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WINNING SPINS BY GEORGE kanzler
This year The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is celebrating its 20th anniversary with Live at MCG (Manchester Craftsmen's Guild), an album ably showcasing this versatile Los Angeles-based big band co-led by the Clayton brothers: conductor/ bassist John, lead alto saxist and multi-reed player Jeff, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. A truly multi-generational (and multi-racial) band, its senior member is Swing Era veteran trumpeter Eugene "Snooky" Young.
This recording at the MCG Hall in Pittsburgh followed an East Coast tour last year, with the band in fine form, smooth, tight and dynamically precise. All the arrangements are by John Clayton. They range from robust swingers and barnburners to pastel tone poems, from reworked familiar standards to originals and surprising takes on not-so standards from jazz and pop.
The band quickly establishes its swinging credentials with a swaggering feature for Ricky Woodward, one of the West Coast's best tenor saxophonists, on Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia." Woodward also opens the soloing in Horace Silver's "Jody Grind," a funky cousin to the composer's "Filthy McNasty," also notable for Ryan Porter's stop-time laced trombone solo and for the way co-leader Hamilton's drum solo is integrated into the arrangement rather than presented as a time-out for the rest of the band.
Conductor John Clayton moves to arco bass (the band also includes bassist Christoph Luty) for the old Nat King Cole hit, "Nature Boy," done as a tone poem with delicate orchestral colors woven around Clayton's majestic solo. The impressionistic mood continues more forcefully with "Lullaby of the Leaves," Hamilton's brushes, the piano and the woodwinds creating a tapestry of the melody, ultimately leading to a bravura George Bohanon trombone solo.
"Silver Celebration," John Clayton's tribute to Silver, is a mini-suite kicking off with brash band shouts, including a melody line voiced for trumpets and saxes like a Silver combo, drum solos (one sticks, one brushes) framing a rubato Bohanon solo, and a rousing big band coda.
Tributes to three jazz immortals follow: "Captain Bill" captures the Count Basie sound, down to an out-chorus right out of the Basie book; "Mood Indigo" elaborates on Duke Ellington's famous voicings, at one point adding bowed bass; and "Evidence" finds the band sneaking into Thelonious Monk's spare melody before opening up to a solo showcase for the entire trumpet section.
The bossa "Like A Lover" is also given a tone poem approach, replete with flute, woodwinds, bowed bass, guitar and brushed drums. A suspended, pedal point time builds behind solos by Young, garrulous on Harmon muted trumpet, and Jeff Clayton's incantatory soprano sax.
Sonny Stitt's "Eternal Triangle," a bebop flag-waver of a jam session favorite, is turned over to the sax section, all five members having their say, and then taken out with another nicely integrated-into-the-arrangement drum solo. The album ends with a visit to jump-swing Ellingtonia, Johnny Hodges' "Squatty Roo," set up with a rambunctious shout chorus leading into a deftly idiomatic melody statement and series of swinging solos all partaking of the joie-de-vivre of 1940s jump-swing.
The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is a versatile big band boasting fine soloists, arrangements and players, especially drummer Jeff Hamilton, who are masters of a wide range of jazz styles and moods.
Drummer Jeff Hamilton can be heard at the JAMS Concert at Harriet Himmel Theater in West Palm Beach on Oct. 25.
spotlight by George Kanzler and Mark Sachnoff
BOB JAMES
JAZZIZ/OCTOBER 19 AND 20
Smooth jazz fans, rejoice! Bob James is slated for a rare South Florida appearance at this chic new jazz venue, located at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. (And yep, the club's associated with the fine jazz mag of the same name.) Bob's best known for recordings with the supergroup Fourplay. This gig, though, involves a trio he currently leads. James' albums over the past four decades have practically defined pop/jazz. His 70s collaborations with Earl Klugh and David Sanborn were wildly popular, as was a monster best-seller called Three. They're typical of the winning musicality that's since taken him around the globe many times. MSSANDY STEWART AND BILL CHARLAP
THE ROYAL ROOM/OCTOBER 20-22
Yet another jazz family! This mother-son duo released a CD called Love Is Here to Stay (Blue Note) just last month. It's their first together. Charlap has become a leading jazz pianist through a series of trio (alone and augmented) albums focusing on the work of composers like Ellington, Bernstein and Gershwin, who also happened to write standards - the kind of songs that are Stewart's specialty. Like the late Rosemary Clooney, Stewart has had big band experience (with Benny Goodman) and sung pop songs on TV (Perry Como's show) in the 1960s. Like Clooney, she's also developed into a fine interpreter of the Great American Songbook. GKNEGRONI TRIO
AMATURO THEATER/OCTOBER 19
This Gold Coast Jazz Society presentation at the Broward Center for the Arts brings in the trio, along with saxophonist Ed Callé. Jose Negroni is a pianist and composer of remarkable creativity and brilliance. For many years one of Puerto Rico's prominent musicians, he's worked with pop artists like Chayanne, Carmita Jimenez, Yolandita Monge, Jose Luis Rodriguez and Braulio, as well as with jazz greats Sammy Figueroa, Juan Pablo Torres and renowned violinist Federico Brito. His trio also includes his son Nomar Negroni (an amazing young musician in his own right) playing drums plus bassist Rafael Valencia, an accomplished player of both electric and acoustic instruments. MSDANIEL "SLICK" BALLINGER
BAMBOO ROOM/OCTOBER 22
"Slick" Ballinger, hailed by many as a blues prodigy, is just 21 - a young man with an old soul who's developed an intense love for and appreciation of blues traditions. The North Carolinian has made numerous pilgrimages to Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee in search of both inspiration and material - and played with legendary artists like Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Othar Turner, "Steady Rollin'" Bob Margolin, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, Big Bill Morganfield, Henry Butler, T-Model Ford, Paul "Wine" Jones, and Algia Mae Hinton. He'll do some preaching of his own at the Bamboo Room with a band that includes drummer, Kinney "Thunder Foot" Kimbrough and the phenomenal blues harpist Blind Mississippi Morris. MSERIC CULBERSON
DOWNTOWNER SALOON/OCTOBER 14
Every once in a while, a blues artist emerges fully mature onto the national scene. Eric Culberson is one of those bluesmen. His energetic style is unmistakably authentic and is approach blessed with charisma. His current trio includes bassist Rodney Smith and drummer Stuart Lusk. And such a resumé! Eric has opened for or jammed with faves like Jerry Portnoy, Carey Bell, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, John Mayall, Tony Coleman, Jimmy Dawkins, Casey Jones, Room Full Of Blues, Ted Nugent, J. Geils, Eddie Kirkland, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Koko Taylor and Etta James. Catch him, if you're able, at this fine Ft. Lauderdale club. MSBIG JAMES & THE CHICAGO PLAYBOYS
SUSHI BLUES/OCTOBER 21
Chicago Blues on Harrison St/ October 22
James Montgomery had his first taste of the blues when, as a teenager, he'd stand outside a Southside Chicago joint listening to B.B. "Big Voice" Odum sing with Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues. Eventually, he was allowed to sit in. In the years since, he's shared stages with Eric Clapton, George Clinton, Dan Ackroyd, Larry Coryell, Lou Rawls and a host of other music world notables. His two most recent recordings are entitled Funkin' Blues and If It Wasn't 4 Da Blues. His band actually makes two Hollywood appearances this month, since they'll also play. MS
HOUSTON PERSON: TOO MARVELOUS FOR WORDS by Bob Weinberg
Houston Person isn't in a particularly talkative mood. Reached at his home in New York, the saxophonist and producer, who turns 71 in November, is polite and affable, yet seems to prefer letting his music speak for itself. His voice is a quiet rumble as he indulges an interviewer's questions about a career that's spanned some five decades and spawned musical partnerships with the likes of Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Ron Carter - and the late Etta Jones, with whom he worked for more than thirty years.
A new album titled All Soul is due for release this month. Recorded with his working band, it promises pleasures similar to Person's other straight-ahead recordings for HighNote, several of which have made it to the top of the jazz charts. Person remains taciturn about the album, only revealing that, unlike last year's To Etta With Love, it has no particular theme.
"It's just a bunch of songs," he says, emitting a throaty chuckle. "Some of [my recordings] have themes and some of them don't. This one doesn't."
The saxophonist is no more expansive about his long association with vocalist Jones, who passed away in 2001. He says the two were "thrown together" on a gig in Washington, D.C., in 1968 and something just clicked. Person put the singer out front of his trio, and eventually their stage work spilled over into the studio, resulting in a string of 17 recordings produced by Person. Jones would receive Grammy nominations for My Buddy: Etta Jones Sings the Songs of Buddy Johnson and Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, both of which featured Person's rich tenor and production skills.
Person does admit that making the 2004 tribute recording To Etta proved emotionally difficult, but that's pretty much all he says to say about the subject. Listeners certainly can hear the tenderness he felt toward the singer all the way from the achingly wistful "It's Magic," which opens the recording, to the finger-snapping blues of "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You," which concludes the 10-song session.
Person's deep blues feeling and laconic phrasing are particularly evident on a series of duet recordings he's made with bassist Ron Carter. The longtime friends are planning to release a fourth duet album in the near future.
Growing up in South Carolina, Person couldn't help but absorb the blues even as he devoured recordings by major influences such as Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Earl Bostic and Charlie Parker, all of whom toured the region. However, he says he doesn't recall any specific epiphany that convinced him to devote his life to jazz.
"I just decided this is what I wanted to do and proceeded to do it," he says. "I just observed other people, and I saw how some didn't survive and some did. So I did it all on my own. I was responsible for this mess I'm in. That's the way I always wanted it."
During a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Person played with jazz giants such as Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and Don Ellis. Later, he established himself in the soul jazz genre, performing with the Hammond organ groups of Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Charles Kynard and Don Patterson. While stylistic sea changes had occurred in the jazz world, Person stayed true to his bluesy aesthetic, often playing with ferocity but - as with his conversation - never feeling the need to say something with many notes "I just had my way, and that's it," he says.
Houston Person band performs at the Van Dyke Cafe in Miami Beach Octobr 27 and 28 with Norman Simmons on piano, Joe Farnsworth on drums, Bob DeVos on guitar and Don Wilner on bass.
hot flashes by Bob weinbergBLUES FESTIVALS
CHICAGO BLUES ON HARRISON STREET
Koko Taylor's feral growl will fill the streets of downtown Hollywood when she headlines the second annual Chicago Blues on Harrison Street block party and festival taking place Saturday, Oct. 22. Event organizers had originally booked Johnny Winter, but health problems prevented the Texas guitar-slinger from keeping the engagement.
Fortunately, Sushi Blues Cafe and Blue Monk Lounge owner Kenny Millions was able to contract legendary blues belter Taylor to fill the slot.
In 1962, Taylor was discovered by bassist and producer Willie Dixon who immediately signed her to the Chess label. Her 1965 hit record "Wang Dang Doodle," which was written by Dixon and featured Buddy Guy on guitar, became her signature tune, and it still brings audiences to their feet for a raucous sing-along at the end of her sets.
The Grammy-winning and multiple-W.C. Handy-Awarded Taylor continues to belt the blues with ferocious glee. Although health problems plagued her in recent years, her headlining performance at this summer's Chicago Blues Fest found her in great voice.
Also on board for the event is second-generation blues-rock guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks. The son of Louisiana bluesman Lonnie Brooks Ronnie puts on a blazing exhibition of guitar prowess that never fails to entertain. A don't-miss act of the block party, Big James and the Chicago Playboys is led by the trombone-playing Big James Montgomery who served in the bands of Little Milton, Albert King and Buddy Guy.
Rounding out the roster are sassy, flamboyant blues singer Candye Cane; Kenny's All Star Jam Band, featuring South Florida blues favorites Joey Gilmore and Frank Ward, with Millions on saxophone; charismatic and talented Miami blues guitarist Albert Castiglia, and the rocking blues of Blue House. Gilmore will also be leading the blues jam inside Sushi Blues.
The action takes place from noon to midnight, and admission is free. Call 954-921-3404 or visit www.sushiblues.com/chicagoblues.html for more information.RIVERWALK BLUES FESTIVAL
Last year, Riverwalk Blues Festival originator Don Cohen brought the event that he had founded with Baker of The Downtowner Saloon have put together an entertaining if somewhat familiar lineup for the festival, which takes place Nov. 3-6.
The 92-year-old Pinetop Perkins may look fragile, but sit him down in front of a piano and the boogie-woogie master jukes with raucous elegance. Perkins will be joined on-stage by fellow Muddy Waters Band alumni Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums and "Steady Rollin'" Bob Margolin on guitar, as well as Howlin' Wolf's right-hand man, guitarist Sumlin.
Next-generation musicians who studied the records of Muddy and Wolf and tried to put their own spin on the genre are also on the roster. Among them are Elvin Bishop, the guitarist who came to prominence with Chicago's Butterfield Blues Band and invented his own countrified rock-blues hybrid; Kim Wilson, the harmonica virtuouso who fronts Austin's Fabulous Thunderbirds and will lead the band through hits such as "Tuff Enuff" and "Wrap It Up"; Donnie Walsh, the guitar and harmonica wizard who founded Canada's great Downchild Blues Band, which inspired the Blues Brothers; and Roomful of Blues, the Rhode Island horn band that plays a high-octane brand of jump blues.
One of the blues world's most powerful performers and songwriters, Otis Taylor will bring his mesmerizing original tunes and haunting vocals back to the festival. Also returning is former Miami blues favorite The Roach Thompson Blues Band, led by vocalist and guitarist Thompson, who has been living in the Keys. And lest you think this is an all-boys club, be sure to check out blues belter Shemekia Copeland, the Detroit Women of R&B and Motor City Express, and Sharrie Williams, who knocked out Riverwalk audiences last year with her smooth soul blues.
For a complete schedule and ticket information, visit www.riverwalkbluesfestival.com.
Jazz anecdote by Bill CrowJazz bassist Bill Crow has written two entertaining books, available in paperback from Oxford University Press: Jazz Anecdotes, a collection of stories about jazz and jazz musicians, and From Birdland to Broadway, a personal memoir of life in the jazz world. You can order them from your favorite bookseller.
When Benny Goodman had a weekly radio show on NBC, he featured famous guests, like Peggy Lee and Lana Turner. On the show that featured Count Basie as the guest, Basie passed out an arrangement to Benny's band, then sat down at the piano. At the end of the runthrough, Benny stood holding his clarinet without having played. He asked Basie, "Where's the solo?" Basie said, "Man, I played it!"
Flip Farout says: There are three kinds of jazz musicians. Those that can count, and those that can't.
Bobby Shankin was standing in front of St. Peter's church before going in to Red Rodney's memorial. He saw Gene Bertoncini approaching, walking with a lovely young woman who he evidently had just met. Gene led her over to Bobby and said, "Bob, I'm glad to see you. Will you please tell this young lady how I earn my living?" Bob told her, "Well, he's one of the great jazz guitarists of all time. And I have no idea how he earns his living!"