The Independent Ear

Mining Brooklyn’s Jazz Legacy

Posted on March 21, 2010 by The Independent Ear

 Brooklyn had more jazz clubs and related venues than Manhattan in the 1950s and 60s.  So say Randy Weston and numerous other observers and historians of the bigger, brilliantly-multi culti, undeniably colorful and richly historic borough across the East River.  This and other fascinating facts of Brooklyn’s storied jazz history are becoming clearer by the day through a rewarding new research project I’ve just begun in Central Brooklyn.  As they say in radio land… stay tuned!

Weeksville Heritage Center is a historic site of great national significance.  Weeksville is one of the only African American historic sites in the Northeast on its original property and the only African American historic site in New York that teaches post enslavement history.  During the 19th century, the village of Weeksville was a vibrant and independent African American community.  The history of self-sufficient African American communities dates back centuries, long before Brooklyn was incorporated as a borough of New York City. 

Houses from the Weeksville legacy, circa 1904

A major part of the 20th century cultural legacy of Brooklyn was a very vibrant jazz scene, significantly different from Manhattan in particular because many of those venues were African American owned or operated and — with the notable exception of Harlem — quite different from Manhattan in that respect.  The Weeksville Heritage Center has long recognized the importance of jazz in the cultural history of Brooklyn, particularly the Central Brooklyn area the settlement occupies.  So I’ve been engaged to conduct a research project, including significant oral history interviews with key musicians and historians, as a Lost Jazz Shrines of Brooklyn development.  This project will eventually be a cornerstone of the Weeksville Heritage Society’s archives as well as the public programs component of the new center which is being constructed on its Bergen Street site.

Weeksville residents back in the day

I’m interested in connecting with anyone who has information or memorabilia they’d like to share to shed futher light on the vibrant history of jazz in Brooklyn, particularly Central Brooklyn.  Please contact me through The Independent Ear (Comment below) or via email at willard@openskyjazz.com.  Stay tuned to this site for further updates on the development of this exciting Weeksville jazz project.

Jazz presentations today at Weeksville Heritage Center

  

 

Posted in The Presenter's P.O.V. | Leave a comment

Audience friendly? Check Maurice Brown…

Posted on March 20, 2010 by The Independent Ear

Trumpeter Maurice Brown has been one to watch for more than a minute.  Early on, courtesy of his Hip to Bop release it was apparent that here was a young artist intent on filtering his jazz-steeped improvisations through the prism of the music of his life — hip hop, funk, and a healthy sense of "I love the blues, she heard my cry"… an overall quest for the good groove.  My curiosity was further piqued when several years ago the Chicagoan relocated to New Orleans, where he was eventually uprooted like so many by Katrina.  That move suggested a desire to further immerse himself in the heart of the groove, which is the essence of New Orleans music aesthetic.  Less than two years later, spotting him on the list of Thelonious Monk Instrumental Competition finalists I was curious as to how he would fare in that environment.  He finished just a bit out of the money, no surprise given the weight Monk Competition judges appear to place on anyone supposedly striving to be "different."  

 

No tunnel vision here, Maurice Brown is not stuck in traffic on the road to "different."  Blessed with a fat sound, impressive facility, and a keen sense of the blues in pursuit of the infectious rhythm, Maurice Brown is a bit of a throwback to what used to be referred to as "soul jazz" — 21st century edition.  Last night at the Kennedy Center Jazz Club the latest incarnation of Maurice Brown showed impressive evolution and a successful endeavor at balancing creativity with a real desire to connect with his audience.

As opposed to the kind of coolly aloof, hipper-than-thou posture of too many of his peers, Brown was intent on engaging his audience not only through his infectious music but also with a kind of joie de vivre in his between tunes patter and intros that indelibly strenghtens that artist/audience bond.  The subject was Brown’s well-crafted new record The Cycle of Love (Brown Records).  His crew included tenor man Derek Douget (’bout time his potent sound was displayed outside of New Orleans!), energy source Chris Rob on piano, rambunctious drummer Joe Blaxx, and bedrock bassist Solomon Dorsey.  Did he connect with this DC audience?  The line to buy CDs and get Brown’s autograph after the gig was prodigious.  Don’t sleep on Maurice Brown (www.mauricebrown.net).

Posted in The Audience | Leave a comment

Ancient Future Radio 3/18/10

Posted on March 18, 2010 by The Independent Ear

 The Ancient Future radio program, produced and hosted by Willard Jenkins, airs on WPFW. Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC at 89.3 FM.

(ARTIST, Tune, Album title, Label)

Jo Jones   Bebop Irishman   The Everest Years   Everest

Evan Christopher   The Peacocks   The Road to Romance   STR

Tom Waits   Step Right Up   Small Change   Elektra

Jackie McLean   Why Was I Born   4 5 and 6   Prestige

Nat "King" Cole   Save The Bones for Henry Jones   Jazz Encounters   Capitol

Sun Ra Arkestra   Sunrise in Outer Space   Somewhere Else   Rounder

Joe Zawinul Zawinul Syndicate   Indiscretions   World Tour   Zebra

ONJ   Stairway to Heaven   Closer to Heaven   Harmonia Mundi

Yusef Komunyakaa   Facing It   Our Souls Have Grown Deep   Rhino

Randy Weston   Uhuru Kwanzaa Pt.1   Mosaic Select   Mosaic

Randy Weston   Uhuru Kwanzaa Pt. 2   Mosaic Select   Mosaic

Soundviews (new & recent release spotlight)

Queen Esther   Remember When?   What Is Love?   EL

Queen Esther   What Is Love   What Is Love?   EL

Queen Esther   I Cover The Waterfront   What Is Love?   EL

Queen Esther   Either He’s Crazy or I Am   What Is Love?   EL

What’s New (new release hour)

Tia Fuller   Ebb & Flow   Decisive Steps   Mack Avenue

Carol Sudhalter   Flamingo   The Octave   Alfa Projects

Carolyn Leonhart/Wayne Escoffery   The Sweetest Sounds   Tides of Yesterday   Savant

Lynne Aririale   Wrapped Around   Nuance   Motema

Catherine Russell   Spoonful   Inside This Heart of Mine   World Village

Sheryl Bailey   East to Wes   A New Promise   MCG

Reut Regev   Babibalala   This is R Time  

Champian Fulton   Easy To Love   The Breeze and I   GSR

 

contact: 5268-G Nicholson Lane   #281   Kensington, MD 20895   

Posted in Playlists | Leave a comment

Thinkin’ About Jackie

Posted on March 12, 2010 by The Independent Ear

 

Jackie McLean

At the recent and successful launch of the Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival (check Facebook for the Jazz Video Guy Bret Primack’s clips from the festival), successor to the mid-winter DC classic East Coast Jazz Festival, the event was capped off by a joyous Saturday night tribute to Charlie Parker.  "Word on Bird" (title liberally lifted from friend and WPFW colleague Rusty Hassan’s weekly Parker segment) brought together altoists Bobby Watson, Bruce Williams, and Fred Foss for some friendly jousting and head-cutting in the name of Bird.  Foss, a DC regular who speaks reverently of the assists and inspiration he got from NEA Jazz Master Jackie McLean and his son Rene McLean, brought doses of the J-Mac attack to his various turns at bat.  

Fred Foss

Earlier that day during his masterclass drummer Lewis Nash cracked up his audience with his reminiscence of Jackie McLean. Seems Nash was on a record date with Jackie Mac when some none-too-wise producer stopped the proceedings purportedly to lecture McLean on tuning up!  To which Jackie’s pointed retort was, "…I’ve been playing sharp all my life, why stop now?" 

Fred Foss’s forays and Lewis Nash’s reminiscences kinda put me in a Jackie Mac state of mind.  I fondly recalled one of my interview opportunities with McLean, back in ’89 at the Umbria Jazz Festival.  Jackie and his elegant wife Dolly were on that beautiful scene for several brilliant performances at one of Umbria’s Etruscan-era club spaces, in the rich company of Cedar Walton, Billy Higgins, and David Williams.  When I arrived at Jackie’s hotel room for our interview I couldn’t help noticing the classic Italian ornate decor.  So Jackie gave me a short tour of his frescoed room, pointing out several bullet holes in the ceiling.  Seems this had been Mussolini’s room during an aborted assassination attempt! 

After the Mid Atlantic festival, in a J-Mac state of mind, I asked master drummer and Julliard educator Carl Allen about the legacy of Jackie McLean.

Talk about your experience with Jackie McLean.

I played with and recorded with Jackie McLean for about 5 years.  It was one of the greatest life experiences that I have had to date.  He and I had a lot in common outside of music that was very interesting to me to discover, like wallets, particularly those from Japan, and stationary.  We actually both had the same wallet at one time that you could only buy in Japan.

What was Jackie McLean’s lasting influence on your playing and your music career, and what are some of the lessons you learned from him?

I have always said that playing with Jackie for me was very much like playing with Freddie Hubbard in that they were both very much into playing with the drummer.  Jackie was always listening to what was happening around him.  On and off the bandstand, he taught me to stay current but connect it with the past.  He loved a lot of different styles of music, yet he always talked about Charlie Parker.  I learned a lot about rhythm from Jackie, how to use it outside of just keeping time.  He talked about African rhythms as much as he talked about swing.  Jackie was also an astute business man who taught me about creating options for yourself.  I have always treasured that lesson.  One of the greatest lessons that he taught me was about respecting order.  Manage your expectations based on what you have accomplished and your abilities.  He loved his family and we spoke about that often.  Jackie was a great teacher.  There are lessons that I will hold onto for the rest of my life. 

Posted in Artist's P.O.V. | Leave a comment

One Night @ Snug

Posted on March 12, 2010 by The Independent Ear

 Any trip to New Orleans without at least one night at Snug Harbor on teemng Frenchman Street is incomplete.  A recent trip to the Crescent City on a NEA Jazz Masters Live site visit for the Contemporary Arts Center’s presentation of the great Phil Woods’ musical realization of A.A. Milne’s poetry, yielded one such splendid evening.  Eagerly heading towards a de rigeur plate of fried oysters at the funky Irish pub Parasols just up the street from our old crib on Constance, rental car radio happily blasting WWOZ, who should stop by the radio station to assist their pledge drive but Jason Moran!  Hmmm, this is interesting, what brings Moran to NOLA, I asked myself.  Of course… he was in town to teach for a week at the Monk Institute’s grad program at Loyola.  But more to the point of my visit, he was playing that evening at Snug. 

A quick call to friend & colleague Jason Patterson, who runs Snug, and I was on my way over to hoist a glass of red with Jason and his lovely wife Sylvia, joined at the bar by the tireless New Orleans scenester/writer Geraldine Wycoff.  Not only was Jason Moran playing Snug that evening, but he was doing so in the esteemed company of New Orleans finest drummer, Herlin Riley!  Soon fellow radio heads Scott Bourne and T.R. Johnson of WWOZ showed up and it was clear Snug was the place to be.

This proved to be a classic evening of spontaneous invention/mutual admiration between two very distinctive and original artists.  No matter how freely and furiously they improvised — and with Jason Moran things can get knotty with a quickness — they always found home, either through some finely-wrought melody, blues theme or irrisistable rhythm seemingly plucked out of thin air by either or both.  The ever-inventive and intuitive Riley employed hands-on-heads, brushes, and myriad permutations of those tight New Orleans rolls he’s patented.

Moran, an ancient-futurist to be sure, and noted old soul despite his boyish appearance, came equipped with one of the many ancient samples he employs as improvisational launching pads; this time it was a historic Bert Williams recording that he used as a springboard to advanced improvisation, bringing along Riley treading confidently and comfortably into the unknown, steeped in New Orleans antiquity himself. 

They played a beautiful "Thelonious" which they de-assembled down to the bare Monk essence.  Later they seamlessly morphed Moran’s improvisation on "Planet Rock" to "Moon River"!  Invention was on full display for this excellent evening at Snug!

Posted in That's What They Heard | Leave a comment