Riffs: Music news from out and about
By Patricia Myers
“The Season” is upon us once again, and the major music venues have announced their fall-winter season bookings of top-name artists starting this month. The most notable is Wynton Marsalis, who will lead and perform in the trumpet section of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Mesa Arts Center on Sept. 25-26; info at MesaArtsCenter.com.
Longtime Valley favorites Tuck and Patti are once again touring the Southwest, performing Sept. 13 at the Musical Instrument Museum, followed by the David Sanborn Electric Band on Oct. 9, pianist Patricia Barber on Oct. 17, SFJAZZ Collective on Oct. 20, with more to be announced; info at themim.org.
The eighth annual Lakeshore Music series at the Tempe Center for the Arts series launches Sept. 26 with trumpeter-vocalist Byron Stripling; the series continues monthly with French jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimee on Oct. 24, others including pianist Monty Alexander with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton on Feb. 20, California vocalist Tierney Sutton on March 26, plus our own “Dynamic Dennis” Rowland on Jan. 16; info at LakeshoreMusic.org.
Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes will perform Oct. 23 at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, also Lyle Lovett with John Hiatt on Nov. 6, as part of that venue’s new season; info at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.org.
There’s an amazingly significant booking in the small town of Payson: Howard Alden, stellar New York City guitarist, will perform in a trio setting on Nov. 15 at the Community Presbyterian Church, 800 W. Main St., as part of the successful and long-running Sunday afternoon jazz series created and nurtured by drummer Gerry Reynolds, who is a past president of Jazz in Arizona.
The third anniversary of The Nash jazz club will be observed Oct. 16-18 with concerts by “The Platinum Trio,” the New York City-based ensemble of Kenny Barron on piano, George Mraz on acoustic bass and Phoenix-born club namesake Lewis Nash on drums; thenash.org
Those are the “biggies,” but we always have local musicians performing in 50+ regular jazz venues around the state, all known info listed in both the Calendar and Venues segments of my one-year-old website, MusicSceneAZ.com
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This summer for the 18th year, I again went to Paris to review the jazz scene for AllAboutJazz.com, having saved frugally for 10 months to be able to e in the City of Light for two months. I was highly rewarded by the sounds of dozens of talented French and European jazz musicians, as well as U.S. saxophonists Branford Marsalis, Lew Tabackin, James Carter, Craig Handy and Azar Lawrence; pianists Kenny Barron, Harold Mabern and Bill Charlap; and trumpeter Tom Harrell, which I reviewed for Allaboutjazz.com.
Paris swings with jazz seven nights a week in most of the 30-some venues located throughout the city, each easily reached via the inexpensive and efficient Metro subway system. The most famous is Le Caveau de la Huchette, the oldest ongoing jazz venue with music nightly since 1946; it’s a Left bank subterranean club in the Latin Quarter with a stage and concrete dance floor that provides a free floor show by swing and Lindy Hop experts of all ages. There’s outdoor jazz in snall and large parks, notably the botanic Parc Floral, and at special festivals. There are frequent tribute (“hommage”) shows in honor of Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Billie Holiday, Horace Silver, Wes Montgomery, Nat King Cole, B.B. King, many more.
There also are many jam sessions, including two that begin at midnight in a Right Bank neighborhood that’s filled with people at all hours. Although some shops and cafes close for vacations during part of August, the jazz clubs stay open and active, enticing me to review the July-August action for the past 12 years, all my Paris Jazz Diary reports archived at Allaboutjazz.com, as well as more than a decade of my reviews of top-name musicians who performed in Arizona.
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The Buzz: Diana Krall’s Phoenix Symphony Hall concert on Aug. 21 allowed ticket -holders who donated five canned goods and non-perishable items or $5 to St. Mary’s Food Bank to be registered to win an upgrade to the front row. St. Mary’s reps were there to accept donations. St. Mary’s distributes more food during the summer months than any time during the year, but donations always fall off with so many Arizonans heading to cooler climates. This event helped stock the Food Bank shelves for those in need. St Mary’s was the world’s first food bank and has been serving the hungry of Arizona for 48 years, providing more than 200,000 meals a day throughout Arizona. The most-needed items include canned fruits and vegetables, and proteins like canned tuna, peanut butter, beans, pasta, rice and cereal.
Pianist-vocalist Pam Morita has created a new coalition of female jazz musicians with pianist Nicole Pesce, drummer-vocalist Sheila Earley and Beth Lawrence on vocals and percussion. The group is cleverly named P.U.L.S.E. (Positive.Unique.Lyrical.Soulful.Energetic) and performs a mix of pop, jazz and original music, also highlighting the music of female composers and lyricists. The website is 4pulse.wix.com/band, also on Facebook and Twitter.
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Final Chorus: Howard Rumsey, 97, bassist/Lighthouse jazz club owner, July 15 in California; John Taylor, 72, British pianist, July 17 of a heart attack while performing at the Saveurs festival in Segre, France; Howard Ousley, 86, tenor saxophonist, Aug. 13 in Chicago.
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