Julian Lage, Chris Eldridge, Rick Stone Lead Pack of Guitarists Headed to Nighttown

Nighttown has a slew of guitarists booked to perform in the coming days, and, as a fellow owner of guitars, I thought I might write a few words about these guys. The Julian Lage/Chris Eldridge show on Monday, Aug. 19, is the one I’m really looking forward to. But good six-string things abound leading up to—and following—that gig.

Vital Information guitarist Jimmy Valentino is in action tonight alongside the leader of that band, drummer Steve Smith, and Columbus-based organist Tony Monaco. Should be plenty of heated musical exchanges in classic jazz organ trio style. It’s harder to gauge what will unfold on Friday, Aug. 23, when Monaco returns with guitarist Fareed Haque and drummer Joel Spencer. Steeped in the language of classical and jazz guitar, Haque has played with the likes of Paquito D’Rivera, Sting, David Sanborn and Joe Zawinul, as well as his own groups Garaj Mahal and Flat Earth Ensemble, and was voted “Best World Guitarist” by Guitar Player Magazine in 2009. Will be fascinating to hear how his eclectic voice fits into the organ trio format.

Next up this week is young (still in high school, I believe) Cleveland guitarist Lucas Kadish, playing alongside trumpeter Kamal Abdul-Alim, who will be returning to his native Cleveland for a gig on Thursday. Kadish, a student of Dan Wilson, has garnered notice by a number of musicians with local roots, including trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, who featured the guitarist on the final number of his set at this year’s Tri-C JazzFest. The group on Thursday will be rounded out by two more Clevelanders, bassist Kevin Muhammad and drummer and Cleveland State prof Bill Ransom.

Friday brings the New West Guitar Group to town. Originally configured as a quartet, made up of guitarists studying at USC in the early 2000s, the group has since released four albums (with a fifth set for release in September) and downsized into a trio. John Storie and Perry Smith remain from the original group, joined now by Jeff Stein, a younger USC grad. Their music can trend a bit too smooth and poppish for my tastes, but other times they fashion intense steel-string interplay. I’d imagine more of that pours out in live performance.

Cleveland native Rick Stone returns on Sunday for his annual Nighttown gig, playing with locals Ashley Summers on bass and Ron Godale on drums. Based in NYC, Stone favors a straight-ahead approach often compared to that of perhaps Cleveland’s greatest guitar product, Jim Hall. Stone’s voicings and tone are darker than Hall’s, however, and he’s been steadily carving out his own space since the mid ’80s—a cement-jungle terrain that both shreds and inflates the heart. If you like gripping, no-nonsense jazz, this is the gig for you.

Julian Lage, certified young phenom, known for his work with Gary Burton and, more recently, as a leader in his own right, and Chris Eldridge, founding member of bluegrass super group Punch Brothers and an Oberlin grad, take the Nighttown stage next Monday for what has all the promise of being the highlight of Cleveland’s summer music calendar. Expect endless ideas of musical improvisation to blossom as the duo crosses, creates and dismantles genres.

Pick of the Week: Vijay Iyer Trio (4/4)

Pianist Vijay Iyer and his trio play the Dionysus Club on the campus of Oberlin College Thursday at 10 p.m. This is one of the strongest units performing in jazz today. They got my vote for 2012 Group of the Year in various polls, and their fourth album, Accelerando (ACT), with its charging mix of melody and jagged rhythms, was easily one of last year’s best records. Tickets to the show are $15.

Pick of the Week: Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet (3/19)

The Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet, formed in 2005 by trumpeter Alegría and drummer Hugo Alcázar, makes its Cleveland debut on Tuesday, March 19 at Nighttown. While the band’s music incorporates the expected Latin and African rhythms, there’s also a lush, orchestrated feel to much of what they do, a quality found most readily in its leader’s sailing trumpet passages. Show starts at 7 p.m. $20.

Matthew Shipp Trio Shatters Nighttown

Invigorating set last night from the Matthew Shipp Trio at Nighttown. Playing in a dimly lit room (as the musicians desired, I’m suspecting, with Shipp himself nearly lost in the shadows and the three musicians rarely bothering to open their eyes) to about 20 to 25 people (come on, Cleveland!) the group clamored nonstop for 90 minutes, featuring tunes from last year’s Elastic Aspects thread organically into a continuous musical string. Shipp, his swiveling torso tossing hands onto the keys to rake out feverish sounds—tough, twirling melodies to crashing, dissonant bomb blasts, seemed wholly one with the music throughout. His chin remained bowed to chest during much of his playing, and when bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey each took an extended solo (Bisio’s stretching 10-15 wild, forceful minutes, with bowed passages bookending a plucked core) Shipp draped himself over the piano, head buried between outstretched arms, as if needing to recuperate or, simply, to maintain an unhindered focus on the music. Similarly, Dickey cradled his forehead in left hand through much of Bisio’s solo, signaling that there might be something painful in producing this music—a serious commitment that expended both physical and mental faculties. For the listener, however (or, at least, for this listener), the sounds were energizing, restorative in being dug from the stuff of life and tossed out, with precision, yes, but with no cotton padding to soften the blow—joy, sorrow, violence, dance unfiltered.

Pick of the Week: Matthew Shipp Trio (3/7)

Avant-garde pianist Matthew Shipp makes a stop with his trio at Nighttown on Thursday. It’s been a long time coming. I’m not sure he’s ever come closer than Erie, Pa., which, incidentally, he’ll play again on Wednesday night, part of a five-day sweep around Lake Erie that will also take him to Toledo, Detroit and Toronto.

That he’s touring in support of a Greatest Hits (Thirsty Ear) album should tell you something about the 52-year-old pianist who’s revered by fans on the fringe, well-known and highly regarded within the jazz world, but surely hasn’t tasted any Casey Kasem-bestowed success. I’m not sure what it should tell you—is he being ironical, cynical, comical, delusional? Actually, he has indicated that he’s just being practical—releasing a “compendium” of material to give those new to his music a good place to start.

Whatever the reason, if there were any justice in the world (or at least in the world of the arts) Matthew Shipp truly would be a hit maker. His music is adventurous, jarring, energetic, riveting. It can turn dark, run through affecting, perhaps despondent, passages, then explode in a fit of cathartic clamoring. There is nothing of sentimentality or fluff in Shipp’s music. For lack of a better word, it’s intense. And always eminently and truthfully human, which, sadly, isn’t something you can say too often about a good deal of the art that floats around and gets puffed up.

Shipp will be joined by bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey, who played with the pianist on last year’s Elastic Aspects (Thirsty Ear), easily one of the best records of 2012. Show starts at 8 p.m. and cost is $20. I advise all Cleveland humans to be in attendance.

Picks of the Week: Sultans of String (1/31), Jackie Ryan (2/1)

After a brief respite from winter at the beginning of this week, temps are predicted to plummet again by Thursday. Perfect time to take in Sultans of String, who will be bringing their fusion of Flamenco, gypsy jazz, Latin and various Euro café sounds (by way of Canada) to Nighttown on Thursday night. Heavy on guitars, violin and pulsating acoustic rhythms, the Sultans should be able to simmer the chill from your bones. Just nominated for World Group of the Year by the SiriusXM Canadian Indie Awards, a category they won in November at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, the group is touring in support of their latest release Move (2011).

On Friday at Nighttown, vocalist Jackie Ryan makes her (long overdue) Cleveland debut. Too many contemporary jazz singers seem schooled in (or for) Broadway musicals, singing with a polished sterility that has little to do with the club or the street, let alone life. Ryan is an exception. She’s that rare thing: a traditionalist who also happens to be genuine. Following the lead of the greatest jazz singer of them all, the divine Ms. Sarah Vaughan, Ryan has a penchant (and the skill) to play with a melody, with individual notes, to lend a song her own unique accent. It’s the mark of any great jazz musician. Ryan is touring in support of her just-released Listen Here (OpenArt, 2013).

Way of the Sly Man

Dave Morgan & Friends were on top of their game last Friday night at the Lakeland Jazz Festival. Added some nice new wrinkles to Morgan’s The Way of the Sly Man. Here are a few pics from the show. My review will be published soon on All About Jazz.

Lakeland and Tri-C Announce Jazz Fest Lineups

Jazz festival time in Northeast Ohio is fast approaching. Lakeland celebrates its 40th festival this February 24 – 26, while Tri-C presents its 33rd shindig, April 19 – 29.

 

I’m especially looking forward to the performance by bassist Dave Morgan & Friends on the opening night of the Lakeland fest (assuming it’s not snowed out, which is always a big assumption). The group will be performing Morgan’s wonderful “The Way of the Sly Man” composition (in its entirety, I presume), plus Frank Zappa’s “Echidna’s Arf (Of You)” and new arrangements by Morgan featuring vocalist Shannon Eller. You can read my review of “The Way of the Sly Man” 2010 recording here.  

 

Highlights of the Tri-C JazzFest include bassist Esperanza Spalding (April 19) on the second stop of her “Radio Music Society” tour, Aretha Franklin (April 21), drummer Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts (April 25), and drummer Jack DeJohnette (April 26), who’ll be celebrating his 70th birthday this year.

 

Complete list of shows for both festivals follows.

 

40th Annual Lakeland Jazz Festival
February 24 – 26, 2012
Lakeland Community College Performing Arts Center

Friday, February 24
8:30a.m. – 4:30p.m. High School Performances & Adjudication
Adjudicators: Rich Shanklin (University of Akron); Dr. Kent Engelhardt (Youngstown State University); Bob Ferrazza (Oberlin College); Bill Ransom (Cleveland State University)

8 p.m. Concert: Dave Morgan & Friends – “The Way of the Sly Man”
$15 general public; $10 students

 

Saturday, February 25
9:00a.m. to 1:00p.m. High School Performances & Adjudication
Adjudicators: Rich Shanklin (University of Akron); Dr. Kent Engelhardt (Youngstown State University); Bob Ferrazza (Oberlin College); Bill Ransom (Cleveland State University)

 

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Lakeland College Invitational
Free and open to the public.  Featuring jazz ensembles from:
 – Cleveland State University Jazz Combo under the direction of Bill Ransom
 – Oberlin College Jazz Ensemble
 – University of Akron Fusion Ensemble under the direction of Mark Gonder

4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Clinic with the Yellowjackets
The Yellowjackets will hold a free clinic to share their knowledge and expertise of jazz with developing and professional musicians. Free and open to the public.

8 p.m. Headline Concert: Yellowjackets
$25 general public; $15 students  

Sunday, February 26
4 p.m. Big Band Matinee
Featuring the Lakeland Civic Jazz Orchestra & the Dave Banks Big Band
Tickets $10, $7 students

2012 Tri-C JazzFest Schedule:

Special JazzFest Preview Performances
Feb. 20, 7 p.m. – Presidents’ Day Invitational, Young Visiting Artists with Dominick Farinacci, Aaron Diehl, Charenee Wade, Cleveland Heights Singers & Tri-C JazzFest High School All-Stars, Tri-C Main Stage Theatre; tickets: $10

 Feb. 21, 8 p.m. – Eddie Baccus Sr., Cecil Rucker, Bobby Curry, Perry Williams III, Eddie Baccus Jr., and special guest Gene Walker at Karamu House; FREE

 April 16, 8 p.m. – Paul Samuel 4 and the Tri-C Trio + at Brothers Lounge; tickets $15

 Tri-C Jazz Fest Lineup

 April 19, 5 p.m. – Kick Off and Second Line at Public Square; free

April 19, 8 p.m. – Esperanza Spalding, Tri-C Metro Auditorium; tickets $30

 April 20, 8 p.m. – Smooth Jazz All-Stars with Brian Simpson, Peter White, Maysa, Norman Brown, Gerald Albright, Walter Beasley, State Theatre; tickets $30-45, call 216-241-6000

April 21, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. – Jazz for Kids, Children’s Museum of Cleveland; tickets $5 museum members, $10 general public, call 216-791-KIDS

April 21, 1 p.m. – A Tribute to Nina Simone with Kellylee Evans and Ki Allen, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, FREE

April 21 8 p.m. – An Evening with Aretha Franklin, sponsored by American Greetings, State Theatre; tickets $50-$75 call 216-241-6000

April 22, 4 p.m. – Ben Williams & Sound Effect, East Cleveland Public Library; tickets $10

April 22, 7 p.m. – Marcus Strickland, Black Box at Tri-C Metropolitan Campus; tickets $10

 April 23, 7 p.m. — Down Beat Invitational featuring The Tri-C Alumni Big Band with special guests Matt Wilson, Robert Hurst, Terell Stafford, Main Stage Theatre, Tri-C Metropolitan Campus; Tri-C JazzFest High School All-Stars will also perform; tickets $10

April 24, 7 p.m. – Thunder from the Heartland: Ernie Krivda, Renell Gonsalves, Bobby Floyd, Brad Goode, Jeff Grubbs, Bobby Broom, The Hermit Club; tickets $25

April 25, Noon – Swing Kids with Dominick Farinacci and Tri-C Jazz Studies Alumnni, Showtime at High Noon, State Theatre; FREE

April 25, 8 p.m. – Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts, Black Box at Tri-C Metropolitan Campus; tickets $25

April 26, 8 p.m. – The Jack DeJohnette Group, Main Stage Theatre, Tri-C Metropolitan Campus; tickets $30

April 27, 8 p.m. – Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue open for David Sanborn Trio featuring Joey DeFrancesco and Byron Landham, State Theatre; tickets $30 – $45, call 216-241-6000

April 28, 8 p.m. – An Evening with Diana Krall, sponsored by KeyBank, State Theatre; tickets $55-$85, call 216-241-6000

April 29, 7 & 9 p.m. – TCJF Soundworks, Nighttown; tickets $15, call 216-795-0550

Dead Cat (Oct. 20) & Freedom Jazz Collective (Oct. 22)

Good show from Dead Cat Bounce last Thursday. They surprised me a bit — music was much freer than I had anticipated, even ragged in spots, which was a nice contrast to the well-orchestrated ensemble passages that opened and closed the handful of pieces they played. “Silent Movie, Russia 1995,” a tune off their latest album, Chance Episodes, presented a good case in point. The opening melody, played on clarinet over two alto (if I recall correctly) saxes and a baritone, had a haunting cinematic quality–wistful and romantic in its classical construction. But the piece was then allowed to fray into a host of nicely contrasting–even conflicting–voices, before returning to the warm melody to close.

Oblique Orchestra opened the show with two extended free-jazz pieces. Drummer Carmen Castaldi was a wonder, as always, and saxophonist Dan Wenninger strung lines that ranged from pensive to abrasive. Nice, heady stuff.

On Saturday, I took in my first Freedom Jazz Collective show at the All Go Signs factory space. Wenninger directed the 19-piece free-improv group through all manner of racket and mayhem, the single musical number gathering, releasing and reworking itself for something close to an hour, with every bit of it engaging. Nice to have such a skilled, dedicated, fun, exploratory, avant-garde group here in Cleveland. Keep it up guys!

Dead Cat Bounce To Play Bela Dubby

Dead Cat Bounce

As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads around the globe, saxophonist Matt Steckler’s Dead Cat Bounce sextet comes to Bela Dubby in Lakewood on Thursday, Oct. 20. I have no idea about Steckler’s political views, but the name of the group, formed 15 years ago, surely puts them in step with the current economic landscape (the term “dead cat bounce” signifying a small, brief recovery in the price of a declining stock).

The group’s music, however, is far from somber, breadline stuff. With a frontline featuring four saxophonists (Steckler, Jared Sims, Terry Goss, Charlie Kohlhase), backed by bassist Dave Ambrosio and drummer Bill Carbone, the band blows loud and proud with all the expected bounce. Their tunes can have a juke joint dance quality to them, but just as easily slip into lush passages befitting a big band. And the soloing is freer than either of these formats generally allows, bringing the thrash of modern, individualistic wailing to bear on the composed dance music. Should be a rollicking evening.

Dead Cat Bounce is touring in support of their new Cuneiform Records release, Chance Episodes. Cleveland free-jazz band Oblique Orchestra opens the show. Music starts at 8:30 p.m.