mm@vaxine.UUCP (Mark Mudgett) (07/01/85)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From: rsk@pucc-k (Wombat) > ...rumor has it that Chick Corea is starting a new band; anyone >know details on this? I attended an excellent concert yesterday by Chick's latest trio at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Mass. The players were: Chick Corea, piano; Miroslav Vitous, bass; and Roy Haynes, drums. The trio had just played the day before at the Kool Jazz Fes- tival, New York. (Incidently, Brown & Williamson Tobacco has de- cided to get out of the jazz business; this is the last year of the Kool Jazz Festival. No doubt George Wein can find a new sponsor. Maybe JVC ... ) Recently, they toured Europe and made some live concert recordings, which are scheduled to be released as Chick's next album. This is not really a "new" band. They have recorded together before (as long ago as '68). The concert was one ninety minute set. Each player did one solo piece (to give the other players a rest, and to make for a more interesting show). The repertoire included _Mirror Vision_ by Miroslav; _Hackensack_ by Monk; and a very clever arrangement of _Night and Day_ (which Chick said was by Frank Sinatra) :-) The group worked very well as an ensemble, and the solo playing was superb. Roy's dynamic range was wild. From a drumroll with mallets that must have been inaudible in the back row to kicks as loud as Alex Van Halen. Good pedal technique on the kettledrum, too. As usual, Chick was magnificent on the piano (a 97-key Boesendorfer), and likewise Miroslav on upright bass. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _TT /| |~ Mark C. Mudgett >====+++===< | O| |~ uucp: ...!decvax!encore!vaxine!mm {_|||_} \| O| 617-667-7900x2394 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental; and should not be construed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental; and should not be construed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _TT /| |~ Mark C. Mudgett >====+++===< | O| |~ uucp: ...!decvax!encore!vaxine!mm {_|||_} \| O| 617-667-7900x2394 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (07/05/85)
> I attended an excellent concert yesterday by Chick's latest trio > at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Mass. The players were: Chick > Corea, piano; Miroslav Vitous, bass; and Roy Haynes, drums. This is not a new band, even in its latest incarnation: they recorded an album called TRIO MUSIC, on ECM, that was released in 1982. In fact, I am surprised it took them so long to tour. > Recently, they toured Europe and made > some live concert recordings, which are scheduled to be released > as Chick's next album. This is not really a "new" band. They > have recorded together before (as long ago as '68). > The album was called NOW HE SINGS, NOW HE SOBS, on the Solid State label. In my humble opinion, it is far better than the latest effort, which I find self-conscious and overblown, especially on the Monk pieces. Corea is a fine musician, but his understanding of Monk is lacking. Where is the humor? Where are those sly musical jokes? Where are those weirdly placed intervals and abrupt whole note runs? Marcel Simon
mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (07/05/85)
> (Incidently, Brown & Williamson Tobacco has de- > cided to get out of the jazz business; this is the last year of > the Kool Jazz Festival. No doubt George Wein can find a new > sponsor. Maybe JVC ... ) Too bad, Kool is/was the only major forum for jazz music to receive even a small piece of mass attention. FLAME BEGINS: As for George Wein, he probably means well, but I feel he is slowly strangling the festival by serving us a rehash of the Jazz at the Philharmonic every year. Oh, some of the concerts are quite good (I remember a Freddie Hubbard-McCoy Tyner-Ron Carter- Elvin Jones that blew the roof off Avery Fisher Hall....) but why does Kool consistently ignore the new traditionalists. Putting the David Murray Octet in Saratoga is tokenism. Where were Henry Threadgill's Sextet, Olu Dara's Okra Orchestra, Jemeel Moondoc, Craig Harris, Amina Claudine Myers, and so many others, any one of which would have been a far better show, providing more challenging AND more entertaining music than Dave Brubeck playing "Take Five" for the 10 zillionth time? FLAME ENDS Did anybody attend any of the Kool events this year? I was on the road during the week (work does get in the way sometimes doesn't it?) and had to miss it all? Particularly, did anybody catch Liberation Music Orchestra at Sweet Basil's? Marcel Simon
wjhe@hlexa.UUCP (Bill Hery) (07/08/85)
> > I attended an excellent concert yesterday by Chick's latest trio > > at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Mass. The players were: Chick > > Corea, piano; Miroslav Vitous, bass; and Roy Haynes, drums. > > This is not a new band, even in its latest incarnation: they recorded > an album called TRIO MUSIC, on ECM, that was released in 1982. In fact, > I am surprised it took them so long to tour. > I don't know about any long tours, but they have performed live in NYC at the Village Vanguard over the last few years, including one Saturday night which was broadcast live by WBGO (and fed to NPR for national broadcasting). Bill Hery
wjhe@hlexa.UUCP (Bill Hery) (07/08/85)
> > FLAME BEGINS: > As for George Wein, he probably means well, > but I feel he is slowly strangling the festival by serving us a rehash > of the Jazz at the Philharmonic every year. Oh, some of the concerts > are quite good (I remember a Freddie Hubbard-McCoy Tyner-Ron Carter- > Elvin Jones that blew the roof off Avery Fisher Hall....) but > why does Kool consistently ignore the new traditionalists. Putting the > David Murray Octet in Saratoga is tokenism. Where were Henry Threadgill's > Sextet, Olu Dara's Okra Orchestra, ..... > I wholeheartedly agree--I didn't even bother going to any of the Kool festival events this year, the music in the NY clubs all year long being far superior. Even when he does bring in some of the less commercial musicians, he puts them in some rather strange combinations with other musicains--last year's Cecil Taylor/Oscar Peterson concert comes to mind (I wasn't there, but I heard that most of the audience left when Cecil started playing, and thos who didn't hadn't been there for Oscar's set...) I don't know how much of the problem is Wein and how much is (was) Kool. When he was at Newport and in the early years in NY (when it was the Big Apple Jazz Festival), Wein SOMETIMES put on more interesting shows. I remember going to Newprot once (about '67), and the concert included Miles (with Hancock, Shorter, Carter, Williams), Bill Evans trio, Max Roach quartet and Dave Brubeck (well, Take Five was only 8 years old then...). He also had another concert featuring 'Trane and Archie Shepp (recorded by Impulse as New Thing at Newport). Maybe a new sponsor will help > Did anybody attend any of the Kool events this year? I was on the > road during the week (work does get in the way sometimes doesn't it?) > and had to miss it all? Particularly, did anybody catch Liberation Music > Orchestra at Sweet Basil's? > I did catch LMO at Sweet Basil's and it was great. About half of the musicians were from the group that recorded Ballad of the Fallen (Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Mick Goodrick, Jim Pepper, Dewey Redman, and the French Horn player whose name I can't recall), and several were New York musicains who show up in a lot of local groups, like David Murray's Octet/Big Band (Craig Harris, Bekida Caroll, Bob Stewart). Also in the group were Amina Claudia Myers (who didn't get to solo much), and Cecil Bridgewater (often heard with Max Roach). Interestingly, Carla Bley (who wrote much of the music and was part on both recordings of LMO was in the audience, as was Steve Swallow. The music they played was mostly from the Ballad of the Fallen lp, using basically the same arrangements. A major difference was that there was a lot more solo space--Craig Harris, Dewey Redman, and Bekida Carol were particularly good. My one reservation about the performance was that most of the longer solos got too far away from the lilting, Spanish feel in the arrangements (and maintained in most solos on the lp). LMO is definitely worth going to see. Bill Hery