby McFerrin was in our lineup – in fact he was included on a tremendous triple bill with Tony Williams Quintet and Tito Puente at the long defunct Expo Theatre. 

Somehow it feels almost surreal that it’s taken us 29 years to get him back to the festival - his latest project is – spirityouall – a re-imagining of Americana, spirituals and original songs with his rock solid kick ass band. Better late than never - don’t miss this concert, the man is truly a living legend! At the Orpheum Theatre - Sunday, June 22nd 

Artistic Director Speaks - Jazz Ahead ++ May 20th, 2014

Artistic Director Speaks – Jazz Ahead ++ May 20, 2014

(by Ken Pickering)

Twitter: @ken_pickering
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ken.pickering.969

Time waits for no one. Suddenly it’s spring and we're blessed with an abundance of northwest sunshine (happily the weather has been pretty amazing in recent weeks), tons of new blossoms and the leaves have mostly returned to the deciduous trees. It's true, Vancouver is among the world’s greenest cities. I for one am very happy to call Vancouver home.

For the music fan, there's just one month to go before the festival hits and the welcoming sound of jazz is in the air. It's a great feeling.These are exciting and very busy times around the environs of Coastal Jazz. In the past month we’ve had our media launch (May 7^th), unleashing the full details of this year’s event (the printed version of program guide is being distributed around town and its also available on the website for download in digital and pdf formats here). Finally after an exhaustive months long search, we’ve hired a brand spanking new executive director - Mike Forrester -  just in time for this year’s festival! Details here. Now that’s exciting stuff for us.

President of the Coastal Jazz Board of Directors, Pat Julian speaks at the recent media event to announce the upcoming festival.

Before we get completely consumed by the  festival (more previews upcoming shortly), I'd like to tell you something about the annual Jazz Ahead conference in Bremen, Germany that I attended in late April. A blitzkrieg week of non-stop rounds of meetings and showcases and to my surprise the final tally of all those meetings / hangs matched almost perfectly up in number with the 60 plus CD’s that I brought home to check out.

On this occasion it was a pleasure to be joined for the first time by two of my esteemed Canadian colleagues; Lulu Healy (Jazz East Festival – Halifax) and Petr Cancura (program manager – Ottawa Jazz Festival). It was a blast introducing them to a lot of folks on the European scene that I’ve know for years. 

Petr Cancura and Lulu Healy

There was just too much going on to touch on everything, however I’d like to touch on a couple of noteworthy music highlights of interest, especially for the Canadian listener:  Montreal based - Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra (Juno award winner) and Marianne Trudel’s Trifolia (back for round two this year) both delivered strong performances that made a deserved big impression on the international guests. It was also cool to reconnect with the Nordic / UK trio Phronesis (Jasper Hoiby, Ivo Neame and Anton Eger) as well as their manager Sue (@jazzshark) Edwards. Phronesis is emerging world-wide to claim their place among the great piano/bass/drums trios in jazz.  Amongst the dozens of shows at Jazz Ahead were excellent sets by two Germans; percussionist Christian Lillinger's Grund, trombonist Nils Wogram's Root 70 + Strings and Denmark's Blood Sweat Drum + Bass. 

Denmark was the featured country at Jazz Ahead this year (catch Ibrahim Electric in Vancouver, June 29 at David Lam Park) and they had some tongue planted firmly in cheek as you can see in this photo. In Canada you'd probably end up in jail for being this irreverent. 

For myself, the outstanding concert of the week took place at the acoustically perfect chamber music hall Sendesaal (used to be the Radio Bremen studios) the day before the conference kicked off. A sublime solo performance that took place in complete darkness by the masterful pianist Fred Hersch is something I’ll never forget. For a more complete snapshot of Jazz Ahead showcases check out ace Ottawa scribe (All About Jazz) John Kelman here.

The fabulous Rui Neves (Jazz em Agosto - Lisbon, Portugal) accepts European Jazz Network award for adventurous programming 2014 - annually awarded to a European jazz promoter who exemplifies the values of EJN and has succeeded in turning vision and skill into forward-looking and fascinating musical programmes for their audience.

Caught up with lots of friends and colleagues (musicians, agents, presenters etc): Samuel Blaser, Ab Baars and Ig Henneman, Sunna Gunnlaugs (in Vancouver June 29^th), Maggi Olin and Torben Waldorff (Maggi’s with David’s Angels June 28^th), Antanas Gustys (Vilnius Festival), Danielle Oosterup (The Thing), Caroline Muntz (Eric Boeren), Susanna von Canon (ICP), Julia Hulsmann (wonderful pianist on ECM) and her agent Anastasia Wolkenstein, John Gilbreath (Earshot Jazz), Cathy Rae (Scottish Jazz Federation), the Whirlwind Recordings crew (Michael Janisch, Jim Hart), Achim Kaufmann and Tobias Delius, Helen Kontos (Savina Yannatou), Nanou Kurstjens (long time!) and my man Jan Ole Otnaes (now at Victoria Nasjonal Jazz Scene in Oslo), the lovely Ragnar Berthling, John Cumming (Serious / London Jazz Festival), Ulf Bjorkman (Caprice Records), Minna Huskonen (Helsinki Fest), Peter Knight (Australian Art Orchestra) and so many many more. 

The rock steady John Gilbreath (Earshot Jazz - Seattle) is one of our regions true jazz internationalists.

Jan Ole Otnaes has moved on from Molde Jazz Festival to Victoria - Nasjonal Jazz Scene in Oslo - a fantastic state funded jazz club that hosts the worlds best all year round.

Also great to meet some folks for the first time including long time facebook friend and now agent of the hour – Riccarda Kato (Kato Bookbird), Mariah Wilkins (manager of Ambrose Akinmusire – he’s at Performance Works June 27^th) and finally had a nice hang with flautist Jamie Baum after many years of hellos at APAP. 

Jamie Baum on the final night - post Osteria dinner hang with Jan Ole Otnaes, Lulu Healey, Petr Cancura and myself - in the Bremen town square.

Saxophonist Nils Berg Cinemascope (with Josef Kallerdahl and Fredrik Rundkvist) at the final Sunday's Swedish Showcase at Kito in beautiful Bremerhaven. Nils Berg will be in residence from mid-August to mid-September in Vancouver courtesy of Coastal Jazz and more importantly the Swedish Arts Grant Committee. Lisa Ullén (piano) and Mats Åleklint (trombone) will also enjoy a Vancouver residency funded through this program for the entire month of June.

Even this extensive laundry list doesn't give one any real idea of the breadth and scope of what takes place at Jazz Ahead.It’s also seems just a wee bit crazy how this conference has become so manically busy that you can easily miss folks that you’ve known for years in the midst of the madness. It happened more than once! Suffice it to say that this event has become one of the important dates on the calendar for any folks connected to the art and business of jazz.

The Norwegians are on the move. Enough said.

My next post will focus on Bobby McFerrin and Cassandra Wilson. From there we’ll begin the process of drilling down to some of the highlights of our upcoming June jazz festival. Stay tuned. More will come shortly.

(Ken Pickering, May 20, 2014)

Photos: KP (iphone, ipad)
except Pat Julian by Chris Cameron.