TT 256: What's That Sound
GIGS, plus comments on Don Sebesky, Menahem Pressler, Joseph Haydn, Kenny Berger, Kevin Sun
This Thursday at The Jazz Gallery: Vinnie Sperrazza trio with Michael Formanek and myself. I quite like the track “Don’t Mention the War” from Vinnie’s new disc, Saturday.
Next weekend, Friday/Saturday May 19/20, the Billy Hart Quartet with Dayna Stephens, Ben Street and myself is at the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown. Right after that, we play two concerts in Europe:
May 25 at Lantaren Venster in Rotterdam
May 28 at the Moers Festival in Germany
Don Sebesky obit by Nate Chinen.
Sebesky’s first album was The Jazz-Rock Syndrome from 1968. In the liners, Sebesky is quoted, “It seemed to me that that the style I had been writing in — traditional Holman-influenced Basie — was a dead end for me…I discovered The Mamas and The Papas and their light, groovy sound influenced my thinking tremendously.”
Sebesky’s chart "Big Mama Cass" can be heard on both The Jazz-Rock Syndrome and Buddy Rich’s Mercy, Mercy. An interesting historical moment.
NYT obit for Menahem Pressler by Robert D. McFadden.
I became aware of Haydn’s piano trios thanks to Charles Rosen’s advocacy in The Classical Style. The Beaux Arts Trio with Menahem Pressler did a lot for Haydn’s trios as well.
Pressler is luminous in the opening Adagio from F major, no. 37. The opening phrase is especially striking, almost Stravinsky-ian, with a turn that emphasizes the fourth over the triad below. Pressler obviously came up with that interpretation of the ornamentation himself, for the two other recordings I audited have safer solutions.
In Haydn's piano trios, the cello is the “bass line,” as in the earlier Baroque continuo. Cellists don’t always appreciate mostly doubling the piano, but they just need to remember Freddie Green with Count Basie.
Kenny Berger has written a fascinating blog entry, “Don’t Block the Rear View Mirror.” Don’t miss the audio at the end, a wild and charismatic Berger big-band chart with Joe Lovano as featured soloist.
Kevin Sun keeps posting valuable material, including a “reprint” of Stanley Crouch’s excellent liner notes to Clifford Jordan’s Down Through the Years.
Jordan’s album was recorded live at Condon’s, which was right next to where I lived in the early ‘90s. I saw Abbey Lincoln’s band and the Tommy Flanagan trio at Condon’s. A long time ago…
I discovered Pressler through his recording of Schumann's piano quintet with Emerson String Quartet, inspired after seeing the MMDG's V, with you in the pit at BAM.