JAZZ
WORD
Band in Boston: Taylor Ho Bynum
May 13, 2012 - Although perhaps going a little overboard playing up the hometown angle, the Boston Globe’s Andrew Gilbert does a good job of outlining the career of cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, who decamped for New York about a decade ago. While the article talks about Bynum’s musical apprenticeship, his affiliation with Anthony Braxton’s ensembles, and admiration for the compositions of Duke Ellington, much of it is concerned with tracing the Beantown-affiliation of all the members of Bynum’s working band. Surprisingly they include guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Tomas Fujiwara – all now New York-based – plus locals, bass trombonist Bill Lowe and alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs. READ
Harris Eisenstadt PC: Percussively Creative and Proud Canadian
May 6, 2012 - Although he’s now lived in the United States for most of his adult life, Brooklyn-based percussionist Harris Eisenstadt tells the Ottawa Citizen’s Peter Hum he’s still a proud Canadian. Not only do he and his wife, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, sometimes think of relocating north of the border, but his most frequent playing situation is called Canada Day since it first came together on July 1. Including such New York heavy hitters as trumpeter Nate Wooley, saxophonist Matt Bauder and vibraphonist Chris Dingman, the Toronto-born Eisenstadt says the group gives him as many voices as possible while still maintaining interaction. The band is just the latest step in a musical career that has taken him from an interest in Hard Rock to studying and playing situations with the likes of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, multi-reedman Vinny Golia and tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers. READ
Nicole Mitchell Goes West
April 29, 2012 - After 20 years of living in Chicago, while creating an increasingly international reputation as a flautist, composer and bandleader, Nicole Mitchell has moved to California. The reason, she explains to The New York Times’ Neil Tesser, is that as assistant professor integrating composition, improvisation and technology at the University of California, Irvine, she finally has some financial security. Even as a musician who moved among many of the Windy City’s sometime separate scenes she was never a commercial Jazz star. Plus she maintained her alliance with other Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians players such as bassist Harrison Bankhead and was a regular at spots like the late tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson’s now-defunct Velvet Lounge, to keep up with changes in the community's sounds. Still, living in the state in which she was born, Mitchell expects to expand her horizons as a teacher and involve herself with local music and musicians. READ
Remembering Sun Ra’s Pioneering Work with Electronics
April 22, 2012 - Honest and naïve at the same time, the Santa Barbara Independent’s Josef Woodard’s article about those times in his home town when Sun Ra first unleashed his collection of then-revolutionary electronic gadgets makes interesting reading. At least Woodard is clued-in enough to wrap his memories of how Ra was one of the few musicians advanced enough in the 1980s to refine and tweak the sound of the then brand-new Yamaha DX7, with an appreciation of Ra and his and the Arkestra’s important place in Jazz history. READ
Really Recognizing Jazz at the Grammies
April 15, 2012 - Taking a stand against the superficiality of the Grammy awards, the Boston Globe’s Steve Greenlee strongly criticizes one of the Jazz categories. He questions why year after year major mainstream figures like pianist Herbie Hancock and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis invariably win the best improvised Jazz solo award. Instead, he says rather than going with big names, better choices would be work by saxophonists Donny McCaslin, David S. Ware, JD Allen or Matana Roberts or by pianist Matthew Ship. What he doesn't question is how an American-focused show biz extravaganza based on mass Pop Music sales like the Grammies can ever reflect the reality of music. READ

KEN WAXMAN'S
REVIEW OF THE MOMENT
Read reviews of over 2,800 musicians

EQUAL INTEREST

Equal Interest
OmniTone 12001

This is an album designed to drive more traditional jazz fans crazy.

For despite the fact that the trio that makes up Equal Interest manages to use few "accepted" jazz instruments and plays all original compositions, it has still constructed a powerful musical statement that's as overwhelming as any bristling tenor'n'trumpet hard bop recreation.

The three musicians are Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins and Myra Melford. And the instruments of choice include a Turkish hand drum, a Vietnamese oboe, wind chimes, a viola and a harmonium. "Harmonium?" voices echo. "How can decent jazz be created on one of those hippy-dippy reed organs?

Well it just depends whose fingers are wrapped around those unconventional instruments. Former Chicagoans all, the members of Equal Interest are explorers committed to expanding jazz's textures. Flutist/saxophonist Jarman, a founding and longtime member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago has pursued a solo career in the 1990s. Jenkins is improvised music's preeminent violin stylist, who easily moves back and forth from improvised to composed music or from gutbucket to fine porcelain, if you prefer. And pianist Melford, the youngest Equal, has proved her credentials with a various hard-hitting trios and quintets.

Now take Melford's "The Beauty We Love", for instance. Despite being built on a bed of reed organ tones, the intertwined alto sax and violin sequences tease the melody along so well that you hardly miss the so-called swing in its movement. Additionally, Jarman's "Rondo For Jenny" may be expressed on the oboe, but the reedman's tone on it suggest nothing so much as the frenetic buzz of a bagpipe, which joined the jazz world in the hands of England's Paul Dunmall, Philly's Rufus Harley and, of course, Albert Ayler.

"Over This/Living Music", is alive with some impressive, bluesy piano playing plus a brawny, vocalized flute solo that calls forth the spirit of the late Rahsaan Roland Kirk. And Jenkins' own "In the Moment" is just that, an extended violin tour-de-force that shows exactly what results when you mix the Eurocentric composed and freer improvised traditions. In short, unless your soul is mortgaged to Art Blakey or Benny Goodman, you'll find much to like here.

EQUAL INTEREST isn't an unqualified success, however. Most notably on Jarman's overlong "Poem Song", the result is so hushed and precious that you feel as if you're eavesdropping on an Asian court music recital rather than a program of forthright improvised music.

All and all, though Equal Interest (the band) succeeds admirably at what it sets out to do. And many open-eared listeners will be happy to sample the results.

-Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1.B'Pale Night 2. Rondo for Jenny 3. Over This/Living Music 4. Poem Song 5.In the Moment 6. The Beauty We Love 7. Everything Today 8. Apricots from Eden (Sourmaloui Jerk)

Personnel: Joseph Jarman (flute, alto saxophone, Turkish hand drum, Vietnamese oboe, wind chimes); Leroy Jenkins (violin, viola); Myra Melford (piano, harmonium)

February 8, 2000