David Marriott, Jr. is a jazz trombonist, composer/arranger, educator, and blogger. A two-time Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award recipient and winner of the 1999 National Jazz Trombone Competition, David is active in a variety of Seattle jazz groups, including the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Zubatto Syndicate and his own critically-acclaimed groups Septology and Triskaidekaband.
Happy Birthday, Branford! I can say without qualification that Branford Marsalis has been one of the biggest influences on me as a musician, from how to play and what to play, to how to be and how to live. I've seen him many times over the years, including his most recent stint here in Seattle, and I'm always reinvigorated, inspired, and humbled by his playing and his band. I feel lucky and privileged to have been able to get to know him. As per my usual birthday drill, I've collected a number of videos from YouTube for your viewing pleasure, but I'm also providing my short list of "Required Branford" -- if all you know of his music is the last few years, or maybe you just know his name from Sting and The Tonight Show, you should check out these recordings:
In my daily reading of the many news stories related to jazz, I came across this curious quote:
As the late Frank Johnson pointed out: "They all know Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Earl Hines, so they assume Lord Deedes is another jazz musician."
Perhaps this quote might have been more acurate if the three names were Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and King Oliver, for "Earl" was not the nickname bestowed on the pianist Earl Kenneth Hines, but rather "Fatha," given to him by a radio announcer during his stint in the 1930s at the Grand Terrace Ballroom in Chicago. Earl Hines is often referred to as the "father of modern jazz piano" and also as developing an improvisational style on the piano known as the "trumpet style", as he often used octaves to get that cutting sound through the band akin in register and energy to a trumpet. His duet performance of "Weather Bird" with Louis Armstrong still remains a high point in the history of jazz recordings.
It's been a few weeks since Centrum put on their Dedication Concert for the Dan Harpole Cistern with the help of Stuart Dempster and a few friends, and I'm still basking in the feeling from inside of that place. Stuart invited Brian Pertl, Kevin Karnes (a student of Stuart's at the same time as I), and myself to join him on this wonderful concert up at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. I had been privileged enough to get to record with Stuart in the cistern once before, for the Underground Overlays album, and what a treat it was to return to this... sonic blanket, I know of no other way to describe it. The concert was recorded, so I'll see about possibly bringing you some of it as a podcast. And what's more, I get to go back again at the end of September with Marc Fendel and record some more! Bringing Centrum into the 21st century, Keven Elliff of Centrum has posted some great videos of the folks listening outside and the accompanying music, and I also recorded a bit of video while I wasn't playing inside the cistern itself, so take a look and listen for yourself.
I can't remember how I stumbled onto the Meosphere site, but it's a great way to keep track of the "been there, done that" things in your life. Not too much related to jazz music, with the exception of this list, Jazz Artists You've Seen Perform. When I joined, the list was mostly singers and people long dead, but they've finally started adding more and now allow users to add items to the list. When asked "what is a meosphere?", they answer thus:
Your meosphere is everywhere you’ve been, everything you’ve done, and everything you want to do—it defines your own personal world, in a very personal way. Meosphere.com collects a plethora of deep questions (and shallow topics)—and then gives you the chance to document how they may have shaped your lifetime and personality. So what’s your meosphere? Jump in and create yours now!
In the last few weeks, we have lost four important figures in the jazz world - what a blow! It has taken me some time to get everything together for this post, so if these are old news items to you, my apologies, but there has been a lot to sift through for these four gentlemen.
On July 28, 2007, we lost one of the great piano players from the Lennie Tristano school, Sal Mosca. Pianist of choice for the likes of Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz (among others) during the 1950s, he has continued to influence multitudes of musicians as a teacher. In recent years, despite health problems, Mosca was recording and touring Europe as recently as six months ago. Sal Mosca passed away only three months after celebrating his 80th birthday. Read more coverage from JazzTimes.
Another performer and educator, this time one closely associated with the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Trumpeter and teacher extraordinaire Herb Pomeroy passed away on August 11th. My good friend Marc Fendel was a student of Pomeroy while attending Berklee, and he mentioned to me what a genuine, honest teacher he was. I love this quote from the WPRI news story:
Pomeroy taught like he played jazz -- by improvising, with no notes, no syllabus and no text books.
Bassist Art Davis, best known for his associations with John Coltrane, passed away on July 29th. While balancing bass duties with his practice as a clinical psychologist, Art Davis will perhaps best be remembered for his involvement in such John Coltrane classics as Africa./Brass and Ole. He was also a member of the famous 1958 band led by our final passing jazz artist.
What can be said about Max Roach that hasn't already been said? Here are a ton of great links and articles on the passing of drummer Max Roach:
Roach's albums from the 1960s, It's Time, Freedom Now! We Insist, and Percussion Bitter Sweet truly changed my perception of him as a musician, from bebop innovator to culturally-conscious artist. I remember doing a report in college about jazz in the 1960s as it related to the Black Power movement, and I listened to these records the whole time I wrote the paper - really put my head in the right place. I got to see Max Roach quite a few times, thankfully, although most of them were in the context of his So What brass group, featuring the likes of Eddie Henderson and Delfeayo Marsalis. I would have loved to see him with Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp or any one of the many historic collaborators he shared in the later parts of his career. Max Roach, you will be sorely missed. Here are some great videos of the master himself throughout his career:
Yes, yes, yes -- the Seattle Drum School Georgetown is starting a movie night! The inaugural event will by August 23rd at dusk, and they will be showing the Thelonious Monk documentary, Straight, No Chaser. If the weather is nice, they're planning on showing the flick outside, otherwise they've got plenty of room inside the Drum School facilities. Be sure to bring some snacks -- although they will have some on hand -- and something to sit on, get comfortable, and enjoy a well-crafted and personal portrait of a legend in jazz music. The Seattle Drum School Georgetown is located at 1010 S Bailey St in Georgetown.
There is a beautifully written review of two new recordings dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk posted on All About Jazz this past weekend. In the opening paragraph, the reviewer, Mark Corroto, discusses his membership in an elite jazz fraternity:
Forget the comic book heroes Batman, Spiderman and the Fantastic Four. I’ve been a member of an international force for good called “The Guardians of the Thelonious Monk Legacy.” Our mission is to protect the music Monk wrote nearly fifty years ago from those up to hijinks. I’ve terminated would-be hackers from botching the sacred “Round Midnight” and focused my super powers on the bar band playing one more blues drenched “Straight No Chaser.” This thankless job, performed with chest out and fisted hands resting on hips, comes with the satisfaction that our children and our children’s children will live in a world full of Monk.
Be sure to take some time to read the reviews of saxophonist Sam Newsome and the collaboration of Scott Amendola/Ben Goldberg/Devin Hoff under the name Plays Monk at All About Jazz.
Truly one of the greats on the trombone, Jack Teagarden will forever be remembered for his warm, fluid technique and the down-home Southern-style charm in his voice. He often shared the stage with the great Louis Armstrong in the later years of his career, but his early recordings from the 1930s and 1940s are still my best models for "swing" trombone playing. Jack Teagarden is not easy to emulate (or even copy for that matter), let me tell you! He makes it looks and sound very easy, but behind all that butter is something else, to be certain. As usual on birthdays, check the videos below, which show Teagarden in his prime for the most part, as well as clicking to this Swing Symphony Cartoon from 1944, The Pied Piper of Basin Street, featuring Jack Teagarden (this one can't be added to the group of videos below, otherwise I would embed it with the rest, but check it out at YouTube).
A new episode of Seattle Jazzscene has been posted! Episode 17 features Up and Coming artists from the University of Washington, where I spent the last school year teaching jazz history, improvisation, and ensembles. It was a pleasure working with the many young, talented students in the jazz department, and it inspired me to play them on the podcast, as these guys truly are the future of the Seattle jazz scene. Check out the podcast in the player on the right to hear Peter Schmeeckle, Aaron Otheim, and Luke Bergman as our featured artists on Seattle Jazzscene Episode 17: Up and Coming.
Continuing in the tradition of my Analogies to Jazz in the News post, here are a number of interesting references to jazz music within the context of popular culture and writings regarding such issues.
From an article called "What's Your (Musical) Sign?" comes only one of the six listed signs referring to jazz:
GOURMET
Only the best. Your modern is the Shins or Wilco. Your rock is the Stones and Beatles. Your jazz is Charlie Parker or Miles Davis. Your classical is Beethoven's Seventh. You are a walking audiophile leaking your impeccable taste into a world that doesn't deserve you. Downside: You strike pedestrians with your Lexus.
From a dating article at 7Days making suggestions for the romatically challenged:
Slink your way into a jazz club. The smoky air practically oozes intimacy.
American Chronicle lets us in on the secrets of real estate agents when they sell their own homes:
Soft jazz or classical music is playing on the stereo when buyers come through.
Offer a specific suggestion for a solution to problems, such as "Please ask the neighbor above me to stop playing their jazz music loudly after midnight" or "Someone keeps taking my parking space on Friday nights."
In a recent article about a Minneapolis comic convention, Bill Paine (who we know nothing about thanks to the article) says this:
“The two American contributions of merit to culture, I think, are jazz music and comic books.”
Do domestic animals get little respect? From an article on the topic in The Gazette from Montreal:
A couple of generations ago, black culture also helped alter the connotations of "cat." In the jazz world, a cat refers to a person (usually a man) who loves the music or who plays it brilliantly. When you look at the T-shirts, posters, bags and other merchandise produced by the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, you often find a cat's image.
And finally, the difference between a jazz musician and a blues musician, courtesy of Ray Kamalay:
The blues musician plays three chords in front of 1,000 people; the jazz musician plays 1,000 chords in front of three people.
Happy Birthday, Branford! I can say without qualification that Branford Marsalis has been one of the biggest influences on me as a musician, from how to play and what to play, to how to be and how to live. I've seen him many times over the years, including his most recent stint here in Seattle, and I'm always reinvigorated, inspired, and humbled by his playing and his band. I feel lucky and privileged to have been able to get to know him. As per my usual birthday drill, I've collected a number of videos from YouTube for your viewing pleasure, but I'm also providing my short list of "Required Branford" -- if all you know of his music is the last few years, or maybe you just know his name from Sting and The Tonight Show, you should check out these recordings:
