Business Blast
and links
Next weekend, February 20-22, I’ll be downstairs at Birdland Theater with Buster Williams and Nasheet Waits. Those two haven’t worked a whole lot together yet, but they have expressed sincere mutual admiration for each other; Nasheet has played in Buster’s band at least once.
I have a new rhythm changes piece, “Two Circles and a Square,” which seems appropriate for this ensemble…
On Tuesday 17 I’ll be accompanying Rob Schwimmer at Joe’s Pub. Late-breaking news: Other guests will include Sam Newsome and Jacob Garchik.
Speaking of Sam and Jacob, they are both on Substack, posting substantial essays.
Jacob: Miles and JJ, Frank Rehak (what??!)
Sam: The Jazz Degree Illusion, Jarrett on Soprano.
Is this the new way? Vinnie Sperrazza is even writing a book on jazz drums on Substack!
Other valuable links:
Lee Mergner and Ted Panken on the late Ken Peplowski.
Bret Sjerven on Pony Poindexter.
Marcus J. Moore on Woody Shaw.
Glenn Kenny on Mitchell. “You guys watch Joe Don Baker movies?”
Seattle: Noir City starts tonight! Crime movies with music theme, which means mostly jazz. I love noir, and I love jazz, but honestly I’m not sure if many of these particular films are right in my wheelhouse, simply because I know too much about jazz. (I hope my readers will forgive this braggadocio.) Still, Vince Keenan is my man, he is one of the hosts of this fine festival, and I enjoyed his review of lesser known fare at C&C. “The plot hinges on one of Maxine’s demo recordings and whether someone faked a name pianist’s signature style…”—I mean, wow!
Holy crap - that piece on Frank Rehak is out of this world!
Thanks for mentioning Noir City, Ethan! I am the music director of the flagship festival in the SF-Bay Area and had some minor input to the program this year (and that's me holding my guitar in the poster you shared). The Oakland run was fantastic and the "Face the Music" theme was so well received by both the die hard film noir fanatics as well as more casual movie-goers. Drop me a line direct sometime, I'd love to talk more about the festival and programming with you. While I have been reading your blog/Substack for years, I did not realize you were such a film noir fan.