Yes, it was smaller by half, but so is the economy. That we had a Portland Jazz Festival at all is a good thing. That they sold out seven of the eight major events says a lot for Portland. The only one that didn’t sell out was Dave Douglas at the Crystal Ballroom on Sunday night, ending the Festival.
Someone wondered if they had flip-flopped Pharoah Sanders and Douglas, with Sanders at night and Douglas in the afternoon, they might have sold them all out. That’s interesting speculation, but the truth is that there weren’t that many seats left at the Crystal.
Is Jazz Dead? Or has it moved to a new address? — A bogus question
I understand why it was chosen as a topic of discussion for the lead Jazz Conversation and as a sub-theme for the Festival. The question causes Jazz fans to become indignant, to point fingers and grumble, “Of course, it isn’t dead. What a dumb question.”
It is a dumb question and was written to sell books for Stuart Nicholson, the author who posed it. It is a naked straw man, but marketing is marketing. A little controversy sells, bogus or not.
So the straw man turned out to be the burning man of the Festival, set ablaze by the music, local and national and international. But it was still a straw man. It was an exercise designed to have a happy ending. That it did is hard to complain about.
Those Norwegians
Frode Haltli PJF photo by Fran Kaufman
I must admit that I was one of the multitude who said, “Say what?” when they announced that three Norwegian bands were going to be in the Festival. Three? Really? Norwegians? Puzzled looks all over town.
On second thought, this guy Bill Royston has brought in some amazing talent, musicians like Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, folks we never ever thought we’d get to see in Puddletown. He had the balls to feature ECM throughout an entire Festival! Maybe we should trust him on this? But three bands from Norway?
While they did not provide my top three moments at the Festival, I noted this, “For first-time listeners to In The Country, there may have come a time after a tune or two when it dawned on them, ‘This is what ECM sounds like.’ The landmark label is known for (the teeth-gritting title) “Chamber Jazz.” It has documented many bands like the Norwegians in the Festival this year.
“What’s happy about the sudden realization that you’re hearing ‘ECM’ is that there’s an accompanying thought, ‘I never get to hear this in Portland.’”
…if we limit Jazz’s definition to Crouch et al’s monoculture, conservative, blues-based, swinging model then we do a disservice to the future of the music, and we choke jazz in the same way that Bush/Rove suffocated democracy, one of our other great ‘gifts’ to the world.
About Seim and Haltli, I wrote, “The audience stayed absolutely silent for the next 25 or so minutes as the two were a living example of the old ECM slogan, “The most beautiful sound next to silence.”
Holding the Norwegian’s performances in Norse Hall was cute and quaint and totally appropriate.
Whether or not they took you to the same place you go when you hear Fables of Faubus, or My Favorite Things, or a seductive Brazilian Bossa Nova or the brilliance of Dave Douglas is not the point. They took you somewhere you might not have ever been, and I don’t mean Norway.
That’s what this Festival has always been about.
Images that won’t go away
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders at the Newmark. PJF photo by Fran Kaufman
Dancing onstage, including that deep knee bend. We were all hoping he would make it to his feet. He did.
Faking us out with two melodic pieces at the beginning of his set. The guy next to me grumbled, “He didn’t sound like this in the sixties.” I replied, “Well, maybe he don’t feel that way anymore…anyway COLTRANE sounded like that!”
Hearing him playing out and knowing that he’s welcome to do any damned thing he likes.
Wishing there had been a more skillful interviewer at the Jazz Conversation.
Pharoah and Nancy King sitting together for the first time in fifty years over dinner at Typhoon.
Devin Phillips, after playing with his idol, telling me he was going to, “Go home and sit on the sofa and think about what I just did.”
The inevitable wonder if this might be the last time.
Mingus Big Band
Handy solos. PJF photo by Fran Kaufma
That they could be so passionate and play so hard after having spent so much time and energy trying to get out of New York in a blizzard and arriving too late for a sound check.
Sound person Shira Otchis of She Rock Sound who dialed them in on the fly.
Seeing drummer Justin Faulkner for the first time. Yes, he bangs too much, and lacks subtlety at age 18, but am I going to argue with Craig Handy, Sue Mingus, Branford Marsalis and Pharoah Sanders, all of whom have him in their bands? No, I’m not.
Portland Jazz Composer’s Orchestra
Andrew Oliver conducts
Dan Duval’s amazing composition, Jive Cactus, which followed no one’s rules.
Sam Howard’s titanic, Mingus-like Courage Like a Mountain, which I didn’t realize was Mingus-like until I heard him talk about Mingus at the Jazz Conversation. I’m not sure he realized it either.
Dave Holland
Walking the bass and conjuring the spirit of Leroy Vinnegar.
Foreground: Kikoski and Grant. L-R Nastos sax, Newton trumpet, Hunter trombone, Moore bass. PJF photo by Fran Kaufman
The Jams
Darrell Grant holding things together, playing beautifully and swinging madly.
The playing and singing of Amazing Grace for Dick Bogle, who passed away on the eve of the Festival.
Robert Moore singing the lyrics to Blue Monk.
Craig Handy bending over and reaching every soul with a lengthy alto solo.
The young woman from Amsterdam who tried to decorate my hat with a toothpick.
David Ornette Cherry dragging the room into singing Malinyea…and finally the room responding as it should.
The Norwegians trying to figure out Witchi-Tai-To.
Discovering players you’ve never seen anywhere else before, like saxophonist Julian Jacobs.
ETC.
Hearing David Friesen’s Charles Mingus stories, including the one about the first time he met the man and Mingus kissed him on the cheek and told him how much he loved Friesen’s playing.
Wondering why there was no place for Gordon Lee, Thara Memory, Nancy King, Glen Moore, Scott Steed, Mel Brown, John Stowell, Dan Balmer, Renato Caranto, Phil Baker, Reggie Houston and many other Portland Jazz virtuosi at this year’s Festival.
Realizing what a hard-working bunch of folks there are who actually making the Festival function.
Just being in audiences who love the music and all of us feeling the inspiration at the same time.
Being just as thrilled by the OMN writers who covered the Festival as I was with the music. Jack Berry, Tim DuRoche, Don Campbell and Angela Allen gave us unprecedented, full daily coverage…previews, reviews, flavor and substance. I’m so proud. I’ve said this before, but quoting David Bromberg, “I always like to have a guitar player in my band who plays better than me.” I love my band.
And those are just a few of the images that stay with me. My fingers are done wore out.
David Ornette Cherry played keyboards with Justin Durrie on bass, Joe Janiga on drums and electric percussion. The concert picks up about 5 minutes in because of technical problems on the bandstand.
That there will be jams at the Portland Jazz Festival is a given. But this year’s jams have been given to pianist/composer Darrell Grant to run and he’s running very fast…and in an exciting new direction.
He’s calling this year’s jams Rendezvous Sessions. They’re scheduled for Friday, February 26th & Saturday February 27th at The Grieg Lodge (Norse Hall) 111 N.E. 11th & (Couch) from 11:30 pm until 2 am.
The always interesting, always thoughtful Grant writes:
As you know, jam sessions can be iffy propositions. I have my own pet peeves: people standing around trying to decide what tune to play; endless choruses lacking inspiration; players practicing rather than making music in the moment. I want to find a way to make these sessions different.
At their best jam sessions are a meeting place of ideas, voices and inspiration. They can be the musician’s equivalent of breaking bread, where we let our hair down, take risks, and cheer each other on as we explore the boundaries of what we hear and play.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how these jazz fest sessions can provide a fertile meeting ground for the great musicians who live here and those who are coming to Portland from other cities & countries. How can I set up an environment that welcomes different ideas and expressions of jazz might be? How can they inspire creativity, deep listening, real improvising, good feelings, and a sense of community?
I’m trying to think outside the box a bit here. Rather than booking a house trio. I am enlisting several musicians to be “house players” for the sessions. Portland is blessed with a number of creative players willing to take risks and go at this a different way.
I have also created a blog (assisted by the web skills of saxophonist John Nastos) for the sessions, which I hope will generate ideas and discussion, as well as serve as a place to share music, thoughts, influences and scope out material that we will use on the sessions.
It includes an outline of some themes for the two nights, and some questions to start the discussion. People can post comments and even upload YouTube videos and links.
Rendezvous Sessions–Where Music meets the Moment
Friday – Feburary 26th – “Influences”
THE PLAN
As musicians we are the sum of our influences. We are influenced by many things– mentors, musicians, sounds, places, experiences…
Friday’s session will revolve around this idea of influences.
The goal is to come up with 10-12 vehicles to explore over the course of the night. What do I mean by a vehicle? A vehicle could be a song, a melody, a groove, a set of changes, or just a concept to make music around.
Grant includes this video of Oregon saxophonist/composer Jim Pepper as an example:
From the documentary on Jim Pepper, “Pepper’s Pow Wow” Available here: http://www.oyate.org/catalo… and here: Upstream Productions Phone: 206-526-7122 Fax: 206-524-8879 uproduct@aol.com
Saturday – February 27th – “Elemental Forces”
THE PLAN
In this session we will deal with 4 elements of music–Rhythm. Harmony. Melody & Tone
As on Friday, the plan is to come up with 10-12 vehicles to play on over the course of the night. They could be tunes, sketches or just concepts. The vehicles are just frameworks around which to organize our explorations of these elements.
We might play free, improvise over spontaneous changes, or play on melodies or songs. Kind of a high-risk approach, but could be unforgettable, with people sliding in and out of the music as they hear things, and the music evolving organically as it is played.
The starting lineup:
John Nastos
John Nastos is a freelance saxophone and woodwinds player in Portland, Oregon. He can currently be seen with groups such as the Bobby Torres Ensemble, the Art Abrams Swing Machine Big Band, and as a sub with the Mel Brown Septet. He is also running a year-long project called Duo Chronicles in which he and Clay Giberson present a new song in video each week.
Ben Darwish
Ben Darwish-piano
Portland native Ben Darwish has played with Kevin Mahogany, Rich Perry, Ron Miles, Devin Phillips, Esperanza Spalding, Alan Jones, Reggie Watts, Bill Summers (of The Headhunters), Stephanie Schneiderman and Ohmega Watts. His latest Trio album is entitled “Ode To Consumerism”
Alan Jones-drums
Sam Howard-bass
David Ornette Cherry-piano, melodica
“In my world, the piano, the keyboard, sounds of nature and numerous instruments of traditional peoples and those who reside in urban society, touch and effect each other with a calming and symbiotic fervor. I compose with the idea that all exist in a world of harmonies which mirror life evolving away from the chaotic (to the positive). There’s not just a co-existence but a melding of forms to produce a single musical expression.”
Oregon Music News is happy to be a Supporting Sponsor of the 2010 PJF.
David Ornette Cherry’s new music “ENTER-NET” will be available February 14 online at Amazon as download only.
Cherry says:
It features Amde Hamilton “as a member of the Watts Prophets has been performing and teaching the spoken word since the sixties. The Watts Prophets pioneered the form of spoken word put to music that has exploded into the cultural phenomenon that rap is today. Amde recorded with David and his father Don Cherry in the past, he is honored to again collaborate with David Ornette Cherry” Amde does a new spoken word poem on the title song “ENTER-NET.” The rest of the music reflects on my music adventures into African music, inspiried by my studies and my father, who turn me on to many great artist from Africa.
Don’t miss these, but if you do, you can hear all Music Millennium In-store shows here at OMN.
All in-store performances are at Music Millennium, 32nd & E Burnside, 503-231-8926
JEAN MANN Friday, 2/12 – 6 PM
Seattle based singer-songwriter Jean Mann is regarded as a musical poet by all who hear her music, and is highly respected by her musical peers for going her own way. With songs inspired by life tales-the sweet and the gritty, her songwriting career began the day her mother passed away in 1999. A powerful catalyst for sure. Teaching herself to write and play guitar has brought a truly different voice and favored style out of the woodwork, one which gains more momentum and impressed listeners wherever she performs.
DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE Saturday, 2/13 – 5 PM
David Rawlings is a guitarist, songwriter, producer, and singer — mostly in that order — who plies his trade on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic, on which he’s gained a devoted following for getting more action out of the small archtop guitar than most guitarists get out of modern electrics. The songs are exuberant, sturdy, and carefully constructed, but they also reverberate poetically.
JOHN NILSEN Saturday, 2/20 – 3 PM
Pianist John Nilsen is one of the most successful recording artists in the Northwest. With 750,000 records sold, Nilsen can be seen performing his original instrumental pieces of jazz, classical, folk and rock throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world.
DAVID ORNETTE CHERRY Sunday, 2/21 – 3 PM
The pulses and melodies that arise from David’s jazz, classical, African, world music background, and from playing with some of the great jazz artists of our times, speak about our human experiences through the language of sound. He listens with an open heart and fresh mind to his collaborators and the world around him in a way that makes his compositions not only music, but a way of life a positive form of energy, and a way to connect.
Coming Soon!
Kasey Anderson/Matthew Ryan (2/25), Brian Cutean (2/26), Elizabeth Naccarato (3/6), Shae Fiol (3/11), Miss Massive Snowflake (3/19)
It occurred to me that I miss the kind of little chatty, gossipy newsy pieces I used to put in my old blog. From time to time, I’m going to put up The Music and the Hang. I’m pretty lucky to have this gig.
Saturday night in Portland.
Things started at Jimmy Mak’s where the Quadraphones were supposed to play first, and the Medler Septet second, except a couple of the players in the Medlers’ band had other gigs to go to. Farnell Newton had one at ‘the Mambo Room. No sweat, except for a mom who came up to Mary Sue Tobin between sets and was a little disappointed that her underage kid, who was required to leave at 9pm, had to miss the Quads.
Lucky for the kid Medler had brought them up onstage during his set for a tune. It helps that Ben Medler’s wife Michelle is a Quad herself. They played that incredibly lovely Phillip Glass piece that they do, and then stayed onstage for the set finale, a hot version of Caravan. There were fine solos by Mieke Bruggerman on baritone sax and Newton.
Bass player anomaly of the evening #1: Dennis Caiazza played electric bass on a tune or two.
Between sets, I kidded the always well-dressed Tobin on the fact that she wore jeans to a gig at the Mission last week, when she played with David Ornette Cherry. She scoffed, laughing and saying that, hey…she was wearing a jacket and heels.
I asked if she was going to go to the Brasserie to see Chris Mosley’s first gig during his return visit to Portland. She said of course she was. At the same time, a woman came up to her and asked if she could take a picture of the top Tobin was wearing…something with delicate chains (not in the S&M sense, however). The woman said it fit a short story she was writing. After getting enough light, she took a picture of Tobin’s top, no face. Very funny.
Tobin allowed as how the outfit was a gift from her mom and that, earlier in the day, when she went shopping for an outfit to wear at the gig tonight, she thought…why should I spend all this money when I have an outfit that my mom gave me which is just as good as anything I’m finding.
And here it was immortalized in a picture AND story.
Jimmy’s was standing room only for the first show. Farnell said he had a gig to play at the Mambo Room, said he wished they had two trumpets because it was Latin music and he’d like another one to play off of. He talked about having played golf with saxophonist Michael Phillips earlier in the week and then suggested that the Quads wear golf attire and get their picture taken on the golf course for their next album.
I’m not so sure about that.
Both Caiazza and JD, the King of Jimmy Mak’s, were pro-Saints but it sounded like they had their money (should they be betting gentlemen) on Indy. I bitched about how they stole my team from me in Baltimore, even though it’s been like 25 years ago.
The Quads took the stage with Leah Hinchcliff and Ward Griffiths. If it weren’t for the Quads and the odd Rob Scheps Big Band gig, I wouldn’t know where to go hear Griffiths, and I love to go hear Ward Griffiths.
On to the Candlelight
I slipped out into the rain and went to the Candlelight to hear some of Lloyd Jones’ set. Too bad that PSU has bought the building and the club is going to have to either move or die. I hope they stay downtown. There certainly isn’t a lack of empty spots to fill…For Lease signs on every corner, seems like.
Jones was funky and bluesy and everything you’d expect or want from him. The room was impossibly crowded, of course, but that’s part of the charm. Making a note to see Gretchen Mitchell there on Tuesday.
Caught the end of the Bobby Torres set at Brasserie Montmartre.
Bass player anomaly of the evening #2: Phil Baker playing electric bass. I know he plays it, but it’s infrequent. He said it was his first time playing at the club since it reopened and that he hadn’t played the club in the last three or four years of its previous existence.
Guitarist, Chance Hayden, who helps book the room, has a new band with Devin Phillips, Scott Steed and a trombonist (John Moak or Ben Medler, or TBA) which will play traditional New Orleans Jazz. They’ll be having their debut on March 4th at Wilf’s. The band isn’t quite set for that gig yet. Stay tuned. They don’t have a name yet. If you have a suggestion sent it to Chance’s Facebook page.
Scott Steed is one of those virtuosos who is known internationally but never plays around town (except for the odd Ron Steen Jam gig). Will be very exciting to hear him in this (or any) band.
Chris Mosely’s band was hanging out before their 11:30 show. He had Russ Kleiner on drums and Sam Howard on bass. Howard walked in in a fully tailored three-piece suit and tie, prompting admiringly snarky comments from his bandmates (and me). He said he had just come from a Valentine’s Day party that Ben Darwish had also attended. He thought Darwish had gone to play with Farnell Newton at the Mambo Club.
He also said that he was not playing at the party, just attending, so it was ok for him to eat the food. His new album is coming out soon. We’ll give you the first listen on OMN next week.
Mosley seemed to be genuinely happy to be back in Portland, not that he’s moving back, just glad to be reunited with his old bandmates and friends.
His beautiful sound was intact (nobody thought it wouldn’t be). What surprised everyone was that he started with a Kenny Burrell tune “Chittlins Con Carne,” a straight ahead minor blues which he attacked with obvious pleasure. Later, he told me it was the first jazz tune he had ever learned. He had apparently put some thought into what he would play first on his first gig back in town.
The subtlety and sublimeness of the moment was interrupted by a boar at the table next to me who had been roaring about his gambling exploits and showing off to a couple of women. After he got abusive, he and his friends got the bum’s rush. I found out later that the two women he was with had been discovered having sex in a stall in the ladies room.
Nuff said, but I’m still laughing.
Mosley continued. What have his months away taught us? How rich and unique and expressive his sound is. And how much we miss it. All three were joyful and playful, the reunion brought out the best in each of them, and that’s a lot of best.
Bass player anomaly of the evening #3: Sam Howard playing upright bass. Ok, maybe not so much anomaly. Maybe more I haven’t seen him play acoustic for awhile.
They were joined by singer Lindsey Stormo and (sit down) did “Nature Boy.”
Of course the band did some Mosley originals, filling the room with thought. Thought? Yes, you know, when the music is so good that you go somewhere else and it inspires thinking.
Not that I’ve ever had an original thought, but it’s nice revisiting other people’s.
Andrew Oliver sat in on piano for a fast bop finale. He had been drinking some sort of exotic beer. I guess if you’re at the Bra, PBR is just not the thing to do. Between sets the band gathered around the bar. Was a lot of laughing about the two women in the ladies room.
Mary Sue Tobin showed up and joined the band on soprano sax.
About 1:20am I decided it was about time to hit it. I like to walk out of a club while the music is playing and let it do a natural fade in my ears. I hope the Bra continues their late night shows.
Nice music. Nice hang. Dan Faehnle tonight. Oh boy.
David Ornette Cherry’s album Organic Journey came out several months ago on Portland’s Diatic Records. Here is a slide show featuring photos of his adventure across America, East Coast, Midwest, Northwest, and Los Angeles. The music is from the album featuring: Amber “Cobra Red” Hopson doing her Spoken words, and Thara Memory and Cherry on Vocals, Devin Phillips on tenor sax, second song is from Cherry’s Organic Roots CD “Grasshopper on the Road” featuring Susan Banyas’ storytelling.
The world as we know it melted and reformed into a molten, pulsing mass of funky protoplasm at the Goodfoot not long ago. The reason? Skerik, Mike Dillon and xxx were in town as The Dead Kenny G’s.
And then there were the women in the joint who were making sheep noises. I guess I should have asked, but it seemed to have something to do with one of the tunes the band was playing.
In addition, Portland’s David Ornette Cherry got a call earlier in the evening, asking him to be on the gig and to bring his melodica. He had never heard the band before and this was the first time since he moved to Portland that he had gotten a call to come out with the melodica.
The band ripped through tunes from their latest album Bewildered Herd, mixing jazz, funk, pure second line and loud punk eruptions. That is, if you count Sun Ra as a punk. (I do.)
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