It’s not the norm, a jazz gig held at 4 p.m. in the afternoon June 18 at the Blue Note jazz club (131 W. 3rd St.), featuring the renowned poet Sonia Sanchez, accompanied by her friend, the brilliant alto saxophonist/composer Gary Bartz.
“I originally worked with Sonia in Philadelphia with Orrin Evans and we had such a good time we always talked about working together, and finally it’s going to happen,” said Bartz.
Bartz said he is primarily focusing on Sanchez’s poems dedicated to musicians such as Max Roach and Charlie Parker, but he also loves her poem, “Under Soprano Skies.”
“Recently, I was commissioned to write music for a collection of Langston Hughes’ poems,” said Bartz. “Maybe we will use some of those melodies with this project. This is going to be special. We have even been rehearsing.”
This performance is a part of the current Blue Note Jazz Festival, now through June 30. Other musicians on board include the Christian McBride Quartet, June 16-17. The pianist/composer Robert Glasper, who is known to mix it up, will hold court at the Blue Note June 21 through June 26, with special guests. The pianist Jason Moran will join him June 23-24.
The eclectic jazz vocalist Al Jarreau performs at Manhattan’s Town Hall June 25. Joshua Redman’s 4tet plays the Blue Note June 28-30. For a complete listing of the festival, visit the website bluenotejazzfestival.com.
This year is the Vision Festival’s 21st anniversary. The music is avant garde—not meant for jazz police or those staunch jazz traditionalists who will not listen to anything by Miles or Herbie Hancock past the early 1960s.Many of these great participants who follow their inner muse rarely play uptown, which makes the Vision Fest all the more significant.
The recent opening night at the Judson Memorial Church in the West Village was a boundless rhythmic swinging celebration of Henry Grimes’ lifetime of achievement. The forever exploring bassist/violinist opened in an all-star configuration featuring pianist Geri Allen, cornetist Graham Haynes and drummer Andrew Cyrille. No, there wasn’t any rehearsal, and it was the first time they had played together as a quartet, but the music was phenomenal.
When the music is rooted in improvisation, there is little need to rehearse. The ongoing musical conversation was a driving melodic force with Allen’s soft serenade undertones or sometimes rumbling cascades of keys dancing up and down, Cyrille’s drums, Haynes’ in-and-out riffs and Grimes holding it down deep in the midst of it all.
Grimes moved from the quartet explosion to a vocal choir featuring songs by Lisa Sokolov to poems by Henry Grimes, with Karma Mayet Johnson, Dwight Trible and Lee Mixashawn Rozie (replacing Meshell Ndegeocello). Grimes played both the bass and the violin.
He was the background soloist as the vocals ran from talking tongues to tongues talking the blues in a call-and-response sequence. The blues is no “news voices” speak. Light it up. It’s about life.
Shhh—listen as Grimes plays the violin, the bass. He was playing life’s heartstrings. Feel those vibrations tickling each heart rhythm. It was the melodic rhythm of the words that ignited the brain, signaling some crazy swing thing.
Grimes completed his celebratory evening with a septet that included Melanie Dyer on viola, Tomeka Reid on cello, Grimes on violin/bass, Nicole Mitchell on flute, Lee Mixashawn Rozie on saxophone and Chad Taylor on drums. The nontraditional strings joined the basic jazz axes and forged ahead with sky-flying rhythms from classical to the deep and far-out sounds of a hip space without boundaries.
At age 80, Grimes is a living legend who has greatly contributed to this musical community, influencing generations of musicians. He is a musician, composer, poet (with five books of poetry) and an artist.
“I’m writing some poetry and making some drawings, but my main thing is music,” said Grimes. “I can’t say it’s a sure thing, but it’s good for me.”
The following evening, poet Quincy Troupe brought his fiery words to the stage. Look out! Duck if you are afraid. His words fly like arrows, shattering shallow falsehoods. The truth doesn’t kill. It only pulls the covers off the imposters.
The evening belonged to the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by saxophonist Marshall Allen, celebrating their 60th anniversary. This anniversary has taken them around the globe twice since last year and at 92, Allen has no flaws in his music game (he joined Sun Ra in the late 1950s).
People of Planet Earth, you are not a true part of the musical stratosphere until you have been baptized by the galactic improvisations of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Yes, that may sound a bit out there, but it is the core of the music. It is the essence of the universe. You become enchanted as the music inspires. The 14-piece band, with vocalist Tara Middleton, took off into the far-reaching stars, galloping across the universe and returned us to Earth, not mystified, but hip-ified.
Allen then opened with a solo as he moved the Arkestra into the standard, “When You Wish Upon a Star.” This rendition was a stepped-on version that waddled in the blues. Allen’s saxophone screeched like a Harlem morning glory in the midst of a crazy dream. The muted trumpets sighed as the French horn soloed.
Walt Disney would have had a difficult time recognizing his beloved theme song in this sweet improvised version of certain uncertainty. Eyes always focus on the Arkestra’s Egyptian/science fiction outfits with glitter material and ancient Egyptian headdresses.
One of the band’s drummers included 10-year-old John Jones; his uncle Danny Thompson played baritone and flute. The 6-year-old Lena Rogers dazzled everyone with her nifty dance steps. Who said you can’t dance to avant garde?