Copyright 2017 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Trombonist Roswell Rudd started out playing Dixieland then graduated to free jazz. He was an early champion of composers Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. Later, Rudd would play with various brass bands from around the world as well as leading his own groups. Rudd has a new quartet album. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has this review. (SOUNDBITE OF BILLY STRAYHORN SONG, "SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Roswell Rudd on Billy Strayhorn's "Something To Live For." Rudd has always had a glorious sound on trombone, even when he played a lightweight student model. When I first saw him in concert, I was surprised he wasn't bruisingly (ph) loud because his sound projects so dramatically, but that's true even when he drops to a stage whisper. Roswell Rudd's sound can be so voice-like, especially when he shapes his notes with a plunger mute. It's no wonder he gets on with singers
Trombonist Roswell Rudd Packs A Lot Of Wisdom Into Every Note Of 'Embrace'
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Marta Sánchez Creates A Truly International Sound With 'Danza Imposible'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. In 2011, pianist and composer Marta Sanchez left her native Spain for New York. There she's been leading several bands, including a quintet with a new album. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Sanchez is a distinctive composer with a truly international band. (SOUNDBITE OF MARTA SANCHEZ QUINTET'S "DANZA IMPOSIBLE") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: That's the title track from the Marta Sanchez Quintet's new album, "Danza Impossible." The deliberately blurry saxophones at the top mimic a digital delay effect she heard on an Aphex Twin record. Conservatory trained in composition and piano, Sanchez connects new and old ideas and techniques not in a showy way but as tools or materials to use in shaping a style. She likes the really old art of hocketing - passing a melody back and forth between voices. Here it's alto and tenor saxes limited to a few pitches each. She doesn't overdo it. (SOUNDBITE OF MARTA
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In Paris Recording, Guitarist Wes Montgomery Shows His Head For Melody
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Wes Montgomery was one of the most famous jazz and pop guitar players ever. Our jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Montgomery was a virtuoso with a good head for melody. A new reissue catches Montgomery's quartet on the guitarist's only European tour. (SOUNDBITE OF WES MONTGOMERY'S "JINGLES") KEVIN WHITHEAD, BYLINE: That's from the double album "Wes Montgomery In Paris: The Definitive ORTF Recording," part of Resonance Records' Montgomery archival series. This 1965 concert caught for French radio has been bootlegged a few times in various forms, but this crisp edition was mastered from the original tapes. And as usual, Resonance pays the musicians or their survivors. (SOUNDBITE OF WES MONTGOMERY'S "JINGLES") WHITEHEAD: The guitarist is in fine form and in thrall to the splashy modal jazz John Coltrane made popular in the '60s, with longer improvisations over fewer records. Wes Montgomery even
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New Box Set Showcases The Reserved Style Of The Late Jazz Pianist Teddy Wilson
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Teddy Wilson became famous in the 1930s playing in Benny Goodman's racially-integrated small groups and recording his own combo sides with a young Billie Holiday. A new boxset looks at what else Wilson was up to back then. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says this review. (SOUNDBITE OF TEDDY WILSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA'S "BIG APPLE") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Teddy Wilson and a seven-piece band in 1937. By then, medium-tempo swingers like that were his bread and butter. Only three years earlier, Wilson's first records had pledged allegiance to madcap piano genius Earl Hines, who'd briefly been a mentor. Here's Wilson then on "Somebody Loves Me." (SOUNDBITE OF EARL HINES' "SOMEBODY LOVES ME") WHITEHEAD: That kind of fancy piano put Teddy Wilson on track to become the world's second greatest Earl Hines. So he began to cultivate a style more in keeping with his own reserved personality, a style less
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New Releases Showcase Nina Simone's Early Years In Music
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New Collection Catches Jazz Bassist Charles Mingus 'Live at Montreux 1975'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Late in 1974, jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus recorded his albums "Changes One" and "Two" with a new quintet. The following July, they were caught live at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. A recording of that concert is out. (SOUNDBITE OF CHARLES MINGUS' "FREE CELL BLOCK F, 'TIS NAZI USA (LIVE)") BIANCULLI: Our jazz critic, Kevin Whitehead, calls the quintet one of Mingus' most explosive bands. (SOUNDBITE OF CHARLES MINGUS' "FREE CELL BLOCK F, 'TIS NAZI USA (LIVE)") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Charles Mingus' composition "Free Cell Block F, 'Tis Nazi USA" from his quintet's "Live At Montreux In 1975," now out on two CDs. The recorded sound isn't brilliant, taken from a concert video which has been out on DVD awhile. You can hear the buzz of Mingus' bass amp during quiet passages. And the incomplete program is just barely long enough to require that second CD. And yet it's a
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'Final Tour' Celebrates John Coltrane's Last Go-Round With Miles Davis
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Martial Solal Keeps His Mind And Fingers Nimble On 'My One And Only Love'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Over the years, Algerian-born French pianist Martial Solal played with jazz luminaries including Sidney Bechet, Don Byas, Stan Getz and Lee Konitz. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Solal is particularly esteemed for his solo playing. Here's his review of a concert recording made last November. (SOUNDBITE OF MARTIAL SOLAL'S "BODY AND SOUL (LIVE AT THEATER GUTERSLOH)") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: When Martial Solal plays a tune he's performed many, many times, like "Body And Soul," he doesn't have a more or less set version to use as a starting point. He improvises from scratch, aiming to make it new every time. That's how it goes on his solo recital "My One And Only Love." Solal begins the evergreen "All The Things You Are" like it's a blank canvas, reducing the melody to a bare outline. (SOUNDBITE OF MARTIAL SOLAL'S "ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE (LIVE AT THEATER GUTERSLOH)") WHITEHEAD: Martial Solal's
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Recalling The Athletic Style Of Pianist And Composer Cecil Taylor
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Pianist and composer Cecil Taylor died last week at age 89. Taylor was known for his highly-animated piano recitals and group improvisations, and sometimes used his fist or forearm on the keys to play dense clusters. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Taylor's music could sound wild but was tightly organized. (SOUNDBITE OF CECIL TAYLOR'S "JITNEY NO. 2") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Prowling up and down the keyboard, Cecil Taylor was the most athletic of jazz pianists. He was partly inspired by the physicality of flamenco dancers and also by architecture - arts of drawing shapes in the air and structuring space. Taylor had very fast hands, which made a cartoonish blur at the keys, but there was nothing hit or miss about his high-speed cascades. His fingers were pistons. The young Taylor loved percussive pianists like Brubeck, Ellington and Monk. But he was well on his way to his own style when he
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'Pops Is Tops' Showcases Louis Armstrong's Rough Voice, Perfect Timing And Wit
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. In the late 1950s, trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong was usually on the road with his Dixieland small band, the All-Stars. He recorded with that band a lot but was occasionally coaxed into the studio to play music in a different vein. A new reissue collects recordings Armstrong made for the Verve label in 1957. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has this review. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN YOUR LOVER HAS GONE") LOUIS ARMSTRONG: (Singing) When you alone, who cares for starless skies? When you alone, the magic moonlight dies. KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Louis Armstrong out of his usual context, August 1957. It's a little shocking, the contrast between his sandpaper voice and Russ Garcia's silky orchestra. This sort of lush treatment is usually reserved for more genteel singers. Still, Armstrong was the most influential vocalist of the 20th century. The way his phrasing inspired Bing Crosby and Billie
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Saxophonist Jon Irabagon Plays With Heart On 'Dr. Quixotic's Traveling Exotics'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Saxophonist Jon Irabagon was making his name even before he won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in 2008 by playing with the seriocomic jazz quintet Mostly Other People Do The Killing. Irabagon has since left that band, though he still works for leaders such as Barry Altschul, Dave Douglas and Mary Halvorson. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Irabagon's own records can get a little bizarre, but on his new album, he's mostly well-behaved. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Jon Irabagon can be hard to get a fix on. He likes it like that. He can play pretty, obviously, and reveres and occasionally employs some overlooked jazz masters. His own records can get strange. One 12-track album turned out to be a continuous 78-minute saxophone solo over boiling rhythm. He strikes a nice balance on his mildly subversive new album, "Dr. Quixotic's Traveling Exotics." It's by his quartet,
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Trumpeter Adam O'Farrill Stakes Out His Own Turf On 'El Maquech'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Twenty-three-year-old trumpeter Adam O'Farrill comes from a distinguished family. He's the grandson of pioneering Afro-Cuban jazz composer Chico O'Farrill and son of pianist and leader of the Afro-Cuban jazz orchestra Arturo O'Farrill. Our jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Adam O'Farrill is staking out his own turf. (SOUNDBITE OF ADAM O'FARRILL'S "HENRY FORD HOSPITAL") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Adam O'Farrill's tune "Henry Ford Hospital," after a painting by Frida Kahlo. O'Farrill's quartet "Stranger Days" plays a few tunes that go round and around like folk dances. This young band has telepathic timing, starting with the rapport between Adam and his older brother Zack O'Farrill on drums. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) WHITEHEAD: Their partners here come from New York State's Southern Tier, double-jointed bassist Walter Stinson and a bulldog of a tenor saxophonist, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown. The two horns
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Reissue Of Anthony Braxton's '1991 Studio' Revives A Jazz Master's Classic
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton composes operas and pieces for diverse ensembles and is an NEA Jazz Master. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says, on the jazz side, one of Braxton's great groups was the quartet he led between 1985 and 1993. Here's Kevin's review of a reissue from that classic lineup. (SOUNDBITE OF ANTHONY BRAXTON QUARTET'S "NO. 40M") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Anthony Braxton on alto saxophone with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Gerry Hemingway. That's from Braxton's album "Quartet Willisau 1991 Studio" (ph), back out on two CDs from hatOLOGY. The title's prosaic, but the album's a classic. The quartet plays some new pieces and a few evergreens Braxton had written in the 1970s like composition "23c," with its expanding form. Every time the melody goes around, another phrase gets tacked on like that Christmas song with the pear tree. (SOUNDBITE OF
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Pianist Shamie Royston Brings A Hard-Swinging Brand Of Jazz To 'Beautiful Liar'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Our jazz critic, Kevin Whitehead, has a review of a new album by composer and pianist Shamie Royston. She came up in Denver where she played with, among others, her sister, saxophonist Tia Fuller, and trumpet player Ron Miles. Now Royston lives near New York. Her new album is for five players. Kevin likes the way she writes. (SOUNDBITE OF SHAMIE ROYSTON SONG) KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Pianist Shamie Royston's quintet, with Josh Evans on spitfire trumpet. It's from Royston's new disc, "Beautiful Liar," heavy on the straight-ahead, tuneful, hard-swinging brand of jazz that's always in style. So many fine musicians mine that grand tradition, it can be hard to make your mark. Having a great, well-drilled band always helps, but Royston's composing really stamps her music. Behind the melody on "A Tangled Web We Weave," she punctuates a quick chord sequence with a peekaboo piano figure she bounces
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'Lost Album' Offers A Fresh Look At Peak Coltrane
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. ON March 6, 1963, saxophonist John Coltrane's Classic Quartet recorded a studio session. The master tapes got filed away and eventually were lost. Now we know that Coltrane had given his own tapes from that date to his then-wife Naima. That lost session has become a new album. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has more. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNTITLED ORIGINAL 11383") UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It's an original, isn't it? UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: 11382 - 383. Original. (SOUNDBITE OF JOHN COLTRANE'S "UNTITLED ORIGINAL 11383") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: John Coltrane's quartet playing a new untitled blues, March 6, 1963. The newly issued music from that studio session is a trove of vintage Coltrane from a very productive period. The session wasn't unknown. Discographies list a few titles and untitled pieces. There are, in fact, three new tunes here. One performance from the date
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A College Discussion Leads To An Improvised Jam Session — And 'Seraphic Light'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Last year, Daniel Carter, who plays several wind instruments, pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker played a college concert near Boston under unusual circumstances. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead picks up the story. (SOUNDBITE OF MATTHEW SHIPP, WILLIAM PARKER AND DANIEL CARTER'S "SERAPHIC LIGHT PART II") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Last year, Tufts University hosted a symposium on art, race and politics in America, which included a panel discussion with Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp and William Parker. The Tufts Daily didn't report on it. But as this happened in April 2017, and since these committed improvisors are not shy about expressing sharp opinions, it's safe to say it was a lively exchange of views. Many observers and players have heard political implications in improvised music - rowdy stuff to storm the barricades. Following their panel, the musicians extemporized a concert now
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Andy Biskin And 16 Tons Revisit 'Songs From The Alan Lomax Collection'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Early in his career, clarinetist Andy Biskin worked as an assistant to the folklorist Alan Lomax. Biskin's new album features new settings of songs drawn from Lomax's massive collection "The Folk Songs Of North America." Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Biskin's album exposes a few layers of music history. (SOUNDBITE OF ANDY BISKIN AND 16 TONS' "LILY MUNROE") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Clarinetist Andy Biskin playing "Lily Munroe," a song Alan Lomax collected in the southern Appalachians, though the melody is English. Biskin's new CD, "Songs From The Alan Lomax Collection," includes novel arrangements of a prisoner's lament, a murder ballad, the abolitionist minstrel song "Blue Tail Fly" and "Sweet Betsy From Pike," also an old hymn adapted into a railroad song that became a 20th century kids' favorite - "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain." (SOUNDBITE OF ANDY BISKIN AND 16 TONS' "SHE'LL BE
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Steve Coleman Offers Looped And Layered Music On 'Live At The Village Vanguard'
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. When alto saxophonist Steve Coleman arrived in New York from Chicago many years ago, his first steady gig was playing in the Village Vanguard's jazz orchestra on Monday nights. Now Coleman has recorded with his own band in that fabled room. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says it's a convergence of two jazz institutions. (SOUNDBITE OF STEVE COLEMAN'S "TWF (SECOND SET)") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Alto saxophonist Steve Coleman with his band Five Elements live in 2017. Coleman can write very complicated looped and layered music, more complicated than this relatively straightforward stuff. But sometimes, it's good to loosen the reins a little and let the cats run. That rewards loyal service. But beyond that, the longer the players are steeped in his methods, the less explicit direction they need. This edition of Five Elements had first recorded five years before. The musicians know what he's looking
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Wayne Shorter's 'Emanon' Is An Oversized, Mixed-Media Jazz Event
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Our jazz critic Kevin Whitehead describes saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter as one of jazz's wise elders. Decades after he changed modern music a couple of times as a member of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet and then as co-founder of the band Weather Report, Shorter is still breaking ground. Kevin says Shorter's new album is big. In some ways, maybe too big. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Wayne Shorter's new triple album, "Emanon," is a big deal. On one disc, his jazz quartet is embedded in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to play four of his compositions. Then come two live sets by the quartet alone in which they play three of the same pieces in their own freewheeling style. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) WHITEHEAD: As if this musical event were not event enough, Wayne Shorter's "Emanon" - that's no name spelled backwards - also includes a graphic novel introduced with an essay by
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A Look Back At How Virtuoso Jimmy Blanton Changed The Bass Forever
Copyright 2018 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. One hundred years ago today, on October 5, jazz virtuoso Jimmy Blanton was born in Chattanooga, Tenn. Blanton played violin as a child before switching to the string bass in college. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says that, in a few short years on the scene, Blanton revolutionized the instrument. (SOUNDBITE OF DUKE ELLINGTON'S "JACK THE BEAR") KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Duke Ellington's orchestra was playing St. Louis in late October in 1939. Tipped off by a couple of scouts, after the show one night, Duke dropped by bandleader Fate Marable's gig. Marable had run the riverboat band 17-year-old Louis Armstrong had once played in. Now he was cultivating another precocious talent - a bass player who'd worked the boats and had just turned 21. Ellington sat in on piano for a couple of numbers, then told his host, he's my bass player now - even before Duke knew the young man's name. A few weeks
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